Snabbit bets on quick salon-at-home services; Byju gets jail term
The quick home services startup is now betting on beauty as a high-frequency category. Industry experts believe this could unlock impulse-driven demand, but training, trust, and service quality are key if Snabbit has to crack the category.
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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan’s philanthropic venture Biohub has launched a world model for protein biology aimed at accelerating drug discovery. The model is based on the fourth generation of evolutionary scale modeling, which learns from protein sequences shaped by evolution to better understand protein biology.
The launch comes as drugmakers increasingly turn to AI-powered modeling tools and automated labs to improve research efficiency and speed up drug discovery.
In women’s health, Sirona Foundation, the social impact arm of feminine hygiene company Sirona Hygiene, has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing menstrual equity ahead of Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28. The foundation said it aims to impact one million women and girls across the country by 2030.
On the edtech front, a Singapore court has sentenced Byju Raveendran, the founder of embattled edtech company BYJU’S, to six months in jail for contempt of court, according to a Bloomberg report.
Meanwhile, Amazon is licensing the AI technology behind Alexa for shopping to other retailers as it looks to power AI-driven shopping across the web. The company said retailers can use the service to launch customised AI shopping assistants tailored to their storefronts, product catalogs, and branding in as little as 60 days.
In other development, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Wednesday that the chipmaker plans to invest about $150 billion annually in Taiwan, calling the island the “epicentre” of the AI revolution and predicting it will remain a global technology manufacturing hub for years to come.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Snabbit bets on quick salon-at-home services
- PhysicsWallah FY26 revenue rises 35% to Rs 3,900 Cr
Here’s your trivia for today: Who was the first to win 8 Grammy Awards in one night?
In Depth
Snabbit bets on quick salon-at-home services
After building its business around instant home chores, Snabbit is now betting that beauty services could become the next convenience category consumers stop planning for. Its entry into sub-15-minute salon-at-home services puts the startup directly against Urban Company in a market where convenience may drive demand, but trust and service quality remain the real differentiators.
Key takeaways:
- Snabbit has piloted sub-15-minute salon services in Bengaluru’s Sarjapur area, betting that consumers will increasingly seek on-demand grooming for last-minute and impulse use cases instead of booking in advance.
- India’s at-home salon market is growing rapidly, backed by rising convenience-first behaviour. However, Urban Company has already built deep consumer trust, operational scale, and trained beautician networks over several years.
- While instant fulfilment could drive frequency, beauty services are highly trust-driven. Consumers still associate Snabbit with cleaning and household chores, meaning service quality, training, and reliability will determine whether users return.
Edtech
PhysicsWallah FY26 revenue rises 35% to Rs 3,900 Cr
PhysicsWallah reported strong FY26 growth as the edtech firm improved profitability, turned pre-tax profitable, and strengthened cash generation amid tighter cost controls and rising paid users.
Number game:
- Revenue from operations grew 35% year-on-year to Rs 3,900 crore in FY26, while EBITDA jumped 184% to Rs 549 crore, with margins expanding to 14% from 7% a year earlier.
- The company sharply reduced its net loss to Rs 24 crore from Rs 243 crore in FY25 and posted a positive pre-tax profit of Rs 10 crore, despite incurring Rs 63 crore in one-time expenses.
- PhysicsWallah ended FY26 with operating cash flow of Rs 833 crore and a treasury balance of Rs 5,027 crore, supported by growth in paid users to 5.34 million and expansion across 16-plus exam categories generating over Rs 10 crore each in annual collections.
News & updates
- Appointment: Electric cycle startup EMotorad has appointed former Cars24 CEO Himanshu Ratnoo as co-founder, saying the move will help strengthen institutional-grade leadership as the company expands across global markets, mass mobility, and new product categories.
- E-scooter: Ola Electric has secured regulatory approval for a new electric scooter aimed at India's commercial mobility market, according to a government certification document.
- Lunar mission: NASA has announced plans for three uncrewed lunar missions this year to begin building a $20 billion moon base, and has selected Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, over SpaceX for the first mission.
Who was the first to win 8 Grammy Awards in one night?
Answer: Michael Jackson
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