Quick commerce trade-off; Uber adds board muscle

Time of India

a day ago

Quick commerce trade-off; Uber adds board muscle
Also in the letter:
Quick commerce growth cannibalising other retail channels: Kearney report
Driving the news:
This cannibalisation is happening despite supermarkets and ecommerce platforms offering steeper discounts (13-18%) than quick commerce (6-9%) or kiranas (2-5%), the report added.
Industry executives echoed the findings, saying platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Instamart are generating little or no net-new demand.
Quick commerce success:
Originally pitched as a top-up service for last-minute groceries and essentials, quick commerce has rapidly become the fastest-growing sales channel, especially for premium products.
Its share of ecommerce is doubling every year, albeit from a low base. For most FMCG brands in India, quick commerce now accounts for 3-6% of online sales.
In metro cities, online grocery shopping has surged: before the rise of quick commerce, only a third of shoppers preferred digital channels; that number has now increased to 87%, according to the report.
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Future outlook:
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Uber appoints Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora to board
Who is Nikesh Arora:
Uber top churn:
Pradeep Parameswaran, former head of India and Asia Pacific, has been promoted to global head of mobility.
Andrew Macdonald, a senior vice president, has been appointed chief operating officer (COO), overseeing the mobility, delivery, and autonomous units.
Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of delivery, will depart at the end of June.
In October 2024, Uber named Sachin Kansal as chief product officer (CPO) and Praveen Naga as chief technology officer (CTO).
Anirban Kundu, head of delivery engineering, has left to join Instacart.
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Google's parent Alphabet to keep hiring engineers despite AI advances: Sundar Pichai
Tech layoffs:
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Google earned users' trust:
AI privacy concerns:
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Loantap secures $6.2 million in fresh funding from July Ventures and existing investors
Deal details:
Existing investors, such as 3one4 Capital, Avaana Capital, Kae Capital, and the Swapurna Family Office, also participated in the round.
This takes the company's total equity funding to around $26 million. LoanTap has also raised an additional $2.3 million in venture debt as part of the same round.
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Cleantech asset financier StrideGreen raises $3.5 million:
Eminem's publishing company sues Meta over alleged copyright violation
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What's the damage:
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Quick commerce is gaining popularity at the expense of sales in other retail channels. This and more in today's ETtech Top 5.■ Google still wants engineers■ ETtech Done Deals■ Meta's new rap battleJust 6-8% of quick commerce sales are truly incremental, with the bulk of the growth coming at the expense of other channels , chiefly modern trade and ecommerce, followed by local kirana stores, according to a Kearney report.Earlier this year, Unilever's global CEO, Fernando Fernandez, stated that he expects quick commerce to contribute 10-15% of sales in India over the next three to four years, up from its current 2-3% share.'India is a very special place because richer and poorer Indians live in close proximity. That basically provides both the demand and labour supply, making quick commerce a logical channel to grow,' he said.Nikesh Arora, CEO, Palo AltoUber has appointed Nikesh Arora , the CEO of Palo Alto Networks, to its board of directors as part of a broader leadership shake-up. Arora will serve on both the Nominating and Governance Committee and the Compensation Committee.Arora has led the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks as chairman and CEO since June 2018. Between 2016 and 2018, Arora was an angel investor, following senior roles at SoftBank and Google.He currently sits on the board of the Swiss luxury goods group Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. Interestingly, Arora was also among the contenders to replace Travis Kalanick as Uber's CEO in June 2017. However, the role eventually went to Dara Khosrowshahi.ETtech Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and employees.: Interested? Reach out to us at [e-mail] to explore sponsorship opportunities.Sundar Pichai, CEO, GoogleAlphabet will continue hiring engineers through at least 2026, even as the Google parent ramps up investments in artificial intelligence, CEO Sundar Pichai said at the Bloomberg Tech Summit.US tech giants, including Microsoft and Google , have recently cut jobs, partly a consequence of the massive capital being poured into AI. The layoffs have fuelled fears that the technology could replace certain roles altogether.'I just view this (AI coding) as making engineers dramatically more productive, getting a lot of the mundane aspects out of what they do,' Pichai said.Pichai | Google has handled people's deepest, darkest secrets responsibly, said CEO Sundar Pichai. The company has earned user trust, said Pichai, by protecting them from 'bad actors' and 'unwarranted requests'.Amid growing unease regarding how user data might be used to integrate AI into its products for a personalised experience, Pichai stated that Google is evolving its offerings based on direct user feedback.The most common complaint about Gemini and Gmail? 'Why can't it write more like me?' said Pichai. 'It's an ask we are responding to.'Satyam Kumar, cofounder, LoantapPune-based digital lending platform Loantap has raised $6.2 million in new equity funding led by July Ventures.The fundraise comes at a time when the digital lending sector is facing challenges due to stricter regulations and a more cautious stance from banks and large non-banking finance companies.StrideGreen, a climate-tech asset financing and management platform, has bagged $3.5 million in a funding round led by clean mobility investor Micelio Technology Fund. Early-stage venture capital firm Incubate Fund Asia also participated in the round.Rapper EminemA publishing company affiliated with rapper Eminem has taken Meta to court , accusing the tech giant of copyright infringement across its platforms—Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Curiously, the rapper himself is not a party to the lawsuit.Eight Mile Style, which manages Eminem's early catalogue, alleges that Meta unlawfully stored, reproduced, and exploited 243 of his tracks on its platforms without authorisation.According to the suit, Meta's tools, Original Audio and Reels, 'allow and encourage its users to steal' Eminem's music for videos 'without proper attribution or license.'Eight Mile Style asserts that the alleged infringement has reduced the value of copyrights, resulted in lost profits, and unfairly enriched Meta through unauthorised use.The publisher is seeking the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each track, totalling $109.35 million.