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Hello,

It has been a helluva 48 hours for Silicon Valley Bank and its customers.

As the effects of the SVB crisis and subsequent closure continue to wreak havoc on startups and venture capitalists across the globe, a group of US-based VC firms came together to issue a joint statement vowing to be ‘strongly supportive’ of the bank ‘in the event that SVB were to be purchased and appropriately capitalized’.

In other news, GoMechanic seems to have finally found a buyer—albeit at a much lower value. According to a report by The Morning Context, CarTrade has valued GoMechanic at just $30 million, a steep haircut from its previous valuation of $283 million in June 2021.

This is months after the car servicing startup admitted to misleading investors and failing financial compliance. It had been shopping for buyers over the last few weeks and was allegedly in talks with multiple companies, including CARS24 and Spinny, for a potential buyout.

ICYMI: Inside Canada’s polar bear jail, which aims to teach the animals that approaching humans is a “boring and annoying experience, not worth repeating.”

No offence but to be fair, many humans themselves will agree with that sentiment.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• AI to understand human emotions
• Behind the scenes of Kolam 
• For the love of vinyl and beer

Here’s your trivia for today: How many people attended the first-ever Academy Awards presentation in 1929?

Startup

AI to understand human emotions

In 2016, Entropik was founded by Ranjan Kumar, Lava Kumar, and Bharat Singh Shekhawat to help companies conduct in-house quantitative and qualitative research. The Bengaluru-based startup has 17 global patents in multi-modal emotion AI technologies like facial coding, eye tracking, and voice AI.

Market research:

• In the year of inception, the startup raised seed funding of $200,000. It caters to more than 150 global clients across sectors such as telecom, BFSI, media, CPG, FMCG, and entertainment, among others.
• One of Entropik’s clients Tata Sampann, for example, was able to evaluate several package designs for its spice category via its Emotion AI Technology.
• Operating as a B2B Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, Entropik claims to have achieved 7X growth over the past 18 months. 

Interview

Behind the scenes of Kolam 

Cinema has played an integral role in shaping the social and cultural fabric of the country. One such work of meaningful art with an uncommon presentation is Kolam—an experimental art documentary with a non-verbal narrative—created by Saumya Srivastava. 

Timeless and experimental:

• Kolam is inspired by the life of Aurovillians, weaving a profound narrative on the town. Furthermore, it holds an original score created by contributions from over 20 international artists. 
• With Kolam, Srivastava wanted to make a timeless piece, saying she “was certain that a place as rooted as Auroville needed to be experienced first”.
• It took the team six years to complete the film from ideation to launch. It was released in 2022, at the 17th Mumbai International Film Festival.

Food and Beverages

For the love of vinyl and beer

Vinyl and craft beer lovers now have a home in Bengaluru, thanks to the Record Room. This vinyl bar is the brainchild of three passionate entrepreneurs, Nakul Bhonsle, Akshar Halgali, and Karthik Chandrasekaran, who share a love for craft beer and vinyl.  

Beer and records:

• Located in the old Permit Room, the Record Room offers people the opportunity to enjoy a variety of craft beers on tap while experiencing the analogue joys of vinyl.
• The open space has a DIY-styled wooden chandelier, which also doubles up as a display for different vinyl art, and Enzo Mari-inspired tables and chairs. The birch wood panels add to the lightness of the space. 
• Vinyl enthusiasts can browse through a selection of records, some of which are for sale. The selection now covers a wide range of genres, including classic rock, jazz, blues, reggae, and even Indian classical music.

News & updates

• Next steps: The Bank of London is considering a rescue bid for the UK arm of collapsed Silicon Valley Bank. The British bank has appointed investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners to advise it on its interest in SVB UK. 
• Unstable: The second-largest stablecoin in crypto fell from its intended $1 peg on Saturday, trading as low as 81.5 cents, hurt by the exposure of issuer Circle Internet Financial Ltd. to the collapsed SVB. The USDC is a key plank of crypto markets and is supposed to hold a constant $1 value.
• Scrambling: The sudden collapse of SVB has thousands of tech startups wondering what happens now to their millions of dollars in deposits, money market investments and outstanding loans. Most importantly, they’re trying to figure out how to pay their employees.

How many people attended the first-ever Academy Awards presentation in 1929?

Answer: An audience of 270 people attended the private dinner function at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for the first-ever Academy Awards presentation on May 16, 1929. It lasted 15 minutes.

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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