ET NEWS

Home services marketplace Urban Company raised Rs 854 crore anchor investors ahead of its IPO, opening tomorrow. The issue will close on September 12. According to a release put out, the company allocated 8.29 crore shares to investors at Rs 103 apiece, which is the upper price band of the IPO.Some of the marquee names who participated in the anchor round include SBI Fund, Monetary Authority of Singapore, HDFC MF, Fidelity Securities, Nomura, ICICI Pru Life, SBI Life, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs among others.Analysts believe Urban Company’s IPO offers investors an opportunity to participate in India’s leading tech-enabled home and beauty services platform, with proven scalability across 12,000+ micro-markets in India and select international markets.The company's hyperlocal model drives efficiency, network effects and high engagement, while continued investments in professional training, retention and technology (AI-driven recommendations, operational tools and products like ‘Native’ and ‘Co-Pilot’) strengthen its competitive moat.Looking at the financials, Urban Company has delivered robust growth, with revenue from operations rising 30% in FY24 and 38% in FY25, alongside a turnaround to net profit of Rs 240 crore, reflecting operational leverage and improved unit economics.On valuation, at the upper price band of Rs 103, the issue is asking for a market cap of Rs 14790 cr. Based on FY26E annualized earnings and the fully diluted post-IPO capital, the company is asking a market cap-to-sales multiple of 10x, which appears fully priced given current financials."However, we believe the company may command a premium valuation compared to India’s other internet tech peers, driven by its stronger unit economics, premium service mix and deeper supply-side integration. These factors, coupled with its early leadership in a large and underpenetrated services market, position it for a scalable and profitable growth trajectory," said Mehta Equities.The offer is a mix of Rs 472 crore fresh issue and an offer-for-sale worth Rs 1,428 crore by existing investors. The price band has been fixed at Rs 98–103 per share.Retail investors can apply with a minimum lot size of 145 shares, which translates to around Rs 14,935 at the lower end of the band. Employees will get a Rs 9 discount per share. The IPO allotment is scheduled for September 15, while listing on the BSE and NSE is set for September 17.

When Nepal banned major social media platforms including Facebook last week citing a tide of fake news, activists like Sandip saw it as an attempt to silence their growing online anti-corruption movement. Stung into action, they turned to still-accessible apps such as Viber and TikTok to rally thousands, sparking protests that left at least 19 protesters dead and ultimately forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli from office on Tuesday. Their success came 13 months after similar youth-led protests in nearby Bangladesh forced out Sheikh Hasina, who had been prime minister since 2009. Sandip, a social media influencer who uses one name, said he had made several online appeals, some using virtual private networks to evade the ban, but had not expected so many to pour into the streets in Nepal's capital Kathmandu and elsewhere. "Every single citizen of Nepal was done with the corrupt government of Nepal," said the 31-year-old, based in the Lalitpur district near the capital. "The anger against this government had been brewing for many months, but the call for this protest was very spontaneous." Transparency International ranks Nepal 107th out of 180 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index, highlighting persistent governance challenges. Young activists said frustration with inequality and a lack of job opportunities also played a part. ONE IN FIVE NEPALIS LIVE IN POVERTY Over 20% of Nepal's 30 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank, while unemployment among those aged 15-24 stood at more than 22% in 2022-23. The richest 10% earn more than three times the income of the poorest 40%, underscoring stark economic divides. Gaurav Nepune, a 34-year-old from Kathmandu who led some of the protests, said young people had been running an online campaign for three months to contrast the lives lived by ministers and their families with those of ordinary people. "The youth are against corruption but the government resorted to violence, trying to silence the movement," said Nepune. "We have been continuously urging our people not to indulge in any violence or arson. We now want a government that thinks independently, is corruption-free and does not play into the hands of any neighbours," he said. India and China are widely seen as jostling for influence in Nepal. Last year's protests in Bangladesh ushered in an interim government, with some students in de facto ministerial positions under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. In Nepal, one of the protesters' popular choices to replace Oli is 35-year-old Balendra Shah, a former rapper and composer who became mayor of Kathmandu since 2022 after a campaign to clean up the city's streets and waterways. "Dear @ShahBalen, we're eagerly waiting your leadership in Nepalese politics," wrote Bimal Pokhrel in response to a post on X by Shah. "You are the last hope for our nation. Please ... step forward to take the leadership as prime minister to guide Nepal toward a brighter future." After the protest deaths on Monday, Shah called Oli a "terrorist" who did not understand the "pain of losing a son or daughter". On Tuesday, after Oli's resignation, he urged his nearly 784,000 followers on Instagram to remain calm. "Dear Gen Z, the resignation of your harassers in politics has already come! Now please be patient," he wrote. "You and we now need to be restrained! Now your generation will have to lead the country! Be prepared!"

Shares of Jane Street Group-backed Nebius Group N.V. surged 52% to hit the day's high of $97.87 on Nasdaq in the initial trade on Tuesday reacting to the company's announcement of a multi-billion dollar agreement with Microsoft for AI infrastructure.The Amsterdam-headquartered and Nasdaq listed AI infrastructure company on Monday said that it will deliver AI infrastructure to Microsoft. "Under this multi-year agreement, Nebius will deliver dedicated capacity to Microsoft from its new data center in Vineland, New Jersey start"ing later this year," the company filing said.Jane Street, which holds 687,953 shares in the company which are worth $44.07 million is among a clutch of marquee investors which also include Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Jpmorgan Chase & Co and Citadel Advisors Llc. The shares were trading amid high volumes where 11.75 million shares changed hands around 10:33 AM ET (8 pm India Time).Commenting on the development, Arkady Volozh, founder and CEO of Nebius, said that the company's core AI cloud business is serving customers from AI startups to enterprises, and is performing exceptionally well. "We have also said that, in addition to our core business, we expect to secure significant long-term committed contracts with leading AI labs and big tech companies. I’m happy to announce the first of these contracts, and I believe there are more to come. The economics of the deal are attractive in their own right, but, significantly, the deal will also help us to accelerate the growth of our AI cloud business even further in 2026 and beyond,” Volozh said.Nebius expects to finance the capital expenditure associated with the contract through a combination of cash flow coming from the deal and the issuance of debt secured against the contract in the near term, at terms enhanced by the credit quality of the counterparty. The company is also evaluating a number of additional financing options to enable significantly faster growth than originally planned and will update the market on its financing strategy in due course.Shares of Nebius Group N.V have delivered multibagger returns of over 330% in the past one year with the company's share rising by over 180% in 2025, so far.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)