Saturday, April 27

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2017 to Be a Better Year For Indian Startups: Qualcomm Ventures
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2017 to Be a Better Year For Indian Startups: Qualcomm Ventures

Qualcomm Ventures, the venture investment arm of US-based chip maker Qualcomm Inc which has a USD 150 million India-focused fund, expects 2017 to be a better year for the startup ecosystem, especially early stage companies. "2016 was the hardest year, and that is behind us. 2017 will be a better year. There was a crunch in investment dollars, especially Series C and Series D investments," Varsha Tagare, senior director, Qualcomm Ventures India told Pixr8. "Funding in early stage is not gone down, but there is more selective funding. What is needed is more well-defined companies after the early stage," she said. The USD 150 million fund will be our only funding vehicle for the venture firm, she said. She pointed out that the ecosystem in India is quite mature, as there are several ...
IIM Bangalore Selects 15 Women Entrepreneurs For 1 Year Incubation Programme
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IIM Bangalore Selects 15 Women Entrepreneurs For 1 Year Incubation Programme

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and Goldman Sachs today selected 15 women entrepreneurs and their ideas for incubation over next year as the final phase of its Women Startup Programme. his is a Goldman Sachs-backed customised online and classroom training programme designed to grow next generation of female entrepreneurs, Goldman Sachs said in a statement. The 15 women selected to incubate (their ideas) at IIMB will receive a fellowship of Rs 40,000 per month, while they further develop their business ideas. "Since 2008, through our 10,000 women initiatives, Goldman Sachs has been investing globally and in India in the economic empowerment of women through education and access to capital," Goldman Sachs (India) Chairman and co-CEO Sonjoy Chatterjee said. "The innovat...
Reliance Clarifies No plans to Launch App Based Taxi Service
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Reliance Clarifies No plans to Launch App Based Taxi Service

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has no plans to launch an app-based taxi service as the company sees no logic in diversifying into unrelated sectors. It has been speculated for months that Reliance Jio, the company's telecom venture that has created ripples by signing up 100 million customers in just 170 days of launch, will soon launch a taxi service. The company had not commented on the speculations so far but took to the Twitter to deny the foray after an online publication stated that Jio has ordered some 600 cars to "kickstart" the service. A Reliance spokesperson tweeted that the report is "WRONG and DENIED". The company has no plans to get into unrelated diversification , another official explained. Reliance Jio had earlier this week announced a strategic ...
Google Rolls Out AI Tool Perspective to Combat Online Trolls
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Google Rolls Out AI Tool Perspective to Combat Online Trolls

Google said it will begin offering media groups an artificial intelligence tool designed to stamp out incendiary comments on their websites. The programming tool called Perspective, aims to assist editors trying to moderate discussions by filtering out abusive "troll" comments, which Google says can stymie smart online discussions. "Seventy-two per cent of American internet users have witnessed harassment online and nearly half have personally experienced it," said Jared Cohen, president of Google's Jigsaw technology incubator. "Almost a third self-censor what they post online for fear of retribution," he added in a blog post yesterday titled "When computers learn to swear". Perspective is an application programming interface (API), or set of methods for facilitating communication...
Microsoft Launched Linkedin Mini Version For Semi Skilled Workers in India
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Microsoft Launched Linkedin Mini Version For Semi Skilled Workers in India

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today made a strong case for using digital technologies to empower the common man and launched a slew of India-centric initiatives, including a platform to connect semi-skilled workers with employers. The technology giant also launched a 'lite' version of its video interaction platform Skype. "If digital technology is only the purview of the large businesses and the start-ups, I think that is not sufficient for an economy to make progress," the India-born Nadella said speaking at a company event here. We’ve built Skype Lite for India, it's lightweight and has #Aadhar integration built in.@satyanadella #FutureDecoded — Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) February 22, 2017 "We can celebrate technology, but if it doesn't truly empower every Indian and eve...
Uber Ties Up With Bangalore Metro
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Uber Ties Up With Bangalore Metro

Global taxi-hailing platform Uber said it has partnered with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) across 12 metro stations to provide last mile connectivity to everyday commuters. Consumers can avail the service through exclusive Uber booking counters at metro stations, Uber said in a statement. It said Uber representatives will also be available at these counters to ensure metro commuters get a reliable and affordable ride to their next destination. Uber booking counters at Metro stations will be available by end of March 2017. "This partnership is a great example of how the public and private transport can work together and complement each other's strengths in order to help solve major issues that citizens face, in this case, last mile connectivity," Uber (Bengal...
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Snapdeal to Lay Off 600 People Over Next Few Days

SoftBank-backed Snapdeal will lay off around 600 people across its e-commerce, logistics and payments operations over the next few days. According to sources, the company started the process last week and will lay off 500-600 people across Snapdeal, Vulcan (logistics) and Freecharge (digital payments business). The sources added that the reduction will include employees across levels and the process will be completed in the next few days. A Snapdeal spokesperson said, "On our journey towards becoming India's first profitable e-commerce company in two years, it is important that we continue to drive efficiency across all parts of our business, which enables us to pass on the value to our consumers and sellers." "We have realigned our resources and teams to further these goals and d...
DBS Launches Hack2Hire to Recruit 100 Techies for Hyderabad Hub
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DBS Launches Hack2Hire to Recruit 100 Techies for Hyderabad Hub

Singapore's largest bank DBS said it is planning to hire 100 skilled professionals, in emerging and disruptive technologies across cloud, machine learning and Big Data, for its Hyderabad hub. DBS has launched the recruitment drive 'DBS Hack2Hire' and collaborated with leading technology providers such as Amazon Web Services, Cloudera and Pivotal for conducting the hackathon. In a statement, DBS said that taking this new approach to recruitment, it will break banking industry norms by recruiting successful candidates through a hackathon. "The 100 new selects will join DBS Asia Hub 2 in Hyderabad, India. This coding challenge, which has already received more than 3,000 applications, is open to both fresh graduates and experienced professionals who can apply up to March 12, 2017," it...
Reliance Jio Key Announcements- 100 Million Users, Jio Prime Membership
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Reliance Jio Key Announcements- 100 Million Users, Jio Prime Membership

Mumbai, February 21, 2017: Reliance Jio  announced today that the Jio family of subscribers is a 100 million strong! Jio’s offering saw record additions of 7 new members per second, every single day for the last 170 days, enabling it to cross the 100 million mark within six months of commencement of services. This is the fastest achieved by any start-up technology company in the world including the likes of Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype. Facilitated by a revolutionary on-boarding process through an Aadhar based eKYC solution, a Jio SIM today resides in the SIM slot of a majority of 4G smartphones in India. In additiion, Jio’s proprietory app ‘Jio4GVoice’ and its utilitarian Jiofy Wifi devices are enabling lacs of 3G and 2G smartphone owners to enjoy a 4G voice and data environment withou...
SpaceX Aborts Launch After ‘Odd’ Rocket Engine Behaviour
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SpaceX Aborts Launch After ‘Odd’ Rocket Engine Behaviour

SpaceX aborted its planned Dragon cargo launch to the International Space Station just seconds before liftoff today due to a "slightly odd" technical issue with the Falcon 9 rocket engine. The delay was made "out of an abundance of caution," a SpaceX spokesman said, and came a day after engineers discovered a small helium leak in the engine's second stage. "All systems go, except the movement trace of an upper stage engine steering hydraulic piston was slightly odd," SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Twitter after the launch was scrubbed. "Standing down to investigate." Musk added that the issue was "99 per cent likely to be fine." "But that one per cent chance isn't worth rolling the dice. Better to wait a day." The next launch attempt is scheduled for 9:38 am tomo...
Indian IT Industry Faces Twin Challenges of Trump, Automation
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Indian IT Industry Faces Twin Challenges of Trump, Automation

Automation and the new US administration were the big unknowns at the Indian tech sector's annual shindig this week, with machines threatening to take away thousands of jobs and concerns over possible visa rule changes in the key American market. But senior executives from the USD 150 billion industry, which rose to prominence at the turn of the century by helping Western firms solve the "Y2K" bug, said companies with skilled English-speaking staff and low costs could not be written off yet. The sector, led by Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd , is lobbying hard as the new US administration under President Donald Trump considers putting in place visa restrictions. The administration may also raise salaries paid to H1-B visa holders, a move that could significant...
Billdesk Revenue at INR 520 Cr in FY15-16, Profit Soars Up to 76 Cr
ANALYSIS, News

Billdesk Revenue at INR 520 Cr in FY15-16, Profit Soars Up to 76 Cr

Billdesk, one of India’s earliest online payment gateway solution providers, has reported a revenue of INR 520 Crores in FY15-16 with a PAT of INR 76 Crores. According to the webaite Tofler, Billdesk is one of the popular payment gateways used by online merchants and you must have spotted the name while making a payment online. INDIAIDEAS COM LIMITED, which owns and operates Billdesk, reported its 2015-2016 financial result, and its annual revenue at INR 520.2 Crores, is the highest in the company’s history. Billdesk was estimated to have 70% of the online billing market in India back in 2015. It competes with other billing aggregators like Citrus Payment Solutions, CCAvenue etc.  However, with the advent of Payment Banks, BBPOU and UPI amidst the demonetization frenzy, which is yet ...