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Hello,

Sometimes, one has to step down to step up.

The ecosystem has seen a spat of recent resignations, including Shreyas Srinivasan, CPO for Consumer Products at Paytm and Founder and CEO of Paytm Insider. His exit was triggered by the sale of Insider.in, Paytm’s ticketing business, to food delivery giant Zomato.

Xiaomi India President Muralikrishnan B also announced his resignation after working at the Chinese smartphone maker for six years. He will now pursue research interests in consumer behaviour on tech platforms at the Indian School of Business.

Elsewhere, Swiggy raised Rs 5,085 crore ($605 million) from anchor investors ahead of opening its public issue. Out of the total allocation of over 13 crore equity shares to the anchor investors, 40.65% were allocated to 19 domestic mutual funds. 

In other news, Ola Electric has again found itself in hot water.

Its shares dropped 7% as the three-month lock-in period for 50% of its shares expired. The development came after asset management company Vanguard slashed its valuation of Ola Consumer to $2 billion as of August—a sharp decline from $7.3 billion three years earlier.

From a mark down to a mark up: Fidelity Management and Research Company has marked up the value of its stake in omnichannel eye retailer Lenskart by 12% taking the valuation of the company to $5.6 billion, just months after its investment in the company.

In more good news, Policybazaar parent PB Fintech reported a 44% YoY increase in revenue from operations in the July-September 2024 quarter. It turned a profit of Rs 51 crore in the quarter compared with a loss of Rs 21 crore incurred in the year-ago period.

March forward!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Automotive startups report growth
• How Entrust Family Office manages wealth
• From corporate to event management

Here’s your trivia for today: Who was the only US president to serve as president and vice president without being elected?

Earnings

Automotive startups report growth

Indian automotive startups including pre-owned car platform Spinny, listed used car sales platform CarTrade, and electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Euler Motors all grew their revenues on the back of the sale of products and other financial services.

Key takeaways:

• Spinny reported a 14% YoY rise in its FY24 revenue to Rs 3,725 crore. It also reported a 28% decline in losses for the year to Rs 590.4 crore from Rs 819.9 crore in FY23.
• CarTrade Tech reported a 6X rise in its second-quarter consolidated profit to Rs 30.7 crore. It expects its consumer group to report a 30% YoY rise in revenue growth in Q3 FY25, helped by strong festive season demand in October.
• While Euler Motors’ operating revenue grew 3X in FY24, its net loss expanded from Rs 175 crore in FY23 to Rs 227 crore. This was due to a rise in the cost of materials consumed, the company’s largest expense, which rose by 187% YoY to Rs 198 crore.

Funding Alert

Startup: CynLr

Amount: $10M

Round: Series A

Startup: Marut Drones

Amount: $6.2M

Round: Series A

Startup: Induz

Amount: $780,000

Round: Equity

Interview

How Entrust Family Office manages wealth

Over the past few years, Entrust Family Office has seen a noticeable increase in interest from startups, which are inviting the family office to invest in their ventures. 

Entrust began its journey as an investment advisory firm, leveraging its core team’s background in banking and financial advisory. Today, Entrust operates as a multi-family office providing a full suite of in-house services, including tax management, bookkeeping, real estate, banking coordination, and estate planning.

Guiding UHNIs:

• “As a boutique family office, nurturing enduring relationships with our clients is central to our role, especially in intergenerational wealth planning. When financial discussions become delicate, our clients rely on us to facilitate these conversations,” Co-founder and Director Sreepriya N S tells YourStory.
• Entrust’s marquee clients include Infosys Co-founder Nandan Nilekani and Accel’s Founding Partner Prashanth Prakash. 
• “Family offices often prioritise investments that reflect the long-term impact, the potential of the sector, strength and credibility of the founding team, adding value beyond financial metrics to invest with a long-term perspective,” she adds.

Woman Entrepreneur

From corporate to event management

Pune resident Priyanka Roy Kapur—after over six years in the corporate world—decided to channel her creativity and strategic skills into something of her own. She joined The LiveWire Experience—an event management agency started by her husband Raghav Roy Kapur—where she now serves as co-founder and director.

In 2024, she launched RoyKapur Wedding Co (RKWC), seeing a growing demand for experiential and luxury weddings. 

Creativity and structure:

• The LiveWire Experience specialises in large-scale corporate events, product launches, conferences, and other brand-led engagements, providing end-to-end services.
• RKWC, on the other hand, specialises in creating wedding experiences. “We handle every element—from destination scouting and vendor management to decor, entertainment, and F&B curation,” Kapur explains.
• Kapur plans to expand RKWC into new geographic markets, focusing on Southeast Asia and Europe. With The LiveWire Experience, she aims to delve deeper into experiential marketing for corporate clients.

News & updates

• Setback: South Korea’s data protection agency has ordered Meta Platforms—the owner of Facebook—to pay 21.62 billion won ($15.67 million) in fines for collecting and giving sensitive user data to advertisers without legal permission.
• Climate impact: Taking the latest available climate data into account, including record increases in temperatures, “the projected physical risk impact” of climate change on global gross domestic product has quadrupled by 2050 in some scenarios, the Network for Greening the Financial System said in a report.
• New tech: Apple has reportedly started conducting internal surveys of other smart glasses available on the market. The goal is to help Apple understand what people want from a set of AR glasses and what sorts of features, materials and price points would work for its own device. 

Who was the only US president to serve as president and vice president without being elected?

Answer: Gerald Ford.

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