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Hello,

A new India is emerging, and so is a clutch of new-age startups. 

Bharat 3.0 heralds the next stage of India’s growth journey, where entrepreneurial ventures are elevating India to new heights driven by tech and innovation. And that’s what TechSparks Bengaluru 2024 is all about!

YourStory’s flagship summit Techsparks is back for its 15th edition, featuring a showcase of the nation’s top emerging startups, and conversations with pioneers who’ve already scaled the summit. 

With an all-star speaker list and insightful panels on everything from space to fintech, it’s definitely set to be an experience like never before. Follow all the action here.

While startups are moving towards shaping the future, Meta Platforms is a step closer to another goal entirely: reshaping reality. 

The Facebook parent is prepared to kick off its annual Connect conference at its California headquarters today, where it is expected to preview its first augmented reality (AR) glasses.

Fully functional AR technology has been a long-sought goal for the company, which hinged its vision of building immersive metaverse systems on the still-developing technology. This has been a costly bet for the company, whose metaverse unit Reality Labs lost $8.3 billion in the first half of this year, and $16 billion last year.

Then again, it seems no price is too high for Big Tech’s ambitions to harness new technologies. Just ask Noam Shazeer, who was just courted once again by his ex-employer Google for a pricey sum.

A co-author of a seminal research paper that kicked off the AI boom, Shazeer’s reunion with Google to the tune of a cool $2.7 billion is drawing attention… and raising questions.

Just how much is too much to pour into the new Silicon Valley arms race that is AI?

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• TechSparks Bengaluru 2024 begins
• Faster deliveries in the festive season
• LenDenClub’s P2P lending hopes

Here’s your trivia for today: Which celebrity chef also famously served in an intelligence agency during World War II?

TechSparks

TechSparks Bengaluru 2024 begins

It’s finally showtime for the 15th edition of YourStory’s flagship conference, TechSparks 2024! 

As we set the context for ‘Building Bharat: 3.0’—celebrating India’s rise towards global tech leadership—YourStory is excited to bring a meticulously curated lineup of power-packed panels, engaging keynote addresses, educational workshops, and innovative exhibits.

Who’s who:

• The Indian spacetech sector is attracting investor and government interest. Catch ISRO Chairman Sreedhara Panicker Somanath as he breaks down the future trends and gives insights into the opportunities for spacetech startups. 
• PhonePe Founder and CTO Rahul Chari and CBO (Consumer Payments) Sonika Chandra, among other leaders from the unicorn, will take the stage to discuss the fintech sector’s expansion beyond payment gateways. 
• 3one4 Capital’s Siddharth Pai, LetsVenture’s Shanti Mohan, Stellaris’ Alok Goyal, Chiratae Ventures’ Mandeep Julka, and Unicorn India Ventures’ Bikram Mahagan will break down what Indian VCs are now betting on. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Whatfix

Amount: $125M

Round: Series E

Startup: Aarna.ml

Amount: $6.7M

Round: Series A

Startup: Ahammune Biosciences

Amount: $5M

Round: Series A

In-depth

Faster deliveries in the festive season

The festive season is here and so are flashy sales and deep discounts. Behind the scenes, ecommerce giants and logistics platforms are mobilising an army of gig workers. Quick commerce companies are also ramping up efforts to attract customers.

“Buoyed by easing inflation in July, firms are optimistic about the festive season, albeit with a bit of caution,” says Balasubramanian A, Senior VP and Business Head at General Staffing, TeamLease Services.

Gearing up:

• Flipkart has prepared for its Big Billion Days sale by onboarding one lakh new workers across various supply chain verticals. Ecommerce marketplace Meesho plans to add 8.5 lakh seasonal job opportunities.
• Delivery partners also have the opportunity for additional earnings and incentives ranging from 30% to 60%, says Harshal Bhoi, Chief Business Officer, Xpressbees. The incentives include attendance bonuses, referral incentives, and bonuses on the first attempt delivery strike rate.
• “We are also focusing on expanding our presence in Tier II and III cities, such as Jaipur, Indore, and Coimbatore, to cater to the growing customer base in these regions,” says Zaiba Sarang, Co-founder of iThink Logistics, a 3PL firm. 

Lending

LenDenClub’s P2P lending hopes

After the RBI tightened the norms around P2P lending, several NBFC-P2Ps, including Lendbox, IndiaP2P, and 13Karat, halted withdrawals. However, LenDenClub remains unfazed by the RBI’s recent revisions to P2P lending norms.

“Not for a single day did LenDenClub have to pause onboarding new customers, whether on the borrower side or the lender side,” CEO Bhavin Patel tells YourStory.

Transparency:

• Manual lending sits at the heart of the problem the RBI seeks to solve. LenDenClub displays multiple warnings during the onboarding process and before the investment is made, ensuring that lenders fully understand the risks associated
• “It possibly took this long for the regulators to address the issues because they may be thinking that the sector is not that big. But now that the regulator has addressed it, that’s a very clear signal that they are looking at this sector in the long term,” Bhavin proclaims.
• A potential problem with the T+1 settlement scheme, according to Bhavin, is the dissatisfaction arising from not being able to allow customers a longer period to claim chargebacks in case there is a dispute.

News & updates

• Anti-competitive: Alphabet unit Google filed a complaint to the European Commission against what it said were Microsoft’s anti-competitive practices to lock customers into Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure.
• Price fixing: German software developer SAP SE, product reseller Carahsoft Technology Corp, and other companies are being probed by US officials for potentially conspiring to overcharge government agencies over the course of a decade.
• Greenwashing: Italian antitrust officials opened an investigation into Shein, saying the online fast-fashion giant might be making misleading claims about the sustainability of the clothing it sells.

Which celebrity chef also famously served in an intelligence agency during World War II?

Answer: Julia Child. She was a junior research assistant with the Secret Intelligence Branch of the Office of Strategic Services, where she also helped develop a shark repellant for the military.

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