🦸🏽‍♀️ Womanifest change at SheSparks

Start Your Day with YS Buzz: Your 8 AM Snapshot of Today's Top Startup News! 07 March 2024 [View in Browser]( Hello, It’s time for SheSparks 2024! The mission? To inspire action through deliberations, discussions, powerful storytelling and pledges to help women grow in every sphere of life. Catch all the action [here](. Elsewhere, women are also travelling more, boosting the sector's revenue. According to an [Airbnb report]( 30% of Indian women guests travelled solo in 2023. Also, women constitute nearly one-third of India's hosting community on the homestay portal, and collectively earned around Rs 200 crore in 2023. In other news, after the RBI imposed restrictions on JM Financial’s financing business, the investment banking firm [asserted]( that there were "no material deficiencies" in its loan sanctioning process and that its IPO financing product is “short term and self-liquidating in nature.” The company’s [shares]( closed 10.42% lower on the NSE on Wednesday. Speaking of the RBI, Governor Shaktikanta Das [assured]( that 80-85% of Paytm wallet users will not face any disruption because of regulatory actions as their wallets are linked to other banks. He also ruled out any further extension to the March 15 deadline for Paytm Payments Bank to cease most of its operations. However, he assured that the central bank has nothing against fintechs and only wants them to obey rules. Lastly, a look into the [origins of the humble lentil](. Did you know that humans have been cultivating lentils for the past 10,000 years? In today’s newsletter, we will talk about - Meet champions of change at SheSparks - Leveraging tech to make bottled water affordable - Bringing women into ancient rural folk art Here’s your trivia for today: The Mekong River Delta is located in which country? --------------------------------------------------------------- SheSparks Meet champions of change at SheSparks is back in a bigger, better, and bolder format to inspire people to action through deliberations, discussions, powerful storytelling and pledges to help women grow in every sphere of life. Join us today at the Royal Orchid Hotel, Bengaluru, as YourStory and HerStory's flagship event sees women technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs, leaders, and change-makers come together to share stories of their extraordinary journeys. Speaker line-up: - The day will kickstart with an insightful session with Lingraju Sawkar, President Kyndryl India who will highlight the importance of increasing female representation in the workforce. - Priyanka Gill, Venture Partner, Kalaari Capital and Group Co-founder, Good Glamm Group will talk about disrupting a competitive market and how women have emerged as key drivers in the D2C sector. - NIRMAI Health Analytix' Geetha Manjunath, Gynoveda's Rachana Gupta, MenoVeda's Tamanna Singh, and FemTech India's Navneet Kaur will discuss how femtech is focusing on gender-specific healthcare. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Funding Alert 1) IDfy: $27M| Equity 2) Rozana: $22.5M| Series A 3) Louisa AI: $5M | Seed --------------------------------------------------------------- Startup Leveraging tech to make bottled water affordable A and Kashiish Nenwani set out to solve a critical issue—access to safe drinking water. They founded Wahter in 2023 with the aim to sell water for as low as Rs 2 per 500 ml bottle. It is able to do that by partnering with advertisers. Business model: - The Gurugram-based packaged water startup allocates 80% of its label space to partnering brands and enables advertisers to design and customise labels on their own. - Wahter has developed an app, which it says, enables advertisers to place orders, upload brand designs, and visualise final products in a 360° angle. - Wahter has partnered with Scrapbuddy, a PET recycling innovator, to recycle 10 million PET bottles in Delhi-NCR over three months, transforming waste into valuable products like fabrics and paver blocks. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- SheSparks Let's 'womanifest' change together SheSparks is back to inspire, connect, and uplift women thought leaders from across fields. The 2024 edition offers a spectacular lineup featuring Priyanka Gill, Vani Kola, Hena Mehta, Deena Jacob, Dr Geetha Manjunath, and Anisha Padukone, just to name a few. Don't miss this opportunity to learn, grow, and connect with inspiring women! [Grab your ticket!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- From the CapTable An AI boost for India’s MSMEs Micro, small, and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, are the backbone of the country’s economy. During 2021-22, the share of MSME's Gross Value Added (GVA) in India’s [Gross Domestic Product]( (GDP) was 29.2%. The sector has also been a major source of employment in India, with MSMEs registered between July 2020 and February 2024 employing [more than 170 million]( people, as per the government’s MSME registration portal, Udyam. However, despite their importance to the Indian economy, MSMEs often struggle against larger competitors due to limitations in terms of access to human resources, capital, and advanced technologies. Now, as the tentacles of artificial intelligence (AI) continue their endless crawl into every aspect of modern existence, MSMEs finally have a lever they can pull to bridge the gulf that exists between them and large businesses. Indeed, AI could represent a [groundbreaking]( shift in business dynamics, offering unprecedented opportunities for competition, innovation, and growth. Key Takeaways: - For all their importance to the Indian economy, MSMEs struggle to compete with big businesses owing to their limited access to tech, human resources or capital. - Artificial intelligence, however, has the potential to be a unique leveller in this decidedly uneven playing field. - It can provide MSMEs with a competitive edge by helping to simplify their operations, enabling them to enhance productivity, outreach, and scalability. - MSMEs, though, will find it challenging both financially and technically when it comes to developing AI models independently. [Continue Reading]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Culture Bringing women into ancient rural folk art Sangam is dedicated to keeping the rich performing art tradition of Kattaikkuttu alive and thriving among the younger generation. With the rural folk art’s association with oppressed castes and the stigma against women inherent in the practice, the group was founded to unite performers and provide a platform for them to discuss and collaborate. “We always saw Kattaikkuttu as a performing art tradition that deserves to be learned, irrespective of gender and caste,” theatre scholar Hanne M de Bruin tells SocialStory. Breaking barriers: - Kattaikkuttu Sangam is the first and only institution in the country to train women in the art form. Donations and local performances are sources of funding that help with education and shows. - "Kattaikkuttu is about body movement, body language, dialogue...We wanted to show that this can be done by women artists as well, and through different kinds of stories and presentation,” de Bruin adds. - “There are multiple myths we are breaking. One, that Kattauikkuttu performers are uneducated and ungraceful, and the other, that women from ‘decent’ households don’t participate in this tradition," says performer Thilagavathi Palani. [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- News & Updates - [Record high:]( Bitcoin rallied again on Wednesday in volatile trade, while Ether jumped almost 10% as crypto mania continued to sweep through the investment community. Bitcoin rose by as much as 6.8% to a session high of $67,645, after having dropped 6% on Tuesday from an earlier record high above $69,000. - [Ice-free Arctic:]( The Arctic could have summer days with practically no sea ice within the next decade due to emissions from burning fossil fuels, a study has found. - [Etihad IPO:]( Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is gearing up for a potential initial public offering after increasing revenue in 2023 on the back of a 40% boost in passenger numbers. Talk of an IPO has been swirling after it was reported that ADQ, the Abu Dhabi-based investment company that owns Etihad Airways, was in discussions with banks. Here's what else we have for you MyGate opens the door to revenue growth and business maturity en route to IPO In association with MyGate MyGate opens the door to revenue growth and business maturity en route to IPO 🚀🏡 Meet the company redefining the living experience within gated communities as it embarks on an exciting new chapter of responsible growth. [Know More]( Did you know? The Mekong River Delta is located in which country? Answer: Vietnam. 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](