Tête-à-tête with Ricky Kej; Ajit Mohan on Snap's India journey

The most interesting news selected specially for you! 18 August 2024 [View in Browser]( POWERED BY Hello, In today's newsletter, we will talk about: - Tête-à-tête with Ricky Kej - Ajit Mohan on Snap’s India journey, being the underdog, and building in India for the world - Giving EV batteries a second life - Starting up at the age of 62 - Ofbusiness’ public outing plans Oh, and don’t forget to [grab your tickets]( for the 15th edition of TechSparks Bengaluru, to be held on September 26-28! Here’s your trivia for today: How many days does Tour de France last? --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Interview Tête-à-tête with Ricky Kej Grammy winner Ricky Kej has released an epic rendition of the Indian National Anthem. The endeavour has also set a Guinness World Record for being the largest-ever orchestra to perform the Indian National Anthem–a 14,000-member choir featuring children from tribal communities. In a chat with YS Life, Kej talks about his accomplishments, his creative process, and, of course, the elephant in the room—artificial intelligence and the fear of AI replacing people in creative fields. Timeless: - The new rendition features prominent musicians Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Rakesh Chaurasia, Rahul Sharma, Sheik Mahaboob Subhani, Kaleeshabi Mehaboob, Jayanthi Kumaresh, Giridhar Udupa, Amaan Ali Bangash, and Ayaan Ali Bangash. - On his creative process, Kej says he uses technology to create an outline. “These days with the computer, you get amazing sounds which are extremely authentic—I cannot make out the difference between a real instrumental and a synthetic instrument,” he adds. - According to the musician, AI will probably be the end of “boring and generic” music composers, but creative artists will find work. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable Ajit Mohan on Snap’s India journey, being the underdog, and building in India for the world From his swanky office on the 16th floor of the Marina Bay Financial Centre in Singapore, Ajit Mohan, the Asia-Pacific head of social media platform Snap, pulls the strings for his third big Indian adventure.A high-flying consultant with marquee firms in both the US and Singapore for the first 15 years of his career, Mohan shot to prominence when he returned to India. Since then, across stints at Meta and Star TV, he has displayed an incredible knack for spotting future opportunities. At Hotstar, it was about identifying how cheap access to mobile broadband would revolutionise content consumption well before the launch of Jio. At Meta, he pushed for Instagram’s short video feature Reels, which had only been released in three other countries at the time, to be rolled out in India after TikTok was banned by the government. “If I look at my career, one thing that stands out is that there have been windows that opened up to build a new product and fundamentally change the trajectory of the company. A large part of success is identifying when that window of opportunity opens up,” he says in a video call with The CapTable. Can he replicate this success at Snap?Key takeaways: - Across his previous stints at Meta and Star TV, Ajit Mohan displayed an uncanny knack for predicting future opportunities. - Now APAC head for Snap, he faces his biggest challenge yet. Growing not just the platform’s user base but its revenue. - With advertising serving as Snap’s primary revenue stream, especially in India, the platform will have to square off against Google-Meta’s digital advertising duopoly. - Mohan, though, is convinced that Snap has the scale, differentiation, and talent required to make waves in the digital advertising space [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Giving EV batteries a second life the end of their lifecycle, some EV batteries are improperly disposed of, which can pollute the environment and harm plants, animals, and humans, while others are recycled. This is where the technology developed by BatX Energies comes in. The startup recycles lithium-ion batteries to mine critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are then used to make new lithium batteries. Circular economy: - BatX has developed an in-house proprietary process that produces black mass—a mixture of valuable metals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese, produced while recycling used lithium batteries—with less than 1% impurities. - The startup spends most of its capital sourcing used batteries, either from EVs or consumer electronics. It sources batteries from across the country as well as from Malaysia, the UK, Germany, and the Philippines. - BatX is currently working towards bringing its higher-capacity hydrometallurgy plant live and expanding its black mass production capacity to 10,000 metric tonnes from the current 3,000 metric tonnes. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Woman Entrepreneur Starting up at the age of 62 At the age of 62, Usha Shrotriya is giving wings to her entrepreneurial dreams. She gave a new twist to the laddus she’d perfected over the years and gave birth to Mama Nourish and her laddu bars. Preserving recipes: - Shrotriya was both determined and adamant about turning laddus into a laddu bar. She worked for days on end to get the right proportions and hit success after around 90 trials. - While Mama Nourish owns the recipes, its manufacturing is outsourced to an FSSAI- and FDA-certified third-party facility, with Shrotriya monitoring quality checks at every stage. - The brand has also introduced the Mini Laddubar—a bite-sized bar to fulfil sweet cravings after meals. The price points for the bigger bar starts at Rs 70 and the mini bar is priced at Rs 40. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Fintech Ofbusiness’ IPO plans marketplace for construction Ofbusiness is in the early stages of planning its initial public offering (IPO), people aware of the discussions told YourStory. The startup has initiated conversations with investment bankers as the SoftBank-backed firm targets a public listing by August next year. Key takeaways: - The company has held exploratory talks with at least five investment banks including Kotak Investment Banking for its IPO, the sources said. - OfBusiness is one of India’s most profitable unicorns and has made a net profit for the previous five fiscal years. - It counts Falcon Edge (Alpha Wave Global), Tiger Global, and Norwest Venture Partners among others as its backers. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Techsparks 2024 Application open for Tech30 Are you a visionary founder at the helm of a startup poised to redefine industries? Look no further than Tech30, the ultimate platform to showcase your innovation. Tech30 is more than just a recognition; it's a catalyst for the future. We're on a mission to bring together India's brightest tech minds to unravel the next big thing. If you're building groundbreaking solutions that have the potential to reshape our world, Tech30 is your launchpad. Join us as we celebrate the pioneers driving India's tech revolution. [Apply for Tech 30]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [New product:]( Elon Musk-owned xAI launched Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini in beta with improved reasoning. The new Grok AI model can now generate images on the X social network, though Grok access is currently limited to Premium and Premium+ users on X. Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini are available to users on X in beta. - [Loan margins:]( Industry stalwarts such as Ares Management Corp and Blackstone Inc have been charging less for private credit for most of this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as they try to snatch business away from the syndicated loan market. But that strategy may change after recession fears have risen amid a slew of worrying economic reports. - [Chip design:]( SoftBank held talks with Intel about producing an AI chip to compete with Nvidia but the plan foundered after the US chipmaker struggled to meet the Japanese group’s requirements. SoftBank is now focusing on discussions with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest contract chipmaker. Did you know? How many days does Tour de France last? Answer: 21. 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](. [Feedback]( [Unsubscribe]( [Newsletters](