Blog

For Dunzo, it’s now all about profitability.

The Reliance Retail-backed convenience platform told its former employees in an email that it was working towards having its first full profitable year in FY25 by doubling down on certain categories.

It also reassured them that the company will clear their pending salaries and TDS payments, which have been on hold since July last year.

On a similar note, BYJU’S has once again delayed the payment of salaries for its employees, this time for the month of March, amidst a severe liquidity crunch. In an email to employees, it blamed the salary delay on investors seeking to void the $200 million rights issue.

The edtech startup had earlier delayed February salaries and partially paid them in March.

Meanwhile, audio platform Pocket FM has completed its first ESOP buyback worth $8.3 million, just a few days after it raised $103 million in a Series D funding round.

Speaking of ESOPs, men’s lifestyle label XYXX, too, announced a buyback for employees who completed their tenure, offering a 6X premium on the allotted price with zero strike price.

ICYMI: Looking back at 20 years of Gmail.

Oh, and did you know some trees store water?

Andhra Pradesh Forest Department authorities cut the bark of an Indian laurel tree, only to find water gushing out.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Building Gen AI solutions for enterprises
• Meghalaya’s Garo textile gets GI tag
• Ola Electric raises debt ahead of IPO

Here’s your trivia for today: Before becoming a video streaming site, what was YouTube’s original purpose?

Startup

Building Gen AI solutions for enterprises

Enterprise solutions provider Ema AI has garnered investments from Accel, Section 32, and Prosus Ventures. At a time when every other startup claims to be the “next big thing” in the AI space, what sets Ema apart from the competition?

Tech stack:

• From building chatbots, code generation and design processes, enterprises are increasingly exploring Gen AI for various use cases.
• San Francisco- and Bengaluru-based Ema, short for Enterprise Machine Assistant, says it offers solutions to streamline these tasks, reduce costs, and accelerate development processes.
• As per a report by Bloomberg Intelligence, the projected market size for generative AI in enterprises globally is set to reach $1.3 trillion by 2032.

Culture

Meghalaya’s Garo textile, turmeric get GI tags

Meghalaya’s rich cultural heritage and craftsmanship have gained special recognition with Garo Textiles, Larnai Pottery, Meghalaya Chubitchi, and Lakadang Turmeric receiving Geographical Indication (GI) tags.

Heritage:

• The four GI-tagged products, while representing the rich culture of the state, also offer livelihoods to 30,000 individuals directly involved in their production and trade.
• Larnai pottery is rooted in age-old craft and is famous for black pottery where black clay is mixed with serpentine stone. These are made with traditional techniques passed through generations.
• Chubitchi is generally a weak home-brewed beer of a milky colour made from rice or other grains, and is considered an important part of Garo culture and partaken during religious rituals and other special occasions.

EV

Ola Electric raises debt ahead of IPO

Ola Electric has raised $50 million in debt funding from debt financing platform, EvolutionX Debt Capital, according to media reports. The company raised the funding by issuing 41,000 non-convertible debentures (NCDs) at an issue price of Rs 1 lakh each, said reports, citing the company’s RoC filings.

Public outing:

• Ola Electric’s fundraise comes ahead of its much-awaited IPO, where, as per its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), it plans to raise $660 million.
• Additionally, there is a proposed offer for the sale of 95.2 million equity shares at a face value of Rs 10.
• The company said it plans to invest Rs 1,600 crore for R&D, while its subsidiary Ola Cell Technologies will use Rs 1,226.4 crore for the construction of the Ola Gigafactory project.

News & updates

• Downgrade: Thailand’s economic growth is expected at 2.8% this year before accelerating to 3.0% in 2025, the World Bank said. The growth outlook for 2024 and 2025 was reduced from 3.2% and 3.1%, respectively, as forecast in December. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy expanded 1.9% in 2023.
• AI fever: Samsung could add generative artificial intelligence technology to its voice assistant Bixby, a top executive at the company told CNBC. Bixby was launched in 2017 with Samsung’s Galaxy S8 smartphone. The software offered a number of functions, including live translations and restaurant recommendations.
• Smokescreen: Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group disclosed on Monday that it lost more than $58 million and generated $4.1 million in revenue in 2023. Former US President Donald Trump’s social media company debuted on the bourses recently and was valued at $8 billion.

Before becoming a video streaming site, what was YouTube’s original purpose?

Answer: It was originally designed to be a video dating website with the slogan, ‘Tune in, Hookup’.

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