Inc42’s 7th D2C & Retail Summit, Shiprocket’s Stellar IPO & More

India’s Evolving D2C Landscape

India’s consumer ecosystem is undergoing a reset, driven by instant gratification and algorithmic execution. Speaking at Inc42’s D2C & Retail Summit 2026, industry leaders highlighted how quick commerce, AI-driven ops and agentic commerce are reshaping distribution playbooks. 

Q-Comm Goes Vertical: As consumers become accustomed to instant deliveries, Rukam Capital’s Archana Jahagirdar believes that the quick commerce model is moving into both new verticals and broader horizontal categories. As per Manu Chandra of Sauce.vc, the channel offers brands clearer inventory visibility and faster payments than traditional distribution. As such, Veeba founder Viraj Bahl underscored that brands should use earnings from quick commerce to fund scale across margin-rich general trade.

The Omnichannel Mandate: Consumer brands are abandoning single-channel playbooks in favour of hybrid distribution models that integrate quick commerce speed, D2C brand control and wide offline availability. Even Nothing India president, Akis Evangelidis, said that avoiding offline retail would amount to an opportunity cost for the OEM. However, Lahori Zeera’s Nikhil Doda said that general trade remains driven by product movement and retailer earnings.

The Agentic Commerce Era: Manyavar CRO Vedant Modi said that the brand uses granular product data and AI to allocate 75% of store inventory, while InMobi and Glance cofounder Piyush Shah emphasised that agentic AI is replacing traditional discovery with intent-led shopping. Underlining this shift, The Bear House cofounder Harsh Somaiya shared that deploying Glance’s AI shopping agent boosted conversions 5X and reduced returns by 20%.

Desi Brands Go Global: At the Summit, Dogsee Chew cofounder Sneh Sharma said that the brand vigorously highlights its Indian and Himalayan origins. Echoing the sentiment, Da Milano’s Shivani Malik said that local brands should use their roots and focus on consistent customer experiences across markets. 

Here is what else Indian investors and founders talked about at Inc42’s D2C & Retail Summit 2026:

• Emami chief growth officer Dhruv Aggarwal said that influencer marketing should scale only after a brand establishes product-market fit
• Dot & Key waited until it had reached ₹250 Cr to ₹300 Cr in revenue online before expanding into offline retail, as per cofounder and CEO Suyash Saraf
• Agilitas CEO Abhishek Ganguly also elaborated on his playbook to build a sportswear ecosystem spanning manufacturing, brands and distribution
• Hammer founder Rohit Nandwani also explained why the brand believes that quick commerce may not be a channel for replicating the entire ecommerce catalogue

As India’s D2C and retail brands prepare for the festive season ahead, the winners will be the ones who can excel beyond the checkout…

From The Editor’s Desk

Shiprocket’s Blockbuster Listing

• Shares of the ecommerce enablement platform listed at ₹131 on the NSE, a premium of 35% to the issue price of ₹97. On the BSE, it debuted at a premium of 33.5%. The stock eventually closed the day at ₹143.5 on the BSE, up almost 48% from the issue price.
• The company’s market capitalisation stood at ₹10,440.7 Cr (about $1.09 Bn) at the end of its maiden trading session.
• Shiprocket’s ₹1,617 Cr IPO comprised a fresh issue of shares worth ₹885.5 Cr and an OFS of about ₹732 Cr. The IPO was subscribed 99.38X, with investors bidding for 938.53 Cr shares against 9.44 Cr shares on offer. 

Navi’s Mega Fundraise

• The Sachin bansal-led company has raised over ₹955 Cr from Prosus, marking the fintech startup’s first institutional fundraise. The transaction is still subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
• Founded in 2018, Navi offers financial products across lending, insurance, mutual funds, and UPI payments. It emerged as India’s fourth-largest TPAP by transaction volume in FY26, while its lending arm closed the fiscal with ₹13,000 Cr in AUM.
• The investment comes as Navi is looking to revive its public listing plans. The fintech major plans to refile its DRHP with the SEBI by December this year for an IPO, which will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth ₹3,000 Cr.

KKR To Back BookMyShow

• The global investment firm has signed definitive agreements to acquire a minority stake in the online ticketing giant for an undisclosed amount. The stake will be acquired through funds managed by KKR. 
• Founded in 2007, BookMyShow operates a full-stack entertainment platform spanning movie ticketing, live events and experiences. It has raised $224.5 Mn to date from the likes of Elevation Capital, Accel, Stripes Group and Network18.
• The investment comes as rival District continues to aggressively scale operations, while Flipkart is also mulling selling movie and concert tickets in India. At the heart of all this is the homegrown online ticketing market, which is projected to cross $7.9 Bn by 2034.

Cashfree’s Mixed FY26 Show

• The fintech soonicorn managed to trim its net losses by 23% YoY to ₹118.5 Cr in FY26. This came as operating revenues zoomed 51% YoY to ₹967 Cr in the fiscal under review.
• However, expenses continued to bite and rose 37% YoY to ₹1,090.9 Cr in FY26, largely due to payment gateway processing charges soaring 66% YoY to ₹697.6 Cr in the fiscal under review.
• Founded in 2015, Cashfree Payments offers digital payment solutions like payment gateways, cross-border payments and banking APIs. It claims to have served over 20 Lakh businesses since inception and processes transactions worth $80 Bn annually. 

CtrlS Data Centres Bags ₹250 Cr

• The data center company has raised about $26.1 Mn in funding from Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath and Kofluence cofounder Sreeram Reddy Vanga. While Kamath pitched in ₹200 Cr, Reddy infused the rest.
• Founded in 2007, CtrlS operates 19 data centre campuses across nine key hubs in India. It currently boasts a total compute capacity of 370 MW along with 4.4 GW of projects at various stages of execution. 
• Going forward, the company plans to scale its capacity build-out and expand across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It is looking to install 4 GW of capacity by 2031 to capture India’s AI-driven data center boom.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can Sanyark Space Build India’s Alternative To GPS?

Autonomous vehicles, drones and robots can’t always depend on GPS and terrestrial networks, which can fail or degrade in critical environments. Sanyark Space is building a satellite-based alternative that combines precise positioning with secure connectivity.

A Fused Space Network: Founded in 2025, Sanyark Space is developing a low Earth orbit constellation that integrates positioning and navigation with communications. Its NAV-COM architecture is designed to provide centimetre-level positioning alongside secure, mid-bandwidth data links from the same satellite platform.

Designed For Resilience: The Hyderabad-based startup’s satellites are being designed for in-orbit reconfiguration and self-healing mesh networking, reducing dependence on fixed ground infrastructure. The system combines software-defined radio, phased arrays, AI and inter-satellite networking to maintain connectivity when conventional systems are unreliable. 

The Roadmap: Sanyark plans to demonstrate its navigation capabilities first, followed by an integrated NAV-COM mission in 2027. Its proposed initial constellation would cover India, the Middle East and South Asia before expanding globally. The company aims to deploy its first operational constellation around 2030, subject to successful demonstrations and commercial validation.

So, can Sanyark Space build the connectivity needed for India’s autonomous future?

Infographic Of The Day

Everyone talks about billion-dollar valuations, but very few talk about how fast some startups have got there. GlobalBees did it in 7 months, while Krutrim in a year. So, which have been the fastest startups to scale to the unicorn club?

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