Jumbotail's unicorn round; Infy on employees' mental health

Time of India

2 days ago

Jumbotail's unicorn round; Infy on employees' mental health
Jumbotail raises $120 million from Standard Chartered's investment arm; turns unicorn
Deal details:
Before this round, the firm was valued at around $900–950 million.
The latest funding pushes its post-money valuation past the $1 billion mark.
Jumbotail joins Netradyne, Porter, Drools and BlueStone in the 2025 unicorn club.
The company has also completed its acquisition of Solv India, a B2B commerce and financial services platform incubated by SC Ventures.
Why this matters:
Also Read:
IPO-bound Infra Market raises $50 million in debt from Mars Growth Capital
Tell me more:
IPO watch:
Infra.Market, a leading player (by revenue) in the ready-mix concrete segment, joins other industrial commerce platforms, such as Zetwerk, OfBusiness, and JSW One, in lining up for the public markets.
Also Read:
'Mind your health please': Infosys flags employees working longer hours at home
Why it matters:
Details:
Employees receive monthly summaries if they average more than 9.15 hours of work per day.
The emails encourage taking regular breaks, delegating tasks wherever possible, and disconnecting outside working hours.
The push is part of Infosys' hybrid policy, which requires employees to be in the office for at least 10 days a month.
The big picture:
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Why it matters:
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What's next:
AI talent war intensifies as OpenAI executives slams Meta for aggressive hiring
Driving the news:
'I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something. Please trust that we haven't been sitting idly by,' Chen wrote on Slack.
Doubling down:
Meta-morphosis:
It invested $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, bringing its founder, Alexandr Wang, on board.
Wang's arrival followed a lukewarm reception to Llama 4, Meta's latest large language model, which was launched after multiple delays.
Meta has also explored acquiring AI startups and labs, like Safe Superintelligence, Perplexity, Thinking Machines Lab, and Runway AI.
Also Read:
Ola Electric stuck in third spot in June as TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto maintain lead in EV two-wheeler market
Upping the game:
The Bengaluru-based firm clocked 18,527 units in June, almost unchanged from May's 18,541 units.
Its market share edged up to 19.6%, but remained below the 20% mark for the second consecutive month.
TVS Motor held the top spot with 25.4%, followed by Bajaj Auto at 22.8%.
Rival watch:
Compounding woes:
Also Read:
From Reels to Retail: India's influencers turning as next startup founders
Driving the news:
Kusha Kapila launched the shapewear brand Underneat.
Nitibha Kaul founded the skincare line AltK Beauty.
Neetu Bisht is running Netose Clothing.
Sunny Chopra unveiled the Ksunch fashion label.
The strategy:
The playbook:
The bottom line:
B2B firm Jumbotail has become a unicorn with its latest $120 million funding round. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.Also in the letter:■ Meta's poaching spree■ Ola Electric lags legacy players■ India's creator-founder boomJumbotail cofounders S Karthik Venkateswaran (L) and Ashish JhinaBengaluru-based business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce marketplace Jumbotail has become India's fifth unicorn of the year after raising $120 million in a funding round led by SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered.Jumbotail's valuation milestone stands out at a time when the B2B ecommerce sector has seen subdued investor valuation and a cooling of valuations.Construction materials platform Infra.Market has raised an additional $50 million in debt financing from Mars Growth Capital, bringing its total borrowing from the firm to $150 million. The funds will support its expansion plans as it gears up for an IPO.This is the company's second fundraise in 2025. In January, it secured $125 million to drive growth in both Indian and overseas markets. The new deal also includes a five-year extension of the terms of its earlier $100 million loan.The Mumbai-based firm plans to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) this fiscal and raise Rs 2,500 crore through an IPO, likely in Q3 or Q4 of FY26. To this end, it has roped in bankers and legal advisors.Infosys has started sending personalised emails to employees clocking unusually long hours from home, urging them to prioritise a healthier work-life balance.Young tech professionals are increasingly vulnerable to health issues, including stress-induced heart problems linked to long and erratic workdays. Cardiologists warn that unmanaged stress is a silent killer.Workplace stress has become a national talking point, with concerns even raised in Parliament. As India's workforce adapts to hybrid work, companies are under pressure to take a more active role in supporting employee well-being.ETtech Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and employees.Interested? Reach out to us at [e-mail] to explore sponsorship opportunities.Meta's Mark Zuckerberg seems like a man possessed. His aggressive push to snap up top AI talent is starting to ruffle feathers at rival firms, such as OpenAI.After Meta poached at least eight researchers, OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, voiced his frustration in an internal memo, according to Wired.Over the weekend, The Information reported that Meta added four more senior researchers from OpenAI to its 'superintelligence' team : Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren. Interestingly, all four studied in China. They join Alexander Kolesnikov, Xiaohua Zhai, and Trapit Bansal, who moved from OpenAI's Zurich lab to Meta last week.In its urgency to catch up with OpenAI and Google in the race for artificial general intelligence, the deep-pocketed Meta has been going for broke.Bhavish Aggarwal's Ola Electric, once a front-runner in India's EV two-wheeler market, remained in third place in June , trailing TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto.Ather Energy, Ola's recently listed competitor, gained momentum, with 13,617 units sold in June. Its market share rose from 13.4% to 14.4%. The company is also betting big on retail, with plans to nearly double its footprint to 700 experience centres by the end of FY26.Ola has faced mounting scrutiny over the past few months, with questions around inflated sales data, product quality issues, and missing valid trade certificates at several dealerships.India's biggest content creators aren't just chasing likes anymore ; they're pursuing market share. A rising tribe of influencers is jumping from the 'gram to the boardroom, building their own beauty and fashion brands from scratch.Influencer marketing in India set to hit Rs 3,375 crore by 2026. But the real story is these creators flipping trust into full-blown D2C businesses, taking on celeb-endorsed brands with products that feel personal.Target micro-communities of 1-10 million fans, and convert that connection into serious consumer spend.This mirrors a global trend with names like MrBeast (Feastables), Kylie Jenner (Kylie Cosmetics), and Emma Chamberlain (Chamberlain Coffee) leading the way. However, with 800 million internet users and a young, regional fanbase, the Indian market is ripe for a creator-led boom.With trust and relatability in tow, this new wave of brands is betting that authenticity, agility and storytelling will trump big-budget marketing. For now, that bet is paying off.