Sirona’s three-pronged game plan

Hello Reader,

Edtech’s troubles are far from over. Bloomberg reported that BYJU'S is seeking to restructure its $1.2 billion loan as it struggles with steep losses and cost reduction targets. 

On the other hand, Vedantu has fired 385 employees in its fourth round of layoffs this year, taking its total layoffs to over 1,000 this year, reported Entrackr.

ICYMI: India has a ‘gold’ ATM now…and yes, it dispenses real gold.

Last but not least, here’s a list of this year’s most notable innovations. From the JWST, a screen that can go from flat to curved on its own, to drones that fly themselves—it’s really been a helluva year.

P.S. There’s also a living coffin. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Sirona’s three-pronged game plan 
• Blume Ventures closes $250M fund
• Autonomous EVs for precision farming 

Here’s your trivia for today: Which plant is used by scientists to clean up radioactive waste?

Wellness

Sirona’s three-pronged game plan 

Hygiene products maker Sirona Hygiene, which was bought by the Good Glamm Group nearly a year ago, is eyeing sales of Rs 500 crore over the next three to five years. It is focusing on three key buckets—product innovation, offline expansion, and profitability—to more than double sales numbers. 

Betting big:

• The femtech company is looking to add more products and push the pedal on innovation to grow further. It has already launched eight new products this year, including skin-friendly fashion tapes that can help avoid wardrobe malfunctions. 
• At present, the company gets about 80% of its revenue from online sales, garnering the remaining 20% from offline channels. 
• It expects a large portion of incremental growth and revenue to come from offline expansion.

Investor

Blume Venture closes $250M fund

Blume Ventures closed its fourth fund at a corpus of $250 million, its largest fund so far. The 12-year-old firm, which focuses on early-stage startups, said that its assets under management have crossed $600 million with the closure of its newest fund.

What’s in store?

• Blume Fund IV will be managed by a 15-member investment team led by Sajith Pai, Arpit Agarwal, Ashish Fafadia, Sanjay Nath, and Karthik Reddy. It will invest in 30-35 companies across technology verticals.
• The firm's first fund of $60 million was launched in 2011, and it invested in 60 startups including Purplle, GreyOrange, Turtlemint, Exotel, Cashify, and IDfy.
• The second and third funds of $60 million and $102 million were launched in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

Startup

Autonomous EVs for precision farming 

The Indian agri sector is plagued by several problems. Tractors and other vehicles used by farmers have low efficiency due to legacy IC diesel engines. Finding labour for manual work is another challenge in itself. Bengaluru-based Bullwork Mobility is looking to address these concerns by developing smart, connected, and autonomous electric vehicles (EVs).

EVs for agri sector: 

• Bullwork's EVs are designed with advanced drive-by-wire technology, meaning they use electronic systems to connect the entire system and make them autonomous.
• To tackle labour issues faced by the agri-sector, Bullwork has developed autonomous robots to enable more work with less human intervention. 
• Bullwork Mobility has developed two products—Bullwork Warrior and Vamana Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV).

News & updates

• Low demand: Morgan Stanley reduced its Apple iPhone shipment forecast for the December quarter by an additional 3 million units to account for slower production in China. The firm had already cut shipment expectations by 6 million units in November.
• Multiplayer: Microsoft and Nintendo agreed to a 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo gaming platforms, signaling a willingness to share one of the game industry’s most important titles at a time of growing consolidation in the industry.
• Roadblocks: The European tech industry saw $400 billion in value wiped out this year and an 18% decline in venture capital funding. The combined value of public and private tech firms in Europe fell to $2.7 trillion, down from $3.1 trillion in late 2021. 

Which plant is used by scientists to clean up radioactive waste?

Answer: Sunflowers.

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