Citykart's big haul; A new AI race
Happy Tuesday! Value fashion retailer Citykart has raised fresh funds to fuel its expansion plans. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Also in the letter:
■ Flipkart's growth charge ■ Earnings corner■ Agentic AI in BFSI
TPG NewQuest, A91 back Citykart in Rs 538 crore round at Rs 1,400 crore valuation
Sudhanshu Agarwal, founder, Citykart
Citykart, a value retail chain serving middle- and lower-income consumers in smaller Indian cities, has raised Rs 538 crore in a funding round led by TPG NewQuest and A91 Partners. The mix of primary and secondary transactions pegs the company's valuation at around Rs 1,400 crore, people familiar with the matter told us.
Deal details: Rs 120 crore in fresh capital will fund expansion beyond Citykart's core markets of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Rs 418 crore was raised via secondary share sales.
Middle East-based alternative asset manager Investcorp has exited fully, clocking a 4x return on its 2019 investment.
Another early backer, India SME Investments, has pared its stake by half.
About the company: Citykart operates 137 stores across tier-II and tier-III cities, with plans to add 40–50 outlets annually in states like Rajasthan, Odisha, Assam, and Jharkhand. Revenues have grown by nearly 70% over the last two financial years to over Rs 900 crore in FY25.
Founder and MD Sudhanshu Agarwal said the company expects to cross Rs 1,300 crore in revenue in FY26, and noted that Citykart has remained consistently profitable for the last five years.
Context setting: Citykart plays in the mass-market apparel segment alongside listed firms such as VMart and private players like Vishal Mega Mart and Style Baazar. The fresh round underscores growing investor appetite for affordable fashion targeting India's non-metro consumers.
By comparison: VMart, a listed peer, is valued at Rs 5,500–6,000 crore and has an annual revenue of Rs 2,300 crore (around 2.5x sales).
Vishal Mega Mart, backed by Partners Group and Kedaara Capital, was last valued at nearly $1.3–1.5 billion (Rs 10,000–12,000 crore) with revenue exceeding Rs 7,000 crore.
Style Baazar, a regional player, has a comparable store count but a smaller scale and revenues of around Rs 500-600 crore. Post-deal, TPG NewQuest has emerged as Citykart's largest institutional investor, followed by A91 Partners and India SME.
Pet food brand Drools turns unicorn after Nestlé SA picks up minority stake
Homegrown pet food brand Drools turned unicorn after Swiss packaged food giant Nestlé SA acquired a minority stake for an undisclosed amount.
Hot cake: This is Drools' second major raise after LVMH-backed private equity firm L Catterton invested $60 million in June 2023 at a valuation of $600 million. The transaction underscores rising investor interest in India's $3.5 billion pet care market, with players like Godrej and Emami planning a foray.
Slikk raises $10 million: Bengaluru-based 60-minute fashion delivery startup Slikk has raised $10 million in a funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners.
Operation Coding war, thanks AI
A fresh front has opened in the AI wars, as global tech giants and nimble startups race to dominate the future of software development.
What's happening: Google has unveiled its coding agent Jules.
Microsoft has launched its GitHub AI agent.
OpenAI has rolled out Codex and acquired Windsurf to bolster its arsenal.
Rapid adoption: Google and Microsoft say AI now writes around 30% of their code. At InMobi, founder Naveen Tewari claims the figure is already 50%. The AI coding tool market is projected to reach $12.6 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 28%, according to market intelligence firm MarketsandMarkets.
The draw? A compelling mix of higher productivity, intuitive interfaces, and strong value-for-money.
Challenges: But, as AI writes more code, teams are left reviewing more of it. Several founders we spoke to said they've automated large parts of the review process to avoid any customer-facing fallout.
Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch!
Why it matters: 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.
The opportunity: Reach a highly engaged audience of decision-makers.
Boost your brand's visibility among the tech-savvy community.
Custom sponsorship options to align with your brand's goals.
What's next: Interested? Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@timesinternet.in to explore sponsorship opportunities.
Flipkart reports up to 25% growth amid ecommerce slowdown
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, group CEO, Flipkart
Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy outlined the company's growth trajectory and IPO plans at an internal town hall on Monday.
What's new: Krishnamurthy told employees that Flipkart is seeing 20–25% year-on-year growth in orders across its platforms in May, with expectations of hitting 30% growth in June, defying a broader slowdown in the ecommerce sector.
Why it matters: The update comes as Flipkart prepares to shift its domicile from Singapore to India, aligning with domestic regulations ahead of a planned IPO in 2026.
By the numbers:
Zoom out: Krishnamurthy and top executives Ramesh Gururaja, Hemant Badri, and Seema Nair used the town hall to lay out priorities across supply chain, customer experience, and HR.The group is also focusing on Gen Z consumers through fashion, travel, and Shopsy, its value platform competing with Meesho and Amazon Bazaar.
FirstCry's Q4 loss widens to Rs 111 crore; full-year Ebitda improves
Supam Maheshwari, CEO, FirstCry
Brainbees Solutions, which operates omnichannel baby products retailer FirstCry, reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 111 crore in Q4 FY25, widening from Rs 43 crore in the year-ago period and Rs 15 crore in the previous quarter. Operating revenue stood at Rs 1,930 crore, up 16% year-on-year but down 11% sequentially.
Nazara Technologies Q4 revenue nearly doubles; net profit rises to Rs 4 crore
Nitish Mittersain, CEO, Nazara Technologies
Online gaming firm Nazara Technologies posted a strong growth in the fourth quarter of FY25. The firm reported a 95% rise in operating revenue to Rs 520 crore, while net profit surged to Rs 4 crore from Rs 18 lakh in the year-ago period.
Awfis net profit rises nine-fold in Q4, revenue up 46%
Sumit Lakhani, CEO, Awfis
Office space solutions provider Awfis recorded a 46% rise in operating revenue to Rs 339 crore for the March quarter, fueled by greater enterprise contributions, allied services, and better efficiency. Net profit rose ninefold to Rs 11.3 crore.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
(L-R) Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, Lalit Keshre and Ishan Bansal, cofounders, Groww
Groww files draft papers for IPO, eyes $700 million to $1 billion listing: Online investment platform Groww has submitted its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to launch an initial public offering (IPO), according to a public notice on May 25.
Financial services players use agentic AI to automate workflows: The BFSI sector, including players like HDFC Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), and Wells Fargo, is planning to leverage agentic AI to automate workflows intelligently.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ How I shorted $TRUMP coin (and got to have dinner with the President) (The Verge)
■ Here are the nuclear fission startups backed by Big Tech (TechCrunch)
■ The real cost of AI is being paid in deserts far from Silicon Valley (Rest of World)
Updated On May 27, 2025, 07:23 AM IST
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
24 minutes ago
- The Print
Power supply cables on Metro network stolen in Gandhinagar, second such incident in 2 weeks
According to officials of the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (GMRC), services on the route were not affected because the Metro was not operational at the time of the theft and the issue was resolved before trains commenced at 7 am. The power cable theft, the second such incident in two weeks, took place in the early hours of Monday. Ahmedabad, Jun 3 (PTI) Unidentified persons stole power cables worth Rs 17.85 lakh from tracks between two Metro train stations near Gandhinagar city, a police official said on Tuesday. An FIR was registered with the Infocity police station of Gandhinagar on Monday after GMRC section engineer Mayur Joshi submitted a complaint about the theft of copper cables, which are laid alongside the tracks to power Metro trains. 'We have registered an FIR and started our investigation. No one has been arrested yet,' said sub-inspector of the Infocity police station, Dhaval Singh. The theft took place between Koba Circle and Juna Koba stations, which fall on Motera to Gandhinagar route, said the FIR. When a Metro train came to a sudden halt at around 3 am between these two stations, Joshi was called to the spot to look into the issue as the train was not getting electric supply. During inspection, Joshi learnt someone had stolen 700 metres of power cables worth Rs 17.85 lakh after cutting and detaching them from the brackets, it said. This was the second incident wherein power cables of the Metro network were stolen. On May 22, Metro services experienced disruption on a route in Ahmedabad city after unidentified persons stole 500 metres of power cables worth Rs 9 lakh from the tracks near Shahpur station. PTI PJT RSY This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Print
24 minutes ago
- The Print
Mumbai police bust bogus call centre in Delhi; one held for duping people
'The complainant had received a call on his mobile phone in which the caller had promised to increase the limit of his credit card,' he said. The crime had come to light in August last year after a complainant approached the Sion police as he was duped for Rs 4.54 lakh by unidentified fraudsters, an official said. Mumbai, Jun 3 (PTI) The Mumbai police have busted a bogus call centre operating in Delhi, and arrested a 29-year-old man for cheating people by withdrawing money from their credit cards, officials said on Tuesday. The caller had gained the complainant's confidence and obtained his credit card number and other vital details by asking him to fill up details in a link, he said. By using those details, the fraudster withdrew Rs 4.54 lakh from his credit card, he said. During the investigation of the case, it came to light that the number used for calling the complainant was from Delhi, following which a team of the Sion police went to the national capital for investigation, he said. The team conducted a raid at the bogus call centre and arrested the main accused, identified as Manjeet Kumar Mahavir Singh. It came to light that he had set up a call centre in a room, where 11 persons were found making calls to people across the country and cheating them on the promise of increasing the limit of their credit cards, he said. 'While investigating the case, it also came to light that there were 16 online complaints in which the same mobile number was used by the accused persons,' he said. PTI DC NP This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Print
24 minutes ago
- The Print
Adityanath urges BJP leaders to amplify Modi govt's 11-year achievements
Themed '11 Years of Service, Good Governance and Poor Welfare ('seva, sushashan aur gareeb kalyan ke 11 varsh)', the event began with floral tributes to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, the UP government said in a statement. Addressing a state-level workshop organised in Lucknow on the completion of 11 years of the Modi government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that it is the good fortune of the nation to have the impactful leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Amrit Kaal of independence. Lucknow, Jun 3 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday urged BJP workers to take the achievements of the central government to every citizen. Urging party workers to focus on grassroots engagement, the chief minister said it is everyone's responsibility to communicate the government's 11 years of achievements at the booth level. He called for connecting all sections and organisations with the campaign and highlighting success stories of beneficiaries. Adityanath said that the 11 years of Modi government's performance form the foundation for realizing the vision of a developed India. 'Workers must play an active role in disseminating these achievements at the state, district, mandal, and Shakti Kendra levels,' he said. He encouraged workers not to limit the campaign to the party cadre, but to engage with the general public, professional groups, and direct beneficiaries. Citing recent by-elections, he said that coordinated meetings of party departments and cells had proved effective. BJP's six morchas and 22-23 cells represent every segment of society, including lawyers, doctors, teachers, students, and beneficiaries. Organising meetings with these groups and selecting speakers from among them would ensure effective outreach, he said. Highlighting the success of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Adityanath said that where once illness became a crisis for families, today over 50 crore people in India, including 10 crore in Uttar Pradesh, are covered under the scheme. Through the Ayushman Bharat Vay Vandana Yojana, senior citizens above the age of 70 receive free health coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh, without any discrimination. Speaking on progress in healthcare, he said that prior to 2014, India had only one AIIMS. While Atal Bihari Vajpayee established six AIIMS, the Modi government has added 22 more, including two in Uttar Pradesh. The 'One District, One Medical College' vision has made institutions a reality in remote districts such as Maharajganj, Lakhimpur Kheri, and Mirzapur, providing both healthcare access and employment. He urged workers to proudly promote these achievements and counter misinformation from the opposition. He said that PM Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister to restore Ayodhya's glory. He urged workers to actively participate in programmes like the Tiranga Yatra, Ahilyabai Holkar anniversary, and International Yoga Day. He also called on BJP workers to participate in the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign and River Rejuvenation Programme on World Environment Day (June 5). Adityanath concluded by stating that Uttar Pradesh, under the leadership of the double-engine government, is reaching new heights of development. PTI NAV HIG HIG This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
