Ai startups

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin When crisis strikes, we tend to look to our leaders for what we can do to help. Right now, as so much of the world watches in horror at the invasion of Ukraine, many of us have fretted from afar about what we can do to help. Impressively, business leaders outside of Ukraine has leapt into action. Companies I admire like A.Team , for example, were quick to launch social media fundraising campaigns. Many others have splashed “We stand with Ukraine” on their home pages and social accounts. And while that’s helpful, I’ve been impressed by two particularly inspiring startup companies that are leveraging their unique business propositions to make a difference—beyond moral and simple financial support: Who’s Helping The Babies In Ukraine? Embrace Global. According to Embrace Global , 260,000 women were pregnant in Ukraine when the war started. “Over 1,000 women are giving birth in Ukraine every day,” says Jane … [Read more...] about Beyond Moral Support: How Two International Startups Are Bringing Clever Aid To The People Of Ukraine

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin This week’s Current Climate , which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week. T hanks to all you loyal readers of the Current Climate newsletter. This week, we’re starting some changes to the format in an effort to bring you some more focused news on the business of sustainability. To that end, we’re introducing some new sections to the newsletter, including one that focuses on venture funding, M&A, contracts and other deals happening in the industry. I’m also pleased to announce that my colleague, Alan Ohnsman , is joining me as a co-writer of the newsletter. Alan will be bringing news to you every week about the world of green transportation, from electric cars to the hydrogen economy. Let us know what you think about the changes, and what other types of news you might be interested in knowing about. But without … [Read more...] about AI For Sustainability, The Billionaire Betting Against Coal And Tesla Facing Lower China Sales

In his book, The Golden Tap, serial entrepreneur Kashyap Deorah had described how Lee Fixel, a former partner with Tiger Global, used to filter potential startups on the basis of the founders' caste and JEE (advanced) ranks. Only candidates with high JEE (joint entrance examination) ranks make it to India’s premier technical institutes -- the central-government owned Indian Institutes of Technology, commonly known as IITs. “Fixel preferred North Indian Marwari banias with single or double-digit JEE ranks who were young and first-time entrepreneurs. An analysis had probably revealed that such entrepreneurs were the best performers in the companies Tiger liked funding,” Deorah had written. Fixel had led negotiations for funding rounds for Tiger Global in unicorns like Flipkart and Ola, which were among the New York-based hedge fund’s largest bets in India. Both the companies best fit Deorah’s description as Sachin and Binny Bansal, founders of Flipkart, come from IIT Delhi, … [Read more...] about 73 of India’s 100 unicorns have at least one founder from IIT

Representative Image Ola Electric chief marketing officer Varun Dubey has quit citing personal reasons, days after CTO Dinesh Radhakrishnan departed in a series of top-level exits as the startup grapples with technical issues and a barrage of consumer complaints. Last week, Moneycontrol reported that SoftBank-backed Ola's vehicle commerce CEO Arun Sirdeshmukh and its chief of group strategy Amit Anchal are leaving the firm , marking crucial exits when it is grappling with a delay in its listing plans, even as quality issues dog Ola Electric's scooters. An Ola spokesperson confirmed that he was leaving due to personal reasons. Till a few months ago, Dubey was the face of the company, fielding media queries and criticisms around vehicle delivery and quality. But sources said he had stopped coming to work in the last few weeks. These exits also come at a time when there has been a significant change of guard at Ola, with founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal stepping back from … [Read more...] about Ola Electric CMO Varun Dubey latest to quit, days after CTO exit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File image) Targeting previous Congress governments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Information Technology revolution could not be encashed earlier as the youth were not given encouragement, and an entire decade was wasted due to scams and policy paralysis. Because of the well thought out strategy of his government, the number of start-ups in India increased from 300-400 in 2014 to 70,000 in eight years, and now every eight or ten days a start-up turns into a unicorn by achieving valuation of more than Rs 7,000 crore, he said. The prime minister was virtually addressing new entrepreneurs after launching the Madhya Pradesh government's new start-up policy and an action plan. The prime minister was virtually addressing new entrepreneurs after launching the Madhya Pradesh government's new start-up policy and an action plan. When our government came in 2014, the number of start-ups in the country was 300 to 400, and the talk about … [Read more...] about PM Modi blames previous regimes for not encashing IT revolution, says start-ups grew exponentially post-2014

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin How can venture capital finance be disrupted and better harnessed to finance the transition to net-zero? Danijel Visevic, Co-founder of the recently launched World Fund – Europe’s biggest climatetech venture capital fund – set out to find answers. Together with Co-founders Tim Schumacher – who was awarded Best Male investor in 2020, Daria Saharova – who was awarded Best Female Investor in 2020 by the German Startup Award Association, and Craig Douglas – a 15-year climatetech and investing veteran, he set up the World Fund . “We did a pre-closing, that's something very unique. Usually, as a venture capital fund, you have a first closing, then you invest, and you have a final closing a year later. “But we knew if we want to raise 350 million Euros as a first-time fund, we need a portfolio, otherwise, those institutional investors who can invest 10-20-30 million won't invest. So we needed a portfolio and we … [Read more...] about Europe’s Largest Climatetech VC Fund Offers Investment Insights

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin It was a great pleasure and honor to have been asked by the Foundation for Climate Restoration to moderate an expert panel on Direct Air Capture (DAC) at the end of April as part of the Foundation’s Solution Series . The panelists – Merritt Dailey, Celina Scott-Buechler, and Chris Neidl – were terrific and I not only learned a lot from them, I also received a much-needed dose of climate inspiration. Among the big take-aways for me is how quickly the DAC industry has grown over the past few years. When I started learning about DAC, there were really only three (really two and a half) firms in this market. Now, just three years later, according to Chris Neidl, there are over 50 DAC firms, all with different technological approaches to solving the problem of capturing diffuse CO2, refining it, and either sequestering or incorporating it into other products or processes. This panel served as a prompt for me to re-engage … [Read more...] about The Three “E”s Of Direct Air Capture: Essential, Evolving, And Everlasting

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin What comes after Earth Day? An avalanche of socks. A North Carolina nonprofit called Material Return has teamed with Smartwool , a major American clothing producer, to collect 400,000 pairs of socks this year. They began a push in April around Earth Day and expect the mother lode to roll in soon. The old socks, collected via free mail-in bags ordered by Smartwool customers and drop boxes at participating retail stores throughout the United States, will be fully recycled into yarn. Smartwool will use the recycled yarn for future clothing projects, keeping the socks out of landfills and eliminating the need for virgin yarns. The effort builds on one last year in which 250,ooo pairs were collected. The project is called Second Cut. “You’re giving these socks a second cut at the job of being a sock,” explains Bob Carswell , founder of Material Return , part of The Industrial Commons group, a startup incubator. … [Read more...] about 400,000 Pairs Of Old Socks Will Be Spun Into Recycled Yarn For Material Return, Smartwool Project

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The Union health ministry is set to organise a three-day "Chintan Shivir" from May 5 with states beginning to prepare the roadmap for India's healthcare system for the next 25 years. The meet, to be chaired by health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, will be held in Gujarat's Kevadiya. It is organised after a gap of two years. The main objective of the meet is to promote healthcare that is accessible and affordable and touch themes like "Heal in India" and "Heal by India". Health ministers and health secretaries of all the states have been invited to participate in the meeting. The objective of the three-day conference is to review the implementation of policies and programmes related to medical and public health sectors and to recommend ways and means for better implementation of these policies for benefit of the common people, a statement by the ministry said. The conference will have panel discussions with eminent speakers and … [Read more...] about Health ministry to organise three-day meet to prepare healthcare roadmap for next 25 years

Arun Sirdeshmukh, previously the head of Amazon Fashion for India, joined Ola in April last year and was appointed as the chief executive officer of its vehicle commerce platform Ola Cars in October SoftBank-backed Ola's vehicle commerce CEO Arun Sirdeshmukh and its chief of group strategy Amit Anchal are leaving the firm, people familiar with the matter said, marking crucial exits when it is grappling with a delay in its listing plans, even as quality issues dog Ola Electric's scooters. "Sirdeshmukh was also in charge of the go to market for Ola Electric but has decided to leave. Amit was supposed to lead Ola's IPO and also played a key role in fundraising but with listing plans uncertain for now, he has decided to move on," one of the persons cited above said. He was persuaded to stay on for the IPO but that is now delayed", the person said. An Ola spokesperson confirmed Siredeshmukh's exit in response to queries from Moneycontrol, but she firmly denied Anchal was … [Read more...] about EXCLUSIVE: Ola Cars CEO Arun Sirdeshmukh and Ola group strategy head Amit Anchal to exit