Lessons from Unacademy’s ESOP crisis; Design-led manufacturing expertise

NVIDIA is joining the Big Tech deal frenzy.

The AI giant said it has signed a licensing agreement with AI inference startup Groq to use its technology. 

Along with licensing, NVIDIA is also bringing in Groq’s top talent into its fold, including founder Jonathan Ross and company president Sunny Madra. They will work on advancing and scaling the licensed technology within NVIDIA.

Meanwhile, a global healthcare revolution is underway, with weight loss drugs at the centre of it all. GLP-1 drugs have minted billions of dollars for Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk. Now, cheaper pill versions stand to change the game entirely.

Beyond healthcare, GLP-1s are also a reckoning for packaged food makers and fast food chains, who may now be forced to overhaul most products next year. 

Lastly, there’s been a lot of equipment on the moon over the past few decades—rovers for exploration and research, satellites for monitoring. And soon, a nuclear power plant.

Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, said it plans to build a lunar nuclear power plant by 2036 to supply its lunar space programme and a joint Russian-Chinese research station. 

It’s not alone. NASA too declared its intent this year to put a reactor on the moon by the first quarter of fiscal year 2030.

Welcome to the new-age space race.

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Lessons from Unacademy’s ESOP crisis
• Design-led manufacturing expertise

Here’s your trivia for today: What precious stones were originally used to polish axes in the Stone Age?

Edtech

Lessons from Unacademy’s ESOP crisis

For many former Unacademy employees, a recent message asking them to exercise their vested ESOP options within a short window felt like being caught between two tough choices: Do it now, pay tax now, or let the options lapse. 

This situation has triggered a broader conversation across the startup ecosystem about how equity works when valuations fall, exits are uncertain, and investor protections kick in. At the centre of it all is a familiar but uncomfortable truth: ESOPs are not promises of value. They are claims that sit at the bottom of a capital stack.

Key takeaways:

• In India, exercising ESOPs in an unlisted company triggers tax on the difference between the fair market value and the exercise price. The tax is due even if the shares cannot be sold. For many former employees, this meant paying significant tax on shares whose eventual value is unknown.
• TeamLease Edtech’s Shantanu Rooj described this situation as a reminder that ESOPs in India need to be designed for local realities, not copied from Silicon Valley. He pointed to the need for clearer exercise windows, buyback mechanisms and better communication around downside scenarios.
• Shivaarti Bajaj, Co-founder and Managing Partner, RSD Bajaj Global Law Firm, noted that once options are granted and vested, they form contractual rights. Unilateral changes, especially after exit, carry high legal and reputational risk.

Startup 

Design-led manufacturing expertise

As India’s electronics manufacturing sector enters a decisive growth phase, companies that combine engineering depth with global quality standards are emerging as key enablers. Aimtron Electronics is one such player.

Founded in 2009 by Mukesh Vasani, Aimtron is an SME-listed, family-led electronics manufacturing company operating across high-complexity sectors such as aerospace and defence, electric vehicles, industrial technology, medical devices, and gaming electronics.

Engineering value chain:

• For aerospace and defence, the company manufactures avionics subsystems, UAV electronics, and defence communication assemblies for global OEMs. In EVs, it designs and builds battery-management systems, motor controllers, and power-electronics modules. Its industrial tech portfolio spans automation controllers, robotics electronics, and IoT edge systems.
• While Aimtron has been export-led for a long time, it is now seeing a shift in demand dynamics. Exports accounted for 80–90% of revenue in the earlier years, but recent quarters have seen a surge in domestic orders, driven by India’s growing industrial, EV, and defence ecosystems.
• Over the next few years, Aimtron plans to expand capacity with a greenfield facility in Vadodara, scale cleanroom operations in Bengaluru, and deepen ODM partnerships across regulated sectors.

News & updates

• Anti-trust: Italy’s antitrust authority (AGCM) on Wednesday ordered Meta Platforms to suspend contractual terms that could shut rival AI chatbots out of WhatsApp, as it investigates the US tech group for suspected abuse of a dominant position.
• Deal: Sanofi said it will buy U.S. biotech Dynavax Technologies for around $2.2 billion (1.9 billion euros) in a deal that will add an adult Hepatitis B vaccine and a promising experimental shingles shot to its portfolio.

What precious stones were originally used to polish axes in the Stone Age?

Answer: Diamond.

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