Namaste, Sat Sri Akaal, and Salaam. 🫡

Happy Friday, folks. 🙏

Today we’re diving into -
- Mamaearth’s delayed IPO + $150mn fundraise,
- Ather’s stumble on the way to unicorn clout,
- And Adani’s comeback from debt drama.

Our read time today is 4 minutes and 48 seconds - faster than you can mix yourself some Masala Thums Up. 🔥

Let's dive in. 👇

Market Vibe Check

Mamaearth decides that IPO = no-go. 💀

TLDR -
- Personal care brand Mamaearth is raising $120-150mn in a pre-IPO round.
- They want to give investors liquidity and most selling this round is gonna be from existing investors.
- Reminder: when Mamaearth began their IPO process, they were seeking a 1000X profit multiple 😂

Earlier this year, Mamaearth filed their documents to go public on the stock markets.

But it was at a 1000X+ profit multiple.

Mamearth’s investors realised that if a company went public at a price that inflated, it would come crashing down.

Which is why they’re now heading for a new funding round at a $1.5bn valuation.

This one isn't because they're in a cash crunch, it’s because investors want some liquidity.

Most stake sales in this round are gonna come from existing investors, not the company itself.

Another fun fact - actress Shilpa Shetty invested 0.75Cr in Mamaearth almost 3 years back. If it goes public at this valuation, her stake will be worth 80Cr.

Ather slips in the race to a billion-dollar valuation. ⚡

TLDR -
- Electric scooter startup Ather Energy has had to delay their unicorn round.
- They were gonna raise $250mn at a $1.3bn valuation, now they’ll do it over 2 tranches.
- Investors are concerned that government withdrew a multi-million dollar subsidy on battery packs.

If you want to do business in India, you have to obey Motabhai (the government).

And this time, Motabhai has put a dent in Ather’s billion-dollar dreams.

For the longest time, Ather was producing under the Indian government’s FAME scheme - which gave a decent subsidy to electric two-wheelers.

This helped them lower their production cost and sell below market price in India’s price-sensitive world.

But then, government decided to cut the subsidy.

And here are their EV sales numbers -
- Jan: 9,226
- Feb: 12,184
- Mar: 15,420
- Jun (subsidy cut on Jun 1): 4,597
- Jul: 6,692
- Aug: 5,092

Shocking. ⚡

Adani flexes it’s comfortable debt position. 🤔

TLDR -
- Adani said that their infrastructure business ALONE can service all debt that they’ve taken on.
- Lots of investors have shored up confidence after improving debt metrics (but still bad numbers)
- 60% of their debt is owed to banks, rest are all bonds raised from both Indian/offshore markets.

Adani just posted record profit numbers on their infrastructure + renewable energy businesses - sitting at $2.8 billion for the last quarter.

They also said that their infra business ALONE can service all debt maturing in the next 10 years.

Big investors like GQG partners bought the dip and made up to 80-90% over the last 6 months on Adani stock. (that’s on a $3 billion bet).

Killer.

In other news… ☕

AI startup Hugging Face grabs $235mn at a $4.5bn price tag (TC)

China asks banks to support stock markets (BBG) 💀

Putin packs in more power after Wagner chief’s death (FT)

RBI warns of upcoming weather-induced inflation spikes (Mint)

India’s A2 milk industry gets more confusing (Ken)

And that’s the tea the chai for today.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoyed it. Have a mauj-masti filled day ahead.

Lots of ❤️,

Team Cutting Chai 3