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Apple’s push to expand into India continues.

The iPhone maker is finally ready to open its first retail store at the Jio World Drive Mall in Mumbai. The company is also planning a second store in New Delhi. Apple has also been ramping up its local assembling efforts and manufacturing capabilities in India.

In other news, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani has regained his spot as Asia’s richest person after Gautam Adani slipped to number 2 as his net worth tumbled to $47.2 billion. With a net worth of $83.4 billion, Ambani ranks number 9 on the world billionaire list. The world’s 25 richest people are worth a cumulative $2.1 trillion, down $200 billion from $2.3 trillion in 2022.

Elsewhere, Paytm saw a 253% year-on-year growth in loan disbursal in the fourth quarter o FY23. The company’s customer base expanded with 90 million average monthly transacting users for Q4, from 85 million in the previous quarter, overall clocking a 27% y-o-y growth. 

ICYMI: Apo Whang-Od, a 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines, became Vogue’s oldest-ever cover model.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• The legacy of Kolar-based Koskii
• Wearables to ensure children’s safety
• Rise of Saudi Arabia as a tech hub

Here’s your trivia for today: In 2010, which tournament became the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube?

SMB

Legacy of Kolar-based Koskii

Often, it takes a new generation to take a family business to the next level by thinking outside the box. Umar Akhter, Co-founder and CEO of Koskii, reveals how he and his family lost money in the wholesale saree industry in the 90s but survived by pivoting to a retail store in Kolar, which eventually evolved into the ethnic wear brand, Koskii. 

Getting it right:

• Koskii has stores across all major Indian cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Delhi.
• Akhter began his entrepreneurial journey in 1991 when his father, Akhtar Saifulla, was unable to repay the loan he had taken to establish his business.
• The company has an annual run rate of Rs 100 crore, all bootstrapped. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Magenta Mobility

Amount: $22M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: LightMetrics 

Amount: $8.5M

Round: Series A

Startup: Apptile

Amount: $2.5M

Round: Seed

Startup 

Wearables to ensure children’s safety

A child goes missing in India every eight minutes, according to data from the National Crime Bureau of India. To find a solution to this problem, Smridhi Goyal and Amit Goyal launched Sekyo, a startup that offers a range of smartwatches to help parents track their children’s location in real time.

Smart parenting:

• Sekyo watches are SIM-enabled, work through an app on the mobile phone of parents/guardians, and act as complete phones by themselves. 
• The basic watch has features such as location tracking, two-way voice calling between the child and the parents/guardians, parental monitoring, school mode, and an SOS button.
• Sekyo has seven SKUs across three variants, priced between Rs 2,500 and Rs 8,000 depending on the features.

MENA

Rise of Saudi Arabia as a tech hub

The emergence of Saudi Arabia as a tech hub has taken many people by surprise. Behind the kingdom’s push for growth is Vision 2030—an elaborate plan to diversify its economy by placing a focus on technology, education, infrastructure, tourism, and recreation. 

Branching out:

• The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is at the centre of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.  It is looking to double the value of its assets to over $1.07 trillion and commit over $40 billion to develop the region’s economy until 2025, with a focus on 13 core domestic sectors.
• PIF has already created over 10 new sectors, created over 331,000 jobs in Saudi, and set up over 30 new companies.
• Around 40% of small and medium-sized businesses in Saudi Arabia are owned by women. 

News & updates

• Cloud-ed: Initial findings of a review into the cloud computing market by UK media and telecoms watchdog Ofcom found that competition “is being limited by market features that make it more difficult for customers to switch and use multiple suppliers”.
• In solitude: About 1.5 million people of working age in Japan are estimated to be living as recluses, with some 20% citing the pandemic for their withdrawal. Hikikomori, as they are called in Japanese, are defined as those who rarely leave their room or house.
• Teamed up: International law enforcement agencies have seized a sprawling dark web marketplace popular with cybercriminals, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Wednesday, in a multinational crackdown dubbed “Operation Cookie Monster”.

In 2010, which tournament became the first sporting event to be broadcast live on YouTube?

Answer: Indian Premier League

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