Urban Company poised for stellar debut; Domestic help goes digital
Urban Company's issue was fully subscribed within hours, led by heavy demand from retail investors. Snabbit connects households with experts for on-demand home services. Zendesk is witnessing a growing awareness among Indian SMBs in adopting AI.
Hello,
Larry Ellison, co-founder and biggest shareholder of Oracle, has become the world’s richest person for the first time, ending Elon Musk’s nearly year-long reign in the top spot.
Ellison’s fortune soared after Oracle Corp. reported quarterly results that surpassed expectations and said there’s more growth to come.
The increase lifted his total fortune to $393 billion, ahead of Musk, who sits at $385 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
ICYMI: AI is unlocking new work opportunities for women in India.
Speaking of AI, a startup has reportedly created a prototype device that lets users take notes, query an AI agent, and perform other tasks without producing an audible sound.
The technology, developed by Boston-based AlterEgo, could be useful for those who have lost audible speech, such as people with ALS or multiple sclerosis, Axios reported.
Lastly, new research suggests that the trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that make up our body's microbiota can influence our sleep. Depending on the composition of our personal microbial ecosystem, the amount of shut-eye we get can either improve or deteriorate, according to BBC Future.
Turns out we aren’t just individuals, but entire ecosystems!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Urban Company poised for stellar debut
- Domestic help goes digital
- Zendesk’s Adrian Fallow on the SMB AI wave
Here’s your trivia for today: Who wrote the historical novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
IPO
Urban Company poised for stellar debut
Urban Company’s initial public offering was fully subscribed within hours of opening on Wednesday, making it one of the few recent startup listings to draw strong early demand. Retail investors led the rush, bidding for more than three times their allotted shares.
The retail portion of the IPO was fully subscribed within an hour. The portions reserved for employees and non-institutional investors were also oversubscribed.
Retail rush:
- By midday, investors had placed orders for 6 crore shares against 10.7 crore on offer—about 57% of the overall book. The retail tranche was subscribed 3.02 times, the employee portion 2.9 times, and the non-institutional quota 1.29 times.
- Qualified institutional buyers were slower to act, with just 20% of their reserved shares subscribed.
- Global names, including Goldman Sachs, Dragoneer Investments, Norges Bank, GIC, Nomura, Amundi Funds, Steadview Capital, and WhiteOak, took part in the anchor book. About 37% of the allocation went to 13 Indian mutual funds across 29 schemes, among them SBI, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Nippon, and UTI.
Startup
Domestic help goes digital
From groceries and cabs to courier services, nearly every part of urban life has moved online. But one essential need still remains offline: finding reliable domestic help.
To fill this gap, Aayush Agarwal decided to build Snabbit, a tech-led platform that connects households to trained and verified home service experts for quick services through its app.
On-demand help:
- Snabbit claims its home service experts can arrive within 10 minutes, and their services are charged by the hour (between Rs 169 and Rs 199), with multiple tasks handled in one booking.
- The startup manages the entire model, from sourcing to training and deploying its experts to ensure consistency and quality. Its home-service experts undergo screening, police and ID verification, and training at dedicated centres in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Gurugram before being onboarded.
- The B2C startup aims to improve the livelihoods of its home service experts by providing Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, health and life insurance, and steady monthly incomes. Depending on the hours they choose to work, experts can earn anywhere from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000 per month.
Ayush Agarwal, Founder of Snabbit, is reimagining domestic help in India by building a tech-led, high-frequency home services platform.
Interview
Zendesk’s Adrian Fallow on the SMB AI wave
San Francisco-headquartered Zendesk believes AI will be the game-changer for SMBs, where small companies do not have to undertake large investments to deploy the company’s solutions while also reaping the maximum benefits.
In an interaction with Enterprise Story, Adrian Fallow, Global Senior Vice President, SMB, Zendesk, delves into how Indian SMBs are looking at customer experience (CX) as a core differentiator.
News & updates
- Robotaxi: Amazon-owned Zoox on Wednesday began offering robotaxi rides to the public for free on and around the Las Vegas Strip as it waits for state approval to collect fares and compete with Alphabet's Waymo and Tesla.
- Job cuts: Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk on Wednesday announced plans to cut around 9,000 roles, or roughly 11.5% of its global workforce. Once the first mover in weight-loss drugs, Novo Nordisk has been struggling to maintain market share—especially in the key US region.
- AI infra: Nebius Group said on Wednesday it would raise $3 billion to fuel growth in its core artificial intelligence cloud business, on the heels of its $17.4-billion deal with Microsoft.
Who wrote the historical novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
Answer: Victor Hugo
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