Honasa’s Q3 Show, L&T’s AI Blueprint & More

Honasa’s Q3 Profit Run

Honasa roared in Q3 — profits doubled, revenues surged to record levels, and Project Neev revived Mamaearth’s growth. The quarter also saw offline sales outpace the bellwether ecommerce channel, while men’s skincare entry continued to add firepower. 

Here is a snapshot of Honasa’s Q3 FY26 numbers:

• Profits surged 93% YoY to ₹50.2 Cr
• Operating revenue rose 16% YoY to 601.5 Cr
• EBITDA rose 151% YoY to ₹66 Cr, while margins improved 410 bps YoY to 10.9%
• In line with the top-line growth, expenses rose 9% YoY to ₹550.3 Cr 

Project Neev Success: A year ago, Honasa embarked on Project Neev, moving towards a direct distribution model in the top 50 cities. While the overhaul did bring short-term disruption, the move helped the company sharpen its supply chain and improve its shelf presence. The result was visible in Q3 as Honasa posted sharper profits and a hefty margin expansion. 

Mamaearth’s Revival: For Honasa, the narrative this quarter was anchored by the return of Mamaearth to double-digit revenue growth on the back of formulations, Gen Z-targeted ads and a focus on key categories. Younger siblings like The Derma Co and Aqualogica also added to Honasa’s kitty with 25% YoY revenue growth. 

The Offline Shift: The digital-first giant’s growth engine continued to hum in the physical world, too. Offline sales outgrew the ecommerce business in Q3, driven by a massive push into modern trade and general retail. With direct outlet coverage crossing the 1 Lakh mark in Q3, the company is now focussing its resources on the top 100 towns to capture a larger share of the premium beauty and personal care market.

With distribution channels finally overhauled and a new male-focussed grooming frontier ahead, how did Honasa fare on the financial front in Q3?

From The Editor’s Desk

L&T’s AI Blueprint

• Construction giant Larsen & Toubro has embedded AI throughout its workflow, slashing contract risk assessment cycles from months to hours and automating hundreds of thousands of supplier invoices in back-office operations.
• In addition, the company’s AI-powered computer vision systems analyse live camera feeds across project sites to flag safety violations in real-time. Integration of these AI systems with robotics and drones also enables proactive monitoring.
• L&T’s $1 Bn AI data centre expansion, a 21% stake in E2E Networks, and NVIDIA training for 1,000+ engineers also position it to capitalise on the homegrown AI boom and build site-level solutions for the construction industry. 

Inside Playbook Partners’ Growth Capital Bet

• The investment firm positions itself in the post-VC, pre-PE “no-man’s land”, where founders who have already proven PMF at Series A (and B) scale seek growth capital without surrendering control to private equity firms. 
• Unlike traditional VCs chasing early hockey-stick growth, Playbook deploys $15-20 Mn in blended capital (primary and secondary) into mature players that seek operational support, rather than simple financial engineering.
• With a fund corpus of $250 Mn and a first close of $130 Mn, the VC firm has built an impressive portfolio that includes Curefoods, Renee Cosmetics, Exotel, InMobi, Fractal, Rapido and Myntra.

BRND.ME’s Four-Brand Diet

• The roll-up ecommerce unicorn, formerly Mensa Brands, expects its revenue to grow 15-22% YoY to ₹1,600 Cr-₹1,700 Cr in FY26, driven by global expansion and a renewed focus on the top four core brands.
• The roll-up brand already claims to be cashflow positive and is targeting adjusted EBITDA break-even in FY26. 
• BRND.ME is also in the middle of a reverse flip back to India, which it expects to complete this year itself. The unicorn is also cleaning up its corporate structure as it prepares for a listing on domestic bourses soon.

Flipkart Eyes Food Delivery

• The ecommerce major is planning to pilot food deliveries in Bengaluru around June this year, with a full-scale rollout planned for early 2027. 
• Flipkart is weighing building both a standalone platform as well as a buyer-side app on ONDC, testing the waters in a segment where execution speed and restaurant onboarding define winners.
• The latest experiment comes as IPO-bound Flipkart continues to be a loss-making entity. The company’s marketplace arm posted a loss of ₹1,494 Cr in FY25, down 37% YoY, while operating revenue shot up 14.4% YoY to ₹20,493 Cr. 

Shadowfax’s Q3 Profit Surge

• The recently-listed logistics unicorn’s profits surged more than 5X YoY to ₹34.9 Cr in Q3 FY26 on the back of improving margins and operating revenue zooming 65.7% YoY to ₹1,159.7 Cr during the quarter.
• The company’s EBITDA zoomed over 3X YoY to ₹66 Cr, while EBITDA margin expanded 270 basis points YoY to 5.7%. Meanwhile, expenses rose 61.7% YoY to ₹1,131.3 Cr.
• Shadowfax claims to have delivered 20.6 Cr orders across express parcel and hyperlocal segments during the quarter. The company’s network spanned 15,166 pin codes, 4,519 touchpoints and over 45 Lakh sq ft of operational space at the end of December 2025. 

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Pinky Promise Is Destigmatising Menstrual Health

Women in India often face stigma, long waiting periods, privacy concerns and high costs when seeking care for reproductive, menstrual or hormonal issues. Pinky Promise is tackling this by building an AI-assisted platform that delivers confidential gynaecologist consultations.

Mission-Driven Approach: Founded in 2022, Pinky Promise is building an AI-assisted women’s health platform that offers instant and low-cost access to qualified gynaecologists. By blending AI triage with licensed doctors, it removes barriers that keep millions from timely care for sensitive health concerns.

AI Meets Real Doctors: The platform’s AI stack assesses the urgency and severity of user symptoms before connecting them to qualified gynaecologists for video or chat consultations. The platform covers menstrual health, fertility, infections, hormonal disorders and more. It also offers follow-ups, second opinions, lab coordination and personalised care plans.

The Market Pulse: With consultations starting at ₹99, Pinky Promise aims to serve women in metros and smaller towns alike, where traditional clinics fall short on convenience and discretion. The startup claims to have served 3.5 Lakh+ users since launch and boasts 40,000 paid users.

With its focus on cost, confidentiality and scale, can Pinky Promise bring AI-powered gynaecology to the masses?

Infographic Of The Day

Lenskart closed Q3 FY26 with a 70X YoY jump in profitability.⁣ Yet, expenses also piled up as it continued to scale operations.⁣ Here is how the eyewear giant spent its warchest in Q3… 

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