Hello,
Emerging technologies are sweeping up the spotlight.
Yali Aerospace, an aviation and aerospace component manufacturing firm, secured funding from SaaS unicorn Zoho. The drone tech company has developed the Yali Network Bridge as a drone-based delivery network in public and private hospitals to distribute vital medical resources.
Also, space tech startup Pixxel will launch six satellites this year using rockets of ISRO and SpaceX. They will be a part of a larger constellation of satellites and will use hyperspectral imagery for sectors including agriculture, energy, forestry, and environmental monitoring.
Meanwhile, the RBI is doubling down on ease of doing business with three new initiatives.
The central bank launched a mobile app to enable retail investors to participate in government securities, PRAVAAH portal to apply online for various regulatory approvals, and Fintech Repository, which will be a data storehouse of Indian fintech firms.
In other news, Adani Group is planning to enter ecommerce and digital payment services.
The group is reportedly in the final stages of launching a co-branded credit card and is considering applying for a licence to operate on the UPI network. It is also in discussions to offer online shopping through ONDC through Adani’s consumer app, Adani One.
ICYMI: Air turbulence may be becoming a more common phenomenon in mid-flight. Blame climate change, not pilots.
And speaking of flying, Bette Nash, the world’s longest-serving flight attendant, died aged 88 after nearly 67 years of working in the skies. She began flying in 1957 and never officially retired.
Fly high, Bette!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- From project chief to somatic leader
- Veranda Learning doubles revenue
Here’s your trivia for today: What is the busiest passenger train station in the world?
100 Emerging Women Leaders
From project chief to somatic leader
After suffering a back injury as a result of working long hours as a project manager, Myah Payel Mitra decided she didn’t want to see herself in a tech job 30 years down the line.
She took a course on dance movement therapy from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and in 2024, started Move with Myah—a coaching and consulting brand offering an umbrella of services.
Rewiring oneself:
- Mitra was selected as part of the LinkedIn creator accelerator programme–the platform’s first and only cohort in India. This gave her an opportunity to learn, grow and build a community on LinkedIn.
- She has delivered programmes for top organisations, including Microsoft, Google, KPMG, Barclays, HDFC and Myntra, working with over 18,000 participants in over 30 countries through a combination of offline and online sessions.
- Move with Myah offers a programme called the Workplace Rhythm Program—a multidisciplinary approach that borrows from dance movement therapy, art therapy, NLP, transactional analysis, and allied creative expressive art forms.
Funding Alert
Startup: Infra.Market
Amount: $50M
Round: Series C
Startup: Flam
Amount: $4.5M
Round: Pre-Series A
Startup: Maxvolt Energy
Amount: $1.5M
Round: Equity
Earnings
Veranda Learning doubles revenue
Veranda Learning Solutions Limited, a test prep-focused edtech company, saw its FY24 revenue more than double to Rs 361.73 crore while losses for the year narrowed by 3.9%. Its Q4 losses remained flat year-on-year and stood at Rs 38.54 crore.
Key takeaways:
- The company’s operating revenue for FY24 was a 124.19% improvement from Rs 161.35 crore earned in FY23. For Q4, its revenue rose 112% year-on-year to Rs 102.61 crore.
- Total expenses increased by 31.7% to Rs 307.73 crore in FY24 from Rs 233.59 crore incurred in the previous fiscal year. Other expenses, which make up almost half of all expenses incurred in FY24, increased by 31.6% YoY.
- In FY24, the company turned EBITDA positive, reporting an EBITDA of Rs 62.29 crore—a turnaround from a loss of Rs 33.67 crore in FY23.
News & updates
- AI safeguards: OpenAI has established a new committee to make recommendations to the company’s board about safety and security, weeks after dissolving a team focused on AI safety. It would be led by CEO Sam Altman as well as Bret Taylor, the company’s board chair, and board member Nicole Seligman.
- Pushback: US-India Business Council, a lobby group for tech companies Amazon, Google, and Apple, has requested the Indian government in a letter to revise its proposed competition law similar to the European Union’s. The group argued that regulations on data use under Data Competition Bill and ‘preferential treatment of partners’ may increase user costs:
- Meme stock craze: GameStop shares soared Tuesday after the company announced that it had made around $933 million from a stock sale. Shares in the video game retailer were up about 15%. The meme stock fell more than 14% last week, but month to date, it’s still up more than 90%.
What is the busiest passenger train station in the world?
Answer: Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Japan. Over 3.6 million passengers pass through the station daily.
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