Hello,
Come on, it’s the Olympics!
For the first time in history, the Seine will be the backdrop for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, drawing athletes from around the world to the French capital for the Summer Games.
India has a 117-strong contingent taking part in 16 events and is hoping to perform their best yet.In fact, a sleep doctor has been hired to help Indian athletes perform at their best in the tournament.
Ahead of the global event, the French government’s cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, is working with around 500 organisations vital to the running of the Summer Olympics to ensure they are prepared to thwart any cyber attacks.
Did you know? This year, Paris celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first Olympic Games, held in 1924. Naturally, Paris hotels are slashing their prices by up to 40% to attract tourists.
Meanwhile, Indian equity markets logged their highest close in seven weeks after a market onslaught in the past few days, with the NSE Nifty 50 up 1.76% to 24,834.85 and the S&P BSE Sensex up 1.62% to 81,332.72.
In other news, Maharashtra has overtaken Karnataka in the number of startups registered with DPIIT.
As of June 30, DPIIT has certified 1.4 lakh companies as startups. Of these, over 25,000 were in Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka (15,019), Delhi (14,734), Uttar Pradesh (13,299) and Gujarat (11,436).
Finally, check out this Asian city that encourages you to eat until you go bankrupt!
In today’s newsletter,
Google focuses on Indian startups Expanding startup ecosystem takes aerospace industry to new heights
Quiz of the day: Which city has hosted the Olympic Games three times?
interview
Google turns its attention to Indian startups
Google Cloud executives said that the company sees India as a key hub for startup innovation, driven by a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and rapidly growing tech talent, and is investing in the country accordingly.
In a candid conversation with YourStory, Chen Goldberg, General Manager and Vice President, Cloud Runtime, and Subram Natarajan, Director, Customer Engineering, discussed the growing trend of Indian startups harnessing the power of GenAI and the challenges that come with it.
AI Innovation:
Natarajan believes the Indian market, including its rapidly evolving startup ecosystem, offers the scale and opportunity to build world-class products and services. To address the challenges of upskilling talent and experimenting with GenAI, Google is developing the Vertex AI platform, which provides access to a wide range of models, including Gemini, Llama and other open-source options. Other challenges for technology companies and startups with the expertise and talent to leverage GenAI include AI workloads and high costs, according to Goldberg.
Top Funding Deals of the Week
Startup: Unimech Aerospace
Amount: 250 crore rupees
Round: Not disclosed
Startup: Nasher Miles
Amount: $4 million
Round: Bridge
Startup: Mamo
Amount: $3.4 million
Round: Not disclosed
Women Entrepreneurs
Taking aerospace to new heights
In 2007, Radhika P. left her post as a scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to take on a job delivering cutting-edge technology in a field where few women had previously entered.
Today, her startup, Pinaka Aerospace, is an industry leader providing services such as independent verification and validation of critical software, and maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft hardware.
Breaking down barriers:
Prior to embarking on the entrepreneurial journey, Radhika spent 17 years leading air and ground electronic warfare and communication information systems efforts at DRDO’s Defence Electronics Laboratory, Hyderabad. Pinaka’s product portfolio, which includes automated testers and simulators, supports various IAF platforms, ensuring optimum performance. From a recognition by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for developing a calibration system for the OSA-AK SAM-8 missile to a vendor of record award from Bharat Electronics, Pinaka has received many accolades in the past.
Investor
In case you missed it: The growing startup ecosystem
Priyanka Agarwal Chopra discovered a deep passion for building businesses after a decade of working for large and small businesses.
With her background and experience in building small startups, she joined IIMA Ventures, a startup incubator founded by IIM, Ahmedabad, where she currently works as a Managing Partner for Seed Investments and helps young entrepreneurs realise their potential.
Cultivating ideas:
IIMA Ventures offers a network of industry connections, in-depth training programs, one-on-one mentorship, guidance on identifying potential customers, strategic direction for business acceleration, and support in securing funding. IIMA Ventures has promoted women empowerment through programs such as Her&Now, a women-centric accelerator program that has supported over 100 women entrepreneurs through mentoring, capacity building, access to networks, and catalytic capital. The accelerator has funded over 350 startups, including over 300 startups at the pre-seed and seed stage and around 40 at the early growth stage.
News and Updates
Price cuts: Apple has cut prices of iPhone models in India by 3-4% after the Indian government reduced import duty on imported smartphones to 15% from 20%. Price cuts include Rs 300 for made-in-India iPhones and up to Rs 6,000 for iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Factory: SK Hynix, the memory chip giant that supplies NVIDIA, plans to invest 9.4 trillion won ($6.8 billion) to build a new semiconductor manufacturing plant in South Korea’s emerging chip hub. SK Hynix is one of the top three memory chip makers in the world. Life: NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance uncovered a speckled, 3-foot-by-2-foot, vein-filled rock that may have been home to microbial life billions of years ago. The arrowhead-shaped rock has revealed traces of organic matter, intriguing surface spots similar to those associated with fossilized microbes on Earth, and evidence that water once passed through the rock.
Which city has hosted the Olympic Games three times?
Answer: London and Paris, including the 2024 Olympics.
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