Inside Myntra’s fashion playbook; Marico’s D2C gameplan

Hello,

Now that was a heated IPL final! But beyond cricket, an interesting play is brewing in India’s AI arena.

US-based AI infrastructure company Groq has forayed into the Indian market, appointing its first employee. The NVIDIA rival has carved out a distinct position in the AI chip market, with its language processing units and cloud infrastructure designed for energy-efficient AI processing.

OpenAI is also expanding its reach in India. The ChatGPT maker is extending technical grants worth $150,000 to 11 nonprofits working on AI solutions across sectors such as healthcare, education, and agriculture.

Meanwhile, India has launched BharatGen, the country’s first indigenously developed, government-funded, AI-based multimodal LLM for 22 Indian languages.

While companies globally see the great optimiser, with Meta now working on new AI tools that will allow brands to fully create and target ads, the goal in India is to make AI solutions that are inclusive, ethical, and meet real needs.

“India’s strategy for AI, is to build AI in India, make AI work for India and build AI applications that are truly responsible, safe, trustworthy, and that make a difference to the lives of common people,” IndiaAI CEO Abhishek Singh said at a stakeholder consultation conference.

AI for one. AI for all.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Myntra targets Gen Z, Tier II cities
• Marico’s D2C gameplan
• Closing the loop on plastic waste

Here’s your trivia for today: The first-ever IPL match was played between which two teams?

Interview

Myntra targets Gen Z, Tier II cities

Fashion ecommerce platform Myntra is eyeing opportunities around the evolving needs of Gen Z, the growing market in Tier II and Tier III cities, and the increasing need for relevance, personalisation, and speed among customers. 

In a conversation with YourStory founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, Nandita Sinha, CEO of Myntra, outlined the company’s growth plans.

Fashion forward:

• About 20 million Gen Z customers are transacting with Myntra yearly, compared with about 8 million a year back. 
• Home is another focus area for Myntra. So is quick fashion. Late last year, Myntra started M-Now in Bengaluru. It is a 30-60 minute delivery for fashion. 
• Myntra understands AI is a key aspect of the future. Nandita said the company wants to make “AI a way of life” and not something that it ends up just leveraging. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Stable Money

Amount: $20M

Round: Series B

Startup: GyanDhan

Amount: Rs 50 Cr

Round: Series A

Startup: Gully Labs

Amount: Rs 8.7 Cr

Round: Seed

Interview

Marico CEO on D2C gameplan

Over the last eight years, FMCG giant Marico has made four acquisitions, either partially or in full. These include men’s grooming player Beardo, nutrition brand Plix, ayurvedic beauty brand Just Herbs, and healthy snacking brand True Elements. 

In an interview with YourStory, Marico MD and CEO Saugata Gupta talks about the company's acquisition strategy for D2C brands, the challenges and benefits of scaling digital brands in the FMCG landscape, and the company’s run with quick commerce.

Growth:

• Marico’s digital-first portfolio performed beyond expectations, ending FY25 at a Rs 750 crore annual run rate. It has now raised its ARR expectations for FY27.
• “Beardo and Plix are profitable businesses that are collectively expected to cross Rs 1,000 crore next year, and even if we were to accelerate growth, we expect margins to continue to improve. This is unlike other D2C brands for whom accelerated growth often means increased cash burn,” Gupta said. 
• According to Gupta, quick commerce, ecommerce, and modern trade provide platforms for rapid prototyping. Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar test markets, the approach here is to think big, start small, and either scale quickly or exit fast.

Environment

Closing the loop on plastic waste

Bengaluru-based Swachha Eco Solutions is an integrated waste management and recycling company working to build a circular economy through smart and efficient waste solutions and innovations.

Swachha Eco Solutions says it has so far impacted the lives of over half a million people, while diverting 1,10,000 tonnes of waste from landfills and recycling 60,000 tonnes of plastic waste.

Key takeaways:

• Swachha operates two recycling facilities—one in Bengaluru and another in Hosur, Tamil Nadu—processing post-consumer and post-production plastic waste.
• The organisation has invented the ‘Retile’ pavement tiles, made from 100% homogeneous plastic without sand or cement additives.
• Sixty percent of the direct employees at the organisation are women—a deliberate choice to ensure that money reaches the hands of the waste-picker families’ primary caregivers.

Bharat ke Innovators

How InUnity is fuelling regional innovation

InUnity, short for “Innovation for CommUnity,” was launched in 2022 in Mangaluru, Karnataka. It is an education innovation startup focused on transforming Tier II and III institutions into regional engines of entrepreneurship, innovation, and impact.

Empowering rural entrepreneurs

Founded in June 2023 in a village near Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, UdyamWell fuses technology with grassroots engagement. The startup integrates technology with grassroots empathy to build self-reliant local brands.

News & updates

• Nuclear deal: Meta Platforms on Tuesday said it has struck an agreement with Constellation Energy to keep one of the utility’s reactors in Illinois operating for 20 years, in the Big Tech company's first such deal with a nuclear power plant.
• Disney layoffs: Disney says it is laying off several hundred more people around the world, with workers in its film, television and finance departments impacted. The entertainment giant has been under pressure as viewers move away from cable TV subscriptions in favour of streaming platforms.
• Spacetech: Impulse Space, a space technology startup developing orbital transfer vehicles commonly known as “space tugs,” has raised $300 million in a late-stage funding round led by Linse Capital, bringing the company's total funding to $525 million.

The first-ever IPL match was played between which two teams?

Answer: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore.

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