annus

Indian startups are closing 2023 with a cloud of uncertainty looming large over them.Over the last few weeks, we’ve been reporting closely on the severe stress that Byju’s—once the country’s largest edtech—has been facing. Earlier this week, Doubtnut—another edtech—was sold to Allen Career Institute in a fire sale while buy-now-pay-later startup ZestMoney shut down amid a larger regulatory clampdown on unsecured lending.Both Byju’s and Doubtnut have something in common. In 2020, Byju’s had engaged with Doubtnut for a…

Crashes, contagion, collapses came in such quick succession that investors were, towards the end of the year, asking serious existential questions. To borrow from Britain's Queen Elizabeth, 2022 is not a year on which the cryptocurrency world shall look back with undiluted pleasure.Crashes, contagion, collapses came in such quick succession that investors were, towards the end of the year, asking serious existential questions. After all, the largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has not kept its head above water for more…

A new Metropolitan police commissioner just installed. A new home secretary just installed. Angry demonstrators outside Scotland Yard carrying “Abolish the Met” signs in protest against the fatal shooting by an officer of an unarmed young black man, Chris Kaba, in south London. The publication of Broken Yard: The Fall of the Metropolitan Police could hardly be more timely.Back in 1977, a book called The Fall of Scotland Yard by Barry Cox, John Shirley and Martin Short made significant waves, cataloguing a period when, as…