Blog

Hello,

BigBasket tops Fairwork India ratings.

The Fairwork India Ratings 2023: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy report evaluated 12 platforms with a score of 1 to 2 across five principles—Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation. While BigBasket topped the list with 6 points, Ola and Porter scored nil.

In other news, KhataBook maintained a steady growth in FY23, recording a 14% rise in revenue and a 4% rise in losses. The company’s total expenses remained stable at Rs 223 crore from Rs 201 crore the previous fiscal on the back of higher employee benefit expenses, which contributed to almost Rs 142 crore. 

Elsewhere, Mobile Premier League’s Indian entity reported over 35% growth in its FY23 revenue while its losses shrunk to Rs 87.25 crore from Rs 449.25 crore last fiscal. Incidentally, the company let go of as many as 350 employees in August. At the time, Co-founder Sai Srinivas cited the new GST regulations as the reason for these layoffs, saying that the 28% tax could increase MPL India’s tax burden by 350-400%.

Meanwhile, spacetech seems to be garnering increasing investor interest as Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace raises $27.5 million in its pre-Series C round, led by Temasek. This year, the sector has raised nearly $123 million in funding, reported YourStory’s The Captable.

ICYMI: A look at the world’s most sustainable economies.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Inside Sri Chaitanya Group’s growth plans
• CarDekho posts 46% rise in FY23 revenue 
• Furniture maker Wakefit’s loss widens

Here’s your trivia for today: Which is the largest man-made waterfall in the world?

Edtech

Inside Sri Chaitanya Group’s growth plans

Founded in 1986, the Sri Chaitanya Group of Institutions (SCGI) has a formidable presence in India’s test preparation segment. With its edtech vertical, Infinity Learn, tasting early success despite declining trends, the group intends to play a larger role in the evolving learning landscape.

Edtech strategies:

• Infinity Learn CEO Ujjwal Singh emphasises that Sri Chaitanya’s approach has always been to “build it for long”, and the edtech vertical leans on the Hyderabad-based group’s extensive resources and strong educational track record. 
• In coming months, SCGI plans to raise about $100 million for Infinity Learn through private equity, says Sushma Bopanna, CEO and Academic Director of Sri Chaitanya Educational Institutions and Founder-Director of Infinity Learn. 
• With Infinity Learn showing promising growth, the group is pursuing a dual strategy to expand in both offline and online sectors, aiming to reach 2.5 million students by 2025.

Automobile

CarDekho posts 46% revenue growth

<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="529549" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/e641e900925711e9926177f451727da9/CopyofImageTagsEditorialTeamMaster-1634104246517.jpg" data-alt="Co-founders Cardekho" data-caption="

Co-founders Cardekho

” align=”center”>

CarDekho reported a 46.3% jump in its annual total income primarily on the back of the increased sale of services, including listing and selling vehicles for auto manufacturers, advertising, and digital marketing solutions. 

The autotech unicorn also offers digital marketing solutions for dealers to help nurture and convert leads into sales. It also sells insurance products to consumers directly via its platform.

Number game:

• High expenses ate into the company’s bottom line, resulting in a consolidated loss of Rs 565.95 crore for the year ended March 31, 2023—2.3X higher than the loss in the previous fiscal year.
• Its total consolidated revenue was Rs 2,408.41 crore, compared with Rs 1,646.3 crore earned in the previous year.
• In FY22, the company had started to show signs of improvement, with losses narrowing from the year prior. In fact, CarDekho has been optimistic about turning profitable—at a consolidated level—by FY24.

D2C

Furniture maker Wakefit.co’s loss widens

<figure class="image embed" contenteditable="false" data-id="529551" data-url="https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/3fb20ae02dc911e9af58c17e6cc3d915/Imagef8ei-1600270299159.jpg" data-alt="Wakefit" data-caption="

” align=”center”>

Wakefit.co said its losses widened by 36% to Rs 145 crore in the financial year ended March 2023 from Rs 106 crore last year. Meanwhile, its revenue from operations rose to Rs 812 crore, up 28% from the previous fiscal, as per data available from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). 

Key takeaways:

• The Bengaluru-based company’s total expenses surged nearly 30% to Rs 965 crore in FY23, hurt by increased depreciation and amortisation expenses and employee benefit costs.
• The company aims to become profitable by FY24 and is eyeing a revenue of Rs 1,200 crore in the next two years. 
• Currently, Wakefit.co has more than 40 stores in India.

News & updates

• Ad-free access: Meta will soon offer ad-free Facebook and Instagram in Europe for a fee as social media companies face scrutiny on their access to user data. Starting in November, users can subscribe to the sites for €9.99 ($11) per month on the web or €12.99 ($14) per month on mobile.
• Buying in bulk: A nonprofit organisation funded by cryptocurrency billionaire Jed McCaleb bought roughly $500 million of Nvidia advanced chips and plans to lease computing capacity to companies for artificial intelligence projects.
• Regulation time: Companies whose AI models could threaten US national security will have to share how they are ensuring their tools’ safety under a sweeping order by President Joe Biden intended to curb risks posed by the new technology.

Which is the largest man-made waterfall in the world?

Answer: The Cascata delle Marmore or Marmore Falls, located in Italy. Created by the ancient Romans, it is 165 m tall.  

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.