Classic Video Game Age of Empires' Mobile Version Launching on Oct. 17

The classic video game Age of Empires, is making its way to mobile devices. The mobile version, developed by TiMi Studio Group and World's Edge, will launch globally on October 17, 2024. This new version will be available on both iOS and Android platforms.

The mobile version of Age of Empires is developed by TiMi Studio Group, a video game developer owned by China’s Tencent, in collaboration with World's Edge, a subsidiary of Xbox Game Studios. TiMi Studio Group is known for other popular mobile games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Pokémon Unite.

Age of Empires Mobile retains the core essence of the beloved PC franchise, with intuitive touch controls and streamlined gameplay. Players will guide their civilization through various ages, from ancient times to the modern era, gathering resources, building structures, and training armies to vanquish foes.

This highly anticipated game promises to bring the classic real-time strategy experience to mobile platforms, allowing players to build, battle, and conquer on-th

• Historical Campaigns: Relive iconic battles and events from history, with immersive storylines and challenging objectives.
• Multiplayer: Engage in intense PvP battles with players worldwide, or team up with friends to conquer co-op campaigns.
• Civilization Selection: Choose from a diverse range of civilizations, each with unique strengths, weaknesses, and abilities.
• Resource Management: Balance resource gathering, building construction, and army composition to achieve victory.

Visuals and Audio

Age of Empires Mobile boasts stunning visuals, with detailed environments, units, and buildings. The game's soundtrack and sound effects immerse players in the heat of battle, making every victory feel triumphant.

Pre-Registration and Launch

Pre-registration is now open, allowing players to secure exclusive rewards and bonuses at launch. Mark your calendars for October 17th, as Age of Empires Mobile is set to revolutionize mobile gaming with its engaging gameplay, rich history, and competitive multiplayer.

Age of Empires Mobile is poised to bring a new level of strategy and excitement to mobile gamers worldwide. With its faithful adaptation of the PC classic, intuitive controls, and robust features, this game is a must-play for fans of the series and newcomers alike.

 

EdTech Platform Doubtnut Raises $15 Mn in Funding led by Tencent

Edu-tech platform Doubtnut on Friday said it has raised USD 15 million (about Rs 107 crore) in a funding round led by Tencent.

The series A round also saw participation from existing investors, Omidyar Network India, AET, Japan and Ankit Nagori (former Flipkart executive) along with Sequoia Capital India, a statement said.

Doubtnut, which has over 1.2 million daily users, had raised pre-series A funding in March last year led by Surge (Sequoia Capital India's programme), Waterbridge Ventures, Omidyar Network India and AET, Japan, it added.

"Doubtnut will use the funds to widen its pan-India distribution, build on its content repository to cater to a fast expanding target group, invest in strengthening its technology stack and scaling its team," it said.

Set up in October 2017 by Tanushree Nagori and Aditya Shankar, Doubtnut currently caters to K-12, IIT JEE and NEET students. It offers a multi-lingual online learning platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, and provides video-based solutions in response to students' queries.

Students have to send a photograph of the question they want to solve, and Doubtnut app provides a video of the solution while simultaneously suggesting other concept videos to help students learn the topic better. The app can read questions in 11 Indian languages.

The company has over 13 million monthly active users across several platforms (web, app, Youtube and Whatsapp). It said it has witnessed 30X growth in its daily active users since March 2019.

"...despite a massive growth in our user base, there is still a significant target audience that is yet to be tapped. We aim to use technology to provide a democratic, comprehensive and easily accessible education solution to all students - in the language and manner that they best understand," Doubnut co-founder Nagori said. PTI SR

Alrosa, Tencent and Everledger Launch WeChat Mini Program for Blockchain-Enabled Diamonds

Alrosa, Tencent and Everledger are launching a new WeChat Mini Program e-commerce solution to Chinese retailers, demonstrating the power of blockchain technology to seamlessly enable the purchase of diamonds with full transparency of their origin, characteristics and ownership history.

Created by the world’s largest diamond producer Alrosa and independent technology company Everledger, this new Mini Program pilot will put transparent and secure diamond information at the fingertips of potentially a billion active WeChat users. It is also the first product to capitalise on the synergy between Everledger and their new investor Tencent, creator of WeChat – one of the world’s largest social media and e-commerce platforms.

The WeChat Mini Program pilot will showcase diamonds from Alrosa, enabling full traceability from mine to consumer. It will be offered as a white label API for jewellery manufacturers and retailers in China who wish to offer consumers more innovative and insightful stories about their products and their brand, and so expand their ecommerce proposition. This enables a better informed and more secure purchase for consumers as well as a more seamless online-to-offline user experience. By enabling new touch points between consumers, jewellery manufacturers and retailers, the Mini Program will encourage brand differentiation in the highly competitive Chinese luxury market.

Consumers will be offered unprecedented levels of transparency and trust around the origin, characteristics and authenticity of the jewellery they purchase. Using the WeChat Mini Program on their smartphone, consumers can check an individual diamond’s full provenance and unique certificate information, purchase the diamond in the Mini Program using WeChat Pay, and also attest its ownership through the Everledger blockchain platform.

The world leader in diamond mining, Alrosa, will provide information from their diamonds extracted in Russia, thus enabling consumers to know the exact origin of each stone and have certainty around its sustainable and ethical footprint. Last month, Alrosa launched its independent sustainability benchmark report, demonstrating the company’s leading position in responsible sourcing within the global market.

Alrosa’s commitment to community-focused and environmental mining – with a particular emphasis on championing the role of women in the workforce – reflects Everledger’s own pioneering mission to improve sustainability throughout value chains. Everledger harnesses a symphony of technologies, including blockchain, AI, IoT and nanotechnology to make asset provenance ever more accessible and transparent.

Pavel Vinikhin, Head of “Diamonds of Alrosa” (the company’s polishing branch), commented: “We are delighted to support this WeChat Mini Program with Everledger, as it reinforces our pursuit for sustainable mining and transparent supply chain information. Chinese consumers will be certain of the origin of their diamond. We believe demonstrating full provenance of our diamonds on the most popular social media platform will help us to further strengthen our sales base in China.”

Evgeny Gokhberg, Head of Europe at Everledger, notes: “This is a groundbreaking initiative with the titans of the diamond and internet industries. We’re glad to partner with Alrosa, as we share the same goal of enabling more transparency to the market. By providing 100% certainty of a diamond’s origin and journey to the consumer, in an easy-to-experience online platform such as WeChat, we are confident that this innovation will set a new standard when it comes to traceability and responsible business practices.”

Commenting on the importance of this pilot for Everledger’s expansion, Chris Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, said: “This exciting development mobilises our strong partnerships with Tencent and Alrosa to bring provenance and authenticity of diamonds to a new level of transparency in China. Making this information available to consumers’ fingertips via WeChat enables them to be sure about the source and the credentials of each item being purchased.”

Leanne Kemp, founder and CEO of Everledger, adds: “This pioneering collaboration is exactly why we launched Everledger – and it shows how far we have come since our humble beginnings in 2015. Our blockchain and IoT solutions will enable key stakeholders in the jewellery industry to bring secure and reputable information to consumers in China and beyond. The WeChat Mini Program delivers on our scalable vision for more transparent, frictionless, and sustainable value chains, providing a new benchmark for customer focus and transparency in the diamond industry."

About Alrosa

ALROSA is the world's largest producer of rough diamonds in carats, accounting for more than 26% of the global market. Effectively, every fourth diamond in the market is mined in Russia. ALROSA also operates its polishing branch, DIAMONDS of ALROSA, being one of two diamond miners with an in-house cutting division. The Company's operations are located in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Arkhangelsk Region of Russia. ALROSA’s trading and representative offices are located in the world’s major diamond trading centers: Antwerp, Ramat Gan, Dubai, Hong Kong, New York, Mumbai. ALROSA is an absolute industry leader in terms of investments in social programs directing to social spending on average 3% of its revenue. In 2018, the company’s social investments totaled $155 million. Moreover, about $100 million are spent on the environment protection measures annually. The company's achievements are marked by high positions and presence in the ratings of FTSE4Good, MSCI ESG, WWF Russia.

About Everledger

Founded in 2015, Everledger is an independent technology company helping businesses surface and converge asset information, using a symphony of secure technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, intelligent labelling and Internet of Things. Our purpose is to contribute greater clarity and confidence in marketplaces where transparency matters most.

We digitally streamline our clients’ compliance processes, to help them demonstrate the lifetime story of an asset with greater efficiency and accuracy. As technology partners, we also support in powering resilience and sustainability. With information out in the open, we believe the value of many industries – from diamonds, to fine wines, to e-waste lifecycle management – will be shared by all stakeholders throughout the value chain.

Everledger is certified with the ISO 27001 standard by the British Assessment Bureau, a testament to our robust, ongoing and systematic approach to information security.

Everledger has been nominated a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2018.

B2B Platform Udaan Raises $585 Mn in Funding led by Tencent at Valuation of $2.5 Bn

Bengaluru-based B2B Business-to-business (B2B) platform Udaan has raised $585 million from Tencent, Altimeter, Footpath Ventures, Hillhouse, GGV Capital, and Citi Ventures, reported Business Standard. Udaan's existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global also contributed to the round.

Citing founder of deal tracker Paper.vc, the Business Standard report states that, Tencent led the Series D financing round, by contributing roughly a quarter of the total raise, giving the firm a “post-money valuation in the range of $2.5 billion"..

With this fresh funding, Udaan raised a total of $870 million to date. Last year in February, in one of the largest early-stage startup funding round in India, Udaan raised $50 million in its series-B round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner.

Founded in 2016, by former Flipkart executives Amod Malviya, Sujeet Kumar, and Vaibhav Gupta, Udaan has operations in categories such as lifestyle, electronics, home and kitchen, staples, fruits and vegetables, fast-moving consumer goods, toys, and general merchandise.

In a statement, Martin Lau, president of Tencent, said,"Udaan’s unique approach could enhance the capabilities of millions of retail stores." Tencent last invested in July this year, when the Chinese investor contributed in $100 million funding round of Indian OTT platform and a global offline video player, MX Player.

"Empowering millions of small businesses to effectively procure and sell goods is not only a massive business opportunity, but will also help transform the economy by providing internet-scale productivity gains to merchants, wholesalers, and manufacturers," said Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital, and Ram Parameswaran, partner at Altimeter Capital.

Indian OTT Startup MX Player Reportedly Raising $100 Mn from Tencent, PayTM

Indian OTT platform and a global offline video player, MX Player, is raising about US$100 million from China-based Tencent Holdings and Paytm, reported a China daily.

Citing its sources, a report by South China Morning Post said "The WeChat operator and Paytm, India’s digital payments leader, are in the final stages of discussions but specific terms may still change"

Created by J2 Interactive, MX player was bought for for $140 million (₹1000 crore) in last year by Times Internet, the digital media arm of The Times Group, India's largest media conglomerate.

Tencent, which just launched its first overseas steaming video service in Thailand, will receive ready-made market and foothold in India where content streaming market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 22% to 120 billion rupees (US$1.7 billion) by 2023, according to PwC.

India is the world’s second largest smartphone market and post Reliance Jio boom, users across the country are avidly consuming content via cheap wireless data plans.

For Paytm and its parent One97 Communications, MX Player’s 30 million registered users adds to a plethora of offerings from food delivery and e-commerce to financial services.

In January last year, an China's Alibaba was also reportedly planning to launch an OTT video service in India that was supposedly be powered by Paytm and UCWeb, a mobile internet subsidiary of Alibaba Group which counts PayTM as its investee. However, the idea of Alibaba never saw the daylight. It was also said that the OTT service would utilize the technology from Alibaba’s native OTT app in China -- Youku Todou.

OYO Rooms To Raise Fresh $300-500 Mn Via Tencent At Valuation of $2 Billion

Gurgaon-based budget hotel aggregator OYO Rooms is close to raise fresh funding of about $300-500 million from Chinese internet giant Tencent, reported Times of India.

The funding will likely to value OYO at $2 billion, which is almost double the valuation of $850 million from SoftBank's Vision Fund.

"The company is engaged with Tencent, and a term sheet is likely to come in. There’s a bunch of other investors also in talks, but those are preliminary at the moment. The fundraise is largely to grow the China business," a source told the Times of India.

"Getting a backer like Tencent will help OYO grow aggressively in China," said the report citing an another source.

If this plausible funding goes through then it will be OYO's first round of financing not led by SoftBank.

Also Read - Tencent Looking For More Investment Opportunities in India

Founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO has also held talks with other Chinese companies and a few other financial investors for the funding. The company has so far raised a total of $450 million out of which Softbank has contributed about $400 million and rest came from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures and Hero Enterprise, among others.

OYO, which recorded a gross booking value of $500-600 million, has recently announced its expansion into 26 Chinese cities, making it the third overseas market for the company after Malaysia and Nepal.

Tencent, which has backed Flipkart, Ola, Hike and Gaana, among other, is also reportedly in talks to participate in fresh $100-150 million funding round of baby products startup FirstCry and recently led the $50 million funding round of NewsDog, a Gurgaon headquartered mobile-based news and entertainment content aggregator.

Tencent, its Chinese rival Alibaba Group, and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp have become increasingly aggressive in India the past 12 months, picking up stakes in some of the country’s most richly valued companies and driving up valuations to stratospheric levels in the process.

OYO Rooms To Raise Fresh $300-500 Mn Via Tencent At Valuation of $2 Billion

Gurgaon-based budget hotel aggregator OYO Rooms is close to raise fresh funding of about $300-500 million from Chinese internet giant Tencent, reported Times of India.

The funding will likely to value OYO at $2 billion, which is almost double the valuation of $850 million from SoftBank's Vision Fund.

"The company is engaged with Tencent, and a term sheet is likely to come in. There’s a bunch of other investors also in talks, but those are preliminary at the moment. The fundraise is largely to grow the China business," a source told the Times of India.

"Getting a backer like Tencent will help OYO grow aggressively in China," said the report citing an another source.

If this plausible funding goes through then it will be OYO's first round of financing not led by SoftBank.

Also Read - Tencent Looking For More Investment Opportunities in India

Founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO has also held talks with other Chinese companies and a few other financial investors for the funding. The company has so far raised a total of $450 million out of which Softbank has contributed about $400 million and rest came from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures and Hero Enterprise, among others.

OYO, which recorded a gross booking value of $500-600 million, has recently announced its expansion into 26 Chinese cities, making it the third overseas market for the company after Malaysia and Nepal.

Tencent, which has backed Flipkart, Ola, Hike and Gaana, among other, is also reportedly in talks to participate in fresh $100-150 million funding round of baby products startup FirstCry and recently led the $50 million funding round of NewsDog, a Gurgaon headquartered mobile-based news and entertainment content aggregator.

Tencent, its Chinese rival Alibaba Group, and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp have become increasingly aggressive in India the past 12 months, picking up stakes in some of the country’s most richly valued companies and driving up valuations to stratospheric levels in the process.

FirstCry May Raise Fresh $150 Mn Funds from Temasek, Tencent Holdings and A Chinese Investor

Mahindra-owned baby products startup Firstcry is reportedly in talks to raise $100-150 million from new and existing investors as it seeks to increase its lead in the market.

According to the LiveMint report, citing three people privy to the matter, Firstcry has fortifed talks with Singapore-based Temasek Holdings, with whom it was in funding talks last year but cooled-off later. The startup is also in talks with Chinese internet giant Tencent and an unidentified Chinese investment firm to raise its next round.

Firstcry held funding talks with Temasek last year but then nothing happened in the end because of two's differences over valuation. The companies revived talks this year and has appointed Morgan Stanley as its investment bank for the deal.

Temasek, which has recently led the $125 million funding of Noida-based PoS deploying company Pine Labs, is a minority investor in companies such as Flipkart, Ola, Byju’s, Practo and Hike.

Founded in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, Firstcry (Brainbees Solutions Pvt. Ltd) is now poised to called as India’s largest baby products retailer and has raised more than $100 million from high profile investors including Ratan Tata, Mahindra, IDG Ventures India, New Enterprise Associates, SAIF Partners, Vertex Ventures and others.

In October 2016, Firstcry bought Mahindra’s struggling babycare business BabyOye Retail Pvt. Ltd for ₹362 crore in a cash-and-stock deal.

Headquartered in Pune, FIrstCry is one of the very few e-commerce startups that has flourished in the past three years despite competition from giants like Flipkart and Amazon India.

For financial year 2016-17, Firstcry reported a loss of ₹393 crore on revenue of ₹239 crore.

It may also be recalled that, e-commerce logistics startup Xpressbees, which is founded by Firstcry founders Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, had raised funding of $35 million from China's Alibaba, in January this year. Launched in 2015 as 'Busybees', Xpressbees is the logistics business offshooted from FirstCry

FirstCry May Raise Fresh $150 Mn Funds from Temasek, Tencent Holdings and A Chinese Investor

Mahindra-owned baby products startup Firstcry is reportedly in talks to raise $100-150 million from new and existing investors as it seeks to increase its lead in the market.

According to the LiveMint report, citing three people privy to the matter, Firstcry has fortifed talks with Singapore-based Temasek Holdings, with whom it was in funding talks last year but cooled-off later. The startup is also in talks with Chinese internet giant Tencent and an unidentified Chinese investment firm to raise its next round.

Firstcry held funding talks with Temasek last year but then nothing happened in the end because of two's differences over valuation. The companies revived talks this year and has appointed Morgan Stanley as its investment bank for the deal.

Temasek, which has recently led the $125 million funding of Noida-based PoS deploying company Pine Labs, is a minority investor in companies such as Flipkart, Ola, Byju’s, Practo and Hike.

Founded in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, Firstcry (Brainbees Solutions Pvt. Ltd) is now poised to called as India’s largest baby products retailer and has raised more than $100 million from high profile investors including Ratan Tata, Mahindra, IDG Ventures India, New Enterprise Associates, SAIF Partners, Vertex Ventures and others.

In October 2016, Firstcry bought Mahindra’s struggling babycare business BabyOye Retail Pvt. Ltd for ₹362 crore in a cash-and-stock deal.

Headquartered in Pune, FIrstCry is one of the very few e-commerce startups that has flourished in the past three years despite competition from giants like Flipkart and Amazon India.

For financial year 2016-17, Firstcry reported a loss of ₹393 crore on revenue of ₹239 crore.

It may also be recalled that, e-commerce logistics startup Xpressbees, which is founded by Firstcry founders Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, had raised funding of $35 million from China's Alibaba, in January this year. Launched in 2015 as 'Busybees', Xpressbees is the logistics business offshooted from FirstCry

In One of the Largest in Content Startups, NewsDog Raises $50 Mn Funding from Tencent & others

Gurgaon headquartered mobile-based news and entertainment content aggregator NewsDog has raised $50 million in a Series C round of funding led by Chinese internet giant Tencent, reported Economic Times. The funding is being touted as one of the largest start-up deals in the news and entertainment content space.

Other investors who participated in the round include California-based venture capital firm DHVC, Legend Capital and Dotc United Group.

The funds raised will be used by NewsDog to increase the number of professional content creators in the Indian market, besides product development.

Launched in early 2016 by two Chinese entrepreneurs, Forrest Chen and Yi Ma, NewsDog is an intelligent news APP which not only shows the categorized news, but also studies users'​ reading habits and recommends news to each user accordingly. Owned by Hong Kong-based Hacker Interstellar and headquartered in Gurgaon near Delhi, NewsDog collates articles in English and various regional Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi.

NewsDog app, which is available in 10 Indian vernacular languages, has been topping the Google Play store news category since 2016 and claims to have over 50 million users. NewsDog presently has two offices in India, in Pune and Gurgaon, and plans to setup offices throughout the country in 2018.

NewsDog also launched a content platform WeMedia, which enables users to submit content. Presently, WeMedia has over 30,000 writers contributing content.

NewsDog competes with players such as Toutiao-backed Dailyhunt, Tiger Global-backed Inshorts, and NewsPoint, owned by Times Internet, part of the group which publishes The Economic Times.

Digital content-based startups in India are fast attracting the investors' interest. In February, Kochi-based inFact, a mobile app that aggregates news and infotainment content, had reportedly raised an undisclosed amount in angel funding from Joel George, a Saudi Arabia-based angel investor. In December 2017, Noida-based content discovery app Inshorts had raised $5 million from existing investor Tiger Global in a bridge round of funding.

In February, it was reported that China’s Alibaba group is in talks to buy a minority stake in Sequoia Capital-backed Dailyhunt (formerly Newhunt), a news aggregator and e-bookstore.

In October 2016, Bengaluru-based Dailyhunt had raised $25 million in Series D funding round led by ByteDance, a global tech company operating content platforms worldwide. Existing investors, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Falcon Edge, Omidyar and former CEO of Vodafone, Arun Sarin, also participated in the round.

In July 2016, Dailyhunt had also picked up a minority stake in local news language portal, OneIndia, for Rs. 15 crore.

Music Startup Gaana To Raise $115 Mn From Tencent, Times Internet

New Delhi-based Gamma Gaana Ltd., the parent company of music streaming service Gaana, is reportedly raising $115 million from Chinese investment firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Times Internet. Notably, Gaana is a Times Internet subsidiary.

With this investment, Tencent acquires a minority stake in Gaana, which was so far a wholly owned subsidiary of Times Internet.

Multiple media reports confirmed that Tencent and Gaana confirmed the deal was taking place.

The funds to be raised will be used by Gaana to further invest in artificial intelligence (AI) related technology to personalize music experiences for consumers and to further develop its subscription services for paying users, and to develop aligned music experiences for Gaana users, said an another media report.

Launched in April 2010 by Times Internet, Gaana.com is a commercial music streaming service providing free and licensed music content that are both Indian and international languages.

In October 2015, Micromax had invested in Gaana for a minority stake. Other than this, Gaana does not have any other investors on board.

Later in December 2016, Gaana announced that it had crossed 50 Million app downloads.

Music streaming services in India are generally considered as money-losing business. One promising, venture-backed streaming company in India called Dhingana struggled to secure licenses from record labels and create a sustainable business. Dhingana was snapped up in a fire sale in 2014 by Rdio, which filed for bankruptcy the next year and was sold to Pandora Media Inc.

Last time any Indian music streaming startup had raised funds was Saavn, which raised undisclosed amount from former Vodafone global CEO Arun Sarin, in September 2015.

Tencent, which has also invested in India's Flipkart, is dominating on the global music streaming business. It owns Tencent Music, a popular service in China and also swapped shares with Spotify last year, giving it a stake in one of the most popular music streaming services in Europe and the U.S. Tencent also owns Joox in Southeast Asia.

China’s Tencent Holdings has its eyes set on India’s booming startup industry. It made its investor entry into the Indian startup industry three years ago in 2015 by leading a $90 million round in Practo Technologies, a Chennai-based digital health platform. Later it made $700 million investment in India’s ecommerce leader Flipkart, in April last year.

Latest Funding Drive Ends Up Valuing Ola At Nearly $7 Bn

India's homegrown ride-hailing giant Ola yesterday confirmed that it has raised a whopping $1.1 billion funding in a round led by Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent. The company also revealed that its existing investor SoftBank besides "other new US-based financial investors" also participated in this round.

In addition to confirming the Tencent funding, the Bengaluru-based startup also said that it is in "advanced talks with other investors to close an additional $1 billion as part of the current financing round.” This will take the the total amount raised by Ola in the round to over $2 billion.

According to media reports, this fresh round of funding will end up valuing Ola at almost $7 billion and help the firm in solidifying its efforts on remaining ahead of its market rival Uber.

In July this year, it was revealed global taxi-hailing giant Uber has managed to beat out its Indian competitor Ola in its own home country. According to data from a research by KalaGato Pte show, US-based Uber has been able to grow its market share in the six months to June at 50 per cent as its rival Ola Cabs has a share of 44.2 per cent.

The data was based on app downloads registered the period in 60 Indian cities, including the top 10 metros in the country besides Tier 1 and 2 cities. Other than Uber and Ola, the research data revealed that Ixigo Cabs has a 4.5 per cent share of the car-hailing market, followed by Meru Cabs at just 1.3 per cent.

The data also highlighted that the race was a close one. According to it, Ola was ahead of Uber in January and February at 51.8% and 48.1% market share, respectively. However, the picture changed in March when its US-based rival raced ahead at 48.9 per cent share, while Ola was left holding just 45.2 per cent in March.

Ola has plans of using the capital raised for making significant technology investment into improving supply of drivers and artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities that will someday be capable of solving the country’s unique mobility problems. It wants to focus its attention in data sciences, electric vehicle infrastructure.

Ola’s latest investment comes at a time when the cab-hailing industry is witnessing a fall in the number of drivers registered on the platforms and a decrease in driver incentives. Ola, which saw a sevenfold increase in its revenue to Rs 758 crore in FY16, recorded a loss of Rs 1,760 crore for the same year because heavy discounts offered to passengers and incentives to driver partners worn down the company heavily.

Latest Funding Drive Ends Up Valuing Ola At Nearly $7 Bn

India's homegrown ride-hailing giant Ola yesterday confirmed that it has raised a whopping $1.1 billion funding in a round led by Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent. The company also revealed that its existing investor SoftBank besides "other new US-based financial investors" also participated in this round.

In addition to confirming the Tencent funding, the Bengaluru-based startup also said that it is in "advanced talks with other investors to close an additional $1 billion as part of the current financing round.” This will take the the total amount raised by Ola in the round to over $2 billion.

According to media reports, this fresh round of funding will end up valuing Ola at almost $7 billion and help the firm in solidifying its efforts on remaining ahead of its market rival Uber.

In July this year, it was revealed global taxi-hailing giant Uber has managed to beat out its Indian competitor Ola in its own home country. According to data from a research by KalaGato Pte show, US-based Uber has been able to grow its market share in the six months to June at 50 per cent as its rival Ola Cabs has a share of 44.2 per cent.

The data was based on app downloads registered the period in 60 Indian cities, including the top 10 metros in the country besides Tier 1 and 2 cities. Other than Uber and Ola, the research data revealed that Ixigo Cabs has a 4.5 per cent share of the car-hailing market, followed by Meru Cabs at just 1.3 per cent.

The data also highlighted that the race was a close one. According to it, Ola was ahead of Uber in January and February at 51.8% and 48.1% market share, respectively. However, the picture changed in March when its US-based rival raced ahead at 48.9 per cent share, while Ola was left holding just 45.2 per cent in March.

Ola has plans of using the capital raised for making significant technology investment into improving supply of drivers and artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities that will someday be capable of solving the country’s unique mobility problems. It wants to focus its attention in data sciences, electric vehicle infrastructure.

Ola’s latest investment comes at a time when the cab-hailing industry is witnessing a fall in the number of drivers registered on the platforms and a decrease in driver incentives. Ola, which saw a sevenfold increase in its revenue to Rs 758 crore in FY16, recorded a loss of Rs 1,760 crore for the same year because heavy discounts offered to passengers and incentives to driver partners worn down the company heavily.

After Raising $1.1 Bn, Ola To Raise $1 Billion More

India's homegrown ride-hailing giant Ola today officially confirmed that it has raised a whopping $1.1 billion funding in a round led by Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent. Reportedly, the talks for the same have been in the works for over a year now.

According to media reports, the Bengaluru-based startup is also in "advanced talks with other investors to close an additional $1 billion as part of the current financing round.” This will take the the total amount raised by the cab-hailing company to over $2 billion.

In a statement announcing the funding, the company also revealed that its existing investor SoftBank besides "other new US-based financial investors" also participated in this round.

"We are thrilled to have Tencent Holdings join us as new partners in our mission to build mobility for a billion Indians. The transportation and mobility industries are seeing huge changes globally. Our ambition is to build a globally competitive and futuristic transportation system in India that will support and accelerate a nation on the move!,” said Ola’s Co-Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.

Ola plans on using the capital raised to improve the supply of drivers and do deeper investments in technology, primarily in data sciences and electric vehicle infrastructure.

The first commitments for the current funding round came in November 2016, when Ola raised $250 million raise from SoftBank. After this, Ola decided to keep the round open and raised about $150 million in funding this year, from funds like New York-based hedge fund Tekne Capital Management, US hedge fund Falcon Edge, and Ratan Tata’s venture fund RNT Capital Advisors.

In July this year, it was revealed global taxi-hailing giant Uber has managed to beat out its Indian competitor Ola in its own home country. According to data from a research by KalaGato Pte show, US-based Uber has been able to grow its market share in the six months to June at 50 per cent as its rival Ola Cabs has a share of 44.2 per cent.

The data was based on app downloads registered the period in 60 Indian cities, including the top 10 metros in the country besides Tier 1 and 2 cities. Other than Uber and Ola, the research data revealed that Ixigo Cabs has a 4.5 per cent share of the car-hailing market, followed by Meru Cabs at just 1.3 per cent.

The data also highlighted that the race was a close one. According to it, Ola was ahead of Uber in January and February at 51.8% and 48.1% market share, respectively. However, the picture changed in March when its US-based rival raced ahead at 48.9 per cent share, while Ola was left holding just 45.2 per cent in March.

Reportedly, Softbank, which still remains the largest shareholder in Ola owning over a third of the firm, is also contemplating investing in its global rival Uber. Tencent’s entry into the investor group is most likely to counter the influence of Softbank in the homegrown ride-hailing firm.

“Ola’s unique local offerings are tailored to India’s burgeoning transportation needs. The strategic partnership with Ola makes it possible for Tencent to be part of the fast-growing ride-hailing space in the country,” said Martin Lau, President of Tencent Holdings.

Recent times have seen Tencent increasing its investment activity in the market and emerging as one of the most closely watched investors in Indian internet startups.

Tencent made its investor entry into the Indian startup industry two years ago in 2015 by leading a $90 million round in Practo Technologies, a digital health platform. Other than Flipkart and Practo, the Chinese company has also invested in India’s homegrown WhatsApp rival messaging app Hike.

This development was first reported in ETtech.

After Raising $1.1 Bn, Ola To Raise $1 Billion More

India's homegrown ride-hailing giant Ola today officially confirmed that it has raised a whopping $1.1 billion funding in a round led by Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent. Reportedly, the talks for the same have been in the works for over a year now.

According to media reports, the Bengaluru-based startup is also in "advanced talks with other investors to close an additional $1 billion as part of the current financing round.” This will take the the total amount raised by the cab-hailing company to over $2 billion.

In a statement announcing the funding, the company also revealed that its existing investor SoftBank besides "other new US-based financial investors" also participated in this round.

"We are thrilled to have Tencent Holdings join us as new partners in our mission to build mobility for a billion Indians. The transportation and mobility industries are seeing huge changes globally. Our ambition is to build a globally competitive and futuristic transportation system in India that will support and accelerate a nation on the move!,” said Ola’s Co-Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.

Ola plans on using the capital raised to improve the supply of drivers and do deeper investments in technology, primarily in data sciences and electric vehicle infrastructure.

The first commitments for the current funding round came in November 2016, when Ola raised $250 million raise from SoftBank. After this, Ola decided to keep the round open and raised about $150 million in funding this year, from funds like New York-based hedge fund Tekne Capital Management, US hedge fund Falcon Edge, and Ratan Tata’s venture fund RNT Capital Advisors.

In July this year, it was revealed global taxi-hailing giant Uber has managed to beat out its Indian competitor Ola in its own home country. According to data from a research by KalaGato Pte show, US-based Uber has been able to grow its market share in the six months to June at 50 per cent as its rival Ola Cabs has a share of 44.2 per cent.

The data was based on app downloads registered the period in 60 Indian cities, including the top 10 metros in the country besides Tier 1 and 2 cities. Other than Uber and Ola, the research data revealed that Ixigo Cabs has a 4.5 per cent share of the car-hailing market, followed by Meru Cabs at just 1.3 per cent.

The data also highlighted that the race was a close one. According to it, Ola was ahead of Uber in January and February at 51.8% and 48.1% market share, respectively. However, the picture changed in March when its US-based rival raced ahead at 48.9 per cent share, while Ola was left holding just 45.2 per cent in March.

Reportedly, Softbank, which still remains the largest shareholder in Ola owning over a third of the firm, is also contemplating investing in its global rival Uber. Tencent’s entry into the investor group is most likely to counter the influence of Softbank in the homegrown ride-hailing firm.

“Ola’s unique local offerings are tailored to India’s burgeoning transportation needs. The strategic partnership with Ola makes it possible for Tencent to be part of the fast-growing ride-hailing space in the country,” said Martin Lau, President of Tencent Holdings.

Recent times have seen Tencent increasing its investment activity in the market and emerging as one of the most closely watched investors in Indian internet startups.

Tencent made its investor entry into the Indian startup industry two years ago in 2015 by leading a $90 million round in Practo Technologies, a digital health platform. Other than Flipkart and Practo, the Chinese company has also invested in India’s homegrown WhatsApp rival messaging app Hike.

This development was first reported in ETtech.

China’s Tencent Looking For More Investment Opportunities in India, Tracking Alibaba’s Footsteps In The Country

China’s Tencent Holdings has its eyes set on India’s booming startup industry. Recent times have seen the investment firm increasing its activity in the market and emerging as one of the most closely watched investors in Indian internet startups. Experts believe that the Chinese investment major, which is trying to build a market for itself outside of its home country, wants to ape the kind of presence Chinese ecommerce major Alibaba has been able to achieve in the Indian subcontinent.

According to information available, the Chinese investment holding company has so far already invested a whopping $850-900 million in the Indian startup Industry. This includes its $700 million investment in India’s ecommerce leader Flipkart Ltd.

Tencent made its investor entry into the Indian startup industry two years ago in 2015 by leading a $90 million round in Practo Technologies, a digital health platform. Other than Flipkart and Practo, the Chinese company has also invested in India’s homegrown WhatsApp rival messaging app Hike. According to media reports, the investment firm has reportedly recently also invested somewhere between $400-500 million in India’s homegrown ride-hailing giant Ola.

With Ola, the Chinese investment holding group will be marking its presence in four major sectors of the Indian market: ecommerce, cab-hailing segment, digital healthcare and messaging.

According to a report in Livemint, Tencent Holdings has plans of entering and capturing various other Indian sectors with its presence in the next few years. In fact, two people close to the firm told the newspaper that the Chinese investment firm is currently in talks for investing in online insurance retailer Policybazaar. They also revealed that the firm has appointed Tejeshwi Sharma from Sequoia Capital India to fetch them interesting investment opportunities in the Indian internet market. Currently, Chris Huskey, a senior Tencent executive based out of Hong Kong, is responding for tracking the firm’s investments in the Indian market.

Not many know that the company first debuted its presence in India in 2014 when it set up a shop here with an aim of taking its messaging app WeChat to next levels of popularity. However, unable to stand WhatsApp’s competition, Tencent decided to make a shift from running a business in the country to investing in them in 2016.

Currently valued at more than a jaw-dropping $400 billion, Tencent makes majority of its money from two of its messaging apps, WeChat and QQ, which are all-in-one platforms for gaming, shopping, social networking and even includes payments.

Tencent and Alibaba, both consider India has a crucial market for themselves outside of their home country, China. As their country’s internet market has started its journey towards maturing, both the companies have to expand their horizons to markets outside of their country if they wish to keep pace with the growth rate and maintain their valuations.

India’s internet market is considered as the last major unconquered market in the world. While the size of the market might just be a fraction of China’s Internet market, but the country with the second largest population on the planet offers a large pool of internet users, which is considered as an important metric when it comes to internet business.

“Tencent believes that India is behind China by 5-10 years. It thinks that India will play out in a somewhat similar way to China, so it is placing bets early. It will start getting operationally involved in some of the companies within the next two years. Tencent will back its portfolio companies that see traction, and also wants to increase its stake in them,” said one of the two people mentioned by livemint in its report.

Tencent and Alibaba are currently two of the most influential internet companies in China, who are constantly battling each other for the numero uno throne. Hence, it can be expected that their rivalry will continue in the Indian internet market as well.

[Image: The Business Times]

Ola Reportedly Raises Whopping $2 Billion From SoftBank, Tencent

India's homegrown ride-hailing giant Ola has successfully raised a whopping $2 billion in new funding yesterday from a group of high profile investors that includes names such as Japan's telecom and internet giant SoftBank and China's Tencent Holdings. The information was uncovered in a report by Bloomberg which cited information from a source familiar with the happenings of the deal.

The person further divulged that the funding round hasn’t been completed yet and there’s a strong chance that the $2 billion will rise towards the end.

According to the report, the funding round has also seen the participation of a venture capital fund, which is being jointly run by Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, U.S. institutional investors and the University of California's investment arm.

While no official announcement regarding the funding has been made yet, we all know about SoftBank’s growing fascination with India’s booming startup market. In the recent past, the Japanese major has made several investments in the ecosystem, among which the most headline making investments include $1 billion in e-commerce platform Snapdeal and $70 million in grocery delivery firm Grofers.

Prior to this, Ola had raised $250 million in funding from SoftBank Group in April this year. SoftBank had invested the capital through SIMI Pacific Pte Ltd, an affiliate of SoftBank Internet and Media Inc.

The cab hailing category is seeing a rapid increase in India despite the flailing economy and frequent tax reforms in the country. According to a recent report by business research firm RedSeer Consulting, despite supply side disruptions and regulatory challenges, online cab aggregators like Uber and Ola completed half a billion rides in the year 2016. This means the market saw 280 per cent growth compared to 2015, when the industry witnessed 130 million rides.

SoftBank-backed, home-grown company Ola and San Francisco-based Uber account for a majority of this growing market. However, Ola is currently leading the market.

Founded in 2011, Bengaluru-based Ola covers 102 cities in the country compared to Uber’s 28. Ola also claims to have registered 500,000 vehicles on its platform and offers a wider range of vehicle options than Uber.

Chinese Internet Conglomerate Tencent In Talks To Infuse $400 Mn In Ola

The homegrown cab hailing firm, Ola is again in news. The Bengaluru-based firm is in talks with Tencent, the Chinese internet conglomerate to raise next round of funding, according to the media reports. If everything goes well, it could result in an investment of $400 million.

According to the media reports, "Tencent executives were in Bangalore last week and they met the Ola management team to discuss the transaction.”

Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati in 2010, Ola is backed by marquee investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global and Matrix Partners. In June 2017, Ola had raised about $50 million (Rs 322 crore) from New York-based hedge fund Tekne Capital Management LLC, as part of the company’s ongoing funding round. Prior to that cab hailing app had raised Rs 670 crore in a fresh round of funding from Ratan Tata’s venture fund RNT Capital Advisers LLP and US hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital LP.

Since November 2016, Ola has raised nearly $400 million. If the investment from Tencent works, Ola will reach over $800 million in fresh total funding. The additional capital will push Ola's valuation to over $4 billion.

If reports to be believed, Ola has also held talks with Microsoft, the global tech giant to participate in the current round, but those talks have not yet advanced.

This news came just after, Tencent, a leading provider of internet value added services in China invested an undisclosed amount in BYJU’S, Indian edtech company.

Tencent which has earlier backed homegrown e-commerce firm, Flipkart will become one of the most influential investors in the Indian market with the total investment of over $ 1 billion, if this deal goes successfully.

Ola recently shared the tremendous growth witnessed by its shared mobility offering Ola Share. Registering a 500% growth in last one year; Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have emerged as the top 5 cities for Ola Share.The funding comes at a time when Ola’s arch rival, Uber has been facing a host of issues. Now we have to see this will this round of funding will help Ola to stave off the challenge from it’s competitor, Uber.

The funding comes at a time when Ola’s arch rival, Uber has been facing a host of issues. Now we have to see this will this round of funding will help Ola to stave off the challenge from its competitor, Uber.

Edtech Startup BYJU’S Raises Investment from Tencent

BYJU’S, India’s largest education company announced a new round of funding from Tencent Holdings Limited (Tencent), a leading provider of Internet value added services in China. This latest round of funding will help BYJU’S accelerate product development for new markets and enable inorganic growth through acquisitions.

Launched in 2015, BYJU’S Learning App has pioneered the personalised learning space for school students across the country. With 9 million students learning from the app and over 450,000 annual paid subscribers, BYJU’S has seen more than 100% growth, with revenue growing from Rs. 115 crores (FY 15-16) to Rs. 260 (FY 16-17) crores. The company also turned profitable last quarter.

Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU’S said, “We are excited to have Tencent on board with us. This makes our strong investor portfolio even more diverse. At BYJU’S, we have been fortunate to have investors who have always played a crucial role as partners in our growth story. With increased brand awareness and strong adoption amongst students, this year we expect the revenue to double again and we will be profitable on a full year basis. This round of funding will help us leverage our expertise in creating highly effective tech-enabled learning programs to cater to the learning requirements in new markets.”

"BYJU’S has emerged as the clear leader in the Indian education-tech sector. We share BYJU’S mission of transforming education by creating personalized learning experiences for students. We are excited to be partnering with Byju on this exciting journey" said Hongwei Chen, Executive Director of Investment and M&A at Tencent

Brand BYJU’S has been at the fore front of offering engaging and effective learning experiences for students in the K-12 segment (Classes 4-12). From test prep classes to a world class learning app, BYJU’S today is the most loved K-12 learning app in the country. The app creates personalized learning programs for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities which help them learn at their own pace and style. The learning app has seen a high annual renewal rate of 90%, which is a validation of its effectiveness.

In March 2017, Verlinvest, a large Belgian family-owned, consumer-focused, diversification investment holding company announced its investment in BYJU’S of $30 million. Recently, the company acquired TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson. Earlier in January 2017, BYJU’S had acquired Bengaluru-based Vidyartha, a data-driven platform offering customised learning guidance to students.

Edtech Startup BYJU’S Raises Investment from Tencent

BYJU’S, India’s largest education company announced a new round of funding from Tencent Holdings Limited (Tencent), a leading provider of Internet value added services in China. This latest round of funding will help BYJU’S accelerate product development for new markets and enable inorganic growth through acquisitions.

Launched in 2015, BYJU’S Learning App has pioneered the personalised learning space for school students across the country. With 9 million students learning from the app and over 450,000 annual paid subscribers, BYJU’S has seen more than 100% growth, with revenue growing from Rs. 115 crores (FY 15-16) to Rs. 260 (FY 16-17) crores. The company also turned profitable last quarter.

Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU’S said, “We are excited to have Tencent on board with us. This makes our strong investor portfolio even more diverse. At BYJU’S, we have been fortunate to have investors who have always played a crucial role as partners in our growth story. With increased brand awareness and strong adoption amongst students, this year we expect the revenue to double again and we will be profitable on a full year basis. This round of funding will help us leverage our expertise in creating highly effective tech-enabled learning programs to cater to the learning requirements in new markets.”

"BYJU’S has emerged as the clear leader in the Indian education-tech sector. We share BYJU’S mission of transforming education by creating personalized learning experiences for students. We are excited to be partnering with Byju on this exciting journey" said Hongwei Chen, Executive Director of Investment and M&A at Tencent

Brand BYJU’S has been at the fore front of offering engaging and effective learning experiences for students in the K-12 segment (Classes 4-12). From test prep classes to a world class learning app, BYJU’S today is the most loved K-12 learning app in the country. The app creates personalized learning programs for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities which help them learn at their own pace and style. The learning app has seen a high annual renewal rate of 90%, which is a validation of its effectiveness.

In March 2017, Verlinvest, a large Belgian family-owned, consumer-focused, diversification investment holding company announced its investment in BYJU’S of $30 million. Recently, the company acquired TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson. Earlier in January 2017, BYJU’S had acquired Bengaluru-based Vidyartha, a data-driven platform offering customised learning guidance to students.