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Ecom Express’ rights issue; Google Cloud chief interview
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Ecom Express is planning a $170 million rights issue through its existing investors. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in this letter:
■ Zomato growing faster than Swiggy, says CLSA
■ In-depth: AI connecting last mile
■ ETtech Done Deals
![ecom express. ecom express.](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262388/ecom express..jpg)
Third-party logistics company Ecom Express is looking to raise Rs 1,424 crore (about $170 million) through a rights issue that is likely to be led by existing investors—Warburg Pincus, British International Investment (BII), and Switzerland-based Partners Group.
Shareholder nod: The company’s shareholders passed a resolution for a rights issue totalling 1.57 million compulsorily convertible preference shares at Rs 9,071 apiece, showed regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Ecom Express floated a rights issue at the same price in July last year.
Warburg Pincus holds a 33.76% stake in Ecom Express, followed by Partners Group at 17.57% and British International Investment at 6.48%.
FY23 scorecard: Ecom Express posted a more than 20% increase in fiscal 2023 operating revenue at Rs 2,548 crore, even as its loss widened over fourfold. The loss widened to Rs 375 crore in FY23 from Rs 91 crore the year before, as expenses rose about 30% to Rs 2,856 crore. The company has yet to file its financials for FY24.
The Gurugram-based company competes with the likes of Delhivery and Xpressbees, besides Flipkart’s Ekart Logistics and Amazon Transportation Services.
Also read: Third-party firms Delhivery, Xpressbees look to sort out logistics of quick commerce race
Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud
Google may be a late entrant to the cloud business, but it’s doubled its market share in the last five years. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian talks about a wide range of issues, including AI adoption in India, the exorbitant price of GPU-guzzling GenAI, and the need for data sovereignty and privacy.
On adoption of AI: “Many of the leading economies are moving very, very quickly… because they have very strong software capabilities. They know where the latest technology is, and they're seeing that adoption now. Particularly, startups and companies working with us are using our AI data centres and our AI machines and infrastructure to build their own models.”
On investments in India: “We already have three large data centre regions in India. Our data centre infrastructure in India also supports AI systems in the country. So when we work with financial institutions, regulators, and hospitals, of course, we want the data to sit in the country, the models to be available locally."
On privacy: “We have very strong privacy controls. If you're a developer or a company using our AI platform, your data is your data and nobody else's. Even Google can’t see it. It is protected in a private environment in which your systems run. We also have 19 times the safety and responsibility controls on the platform.”
Also read: 'AWS working with Indian startups to solve for world'
![Zomato, Swiggy delivery agents Zomato, Swiggy delivery agents](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262641/Zomato, Swiggy delivery agents.jpg)
Zomato is well ahead of IPO-bound peer Swiggy, global brokerage firm CLSA has noted, setting a target price of Rs 248 per share on the new-age stock.
By the numbers: Prosus, which holds a 32.7% stake in Swiggy, disclosed in its annual results release that the company’s overall gross merchandise value (GMV) (including food delivery and dining out businesses) grew 26% year-on-year (YoY), compared to Zomato’s 32%.
Fine print: “Swiggy’s overall revenue growth of 24% YoY was also lower than Zomato’s adjusted revenue growth of 55.9% YoY. Swiggy’s trading losses reduced to $158 million during FY24, while Zomato reported a positive Ebitda of $5 million during FY24,” the brokerage firm said in its note.
Zomato shares closed about 2% higher on the BSE at Rs 202.40 on Tuesday.
![Baron captital Baron captital](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111263168/Baron captital.jpg)
Expert take: Swiggy, which is headed for a public listing, will require its management to demonstrate a clear path to adjusted Ebitda break-even at a consolidated level, analysts said, and arrest market share losses in food delivery and quick commerce businesses.
Recap: In its annual report, Prosus said Swiggy’s user base reached 104 million at the end of December 2023. The investor added that quick commerce vertical Instamart's unit economics continued to improve as a result of “larger basket sizes, expanded user base and improved operational efficiency”.
Also read: Flipkart explored a deal with Swiggy for a pie of quick commerce
![AI artificial intelligence tech startups funding AI artificial intelligence tech startups funding](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262506/AI artificial intelligence tech startups funding.jpg)
Various departments of the Indian government are turning out to be front runners in adopting AI solutions.
Tell me more: Multiple agencies across payments, railways, agriculture, and law enforcement are integrating AI into public service to improve governance and using it as a means to serve citizens at the last mile. For instance, police across states are using AI to record and transcribe on-site investigations and witness statements in real-time in regional languages.
Digitisation of case diary management, preservation of audio files, and real-time transcription/ translation are reducing manual efforts for officials to maintain FIRs, investigation records, case files, and even preparation for legal proceedings.
Use cases:
L-R, Deepak Balasubramanyam, Vignesh Girishankar, Srikrishnan Ganesan, founders, Rocketlane
Rocketlane raises $24 million funding: Rocketlane, a B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup, has raised $24 million (about Rs 200 crore) in a funding round co-led by 8VC, Matrix Partners India, and Nexus Venture Partners.
The funds will be used for launching products, innovating the customer portal, and accelerating Rocketlane's artificial intelligence (AI) roadmap. In total, the company has raised $45 million in funding.
D2C dairy startup Sid's Farm bags $10 million: Direct-to-consumer dairy brand Sid’s Farm has raised $10 million (about Rs 83 crore) in a funding round led by Mumbai-based venture fund Omnivore and the family office of Ambuja Cements founder Narotam Sekhsaria.
The dairy brand will use the funds to strengthen its presence in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The company claims to serve over 25,000 customers across these two states.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Megha Mishra in Mumbai and Riya Roy Chowdhury in Bengaluru.
Also in this letter:
■ Zomato growing faster than Swiggy, says CLSA
■ In-depth: AI connecting last mile
■ ETtech Done Deals
Ecom Express targets $170 million via rights issue
![ecom express. ecom express.](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262388/ecom express..jpg)
Third-party logistics company Ecom Express is looking to raise Rs 1,424 crore (about $170 million) through a rights issue that is likely to be led by existing investors—Warburg Pincus, British International Investment (BII), and Switzerland-based Partners Group.
Shareholder nod: The company’s shareholders passed a resolution for a rights issue totalling 1.57 million compulsorily convertible preference shares at Rs 9,071 apiece, showed regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Ecom Express floated a rights issue at the same price in July last year.
Warburg Pincus holds a 33.76% stake in Ecom Express, followed by Partners Group at 17.57% and British International Investment at 6.48%.
FY23 scorecard: Ecom Express posted a more than 20% increase in fiscal 2023 operating revenue at Rs 2,548 crore, even as its loss widened over fourfold. The loss widened to Rs 375 crore in FY23 from Rs 91 crore the year before, as expenses rose about 30% to Rs 2,856 crore. The company has yet to file its financials for FY24.
The Gurugram-based company competes with the likes of Delhivery and Xpressbees, besides Flipkart’s Ekart Logistics and Amazon Transportation Services.
Also read: Third-party firms Delhivery, Xpressbees look to sort out logistics of quick commerce race
Google Cloud’s AI push is winning clients: Thomas Kurian
![ThomasKurian CEO google ThomasKurian CEO google](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262411/ThomasKurian CEO google.jpg)
Google may be a late entrant to the cloud business, but it’s doubled its market share in the last five years. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian talks about a wide range of issues, including AI adoption in India, the exorbitant price of GPU-guzzling GenAI, and the need for data sovereignty and privacy.
On adoption of AI: “Many of the leading economies are moving very, very quickly… because they have very strong software capabilities. They know where the latest technology is, and they're seeing that adoption now. Particularly, startups and companies working with us are using our AI data centres and our AI machines and infrastructure to build their own models.”
On investments in India: “We already have three large data centre regions in India. Our data centre infrastructure in India also supports AI systems in the country. So when we work with financial institutions, regulators, and hospitals, of course, we want the data to sit in the country, the models to be available locally."
On privacy: “We have very strong privacy controls. If you're a developer or a company using our AI platform, your data is your data and nobody else's. Even Google can’t see it. It is protected in a private environment in which your systems run. We also have 19 times the safety and responsibility controls on the platform.”
Also read: 'AWS working with Indian startups to solve for world'
Zomato growing faster than Swiggy, says CLSA
![Zomato, Swiggy delivery agents Zomato, Swiggy delivery agents](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262641/Zomato, Swiggy delivery agents.jpg)
Zomato is well ahead of IPO-bound peer Swiggy, global brokerage firm CLSA has noted, setting a target price of Rs 248 per share on the new-age stock.
By the numbers: Prosus, which holds a 32.7% stake in Swiggy, disclosed in its annual results release that the company’s overall gross merchandise value (GMV) (including food delivery and dining out businesses) grew 26% year-on-year (YoY), compared to Zomato’s 32%.
Fine print: “Swiggy’s overall revenue growth of 24% YoY was also lower than Zomato’s adjusted revenue growth of 55.9% YoY. Swiggy’s trading losses reduced to $158 million during FY24, while Zomato reported a positive Ebitda of $5 million during FY24,” the brokerage firm said in its note.
Zomato shares closed about 2% higher on the BSE at Rs 202.40 on Tuesday.
![Baron captital Baron captital](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111263168/Baron captital.jpg)
Expert take: Swiggy, which is headed for a public listing, will require its management to demonstrate a clear path to adjusted Ebitda break-even at a consolidated level, analysts said, and arrest market share losses in food delivery and quick commerce businesses.
Recap: In its annual report, Prosus said Swiggy’s user base reached 104 million at the end of December 2023. The investor added that quick commerce vertical Instamart's unit economics continued to improve as a result of “larger basket sizes, expanded user base and improved operational efficiency”.
Also read: Flipkart explored a deal with Swiggy for a pie of quick commerce
In-depth: AI builds a bridge to the last mile
![AI artificial intelligence tech startups funding AI artificial intelligence tech startups funding](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262506/AI artificial intelligence tech startups funding.jpg)
Various departments of the Indian government are turning out to be front runners in adopting AI solutions.
Tell me more: Multiple agencies across payments, railways, agriculture, and law enforcement are integrating AI into public service to improve governance and using it as a means to serve citizens at the last mile. For instance, police across states are using AI to record and transcribe on-site investigations and witness statements in real-time in regional languages.
Digitisation of case diary management, preservation of audio files, and real-time transcription/ translation are reducing manual efforts for officials to maintain FIRs, investigation records, case files, and even preparation for legal proceedings.
Use cases:
- National Payments Corporation of India, which oversees the UPI ecosystem, this year launched voice-based payments for peer-to-peer transfers and balance check features in English and Hindi.
- Police across states are using AI to record and transcribe on-site investigations and witness statements in real time in regional languages.
- The ticketing department of Indian Railways, IRCTC, has integrated AI capabilities into its ‘Ask Disha’ chatbot to enable people to seek train information and schedules in their preferred language through text and voice.
ETtech Done Deals
![Left to right Deepak Balasubramanyam Vignesh Girishankar Srikrishnan Ganesan Left to right Deepak Balasubramanyam Vignesh Girishankar Srikrishnan Ganesan](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-111262542/Left to right Deepak Balasubramanyam Vignesh Girishankar Srikrishnan Ganesan.jpg)
Rocketlane raises $24 million funding: Rocketlane, a B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup, has raised $24 million (about Rs 200 crore) in a funding round co-led by 8VC, Matrix Partners India, and Nexus Venture Partners.
The funds will be used for launching products, innovating the customer portal, and accelerating Rocketlane's artificial intelligence (AI) roadmap. In total, the company has raised $45 million in funding.
D2C dairy startup Sid's Farm bags $10 million: Direct-to-consumer dairy brand Sid’s Farm has raised $10 million (about Rs 83 crore) in a funding round led by Mumbai-based venture fund Omnivore and the family office of Ambuja Cements founder Narotam Sekhsaria.
The dairy brand will use the funds to strengthen its presence in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The company claims to serve over 25,000 customers across these two states.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Megha Mishra in Mumbai and Riya Roy Chowdhury in Bengaluru.
Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox?
I agree to receive newsletters and marketing communications via e-mail
![](https://img.etimg.com/photo/msid-81268931,quality-100/et-logo.jpg)
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