Oct 23, 2025

SHARE Zoho is no longer content with just building SaaS. The Chennai-based unicorn is now making a bold play for the mainstream fintech arena with its upcoming payments app. So, can the famously bootstrapped B2B titan conquer the consumer fintech world? Cracking The UPI Wars: Zoho is deepening its push into fintech with the upcoming launch of Zoho Pay, a consumer payments app designed to take on giants like Google Pay and PhonePe. The app, which will allow users to send and receive money, is currently in internal testing and will be available both as a standalone product and integrated within Zoho’s messaging app, Arattai. The Arattai Pitch: Fueling this consumer push is the revival of Arattai, Zoho’s messaging app, which has clocked 48 Mn downloads on the Play Store in 2025 so far. The unicorn’s consumer fintech strategy hinges on Arattai integration – leveraging the app’s captive user base and offering payments without leaving the chat interface. With this, Zoho aims to turn the chat platform into an all-in-one super app, mirroring the playbook of its global rivals. Beyond Consumer Payments: Zoho’s fintech ambitions extend far beyond online payments. The company recently unveiled point-of-sale devices , a QR soundbox, and other payout capabilities. The roadmap also includes lending, broking, insurance, and investments – a full-stack fintech play, not just UPI. The Execution Challenge: While Zoho’s strength lies in its bootstrapped, profitable software model, consumer payments demand different muscles – network effects, deep pockets, alternate revenue streams and consumer support at scale. With PhonePe and Google Pay handling billions of monthly transactions with established merchant networks and consumer habits, Zoho has its work already cut out. With its resources being stretched from consumer apps to semiconductor chips to LLMs, can Zoho’s famously patient culture survive its multi-front war for mass-market dominance? Let’s find out… RECOMMENDED FOR yOU The IT ministry has proposed amendments to the IT Rules, 2021 to mandate all online platforms to label all AI-generated content. It has also suggested stricter obligations for social media platforms with regards to synthetic content. The move comes in response to the explosion of AI-generated content on social media. While many use cases are harmless, like photo filters, there’s growing concern over the misuse of deepfakes for spreading misinformation and committing financial fraud. The issue has gained prominence with several high-profile incidents. Recently, actors Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, and Aishwarya Rai took the legal route to protect their personality rights from being exploited by deepfakes. Conversational automation startup Uniphore has raised $260 Mn in its Series F round from NVIDIA and others at a flat valuation of $2.5 Bn, the same as its unicorn round in 2022, to shore up its AI tech stack. Founded in 2008, the SaaS platform initially focused on call centre automation. It has since evolved into a comprehensive AI company, offering a platform that combines conversational AI and workflow automation to streamline customer experiences. By securing strategic investments from the biggest names in chips and data, the round places Uniphore at the center of the fierce competition to become the go-to AI platform for large enterprises. The foodtech giant has received a fresh GST demand notice of INR 128.4 Cr from Uttar Pradesh tax authorities.​ The order cites alleged short payment of output tax and excess availment of input tax credit during FY24. This notice adds to Eternal’s growing list of GST demands from various states, including two notices totalling INR 1,200 Cr from Maharashtra tax authorities, INR 40 Cr from Karnataka, and INR 17.7 Cr from West Bengal tax officials. This comes as Eternal’s business model has been bracing multiple headwinds – bloating expenses, Blinkit’s pivot to inventory-led model and a stagnant core food delivery business. The fintech minicorn’s net profit zoomed multifold to INR 18.8 Cr in FY25 from just INR 40 Lakh in the previous fiscal year on the back of a 127% YoY jump in operating revenues to INR 656 Cr in FY25 and a tight leash on its spending Founded in 2014, Easebuzz offers a comprehensive suite of payment solutions for businesses including PoS machines and software. The platform claims to serve over 2.5 Lakh clients, processes 3 Mn transactions daily and boasts an annual GTV of $50 Bn.​ Easebuzz has built a sustainable business by bundling software services with payments. This SaaS-plus-payments model has created a defensible moat and a recurring revenue stream, with SaaS now contributing 35% of its revenue. The early-stage VC firm has announced the final close of its fifth fund at $129 Mn (INR 1,132 Cr), double the size of its $64 Mn Fund IV. The new fund will back pre-seed and seed stage startups, and will dish out cheques in the range of INR 1 Cr to INR 15 Cr. Founded in 2012, India Quotient has made over 100 sector-agnostic investments in the last decade, backing names such as SUGAR Cosmetics, Kuku FM and others. This comes as early stage startup funding hit a snag in H1 2025, declining 31% YoY to $406 Mn. However, as per Inc42’s recent investor survey, early stage bets are expected to capture 58% of investments next year.