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Good morning. Happy Hump Day.

- Ruchirr Sharma & Shatakshi Sharmaa

🧵 In today’s issue

• 🧑‍🏫 Unacademy x K12 Techno

• 🪧 Founder demographics

• 🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

  • Expensive AI talent

  • Google Gemini in India

  • Nvidia on top

• 🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’? (quick links)

• 🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

🧑‍🏫 Unacademy x K12 Techno

Here’s some big news: Unacademy, the edtech unicorn, is in talks to merge with K12 Techno, the company that runs the Orchids International Schools chain. 

This is a big deal because it would mark the first major consolidation in the edtech sector, which has faced a funding crunch over the past two years.

Here are the deets: 

• Sources familiar with the matter state that the two companies have been discussing the merger terms for the past four weeks, with plans for each entity to own 50% of the combined company. 

• Unacademy had previously invested in Orchids School (K12 Techno) three years ago, and Peak XV is a common investor.

• While the valuation and other details are still being finalized, both companies have declined to comment on the speculation so far. 

• K12 Techno provides full-stack education services to over 900 institutions across India through its own brand and technology platform, managing ICSE and CBSE curriculum schools up to Class 12.

Financials: 

• Data indicates that K12 Techno had Rs 382 Cr in revenue and a Rs 39 Cr loss in FY23. It is expecting Rs 450 Cr in revenue and nearly Rs 100 Cr EBITDA in FY24. 

• Recently, Venturi Partners acquired a $27M stake from a Navneet Education subsidiary.

• On the other hand, Unacademy, led by Temasek, raised $440M in 2021 at a $3.44B valuation. 

• In FY23, its revenue grew 26% to Rs 907 crore, while losses were reduced 40% to Rs 1,004 crore. The company claims to be nearing group-level profitability in early FY24.

Read more: Entrackr

🪧 Founder demographics

There’s a common notion that investors in India typically tend to fund founders with engineering backgrounds who are IIT/IIM/BITS grads.

But new data shows that it may not always be the case. 

• While engineers still dominate at 67%, this is down from 85% two years ago as the unicorn club has grown to 114 startups valued at over $1 billion.

• Of the 206 co-founders of unicorn ventures, 33% are non-engineers. After engineers, the next biggest pool at 9% comprises founders with business/economics degrees. 

• However, there are also niche backgrounds like architecture, hotel management, and fashion technology represented.

• The club is becoming more inclusive, with college dropouts like Zepto's founders, who left Stanford, as well as graduates across fields like law, philosophy, and even medicine—Pharmeasy's Dhaval Shah and Unacademy's Roman Saini, who was previously a doctor.

• Women still make up only 7.2% of this founder pool. Of engineers, 60% are from the prestigious IITs. Interestingly, serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah studied philosophy.

Overall: Experts point out that while diversity is increasing in sectors like D2C, engineers inherently have advantages, such as the ability to iterate faster and take on more risk. 

However, entrepreneurs are realizing the importance of co-founders with complementary skill sets for well-rounded founding teams.

As India surpasses 3 lakh registered startups, the unicorn founders reflect a gradual shift towards more multidisciplinary entrepreneurial forces.

Read more: The Hindu Business Line

🗞️ Bite-sized summaries

💼 Expensive AI talent - AI professionals in India are commanding a significant salary premium of 40-80% compared to traditional IT roles as companies race to fill new and specialized AI positions like AI research scientists, chatbot specialists, computer vision engineers, AI ethics specialists and roles like prompt engineers, AI solutions architects and chief AI officers. With over 45,000 AI job openings in India, businesses are paying top dollar for AI talent to adopt these technologies rapidly. While the IT industry faces a talent gap that could widen without investments in AI training, leading firms like Infosys are pivoting to an "AI-first" model by upskilling existing staff. However, the global demand for AI specialists remains higher, especially in the US, China and Europe which lead to AI adoption and innovation infrastructures.

🇮🇳 Google Gemini in India - Google has launched its AI assistant Gemini mobile app in India, available in English and nine Indian languages - Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The Gemini Advanced model is also being updated with these languages, along with new features like document/file uploads of up to 1,500 pages for summarization, data analysis capabilities with spreadsheet uploads, and the ability to chat with Gemini via Google Messages initially in English. The expanded language availability and capabilities aim to boost Gemini's adoption in India, where it has seen encouraging usage across students, developers and creative professionals since its launch last year.

📈 Nvidia on top - Nvidia has surpassed Apple and Microsoft to become the world's most valuable company, driven by explosive demand for its chips that power generative AI models like ChatGPT. The chipmaker's market capitalization reached $3.332T as its shares climbed 3.2% on Tuesday, capping a remarkable rally fueled by investor excitement over AI. Nvidia, which was a $300B company just two years ago, has seen successive quarters of massive revenue growth as tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon race to secure its latest AI chips. CEO Jensen Huang has positioned Nvidia at the centre of an "industrial revolution" unleashing the power of generative AI across sectors, capitalizing on its dominant software ecosystem and a rapid cadence of new chip releases.

🧑‍🍳 What else is cookin’?

What’s happening in India (and around the world 🌍️)

• Days after meeting Modi at G7 Summit, Trudeau says he sees an ‘opportunity’ to engage with the new Indian government.

• Vladimir Putin calls for cooperation with North Korea to resist Western sanctions.

• The US sues Photoshop maker Adobe for hiding fees, making it difficult to cancel.

• Benjamin Netanyahu dissolves the Israeli war cabinet.

• Biden offers citizenship path to spouses of Americans in sweeping election-year move.

🍿 Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

• T20 World Cup:

  • West Indies beat Afghanistan by 104 runs.

• Euros 2024:

  • Turkiye beat Georgia 3-1.

  • Portugal beat the Czech Republic 2-1.

• Kapil Dev says Kabir Khan’s Chandu Champion ‘goes beyond being just a sports film’, calls it ‘spectacular.’