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Ola Electric is on track to deliver its first car in the second half of 2024, CFO G.R. Arun Kumar said on the sidelines of the India Energy Week forum.

He added that the company is focused on advanced stages of design and benefiting from the sharing of some technology deployed in its two-wheeler products, reported Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, a routine pest control call turned nuts at a home in California as the technician found 700 pounds of acorns stuffed inside the walls.

The culprits? Turns out, it was amassed by acorn woodpeckers, Nick Castro, owner of Nick’s Extreme Pest Control, told CNN. 

ICYMI: Astronomers discovered 12 new moons around Jupiter, taking the total to 92 now. Some of them aren’t even big enough to warrant a name!

In today’s newsletter, we talk about 

• Freshworks eyes profitability by year-end
• EV charging infra for luxury vehicles
• Zomato shares soar ahead of Q3 results

Here’s your trivia for today: When and where did Taj open its first hotel outside India?

SaaS

Freshworks eyes profitability by year-end

Freshworks is eyeing operational profitability by the end of the year. The announcement comes on the back of revenue contribution from new deals and higher business flowing in from the mid-market and enterprise segments.

Upbeat numbers:

• Freshworks posted a 26% year-on-year growth in revenue at $133.2 million for the last quarter of 2022.
• The company’s net loss narrowed by 25.7% to $55.5 million from $74.7 million in the year-ago period.
• Its net cash from operating activities improved to $7.2 million compared to $4.8 million in Oct-Dec 2021.

Funding Alert

Startup: Zypp Electric

Amount: $25M

Round: Series B

Startup: Entropik

Amount: $25M

Round: Series B

Startup: Bluelearn

Amount: $3.5M

Round: Seed

Startup

EV charging infra for luxury vehicles

While electric vehicles are gaining momentum in India and around the world, charging infrastructure is a hindrance to their fast adoption. Gurugram-based SunFuel Electric deploys advertisement-backed high-speed charging infrastructure for luxury EVs. 

Electric thinking:

• SunFuel has built a city charging infrastructure where each charger becomes a recurring revenue-generating asset.
• It is establishing an AdPod charger at the DLF Emporio Mall, and a 120 KWH Highway Charger on the Kalka-Shimla Highway. 
• The company plans to install 350+ chargers in 2023 and 1,000 in the next year.

Stock market

Zomato shares soar ahead of Q3 results

Shares of food-delivery platform Zomato soared over 9% on Wednesday after Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted about working towards the company’s profitability while cheering Paytm’s Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma on achieving EBITDA-level profitability.

Q3 outlook:

• The tweet stirred a sense of optimism in Zomato’s investors, sending the shares up by more than 9%.
• The Q3 2023 numbers look bright for Zomato, with growth expected in the quick commerce segment through Blinkit.
• Its food delivery gross order value (GOV) grew by 23% YoY in the July-September quarter, led by its Hyperpure business.

News & updates

• Consumer spends: Indian households see inflation moderating, with job opportunities rising amid better economic situation, according to surveys from RBI. Inflation perception for the current period dropped 20 basis points to 9.6% in January.
• Profitable growth: Uber Technologies said on Wednesday it would focus on delivering profits this year, after rounding off 2022 with blowout earnings as a surge in demand for airport and office rides helped the company rebound from pandemic lows.
• Yet another one: Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is working on a rival to ChatGPT, joining a flurry of tech firms to jump on board the chatbot hype. A spokesperson said the company is testing a ChatGPT-style technology.

When and where did Taj open its first hotel outside India?

Answer: 1980 in Sana’a, Yemen.

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