Hello,
Apple’s got no chill with its production lineup!
After releasing iPhone 16 last month, the tech giant is now preparing to announce a new low-end phone early next year alongside upgraded iPads.
According to Bloomberg, an updated iPhone SE—codenamed V59—will become its new entry-level model, which would move away from the old home button design and transition to an edge-to-edge screen.
Meanwhile, Ireland is planning how to spend 13 billion euros ($14.4 billion) in Apple back taxes. For Ireland’s government, the recent judgement from Europe’s top court had provided the country with one-off revenue that “has the capacity to be transformational.”
ICYMI: The unfolding of the BharatPe-Ashneer Grover saga.
Elsewhere in Japan, Nintendo turned its former factory in Kyoto into the Nintendo museum—which can be best described as a chapel of video game nostalgia!
However, things aren’t going that well for French video game publisher Ubisoft—which produces the Assassin’s Creed franchise—as it grapples with a lackluster games pipeline and pressure from investors to seek a sale.
In fact, the company said that it has postponed the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows to February 2025.
Lastly, actor Daniel Day-Lewis is back from his retirement, this time to star in his son Ronan Day-Lewis’ directorial debut!
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Peak XV cuts largest fund by 16%
- A museum of solutions for children
- AI: A powerful tool for today
Here’s your trivia for today: What year did Jimmy Carter become President of the United States?
Investor
Peak XV cuts largest fund by 16%
Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India) has cut the size of its largest fund by 16% as growth-stage funding to the startup ecosystem slowed down significantly over the past two years. Peak XV had earmarked nearly $2 billion for Indian companies from the fund—the largest fund dedicated by a VC for Indian startups.
Key takeaways:
- The VC firm, which raised $2.85 billion for its eighth fund in May 2022, will return about $465 million to its LPs, people aware of the matter told YourStory.
- Peak XV will also cut the management fee it charges its LPs to 2% from 2.5% for the fund. Most VCs charge about 2% fees of the total size of the fund.
- The firm’s decision to reduce the fund size reflects the challenges in capital deployment over the past 24 months, especially for growth and late-stage ventures, and the increasing compliance and governance issues faced by startups in India.
Women Entrepreneurs
A museum of solutions for children
Tanvi Jindal Shete’s experience as a Teach for India fellow made her aware of the importance of education and curiosity in young minds. She realised there was a significant gap in engaging educational spaces for children in Mumbai.
“Inspired by visits to children’s museums worldwide, I saw first-hand how these spaces can spark creativity and learning…,” she tells HerStory. This led her to start the Museum of Solutions (MuSo) in November 2023, featuring exhibitions, activities, and learning experiences on topics like sustainability, social justice, health, and the environment.
Playtime:
- MuSo has six floors, each dedicated to different experiential exhibitions and activities.
- Shete explains that the museum aims to engage all ages by offering a wide range of activities. “From book launches and live performances to interactive exhibitions, we provide programmes that cater to various interests,” she says.
- The ticket price is Rs 999 onwards for children between 2–17 years and Rs 499 onwards for adults who are above 18.
TechSparks
AI: A powerful tool for today
AI is not just a future concept; it’s a powerful tool for today, said Rajat Pandit, Head of Customer Engineering for Digital Natives at Google Cloud, at TechSparks 2024 while addressing the critical role of AI in propelling startups towards growth and efficiency.
He illustrated the transformative capabilities of AI, highlighting how the technology can empower emerging companies to gain a competitive edge and drive significant business outcomes.
Points to note:
- Pandit said Google’s ecosystem includes many tools and resources beyond just one large language model, enabling startups to innovate and leverage AI capabilities without building everything from scratch.
- Talking about an “agent builder” that integrates various AI capabilities, he added, “AI is more than just models; it’s about building workflows that differentiate your product in the market.”
- Underscoring the trust that startups place in Google Cloud for their infrastructure needs, he said, “Many emerging companies are building their stacks on Google Cloud because we provide the necessary building blocks for innovation.”
News & updates
- Misses: Tesla missed expectations for third-quarter deliveries, hurt by stiff competition from rivals in China and Europe, sending its shares down 3.5% in premarket trading on Wednesday. Tesla handed over 462,890 vehicles in the three months to Sept. 30, up 6.4% from the previous quarter.
- Fall: X, which no longer trades publicly, is worth almost 80% less than two years ago when Elon Musk bought it, according to estimates from investment giant Fidelity. Analysts say Fidelity’s plunging price tag for X likely reflects shrinking ad revenue at the company.
- Collab: Meta said it was expanding its Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) to enable UK banks to directly share information with the social media giant to help it detect and take down scamming accounts and coordinated fraud schemes.
What year did Jimmy Carter become President of the United States?
Answer: 1977. He was the 39th President of the United States.
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