Chingari’s ecosystem approach; Carl Pei’s Nothing raises $96M

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An accelerator programme—for ONDC!

Tech giant Google will help businesses get busy and go digital by giving access to its cloud's technology and expertise through its new accelerator programme for ONDC.

In other news, SIDBI is broadening its northeast focus with Assam Startup Venture Fund. The financial institution will contribute Rs 50 crore towards the fund, while the state government will pitch in with Rs 100 crore. 

Speaking of funds, Epiq Capital—a Mumbai-based growth- and late-stage tech investment firm—raised $225 million in its second fund. 

Meanwhile, Zomato's market share in the food delivery segment stood at 55% in 2022, a marginal increase from 53% in 2021, according to JM Financial. The note added that Zomato has consistently snatched market share from rival Swiggy in the food delivery vertical in the last five years. 

ICYMI: Check out the best of drone photography this year.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Chingari’s ecosystem approach
• Carl Pei’s Nothing raises $96M
• Omnivore’s third fund exceeds target

Here’s your trivia for today: Which was the first mobile phone to use iTunes?

Interview

Sumit Ghosh on Chingari’s ecosystem approach

It’s been a busy month for the short video app Chingari. On June 20, it laid off about 20% of its workforce and saw top-level exits, including Co-founder Aditya Kothari and CTO Tariq Wali. 

YourStory sat down with Co-founder and CEO Sumit Ghosh to understand Chingari’s pivots, layoffs, top-level exits and its comparisons with Chamet, a live stream app known for its explicit content. 

Pivots and controversies:

• In the long-term, Ghosh sees Chingari as a “short video Web3 app,” adding that right now, “the priority is on the audio rooms” and live one-on-one feature.
• An average Chingari user spends about “30 minutes” on the app. However, he clarifies, “Each feature has its own set of users.”
• Earlier this week, media reports claimed Chingari is building an adult entertainment app Chamet via its paid 1-on-1 video call feature. Chingari launched the feature, for users above 18 years, in April.

Funding

Carl Pei’s Nothing raises $96M

London-headquartered smartphone company Nothing has secured $96 million in a funding round led by Highland Europe.

The round, which saw participation from existing investors, including GV (Google Ventures), EQT Ventures, C Capital, and the music group Swedish House Mafia, brings Nothing's total funding to $250 million.

Moving ahead:

• The fresh capital will enable Nothing to scale its product range and invest in technological advancements. The investment coincides with the company's achievement of selling over 1.5 million products to date.
• Nothing is set to launch its eagerly anticipated Phone (2) on July 11. 
• It is expected to have a reduced carbon footprint compared to its predecessor, thanks to the company's ongoing sustainability efforts in using recycled metal and plastics.

Investor

Omnivore’s third fund exceeds target

Venture capital firm Omnivore raised $150 million as the first close of its third fund, exceeding its target of $130 million. 

Omnivore raised capital from investors such as KfW, Self Reliant India (SRI) Fund, FMO, SIFEM, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Inclusive Agritech Facility, and more. 

Money talks:

• The Omnivore Agritech and Climate Sustainability Fund, launched last year in April, aims to invest in 25-30 agritech startups across seed and Series A funding rounds.
• The fund will look at startups in the agriculture, food, climate, and rural economy sectors.
• Managing Partner Mark Kahn remains bullish on India's agriculture segment of the startup ecosystem as there are new companies emerging with strong teams and good business models.

News & updates

• Open market: The EU proposed making the payments sector more competitive, giving legal backing to a digital euro, and preserving the role of cash. These reforms seek to further prise open a market long dominated by banks and the US duo Visa and Mastercard.
• Cutting edge: More than one-third of Y Combinator’s latest batch of companies are focused specifically on artificial intelligence. The accelerator received a record 24,000 applications for its latest cohort, and accepted just under 1% of those, said President and CEO Garry Tan.
• Growing biz: Samsung is expanding its chip manufacturing business, including leading-edge chips, as it looks to catch up with leader TSMC. It will begin mass production of the 2-nanometer process for mobile applications in 2025, then expand to high-performance computing and automotive.

Which was the first mobile phone to use iTunes?

Answer: Motorola ROKR E1, released in 2005. However, it allowed for only up to 100 songs to be loaded at a time, limiting its appeal to the masses.

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