Missed the happening of startup world? Here is the recap for you. Mentioned below are the 10 news which made headlines this week:
This week finally saw the sale of FreeCharge, Snapdeal’s digital payments platform to country’s third-largest private sector lender, Axis Bank. The sale marks the end of a two-year long process where numerous buyers came forward to pitch their bid for FreeCharge. According to a media report, the deal could end up valuing FreeCharge somewhere between Rs 385 crore-Rs 390 crores, which would be a steep plunge from the Rs 2,400 crore figure that Jasper Infotech paid in the year 2015 to acquire the company. The report further revealed that an official announcement on the sale could be made anytime now.
If sources to be believed, the Snapdeal board has also given a go ahead to Flipkart’s revised offer for Snapdeal and an official announcement on the same can also be made within the upcoming week.
The organisation administering Aadhaar, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has recently filed an official police complaint against the Abhinav Srivastava, co-founder of a mobile payment startup, Qarth Technologies accusing him of misusing Aadhaar data from its website. According to the FIR, Srivastava is accused of giving out e-KYC and misusing data from the Aadhaar’s official website via a mobile application that he had created.
According to a report in the Hindu, the complaint filed with the Bengaluru Police was registered by Ashok Lenin the Deputy Director at the UIDAI Regional Office in Bengaluru. According to the FIR, Srivastava has been booked under Section 29(2) of the Aadhaar act which restricts sharing Aadhaar data with others. In addition to that, he has also been booked under Sections 65 and 66 of the IT act and Sections 468 and 471 for forgery with Section 120(B) for conspiracy.
The Google’s Launchpad has announced a new hands-on studio program that would help AI startups with resources that would help them kickstart their company’s journey to success and scale to new heights. Launchpad with its AI studio aims to solve all the problems for AI Startups and provide them with a level field with other startups to progress and achieve momentum success. It plans to achieve this by making them available with specialized data sets, prototyping assistance and simulation tools. Another major attraction of the Launchpad Studio is that the selected AI startups will get unlimited access to Google’s top notch talent, including IP experts, product specialists and engineers.
Hyderabad-based Nemo Care, the winner of the fifth edition of the Start TLV Competition along with the five women-led startups will represent India at Start Tel Aviv workshop in Israel this year.
At the Start TLV ‘boost camp’, Pratyusha Pareddy, co-founder, Nemo Care will join local Israeli entrepreneurs and participate in lectures, workshops, and meetings with leading Israeli and international investors and professionals.
Start TLV is a global annual event organised by Israeli MFA and Tel Aviv Municipality. The competition is the platform to support women entrepreneurs in the country to accelerate their startup growth. In order to search India’s upcoming women-led tech startups with a social impact, the Embassy of Israel had joined hands with the Indian government’s Startup India programme, TiE-NCR, YES Bank, YES Global Institute and CNBC-TV18.
Social networking giant Facebook has recently acquired US-based startup Source3 to help the tech giant in its battle against pirated content on its social networking platform. Source3 has built successful licensing platforms powering digital music, user-generated videos and 3D printing. It offers scalable, turnkey solutions for today’s global licensing challenges.
The New York-headquartered startup claims to be the world’s first platform for end-to-end management of intellectual property in user-generated content (UGC). It provides IP recognition, licensing and rights administration services to connect creators, marketplaces and brands and enable monetization of user content across physical and digital products.
Paytm Mall, owned by Paytm Ecommerce Pvt Ltd has delisted 50% logistics partners, stopping deliveries to more than 9,000 pin codes out of 26,000 were guaranteed assistance in returns and replacements was not assured. Based on this audit, the company has delisted 6 out of 14 logistic partners and 30 courier aggregation centres, as they were unable to offer a consistently superior consumer experience. The company aims to establish a reliable logistics ecosystem with greater transparency in delivery and replacement timelines while ensuring that exact products are delivered in a good condition.
In another development, Indian e-wallet giant Paytm has recently revealed that it has joined hands with online lottery company AGTech Media, which has the backing of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, to make mobile games in the Indian subcontinent.
According to information available, both the companies have decided to jointly put in about $16 million capital in the new company.
Zoho, a Chennai-based software firm founded the Zoho University (ZU) initiative. The University, which took birth 12 years ago in 2005, trains turns software programmers out of high-school graduates and then hires them for roles at salaries on par with engineering graduates. The initiative’s more than a decade old life is the testimonial of its success and popularity among the Indian youth.
In today’s times, when India is finally waking up to the fact of shortage of quality engineering talent in the country, accompanied by the proliferation of automation and advanced technologies, Zoho’s University model is gaining a lot of traction.
Lendingkart Group has made two significant appointments to strengthen its leadership team. Utsav Mehrotra, formerly an investment banker with Axis Capital, has joined as Vice President of Capital Markets taking charge of fundraising and marketplace initiatives. Abhishek Arora, who was earlier heading the seller management & growth vertical at e-commerce unicorn in Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region – Souq.com, has come on board as Vice President of Revenue & Operations.
Finally, here is the announcement of the reality show by veterans Raghu Ram and Rajiv Lakshman which will help the truants of the country to achieve their startup dreams. The show called Droom.in presents MTV Dropout Pvt. Ltd. will premiere on July 29 at 7 pm on MTV and next day onwards on VOOT. The show has been created by Monozygotic and co-developed by MTV and Monozygotic. The show will help in identifying college ‘dropouts’ with real entrepreneurial potential and transform their lives forever by helping them setup their own startup journey.
The shortlisted talents will be groomed and mentored by some of the biggest names in the industry through a trials-by-fire method where the contestants will have to solve their way out of real-world business problems in a short span of time and prove their hunger for their entrepreneurial dream.
Prestellar Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, launched a $100 million venture capital fund backed by four general partners (‘GPs’) – CG Corp Global (Nepal’s sole Forbes-listed billion-dollar enterprise), Satin Creditcare (the third largest Microfinance Institution in India), Frontline Strategy (a private-equity firm in Mauritius) and N.E. Group (a family conglomerate in Nepal).
The fund seeks to partner with passionate entrepreneurs and disruptive startups across South Asia and ASEAN in the Hospitality, Consumer, Financial Services, Rural Product and Services sectors, typically in ‘Pre-Series A’ deals with a cheque size of approximately $2-3 million. The firm is seeking to raise and deploy country specific sub-funds across the South Asia region-more specifically India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Apart from these startups news, there were other important headlines which grabbed the eyeballs of the readers. Paytm has appointed Kiran Vasireddy as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for its payments business. Going forward, Kiran will be overseeing all product and business functions for the payments division in line with its growth plan for bringing 500 million Indians into the mainstream economy.
On the other hand, Capillary Technologies, the Omni channel customer engagement and commerce platform, has appointed Ganesh Lakshminarayanan as the new COO of the company.
Jugnoo, hyperlocal startup, is all set to create its footprints in the South Korean market. The B2B offering of the company, Tookan has been selected as one of the top three finalists to participate in K-Startup Grand Challenge – a 4 month accelerator programme, organised by the Korean government. Jugnoo is selected from the 70 Indian Startups that auditioned for the challenge becoming 1 of the top 3 finalists making it a big achievement for the team.
Lastly, Awfis Space Solutions has launched its first community workplace in Pune at Baner.
Snapdeal Board Gives Green Signal For FreeCharge Sale To Axis Bank
This week finally saw the sale of FreeCharge, Snapdeal’s digital payments platform to country’s third-largest private sector lender, Axis Bank. The sale marks the end of a two-year long process where numerous buyers came forward to pitch their bid for FreeCharge. According to a media report, the deal could end up valuing FreeCharge somewhere between Rs 385 crore-Rs 390 crores, which would be a steep plunge from the Rs 2,400 crore figure that Jasper Infotech paid in the year 2015 to acquire the company. The report further revealed that an official announcement on the sale could be made anytime now.
If sources to be believed, the Snapdeal board has also given a go ahead to Flipkart’s revised offer for Snapdeal and an official announcement on the same can also be made within the upcoming week.
FIR Filed Against Startup Founder For Misusing Aadhaar
The organisation administering Aadhaar, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has recently filed an official police complaint against the Abhinav Srivastava, co-founder of a mobile payment startup, Qarth Technologies accusing him of misusing Aadhaar data from its website. According to the FIR, Srivastava is accused of giving out e-KYC and misusing data from the Aadhaar’s official website via a mobile application that he had created.
According to a report in the Hindu, the complaint filed with the Bengaluru Police was registered by Ashok Lenin the Deputy Director at the UIDAI Regional Office in Bengaluru. According to the FIR, Srivastava has been booked under Section 29(2) of the Aadhaar act which restricts sharing Aadhaar data with others. In addition to that, he has also been booked under Sections 65 and 66 of the IT act and Sections 468 and 471 for forgery with Section 120(B) for conspiracy.
Google Launches AI Studios For Startups
The Google’s Launchpad has announced a new hands-on studio program that would help AI startups with resources that would help them kickstart their company’s journey to success and scale to new heights. Launchpad with its AI studio aims to solve all the problems for AI Startups and provide them with a level field with other startups to progress and achieve momentum success. It plans to achieve this by making them available with specialized data sets, prototyping assistance and simulation tools. Another major attraction of the Launchpad Studio is that the selected AI startups will get unlimited access to Google’s top notch talent, including IP experts, product specialists and engineers.
Nemo Care Ends Israel’s Search For Women-Led Tech Startups In India
Hyderabad-based Nemo Care, the winner of the fifth edition of the Start TLV Competition along with the five women-led startups will represent India at Start Tel Aviv workshop in Israel this year.
At the Start TLV ‘boost camp’, Pratyusha Pareddy, co-founder, Nemo Care will join local Israeli entrepreneurs and participate in lectures, workshops, and meetings with leading Israeli and international investors and professionals.
Start TLV is a global annual event organised by Israeli MFA and Tel Aviv Municipality. The competition is the platform to support women entrepreneurs in the country to accelerate their startup growth. In order to search India’s upcoming women-led tech startups with a social impact, the Embassy of Israel had joined hands with the Indian government’s Startup India programme, TiE-NCR, YES Bank, YES Global Institute and CNBC-TV18.
Facebook Acquires US Based Startup Source3
Social networking giant Facebook has recently acquired US-based startup Source3 to help the tech giant in its battle against pirated content on its social networking platform. Source3 has built successful licensing platforms powering digital music, user-generated videos and 3D printing. It offers scalable, turnkey solutions for today’s global licensing challenges.
The New York-headquartered startup claims to be the world’s first platform for end-to-end management of intellectual property in user-generated content (UGC). It provides IP recognition, licensing and rights administration services to connect creators, marketplaces and brands and enable monetization of user content across physical and digital products.
Paytm Mall Limits Delivery To 17k Pin Codes; Delists 50% Logistic Partners
Paytm Mall, owned by Paytm Ecommerce Pvt Ltd has delisted 50% logistics partners, stopping deliveries to more than 9,000 pin codes out of 26,000 were guaranteed assistance in returns and replacements was not assured. Based on this audit, the company has delisted 6 out of 14 logistic partners and 30 courier aggregation centres, as they were unable to offer a consistently superior consumer experience. The company aims to establish a reliable logistics ecosystem with greater transparency in delivery and replacement timelines while ensuring that exact products are delivered in a good condition.
In another development, Indian e-wallet giant Paytm has recently revealed that it has joined hands with online lottery company AGTech Media, which has the backing of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, to make mobile games in the Indian subcontinent.
According to information available, both the companies have decided to jointly put in about $16 million capital in the new company.
Not IITs, Zoho Is Massively Hiring High School Graduates
Zoho, a Chennai-based software firm founded the Zoho University (ZU) initiative. The University, which took birth 12 years ago in 2005, trains turns software programmers out of high-school graduates and then hires them for roles at salaries on par with engineering graduates. The initiative’s more than a decade old life is the testimonial of its success and popularity among the Indian youth.
In today’s times, when India is finally waking up to the fact of shortage of quality engineering talent in the country, accompanied by the proliferation of automation and advanced technologies, Zoho’s University model is gaining a lot of traction.
Lendingkart Group Appoints Two New Vice Presidents
Lendingkart Group has made two significant appointments to strengthen its leadership team. Utsav Mehrotra, formerly an investment banker with Axis Capital, has joined as Vice President of Capital Markets taking charge of fundraising and marketplace initiatives. Abhishek Arora, who was earlier heading the seller management & growth vertical at e-commerce unicorn in Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region – Souq.com, has come on board as Vice President of Revenue & Operations.
MTV To Air India’s First Reality Show For College Dropouts
Finally, here is the announcement of the reality show by veterans Raghu Ram and Rajiv Lakshman which will help the truants of the country to achieve their startup dreams. The show called Droom.in presents MTV Dropout Pvt. Ltd. will premiere on July 29 at 7 pm on MTV and next day onwards on VOOT. The show has been created by Monozygotic and co-developed by MTV and Monozygotic. The show will help in identifying college ‘dropouts’ with real entrepreneurial potential and transform their lives forever by helping them setup their own startup journey.
The shortlisted talents will be groomed and mentored by some of the biggest names in the industry through a trials-by-fire method where the contestants will have to solve their way out of real-world business problems in a short span of time and prove their hunger for their entrepreneurial dream.
Singapore’s Prestellar Ventures Launches $100 Mn VC Fund
Prestellar Ventures, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, launched a $100 million venture capital fund backed by four general partners (‘GPs’) – CG Corp Global (Nepal’s sole Forbes-listed billion-dollar enterprise), Satin Creditcare (the third largest Microfinance Institution in India), Frontline Strategy (a private-equity firm in Mauritius) and N.E. Group (a family conglomerate in Nepal).
The fund seeks to partner with passionate entrepreneurs and disruptive startups across South Asia and ASEAN in the Hospitality, Consumer, Financial Services, Rural Product and Services sectors, typically in ‘Pre-Series A’ deals with a cheque size of approximately $2-3 million. The firm is seeking to raise and deploy country specific sub-funds across the South Asia region-more specifically India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Other Important News
Apart from these startups news, there were other important headlines which grabbed the eyeballs of the readers. Paytm has appointed Kiran Vasireddy as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for its payments business. Going forward, Kiran will be overseeing all product and business functions for the payments division in line with its growth plan for bringing 500 million Indians into the mainstream economy.
On the other hand, Capillary Technologies, the Omni channel customer engagement and commerce platform, has appointed Ganesh Lakshminarayanan as the new COO of the company.
Jugnoo, hyperlocal startup, is all set to create its footprints in the South Korean market. The B2B offering of the company, Tookan has been selected as one of the top three finalists to participate in K-Startup Grand Challenge – a 4 month accelerator programme, organised by the Korean government. Jugnoo is selected from the 70 Indian Startups that auditioned for the challenge becoming 1 of the top 3 finalists making it a big achievement for the team.
Lastly, Awfis Space Solutions has launched its first community workplace in Pune at Baner.
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