Hello,
VC funding is now in single digits.
The third week of August proved to be brutal as Indian startups managed to scrape only around $4.5 million, in total, a far cry from the golden days of 2021 when the ecosystem was raising tens of millions nearly every week.
In fact, the ‘largest’ deal this week was a $2 million transaction.
Elsewhere, BYJU’S has let go of about 100 employees in a fresh round of layoffs. While the edtech major has acknowledged the development, multiple reports reveal that the company has actually cut nearly 400 jobs within the mentoring and product expert areas.
ICYMI: A look at the most populated cities of the world.
Oh, and check out the stunning video recorded by Chandrayaan 3’s Vikram lander as it inches closer to the lunar surface. The race between India’s Chandrayaan 3 and Russia’s Luna-25 mission to reach the Moon’s south pole is becoming tighter.
Speaking of space voyages, take a deep dive into decades-old computer technology that is still keeping many ancient missions alive.
Among other things, engineers recently had to figure out a new way of loading commands into a spacecraft’s 2MB RAM memory and work with software running on Windows 98!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Vasuda Sharma’s journey post-Coke (V) Popstars
- National record holder in freediving Dr Moopen
- Guns and Gulaabs dazzles with 90s-style drama
Here’s your trivia for today: Which internet company was launched in 1994 with a website named “Jerry and David’s guide to the World Wide Web”?
Art & Culture
Vasuda Sharma’s journey post-Coke (V) Popstars
Vasuda Sharma, a member of Aasma band that emerged from the second season of the reality show Coke (V) Popstars, has had an interesting career in music.
After Aasma, Sharma did multiple solo gigs and was also the music director of the 2011 Bollywood film, Shahrukh Bola Khubsurat Hai Tu. She also went on to study music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, US the next year.
In tune:
- Sharma has performed at various international music festivals, including Holland India Festival (2015-2018), Iomma, Sakifo (Reunion Island) (2018), and Miniere Sonore (Cagliari) (2018).
- Her debut album Attuned Spirits was devoted to folk fusion and was one of India’s biggest crowdfunded indie albums of its time, with collaborations with peers from Berklee raising over Rs 5 lakh on the crowd-funding platform Wishberry in 2013.
- She also recently released a solo single, Manwa Bhaagey, a Hindi fusion song that she has written and composed.
Interview
National record holder in freediving Dr Moopen
Dr Zeba Moopen is a national record holder in freediving, a medical doctor by training, and a proponent of Ayurvedic medicine.
Moopen recently broke the national record at the Apnea Pirates AIDA Cup 2023 freediving championship in Dubai, completing the 30-metre category (up and down) with an impressive timing of one minute and ten seconds.
Deep dive:
- Moopen, the youngest daughter of Azad Moopen, Founder and Chairman of UAE-headquartered Aster DM Healthcare.
- She recently completed AIDA4 certification—an assistant instructor course—which will enable her to introduce more people to freediving.
- In 2017, while struggling with her mental health, Moopen was also diagnosed with an autoimmune condition.
Review
Guns and Gulaabs dazzles with 90s-style drama
With colloquial characters who retain local accents, Guns and Gulaabs feels authentic and yet quirky. Its references go beyond Bollywood, with the cult kung-fu film 36 Chambers of Shaolin (1978) and global pop hits finding a place in the Netflix comedy-thriller series.
Pew pew:
- Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K of The Family Man fame have created and directed Guns and Gulaabs.
- The series is set in the fictitious town of Gulaabganj, where cartels compete over the control of the poppy crop.
- Despite the multiple tributes to the era of masala movies and mixtapes, this small-town story, unlike the movies of the past, does not let its women down.
News & updates
- Souring tastes: Chocolate makers face tougher trading conditions. The industry has enjoyed bumper profits over the past couple of years as demand held up despite price hikes but this trend may be breaking just as prices for cocoa hit 46-year-highs and sugar prices are near their highest in more than a decade.
- Cleaning house: Singapore police have seized about $735 million—including luxury homes, cars and watches—in one of its biggest anti-money laundering probes. Gold bars, designer handbags, wine, and cash were among the items seized in the raids. Police arrested 10 people, all of whom held foreign passports.
- Family business: Illinois amended its Child Labor Law to now allow teenagers over the age of 18 to take legal action against their parents if they were featured in monetised social media videos and not properly compensated, similar to the rights held by child actors.
Which internet company was launched in 1994 with a website named “Jerry and David’s guide to the World Wide Web”?
Answer: Yahoo!
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