A portrait of women’s lives; BIDSO bags funding

Hello,

Global markets were volatile on Monday, with stocks swinging and oil prices dropping after US President Donald Trump delayed planned strikes on Iranian power plants by five days. European markets, which had been sharply down earlier, rebounded as investors reacted positively to the pause.

In the world of AI, the race for enterprise dominance is heating up. OpenAI is offering private equity firms a more attractive deal than Anthropic as both firms race to form joint ventures to fund and scale enterprise AI. 

The ChatGPT-maker is pitching a guaranteed 17.5% return and early access to new models to draw investors like TPG and Advent, while Anthropic is not offering similar financial incentives. OpenAI and Anthropic are competing for partnerships with buyout firms that would allow them to quickly roll out their AI tools to ​potentially hundreds of private, established companies owned by these buyout firms.

In other news, OpenAI has hired Dave Dugan, a former top advertising executive at Meta Platforms, to lead ad sales as the AI startup works to strengthen its ties with major advertisers, said a report.

Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg is developing a personal AI “CEO agent” to assist with his work at Meta as part of a broader vision where everyone has their own AI agent. The tool, still in development, helps him access information quickly without relying on multiple layers of staff.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• A portrait of women’s lives
• BIDSO bags Rs 63 Cr funding

Here’s your trivia for today: Which country’s parliament is known as the Knesset?

SheSparks

A portrait of women’s lives

Shivani Sharma’s debut work of poetry, Aparajita, was launched at SheSparks, YourStory’s flagship event for women, at IIT Delhi last week. The poems, which emerge from observation and personal memory, take us through the intimate spaces of a woman’s life.

Key takeaways:

• The book emerges not from a single defining event, but from an accumulation of lived experiences—small, intimate moments that reveal deeper emotional truths.
• Sharma’s poems highlight the often-unseen work women do to hold families and relationships together, celebrating this quiet but powerful form of strength.
• The collection reframes resilience—showing how gentleness, empathy, and even silence can be profound expressions of courage and being “unconquered.”

Funding

BIDSO bags Rs 63 Cr funding

Design-led manufacturing platform BIDSO, which specialises in outdoor and mobility toys such as tricycles, scooters, baby walkers, and electric ride-ons, has raised Rs 63 crore in a Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures. The company plans to expand its global toy production capacity and design capabilities with the funding.

Key takeaways: 

• The funding round comprises Rs 51 crore in equity and Rs 12 crore in venture debt provided by Alteria Capital. Existing investors Peer Capital and Sadev Capital also participated in the equity portion of the round.
• The company, formally incorporated in January 2023 and initially bootstrapped with Rs 1 crore, had previously raised $2.25 million in seed capital.
• The Bengaluru-based firm currently operates six manufacturing units across the National Capital Region, Rajkot, Goa, and Puducherry, spanning over 1.75 lakh square feet with a monthly capacity of over 100,000 units. 

News & updates

• Climate: The UN’s weather agency warns Earth’s climate is more out of balance than ever, with excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases. This has driven record ocean warming and accelerated ice melt, with an incoming El Niño likely to push temperatures even higher.
• Hong Kong: Hong Kong police can now require suspects under the National Security Law to hand over device passwords, with refusal punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine. Providing false information could lead to up to three years in prison under new bylaw amendments. 

Which country’s parliament is known as the Knesset?

Answer: Israel

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