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Next Why Meta tapped Kunal Shah; Beauty’s new factory boom Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter Kunal Shah's WhatsApp move
Next Why Meta tapped Kunal Shah; Beauty’s new factory boom Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox? Also in the letter Kunal Shah's WhatsApp move signals Meta's next growth push What's happening? WhatsApp is rapidly turning into Meta’s frontline distribution channel for AI products. Meta is rolling out a broader suite of AI tools for businesses and consumers—from AI agents to its Meta AI chatbot—directly inside WhatsApp. Executives say Shah’s arrival could reboot WhatsApp’s India payments play, which stalled after former India head Abhijit Bose exited in 2022. Also Read Why Meta’s Cred investment matters for WhatsApp Pay in India Quote, unquote Also Read I nside Meta's India investments: First Reliance, now Cred Full Stack by Samidha Sharma: Kunal Shah’s WhatsApp coronation is a masterclass in dealmaking Shah in new role WhatsApp growth Read the full column here.
Also Read Meta's Cred deal showcases new playbook: take stake, hire the founder Beauty's back-end gets investor attention; Naturis in talks to raise Rs 100 crore What’s happening? Naturis Cosmetics, which manufactures products for brands such as Pilgrim and Plum, is in talks to raise Rs 80-100 crore, with Sharrp Ventures and several domestic family offices among potential backers, sources say. In April, JM Financial’s private equity arm pumped Rs 150 crore into NG Electro Products, a supplier to both direct-to-consumer (D2C) startups and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies., a supplier to both direct-to-consumer (D2C) startups and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies.
As new-age beauty brands scale and keep outsourcing production, investors are zeroing in on the contract manufacturers powering this growth. Expert take What else? Flipkart Minutes expands to 1,000 stores as quick commerce competition intensifies On expansion Rival snapshot Amazon is scaling up Amazon Now, which operates around 500 stores. It is adding at least two dark stores a day and aims to reach 100 cities through more than 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres. through more than 1,000 micro-fulfilment centres. Among pure-play quick-commerce operators, Blinkit leads with 2,243 dark stores.. Swiggy Instamart and Zepto closed FY26 with 1,143 and 1,139 dark stores, respectively, while Flipkart Minutes has now crossed the 1,000-store mark.
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