Flipkart drives Walmart's earnings; VastraApp for textile manufacturers

Hello,

All hail India’s digital economy.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar forecast that the digital economy will contribute more than 20% of the country's GDP in 2026. Addressing the 'G20 Digital Innovation Alliance Summit' in Bengaluru, he said India adopted technology very fast. 

"The digital economy has gone from 4-4.5% in 2014 of the total GDP to 11% of the total GDP today. And we expect the digital economy to contribute over 20% of our GDP by 2026," Chandrasekhar added.

ICYMI: AI for therapy. More specifically, researchers are using NLP to learn how therapy works by examining the language therapists use with clients.

Oh, and India is closer to making space history! ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has entered the most crucial phase as the Vikram lander successfully separated from the propulsion module, setting it on a path towards the Moon.

If it sticks its landing on the Moon on August 23, India will become the first country to reach the lunar south pole—and the fourth globally to land on the Moon.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Flipkart Group drives Walmart's earnings
• Vastra App for textile manufacturers
• Social change through communication

Here’s your trivia for today: On July 30-31, 2012, which country was affected by "the largest power outage in history"? 

Ecommerce

Flipkart Group drives Walmart's earnings

Walmart has reported strong growth for its international business for the second quarter of 2024, led by Walmex, China, and Flipkart. Its international ecommerce business grew by nearly 26% while the advertising business for the international business grew by 40% YoY.

"Flipkart’s consistent progress and performance reinforces our confidence in the long-term value of this business," said John David Rainey, Executive VP and CFO at Walmart.

India focus:

• Walmart Inc beat Q2 2024 expectations, clocking consolidated revenue of $161.6 billion, up 5.7%.
• Outgoing President and CEO Judith McKenna noted Myntra’s integration with ChatGPT to launch fashion recommendation AI-assistant was a sign of the growing use of generative AI.
• PhonePe registered annualised Total Payment Value (TPV) of $1.15 trillion and processed over five billion transactions per month. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Contiinex

Amount: $2M

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: Teleport

Amount: $500,000

Round: Pre-seed

Startup: Plus

Amount: $350,000

Round: Seed

SaaS

VastraApp for textile manufacturers

Started by Vikash Rajpurohit in 2018, Vastra App is a SaaS-based, mobile-friendly app that automates the backend sourcing processes for the textile industry. 

Headquartered in Ahmedabad, VastraApp allows apparel manufacturers to maintain design catalogues, sales orders, purchase records, production job slips, packaging, and dispatch. Further, the mobile-first app enables easy communication via text, audio, and photo notes. 

SaaS solution:

• Bootstrapped with Rs 5 crore, the company has over 3,000 clients presently in Gujarat, and it closed FY23 with Rs 2 crore in revenue. 
• VastraApp’s subscription starts from Rs 6,000 and goes up to Rs 50,000, depending on the features a manufacturer wants to integrate into the app. 
• Further, the company is growing 2X year-on-year and is onboarding over 150 businesses every month, Rajpurohit says.

Impact

Social change through communication

Non-violent communication (NVC) is a communication language built on honestly expressing your deepest feelings and needs to someone, and being able to empathetically listen to theirs.

"As a concept, nonviolent communication’s goal is to respond, rather than react and communicate and take action based on what one’s needs are, especially in difficult situations,” says Ranjitha Jeurkar, NVC trainer and Founder at Connext Coaching and Facilitation.

Hearing and expressing:

• Manasi Saxena, who runs Encompassion Foundation in Delhi, uses NVC in community engagement with migrant labourers in the Delhi/NCR region.
• Pranjal Tiwari, an NVC-based trainer and coach from Auroville, conducted listening circles during the second wave of the pandemic to share challenges and mourn losses.
• Jeurkar recently organised a workshop for a group of nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor, who take care of the homeless and elderly, around the country. 

News & updates

• Security issues: New York City banned TikTok on government-owned devices, joining several U.S. cities and states putting similar restrictions on the app. TikTok is facing growing calls from U.S. lawmakers for a nationwide ban over concerns of possible Chinese government influence.
• Lowest levels: Cryptocurrencies were under pressure Thursday as investors grappled with renewed concerns about the U.S. economy. Bitcoin was last lower by about 2% at $28,506.00, according to Coin Metrics. The slide began after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting were released. 
• Adjustments: Indian officials are considering a plan to reallocate as much as 1 trillion rupees ($12 billion) from the budgets of various ministries to contain a surge in food and fuel costs without imperilling the federal deficit target.

On July 30-31, 2012, which country was affected by "the largest power outage in history"? 

Answer: India. It impacted more than 650 million people.

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