Listed new-age cos’ road to profitability; QED’s Nigel Morris interview

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.

Also in the letter:
■ AI and the Indian middle-class dream
■ BigBasket’s rapid food delivery foray
■ Builder.ai-VerSe dirty deal

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Out 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.

Why it matters: 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.

By the numbers:

• Nykaa and Policybazaar posted over 20% YoY revenue growth and doubled profits.
• Ola Electric’s losses more than doubled to Rs 870 crore, with revenue plunging 62%.
• Swiggy posted a Rs 1,081 crore loss, driven by rising cash burn in Instamart.
• Delhivery turned profitable, ending its first full year in the black.
• BlackBuck posted a Rs 280 crore net profit, aided by a one-off tax gain.

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: 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.

Also Read: ET Explainer: Swiggy share price hit as pre-IPO lock-in period expires

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Nigel Morris, managing partner, QED Investors

Fintechs 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.

Regulatory headwinds? 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.

Neobanking concerns: 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.

APAC in focus: 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.

Valuation reset: Pre-Covid, public fintechs traded at 4–5x revenue. At the peak of the digital acceleration, they surged to around 20x revenue. Today, valuations are returning to more rational levels, Morris said. Cred is raising fresh capital at a $4 billion valuation — down from $6.4 billion in 2021. Klarna crashed from $46 billion to $6.7 billion, now eyeing $15 billion ahead of its IPO. Stripe dropped from $95 billion to $50 billion, then bounced back to $91.5 billion in a tender offer.



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.

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: Slow start: Why UPI Lite, wallet-based payments are yet to take off?

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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.

Uncertain days: 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.

Rise in anxiety: 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.

How to surivive: “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.

Also Read: Jobs AI won’t replace: Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark names safest roles

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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.

Going in-house: For its 10-minute food play, BigBasket has tapped into Tata’s in-house brands. New offerings include items from:

• 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: The move follows cofounder and CEO Hari Menon’s December 2024 post on X, where he announced plans to enter food delivery, expand SKUs to over 30,000 in tier-1 cities, and launch pharma deliveries via Tata 1mg.

Also Read: Tata Sons questions BigBasket’s qcomm lag, pushes for financial investor amid rivals' onslaught

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VerSe Innovation allegedly billed Builder.ai without services; Indian company denies claims: 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.

Top illegal betting site Parimatch draws more visits than Amazon, X: 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.

LinkedIn lays off hundreds as tech giants continue to cut jobs: Microsoft-owned job and networking platform LinkedIn has joined the growing list of tech giants laying off employees, reducing 281 positions across California.

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■ 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)