Astrotalk’s Unicorn Leap, Shiprocket IPO Day 1 & More

India Welcomes Its 133rd Unicorn

Astrotalk has become India’s 133rd unicorn. The startup entered the coveted club after an ESOP buyback valued the platform at $1 Bn. The milestone comes as Astrotalk looks to complement its booming consultation and ecommerce businesses with offline retail and overseas expansion. 

The Unicorn Unlock: Unlike many startups that achieve billion-dollar valuations via big-ticket infusions, Astrotalk unlocked its unicorn tag via an internal ESOP liquidity event funded entirely through its operating profits. Over 100 employees participated in the share repurchase at an undisclosed price point. 

Inside Astrotalk’s Scale: The ESOP buyback sheds a spotlight on the growing scale of the startup, which last raised capital two years ago at a $300 Mn valuation. Astrotalk claims to have so far served more than 4 Cr users across India and four other countries. Its operating revenue nearly doubled YoY to ₹1,176 Cr in FY25, while net profit rose 2.5X to ₹250 Cr, underscoring strong scale and profitability.

The Ecommerce Engine: To diversify beyond consultations, the platform is now also monetising users by selling items such as gemstones and other religious accessories. The ecommerce vertical, Astrotalk Store, began scaling commercially in January 2025 and generated more than ₹140 Cr in operating revenue during its first year. Since then, the vertical has crossed an ARR of ₹300 Cr, creating a second growth engine for the startup.

The Offline Expansion: Astrotalk is now preparing to take its ecommerce business beyond the digital channel. The startup plans to open its first experiential store in Delhi NCR, while scouting larger-format locations in other cities. It is also developing an international ecommerce website, beginning with the US, to serve the Indian diaspora. The challenge will be converting cultural familiarity into repeat purchases and lasting global brand equity.

As the spiritual tech giant looks to explore ecommerce and offline expansion to sustain its momentum, here is all about Astrotalk entering the coveted unicorn club…

From The Editor’s Desk

Shiprocket IPO Day 1

• The logistics unicorn’s public issue was subscribed 97% on the first day of bidding, receiving bids for 9.15 Cr equity shares against 9.44 Cr shares on offer. 
• Retail investors and NIIs remained bullish on the public issue, oversubscribing their quota by 3.34X and 1.23X, respectively. QIBs showed muted interest and subscribed their portion by a mere 2% on the first day.
• Shiprocket’s ₹1,617 Cr IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹885.5 Cr and an OFS component of ₹732 Cr. At the upper end of its ₹92 to ₹97 price band, the IPO values the startup at about ₹7,000 Cr.

Yulu Bags $93 Mn

• The electric mobility startup has raised about ₹888 Cr in its Series C round led by GEF Capital Partners to launch a new e-scooter, quadruple its active fleet to 2 Lakh EVs over the next two years, expand its service network and deepen partnerships.
• Founded in 2017, Yulu offers shared electric two-wheelers for urban commuting and last-mile delivery across 20 cities. It claims to facilitate 7.5 Lakh deliveries every day and has raised $228 Mn to date.
• The startup reported an operating revenue of ₹237 Cr in FY25 against a net loss of ₹126 Cr. It claims to have remained EBITDA positive since April 2025. Yulu aims to go for an IPO in the next few years after improving profitability. 

Uber’s Expansion Spree

• The ride-hailing major plans to expand its bike taxi service, Uber Bike, to 100 cities in India. Currently, the service is operational in 18 states and one union territory.
• Overall, Uber claims to be present in more than 220 Indian cities and is extensively looking to deepen its reach in smaller towns while strengthening its position in the country’s two-wheeler mobility market.
• The expansion comes months after Uber infused about ₹2,921 Cr in its India business amid competitive pressure. Bike taxis were popularised by rival Rapido, which is now present in 400 cities and currently holds nearly 60% market share in the segment.

Lenskart’s Q1 Profit Soars

• The omnichannel eyewear giant’s consolidated net profit surged 273% YoY to ₹228 Cr in Q1 FY27 on the back of rising revenues, improving margins, a modest step up in average selling price and strong operational performance.
• Meanwhile, operating revenue jumped 43% YoY to ₹2,714 Cr during the quarter, while total expenses also jumped 35% YoY to ₹2,483.5 Cr in Q1 FY27.
• Separately, Lenskart’s board also cleared an infusion of ₹10.6 Cr in its Singapore-based JV, expanding OWNDAYS to the Republic of Korea with an investment of ₹20 Cr, and setting up a new step-down subsidiary in China.

Cursor’s India Push

• The US-based AI coding major is all set to open its first office in India by the end of this calendar year. This comes as Cursor has also begun hiring for on-site roles like AI deployment, partnership management and field engineering in Bengaluru.
• Cursor is doubling down on India as its user base in the country has more than tripled to 3 Mn over the past year. To woo developers, the AI coding company last month unveiled a new India-only subscription plan, Cursor Start, priced at ₹649 per month. 
• Cursor is not the only AI juggernaut ramping its presence in India. In the past year, both OpenAI and Anthropic have opened dedicated offices in the country and rolled out India-specific pricing for local users. 

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How SwishX Is Fixing Pharma’s Messy Workflows

Pharmaceutical companies still run critical commercial workflows on spreadsheets, fragmented systems and manual approvals. This slows tenders, hospital contracts, doctor engagement and distribution decisions. SwishX wants to fix this with its agentic AI stack for the medtech space.

The Pharma Pivot: Founded in 2024, SwishX initially operated in the device leasing space, but the founders later pivoted the business to pharma SaaS. The Bengaluru-based startup is now building an industry-specific intelligence layer for pharmaceutical companies, starting with sales, tenders, hospital contracts and distribution.

SwishX’s Four Engines: SwishX’s platform is organised around four products. Tender IQ identifies relevant government tenders and automates the process. Contract IQ automates hospital negotiations and approvals, while Marketing IQ converts pharma literature into short-form content for healthcare professionals. Channel IQ helps companies manage fragmented retailer and distributor networks.

Why Vertical AI? SwishX uses large language models from Anthropic alongside specialised tools such as Cartesia. The startup claims that it has trained its systems on more than 70,000 Indian pharma tenders and builds customer-specific intelligence inside sandboxed workspaces. Verified sources, human review and compliance controls are central to its approach.

Healthy Early Traction: SwishX claims to have crossed $1 Mn in ARR, works with leading pharmaceutical companies and expects to reach $5 Mn in contracted ARR and more than 100 enterprise customers by FY27. It is already expanding into Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, with longer-term plans to enter other emerging markets. So, can SwishX become the operating system for global pharma?

Infographic Of The Day

In the past seven years, Pixxel has managed to put six satellites into Earth’s orbit, raised $96 Mn, landed NASA as a customer, and is now gearing up to launch its next-generation of Honeybee satellites. Here is all about the startup that started as a college project…

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