SoftBank’s balancing act; Analysing conversations with GenAI

Hello,

FirstCry’s big hoorah is so far not going great.

The public offering saw an underwhelming response on Day 2, with only 30% subscribed. Analysts are looking to geopolitical causes behind the dismal interest, such as Japan’s interest rate hikes. 

But what seems to have caught the investor interest instead is Unicommerce, which was oversubscribed 12.22 times by Day 2! 

The bourses, however, are expecting more activity. 

Adani is set on making a comeback to the equity market, with up to a $1.2 billion share sale which could be launched as soon as September.

Moving on, Intel is finding out the consequences of saying “never” the hard way. Here’s how the chip giant missed out on its biggest bet on the future, generative AI. 

Lastly, in today’s biggest Olympics upset, wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the women’s wrestling final for being overweight has broken a billion hearts. 

Reportedly, Phogat endured a gruelling, sleepless night of shedding weight in a desperate attempt to qualify for the 50kg Olympic gold bout, including cutting hair and shortening her clothes. 

The wrestler’s journey of blood, sweat and tears remains an inspiration to many. Read here.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• SoftBank’s balancing act
• Analysing conversations with GenAI
• Women's breakthrough into real estate

Here’s your trivia for today: The ancient Olympics were held to honour which Greek god?

Investor

SoftBank balances caution with optimism

SoftBank looks to balance caution with optimism as it navigates through current market volatility after investing over $600 million in April-June 2024—the most in four quarters—from its Vision Fund investment unit. However, CFO Yoshimitsu Goto noted that the volatility also presents a good opportunity as the company aims to double down on its AI bets.

“We need to figure out the best balance (when it comes to investing in high-growth assets). We want to make an investment and also we want to focus on return to shareholders,” Goto explained in a post-earnings call.

Key takeaways:

• SoftBank Group Corp reported a net profit of ¥10.46 billion ($70 million) in the April-June 2024 quarter, significantly lower than the previous quarter's ¥328.9 billion ($2.11 billion) profit.
• Vision Funds (SVF1 and SVF2) sold investments totalling $0.84 billion in the quarter, which included full exits from six portfolio companies, including SenseTime and Paytm, and partial exits from several others.
• “In the past six months there has been good movement in the shares of AI and semiconductor companies and so I believe there is room for decline as well as now may be the time for the market to revisit valuations,” Goto said.

Funding Alert

Startup: Visit Health

Amount: Rs 250 Cr

Round: Equity

Startup: BlueBinaries

Amount: Rs 60 Cr

Round: Equity

Startup: SigTuple

Amount: $4M

Round: Series C

Startup

Analysing conversations with GenAI

Mumbai-based startup GreyLabs AI—which offers speech analytics solutions for financial services institutions—claims to do speech-to-text analytics with “near-human-level accuracy” thanks to the integration of GenAI into the field of transcription.

GreyLabs’ GenAI-powered platform analyses customer call recordings, monitors the service agents' performance, and provides insights to improve customer service and quality assurance.

Features:

• The startup’s SaaS product converts every single call placed to a customer service agent into text using a proprietary speech-to-text engine. Then GenAI-powered LLMs analyse the conversation and offer accurate insights.
• GreyLabs’ platform is customisable for various parameters and use cases such as sales, collections, and customer service for banks, NBFCs, life insurance, health insurance, and broking.
• “Our real-time system can act as a teleprompter for call centre agents, providing suggestions such as product recommendations, battle cards, and nudges to manage an irate customer, among other features,” Co-founder and CTPO Harshita Srivastava.

Woman Entrepreneur

Women's breakthrough into real estate

In 2019, Amrita Gupta established the CREDAI Women’s Wing in Rajasthan, a part of the Rajasthan chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India. 

Under this initiative, she launched various projects, including one that offers paid contracts to women labourers and another that trains women in painting to help them secure contracts.

Brick by brick:

• Gupta explains that although she initially ventured into interior design, she also played an active role in designing buildings alongside architects. She collaborated with architects, not just to design the structure of the buildings but also its interiors.
• She also organised awareness campaigns, networking events, and mentorship programmes to encourage the active involvement of women in the real estate industry.
• “We are targeting women who are in the real estate business but are not actively involved due to the perception that real estate is a man’s field. By providing platforms for women to connect, learn, and grow, they can overcome barriers and play active roles in the real estate sector,” Gupta says.

News & updates

• Upbeat: Walt Disney reported that its quarterly earnings, which exceeded Wall Street expectations, were buoyed by the success of the animated Pixar film Inside Out 2, which helped overcome a profit decline at theme parks.
• Market glut: Glencore Plc, the world’s second-biggest cobalt miner, said oversupply in the market may stretch into 2026 as new output overwhelms demand.
• Mission delay: NASA said on Tuesday it pushed a routine SpaceX launch of astronauts to the International Space Station back a month to spend more time analysing issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, which remains docked at the station.

The ancient Olympics were held to honour which Greek god?

Answer: Zeus.

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