MobiKwik's Revenue Flywheel, Sweet Karam Coffee Nets $8 Mn & More

MobiKwik Spins The Revenue Wheel

The wearer best knows where the shoe pinches and no one can understand this better than investors holding the MobiKwik stock since its listing. After hitting its peak of INR 698.30 on December 26, 2024 (eight days after listing), the fintech platform’s stock has cratered nearly 56%, closing at INR 309.55 on the BSE yesterday.

So, Why The Turmoil? Retail investor sentiments have soured amid a higher-than-expected loss of INR 55.28 Cr in Q3 FY25, even as operating revenue jumped nearly 18% YoY to INR 269.47 Cr. Interestingly, revenues from the lucrative lending vertical fell 53% YoY to INR 73 Cr.

Adding to the pressure is the RBI-mandated default loss guarantee clause in its lending contracts, which requires MobiKwik to set aside up to 5% of its capital reserves. This is a significant drag on its already thinning margins.

Is Diversification The Key? Looking to allay investor concerns and shrinking loan disbursals, the — a battleground ruled by Groww, Zerodha and rising contenders like PhonePe’s Share.Market and Upstox. Therefore, competing with them won’t be easy, even with the 17 Cr user base that the Bipin Preet Singh-led startup enjoys.

As Paytm’s trajectory has shown, the super app dream can easily fall apart. MobiKwik may be inching towards that path with a growing suite of financial services, but whether it carves out a success story or becomes another cautionary footnote — is still a story in progress.

From The Editor’s Desk

: The Chennai-based D2C snacking brand has raised the capital in its Series A round led by Peak XV Partners. Sweet Karam Coffee sells a range of South Indian sweets and snacks, and filter coffee.

: As part of its ongoing trade deal negotiations with the US, India has agreed to “significantly” trim tariffs on EV imports. The Centre believes that the domestic auto industry has been protected for “too long”.

: In the second major outage in less than a week, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) went down for several users across the country on April 2. NPCI attributed the outage to “increased latency” in the UPI network.

Hearing a petition filed by cab aggregators to recognise bike taxis as transport vehicles, the Karnataka High Court has given six weeks to bike taxi platforms to halt their operations in the state.

The government informed Parliament that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has received a total of 21,042 grievances against food delivery platforms in the last five fiscal years.

The franchisee-led quick commerce startup’s revenue from operations zoomed 85% to INR 59.4 Cr in FY24 from INR 32.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. However, its net losses also surged 52% YoY to INR 33.1 Cr.

Delhi tax authorities have issued a demand notice of INR 9.32 Cr against PB Fintech’s lending arm. The case pertains to exemptions availed by the company under Section 37 of the Income Tax Act during the assessment year 2023-24.

Beams Fintech Fund has joined the cap table of the NBFC startup as part of its $40 Mn Series A extended round. This follows the NBFC bagging $35 Mn in a round led by Jungle Ventures.

Inc42 Startup Spotlight How FluxGen Is Helping Businesses Turn Water-Positive

Industries in sectors like metals & mining and textiles often struggle with inefficient water usage, leading to wastage and high costs. Realising this was a major problem in India, a country where millions have to walk miles to fetch a pail of water, Ganesh Shankar and Emanuel Deepak founded FluxGen in 2021.

Water Management With AI: The climate tech startup leverages AI and IoT to help industries cut down on water consumption by up to 30% with its end-to-end solution, AquaGen. It offers real-time insights by tracking water levels, quality, pressure, and groundwater status while also mapping water flow across facilities.

On the product front, the company counts giants such as Indian Oil, Tata, Adani, and L&T among its clients.

What’s Next? FluxGen plans to double down on innovations in groundwater intelligence, wastewater resource management, and water risk analytics. Amid depleting groundwater levels and increasing water scarcity in the country,

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