Also in the letter:
■ Nvidia’s $100B OpenAI bet
■ ETtech Done Deals
■ India trails the chip race
Blinkit tops quick commerce with over 50% market share, set to gain more
Eternal-owned Blinkit has tightened its grip on India’s quick commerce sector, crossing the 50% market share threshold and pulling further ahead of rivals. The numbers, released by BofA Securities, sees the 10-minute delivery leader consolidating gains further as others slow down.
By the numbers:
The huge picture: Competition is cooling off. Both Zepto and Instamart have paapplyd their aggressive expansion to focus on Ebitda, BofA Securities noted. Blinkit, meanwhile, has adopted an inventory-led model since Eternal’s restructuring, which analysts believe could assist improve margins.
Also Read: ETtech Explainer: Why Blinkit is shifting to an inventory-led model
Quote unquote: “We believe the strong dark store footprint will give Blinkit a competitive advantage as it could leverage its scale to neobtainediate with brands, earn better ad revenues and continue to increase market share,” analysts at BofA Securities wrote.
Earlier this year, Eternal CFO Akshant Goyal stated that Blinkit would continue to chase market share aggressively.
Also Read: Quick commerce firms bulk up store networks to speed up festive ops
Porter logs 57% revenue growth in FY25, turns profitable
(L-R) Uttam Digga and Pranav Goel, founders, Porter
On-demand logistics aggregator Porter swung to a profit in FY25, riding on strong topline growth and continued expansion across categories and cities.
Key financials:
- Operating revenue rose 57% to Rs 4,306 crore.
- Net profit stood at Rs 55 crore, reversing a Rs 96 crore loss in FY24.
- Ebitda came in at Rs 48 crore, against a Rs 112 crore operating loss last year.
What’s driving growth: Expansion into new markets assisted push revenue higher, even as total expenses grew 50% to Rs 4,286 crore. Fleet operator payouts, Porter’s largest cost head, surged 55% to Rs 3,679 crore, while employee costs rose 20% to Rs 285 crore.
Strategic relocates: Porter, valued at $1.2 billion post a $200 million fundraise in May, is closing a larger $300 million round, ET had reported. Now active in over 25 cities, it is building a full-stack logistics play ahead of a planned IPO.
Nvidia to invest $100 billion in OpenAI for data centre development
(L-R) Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI, Jensen Huang, CEO, Nvidia
Chipbuildr Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to build out data centres, the companies declared on Monday, marking one of the largest bets in generative AI yet.
Deal details: The tie-up includes deploying at least 10 GW worth of Nvidia chips to fuel OpenAI’s AI infrastructure. Final terms are expected in the coming weeks, with initial deployments set for the second half of 2026.
Also Read: OpenAI deal train arrives at Nvidia: All we know so far
Context: The race for AI infrastructure is intensifying, with compute and power emerging as key bottlenecks. The deal comes days after Nvidia invested $5 billion in Intel, highlighting a broader push to secure supply chains and deepen strategic ties.
Why it matters: Nvidia strengthens its grip on AI hardware, while OpenAI locks in critical chip supply as demand for model training and inference scales rapidly.
Also Read: Silicon saga: From CPU to XPU, challengers chip in
Rocket raises $15 million from Salesforce Ventures, Accel and others
(L-R) Rahul Shingala, Vishal Virani and Deepak Dhanak, founders, Rocket
Surat-based app-building platform Rocket has raised $15 million in a funding round led by Salesforce Ventures and Accel, with backing from Toobtainher Fund. The AI-powered startup turns simple natural language prompts into ready-to-apply apps.
Funding focus: The funds will be utilised to enhance research and development, accelerate product creation, and expand global operations. Rocket also plans to establish a new North American headquarters in Palo Alto.
About the company: Founded by Vishal Virani, Rahul Shingala, and Deepak Dhanak, Rocket currently has 60 employees across Surat and Palo Alto. It plans to double the size of its India team over the next year.
Track3D raises $10 million from Ironspring Ventures, others
Chaitanya N K, founder, Track3D
Realty innotifyigence startup Track3D has raised $10 million in a round led by Ironspring Ventures and co-led by Zacua Ventures. Existing backers Shadow Ventures and Monta Vista Capital also participated. The company plans to grow into India, Europe and Saudi Arabia.
Overview: Founded in 2022 by Vineeth Kumar, Kiran Gutta, and Chaitanya NK, Track3D applys drones, cameras, and laser scanners to provide real-time insights into construction progress. It has now raised a total of $14.3 million and completed over 400 projects across various sectors, including aviation and healthcare. The firm has 130 employees, mainly engineers based in India.
Also Read: Deeptech startup Chakr Innovation raises $23 million from Iron Pillar, others
Semicon saga: Can India do an NvI(n)DIA?
Nvidia’s rise to a $4 trillion market capitalisation has spurred countries to build self-reliant semiconductor ecosystems. China’s Huawei and Alibaba already have AI chips in production, while India is racing to catch up.
India’s relocates:
- The government’s Rs 76,000 crore Semiconductor Mission is backing chip design, fab manufacturing, and talent.
- The domestic market is projected to hit $100-110 billion by 2030.
- Startups like C2i Semiconductors and Agrani Labs are developing AI chips, with $90 million invested over the past five years.
Also Read: Govt to quick-track next round of India Semiconductor Mission
The catch: India trails far behind. According to a deeptech investor ISRO’s “Vikram” chip applys 180-nanometre technology, while the world is transitioning to 2nm. Self-reliance is the ambition, but India may be seven to eight years away from building globally competitive chips, he added. Venture capital investors warn that the capital requireds are too steep for private investors alone.
Also Read: Semiconductor market to grow from $627 billion in 2024 to $1 trillion by 2030: PwC
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