Category: News and events

Last week a leading financial daily reported that several unicorns had suffered write downs in their valuation.   You can read it here. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/blackrock-cuts-byjus-valuation-by-over-60-to-8-2-billion/articleshow/100627551.cms For those who have been observing the startup space even from the periphery, like me, this was not completely surprising.  News about write downs had been trickling in for a while from 2022.  What the news story did was to pull into one place the names of prominent venture capital (VC) funded companies and the extent of write downs they had suffered lately.  The story suggested…

I remember visiting India in July 2014 after a five-year hiatus and paying Rs. 250 for a haircut in a Mumbai suburb. In January 2023, I visited the locality again and a haircut cost me the same Rs. 250. I am reasonably certain that the barber didn’t charge pro-rata to account for my much-receded hairline over the last decade. This observation could be termed anecdotal. The below snip shot from the app Urban Clap has haircuts prices at about Rs 250 as well. Why have haircut prices not increased in…

‘This year’s World Health Day will shine on nurses and midwives, the on-the-call, relentless workforce that revolutionized the healthcare industry as we know it today,’ says the World Health Organization (WHO). The International Confederation of Midwives, an association with 108 member associations in 98 countries, projects a global shortage of 900,000 midwives and those in the sector continue to face discrimination, poor working environments and unequal pay. They are left out of health leadership. “Midwives need an enabling environment. Strategic litigation for better salaries is the need of hour,” says…

STEMonsters is a learning ecosystem for school children, aiming to build, in them, a strong foundation in STEM concepts through interdisciplinary, application-focused programs. According to the founder, Dr. Sonali Dasgupta, the programs help develop a problem-solving mindset while instilling confidence in children to explore the unknown and keeping them engaged and curious. Dr. Sonali Dasgupta adds, “We offer weekly, after-school science and technology learning programs for children (pan-Asia), in the age group of eight to 14 years, wherein they learn by experimenting and building on their own, right from their…

Founded in 2015, Copylove is a boutique copywriting and strategic content solutions studio that offers branding, copywriting and strategic content solutions to corporate enterprises, brands, businesses and entrepreneurs.  The Founder Gunjan Pai says that they specialize in creating a wide variety of niche brand work including naming, taglines, positioning, short-form content such as social media, and long-form pieces such as whitepapers, publications, etc. She adds, “We are a lean-principled firm with a collaborative DNA. Our all-women team works remotely from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Goa. The team makes high-quality, persuasive…