🤖 Behind Tata Steel’s deeptech strategy

Start Your Day with YS Buzz: Your 8 AM Snapshot of Today's Top Startup News! 04 April 2024 [View in Browser]( Hello, More Indians featured on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List 2024 than ever before. Among the 200 Indians on the list this year, [25]( featured on it for the first time. The total wealth of Indians on the list reached $954 billion—up from the previous year’s total of $675 billion held by 169 people. While the wealthiest was (no surprise) Mukesh Ambani, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath was the youngest billionaire on the list. Meanwhile, the World Bank has upgraded India’s [economic outlook]( projecting the country’s economy to grow at 7.5% in 2024 on the back of robust activity in services and industry. Elsewhere, PhonePe said its users can now make payments in Singapore through [UPI](. Under the collaboration with Singapore Tourism Board, Indian travellers can transact with over 8,000 merchants in the city-state. In other news, [Zypp Electric]( reported a 3X growth in its revenues—from Rs 115 crore earned in FY23 to Rs 353 crore made in the fiscal year gone by. The electric fleet service provider also hit operational profitability led by a jump in its fleet size and expanding operations beyond Delhi-NCR. [ICYMI:]( Ola Electric’s autonomous scooter can take sharp turns. Oh, and have you heard of Norman Bel Geddes? He’s partly the reason why our cities are dominated by cars and highways. His 1939 exhibition called [“Futurama”]( changed the course of global cities. In today’s newsletter, we will talk about - Decoding Tata Steel’s deeptech focus - How MongoDB is building solutions for India - From Air Force officer to tech leader Here’s your trivia for today: What is the most endangered species in the world? --------------------------------------------------------------- Interview Decoding Tata Steel’s deeptech strategy the last five years, Tata Steel has built bonds with the startup community through its engagement programme, Innoventure. One of these challenges is decarbonisation as the energy-intensive steel industry has a large carbon footprint. Now, Tata Steel is looking towards deeptech startups to iron out processes in the core areas of energy management, integration of AI and ML, robotics, sustainability etc. Learning from startups: - As per Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology and R&D, Tata Steel, the company's intent is to take advantage of the creativity, passion and agility of startups to move fast in technologies. - "We are engaged with startups working in advanced mobility like Hyperloop technology, AI, ML for large-scale modelling, etc. We also work with deeptech startups that have robots which can go underwater," he adds. - By engaging with startups, it adapted its procurement system to suit the needs of startups and introduced nimbleness in its processes, as per Bhattacharjee. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Alert 1) SiftHub: $5.5M|Seed 2) Vodex: $2M|Seed 3) Arch0: $1.25M|Pre-seed --------------------------------------------------------------- Interview How MongoDB is building solutions for India York-based MongoDB holds nearly half of the market share in the NoSQL databases category. For context, the NoSQL market has players such as Amazon DynamoDB and Apache Cassandra, and is expected to reach $86.3 billion by 2032, according to Allied Market Research. YourStory spoke with Sachin Chawla, the Vice President for India & South Asia at MongoDB, to understand the company’s plans for India. Key takeaways: - Founded by Dwight Merriman, Eliot Horowitz and Kevin Ryan in 2007, MongoDB began its India operations in 2013. - MongoDB’s customers in India include Upstox, Darwinbox, Canara HSBC Life Insurance, Magicpin and TATA AIG General Insurance. - The company has initiated an academic programme aiming to train 500,000 students in India to help foster local talent. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Inspiration From Air Force officer to tech leader Manakame was one of 25 women to join the second batch of women in the Indian Air Force. After a six-year-stint, she joined the IT industry. She is now a senior leader at Dell Technologies and spearheads many important initiatives and projects. Inclusivity: - Manakame’s first posting was in Mount Abu, where she was one among two women in a station of 300 personnel, including officers and airmen. - In 2005, Manakame joined Dell Technologies as a manager and has since grown through the ranks and is now Vice President (IT) at the company. She was the first woman to be promoted in-house to a Director role in Dell IT in India. - At Dell Technologies, Manakame has initiated and spearheads Tech CSR which works at the intersection of tech for social good. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable Inside the bundles: Why OTT aggregators are becoming all the rage Last week, telco major Vodafone Idea unveiled its Vi Movies & TV app in an all-new avatar, offering users a wider content library, a sleeker user interface, and more affordable plans. Vi has turned its existing content platform—the app originally released in 2016—into a snazzy video-streaming marketplace. It offers 13+ OTT apps and 400+ live TV channels, which users can access on multiple devices via a single log-in. “India is watching content like never before—multiple formats, multiple subscriptions, and multiplying hours on the screen every day. However, this unlimited choice also brings fatigue and complexity,” Avneesh Khosla, chief marketing officer of Vi, said at the relaunch. It is this increasing multiplicity of choices in entertainment viewing that calls for streamlining and aggregation, and Vi is the latest to cater to the rising demand for curated OTT marketplaces in the country. At last count, India had nearly 10 players jostling for mind (and wallet) share in this segment. Studies conducted by media consulting firm Ormax Media reveal that India has more active OTT subscriptions via aggregator platforms (B2B) vis-a-vis direct apps (B2C). Until last year, 36.4 million users were paying for at least one OTT service directly, while 39.5 million users paid for a subscription via aggregator platforms or telco bundles. Key Takeaways: - The increasing multiplicity of choices in online entertainment has birthed the need for streamlining of content providers. - India's top OTT aggregators are run by telcos (Airtel, Jio, Vi) and DTH operators (Tata Play, Dish TV) that already have existing tech, distribution, and customer relationshipsWhile the draft framework is a crucial step towards integrating climate risks into the assessment of financial stability, challenges to its implementation remain. - These aggregator platforms typically bundle 20-25 OTT services in a singular, affordable plan for users; they run on a revenue-sharing model with their content partners. - Indian audiences are already lapping up OTT bundles, especially in semi-urban and rural areas, where there are more active subscriptions via aggregators than on standalone apps. [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Make in India:]( Tesla Motors will send a team to scout locations in India for a proposed $2-3 billion electric car plant, according to two people with direct knowledge of the electric vehicle company’s plans. The step towards making vehicles in India comes after India last month lowered tariffs on higher-priced imported EVs. - [Total loss:]( Intel’s chip-making division accumulated $7 billion in operating losses in 2023. That’s a big increase from the $5.2 billion it lost in 2022, and while it made $18.9 billion in revenue in 2023, that number is down 31% from the $27.49 billion it made the year prior. - [Job cuts:]( Amazon Web Services will cut several hundred jobs in its sales, marketing, and global services organisation, and a few hundred jobs on its physical stores technology team, executives in the tech giant’s cloud computing division informed employees. Here's what else we have for you Pathways to Scale: Industry experts decode the economics of expansion In association with Snowflake YourStory in association with Snowflake recently organised a roundtable to decipher the fundamental principles behind driving fast growth and achieving economies of scale in business operations. Here are the key takeaways from the session [Know More]( Did you know? What is the most endangered species in the world? Answer: Vaquita Porpoise. The marine animal species has only about 10 individuals left in the wild. 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](