Lenskart unlocks 'compounding' growth phase; Meet the women in the sciences

India’s IPO season remains as robust as ever, with two companies in the spotlight this time: Aye Finance and Fractal Analytics. 

Aye Finance Ltd.’s Rs 1,010 crore IPO attracted bids exceeding the issue size in value terms, even as the share sale was subscribed 97% based on total shares bid on the final day on Wednesday. 

Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) led the demand, whose portion was subscribed 1.5 times.

Meanwhile, Fractal Analytics also closed the final day of bidding for its $314 million offering fully subscribed. 

QIBs led the subscriptions here too, bidding for 2 times the number of shares offered, while the portions allotted for retail and non-institutional investors were subscribed 77% and 45%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the rift between Bitcoin and stocks grows, with the cryptocurrency declining while US equities rallied after a stronger-than-anticipated US jobs report.

In fact, Coinbase Global CEO Brian Armstrong, whose fortune has dropped by more than half since July, is no longer among the world’s 500 richest people amid tumbling crypto prices, according to a Bloomberg report.

Moving on, is fibre the new protein? From TikTok “fibermaxxing” tutorials to fibre-enriched bars and sodas, industry experts have predicted high-fibre foods will be a major trend this year.  

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Lenskart unlocks ‘compounding’ growth phase
• Meet the women in the sciences
• AI to drive innovation: Study

Here’s your trivia for today: How did IPA beer get its name?

Retail

Lenskart unlocks ‘compounding’ growth phase

Omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart reported a 70% jump in net profit in Q3 FY26 and a robust 38% surge in topline, helped by a strong traction from its international business and high volume growth.

The company’s latest global bet has shown buoyant results, with revenue from its international operations growing 40% to Rs 936 crore. This segment, which turned profitable last quarter, clocked Rs 32.5 crore in profit in Q3.

Key takeaways:

• The NCR-based company clocked an operating revenue of Rs 2,307.7 crore and saw its profit improve to Rs 132.7 crore.
• The quarter also witnessed the company’s existing investments in AI yield results, with EBITDA margin expanding by 550 basis points, crossing the 20% threshold for the first time.
• Lenskart added 169 stores. It clocked its record high same-store sales growth of 28%, owing to high volume and repeat purchases from Gold customers.

Funding Alert

Startup: Showroom B2B

Amount: $17M

Round: Series A

Startup: Care.fi

Amount: $8M

Round: Series A

Startup: Nester

Amount: Rs 19 Cr

Round: Pre-Series A

Inspiration

Meet the women in the sciences

Observed every year on February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is a reminder of both progress and persistent gaps in scientific representation. In India, women continue to contribute to some of the most consequential areas of research—public health, climate change, space exploration and energy transition—while navigating institutional and structural barriers. 

Meet these Indian women scientists whose disciplinary excellence and research have shaped public systems and long-term outcomes. 

Women-led change:

• Gagandeep Kang’s name has become a global science shorthand for child health research and vaccine impact. In 2019, she became the first Indian woman working in India to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
• Ritu Karidhal Srivastava is one of India’s most respected space scientists. Karidhal joined the ISRO in 1997 and played a key role as Deputy Operations Director for the Mars Orbiter Mission.
• Aditi Pant became one of the first Indian women to set foot on Antarctica in 1983, where she conducted oceanographic research under the Indian Antarctic Programme and helped lay the foundation for India’s first research base at Dakshin Gangotri.

GCC

AI to drive innovation: Study

GCCs in India are now in a steady state of transformation. Over 70% of them are actively investing in AI and GenAI to keep their innovation engine in top gear, according to a study conducted by NTT Data and The Mainstream.

India is already home to around 1,900 GCCs employing two million professionals, accounting for 17% of the total global market. The study estimates that this number could reach 2,500 by 2030, and the employee strength will expand to 4.5 million. The market size is expected to rise from the current level of $65 billion to $110 billion by 2030.

News & updates

• Minerals: The world’s biggest nickel mine in Indonesia has been told to slash output, as authorities step up efforts to boost global prices of the battery metal. PT Weda Bay Nickel has been notified that it will receive 12 million tonnes of ore production quota this year, down from 42 million tonnes in 2025.
• Revision: India plans to revise the base year of key economic indicators, including CPI, GDP, and industrial output, every three to five years to better capture structural changes in the economy. The government is updating the base year for CPI data after more than a decade. The new series, based on the 2023/24 Household Consumption Expenditure Survey, is due to be released on Thursday.
• AI push: French AI startup Mistral will invest $1.43 billion into digital infrastructure in Sweden, including AI data centres. The announcement comes as Europe scrambles to build out the infrastructure needed to power rapidly developing AI tools, as it seeks to build tech sovereignty amid rising geopolitical tensions.

How did IPA beer get its name?

Answer: India Pale Ale (IPA) got its name because it was a style of pale ale specifically brewed in 18th-century Britain for export to India.

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