Daybreak

On Friday this week, we’re going to see one of the largest IPOs of 2024 by a new-economy company. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric is all set to make its debut in the stock market. The IPO which has been in the works for sometime is expected to value the company at a little over $4 billion. Aggarwal is due to sell almost 38 million shares as part of the offer for sale which is nearly 20% lower than what the company had indicated in its DHRP. 

The company is a leader in the two wheeler EV space in india with more than one third of the market share. Of course, getting here has been no cakewalk for Ola Electric. Just last month it was reported that the company was planning to let go of 400-500 employees to streamline its operations before the listing.

In this episode we go over some of the highlights from the company's offer document.

Tune in.

P.S. Check out the most recent episode of Two by Two, our brand new business podcast, where the hosts ask: why has all the disruption and joy gone out of startups? Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or other platforms!

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

The global astrology market today is worth nearly $13 billion. In India alone, the online astrology market is estimated around $100 million and is expected to grow ten times in the next five years or so. 

But this isn’t astrology as we’ve known it. In the last few years, astrology has had a facelift and it’s largely thanks to Gen Z. They have rediscovered it and turned it into a full blown cultural moment. Meme pages, Astro Twitter, mercury retrograde—astrology has become a pop culture phenomenon, not just here in India but across the world. 

New-age astrology apps like Co Star and Pattern give you the option of checking whether your “vibes” match with your friend or love interest.  It's like modern-day kundli matching. And Gen Zs are here for it and more. They’re also using astrology apps to check what stocks to put their money on, for their appraisal season—basically, anytime they have to make a decision, big or small.

We wanted to know why the Gen Z, a generation that’s been recognised for its hyper-awareness about things like climate change, politics, governance is embracing astrology so passionately despite all of its very well documented flaws as a pseudoscience. Also, how are astrology app makers are responding to this trend?

To find out, we spoke to two Gen Zs—Misha Verma, a 22 year-old 2D animator from Bengaluru and Khushi Singh, a 23 year-old UI/UX designer from New Delhi who part times as a tarot reader, the founder of an AI-powered astrology app called Melooha, Vikram Labhe, and Nakul Shenoy, a mentalist based out of Bengaluru.

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Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Once valued at $22 billion, Byju's, is undergoing insolvency proceedings initiated by the National Company Law Tribunal. This is over a $19 million payment default to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Byju’s could now see a potential buyout or liquidation. It gets worse. A couple of days ago, one of the largest foreign investors in India, the Qatar Investment Authority, requested the Karnataka High Court to block founder Byju Raveendran’s personal assets.To say things are bad is an understatement.

The first question that comes to mind is, of course, what happened. But that’s a story that’s been told too many times. Instead, today, we tell you what Olina Banerji, The Ken's edtech expert and writer of our popular newsletter, Ed Set Go, wrote about Byju’s in the latest edition.

She took us back to see what made Byju’s the company it became in the first place and the legacy it is leaving behind.

Tune in.

P.S. – Check out the first episode of the latest addition to our podcast slate, Two by Two, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Healthify saw immense success during the pandemic. Its revenues more than doubled in FY 2022. And it adds up when you think about it. With millions of people stuck at home and gyms shut, Healthify’s virtual fitness and nutrition plans were pretty ideal. 

But once gyms reopened, home workouts didn’t cut it anymore. And unfortunately, Healthify really bore the brunt of it. The following year, revenue growth slowed down considerably and losses began to soar. 

But the company's leadership seems undeterred. In fact they want to expand business to the United States, where it will be up against established healthtechs like Noom and MyFitnessPal.  

The company seems to be pinning its hopes on the US market as somewhat of a hail Mary pass. 

In 2015, Bira 19 introduced India to craft beer. In the process, the brand started the conversation around taste and quality. It very quickly blew up and became the cool new beer to drink at a bar or a party. 

The craft beer brand also managed to become a hit among investors. It bagged $450 million in funding from the likes of Japanese beer and beverage company Kirin Holdings and venture capital giant Peak XV Partners, formerly known as Sequoia Capital. 

But somewhere along the way, the brand seems to have lost direction. In the last few years, Bira has been in short supply at liquor retailers and pubs. And to make matters worse, former Bira executives and industry insiders say that the company’s dealing with a  major cash crunch and its supply chain is in a dire state. 

All of this at a time when the company is reportedly planning to go public. Bira CEO Ankur Jain recently said that Bira is planning its IPO in 2026. 

But will he be able to get his business in order by then? And more importantly, what went wrong?

Tune in to find out. 

In the 2024 financial year, Apple sold products worth $8 billion in India. This was a third more than the previous year. 

But how did a premium company like Apple that hates giving discounts sell products worth 8 billion dollars in a country as price sensitive as India? Apple obviously knew that its phones were unaffordable for most people in India?

It found an answer was easy financing. After the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, Apple made financing tie-ups with banks a mainstay. And one of the most important deals Apple made was with India’s largest private sector lender, and leading credit card issuer HDFC Bank. In fact, it was one of the costliest deals HDFC had. Thanks to it, HDFC customers have been enjoying exclusive cashbacks on Apple products ever since.

Here's the bad news. The deal between Apple and HDFC is now over.

What happened?

Tune in.

With Swiggy set to go public soon, the quick commerce space in India is starting to look more and more like  a wrestling match. Going to head to head against Swiggy is the only listed quick commerce platform in the country, its arch rival Zomato.

Both companies are doing exactly the same thing but somehow Zomato managed to leave Swiggy far behind. Swiggy’s  market share has dropped considerably in the last few years both in quick commerce and food delivery.  Now, not only is Zomato listed, its share prices have been going through the roof and Blinkit has become the jewel in its crown. 

So does Swiggy, the OG of food delivery in India, stand a chance?

To find out, hosts Snigdha and Rahel invite The Ken's Deputy Editor Seetharaman G to the studio.

Tune in.

P.S. – Check out the first episode of the latest addition to our podcast slate, Two by Two, where the speakers discuss the rivalry between Flipkart and Phonepe, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

For most Indians, a cup of good chai is a comfort that's accessible. Coffee chains, on the other hand, are mostly premium.  And it all adds up when one considers the fact that Indians consume 20 cups of tea for every cup of coffee. But we live in a time when opulence and luxury makes us go google eyed. In the Indian consumer market, premiumisation is no longer a choice.  Even chai cafes chains don’t really have an option but to take the premium path. 

But Chaayos, the largest tea cafe chain in India, has decided not to go where the wind blows. And Nitin Saluja, the 40-year-old founder of Chaayos, says that this decision is actually based on its customers.

Over the last two years, nearly 200 of them have clearly indicated their unanimous opinion to the company: don’t become like Starbucks. 

Tune in.

Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

P.S. – Check out the first episode of Two by Two, where the speakers discuss the rivalry between Flipkart and Phonepe, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!

About two months ago, something pretty bizarre happened at the India office of Great Place to Work. At about 2:30 am on May 28, the board of the organization was summoned for a Zoom call. 

But the timing of the Zoom call wasn’t what was so alarming. At one point during the conversation, the founder, Prasenjit Bhattacharya, asked everyone to leave the call. 

Everyone except for Yeshasvini Ramaswami, the chief executive of the company. Just a few moments later, Prasenjit told her that she was being fired. 

You see, this isn’t the first time a CEO has been fired. But the way that this particular incident played out went against everything that Great Place to Work has stood for for so long.

What's going on? 

Tune in 

Not so long ago, Birkenstocks were considered the antithesis of high fashion. For the longest time, the 250-year-old German brand’s characteristic chunky sandal was seen as nothing more than an orthopedic shoe meant for hippies and old people. 

And then, everything changed. In the last decade or so, Birkenstock had a major glow up. It all started with the brand deciding not to settle for being just another comfortable but cringey sandal anymore. 

So to make Birks cool the brand began collaborating with high-end fashion designers like Rick Owens, Valentino and Dior.  Very quickly celebrities and influencers caught on. They were suddenly being spotted walking out of the gym, or a cafe with a pair of birks on. 

And just like that, a trend was born. The orthopedic sandal, built more for comfort than for style, was the new it-shoe. 

Now, the Birk craze has found its way to India. 

Tune in.