Taking on Kolkata's pollution with EV cabs; AI's use case in sales and marketing

Hello,

The Bank of Japan marks the end of an era. 

On Tuesday, Japan’s central bank ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy, making BOJ the last central bank to exit negative rates. 

Following the announcement, Japan's Nikkei was choppy but closed 0.66% higher, buoyed by the weaker yen, while Japanese government bond yields slipped.

Now, all eyes are on the US Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting, ahead of which both Indian and American shares also slacked on the bourses. 

The market momentum was also influenced by the latest announcements from Nvidia’s AI conference, where it unveiled its latest AI chip, Blackwell, which it says can do some tasks 30 times faster than its predecessor.

Meanwhile, bitcoin dropped more than $10,000 from its all-time high of $73,679 last week. It ended lower by 6.5% at $62,749.99, according to Coin Metrics.

Moving on. The UN has announced a “red alert” after every climate record was broken in 2023, the warmest year to date, with the global average near-surface temperature reaching 1.45 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels. 

In a report, the World Meteorological Organisation said that 2024 could be worse following rising ocean heat and shrinking sea ice. 

ICYMI: These countries had the worst air quality in 2023, and there are no surprises here. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• EV ride-hailing service in Kolkata
• AI's use case in sales and marketing
• How AI and SaaS can put India ahead

Here’s your trivia for today: When was the Nobel Prize in Literature first awarded?

Startup

EV ride-hailing service in Kolkata

Launched in August 2022, Snap-E Cabs is an on-demand, electric ride-hailing platform with a fleet of over 600 Tata Tigors. It aims to become the first unicorn from Kolkata. 

The bootstrapped company generates over Rs 2 crore in revenue each month. It plans to close FY24 with an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of Rs 35 crore.

Fleet services:

• Snap-E Cabs has hired the vehicles on lease with the help of Mufin Green Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra Finance, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank.
• At present, the company completes nearly 2,500 rides per day and clocks an average revenue per car of Rs 70,000 per month. 
• The startup has also partnered with various MNCs in Kolkata to transport employees, ensuring the cabs are not idle. This strategy has helped the company maximise the revenue generated per car.

Funding Alert

Startup: Engrail Therapeutics

Amount: $157M

Round: Series B

Startup: Atlan

Amount: $27.5M

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Sprih

Amount: $3M

Round: Seed

SheSparks

AI's use case in sales and marketing

At the panel discussion on 'Tech your Brand Places' at SheSparks 2024, Deepti Prasad, Co-founder and Marketing, Spyne, and Samriddhi Bhattacharyya, Country Director, Small Business Solutions, Dell Technologies took a deep dive into the dynamism and scope of AI in business and the power that women bring into sales and marketing.

Leveraging AI:

• “We are closely watching the generative adversarial networks to see what is going to come about while parallelly looking at ethical and sustainable ways to tap into this space,” said Bhattacharyya.
• Prasad said AI can offer efficient solutions to sales and marketing processes such as leveraging management systems, tracking end-to-end analytics, automating LinkedIn invites etc.
• Women in sales and marketing are experts at researching, connecting with people and building relationships before harvesting it at the business level, Prasad added.

SaaS

How AI and SaaS can put India ahead

The convergence of SaaS and AI presents a significant opportunity for India, positioning the country as a frontrunner in the global AI landscape, according to a report by WestBridge Capital and Upekkha.

“India’s booming SaaS industry, valued at a trillion dollars, is set to be completely reshaped by GenAI,” said Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, Managing Partner at Upekkha.

Promise of AI:

• The report highlighted that within the next decade, Artificial General Intelligence will pave the way for widespread adoption of GenAI, seamlessly integrating it into people’s daily lives.
• “GenAI is swiftly transforming the UI/UX landscape for businesses. It marks a rapid advancement, with UI serving as a key factor for differentiation in enterprise applications," remarked WestBridge Capital's Rishit Desai.
• It emphasised that India’s significant opportunity lies not only in developing new GenAI tools at the application level but also in demonstrating how to deliver promised outcomes.

News & updates

• Spin off: Unilever will spin off its ice cream unit, home to popular brands such as Magnum and Ben & Jerry's, and cut 7,500 jobs in a new cost-savings programme. The spinoff will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, London-listed Unilever said.
• Glitches: The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is scrambling to recoup large sums of money withdrawn by customers after a "systems glitch". Customers discovered early on Saturday they could take out more cash than they had in their accounts, and more than $40 million was withdrawn or transferred to other banks.
• Fees: Meta Platforms offered to almost halve its monthly subscription fee for Facebook and Instagram to 5.99 euros from 9.99 euros. The price cut follows mounting criticism from privacy activists and consumer groups about Meta's no-ads subscription service in Europe, which critics say requires users to pay a fee to ensure their privacy.

When was the Nobel Prize in Literature first awarded?

Answer: 1901. It was awarded to Sully Prudhomme, a French poet and philosopher.

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