1mg's offline push; cyberattacks on the rise
Happy Wednesday! Tata Digital's epharmacy, 1mg, is looking to expand its offline presence amid talks of fresh funding. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Also in the letter:
■ Dream Sports invests in Cricbuzz, Willow TV ■ Ola, Swiggy weigh on SoftBank■ Flipkart's leadership churn
1mg readies brick-and-mortar push ahead of external funding
Prashant Tandon, CEO, 1mg
Online pharmacy 1mg is looking to expand its offline presence amid talks of an external funding round, people in the know told ET. To this end, 1mg is seeking to raise $300 million in external funding.
Driving the news: 1mg is expanding its offline presence from 110 stores presently to 3,000 in five years.
Tata Digital, which owns 67% of 1mg, last backed it in a $40 million rights issue in 2022.
FY25 revenue is estimated at Rs 2,500-2,600 crore, up 30-35%; cash burn stands at Rs 180-200 crore.
Tell me more: Revenue has tripled since FY21 (Rs 309 crore) to Rs 1,968 crore in FY24; net loss fell 75% to Rs 313 crore.
70% of revenue now comes from e-pharmacy, e-diagnostics, and consultation.
Offline stores and disease-focused 'full-stack' care models (starting with obesity and cancer) are now in play.
1mg is also teaming up with BigBasket for last-mile delivery amid rising competition from Apollo, PharmEasy, and quick commerce players.
Quote, unquote: 'Several new initiatives are underway, and offline expansion will be a key part of our growth strategy going forward,' said 1mg founder and chief executive officer Prashant Tandon. He added, 'We aspire to become a truly omnichannel, integrated healthcare company and are well on our way to achieving that vision.'
Also Read: Tata's billion-dollar bet: BigBasket and 1mg set for $1.3 billion cash surge
Cybercriminals look to capitalise on India-Pakistan tensions
A spike in cyberattacks has followed the India-Pakistan conflict, with over 100 incidents reported in just a week. Foreign 'digital tourists' and hacktivist groups from Morocco, Bangladesh, Iraq and Palestine have targeted the Indian government and private infrastructure.
No pros: Most attackers are 'script kiddies' or amateurs using pre-built tools for distributed denial of service (DDoS), phishing, and website defacement. Groups like SYLHET-GANG-SG and Team Azrael claimed major data breaches, but experts debunked them as recycled or fake.
The MO: During this conflict, the use of fake AI-generated letters (which strikingly look similar to official letterheads) and videos has become more prominent. These are more often than not spread via WhatsApp and Telegram to manipulate sentiment and steal data.
Yes, but: There is one real threat, coming from across the border: APT36 (aka Transparent Tribe), a Pakistan-linked espionage group, has launched malware 'payload' attacks on defence systems. Last week, ET reported about three such attempts.
Dream11 parent to invest $50 million in Times Internet's Cricbuzz and Willow TV
Gaming company Dream Sports has acquired a strategic minority stake in cricket media platform Cricbuzz and North America's leading cricket broadcaster, Willow TV.
Deal details: Dream Sports has invested $50 million in Cricbuzz and Willow TV, both owned by Times Internet -- the digital media arm of The Times of India Group , which publishes The Economic Times .
Why it matter: Dream Sports will acquire a strategic minority stake in Cricbuzz and Willow TV, which collectively has 185 million monthly users across more than 150 countries.
The investment will create new opportunities for fan experiences, given that the companies intend to collaborate and provide Cricbuzz's audience with more real-time analysis and statistics, engagement and commerce integrations, and AI-driven predictions.
Quote, unquote: 'Cricbuzz and Willow sit at the heart of how hundreds of millions of fans follow cricket every day. We're excited to work with Dream Sports to reimagine and develop new ways to collaboratively create new experiences for cricket fans across the planet,' said Satyan Gajwani, Vice Chairman, Times Internet.Dream Sports CEO Harsh Jain added, 'With this investment, cricket fans can expect much more fan engagement, interactive streams, and integrated commerce experiences that will bring them closer to the action and to each other.'
Beyond Cricket:
Also Read: Mixed reality content startup Flam raises $14 million from RTP Global, others
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Masayoshi Son, CEO, SoftBank
SoftBank posts first annual profit in four years, but Ola and Swiggy weigh on Vision Fund 2 in Q4: Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank Group booked an investment loss of $708 million for its Vision Fund 2 in the January–March quarter, citing the poor performance of Indian listed stocks as a key factor.
Microsoft to lay off thousands to streamline management: Report | A company spokesperson told CNBC that the fresh layoffs, meant "to reduce layers of management", will affect 3% of its workforce. Microsoft had a headcount of 228,000 last June, which puts the number of affected employees in the neighbourhood at 7,000.
Flipkart's SVP Ankit Jain likely to join Swiggy Instamart as COO: Ankit Jain, senior vice president (SVP) at ecommerce platform Flipkart, is likely to join quick commerce firm Swiggy Instamart as chief operating officer (COO), replacing its current SVP and COO, Sairam Krishnamurthy, according to people in the know.
PayU gets final nod from RBI to process online business payments: The RBI granted the licence on May 13. This comes more than a year after the Prosus-backed firm received the banking regulator's in-principle approval to operate this business. It has started onboarding new merchants since then.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ An $8.4 billion Chinese hub for crypto crime is incorporated in Colorado (Wired)
■ Investors back start-ups aiding copyright deals to AI groups (FT)
■ Google's bringing Gemini to your car with Android Auto (TechCrunch)
Updated On May 14, 2025, 07:28 AM IST
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