Priyanka | Pixr8 News

16Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

After Providing Hydroxychloroquine to World, India is working on Vaccine for COVID-19

Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world, says a top Indian scientist. Nearly 70 vaccine candidates' are being tested and at least three have moved to the human clinical trial stage, but a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021. As COVID-19 infects more than 1.9 million in the world and claims 1,26,000 lives, Indian scientists are also part of the global fight against the disease. While Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each. But it is a complicated process with many stages of testing and many c...

15Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Govt App become World’s fastest app to reach 50 mn download

Government's mobile app Aarogya Setu, developed for tracking coronavirus patients, has become the world's fastest app to reach 50 million downloads in just 13 days, Niti Aayog CEO said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on April 14 appealed to people to download the app. "Telephone took 75 years to reach 50 million users, radio 38 yrs, television 13 yrs, Internet 4 yrs, Facebook 19 months, Pokemon Go 19 days. AarogyaSetu, India's app to fight COVID-19 has reached 50 mn users in just 13 days-fastest ever globally for an App," Kant said in his tweet. The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 377 while the number of cases in the country climbed to 11,439. Aarogya Setu app alerts people if any known or person in their vicinity has tested positive. Distric...

Singapore stops Zoom for Online Education as Hackers Strike

11Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Singapore stops Zoom for Online Education as Hackers Strike

Singapore has suspended the use of Zoom for online education after hackers hijacked a lesson and showed obscene images to students. In what is known as “Zoombombing,” two hackers interrupted a geography lesson a day after Singapore closed schools on Wednesday as part of partial lockdown measures to curb local transmissions of COVID-19. Lessons have moved online, with some teachers using video conferencing tools like Zoom. Singapore’s Ministry of Education said it was investigating the “serious incidents” and may file police reports. "We are already working with Zoom to enhance its security settings and make these security measures clear and easy to follow,” said Aaron Loh, director of the ministry’s Educational Technology Division. "As a precautionary measure, our teachers w...

Donald Trump backed Sanofi will donate 100 million hydroxychloroquine doses

10Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Donald Trump backed Sanofi will donate 100 million hydroxychloroquine doses

Paris, April 10, 2020 – French drug firm Sanofi has committed to donating 100 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to 50 countries around the world and has begun to progressively deliver the medicine to authorities that have requested it. In this global health emergency, Sanofi said in a press release that we are ready to assist as many countries as possible, starting with countries where its medicine is registered for currently approved indications as well as countries where there are no hydroxychloroquine suppliers or countries with underserved populations. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Sanofi has received a growing number of requests from local governments around the world. The company is regularly evaluating its increasing supply capacity and re-assessing how best to...

TikTok pledges USD 250 mn for COVID-19 Relief

9Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

TikTok pledges USD 250 mn for COVID-19 Relief

TikTok, the short video making app will contribute $250 million to coronavirus relief efforts around the world. The Chinese-based firm said the funds would be for "front line medical workers, educators, and local communities deeply affected by the global crisis." "We are committed to playing our part in that global outpouring of mutual support and giving," TikTok president Alex Zhu said in a statement."We want to magnify all we are seeing across our community and translate it into concrete relief for those most affected by this crisis." TikTok said USD 150 million of the funds would be allocated for medical staffing, supplies, and hardship relief for health care workers through the US Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and agencies working to distribute suppli...

WeWork sues SoftBank for backing out of $3 billion Investment deal

7Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

WeWork sues SoftBank for backing out of $3 billion Investment deal

Coworking organization WeWork sued Japan-based SoftBank after the technology investment group breached its contractual obligations by backing out of a USD 3 billion investment deal. The lawsuit filed in a US court in Delaware came just days after SoftBank said it was backing out of the plan to purchase WeWork shares to shore up the finances of the struggling sharing economy giant. WeWork's board of directors called the SoftBank action "a clear breach of its contractual obligations" under an agreement between the two firms last year as well as a breach of SoftBank's fiduciary obligations to the firm's current and former employees who were to sell their equity. The complaint alleges SoftBank yielded to pressure from "activist investors" and made the move after it had "received most ...

6Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Swiggy Raises USD 43 mn as part of ongoing funding round

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has raised an additional amount of USD 43 million (over Rs 325 crore) as part of its ongoing Series-I funding round. The size of the round now stands at USD 156 million. In February 2020, Swiggy raised USD 113 million (over Rs 805 crore) in the funding round led by existing investor Prosus N.V. along with participation from Meituan Dianping and Wellington Management Company. Along with existing investor Tencent, new investors Ark Impact, Korea Investment Partners, Samsung Ventures and Mirae Asset Capital Markets have participated in the latest fund raise, Swiggy said in a statement. "Swiggy has built a sustainable food delivery business over the years while solving various customer pain points. As we continue to strengthen and expand o...

HouseCanary Acquires Real Estate Technology Startup

4Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

HouseCanary Acquires Real Estate Technology Startup

Home valuation fintech pioneer HouseCanary has acquired Dropmodel, a technology startup with analytic and financial modeling solutions for the single-family real estate asset class. In addition, Dropmodel Co-Founder Tom Blake has joined the company as Vice President of Investor Platform. This is the first acquisition for HouseCanary which recently closed a $65M Series C growth funding round. Dropmodel is a web-based real estate financial modeling, analysis, and presentation application that includes a suite of smart, flexible models, calculators, and tools for the single-family real estate sector. It helps single-family real estate investors across all strategies "drop" their data into analytical models and get instant, comprehensive results that support data-driven business dec...

Mera Cashier Raises $150k from Bollywood Singer & Others

3Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Mera Cashier Raises $150k from Bollywood Singer & Others

Sukhbir Singh, eminent Bollywood singer, India Accelerator, Boudhik Ventures, Shankar Nath (ex-CMO, PayTM) and Shaurya Garg (Founder, Fundoo Works) have invested $ 150K in FinTech startup Mera Cashier. Sukhbir says "Mera Cashier is giving the user the gift of time which is extremely scarce in these days. He adds using "Mera Cashier" is a good decision for any businessmen." Launched in July 2019, Mera Cashier is an app for small and micro businessmen to record and manage credit transactions. The app boasts of some unique features like managing both credits taken from suppliers and credit given in the market, using QR code to record transactions thereby improving the efficiency of the business and one app that the user and his customers can download and view the transactions involved....

Dubai based Indian Businessman donates Property to Quarantine Coronavirus affected Patients

30Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

MIDDLE EAST, News

Dubai based Indian Businessman donates Property to Quarantine Coronavirus affected Patients

A Dubai-based Indian businessman has donated a fully-equipped building owned by him to the country's health authorities for the purpose of quarantining coronavirus affected patients, according to media reports. Ajay Sobhraj, Founder and Chairman of Dubai-based Finja Jewellery, has donated the building in Jumeirah Lake Towers in Dubai, that can accommodate up to 400 people, to be used as a quarantine centre, the Gulf News reported on Sunday. In a letter addressed to the Dubai Health Authority titled 'To Support and Give Back to the City That Cares', the Indian businessman who has called Dubai his home for 25 years, has donated a fully-equipped building in Jumeirah Lake Towers to be used in the country's fully integrated strategy against the COVID-19 crisis, the report said. "I beli...

Blue Planet raises US$25 million from Nomura

27Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Blue Planet raises US$25 million from Nomura

Singapore and India - 25 March 2020 – Singapore headquartered Blue Planet has raised US$25 million from Nomura, Asia’s global investment bank. This strategic engagement by Nomura will help Blue Planet continue its efforts to develop integrated, inclusive and sustainable waste management solutions around the region. By the end of 2030, Asia is predicted to account for half of the world’s middle-class consumption. Waste generation rates are set to soar along with this increase in demand for resources. Solid waste, in particular plastic and organic waste, is becoming a key challenge for the rapidly developing nations in the region as they seek to fulfill their commitments to climate change and to reduce marine pollution. Blue Planet was founded with the vision to help avert thi...

27Mar By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Cognizant India to give 25 pc extra Payment to Two-Third of its Staff

IT firm Cognizant will give employees who are at associate level and below in India and the Philippines, an additional payment of 25 percent of base pay for April, in recognition of their extraordinary continuity-of-service efforts amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The move is expected to benefit over 1,30,000 Cognizant employees in India. Cognizant CEO, Brian Humphries in a note to employees said, the additional payment will be processed with their April paychecks, and that the company will be reviewing this approach monthly. Describing the pandemic as one of the biggest shocks to the world in decades, Humphries said that Cognizant, like all global companies, is experiencing the effects of this public health emergency on both the demand and fulfilment sides of its business, from London...