Backpacker hostels for young travellers; Decline in VC inflow

Hello,

Anthropic is letting AI go shopping. And the results are staggering. 

Anthropic, in a recent experiment, built a ‘test marketplace’ wherein AI agents represented both buyers and sellers. As part of the test, 69 Anthropic employees were given a budget of $100 to buy goods from coworkers. Then AI took over. 

Project Deal—as the pilot experiment is called—saw AI agents engaging in real deals for real items, using real money, on behalf of real people. The outcome? 186 deals, totalling over $4,000 in value. 

Could this become a big deal in future?

In other news, a fascinating brass astrolabe—a handheld astronomical computer from the 17th century—once a part of the royal collection of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II of Jaipur, will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London later this week. 

Astrolabe is a metallic disk with many layers and interlocking components, which was used to tell time, map stars, and calculate height, depth and distance, among other things. Much like a modern-day supercomputer or smartphone! 

ICYMI: Women founders are emerging across campus incubators and deeptech startups, but their success stories still stand out in a system that makes the path to entrepreneurship uneven. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Backpacker hostels for young travellers
• Decline in VC inflow 

Here’s your trivia for today: What colour will you get if you mix the two colours that appear twice in Google’s logo?

Interview

Backpacker hostels for young travellers

Backpacker hostel chain The Hosteller is standardising operations and facilities across its properties to become “a no-stress choice” for travellers, says Founder and CEO Pranav Dangi. It recently raised Rs 150 crore to expand across India. 

In five years, backpacker hostels will be the first choice for India’s young travellers, says Dangi in an interview to YourStory.

Building across India: 

• The Hosteller began in late 2014 with a hostel in Jaipur. Over the years, its network has grown to 75 properties in 50 destinations (Tier I to III cities and offbeat locations), serving 25 lakh travellers. It aims to have a “pan-India” presence in three years, with 200-250 properties and 25,000 beds. 
• Dangi believes backpacker hostels as a category will go through a “maturity phase” in the next 5-10 years, with more people choosing this alternative mode of accommodation in huge numbers. The category will become a well-established substitute for the hotel sector, he says. 
• A traveller needs four things: accommodation, food and beverage (F&B), mobility, and experiences, says Dangi, adding that The Hosteller is working on all these. 

Funding

Decline in VC inflow 

Venture capital inflow into the startup ecosystem continues to decline as the total funding this week was less than $100 million for the second time this month. This was largely due to the absence of large value deals.

The total funding for the fourth week of April was just $81 million from 22 deals, not any appreciable increase from the previous week’s $70 million.

Key takeaways: 

• This is the fourth time in the year till now that weekly VC funding has been below the $100-million level, and this reveals the challenges the Indian startup ecosystem continues to face in raising capital.
• In the current week, only the pre-Series A and Series A stages of funding saw any activity. This has been the trend for the last two years.
• The hope is that the second part of the year will see a revival in VC funding.

News & updates

• Citizenship rights: A majority of Americans believe all babies born in the country should automatically be granted ​citizenship, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll carried out as the US Supreme Court prepares to rule on President Donald Trump’s effort to end the ‌practice.
• High prices: People in the United Kingdom could face higher energy, food, and flight ticket prices for at least eight months after the end of the US-Israel war with Iran, Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, told the BBC. 

What you should watch out for

• Global markets will closely track the US Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve— which is watching inflation—is expected to keep key interest rates steady. It could be the last meeting presided over by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May.
• A blockbuster earnings week ahead as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are set to report their quarterly results. 

What colour will you get if you mix the two colours that appear twice in Google’s logo?

Answer: Purple

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