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Many once-promising financial startups are cash-strapped; others have broken business models. By Jeff Kauflin & Emily Mason ; Illustration by Matt Chase for Forbes ON November 15, the cofounders of Ribbon Home, a five-year-old financial technology company that promised to fix a “broken” homebuying market by offering buyers the ability to make all-cash offers, sent a cryptic and disconcerting email to its entire staff. “During this time of uncertainty, we ask team members who are not customer- or finance-facing to shift their focus from work to self-care, spending time with family and doing things that bring you comfort,” it read in part. Six days later, New York City-based Ribbon dismissed 85% of its staff—190 people—and cut severance to one week’s pay versus the six weeks employees had been previously promised. Fewer than 30 people remain today, and the company recently announced that it has paused all new business. Ribbon’s days are … [Read more...] about Merge Or Perish: 25 Struggling Fintech Startups

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin As questions surrounded equity control of Oracle Red Bull’s Formula 1 team, and changes to sustainability for the racing series are set to take a larger role, Porsche fell by the wayside, and Ford decided to make their return to the sport after a 22-year absence. It’s not often that one can say, “When a door closes, another door closes which leads to a door opening,” but that may best describe what has happened with consecutive F1 driver championships in 2021-22 and 2022 constructor champion Oracle Red Bull Racing. A seismic shift has occurred with those supplying powertrains in F1 as an increase in renewable technology continues to dramatically alter the consumer automotive market. In 2021, Honda left primary support for Red Bull as they moved away from combustion engines. Honda has pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2050. With not just Honda but others seeking to increase battery technology, and other renewable … [Read more...] about How Oracle Red Bull Racing Walked Away From Porsche And Ford Stepped In

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd hopes that its green hydrogen initiatives and collaborations will accelerate the conversion of grey hydrogen to green and help achieve the ‘1-1-1 goal,’ Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, told Moneycontrol at the ‘India Energy Week 2023’. [Green Hydrogen 1-1-1 refers to the aim of reducing the price to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade. ] Indian Oil Corporation is the largest state-owned oil refining company, with a capacity of 70.05 million metric tonnes per annum. It is also one of the leading petrochemical producers in India. Vaidya talked about the company’s petrochemicals expansion plan, the role of fossil fuels, and talent availability for its clean energy ventures, including green hydrogen. Edited excerpts: Q: Indian Oil has made a move towards clean energy in the green hydrogen space. What kind of targets do you have? A: Hydrogen and the refining industry go hand-in-hand. It's a raw material for me. So when I talk of hydrogen, basically, it's … [Read more...] about Hope to achieve ‘1-1-1 goal’ for Green hydrogen, petrochemicals to be integral part of Indian Oil’s growth story: Chairman

As of now, corporates are going for clean electricity as step one, but eventually there will be other opportunities to decarbonise their entire operations, said ReNew Power MD Sumant Sinha The incentives and subsidies being planned by other countries for green hydrogen manufacturing are going to pose a stiff challenge for India if it does not review its strategy, said ReNew Power’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Sumant Sinha. In an exclusive interview to Moneycontrol at the India Energy Week 2023 in Bengaluru, Sinha also said that from focusing only on renewables, the company now intends to also help corporates with their decarbonisation strategies. Edited excerpts from the interview: At the India Energy Week’s inaugural ceremony, the prime minister said going ahead, India's energy growth would be the highest in the world. We have done a lot of things in different segments of energy, whether it's hydrocarbons or clean energy. What are the gaps that still … [Read more...] about India needs to review Green Hydrogen policy in view of incentives offered by other countries: Sumant Sinha of ReNew Power

Telangana is committed to providing an impetus to electric vehicle adoption and aims to play a pivotal role in India's transition to electric mobility, state Minister for IT, Industries and Commerce K T Rama Rao said on Wednesday. Speaking after launching the first edition of the Hyderabad E-Motor Show as part of the ongoing Hyderabad E-Mobility Week, Rama Rao said Telangana has been a front-runner in adopting sustainability and clean energy, while we remain focused on making India self-reliant." "With our progressive EV adoption policy, and our ability to provide 24x7 electricity, we aim to become the most 'electrified state' in mobility in India," Rama Rao said, according to an official release. "We strongly believe India is well equipped to develop as a hub for manufacturing of electric vehicles and its supply chain," he said. KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, said Telangana is pursuing a comprehensive strategy to bring manufacturing of various components of the … [Read more...] about Telangana will play pivotal role in India’s e-mobility transition: Minister KTR

Generative AI blurs the line between human-produced and AI-proposed content. (Representational image) ChatGPT, like the 90s character Vicki from "Small Wonder," uses AI to process and convert information into knowledge. While offering great opportunities, it also has potential harm, making regulation crucial to minimise risk. Inaccuracy, Biased Outcomes AI is prone to biased outcomes. Generative AI as a predictive tool is trained using a massive amount of data to provide a human-like response and critical thinking. However, there is less clarity on the integrity, quality, and diversity of the data used for training their language models. The premise of using past datasets to predict future outcomes is concerning, as these applications will be prone to reproduce the same mistakes and patterns in future, causing real-life implications for humans. For instance, training data of ChatGPT goes only until 2021, and if any individual has exercised their right to be forgotten … [Read more...] about Regulation of generative AI like ChatGPT and Bard mustn’t hinder their growth

From left: AgniKul Cosmos co-founder and COO Moin SPM and CEO Srinath Ravichandran Chennai-based space tech start-up Agnikul Cosmos successfully completed the flight acceptance test of their 3D printed rocket engine that is going to be used in their upcoming space flight. The launch of Agnikul's rocket Agnibaan in the coming months, will be the second private rocket launch from India after Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-S . Like Vikram-S, Agnbaan's flight will also be suborbital, which means that it will reach below the Earth's orbit. During the test, the 3D printed rocket engine Aginlet burnt for 108 seconds, generated sea level thrust of 6 kilo Newton (kN). Unlike other rocket engines, Agnilet was built in a single step, eliminating the thousands of parts that are typically assembled in a conventional rocket engine; and they recently obtained a patent for the engine . "Humbled to announce the successful completion of the flight acceptance test of our … [Read more...] about Agnikul Cosmos successfully carries out key test ahead of planned launch

From left: AgniKul Cosmos co-founder and COO Moin SPM and CEO Srinath Ravichandran Agnikul Cosmos, a Chennai-based space tech startup, is planning a full-scale commercial launch of their rocket Agnibaan in March/April 2023, according to co-founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran. Agnilet, the startup's single-piece 3D-printed engine, was recently successfully tested at the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram. The startup is planning a test launch of its two-stage booster Agnibaan in December 2022. And, based on the findings of the test launch, the startup plans to conduct a commercial launch with customer payloads in March or April 2023, Ravichandran said. "There are a lot of people who have expressed interest to be part of the launch. So I think once our test is done, we will start converting them into like actual contracts," Ravichandran said. Ravichandran and Moin SPM, an operations specialist, founded … [Read more...] about Agnikul Cosmos plans commercial launch of Agnibaan around March 2023

In light of the upcoming launch of Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-S rocket on November 18, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath praised the Indian space industry for creating a facilitating ecosystem. The launch of India's first privately manufactured rocket on November 18 will demonstrate that young people with a dream to build something big can do so in India, he said. The ISRO chief made the remarks at the Bengaluru Tech Summit, mentioning the upcoming Mission Prarambh rocket launch by Skyroot Aerospace from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Vikram-S is a sub-orbital mission — a trajectory that does not complete a complete Earth orbit. “We have created an ecosystem today for them (young people) to make their dreams happen, build rocket systems using the available industries in India and take the support of the Indian Space Research Organisation infrastructure that we have created today to make that launch happen,” he said. ISRO's chairman said … [Read more...] about Skyroot’s rocket launch will demonstrate young people can dream big, says ISRO Chairman

Skyroot has indicated their interests in capturing the launch-on-demand requirement that is gaining attraction in an era of competition and conflict. (File image) Skyroot Aerospace, an Indian private sector space enterprise, created history by launching India’s first privately developed rocket, Vikram-S. This is a moment that many in India’s private space sector have been waiting for, and the expectation is that the success of the Skyroot venture will open doors for many others. The name given to the mission, ‘ Prarambh ’, means ‘beginning’ in Hindi. Many in the space community believe that this mission is a new beginning for engagement between India’s official space agency, the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), and the private space sector in India. Congratulating Skyroot Aerospace, ISRO tweeted , “Mission Prarambh is successfully accomplished”. Elated at the success, Skyroot’s CEO and Co-Founder, Pawan Kumar Chandana tweeted that: “Nov 18th 11:30 AM will be etched … [Read more...] about Private sector can boost ISRO’s space growth story