It was a volatile but overall positive week for emerging technology equities. Breaking an eight-week losing streak, local benchmark indices bounced back despite a midweek sell-off. Out of 66 tracked emerging tech stocks, 36 posted gains ranging from 0.1% to nearly 25%, while 30 logged declines between 0.23% and 13.93%.
Leading the weekly rally was digital payments pioneer MobiKwik, surging nearly 25% to ₹245.40, followed by edtech major PhysicsWallah (up 19.68%), Fino Payments Bank (up 8.9%), Nykaa (up 5.97%), and Eternal (up 3.14%).
Several firms—including E2E Networks, Shadowfax, SEDEMAC, Zelio E-Mobility, Aequs, and Kissht—hit new high watermarks. On the flip side, IndiaMART, Fractal, Turtlemint, PB Fintech, Klassroom, and Yudiz touched new lows.
Yudiz posted the sharpest weekly decline, falling 13.93% to ₹20.70, followed by cloud-kitchen brand Zappfresh, which slipped 9.24% to ₹54.90. Meanwhile, newly listed e-commerce parent company AceVector closed its first week at ₹30.61—up 8.16% from its listing price of ₹28.30, though still down 4.3% from its ₹32 IPO price.
Across all 67 tracked emerging tech public companies, total combined market capitalization rose to $154.71 billion, up from $153.61 billion the prior week.
1. Quarterly Business Updates Driving Stock Shifts
Quarterly operational updates delivered mixed signals, driving divergent stock movements:
- Beauty & Personal Care Gains: Beauty e-tailer Nykaa expects Q2 FY27 net revenue growth to exceed 20%, while Honasa projects net sales growth near 30%. Both stocks closed the week higher.
- Lending Activity Mixed: Aye Finance reported a 26% YoY increase in Assets Under Management (AUM) to ₹7,604 crore, with disbursements rising 10% to ₹1,403 crore. Despite the operational growth, its stock traded down.
- Fino Payments Surge: Fino reported a 223% YoY surge in September loan sourcing to ₹2,780 crore, alongside a 20% growth in renewal revenue (₹280 crore) and a 13% increase in average deposits (₹27,940 crore).
2. Founder Stock Pledges & Capital Arrangements
Promoter actions remain under heavy scrutiny across public tech boards:
- Drone Tech Founder Pledge: ideaForge CEO and promoter Ankit Mehta pledged 280,000 shares worth ₹20.56 crore to Infina Finance for personal liquidity needs, bringing his total pledged shares with the lender to 650,000 (1.3% stake). Concurrently, ideaForge secured a ₹151 crore multi-tranche loan agreement with the Technology Development Board for its heavy-lift autonomous aerial logistics project.
- EV Founder Rights Participation: Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal pledged a 4.32% stake (200 million shares) to fund his participation in the company’s ₹1,000 crore rights issue. Running from October 22 to October 30 at an issue price of ₹27 per share, the stock closed the week at ₹35.13.
3. Institutional Block Deals & Portfolio Shifts
Global private equity and venture funds continued to execute partial exits:
- Awfis Exit: Peak XV sold 1.22 million shares of coworking provider Awfis at ₹245 per share, raising ₹29.8 crore and cutting its position by over half. Despite Awfis reporting a 140% YoY profit surge to ₹24 crore in Q1 FY27, the stock remains down nearly 59% over the past year.
- Shadowfax Selling Spree: TPG offloaded 4 million shares of logistics provider Shadowfax for ₹114.8 crore—marking its fourth partial exit in three months, totaling over ₹729 crore in realizations. Shadowfax stock has rallied over 144% over the last six months.
4. Strategic M&A, Restructuring, and Expansions
- E-Commerce Direct Investment: Quick-commerce app Meesho authorized an incremental investment of up to ₹500 crore into Retail Pulse Labs (parent of Kirana Club), set to be disbursed in tranches over twelve months following the completion of its initial acquisition milestone. The proposed ₹2,020 crore acquisition structure remains unchanged.
- AI Board Changes & Gulf Expansion: Analytics firm Fractal appointed former TPG Managing Director Vivek Mohan as Chairman, succeeding Rohan Haldea. Fractal also established a wholly owned subsidiary in the Qatar Free Zones with 100,000 QAR capital to deliver AI, software, and IT consulting services across the Middle East.
- D2C Portfolio Divestment: FirstCry subsidiary GlobalBees signed a Memorandum of Understanding to sell its entire 51.54% stake in Mush Textile for ₹56.9 crore to existing shareholders Nihar Gosalia and Vaishvik Brahmbhatt. The business generated ₹161.2 crore in turnover during FY26.
- Aerospace Joint Venture: Industrial tech firm Aequs invested ₹15.75 crore into joint venture Ajna Aerospace & Defence through 4.5 million partially paid rights shares at ₹100 per share (₹35 paid upfront) to fund drone systems development.
5. Macro Outlook & Broad Market Indices
Broad market benchmarks posted modest gains as domestic institutional buying offset persistent foreign capital outflows:
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| BENCHMARK MARKET PERFORMANCE |
| |
| Sensex | ▲ 0.78% (Closed at 72,472.33) |
| Nifty 50 | ▲ 0.44% (Closed at 22,520.45) |
| Foreign Outflows | ▼ ₹30,294 Crore (8th consecutive week) |
| Domestic Inflows | ▲ ₹30,313 Crore |
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The central bank raised its benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50%, signaling a shift toward gradual tightening while raising FY27 growth and inflation forecasts. Market analysts noted the hike was anticipated given Brent crude oil hovering above $100 per barrel, geopolitical tensions, and currency pressure.
On the regulatory front, tax authorities recommended raising the prosecution threshold from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore, offering relief to small businesses.
6. Spotlight Focus: MobiKwik & RentoMojo Weekly Performance
MobiKwik: MDR Expectations Drive Price Volatility
MobiKwik hit a 20% upper circuit circuit-breaker early in the week, reaching ₹242.14 on heavy trading volumes. Rally sentiment was fueled by a proposed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework, which envisions charging up to a 0.4% fee on merchant transactions over ₹2,000 starting mid-October.
However, stock prices pulled back 4.5% later in the week following reports that implementation might be deferred to early 2027. Operationally, the company posted a Q1 FY27 net profit of ₹7.6 crore (reversing a ₹41.9 crore loss in the prior-year period) with positive EBITDA of ₹15.8 crore and a 50% YoY jump in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) to ₹58,700 crore. Analysts suggest that a sustained technical breakout past the ₹240–₹260 resistance level could open a path toward ₹280 to ₹300.
RentoMojo: Revenue Surges Despite Fire-Related Charge
Subscription platform RentoMojo posted a 12.34% gain to ₹590.50 following its first post-listing quarterly earning statement:
- Revenue Growth: Operations revenue jumped 51.1% YoY to ₹1,263 crore, driven by a 41% increase in live inventory (920,000 units) and a 36.3% growth in active subscribers (280,000).
- Net Profit Pullback: Net profit fell 38.7% YoY to ₹78 crore, impacted by an ₹11.4 crore exceptional charge tied to a subleased warehouse fire in Noida.
- Operating Margins: EBITDA grew 17.5% YoY to ₹409 million, though EBITDA margin compressed from 41% to 32.2%.
- Operational Footprint: The firm currently operates 23 warehouses and 89 physical retail stores across major metropolitan hubs.
Final Thoughts
With consumer price inflation data and global bond yield movements taking center stage next week, equity markets will remain sensitive to crude oil fluctuations and macroeconomic developments. Emerging tech companies with clear paths to sustained earnings and disciplined cash management continue to show the highest resilience.