In the midst of a funding winter, Quona Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in emerging markets, has upped its bets in the fintech sector. On Tuesday, the firm said it has closed a $332 million fund to continue investing in startups that accelerate financial inclusion in markets such as India, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Quona Capital has invested in over 17 startups in India, including IndiaMart, ZestMoney, and Fisdom.
In other news, The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to test a made-in-India reusable launch vehicle. The first runway landing experiment of Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) will be conducted from the aeronautical test range in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district
Also ready to takeoff is YourStory’s flagship startup-tech event, TechSparks, which features the who’s-who of the startup ecosystem. Click here to find out more.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- KuCoin’s emerging markets strategies
- Zoho announces new R&D investments
- Moms vs climate change
Here’s your trivia for today: Which video game franchise has collectively sold the most copies?
Cryptocurrency
KuCoin’s emerging markets strategies
KuCoin considers Southeast Asia, particularly India, as a key market. Over 5.6 million new users hail from the country and the crypto exchange launched a $50-million support plan to aid the development of the Indian blockchain industry.
“These markets are utilising technology to create tools and businesses that address complex issues,” says KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu.
Understanding markets:
- Johnny says trading communities are more active in emerging markets, and projects would fare better when they are targeted at local traders.
- KuCoin intends to offer a trading bot that allows users to set certain conditions in which the bot will execute the trade.
- The exchange has launched a #ThinkBeforeYouInvest campaign to help drive safe crypto trading practices.
Funding Alert
Startup: Masai School
Amount: $10M
Round: Series B
Startup: doola
Amount: $8M
Round: Undisclosed
Startup: Driffle
Amount: $3.4M
Round: Seed
SaaS
Zoho announces new R&D investments
SaaS company Zoho Corporation announced that it has surpassed $1 billion in revenue on the back of the Indian market.
Now, it is planning to open 100 network PoPs (point of presence) for providing users with a faster network. It also wants to double its investments in technologies such as blockchain and AI.
R&D focus:
- Zoho spends three times its marketing spend on R&D and has received 25 patents in the last three years.
- The company is focussing its AI development on statistical machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing (NLP).
- It utilises proprietary technology that runs on Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), which allows Zoho to process data up to 50 times faster.
Women entrepreneurs
Moms vs climate change
The effects of climate change are for all to see. Children are the most vulnerable to environmental degradation, especially air pollution, as that can lead to stunted growth, heart disease, diabetes etc.
A bunch of concerned mothers connected through various networks and social media platforms decided to do something about the issue, forming the Warrior Moms in 2020.
Raising issues:
Rama at one of the sessions
- Warrior Moms collaborated with organisations like Doctors for Clean Air, Raahgiri foundation, etc, to conduct online and offline awareness and engagement sessions.
- It is pushing for subsidised gas cylinders for all families in India through the campaign #ChulhaFreeIndia.
- Under Clean Up Daddumajra initiative, it is working to clear a polluting landfill in Chandigarh by highlighting the plight of the people and talking to politicians.
News & updates
- Future of mobility: Renault and Google are expanding their partnership in software services for future Renault vehicles, adding that Google will become the preferred cloud supplier to the French automaker.
- Not so rich: China’s super-rich saw their wealth fall by the largest amount in over two decades, as the Russia-Ukraine war, Beijing’s zero-Covid measures and falling local stock markets pummelled fortunes, an annual rich list showed.
- The great slide: Cryptocurrencies fell heavily on Tuesday and the in-house token of major crypto exchange FTX slumped by almost a quarter as investors appeared to take fright at talk of pressure on FTX’s financials. Bitcoin fell as much as 6% to $19,351, its lowest in two weeks, and was on course for its worst day in since mid-September. Ether , the next largest, fell over 6%.
Which video game franchise has collectively sold the most copies?
Answer: Mario. The Mario franchise has sold over 689 million copies, with ‘Super Mario’ titles making up 362 million of the total.
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