One important thing: Chinese conglomerate Alibaba's Ant Group sold its remaining 3.4% stake in Paytm in a block deal, marking the company's final exit from the fintech firm, according to media reports. The latest tranche saw the sale of approximately 2.1 crore shares, following the sale of a 3% stake in January.

• This comes just days after Ant Group nominee Douglas Feagin resigned from Paytm's board
  
  
• Ant Group had also sold its stake in Big Basket and partially in Zomato
  

In today’s newsletter:

• Breather for digital lending apps
• Meet the rocket girls
• Startups prepare for a post-GoMechanic reality

Was this newsletter forwarded to you? You can sign up for Tech3 here

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has pulled a UNO reverse that has most of India's top digital lenders overjoyed!

The ministry has revoked the ban orders after hearing the concerns of multiple digital lending players regarding the ban on their apps and a review of the same.

On February 6, MeitY, acting on orders from the Home Ministry, blocked 38 betting apps and 94 loan lending apps that allegedly had Chinese links on an urgent and emergency basis.

But in recent days, the lenders flew to Delhi to present their case on compliance and requested MeitY to lift the ban.

• MeitY informed Kissht, LazyPay, Buddy Loan, Faircent, and KreditBee that the ban orders had been lifted following a review

So far, none.

"We have served more than 8 million Indians since 2017 and look forward to serving many millions more in the years forward. Kissht continues to provide hassle-free credit with the objective of doubling our customer base in 2023," said Kissht's cofounder Ranvir Singh.

However, sources tell us that if the ban on lending apps had been extended, even for just one week, it would have caused panic among consumers, resulting in a negative impact on the apps' reputation and business operations.

Go deeper

Name one achievement from your teenage years, academic or otherwise, that you are still proud of. For the majority, there may not be much to talk about.

But if you were one of the 750 girl students who worked on a satellite that was successfully launched aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation's SSLV-D2 rocket today, then that's a remarkable achievement that you can proudly talk about for years to come.

Girls from government schools across the country joined forces to work on 75 experiments/payloads as part of the AzaadiSat 2.0 satellite from Space Kidz India, a Chennai-based space tech startup.

• Many of the children from low-income families learned to code and programmed various sensors for the satellite
  
  
• The first version of this satellite, AzaadiSat, was aboard the first SSLV in 2022, but that launch was a failure

In addition to the 75 payloads developed by the students, the satellite also has a long-range transmitter and a radiation sensor on board.

• When deployed from the rocket, the satellite is equipped to expand to up to eight times its original size

Earlier in 2022, Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-S, the first private rocket to launch into space, had a similar satellite by Space Kidz India, which consisted of student-created experiments.

Go deeper

GoMechanic's recent troubles have had a ripple effect on the startup ecosystem. Venture capital firms are currently taking a step back to evaluate the situation, as they wait for the outcome of GoMechanic's due diligence crisis.

GoMechanic's peers and other startups are now bracing for the harsh realities:

• The funding due diligence timeline will be extended as investors ask tougher questions
   
• Early-stage startups that had some leeway in terms of due diligence will also be affected
  
  
• Forensic audits will become more common in order to detect fraudulent activities in a company early on

The troubled startup is currently awaiting the results of EY's forensic audit in order to restructure its business and secure funds to sustain it.

• Sources earlier told us that the startup had misreported financial performance numbers and even included fictitious garages in its recent deal due diligence report
  
  
• The startup also has unusually large debt while inflating accounts by nearly 5-6X, sources told us

Go Deeper

The AI arena has been set ablaze as tech giants Google and Microsoft reignite their age-old battle for search and internet dominance. Leading the charge of this AI revolution is OpenAI's ChatGPT, whose stunning conversational abilities have swept the world off its feet.  

However, Google is not one to be left behind. The tech giant announced its own AI-powered conversational service, Bard, which it plans to integrate into its search engine. Similar to ChatGPT, Bard will provide detailed answers to user prompts.

Microsoft retaliated promptly, unveiling an AI-powered version of its Bing search engine, powered by a next-gen OpenAI language model built specifically for search. This upgraded version of the same AI technology behind ChatGPT is significantly more effective, even compared to the original model.

• China's Baidu is also not far behind, with plans to launch its own ChatGPT-inspired bot in March of this year.

Despite Google's efforts, it still has a long way to go to match the massive popularity of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Earlier this week, Bard hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, providing false information in its promotional video, which proved to be a costly blunder.

The battle for online search supremacy is far from over, and only time will tell who will emerge as the undisputed champion. 

More from the world of AI:

• AI hype bleeds into cryptocurrencies
• Voice actors seeing an increasing threat from AI
• NASA turns to AI to design mission hardware

On this day in 1996, world chess champion Garry Kasparov was defeated by an IBM computer dubbed "Deep Blue" in the first game of a six-match series in Philadelphia.

However, Kasparov would go on to win the series 4-2 before losing to Deep Blue in a rematch a year later. (Picture credit: Wikipedia)

• Crypto exchange Kraken will pay $30 million to settle SEC allegations that its cryptoasset staking products violated agency rules and will discontinue them in the US.
  
  
• Ethereum co-founder and crypto entrepreneur Joseph Lubin believes Ether will not be classified as a security in the US.

The eagerly awaited series You, starring Penn Badgley, continues to enthral viewers with its chilling and suspenseful plot. 

The latest season of the show follows the chilling journey of Joe Goldberg, portrayed by Badgley, as he tries to break free from his dangerous tendencies and start fresh in Paris. 

However, his past soon catches up with him as he becomes consumed by a new infatuation, sending him spiralling down a dangerous path once again.

Watch it on Netflix

P.S: We've got you covered if you're in the mood for a thrilling desi show! Shahid Kapoor is making his debut on OTT platforms with the criminal thriller series, Farzi. The show follows a street artist who is trying to outsmart a biased system that benefits the wealthy. 

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Note: By subscribing to Tech3 you have already made the right choice. Top it up with a premium offering, the Moneycontrol Pro Panorama, a newsletter that gives you a sharp take on macros, markets, business and finance. Sign up for Pro from this link to get this newsletter in your inbox and also a host of content enjoyed by 500,000+ subscribers.