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Hello,

Is the future of streaming ad-supported?

Sure looks like it. After Netflix, Amazon is planning to launch an advertising-supported tier for Prime Video in a bid to expand its ad business and, obviously, generate more revenue from entertainment, reports The Wall Street Journal.

It makes sense for Amazon as the tech giant already has a sprawling ad business. The third-largest player in the market after Google and Meta, the company grossed an ad revenue of $9.5 billion in the first quarter of this year.

Closer home, while Netflix seems to have skipped India while rolling out its ad-supported tier (for now), Disney+ Hotstar already has similar plans on offer. On the other hand, Amazon—which recently hiked its Prime subscription prices for its monthly and quarterly plans—a cheaper ad-supported alternative may actually help assuage customers who are unhappy with the new rates. 

Ironic considering ad-free was a massive selling point for OTT platforms during their early days.

Meanwhile, BYJU’S is having another round of layoffs, reported The Morning Context, amid ongoing conflicts with lenders. About 1,000 people may be impacted, primarily contractual employees working in sales and marketing teams, who are usually onboarded via third-party staffing firms.

In other news, WhatsApp is going the Telegram way, introducing a new feature “Channels”, which would serve as a dedicated tab to receive updates from individuals and organisations, separate from the regular messaging chat feature with friends and family.

Lastly, say hello to Slowjamastan, a country started by a DJ from San Diego, Randy “R Dub!” Williams, because he simply “ran out of countries” to visit.

Oh, and guess what? He is known as “The Sultan of Slowjamastan”.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Gender equality on NGO boards
• RBI to launch FLDG guidelines soon
• Antler to support growth-stage startups

Here’s your trivia for today: What is Donald Duck’s middle name?

Women empowerment

Gender equality on NGO boards

The Women on Boards programme trains women from the corporate sector and places them on the boards of non-profit organisations. The idea is to leverage their unique skills and expertise and build strong and accountable governance in NGOs.

Changing narratives:

• The programme’s paid three-month training blends different learning pedagogy, with virtual segments and in-person sessions in Delhi. 
• It delivers three modules across classroom sessions, case studies, and volunteering engagements with social impact organisations.
• So far, of the 75 women from the first two cohorts of the programme, 50 have been placed on the boards of NGOs, including Quest Alliance, Bengaluru; Protsahan India Foundation, Delhi; Apnalaya, Mumbai; Sshrishti Trust, Delhi; and Tech4Dev, Bengaluru.

Fintech

RBI to launch FLDG guidelines soon

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to put in place a regulatory framework to permit default loss guarantee arrangements in digital lending. The FLDG (First Loan Default Guarantee) model is a lending arrangement between banks/NBFCs and a fintech or a lending service provider (LSP), where the latter compensates the former in case a borrower defaults. 

New policy:

• This model was struck by the RBI’s digital lending guidelines issued in August last year and was put under examination by the regulator since then. 
• The absence of regulatory clarification had pushed fintechs to either stall operations or explore other options such as co-lending small ticket loans, co-branded partnerships, and alternative mechanisms like revenue-sharing models.  
• RBI has also allowed non-bank PPI issuers to issue e-RuPi vouchers, which beneficiaries can redeem at merchants who accept e-rupee by scanning the QR code or using the code received on SMS on their phone.

Funding

Antler to support growth-stage startups

Venture capital firm Antler raised $285 million for its Antler Elevate fund to support growth-stage startups. Antler Elevate will participate in Series A funding and beyond to provide scale-up capital for companies having a good product-market fit and demonstrating compounding growth. 

Money talks:

• The Antler Elevate fund has already invested more than $70 million in 30+ companies, it stated in a blog post.
• Antler has seeded and invested in more than 750 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 companies by 2030.
• In January 2022, the India arm of the global early-stage venture capital firm selected 19 student entrepreneurs as part of its inaugural Antler India Fellowship cohort.

News & updates

• Future plans: ByteDance’s TikTok aims to more than quadruple its global ecommerce business to as much as $20 billion in merchandise sales this year, banking on rapid growth in Southeast Asia. It is working to expand sales in the US and Europe too. 
• Avant-garde: The European Commission has approved 8.1 billion euros ($8.7 billion) of state aid for microelectronics and communication technology projects as part of the European Union’s drive to be at the cutting edge of technological innovation.
• Crackdown: Google has updated its hybrid work policy, and will now include office attendance in performance reviews. Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconib has asked already-approved employees to consider switching from full-remote to hybrid.

What is Donald Duck’s middle name?

Answer: Fauntleroy

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