Candy for the conscious consumer; Stories of social disparity

Hello,

Expansion is on the cards for some.

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has entered the financial services realm with the launch of a digital lending initiative which will offer paperless loans in six minutes. It is also working to simplify the borrowing experience by integrating multiple digital systems into a single process.

Ather, too, is stepping up its international expansion. The recently-turned unicorn plans to enter Sri Lanka in the next quarter and will also focus on establishing a network of fast-charging infrastructure across the country.

Meanwhile, it’s curtains down for Zomato’s Legends business. The reason? No product-market fit.

The intercity food delivery service, which was launched two years ago to bring headlining dishes from across the country, was bogged down by the high cost of flying food.

Flying is certainly an expensive endeavour. But what if your company pays to fly you everyday?

Starbucks’ next CEO Brian Niccol will commute almost 1,600 km daily from his home in California, US to the firm’s headquarters in Seattle on a corporate jet. 

That has raised some eyebrows—particularly concerning the environmental cost as private jets produce significantly more pollution per passenger than commercial planes. Also, many are left wondering whether Niccol, who is set to take charge in September, will adhere to the company’s three-day office working rule. 

Hybrid work, however, has become universal. 

A recent Zoom study found that 84% of organisations in the Asia-Pacific region are either adopting hybrid or remote working model as employees agree they get more work done from home.

Lastly, the much-anticipated TechSparks is gearing up for a grand 15th edition to celebrate India’s rise towards global tech leadership.

Here are 10 reasons why you must attend India’s largest startup-tech event.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Candy for the conscious consumer
• Stories of social disparity
• Navigating shared living spaces

Here’s your trivia for today: What was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars?

Startup

Candy for the conscious consumer

How much thought do we put into the ingredients in the candies we munch on everyday? What’s lurking in there apart from the sugar?

This question was the driving force propelling Mahesh Dharam to create a healthier alternative for candies. In 2013, he and his wife, Anusha Mahesh Dharam, started Kandee Factory to offer vegan, preservative, and chemical-free candies, marshmallows, lollipops, gummies, and hard candies.

Sugar and spice:

• Bootstrapping with Rs 2 lakh, Mahesh and Anusha converted their kitchen into their lab and hired their cook as the first employee. 
• Kandee Factory offers nearly 150 stock keeping units under different brand names, including vegan marshmallows, gummies, hard candies, lollipops, and candy canes.
• Kandee Factory has business-to-business and business-to-consumer operations in the impulse buy category. It has an online presence through its website and ecommerce platforms, including Amazon, Swiggy, Zepto, and BigBasket.

Funding Alert

Startup: Opkey

Amount: $47M

Round: Series B

Startup: Hangyo Ice Cream

Amount: $25M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Efficient Capital Labs

Amount: $11M

Round: Series A

Inspiration

Stories of social disparity

On Independence Day this year, S Dhanuja Kumari’s usual routine took a different path; she was invited by the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, to the Raj Bhavan.

A sanitation worker (garbage collector) with the Haritha Karma Sena (a government waste management initiative), her book Chenkalchoolayile Ente Jeevitham (My Life at Chenkal Choola) was recently made part of the MA syllabus of Calicut University and the BA curriculum at Kannur University.

Rage to words:

• Born and raised in Chenkal Choola, a slum settlement in Thiruvananthapuram (which has since been renamed Rajaji Nagar), Dhanuja is no stranger to hardship. Discrimination based on caste, colour, and religion was rampant.
• During a writers’ meet organised at Chenkal Choola, Dhanuja met Malayalam writer PP Sathyan who urged her to translate her anger into words, something she was already good at.
• While she took the help of an editor, Dhanuja made it clear that the book should reflect her voice--the language of someone who had only studied to the ninth standard. Chenkalchoolaliye Ente Jeevitham was published by Chintha Books in 2014.

Trends

Navigating shared living spaces

Moving into a shared living situation is often a gamble: you could come out the other side as fast friends or on opposite sides of a messy conflict.

Even the most seemingly perfect arrangement can be a nightmare with the wrong people—whether it is navigating erratic behaviour, verbal abuse, or financial issues. So how does one crack the code of cohabitation?

Co-living concerns:

• Living with people who do not have healthy physical or emotional boundaries can aggravate one’s mental health, leading to interpersonal conflicts and distressing situations, says Dr Shivakumar A, a resident doctor working in the psychiatry department at National Health Service, UK.
• Despite the challenges and associated conflicts, sharing a living space comes with several advantages: lower living costs, equal participation in chores, and shared interests that enhance social life. 
• Various apps, like FlatMate.in and Roomi, have emerged in recent times in an attempt to ease the process of finding compatible roommates.

News & updates

• Full disclosure: Social media platform X has released the list of investors who aided Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the platform (then Twitter) in October 2022. The list includes a few notable names including venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Fidelity, and Sequoia, Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Al Saud, and former CEO Jack Dorsey. 
• AI-led growth: Zoom Video Communications raised its annual revenue forecast, driven by strong demand for its AI-powered collaboration tools deployed in hybrid work models. Zoom expects fiscal 2025 revenue to be between $4.63 billion and $4.64 billion, compared with the $4.61 billion and $4.62 billion forecast earlier. 
• Clarity: Microsoft restructured how it reports results for its business units, moving some search and news advertising revenue under the Azure cloud-computing unit as the tech giant looks to offer investors a clearer picture of AI contributions.

What was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars?

Answer: Viking 1. It landed on Mars on July 20, 1976.

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