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Rebranding, a gag order, and layoffs—all in two days at BYJU’S.

The edtech startup is rebranding WhiteHat Jr—which it acquired in 2020 for a whopping $300 million—to “BYJU’S Future School”, with an expanded offline footprint, reported Moneycontrol.

Additionally, the company has shared an updated social media policy, which prohibits its employees from engaging with any media outlet or sharing company-related information, media, or communication through various platforms like social media, blogs, forums, etc.

These developments come just a day after it was reported that Arjun Mohan, the new CEO of BYJU’S, is planning a workforce reduction of 5,000+ permanent and contractual employees in a restructuring effort aimed at cost control.

Elsewhere, Amazon is getting into festive mode.

The ecommerce giant is bolstering its logistics, delivery, and order fulfilment capacity, Abhinav Singh, VP – Customer Fulfilment, Supply Chain, and Amazon Transportation Services, Amazon India, told YourStory. Its initiatives include strengthening its collaboration with Indian Railways, inking an MoU with India Post, and deepening its partnerships with mom-and-pop stores.

ICYMI: Silicon Valley’s biggest AI developers are hiring. But not techies. In demand are writers of fiction, drama, poetry, and general humanities. 

Guess even AI needs creativity!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Juspay to divest Namma Yatri
• Rajasthan’s ‘Hockeywali Sarpanch’
• Innovative home elevators

Here’s your trivia for today: Who was the first person to observe the planet Neptune?

Mobility

Juspay to divest Namma Yatri

Juspay, the company that created and operates Namma Yatri, is in the process of divesting the autorickshaw booking app and will likely register the new company as a separate entity within a month, the company told YourStory.

“We feel that Namma Yatri has grown to a level that it needs separate investors. We want to raise funds to support growth and reduce costs,” CPO Magizhan Selvan said in an exclusive interview.

Partnerships:

• One of the ways the company is looking to cut costs is by moving to OpenStreetMaps. Currently, only 30% of Namma Yatri’s mapping data is provided by OpenStreetMaps.
• It is also looking to launch in Hyderabad and Delhi directly. In Kolkata, Juspay has partnered with the government to launch Yatri Sathi app, which has seen over 3.5 lakh user downloads.
• The company is in the process of integrating with IRCTC and may also explore platforms such as Paytm Mini App Store.

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Funding Alert

Startup: Bright Money

Amount: $62M

Round: Equity and debt

Startup: Doceree

Amount: $35M

Round: Series B

Startup: Castler

Amount: $5.5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Inspiration

Rajasthan’s ‘Hockeywali Sarpanch’

Neeru Yadav is well-known as the ‘Hockeywali’ (which loosely translates to a woman of hockey) Sarpanch. She has formed a team of young hockey players who are beating patriarchy, one goal at a time, in Lambi Ahir village in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district.

Uplifting others:

• Yadav launched a skill development programme for girls under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) Scheme, offering skills training.
• Her panchayat has also collaborated with the SBI to educate women about financial schemes under the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, and how to use UPI on their mobile phones.
• She made an appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati where she won Rs 6.7 lakh, which she will use to promote girls’ sports and for environmental conservation through the Aditri Foundation NGO.

Small business

Innovative home elevators

Nibav Home Lifts’ (part of Elite Elevators) mission is clear: to bring innovative home elevators, not just as a convenience but as a means to improve lives. The company as a whole has sold over 2,000 elevators in around 14 countries, including India, and has generated a revenue of Rs 119 crore as of FY23.

Key takeaways:

• Nibav operates a manufacturing plant in Chennai, alongside two smaller assembly stations in Canada and Australia.
• The prices of Nibav Home Lifts start from Rs 9.9 lakh and go up to Rs 28 lakh, varying according to the country. At present, Nibav Home Lifts has a presence in countries like Malaysia, Australia, Canada, etc. 
• Nibav has ambitious plans to enter the US market by October 2023. It also aims to achieve a revenue exceeding Rs 600 crore by FY25.

News & updates

• Goliath vs. Goliath: The US government and 17 American states are suing Amazon in a landmark monopoly case reflecting years of allegations that the ecommerce giant abused its economic dominance and harmed fair competition. The lawsuit alleges Amazon unfairly promotes its own platform and services at the expense of third-party sellers.
• Pump and dump: OpenAI is in discussions to possibly sell shares in a move that would boost the company’s valuation from $29 billion to somewhere between $80-90 billion. Employees would be reportedly allowed to sell their existing shares rather than the company issuing new ones.
• Back home: NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Russian cosmonauts undocked from the International Space Station after an unexpected yearlong stay in space, the longest single flight in US space history. The mission lasted 370 days, 21 hours, and 22 minutes in a voyage spanning 5,936 orbits and 157 million miles.

Who was the first person to observe the planet Neptune?

Answer: Galileo, in 1612. However, he mistook Neptune for a fixed star. The planet was discovered in 1846 by Johann Gottfried Galle.

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