New-age cos' road to profitability; QED's Nigel Morris interview

New-age cos' road to profitability; QED's Nigel Morris interview
Also in the letter:
Most listed new-age startups improve Q4 profitability; Swiggy, Ola lag behind
Why it matters:
By the numbers:
Between the lines:
Brokerages highlighted rising margins at Nykaa and PB Fintech as signs of sustainable growth.
Swiggy claims its peak burn is behind it; Blinkit says it will prioritise growth, even at the cost of profitability.
Ather Energy narrowed losses, while Ola Electric lost EV share to Bajaj & TVS.
The bottom line:
Also Read:
Regulators realising fintechs are here to stay: QED's Nigel Morris
Fintech domination:
Regulatory headwinds?
Neobanking concerns:
APAC in focus:
UPI transactions rise 4.4% in May after April decline
Numbers game:
May's figure marks a 4.4% rise from April's 17.89 billion transactions, which had fallen from 18.30 billion in March due to a spate of service outages.
In value terms, UPI handled Rs 25.14 lakh crore in May.
This is up from Rs 23.95 lakh crore recorded in April.
Also Read:
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What's next:
Job losses: How AI has painfully disrupted dreams of young software engineering graduates
Uncertain days:
Rise in anxiety:
How to surivive:
Also Read:
BigBasket pilots 10-minute food delivery with Starbucks, Qmin in Bengaluru
Going in-house:
Starbucks, a joint venture between Tata Consumer Products and Starbucks Corporation.
Qmin, a food delivery platform owned by Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL).
Customers can also order beverages, including coffee, tea, and juice, along with snacks, meal bowls, and desserts.
Tell me more:
Also Read:
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
VerSe Innovation allegedly billed Builder.ai without services; Indian company denies claims:
Top illegal betting site Parimatch draws more visits than Amazon, X:
LinkedIn lays off hundreds as tech giants continue to cut jobs:
Global Picks We Are Reading
After a torrid time on Dalal Street, new-age firms have taken a turn towards profitability in the March quarter. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ AI and the Indian middle-class dream■ BigBasket's rapid food delivery foray■ Builder AI-VerSe dirty dealOut of 17 publicly listed new-age firms in India, 11 reported better profitability in the March quarter, either by narrowing losses or posting stronger profits. Top performers included Nykaa, Policybazaar, Delhivery , Ather Energy and Ixigo This points to stronger operational discipline across India's digital-first companies. But the momentum remains uneven, with quick commerce bleeding cash through the quarter.A few breakout names are beginning to show maturity, but India's new-age tech companies are still navigating the trade-off between growth and profitability, with quick commerce emerging as the new flashpoint.Nigel Morris, managing partner, QED InvestorsFintechs are no longer scrappy outsiders. They're scaling faster than traditional players and increasingly, regulators are recognising them as a permanent fixture in the financial services industry, QED Investors' cofounder Nigel Morris told us In an exclusive interview during his annual visit to India, Morris said fintechs are beginning to dominate categories such as earned wage access, money transfers, and neobanking. With AI reshaping everything from underwriting to product delivery, fintechs are adopting the technology at a far faster rate than legacy players.India's fintech sector is currently navigating tighter scrutiny, particularly around unsecured lending and digital compliance, pressures that have hit both fundraising and valuations. But Morris sees this as a 'natural cycle' that will ultimately lay the groundwork for the next wave of innovation.While QED remains bullish on India, it is cautious about segments like neobanking, where many players have yet to show strong user engagement or effective cross-selling, said its Asia head, Sandeep Patil. Still, Morris believes the stronger fintechs will earn regulatory trust and may eventually secure banking licences.QED, which backs Jupiter, OneCard, Upswing, and Efficient Capital Labs in India, plans to invest $250–300 million in early- and growth-stage startups across India and the Asia-Pacific. The fund has deployed about $220 million in the region over the past five years.Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the real-time payment system operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), processed 18.68 billion transactions in May, a bounce back from April's dip.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 spotlightpartner@timesinternet.in to explore sponsorship opportunities.Programming languages like Java, C++, and Python have done more than just build software . They built lives. For years, they offered a ticket to stable jobs, upward mobility, and a way out of the lower-middle-class trap. Millions rode that wave, often becoming the first in their families to do so.Then came AI. And with it, the middle class's dreams, written in the promise of software, are under threat.The jobs that generations of engineering students saw as a gateway to long, stable careers are no longer a given. AI has redrawn the industry map, leaving behind a trail of layoffs, shifting role definitions, and a rising cohort of under-skilled young engineers.Junior developers are the worst hit. Many AI tools now outperform entry-level programmers, leaving them anxious, unsure, and struggling to prove their worth. The impact goes beyond the professional, with mental health issues becoming increasingly common.'More than 60% of engineering students don't have enough hands-on knowledge and experience,' says TeamLease Digital's Neeti Sharma, adding that beyond college degrees, what's needed is certifications in AI, cloud, security, or data science, working on real projects (like sharing code on GitHub), and joining hackathons or internships.Expanding its services, the Tata Group's grocery delivery firm, BigBasket, has entered the rapid food delivery space , offering 10-minute deliveries in select Bengaluru pin codes.For its 10-minute food play, BigBasket has tapped into Tata's in-house brands. New offerings include items from:The move comes five months after cofounder and CEO Hari Menon said on X that BigBasket would enter the food delivery market. In a December 2024 post, Menon had announced plans to expand BigBasket's SKUs to over 30,000 in all tier-1 cities, launch pharma deliveries via Tata 1mg, and introduce a food delivery service.Bengaluru-based VerSe Innovation, the parent company of the news aggregator platform Dailyhunt, and London-based AI startup Builder.ai allegedly inflated revenue by issuing invoices to one another without providing services in many instances, according to a Bloomberg report.Illegal betting and gambling platforms such as 1xBet, Parimatch, Stake, Fairplay, and BateryBet drew a staggering 5.4 billion visits in FY25, with Parimatch alone generating more traffic than Amazon, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Hotstar, Quora, or Reddit, according to a study by CUTS International.Microsoft-owned job and networking platform LinkedIn has joined the growing list of tech giants laying off employees, reducing 281 positions across California.■ How the loudest voices in AI went from 'regulate us' to 'unleash us' ( Wired ■ The math tutor and the missing $533 million ( Rest of World ■ Can the Gulf really become an AI superpower? ( FT

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