Fintech Solutions 1Pay Aims to Digitize Logistics and Transportation

1Pay Latest Startup News

The Indian logistics sector is powering forward, projected to be worth a hugely impressive $380 billion by 2025. Part of that growth can be attributed to the rollout of FASTags - Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology made available for vehicle owners, which makes toll payments direct and hassle-free.

But Mumbai fintech start-up 1Pay is harnessing this technology for much more than just payments at tolls; they plan to use it to provide services tailored directly to fleet owners, such as assistance with parking payments, fuel bills and challan bills. This digitized process maximizes ease of use and helps transport operators quickly manage their payments.

At present, 500,000 commercial vehicles have already been activated on the platform, but 1Pay is confident that this number will increase to two million in a couple of years as more transport operators come on board. In 2021, revenue for 1Pay was expected to hit somewhere in the region of $15 - $20 million, and Sanjiv Singh, one of the start-up’s co-founders, said recently that last year they had achieved revenues of Rs 28 crore and now looking to reach between Rs 38-39 crore in the current fiscal year.

1Pay has so far been solely funded by its own funds but hopes to raise additional external investments within the next 2-3 months time frame. As well as an additional investment, they plan on expanding their service even further by employing salespeople across India so that they have an increased presence and more touch points.

It isn’t just startups investing in the fast-developing logistics sector, though; many larger companies are also packing their bags and hopping aboard the bus headed for success in this field, which has had a positive knock-on effect for those involved in fintech too - a field 1Pay wishes to make major strides in over 2021. 

Fintech is here to stay and is providing financial solutions not only within India but also abroad. Fastags are certainly helping bridge the gap between certain sectors within India exponentially. 

Also Read: Log9 Materials Raises $11 Million in Latest Funding Round

About Entrackr

Entrackr is a new-age media platform for entrepreneurs, startups and technology enthusiasts. It provides comprehensive coverage and analysis of the latest developments in tech startups across India, Southeast Asia and beyond. 

Entrackr offers unique stories that go beyond the normal everyday news, taking an in-depth look at the various trends in startup ecosystems. It publishes exclusive news features, interviews and stories on founders, investors, accelerators, products and more. Entrackr aggregates data-driven content to provide insights relevant to young entrepreneurs who are driving the growth of India's startup sector.

Log9 Materials Raises $11 Million in Latest Funding Round

Log9 Materials Startup Funding News - EV focused advanced battery platform

As the world moves towards adopting more eco-friendly alternatives, the electric vehicle industry is picking up speed. Thanks to advancing technology, several companies are emerging as go-to options for electric vehicle solutions. One of the leading lights in this industry is Log9 Materials, which recently closed an extended Series B fundraising round spearheaded by PTV International Ventures, raising over $11 million in the process.

Log9 Materials is known for its advanced battery platform which focuses on electric vehicles. In September 2022, the company raised Rs 77 crore ($9.4 million approximately) in a round led by Amara Raja Batteries which was exclusively reported by Entrackr. The bulk of the funds raised in the recent Series B round came from PTV International Ventures through the issuance of 44,194 Series B compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS), along with 440 partly paid CCPS at an issue price of Rs 22,703 and Rs 100 per share respectively.

SiriusOne Capital, Cornerstone Ventures and other investors also contributed to the fresh infusion. To raise the total sum of Rs 91.26 crore or $11.4 million, Kube Opportunities’ LO Fund, Anicut Capital and IITMS Rural Technology and Business Incubator pitched in. The fresh fundraise has reportedly valued the company at Rs 1,786 crore or $223 million post-allocation. Log9 Materials has raised around $30 million to date, including a Series A+ round of $8.5 million in August 2021.

Log9 Materials is on a mission to make the future of electric vehicles and energy storage simpler, reliable and accessible to all. Its RapidX batteries are the fastest charging solutions in the industry tailored for three and two-wheelers. The company has also set out to create electric vehicle charging infrastructure ecosystems across the country.

In the last fiscal year, Log9 Materials has scaled rapidly, recording a 3.3x increase in its operating revenue. While the company’s losses widened two-fold to Rs 16.1 crore in FY22, this is expected to be negated by the immense growth opportunities in the electric vehicle industry in the coming years.

Also Read: Fractal Records Revenue of Rs 1,300 Cr in FY22, but Experiences Losses

Wrapping Up

It’s no surprise, then, that investors are interested in being part of the Log9 Materials story. The company’s successes are a testament to the electric vehicle industry’s immense potential, and with the backing of its venture capitalists and investors, Log9 Materials is all set to become an essential part of the world’s green revolution.

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Entrackr is the ultimate news platform for start-ups and entrepreneurs focusing on the main areas like new business startups, investments, and funding. Entrackr tracks relevant news from the whole country and curates stories from a variety of sources, including leading newspapers, tech media, influencers, and more. 

If a new business startup is launching in India, the platform makes sure that its readers have timely access to the most relevant and accurate news. Entrackr also covers upcoming startups in India, startup funding news and investments news, giving readers quick access to the latest startup news related to their interests.

Fractal Records Revenue of Rs 1,300 Cr in FY22, but Experiences Losses

Fractal Latest Startup News

Fractal, an Artificial Intelligence firm, became part of the unicorn club after raising $360 million from TPG in January this year. This resulted in the company being valued at $1 billion. In the previous fiscal year (FY21), Fractal's revenue had approached Rs 1,300 crore, and this number increased to Rs 1,295 crore in FY22, a 48.3% growth. 96% of the total revenue was from analytics and consulting services, which grew 44.1% to Rs 1,244 crore in FY22. Collection from subscription and licensing fees ballooned 4 times to Rs 51 cr in FY2022. Additionally, the company made Rs 19 crore from financial instruments.

Employee benefits accounted for 74 percent of overall expenses and surged 72.7 percent to Rs 1,088 cr in FY2022 from Rs 630 cr in FY2021. Legal and professional fees also shot up 73.5% to Rs 85 crore in FY22. Software maintenance charges and insurance each added Rs 28 cr, pushing the overall cost by 73.7 percent to Rs 1,461 cr during the last year. This resulted in the company slipping into losses (Rs 148 crore) in FY22, compared to a profit of Rs 36 crore in FY21. Its EBITDA and ROCE margin also turned negative with -4.91% and -9.26% respectively.

Fractal's flagship products include Crux Intelligence, Qure.ai, Eugenie.ai, Theremin.ai and Samya.ai. It competes with MuSigma, Tredence, and Quantiphi Analytics, and is eyeing an initial public offering at a $2.5 billion valuation. However, no specific timeline for the IPO has been disclosed yet.

Fractal Chief believes that India will be a major contributor to the upcoming AI revolution. To ensure that the country is able to provide enough talent for this revolution, Fractal has taken the initiative to create the talent present here. With their Imagineer program, they plan to hire talented individuals, teaching them the basics of AI. Furthermore, they have also partnered with Plaksha University, in order to train young individuals in data science and AI. Through these measures, Fractal is confident that it can bridge the talent gap in the Indian AI landscape.

You may also be interested in Uber India's Losses Decline 35% in Fiscal Year 2022

About Fractal

Founded in 2000 in Mumbai, Fractal has grown to become a global company with 3,500 employees across 16 locations, including the US, UK, Ukraine, India, Singapore, and Australia. Led by Group CEO Srikanth Velamakanni and Pranay Agrawal, CEO, Fractal has developed a range of products, such as Qure.ai, which helps radiologists make more accurate diagnoses.

About Entrackr

Entrackr is a digital newsroom devoted to providing incisive analysis and insights on the burgeoning technology and startup ecosystem in India. We cover breaking stories about startups, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts with a focus on inspiring and empowering these innovators. Our goal is to create an environment that will help to foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. Through our storytelling, technology, and journalism we are building an innovative newsroom that will continue to remain ahead of the curve.

Uber India's Losses Decline 35% in Fiscal Year 2022

Uber India Latest Business News

Uber India's ride-hailing business saw decent growth in FY22, with its collection from the vertical reaching Rs 388 crore. However, the company's revenue for providing support services to group companies decreased by 87.7% to Rs 8.72 crore during the same period. Uber India's operating income was mainly derived from its ride-hailing biz, which grew 29.5% to Rs 388.23 crore in FY22 from Rs 299.7 crore in FY21. The local entity also earned non-operating income and interest on current investments of Rs 163.6 crore, taking its total revenue to Rs 560 crore.

On the expense side, Uber India booked 51% of its expenditure as the cost of materials consumed. Employee advertising cum promotional expenses and benefits declined 63.6% and 44.1%, respectively, to Rs 44 crore and Rs 151 crore during FY22. On the other hand, legal cum professional fees spiked 71.7% to Rs 28.84 crore in FY22 from Rs 16.8 crore in FY21. Uber also incurred Rs 36.28 crore in rent and utility costs. As a result, Uber India's annual expenditure declined 13.4% to Rs 853 crore in FY22 compared to Rs 985 crore in FY21. With controlled expenses, the company cut down its losses by 35.3% to Rs 216 crore last year.

The numbers for Uber India are shockingly unimpressive for the year concluding 2021, as evidenced by its EBITDA margin and return on capital employed (ROCE), which declined to -44.77% and -16.95%, respectively. This sharp decrease could be attributed to lowered employee benefits and promotional expenses on a unit level, as it took, on average, Rs 2.15 to generate a single rupee in operating revenue. 

Despite the growth in FY22, Uber India has failed to deliver on its promise of making personal vehicle ownership redundant. Its driver 'partners' and users seem unhappy with the services, and without a drastic change in approach, the suspicion remains high that the end of the road is never too far away for Uber India. Ultimately, Uber India will have to make significant changes to its approach to remain viable in the long run.

You may also like: Dailyhunt's Parent Company Has Reported a Loss of Rs 2,500 Cr and a Revenue of Rs 965 Cr for the FY22

About Uber 

Uber is a global technology company and platform that has revolutionized how people move. Uber offers a more efficient, reliable, and affordable way to travel than using traditional methods of transportation. Uber provides the convenience of ordering transportation from anywhere using a smartphone app. With just a few taps, users can order a ride from a driver who can take them to their destination safely and reliably. To date, Uber has provided billions of rides to millions of people in countries across the world, providing jobs to drivers and an efficient transportation option to many communities. In addition, Uber offers many other services, such as food delivery and boat and bike rentals. Uber has transformed the industry and changed the way people travel forever.

About Entrackr

Entrackr is an online startup news platform focused on start-ups. It covers the latest news, trends, developments and profiles of start-ups and entrepreneurs in India and across the globe. The platform also offers consulting services and helps in connecting investors and startups. Entrackr's news section covers interactions between entrepreneurs, investors and other talking of the start-up industry. It also includes a list of upcoming events and conferences so readers can stay updated on the happenings of the industry. Entrackr is a great way for startups to stay relevant and up-to-date with happenings in the start-up and venture capital world.

Dailyhunt's Parent Company Has Reported a Loss of Rs 2,500 Cr and a Revenue of Rs 965 Cr for the FY22

Dailyhunt Latest Startup News

VerSe Innovation, which owns vernacular news aggregator Dailyhunt and short video entertainment app Josh, continues to lose money, with its losses more than tripling to Rs 2,500 crore in FY22.

Meanwhile, Dailyhunt operating revenue grew by 45% to Rs 965 cr during the same period, according to its annual financial statements with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The group's entire revenue comes from online advertising and subscription services through its mobile apps and website. A total sum of Rs 19 crore was also made by the company from bank deposits and liabilities which it wrote off during the fiscal year. 

The statements didn't provide any revenue breakdown across Josh and DailyHunt. But a Dailyhunt spokesperson told Entrackr that "100% of VerSe's revenue is from advertising on Dailyhunt, and that ad revenue grew 1.5x year-over-year.

VerSe raised $450 million during FY22, at a valuation of $3 billion, and invested heavily in marketing and creating an ecosystem to enable a creator economy for its app. The company raised an additional $805 million at a $5 billion valuation in April (FY23).

Business promotion expenses were the largest cost, more than doubling to Rs 2,693 crore in FY22 from Rs 1,281 crore in FY21. This cost is 2.8X of the company's operating revenue in FY22.

Employee benefits expense was the second-largest cost for VerSe Innovation, growing by 3.8X to Rs 731 crore in FY22.  It also included the cost of Rs 375 crore on the employee stock option (ESOP) that was settled in cash.

Legal and professional expenses, as well as commissions paid to agents, increased by 4X and 2.7X respectively, to Rs 151 cr & Rs 47 cr in the last year. As a result, the company's total cost grew by 2.3 times to Rs 3,714 cr in FY22 from Rs 1,580 cr in year 2021.

With this increase in expenses, DailyHunt's parent company's losses rose by 3.17 times to Rs 2,563 cr in FY2022. Its cash outflows from operating activities also increased by 2.52 times to Rs 2,402 cr, while the company's unit economics also took a hit and spent Rs 3.85 to earn a single rupee in FY2022. "In the last 7 months Dailyhunt has grown to 8% EBITDA positive," they added.

Dailyhunt competes with Inshorts in the news aggregation and hyper-local video business, while its short video app Josh competes with MX TakaTak, ShareChat's Moj, YouTube Shorts and Instagram, among others.

Also Read: Paytm Mall Records Rs282 Cr Revenue and Rs142 Cr Loss

Josh, which launched in late 2020, has been losing money in marketing the app and also attracting top creators. 

However, VerSe's spokesperson clarified that Josh's monetization began in August and is expected to reach $100 million in annual recurring revenue during FY23. With Daily Hunt already close to Rs 1,000 crore in revenue, the company is well-placed to monetize its inventory as and when the market demands. 

For more latest startup news & information, stay tuned to Entrackr.

Paytm Mall Records Rs282 Cr Revenue and Rs142 Cr Loss

Paytm Latest Startup News

Paytm Mall, the e-commerce platform of Paytm, has been trying to find a sustainable model for the past two years. The Paytm Mall’s revenue from operations grew to Rs 282 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2022 from Rs 277 crore in FY21, according to its annual financial statement with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Sales of products contributed 49.6% of the company's total operating revenue.

Revenue from Paytm Mall grew 85.3% to Rs 139.9 cr. Commission collected from merchants and sellers for providing platform services accounted for 45% of the total collection during FY22, which declined 27% to Rs 126.9 crore from the preceding fiscal year's revenue of Rs 12.7 crore. The company also booked revenue of Rs 8.6 crore during FY22 as a marketing promotion fee for providing advertising services on its platform; this income surged 47.7% from Rs 6.5 crore in FY20. In FY22, the company also collected operating revenue of around Rs 3 crore and recovered claims from courier companies; Paytm Mall also recorded non-operating income of Rs 21.6 cr from liabilities written back & Rs 80.4 cr as interest income related to bank deposits, royalty accounting adjustments, and others which drove the total revenue to Rs 384 crore during FY22.

Interestingly, only 53% of revenue in FY22 came from India with the rest from other countries. The 47% revenue Paytm Mall's revenue came from offshore markets is even odder when one considers that it doesn't have an effective presence in any overseas markets. On the expense front, royalty fees paid in exchange for services received from One97 Communications Limited (Paytm) turned out to be the largest cost element, forming 23% of its total expenditure. For those who aren't familiar with it, Paytm Mall isn't a subsidiary of One97 Communications Limited, but has been licensed to use the Paytm brand, and run on the Paytm app; however, employees don't receive benefits and advertising/promotional expenses declined 29.7% and 59%.

It costs money to run a business, and the cost of connectivity and payment gateway charges decreased by 43% in FY22 from Rs 36.9 crore in FY21 to Rs 21.1 crore. Paytm Mall's expenditure decreased by 43% to Rs 526 crore in FY22, resulting in a loss of Rs 142 crore during that period. The company also booked an exceptional item of Rs 398 crore as an impairment of goodwill taking the losses to Rs 540 crore, as per annual statements filed with the MCA portal. This could be attributed to $398 worth of impairment of goodwill booked under non-cash adjustment.

Entrackr has excluded this expense while calculating overall losses and ratios; Its costs such as connectivity and payment gateway charges have decreased by 43% in FY22 to Rs 21.1 crore from Rs 36.9 crore in FY21. The company's expenditure for Paytm Mall also decreased by 43% to Rs 526 crore during FY22. As a result, the losses of the company decreased to Rs 142 crore in FY22. The company also booked an exceptional item of Rs 398 cr as an impairment of goodwill taking its overall losses to Rs 540 cr, as per the annual statements filed to the MCA portal. Entrackr has excluded this expense while calculating the overall losses and ratios so far; however, we will be running a separate analysis on that at a later date. The EBITDA margin and ROCE improved to -27.34% and -12.88% during FY22.

Also Read: Top Benefits of Virtual Workspace

In May, the e-commerce marketplace Paytm Mall pivoted from the traditional physical goods marketplace to join the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Meanwhile, Paytm Mall’s early and key backers Alibaba and Ant Financial took an exit from the Bengaluru-based company. While no longer a subsidiary, deep legacy relationships with former parent One97 are nowhere close to unwinding soon; as evident in the numbers. For a truly sustainable future, it needs to look at every cost harder in that respect and build further on the new opportunities it is mining now.

For more latest startup news & information, stay tuned to Entrackr.

CCI Fines MakeMyTrip and OYO for Anti-Competitive Conduct

MakeMyTrip and OYO Startup News

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined MakeMyTrip and Oyo for anti-competitive conduct in hotel room listings. The CCI has fined both companies 5% of their annual turnover for a period of 3 years; Oyo was fined Rs 168.88 cr, while Make My Trip was fined Rs 223.48 cr.

The decision comes after complaints from budget hotel chains that the companies’ vertical integration agreement was creating dominance in the online hotel booking market, and that MakeMyTrip was deep discounting and enforcing terms that prevented rooms from being cheaper on other platforms. 

In a statement, Oyo indicated that the platform would appeal the ruling, saying "OYO believes that our business practices and conduct comply with all applicable laws & will take all necessary steps to explain our position in the appropriate forums."

A MakeMyTrip spokesperson also said the company would explore an appeal, saying that the platform was compliant with Indian laws. The spokesperson went on to say that "The CCI’s order is appealable before the National Company Appellate Tribunal within 60 days. We’ll determine our future action as per of our legal counsels advice .” 

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has welcomed the order. In a statement, FHRAI president Pradeep Shetty said, "This is by far one of the biggest wins for the hospitality industry against the dominance of the aggregators." 

Shetty added, "Oyo especially is responsible for the systemic depredation of the budget segment hotel business and its market as a means to achieve a notional billion-dollar valuation. This is a serious concern for our country’s hospitality ecosystem.” 

In addition to paying penalties, “MMT Go is directed to modify the agreements with hotels/chain hotels, to remove/abandon the price and room availability parity obligations imposed by it on its chain hotel partners w.r.t. other OTAs,” the order said. This essentially means that MMT cannot force hotels chains it has partnered with to offer higher prices or identical on other platforms. 

Also Read: LeadSquared's Revenue Hits Rs 200 Cr in FY22, Losses Jump 5.4X

The commission also ordered that hotel listings be offered on a transparent basis on the platform. The order will be appealed by both firms, but they should consider a defense based on their shrinking market shares in the segment. Anecdotal evidence indicates a strong push by many of their 'partner' hotels chains to not accepting such bookings made on these platforms as far as possible.

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