Podcasts about sequoia capital india

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2023 4:42

Razorpay, a leading fintech name in India, providing a payments platform and banking-as-a-service software to some 10 million businesses, in the country, yesterday elevated Rahul Kothari to the position of chief operating officer for India and Malaysia. Kothari was previously chief business officer at the company. He will report to founder and CEO Harshil Mathur, the Bengaluru company said in a press release yesterday. This appointment sharpens Razorpay's focus on the Southeast Asia region, where it's looking to expand. The company also aims to implement a deeper integrated strategy to step up growth by improving customer experience across its different lines of business and products. In January, I wrote that Razorpay was at an inflexion point. About a month before that Shashank Kumar, the other founder, and Murali Brahmadesam had spoken about sustaining the culture of engineering at the company as it became bigger. Brahmadesam came in from AWS, earlier last year, and he'd taken on the CTO's role from Kumar, who was looking to free himself up from day-to-day engineering to focus on products strategy. The company has about 1,000 engineers among its 3,500 staff, or “Razors” as they're called internally, including several senior engineering leaders. Kumar had talked about how over the next five years, Razorpay would seek “tremendous scale.” And imports such as Brahmadesam will be playing a critical role on the engineering front. Razorpay is stepping up its expansion into a broader financial services platform, from its flagship payments business—it accounts for most of its revenues and is making money on a standalone basis—to facilitating loans, and banking software. The company is expected to go deeper into the emerging hot area of ‘banking as a service,' which accounting giant Deloitte defines as provisioning of banking products and services through third-party distributors. This opens up the possibility that a large number of new niche finance startups can partner large, established banks and financial services companies, and help each other tap a significantly larger market than they could individually. Razorpay could emerge as a facilitator of this growth, and benefit from it. To throw the story forward, while Razorpay has made a name for itself in India, “We want to see how we can create a global engineering brand while we are working out of Bengaluru and India,” Kumar had told me a year ago. Organizational changes such Kothari's appointment are important incremental steps in that direction on the business front. Kothari has a degree in chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur, and an MBA from Indian School of Business. Over the last 20 years or so, he's worked in the US, Europe and Australia. Currently based in Pune, he's into his fifth year with Razorpay. Previously, Kothari played a critical role in making the payments business profitable at PayU, according to Razorpay's press release. He's also worked at security software company Symantec, BPO company WNS, and Boston Consulting Group. Next year, Razorpay will be 10 years old. Technically, it was started in 2013 in Jaipur, but Mathur and Kumar, alumni of IIT Roorkee, moved base to Bengaluru quickly, and the company is widely considered to be founded in 2014. They were one of the first Indian startup founders to be part Y Combinator. Investors including Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital, TCV, GIC, Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Ribbit Capital, Matrix Partners, and Salesforce Ventures have invested a total of $741.5 million in the company in six rounds of funding. In December 2021, the company was privately valued at $7.5 billion, making it one of India's most valued startups. The company reported close to Rs. 1,500 crore in FY22 revenues, a 75 percent growth over the previous fiscal, and it was profitable on a standalone basis, for the flagship payments business.

$7.5 Billion Unicorn Razorpay's Acquisition Spree, SEA Expansion, and Road to IPO

BFM :: Open For Business

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2023 41:54

Yesterday, India-based fintech unicorn Razorpay deepened its presence in the Malaysian market by becoming the first new member of PayNet since 2019, through its Malaysian-based unit Curlec by Razorpay, which it acquired back in early 2022.This Paynet membership now allows Curlec to adopt the DuitNow product suite, allowing their customers to make and receive real-time payments from bank accounts and e-wallets. This marks Curlec's continued evolution from recurring payments provider to full stack payment gateway.Backed by Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, Singapore's GIC, Y Combinator, and other notable investors, Razorpay was valued at around $7.5 billion in its last funding round in December 2021 where it raised $375 Million in their Series-F round. To date, the company has raised a total of $741.5 million and has acquired 8 companies as part of its growth strategy.To explore Razorpay's origins, plans ahead, plans for Southeast Asia, and IPO timeline, we speak with Rahul Kothari, Chief Business Officer of Razorpay

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H1-B rule changes coming soon, to discourage fraud, improve flexibility, including startup founders

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2023 6:04

In today's episode H1B visa rules will soon change significantly, but first a few other headlines caught my attention. Isro, announced last week the successful test of “In-flight Abort Demonstration of Crew Escape System (CES)” at Mach number 1.2 with the space agency's newly developed Test Vehicle, followed by Crew Module separation & safe recovery. This is in an important milestone in India's Gaganyaan human space flight effort. VC firms are doubling down on AI and deep tech. TechCrunch reports today that these are the prevailing themes in the latest early-stage cohort from Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia Capital India, the largest India and Southeast Asia-focused VC fund. One thing today Big changes are coming to H1B visa rules, that could have significant impact for India's $245 billion IT services industry. In a move aimed at enhancing the H-1B specialty occupation worker program, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in conjunction with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Oct. 20, according to a press release on the department's website. The proposed rule intends to streamline eligibility requirements, boost program efficiency, provide more benefits and flexibility for both employers and workers, and reinforce integrity measures. The H-1B program is pivotal for US employers, allowing them to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, a classification that mandates highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or higher in a specific field, the press release notes. It has also been used extensively by India's IT services providers such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services to send software engineers and others to work on client sites. “DHS continues to develop and implement regulations that increase efficiency and improve processes for employers and workers navigating the immigration system,” US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in the press release. One of the central changes proposed in the rule is the alteration of the H-1B registration selection process to reduce the potential for misuse and fraud. Currently, the odds of an individual being selected in the lottery system increase with the number of registrations submitted on their behalf. The new proposal, however, would change this by ensuring that each unique individual is entered into the selection process only once, regardless of the number of registrations submitted for them. This modification aims to enhance the chances of a legitimate registration being selected while minimizing the advantage of submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary. Important provisions of the proposed rule include the following: Streamlining Eligibility Requirements: The criteria for specialty occupation positions would be revised to reduce confusion and clarify that a position may encompass a range of degrees as long as there is a direct connection between the required degree field(s) and the position's duties. Improving Program Efficiency: The rule would codify that adjudicators should generally defer to a prior determination when no underlying facts have changed in a new filing. Providing Greater Benefits and Flexibilities: Certain exemptions to the H-1B cap would be expanded for non-profit entities, governmental research organizations, and beneficiaries not directly employed by qualifying organizations. Additionally, students on an F-1 visa seeking to change their status to H-1B would receive extended flexibilities. The rule would also introduce new eligibility requirements for rising entrepreneurs. Strengthening Integrity Measures: The rule would prohibit related entities from submitting multiple registrations for the same beneficiary, thus reducing misuse and fraud in the registration process. USCIS' authority to conduct site visits would be codified, and non-compliance with site visits could result in the denial or revocation of a petition.

Apple's WWDC day one today will likely reveal XR headset; Google joins $36 mln funding at Pixxel

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Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2023 5:40

Apple's annual flagship meet, the worldwide developer conference starts today at 10:30 p.m. India time. On day one of the week-long events, almost everyone is expecting the iPhone maker to finally reveal its version of an extended reality headset. Apple is also widely expected to release the next iterations of its Mac computers as well as the beta version of iOS 17 operating software for its iPhones. Also in this brief, Puneet Chandok, head of AWS in India and South Asia has quit; and Venture Intelligence on how startups are faring in India at the series A level. Notes: Apple's annual flagship meet, the worldwide developer conference starts today at 10:30 p.m. India time. On day one of the week-long events, almost everyone is expecting Apple to announce an extended reality headset. Much of the rest of the week will be more around developer sessions. Apple, which has come under scrutiny for taking as much as 30 percent of the in-app sales made by developers via its ecosystem, is hitting back with a report in which it says the App Store ecosystem generated an impressive $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022. Puneet Chandok, the head of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in India and South Asia, has resigned, surprising industry insiders just weeks after AWS announced a $12 billion investment plan for India by 2030, TechCrunch reports. AWS confirmed the development to TechCrunch, adding that Vaishali Kasture, head of enterprise, mid-market, and global businesses at AWS India and South Asia, will assume the role of interim leader of commercial business at the unit with immediate effect. Pixxel, a private commercial satellite company in India, has raised $36 million in a Series B funding round. The funding includes participation from new investors such as Google, alongside existing investors Radical Ventures, Lightspeed, Blume Ventures, GrowX, Sparta, and Athera, according to a press release last week. The investment will advance Pixxel's mission to build the world's first and highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation, delivering actionable climate insights globally, according to the company. It will also support the development of Aurora, Pixxel's AI-powered analytics platform for accessible hyperspectral analysis. The funds will enable the launch of six satellites in 2024 and 18 satellites by 2025. Pixxel, founded by Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal five years ago, has so far raised $71 million in VC money, according to the company. A study by Venture Intelligence reveals that less than one-third of startups that receive seed funding can secure follow-on funding in the form of a Series A round. Venture Intelligence, which tracks the VC and private equity investments in India, has released the findings of its study in the 2023 edition of its series A landscape report. Out of over 2,500 startups that raised seed funding between 2015 and 2022, only 29 percent managed to raise a Series A round, according to Venture Intelligence. The number of companies raising Series A rounds increased by 8% annually from 2017 to 2022, which is an indication of the maturity and quality of the startup ecosystem in India, according to Venture Intelligence. The study also highlights Sequoia Capital India as the top investor in creating successful pipelines for Series A rounds, followed by Blume Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Accel India, Elevation Capital, 3ONE4 Capital, Axilor Ventures, India Quotient, and Kae Capital.

Show Them the Magic: Vymo's Playbook for Enterprise Sales

Moonshot

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2023 44:23

Launching a new software product and successfully driving user adoption and retention is a challenge for many startups. According to sales engagement platform Vymo's co-founder and CEO Yamini Bhat, the secret is to ‘go live' quickly and show users their return on investment. On this episode of Moonshot, we take a peek into Vymo's playbook to learn about some of the key product and sales design choices the startup's team made to attract and retain users across large enterprise customers.Show Notes:The problem statement thesis: “Sellers hate any tool that is given to them.” [6:30]Use the challenger sales approach to build credibility [11:33]Narrow your focus: Look for indicators to hone in on a specific market [18:29]Take a DIY approach and allow for the customization of your product [22:39]Adapt to different cultures when launching your product internationally [30:04]“Why not the US?: Weighing up which market to break into first [36:38]Communicate the magic of your product and ‘go live' quickly [39:24]

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Sequoia Capital India on Investing in Indian Gaming Market

GameMakers

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2023 24:58

OUTLINE: 0:00 Sequoia Capital India introduction 0:49 Intro to Shailesh Lakhani and Prachi Pawar 3:29 Type of investments and founders they seek 4:36 Surge pre-Series A program 5:30 Specific opportunities and trends in India 9:04 Gaming opportunity in India 13:51 Specific gaming investment opportunities they seek 14:59 Why did Sequoia India invest in Lila Games? 16:30 Current investment environment, macro factors 19:19 Advice to founders based on current trends 21:10 Outlook on Web3 22:51 Advice to founders who would pitch Sequoia India SUBSCRIBE TO GAMEMAKERS: - Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/34hfOtv - Spotify Podcast: https://spoti.fi/3Cpyq7i - Newsletter: https://gamemakers.substack.com/ - Don't miss an episode on Youtube: / gamemakersstudio

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Caesar Sengupta On Leaving Google To Raise $90 Million To Give You Financial Superpowers

DealMakers

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2023 30:35

Caesar Sengupta left working at Google with seven other cofounders to create a digital family office and democratize financial services. His venture, Arta Finance, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Coatue, Betsy Cohen, Sequoia Capital India, and Ribbit Capital.

Fintech Marketing: Creativity and technology is a killer combo (episode #50)

How I Made it in Marketing

Play Episode Play 60 sec Highlight Listen Later Mar 6, 2023 52:13 Transcription Available

We had a recent SuperFunnel LiveClass (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/website-and-landing-page-design/lpo/), and I was giving conversion optimization advice to a participant – it's live optimization, we see the landing page for a few moments, and then give advice. And the page seemed off to me, so I had specific thoughts on the design and wording and such.And then Flint McGlaughlin went next, and he took a very different approach then I did. He didn't talk about the page, he talked about the entrepreneur behind this page. Why this offer? Why this product? How many books have you read about this topic in the past 24 months?He hit the underlying problem with the landing page. Not what was on it, per se. It's what wasn't beneath it. It didn't tie into the entrepreneur's personal value proposition. This person was not tapping into his passion, he was trying to get an offer out into the world and just make money.Who can blame him, you might say. Isn't that our job?Pushing pixels on a page is not enough – when you don't truly believe in what you're selling, it will hurt your marketing effectiveness. Our latest guest tapped into that caution as well. She said, “If you don't believe in the company or the product, your job as a marketer is going to suck.”So true. And I would add – your marketing is going to suck as well.You can here the story behind that lesson, and many more lesson-filled stories, from Melissa-Ann Chan, Head of Marketing, Arta Finance (https://artafinance.com/).Chan helped take a product from 0 to 100 million users, has worked on many lean teams at Google, and currently works on a team of three, along with a “bunch of contractors,” at the Series A startup.While in stealth mode, Arta Finance raised more than $90 million from Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Coatue, and more than 140 tech and finance luminaries.Some lessons from Chan that emerged in our discussion:If you don't believe in the company or the product, your job as a marketer is going to suck. Put the most effort into figuring out what's the magic ‘a-ha!' moment of your customer, and relentlessly drive all your marketing efforts towards that. Putting the user first doesn't always mean doing whatever users want.High-performing teams don't happen serendipitously Creativity and technology is a killer combo Cross-functional Power: Bring together product, engineering, UX, and marketing – and watch the sparks fly – in a good way! Related content mentioned in this episodeContent Marketing: Harvard Business School's Michael Norton discusses surprising consumer behavior research (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/content-marketing-consumer-behavior-research/)Customer-First Marketing: A conversation with Wharton, MarketingSherpa, and MECLABS Institute (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/consumer-marketing/wharton-interview-customer-first-marketing/)Above-the-Fold Psychology: How to optimize the top 4 inches of your webpage (https://meclabs.com/course/sessions/above-the-fold-psychology/)Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

Episode 63: Building Generational Brands w/Raja Ganapathy

The One Percent Project

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2023 38:04

About Raja Ganapathy: What is so unique about Ogilvy, Hindustan Unilever, and Sequoia capital that they have stayed market-relevant and built and enabled iconic brands? How Don Valentine, the grandfather of Venture Capital and founder of Sequoia, built a generational brand. If brands and brand-building intrigue, you listen on. My next guest on The One Percent Project is a brand builder, a voracious reader and an eternal optimist Raja Ganapathy. Raja spent his conceptual years learning the ropes of marketing at Ogilvy on accounts such as Hindustan Unilever, and his defining stint was as the Chief Marketing Officer at Sequoia Capital India. At Sequoia, Raja worked with industry-defying founders of Byju's, Free Charge, Healthkart and many more. Today, Raja is the founding partner at Spring Marketing Capital, a skin-in-the-game marketing value-added investment firm to build the brands of tomorrow. Listen in to learn how Raja navigated through his career from Ogilvy to Spring, what is the new world order of marketing, are Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Kunal Shah brands or founders and much more. Key Take Aways & Transcript: https://bit.ly/TOP_Raja Follow & Subscribe: WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/TOP_WA2 YouTube: https://bit.ly/TOP_Youtube LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/TOP_LinkedIn Twitter: https://bit.ly/TOP_Twitter1 Instagram: https://bit.ly/TOP_Insta

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Shell directors sued over climate strategy; TCS wins $726 mln Phoenix order; Sequoia Surge backs Hatica

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2023 6:57

Shell's board of directors are being personally sued over their alleged failure to properly manage risks associated with the climate crisis, Euronews reports. The lawsuit, brought by Environmental law charity ClientEarth says the British oil giant's 11 directors have breached their legal duties under the UK's Companies Act by failing to bring their climate strategy in line with the Paris Agreement. Also in this brief, a US lawmaker wants children to be 16 before they can access social media, and how some strange words are breaking ChatGPT. Notes: Tata Consultancy Services has won a new mega order from its long-standing customer Phoenix Group, UK's largest long-term savings and retirements provider, India's biggest IT services company said in a press release earlier this week. The 600-million-pound order (or about $726 million) involves the digital transformation of Phoenix Group's ReAssure business using a platform based on TCS's BaNCS, the company's core banking software platform. A US lawmaker wants to introduce legislation to protect children online and reduce the influence of big tech companies on children, NBC reports. Josh Hawley, a senator in the US Congress wants to establish laws including setting the age threshold to be on social media at 16. Senator Hawley's agenda will include mandating social media companies verify the age of their users, providing parents with a right to demand that tech companies delete their kids' data and commissioning a wide-ranging congressional mental-health study on the impact social media has on children. ChatGPT, the AI chatbot from OpenAI that can turn out poems and essays, fix code and clear MBA exams, is flummoxed by a cluster of keywords, two researchers have discovered, but they don't know why, yet, Vice reports. These keywords — or “tokens,” which serve as ChatGPT's base vocabulary — include Reddit usernames and at least one participant of a Twitch-based Pokémon game. When ChatGPT was asked about “SolidGoldMagikarp,” it was repeated back as “distribute.” The issue affected earlier versions of the GPT model as well. When an earlier model was asked to repeat “StreamerBot,” for example, it said, “You're a jerk.” Fossil-fuel giant Shell's board of directors are being personally sued over their alleged failure to properly manage risks associated with the climate crisis, Euronews reports. The lawsuit says the British oil giant's 11 directors have breached their legal duties under the UK's Companies Act by failing to bring their climate strategy in line with the Paris Agreement. Environmental law charity ClientEarth, which filed the lawsuit, says it is the first case in the world that looks to hold corporate directors personally responsible for failing to prepare for the energy transition. And in some SaaS startup news, Hatica, an engineering analytics software provider, has raised $3.7 million in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia's Surge programme, with participation from existing investor Kae Capital and several angel investors. Hatica, based in San Francisco and Bengaluru, was started in 2019 by former Uber engineers Naomi Chopra and Haritabh Singh. Today, it has 20,000 users, according to a press release from the company. The latest funding brings Hatica's total funding to $6.55 million, according to Tracxn, a private-markets intelligence provider.

Microsoft in talks for 49 percent stake in ChatGPT owner OpenAI – report; OneWeb closer to global constellation

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 11, 2023 5:14

Microsoft is in talks to invest $10 billion into OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, the AI app that has gone ultra-viral, Semafor reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. OneWeb yesterday confirmed the successful deployment of 40 satellites launched by SpaceX, taking it to a total of 542 low-earth-orbit satellites and a step closer to offering “global” connectivity. Also in this briefing, Infosys Foundation is seeking submissions for its Aarohan Social Innovation Awards 2023. Notes: Microsoft is in talks to invest $10 billion into OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, the AI app that has gone ultra-viral, Semafor reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. The funding, which would also include other venture firms, would value OpenAI at $29 billion, including the new investment, according to Semafor. OneWeb yesterday confirmed the successful deployment of 40 satellites launched by SpaceX from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This launch is OneWeb's 16th to date, with only two more launches remaining to complete its first-generation constellation for global connectivity in 2023, the company said in a press release. With 542 satellites now in orbit, OneWeb, backed by investors including India's Bharti Enterprises, has more than 80 percent of its first-generation constellation launched. ReNew Power, yesterday announced the installations of India's first-ever 3x platform Wind Turbine Generators in Gadag, Karnataka. The WTGs have what is called a “nameplate capacity” of 3.3-3.465 MW and are 128-140m in height. They offer significantly improved capacity over models installed in India to date, which typically have a nameplate capacity of 2-3 MW, the Nasdaq-listed company said in a press release. The new wind turbine generators will be a part of the country's first ‘Round The Clock' renewable energy project, combining wind, solar and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). This project will produce enough energy to power more than 1 million households in India annually, according to the release. Toddle, a teaching and learning platform provider for schools worldwide, has raised $17 million in Series A led by Sequoia Capital India. The round also saw participation from Tenacity Ventures and Trifecta Capital along with existing investors Matrix Partners, Beenext, and Better Capital, according to a press release. Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, yesterday announced the launch of the third edition of its Aarohan Social Innovation Awards. The Foundation is inviting innovators and social entrepreneurs from across the country to participate in the awards. The awards are open to individuals, teams and NGOs developing unique technology-based solutions that have the potential to bring about a significant difference to the underprivileged across India, at scale. The Infosys Foundation will commit up to Rs. 50 lakh per winner, with a total award purse of Rs. 2 crore. The Aarohan Social Innovation Awards 2023 will accept submissions in the categories of education, healthcare and women empowerment. The awards opened for submission yesterday, and the last date for submissions is March 12, 2023.

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Rishi Sunak reimposes UK's fracking ban; Apple confirms USB-C for iPhones; IBM India head warns against moonlighting

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2022 5:19

UK's new prime minister Indian-born Rishi Sunak reimposed the government's ban on fracking, which had been lifted by his predecessor, Liz Truss, in her short-lived premiership, The Guardian reports. Apple has confirmed future iPhones will be equipped with USB-C charging ports after the EU made it a common standard, Wall Street Journal reports. And IBM's India head has warned staff against moonlighting, according to Economic Times. Notes: UK's new prime minister Rishi Sunak reimposed the government's ban on fracking, which had been lifted by his predecessor, Liz Truss, in her short-lived premiership, The Guardian reports. Fracking will, in effect, remain banned under Rishi Sunak's government, as the new prime minister was committed to the policy in the ruling conservative party's 2019 manifesto. Apple has confirmed it will follow European Union legislation that sets a common charging standard for mobile phones and other portable electronic devices, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Obviously, we'll have to comply,” Greg Joswiak, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said on Oct. 25 while speaking at The Wall Street Journal's Tech Live conference, the paper reports. Separately, Apple, yesterday, asked its global supply chain partners to take more steps to address their greenhouse gas emissions and take a comprehensive approach to decarbonisation, the company said in a press release. IBM's India head has warned its Indian employees against moonlighting, saying critical client data and commercial assets could be at risk, Economic Times reports. “While an IBMer's time outside of work is their own, it also requires them to avoid engaging in activities that create a conflict of interest,” read an internal note from India managing director Sandip Patel sent to the employees, according to ET. Walmart's Indian ecommerce company Flipkart is considering raising $2 billion to $3 billion at a valuation of more than $40 billion to expand its product range in India and challenge rivals, the Mint reported on Tuesday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The world's biggest retailer is keen to bring in strategic investors for the Indian company but is also open to selling to large pure-play investment firms, according to the report which is behind a paywall but was picked up by Reuters. WATI (WhatsApp Team Inbox), a Hong Kong startup offering a customer and sales engagement tool, has raised $23 million in series B funding, led by Tiger Global, the company said in a press release. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India & Southeast Asia, and new investors DST Global Partners and Shopify joined in. Devtron, a startup that provides an open-source internal DevOps platform for Kubernetes adoption, has raised $12 million in new funding led by global software investor Insight Partners, according to a press release. Devtron will use the new capital to scale its team, drive adoption of its platform and expand into new markets. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Apple iPhones: 12 percent could be made in India by FY26 – report; Byju's losses skyrocket

Do More - Take Charge of Your Life

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2022 5:31

By fiscal year 2026, at least 12 percent of the free-on-board value of Apple's global iPhone shipments could be made in India, Inc42 reports, citing a report by Business Standard that is behind a paywall. Byju's, India's most-valued startup, yesterday, reported losses of Rs. 4,589 crore for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2021, which is close to a 20-fold increase over the Rs. 231.69 crore adjusted loss for the previous fiscal year, Moneycontrol reports. And SoftBank Group could be planning another Vision Fund, Wall Street Journal reports. Notes: Byju's, India's most-valued startup, yesterday, reported losses of Rs. 4,589 crore for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2021, which is close to a 20-fold increase over the Rs. 231.69 crore losses for the previous fiscal year, Moneycontrol reports. The company's revenue for FY21 fell 3 percent year on year to Rs. 2,428 crore on a consolidated basis, down from Rs. 2,511 crore the previous year, according to Moneycontrol. By the fiscal year 2026, at least 12 percent of the free-on-board value of Apple's global iPhone shipments could be made in India, Inc42 reports, citing a report by Business Standard on Sep. 12 that is behind a paywall. Apple has been stepping up efforts to boost production in India to reduce its dependence on China, where currently almost all its iPhones are made. According to numbers submitted to the government by Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, India might account for at least 12 percent of the free-on-board value of Apple iPhones manufactured by its vendors worldwide. Free-on-board value typically refers to the cost of the goods being shipped including transportation to specific destinations, insurance, loading and unloading and so on. The total value of iPhones sold worldwide could reach $250 billion in FY26 and the total free-on-board of iPhones made in India would be around 12 percent of that, according to the Business Standard repot, as cited by Inc42. SoftBank Group, one of the world's biggest investors in tech startups, is considering the launch of a new giant fund even though its first and second Vision Funds have been hit with big losses owing to the global tech route, Wall Street Journal reports. The Tokyo-based tech conglomerate, by far the world's largest startup investor in recent years, would likely use its own cash for what would be the third SoftBank Vision Fund if it moves ahead with the plan, according to the Journal. Sigmoid, a data engineering, analytics and AI solutions company in Silicon Valley, has closed $12 million in Series B funding, in a mix of primary and secondary investments from Sequoia Capital India. Founded in 2013 by IIT alumni Lokesh Anand, Mayur Rustagi and Rahul Kumar Singh, Sigmoid has a team of about 500 data professionals, who offer deep expertise in data engineering, cloud data modernization, artificial intelligence, and DataOps, according to the release. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Carousell's Gaurav Bhasin: Building ASEAN's Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2022 65:37

#ecommerce #secondhand #retail Carousell's Gaurav Bhasin: Building ASEAN's Amazon Having headed Mudah as CEO, Gaurav Bhasin is now at Singapore-founded ecommerce unicorn Carousell Group as Chief Strategy Officer, helping to map out its growth trajectory in its eight markets in the region. Founded in 2012, Carousell's raison d'etre is to make ‘second hand the first choice', via its own brands like Carousell, Cho Tot, Laku6, Mudah.my, OneKyat, Ox Street and Refash, backed by investors that include Telenor Group, Rakuten Ventures, Naver, STIC Investments and Sequoia Capital India. In this episode, the latest under Do More's collaboration with Endeavor Malaysia and CGS-CIMB, Gaurav gets candid about the challenges and valuable lessons learnt while growing one of ASEAN's biggest ecommerce marketplaces. --- CONTENTS 00:01:16 - Steering The Ship - Why Second-Hand First? 00:03:34 - Navigating Ukraine War, Inflation, Market Crash, China Crisis 00:07:04 - What It Takes to be a Unicorn 00:08:48 - How To Build Without Money? 00:11:42 - How Was Mudah.My Monetised? 00:12:39 - How to Raise Money When Small and Unproven? 00:16:16 - Should Carousell Move to Singapore? 00:17:01 - Gaurav's Failure as an Entrepreneur & The Importance of Being a Cockroach 00:19:27 - Hiring in a Talent-Thin Environment 00:21:50 - Gaurav's Hiring Process 00:23:29 - Can You Hire From Abroad? 00:26:55 - What Kind of Diversity Counts? 00:28:48 - How to Build Culture in a Hyper Growth Environment 00:31:29 - Why Does Culture Matter? 00:33:39 - Transferring Culture to New Acquisitions 00:35:00 - Three Things to Consider When Making New Acquisitions 00:37:13 - Valuations: Do They Still Matter? 00:40:45 - How Do You Show 2nd-Hand Stuff is High Quality? 00:44:29 - Handling Investors When Business is Changing - Fast 00:46:48 - Path to Profit: the Elephant in the Room 00:48:09 - How Does ASEAN ECommerce Play Out? 00:50:08 - Should You Give Up Majority Ownership? 00:51:52 - Growing Sideways Can Be Cheaper 00:53:14 - Exit Strategies 00:54:00 - Three Words of Advice for Entrepreneurs in Scaling Mode 00:56:20 - How To Pick the Right Investments 00:56:35 - How to Build a Community on an Online Marketplace 00:57:40 - What's a Successful Marketing Strategy? 00:59:16 - Would Gaurav Be an Entrepreneur Again? And What Would He Do? 00:59:51 - What Did Gaurav Do Wrong? What Makes a Good Co-Founder? 01:03:00 - What Data Works? 01:04:14 - How To Prepare For Recession? Follow Gaurav here: LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3bYMifX Mudah.my: https://www.mudah.my/ Carousell Group: https://press.carousell.com/carousell-group/ --- --- Follow Chuang here: URL: http://www.domore.my/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsu-chuang-khoo-ab199343/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/khoo.chuang/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/khoohsuchuang/ --- Follow DoMore here: WEBSITE: https://www.domore.my/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DoMoreTakeChargeofYourLife ITUNES: https://apple.co/2lQ47mS GOOGLE PLAY: https://bit.ly/3b1l8iO SPOTIFY: https://tinyurl.com/y6zufvcp PODBEAN: https://domoreasia.podbean.com/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/domore.asia/

CoinSwitch: Taking the FUD out of crypto

Moonshot

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2022 30:11

In 2017, a group of hackers in India figured out a way to get the best prices on cryptocurrencies at any point in time by aggregating data from all the crypto exchanges. That was the origin of CoinSwitch, a startup with a mission to ‘make money equal for all'. The platform gained traction, went through a few pivots and soon became one of India's largest cryptocurrency trading apps. On this episode of Moonshot, we chat with CoinSwitch co-founder and CEO Ashish Singhal and Sequoia India Managing Director Shailesh Lakhani about how the startup is taking crypto to the masses by differentiating itself from its competitors, educating users, and tracking user gains to improve their product.Show Notes:Start by solving a problem that you've encountered (1:36)If mom can use it: The CoinSwitch differentiator [06:03]Build user confidence: Educate them on how to use your product (9:10)Go-to-Market strategy: Web3 vs Web2 (12:11)Bear markets make you work harder for your users (14:52)Track user gains to improve your product (17:23)Be frugal, be focused (20:08)Know that there's a right time for your idea (23:05)Give yourself two chances at success (28:15)

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Accel announces $4 bln ‘later-stage' fund; UK probing polio virus find; EV raw material costs double

Marcel van Oost Connecting the dots in FinTech...

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 23, 2022 5:27

Accel, one of the top global venture capital firms, best known in India for backing Flipkart and Freshworks, has raised a $4 billion fund to invest in what it calls later-stage ventures. Britain has declared a ‘national incident' after a rare discovery of a ‘vaccine-derived' polio virus in sewage samples in London. And the cost of raw materials needed for EVs has doubled during the pandemic, according to AlixPartners, a consultancy. Notes: Accel, one of the top global venture capital firms, has raised a $4 billion fund to invest in what it calls later-stage ventures. The firm expects to provide “expansion capital” to promising companies within its portfolio worldwide, as well as companies that are new to the firm, it said in a blogpost yesterday. “Our decades-long experience has also taught us the importance of patience and discipline — especially during periods of volatility and change like we are experiencing today,” the VC firm said in the blog post. Meta, Facebook's parent company, software giant Microsoft, Japan's Sony, and IKEA are among some 37 global companies that have come together to form the Metaverse Standards Forum to develop common standards for the online world of avatars and 3D experiences. Open to any organisation at no cost, the Forum will focus on pragmatic, action-based projects such as implementation prototyping, hackathons, plugfests, and open-source tooling to accelerate the testing and adoption of metaverse standards, while also developing consistent terminology and deployment guidelines, it said in the post. Notably, Google and Apple aren't participating yet. British health authorities are urgently investigating a rare polio virus discovery in sewage samples in London, potentially putting Britain's polio-free status at risk for the first time in almost two decades, CNBC reports. Several waste samples from the Beckton sewage treatment work in Newham, east London tested positive for vaccine-derived polio virus between February and May, the UK Health Security Agency said in a statement. The agency has declared a national incident and informed the World Health Organisation of the situation. Leap Finance, which gives student loans to those aspiring to higher education abroad, has raised $75 million in a round led by Owl Ventures, with participation from new investors Steadview Capital and Paramark Ventures, as well as existing investors Jungle Ventures and Sequoia Capital India, Economic Times. Raw material costs for electric vehicles more than doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report by AlixPartners, a consultancy, CNBC reports. EV-specific costs have increased to $4,500 from roughly $2,000 in the past two years, according to the report. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

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Your Daily FinTech Podcast - June 22nd, 2022

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2022 3:21

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below: Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast. THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS FROST has launched to the general public after initially opening its app to its first wave of users. More than 16,000 people signed up to receive early access to the new e-money offering, which aims to give users greater control over several typically time-consuming financial tasks. Now, everyone in the UK can download the app and sign up for Frost. JUST IN: Revolut is axing its free trading for its most premium monthly subscription plan. Users of its Metal subscription package pay £12.99 per month for a number of benefits including unlimited trading at zero commission but, according to the company, this will end next month. WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS? PayGlocal Technologies has raised $12 million in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Sequoia Capital India and BEENEXT. mewt has raised $4.6 million in a seed funding round led by global fintech investor Quona Capital. WHAT'S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS? True Global Ventures 4 Plus announced the closure of a $146 million funding round earmarked for a wide range of Web3 projects — highlighting investors' continued interest in crypto despite an ongoing bear market. LET'S HEAR ALL ABOUT MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: The SPAC merger between Israeli fintech unicorn Pagaya and EJF Acquisition Corp. is set to be completed this week despite the many question marks surrounding the combination. EJF announced on Friday afternoon that its shareholders have voted to approve its combination with Pagaya at a valuation of $8.5 billion. Australia-based Latitude Financial Services has terminated its deal to acquire humm group's buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) unit. AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS MoneyGram International has partnered the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) with to initiate the rollout of its crypto-to-cash service that is now available in key remittance markets, including Kenya, the U.S., Canada, and the Philippines for the first wave of users.

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TCS rises, Infosys debuts on Kantar BrandZ global 100; Microsoft, Zara, and IBM lead on the new sustainability index

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2022 4:31

Tata Consultancy Services rose 12 positions from last year to rank number 46 on Kantar BrandZ's annual list of global brands. Rival Infosys debuted on the list, joining the top 100, ranking at number 64 on the widely followed ranking of the world's biggest brands every year. Accenture improved its ranking by one spot to place at number 26. Microsoft, Zara and IBM, however, lead the list on a new sustainability index that Kantar has started this year. Notes: Tata Consultancy Services rose 12 positions from last year to rank number 46 on Kantar BrandZ's annual list of global brands. Rival Infosys debuted on the list, joining the top 100, ranking at number 64 on the widely followed ranking of the world's biggest brands every year. Accenture improved its ranking by one spot to place at number 26. Microsoft, Zara and IBM, however, lead the list on a new sustainability index that Kantar has started this year. This year, the number of Indian brands in the Global Top 100 rose to four: Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Infosys, and LIC. That's more than the amount that Japan, Italy, and the UK placed — combined, Kantar said in its report. Formerly a challenger brand, TCS now isn't far from Accenture by market value, the report notes. TCS and Infosys also made it to the top 20 brands under the business solutions and technology providers category, while IBM and Accenture continue to rank higher on this list as well. Microsoft, Zara and IBM lead the way in the new Kantar Sustainability BrandZ Index, which shows sustainability accounts for 3 percent of brand equity and is expected to rise. Consumer sustainability perception rose significantly in recent years, with Chinese consumers ranking second, next only to the Americas, according to Kantar. Wipro, India's fourth-biggest IT services company, and Eros Investments, a portfolio of media and entertainment businesses, have signed an alliance agreement to develop an artificial intelligence and machine learning-based content localisation solution. It will automate the time-consuming manual content localisation process of subtitling and dubbing with near human-level accuracy, delivering cost and time savings for global media organisations, post-production, and direct-to-consumer over-the-top streaming platforms, the companies said in a press release. Ecozen has raised Rs. 54 crore of additional funding as part of its Rs. 200 crore Series C round. The new funding round was led by Dare Ventures, the venture capital arm of Coromandel International, with participation from existing investors Caspian and Hivos-Triodos Fonds. Northern Arc, UC Inclusive Credit, Maanaveeya, and Samunnati also participated with debt funding. Early investors in Ecozen include IFA and Omnivore. Ecozen makes motor controls, IoT devices, and energy storage devices for agriculture, irrigation and cold chains. Headquartered in Pune, Ecozen was founded on-campus by three IIT Kharagpur alumni, Devendra Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pandey. Fanbuff Technology India, better known as FanClash, a two-year-old Indian fantasy esports startup, has raised $40 million in series B funding from investors including Alpha Wave Global, Sequoia Capital India, Info Edge and Polygon, TechCrunch reports, citing the company's founder and CEO Richa Singh. FanClash previously raised $10.5 million, including a $10 million Series A round. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Amazon, Flipkart to join India's open network for digital commerce; Uber to expand India tech team by 50 percent

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2022 4:15

Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart unit are joining the country's new Open Network for Digital Commerce, Economic Times reports. The network is being compared with India's Unified Payments Interface, to support the idea that it could do for online commerce what UPI did for payments. And Uber, which is looking to cut costs in the US, is significantly and rapidly expanding its tech team in India. Notes: Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart unit are joining the country's new Open Network for Digital Commerce, Economic Times reports, citing sources familiar with the developments. This new network, ONDC, is being presented as a first-of-its-kind platform worldwide that will make it easy for millions of small sellers in the country to go online and for consumers to find them irrespective of which app or site they use to shop. Paytm has already joined the network, and Flipkart's payments unit PhonePe is doing so as well, according to ET. Uber Technologies, which is cutting costs in the US, has announced a fresh round of recruitment for its India tech centres, with a plan to hire 500 more engineers by December. Uber recruited 250 engineers in 2021 to expand its tech team to 1,000 in two centres in India—Hyderabad and Bengaluru, the company said in a press release yesterday. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told staff recently that he will be cutting costs on multiple fronts, and that hiring should be seen as a ‘privilege,' CNBC reported on May 9. IBM's Red Hat, an open-source software leader, and Kyndryl, its IT infrastructure services subsidiary, have announced a strategic partnership to help customers embrace open, differentiated automation technologies and managed services to modernise core business applications and IT infrastructure, the company said in a press release. Red Hat and Kyndryl will offer integrated services and solutions based on the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform to automate critical workloads from the enterprise data centre to the edge and on public clouds. GoKwik, which helps brands reduce ecommerce churn, has raised $35 million in a Series B round led by Think Investments. The round also saw participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners India and RTP Global, the company said in a press release. The company will use the money to work on tech solutions for large marketplaces, and omnichannel players, and add more D2C customers. GoKwik expects to hire more than 200 people across India this year. ReshaMandi, which is building a ‘digital ecosystem' for the natural fibre supply chain in India, has made a foray into the skincare segment by investing an undisclosed amount in a Bengaluru-based skincare brand, Healios Wound Solutions, the company said in a press release. The investment will help Healios expand its silk protein-based skincare range and market it to a wider audience looking for natural, sustainable and environment-friendly skincare products. Sericin has antioxidant, anti-ageing, moisture retention, and depigmentation properties, which makes it an ideal ingredient in any skincare line, according to ReshaMandi's press release. Going forward, Healios's SeriSkin range will be positioned as a silk protein-based premium product made of naturally-extracted sericin, the company said. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Apple staff decry hybrid pilot as driven by fear; Google fires another AI researcher; Zepto, Traceable, Toplyne, and Kaleidofin raise funding

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2022 4:55

A group of Apple employees, calling itself Apple Together, has opposed the company's ‘hybrid working pilot' return-to-office policy as a measure that actually kills flexibility, even diversity, and perpetuates a culture of working in silos. Google has sacked another AI researcher for questioning its science, NYT reports. And investors pour hundreds of millions more into Indian startups. Notes: A group of Apple employees calling itself Apple Together has opposed the company's ‘hybrid working pilot' return-to-office policy, first announced last year and being implemented from April, as a measure that actually kills flexibility and even diversity and perpetuates a culture of working in silos. In an open letter published last week, the group said the policy is really motivated by fear. “You have characterised the decision for the Hybrid Working Pilot as being about combining the 'need to commune in-person' and the value of flexible work," the letter says. "But in reality, it does not recognise flexible work and is only driven by fear. Fear of the future of work, fear of worker autonomy, fear of losing control.” Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the policy mid-last-year, requiring staff to return to offices on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and work from home or remotely available on the other two days. “Office-bound work is a technology from the last century, from the era before ubiquitous video-call-capable internet and everyone being on the same internal chat application. But the future is about connecting when it makes sense, with people who have relevant input, no matter where they are based,” the group said. Google has fired another top AI researcher from its Google Brain unit, less than two years after it dismissed two researchers who criticised the biases built into artificial intelligence systems, New York Times reports. The company has fired Satrajit Chatterjee, who questioned a paper it published on the abilities of a specialised type of AI used in making computer chips. Chatterjee led a team of scientists in challenging the acclaimed research paper, which appeared last year in the scientific journal Nature that said computers were able to design certain parts of a computer chip faster and better than humans, according to the New York Times. Chatterjee was fired in March, shortly after Google told his team that it would not publish a paper that rebutted some of the claims made in Nature. Google confirmed his dismissal to the New York Times and defended its decision to not publish his team's paper, according to the report. Zepto, a quick delivery service for groceries started by two Stanford dropouts, has raised $200 million in its Series D funding, valuing the company at around $900 million. Traceable AI, an API security and observability company, has raised $60 million in Series B funding, valuing the venture at more than $450 million. Toplyne, a SaaS platform provider that helps companies to monetise their product-led growth, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India, and existing investors including Together Fund. Kaleidofin, a fintech company, has announced a second close to its $15 million Series B equity round led by Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Wipro names former Accenture, KPMG exec Satya Easwaran India head; The $80 bln India semiconductor opportunity

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2022 5:23

Indian industry could reap benefits of up to $80 billion by participating in the global semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, by 2030, according to a report by the Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Manufacturing Association. And Wipro has recruited Satya Easwaran, a former Accenture and KPMG executive as its country head for India. Indian industry could reap benefits of up to $80 billion by participating in the global semiconductor manufacturing supply chain, by 2030, according to a report by the Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Manufacturing Association (IESA). According to IESA's ‘Global Semiconductor Manufacturing Supply Chain Report,' from $440 billion in 2020, the semiconductor manufacturing market, comprising materials, equipment and services, is likely to touch $1 trillion by 2030. The overall global opportunity across these segments is estimated to be $550-600 billion, and of that Indian industry could capture about $80 billion, IESA said in a press release. ReshaMandi, a digital commerce platform provider for the natural fibre supply chain, has set up Asia's second-largest cocoon mandi in Ramanagara, near Bengaluru, the company said in a press release. The cutting-edge processing plant and warehouse will benefit over 30,000 sericulture farmers and serve over 6000 reelers to optimise the silk value chain and produce high-quality raw silk through data-driven interventions. Whatfix, a digital adoption platforms provider, has acquired Leap.is, a mobile-first onboarding and assistance platform startup that brings the value of digital adoption platforms to mobile applications. The deal marks Whatfix's first mobile DAP product-focused acquisition, as well as its largest M&A deal so far, according to a press release. Whatfix didn't provide financial details. Leap's toolset will integrate with Whatfix's existing applications by adding guidance to mobile apps to improve activations and adoption, reduce time-to-ship for onboarding experiences, and increase the customisation of user experiences overall. UrbanPiper, a restaurant management platform provider, has raised $24 million in Series B funding led by existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Tiger Global, new investors Swiggy and Zomato, and several angel investors, according to a press release. Founded by Saurabh Gupta, Anirban Majumdar and Manav Gupta, UrbanPiper is a B2B software platform that aims to become a single window to help restaurants run their entire operations. The Bengaluru startup is developing a suite of digital applications to ensure all the commerce workflows for a restaurant can happen seamlessly simply and intuitively. Wipro has named Satya Easwaran as the company's Country Head for India, leading strategic consulting, transformation and modernisation engagements, India's fourth-biggest IT services provider said in a press release. Satya brings global experience in leading end-to-end business transformation programmes for large enterprises in different sectors, according to Wipro. Before joining Wipro, Satya was the Head of Business Consulting and the Telecom, Media and Technology Sector Leader at KPMG India. During his tenure at KPMG, in India and the US, and at Accenture India, Satya held multiple leadership positions in management consulting, with a focus on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cloud, digital, and strategy and transformation. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Crypto heist empties $625 mln; Scientists build ML model to reduce soil poisoning; Citymall, Classplus, Lambdatest, Cloaked raise funding

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2022 4:23

Roughly $625 million worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen from Ronin, the blockchain underlying the popular crypto game Axie Infinity, The Verge reports. A research team at Korea University has developed a software program that uses machine learning to determine the best way to treat soil with biochar, or thermally decomposed biowaste, to trap heavy metals. Plus, a raft of funding news. Notes: Roughly $625 million worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen from Ronin, the blockchain underlying the popular crypto game Axie Infinity, The Verge reports. Ronin and Axie Infinity operator Sky Mavis revealed the breach on Tuesday and froze transactions on the Ronin bridge, which allows depositing and withdrawing funds from the company's blockchain. A research team at Korea University has developed a software program that uses machine learning to determine the best way to treat soil with biochar, or thermally decomposed biowaste, to contain heavy metals and prevent them from moving up the food chain. This work is significant because it can help improve the effectiveness of soil treatment with biochar to reduce or contain land pollution. The machine-learning-based method has been developed by a team led by Yong Sik Ok and Kumuduni N. Palansooriya from Korea University. Their findings were recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. Citymall, a local community-based ecommerce platform provider, has raised $75 million in Series C funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, Economic Times reported. The round values Citymall at around $350 million, according to ET. Citymall will use the money to add categories and locations and strengthen its back-end technology. Classplus, a B2B ed-tech startup that helps educators and content creators launch and scale their online coaching businesses, has raised $70 million in a Series D round co-led by Alpha Wave Global and Tiger Global, the Noida company said in a press release. This new round follows a $65 million Series C investment in June 2021. The latest investment values Classplus — founded in 2018 by Mukul Rustagi and Bhaswat Agarwal — at nearly $600 million. LambdaTest, a cloud-based test orchestration platform provider, has closed a $45 million venture round, led by Premji Invest with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Telstra Ventures, Blume Ventures, and Leo Capital, the Silicon Valley and Noida company said in a press release. LambdaTest expects to mostly use this money for new product innovation. It is also looking to add multiple roles and in multiple locations. Cloaked, a Boston startup that allows users to generate unique email addresses and phone numbers when creating online accounts has secured $25 million in Series A funding, TechCrunch reports. Founded in 2020 by brothers Arjun and Abhijay Bhatnagar, Cloaked allows privacy-conscious individuals to create unique identifiers. The service, available as an app and a browser extension, creates “cloaked” identities — such as emails, phone numbers, passwords and credit card numbers — that can be unique to any given online service, according to TechCrunch. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Quantum Tech Pod Episode 23: Joe Fitzsimons, Horizon Quantum Computing CEO

Quantum Tech Pod

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2022 35:40

(QuantumTechPod) Host Christopher Bishop's Quantum Tech Pod with Joe Fitzsimons, CEO, Horizon Quantum Computing is now live! At university, he focused on quantum because he always wanted to work on a frontier technology whose primary goal was to have an effect on the world. Worth noting that a Ph.D. in physics is NOT required to work at Horizon. Senior program manager Amanda Chew recently joined from Microsoft and brings her experience developing software solutions to the quantum world. Check it out by clicking on sound bar at bottom of page here. Biography of Dr. Joseph Fitzsimons Dr. Joe Fitzsimons left a tenured faculty position at Singapore University of Technology and Design to found Horizon Quantum Computing in 2018. Drawing on over 15 years' experience in quantum computing and computational complexity theory, his goal is to make quantum computing a general-purpose computing technology, capable of addressing some of the world's most challenging computational problems. Joe received a BSc in Theoretical Physics from University College Dublin and a DPhil from Oxford, where he went on to become a fellow of Merton College. Dr. Fitzsimons has been named as a National Research Foundation Fellow and to the MIT Technology Review's list of Innovators Under 35 Asia. His company Horizon Quantum Computing is pioneering an approach to quantum computing that allows users to write programs in classical languages that can be compiled and run on conventional or quantum computers, without any knowledge in quantum computing. By removing the need for prior quantum computing experience, Horizon's tools will democratize the development of quantum-enhanced applications, making the power of quantum computing accessible to every software developer. About Horizon Computing Horizon Computing is working to democratise quantum computing applications for businesses by removing the need for quantum algorithms knowledge for software developers. For that, Horizon Computing is building a compiler that automatically constructs quantum algorithms from classical code. The company was founded in 2018 in Singapore by Dr Joe Fitzsimons, DPhil from Oxford, a specialist in quantum computing and computational complexity theory with over 15 years of experience. The leadership team also includes Dr Si-Hui Tan, PhD from MIT, who has been actively involved in quantum research for 15 years. A seed round led by SGInnovate and seed-plus led by Sequoia Capital India allowed our company to bring its financing to SGD 4.5 million (USD 3.23 million). Other investors include Abies Ventures, DCVC, Qubit Protocol, Summer Capital and Posa CV.

Reliance Retail buys Clovia; Sarah and Ajit Isaac fund new IISc centre; Cricketer Mahela Jayawardene co-founds cloud-sec startup

Indian Silicon Valley with Jivraj Singh Sachar

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2022 4:39

Reliance Retail, part of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, is acquiring an 89 percent stake in direct-to-consumer brand Clovia for $125 million. Indian Institute of Science has entered into an MoU with Ajit Isaac, founder and chairman of Quess Corp, and his wife Sarah Isaac, for establishing a Centre for Public Health at the IISc campus. Plus, Sri Lankan Cricketer Mahela Jayawardene co-founds a cyber security venture. Reliance Retail, part of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, is acquiring an 89 percent stake in direct-to-consumer brand Clovia for $125 million as the largest Indian retail chain looks to expand its footprints in the apparel and innerwear categories, TechCrunch reports. Eight-year-old Clovia, which operates a ‘bridge-to-premium D2C brand' and sells over 3,500 products across innerwear and loungewear categories for millennial women, had raised about $25.8 million before Sunday's announcement. India's Income Tax Department has found and seized “a large number of incriminating pieces of evidence” that reveals a Pune and Thane-based unicorn startup, referring to Infra.Market, “booked bogus purchases” and disclosed an additional income of more than $29.4 million, TechCrunch reports. Infra.Market's investors include Tiger Global, Nexus Venture Partners and Accel, and is valued at $2.5 billion. The startup helps construction and real estate companies procure materials and handle logistics for their projects. The company “made huge unaccounted cash expenditure and obtained accommodation entries, aggregating to the tune of over Rs 400 crore ($52.7 million),” the department said in a statement, according to TechCrunch. The Indian Institute of Science has entered into an MoU with Ajit Isaac, founder and chairman of Quess Corp, and his wife Sarah Isaac, for establishing a Centre for Public Health at the IISc campus. The Isaacs have committed a sum of Rs. 105 crore towards setting up this Centre, which will be called the Isaac Centre for Public Health (ICPH), and will be a part of the postgraduate Medical School, soon to be established on campus. The Centre will be operational by 2024. Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene has teamed up with technology entrepreneurs Chandita Samaranayake and Stefano Harding, to co-found Dygisec, a Singapore based cyber security company, according to a press release from the company. With operations in Sri Lanka, Singapore, the US, and with plans to expand into Australia and the UK, Dygisec will offer its agent-less, data-driven cloud compliance policy engine called Triton. The company also plans to form a Cloud Security Academy to train and certify 5,000 cloud security experts representing women, financially-challenged and differently-abled individuals in Sri Lanka over the next three years. Loop, a startup building a user research tool for software product development teams, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding led by VC firm Speciale Invest. Additional funding for the startup, founded by Kritika Oberoi and Akash Tandon, is coming from First Cheque, angel investors and a grant from Sequoia Capital India as part of the Sequoia Spark program. Looppanel allows product and design teams to analyse and share insights from Zoom-based user interviews in minutes. Product managers and designers can quickly test their assumptions and prototypes with their own customers. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

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To Infinity and Beyond – der Podcast rund um Blockchain, Web 3.0, Krypto und NFT (Vol. 1)

Startup Insider

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2022 66:01

Zwei neue Rubriken waren diesen Monat einfach nicht genug, daher starten wir heute mit unserer neuen Reihe “To Infinity and Beyond – der Podcast rund um Blockchain, Web 3.0, Krypto und NFT”. Kryptoenthusiastin und Futuristin, BerChain Founding Member Kerstin Eismann und Investor in Crypto und Early Stage Venture Capital Daniel Höpfner bringen ihre jahrelange Expertise mit in den Podcast und analysieren, diskutieren und kommentieren was das Zeug hält. Mit dieser Rubrik wollen wir alle in die neue Welt der Kryptowährung, NFTs, Blockchain, Metaverse und Web 3.0 abholen und euch jede Folge Buzzwords, Zusammenhänge und Trends erklären. Nach einer kurzen Vorstellungsrunde hat das Trio folgende Themen besprochen: Finanzierungsrunde für Polygon: 450 Millionen US-Dollar in den Ethereum-Challenger durch u.a. Sequoia Capital India, Softbank, Tiger Global 200 Millionen US-Dollar-Investment von Binance in den Publisher des renommierten Magazins Forbes. Hintergrund des Deals ist ein SPAC. Durch die Beteiligung ist Binance nun einer der größten Shareholder von Forbes, das an der NYSE unter dem Ticker-Symbol #FRBS gelistet werden soll. Warum gibt es so viele Blockchains? Was ist Bitcoin-Mining? In der nächsten Folge dreht sich alles um NFTs, Heidi Klum und vieles mehr. There's more to come!

E87 - Disrupting the Global Web 3.0 Landscape w/Polygon Technology's Jaynti Kanani

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2022 43:55

In this Episode, I speak with Jaynti Kanani, Co-Founder of Polygon Technology. Polygon is the most successful side-chain solution to Ethereum's scalability problems, emerging as the most valuable Web 3.0 Company of Indian Origin, with a market cap of greater than 20 Billion Dollars at its peak, also having recently raised 450 Million Dollars in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, and participation from Softbank Vision Fund, Tiger Global and others.Polygon has radically transformed the ecosystem, helping innumerable developers in the Web 3.0 ecosystem to build and run applications seamlessly, not being bound by Ethereum's network. Started in 2017 by Jaynti & his Co-Founders, Polygon has put India on the Global Landscape of the next frontier of technology - Web 3.0! Through this conversation we discuss the following (Time Stamps Coming Soon!) Hope you liked the 87th Episode on the Indian Silicon Valley Podcast - Disrupting the Global Web 3.0 Landscape! That was it from this Episode, thanks again for tuning in! :) If you liked the episode, do share with your friends or drop us a quick review! Also, do follow us on social media to stay updated with all new episodes: Twitter: https://twitter.com/isv_podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/indian-silicon-valley-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiansiliconvalleypodcast/ Gallery of all Episodes: https://airtable.com/shrTOFf1z5UT0q9p8 I am Jivraj, the host and if you have anything you would like to share with me, feel free to reach out via: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jivrajsinghsachar/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jivraj_sachar Or, you can directly reach out to me via WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/Indian_Silicon_Valley_Podcast You can also subscribe to the YouTube Channel of the Podcast : https://www.youtube.com/c/IndianSiliconValley/ "If you never try, you never know" Stay Tuned, Keep Building.

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Two arrested for links to 2016 crypto heist worth $4.5 bln today; Razorpay makes Malaysian acquisition; Airmeet raises $35 mln

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2022 5:05

Two arrested in connection to 2016 crypto heist worth $4.5 billion today The US Department of Justice has arrested two people in connection to a crypto heist in 2016. The two, Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, are accused of conspiring to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during a hack of Bitfinex, a virtual currency exchange, in 2016, presently valued at approximately $4.5 billion. Thus far, law enforcement officials have seized over $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency linked to that hack, the justice department said in a statement yesterday. Razorpay starts international expansion with Malaysian acquisition Razorpay has acquired a majority stake in Curlec, a Malaysian fintech company, as part of its strategy to expand into Southeast Asia, the Bangalore based payments and financial services platform company said in a press release yesterday. Kuala Lumpur-based Curlec, founded in 2018, is building solutions for recurring payments for modern businesses of all sizes, according to the release. Razorpay didn't provide any details on the terms of the transaction, which marks its first overseas acquisition and fourth overall. Startup news Airmeet, an online meeting software provider, has raised $35 million in Series B funding. New investors Prosus Ventures, Sistema Asia Fund, RingCentral Ventures, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, DG Daiwa Ventures and Nexxus Global participated alongside existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Accel India, the company said in a press release. Mudrex, a Y Combinator-backed crypto startup with operations in Bangalore and Silicon Valley, has raised $6.5 million in a pre-series A round from Arkam Ventures, Tribe Capital, and Bolt by QED Investors. This round follows $2.5 million in seed funding four months ago led by Nexus Venture Partners and Village Global with participation from Kunal Shah, Anand Chandrashekharan and Anjali Bansal. US-based SaaS blockchain orchestration platform Cion Digital, dedicated to R&D and crypto financing and payment solutions, is opening its first office in India. The expansion strategy includes setting up an R&D centre in Pune, investing Rs. 50 crore. And Cion aims to hire more than 100 engineers with expertise in blockchain technology. TrayamBhu Tech Solutions, a blockchain startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed money from US-based Octave Ventures and others, the company said in a press release. TrayamBhu plans to develop newer blockchain products on climate tech covering ESG, Carbon Credit, and Tokenisation Carbon Assets. Infina, a Vietnamese startup targeting millennials interested in the capital markets, has raised $6 million in seed funding from investors including Sequoia Capital India's Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, and AppWorks. GoalTeller, an automated financial planning platform provider, has raised $500,000 in pre-series A funding, the company said in a press release. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

silicon valley crypto saas arrested esg southeast asia surge acquisition heist vietnamese raises rs bolt y combinator bangalore malaysian kuala lumpur pune series b bitfinex free music heather morgan village global qed investors kunal shah airmeet ilya lichtenstein sequoia capital india nexus venture partners

Polygon raises $450 million from Sequoia, SoftBank; HaystackAnalytics develops universal infectious disease test; SatSure raises $5 million

THE BOTTOM IS IN PLACE - EXPECT A BIG RALLY IN RISK MARKETS

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 4:34

Polygon raises $450 million in fresh funding Polygon, a blockchain startup, has raised about $450 million through a private sale of its native MATIC token in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Galaxy Digital, Galaxy Interactive, Tiger Global, Republic Capital and prominent angel investors, the company said in a blogpost yesterday. SatSure raises $5 million from Baring PE SatSure, a startup working at the intersection of space-tech, Artificial Intelligence, and Software as a Service, has raised $5 million in Pre-Series A funding in a round led by Baring Private Equity India, joined by ADB Ventures. Other investors include Flowstate VC, Force Ventures, IndigoEdge Advisors, Toch.ai, Nishchay Goel and Saikiran Krishnamurthy. SatSure, which was founded in 2017 by Prateep Basu, Rashmit Singh Sukhmani, along with Abhishek Raju, will use the money to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia and accelerate its product development, which also includes launching its proprietary payloads to Low Earth Orbit. L&T and Microsoft team up to offer cloud services Larsen & Toubro and Microsoft India, yesterday announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a regulated-sector focused cloud service. In line with emerging regulations, L&T and Microsoft will co-engage with a defined set of large customers in regulated sectors to develop architectures and roadmaps to modernise their traditional data centres to potentially hybrid models and advance their digital transformation goals. FirstMeridian buys RLabs FirstMeridian Business Services has completed its acquisition of RLabs, an IT staffing and consulting firm with more than 1,200 technology professionals servicing customers in over 40 locations in India. This marks the sixth acquisition by the FirstMeridian Group since the founding of the Bangalore company in mid-2018. HaystackAnalytics releases universal infectious diseases test HaystackAnalytics, a Mumbai based health-tech startup, supported by the Department of Science & Technology, Govt of India, has developed a Universal Infectious Diseases test that deploys Next-Generation Sequencing technology to identify existing and emerging infections while providing information on drug resistance to support and identify correct treatment options for patients, the company said in a press release. Gold Setu raises $1.2 million Gold Setu, a mobile-first micro SaaS platform for jewellery retailers, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding led by Village Global, Better Capital, Titan Capital, iSeed and Anjali Bansal for Avaana Seed, the startup said in a press release. The company will use the money for its go-to-market initiatives and launch new products on its platform. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Cryptocurrency & Financial markets news,stats, & data 20th Jan 2022

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2022 28:58

Cryptocurrency & FinancialMarkets News, Stats& Data for 20th Jan 2022specific coins very cheap here Today I talk about the following:1. Market Stats, Trading models, Technical analysis, Sector performances & liquidity2. Fiat markets, Economics, Central Banks, Regulators and Government news3. Social media, & Greed and Fear index4. Derivative Positions & Leverage & Risk Metrics5. General news· Google Pay Partners With Cryptocurrency Exchanges To Accept Their Digital Cards https://www.newsbtc.com/crypto/google-pay-partners-with-cryptocurrency-exchanges-to-accept-their-digital-cards/7· Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Deribit is rolling out SOL derivatives — the latest indicator of strong institutional investor interest in the Solana protocol.https://blockworks.co/exclusive-crypto-derivatives-exchange-deribit-planning-solana-futures/8· The Judge presiding over the SEC v Ripple case, Judge Netburn has now ruled in favor of Ripple in the lastest court session. Judge Netburn granted Ripple's request for privileged SEC documents That determines the classification of XRP as securities.https://coinpedia.org/ripple/judge-rules-in-favour-of-ripple-in-the-hot-sec-vs-ripple-lawsuit/9· CEO of Financial Services Giant Charles Schwab Calls Cryptocurrencies ‘Hard to Ignore'“We would welcome the chance if the opportunity presents itself from a regulatory standpoint,” said Charles Schwab's CEO on Wednesday https://blockworks.co/ceo-of-financial-services-giant-charles-schwab-calls-cryptocurrencies-hard-to-ignore/Regulations10· Russia has joined the league of countries that have proposed a total ban on all cryptocurrency-related activities. In a press conference report on Thursday, the Director of the Bank of Russia's Financial Stability Department Elizaveta Danilova made this known.https://coinquora.com/bank-of-russia-proposes-complete-ban-on-all-crypto-activities/Funding11· The nonfungible token marketplace Autograph co-founded by Super Bowl champion Tom Brady has announced it closed on a $170 million funding round.https://cointelegraph.com/news/tom-brady-s-nft-platform-autograph-raises-170m-to-scale-operations12· Decentralized betting protocol Azuro has officially closed its seed round funding amounting to $3.5 million. This successful raising of funds is made possible with the help of true value adds on the venture and the strategic partner side.https://coinquora.com/azuro-successfully-closes-seed-round-amounting-to-3-5-million/13· African gaming platform Carry1st has announced a $20 million Series A extension led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Avenir and Google. A wide range of additional investors also took part in the round, including the founders of Axie Infinity and rapper Nas. The valuation was not disclosed.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130766/carry1st-raise?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss14· Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) is planning to raise up to $4.5 billion for two new crypto funds, according to a report by the Financial Times. Last week, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm reportedly told investors that it will raise $3.5 billion for its venture fund, while another $1 billion will be raised for its seed investments in the web3 space, with plans set to be confirmed in March. The Block has contacted a16z for comment but did not receive a response by press time.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130954/andreessen-horowitz-plans-to-raise-4-5-billion-for-new-crypto-funds?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss15· BlockFills, a digital asset electronic market making, trading and prime brokerage, has announced the completion of a $37 million Series A funding round. Institutional investors, including Susquehanna Private Equity Investments LLLP, CME Ventures, Simplex Ventures, C6 Ventures, and Nexo Inc., led the round. Since its inception in 2018, the firm has received a total of $44 million from institutional investors in two funding rounds.https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockfills-raises-37-million-to-support-global-expansion`16· Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of global digital asset exchange Gate.io, has announced its participation in SEBA Bank's $119M Series C round as a consortium member with Altive. SEBA Bank, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Zug Switzerland, is a FINMA-licensed bank that offers digital banking, trading, and custodial services for institutional investors and High Networth Individuals (HNWIs).https://coinpedia.org/press-release/gate-io-venture-capital-invests-in-seba-bank/17· Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra blockchain, has announced today the formation of the Luna Foundation Guard—a non-profit created to foster the growth of the Terra ecosystem.https://cryptobriefing.com/terraform-labs-launches-nonprofit-luna-foundation-guard/?utm_source=main_feed&utm_medium=rssAcquisitions/partnerships18· Crypto exchange Gemini continues to put to work its war-chest of capital, acquiring trading platform Omniex to offer more institutional services to its clientele.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130845/gemini-acquires-crypto-trading-platform-in-push-to-offer-prime-services?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss19· The Adelaide Football Club, called “the Crows” in Australia, is a professional club based in Adelaide. This team is led by John Olsen, Chairman, and Tim Silvers, CEO. The Adelaide Crows are the pride of South Australia, a club with over 30 years of existence and the only club to have won multiple premierships in the AFLW competition.https://thenewscrypto.com/crypto-com-and-the-adelaide-crows-announce-long-term-partnership/Hires20· Google Hires PayPal Executive to Expand Crypto Footprinthttps://decrypt.co/90736/google-hires-paypal-executive-expand-crypto-footprintEth killers21. With its 2000 transactions per second, TRON wants to make blockchain technology more accessible. Justin Sun, a well-known tech entrepreneur, started it in September 2017. Last year, Sun stepped down and declared his intention to legitimize blockchain technology in Latin America. Since then, he hasn't engaged much in any regular TRON activities. With 67 million TRON accounts and 2.72 billion transactions up from 1.41 billion, marking an increase of 1.31 billion, TRON is the fastest-growing public chain. TRON's native coin, TRX, is utilized to access the platform's applications. Moreover, last year TRON reached $14.06 billion in TVL and ended the year at $9.98 billion TVL, thus topping other public chains and making it one of the most popular DeFi protocols.https://thenewscrypto.com/tron-trx-annual-statistics-represent-an-excellent-track-record/Sports22· Sport legends Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, and Jayna Hefford join forces with Parity and Aventus to headline first NFT marketplace exclusively dedicated to women athleteshttps://dailycoin.com/sport-legends-jackie-joyner-kersee-cynthia-cooper-dyke-and-jayna-hefford-join-forces-with-parity-and-aventus-to-headline-first-nft-marketplace-exclusively-dedicated-to-women-athletes/Nfts23· Puppy Bowl Is Going Crypto With NFTs to Benefit Ariana Grande's Animal Rescue Charityhttps://decrypt.co/90615/discovery-puppy-bowl-nfts24· a Solana-based "move-to-earn" startup that rewards users for exercising, has raised $5 million in a seed funding round. Sequoia Capital India and Folius Ventures co-led the round, with Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, 6th Man Ventures, Sfermion, and others participating.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130953/solana-move-to-earn-stepn-funding?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss25· After finding success with NBA Top Shot and inking subsequent deals with the NFL and LaLiga, Dapper Labs announced today that it will launch an NFT platform for the popular mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship later this week.https://decrypt.co/90755/nba-top-shot-dapper-labs-nft-platform-ufc-strikeHacks/scams25· Crypto.com CEO confirms 400 accounts were compromised in recent hackhttps://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130857/crypto-com-ceo-confirms-400-accounts-were-compromised-in-recent-hack?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss26· Hacker steals $200,000 through Multichain bug, offers to return 80% to victimhttps://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130818/hacker-steals-200000-through-multichain-bug-offers-to-return-80-to-victim?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rssExchange news27· Poloniex celebrates its 8th anniversary in the crypto space!https://ambcrypto.com/poloniex-celebrates-its-8th-anniversary-in-the-crypto-space-2/28· In a statement on Thursday, Crypto.com revealed that “4,836.26 ETH, 443.93 BTC and approximately US$66,200 in other currencies” had been taken from clients' accounts without their permission. The overall loss is presently valued at around $33.8 million, per the current market value.https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-com-finally-speaks-out-483-user-accounts-compromised29, Russia & Ukraine

ceo director fear australia google social nfl super bowl russia government data african judge bank sun economics nfts silicon valley tom brady crypto gate sec trading latin america cryptocurrency hackers technical cheap nas greed stats sol sector gemini index financial times la liga russia ukraine tron south australia defi fiat crows ripple regulators institutional central banks btc decentralized eth avenir solana financial markets charles schwab parity autographs andreessen horowitz aflw trx xrp ultimate fighting championship nba top shot adelaide crows dapper labs alameda research justin sun poloniex jackie joyner kersee john olsen terraform labs finma deribit adelaide football club sequoia capital india man ventures sfermion luna foundation guard seba bank zug switzerland

Cryptocurrency & Financial markets news,stats, & data 20th Jan 2022

THE BOTTOM IS IN PLACE - EXPECT A BIG RALLY IN RISK MARKETS

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2022 28:58

Cryptocurrency & FinancialMarkets News, Stats& Data for 20th Jan 2022specific coins very cheap here Today I talk about the following:1. Market Stats, Trading models, Technical analysis, Sector performances & liquidity2. Fiat markets, Economics, Central Banks, Regulators and Government news3. Social media, & Greed and Fear index4. Derivative Positions & Leverage & Risk Metrics5. General news· Google Pay Partners With Cryptocurrency Exchanges To Accept Their Digital Cards https://www.newsbtc.com/crypto/google-pay-partners-with-cryptocurrency-exchanges-to-accept-their-digital-cards/7· Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Deribit is rolling out SOL derivatives — the latest indicator of strong institutional investor interest in the Solana protocol.https://blockworks.co/exclusive-crypto-derivatives-exchange-deribit-planning-solana-futures/8· The Judge presiding over the SEC v Ripple case, Judge Netburn has now ruled in favor of Ripple in the lastest court session. Judge Netburn granted Ripple's request for privileged SEC documents That determines the classification of XRP as securities.https://coinpedia.org/ripple/judge-rules-in-favour-of-ripple-in-the-hot-sec-vs-ripple-lawsuit/9· CEO of Financial Services Giant Charles Schwab Calls Cryptocurrencies ‘Hard to Ignore'“We would welcome the chance if the opportunity presents itself from a regulatory standpoint,” said Charles Schwab's CEO on Wednesday https://blockworks.co/ceo-of-financial-services-giant-charles-schwab-calls-cryptocurrencies-hard-to-ignore/Regulations10· Russia has joined the league of countries that have proposed a total ban on all cryptocurrency-related activities. In a press conference report on Thursday, the Director of the Bank of Russia's Financial Stability Department Elizaveta Danilova made this known.https://coinquora.com/bank-of-russia-proposes-complete-ban-on-all-crypto-activities/Funding11· The nonfungible token marketplace Autograph co-founded by Super Bowl champion Tom Brady has announced it closed on a $170 million funding round.https://cointelegraph.com/news/tom-brady-s-nft-platform-autograph-raises-170m-to-scale-operations12· Decentralized betting protocol Azuro has officially closed its seed round funding amounting to $3.5 million. This successful raising of funds is made possible with the help of true value adds on the venture and the strategic partner side.https://coinquora.com/azuro-successfully-closes-seed-round-amounting-to-3-5-million/13· African gaming platform Carry1st has announced a $20 million Series A extension led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Avenir and Google. A wide range of additional investors also took part in the round, including the founders of Axie Infinity and rapper Nas. The valuation was not disclosed.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130766/carry1st-raise?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss14· Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) is planning to raise up to $4.5 billion for two new crypto funds, according to a report by the Financial Times. Last week, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm reportedly told investors that it will raise $3.5 billion for its venture fund, while another $1 billion will be raised for its seed investments in the web3 space, with plans set to be confirmed in March. The Block has contacted a16z for comment but did not receive a response by press time.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130954/andreessen-horowitz-plans-to-raise-4-5-billion-for-new-crypto-funds?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss15· BlockFills, a digital asset electronic market making, trading and prime brokerage, has announced the completion of a $37 million Series A funding round. Institutional investors, including Susquehanna Private Equity Investments LLLP, CME Ventures, Simplex Ventures, C6 Ventures, and Nexo Inc., led the round. Since its inception in 2018, the firm has received a total of $44 million from institutional investors in two funding rounds.https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockfills-raises-37-million-to-support-global-expansion`16· Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of global digital asset exchange Gate.io, has announced its participation in SEBA Bank's $119M Series C round as a consortium member with Altive. SEBA Bank, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Zug Switzerland, is a FINMA-licensed bank that offers digital banking, trading, and custodial services for institutional investors and High Networth Individuals (HNWIs).https://coinpedia.org/press-release/gate-io-venture-capital-invests-in-seba-bank/17· Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra blockchain, has announced today the formation of the Luna Foundation Guard—a non-profit created to foster the growth of the Terra ecosystem.https://cryptobriefing.com/terraform-labs-launches-nonprofit-luna-foundation-guard/?utm_source=main_feed&utm_medium=rssAcquisitions/partnerships18· Crypto exchange Gemini continues to put to work its war-chest of capital, acquiring trading platform Omniex to offer more institutional services to its clientele.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130845/gemini-acquires-crypto-trading-platform-in-push-to-offer-prime-services?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss19· The Adelaide Football Club, called “the Crows” in Australia, is a professional club based in Adelaide. This team is led by John Olsen, Chairman, and Tim Silvers, CEO. The Adelaide Crows are the pride of South Australia, a club with over 30 years of existence and the only club to have won multiple premierships in the AFLW competition.https://thenewscrypto.com/crypto-com-and-the-adelaide-crows-announce-long-term-partnership/Hires20· Google Hires PayPal Executive to Expand Crypto Footprinthttps://decrypt.co/90736/google-hires-paypal-executive-expand-crypto-footprintEth killers21. With its 2000 transactions per second, TRON wants to make blockchain technology more accessible. Justin Sun, a well-known tech entrepreneur, started it in September 2017. Last year, Sun stepped down and declared his intention to legitimize blockchain technology in Latin America. Since then, he hasn't engaged much in any regular TRON activities. With 67 million TRON accounts and 2.72 billion transactions up from 1.41 billion, marking an increase of 1.31 billion, TRON is the fastest-growing public chain. TRON's native coin, TRX, is utilized to access the platform's applications. Moreover, last year TRON reached $14.06 billion in TVL and ended the year at $9.98 billion TVL, thus topping other public chains and making it one of the most popular DeFi protocols.https://thenewscrypto.com/tron-trx-annual-statistics-represent-an-excellent-track-record/Sports22· Sport legends Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, and Jayna Hefford join forces with Parity and Aventus to headline first NFT marketplace exclusively dedicated to women athleteshttps://dailycoin.com/sport-legends-jackie-joyner-kersee-cynthia-cooper-dyke-and-jayna-hefford-join-forces-with-parity-and-aventus-to-headline-first-nft-marketplace-exclusively-dedicated-to-women-athletes/Nfts23· Puppy Bowl Is Going Crypto With NFTs to Benefit Ariana Grande's Animal Rescue Charityhttps://decrypt.co/90615/discovery-puppy-bowl-nfts24· a Solana-based "move-to-earn" startup that rewards users for exercising, has raised $5 million in a seed funding round. Sequoia Capital India and Folius Ventures co-led the round, with Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, 6th Man Ventures, Sfermion, and others participating.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130953/solana-move-to-earn-stepn-funding?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss25· After finding success with NBA Top Shot and inking subsequent deals with the NFL and LaLiga, Dapper Labs announced today that it will launch an NFT platform for the popular mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship later this week.https://decrypt.co/90755/nba-top-shot-dapper-labs-nft-platform-ufc-strikeHacks/scams25· Crypto.com CEO confirms 400 accounts were compromised in recent hackhttps://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130857/crypto-com-ceo-confirms-400-accounts-were-compromised-in-recent-hack?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss26· Hacker steals $200,000 through Multichain bug, offers to return 80% to victimhttps://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130818/hacker-steals-200000-through-multichain-bug-offers-to-return-80-to-victim?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rssExchange news27· Poloniex celebrates its 8th anniversary in the crypto space!https://ambcrypto.com/poloniex-celebrates-its-8th-anniversary-in-the-crypto-space-2/28· In a statement on Thursday, Crypto.com revealed that “4,836.26 ETH, 443.93 BTC and approximately US$66,200 in other currencies” had been taken from clients' accounts without their permission. The overall loss is presently valued at around $33.8 million, per the current market value.https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-com-finally-speaks-out-483-user-accounts-compromised29, Russia & Ukraine

ceo director fear australia google social nfl super bowl russia government data african judge bank sun economics nfts silicon valley tom brady crypto gate sec trading latin america cryptocurrency hackers technical cheap nas greed stats sol sector gemini index financial times la liga russia ukraine tron south australia defi fiat crows ripple regulators institutional central banks btc decentralized eth avenir solana financial markets charles schwab parity autographs andreessen horowitz aflw trx xrp ultimate fighting championship nba top shot adelaide crows dapper labs alameda research justin sun poloniex jackie joyner kersee john olsen terraform labs finma deribit adelaide football club sequoia capital india man ventures sfermion luna foundation guard seba bank zug switzerland

Cryptocurrency & Financial markets news,stats, & data 20th Jan 2022

THE BOTTOM IS IN PLACE - EXPECT A BIG RALLY IN RISK MARKETS

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2022 28:58

Cryptocurrency & FinancialMarkets News, Stats& Data for 20th Jan 2022specific coins very cheap here Today I talk about the following:1. Market Stats, Trading models, Technical analysis, Sector performances & liquidity2. Fiat markets, Economics, Central Banks, Regulators and Government news3. Social media, & Greed and Fear index4. Derivative Positions & Leverage & Risk Metrics5. General news· Google Pay Partners With Cryptocurrency Exchanges To Accept Their Digital Cards https://www.newsbtc.com/crypto/google-pay-partners-with-cryptocurrency-exchanges-to-accept-their-digital-cards/7· Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Deribit is rolling out SOL derivatives — the latest indicator of strong institutional investor interest in the Solana protocol.https://blockworks.co/exclusive-crypto-derivatives-exchange-deribit-planning-solana-futures/8· The Judge presiding over the SEC v Ripple case, Judge Netburn has now ruled in favor of Ripple in the lastest court session. Judge Netburn granted Ripple's request for privileged SEC documents That determines the classification of XRP as securities.https://coinpedia.org/ripple/judge-rules-in-favour-of-ripple-in-the-hot-sec-vs-ripple-lawsuit/9· CEO of Financial Services Giant Charles Schwab Calls Cryptocurrencies ‘Hard to Ignore'“We would welcome the chance if the opportunity presents itself from a regulatory standpoint,” said Charles Schwab's CEO on Wednesday https://blockworks.co/ceo-of-financial-services-giant-charles-schwab-calls-cryptocurrencies-hard-to-ignore/Regulations10· Russia has joined the league of countries that have proposed a total ban on all cryptocurrency-related activities. In a press conference report on Thursday, the Director of the Bank of Russia's Financial Stability Department Elizaveta Danilova made this known.https://coinquora.com/bank-of-russia-proposes-complete-ban-on-all-crypto-activities/Funding11· The nonfungible token marketplace Autograph co-founded by Super Bowl champion Tom Brady has announced it closed on a $170 million funding round.https://cointelegraph.com/news/tom-brady-s-nft-platform-autograph-raises-170m-to-scale-operations12· Decentralized betting protocol Azuro has officially closed its seed round funding amounting to $3.5 million. This successful raising of funds is made possible with the help of true value adds on the venture and the strategic partner side.https://coinquora.com/azuro-successfully-closes-seed-round-amounting-to-3-5-million/13· African gaming platform Carry1st has announced a $20 million Series A extension led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Avenir and Google. A wide range of additional investors also took part in the round, including the founders of Axie Infinity and rapper Nas. The valuation was not disclosed.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130766/carry1st-raise?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss14· Andreessen Horowitz (also known as a16z) is planning to raise up to $4.5 billion for two new crypto funds, according to a report by the Financial Times. Last week, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm reportedly told investors that it will raise $3.5 billion for its venture fund, while another $1 billion will be raised for its seed investments in the web3 space, with plans set to be confirmed in March. The Block has contacted a16z for comment but did not receive a response by press time.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130954/andreessen-horowitz-plans-to-raise-4-5-billion-for-new-crypto-funds?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss15· BlockFills, a digital asset electronic market making, trading and prime brokerage, has announced the completion of a $37 million Series A funding round. Institutional investors, including Susquehanna Private Equity Investments LLLP, CME Ventures, Simplex Ventures, C6 Ventures, and Nexo Inc., led the round. Since its inception in 2018, the firm has received a total of $44 million from institutional investors in two funding rounds.https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockfills-raises-37-million-to-support-global-expansion`16· Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of global digital asset exchange Gate.io, has announced its participation in SEBA Bank's $119M Series C round as a consortium member with Altive. SEBA Bank, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Zug Switzerland, is a FINMA-licensed bank that offers digital banking, trading, and custodial services for institutional investors and High Networth Individuals (HNWIs).https://coinpedia.org/press-release/gate-io-venture-capital-invests-in-seba-bank/17· Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra blockchain, has announced today the formation of the Luna Foundation Guard—a non-profit created to foster the growth of the Terra ecosystem.https://cryptobriefing.com/terraform-labs-launches-nonprofit-luna-foundation-guard/?utm_source=main_feed&utm_medium=rssAcquisitions/partnerships18· Crypto exchange Gemini continues to put to work its war-chest of capital, acquiring trading platform Omniex to offer more institutional services to its clientele.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/130845/gemini-acquires-crypto-trading-platform-in-push-to-offer-prime-services?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss19· The Adelaide Football Club, called “the Crows” in Australia, is a professional club based in Adelaide. This team is led by John Olsen, Chairman, and Tim Silvers, CEO. The Adelaide Crows are the pride of South Australia, a club with over 30 years of existence and the only club to have won multiple premierships in the AFLW competition.https://thenewscrypto.com/crypto-com-and-the-adelaide-crows-announce-long-term-partnership/Hires20· Google Hires PayPal Executive to Expand Crypto Footprinthttps://decrypt.co/90736/google-hires-paypal-executive-expand-crypto-footprintEth killers21. With its 2000 transactions per second, TRON wants to make blockchain technology more accessible. Justin Sun, a well-known tech entrepreneur, started it in September 2017. Last year, Sun stepped down and declared his intention to legitimize blockchain technology in Latin America. Since then, he hasn't engaged much in any regular TRON activities. With 67 million TRON accounts and 2.72 billion transactions up from 1.41 billion, marking an increase of 1.31 billion, TRON is the fastest-growing public chain. TRON's native coin, TRX, is utilized to access the platform's applications. Moreover, last year TRON reached $14.06 billion in TVL and ended the year at $9.98 billion TVL, thus topping other public chains and making it one of the most popular DeFi protocols.https://thenewscrypto.com/tron-trx-annual-statistics-represent-an-excellent-track-record/Sports22· Sport legends Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, and Jayna Hefford join forces with Parity and Aventus to headline first NFT marketplace exclusively dedicated to women athleteshttps://dailycoin.com/sport-legends-jackie-joyner-kersee-cynthia-cooper-dyke-and-jayna-hefford-join-forces-with-parity-and-aventus-to-headline-first-nft-marketplace-exclusively-dedicated-to-women-athletes/Nfts23· Puppy Bowl Is Going Crypto With NFTs to Benefit Ariana Grande's Animal Rescue Charityhttps://decrypt.co/90615/discovery-puppy-bowl-nfts24· a Solana-based "move-to-earn" startup that rewards users for exercising, has raised $5 million in a seed funding round. Sequoia Capital India and Folius Ventures co-led the round, with Solana Ventures, Alameda Research, 6th Man Ventures, Sfermion, and others participating.https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130953/solana-move-to-earn-stepn-funding?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss25· After finding success with NBA Top Shot and inking subsequent deals with the NFL and LaLiga, Dapper Labs announced today that it will launch an NFT platform for the popular mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship later this week.https://decrypt.co/90755/nba-top-shot-dapper-labs-nft-platform-ufc-strikeHacks/scams25· Crypto.com CEO confirms 400 accounts were compromised in recent hackhttps://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130857/crypto-com-ceo-confirms-400-accounts-were-compromised-in-recent-hack?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rss26· Hacker steals $200,000 through Multichain bug, offers to return 80% to victimhttps://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/130818/hacker-steals-200000-through-multichain-bug-offers-to-return-80-to-victim?utm_source=cryptocompare&utm_medium=rssExchange news27· Poloniex celebrates its 8th anniversary in the crypto space!https://ambcrypto.com/poloniex-celebrates-its-8th-anniversary-in-the-crypto-space-2/28· In a statement on Thursday, Crypto.com revealed that “4,836.26 ETH, 443.93 BTC and approximately US$66,200 in other currencies” had been taken from clients' accounts without their permission. The overall loss is presently valued at around $33.8 million, per the current market value.https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-com-finally-speaks-out-483-user-accounts-compromised29, Russia & Ukraine

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Former SpaceX engineers announce electric train startup; GM expands H2 tech; SaaS Labs, Rocketlane raise funding

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2022 4:50

Parallel Systems, a company founded by former SpaceX engineers to reimagine the railroad system, has raised $49.55 million in Series A funds to build autonomous battery-electric rail vehicles that move freight, the company said in a press release yesterday; Meanwhile GM said it is expanding its hydrogen fuel cells beyond vehicles to power homes, offices and malls. Former SpaceX engineers' startup out of stealth with electric rail Parallel Systems, a company founded by former SpaceX engineers to reimagine the railroad system, has raised $49.55 million in Series A funds to build autonomous battery-electric rail vehicles that move freight, the company said in a press release yesterday. The round is led by Anthos Capital and includes investments from Congruent Ventures, Riot Ventures, Embark Ventures, and others. The funds will be used to build a fleet of rail vehicles, execute advanced testing programmes and grow the team. The company, which came out of stealth mode yesterday, has raised $53.15 million to date, including $3.6 million in seed funds. “We founded Parallel to allow railroads to open new markets, increase infrastructure utilisation, and improve service to accelerate freight decarbonisation,” said Matt Soule, Co-founder and CEO, Parallel Systems. His co-founders are John Howard and Ben Stabler. GM to expand hydrogen tech beyond EVs General Motors, yesterday, announced new commercial applications of its HYDROTEC fuel cell technology. HYDROTEC projects, which are currently in development, from heavy-duty trucks to aerospace and locomotives, are being planned for use beyond vehicles, for power generation, the company said in a press release. GM is planning multiple HYDROTEC-based power generators, all powered by GM's Generation 2 HYDROTEC fuel cell ‘power cubes,' including a mobile power generator to provide a fast-charge capability for EVs without installing permanent charge points; a rapid charger, brand named EMPOWER, to help retail fuel stations add affordable DC fast charging without expanding the grid; and a palletised mobile power generator to quietly and efficiently power military camps and installations. These generators could ultimately replace gas and diesel-burning generators with fewer emissions at locations such as worksites, buildings, movie sets, data centres, outdoor concerts and festivals. They could also back up or temporarily replace grid-sourced electricity for residential and small commercial enterprises at times of power disruption, the company said. SaaS Labs, Rocketlane raise funding SaaS Labs, which builds business automation tools for sales and support teams, has raised $42 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital India with participation from existing investors, Base 10 Partners and Eight Roads Ventures, the company said in a press release. The company plans to use the funds raised on R&D, to develop new products for its global users, as well as to scale newly-launched products. Rocketlane, a purpose-built customer onboarding platform, has closed an $18 million Series A funding round, the startup said in a press release. The investment is being led by previous Asana investors, 8VC, with participation from Nexus Venture Partners, Matrix Partners India, and prominent angel investor, Gokul Rajaram. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

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Pine Labs Confidential IPO | Edtech Startups Want To Self-regulate | Lead School – Latest Unicorn

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2022 8:55

This week in Indian startup news, Pine Labs files for confidential IPO in the US, Edtech startups looking to self-regulate the edtech sector and GlobalBees acquire three more D2C brands. In funding news, Lead School raises $100 million to become a unicorn, Refyne raises $82 million, FPL Technologies raises $75 million, and Curefoods raises $62 million. Pine Labs files for confidential IPO in the US: Indian fintech giant Pine Labs, which offers an end-to-end payment solution for merchants, has filed for a ‘confidential' IPO in the US - planning to raise around $500 million which would value the company anywhere between $5.5 to $7 billion. Unlike traditional IPOs, while filing a confidential IPO – a company does not need to disclose any details or their DRHP to the public until it is approved by the regulatory body. Edtech startups looking to self-regulate the edtech sector: A few weeks back, the Indian government had issued an advisory for parents and students - cautioning them against misselling done by some edtech companies. Amid all this, 15 edtech companies which include some of India's biggest edtech startups like Byju's, Unacademy, Vedantu, and upGrad have come together to set up an autonomous body called ‘India EdTech Consortium' under the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). With this, these companies want to create a self-regulatory code for the industry and adhere to a ‘common code of conduct'. GlobalBees acquires three more D2C brands: Thrasio-style D2C house of brands unicorn GlobalBees has acquired three more D2C brands this week - including The Butternut Company (a healthy snacks brand), Mush (a sustainable clothing brand) and Strauss (a sports and fitness equipment brand). With these acquisitions, GlobalBees already has 11 brands in their portfolio. The startup plans to acquire more than 100 brands within the next three years - across categories like FMCG, sports, lifestyle and home organisation. Lead School raises $100 million to become a unicorn: Edtech startup Lead School, which is focused on providing technology solutions to schools enabling them to conduct online classes via virtual classrooms, has raised $100 million in a round led by GSV Ventures and WestBridge Capital – making them India's 3rd unicorn this year. Refyne raises $82 million: Early wage access platform Refyne, which allows employees to access their salaries on-demand without waiting for the end of the month, has raised $82 million in a round led by Tiger Global Management. FPL Technologies raises $75 million: Fintech startup FPL Technologies, which operates credit scoring platform OneScore and issues its own credit card called OneCard, has raised $75 million from QED Investors, Janchor Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Matrix Partners and Hummingbird Ventures at a $750 million valuation. Curefoods raises $62 million: Cloud kitchen startup Curefoods has raised $62 million from Iron Pillar, Chiratae Ventures, Sixteenth Street Capital, Accel Partners and Binny Bansal (Flipkart co-founder).

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CCI seeks feedback on Google's payments policies; TCS, Infosys Q3 results in this week; and BMW's chameleon cars

The Daily Crunch – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 10, 2022 4:25

CCI seeks feedback on Google's payments policies The Competition Commission of India will seek a detailed report from app developers explaining the impact of Google's payment policies on their balance sheet and also suggest an alternative payment mechanism if possible, Economic Times reports. Google is seeking to enforce its policy of limiting developers to solely use its billing system for in-app sales of digital goods, on which it charges up to 30 percent commission. It has, however, pushed the deadline for Indian app developers to integrate with Google Play's billing system to Oct. 31 from March 31, 2022, according to ET. India's Competition Commission is also looking into similar practices by Apple on its App Store. Last year, South Korea became the first country to ban these practices. TCS, Infosys to report Q3 results on Jan. 12 Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, India's top two software services companies, will announce their fiscal third-quarter earnings results on Jan. 12, for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021, according to press releases by the companies. India's top IT companies are expecting the accelerated investments into digital technologies and cloud computing, following the Covid pandemic, to continue. Tata Consultancy will also consider a share buyback, when its board of directors meet on Jan. 12, according to the company. Avataar, Rupifi raise funding from Tiger Global Avataar, a computer vision tech provider, focused on the spatial visual discovery, has raised $45 million in series B funding led by Tiger Global. Existing investor Sequoia Capital India joined in. The money will help the startup develop its product further in the direction of a metaverse experience. Separately, Rupifi, which offers a buy-now-pay-later product to businesses, has raised $25 million in Series-A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Tiger Global. Existing Investors Quona Capital and Ankur Capital joined in, along with Better Capital. Rupifi was started in 2020 by Anubhav Jain, Ankit Singh and Jawaid Iqbal. With this latest round, Rupifi will expand its operations to build a complete B2B checkout product for marketplaces and omnichannel mobile-first B2B payments solutions for merchants, distributors and sellers. BMW says it's developing a digital ink to make colour-changing cars BMW is developing a digital ink technology that will allow owners to change the colour of their cars at the touch of a button, the German carmaker announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show that ended on Saturday. BMW is calling the technology iX Flow. It features an E Ink, which offers the prospect of a future technology that uses digitalisation to adapt the exterior of a vehicle to different situations and individual preferences, environmental conditions and even functional requirements, the company said.

VCs eye investment in Polygon

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2021 3:07

A number of investors including Sequoia Capital India and Steadview Capital are in talks to backÂ Polygon, which operatesÂ a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks, by way of tokens purchase, three sources familiar with the matter told me.

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VCs eye investment in Polygon

The Daily Crunch – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2021 3:07

A number of investors including Sequoia Capital India and Steadview Capital are in talks to back Polygon, which operates a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks, by way of tokens purchase, three sources familiar with the matter told me.

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Mind Your Business: AI Rudder raises US$10 Million in Series A round to power new era of Voice AI support

MONEY FM 89.3 - The Breakfast Huddle with Elliott Danker, Manisha Tank and Finance Presenter Ryan Huang

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2021 11:39

AI Rudder, a leading software company that harnesses the power of AI voice automation, recently raised US$10 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia China Seed Fund. Kun Wu, Co-Founder & Managing Director, AI Rudder shares more about the company’s business model, the advantages of adopting voice AI for businesses, and their plans for these fresh funds.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Mensa Brands Becomes India's Fastest Unicorn in Just Six Months

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2021 13:00

This week in Indian startup news, Paytm: India's biggest ever IPO flops on listing day, Policybazaar's successful listing on the stock markets, Droom files for an IPO and Chalo in talks to acquire Vogo. In funding news, Mensa Brands raises $135 million – becomes India's fastest unicorn, Velocity raises $20 million, Wingreens Farms raises $17 million and GoKwik raises $15 million. Paytm: India's biggest ever IPO flops on listing day: Paytm was listed on the stock markets on 18th November at a 10% discount and their stock price fell more than 25% on day 1 making their investors lose a quarter of their wealth. The underwhelming response to Paytm's IPO can be attributed to their inability to monetize their growing userbase as their revenues stay flat for the last four years. Policybazaar's successful listing on the stock markets: PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar was listed on the stock markets on 15th November – making their investors 17.35% richer. Policybazaar not only owns 93.4% of the online insurance market but they are also expanding their offline presence by opening 15 stores – which they intend on taking to 100 soon to reach the majority of their users who are offline. Droom files for an IPO: Droom, an online marketplace for selling automobiles, is the latest to file for an IPO – to raise Rs 3000 crore. However, things don't look good for Droom, as their only listed peer CarTrade which is, in fact, a profitable company is trading at a 25% discount, while Droom is not only smaller than CarTrade but also a loss-making startup at the moment. Chalo in talks to acquire Vogo: Chalo, an app that digitizes bus operations enabling users to track buses and book tickets online, is reportedly in talks to acquire scooter rental startup Vogo. The bad luck of mobility startups due to the pandemic has given Chalo the opportunity to buy them out at a discount, previously they acquired Shuttl and are not setting their eyes on Vogo. Mensa Brands raises $135 million – becomes India's fastest unicorn: Mensa Brands – a Thrasio-style house of brands, has raised $135 million – making them India's fastest unicorn in just six months. Mensa Brands already owns 12 profitable D2C brands and are now looking to add 30 more within the next year. Velocity raises $20 million: Revenue-based financing platform Velocity has raised $20 million in a round led by Valar Ventures to offer an alternative financing model to e-commerce companies. Wingreens Farms raises $17 million: Healthy snacks brand Wingreens Farms has raised $17 million in a round led by Investcorp to grow its business by using these funds add more new-age food and beverage brands to its portfolio. GoKwik raises $15 million: E-commerce enablement platform GoKwik – which helps e-commerce businesses grow by increasing conversion rates and reducing return orders, has raised $15 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital India.

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US to fund 1 billion more Covid-19 vaccines; ex-Googlers' Arbo Works gets Sequoia funding; plus, Sri Ambati on his open-source AI movement

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2021 28:41

US President Joe Biden's administration is offering funding to drug companies including Pfizer and Moderna to expand mRNA Covid-19 vaccine capacity by a billion doses by the second half of 2022, Bloomberg reports. Announced on Wednesday, the plan is also aimed at building the capacity to address any future pandemic, according to Bloomberg. Oxfam and others have accused the world's biggest drug companies of profiteering by selling to rich countries as most people in low-income countries around the world haven't been fully vaccinated. Arbo Works, a fintech company started by eight former Google executives, has found backing in Sequoia Capital India and 120 angel investors from among some serious practitioners of AI and top tech executives, Caesar Sengupta, who's leading the startup, said in a blog post on Thursday. The value of the funding hasn't been disclosed, but TechCrunch reports that it is an eight-figure investment. Sengupta previously led payments and the next billion users initiative at Google. His work included launching Google Pay in India. Arbo Works, based in San Francisco and Singapore, will be an AI-led fintech company. European nations are a step closer to agreeing on the Digital Markets Act. It is aimed at preventing big tech companies from abusing their dominant positions, Financial Times reports. The agreement, reached among the European Parliament's main political parties, paves the way for a vote on the package next week. If the act became law, it could apply to companies including Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Netherland's Booking and China's Alibaba, according to the report. (2:21) Interview: Sri Satish Ambati, founder and CEO of H2O.ai, on his journey from math olympiads to one of the best known AI cloud platforms Sri Satish Ambati's AI journey started in school with math olympiads. It culminated in the founding of one of the world's best known AI cloud platforms. In today's interview, Ambati talks about ‘explainability,' bringing AI to the edge and the next steps at his company H2O.ai.

Squid Games, Aussie Investors, and Disney NFTs | Oct 29 2021

Crypto Daily

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2021 4:15

On this episode of Crypto Daily, Dustin Knouse discusses the calm down of Doge and Shib, Bitcoin and Ethereum's ramp-up, Facebook and WhatsApp testing Crypto Wallets, how there will be new crypto products available on the Australian Stock Exchange, the new Squid Games token, a company that will help you get into play-to-earn games, and the upcoming official Disney NFTs. Resources: Bitcoin reclaiming $60k is ‘according to plan' as BTC might head towards $90k WhatsApp tests Facebook Novi wallet integration in the app Beta Finance, which offers a one-click option to short crypto assets, raises from Sequoia Capital India and others Australia's Securities Regulator Issues Criteria for Crypto-Asset ETPs ‘Squid Game' Crypto Price Up by 2,400% in a Day—Here's What You Should Know Meet PlayDough, Your Gateway To The Lucrative World Of Play To Earn Disney to Drop 'Golden Moments' NFT Collectible Series via Digital Collectibles App Veve --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cryptodailyshow/message

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Google's profits surge; Tiger Global backs Zolve; DeHaat raises $115 mln; and a chat with Microsoft India's Sangeeta Bavi

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 27:42

Google's parent Alphabet reported strong results for its fiscal third quarter that ended September 30, with better-than-expected ad sales at Google. The company reported revenues for the quarter rose 15 percent in constant currency terms year-on-year to $65.1 billion. Profits rose 68 percent to nearly $19 billion. Google Cloud saw revenues rise to almost $5 billion from $3.45 billion a year ago, with operating losses halving to $640 million. Zolve, a digital bank, has raised Rs. 300 crore ($40 million) in Series A funding. The round was led by partners of DST Global, who have previously led rounds in prominent fintech companies such as Robinhood, Nubank, Chime, Revolut, and Wealthsimple. The round also saw participation from Tiger Global, Alkeon Capital, as well as existing investors Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The 10-month old startup will use the money to scale up its services, including offering banking services to Indians going to the US. The investment values the startup by Raghunandan G, co-founder of ride-hailing service TaxiForSure, at Rs. 1,575 crore or about $210 million, according to the release. DeHaat, an agri-tech company in Gurugram, near Delhi, has raised $115 million in Series D funding to expand its operations, Shashank Kumar, co-founder and CEO, tweeted. DeHaat sees itself as a ‘full-stack' agri platform, meaning it aims to help farmers with everything from farm inputs and finance to scientific information and advice to selling their produce. This investment, co-led by Sofina and Lightrock, is the largest funding round for an agritech startup in India, according to TechCrunch. Temasek and existing investors Prosus Ventures, RTP Global, Sequoia Capital India and FMO also participated in the new round, which brings DeHaat's total funding to $161 million. In more agri-startup news, Gramophone, which also offers services similar to DeHaat, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Z3Partners. Gramophone will use the money to expand its operations, including acquiring other ventures, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. Existing investors Info Edge, Asha Impact, and Siana Capital also joined the funding. Dhruva Space, a space tech startup in Hyderabad, has raised Rs. 22 crores (about $3 million) led by IAN Fund and Blue Ashva Capital, as it gears up to launch satellite-as-a-service, space-grade solar arrays and ground station solutions, in India and abroad. The company made the announcement in a press release on Tuesday. With operations in Hyderabad and Austria, Dhruva is already executing orders worth several millions of dollars and expects to add customers in the US and West Asia. (3:40) Interview: Sangeeta Bavi, director of startup ecosystem, Microsoft India on the AI Innovate programme. Sangeeta Bavi spends a lot of time talking to startup founders every day. The director of Microsoft India's startup ecosystem unit started out as a developer herself and is active in multiple networks, including SaaS BOOMi. In conversation with Forbes India, Sangeeta tells us about AI Innovate, a new programme at Microsoft India, focused on helping startups take advantage of Microsoft's AI technologies.

Facebook's research on India; Groww triples in value; Clear raises $75 mln; and a chat with Razorpay's Shashank Kumar

Indian Silicon Valley with Jivraj Singh Sachar

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2021 27:49

Facebook, which sees India as a vital market, is also a platform used for spreading hate and misinformation in the country, Bloomberg reports, citing a 46-page research note that is part of the documents released by Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager who turned whistleblower. The report — ‘An Indian test user's descent into a sea of polarizing, nationalist messages' — shows how little control Facebook has in one of its most important markets, where it has also invested close to $6 billion into a partnership with Reliance Industries, the country's biggest conglomerate, according to the Bloomberg report, which is behind a paywall, but was also carried by Economic Times. Meanwhile, Haugen gives evidence, today, to the UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Britain's draft Online Safety Bill. This follows her testimony to the US Congress on Oct. 5. It will be the first public evidence she has given in Europe regarding her experiences at the company and her ideas to regulate social media. Facebook, which is expected to announce a new name for itself later this week, also reports its latest quarterly results today. Groww, an online investment platform provider in Bangalore, has raised $251 million in its series E round of venture capital funding, tripling its valuation to $3 billion, TechCrunch reports. The investment was led by Iconic Growth, joined by Alkeon, Lone Pine Capital and Steadfast as well as existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity, Tiger Global, and Propel Venture Partners. Groww was founded in 2016 by four former Flipkart employees. It has now raised more than $390 million so far, and was valued at $1 billion in April this year. Clear, which makes the popular tax filing platform ClearTax for consumers, has raised $75 million in series C funding, led by Kora Capital, Stripe, Alua Capital, Think Investments and existing investors. The funds will be used to accelerate Clear's expansion into lending and payments for business customers, and into international markets. Clear's cloud platform grew five-fold in the last 18 months, adding more than 3000 large enterprise customers. It also saw a surge in usage with over one million small businesses on the platform, which now processes more than 10 percent of India's business invoices with a GMV of $400 billion, according to the company. Clear recently acquired yBANQ to expand into B2B payments. (3:18) Interview: Shashank Kumar, co-founder and CTO, Razorpay, on RBI's rules, and finding and nurturing talent in India. When Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur teamed up to start Razorpay, most folks asked them why they were starting another payments gateway, and the duo had little knowledge of the financial sector in India, he recalls. Today, the Bengaluru company has become one of India's best known fintech successes, and a rapidly expanding platform for digital banking, lending, insurance, payroll management and a growing list of other financial services for a large number of customers. I caught up with Shashank for a quick update, and he spoke about topics including RBI's new rules and how Razorpay attracts and retains talented people. Here's more from our conversation.

E69 - Leading the Crypto Wave w/CoinSwitch Kuber's Ashish Singhal

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2021 46:45

In this Episode, I (@Jivraj Singh Sachar) speak with Ashish Singhal, Founder & CEO of CoinSwitch Kuber. CoinSwitch Kuber is India's leading cryptocurrency startup. Valued at $1.9Bn, it is backed by some of the largest venture investors across the globe, including the likes of Sequoia India, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global Management, Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm and it's latest round marks Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)'s first investment in India. Through the Episode we discuss the following: 1. (2:22) : The Hacker Mindset! ~ The What, Why & How of inculcating it as a Founder!! 2. (05:05) : Founding Story of CoinSwitch & Disrupting the Crypto Ecosystem in the Country 3. (08:20) : The Building Blocks & Pillars of CoinSwitch 4. (12:43) : Role of Market Education when building a Category Creating Company 5. (16:36) : What Optimal Messaging for the Consumer really means? 6. (17:58) : Crossing 10Mn+ Users on a Crypto Exchange in

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Turtl, Osano, Genially, Lio and Pentathlon Ventures raises ventures | Molecule Software and Fidectus team-up | Sinch acquires MessengerPeople | Freshworks debuted on the Nasdaq on Wednesday after a billion-dollar IPO

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2021 2:42

Content automation company Turtl raised $17M in Series A funding from Octopus Ventures to expand its team and double its headcount. This Series A funding is Turtl's first institutional raise and stated that with this, the startup would double its headcount using the proceeds from the fund.Osano raises $11M in funding from Jump Capital to support its international expansion and hire for sales marketing and engineering. It witnessed significant growth and has over 10 percent of the Fortune 500 as paying customers.Genially raised $20M in a Series B funding round led by 645 Ventures and Owl Ventures to accelerate its global content aspirations and focus on growing its community alongside the constant evolution of its product.SaaS companies Molecule Software and Fidectus team-up. Molecule Software stated that the partnership is aimed at developing the integration between the two software platforms, which would be available in the first half of 2022.Sinch, a cloud communication company, recently announced the acquisition of MessengerPeople. Sinch will pay a total enterprise value of $ 56.2 million, consisting of $ 39.4 million in cash and $ 16.8 million in new Sinch shares.Freshworks, a provider of SaaS customer engagement solutions, debuted on the Nasdaq on Wednesday after a billion-dollar IPO. Freshworks stock increased by 32% after the company raised $1 billion in an IPO priced above the marketed range. Lio, a SaaS startup, received $5M in seed funding from Lightspeed India Partners and Sequoia Capital India. The funds will be used to hire more engineers and increase the number of users of the company's mobile app.Pentathlon Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage B2B SaaS, has announced the final close of its INR 76 crore first Fund. Pentathlon plans to invest in 20+ B2B SaaS startups each year, with average investments ranging from INR 75 lakh to INR 3 crore.

Flippa, FloBiz and Atlanta AI raise funds | Wipro has launched Wipro-Google Cloud Innovation Arena | F5 acquires Threat Stack | Indeni partners with TD SYNNEX | Check joins hands with Procare Solutions

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2021 2:29

Wipro has launched Wipro-Google Cloud Innovation Arena with a partnership with Google Cloud. This collaboration will aid in in-residence technical information, assist in seamlessly adapting to the cloud, and enhance innovation.F5, a cloud edge security software, has acquired the cloud security monitoring software Threat Stack for $68M. F5's application and API protection solutions combined with Threat Stack's cloud security capabilities can enhance visibility across the application infrastructure.Indeni, a security infrastructure automation company, has announced that it has partnered with TD SYNNEX. With the addition of Indeni to its portfolio, SYNNEX will be able to provide even more comprehensive solutions to its customersFlippa, a global online marketplace for buying and selling online businesses and digital assets, has raised $11M in Series A funding. The funds will be used to enhance the functionality of Flippa's platform products and scale the company's industry-leading business valuation tool.Check joins hands with Procare Solutions to improve how childcare centers carry out their payroll operations. The partnership is aimed at enabling Procare to integrate payroll capabilities into its platform fully.FloBiz, a neobank builder for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), raised $35 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Think Investments to expand its team, develop its product and scale its distribution.Atlanta AI raises $15M in a Series A funding round led by GV to develop its AI systems and launch machine learning, network analytics tools. Its platform connects with numerous supply chain data points and answers questions about products, shipments, companies and networks, filtering out illicit trade, targeting bad actors and security threats across global commerce networks

Databricks, Walnut, Rattle, Peak, Rafay Systems, Octane and Harri | OwnBackup has acquired RevCult | Apna is on the cusp of becoming India's fastest tech firm first unicorn

Sales Influence - Why People Buy!

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2021 3:06

Databricks has raised $1.6B at a valuation of $38B from Counterpoint Global and others. The company aspires to build on its lead by investing in innovations that simplify AI and establish lakehouse as a modern replacement for traditional data warehousing.Walnut, a company helping sales teams manage their demo experience and reinvent sales experience, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Eight Roads Ventures to improve product demonstrations.OwnBackup, a cloud data protection platform provider, has acquired RevCult, a provider of Salesforce security and governance solutions and SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM), to enhance its platform with proactive data security.Peak raises $75M in Series C from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 to fuel global expansion, open offices in the US and India and invest in R&D of its platform. Peak's Decision Intelligence software enables companies to embed AI into the core of their decision making to boost their operational efficiency across sales, marketing, demand management and supply chains .Rafay Systems raises $25M in Series B to hire engineers, grow sales, marketing and customer success teams and accelerate its strategic vision for its Kubernetes platform. It helps platform teams move beyond traditional Kubernetes cluster management to streamlined Kubernetes operations for modern applications.Apna, a job-search and professional networking site, is on the cusp of becoming India's fastest tech firm first unicorn. Apna is building a scalable networking infrastructure to connect low-skilled workers with relevant employers and help them find work.Rattle, a BizOps automation & orchestration platform, has announced that it has raised $2.8 million in a seed funding round co-led by Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital India.Octane, a software billing firm, has secured $2M at a valuation of $10M post-money. The funds will be used to hire engineers and product, marketing & sales personnel. Octane collaborates with a wide range of businesses, notably in the infrastructure and depth gauge industries.Harri, a service-oriented employee experience platform, has received growth funding from Golub Capital as part of a bigger funding round. Harri plans to use the capital to capitalize on the excellent momentum in the large corporate market and expand into other markets.

This Week in Sales #36 with Victor Antonio and Will Barron

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2021 53:29

On this week in sales we'll be looking at: All the sales tech companies getting funding (the market is booming) Chorus.ai doing conversational intelligence within Zoom meetings Outplay gets $7.3M from Sequoia Capital India to help outbound sales team scale their campaigns Can Sales Assessments Help Address High Sales Turnover Rates? Corporate Visions Launches New Sales Engagement Services Solution for Expanding Inside Selling Teams The End of the Traveling Salesman? Covid's Permanent Transformation of the Sales Industry

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EVERYONE Gets Funding? Conversational Intelligence In Zoom Meetings?

Salesman.org - Salesman Podcast, This Week In Sales, Sales School And More...

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2021 56:43

On this week in sales we'll be looking at: All the sales tech companies getting funding Chorus.ai doing conversational intelligence within Zoom meetings If this is the end of the traveling salesman And much more! News: Outplay gets $7.3M from Sequoia Capital India to help outbound sales team scale their campaigns The new capital will […]

zoom funding 3m chorus zoom meetings everyone gets conversational intelligence sequoia capital india

PlaySimple's Whopping $360 Million Exit | Zomato's IPO Date | Ather Energy vs Ola Electric

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2021 12:55

This week in Indian Startup News, Zomato IPO date and Paytm IPO update, CCI could probe Zomato and Swiggy for anti-competitive behaviour, Ather Energy's plans to compete with Ola Electric, Flipkart's foray into social commerce, MPL to enter the US market and PlaySimple gets acquired for a whopping $360 million. In funding news, Pine Labs closes $600 million round, Digit Insurance raises $200 million, Licious raises $192 million and Furlenco raises $140 million. Zomato IPO date and Paytm IPO update: Zomato's IPO is all set to launch on July 14th – offering shares worth Rs 9,375 crore ($1.25 billion) for sale – valuing the food delivery giant at around $9 billion. However, since Zomato is a loss-making company – retail investors will only have access to 10% of these shares. Also, Paytm is expected to file for IPO later this month. CCI could probe Zomato and Swiggy for Anti-Competitive behaviour: National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) has asked the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to probe Zomato and Swiggy for anti-competitive behaviour – accusing them of deep discounting and data masking. Ather Energy's plans to compete with Ola Electric: While Ola Electric is busy doubling down on their electric scooter manufacturing facility, their competitor Ather Energy is also ramping up the capacity of their manufacturing facility from 110,000 to 500,000 units by the end of 2022. They have already set aside $87 million for their factory and are also expanding their charging network from 140 to 500 by the end of this year. Flipkart's foray into social commerce: E-commerce behemoth Flipkart has launched its own social e-commerce platform Shopsy to empower 25 million entrepreneurs by enabling them to set up their own businesses by 2023. MPL to enter the US market: After a successful run in India and foray in Indonesia, Mobile Premier League (MPL) is now expanding into the US to replicate their success through their paid games and competitions. PlaySimple gets acquired for a whopping $360 million: Swedish gaming firm Modern Times Group (MTG) has acquired Indian mobile gaming startup PlaySimple in a deal worth a whopping $360 million – making it one of the biggest exits in the Indian startup ecosystem. Pine Labs closes $600 million round: Digital payments and commerce platform Pine Labs has raised $600 million in a round led by Fidelity and BlackRock as they look to IPO in the next 18 months. Digit Insurance raises $200 million: Insurtech startup Digit Insurance has raised $200 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital India and IIFL Alternate Asset Managers at a valuation of $3.5 billion. Licious raises $192 million: Fresh meat and seafood delivery startup Licious has raised $192 million in a round led by Temasek and Multiples Private Equity. Furlenco raises $140 million: Online furniture rental startup Furlenco has raised $140 million in a round led by Zinnia Global Fund.

E-commerce logistics startup Locad gets $4.5M seed round led by Sequoia Capital India

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2021 3:27

E-commerce is booming in Southeast Asia, but in many markets, the fragmented logistics industry is struggling to catch up. This means sellers run into roadblocks when shipping to buyers, especially outside of major metropolitan areas, and managing their supply chains.

startups ecommerce southeast asia logistics sequoia capital seed round sequoia capital india

E-commerce logistics startup Locad gets $4.5M seed round led by Sequoia Capital India

TechCrunch Startups – Spoken Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2021 3:26

E-commerce is booming in Southeast Asia, but in many markets, the fragmented logistics industry is struggling to catch up. This means sellers run into roadblocks when shipping to buyers, especially outside of major metropolitan areas, and managing their supply chains.

startups ecommerce southeast asia logistics sequoia capital seed round spokenlayer sequoia capital india

Obviously AI, PeakPerformer, TWID, Leegality, and MyMobiForce raise funds | VC Holdings has signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire some of IDreamSky's SaaS-related software | ExpenseOut Infiniti Software Solutions' flagship product, has been re

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2021 2:52

VC Holdings has signed a sale and purchase agreement to acquire some of IDreamSky's SaaS-related software and the entire issued share-capital of Dream Impression Holdings, IDreamSky's indirectly owned subsidiary, in an $11.23 million deal (HK $87.32 million).Obviously AI, a no-code platform helping people without a technical platform build and run AI models, has announced an extension of its $3.6 million seed round that it raised in May this year. With the close of this extension round, led by a deep tech investment firm, University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), the company's seed funding raised to $4.7 million.ExpenseOut, Infiniti Software Solutions' flagship product, has been reintroduced by the company, which provides travel technology service. The product scans invoices automatically and assesses them for accuracy, policy compliance, and legitimacy using artificial intelligence. The program offers options for accurately collecting and reimbursing mileage data using GPS.Antler India has provided early-stage funding to PeakPerformer, a leadership development company. As it builds its AI platform and expands its client base, the funds will be used to hire engineering expertise. PeakPerformer is a tech-enabled executive development platform that helps companies upskill their executives at all levels.TWID, a rewards-based payment network, has raised $2.5 million in a round led by BEENXT and the Surge Fund of Sequoia Capital India. The firm, which is located in Singapore and India, links clients with merchants to pay using points earned through a “Point Issuer” scheme. Surge's fifth batch of 23 companies includes TWID, which has developed unique digital solutions to assist businesses and individuals.In a pre-Series A financing led by IIFL Securities Capital Enhancer Fund, Leegality, a platform for document execution, received an undisclosed sum. The additional funds will be used to recruit more individuals in critical roles, speed up product development, and expand the company's operations. Leegality's e-sign, e-stamp, and document processing technology, launched in 2016, enables Indian businesses to sign and manage documents.MyMobiForce, an AI-powered crowdsourcing platform, has raised ₹10 crores ($1.42 million) in a pre-Series A funding round led by Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, reports state. The round witnessed participation from angel investors led by Manu Iyer of Bluehill Capital, Acsys Investments, and Ashutosh Agrawal (ex- Urban Company).

Nansen, Forum Brands, Shipbob, Virti, Jetstream, Wonderflow, Arrows and Boundless raise funds | Zoom acquires Kites | Shopify has brought down app store commission rates | Sequoia Capital India has welcomed 23 startups for the fifth cohort of Surge | Peak

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2021 6:21

Communications platform Zoom has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire real-time machine translations (MT) solutions developer Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions – Kites. The terms of the transactions remain undisclosed.Cloud-based multi-channel commerce platform Shopify has brought down app store commission rates to zero for developers making their first $1M in revenue. Commission rates are cut for other developers (earning over $1M/year) as well, from 20 to 15 percent. This new revenue share model is extended to Theme Store developers as well.Sequoia Capital India has welcomed 23 startups for the fifth cohort of Surge, its scale-up accelerator program for Indian and Southeast Asian startups. Surge 05, as the VC firm calls it, comprises 40 percent of SaaS and DevTools companies that have been building products for global markets ever since their inception.Visier, a cloud-based analytics platform, has secured $125 million in a Series E investment round, valuing the company at $1 billion and has turned unicorn. Visier is a Canadian company that has created a big-data engine that can consume and analyze data from various HR and related apps. It offers a big-data engine it developed that can connect to any of those apps, absorb the data they contain, and match it up to provide current-state representations and increasingly predictive insights.Peak, a venture capital firm located in Amsterdam, has joined the German market. It has announced the launch of its fourth €66 million fund (approx. USD 78.5M). Peak's initial investments vary from €250K (about USD 0.2 million) to €4 million (approx. USD 4.7 million ). A large portion of the VC's new fund has been set aside for follow-on rounds, which will assist portfolio entrepreneurs from pre-seed to Series B and beyond.Nansen, a blockchain analytics platform, has raised $12M in Series A funding from a16z. The company was launched in 2020 and has shared details of its revenue figures, team size alongside the announcement. The proceeds from this funding would be used to build its data platform, enhance user experience, among others.JFrog, a DevOps platform, paid $300 million for Vdoo. The purchase will be made using a mix of cash and stock. Vdoo will remain a distinct SaaS offering for the time being, according to JFrog. New updates will aid in support of the JFrog platform, and by 2022, the two businesses will have a completely integrated solution.Forum Brands, a platform for growing and acquiring consumer brands, has announced its raise of $27 million equity funding in a round led by Norwest Venture Partners. Existing investors NFX and Concrete Rose participated in the financing round. ShipBob, a global logistics company, has raised $200 million in a Series E funding round, making it a unicorn. The company then provides its clients with a merchant application that allows them to keep track of inventory and connect with warehouses to choose which goods to pick and ship to fulfill orders. It works with several shipping companies to deliver products to customers. It claims to work with over 40 firms, including Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix, Square, and Squarespace.The assets of edX have been acquired by 2U, Inc., a global leader in education technology. Through one of the most comprehensive free-to-degree online education systems, 2U and edX will reach over 50 million learners worldwide. Combining 2U's industry-leading marketing capabilities and edX.org's burgeoning marketplace, which saw over 120 million visitors in 2020, is expected to provide a scalable and sustainable marketing advantage. Virti, an interactive and immersive training platform, has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by IQ Capital with participation from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Descenture Capital, reports indicate. Virti, founded in 2018, provides a platform to help companies train their employees via virtual training modules and simulations. With Virti, companies could build their own training modules and simulations without the need for coding and use AI, natural language processing to analyze a user's performance and provide feedback. In 2020, it was included on TIME magazine's annual best innovation list.GitHub and Open AI have collaborated to launch GitHub Copilot, which leverages artificial intelligence to help one write code efficiently, reports state. The product is currently available for limited technical preview, available on its website.San Francisco-based co-op, announced its close of seed funding round, where it raised $5.8 million led by Sugar Capital. Shopify, Bessemer Venture Partners, Indicator Ventures and RiverPark Ventures participated in the round.Gympass, the $2.2 billion corporate health unicorn, has received $220 million in a Series E investment. Gympass exclusively works with companies who pay a one-time charge for a platform (app) that lets their employees pick from a choice of wellness programs. 10club, an Indian startup similar to Thrasio, has raised $40 million in a seed funding round. The round was led by Fireside Ventures and an unnamed investor. In India, 10club is one of a few dozen companies aiming to duplicate what is known as the Thrasio-model. Several companies, like Thrasio, are attempting to buy brands that offer midrange to high-end items in markets with little competition.In a seed round, Jetstream, an African supply chain network, received $3M. Jetstream was founded by Miishe Addy and Solomon Torgbor to monitor and regulate their own cross-border supply chains. Jetstream's business model is straightforward. It charges for all of its services, including freight, clearing, and banking. Customs clearance is charged at a set rate that changes depending on the tax type and location of the shipment.Acceleprise has officially rebranded itself as Forum Ventures, a name more fitting to its aspirations and activities, it states. Simultaneously, it has announced the launch of its $13.2M seed and $17.2M fourth fund for pre-seed B2B SaaS startups respectively.Ramco Systems' software would be used by Aden Ports Development Company. Its ERP software for APDC's container terminal aims to reduce the manual tasks involved in its HR and finance operations via digitization. The software comes with a set of new, upgraded features and technologies.Wonderflow, an AI-based customer feedback data startup, has announced that it has raised €16.5 million (approx. USD 19.6 million) in a Series B funding round led by Klass Capital. Other participants include P101, ITALIA 500, and Dutch top manager Jan Bennink. Los Angeles-based Arrows, a software provider helping companies onboard customers, has announced its raise of $2.75 million seed funding from Google's AI-focused venture fund, Gradient Ventures, and 47 other angel investors. The company has listed the investors on its website.Boundless, a remote employment platform, has raised €2.5 million (USD 2.9 million) in a seed funding round led by Ada Ventures and FYRFLY. This platform enables businesses to compliantly hire people globally while providing their employees with perks and opportunities in the nation where they work.

WiteSand, Side, GoBOLT, LocoNav and Tapcart raises funds | Etsy acquires Elo7 | Dell has released Omnia, an open-source software suite | Mastercard invests in Instamojo

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2021 4:17

WiteSand, a startup that aims to take enterprise networking to cloud, has emerged from stealth mode, announcing its raise of $12.5 million in seed funding to date from institutions and angels. WiteSand, founded in 2019, consolidates on-premise networking tools into a unified cloud-delivered service and enables companies to monitor, secure and manage their enterprise network infrastructure. In a statement to the press, WiteSand enunciated the complications that medium to large enterprises face in networking due to employee mobility and hybrid work environments. Managing networking solutions on-premise is also tedious and time-consuming, it added.San Francisco-based Side, a real estate technology company, helping independent brokerages turn into brands and business, has announced an additional $50 million fundraise to its $150 million Series D funding that it raised in March 2021. The additional funding values the company at $2.5 billion, which is more than a two-fold increase from its $1 billion valuation attained during Series D.Elo7, a Brazilian online marketplace, will be acquired by Etsy, an American eCommerce company, for $217 million. Elo7, one of Latin America's most popular e-commerce sites, would provide Etsy a far wider market presence, with 1.9 million active customers, 56,000 active merchants, and around 8 million items for sale. With its existing management team located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Elo7 will continue to function independently.Dell has released Omnia, an open-source software suite aimed at making AI and compute-intensive job deployment and administration easier. The program consists of an Ansible playbook for deploying convergent workloads with Slurm and containers and library frameworks, services, and apps. Omnia may utilize Slurm or Kubernetes to build workload management clusters, and it attempts to reuse existing projects rather than starting from scratch.Camions Logistics Solutions Private Limited (“GoBOLT“), a tech-based logistics startup, has announced that it has raised $20 million in a Series B funding round led by Paragon Partners Growth Fund II and existing investor Aavishkaar Capital. Small supplementary components, as well as debt lines from private banks, are included in the round.Mastercard has made a strategic equity investment in Instamojo, payments, and online commerce platform. Sampad Swain, Akash Gehani, and Aditya Sengupta established Instamojo as a small business payment processor in 2012. According to the two firms, the investment would benefit MSMEs as well as gig economy workers such as small food and beverage operators, electricians, tutors, and others.Fleet management solutions provider LocoNav has announced its Series B fundraise of $37 million, led by Quiet Capital, Anthemis Group and Sequoia Capital India, reports state. The proceeds from the fund would be used for expanding into the US and other emerging markets, building partnerships, and making strategic acquisitions.Tapcart, a SaaS platform enabling e-commerce merchants to launch and manage mobile apps for their brands, has announced its Series B fundraise of $50 million in a round led by Left Lane Capital. Shopify, SignalFire, Greycroft, Act One Ventures and Amplify LA, participated in the round. The company had raised $10 million in Series A funding led by SignalFire last year. With the current funding, the total amount raised by Tapcart crosses $65 million, as per Crunchbase.

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Whatfix, Airbase, Brinqa and Nubank raises funds | Trux unveils new SaaS offering | Cirralto merges with Appstablishment | ExtraHop to be acquired by Bain Capital & Crosspoint Capital | Deloitte has acquired CloudQuest Inc.

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2021 5:16

Digital adoption SaaS platform Whatfix has closed $90 million in Series D funding from Tokyo-based SoftBank Vision Fund II, nearly two months after talks of this probable fundraising surfaced online. With the close of Series D, Whatfix's total funding stands at $139.8 million, raised in nine investment rounds, as per Crunchbase, and its valuation has tripled in the last 15 months as per its statements. Other investors – Eight Roads Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Dragoneer Investment Group, F-Prime Capital, and Cisco Investments- had participated in this round.Heavy construction logistics platform Trux, which builds tech solutions for construction companies, has unveiled its new subscription-based SaaS offering to provide a more flexible and reliable logistics solution in the construction industry. Bart Ronan, CEO of Trux, in the company's statement to the press, explained that the easy-to-use SaaS platform has been updated with features to efficiently take into account the way workers operate in the field, in the office, and behind the wheel. With the platform's help, Trux aims to help its customers working in silos by helping their workers stay connected while handling their respective operations, thereby adding accountability and visibility into the workflow.Sydney's Cirralto Limited, which supplies B2B payment services for industries, has recently merged with its long-term licensing partner, Appstablishment, the Perth-based software developer, to provide optimized business and payment solutions to the global market, reports state. Cirralto revealed that with the merger, that will trade under the name of Cirrato Limited, it would also gain access to Appstablishment's ‘Spenda business solutions,'- its flagship product that provides software to support points of sale, inventory management, debt collection, payment services, e-commerce, and catalog sharing.Airbase, a corporate spend startup, has announced that it has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round led by Menlo Ventures. Other investors include new investor Craft Ventures, existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, First Round Capital, Quiet Capital, Webb Investment Network, and BoxGroup. The additional funds will be used to solidify Airbase's position as the most comprehensive spend management solution in its class, as well as to drive product improvements and innovation that will continue to define the category, transform the way businesses spend money and elevate employees' roles to focus on the value-added work that makes businesses successful.ExtraHop, a cloud-native network detection and response company, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Bain Capital and Crosspoint Capital. The deal is strategically valued at $900 million.Bain Capital is a technology investor and one of the multi-asset alternative investment firms in the world. Crosspoint Capital is a private equity firm specializing in cybersecurity, privacy, and infrastructure software. Brinqa, a Cyber Risk Management company, has announced that it has secured $110 million as growth capital from Insight Partners, global venture capital and private equity firm. Brinqa, which has been bootstrapped and founder-backed since 2009, has received its first institutional investment to help it scale its company and expand its market. As a result of this new funding, Brinqa will be better positioned to meet the growing need for flawlessly integrated, highly automated, and risk-based cybersecurity products.Deloitte, an audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services provider, has announced that it has acquired CloudQuest Inc., a cloud security posture management (CSPM) provider, for an undisclosed sum. Deloitte's existing cloud cybersecurity products will be bolstered by CloudQuest's cloud-native security capabilities, allowing them to manage security workflows more easily, minimize risk, and increase data protection.Fintech company Nubank has announced a $750 million extension to its Series G fundraising, the last round of which closed in January with a $400 million funding. In two press releases, Nubank has announced the extension of its Series G funding, which now has touched $1.5 billion. The first extension of $500 million was raised from Berkshire Hathaway, and the second extension worth $250 million, was led by Sands Capital and witnessed participation from other Brazilian investors – Absoluto Partners, asset manager co-founded by José Zitelmann and Gustavo Hungria, and Verde Asset Management, the manager led by Luis Stuhlberger.

Jeeves, Celonis, SignalWire, ElectroNeek, Locus and Iterative.ai raises funds | GitLab, acquires Un-Review | STG buys FireEye's Product Business | Microsoft acquires Re-Firm | Confluent goes the IPO route | X to 10x acquires Dockabl | Bristow Group adopt

Indian Silicon Valley with Jivraj Singh Sachar

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2021 6:43

Jeeves, which is building an all in one expense management platform, for global start-ups, is emerging from stealth today, with $131 million in total funding, including $31 million in equity, and $100 million in debt financing. The $31 million in equity, consists of a new $26 million Series A, and a previously unannounced $5 million seed round. Andreessen Horowitz led the Series A funding. Jeeves claims, that by using its platform, any company can spin up their finance function in minutes, and get access to 30 days of credit on a true corporate card, noncard payment rails, as well as cross-border payments. Customers can also pay back in multiple currencies, reducing foreign transaction fees.DevOps platform GitLab, acquires Un-Review, a machine learning-based tool, that helps software teams recommend the best reviewers, for when developers want to check in their latest code. GitLab, which is looking to bring more of these machine learning capabilities to its platform, will integrate Un-Review's capabilities, into its own code review workflow. The two companies did not disclose the price of the acquisition. Cybersecurity giant, FireEye has agreed to sell its products business, to a consortium led by private equity firm, Symphony Technology Group - STG, for $1.2 billion. The all-cash deal will split FireEye, the maker of network, and email cybersecurity products, from its digital forensics and incident response arm, Mandiant. The move to split the two companies comes almost a decade after FireEye acquired Mandiant. FireEye becomes the latest cybersecurity giant in STG's portfolio. Microsoft has acquired firmware security start-up, Re-Firm Labs, to boost its security capabilities for protecting internet of things, and intelligent edge devices. Microsoft declined to disclose the terms of the acquisition. Re-Firm software will allow Microsoft to assess all the code running on the device, and provide a security rating before you connect the device. Germany-based software company, Celonis, raises $1 billion, from investors to give the company a post-fundraising valuation, of more than $11 billion, extending a record-stretching series of mega funding rounds, by German technology startups. Munich-based Celonis, founded a decade ago, has consistently doubled revenue from year to year, and recently launched its Execution Management System product, that crunches data to tackle problems, and automate decision-making. Iterative dot AI, an MLOps company, developing data science and AI engineering workflows, raises $20 million. The funding will support the launch of its first commercial product, Data Version Control Studio, a dashboard aimed at simplifying machine learning model development, based on data and metrics.SignalWire, a software-defined telecom, that uses distributed infrastructure that runs in the cloud, raises $30 million. The company says the funds will be put toward expanding its workforce, and supporting product R and D. The firm offers an elastic cloud network, that lets companies integrate messaging and video capabilities, into their apps or infrastructure. Logistics start-up, Locus, raises $50 million in Series C funding, led by GIC, and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. Locus uses ML, and proprietary algorithms, to offer smart supply chain solutions to customers. The start-up will use the funding to improve its geographical reach, and build its research and development team to expand the product line. Locus had also raised $30 million across multiple rounds, earlier. San Franciso-based robotic process automation platform ElectroNeek, raises $20 million in Series A funding, led by investment advisory firm, Baring Vostok, with participation from AICPA. This round will help push ElectroNeek's valuation, over $100 million. The start-up will use the funds to expand its engineering, product, and support teams in India, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. Cloud-based browser testing platform LambdaTest, raises Series B funding of $16 million, led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from Telstra Ventures. The start-up will use the latest funding towards scaling the testing ecosystem, and building next-generation cloud infrastructure for users. It also plans to broaden its reach with the tester community, by engaging with developers with a new suite of products set to launch. Confluent became the latest company to announce its intent to take the IPO route, officially filing its S-1 paperwork, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week. The company, which has raised over $455 million since it launched in 2014, was most recently valued at just over $4.5 billion, when it raised $250 million last April.X to 10x, an India-based consulting firm and SaaS provider, established by Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, has acquired human resources SaaS platform Dockabl. The firm provides technology tools and consulting solutions, to help start-ups scale their business. It counts more than 150 start-ups as clients, including social commerce firm Meesho, fintech unicorn Cred, and online fresh meat seller Licious. Global aviation software provider Ramco Systems, announces that it will implement its Aviation M and E MRO Software V5.8, to digitally transform the maintenance and engineering operations, of US-based Bristow Group Inc. Bristow Group is one of the world's largest helicopter operators, providing offshore transportation, search and rescue, and aircraft support services to government, and civil organizations worldwide. The implementation of Ramco Aviation Software, will enable Bristow to achieve smart inventory, maintenance management, and streamline organization-wide warranty tracking processes.

E45 - Being World Class w/Sequoia India's Anandamoy Roychowdhary

Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2021 48:38

In this Episode, I, Jivraj Singh Sachar speak with Anandamoy Roychowdhary, Principal at Sequoia Capital India. Roy is one of the foremost technology leaders of our ecosystem, who has built products and scaled teams for more than a decade, before joining Sequoia, where he currently leads investments in new-age deep tech startups! This was an absolutely amazing conversation, which will certainly leave you with the tremendous will to want to be World Class!!! Through this Episode we discuss the following: 1. (02:14) : "It's not about getting it right by 30, it's about getting it right at all" ~ Aspire to be World Class 2. (06:22) : Roy's journey ~ Finding his Unique Pathway by embracing challenges & discomfort 3. (15:57) : What does Roy look for in Founders before making an investment? 4. (20:05) : Keeping things 'Simple' for Tech Leaders & Founders 5. (24:37) : What does Founder - Market Fit & Founder - Tech Fit really mean? 6. (28:35) : How to build a world class organisation ? 7. (31:17) : How to Feed the Soul of the Organisation? 8. (34:54) : Being Non-Tech is not a Reality ~ Reject Labels! 9. (37:50) : What keeps Roy curious and going even after 20+ years in the industry? 10. (40:45) : Creating Goodwill ~ Being there for Founders! 11. (44:18) : Parting thoughts ~ the 3 things to avoid as a 20 year old!! Here is the 45th Episode of the Indian Silicon Valley Podcast - Being World Class! Thank you all for tuning into this Episode! We're available on Instagram & Twitter. Feel free to drop in your feedback! Do not forget to Subscribe to our WhatsApp Newsletter. I, Jivraj, am reachable on LinkedIn & Twitter! "If you never try, you never know" Stay Tuned, Keep Building.

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Ibrahim Sani's Notepad: StashAway's Series D

Astro Awani

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2021 29:34

Investment app StashAway has raised a $25 million Series D led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from returning investors Eight Roads Ventures and Square Peg. Ibrahim Sani speaks with Malaysian head of the firm, Wong Wai Ken on what's next for them.

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Rise of the Robo Advisors ft. Michele Ferrario

Pera & Purpose Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 6, 2021 52:52

Will you trust a robot or an AI to handle your finances? Why not? For the past couple of months, I have been investing in a robo advisor because of its simplicity, ease of use and most importantly - low management fees! With their growing popularity, a question begs to be answered: are robo advisors better than the traditional human financial advisors that we are so used to? To help me find the answer, I have invited Michele Ferrario, the CEO & Co-Founder of StashAway. In January of this year, Stashaway became the first digital wealth manager in Southeast Asia to manage more than $1 billion, and early this week, they have raised US$25mil in Series D funding led by Sequoia Capital India. This goes to show how promising the company is and the entire Robo-Advisory industry in general. Prior to SA Michele was the former CEO of Zalora Group and the co-founder of Rocket Internet in Italy and Pakistan. He worked as Investment Manager at Synergo and as Engagement Manager at McKinsey. He earned his MBA at Columbia Business School and his Bachelor of Science in Finance at Bocconi University in Italy. -- Jay Adrian Tolentino AKA “Kuya Jay” is a Financial Literacy Evangelist and an Independent Financial Coach based in Dubai. He holds certifications from the Chartered Insurance Institute UK (CII) - Award in Financial Planning and Award in Investment Planning, and from the Registered Financial Philippines - Associate Financial Planner (AFP) and Registered Financial Planner (RFP). He worked as a Consultant in one of the top brokerage firms in the UAE and a Yaman Coach under the Personal Finance Advisers (PFA) in the Philippines. He got featured in ABS CBN Balitang Global in April of 2019 for the Empowered Expats vlog along with Seigmond Abad. June 2020, he was given the Excellence Award in Insurance & Other Financial Services by the Filipino Social Club as part of the celebration of the Philippine Independence Day. Also last August 2020, he was invited to speak in Congress to represented the sentiments of many OF's regarding the mandatory 3% contribution being asked by Philhealth. He also hosts Business Mondays, Finance Fridays, and Real Talk On Real Estate thru his Purpose Driven Finance FB page & YT channel, which can also be listened to on Pera & Purpose Podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcast and other major podcast platforms.

Indian Startup News Ep 65: Dream11 IPO, Npci to Ban Gaming Upi Transactions & Lic-Paytm Tie-Up

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2021 10:41

This week in Indian Startup News, Dream11 explores IPO in the US, NPCI looks to ban all gaming transactions on UPI under Rs 50, LIC picks Paytm to handle their digital payments, Paytm expands ESOP pool to $604 million and MPL acquires GamingMonk. In funding news, SoftBank in talks to invest up to $500 million in Swiggy, Licious in talks to raise up to $200 million, GoMechanic in talks to raise $100 million, Razorpay raises $160 million, Druva raises $147 million, Chargebee raises $125 million, Pristyn Care raises $53 million and M1xchange raises $10 million. Dream11 explores IPO in the US: Indian gaming giant Dream11's parent company Dream Sports is looking to go public in the US by raising around $1.5 billion at a valuation of $6 billion. With Harsh Jain (co-founder of Dream11) being the board member of a newly minted SPAC focused on taking Indian companies public in the US could hint at a Dream11 taking a SPAC route to IPO. NPCI looks to ban all gaming transactions on UPI under Rs 50: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is set to ban all gaming transactions below Rs 50 through its UPI platform. A large part of the exponential rise in the UPI transactions is attributed to low-value gaming transactions which clog the banking systems leading to delayed and failed payments. LIC picks Paytm to handle their digital payments: One of India's largest insurance companies Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has picked Paytm to handle their growing digital payments. Paytm expands ESOP pool to $604 million: India's most valuable fintech startup Paytm has added nearly $62 million to their ESOP pool – expanding it to $604 million and making it the largest among Indian startups. MPL acquires GamingMonk: Mobile Premier League (MPL) has acquired esports gaming platform GamingMonk to strengthen their newly launched platform Esports Arena in order to take esports to the masses. SoftBank in talks to invest up to $500 million in Swiggy: Masayoshi Son's SoftBank is in talks with Swiggy to invest up to $500 million. Licious in talks to raise up to $200 million: Online meat delivery startup Licious is in talks with multiple investors to secure up to $200 million at an $800 million valuation. GoMechanic in talks to raise $100 million: Car servicing startup GoMechanic is in talks with Tiger Global to raise $100 million in fresh capital. Razorpay raises $160 million: Fintech startup Razorpay has raised $160 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital India and Singapore's GIC to accelerate growth in the Southeast Asian market. Druva raises $147 million: Cloud data protection startup Druva has raised $147 million at a $2 billion valuation. Chargebee raises $125 million: Subscription and billion management platform Chargebee has raised $125 million to become India's 10th unicorn of the year at a valuation of $1.4 billion. Pristyn Care raises $53 million: Healthcare startup Pristyn Care, which operates a chain of multispecialty clinics specializing in surgeries, has raised $53 million in a round led by Tiger Global to expand into new surgery specialities and foray into new geographies. M1xchange raises $10 million: Invoice discounting marketplace M1xchange has raised $10 million in a round led by Amazon to expand in more cities and reach more businesses.

Mastercard buys Ekata for $850 million, Atlassian acquires ThinkTilt

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 20, 2021 2:51

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Whatfix is in active talks to raise $80-90 million as a part of its Series D round, led by SoftBank Vision Fund II, at a valuation of $500-550 million.The talks with US-based Whatfix come a year after the startup raised $32 million as a part of its Series C round led by Sequoia Capital India. Existing investors, including Sequoia India, are expected to participate in the round, said the people mentioned above.Druva, a data-protection startup that counts US space agency NASA and drugmaker Pfizer among its customers, has received $147 million investment as it rapidly scales in response to accelerated demand for its platform. The fundraise was led by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a global investment group, The round has increased the Pune and California-based company's valuation above $2 billion. The financing round also included participation from existing investors Viking Global Investors and Atreides Management.Virdee, an Austin, Texas-based SaaS company delivering digital check-in and virtual concierge services to the hospitality and commercial real estate industries, received a strategic financing from SaaS investors, bringing total seed funding to $4M. Backers included Silverton Partners, LiveOak Venture Partners, and DJR Advisors.As online identity management grows in importance, Mastercard swooped in and bought identity verification company Ekata for $850 million. Mastercard certainly sees the rapid digital transformation that is happening in online commerce, a move that was accelerated by COVID. It's a transformation that once started isn't likely to change back to the old ways of doing business, even when we get past the pandemic.Atlassian today announced that it has acquired Brisbane, Australia-based ThinkTilt, the company behind the popular Jira-centric no-code/low-code form builder ProForma. The two companies did not disclose the price of the acquisition. The acquisition is meant to help strengthen Jira Service Management, Atlassian's version of Jira that focuses on IT service management (ITSM).

Indian Startup News Ep 61: Zomato and MobiKwik IPO, New SPAC for India and Paytm's NUE Plans

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2021 12:10

This week in Indian Startup News, Zomato and MobiKwik to file for IPO soon, New SPAC to take Indian startup public in the US, Paytm's NUE plans, Y Combinator features 43 Indian startups in W21 batch and Khatabook acquires Biz Analyst. In funding news, Dream11 raises $400 million, ClearTax in talks to raise $100 million, KreditBee closes $145 million round, Moglix in talks to raise $70-$100 million, Purplle raises $45 million, Public App raises $41 million, Velocity raises $10.3 million and FloBiz raises $10 million. Zomato and MobiKwik to file for IPO soon: After Nazara Technologies, Zomato is planning to file for IPO next month and is expected to raise around $650 million at a $7-10 billion valuation. Also, MobiKwik is looking to file for IPO in May at a billion-dollar valuation. New SPAC to take Indian startup public in the US: Elevation Capital and Think Investments have formed a new SPAC called Think Elevation Capital to take Indian startups public in the US. Paytm's NUE plans: Paytm has launched its New Umbrella Entity (NUE) named Foster Payment Network which is in the final stages of submitting their bid for the NUE license. While Paytm and its three entities will hold the majority stake – companies like PolicyBazaar, Induslnd Bank, Ola, Electronic Payments Services, Centrum Finance, Suryoday Small Finance Bank and Think360.ai will also be joining their consortium. Y Combinator features 43 Indian startups in the W21 batch: Out of 350 startups from 43 nations featured in Y Combinator's W21 batch – with 43 startups India is the second most represented country. Here are all the 43 Indian startups: QuestBook, Leap Club, CashBook, GimBooks, BusinessOnBot, ZOKO, Prescribe, Chatwoot, Weekday, Fountain9, Dyte, YourQuote, Fifthtry, Voosh, Kodo, Krab, Bueno Finance, Betterhalf, Pensil, AcadPal, Pragmatic Leaders, Splitsub, Zingbus, Tilt, FanPlay, GroMo, BimaPlan, BimaPe, Zealth, Codingal, Unschool, Flux Auto, SigNoz, Pitbit.ai, Invoid, Redcliffe Lifesciences, Veera Health, Snazzy, BeWell Digital, Jeevam Health, Triomics. Khatabook acquires Biz Analyst: Khatabook has acquired SaaS-based business management platform Biz Analyst in a $10 million deal to monetize their 40 million users. Dream11 raises $400 million: Dream11 has raised $400 million in their latest secondary funding led by TCV, D1 Capital Partners and Falcon Edge at a valuation of $5 billion. ClearTax in talks to raise $100 million: ClearTax is in talks to raise $100 million in a round led by Tiger Global Management at an expected valuation of $750-$850 million. KreditBee closes $145 million round: Digital lending startup KreditBee has closed its series C round at $145 million – raising $75 million in the latest tranche led by NewQuest Capital Partners and Motilal Oswal Private Equity. Moglix in talks to raise $70-$100 million: B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix is in talks to raise $70-$100 million in a round led by Falcon Edge Capital and it could make them India's second B2B ecommerce unicorn. Purplle raises $45 million: Online beauty commerce startup Purplle has raised $45 million led by Sequoia Capital India and Verlinvest – while giving a 22X return to IvyCap Ventures that made a partial exit. Public App raises $41 million: Public App, owned by Inshorts, has raised $41 million led by A91 Partners – doubling their valuation from $125 million to $250 million in just six months. Velocity raises $10.3 million: Fintech startup Velocity that offers credit to online businesses based on their revenues has raised $10.3 million in seed funding led by Valar Ventures. FloBiz raises $10 million: FloBiz, a startup that helps offline businesses to digitize their billing and accounting has raised $10 million in series A round led by Elevation Capital.

Indian Startup News Ep 59: Zostel vs Oyo, MakeMyTrip to Relist Oyo Rivals & Paytm's Smartphone POS

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2021 11:21

Zostel vs Oyo: Zostel and Oyo have been engaged in a legal battle for more than 3 years. When Oyo refused to acquire Zostel back in 2016, Zostel believed that they had signed a binding agreement but Oyo considered it to be a non-binding agreement. Zostel believes Oyo owes them a 7% stake in the company for transferring their business as part of the deal. The tribunal has finally come to a decision that is still a little vague. The tribunal has said that Zostel is entitled to costs in the cause without putting any monetary value but it also said that ‘definitive agreements have yet to be executed'. CCI asks MakeMyTrip to relist Oyo rivals Treebo and FabHotels on its platform: Back in 2018, Oyo had signed a commercial agreement with MakeMyTrip and soon Oyo's rivals Treebo and FabHotels were delisted from MakeMyTrip. In 2019, FHRAI had filed a complaint against MakeMyTrip for stifling competition by not letting Treebo and FabHotels use MakeMyTrip's platform. While the probe is still underway, CCI has asked MakeMyTrip to relist both Treebo and FabHotels providing them interim relief. Paytm's new app turns smartphones into POS machines: Paytm has launched a Smart POS app that can turn any NFC-enabled android smartphone into a POS machine. In order to process payments using their Smart POS app, customers simply need to tap their credit/debit cards at the back of a merchants' smartphone. Acquisitions: Tata is reportedly in talks with an online search engine for local businesses Just Dial for an acquisition or a strategic alliance. Logistics technology startup FarEye has acquired another logistics technology startup PY Technologies to scale customer implementation and incubate new ideas. VerSe Innovation, the parent company of dailyhunt and Josh, has acquired photo-sharing platform Vebbler to boost the camera and social capabilities of its short video app Josh and build a comprehensive product platform for Indian language users. Turtlemint raises $46 million: Turtlemint has raised $46 million in series D from Jungle Ventures, GGV Capital, American Family Ventures, Mass Mutual Ventures, SIG, Sequoia Capital India, Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Dream Incubator and Trifecta Capital. NODWIN Gaming raises $22.5 million: NODWIN Gaming, a subsidiary of IPO-bound Nazara Technologies, has raised $22.5 million from PUBG Mobile developer Krafton. Ecom Express raises $20 million: Ecom Express has raised $20 million from the CDC Group. Quizizz raises $12.5 million: Quizizz has raised $12.5 million from Eight Roads Ventures, GSV Ventures, Rocketship.vc, Nexus Venture Partners and Prime Venture Partners. Riscovry raises $5 million: Riskcovry has raised $5 million from Omidyar Network India, Pentathalon Ventures, DMI Sparkle Fund, Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, Varanium Capital and Better Capital. Follow Backstage with Millionaires to remain updated with our latest developments. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/backstagewithmillionaires/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bwmillionaires/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/backstagewithmillionaires/ Discord: https://discord.gg/XySGGhXKep

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Indian Startup News Ep 58: All about NUE license - NPCI competitors, Flipkart IPO via SPAC & Paytm's Billion Transactions