Merged 🤝
S&P dominance, M&A, and Maha's new CM.
☀️ Morning, it’s Thursday.
📈 Another bullish day for markets.
The Sensex added another 0.14%, while the S&P 500 added 0.61%, continuing its staggering performance for the year—now up 28.3% YTD.
☝️ The US now makes up for over 60% of the global stock market.
Let’s hit it!
1 Big Thing: Unacademy folds 👋
Unacademy is reportedly negotiating a sale to legacy JEE coaching giant Allen at a valuation of $800 million, as per ET.
Context: while still significant, the deal tag marks a sharp decline from Unacademy’s peak valuation of $3.4 billion, underscoring the struggles of the ed-tech industry. The deal awaits approval from Allen’s promoters, the Maheshwari family, though most stakeholders are said to be on board.
Backdrop: the ed-tech sector is facing major headwinds, as AI-driven tools and free content on platforms like YouTube have eroded the market for paid, gated education platforms. We’ve seen even heavyweights like Byju’s struggle.
The deal: Unacademy already shifted to an offline model after nearly a decade online. However, growth has plateaued. On the other hand, Allen, rooted in its offline coaching model, has struggled to gain traction in the digital space. A merger could be mutually beneficial.
Unacademy has $160 million in cash reserves, and ongoing talks reportedly involve discussions about share swap ratio
Big picture: the decline of digital-only ed-tech has been a worldwide phenomenon. Just ask yesteryear leaders like Coursera or Chegg.
2. Antler’s India push 💪
Venture firm and pre-seed accelerator Antler is doubling down on India, planning to pump $25 million into 50 startups in 2025.
The plan: after backing 30 startups in 2024 through its maiden $75 million fund, Antler plans on doubling down, continuing to focus on sectors like AI, fintech, consumer tech, health, and sustainability.
In 2024, some of the notable bids the firm backed included:
Bizup, a wholesale marketplace shaking up fashion retail
Meine Electric, a company pioneering aluminum-air fuel cells for clean energy
Cautio, delivering AI-powered dashcams for safer roads.
3. More IPOs on the horizon 📈
Captain Fresh, the B2B seafood firm, is setting the stage for a 2025 IPO with Axis Capital and BofA as lead bankers.
The deets: the company plans to raise $350-400 million, split between fresh share issuance and an offer for sale and is targeting a $1.3-1.5 billion valuation.
Founded in 2019, Captain Fresh streamlines the process of seafood sourcing, connecting fishermen to processors and ultimately buyers in bulk, around the world—running the process in a digital-first manner. It has raised over $160 million from heavyweights like Accel, Tiger Global, and Prosus.
What’s new: a pre-IPO round of $50-60 million, led by Accel, is in advanced stages, likely valuing the firm at $800 million. The company has also made a bunch of acquisitions to boost its global seafood stock, such as buying Indonesia's Fishlog, Poland’s Koral, and Illinois-based CenSea.
While financials are elusive, the business made over ₹800 cores in sales last year, and lost money on the bottom line.
While we are on IPOs:
Entrackr reports that Ecom Express also received SEBI’s green light for their IPO. Ecom Express, which provides third party logistics services to ecommerce brands in India, plans to raise ₹2,600 crores for its bid.
4. Busy week for acquisitions🤝
India and the global business landscape witnessed a wave of acquisitions this week, reflecting a surge of optimism. Here’s a quick rundown:
Nodwin gaming levels up: Nazara's gaming arm, Nodwin, acquired Trinity Gaming for ₹24 crore. Trinity, a Creator Service Provider for Meta and gaming MCN for YouTube, manages 1,000+ creators and strengthens Nodwin’s foothold in India's booming gaming and creator scene. Game on.
KKR’s gig bet on Healthcare: private equity giant KKR is in exclusive talks to acquire a controlling stake in HealthCare Global Enterprises (HCG), a cancer hospital chain owned by CVC Capital. The deal is pegged at over ₹3,600 crore.
Walmart’s TV takeover: Walmart completed its acquisition of Vizio for $2.3 billion to enhance its advertising business. Vizio, which designs and sells TVs in the western market will now integrate tightly with Walmart Connect, boosting Walmart’s ads-business, and putting the company to compete against TV OS leaders, like Google, Amazon, Roku, etc.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
🛑Drama over: The JioHotstar domain is now officially owned by Viacom18, an RIL subsidiary, putting an end to months of legal and commercial disputes.
🚀 Space move: ISRO is set to launch PSLV-C59/Proba-3, aiming to place 550 kg satellites into orbit.
👑 Maha CM: Devendra Fadnavis is set to be sworn in today as Maharashtra’s chief minister for a historic third term.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the Weekday blues get to you.
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