Rebooting Dunzo’s Failed Idea, PayU Gets RBI Nod, and Infibeam’s Offline Boost

In India, the concierge dream refuses to die. It just keeps changing costume. First it was WhatsApp chats where you could “get anything done.” Then it became Dunzo racing bikes across the city. Now it’s back again, this time wearing an AI badge. Former Dunzo CEO Kabeer Biswas is pitching a new “personal AI concierge” while Swiggy quietly builds its own concierge layer on top of food, groceries, and now travel and lifestyle. The question isn’t whether this can be built. It’s whether this time it actually solves real problems, or is just Dunzo with a prettier prompt.

We’ve seen this movie before. Dunzo started in 2015 as a chat-based concierge handling all kinds of errands, then morphed into quick commerce after the funding tap opened. It raised over $450 million from investors like Reliance and Google, but the model never escaped its math problem: high labour and logistics costs for low-ticket, high-friction tasks. By FY23, Dunzo was posting net losses of about ₹1,802 crore. Reliance wrote off its $200 million stake, vendors were reportedly owed over ₹11 crore, salaries were delayed repeatedly, and ex-employees even filed police complaints over unpaid dues and PF. Eventually, the app went dark.

Despite that, Biswas is back in the arena. According to reports, he’s now looking to raise around $12 million from Peak XV, Lightspeed, and Blume for a new AI concierge that books travel, reservations, and errands - almost the same scope as Dunzo’s original promise, just with agentic AI in the middle. The pitch is simple: last time, humans made the model too expensive; this time, AI will take over the heavy lifting, and the cost base will crash from delivery boy salaries to token costs and API calls.

On paper, the timing is perfect. India’s AI agents market, worth roughly $276 million in 2024, is expected to grow to $3.5 billion by 2030. Globally, the agentic AI market could jump from about $7 billion in 2025 to over $90 billion by 2032. Everyone believes assistants that don’t just chat but actually do things are the next big thing. And India’s own chaos - messy addresses, fragmented vendors, multiple languages - looks like the perfect sandbox to build a concierge that global platforms won’t prioritize.

But while this new wave is forming, the old guard hasn’t been sleeping. Swiggy has already launched and expanded Crew, a travel and lifestyle concierge, to major metros like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi-NCR. Crew helps users book hotels, experiences, restaurant tables, curated trips, and “luxury on demand” services. Blinkit is also pushing beyond groceries into lifestyle and higher-value categories.

But the harsh truth is that India’s consumers are both extremely demanding and extremely price-sensitive. The same user who wants a flight rebooked at midnight doesn’t want to pay ₹199/month for an assistant. For an AI concierge to feel magical, it has to get messy and real-world tasks right almost every time - across languages, broken APIs, flaky vendors, and incomplete data. If it fails even 10-15% of the time, Indians will go back to doing things themselves.

That’s where Swiggy has an advantage. It’s targeting higher-margin lifestyle spending - holidays, staycations, fancy dinners - where customers are willing to pay, and where Swiggy can layer on commissions and fees.

There’s also the easy-to-copy problem. Agentic AI tools, from OpenAI’s Agents SDK to Google’s Gemini ecosystem, are getting commoditised fast. The underlying models will only get better and cheaper. The real moat won’t be “we use AI” but “we have the deepest integrations, best local workflows, strongest brand trust, and distribution.”

Then there’s the founder question, which nobody in the ecosystem wants to talk about on record. Dunzo didn’t just fail on unit economics; it also failed on obligations. Vendors went unpaid, employees complained about delayed salaries and PF dues, and legal notices piled up. India’s startup scene loves the “phoenix” narrative of second-time founders, but there is a difference between learning from a failure and sprinting past the wreckage.

Our view is simple. AI concierges will happen. Someone will build them - maybe Swiggy, maybe a new startup, maybe a global player. They will make life easier for a small but lucrative slice of urban India.

As for Kabeer Biswas, can he succeed this time? Possibly. He understands logistics and urban behaviour better than most. But can investors trust him blindly? They shouldn’t. Not until the Dunzo chapter - financially and ethically - is fully closed. AI can fix workflows. It can’t fix governance.

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.

“Humari Bhi Haan Hai”: PayU Gets RBI Nod To Operate As Online, Offline & Cross-Border Payment Aggregator

PayU just unlocked a bigger playground as the RBI cleared it to run online, offline and cross border payment aggregation, letting offshore merchants tap Indian customers with ease. It is a timely boost for the IPO-bound fintech, which only recently secured its full payment aggregator licence.

With this nod, PayU now steps into the rare circle of PA CB entities that can legally power India’s import and export payment flows, a quiet upgrade with loud implications.

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“Jab Miya Bibi Ho Raazi”: Infibeam Gets RBI’s Nod To Operate As Offline Payment Aggregator

Infibeam Avenues just picked up the RBI’s final nod to operate as an offline payment aggregator, opening the door for it to power in store card and QR payments through POS devices. The green light lets its CCAvenue brand officially roll out and manage POS machines across merchant outlets.

With online PA, PPI and Bharat Bill Pay licences already in its pocket, this offline boost rounds out a pretty full payments arsenal.

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“Namaskāra Bengaluru”: Pronto Moves Headquarters To Bengaluru To Tap Tech Talent Pool

Pronto is settling into its new home in Bengaluru, a shift it began in October as it rebuilt its tech team from the ground up in the city’s deep talent pool. Most of the crew now works out of a fresh space in HSR Layout, already buzzing with early momentum.

The customer support team stays anchored in Gurugram, keeping the startup’s old roots warm while the rest charts a livelier southern course.

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1. Tribe Stays has secured 2.8 million dollars in seed funding, co-led by Artha Venture Fund and Riverwalk Holdings, giving its premium long stay model a solid lift. A mix of HNIs, family offices and individual backers joined the round, signalling strong faith in the brand’s managed living ambitions.

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