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Hello,

The layoff saga continues. 

Goldman Sachs made headlines on Monday when it announced plans for its biggest round of job cuts ever, Bloomberg reported. 

The Wall Street giant plans to eliminate about 3,200 positions this week, and more than a third of those will likely be from within its core trading and banking units. 

In other news, Meta, formerly Facebook, has appointed Vikas Purohit as the Director of Global Business Group in India, bolstering its domestic leadership team following some recent high-level exits.

Vikas, the former CEO of Tata Cliq, will spearhead Meta’s strategic relationships with brands and ad agencies.

Meanwhile, Zerodha reported a nearly 86% growth in profit to Rs 2,094 crore for FY22, riding an 82% jump in revenue from operations to Rs 4,964 crore. 

While the company last month said it was on track to earn as much revenue and profit in FY23 as in FY22, it warned that it would likely be in for tough times from the next financial year.

ICYMI: A new generation of startups is inching toward full-on medical-grade analysis of its users. And no, it’s not about measuring your heart rate, number of steps, and EKG on your wrist. 

This time, it’s all about urine analysis!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Fireside’s new gameplan
• Paytm loan distribution surges
• India’s first female detective

Here’s your trivia for today: Which item of clothing takes its name from the area of Dongri in India?

Venture capital 

Fireside’s new gameplan

For over five years, Fireside Ventures has backed mostly consumer brands such as IPO-bound Mamaearth, boAT Lifestyle, and Vahdam Teas. Now, the early-stage investor is exploring gaming startups as it looks beyond the D2C (direct-to-consumer) segment.

The playbook:

• On Fireside’s radar are gaming studios, publishers, and companies engaged in decentralised finance (DeFi) gaming.
• The firm is, however, not pausing its D2C push. A person familiar with the firm’s plans said that if Fireside invests in six to seven consumer brands in a year, a couple or more investments would likely be in gaming startups. 
• The gaming market in India was valued at $2.6 billion in FY2022 and is projected to be worth $8.6 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 27%, according to a report by Lumikai, a gaming-focussed investment firm. 

Funding Alert

Startup: The Whole Truth

Amount: $15M

Round: Series B

Startup: Virohan

Amount: $7M

Round: Pre-Series B1

Startup: BankSathi 

Amount: $4M

Round: Pre-Series A

Fintech

Paytm loan distribution surges

Paytm’s super apps business has gained traction in the last few months. And its loan distribution business surged 357% to Rs 9,958 crore in the fiscal third quarter.

The value of loans disbursed in December alone surged 330% year-on-year to Rs 3,665 crore, One97 Communications Ltd, the parent company of Paytm, said in a filing with the stock exchanges.

Key takeaways:

• Merchant payment volumes processed on Paytm’s platform in the December quarter aggregated to Rs 3.46 lakh crore, or $42 billion, a 38% growth from the year-earlier period.
• The company has seen massive growth in the offline payments space, with 5.8 million merchants now subscribing to its payments devices, expanding from two million devices a year earlier.
• Last month, the company announced a buyback of about one crore equity shares of Rs 850 crore at a maximum price of Rs 810 per share.

Women entrepreneurs

India’s first female detective 

Rajani Pandit became a detective in the early 1980s after she took it upon herself to ensure the safety of a classmate. After more than 30 years in the field and 80,000 cases to her credit, she says the profession needs more women.

Lady Sherlock:

• By 1989, Rajani had become a known figure and was interviewed by Doordarshan in the show, ‘Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin’.
• Rajani’s work includes background checks, financial fraud, pre and post-employment checks, and personal investigations (locating missing persons, divorces cases) .
• The five qualities of a good detective, according to Rajani, are patience, confidence, discretion, presence of mind, and quick thinking.

News & updates

• Record loss: The Swiss National Bank posted an annual loss of 132 billion Swiss francs ($143 billion) in 2022, the biggest in its 115-year history, as falling stock and fixed-income markets hit the value of its share and bond portfolio.
• To infinity: The first orbital rocket launch in Western Europe is set to take place in the UK. The modified Boeing 747 plane, named “Cosmic Girl,” will take off from Spaceport Cornwall in southwest England. At around 35,000 feet, the Virgin Orbit rocket will be deployed over the Atlantic, carrying nine small satellites into orbit in what is known as a horizontal launch.
• No reservations: Noma, The Copenhagen restaurant, one of the world’s most famous and a top destination for food tourism, has given notice that it will permanently close its doors to regular service. The good news for fine-dining groupies: The closing won’t come until the end of 2024.

Which item of clothing takes its name from the area of Dongri in India?

Answer: Dungarees.

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