💡A kinetic sand furniture maker; Riju Ravindran: The invisible Byju’s co-founder

The most interesting news selected specially for you! 04 August 2024 [View in Browser]( POWERED BY Hello, In today's newsletter, we will talk about: - A kinetic sand furniture maker - The silent sibling: Riju Ravindran’s role in the Byju’s saga - Delhivery swings to profit in Q1 FY25 - Improving critical care with smart ICUs - Inside Ola Electric's plans to cut losses Here’s your trivia for today: Which is the oldest surviving structure in New York City? --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Inside kinetic sand furniture maker LUNOoOM Sagar Agawane, robotics and electronics expert Vinay Sharma, and software engineer Angad Patil share a passion for blending traditional artistry with cutting-edge technology. Inspired by rangoli, the trio decided to feature it in a contemporary form and founded a lifestyle furniture startup LUNOoOM—an amalgamation of 'Luno' meaning moon and the resonant Indian sound 'Om'. Art: - The Pune-based startup’s flagship product is an artistically designed table featuring kinetic sand—a play sand coated with silicone oil that holds its shape when squeezed or pressed. - LUNOoOM, founded in 2023, features two main collections, the Signature Collection and the Earth Collection, with six SKUs and prices ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 9 lakh. - The bootstrapped startup is seeking strategic investment and plans to expand its product line by introducing flooring tiles, bar tops, office tables and dining tables. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable The silent sibling: Riju Ravindran’s role in the Byju’s saga "Riju Ravindran never had a very active role [in Byju’s] since around 2012, when the company started hiring external employees. He was assigned to the finance department but wasn’t actively involved. He provided oversight and occasionally offered suggestions to his brother or the management. These suggestions were not given much importance due to his limited role in the company, though they would at least be discussed," said a Byju’s employee who has been with the company for 15 years. Since 2020, Ravindran’s role in the company has diminished even further. This, however, hasn’t stopped Byju Raveendran from making full use of his younger brother by appointing him to several directorships across the edtech’s various subsidiaries in India and globally. These positions have allowed Ravindran to amass more wealth than many startup founders. Between 2015 and 2023, Ravindran sold shares worth $375 million in Think & Learn, the parent company of Byju’s, according to PrivateCircle Research. In 2022, Forbes pegged Ravindran’s wealth at $1.3 billion. This wealth, though, has come at a cost, with Ravindran often being used as a pawn to further the ambitions of his older brother. Key takeaways: - Riju Ravindran, Byju Raveendran’s younger brother and co-founder of his embattled edtech firm, is unknown to most outsiders. - Despite being a co-founder, Riju never had a defined role in the company, though he is believed to have previously overseen its finances. - An introvert, he is notoriously media-shy, with no photos of him publicly available and the company also not using his face for press releases. - His invisibility, though, has not prevented him from amassing close to $400 million from secondary share sales over the past decade. [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Logistics Delhivery swings to profit in Q1 company Delhivery had quite a lot of things to talk about in its post-earnings call on Friday. The IPO-bound startup swung to a profit in Q1 FY25, helped by higher revenue and a change in its method to calculate depreciation. Delhivery has also decided to provide dark stores and delivery services to quick commerce companies as it attempts to create new revenue streams. Scorecard: - The company reported a profit after tax of Rs 54 crore in Q1 FY25, compared to a loss of Rs 89 crore a year ago. - Delhivery also reported an increase in its EBITDA to Rs 97 crore in Q1 FY25 against an EBITDA loss of Rs 13 crore in Q1 FY24. - Delhivery's [dark store]( network will be for 2-4 hour deliveries and not for 15-20 minute ones, meaning it does not expect Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy's Instamart to become its customers, CEO Sahil Barua reportedly said in the post-earnings call with analysts. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Improving critical care with smart ICUs has a massive shortage of trained ICU doctors (or intensivists) for a population of 1.4 billion. According to the ISCCM (a society of critical care medicine) report, there are more than 3,00,000 ICU beds across India, but only 5,000 intensivists manage these. To bridge the gap between the demand for high-quality critical care and the shortage of qualified intensivists, Dr Dhruv Joshi along with Dr Dileep Raman started Cloudphysician Healthcare in 2017. The full-stack AI and operations company partners with hospitals to handle patients in their ICUs and emergency departments. Expanding healthcare: - Cloudphysician has partnered with over 200 hospitals across 23 states in India, including metros, Tier II, and Tier III cities. ​​It claims to have helped manage care for over one lakh ICU patients since its inception. - The startup has developed a tech solution that makes high-quality ICU care available to patients anywhere in the country at any point in time. It does so by using its AI-enhanced platform ‘Radar’, which converts already installed hospital ICUs and emergency rooms into Smart ICUs. - It works with over 200 hospitals in India, including some prominent hospitals like SGPGI in Lucknow, Motherhood Hospitals, HCG, and Cytecare. In the last year, Cloudphysician has expanded its hospital network by nearly 2.5x. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Electric Vehicles Inside Ola Electric's plans to cut losses an event, Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Ola Electric, laid down two themes that could help the company achieve profitability ahead of its IPO launch. Aggarwal said that the company is banking on high revenue and low costs as volumes rise. Eye at profitability: - He added that the company’s 4680 Lithium ion cell manufactured in-house—which combines high energy density and high power density—would help significantly reduce the costs of manufacturing vehicles. - The company will start delivering its motorbikes to customers early next year and integrate its new Lithium-ion cells beginning next year. - Also, in the wake of [MapmyIndia's lawsuit]( against Ola Electric for allegedly misappropriating its data, Aggarwal called the move “opportunistic”. A spokesperson called these allegations “false, malicious and misleading”. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Give up:]( Air New Zealand dropped its 2030 climate goal, citing delivery delays of fuel-efficient aircraft and the affordability of alternative jet fuels. It is the first major airline to water down its near-term climate aspirations, reflecting the scale of the industry’s challenge to meet its decarbonisation goals. - [Competition probes:]( The US Department of Justice has reportedly launched two separate probes into Nvidia regarding antitrust concerns about the computing giant’s AI-focused business dealings, including its buyout of Run:ai, and whether the company abused its dominance in AI chips. - [Sports love:]( Adidas expects soccer's increasing appeal among consumers globally to be a trend that lasts into 2025, after sales of its jerseys in connection to this year's soccer tournaments surpassed its expectations. Did you know? Which is the oldest surviving structure in New York City? Answer: The Wyckoff House. Located in Brooklyn, it was built in 1652 and resembles many early Dutch-American farms of the time. We would love to hear from you! 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