Ather’s IPO windfall; Healthcare deals in Q1 2025

Hello,

Regulators are taking aim, and Big Tech’s in the crosshairs (again).

Apple was fined 500 million euros and Meta 200 million euros, as the European Commission handed out the first sanctions under the Digital Markets Act, which seeks to allow smaller rivals into markets dominated by the biggest companies.

The commission also handed out cease-and-desist orders, which could arguably hit both companies even harder than the fines. One order targets Apple’s App Store while the other centres on Meta’s personalised ads—both of which are important revenue streams for each company.

Google and X are not quite out of the woods either when it comes to the EU's hardball stance on tech monopolies, despite the overarching concerns over retaliatory actions and tariffs by the US. 

In fact, Google’s Chrome browser already has interested parties vying for it in case it goes for sale–and OpenAI’s first in line. 

Elsewhere, as Zoom, Teams and other platforms move leaps and bounds ahead in video calling technologies, nostalgia calls for a look back to the service that started everything: Skype.

Ahead of its planned shutdown on May 5, users shared how Skype helped connect a whole generation to their friends and family across the globe, quirky ringtones and all.

The end of an era is a bittersweet moment.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Ather’s IPO windfall
• Healthcare deals in Q1 2025
• Building a gardening brand

Here’s your trivia for today: In what present-day country was the first space launch facility located?

Electric vehicle

Ather’s IPO windfall

Hero MotoCorp-backed EV maker Ather Energy has priced its initial public offering (IPO) between Rs 304 and Rs 321. For Tiger Global, a key investor in the company, this could mean a gain of 734% on its investments in the company after selling shares in the public issue. 

Key takeaways:

• Ather is the second EV (electric vehicle) manufacturer to go public after Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric, which listed on the public bourses last year.
• Bengaluru-based Ather, which began operations in 2013, raised its first major round of funding in 2015 from Tiger Global. It had raised $12 million in Series A funding at the time. 
• Internet Fund III, which is managed by Tiger Global, will tender up to 400,000 equity shares in the offer for sale (OFS), and will see about 8X returns, given that it will be selling its shares at the upper end of the price band.

Funding Alert

Startup: Fabric and Intellicar

Amount: $13.5M

Round: Series A

Startup: Emversity

Amount: $5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: SaveIN

Amount: Rs 37 Cr

Round: Undisclosed

Funding

Healthcare deals in Q1 2025

India’s pharmaceutical and healthcare sector kicked off 2025 with deal volumes holding steady from the previous quarter. However, overall deal value fell sharply as investors leaned towards smaller, more targeted bets and mid-market consolidation.

According to Grant Thornton Bharat’s latest Pharma and Healthcare Dealtracker report for Q1 2025, the sector saw 67 transactions amounting to $2.1 billion.

Key takeaways

• According to the report, private equity activity remained resilient with 42 deals worth $562 million, just shy of last quarter’s $603 million.
• Healthtech emerged as the most active segment by volume, accounting for over a quarter of all deals.
• These investments largely backed preventive care and consumer-centric delivery models—such as AI-driven diagnostics and fertility testing—underlining a shift towards decentralised healthcare.

Startup

Building a gardening brand

Siddhant Bhalinge founded Ugaoo, a gardening brand, in 2016 to reconnect urban India with plants. The Pune-based startup has grown to become a Rs 100 crore annual recurring revenue company.

Ugaoo’s catalogue features over 1,500 SKUs—including live plants, seeds, tools, fertilisers, lifestyle accessories, and sustainable gifts. It has put in place logistics and quality control systems to ensure consistency.

Green fingers:

• To solve delivery-related challenges, Ugaoo developed patented plant packaging that can keep plants alive for up to 10 days in transit and withstand 5,200 kg of vertical pressure.
• Even though Ugaoo doesn’t manufacture pots, it controls the design and vendor quality, working with ceramics artisans in Hyderabad and using proprietary molds for plastic pots.
• In November 2024, Ugaoo raised Rs 47 crore in Series A funding, led by V3 Ventures, with participation from DSG Consumer Partners and RPG Ventures.

News & updates

• A not-too-bad result: Boeing reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Wednesday, as the US planemaker produced and delivered more jets, after quality problems and a crippling strike shuttered most of its aircraft production late last year.
• Humanoid robots: Tesla CEO Elon Musk says China’s new trade restrictions on rare earth magnets have affected the production of the company’s Optimus humanoid robots, which rely on the exports. He made the remarks during the Tesla earnings call on Tuesday.
• Smart glasses: Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it is expanding access to its artificial intelligence assistant, Meta AI, on Ray-Ban smart glasses to seven additional European countries. People in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland will now be able to interact with Meta AI using voice prompts to get answers to general questions, the Facebook and Instagram parent said.

In what present-day country was the first space launch facility located?

Answer: Kazakhstan.

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