Uncovering Ola’s strategy of going from ride-hailing to EVs and AI

This week’s On the Rise analyzes Ola’s expansion strategy, dives into Tether’s CEO taking on cloud giants, and looks into Febe Ventures’ second fund. [Read from your browser]( On the Rise 🚀 Welcome to On the Rise! Delivered every Tuesday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in emerging tech. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- IN FOCUS In today's newsletter, we look at: - The strategy of India’s Elon Musk - Tether CEO’s plan to [break the monopoly in cloud computing]( - An investor that offers hope to founders Hello {NAME} , I love playing strategy games. One of my all-time favorites is still the [Age of Empires]( franchise, which I could play all day long when I was a teenager. Many of my friends found these games boring and not as stimulating as [role-playing games]( - they do require a certain level of patience and planning to win. My strategy was to have the best army when facing the enemy, so I spent a lot of time just upgrading my forces. Likewise, startup founders need to have a strategy to scale their businesses and carry out their expansion plans. In our first Big Story, my colleague Lokesh wrote about Indian ride-hailing firm Ola’s unique strategy, with expansions into the electric vehicle and AI segments. That’s unlike other players - such as Uber, Grab, or GoTo - that have expanded into food delivery and fintech. In the story, we outline an often-used pattern by Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, which involves raising funds, making acquisitions, and building on top of these businesses. This strategy was deployed when Ola entered the electric vehicle space and now is being used to expand into the generative AI business with Krutrim AI. Speaking about founder strategies, in our second Big Story, my colleague Scott explores Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino’s game plan to break the “monopoly” of cloud giants Microsoft, AWS, and Google. Ardoino hopes to do this by reviving a technology that caused a lot of damage to the music industry in the 1990s. He’s looking to combine P2P networks with Web3 and end-to-end encryption on a new software development platform. Could this combo attract litigation and regulatory attention? Maybe, but Ardoino remains unfazed. And since founder strategies are shaped by past experiences, I explore in Making Waves how the partners at founder-focused VC firm Febe Ventures use their 30 years of combined experience to guide entrepreneurs through even the toughest of times. -- Collin  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG STORIES 1️⃣ [Ola rides on acquisitions for success, but will this work for its AI play?]( Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal has employed a different playbook from other ride-hailing giants that has helped the firm expand into EVs and genAI. 2️⃣ [Tether CEO wants to break Microsoft, AWS, Google’s hold on cloud computing]( The crypto firm behind the world’s largest stablecoin wants to revive the same tech used by Napster in the late 1990s.  --------------------------------------------------------------- MAKING WAVES [Founder-focused VC offers hope to startups facing the end of their runways]( In an interview with Tech in Asia, Olivier Raussin, co-founder and managing partner of entrepreneur-driven VC firm Febe Ventures, offers a ray of hope for frantic founders battling it out in the tech winter. He says that he once went through the same challenge, but he managed to survive – and even steer Brazilian wine startup Evino back to growth. He and his partners at the VC firm have a combined history of building over 30 companies and backing over 200 startups. The Singapore-based firm has launched its second fund and talks about its plans to invest in B2B software, marketplace, health, and sustainability startups.  --------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Also check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of the emerging tech scene [here.]( 1️⃣ [Unboxing AI chips in Italy]( Singapore-based semiconductor firm Silicon Box plans to invest 3.2 billion euros (US$3.5 billion) into building a chip factory in northern Italy. Once fully operational, the factory is set to provide up to 1,600 jobs. 2️⃣ [TikTok running out of time in the US]( The lower house of the US Congress has passed a bill that would give ByteDance six months to sell off the US assets of its TikTok app or face a ban. 3️⃣ [Alt-meat makers merge]( Two Singapore-based cultivated seafood startups, Shiok Meats and Umami Bioworks (formerly known as Umami Meats), are merging. The combined entity will use the Umami Bioworks name while retaining the Shiok Meats brand. 4️⃣ [Foreign OTAs may get blocked in Indonesia]( The Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information said it gave warnings on March 5 to six foreign-owned online travel agents (OTA) that are not yet registered as private electronic system providers. While Agoda and Airbnb registered with the ministry on March 12, Booking.com, Expedia, Klook, and Trivago have yet to do so. 5️⃣ [Indian AI-powered healthtech firm gets $39m]( HiLabs has gained US$39 million in a series B investment round led by Eight Roads Ventures and Denali Growth Partners. The AI-powered healthcare solutions company says that its MCheck technology can process and clean up clinical data 100x faster than humans.  --------------------------------------------------------------- FYI 1️⃣ [Asian tech feels the heat as regulators bare teeth]( In China, domestic and external challenges have reordered national priorities, with politics trumping the economy. 2️⃣ [US TikTok ban looms: What's next for ByteDance?]( ByteDance has fought hard against a TikTok ban in the US, but selling the unit off could be a plus for the Chinese firm’s listing ambitions. --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Do also check out previous issues of the newsletter [here](. Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to your “edit profile” page and choosing that option in our preference center. See you soon! [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Too many emails? Switch to a different frequency or get new content through our [preference center]( or [unsubscribe](. You can also break our hearts and remove yourself from all Tech in Asia emails over [here](  Copyright © 2024 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894