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<ul><li><keyword id="2822035" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="fireside-ventures" source="Orion">Fireside Ventures</keyword>, a <keyword id="6357097" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="venture-capital" source="Orion">venture capital</keyword> fund, is currently managing ₹3,000 crore ($395 million) of AUM. </li><li>It has backed consumer brands like unicorn Mamaearth, boAt, Vahdam, <keyword id="3711903" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="slurrp-farm" source="Orion">Slurrp Farm</keyword>, Kapiva, 91 Cycles to name a few. </li><li>The third fund will invest in 25-30 digital-first consumer startups. </li></ul>Fireside Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund, said that it has closed its third fund after raising ₹1,830 crore ($225 million). Fireside Fund III is anchored by investors like Self-Reliant India Fund, <keyword id="5157154" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="investment-corporation-of-dubai" source="Orion">Investment Corporation of Dubai</keyword>, SBI, <keyword id="648852" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="premji-invest" source="Orion">Premji Invest</keyword>, Waterfield - Fund of Funds, <keyword id="6357073" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="itc" source="Orion">ITC</keyword>, Emami, <keyword id="4640195" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sharrp-ventures" source="Orion">Sharrp Ventures</keyword> and several start-up founders. The fund is known for investing in digital-first consumer brands. It said that its third fund will invest in 25-30 D2C startups across health and wellness, edutainment, lifestyle and FMCG sectors. “Fireside Ventures was created with a very clear vision, to invest in the next generation of consumer brands, a space that was witnessing the start of disruptive changes. Five years later, we are delighted to see the magnitude of change these brave new digital-first brands are creating, and we look forward to seeing them create even more value in the future,” <keyword id="42902" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kanwaljit-singh" source="Orion">Kanwaljit Singh</keyword>, managing partner, Fireside Ventures said. The market for D2C brands in India is set to touch $100 billion by 2025. Fireside Fund also said it will seek out brands with a strong purpose, responsible practices, and healthy governance. Fireside Fund has been the first institutional investor in 75% of its 31 portfolio companies. <keyword id="15236362" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="moreso" source="Orion">Moreso</keyword>, over 50% of them have been founded or co-founded by women, it claims. Fireside Funds I and II have invested in personal care unicorn Mamaearth, and IPO-bound boAt. Its portfolio includes Vahdam, Slurrp Farm, Kapiva, 91 Cycles, Design Café, FS Life (erstwhile FableStreet), The Sleep Company, Gynoveda, Wellbeing Nutrition and Pilgrim. Launched in 2017, Fireside Ventures with the close of its Fund III is currently managing assets to the tune of ₹3,000 crore or $395 million. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/homegrown-edtech-platform-adda247-raises-35-mn-google-new-investor/articleshow/94811713.cms">Homegrown edtech platform Adda247 raises $35 mn, Google new investor</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/early-diagnosis-of-retinopathy-of-prematurity-can-save-5000-babies-from-going-blind/articleshow/94810909.cms">‘Early diagnosis of retinopathy of prematurity can save 5,000 babies from going blind’</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/education/news/iis-jamia-bhu-on-thes-world-university-rankings-2023/slidelist/94807189.cms">IIS, Jamia, BHU on THE's World University Rankings 2023</a>

Fireside Ventures closes its third fund at $225 million

<keyword id="6354630" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mark-zuckerberg" source="Orion">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword>'s <keyword id="399907" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword> (formerly Facebook) on Wednesday announced a partnership with VC fund <keyword id="1397792" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="kalaari-capital" source="Orion">Kalaari Capital</keyword> to upskill and scale young, invested businesses in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> by providing them with timely business skilling support. The partnership is a part of Meta's 'VC Brand Incubator Initiative' for the growth of micro, small and medium businesses in the country. "As part of this initiative, Meta has partnered with India's largest VC funds. We are thrilled to now partner with Kalaari Capital that has been instrumental in the growth journey of many startups," said <keyword id="3056724" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ajit-mohan" source="Orion">Ajit Mohan</keyword>, VP and MD at Meta in India. Kalaari Capital is an early-stage, technology-focused venture capital firm based in Bengaluru. "As startups scale, they need to leverage several tools and platforms like Meta to support their growth," said <keyword id="1397790" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vani-kola" source="Orion">Vani Kola</keyword>, Founder and Managing Director, Kalaari Capital. In the last three years, Meta has tied up with 16 VC funds, including Kalaari Capital, and has successfully skilled and mentored more than 500 small businesses at various stages of their growth journey. In April, Meta onboarded <keyword id="122716" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sequoia-capital" source="Orion">Sequoia Capital</keyword>. Other VC firms are Fireside Ventures, Elevation Capital [SAIF Partners], DSG Consumer Partners, Matrix Partners, Anthill Ventures and <keyword id="6306883" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="stellaris-ventures" source="Orion">Stellaris Ventures</keyword>, to name a few. With Kalaari Capital, Meta said it is going to have several young, invested businesses from emerging sectors such as ed-tech, social commerce, gaming, and fin-tech, among others participate in the initiative. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/if-you-place-an-order-youre-accepting-the-service-charge-restaurant-body-says/articleshow/91779455.cms">If you place an order, you’re accepting the service charge, restaurant body says</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/tata-avinya-renders-reveal-the-expected-design-of-the-concept-electric-car/articleshow/91765348.cms">Tata Avinya renders reveal the expected design of the concept electric car</a>

Zuckerberg's Meta partners with Kalaari Capital to upskill young startups in India

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Mario Anzuoni / REUTERSBillionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla believes that we won't listen to music in a decade. Instead, will be listening to custom made song equivalents that are built around our mood.</li><li>These tracks could be created by using AI technology, Khosla said.</li><li>Some consumers are already using Spotify's mood-based playlists rather than picking specific artists or bands, for example.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>In the future, we won't be listening to our favorite bands or artists, we'll be listening to custom made sounds that are tailored to our mood. At least, that's what billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla believes."I actually think 10 years from now, you won't be listening to music," Khosla said during a fireside chat at Creative Destruction Lab's second annual Super Session event, as reported by <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/12/we-wont-be-listening-to-music-in-a-decade-according-to-vinod-khosla/">TechCrunch</a>.Instead, the Khosla Ventures CEO believes that consumers will be listening to music that is designed specifically for them, their preferences, and their needs.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vinod-khosla-reveals-how-he-deals-honestly-with-underwhelming-gifts-2018-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">Tech billionaire reveals the polite, yet brutal way he responds to underwhelming gifts</a>While his opinions may seem outlandish, there's some evidence that consumers are shifting away from specific artists or bands to listen to more mood-based playlists.Techcrunch pointed to a recent <a href="https://medium.com/s/story/music-created-by-artificial-intelligence-is-better-than-you-think-ce73631e2ec5">Medium</a> post in which journalist Stuart Dredge discusses the role that AI can play in the music industry and in creating music that is tailor-made for each person.Dredge points to how consumers are using Spotify now as an example of how our listening habits are changing. Consumers are increasingly listening to playlists that are centered around activities or emotions rather than necessarily choosing specific songs, he says.Spotify did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on this.German app Endel, which recently signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros, is making headway in this style of music. Endel takes data such as your location, the time, or the weather to create personalized "soundscapes" to help you focus or relax.If this was combined with mind-reading headsets, for example, these apps could be better equipped to make suggestions in the future on what you want to listen to based on your mood. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-ios-13-software-update-best-features-coming-2019-6">Here are the best updates coming to your iPhone this fall</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A billionaire venture capitalist thinks music as we know it will be dead in 10 years

For Saumya Bhatnagar, being the only woman in a room is far from a novel experience. An engineer by training and currently the co-founder and chief product officer at AI sales rep startup Jeeva, she remembers being the sole girl in her high school's 170-person <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-tips-women-career-coding-twilio-2020-8">coding class</a> — and that none of her male peers would sit next to her."I had to make space for myself, and there were plenty of micro and macro aggressions in the grand scheme of things that I had to talk my way through," she told Business Insider. "At the end of the day, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/women-left-out-of-the-ai-investment-boom-risks-bias-2023-10">it's a man's world</a> in the VC, startups, and AI space."Bhatnagar isn't alone in her journey. Although the number of women-founded startups has increased, less than 3% of venture capital funding went to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-decline-hurts-female-founders-gender-gap-startup-funding-2023-12">female-only founding teams</a> in 2022, according to PitchBook.A handful of women who are well-known as leaders in the AI space — including "Godmother of AI" <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-like-khosla-and-a16z-backing-robotics-that-use-ai-2024-7">Fei Fei Li</a>, Anthropic president and co-founder Daniela Amodei, and OpenAI's former chief technology officer Mira Murati. But others building startups report facing various gender-related obstacles to success, including bias in the fundraising process, limited mentorship opportunities, and difficulty building meaningful business relationships with men.In the AI sector specifically, which has surged in popularity since the release of ChatGPT two years ago, the challenges for female founders are even more pronounced. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-18-women-who-made-partner-vc-firms-in-2023-2023-11">AI continues to attract significant VC interest</a>, but women in the space face additional barriers compared to their male counterparts, starting at the education level.While a degree in engineering or computer science isn't a requirement for launching an AI company, it's often a prerequisite for techies building foundational models to tackle complex machine-learning problems. Women accounted for just 22% of AI and computer science PhD programs in the US in 2019, according to a Deloitte study.Women in 2020 made up an estimated 26% of data and AI positions in the workforce, per a World Economic Forum report. And <a target="_blank" href="https://www.uktech.news/diversity/ai-funding-women-founders-20240319">recent data from the UK </a>shows that only about 4% of AI startups in the country have women founders.Although Bhatnagar is among the small group of women in the space with advanced technical chops, she says she still notices the gender imbalance in the AI world — and that it, at times, has led to her feeling impostor syndrome and burnout.Developing relationships with other women working in the AI space has become a vital lifeline, she said. An active member of online and in-person groups, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.womenandai.com/">Women and AI</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://thewomenweadmire.com/">Women We Admire</a>, Bhatnagar said that she's made connections that support her in navigating difficult business dynamics, connecting with female investors, and finding solace in shared experiences."Women are not comfortable asking for help, and there's this idea that perfectionism needs to be showcased at all times," she said. "Finding a community of women has helped me take risks and realize that I'm actually doing okay," she said.Vivien Ho, a partner at early-stage fund Pear VC, has watched the meteoric rise of buzzy AI startups during the last two years and noticed that many are run by men, she said. But as a longtime community builder in the Bay Area tech scene, this didn't jive with what she was seeing on the ground. There were plenty of women interested in building AI companies, she said. Many just didn't know how to start.This observation was the catalyst for the Female Founder Circles, a community for women engineers interested in building AI startups. Each FFC cycle welcomes a cohort of around 50 women for two months of programming that includes fireside chats with existing female AI founders, company-building workshops with Pear investment partners, and other in-person events designed to help women build meaningful relationships with one another, such as pitch competitions, spa days, and public speaking practice.Demand for FFC has exploded, Ho said, with more than 500 women applying for the most recent cohort that kicked off last month. And the program has already been a success: more than 70% of participants end up incorporating their startups, and at least five women have matched with another female co-founder in their cohort, she said."Three of our FFC founders have already raised Series Bs, which is pretty incredible," Ho told BI. "We first meet them, and they're really shy, and then three years later, they're running a 100-person company and making eight figures. It's incredible to see how we can build a community that makes a difference."As women in AI create opportunities that could help them succeed, their work parallels women in another once-white-hot subsector of the startup world: at the height of the crypto craze, female-led blockchain startups earned about 6.4% of venture dollars in the third quarter of 2022, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bitget.com/blog/articles/bitget-report-the-gender-gap-in-blockchain-startup-funding-press-release">according to data from Bitget</a>.Funding in the space has dropped off dramatically during the last two years, and women continue to struggle when it comes to connecting with investors and closing rounds, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/08/29/what-web3-data-reveals-about-gender-inequality-in-the-crypto-industry/">Forbes recently reported</a>.For Shreya Rajpal, Pear VC's FFC was one of the first times she felt genuine, positive support from the people around her. As a software engineer who cut her teeth in startups and on Apple's machine learning initiatives, she was accustomed to being the only woman whose work was judged with more scrutiny than that of her male coworkers."There are a lot of men who aren't very supportive, and being the only woman on a team means that they're often an undue level of attention on your work, so you stand out, for better or for worse," Rejpal told BI. "Pretty early on, it was obvious that I kind of needed to justify my space in the room a lot more compared to other folks."Fast forward to today, and Rajpal is the CEO and co-founder of Guardrails AI, which builds risk and reliability systems for generative AI programs. As she's progressed in her career, she's made an effort to build community with other women in tech. It's work that takes significant time, but it's been "life changing" in terms of succeeding as a founder and well worth the effort, she said.Guardrails earlier this year raised a $7.5 million seed funding round led by Zetta Venture Partners with participation from Pear, Bloomberg Beta, and GitHub Fund.In addition to participating in bigger groups like FFC, Rajpal has sought out mentorship opportunities with other women in engineering, machine learning, and project management."I became friends with a woman who is five to six years older than me and in the industry for that much longer, doing the things that I wanted to do," she said. "Hearing from her and what worked for her, in terms of changing jobs and talking to her about how she made those decisions, was the stuff that ended up being really impactful for me."Stephanie Guo, a partner at Sapphire Ventures based in San Francisco, is constantly iterating on community events for women interested in AI that strike the right balance between informational – think fireside chats and panel discussions – and informal ways for women to form connections that turn into mentor relationships.These events aren't just for would-be founders: Guo says that while the number of female-funded AI startups can sometimes seem "abysmally small," she's encouraged by the number of women who hold leadership positions at AI startups, funds, and bigger companies."We're creating both the space to have dialogue, but also a networking opportunity," Guo told BI. "These relationships stick, and there are business opportunities that actually form from them."

For women building AI startups, finding community has been the key to success

<ul class="summary-list"><li>OpenAI exec Kevin Weil told BI the company has a "great bench" after CTO Mira Murati abruptly quit.</li><li>Weil, the buzzy AI firm's chief product officer, said he didn't know what Murati would do next.</li></ul>The hundreds of attendees at Ray Summit, an AI conference in San Francisco, were originally hoping to hear from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mira-murati-openai-cto-leaving-executive-memo-staff-2024-9">Mira Murati</a>, the chief technology officer of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cathie-wood-ark-venture-openai-funding-2024-10">OpenAI</a>, on Wednesday.But over the weekend, there was a last-minute change of schedule, with Murati replaced by the startup's chief product officer, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-new-colleagues-openai-sarah-friar-kevin-weil-2024-6">Kevin Weil</a>.The reason: Just days before, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mira-murati-exits-openai-venture-capitalist-startup-2024-9">Murati had abruptly left OpenAI</a>.Weil's talk — a fireside chat with Anyscale cofounder Robert Nishihara, whose company hosted the conference — largely played it safe, with no mention of Murati's exit, or <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cathie-wood-ark-venture-openai-funding-2024-10">the $6.6 billion funding round</a> that OpenAI announced minutes before he went on stage.In a brief interview with Business Insider immediately afterwards, Weil praised Murati while downplaying the impact of her departure."Mira is amazing. She's a huge part of why OpenAI is in the position that we're in," he said. "I've really enjoyed working with her. At the same time, we have a great bench."Weil, a former Instagram executive, highlighted Mark Chen as an example of the talent still around at OpenAI. Chen is the startup's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/markchen90/">senior vice president of research</a>. "He and I actually worked together like 20 years ago at a company you've probably never heard of when we were both just out of grad school," Weil said. "So I'm really excited to partner with him and I'm really optimistic about what we're building."Chen joined the organization in October 2018, and previously worked at Integral Technology LLC, Tech Square Trading, and Jane Street after studying at MIT, according to his LinkedIn profile. Murati has yet to address specific reasons for her departure. In a message to OpenAI employees that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/miramurati/status/1839025700009030027">she also posted on X</a>, she wrote: "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration."Her departure came a few days before OpenAI's massive new funding round. It also coincides with a reported plan to reorganize the startup to shed its non-profit structure, though <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-26/openai-s-altman-executive-departures-unrelated-to-restructuring">CEO Sam Altman has said</a> her departure was unrelated. Asked if he knew of any link, Weil also gave a flat "no."It's not yet clear what Murati's next act will be, and Weil said he didn't know what her plans were. Whatever it is, Silicon Valley is hungry to get in on the action: On Monday, Business Insider reported that<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mira-murati-exits-openai-venture-capitalist-startup-2024-9"> venture capital investors are rushing to try to meet with her</a> in the expectation that she will launch a new company.She's one of a wave of high-profile exits from OpenAI over the last few months, including cofounder Ilya Sutskever, superalignment co-leader Jan Leike, and cofounder John Schulman. Vice president of research Barret Zoph and chief research officer Bob McGrew also left on the same day as Murati.Asked if he was worried about the exodus, Weil said: "We have a really strong group of people. When you look at — I mean, people like Bob and Mira, they were at the company six-and-a-half years in Mira's case, eight years in Bob's case. I think that alone says something about their commitment to OpenAI, and the depth of work that they've done. "He added: "So we've got an awesome team and we're going to keep shipping. We've got a lot of fun stuff coming."Do you work at OpenAI? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link">650-636-6268</a> or email at rprice@businessinsider. We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out.

OpenAI executive says the startup has a 'great bench' after CTO's abrupt departure

<ul><li><keyword id="18635" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="amazon" source="Orion">Amazon</keyword>’s accelerator programme called Global Propel Accelerator Program is looking at three winners looking to tap global markets.</li><li>Encouraged by demand for <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>n consumer products globally, Amazon pledges to enable exports of $20 bn by 2025 from India.</li><li>Online retailer has partnered with Sequoia Capital India, Fireside Ventures, Accel and DSG Consumer Partners to help Indian brands in their journey.</li></ul>If there’s one thing that Hollywood’s A-listers attending the Academy Awards each tear look forward to it is the luxurious Oscars hamper worth over $100,000. Along with goodies like gold-infused olive oil and crystal topped bath combs, this year’s hamper had a sustainable Rover Bottle in it, manufactured by Vadham, a direct to consumer brand born in India. It may have been a first for an Indian brand, but if Amazon India has its way many more brands will have global bragging rights in years to come. For decades, India has been a back office to the world but not many would bet their dollar on local brands selling to the world. The world’s largest online retailer believes otherwise which is why it has pledged to enable ‘Made in India’ exports of $20 billion by 2025. Amazon India, for the last several years, has been enabling Indian sellers to tap global markets, but a sharp shift seems to have occurred in consumer behaviour after the pandemic. The global retailer has enjoyed a front-row view of this interesting shift and launched its accelerator programme in 2020 to enable consumer brands to go global. Global Propel Accelerator Program is looking at three winners on Demo Day this week who will get equity-linked financial support and an opportunity to pitch to venture capitalists. Just as a flatter world made it easier for companies like Infosys and TCS to service a global market, now technology platforms are helping Indian brands sell globally by eliminating much of the friction that exporters face while selling their goods overseas. Leading the charge is Amazon India’s accelerator programme, which has partnered with Sequoia Capital India, Fireside Ventures, Accel and DSG Consumer Partners this year, for the second season of its programme. Incidentally, Vadham started selling on Amazon early on and today it caters largely to the world markets. <div type="image" title="Bhupen Wakankar, Director- Global Trade, Amazon India" msid="93999194" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Bhupen Wakankar, Director- Global Trade, Amazon India&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Says <keyword id="14899867" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bhupen-wakankar" source="Orion">Bhupen Wakankar</keyword>, director- global trade, Amazon India, “Our goal with the Propel Accelerator is to enable a support system for startups and emerging D2C brands to go global from day one. This programme targets startups and enables them to go global and we enable this through technology. With access to global markets, startups are realizing that they can address a customer base they had not even thought of. These startups are limited only by their imagination. The timing of the programme is fantastic with India’s startup ecosystem growing every year and, at Amazon, we have front row seats to see what e-commerce can do for these brands.” The Global Propel Accelerator Programme of Amazon is not just helping brands go global but also providing consumer brands an opportunity to pitch to venture capital firms for funding growth plans. <div type="image" title="Hariharan Premkumar, India Head for DSG Consumer Partners" msid="93998946" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Hariharan Premkumar, India Head for DSG Consumer Partners&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> According to <keyword id="14899866" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="hariharan-premkumar" source="Orion">Hariharan Premkumar</keyword>, <keyword id="114975" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india-head" source="Orion">India Head</keyword> for DSG Consumer Partners, “It is the best time to be a consumer brand founder. If we feel there are brands that are solving problems, then we can help them access global markets. Amazon has played an important role in this journey and acquisition of early adopters for many of our brands.” Consumer behaviour across geographies is converging and it is possible for brands to target a homogenous set of customers. Testing waters on Amazon’s platform helps brands validate their proposition, after which they double down on accelerating their growth. DSG has been associated with this programme since last year. It is platforms like Amazon and their clout that is allowing entrepreneurs like Abhishek Shah dream of creating a premium athleisure brand for men and sell to customers across the world. Abhishek Shah, co-founder and CEO of Almo, says that they were born to sell globally but the Amazon mentorship programme was very valuable to its team. The bootcamp lasted eight weeks and will culminate in the Demo Day this week. The initiative is designed to solve several problems that young companies face through dedicated support across regulations in different countries, cross-border payments and logistics. As a part of this programme, Amazon and its partners run a bootcamp over eight weeks where different partners and mentors coach the founders. The online retailer is committing $100,000 for three winners as equity support. Of 1,000 applicants, 15 startups have been short-listed for the Demo Day on September 7. <keyword id="14899865" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="udit-sood" source="Orion">Udit Sood</keyword>, co-founder, EcoRight, a company that attempts to address the problem of plastics pollution through its range of sustainable products, bags and accessories, says: “The Global Accelerator Programme of Amazon fits with what we were doing. While selling globally, we can do a lot more. The accelerator is focused on teaching brands how to sell globally and this is an advantage. A lot of sessions with Amazon leaders and VCs helped understand how one can streamline business in general and product development bandwidth.” There are several brands in India that have very successfully tapped the global markets. Brands like Vadham, Sleepy Owl, EcoRight and Almo are already selling in other countries through Amazon. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/paytm-stock-dips-3-after-enforcement-directorate-raids-its-offices/articleshow/93996093.cms">Paytm stock dips 3% after Enforcement Directorate raids its offices</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/cyrus-mistry-and-co-passenger-killed-in-car-crash-not-wearing-seat-belts-over-speeding-error-of-judgment-caused-accident-police/articleshow/93995344.cms">Cyrus Mistry and co-passenger killed in car crash not wearing seat belts; over-speeding, error of judgment caused accident: police</a>

From Amazon to Oscars goodie bags, Indian consumer brands are going places

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sam Altman is a man on a mission: Sell the world on AI.</li><li>The OpenAI chief completed a global tour this month akin to a mission.</li></ul>Sam Altman knows he's at an inflection point.On June 9, at a fireside chat in Seoul, Korea, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hpuPi7YZX8&amp;t=1s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the OpenAI CEO acknowledged</a> he was on a "diplomatic mission." It's closer to a religious mission, one that's seen Altman and his team whiz across 16 countries in the space of three months, including, recently, <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1665320086415060992?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, India and Korea</a>.In Tel Aviv, as his OpenAI commanders attended a dinner with a group of techies and entrepreneurs introduced as the "Templar Knights of Innovation," Altman prepared to meet the country's president, Isaac Herzog. He's also met with Narendra Modi in India, Yoon Suk Yeol in South Korea, Emmanuel Macron in France, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-ai-openai-quality-of-life-superintelligence-2023-6">Rishi Sunak in the UK</a> and influential lawmakers. It's a reception more fitting for a world leader than a startup CEO. But Altman knows he's the man of the moment. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1">ChatGPT has sparked a new AI era</a> that leaders are scrambling to understand. This is a fork-in-the-road moment as they decide what's most politically expedient — encouraging AI through funding and a friendly regulatory regime, or to regulate it into oblivion.OpenAI's goal is to cement AI's future importance to humanity. According to people on the ground during Altman's tour, he achieved what he set out to do. OpenAI declined to comment for this story. <h2>Pitch 1: You can be included or excluded from the AI revolution</h2>Altman's sales pitch has rested on two central pillars. The first: AI will only work for you if you work with it. The second: AI is inevitable so get onboard before it's too late.During his pit-stop in Delhi, Altman's audience heard how <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-government-workers-told-no-classified-information-sensitive-chatgpt-2023-6">a tool like ChatGPT</a> could adapt to "a land of languages like India," said Varshal Gupta, founder of AI startup Dubverse.This may be a smart way to overcome Indian wariness towards US tech firms.India <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/more-than-19500-mother-tongues-spoken-in-india-census-5241056/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has more than 100 languages</a> and significantly more dialects, though its lingua franca remains English. The country has suffered from years of brain drain as <a href="https://cset.georgetown.edu/article/china-india-face-tech-brain-drain-through-us-universities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">technical and mathematical talent</a> leave for the US, exemplified by both Google and Microsoft's CEOs being India-born. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has taken an increasingly nationalistic approach to technology and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-government-withdraws-data-protection-bill-2022-08-03/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remains wary</a> of sharing its citizens' data with US companies.Additionally, AI is a potential risk to India's outsourcing economy – which dominates <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-outsourcing-giants-cut-hiring-disheartening-economy-students-2023-06-12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the IT sector and accounts for 8% of the country's GDP</a> – by replacing human customer sales reps with chatbots. Gupta said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gpt4-openai-chatgpt-everything-you-need-to-know-4-2023-3">OpenAI's underlying AI model, GPT</a>, would need to be trained on vats of foreign-language data; as it stands, the vast majority of the data GPT <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/chatgpt-non-english-languages-ai-revolution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is trained on is in English</a>. "The Indian government will have hoards of data which will not be there on the internet, which OpenAI will not have access to," Gupta said. "That might be why Sam is interested in doing some sort of high-level partnership, to get that data so they can make something for India and do some custom stuff."<h2>Pitch 2: This is the next internet</h2>Survival shouldn't be the focus, the OpenAI chief claimed in Seoul, when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-chatgpt-ai-artificial-intelligenct-as-important-pc-internet-2023-2">humanity is "about to enter the greatest age of human possibility, technological development, economic growth"</a> thanks to AI. For Dovi Frances, a US-Israeli venture capitalist and founding partner of Group 11 who met with OpenAI, that much is already apparent. He thinks no nation can afford to ignore apps like ChatGPT."If you have artificial intelligence at the highest level, if you have a workforce of people who are proficient with it… then you have a competitive edge in 2030," he said.Droobi Health chief executive officer Jacob Mathew, who saw OpenAI in Doha, recalled a "memorable exchange" during a panel at the Qatar National Library where a high school student asked a question about the role ChatGPT could play in diplomacy.The response? "Sam replied that he did not know and asked the student to tell him in ten years," Mathew said. Altman's approach is working, both in terms of winning over opinion and in tangibly influencing policy — despite warnings about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-technology-chatgpt-openai-bing-threat-society-economy-social-media-2023-3">the harms of AI</a> for the labor market and misinformation. <a href="https://time.com/6288245/openai-eu-lobbying-ai-act/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Time reported this month</a> that OpenAI successfully lobbied the European Union to water down rules governing ChatGPT in its EU AI Act. And Elyas Felfoul, director of policy development and partnerships at WISE, an education initiative in Qatar, said he feels Altman was "genuine about raising awareness" on AI having hosted a panel with him."He's humble about the fact that they created something much bigger than them," Felfoul said. "There is a serious commitment to try to broaden the conversation."Altman seems to be setting the conversation's tone. But for now, he seems to have people's trust. Or as Felfoul puts it: "The first impression is positive. I hope I'm not wrong about this."

Sam Altman is AI's compelling preacher. The world is ready to bow down.

Chip-maker <keyword id="28115" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="intel" source="Orion">Intel</keyword> is reportedly planning job cuts that can run in thousands, especially hitting its sales and marketing teams, as consumer PC sales nosedive globally. <keyword id="29740" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bloomberg" source="Orion">Bloomberg</keyword> reported on Wednesday that the layoffs will affect nearly 20 per cent of team members at its hit sales and marketing teams. The cuts will be announced "as early as this month," around the same time as Intel's third-quarter earnings report on October 27, according to the report. The company currently has 113,700 employees globally. Intel was yet to comment on the report. Worldwide PC shipments totalled 68 million units in the third quarter of 2022, a huge 19.5 per cent decrease from the third quarter of 2021, according to <keyword id="6371981" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="gartner" source="Orion">Gartner</keyword>. This is the steepest market decline since Gartner began tracking the PC market in the mid-1990s and the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline. "This quarter's results could mark a historic slowdown for the PC market. While supply chain disruptions have finally eased, high inventory has now become a major issue given weak PC demand in both the consumer and business markets," said <keyword id="360892" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mikako-kitagawa" source="Orion">Mikako Kitagawa</keyword>, Director <keyword id="108560" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="analyst" source="Orion">Analyst</keyword> at Gartner. Chip-maker Intel also suffered a 25 per cent decline in consumer chip sales in the second quarter (Q2), along with revenue of $15.3 billion, down 22 per cent year over year (YoY). Its profits nosedived as it lost half a billion dollars in the April-June period -- a 109 per cent decline in profit from the $5.1 billion it saw in Q2 last year. Company CEO Pat Gelsinger said that the results "were below the standards we have set for the company and our shareholders". "We must and will do better. The sudden and rapid decline in economic activity was the largest driver, but the shortfall also reflects our own execution issues," Gelsinger had said in a statement. Intel revised its full-year revenue guidance from $65 billion to $68 billion. <keyword id="15236664" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="dave-zinsner" source="Orion">Dave Zinsner</keyword>, Intel's chief financial officer, had said that "We expect Q2 and Q3 to be the financial bottom for the company". SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/fireside-ventures-closes-its-third-fund-at-225-million/articleshow/94812382.cms">Fireside Ventures closes its third fund at $225 million</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/wipro-q2-net-profit-rises-3-7-to-2659-cr-sequentially-but-isnt-as-optimistic-about-q3/articleshow/94811975.cms">Wipro Q2 net profit rises 3.7% to ₹2,659 cr sequentially, but isn’t as optimistic about Q3</a>

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