⚡ Ather eyes the unicorn club

Start Your Day with YS Buzz: Your 8 AM Snapshot of Today's Top Startup News! 24 April 2024 [View in Browser]( TOGETHER WITH Hello, A bumpy road ahead for Tesla. It’s been a dramatic few days at the automotive company, with thousands of [job cuts, product recalls]( sinking sales, and plummeting stock prices. And now, all eyes are on its Q1 earnings call that will reveal the moment of truth for the firm. Closer home, travel distribution company TBO Tek Ltd and flexible workspace solutions firm Awfis Space Solutions Ltd have received a go-ahead from the markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise funds through an [initial public offering](. In other news, OTP Ventures, backed by [former BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer]( is reportedly aiming to secure the first close of its debut fund at Rs 400 crore by June. Meanwhile, digital payments company [PayU]( has received in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payments aggregator (PA) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. Speaking of fintech, payment gateway Razorpay has launched its own UPI infrastructure, [UPI Switch]( in collaboration with Airtel Payments Bank. Lastly, a call from an old friend. Earth’s most distant spacecraft, [Voyager 1]( has started communicating properly again with NASA after engineers worked for months to remotely fix the 46-year-old probe. Did you know that the spacecraft, which is more than 24 billion kilometres away from the Earth, was the first human-made object to venture out of the solar system? In today’s newsletter, we will talk about - Ather eyes $1B valuation - Enterprise engagement powered by AI Here’s your trivia for today: In website addresses, what is the “.com” short for? --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Ather eyes $1B valuation Energy is expected to raise around $95 million in a pre-IPO funding round, which would help the electric two-wheeler maker secure a spot in the unicorn club with its valuation crossing a billion dollars, two sources aware of the developments told YourStory. Public issue: - Hero MotoCorp, among Ather’s largest shareholders, could participate in the round as it looks to shore up its stake in the startup. - “Ather wants to go to the public market with its cash reserves sorted out and on a strong footing,” said one of the sources privy to internal discussions. - According to an ET report, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal could sell his entire stake in Ather to Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath. Bansal holds over 10% of the company's shares. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Alert 1) Rippling: $200M|Series F 2) Dhruva Space: Rs 78 Cr|Series A2 --------------------------------------------------------------- Together With MakeForms Change how you collect data with MakeForms MakeForms is your go-to solution for creating forms online easily and quickly. It lets you gather information through customised forms that fit your business’s look and feel. With MakeForms, you can create forms that participants can fill out directly in their emails, enhancing response rates. Our platform supports team collaboration, simplifying working together on form projects. We prioritise security and privacy, ensuring your data is safely managed according to top industry standards, including SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance. Whether for customer feedback, registrations, or surveys, MakeForms helps you build, share, and manage your forms without the hassle. Start with MakeForms today and we can help improve the way you collect and organise information. [Know More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Enterprise engagement powered by AI engagement platform Zeapl.ai solves corporate communication challenges by using AI to automate engagement. The platform integrates with the enterprise’s existing systems, CRM platforms, and databases, allowing businesses to use their existing data and workflows and work across various communication channels such as voice, web, and WhatsApp to engage with end-users. SaaS solution: - Zeapl.ai provides personalised engagement with end-users, including employees, customers, intermediaries, and influencers, ensuring continuity, omnichannel excellence, proactive support, and actionable business insights. - It prioritises data security through a multifaceted approach encompassing various deployment options, certifications, AI integration, customisation features, and encryption protocols. - The platform currently serves more than 40 companies across multiple sectors including automotive, FMCG, telecom, retail, ISP, ecommerce, consumer durables and building materials. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable Going solo: LPs want direct stakes in India's startup successes India's startup ecosystem, ranked the world's third-largest, is experiencing significant shifts. Funding is gradually rebounding after a prolonged downturn, yet the sky-high valuations of 2022 are a thing of the past. If anything, valuation corrections are the flavour of the season. While these headwinds have buffeted startups, the ramifications of these valuation adjustments extend to venture capital firms in India as well, impacting both unrealised and realised returns. The turmoil has led to notable departures from leading VC firms and a surge in exits as VCs aim to demonstrate returns. Compliance issues and governance lapses at many highly-touted startups have further exacerbated the situation. All of this has hurt investor confidence enough to prompt limited partners (LPs), key backers of venture capital and private equity firms, to invest and co-invest directly in startups to gain greater access to company information, thus helping them maximise returns. While LPs co-investing with their general partners (GPs) is customary in private equity, it's a less common occurrence in venture capital. This trend, however, is growing at a rapid clip, according to industry experts. Key Takeaways: - India’s startup ecosystem is witnessing a surge in direct investments from limited partners (LPs) of venture capital firms. - Many family offices and HNIs, who are typically LPs in VC firms, are talking to investment bankers and lawyers to explore direct investments instead. - A lack of returns from VC firms in the past few years coupled with some vaunted bets running into rough weather is prompting many LPs to take the reins. - Being on companies’ cap tables will give investors direct access to them, which will help them assess certain aspects of the investment better and maximise their returns. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & updates - [Smartphone AI:]( Microsoft has unveiled the concept of its latest light AI model called the Phi-3 Mini designed to run on smartphones and other local devices. Trained on 3.8 billion parameters, it’s the first of three small Phi-3 language models the company will release in the near future. - [Upbeat results:]( General Motors on Tuesday posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street targets and raised its annual forecast, citing stable pricing and demand for its gas-engine vehicles, sending shares up 5%. - [Cloud for cola:]( Microsoft said on Tuesday that Coca-Cola had signed a $1.1 billion five-year deal to use its cloud computing and artificial intelligence services. Under the agreement, Microsoft and Coca-Cola will “jointly experiment” with Azure OpenAI. Did you know? In website addresses, what is the “.com” short for? Answer: Commercial 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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