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Gujarat and Karnataka are frontrunners in the race to develop a thriving startup ecosystem, according to the ranking of states and union territories by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The annual exercise, which evaluates all states and UTs on their efforts to build an ecosystem conducive to startup growth, categorised Kerala, Tamil Nadu. and Himachal Pradesh as the “best performers”. 

In other news, edtech startup Unacademy has appointed Pratik Dalal as the Chief Financial Officer of its offline centres business, according to an internal message sent by Co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal to employees.

Elsewhere, India’s largest IT services exporter TCS will train its entire staff of over 5 lakh software engineers on the upcoming Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) opportunity, a senior official said.

ICYMI: A new study has found that biological changes in the brain might help in getting over an ex.

Researchers studying prairie voles say the rodents, which form monogamous relationships, experience a burst of the pleasure hormone dopamine in their brain when seeking and reuniting with their partner. However, the rodents got over the attachment after being separated for a lengthy period. 

In other words, time heals a broken heart!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Wow! Momo Foods’ global dreams
• Odisha’s plans to become a startup hub
• MapmyIndia’s total income exceeds Rs 100 Cr

Here’s your trivia for today: Caracas is the capital of which South American country?

Funding

Wow! Momo Foods’ global dreams

Amid the tough macroeconomic situation, it’s rare to hear of a quick-service restaurant securing a big cheque in venture capital funding. But Delhi-based Wow! Momo Foods has done it by raising a whopping $42 million from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. Existing investors OAKS Asset Management pumped in an additional $7 million.

Co-founder and CEO Sagar Daryani tells YourStory about the company’s upcoming plans.

Fresh capital:

• The funding has arrived at an opportune time—when the company expects its FY24 revenue to cross Rs 500 crore and aims to carve a presence in Southeast Asia and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council).
• Khazanah has invested in companies such as logistics firm Xpressbees, women’s apparel brand Zivame, and ecommerce behemoth Flipkart.
• Founded in 2008 by Daryani and Binod Homagai, Wow! has managed to raise upwards of $78 million in funding to date. Some of the firm’s early investors include Tiger Global and Value Quest Capital.

<Funding Alert>

Startup: Wow! Momo Foods

Amount: $49M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: InPrime Finserv

Amount: $3M

Round: Series A

Startup: Adya.ai

Amount: $10.5Cr

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup

Odisha’s plans to become a startup hub

Odisha aims to be among India’s top three startup destinations, with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik envisioning the growth of at least 5,000 startups by 2025. 

The startup boom is not limited to major cities; emerging ventures are thriving across the state, including Rourkela, Balasore, Berhampur, Sambalpur, and Bargarh.

Key takeaways:

• The role of Startup Odisha in nurturing companies can not be overstated. It has fostered over 1,800 startups across sectors such as agritech, IT, artificial intelligence, healthcare, fintech, and biotechnology. 
• Dr Omkar Rai, Executive Chairman of Startup Odisha, says the state is focusing on creating incubators to ensure startups get funding as well as market access.
• The state hosts 27 incubators, and among them is Odisha Startup Hub (O-Hub), the Government of Odisha’s incubator. 

Earnings

MapmyIndia’s total income exceeds Rs 100 Cr

Digital navigation firm MapmyIndia’s (CE Info Systems) third-quarter total income has exceeded Rs 100 crore. In the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023-24, total income was Rs 103.6 crore, up from Rs 78.3 crore in the same period of FY 2022-23.

Report card:

• The company’s revenue from operations surged 36% year on year to Rs 92.02 crore, compared to Rs 67.7 crore in the third quarter of FY23.
• MapmyIndia achieved a revenue of Rs 272.5 crore for the first nine months of FY2024. For the same period, profit after tax (PAT) grew 21% YoY to Rs 96.2 crore, with PAT margin at 32%.
• Established in 1995, the company offers proprietary digital maps as a service (MaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS), by offering advanced digital map data, software products, APIs, IoT, and solutions.

News & updates

• AI partnership: Vodafone has agreed to a 10-year partnership with Microsoft to bring generative AI, digital, enterprise, and cloud services to more than 300 million businesses and consumers across its European and African markets.
• Open letter: A group of major technology and media companies have signed an open letter accusing tech giants of failing to bring their businesses into full compliance with incoming European Union digital competition rules.
• Mega deal: Chip design software maker Synopsys said on Tuesday it would buy Ansys (ANSS.O) in a $35 billion cash-and-stock deal, snapping up the maker of software used in creating products from airplanes to tennis rackets of players like Novak Djokovic.

Caracas is the capital of which South American country?

Answer: Venezuela. 

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