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Hello,

First, let’s take a look at how the world welcomed the new year!

In other news, the DPIIT is working on a new industrial policy that proposes to increase financing sources for industry and a scheme for promoting Made in India brand. 

The policy is aimed at addressing issues and challenges of the industry through certain policy measures to foster and create an innovative and competitive industrial ecosystem in the country.

ICYMI: Investors are converting ‘totally worthless’ NFTs into tax write-offs.

And, of course, there’s a startup in the middle of all this. Unsellable, which is “building the world’s largest collection of worthless NFTs”…

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• The comeback kid: Corporate travel
• OYO IPO likely to be delayed
• Solving for today and tomorrow

Here’s your trivia for today: Who invented the mercury thermometer?

Travel

The comeback kid: Corporate travel

After a decline for almost two years due to the pandemic, corporate travel gained traction in 2022. Online travel platforms witnessed a spike in corporate bookings; some fared even better than in the pre-pandemic days. 

But can it sustain the momentum in the face of global recession and growing inflation?

Flying high:

• MakeMyTrip saw a rise in corporate bookings in 2022 compared with pre-pandemic levels. OYO recorded an 83% growth in the number of business bookings between April and November 2022 over the same period the previous year.
• By Q3 of fiscal year 2022, the travel industry saw revenue go up to 60% of the pre-pandemic level, on the back of pent-up demand, according to data from Crisil. Air traffic reached the 2019 level led by a surge in domestic travel.
• Tier I cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru remain the top destinations for business travellers, while Tier II and II markets are seeing increased corporate travel bookings. 

Hospitality 

OYO IPO likely to be delayed

The initial public offering (IPO) of the Ritesh Agarwal-promoted startup, Oravel Stays (OYO), is likely to be delayed by three months as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has asked the startup to update its draft IPO papers.

This was reported by The Economic Times and couldn’t be independently verified by YourStory.

What’s happening:

• OYO has been requested to update risk factors, its key performance indicators (KPIs), pending lawsuits, and the basis for valuation in the company’s draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). 
• The company was earlier expected to launch the IPO in the first half of 2023. The process of filing additional updates is likely to take around three months.
• The IPO-bound company recently filed an addendum to its DRHP submitted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in September 2021. 

Healthtech

Solving for today and tomorrow

For Prashant Tandon, the itch to return to India and start something of his own started in 2007, when he graduated from business school. But he parked himself at McKinsey for a couple of years to figure out his next course of action. This is where he was introduced to healthcare and met his co-founder.

Returning from the US, founding an integrated healthcare platform, and his journey: Prashant Tandon, Co-founder and CEO, 1mg, talks about it all in this episode of Prime Venture Partners Podcast.

Building for the long-term:

• With the subscription culture popularised by OTT platforms or ecommerce websites, consumers are more willing to stick if they feel like they are getting value.
• The founder says entrepreneurship is a marathon—and a very turbulent marathon at that—so a support system must be in place to keep going.
• Prashant says instead of doing it for the excitement or to be an entrepreneur, being clear about your reason turns out to be extremely important in the long run.

News & updates

• Tenancy troubles: Twitter was sued for failing to pay $136,250 in rent for its office space in San Francisco. The landlord says it notified Twitter on Dec 16 that it would be in default on its lease for the 30th floor of the Hartford Building in five days unless the rent was paid.
• Bruised and bleak: As 2022 closed, startup founders and investors were licking their wounds from plunging investment, scant opportunities to turn equity into cash, layoffs and business pivots. The startup industry is now staring down a bleak start to the new year.
• Game not yet over: A judge has set Jan 3 for the first pre-trial hearing in the Biden administration’s case against Microsoft over its $69 billion bid to take over Activision Blizzard. The FTC asked to block the transaction arguing that the merger would allow Microsoft’s Xbox to get exclusive access to Activision games, leaving Nintendo consoles and Sony’s PlayStation out in the cold.

Who invented the mercury thermometer?

Answer: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit.

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