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Hello,

Zomato is hiring … but with a catch.

Co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal is looking for a Chief of Staff but the selected candidate will get no salary for the first year and will have to pay Rs 20 lakh in the form of donation to the company’s Feeding India initiative. Zomato will contribute Rs 50 lakh to a charity of the candidate’s choice. 

All salary discussions will only take place at the start of the second year.

This comes as a Deloitte report released earlier this year revealed that the gap between median pay and average C-suite pay is widening. The average CEO compensation with long-term incentives was Rs 9.8 crore in 2020 versus Rs 13.8 crore in 2024.

ICYMI: Deepinder Goyal has a go-to recommendation when it comes to books. 

In other news, Christmas came early for crypto investors.

Bitcoin hit a new all-time high price, trading at $94,000, amid reports that Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media and Technology, was in talks to buy crypto trading firm Bakkt ahead of an expected crypto-friendly incoming Trump administration.

However, not all are painting the town red. Logan Paul, for one.

The social media star, and the brother of Jake Paul, who recently won a fight with Mike Tyson, is facing fresh questions over his cryptocurrency dealings that he may have profited from misleading fans. BBC reported that his tweet about a particular crypto coin in 2021 may have caused the prices of his investments to spike.

But some countries are now treating cryptocurrencies as a long-term reserve, shifting away from their sceptical stance. Bhutan has quietly accumulated $1.1 billion in Bitcoin, holding 34% of its GDP in 13,011 BTC.

It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Healing healthcare skill gaps
• Spacetech startups’ sky-bound ambition
• Transformative lithium battery recycling

Here’s your trivia for today: Which is the richest Hindu temple in the world?

Feature

Healing healthcare skill gaps

As medical research, treatments, and technology advance at an unprecedented pace, healthcare professionals must stay ahead to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and high-quality care.

Unlike other industries, staying on the cutting edge is non-negotiable for healthcare professionals to deliver the best possible care. This urgency has opened up a vital opportunity for organisations offering high-quality upskilling programmes tailored to their needs.

Prescription for success:

• India has over 700 medical colleges with an annual intake of more than 1 lakh students. However, there are only around 70,000 postgraduate seats. According to Gerald Jaideep, CEO of Medvarsity, this imbalance often leads doctors to forgo specialisation.
• Startups like OC Academy and Medvarsity are working towards helping healthcare professionals bridge skill gaps, offering courses from short-term certifications to long-term post-graduate qualifications, master’s degrees, and fellowships.
• India has just 1.7 nurses per 1,000 people, and the doctor-to-patient ratio stands at 1:1,500, creating significant opportunities for upskilling service providers to fulfil this demand for trained personnel. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Blitz

Amount: Rs 51 Cr

Round: Series A

Startup: Billion Hearts

Amount: $4M

Round: Seed

Startup: Doodhvale Farms

Amount: $3M

Round: Series A

Spacetech

Spacetech startups’ sky-bound ambition

ISRO has a key role to play in the growth of startups, including Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroot Aerospace, Pixxel, Dhruva Space, and Bellatrix Aerospace.

The successful suborbital launches by startups Skyroot and Agnikul have fanned hopes among other startups in the sector, which are ready to take on the challenges of rocket-building in the private sector and build the next SpaceX in India, noted ISRO Chairman Dr Sreedhara Panicker Somanath at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024.

Growing ecosystem:

• The ISRO chief pointed out that the Indian space ecosystem is growing, with a vision to expand fivefold in the next 20 years. Currently contributing less than 2% to the global space economy, India aims to claim at least a 10% share as the sector evolves.
• Dr Somanath also noted that building small satellites is becoming a significant activity across the country, with at least five companies now involved in satellite development. Many are also scaling up their ability to collaborate and contribute to subsystems for rockets and satellites.
• He also elaborated on the Gaganyaan mission during the session, terming it a major project that has been underway for the last four years, with the aim of launching the nation’s first crewed space mission by 2026. The uncrewed mission is scheduled for early next year, with rocket parts already at the launch complex.

Startup

Transformative lithium battery recycling

As the demand for EVs and renewable energy storage accelerates, the question of what happens to lithium-ion batteries as they degrade and lose their capacity to perform efficiently at the end of their life becomes increasingly critical. 

Founded in 2021, Lico Materials aims to provide a solution by transforming the recycling and refurbishment processes of lithium-ion batteries to create a sustainable circular economy.

Sustainability loop:

• The Mumbai-based startup recycles, refurbishes, and recovers critical materials like lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel from end-of-life batteries, which are then returned to battery manufacturers to be used in making new batteries.
• LICO generates revenue by selling minerals to battery manufacturers and paying for the raw materials.  In the last financial year, the startup reported a revenue of Rs 30 crore and is targeting Rs 60 crore for the current financial year.
• The bootstrapped startup has partnered with global giants like Samsung in South Korea, the US, the Philippines, and Malaysia to source batteries for recycling. It partners with OEMs in the EV sector, the battery energy storage systems sector, and consumer electronics manufacturers.

News & updates

• House sales: According to real estate consultancy firm ANAROCK, the average house price in the top seven cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, climbed 23% from a year earlier to Rs 1.2 crore during April-September 2024. More than 227,400 units were sold in those urban areas during the first half of the fiscal year, it said.
• AI learning: OpenAI released a free online course designed to help K-12 teachers learn how to bring ChatGPT into their classrooms. Created in collaboration with the nonprofit organisation Common Sense Media, the nine-module programme covers the basics of AI and its pedagogical applications.
• Back to market: Egypt started selling a stake of as much as $104 million in United Bank, the country’s first initial public offering in three years as it presses ahead with a privatisation programme being encouraged by the International Monetary Fund.

Which is the richest Hindu temple in the world?

Answer: Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, with estimated assets worth Rs 1,20,000 crore.

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