Can AI help with your toothache?; Inside EY’s India GCC

Hello,

Quick commerce is abuzz with activity.

Zepto unveiled a data insights tool designed for consumer brands and will offer a hyperlocal view of their performance on the platform. The tool will also provide live performance metrics like sales, customer impressions, conversions, etc.

The IPO-bound unicorn has also introduced a new feature to tap into the conscious consumer. The “Swap and Save” feature enables users to swap out products from the cart for cheaper alternatives. This may be Zepto’s attempt to address its unsold inventory problem. 

Meanwhile, Zomato has removed the rain fee surge waiver offered to Gold members amid a broader slowdown in food delivery and to focus on profitability.

With growing competition and aggressive expansion, profitability has become a wild goose chase. Blinkit’s losses widened nearly 4X in Q4, while Swiggy's losses grew about 2X last quarter.

Elsewhere, the question over the security of crypto exchanges looms large after Coinbase suffered a breach and hackers stole customer data, including identity documents. The company expects to incur costs of around $180-400 million. 

The development is reminiscent of WazirX’s multi-signature wallet hack last year that wiped out $235 million.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Dental diagnostics and insurance with AI
• Inside EY’s India GCC
• Changing India’s conversation around desire

Here’s your trivia for today: Which famous Indian ghee brand used to import its products from a Dutch company?

Startup

Dental diagnostics and insurance with AI

In 2022, Dr Manoj Ranjan—a seasoned prosthodontist—teamed up with Aditya Andra and Deep Mehta to launch Toothlens—a Chennai-based dental healthtech startup that leverages AI to lower dental treatment costs and make dental insurance mainstream. 

The platform uses smartphone and intra-oral camera imaging, combined with AI analysis, to identify issues like cavities, gum disease, and plaque, empowering dentists with tools for early detection, virtual consultations, and continuous remote care.

Tooth care:

• By early 2024, Toothlens launched its first product with an accuracy rate of 97%, capable of identifying dental conditions with agreement levels comparable to licensed dentists.
• The startup also identified a critical gap in the Indian healthcare system—the near-total absence of outpatient dental insurance. To address this gap, the startup launched a cashless dental OPD insurance in collaboration with Star Health Insurance and Vizza Broking.
• With a 15-member team, Toothlens has helped dentists complete over 2 lakh checkups, including 15,000 AI-based assessments in the past six months.

Funding Alert

Startup: India Family Mart

Amount: $12M

Round: Series D

Startup: Hocco

Amount: $10M

Round: Series B

Startup: MedVital

Amount: Rs 8.4 Cr

Round: Pre-seed

Enterprises

Inside EY’s India GCC 

EY, one of the big four global professional services firms, sees India as one of the key hubs driving the organisation’s AI innovation agenda through its global delivery services (GDS) unit—also EY's global capability centre (GCC). 

The unit's global employee strength is 75,000, across The Philippines, Argentina, Mexico, Poland, and India. Its India operations have around 60,000 employees spread over Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, and Kochi.

Key takeaways:

• EY’s GDS unit started by providing tax-related services. Today, its role encompasses audit, assurance, consulting, technology stacks, tech enablement, strategy, and M&A. 
• Today, AI and GenAI have become the top priorities for EY GDS, says Ajay Anand, Global Vice Chair, EY GDS. “Our entire team has been trained on AI, and we are hiring a lot of tech talent.” Embracing AI tech has brought in early success in the area of risk assessment for EY.
• EY GDS also helps other companies to set up their GCC in India. The company follows the model of build, own and operate, and in some cases, it transfers the GCC to the company itself.

Social Story

Changing India’s conversation around desire

About a decade ago, filmmaker and writer Paromita Vohra found herself on the lookout for “a language for sexuality that was Indian, contextual, affectionate, and pleasurable—one that would create a dynamic sense of autonomy to overcome fear and shame around the subject.” 

In 2015, Vohra started Agents of Ishq (AOI)—a pioneering arts-based initiative that utilises various media forms of engagement, such as videos, comics, podcasts, and articles—to present comprehensive sex education and narratives around intimacy and relationships.  

Community engagement:

• Today, AOI’s content is developed in collaboration with educators, health professionals, activists, and youth groups across India. They have partnered with more than 82 organisations to create impactful work that has become a gold standard in communications about sex and sexuality. 
• AOI creates materials for comprehensive sexuality education aimed at general audiences as well as trainers, educators, and organisations working with youngsters and women.
• AOI’s contributors are anonymous, which is central to the authenticity of the platform. It allows people to say what they feel, not what they’re supposed to say, says Vohra.

News & updates

• Trade wars: US President Donald Trump said that India had offered a trade deal that proposed “no tariffs” for American goods while expressing his dissatisfaction with Apple’s plans to invest in India. Reuters said India has offered to reduce duties to zero on 60% of tariff lines in the first phase of the deal under negotiation, while offering preferential access to nearly 90% of US merchandise imports.
• Retail: Walmart will have to start raising prices later this month due to the high cost of tariffs. As the largest importer of container goods in the US, Walmart is heavily exposed to tariffs, and although the US and China have lowered levies to 30%, that’s still a high cost to bear, executives said.
• US Fed: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that longer-term interest rates are likely to be higher as the economy changes and policy is in flux. Powell said that even with longer-term inflation expectations largely in line with the Fed’s 2% target, the era of near-zero rates is not likely to return anytime soon.

Which famous Indian ghee brand used to import its products from a Dutch company?

Answer: Dalda. It was imported from Dada & Company. 

We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail [email protected]. 

If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our Daily Capsule page here.