Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy says the company will cut back on dealmaking and hiring as losses mount, amid fierce competition from Amazon and Reliance (Financial Times)

Melissa Repko / CNBC:
Walmart debuts metaverse experiences Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play in Roblox, which it calls a testing ground, to try to reach younger shoppers  —  – Walmart is entering the metaverse with two experiences, Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play, in gaming platform Roblox.

Melissa Repko / CNBC:
Walmart is launching a virtual try-on tool that allows shoppers to see how a clothing item would look on their own bodies without having to visit a store  —  – Walmart is launching a virtual try-on tool to help shoppers see how a shirt, dress or another clothing item would look on their own body.

Pranav Balakrishnan / The Economic Times:
Bain & Co. and Flipkart report: India’s e-commerce userbase is expected to grow 25%-30% annually for the next five years and pass the US’ number in two years  —  The online shopper base in India, which was at 180-19 million in 2021, will also increase to about 400-45 million users by 2027 …

Amy O’Brien / Sifted:
London-based GoHenry, a neobank for 6-18 year olds, raised a £49M+ Series B, and says its 2021 revenue was up 55% YoY to £30.5M and losses up 20x YoY to £30.5M  —  Despite these vast losses and talk of distant profitability, there’s no sign that GoHenry is slowing down its expansion plans.

Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
A roundup of Elon Musk’s newly released text messages show the inner workings of Silicon Valley dealmaking and how Musk lost interest in his Twitter acquisition  —  Newly released text messages shine a light on how tech’s most powerful do business — and perhaps why Musk lost interest in Twitter.

Adam Rawnsley / Rolling Stone:
Ex-staffers say Twitter’s mass firing of security staff and growing reliance on automation will help China and other authoritarian regimes in silencing critics  —  Elon’s mass firing of security staff and increased reliance on automation is going to make it easier for tyrants to shout …