Twitter embarrassed 🐦
Cloud kitchens, Offline commerce, and unique telco match.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Stock market summary:
US - S&P 500 down 0.34%
India - Sensex up 0.21%
The cloud kitchens are coming out fast ☁️
Finally, some fundraising news that is not related to ed-tech or Jio. Mumbai based cloud kitchen operator Yumlane has raised a million dollars from Singapore-based Jetty Ventures in a pre Series-A.
The company recently made a pivot from selling hot cooked fast meals at retail points to now offering a turnkey kitchen infrastructure, supply chain, and branding platform to restaurant operators. Newly acquired funds will be diverted for geographic expansion.
Several big names are backing the company including Flipkart’s Binny Bansal, MakeMyTrip’s Sachin Bhatia etc. and so far they’ve raised over $7 Million in capital.
Takeaway: The promise of cloud-kitchens is alluring. Chefs get to focus on their art while the operational aspects are outsourced and enhanced using tech. Especially now with the pandemic poking holes into the business of traditional restaurants. We will hopefully see a few billion dollar businesses coming in this space in India pretty soon. Read more.
Twitter’s embarrassment 👀
It was a tough day for Twitter after hackers took over accounts of prominent entities including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Kim K, Jeff Bezos, Apple etc. exposing the platform's shallow security measures.
The hackers posted Bitcoin scam messages, asking people to send them Bitcoins in hope of getting them doubled. Preliminary research shows the hackers compromised Twitter employees and conned access to the employee admin panel. The FBI is now investigating.
Investors promptly abandoned the company with stock being hit as much as 3%. Management was embarrassed and fresh questions on social media’s unchecked role in influencing masses were raised.
Bottomline: the incident is not just embarrassing but outright dangerous. World leaders use the platform to communicate with citizens and each other, and mistakes like this could have catastrophic outcomes. Inquiries will certainly follow and considering Twitter is already in the bad books on President Trump, you never know how this could blow up.
Samsung pours into a startup 😎
Samsung’s venture investment arm has invested Rs. 52 crore in an ecommerce startup Magicpin that offers rewards every time you shop at a brick and mortar store, online through its platform.
Magicpin will use the new funds to solidify and expand operations across new markets. Developing new products is on the table as well. Lockdowns combined with the growing popularity of e-commerce has disadvantaged offline sellers, and the company is essentially winning by enabling transactions between the two. Sales have grown manifold since the pandemic hit.
Why does this matter: there is plenty of potential for new business models that merge online and offline in the new world, especially as attracting foot traffic becomes priority for shopkeepers. Rewards, payments, loyalty cards, etc. are just the beginning. Retailing is 10% of India’s GDP and innovation in the space will remain hot for the foreseeable future. Read more.
The unique marriage of two telcos 🤝
Bharti Airtel has partnered with US based telecom giant Verizon to bring video conferencing service BlueJeans to B2B users in India.
After Jio had launched its JioMeet, Airtel had hinted of its own product rolling out soon. However it seems that the company took the partnership route vs. building something in-house. Blue Jeans will offer encrypted calls, the ability to password protect a meeting, yada yada. You know the standard fare.
Interestingly, the service will be branded as “Airtel BlueJeans” in India. Verizon had acquired Blue Jeans a few months back, quickly recognizing the video conferencing boom. The service has a user base of about 300,000.
Takeaway: The fact that Airtel partnered for a simple video conferencing solution shows the inherently distinct DNAs of India’s top two telcos. Off course partnerships can sometimes be good, but Airtel needs to show a lot more heart to mount a viable competition to Jio, particularly in digital services. Read more.
Reliance eyes the retail sector 🧐
With cash in the pocket, Reliance is going full swing with services expansion. First step, turning JioMart into a formidable competitor to Amazon, Flipkart and other ecommerce platforms.
Expanding beyond its food and grocery focus, JioMart will start selling apparel, consumer electronics, and smartphones by this festive season. Also, taking the hyperlocal route, JioMart will rope in local kirana shops to ensure local service and quick delivery. Reliance dreams of delivering apparel or electronics within 1-2 hours of its order or next day at max.
So far the company has gotten 2,500 grocery stores in Mumbai onboard, servicing about 50,000-70,000 orders a day.
Bottomline: Reliance is becoming a case study about how if you have deep pockets, operational enterprise, and an innovative DNA, incumbents can be just as disruptive. Amazon, Flipkart and other western technology firms will not have it easy to gain ground in India. Read more.
Some good news for Boeing ✈️
Boeing has won a billion dollar contract to support the operations of the International Space Station (ISS) for 4 years, a sigh of relief for the airliner who has been crushed by safety issues and pandemic related slump in the airline business.
Boeing has been NASA’s lead industry partner for the ISS since 1993 and will continue to be so through September of 2024. The funds will be used by the space craft maker to provide engineering support services, resources and personnel for activities aboard the ISS.
Recent structural analysis conducted showed that the Boeing aircraft continues to be safe and mission capable.
Why we care - the space logistics and operations market is increasingly heating up, especially now that private spacecraft has picked pace. Total spending is estimated to grow at 7% CAGR through 2025, touching $550 Billion. While oldies like Boeing benefit, the arena will also create plenty of opportunities for startups to play in. Read more.
Tweet of the day -
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
🏛️ Indian nationals file lawsuits against Trump Admin - 174 Indian Nationals, along with 7 minors have filed a lawsuit against the H-1B ruling which prevents the visa holders from entering the USA
🚕 Massachusetts sues ride hailing platforms - the US state has locked horns with Uber, Lyft over misclassifying the drivers as contractors and not giving them employee status. The complaint also states that the companies violate minimum wage, working hours and sick time laws.
📧 Google revamping Gmail -by bundling video calls and chat into Gmail, Google wants to redesign the app with quick access to group chats, documents and video calls for business users so that they don't have to switch between apps or tabs. Welcome change.
✈️ Airline warns of mass layoffs - American Airline has warned about 25,000 of its employees that they could be furloughed this fall due to the virus hurting travel. The move is to get the government to act fast in releasing a relief package for the airlines.
🛒 Amazon asks sellers to comply - the company is making it mandatory for sellers on its platform to disclose the ‘country of origin’ of new and existing product listings by August 10, in compliance with government regulations.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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