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Ather Energy’s IPO was oversubscribed on the final day, driven by late interest from QIBs. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5. Also in the letter:■ Meta enters the AI chat■ Pakistan’s Trump crypto link■ COAI seeks OTT regulationAther IPO scrapes past with QIB support 120767286Tarun Mehta, founder, Ather Electric scooter maker Ather Energy’s IPO was oversubscribed 1.43 times by close on Day 3, driven by a late surge from qualified institutional buyers. Retail and employee portions showed healthy interest, but high-net-worth individuals remained of bids (Day 3 at 7 PM): QIBs: 1.7x Retail: 1.72x HNIs: 66%Employees: 5.29xReturns snapshot:Tiger Global: 8.3x GIC: 1.6x NIIF: 1.7x Esop value unlocked: Rs 530 crore for over 1,300 employees Up next: Share allotment on May 2 Listing expected May 6 Road ahead for Ather: The electric scooter maker plans to use the IPO proceeds to establish a new manufacturing facility in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, reduce debt, fund R&D, and boost marketing it matters: This is among the few public market tests for India’s EV sector. A successful listing could help establish investor confidence in new-age clean mobility firms looking to go public amid rising scrutiny over financial Q1 shows recovery signals, narrows loss sharply 120767387Girish Mathrubootham, founder, FreshworksNasdaq-listed software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Freshworks reported a 19% year-on-year rise in revenue to $196.3 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, up from $165.1 million a year earlier.Q1 2025 financials:Revenue: $196.3 million (up from $165.1 million YoY)Net loss: $1.3 million (vs $23.3 million a year ago)Non-GAAP operating income: $46.4 million (vs $21.8 million)Operating cash flow: $58 million (vs $40.6 million)Customers > $5,000 ARR: 23,275 (+13% YoY)Net dollar retention rate: 105% (up from 103% in Q4 2024)Quote, unquote: Companies are choosing our AI-powered solutions to remove complexity, improve efficiency and unlock growth,” said Dennis Woodside, the company's CEO and president, during the earnings call. Snap holds off Q2 guidance on macro threats to ad revenue 120767435Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, withheld its second-quarter forecast, citing macroeconomic uncertainty amid a tariff-driven US trade war that continues to weigh on the global economy and digital ad :Snap reported a sluggish start to the June quarter despite expanding its advertiser base to smaller businesses and boosting revenue through its subscription service, Snapchat+.Ad revenue rose 9% year-on-year to $1.21 billion for the quarter, with direct ads accounting for 75% of the launches standalone AI app built with Llama 4 120767475Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, MetaFacebook-parent Meta Platforms has launched a new standalone app allowing users to interact with its Meta AI assistant via voice and text. Built on the Llama 4 model, the app offers a dedicated interface for conversations, unlike the previous integrations across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and the news: The app uses full-duplex speech technology, enabling seamless, back-and-forth conversations without Facebook and Instagram accounts through the Meta Accounts Centre lets the assistant personalise responses using user data and can instruct Meta AI to remember specific details — such as interests or habits — to improve future else: Meta is rolling out the demo in the US, Canada, Australia, and New joins China AI game with maiden DeepSeek-like model 120767546Smartphone and EV maker Xiaomi has unveiled its first open-source AI model, MiMo, just a day after Alibaba released the latest version of its flagship model, Qwen DeepSeek’s R1, MiMo mimics human problem-solving capabilities. The company cited its stats in a WeChat post, claiming MiMo outperformed OpenAI’s o1-mini and Alibaba’s Qwen in benchmark tests.
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