Q&A with Swiggy leaders ahead of IPO; Sanjeev Bikhchandani on AI rising

Hello,

Dalal Street is set to echo with the sounds of opening and closing bells.

More companies are taking the public route, including CarDekho, which is planning a Rs 4,000-crore IPO and is said to be in talks with investment banks. Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company will also open its Rs 2,200-crore IPO for subscription on November 7 and has fixed a price band of Rs 70-74 per share.

In fact, Mukesh Ambani is planning to list Reliance Jio on the stock exchanges by 2025—in what may be the biggest IPO India has ever seen, according to Reuters.

Indian bourses will also see the biggest-ever SME IPO of Rs 206 crore by Rosmerta Digital Services—bigger than some of the mainboard IPOs.

Meanwhile, Swiggy’s IPO will open for anchor investments today, with bidding from retail and institutional investors to start on November 6. Ahead of the public issue, the company will strengthen its quick commerce offering by rolling out a separate infrastructure for extended delivery timelines for some categories on Instamart.

Speaking of stock markets, while the US presidential election has dithered most investors, shares of Elcid Investments—which surpassed MRF to become India’s most expensive stock—have become even pricier. The share price rose 21% in three sessions to reach Rs 2.73 lakh apiece.

Beyond Dalal Street, a lot is happening on the main street.

Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp clocked its highest-ever festive sales this year, with the rural segment catching up with the urban category. The season also gave relief to other automakers as the vehicle inventory—which had piled up to 7.9 lakh vehicles—was brought down by record sales. 

According to data from Vahan, Indian car buyers registered 4.78 lakh units in October 2024—the highest number on record. 

Now that’s a reason to celebrate.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Q&A with Swiggy leaders ahead of IPO
• Sanjeev Bikhchandani on AI rising
• Empowering women with crocheting

Here’s your trivia for today: Which pivotal moment led to the development of modern insurance practices?

Foodtech

Q&A with Swiggy leaders ahead of IPO

With Swiggy just a few days away from a landmark public listing, the SoftBank-backed foodtech's leadership team is on a roadshow covering 25 cities across India to woo retail investors. 

As a part of the tour, Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety, CFO Rahul Bothra, and CTO Madhusudhan Rao spoke to YourStory about the latest developments across some of its key businesses, including food delivery and quick commerce, and how Majety follows his own version of founder mode when it comes to running Swiggy.

Road to IPO:

• Swiggy expects its quick commerce arm to outpace its core food delivery business. The business has already reached 40% of Swiggy's food delivery business in terms of gross order volumes in four years since its launch.
• The volatility in India’s stock market in October has played a role in determining Swiggy’s valuation for the IPO. “I think October was kind of a down month for the market. A lot of that feedback has been factored in the final pricing decision,” CFO Rahul Bothra said. https://ga-dev-tools.web.app/campaign-url-builder/
• Speaking on Swiggy’s Bolt feature, Majety said, “The response has been phenomenal… Going ahead, density and selection are going to be key to pulling users, and we are working towards building more on both.”

Funding Alert

Startup: Hala Mobility

Amount: Rs 51 Cr

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: Mihup

Amount: Rs 50 Cr

Round: Equity

Startup: Viraa Care

Amount: $108,000

Round: Pre-seed

Interview

Sanjeev Bikhchandani on AI rising

Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Chairman of Info Edge (India), is no stranger to building a technology-first business ground-up. While his early bets have been largely in the consumer-internet space, Bikhchandani believes startups will increasingly use AI in the coming years.  

“Every product, every offering will have some AI element to build a better product or to create a better customer experience,” Bikhchandani tells YourStory. 

Insights:

• He says India has a strong need for vertical AI applications, and educational institutes and academia can help push young entrepreneurs towards riding this wave.
• Naukri.com has a hundred-member strong team working on AI, ML, analytics, and data sciences. Bhikchandani says “We have already introduced 22 features in the product that harness AI. I believe universities will do well to expose students to how to build stuff with elements of AI in it.” 
• Speaking on what Info Edge focuses on before investing, he says, “We evaluate companies bottom-up. We meet about a thousand companies every quarter, and if someone looks like a good person doing great stuff, we might invest in them.”

Social Impact

Empowering women with crocheting

Recognising a talent for knitting and crocheting in Khetikhan, Uttarakhand, Pratibha Krishnaiah began providing training and opportunities to women to become skilled artisans. Her venture Himalayan Blooms, which began with 12 women, now engages with a community of over 250 women.

Here’s the story:

• “In the first year, I worked extensively, walking three to five kilometres into the mountains to reach villages to distribute yarns and show women videos of designs. The area had a 2G network, and it was a challenging time,” she recalls.
• The first batch of knitted and crocheted products were sold at Sunday Soul Sante in Bengaluru, and 80% of the exhibits were sold out. 
• In the past 10 years, over 250 women from 40 villages in the Kumaon region have joined its fold. It has three centres in Ketikhan, Lohaghat and Champawat, all 15 km from each other, where distribution of raw material and collection of finished products take place.

News & updates

• CEOs: Over the last seven years, financial performance and most notably a company's stock price have become a stronger predictor of a CEO’s ability to hold onto the job, research group The Conference Board found in its ‘CEO Succession Practices in the Russell 3000 and S&P 500: 2024 Edition’ report.
• Strikes: Boeing workers will vote on a third contract agreement that could end a seven-week strike that has halted production at the troubled planemaker. Workers could return to work as early as Wednesday following the approval of the new contract.
• Forex: The Indian rupee touched its weakest level on record on Monday, as persistent equity outflows blunted the impact of a weaker dollar that helped lift the currency's regional peers ahead of the US presidential election. The rupee closed at 84.1150 against the US dollar.

Which pivotal moment led to the development of modern insurance practices?

Answer: The Great Fire of London in 1666. The fire destroyed over 13,000 homes, highlighting the need for a system to manage and mitigate risks.

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