Good morning. Earlybird here with your morning mix — one pump of good vibes and a double shot of the latest in business, tech, and startups.

In this edition:

• 🚀 $200M missile deal with Indonesia

• 🖥️ The unfortunate kind of hackathon

• 🏦 SVB (or what’s left of it) reopens for business

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close. Source.

• Markets: The Nifty has formed a long-legged Doji pattern, leading experts to predict an upward reversal on the horizon. It seems like the Indian stock market is taking a leaf out of the yoga book and getting ready to strike a perfect balance between the bulls and the bears.

DEFENSE

Indian-Russian defense supplier sets its sights on $200M deal with Indonesia

🚀 India-Russia joint venture defense firm, BrahMos Aerospace, is aiming to secure a $200M missile deal with Indonesia. Here's what we know so far:

• The deal is looking to push BrahMos’ supersonic cruise missiles to Indonesia as the latter considers a large tab in defense spending.

• The Indian-Russian defense tie-up is not new to multibillion dollar orders offshore, with its first foreign close being $375M worth of shore-based anti-ship missiles sold to the Philippines in 2022.

• While BrahMos has been in lengthy talks with Indonesia, the specifics on the order’s magnitude and timetable have not yet come to light.

The long-term target. If successful, the deal would mark a significant milestone for BrahMos Aerospace as it seeks to establish itself as a major player in the global defense industry.

LOGISTICS

Investicorp is pilling more chips on Indian warehouses

🪙 Investcorp, a global investment firm, is intensifying its presence in the Indian logistics market by betting big on warehousing in India. The move aims to meet the tidal demand for logistics infrastructure in India, as businesses seek to expand their supply chain capabilities.

Investicorp’s track record. While the middle-eastern asset management group’s books are portioned heavily for residential properties, Investicorp did drop a $55M backing on NDR Warehousing in 2022.

YoY stats. Just last year, investments in the logistics sector garnered from private equity alone jumped by 45% to $1.9B. Pundits expect this trend to carryover in 2023, and apparently, so does Investicorp (among others).

There are others joining the party. Investicorp contributes to a larger surge of global interest in Indian logistics after the government had announced plans to develop the country as a manufacturing hot spot.

CYBER SECURITY

Satellite-tech startup gets hacked out of its own files

🛰️ A microsatellite-tech startup in Ahmedabad specializing in the deployment of reusable rockets just got locked out from its own data nest following a recent cyber attack.

Data for ransom. While unnamed as of yet, the space-tech firm released a statement saying the hackers demanded 20 bitcoin (about 8 crore at the time of the ask) in exchange for the release of its data.

Among others in Gujarat. The company joins other startups in the area that had fallen victim to malicious ransomware. Other significant digital security breaches had been recorded between 2020 and 2022, mostly among manufacturing firms.

How the story ends. According to the company, its tech and IT system were frozen tor 15 days before the team managed to retrieve access without having to pay the “thefty” sum.

INDIA EDITION: WHAT ELSE IS ON THE BIRDWATCH

• ✂️ Dukaan’s 30% staff cut. Indian retail tech platform Dukaan has laid off 30% of its workforce, a move that reportedly signals the company's change of focus to D2C scaling.

• 💰️ LEAD acquires Pearson’s Indian arm. LEAD, a learning platform owned by Edtech unicorn BYJU'S, has completed its acquisition of Pearson's K-12 learning business in India.

• 🔑 Naraza gets its keys back from SVB. Nazara Technologies, an Indian gaming and sports media company, has been granted unrestricted access to its Rs. 64 crore ($8.7 million) account held at Silicon Valley Bank.

FUNDING DEALS

Catch up on the Indian funding flows from the past 24hrs:

• Curio Capital, a neo-realty wealth-tech company, is set to raise Rs. 200 crore in India's first land opportunity with Ram Rattan Group.

• Aerem, a startup on a mission to make solar energy adoption in India more widespread, just got a $5M injection in a recent funding round.

• Pear, an augmented reality-powered restaurant ordering app, has raised Rs. 4.2 crore in a funding round led by 1Crowd and Chennai Angels.

WORLD

Headline Explorer

👀 Return of SVB. Silicon Valley Bank's new government appointed CEO, Tim Mayopoulous, has assured employees that the bank has now resumed operations after the FDIC took over to shut it down last week.

🤝 Singapore and Indonesia OK cross-border work arrangement. Singapore and Indonesia just signed a new MoU to allow tech professionals from both countries to work in each other's territories through the ‘The Tech:X Programme’.

⬆️ UK chancellor confirms 6% raise in corporate tax. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, has confirmed that corporate tax in the nation will rise from 19% to 25% for enterprises with profits breaching £250,000.

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