Good morning. It’s Earlybird here, your daily business & tech herald, chirping fun little news bits in your general direction.

In this edition:

• 🥤 Coca-cola considers first-ever bid in an Indian startup

• 📱 WhatApp suffers nationwide outage

• 🎮️ Sega to buy Angry Birds studio

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close. Source.

• Markets: Nifty formed a bearish engulfing pattern, with the index defending its downward sloping resistance trendline. If you’re new to stocks and these terms sound made up, they are (to some degree). This technical view suggests that the Nifty could be headed for a correction in the short term, which is often a positive indication of a robust comeback near the 18,000 mark.

FOOD

Coca-Cola mulls minority stake in Indian food startup Thrive

🥤 Coca-Cola is considering acquiring a minority stake in Indian online food ordering start-up Thrive, according to anonymous sources. Here’s what we know:

About Thrive

• Thrive, which was launched in 2021, has quickly gained popularity among consumers in India with its user-friendly platform and innovative offerings.

• The start-up offers a wide range of food options from popular Indian and international restaurants, with a focus on healthy and sustainable choices.

• According to available info, Thrive has agreements with more than 5,000 restos to date and is typically viewed as a direct rival to Swiggy and Zomato.

About the new deal

• The decision by Coke to acquire a minority stake in Thrive would be the brand’s first investment in the Indian startup market. And that’s a pretty big deal.

• More information is anticipated when the purchase is formalized. For now, the specifics and the magnitude of the deal remain a mystery to most.

Until the bottle cracks open. The potential partnership between Coca-Cola and Thrive would be a win-win for both companies. Coca-Cola would gain access to Thrive's growing customer base and innovative offerings, while Thrive would benefit from Coca-Cola's global expertise and marketing muscle.

APPS

WhatsApp suffers outage in India, users unable to download videos

📱 WhatsApp just experienced an outage in India, leaving users unable to download videos. The issue was reported by users across the country, with many taking to social media to vent their frustration.

Here’s WhatsApp

• The outage lasted for several hours before the service was restored.

• 43% of WhatsApp users, or nearly half of all users, have reported experiencing issues with the app, according to Downdetector.

• About 41% of the issues are thought to be caused by faults with the server connection, whereas just 16% of them involve message delivery.

A possible culprit. Although WhatsApp has not made any announcements on the prolonged downtime, it's important to keep in mind that the app is presently testing a new video messaging feature , which may be the root of the issue faced by beta users.

In the meantime. One of the biggest blockages in this whole fiasco is that users are having trouble downloading video content. As an interim solution, users can try utilizing WhatsApp Web or WhatsApp Desktop for Windows to accomplish this task.

INVESTMENTS

Nike, Adidas shoe maker eyes mammoth investment in India

👟 A subsidiary of Pou Chen, the Taiwanese manufacturer for popular shoe brands like Nike and Adidas, is set to invest nearly Rs 2,302 crore in India over the next five years, according to Indian media reports. Here’s the run down:

Stepping into the Indian market

• The investment will go towards setting up new manufacturing facilities and expanding existing ones across the country.

• This would also add roughly 20,000 new jobs over a 12-year period in Tamil Nadu.

• The move comes nearly a year after Taiwanese rival Hong Fu Group agreed to invest Rs 1,000 crore to produce footwear in the southern state.

Not all rainbows. Back in February, Pou Chen had planned to reduce roughly 6,000 positions at its Ho Chi Minh City facility in Vietnam owing to poor demand. More reason to look elsewhere.

INDIA EDITION: WHAT ELSE IS ON THE BIRDWATCH

• 🚗 Volvo sales see 38% upside in Q1. Volvo Cars India has reported a 38% increase in sales (544 units) for the January-March quarter, with strong demand for its locally assembled all-electric XC40 Recharge.

• 💵 TCS’s praiseful appraisal for top staff. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT services company, is reportedly offering a salary hike of 12-15% to its top performers in a bid to retain them and avoid attrition.

• 💻️ Infosys’ market share just dropped 15%. Meanwhile, shares of Infosys, India's second-largest IT services company, took a nosedive, plunging nearly 15% and wiping off Rs. 73,060 crore ($9.8B) from its market capitalization post-earnings.

FUNDING DEALS

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

• SwitchOn, a startup focused on using AI to improve manufacturing processes, has raised $4.2M in funding from investors. The new injection will be put toward the development of AI-powered predictive maintenance and quality control tools.

• Pavestone Capital Advisors, an India-focused alternative asset management firm, has raised $100M for its debut fund. The fund will invest in high-growth, small and medium-sized enterprises in India across sectors such as consumer, healthcare, and financial services.

WORLD

Headline Explorer

🎮️ Sega to buy maker of Angry Birds. It feels like 2010 again. Sega Sammy Holdings, a Japanese gaming company, is set to acquire Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish maker of Angry Birds, for $776M. The move is part of Sega Sammy's strategy to expand its mobile gaming business and capitalize on the soaring demand for handheld games.

🚗 A new cost-saving EV design in China. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng has revealed new EV platform architecture designed to cut production costs and improve efficiency. The platform will support the company's future models, offering increased range, improved acceleration, and greater energy efficiency.

📖 ChatGPT builds AI study bud with Chegg. ChatGPT has partnered with education technology company Chegg to develop a new AI-powered virtual study buddy designed to help students learn (and hopefully not cheat) more efficiently.

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