Alok Sama’s lessons from Masayoshi Son; Revolutionising India’s battery strategy

Hello,

Welcome to the future.

Google has achieved a remarkable breakthrough in the field of quantum computing. The tech giant claims its new chip, Willow, takes five minutes to solve a problem that would take supercomputers ten septillion years.

Google has solved a 30-year-old problem of scaling in quantum computers as qubits—the fundamental units of quantum computation—would be prone to more errors. The company now corrects the error in real-time.

The new chip is even more mind-bending. The staggering speed of quantum computations aligns with the idea that quantum computers may operate by performing calculations across multiple parallel universes simultaneously. The idea of parallel universes has been floating around since the 1950s.

Quantum computing, though, is certain to make an impact in the near future. The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, recognising that quantum science is moving out of the experimental phase and into the realm of practical applications.

Meanwhile, researchers have made significant progress in the quest for scalable and fault-tolerant quantum computers after entangling the most logical qubits on record. The scientists successfully entangled 24 “logical qubits”—the highest number ever achieved to date.

But can one emerging technology threaten another? Some worry that the quantum computing revolution may signal the end of cryptocurrencies, but others think it’s just a pipe dream.

According to crypto watchers, to crack a Bitcoin, quantum computing needs between 200-400 million qubits—which far exceeds Willow’s capacity of 105 qubits.

And that may take ten septillion years.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Alok Sama’s lessons from Masayoshi Son
• Revolutionising India’s battery strategy
• The grim reality of bonded labour

Here’s your trivia for today: Which place in Karnataka depicted the village of Ramgad shot in the iconic 1975 Bollywood movie Sholay?

Interview

Alok Sama’s lessons from Masayoshi Son

Having occupied a front-row seat to one of technology's most audacious visionaries, Alok Sama learned an unexpected lesson: don't try to be Masayoshi Son. The former President of SoftBank Group International believes that Son, who “describes himself as a crazy guy who lives in the future,” possesses something inimitable.

While emulating him is a tall order, there is still much to learn from visionaries like Son, Sama believes, especially when it comes to resilience and picking yourself up from past failures. 

Reflections:

• Reflecting on the journey of a startup founder, Sama’s advice to up-and-coming founders is to brace for challenges. “If you aspire to this game of money and power, then you'd better toughen up because there will be people who take shots at you... And I probably never toughened up as much as I should have,” he rues.
• From his trials, Sama gleaned insights about resilience—a quality he particularly admires in Son and a trait he believes is shared between most successful people.
• Speaking of visionary leaders like Son, Sama notes, “They're futurists, and they really do live in the future. And people like that, the Leonardo da Vincis of the world, come along once in a lifetime. So, don't be inspired by them... be grounded,” he advises.

Funding Alert

Startup: Mintifi

Amount: $180M

Round: Series E

Startup: LambdaTest

Amount: $38M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Netrasemi

Amount: Rs 10 Cr

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup

Revolutionising India’s battery strategy

Solid-state batteries are poised to revolutionise how people power everything—from daily devices to electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy systems. Unlike traditional lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, these next-generation power sources are more efficient, safer, and longer-lasting. 

Turning this vision into reality is Chennai-headquartered Inventus Battery Energy Technologies, which is developing solid-state batteries that the startup plans to market by 2026.

Race for power:

• Founded in 2020, the startup’s solid-state battery technology has reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7—a standard scale used to measure the maturity of a particular technology. These levels range from TRL 1 (basic principles observed) to TRL 9 (fully operational and proven in a real-world environment).
• Inventus specialises in advanced battery technologies, offering solutions for building and operating Li-ion battery factories. The factory setup support includes everything—from design to equipment recommendations and safety guidance, including fire prevention and risk management during production.
• In the next 8-12 months, Inventus aims to raise nearly $5 million in a pre-Series A round, the CEO says, adding the startup is deliberating with investors for the round. It has already secured seed funding of Rs 1 crore through a technology development project from the National Research Development Corporation.

Social Impact

The grim reality of bonded labour

According to government data, around 315,302 people were released from bonded labour—where a person is forced to work in exchange for a loan—between 1978 and January 2023, of which 94% have been rehabilitated.

Despite these efforts, cases continue to crop up, betraying the deep-rooted nature of the issue. On World Human Rights Day, it’s imperative to confront the grim reality of bonded labour, a system that traps people in unending cycles of debt and despair.

Stories of hope:

• Survivors of bonded labour speak of not being able to call a place home. Murthy, one such survivor, speaks of being made to work from 4 am to 4 pm every day harvesting sugarcane from different farms along with his wife, Thayamma, after taking a series of loans to build a house.
• For Ranjita, her parents’ decision to borrow Rs 90,000 from a labour agent in lieu of work at a brick kiln in Bengaluru meant insufferable working conditions and back-breaking work, with threats of bodily harm to herself and her sisters from henchmen at the kiln if they did not work.
• Today, these survivors are working to uplift others from similar conditions. Ranjita is a leader in Shramavahini—the Odisha chapter of the Released Bonded Labourers Association, while Murthy and Thayamma have joined Udayonmukha, Karnataka’s first association for released bonded labourers. 

News & updates

• Fluctuation: The cryptocurrency market has seen a sharp decline over the past 24 hours, with Bitcoin falling to $94,100 before recovering to $97,800. The drop contributed to $1.5 billion in liquidations, affecting approximately 514,400 traders, according to Coinglass.
• Tipping point: Coffee drinkers may soon see their morning treat get more expensive, as the price of coffee on international commodity markets has hit its highest level on record. On Tuesday, the price for Arabica beans, which account for most global production, topped $3.44 a pound (0.45kg), having jumped more than 80% this year.
• Text-to-video: Sora, an AI video generator program created by startup OpenAI in 2021, is making waves as it has now moved out of the research phase and has been officially released to the public under the new name of Sora Turbo.

Which place in Karnataka depicted the village of Ramgad shot in the iconic 1975 Bollywood movie Sholay?

Answer: Ramadevara Betta in Ramanagaram district.

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