Also in the letter:
■ Karnataka HC greenlights bike taxis
■ Atlan boss flags AI funding hype
■ Amazon prepares for new layoffs
Juspay turns unicorn with $50 million funding from WestBridge Capital
Juspay founders Sheetal Lalwani (left) and Vimal Kumar
Digital payments infrastructure startup Juspay has raised $50 million in a funding round led by WestBridge Capital, pushing its valuation to about $1.2 billion.
Tell me more: The round includes a mix of primary and secondary capital, offering partial exits to early investors and liquidity to employees. With this raise, Juspay becomes the first Indian startup to enter the unicorn club in 2026.
By the numbers: Juspay turned profitable in FY25, posting a net profit of Rs 62 crore in FY25, compared with a net loss of Rs 97 crore in FY24. The company last raised $60 million in April 2025 from Kedaara Capital, SoftBank and Accel at a $900 million valuation.
What it does: Founded in 2012, Juspay provides payment infrastructure and orchestration software to enterprises and banks. It processes over 300 million transactions daily and handles annualised payment volumes exceeding $1 trillion.
Indusattempt context: Juspay received its payment aggregator (PA) licence from the Reserve Bank of India in February 2024, a shift that stirred friction across the payments ecosystem.
Rival aggregators accutilized Juspay of steering transactions towards its own PA service, flagging a conflict of interest. PhonePe questioned merchants to stop applying Juspay’s services in December 2024, followed by similar shifts from Razorpay and Cashfree in early 2025.
Infra.Market obtains Sebi approval for Rs 5,000-crore IPO
Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda, founders, Infra.Market
Infra.Market, the online platform for construction materials, has secured approval from the Securities and Exmodify Board of India (Sebi) to launch its initial public offering (IPO). The company, backed by Tiger Global and Accel, had confidentially filed for the IPO in October 2025.
IPO details:
- IPO size: Rs 5,000 crore.
- Structure: The issue will be split equally between fresh shares and an offer-for-sale (OFS) by existing shareholders.
- Issue managers: Kotak Mahindra Capital, IIFL Capital, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, ICICI Securities, HSBC Securities, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, and Nuvama Wealth Management.
FY25 financials: In FY25, Infra.Market saw revenue growth but a drop in profits.
- Revenue: Rs 18,472 crore, up 27% from Rs 14,530.2 crore in FY24.
- Net profit: Rs 219.7 crore, down 42% from Rs 378 crore.
Urban Company Q3 Results: Company reports loss of Rs 21 crore, revenue up 33%
Abhiraj Singh Bhal, CEO, Urban Company
Urban Company reported a weak December quarter, as increased investment in its new houtilizekeeping vertical weighed on profitability, despite strong growth in its core operations.
Financials:
- Net loss: Rs 21 crore vs profit of Rs 232 crore in the year-ago quarter.
- Revenue: Up 33% year on year (Yoy) at Rs 383 crore.
- Adjusted Ebitda loss: Rs 17 crore, driven largely by investments in InstaHelp.
Zoom out: This comes as the 10-minute home assist segment saw orders increase to 1.3–1.4 million in December 2025, up 50–60% from roughly 850,000 in October, as reported by ET. Indusattempt executives stated the surge highlights growing consumer demand for on-demand, ultra-quick houtilizehold services and a readiness to pay for quick, convenient options.
At the same time, the rise in orders has increased the indusattempt’s monthly cash burn, which grew to $7–8 million in December from $5–7 million in October, highlighting the higher costs of scaling the business.
Also Read: InstaHelp must double average order value to break even: Urban Company
Karnataka High Court lifts ban on bike taxis, allows operators to apply for permits
In a significant win for ride-hailing platforms, the Karnataka High Court on Friday set aside the state government’s ban on bike taxi operations, clearing the way for companies to seek permits.
Driving the news: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi overturned a previous single-judge order that had effectively halted bike taxis.
- The court held that the state cannot deny permits solely becautilize the vehicle is a motorcycle.
- It ruled that motorcycles qualify as “transport vehicles” under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
- The bench directed the state government to process applications for “contract carriage permits” from bike taxi operators.
The bench noted that while the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) can impose conditions or regulations, an outright ban amounts to a “de facto prohibition” on lawful trade protected under the Constitution.
Relief for companies: The ruling provides immediate relief to Ola, Uber, and Rapido, which have relied heavily on bike taxis for last-mile connectivity in congested cities. An Uber spokesperson described bike taxis as a “vital mobility lifeline” for Bengaluru’s traffic.
What happened: The Karnataka government banned bike taxi services in March 2024. On April 2 2025, a single-judge bench ruled that aggregators could not operate bike taxis until the state framed a policy, triggering a shutdown from June 16 last year. Friday’s verdict reverses that position and reopens the market.
Also Read: Karnataka bike taxi dispute: A timeline of key developments
Atlan CEO Prukalpa Sankar warns founders against frothy VC markets amid AI hype
Prukalpa Sankar, CEO, Atlan
Atlan cofounder and CEO Prukalpa Sankar has urged founders to stay disciplined as capital floods into artificial innotifyigence, warning that financial exuberance is outpacing business fundamentals.
Tech vs market hype: Sankar drew a clear line between technological modify and investor behaviour. “I don’t consider the technology is a hype cycle at all. We can argue the timelines, but this is the hugegest modify that we’ve seen in our lifetime,” Sankar asserted. However, she noted that financial markets, both VC and capital markets, are at a “high point” of a hype cycle.
Revenue pool: Sankar highlighted how uneven the AI economy has become. “About 96% of AI-native company revenue is concentrated in basically 12 companies at this point,” with 85% captured by just two foundation models. Most other companies merely pass revenue back to these models, forming an unusual ecosystem.
Founder lens: Sankar founded data collaboration startup Atlan with Varun Banka in 2023 and won the Women Ahead award at the ET Startup Award 2025. Her message to founders is to focus on capital efficiency, clear differentiation, and long-term strategy, even as the AI boom accelerates around them.
Amazon job cuts 2026: Etailer to start cutting thousands of corporate roles in coming days
Andy Jassy, CEO, Amazon
Amazon is set to launch a second round of job cuts next week as part of its plan to reduce about 30,000 corporate roles.
Layoff details:
- The layoffs could launch as early as Tuesday.
- They will affect AWS, retail, Prime Video, and People Experience and Technology (PXT).
- This is only a tiny portion of Amazon’s 1.58 million global employees, but still a significant reduction in office staff.
Previous cuts: In October, Amazon laid off around 14,000 white-collar employees, approximately half of the initially reported 30,000 tarobtain. The company attributed the job cuts to the rise of AI technology.
However, CEO Andy Jassy later informed analysts that the layoffs were not driven by financial reasons or AI. He indicated the shift was about “culture,” aimed at reducing bureaucracy within the company.
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