Good morning. It’s Earlybird here, bringing you business news bits that you can peck on, but still pack a punch.

In this edition:

• 👖 Aryan Khan dabbles into luxury streetwear

• 🚗 Uber’s Reserve feature in six more cities

• ☁️ Alibaba Cloud for half the price

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close. Source.

• Markets: The Nifty climbed above 17,800 while the Sensex gained 170 points, thanks to the auto, realty, and capital goods sectors, and some YOLO final-hour buying at day’s close.

FASHION

Aryan Khan launches new streetwear brand, father SRK to be ambassador

👕 Aryan Khan, the up-and-coming actor, voiceover artist, and now-entrepreneur is set to make his mark in the fashion industry with the launch of his new luxury streetwear brand.

Here’s the kicker. His superstar dad, Shah Rukh Khan, a.k.a SRK will be the brand’s pilot ambassador, having already starred in the collection’s first teaser video.

Prior pursuits. In a previous entrepreneurial episode, Aryan had co-launched his premium vodka brand called D’YAVOL with further expansion plans into different flavored spirits. The streetwear collection is an extension of that and will be dubbed D’YAVOL X.

Distribution. A media interview with Aryan revealed that the clothing line would be rolled out by ‘limited edition capsule collections’ via drops on the brand’s online store.

TRANSPORTATION

Uber expands Reserve feature to six more Indian cities

🚗 Uber has expanded its "Reserve" option to six more cities in India, allowing riders to book transportation advance at a guaranteed fare. Here’s what’s up.

New joiners. The six now more convenient cities to get around are Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kochi, Chandigarh, and Guwahati.

Total list. In total, the Reserve feat is now usable in 13 cities in India, namely, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Guwahati.

Why Reserve is the bomb. The feature allows riders to claim there way around by booking a ride 30 minutes to 90 days in advance. Not a lot people plan meet-ups 3 months in advance, but it’s still nice to have the option.

Conveniently for drivers, Reserve also affords them the choice between pre-booked and spur-of-the-moment trips around the city.

INDIA EDITION: WHAT ELSE IS ON THE BIRDWATCH

• 👖 Amazon Fashion launches first-ever Gen-Z store. Amazon Fashion has launched India's first ‘Next-Gen Store’ targeted at Gen-Z shoppers who are all out for the latest fashion trends. Like color-pop footwear and baguette bags.

• 🥽 A big chunk of Indian businesses are embracing the metaverse. A new survey by PwC India has revealed that 70% of businesses in India plan to integrate the metaverse into their company activities in the near future.

• 🍬 Sugar outputs aren’t as sweet as before. The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has cut its sugar output estimates for the 2022-23 marketing year by 3.5% to 328 lakh tons due to lower availability of sugarcane in some key producing states

FUNDING DEALS

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

• Inspecity, a spacetech company that provides satellite maintenance solutions, has secured $1.5M in a funding round led by Speciale Invest. The round marks a significant milestone for the firm, which it will use to advance its technology and hire more talent.

• Rebel Foods, a leading Indian cloud kitchen operator, has secured $9.1M in debt funding from Catalyst Trusteeship and Stride Ventures. The funds will be used to strengthen the company's presence in India's rapidly growing online food delivery market, and to invest in new technologies and products to meet changing customer demands.

• Herkey, an Indian SaaS startup that specializes in HR and employee management software, has raised $4M in a funding round led by Kalaari Capital and 360 One Asset Management. The funding will be used to expand the company's product offerings, increase its customer base, and further develop its proprietary technology to help businesses manage their human resources more effectively.

WORLD

Headline Explorer

☁️ Alibaba Cloud service at half the price. Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has announced price cuts of up to 50% for its core storage products. The move comes as the company seeks to gain market share in China’s's increasingly competitive cloud services market.

📱 WhatsApp is finally fit for multiple devices. WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging app, has rolled out a new feature that lets users access the same account on multiple devices simultaneously. No more of that switcheroo nonsense. The long-awaited feature is expected to be a game-changer for users who juggle multiple devices.

🔎 Alphabet’s Inc’s Q1 profit turns sour. Google's parent company Alphabet has reported weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2023, as the tech giant struggles to overcome an ongoing slump in advertising revenue.

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