Also in the letter:
■ Tata Digital’s new ESOP plan
■ Uber’s premium offering
■ Higher salaries for new entrants to IT companies are in the spotlight
Temasek in talks to buy Rebel Foods for up to $150 million
Rebel Foods founders Kallol Banerjee (left) and Jaydeep Barman
Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is in advanced talks to lead a $100-150 million project investment in Rebel Foods, the parent company of brands such as Faasos and Behrouz Biryani, sources told us.
Offer details: The proposed deal will be a combination of primary and secondary share sales. Existing shareholders, US-based Coatue and local fund Lightbox, are expected to partially sell their stakes in the secondary transaction, where the money does not go into the company’s coffers, unlike in the primary financing.
“Coatue and Lightbox are finalising the number of secondary investments and other investors may also join the initiative. Temasek is joining as a new investor,” said one of the people cited above.
Valuation Mathematics: Sources said the fundraising is likely to take place almost at the Same valuation as its last round of fundraising in October 2021when it was valued at $1.4 billion. Meanwhile, the secondary transaction is likely to be carried out at a lower valuation of around $700 million.
Zoom in: The Mumbai-based company recently announced plans to go public in the next one to two years. Its brands include Oven Story Pizza, Mandarin Oak, Firangi Bake and Sweet Truth. Eat Sure is its own ordering platform for all these brands, under which it also runs physical outlets.
Read also | Temasek plans to invest $10 billion in India over 3 years amid China crisis
Overview: This comes at a time when cloud kitchen brands have seen moderate growth and are improving their online presence. The investment in Rebel Foods is also part of a series of large late-stage deals that are gaining momentum again, which ET has been reporting on. Early-stage food and beverage brands They are also attracting the attention of investors.
Read also | Venture capitalists successfully take to the streets in fast-paced trading and D2C
Demand for freelancers will increase by 40% during peak holiday season
As the festive season begins, demand for gig workers employed by fast-trading platforms increases It can grow up to 40% in peak demand days from the current level of around three to four hundred thousand passengers, industry executives told ET.
Growing participation: Between 10 and 12 million gig workers will be added across all platforms as the peak of the festive season approaches. While flash commerce still accounts for a small share of overall demand, that share is increasing rapidly, said Balasubramanian Anantha Narayanan of TeamLease. Some of the demand will be met by gig workers during the festive period.
Incentives for passengers: Holiday sales can help drivers boost their earnings, both through peak-hour bonuses and referrals for new employees. But accessing those benefits can require “unrealistic and grueling” 12- to 14-hour shifts, drivers said.
Best benefits: Platforms should offer workers minimum business guarantees, higher rates and other benefits, said Shaik Salauddin, president of the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers. “When everyone is at home with their families during the festive season, the delivery boy is on the road. Platforms should offer better benefits during this period,” he added.
Read also | The holiday season starts with a bang: fast-paced trading drives sales up
Tata Digital implements Esops to help its senior executives improve performance
Naveen Tahilyani, CEO, Tata Digital
Tata Digital has launched a new employee stock option plan (ESOP) for the top job under Chief Executive Officer Naveen Tahilyani amid significant turnover in the company’s senior leadership.
Driving the news: The proposal was approved during the recent annual general meeting of Tata Digital, the e-commerce arm of the conglomerate that operates superapp Tata Neu and owns online grocery store Big Basket and pharmacy 1mg.
- The minimum period for acquiring rights is three years.
- Employees at certain grades would have their stock options converted into company stock.
- Those at the director level and below will receive cash based on the options they hold.
It is following the example of new-generation companies like Flipkart and Razorpay that employ Esops as a retention tool and wealth creation method for employees.
Overview: tahilyani, who took command in February of this yearhas been Renovating the upper deckwhich has led to several departures. With these operations, ESOP is seeking to impose a performance-oriented culture at the company and a strict accountability system with no tolerance for non-compliance. Employee response to the plan has so far been mixed, according to people familiar with the matter.
Structural problems: Tata Digital is yet to establish a uniform management structure as it faces challenges from the merger of BigBasket and 1mg. Currently, both entities maintain their startup culture and continue to function independently. Tahilyani has held meetings with the CEOs of both companies to resolve the issue.
Read also | Tata funding pause not a ‘debt mistake’ at 1MG, BigBasket
Uber to bring back black in major push towards premiumisation
Uber is ready will relaunch its luxury travel service, Uber Blackin India as part of its strategy to enhance its premium offering, the sources said.
U-turn: The company had started its operations in India in 2013 with the Uber Black service, which offered on-demand luxury cars such as Mercedes, BMW and Audi. These were later replaced by models such as Toyota Innova, Honda City and Toyota Corolla. Black was discontinued a year later.
However, one of the sources cited above said that the revamped version of Uber Black will be a “much more sustainable model.”
Read also | There are startups everywhere in India, so we need to be on our toes: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
What else: Uber Black will be priced 30-40% higher than the platform’s current flagship product, Uber Premier, and the company expects it to have “huge traction in corporate travel use cases.”
This is a step closer to Uber’s goal of becoming a mobility app that caters to all customer groups. As taxi aggregators like Uber and Ola struggle to maintain reliability and service quality in their core offerings, there is scope for entry for premium taxi operators.
Read also | Uber ramps up hyperlocal deliveries as fast-paced commerce takes off
Other featured stories from our reporters
A fresh start: How outsourcing companies are attracting new skilled employees with higher salaries | The question of starting salaries for new entrants to IT companies It was in the spotlight recently when Cognizant It made headlines for offering a salary of Rs 250,000, though it was later clarified that this was for a non-engineering graduate. At the same time, however, major IT companies such as TCS, Cognizant and Infosys are rolling out specialised recruitment programmes that offer significantly higher salaries (up to three times the average) for qualified engineers.
MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and other cricketers start a different game: Cricketers, both past and present, are making capital investments or even become founders of several startups, joining a growing cohort of celebrities looking beyond traditional endorsements.
Automakers’ technology alliances threaten IT’s R&D stronghold: At a time when increasing outsourcing is affecting IT companies, technology alliances between automotive companies are causing another threat to TI’s Indian engineering research and development (ER&D) business.
Global Picks We’re Reading
■ Move over, text: video is the new medium of our lives (MIT Technology Review)
■ Teens earn thousands of dollars debating Trump and Harris on TikTok (Rest of the world)
■ Stephen Wolfram believes we need philosophers working on big questions around AI (TechnologyCrunch)
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