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WeWork Global to go belly up soon.

The SoftBank-backed company plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week as it struggles with a massive debt pile and hefty losses. Its shares have fallen roughly 96% this year.

However, Karan Virwani, CEO of WeWork India, said the move will have no impact on the Indian business as it is backed by realty firm Embassy Group, which holds a 73% stake in the company, and WeWork Global has a 27% shareholding. 

In other news, Indian companies can now list on foreign exchanges, subject to certain conditions. Currently, overseas listings are carried out through American Depository Receipts and Global Depository Receipts. 

Meanwhile, IAMAI named Vineeta Dixit, Regional Director (APAC), Spotify, as the new chairperson of its public policy committee. Further, Droom Technology CEO Sandeep Aggarwal and Senthil Kumar, Public Policy and Government Relations, Ninjacart, will be the co-chairs.

Elsewhere, Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer saw its shares subscribed by 70% on the second day of bidding. The company offered 2,88,99,514 shares, and day two saw bids totalling 2,01,54,440 shares. Retail investors booked 62% of the 52.4 lakh shares reserved for them.

ICYMI: Meet Rachel Rosenkrantz, who makes guitars from the most peculiar items.

A mushroom ukulele to play La vie en rose!

Lastly, take a look at how the world’s largest hedge fund makes money.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• VC inflow up 45% in October
• Freshworks Q3 loss narrows
• Unacademy sees top-level exits

Here’s your trivia for today: Which artist has recorded the most streams of all time on Spotify to date?

Funding 

VC inflow up 45% in October

October has turned out very positive for the Indian startup ecosystem as VC funding saw a yearly increase and an even sharper rise on a month-on-month basis, boosted largely through debt transactions. 

The month saw total VC funding of $1.3 billion, cutting across 107 deals—a 5.2% year-on-year rise from October 2022, which saw a total VC inflow of $1.2 billion, according to YourStory Research.

Capital flow:

• The increase in VC funding is 45% on a monthly basis. It is also the fifth time this year that monthly VC funding has crossed the important mark of $1 billion.
• The boost came from the debt category, which amounted to $527 million on the back of big-ticket transactions of Ola Electric and Zolve.
• In October, the early-stage category saw 83 transactions, but the total value stood at just $180 million.

SaaS

Freshworks Q3 loss narrows

Freshworks said its revenue rose 19% to $153.6 million in the July to September quarter, up from $128.8 million in the same quarter last year. The NASDAQ-listed SaaS firm narrowed its net loss (as per GAAP standard) to $32.3 million ($0.08 per share) in the third quarter of 2023, down from $57.3 million ($0.01 per share) in the year-ago period.

Business booms:

• Freshworks has raised its full-year operating profit guidance to $40 million from $28 million forecasted last quarter.
• The company expects revenue in the fourth quarter to range between $156.7 million and $159.3 million, with income from operations amounting to $5.5 million to $8.5 million.
• The company added several new customers in the quarter, including ASPCA, Cenveo, Giant Eagle Inc., Kelly Benefits, Qualfon, and Salvation Army Australia.

Edtech

Unacademy sees top-level exits

Bengaluru-based Unacademy chief financial officer (CFO) Subramanian Ramachandran has resigned, following other top-level departures from the edtech company, as per media reports. 

Ramachandran was previously the CFO at Medi Assist for more than three years before he joined the edtech company in 2019. His departure is notable given that Unacademy is yet to disclose its financial results for the fiscal year 2022-23.

Moving on:

• In August, Chief Operating Officer Vivek Sinha left the company after a three-year stint, followed by Abhyudaya Rana, who served as the vice president and chief of staff at the CTO’s Office at Unacademy, in September.
• Amid a wave of top-level departures, the company has appointed Sandhydeep Purri as its Chief People Officer (CPO).
• In April, Unacademy had claimed it is on track to achieve group-level profitability for calendar year 2023, driven by a registered revenue of Rs 1,250 crore compared to Rs 992 crore in the previous year.

News & updates

• Unemployment: India’s unemployment rate climbed to the highest in more than two years in October to 10.05% from 7.09% in September, CMIE said, the highest since May 2021. Rural unemployment jumped to 10.82% from 6.2%, while the urban rate eased slightly to 8.44%.
• Digital economy: Southeast Asia’s digital economies are set to reach $218 billion in total value of transactions this year, jumping 11% from a year ago despite global macroeconomic headwinds, a new report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company revealed.
• Disruption: The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s financial regulator, banned DBS Group Holdings Ltd. from acquiring new business ventures for six months, and the bank will hold senior management accountable after a spate of digital banking service outages.

Which artist has recorded the most streams of all time on Spotify to date?

Answer: Rapper Drake, with 66 billion streams.

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