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Hello,

We’ve come a long way from making Goa plans after watching Dil Chahta Hai.

Indians are now increasingly choosing international destinations, with those taking two or more overseas trips growing 32% year-on-year, according to a MakeMyTrip report. The reasons are apparent—rise in disposable incomes, exposure to global cultures, and ease of flying.

But beyond conventional destinations, travellers are willing to try more offbeat destinations. Search volume on the travel platform for Almaty, Kazakhstan and Baku, Azerbaijan have grown multifold.

Is Instagram influencing how we travel?

This points to a larger trend, as the travel and tourism industry’s contribution to global GDP is expected to cross $11 trillion in 2024, i.e. a record $1 out of every $10 spent globally will be on travel, noted the World Tourism and Travel Council. 

However, when it comes to road trips, the future of sustainable travel is…a little uncertain. The sale of electric vehicles, especially two-wheelers, is falling and commuters still prefer a gas guzzler for highways. 

Part of the problem is the charging stations. While India’s public EV charging infrastructure has expanded nearly ninefold in the last two years, the growth still falls short of the requirement to install about 400,000 chargers annually, according to some estimates.

ICYMI: Such issues didn’t deter a Mumbai engineer from driving on the Golden Quadrilateral on his EV. He covered 8,849 km in 70 days!

But can the third iteration of the FAME EV subsidy scheme—expected to roll out later this month—charge up EV adoption across the country?

Only time will tell.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• MoEngage’s AI-driven brand playbook
• Tech for social impact

Here’s your trivia for today: Where is the windiest place on Earth?

Startup

MoEngage’s AI-driven brand playbook

Instead of the usual email broadcasts and messages, imagine getting customised messages from brands that relate to your preferences and interests as a consumer.

While any AI writing tool can generate generic text, Merlin AI—a product of customer engagement platform MoEngage—claims to do better. The tool continuously analyses previous marketing campaigns to understand how a particular customer has interacted with the brand and creates relevant messaging. 

Smart marketing:

• Merlin is a self-learning generative AI engine that learns from previous campaign data and historical performance records stored within the MoEngage platform. It evaluates metrics such as engagement patterns, conversion and click-through rate. 
• Besides Merlin, the company’s other recent launches include MoEngage for Financial Services, Warehouse Audiences, MoEngage Inform, and MoEngage Personalise.
• The firm works with over 1,200 brands globally, including Samsung, Flipkart and Deutsche Telekom. 

Funding Alert

Startup: BigEndian 

Amount: $3M

Round: Seed

Startup: Theater

Amount: $1.5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: Mytek Innovations

Amount:  Rs 6 Cr 

Round: Rs 6 Cr

Entrepreneurship

Tech for social impact

Niyati Tewari, a 17-year-old student from Bengaluru, recently won the Young Innovator of the Year Award at the SAHIT National Conference 2024: A Spotlight on Women Shaping India’s Future for two initiatives—Inaraa, a project that blends traditional tribal art with modern fashion, and Niyati, an AI-based platform that trains students in artificial intelligence.

Innovation in fashion and AI:

• The collaboration with a fashion platform like Inaraa exposes artisans to new markets and trends, which not only preserves traditional techniques but also allows artisans to adapt and evolve their craft in response to contemporary tastes, says Tewari.
• Another initiative from Tewari, Mission Niyati, in partnership with CyberPeace, organises workshops on online safety and educates people in villages on cyber crime.
• Tewari is also working on creating a platform that features AI tools and instructional videos. The platform, currently in beta testing, provides students, especially those from underrepresented communities, with free tools and resources to enhance their AI skills.

News & updates

• The fall: Intel was one of the first two tech companies to join the Dow Jones Industrial Average during 1999’s dot-com era, along with Microsoft. Now, analysts and investors believe it is likely to be removed from the Dow, pointing to a near 60% decline in the company’s shares this year that has made it the worst performer on the index.
• Musk vs Brazil: Satellite internet provider Starlink has informed Brazil’s telecom regulator, Anatel, that it will not comply with a court order to block the social media platform X in the country until its local accounts are unfrozen. The account freeze is linked to a separate issue involving unpaid fines that X was ordered to pay after failing to submit certain documents.
• Opportunity in adversity: A unit of Ryobi Holdings, a bus route operator in rural Japan, is setting up an AI-powered hedge fund specialising in forex to survive a sharp drop in the country’s population outside Tokyo. Grappling with greying customers and shrinking communities, it is trying to secure funds to maintain its bus fleet and grow.

Where is the windiest place on Earth?

Answer: Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. The average annual wind speed there is 240 km/h.

We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail [email protected]. 

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