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Hello,

In search of the next big GenAI solution.

Wealth and asset management firm Lighthouse Canton has launched its latest fund—the LC GenInnov Global Innovation Fund—for companies set to grow in the era of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

Meanwhile, Flipkart Ventures, the investment arm of the ecommerce company, has invited applications for the third cohort of its accelerator programme—Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA). The company said selected startups that leverage GenAI in their core solutions across sectors will receive equity investments between $200,000 and $500,000.

Speaking of Flipkart, the e-retailer has given Hemant Badri, Senior Vice President, Group Head of Supply Chain, Customer Experience and ReCommerce Business, the additional charge of leading the company’s venture into the quick commerce segment, according to reports. 

In other news, coworking major WeWork India is reportedly in the process of offloading the entire 27% stake held by its US parent through founder Adam Neumann via a secondary sale.

Meanwhile, food delivery platform Zomato has increased its platform fee by 25% to Rs 5 per order. The company has also suspended its intercity delivery service, Intercity Legends. These developments come on the heels of the company receiving tax demands and penalty orders from authorities.

ICYMI: Mona Lisa, as a rapper.

Finally, Discord CEO Jason Citron makes the case for a smaller, more private internet.

The platform doesn’t quite fit the definition of social media in the way that Facebook and Instagram do. And, while many think that Discord is for serious gamers, the site has emerged as a space for teenagers of varied interests.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Cocoa prices affect Indian chocolate brands
• Vinod Muthukrishnan on a founder’s life
• Online safe space for LGBTQ+ community

Here’s your trivia for today: What species of poisonous spider has an hourglass pattern on its abdomen?

In-Depth

Cocoa prices affect Indian chocolate brands

Since October last year, the price of cacao beans has skyrocketed. For the first time, cocoa (roasted cacao beans) now costs more than $10,000 per metric tonne—a 3X rise in just six months.

The steep price of the raw ingredients has spooked the budding craft chocolate industry in India, leaving many chocolatiers with no option but to pass on the cost to consumers.

Bittersweet taste:

• Distinct Origins, one of Asia’s largest fine-flavour cocoa processing plants, procured the raw beans at Rs 820 per kg on April 3 compared with Rs 250 through most of December.
• Regal Plantations Co-founder Karthikeyan Palaniswamy has identified a larger opportunity in exporting these beans to a more mature market, including to Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe.
• Distinct Origins chief Chaitanya Muppala, who is also Founder and CEO of chocolate brand Manam Chocolate, is not yet planning to hike the prices of his products and is waiting to see how the prices will fluctuate over the next couple of months.

Funding Alert

Startup: Accacia

Amount: $6.5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: Runo

Amount: $1.5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: BluWheelz

Amount: $1M

Round: Bridge

Interview

Vinod Muthukrishnan on a founder’s life

When Vinod Muthukrishnan started the customer support business CloudCherry in 2014, he thought he knew everything about building a business after working for seven years in a fintech startup.

“Sales is one thing but conceptualising everything from company strategy to business strategy to product strategy to execution is a whole different thing,” Muthukrishnan tells Shradha Sharma.

He took an exit after CISCO acquired CloudCherry in 2019. He is now the chief customer officer at conversational AI platform Uniphore.

Listening and learning:

• Muthukrishnan is also on the governing council of SaaSBOOMi, a group where SaaS founders exchange insights, and advisor at venture firm March Capital.
• He found mentors in Freshwords founder Girish Mathrubootham, FusionCharts’ Pallav Nadhani, and Together Fund’s Manav Garg, among others.
• “The product changes, but culture is what ensures your team does what is right for the customer, for your partners. All the hard issues are easier when you are culturally bound,” he notes.

Social Impact

Online safe space for LGBTQ+ community

Pride+ is a labour of love from Aayush Agrawal, former entertainment professional-turned-entrepreneur who runs Pranah Sandbox, a tech company that launched the app on February 20.  

“I saw that there was not a single space online where LGBTQIA+ persons could feel safe and enjoy the benefits of connection and knowledge that the heterosexual population accesses online,” Agrawal tells SocialStory.

Allyship:

• Two months since its launch, the platform has garnered 753 users from 29 countries, with more than 400 users logged in on any given day.
• The ‘Community’ and ‘Chat’ features give members of the LGBTQ+ community, who have been battling severe depression, a space to open up about themselves and their trauma to community members from across the globe. 
• Agrawal says the ‘Marketplace’ feature has helped small-time queer entrepreneurs share their work and find clientele. 

News & updates

• Social media: TikTok has said it will fight any ban or forced sale of the app’s US operation in the courts after the House of Representatives passed legislation targeting the viral video platform.
• Falling stocks: Tesla tumbled 4% on Monday, as its latest global price cuts fanned Wall Street concerns about dwindling margins at the electric vehicle maker in the run-up to its earnings report later this week.
• Sinking cities: Almost half of China’s major cities are sinking, putting millions of locals at risk of flooding, according to a new study published in the journal Science. The study found that 45% of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3 mm a year, while 16% was sinking at a rate of more than 10 mm a year.

What species of poisonous spider has an hourglass pattern on its abdomen?

Answer: The black widow spider 

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