Tag: Mobile Premier League

Uttar Pradesh is India’s top gaming destination says this report

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

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Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the top destination for mobile gamers, followed by Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar and West Bengal, according to India Mobile Gaming Report 2022 by gaming platform Mobile Premier League released on Sunday. Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Himachal Pradesh have seen the highest increase in mobile gamers in 2022 compared to 2021.

In terms of games, Ludo Dice, Snakes and Ladders, Carrom, Fruit Dart, Block Puzzle and Poker were some of the top games played by gamers across different Indian cities. In Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, and Allahabad have the highest share of gamers.

”Thirty-six per cent of the total gamers in UP hail from these cities. This is the second year in a row that Lucknow has earned recognition for its gaming prowess — last year’s IMGR revealed that growth in Lucknow outpaced all metros,” the report said.

Last year, India became the largest consumer of mobile games in the world, recording over 15 billion downloads, as per a report by Lumikai, a gaming-focused venture capital fund.

India’s gaming market was worth $SD 2.6 billion in the financial year 2022 and it will reach $8.6 billion by 2027 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27 per cent.

”Tier 2 and 3 cities, which witnessed explosive growth in mobile gaming, among other internet leisure activities, have rapidly ascended to the top, unseating gaming hubs such as the metro cities like Mumbai and Bangalore. Unlike last year, which saw Delhi take the pole position in user growth, metros don’t occupy any spot in the top 10 gaming cities on the list. This growth is a testament to the extensive popularity of mobile gaming beyond the big cities,” the report said.

Maharashtra, in the second spot, counts Pune as the number one gaming city. Pune registered 20 percent more gamers than Mumbai, which is placed second. Thane, Nagpur and Nashik are also in the top five, the report said.

In Rajasthan, the capital city Jaipur leads the way, with over 200 percent more gamers than Jodhpur, which is the second highest in the state. Cities like Udaipur, Alwar and Kota join them.

Bihar’s massive growth in the number of gamers is fueled by mobile gaming’s popularity in its capital city Patna and in Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Darbhanga and Bhagalpur. The number of gamers in the capital city is more than twice that in the rest of the four top cities combined.

At the number five spot is West Bengal. Kolkata, Midnapore, Murshidabad, Howrah and Darjeeling are the biggest gaming cities in the state. Altogether they command over 30 percent of the state’s total mobile gaming population, according to IMGR 2022.

With 55 percent growth in mobile gamers, Odisha topped the state in growth. It was followed by Punjab, which recorded 53 percent growth in the state, Tamil Nadu 42 percent, Puducherry 38 per cent, and Himachal Pradesh 23 per cent on year-over-year basis.

Odisha’s Bhubaneswar recorded a 1,652 percent jump in the number of mobile gamers. Punjab ranked second among states that saw the highest increase in gamers, is home to Mohali, which is the best-performing city in India, registering a whopping growth of 7,130 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021.

The administrative and commercial hub is joined by Malerkotla, Fazilka, Dinanagar, Beas, Shahkot and Samrala to record impressive growth in the number of mobile gamers in 2022, according to the report.

”Players from across the length and breadth of the country are taking to online mobile gaming with gusto. Enhanced internet penetration and the availability of safe e-sports and gaming platforms have worked wonders to contribute to this rise. As a responsible gaming platform, we will continue to enhance the quality of games we offer and introduce more player-first initiatives to create a safe community of mobile gamers,” MPL Country Head for India Namratha Swamy said.

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

Online gaming now safe and risk-free, claims Mobile Premier League

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

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Mobile Premier League (MPL) recently launched a host of programmes to foster “safe and risk-free gameplay.” One such initiative is the loss protection policy, which, the company claims, allows gamers to claim a refund of up to 100 percent of their net losses that they may have incurred after playing 10 gameplay sessions with specified thresholds.

“Yet another way we are continuing our efforts to make gaming more secure and lag-free is through our Bug Bounty programme. Under this, we will reward security researchers up to Rs 10 lakh for successfully identifying a valid vulnerability on MPL. This will not just enable us to spot any security vulnerabilities but also help us take targeted steps to tackle them in a timely manner. Through initiatives such as these, we look forward to giving users a gaming experience they can trust and enjoy,” said Namratha Swamy, Country Head — India, MPL.

Swamy also added that MPL recently received a SHIELD Trust Certification for its strategic security initiatives to protect the interest of players on the platform. SHIELD is a global risk intelligence company and the certificate considers a company’s trust profile and assesses key risk metrics such as the number of genuine users, user-to-device ratio, and the prevalence of malicious tools used on a given platform to establish its credibility.

Also Read: RBI to commence first Digital Rupee pilot in the wholesale segment on November 1

“With a trust score of 95.95 percent, MPL has become the world’s first multi-gaming company to acquire this certification after fulfilling the vital requirements of SHIELD’s Trust Check, which renders it the most credible and safe platform for gaming enthusiasts,” she said.

Swamy claims that the Bug Bounty programme helps the company focus on identifying security vulnerabilities and make concerted efforts in devising a timely resolution to tackle them.

The programme is not limited to just identifying security loopholes but also allows researchers to report any possibility of fraud that can give a player an unfair advantage, encouraging reports on instances that can enable a player to compromise with the gameplay or the outcomes, like win a game without playing, alter the gameplay or even post outrageous scores.

Also Read: As the cyber security month comes to an end, this is what the experts are saying on the issue

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

Gaming platform WinZo sues Mobile Premier League over copyright violation

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

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India’s largest vernacular gaming platform WinZo has filed a lawsuit in Delhi High Court against gaming unicorn Mobile Premier League (MPL) over an alleged copyright violation.

WinZo said in a statement on Saturday that the matter is now listed for further proceedings on July 4. The platform said that in March, it discovered that MPL copied its proprietary game ‘World War’ with a similar product, in an identical format with the identical name.

When this was brought to MPL’s notice on March 28, they allegedly took down the format completely from their platform. “However, in a complete volte-face, MPL re-commenced using the entire identical format with each of the distinctive features in use by WinZo, by 2nd April,” said the vernacular gaming platform.

Also Read: Government forms seven-member panel to regulate online gaming

This time, MPLArenamed their tournament as ‘Team Clash’, but the notifications/pop-ups sent to users still used ‘World War’, the company alleged.

WinZo then sent a legal notice to MPL and when MPL refused to cease and desist from taking down the Format, WinZo was forced to file a suit seeking an injunction to restrain MPL from continuing to use the Format on account of copyright infringement, passing off and unfair competition.

Commencing in April 2020, the game currently has nearly 80 million registered users. WinZo said it has applied for a patent for the invention, copyright registration in relation to the expression of the Format, and trademark for ‘World War’.

Also Read: Take-Two Interactive completes takeover of mobile game developer Zynga

The matter was heard before Justice Naveen Chawla in the Delhi High Court on Friday. “MPL’s counsel stated that the MPL has stopped using the mark ‘World War’ and was willing to give an undertaking that the mark ‘World War’ shall not be used with the Defendant’s game/offering,” according to WinZo.

Concerning the other allegations made by WinZo, MPL’s Counsel made a statement that MPL shall attempt to resolve the matter through negotiations with WinZo.

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: Zomato to roll-out instant food delivery service, Infra.Market says co-operating with I-T officials & Reliance Retail buys 89% stake in Clovia

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

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Zomato to roll out 10-minute food delivery service

Following the footsteps of instant grocery delivery firms, Online food delivery service provider Zomato will soon launch a 10-minute food delivery offering – Zomato Instant. Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal announced the offering in a blog post, saying it will first launch in Gurgaon next month.

“I started feeling that the 30-minute average delivery time by Zomato is too slow, and will soon have to become obsolete. If we don’t make it obsolete, someone else will,” Goyal said. “Innovating and leading from the front is the only way to survive (and therefore thrive) in the tech industry. And here we are… with our 10-minute food delivery offering – Zomato Instant,” he added.

Zomato said the quick delivery will rely on a dense network of “finishing counters” which will be located in near high-demand customer neighbourhoods. Using “sophisticated dish-level demand prediction algorithms and future-ready in-stations robotics”, the food delivery app said it will ensure that food is sterile, fresh and hot at the time it is picked by the delivery partner.

“Sorting restaurants by fastest delivery time is one of the most used features on the Zomato app,” Goyal said. Zomato will house bestseller items – some 20-30 dishes across its finishing stations from the partner restaurants based on predictability.

The company expects a 50 percent reduction in cost to end customers. It said the absolute margin or income for restaurant partners and delivery partners will remain the same. The announcement comes after Zomato last week announced a $5 million investment in robotics company Mukunda Foods and also extended a debt of $150 million to rescue cash-strapped quick commerce startup Blinkit.

“Adherent to laws, at all times,” says Infra.Market after I-T probe reveals Rs 224 crore undisclosed income

Thane-based Infra.Market has told CNBC-TV18 that it will continue to work with the Income Tax Department to address all queries after the enforcement agency’s ‘search and seizure operation’ detected an undisclosed income of Rs 224 crore.

Also Read: HDFC Capital to buy 7.2% stake in realty start-up Loyalie

In a statement on Sunday, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said it found and seized a large number of incriminating evidences in the form of hard copy documents and digital data during search operations, which began on March 9 and covered 23 premises of the startup across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.

While the I-T department refused to reveal the name of the company, the reference to “Thane-based unicorn start-up group, primarily engaged in the business of wholesale and retail of construction material with an annual turnover exceeding Rs 6,000 crore” indicated that it was investigating Infra.Market.

The CBDT said evidences revealed that the group has booked bogus purchases, made huge unaccounted cash expenditures, and obtained accommodation entries, aggregating to the tune of over Rs 400 crore.

In response to the I-T department’s statement, Infra.Market’s spokesperson told CNBC-TV18, “As per our company policy, we ensure adherence to the applicable tax laws, at all times. We continue to work with the department to solve all their queries related to any transaction. Since the investigation is still ongoing we will wait for the final report to comment further.”

Reliance Retail buys 89% stake in lingerie retailer Clovia for Rs 950 crore

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) on Sunday announced the acquisition of a majority 89 percent equity stake in Clovia, an industry leader in the bridge-to-premium intimate wear category, with an investment of Rs 950 crore.

RRVL will acquire the stake in Purple Panda Fashions, which owns and operates the Clovia business, through a combination of secondary stake purchase and primary investment, said a joint statement.

The founding team and management will own the balance stake in the company, it added. With this acquisition, RRVL will further strengthen its portfolio in the inner-wear segment, as it already has acquired Zivame and Amante brands in the past.

Also Read: Ola Electric invests in Israeli battery tech firm StoreDot

Commenting on the development, RRVL Director Isha Ambani said, “Reliance has always been at the forefront of enhancing choices and offering the best value proposition to consumers. We are pleased to add style, quality and design-led intimate wear brand Clovia’ to our portfolio. We look forward to working with the strong management team at Clovia to take the business to greater heights.”

RRVL is a subsidiary of oil-to-chemical conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. Last year, in November RRVL acquired the retail lingerie businesses under the ‘Amante’ umbrella brand from MAS Brands, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka-based MAS Holdings, for an undisclosed amount.

It had also acquired a minority stake in Actoserba Active Wholesale, which owns and operates online lingerie store Zivame. In October, RRVL acquired a 52 percent stake in veteran couturier Ritu Kumar’s firm Ritika Pvt Ltd for an undisclosed amount. Besides, Reliance Brands has announced picking up a 40 percent minority stake in renowned fashion designer Manish Malhotra’s MM Styles.

Bizongo acquires IoT solutions provider Clean Slate, aims to help 100 factories adopt IoT by 2023

Bizongo, a full-stack B2B trade enablement platform has acquired Mumbai-based IoT and Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) solutions provider Clean Slate Technologies. Through this acquisition, Bizongo aims to equip more than 100 Indian factories with its IoT-powered cloud factory solution by 2023, it said in a statement. Clean Slate is a bootstrapped startup and its team including co-founders Mayank Sharma, Siddharth Desai and Anubhaw Kumar will join Bizongo.

The tech platform plans to integrate Clean Slate’s asset, goods, and people tracking features and sensors to generate data and insights about the operations of the factory. The IoT-powered cloud factory will increase production visibility for MSMEs and their domestic as well as international customers. Bizongo plans to deploy the cloud factory solution at three sites by July 2022.

The acquisition will further enable Bizongo to further strengthen its technological infrastructure and provide local manufacturers access to automation and real-time data analytics, which is critical for increasing their throughput. Following its Series-D funding of $110 million in December 2021, Bizongo announced the launch of an IOT-enabled cloud factory for made-to-order goods.

CoinSwitch completes maiden ESOP buyback of $2.5 million

Crypto unicorn CoinSwitch has completed its first ESOP buyback worth $2.5 million (Rs 19 crore). In less than two years, CoinSwitch has grown from 20 to 500 employees as it expands its wealth-tech offering and builds a Web3 team, it said in a statement.

The ESOP buyback follows CoinSwitch’s $260 million in Series C fundraise in September 2021, from Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) at a valuation of $1.9 billion. Between January 2021 and January 2022, the registered user base grew from a little more than 1 million to 15 million.

“The Equity Buyback program is a small effort to acknowledge our employees’ contribution to the phenomenal growth of CoinSwitch. Over 15 million users trust CoinSwitch in their investment journey, making us the largest Crypto app. We meet and exceed our targets in India because of the amazing team and shall continue to launch similar liquidity events as part of our commitment to creating wealth for all,” said Ashish Singhal, co-founder and CEO, CoinSwitch.

The company now plans to provide on its platform other asset classes and financial products to be the wealth-tech destination for every Indian, it added.

Mobile Premier League earmarks Rs 2,000 crore for Great Indian Gaming League

E-sports firm Mobile Premier League has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore for a two-month-long multi-sport online mobile gaming tournament Great Indian Gaming League, starting from March 24. The tournament may see 3.5 million winners across multiple games and could potentially create thousands of winners between Rs 1 lakh and 1 crore prize range during this league, the firm said in a statement.

Also Read: Backstory | Double Seven: The Indian cola born in politics and buried by it

“As the largest multi-game mobile gaming tournament, GIGL will provide access to mobile e-sports to a vast and diverse group of gamers across the country in line with our vision to democratise e-sports. We are confident that the tournament will see millions of players participating from across the country,” Mobile Premier League (MPL) country head for India Namratha Swamy said in a statement.

The company expects to see 7 million players participate across different categories during the tournament that will run from March 24 to May 29, 2022. MPL claims to have over 90 million users across India, Indonesia, Europe, and the US.

Xfinite and MAD Influence partner to help influencers and fans enter Web3 world

Blockchain technology firm Xfinite Ventures and influencer marketing agency MAD Influence have partnered to help influencers and their fans enter the Web 3.0 economy. The firms aim to provide a platform for influencers to transition into the Web3 space and monetise the possible opportunities, a statement said.

“The future of the digital economy will be built on the content, commerce, and community model. Creators and their fans are at the centre of this. In that regard, we’re very excited to partner with MAD Influence to make this future a reality. With their expertise and ecosystem of creators, we want to show what blockchain-powered tools can do,” Xfinite and Mzaalo CEO, Swaneet Singh, said.

PolygonLEAP 2021: 31 Web3 startups selected for first cohort

The PolygonLEAP 2021 Accelerator has announced its first cohort of 31 startups. The accelarator programme is launched by Polygon in association with the innovation management firm Lumos Labs and aims at supporting and mentoring start-ups working in the Web3 space.

The accelerator will support the 31 shortlisted solutions, selected from over 270 applicants globally, in building their innovative decentralised ideas while getting access to expert mentorship, ecosystem support, and marketing support in the Bootcamp phase, the company said in a statement.

It is backed by Incubation partner Buidlers Tribe and investment partners from web3 venture capital firms including, CoinDCX, Digital Finance Group, Elevation Capital, Hashed, Jsquare, Jump Capital, Lightspeed, Picus Capital, Sino Global Capital, and Woodstock Fund.

The winning startups stand a chance to win a grant amount of $250,000 set aside by Polygon apart from an additional prize pool of $12 million+ from the investment partners.

CIIE CO invites applications for Grant Challenge under TIDE 2.0 scheme with MEITY Startup Hub

Business incubator CIIE CO, established by IIM Ahmedabad has invited applications from techpreneurs to avail Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiR) support under the TIDE 2.0 Grant scheme in partnership with MEITY Startup Hub.

The Grant challenge aims to support techpreneurs and startups working on deeptech such as IoT, robotics, AI-ML, blockchain, E-mobility, HealthTech, Cleantech and Smart Infrastructure through financial and technical offerings, the firm said in a statement.

The incubator will allow early-stage entrepreneurs to avail EiR grant of Rs 4 lakh or avail product development grants of up to Rs 7 lakh. The scheme is a synergical grant with supporting partners including Atal Incubation Centre Banasthali Vidyapith, IIM Udaipur, Pilani Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development Society Incubation Centre.

nurture.farm’s rice project generates 20,000 carbon credits

Agritech startup nurture.farm has claimed that it has become the first company to generate and forward-sell agricultural-related carbon credits in India. The company’s alternate wetting and drying and dry seeded rice (AWD-DSR) project has generated 20,000 carbon credits for methane reduction, it said in a statement.

Benefits from the project included 15-30 percent of water savings, the company added. It has now set a target to help Indian farmers generate one million carbon credits by 2023.

Meesho onboards Harsh Chaudhary as CXO for monetisation

Social commerce unicorn Meesho has appointed Harsh Chaudhary as chief experience officer (CXO) for monetisation. In his role, Chaudhary will lead the team that bolsters revenue generation from Meesho’s various business units. Additionally, he will be responsible for designing and executing the blueprint for monetising Meesho’s business model.

“Harsh Chaudhary comes with a demonstrated history of spearheading and scaling business growth, Vidit Aatrey, founder and CEO, Meesho stated. “Chaudhary’s expertise on strategic partnerships and analytics will help take Meesho to greater heights. As we further our mission to digitise MSMEs and bring the next billion users online, monetisation will be an integral part of Meesho’s growth story,” he added.

Prior to this appointment, Harsh Chaudhary held leadership positions with various brands such as Disney+ Hotstar, Myntra, and McKinsey and Company.
NirogStreet appoints veteran fund manager Ashutosh Sinha as Chief Strategy Officer

Ayurveda doctor platform NirogStreet has appointed veteran fund manager

Ashutosh Sinha as Chief Strategy Officer to strengthen its leadership position in the global Ayurveda tech space. In this new role, Sinha will work closely with CEO Ram N Kumar and will be responsible for driving the continued rapid expansion of the platform to deliver more impact of Ayurveda healthcare on patients globally.

“Ashutosh joins as Chief Strategy Officer to solidify and expand NirogStreet’s growth and market penetration strategy. We are confident with him coming on board the company will grow multifold in the years to come,” said Ram N Kumar, founder and CEO, NirogStreet.

Sinha, an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Calcutta, has over 25 years of experience as a global investor and was the CEO of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Singapore. He had previously founded and was managing partner of Asian Hedge Fund, Amoeba Capital.

BFSI industry in India witnessed annual growth at 27% in February 2022: Monstor.com Report

Indian BFSI industry has witnessed an optimistic year-on-year growth of 27% in February 2022 as compared to the previous year, as per a report by online recruiting platform Monster.com.

The report claims that this is a promising growth pattern given that the industry reflected a 26% de-growth last year (Feb 2020 vs Feb 2021). The demand for BFSI professionals has seen an uptrend with finance-related roles taking up nearly 8% of total jobs on the platform, as per Monster data.

Financial Statements, Credit operations, Analytical skills, Wealth management, Investment banking, Internal Audit, and Cybersecurity are some of the top skills in demand in the industry today, the report showed.

When the COVID-19 crisis hit India in March 2020, the BFSI industry witnessed a growth of only 10 percent as compared to the previous month which saw an uptick of 29 percent (February 2022). Hiring intent in the BFSI space saw a continuous dip in the period April 2020-May 2021, owing to the pandemic which disrupted the functioning of industries on a large scale across the globe, the report added.

However, the industry bounced back and has exhibited a consistent growth pattern since June 2021 which saw a promising 7 percent improvement in the intent to hire. This demand continued to grow with July 2021 noting a spike in demand for professionals at 22 percent year-on-year.

The industry is currently witnessing flourishing demand for talent given the emergence of tech transformations in the industry and subsequent recovery from the pandemic impact. In February 2022, the demand for BFSI professionals surpassed was not just in metro cities but also penetrated into Tier-II and III cities as compared to February 2020.

Tech can reduce turnaround time for claim settlements by around 70%: RenewBuy Report

Claim settlement remains a key challenge for the insurance category, which impacts the consumers and insurers parallelly. As per recent reports, around 38% of health insurance companies settled claims on an average in 5 business days; there have been reports of further delays in settlements.

The reports also said COVID claims amounting to Rs 117 crore have remained unsettled, for FY 21, ending March 2021. Digital, driven by technology-enabled data analysis solutions is the way forward for streamlining claim settlements in the country, as per a report by RenewBuy.

Insurers can use artificial intelligence and big data analytics to create accurate individual risk profiles. All these make the underwriting process seamless, and, at the time of claim, the risk profiles can be verified quickly, which can reduce the turnaround time for claim processing to hours and even minutes, the report added.

Women-led MSMEs in India face a finance gap of $158 billion: Indifi Survey

The number of women-led MSMEs in India has jumped from 2.15 lakh to 1.23 crore in just a decade. However, they face a finance gap of $158 billion and largely rely on informal sources, as per a survey by Indifi Technologies.

The survey that received participation from over 250 women entrepreneurs discovered that securing capital remains the biggest challenge that they face in terms of running a business, followed by managing business operations and securing a credit period from vendors/suppliers.

Expanding further on these roadblocks, respondents were of the opinion that starting and scaling their business is difficult for women SMEs, with raising the requisite capital being the common denominator in each stage. 61% of respondents also believed lack of business and finance experience is a contributor to this.

To address some of the challenges, most entrepreneurs said they still rely on banks for their financing needs; but years of business operation, insufficient credit history, and lack of property ownership are the big hurdles when it comes to getting their loans sanctioned.

The survey further uncovered that in terms of exploring digital lending alternatives, respondents believe that the lack of awareness and technical know-how is the reason why digital loans are not commonly explored as avenues for credit amongst other women entrepreneurs.

According to the report, 45 percent of the women entrepreneurs believe that having a male co-founder makes running the business easier. They also shared the top three attributes that a male co-founder brought to the table in a business is, managing a team, interacting with vendors and clients, and securing capital/funds.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Google acquires microLED startup Raxium

Google has reportedly acquired Raxium, a five-year-old startup focused on developing microLED displays for AR and VR applications. The terms of the deal are unknown, but Google put a value of $1 billion on Raxium, according to a report from The Information. microLED is similar to OLED in that it doesn’t use a backlight, instead, each pixel emits its own light.

Two years ago it acquired North, a pioneer in human-computer interfaces and smart glasses, has built a strong technology foundation. After failing to impress people with the consumer edition of its $1500 Glass, Google earlier brought the second edition of its eye-wearable device – Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2, with an improved camera, USB-C type port and safety frames.

The first Google Glass was introduced with much fanfare in 2014. At $1,500, it promised a new, bold era for information. People, however, realised the device was not yet ready to be part of their lives. There were safety and health concerns. The built-in camera raised privacy and piracy issues too.

Meta asks Russian court to dismiss proceedings in ‘extremism’ case, Russian news agencies report

Meta Platforms have asked a Russian court to dismiss proceedings in a case brought by state prosecutors demanding that the US tech giant be labelled an “extremist organisation”, Russian news agencies reported.

The TASS news agency reported from the courtroom that Meta had asked for more time to prepare its position and had also questioned the court’s authority to implement a ban on its activities.

Australia to make Big Tech hand over misinformation data

Australia’s media regulator will be able to force internet companies to share data about how they have handled misinformation and disinformation under new laws that will bolster government efforts to rein in Big Tech, Reuters reported.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will also be able to enforce an internet industry code on uncooperative platforms, the government said on Monday, joining others around the world seeking to reduce the spread of harmful falsehoods online.

The planned laws are a response to an ACMA investigation that found four-fifths of Australian adults had experienced misinformation about COVID-19 and 76 percent thought online platforms should do more to cut the amount of false and misleading content online.

The laws broadly align with efforts by Europe to curb damaging online content, which are due to take effect by the end of 2022, although the European Union has said it wants even tougher measures to stop disinformation given some of the output from Russian state-owned media during the invasion of Ukraine. Australians were most likely to see misinformation on larger services like Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Twitter, the ACMA said.

Brazil high court revokes Telegram suspension after it blocks disinformation accounts

Brazil’s Supreme Court has revoked an order suspending the use of messaging app Telegram in the country after the company complied with court requests to block accounts that allegedly spread disinformation, according to a statement on the court’s website.

On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension, saying Telegram had repeatedly refused to adhere to judicial orders to freeze accounts spreading fake news or comply with the country’s laws. Telegram founder Pavel Durov responded by apologizing for the company’s “negligence” in replying to court orders.

Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters have increasingly relied upon Telegram as a form of mass communication as larger tech companies like Meta, which owns messaging app WhatsApp, Google and Twitter have adhered to Supreme Court orders to drop offending accounts over allegedly spreading disinformation.

Moraes had given a Sunday deadline for Telegram to comply with its orders, including freezing accounts belonging to Allan dos Santos, an activist linked to Bolsonaro. In the Supreme Court statement, Moraes said Telegram had shown “full compliance.”

“I revoke the decision of complete suspension of the operation of Telegram in Brazil,” he added. Telegram has appointed Alan Campos Elias Thomaz as its legal representative in Brazil, the court statement said, fulfilling a key request.

US charges former Apple buyer with defrauding more than $10 million from company

US prosecutors have charged a former Apple employee with defrauding the iPhone maker out of more than $10 million in a series of schemes, as per a Reuters report.

Dhirendra Prasad faces five criminal counts after exploiting his “position of trust” as a buyer in Apple’s global service supply chain to defraud the company, according to filings with the federal court in San Jose, California.

Prosecutors said that as an Apple buyer, Prasad negotiated with vendors and placed orders, with Apple making payments based on invoice amounts he entered into its purchasing system.

Prasad allegedly defrauded Apple by taking kickbacks, stealing parts using false repair orders, and causing Apple to pay for items and services it never received.

Prosecutors said Prasad also evaded taxes on and laundered proceeds from his schemes. Apple fired him in December 2018 after a decade of employment, court papers show.

China requires Microsoft’s Bing to suspend auto-suggest feature

Microsoft’s Bing, the only major foreign search engine available in China, said a “relevant government agency” has required it to suspend its auto-suggest function in China for seven days.

The suspension marks the second of its kind for Bing since December, and arrives amid an ongoing crackdown on technology platforms and algorithms from Beijing, as per Reuters.

Chinese internet users first spotted the suspension on Saturday. “Bing is a global search platform and remains committed to respecting the rule of law and users’ right to access information,” Bing said on its Chinese search site.
Bing did not specify a reason for the suspension.

Tesla’s Musk appears to be headed to Berlin from Austin, Twitter user @elonjet reports

Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk appears to be headed to Berlin from Austin, Texas, the Twitter user @ElonJet, who tracks the movements of Musk’s private jet, posted on Monday.

Tesla received a conditional go-ahead for its gigafactory near Berlin earlier in March, ending months of delay for the plant, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit the factory on Tuesday.

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: Meesho eyes for IPO, Mobile Premier League buys GameDuell, Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe

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

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From Meesho eying early 2023 IPO, Mobile Premier League acquires GameDuell, Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe to Urban Company’s announcement of Rs 150 Cr Partner Stock Ownership Plan (PSOP), there were many important developments in the startup space this week. Here are the top headlines from the startup space this week.

Meesho eyes early 2023 IPO: Report

Social commerce platform Meesho is aiming to go public in early 2023, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The startup is working to be ready for a listing by the end of 2022 and is evaluating both Indian and US exchanges, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.

In September, Meesho raised $570 million at a valuation of $4.9 billion in a Series F funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and B Capital Group.

ACQUISITION NEWS

Upscalio picks stake in four consumer brands

Ecommerce roll-up startup UpScalio has acquired a stake in consumer brands including Gizga, Tizum, Aircase, and HomePuff. The brands are category leaders and operate in the next-gen computer, PC and phone accessories, laptop bags, and kitchenware segment respectively.

Upscalio is aiming to scale these brands into Rs 200 crore annual revenues in the next two years. The company said it will focus on expanding the brands’ geographical footprint while also ramping up new product development.

The ecommerce roll-up is also looking to foray into the B2B segment.

Mobile Premier League acquires German games studio GameDuell; makes inroads into Europe

Esports and skill gaming platforms, Mobile Premier League has acquired German games studio GameDuell for an undisclosed amount. GameDuell employees will become a part of the MPL team.

As per the company, the acquisition is in line with its strategy to expand operations across key global markets. While the company already has a presence in Indonesia and the US, and with the deal, it will now boast footprints across three continents – Europe, Asia and North America.

Scaler acquires online learning platform AppliedRoots for $50 million

Upskilling startups Scaler, has acquired online learning platform AppliedRoots for $50 million to strengthen its Data Science, AI and ML offering.

This is the third acquisition by the edstartup after the buyout of Coding Minutes and Coding Elements last year.

Post the deal, all the six co-founders will join Scaler and lead varied projects. A vast majority of the team of AppliedRoots will work with the Scaler DS and ML business vertical.

BikeWo acquires staff management & business intelligence app Munim

BikeWo, an electric vehicle (two-wheeler) servicing and charging point network, has acquired staff management and business intelligence platform Munim App in a cash-and-stock deal.

While Munim will continue to operate independently, it will provide technology and scale-up support to BikeWo. With this acquisition, Bikewo has also absorbed the workforce and intellectual properties of Munim App into its fold, it said in a statement.

Infibeam acquires payments-focused Uvik Tech for Rs 75 cr

Infibeam Avenues, a listed fintech company, has acquired the payments-focused Uvik Technologies for Rs 75 crore in a cash and stock deal. Venture capital fund Season Two Ventures will get an exit through the deal, as per a statement.

Uvik is in the contactless payments space and has developed a technology that converts any smartphone into a payment device.

Edtech startup Practically acquires ERP software Fedena

Edtech platform Practically has acquired enterprise resource planner (ERP) software Fedena, for an undisclosed amount.

The integrated product will now offer one-in-all product and services that a school needs from experiential learning content, innovative and collaborative teaching tools, to easy-to-use administrative and support tools, the firm said in a statement.

Cloud kitchen startup Kitchens@ merges with Kitchens Centre

Cloud kitchen firm Kitchens@ has merged with Kitchens Centre. As per the firm, the merger makes Kitchens@ one of the biggest players in the space, with 1,000 kitchens in around 100 locations in 20 cities.

Currently, Kitchens@ has 12 hubs with 350 kitchens in Bangalore. It works with food brands like Domino’s, Subway, Taco Bell, Nando’s, Chicking, and national chains such as ITC, Mainland China and Barbeque Nation.

With this merger, Kitchens@ will now be operational in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ranchi, Indore, Lucknow, Jamshedpur, enabling more than 150 brands.

OTHER STARTUP NEWS

Ashneer Grover resigns as BharatPe MD and Director

Ashneer Grover has resigned as Managing Director and Director of the Board of fintech firm BharatPe on Tuesday, March 1.

Embroiled in a boardroom battle after a spate of controversies, Grover’s resignation comes days after the services of his wife Madhuri Jain Grover as head of controls were terminated on allegations of misappropriation of funds.
In a scathing letter of resignation to the board, Ashneer wrote, “I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder. I say with my head held high that today this company stands as a leader in the fintech world. Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately, I’ve been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation but also harm the reputation of the company, which ostensibly they are trying to protect.”

Urban Company announces Rs 150 Cr Partner Stock Ownership Plan (PSOP)

On-demand home and beauty services marketplace Urban Company has announced a Partner Stock Ownership Plan (PSOP) for its service providers.
Under this initiative, the startup will award stocks worth Rs 150 crore to thousands of service partners over the next 5-7 years, according to a statement.

The company will set up an evergreen trust to manage the PSOP plan, and award them at near zero cost to service partners.

Digital banking startup Jupiter clocks ESOP transactions worth $4 million

Digital banking and financial services startup Jupiter has facilitated Employee Stock Options (ESOPs) for 21 of its employees former and current employees. The two liquidity transactions for the same have totaled up to approximately $4 million.

The liquidity events come in less than two months after the company announced the closure of its $86 million Series C funding round, which was led by a variety of marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, US-based venture fund QED Investors along with its existing backer Matrix Partners India.

BigBasket completes 5.8 cr deliveries in 2021; aims to expand physical retail network

Tata Group-owned etailer BigBasket has announced that it completed 5.8 crore deliveries to the family of over 3 crore basketeers, and added 65 lakh new members to it in 2021.

The startup said this year it would be entering Tier 3 and 4 markets and making available products to customers through order-from-app-and-pick-up-at-the-store option.

Releasing its 2021 performance report, the company claimed it received 120 orders and onboarded 15 new customers every minute. TheMeesho IPO, Meesho IPO date, Mobile Premier League, GameDuell, Cloud kitchen, Ashneer Grover, Ashneer Grover resigns, Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe, Urban Company, BigBasket, Google, MeitY Startup Hub, startups, startup India, digital India BigBasket users availed discounts worth Rs 2200 crores and 3.7 crores free home deliveries, it said.

Google and MeitY Startup Hub to help 100 Indian startups scale globally

Google and MeitY Startup Hub has announced a cohort of 100 early to mid-stage Indian startups, with an aim to help build global apps and games as part of the Appscale Academy.

The collaboration initiates the growth and development program to support Indian startups to grow in global business platforms.

The cohort’s main sectors include health, education, finance, social, e-commerce, and gaming. It also spans to startups supporting core communities in India through creative apps across agriculture, B2B, parenting, and more, a statement said.

Edtech startup Classplus expands to Southeast Asian markets

Edtech startup Classplus has forayed into Southeast Asian markets like Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia as part of its international expansion plan.
Classplus intends to go global and expand to other geographies in the next 9-12 months. They also plan to invest in local talent across sales, customer success, and tech to support operations in the region.

US-based AI edtech marketplace WooStudy forays into India

New York-headquartered AI powered edtech marketplace Woostudy has launched its operations in India. The company aims to onboard over 1 lakh students on the platform by 2024 in partnership with over 5000 institutes and over 500 counsellors from across the country.

The platform says that it has already onboarded over 10,000 students, with thousands of courses from over 7500 active universities to choose from.

Crypto payment gateway Transak expands into India; to help users directly buy crypto using Indian rupee

UK-based fiat-to-crypto payment gateway Transak has launched its operation in India.

Transak’s launch in India marks the entry of the nation’s first and only fiat on-ramp provider, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The payment gateway already runs operations in more than 60 countries.

Transak said in addition to building a team of more than 50 local talents, it has partnered with marquee web3 players like Polygon, WazirXNFT, and Zilliqa and are under process to further integrate with Mudrex, edge wallet, and others.

Google launches Play Pass in India to offer over 1,000 apps without ads

Google has announced the launch of Play Pass section in Play store to offer over 1,000 apps and games without advertisement and provide access to their premium features on a fixed monthly or annual charge.

The Play Pass collection will include titles from sports, puzzles, or action games like Jungle Adventures, World Cricket Battle 2, and Monument Valley.
It will also offer helpful apps such as Utter, Unit Converter and AudioLab,

Photo Studio Pro etc. “Play Pass will offer a high-quality and curated collection of over 1,000 titles across 41 categories from developers across 59 countries, including many from India.

Startups expected to lease 29 million sq.ft in 2022-24, fintech and logistics to drive demand: Colliers and CRE Matrix Report

Indian startups are expected to lease about 29 million sq feet between 2022 and 2024, a 1.3 times jump from 2019-202, according to a report by real estate company Colliers and CRE Matrix.

In 2019-2021, startups leased about 22.4 million square feet of office space, up from 13.8 million square feet during the 2016-18 period, the ‘Startups Scale Up’ report said. By 2024, startups would likely occupy 78 million square feet, accounting for a 13 percent share in the office space, up from two percent in 2010, it added.

The office demand will be led by fintech and logistics startups as they have gained momentum post pandemic due to increased digital adoption and e-commerce boom and hold a healthy pipeline in potential unicorns list.

Investments in the Agri-Tech sector touch Rs 6.6K cr till 2020: Bain-CII report

India’s rural economy has contributed to nearly half of the nation’s overall GDP in 2019–2020. Two-thirds of India’s population participated in its rural economy in the past two years, and agriculture—the largest sub-sector within rural economy, had the highest share of output, contributing approximately 37 percent of the total rural GDP, as per a report by Bain & Company and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Supported by Central government and private sector initiatives towards physical and digital infrastructure, the agriculture sector has been growing steadily at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11 percent since 2015, the findings showed.

UPI transactions in rural India doubled in the past year; and agri credit grew nearly 10 percent over the last five years. According to Bain-CII estimates, about 30 percent of the rural ecosystem is adopting digital payment and digital commerce solutions to avail easier access to agri-financial services.

Fintech sector to raise the most venture debt in 2022: Stride Ventures Report

Fintech is expected to be the most active sector in raising debt followed by consumer and agritech, as per a survey conducted by venture debt firm Stride Ventures.

The fintech sector saw 28 percent of all venture debt deals, the highest among all sectors in 2021 followed by consumer at 21 percent and B2B commerce at 16 percent. The fintech sector also received the majority of investments at 47 percent, the report showed.

In 2021, a total of $538 million of venture debt was disbursed as compared to $271 million in 2020. The average ticket size of venture debt deals in 2021 was $5.85 million. The average equity funding raised by venture debt backed startups in 2021 was $126 million, the report added.

India’s health food market to touch $30 Bn in size by 2026: Avendus Capital Report

India’s health food market will be $30 billion in market size in the next 5 years. The country is the fastest growing health food market expanding at 20 percent CAGR, which is 3x the global average and 1.5x India’s total packaged F&B sector, as per a report by Avendus Capital.

According to the study, there will be a 2x increase in per capita spending in health food by 2026 as India is experiencing a wave of health-conscious consumers influencing a structural shift in food preferences and purchase decisions towards healthy alternatives.

40% women prefer entrepreneurship as career option: Meesho

Forty percent of women preferred entrepreneurship as a career option, as per a survey by social commerce platform Meesho.  The survey also revealed that 41 percent of the respondents were homemakers who had turned their passion into businesses, while 38 percent were either employed or owned businesses.

“More than 60 percent of our entrepreneurs come from Tier III+ markets like Dimapur, Faizabad, and Haldwani,” said Utkrishta Kumar, CXO, Business at Meesho.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Apple sets April 11 deadline for US corporate staff to return to office: Report

Apple has set April 11 as the deadline for US corporate employees to return to office, Bloomberg News reported.

Employees will be required to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, according to the report, citing a memo sent by Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.

The memo said that by three weeks after April 11, staff will be required to work twice a week from office and from May 23, at least three days a week, the report added.

Google tells employees in Bay Area and other US locations to return to offices in April

Google said it will end the voluntary work-from-home period and start having employees in the Bay Area and several other US locations return to the office starting the week of April 4.

“It’s been a long and challenging two years since the vast majority of our people started working from home,” wrote John Casey, Google’s vice president of global benefits in an email to employees that was viewed by CNBC. “But the advances in prevention and treatment, the steady decline in cases that we continue to see, and the improved safety measures we have implemented across our Bay Area sites now mean we can officially begin the transition to the hybrid work week.”

Casey said other offices in the U.S. and elsewhere will begin to return based on local conditions.

Microsoft suspends sales in Russia as Western sanctions tighten

Microsoft said it was suspending new sales of its products and services in Russia, becoming the latest Western company to distance itself from Moscow after the Ukraine invasion, as per a Reuters report.

Several major companies, including Apple, Nike and Dell Technologies, have severed connections with Russia as Western nations impose bold sanctions against Moscow following the attack.

In addition to suspending new sales, Microsoft was stopping many aspects of its business in Russia in compliance with government sanctions, the company’s president, Brad Smith, said.

Russia blocks Facebook, accusing it of restricting access to Russian media

Russia is blocking Meta Platforms’s Facebook, the country’s communications regulator said, in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the platform.

As per Reuters, the regulator, Roskomnadzor, said there had been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media by Facebook since October 2020, including restrictions in recent days on state-backed channels like RT and the RIA news agency.

Tass news agency reported that Russia has restricted access to Twitter.

Interfax news agency earlier said the service had been blocked.
Meta’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg said the company would continue to do everything it could to restore its services.

Amazon to shut its bookstores and other shops as its grocery chain expands
Amazon is planning to close all 68 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, pop-ups and shops carrying toys and home goods in the United States and United Kingdom, ending some of its longest-running retail experiments.

Amazon will close its 4-star, pop-up and bookstore locations on various dates and notify customers via signage. Workers will receive severance or can receive help finding jobs at any company stores nearby, such as more than a dozen Amazon Fresh grocery locations it has announced, the retailer said.
China’s Tencent to reduce transaction fees on WeChat payments for SMEs
Chinese social media giant Tencent Holdings will reduce transaction fees for small and medium-sized merchants using its WeChat payments system by 10 percent, Reuters reported.

The reductions will apply beginning September 1, 2021, and extend up to September 30, 2024, the company said.

In order to qualify for the reduction, merchants must meet classification standards for small and medium-sized businesses by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Baidu beats quarterly revenue estimates on AI, cloud services

Chinese search engine giant Baidu beat quarterly revenue Wall Street estimates on Tuesday powered by growth in its artificial intelligence (AI) cloud business.

Revenue grew to 33.09 billion yuan ($5.24 billion) for the fourth quarter to Dec. 31, beating the 32.22 billion forecast by analysts, IBES data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.

Revenue from Baidu’s core businesses, which include search engine and AI cloud services, rose 12 percent to 25.98 billion yuan.

Advertising revenue grew 1 percent to 19.1 billion yuan, while non-ad revenue, mainly driven by AI cloud, jumped 63percent  to 6.9 billion yuan.

Salesforce posts upbeat results on hybrid work boost

Salesforce has reported quarterly revenue and profit above Wall Street estimates, as a pandemic-led shift to hybrid work kept up the strong demand for its cloud-based software, sending its shares up 4 percent in extended trading.

San Francisco, California-based Salesforce’s subscription and support revenue for the fourth quarter rose 24.7 percent to $6.83 billion.

Along with demand for its platforms like Customer 360, the recent addition of Slack’s workplace app also helped the cloud-based software maker in adding users.

For 2023, Salesforce expects revenue of $32 billion to $32.1 billion, above expectation of $31.78 billion. The company’s revenue rose 26 percent to $7.33 billion in the quarter, beating analysts’ estimate of $7.24 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Cyberstarts raises new $200 million fund for cyber security investments

Venture capital firm Cyberstarts has raised $200 million for a new fund to invest in early-stage Israeli cyber security companies and planned another fund this year for more seed round investments to support the sector’s rapid growth.

Cyberstarts, which started in 2018 and is backed by Sequoia Capital and other investors, said it has invested in some nine cyber startups in its initial $54 million seed fund and six more companies in a subsequent $100 million seed fund.

Visa partners with fintech Tribal in Latam to expand small business offerings

Visa, the world’s largest payment processor, will partner with payment and financing firm Tribal to expand its offerings for small-and-medium-sized businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean, Reuters reported.
The firm said its partnership with Visa would focus on expanding credit lines, updating encryption and safety measures, and improving card distribution.

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

Gaming industry to move Karnataka HC against online gaming ban in state

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

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The gaming industry, reeling under the ban on money-based online gaming in Karnataka that has come into effect this week, is set to take legal recourse to challenge the move.

Associations such as the All India Gaming Federation and The Online Rummy Federation are currently evaluating legal challenges including approaching the Karnataka High Court, representatives told CNBC-TV18.

This comes even as several gaming platforms, such as Mobile Premier League and Games 24×7 have shut down their money-based games in the state for users.

Also Read: Delta Corp looking to raise $30-40 million for online gaming biz

“As the apex industry body, we have notified our member companies to block Karnataka in accordance with the law. Our legitimate online skill gaming businesses will be impacted. Several pro gamers livelihoods will also be negatively impacted. Needless to say, the industry will challenge this in court and seek legal recourse,” said Roland Landers, head of the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF).

“We must remember that the Madras High Court had recently struck down a similar act that tried to stop online skill gaming in the state,” Landers said.

Associations have cited recent favourable verdicts in Madras High Court and Kerala High Court against similar bans by the state governments.

Karnataka notified the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act, 2021 on October 5, which is meant to ban wagering or betting in connection with any game of chance. However, the mention of a ‘game of skill’ in the notification is what has caused concern in the industry.

Also Read: Microsoft to allow Epic Games, Amazon storefronts on its app store

According to the notification, the ban applies to online games, involving all forms of wagering or betting, including “in the form of tokens valued in terms of money paid before or after issue of it, or electronic means and virtual currency, electronic transfer of funds in connection with any game of chance.”

The notification also cites “any act or risking money on the unknown result of an event including on a game of skill’.

According to AIGF, Karnataka constitutes at least 10 percent of revenues for the gaming sector in the country. Karnataka is the latest in the list of states which have similar bans in place, including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

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

FUNDING RUNDOWN: MPL now a unicorn, Vahan gets $8M in Series A, Anar raises $6.2M in seed round & Gemba Capital launches $10M micro VC Fund

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

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Here’s a lowdown of the top deals locked in the startup universe.

Mobile Premier League joins unicorn club; valued at $2.3 bn

Mobile Premier League became India’s second gaming unicorn after raising funds at a $2.3 billion valuation. The Series E funding round was led by Legatum Capital.

Existing investors including Sequoia, SIG, RTP Global, Go-Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Play Ventures, Base Partners, Telstra Ventures, and Founders Circle Capital also participated in the round.

The firm didn’t disclose the funding amount but according to Bloomberg News, MPL has raised $150 million.

MPL will use the fresh infusion of capital to finance its global expansion, invest in its home-grown technology, and drive continued growth in the Indian market.

“This investment is a recognition of the potential of the Indian gaming and esports industry and an endorsement of the capability of MPL to expand globally. MPL’s proven success in India and Indonesia encouraged us to launch in the US, one of the world’s largest gaming markets. Our US operations are off to a promising start and we’re thus fulfilling our resolve to make our platform the esports and gaming hub of the world,” said Sai Srinivas, co-founder and CEO, MPL.

MPL currently has over 85 million registered users globally. It is endorsed by Indian Cricket Team captain Virat Kohli and earlier this year, the company signed Indonesian actor and internet celebrity Baim Wong as its brand ambassador in Indonesia.

Vahan gets $8M in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures

Jobs platform for blue-collar workers Vahan has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Silicon Valley investor Khosla Ventures.

The round also saw participation from Bharti Airtel, Pioneer Fund, Spike Ventures, and SHAKTI VC, which counts Google founder Eric Schmidt as one of its limited partners.

Prominent angels and executives including, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Verizon Media’s group chief executive officer (CEO) Guru Gowrappan, and Harvard Management Company executive Kevin Shannon, among others also participated in the round.

The startup will use the funds to further scale its recruitment business and build new product offerings for its fast-growing customer base. In the long run, the company aims to enable better livelihoods for the next billion internet users.

Vahan helps blue-collar workers find jobs that match their skill sets, and assists employers find the right candidates by leveraging new-age technologies. The startup has built tools, including an artificial intelligence-driven bot on WhatsApp, that are used to recruit workers.

“Our goal is to ensure that previously underserved blue-collar workers get access to opportunities across jobs, financial services and upskilling and our ambition is to make 1 billion placements over the next 10 years,” said Madhav Krishna, founder and CEO of the company.

Vahan claims to recruit over 7,000 blue-collar workers across 200 cities every month. Vahan’s clientele includes delivery companies such as Zomato, Flipkart, Uber, Swiggy, Rapido, Grofers, Dunzo, and Shadowfax.

Anar raises $6.2M in seed round

B2B business networking platform Anar has raised $6.2 million in seed funding co-led by Elevation Capital and Accel India.

The round also saw participation from First Cheque and Utsav Somani, iSeed and Partner, AngelList India, along with some of the best engineering and product-centric founders, including Ranjeet Pratap Singh, co-founder and CEO of Pratilipi, Farid Ahsan, co-founder of ShareChat, Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, co-founders of Meesho, and Shashvat Nakrani co-founder of BharatPe.

The funds will be used to strengthen the company’s product and tech capabilities, the company said in a statement.

“Anar is a 0-to-1 solution in this space with no other global peers, and we are humbled by our investors’ belief in our team and our vision. These funds will help us deliver a world-class product for SMBs,” said Nishank Jain, Co-founder and CEO, Anar.

The Anar business app caters primarily to small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) across the value chain, from manufacturers to retailers and resellers, helping them connect and interact with one another.

Gemba Capital launches $10M micro VC Fund; to invest in 24 companies in the next 2 years

Gemba Capital on Wednesday announced the launch of its maiden Micro VC fund of $10 million.

The newly launched fund will invest in 24 high potential early-stage startups across SaaS, consumer-tech, fintech, and deeptech, with the first cheque of $250,000 and about a 35 percent reserve ratio for making follow-on investments, the company said in a statement.

Gemba Capital has been actively investing in the seed and pre-seed rounds in tech startups in India. Out of the 30 portfolio companies, few notable ones include insurtech startup Plum and BimaPe, SleepyCat (D2C mattress), Gripinvest and Strata (fintech), Unnati (agritech), Crejo (edtech), Zuper and ClickPost (SaaS).

“It is our ability to get into high-growth companies led by finest founders with small checks that sets us apart,” said Adith Podhar, founder, Gemba Capital.

Godamwale secures $1M in seed round

Warehouse discovery and leasing platform Godamwale has raised $1 million from Capt. Anand Aryamane in the seed round.

The venture capital firm invests in seed to early-stage startups operating in the logistics space, among other sectors. Godamwale plans on using the funding for marketing, expanding its fulfillment network, and develop its tech platform.

“Flexible warehousing offers great potential in our country with retail and e-commerce on the cusp of heightened growth. The response that we have received from our customers is also testimony to this opportunity,” Vivek Tiwari, founder and COO of Godamwale, said.

Currently, the firm claims to have over 25 mil sq ft listed on its platform and has worked with more than 110 firms in the business-to-business, direct-to-consumer, and business-to-consumer space.

Artium Academy closes seed round led by Sonu Nigam

Online music learning and community platform Artium Academy has raised $750,000 in its seed round.

The funding round was led by singer Sonu Nigam and early-stage investors such as Jet Synthesis and Whiteboard Capital.

Moreover, the startup has onboarded Swapnil Shinde, Snehal Shinde and Vivek Raicha as founder investors.

“The centuries-old, venerated music training methods of India are ready to meet the technological opportunities of the new age to create a never before learning experience for the music aspirant of today,” Ashish Joshi, founder and CEO, Artium Academy, said.

Artium Academy aims to enable Indians across the globe to learn music through a structured performance-driven curriculum designed by music maestros.

The platform claims to have grown its learner base by eightfold and month-on-month revenue by 30 percent since its launch. It also plans to add more courses and genres, expand its international footprints, and scale its proprietary technology.

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: Top stories of the day

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

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Here’s a wrap of all the stories from the startup universe.

Chargebee turns unicorn raises $125 million

SaaS company Chargebee has raised $125 million in series G funding co-led by new investor Sapphire Ventures and existing investors Tiger Global and Insight Venture Partners, along with participation from another existing investor, Steadview Capital. The new funding will allow Chargebee to expand its global footprint and further add to its partnership network, the company said. Chargebee is now valued at $1.4 billion, which triples its valuation in less than 6 months.

The funding makes Chargebee the 11th unicorn in 2021 so far, compared to 11 unicorns in 2020. Unicorns are private companies with a valuation of over $1 billion. US and Chennai-based Chargebee offers subscription billing and revenue management services to clients such as Freshworks, Calendly, Okta, and Study.com, among other subscription businesses. It now wants to target more businesses in segments such as edtech, OTT, and media. It has raised $230 million to date.

Mobile Premier League acquires GamingMonk; launches Esports Arena

Esports and skill gaming platform Mobile Premier League has acquired gaming platform GamingMonk for an undisclosed sum. GamingMonk hosts Esports tournaments across multiple platforms including PC, Console and Mobile. It is also a launchpad for publishers and gamers looking to creatie an integrated ecosystem across Esports, live streaming, and content discovery.
As part of the deal, the GamingMonk team has joined MPL. The acquisition will allow MPL to accelerate bringing to market national, regional and global tournament IPs and develop a full suite of Esports and broadcasting capabilities. This would be anchored by the GamingMonk team, the company said.

As of April 2021, GamingMonk had a registered user base of over 1.3 million users. Along with the buyout, MPL has launched Esports Arena – a platform that will host fortnightly Esports tournaments in some of its key games such as Chess, WCC, Pool, etc. Each of these tournaments will carry a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh and entry is free for all gamers. MPL will also stream the games on its social media platforms to millions of viewers, MPL said.

Healthcare platform Pristyn Care raises $53 million

Healthcare startup Pristyn Care that specialises in surgeries has raised $53 million in Series D funding led by US investment fund Tiger Global Management. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Hummingbird Ventures and Epiq Capital also joined the round. Pristyn Care’s valuation has doubled to over $550 million from $250 million six months ago.

Founded in 2018, Pristyn Care has expanded its team to include 300+ expert surgeons with experience of 300,000 surgeries between them. It currently performs surgeries for over 50+ diseases such as Piles, Gynecology, Phimosis, Varicose Veins, DVT, Hernia, Sinus, Gallstones, Cataract etc. using advanced medical technology such as Laser, Laparoscopy, Microdebriders, the company said. It currently operates in 30+ cities & towns of India.

Tiger Global in talks to back less than a year-old Dukaan at $300 million valuation: Report

Tiger Global Management is in talks with Dukaan, to raise $35-40 million as per a Moneycontrol report. Dukaan will be valued at about $300 million, a nearly fifteen times jump in its valuation from less than six months ago, the report quoted sources. The company raised $6 million led by Lightspeed India and Matrix Partners India and was valued at about $22 million.

Edtech platform CoLearn raises $10 million

Indonesian edtech startup CoLearn has raised $10 million in Series A funding co-led by Alpha Wave Incubation and GSV Ventures. Existing investors, including Sequoia Capital India’s Surge and AC Ventures, also participated in the round. Launched in August 2020, the online learning platform has scaled to reach 3.5 million students. Students ask more than 5 million questions per month, which are answered through CoLearn’s AI Platform. 80 percent of students surveyed who use the product have seen their grades improve, a company statement said.

Inflexor Ventures leads an investment round in Vitra.ai, a 100X.VC portfolio company

Deep-tech VC Inflexor Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in content translation platform, Vitra.ai, as a part of its DeepTech Fellowship Program with Venture Capital firm 100X.VC. AI-based video translation platform Vitra.ai helps customers translate videos to 50+ languages with just 1-click and can translate content 10x faster and 80 percent cheaper than most existing manual translation solutions, the company claims. Vitra.ai has both self-serve and managed service models where customers can translate any content (video, audio, speech-to-text, or text-to-speech) into 50 different languages with multiple voice profiles. The AI-based platform is context-aware and comes included with auto-suggestion, auto-correction, and semantic correction features, as per a statement.

Flipkart expands hyperlocal service ‘Quick’ to 6 new cities

Walmart-owned Flipkart has expanded its hyperlocal service ’Flipkart Quick’ to six new cities to provide consumers safe and seamless access to daily essentials. These additional cities include Delhi, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida, Hyderabad and Pune. The development assumes significance as various state governments, including Delhi and Maharashtra, have announced weekend curfews and lockdowns to rein in the second wave of the pandemic, which is seeing a record number of cases being reported daily.

Most states have allowed the delivery of essentials via e-commerce. In a statement, Flipkart said it plans to introduce this hyperlocal service to other metros and cities in a phased manner this year. The e-commerce major had launched Flipkart Quick in Bengaluru last year to widen the accessibility of products and enable quick delivery for consumers who order products from Flipkart hubs in their location.

The hyperlocal delivery service offers an assortment of more than 3,000 products in categories such as fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat, grocery, mobiles, electronics, and baby care. It enables consumers to order online and get delivery within the next 90 minutes as well as book a two-hour slot, based on their convenience.

Digital platforms and apps witness over 100% growth in 2020: Report

Digital platforms and apps witnessed huge growth last year owing to mass restrictions employed due to coronavirus pandemic surge, revealed PayU Insights Report. As per the report, online gaming, commerce and payment platforms grew by over 100 percent during the time. The report said the pandemic gave a huge boost to online payments with the number of UPI transactions growing by 288 percent and expenditure through UPI growing by 331 percent between 2019 and 2020.

With large scale restrictions on theatres and offline entertainment avenues, the OTT segment witnessed an incredible 144 percent increase in the number of transactions and a 139 percent increase in expenditure between 2019 and 2020. Similarly, the gaming segment saw a phenomenal 100 percent increase in expenditure and a 154 percent increase in average ticket size between the two years.

In retail and e-commerce segments there was a massive 106 percent increase in the number of transactions and a 124 percent increase in expenditure between the first and last six months of 2020 as Indians adopted digital method in large numbers for buying consumer goods following restrictions on shops and retail outlets. While there was overall growth in digital activity, it was particularly true when it came to North-East India with – Nagaland (93 percent), Meghalaya (82 percent), Manipur (74 percent), Arunachal Pradesh (66 percent) and Tripura (63 percent) topping the list.

With professionals upskilling as they worked from home and students shifting to online education there was a 78 percent increase in the number of transactions and a 44 percent increase in expenditure in the Edtech sector. The number of transactions for edtech increased by 69 percent immediately after the lockdown.

Facebook takes on Clubhouse, unveils upcoming audio products

Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday the company planned to launch several audio products, including Clubhouse-style live audio rooms and a way for users to find and play podcasts. Facebook’s incursion into the audio market comes as the sudden explosion of interest in Clubhouse, an audio app where billionaires and celebrities including Tesla CEO Elon Musk have popped in to chat, could be waning. Downloads of the Clubhouse app, which is only available on Apple’s iOS devices, suffered an estimated 70 percent decline in downloads in March from February when it hit a high.

Zuckerberg said the world’s largest social media network planned in the coming months to launch features including short-form audio clips called ”Soundbites” and ways to create sound effects or improve audio quality. Facebook said in a blog post it would begin to test live audio rooms, which would launch by the summer.

Zuckerberg said Facebook was looking to ”treat audio as a first-class medium in the way that we would photos or video” in an interview on Discord with Casey Newton, editor of newsletter Platformer. The rapid growth of the year-old app Clubhouse has demonstrated the potential of audio chat services.
What is not clear is if Clubhouse, which just closed a new round of Series C funding in which a source said it was valued at $4 billion, will have staying power as installs decline.

The app, which is not yet available on Android, faces competition from multiple companies working on Clubhouse clones. Twitter Inc is testing its live audio feature Spaces, along with new features from Discord, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, Slack and Spotify Technology. Reddit also unveiled a preview of its ”Reddit Talks” product to moderators on Monday. Analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated Clubhouse had a 72 percent decline in growth from about 9.6 million February installs to about 2.4 million in March. Facebook, which has long been criticized for its handling of problematic content across its products, will face the challenges of moderating live and recorded audio content.

Facebook said its live audio rooms would be available on its Messenger product and in its main app. It said it would test the rooms with public figures as well as in Groups – a product the company has vigorously promoted as providing places for people with common interests but which have also been used to spread misinformation and organize extremist activity.

As part of the announcements, Zuckerberg also said Facebook is working with Spotify on ”Project Boombox” to share and listen to music on its platform.
Facebook said users would be able to send donations, or tips, to creators in live audio rooms through ”Stars”. After launch, it will offer other types of monetization like single-purchase access or subscription for rooms. It also announced an audio creator fund for Soundbites. The company is working to attract more creators who are accustomed to receiving tips and other direct payments from fans.

Google, Apple executives to testify in app store hearing on Wednesday

Senior executives with Alphabet’s Google and Apple will testify on Wednesday about antitrust concerns related to their app stores along with executives of three companies that rely on those online stores, the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel said on Monday. The hearing will include Google Government Affairs Senior Director Wilson White and Apple’s Chief Compliance Officer Kyle Andeer as well as Spotify’s Chief Legal Officer Horacio Gutierrez, Match Group’s Chief Legal Officer Jared Sine and Kirsten Daru, general counsel for Tile. The witness list was announced by Senators Amy Klobuchar, chair of the antitrust panel, and Mike Lee, its top Republican.

Music streaming service Spotify and dating app Match have been critical of both tech giants’ app stores, while Tile, whose app helps people find objects, has focused on Apple. App makers have long complained that mandatory revenue sharing payments and strict inclusion rules set by Apple’s App Store for iPhones and iPads, along with Google’s Play store for Android devices, amount to anti-competitive behavior. The four tech giants — Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google — have come under tough scrutiny for more than a year because of such varied concerns as privacy breaches, allegations of hate speech and stifling conservative voices and violations of antitrust law.

T-Hub boosts UK-India VR-AR ecosystem by collaborating with Digital Catapult

Innovation ecosystem that powers next-generation products and new business models, T-Hub has announced a partnership with Digital Catapult supported by the UK government’s department for business, energy & industrial strategy and foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to boost UK-India collaborations, a company statement said. The partnership has enabled the creation of ‘The UK-India Immersive Technology Sustainability Expert Group.’ It aims to increase the innovation quotient between the two countries in immersive technology and towards achieving net-zero emissions target by 2050.

Twitter expands engineering team in India, appoints Apurva Dalal as director of engineering

Microblogging platform Twitter on Tuesday announced the appointment of former Uber executive, Apurva Dalal as Director of Engineering. Twitter is also hiring for several other positions across engineering, product, research and design. “Starting on April 20, 2021, Apurva will become the senior-most member of Twitter’s Engineering team in the country, based in Bengaluru and will be responsible for strengthening the company’s engineering capacity and offerings for local and global audiences,” Twitter said in a statement.

By committing to hire and develop local engineering talent, Twitter India will play an important role in the company’s journey to become the world’s most diverse, inclusive, and accessible tech company, it added. The engineering team in Bengaluru, which has expanded rapidly over the past two years, will continue to focus on building more daily utility for new and existing audiences, with capabilities ranging from product development, research and design as well as data science and machine learning, the social media platform said. Outside of the US, Twitter has dedicated engineering teams in multiple markets including London, Toronto, Singapore and Bengaluru.

“The focus on developing engineering capabilities in India comes as part of the company’s broader goal to increase its development velocity, including building a strong foundation for its product. This is what the core team will be focused on based out of Bengaluru,” it said. India is a priority and one of the fastest-growing markets, globally for Twitter.

According to government data, Twitter has 1.75 crore users in India. Dalal, who has worked with organisations like Google and eBay, last served as the engineering site lead for Uber Bengaluru. Twitter said expanding the team in India aligns with its overall belief that having more employees at Twitter, living and working in places that are representative of all perspectives and cultures, and sharing local context about these conversations.

“Twitter is committed to building a truly global, inclusive and accessible product. We’re excited to bring some of the best, cutting-edge engineering jobs for a global Internet platform to India, a country that is not only a priority market for Twitter but is also a hub for world-class engineering talent,” Twitter Vice President of Engineering Nick Caldwell said.

Under Dalal’s leadership, the strengthened India engineering site will focus on building core capabilities in our technology to enable Twitter to serve the public conversation, he added. Talking about the focus on India, Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director at Twitter India said the country has always been a priority market for Twitter and drives significant growth for the company.

“In fact, as previously shared, Twitter in India recorded a 74 percent year on year mDAU (monetisable daily active usage) growth in Q4 2020. In order to scale our reach and build a service that is truly for Indians and by Indians, we are investing in expanding our engineering team in the country,” he added. Dalal’s expertise and vision will help the company strengthen its ability to enhance a service that millions of Indians rely on daily, he added.

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