Hello,

A sharp rise in funding—all thanks to one deal.

The third week of June saw Indian startups raise $213 million across 23 deals, nearly double the $107 million cornered last week. This boost was largely due to the $100 million raised by Lenskart, which has managed to raise a total of $600 million even amid 2023’s freezing funding winter. 

Meanwhile, Adani Digital Labs Private Limited, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, is planning to buy a 100% stake in Stark Enterprises Private Limited (SEPL), a travel booking app popularly known as Trainman.

In other news, inflation in the US won’t decline as quickly as markets are currently expecting, according to strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Although we expect further declines in inflation going forward, markets appear considerably more optimistic than we are about the pace of cooling,” they said.

Inflation in the US might not be cooling, but the planet is likely getting warmer. 

People across the world are experiencing temperature anomalies. Some scientists are already sounding the alarm, fearing it could be a sign of a planet warming much more rapidly than expected. And, at least one researcher has called the rising ocean and air temperatures “total bonkers”.

Here are four charts that show just how erratic the climate around the world is right now. 

ICYMI: Tech giants’ sustainability pledges are often lost in the news cycles. At least for Microsoft, its supply chains are holding back its climate ambitions, found The Verge. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about:

• Tiger’s new fund sees few takers 
• A belly full of S(e)oul food
• Helping transpersons find jobs

Here’s your trivia for today: Which sporting event’s trophy is topped by a pineapple?

Private Equity

Tiger Global’s new fund sees few takers 

New York-based investment firm Tiger Global has raised $2.7 billion for its newest private equity fund since October, less than half of its target of $6 billion. 

Tech reset:

• According to two separate regulatory filings submitted to the SEC on Friday, Tiger Global Private Investment Partners XVI, L.P. has only been able to raise $2.68 billion in its first close in January.
• The current fund is already half the size of its previous fund for which the investor raised $11.4 billion in February last year, just three months after its first close in November.
• Other VCs aren’t faring too well either. Insight Partners cut the target for its 13th fund from $20 billion to $15 billion. The company attributed the change to a “great reset in tech”.

Food and Culture

A belly full of S(e)oul food

This year, Conrad Bengaluru is celebrating 50 years of South Korea-India diplomatic relationships. And what’s a better way to do it than food! YS Life got a sneak peek. 

Even the dining area is all decked up SK-style—with walls lined by colourful “jiusan”—a traditional parasol made with bamboo and oiled hanji paper—mostly used during the Joseon dynasty rule in Korea. 

Ramen <3:

• For the event, two of the best chefs from Conrad Seoul—Chefs Jae Uk Kim and Lee— have been flown in to create a special a la carte menu. 
• From Dak Gangjeong, the famous Korean fried chicken, and Hwangjae Haemul Ramyun to spicy ramen and bibimbap, the food on offer was phenomenal.
• The team at Conrad also made kimchi, the star side dish of Korean food, with a twist. While they followed a traditional Korean recipe, the ingredients used were Indian. 

Inspiration

Helping transpersons find jobs

Despite many challenges, Born2Win has improved the lives of many transpersons in a way that can bring long-term change in the employment landscape. 

In 2013, Swetha Sudhakar started and registered Born2Win as an NGO. Exactly two months later, on April 15—National Transgender Day, she launched the Trans Achievers Award, recognising pioneers from the community in the fields of law, politics, medicine, and entrepreneurship. 

A new life:

• Many young trans persons from small towns and villages often can’t take up jobs after fleeing home, facing stigma and inequity.
• Over the last ten years, Swetha has placed 120 transpersons in sectors such as banking, IT, hospitality and development through her NGO Born2Win. 
• In 2015, she launched Ms Trans Queen pageant as a platform for transwomen in Tamil Nadu to dress up the way they want and express themselves. 

News & updates

• More the merrier: Japan plans to stoke competition in smartphone app payments, dominated by Apple and Google, by banning major app store operators from forcing software developers to use the operators’ own payment systems, a government panel said.
• New virtual worlds: Improbable, a SoftBank-backed startup developing huge virtual worlds, launched its plans for a network of metaverses that it hopes will one day be capable of hosting thousands of users and compete with platforms from US tech giants such as Meta and Microsoft.
• Future plans: Twitter plans to focus on video, creator, and commerce partnerships to revitalise the social media company’s business beyond digital advertising, according to an investor presentation by owner Elon Musk and new Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino that was reviewed by Reuters.

Which sporting event’s trophy is topped by a pineapple?

Answer: The Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles trophy has a pineapple on top but nobody knows exactly why. 

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