VC funding touches $1.4B in March

Hello,

Summer is officially here, and so is climate change. 

India is set to experience hotter-than-usual weather through June, raising the risk of more strain on the power network as people turn to air conditioners to find reprieve from heat waves.

Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of the India Meteorological Department, said that most areas of central, eastern, and northwestern states are likely to experience heat waves during the three-month summer season. 

Amid tough market conditions, US investment firm Invesco has slashed Swiggy's valuation from $10.7 billion to $8 billion in October last year, just ten months after it invested in the company at a $10.7 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported.

In other news, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is investigating a possible violation of 'related party' transaction rules in the Adani Group's dealings with at least three offshore entities with links to Vinod Adani, Gautam Adani's brother.

The three entities allegedly entered into several investment transactions with unlisted units of the ports-to-power conglomerate founded by the billionaire over the last 13 years, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd completed the acquisition of Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd after the National Company Law Tribunal approved the plan for the Adani Group subsidiary to pay $181 million to financial creditors.

ICYMI: Gen Z is now looking to limit its screen time. And, what better way to do it than going back to dumb phones! 

While mobile devices used in the 2000s may be falling out of fashion globally, in the United States, it’s a totally different story. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• VC funding touches $1.4B in March
• Meet chef-entrepreneur Tarun Sibal
• The power of sports in our daily lives

Here’s your trivia for today: What device, released in 1993, gave rise to the term personal digital assistant?

Funding

VC funding touches $1.4B in March

The Indian startup ecosystem ended FY2022-23 on a slightly positive note. March 2023 witnessed a total venture funding inflow of $1.4 billion, which comes as a relief compared to February, where the amount stood at $734 million, according to YourStory Research. 

Key takeaways: 

• In January, Indian startups received a total funding of $1.1 billion.
• However, venture funding in March 2023 saw a 52% decline compared to the same month last year, revealing the challenges of the ongoing funding winter.
• Surprisingly, startups in the Delhi-NCR region received the highest funding at $734 million, followed by Bengaluru at $283 million and Mumbai at $218 million.  

Food and Beverages

Meet chef-entrepreneur Tarun Sibal

Chef-entrepreneur Tarun Sibal rose to fame for his renowned resto-bar in Goa, Titlie. Over a conversation that began at sundowner and lasted till late evening, Sibal took YS Life through his journey from his humble beginnings in Delhi to becoming a familiar name in the country’s culinary scene. He introduced the concept of collaborative cuisine and is now looking to expand his offerings. 

Food for thought:

• Hailing from a family with a catering business in Delhi, Sibal was always sure of starting out as a chef and eventually becoming an F&B entrepreneur. 
• Sibal’s big moment came when he co-founded Titlie in Goa—a restaurant bar that boasts collaborative cuisine—a term coined by Sibal to denote dishes produced using more than one food technique and inspiration. 
• If allowed to pick between chef and entrepreneur, Sibal says he would probably pick playing the host. “All of it comes together (when hosting)—the storytelling, the food, and the beverage,” he explains. 

Sports

The power of sports in our daily lives

Growing up, most of us would have constantly been told to focus on our academics than sports. However, it is sports that teach us basic life skills—teamwork, resilience, and to never give up. Sports shape our lives in more ways than we realise. 

At the ‘Let There Be Sport’ conclave, organised by PUMA India, former Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and national football skipper Sunil Chhetri discussed why sports and studies should go hand-in-hand.

Resilience at best:

• A survey conducted by PUMA India and Nielsen Sports found a direct correlation between kids with high sports participation and improved academic performance. 
• The survey also reports that both kids and adults cited ‘lack of time’ as the primary barrier to participating in sports and physical activities, followed by other challenges such as lack of facilities and high cost.
• “In sports, you have to think fast… Sports people may not open a book of biology and study. That is a different aspect. But if they do, they will understand and grasp it much faster…,” Chhetri said.

News & updates

• Lawsuits: Elon Musk asked a US judge to throw out a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Lawyers for Musk and his electric car company Tesla Inc said the investors never explained how Musk intended to defraud anyone or what risks he concealed.
• Fewer movies: Netflix is restructuring its film units and vowing to make fewer but better movies. The streaming giant is combining film units that produce small and midsize films, resulting in a handful of layoffs, including two longtime executives. 
• AI Pause: Thousands of people, including Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk, signed an open letter from the Future of Life institute earlier this week, proposing that the development of AI models like GPT-4 should be put on hold in order to avoid “loss of control of our civilisation,” among other threats.

What device, released in 1993, gave rise to the term personal digital assistant?

Answer: Newton MessagePad. 

In 1993, Apple Inc. released the Newton MessagePad, for which John Sculley, then Apple’s CEO, coined the term PDA, or personal digital assistant. 

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