Why Prosus backs Urban Company; Surplus food turned into animal feed

Hello,

Vatican may be the focal point of Christianity, but last week, it was also the venue to discuss the ethical use of AI!

In a summit held on Friday and Saturday on “human fraternity”, Nobel prize winners, eclectic thinkers, and artists convened in Vatican City to discuss everything from agriculture to the economy to sport.

Not just that. The event wrapped up with a historic concert in St. Peter’s Square, directed by American singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams and celebrated Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Speaking of ethical use of AI, Penske Media—the owner of media outlets Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety—sued Google, alleging the technology giant's AI summaries use its journalism without consent and reduce traffic to its websites.

The lawsuit marks the first time a major US publisher has taken the Alphabet-owned firm to court over the AI-generated summaries that now appear on top of its search results.

Elsewhere, Kavin Bharti Mittal-led Hike has become the latest casualty of India’s real-money gaming ban. Once valued at over a billion dollars, the Indian unicorn has now shut down. 

On Saturday, Hike's founder said the startup’s US business, which launched nine months ago, was “off to a strong start.” However, scaling it globally would require “a full recap, a reset that is not the best use of capital or time.”

Lastly, are you planning to travel this festive holiday season? Here’s where Asians want to travel in their continent!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Why Prosus backs Urban Company
• Surplus food turned into animal feed

Here’s your trivia for today: What rare condition causes people to sweat blue or coloured sweat?

Investor

Why Prosus backs Urban Company

In 2021, Prosus, among the world’s biggest tech investors, led a $188-million funding round in Urban Company, doubling its valuation to $2 billion—on the promise of bringing order to India’s chaotic home services market. Four years later, that bet seems to have been delivered. 

Here’s how:

• Urban Company’s Rs 1,900-crore IPO last week drew overwhelming demand, getting fully subscribed in under three hours and closing with subscriptions over 104 times—among the strongest issues by a new-age Indian tech firm.
• While home services continues to be a major driver of Urban Company’s growth, it has expanded its offerings over the years to launch its own line of products under the ‘Native’ brand. Most recently, it began piloting the micro home makeover sub-brand ‘Revamp’.  
• On how Prosus foresaw the firm’s path to profitability, Principal Gaurav Kothari says, “The unit economics were very, very attractive and (so were) the contribution margins… At the time of investment, they were unprofitable, but we could clearly see that as the business scales… We knew this would translate into profitability in the future, and it has.”

Startup

Surplus food turned into animal feed

Delhi startup Wastelink—founded in 2018 by Saket Dave and later joined by Krishnan Kasturirangan—turns surplus food into feed ingredients for cattle, poultry, and aquaculture. Its flagship product, EcoMix, blends different food streams into a single, consistent ingredient. Whether a truck brings in chocolate or spices, the output stays uniform. 

“If just 30% of cattle feed is replaced with EcoMix, milk output rises by 15%,” Dave says. That mix of consistency and benefit has become the company’s edge. 

Key takeaways:

• WasteLink manufactures all its products in-house and tests every batch before it goes to customers. It works with around 30-plus food suppliers, collecting surplus from across India, including Wholsum Foods (Slurrp Farm, Mille) and The Baker’s Dozen.
• The startup has built its tech backbone in-house, using Wrapper AI to power logistics, inventory, and formulations. 
• WasteLink follows a B2B model, selling feed ingredients directly to animal feed manufacturers. The company charges Rs 25,000-Rs 35,000 per tonne, and has around 15-20 paying customers.

News & updates

• Investigate: China launched probes targeting the US semiconductor sector ahead of talks between the two nations in Spain this week on trade, national security, and the ownership of TikTok.The investigation will target some commodity interface IC chips and gate driver IC chips, which are commonly made by Texas Instruments and ON Semiconductor.
• Boxing: British former world boxing champion Ricky Hatton passed away at his home at the age of 46. Hatton, known throughout his career as the 'Hitman', was one of the best-known British fighters of his generation and won several world titles. He retired in 2012 and spoke openly about his struggles with depression and alcohol.

What you should watch out for

• Urban Company is set to debut on Indian stock exchanges on Wednesday, September 17, and early signals point to a strong listing. 
• The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates on Wednesday, as investors await how the central bank reacts to the US labour market figures, Reuters reported.
• Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK next week, CNBC reported that NVIDIA and OpenAI, part of the business delegation, are discussing a sizable deal to support data centre development in the UK, which could ultimately be worth billions of dollars.

What rare condition causes people to sweat blue or coloured sweat?

Answer: Chromhidrosis.

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