ESDS’ IPO Litmus Test, Even Axes 350 Jobs & More

What happened

ESDS Software Solution’s public issue is all set to open for subscription later today. The data centre company’s fresh issue-only IPO will look to bring the much needed capital to add GPUs and pursue sovereign cloud ambitions. But with competition rising, will ESDS’ IPO find takers?

This leaves them blind to energy waste, machine faults and downtime until it is too late. SenseLive is tackling this gap with its end-to-end industrial IoT platform. Industrial Intelligence: Founded in 2022, SenseLive builds industrial IoT hardware, gateways and sensors paired with a cloud analytics layer. Its platform provides real-time visibility into energy consumption, machine health and production performance, helping factories move from reactive maintenance to predictive strategies.

Why it matters

ESDS’s IPO Stack: The data centre company’s public issue consists entirely of a fresh issue of shares worth ₹720 Cr, with no offer for sale. Ahead of the IPO, ESDS yesterday raised ₹216 Cr from anchor investors such as Motilal Oswal, Quant MF, JM Financial MF and Samco. Notably, domestic mutual funds cornered 82% of the total anchor allotment.

The Number Game: ESDS Software Solution delivered a healthy FY26, driven by a surge in profitability and substantial operational leverage across its core cloud, SaaS and managed services segments. Enterprise-Grade Scale: As per its RHP, ESDS currently serves over 2,500 clients, including over 170 banking entities and 100 government organisations. This deep penetration in regulated sectors via community clouds yields recurring revenues and sticky client relationships.

What also works for the company is its indigenous Swaraj Cloud platform, which reins in expensive third-party software licensing costs and unlocks long-term operating leverage. Caught In Pricing War: Despite the demand, escalating hardware prices mean that the proceeds from the IPO will buy significantly fewer GPU and servers than ESDS initially projected. This could constrain planned capacity expansion.

In addition, the company also faces intense competition from global hyperscalers and domestic conglomerates expanding into India’s data center market. Additionally, high customer concentration, lingering government payment cycles and severe hypothecation of current assets also present ongoing working capital risks. With much on its plate, can ESDS deliver a bumper IPO? Let’s find out… Many Indian factories still rely on manual monitoring and disconnected systems.

What to watch

The Predictive Care: SenseLive’s solutions span energy management, machine and condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. The startup’s edge devices, such as its X9000 4G gateway, collect data from controllers and sensors, perform local processing and transmit insights to the cloud for dashboards, alerts and optimisation. 0. It supports remote diagnostics, factory digitalisation and OEE monitoring. Incubated at IIT Indore, SenseLive also exports its hardware to international markets.

Going forward, it plans to bolster product development and scale deployments. The festive season is almost here and there’s one gift India can never seem to get enough of: chocolates. From craft chocolatiers to premium gift boxes, there’s a whole ecosystem building around India’s sweet tooth…