Mugambo khush hua 😛
Venture deals, monsoon is here and US markets reverse.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Let’s go ahead and get started:
Stock market summary:
US - S&P 500 down 5.9%🔽
India - Sensex down 2.7% 🔽
Bollywood is back 🎬
The pandemic had put movie production on hold and after months of struggling Bollywood is finally back, albeit not as we know it.
Producers’ Guild of India has issued certain guidelines keeping the virus in mind to permit shooting and other production activities. Sticking to a lean routine that avoids many Bollywood essentials like dance scenes and group gathering, we wonder whether the industry will lose its charm forever.
According to the guidelines:
No actor above 65 years of age will be allowed to film. Bye Bye Amitabh Bachchan and Shabana Azmi
Only one third of the crew will be allowed on set
No personal makeup artists for the actors
Costume fitting will be done at the actors homes
No food will be allowed on set
No kissing and hugging scenes on camera
The Indian film industry generates nearly $2.28 Billion in revenue each year and churns out approximately 2,000 films a year, making it one of the largest movie markets worldwide.
The Guild’s guidelines are linked to the fact that Mumbai, the home of Bollywood and the place where most studios are HQ'd has been severely affected by the pandemic. Maharashtra is by far the worst affected state in India with over 75,000 Coronavirus cases.
In similar events
Hollywood got a green signal from Governor Gavin Newsom of California to restart film production from June 12th. Read more.
Venture investment remains hot 🤝
Anand Mahindra has invested $1 Million into Gurugram based startup, Hapramp.
Hapramp was founded in 2018 and runs a startup studio which works at the intersection of the creative industry and information economy. Go Social is a creator-economy product built by Hapramp which enables artists and creators to take up several challenges in art, writing, photography, etc. to earn rewards.
The app is available on Android and has over 50 thousand downloads and the company also plans to expand marketing in Southeast Asia in the coming year.
India is considered one of the hottest markets for Media and the creator economy over the next 5 years and cheap internet and deep smartphone penetration is ensuring millions of Indians coming online for friendly content. Expect the space to heat up even more.
US markets reverse 🔄
Ending a crazy run upward over the past couple months, US markets on Thursday turned sharp red with the Dow pulling back as much as 1,800 points by market close.
Fears of the coronavirus resurgence and subsequent economic pain is blamed for the mayhem as many parts of the US have started to see a second wave of infections.
Despite the pandemic bringing a once-in-a-century type of economic weakness, stock markets had continued to rally upwards from the short-lived sell-offs in March 2020. Investors and analysts believed that swift re-opening of businesses was the reason behind the stock market recovering so fast.
However, that seems like a distant reality. With time we have learnt that containing the virus without a vaccine is becoming harder than imagined and that the business environment will likely not return to pre-pandemic days any time soon.
At market close, the S&P 500 was down 5.9% and the Dow Jones Index was down 6.9%. India markets are yet to open, but expect a similar pullback.
Tweet of the day -
Over the past 25 years, text has been the majority of how “content” existed on the web. Yes, we know YouTube and TikTok are popular already but most websites are still text based and read/writing is the primary way of creating and consuming content.
But as more and more people spend time online due to the pandemic, this creates a massive opportunity for independent creators, builders, actors, businessmen and women, artists to use video to find an audience and build a following. Also, Insta, Snap, YouTube, TikTok etc. have made it so easy to create and publish videos.
We have written so much now about how you can use the pandemic to start something of your own. Perhaps you should make a video first. If you do have something of your own, please write back to us. We would love to feature it.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
😷 Second virus wave emerges in the US- cases reach 2 Million - the much feared may finally be here. Certain states in the US that opened early on to salvage the local economy are now seeing rise in new infections. Also, the civil unrest and protests in the last couple of weeks may have been transmission hot beds.
🌧️ Monsoon arrives in Maharashtra - a sigh of relief from the heat as southwest monsoon hits the coast of Maha, with many regions witnessing heavy showers through the day. Experts however are torn on the impact of moisture and humidity on the transmission of the virus. Maharashtra is already among one of the worst virus-hit states in India.
🏥 Wipro opens Covid Hospital in Pune - IT company Wipro has opened a hospital dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients in Pune. The facility will operate based on a private-govt partnership. Indian corporate community has been one of the most generous worldwide in relief efforts so far.
🚚 Europe’s Just eat Takeaway to buy delivery firm Grubhub - internet services are on fire as locked down consumers turn to digital platforms for essential services. In one such odd marriage in the food delivery space, EU’s Just Eat acquired US’ Grubhub for $7.3 Billion. Grubhub was recently courting Uber for a deal at half the valuation, but Just Eat seems to have wooed investors with a better price for the company.
🛵 Swiggy plans to shut premium service, Scootsy - things in the delivery space are changing faster than one can humanly keep track. Swiggy had acquired Scootsy in 2018. Scootsy specifically catered to a premium consumer segment and had to date stayed an independent entity even post acquisition. Now Swiggy is fully digesting this baby as it struggles to keep pace with demand in the food delivery industry.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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