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Working from home? How about working in virtual reality?

Facebook parent Meta believes its newest Quest Pro VR headset will be a better way to work than your computer. To facilitate this, the company has partnered with Microsoft, bringing Teams, Office, and Windows to the device.

Will Zuck gamify your workplace? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, early-stage fund Fireside Ventures closed its third fund at Rs 1,830 crore ($225 million) in its largest capital raise so far. The investors that participated in this fund were predominantly domestic. 

In other news, Tracxn Technologies’ initial public offering (IPO) was subscribed 2.01 on its final day, with investors buying 4.27 crore equity shares against 2.12 crore shares on offer. 

Lastly, English artist Damien Hirst is burning thousands of his ‘spot’ paintings.

Of course, it has something to do with NFTs! 

(Well, kind of.)

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• BNPLs see 60% higher spend
• MobiKwik raises more debt
• BYJU’S to lay off 5% workforce

Here’s your trivia for today: Which country won the first-ever FIFA World Cup?

Ecommerce

BNPLs see 60% higher spend

Ecommerce consumers, it seems, are saying yes to BNPL (buy now, pay later), with the segment seeing a rise of 50-60% as compared with a similar period during last year’s season. 

BNPL disbursements this year are also expected to be 3-4 times higher than the pre-pandemic period, according to estimates by Grant Thornton Bharat.

No cash? No problem

• ZestMoney, LazyPay, and KreditBee are anticipating strong numbers this festive season as more shoppers opt to pay via zero-interest equated monthly instalments and on increasing demand for short-term personal credit.
• In July, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred fintech companies from loading prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) such as prepaid cards and mobile wallets using credit offered by non-bank institutions.
• Travel, consumer electronics (including mobile phones), and home furnishings are witnessing the highest traction in BNPL categories. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Adda247 

Amount: $35M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Assiduus Global

Amount: $15M

Round: Series A

Startup: Isthara 

Amount: $10M

Round: Undisclosed 

Fintech

MobiKwik raises more debt

Despite reports of MobiKwik’s plan to raise $100 million in equity, the IPO-bound digital payment provider has been raising small amounts of debt in tranches. The company has also made changes to its ESOP (employee stock ownership plan).

IPO hiccups:

• According to two separate RoC (Registrar of Companies) filings, MobiKwik has raised a total debt of Rs 55 crore since August from BlackSoil and Bengaluru-based Alternative Investment Fund, Karnation.
• The debt raise comes almost 14 months after its last equity fundraise, in June 2021, from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which had valued the fintech company at $720-750 million.
• MobiKwik received the market regulator’s approval to float a Rs 1,900 crore ($255 million) initial public offering (IPO) in October last year. 

Edtech 

BYJU’S to lay off 5% workforce

Edtech startup BYJU’S is slashing 5% of its workforce across product, content, media, and technology teams. 

The move, aimed at avoiding redundancies and duplication of roles, is expected to affect some 2,500 workers. 

Key takeaways: 

• At a group level, the company is prioritising achieving overall profitability by March 2023.  
• The team is also reinventing the sales model to focus more on inside sales, using video calling platforms. 
• It plans to be a net hirer towards the end of the financial year, with an overarching plan to hire a total of 10,000 more teachers in the coming year. 

News & updates

• In the spotlight: Binance has been accused of filing a “grossly inaccurate” annual report for one of its British entities. The directors of Dimplx, a UK company formed as part of a joint venture with Binance, said the 2020 financial statements for one of Binance’s UK companies “do not accurately report” the nature of its business, its turnover, assets and liabilities, “including potential tax liabilities”.
• Expensive tastes: India’s retail inflation accelerated to a five-month high in September, driven by higher food prices, highlighting the central bank’s challenges in cooling price gains within its target. Consumer prices rose 7.4% last month from a year earlier.
• Smelling it up: The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has scented a new opportunity to capitalise on quirky products, launching a perfume called “Burnt Hair” that he said sold 10,000 bottles to earn a million dollars in just a few hours.
• A new journey: Sridhar Ramaswamy, who led Google’s advertising business from 2013 to 2018, has launched a Web3 company called nxyz. It trawls blockchains and their associated applications for data on things like NFTs and crypto wallets, and then streams it to developers in real-time.

What you should watch out for

• Infosys board to consider share buyback.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the fourth Vande Bharat Express in Himachal Pradesh.

Which country won the first-ever FIFA World Cup?

Answer: Uruguay, in 1930, after defeating Argentina 4–2.

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