Blog

Hello,

Skill or chance, that is the question, at least when it comes to the Indian gaming industry.

In a massive boost to the burgeoning sector, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified draft online gaming rules on Thursday. The ministry will allow multiple self-regulatory organisations (SROs) to determine if a real-money game is permitted to operate in the country. 

This is being implemented with a total of three SROs, to begin with, that will function as independent bodies, said Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

ICYMI: Check out the 12 Indian startups that made it to the Winter 2023 cohort of Y Combinator. 

In other news, the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted unanimously to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5%, an unexpected move given as recent global banking woes seem to have added to the uncertainty in the economic outlook. Most analysts had expected a final hike of 25 basis points in the current tightening cycle. The RBI has raised interest rates by a total of 250 basis points since last May.

Governor Shaktikanta Das said while the recent high-frequency indicators suggest some improvement in global economic activity, the outlook is now tempered by additional downside risks from financial stability concerns. He pledged to hike the interest rates again if needed, saying the decision to pause was “for this meeting only”.

Oh, and here’s a site to play a drawing game (or 10) with Google. Don’t get spooked by the very weird voice making guesses as you draw—trust us, it will grow on you.

What is time if not wasted on the internet?

Finally, we’ve some exciting news! Starting this weekend, tune into our newest show—Startup Saturdays with Shradha Sharma—that offers an unparalleled platform for promising startups to showcase their ideas, products, and grit. Hosted by Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, it is exclusively available on YourStory’s LinkedIn page every Saturday at 6 PM.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• The rise of momfluencers
• Curefoods gets a Rs 300 Cr shot
• Meet 95-year-old Sprinter Dadi

Here’s your trivia for today: Which insect has the shortest lifespan?

Social media

The rise of momfluencers

There’s a new content creator on the block—momfluencers. Many mom creators are finding new found fame with brands across categories such as consumer brands, home electronics, and fashion, as well as digital-first brands, approaching them for content creation engagement. 

Mommy marketing:

• Mumbai-based food Wholsum Foods and Happilo leveraged the mom-creator community for social media campaigns.
• While mom creators usually only have 1 lakh – 5 lakh followers on Instagram, they have a higher engagement rate.
• A couple of creators YourStory spoke to, who have been active content creators for the last 5-6 years, say they earn Rs 10 lakh – Rs 18 lakh almost every year.

Funding Alert

Startup: Curefoods

Amount: Rs 300 Cr

Round: Equity and debt

Startup: Zero Cow Factory

Amount: $4M

Round: Seed

Startup: Huddle01

Amount: $2.8M

Round: Seed

Funding

Curefoods gets a Rs 300 Cr shot

Cloud kitchen startup Curefoods has raised Rs 300 crore (~$36 million) in a funding round led by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal’s venture capital firm Three State Ventures. IronPillar, Chiratae Ventures, ASK Finance, and Winter Capital also participated.

Cooking capital:

• The fundraise is a mix of primary and secondary equity and debt with Three State Ventures contributing Rs 240 crore (~$29 million).
• Curefoods will use the capital to diversify its brands into offline formats and expand its presence in Tier I and II cities.
• The firm operates over 150 kitchens across 15 cities in India. It logged a revenue of Rs 88.4 crore in FY22.

Sports

Meet 95-year-old Sprinter Dadi

For 95-year-old athlete Bhagwani Devi, age is just a number. She recently bagged gold medals in 60-metres running, shot put, and discus throws at the 9th World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships held in Torun, Poland.

Road to success:

• Devi’s tryst with competitive sport began at 94 with the help of her grandson, Vikas Dagar.
• She won medals at the Delhi State Masters Athletics Championship and National Masters Athletics Championships last year.
• Now, she is training for the Asia Masters Athletics Championship to be held in the Philippines, and World Masters Athletics Championships in Sweden next year.

News & updates

• Harmful: Short video app TikTok’s troubles are mounting as now Vietnam will probe TikTok’s operations in the country for “toxic, offensive, false and superstitious” content on its platform, and to ensure the video platform complies with regulations.
• Downbeat: IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the global economy is heading for a 3% growth over the next five years—the weakest period of growth since 1990—as higher interest rates drive up borrowing costs. 
• AI search: Google plans to add conversational AI to its flagship Search product, CEO Sundar Pichai said, despite the hard landing for its Bard chat product. This comes after Microsoft released a version of its own Bing search engine that used OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI engine. 

Which insect has the shortest lifespan?

Answer: Adult females of the dolania americana, which live for five minutes.

We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail [email protected]. 

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.