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In today’s newsletter: 

• Incoming: FirstCry and Ola Electric IPO filing
• Another operator-turned-founder raises funding
• Unicorns are like adolescent companies: Peak XV’s Shailendra Singh 

P.S. A new record was set in the IPL history! Mitchell Starc became the most expensive player with a whopping price tag of Rs 24.75 crore.

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The public market is going to get super busy in just a few days as prominent startups FirstCry and Ola Electric prepare to submit their draft IPO papers by the end of next week.

2023 has been a great year for IPO markets, with several companies joining the bandwagon after a muted phase.

• FirstCry is looking to raise $500 million, with 60% of that allocated to the offer for sale (OFS) component, while the remaining will constitute the primary part

• Ola Electric's IPO will consist of a combination of primary and secondary share offerings, with the firm aiming to raise around $700 million

While FirstCry is likely to list only after the general election in 2024, Ola Electric's management has already begun roadshows with domestic and international investors.

There's a lot of investor anticipation swirling around the upcoming IPOs of these two firms. FirstCry will be the first major e-commerce player to list since Nykaa's debut in 2021, while Ola Electric marks the first IPO by an Indian automaker in over two decades, following Maruti Suzuki in 2003.

• SoftBank's November valuation increase for both firms, alongside a few others in its portfolio, signalled the investor's optimism ahead of their IPOs

For Ola Electric, the IPO represents a significant push. The company has stated that the raised funds will be used to fuel its EV business expansion and establish India's first lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu.

Go deeper

Imagine being so amazing at your job that not one, but two of your former bosses decide to throw cash at your startup the moment you take the leap. 

• It's a secret sauce that probably only Vivek Sinha, the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Unacademy, has the recipe for

Unacademy's former COO Vivek Sinha has secured $11 million in funding for his new edtech venture, sources told us. 

• Alongside Lightspeed Ventures and Matrix Partners, Gaurav Munjal of Unacademy and Ritesh Agarwal of Oyo, Sinha's former bosses, also participated in the round

Prior to joining Unacademy, Sinha held a key position as a business head at Oyo from April 2018 to September 2020.

• This comes at a time when a slew of top executives are leaving startups to launch their own ventures and are receiving high investor interest too

Sinha, who left Unacademy in September this year, wasted no time in launching his new venture, registering it the same month.

• The company is expected to focus on the upskilling segment within the healthcare industry

This development comes at a time when the upskilling and higher education vertical within the edtech sector has maintained its strength in a bearish funding landscape.

Nevertheless, this size of funding for a seed-stage edtech company is far from ordinary, especially at a time when the investment pipeline for growth and late-stage edtech startups has dried up.

The edtech venture would be Sinha’s second innings as an entrepreneur.

• He had founded an e-commerce company, Buildzar, and even raised $4 million from Puneet Dalmia of Dalmia Cement (Bharat). 

• Buildzar was later shuttered because it failed to yield the desired results.

Dig deeper

While several founders flex about raising money at a billion-dollar valuation or turning unicorns, investors believe that's only half the battle won.

Shailendra Singh, managing director at Peak XV Partners, compared unicorns to adolescents, noting that while they have displayed potential, they still have much to learn and experience.

“Many unicorns are yet to discover free cash flow (FCF), plenty of them have to realise that there is no endless stream of capital raising. Many unicorns also have to discover that good governance will get them a better multiple in public markets, so on and so forth,” Singh said at the Global AI Conclave in Bengaluru on December 16.

In drawing parallels between his 13-year-old and unicorns, Singh noted that just like children who throw tantrums and struggle with emotional control, even unicorn founders can exhibit similar behaviour. 

• He also expressed his dislike for the term "unicorn," arguing that it does not reflect a company's quality or potential

• AI pioneer Andrew Ng, who taught OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at Stanford, expressed hope that the AI upstart's new board will guide the company toward a more stable structure and that the maker of ChatGPT will emerge stronger from the recent boardroom saga.
  
  
• Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to play a pivotal role across various sectors, including healthcare, product delivery, and financial services, as highlighted by the panellists at the Global AI Conclave. During the discussion, the panellists not only emphasized the potential of Generative AI but also delved into privacy concerns associated with this transformative technology. Find out more

• Sarvam AI, which recently secured significant funding from investors and unveiled its open-source Hindi large language model, has ambitious plans for the future. During a conversation with Bala Parthasarathy of People+AI at the Global AI Conclave, Vivek Raghavan, the startup's founder, revealed their intention to launch more such models and, ultimately, to create a platform where developers can deploy generative AI applications at scale. Raghavan, who was key in building Aadhaar in his previous positions, shared three predictions for the AI ecosystem in the coming year. Read more to find out what they are.

On December 18, the Indian government surprisingly tabled the Indian Telecommunications Bill 2023, initially introduced last year to replace the country's century-old telecom regulatory paradigm.

• The previous version of the bill aimed to regulate not only traditional communication methods but also those based on the internet, raising concerns about privacy and surveillance

While the new iteration avoids explicitly mentioning the regulation of OTTs (Over-the-Top platforms) or other internet-based communication, some question whether its broad definitions of "telecom services" leave room for future government intervention in these areas.

In our explainer, we delve into this aspect and other significant features of the Indian Telecommunications Bill.

• OpenAI has outlined a safety plan for its advanced models, including board oversight and deployment restrictions in sensitive areas like cybersecurity and nuclear threats.
  
  
• TomTom and Microsoft have teamed up to build an AI-powered car assistant that lets you chat with your vehicle and control infotainment, location search, and vehicle commands.

Ditch the tech-speak and dive into Tech Talker’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Navigate the Digital World, your weekly dose of digital savviness in bite-sized chunks!

In just 5-6 minutes, you'll be armed with practical pointers to:

• Fortifying your electronics ️
• Slashing your mobile data usage 
• Becoming a master of online defence, and more!

Check it out on Spotify and Apple Podcasts 

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