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Hello,

Bounce’s strategy seems to be finally paying off.

The e-mobility startup reported a narrower net loss of Rs 243.3 crore for FY22. This is largely owing to a decline of 23% in expenses, mainly due to the company axing jobs since the onset of the pandemic.

Bounce has continued to downsize its workforce, laying off 40-50 employees last month as it pivots to manufacturing e-scooters.

In other news, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a virtual discussion with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, urging the multilateral funding agency to develop a globally coordinated approach to the regulation of crypto assets. 

Elsewhere, Google’s AI race has already proven to be an expensive undertaking for the company. On Wednesday, its new chatbot Bard caused parent entity Alphabet’s market value to fall by $100 billion due to one incorrect answer. 

Last but not least, registrations are now open for the second cohort of YourStory University. If you are a current entrepreneur or aspiring to be one, click here to check out the course.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Gogoro’s India plans at full throttle
• Zomato Q3 revenue grows 75% YOY
• xto10x’s FY22 profit up by 3.2 times

Here’s your trivia for today: Which line of laptop computers was inspired by the Japanese bento lunchbox?

Electric vehicles

Gogoro’s India plans at full throttle

Uncertainty over EV (electric vehicle) regulations, logistical pain points, and increasing competition are no match for the ambitions of electric scooter maker and battery swapping company Gogoro.

The company is taking an ‘all in’ approach with India, which includes manufacturing scooters, bringing in swappable batteries, and setting up a battery-swapping infrastructure, similar to what it has done back home in Taiwan.

Electrification:

• In April 2021, Gogoro set up a joint venture with Hero MotoCorp for its battery-swapping business and to bring Hero-branded, Gogoro Network-powered EVs to India.
• Last month, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Gogoro, along with Belrise Industries, an Indian automotive systems manufacturer, and the Government of Maharashtra, allocated a capital outlay of $2.5 billion for setting up battery swapping stations throughout Maharashtra.
• The Taiwanese government has committed to invest $191.5 million from 2023 to 2026 to promote subsidies for purchasing e-scooters and installing charging points and swapping infrastructure.

<Funding Alert>

Startup: Turno 

Amount: $13.8M

Round: Series B

Startup: Hatica 

Amount: $3.7M

Round: Seed

Startup: Blockfenders 

Amount: $1.5M

Round: Pre-Seed

Foodtech

Zomato Q3 revenue grows 75% YOY

Foodtech startup Zomato’s revenue from operations rose 75% to Rs 1,948 crore in the third quarter of FY23 from Rs 1,112 crore in the same period during the previous fiscal, led by a rise in revenue from its B2B supplies segment. 

The firm’s consolidated net loss widened to Rs 347 crore compared with Rs 67 crore.

Report card:

• Revenue from Hyperpure, the firm’s B2B supplies division, grew 169% to Rs 421 crore, partly fuelled by supplying goods to sellers on Blinkit.
• The company’s Gold loyalty programme, which was relaunched in late January, already has over 9 lakh signups, and is expected to drive loyalty and higher frequency of orders.
• Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal noted that the Gurugram-based company will choose to prioritise growth over profitability in the Hyperpure segment.

Startup

xto10x’s FY22 profit up by 3.2 times

Scaling platform for growth-stage startups xto10x’s profits rose by 3.2 times and revenue was up 2.3 times for FY21-22. The Binny Bansal-led company posted a profit of Rs 8.95 crore against Rs 2.77 crore from the previous year. 

Its revenue from the sale of services (consultancy services) was at Rs 43.72 crore compared to Rs 19.08 crore, as per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings. 

To the moon:

• The majority of its revenue from services came from Singapore at Rs 39.11 crore, while the India revenue was at Rs 4.61 crore for the fiscal. 
• In February last year, xto10x raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Bansal. 
• xto10x helps startups scale by bringing in the right knowledge and capabilities across several key areas, including a strategy for execution.

News & updates

• Sounding off: Podcasting is facing an identity crisis as its ecosystem contracts, advertisement slows, and the medium eases into maturity. There are fewer new shows, networks are having difficulties recouping investments, and longtime podcasters are looking for ways to keep their shows sustainable.
• Origin story: We’ve reached peak ChatGPT. But OpenAI’s breakout hit did not come out of nowhere. The chatbot is the most polished iteration to date in a line of large language models going back years. How did we get here?
• Restructuring: Disney CEO Bob Iger said “everything is on the table” with Hulu. At present, the company owns two-thirds of the streaming service. While it is expected to buy the rest of it from Comcast as early as January 2024, Iger isn’t speculating whether Disney is a buyer or seller of Hulu right now.

Which line of laptop computers was inspired by the Japanese bento lunchbox?

Answer: Lenovo’s ThinkPad.

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