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A bumpy road ahead for Tesla. 

It’s been a dramatic few days at the automotive company, with thousands of job cuts, product recalls, sinking sales, and plummeting stock prices. And now, all eyes are on its Q1 earnings call that will reveal the moment of truth for the firm. 

Closer home, travel distribution company TBO Tek Ltd and flexible workspace solutions firm Awfis Space Solutions Ltd have received a go-ahead from the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise funds through an initial public offering.

In other news, OTP Ventures, backed by former BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer, is reportedly aiming to secure the first close of its debut fund at Rs 400 crore by June.

Meanwhile, digital payments company PayU has received in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payments aggregator (PA) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

Speaking of fintech, payment gateway Razorpay has launched its own UPI infrastructure, UPI Switch, in collaboration with Airtel Payments Bank.

Lastly, a call from an old friend.

Earth’s most distant spacecraft, Voyager 1, has started communicating properly again with NASA after engineers worked for months to remotely fix the 46-year-old probe.

Did you know that the spacecraft, which is more than 24 billion kilometres away from the Earth, was the first human-made object to venture out of the solar system?

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Ather eyes $1B valuation
• Enterprise engagement powered by AI

Here’s your trivia for today: In website addresses, what is the “.com” short for?

Funding

Ather eyes $1B valuation

Ather Energy is expected to raise around $95 million in a pre-IPO funding round, which would help the electric two-wheeler maker secure a spot in the unicorn club with its valuation crossing a billion dollars, two sources aware of the developments told YourStory.

Public issue:

• Hero MotoCorp, among Ather’s largest shareholders, could participate in the round as it looks to shore up its stake in the startup.
• “Ather wants to go to the public market with its cash reserves sorted out and on a strong footing,” said one of the sources privy to internal discussions.
• According to an ET report, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal could sell his entire stake in Ather to Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath. Bansal holds over 10% of the company’s shares.

<Funding Alert>

Startup: Rippling

Amount: $200M

Round: Series F

Startup: Dhruva Space

Amount: Rs 78 Cr

Round: Series A2

Startup

Enterprise engagement powered by AI

Enterprise engagement platform Zeapl.ai solves corporate communication challenges by using AI to automate engagement. 

The platform integrates with the enterprise’s existing systems, CRM platforms, and databases, allowing businesses to use their existing data and workflows and work across various communication channels such as voice, web, and WhatsApp to engage with end-users.

SaaS solution:

• Zeapl.ai provides personalised engagement with end-users, including employees, customers, intermediaries, and influencers, ensuring continuity, omnichannel excellence, proactive support, and actionable business insights.
• It prioritises data security through a multifaceted approach encompassing various deployment options, certifications, AI integration, customisation features, and encryption protocols. 
• The platform currently serves more than 40 companies across multiple sectors including automotive, FMCG, telecom, retail, ISP, ecommerce, consumer durables and building materials.

News & updates

• Smartphone AI: Microsoft has unveiled the concept of its latest light AI model called the Phi-3 Mini designed to run on smartphones and other local devices. Trained on 3.8 billion parameters, it’s the first of three small Phi-3 language models the company will release in the near future.
• Upbeat results: General Motors on Tuesday posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street targets and raised its annual forecast, citing stable pricing and demand for its gas-engine vehicles, sending shares up 5%.
• Cloud for cola: Microsoft said on Tuesday that Coca-Cola had signed a $1.1 billion five-year deal to use its cloud computing and artificial intelligence services. Under the agreement, Microsoft and Coca-Cola will “jointly experiment” with Azure OpenAI. 

In website addresses, what is the “.com” short for?

Answer: Commercial

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