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L Catterton invests $30 million in southern restaurant chain Nandhana Foods
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Business Standard
business-standard.com

L Catterton invests $30 million in southern restaurant chain Nandhana Foods

The consumer-focused global fund, L Catterton, announced on Wednesday that it has reached a definitive agreement to invest in the restaurant chain Nandhana Foods Private Ltd., which specializes in Andhra cuisine. According to sources, the fund will acquire a minority stake worth $30 million.

The investment is aimed at supporting the next stage of growth for Nandhana Foods and will allow the group to achieve greater scale by leveraging L Catterton's industry expertise and operational capabilities. The investment fund itself stated that this support will help the company develop.

For over thirty years, Nandhana Foods has built a loyal customer base by offering authentic Andhra cuisine. L Catterton's partner, Vikram Kumaraswamy, noted that the company saw potential to deepen and expand the network's presence in South India, as well as to enter new markets.

He added that the founding Nandhana Foods family has created a unique and scalable business with a strong consumer offering and attractive unit economics. The company has developed in a disciplined manner, ensuring high quality and consistency in its restaurants.

Ravi Chandar, founder and managing director of Nandhana Foods, reported that the restaurant chain intends to use L Catterton's experience to strengthen its operations. He expressed satisfaction with the partnership, noting that L Catterton has a track record of creating value for its portfolio companies worldwide.

To date, L Catterton has invested in approximately 30 restaurant businesses, including Dishoom, P.F. Chang’s, Velvet Taco, Baja Fresh, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Cigierre, HUGE, Impresario, and Mendocino Farms.

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Bajaj Finance acquires 5% stake in video generation platform TrueFan AI
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yourstory.com

Bajaj Finance acquires 5% stake in video generation platform TrueFan AI

Bajaj Finance, a part of Bajaj Finserv, has acquired a 5% stake in the artificial intelligence-based video generation platform TrueFan AI for an undisclosed amount.

This investment is part of Finserv Intelligence—a group-wide strategic initiative by Bajaj Finserv aimed at applied research and innovation in high-tech, scalable solutions developed in India for domestic and global markets.

This initiative allows Bajaj Finance to invest in technology startups, especially early-stage companies from seed rounds to Series B, operating in fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, fintech, and consumer technologies.

The investment in TrueFan AI came after Bajaj Finance began using the platform on a large scale. The financial company utilized this technology to create millions of personalized videos for customer engagement and dealer support. This partnership also aligns with Bajaj Finance's strategy of leveraging AI-driven automation and personalization across its entire digital ecosystem.

Rajiv Jain, Vice President and Managing Director of Bajaj Finance, noted: 'As a FINAI company, we are implementing AI at scale across the company. Our investment in TrueFan AI follows the sustained use of its technologies in production environments, giving us direct experience of the platform's capabilities and implementation.'

He added that this investment reflects the company's commitment to supporting patented AI innovations in India, as well as its belief in TrueFan AI's potential to drive corporate adoption of AI-based communications.

Both companies plan to expand cooperation in areas such as personalized marketing, video generation, live avatar assistance in applications, multilingual AI communications, dealer interaction, training and development, and digital onboarding.

Founded in 2019, TrueFan AI enables enterprises, small and medium businesses (SMBs), and consumers to create hyper-personalized, multilingual video content at scale. The platform supports over 175 languages and serves more than 100 corporate clients, over 150 small and medium-sized enterprises, and more than 70,000 consumers. It has over 800,000 paid users, and its applications have garnered over 60 million Android downloads and 10 million iOS downloads.

Experts recommend buying Wellspun Corp shares, forecasting growth up to 3200 rupees
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www.aajtak.in

Experts recommend buying Wellspun Corp shares, forecasting growth up to 3200 rupees

Amid stock market volatility, one stock has significantly enriched investors, increasing their funds by more than threefold in a short period. This concerns Wellspun Corp, which demonstrated sharp growth immediately after the market opened on September 3 and reached an all-time high.

Meanwhile, brokerage firm Jefferies issued a recommendation to buy this stock, assigning it a 'Buy' rating and setting a target price of 3250 rupees. This suggests that from the closing price of 2524 rupees on September 2, the stock could rise by approximately 29 percent.

The brokerage firm notes that spending on oil and gas infrastructure in America and the Middle East is in a phase of multi-year growth, and Wellspun can benefit as the company is involved in production in both sectors. Jefferies expects the company's volume to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17 percent between FY26 and FY29, with EBITDA and EPS reaching 32–33 percent.

Wellspun Corp is increasing its production capacity by 50 percent in America and Saudi Arabia, which will support the company's revenue growth. Furthermore, the share of foreign business with higher margins in the company's total revenue is increasing. Orders for the company amount to 42,100 million rupees, which is approximately 2.5 times the company's revenue for FY26.

The broker states that the company's net cash position was 1400 million rupees at the end of fiscal year 2026, and it is expected to reach 3900 million rupees by fiscal year 2029. In its report, Jefferies also indicated that the company's Return on Equity (RoE) was 21 percent during FY24–26 and could reach 22–23 percent in the future.

In the last month, Wellspun Corp has grown by 54 percent, and over six months, it has tripled investors' funds, showing a return of 233 percent. Over the year, this stock has shown a growth of 210 percent.

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