Episodes
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The global astrology market today is worth nearly $13 billion. In India alone, the online astrology market is estimated around $100 million and is expected to grow ten times in the next five years or so.
But this isn’t astrology as we’ve known it. In the last few years, astrology has had a facelift and it’s largely thanks to Gen Z. They have rediscovered it and turned it into a full blown cultural moment. Meme pages, Astro Twitter, mercury retrograde—astrology has become a pop culture phenomenon, not just here in India but across the world.
New-age astrology apps like Co Star and Pattern give you the option of checking whether your “vibes” match with your friend or love interest. It's like modern-day kundli matching. And Gen Zs are here for it and more. They’re also using astrology apps to check what stocks to put their money on, for their appraisal season—basically, anytime they have to make a decision, big or small.
We wanted to know why the Gen Z, a generation that’s been recognised for its hyper-awareness about things like climate change, politics, governance is embracing astrology so passionately despite all of its very well documented flaws as a pseudoscience. Also, how are astrology app makers are responding to this trend?
To find out, we spoke to two Gen Zs—Misha Verma, a 22 year-old 2D animator from Bengaluru and Khushi Singh, a 23 year-old UI/UX designer from New Delhi who part times as a tarot reader, the founder of an AI-powered astrology app called Melooha, Vikram Labhe, and Nakul Shenoy, a mentalist based out of Bengaluru.
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Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
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Once valued at $22 billion, Byju's, is undergoing insolvency proceedings initiated by the National Company Law Tribunal. This is over a $19 million payment default to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Byju’s could now see a potential buyout or liquidation. It gets worse. A couple of days ago, one of the largest foreign investors in India, the Qatar Investment Authority, requested the Karnataka High Court to block founder Byju Raveendran’s personal assets.To say things are bad is an understatement.
The first question that comes to mind is, of course, what happened. But that’s a story that’s been told too many times. Instead, today, we tell you what Olina Banerji, The Ken's edtech expert and writer of our popular newsletter, Ed Set Go, wrote about Byju’s in the latest edition.
She took us back to see what made Byju’s the company it became in the first place and the legacy it is leaving behind.
Tune in.
P.S. – Check out the first episode of the latest addition to our podcast slate, Two by Two, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
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Healthify saw immense success during the pandemic. Its revenues more than doubled in FY 2022. And it adds up when you think about it. With millions of people stuck at home and gyms shut, Healthify’s virtual fitness and nutrition plans were pretty ideal.
But once gyms reopened, home workouts didn’t cut it anymore. And unfortunately, Healthify really bore the brunt of it. The following year, revenue growth slowed down considerably and losses began to soar.
But the company's leadership seems undeterred. In fact they want to expand business to the United States, where it will be up against established healthtechs like Noom and MyFitnessPal.The company seems to be pinning its hopes on the US market as somewhat of a hail Mary pass.
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In 2015, Bira 19 introduced India to craft beer. In the process, the brand started the conversation around taste and quality. It very quickly blew up and became the cool new beer to drink at a bar or a party.
The craft beer brand also managed to become a hit among investors. It bagged $450 million in funding from the likes of Japanese beer and beverage company Kirin Holdings and venture capital giant Peak XV Partners, formerly known as Sequoia Capital.
But somewhere along the way, the brand seems to have lost direction. In the last few years, Bira has been in short supply at liquor retailers and pubs. And to make matters worse, former Bira executives and industry insiders say that the company’s dealing with a major cash crunch and its supply chain is in a dire state.
All of this at a time when the company is reportedly planning to go public. Bira CEO Ankur Jain recently said that Bira is planning its IPO in 2026.
But will he be able to get his business in order by then? And more importantly, what went wrong?
Tune in to find out. -
In the 2024 financial year, Apple sold products worth $8 billion in India. This was a third more than the previous year.
But how did a premium company like Apple that hates giving discounts sell products worth 8 billion dollars in a country as price sensitive as India? Apple obviously knew that its phones were unaffordable for most people in India?
It found an answer was easy financing. After the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, Apple made financing tie-ups with banks a mainstay. And one of the most important deals Apple made was with India’s largest private sector lender, and leading credit card issuer HDFC Bank. In fact, it was one of the costliest deals HDFC had. Thanks to it, HDFC customers have been enjoying exclusive cashbacks on Apple products ever since.
Here's the bad news. The deal between Apple and HDFC is now over.What happened?
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With Swiggy set to go public soon, the quick commerce space in India is starting to look more and more like a wrestling match. Going to head to head against Swiggy is the only listed quick commerce platform in the country, its arch rival Zomato.
Both companies are doing exactly the same thing but somehow Zomato managed to leave Swiggy far behind. Swiggy’s market share has dropped considerably in the last few years both in quick commerce and food delivery. Now, not only is Zomato listed, its share prices have been going through the roof and Blinkit has become the jewel in its crown.
So does Swiggy, the OG of food delivery in India, stand a chance?To find out, hosts Snigdha and Rahel invite The Ken's Deputy Editor Seetharaman G to the studio.
Tune in.
P.S. – Check out the first episode of the latest addition to our podcast slate, Two by Two, where the speakers discuss the rivalry between Flipkart and Phonepe, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
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For most Indians, a cup of good chai is a comfort that's accessible. Coffee chains, on the other hand, are mostly premium. And it all adds up when one considers the fact that Indians consume 20 cups of tea for every cup of coffee. But we live in a time when opulence and luxury makes us go google eyed. In the Indian consumer market, premiumisation is no longer a choice. Even chai cafes chains don’t really have an option but to take the premium path.
But Chaayos, the largest tea cafe chain in India, has decided not to go where the wind blows. And Nitin Saluja, the 40-year-old founder of Chaayos, says that this decision is actually based on its customers.
Over the last two years, nearly 200 of them have clearly indicated their unanimous opinion to the company: don’t become like Starbucks.
Tune in.
Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
P.S. – Check out the first episode of Two by Two, where the speakers discuss the rivalry between Flipkart and Phonepe, on Spotify, Apple or YouTube!
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About two months ago, something pretty bizarre happened at the India office of Great Place to Work. At about 2:30 am on May 28, the board of the organization was summoned for a Zoom call.
But the timing of the Zoom call wasn’t what was so alarming. At one point during the conversation, the founder, Prasenjit Bhattacharya, asked everyone to leave the call.
Everyone except for Yeshasvini Ramaswami, the chief executive of the company. Just a few moments later, Prasenjit told her that she was being fired.
You see, this isn’t the first time a CEO has been fired. But the way that this particular incident played out went against everything that Great Place to Work has stood for for so long.
What's going on?Tune in
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Not so long ago, Birkenstocks were considered the antithesis of high fashion. For the longest time, the 250-year-old German brand’s characteristic chunky sandal was seen as nothing more than an orthopedic shoe meant for hippies and old people.
And then, everything changed. In the last decade or so, Birkenstock had a major glow up. It all started with the brand deciding not to settle for being just another comfortable but cringey sandal anymore.
So to make Birks cool the brand began collaborating with high-end fashion designers like Rick Owens, Valentino and Dior. Very quickly celebrities and influencers caught on. They were suddenly being spotted walking out of the gym, or a cafe with a pair of birks on.And just like that, a trend was born. The orthopedic sandal, built more for comfort than for style, was the new it-shoe.
Now, the Birk craze has found its way to India.Tune in.
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Flipkart, the Walmart owned e commerce giant, is on an overdrive to achieve profitability to realise its dreams of going public.
To do this, it has tasked its category managers in fashion and lifestyle with squeezing more business out of brand partners. In fact, Flipkart is also using its own Myntra to get better leverage with these brands. The list of brands Flipkart is negotiating with includes Nike, Adidas and Puma, Woodland, Casio, and the Indian fashion retail giant Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Limited (ABFRL).
Brands are resisting but they can only do so much because the kind of reach Flipkart gives them is unmatched. It has a registered customer base of more than 400 million.Does this mean that these brands have to give in to Flipkart’s demands?
Tune in.
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Have you ever heard of a 'f*** off fund'? Or better yet, do you have one?
For the uninitiated, it is a sum of money that women should ideally set aside to get out of a difficult situation – think toxic job, abusive relationship or family situation, you get the drift.
The term was coined by freelance writer, Paulette Perhach, in 2016. We recommend that you read her powerful essay on financial independence. The idea is for it to give you enough power, confidence and control to literally be able to say “f*** off” and walk away.
You are probably thinking, ‘great in theory, but how do I actually build one for myself?’. We have got you covered. In this special episode of Daybreak, Chaitra Chidanand, the co-founder of Salt, a financial services platform for women, demystifies f*** off funds and how you can get one.
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We would also love to hear your take on f*** off funds. Please take our survey.
Suggested reading
A F*** Off Fund: the most important female prep, Reddit
"The FOF has saved me and my kids a few times. Health crisis. Unemployment. Violence. S**t happens. But just as important—having a FOF means you can act from a position of power, not fear, not subservience."
Warren Buffett Invests Like A Girl? Forbes
"Buffett has always said that it’s temperament--not intellect--that makes you a great long-term investor. When you look at studies that have been coming out in the last 10 years about how men and women invest, what you see is that women tend to naturally have this temperament that creates long-term investing success."
For Women With Money Issues, an A.D.H.D. Diagnosis Can Be Revelatory, NYT'But because activities like planning or budgeting don’t usually give people with A.D.H.D. a dopamine hit, they can find it harder than neurotypical people to get started or stick to accounting activities. This results in extra costs — paying cancellation fees for missed appointments or late fees for not opening a bill on time, or losing refunds because we missed the deadline for returning an unwanted purchase.'
For feedback, write to us at [email protected]
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According to the ICMR every individual should consume at least 48 grams of protein everyday. But in India, 8 out of every 10 of people dont meet their daily protein requirement. However, there is no denying the fact that awareness about the significance of what is often called the building block of life has increased after the pandemic. People are actively looking to include protein rich foods in their diet.
Even the govt has pitched in. In 2020, the govt started an initiative to celebrate a National protein Day every year in February to increase awareness about the importance of protein in India
And that’s where Amul wants to come in.
The dairy giant wants to use a key dairy byproduct—whey—to sell protein to a population that is hungry for it
Tune in.
**This episode was first published on 28 Feb, 2024
Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories
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Things were going really well for Paisabazaar, until the Reserve Bank of India stepped in and hit it where it hurts. The RBI told banks to clamp down on the unsecured loan segment – which happens to be Paisabazaar’s bread and butter.
The regulator has discouraged lenders from small-ticket collateral free loans. And of course lenders know better than to ignore the RBI’s directive.
So for Paisabazaar that meant its lending partners started shying away from unsecured loan leads. After a dream run, growth started slowing down. The company knew it had to do something and fast.
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Students pay hefty fees for an alt MBA from Masters' Union with the confidence that by the end of the course, they will be one step closer to their dream job, and more importantly their dream salary.
Except, that isn’t what ended up happening for a majority of students in the batch of 2024. Classes ended a few weeks ago and most of the students are yet to land job offers.
You see, it has been a tough year for India’s business schools. Even the IIMs and ISBs of the world have struggled to get a majority of their students placed at top companies.And in this tough climate, Masters’ Union, which has always positioned itself as a challenger to the IIMS, is facing a bigger crisis than any of its peers. Because placing its students isn’t just a matter of pride for the company, it's also crucial to its financial model.
Tune in. -
For a country that boasts of its digital public goods infrastructure like Aadhar and UPI, it is a wonder why telecom has been so ignored. After nearly 1500 crore rupees of was reportedly lost to digital fraud in the financial year 2024, the govt's TRAI is finally scrambling to catch up with CPAN or the Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) service, its own version of Truecaller.
Truecaller, the Swedish call-screening company, meanwhile, has been holding the fort for a while now. Users count on it to save them from spam and fraud calls.
While TrueCaller maybe looking like a hero in this situation, it is a private company after all. It is using this opportunity to make money from both users and businesses. But its success in India is also built partially on how inadequate privacy laws are in India. It company has been accused of breaching data privacy norms in the past.
Can TRAI replace Truecaller?
Tune in.
Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
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More than 15,000 millionaires are most likely leave China for good this year, according to the latest report by Henley and Partners, a UK-based investment migration consultancy.
This largely has to do with the fact that being a multi-millionaire in China is almost like living with a target on your back. Multiple cases of the wealthy disappearing, the most well-known of which was Alibaba's Jack Ma, are testament to this. Basically one can be rich but not too rich, especially when the Chinese economy is struggling with a slowdown. So if millionaires are not disappearing under mysterious circumstances, they are desperately trying to protect their assets at all costs.
India too happens to be the third on the Henley list of top countries facing a millionaire exodus. It is expected to lose about 4,000 millionaires this year. But unlike China, this isn’t very concerning because this number has dropped since last year and also because India is also generating more millionaires than it is losing. In many ways, you could say, India stands today where China was 10 years ago.
And that’s exactly why we need to understand what is happening in China.
In this episode, Daybreak hosts Snigdha and Rahel speak to The Ken's Southeast Asia editor Brady NG about what's going on in our neighbourhood.
Tune in.
Brady’s book recommendation: House of Leaves Mark Z. DanielewskiArtwork by Adhithi Priya Rajagopal
Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories. -
For quick delivery apps like Zomato and Zepto that are often questioned for their carbon footprint, switching to electric vehicle or EV fleets is not just a matter of being environmentally conscious, it is also economically more feasible.
But here’s the thing. While takes about four hours to charge an electric scooter from zero to full using a slow charger and approximately 15 minutes for a fast charger, battery swapping which literally takes two mins.
Which is why delivery company drivers for whom speed means money, battery swapping is a better option than charging. Quick commerce companies have understood this and they’re partnering with these companies. For example, Zomato and Zepto have both partnered with Battery Smart, a Delhi-based network of battery-swapping stations for EVs.
Plus, this comes at a great time because these battery swapping companies are attracting a lot of VC money despite the general VC funding crunch lately. And VCs are loving the fact that quick commerce giants are tying up with these battery swapping companies.So, you’d think that that government must be doing everything it can to give battery-swapping service providers support to expand right?
Turns out, that is not really the case.
Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
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Cult.fit backed Sugar.fit very boldly promises to completely “cure” diabetes in as little as six months.
It also promises unlimited consultations with top doctors, daily fitness classes, the works. All for about Rs 30,000. That’s a small price to pay for a diabetes-free life. So of course, thousands sign up for it.
But if you ask a healthcare professional they will tell you that reversing diabetes completely just isn’t possible. So what is Sugar.fit up to?
Tune in to find outP.S. While you are here, check out the latest episode of The Ken's careers podcast The First Two Years. Host Akshaya Chandrasekaran delves into how to transition from grunt work to real work.
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Demand for high-end living is on the rise and Nobroker's subscription plan just doesn't cut it anymore. So it introduced a new postpaid plan to entice wealthy property owners.
Funnily enough, the way it works is pretty much how traditional brokers earn their brokerage. This goes against the basic premise with which Nobroker was started almost a decade ago.
So why has Nobroker switched up its strategy? And why is it going down the road it was so fundamentally against?
Tune in to find out. -
When it entered the quick commerce scene for the first time in 2021, Zepto was a disruptor. Now, it is the third largest company in the market after Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart. Recently, it secured its biggest funding ever at a US$3.6 billion valuation, mainly from its existing investors.
Venture Intelligence, a data provider told The Ken that the US$660 million funding is largest bet made by VCs in Indian startups this year. And now, The Ken's sources say that Zepto is planning to raise another round from “top-tier global VCs” at a US$5 billion valuation.
What did Zepto do to get all this attention from investors?
Tune in.
Also listen to:
Daybreak: Why we date, marry, or breakup with Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Zepto & BigBasket
TFTY: How to get people to listen to you when you have no authority or title?
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