Byju Raveendran’s legal troubles; Making sustainable diamonds

Hello,

The making of a ‘Polar Silk Road’.

With the United States, China and others trying to outdo each other in the space race, the need for fast and frequent communication links with satellites orbiting near the North Pole is making Arctic ground stations a hot commodity, Bloomberg reports.

Meanwhile, closer home, spacetech startup Agnikul Cosmos has raised $17 million (around Rs 150 crore) in a round that saw participation from family offices and marquee institutional investors. The Chennai-based company is now valued at $500 million.

Agnikul will use the funds to scale its production units of aerospace and rocket components, and advance its stage-recovery programme.

In other news, drugmaker Eli Lilly has become the first healthcare firm to join the trillion-dollar market cap club. A more than 35% rally in the company’s stock this year has largely been driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market, Reuters reports.

Next up: Companies in the race to reach $5 trillion in market cap.

Lastly, the original copy of the June 1939 first edition of Superman’s adventures has become the highest-priced comic book ever sold, fetching $9.12m (£7m) at an auction.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Byju Raveendran’s legal troubles
• Making sustainable diamonds
• Redefining product development for brands

Here’s your trivia for today: In 1740, Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve wrote which classic fairy tale?

Edtech

Byju Raveendran’s legal troubles

A US bankruptcy court has ordered Byju Raveendran to pay $1.07 billion for refusing to share financial documents in the ongoing BYJU'S Alpha case. BYJU’S Alpha is the Delaware entity that received the proceeds of a S1.2 billion term-loan for BYJU'S.

Key takeaways:

• The development relates to what the debtor (BYJU’S Alpha) and the lenders (the consortium of term-loan lenders now directing the estate’s actions) say happened to the “Alpha Funds, the $533 million which was allegedly moved out of BYJU’S Alpha in 2022.
• Raveendran’s legal team, in a statement, said the ruling was a “default judgment” issued on an expedited basis that prevented Raveendran from presenting a defence, and argued that the court had “erred in its judgment” and ignored relevant facts.
• The court awarded damages of $533 million for aiding and abetting and a further $540.6 million for related claims, including conversion and breach of fiduciary duty.

Startup

Making sustainable diamonds

Founded in 2019 by Pooja Sheth, a former investment banker turned entrepreneur, Limelight is changing how India thinks about diamonds. With over 50 stores across 45 cities, Limelight, which is backed by actress Shilpa Shetty, is aiming to make sustainable luxury mainstream. 

Sparkle:

• Sheth explains that lab-grown diamonds are made by recreating the same high-pressure, high-temperature conditions under which real diamonds form. The result is Type IIa diamonds, the purest and rarest kind, found in only 2% of mined stones.
• The founder says traditional diamond mining comes at a steep environmental cost: extracting just one carat of diamond can displace around 250 tons of earth and emit 57 kg of carbon emissions.
• Limelight offers over 8,000 solitaire-based designs, including rings, earrings, necklaces, and pendants, priced between Rs 6,000 and Rs 12 lakh. 

Startup 

Redefining product development for brands

When startups and enterprises build a new digital product, the real challenge often begins after launch. Bugs surface, user behaviour differs from expectations, and the team that built the product is no longer around to fix it. 

This gap between product creation and product sustainability is what led Rishabh Sharma to start Fortheye. This Gurugram-based digital product development company aims to become a long-term product partner rather than a one-time service provider.

News & updates

• Acquisition: Daily Mail owner DMGT said on Saturday it had struck a 500-million pound ($650 million) deal to buy rival newspaper The Telegraph in a tie-up that would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain.
• AI push: The United Arab Emirates said on Saturday it will invest $1 billion to expand AI infrastructure and AI-enabled services across Africa, with the aim of helping countries meet national development priorities.

In 1740, Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve wrote which classic fairy tale?

Answer: Beauty and the Beast

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