IPO shake-up ahead; 5G phones drive data boom

Due to valuation gaps and market volatility, several new-age startups will rethink their public listing plans. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.

Also in the letter:
■ Steadview's new India exec
■ Nvidia eyes $1T revenue
■ AI under CCI watch

---

PhonePe’s decision to defer its $1.3 billion IPO amid valuation gaps and volatile markets is prompting a reset across India’s startup listing pipeline.

Peer watch: Late-stage companies, including Zepto, Oyo, Flipkart, Razorpay, Infra Market, and Acko, are now likely to face tighter investor scrutiny and more conservative pricing expectations.

ET had reported in January that new-age firms were targeting nearly Rs 50,000 crore in public market raises, through a mix of primary issuances and offers for sale.

Pipeline check:

• Zepto has filed confidentially to raise up to Rs 11,000 crore.
• Oyo’s parent company, Prism, plans to raise Rs 6,650 crore in primary capital.
• Flipkart and Razorpay have initiated discussions with bankers regarding potential listings.
• Business-to-business (B2B) firm Infra Market has already received Sebi approval for a Rs 5,000 crore IPO.

Yes, and: For several startups, public markets had become the preferred route as growth-stage private funding slowed. That calculus is now moving. Cash-constrained firms may still push ahead despite valuation cuts. Well-capitalised companies are likely to delay and wait for better timing.

New-age companies listed over the past year remain under pressure from US-Iran tensions and volatile markets. Many, including Pine Labs, Wakefit, Shadowfax and Fractal Analytics, are trading below their issue price amid rising profitability concerns.


PhonePe delay: The company cited geopolitical tensions and market volatility. However, sources said valuation differences were central, with investor appetite closer to $7 billion, about half its last valuation.

Also Read: Startup IPOs by default, not design

---

India's shift to 5G smartphones is driving a sharp rise in data consumption, with faster networks and wider coverage pushing usage to new highs.

By the numbers:

• Total smartphone shipments: 151 million, grew 0.5% year-on-year (YoY).
• 5G smartphone shipments: 137 million, up 14% YoY, taking the installed base to 415 million (projected 750 million by 2028).
• 5G share: 90% (up from 85% last year) of total shipments, led by devices priced below Rs 10,000.

Yes, and:

• 5G data traffic: Nearly doubled to 29,000 petabytes (PB) in 2025 (15,000 PB in 2024).
• Traffic mix: 5G now accounts for 40% of total wireless data usage.
• Per-user consumption: Rose to 29.6 GB/month from 21.5 GB.
• Telco trends: Reliance Jio led growth, followed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

Jeff Bezos-led Amazon is pushing for faster regulatory clearance for its satellite communications (satcom) services in India, even as its global rollout timelines remain fluid.

Sources said the company has sent multiple representations to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) seeking progress on its application. The proposal is yet to be reviewed by the inter-ministerial committee (IMC), which evaluates satcom licenses.

---

Maneesh Menon, director, India, Steadview Capital

London-based hedge fund Steadview Capital Management has appointed Maneesh Menon as its India director, according to people familiar with the matter.

What’s happening? Menon joins from Eight Roads Ventures, where he was a principal investing across software, enterprise, consumer, and fintech sectors.

He replaces Puneet Kumar, who exited Steadview in October 2025 and is now India CEO at Mirae Asset Venture.

ET had first reported the development in its online edition earlier on Tuesday.

Company statement: “Maneesh will be joining as a senior member in the investments team. In addition to Maneesh, Himanshu Jain has recently joined us as principal from Vertex Ventures,” the firm said.

The firm also recently hired Himanshu Jain, who joined in January from early-stage investment firm Vertex Ventures.

---

Jensen Huang, CEO, Nvidia

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the chipmaker is well placed to remain at the centre of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, which he expects to generate $1 trillion in cumulative revenue through 2027.

Big talk: Speaking at Nvidia’s annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, Huang outlined how the company’s chips have become core infrastructure for AI, and pointed to upcoming products aimed at sustaining that lead.

Surging compute demand: Huang said global computing requirements have risen "a million times in two years", fuelling demand for Nvidia's Blackwell and Rubin chips, as well as its networking stack.

Also Read: Uber, Nvidia plan robotaxi rollout in 28 cities starting next year

Inference inflection: Nvidia is now targeting the fast-growing inference market, beyond model training.

• Training chips build large AI models.
• Inference chips run them efficiently in real-world applications, powering tools like ChatGPT and Gemini.

Also Read: Nvidia making AI module for outer space

Huang said this shift will expand Nvidia’s addressable market as AI deployment scales across industries, increasing demand for lower-cost, high-efficiency compute.

Also Read: Why are founders flocking to OpenClaw?

---

Ravneet Kaur, chairperson, CCI

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is stepping up scrutiny of anti-competitive practices in the AI ecosystem, its chairperson, Ravneet Kaur, said.

What's happening? The regulator is mapping risks across the AI value chain. “It could be algorithmic collusion, targeted price discrimination, self-preferencing, or any opaqueness in the AI,” Kaur said.

She added that the regulator is also watching antitrust issues in sports, civil aviation, paints & varnishes, and the liquor sectors.

First step: The watchdog has issued a guidance note asking companies to audit AI systems to ensure they do not embed anti-competitive behaviour across development, deployment, and monitoring stages.

Also Read: Indian insurers quiz firms on AI usage to gauge tech risks