Simplifying saree draping

Hello,

Twitter’s days as the paragon of brevity are over. (Only the OGs will remember the days of 140 characters.)

Now, the Elon Musk-led social media company is offering Blue subscribers the option to post 10,000-character-long tweets. Who cares about Twitter threads when you can tweet daily diary entries instead?

In other news, even Apple—the world’s most valuable company—cannot escape today’s rent woes. The iPhone maker, which is set to open its first Indian retail stores in Mumbai and Delhi next week, is reportedly paying equal rent for both outlets but at a surprisingly different rate.

While the Mumbai store has a surface area of 22,000 sq feet, the Delhi outlet is less than half that size at just 10,000 sq feet. This is probably the first time Mumbai’s rent has been upped by another city in India, and as one report cheekily called it, maybe it is the ‘Ambani discount’ in effect.

Meanwhile, India’s growth rate has been ‘modestly’ downgraded from 6.1% to 5.9%, according to a top IMF official. Yet, it continues to be the fastest-growing economy in the world. This is lower than projections by RBI, which sees a 7% GDP growth in 2022-23 and a 6.4% in the current fiscal.

Lastly, start your weekend with a peep inside Japan’s drinking culture.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Draping sarees in just a minute
• Meet India’s ‘bad boy’ Badshah
• InCred launches first Category III fund

Here’s your trivia for today: Where was the infamous and controversial Hawaiian Pizza invented?

Apparel

Draping sarees in just a minute

For many women, draping a saree to perfection can be quite time-consuming. Enter One Minute Saree, which offers pre-stitched sarees retaining flow, drape, and pleats but removes the hassles of pleating, pinning, up and petticoats. 

Love of saree:

• One Minute Saree has collections in nine different fabrics, including silk and cotton, in various designs such as Kanjivaram, kalamkari, etc.
• The price starts from Rs 1,500 and goes up to Rs 10,000. The range varies for global and Indian online stores.
• The company has catered to more than 5,000 orders so far. In FY23, it clocked a turnover of Rs 1 crore.

Top Deals of the Week

Startup: PhonePe

Amount: $100M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Mayhem Studios

Amount: $20M

Round: Series A

Startup: Celcius Logistics

Amount: Rs 100 Cr

Round: Series A

Upbeat

Meet India’s ‘bad boy’ Badshah

Rapper Badshah, who was only 15 at the time of his first performance, has put India on the global rap music map. ​​YS Life caught up with the musician at the Royal Stag Boombox music event. Describing himself as “seedha saadha” or simple in real life, Badshah says, “I think it [the bad boy image] is an alter ego.”

King style:

• Badshah made his Bollywood debut in 2014. His songs are known to be fresh and upbeat, take Kar Gayi Chull from Kapoor & Sons, or the updated The Humma Song from OK Jaanu.
• Speaking on the evolution of his style of music, the artist says a newer wave of musicians is taking over the young listeners of today, who no longer relate to current mainstream tunes.
• His composing style? “The relevance in terms of language, lyrics, and beats that are catchy,” he says. 

Funding

InCred launches first Category III fund

InCred Alternatives Investments launched its first equity long-short open-ended Category III AIF—InCred Liquid Alternative Fund-I. It intends to deploy a spectrum of long-short strategies across futures, options and special situations for appropriate diversification.

Key points:

• The company is targeting assets under management of over Rs 1,000 crore.
• InCred Capital says the fund will deliver strong positive absolute returns with low risk in all market conditions.
• This is the financial services provider's first long-short fund based on a quantitative model-driven approach.

News & updates

• In the green: Cryptocurrency ether leapt more than 5% in early Asia trade on Friday as traders breathed a sigh of relief that a software upgrade this week ran relatively smoothly. The second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, ether rose to as high as $2,130.80, the most since May 2022.
• Rescue mission: As startup ecosystems across the world reel from a funding crunch, in Nigeria—the leader in startup funding among all African nations in 2022—the government and local investors have stepped in to offer the support the fledgling industry needs.
• Axing by AI: One of China’s best-known media and public relations outfits, Bluefocus Intelligent Communications Group Co, plans to replace its external copywriters and graphic designers with ChatGPT-like generative AI models, according to an internal staff memo.

Where was the infamous and controversial Hawaiian Pizza invented?

Answer: Ontario, Canada in 1962. It was named Hawaiian after the brand of canned pineapple the pizzeria was using at the time.

We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail [email protected]. 

If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our Daily Capsule page here.