Friday, April 26

Author: Lavina Tolani

A computer engineer turned blogger, she has always been a writer at heart. It was the perfect combination of utilising her research and analytical skills and her enthusiasm for writing that sparked her interest in writing about the Indian startup ecosystem – the latest tech and gadgets and the startups that create them. She is always on the lookout for industry-specific stories in niche areas of interest such as e-commerce, fintech, green tech and more.
Infibeam Sets a Record Registering 40,000 Domains in a Day
21Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
News

Infibeam Sets a Record Registering 40,000 Domains in a Day

Infibeam, India's first listed e-commerce company has created a benchmark record of registering over 40,000 domain names in a single day. According to the official statement, the company which runs a unique business model with a mix of Infibeam shopping destination and Infibeam Web Services and country’s first generic top-level domain (GTLD) Registry .OOO have created a record of registering over 40,000 domain names in a single day, as per an official statement. With over 1.15 lakh total registrations, company has secured top position in new GTLD club within India and in top 50 new GTLD club globally. Infibeam’s .OOO is one of the first generic top-level domain (GTLD) Registry operational in India after bagging necessary clearances and license from The Internet Corporation for Ass...
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How Indians make it to the top of Big US Companies?
21Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
Story

How Indians make it to the top of Big US Companies?

The phenomena of Indian's making it to the top positions in big US companies is not something new. However, the trend has lately made neighbour country China too anxious. While China is too competent when it comes to exposure to western education or native talent, yet statistics reveal a different story. According to a report, about 350,755 Chinese students enrolled in American universities in the academic year 2016-17 when compared against 185,000 Indian students. An article published in the state-run news outlet Global Times says, Sundar Pichai, who was born in Tamil Nadu, India, was appointed CEO of Google in August 2015, while Satya Nadella, who was born in Telangana, India, became Microsoft's CEO in 2014. In addition to those two representatives, the CEOs of SanDisk, Adobe Systems,...
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Cleartrip buys Saudi Arabia’s Flyin as its first overseas acquisition
21Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
ACQUISITION

Cleartrip buys Saudi Arabia’s Flyin as its first overseas acquisition

Online travel agency Cleartrip has sealed its first ever cross-border acquisition in Saudi Arabia's Travel Aggregator Flyin. The acquisition will help Cleartrip strengthen its presence and expand its client base in Saudi Arabian market. Though the financial details of the deal have not been disclosed by the travel firm, it has come six years after Cleartrip entered the Gulf Cooperation Council region in 2012. As informed by the company, the combined entity will account for 60% of market share in the Middle East, which will enable both the companies to strengthen their travel offerings to cater to a diverse customer base. Stuart Crighton, Founder and CEO of Cleartrip said, With its strong customer base and rich travel offerings, Flyin is the natural partner for us in the region. W...
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Facebook Tests “Paid Subscriptions” for Private Groups
21Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
News

Facebook Tests “Paid Subscriptions” for Private Groups

Facebook is testing a subscription feature that will very soon let group administrators charge members for providing exclusive content on its platform, allowing them to potentially profit off their membership. The company announced on Wednesday that the pilot programme will focus on a small number of groups which will include subscription only offshoots of Grown and Flown Parents, and Cooking On A Budget: Recipes & Meal Planning, Declutter my Home among others. It would be like a membership fee to get entry into the exclusive club. The current price which is being speculated is $30/month which can change after the official rollback. In addition, the social media giant will also offer built-in tools directly through iOS and Android. Alex Deve, product director of Groups, said i...
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Sanjeev Kapoor’s appliance brand Wonderchef raises Rs. 700 Cr Funding
21Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
FUNDING

Sanjeev Kapoor’s appliance brand Wonderchef raises Rs. 700 Cr Funding

Wonderchef, Renowned Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's promoted appliance brand has raised Rs. 70 crore from a mid-market private equity firm, Amicus Capital Partners which valued the firm at Rs. 700 crores. The appliance brand came to inception in 2009 through founders Sanjeev Kapoor and former Sodexo Pass India MD Ravi Saxena. It primarily deals with selling premium quality kitchenware appliances, cookware and bakeware under the Wonderchef brand. Mahesh Parasuraman, co-founder of Amicus Capital said, Wonderchef has been able to build a strong brand in the cookware and kitchen appliance category within a short period of time. We are committed to helping the company emerge into a clear market leader in the next few years. Notably, the recent funding marks third investment round raised by the co...
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Online Shopping to become costlier post Maharashtra Plastic Ban
20Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
INDIA

Online Shopping to become costlier post Maharashtra Plastic Ban

Regular online shoppers might feel a little disappointed as Maharashtra government has banned the use of plastic which might result in a costlier online shopping in coming months. Post the plastic ban, e-commerce industry has come to alert adopting use of corrugated box particles and paper softeners to package products shipped outside as well as inside Maharashtra, which will result into a rise in packaging price thereby elevating the delivery cost. Additionally, some e-sellers have also increased the thickness of cardboard boxes that are more expensive than plastic packing. This is the reason e-commerce companies are planning to charge the extra cost from buyers. Notably, Paper packing costs higher than plastic and thermacoal packing by as much as 50 to 70 per cent. In such a sce...
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Micro Lending Platform SMECorner raises $7 Mn Funding from Capital First
20Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
FUNDING

Micro Lending Platform SMECorner raises $7 Mn Funding from Capital First

Digital Micro-Lending Platform SMECorner has raised around $7 million ( Rs. 47.5 crores) from NBFC Capital First Ltd and a clutch of investors including Accion Ventures. The capital raised is a mix of debt and equity with 25 crores in debt and Rs. 22.5 crore in equity. Post the investment, Capital First will own a 14.2% stake in SMECorner. As informed by the NBFC in its stock exchange filing, the deal is aimed at sealing a partnership with Digikredit for loan orientation. It is backed by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and private equity firm Warburg Pincus. SMECorner which helps SME's to access loans from banks will be using the capital to scale its loan book by expanding to offline branches and honing its platform.   Samir Bhatia, founder and chief executive at SM...
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Zomato vs Swiggy- The Much Heated ‘Unicorn’ Battle over $2.5 Bn Worth Foodtech Industry
20Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
ANALYSIS

Zomato vs Swiggy- The Much Heated ‘Unicorn’ Battle over $2.5 Bn Worth Foodtech Industry

It's just been three months when Food Delivery Platform Zomato raised $200 Mn from Ant Financials and now it is gearing to raise fresh $200 Mn from Alibaba. Interestingly, Zomato's arch-rival Swiggy is too nearing to acquire unicorn status as it is reportedly raising $200 million from Yuri Milner’s DST Global. While Swiggy has declined to reveal any information regarding its proposed funding, Zomato too has chosen to remain tightlipped. However, one thing is confirmed that with players eyeing a big chunk of the pie, the Indian food tech industry is surely going to witness a heated battle in the times ahead. This year has been really eventful for food tech where in March, Swiggy raised $100 million from Naspers, while Zomato raised $200 million from Ant Financials in February. Whil...
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SEBI To Bring Easy IPO Norms for Upcoming Issuers
20Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
Market

SEBI To Bring Easy IPO Norms for Upcoming Issuers

Market Regulator, SEBI is gearing up to modify Initial Public Offering (IPO) norms in India making them less arduous for legitimate sellers while putting down on the possible misuse. The revamp includes the inclusion of a broader set of institutional investors such as alternative investment funds (AIF's) for counting promoter's contribution in startups, reducing disclosure price for two days before the issue opens and reducing requirement period for disclosure to three years than five. The panel board is scheduled to meet on June 21 to discuss proposed modifications in ICDR. Prithvi Haldea, Head of the ICDR Committee conducted by SEBI last year said, There are cases of good companies where the promoter capital is not adequate for lock-in in an IPO. Sometimes, alternative investment ...
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Google News Training Network to Train 8000 Journalists in India
20Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
News

Google News Training Network to Train 8000 Journalists in India

At a time when data breach and proliferation of fake news is widespread, Google has announced News Initiative Training in India in partnership with DataLeads, BoomLive and Internews. Under this initiative, Google News Training Network will select 200 journalists from cities across India who will be given five-day training in boot camps that will be organised in English and six other languages. The programme is meant to equip journalist with best skills that can guard them against falling prey to false news. Irene Jay Liu, Google News Lab Lead, Asia-Pacific said, Supporting trusted, authoritative media sources is a top priority for Google, which is why we are proud to collaborate with Internews, DataLeads and BoomLive to support journalists in their fight against misinformation in In...
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BigBasket in Talks to Acquire Vending Startup Kwik24
19Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
News

BigBasket in Talks to Acquire Vending Startup Kwik24

Grocery retail major, BigBasket is eyeing acquisition in smart vending machine startup Kwik24 in a bid to expand its offline presence and strengthen its position against existing players Flipkart and Amazon. The reported development has come just after Alibaba backed company announced a pact with Kwik24 to deploy smart vending machines in five apartment buildings in Bengaluru. A source familiar with the matter said, The strategy is to have Kwik24 work full-time on customised vending machines for BigBasket as they look to scale up this model. The response to these pilots was positive with over 90% of repeat customers. Meanwhile, a news had surfaced earlier regarding Big basket eyeing major stakes in milk delivery company RainCan. The idea behind this acquisition is to increase the f...
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Govt Won’t Tolerate Misuse of Data to Influence Polls: IT Minister
19Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments
INDIA

Govt Won’t Tolerate Misuse of Data to Influence Polls: IT Minister

IT Minister Ravi Shankar has warned social media companies against misusing user's data to influence upcoming 2019 elections, saying that it would no longer be tolerated. Moreover, the government is also looking forward to Justice Srikrishna Committee report on data protection and law. Speaking in the context, Prasad added, “We won’t tolerate misuse of data to influence elections. While the data of Indians has to be protected at any cost, India should also develop itself as a hub for data analysis.” The statement from IT Ministry comes in the wake of Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal wherein data of 5.62 lakh Indian users was compromised among 87 Mn global users. Denouncing such misuse of data, the minister vehemently proclaimed, In the wake of the recent data theft from Fa...
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