BluSmart Breaks Down, Groww Eyes $200 Mn & More

How BluSmart’s Closest Ally Became Its Biggest Risk

When ICRA downgraded Gensol Engineering’s ratings to ‘Junk’ earlier this month, it didn’t just trigger a stock market free fall but also made EV ride-hailing startup BluSmart its collateral damage.

But, What’s The Gensol Connection: BluSmart wasn’t just Gensol’s key leasing customer. Gensol’s promoters – brothers Anmol and Puneet Jaggi as founders — hold significant influence on three subsidiaries running BluSmart’s operations.

So, How Gensol Became BluSmart’s Biggest Risk? Until early 2025, BluSmart sourced nearly a third (3,000) of its 8,500-vehicle fleet from Gensol. This changed when Gensol transferred fleet ownership to Refex in exchange for clearing INR 315 Cr debt — putting BluSmart at the mercy of a new third-party lessor, which is now working with rivals like Uber India.

BluSmart’s Bleak Future: The startup’s top brass — including CEO, CBO, and CTO — have exited. Meanwhile, governance issues at Gensol are likely to rot BluSmart’s prospects (if any) to raise capital. On top of this, BluSmart’s losses (up 115% YoY to INR 215.9 Cr in FY23), long wait times and poor customer service complaints have weakened its case as a serious challenger to Ola-Uber duoplay in India’s ride-hailing market. 

All in all, the fall of an ally, Gensol, has triggered a s0torm of investor doubts, operational challenges, and leadership uncertainty at BluSmart. Can BluSmart steer out of this spiral? Let’s dive in. 

From The Editor’s Desk

Groww Eyes $200 Mn: The investment tech unicorn is looking to raise the mega capital as part of its pre-IPO round from GIC fund and Tiger Global at a valuation of $6.5 Bn. This comes as Groww is looking to file its DRHP for a $1 Bn public listing by April-May. 

MobiKwik Forays Into Stock Broking: The listed fintech has set up a wholly owned subsidiary to enter the investment tech space. As part of the company’s focus on expanding its service portfolio, it will now compete with the likes of Zerodha and Groww. 

Swiggy’s Tax Woes: The income tax department has issued a demand notice of INR 99 Lakh against the foodtech major for not deducting tax on the cancellation charges paid to the merchants by the company. The company plans to challenge the order. 

BofA Downgrades Zomato, Swiggy: The brokerage has downgraded the two foodtech giants, citing concerns over their growth prospects and the increasing competitive pressure in the quick commerce space. 

Jumbotail To Acquire Solv India: The B2B ecommerce platform is acquiring its rival for an undisclosed amount. The consolidated entity will be led by Jumbotail cofounders Karthik Venkateswaran and Ashish Jhina. 

Country Delight Eyes $25 Mn: The dairy tech soonicorn is raising the capital from Temasek. The startup’s board approved the proposal to issue over 1 Lakh Series E CCPS to the venture capital giant at INR 21,045 apiece. 

Govt Slashes Import Duties: The centre has removed import duties on several goods and raw materials used in manufacturing EV batteries and mobile phones. This comes as the government is taking measures to counter the impact of US’ reciprocal tariffs. 

Nazara Offloads 72% Stakes In Sports Unity: The listed gaming major has divested its entire 71.54% stake in the maker of quiz game Qunami for INR 7.15 Lakh. Nazara had purchased a controlling stake in the game developer for INR 7.5 Cr in 2019.

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can GoRally Bring The Pickleball Revolution In India?

Pickleball, a popular sport in the US, has gained significant ground in India, especially after the pandemic. According to a report, the pickleball market in India has grown to over 1,000 courts and more than 50,000 players. To capitalise on the growing popularity of this sport in the country, Sam Sancheti and Abhinav Shankar founded GoRally in 2024. 

GoRally’s Play: The startup claims to be building India’s fastest-growing pickleball network, providing facilities, coaching, and equipment. 

Funding & More: The Bengaluru-based startup has raised $750K in a pre-seed funding round in February from Bharat Founders Fund and angels Sujeet Kumar, Mohit Kumar and Deepak Singh. With this capital, the sportstech startup plans to expand to eight centres and 40 courts by next month. 

What’s Next? The startup aims to launch a tech platform to enhance the community experience, focussing on its ‘open-play’ format. It also plans to expand its coaching services with full-time coaches and top players from Karnataka while gearing up for expansion into Delhi and Chennai.