Indian edtechs race to adopt AI; Simplifying crypto tax filing

Hello,

More pink slips delivered.

This time, it’s OLX Group, which has laid off several employees as the Prosus-owned internet company shuts down its automotive unit OLX Autos in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia effective immediately. However, it will continue running its classifieds and autos transaction business in India.

Closer home, Unacademy’s Graphy has acquired Scenes, a SaaS platform that empowers creators and educators to scale their online brands and business. Unacademy Group’s first acquisition in 2023, this deal is expected to help Graphy enhance its offerings and expand its reach in the creator ecosystem. 

ICYMI: A new solo exhibition by Banksy, the elusive England-based street artist, will reveal the stencils used to create many of his most famous works for the first time. Titled ‘Cut & Run’, it opens at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) and is Banksy’s first exhibition since 2009.

Speaking of art, here’s how you can steal some—with advice straight from the world’s greatest art thief Stéphane Breitwieser.

The best time, he says, is not when the museum is closed but actually during lunch.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Indian edtechs race to adopt AI
• Simplifying crypto tax filing
• Freshworks taps into generative AI

Here’s your trivia for today: When and where was the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) opened?

Edtech

Indian edtechs race to adopt AI

Emerging technologies like AI help edtech firms tailor the learning experience for each student, boosting student engagement and retention. AI can also play a crucial role in delivering targeted feedback and support, streamlining administrative tasks, and empowering innovative teaching practices.

"As we delve deeper into this field, we will realise that generative AI has the potential to revolutionise the entire edtech sector,” Utpal Chakraborty, an AI and quantum scientist, tells YourStory.

Aiding learning:

• BYJU'S recently introduced a suite of AI transformer models to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses, and foster independent problem-solving.
• Mayank Kumar, Co-founder and MD of upGrad, says the firm has used AI in sales and marketing to evaluate user engagement and improve outcomes based on user interactions.
• Approximately 60 individuals, accounting for around 30-40% of Simplilearn’s product and technology team, are involved in AI-related areas.

Funding Alert

Startup: Good Flippin’ Burgers

Amount: $4M

Round: Series A

Startup: Truliv

Amount: $1.5M

Round: Pre-seed

Startup: Navadhan

Amount: $1.5M

Round: Seed

Startup

Simplifying crypto tax filing

Crypto tax calculation can be immensely difficult for individual users, especially as there is a flat 30% tax in India on income generated during any profitable crypto transaction. TaxNodes—founded in December 2022 by Avinash Shekhar—is a crypto tax computation startup which aims to simplify crypto tax computation and provide AI-assisted tax solutions for individuals.

Unique formula:

• TaxNodes only require users to download reports from the exchanges they use and upload them to its platform
• The startup has integrations with major Indian and global crypto exchanges and with blockchain protocols, including CoinDCX, CoinSwitch, WazirX, Zebpay, Bitbns, Giottus, etc.
• It aims to attract users of crypto exchanges to its platform, where users can choose from a variety of paid packages for crypto tax calculation.

SaaS

Freshworks taps into generative AI

Freshworks unveiled new generative AI enhancements across product lines, leveraging its domain expertise in sales, marketing, customer support, and IT. It has made advancements in its Freddy AI suite, which offers AI-powered CRM for actionable sales insights.

Workplace efficiency: 

• It introduced Freddy Copilot for support, sales, and marketing, enabling users to streamline workflows through the utilisation of conversational prompts.
• Freddy Self Service enables companies to achieve large-scale personalised automation by leveraging the Freshworks platform and a large language model (LLM).
• Insights uses advanced analytics to analyse support data to identify areas for improvement. It also evaluates marketing and sales effectiveness, providing optimisation recommendations. 

News & updates

• A major setback: It could now take 131 years to close the global gender gap after an “entire generation” of progress was lost to COVID-19, according to WEF. Worldwide gender inequality looked set to endure until 2154 despite a modest improvement since the height of the pandemic.
• Misleading tactics: The FTC has sued Amazon, alleging the retail giant worked for years to enrol millions of consumers without consent into Amazon Prime, which costs $139 annually, and made it difficult to cancel their subscriptions to the programme. 
• Financial support: China unveiled a 520 billion yuan ($72.3 billion) package of tax breaks over four years for electric vehicles (EVs) and other green cars, its biggest yet for the industry as it seeks to boost slower auto sales growth.

What you should watch out for

• Wipro's Rs 12,000 crore share buyback opens today. 
• Veefin Solutions Limited’s IPO to open for subscription.
• Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called for a state-wide 'business bandh', protesting against hike in power tariff.

When and where was the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) opened?

Answer: In 1951 in Kharagpur, West Bengal.

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