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While “AI agents”—the tech world’s latest buzzword—might sound like the precursor to The Matrix’s menacing Agent Smith, they are programs that need little human intervention and can make decisions independently. 

For Microsoft, they seem to be the next big thing that will give it an edge over its peers. On Monday, the company said it will allow its customers to build autonomous AI agents from next month.

ICYMI: YouStory deep-dived into how Indian startups are exploring AI agents. 

Meanwhile, venture capital firms continue to bet on generative AI startups. In Q3 2024, VCs invested $3.9 billion in Gen AI startups across 206 deals, according to PitchBook. This number excludes OpenAI‘s mammoth $6.6 billion round.

Speaking of capital, Perplexity AI, which hopes to chip away at Google’s dominance in the search engine market, is seeking to more than double its valuation to about $9 billion in its next funding round, CNBC reported.

Moving on, stock trading platform Groww paid around $160 million in taxes as it shifted its domicile from the US and back to India. With this, the company has joined a wave of startups relocating their headquarters to India from the US and Singapore to better comply with Indian laws and facilitate IPOs in the country. 

Lastly, the incredible history behind the development of barcode technology. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• PhonePe expands hardware footprint
• What is Cloud TV?
• Access Earth observation satellites

Here’s your trivia for today: Which music genre means “new trend” in Portuguese?

Fintech 

PhonePe expands hardware footprint

PhonePe has significantly expanded its hardware footprint by managing close to seven lakh cores across three data centres in India. Cores are individual processing units within a CPU, enabling data centres to perform multiple tasks simultaneously and power large-scale computing operations. 

The fintech giant also saw its losses shrink by about 29%, dropping to Rs 1,996 crore in FY24 from Rs 2,795 crore in the year-ago period. It had become profitable on an adjusted basis at Rs 197 crore, after excluding ESOP of Rs 2,193 crore incurred in FY24.

Key takeaways:

• ESOPs have become a major strain on PhonePe’s bottom line. Between FY22 and FY23, ESOP costs grew 73.44% from Rs 1,186 crore in the FY22.
• Its revenue soared to Rs 5,064 crore in FY24, a 74% jump from the previous year’s Rs 2,914 crore.
• Besides infrastructure expansion, PhonePe has invested in building dozens of in-house SaaS platforms over the years. For instance, “Login using PhonePe” service supports user authentication and profile management across all group assets.

<Funding Alert>

Startup: Dharma

Amount: Rs 1000 Cr

Round: Fresh

Startup: Stellapps

Amount: $26M

Round: Series C

Startup

What is Cloud TV?

Until a few years ago, smart TV manufacturers in India had to rely on operating systems (OS) developed in other countries. On the other side, consumers had to spend more money on high-end TVs to stream content.  

This opened a unique opportunity for the father-son duo and tech enthusiasts Abhijeet and Jagdish Rajpurohit, who have over a decade of experience in the smart TV and digital solutions industry. In 2017, they launched Cloud TV to make a homegrown OS for smart TVs.

What’s on offer:

• Cloud TV OS is designed to be lightweight and efficient, allowing it to run smoothly on lower-spec hardware. It has partnerships with around 170 TV brands such as Lloyd, Akai, Sansui, Hyundai, T-series, Croma, VISE, and Amstrad. 
• The B2B2C platform operates on a SaaS model with a focus on monetisation through licensing fees and advertisements, including ads on platforms like YouTube and recommending apps, content, or services within the TV’s interface. 
• Cloud TV offers access to over 200 apps, including major OTT platforms like Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, and Zee5, as well as live TV channels for real-time viewing of shows, news, and sports.

Startup

Access Earth observation satellites

Founded as a part of space tech startup SatSure, KaleidEO takes a demand-first approach in building use cases for Earth observation satellites and reverse engineers the payload requirements. 

By deploying high-resolution sensors in payloads and using edge computing, KaleidEO says it can process images in space within 90 seconds, which can particularly benefit applications like natural disaster relief and national security. 

New avenues:

• KaleidEO aims to target space tech and non-space tech players across the entire EO value chain with its ‘EO-infrastructure-as-a-service’ (EO-IaaS) offering.  
• The startup addresses the requirement for payloads to be designed for specific use cases such as vegetation monitoring or change detection at high resolution at a high frequency for infrastructure applications. 
• It recently completed the preliminary design review of its payload’s avionics architecture and the software stack for the European Space Agency’s InCubed programme by its partner ReOrbit, a Helsinki-based provider of software-first satellites. 

News & updates

• Change: Disney has tapped James Gorman to replace Mark Parker as the company’s next chairman, effective in January, as the media giant lays the groundwork to name a successor for CEO Bob Iger in early 2026.
• IPO: Lulu Retail Holdings, which runs one of the Middle East’s biggest hypermarket chains, kicked off an IPO on Monday that bankers say could be the UAE’s largest this year. The offering by the conglomerate comes during a retail spending boom in the region, spurring domestic listings by companies in the sector.
• Stake sell: UBS is offloading part of the Credit Suisse business it acquired last year with a deal to sell the fallen bank’s 50% stake in credit card provider Swisscard to its joint venture partner American Express. After the deal, Amex will become the sole owner of Swisscard, with Credit Suisse customers transferring to the existing UBS credit card platform.

Which music genre means “new trend” in Portuguese?

Answer: Bossa nova.

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