Also in the letter:
■ Corning’s Pune plant opens
■ VCs bet on AI-first services
■ Binance co-CEO on cyber breach
Apple India has posted record revenues: CEO John Ternus
Apple CEO John Ternus
Apple has posted record revenues in India, CEO John Ternus said on the company’s earnings call for the September quarter, his first since succeeding Tim Cook.
“We also set September quarter revenue records in both developed and emerging markets, in addition to an all-time record in India,” Ternus said.
iPhone sales: Ternus said Apple also set a September-quarter record for iPhone sales worldwide, including the US, mainland China, and India, that helped deliver its best fiscal year ever for upgraders globally. “iPhone revenue was $57.6 billion for the September quarter, up 17% from a year ago, despite supply constraints,” he added.
Record Mac, Services revenues: CFO Kevan Parekh said Mac and Services revenues also hit all-time highs in India. “Mac revenue was $10.8 billion, up 24% year over year, despite supply constraints. This performance was driven by the strength of the MacBook Neo and MacBook Pro. We saw double-digit growth in both developed and emerging markets, with all-time records in markets like India and Southeast Asia,” he said.
Other numbers:
- The Cupertino-based company earned $30.71 billion, or $2.10 per share, in the July-September period, up 12% from $27.47 billion, or $1.85 per share, a year earlier.
- Revenue rose 12% to $114.5 billion from $102.5 billion.
Giva raises over $100 million led by Multiples Alternate Asset Management
(L-R) Nikita Prasad, Ishendra Agarwal and Sachin Shetty, founders, Giva
Fine jewellery brand Giva has raised over $100 million in a round led by private equity firm Multiples Alternate Asset Management, along with participation from existing investors including Epic Capital and Edelweiss Growth Fund.
Details:
- The round was a mix of primary and secondary funding.
- The company’s early backers like India Quotient and Sixth Sense Ventures exited partially, founder Ishendra Agarwal told ET.
- The company did not disclose the round split.
Fund use: Giva plans to use the fresh capital to expand its retail footprint across the country, boost manufacturing capabilities, and strengthen its leadership.
The company focuses on everyday wear and gifting jewellery made from silver, gold, and lab-grown diamonds sold across online and offline channels.
Chip startup Agrani Labs looks to raise $108 million from Peak XV, Google, Samsung
Clockwise from top left: Ashok Jagannathan, Rajesh Vivekanandham, Srikanth Nimmagadda and Dheemanth Nagaraj, founders, Agrani Labs
AI chip startup Agrani Labs is in the final stages of closing a $108-110 million round at a valuation of roughly $350 million, people aware of the matter told us. The round, in the works for several months, is expected to close within the next month.
Who is investing:
- Peak XV Partners is leading and is expected to put in more than half the total.
- Google, Samsung Ventures, and Stargazer, the investment vehicle linked to Groww’s founders, are also expected to participate, the sources said.
- ET reported in early October that Agrani was in talks to raise Rs 800-850 crore from Samsung, 360 ONE, and Peak XV.
Valuation math: The proposed $350 million valuation marks a sharp jump from the $160-200 million discussed during negotiations in September.
Founded by former Intel and AMD executives Dheemanth Nagaraj, Ashok Jagannathan, Srikanth Nimmagadda, and Rajesh Vivekanandham, Agrani Labs is building graphics processing units for AI workloads.
Corning operationalises Pune optical plant; capacity expansion planned by 2027
Corning India MD Sudhir Pillai
Corning’s optical connectivity manufacturing facility in Pune is now operational and capacity addition is getting underway, Sudhir Pillai, the specialty glass and fibre-optic cable maker’s managing director for India, Middle East, and Africa, told us on Monday.
Driving the news: The plant, which will make optical connectivity products for data centres — a core focus area for the US materials science major — is set to be inaugurated on Tuesday.
“We will also lay the foundation for capacity addition, which is expected to come online by next year,” Pillai said. The 175-year-old company has completed more than 60 years of operations in India and is currently growing across all product segments, Pillai stressed.
Glass output: The company’s other plant in Chennai has started producing finishing glass for the first time in the country. Inaugurated in December 2025, it is currently being validated by original equipment manufacturers and will begin commercial production within the next few quarters, Pillai said.
What else: Corning is ready to co-locate with display fabrication units in India. “We have always followed our customers. When more phone manufacturers set up shop in India, we set up our glass plant here.’’
Coders out, VCs in: Investors bet billions on AI-first services
Venture capital, which was wary of people-heavy software services with limited growth, is now funding AI-native services firms that pair small engineering teams with AI agents and reusable software to deliver enterprise work.
The fundamental change is the potential to break the historical linkage between revenues and headcount, explained Everest group CEO Jimit Arora.
Deal momentum:
- Distyl AI raised $175 million at a $1.8 billion valuation.
- Wonderful raised $550 million at a $5 billion valuation in September.
- Zinnov tracked 35 such firms, nearly a third of which have an India presence; 22 have raised about $2.75 billion in total funding.
Value proposition: These firms modernise existing systems and automate business processes. They increasingly target the same large enterprises as traditional IT services providers, but often win deals for specific workflows where they can demonstrate results faster, according to HFS Research.
India link: Several of these founders are of Indian-origin, including former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka at Hang Ten Systems, plus teams at Mercor, Turing, Atomicwork, and Realfast.ai.
Also Read: AI efficiencies shield Q2 IT margins from transatlantic macro headwinds
Binance co-CEO says company is in strong financial health after $6.3 billion heist
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said on Tuesday that the crypto exchange is in very strong financial health and that it will release a “post mortem” of its $6.3 billion cyber heist in due course.
What’s the news: Speaking at a Hong Kong Fintech Week event, Teng said that Binance’s hourly inflows and outflows had “pretty much normalised” and 95% of the affected tokens had been replenished.
Binance had said earlier that customers had withdrawn $4.72 billion net as of Monday after the exchange was hit last week with what could be the largest-ever financial heist.
Yes, and: North Korea said on Tuesday that claims by the US that it was behind the cryptocurrency heist are “absurd rhetoric” that is nothing new, state news agency KCNA said.
Also Read: From SBI to Binance, how financial institutions are becoming cyberattack targets
