NewsletterNew leadership, More in qcommerce, and Spotify's video play.
☀️ Morning, folks!
Local tech is off to a strong start in 2025, led by AI and Quick Commerce.
💡 Quick spotlight: Top FMCG players like HUL, Dabur and Parle say quick commerce now drives 35% of their ecommerce sales—nearly double last year. Ecommerce has been the fastest-growing channel for FMCG sales.
📈 Meanwhile, the Indian markets pulled back a bit, with metals and PSU taking the worst hit. US markets were closed to honor ex President Jimmy Carter, who passed away December 28.
Let’s dive in.
1 Big Thing: Lenskart eyes billion dollar IPO 💸
Lenskart has kicked off its IPO process, looking to raise up to $1 billion at a valuation of $7–8 billion. The company plans to go public by the end of FY26.
By the numbers: the company’s financials are actually pretty robust.
Lenskart reported ₹5,427 crore in revenue for last year, up 43% YoY. The company lost ₹10 Crores for the year, not bad for the growth it reports.
The company operates more than 2,500 stores, with nearly 2,000 located in India, with the rest in South East Asia, Middle East, and even the US.
Quick nugget: one of the other biggest competitors in the organised eyewear market, Titan Eye+, has under ∼900 stores, less than half of Lenskart.
FYI, Lenskart recently added a new CFO, who had previously spent nearly 9 years at Oyo.
The big trend: 2025 is expected to be just as promising for new listings as 2024. Some of the most notable bids will include Pine Labs, Zetwerk, and maybe even Zepto.
2. Quick Check-in at Venture Town 🚦
Healthcare software company Innovaccer just bagged $275 million in Series F funding from heavyweights like B Capital Group and Kaiser Permanente.
The deets: Innovaccer provides a software that connects a patient’s data across various touch points as they receive care, so doctors, insurance providers, as well as government benefit issuers can get a unified view of what’s up.
130+ healthcare providers in the US use their software. They’ve grown revenues at over 50% for the last 5 years.
The company operates out of SF and Bangalore.
Big picture: the global healthcare AI market is set to hit $188 billion by 2030 growing at a CAGR of 37% from 2022.
The software providers are in a unique position to integrate AI and automate a lot of processes.
3. Quantum gets a reality check ✍️
Ever since Google announced that Willow quantum chip, Quantum computing stocks were having a moment. Many have doubled, tripled in under a month.
Jensen Huang, the god of AI, ended that party yesterday, calling Quantum machines at least 20 years away.
His comments sent stocks like Rigetti Computing, IonQ, and D-Wave Quantum into freefall—some dropping over 30%.
Huang isn’t dismissing the tech, though. He says Nvidia will play a key role in making quantum computing a reality.
On a different note: At the latest CES event, NVIDIA introduced Project Digits, the world's first personal AI supercomputer.
Priced at $3,000 (∼₹2.5 lakh), this device is designed for individual users, fitting conveniently on a desk.
The deets: its a desk-friendly device powered by the Grace Blackwell Superchip and capable of running massive AI models with up to 200 billion parameters.
4. Stock spotlight 🚀
Zen Technologies: Received a patent for its T-72 tank simulator system, pushing the stock up 3% to ₹2,542.9.
Zen Technologies designs, develops, and manufactures defense training systems and counter-drone solutions.
The simulator will allow realistic, controlled training for tank crews, enhancing the Indian Army’s combat readiness.
This news adds to Zen’s impressive Q2 FY25 results where revenue jumped 248% YoY to ₹250 crore, and profit surged 366% to ₹63 crore.
What else are we Snackin’ 🍿
🦑 Season 2: After just 11 days, Squid Game season 2 has already become Netflix’s second-most popular season of TV with 126.2 million views and counting.
🚀 Dunzo to Flipkart: Flipkart has brought in Dunzo co-founder Kabeer Biswas to lead its quick-commerce venture, Flipkart Minutes.
And that’s a wrap. Pour yourself an extra one this weekend.
We’ll be back like clockwork on Monday!
Hit that 💚 if you liked this issue.
