Inside the green jobs market; ElasticRun’s growth plan for FY25

Hello,

Swiggy is said to be revising its IPO valuation.

It has supposedly slashed it to $11.3 billion, 25% below the initial goal of $15 billion, as market volatility and the lacklustre debut of Hyundai India weighed on sentiment.

According to Reuters, BlackRock and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) will invest in the $1.4 billion IPO—the country’s second-biggest stock offering this year.

Just before Diwali, the Indian bourses entered the bear market amid weak global cues and rising volatility. The NSE Nifty 50 fell 2.7% last week and the BSE Sensex dropped 2.2%, logging losses for the fourth straight week.

In fact, October turned out to be the worst-ever month in terms of foreign fund outflows, with foreign investors pulling out a massive Rs 85,790 crore (around $10.2 billion) from equities due to the elevated pricing of domestic equities. 

Investors would be treading tricky waters next few weeks, for sure. 

ICYMI: The startup founders who took on Google!

Mother Nature is mysteriously beautiful! For instance, who knew the Dahlia flowers could help fight cancer?

Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University and the University of Portland have discovered a game-changing compound in these vibrant flowers that could help treat a host of illnesses—MS, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, certain brain injuries and even cerebral palsy!

Always pleasant to the eyes, now Dahlias may well be soothing for the nerves!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Inside the green jobs market
• ElasticRun’s growth plan for FY25

Here’s your trivia for today: Which is the world’s longest cave system?

In-depth

Inside the green jobs market

Green jobs are roles that contribute to environmental sustainability by reducing emissions, conserving resources, and promoting eco-friendly practices. These jobs are ripe with career growth opportunities for experienced professionals, while they open up diverse pathways for fresh graduates, expanding options beyond traditional tech careers.

According to LinkedIn’s Global Climate Talent Stocktake 2024, the gap between the demand for green talent and its availability is rapidly widening. While demand increased by 11.6% from 2023 to 2024, the supply grew by only 5.6%. If these trends continue, there will be twice as many jobs requiring green skills as qualified candidates by 2050. 

Green pastures:

• Most green jobs are found in renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro, biofuels, biogas), water management, e-waste management, green hydrogen, green building, and electric vehicles, among other sectors.
• This year, the Telangana Department of Information Technology, Electronics, and Communications launched the Green Skills Academy in Hyderabad in partnership with 1M1B (One Million for One Billion), a UN-accredited nonprofit.
• The rising demand for green jobs has led to greater interest in upskilling courses that combine traditional green skills with digital competencies like AI, data analytics, and project management. 

Logistics

ElasticRun’s growth plan for FY25

Prosus and SoftBank-backed B2B logistics and ecommerce company ElasticRun is betting big on scaling regional brands and accelerating its quick commerce business to shore up its revenue. 

The company works with FMCG brands, helping them expand their distribution in rural India apart from running its own third-party logistics service with leased vehicles and partnering with delivery personnel on a contract basis. 

Regional focus:

• The Pune-based entity reported its financial results for FY24 and has managed to pare its losses by nearly 42% to Rs 354.62 crore on a standalone basis. Revenue from operations too followed a similar trend, dropping by nearly 48.6% for FY24.
• The reduction in losses came on the back of its pivot to focus on high-margin regional brands, increasing the take-rate by nearly three times, Co-founder and CEO Sandeep Deshmukh told YourStory. Take-rate is the money made per transaction by a platform offering services. 
• Besides offering B2B distribution and logistics to kirana stores and leveraging its dark stores for quick commerce business, ElasticRun is also looking to monetise its SaaS offering for first and last-mile delivery with ecommerce players to add to the bottomline. 

News & updates

• Take over: Alphabet’s Google is developing an AI technology that takes over a web browser to complete tasks such as research and shopping, The Information reported. Google is set to demonstrate the product code-named Project Jarvis as soon as December with the release of its next flagship Gemini LLM.
• Patent war: A US federal jury ruled that Masimo smartwatches infringed Apple patents, but Apple isn’t getting a big payday. The company was only seeking the statutory minimum of $250, and that’s all it was awarded. 
• Suspend: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company suspended shipments to China-based chip designer Sophgo after a chip it made was found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B AI processor. Huawei is restricted from buying the technology to protect US national security. 

What you should watch out for

• Muhurat trading: Indian stock markets will remain closed on November 1, 2024, for Diwali. However, the market will open for an hour for Muhurat trading. The timings will be notified later.
• IPO listings: Waree Energies IPO will list on October 28.
• Earnings: Adani Enterprises, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, Marico, and Biocon, among many others, will announce their corporate earnings.

Which is the world’s longest cave system?

Answer: Mammoth Cave in Mammoth Cave National Park in central Kentucky. The cave system has been mapped and explored to a length of over 426 miles (686 km). 

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