Sebi tightens IPO valuation scrutiny, jolts startups eyeing listing: Report

 

India has tightened scrutiny of IPO-bound firms by questioning how key internal business metrics are used to arrive at valuations, unsettling bankers and companies which fear delays in listing plans, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters. India's push comes after the flop listing of SoftBank-backed payments firm Paytm's $2.5 billion IPO in November which sparked criticism of lax oversight of how loss-making companies price issues at what some say are lofty valuations.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last month flagged concerns in proposing stricter disclosures, saying more and more new-age tech firms which "generally remain loss making for a longer period" were filing for IPOs, and traditional financial disclosures "may not aid investors." But even before the proposal is finalised, SEBI has in recent weeks asked many companies to get their non-financial metrics -- KPIs, or key performance indicators -- audited, and then explain how they were used to arrive at an IPO's valuation, five banking and legal sources said. Typically for a tech or app-based startup, KPIs could be figures like the number of downloads or average time spent on a platform -- metrics sources said are disclosed but difficult to audit or link to a company's valuation. SEBI is asking us to "justify the valuation," said one Indian lawyer advising several companies eyeing IPOs, adding it was "creating uncertainty and increasing cost of compliance." SEBI did not respond to a request for comment.

Ola bets big on food biz, to launch portfolio of in-house food brands

Technology
Ride-hailing firm Ola is betting big on the food business and is planning to launch a portfolio of in-house food brands and take them across the country. These brands would not only be available on external platforms like food delivery apps Swiggy and Zomato, but also offline stores including restaurants, cloud kitchens, food trucks and pop-up kiosks that Ola is also planning to set up.
Ola’s food business will focus on becoming a food-first company with a massive kitchen infrastructure and a slew of brands. These include brands related to desserts, rice bowls and biryanis which would be unveiled within this year. These initiatives will also help the company reach new customers by penetrating deeper into the existing markets and expanding to tier-2 and tier-3 cities and towns.
“It is a very big opportunity and there are very few food brands with a national footprint. Eating out was an indulgence four years back and now it is part of the daily routine. And the food and supply has to modify with that behaviour,” said Pranay Jivrajka, chief executive of Ola’s food business. “We aim to have a national presence for our (food) portfolio and our goal is to have 80 per cent penetration in the top markets,” he added.

 To begin with, the SoftBank-backed company has launched its flagship brand ‘Khichdi Experiment’ which has gone live in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai. It is offering more than 16 varieties of ‘khichdi’ and the flavours will keep expanding depending upon the feedback from the customers. ‘Khichdi’ is a comfort food which is liked by people across ages and demographics. Ola said the idea was to answer to the hunger pangs, reconnect with the nostalgia and comfort that one attaches with an item like ‘khichdi’ and at the same time surprise customers with different flavours of the dish...READ MORE

Ola sets up tech centre in San Francisco, home turf of rival Uber

Company News
Ride-hailing firm Ola is taking on Uber by setting up a first-of-its-kind ‘Advanced Technology Center’ at San Francisco, in the United States (US), where rival Uber is headquartered.
Bengaluru-based Ola plans to build a team of more than 150 engineers working out of the centre to develop next-generation technology in mobility.
“The Valley and the talent ecosystem here are very conducive to the development of next-generation mobility solutions,” said Ola co-founder and chief technology officer Ankit Bhati. “This is also a big step in our journey as a global mobility player, with a mission that talent from around the world are inspired to join us on,” he said.
The center would look to onboard world-class talent who will collaborate with global teams in the various geographies where Ola operates. It would build technology solutions that can accelerate Ola’s ambitions across electric mobility and connected vehicles, as well as lead futuristic experiments like autonomous vehicles.
Ola is looking to hire experts across artificial intelligence, machine learning, data sciences, engineering and product development.
Founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola now has a presence in 150 cities across India, UK, Australia and New Zealand. It currently serves more than 150 million users and is close to completing over a billion rides annually.

  In India, Ola’s core mobility offering is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric, a fleet management business, Ola Fleet Technologies, and a public transportation ticketing app, Ridlr.

Uber to block riders who misbehave or damage properties despite warnings

Companies News:

Uber will now remove riders who despite repeated warnings misbehave or damage the driver or co-passenger's property, as per the updated community guidelines of the ride-hailing giant.

The US-based company has also added a 'Driver Safety Toolkit' - designed on the lines of a similar offering for riders - to offer a suite of in-app safety features for its driver-partners in India.
"Courtesy matters. Riders are expected to exercise good judgment and behave decently towards other people in the car when riding with Uber... Riders may lose access to Uber if they don't meet the star ratings requirements set out in the community guidelines," Uber Head of Cities (India and South Asia) Prabhjeet Singh told PTI.

Singh explained that the company will now start removing from its platform those riders who despite repeated warnings flout Uber's community guidelines. These riders will be given enough notifications before they are removed from the platform, and the number of such riders would be "handful", he said.


 "We have updated Uber's community guidelines which extend the same behavioral standards to the riders that Uber has for the driver partners. Even though a vast majority of riders will not be affected by this update, it reminds a select few what behaviour is expected of them while using the app," Singh added...Read More