👨🏽‍💻 Gen AI tools to build apps

The most interesting news selected specially for you! 13 June 2024 [View in Browser]( Hello, Apparently, there is such a thing as ‘too much money’. Asset management firm [Blackstone’s plan]( to raise money from retail investors, rather than giant institutions, has been ‘too successful’. It is now striking deals with smaller private equity firms on their buyout deals, according to Semafor. Closer home, India's retail inflation rate [eased slightly]( in May at 4.75%—down from 4.83% in April—partly helped by a fall in fuel prices, according to government data. Food prices, however, remained high. In other news, the initial public offer (IPO) of Le Travenues Technology, the parent company of travel booking platform ixigo, got subscribed [98.1 times]( on the closing day of subscription on Wednesday. Moving on, India is a hotbed for startups and a key market where Google Cloud is doubling down on its [investment efforts]( said Matt Renner, President and Global Sales Leader, Google Cloud, who is on an India visit. [ICYMI:]( Bath has a lot more to offer than just being the pretty backdrop of Netflix’s Bridgerton. Oh, and a new study has found that elephants [call each other by name]( In today’s newsletter, we will talk about - Gen AI solutions for developers - Wakefit sees profitability on the horizon - Sangeeta Bavi’s tech journey Here’s your trivia for today: What was Indonesia called before its independence in 1945? --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Gen AI solutions for developers Anshuman Pandey, Naman Maheshwari, and Rohan Pooniwala created Tune AI to help enterprises and developers leverage generative AI for their applications and workflows. “We were one of only four companies, alongside major players, to get Meta's Llama 2 available for internet users within just 24 hours of its release to the public,” Naman tells YourStory. Maximising efficiency: - Tune Chat is an AI chat app that provides powerful models for text generation, code generation, and brainstorming. It fine-tunes, deploys, and manages the Gen AI model lifecycle, and enables data security with enterprise-grade compliance. - “Tune Studio is being used by builders in AI to whip up quick prototypes, which is to build applications… Use cases could range from a simple API integration and LLMs to giving responses or building an AI agent,” Naman adds. - Some of its prominent customers include agriculture AI startup Kissan AI; AmalgamRx, a US-based healthtech firm; and Juicy Chemistry. Some of its other clients are from the information services and healthcare industries. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Alert 1) Foxtale: $18M|Series B 2) Smartworks: Rs 100 Cr|Equity 3) CredAble: Rs 30 Cr|Debt --------------------------------------------------------------- D2C Wakefit sees profitability on the horizon Wakefit.co expects to turn a net profit by the end of the fiscal year 2024-25, backed by home furnishing and Tier II penetration, Co-founder and CEO Ankit Garg told YourStory. “So, this whole omnichannel is working much better for us compared to just being online or offline,” said Garg. Key takeaways: - Wakefit.co is banking on its expansion, especially penetration in Tier II and Tier III cities. It plans to open 130 stores by the end of FY25, of which 40% are expected to be in Tier II towns. - For FY24, the company expects to turn EBITDA-positive and record a turnover of Rs 900-1,000 crore. It plans to go public in 2-4 years. - It rolled out two tech-backed offerings under its premium smart sleep solutions. Regul8 is a mattress temperature controller while Track8 is a contactless sleep tracker. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Women in tech From Sholapur to Microsoft leader Bavi comes from a family of doctors and chose to do engineering instead. She joined REC Warangal (now NIT) to major in computer engineering, leading to a career spanning 24 years in the tech industry. She is currently Executive Director-Digital Natives at Microsoft India, where she established the ISV-GTM programme for India, focusing on core commercial aspects. Tech journey: - As part of the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) project, Bavi led a team to launch the first integrated fingerprint sensor with a mobile device while at Nokia. - “I was part of the team that worked on creating the playbook for incubating the startup business in India, and it became a model for Microsoft globally,” she adds. - Through the Microsoft India leadership programme, she, along with others, encourages Microsoft women leaders who have taken a break due to motherhood or various reasons. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- The CapTable The local consequences of AWS’ global reshuffle For all the hype around Big Tech being the best employers in town, it may not be the best time to be at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of the American e-commerce giant. For nine months now, AWS India has functioned without a country head after Puneet Chandok, who held the position for six years, joined arch rival Microsoft in September 2023. Vaishali Kasture, a senior executive at AWS, was given interim charge after Chandoks’s exit but quit shortly after.These departures came even as AWS India’s growth rate was already tapering as it faces unprecedented competition from Microsoft. The latter appears to be riding the generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) wave, with the largest companies globally and in India flocking to it as they experiment with implementing AI. All this is set against the backdrop of a global reorg at AWS, which has triggered a series of senior exits in India and fostered uncertainty and anxiety at all levels of the organisation, at least four company executives in India and APAC confirmed to The CapTable. Key Takeaways: - AWS India clocked overall revenues of$2.5 billion in 2023. This was 5% below its internal target. - Coincidentally, its India head Puneet Chandok quit in mid-2023 to join arch rival Microsoft. Since then, AWS has been unable to fill his role. - Meanwhile, anxiety and uncertainty have plagued AWS India’s rank and file employees amidst a sweeping global reorganisation. The reorg has kicked off a raft of senior- and mid-level exits in India and APAC. - AWS customers are concerned about the absence of local leadership and complain about frequent changes in account and support teams. [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Dieselgate:]( Shares of European carmakers—Porsche, BMW, Volkswagon—fell on Wednesday following a report that some of the world’s largest auto manufacturers face possible lawsuits in Britain for allegedly cheating emissions tests. - [Higher tariff:]( The European Union on Wednesday said it would slap higher tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, which it found benefit “heavily from unfair subsidies” and pose a “threat of economic injury” to EV producers in Europe. - [Space travel:]( A study into the impact of spaceflight suggests women may be more resilient than men to the stresses of space, and recover more quickly when they return to Earth. The findings are preliminary, but if the trend is confirmed, it could prove important for astronaut recovery programmes and selecting crews for future missions to the Moon and beyond. Did you know? What was Indonesia called before its independence in 1945? Answer: Dutch East Indies We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail nslfeedback@yourstory.com. If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, [sign up here](. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our [Daily Capsule page here](. [Feedback]( [Unsubscribe]( [Newsletters](