Author: Aishwarya Anand

Startup Digest: BYJU’S to launch Aakash IPO in mid-2024, ONDC launches B2B transactions and more

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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BYJU’S to launch Aakash Education IPO in mid 2024

Edtech giant BYJU’s has announced that its board has given approval to launch the initial public offering (IPO) of its subsidiary Aakash Education Services Limited (AESL) mid next year, confirming CNBC-TV18 newsbreak.

A BYJU’S insider had earlier in April told CNBC-TV18 that Aakash Educational Services would hit public markets in the next 12 months. The firm has said the appointment of merchant bankers for the IPO would be announced later. The listing will provide a significant capital infusion to bolster Aakash’s infrastructure and broaden its reach, it added.

When CNBC-TV18 reached out to BYJU’s for a comment on the offer size, the company refused to comment and said it would share the details once the bankers are finalised.

ONDC launches B2B transactions on the network

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the government-backed interoperable e-commerce network, has announced the launch of business-to-business (B2B) trade on its platform.

With this, ONDC has enabled merchants to engage directly with other businesses in wholesale trade. Leveraging the open network, businesses can expand their reach, forge new partnerships, and tap into previously untapped markets. This transition further allows them to move away from their predominantly offline operations, a statement said.

While the first B2B transaction on the network took place on May 21 at a gathering of network participants (NPs) in Bengaluru. Two startups SignCatch and Rapidor have successfully enabled both the B2B buyer and B2B seller side on ONDC.

Deloitte flags sourcing from inappropriately approved vendors at BharatPe: Report

Auditor Deloitte has flagged inappropriately approved vendors and excess payments at BharatPe, where its former MD and co-founder Ashneer Grover has been accused of cheating and embezzlement of funds, as per a PTI report.

In its latest annual report, BharatPe presented opinion of its statutory auditor that said the company’s internal control system for vendor selection as well as for approval of invoices for purchase of goods and services were not operating effectively, resulting in procurements at inappropriately approved prices.

After devoting a page on the statutory auditors’ report, BharatPe’s annual report in the following section stated that “there were no instances of fraud reported by auditors to the board of directors”. This was used by Grover to attack reportage, saying no journalist has read the annual report of BharatPe which has clearly writes of no fraud.

Suniel Shetty backs edtech startup Klassroom Edutech

Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty has backed Klassroom Edutech, by investing an undisclosed sum in the edtech startup. Since its inception in 2016, the company has raised a total of $1 million in funding.

“I’m delighted to be a part of Klassroom, as they’re making a real impact by implementing the NEP 2020’s innovative teaching methods. Together, let’s empower the next generation with a joyful learning experience,” said Shetty.

Over the next five years, the company aims to impact 20 million students and expand its reach by 3x each year. The firm is also looking to enroll approximately 500,000 students within the next year through its social initiative programs.

Shikhar Dhawan invests in snacks brand TagZ Foods

Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan has invested an undisclosed capital in TagZ Foods, a Bengaluru based urban snack brand and has also joined the company as a brand ambassador.

“As a sportsman, I understand the importance of eating better and leading an active lifestyle. I am excited to be a part of TagZ Foods’ journey as it leapfrogs into its next orbit of growth and expansion. This is a deep and long-term partnership in my dual role as investor and brand ambassador at TagZ,” said Dhawan.

The brand is planning to expand its product line, production capacity and strengthen its distribution to other cities in the country.

Sentra.world gets $2 million in seed funding from Avaana Climate Fund

ESG SaaS platform Sentra.world has bagged $2 million in a seed funding round led by Avaana Capital. The round also witnessed participation from RPG Ventures and Golden Sparrow Ventures.

“This seed funding will accelerate our efforts to provide cutting-edge solutions, sectoral intelligence that help businesses seamlessly track supplier emissions, enhance green sourcing, and optimise their environmental impact”, said Vikas Upadhyay, Co-Founder and COO, sentra.world.

Sentra.world offers innovative Scope 3 solutions to empower businesses and achieve ESG excellence. Through its SaaS products, including sentra.calculus, sentra.network, and sentra.portfolio, the platform enables businesses to decarbonise their value chain, and drive sustainability across the industrial sector.

ShipEase gets $550,000 in non-dilutive capital from Recur Club

ShipEase, a SaaS-enabled logistics platform has bagged $550,000 in non-dilutive funding from Recur Club. The startup will use the funds primarily for technology advancements and further building its brand amongst the D2C segment, a statement said.

The company has also expanded its cloud operations in cross-border trade and partnered with Aramex and UPS for the same. The firm is now looking for international expansion and entering the warehousing industry in the next financial year.

ShipEase has integrated with platforms such as Amazon, Shopify, Flipkart, eBay, Magento, OpenCart, WooCommerce among others.

CleverTap launches Retention Accelerator program for startups

Consumer engagement platform, CleverTap, has announced the launch of its Retention Accelerator Program for startups globally, which is aimed at providing early-stage startups free access to CleverTap’s full stack retention platform, with benefits worth $100,000.

According to the company, the program also provides 1:1 tailored mentoring sessions with CleverTap experts, and networking opportunities with investors and industry leaders. The accelerator will support ten startups yearly, with each cohort comprising five companies.

In July 2023, the first cohort of participants will be announced. From July to December 2023, the selected cohort will work closely with CleverTap, benefiting from invaluable mentoring sessions, it added.

EatFit and HRX launch offline stores primarily targeting metro cities

EatFit, a healthy food platform operated by Curefoods, and HRX by Hrithik Roshan, a homegrown fitness brand, have jointly launched HRX by EatFit offline stores. These stores will primarily target major metro cities and gradually expand to Tier 1 cities, ensuring a broader reach for their offerings, a statement said.

“I am thrilled to witness the expansion of our partnership with EatFit through the launch of our offline stores. The values that both EatFit and HRX as brands hold are deeply interconnected and we pride ourselves on this synergy. I hope that the HRX by EatFit offline stores will enable individuals to access nutritional meals on the go.” said Hrithik Roshan, founder of HRX.

Since the partnership between EatFit and HRX in July 2022, HRX by EatFit claims that its revenue has been doubling every quarter, with annualized revenue of Rs 25 crores. The brands are looking to launch 10 offline stores initially, with a long-term vision of reaching 150 stores by 2025.

ENVIRONMENT DAY: STARTUP’S INITIATIVES

Furlenco pledges to eliminate one-time plastic packaging by 2025

In line with the theme of World Environment Day this year #BeatPlasticPollution, furniture and lifestyle brand Furlenco has pledged to eradicate the use of one-time plastic packaging materials by 2025. The company has also started using reusable packaging materials.

The company has also implemented various initiatives to minimize its environmental impact and help promote a circular economy in the retail industry. Among the initiatives includes a furniture refurbishment program, under which, the lifespan of furniture was extended by refurbishing its products for up to six cycles, thereby reducing its carbon footprint.

BigBasket announces its EV fleet helped reduce 7,000+ tonne in CO2 emissions

E-grocer BigBasket has managed to reduce 7012 tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2022 due to its 5,458 electric delivery vehicles fleet, the company said in its Green Report 2022.

It also highlighted that with 4,512k Wp panels installed atop 27 warehouses in 11 cities, the company generated 54,57,000 kWh of solar power in 2022, reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 1,670 tonnes. In addition, bigbasket has also supplied organic produce from 1,782 farmers in 2022. Through field geotagging, agricultural intelligence, and knowledge-sharing sessions, the company said it is working towards going 100 percentorganic in the coming years.

PayU and Prosus highlight sustainable packaging solutions in India

Fintech player PayU and Prosus, a technology investor, have launched the Scaling Sustainable Packaging Report which defines 10 Golden Rules that e-commerce and delivery platforms can implement to tackle the issue of packaging waste and make sustainability a scalable option for business in India.

PayU said it has achieved a marked reduction in energy (31 percent), water waste (53%) and solid waste (39%) after shift to recycled paper products. By moving to Green Garbage Bags, PayU said it has saved almost 2 tonnes of plastic waste and 1 kg of carbon emission per kg of a garbage bag. The company’s annual CO2 emission saving was reduced to 1.35 tonnes and 31.68 tonnes by transitioning to EV vehicles and glass bottles.

BluSmart completes 200 Million electric kilometers mark

All-electric fleet operator BluSmart Mobility has announced it has completed over 200 million clean kilometers through 6 million + zero-emission trips in its EV fleet since its inception in 2019.

With a commitment to reduce carbon emissions, BluSmart said its EVs have saved over 14,600 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the positive impact of more than 630,000 fully grown trees actively absorbing CO2 within a year. BluSmart has a fleet of over 4,000 EV cars in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.

Ecofy partners Piaggio Vehicles to provide financing on electric three-wheeler range

Ecofy, a green-only NBFC has partnered Piaggio Vehicles, a manufacturer of small commercial vehicles to provide financial assistance to individuals and corporations on electric three-wheelers (passenger and cargo range).

The company says it will provide offers like zero processing fees for the first 50 vehicles disbursed, while Piaggio Vehicles will leverage Ecofy’s user-friendly and fully digital financing solutions to deliver 800 vehicles in the current financial year.

Lohum partners MG Motor India for second-life EV battery solutions

Integrated battery recycling and repurposing solutions provider Lohum has teamed up with MG Motor India to develop second-life solutions for the car maker’s EV batteries.

Under the collaboration, Lohum will reuse end-of-first-life batteries of MG electric vehicles to build 2nd-life Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for a wide variety of clean energy applications in domestic urban and rural markets. It also rolled out a completely off-grid 5kWh battery energy storage system for an uninterrupted power supply even in regions with unreliable grid infrastructure.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Musk’s Neuralink valued at about $5 billion

Elon Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink, which was valued at close to $2 billion in a private fundraising round two years ago, is now worth around $5 billion based on privately executed stock trades, as per Reuters.

Some purchases by bullish investors boosted the valuation in recent months, ahead of Neuralink’s May 25 announcement that U.S. regulators had approved a human trial on its brain chip.

Atomic Wallet loses over $35 million in cryptocurrency due to security breach

Atomic Wallet, a mobile and desktop crypto wallet allowing users to store various cryptocurrencies, has experienced a security breach and lost over $35 million in crypto assets since June 2.

ZachXBT, an on-chain investigator, has been collecting transactions of funds stolen from Atomic Wallet victims and claimed that over $35 million in cryptocurrency has been stolen as a result of this compromise.

Last week, Atomic Wallet tweeted that they had received reports of compromised wallets and had begun an investigation. A tweet from the company on Monday said, “At the moment less than 1 per cent of our monthly active users have been affected/reported. Last drained transaction was confirmed over 40h ago.”

Binance controlled ‘independent’ U.S. affiliate’s bank accounts

A senior Binance executive was the main operator for five bank accounts belonging to the giant cryptocurrency exchange’s purportedly independent U.S. affiliate, including an account that held American customers’ funds, bank records show.

U.S. lender Silvergate Bank authorized the executive, Guangying Chen, a close associate of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, to operate the accounts in 2019 and 2020, according to records from those years. This allowed Chen and her deputies to move funds held in the bank accounts. Employees at the affiliate, Binance.US, had to ask Chen’s team to process payments, even to cover the firm’s payroll, company messages show.

The new findings offer further detail into how Binance exercised tight control over Binance.US, despite both firms maintaining that they have always operated independently. The previously unreported bank records and messages show that Binance’s management over the U.S. business’s finances extended across its bank accounts at Silvergate and detail how this secret access was granted.

Instagram reinstates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. amid presidential bid launch

Instagram has lifted its suspension against the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of the late president John F. Kennedy, The Washington Post reported.

Kennedy, who is making a long shot bid to challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination, was removed from the photo-sharing platform in 2021 for reportedly sharing debunked claims about COVID-19 in violation of its policies on the pandemic.

“As he is now an active candidate for president of the United States, we have restored access to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Instagram account,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement.

Ex-NBCUniversal executive Joe Benarroch joins Twitter

Former NBCUniversal executive Joe Benarroch joins Twitter, in a role focusing on business operations, he told Reuters.

Benarroch said in an email that he was looking forward to working with the company’s team to “build Twitter 2.0 together.”

“Welcome to the flock, @benarroch_joe! From one bird to the next,” tweeted incoming Twitter Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino, who was appointed in May. She did not mention the position Benarroch will be taking.

OpenAI mulling Israel investment opportunities

OpenAI is considering investment opportunities in Israel, Microsoft Israel R&D center quoted the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, as saying during a visit to the country.

Altman has predicted a “huge role” for Israel in reducing risks from artificial intelligence even as the country debates whether and how to regulate the technology behind ChatGPT.

After crisscrossing Europe last month meeting lawmakers and national leaders to discuss the prospects and threats of AI, Altman now plans to travel to Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India and South Korea – all this week.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

PhysicsWallah to invest Rs 120 crore in upskilling, over 85% enrollment from small towns: PW Skills CEO

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With an aim to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of professionals with new-age relevant tech skills, the only profitable edtech unicorn Physics Wallah, aims to invest Rs 120 crores in the next two to three years to bolster its upskilling platform PW Skills.

“The first part of the investment will go into our tech. The second set of our investments will go into our community. We try to offer a lot of courses for free. We have launched over 10 popular programmes for our community. The third set of deployments will happen in our job platform. With our partnerships, we are trying to accumulate all jobs on a single platform,” Sudhanshu Kumar, CEO, PW Skills told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive chat.

The edtech startup launched PW Skill in 2022, which includes PW Virtual Lab, an experience portal, a job portal, and an online community.

“So far we have reached out to almost 1.5 lakh students. Out of that 50,000 students are basically paid students and we are trying to focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities so that people there can avail a premium grade education with the complete integration of an ecosystem starting from course,” added Kumar.

Also Read: Edtech platform Physics Wallah to hire 2500 new employees across verticals

According to PW Skills, close to 85-86 percent of students are coming from the small towns of India.

“Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh — these are the states from where we are getting lots and lots of enrollment,” stated Kumar.

PW Skills also offers placement assistance through its exclusive job portal. The platform has partnerships with over 250 companies, including Tata IQ, Siemens, Leadsquared, SAP, Oracle, KPMG, and Amazon to offer top-notch job opportunities to learners.

“In the last three years, we have placed approximately 10,000+ students in product-based companies, MNCs and well-funded startups. We are planning to host a big job fair for PW Skills students very soon,” said Kumar.

PW Skills currently offers hybrid courses in data science, Java, C++, full-stack web development, and other tech courses at disruptive pricing for Rs 3,500 onwards. The company is looking to explore blockchain, cybersecurity, and AR/VR-focused courses to strengthen India’s talent pipeline. The firm aims to have 10 lahks skilled tech workforce within the next three years.

Also Read: Physics Wallah acquires Knowledge Planet; Gynoveda solves gynecological disorders using ayurveda

“We will try to expand this entire skill domain maybe into some non-technical courses. A huge set of people staying in Tier 2-3 cities, would like to get into non-tech courses like additional marketing, MBA or finance-related courses,” added Kumar.

PhysicsWallah’s FY23 revenue has jumped three-fold to Rs 780 crore as compared to Rs 233 crore in FY22. It expects its revenue to grow over 10-fold to Rs 2,500 crore in FY24 driven by expansion of business.

“For the PW Skills, we are planning to clock $10 million in ARR this year,” added Kumar.

The Westbridge Capital-backed edtech unicorn acquired iNeuron Intelligence last year for Rs 250 crore to expand its offerings in the upskilling category. PW Skills also recently partnered with NSDC to make skilling, reskilling and upskilling affordable for learners. The company, however, has no plans for any acquisitions as of now.

Going forward, PW Skills plans to expand into joint certification courses with top colleges, diploma courses, and technology courses in vernacular languages. The training programs cater to learners of all levels, from fundamentals to advanced, ensuring accessibility and ease of understanding.

Also Read: Startup Digest: Physicswallah acquires UAE-based Knowledge Planet & Good Glamm Group acquires Bulbul

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Fintech startup Paytail achieves operational profitability within two years of inception

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fintech startup Paytail, which helps consumers access EMIs in offline stores, claims to have turned profitable after clocking a quarterly growth of over 70 percent and a 9x annual growth in FY23. Paytail added that it has zero cash burn and has achieved operational profitability within just two years of inception while maintaining a good growth rate.

The firm said that in FY23, its total disbursals stood at Rs 1,200 crore as against to Rs 142 crore the previous fiscal. The company has attributed the growth to its expanding distribution network of retail merchants and corporate partnerships.

According to Paytail, its distribution network includes 85,000+ merchants, and the company aims to expand this network to about 400,000+ in the next two or three years. Paytail added that it has started delivering operating profit and will be scaling the business sustainably.

Also read: Rooter raises $16 million led by Lightbox to grow in India-like gaming markets

“We’re not just focused on short-term growth — we’re building a platform that will continue to deliver value to our customers, merchants, corporate and lending partners for years to come,” said Vikas Garg, founder & CEO, Paytail.

The ‘Made by Bharat, Made for Bharat’ startup said it is disrupting the $1 trillion offline commerce market by bringing affordability, speed, and convenience to customers and transforming merchants’ selling experience through scalable technology solutions. The firm has forged partnerships with numerous multinational and Indian brands, including Voltas, Voltas Beko, V Guard, BlueStar, Hero Cycles, Hero Lectro, Hero Electric, Liv Guard, Liv Fast, UTL Solar, amongst many others

The company is targeting another 5-6X growth in the current financial year while maintaining a healthy level of profitability balance, a statement said. In the next three years, Paytail is looking to enter underserved states in the Southern and Eastern parts of India.

Also read: Sustainability platform StepChange aims to develop India-specific emission models, says CEO

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Fivetran receives $125 million loan from Vista Credit Partners

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Data startup Fivetran has received $125 million in debt financing from Vista Credit Partners to accelerate enterprise growth, global go-to-market strategy and platform innovation.

“Fivetran’s automated data movement platform helps enterprises connect to all of their data — whether on-prem or in the cloud — with 99.9 percent guaranteed uptime. The financing will allow us to accelerate R&D and expand our automated data movement platform as we continue to scale globally,” said George Fraser, CEO, Fivetran.

In the last year, the US-based tech unicorn claims to have achieved $200 million in annual revenue run rate and a 50 percent year-over-year increase. The company enables hundreds of brands including Autodesk, Conagra Brand, and Morgan Stanley, among others, to accelerate data-driven decisions and drive business growth.

In India, with the integration of HVR, Fivetran is serving some of the largest enterprises that require high-volume multi-directional data synchronisation in real-time from sources like Oracle and SAP. With 100+ employees and dedicated in-country GCP and AWS data centres, Fivetran claims to be growing rapidly in the country.

Also Read: Rooter raises $16 million led by Lightbox to grow in India-like gaming markets

“In today’s macroeconomic climate, many of the most successful companies are data companies. From making revenue-impacting decisions to driving operational efficiencies, enterprises rely on data to run their business. Data availability across an organisation cannot be something in question. Access must be as simple and as reliable as electricity,” added Fraser.

Amid the uncertain global macroeconomic environment and the startup ecosystem gripped by a funding winter, founders are resorting to unconventional methods to raise funds for extending the cash runway of their businesses. Venture debt deals have been gaining momentum.

A report by Stride Ventures reveals that startup funding via the venture debt route has increased by almost three times from 2019 to 2022. However, the industry is still at a nascent stage, with venture debt penetration in India at only $0.8 billion, as compared to the USA, which stands at $32 billion. Fifty-one percent of the amount invested by venture debt companies has gone into ‘Series D and beyond’ companies, whereas ‘pre-series A’ companies have bagged the most deals.

Also Read: Outgoing Puma India head Abhishek Ganguly’s Agilitas Sports raises Rs 430 crore

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Microsoft invests in Builder.ai to build AI solutions for the digital economy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Tech giant Microsoft has made an equity investment in SaaS startup Builder.ai in a push to make software development accessible to the next set of non-tech users. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed.

Under the collaboration, both the company will work on creating Artificial Intelligence powered solutions that will empower businesses to develop applications and become digitally native without the need for any technical expertise.

“This collaboration for Builder.ai is centred around the alignment of our core mission. We are ecstatic that the world’s largest software company chose Builder.ai as a collaborator to lay down deeper roots in helping the next 100m businesses and beyond become digitally native,” said Sachin Dev Duggal, Chief Wizard and Founder, Builder.ai.

Also read: Capria Ventures secures $100 million fund to back Generative AI and climate startups

The partnership will also help Builder.ai accelerate its go-to-market strategy through deep product connections across the Microsoft product ecosystem — including integrations across Azure OpenAI Service and other Azure Cognitive Services with Builder.ai’s software assembly line and adoption of the Microsoft Cloud and AI.

In 2022, Builder.ai raised $100 million in a Series C round led by Insight Partners to scale up its software automation.

“We see Builder.ai creating an entirely new category that empowers everyone to be a developer and our new, deeper collaboration fuelled by Azure AI will bring the combined power of both companies to businesses around the world,” said Jon Tinter, Corporate Vice President, Business Development, Microsoft.

Also read: After PhonePe, IPO-bound Razorpay seeks to move parent entity to India

It will also help Microsoft expand its offerings for SMB and micro SMB customers. The tech giant will also integrate Builder.ai across its other solutions like Teams where users will be able to access the SaaS startup’s chatbot and order an app through the Teams platform.

This is Microsoft’s second investment in India’s enterprise software sector this year. In March, enterprise human resource technology services provider Darwinbox raised an undisclosed sum from Microsoft and the State Bank of India.

Microsoft has been investing in building data centres in India to build solutions in India for the world. It had committed to invest Rs 16,000 crore to set up 3 more data centres in Hyderabad. The strategic investment is aligned with Microsoft’s commitment to helping customers thrive in a cloud and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled digital economy.

Also read: Purple Style Labs aims for 50-70% annual growth for the next 3 years

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

After PhonePe, IPO-bound Razorpay seeks to move parent entity to India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fintech major Razorpay has begun the process to move its parent company back to India from the US. The firm has confirmed the development to CNBC-TV18.

The move comes amid the company’s target for an initial public offering, tighter RBI data norms for payment providers and the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. In light of its IPO ambitions, Razorpay also recently brought in former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, NS Vishwanathan, as the chairperson for its newly formed advisory board that will focus on setting up standards around customer experience, governance, compliance, and risk management practices.

According to several reports, the firm has been working on the reverse flipping for a few months. Razorpay is looking to capitalise on the benefits of domiciling in India, reports added.

Also read: Purple Style Labs aims for 50-70% annual growth for the next 3 years

Backed by the likes of Y Combinator, GIC, Sequoia India, Ribbit Capital, Matrix Partners, MasterCard, and others, Razorpay is currently valued at over $7 billion. The fintech unicorn has raised more than $740 million till date.

The development comes months after Walmart-owned online payments provider PhonePe shifted its domicile to India from Singapore. PhonePe’s founder and CEO Sameer Nigam had told CNBC-TV18 that its investors had to suffer an Rs 8,000 crore hit in taxes after the company decided to shift its domicile.

The Centre has been emphasising on getting Indian companies back in the country. India has set up an expert committee to suggest measures to encourage local startups domiciled abroad to relocate to Gujarat International Finance Tec-City’s International Financial Services Centre (GIFT-IFSC). The Economic Survey 2023 also spoke about the importance of getting Indian unicorns back onshore and suggested various ways to incentivise companies.

Also read: With $42M funding, BluSmart’s core market “Delhi-NCR” to turn profitable by Aug

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

New WhatsApp Scam: Hoax calls from international numbers plague users — Truecaller comes to the rescue

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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About 500 million WhatsApp users in India have been at the receiving end of scams. While a job scam—citing promising part-time employment opportunities—has been widely reported since the start of 2023, over the past week, social media has been abuzz with users in India complaining of missed calls from countries like Ethiopia (+251), Malaysia (+60), Indonesia (+62), Kenya (+254), Vietnam (+84) and many others.

What’s important to note is that these code numbers do not necessarily mean that the calls are originating from these countries. According to multiple reports, agencies are selling these overseas numbers to local scammers.

There is no information on who these callers are and why they use WhatsApp for this scam.  It is not even clear how these calls can affect users and who is tracking them.

Also read: Earn Rs 10,000 a day — One click to earn a little extra can drain your life savings

When CNCB-TV18 reached out to WhatsApp, it said via a statement, “We apply spam detection technology to spot and take action on accounts engaging in abnormal behaviour to stop spam. We have a grievance officer based in India who can be contacted if a user has a concern about their experience and is unable to report it through other channels. The reports detail user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive actions to combat abuse on the platform.”

In addition, the messaging platform claimed it has launched a marketing campaign “stay safe with WhatsApp” to educate users about its in-built product features and safety tools like Two-Step Verification, Block and Report and Privacy controls, which equip people with the necessary safeguards to help protect them from online scams, frauds and account compromising threats.

In its ‘Monthly India Report’, until May 1, the Meta-owned social conversation platform claimed to have banned more than 47 lakh malicious WhatsApp accounts in India. The messaging platform said that it received 4,720 reports in March in India and acted on 585 of them.

Also Read: Three arrested for scamming frauding gamers through fake websites

“We do see these patterns happening globally and we are getting reports that it’s increasing in India too. It’s all about how these scammers can get people to answer the calls. They have found platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram to make these calls. Remember for scammers, this is their full-time job. They will figure out new and cheaper ways to reach consumers,” said Alan Mamedi, Co-Founder and CEO, Truecaller, in an exclusive chat with CNBC-TV18.

Mamedi further added, “It’s harmless to answer calls, just like any other spam call. The problem is if you click on links and start engaging in these conversations. We at Truecaller believe it’s going to be a huge problem if these scammers start adding voice assistance using AI models to these calls and pretend to be someone you know.”

Truecaller will soon start making its caller identification service available over WhatsApp and other messaging apps to help users spot potential spam calls over the internet, the company told CNBC-TV18 on Monday.

Also Read: Why tech-savvy millennials fall for job scams — here’s a checklist to keep in mind

The feature, currently in beta testing, will be rolled out globally later in May, Mamedi added.

“Anyone can join our beta program on Google Play. It’s absolutely free for anyone to use. It will show Caller ID for calls on WhatsApp, Telegram and will work on other messaging apps too. We see all these calling patterns and know in real time through our AI identity model if it’s a good actor or a bad actor,” said Mamedi.

He further stated that for iPhone users, last month they had rolled out live-Caller id powered by Siri.

Telemarketing and scamming calls have been on the rise in countries like India, where users get about 17 spam calls per month on average, according to a 2021 report by Truecaller. For Truecaller, India is its biggest market with 250 million users. It has 350 million users globally and earns its revenue from advertising, subscription services, and verified listings from businesses.

Also Read: Will you be a scam artist’s next target?

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Swiggy levies platform fees on food orders in a bid to cut costs, citing slowdown in delivery business

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Foodtech giant Swiggy is now levying a “platform fee” of Rs 2 per order for all its users. The additional charge is irrespective of the cart value and has not been extended to its quick commerce vertical Instamart.

In a statement to CNBC-TV18, a company spokesperson said, “The amount is nominal and for food only Rs 2. The platform fee is a nominal flat fee charged on food orders. This fee helps us operate and improve our platform and enhance app features to deliver a seamless app experience.”

The news was first reported by Moneycontrol which also mentioned that the fee was rolled out in phases over the past week in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Swiggy has not yet introduced these charges in major cities such as Delhi and Mumbai yet but the company is planning to extend this to other regions.

Also read: Can Blinkit be a ‘golden egg’ for Zomato?

The move comes as the online food delivery platform is looking to cut costs amidst a slowdown in the delivery business.

“The growth rate for food delivery has slowed down versus our projections (along with many peer companies globally). While our cash reserves allow us to be fundamentally well positioned to weather harsh circumstances, we cannot make this a crutch and must continue identifying efficiencies to secure our long-term,” Swiggy’s CEO and co-founder Sriharsha Majety said in an email (seen by Moneycontrol) to employees which mentioned the company slashing 380 jobs.

“The company was no exception,” added Majety.

In FY22, Swiggy’s losses widened 2.2 times to Rs 3,629 crore, as its expenses stood at 227 per cent of the previous year’s cost. This was even as the decacorn’s revenue jumped more than two-fold to Rs 5,704.9 crore in FY22, according to Tofler. On a unit level, Swiggy spent Rs 1.68 to earn a rupee of operating revenue during the same period.

Also read: Swiggy partners with Apna to make 10,000 local gig jobs available in tier 2 cities in 2023 for Instamart

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Startup Digest: OYO turns cash flow positive in Q4’23, BrightCHAMPS acquires Metamorphosis and more

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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OYO turns cash flow positive for the first time in Q4’23

Hospitality and travel tech company OYO said that it has turned cash flow positive in the fourth quarter of FY 2023, in a presentation to employees, a copy of which CNBC-TV18 has viewed.

The company is anticipated to end the quarter with nearly Rs 90 crore surplus cash flow. Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal revealed to employees in the internal townhall that the firm has marked first financial year of adjusted EBITDA profitability since its inception and are expected to clock adjusted EBITDA of nearly Rs 800 crore for FY24.

Also read: Fintech Razorpay joins ONDC to offer payment reconciliation services to buyers, sellers

The company tripled its adjusted EBITDA in H2FY23 to around Rs 185 crore, a jump from when Oyo reported a negative adjusted EBITDA of Rs 190 crore in H2FY22.

BrightCHAMPS forays into B2B space with Metamorphosis’ acquisition

Edtech startup BrightCHAMPS has acquired ISB incubated Metamorphosis in a cash and stock deal.

With the acquisition, BrightChamps, which has been operating in the B2C space, has marked its foray into the B2B segment. This is the third acquisition for the firm in the past 15 months.

Metamorphosis founder Pavan Allena will lead BrightChamps B2B vertical under its chief financial officer Amit Kumar. It will focus on enabling National Education Policy (NEP) compliance for schools across life skills courses the company offers, a statement said.

Stack Identity gets $4 million in seed round

Stack Identity, a Silicon Valley-based startup that automating identity and access management (IAM) governance to identify and eliminate cloud data threat vectors, has raised $4 million in seed funding round co-led by US-based WestWave Capital and Benhamou Global Ventures.

The firm will use funds to further invest in solving the challenge of automating cloud security as enterprises accelerate the development of data-centric and AI powered applications.

Stack Identity will also use the capital to scale product development, strengthen go-to-market strategies and expand customer reach, including SMBs, mid-market and enterprises.

Leo Capital leads $1.14 million seed round in QuickReply.ai

QuickReply.ai, a WhatsApp marketing and automation platform, has secured $1.14 million in a seed funding round led by Leo and saw participation from Pentathlon Ventures, GSF and entrepreneurs and angel investors.

The firm plans to deploy the capital largely towards talent acquisition, product development, bolstering its tech infrastructure, and research & development.

The startup is also looking to allocate funds towards marketing and global expansion to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe, over the next two years.

Aksum raises $1 million from Inflection Point Ventures

Aksum, a B2B SCaaS platform has raised $1 million in a mix of equity & debt in its Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures.

The funds will be used to enhance and reinforce the technology framework of the company and also expand its reach to new geographic locations, a statement said.

The company claims to be on track to achieve a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of over Rs 250 Crore in the financial year 2023-24.

NRIHelpLine bags funding from angel investors

Non-Resident Indian (NRI) community-focused realty platform NRIHelpLine has raised an undisclosed amount in its seed funding round from a host of angel investors.

With the fresh capital, the startup is targeting the 100 million NRI diaspora with $100 billion in remittances.

The company is also planning to on-board real estate inventory in 6 Indian states and 29 cities for primary real estate sales in the first phase and secondary sales of real estate, a statement said.

RED.Health launches air ambulance services across 550+ cities in India

RED.Health, a medical emergency response platform has expanded its offerings to launch Air Ambulance services, to provide state-of-the-art medical emergency services with technology across 550+ cities in India.

The company said it has a fleet of 8 specialised aircrafts that can evacuate patients from any terrain or geography of the nation timely and efficiently. All the ambulances are equipped with defined SOPs, clinical pathways, medico-legal framework, and a team of qualified critical care professionals.

Razorpay joins ONDC to offer payment reconciliation services to buyers, sellers

Fintech player Razorpay has announced that it is joining the ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) ecosystem. The firm said it has become the first payment gateway to launch payment reconciliation services for buyers, sellers, and logistic partners.

Through this solution, Razorpay aims to provide a seamless and efficient way for Network Participants (NPs) to settle funds and process transactions on ONDC.

By routing settlement information for transactions and providing support for documentation and dispute resolution, Razorpay’s solution helps to ensure that transactions are validated and secure, it added.

FunctionUp launches Data Science programme for professionals to crack US remote jobs

FunctionUp, an upskilling edtech platform has launched a Data Science programme, specifically designed to prepare students for US-based remote jobs.

The programme offers live classes with industry experts, personalised doubt-clearing sessions, and high-level projects, according to an official release, as per a statement.

FunctionUp claims that students will have the opportunity to work on more than 10 industry-grade major projects and over 40 minor projects, including projects on generative AI modules such as ChatGPT 4, Financial Fraud Detection, and Autonomous Driving Cars.

Swiggy and Apna to make 10,000 local gig jobs available in tier 2 cities in 2023 for Instamart

Swiggy has partnered with jobs and professional networking platform Apna to create 10,000 gig working jobs for its quick commerce grocery service Instamart in 2023.

The company said in a statement that with this they aim to strengthen its delivery fleet in tier 2 and 3 cities across the country. Swiggy Instamart is currently present in over 25 cities in India.

Approximately 23.5 million delivery workers will be employed in the country by 2029-30, according to industry reports.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Amazon to shut down Halo division, lays off some staff

Amazon said it was shutting down its Halo division that sells health and sleep trackers as the technology giant kicks off wider company layoffs.

The company said it will stop supporting Halo services from July 31, and will fully refund Halo devices purchases made in the preceding 12 months.

“We notified impacted employees in the U.S. and Canada today,” the company said in a blog post.

Meta wins back Wall Street with AI promises

Meta Platforms is a Wall Street darling again. The company’s shares continued their winning streak on Thursday, surging 12% after Meta’s focus on AI and cost-cutting cheered investors whose enthusiasm has already helped the social media behemoth nearly double in value this year.

Meta is set to add around $60 billion to its market valuation, if premarket gains hold. The rally also lifted other tech companies from Snap and Pinterest to Amazon by as much as 3.3%.

Meta beat expectations for first-quarter profit and revenue, which rose for the first time in nearly a year, the latest sign that American tech giants were digging themselves out of a slump that has sparked tens of thousands of layoffs.

Microsoft hits back at UK after Activision acquisition blocked

Microsoft’s president Brad Smith said the UK regulator’s decision to prevent its acquisition of ‘Call of Duty’ maker Activision Blizzard “had shaken confidence” in Britain as a destination for tech businesses.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently from government, blocked the deal on Wednesday, saying it could hit competition in the nascent cloud gaming market.

Microsoft hit back, saying it was “probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain” and sent the wrong message to the global tech industry about the UK.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Reuters, Smith’s comments were “not borne out by the facts”.

Also read: “Down rounds are natural, take medicine and move forward,” General Catalyst’s Hemant Taneja tells startup founders

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Startup Digest: Ohmium raises $250M, PhonePe may waive off ZestMoney’s debt, Uber expands ‘Reserve’ option & more

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ohmium raises $250 million in Series C round led by TPG Rise Climate

Ohmium International, a green hydrogen company that designs, manufactures, and deploys advanced proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer systems, has raised $250 million in Series C growth equity financing.

The round was led by TPG Rise Climate, the dedicated climate investing strategy of TPG’s global impact investing platform TPG Rise, and also saw participation from Hanover Technology Investment Management and existing investors Energy Transition Ventures and Fenice Investment Group.

According to the company, the funding will be used to support Ohmium’s expansion to 2 GW in annual manufacturing capacity and the deployment of projects for the company’s growing global customer pipeline in key regions including the U.S., Europe, India, and the Middle East.

Capria Ventures marks first close of $100 million Global South Fund II

Capria Ventures, a global impact investment firm, that has backed Indian startups Betterplace, BharatAgri, Eduvanz and Edenfarm, has marked the first close of its Global South Fund II with a $100 million target.

The new fund will be investing in 20-25 tech startups across India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, a statement said. The fund will focus on founders using generative artificial intelligence to transform companies across multiple sectors with a focus on climate startups.

“The startup ecosystem in India and Southeast Asia is thriving with immense potential for growth and innovation. India has over 20,000 startups, while Southeast Asia’s venture capital investment is on the rise, with the internet economy projected to reach USD 330 billion by 2025. Capria’s Fund II recognizes these synergies and aims to invest in the most promising early-growth tech startups in both regions,” said Dave Richards, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Capria Ventures.

Real Time Angel Fund increases fund size to Rs 510 crores; marks second close at Rs 125 Cr

Early-stage investor Real Time Angel Fund (RTAF) has marked the second close of its maiden fund at Rs 125 crore. The Sebi-registered sector agnostic angel fund also said that it has increased the total corpus of the fund to Rs 510 Cr.

The VC fund received SEBI licence in July 2022 and announced its first close in August last year. The fund’s investments span across sectors like healthtech, fintech, agritech, personal care, artificial intelligence, SaaS, and consumer technology. It has backed 10 startups including online marketplace MyMandi and SaaS platform TransportSimple.

According to the firm, these startups have attracted investments from around 300 investors. They also receive strategic support, mentorship, and access to its extensive network of industry experts.

HerKey secures $4 million from Kalaari and 360 ONE Asset

HerKey (formerly JobsForHer), a career engagement platform for women in India, has bagged $4 million in a funding round led by Kalaari, 360 ONE Asset, earlier known as IIFL Asset Management (IIFL AMC), and angel investors.

The platform seeks to address the gender gap in the Indian workforce, where only 20% of women participate in the labor force, compared to 60% in China and 55% in the United States, a statement said.

The company claims to have serviced over 3.5 million women across India and plans to impact 30 million women’s careers in India.

Niro bags $11 million in Series A funding round

Niro, a consumer-lending platform has raised $11 million in a Series A round of funding which was a mix of equity ($8.5million) and debt ($2.5million).

The equity round was led by Elevar Equity, GMO Venture Partners, Rebright Partners, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance VC, and others. Venture debt was funded by Innoven Capital.

With this fresh funds, Niro plans to expand its partner footprint, product offerings, risk analytics capabilities and bolster its technology layer.

The company claims to have disbursed over Rs 300 crores of loans across 200+ cities in India and has a monthly origination run rate of over Rs 60 crores.

Nkure Therapeutics raises Pre-Series A round from Endiya and others

Nkure Therapeutics, an NK cell therapy company, has raised undisclosed capital in its Pre–Series A round led by Endiya Partners, Kotak Investment Advisors, Featherlite and angel investors.

The firm said it will use the investments to complete its manufacturing protocols and complete its preclinical studies for its planned IND submission.

The startup claims to have successfully developed an NK cell platform at laboratory scale coupled with agreements with CDMOs in India and the US. It has also secured exclusive licenses to a specialized CAR and related technologies to enable allogenic cell therapy, the first of its kind in India.

Bigger deals, higher valuations—India’s early-stage startups overvalued: InnoVen Report

The funding winter turned India’s early-stage startups into investor favourites as growth and late-stage tech companies struggled to demonstrate solid metrics to qualify for further investments amid a global liquidity crunch. Going by an InnoVen Capital report, this trend led to overcooking of valuations with bigger deal sizes in the seed-to-Series A rounds in India.

“One out of two investors believe that early-stage companies were overvalued in 2022”, said the report, which spoke with 20 early-bird investors, including Blume Ventures, Better Capital, Omnivore, IAN Fund, Kae Capital, India Quotient and WaterBridge Ventures.

Respondents highlighted that higher activity levels in seed stage by large established venture capital firms (including Tier-1 VC seed programs) have driven up valuations and blurred the lines between Seed and Series A. Some of the Tier-1 VCs who run seed programs—Sequoia (Surge) and Accel (Atoms)—were among the top-5 most active early-stage investors in India last year.

PhonePe may waive off ZestMoney’s $18 million debt: Report

After PhonePe pulled back from acquiring lending startup ZestMoney citing concerns raised during due diligence, the digital payments major is looking to strike a commercial agreement with the lending firm in lieu of an $18 million loan it had handed out to the cash-strapped company, the Economic Times reported.

As per the report, ZestMoney is also in discussions to raise separate equity capital from some of its existing investors, however, those talks are preliminary.

PhonePe’s move to purchase ZestMoney’s technology stack and hire 150 of the startup’s staff would help it expedite the launch of its own lending business, the report added.

Uber expands ‘Reserve’ option to 6 more cities in India

Ride-hailing app Uber has announced the expansion of ‘Reserve’ facility across six more cities in India, giving riders an option to pre-book their rides 30 minutes to 90 days ahead of their travel.

Uber Reserve will now be available for cash payments offering riders access to pre-booked rides, it said in a statement.

The six new cities added are Kochi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati.

PIED Society BITS Pilani collaborates with Microsoft to nurture startups and entrepreneurs

Pilani Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (PIED) Society, the technology business incubator at BITS Pilani that helps entrepreneurs curate the future of innovation, has collaborated with Microsoft to set up an incubation cell at the institute.

As a part of this collaboration, PIED and Microsoft have signed an MoU to foster startups and support entrepreneurs be future ready. The initiative is aimed at building the right skills and creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for entrepreneurs and start-ups at PIED Society with Microsoft’s skilling, certification, and mentorship support.

With this collaboration, startups at PIED Society will get exclusive access to Microsoft leadership and expert guidance, Azure influencers, and other start-up founders that can help to accelerate their growth. Along with this, the initiative will focus on providing access to Microsoft products and resources to students as well as educators with access to Azure community program and ongoing developer campaigns.

Beyoung crosses Rs 100 Crore this financial year; eyes 150 crore in FY23-24

Online fashion brand Beyoung said it has clocked Rs 100 crore in revenue in the FY22-23. The brand aims to hit Rs 150 crore in FY23-24.

“Our primary focus has always been to provide affordable and trendy clothing for both men and women, and this milestone is a testament to our commitment to this goal,” said Shivam Soni, founder, and CEO, Beyoung.

The brand is looking expand its product offerings to include more categories and will also focus on increasing its omnichannel presence by opening more offline stores in this financial year.

Zerund witnesses over 400 % YoY growth in rsevenue

Zerund, a Guwahati-based manufacturer of sustainable bricks, said it has clocked 410 percent in revenue year-on-year for FY22-23.

As per the company, it has sold 40,00,000 bricks to date, providing an eco-friendly solution to the construction industry, and has a very aggressive plan for this fiscal of taking this number to more than 80,00,000 bricks.

The firm added it is currently witnessing a Month-on-Month (MoM) growth rate of 20 percent. Last year, the company said it recycled over 1500+ tons of plastic waste and 10,000+ tons of industrial waste to manufacture its sustainable bricks.

Simple Energy to launch electric scooter on May 23

EV startup Simple Energy has announced the launch of its electric two wheeler, Simple ONE on May 23, 2023, in Bengaluru.

The scooter, announced in 2021, was to be delivered in 2022 but was subsequently delayed to comply with new battery safety regulations.

“With the official confirmation on the launch of Simple ONE, we would also like to announce that we are the first OEM to comply with the Automotive Industry Standards (AIS) 156 amendment 3 that ensures greater battery safety. Simple ONE is now faster, improved on aesthetics, on battery systems and powertrains and offers unmatched safety,” said Suhas Rajkumar, Founder & CEO, Simple Energy.

Borzo expands services in 8 cities, aims to strengthen hyperlocal segment

Borzo, an intercity delivery service has expanded its services to eight new cities in India. With the addition of Amritsar, Guwahati, Jodhpur, Kota, Lucknow, Udaipur and Dehradun in its delivery fold, Borzo now caters to 22 cities in India.

With this move, the company aims to strengthen its hyperlocal delivery initiatives. Borzo intends to increase the volume of deliveries in India by 4X within the next two years with this expansion and believes hyperlocal will help achieve this target.

“While we will continue to focus on our core segment SMB and Enterprise, hyperlocal will allow us to penetrate a large pool of untapped customers in smart Tier II cities. Hyperlocal deliveries are not a new phenomena for us as we were performing deliveries in this segment, however our increased focus on this segment is part of our larger global strategy,” said Eugene Panfilov, General Manager, Borzo, India.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Global tech giants surpass earnings expectations

Microsoft beat Wall Street’s estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on, driven by growth in its cloud computing and Office productivity software businesses, and the company said artificial intelligence products were stimulating sales.

Microsoft revenue rose 7% to $52.9 billion in the quarter ended March, inching past analyst estimates of $51.02 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Alphabet reported a slight dip in first-quarter ad sales from a year earlier to $54.55 billion, which nonetheless beat analyst estimates of $53.71 billion. It was the third such decline for the company since it went public in 2004, but was the second in a row following a fourth-quarter ad sales drop of 3.6%.

Those results and Microsoft’s helped boost shares of Amazon, another major cloud operator, 4.8% in afterhours trading.

Twitter says removed more content in first half of 2022 than in previous six months

Twitter said it required users to take down over 6.5 million pieces of content in the first half of 2022, before the social media platform was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk, a 29% increase from the second half of 2021.

Twitter disclosed the number of content removals in a blog post on the same day the European Union said the social media platform would be among 19 tech companies subject to new landmark rules that require them to share data with authorities, do more to tackle disinformation and conduct external and independent auditing.

Failure to comply with the rules – some of the world’s strictest regulations on online platforms – could result in fines of up to 6% of global revenue or even a ban from operating in the EU, according to the European Commission’s website.

Alibaba Cloud cuts prices by up to 50% for core, storage products

E-commerce and tech giant Alibaba’s cloud computing division will cut prices for its products and services by up to 50% starting Wednesday, stepping up efforts to fight for a bigger slice of China’s cloud market amid rising competition.

According to Alibaba Cloud’s website, prices for elastic computing services – the ability to quickly expand or decrease processing – using Arm and Intel-based chips will drop by 15% to 20%, while services using Nvidia’s V100 and T4 graphics processing units will drop between 41% to 47%.

The price cuts are one way for the company to attract more customers, said Zhang Yi, who tracks China’s cloud computing sector at research firm Canalys, though their actual impact will depend on the specific services clients buy.

UK blocks Microsoft $69 billion Activision deal over cloud gaming concerns

Britain will block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard over its concerns it would hinder competition in cloud gaming, dealing an unexpected blow to the biggest-ever deal in gaming.

The country’s antitrust regulator said on Wednesday that Microsoft’s commitment to offer access to Activision’s multi-billion dollar “Call of Duty” franchise to leading cloud gaming platforms would not effectively remedy its concerns.

Microsoft’s president Brad Smith said in a statement the company remained fully committed to the acquisition and would appeal the decision, while Activision said it would “work aggressively” with Microsoft to reverse it.

Montana governor seeks to broaden bill that would ban TikTok to cover other social media platforms: Report

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte is seeking to broaden a bill that will ban not just TikTok, but other social media applications that provide certain data to foreign adversaries, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Earlier this month, Montana lawmakers passed a bill, known as SB 419, to ban TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, from operating in the state.

TikTok as well as Apple and Google, which operate mobile app stores, would face fines if they violate the ban, should the bill become law.

OpenAI rolls out ‘incognito mode’ on ChatGPT

OpenAI is introducing what one employee called an “incognito mode” for its hit chatbot ChatGPT that does not save users’ conversation history or use it to improve its artificial intelligence, the company said.

The San Francisco-based startup also said it planned a “ChatGPT Business” subscription with additional data controls.

The move comes as scrutiny has grown over how ChatGPT and other chatbots it inspired manage hundreds of millions of users’ data, commonly used to improve, or “train”, AI.

Also Read: PhonePe aiming for an IPO in 2024-2025, says CEO Sameer Nigam

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow