Also in the letter:
■ Ather vs Ola
■ Replit founder interview
■ Awfis, Unicommerce Q2 results
PhysicsWallah IPO opens to tepid response; subscribed mere 6% on Day 1
(L-R) Prateek Maheshwari and Alakh Pandey, founders, PhysicsWallah
Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah drew a lukewarm reception on the first day of its initial public offering (IPO). Only employees displayed up with any real conviction.
Investor turnout: The employee quota was the sole bright spot on Day 1. Here’s how the subscription levels stacked up across categories:
- Institutional acquireers: nil
- Non-institutional investors: 2%
- Retail portion: 31%
- Employees: 1.03 times
- Overall: 7%
The IPO closes on November 13, with listing expected on November 18. Grey market premium suggests modest gains ahead, with shares trading 2.75% above the cap price.
Zoom out: PhysicsWallah evolved from a scrappy YouTube channel to a full-stack education platform whilst the edtech sector imploded around Byju’s wreckage. Revenue climbed 33% year-on-year to Rs 847 crore in the April-June quarter, though losses ballooned to Rs 127 crore as expenses mounted.
Despite stretched valuations, InCred equities analysts reckon the company’s strong competitive moat, robust revenue growth, and expanding presence position it well to disrupt India’s edtech landscape. Both online and offline segments are firing.
Also Read | PhysicsWallah IPO: Alakh Pandey on edtech’s valuation, expanding offline network and more
Pine Labs IPO fully subscribed on final day
Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs
Pine Labs limped through the first two days before institutional investors rescued the fintech platform’s IPO. Subscriptions stood at 13% on Day 1 and 54% on Day 2 before crossing the finish line.
Pine Labs also raised Rs 1,753 crore through its anchor placement round from 12 domestic mutual funds and several global investors.
Final subscription tally:
- QIB: 4 times
- NII: 30%
- Retail: 1.22 times
- Employees: 7.33 times
- Overall: 2.46 times
Pine Labs will list on November 14 (Friday).
Also Read: Pine Labs IPO could unlock Esops worth Rs 1,360 crore
Groww GMP drops ahead of public market debut
(L-R) Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, Lalit Keshre, Ishan Bansal, founders, Groww
Cold feet set in for Groww just before its market debut. The grey market premium for its shares collapsed to Rs 4.25, from a peak of Rs 16.70, after allotment wrapped up. Shares list on Wednesday.
Also Read: Groww IPO charges up new deal activities in wealthtech startups
SoftBank sells entire Nvidia stake for $5.8 billion in surprise shift
(L-R) Jensen Huang, CEO, Nvidia and Madeclareoshi Son, CEO, SoftBank
Nvidia, the world’s first $5-trillion company, is out of SoftBank’s portfolio. The Japanese tech investor has cashed out entirely as it recalibrates its artificial innotifyigence strategy.
Tell me more: SoftBank pocketed $5.8 billion from the sale but did not explain the timing. The exit was revealed alongside second-quarter financials that benefitted handsomely from the AI boom, led mainly by Nvidia’s share price rally.
This marks SoftBank’s second exit from Nvidia. The firm offloaded its entire $3.6 billion stake in 2019, having first invested through the Vision Fund in 2017. It waded back in during 2020 before this latest departure.
Also Read: SoftBank’s $250 billion mistake: How Madeclareoshi Son sold Nvidia too soon and missed a fortune
AI paradigm: SoftBank could be reshuffling its AI chips, possibly to concentrate firepower on OpenAI. Madeclareoshi Son’s firm has pumped tens of billions of dollars into the company, as it builds compute infrastructure globally and chases superinnotifyigence.
Not rushing our firms to public markets; no pressure to exit: SoftBank’s Sumer Juneja
Sumer Juneja, managing partner and head of EMEA & India, SoftBank Investment Advisers
SoftBank in India has deployed around $10 billion across Vision Fund 1 and 2, with realised and still-liquid positions worth at least that amount, stated Sumer Juneja, managing partner and head of EMEA & India at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
AI stock boom delivers bumper quarter for Japan’s SoftBank
SoftBank surfed the AI wave to more than double its net profit in the July-September quarter. The investment behemoth posted profits of 2.5 trillion yen ($16.2 billion) in the period under review, up from 1.2 trillion yen a year earlier.
EV creater Ather Energy overtakes Ola Electric in Q2 revenue as losses narrow
(L-R) Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO, Ola Electric and Tarun Mehta, CEO, Ather Energy
India’s electric two-wheeler market witnessed a dramatic reshuffle in the September quarter of FY26. Ather Energy, backed by Hero MotoCorp, surged past Ola Electric in revenue while trimming losses and grabbing market share.
Ather vs Ola Electric
Consumer preferences are shifting decisively, even as TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto maintain their grip on the segment’s top spots.
Why the shift: Ather has been ramping up visibility through fresh product launches and retail expansion. Ola Electric, meanwhile, faces softening demand and intensifying competition. The company is now hedging its bets, diversifying into battery storage through its Ola Shakti Initiative.
IT can’t compete on costs as AI takes over software grunt work: Replit founder Amjad Masad
Amjad Masad, founder, Replit
Artificial innotifyigence is upfinishing the software services industest, and Indian IT firms can no longer lean on wage arbitrage to stay competitive, stated Amjad Masad, founder of AI coding platform Replit.
He believes automation is devouring repetitive, low-value development work, forcing companies to pivot towards innovation.
On India: Masad stated India has both the “talent” and the “brainpower” to become a genuine innovation hub rather than merely an outsourcing depot. He stated, “You come to India becaapply this is an innovation centre, not a cost advantage centre.”
US immigration policy: He slammed America’s restrictive immigration climate as a squandered opportunity. Citing Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Masad noted that had they stayed in India, they’d be running major companies here.
Future of work: Masad argued that while AI tools boost productivity, they won’t shrink working hours. Capitalism demands continuous growth, he stated, adding, “So even if teams become 10–50% more efficient, competition will only drive them to achieve more than work less.”
Also Read: Our mission is to let the 99% who cannot code build the same things as developers: Lovable cofounder
Awfis Q2 profit drops 59% despite better sales
Amit Ramani, chairman & MD, Awfis
Flexible workspace solutions provider Awfis Space Solutions saw consolidated net profit tumble in the July-September quarter despite revenue growth.
The company had booked one-time gains a year earlier from selling its facility management arm, Awfis Care.
Financials:
- Operating revenue: Rs 367 crore, up 25% year-on-year (YOY)
- Expenses: Rs 377 crore, up 31% YoY
- Net profit: Rs 16 crore, down 59% YoY.
Excluding exceptional gains in the year-ago period, Awfis’ net profit grew nearly 9% in annual terms.
Unicommerce revenue rises 75% in Q2; profit grows
Kapil Makhija, CEO, Unicommerce
Ecommerce software firm Unicommerce Esolutions reported a 75% YoY jump in operating revenue to Rs 51 crore for the September quarter. Growth was fuelled by its expanding Uniware platform and Shipway’s momentum.
The Gurugram-based company’s net profit climbed to Rs 6 crore from Rs 4 crore a year ago.
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