India’s Smart Ring Boom, PhonePe’s IPO Dreams, and Swiggy Carves Out Instamart

India’s wearables market is entering a strange, fascinating phase: smartwatches are slowing, yet the smallest screen in the room - the ring - refuses to behave like a fad. Shipments of smart rings in India jumped from roughly 112,600 units in 2023 to about 322,900 in 2024 (up ~187%), average selling prices rose, and multiple firms now peg the Indian market on a steep path toward USD ~75 million by 2030, with broader estimates placing the category on a 30%+ CAGR glide path from a very low base. Globally, rings are still a sliver of wearables, but the Indian slope is among the world’s steepest. That says less about hype and more about product–market fit: passive health tracking, multi-day batteries, and zero notifications are a relief in a country where wrist screens have become noisy and disposable.

Market structure is already taking shape. Ultrahuman has been the category’s pace-setter, capturing the largest share through 2024, pricing its flagship near the premium end. Pi Ring and Aabo round out the domestic top three, while value brands like boAt have pushed aggressively at the entry tier. At the other extreme, Samsung’s Galaxy Ring has validated the segment from the top of the Android ecosystem, while Noise has tried to thread the mid-premium needle for volume. This is a classic barbell: a premium tier that sells accuracy, design, and app intelligence, and a mass tier that sells “good enough” rings at “why not?” prices.

Funding money has followed the slope. Ultrahuman has raised tens of millions on the back of rings-first execution and a hardware-to-software flywheel. Newcomers like Gabit have attracted more than USD 10 million from institutional and marquee angels, then layered in celebrity endorsements to punch above awareness weight - an unmistakable signal that this category is crossing over from geeky wellness to mainstream lifestyle.

The obvious question is whether rings can lead wearables in India, not merely grow within them. For sleep, recovery and continuous vitals, a ring is more comfortable than a watch, its battery typically lasts multiple days, and it disappears into your life. Surveys and usage reviews consistently show users choosing rings over watches for sleep tracking, with higher retention than first-year smartwatch abandonment rates. Watches still own the “do-everything” slot - ECG, GPS, notifications, payments - but rings have claimed the “do one thing obsessively well” slot for health data. In a market hitting smartwatch fatigue, that specialism matters.

But India’s rings story carries two shadows. First, the flood of ultra-cheap products, some priced as low as a few hundred rupees, has poisoned many first impressions with laughably inaccurate vitals and fragile builds. Consumers who start there often conclude “rings don’t work,” making it harder for credible brands to justify premium pricing. Second, the category’s IP minefield has grown real teeth: Oura has enforced patents aggressively in the U.S., and Ultrahuman has counter-litigated in India, turning competition into a courtroom sport. Both dynamics can slow adoption - one by eroding trust, the other by raising costs and constraining features.

Regulation is the third variable, and it cuts both ways. Today, many rings skate by as “wellness” devices. Stricter enforcement under India’s Medical Devices Rules would push health-claiming rings toward Class B/C compliance, clinical evaluation, and ISO-grade quality systems; the DPDP regime will tighten data stewardship; and any future Digital India Bill framing for “privacy-invasive devices” could add KYC or usage constraints. That sounds like friction, but it’s also the fastest way to bleach the market of counterfeits and force a standards floor under accuracy.

Can rings become acquisition bait? Absolutely. A payments or commerce super-app that wants daily health data and an upsell path into insurance and tele-health could rationally buy a premium ring brand for its algorithms, manufacturing playbooks, and tens of thousands of calibrated, high-retention users. The price, as always, will depend on proof that software ARPU is real, churn is low, and regulatory risks are contained.

So do rings lead India’s wearables? In absolute units, no; in shaping the health-wearable narrative, very likely. The base-case arc looks like this: rings climb to a midsingle-digit share of wearables by the end of the decade, maybe bumping into low double digits if premium accuracy and mid-tier pricing converge, while the smartwatch pie stabilizes as a multipurpose tool. The upside case adds two catalysts: a medical-device standard that flushes out junk, and an OEM’s ecosystem halo, pushing rings into a true “health hub” with insurer tie-ins and doctor workflows. The downside is familiar: patent walls, a price war, or demand fatigue once the novelty fades.

For now, the signal beats the noise: India’s smallest screen is earning the right to stay on the body, and that’s the hardest problem in wearables.

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.

“Mai Nahi Bataunga”: PhonePe Files Confidential IPO Papers With SEBI

PhonePe just rang the IPO bell by filing confidential papers with SEBI to raise a whopping ₹12,000 Cr ($1.35 Bn) through a full-blown offer for sale.

Big names like Walmart, Tiger Global, and even Microsoft are lining up to trim their stakes in the fintech unicorn. Just before this move, PhonePe also sweetened the deal for its employees with an ESOP buyback worth up to ₹800 Cr.

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“Well Well Well How Turntables”: Swiggy To Hive Off Instamart As A Separate Step-Down Subsidiary

Swiggy is carving out Instamart into a separate step-down subsidiary, moving all its assets, staff, and IP into a new entity called Swiggy Instamart Private Limited.

The idea is to give Instamart sharper focus and a cleaner structure for long-term growth. But here is the twist, while its Q1 FY26 revenue doubled to ₹806 Cr, losses nearly tripled to ₹797 Cr.

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“Amrica Kya Kehta Hai”: ideaForge Forms JV With First Breach To Scale Offerings In US

Drone maker ideaForge has teamed up with First Breach to launch a 50-50 joint venture in the US called First Forge Technology Inc.

The new entity will handle licensing, designing, manufacturing and distributing select UAVs from ideaForge. With this move, the Indian drone giant is taking a big flight into the American skies.

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“Aaiye Aapka Intezaar Tha”: Former Zomato CEO Rakesh Ranjan To Lead Allen’s Digital Arm

Former Zomato CEO Rakesh Ranjan is taking charge of Allen’s digital arm after Abha Maheshwari stepped down last month.

He will now steer the institute’s tech and AI-powered learning play while driving its overall digital strategy. Allen, which entered the online space only in 2022, is clearly betting big on Ranjan to scale its next growth chapter.

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1. Rapido is gearing up to close a massive $550 Mn funding round, with $300 Mn in fresh capital on the table. Prosus is expected to lead the charge with up to $250 Mn, while Swiggy trims its stake through secondary deals.
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2. D2C brand P-TAL has secured $3 Mn in a Series A round led by VC Grid and Nikhil Kamath’s Rainmatter. The fresh funds will fuel product innovation, tech-driven supply chain upgrades, and support for artisan communities in India.
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3. Duro Capital has closed the first leg of its maiden India-focused fund at ₹200 Cr, with a target corpus of ₹1,000 Cr. The fund will back 20–25 listed Indian companies across sectors, leveraging the firm’s 15-year track record in equities.
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4. Xbattery has raised $2.3 Mn in a seed round led by Bipin Patel Family Office and Jhaveri Credits. The startup will use the funds to scale BharatBMS, its battery management system for EVs and renewable energy storage.
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5. Former Meesho executive Utkrishta Kumar’s AI-led fintech startup Oolka has raised $7 Mn in a round led by Lightspeed India and Z47. The Bengaluru-based startup will use the funds to scale hiring, upgrade its tech, and offer more personalized credit solutions.
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6. Good Capital has raised $30 M in the final close of its second fund, aiming to back AI-driven and tech-first startups. The early-stage VC, which has backed Meesho and Orange Health, secured commitments mainly from family offices across Asia and Europe.
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7. Bengaluru-based digital-gold fintech Gullak has raised $7.5 M in Series A funding led by Chiratae Ventures. The startup plans to use the capital to expand into Tier II and III cities, strengthen partnerships with jewellers, and boost brand presence.
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