Navi’s Valuation Test, HUL Moves Delhi HC, and Starlink Reapplies

When Sachin Bansal left Flipkart in 2018, he used his own capital to build Navi. By early 2022, he had reportedly invested around ₹4,000 crore and owned roughly 97% of the company. Eight years after Navi was founded, that structure is finally changing. Prosus is investing $100 million, Navi’s first institutional equity round.

There is some history here. Prosus came out of Naspers, which invested $616 million in Flipkart and sold its 11.18% stake to Walmart for $2.2 billion in 2018. But the Navi investment is more than an old Flipkart relationship. It gives Navi an external shareholder, fresh price discovery and a more conventional ownership structure before a possible IPO.

The price is revealing. In June, Navi was discussing a $250-300 million raise from Prosus and Accel at a valuation of $1.8-2 billion. The final deal is only $100 million, with reports putting the valuation at roughly $1.3 billion. Prosus appears to have negotiated hard, while Navi may have preferred selling less equity at the lower price. Reuters reports that Navi is now considering an IPO at around $2 billion.

The operating numbers explain both the interest and the discount. Navi Finserv made ₹292 crore of profit in FY26 as AUM rose 57% to ₹13,138 crore and disbursements reached ₹23,287 crore. CRISIL puts total managed assets at ₹22,685 crore. Yet the wider Navi group lost ₹466 crore, up from ₹126 crore a year earlier, largely because it is spending heavily on UPI and newer businesses.

UPI is where the valuation argument gets interesting. Navi processed about 947 million transactions in July, around 4% of India’s 23.66 billion monthly UPI transactions. Navi does not need to beat PhonePe. It needs those payment users to become cheaper customers for personal loans, insurance and mutual funds.

That makes Navi almost the reverse of Paytm. Paytm built payments distribution first and then tried to add financial products. Navi already has a profitable lender and is spending money to build the distribution around it.

There are still reasons for caution. Around 88% of Navi’s lending book is unsecured personal credit, its lending margin has fallen, and RBI stopped Navi Finserv from issuing fresh loans for about six weeks in 2024 over concerns about lending rates.

KreditBee provides a useful reality check. It recently raised $280 million at a $1.5 billion valuation after reporting ₹2,700 crore revenue and ₹473 crore profit in FY25, with AUM of around ₹15,000 crore in FY26. Navi therefore deserves some value for UPI, insurance and investments, but not as though those businesses have already worked.

At $1.3 billion, Prosus is paying for a profitable lender plus that possibility. If Navi wants public investors to pay around $2 billion within months, it will need to show that UPI is lowering customer acquisition costs and that consolidated profitability can survive while the payments business keeps growing. Otherwise, Prosus’s entry price will become the number IPO investors keep returning to.

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.

“Maamla Legal Hai”: HUL Moves Delhi HC Against Beco

HUL has moved the Delhi HC against Beco’s campaign targeting Vim and Surf Excel, calling its safety claims misleading.

The court has sought Beco’s response, with the matter listed for August 21.

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“Nirlajja Tu Fir Aagya”: Starlink Reapplies For IN-SPACe Nod

Starlink has reapplied to IN-SPACe for approval of its Gen 2 constellation of nearly 30,000 satellites, including direct-to-device connectivity.

The move comes after its earlier application was rejected over non-compliance with Indian requirements.

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“Dekh Tere Sansar Ki Halat”: CCPA Fines Amazon

The Central Consumer Protection Authority has fined Amazon Rs 1 lakh over misleading listings that sold ordinary sweets as “Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad” without authorisation from the temple trust.

The regulator rejected Amazon’s safe-harbour defence and said marketplaces have independent obligations to prevent unfair trade practices.

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“Purana Saal Naya Maal”: TrueFoundry Launches Open-Source Agent Platform

Enterprise AI infrastructure company TrueFoundry has launched TrueForge, an open-source agent harness for building, deploying, debugging and governing production AI agents without vendor lock-in.

The platform supports different models and MCP servers, routes calls through TrueFoundry’s AI Gateway, and offers budget controls, rate limits and guardrails.

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“Bharat Ke Bachho Ka Bhavishya”: R for Rabbit Launches 10-product BioMimic Range

R for Rabbit has launched BioMimic, a 10-product baby care range inspired by biomimicry. The products were developed by studying the natural mechanisms of children’s skin and hair and translating them into everyday care.

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“Waah Kya Scene Hai”: CarePay Launches Lumi AI

CarePay has launched Lumi, an AI-powered patient engagement platform with its assistant Careena to simplify healthcare financing.

The platform offers real-time, zero-cost EMI approvals for medical treatments of up to ₹10 lakh.

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“Adbhut Avishwasaniya”: CoverSure Launches Insurance Gift Cards

CoverSure has launched Insurance Gift Cards that let recipients choose and purchase insurance using the gifted value.

Co-branded with Oxymoney, the cards offer a more flexible way to gift insurance.

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Hum Saath Saath Hai”: Urban Company Partners with Unicommerce

Urban Company’s Middle East arm has partnered with Unicommerce to power its e-commerce operations across Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

It will use Uniware to manage inventory and fulfilment for its at-home services ecosystem.

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“Mubarakan Ji Mubarakan”: T-Hub, Japan’s OKI Select Eight Indian Deeptech Startups

T-Hub and Japan’s OKI have selected eight Indian deeptech startups for a program aimed at helping them enter global markets and explore opportunities in Japan.

The initiative attracted over 150 applications before narrowing the list through a multi-stage evaluation. The selected startups will now work with OKI through T-Hub’s PACE accelerator.

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“Aaiye Aapka Intezaar Tha”: MetaGO Opens Physical Metabolic Care Centre

MetaGO has opened its first physical metabolic care centre in Mumbai, taking its digital-first model offline.

Members can now meet doctors, undergo tests and access health coaching in person, alongside its existing online services.

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“Naya Growth Guru”: 360 ONE Appoints Abhishek Bhalotia As Chief Growth And People Officer

360 ONE has appointed Abhishek Bhalotia as Chief Growth and People Officer. Bhalotia brings more than three decades of experience from Kotak Group, where he most recently served as National Business Head for Kotak Bank’s Private Banking business.

The appointment comes as 360 ONE expands and integrates recent acquisitions.

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“Aaj Se Tum Hamare Hue”: Fleetx.ai acquires Pando.ai

Fleetx.ai has acquired transportation management system provider Pando.ai for an undisclosed amount. The deal brings fleet visibility and freight execution into one AI-native logistics platform.

Pando.ai will continue as a distinct brand, with its leadership team joining Fleetx.ai.

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1. Peeko has raised ₹67.4 Cr in Series A funding led by Chiratae Ventures to expand its Bengaluru presence, strengthen its product range and build technology.

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2. Homegrown sneaker brand Zaydn has raised $681K in seed funding led by Inflection Point Ventures, with participation from BeyondSeed and other angel investors.

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3. Omnichannel payments startup Phi Commerce is set to raise ₹38.54 Cr in a Series B round from existing investors, at a valuation of around ₹1,500 Cr.

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4. Healthcare infrastructure startup Tross has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-seed round led by All In Capital, with participation from DeVC.

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5. BGauss has raised Rs 110 Cr in a Series D round led by founder Hemant Mahendrakumar Kabra, with Bharat Value Fund and others also participating.
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6. D2C watch brand, Bruno Milano has raised Rs 7.5 Cr in a round led by Sauce VC, with Titan Capital and angels including Arjun Purkayastha, Roman Saini and Kitty Agarwal also participating.
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