💸 From Urban Company to Amazon AI — Today’s Masala Mix

🌟 Intro

Happy Friday Junior! 🥳 The weekend is peeking around the corner, but the markets didn’t take a break — from IPO fireworks to Fed rate cuts, it’s been a packed day. Grab your chai, because today’s brew comes with extra froth, flavor, and a side of IPO popcorn 🍿.

🌶️ Chai Shots

• 🚀 Urban Company IPO Pops: Urban Company’s long-awaited public debut smashed expectations. Shares listed at ₹162 on NSE (58% premium) and closed at ₹169 — 64% above issue price, pushing its market cap to a hefty ₹24,200+ crore. The IPO, subscribed 103x, was India’s most in-demand this year, proving investors believe in its playbook of organizing India’s chaotic home services market. More in the Big Brew 👇

• 📉 Mutual Funds Leave Investors Sore: An ET analysis shows 74% of equity mutual funds lost money on one-year lump-sum bets. The worst hit, Samco Flexi Cap, burned through 17% of capital — ₹1 lakh turned into just ₹83,000. Only 71 schemes managed gains, with Motilal Oswal Multi Cap delivering the top return at 14%. A clear reminder that SIPs beat lump sums in volatile markets.

• 🚢 Adani Ports Doubles Down: Adani Ports & SEZ will invest ₹30,000 crore in the next two years, more than doubling earlier guidance. Most of this will fuel capacity at Mundra, Dhamra, and Vizhinjam, with the Vizhinjam transshipment hub already handling 1M+ TEUs within 9 months of launch. The goal? Touch 1 billion tonnes of cargo by 2030 and keep APSEZ’s 27% national market share intact.

• 🚄 MakeMyTrip x Zomato Rail Food Collab: Train passengers booking via MakeMyTrip can now order Zomato meals delivered straight to their seats at 130+ stations. With Indian Railways’ e-catering already seeing 90,000 daily users, this tie-up is a smart play to capture festive travel demand.

📈 Market Masala

• 📈 Markets End Higher: Sensex gained 313 pts to close at 82,694 and Nifty added 91 pts to finish above 25,300, driven by optimism over India–US trade talks and Fed rate cut hopes. Banks, autos, and IT stocks led the rally, the rupee logged its best day since August, and Urban Company stole the show with a 62% listing pop.

• 🍚 India’s Food Reserves Overflow: Rice stocks hit a record 48.2 MMT, while wheat climbed to a 4-year high at 33.3 MMT. India, which exports 40% of global rice, could ship a record 22.5 MMT this year. Strong wheat reserves give the govt cushion to tame festive inflation.

• 📺 ZEE5 Gets a New Boss: Zee Entertainment elevated long-time executive Siju Prabhakaran as Chief Business Officer of ZEE5. Known for his work in regional TV, he’ll now steer ZEE5’s global digital strategy with focus on monetization and language-led growth.

• 🏦 Yes Bank Stake Shuffle: Japan’s SMBC is buying another 4.2% stake in Yes Bank from Carlyle Group, on top of its recent 20% deal. With this, SMBC strengthens its Indian foothold, while also offloading its small Kotak Mahindra Bank stake for portfolio balance.

🌍 Global Masala

• 💸 Fed Cuts Rates by 25 bps: The U.S. Fed trimmed rates to 4.0–4.25% and signaled two more cuts this year amid slowing job growth. Markets expect October and December cuts — a cue for India to brace for capital inflows and possible currency swings.

🍵 The Big Brew: Urban Company’s IPO Fireworks

India’s largest tech-enabled home services marketplace just pulled off one of the most successful IPOs of 2025.

• 📊 Blockbuster Debut: Shares listed at ₹162 (58% above issue price of ₹103) and closed at ₹169 (64% up), valuing UC at ₹24,200+ crore. The ₹1,900 crore IPO was oversubscribed 103x, the year’s hottest subscription.

• 🛠️ What They Do: From beauty and wellness to plumbing, cleaning, and appliance repair, UC organizes services in a sector dominated by unorganized players. It operates in 47 Indian cities plus UAE & Singapore, aiming for 200+ cities by FY30.

• 📈 Financials: Revenue rose 38% YoY to ₹1,144 crore in FY25, with profitability improving. Valuations are steep at 54x P/E, but investors see a long runway.

• 🌟 Why It Matters: Urban Company is proof that India’s everyday unorganized chores — from fixing taps to salon visits — are becoming digitized, standardized, and investable.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🥤 Supply6 Raises $1.1M to Go Global: Nutrition startup Supply6 raised $1.1M led by Zeropearl VC. Known for its 63-nutrient sachets and zero-sugar hydration mixes, Supply6 already counts 2 lakh customers and ex-cricketer AB de Villiers as ambassador. Next stop? GCC and English-speaking markets as the D2C nutrition boom goes international.

• 💳 FinBox Bags $40M for AI Credit Infra: Bengaluru-based FinBox secured $40M in Series B funding led by WestBridge, with secondary exits for early investors. Its AI-native credit stack powers digital loans, fraud checks, and embedded lending for 130+ clients, including HDFC Bank and Kotak. The company has already processed $9B in applications and is doubling revenue annually.

• 💍 Lucira Sparkles with $5.5M Seed Round: Fine jewelry brand Lucira raised $5.5M from Blume Ventures and Spring Marketing Capital to open 4 flagship stores by FY26 and invest in tech-driven personalization. The brand wants to be India’s “design-first” fine jewelry player, tapping into a new generation that values authenticity + aesthetics over just gold weight.

🔮 What’s Brewing Next?

• 📑 Land Reform 2.0: The govt is prepping a unified digital land record system to clearly mark ownership and cut disputes. With rural records nearly digitized, pilot projects in 160 cities are underway to fix messy urban land data. This reform could transform investments, infra projects, and even property taxes.

🎲 Chai Break Trivia

Did you know? 🤯 Bengaluru is ranked among the world’s top five aerospace cities for foreign investment? Rolls-Royce just opened its largest global capability centre there this week.

That’s your Friday Junior edition! From IPO fireworks to Fed cuts, India’s business brew is bubbling hotter than your cutting chai. Stay sharp, invest wisely, and remember — tomorrow’s Friday, so the weekend’s almost here. 🥟📈