🦄 Gupshup Raises $60M, But Is It Still a Unicorn?

☀️ Good morning, it’s Friday Junior!

It’s Thursday — the unsung hero of the workweek. The taste of the weekend is just one sleep away, and we’ve brewed your perfect pre-Friday fix. Today’s pour includes PayPal’s global wallet play, Myntra’s $200M headache, and a Friday teaser that involves Gupshup’s unicorn dilemma 🦄👇

Let’s stir it up!

🫖 Chai Shots

• 🛒 India slaps Myntra with ₹1,654 Cr FEMA violation case: The Enforcement Directorate claims Myntra funneled retail sales through a wholesale loophole using Vector E-Commerce, breaching foreign investment limits. The company allegedly routed ₹1,591 crore this way.

• 🌍 PayPal launches global wallet network with UPI, WeChat Pay: PayPal's new "PayPal World" platform will let users pay with their local wallets (like UPI and WeChat Pay) across borders, aiming to simplify payments for over 2 billion people.

• 🧴 SUGAR Cosmetics scoops up ₹41 crore: The D2C beauty brand raised a mix of debt and equity from Anicut Capital, Stride Ventures, and L Catterton. With revenue at ₹505 crore in FY24, the company is doubling down on omnichannel retail.

• 💬 Delhi HC shields Canon India in ₹2.24 crore GST row: The court stayed coercive action over excess input tax credit. Canon claims it paid dues before any notice and denies any intent to evade tax.

• 🧠 Gupshup raises $60M to power AI agents: The messaging platform secured fresh funding from Globespan and EvolutionX, aiming to dominate business messaging and AI-powered agents across high-growth markets. More in the Big Brew 👇

📈 Market Masala

• 📈 Sensex and Nifty jump on trade optimism and FTA buzz: Indian markets rallied as global trade tensions cooled with fresh U.S. deals and an India-UK FTA on the horizon. Sensex rose 540 points and Nifty gained 159, led by auto and financial stocks like ICICI Bank and Tata Motors.

• 🛢 Crude Math: RBI says a 10% jump in global oil prices could push India’s inflation up by 20 basis points. While government controls have kept retail fuel prices stable so far, rising import dependence may make inflation harder to contain over time, especially via higher transport and manufacturing costs.

• 💻 Infosys leads Q1 IT pack: The company posted the best revenue and deal momentum among top Indian IT firms, with 3.3% QoQ growth and a 46% surge in deal wins—outshining peers like TCS and Wipro, which faced soft demand and delayed ramps.

• ⚠️ SEBI may act on MCX glitch: A tech failure halted trading and revealed deeper operational issues. While trading resumed, SEBI is investigating and may impose penalties, putting MCX’s infrastructure and controls under the regulatory microscope.

• 💳 ED files ₹913 Cr FEMA violation complaint against Simpl: The payment platform is under scrutiny for allegedly violating FEMA norms via fund routing practices. The complaint follows a broader regulatory push on fintech compliance in India.

🌍 Global Masala

• 🏭 SAP slips despite profit rise: German software giant SAP posted 9% revenue growth and 32% jump in profit, but fell short of revenue forecasts. Currency headwinds and tariff-driven delays in customer decision-making dragged on performance, leading to a 2.3% stock dip.

• 🚗 Tesla disappoints on sales again: Tesla’s auto revenue dropped 16% YoY to $16.7B in Q2, missing estimates for a second quarter straight. Delivery numbers were down, earnings fell short, and shares dipped after CFO Vaibhav Taneja warned about EV tax credit rollbacks and tariff impacts disrupting U.S. deliveries. The company is now urging customers to place orders early while pushing forward on robotaxi dreams.

• 🧾 European stocks rally on trade optimism: The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.1% as hopes of a U.S.-EU trade deal lifted investor mood. Tariff-sensitive auto stocks—like Porsche, Stellantis, and Volkswagen—led gains with 6–7% jumps. Futures also surged 1.8% after reports of a 15% tariff deal nearing completion.

☕ The Big Brew: Gupshup’s Unicorn Status Is... Complicated 🦄

Gupshup, the business messaging giant that once rode India’s SMS boom, has just raised $60 million — but it's keeping its new valuation under wraps.

Here’s what’s steeping:

• 💰 Old unicorn, new mystery: Gupshup was valued at $1.4B in 2021. Since then, investors like Fidelity have quietly marked that down to under $500M.

• 🌎 Global playbook: The company plans to use the fresh round (a mix of equity and debt) to boost presence in India, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

• 🤖 Betting on AI agents: With WhatsApp, RCS, and voice emerging as dominant interfaces, Gupshup is offering “AI agents” — custom bots for businesses — to drive engagement and sales.

• 🔧 Not just bots: It’s also building tools like click-to-chat ads, campaign managers, and agent-assist systems to help brands create end-to-end conversational funnels.

• 📈 IPO whispers: The company is prepping for an IPO within 18–24 months, and may consider flipping to India — though that would come with tax hurdles since it’s domiciled in the U.S.

🧐 What does this mean?

Gupshup’s pivot to AI-powered messaging could pay off big — if it manages to keep its edge while giants like Google and Amazon barge into the space. Whether or not it’s still a unicorn, it’s definitely not done fighting.

🚀 Startup Scoop

• 🧃 Pristyn Care raises $4M to scale in-house hospitals: The surgical startup has moved from hospital partnerships to owning 8 facilities spanning 200,000 sq ft and 450 beds. It now eyes a $100M round and an IPO by 2028.

• 🍿 Roast Foods lands strategic funding for global expansion: The Pune-based healthy snack brand is backed by Pagariya Exports and just bagged an order from Walmart Canada. The capital will go into ramping up exports and manufacturing.

• 🧠 Olto raises $5.1M to reinvent sales demos with AI: Founded by former Amazon execs, this startup auto-generates personalized B2B product demos. It claims to cut demo prep time by 80%, and already counts Eightfold.ai and Demandbase as clients.

🔍 What’s Brewing Next?

• 🛍️ Myntra likely to face follow-up investigations amid rising U.S.-India trade tensions

🧠 Chai Break Trivia

Did you know? 🏛️ Sweden is home to a real-life Museum of Failure!

This offbeat museum in Helsingborg celebrates the world’s most entertaining product flops — like Colgate’s beef lasagna, the Apple Newton, and even a Harley-Davidson perfume. The idea? Innovation needs failure. Because every epic success usually starts with a facepalm 💥📦🧼

And with that, its a wrap! Ready for the weekend like Gupshup is ready for an IPO?
Catch you tomorrow with more spice, more scoops, and maybe a few more unicorn sightings 🦄👇

— Masala Chai Team ☕