Inside Rapido’s fintech plans; Juspay secures $60M

Hello,

While Donald Trump wants tariffs to be an economic “medicine,” the malaise is instead spreading far and wide.

Asian markets were hit hard in the wake of China retaliating against the US President’s tariffs. The Shanghai Composite was down more than 8% at one point, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped more than 13%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down by 7.8%.

The bloodbath was so severe that exchanges in Japan and Taiwan hit the circuit breakers, halting trading to pause panic selling. Meanwhile, Thailand has temporarily banned short selling to calm the markets.

India couldn’t shield itself from what is now being called ‘Ugly Monday’. 

Sensex plunged 2.95%, with Zomato and Hindustan Unilever being the only gainers in the 30-company index. Meanwhile, the Nifty50 was down 3.24%. 

This meltdown has impacted the financials of India’s top four billionaires—Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Savitri Jindal & family, and Shiv Nadar—with their combined wealth falling by Rs 76,000 crore. A total of Rs 14 lakh crore was wiped from the Indian market on Monday.

However, there is a silver lining. Apple and Samsung are now reportedly planning to adopt a make-in-India approach as the duty on India’s exports to the US is relatively lower than that on China and Vietnam.

We’ve got to grin and bear it.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Rapido’s fintech plans
• Juspay secures $60M
• Tackling reproductive health issues

Here’s your trivia for today: Which was the first company to be registered on the Bombay Stock Exchange?

Startup

Rapido’s fintech plans

Ride-hailing startup Rapido is foraying into the fintech space, diversifying further beyond its core mobility business, two people aware of the matter told YourStory. The company has begun internal groundwork for the new unit, which is expected to operate independently of its existing business lines.

Key takeaways:

• Over the past year, Bengaluru-based Rapido has emerged as the largest ride-hailing platform by volume, overtaking incumbents Ola and Uber by aggressively pushing into the three-wheelers and cab space post-pandemic.
• While the finer details remain under wraps, Rapido is exploring offerings in lending and adjacent financial services, the two sources said.
• The WestBridge Capital-backed company has begun hiring and initiating partnerships with restaurants for its new zero-commission food delivery marketplace.

<Funding Alert>

Startup: Juspay

Amount: $60M

Round: Series D

Startup: Easebuzz

Amount: $30M

Round: Series A

Startup: SigIQ.ai

Amount: $9.5M

Round: Seed

Funding

Juspay secures $60M in Series D round

Bengaluru-based enterprise payment solutions provider Juspay has raised $60 million in a Series D funding round, comprising primary and secondary investments, just weeks after India's leading payment aggregators (PAs) snapped ties with the SoftBank-backed fintech.

YourStory exclusively reported in January that Juspay was in talks to raise a new round from Kedaara Capital at a unicorn valuation.

Fresh capital:

• While the company did not disclose its valuation while announcing the round, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told YourStory that with the latest funding, Juspay’s valuation has more than doubled to over $900 million.
• The largely secondary round was led by Kedaara Capital, with participation from existing backers SoftBank and Accel. 
• With the fresh funding, the company plans to strengthen its AI capabilities to build solutions designed to fuel workforce productivity and enhance the merchant experience. 

Inspiration

Tackling reproductive health issues

Launched by Tanish Arora and Anoushka V, Project Hifazat conducts health camps focused on screening for cervical cancer and STDs in Mangar, a village in the Faridabad district of Haryana. Dr Alka Gupta, a senior obstetrician-gynaecologist associated with Laksh Foundation, helps the duo in this initiative. If the diagnosis is positive, patients are taken for an ablation treatment or are referred to a hospital nearby.

Be the change:

• The team also conducts workshops in government and private schools across Delhi-NCR, covering a variety of topics such as reproductive health, family planning, cervical cancer, STDs, and menstrual health. 
• In November 2023, Project Hifazat launched a bilingual chatbot named ‘Asha’ to provide easy access to information about reproductive health. 
• In June last year, the team rolled out a comprehensive guide on reproductive health, which is being used in 350 schools across India through a partnership with telecom company Airtel.

News & updates

• Mega haul: Japanese technology investment group SoftBank Group plans to raise 600 billion yen ($4.10 billion) by issuing bonds to retail investors. It is SoftBank’s largest ever bond issuance. The proceeds will be used to redeem existing bonds and to cover a portion of the outstanding payment on the acquisition of shares of chip designer Arm.
• P&L: Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory chip manufacturer, is anticipated to report a 21% decline in profit for the first quarter on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The decrease is attributed to slow sales of AI chips and ongoing losses in the company’s contract chip manufacturing business.
• Slow growth: German industrial production dropped more than expected in February, underscoring the challenges for the country’s key sector already ahead of new headwinds from the US’ aggressive trade policy. Output decreased 1.3% from the previous month.

Which was the first company to be registered on the Bombay Stock Exchange?

Answer: D.S. Prabhudas & Company, a joint venture partner with Merrill Lynch.

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