IMF says ‘worst is yet to come’; Icertis names Deanna Lanier strategy boss; Micro VC firm Kettleborough raises $5 mln

The International Monetary Fund is downgrading its outlook for the world economy for 2023, citing multiple factors including Russia’s war against Ukraine, chronic inflation pressures, punishing interest rates and the lingering consequences of the Covid pandemic. Indian American entrepreneur-led Icertis, a contract LCM SaaS specialist, has tapped Infor’s Deanna Lanier as chief strategy officer. And early-stage investor Nisarg Shah is seeking tech-led startups at Kettleborough VC. Notes: The International Monetary Fund is downgrading its outlook for the world economy for 2023, citing multiple factors including Russia’s war against Ukraine, chronic inflation pressures, punishing interest rates and the lingering consequences of the Covid pandemic, Associated Press reports. The 190-country lending agency on Tuesday pared its July estimate of 2.9 percent by 20 basis points to 2.7 percent. The IMF left unchanged its forecast for international growth this year — at 3.2 percent, almost at the half of last year’s 6 percent expansion, according to AP. “The worst is yet to come,″ IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said. Three major economies — the United States, China and Europe — are stalling. Countries accounting for a third of global economic output will contract next year, and therefore 2023 “will feel like a recession″ to many around the world, he said, according to AP. India’s IT services industry, one of the country’s biggest exports sectors, sees the US, Britain and Europe as its biggest markets and top executives such as Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO of Tata Consultancy Services are seeing clients engaging in scenario modelling more on the downside than on the upside, while demand currently remains strong. TCS yesterday missed some analyst estimates for its fiscal second-quarter revenue growth on a sequential basis. Icertis, a contract intelligence and management platform provider, has recruited Deanna Lanier as chief strategy officer, reporting to Chairman and CEO Samir Bodas. Lanier will help Icertis expand into new geographies, customer types, and industry verticals, according to a press release. Lanier joins Icertis from Infor, a leading provider of industry-specific cloud software, where she was most recently senior vice president of strategy, growth, and partnerships. Before Infor, Lanier held leadership roles at Adobe, McKinsey, Microsoft, and KMPG. She will be based at Icertis headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Kettleborough VC, an early-stage venture capital firm led by seed investor, Nisarg Shah, has launched its first fund at $5 million to invest in technology-centric startups specifically led by serial entrepreneurs and domain experts, according to a press release. The firm was launched as a solo general partner fund by Shah in late 2021, according to the press release, but he has been active as an investor since 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. So far, Kettleborough has backed five companies via this fund including Zippmat with Matrix Partners India and Zephyr Peacock, Zocket with Kalaari Capital, and Bytelearn with Leo and Chiratae, and is closing two more transactions with Infoedge Ventures and Kae Capital in the coming month. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds