Breaking: Ather Energy gets regulator nod for IPO

One quick thing: Another senior executive quits Zepto

In today’s newsletter:

• 2024: From funding winter to green shoots
• UPI set for new milestone
• Why H-1B visas are back in focus

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After a long winter, it appears 2024 was spring time for the Indian startup ecosystem.

Funding among startups increased 14 percent year-on-year (YoY) to $10.94 billion in 2024, up from $9.58 billion.

• This after venture capital funds returned to invest big cheques – of $100 million or more – which was the norm till 2021.

The resurgence can largely be attributed to factors like a maturing ecosystem, improving profitability metrics, regulatory improvements, and a recalibration of investor strategies.

Listing of some major startups, including Swiggy, Mobikwik, and Ola Electric, coupled with multi-bagger returns from firms like Zomato, firmed up investor conviction around new-age companies.

• The year saw 13 startups going public, cornering about Rs 29,000 crore.

In fact, pre-IPO rounds made up a large chunk of late-stage funding this year, with Zepto, Purpelle, Eruditus, and PhysicsWallah.

The current IPO frenzy is expected to run well into 2025 as more new-age companies look to enter the stock market.

• Pre-IPO funding is also set to increase parallelly, trickling down to early- and growth-stage investments.

To be sure, early-stage funding remained flat at $1.69 billion in 2024, compared to $1.67 billion in 2023. 

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The UPI juggernaut continued in 2024.

The popular payments platform is set to hit 171 billion transactions in 2024—a 45% jump from last year.

• The total transaction value could reach Rs 245 lakh crore, a 34% jump from last year’s Rs 183 lakh crore.

On average, the country’s most popular real-time payments platform is processing almost 85% of India’s digital payments.

While PhonePe and Google Pay continue to dominate with close to 85% market share, new players are steadily carving out their space in the market.

• Navi became the fourth-largest player, overtaking Cred.
• Flipkart’s super.money and Fampay are also gaining traction.

As many as 20 new UPI apps were approved by NPCI in 2024, bringing the total to 40.

• The goal? Reduce dependency on a few players. However, breaking their hold has been tricky.

The 30% cap rule for UPI apps is still on hold and might get delayed by another two years.

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When it rains, it pours – and right now, the storm over US immigration policies doesn’t seem to be stopping soon.

The appointment of Indian-American Sriram Krishnan to the White House by President-elect Donald Trump has led to a fierce online debate on US immigration policies, especially H1-B visas.

• Trump endorsed H1-B visas after tech leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy defended the current system.

While Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy argue that the H-1B visa is crucial for filling highly specialised roles, recent data suggests otherwise.

• Over 75% of H-1B visas issued in the past five years cover jobs that pay under $150,000.

Trump’s remarks on H-1B visas have evolved.

• He once labeled the program “unfair” and “bad” for American workers, but recently called it a “great program”.

This change in tone contradicts his previous stance, raising questions about his commitment to visa reform.

Both Musk and Ramaswamy defend the hiring of foreign-born professionals.

• Musk, who himself entered the US on an H-1B visa, suggested raising the minimum salary for H-1B applicants and imposing an additional cost for maintaining the visa.

Ramaswamy criticised the US’s current culture, claiming it prioritises mediocrity over excellence.

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Hindi films failed to live up to the record box office business they registered in 2023.

• Unlike 2023 when four Bollywood films earned over Rs 500 crore each, 2024 had only one- Stree 2.

Top stars like Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn were unable to create any magic on the big screen.

• Dearth of releases in 2024 left theatre owners in a fix.

Read to know more.

The artificial intelligence (AI) industry has long been dominated by text-based large language models (LLMs), but the future lies beyond the written word. Read to know how multimodal AI represents the next major wave in AI.

Researchers warn that AI tools could soon influence online decision-making, predicting an "intention economy" where firms compete to predict human behavior accurately. Here’s how AI assistants can influence and sell human intentions now.

It appears captain Rohit Sharma has made up his mind to call it time from Test cricket after a poor run Down Under. 

• He had announced his retirement from T20 internationals after winning the T20 World Cup 2024. 

The retirement announcement is likely to come after the final Test of the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney.

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