Uber's new "Auto" model, Zomato's new B2B bet, and Dezerv's ₹11,000 Cr. AUM💡

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Feb 28, 2025

We are back with our new newsletter, which covers three important business topics in one go. Today, we discuss Uber’s new “zero-commission” auto model, Zomato’s new AI B2B product launch, and Dezerv’s ₹11,000 Cr. AUM playbook. Let’s dive in.

Uber’s new commission model 🛺

First, some context.
Uber is finally ditching the old-school commission-per-ride model for autos and switching to a fixed subscription “SaaS like” fee. This move aligns with what players like Namma Yatri, Rapido, and Ola have already done. Previously, Uber charged a 10-15% commission per ride and now, drivers will pay a flat fee instead.

Is Uber early or late?
Well, one year late, to be precise. Namma Yatri (built on ONDC) led this wave in 2024, offering free usage for a few months to drivers before, eventually, switching to ₹25/day or ₹3.5/trip model. Rapido followed, and later, Ola joined the party by deploying this in a few cities. Adding to this, Uber won’t be charging the 5% GST from users (you and us) anymore. Why? well, there has been plenty of comedy around conflicting state rulings on whether these apps should pay GST at all or not—Namma Yatri, for example, doesn’t. We can discuss this separately some other day.

But, why is Uber doing this?
First, there is the fear of losing drivers to other platforms. Uber & Ola have faced repeated strikes over high commissions—just this month, Chennai drivers staged an indefinite boycott. Switching to a fixed subscription model might be Uber’s way to calm the heat. Plus, this SaaS model means drivers get paid directly by users—no more Uber credits or promo payments allowed for autos.

Have we seen this before?
In short, “yes.”. This isn’t happening in just ride-hailing. We’ve seen this play out across multiple sectors—Zerodha disrupted brokerage with flat fees, Meesho did it in e-commerce, and NoBroker did this in real estate. As more players enter the space and competition heats up, better models emerge for both users and providers. What other sectors do you think will see a similar shift? Let us know your predictions too :)

Zomato’s new B2B AI platform, “Nugget” 🦾

First, some context.
Zomato just launched Nugget, an AI-powered customer support platform that helps businesses automate interactions—no coding needed. The kicker? Deepinder Goyal says Zomato has been using this internally for 3 years, handling 15 million interactions/month across Zomato, Blinkit, and Hyperpure.

How does Nugget work?
Nugget can analyze complaint images, audit customer chats, create voice AI agents for real-time support, and offer insights to improve service. The tool can solve 80% of the customer queries while bringing the resolution time by 20%. Nugget will provide free service to those businesses tied with other customer support providers till their agreements expire.

What’s Zomato’s bigger plan?
This is Zomato Labs' first product launch—their incubator for in-house innovation. More are on the way. The fact that this comes just weeks after Zomato rebranded to Eternal shows how fast they’re moving. Plus, launching more B2B SaaS products could unlock a whole new revenue stream. And since this could be a global SaaS play, the scaling opportunities—with high margins—are massive.

Dezerv’s ₹11,000 Cr. AUM blueprint 💰

First, some context.
Dezerv is a weath-tech firm that now manages ₹11,000 Cr. in assets and aims to double it to ₹25,000 Cr. this year. That’s nearly 8x growth in just two years—from ₹1,200 Cr. in 2022 to ₹11,000 Cr. now. The company was founded by veteran wealth managers, Sahil Contractor, Sandeep Jethwani, and Vaibhav Porwal.

Funding fact.
The company has raised over ₹500 Cr. across three rounds from top investors like Premji Invest, Elevation Capital, Accel, and Matrix.

What does this AUM comprise of?
This ₹11,000 Cr. comes from 3 key sources. AIF (Alternative Investment Fund) pools money from HNIs to invest in private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds. PMS (Portfolio Management Service) offers personalized investment strategies for wealthy clients. Distribution assets include mutual funds and other products that Dezerv recommends but doesn’t directly manage.
The “core” insight?
The AUM space is crowded, but Dezerv has found its wedge—targeting first-generation wealth creators like founders and C-suite executives. With more tech-first startups going public and receiving strong retail investor interest, the number of newly wealthy individuals is rising fast. Take Swiggy’s IPO, for example—it turned 500 employees into crorepatis overnight. Many in this new class of investors have no prior experience managing sizable wealth, and Dezerv is positioning itself right at the intersection of this shift by being the new-school wealth manager.

Fact.
In 2024, we saw 12 startup IPOs and this year, that number is expected to double

Also, we hosted Sandeep (the founder of Dezerv) on the GrowthX Inner Circle Podcast. You can check out the full episode here.

Also, we launched a new episode of Wireframe, where we breakdown the Shein-Reliance partnership in depth.

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