Freshworks' back-to-office call

Hello,

Meta’s focus on India continues.

Even amid a grim global scenario, the parent of social media company Facebook is optimistic about its prospects in India, said country Head and Vice President Sandhya Devanathan, adding that it would, however, be “a fallacy to think India will be immune to everything that’s happening globally.” 

The company will continue to develop India-specific products and innovations to tap the huge opportunity provided by digitisation.

Meanwhile, here’s some positive news. A FICCI-Randstad survey revealed that almost 81% of early-stage startups are looking to increase their workforce this year, primarily driven by new project orders, additional funding raised from investors, and expansion strategies.

Sectors depicting the highest intent to hire include healthcare (13%), IT/ITes (10%), agri or agritech (8%), AI/ML/deeptech (7%), fintech (7%), and manufacturing (7%).

Elsewhere, Microsoft-owned GitHub has laid off 142 people from its engineering team in India.

Business Today reported that the entire engineering team, with hundreds of engineers, was asked to leave. The laid-off employees have been given two months' pay as severance and made to sign a non-disclosure agreement in lieu of the severance benefits.

Last but not least, virtual reality’s impact on therapy has been talked about since the 1990s. CNET explores why the technology’s full potential hasn’t been realised even in 2023. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Freshworks' back-to-office call
• Zerodha's slowed momentum to hit FY23 profit
• The Souled Stores raises $16.4 million

Here’s your trivia for today: Who is the most translated author of all time?

SaaS

Freshworks' profit chase

Freshworks is overhauling its culture as it aims to turn operationally profitable by the end of 2023. In an email to employees before an all-hands meeting on Monday, President Dennis Woodside said while the company will hire for “most critical roles” it had identified work no longer needed to support its goals.

Key changes:

• Woodside has asked employees in hybrid positions to work from the office at least three days a week.
• Freshworks, however, has invested over $80 million “in merit, promotion, and equity increases" for this year's annual performance review to reward high-performers.
• The SaaS company will also invest in expanding its offices in Chennai and Hyderabad to accommodate all employees by July.

Funding Alert

Startup: Fashinza

Amount: $30M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Plutus

Amount: $280,000

Round: Pre-seed

Earnings

Zerodha's slowed momentum to hit FY23 profit

Zerodha's growth in earnings for FY23 is expected to stand diminished in comparison to the bumper climb in financials in FY22, according to a report by HDFC Securities. This is in line with Founder and CEO Nithin Kamath's admission that the company would not be able to match its current revenue and profitability for some years.

Outlook:

• Zerodha is slated to clock after-tax profit of Rs 2,354 crore for FY23—a 12% rise from FY22. It had recorded an 86% jump in profit in the previous fiscal year.
• It estimates a 10% increase in revenue to Rs 5,459.2 crore for FY23. In the previous fiscal year, it had recorded a revenue jump of 81%.
• The stock brokerage is open to considering a Rs 20/order on delivery trades or increasing intraday/F&O trading charges.

Funding

The Souled Stores raises $16.4 million

Lifestyle and fan merchandise startup The Souled Store has raised Rs 135 crore in a Series C round led by Xponentia Capital Partners, with participation from returning investors Elevation Capital and RPSG Capital.

Capital deployment:

• This marks Xponentia Capital’s largest investment in the consumer sector.
• The Souled Store will use the capital to expand into new categories and plans to launch over 100 stores across the country in the next two years.
• It will also offer a 100% buyback of vested employee shares as part of its ESOP programme. 

News & updates

• Restructuring: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans to split its $220 billion empire into six units that will individually raise funds and explore initial public offerings, the biggest overhaul of China’s online commerce leader since its inception more than two decades ago.
• Antitrust suit: Google's parent asked a US federal judge to dismiss a Justice Department lawsuit, which alleges that the search giant illegally abused its dominance of online advertising and argues that it should be forced to sell its ad manager suite. Google has denied any wrongdoing.
• Space calling: Nokia is preparing to launch a 4G mobile network on the moon later this year in the hopes of enhancing lunar discoveries—and eventually paving the path for human presence on the satellite planet. The group plans to launch the network on a SpaceX rocket over the coming months.

Who is the most translated author of all time?

Answer: Agatha Christie, with 7,236 translations. 

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