Sunday, April 28

Author: Gauri Singh

Tech Giant Cisco to Acquire Silicon Photonics Chip Maker Luxtera
19Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
ACQUISITION

Tech Giant Cisco to Acquire Silicon Photonics Chip Maker Luxtera

The popular technology company Cisco has reportedly announced its intent to acquire Luxtera. The deal has been valued $660 million. Luxtera, which was founded in 2001 and raised over $130 million, will give Cisco  a photonic solution for that data networking problem. Rob Salvagno, head of Cisco’s M&A and venture investment team sees a company that can help modernize Cisco’s networking equipment. “That’s why today we announced our intent to acquire Luxtera, Inc., a privately-held semiconductor company that uses silicon photonics technology to build integrated optics capabilities for webscale and enterprise data centers, service provider market segments, and other customers. Luxtera’s technology, design and manufacturing innovation significantly improves perfor...
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Snapchat Launches its First Indian Snap Lens for Shah Rukh Khan Starrer Movie
19Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
Tech

Snapchat Launches its First Indian Snap Lens for Shah Rukh Khan Starrer Movie

The popular photo sharing social platform Snapchat has partnered Red Chillies Entertainment and has reportedly launched its first Indian Augmented Reality (AR) Lens for a film in India. This lens has been introduced ahead of the release of Shah Rukh Khan starrer Zero on December 21. The lens went on Tuesday and will be available through December 22. It will enable Snapchat users to become the main character Bauua Singh, and interact with the plot line of the movie. To use this lens, users can launch the lens carousel by tapping on their face on the camera screen and swipe to choose the lens. "This Bollywood-first activation will provide a unique and fun opportunity for Snapchatters to interact with the movie ahead of its launch" said Ben Schwerin, VP of P...
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ePayLater Partners with Cashfree to Bring in Pay Later Options
19Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
BUSINESS

ePayLater Partners with Cashfree to Bring in Pay Later Options

Indian digital payments company ePayLater which is based in Mumbai has partnered with another payment company called Cashfree to bring in its innovative payment facility to their merchants. This partnership will bring ePayLater’s credit-based payment solution to almost all the merchants such as Daily Ninja, BigSmall, WheelStreet, EventsHigh, EduCart and Instaspaces using the Cashfree payment gateway. Also, ePaylater is targetting to process Rs.1000 crore in payments within the next 12 months. The company wants the product to be rolled out to more than 5000 merchants on the Cashfree platform by next year. “Offering credit via Buy Now, Pay Later option is one of the most exciting developments in Indian fintech and Cashfree hopes to offer thi...
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Moglix Secures $23 million in a Fresh Funding Round
19Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
FUNDING

Moglix Secures $23 million in a Fresh Funding Round

MogliLabs, which owns and operates B2B industrial goods marketplace Moglix, has raised $23 million (about Rs 164.57 crore) in a fresh round of funding, which was led by marquee venture capital firm Accel Partners US and existing investor International Finance Corp (IFC). The latest round of funding comes about 15 months after the Singapore and Noida-based company, which also counts Accel India, Jungle Ventures, IFC and former WhatsApp senior executive Neeraj Arora among its list of backers, closed its $12 million Series B equity financing round in July last year. “Today, the manufacturing sector is $300 billion in size, and has the potential to reach $1 trillion by 2025. However, the adoption of technology is less than 1% currently…We foresee immense po...
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Mumbai Based Payments Entity Acquires 5% Stake in Infibeam for Rs 25 Crore
18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
ACQUISITION

Mumbai Based Payments Entity Acquires 5% Stake in Infibeam for Rs 25 Crore

Suvidhaa Infoserve which is a payments entity based in Mumbai has acquired 5% stake in the popular online e-commerce and payment solution company Infibeam.com. The deal has been valued at Rs 25 crore.Infibeam Avenues which owns Infibeam.com said that its board of directors has entered into a binding MoU with Suvidhaa which has around 90,000 retailers for money remittance and other services across the country.Through this association and partnership, the company will enter into a strategic partnership with Suvidhaa for last mile delivery of products and services. Also, Suvidhaa will leverage the offline presence to sell products for Infibeam and in turn, Infibeam will get access to far off locations to sell its products through the assisted model.Slowly, th...
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The 5 Latest Cybersecurity Trends for Business Success in 2019
18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
Story

The 5 Latest Cybersecurity Trends for Business Success in 2019

In the world of cybersecurity, there’s a constant arms race between companies and hackers. While businesses increase their security protocols, hackers are innovating new methodologies on how to crack them. For that reason, companies are trying to stay ahead of the game and ensure they employ the latest technologies to thwart potential attacks. Here are the top five cybersecurity trends that companies will be employing in 2019 to not only counter hackers but also increase the efficiency and usability of their IT systems. 1) Employee Training Sessions A little bit goes a long way when it comes to cybersecurity. Generally, hackers are looking to exploit easy targets which sometimes doesn’t even involve them in running elaborate attacks against a company’s IT security protocol. Ins...
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Google to Invest $1 Billion on New Campus in New York
18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
BUSINESS

Google to Invest $1 Billion on New Campus in New York

Alphabet owned Google is investing more than $1 billion on a new campus in New York. With this, it will becom the second major technology company after Amazon to pick America's financial capital to expand and create thousands of jobs. The 1.7 million square-foot campus, called Google Hudson Square, will include leased properties at Hudson Street and Washington Street, the company said in a blog post on Monday. The new campus will be the main location for Google's advertising sales division, the Global Business Organization. Google hopes to start moving into two Hudson Street buildings by 2020, followed by a Washington Street in 2022 and will have the capacity to more than double its New York headcount, currently more than 7,000, in the next 10 years. The company's plans...
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MakeMyTrip Takes Five Firms to Court for Using Deceptively Similar Names
18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
News

MakeMyTrip Takes Five Firms to Court for Using Deceptively Similar Names

India’s popular travel company MakeMyTrip has taken a strict action and taken five travel and tourism websites to court for allegedly using similar sounding names. These companies include MakeMyYatra, MakeMyJourney, Make My Happy Journey, Pick My Trip and Superb MyTrip. MakeMyTrip alleged that these companies are not only using "deceptively similar sounding names" but also, some of them have copied its logo as well. The travel company also stated that it has spent almost 46% of its revenue, or 1,264 crore, (out of total revenue of 2,759 crore in fiscal year 2017-18) on advertising and marketing the MakeMyTrip brand in FY 2017-18.  "Till further orders,the defendant, its partner, directors, shareholders or proprietors as the case may be, its assigns in business, franchis...
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Indian Companies to Double Tech Hiring this New Year
18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
INDIA

Indian Companies to Double Tech Hiring this New Year

The Indian companies are stepping up and hiring technology talent this New Year. This is basically because digital will play an important role for many of the businesses as they gear up for disruption. According to the reports, the hiring of digital and technology talent will double in the year ahead as businesses transform, customer needs change and newer technologies come into play. Sectors such as automobile, banking and financial services, consumer goods, manufacturing and pharmaceutical will contribute to the high demand for talent in the space of technology and digital. Automobile companies are at the forefront of industries that are witnessing an increased demand for talent in automation and digital space.  “M&M is actively looking at hiring talent w...
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D.light Raises $41 million from an Africa-focused Investment Advisory Firm
18Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
FUNDING

D.light Raises $41 million from an Africa-focused Investment Advisory Firm

D.light, a distributed solar provider has reportedly raised $41 million in equity financing. This round was led by an Africa-focused investment advisory firm that specializes in the energy sector known as Consortium Inspired Evolution. Consortium partners include the Dutch Development Bank FMO, and also the government-sponsored investment funds Swedfund and Norfund.  This latest funding which enables expansion of the company’s solar and Pay-Go consumer finance business in Africa has brought the total amount of equity and debt that the company has raised in the past two years to over $100 million. The funding round also enabled some of the company’s earliest investors to achieve an exit. “We are thrilled to have Inspired Evolution as the newest fu...
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Byju’s Secures $540 Million for Global Expansion
17Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
FUNDING

Byju’s Secures $540 Million for Global Expansion

Education technology platform Byju’s has raised $540 million funding round led by South Africa's Naspers Ventures as it looks to fuel its global expansion plan, according to a company statement.  The transaction is expected to value the company at around $3.6-3.7 billion, making it one of the top five most valued internet companies in India. The round also saw participation from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and private equity firm General Atlantic, as ET had reported earlier this month. The round will give the company a pre-money valuation of around $3.2 billion to the company. A small part of the $540 million round is also expected to be used for a secondary share purchase, mostly by General Atlantic.  The development m...
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Electric Vehicles can Likely be Charged at Homes and Offices Soon
17Dec By Gauri SinghNo Comments
News

Electric Vehicles can Likely be Charged at Homes and Offices Soon

Electric cars and scooters can now be charged at homes with priority access to electricity from power utilities. According to the report, new guidelines were issued on Friday by Anoop Singh Bisht, under secretary in the power ministry, to all Union ministries and departments and the chief secretaries of states and Union territories. The power ministry early this year issued a notification clarifying that setting up charging stations for electric vehicles will not require a separate licence under the Electricity Act of 2003. Further, it has been reported that the government has asked public charging stations to install both Japanese and Chinese charging technologies for electric vehicles since they have been unable to select one . This will likely raise costs of charging stati...
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