SoftBank changes India gears; Meesho's homecoming
Also in the letter:
SoftBank explores buyout deals in India to accelerate AI-led IT services, BPO play
Driving the news:
It held talks to acquire AGS Health in a deal worth around $1 billion, though Blackstone eventually bagged it.
SoftBank is also in discussions with WNS Global and several mid-sized outsourcing players, sources said.
Zoom out:
In the US, it is backing The Stargate Project, a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative.
In Japan, SoftBank is developing Cristal Intelligence, a proprietary enterprise AI platform built with OpenAI.
Through SB OpenAI Japan, it is co-developing enterprise-grade AI systems and solutions.
Adding context:
Sumer Juneja, head of India and EMEA for the Vision Fund, told ET earlier that the fund remains open to smaller initial bets, with the option to increase exposure as firms grow.
Between the lines:
Meesho concludes reverse flip process; likely to file DRHP in 2-3 weeks
Driving the news:
The SoftBank-backed company secured approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on May 27 to proceed with its reverse flip.
As part of the move, the company is expected to face a tax liability of $280-300 million in the United States.
With this, Meesho joins a growing list of high-profile startups, including Groww, Razorpay, Dream Sports, Zepto and PhonePe, that have redomiciled to India in recent years.
Quote, unquote:
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Meesho filed for NCLT approval of the reverse merger in January.
Around the same time, it closed a $550 million funding round, bringing in new investors including Tiger Global, Mars Growth Capital, and Think Investments.
Meanwhile, Meesho's ecommerce rival, the Walmart-owned Flipkart, is also preparing to shift its domicile from Singapore to India ahead of a planned 2026 IPO.
ETtech Done Deals: Zerodha's Kamaths buy minority stake in InCred
Deeptech startup Fabheads raises $10 million led by Accel:
EV infra startup Kazam raises $6.2 million in fresh round:
Darwinbox completes Rs 86-crore Esop buyback from 350 employees:
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Over 17,300 GPUs installed under IndiaAI Mission:
Prosus pegs IPO-bound Urban Company's fair value at $2.4 billion:
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Global Picks We Are Reading
Happy Tuesday! SoftBank is moving its focus from high-growth tech startups to acquiring Indian IT-enabled services firms. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ ETtech Done Deals■ IndiaAI Mission■ Urban Company's valueSoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi SonSoftBank is scouting for acquisitions in India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector, signalling a shift from its traditional focus on backing high-growth tech startups.Sources say the Masayoshi Son-led Japanese conglomerate is looking to buy or partner with business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT services firms to accelerate AI adoption in the services sector.'They're evaluating a range of BPO and KPO firms that are ripe for disruption. The goal is to pair SoftBank's tech playbook with services delivery,' a person familiar with the discussions told us.The move ties into SoftBank's broader global AI ambitions:SoftBank's Vision Fund has invested $160 billion globally, with India as a key market. Its portfolio includes Paytm, Swiggy, Ola Electric, Delhivery and FirstCry. After a brief lull, the fund has re-entered the market with smaller cheques in the $30-40 million range, evaluating startups like Ultrahuman.SoftBank's acquisition-led play signals a deeper push to modernise legacy services with AI. It now wants to own the delivery rails where AI can drive meaningful scale and operational gains.Vidit Aatrey, CEO, MeeshoEcommerce marketplace Meesho has completed its reverse flip and shifted its domicile to India, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies reviewed by ET."Meesho's board met late on Sunday...and has approved the merger and share allotment to investors of the US entity. It is now a fully Indian company," one of the persons said. The company is expected to file its draft IPO prospectus in the next two to three weeks.Nikhil (Left) and Nithin KamathNithin and Nikhil Kamath, cofounders of stockbroking platform Zerodha, have acquired a minority stake in InCred Holdings for Rs 250 crore.The investment comes as InCred prepares for a potential Rs 4,000-crore initial public offering (IPO). As of April, it was in discussions with IIFL Securities, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Nomura Holdings to rope them as advisors for the offer.The latest funding round raises the total funds secured by the Chennai-based startup to $13 million. Most of these funds will be used to establish a larger manufacturing facility in Karnataka, covering 80,000 to 100,000 square feet, cofounder Dhinesh Kanagaraj told us. Additional funds will also be allocated to expand the leadership team and strengthen client-facing engineering as well as R&D departments.The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, led the funding round , which took Kazam's total funding to $19.2 million, including $13 million from previous equity rounds.This was Darwinbox's third such programme in four years, through which over 350 employees have sold their stock options to the company. The company did not disclose the amounts of its previous Esop buybacks but said this was Darwinbox's largest such exercise.Union minister Ashwini VaishnawProviders such as Yotta, NextGen, and E2E Networks have made significant strides in installing and commissioning GPUs, while Jio Platforms and CtrlS Datacenters are yet to deploy theirs.The valuation , mentioned in Prosus' latest annual report, is higher than the $1.8 billion ET reported after several rounds of pre-IPO secondary transactions over the past year.Indian startups are optimistic that the deal will enable them to depend less on overseas launch service providers like SpaceX, improve schedule visibility, and reduce costs.■ India is using AI and satellites to map urban heat vulnerability down to the building level ( Wired ■ LLMs factor in unrelated information when recommending medical treatments ( Massachusetts Institute of Technology — MIT News ■ Hinge CEO Justin McLeod says dating AI chatbots is 'playing with fire' ( The Verge
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