Credit: Giphy
Also in this letter:
■ BharatPe board acted quickly, says cofounder Nakrani
■ Captain Fresh raises $50M, and other done deals
■ Netflix suspends service in Russia
Sachin Bansal’s Navi to file for Rs 4,000-crore IPO this week
Navi Technologies founder Sachin Bansal
Sachin Bansal’s Navi Technologies is set to file its draft papers with the markets regulator for a Rs 4,000-crore initial public offering (IPO) later this week, sources briefed on the matter told us.
Details: The company plans to launch its IPO in June, according to the current plans. The public issue will be entirely through an issuance of new shares, with no offer-for-sale (OFS) component.
This means Bansal, who holds 97% in the firm, will not sell shares to investors in the planned IPO, sources briefed on the matter told us.
Navi’s other shareholders are Ankit Agarwal, its cofounder and chief financial officer, and Paresh Sukhtankar, former deputy managing director at HDFC Bank, who is a board observer at Navi.
Bansal, who has invested Rs 4,000 crore of his own capital in Navi, is expected to retain majority control of the firm even after the IPO.
Concerns remain: Chaitanya Micro Finance, which Navi acquired in 2019, had filed for a universal bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at the start of 2020 but has yet to receive the licence.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also sent a notice to Bansal for allegedly violating Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) guidelines during his stint in Flipkart. In September, Bansal moved the Madras High Court against the ED’s actions.
Sources now say it is unlikely that Chaitanya will get the licence any time soon, and definitely not before the proposed IPO.
Bucking the trend: News of Navi’s IPO plan comes as India’s listed new-age companies such as Zomato, Paytm and Nykaa have seen their value erode significantly over the past few months.
Other startups such as Delhivery and PharmEasy that have received Sebi’s approval for their IPOs are now unlikely to launch them this financial year. But Navi is ploughing ahead.
BharatPe board acted quickly, cofounder Nakrani says on PwC report
BharatPe cofounder Shashvat Nakrani
In an internal memo sent to employees on Monday, BharatPe cofounder Shashvat Nakrani said that the company’s board “acted quickly and decisively to uphold good corporate governance”. Nakrani was referring to the audit of BharatPe undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the findings of which were tabled before the board on March 1.
This is one of the first times Nakrani has publicly spoken about the controversy that has plagued BharatPe since the start of the year.
“What is important to note is that this is an aberration and not the norm,” he added in the memo.
On Grover: Nakrani said that his cofounder Ashneer Grover “sadly has also gone ahead and tried to create a false narrative about the company that we built together with the right spirit”.
“It’s time now to stop rumours and innuendoes from distracting us and go back to building,” Nakrani added.
Culture in focus: He said that going forward, the management would focus on the company’s “culture”. “I promise you that we will make BharatPe not only the best place to work in India but also the place where all of us belong,” Nakrani wrote.
Grover’s exit: On March 1, BharatPe cofounder and managing director Ashneer Grover resigned from the fintech startup and its board, alleging that he had been “vilified” and treated in the “most disrespectful manner”.
Hours later, BharatPe said that it took strong objection to Grover’s “lies” and that he and his family had “engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds”. We also reported on March 2, citing sources, that BharatPe was looking to claw back Grover’s restricted shares.
Captain Fresh’s valuation doubles to $500 million in new round
Captain Fresh, a business-to-business (B2B) seafood and meat marketplace, has raised $50 million in a round led by existing investors Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global. Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, and Incubate Fund also participated in the round.
Details: The company’s valuation has more than doubled to $500 million following the funding round, Utham Gowda, cofounder and CEO of Captain Fresh, told us.
- A strategic investor is expected to chip in an additional $10 million, a source said.
- The fresh funds will be primarily used for acquisitions, Gowda said.
This is the company’s second fundraise in three months. It had raised $40 million in a funding round in December 2021 that was also led by Tiger Global and Prosus Ventures. Its valuation jumped 4x after that to round to $200 million.
Other Done Deals
■ Agritech startup Otipy (operated by Crofarm Agriproducts) said that it has raised $32 million (about Rs 235 crore) in funding led by Westbridge Capital. Existing investors SIG and Omidyar Network India also participated in the round.
■ DeepTek, a Pune-based healthtech startup, has raised $10 million (Rs 77 crore) in a funding round from Tata Capital Healthcare Fund II (TCHF II), and other investors.
■ Digital freight brokerage platform Lobb said it has raised $1.1 million in a funding round led by Byju Pillai, group managing director, Inflow Technologies and angel investor Gopal Kaul.
■ Indian metaverse firm Ikonzhas raised a seed round of funding from early-stage venture capital firm Village Global and technology investment firm Woodstock. The round also saw participation from Polygon Studios, the NFT and gaming vertical of Polygon.
■ CureSkin, an artificial intelligence-driven beauty and personal care brand has raised $5 million in a funding round led by JSW Ventures, the company said in a statement.
Netflix suspends service in Russia
Netflix Inc has suspended its service in Russia, a company spokesperson said.
Last week, Netflix temporarily stopped all future projects and acquisitions in Russia as it assessed the impact of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” the Netflix spokesperson said.
The company had earlier said it had no plans to add state-run channels to its Russian service, despite regulations that would require it to distribute state-backed channels.
TikTok suspends live streaming in Russia: TikTok said on Sunday it would suspend live-streaming and the uploading of videos to its platform in Russia as it reviews the implications of a new media law signed on Friday by President Vladimir Putin.
Quote: “We have no choice but to suspend live streaming and new content to our video service while we review the safety implications of this law,” the social media company said in a series of Twitter posts . It said in-app messaging would not be affected by the decision.
The US government on Saturday condemned the new law, which threatens jail terms of up to 15 years for spreading what the Kremlin describes as “fake news”.
Microsoft to set up fourth data centre region in Hyderabad
Microsoft India said on Monday that it intends to set up its fourth data centre region in Hyderabad. This will be the company’s largest data centre in India and will be among the largest foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the state.
Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India told ET that this would help the company meet the growing demand for public cloud in India which has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tell me more: Hyderabad is home to the largest engineering centre and campus for Microsoft outside the US. The new data centre is expected to be its largest in India and will be among the company’s largest data centre investments in the country.
By the numbers: According to IDC, Microsoft data centre regions in India contributed $9.8 billion to the economy between 2016 and 2020. Beyond GDP impact, the IDC report estimated 1.5 million jobs were added to the economy, including 169,000 new skilled IT jobs. The company currently has three data centre regions in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Arun Padmanabhan in New Delhi and Zaheer Merchant in Mumbai. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi.
