AWS’ Olivier Klein talks AI; Betting on India’s next consumer giants

Gold hits over $4,600 an ounce for the first time, as investors piled into the haven amid a swirl of geopolitical and policy shocks recently.

One of the biggest catalysts for this massive price rise is an investigation into US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and speculation over whether it could hasten a leadership change at the US Fed.

On Sunday, Powell said that US federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation of him focused on the $2.5 billion renovation of the central bank’s headquarters in Washington, DC, and his related testimony to the US Congress.

According to the Fed Chair, the probe is the result of long-standing frustration by President Donald Trump over the Fed’s refusal to cut interest rates as quickly and as much as the president has demanded.

ICYMI: Read the full statement from the US Fed Chair.

Meanwhile, President Trump’s erratic policy changes are causing harm to credit card companies, after he called for a 10%, one-year cap on credit card interest rates.

As bank stocks slid on Monday, credit card processors Visa and Mastercard were both down about 3% each.

Lastly, 2026 has blessed travellers with many long weekends, and they would like to take it slow.

Exploring hidden gems, laid-back farm stays, and basking under the sun on a beach—oh, it already sounds like heaven!

From the wise words of The Beach Boys: “I wanna take you down to Kokomo, We’ll get there fast, and then we’ll take it slow.”

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• AWS’ Olivier Klein talks AI
• Betting on India’s next consumer giants
• Updated rules for crypto platforms

Here’s your trivia for today: What vehicles are raced annually in Venice’s “Regata Storica”?

Interview

AWS’ Olivier Klein talks AI

Olivier Klein, Chief Technologist at Amazon Web Services (AWS) for Asia Pacific Japan (APJ), says one can now use natural language pretty much as a programming language, and also as a language to just understand and query your data.

“The days where you say AI is my differentiator are numbered, because everybody has access to the same latest and greatest models and tools. It is really about bringing in your data into those AI models to derive value,” says Klein, in an exclusive interview with YourStory, during the AWS re:Invent 2025 conference in Las Vegas.

All the details:

• Agentic AI is starting to change how software is built and operated. Instead of spending time maintaining infrastructure or manually managing systems, teams can focus on building value for the business.
• “AI itself is no longer the differentiator. The real value comes from bringing your own data into those models and using it well. That is why so much focus is on data foundations, fine-tuning, and cost-effective ways for storage and retrieval,” Klein said.
• “We [AWS] have been investing heavily in our own silicon with AWS Trainium, and we are now in multiple generations of that chip. The goal is to make AI workloads more cost-effective and energy efficient,” he adds.

Funding Alert

Startup: Bluecopa

Amount: $7.5M

Round: Series A

Startup: Flent

Amount: Rs 21 Cr

Round: Pre-Series A

Startup: Good Farmer Food Concepts

Amount: $1.5M

Round: Pre-Series A

Interview

Betting on India’s next consumer giants

TDV Partners primarily invests at the pre-seed stage, often becoming the first institutional cheque into a company. The fund typically leads rounds ranging from $500,000 to $1 million and is open to backing teams even before a product or revenue exists, with cheque sizes now ranging between $200,000 and $250,000.

According to Ujwal Sutaria, Founder and General Partner, much of TDV’s work happens before incorporation—brainstorming ideas, stress-testing assumptions, and helping founders move from intent to execution.

Playbook:

• The fund’s core focus remains consumer-focused businesses, split across three themes: consumer technology platforms, consumer “upgrade” brands aimed at premium Indian users, and emerging consumer AI applications.
• According to Sutaria, while many of these businesses require high upfront investment, they tend to be capital-efficient and resilient over the long term. 
• He adds that the mainstream adoption of AI creates a significant opportunity to rethink existing platforms through an AI-first lens, potentially reshaping outcomes at scale.

Cryptocurrency

Updated rules for crypto platforms

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India’s financial crimes watchdog, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has unveiled stringent new checks on cryptocurrency exchanges, requiring “liveness detection” and geographical tracking for new users in a broad move to stamp out money laundering in the digital asset sector.

The updated guidelines, issued on January 8 by the FIU, mandate that crypto platforms must go beyond simple document uploads. Under the new regime, exchanges are required to capture “live selfies” of users to verify their physical presence, utilising software that detects eye blinking or head movements to prevent the use of static photos or deepfakes.

News & updates

• Social media: Meta has issued new pleas to the Australian government to reconsider its recently enforced social media ban for under-16s, after the tech giant blocked over half a million accounts on its platforms in one month.
• Failed: An Indian rocket carrying 16 loads of equipment and experiments, including an earth surveillance satellite, went off track after liftoff on Monday in a fresh setback to the workhorse launch vehicle of the ISRO. It was a second disappointment for the PSLV in about eight months, denting its reputation for reliability, with a more than 90% success rate over about 60 past missions.
• EV import: The EU is weighing minimum prices for EVs exported to the bloc from China, signalling a thaw in trade tensions. Under the plan, steep tariffs on Chinese-made EVs would be replaced by a minimum pricing system that the EU said would take account of state subsidies received by manufacturers. 

What vehicles are raced annually in Venice’s “Regata Storica”?

Answer: Gondolas.

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