Latest news with #Sedna
The Hindu
02-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Chennai based Anicut Capital leads ₹50 crore round in Sedna to build tech-driven B2B platform for HoReCa industry
Sedna HoReCa, a business-to-business (B2B) platform for the hotel, restaurant and catering (HoReCa) industry has raised ₹50 crore in a funding round led by Chennai-based Anicut Capital. The funds will be utilized to build India's first integrated, technology-driven and comprehensive B2B solutions platform for the HoReCa industry and expanding into newer markets. Co-Founded by Mahadevan Narayanamoni (Mahad) and Saurabh Pandey, Sedna has three verticals: B2B SaaS, Commerce & Distribution and Products & Solutions. Mahad and Saurabh had earlier built and scaled Aknamed, India's largest tech-driven B2B hospital supply chain business. SupplyNote, the most popular inventory management software and BillNote, a fast-growing Point-of-Sale software for restaurants and cafés in India are now part of Sedna, under the B2B SaaS vertical. Vyap, a growing supplies distribution platform and SupplyLink, an innovative 3PL/4PL solution for HoReCa, comes under the Commerce & Distribution vertical. Under the Products & Solutions vertical, Sedna offers private label solutions as well as ready-to-cook and ready-to-serve food solutions to HoReCa businesses, D2C brands, Food courts and commercial kitchens. 'The investment by Anicut will enable the expansion of our one-stop-shop B2B solutions to over 20 cities in the next 12 months', said Saurabh Pandey, Co-Founder of Sedna. 'With increasing technology adoption, advent of innovative business models, emergence of national retail players and launch of new food brands, this is the right time to build an integrated, technology-enabled B2B solutions business for the HoReCa industry offering standardised products and solutions at consistent quality, availability and costs across the country,' he added. 'Sedna helps solve specific challenges that the HoReCa industry has been facing; escalating purchase costs, erratic fill rates, long lead times, inventory loss due to pilferage etc. With customers demanding high quality and innovation in food, the industry is ripe for digital transformation,' said Dhruv Kapoor, Partner – Anicut Capital.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Killer whale becomes mom for first time. See her ‘little pumpkin' swim off Washington
A killer whale has become a first-time mom after a peachy-orange calf was spotted swimming with her off Washington, a whale watching group said. The baby orca was discovered March 20 in the Salish Sea between Port Townsend and the San Juan Islands, the Pacific Whale Watch Association said in a March 25 news release. It was swimming alongside its mother, T046B3 'Sedna,' and more than a dozen other Bigg's killer whales that day, the group said. It has been seen several more times since then. 'We encountered this little pumpkin on our Saturday adventure,' Island Adventures Whale Watching said in a March 24 Facebook post. Photos show the calf's orange coloring and fetal folds from being inside its mother's womb, the group said. 'These factors are normal and indicate the calf is quite young, likely a week or two at most,' said Erin Gless, the whale group's executive director. Instead of the classic white, calves are born with a peachy-orange color because they have a thinner blubber layer, so the blood vessels are closer to the skin's surface, according to the Center for Whale Research. This would be Sedna's first known calf, the group said. She's 14 years old, and her name means 'mother of the sea' in Inuktitut, an indigenous language spoken in the Canadian Arctic. West Coast Bigg's killer whales — also called Transients — are apex predators that live off the Pacific Coast, according to the Georgia Strait Alliance. They hunt marine mammals and are known for their 'dramatic hunting soirees,' the environmental organization said. These creatures eat sea lions, porpoises and other whales. There are about 400 Bigg's killer whales swimming off the Pacific Coast that travel from northern California to Alaska and are commonly seen in the Salish Sea. Unlike the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, these whales are listed as threatened under the Species at Risk Act, and their numbers are growing. Feeling stressed? Watch these massive sea creatures swim in harmony off California coast Orcas seen hunting 'prickly' species for the first time, study says. 'Groundbreaking' 'Gentle giant' rarely seen in Southern California waters stuns boaters. See video
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Baby orca is a descendent of a whale almost sold to SeaWorld in 1976
A new orca whale calf spotted in Puget Sound in Washington State is the latest addition to a well-known family of killer whales with a connection to SeaWorld. In 1976, the calf's great-grandmother T046 'Wake' was one of six orcas captured with the intention of being sold to marine parks and temporarily held by SeaWorld in Budd Inlet near Olympia, Washington. The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) first saw this new baby whale with a group of orcas on March 20 in the eastern Juan de Fuca Strait. According to PWWA's executive director Erin Gless, the calf's fetal folds and distinctive orange coloration were visible. The fetal folds are creases along the calf's skin that come from being scrunched inside its mother's uterus for about 18 months. 'These factors are normal and indicate the calf is quite young, likely a week or two at most,' Gless said in a statement. The calf has been given the designation T046B3A and was spotted swimming alongside its 14-year-old mother, T046B3 'Sedna,' who was named after a goddess and the Mother of the Sea in Inuit culture. T046B3A is also Sedna's first known calf. Sedna is one of Wake's grand-calf and the family's lineage was almost cut short during that 1976 capture. The late Ralph Munro, a former Washington Secretary of State and an assistant to then-Governor Dan Evans, witnessed the orca captures while he was sailing. Munro then helped file a lawsuit against SeaWorld, which ultimately led to the release of the whales from Budd Inlet several weeks later. The event was the last in a series of orca captures in the 1970s, where an estimated 100 killer whales were taken from the Pacific. Wake and these five other cetaceans were the last orcas to be captured in US waters. The PWWA says that at least 30 killer whales would not have been born without Munro's actions. Wake is believed to have had eight calves of her own, 16 grand-calves, and six great grand-calves. Munro died on March 20–the same day that this new whale calf was first spotted. The family is part of a group of orcas called Biggs killer whales or transient killer whales. Unlike the nearby Southern Resident orcas that primarily eat salmon, Biggs orcas feed on marine mammals including porpoises, sea lions, and seals. Their population has grown steadily, with more than 140 calves welcomed in the last 10 years. Research organization Bay Cetology estimates that there are nearly 400 individual whales in the coastal Bigg's orca population today. Meanwhile, there are only about 73 Southern Resident orcas left, down from 97 whales in 1996. According to PWWA, local whale watch tours focus on Bigg's killer whales and not the endangered Southern Residents.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New calf born to descendant of last orca captured in Washington waters
Good news for the orca population on the west coast! The Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) announced that a new Bigg's orca calf has been spotted in the Salish Sea. The calf was first seen as part of a group of more than a dozen orcas on March 20 between Port Townsend and the San Juan Islands. It was subsequently resighted several times over the weekend, the PWWA said. A reminder that Bigg's orcas are transient whales that hunt other mammals, like seals, sea lions and porpoises. Their population is about 400. The southern resident orcas, which consists of three pods, are the ones that eat only Chinook salmon, but some studies show they have been known to eat other types of salmon. Their population is about 73. While the southern residents have been struggling with its population in the last decade or so, PWWA said the Bigg's killer whales are having a baby boom. Bigg's orca 'Sedna' (T046B3) was seen swimming alongside what is believed to be her calf. This is 14-year-old Sedna's first known calf. 'In the images, you can still see fetal folds, along with distinctive orange coloration,' shares Erin Gless, the PWWA's executive director, referring to creases in the calf's skin as a result of being scrunched inside its mother's belly. 'These factors are normal and indicate the calf is quite young, likely a week or two at most.' Sedna is part of a well-known family of orcas. In 1976, her grandmother, 'Wake' (T046) was one of six whales captured in the Budd Inlet and held by Sea World. This capture was on the heels of a time when orcas were rounded up, captured and sent to aqua parks like Sea World and the Miami Seaquarium. The most famous of these captures was in August 1970, where over 80 orcas were rounded up in Penn Cove for captivity. Ralph Munro, assistant to then-Governor Dan Evans, witnessed the captures while sailing with friends and was appalled. Munro helped file a lawsuit against Sea World, leading to the whales' release. Wake's group were the last killer whales to be captured in U.S. waters. Wake is responsible for eight assumed calves, 16 grand-calves, and six great grand-calves. 'Without the direct efforts of Ralph Munro, at least 30 Bigg's killer whales would have never been born,' PWWA said. Munro died at the age of 81, just last week.
