Hello,
Can cricket revive Disney’s fortunes in India?
CEO Bob Iger hopes free cricket on Hotstar will help bring subscribers back to the platform. Disney+ Hotstar, the Indian arm of the entertainment giant, lost 12.5 million subscribers in the April-June quarter. The OTT platform will stream the Asia Cup, which starts tomorrow, and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, which will begin on October 5, for free for its mobile subscribers.
Reliance-owned JioCinema has walked this path before and to great success. Earlier this year, more than 12 crore people tuned in for the Indian Premier League final on the platform, with a peak concurrency of 3.2 core, making it the most watched digital event globally, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said at the company’s 46th AGM on Monday.
Meanwhile, edtech startup BYJU’S continues to see top-level departures. The latest to leave are Chief Business Officer Pratyusha Agarwal, Himanshu Bajaj, Business Head of BYJU’S Tuition Centre, and Mukut Deepak, Business Head of Classes 4-10 Online and Home Tuitions.
In other news, cryptocurrency services company CoinSwitch has laid off about 44 employees from its customer support team. Earlier this month, crypto exchange startup CoinDCX cut 12% of its workforce. Both startups cited harsh economic conditions for the layoffs.
Elsewhere, Supam Maheshwari, Founder of FirstCry, is reportedly under investigation for alleged tax evasion totalling $50 million. The enquiry also extends to at least six investors in FirstCry, including ChrysCapital Management Co, a private equity firm, and Sunil Bharti Mittal’s family office, in the matter concerning equity transactions, Bloomberg reports.
Oh and here’s your reminder for the rare supermoon that will be visible across the Northern Hemisphere from August 30-31.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Mamaearth’s secrets of scale
- Vehant’s evolution in security tech
- SatSure raises $15M in Series A
Here’s your trivia for today: Which 2013 movie is set on a train that travels around the world when climate change has killed almost all people in the future?
Interview
Mamaearth’s secrets of scale
What started as a small homegrown brand quickly became a unicorn, and now, Mamaearth is well on its way to becoming a publicly listed company in seven short years. In conversation with Shradha Sharma, Ghazal and Varun Alagh, Co-founders of Honasa Consumer, discuss building Mamaearth from scratch as paranoid parents.
In the process, they built a house of brands to help them spread their wings beyond India.
Home remedies:
- In early August, SEBI gave Honasa the go-ahead for its IPO. The company turned profitable in FY22.
- Today, it has six well-known brands under its umbrella—Mamaearth, Aqualogica, BBlunt, The Derma Co, Dr Sheth’s, Ayuga, and Momspresso.
- Taking the company public will mean access to more public market investors, giving people who love their products a chance to own fractions of the company that makes them, Varun says.
MSME
Vehant’s evolution in security tech
Incubated in IIT Delhi in 2005, security tech company Vehant Technologies’ inception can be traced back to the 2001 Parliament attack. After the attack, the government took several steps to tighten security, and one of the products the government deployed was the under-vehicle scanning system.
Since these systems were imported from the UK and involved substantial import costs, the Ministry of Information Technology approached IIT-Delhi to make such products in India. “That is how our journey began in the space,” says Kapil Bardeja, CEO and Co-founder of Vehant Technologies.
Securing areas:
- Vehant’s first product was an under-vehicle scanning system. So far, it has sold 900 such systems, which cost around Rs 25 lakh to Rs 35 lakh each.
- It now manufactures X-ray baggage scanners and explosive detectors in the security screening space. The primary market is aviation, and it has deployed its scanners and systems in around 60 airports in India.
- In FY23, the company’s revenue stood at Rs 73 crore. It witnessed a YoY revenue growth of 26% in FY22 and FY23. Vehant anticipates a YoY growth rate of 100% in FY24.
Spacetech
SatSure raises $15M in Series A round
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Representational image [ Image Credit: Shutterstock]
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SatSure raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Baring Private Equity Partners India and Prosmus Ventures. Investors like Force Ventures, Luckbox Ventures, and IndigoEdge Advisors also participated in this round.
To the stars:
- The Bengaluru-headquartered spacetech company will use the funds for product innovation besides expanding its operations in the American and Asia Pacific regions.
- SatSure’s products are used to deliver insights into agriculture, banking, and critical infrastructure by providing decision intelligence from space.
- In February 2022, it raised $5 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Baring Private Equity India and ADB Ventures. It had previously acquired CropTrails, an Indore-based farm management SaaS tool.
News & updates
- Dreams: Snapchat is launching a new generative AI feature called Dreams that allows users to create fantastical images of themselves in different scenarios, such as a mermaid in a deep seascape or a renaissance-era royal.
- The glitch: Toyota Motor will restart operations at its assembly plants in Japan on Wednesday after a production system malfunction brought domestic output to a halt at the world’s biggest-selling automaker.
- Last call: Amazon workers should look elsewhere for a job unless they are prepared to come into the office at least three days a week, the tech company’s chief executive has suggested.
Which 2013 movie is set on a train that travels around the world when climate change has killed almost all people in the future?
Answer: Snowpiercer. The 2013 movie is based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige.
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