Things we’re reading today - 27th and 28th November 2022

  1. Really nice piece on why building for the real world (hardware using software products) will never go out of trend. With Climate related discussions at the forefront for the next decade at least, it is important to look at models that will help build the next big company that can build infrastructure, devices or anything hardware. And the blog talks about how hardware has not been behind software with adoption as well.

Driven by the material challenges of climate change, trade geopolitics and ageing populations, software innovation is meeting hard engineering. This shift towards "RealTech ” is also a bid by new (software) companies to go after harder value chains with larger, established markets. For VCs to capitalise on this development, they must challenge their entrenched bias against hardware and conceptualise a new type of company and playbook.

  1. Not a lot of fintech building real networks like VIsa and Mastercard. The past few years have always been about slotting into gaps in the current solutions or building on top of real networks like Banks, Swift, Visa, Mastercard et al. But now there are a barrage of candidates who can disrupt these network businesses - Apple, Banks, Crypto, ELON, etc :stuck_out_tongue:
  1. Quite a nice read up on Open Banking and the opportunities. This is very similar to the Acccount Aggregator framework in India, and will have similar use cases in India as well. AA should ideally not just be about lending, and investing, but also about helping customers identify where they are losing out with current financial service providers - does your bank charge you for services which are not charged at other banks? Well, AA must be able to answer and help consumers. :slight_smile:
  1. A nice summary on Indian CBDC - lots of specifics discussed in terms of KYC, form and utility, remuneration, anonymity etc. Very nice quick read. Personally, dont think CBDC will be something that will enhance transaction experience at the get go, and could potentially then face a difficult task of winning back retail trust. But again, for wholesale and interbank settlements, this could potentially be a gamechanger - cost and speed being the benefits.
5 Likes
  1. Lot of misconception with printing money and all the complex stuff around quantitative easing etc. This is a nice read on why more money printed does not really mean anything at all for the money in circulation. But the activity is printing money seems critical for asset allocation.
3 Likes