Rise of ESG 🌍
GPT-3, Solar investment, and unstoppable edtech.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Freakishly accurate AI surprises everyone 😱
Open AI, funded by Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Marc Benioff, Sam Altman and other tech-land titans, is one of the few pioneering initiatives leading the world’s quest to develop artificial general intelligence. Last week, the company open sourced its masterpiece, a supersmart language prediction model called GPT-3 that blew everyone’s mind.
Simply put, language models allow computers to create meaningful sentences with solid grammar and structure after given a cue - like one word or a sentence. In applications built using it, the model has been fairly accurately catching sentiment of text and creating new content on its own. See powerful example projects here and here.
The launch ruled Twitter for the past couple of days, with creators coming up with a range of use cases including automated code generators, search engines, stock market commentators etc. GPT-3 has been trained on over 175 Billion parameters and reflects the state of the art in adaptable general language systems.
Takeaway: it's common knowledge that AI has the potential to change our world. The open sourced launch of GPT-3 will perhaps be marked forever as a critical milestone in tech’s quest to integrate AI deeper into our lives. While still tightly controlled, it is very likely that GPT-3 becomes the basis for innovation, with next billion dollar startups built right on top of it.
Another model in EdTech gets funded 🖥️
Uable, an ed-tech platform that delivers a “learn by doing” experience to young kids has raised an undisclosed sum in its seed funding round from 3one4 Capital and marquee angel investors including Amrish Rau, Jitendra Gupta, Oliver Samwer etc.
The company is founded by one of the cofounders of Vendantu, so no wonder that they’re already playing in the big league. Uable works with 6 to 14 year olds, using creativity as a lever to nurture artistic potential. By providing actual-life, function-based exercises, the platform trains kids up for roles like a writer, entrepreneur, detective, coder, and astronaut, amongst others.
The fundamental approach is to add-on to the “information” only service provided by traditional schooling. The company is currently working with schools across Bengaluru and Mumbai that are referring students to its platform.
Closing thoughts: at a time when the world is debating the value of an expensive university degree, disruptive education models will continue to gain limelight. Also, no place hotter than India for an edtech company right now. Read more.
World is shifting to ESG investing 🌍
Mass adoption of sustainable and ESG investing is one of the trends that has accelerated on the back of the pandemic. “ESG” basically stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance - that is, when investing your money you filter companies based on if they operate favorably to the environment, are socially responsible, and have great governance.
In the first quarter of 2020 alone, capital flows into ESG investing grew 100% compared to same time last year, crossing $10 Billion for the first time. Second quarter is estimated to be around $14 Billion. Post COVID, as investors rotated their holdings, the reinvestment activity is only accelerating this trend..
For centuries mankind has rewarded blind capitalism that maximizes profits at all costs. However, asset managers as well as everyday investors (especially millennials) are finally agreeing to vote with their capital.
Bottom line: Globally, millennials are predicted to inherit $68 Trillion of wealth by 2030 from the generation before them. Investors predict that this will only further the cause of “doing” good. There is tremendous whitespace in building tools, data services, investing platforms etc. to cater to this ecosystem. India especially is still a blank slate.
Renewing local manufacturing 🏭
One of India’s largest clean energy companies, ReNew Power, will invest Rs. 1,500 to 2,000 crores in India to build out manufacturing facilities for solar cells and modules for upto 2GW manufacturing capacity.
Responding to the PM’s call for self sufficiency, management of the company believes the move will create 2,000 domestic jobs and boost renewable energy sentiment in the country. Management hopes that by doubling down on manufacturing domestically, the business could win big from backward integration and better control over the supply chain for critical components.
ReNew also has an ongoing effort to double its solar capacity to nearly 10 GW over the next 5 years, through an investment plan of over 40,000 crores.
Why does it matter: renewable is a key part of India’s growth narrative. Given our dense population and scarce resources, we need capitalism and sustainability to coexist. But more importantly, this investment and the promise to create jobs is a welcome change that could add positively to the economic climate. Read more.
India pauses smartphone buys 📱
New data shows that India’s smartphone sales were down 48% for the second quarter, with 17.3 Million units sold as lockdowns hindered sales. An unfavorable economic climate with fears of job losses added to the decline as well.
On one hand demand is falling off as consumers delay discretionary spending and on the other hand production and other issues restricting the manufacturing of phones is disrupting the supply chain. Both online and offline channels are drying up.
With local production halted, vendors like Xiaomi and Oppo imported smartphones to meet pent-up demand - that move however is hurt by import restrictions now. Interestingly, Apple was the least impacted among the top-10 vendors as shipments fell just 20% for the company. Talk about recession proof businesses? Read more.
Takeaway: The global smartphone industry estimates 15% drop in 2020 revenues. Prolonged lockdowns are killing small vendors, manufacturers, and other participants in the value chain. Job losses at the end of the pandemic are forcing people to delay purchases. All of this will make recovery extremely hard.
Tweet of the day:
2020 has turned into a nightmare for many early ventures. This article highlighting the journey of many pivots and challenges of a renowned food-tech company is a great Monday read to get some wind of motivation in your sails.
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
👊 Trump and Twitter spat continues - Twitter has removed a campaign style video which President Donald Trump retweeted, citing copyright complaint.
🎡 Disney joins FB boycott - Disney will Facebook boycott and cut its ad spending on the platform, with little clarity on timeline or extent of cutback. Disney has joined other companies like Starbucks, Unilever, Adidas among others.
🛒 Jiomart gears for e-tail battle - using its deep pockets, RIL’s Jiomart has enabled free delivery for all orders with no bar on minimum value. It has also launched its Android app, a day after its AGM. The etailing wars will get bloody.
😎 Policy Bazaar to raise money - the insurance marketplace is planning to raise 180 Million during the third quarter of the current fiscal as a buffer for unforeseen events. The company also expects to turn profitable as soon as possible.
💉 Covaxin trials get approval - The AIIMS Ethics Committee gave its approval for conducting the human clinical trial of the indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin. Healthy participants with no comorbidities and without a history of COVID-19 will be enrolled for the trials.
😷 India gains (or loses) on COVID leaderboard - Close to 39,000 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours taking India’s total Coronavirus cases at 10,77,618 with 543 deaths the toll stood at 26,816. Recoveries at 6.7 Lakh look promising. Stay safe fam!
✈️ Retiring big birds - British Airways is retiring its fleet of 31 Boeing 747s four years ahead of schedule as it braces prolonged decline in global air travel. The planes were originally due for retirement in 2024.
📦 Retail apocalypse accelerated - UK’s famed fashion retailer Ted Baker is cutting more than a quarter of its staff to conserve cash. Workers in at least 500 roles would be axed in an effort to save $7.5 Million by the end of the year.
🤝 Japan joins anti-China crusade - to secure local supply chains and reduce dependency on China, the Japanese government will pay its companies to move factories out of China and back home. 57 companies will be aided with $536 Million to bring their manufacturing back to Japan.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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