Also in this letter:
■ SaaS hiring grows as CVs flood market
■ Ola’s new scooters and motorcycles
■ IT deals corner
Governments abroad look to model on India’s ‘landmark’ data law
Norway, South Africa, and New Zealand are some of the countries that have praised India's new data law. While Norway called it a “landmark” regulation, South Africa said the law offers “invaluable lessons” on how safeguards can be applied in developing nations. The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act was ratified by the president last week.
The world is watching: Governments globally are keenly watching the implementation of the law. While officials from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority told ET they are looking to introduce clauses similar to those in the DPDP Act. South Africa said the bill’s success was critically tied to the functioning of the Data Protection Board (DPB) that the Act has called for.
Age-gating measures: The DPDP law has stringent conditions for the processing of data of minors, and parental consent — with certain exemptions — is a must for the same. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has said that it could also put in place something similar to what India has to protect the digital privacy of children.
Also read | Decoding the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023
Keen interest: New Zealand’s Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster said he takes a ‘keen interest’ in how new and emerging technologies impact privacy, and how countries such as India respond to these developments. The Privacy Commissioner is the independent regulator for privacy in New Zealand.
Independence: Mukalani Dimba, executive for education and communication at the Information Regulator (South Africa) said, “There should not be any interference by or dependency on the central government for the operation of India’s DPB. Members of the board should be appointed for a sufficiently long term to establish and maintain continuity, institutional memory, and stability.”
Amazon ads eating into Google & Meta’s digital marketing pie
Over the last couple of years, Amazon seems to be eating into the digital ads pie that’s so far been gobbled up by Google and Meta, senior media buying executives told ET. Currently, Google and Meta enjoy a virtual duopoly in India’s digital ads space, with almost 90% share of the Rs 7,000-9,000 crore market between them.
Changing dynamics: Advertisers, especially in categories such as consumer packaged goods and DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands, are moving as much as 15-20% of their advertising budget — previously dedicated to Google and Meta — towards the Seattle-based ecommerce giant’s ad offerings.
Post pandemic: The pandemic altered shopping habits. For example, the number of people buying daily necessities online in India continues to grow, according to a recent Counterpoint Research report. Therefore, “marketers realise that the only rival to Google today is Amazon, because people search on that platform with the intention to buy,” said Mayank Shah, senior category head of Parle Products.
Lower-funnel marketing: Traditionally, advertisers have used Google and Meta for ‘upper funnel’ marketing to build brand awareness. But given the economic headwinds and intense competition in consumer goods categories, advertisers today are focusing on lower funnel marketing that is more sales-oriented, yielding short-term results.
Clients flocking in: Today, five to six of 10 media plans at Publicis Media include Amazon’s ads. L'Oréal India started listing its brands on Amazon around 2016-17, and began with display ads on the site. Parle Products doesn’t spend on Amazon ads yet, but ASAP energy bars (part of WIMWI Foods) — a DTC brand it has invested in — allocates monies towards Amazon ads, and has received a good response in terms of sales.
SaaS founders are grabbing talent amid tech layoffs
Enterprise software and SaaS startups that investors find appealing are intensifying their recruitment efforts in a job market flooded with resumes due to layoffs by larger tech firms.
What is happening? ET spoke to founders of enterprise software startups, who now comprise the bulk of upstarts raising equity-capital amid a funding winter. These founders are ramping up hiring in a job market flooded with resumes.
War chest: In the second quarter of 2023 that ended in June, the enterprise software category managed to pull in 62 funding rounds, surpassing other categories such as edtech, mobility, and ecommerce, as per Tracxn data.
Also read | Bessemer says India SaaS is on track to touch $50 billion by 2030
Talent access eases: Hevo Data, a Peak XV Partners-backed data management SaaS startup, was finding it hard to even get candidates to come for an interview just 6-9 months ago.
Quote unquote: “Market dynamics have changed significantly. Candidates are more interested in job security than salary jumps,” said Sheshgiri Kamath, founder and CEO, Kapture CX, a CRM firm.
Also read | SaaSBoomi slashes startups’ enterprise value forecast for 2030 by 50%
Ola Electric to launch bikes by 2024-end, introduces new scooters
New launches: Ola Electric is set to launch electric bikes by the end of 2024, it said during its annual “customer day” event, where it launched a new scooter, the Ola S1 X. The company introduced the second generation S1 Pro, and an update to the operating system used in its scooters, called Move OS 4.
Future forward: Ola announced it will be launching four bike variants — the Cruiser, Adventurer, Roadster and Diamondhead. The company also showcased the prototype of its lithium-ion cell that it says is being developed in-house and will be used in its vehicles as early as next year. The firm is planning to double its manufacturing capacity "in the next six to nine months” to 2 million units per year.
Also read | Ola Electric reports Rs 373 crore topline in FY22; losses widen on scooter sales launch
Money talk: Chief executive and cofounder Bhavish Aggarwal said the firm's FY22-23 revenue and profit would see “significant improvement” over FY21-22, which he said was "an investment year". The firm is yet to file its FY22-23 numbers. It registered a net loss of Rs 784.15 crore in FY21-22.
IT Deals Corner
Infosys announces $1.6 billion deal with telecom firm Liberty Global: Infosys, India's second-largest IT company, secured a €1.5 billion ($1.64 billion) mega deal with Europe's Liberty Global. an extension of their prior collaboration. Infosys will manage Liberty Global's Horizon platforms, incorporating Topaz AI solutions. The deal's potential total value could reach $2.5 billion if extended to eight years.
Cricket Australia selects HCLTech to drive digital transformation: HCLTech said on Tuesday that it has won a deal from Cricket Australia (CA), the national governing body for the game in Australia, for the next phase of CA’s digital transformation. Deal financials were not disclosed.
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
Capillary Tech elevates Anant Choubey, Sridhar Bollam: Cloud-based loyalty service provider Capillary Technologies has elevated its chief operating officer Anant Choubey and chief customer officer Sridhar Bollam as cofounders.
Unacademy elevates Sumit Jain to cofounder status: Edtech unicorn, Unacademy has elevated Sumit Jain, who leads the company's Graphy division to partner or cofounder status, group chief executive Gaurav Munjal announced on Tuesday.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ The apps were designed for home security. They’re being used to watch and harass domestic workers (Rest of World)
■ Streaming Prices Are Up Nearly 25% in a Year. That’s Part of the Plan. (WSJ)
■ How X Is Suing Its Way Out of Accountability (Wired)
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