Ather Energy’s tepid market debut; Paytm clocks Rs 544.6 Cr loss in Q4

Ather Energy shares closed 8.3% below listing price on debut day. One97 Communications Ltd reported a net loss of Rs 544.6 crore in Q4 FY25. Cashfree Payments is betting on fraud prevention, cross-border payments, and security tools to drive growth.

May 7, 2025 - 03:31

Ather Energy’s tepid market debut; Paytm clocks Rs 544.6 Cr loss in Q4

Hello,

Critics: 1; OpenAI: 0.

Amid a drawn out legal feud, the ChatGPT maker just folded on one of its most contentious issues: its conversion plan to a for-profit entity.

The company dialed back a significant restructuring plan, with its nonprofit parent retaining control over the for-profit arm of the startup. It will also push ahead with plans to change the structure of its for-profit arm to allow more capital-raising.

This compromise, however, does not appear to be to Musk’s taste, who plans to proceed with his highly watched lawsuit against OpenAI.

OpenAI’s woes don’t stop there. Following several copyright infringement lawsuits involving the startup, an Indian panel is reviewing if the existing copyright law is sufficient to tackle AI-related disputes.

Technology often outpaces regulation, but in certain areas, it’s beginning to catch up. Case in point: The US Justice Department filed that Alphabet Inc’s Google should be forced to sell two of its businesses that help websites buy, sell and serve online advertising, after a judge found the company illegally monopolised those markets.

The long arm of the law spares no one—not even tech giants.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about

Ather Energy’s tepid market debut
Paytm clocks Rs 544.6 Cr loss in Q4
Inside Cashfree’s next phase of growth

Here’s your trivia for today: In what 1979 James Bond movie does the famous spy go to outer space?

Electric Vehicle

Ather Energy’s tepid market debut

Ather Energy saw a lacklustre response to its public listing after it debuted at a nearly 2.2% premium at Rs 328 per share on Tuesday. The HeroMoto Corp-backed company closed down 8.3% at Rs 300.75 apiece, below the lower price band of Rs 304 per share.

Ather Energy, the second EV maker to list after Ola Electric last year, had seen relatively tepid demand for its shares in the grey market before Tuesday's listing. The stock was trading at a premium of Rs 7 as of early morning today.

All the details:

Its listing on the public bourses saw its shareholders who participated in the offer for sale walk away with handsome gains. IIT Madras is one of the biggest gainers from Ather's public debut.
Based on the listing price, IIT Madras, which sold 4,191 equity shares through IITMS Rural Technology and Business Incubator and IITM Incubation Cell, netted 40X gains. The cost of acquisition per share for IITMS Rural Technology and Business Incubator was Rs 8.31 per share.
Meanwhile, Ola Electric Founder Bhavish Aggarwal took to X to congratulate Ather, saying, “Congrats to Tarun Mehta and the whole Ather Energy team on this milestone for the Indian EV industry! Let’s together make India the global EV hub.”

Funding Alert

Startup: Celcius Logistics

Amount: Rs 250 Cr

Round: Series B

Startup: The Good Bug

Amount: Rs 100 Cr

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Nawgati

Amount: $2.5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Fintech

Paytm clocks Rs 544.6 Cr loss in Q4

One97 Communications Ltd., the parent of Paytm, reported a net loss of Rs 544.6 crore in Q4 FY25, narrower than the Rs 550.5 crore loss in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue from operations clocked in at Rs 1,911.5 crore, down 15.68% from Rs 2,267.1 crore in Q4 FY24.

The company also incurred a non-cash exceptional expense of Rs 492 crore in the quarter due to the acceleration of ESOP costs, following the voluntary forgoing of 2.1 crore ESOPs by CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

Key takeaways:

Total expenses for the quarter slumped, falling a fifth to Rs 2,154.9 crore from Rs 2,691.4 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.
Paytm’s merchant device subscriber base expanded to 1.24 crore, adding 8 lakh devices in the quarter. The company expects innovations like the Solar Soundbox to deepen merchant engagement, especially in Tier II and III towns.
Revenue from financial services grew 9% QoQ to Rs 545 crore, led by higher merchant loan distribution and increased trail revenue from DLG portfolios. While the number of financial services customers remained stable at 5.5 lakh, the average loan ticket size increased, and repeat borrowers now account for over 50% of disbursals.

Fintech

Inside Cashfree’s next phase of growth

Bengaluru-based fintech giant Cashfree Payments is doubling down on AI-driven fraud prevention and cross-border solutions as part of its ambitious three-year plan to dominate India’s digital payments ecosystem.

Cashfree Co-founders Reeju Datta and Akash Sinha tell YourStory that their “moonshot” priorities include scaling Secure ID, a fraud-detection suite, and capturing cross-border payment flows—both seen as high-margin engines for the payments pioneer.

Roadmap:

Secure ID, Cashfree’s identity verification and KYC product, already contributes 15% of revenue and is growing at over 100% YoY. The suite leverages AI for video KYC, face-matching, and “smart OCR” to detect fake or low-quality Aadhaar scans—common in India’s smaller towns.
Cashfree also embeds AI into its Risk Engine to detect new, subtle fraud vectors—everything from account takeover (where behavioural biometrics spot an unusual login/device) to false-repayment patterns in NBFC flows.
Cross-border is another strategic bet. Armed with a Payment Aggregator–Cross Border license, Cashfree is looking to help both Indian exporters and international sellers tap the India market.

News & updates

Deal: Britain and India clinched a long-coveted free trade pact after tariff turmoil sparked by US President Donald Trump forced the two sides to hasten efforts to increase their trade in whisky, cars, and food. The deal was concluded after three years of stop-start negotiations and aims to increase bilateral trade by a further $34 billion by 2040 with liberal market access and eased trade restrictions.
New model: Microsoft will release a new laptop and tablet with chips from Qualcomm, aiming to get new AI features to a broader set of customers. The newest Surface 13-inch laptop and Surface Pro 12-inch tablet will go on sale on May 20, with the laptop starting at $899 and the tablet starting at $799.
M&A: British food delivery firm Deliveroo has agreed to a takeover offer from American rival DoorDash that values the company at $3.9 billion. For DoorDash, acquiring Deliveroo marks a renewed effort to expand its presence overseas after previously snapping up Finland’s Wolt in 2022.

In what 1979 James Bond movie does the famous spy go to outer space?

Answer: Moonraker.

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