Dhan's funding nears close; BNPL gets regulated out

Time of India

2 days ago

Dhan's funding nears close; BNPL gets regulated out
Also in the letter:
Dhan closes in on $200 million fundraise from Chrys Cap, Alpha Wave, MUFG
Driving the news:
Deal details:
The fundraise includes a mix of primary capital and secondary share sales
The round values Dhan at $1.1 billion, making it India's fifth unicorn of 2025.
Google and Amazon may come in through a smaller follow-on round.
Dhan, in numbers:
Active traders: 971,000, as of March 2025
971,000, as of March 2025 Net profit: Rs 155 crore in FY24, against loss of Rs 22 crore in FY23
Rs 155 crore in FY24, against loss of Rs 22 crore in FY23
Revenue: Rs 380 crore in FY24, 600% up from Rs 54.2 crore in FY23.
Zoom out:
BNPL hits the brakes as fintechs pivot to EMI loans and traditional consumer credit
Losing takers:
PayU has migrated LazyPay into a KYC-compliant EMI checkout solution.
Paytm shut down its BNPL product last year.
Mobikwik has discontinued Zip Loans, according to its FY25 earnings disclosure.
Simpl remains one of the few major players still active in the BNPL space.
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What's next:
VCs sniff opportunity as petcare expands beyond food
Funding frenzy:
On Monday, Nestlé SA announced a minority investment in Drools, making it a unicorn.
Supertails, backed by Fireside Ventures, is in talks to raise $24–25 million in fresh funding.
Gurugram-based veterinary care startup Vetic recently raised $26 million in a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
Industry outlook:
Over the past five years, petcare startups in India have secured $198 million across 20 deals.
The Indian petcare market, currently valued at $3.5 billion, is projected to double to $7–7.5 billion by 2028.
Pet ownership has grown steadily, with the number of pets in Indian households rising from 26 million in 2019 to an estimated 32 million by 2024.
Tell me more:
Pet parents are moving beyond need-based purchases, increasingly spending on grooming products, clothing, toys, and more.
While the market is currently dominated by Mars, the maker of Pedigree and Royal Canin, D2C brands are rapidly gaining ground.
Quick commerce is fueling growth, enabling faster access to pet supplies and expanding consumer demand, according to industry experts.
Ex-intel, AMD executives throw hat into AI semicon ring
Tell me more:
Four Texas Instruments executives launched C2i Semiconductors, which is building hardware designed to reduce energy consumption in chips.
Bodhi Computing, founded by Intel veterans Sambit Sahu and Raghuraman Barathalwar, was acquired by Krutrim in 2023.
Agrani Labs, set up in Bengaluru by four ex-Intel and AMD executives, is working on India's own AI chip designs.
Zoom out:
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
TCS paid CEO K Krithivasan Rs 26.5 crore in FY25:
Zetwerk sharpens focus on capital goods equipment business:
Karnataka to issue draft gig workers' welfare rules in two weeks:
L Catterton to raise $600 million for its first India-dedicated fund:
Snabbit raises $19 million to fund expansion:
Global Picks We Are Reading
Happy Thursday! Stock broking startup Dhan is poised to finalise its long-awaited funding round. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ Petcare opportunity■ Veterans enter AI chip space■ TCS CEO pay hikePravin Jadhav, founder, DhanOnline investment platform Dhan is set to close a $190–200 million funding round , making it the latest entrant to the coveted unicorn club.The Mumbai-based startup is finalising a new round led by ChrysCapital, with participation from Alpha Wave and Japanese financial services giant MUFG. Sunil Bharti Mittal's family office and Dream11 founder Harsh Jain, an existing investor, will also join the round.Dhan's fundraise comes as Groww, India's largest stockbroker by active clients, gears up for an IPO . While many peers have lost ground, Dhan has grown its user base, thanks to a profitable business model and a sharp focus on sticky, high-frequency power users.Wealth management startups are navigating a choppy start to 2025, amid tighter regulations on F&O trading and a post-bull market cooldown. Dhan, however, is bucking the trend.Buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) products are losing momentum amid regulatory tightening and growing concerns over credit quality.'Fintechs are finding that instalment financing is still viable, but only through a regulated, KYC-compliant setup. The shift is forcing many players to abandon pure-play BNPL and embrace structured EMI lending,' a senior executive at a large fintech company told us on the condition of anonymity.The credit tightening goes beyond fintechs. Banks and NBFCs — key partners in BNPL lending — are pulling back due to rising macroeconomic risks and growing exposure to unsecured loans.Karur Vysya Bank, which backs Amazon's BNPL programme, struck a cautious tone during its recent analyst call, noting it has tightened onboarding norms.Despite the pivot, industry insiders say the broader story of unsecured consumer credit growth remains unchanged.The industry is shifting away from short-term, low-ticket loans with loose underwriting towards EMI-based products with complete Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, longer tenures, and stronger risk controls.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.A post-Covid surge in pet adoption, the expansion of petcare services, and the rise of quick commerce are drawing both venture capital and strategic investors to India's growing petcare space.Around a dozen senior professionals from tech giants such as Intel, AMD, and Texas Instruments, each with 15-20 years of experience, are now leading AI semiconductor startups in India.India is rapidly emerging as a hub for chip design and development, with increasing momentum to establish comprehensive, full-stack semiconductor ecosystems. Startups beyond the AI space have also drawn investor interest in the past year, including Mindgrove Technologies, InCore, and Agnit Semiconductors.K Krithivasan , CEO, TCSTata Consultancy Services (TCS) paid its chief executive, K Krithivasan, Rs 26.5 crore in the financial year 2025 , representing a 4.6% increase from the previous fiscal year. This total includes a base salary of Rs 1.4 crore, benefits, allowances, and prerequisites worth Rs 2.13 crore, as well as Rs 23 crore in commissions.Contract manufacturer Zetwerk has launched a dedicated division within its electronics manufacturing branch, aimed at producing equipment and capital goods Karnataka will release draft rules on charging a fee on online platforms to fund welfare programmes for gig workers in about two weeks, state labour minister Santosh Lad told us, a day after Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot approved an ordinance to this effect.LVMH-backed L Catterton is raising $600 million for its inaugural India-focused fund, marking the first time a global private equity firm has launched an investment vehicle specifically for the Indian market.Quick home services app Snabbit has raised $19 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed. The new capital will be used to expand into new micro-markets and strengthen the team amid rising demand.■ If algorithms radicalize a mass shooter, are companies to blame? ( The Verge ■ Grand Theft Auto publisher swaps DEI for 'Diversity of Thought' in annual report ( Wired ■ Microsoft starts testing Copilot for Gaming in Xbox app for iOS and Android ( TechCrunch