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WayCool’s Cofounder Sanjay Dasari Steps Down After 9.5 Years, Moves to Advisory Role

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WayCool’s Cofounder Sanjay Dasari Steps Down After 9.5 Years, Moves to Advisory Role

Cofounder of agritech startup WayCool Sanjay Dasari has resigned after almost a decade with the company. 

WayCool specialises in Agricultural supply chains and branded farm and food products. 

In a statement posted on LinkedIn, the entrepreneur said: “After 9.5 incredible years building WayCool, it’s time for me to take the final step in the founder’s journey—an exit.”

WayCool Cofounder Parts Ways With Company 

Explaining the new nature of his association with the company, he said: “I’ll still be involved with WayCool in an advisory role, supporting strategic projects and fundraising efforts, but I’m stepping back from the day-to-day (sic) of the company I founded and the only job I’ve ever known.” 

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About his plans for the future, the co founder wrote: “I’m open to options and going where my curiosity takes me, weighing opportunities between operating and investing while doubling down on angel bets, mentorship and speaking.”

WayCool’s Fascinating Journey 

The company originally started as a supply chain business for agricultural products before expanding into the packaged consumer goods sector.

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On July 26, ET reported that the Chennai-based firm had laid off over 200 employees in its third round of job cuts within the year, as part of its strategy to reach profitability. Additionally, the company confirmed the exit of B.P. Ravindran, who had been leading its FMCG subsidiary, BrandsNext, which includes brands like Madhuram, Kitchenji, and Freshey’s.

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IHG Hotels & Resorts Expands Portfolio with New Holiday Inn Express in Greater Noida

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IHG Hotels & Resorts Expands Portfolio with New Holiday Inn Express in Greater Noida

A new Holiday Inn Express property is coming up in Greater Noida knowledge park. IHG Hotels & Resorts made the announcement, which adds to the growing portfolio of the brand in India. 

The newly opened Holiday Inn Express in Greater Noida, located in the rapidly growing industrial hub just outside Delhi, is designed to serve both business and leisure travellers with convenient access to key local attractions.

The Upcoming Hotel Boasts Top Notch Attractions 

This hotel features 133 contemporary rooms tailored to the needs of modern travellers. Each room is equipped with blackout curtains, premium bedding, power showers, and complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi. 

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Additionally, guests can enjoy flexible workspaces, flat-screen TVs with content mirroring capabilities, ergonomic chairs, and an abundance of USB ports and plug sockets.

Top Executives Opine on the New Project

The MD of IHG Hotels & resorts Sudeep Jain commented: “We are pleased to open a new Holiday Inn Express property located in Greater Noida, aligning with IHG’s regional goals to expand our footprint. This addition will enhance our presence in key markets and enable us to deliver innovative hospitality solutions to meet the needs of both business and leisure travellers.”

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While Ashish Jakhanwala, who is the chairman of SAMHI hotels said: “We are proud to introduce a new Holiday Inn Express hotel in Greater Noida, reinforcing our dedication to expanding our portfolio in strategic locations. This initiative allows us to cater to the increasing need for quality lodging and contributes positively to the local economy. We’re eager to offer our guests an outstanding experience that exceeds their expectations.”

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Worthy Cart Launches with Big Ambitions: Aiming for INR 20 Crore Revenue by 2025

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Worthy Cart Launches with Big Ambitions: Aiming for INR 20 Crore Revenue by 2025

Powered by AI, a new E Commerce platform Worthy Cart commenced operations on Wednesday. It has 200 onboarded brands and a projected revenue target of INR 20 crore in CY2025. 

Worthy Cart is targeting a pre-series A round of $10 million in the coming months. 

Worthy Cart Starts Its Journey with Big Ambitions 

In a statement issued by the company, its position was explained as follows: “Leveraging the rapid growth of the beauty and wellness sectors, it aims to scale its business through B2B and B2C channels as well with the first year revenue target of Rs 20 crore”

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The Gurugram based firm also eyes the physical retail market by the end of next year. These stores would serve as customer experience centres. The company statement said: “The company aims to establish 100 such stores over the next three years, with a particular focus on tier 2 cities”.

Worthy Cart Boasts Sophisticated Operational Standards

Worthy Cart features over 214 brands and more than 800 products. To ensure shoppers receive the best and safest beauty and wellness products, Worthy Cart employs a four-step product validation process. 

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This includes analyzing ingredients, conducting physical inspections, verifying legal compliance, and performing quality checks, according to company co-founder Sonya Sahni.

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VIP Clothing’s Quick Commerce Move: Fast Delivery via Swiggy Instamart

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VIP Clothing’s Quick Commerce Move: Fast Delivery via Swiggy Instamart

VIP clothing Ltd. an inner wear titan debuts in the rapid commerce market by partnering with Swiggy Instamart. 

This agreement allows the company to make quick 10-minute delivery of its men’s innerwear brand, Frenchie. 

VIP Clothing Debuts in the Rapid Commerce Market 

Through this venture the company is targeting modern consumers, who value time and convenience. VIP clothing has been an industry leader in its domain and its entry into the quick commerce market promises to further solidify its business. 

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VIP Clothing: An Industry Leader in Intimate Apparel

Driven by the expanding middle class, urbanization, and the growth of e-commerce, the company’s revenue rose by 13% to USD 7.2 million in Q2 FY25, up from USD 6.2 million in Q2 FY24.

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VIP, one of India’s leading manufacturers of intimate apparel, offers a wide range of products across various market segments under multiple brands, including Feelings, Leader, Frenchie, and VIP.

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Rcube Projects to Launch Rs 120 Crore Mall in Noida, Plans Another in Delhi

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Rcube Projects to Launch Rs 120 Crore Mall in Noida, Plans Another in Delhi

Rcube Projects Pvt Ltd has committed Rs 120 crore to launch the Rcube Monad Mall in Noida, which spans 2,50,000 sq. ft. in GLA. 

In addition, the company plans to invest Rs 80 crore in another project in Pitam Pura, Delhi, covering 1,00,000 sq. ft. of space.

Project Official Explains Details of the Upcoming Mall

The mall’s layout allocates 40% of the space to Family Entertainment Centers (FEC) and Food & Beverage (F&B) outlets, while the remaining 60% is dedicated to retail, according to Anuj Malhan, founder of Rcube Projects Pvt Ltd, in an interview with ETRetail.

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In a statement, Malhan made the following comments: “It will take us at least one year to get the Noida mall at the sustaining level and post that we will be able to get our RoI. The mall runs on the lease model with a minimum guarantee and revenue share from the tenants”

Ambitious Targets & High Profile Brands Onboarded 

Housing around 80 brands, the mall expects to reach 90-95 occupancy by March next year. He further continued: “By April, we’ll be launching a mall loyalty program and once the mall is fully operational, we are expecting a footfall of 14,000 – 16,000 over the weekends and 8,000 – 9,000 over the weekdays,”

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The mall features a carefully curated mix of both national and international brands, including Lifestyle, Fab India, Modern Bazaar, Nestasia, and Home Stop, along with specialty stores such as Shoppers Stop Beauty, Metro Shoes, Dayal Opticals, Nykd by Nykaa, Sweet Dreams, and Bata. It also offers a variety of F&B chains like Starbucks, Blue Tokai, Miss Nora, Birch by Romeo Lane, Amritsari Express, and Haldiram. For entertainment, the mall includes MovieMax Edition and Funky Island, providing a complete shopping and leisure experience.

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Swiggy Expands Dineout with “Scenes” for Event Bookings at Partner Venues

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Swiggy Expands Dineout with “Scenes” for Event Bookings at Partner Venues

Foodtech giant Swiggy has launched a fascinating new service name “Scenes” offering customers to book events at their partner restaurants.  

A part of its “Dineout” offering, the service lets users book events, live music, events, celebrations etc at partner venues. 

Swiggy’s Scenes Joins a Growing List of New Services 

Swiggy’s latest offering joins a growing list of services developed by the company. This includes a recently released premium invite-only membership programme, One BLCK. Swiggy also launched its 10 minute food delivery service named Bolt a couple of months back. 

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This appears to be Swiggy’s first new initiative for its out-of-home consumption vertical in the past year. This vertical includes its exclusive events and experiences platform, Swiggy SteppinOut, as well as the restaurant reservations and booking service, Dineout. 

Swiggy’s Financials Paint a Positive Picture 

In Q2 FY25, Swiggy generated INR 60 crore in revenue from this vertical, marking a 71% increase from INR 35 crore in the same quarter last year. According to Swiggy’s investor presentation, the company expects its out-of-home consumption vertical to reach adjusted EBITDA break-even by the end of the current fiscal year. 

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The vertical’s losses shrank by 79%, falling to INR 9.26 crore from INR 44.34 crore in Q2 FY24. The adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of GOV improved to -1.3% in the latest quarter, compared to -8.8% in the previous year’s quarter.

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Uber Launches Moto Women in Bengaluru: A Women-Only Bike Ride Service

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Uber Launches Moto Women in Bengaluru: A Women-Only Bike Ride Service

Uber has launched a new service named Uber Moto Women in Bengaluru offering women only bike rides. 

This service would connect women drivers to women riders, and would thus address women safety and mobility concerns. 

Uber’s Moto Women Would Soon Scale Operations Across India 

The company intends to soon scale its operations to all major cities in India, as it sees great potential for it. The head of regional business operations of the company Abhishek Padhye told Business Standard: “For Uber, this is a global-first initiative. We don’t have such women-only products anywhere else in the world. We started with Bengaluru, as it is the largest market for bike-taxis. The city sees 5 million bike-taxi trips across all the platforms per month and this serves about a million riders and 100,000 drivers.”

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Explaining the rationale behind the first of its kind service in the world, he explained: “Last mile transportation is in huge short supply in Bengaluru. What we realised is that 30 per cent of our women riders were already taking bike-taxis. With Uber Moto Women, we’re not just offering a safer and more convenient ride option for women, but also empowering female drivers with the opportunity to earn flexibly in one of India’s fastest-growing mobility segments”. 

Moto Women Serves a Huge Untapped Market 

This service was launched after extensive consultation with women and a deep understanding of their safety and mobility concerns. 

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Bike taxies are super affordable, quick and a very attractive commuting option in major cities and this new women only service by Uber promises to cater to a huge untapped market. 

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Zomato’s Blinkit Launches Bistro to Challenge Zepto Cafe in the Quick Food Delivery Race

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Zomato’s Blinkit Launches Bistro to Challenge Zepto Cafe in the Quick Food Delivery Race

Zomato’s BlinkIt has launched a new service named Bistro, a food delivery application delivering snacks, and other like food items within 10 minutes. Bistro will take on existing brands like Zepto’s Cafe. 

Bistro is in its pilot phase and is only operational in select locations in Gurugram. It delivers food items like: meals, snacks, beverages like tea and coffee in 15 minutes. 

Zomato’s Bistro Takes on Zepto Cafe

This is Zomato’s second attempt at this category. Zomato’s previous attempt with Zomato Instant wasn’t successful. Launched in 2002, Zepto Cafe is rapidly expanding to various cities in India and in a recently made announcement Zepto stated that it would expand Cafe to 120 cities in the country, including Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Pune.

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On the other hand Swiggy’s quick food delivery service Bolt was launched in September. Zepto’s co founder said: “We’re launching a separate app for Zepto Cafe next week! The team is shipping an MVP (minimum viable product) and iterating quickly, so it may not be perfect on Day 1, but it’s worth it to launch fast :D”

Zepto Cafe has Seen Phenomenal Growth 

Taking to LinkedIn, he further explained: “Zepto Cafe is scaling rapidly; we’re launching 100+ cafes a month and already clocking 30K+ orders/day”.  Zepto has been expanding exponentially and it has some impressive numbers to prove that. 

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Recently, co founder Aadit Palicha said: ”The response has been phenomenal, with Zepto Cafe now achieving an (estimated) Annual Run Rate (ARR) GMV of Rs 160 crore with just 15 per cent of our expanding dark store network with proven unit economics.” 

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Former Cleartrip CEO’s FirstClub Bags $8M to Disrupt Quick Commerce in India

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Former Cleartrip CEO’s FirstClub Bags $8M to Disrupt Quick Commerce in India

Former Cleartrip CEO Ayyappan R has secured $8 million in seed funding for his quick commerce startup FirstClub. The seed funding round was led by venture capital firms Accel and RTP Global. 

The said round also featured high profile investors including Flipkart founder Binny Bansal, Cred founder Kunal Shah, Myntra founder Mukesh Bansal, and Groww cofounder Lalit Keshre.

FirstClub Intends to be the Costco of India

The platform is said to go online sometime in mid 2025 in Bangalore. The CEO told ET: “We will probably have two-three experience centers in the first 12 months”. Dubbed as the “Costco for India” this ambitious venture will reportedly start with a subscription model. These funds will go into building the technology for the platform and for hiring talent. 

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CEO Ayyappan told ET: “The next set of retail evolution and disruption in the country is going to happen on the back of the kind of selection you offer to the consumer, similar to what has happened in the western retail markets over the last 20-30 years”. 

FirstClub’s Plan to Establish Itself 

The platform would launch with an offering of mass premium products belonging to categories like food, FMCG, bakery, dry fruits, dairy, and health and fitness supplements, all delivered within 30 minutes. FirstClub also reportedly intends to have an offline retail presence & in the future expand to categories like general merchandise, fashion, home products, and kids’ toys.

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FirstClub’s foray into quick commerce comes amidst a slew of high profile firms taking the plunge into the space, chief of which would be Amazon’s quick delivery service launching in Bangalore. 

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Bhuvan Bam Joins Peppy as Investor and Co-Founder

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Bhuvan Bam Joins Peppy as Investor and Co-Founder

Popular influencer and actor Bhuvan Bam has joined the popular sexual wellness brand Peppy as an investor and cofounder. 

The fast emerging brand was founded by entrepreneurs Devansh Agarwal and Shyamal Gupta last year. Currently valued at INR 50 crores, it plans to raise more money in the seed round. 

Bhuvan Bam Explains His Association with Peppy

Explaining the reasoning behind his association with the brand Bam said: “For me, Peppy represents an opportunity to drive a much-needed change in how sexual pleasure is perceived in India. While society has made significant changes in many areas, the taboo surrounding physical intimacy continues to hold people back.”

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He continued: “It prevents open and honest discussions on personal needs, highlighting the crucial need for creating spaces where open conversations can happen”. The angel investors included Bam, Rohit Raj, founder and CEO of BBKV Productions and Ruchi Gupta, among others. 

The Booming Sexual Wellness Market 

The global sexual wellness market is booming, with a projected value of $32.5 billion by 2033, according to Allied Market Research. This represents a 4.7% annual growth rate from 2024 to 2033, starting from a $20.6 billion valuation in 2023.

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India is also experiencing significant growth in this sector. The market, valued at $1.15 billion in 2020, is expected to reach $2.09 billion by 2030.

Founder Devansh Agarwal further opined: “Intimate wellness has often been brushed under the rug in India, but we cannot deny the fact that a fulfilling sex life is a crucial part of our overall happiness and well-being. With Bhuvan and Rohit’s signature creativity and knack for connecting with people, we’re breaking barriers and normalizing conversations around pleasure. Peppy is not just about products; we’re about revolutionizing the way India thinks about intimate happiness”. 

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