ETSA Lenskart Startup of the Year; Profits of fintechs dealing in consumer loans are growing

Have a nice Friday! Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal outlined the company’s plans in an exclusive conversation. This and more in this morning’s edition of ETtech.

Also in writing:
■ Interview with the head of Google India
■ ETtech offers ready
▪ The new issue component of Swiggy IPO has increased

ETSA 2024: Lenskart on track to hit $1 billion in revenue: CEO Peyush Bansal

Omnichannel eyewear brand Lenskart, which won the prestigious Startup of the Year category at this year’s ET Startup Awards, has seen excellent online growth, supported by the expansion of local manufacturing. “We’re just getting started,” CEO Peyush Bansal told us.

Production in India: Lenskart plans to set up a manufacturing facility in southern India, about 10 times larger than its plant in Rajasthan. Bansal said the company’s local manufacturing capabilities helped drive not only domestic operations but also sales in global markets in Southeast Asia.

“The Rajasthan facility has been a pillar for us. We have moved a large part of our global production to India – frames that we used to import from Japan are now produced locally. This allowed us to control quality, reduce costs and significantly shorten delivery times,” Bansal said. The new facility is scheduled to be put into operation within the next 18 months.

Multi-channel play: The ETSA 2024 jury selected Lenskart as Startup of the Year for building a fast-growing, large-scale, omnichannel consumer retail venture. Bansal attributes much of Lenskart’s expansion momentum to its strategy, under which it operates 2,500 retail stores.

IPO plans: Bansal said that Lenskart is in no rush to go public and added that many companies are going public quickly due to exit pressure. “It will happen over time, but I still feel we are very early in our journey… We will take the company public when the company is at that stage – it doesn’t depend on market timing,” he said.

Read the full interview here.

Read also | ET Startup Awards 2024: Lenskart scores 10/10 and wins top honors

Consumer lending fintechs are making waves with growing numbers

Consumer and personal lending fintech companies such as Navi, Kreditbee, Moneyview and Fibe reported strong profits and revenue growth in the last financial year, signaling a sharp recovery from Covid-related challenges.

Messaging: Promoted by Sachin Bansal, Navi has built assets under management (AUM) of Rs 10,190 crore in the personal lending business alone till March 2024. It has also reported strong financial performance with a net profit of Rs 669 crore, part of which came from the sale of its microfinance activities

Fibe built an AUM of Rs 4,064 crore as of March 2024 and reported a net profit of Rs 105 crore. A Care Rating note released last month said Fibe’s technology-driven approach enables efficient loan portfolio growth with minimal manual intervention.

Read also | Lending startup Fibe closes $90 million in financing in primary and secondary transactions

Moneyview’s net profit for FY24 remained flat at Rs 171 crore, impacted by regulatory changes. Kreditbee, however, saw a sharp increase in profitability, with its net profit in FY24 tripling to Rs 285 crore, driven by rising market share.

The regulation implied a slowdown: The growth of the financial technology industry may slow down this year due to regulatory scrutiny, particularly the RBI’s caution on unsecured lending. Smaller fintechs may have difficulty finding co-lending partners, but larger startups are well-positioned due to past profits and momentum.

Read also | Technology-enabled NBFCs are trying to strike a balance following the RBI’s action on unsecured lending

Consolidation is a new trend: The digital lending sector is poised for consolidation as startups expand and smaller players are acquired. Companies such as FIbe, UGRO Capital, Flexiloans and Axio are strengthening their positions through partnerships, acquisitions and financing, and this trend is expected to continue.

Read also | Flexiloans secures Rs 290 crore in funding from Accion, Fundamentum and others

Artificial intelligence is too important not to regulate: Google India’s new CEO

Bow. Roma Datta Chobey, Google India

Google’s India strategy will continue to be closely aligned with the country’s aspirations to become a developed country over the next two decades, Roma Datta Chobey, Google’s new managing director for India, told us.

Assumed goals: “The vastness, complexity and diversity of India is a huge opportunity, but it can also be a challenge. Our focus is on how to make technology accessible, understandable and even affordable.”

Why Gemini India? “Data residency has been all the rage lately, and for good reason, whether it’s healthcare, financial services, or more. This shows that India is a very important market for us and we are focused on solving problems for India.”

AI Terms and Conditions: “Artificial intelligence is too important not to be regulated and cannot be regulated well. It is a very general-purpose technology that can be used in a wide range of applications. At Google, we have our AI policies; we have our own place practices; we have a governance framework.”

Read also | GPay UPI Circle, More Languages on Gemini: Key Takeaways from ‘Google for India’

Advantage of billing in Google Play: “Google Play plays an important role in making us an app-first country. Indian developers earn Rs 4,000 crore on Google Play. What is more interesting is that 84% of this amount comes from exports.”

New premieres: The tenth edition of the “Google for India” event took place on Thursday to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary in India. The technology giant announced, among others: new features for its Gemini chatbot and Google Pay.

ETtech offers ready

Shreyans Chopra, founder of Mstack

Mstack raises $40 million: Specialty chemicals startup Mstack has raised $40 million (around Rs 335 crore) in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Alpha Wave Global.

Str8bat raises Rs 29 crore: Sports tech startup Str8bat has raised $3.5 million (approximately Rs 29.3 crore) in a Series A funding round led by Exfinity Venture Partners.

Furnishka collects Rs 27 crore: Bengaluru-based furniture retailer Furnishka has raised Rs 27 crore in a pre-Series A funding round led by India Quotient, taking the total equity capital raised by the company to Rs 45 crore.

Other most popular articles from our reporters

Sriharsha Majety, CEO of Swiggy

Swiggy shareholders nod on increasing fresh issue component of IPO to Rs 5,000 crore: Shareholders of food and delivery platform Swiggy have approved the company’s proposal to increase the fresh issue element of its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) to Rs 5,000 crore, people trained on the matter told us.

Tata Electronics partially resumes work at an iPhone component factory that suffered a fire: Tata Electronics said on Thursday it would resume some of its operations at a burnt-out factory in Tamil Nadu that produces components for the Apple iPhone. On Saturday morning, a fire broke out in one of the six units of the plant.

UST acquires ISG automation unit for $27 million: IT services firm UST on Thursday said it has acquired the automation unit of US-based Information Services Group (ISG) for a total consideration of $27 million (about Rs 226 crore).

Global types we read

■ Generative AI Hacking for Fun and Profit (Wired)

■ Google extends its lead in India in its artificial intelligence game (TechCrunch)

■ OpenAI feels like its competitors are breathing down its neck (FT)