Brands
Unicommerce says it is “Becoming AI-First” as core platform shifts to AI
Q3 revenue jumps 72.2 per cent as SaaS firm pivots from add-on AI to AI at its core
MUMBAI: Unicommerce eSolutions Limited is not just adding artificial intelligence to its software stack. It says it is rebuilding the stack around it. In its Q3 FY26 earnings call, the e-commerce SaaS player declared that it is “becoming AI-first”, shifting from sprinkling AI features across products to embedding AI into the core of its platforms. The statement marks a strategic pivot for a company that already processes nearly a third of India’s e-commerce dropship volumes.
The numbers suggest the strategy is gaining traction. Revenue for the quarter rose 72.2 per cent year on year to Rs 56.4 crore, while adjusted Ebitda climbed 51 per cent to Rs 13.4 crore. Annualised revenue run rate now exceeds Rs 225 crore.
“Our AI journey has progressed in phases,” said managing director and CEO Kapil Makhija. “We began by integrating AI into our internal operations, then introduced AI-enabled features across platforms and are now becoming AI-first, where core platform functionalities are delivered through AI.”
Over the past two quarters, the company has rolled out three AI-led offerings across its ecosystem.
ConvertWay now uses a Catalyst AI Voice Agent that makes automated, human-like outbound calls in multiple languages to recover abandoned carts. Uniware clients can interact with UniBot, a GenAI assistant that executes warehouse tasks through simple text prompts. Meanwhile, Shipway’s ShipSense AI optimises courier allocation by balancing cost, timelines and return probabilities.
The AI voice bot alone has scaled to around one lakh calls a month, a signal that automation is moving from experiment to execution.
For Unicommerce, the logic is straightforward. As a system of record for clients’ e-commerce operations, its platforms already sit on rich operational data. AI allows that data to become actionable, deepening integration and increasing stickiness.
Uniware, the flagship order and warehouse management platform, returned to growth with an 8.1 per cent year-on-year revenue rise in Q3, even after absorbing the exit of a top client that shut its multi-channel operations.
More than 110 enterprise clients were added during the quarter. Revenue concentration among the top 10 clients has dropped to nearly 12 per cent, down from 27 per cent in FY24, reflecting a deliberate diversification strategy.
“All enterprise clients are on a minimum guarantee subscription plan,” Makhija noted. “Once they exhaust the bundled transactions, they move to usage-based billing.”
The company also announced it will discontinue reporting transaction-based metrics, arguing that with newer modules such as B2B, quick commerce and AI-led tools, aggregate transaction rates no longer reflect business quality.
Logistics automation arm Shipway, acquired last year, recorded an annualised revenue run rate of around Rs 100 crore in Q3. Management plans to invest further in AI, product development and brand building, even if it means operating slightly below breakeven in the short term.
“We are making calibrated investments to support faster platform scaling and long-term value creation,” Makhija said.
With consolidated revenue up 70.6 per cent to Rs 152.7 crore for the nine months and profit pools expanding, Unicommerce is positioning AI not as a buzzword but as infrastructure.
Chief financial officer Anurag Mittal highlighted the operating leverage in the model. “Uniware operates with a gross margin profile of around 80 per cent. Incremental volumes have a direct positive effect on the bottom line,” he said.
As India’s e-commerce market matures, Unicommerce appears keen to move from being an enabler of online retail to becoming its intelligent backbone. If its AI-first ambition plays out as planned, the company may well be rewriting not just its codebase, but its growth curve too.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
