Amidst extensive reach into India’s Tier II+ cities and high quality content, the country’s short-form video (SFV) market has seen a 3.6x increase in daily active users, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants.

In a report titled “India SFV in 2024: From ‘Likes’ to Monetising Millions”, the firm has identified four main user archetypes driving SFV engagement, namely value seekers, digital innovators, household stewards, and career mavens.

“India’s digital advertising market is set for exponential growth, projected to nearly double by FY 2029 to reach $16–17 billion, with video advertising leading the way as the fastest-growing ad format,” said Mukesh Kumar, Associate Partner at Redseer Strategy Consultants.

More than 50% of SFV users are monetisable, the report noted. The discretionary spending of these users are often directed towards e-commerce, OTT, in-app purchases, and paid gaming services.

India’s SVF platforms are now generating $95-$100 million in FY24 with ad revenue currently representing 1%-2% of its digital ad spend.

The influencer marketing space is estimated to grow at 40-45%, and is likely to touch $3-$4 billion by FY29.

In addition to advertising, the student highlighted potential for new revenue streams like virtual tapping and video commerce.

Currently, over 63% of the SFV engagement is coming from Tier II+ regions, with platforms like Josh and Moj tailoring content for local languages and preferences. On an average, users now spend about 30 minutes per day on Indian SFVs platforms, said the report.

According to the report, the focus on quality is a key factor in user retentions, particularly in Tier II+ regions, and with growing maturity of users and user-influencer connections, video commerce is expected to touch $5 billion by FY29.

In a world where rapid access to services has become the norm—whether ordering food, booking a ride, or streaming entertainment—the financial sector is catching up. Fintech companies are under increasing pressure to streamline processes, especially in areas like onboarding, where cumbersome, manual verifications have traditionally slowed things down. Responding to this demand, Invincible Ocean has launched a groundbreaking AI-powered no-code onboarding platform that reduces fintech product deployment to just 10 minutes, potentially transforming the customer onboarding landscape.

As governments globally tighten Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, the demand for efficient, compliant eKYC solutions has become a priority across industries. Invincible Ocean’s solution is designed to help businesses, particularly in finance, navigate this requirement effortlessly while keeping fraud risks at bay.

“As onboarding journeys across different sectors are largely similar, our solution allows the same product to be used across various industries and use cases,” states Ajay Setia, CEO, Invincible Ocean. “Additionally, our Invincible Intelligence ecosystem helps design customised risk engines using alternate data.”

Simplifying onboarding with no-code efficiency

At the core of Invincible Ocean’s platform is a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface that requires no specialised coding knowledge. This no-code design allows users from various departments—not just tech teams—to customise their onboarding workflows easily. By enabling a microservices-based architecture, companies can modularise each part of the onboarding process, breaking it down into reusable components that simplify configuration. This approach allows businesses to create a personalised onboarding journey tailored to their brand’s look and feel, integrating domain names, logos, and colours, for a seamless user experience.

“Our no-code platform is accessible to a wide range of users within an organisation,” Setia says. “It allows companies to build onboarding solutions without the need for deep technical expertise, democratising access to a crucial area of customer experience and compliance.”

A standout feature of the platform is its ability to adapt across industries. While the platform is flexible enough to meet general onboarding needs, it also offers pre-designed, industry-specific solutions tailored to sectors like Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), insurance, and banking. These customised workflows are already aligned with the unique compliance and operational requirements of each industry, making it easier for businesses to deploy without the need for extensive adjustments.

Speed is the hallmark of this offering, with a record delivery time of 10 minutes for product deployment. In contrast to traditional onboarding processes that may take days or even weeks, Invincible Ocean’s rapid deployment ensures that businesses can quickly react to changing regulatory needs and roll out solutions for onboarding customers and vendors seamlessly.

“Invincible, with its DIY platform and 250+ verification APIs, provides eKYC solutions for 150+ countries and includes a comprehensive vehicle intelligence ecosystem,” says Setia, highlighting the platform’s vast reach and capability to support businesses on a global scale.

Tackling onboarding challenges

In developing this no-code solution, the company identified three critical challenges in the current onboarding landscape: inefficiency, high costs, and fraud risks. Traditional onboarding typically involves manual paperwork, time-consuming verifications, and disconnected systems, leading to bottlenecks and elevated costs. For many businesses, these processes also increase the likelihood of errors and fraud.

To address these challenges, the platform leverages AI-driven risk engines and real-time data processing, which enhance fraud detection capabilities. By allowing users to configure risk engines according to industry-specific needs, the platform also helps minimise exposure to fraudulent activities. For instance, financial institutions that prioritise security can leverage the Invincible Intelligence ecosystem, which uses alternate data to make real-time, risk-informed decisions.

It’s built as a white-label solution, enabling organisations to integrate onboarding seamlessly within their existing brand environment, while ensuring compliance and security. This adaptability ensures that clients can scale their onboarding solutions to meet evolving business demands without compromising security or user experience.

Ongoing support for changing regulatory needs

Despite the platform’s simplicity, Invincible Ocean provides robust client support. “We designed a straightforward DIY platform that emphasises ease of use,” Setia says. To facilitate smooth onboarding for users, it has incorporated AI-enabled tips throughout the platform and offers resources like tutorials, user guides, and access to a dedicated support team.

Keeping pace with the fast-changing fintech sector, Invincible Ocean actively gathers client feedback to continuously improve its platform. With a clientele of over 300 companies and 10 banks, the platform’s adaptability is a response to emerging trends and regulatory changes. The Invincible Intelligence Ecosystem was specifically designed to meet the demand for comprehensive insights from real-time data, enabling businesses to make quick, informed adjustments.

“By harnessing real-time data and advanced analytics, the platform can adapt to regulatory shifts and evolving market demands, ensuring that clients remain compliant and competitive,” explains Setia.

Data security and privacy at the forefront

In a world where data breaches are a constant threat, the company prioritises data security and privacy. The platform incorporates secure microservices and encryption to protect data at every stage of onboarding. Compliance with industry regulations is a key component of the platform’s architecture, which employs robust access controls and regular security audits to detect and prevent potential threats. For companies handling sensitive KYC information, this adherence to high-security standards is a reassurance that customer data is well-protected.

By focusing on ease of use, data security, and regulatory compliance, Invincible Ocean has effectively addressed key pain points in the onboarding process, making it a go-to solution for fintech companies worldwide. As Setia aptly concludes, “In today’s market, onboarding needs to be not only fast but also secure and adaptable. Invincible Ocean’s platform meets that demand, empowering businesses to deploy fintech products quickly and confidently.”

Hello,

Zomato is hiring … but with a catch.

Co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal is looking for a Chief of Staff but the selected candidate will get no salary for the first year and will have to pay Rs 20 lakh in the form of donation to the company’s Feeding India initiative. Zomato will contribute Rs 50 lakh to a charity of the candidate’s choice. 

All salary discussions will only take place at the start of the second year.

This comes as a Deloitte report released earlier this year revealed that the gap between median pay and average C-suite pay is widening. The average CEO compensation with long-term incentives was Rs 9.8 crore in 2020 versus Rs 13.8 crore in 2024.

ICYMI: Deepinder Goyal has a go-to recommendation when it comes to books. 

In other news, Christmas came early for crypto investors.

Bitcoin hit a new all-time high price, trading at $94,000, amid reports that Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media and Technology, was in talks to buy crypto trading firm Bakkt ahead of an expected crypto-friendly incoming Trump administration.

However, not all are painting the town red. Logan Paul, for one.

The social media star, and the brother of Jake Paul, who recently won a fight with Mike Tyson, is facing fresh questions over his cryptocurrency dealings that he may have profited from misleading fans. BBC reported that his tweet about a particular crypto coin in 2021 may have caused the prices of his investments to spike.

But some countries are now treating cryptocurrencies as a long-term reserve, shifting away from their sceptical stance. Bhutan has quietly accumulated $1.1 billion in Bitcoin, holding 34% of its GDP in 13,011 BTC.

It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Healing healthcare skill gaps
• Spacetech startups’ sky-bound ambition
• Transformative lithium battery recycling

Here’s your trivia for today: Which is the richest Hindu temple in the world?

Feature

Healing healthcare skill gaps

As medical research, treatments, and technology advance at an unprecedented pace, healthcare professionals must stay ahead to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and high-quality care.

Unlike other industries, staying on the cutting edge is non-negotiable for healthcare professionals to deliver the best possible care. This urgency has opened up a vital opportunity for organisations offering high-quality upskilling programmes tailored to their needs.

Prescription for success:

• India has over 700 medical colleges with an annual intake of more than 1 lakh students. However, there are only around 70,000 postgraduate seats. According to Gerald Jaideep, CEO of Medvarsity, this imbalance often leads doctors to forgo specialisation.
• Startups like OC Academy and Medvarsity are working towards helping healthcare professionals bridge skill gaps, offering courses from short-term certifications to long-term post-graduate qualifications, master’s degrees, and fellowships.
• India has just 1.7 nurses per 1,000 people, and the doctor-to-patient ratio stands at 1:1,500, creating significant opportunities for upskilling service providers to fulfil this demand for trained personnel. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Blitz

Amount: Rs 51 Cr

Round: Series A

Startup: Billion Hearts

Amount: $4M

Round: Seed

Startup: Doodhvale Farms

Amount: $3M

Round: Series A

Spacetech

Spacetech startups’ sky-bound ambition

ISRO has a key role to play in the growth of startups, including Agnikul Cosmos, Skyroot Aerospace, Pixxel, Dhruva Space, and Bellatrix Aerospace.

The successful suborbital launches by startups Skyroot and Agnikul have fanned hopes among other startups in the sector, which are ready to take on the challenges of rocket-building in the private sector and build the next SpaceX in India, noted ISRO Chairman Dr Sreedhara Panicker Somanath at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024.

Growing ecosystem:

• The ISRO chief pointed out that the Indian space ecosystem is growing, with a vision to expand fivefold in the next 20 years. Currently contributing less than 2% to the global space economy, India aims to claim at least a 10% share as the sector evolves.
• Dr Somanath also noted that building small satellites is becoming a significant activity across the country, with at least five companies now involved in satellite development. Many are also scaling up their ability to collaborate and contribute to subsystems for rockets and satellites.
• He also elaborated on the Gaganyaan mission during the session, terming it a major project that has been underway for the last four years, with the aim of launching the nation’s first crewed space mission by 2026. The uncrewed mission is scheduled for early next year, with rocket parts already at the launch complex.

Startup

Transformative lithium battery recycling

As the demand for EVs and renewable energy storage accelerates, the question of what happens to lithium-ion batteries as they degrade and lose their capacity to perform efficiently at the end of their life becomes increasingly critical. 

Founded in 2021, Lico Materials aims to provide a solution by transforming the recycling and refurbishment processes of lithium-ion batteries to create a sustainable circular economy.

Sustainability loop:

• The Mumbai-based startup recycles, refurbishes, and recovers critical materials like lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel from end-of-life batteries, which are then returned to battery manufacturers to be used in making new batteries.
• LICO generates revenue by selling minerals to battery manufacturers and paying for the raw materials.  In the last financial year, the startup reported a revenue of Rs 30 crore and is targeting Rs 60 crore for the current financial year.
• The bootstrapped startup has partnered with global giants like Samsung in South Korea, the US, the Philippines, and Malaysia to source batteries for recycling. It partners with OEMs in the EV sector, the battery energy storage systems sector, and consumer electronics manufacturers.

News & updates

• House sales: According to real estate consultancy firm ANAROCK, the average house price in the top seven cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, climbed 23% from a year earlier to Rs 1.2 crore during April-September 2024. More than 227,400 units were sold in those urban areas during the first half of the fiscal year, it said.
• AI learning: OpenAI released a free online course designed to help K-12 teachers learn how to bring ChatGPT into their classrooms. Created in collaboration with the nonprofit organisation Common Sense Media, the nine-module programme covers the basics of AI and its pedagogical applications.
• Back to market: Egypt started selling a stake of as much as $104 million in United Bank, the country’s first initial public offering in three years as it presses ahead with a privatisation programme being encouraged by the International Monetary Fund.

Which is the richest Hindu temple in the world?

Answer: Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, with estimated assets worth Rs 1,20,000 crore.

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