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Hello Reader,

It has just been 10 days since Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and it has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride.

After the ‘Chief Twit’ announced that half of the social network giant’s workforce would be laid off—with the company firing over 90% of its India staff—Twitter management is now reportedly calling some of them back to build new features as per Musk’s vision.

But looks like tis’ is the season of goodbyes.

Meta is planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week in what would be the first broad head-count reductions in the company’s history. Employees have been reportedly told to cancel non-essential travel.

Closer home, edtech unicorn Unacademy has laid off 10% of its workforce, or about 350 employees, as it plans to shut down or scale back verticals amid the funding winter. 

ICYMI: Last year saw CD sales increase for the first time in 17 years. The reason? Adele, the queen of hearts.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Growth strategy for Tata 1MG
• Straighten your legal hassles
• Flipkart’s losses widen

Here’s your trivia for today: What is Collins Word of the Year 2022?

Pharmaceuticals 

Growth strategy for Tata 1MG

A year after the Tata Group picked up a majority stake in healthcare platform 1MG, it is leveraging the group’s muscle to expand its presence in the lucrative diagnostics space, increasing its share of corporate tie-ups, and bulking up e-pharmacy offerings. 

Tata Digital’s mission behind acquiring a major stake in 1MG Technologies was to enter the $1 billion digital health market, expected to grow at ~50% CAGR.

The prescription:

• This year, it is well on track to grow 80-85% annually, Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder and CTO, Tata 1MG, tells YourStory in an exclusive interview. 
• The company is also working on reducing the service delivery time and is seeing strong demand from Tier II and III cities, especially in UP and Bihar. However, 35-40% of the orders are still coming from Tier I cities.
• At present, Tata 1MG commands 18-20% market share in the e-pharmacy segment and has 40 million monthly unique users and 500 million monthly page views.

Startup

Straighten your legal hassles

According to Shivanjali Malik, entrepreneurs who are generally unable to afford corporate lawyers have to depend on traditional lawyers, who may or may not have the necessary experience to understand the startup world. 

Besides legal services, early-stage startups were also on the lookout for services related to chartered accountancy and company secretaryship, which led Shivanjali to look for professional chartered accountants and company secretaries who would, through Dastawezz, be able to advise her clientele. 

Points to be noted:

• In the last year and a half, Dastawezz has managed to garner 150+ clients across various countries. The founder says nearly 90% of her clients are startups, but they also take up litigation cases. 
• The solo entrepreneur’s company now employs nearly six full-time employees, and most of them are women. These employees work on the content and marketing side. Shivanjali also has a bunch of interns who work on the legal nitty-gritty.
• The bootstrapped company is profitable, and she isn’t looking for fundraising at the moment. 

Ecommerce

Flipkart’s losses widen

Ecommerce major Flipkart’s losses widened to over Rs 7,800 crore in the FY22, based on the performance of its B2B unit Flipkart India and B2C ecommerce unit Flipkart Internet, according to regulatory filings. 

According to filings, the combined loss of both entities stood at Rs 5,352 crore in FY21.

Key takeaways: 

• Flipkart Internet, comprising the performance of Myntra, Instakart, etc., has reported widening of loss to Rs 4,399 crore in FY22 from Rs 2,907 crore in FY21.
• The B2B unit, Flipkart India—earlier called Walmart India—reported widening of loss to Rs 3,413 crore in FY22 from Rs 2,445.6 crore in FY21.
• Combined revenue of the ecommerce major in 2020-21 was Rs 51,465 crore, with Flipkart India and Flipkart Internet contributing Rs 43,349 crore and Rs 8,116 crore, respectively.

News & updates

• NFT police: OpenSea shared its plans regarding NFT creator royalties with a system that would let creators of new projects blacklist certain marketplaces that do not require traders to pay royalties. This comes as many NFT platforms shifted away from honouring creator-set royalties.
• Climate cost: The price of carbon needs to average at least $75 a ton globally by the end of the decade for global climate goals to succeed, International Monetary Fund head Kristalina Georgieva said on the sidelines of COP27.
• Old over new: Online marketplace eBay has decided to promote only second-hand or refurbished deals for Black Friday, a pre-Christmas shopping event, to help people with the rising cost of living.

What is Collins Word of the Year 2022?

Answer: ‘Permacrisis’, a term that describes ‘an extended period of instability and insecurity’.

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