Hello,
The Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC) is set to commence beta testing in Meerut next week, making it the first Tier II city to go live on the network. The initial phase will involve more than 50 sellers in the food and beverage category, correspondence sent to members revealed.
In other news, the GST Council has agreed to decriminalise certain offences and doubled the threshold for launching prosecution to Rs 2 crore.
ICYMI: Research conducted using NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer telescopes has found two far-off planets that are likely made of water. However, unlike Miller’s planet shown in the movie Interstellar, the temperature in Kepler-138 c’s and Kepler-138 d’s atmosphere is likely above the boiling point of water.
Also, from tandoori spaghetti to masala mac and cheese, 2023 will likely see chaos cooking, the term given to weird food mashups, reach bizarre levels as restaurants experiment with novel concoctions.
Which is your favourite unpopular food combination?
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Helping brands click online
- EPack Durables’ journey
- The Kabadiwala
Here’s your trivia for today: What is the name of the bug found in the publicly available OpenSSL cryptography library in April 2014?
Startup
Helping brands click online
To give new players in the crowded Indian ecommerce space a fighting chance, Baqar Iftikhar Naqvi and Mohit Jain founded Upriver, an online channel management and sales accelerator, in 2019. The Gurugram-based startup provides brands with end-to-end strategies, operations, marketing, and financial support.
Tech for growth:
- The startup’s account management services encompass launching D2C websites, listing and catalogue management, daily inventory and order management, advertising and promotion, customer retention, and more.
- Upriver has worked for marketplaces including Amazon (India and other markets), Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa, Ajio, 1MG, and Meesho.
- In FY22, it generated $1 million in revenue—a 5X growth over the previous two years.
SMB
EPack Durables’ journey
In 2012, EPack Durables became an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and an original design manufacturer (ODM) for a number of household brands such as Samsung, LG, Voltas, Lloyd, and Bosch.
The company has come a long way since then. “Today, we are one of the leading companies in India in original design and equipment manufacturing for multinational brands, seizing 22% market share,” MD and CEO Ajay Singhania tells SMBStory.
Key takeaways:
- Apart from ACs, EPack Durables today manufactures kitchen appliances such as induction cooktops, mixer grinders, and water dispensers at five manufacturing facilities in Dehradun, Bhiwali, and Noida.
- EPack has also set up another manufacturing facility in Sri City Andhra Pradesh and is looking to boost its production to 2.4 million units per annum overall.
- The Indian appliances and consumer electronics industry stood at $9.84 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach $21.18 billion by 2025, according to India Brand Equity Foundation.
Interview
The Kabadiwala
Ever wondered how to dispose of an old mattress or perhaps a couch, but had no idea how to? Founded in 2014, The Kabadiwala is a tech platform addressing the problem of garbage collection by providing monetary benefits to people for selling household waste.
The rescue:
- The platform has diverted 1,80,000 kgs of material from landfills and saved approximately 25,000 trees.
- Currently operational in Bhopal, Indore, Nagpur, Raipur, and Lucknow, The Kabadiwala aims to soon offer services in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad
- In the next year, the Kabadiwala hopes to empower 5,000 ragpickers by working with them directly, and 20,000 ragpickers indirectly in its attempt to create more green jobs.
News & updates
- Back online: Elon Musk reinstated the Twitter accounts of several journalists that were suspended for a day over a controversy on publishing public data about the billionaire’s plane.
- Trump NFT: Despite being widely mocked online, former US president Donald Trump’s collection of digital trading cards sold out in less than a day, netting $4.5m in sales.
- Chip fine: Taiwan’s government said on Saturday it would fine Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, for an unauthorised investment in a Chinese chip maker even after the Taiwanese firm said it would be selling the stake.
What is the name of the bug found in the publicly available OpenSSL cryptography library in April 2014?
Answer: Heartbleed
We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail nslfeedback@yourstory.com.
If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our Daily Capsule page here.
