One quick thing: AWS India sees second country head exit in under 12 months 

In today’s newsletter: 

• Lightrock India to lose key partner
• ONDC's cart sheds food dominance
• Bengaluru auto union parts ways with Namma Yatri

P.S.: What did India search on Google this year? Scroll below for more deets!

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A prominent investor in the country is witnessing yet another top-level exit.

Kushal Agrawal, Partner, and CFO, will resign from Lightrock by the end of the month, sources told us. Agrawal joined Lightrock (formerly Aspada) in 2013.

• Internal disagreements regarding the fund's operational approach was the catalyst for Agrawal's exit

• Lightrock's efforts to raise $600-$700 million for an India-dedicated fund have been hit by these internal differences, sources told us

Agrawal joins a growing list of senior executives who have left Lightrock over the past 12-18 months. 

• Ashish Garg and Raghav Rungta, both principals at Lightrock, have also left the firm

Saleem Asaria, a partner at Lightrock, has also stepped away from daily operations, sources told us. Although he denies this.

While the developments at Lightrock are recent, the investing fraternity has witnessed a similar trend throughout this year. 

• In September, Orios' Venture Partners saw partners Anup Jain and Rajeev Suri depart

• August saw the departure of Lightbox's Siddharth Talwar, Jeremy Wenokur, and Prashant Mehta 

• Together Fund, Rebright Partners, and Venture Highway have also experienced similar departures

Dig deeper

If you remember the two weeks of large discounts on burgers and pizzas earlier this year on Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), you might have thought it was just a cheaper alternative to Zomato and Swiggy. 

However, your assessment would have been slightly mistaken.

ONDC is rapidly expanding its presence across multiple e-commerce categories, including fashion, electronics, groceries, and beauty products, sources tell us. 

• These new categories are increasingly finding their way into ONDC users' carts, as the share of food orders has dropped to around 30%

• This shift is significant, as food orders constituted over 90% of all purchases on ONDC just a few months ago 

Meanwhile, order volume has more than doubled in the last six months, consistently registering around 55,000 transactions per day in November, compared to 25,000 per day in May.

Of the 4.7 million transactions made through ONDC in November, about 1.6 million were in the retail category, while 3.1 million were in the mobility category.

• Only about 32% of the 1.6 million retail transactions were food orders, and around 10% were grocery purchases

The remaining 928,000 transactions were attributed to newer categories like fashion and electronics.

“What we have seen is a consistent month-on-month growth in transactions. There has not been a single month of contraction in either mobility or non-mobility categories,” ONDC chief T Koshy said

While this year saw ONDC setting the stage for an initial mass of buyers, sellers, and platforms to be brought on board, the coming year will be a critical test of its ability to scale up rapidly.

• The government-backed network aims to significantly increase its activity in the next few months and achieve a monthly run rate of up to 8 million transactions (including mobility) by the end of FY24, sources told us

Go deeper

There was a Clash of Clans between Bengaluru's auto rickshaw-hailing firm, Namma Yatri, and the main auto union, which had been strongly promoting the use of the app.

Namma Yatri, launched to compete with incumbents Ola and Uber, was hailed as a driver-centric app backed by the Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union (ARDU). However, the union and Namma Yatri have parted ways.

• Disagreements regarding pricing, subscription models, and promotional strategies led to the split, sources told us

Namma Yatri, however, maintains that the platform is union-agnostic and collaborates with all drivers to create a comprehensive mobility solution for everyone.

ARDU and Juspay collaborated in November 2022 to launch the Namma Yatri app, promising an alternative to Ola and Uber, whom they accused of charging exorbitant commission fees (around 30-40%).

The app initially boasted of not charging any platform fees to drivers or riders. However, this policy has since undergone significant changes.

• Since September 1, 2023, Namma Yatri has implemented a subscription fee for drivers

• They offer two options: a flat rate of Rs 25 per day for unlimited trips, or Rs 3.50 per ride. This new policy has been met with resistance from many drivers

Moreover, the platform's recent move to disable the "cancel" option for drivers on rides to and from Metro stations has also sparked disagreements.

Read our deep dive

The European Union (EU) just took the wheel in the global AI race, unveiling the world's first comprehensive rules for this powerful technology.

• This landmark legislation aims to ensure that AI is developed and used responsibly, prioritising data quality, transparency, human oversight, and accountability.

We take a look at the key aspects of this historic legislation, from its risk-based approach to its strong penalties for non-compliance. 

Also, we break down how Gemini is set to shift Google's core business model and impact enterprises.

• The US Securities and Exchange Commission is asking investment advisers about their use and oversight of AI, as chair Gary Gensler remains sceptical of the technology.

• Mistral AI, a Paris-based AI startup founded by ex-DeepMind and Meta scientists, raised $415 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Ventures, valuing the company at $2 billion.

Chandrayaan 3 triggered huge curiosity among Indians this year. This immense public interest was evident from what people in India searched for on Google.

The historic event was the top trending query on Google India in 2023, followed by the Karnataka election results. 

• Kiara Advani was the most searched person in 2023, followed by cricketers Shubman Gill and Rachin Ravindra

Shahrukh Khan's Jawan, Gadar 2, and Oppenheimer were among the most searched movies in 2023 while Farzi, Wednesday and Asur were among the most searched shows. 

P.S. Also, see what were the hottest memes this year.

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