Snapdeal Ready For D-Street, Soulfull Cofounder’s New Venture & More

Snapdeal All Set For Listing

Snapdeal parent AceVector’s ₹420 Cr IPO has closed with an oversubscription of 4.93X, driven by strong NII and retail interest. With a 6% grey market premium, the market seems somewhat optimistic. With a listing slated for next week, what does AceVector’s (Snapdeal’s parent) IPO play look like?

The IPO Deck: AceVector’s issue comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹287 Cr and an OFS component of up to 4.16 Cr shares. Priced at ₹30-32 per share, the IPO values the company at up to ₹1,741 Cr. The public issue also saw broad-based investor interest, with NIIs subscribing their quota 8.2X, while retail investors and QIBs clocked 4.6X and 3.4X oversubscription, respectively. Shares of the company will now list on the exchanges on October 5.

The Business Breakdown: AceVector’s portfolio includes value marketplace Snapdeal, ecommerce enablement platform Unicommerce and consumer brands business Stellaro Brands. Despite a diversified portfolio, it remained a loss-making company in FY26:

• Restated net loss narrowed 64% YoY to ₹45.5 Cr
• Operating revenue rose 29.2% YoY to ₹510.3 Cr
• Total expenses also rose 21.8% YoY to ₹575.2 Cr

Ace Up The Sleeve: Strong IPO oversubscription and ₹2 GMP signal market confidence. Narrowing losses, healthy revenue growth and repeat customer volumes support the turnaround narrative. It also benefits from strong synergies across its ecommerce business and the SaaS vertical. Unicommerce provides high-margin software revenues, anchoring the group’s cash flows. Meanwhile, Snapdeal’s asset-light model targets price-conscious, non-metro consumers. 

The Big Question: Despite oversubscription, AceVector remains loss-making. SoftBank and Nexus exiting via OFS may raise concerns about promoter conviction in an already tough market. Besides, Snapdeal faces stiff competition from Meesho, Amazon and Flipkart in value ecommerce, while rising logistics expenses and zero-commission model could pressure margins. 

All said and done, sustaining growth without further margin erosion and proving scalability will be critical to justify its ₹1,741 Cr valuation. For now, here is all about AceVector’s oversubscribed IPO…

From The Editor’s Desk

Tata Exec’s New Rollup Venture

• Tata-owned Soulfull cofounder and MD Prashant Parameswaran has launched a new ecommerce rollup startup, called Arovia Consumer. The venture will initially acquire controlling stakes in four regional packaged-food businesses and scale them. 
• The new startup has already secured a ₹100 Cr commitment from Fireside Ventures. The capital will begin rolling in as Arovia begins closing acquisitions. The startup is targeting businesses that have crossed ₹100 Cr in revenue and are cash-flow positive or profitable. 
• Arovia marks Parameswaran’s return to building consumer businesses after his decade-long journey with packaged food brand Soulfull, which he cofounded in 2013. Tata Consumer Products acquired Soulfull for ₹156 Cr in 2021.

StockGro Eyes ₹2,500 Cr IPO

• The investment advisory platform has filed its DRHP with SEBI via the confidential pre-filing route. StockGro is looking to raise up to ₹2,500 Cr via the IPO, which could include a fresh issue of around ₹800 Cr and an OFS component.
• Founded in 2020, StockGro is a fintech platform that combines broking with a social layer, allowing users to track stocks, follow other investors and interact with market experts. It claims to have raised $110 Mn to date and has served over 4.5 Cr users. 
• The development comes as a growing list of new-age tech companies are making a beeline for the bourses. Rival Moneyview is all set to list later this week, while the likes of Spinny,Kuku and Razorpay have also pre-filed their IPO papers with SEBI this year.

Arivihan Bags $10 Mn

• The AI-powered edtech startup has raised about ₹96 Cr in its Series A round co-led by existing investors Accel and Prosus Ventures to expand its footprint across India, foray into new categories, strengthening its AI capabilities and scale on-ground distribution.
• Founded in 2022, Arivihan Arivihan operates an AI-driven edtech platform for school students. It claims to offer coaching via interactive video lectures, doubt resolution and study plans without any involvement of human teachers. It has raised $15 Mn to date.
• The funding comes amid renewed investor confidence in the Indian edtech sector after years of decline and consolidation. The rise of AI has opened up new opportunities in the space as VCs and startups bet on personalised offerings. 

ITC Acquires Yoga Bar

• The FMCG major has acquired the remaining 52.5% stake in the healthy snacking brand via a secondary deal for ₹645 Cr. With this, ITC now owns 100% stake in Yoga Bar, making the startup a wholly owned subsidiary of the FMCG giant.
• ITC first invested ₹175 Cr in Yoga Bar in 2023 to acquire a 39.4% stake, and then invested another ₹80 Cr last year to increase its shareholding to 47.5%. The deal is in line with ITC’s strategy of building a “future-ready” portfolio in the foods segment. 
• Founded in 2014, Yoga Bar is an omnichannel healthy snacking brand that sells a range of products including nutrition bars, muesli, oats and cereals. Its parent entity reported a turnover of ₹452 Cr in FY26, compared with ₹200 Cr in FY25.

Peak XV Surge’s New Cohort

• The VC firm has selected seven Indian startups as part of the twelfth cohort of its accelerator and incubation programme, Surge. This is the first cohort to operate under Peak XV’s higher investment ceiling of up to $5 Mn per startup.
• Overall, the cohort features 18 startups from India, US and South East Asia operating across sectors like AI, robotics, space, consumer, healthcare and fintech. The selected Indian startups include Alma, August AI, Ditto, among others.
• Launched in 2019, Surge offers seed capital, workshops, community access and a global curriculum delivered by operators. Besides the incubator, Peak XV Partners manages a capital portfolio exceeding $9 Bn and investments in over 400 startups.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Supercharging Traditional Consumer Research

Traditional consumer research can be cumbersome because recruiting respondents, conducting interviews and analysing findings can take weeks. Echovane is compressing this workflow into one AI-native system that can turn raw conversations into decisions.

The AI Research Stack: Founded in 2025, Echovane is building an end-to-end consumer research platform. Its AI agents can design studies, recruit and verify participants, run interviews and surveys, analyse responses and generate reports, dashboards and other decision-ready outputs.

Built On User Insight: The startup’s flagship system, EchoAI, can moderate interviews lasting 60-120 minutes in more than 65 languages. Its multimodal capabilities allow it to assess not only what participants say, but also behaviour, visual cues and facial expressions during research sessions. 

A Global Network: Echovane claims access to more than 20 Mn respondents across 150+ countries and is designed for studies involving niche participants or multiple geographies. It claims to cater to clients such as P&G, Haleon, Coca-Cola and Kantar, giving the startup exposure to both enterprise brands and established research organisations.

The Road Ahead: Going forward, Echovane plans to scale its AI agent infrastructure, enhance multimodal capabilities and expand its global network. With the global insights-as-a-service market projected to become a $1.22 Bn opportunity by 2030, can Echovane make consumer research super-fast for brands with AI?

Infographic Of The Day

Millennials and Gen Z are hopping on a new trend. They are skipping the usual party plans, joining run clubs, choosing sober nights and, more importantly, realising that being online 24/7 is actually exhausting. So what are they doing instead?

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