Flipkart’s last-mile EV bet; Breaking the silence of stuttering with AI

Hello,

SoftBank just pulled the proverbial rabbit out of its investment hat.

The Japanese tech conglomerate posted a profit of $3.49 billion in Q4, helped by strong performance by telecom holdings and gains on its Vision Fund I investments.

The investor’s surprise annual profit—its first in four years—was despite offsets from its Indian portfolio companies like Swiggy and Ola Electric—currently trading under their IPO prices.

Indian companies were largely out of SoftBank’s radar this time. Rather, it is in the midst of its most extensive spending spree since the launch of Vision Funds, targeting companies it deems to be helming the AI boom.

To that end, OpenAI got the tech investor’s blessing for its restructuring plan that allows its non-profit entity to retain ultimate control. Next stop: Microsoft. 

ICYMI: From robotics investments to a gradual re-entry into the cryptosphere—everything Softbank said (and didn’t say) about its next moves.

Meanwhile, things are heating up in the premium smartphones market, with Samsung bringing out its slimmest flagship model to date, complete with AI features to get a leg up on its rival Apple. 

Apple, on the other hand, is looking towards accessibility, with planned future support to allow users to navigate their iPhones with neural implants.

The future truly is now. 

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Flipkart’s last-mile EV bet
• Breaking the silence of stuttering with AI
• “Legally Yours” for women

Here’s your trivia for today: What popular video game franchise inspired the name of Microsoft’s virtual assistant?

Interview

Flipkart’s last-mile EV bet

Over five years ago, Flipkart took on the electric mobility bet for its last-mile delivery. In September 2024, it touched a milestone of 10,000 EVs in its last-mile supply chain. Today, the company has about 13,300 EVs in its fleet. 

The homegrown ecommerce brand, which satisfies millions of orders daily, had to set up charging stations for its vehicles, convince Wishmasters—Flipkart’s delivery partners—about the benefits of using an EV, and enable financing solutions for those partners who wished to transfer. Head of Sustainability Nishant Gupta lays out Flipkart's blueprint for this transition.

Electric delivery:

• “We’re pushing for more EVs. But we’re not completely stopping ICE vehicles. EV adoption comes with challenges, like range anxiety. We’re working to educate our delivery partners and ensure they understand the specs and capabilities of these vehicles,” Gupta says.
• “EVs are smoother, quieter, and more stable… The driving experience has been positive for our Wishmasters… We also focus on the practical aspects, like sizing bikes for their bags, and work closely with OEMs to fine-tune the design based on their feedback,” he adds.
• For the Indian market, Gupta says the company is seeing rapid progress. “Indian OEMs have really embraced EV technology as a core part of their strategy. What’s exciting is how this is converging with IoT, AI, and data analytics.”

Funding Alert

Startup: JSW One Platform

Amount: Rs 340 Cr

Round: Undisclosed

Startup: Flam

Amount: $14M

Round: Series A

Startup: M1xchange

Amount: $10M

Round: Secondary transaction

Startup

Breaking the silence of stuttering with AI

Viraj Kulkarni still remembers the flavour he hesitated to order as a child. Saying “butterscotch” meant risking an audible block, so he settled for chocolate instead. That small sacrifice stemmed from his struggle with stuttering, a speech disorder that affects an estimated 80 million people around the world.  

Years later, in 2023, Kulkarni set out to address this problem with Iyaso, an AI-driven speech therapy company, which provides structured and personalised interventions to help users learn, practice, and apply speech therapy techniques in real-world situations—something traditional speech therapy often fails to do.

Key takeaways:

• The company has built Eloquent, a self-guided stuttering therapy application designed in consultation with speech-language pathologists. By offering AI-driven exercises and realistic practice simulations, it helps users to apply techniques in everyday interactions. 
• Beyond shaping fluency and stuttering modification, the app also addresses avoidance behaviours and emphasises anxiety regulation in social speaking situations.
• Since launching the app in July last year, over 20,000 users in more than 150 countries have downloaded the app. 

Books

“Legally Yours” for women

Legally Yours - Every Woman’s Guide to Her Legal Rights by Manasi Chaudhari, Founder of the Pink Legal platform, is a simple and accessible guide to all laws pertaining to women in India. Written in a simple but affirmative style, it provides real-life examples, practical advice, and actionable legal remedies for women. 

“I have written the book in a way that a lawyer-best friend is talking to you and explaining your rights. It is full of examples from pop culture, real-life cases, along with interactive elements like quizzes and food for thought,” Chaudhari says.

Know your rights:

• According to Chaudhari, the top three instances where women often hesitate to seek legal help are cyberbullying, domestic violence, and sexual assault, with domestic violence topping the list. 
• Chaudhari has also provided insights into how women can protect themselves in the online world of constant abuse, cyberbullying, and deepfakes. 
• “Stand up for your rights as soon as possible and don't wait till it's too late or you have suffered too much. When it comes to legal rights, a stitch in time saves nine,” says Chaudhari, on the one piece of advice she would give every woman in India regarding her legal rights.

News & updates

• Inflation: India's retail inflation remained below the RBI’s 4% target for the third consecutive month as food prices rose at a slower pace, opening up room for more interest rate cuts to support growth. Annual retail inflation slowed to 3.16% in April from 3.34% in March, marking its lowest level since July 2019.
• Chips for sale: Nvidia will sell over 18,000 of its latest AI chips to Saudi Arabian company Humain, CEO Jensen Huang said. The cutting-edge Blackwell chips will be used in a 500 megawatt data center in Saudi Arabia, according to remarks at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday.
• Layoffs: Japanese carmaker Nissan will cut another 11,000 jobs globally and shut seven factories as it shakes up the business in the face of weak sales. Falling sales in China and heavy discounting in the US, its two biggest markets, have taken a heavy toll on earnings, while a proposed merger with Honda and Mitsubishi collapsed in February.

What popular video game franchise inspired the name of Microsoft’s virtual assistant?

Answer: Halo. Cortana is an AI character in the series. 

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