Meta’s Double Standards, Weekly Funding Rundown & More

Is Meta Being Two-Faced On Child Safety?

Meta has agreed to pay roughly $18 Bn to settle US lawsuits, which alleged that Facebook and Instagram harmed minors. Beyond money, Meta will also be required to institute changes to ensure online safety of kids in the US. Shouldn’t Indian minor users also get the same protections?

The Landmark Settlement: The agreement that comes with the settlement goes far beyond content moderation. Meta has committed to introduce a two-hour daily limit across Facebook and Instagram for users below 18 years, with access restricted between midnight and 6 AM. The social media giant also said it will tweak notifications during school hours, restrict extreme makeup filters, hide visible like counts and offer a non-algorithmic feed option. 

The India Question: The settlement lacks extraterritorial commitments, meaning Meta is under no legal obligation to deploy these safety defaults in international markets like India, its largest market in terms of cumulative users. As local regulators continue to rely on takedowns rather than statutory product design, cyber experts argue that there is zero justification for denying identical safety baselines to minor accounts outside the US.

Fixing The Product Design: Legal and policy experts contend that safeguards provided to American teens should extend to Indian children. They also sought age-appropriate defaults, regulated features for minor accounts, stronger age assurance and meaningful penalties. However, a section of experts also said that India should design measures suited to its social and cultural context, and not just ape US standards.

Where Does India Stand? India is yet to settle on a national framework even as states have looked at legislation to tackle algorithmic abuse. While Karnataka has proposed restricting social media for children below 16, Andhra Pradesh is considering restrictions for those below 13.  Nevertheless, the US settlement now offers Indian policymakers a blueprint to mandate  minor protections on Meta’s products. 

But as Meta redesigns its products for teen safety in the US, it should also realise that digital safety must not stop at the US border…

From The Editor’s Desk

Weekly Funding Rundown

• Indian startups managed to raise a combined $210.3 Mn last week, down 9.8% from $233.2 Mn raised in the previous week. Third Wave Coffee and Airbound took home the biggest cheques at $43 Mn and $37 Mn, respectively. 
• Ecommerce emerged as the most funded sector last week, with four startups raising $58.5 Mn. Advanced hardware & technology startups came a distant second, raking in $49.9 Mn across three deals.
• Early-stage funding continued to see healthy traction, with three seed and pre-seed startups raising a cumulative $3.45 Mn last week. Capital 2B and Equanimity emerged as the most active investors last week, backing two startups each.

Ather Debuts New Scooter

• With an eye on deepening its presence in the mass-market E2W segment, the EV maker has launched its new Konarc electric scooter at a starting price of ₹99,999. Available in six variants, the new scooter will offer IDC ranges between 100 km and 200 km.
• Ather also rolled out its fifth-generation Bedrock battery platform and AtherNode, a charging solution designed to address limited electrical capacity. It also debuted Ather True Health, which uses connected-vehicle data to assess a scooter’s condition.
• On the financial front, the company managed to narrow its net losses by 71% YoY to ₹51.1 Cr in Q1 FY27, while operating revenue grew 89% YoY to ₹1,216.9 Cr.

Mixed Week For New-Age Stocks

• Investor sentiment towards new-age tech stocks remained subdued last week. Of the 62 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 36 declined between 0.13% and over 9% last week. The remaining 26 gained between 0.02% and over 25%. 
• Klassroom and Ather emerged as the biggest gainers last week, while Shiprocket and SEDEMAC shed the most. The combined m-cap of the 62 startups stood at $166.91 Bn at the end of last week, largely unchanged from $166.84 Bn in the preceding week. 
• With the Q1 FY27 earnings season ending on a healthy note, investors are likely to turn their attention to the sustainability of earnings and the evolving global macroeconomic environment for cues this week.

Groww’s New Horizon

• In less than a decade, the listed fintech giant has evolved from a stock broking app into a diversified wealth platform with 1.31 Cr active users and a ₹1.24 Lakh Cr market cap. The secret sauce? A well-oiled diversified revenue engine. 
• Groww’s MTF book is expanding sharply, while the commodity derivatives vertical is also capturing a significant slice of retail turnover. There is also the wealth and asset management arm that adds strategic depth and a path to higher-margin AUM fees.
• However, regulatory risk, market volatility and execution complexity continue to cloud Groww’s path ahead. MTF demands capital and tight risk controls, commodities depend on sustained volumes and credit requires robust underwriting.

Ola Electric’s Windfall

• The EV maker has secured incentives totalling ₹95.81 Cr under the Centre’s production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for domestic manufacturing of advanced automotive technology products. The incentives pertain to FY27.
• The incentives arrive as Ola Electric recently launched its new S1Z e-scooter range, expanded its energy storage stack and shifted to a dealer-led sales and service model.
• The sops are expected to improve cash flows and support capex for Ola Electric, which continues to douse fires on multiple fronts. Besides seeing lower volumes and pricing pressures, the EV maker continues to grapple with losses and service challenges.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

How Zave Wants To Make Online Shopping Smarter With AI

With hundreds of brands and products scattered across online marketplaces, shoppers struggle to find the right product at the best price without endless tab-switching. Zave is tackling this friction with an AI-powered shopping assistant that discovers products and compares prices.

The AI Shopper: Founded in 2024, Zave acts as an AI-native commerce layer on top of popular shopping apps. Integrated with Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Zepto, Blinkit and more than 5,000 brand websites, the platform analyses shopper intent in real time to recommend products, alternatives and discounts.

Beyond Discovery: Besides product discovery, Zave also compares prices and availability across quick commerce platforms and offers discounted vouchers and gift cards from hundreds of brands. Users can ask questions about products and receive answers summarised from online reviews, helping them evaluate quality, fit and value before buying.

A Growing Cart: The startup claims to have so far crossed 5 Lakh app installs and serves more than 50,000 daily active users, facilitating over ₹15 Cr in monthly transactions through its recommendation engine. Going forward, it plans to further strengthen its AI capabilities and scale infrastructure.

With the global AI shopping assistant market projected to become a $28.5 Bn opportunity by 2033, can Zave become the default AI shopping agent for millions of online buyers?

Infographic Of The Day

From medicines and fashion to meals and home services, the quick commerce race is expanding way beyond your last-minute milk run. Here is all about it…

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