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Hello,

Google is, once again, in a soup.

The European Union has charged the Alphabet-owned company with breaching antitrust rules in adtech and may ask it to sell parts of its profitable adtech business.

This is two years after the European Commission opened an investigation into Google’s behaviours such as favouring its own advertising services. For the record, in 2022 alone, the tech giant reported advertising revenue of $224.5 billion.

Speaking of the EU, we finally have a comprehensive set of regulations for AI. The European Parliament has approved the landmark EU AI Act. During a critical vote on Wednesday, the Parliament adopted the AI Act with 499 votes in favour, 28 against, and 93 abstentions. 

While far from becoming law, it is likely to be one of the first formal rules for the technology globally. A welcome move, given the rage around AI in the last few months…

Meanwhile, global headwinds have hit Zoho but the SaaS company has decided against layoffs, instead implementing a hiring freeze for engineering roles and pruning marketing spending. 

In other news, Tamil Nadu unveiled a blockchain-as-a-service infrastructure named Nambikkai Inaiyam (NI), which it refers to as the “blockchain backbone” of the state, as well as a blockchain-based mobile app e-Pettagam for securely sharing digitised documents.

Lastly, a chart visualising the path of human evolution.

From Protocells to people, we’ve come a long way. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• PhonePe’s own payment gateway
• Making ecommerce profitable
• Java Capital’s investment thesis

Here’s your trivia for today: Which country has the most number of time zones?

Fintech

PhonePe’s own payment gateway

Walmart-backed PhonePe has rolled out its payment gateway for consumers and merchants as it looks to tap into larger offline and online merchants, including small and medium businesses. The company told YourStory that the development comes on the back of the digital payment app’s ability to handle large-scale transactions.

The latest offering puts the Walmart-backed digital payments app up against the likes of Paytm and Pine Labs, which have a large presence in the offline category, and Razorpay and Cashfree Payments in the online space. 

Diversifying offerings:

• The payment gateway services are being offered at zero fees as of now.
• PhonePe’s slew of services includes wealth management, lending, stockbroking, ONDC-based shopping app (Pincode), and account aggregation.
• The company has received in-principal approval for payment aggregator services and is awaiting approval from the RBI.

Funding Alert

Startup: Everest Fleet

Amount: $20M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: TaxNodes

Amount: $1.6M

Round: Seed

Startup: Cloudbankin

Amount: $400,000

Round: Undisclosed

Ecommerce

Making ecommerce profitable

Zoozle, founded in April this year by entrepreneur and angel investor Rajesh Dembla, is a reseller-driven ecommerce platform that aims to drive profitability by doing away with the cash-on-delivery option. Its Zoozle Entrepreneur Network (ZEN) programme connects MSMEs and resellers.

Dembla—who has invested in brands such as Dunzo, Decentro, and Wholesale Box—has ventured into the ecommerce space with a reseller-driven platform that strives to keep processes lean, efficient and organised.

Sustaining ecommerce:

• Zoozle has built a network of more than 14,000 resellers and facilitated over 1,000 transactions.
• It deals with product categories including sarees, dress materials, home decor, lifestyle, home furnishing, jewellery, and car accessories. 
• Through its ZEN platform, MSMEs get access to a large pool of customers and resellers get access to a wide range of products.

Investor

Java Capital’s investment thesis

Bengaluru-based micro venture capital fund Java Capital, which received an alternate investment fund (AIF) licence in 2022, believes the next big startup stories will come from Tier II cities. Founded by Karteek Pulapaka, Bhargavi V, and Vinod Shankar, it aims to raise around $10 million in its first fund and has already garnered around 50% of the capital in its first close.

In a conversation with YourStory, Pulapaka elaborates on the firm’s focus on Tier II cities. “We have been cultivating this market for the last year as we believe this could be the next evolution for the Indian startup story as there are many hidden gems,” he says.

Seeding startups:

• Java Capital is largely focusing on three areas—SaaS/ enterprise software, deeptech, and climate tech.
• It expects to back about 15 startups, with investments ranging from $150,000-250,000 for each company.
• The fund has invested in four startups—Agnikul, Legistify, KukuFM, BharatX, Kindlife, and YellowMetal.

News & updates

• Winning move: AWS is considering using new artificial intelligence chips from AMD though it has not made a final decision. The remarks came during an AMD event where the chip company outlined its strategy for the AI market, which is dominated by rival Nvidia Corp.
• Screen-to-fork: Fans of Netflix’s culinary shows will soon be able to taste some of their favourite on-screen dishes at the company’s first pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles later this month. Diners can visit ‘Netflix Bites’ featuring some of its most well-known chefs.
• A harder sell: Investment banks are backing out of potential Chinese listings. Goldman Sachs has given up several mandates for IPOs in Hong Kong this year while Bank of America has left its role in the coming IPO of Growatt Technology, which makes inverters for solar panels. 

Which country has the most number of time zones?

Answer:  France, which has 12 time zones, including its overseas territories. This is closely followed by Russia and the US, which have 11 time zones each.

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