Rethinking ride-hailing with BluSmart

Hello,

The Indian government has blocked 232 apps operated by overseas entities, including the Chinese for being involved in betting, gambling, and unauthorised loan service. 

"The order to block 138 apps that were involved in betting, gambling and money laundering was issued last evening. Separately, an order to block 94 apps engaged in unauthorised loan service has also been issued," an official, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

In other news, unopened first-gen iPhones continue to fetch top-dollar at auctions—at least $50,000 this time. Maybe, old is really gold…

Oh, and did you know there are people who DIY planes and live in them? Check this out to know more. 

There’s a catch: You can install hot tubs but you cannot have open windows. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Rethinking ride-hailing with BluSmart
• A clothing brand for minimalists
• Insider look at building a unicorn

Here’s your trivia for today: Who invented the tranquiliser gun?

Electric vehicle

Rethinking ride-hailing with BluSmart

Four-year-old BluSmart is not only providing customers access to EV (electric vehicle) cabs but is also trying to disrupt the existing ride-hailing model in India.

BluSmart leases its EVs at an institutional level allowing it to maintain sub-10% interest rates. Lower fuel cost helps keep the cash burn low. At the same time, BluSmart charges at par with the competition, which combined with lower costs, allows it to work towards the profitability goal.

A smooth ride:

• Co-founder Anmol Jaggi said that BluSmart’s strength is the 4.9 rating, maintaining which is his top priority even at a bigger scale. 
• BluSmart’s current annual revenue is Rs 50 crore, doubling every quarter, and is projected to reach Rs 500 crore by April 2024. 
• The company is expected to close the next round of funding to the tune of $200-250 million.

D2C

A clothing brand for minimalists

Childhood friends Nilesh Karnani and Ashish Baheti, hoping to build a unique fashion brand, identified a number of problems with men’s everyday clothing such as companies selling poor quality clothes for a higher price.

With their D2C (direct-to-consumer) brand Beyours, the duo says it is bringing quality and minimalism to the Indian fashion space. 

A perfect fit:

• Beyours offers only men’s apparel such as shirts, t-shirts, trousers, joggers,  sweatpants, and summer shorts. The products are priced between Rs 1,199 and Rs 2,999.
• The company says a majority of its sales are from South India. Its target market is the upper middle and upper class.
• In FY20, Beyours made sales of Rs 65 lakh, followed by Rs 2.2 crore, and Rs 3.2 crore in FY21 and FY22, respectively. It made Rs 5.5 crore in sales for FY23, and expects the figure to rise to Rs 6.5 crore by the end of the fiscal year. 

Startups 

Insider look at building a unicorn

Mobile adtech company InMobi is best known as India’s first unicorn. However, what’s relatively less known is that it is also India’s first profitable unicorn and continues to be profitable to date. And when InMobi raised $200 million from SoftBank in 2011, it became the first startup to do so in the country.

Piyush Shah, Co-founder of InMobi, reveals what it takes to build a unicorn.

Getting ahead:

• As a co-founder, Piyush has donned several hats at InMobi–from Chief Product Officer and Director to GM and Vice President.
• InMobi and its subsidiaries like Glance continue to give global pioneers like Google and Meta a run for their money. 
• The company has expanded its market share across the globe, from North America to China, Japan, and Korea.

News & updates

• Pricier: Oil will rise back above $100 a barrel this year and may face a serious supply problem in 2024 as spare production capacity runs out, according to Goldman Sachs due to sanctions likely to cause Russian oil exports to drop and Chinese demand expected to recover as it ends Covid Zero policy.
• Hacked: Cryptocurrency hackers stole $3.8 billion in 2022, according to to Chainalysis’ latest report—up from $3.3 billion in 2021. October had the most crypto hacks in a single month with $775.7 million stolen in 32 separate attacks.
• Racing: Big Tech companies are aggressively pursuing investments and alliances with artificial intelligence startups through their cloud computing arms, raising regulatory questions over their role as both suppliers and competitors in the battle to develop “generative AI”.

Who invented the tranquiliser gun?

Answer: New Zealand pharmacist and veterinarian Colin Murdoch. He is also known for designing and inventing the disposable hypodermic syringe.

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