Nitish | Pixr8 News

31Mar By NitishNo Comments

CHINA

China’s Manufacturing Rebounds as Virus Controls Ease

China's manufacturing rebounded in March as authorities relaxed anti-disease controls and allowed factories to reopen, an official survey showed Tuesday, but an industry group warned the economy has yet to fully recover. The ruling Communist Party is trying to revive the world's second-largest economy after declaring victory over the coronavirus even as the United States and other governments shut down businesses. The purchasing managers' index issued by the Chinese statistics bureau and the official China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing rose to 52 from February's record low of 35.7 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity increasing. The federation and private sector economists cautioned the economy still faces challenges as manufacturers rebuild sup...

IMF Warns Coronavirus Recession Could Be Worse Than 2009

23Mar By NitishNo Comments

BUSINESS

IMF Warns Coronavirus Recession Could Be Worse Than 2009

The world economy is facing "severe" economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic that could be even more costly than in 2009 and will require an unprecedented response, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said Monday. In comments to finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations, Georgieva called on advanced economies to provide more support to low income countries, and the IMF stands "ready to deploy all our $1 trillion lending capacity." As much of the world faces mass shutdowns, Georgieva warned the outlook for global growth in 2020 "is negative a recession at least as bad as during the global financial crisis or worse. Starting fom China, the pandemic has continued to spread globally, with the total number of infected cases reaching 358,735 and 15,433 deaths. Several...

Cricketer MS Dhoni Invests in Khatabook App

17Mar By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Cricketer MS Dhoni Invests in Khatabook App

Business accounting app Khatabook announced that cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has invested in the company, and has become its brand ambassador. Khatabook is aiming to onboard another 2 crore merchants over the next 12 months. The firm plans to use proceeds from the latest equity investment to expand its product portfolio and double down on its technology and capabilities. "Having grown up in small-town India, I saw friends and family struggle with outdated modes of doing business and tracking finances. Khatabook has had an outsized impact on the lives of India's small merchants and retailers," Dhoni said. Ravish Naresh, co-founder and CEO Khatabook said, “We are thrilled to welcome Mahi to the Khatabook family. This partnership seemed like the most natural fit, and we look forw...

11Mar By NitishNo Comments

ACQUISITION

IXL Learning Acquires Vocabulary.com

SAN MATEO, Calif., March 10, 2020-- IXL Learning, the K-12 personalized learning platform used by 8 million students, announced the acquisition of Vocabulary.com, the leading educational destination for improving literacy through vocabulary building. Founded in 2010, Vocabulary.com provides students with a dynamic and personalized environment to grow their vocabulary. With a library of over 15,000 words, Vocabulary.com makes learning and discovering new words fun with entertaining definitions and real-world examples sourced from literature and journalism. Adaptive, individualized and interactive, the platform seamlessly integrates with any school curriculum, helping students master key words contained in their textbooks and other lesson materials. "Vocabulary.com is one of the most ...

Gay Dating App Grindr Sold for USD 608 million

9Mar By NitishNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Gay Dating App Grindr Sold for USD 608 million

Beijing, Mar 9 (AFP): One of China''s biggest mobile gaming company is selling popular gay dating app Grindr for USD 608 million after pressure from US authorities concerned over the potential misuse of user data. National security officials in Washington fear the platform which bills itself as the world''s largest social networking space for LGBT people could be used by the Chinese government to blackmail Americans with government security clearances, according to media reports last year. Beijing Kunlun Tech took a majority stake in the app in 2016 and bought the remaining equity two years later for a combined USD 245 million, but was reportedly ordered to relinquish the platform by US officials last year. It will sell a 98.59 percent stake in Grindr to San Vicente Acquisition, ...

Rakuten and Vodafone Invest in AST & Science’s Space Venture

7Mar By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Rakuten and Vodafone Invest in AST & Science’s Space Venture

TOKYO, LONDON, TEXAS – March 3, 2020 - Rakuten and Vodafone have become the lead investors in a venture to extend mobile coverage to more people and devices across the planet, using the first mobile broadband network that will be broadcast from space. Branded SpaceMobile, the low-Earth-orbit (LEO), low-latency satellite network from AST & Science will be the first in the world to connect directly to standard smartphones. The company holds an extensive patent and IP portfolio for its ground and space technologies. “SpaceMobile will be particularly transformative to the growing US$1 trillion annual global mobile market because it will eliminate the coverage gaps faced by today’s five billion mobile subscribers moving in and out of connectivity every day. It will also help the...

Stanza Living Raises Funds from Equity International

3Mar By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Stanza Living Raises Funds from Equity International

Stanza Living, which is into student housing has raised funds from US-based private equity firm Equity International. The funding amount has not been disclosed. An affiliate of Equity International (EI), Sam Zell's investment firm focused on building businesses globally, has invested in Stanza Living, a company statement said. The investment is part of Stanza Living's Series C equity financing round, which saw participation from company's existing institutional investors -- Falcon Edge Capital, Sequoia India, Matrix and Accel Partners, it added. The funds would be utilised to scale the portfolio, expand geographic footprint, and solidify brand positioning. This marks Equity International's second investment in India since 2011. Stanza Living has raised USD 70 million (a...

Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga Steps Down, Served Company for 10 years

26Feb By NitishNo Comments

BUSINESS

Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga Steps Down, Served Company for 10 years

Mastercard's Indian-American President and Chief Executive Officer Ajay Banga will step down from his role and assume charge as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. The organization announced Michael Miebach as a new CEO of the Mastercard. In its statement, the company said that Banga will become Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors effective January 1, 2021. Miebach, currently the Chief Product Officer, will become Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors on January 1, 2021 and, as part of the transition, to become President March 1 this year. The Board unanimously elected Miebach to his new role. As President of the company, Miebach will oversee the sales, marketing, products, services and technology organizations. Banga, 60, who h...

Unacademy Raises USD 110 mn Led by Facebook & Others

20Feb By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Unacademy Raises USD 110 mn Led by Facebook & Others

Online education platform Unacademy raises USD 110 million (about Rs 780 crore) in a funding round led by social media major Facebook and General Atlantic. The funding round saw investment from fresh investors including Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital and Blume Ventures, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar, according to a company statement. 'We are seeing great learning outcomes through our subscription where learners can take live classes by these educators. We now have more than 90,000 active subscribers. We thank General Atlantic and Facebook who have joined us in this journey and our existing investors who continue to be a part of the journey by supporting us,' Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal said. In addition to rai...

MaxWholesale raises USD 3 mn from IAN Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Al Falaj Investments

19Feb By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

MaxWholesale raises USD 3 mn from IAN Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Al Falaj Investments

MaxWholesale, a B2B e-commerce platform for kirana stores has raised USD 3 million (about Rs 21.4 crore) in funding led by IAN Fund-I and Abu Dhabi-based Al Falaj Investment Company (AFI). The Series-A round also saw participation from existing investor Maple Capital, along with Infoedge's ex-CFO Ambarish Raghuvanshi, Maple Capital's Abhinav Grover and Biba Group's Siddharth Bindra, among others, a statement said. Raman Roy and Abdelghani have joined MaxWholesale's board as directors, it added. "With the investment, MaxWholesale will hire talent to develop its technology further and accelerate growth... MaxWholesale is also looking to expand its reach to Kirana stores in the coming months," it said. The platform currently services 10,000 kirana stores in Delhi. The company man...

BYJU’S Raises $200 Mn from Investor General Atlantic

10Feb By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

BYJU’S Raises $200 Mn from Investor General Atlantic

Edu-tech major BYJU'S has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from General Atlantic, an existing investor in the company. While BYJU'S did not disclose the quantum of investment, sources said General Atlantic has pumped in $200 million (about Rs 1,420 crore) into the company. The investment is part of an ongoing funding that had seen Tiger Global invest a similar amount into the edu-tech company. The sources added that BYJU'S has raised over $1.3 billion and the current round values it at about $8.2 billion. "General Atlantic has been one of our strongest partners and this additional investment shows their confidence in our vision, growth and future. We are happy to see an ever increasing acceptance for our learning programs in small towns across the country," BYJU'S founder ...

3Feb By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Neighbor.com Taps Andreessen Horowitz to Lead $10 Million Series A Funding

LEHI, Utah, 3rd feb, 2020-- Neighbor.com, the self-storage marketplace disruptor has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Jeff Jordan, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former eBay, PayPal and OpenTable executive who currently sits on the boards of Airbnb, Instacart, Lime and Pinterest, will join the Neighbor Board of Directors. Other investors in this round include Nate Bosshard, former partner at Khosla Ventures and co-founder of Tonal, as well as Ryan Graves, Uber's first CEO. "The self-storage industry in the United States will eclipse $40 billion in revenue in 2020, capping off a decade of astronomical growth that we believe is firmly related to the burdensome costs of homeownership and the increa...