Hello,

The Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has urged the industry to boost domestic manufacturing and strengthen the spirit of Swadeshi.

Keep an eye on goods being imported, identify items that can be made in India, and spot opportunities. Reduce imports, increase exports, Goyal told domestic traders. Even small preferences for foreign goods can weaken the domestic industry, he said.

In other news, Unacademy's Co-founder Sumit Jain, who serves as CEO of the company's test prep business, is leaving the edtech firm as it gears up for an acquisition by upGrad. Jain joined as co-founder in 2020 and has since then helped build the creator-focused SaaS platform Graphy and make the offline business profitable.

Meanwhile, British International Investment, the UK's development finance institution, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners have launched North Star, a $300-million renewable energy fund. The fund will invest in solar, wind, hybrid renewable energy, and energy storage projects across India.

Lastly, the race for AI compute is heating up.

Tech giant Google and‌ alternative investment management company Blackstone will establish an AI cloud business venture to cash in on the growing demand for AI computing services. Blackstone will initially ​invest $5 billion in equity to help bring 500 megawatts of ​data centre capacity online in 2027.

The venture, headed by Google's Benjamin Sloss, will offer data centre capacity along with Google's custom AI ​chips through a compute-as-a-service model. Total ​investment could reach $25 billion, says Bloomberg News.

In today's newsletter, we will talk about

• The Chtrbox in India's creator economy
• How Artiure helps artists monetise their work

Here's your trivia for today: Who popularised the phrase 'the buck stops here'?

In-focus

The Chtrbox in India's creator economy

From a startup solving influencer chaos to India's only listed influencer marketing firm at scale, Chtrbox is building the infrastructure brands need to win online.

Chtrbox matches brands with creators using filters such as reach, relevance, and resonance. Besides matchmaking, it supports campaign strategy, creator onboarding, paid media amplification, and performance measurement. It also helps brands brainstorm content ideas aligned with business goals.

How it works:

• For creator selection, the platform looks beyond follower counts. It evaluates audience quality, demographics, engagement behaviour, content style, and category fit.
• "We track every rupee spent to spot what works and what doesn't, which helps brands understand what's working, what isn't, and how to optimise over time," says Raj Mishra, Managing Director and CEO of Chtrbox.
• Chtrbox works across sectors such as FMCG, fintech, lifestyle, and more, serving both legacy brands and digital-first companies.

Digital marketplace

Gurugram-based Artiure is building a marketplace for digital and generative art, turning it into physical products while enabling artists with financial inclusion and access to global markets.