Deepinder Goyal and Navil Noronha: a study in contrasting exits
And what that says about how far Eternal can push its norm-defying acts
The Ken Podcast
After acquiring a 15% stake in Rapido last year, the food-tech company gave its partners the option to double as bike-taxis during non-peak hours
The Blinkit delivery workers’ strike that began last week has brought the spotlight back on the delivery personnel crisis in India. Just last year in July, Swiggy’s delivery partners in Bangalore too had gone on strike. Their issues ranged from wages to the lack of basic employee benefits.
With an IPO scheduled for 2024 and its 1000 plus crore rupee investment in the bike-taxi company Rapido, the stakes were high for the food delivery platform. It had to find a solution and it had to be soon. So, it came up with a plan.
It gave its delivery personnel the option to double as bike-taxis during non-peak hours. This was to incentivise them for doing more work in a day and also retain them during peak hours.
But can a food delivery rider deliver meals and also ferry people?
Tune in to find out.
(Edit note: Earlier, we mistakenly said Swiggy’s investment in Rapido was 100 crore rupees instead of 1000 crore rupees. The error is deeply regretted)
And what that says about how far Eternal can push its norm-defying acts
The Walmart-backed company commands nearly half of India’s digital-payments landscape. But its financials trail its smaller, listed rival
As the logistics firm plans to pour IPO money into new warehouses and long leases, incumbents are squeezing returns from assets they locked in when land was cheaper, and rents were lower
The Ken has learnt that the Centre is holding deeper discussions on allowing private schools to run as for-profit entities to encourage transparency and long-term steady growth
A complex system with feedback loops that pulls us towards a future we imagine possible
Private labels meet brand ambition
So far, only Wechat seems to have cracked the code to creating an apps-within-an-app ecosystem. Can AI take it to the rest of the world?
The IT services firm is seeking a secondary listing to match the valuation of its Indian rivals. But logistical and regulatory challenges lie in the way
The co-founder on how Darwinbox grew quietly before it grew big
In this episode, we unpack the rise of what we are calling the “fitness warrior”. This is a new professional archetype where work follows the same logic as sport: optimise, train, perform.
As India’s data law kicks in, WhatsApp outreach is getting regulated, and a new compliance market is emerging fast
The IT services firm is seeking a secondary listing to match the valuation of its Indian rivals. But logistical and regulatory challenges lie in the way
The Sequoia-backed cross-border remittance startup Aspora wants to win over 15 million NRIs at all costs, and it has to decide which cost it wants to bear—regulatory or cross-border realities
The Supreme Court’s recent guidelines and a state’s AI mandate hint at a fragmented overhaul—one testing whether tech can cut through decades of procedural drag
Here are the ones—whether it’s The Nutgraf, Long and Short, or Trade Tricks—that you didn’t expect
Here are the stories that our subscribers read and shared the most in 2025
Here are some of the episodes—across our six different podcasts—that listeners loved
Do you know anyone else who would like to listen this podcast?
Share this episode with them.