Namaste, Sat Sri Akaal, and Salaam. 🫡

Happy morning, folks. 🙏

Today we’re diving into -
- Jio’s not-so-sneaky moves into the fintech world,
- CoinDCX’s crypto crisis pressures,
- And Masters Union’s $90 million price tag.

Our read time today is 4 minutes and 38 seconds - faster than you can share a mohabbat ka sharbat. (or drink it alone, if there’s no mohabbat in your life yet)🔥

Let's dive in. 👇

Market Vibe Check

Jio places a massive target on fintech giants. 🎯

TLDR -
- Jio Financials just went public yesterday at a $19 billion valuation.
- Insiders say that they are working on a digital lending product.
- Jio has one of the largest distribution networks globally, and can sell ANY product with the touch of a button…

Life is great if you are a business owner.

Until Mukesh Ambani enters your market.

This time, he’s pointing his billions toward an anxious row of fintech startups.

No concrete details yet, but the most Ambani-like thing to do would be to tackle the mass-market consumer lending/asset management opportunities.

Jio already has a user base of 450 million across the globe - 450 million people which can be cross-sold a fintech product at the flick of a switch.

JioFS also has a license to use UPI (India’s real-time payments system) and has data on the telco transaction history of all their clients.

Data like that lets them sell targeted financial products to every type of consumer.

Scale is a crazy thing - you can literally build a billion-dollar business overnight.

CoinDCX’s crypto empire shows signs of crumbling. 😬

TLDR -
- CoinDCX just fired 12% of their employees.
- Major reasons blamed were regulation and general market slowdowns.
- They warned of a “significant impact" on revenues + margins.

Things are not looking good for India’s crypto kings - CoinDCX just fired 12% of their employees.

They’re pointing the finger at 2 big things - regulation and market slowdowns.

1 - Regulation

If you are doing business in India, you HAVE to bend head-over-heels for regulators.

Lots of startups have received the short end of the stick due to non-compliance (even if it’s by tiny margins).

Indian government nabs a 1% tax-at-source for crypto (ie if I deposit Rs. 100 into my crypto wallet, I will only have Rs. 99)

They also take a 30% tax on profits. (if I make Rs. 100 profit, I owe 30 of it to Motabhai).

2 - Market Slowdown

General crypto market has been beaten up HORRIBLY.

So much liquidity has been sucked out of markets, and it’s left the big exchanges feeling dry.

Crypto bros are nowhere to be seen… 💀

Ed-tech focused business school scoops up $20 million. 🏫

TLDR -
- The world’s first “ed-tech b-school” just nabbed $20 million.
- Lead investor was Sequoia, at a $90 million valuation.
- Their USP is that “we will get you better job placements than IIT”

Probably the most interesting b-school out there - Masters Union just scooped up $20mn at a $90mn price tag.

They’re selling courses, bootcamps, and even have a undergrad degree (which is 30L INR/4 years, much more expensive than most other private universities in India)

This is probably one of the first cases we’ve seen of someone running a business school like a startup.

Interesting times. 🤔

In other news… ☕

Biden excludes China from a South Asia conference (BBG)

Microsoft rejigs their Activision acquisition to make UK happy (FT)

RapiPay doubles their loss, then some more (Inc42)

World’s biggest miner sees a 40% profit drop and gets scared over China (FT)

Chandrayaan gets ready to land (TC)

And that’s the tea the chai for today.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoyed it. Have a mauj-masti filled day ahead.

Lots of ❤️,

Team Cutting Chai 3