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Our planet needs a ‘Midas touch’ (quite literally!)

The World Gold Council said deposits of the lustrous yellow metal have become harder to find as gold reserves lay barren. Gold mine production inched up only 0.5% in 2023 compared to a year ago.

“We’ve seen record first quarter mine production in 2024 up 4% year-on-year. But the bigger picture, I think about mine production is that, effectively, it plateaued around 2016, 2018, and we’ve seen no growth since then,” World Gold Council Chief Market Strategist John Reade told CNBC.

However, it does not look like it’s losing its shine yet, as spot gold was up 0.5% at $2,303.01 per ounce on Monday.

In other news, online travel aggregator ixigo saw its Rs 740-crore IPO subscribed 1.38 times with investors buying 6.02 crore equity shares against the offer size of 4.37 crore shares on day 1 of bidding.

ICYMI: Meet Meowtel, a profitable cat-sitting startup.

From professional dog walkers to cat sitters, we have seen it all!

Lastly, we recommend you save yourself from FOMO and subscribe to The CapTable, our premium news website on the Indian startup ecosystem, now before the offer ends tomorrow! 

What are you waiting for? The CapTable is available for subscription at just Rs 999 Rs 1,999. Hurry up and get the deal now!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• A D2C Co serving tea with a twist 
• candi solar secures fresh capital
• Bridging gender gap in workplace

Here’s your trivia for today: Before Google’s mobile OS, what was the Android developed for?

Startup 

A D2C Co serving tea with a twist 

In April 2022, brother and sister duo Muneet Arora and Balkirat Singh launched Freshleaf Teas to offer a diverse range of teas, including both sparkling and traditional varieties.

The startup is part of a new crop of D2C brands giving the humble tea a fresh spin. Whether the premium single-estate origin teas or artisanal brands serving infusions, more players are making space in India’s tea market, which was valued at $11.1 billion by IMARC Group in 2023.

Perfect blend:

• The Ludhiana-based brand offers 21 SKUs encompassing 18 varieties of premium tea blends, including traditional, herbal, chai, and sparkling tea—a mixture of tea and carbonated water. 
• The startup sources its ingredients from regions, including Darjeeling, Dooars in Assam, Nilgiri hills, and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh.
• It says that its sparkling tea, available in flavours such as lemon ginger and strawberry kiwi, contains 30-40% less sugar compared to other carbonated drinks.

Sustainability 

candi solar secures fresh capital

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Swiss clean energy company candi solar, which has a portfolio of projects across India and South Africa, has concluded its Series C funding round, securing $38 million in equity investment led by Norfund, Kyuden International, and STOA. 

Shining bright:

• With a presence in 17 states and two union territories in India, candi solar has also worked with companies like Airtel and Jindal SAW to offer rooftop solar solutions to their office buildings.
• The company has a total contracted capacity of 112 MW. With the fresh capital, it aims to add 200 MW of business solar projects.
• In India, MSMEs remain largely untapped for their rooftop solar potential, currently pegged at around 15 GW, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Inspiration

Bridging gender gap in workplace

Mridvika Raisinghani is the Founder and CEO of Sama, whose mission is to advance gender equity in the workforce by building an AI tech tool to provide workforce insights. The startup aims to  help retain urban women in employment.

Equality:

• Sama has curated an ecosystem of over 50-60 organisations in the space of financial literacy, gender sensitisation, infrastructure support, and more.
• Raisinghani says it took around eight months to build the product in 2022. There are eight paying clients. She admits it’s an uphill battle although the response is positive. 
• Sama has also received government support from Elevate Karnataka by way of funding to implement its tool in around 25-30 MSMEs.

News & updates

• Future of calling: Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark made a phone call using a new technology called “immersive audio and video” that improves the quality of a call with three-dimensional sound, making interactions more lifelike.
• Equal names: Japan’s big business lobby urged the government to allow married couples to have separate surnames, saying current laws that effectively force married women to go by their husbands’ names for some purposes present a business risk.
• Acquisition: IT services provider Cognizant Technologies has agreed to acquire digital engineering firm Belcan for nearly $1.3 billion in cash and stock. The deal would expand Teaneck, New Jersey-based Cognizant’s footprint in the aerospace, defence, space, and automotive sectors. 

Before Google’s mobile OS, what was the Android developed for?

Answer: Digital cameras.

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