Lenskart has drawn fresh interest from major institutional investors. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.
Also in the letter:
■ SpaceX's debut test
■ Byju's founder gets relief
■ Ecomm's retail plateau
Lenskart shares in focus as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, others purchase stake in Rs 1,960 crore block deal
Lenskart will likely stay in the spotlight after institutional investors scooped up shares worth nearly Rs 1,960 crore in a large block deal .
Driving the news:
- ADIA-backed Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust sold a 2.3% stake in Lenskart on Thursday. The investor offloaded 4 crore shares at Rs 490 apiece, about 2% below the previous closing price of Rs 500.15.
- Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund emerged as the biggest buyer, picking up 1.2 crore shares.
- Other major domestic buyers included Canara Robeco Mutual Fund (32.2 lakh shares), Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund (22.4 lakh), and Mirae Asset Mutual Fund (22 lakh).
- Foreign investors such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Ghisallo Master Fund also joined the action.
Tell me more: The sale follows a major block deal earlier this month, when SoftBank affiliate SVF II Lightbulb (Cayman) sold 5.65 crore Lenskart shares for about Rs 2,873 crore.
Q4 snapshot:
- Revenue from operations: Up 46% to Rs 2,516 crore from Rs 1,727 crore.
- Net profit: Down 9% to Rs 200 crore from Rs 219 crore.
Meesho to buy Kirana Club for Rs 202 crore, eyes deeper retail play
Meesho is acquiring Kirana Club for Rs 202 crore as it doubles down on India's vast network of small retailers.
Acquisition details:
- Meesho's board on Friday cleared the all-cash deal.
- The company will acquire 100% of Singapore-incorporated Kirana Club and 0.41% direct stake in Retail Pulse Labs, its Indian subsidiary.
- Meesho will hold the remaining 99.59% of Retail Pulse Labs through Kirana Club.
- The transaction will close in three tranches by March 31, 2027, and does not require regulatory approvals.
CEO speak: Cofounder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said the acquisition expands Meesho's commerce offering beyond consumers to small retailers, a crucial pillar of India's grocery ecosystem.
B Capital leads SolarSquare's $50-55 million round at $500 million valuation
Mumbai-based rooftop solar startup SolarSquare Energy has raised $50-55 million in a new funding round led by B Capital.
Valuation spike: The round values the company at $450-500 million, nearly 2.5x its last valuation, according to people aware of the matter. The company raised $40 million in a Lightspeed-led round in December 2024.
Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Elevation Capital also participated in the round, the people said.
Keshav Reddy's Equal AI raises $30 million
Equal AI, the artificial intelligence (AI) call assistant app founded by Keshav Reddy, scion of the airports-to-life sciences GVK Group, has raised $30 million in a Series B round co-led by Prosus Ventures and Tomales Bay Capital.
Tell me more: Think Investments, Valiant Fund, PhonePe founder Sameer Nigam, and Airtel's Zubin Bharti Mittal also joined the round.
After record IPO, Musk's SpaceX faces next test in market debut
SpaceX is set to make its stock market debut on Friday after overwhelming investor demand, positioning it for the first trillion-dollar IPO in US history.
IPO details:
- Funds raised: $75 billion, the largest IPO on record.
- Valuation: $1.77 trillion.
- Issue price: $135 per share.
- Shares sold: 555.56 million.
- Retail allocation: 30% of the offering went to retail investors.
Reuters reported that the valuation could climb further if underwriters exercise their option to sell additional shares. The offering surpassed the previous record-holder, Saudi Aramco's 2019 IPO ($29.4 billion).
Also Read: States challenge Nasdaq, FTSE Russell for fast-tracking SpaceX
Musk premium: The listing will test for the so-called "Musk premium," the phenomenon that helped propel Tesla past a $1 trillion valuation. Investors will also watch SpaceX's debut for signs of market appetite ahead of potential IPOs by AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI.
Also Read: SpaceX IPO makes Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire
Jeff Bezos' AI startup Prometheus is now worth $41 billion: Report
Industrial AI startup Prometheus has raised $12 billion in fresh funding, lifting its valuation to $41 billion, Axios reported.
Backed by Jeff Bezos, the company builds AI tools for industrial and infrastructure applications, the report said.
Byju Raveendran's lawyer says Singapore High Court has stayed jail sentence against founder
The Singapore High Court has given Byju Raveendran temporary relief , staying the surrender and committal provisions of an earlier civil contempt order against him, according to his lawyer.
The stay means Raveendran does not need to surrender for now, and no jail term will kick in while the order remains under challenge.
Why it matters:
- The May 25 order had sentenced Raveendran to six months in jail .
- His legal team has appealed the contempt finding.
- His lawyers say it is a civil matter, not a criminal charge.
- They also stress that there is no funding of fraud, dishonesty, diversion of funds, or personal wrongdoing.
The larger dispute:
- The proceedings have refocused attention on Aakash Educational Services.
- Aakash remains one of the few valuable assets in the Byju's ecosystem.
- Think & Learn, the parent of Byju's, remains under insolvency in India.
- QIA, GLAS Trust, Manipal Group and Raveendran-linked entities have overlapping claims around Aakash’s value and ownership.
Also Read: VC contract terms get tougher on founder shares after governance lapses
Ecommerce isn't adding much to Retail Inc's cart
Despite an aggressive push, ecommerce still contributes little to total sales at India's leading retail chains, with online's share either flat or up only 1-2 percentage points over the past four to five years.
Data decoded: An ET analysis found that Tata-owned Westside's online contribution stood at 7% in 2021-22 and has hovered around 6% till 2025-26. Reliance Retail's online share ranged between 17% and 19% in the same period, while Bata's stayed at 10-12%.
For DMart, ecommerce contributed 5-6% of sales, while at Shoppers Stop, it accounted for less than 1% of consolidated revenue between 2021-22 and 2024-25.
Context: Industry executives partly blame the slowdown on lower investment in online channels compared with pure-play digital rivals such as Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, and Blinkit's parent, Eternal.
Retailers also insist they won't chase online growth at the expense of profitability, keeping prices largely aligned across online and offline channels.
For more news like this visit The Economic Times .
