Thursday, April 25

Tag: online

OYO cuts 25% of fixed pay of Employees; sends some staff on Leave
News

OYO cuts 25% of fixed pay of Employees; sends some staff on Leave

Softbank backed online hotel room booking platform OYO informed employees that 25 percent of their fixed salaries will be cut and asked some staff to go on a four-month leave with limited benefits from May 4 as the hotel rooms aggregator grapples with "economic pressures" due to COVID-19. The company, which has around 10,000 employees in the country, is a leading player in the hospitality industry that has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic. The nationwide lockdown, which has been extended till May 3, to curb spreading of infections has also significantly disrupted economic activities. "We had to take the hard decision of placing some OYOpreneurs on a leave with limited benefits (LwLB) from May 4, 2020, for four months until August 2020," OYO India and South Asia CEO Rohit ...
Google Stop Employees from using Zoom Video Conferencing App
News

Google Stop Employees from using Zoom Video Conferencing App

Search engine based company Google ban employees from using popular video-conferencing app Zoom after end to end security flaws. Video-conferencing app Zoom which gained over 200 million users worldwide in March amid shutdown due to coronavirus pandemic has recently been under the scanner after few countries reported security issues. Apart from Google, the Singapore education dept, Taiwan Government, Elon Musk's SpaceX, etc has banned video conferencing app over security concerns. The app has also been banned by New York City officials for schools who were earlier using the app to facilitate remote classes and sessions. As Pixr8 News mentioned in its earlier report that Zoom videos had been exposed on the open web due to end to end security flaws. Also, a data-mining feature o...
Swiggy Raises USD 43 mn as part of ongoing funding round
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 ...
Walmart India Encourages Customers to Order Online
INDIA

Walmart India Encourages Customers to Order Online

Walmart India, which operates in the cash-and-carry format encouraging its users to buy online to avoid the rush on the streets amid the rise of coronavirus cases in the country. The company is witnessing an increase in the number of orders placed through its website and app and have added more capacity to serve them, said Walmart India in a statement. However, Walmart, like other retailers, is also facing challenges in getting sufficient supplies of the goods due to production shortages from the manufacturers and continued bottleneck in logistics and transportation due to lockdown. It is working closely with its suppliers and with the local authorities to minimise and address these challenges, it added. Besides, the company is also facing challenges in terms of shortage of ma...
Walmart to Hire 150,000 Workers as Virus spreads in US
News

Walmart to Hire 150,000 Workers as Virus spreads in US

Walmart plans to hire 150,000 people to meet increased demand during the coronavirus crisis and will pay out $365 million in bonuses, the US retail giant said. "These roles will be temporary at first, but many will convert to permanent roles over time," it said. The firm added it would pay $300 bonuses to full-time employees and $150 to those part-time. Walmart said Thursday it wanted to reward them "for their hard work and dedication to serving customers in a time of an unprecedented national health crisis." It also plans to speed up payment of the next quarterly bonus payments, which will take its payout to nearly $550 million. The hiring drive comes as travel restrictions and lockdown measures in various US states and cities to curb the spread of the virus have led people t...
6 Low Cost Marketing Techniques To Boost Your Business
Story

6 Low Cost Marketing Techniques To Boost Your Business

As an entrepreneur, you have to wear many different hats and juggle many priorities at once you’re handling product development, sales, and of course, marketing. It’s no piece of cake and requires you to divide your already limited resources in a smart way that helps you optimize product quality and product reach.  Developing the perfect product only to have it remain unused because no one knows about it hardly sounds like an ideal outcome. Hence, the end goal of getting new customers should be somewhere at the top of your list. In order to achieve it successfully, you need an effective marketing plan: you must launch big and promote tirelessly to establish your brand identity. But you can’t spend all your time and budget on marketing either so you’re always looking for ways to cu...
Indiamart becomes India’s Largest B2B Marketplace, Registered 100 Million Users
News

Indiamart becomes India’s Largest B2B Marketplace, Registered 100 Million Users

Leading B2B marketplace IndiaMART has seen a 10-fold increase in its user base over the past six years to achieve 100 million registered users on the platform. "We have aimed at making IndiaMART a one-stop-shop for all the business needs and have strived for curating a platform that is simple and convenient for millions of MSMEs in India," said Chief Operating Officer Dinesh Gulati. Nearly 36 per cent of the traffic on IndiaMART comes from metro cities and the remaining 64 per cent from tier one, tier two and smaller towns. "We have tried to show the masses the digital way of doing business. Going forward, we will keep investing in our platform with the use of voice, vernacular, artificial intelligence and machine learning that will further ease out doing business in India," said...
Swiggy Raises USD 113 mn in Funding led by Prosus NV
FUNDING

Swiggy Raises USD 113 mn in Funding led by Prosus NV

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has raised USD 113 million (over Rs 805 crore) in the latest funding round led by existing investor Prosus NV. Meituan Dianping and Wellington Management Company also participated in the funding round. Having grown beyond food delivery, the company aims to use the funds to further develop its new lines of business, addressing visible gaps in the market, Swiggy said in a statement. The company will continue to invest in new growth areas (Stores, Go and SuprDaily) as it delivers on its promise of bringing unparalleled convenience to the lives of urban consumers, it added. 'We have become synonymous with exceptional customer experience and created multiple growth avenues for our partners while continuing to invest in new lines of busines...
Unacademy Raises USD 110 mn Led by Facebook & Others
FUNDING

Unacademy Raises USD 110 mn Led by Facebook & Others

Online education platform Unacademy raises USD 110 million (about Rs 780 crore) in a funding round led by social media major Facebook and General Atlantic. The funding round saw investment from fresh investors including Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital and Blume Ventures, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar, according to a company statement. 'We are seeing great learning outcomes through our subscription where learners can take live classes by these educators. We now have more than 90,000 active subscribers. We thank General Atlantic and Facebook who have joined us in this journey and our existing investors who continue to be a part of the journey by supporting us,' Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal said. In addition to rai...
Vedantu Raises $24 Million Led by GGV Capital
FUNDING

Vedantu Raises $24 Million Led by GGV Capital

Education technology start-up Vedantu has raised Rs 171 crore (USD 24 million) in a round led by global venture capital firm GGV Capital with participation from existing investors. This was in addition to the Rs 299 crore raised by the firm in August 2019. "We are excited to have GGV Capital back us, as a unique VC firm that has backed some of the world's most successful companies, this is a huge validation for Vedantu. We want to further our mission to make this new format of live interactive classes the answer to the current engagement gaps in online education and are very excited about the future," Vedantu CEO and co-founder Vamsi Krishna said in a statement. With this round, the total fundraised by the company stands at around Rs 600 crore. Krishna said that the company se...
Square Yards Acquires Rental & Property Management Firm Azuro
ACQUISITION

Square Yards Acquires Rental & Property Management Firm Azuro

Property brokerage firm Square Yards, which is backed by Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, has acquired Mumbai-based rental platform Azuro as part of its expansion plan. Founded in 2016 by IIT Bombay alumni Altaf Ahmad, Sushant Kumar, Sudhanshu Mishra, Ayush Agrawal and Vishal Chauthmal, Azuro offers rental and property management solutions. It helps in finding a tenant, background checks, automated rent collection, property maintenance and tenant exits. The entire team of Azuro, including its co-founders, has joined Square Yards and will continue to operate under the larger umbrella with the same brand name. Square Yards founder and CEO Tanuj Shori said, "Square Yards is building an integrated intermediary ecosystem for the real estate industry and this requires the best of techno...
Digital Advertising Startup AdOnMo Raises $3 Million
News

Digital Advertising Startup AdOnMo Raises $3 Million

Media-tech startup AdOnMo, which claims to be the country's first contextually-targeted digital out-of-home (OOH) advertising firm, has raised USD 3 million (around Rs 21.4 crore) in pre-series round funding from Alibaba and others. The funding was led by Alibaba's holding firm Ant Financial-run BAce Capital and others like Astarc Ventures and Mumbai Angels Network, the Hyderabad-based firm said in a statement on Thursday.  The company will use the fund to expand operations, acquire talent and accelerate product development. AdOnMo brings together online and outdoor advertising. Currently, it is operational in Mumbai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Bengaluru. Founded in 2017 by Sandeep Bommireddi and Sravanth Gajula, Adonmo helps advertisers reach their target audience at scale wit...