🛒 D2C brands descend at Brands of India

The most interesting news selected specially for you! 01 June 2024 [View in Browser]( Hello, It was a power-packed evening at YourStory’s Brands of India 2024, with sessions delving deep into game-changing strategies shaping the future of Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands. Here’s a [recap](. In other news, India's economy [grew 7.8%]( in the March quarter, pushing up the annual growth rate to 8.2%, according to official data released on Friday. Growth in the January-March period was lower than the 8.6% expansion in the December quarter. Meanwhile, US-headquartered fintech company Stripe, which provides technology tools to enable digital payments, said it would be offering its services in India on an [invite-only basis]( for a temporary period. Elsewhere, OpenAI has launched [ChatGPT Edu]( new version of ChatGPT developed for universities to facilitate the responsible integration of AI to students, faculty, researchers, and campus operations. Moving on, the [most distant known galaxy]( has been captured in a record-breaking image by the James Webb space telescope. Oh, and [driverless racing]( is here and it is… well terrible. In today’s newsletter, we will talk about - Shark Tank India alumni on life post-show - Headout to ‘Dabble’ in AI - Infra.Market raises $20M Here’s your trivia for today: Which Asian capital was formerly known as Batavia? --------------------------------------------------------------- Brands of India Shark Tank India alumni on life post-show For several brands that appeared on the latest season of Shark Tank India, life after their episode aired has been far from rosy. With Shark Tank India producer Sony Pictures Networks India serving legal notices and striking down ads that used snippets from the episodes, many brands say their appearance has hurt sales. What happened: - Organic diaper maker Allter's Surbhi Bafna, when asked whether her brand got a buzz she saw after her episode aired, said, "What buzz?". - Bafna noted that after being featured on TV, distributors and retailers who had, at one point, refused to acknowledge or work with her company, now thought of Allter as a credible brand. - Clothing and accessories startup Turms Founder Surender S Rajpurohi noted that after the episode featuring his startup aired, the website did see a lot of traction and sales ballooned, but only for certain SKUs (stock-keeping units). [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Top Deals of the Week 1) Infra.Market: $50M|Undisclosed 2) TechnoSport: $21M|Equity 3) Libas: $18M|Equity --------------------------------------------------------------- M&A Headout to ‘Dabble’ in AI New York-based travel tech company Headout has acquired Dabble, a Toronto-based virtual photo studio for ecommerce to use Dabbles’s offerings to build AI-powered travel experiences for its users. By leveraging AI, Dabble allows users to generate product images for ecommerce brands to enhance their content marketing efforts. AI play: - Headout already utilises AI for various features, including experiential media, content creation, and fraud prevention. To date, the startup has secured over $60 million in funding. - The Dabble team will help enhance Headout’s overall AI initiatives and focus on integrating new user experiences in the discovery phase and during the actual delivery of the experience. - Backed by Y Combinator, Version One, and others, Dabble claims to be one of the earliest AI platforms to enable image recognition and augmented reality (AR) on mobile devices. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Infra.Market raises $20M Construction materials company Infra.Market raised about $20 million from investors, including Nikhil Kamath, Capri Global Family Office, Sumeet Kanwar from Verity, and Abhijeet Pai-led Wear Steels, by divesting a minority stake in its subsidiary RDC Concrete. This follows closely after the company completed an additional funding round of $50 million from MARS Unicorn Fund, taking the total investment to $100 million. Key takeaways: - The Thane-headquartered firm sold a 10% stake in RDC Concrete to a group of investors led by Ashish Kacholia in November 2023. - Infra.Market had purchased the ready-mix concrete company for $90 million in mid-2021, and at the time of the divestiture, RDC was valued at $225 million. - Founded in 2016 by Souvik Sengupta and Aaditya Sharda, Infra.Market supplies over 15 different building material product categories. It claims to have over 10,000 retail touchpoints and 30 flagship showrooms. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Fall:]( Dell Technologies Inc. fell the most in four years on Friday after its first revenue increase since 2022 wasn’t enough to impress investors with high expectations for its AI server business. Sales increased 6.3% to $22.2 billion in the period ended May 3. Profit, excluding some items, was $1.27 a share. - [Intervention:]( Data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance confirmed the country’s first currency intervention since 2022 after the yen plunged to a 34-year low in April. The Ministry stated Japan spent 9.7885 trillion yen ($62.25 billion) on currency intervention between April 26 and May 29. - [EV:]( Jeep unveiled its first fully electric SUV for the North American market in New York on Friday. And while all the focus was on the $71,995 Wagoneer S, the automaker had one more thing to show off: an off-road-capable Trailhawk concept of the same EV. Did you know? Which Asian capital was formerly known as Batavia? Answer: Jakarta We would love to hear from you! To let us know what you liked and disliked about our newsletter, please mail nslfeedback@yourstory.com. If you don’t already get this newsletter in your inbox, [sign up here](. For past editions of the YourStory Buzz, you can check our [Daily Capsule page here](. 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