Nithin Kamath's comeback trail; Unacademy’s offline journey leaves Munjal at a crossroads

The most interesting news selected specially for you! 29 September 2024 [View in Browser]( Hello, In today's newsletter, we will talk about: - Nithin Kamath's comeback trail - Unacademy’s offline journey leaves Munjal at a crossroads - The art of nature conservation - Reinventing sustainable fashion - Making sales effective using AI/ML Here’s your trivia for today: A Medusa is a marine creature better known by what other name? --------------------------------------------------------------- TechSparks Nithin Kamath's comeback trail Kamath is a trailblazer. As the pioneer of India's [online broking industry]( Kamath's Zerodha has disrupted many a legacy institution in the last decade-and-a-half, as it scaled to reach a staggering [turnover]( of Rs 8,320 crore, with profits of Rs 4,700 crore in FY24. But this year has been a lot more than just money or business for the mild-mannered Kamath. Key takeaways: - In what was his “first real audience interaction” in nine months since he suffered a stroke earlier in January, Kamath dwelled on life, loss and other existential questions besides sharing his thoughts on building a rock-solid fintech business. - Zerodha currently manages securities worth a mammoth Rs 5.66 lakh crore, which equals 10 crore rows of holding. - Most recently, Kamath cautioned that discount [trading platforms]( like Zerodha and others, which could see a potential drop in revenues once SEBI's new regulations around F&O trading kick in from October 1, 2024. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable As Unacademy shifts offline, is Gaurav Munjal shifting focus? Over the past 18 months, Unacademy has found itself in something of a no-man’s-land, neither growing rapidly nor truly bringing its burn under control. While its losses are believed to have narrowed to about Rs 500-600 crore in FY24 (the company is yet to file its audited financials for the period) from over Rs 1,600 crore in the preceding fiscal year, it was still burning ~Rs 50 crore every month. This stands in stark contrast to some other tech companies that went slow on growth but managed to achieve profitability. SoftBank-backed Meesho, for instance, managed to cut its burn by over 90% and even achieved a profitable month in 2023. Unacademy’s plight hasn’t been helped by multiple senior-level exits, including the company’s chief business officer, chief financial officer, and chief operating officer, which have cast further doubt about the company’s ability to script a comeback. Especially since both company and industry insiders say Munjal isn’t a big fan of the direction the company has taken, having become increasingly focused on its offline coaching business since the pandemic ended. "Gaurav (Munjal) no longer has the passion for running Unacademy as a coaching class chain. That was never his vision for the company, but it has essentially become that, especially with no growth in the online segment," said another individual closely associated with Unacademy, speaking anonymously. Key takeaways: - One of India’s best funded ventures, SoftBank-backed Unacademy has been trying to script a turnaround for over a year but hasn’t made much progress - With its investors pushing for an acquisition, the company has explored several merger options but with little success - The majority of Unacademy’s senior management has quit. Even its co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal appears to have lost interest in the core business - For Munjal, the focus now seems to be on Unacademy Languages, a competitor to Duolingo, which he believes has the potential to become Unacademy’s first “global offering” [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Environment The art of nature conservation all else fails, humour is the universal solvent against the abrasive elements of life—especially grim ones such as climate change. Rohan Chakravarty, a cartoonist and illustrator from Nagpur, is melding humour and activism together as the creator of Green Humour—a series of cartoons, comics, and illustrations focused on wildlife, nature conservation, sustainability, and all things green. Eco humour: - The turning point happened for Chakravarty when he and his brother joined an NGO in Nagpur as volunteers. During his first wildlife safari, he saw a tigress, and that scene sparked the idea to start drawing cartoons/characters inspired by the wildlife world. - The idea of Green Humour sparked when Chakravarty began working in a film studio and realised that to communicate more serious issues, like environmental governance and injustices, he needed a medium that allowed for deeper engagement. - Besides his comics and illustrations, he has also published nine books, including Naturalist Ruddy: Adventurer. Sleuth. Mongoose, which won the Best Book in the Children's Non-Fiction category at the Bangalore Literature Festival in 2021. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Woman Entrepreneur Reinventing sustainable fashion most middle-class households, Ashita Singhal’s household too reused containers. Singhal also wore pre-used clothes handed down to her. Sustainability had always been a way of life for her even as a child. These childhood experiences eventually shaped Singhal’s outlook on life, and her desire to repurpose the waste generated by the fashion industry became the cornerstone of Paiwand—a textile studio she started in 2018. Upcycled couture: - The Delhi-based studio, which is dedicated to sustainable fashion, collects textile scraps from craft clusters, designers, brands, and organisations, and upcycles them into new fabrics using traditional handloom weaving and embroidery techniques. - During a visit to Sunder Nagri in Delhi, a once-thriving weaving hub, Singhal learnt about the dwindling prospects of handcrafted textiles. This strengthened her resolve to use traditional techniques such as handloom weaving, hand embroidery, and patchwork in her upcycling endeavours at Paiwand. - To date, Paiwand has upcycled close to 35,000 kg of textile waste. It is currently working with 20 helpers, 10 weavers, five embroiderers, and one designer. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Making sales effective using AI/ML strength lies in being a mobile-first SaaS platform, which helps sales teams on the go. It is built to support the entire sales lifecycle, from prospecting to renewals and provides targeted solutions for hiring, onboarding, sales management, and performance tracking. Key takeaways: - The company began its journey in Bengaluru as a lead management tool for sellers and initially serviced across verticals. Its AI and ML tools help build playbooks for sales teams, providing intelligent insight through nudges. - The SaaS startup has over 350,000 users across more than 70 financial institutions. Its operations span India, Asia, and the US. - Vymo has raised over $45 million in funding from Sequoia Capital, Emergence Capital, and Bertelsmann India Investments. The capital has supported Vymo's expansion efforts, product development, and market penetration. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Falling in line:]( Elon Musk’s X will now comply with court demands in Brazil so it can resume operations in the country and potentially end its feud with a powerful judge over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. - [Store:]( GitHub will soon allow enterprise cloud customers to store their code data in the EU, as part of a growing push in the tech world to meet regulatory requirements and customer expectations around data protection, particularly where sensitive information might be at play. - [Weekend warrior:]( A study of nearly 90,000 people enrolled in the UK Biobank project found that people who fit a week’s worth of exercise into one or two days had a lower risk of developing more than 200 diseases compared to inactive people. Did you know? A Medusa is a marine creature better known by what other name? Answer: Jellyfish We would love to hear from you! 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