Ixigo IPO pops; AI jobs command premium pay

Ixigo listed at about 50% premium to its issue price, hitting the upper circuit. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.

Also in this letter:
■ Google’s Gemini app launches in India
■ ETtech Done Deals
■ Q-comm clicks electronics deliveries

---

L-R: Rajnish Kumar & Aloke Bajpai, founders, Ixigo

Shares of Le Travenues Technology, which operates the travel platform Ixigo, listed on stock exchanges Tuesday at a premium of 48.5% to its IPO price of Rs 93, and later hit the 20% upper circuit at Rs 161.99 on the BSE. As of Tuesday's trading, the company's market capitalisation stands at Rs 6,275 crore.

Tell me more: The stock debuted at Rs 138.1 against an issue price of Rs 93, marking a premium of 48.5% on the NSE and Rs 135 (a premium of 45.16%) on the BSE. Ahead of the listing, the company's shares traded at a premium of Rs 30 in the unlisted market.


‘Post multiple pivots’: In an interaction with ET, company cofounders Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar — winners in the Comeback Kid category of the Economic Times Startup Awards in 2021 — said, “Our investors have always invested in us and the team, not the business model, as it has evolved over time. We have pivoted multiple times to get to where we are today.”

Also read: Ixigo IPO: A look at the online travel aggregator’s listed rivals

Bumper gains: Existing shareholders such as Elevation Capital, Peak XV Partners, and Micromax Informatics made substantial gains from the Rs 740-crore initial public offering.

• Elevation Capital: Invested Rs 63.1 crore in various tranches. Including the unsold stake, Elevation Capital is looking at gains of more than 19 times on its investment in Ixigo.

• Peak XV Partners: Invested Rs 67 crore. Following the rise in Ixigo's stock post-listing, Peak XV’s remaining stake in Ixigo is worth Rs 635 crore, a gain of 12 times the invested capital.

• Micromax Informatics: Invested Rs 18.8 crore and made a gain of 16 times the invested capital.

IPO details: The issue, which included a primary sale of Rs 120 crore and an offer-for-sale of up to 66.6 million shares, was booked nearly 98.34 times the shares the Gurugram-based company had put up for sale.

---

AI professionals in the country are commanding as much as a 40-80% salary premium compared to traditional IT roles, experts and staffing firms told ET.

Salary increases in India: A study conducted in 2024 by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Access Partnership revealed significant salary hikes for Indian workers skilled in AI:

• Workers with AI skills could see salary hikes exceeding 54%.

• Sectors such as IT (65%), research and development (62%), sales and marketing (59%), business operations (59%), and finance (59%) are experiencing the highest pay bumps.

• Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are particularly eager to secure AI-skilled talent, offering pay increases of at least 56%, which is six percentage points higher than what large-sized firms are willing to pay.

High-demand roles in AI: AI research scientists, AI marketing specialists, chatbot specialists, cybersecurity AI experts, robotics engineers, and AI ethics specialists are experiencing a surge in demand as companies seek to fill new and specialised positions in the field of AI.

Data from four leading job portals show more than 45,000 AI-related job openings in India currently exist.

Quote, unquote: “The situation currently is as profound as it was in the late 1990s, when the Internet burst onto the scene, and gave rise to unforeseen applications and fundamental new innovations,” said Arvind Thakur, former vice chairman and managing director of NIIT Technologies.

---

Google, on Tuesday, launched the company’s AI assistant, the Gemini app, in India. Both the Gemini app and Gemini Advanced will now be available in nine Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Tamil.

Future-ready: Gemini 1.5 Pro, its most advanced model, to Gemini Advanced. With a one million token context window, Gemini Advanced now has the longest context of any widely available consumer chatbot worldwide.

New features include new data analysis capabilities and file uploads. The AI will now be integrated with Google Messages, so users can draft messages, brainstorm ideas, or plan events seamlessly.

Quote, unquote: Amar Subramanya, vice president, engineering, Gemini experiences, in a blog post said, "Gemini has had an exciting first year in India. We've been thrilled to see how people across the country are using it to collaborate with AI in diverse ways. From students to developers and many other curious minds, people in India are embracing Gemini's capabilities to enhance their productivity, learning, and creativity in everyday life."

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, also took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the launch of the Gemini mobile app in India.

Accessibility of Gemini on phone: To access Gemini on Android, users can download the Gemini app or opt-in through Google Assistant. Once enabled, users can activate Gemini by corner swiping or using voice commands such as "Hey Google." On iOS, however, Gemini access is rolling out from the Google app over the next few weeks.

---

L-R: Vineet Mehta, Sushant Roy, Shashank Avadhani, founders, Alyve Health

Health tech startup Alyve Health raises $5.5 million: Health tech startup Alyve Health said it has raised $5.5 million from investors to fuel initiatives across areas such as platform enhancement, talent acquisition, and operation expansion. As part of this round, the Mumbai-based company also secured venture debt funding from Trifecta Capital.

AI app evaluation platform Maxim AI raises $3 million: Maxim AI, which helps developers evaluate and monitor their artificial intelligence applications, has raised $3 million in a funding round led by Elevation Capital. The proceeds will be used to expand the team and scale operations to partner with more enterprises developing AI products.

GreyLabs AI mops up $1.5 million in funding: Speech analytics platform for financial institutions GreyLabs AI has raised $1.5 million in a funding round led by early stage venture capital firm Matrix Partners India. The Mumbai-based company enhances sales agent productivity by extracting valuable insights and streamlining the audit and quality assurance processes through automation.

---

Swiggy Instamart, Zomato’s Blinkit, and Zepto plan to expand their quick commerce services to electronic products and white goods categories by Diwali, delivering within 10-45 minutes, said industry executives.

BigBasket chief executive Hari Menon told ET that it will deliver most electronics products within 15 minutes and big appliances within 30-45 minutes.

Limited offer: Since electronic products have high values, these ecommerce platforms are unlikely to offer as vast a range of electronic products on their platforms as Flipkart or Amazon.
They are expected to deliver only four to five top-selling models, especially among large appliances or those based on customer ratings on other platforms.

Quote, unquote: Madhav Sheth, chief executive at HTech, said quick commerce’s entry into smartphones could potentially disrupt the market and expand reach.

“Consumers prefer either a hands-on experience or services like exchange and affordability (EMI) for buying smartphones. If quick commerce can crack it, smartphones can become a significant revenue stream for them,” he said.

Read our in-depth coverage of developments in the quick-commerce space:

• Zepto in talks for $300 million raise at $2.5-3 billion valuation
• Zomato to infuse Rs 300 crore in quick commerce unit Blinkit as battle intensifies with Swiggy, Zepto
• ETtech In-depth: Quick commerce is diversifying fast. It won’t be easy
• Third-party firms Delhivery, Xpressbees look to sort out logistics of quick commerce race
  

Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Riya Roy Chowdhury and Vaibhavi Khanwalkar in Bengaluru.