Unikon.ai’s Strange Pivot, Excitel’s INR 487 Cr Revenue & More

Behind Unikon.ai’s Strange Pivot 

Much like the dot-com bubble, everyone is in awe of the AI boom, and startups are capitalising on this wave to woo investors, who have formed a beeline to bathe in the ocean of opportunities the sector embraces. 

But, how much of this AI hype is real? While this question has long perplexed industry experts, Aakash Anand’s Unikon.ai is your cue. 

Launched in 2023 with the promise of revolutionising social media through AI-powered one-on-one expert calls, Unikon.ai has abruptly pivoted to a D2C model. Backed by names like Nikhil Kamath and Peyush Bansal, Unikon.ai’s bizarre pivot is a reminder of the complex AI equation, which many like Anand claim to have solved but often fail to build a functional product.

What makes us say this? Well, a closer look at Unikon.ai’s business model and struggling products suggests that such an outcome was inevitable. For starters, the startup’s AI integration was never entirely clear. Then, hell-bent on proving the viability of his idea, the founder burnt cash while pursuing his AI endeavour. This was not-so-gracefully followed by a spate of chaos, confusion and eventually layoffs.  

While Anand has built Bella Vita Organic (a perfume brand), Unikon.ai is a cautionary tale about startups that aspire to embrace AI without a real solution at hand. Continue reading…

From The Editor’s Desk

Uber To Acquire BluSmart? At a time when Gensol, which owns a large portion of BluSmart’s EV fleet, is facing liquidity challenges, Uber is said to be in early talks to acquire EV cab-hailing startup BluSmart Mobility. However, BluSmart calls it speculative.

Swiggy Instamart Reaches 100 Cities: Amid the rising popularity of quick commerce, Instamart has expanded its services to 32 new cities so far this year. With this, the foodtech giant’s quick commerce services are now available in 100 cities.

Jeevansathi To Infuse INR 30 Cr In Aisle: Info Edge-owned matrimonial portal is set to infuse INR 30 Cr into its wholly owned subsidiary. Post the investment, Info Edge’s shareholding in Aisle through Jeevansathi would now be 92.83%.

JP Morgan On Zepto’s Q-Commerce Burn: Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart are accelerating dark store network expansion, while Zepto is slowing down. According to JP Morgan, slower dark store expansion by Zepto could help it keep quick commerce burn contained in the March quarter. 

Ola Electric Crashes Yet Again: Dragged down by the disclosure that one of its subsidiaries was facing bankruptcy proceedings, shares of Ola Electric declined over 7% in the morning trade on Monday to hit an all-time low of INR 46.40 on the BSE.  

Omnia Acquires SpotKwik: The US-based spatial computing company has bought Silicon Valley-funded augmented reality social commerce startup SpotKwik to boost extended reality innovation for businesses. Founded in 2021, Omnia offers an ecosystem of web, mobile, and XR components.   

In-SPACe’s Shortlists GalaxEye: Infosys and GalaxEye are part of a consortium of companies that have placed bids for IN-SPACe’s INR 1,500 Cr project to build and launch a constellation of earth observation satellites. Bharat Electronics, Tata Advanced Systems, SatSure, and Pixxel are also in the race.

Excitel’s INR 487 Cr Revenue Run: It seldom happens that a new brand emerges and changes all industry dynamics. Excitel’s journey has so far been just about that. But, will it remain a disruptor or eventually give in to the new market dynamics, operating like the rest?

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Suchi Semicon Build India’s First Homegrown OSAT Giant?

As part of its INR 76,000 Cr India Semiconductor Mission, the government has been backing fabrication plants, outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) units, and display facilities through subsidies on land and various other components to boost chip manufacturing. 

Riding on the wave, Indian conglomerates like Murugappa Group and Kaynes Technologies decided to set up OSAT facilities in Gujarat, while international giants like Micron turned up to build fabrication plants in the country with government support.

Ashok Mehta, too, joined the league with his son by incorporating Suchi Semicon in 2023 with an OSAT facility. With a capacity of producing 1.5 Lakh chips per day, Suchi Semicon has an order volume of the same capacity from one customer in the US. As it scales further, the company aims to cater to more customers both within and outside India.  

In the next three years, Suchi Semicon aims to produce 3 Mn chips a day, catering to at least 10 customers. From 80 employees at present, the company plans to beef up its workforce to 1,000 in this period.

However, what is interesting is that the rolling out of Suchi Semicon shows an unusual brand extension from textiles to semiconductors.