Banned 🚫
Trump gears up, EV takeover, and Venture town on fire.
🗓️ Morning, folks
📈 Not an easy year to be an investor. Indian markets added a little bit yesterday to buck the trend on the previous day’s painful sell off.
The Sensex gained 0.22% and the Nifty 50 added 0.53%. A small win as global volatility continues to loom large.
📉 Meanwhile Bitcoin is doing its own thing, down nearly 10% on the week and briefly dipping below $90K — the lowest price since November, only to bounce back this morning to $95K+.
💡 Quick spotlight: 2024 was another record year for EVs. Global EV sales surged by 25% in 2024, crossing 17 million units. China led the charge, while Britain overtook Germany as Europe’s top battery-electric market.
Overall a sleepy news day, let’s run through the important stuff real quick…
1 Big Thing: Elon Musk could end up with TikTok 🤷♀️
China seems open to letting their "friend" Elon Musk buy TikTok—if he’s willing to pay the right price and ensure the app thrives in the U.S., according to Bloomberg.
Backstory: TikTok is teetering on the edge of a U.S. ban. The Supreme Court is set to rule on the legality of a congressional order to block the app, which poses a national security risk, per U.S. officials.
170M people use it in the U.S., one of the app’s most lucrative markets. Estimates are, they made close to $8 billion in revenue in the United States last year.
Per the U.S., China’s backdoor control of the apps along with lax data storage practices makes it a national security nightmare. In the event a conflict was to happen between the two countries, TikTok could be weaponized.
Enter Musk: China is generally super sensitive about homegrown tech. Musk, whose Tesla rakes in over $21 billion annually in China, might be the perfect middle ground. This way Beijing has leverage, and they know it.
Zoom out: whether Musk wants the headache, amidst a growing U.S. government role, and countless other businesses is another question. But a consortium of buyers? That could work.
2. Stock spotlight 🚀
Fischer Medical Ventures’ subsidiary Time Medical International Ventures, became the first company in India to receive a CDSCO license for manufacturing and distributing MRI systems.
The license covers four MRI systems, some of which already have FDA and CE approvals.
Mr. Market liked the news, pushing Fischer’s stock up nearly 2%, with the company’s market cap reaching ₹3,852 crore.
3. McDonald’s to White House 🍔
In five days, on January 20th, Trump takes office as the 47th President of the United States.
A bullet to the ear, a gig at McDonald’s, ride in a garbage truck… the wild campaign had it all.
And the mandate was resounding.
But now the real work awaits. The economy’s wobbling—GDP is slowing, inflation might rebound, markets are shaky, and a trade war with China looms.
Big challenges ahead:
🇨🇳 China: Trump’s promised revival of the American manufacturing base, is going to take trillions in investments. And China won’t play nice. Trade war could mean higher prices for American consumers, who could revolt with their wallets and slow down the economy.
💸 Budget deficit: Vivek, Elon, and silicon valley’s brightest (certainly the loudest) have been tasked to find and kill in-efficiency in the bloated government — which spends nearly $5 trillion every year.
🔋 Energy Independence: The U.S. believes it can innovate its way out of an economic slowdown, but the very industry it counts on, AI, is hungry for power. Solar and Wind won’t cut it — drill baby drill.
🤝 Geo-politics: China’s got wits. Russia is aggressive. Middle East is a nightmare. There’s too many complications to afford a slip up.
Among other notable priorities:
📈 Crypto: while it’s unclear what that could look like, loose regulation so that banks can buy and hold crypto as assets, more investment products, and even a Bitcoin sovereign reserve has been floated.
💣 Defense: The $900 billion+ defense spending could come under massive scrutiny.
Trump promised disruption, and he’s delivered so far. But the fun’s over—now it’s time to deliver results.
Zoom out: India has kept up its growth momentum over the past decade, but the scale of ambition is shifting. The U.S. is building giga-powered data centers, and China is cooking bolder plans like the $120B hydro-project in the Himalayas. It’s time for India to match the pace—or risk falling behind.
4. Funds, funds, more funds... 💰
Entrackr reports that electric two-wheeler maker BGauss raised over $18 million in funding from Bharat Value Fund.
This isn’t BGauss’s first fundraise—back in April 2022, it bagged $6 million from investors led by Darshan Patel, founder of Vini Cosmetics.
BGauss integrates design and AI-enabled technology into its scooters, offering features like IoT integration, fast charging, and low maintenance.
It currently serves 45K customers and plans to scale its dealership network from 120 to 500 across India.
While we’re on fundraises…
Tractor Factory secured $500K in its pre-seed round led by All In Capital and a few other notable investors.
Founded just in 2024, Tractor Factory runs an omnichannel marketplace that simplifies buying and selling used tractors for farmers, with plans to enhance technology and expand its reach.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
🛵 Round 3: PhonePe is launching its quick commerce service, Pincode in Pune. This is the company’s third attempt in online retail.
🚨Cut the jobs: AI will cut 200K banking jobs globally in the next 5 years, shrinking the workforce by 3% annually.
💰Freebies: Jio is offering free YouTube Premium for two years for their JioFiber and AirFiber users.
That’s a wrap! Don’t let the weekday blues get to you.
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Hit that 💚 if you liked this issue.
Are the newsletters shorter now? Loved the full length thing today, but other days it seemed very small and notification-y. Love the news you all bring forward though