The CapTable

30/08/2025

The country's defence frontlines may soon be coded, built, and flown by Indian startups.
With exports crossing ₹15,000 crore and VC money pouring in, India’s defence-tech moment is here.

The only question: can we scale fast enough?

Read the full article. Link in the comments.

28/08/2025

CSR was designed as a responsibility. Yet too often, it gets reduced to compliance and corruption. Real giving comes from integrity and compassion between the two says a lot about the society we live in. and the distance

In today's piece, Srinath Sridharan dives deeper into the issue.

Read the full article here:

CSR was meant to embody responsibility, but often slips into compliance and corruption issues. True giving, by contrast, is rooted in integrity and compassion; the gap between the two defines our society today.

26/08/2025

Ride-hailing apps and metro rail networks—two systems that have long run in parallel—are finally coming together.

The goal? Plan your entire daily journey. 🚇🛺🛵

But will it really change how India moves?

India has built one of the world’s largest metro networks, but ridership has consistently fallen short of projections, thanks to broken last-mile connectivity.

Meanwhile, ride-hailing companies need more depth in the market. Uber and Ola’s monthly active users are still below pre-pandemic levels.

Enter multimodal transport. Apps like Namma Yatri, Rapido and Uber are integrating metro ticketing, real-time data, and last-mile rides into a single seamless journey.

The pitch is simple: it’s not just cheaper, but often the fastest way across cities.

This marks the next frontier for mobility apps, driven by a potent mix of market pressure, business model shifts, and untapped opportunity.

Why now? Metros and ride-hailing apps have coexisted in silos for years. What’s different now is the push for journey planning to be at the centre of the ride-hailing experience.

But here’s the catch: Without better-designed infrastructure—sidewalks, bus bays, cycling tracks, auto stands—digital fixes won’t be enough to change commuter behaviour, warn Urbanists.

So, how far can metro + ride-hailing integration really take us? Read the complete story by Pranav & Shivani 👇🏻

India’s metros are underused. Ride-hailing apps are looking to add more users. Now, both are leaning on each other—apps to unlock new users, metros to fill empty seats. The partnership could redefine how urban India moves.

25/08/2025

Edtech is dead. But education? Still a pretty hot sector for private investors in India.

After a boom-and-bust in edtech, investors have a new obsession—one that doesn’t need apps, algorithms, or unicorn hype. 🧵

The promises of building and scaling digital classrooms by Byju’s, Unacademy, and Vedantu, never really worked. Today, these companies are only remembered for the hype and the crash, leading to billion dollar write-offs.

But this hasn’t dampened the case for India’s education story. Afterall, a market with 260 million students, a rising middle class and parents who treat education as a non-negotiable expense, was hard to ignore.

And so, venture and PE money is flooding back—this time to the most old-school of models: classrooms, tuition centers, coaching institutes.

Steady margins, predictable cashflows, and a business parents still trust.

But can “education minus tech” scale without losing quality and affordability?
That’s the paradox driving India’s new gold rush in education.
Full story 👇🏻

Venture money is ditching apps and algorithms for the steady profits of real-world schools and tuition centers. The new gold rush isn’t for edtech unicorns, it’s for classrooms, communities, and credibility. Can “education minus tech” deliver what digital hype never did?

23/08/2025

Remember those purple Byju’s tablets?

They were supposed to “revolutionize learning.” Now they’re resurfacing as cheap kid-friendly devices — no bills, no warranty, just movie streaming + homework.

Read the full article, link in the comments.

22/08/2025

There’s panic at the casino. The government has erased the line between “skill” and “chance.” Under the new Online Gaming Bill, any game with money on the table is now gambling. For India’s $2B+ RMG sector, that’s game over.

Smaller fantasy, rummy and poker startups stare at extinction. But giants like Dream11 and MPL might ride out the storm. They’ve spent years diversifying—Dream Sports built FanCode (F1, LaLiga rights) and DreamSetGo sports tourism, while MPL went global.

The market reaction was brutal. Nazara shares sank 23% in two days, with its Rs 830cr PokerBaazi bet now at risk of being written off. UPI flows too will shrink—gaming was the 8th biggest merchant category, clocking Rs 10,000cr+ in July transactions alone.

Behind the crackdown: addiction, suicides, even violent crime. Karnataka police logged 32 suicides since 2023 linked to online gambling. One teenager in Vizag killed his mother after being stopped from playing. The social cost proved too high.

TL;DR: The law wipes out small RMG outfits, slashes UPI flows, and jolts investors. Diversified giants may limp on, till they get up to speed. But wagers are out of the window.

Read more 👇🏻

While smaller real-money gaming companies face extinction under the new gaming law, the larger players with diversified revenue streams are likely to weather the storm better.

21/08/2025

Everyone's obsessing over whether AI will get smarter than humans, but strategy expert Sangeet Paul Choudary thinks we are missing the point. In his chat with The CapTable, the Platform Revolution author argues that businesses are asking the wrong questions. Rather than waiting for AI to hit some magic intelligence threshold, companies should be figuring out how to use what's already available to completely rethink how they operate. It's less about the tech getting better and more about getting creative with what we have right now.

Read more👇

Best-selling author and business advisor Sangeet Paul Choudary argues that businesses are missing AI's real impact by focusing on intelligence benchmarks rather than system transformation.

20/08/2025

India is transitioning from E10 to E20 fuel by 2025 — doubling the ethanol blend in petrol. This move is aimed at lowering emissions and reducing import dependence. 🌱⛽️

But challenges remain:
⚠️ Lower fuel efficiency
⚠️ Engine compatibility concerns
⚠️ Limited ethanol supply chain
The transition is not just technological, but also logistical.

E20 represents one of India’s most ambitious energy shifts in decades. Its success will depend on balancing sustainability goals with consumer affordability and industry readiness.

Full story by Muralidhar Swaminathan here👇

As India moves from E10 to E20 ethanol-blended petrol, consumers and automakers weigh cost savings, environmental gains, and the engineering trade-offs

19/08/2025

India's largest rail booking platform has hopped onto the fintech train as it awaits a payment aggregator (PA) licence from the . Payments will only be a slice of its expanding non-ticketing revenue pie, which already makes up 70% of the business.

But can a PSU rooted in legacy systems thrive in a fast-paced, innovation-led fintech arena? Especially as it enters a cluttered payments aggregation space, where margins are razor-thin, competition stiff and complexities high.

If IRCTC manages to pull this off, it could turn the ~Rs 58,000-crore rail PSU into a broader e-commerce powerhouse, well beyond ticketing. Fintech is only the first step towards that.

Read more👇

IRCTC has hopped onto the fintech train as it awaits a payment aggregator licence from the RBI. Payments will only be a slice of its expanding non-ticketing revenue pie, which already makes up 70% of the business. But can a PSU rooted in legacy systems thrive in a fast, innovation-led fintech arena?

18/08/2025

Late-stage funding in India is in deep freeze — just under $5B so far in 2025, the lowest since 2016.

Investors haven’t exited the room. But they’re not writing big cheques either.

They’re waiting — and watching the IPO scoreboard. 👇

The big question: can the next batch of tech IPOs—Pine Labs, Lenskart, Meesho—reset benchmarks and restore conviction?

Because right now, public markets are pricing discipline. And the private market still hasn’t caught up.

SoftBank, Tiger Global, Alpha Wave, Prosus — all have paused.

No breakout tech. No big exits. No AI narrative.

Without strong IPOs to price future exits, the late-stage deal flow will stay choked.

The old playbook—raise high, exit higher—is broken.
Founders are cutting down rounds.
Investors are marking to market.
Governance, profitability, and real comps now matter more than ever.

Will upcoming IPOs thaw the winter or deepen the freeze?
We break down what’s keeping late-stage capital parked—and what it’ll take for the money to flow again.

By Nikhil Patwardhan

Read the full story 👇

Private markets are frozen, public markets are ruthless, and investors have run out of patience — or exits. With no breakout tech, no AI glory, and flatlining valuations, India’s startups are lining up for IPOs, hoping Dalal Street will do what VCs won’t.

16/08/2025

Your family gold isn’t just jewellery — it’s instant credit on a chain!

From Chennai to Delhi, Indians are pledging gold for good reason - from working capital to entrepreneurial ambitions, higher education to emergencies.

But with RBI’s new rules kicking in, will your locker still be your fastest loan app?

The gold loan game just got serious.

Read the full article from the link in the comments.

14/08/2025

Agritech startup Gramophone is in the spotlight again.
Some in the industry say its operations have been dormant for 2 years.
CEO Tauseef Khan insists it’s profitable and growing and maybe up for a merger
More in The CapTable today

Launched in 2016, Gramophone promised to cut out middlemen & give farmers direct access to seeds, fertilisers, and buyers.
For a while, it worked. Revenues spiked from ₹45.7 Cr (FY21) to ₹316 Cr (FY23).
Then came the fall — FY24 revenue: ₹98.6 Cr.

CEO Tauseef Khan says Gramophone’s now profitable, growing 70% YoY, with 90% business from repeat customers.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel for the agritech? Read today’s piece by Parvathi Benu.

Agritech startup Gramophone battles shutdown rumours and a deep fall in valuation, but CEO Tauseef Khan insists the company has in recent months turned profitable and is growing