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Ola Electric’s new scooter is here!

Aiming for the mass market, the company launched the Ola S1 Air electric scooter—built on the design of previous models but with a re-engineered powertrain and battery pack.

Founder and Group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal also responded to allegations of “hostile work culture” at the company, saying, “Ola is a place for people who are truly ambitious, truly aspirational, and want to leave a legacy for themselves.”

Meanwhile, ICICI Bank’s Q2 profit surged 37% YoY, while Kotak Mahindra Bank registered a 27% jump in profit.

ICYMI: Lenovo introduced some very lucrative ‘rollable’ tech—including a smartphone that can change its size at the click of a button. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• To BTS, Love ARMY
• From Career Power to Adda247
• Supporting women entrepreneurs

Here’s your trivia for today: Where is the largest volcano in the Solar System?

Music

To BTS, Love ARMY

South Korean K-pop band BTS has decided to enlist for mandatory military service and put their careers on hold for around a couple of years.

An ARMY (read: die-hard fan) talks about the impact the boy band had on her life, and why songs like “Epiphany” will stay with her forever.

The BTS experience:

• The boy band garnered more fans as they launched their first English song “Dynamite,” followed by “Life Goes On,” “Butter,” and “Permission To Dance. 
• The K-pop sensation also got nominated for a Grammy—the first Korean band to do so.
• They dedicated an entire song titled “We are Bulletproof: Eternal” to the ARMYs, among many others.

The Turning Point

From Career Power to Adda247

Before Adda247 became a go-to platform for government test prep, Anil Nagar and Saurabh Bansal built Career Power to provide offline coaching classes to students—opening 100 branches by 2015.

In an effort to reach Tier II and III cities, and beyond, the duo started Adda247 and built an app to not only help with accessibility but also connectivity, where the student can download the content.

Key points:

• Adda247 offers content in over 12 Indian languages for more than 500 government exams.
• With the recent $35 million fundraise led by WestBridge Capital, the startup has now raised a total of $55 million.
• The company has nearly 2 million paid users. The team says business doubled in FY22 and that it is profitable.

Women entrepreneurship

Supporting women entrepreneurs

Tripti Somani launched Womennovator as a global incubator for women supporting women entrepreneurs in scaling operations domestically and internationally. 

“Women need information, mentorship, speaking to the right people at the right time, how to approach the media, work on a press release, the right time for investment, and getting packaging and costing sorted remained high on their list of concerns,” she explains.

More than funding:

• The incubator helps create distribution networks, empowers women leaders, and enables women community leaders to be policy changemakers.
• There are no membership fees. The platform has successful leaders and influencers who mentor other women and help grow the community.
• So far, Womennovator has created a network of 10,000 women across 50+ cities in India and internationally in Australia, Dubai, South Africa, and the US. 

News & updates

• Truss issues: Moody’s changed its outlook on the UK from “stable” to “negative” due to political instability and high inflation. This comes after Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned just after 44 days in office, and as the country’s inflation crossed 10%. 
• Music inflation: Within a day of its release, Taylor Swift’s latest album “Midnights” has become the highest-priced digital album released in the Chinese market—selling for $4.83 or 35 yuan.
• Streaming pop-up: Netflix has opened a Los Angeles store that it hopes will combine retail therapy with an “immersive” experience for fans of its popular “Stranger Things,” “Bridgerton,” and “Squid Game” shows.

Where is the largest volcano in the Solar System?

Answer: Mars. The red planet is home to Olympus Mons, which is three times as high as Mount Everest. Its size is comparable to that of the state of Maharashtra.

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