Good morning. It’s your daily delivery dove, flying in with the latest and greatest in business, tech, and startups.

In this edition:

• 🛵 Ola's unique warranty plan for EV batteries

• 👀 Blinkit is back in business

• 🎮️ A new Monster Hunter AR game is coming

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close. Source.

• Markets: The Indian stock market remained volatile, with the Nifty and Sensex closing in the red. Housing finance companies like HDFC and Tata Chemicals were in focus, along with pharma giant Lupin. With the pandemic and global economic uncertainties still looming large, the market is likely to remain choppy. Better buckle up for the ride!

EV

ACKO rides with Ola to insure EV batteries

🛵 ACKO, a well-known private insurance firm, has announced a new partnership with Ola Electric and Ather Energy to offer battery warranty plans for customers and added peace of mind to boot. Here's what we know so far:

The plan

• The goal of ACKO is to build a strong infrastructure for the EV industry by collaborating with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Ola Electric and Ather Energy.

• Battery protection is included in the plan until the fourth or fifth year of ownership, and performance is covered for up to 60,000 kilometers.

• What makes it special? The plan's transferability, which enables the warranty to be transferred to a new owner in the event of a car sale.

• In addition, this extra feat is expected to raise resale prices for EVs together with the improved cost visibility for batteries and other vehicle components.

Looking ahead. As more consumers switch to EVs, the need for comprehensive insurance and warranty products will only increase. By partnering with two of the leading EV companies in India, Acko is well-positioned to meet this demand and expand its presence in the market.

FOOD & LOGISTICS

Blinkit blinks back to life, resumes ops in Delhi NCR

👀 Blinkit, the popular online grocery delivery platform owned by Zomato, is back in business in Delhi NCR after temporarily suspending its operations due to a strike initiated by delivery execs.

The company recently announced that its "dark stores," which are essentially small warehouses that function as grocery stores, have resumed operations in the Delhi NCR region. Here's what we know:

Why the strike

• On April 12, delivery executives of Blinkit in the Delhi-NCR area went on strike in opposition to the company’s pay out structure.

• This in turn, took a blow to how Blinkit's dark storefronts operated nearby.

• Current loses: 3-4 days’ of sales went down the drain due to the closure, which is about a 0.15% consolidated loss for the whole quarter.

Bridging amends

• To patch up, delivery executives met with the Labor Commissioner to talk about the platform's new compensation structure.

• According to a Blinkit spokesperson, almost all their stores across NCR are operational now as they continue to engage with all delivery partners to help them understand the new pay-out structure.

INDIA EDITION: WHAT ELSE IS ON THE BIRDWATCH

• ✈️ Bangalore flight traffic is off the roof, up 96%. Bangalore's Kempegowda International Airport has seen a staggering 96% increase in passenger traffic, hitting a record 31.91 million in the fiscal year 2022-2023.

• 🚃 Indian Railways chugs along with record revenues. You know who’s having a good day? Indian Railways, because they just set a new money high score, earning record Rs 2.40 lakh crore in revenue during their latest fiscal. Despite the pandemic, the Railways managed to increase its revenue through a combination of increased passenger traffic and freight movement.

• 📺️ TV18’s Q4 profits plummet by 91%. Who’s not having a good day is TV18 Broadcast, the media conglomerate behind CNN News18 and CNBC-TV18. The broadcast company just reported a sharp decline in its Q4 profits, with a heavy 91% drop to Rs 19.7 crore, due to higher spending and lower ad revenue.

FUNDING DEALS

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

• PTC Financial Services, a power sector project financer, has raised Rs 275 crore ($36.9M) from the state-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd. (IIFCL), in the former’s first-ever borrowing since the 2018 Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services crisis. PTC Financial plans to use the funds to expand its loan book, primarily focusing on lending to clean energy projects.

• Kolte-Patil Developers, a top Pune-based real estate builder, has raised Rs 206 crore ($27.6M) from Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp through the issue of compulsorily convertible preference shares. Kolte-Patil said the funds will be used to accelerate project execution and enhance financial flexibility.

• Turtle Venture Studio, a Bangladesh-based VC focused on early-stage startups, has raised $1M in seed funding to support 30-50 budding companies within the next 3 years. The round was led by a group of US and European investors, with participation from Bangladesh's Build Bangladesh Initiative.

WORLD

Headline Explorer

🤖 TruthGPT by Elon Musk, an anti-bias AI tool. Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced plans to create what he calls "TruthGPT," an AI language model that he claims will counter bias in AI systems. The model will be similar to OpenAI's GPT series, but will focus on eliminating bias by using a large, diverse dataset.

🥽 Meta pauses on pitching its Metaverse. Meta has reportedly stopped pitching advertisers on the metaverse, citing the need to focus on building (a.k.a fixing) the platform first. In its stead, the company is said to be prioritizing the development of Reels and AI tools.

⚔️ Pokémon Go creator is making Monster Hunter IRL. Gotta hunt 'em all! Niantic, the makers of Pokémon Go, announced today that they're partnering with Capcom to bring a new mobile AR game based on the Monster Hunter series later in the year. The game, called "Monster Hunter Now," will allow players to team up and hunt down monsters in real-world locations.

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