The day of 8 billion.
Tuesday marked the day when the world’s population hit 8 billion. According to the United Nations, around one billion people were added to the global population in the last 12 years. It is now expected to take approximately 15 years—until 2037— for it to reach 9 billion.
Sometime in the next year, India will surpass China as the world’s most populous nation.
In other news, Walmart reported total third-quarter revenue of $152.8 billion, up 8.7% from the corresponding year-ago period. Its ecommerce net sales grew to 23% of total net sales during the quarter, primarily due to Flipkart’s flagship festive sale event, Big Billion Days, held over the last week of September.
ICYMI: The person behind last week’s $600 million exploit of crypto exchange FTX has started moving millions of dollars in stolen funds, CoinDesk has reported. Meanwhile, FTX Founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is seeking commitments from investors to raise fresh cash.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Funding winter opens opportunities for VCs
- AB de Villiers’ MAD partnership
- A safety wearable for women
Here’s your trivia for today: Which popular 90’s fighting game eventually became a movie?
TechSparks 2022
Funding winter opens opportunities for VCs
Seasoned venture capitalists investing in startups across various stages are not worried about the funding winter as the opportunities are just too big to miss. During a panel discussion at TechSparks 2022, the flagship event of YourStory, the four panelists were united in their view that this so-called funding winter will pass.
Keen interest:
- According to Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman, Chiratae Ventures, the Indian startup ecosystem has registered a revenue of $35 billion this year and has recorded a growth of around 35% annually for the last three years.
- Sudhir said that revenue from the startup ecosystem may touch $200 billion in the next five years.
- Amit Somani, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners, said that he has seen more LP interest in India in the last six months than in the last eight years.
<Funding Alert>
Startup: Contentstack
Amount: $80M
Round: Series C
Startup: Iba Cosmetics
Amount: $10M
Round: Series B
Startup: ReadyAssist
Amount: $5M
Round: Pre-Series A
Impact
AB de Villiers’ MAD partnership
Former South African cricket team captain AB de Villiers has decided to volunteer his time for Make a Difference (MAD) to mentor two young people supported by the organisation.
Fantastic innings:
- MAD works with children in need of care and protection, who are often neglected by society.
- The organisation impacts 3,500 children every year across India and has 4,000 volunteers.
- During the initial stage of his volunteering, AB de Villiers will mentor two MAD beneficiaries over the next six months: 18-year-old Ayan from Lucknow, who has just finished school and wants to play cricket at the under-19 level and possibly for India, and Anitha, who is 21 years old and studying journalism in Bengaluru.
Women entrepreneur
A safety wearable for women
Srishti Sharma has developed Shakti, a wearable device for women that electrifies an attacker when the user presses the button twice. It also sends the user’s last detected live location to nearby top three contacts via WhatsApp and text message.
For safety:
- Once the current is emitted, the attacker is disarmed for 120 seconds and it takes him 30 minutes to come back to normal.
- Currently priced at Rs 950, Srishti hopes to make the device available for NGO distribution in slums and villages for around Rs 650.
- The entrepreneur has also received approval from the Women and Child Department, Government of Delhi, which will help her launch Shakti on a larger scale.
News & updates
- Can of worms: Collapsed-crypto exchange FTX outlined a “severe liquidity crisis” in U.S. bankruptcy filings, which said the group could have more than 1 million creditors, as regulators opened investigations and lawmakers called for clearer rules on how the industry operates.
- More layoffs: Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has begun a new round of job cuts targeted at its video streaming, gaming and cloud businesses, four sources close to the matter told Reuters.
- SOS call: Apple has launched an Emergency SOS via satellite feature, which can help users connect with emergency services even when outside cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.
What you should watch out for
- NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission launch
- National Press Day
Which popular 90’s fighting game eventually became a movie?
Answer: Mortal Kombat
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