Unicommerce IPO breaks records; A pot full of lofty goals
Unicommerce's IPO became the most subscribed startup IPO in India this year. Potful is vying for the top spot on the cloud kitchen market. Natasha Tuli's Soulflower is forging its own path in the natural beauty and wellness sector.
Hello,
Amid the frenetic news of tech stocks, it is easy to miss out on the struggles of a legacy company—Warner Bros. Discovery.
The US entertainment group has reported a quarterly net loss of $10 billion, way more than Wall Street’s expectations of a $542 million loss and even more than its total revenue at $9.7 billion.
Discovery and WarnerMedia had merged in 2022 to fight against the brutal streaming competition. But, going by its plummeting stock, which at one point hit a new low of $6.90, looks like the megamerger only delayed the inevitable.
By contrast, Netflix India seems to have hit the right chords, both in terms of content and pricing.
In the world of Indian startups, Brainbees Solutions, the parent company of omnichannel maternity and babycare platform FirstCry, picked up pace after a slow start, with its IPO subscribed more than 12X on its third day.
Moving on, AI wearable tech might be a hit only on paper. Case in point: the Humane AI Pin. The $700 gadget, which officially launched late last year with no great reviews to begin with, only sold some 10,000 units, of which 3,000 have been returned.
In June, the company, led by ex-Apple designers, was looking for buyers, including HP. It is now reportedly negotiating with its current investors to raise debt.
With Apple also scaling back its Vision Pro dreams due to poor demand, the hunt for the latest hot gadget is still on.
Oh, but what apparently has a market, at least according to Italian fashion house Dolce and Gabbana, is a $100 perfume for dogs! The inspiration for the alcohol-free fragrance mist is Fefé, the pet dog of brand owner Domenico Dolce.
‘It’s a dog’s life’ just got a new meaning!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Unicommerce IPO breaks records
- A pot full of lofty goals
- Pioneering the natural beauty market
Here’s your trivia for today: What was the codename for the amphibious landings at Normandy during World War II?
News
Unicommerce IPO breaks records
The public offering of Unicommerce saw remarkable interest from investors, becoming the most subscribed startup IPO yet in India this year.
On the final day of bidding, the offer was subscribed 168.32 times, driven by strong demand from non-institutional and retail investors, shattering Awfis IPO's record of 108X subscriptions.
Investor interest:
- The Unicommerce IPO, with a price band fixed at Rs 102 to Rs 108 apiece, saw greater interest from qualified institutional buyers on the third day of its bidding, with the portion getting subscribed 138.75X.
- As of 5:00 PM on August 8, the non-institutional investor category saw maximum interest with 96.9 crore bids, oversubscribing the 38 lakh shares on offer by 252.44 times.
- The Delhi-based SaaS company has secured Rs 124.5 crore from its anchor investors. Of the 1.15 crore equity shares offered at Rs 108 each, 75.75% (87.29 lakh shares) have been allocated to eight domestic mutual funds across 10 different schemes.
Funding Alert
Startup: Scimplify
Amount: $9.5M
Round: Series A
Startup: Metadome.ai
Amount: $6.5M
Round: Series A
Startup:
Amount: Rs 41 Cr
Round: Undisclosed
Startup
A pot full of lofty goals
In India, biryani is more than just food; it’s an art form with carefully crafted blends of spices, rice, vegetables and choices of meat—all of which vary from region to region.
In a crowded market where cloud kitchens including BiryaniByKilo, Behrouz Biryani, and EatFit are one-upping each other on foodtech platforms, Potful is now vying for the top spot above the rest.
Beyond biryani:
- Operating 25 cloud kitchens across Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, Potful claims to be the largest handi biryani brand and the second-largest cloud kitchen brand in south India.
- From a revenue of Rs 5 crore in 2019, Potful reached Rs 70 crore in FY24, attained PAT profitability in June 2024 and became EBITDA positive in the previous quarter.
- Beyond running a cloud kitchen, the company also provides livelihood to over 100 potters from Chinnandahalli a village near Hoskote, Karnataka.
Women Entrepreneurs
Pioneering the natural beauty market
Natasha Tuli’s love for nature and everything organic has been a prominent fixture and a guiding principle in her life for years—from DIY summer projects on vermiculture, all the way to her plans for a career in landscape architecture.
But it was her personal experience of growing up with sensitive skin that pushed Tuli towards opting for natural skincare products and discovering an opportunity in the market, for Soulflower.
Focus on quality:
- Initially, Soulflower operated out of Bangkok, then moved production to India “for sustainability reasons”, manufacturing everything from aromatherapy products to healthy hair oil and natural soaps.
- During the pandemic, Soulflower pivoted to ecommerce, securing investment from Wipro and moving manufacturing to a farm in Rajasthan. The farm employs local tribals and women to promote sustainability and quality.
- Even as the wellness market has boomed unprecedentedly since the decade that Soulflower launched, moving forward with curiosity rather than fear has helped Soulflower carve out its own niche, Tuli says.
News & updates
- Olympics: The Indian men’s hockey team came from a goal down to beat Spain 2-1 and win the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics and gave a befitting farewell to veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh who played his last International match on Thursday.
- AI probe: The UK’s antitrust regulator has confirmed that it’s carrying out a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon’s ties with Anthropic, after the ecommerce giant recently completed a $4 billion investment into the AI startup.
- Stock rigging: South Korean technology tycoon, Kim Beom-su, has been indicted on charges of stock price manipulation. Kakao executives led by Kim have been accused of buying large amounts of shares in K-pop agency SM Entertainment to inflate its stock price and undermine a competing offer to take over the company.
What was the codename for the amphibious landings at Normandy during World War II?
Answer: Operation Neptune
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