hi,
A dark cloud is hanging over the world’s currency markets.
The rupee broke the threshold of 85 rupees per dollar and reached its lowest point so far. Other Asian currencies did not fare much better, with the Korean won trading at its lowest since 2009 and the Indonesian rupiah at a four-month low.
The reason for all this: a hawkish tilt by the US Federal Reserve, which indicated that it may not cut rates much next year. For dollar-driven Asian currencies, that spells cold waters ahead.
Speaking of the future of money, no, there won’t be a Bitcoin Fort Knox anytime soon, if Jerome Powell has anything to say about it.
The US Fed chair made it clear that the central bank would veto any government attempts to store large amounts of cryptocurrency, and that such issues would be within the purview of Congress.
Powell effectively rained on the parade of crypto bulls, sending bitcoin below $100,000 as his comments cooled investors’ appetite for risk.
ICYMI: How does one go about building a bitcoin strategic reserve? Let’s dive in.
In other news, move over watches and sunglasses, there’s a new wearable device in town: smart rings.
Smart ring maker Ora won $200 million in Series D funding, bringing its valuation to $5.2 billion. It paved the way for Aura to partner with glucose device maker Dexcom in November to use the companies’ devices and apps together.
Health is wealth, indeed.
We will talk about it in today’s newsletter
- Vedantu’s core earnings declined
- Cloud adoption by the public sector
- Solving real-world problems
Here’s your trivia for today: Which world leader was awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature?
EdTech
Vedantu’s core earnings declined
Vedantu’s revenue from its core business in FY24 fell below its FY21 level, marking the second consecutive year of decline and indicating a continued slowdown in its core operations.
The shift to pandemic-driven remote learning in FY21 and FY22 spurred rapid top-line growth for many edtech businesses, leading to unprecedented expansion in the sector. Vedantu’s standalone operating revenue was Rs 93.6 crore in FY21 and Rs 165.8 crore in FY22, falling to Rs 120.6 crore in FY23.
Declining trend:
- In FY24, it saw its standalone operating revenue fall 35.7% YoY to Rs 77.6 crore. However, its consolidated operating revenue, including income from subsidiaries, grew by 21% year-on-year to Rs 184.5 crore.
- Its revenue decline underscores the challenges of sustaining core business growth driven by the K-12 segment post-pandemic, increased competition, a shift to offline learning, and broader edtech industry disruptions.
- Notably, the edtech company narrowed its loss by 57.7% YoY, to Rs 157.5 crore in FY24, driven by lower spending on employee benefits.
Fund Alert
Startup:
Amount: $70M
Round: Equity
Startup:
Amount: ~$16M
Goal: Fresh
Startup:
Amount: $3M
Round: Seed
enterprise
Cloud adoption by the public sector
Despite the slow pace in cloud adoption, the public sector sees cloud platforms as a gateway to providing a variety of services and solutions. And Dave Levy, vice president of global public affairs at Amazon Web Services (AWS), believes it can benefit greatly from these technology platforms.
In an interview with Enterprise storyLevy discusses the increasing technological modernization of public sector bodies, which he believes will lay the foundation for engagement with AI and Gen AI.
Key measures:
- Levy says he sees many public sector organizations thinking about their data strategy. “It’s the launch pad for all the other projects,” he adds.
- On how AWS views cloud adoption, he says, “The mission of the public sector is to support and serve us all. They’re very thoughtful about things like governance, AI, and accountability, and they’re very thoughtful about how to deploy general AI. “
- “I think the definition of sovereignty varies depending on which country you go to. But we’re very aware and sensitive to the fact that data sovereignty is very important to countries and jurisdictions around the world,” Levy says on Digital Sovereignty.
Startup
Solving real-world problems
Imagine a company that can predict which parts of the highway are most likely to have accidents today or which roads will be blocked due to waterlogging. Gurugram startup Computational Imaging (CI Metrics) is making this vision a reality by using satellite data and AI to provide businesses with real-world, actionable insights.
Founded in 2021 by Gagan Aggarwal and Abhishek Patil, CI Metrics uses cutting-edge technology to predict road accidents, identify traffic disruptions caused by water buses and provide solutions that are considered impossible with traditional data sources.
Forecast:
- The B2B and B2G startup provides real-world insights for businesses in the mobility, logistics, agriculture, and insurance sectors. It taps into a vast repository of satellite data spanning 25 years and beyond, including thematic data, population and traffic, weather patterns, and terrestrial data.
- CI Metrics uses machine learning and deep technology in its data models, which allows the company to predict events and forecast results with high accuracy.
- Some of its major clients include Allianz Partners, an insurance firm; Google-backed Pixxel—a hyperspectral operator, and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.
News and updates
- Jobs: US aerospace and defense company RTX Corporation plans to hire 1,000 more people by 2027 to its 7,000-strong workforce in India. RTX will add jobs to Pratt & Whitney at its units, including about 300 engineers, over the next 12-18 months. and 700 years at aerospace supplier Collins Aerospace in another 3.
- Punishment: The Indian government is looking to crack down on illegal lending with a proposed law that would impose jail terms of up to seven years and fines for unauthorized loans through digital platforms. Reuters.
- Strike: Members of the Teamsters union went on strike Thursday morning at Amazon’s seven facilities just ahead of the holiday gift-giving rush. Workers are joining picket lines after Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline set by the union for contract talks.
1953 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to which world leader?
Answer: Winston Churchill.
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