Sunday, May 5

Author: Priyanka

India’s Top Biscuit maker Parle may cut up to 10,000 jobs Due to Economy Slowdown
BUSINESS

India’s Top Biscuit maker Parle may cut up to 10,000 jobs Due to Economy Slowdown

India's leading biscuit maker Parle Products Pvt Ltd might lay off up to 10,000 workforce amind Indian economy slowdown. The Biscuit company said falling demand in the rural heartland could cause production cuts. A downturn in Asia’s third-largest economy is denting sales of everything from cars to clothing, forcing companies to curtail production and raising hopes that the India government will unveil an economic stimulus to revive growth. A sharp drop in Parle’s biscuit sales means the company may have to slash production, which may result in layoffs of 8,000-10,000 people, Mayank Shah, category head at Parle. “The situation is so bad, that if the government doesn’t intervene immediately … we may be forced to eliminate these positions,” he said. Parle, founded in 1929, empl...
Energy Vault Raises $110 Million From Softbank Vision Fund
FUNDING

Energy Vault Raises $110 Million From Softbank Vision Fund

Lugano, Switzerland: The creator of renewable energy storage products 'Energy Vault' raises $110 million Series B funding round from SoftBank Vision Fund. This is the first investment of Softbank in energy storage technology. Energy Vault will use the funds to accelerate the global deployment of its technology, which for the first time enables renewables to deliver baseload power for less than the cost of fossil fuels 24 hours a day. As part of the investment, Andreas Hansson, Partner for SoftBank Investment Advisers, will join the Energy Vault board of directors. Energy Vault’s breakthrough technology was inspired by pumped hydro plants that rely on the power of gravity and the movement of water to store and discharge electricity. The company’s solution is based on the...
Lendingkart Raises $2.95 Million from Sistema Asia Fund
FUNDING

Lendingkart Raises $2.95 Million from Sistema Asia Fund

India based Fintech company Lendingkart Technologies has raised $2.95 million in fresh equity funding from Sistema Asia Fund (SAF). With the latest infusion, the equity funding raised by Lendingkart stands at a total of USD 146 million, a statement said. The valuation of the company was not disclosed. "The latest funding round with the help of the existing partners have signaled strong support and trust in Lendingkart's vision of financial inclusion and digital accessibility for everyone," Lendingkart Technologies co-founder and Managing Director Harshvardhan Lunia said. Last week, Lendingkart Technologies had said it has received an equity funding of USD 30 million (Rs 212 crores) from Fullerton Financial Holdings, Bertelsmann India Investments, and India Quotient. In the cu...
How Tencent App Creates Panic Amongst Chinese Users
CHINA

How Tencent App Creates Panic Amongst Chinese Users

Chinese internet company Tencent has been forced to apologise after its video team reported that a typhoon had wiped out the entire population of a province in east China that is home to nearly 100 million people. Typhoon Lekima hit the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Anhui over the weekend, forcing more than two million residents to flee. China's official news agency Xinhua said at least 49 people were killed with dozens still missing. But Tencent Video sent a news alert to its subscribers on Monday saying the typhoon had "killed nearly everyone" in the eastern province of Shandong and seven people were missing. The alert cited the provincial emergency management department as the news source. Shandong is one of China's most populous provinces, with 99 million ...
CoWrks acquires on-demand Workspace Startup The UnCube
ACQUISITION

CoWrks acquires on-demand Workspace Startup The UnCube

Leading co-working startup CoWrks announced the acquisition of The UnCube, which provides on-demand workspace solution. The development signals consolidation in the fast-growing co-working segment, which is accounting for 15-20 percent of the total office space leasing across major cities. Recently, Oyo acquired Innov8 to enter into this business. After the acquisition, Bengaluru-based CoWrks will now rename the entity to CoWrks Go. Currently, CoWrks has 25 operational centres and 25,000 members spread across 2 million sq ft area with presence in major cities. Founded by Sakshi Khanna in 2017, The UnCube provides co-working space for professionals on transit by partnering with restaurants and cafes. It currently has 2,500 members working across 200 locations in seven cities su...
Blackstone Acquires Cafe Coffee Day Tech Park For up to Rs 3,000 cr
ACQUISITION

Blackstone Acquires Cafe Coffee Day Tech Park For up to Rs 3,000 cr

India's leading Coffee chain operator Coffee Day Enterprises announced sale of its Global Village Tech Park in Bengaluru to Blackstone for up to Rs 3,000 crore to cut its debt. The announcement comes weeks after Coffee Day Enterprises founder V G Siddhartha allegedly committed suicide. In a letter purportedly written by him, Siddhartha mentioned severe financial stress being faced by his group firms, among other issues. "The Board of Directors of the company...discussed methods of deleveraging the group. Towards the objective of deleveraging the board discussed and approved the disinvestment of Global Village Tech Park in its subsidiary, Tanglin Developments Ltd, in favour of Blackstone," Coffee Day Enterprises said in a BSE filing. "The transaction valuation is about Rs 2600-300...
WeWork Files For an IPO, Trade Under “WE” ticker
Market

WeWork Files For an IPO, Trade Under “WE” ticker

Co-working startup WeWork filed for an IPO after its parent company "We company" proposes it's stock sale, despite losing money amid rapid expansion. The We Company will trade under the "WE" ticker, as per the reports estimated the IPO valuation will be between $3 and $4 billion. The company also reached an agreement with a consortium of large banks including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs for a $6 billion credit facility that will close with the stock offering. "Not only do we believe our business model mitigates the pressures of an economic recession but we also believe that our model could position us well in a downturn," it said in the filing. "An economic downturn may provide us an opportunity to further scale our platform at more attractive unit economics. The New Yo...
Ola Acqui-hires AI Startup Pikup.ai
ACQUISITION

Ola Acqui-hires AI Startup Pikup.ai

Cab aggregator Ola acqui-hiring' Pikup.ai, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup based out of Bengaluru. Acqui-hiring is a term for acquisition plus hiring. As part of the deal, the team at pikup.ai will join Ola, the company said in a statement. Ola announced earlier this year its intent to set up an advanced technology centre in the San Francisco Bay area in the US, to focus on developing next-generation technologies in mobility like Electric, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. "By bringing deep domain expertise to Ola, this acquihire will also deliver innovations that continue to improve safety and transform customer experience," Ola said. Pikup.ai was co-founded by Inder Singh and Ritwik Saikia, which uses autonomous technologies like AI, computer vision and sensor fusio...
Saudi Aramco’s H1 2019 net income slips to $46.9 bn
BUSINESS

Saudi Aramco’s H1 2019 net income slips to $46.9 bn

Saudi state-owned energy giant Aramco said its first half net income for 2019 had slipped to $46.9 billion, a first such disclosure for the secretive company ahead of its debut earnings call. "The company's net income was $46.9 billion for the first half (of) 2019, compared to $53.0 billion for the same period last year," the company said in a statement. The fall in income, owing to lower oil prices, comes amid renewed speculation the company was preparing for its much-delayed overseas stock listing. "Despite lower oil prices during the first half of 2019, we continued to deliver solid earnings and strong free cash flow," Aramco CEO Amin Nasser was quoted as saying in the statement. It is the first time the company has published half-year financial results and comes after Aram...
Fintech Startup Aye Finance Raises $10 mn from Funding
FUNDING

Fintech Startup Aye Finance Raises $10 mn from Funding

Fintech company Aye Finance has raised USD 10 million (about Rs 71 crore) in funding from Zurich-based responsAbility Investments AG. The company had received USD 5 million from responsAbility earlier this year. "Aye will be utilising these additional funds to offer business loans to the excluded microenterprise sector to support their growth and enable their inclusion into the formal economy," a statement said. Aye raised USD 5 million from responsAbility through NCDs, while the balance USD 5 million has been issued from a securitisation pool raised by responsAbility that was arranged by JP Morgan. Key investors in this transaction include the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Alecta. "We have found support from Indian and global leaders in our mission of ...
Meesho raises USD 125 mn in funding led by Naspers
FUNDING

Meesho raises USD 125 mn in funding led by Naspers

Bengaluru-based Meesho said it has raised USD 125 million (around Rs 888 crore) in a funding round led by technology investor Naspers. The round also saw participation from Facebook and existing investors SAIF, Sequoia, Shunwei Capital, RPS and Venture Highway as well as former Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin. In June, Facebook had announced picking up a minority stake in Meesho, a startup that helps entrepreneurs set up online businesses via social channels. "The new funds will allow the company to make deeper inroads in areas outside India's major metro regions, by creating more entrepreneurs," Meesho said in a statement. The latest investment will also strengthen Meesho's aim to grow its community of women entrepreneurs and support expansion to new geographies, it added. T...
Fintech Platform Lendingkart Raises $30 Million
FUNDING

Fintech Platform Lendingkart Raises $30 Million

India based Fintech firm Lendingkart has raised a fresh equity funding of USD 30 million led by existing investors, including Fullerton Financial Holdings Pte Ltd (FFH), Bertelsmann India Investments and India Quotient. With this funding round, the total equity raised by Lendingkart stands at USD 143 million. "The funding will be used to expand lending bases, deepen Lendingkart Group's reach to small and underserved micro-enterprises and further strengthen its technological and analytics capabilities," company said. Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Lendingkart Technologies. "This equity will help us meet the growth opportunities we are seeing. Micro and small businesses represent a vibrant yet underserved segment of the Indian economy," Lendingkart Tec...