GenWise Folds, LEAP Gets SEBI's IPO Green Light, UGRO Closes Profectus Buy

GenWise was built on a beautiful idea: help India’s elders feel less lonely and less confused in a digital world that moved too fast. It came with credibility - ex-BharatPe founders, Kunal Shah as an investor, Google accelerator backing - and even claimed 3 million users. Yet two years in, the company is dead. And the reason isn’t just “unit economics.” It’s that GenWise misunderstood the very people it was trying to serve.

India has 145 million senior citizens. Everyone sees a goldmine - “silver economy,” “aging India,” fancy consulting reports worth ₹73,000 crore in opportunity. But much like edtech got CEOs excited about “500M students,” eldertech can fool founders into thinking “large demographic = easy business.” It isn’t. Because most seniors don’t want a new app in their life; they want dignity, simplicity, and a person they can trust.

GenWise believed AI companions, gamified communities, and digital passbooks would become habits. The reality? Only ~4% of seniors regularly use the internet. 59% of elderly women don’t even own smartphones. And the ones who do, the wealthier segment, are not the ones paying ₹50 per counseling call. That’s the paradox: those who feel the most loneliness also have the least ability (or willingness) to pay for solutions. A ₹50 ARPU dream cannot carry ₹12 crore of yearly burn.

It didn’t help that GenWise tried to be everything at once: digital payments, mental health, community engagement, a social network for 60-year-olds, and an AI assistant that could remind someone to take medicines. But startups win by doing one thing exceptionally well. Emoha does healthcare. Goodfellows does companionship with trained youth - backed by Ratan Tata - fully human, no AI gimmicks. Portea works with hospitals and insurance, not ₹50 transactions. GenWise was stuck in between - too much tech for those who didn’t want tech, too little healthcare to charge healthcare money.

The UPI integration was a killer blow. Compliance, support staff, fraud protection - all the invisible costs that fintech founders should’ve known better than to underestimate. The team assumed payments would unlock monetization. Instead, it unlocked a larger burn rate.

Investors also lost patience. No Series A. No acquirer. No path to profitability. The shutdown message - “evaluating strategic options” - was just a polite obituary.

There’s also an uncomfortable truth here: AI is a lot more impressive to tech people than to grandparents. Elderly Indians crave human warmth, not a talking avatar. GenWise kept trying to automate empathy while companies like Goodfellows built a business by refusing to automate it.

The shutdown of GenWise won’t scare investors away - it will teach them to ask better questions. It will reward players who pick one job and do it well. It will push eldertech toward business models where insurers, employers, or hospitals pay - not elders struggling to recharge their phones.

GenWise proved that building for India’s seniors is not a TAM slide. It’s a long, messy fight against adoption barriers, family dynamics, and pricing sensitivity. The opportunity remains huge, but only for founders who start with humility: that seniors don’t want a new digital world. They want the old one to include them.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Mama I Don’t Wanna Die”: Kunal Shah-Backed GenWise Shuts Down Operations

GenWise, the senior-focused lifestyle app supported by Kunal Shah’s Z47, has shut down operations while the team evaluates possible strategic paths ahead.

Despite its mission to bring digital ease to India’s elderly, the startup recorded a ₹12.1 Cr loss on ₹1 Cr revenue in FY25, signaling a challenging market reality. A quiet exit for a thoughtful idea still searching for its right moment.

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“Humari Bhi Haan Hai”: SEBI Clears LEAP India’s INR 2,400 Cr IPO

SEBI has given LEAP India the green signal for a ₹2,400 Cr IPO, a mix of ₹400 Cr fresh issue and a ₹2,000 Cr OFS.

The company helps big brands cut logistics waste by pooling reusable packaging, a less flashy but quietly vital part of the supply chain. With the regulator’s observations in, LEAP can now take its sustainability pitch to the public markets.

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“Hum Saath Saath Hai”: UGRO Completes INR 1,400 Cr Acquisition Of Profectus

UGRO Capital has officially wrapped up its ₹1,400 Cr acquisition of Profectus and will now kick off the merger process, pending the usual approvals.

The move boosts UGRO’s assets under management by 29% to ₹15,471 Cr and unlocks a fresh ₹2,000 Cr opportunity in school financing. Not a bad upgrade for a deal first floated just six months ago.

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1. Lending tech player Fibe has raised $35 Mn from IFC to power its push toward a unified platform for borrowing, saving, investing, and payments. With loans ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹5 lakh, it’s aiming to become a one-stop financial app for India’s growing fintech users.

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2. Emergent, the GenAI coding startup by Dunzo cofounder Mukund Jha and his brother, has secured fresh backing from Google’s AI Futures Fund to scale talent, product, and global reach. Its platform lets AI agents build production-ready apps autonomously.

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3. BlackSoil Capital has raised ₹65 Cr to strengthen its base and widen its lending portfolio, now backed by a merged entity with ₹1,900 Cr in assets. With bets on names like HomeLane, mCaffeine, LeverageEdu, and MobiKwik, it’s doubling down on India’s ambitious startup class.

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4. Centre Court Capital has closed its first sports-focused fund at ₹410 Cr, ready to back 15-18 startups in sports and gaming with solid ticket sizes. With star investors from Binny Bansal to PV Sindhu, it’s gearing up to play venture champion for India’s next big leagues.

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5. Swiggy has secured shareholder approval to raise up to ₹10,000 Cr through a QIP, marking one of the biggest equity moves by an internet-era Indian company. With nearly unanimous backing at its recent EGM, the fundraising may hit the market as early as this week.

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