By Team Ys
Copyright yourstory
From Apple’s launch event featuring its most-awaited iPhone Air to Urban Company’s IPO kickoff with Goldman Sachs and GIC as anchor investors, YourStory brings you today’s headlines with the latest developments across sectors.
Featured stories
Zendesk’s Adrian Fallow unpacks tech’s impact on Indian SMBs
When customer service software company Zendesk set foot in India with a physical office in Bengaluru in 2016, it saw the country as a natural focus area of its growth strategy.
The same year, Zendesk had even made an appearance during YourStory’s TechSparks event to engage with the local startup ecosystem.
With India’s small and medium businesses (SMBs) also keeping pace with the large enterprises in implementing AI to deliver better customer experience (CX), Zendesk now sees an even bigger opportunity. Read more.
How Snabbit is digitising India’s domestic help industry
From groceries and cabs to courier services, nearly every part of urban life has moved online. But one essential need remains offline: finding reliable domestic help. For many Indian households and young professionals, domestic help is essential for cooking, cleaning, and daily chores. However, the process remains fragmented, marked by delays, inconsistency, and lack of trust.
Ayush Agarwal, Founder of Snabbit, felt this gap personally as a working professional living away from home in Powai, Mumbai. “I didn’t know how to find someone to clean my house. I tried looking online, speaking to agencies, and asking friends, but the process was unclear and inaccessible,” he recalls. Read more.
Latest news
Urban Company IPO kicks off with Goldman Sachs, GIC as anchor investors
Urban Company, a home services marketplace, has lined up marquee global and domestic funds as anchor investors ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).
The Gurugram-based startup raised Rs 853.87 crore ($97 million) by allocating 82.9 million shares at Rs 103 apiece, the top of the price band, regulatory filings show.
Global names including Goldman Sachs, Dragoneer Investments, Norges Bank, GIC, Nomura, Amundi Funds, Steadview Capital, and WhiteOak took part in the anchor book. About 37% of the allocation went to 13 Indian mutual funds across 29 schemes, among them SBI, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Nippon, and UTI.Read more.
Ola Electric brushes off auditor concerns, says inventory issues are an “isolated case”
Ola Electric on Tuesday said the inconsistencies in inventory figures flagged by its statutory auditor, BSR & Co., were a one-off incident triggered by the company, linked to a restructuring of its network operations in Q4 FY25.
The auditor had flagged that it recorded 19 cases where the scooter count at stores and money owed by customers to Ola Electric, as per its books, did not match the company’s quarterly returns filed with banks in FY25. Read more.
Apple unveils new smartphone lineup, puts spotlight on ultra-thin iPhone Air
It’s that time of year again when all eyes are on Apple, waiting to discover what’s next. This time, the company unveiled something entirely new—the iPhone Air—the thinnest iPhone ever made.
The awe-dropping event held at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, commenced with a quote from Steve Jobs: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Approximately forty minutes later, CEO Tim Cook unveiled the iPhone Air, which sets a new benchmark in design.
Apple’s new iPhones may have stolen the spotlight at its biggest launch event of the year, but other products, including wristwear Ultra 3 and AirPods Pro3, too created a stir. Read more.
Funding news
ajvc closes maiden fund at Rs 165 Cr, bags 2X its target corpus in commitments
Aviral Bhatnagar’s ajvc on Wednesday said it closed its maiden fund at Rs 165 crore, which will make pre-seed investments into Indian startups.
The firm had initially sought to raise a Rs 100 crore maiden fund, which it closed in March this year, YourStory had reported.
However, the fund managed to attract large interest, attracting Rs 200 crore in commitments from global limited partners and family offices, but decided to cap the total fund size at Rs 165 crore. Read more.
Skincare brand Asaya secures Rs 28 Cr in pre-Series A funding
Asaya, a skincare company focused on hyperpigmentation treatments, has raised Rs 28 crore in a pre-Series A funding round.
The round was led by RPSG Capital, with participation from strategic investors Suyash Saraf and Anisha Agarwal Saraf, co-founders of Dot & Key, along with existing investors OTP Ventures and Huddle Ventures.
The funding will be used to set up an innovation centre aimed at accelerating product development. The company plans to introduce six products over the next 12 months, including a line featuring another patented molecule developed through 18 months of research to address a common skin condition in India.
It also intends to expand to quick-commerce platforms and scale its operations and delivery network across the country.
PhonePe launches digital-first Udyam Assist registration
PhonePe has launched digital-first Udyam registration through the Udyam Assist Platform (UAP) at an event in Delhi.
The initiative is designed to give informal micro enterprises a formal business identity, enabling access to government schemes, tax benefits, business bank accounts, and financial services linked to the digital payments ecosystem.
During the event, Udyam Assist Certificates were issued to merchants through the new digital system. PhonePe also announced a Memorandum of Understanding with SIDBI to support credit access for micro merchants via digital lending solutions integrated with UAP.
UAP, developed by SIDBI under the Ministry of MSME’s Formalisation Project, enables informal micro enterprises to register online through designated agencies.
(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)
