Welcome to Unbox 2.0 - a weekly series giving you an exclusive peek into what's shaping conversations at the Lightbox office.
But first, the money moves shaping business:
- The week saw a mix of smaller deals: Country Delight raised ?212.5 crore ($25M) from Temasek
- Apna Mart secured ?214.5 crore ($25M) in an equity-debt round led by Fundamentum and Accel India.
- Nexthop AI raised $110M for AI infrastructure, with WestBridge Capital joining a Lightspeed-led round.
- Mumbai based Pluckk and Grow Indigo each raised $10M from Euro Gulf Investment and British International Investments (BII) respectively.
Standing Out in a Crowded Wealthtech Market
But one deal that sparked renewed interest in wealth management differentiation included Smallcase raising $50M in its Series D round led by Elev8 Venture Partners.
- In brief: Founded by Vasanth Kamath, Anugrah Srivastava, and Rohan Gupta in 2015, smallcase is a platform enabling investors to invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks or ETFs with one click, eliminating the need for stock-picking.
Smallcase has managed to differentiate itself through access to customised portfolios also known as ‘smallcases’ comprising of stocks and ETFs curated around specific investment themes. The flexibility provides users with personalised investment experiences compared to traditional mutual funds.
With the recent funding, the startup is enhancing its tech and data analytics capabilities to zero-in on key insights in making informed investment decisions.
It’s competitive advantage also lies in premium research provided through in-house research teams which ensure that each investment strategy is backed through analysis and market insights.
Lastly, cost-efficiency has attracted many retail investors to the platform due to some of the following reasons.
- It offers investment solutions at a fraction of the cost of traditional mutual funds and managed portfolios.
- The direct ownership of underlying securities (stocks and ETFs) improves tax-efficiency.
- The platform has a straightforward and transparent fee structure which helps investors clearly understand what they are paying for.
In Charts: Q1 Investments & Exits Roundup
PE/VC investors collectively put $7.8 billion to work in Q1 2025, up 8.3% from Q1 2024. Venture Capital (early growth and growth PE) stood at $2.1 billion, up 23.5% from the corresponding quarter last year but down 22% from Q4 2024.
PE/ VC investors concluded a total of 32 exit transactions worth $5.8 billion in Q1 2025. As the public market corrected, M&A and secondary transactions drove exit activity during the quarter.
French Press
Some food for thought to pair with your evening cup of joe
A new study of P&G employees found that individuals using AI to generate ideas for new consumer products at the ‘seed stage’ of product development were as effective as a two-person team without AI.
But before jumping the gun and arriving at the conclusion that AI is bound to reduce team sizes, it’s imperative we draw your attention to the most interesting bit in the study:
The two person teams working with AI produced far more ideas that the human experts rated as “exceptional”—the 10% that they judged most likely to lead to truly breakout products. And the human teams assisted by AI also reported the most enjoyment from working on the task, compared to the other groups.
That's all for now. See you next week!
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