Tag: Startup

Startup Digest: Sarvam AI raises $41 million, Venture Catalysts partially exits Insurance Samadhan, Myntra EORS sale to begin from December 9

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

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Sarvam AI raises $41 million in Series A funding round

Sarvam AI, an Indian startup in Generative AI much like Open AI or Google DeepMind, has raised $41 million dollars in its Series A funding round led by Lightspeed, with participation from Peak XV Partners and Khosla Ventures.

The five-month-old AI startup aims to focus on India’s unique needs and accelerate adoption of Generative AI in the country by training AI models to support the diverse set of Indian languages and voice-first interfaces. The startup will also work with Indian enterprises to co-build domain-specific AI models on their data.

In July 2023, Sarvam was set up by two founding members of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani-backed AI lab—AI4Bharat. While Pratyush Kumar comes with research experience at IBM, Microsoft and IIT Madras, Vivek Raghavan brings over a decade building India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), especially Aadhar.

AllTrak secures Rs 4.2 crore from Inflection Point Ventures    

B2B healthcare platform AllTrak has raised Rs 4.2 crore in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The funds will be allocated towards team expansion, technology enhancement, and logistics operations expansion across multiple cities in India, a statement said.

The firm offers a single point patient data entry and integration across platforms via SaaS to reduce turnaround time of diagnostics.

It is currently operational in 50+ cities, engaging with 3000+ healthcare professionals, with over 200,000 monthly visits, at 10,500+ pickup locations collecting over 3,50,000 + patient samples per month, the firm said.

Chainrisk raises pre-seed funding from Antler

Chainrisk, an economic risk management software for Web3, has raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding round led by Antler in India. The funds will be mainly used in product engineering and early distribution.

The company claims that its custom engine is 150x faster than the current test-driven tools, helping create a robust security ecosystem with built-in analytics, risk monitoring and alerting dashboards.

“We at Chainrisk are building the tech to enable protocol engineers to take a simulation-driven approach against a test-driven approach. This will encourage them to test their protocol in near-production environments & changeless deployments to mainnet. Also, in contrast to a test-driven environment used in security audits, they will be able to test the composability risk of their protocol,” said Sudipan Sinha, Co-founder & CEO, Chainrisk.

Venture Catalysts partially exits Insurance Samadhan with returns upto 3.65x

Early-stage investment firm Venture Catalysts has partially exited from its portfolio company Insurance Samadhan, an insurance grievance redressal platform, with 3.65x returns on its initial investment.

Venture Catalysts had invested in Insurance Samadhan early in a Seed and Pre Series A round of funding, and has partially exited within less than 3 years. As per a statement, other angel investors also made a successful exit with a 3X return.

The company has raised $2 million in a Series A round, led by IIFL and said its revenue has grown 100% year on year.

Ashneer Grover asked to prove maintainability of plea by NCLT against BharatPe

Ex BharatPe founder and managing director, Ashneer Grover has been asked by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to establish maintainability of his petition filed with the latter, seeking relief from actions taken by BharatPe against him and his wife Madhuri Jain, the fintech’s former head of controls.

The tribunal, on December 6 heard arguments on the issue of how much stake Grover holds in the company. Giriraj Subramanium, Grover’s lawyer stated that compulsory coverable preference shares (CCPS) issued to investors of fintech are in no way equivalent to equity shares.

Grover filed his case with the NCLT in January this year, asking the tribunal to look into and declare the actions of the management of BharatPe, led by Rajnish Kumar as not being in the company’s best interests. Grover also asked that his wife’s termination of employment be revoked.

ACKO General Insurance partners with PhonePe to offer car, bike policies

ACKO General Insurance has joined forces with PhonePe to offer comprehensive car and bike insurance products directly to consumers on the PhonePe platform. The collaboration will see ACKO extending its product offerings to include health insurance and other lines in the future.

ACKO’s integration with PhonePe is powered by the latest partnership API stack, designed for modularity and seamless integration, ACKO General Insurance said.

Speaking about the partnership, Sanjeev Srinivasan, CEO of ACKO General Insurance said, “By combining ACKO’s customer-first approach and PhonePe’s vast distribution network, we are positioned to offer convenience to customers.”

Myntra’s EORS 19 to kick off with early access for 8 million insiders!

The 19th edition of Myntra’s End of Reason Sale (EORS), is set to begin on December 9, with Early Access for Myntra Insiders (members of Myntra’s exclusive loyalty programme) beginning on December 8.

On December 8, over 8 million Myntra Insiders will have early access to the event as well as many other benefits. Myntra Insiders will receive additional benefits. Grand Opening promotions will be available from midnight to 2 am on December 9.

The categories that are expected to receive increased consumer attention during EORS 19 are Men’s Casual Wear, Men’s and Women’s Ethnic, Women’s Western Wear, Beauty and Personal Care, Watches and Wearables, Winter Essentials, Accessories, Sports Footwear, and Kids Wear.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

EU thrashing out landmark AI rules in marathon overnight talks

EU lawmakers and governments were still wrangling on Thursday over several key issues on landmark rules governing artificial intelligence, as talks extended through the night into a second day, Reuters reported.

The two sides agreed to a provisional deal on how to regulate fast-growing generative AI systems such as ChatGPT in the early hours of Thursday, overcoming one of the biggest stumbling blocks to a final agreement.

The other one, the use of AI in biometric surveillance, and source code access were yet to be debated after 20 hours of talks.

Meta oversight board to examine Israel-Hamas war content

Meta’s independent Oversight Board said it will review how the company has handled violent content on its social media platforms in two cases involving hostage-taking and bombing in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The cases will be the first to use a new expedited review mechanism announced earlier this year that requires the board to make decisions within 30 days. The board usually deliberates for several months on its cases.

The board’s decision to take on the cases comes as social media platforms have been flooded with violent, hateful and misleading content in the two-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement in Gaza which carried out the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli towns that set off the conflict.

Meta to start fully encrypting messages on Facebook and Messenger

Meta Platforms has started to roll out end-to-end encryption for all personal chats and calls on Messenger and Facebook.

The end-to-end encryption feature will be available for use immediately, the social media giant said, but it may take some time for all Messenger accounts to be updated with default end-to-end encryption.

Messenger previously had the option to turn on end-to-end encryption, allowing a message to be read only by the sender and its recipients, but with this change messages would be encrypted by default, Meta said.

US bitcoin ETF issuer talks with SEC have advanced to key details

Discussions between the US securities regulator and asset managers hoping to list bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have advanced to key technical details, in a sign the agency may soon approve the products, industry executives told Reuters.

Thirteen firms including Grayscale Investments, BlackRock, Invesco, and ARK Investments, have pending applications with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for ETFs that track the price of bitcoin.

Proponents argue that a regulated product, like an ETF, tied to the spot price of the cryptocurrency, offers investors the best way to invest in bitcoin. But the agency has long rejected such products, arguing they fail to meet its bar for investor protections.

Apple exec behind iPhone screen and touch ID is leaving: Report

Apple senior executive Steve Hotelling, who oversaw iPhone screen and touch ID technology that transformed the way iPhones feel and function, is leaving the company, Bloomberg News reported.

Hotelling is named on multiple patents that relate to the iPhone and iPad’s touch screen features along with being one of the inventors of Apple devices’ Touch ID feature.

The report also said Steve oversaw the company’s camera engineering team and led efforts on developing depth-sensing technologies for augmented reality.

Musk’s SpaceX approaches investors for another tender offer: Report

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has approached investors about another tender offer that would value the company at above $175 billion, a Bloomberg News reporter said in a post on X.

Tender volume could go up as it is not finalised that could value the firm even higher, the post added. SpaceX’s current valuation of about $150 billion makes it one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

Billionaire investor Ron Baron, who according to CNBC owns more than $1 billion worth of shares in the rocket company, last month said that SpaceX will be worth about $500 billion by 2030.

X to start hiring engineers in Japan: CEO

Social media platform X will start hiring engineers in Japan, chief executive Linda Yaccarino said in a post.

Nikkei earlier reported Yaccarino as saying X would start hiring engineers in 2024 and establish an app development team to develop functions and advertising products for the Japanese market.

The development team will create a mechanism for low-cost ads in order to explore demand from small and midsize businesses in Japan, the report 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

Azim Premji and Mamaearth investor bet more money on this Mumbai startup as both IPO and profit become visible

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

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The Sleep Company has raised ₹184 crore in the latest (Series C) funding round from existing investors Premji Invest and Fireside Ventures. The valuation of the Mumbai-based startup has doubled since the last fundraising in October 2022, the company said.

The Salots’ startup has raised nearly ₹370 crore since its inception. Premji Invest and Fireside Ventures have been the lead investors through this period.

The fresh investments have come at a time when both profits and a plan for an initial public offering (IPO) are visible on the horizon.

Fireside Ventures is a Bengaluru-based firm that has backed brands like boAt earphones and Mamaearth, owned by Honasa Consumer, in the past,

Founded by a husband-wife duo, Harshil and Priyanka Salot, in 2019, the Sleep Company started with making mattresses. Later, they ventured into making ergonomic chairs, pillows, and remote-controlled recliner beds and recliner sofas.

The Salots expect a revenue of ₹350 crore for the financial year ending March 2024. That’s more than two-and-a-half times the revenue a year earlier. They also expect the company to be profitable, after tax, next year.

“We’re looking at Rs 1,000 crore in sales in the next 2-3 years and becoming a publicly listed company,” Priyanka Salot told CNBC-TV18.

The Sleep Company will use the fresh funds to expand its retail footprint in India. “We currently have 60 experience centres across 20 cities in India. We plan to take that up to 100 by March of this year and about 200 by March of next year,” co-founder Harshil Salot said.

The founders aspire to be the world’s best comfort tech brand. “We are already selling our products in Japan and the United Kingdom. We want to make one market very successful and then use that playbook across different markets,” Harshil added.

Both Harshil and Priyanka graduated from IIM Calcutta. After that, the two went on to work with a scientist (who had worked with Defence Research and Development Organisation) for a year and a half to develop the SmartGRID technology, which has got patents in India, Japan, and China.

In the specific case of mattresses, what the company offers is an alternative to memory foam mattresses. “Our body is not a straight line. We need a mattress that is soft on our curvatures, our head, our shoulder, our hips & firm under our spine and that’s what SmartGRID does,” Priyanka explained.

ALSO WATCH: A deep dive into the potential for the comfort tech market in India, as part of the CNBC-TV18 special series ‘Mad about Markets’

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

Byju’s valued at less than $3 billion now by its investor Prosus

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

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In another valuation markdown for Byju’s, Prosus has downsized the valuation of the edtech giant to below $3 billion, the Dutch investor revealed in its earnings call. Prosus, which owns a 9.6% stake in the company, has been marking down the valuation of the edtech since the beginning of this year.

Prosus, in its earnings call today, said, “We have reported a markdown in Byju’s carrying value, we do it from time to time reflecting the current circumstances and not the long-term view of the business. We have written down our stake in Byju’s by a further 315 million dollars.”

The tech investor had slashed Byju’s valuation to $5.1 billion in March this year. In early 2022, it valued this stake at $2.112 billion, which pegged the valuation of Byju’s at $22 billion. In May 2023, Prosus slashed the value of its 9.6% stake by $1.62 billion to $489.6 million – this pushed the valuation of Byju’s to $5.1 bn. Now, it has slashed the value it assigns to its stake in Byju’s by a further $200 million to around $288 million – a write-down of 86%.

Prosus also said Byju’s, is a more challenged business and is confronting several headwinds and Prosus along with other shareholders is working with the edtech company to address these issues through daily discussions.

Besides Prosus, in May, BlackRock had slashed Byju’s valuation by 62% to $8.3 billion. Peak XV Partners had also told its limited partners (LPs), or investors in its funds, on July 26 that it is marking down its investment in the company over lack of visibility into its audited financials. It, however, did not divulge any details on the value of the holdings that it is likely to cut. Byju’s was last officially valued at over $22 billion in October 2022, when it raised a $250 million funding round.

In July, Prosus’ representative on Byju’s board, Russell Dreisenstock, also stepped down from the edtech company, along with GV Ravishankar of Peak XV and Vivian Wu of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The representatives had cited poor reporting and governance structures as reasons behind their exits from the board.

In June, Deloitte also stepped down as Byju’s auditor, citing delay in its FY22 financials as the reason. Byju’s had to appoint BDO MSKA associates as auditors to strengthen “governance”.

The edtech giant on November 4, finally released its financial statements for the financial year 2021-22. The company reported an EBITDA loss of Rs 2,253 crore in FY22, about 6.36% lower than the Rs 2,406 crore loss it reported in FY21. The embattled edtech giant in a statement had said that it has seen a 2.3x growth in revenue to Rs 3,569 crore at the end of FY23.

ALSO READ: Byju’s settles dispute with Davidson Kempner; Ranjan Pai invests ₹1,400 crore in subsidiary Aakash

It’s important to note that the results are that of Byju’s core business operations and do not include its acquisitions. The company reported a total income of Rs 3,569 crore for FY22 from Rs 1552 crore in the previous year. Byju’s has not published its net loss and only given its EBITDA losses, in the statement released. The edtech said it plans to release the consolidated numbers with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in the next three weeks.

While the company’s FY23 results are still awaited, sources had earlier told CNBC-TV18 that it can be expected by December.

Byju’s is amidst a plethora of troubles. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on November 28 took Byju’s to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) over a dispute on pending dues related to the sponsorship of the Indian cricket team.

According to the NCLT website, the bankruptcy tribunal heard BCCI and Byju’s parent company Think and Learn on November 28, and the next hearing will be held on December 22.

Meanwhile, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 21 confirmed that it issued a show-cause notice to Byju’s, alleging Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations amounting to ₹9,000 crores. CNBC-TV18 has reported about this earlier.

ALSO READ: Byju’s unveils massive restructuring under new CEO, may let go of 4,000-5,000 employees

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

Baaz Bikes secures $8 million in series A funding

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

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Electric mobility company Baaz Bikes has raised $8 million in a series A funding round led by Singapore-based BIG Capital, with participation from Japan’s Rakuten Capital, along with existing investors like Kalaari Capital, 9Unicorns, and Sumant Sinha.

Founded in 2019, the company is based out of South Delhi, and wants to expand its footprints throughout the Delhi-NCR region in the next 12 months. The funds will primarily be used to refine and enhance its product offerings and expand its network.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Anubhav Sharma, CEO, Baaz Bikes said, “So with the scooter, we will also expand the infrastructure as well. Right now, we have around 30 stations over here in Delhi. We are looking to capture the entire Delhi-NCR. Apart from that, definitely, there is going to be a lot of refinement product side of it also. We are also looking to target a new specific market also apart from the delivery, which is a bike taxi segment. So since commercial mobility involves the mobility of goods and the mobility of people as well, we are looking to capture that market as well over the upcoming product portfolio that we’re looking to build.”

Read Here:Leaders Speak |Future of mobility— here’s how e-bikes will scale in a developing country like India 

Non-profit organisation, India Fashion Awards, has launched Fashion Entrepreneur Fund. It is a venture studio aimed at empowering emerging fashion and lifestyle entrepreneurs and businesses across India. A ₹200 crore property, Fashion Entrepreneur Fund aims to invest ₹20 crore in its first year. Sanjay Nigam, the Founder of Fashion Entrepreneur Fund, elaborated on these details in a conversation with CNBC-TV18.

Super-foods are being seen as one of the tools against malnutrition and solving dietary imbalances. A start-up in Kerala is now using algae in cookies to take nutrient-rich dietary concepts from the lab to the snack box. Jude Sannith caught up with the Zaara Biotech’s CEO, Najeeb Bin Haneef to find out how they plan to go up against bigger names in FMCG.

For full interview, watch accompanying video

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

DeHaat acquires export business of Freshtrop Fruits for ₹77 crore

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

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Agritech startup DeHaat has acquired the export business of BSE-listed Freshtrop Fruits for ₹77 crore. The deal includes Freshtrop’s export network and grading, packing and precooling centers as well as manpower including the top leadership team coming into DeHaat.

Freshtrop was founded in 1992, and is one of the largest exporters of grapes and other fruits. While the fruit export business is sold to DeHaat, it retains the processing business. To talk about this deal and the synergies that arise from it is CNBC-TV18’s Ritu Singh spoke to Shashank Kumar, the founder and CEO of DeHaat.

Kumar said, “We feel that probably this is the best time to build an export business from India and especially within agri I think we all have seen how the overall export from India in agri got doubled in just the last three years. But yes, as far as Freshtrop is concerned, I think a couple of values basically, what we saw one, in general, the grapes, which is a new crop and category for DeHaat, so which is going to be a plug and play. Two the kind of brand Freshtrop has created in the category of premium fruits, we feel that probably at DeHaat, I think we will be able to leverage this relationship beyond grapes as well with all those buyers and that’s where we see a lot of scaling up potential.”

Read Here | Healthy India | How Fem-Tech startups can transform women’s healthcare

Sky-high hospital bills, especially for elective surgeries, are an accepted reality for the Indian middle class. But the fact remains that there are also several hospitals that contend with under-utilised capacity too. Bridging this demand-supply mismatch could be the key to reducing medical bills.

CNBC-TV18’s Jude Sannith spoke to Senu Sam, co-founder & CEO of Mykare Health, a startup that aims to help small and medium hospitals to get more demand and helps the patients to get seamless, transparent and quality healthcare in their elective surgery journey.

Watch accompanying video for more.

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: Tax troubles for Zomato and Swiggy, Mamaearth parent doubles profit in Q2 & Sam Altman returns as OpenAI CEO

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

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Zomato, Swiggy receives GST demand notice

GST authorities have issued a demand notice to online food delivery platforms — Swiggy and Zomato, for non-payment of GST on the delivery fee collected by the platforms from consumers.

“Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has issued a GST demand notice to Zomato & Swiggy after the Pune zone of DGGI initiated the investigation against Zomato & Swiggy on non-payment of GST on delivery fee charged from the consumers for the period between July2017-March 2023,” sources informed CNBC-TV18.

Sources added, “demand notice is a pre-show cause notice alleging non-payment of GST worth over Rs 400 crore from Zomato and for Swiggy is around ₹350 crore.” Sources say that the view DGGI has taken on the matter is “Food delivery is a service, so Zomato & Swiggy are liable to pay GST on service at 18% rate.”

Mamaearth parent doubles PAT to ₹30 crore in Q2 FY24

Honasa Consumer, the parent company of direct-to-consumer (D2C) skincare brand Mamaearth, has posted Rs 29 crore in profit after tax (PAT) in the second quarter of FY24, an increase of 94 percent from Rs 15 crore reported in the previous-year quarter.

The D2C unicorn parent’s operating revenue increased 21 percent (year-on-year) to Rs 496 crore from Rs 410 crore in Q2 FY23, the company said in its first quarterly result after listing on the bourses.

“Honasa has been able to deliver market-beating growth and constantly improve the profitability portfolio of the company. Our business has grown by 33 percent YoY in H1 FY24 which is 3.8 times the median growth of FMCG companies in India,” said Varun Alagh, chairman and CEO of Honasa Consumer.

airpay acquires Finmapp to expand its financial services ecosystem

airpay, an integrated financial services platform, has acquired Finfinity Technologies, a personal finance management startup and the developer of the Finmapp app, for an undisclosed sum.

According to a company statement, the acquisition would fortify airpay’s integration play across the ‘payments to lending to investing’ ecosystem.
Finfinity’s team, including the founders and employees, will be absorbed within airpay.

The acquisition which is expected to be completed by March, will also aid the airpay’s expanding global play – enabling it to extend its integrated proposition of “payment to lending to investing” across its target markets.

Adobe acquires Indian generative AI startup Rephrase.ai: Report

Software giant Adobe has acquired Rephrase.ai, a Bengaluru-based AI-powered video creation platform, as per a report by the Economic Times. With this move, Adobe focuses to deliver AI-driven video content to its customer base.

The majority of Rephrase’s team is set to join Adobe as part of the deal. This marks Adobe’s first acquisition in the generative AI and video-tooling space and also the first Indian startup in its portifolio.

“Adobe has a strong track record of accelerating growth through both organic and inorganic innovation. We are always on the lookout for new talent and technology that supports our strategy and creates more value for our stakeholders,” an Adobe spokesperson told ET.

Herby Angel gets maiden funding of $2.5 million from JCBL Group

Herby Angel, an Ayurvedic and organic personal care brand, has raised $2.5 million in its institutional round of funding from JCBL Group. Launched in January 2023, the omnichannel brand claims to have achieved a monthly revenue of Rs 12 million and is targeting to achieve a monthly revenue of Rs 25 million by March 2024, an expected growth of roughly 20% month on month.

The startup will use fresh capital to invest in further accelerating business growth via distribution expansion, tech advancement, expanding the product portfolio, R&D, and stronger marketing push.

Jodaro raises $750,000 seed round from Fundamental VC

Jodaro, a commerce enabler connecting manufacturers directly with buyers, has secured $750,000 in its seed funding round led by Fundamental VC, with participation from Maninder Gulati.

Leveraging its proprietary commerce intelligence, automation, and a tech-enabled global supply chain, Jodaro is identifying supply gaps across geographies and automating global commerce operations.

The fresh funds will be used for technological advancements, team expansion, and global brand amplification. By 2026, Jodaro aims to expand operations to 10 global markets, collaborating with over 500 manufacturers, and curating 15,000 diverse products, a statement said.

Amazon Seller Services and IWAI ink pact to promote cargo movement via inland waterways

Amazon Seller Services and the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) have signed an agreement to promote cargo movement through inland waterways using the river Ganga.

The aim of this partnership is to leverage the efficiency and sustainability of water transport to streamline logistics, reduce environmental impact and foster economic growth, Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. The maiden ship with e-commerce cargo will be flagged off from Patna to Kolkata soon.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Binance’s CEO pleads guilty, steps down to settle US illicit finance probe

Binance chief Changpeng Zhao stepped down and pleaded guilty to breaking US anti-money laundering laws as part of a $4.3 billion settlement resolving a years-long probe into the world’s largest crypto exchange, prosecutors said.

The deal, which will see Zhao personally pay $50 million, was described by prosecutors as one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history. It is another blow to the crypto industry that has been beset by investigations and comes on the heels of the recent fraud conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Sam Altman makes a comeback to OpenAI as CEO

After five days of being ousted in what was seen as the most dramatic coup in the world of artificial intelligence, Sam Altman is all set to join OpenAI as the CEO once again, with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.

Altman tweeted and said, “I love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. when i decided to join Microsoft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft.”

Microsoft, the major investor in OpenAI, had announced the appointment of Altman following his dismissal by OpenAI’s board. Altman, accompanied by his co-founder Greg Brockman, who also transitioned to Microsoft, was slated to spearhead the AI research team at the tech giant.

OpenAI, Microsoft hit with new author copyright lawsuit over AI training

OpenAI and Microsoft were sued over claims that they misused the work of nonfiction authors to train the artificial intelligence models that underlie services like OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT.

OpenAI copied tens of thousands of nonfiction books without permission to teach its large language models to respond to human text prompts, said author and Hollywood Reporter editor Julian Sancton, who is leading the proposed class action filed in Manhattan federal court.

The lawsuit is one of several that have been brought by groups of copyright owners, including authors John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, and Jonathan Franzen, against OpenAI and other tech companies over the alleged misuse of their work to train AI systems. The companies have denied the allegations.

Tiger Global’s Scott Shleifer steps down as private investment head

Tiger Global’s private equity head Scott Shleifer who helped launch its venture arm, is stepping down as head of private investments, Bloomberg News reported.

The $58 billion-in-assets hedge fund’s founder Chase Coleman will be now taking over the firm’s private equity and public company investing businesses. Shleifer will remain as a senior adviser to Tiger Global.

“Scott’s decision to make this move after two decades of successful partnership is based largely on geography,” the letter to investors announcing the move said. “Tiger Global is operating in-person out of our New York offices, whereas Scott and his family have made their home in Florida and want to stay there.”

Jeff Bezos expected to sell more Amazon shares worth $1 billion: Report

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is expected to offload more of his stake in the company after selling shares worth about $240 million last week, CNBC reported. Bezos may sell as many as 8 million to 10 million shares, amounting to more than $1 billion, the report said.

After stepping down as Amazon’s CEO, Bezos has been liquidating his shares in the e-commerce behemoth to fund his space venture Blue Origin.

Spain’s watchdog clears Amazon, Booking.com, Tripadvisor over fake reviews

Spain’s anti-trust watchdog on Wednesday cleared Amazon, Booking.com and Tripadvisor of participating in or facilitating fake reviews on their websites.
CNMC, as the watchdog is known had been looking into a complaint lodged by a local association defending consumers.

“CNMC found no indication that the platforms have participated in or facilitated the publication of these false opinions,” it said in a statement, adding that the companies invested in detecting fake reviews and collaborated with ongoing investigations.

Nvidia outlook beats expectations but China worries linger

Chip designer Nvidia said it expects a steep drop in fourth-quarter sales in China – a key revenue generator – in the wake of new US rules but forecast overall revenue above Wall Street targets as supply-chain issues ease.

Nvidia, whose graphics processing units (GPUs) dominate the market for AI, is set to take a hit from the vastly expanded U.S. export controls on what the company can sell to China. Sales of the affected chips made up nearly a quarter of Nvidia’s datacenter sales in the past few quarters.

“Export controls will have a negative effect on our China business, and we do not have good visibility into the magnitude of that impact even over the long term,” chief financial officer Colette Kress said during a conference call with analysts.

Judge finds evidence that Tesla, Musk knew about Autopilot defect

A Florida judge found “reasonable evidence” that Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and other managers knew the automaker’s vehicles had a defective Autopilot system but still allowed the cars to be driven unsafely, according to a ruling.

Judge Reid Scott, in the Circuit Court for Palm Beach County, ruled last week that the plaintiff in a lawsuit over a fatal crash could proceed to trial and bring punitive damages claims against Tesla for intentional misconduct and gross negligence. The order has not been previously reported.

The ruling is a setback for Tesla after the company won two product liability trials in California earlier this year over the Autopilot driver assistant system.

Alibaba exec moves to quell staff concern over Jack Ma share sale with internal post

A top Alibaba executive told staff that it was a “coincidence” that a plan by former chief Jack Ma’s family trust to sell some shares in the firm was disclosed on the same day the firm scrapped its cloud unit’s listing.

In a move seen as an effort to quell ongoing unease within the e-commerce giant, Jiang Fang, an Alibaba partner, and its chief talent officer, said in a post on the firm’s intranet seen by Reuters that Ma’s office had earlier this year made a plan to sell some shares to reinvest in agriculture and public welfare projects.

They were required by US securities rules to disclose the plan by mid-November, she said. “Nov. 16 happened to be the disclosure time set, but the stockbrokers did not know that this day was the day when the company was set to release its financial report,” Jiang said, adding that the “coincidence” had created a “severe misunderstanding”.

Also Read:Startup Digest: ED issues show cause notice to Byju’s, Bizongo acquires FactoryPlus, Satya Nadella calls for  governance change at OpenAI & more

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: ED issues show cause notice to Byju’s, Bizongo acquires FactoryPlus, Satya Nadella calls for  governance change at OpenAI & more

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

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ED issues show cause notice to Byju’s for alleged FEMA violations

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday confirmed that it issued a show-cause notice to Byju’s, alleging Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations amounting to Rs 9,000 crore. CNBC-TV18 has reported about this earlier.

“ED had initiated investigation on the basis of various complaints regarding the foreign investment received by the company viz. M/s Think and Learn Private Limited and the business conduct of the company. The company was also stated to have made significant foreign remittances outside India and investments abroad which were allegedly in contravention of provisions of FEMA, 1999 and caused loss of revenue to the Government of India,” the central agency said in a statement.

The notice extends to Byju Raveendran, founder of Byju’s, and Think and Learn Pvt Ltd. The ED’s action follows an investigation into potential FEMA contraventions by the prominent edtech company.

Meanwhile, Byju’s had denied the report. The company has said in a statement, “BYJU’S unequivocally denies media reports that insinuate it has received a notice from the Enforcement Department. The company has not received any such communication from the Enforcement Department.”

Bizongo acquires Better Capital-backed FactoryPlus

Vendor digitisation startup Bizongo has acquired FactoryPlus, a factory digitization app for MSME factories. Bizongo plans to integrate FactoryPlus’ mobile-first SaaS capabilities like factory inventory management, real time raw material prices, news feed, and digital catalogs among others, a statement said.

hrough this acquisition, the company will offer local manufacturers an AI powered raw material procurement solution, which will enable them to source raw materials from the best vendors at the least possible costs. Further, Bizongo will also facilitate embedded financing on the go to help manufacturers combat delays in raw material procurement and supply chain challenges arising from blocked working capital.

Vatsal Rustagi, Sparsh Koyarala, and Bikash Dash from FactoryPlus along with their team will be joining Bizongo.

Scapia secures $23 million from Elevation, Binny Bansal’s 3State

Travel focused fintech startup Scapia has received $23 million in its Series-A funding round led by Elevation Capital and 3STATE Ventures.

The round also saw participation from its existing investors, Matrix Partners India and Tanglin Venture Partners. Within five months of launch, Scapia claims to have distributed its card across 7500 pin codes.

With the new capital, Scapia said it will continue to grow its customer base, add more banking partners and further strengthen its product suite, ensuring more travellers enjoy seamless, rewarding experiences.

Kiwi bags Rs 108 crore in funding round led by Omidyar Network India

Fintech company Kiwi has raised $13 million (about Rs 108 crore) in a funding round led by Omidyar Network India. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners also participated in this round

The fundraise will enable Kiwi to further expand its ‘credit cards on UPI’ offerings in India. Currently, Kiwi has issued 25,000 credit cards and aims to on-board 5 lakh customers byend of 2024. It has partnered with Axis Bank and plans to collaborate with two large banks in the next six months, according to a statement.

“We started a few months back and looking at the positive response we have received in the last six months of our existence, this fresh round of financing comes at a critical juncture in our business. The funds will enable us to further develop our services and offer innovative products to our customers as we enter the next phase of product development and growth,” said Anup Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of Kiwi.

Vama raises $1.5 million in seed round from Wavemaker Partners and others

Vama.app, a platform for temple-related services, has bagged $1.1 million in a seed funding round led by Wavemaker Partners. Existing investors such as Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng, and Harit Nagpal including, Blume Founders Fund, Alluvium, Untitled VC, as well as notable angels such as Burak Buyukdemir and Dhruv Bahl, also participated in the funding round.

The freshly raised funds will be used by the startup to acquire talent, bolster product development, and improve its technology, with a vision to further expand its user base, a statement said.

VAMA.app is gearing towards a more extensive integration of temple-related services alongside scaling its astrology vertical. It plans to introduce new products and services to significantly enhance user experiences in the coming year.

Hanto gets Rs 15 crore in seed funding round

Hanto, a managed commercial real estate solutions provider, has secured Rs 15 crore in seed funding led by Anurag Jain (Founder, KredX) and other angel investors in a mix of equity and debt to fund growth and expansion across India.

The firm operates nearly 70 offices (floors) across Bangalore currently and counts CRED, Capillary, Chaipoint, JK Technologies, among others as its clients. As per the company, 80 percent of Hanto’s revenues come from large enterprises and 20 percent from retail clients.

Hanto aims to expand its operations to other metros and tier 2 cities in the next 5 years and plans to grow its revenue to over 700 crore by 2028.

SeaFund invests in 5 deeptech startups as part of it sustainability thrust

Early stage focused Seafund Ventures has invested Rs 5 crore across 5 sustainability focused startups — Redwings, Docker Vision, Swapp Design, Simatricals and Evhicle.

The fund further plans to invest 20 percent of its entire investible corpus in Clean Energy and the EV value chain including sectors like Transportation, Logistics and Circular Economy.

Seafund is currently raising its second fund with a target corpus of Rs 250 crore. The VC intends to invest a larger amount in one or more of these startups as they scale and meet their performance milestones and show growth — in consonance with its fund philosophy of deploying more than 50 percent of its corpus in follow-on rounds.

India Accelerator partners with Hatcher to nurture promising startups

India Accelerator has partnered with venture capital firm Hatcher+ to discover and nurture promising startups, harnessing the latter’s AI-driven ‘Funds as a Service Technology’ (FAAST) platform.

Leveraging India Accelerator’s network of over 200 start-ups and 1,800 mentor-investor lineup and Hatcher+’s technology, the collaboration aims to catapult start-ups in sectors such as fintech, health tech, agritech, impact, B2B SaaS, D2C as well as sports, media and entertainment to newer heights over the next three years, a statement said.

“India has built a strong and fast-paced entrepreneurial ecosystem, giving rise to 110 unicorn startups and $99+ Bn combined funds acquisition. Though the Indian startup ecosystem continues to remain lucrative, there is still a mismatch between the valuation expectations of founders and investors – creating a push-and-pull effect in the market. We are delighted to partner with Hatcher+ which will go beyond traditional VC operations and focus on the scalability of the Indian startup ecosystem,” said Ashish Bhatia, Founder & CEO of India Accelerator.

TVS Capital Funds appoints Ramesh Iyer as board member

Rupee capital private equity (PE) firm TVS Capital Funds has appointed Ramesh Iyer as a member of its board of directors.

Iyer is the vice-chairman and MD of Mahindra Finance and his primary responsibility has been to promote inclusive growth and rural prosperity.

“Financial services is a sector we have a deep presence in and this sector focus has helped us generate attractive alpha for our client partners. Ramesh’s deep insights into the financial services space will further help us deepen our investing in the sector,” said opal Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Satya Nadella says governance needs to change at OpenAI

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told CNBC that there is a pressing need for a governance overhaul at OpenAI following the sudden removal of CEO Sam Altman. Nadella stressed the necessity of changes in OpenAI’s governance structure, signalling that Microsoft intends to engage in a constructive dialogue with the OpenAI board regarding these modifications.

“At this point, I think it’s very clear that something has to change around the governance,” Nadella told CNBC. He added that Microsoft would have “a good dialogue with their board on that.”

While dispelling concerns about potential long-term damage to OpenAI, Nadella assured that the crucial artificial intelligence research and the partnership with Microsoft would persist. However, uncertainties remain about the future roles of ousted CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman, who served as the company’s chairman.

OpenAI appoints new boss as Sam Altman joins Microsoft

OpenAI named ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear as interim CEO, while outgoing chief Sam Altman moved to backer Microsoft, in a surprise turn of events that clouded the future of the startup at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom.

The appointments followed Altman’s abrupt ousting just days earlier as CEO of the ChatGPT maker and ended speculation that he could return.

Close to all of OpenAI’s more than 700 employees threatened to quit in a letter demanding the resignation of the board and reinstatement of Altman and former President Greg Brockman, according to a copy viewed by Reuters and a person familiar with the matter. The document was signed by employees including OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, the board member who fired Altman.

EU antitrust regulators raid online food delivery companies

EU regulators have raided several online food delivery companies in two EU countries on concerns that they may have breached EU rules against cartels, with the focus also on their no poach agreements.

The European Commission, which did not name the companies nor the EU countries, said the ongoing dawn raids were conducted in the context of those made in July last year.

“The scope of the investigation, initially including alleged market allocations, has now been extended to cover additional conduct in the form of alleged no-poach agreements and exchanges of commercially sensitive information,” the EU competition watchdog said in a statement.

US seeks more than $4 billion from Binance to end criminal case: Report

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking more than $4 billion from Binance Holdings as part of a proposed resolution of a years-long investigation, Bloomberg News reported.

Negotiations between the Justice Department and Binance include the possibility that the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, would face criminal charges in the United States, the report said.

Any resolution is likely to play a crucial role in investor sentiment toward crypto, which has taken a hit over a wave of government investigations and charges against firms and individuals in the industry, including the recent fraud conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Discord, Snap and X CEOs subpoenaed to testify at US hearing on child exploitation

The CEOs of Discord, Snap and X, formerly known as Twitter, were issued subpoenas to compel them to testify at a December 6 hearing on online child sexual exploitation, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said.

The committee said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew are expected to voluntarily testify at a future hearing but it is not clear when.

The committee said Discord and X, owned by Elon Musk, refused to cooperate by accepting service of the subpoenas on behalf of their CEOs, “requiring the committee to enlist the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service to personally serve the subpoenas.” The committee released copies of the subpoenas served to Snap’s Evan Spiegel, Discord’s Jason Citron and X’s Linda Yaccarino.

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