Startup
Zomato share price rises despite dip in broad market indices
Zomato’s share price rose by 2.98% on Wednesday, a day after the company announced its second-quarter results as the markets were encouraged by the stability in the food delivery business and hyper-growth prospects of quick commerce.
The Zomato scrip ended at Rs 264 on Wednesday as compared to the previous close of Rs 256.35, registering a gain of Rs 7.65, despite the broader indices of BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 ending lower.
Zomato registered a 389% year-on-year (YoY) increase in net profit for the second quarter of FY25 to reach Rs 176 crore. The revenues rose 68.50% YoY to touch Rs 4,799 crore.
Today, Zomato has a diversified business, including food delivery, quick commerce, events (going out business), and B2B supplies. The quick commerce business of Zomato-Blinkit has been the standout for the company.
Brokerage house Motilal Oswal, in its note following the second quarter results of Zomato said, “Zomato’s food delivery business is stable, and Blinkit offers a generational opportunity to participate in the disruption of industries such as retail, grocery and ecommerce.”
The gross order value (GoV) of Blinkit for the second quarter registered a 122% YoY growth. On the other hand, the food delivery business saw a GoV rise of 21.4% which marginally missed the estimates of the market.
Kotak Institutional Equities in its note said, “We retain BUY rating on Zomato as the food delivery business remains on a strong footing with market-share gain and improving cash generation. Blinkit is the largest QC player of its kind with the best economics.”
This performance of Zomato is also reflected in its rising market capitalisation which stood at $27.40 billion on October 23. A year ago it was $11.73 billion.
The Board of Zomato also approved its capital raise plans for up to Rs 8,500 crore through qualified institutional placements. It ended the quarter with Rs 10,813 crore in cash balance, while recording one major expense of Rs 2,104 crore for its acquisition of Paytm’s event ticketing business, Insider.
“While the business is now generating cash (vis-a-vis a loss-making business at the time of IPO), we believe that we need to enhance our cash balance given the competitive landscape and the much larger scale of our business today,” noted Co-Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal in a shareholder letter.
The growth plans outlined by Zomato have had brokerage houses giving a buy rating for the stock with a target price of Rs 310.
Startup
Thesys secures $4M funding led by Together Fund
AI startup Thesys bags $4 million funding in a round led by Together Fund. The round also saw participation from 8VC, the company said in a statement.
The startup will use the funding to bridge the gap of user experience with AI agents. As a visual collaboration tool, the company will also provide a platform that will enable businesses to ideate, visualise, and ship intelligent experiences at scale.
“The way we engage with technology is changing faster than ever. Static interfaces simply don’t meet the demands of today’s AI-capabilities…At Thesys, we’re building tools that make it possible for businesses to adapt and thrive in this new era,” said Parikshit Deshmukh, Co-founder, Thesys.
This evolution is about unlocking the full potential of AI-driven interactions and delivering unparalleled user experiences, he added.
“The future of AI relies as much on intuitive, adaptive interfaces as it does on backend capabilities. Thesys’ vision for Generative UI aligns perfectly with Together Fund’s commitment to enabling founders who are redefining the user experience,” said Manav Garg, Co-founder and managing partner of Together Fund.
“By empowering teams to create real-time, personalized interactions, Thesys is setting a new standard for AI-driven interfaces. We’re excited to support their journey in transforming the role of design and development tools for the next generation of AI applications,” he added.
The company, founded by Rabi Shanker Guha and Parikshit Deshmukh this year, emerged from the understanding of the need to provide support in the shift towards AI-driven interfaces, it said.
“Thesys envisions a future where all interfaces dynamically adjust to each user’s behavior, preferences, and needs—driven by what the company calls “Generative UI”. Unlike traditional static interfaces that rely on predefined paths, Generative UI uses AI to create unique, adaptive user interfaces on-the-fly, allowing businesses to provide truly personalized digital experiences,” the company added.
The company plans to launch a UI SDK that is set to enable developers to seamlessly integrate Generative UI into their applications. Additionally, post its closed beta launch, the company plans a general availability (GA) with its product within the next quarter positioning itself as the go-to product toolkit for businesses looking to stay ahead in the AI revolution.
“Thesys is pioneering a transformative shift in UI design workflows by integrating AI-driven adaptability… Their Generative UI approach aligns with our commitment to investing in technologies that drive innovation in user experiences,” said Bhaskar Ghosh, partner at 8VC.
Startup
BrowserStack launches AI-driven Low Code Automation tool
Software testing platform
has rolled out Low Code Automation, a solution to simplify test automation for quality assurance teams, developers, and non-technical users.The newly launched solution will address challenges faced by software teams, including manual testing delays and complex automation frameworks, BrowserStack said in a statement.
While traditional test automation requires coding expertise by often limiting non-technical testers to contribute, this tool allows user—irrespective of their technical background—to create and manage AI-driven automated tests without writing code. Users can also use BrowserStack’s cloud infrastructure for reliable test execution.
“(The AI-powered Low-Code Automation (LCA) simplifies the process of building and maintaining test automation suites compared to traditional tools like Selenium. It reduces the steep learning curve and complexity often associated with automation projects, leading to a quicker return on investment (ROI),” Chintan Doshi, Director of Product Management at BrowserStack, told YourStory.
To support development teams worldwide, Low Code Automation speeds up testing cycles, boosts product quality, and enhances user experience by reducing technical barriers.
“Citizen testers—such as business analysts, product managers, and customer support teams—can easily add validations and create automated tests with the test recorder, without requiring coding skills. This reduces their dependency on developers and QAs and empowers them to actively contribute to testing efforts,” Doshi explained.
Founded in 2011 by Ritesh Arora and Nakul Aggarwal, BrowserStack provides a cloud-based platform for developers to test websites and mobile apps across devices, operating systems, and browsers on demand.
With headquarters in San Francisco and Mumbai, the company has expanded its product line to include over 15 products, of which 10 were launched in the past 18 months.
In August, the Accel-backed firm acquired Berlin-based Bird Eats Bug, an advanced bug-reporting tool. The acquisition aims to address the existing gaps in bug reporting and streamline fragmented testing workflows.
Startup
Flipkart’s delivery arm Instakart reports widening losses, lower revenue in FY24
Flipkart’s delivery service arm Instakart’s FY24 losses increased multifold to Rs 1718.4 crore, from Rs 324.6 crore in the previous year, hurt by higher expenses and marginally lower revenues.
The company, which is in the logistics, warehouse, courier and allied services business, clocked an operating revenue of Rs 12,115.3 crore in FY24, 5% lower than Rs 12,787.4 crore it posted a year ago, according to filings made with Toefler.
During the period, the company’s total expenses increased 6% to Rs 14,149.4 crore, mainly driven by employee benefit and other expenses.
Logistics services accounted for the majority (about 78%) of Instakart’s total operating revenues, with Rs 9,429.8 crore, marginally lower than what it collected in the previous year.
Warehousing services, which accounted for about 10% of total operating revenues, witnessed a 28.4% drop in revenue, while collection services, which accounted for 12%, remained stable.
Just a week ago, Flipkart Internet reported a 21% rise in FY24 revenue at Rs 17,907.3 crore helped by rising income from its advertising services.
Flipkart India Ltd, which is Flipkart’s business-to-business (B2B) arm, reported a 26.4% rise in revenue from operations at Rs 70,541.9 crore in FY24.
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