✍️ Pearson’s roadmap to Indian market; The Adani-Ambani payments push

The most interesting news selected specially for you! 16 June 2024 [View in Browser]( POWERED BY Hello, Now, startups and enterprises can enhance their brand engagement by partnering with YourStory and advertising on our YS Buzz and Weekly Wrap newsletters. [Click here]( to know more. In today's newsletter, we will talk about: - Pearson’s roadmap to Indian market - The Adani-Ambani payments push - Gen AI solutions for developers - IoT-enabled solution to tackle pollution - A D2C Co serving tea with a twist Here’s your trivia for today: When was the first smartwatch launched? --------------------------------------------------------------- Edtech Pearson’s roadmap to Indian market in 1844, the UK-headquartered Pearson, a multinational corporation focused on educational publishing and services, has had a complex journey—from being a traditional educational publisher to a digital-first organisation. Pearson’s transformation journey continues to date, as it leverages cutting-edge technologies to personalise education and forge partnerships to expand its offerings and global reach. The company is keen to drive the shift and keep the momentum going across all key markets, including India. Learnings: - Pearson ventured into India over 25 years ago, offering textbooks and printed course materials. It also offers test preparation content for competitive exams like JEE, NEET, and UPSC. - Earlier in 2024, Pearson partnered with Hyderabad-based Solitaire Business School to offer its BTEC Higher Nationals programmes in business management and courses in sports, fitness instructing and personal training, marketing, and business. - It recently joined hands with Chennai-based Veranda Learning, part of Kalpathi AGS Group, to enhance its competitive test preparation and IT education content and resources. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable How Ambani and Adani could upend India’s payments status quo Recently, reports surfaced that ports-to-power conglomerate Adani Group would enter the regulated payments sector. This speculation even forced listed payments entity Paytm to declare to the stock exchanges that reports about its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma discussing a potential stake sale with the Adanis were untrue. Adani isn’t the only Indian conglomerate making a belated entry into the payments space. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has already forayed into the space with Jio Financial Services in 2023. With their vast resources, extensive business networks, and deep understanding of the Indian consumer, these conglomerates have the potential to introduce innovative financial products and services that could attract a substantial user base. Their entry could intensify competition, pushing existing players to enhance their offerings and improve customer service. However, the success of Adani and Ambani in this space is not guaranteed. They, too, must navigate regulatory challenges, establish trust with consumers wary of new financial entrants, and differentiate themselves in a market already dominated by established players such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm. Key Takeaways: - With the Adani Group reportedly set to follow in Reliance’s footsteps and enter payments, the space could be set for upheaval. - Apart from being deep-pocketed and well networked, the two conglomerates also enjoy their fair share of policy influence. - Both Adani and Reliance wield an extensive array of businesses directly engaged with consumers' spending habits, priming them to become leaders in India's embedded finance landscape. - Their emergence could prompt a reevaluation of market dynamics and regulatory oversight in the near future. [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 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]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 100 Emerging Women Leaders IoT-enabled solution to tackle pollution Priyadarshini’s quest to find practical solutions to the problem of air pollution as an engineering student led her to start Aurassure, an IoT-enabled intelligent system that monitors environmental gasses, dust and weather parameters to offer end-to-end solutions. Today, the organisation is actively working to bridge the information gap between citizens and the government with the help of wireless and sensor-based technologies. Climate tech: - Aurassure developed a hyperlocal air quality monitoring system that utilises satellite-based information and an analytic solution to forecast the weather with up to 95% accuracy. - “When it comes to these kinds of technologies, you may be pitching with cost-cutting or revenue generation in mind, but as a principle, we are looking at social and environmental impact,” says Priyadarshini. - Aurassure generated a revenue of Rs 1 crore in its first year and hit Rs 5.4 crore in its second year. With deployments in over 150 cities in India and plans to expand operations to Brazil and some parts of Southeast Asia. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup A D2C Co serving tea with a twist April 2022, brother and sister duo Muneet Arora and Balkirat Singh launched Freshleaf Teas to offer a diverse range of teas, including both sparkling and traditional varieties. The startup is part of a new crop of D2C brands giving the humble tea a fresh spin. Whether the premium single-estate origin teas or artisanal brands serving infusions, more players are making space in India’s tea market, which was valued at $11.1 billion by IMARC Group in 2023. Perfect blend: - The Ludhiana-based brand offers 21 SKUs encompassing 18 varieties of premium tea blends, including traditional, herbal, chai, and sparkling tea—a mixture of tea and carbonated water. - The startup sources its ingredients from regions, including Darjeeling, Dooars in Assam, Nilgiri hills, and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh. - It says that its sparkling tea, available in flavours such as lemon ginger and strawberry kiwi, contains 30-40% less sugar compared to other carbonated drinks. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Clean energy:]( Swiss voters backed a government plan to boost domestic renewable energy, a decision that will make the construction of solar and wind plants in the Alps easier and ensure continued subsidies. The law aims at accelerating the development of renewable energy as the country targets carbon neutrality by 2050. - [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. - [Payments:]( Digital wallets are the fastest-growing payment method in the world, and Asia is leading the charge, according to the payment processing firm Worldpay. Globally, digital wallets accounted for 50% of ecommerce purchases and 30% of in-store purchases in 2023, accounting for $14 trillion in transaction value. Did you know? When was the first smartwatch launched? Answer: The first smartwatch was the Seiko Ruputer, which was launched in 1998. It could run applications and connect to a PC via a docking station. 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](