Jio preps May IPO; Wipro slips after results

Jio Platforms is edging towards a long-awaited IPO as markets wobble amid Iran tensions. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.

Also in the letter:
■ ETtech Done Deals
■ Sequoia's fresh $7bn dough
■ End of Netflix's Hastings era

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Mukesh Ambani, chairman, Reliance Industries

Jio Platforms is drawing closer to the public markets. Reliance Industries is expected to file draft papers for the long-awaited IPO in May, including its full-year FY26 financials, according to a Bloomberg report.

What's happening? The plan was to file by March, built on nine-month financials till December. That timeline has now been delayed. That window, the report added, has slipped as markets cool in the shadows of tensions around Iran.

Tell me more:

• The IPO is likely to be an offer-for-sale, with existing investors paring their stakes instead of the company raising fresh capital.
• Global backers on the cap table include Meta, Google, Vista Equity Partners, and sovereign funds such as the Public Investment Fund and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
• The issue size could hover around $4 billion, implying a valuation near $180 billion.

Also Read: Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio in talks to offload individual investor stakes by 8% in upcoming IPO: Report

What else? Jio Platforms has assembled a heavyweight banking syndicate for the listing. Global banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Citigroup are on the ticket, along with Kotak Mahindra Capital, Axis Capital, JM Financial and SBI Capital Markets at home.

Also Read: RIL appoints 17 bankers for a potential Rs 40,000 crore Jio Platforms IPO

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Srini Pallia, CEO, Wipro

Wipro slipped in trade on Friday, with the stock falling as much as 4% to about Rs 202 on the BSE and NSE.

Why is this happening? The slide followed a soft March quarter. Consolidated net profit dipped 2% to Rs 3,502 crore.

• Revenue from operations: grew 8% YoY to Rs 24,236 crore.
• Total expenses: rose 6% YoY at Rs 20,125 crore.
• Total deal bookings: $3.46 billion, up 3.2% sequentially.

Analysts weigh in: Brokerages including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Motilal Oswal flagged a weak Q4, persistent revenue pressure and guarded near-term guidance. They pointed to delayed deal ramp-ups and soft demand.

Meanwhile: Wipro is still tightening the talent screws. Attrition eased to 13.8% from 14.2% in the previous quarter. After adding 6,529 employees in the December quarter, the company added just 136 employees between January and March, taking headcount to 242,156.

To soothe investors, Wipro also announced a Rs 15,000 crore share buyback at Rs 250 a share.

Wipro's shares closed at Rs 204.3, down 2.7% on the BSE.

Source: Google Finance

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Aman Priyadarshi, founder, Plazza

Plazza, a quick medicine delivery startup, is lining up fresh capital. It is in talks to raise $12-15 million from early-stage investors Accel, Nexus Venture Partners and Elevation Capital, people familiar with the discussions said.

Existing backers All In Capital and Better Capital are also expected to join the round.

Take two: If the deal closes as planned, Plazza’s second funding round could value the company at about $45-50 million.

(L-R) Prateek Gupta and Bharat Gupta, founders, Fifth Sense

Direct-to-customer (D2C) fragrance brand Fifth Sense has raised Rs 6.3 crore in a pre-seed round.

Deal details: The round was led by OTP Ventures, with Sadev Ventures, ISV Capital, and a group of angels joining. Angel investors include Swiggy's food marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor and Stayvista cofounder Amit Damani.

Founders' profile: Founded by IIM Kozhikode alumni Bharat Gupta and Prateek Gupta, the startup is pitching itself as a premium fragrance house with formulations tuned to different climates.

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Sequoia Capital has stitched together about $7 billion for a new fund, its first major raise under the firm’s new leadership, Bloomberg reported.

Fund details:

• The capital will chase large companies, especially AI names such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
• The $7 billion will power an expansion strategy that leans on late-stage deals in the US and Europe.
• The fund is roughly twice the size of its $3.4 billion expansion vehicle from 2022.
• The raise wrapped up earlier this year.
• This comes on top of around $2.5 billion that Sequoia announced last year for seed, venture and growth-stage investing.

Leadership shake-up: In March, Sequoia Capital brought back veteran steward Doug Leone as chairman, restoring him to an active investing role. The firm added new investors and welcomed back former investor Carl Eschenbach. At the same time, some investors have pared back their roles. One of them, Ravi Gupta, is leaving to start a new company, while staying on as a partner.

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Reed Hastings, founder, Netflix

An era is closing at streaming giant Netflix. Reed Hastings, who co-founded the company 29 years ago and now serves as chairman, will step down from the board in June.

Driving the news: In a letter to investors on Thursday, Netflix said that Hastings will not seek re-election at the upcoming annual meeting. He plans to devote more time to philanthropy and other pursuits.

His exit comes just as Netflix finds its feet again after losing out on the $72 billion Warner Bros Discovery deal. The business is back in stride. First quarter revenue rose 16% to $12.25 billion.

Arpit Jaiswal, chief growth officer, BigBasket

Tata Digital-backed online grocery firm BigBasket has appointed former Google executive Arpit Jaiswal as chief growth officer.

New hire: Jaiswal joins after a 15-year run at Google India, where he most recently led growth and monetisation for Google Pay.

What else? BigBasket has also elevated Keshav Kumar, its head of engineering, to chief product and technology officer. He succeeds Rakshit Daga, who left the company in July last year.

Also Read: Founder exits loom over BigBasket, 1mg as Tata Digital reset continues