Hello,
More layoffs in the edtech space.
Harappa Education is the latest company in the industry to lay off employees, Business Today reported. The company, which was taken over by upGrad last year, laid off around 60 employees, primarily in the content division.
In the meantime, YourStory’s The Metaverse Summit 2023 has been postponed. It will now take place in March in Mumbai (instead of January in Bengaluru). Click here to register.
Finally, an interesting article about our quest for concentration and what our brain needs.
The good news: at least most of us know we have a problem. baby steps, right?
In today’s newsletter we talk about it
- Mamaearth’s IPO plans are a cause for concern
- BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer resigns
- Use of blockchain against counterfeiting
Here’s your trivia for today: Who Invented Coca-Cola?
D2C
Mamaearth’s IPO plans are a cause for concern
At a time when markets are volatile and companies like boAt Lifestyle and Snapdeal have pulled back plans to go public, the bold move by Mamaearth’s parent company Honasa Consumer to raise funds via an IPO has raised many questions.
Its DRHP announced that it intends to raise up to Rs 2,400 crore through its IPO. It expects to raise approximately Rs 400 crore through a new issue of shares and the remainder through an Offer to Sell (OFS) of approximately 4.7 crore shares.
The fine print:
- Analysts are drawing a parallel in valuations to Falguni Nayar-led Nykaa, which recently went public.
- As competition in the beauty and personal care market intensifies, analysts believe that a platform or aggregator will always outperform a single D2C brand because of the broader offering and better consumer recall.
- Some of these investors, seeking an exit through the IPO, had invested in the company just prior to 2015. These funds are now reaching maturity and exit pressure.
fintech
BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer resigns
Suhail Sameer, CEO, BharatPe
BharatPe announced that Suhail Sameer will transition from Chief Executive Officer to Strategic Advisor effective January 7th. CFO Nalin Negi has been appointed interim CEO as the company looks for a new executive.
In a statement, the company said the move will ensure a “smooth transition” for Nalin to work with senior executives to “bolster execution across all phases of the business.”
Tides of Change:
- Sameer, who was previously CEO of FMCG business at RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, joined BharatPe as President in August 2020.
- Four senior executives left the company last month, including chief technology officer Vijay Aggarwal, chief product officer for credit and consumer products Rajat Jain, and Nehul Malhotra, head of consumer credit platform PostPe.
- Bhavik Koladiya, who headed the company’s technology and product divisions, resigned last August.
Blockchain
Blockchain against counterfeits
In 2021, Nabarun Chakrborty founded Autify, a startup building a trust protocol for supply chains and cross-border trade to ensure transparency of goods and protect buyers from malicious actors in the chain.
Autify uses blockchain technology to bring transparency to supply chains, ensuring original documents and events are reported in real-time and made available to authorized stakeholders.
Make e-commerce safer:
- The idea of using blockchain to solve supply chain problems isn’t new, but Nabarun says previous attempts may have been premature.
- The startup is also building blocks of insurance that automatically trigger payouts based on real-world data to suppliers, manufacturers, and brand owners.
- Autify has started beta development by working closely with several enterprise customers, says Nabarun.
news update
- Investor Outlook: To kick-start the new year, Bloomberg News has collected more than 500 calls from Wall Street strategists to outline the investment landscape of the future. And bullish forecasts are hard to find, threatening fresh pain for investors who have just weathered the great crash of 2022.
- A Safer Internet: Google is developing a free moderation tool to help smaller websites identify and remove terrorist material as new laws in the UK and EU force internet companies to do more to tackle illegal content. It is developed in cooperation with Jigsaw and Tech Against Terrorism.
- Golden offer: SpaceX raises $750 million in a new round of funding that values the company at $137 billion. According to an email to potential SpaceX investors, Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) is likely to lead the new round.
Who Invented Coca-Cola?
Answers: John Stith Pemberton.
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