Mukesh Bansal’s new venture; Natural skincare for kids

Hello,

There’s a lot to unpack.

Swiggy will reportedly file for a $1.2 billion IPO confidentially. The confidential route was introduced by SEBI in 2022 to allow companies to protect sensitive business information.

Meanwhile, Microsoft reported strong top and bottom line numbers for the quarter ended March on the back of AI integration in its cloud. Its net profit in the quarter surged nearly 20% to $21.9 billion while revenue crossed $60 billion.

Also, India’s deeptech startups are leading the surge in patents—most of them filed in Chennai. Over 83,000 patents were filed in India in FY23, recording the highest growth in two decades. The share of patents filed by women in India grew to 11.6%.

However, not all is merry in the Indian startup ecosystem.

The last week of April saw a dip in venture capital funding with only 21 deals raising $192 million. Of it, $69 million was raised through the debt route—a sign of challenging times.

Further, Koo App is in trouble as the homegrown social media platform has halted salary payments to its employees as it struggles to find buyers or investors. It is also looking to get acquired.

And lastly, India's third-largest IT firm HCL Technologies posted a flat year-on-year growth in net profit for the March quarter. Sequentially, the net profit declined 8.4% from Rs 4,350 crore in Q3 FY24 to Rs 3,986 crore in the quarter gone by.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Apparel retailer Lyskraft raises $26M
• Natural skincare for kids
• Games to promote healthy habits

Here’s your trivia for today: When were electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in an Indian election for the first time?

Funding

Apparel retailer Lyskraft raises $26M

Lyskraft, the Gurugram-headquartered omnichannel fashion and lifestyle platform, raised $26 million in a seed funding round led by Peak XV Partners, and Prosus, Sofina, and Partners of DST Global also participated. 

Having built in stealth mode over the last few months by Zomato Co-founder Mohit Gupta and Myntra Founder Mukesh Bansal, Lyskraft offers a curated selection of over 15 women’s fashion brands and designers, with new designers added every week.

New grounds:

• MakeMyTrip’s former CEO and Founder Deep Kalra, the company’s current CEO Rajesh Magow, and Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal also invested in the company.
• The startup recently launched a premium pop-up store at Ambience Mall in Gurugram and will also retail its collection online, it said in a statement.
• While Gupta will lead the startup as Co-founder and CEO, Bansal will be a strategic advisor to the business besides being the co-founder.

Top Funding Deals of the Week

Startup: Lyskraft

Amount: $26M

Round: Seed

Startup: CloudExtel

Amount: Rs 200 Cr

Round: Debt

Startup: LetsTransport

Amount: $22M

Round: Series E

Startup

Natural skincare for kids

There are many skincare brands in the market targeting infants and children. However, dermatologists and skincare experts have been sounding the alarm about potential health risks, including skin allergies, rashes, and other adverse reactions.

Addressing this problem head-on is Yellow Naturals, a skincare brand specialising in natural products for children aged 4-12. 

Safe care:

• Founded by Pooja Dugar and Alok Nagpal in 2023, the Gurugram-based startup is focused on safe and gentle skincare and hair care solutions for kids. 
• Some of its products include daily cleanse shampoo + conditioner, body wash, and nail paints ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. The products are focused on babies (0-3 years) to pre-teens (15 years onwards). 
• It also offers a makeup kit for kids, made from natural oils and butter, avoiding toxins, talc, and other chemicals. The kit consists of a box with a mirror, eyeshadow, blush, lip tints, balm, and nail paints.

Social Impact

Games to promote healthy habits

Nourishing Schools Foundation (NSF), started in 2016, aims to address the problem of malnutrition, lack of proper sanitation, etc., by spreading awareness about nutrition among school children and transforming them into problem-solvers.

“We have followed a toolkit-based approach to make the children understand the importance of proper nutrition and sanitation. Our aim is to impart them with the right knowledge and transform them into thought leaders,” says Archana Sinha, Co-founder and CEO at NSF.

Engaging kids:

• The NGO conducts an activity to make children understand the importance of using soap. In this, students apply chalk on their hands, shake hands with each other, and then wash their hands with plain water.
• The foundation also provides toolkits specifically designed for private schools for Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per child per month.
• So far, NSF has implemented its programmes in more than 230 government schools across the country, impacting over 60,000 children.

News & updates

• AI play: xAI, Elon Musk’s 10-month-old competitor to OpenAI, is raising $6 billion on a pre-money valuation of $18 billion. The deal—which would give investors one-quarter of the company—is expected to close in the next few weeks unless the terms of the deal change.
• Falls short: Maruti Suzuki’s fourth-quarter standalone profit rose 47.8% on-year to $465.4 million. Revenue from sales, meanwhile, grew more than 19%, helped partly by a price hike implemented at the beginning of the quarter.
• New phone: Huawei Technologies’ Pura 70 series smartphones carry a version of the advanced made-in-China processor, the Kirin 9010 processor, revealed last year, underscoring the Chinese company’s ability to sustain production of the controversial chip.

When were electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in an Indian election for the first time?

Answer: 1982, in a by-election for Kerala's North Paravur assembly constituency.

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