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From Booking Ticket to Ordering Meal, All on New Rail Application Soon

8Oct By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

From Booking Ticket to Ordering Meal, All on New Rail Application Soon

A seamless travel experience for rail commuters with a swipe of a finger is in the offing as Railways plans to revamp its mobile application and include “all passenger services” for its customers. “We are preparing an integrated mobile application for railway passengers which will take care of all their needs. “It will be an app that will take care of the entire journey — from booking a ticket to booking a taxi, pre-ordering a meal, requesting for porter services, lodging at a retiring room, ordering a bed roll, complaining about lack of cleanliness in a coach, accessing digital entertainment, reserving a hotel, booking an airline ticket in case of a waitlisted rail ticket, among other services,”said an official from the Non-Fare Directorate of the Railway Ministry. Ernst ...

Snapchat Parent Working on IPO Valuing Firm at $25 Billion or More: Report

7Oct By reutersNo Comments

News

Snapchat Parent Working on IPO Valuing Firm at $25 Billion or More: Report

Photo-sharing app Snapchat's parent is working on an initial public offering that could value the company at $25 billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing several people familiar with the matter. Snap, which operates the app that lets users send videos and messages that disappear in seconds, is looking to sell shares as early as late March, the Journal reported. An IPO valued at $25 billion would be significantly higher than Snapchat's most recent valuation of $17.81 billion, based on a $1.81 billion financing round in May. It would also represent the largest IPO by a technology company since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group went public in 2014. Snapchat had been talking to investment bankers about an IPO towards the end of this year or early in 2017, technology we...

We Believe in Branded and Expensive Gratification for Our Users – Hetin Sakhuja, Founder of Lucky Stars

6Oct By NitishNo Comments

Entrepreneurs Talk

We Believe in Branded and Expensive Gratification for Our Users – Hetin Sakhuja, Founder of Lucky Stars

Lucky Stars is a phenomenon in the business of apps. Conceived from a simple idea of gratifying users, Lucky Stars is one of the fastest growing app in the industry and has been delighting its users by providing an opportunity to win branded and expensive gifts like smart phones, smart TV’s, two wheelers, gold coins amongst other equally expensive gifts. Hetin Sakhuja, the techopreneur and the force behind the concept, whose company Interact Mobile Technology Private Limited developed the Lucky Stars app, explains to Team NewsBarons the thought behind Lucky Stars as a ‘Win Gifts for Free’ app, how it is the one of the most meaningful platforms for brand-consumer interaction and its ‘no rider – all benefit’ user approach. Explain the USP of Lucky Stars. Luc...

4Oct By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Food Ordering Startup InnerChef Raises $2.5 million Funding

InnerChef, Gurugram-based food ordering platform has raised $2.5 million funding led by Japanese early-stage fund Mistletoe with participation from Singapore-based M&S Partners and existing investors. Prior to this, InnerChef had raised around Rs 11 crore funding from a clutch of investors including Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma, redBus co-founder Phanindra Sama, Shaadi.com's Anupam Mittal and GOQii founder Vishal Gondal among others. Anand Chandrasekaran, Facebook Messenger's head of platform/partnerships and formerly the chief product officer at Snapdeal, is also an investor in InnerChef. The company plans to use the funds raised to focus on its top markets - Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. "We plan to invest the money in building a brand. We have started adding more k...

Facebook Rolls Out Light Messenger App For Emerging Markets

3Oct By NitishNo Comments

News

Facebook Rolls Out Light Messenger App For Emerging Markets

Facebook Inc launched a stripped down version of its popular Messenger app for emerging markets on Monday as it seeks to expand its international footprint. Messenger Lite, which uses less data and is designed to work in areas with slower internet connections, will roll out in Kenya, Tunisia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Venezuela. Facebook said it will expand to other countries in the coming months. Facebook has largely saturated Western markets, including North America and Europe, and has set its sights on developing countries, in part by rolling out "lite" versions of its main Facebook app and now Messenger, which have fewer capabilities than the main apps. Users with Android phones will still be able to use the core features of Messenger, including the ability to send text messages...

Google Launches Its own Messaging App Allo

21Sep By AdityaNo Comments

News

Google Launches Its own Messaging App Allo

Search engine giant Google has launched its AI based messaging app Allo, which would compete with the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Available for both Android and iOS platforms, Allo will also mark the debut of Google Assistant in a preview edition. "Whether it is planning a night out or just catching up, we rely on messaging to stay in touch with friends and family every day. But too often we have to hit pause on our conversation ? whether it is to check the status of a flight or look up that new restaurant. So we created Allo, a messaging app that helps you keep your conversation going, by providing assistance when you need it," Google Group Product Manager Amit Fulay said. Powered with artificial intelligence, Allo packs in features including smart reply, options for sh...

20Sep By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Ride-hailing App Grab Raises $750M in Funding Led By SoftBank

Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab said it raised $750 million in a funding round led by investor SoftBank Group, helping it build a warchest to solidify its leading position in the region and head off competition from Uber. Southeast Asia is fast becoming a key battleground for ride-hailing firms thanks to a burgeoning middle class as well as a youthful, Internet-savvy demographic. Grab's announcement comes a few weeks after Uber sold its China operations to bigger domestic rival Didi, an existing Grab investor, and analysts have said Uber may focus its efforts and money elsewhere, such as in Southeast Asia. The company is now valued at over $3 billion, a source familiar with the matter said. Its total capital position had increased to over $1 billion, the company said in a s...

Anand Chandrasekaran Will Join Facebook Messenger App Team

19Sep By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Anand Chandrasekaran Will Join Facebook Messenger App Team

As per the sources Facebook hired Snapdeal former executive and a high-profile investor Anand Chandrasekaran to help develop strategies for its Messenger app. The announcement could be made tomorrow. Both Anand and facebook didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Anand Chandrasekaran resume includes company like Yahoo & Snapdeal as a former senior executive. He also served at India’s largest cellular company, Bharti Airtel Ltd. as a chief product officer. Where he launched Airtel’s mobile application and a popular music streaming app. His expertise in Silicon Valley and India will help messenger platform. He will assume a global leadership role working on strategies and partnerships for Facebook’s billion-user-strong texting service, according to people familiar w...

Referral App Spini Launched in Coimbatore

16Sep By NitishNo Comments

News

Referral App Spini Launched in Coimbatore

Spini, a platform which connects referrers and sales professionals across India, today started its operations in the Coimbatore. Spini is known to be the only app that helped users earn a regular income, its CEO G Shankar told Pixr8 at the launch. On operations, he said one can post their own or others buying requirement of products and services like real estate, insurance or interior renovation on the app. This information then becomes a qualified lead for salespersons who have subscribed with Spini, he said. The company, with offices in all the metros, initially generated sales leads for real estate, loans and interior renovation professionals. It has now added insurance, used cars, tours and travels, catering, tuition and training courses besides security systems, Shankar said....

Testing Firm Applause Raises $35 Million in Series F

15Sep By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

Testing Firm Applause Raises $35 Million in Series F

Applause, the in-the-wild digital testing leader, announced it has raised $35 Million in a Series F financing round. The largest new investor in this financing round was Credit Suisse, and the round also included an investment by strategic partner, Accenture. The funding will increase the company’s investment in its strategy as the go-to source for improving customers’ digital experiences. This round brings Applause’s total funding-to-date to more than $115 Million. As the company formally launches its expanded Digital Experience solutions in the coming months, this funding enables Applause to: Further expand its in-the-wild digital testing services. The company will invest heavily in its real-world testing services that enable omni-channel testing – from web to mobile to IoT to bric...

Myntra Introduces Try and Buy New Feature

8Sep By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Myntra Introduces Try and Buy New Feature

Myntra announces the introduction of 'Try and Buy' (T&B), a new service option aimed at breaking the final barrier to shopping fashion online. Considered to be the Holy Grail for fashion E-commerce, T&B allows for the 'touch and feel' factor to seep into the world of online shopping, especially fashion, where it is expected to bring about a huge change in the way traditional buyers look at buying apparel online. Ashutosh Lawania, Co-founder, Myntra, said, "Try and Buy is an important step towards offering consumers a hassle-free online shopping experience and encouraging more offline buyers to shop online. This new concept will open up online fashion to a whole new section of buyers." Offline shoppers have expressed apprehension over the lack of touch and feel in the case of onli...

BYJUs Raises $50 mn From Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and Others

8Sep By NitishNo Comments

FUNDING

BYJUs Raises $50 mn From Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and Others

Online education start-up BYJUs has raised USD 50 million (about USD 332.3 crore) from a clutch of investors, led by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) and Sequoia Capital. Other participants in the series D funding included Sofina, Lightspeed Ventures and Times Internet Ltd. The new round, which comes within months of a USD 75 million fund raise from Sequoia Capital and Sofina, will be deployed to fuel international expansion in countries like the US and the UK. It already has a presence in the Middle East. This is the first investment of CZI, which was founded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, in Asia. "The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative supports innovative models of learning wherever they are around the world," said CZIs Vivian Wu, who will join BYJ...