Helping women find sustainable work; Transition VC launches new fund

Hello,

India is seeing an increase in data centre infrastructure. The sector's installed capacity is expected to rise from 1.5 GW in 2025 to 6.5 GW by 2030, according to a new report.

India’s 271 data centres are concentrated across five major cities: Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. These together account for about 65% of the country’s data centres, according to the report by Rubix Data Sciences

Few technologies have scaled as quickly as artificial intelligence and while data centres are used for several purposes apart from AI such as supporting IT infra for digital services, AI has increased their energy consumption. Here’s a detailed analysis of just how much energy data centres use. 

Elsewhere, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is off to an epic start. Globally, the film reportedly secured $139.6 million, bringing the global weekend total to $264.1 million. 

While the movie captures Odysseus' perilous, decade-long journey home, real-life is far more surprising. The mythical king inspired a spiritual cult that lasted a thousand years, per an article in BBC Future. Worship of the Homeric hero began around the 9th Century BC, archaeological evidence shows. This was the time when his story was narrated via oral poems. The cult worship apparently gained momentum in the following century when Odyssey was written down in the late 8th Century BC.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Helping women find sustainable work
• Transition VC launches new fund

Here’s your trivia for today: What superhero is known as the ‘Caped Crusader’?

Women entrepreneur

Helping women find sustainable work

Growing up in Tamil Nadu's bidi belt, Karunya Gunavathy witnessed how women sacrificed their health to survive. Today, through the Kottravai platform, she is helping them transition from bidi rolling to sustainable livelihoods, with a mission to create jobs for 10,000 women.

Key takeaways:

• Kottravai operates as a private limited company and is entirely bootstrapped, with Karunya and her co-founder investing in the venture.
• Alongside the for-profit entity, Karunya plans to establish Kottravai Foundation as a Section 8 company, enabling it to tap into government schemes, CSR funding, and grant opportunities while continuing to scale its social impact.
• Over the next five years, Kottravai aims to create livelihoods for 10,000 women. The venture also plans to expand beyond handcrafted products into cosmetics, apparel and bags next year.

Funding

Transition VC launches new fund

Transition VC has announced the launch of its second fund with a target corpus of Rs 1,500 crore.

The Bengaluru-based VC firm, which focuses on the energy transition segment, had previously raised Rs 723 crore through its first fund. It claimed that it delivered a 57% internal rate of return (IRR) and generated over 3x multiple on invested capital.

Key takeaways

• In the second fund, Transition VC said it plans to invest $2-5 million each in over 20 engineering-led startups over a period of four years starting from the third quarter of the current fiscal.
• The VC firm said in its first fund, it recorded zero write-offs, with several companies already profitable, securing follow-on funding, and scaling towards Rs 100 crore-plus annual revenues.
• The new fund will also selectively evaluate emerging opportunities in areas including nuclear, geothermal and next-generation energy infrastructure.

News & updates

• Obesity drugs: Novo Nordisk on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly over what it calls misleading advertisements. The company alleges that its advertising campaigns for its blockbuster obesity and diabetes drugs are designed to mislead consumers about their superior efficacy relative to the Danish drugmaker’s rival injections.
• Cybersecurity: Millions of websites might be at risk as hackers are targeting vulnerable versions of the popular blogging software WordPress, according to several cybersecurity firms. 

What superhero is known as the ‘Caped Crusader’?

Answer: Batman

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