Latest news with #Nao
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Indian brand Nao Spirits, the makers of Greater Than and Hapusa gin, acquired by Diageo
Homegrown spirit brand Nao Spirits are the makers of Indian craft gins such as Greater Than and Hapusa. Launched in 2017 by Anand Virmani, Aparajita Ninan and Vaibhav Singh, and later joined by Abhinav Rajput, the brand led the way for the craft gin revolution in the country. Nao was recently acquired by Diageo India (United Spirits Limited), in a ₹130 crore deal. Nao takes its name from the word for 'boat' in Portuguese and Indian languages. 'When we began, the gin market was non-existent in India. Back in 2016, we were running Perch Wine and Coffee Bar (New Delhi), and one of the things which took us by surprise was the number people coming in requesting for a gin and tonic. That insight led us to look behind the bar and ask a simple question: do we have a quality Indian gin to serve? The answer, at the time, was no,' says Anand. The distillery in Goa launched Greater Than, India's first London Dry gin made with botanicals in 2017. 2018 saw the launch of Hapusa, a Himalayan Dry Gin aimed at the premium sipping gin market. Over the years, the brand has released many special edition bottles, and spirits using ingredients such as Kashmir willow wood from broken cricket bats and Mahabaleshwar strawberries. Today the gin market in India has grown exponentially. It has gone from 12,000-case number to 5,00,000 cases in the last calendar year, and that number is just going up. Speaking of the acquisition and the new chapter of the brand, Anand explains, 'Our DNA remains unchanged. We will continue to be the pathbreakers, building a brave company from modern India that's redefining quality spirits, one label at a time. We will still be powered by the same people, the same purpose, and the same belief that has shaped Nao Spirits.' The brand does not have any new launches lined up for the near future under the Diageo umbrella. Anand says it is business as usual as they gear up for the Foragers Championship, a cross-continental cocktail competition and the latest edition of Greater Than Bar Wars in India 'We have always looked at acquisitions in India being for large companies, such as Diageo with United Spirits and the like. For us as an independent craft spirits company to have the opportunity to experience this, is totally out of the realm of imagination. We are very excited about what this partnership is possibly going to bring to us. And at the same time, we are very keen to hold on to the little bits that that have made this journey so special for us so far,' he concludes.
Time of India
19-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
USL to acquire majority stake in Nao Spirits
Diageo India ( United Spirits Limited ), on Thursday said it is acquiring a majority controlling stake in Nao Spirits at an enterprise value of Rs130 crore. Three years ago, Diageo bought a 22.5% stake in Nao, which makes Hapusa and Greater Than gin and later added another 7.5% stake a year later 'Ventures, Diageo India's investment arm is dedicated to strengthening our portfolio by investing in disruptive alco-bev startups. This allows us to offer consumers a wider array of products that resonate with evolving preferences. The acquisition of Nao Spirits, a promising portfolio company within our Ventures arm, represents a pivotal step in exploring future growth opportunities in Indian craft spirits ," said Praveen Someshwar, MD and CEO, Diageo India (USL), which has global gin brands such as Tanqueray in its portfolio. Launched in 2017 by Anand Virmani, the company controls 4.6% market share in the Indian gin category. Last year, the company also launched an aged, spiced rum, Pipa. Over the past few years, several small handmade batches of local brands, especially from Goa, stirred up the segment. However, mainstream companies too entered the space either by acquiring startups or launching their own gin brand. Apart from USL acquiring Nao, Tilaknagar Industries Limited bought stake in Spaceman Spirits Lab, the owner of Samsara while Allied Blenders and Distillers acquired all brands and other Intellectual Property rights from Fullarton Distilleries Private, the maker of Pumori gin and Woodburns whiskey. Amrut's Nilgiris gin and Malhar from John Distilleries are more recent toe dips into craft gin by major local distillers. "The investment will help us scale further with the support of Diageo India's seasoned leadership, distribution network and production capabilities combined with our unconventional mindset and ability to stay deeply relatable to the evolving consumer," said Anand Virmani, Co-Founder & CEO, Nao Spirits & Beverages
Canada Standard
05-06-2025
- Business
- Canada Standard
Top French robotics firm goes into liquidation
Aldebaran, renowned for its androids capable of recognizing human emotions, has accumulated debt exceeding 60 million Aldebaran, a French company that blazed the trail in the field of 'empathetic' humanoid robots in the late 2000s, has been put into liquidation, local media has reported. The tech pioneer was placed into bankruptcy proceedings in January, and then in receivership the following month. On Monday, the receiver, along with the auctioneer, announced the "immediate cessation of activity" and termination of their contracts to the company's remaining 106 employees, according to Othman Meslouh, deputy secretary of Aldebaran's social and economic committee (CSE). The Paris Commercial Court passed the verdict earlier in the day. The receiver is now expected to start selling off the company's profitable assets, including its patents, to settle Aldebaran's outstanding debts that have exceeded €60 million ($68 million). In recent months, two takeover contenders, Franco-Swiss businessman Jean-Marie Van Appelghem and Canadian investor Malik Bachouchi, had made bids for the company. However, the former's overture was not backed by the receiver and Aldebaran's management, while the latter was rejected by the court, as Bachouchi earlier told Le Monde. From 2012 to 2022 - considered the company's heyday - it was owned by Japan's Softbank Robotics Group. Some time after it was acquired by the German company United Robotics Group (URG), a subsidiary of the RAG-Stiftung, the situation began to deteriorate, according to Meslouh. He told AFP that the new owner "no longer wanted to invest in the company." This claim was echoed by another anonymous employee cited by Le Monde, who said URG "asked us to be profitable within two years" even though development "cycles take five to seven years." The unnamed engineer also lamented that the owner had underinvested in Aldebaran's research and development. In the late 2000s, the company rolled out Nao, its first humanoid robot, touted as a "versatile educational companion, widely used in classrooms and research labs for its ability to teach programming, foster social learning, and support research projects." The model was followed by Plato, designed to support healthcare and hospitality environments, and Pepper, capable of recognizing and responding to human emotions and specifically tailored for customer-facing roles. According to the company's website, its robots have found application in more than 70 countries over the years. However, the total number of units sold was a mere 30,000, L'Express estimated. (
The Guardian
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Nao: Jupiter review – an upbeat, welcome return
Since her 2016 debut, For All We Know, London singer-songwriter Neo Jessica Joshua, AKA Nao, has made gossamer-light R&B that soars on the power of her distinctive high-lying voice. Grammy award- and Mercury prize-nominated for her electronic-influenced second album, Saturn (2018), and finding joy post-Covid on 2021's acoustic-leaning And Then Life Was Beautiful, Nao's output in the four years since has slowed after a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome. But rather than a tale of struggle, fourth record Jupiter arrives with optimistic flair. Wildflowers sets the tone with its sprightly bass line and interlocking drum groove that anchors Joshua's earworming melody about a yearning romance. Other uptempo numbers such as We All Win and Happy People lift into anthemic choruses. Yet it's on the slower tracks that she is given space to shine, expertly sinking into the nocturnal groove of Elevate and erupting into an emotive crescendo on Light Years. There is little here that will surprise Nao's longtime fans, but it's an enjoyable listen and a welcome return for a homegrown R&B stalwart.
The Guardian
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Nao on fame, motherhood and living with ME: ‘I've had to work a lot on what my idea of success is'
Nao is trying to articulate how it feels to be on the verge of releasing a new album. When this thing that's been yours and yours alone has to be launched into the world. 'It feels really similar to being pregnant,' the 37-year-old mum of two decides. Her answer feels apt; we're currently sitting in an east London cinema cafe hemmed in by buggies while a mum-and-baby screening of erotic thriller Babygirl plays next door. 'It's really exciting in the beginning, then it gets a bit tedious,' she continues. 'And you're stuck in the process because you need to finish it. Get it out.' Sometimes, she says, it can also be just as painful. Not that you'd know it from listening to this month's fourth album, Jupiter, a typically featherlight concoction of pillow-soft soul, experimental R&B and airy acoustic ruminations all anchored by her angelic, otherworldly voice. It also carries just a dash of the electronic-leaning 'wonky funk' that saw Nao (born Neo Joshua) hailed as one to watch when she emerged in 2015. But Jupiter's overarching sense of contentment has been hard won after years spent battling an illness that prevented her from touring. Jupiter is a sequel of sorts to 2018's Grammy and Mercury prize-nominated second album Saturn, an emotionally tumultuous opus named after the astrological concept of Saturn return, a sort of crossroads a person reaches roughly every 27 to 29 years, before entering the next stage of their life. While that album dealt with the ups and downs of her 20s, 2021's And Then Life Was Beautiful, released into post-pandemic's upside-down world, searched desperately for joy. Shortly before it came out, Nao revealed she'd been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a disabling condition that left her profoundly fatigued and darkened by what she calls a low-grade depression. 'You can only do a small percentage of what you were capable of,' she says, nursing a coffee, a rare treat while following a low-carb diet that helps her recovery (she will return to touring later this year). 'For example, walking to meet you here, I'd probably have to take a taxi home. And then I'd be in bed for the rest of the day.' Jupiter's title was very specifically chosen because it's 'the planet of joy', she says. 'It's a planet of good fortune and good luck. And I really wanted to bring that into my life.' She singles out the balm-like Happy People, which glides around a sun-kissed Afrobeat lilt, as a key song. 'It came from realising who was important to me in my life,' she says. 'I think when you're in your 20s you're trying to make as many friends as possible. Then you get into your 30s, you have big transitions in life, and actually the fewer people the better.' Her candour is refreshing. When I say that she is underrated and that collaborations with the likes of Stormzy, Mura Masa, Chic, Lianne La Havas, Disclosure and Ezra Collective should have made her a household name, she doesn't see it as a compliment. 'It's like saying you're good enough to succeed but you haven't quite yet. I get a lot of comments saying I'm underrated, which is fine, but I've had to work a lot on what my idea of success is.' While she'd love to 'stream in the billions', she's also happy with where she's at. 'I just have to become present and think actually you're doing all right. You're all the things you wanted to be; you're, I hope, still credible; you make the music that you want; you still sell out your tours, but also you're a mum and you get to pick up your kids from school and drop them off.' She thinks doing things at her own pace – she didn't sign a record deal until she was 27 – has helped with her outlook. Born in Nottingham and raised mainly in London, Nao saw her early music career take place behind the scenes. At 18 her voice won her a place at London's Guildhall School , but she struggled to believe in herself. 'I'm not really sure how I got in,,' she says. She compares it to the 2014 film Whiplash, in which a jazz drummer is pushed to the brink by his instructor. 'I was working at 5am in the morning to basically not be embarrassed and not be humiliated by the teachers. That definitely stayed with me for a long time.' She felt she had to 'work and overwork and overwork to be on top of it.' She stuck it out and four years later started taking any job in music she could, be it teaching, or as part of a beatbox group, or singing backing vocals for the likes of Jarvis Cocker. In 2014, a manager discovered her singing in a club and signed her. From there she started cultivating a fanbase via SoundCloud, before releasing her first EP in 2014 on her own label. After signing that label to RCA, she released her electronic-leaning debut album, 2016's For All We Know, on a wave of hype. The album peaked inside the Top 20, which meant the pressure mounted around its follow-up, Saturn. Asked at the time how she was feeling about that album's release, she admitted to being nervous, contemplated retirement, and joked that if people hate the album she'll 'just die'. 'Oh my gosh, did I say that?' she says now. 'It's such a snapshot into where my brain was at that time. You have all the hype and the engine kind of just went on its own like, 'Oh, this is what's happening to me.' On the second album, that hype machine dies down and you're left with, 'OK, what? Fuck. Does anyone actually like me any more? What's left of me?'' Over time, as her 30s rolled out in front of her, she made the decision to stop caring about other people's expectations. During the promotion for And Then Life Was Beautiful, she told a journalist she'd avoided songs about motherhood because she couldn't write about it 'in a way that wouldn't put people off!' Pregnant with her second child while recording Jupiter, the album's stripped-back highlight 30 Something features the lyric 'I love my baby daughter, sometimes motherhood's whatever'. 'We don't get the full picture of what being a parent is until you're in it,' she says, as we become surrounded by mums scurrying out of the film holding crying babies. 'My own experience was all emotions all at once. It was like: 'This is fucking amazing, the best thing that's ever happened to me', and also, literally five minutes later, 'This is really shit'.' With a new album that reflects a relatable urge to seek out light in a dark world, I assumed she'd have some pearls of wisdom for her younger self, that one who felt like giving up just before Saturn's release. After a long pause and a deep breath she looks me in the eye. I'm braced for a nugget of positivity, but her answer is far more realistic. 'I'd just tell her, you know, it doesn't get any better,' she states. 'You're going to have to chill out and ride the waves. You're going to have to get more resilient … And it's not that deep. Maybe that's what I'd say; it's not that deep.' Jupiter is out on 21 February.
