Razorpay’s Agentic AI Era
Razorpay is moving beyond payments. Last week, the fintech major unveiled its Agentic AI Studio to build an army of AI agents to automate the messy operations of India’s small businesses. With pilots underway, can Razorpay’s AI gamble pay off before its 2027 IPO?
Razorpay’s Tryst With AI: At its flagship FTX event last week, Razorpay unveiled its Agents Studio, a Claude-powered marketplace where merchants can hire purpose-built AI specialists with one click. It has already debuted four production-ready agents designed to tackle daily challenges of small and medium enterprises (SME), such as checkout drop-offs, chargeback disputes, managing subscription lapses, and forecasting cash flow.
Why Agentic AI? On why Razorpay is moving into the AI realm, CEO Harshil Mathur’s insight is that its AI play will enable small businesses, which form 80% of its clientele, to increase efficiency without splurging heavily on massive operations teams. To match the realities of SME economics, its AI agents are enabled only when they are triggered by a specific event. Then, there is the pay-as-you-go model that offers tailored options. While a jewellery retailer can use the expensive high-reasoning models, a t-shirt seller can opt for cheaper alternatives.
Owning The SME Journey: The fintech’s ambition also extends into the consumer realm. Razorpay is currently piloting agentic commerce with partners like Swiggy and PVR, allowing end users to order in their native language while an agent completes the payment. By owning the intent phase of a consumer journey, Razorpay wants to embed itself deeper into the transaction layer.
The thesis is simple: if you own the workflow, you effectively control the payment rail.
The IPO Gambit: The AI pitch comes as Razorpay is gearing up to list on the Indian bourses by 2027. This AI-led transformation could help the fintech giant create an alternate revenue stream, all while diversifying itself into high-margin automation services.
While the jury is still out on how well enterprises react to its new AI avatar, let’s dive deeper into Razorpay’s biggest bet yet.
From The Editor’s Desk
India’s $155 Bn Semicon Horizon
- India’s semiconductor ambitions are no longer theoretical. Buoyed by strong policy narrative, China+1 push and local innovation, Inc42 estimates that the country can become a $155 Bn semiconductor powerhouse by 2031.
- Despite the momentum, the ecosystem continues to be plagued by a lack of patient capital, long gestation periods and a dearth of push towards manufacturing AI-grade chips.
- Industry experts believe that Indian semiconductor startups right now need long-term and risk-tolerant funding, higher R&D spending by the government and high-end talent.
FinSight’s Durable Fintech Playbook
- FinSight Ventures’ Pavel Gurianov relocated from Russia to Bengaluru in 2022 to unpack why global VCs were chasing Indian consumer and fintech startups. Nearly half a decade later, he continues to be optimistic about the country.
- While noting that India’s fintech ecosystem has been a success from a global investment perspective, he flags the sector’s elevated valuations, slower revenue ramps, regulatory friction and shaky unit economics.
- Having backed giants like Razorpay, Easy Home Finance and Gupshup, FinSight is now targeting two to three more growth-stage deals with $10-40 Mn cheque sizes. It plans to prioritise sustainable economics over triple-digit growth stories.
Assiduus Global Bags $25 Mn
- The AI-powered SaaS startup has raised nearly ₹233 Cr in its pre-Series B round led by Bajaj FinServ to deepen its data and AI capabilities and expand its footprint in West Asia, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
- Founded in 2018, Assiduus helps brands launch and scale across global ecommerce marketplaces by providing end-to-end SaaS tools for cross-border distribution, supply chain management, fulfilment, compliance and marketing.
- Assiduus has so far partnered with over 150 enterprise brands across over 20 countries, including names like Unilever, Himalaya and Cipla. It claims to have been PAT positive for the past seven years.
Ola Electric’s Debt Woes
- The EV maker’s board has approved a proposal to reallocate ₹575 Cr from its IPO proceeds towards non-R&D purposes. Of this, ₹100 Cr will go towards organic growth initiatives, while the remaining ₹475 Cr will be used to repay or prepay debt.
- Once the proposal is approved by shareholders, the company’s allocation for research and product development will decline to ₹930 Cr from ₹1,505 Cr earlier. The funds earmarked for debt repayment will increase from ₹395 Cr to ₹870 Cr.
- This comes as Ola Electric continues to douse fires on many fronts – falling sales, declining market share, tanking stock prices and heavy losses. To curb this, the OEM is looking to raise up to ₹2,000 Cr by selling a minority stake in its battery arm.
L’Oreal In Talks To Buy Innovist
- The global cosmetics giant is in discussions to acquire a majority stake in the homegrown beauty and personal care brand at a valuation of $350 Mn to $450 Mn.
- The deal, which is expected to close by April-end, will also likely see L’Oreal completely acquire the Accel-backed startup over the next few years.
- Founded in 2018, Innovist is a roll up BPC startup that operates brands like Bare Anatomy, Chemist at Play and SunScoop. The startup has raised nearly $30 Mn to date and reported a profit of ₹12.1 Cr in FY25 against a top line of ₹299.05 Cr.
Inc42 Markets
Inc42 Startup Spotlight
Inside Octarange’s Heat-Resistant Battery Stack
EVs may be speeding into the mainstream, yet their batteries often cannot handle heat. Under high-demand conditions, batteries can overheat, degrade faster and lose efficiency. Octarange has a smarter solution for this problem.
The Cool Factor: Founded in 2022, Octarange designs advanced battery systems that are built around its proprietary thermal management technology. Its cooling architecture actively regulates temperature, reducing degradation and extending battery life, a crucial advantage for vehicles operating in India’s diverse and demanding climate conditions.
Hardware Plus Intelligence: Besides hardware, Octarange offers software for real-time analytics. The startup’s real-time monitoring platform tracks parameters like battery temperature, charge cycles, and efficiency patterns. By analysing this data, it flags early warning signs, optimises usage, and prevents costly failures before they happen.
Accelerating Towards Scale: Incubated at the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, Octarange is eyeing a piece of India’s growing EV battery and storage market, which is projected to soar to over $255 Mn by 2031. With electric mobility becoming the new norm, can Octarange’s cooling edge help power India’s next wave of reliable EVs?
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