Temasek, Singapore’s state-owned investment firm, has raised concerns about the potential impact of a Donald Trump re-election on global growth. Their Chief Investment Officer, Rohit Sipahimalani, believes that a Trump presidency could lead to a stronger dollar, higher interest rates, and increased uncertainty due to tariffs, potentially impacting U.S. companies and financial markets.
Lenskart is reportedly in talks with Temasek and Fidelity for a $200 million secondary share sale, which could push its valuation to around $5 billion. This significant increase would place Lenskart’s worth over three times that of its competitor Warby Parker. Temasek, an existing investor, is expected to lead the round with $125-150 million, while Fidelity will contribute the remaining amount. Other early investors may also divest a portion of their holdings. Lenskart’s financial performance has been strong, with estimated FY24 revenue of 5,500 crore and profit of 260 crore.
**Singapore’s Temasek and US investment fund Fidelity are in talks to invest in Lenskart, an omnichannel eyewear retailer.** The new funding round, led by Temasek, values Lenskart at over $5 billion. This is higher than the $4.5 billion valuation at which it conducted $600 million of funding last year. The funding will help Lenskart expand its operations and continue its growth trajectory.
**In other news, Flipkart’s Web3 and blockchain explorations are expanding beyond the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).** The company is working with Polygon for its web3 initiatives and plans to go deep with this partnership this year. Flipkart aims to use blockchain technology to deepen its brand engagements and track promotional content and their conversion into sales.
**Zilingo’s former CEO, Ankiti Bose, has filed a case of sexual harassment against the company’s cofounder Dhruv Kapoor and its former chief operating officer Aadi Vaidya.** According to the FIR, in March 2021, the two allegedly threatened Bose and sought sexual favours.
**PhonePe is restructuring its ONDC strategy by exiting several non-food categories.** The Walmart-owned company unveiled its ecommerce venture Pincode on ONDC in 2023 offering grocery, food delivery, medicines, fashion and electronics among other categories on the network.
**Database company MongoDB sees a “great opportunity” in India as large banks, airlines and financial services companies here launch AI business models.** The company is introducing its new GenAI platform in India to help organizations develop and deploy AI models on its database platform.
