🚨RuPay on UPI has quietly become one of India’s most interesting payments stories: it is pushing credit cards into everyday spending, even as the economics get harder to defend. Here is why:
📃I spent time digging into Zepto’s latest filing, and one number stood out: the company’s orders per dark store per day rose from 1,325 in FY24 to 1,565 in FY25 and 1,677 in FY26. That suggests the company is squeezing more throughput out of each store as the network expands.
🚨 A few years ago, RBI and government agencies helped clean up app stores of predatory lending apps, but the payday-loan market simply moved elsewhere.
🚦 New: India’s startup exit playbook is changing.
👉 Venture Intelligence data shows secondary VC deals and startup M&A have stayed active, even as public listings get pushed back.
👉 Secondary deals totalled to 11 deals worth $430 million in 2026 YTD, compared to 51
🛑 India’s AI funding boom is not just creating bigger startup rounds. It is also changing how startup diligence gets done.
👉 For this story, I spoke with investors at Elevation Capital, Bharat Innovation Fund, Kae Capital and Stellaris Venture Partners, along with executives
