Neo Sensex 💪
Apple smart home, Defense AI, and Oyo's expansion.
☀️ Morning and Merry Christmas Eve!
📈 Zomato replaced JSW Steel to officially join the Sensex 30, marking a milestone for India’s internet startups.
🚨 Broad markets closed higher, with the Sensex up 0.64% and the S&P up 0.54%.
Short week: Markets will be closed tomorrow. We're off tomorrow and the day after for Christmas, and we’ll be back in your inbox on Friday.
Let’s hit it!
1 big thing: Apple’s door camera 🚪
Bloomberg reports Apple is developing a doorbell camera for homes that unlocks using Face ID. The product is expected to launch in 2025.
How does it work: the lock will function like your iPhone, automatically unlocking when you or another resident approach.
The camera will feature Apple’s Secure Enclave chip, which stores and processes Face ID data separately from the rest of the system’s hardware.
Why care: trading at nearly 40x earnings, Apple stock is under immense pressure to return to meaningful growth.
The iPhones are failing to drive excitement and new frontiers are desperately needed. Last quarter, the company grew revenues by just 6% YoY.
Correction:
2. Chart of the day 📈
India will surpass China as the top source of oil consumption growth in 2024 and 2025, and the economy as domestic consumption continues to fire on all cylinders.
And this is despite India pursuing an expensive and quite a successful transition towards cleaner sources of energies.
3. Defense Tech is taking center stage ⚔️
New age AI and Defense companies, including Anduril, Palantir, Open AI, as well as Space X are reportedly considering joining forces to form a consortium to take on the old school defense giants in the U.S., including Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon.
Why it matters: the old-school defense giants have for decades led American defense supremacy. But as drones, autonomy, algorithms take center stage on the battlefield, the oldies have struggled to adapt with speed.
Zoom out: the U.S. spends close to a trillion dollars on defense every single year, making it a massive industry of opportunity. Disruption can yield big wins.
Trump’s election and focus on driving AI supremacy has fueled a crazy rally in stocks like Palantir. Year to date, Palantir was one of the best stocks in the S&P500, up more than 380%!
While we’re on the topic of defense,
Indonesia is considering purchasing BrahMos cruise missiles from India, highlighting India’s growing role as a global defense supplier.
As domestic defense tech progresses, India is able to position itself as a cost-effective alternative to Western nations when it comes to supplying state of the art defense technology.
FYI, the BrahMos missile, developed in partnership with Russia, offers some of the best supersonic cruise missile capabilities worldwide today.
4. Who got the bag? 💰
Univest raised $10 million in Series A funding, led by Bertelsmann India Investments. The funds will help the retail advisory platform expand its research and brokerage services. Univest combines human expertise with advanced algorithms to provide real-time stock recommendations.
Mindgrove Technologies, a fabless semiconductor design startup, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Rocketship.vc. The company is focused on accelerating production of its first chip, 'Secure IoT,' India’s first commercial-grade microcontroller SoC for smart devices. The funds will help expand its workforce and engineering capabilities, driving growth in the IoT space.
5. OYO locks in Motel 6 🔒
OYO has finalized its $525 million acquisition of US no-frills hotel chain Motel 6 and Studio 6 from Blackstone Real Estate.
Context: Since its U.S. debut in 2019, OYO has been steadily expanding, and this acquisition marks a major leap in its growth strategy.
Motel6, with over 1,400 locations across the U.S. and Canada, brings in $2 billion in revenue.
It was acquired by Blackstone for $1.9 billion in 2012 from Accor Group.
Bottomline: the acquisition will form the base for Oyo’s continued expansion into the budget travel segment in the US.
Pop quiz of the week ⚡
This company is a leading manufacturer and exporter of aqua feeds in India, specializing in shrimp and fish feed. It holds a significant market share of approximately 45% in the domestic shrimp feed business. The company has a market capitalization of around ₹8,500 crore. Which company is this?Answer to last week's quiz: Anant Raj.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
🚬 Cigarette tax: The GST Council has approved a track-and-trace system for cigarettes and pan masalas to tackle tax evasion.
🚀 Space test: ISRO’s final 2024 mission will launch 24 experiments, testing key technologies for future space endeavors.
👑 Trump’s AI pick: Donald Trump appointed Indian-American Sriram Krishnan as Senior White House AI Policy Advisor.
That’s a wrap!
We wish you a Merry Christmas!
Don’t go easy on the eggnog or the sweets or those vodka shots. 🤙 Ciao!
Hit that 💚 if you liked this issue.
