Seafund’s deeptech bets grow bigger; Financial empowerment for rural women

Hello,

The king is dead. Long live the king.

NVIDIA took the crown of the world’s most valuable company from Microsoft after its share price climbed to an all-time high on Tuesday—nearly doubling since the start of the year. Its valuation jumped to $3.34 trillion on the back of a “new gold rush” in the tech ecosystem, with the demand for chips climbing amid AI advancements.

Its chief executive Jensen Huang is also now the 11th-richest person in the world after his net worth rose $4 billion on Tuesday to reach $119 billion.

ICYMI: Nvidia is one of the three “horsemen of AI”. Meet the other two companies with impressive run on the bourses.

You win some, you lose some.

Qualcomm agreed to pay $75 million to resolve a lawsuit in which shareholders accused the chipmaker of defrauding them by hiding its anticompetitive sales and licensing practices.

Also, Amazon was fined a total of $5.9 million by the California Labour Commission Office for making warehouse workers meet undisclosed quotas that would make the workplace unsafe.

Meanwhile, US-based venture capital firm Celesta Capital has sold 357,600 shares of drone manufacturing company ideaForge at Rs 768.08 apiece. The shares, worth Rs 27 crore, were sold in a bulk deal.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Seafund’s deeptech bets grow bigger 
• Financial literacy for rural women
• The big Indian pharma opportunity

Here’s your trivia for today: In August of 1997, Microsoft bailed what technology company out of bankruptcy?

Venture capital

Seafund’s deeptech bets grow bigger 

Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Seafund Venture Capital is now cutting larger cheques for startups that have technology depth.

Founded in 2015 by Manoj Kumar Agarwal and Mayuresh Raut, Seafund came out with its first fund of Rs 25 crore around 2018, and is now looking to close its second fund of Rs 250 crore by the end of this year.

The playbook:

• The VC firm’s Rs 250 crore (around $30 million) Fund II is a split between Rs 200 crore primary money and another Rs 50 crore greenshoe option.
• While it used to invest around $100,000 as initial capital in startups, and then with follow-on rounds in the first fund, it now plans to invest around $500,000 in the first round of funding and follow it up with more than $1 million in subsequent rounds in the second fund.
• One of Seafund’s first investments was in Wigzo, a tech startup that focused on customer engagement and retention. Seafund exited this startup after it was acquired by Shiprocket in 2022.

Funding Alert

Startup: Wrogn

Amount: Rs 125 Cr

Round: Undisclosed 

Startup: The Pant Project

Amount: $4.25M

Round: Series A

Startup: SuperMoney

Amount: $3.4M

Round: Series A

Inspiration

Financial empowerment for rural women

Started in 2012 by Uthara Narayanan and Dave Jongeneelen, with the help of Suresh Krishna, Buzz Women is a mobile academy providing doorstep training in finance, climate change, entrepreneurship, and leadership to rural women from low-income households.

The organisation has so far helped around six lakh women to become self-sufficient.

Onward:

• The organisation follows a 5C model: managing family income or running a business (cash), understanding and addressing climate change (climate), focusing on mental health and hygiene (care), building a strong sisterhood to solve peer problems (community), and building trust in one’s skills and qualities (confidence).
• Through the Buzz Green programme, the organisation spreads awareness about climate change, sustainability, management of natural resources, climate-smart technology, agricultural sustainability, and food security. 
• The programme helped Kantalakshmi—who hails from a small village in Karnataka—learn desi poultry and organic farming.

Healthcare

The big Indian pharma opportunity

India’s domestic formulations (DomForm) market, including branded generic medicines, is expected to cross Rs 5.5 lakh crore in value by 2034, according to a report published by investment banking firm Avendus Capital.

The country, which is home to 25% of the US Food and Drug Administration-approved plants outside of the United States, consumes nearly half of the domestically produced drugs.

In focus:

• The Indian DomForm market has attracted large strategic and private equity investments in deals worth over $14 billion over the last six years.
• Being among the lowest-priced markets has worked in favour of Indian pharmaceuticals, boosting the DomForm market currently valued at almost Rs 2 lakh crore, according to the report. 
• However, India’s position in the pharmaceuticals market is not without challenges, with “significant under penetration in the domestic market, especially in Tier II/III+ towns and rural areas”, said Anshul Gupta, Managing Director and Head, Healthcare Investment Banking at Avendus Capital.

News & updates

• Mo' money: According to data from the latest report by Henley & Partners, 6,700 millionaires are projected to move to the UAE this year. That's nearly double the inflow to the US, which had the second-highest expected migration of millionaires, at 3,800. A record-breaking 128,000 millionaires are expected to move countries this year.
• High competition: Apple is discontinuing its buy now, pay later service known as Apple Pay Later, which was only available where Apple Pay, barely a year after its initial launch in the US, and will rely on companies who already dominate the industry like Affirm and Klarna. 
• Capital inflow: Foreign investors have bought more than $10 billion of Indian government bonds that will be included in a widely-followed JPMorgan debt index on June 28, taking their ownership of such papers to a record high. In the nine months since JPMorgan said India's sovereign debt will be included in its emerging market debt index, foreign investors have bought $10.08 billion of eligible bonds on a net basis.

In August of 1997, Microsoft bailed what technology company out of bankruptcy?

Answer: Apple. It purchased $150 million of non-voting Apple stock.

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