Kaivalya V.

What started as a grocery rush has now expanded into a hyper-fast ecosystem—delivering fashion, gadgets, beauty, and even healthcare in just 10 to 30 minutes! With a 280% sales surge and $1B+ revenue in FY24, the space is crowded and competitive. 💥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 Blinkit , Zepto , and Swiggy Instamart are setting the pace, while Flipkart Minutes, Amazon Tez, Nykaa, and Myntra are trying to catch up. 🚀 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 Startups like Slikk, Plazza, Blitz, WAAYU, Blip, Zing, and Swish are entering niche segments, focusing on specific customer needs rather than speed alone. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞? 1️⃣ Beyond Speed—Own a Category 🏆 Not every brand needs to deliver everything. Specializing—like WAAYU for restaurant meals or Nykaa for beauty essentials—helps in long-term brand recall. 2️⃣ Subscription & Loyalty Models 🔁 Customer retention is key! Zepto Pass & Instamart Super Saver keep users hooked. Startups must shift from discounts to exclusive value. 3️⃣ Hyperlocal Warehousing & Dark Stores 🏬 Inventory optimization and strategic placement of micro-fulfillment centers will separate winners from those burning cash. 4️⃣ Profitability Over GMV 📊 VC funding won’t last forever. Smart unit economics and a focus on repeat purchases will define survival. 💡 Quick commerce is no longer about being the fastest—it’s about being the smartest. Who do you think will own the fast lane? 🚀👇 #QuickCommerce #EcommerceTrends #StartupGrowth

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I see many founders pop champagne (figuratively) to celebrate their listing on qcomm without realizing there’s a challenge ahead. It doesn’t end with the listing The next q which everyone faces is: “How do we stay in stock every single day on Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart?” The backstory: this channel didn’t just emerge. It exploded. From 300 million USD in 2021 to > a projected 5 billion by 2025: quick commerce has grown more than 16x in 4 years. For many urban D2C brands, it already drives 15% - 25% of total sales. If you take food or essentials this number could be 50%. So, it’s not an ancillary channel - it’s core. The biggest crime as a brand on qcomm is if your product isn’t on the shelf at 9 PM when someone is scrolling for chips, drinks, or face wash. The customer leaves frustrated and switches to another brand. And, you’ve lost that impulse but, you’ve also lost the customer and his/her loyalty. Staying on that shelf is half the battle won. It’s not just a supply chain metric, it’s now a revenue driver as well. But, staying on a qcomm shelf is more complex than an ecommerce shelf. You are no longer shipping to a few metro hubs. You are trying to stay live across thousands of dark stores, each with its own demand curve, purchase orders, & refill schedules. If you miss few POs, the algo hated you & you’re out of stock in 50 locations by the morning. This is where founders need to be sharp. I am now seeing smart, new-age infra kick in….. My friend and portfolio founder Madhav Kasturia & his startup Zippee have synced with V-Trans (India) Ltd (Jay Shah, Ronak Shah & team). They’re now enabling next day PO fulfillment to quick commerce warehouses across cities across channels - Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart, Flipkart Minutes, & BB Now. They fulfill POs on time as the channel demands. Not 4 days later, not after endless follow ups - the next day. They also manage your appointment based deliveries and ensure there’s no rejection at fulfillment center or endless coordination. I’ve seen Madhav build Zippee from 0 over these 4 years with speed and execution. And, I’m excited with this new solution because it solves a real problem. The brands that win on qcomm will not just be the best marketed. They’ll also be the ones that are best stocked! How often have you seen “Out of Stock” when trying to order something on qcomm? What does that make you feel? #qcomm #founders #india #d2c

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Two startups. Same market. Same chance. One raised too early. The other was too late. The outcomes will surprise you 👇🏻 Snapdeal→ Raised Funds Too Early Snapdeal initially raised large funds and positioned itself as a leading e-commerce player in India. What they did: Aggressive expansion, diversified offerings, heavy rebranding, and multiple acquisitions. Problems faced: - Execution errors & poor integration of acquisitions - High cash burn and costly decisions - Service failures, delayed deliveries, and eroded customer trust - Fierce competition from Amazon and other well-funded players Result? Growth became unsustainable, financial stress escalated, and Snapdeal lost market share. 📌 Lesson: Raising big too early can drive unfocused growth, operational chaos, and high burn, hurting competitiveness. Byju’s→ Raised Funds Too Late Byju’s prioritized building product quality and acquiring customers organically before raising large funding rounds. What they did: Developed curriculum, improved tech, and scaled cautiously with limited capital. Problems faced: - Slower early growth - Pressure to balance scale with quality - Competitive pressure from better-funded rivals - Later rounds required huge scaling expectations How they overcame it: Focused on unit economics, product innovation, and raised larger rounds later to fuel massive expansion. 📌 Lesson: Late funding slows growth but disciplined focus and strong execution make it highly effective. Timing matters in fundraising. Too early risks scaling before you’re ready. Too late risks missing growth. Make sure your business model is solid and scalable first.” _ _ _ P.S. Want to raise funds to scale your startup? Fill this form and let’s help you become funding-ready👇 https://lnkd.in/gjqKsyb8

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🚀 Zomato Q1 FY26: Growth vs. Profitability 📊 Wow – 71% revenue growth but 90% profit drop for Zomato’s latest quarter! 😮 What’s cooking? Here are the spicy takeaways: Revenue hit ₹7,167 Cr (+70% YoY) as Zomato’s quick-commerce arm Blinkit boomed (+155%), surpassing food delivery in order value for the first time 🍕📦. Net profit was just ₹25 Cr (down 90% YoY) – a tiny 0.3% margin Treasury income (~₹326 Cr) was 13× the profit. 💰 Blinkit = cash burn 🔥 (~₹160 Cr quarterly loss) Stock soared 🎉 ~15% after results 👉 Check out the full in-depth analysis and what this means for the food & grocery wars. https://lnkd.in/g-sN77Rz #Zomato #Blinkit #QuickCommerce #FoodDelivery #Startups #Investing #GrowthVsProfit 😅🚀 Hyperpure by Zomato , District

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SCOOP: Biswas is in talks to join BigBasket and is expected to lead the company’s quick commerce vertical. As per sources, BigBasket has extended an offer letter to Biswas. Story by Harsh Upadhyayvia Entrackr https://lnkd.in/gMDRMemU

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Watch 20+ Startup IPOs in 2025. Closely study those Industries Zappfresh (D2C/Consumer) Zepto (Quick Commerce) Zetwerk (B2B/ Ecommerce) Infra.market (B2B/E-commerce) Innoviti - (Fintech) InCred - (Fintech) Indiqube (Co-working) Ofbusiness (B2B/E-commerce) PhysicsWallah (Edtech) PayU (Fintech) Pine Labs (Fintech) Shadowfax (Logistics) Smartworks (Coworking) To become more abundant follow the Industry closely. Data Source: MoneyControl

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Swiggy just passed the baton. And Kouzina’s ready to sprint.   In a bold move, Swiggy is transferring full ownership of its food brands — The Bowl Company, Homely, Soul Rasa, and Istah — to Kouzina Food Tech.   Why?   Swiggy is trimming the fat. Focusing on core ops.   And Kouzina?   Let’s connect the dots. Swiggy built these brands to plug market gaps. Kouzina has an asset-light, digital-first model. Now, it’s Kouzina’s game to win.   From 250+ kitchen partners across 100+ cities to acquiring Vasudev Adiga’s and backing Shark Tank’s MOPP Foods — Kouzina’s been playing offense. The takeaway?   This isn’t just a brand handover.   It’s a blueprint for how food delivery is evolving — leaner ops, stronger partnerships, and a franchise-first playbook. Will Kouzina be the next big IPO from the foodtech space?     #Swiggy #Kouzina #CloudKitchens #FoodTech #Startups #MergersAndAcquisitions #TheBowlCompany #Homely #D2C #IPOWatch #LinkedInFoodie

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Difference between our smallest client ACV and largest one is 250x. That is the capability growth in past few years at Refrens For pay-as-you-go pricing this is normal but for feature based pricing, this is surprising for me also. The challenge is in growing the team's mindset to sell a 250x product. From few thousand rupees micro saas to few lakhs for mid market systems. Sales people need to go from talking about samosa chutney to cheesecake.

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Oravel Stays is now PRISM! On September 7, 2025, OYO’s parent company officially rebranded as *PRISM*, signaling a shift from a budget hotel aggregator to a global, AI-powered hospitality platform. Key facts: - Operating in 35+ countries, serving 100+ million customers globally. - Brands under PRISM include OYO, Motel 6, Studio 6, Sunday, Palette, Belvilla, and more. - PRISM was chosen from 6,000+ global name submissions. Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, said: “PRISM marks the establishment of a future-ready corporate architecture, powered by AI, data science, and technology to drive innovation, partner growth, and customer delight.” OYO stays the consumer-facing brand, while PRISM leads a tech-driven, diversified hospitality ecosystem. What do you think about this bold rebranding move in today’s competitive travel-tech landscape? Share your thoughts! #PRISM #OYO #Rebranding #TravelTech #Innovation #AI

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“Wait, wasn’t this 🍓 strawberry pack cheaper on the other quick-commerce app yesterday?” Like many others, I regularly compare prices between Blinkit and Zepto (India’s 10-minute delivery apps). This weekend, I decided to learn something new while solving this small daily hassle. 🛠️ What I Built: 1. Dynamic web scraper that adapts to different quick-commerce sites using LangChain. 2. Product comparison function that compares and parses results into readable format 3. Best part: Built entirely through conversations with Perplexity Chat Pro 💻Key Learning: You can now create fully functional code primarily through LLM conversations. It hints at a fundamental shift in software development speed and accessibility. (also see Replit) 💡Insight: While AI is enabling creation of products to automate human reasoning (non-deterministic tasks) through AI driven workflows and agents, there is another opportunity: LLMs are drastically reducing the cost and complexity of writing deterministic code. Think about all those edge cases in your product that are handled manually, or those hacky configurations because the out-of-box solution doesn't quite fit. These were always "programmable", but the cost/complexity of coding or adopting yet another product made it impractical. Now, we may have a way to program such features and ease the adoption-of/migration-to new products. 🔗 Code and initial chat prompts available in comments for those interested. #ProductManagement #AI #Technology #Innovation #India #SoftwareEngineering #ProductDevelopment

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Excited about the upcoming IPOs of Urban Company, Lenskart.com, and Meesho. All of these have shown excellent execution in tough markets carving out their own supply chains and being category creators. They have also learnt from the tech IPO wave 1.0 and 2.0 since 2021 and are better prepared and positioned to know what public investors seek Expecting strong value creation by these companies in the next decade on the public markets and rooting for their success! Ps. This is not an investment recommendation advice!

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