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Nepal relaxes location requirement for casinos to boost tourism

22Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Nepal relaxes location requirement for casinos to boost tourism

In its drive to attract foreign investment and increase casino development activity in the country, the government of Nepal has relaxed location requirements for the establishment of casinos and popular electronic gaming halls in the country. This decision was reached by the Nepalese lawmakers during the meeting of the country’s cabinet on June 27, 2019, to grant permission for the set up of casinos and electronic gaming halls to be built at a distance up to three kilometers from the country’s international borders. This news was reported by a newspaper outlet in the country of Nepal. The previous provision in the Nepalese casino regulation law of 2013 stated that all casinos and electronic gaming halls have to be situated at least at a distance of five kilometers away from the coun...

Media Platform Thomson Reuters Acquires HighQ

22Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Media Platform Thomson Reuters Acquires HighQ

LONDON, July 22, 2019-- Thomson Reuters has acquired HighQ, a leading collaboration platform for the legal and regulatory market. After this acquisition, HighQ team will join Reuters office. The amount of the deal has not disclosed yet. Based in London with offices in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and India, HighQ offers a secure cloud-based platform for business collaboration, workflow automation, and client engagement. HighQ currently serves more than 400 customers, including more than half of the Global 100 largest law firms. Thomson Reuters provides its customers with solutions that help them generate more efficiencies, lower costs, improve accuracy and reduce risk. This acquisition will expand on the company's strategic objective to provide mor...

OYO founder buy back shares worth $2 bn from early investors

20Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

OYO founder buy back shares worth $2 bn from early investors

Hospitality firm OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal has signed a deal to buy back shares worth $2 billion (nearly Rs 13,770 crore) from early investors through his Cayman islands-registered entity, RA Hospitality Holdings. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India, OYO's early supporters, are selling part of their holdings in order to help the founder increase his stake while remaining invested significantly in the company's long-term mission, OYO said in a statement. "Company's founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal, through RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman), has signed $2 billion primary and secondary management investment round, supported by global institutional banks and his financial partners," it added. According to Pixr8 sources, after the entire process is completed, Agarwal's stake i...

20Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Jio becomes second largest Indian telecom operator, profit zooms 45.6% to 891 crore

Reliance Jio becomes India's second largest telecom operator in subscriber base posted 45.6 percent rise in net profit for June quarter of 2019-20 to Rs 891 crore, and said the beta trials of its much anticipated 'JioGigaFiber services' is in the final lap. Reliance Jio raced past Bharti Airtel to become the second largest mobile operator, as per May 2019 data released by telecom regulator TRAI. For the first quarter ended June 30, Reliance Jio's operating revenue stood at Rs 11,679 crore, up 44 percent over the year-ago period. Jio's subscriber base stood at 331.3 million as on June 30, 2019. The June quarter net profit at Rs 891 crore was 45.6 percent higher over the year-ago period and 6.1 percent increase when seen sequentially. The company has recorded profit after tax of Rs...

eBay invested $150 million in Paytm Mall, picks up 5.5% stake

19Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

eBay invested $150 million in Paytm Mall, picks up 5.5% stake

eBay Inc., a global commerce leader announced an agreement that will make eBay inventory accessible to tens of millions of Paytm Mall active customers in India. Additionally, eBay is making an investment of $150 million in Paytm Mall and will own approximately 5.5% of the company. “We are deeply committed to India and believe there are huge growth potential and significant opportunity in this dynamic market,” said Jooman Park, eBay Senior Vice President, APAC. “This new relationship will accelerate our cross-border trade efforts in a rapidly growing market, providing hundreds of millions of Paytm and Paytm Mall customers with access to eBay’s unparalleled selection of goods.” Paytm Mall makes international purchases frictionless for customers in the Paytm ecosystem. Through technol...

18Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Netflix to roll out $3 to $7 per month plan for mobile users in India

Video streaming company Netflix will roll out a cheaper mobile-only plan in India as it looks to woo viewers amid growing competition from other players. The premium content platform also believes that growth in the Indian market is a marathon; and that it is witnessing steady progress here. After several months of testing, the company has decided to roll out a lower-priced mobile-screen plan in India to complement existing plans, Netflix said in a statement."We believe this plan, which will launch in Q3, will be an effective way to introduce a larger number of people in India to Netflix and to further expand our business in a market where Pay TV average revenue per user (ARPU) is low (below USD 5)," it added. Netflix had been testing a $3.5 monthly subscription for mobile device...

18Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

MyMoneyMantra raises $14.8 million funding from IFSD BV, Vaalon Capital

Fintech startup MyMoneyMantra raises $14.8 million from Dutch investment company IFSD BV and Vaalon Capital. Both investment groups picked up a minority stake in the company. MMM serves over four 4 million customers from over 50 cities and has partnered with more than 90 financial institutions, a statement said. The company was responsible for originating about USD 1 billion of credit-related products in FY2019, it added. "This investment is a fantastic endorsement from an international partner and comes at an opportune time, as we are eager to capture an even larger share of the rapidly expanding Indian consumer market," MMM founder and Managing Director Raj Khosla said. Founded in 1989 by Raj Khosla, MMM as a fintech firm distribute secured and unsecured loans, insuranc...

Ebix acquires Travel Website Yatra.com for $337.8 million

17Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Ebix acquires Travel Website Yatra.com for $337.8 million

NEW YORK–July 17, 2019 –Ebix has acquired one of the leading Indian travel platform Yatra.com at an enterprise value of $337.8 million. Ebix is a leading international supplier of On-Demand software and E-commerce services to the insurance, financial, healthcare and e-learning industries. Yatra Online is the parent company of Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd., India's leading Corporate Travel services provider and one of India's leading online travel companies. Following the completion of the transaction, Yatra will become part of Ebix’s EbixCash travel portfolio alongside Via and Mercury and will continue to serve customers under the Yatra brand. The transaction will create India’s largest and most profitable travel services company, and a leading online travel platform poised to captur...

Larsen & Toubro Infotech acquires Bengaluru-based Lymbyc

17Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Larsen & Toubro Infotech acquires Bengaluru-based Lymbyc

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) Wednesday said it will acquire Bengaluru-based advanced analytics company Lymbyc for an enterprise value of Rs 38 crore. The acquisition will bolster the advanced analytics, natural language processing and data visualisation capabilities of LTI, thereby enabling us to offer differentiated analytics solutions to clients, the company said in a regulatory filing said. "The enterprise value for 100 percent share capital of Lymbyc is Rs 380 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis, which will be paid as a combination of upfront and three-year earn-out payments," it said. It added that the consideration value is subject to working capital adjustments. The transaction is expected to be completed in four-six weeks. We believe self-service capabilities...

OYO acquires Innov8 for $30 million to enter into co-working business

16Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

OYO acquires Innov8 for $30 million to enter into co-working business

Hospitality firm OYO announced entry into a new vertical, OYO Workspaces, targeting the co-working opportunity in India with an aim to have 50 centres across the country having a total seat count of around 35,000 by the end of 2019. It also formally announced the acquisition of co-working firm Innov8 during the year. Currently, Innov8 has 16 centres across the country with over 6,000 seats. According to the deal, Innov8 was acquired for around USD 30 million (about Rs 205 crore). The entire team of Innov8 joined OYO as part of the deal. "This alliance will work towards simplifying and strengthening the co-working experience for Indians while tapping the enormous opportunities this space offers," Innov8 founder Ritesh Malik said. The debut of OYO Workspaces follows a multi-bra...

Mahmee Raises $3M From Mark Cuban, Serena Williams

16Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Mahmee Raises $3M From Mark Cuban, Serena Williams

LOS ANGELES, July 15, 2019- Mahmee, a data-driven maternal and infant health tech company building the missing digital infrastructure to connect the maternal health industry and prevent critical gaps in care, announced $3M investment from Mark Cuban, Serena Williams (through Serena Ventures), and others. The round is led by Arlan Hamilton's ArlanWasHere Investments, with support from Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. They join previous investors Cross Culture Ventures, Acumen America, The Helm, Backstage Capital, Bumble Fund, Pipeline Angels, and others. Moms and babies are falling through the cracks of a fragmented health care industry. This is one of the reasons why the U.S has become one of the most dangerous places in the developed world to give birth, with 700 mothers dying...

Be careful! Google workers listening Your Voice recorded on Google Home

12Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Be careful! Google workers listening Your Voice recorded on Google Home

Online search giant Google admits its employee and contractors regularly listen and review some recordings of what people say to its artificial-intelligence system Google Assistant, via their phone or through smart speakers such as the Google Home. In the latest report, Company acknowledged that its employees can access those recordings after some of its Dutch language audio snippets were leaked. Google product manager David Monsees acknowledged the leak in a blog post and said the company is investigating the breach."We are conducting a full review of our safeguards in this space to prevent misconduct like this from happening again," he wrote.More than 1,000 recordings were obtained by Belgian broadcaster VRT NWS, which noted in a story that some contained sensitive personal conve...