Learnings on Teachers’ Day; Meat and seafood startups’ many struggles

Hello,

The Great AI Selloff is setting off a domino effect on global equities.

It started with AI heavyweight Nvidia’s shares tumbling 9.5% on Tuesday, wiping $279 billion from its market value as investor optimism on AI cooled amid a tepid US manufacturing report.

The ripple effects are far-reaching: shares fell globally on Wednesday, hit by a drop in tech stocks. 

India’s benchmark indices—Nifty and Sensex—took a hit too, and information technology companies logging losses didn’t help either. 

While we’re on the subject of AI, Goldman Sachs has an interesting view about its future.

Artificial intelligence could hurt oil prices over the next decade by potentially reducing costs and boosting supply via improved logistics and resource allocation, the company said in a research note.

Too efficient? As writer Aldous Huxley had stated, it only comes at the expense of life.

Such productivity comes at a carbon cost—2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions globally through the end of the decade.

Reaching net-zero has been a target for decades. But what exactly does it cost to have no greenhouse emissions globally?

The scale, as it turns out, is staggering. But still, not devoid of hope.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Insights from educators on Teachers’ Day
• Meat and seafood  startups’ many struggles 
• Connecting students to nature

Here’s your trivia for today: What was sportswear brand Nike originally called?

Edtech

Insights from educators on Teachers’ Day

On Teachers’ Day, YourStory spoke to some educators who have not only made significant strides in their respective fields but continue to evolve in the ever-changing landscape of education, alongside many others who are quietly shaping the future with each lesson they deliver.

Learning:

• For Dr Gajendra Purohit, popularly known as GP Sir, a renowned mathematics educator with nearly 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, teaching started with home tuitions for students in grades 9 through 12 while he was pursuing his BSc.
• Garima Goel, a Biology NEET educator at edtech firm Adda247, who aspired to be a teacher as early as the 6th or 7th grade, believes that online engagement through YouTube has become increasingly crucial for educational content post-COVID.
• Goel, whose YouTube channel has 375,000 subscribers, has been teaching Biology for over eight years, with experience at brands such as Aakash, Career Point, Vedantu, and Unacademy.

<Funding Alert>

Startup: Invest4Edu 

Amount: $3M

Round: Seed

Startup: Goodeebag

Amount: $1M

Round: Undisclosed 

Startup: Valyx

Amount: $800,000

Round: Pre-Seed

D2C

Meat startups’ many struggles

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rise of online-first meat and seafood startups that wanted to make their mark on the sector.

However, these startups are struggling to survive as consumer preferences have largely reverted. And, companies like Licious and FreshToHome have either had to wind down their operations or continue with heavy losses with zero to little gains to show for it in the top line. 

Bigger fish:

• Meat startups’ challenges include expensive cold chain solutions, a saturated market, unpredictable pricing, and ultimately, a lack of sufficiently appealing value additions.
• Neighbourhood stores do not invest in high-tech tech stack and cold chain infrastructure solutions, allowing for lower operational costs, which in turn enable them to sell at a lower price—a liberty online meat brands cannot afford.
• Since branded cuts on grocery store shelves are too expensive, online food startups have had to go back to industry roots and set up brick-and-mortar shops.

Inspiration

Connecting students to nature

Founded by Saidevi Sanjeeviraja, Bengaluru-based Thicket Tales makes learning fun and interesting for students through nature-immersive experiences like walks, story-telling, and more.

The organisation runs a flagship programme called Learn Around Nature, in which it works with middle schoolers from low-income families to help them visualise science and social science through nature immersive experiences.

Nature walks:

• Learn Around Nature encourages multi-disciplinary thinking applying facts to learn more concepts, connecting subjects in the form of discussion or activities.
• The other programme from Thicket Tales, GreenGen Explorers, helps children to connect with the biodiversity of parks with scientific, exploratory outings.
• The organisation works with two full-time facilitators—a trained biologist, a science communicator, and an academic director.

News & updates

• Approved: Britain's competition regulator cleared Microsoft's hiring of some former staff of Inflection AI and its partnership with the startup and said the deal did not require a deeper investigation.
• Shelved plans: Volvo Car abandoned its target of having a fully electric lineup by the end of the decade, saying it was still likely to sell some hybrid models as the market faces an increasingly bumpy transition to electric vehicles.
• Setback: Intel's contract manufacturing business has suffered a setback after tests with chipmaker Broadcom involving sending silicon wafers through Intel's most advanced manufacturing process—known as 18A—failed. 

What was the sportswear brand Nike originally called?

Answer: Blue Ribbon Sports.

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