Dabur India’s D2C venture; Zephyr Peacock to raise new fund

Hello,

Let’s start on a positive note.

Nine of the top 10 most-valuable Indian firms added Rs 79,798.3 crore in market valuation in the last week, led by IT majors TCS and Infosys. Further, the BSE Sensex jumped over 600 points on Friday while the Nifty50 closed 200 points higher. All in all, good momentum, which is expected to continue this week.

ICYMI: The world’s got its first “parastronaut”. British paralympic athlete John McFall was chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) as the first-ever astronaut with a physical disability.

Lastly, landlords in Bengaluru are becoming CV-conscious, revealed a hilarious exchange between a Twitter user and a broker. Priyansh Jain, who was looking for a single occupancy flat, was surprised when the agent asked for the name of his college, workplace, etc., and was told he “doesn’t fit”.

Turns out, the landlord wants only “IIT, IIM, CA ISB graduates” as a tenant. 

Fin.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Dabur India’s D2C portal coming soon
• Zephyr Peacock India to raise new fund
• Fintech in the Middle East

Here’s your trivia for today: How many bones do sharks have?

Ecommerce

Dabur India’s D2C portal coming soon

Soon, you will be able to shop for Dabur India’s flagship products on its own D2C platform as it gets ready to dip its toes into the buzzing sector with Dabur Shop.

Testing waters:

• The platform is expected to go live across India by the end of this fiscal year.
• One of India’s oldest consumer goods companies, Dabur India has already seen success online via Amazon, Bigbasket, and Tata 1MG.
• Ecommerce, which used to constitute 2-3% of its business, has grown three times and contributes 9% of its sales now.

Investment

Zephyr Peacock to raise new fund

The Indian investing arm of Zephyr Management plans to hit the road to raise its fourth fund by the end of 2023, says Pankaj Raina, MD - Investments and Research at the firm. 

Deploying funds:

• Using its $100 million third fund raised in 2020, Zephyr Peacock India has backed six companies. It plans to back around 14 companies in total before raising the next fund. 
• The new fund will continue to focus on small and mid-sized enterprises across the broad sectors of food and agriculture, financial services, and infrastructure ancillaries.
• Among its earlier investments, Singapore and Chennai-based digital logistics company 20Cube recently announced going public in the US market via SPAC.

Fintech

Building MENA’s fintech ecosystem

A new report by Strategy& revealed that the fintech sector in the Middle East and Africa Region (MENA) needs concentrated efforts in both the public and private sectors to bring more growth and sustainability.

Collaboration is key:

• The sector has already raised $1.73 billion in the first half of 2022. In 2021, it had raised $2.5 billion.
• A growing number of companies in the sector are moving towards successful IPOs, also being aided by the GCC region’s investment.
• Public and private sector stakeholders need to align on key aspects of market growth to allow for the easier provision of cross-border services. 

News & updates

• Looking east: Canada is boosting military spending and expanding trade ties in the Indo-Pacific region as part of a “generational” shift in foreign policy aimed at building stronger ties with Asian allies and countering China’s influence.
• Un-optimistic: Markets have had a good run in recent weeks, but some investors expect unimpressive earnings to send stocks lower again. U.S. stocks have mounted a turnaround lately amid expectations the Federal Reserve could slow the pace of its rate increases as soon as December. 
• Numbers game: Twitter CEO Elon Musk says new user signups to the social media platform are at an "all-time high", as he struggles with a mass exodus of advertisers and users fleeing to other platforms over concerns about verification and hate speech.

How many bones do sharks have?

Answer: Zero. The body of a shark is made up of cartilaginous tissues.

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