Thursday, March 28

Author: Gauri Singh

Chinese Phonemaker Gionee Officially Files for Bankruptcy
CHINA

Chinese Phonemaker Gionee Officially Files for Bankruptcy

A second-tier Chinese smartphone company Gionee, which owes 20.2 billion Chinese Yuan (nearly $3 billion) to648 creditors, has officially filed for bankruptcy.According to the reports, a court in Shenzhen has accepted the Gionee application for liquidation bankruptcy. It had been stated that the founder of Shenzhen-basedGionee admitted he may have used company assets to gamble at a Hong Kong-listed casino in Saipan.Liu Lirong, Gionee's Chairman and Chief Executive, "admitted that Gionee's total debts amount to 17 billion yuan, with 10 billion yuan of this owed to banks, 5 billion yuan to upstream suppliers and about 2 billion to advertising agencies".When asked how much he lost gambling, Liu said, "a bit more than 1 billion yuan", which may actually be to the tune of 10 billion ...
Game Software Firm Zynga Acquires Maker of Empires & Puzzles
ACQUISITION

Game Software Firm Zynga Acquires Maker of Empires & Puzzles

San Francisco based gaming software company called Zynga is reportedly acquiring a majority stake in Finland's SmallGiant Games which is the maker of the popular Android game Empires & Puzzles. This deal has been valued at$700 million, and is being basically done to strengthen its mobile game portfolio. This deal marks as the largest one for the gaming company, topping its $527 million acquisition of UK developer Natural Motion in 2014 as stated by Chief Executive Frank Gibeau. The company is popularly known for Facebook game FarmVille. It also raised its fourth-quarter revenue forecast on Thursday. Its shares rose 1.67% in after-market trading, to $3.65. Zynga sees potential in bringing smartphone role-playing game Empires & Puzzles to countries in Asia where games of th...
Coworking Firm WeWork to Double its Space in India
BUSINESS

Coworking Firm WeWork to Double its Space in India

The provider of coworking workplace We Work is planning to double the coworking space it offers in India to 6 million square feet in 2019. The company is expecting to expand its presence to cities including Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad by the end of next year. The New York-headquartered collaborative workspace firm currently operates 3 million sq ft office space across Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurgaon. “In India, WeWork started the year with over 5,000 desks and is closing it with 35,000 desks across 21 locations. With a member base of 20,000 in India, we are selling 2,000 desks a month,” said Karan Virwani Karan, chief We-Work executive officer, WeWork India. It was in late 2016 that the company made a foray into the country through a joint venture with Bengaluru-based real estate d...
US based Teeth Aligner Startup Opens up Physical Stores in SF
BUSINESS

US based Teeth Aligner Startup Opens up Physical Stores in SF

Candid, a teeth aligner startup is evolving its direct-to-consumer business. The company aims to basically make straight teeth more accessible and more affordable than Invisalign.  In addition to its at-home impression process, Candid recently started enabling people to come into a physical office to get their teeth scans completed. With this development, Candid is opening physical storefronts in San Francisco, Austin, Columbus, Ohio and Santa Monica, Calif. This is in addition to the two locations in New York City, one in Boston and one West Hollywood, California. The company aims to have 75 locations across the U.S. by the end of next year. Candid 3D prints its FDA-approved aligners and is designed for people who need mild to moderate orthodontic work.  In C...
Food Delivery Giant Swiggy Raises $1 Billion from Naspers
FUNDING

Food Delivery Giant Swiggy Raises $1 Billion from Naspers

India’s largest food delivery company Swiggy has reportedly raised an amount of $1 billion in a fresh funding round. The round was led by existing backer, South African media giant Naspers. Along with this, the new investors that participated in the round included China’s Tencent and hedge funds Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management.  With this new round, the valuation of the five-year-old Bengaluru-based startup has increased to $3.3 billion. The company has seen its valuation swell by close to 5 times this year. It was valued at $1.3 billion in June this year and $700 million in February.  The recent round also includes a secondary share sale by some of Swiggy’s early investors. Along with further pushing into the food delivery business, the company will also use the fund...
Diptab owned LetsTransport Secures Rs 100 crore in Series B Funding
FUNDING

Diptab owned LetsTransport Secures Rs 100 crore in Series B Funding

Diptab, the owner of trucking logistics company LetsTransport has secured funds amounting to Rs 100 crore ($14.2 million) in Series B funding. This round was led by Bertelsmann India Investments and a Japanese-origin investor. Fosun RZ Capital, the venture capital arm of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, participated in the round earlier this year.  It has been reported that the developments pegged the valuation of the company, which provides intra-city logistics services, at $80-100 million. “We will use the proceeds to move into newer segments such as pharmaceuticals, consumer durables and cement, among others… We will also expand our presence to 20 more towns and cities, up from our current seven, by 2020,” Singh stated. Founded by IIT ...
Sports Tech Company Golflan Plans to go Public
Market

Sports Tech Company Golflan Plans to go Public

A sports tech company called Golflan which is focused on golf announced its plans of going public by 2020 by launching an IPO, expecting its current streak of growing at 100 per cent annually to continue. It has been stated that the company was on track to close this year with revenues of $6million as against $3million last year.  “We are breaking even operationally and will look at listing the company once we hit a revenue run rate of Rs 100 crore,” said Dhruv Verma, CEO Golflan. He has also estimated that Golflan would be at a revenue run rate of Rs 50 crore by 2019, and between Rs80-100 crore by 2020. Also, he is currently in talks with merchant bankers on how they could go ahead with this.  As of now, the company has been focused on the b2b side of the ...
China’s Yiguo Group Launches Order-based Tracking System
CHINA

China’s Yiguo Group Launches Order-based Tracking System

China based fresh grocery e-commerce company Yiguo Group has announced the launch of an order-based tracking system to increase the transparency of fresh food logistics and food safety. To solve the problems confronting the nation's fresh grocery market, including lack of standards, short shelf life and high reliance on cold chain, the company aims to build the traceability of fresh food from suppliers to clients. China's fresh grocery market value has exceeded 4 trillion yuan, and is expected to keep growing in the coming years. However, such a promising market is under unstable quality of products due to segmented quality controls. "Setting up a complete tracking system for fresh groceries that connects material producers to end consumers with detailed information is necessary,...
Know Why RBI Banned Paytm Payments Bank to Open New Accounts
INDIA

Know Why RBI Banned Paytm Payments Bank to Open New Accounts

It had been reported that RBI had banned Paytm’s payments bank from opening new accounts and e-wallets in August. Want to know why? We have the answer. RBI for the first time has disclosed the reasons behind the move. The four reasons! The apex financial authority of India said that the Noida-based company was in violation of know-your-customer (KYC) rules while on-boarding users. These precise violations are not clear. Secondly, it has also been stated that the RBI was also not contended with the close relations between Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s One97 Communications and the entity that runs Paytm Payments Bank (PPB). The bank is owned 51% by Paytm owner, while the rest is owned by One97 Communications and its subsidiaries. The ...
Instagram Rolls Out Three Fresh Features to its Stories Format
News, Tech

Instagram Rolls Out Three Fresh Features to its Stories Format

Photo-sharing social media platform Instagram has launched new features that change the way you interact with the people you follow on the platform. With the new updates, the users will now be able to use the questions sticker for music recommendations in Stories. A person's followers will now respond to question sticker with a song from the music library. These responses will appear right above the list of people who have viewed your Story and you can tap on it to play the track. Also, you will be able to share their response to your Instagram Story as well and while doing that, you’ll be able to capture a photo or video as the music plays in the background. Moreover, there will be new effects in the music mode that "respond to the beats and sounds of a song." It mus...
CleverTap Ties Up with SonyLIV to Launch Video Push Notifications
BUSINESS

CleverTap Ties Up with SonyLIV to Launch Video Push Notifications

Mobile marketing platform CleverTap is partnering with SonyLIV to launch video push notifications which will make SonyLIV the first video streaming platform to do so.  This will allow users to view video previews in push notifications, even on a locked screen. The company will leverage CleverTap’s Psychographic Segmenation feature to process millions of data points to improve the content recommendations. So far, it has seen a three time increase in click-through rates (CTR), increased session durations and higher than average view times. Uday Sodhi, Head - Digital Business, Sony Pictures Network India, said, “Being able to promote the most relevant content at the right time to the right user, through video, is something we are excited...
Tinder Fires Comms Head & other Employees who Sued the Company
News

Tinder Fires Comms Head & other Employees who Sued the Company

The popular dating app Tinder  has reportedly fired its vice president of marketing and communications Rosette Pambakian, as well as other employees who sued Tinder’s parent company Match Group and its controlling shareholder IAC. A Match Group spokesperson confirmed that a number of Tinder employees have been terminated, though they did not identify them or say how many were involved. With this, the lawsuit was filed by Tinder co-founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen and other executives. Some, like Rad, had already left Tinder, while others like Pambakian and Badeen, were still employed at the time. In the suit, the group alleged that IAC  and Match Group had manipulated financial data in order to lower the company’s valuation. They also alleged that Greg Blatt, ...