The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has reportedly asked Google and WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging app, for an update on their plans on data localisation.

This move by the retail payments regulator comes in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s ruling which directed that all payments companies are to store user data locally to protect it in case of a data breach.

Following this, a group of companies requested for an extension on the government-set deadline of October 15 for data localisation. However, the RBI refused their requests.

In October WhatsApp had claimed that it had set up a system to store user payment data locally. However, NPCI  ruled that the step was not enough to comply with the RBI ruling as it was not clear if the user data will be stored only in India or overseas as well.

The company is yet to get a green signal for launching its digital payment arm, WhatsApp Pay in India. The government has stated that it can’t launch operations until it sets up an office in the country. In order to comply with the ruling, the platform has recently hired a  grievance officer and an India head in the country.

Further, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) had sent a letter to WhatsApp seeking details on two-factor authentication for WhatsApp Pay. It also sought clarity on its data storage plans and data sharing with Facebook.

Google, on the other hand, voiced its support for the data localisation ruling, but requested the Centre, for “a couple of months” more to comply with the directive.  

Google’s digital payment service Google Tez, which recently got rebranded as Google Pay, had reportedly recorded over 22 Mn users per month till August.

As the total number of digital payment transactions that took place in August this year recorded a three-fold increase from just two years back (post demonetisation), the government has refused to budge on its data localisation policy despite repeated appeals by private players and even the European Union.

[The development was reported by ET.]

The post NPCI Seeks Update On Data Localisation From Google, Facebook appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With a view to increase its share in the Indian market, Chinese smartphone maker Vivo plans to invest over $573.95 Mn (INR 4,000 Cr) on its India plan, which includes setting up a new manufacturing plant here.

Nipun Marya, Vivo India director (brand strategy), reportedly said that Vivo India has secured 169 acres close to its existing plant in the Greater Noida area of Uttar Pradesh, where it will set up the second manufacturing facility of India.

Vivo plans to invest $114.8 Mn (INR 800 Cr) initially, apart from the land cost, and the new plant will become operational over the next 12-18 months. Marya claimed that this move will enable Vivo to create over 5,000 jobs in the first phase.

He also said that the plan will support its India demand since the existing plant has reached its full capacity. The first phase is expected to almost double Vivo’s current production capacity of 25 Mn units per annum. Marya said that Vivo also wants to deepen its component manufacturing.

He also expects the new plant to cater to Vivo’s global expansion — Vivo exports to 16 countries.

At present, Vivo’s manufacturing plant is spread over 50 acres in Greater Noida; the company has invested $43 Mn (INR 300 Cr) in this facility. Vivo had been in talks with the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government for over a year to set up a new mega manufacturing park in the state.

The company has also expanded its retail plans along with ownership of the online store.

Smartphone Boom In India

In the last few years, to tap into the increasing market for smartphones in India, global players have identified the need for local manufacturing and have been strengthening their presence in the country.

For instance, Korean company Samsung had invested $726.74 Mn (INR 5000 Cr) in its manufacturing unit in July and expected to increase its production capacity in India to 120 Mn annually, from 68 Mn.

However, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has been playing the game differently — it assembles its products in India and has been leading the market with its marketing capabilities, along with continuous new additions.

In the latest Counterpoint research report, analysts claimed that the top three smartphone brands — Xiaomi, Samsung and Realme — captured 57% of the overall Diwali festive season smartphone sales.

India has emerged as the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market, growing at a 23% CAGR and is expected to lead the smartphone user boom globally. The growth is reflected in the online as well as offline sales war among major players like Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, etc and the entry of new budget-phone players like OPPO, Vivo in the market.

[The development was reported by ET.]

The post Vivo To Invest $574 Mn In India, To Double Manufacturing Capacity To 50 Mn Smartphones appeared first on Inc42 Media.

“Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” – Rudolph Spielmann, an Austrian-Jewish chess player.

AI-based automated chessboard maker Square Off seems to have earned its inspiration from Harry Potter, the cute, bespectacled young wizard who zips around on his magic stick on the Hogwarts grounds. Square off is bringing a magical version of chess to us muggles, similar to the wizard chess popular at Hogwarts — where the pieces are enchanted to move themselves. Yes, you heard right.

Aatur Mehta and Bhavya Gohil founded Infivention Technologies Pvt Ltd in September 2015 to bring to the world their flagship product — Square Off — an intelligent, connected chessboard powered by AI and controlled through an app where the pieces move on their own (really!).

And the magic seems to have rubbed off for the startup itself. In September this year, Square Off raised $1.1 Mn in a Pre-series A funding round led by Kstart Capital, Gohil told Inc42 in an exclusive interview.

Singapore-based RB investments, angel investor Mayur Desai and existing investor India Quotient also participated in the latest funding round of the Mumbai-headquartered startup, run by its parent company Infivention — Infinite Invention. Its primary markets are the US, Europe, and India.

Prior to this, the startup raised $50K in an angel investment (July 2016) and $500K in seed funding (July 2017) from investors such as Anand Lunia of India Quotient, Pranav Marwah of thinQbate, Samir Somaiya of the Somaiya Group, and Paula Mariwala of Seed Fund.

Square Off utilised these funds in stocking up for its exclusive sales on Amazon in the US and also for the Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday sales. “The results have been exciting and Infivention has recorded 10X growth in these seasonal sales,” says Gohil.

The startup will use the latest funds to prepare for the Christmas season sales and will also invest in marketing, team building, and research and development of new products.

Making Tech-Enabled Magical Moves

So, how does Square off work? Users can take on anyone from anywhere in the world, and the opponent doesn’t have to have an actual Square Off board — he/she can just play through the app and the board reflects all the moves in real time. Its training mode allows players to challenge Square Off’s AI across 20 difficulty levels. Not just that, Square Off also enables live streaming of expert matches right on the chessboard.

And here’s the technology behind the magically moving chess pieces: There is a compact two-axis robotic arm with a magnetic head beneath the box (the chessboard) that moves the magnetic chess pieces. The Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) processor with Bluetooth Low Energy ensures smooth communication with a smartphone, taking care of decrypting and execution via the application.

Gohil explained that the most important thing is that the Square Off board is programmed in such a way so that the chess pieces don’t collide during automatic movements.

“It supports over-the-air updates so that we can always keep updating the product with new features. Be it selecting sides (black or white), difficulty levels, opening moves of the computer, challenging friends, analysing games, using the timer, or chatting with the opponent — everything is controlled through the app,” he adds.

And guess who the company counts among its users? None other than Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan!

The Opening And The Gambit

Gohil and Mehta struck upon the idea for Infivention — the infinite invention — in 2013 when the chairperson of the National Association of Blind (NAB) asked them to come up with a software that would enable the visually impaired to play chess.

The duo started work on a specially designed chessboard for the visually impaired and tested the feasibility of work.

After delivering the project successfully to NAB, the company set off on a new journey, manufacturing chessboards in China, where they had to overcome challenges such as communication gap and finding vendors who could manufacture their product.

Gohil added they had a tough time raising initial funds for an innovative hardware product as they were trying to create a new category in the market with Square Off.

However, Gohil and Mehta stuck together through the tough times. In November 2016, their persistence finally paid off when they managed to raise 2,000 pre-orders along with a fundraising amount of $535K through a US-based crowdfunding campaign.

At present, Square Off is collecting orders via its website along with Amazon and claims to have recorded over $500K sales in November itself.

The company made its first acquisition with MyChessApps, a chess app company, in January,  soon after which Infivention launched full-time operations in Bengaluru to support research and development of the product.

Boardgames: A Play Worth Millions Of Dollars

Boardgames have been around since the earliest civilisations first arose over 5,000 years ago. Chess, which originated around 600 AD, is one of the few ancient games that’s still played worldwide. Most historians believe that chess originated in India during the Gupta Empire although some say it originated in China.

In its initial form, the Indian game was called chaturanga and featured the four divisions of the military — infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry. Over time, these game pieces evolved into the modern-day pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Monopoly, Snakes & Ladders, Ludo, and Business are some of the relatively newer popular boardgames.

According to research, chess makes for a profitable business. A Ken report entitled ‘Global Chess Industry In-Depth Investigation and Analysis Report 2017’ said that globally, the CAGR of the chess industry was 2.5%; the chess industries of the US, Europe, Japan, and China are reckoned to hold a 43% share of the global market.

The idea of applying technology to modify boardgames and enhance the user experience, of course, is relatively new but is finding many takers.

Much before Wizard Chess made awe-inspiring magic on the chessboard, the first game mastered by a computer was noughts and crosses (also known as tic-tac-toe) in 1952. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue computer famously beat Garry Kasparov at chess.

With AI coming into its own, everything it powers is getting smarter and smarter. As analysts said in a research paper entitled ‘AI-based Playtesting of Contemporary Board Games’: “We believe that automated analysis of contemporary board games with automated agents has a lot to offer.”

Well, Infivention’s AI-powered Square Off is offering chess lovers a completely new game, one that quite literally enables them to make magical moves, and may just checkmate chess as we know it.

The post Exclusive: Square Off Checkmates Old-Style Chess With Its AI Moves, Raises $1.1 Mn appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Kishore Biyani-led, Future Group will reportedly launch a website for its fashion retail discount chain Brand Factory in February 2019.

According to reports, Kishore Biyani had said that brandfactory.in would be the biggest launch for the company. This will be the company’s second attempt to enter the ecommerce space.

In 2017 Future Group had to shut down the operations of its online furniture store, FabFurnish, which it had acquired from a Germany-based internet company Rocket Internet.

However,  due to heavy losses, the group closed Fabfurninsh. However, Biyani said that the losses were “compensated” as they learnt from the experience.

Future Retail is currently in advanced talks with US ecommerce company Amazon to sell a 9.5% stake in the company.

Biyani along with his family owns 46.51% stake in Future Retail which operates brands such as  BigBazaar, EasyDay, and Niligiris. The group has been seeking to enter into an alliance with the Amazon since January after Biyani met founder Jeff Bezos at his Seattle headquarters.

Currently, the company has a total retail space of 13.6 Mn sq ft through 1,030 stores which are present across 255 cities.

The group has also said to be keen on Amazon’s business tactics as the group has reportedly launched its grocery delivery app to strengthen its presence in the market.  

The company has clocked in a revenue of $2.6 Bn (INR 18,478 Cr), according to its annual report 2017-18.

[The development was reported by ET]

The post Future Group Gives Ecommerce Another Shot, Takes Brand Factory Online appeared first on Inc42 Media.

On-demand hyperlocal home services marketplace UrbanClap has raised $50 Mn in a Series D funding round led by Steadview Capital and existing investor Vy Capital.

Backed by marquee investors, the company plans to use the fresh funds to accelerate customer and service partner onboarding, invest in team building, especially on the product and technology front, and build training capabilities.

It will also work on enhancing its supply chain of consumables and continue to invest in building high-quality experiences for both sides of the marketplace.

The company, which started its services in Chandigarh this week, plans to expand its services in a host of Tier 2 cities in India.

Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Raghav Chandra, and Varun Khaitan, UrbanClap offers services such as beauty and massage, appliance repair, plumbing, carpentry, cleaning, and painting. The company claims that its operating model focuses on service professionals with the aim of turning them into micro-entrepreneurs, multiplying their earnings by 2-3 times.

For its employees and early angels, UrbanClap is also facilitating a secondary sale of Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) and stocks worth approximately $4 Mn. This is the second liquidity event for UrbanClap’s employees. The company had organised an ESOP sale at the time of its Series C round of funding in June 2017.

Raghav Chandra, cofounder, UrbanClap said, “We have a mission to create more than 1 Mn micro-entrepreneurs for India and other emerging markets. This will require strong execution, and ahead of the curve investments into our technology platform and operational leadership.”

Till date, the company has raised $110.7 Mn funding in seven rounds led by major VC firms like SAIF Partners, Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. It is also backed by industry stalwarts such as Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bhal, Rohit Bansal, and Ratan Tata.

Ravi Mehta, Founder and managing partner, Steadview Capital said, “Their tech-centric approach of building quality supply in a trust-deficit market is solving a big consumer need, and enabling service professionals to be micro-entrepreneurs. The company’s focus on customer experience stands out, and we think very highly of the founders and the team.”

UrbanClap: A Click-Away Professional

With operations in eight cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune – UrbanClap now claims to have served 3 Mn customers with its 100K verified experts as of July 2017.

The company has performed exceedingly well on its books too. For the financial year 2018, UrbanClap reported a revenue of $7.27 Mn (INR 53.37 Cr), a 225% jump from FY17.

The company also narrowed its losses to $7.79 Mn (INR 57 Cr) in FY18, which is 14% less than $9.1 Mn (INR 66.7 Cr) recorded in FY17.

In a What The Financials analysis, Inc42 Datalabs found that UrbanClap went big in creating an aggregated marketplace with a wide range of services with ticket sizes ranging from $7.16 (INR 500) to $1432 (INR 1 Lakh).

It had also announced its plan to go international and has already launched operations in Dubai.

Talking about the road ahead for UrbanClap, Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments said that the next phase for the company may be around growth while defending their position and maintaining good unit economics.

Hyperlocal Industry In India

After an early interest from investors and entrepreneurs, startups which had ventured into hyperlocal services suffered a bubble burst in 2016 owing to a lack of clear business models and too many similar apps and services.

However, helped by renewed investor interest in 2017, increasing urbanisation, personalisation of services, and new-age business models, the hyperlocal market in India is currently seeing an upswing.

According to a report by market research firm Ken Research, titled “India Hyperlocal Market Outlook to 2020 – Driven by Rising Startups Firms and Fluctuating Investments”, the India hyperlocal market will grow at a considerable CAGR rate thus exceeding $330.32 Mn (INR 2,306 Cr) by 2020.

Inc42 in its flagship The Ecosystem Report noted that consumer services sector, which has developed around hyperlocal services, raised $2.3 Bn in 456 deals since 2014.

The report emphasised that as new startups plan to adopt the hyperlocal model, it is essential that they first develop robust business models so that they can meet demands, face the competition, and stay afloat without solely relying on the external funding.

However, the next frontier for hyperlocal players will be the fight for market share in Tier 2 and 3 cities.

UrbanClap was part of the 2018 edition of the most coveted list of India’s most innovative startups — 42Next by Inc42.

The post UrbanClap Raises $50 Mn Series D Funding, Plans $4 Mn ESOP Sale appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Homegrown foodtech unicorn Zomato has announced its plans to launch its online ordering and food delivery services in 30 more cities over the next week. The new cities include Puducherry, Jamshedpur, Ambala, Meerut, Haridwar, Bhavnagar, Ujjain, and Puri among others.

To support its geographical expansion, Zomato is also looking to hire nearly 5,000 delivery partners in these cities.

Mohit Gupta, CEO of Food Delivery at Zomato “We have been surprised by the demand in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and are therefore gung-ho on serving every last customer, in the smallest of towns in India”.

The foodtech unicorn also expanded its premium subscription program, Zomato Gold, in Manila and Jakarta earlier this month. Further, Zomato’s HyperPure, which is responsible for supplying ingredients to restaurants is also set to open a new store in Delhi/NCR soon.

Zomato, which was founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, is now present across 93 cities and has 75K restaurants listed under its platform.

The company, which recently raised a funding of $210 Mn from Alipay Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, has recorded a total revenue of $67.12 Mn (INR 485 Cr)  in FY18. This is a 21.4% increase from $55.26 Mn (INR 399.3 Cr) in FY17. The company said that the food delivery business contributes about 65% of the overall revenue of the company.

Recently, it also said that it had recorded 21 Mn monthly online food orders in India, and nearly 2 Mn orders over the phone as of September.

The post Zomato Looks To Mid-Tier Towns For Growth, To Hire 5,000 Delivery Partners appeared first on Inc42 Media.

We bring to you the latest edition of Movers and Shakers of the Indian startup ecosystem.

This week saw many sudden and surprising departures. Chinese smartphone maker Oppo Mobiles’ India managing director Yi Wang, stepped down from his post amid widening losses in the country.

Oppo India team is reportedly under pressure for not achieving desired results.

Also, Facebook-owned chat-based messaging platform WhatsApp lost one of its earliest employees and chief business officer when Neeraj Arora announced that he was quitting the company. Arora said that after a 7-year stint, he is now looking to spend quality time with his family and hopes that WhatsApp “will continue to be the simple, secure & trusted communication product for years to come.”

At the same time, Walmart-owned ecommerce company has moved its key executive Ayyappan R, who was heading the crucial mobile phone category at Flipkart as the category management head at its fashion subsidiary Myntra. He will be replacing Ananya Tripathi, who has resigned from the company to join private equity firm KKR.

Here’s a look at other important movers and shakers of the week.

Rohit Kapoor To Lead New Real Estate Biz For OYO

Hospitality chain OYO has appointed Rohit Kapoor as the chief executive officer for its new real estate businesses.

Previously Kapoor was the Executive Director and a member of the board at Max Healthcare, South Africa. During his stint with Max Healthcare, he is credited with having seeded multiple new businesses ranging from tech-enabled home care, rehab and physio, tele-radiology, retail diagnostics, and emergency response services.

Kapoor has also worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company for close to a decade where he gained extensive exposure to multiple international markets. Before McKinsey, Kapoor has worked in various roles across sales, finance in several companies.

In his new role at OYO, Kapoor will be responsible for growing OYO’s business in India as well as across international markets. He will be reporting to Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes.

KPMG’s Sreedhar Prasad Joins Kalaari As Partner

Kalaari Capital has appointed KPMG India executive Sreedhar Prasad as a partner.

In his nearly 20 years of experience, Prasad has worked with KPMG for more than a decade across sectors like consumer markets and internet business, advisory; strategy and operations, management consulting and more.

Venture Capital firm is raising its fourth fund, which is expected to be closed by early next year.

Neelam Dhawan Joins Yatra As Director

Online travel company Yatra has appointed Neelam Dhawan as an independent director to its board of directors effective January 1, 2019.

In a career of more than 35 years, Dhawan has headed both Microsoft and Hewlett Packard, in India, been a member of NASSCOM’s Executive Council from 2009 to 2017, and made significant contributions to industry strategy and public policy frameworks.

She has also been a member of the Global Supervisory Board of Royal Philips, Netherlands since 2012 and joined the Board of ICICI Bank Ltd in January 2018.

In her new role, Dhawan will help Yatra scale up its corporate travel business and expand it beyond India.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Movers and Shakers of the week!

The post Movers And Shakers Of The Week [26 Nov-01 Dec 2018] appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In one of the biggest news this week Amazon is drafting a call-and-put option in the deal that will allow the global ecommerce company to call for Biyani’s stake in Future Retail Limited (FRL) over the long term, possibly as much as 8-10 years, subject to a change in Indian laws around foreign investments.

In another development, Sachin Bansal is said to be looking to establish a holding company through which he will run his new businesses and make investments along with his new partner Ankit Agarwal. Sachin is expected to directly operate his new businesses as well as invest in the agritech and fintech segments. However, the launch date for this new venture is not yet set.

Here’s a look at the other important developments for the week.

Important Indian Startup News Stories Of The Week

OYO Adds 2,000 Stock Options To Its ESOP 2018 Plan

Hospitality chain OYO has approved a proposal to add 2,000 stock options to its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) from the present limit of 6,893 stock options of the company, which upon exercise shall become an aggregate of 8,893 shares. OYO has more than 10K employees.

“Vijay Shekhar Sharma And His Brother Thanked Me”: Chomal

Chomal made the claim in a 14-page petition submitted to the Allahabad High Court earlier this month. Chomal, who has received protection from arrest until the police find credible evidence against him, said that the Sharma brothers had thanked him for helping them reach company vice-president for communications, Sonia Dhawan, and others involved in the data theft case.

Quikr Launches Quikr Assured

In a bid to win the trust of customers, Quikr launched Quikr Assured for used products. Under the Quikr Assured scheme, the company said it will offer products which are checked for quality and come with a one year warranty. The scheme will also allow three day replacement policy to the users.

Spotify Targets India Launch Within Six Months

Spotify will reportedly launch its operations in India within next six months and has already secured deals with some of the popular music companies. Indian music record label, T-series has also made a deal with the company. The platform will offer an extended free trial period after its launch in India.

Govt Looks To Restore Aadhaar Services At CSC

Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for electronics and IT, said that Common Service Centres are playing a significant role in the process of ensuring that government welfare schemes and services are available to every citizen at their doorstep. He added that there is no other model which can support people living in rural areas.

OLX To Open 150 Offline Used Car Stores By 2021

OLX has joined hands with Germany-based Frontier Car Group (FCG) to launch its offline used car selling stores called ‘Cash My Car’. OLX and FCG have agreed to share technological resources, expertise and knowledge to build and operate Cash My Car stores across cities in India.

I-T Dept Slams Notices On Flipkart Shareholders Abroad

The notices have reportedly sought details of their holdings, the sale value, and the tax liability discharged in India. the income tax (I-T) authority had earlier issued notices to Flipkart cofounders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal along with 35 other stakeholders.

Future Group Takes Brand Factory Online

Kishore Biyani-led, Future Group will reportedly launch a website for its fashion retail discount chain Brand Factory in February 2019. Kishore Biyani had said that brandfactory.in would be the biggest launch for the company.

NPCI Seeks Update On Data Localisation From Google, Facebook

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has reportedly asked Google and WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging app, for an update on their plans on data localisation. This comes in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s ruling which directed that all payments companies are to store user data locally to protect it in case of a data breach.

Other Indian Startup News Stories Of The Week

Karnataka Rise Globally

At the 21st edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit, Karnataka IT/BT minister KJ George said Karnataka was the first state in the country to recognise the growing importance of information technology (IT) and biotechnology (BT) and that emerging disruptive technologies have been taken into consideration while framing the state policies for IT, BT, electronics, and animation and gaming.

Agrahyah Technologies Launches India’s First Voice Agency

Mumbai based software and content company, Agrahyah Technologies has introduced India’s first ‘Voice agency’, with a vision to provide brands an innovative and inclusive strategy to leverage the power of voice assistants to engage their customers. Agrahyah is listed as preferred partner by Amazon for Alexa Skills development in India.

BillDesk Drops Expenses By 77% In FY18, Increases Net Profit By 15%

Mumbai-based digital payments company BillDesk reported a revenue of $132.6 Mn (INR 929 Cr) for the year ending March 31, 2018, aided by the rapid growth in India’s fintech sector. This is a 15% increase over the same period in FY17 when it reported revenue of $135.7 Mn (INR 950.6 Cr).

Snapchat Introduces Its Discover Feature In India With Local Content

US-based Snap Inc. has introduced its Discover feature in India and has partnered with Brut. India, HuffPost India, The Logical Indian, The Quint, VICE India, and TVF to produce video content covering news, current events, culture and lifestyle.

Paytm Introduces Instant Bank Settlement

With this solution, the merchants can choose their preferred time to settle the payment collected or can also do an instant settlement as and when they want, directly into their bank accounts. This functionality is available to them at the extremely user-friendly ‘Paytm for Business’ app where the merchants can also track all their payments and settlements on a real-time basis.

Netmeds Announces First Retail Store Opening

Netmeds has launched its first brick-and-mortar store in Nanded, Maharashtra and this Franchise programme will see the launch of a number of branded stores across the country, in locations ranging from metros like Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi to Tier 2, 3 cities like Surat, Ahmedabad, Pali, Rajasthan and Balurghat, West Bengal.

NeoStencil Partners With UP Govt

A letter of consent was inked between NeoStencil and Registrar of Dr Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University (DSMNRU), also the Deputy Director of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department. Under the initiative, classes will be provided for all disability categories such as visual impairment, deafness, muteness, and locomotor disabilities via smart-class infrastructure and with direct access to NeoStencil platform.

PhonePe Introduces IRCTC Micro-app On Its Platform

Users can now pay for their bookings using UPI, credit and debit cards or their PhonePe wallet. No additional or hidden costs are charged on booking through the PhonePe app. PhonePe is rapidly adding partners in the travel, hospitality, ticketing and food segments to its micro-app platform and is already live with key micro-apps including Ola, Redbus, Mumbai Metro and Goibibo (flights and hotels).

Stay tuned for the next week edition of News Roundup: Indian Startup News Stories Of The Week!

The post News Roundup: 11 Indian Startup News Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [26 Nov-01 Dec 2018] appeared first on Inc42 Media.

We bring to you the latest edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week.

This week’s largest startup funding went to on-demand hyperlocal home services marketplace UrbanClap which raised $50 Mn in a Series D funding round led by Steadview Capital and existing investor Vy Capital.

The company said it will use the fresh funds to exapand to mid-tier towns and accelerate customer and service partner onboarding, and enhance its supply chain of consumables.

In all $78.21 Mn funding was received by sectors including fintech, hyperlocal, deeptech, and healthtech this week and five startup acquisitions took place in the Indian startup ecosystem. (This funding report is based on startups that disclosed funding amount.)

Indian Startup Funding For The Week

GOQii: Mumbai-based wearable tech startup, GOQii, raised an undisclosed amount of funds led by Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co. The companies also agreed to collaborate on GOQii’s expansion plans in Japan. Crypto firm Galaxy Digital and Denlow Investment Trust also participated in the round along with existing investors. Trifecta Capital provided venture debt to the company. GOQii plans to use the fresh funding for talent and headcount addition, marketing and geographical expansion.

Verloop: Bengaluru-based SaaS conversation automation provider, Verloop, raised $3 Mn in Series A investment round led by IDFC Parampara Fund. Infosys cofounder Kris Gopalakrishnan and Dr Ranjan Pai also participated in the funding round. The funding will be utilised to enhance the Verloop customer engagement platform as the company expands its team and scales operations.

Infivention:  Mumbai-based artificial intelligence chessboard maker Infivention raised $1.1 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Kstart Capital with participation from RB Investments, India Quotient, and angel investor Mayur Desai. The startup will use the latest funds to prepare its product SquareOff, for the Christmas season sale and will also invest in marketing, team building, and research and development of new products.

Drivezy: Bengaluru-based vehicle sharing marketplace Drivezy raised $20 Mn in Series B equity funding, led by existing investor Das Capital. Other investors who participated in the round include Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd., Singapore-based Axan Partners and US-based IT-Farm. The company will use the funding primarily for marketing and brand building exercise. It will use some part of the funds to develop the technology and build a platform that is driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning. Along with equity financing, Drivezy has secured $100 Mn in an asset financing deal using which the company plans to induct over 50,000 vehicles.

CloudSEK: Singapore-headquartered SaaS-based cybersecurity startup CloudSEK raised $1.97 Mn (INR 14 Cr) in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Exfinity Venture Partners and StartupXseed. The company, which has an office in Bengaluru, plans to use fresh funds to expand further in India and Southeast Asia and at the same time, evolve its flagship product XVigil.

Hospals: Delhi-based medical tourism startup Hospals raised $1.5 Mn from Spiral Ventures and Venture Catalysts (VCats). The company is targeting a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of $10 Mn by the year-end.

Trendlyne: Bengaluru-based fintech startup Trendlyne has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from IIFL Securities, a unit of IIFL Holdings, for a 15% stake. IIFL Securities will integrate several features of Trendlyne such as Superstar Portfolios and Stock Screeners into IIFL’s own stock trading platform.

Hush: Delhi-based employee-focused HRtech startup Hush raised $645.5K (INR 4.5Cr) in a fresh funding round from Accel Partners, Shamik Sharma (Business Head at Cure.Fit), and an angel investor participated in the round. The company plans to use the fresh funds to strengthen the brand’s growth narrative and help them reach out to a wider audience through the introduction of cutting-edge technology.

Perspectico: Delhi-based career-tech startup Perspectico raised an undisclosed amount of second round seed funding from Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies Innovation and Incubation Foundation (SIIF). The startup plans to use the fresh funds for its marketing and expansion plans in colleges and across tier 1 and 2 cities.

Clinical Nutrition: Delhi-based food and supplement startup Clinical Nutrition raised an undisclosed amount of funding from investors like Shabir Momin, MD & CTO, Zenga TV & One Digital Entertainment; Rohit Nanda and Raj Singh Bandal. The startup will use fresh funds to further develop customised products with nutrition.

DreamVu:  Hyderabad-based camera technology startup DreamVu raised an undisclosed amount of funding from SRI capital. The startup will use the fresh funds to innovate further and take its products to the early adopters as development kits.

Prodigal Technologies: Bengaluru-based fintech startup Prodigal Technologies raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Silicon Valley investor YCombinator. The company was part of YCombinator’s Summer 2018 batch.

Lendbox: Delhi-based P2P lending startup Lendbox raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Series A funding from IvyCap Ventures. The company plans to use the fresh funding to further build this asset class in India and improving their platform, product, reach and efficiency.

Blue Planet: Singapore and Delhi-based end-to-end waste management solutions startup Blue Planet Environmental Solutions raised an undisclosed amount of funding from State Bank of India (SBI) backed Neev Fund. The startup will use the fresh funds to scale up the business.

Indian Startup Acquisitions Of The Week

• Times Internet-owned online restaurant table booking service Dineout acquired Pune-based SaaS restaurant management software provider Torqus for an undisclosed amount. The deal will help Dineout improve its services to the restaurant industry and position itself as a full stack-technology service provider. Torqus will operate as an independent entity and will use the funds from the deal to fast-track innovation and client deliverables.
• Tokyo-headquartered IT services provider NTT DATA entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Mumbai-based Atom Technologies, an end-to-end payment service owned by 63 Moons Technologies. The deal marks NTT DATA’s foray into the rapidly expanding Indian payments market.
• Bengaluru-based dockless scooter sharing startup Bounce (Metro Bikes) acquired the India assets of Chinese dockless bike rental company Ofo for an undisclosed amount. Bounce is now looking to expand its cycle vertical and aims to deepen its presence in India. The company has also rolled out offer letters to most of Ofo India’s team members.
• Abu Dhabi-based payments and foreign exchange solutions startup Finablr has acquired TimesofMoney, a digital payments solutions provider, from Network International for an undisclosed amount. TimesofMoney’s proprietary solutions can now be leveraged by Finablr’s global network of companies.
• Delhi-based mobile marketing company MoMAGIC acquired Spice Mobility’s entire equity stake of 49% in AdGyde Solutions Pvt. Ltd. for an undisclosed amount. MoMAGIC will fully absorb AdGyde within its business operations.

Other Developments Of The Week

• Cofounder of mosquito repellent brand AllOut, Anil Arya, along with other investors, is setting up a company in Singapore to acquire Gurugram-based dairy tech startup Mr Milkman.
• VC firm Sequoia Capital reportedly invested $8 Mn in personal investment platform Smallcase and around $6 Mn in insurance portal Turtlemint.
•  Chinese smartphone maker Vivo plans to invest over $573.95 Mn (INR 4,000 Cr) on its India plan, which includes setting up a new manufacturing plant. Vivo plans to invest $114.8 Mn (INR 800 Cr) initially, apart from the land cost, and the new plant will become operational over the next 12-18 months.
• The government of Karnataka has partnered with France-based utility company SUEZ, Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and Paris-headquartered innovation hub NUMA, to launch ‘DataCity Open Innovation Programme’ in collaboration with startups and corporates. The idea is to solve for challenges faced by global cities, with regards to smart mobility, water and waste management, energy, smart buildings, transparency and security, and pollution management.
• Social ecommerce platform Shop101 is reportedly raising $10-12 Mn in fresh funding from the venture capital arm of consumer goods giant Unilever, homegrown investor Kalaari Capital and other investors.
• Eight startups—nvolve Education, Alohomora Education, Pi Jam Foundation, Samagra Foundation, Lakeer Foundation, Intelehealth, Aquasafi Rural Development Foundation and Change with One Foundation— graduated from the cohort of N/Core tech’s inaugural cohort.

Stay tuned for the next week edition of Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week!

The post Funding Galore: Indian Startup Funding Of The Week [26 Nov- 1 Dec 2018] appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indian hospitality chain OYO with its unicorn tag and marquee investors is now facing the brunt of budget and mid-market hotels across the country, which are claiming that their businesses are suffering due to deep discounting, high commissions and arbitrary contract changes being sought by OYO.

According to a media report, the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Gujarat along with associations in Mumbai, Delhi, Mysore, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad are banding together and considering legal action against OYO. The Gujarat association has already served an ultimatum to Go-MakeMyTrip(GoIbibo, MakeMyTrip and RedBus).

They have decided to boycott certain online booking portals, citing biased and unilateral business decisions taken by them.

These associations say that individually, they can’t compete with the might of the heavily funded OYO, but as a collaboration of cities, they can form a nationwide lobby to protest against online hospitality chains including OYO and MakeMyTrip.

Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, President, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India and Vice President, FHRAI told Inc42, “The HRAWI had sensed this monopolistic and arm-twisting tactic, germinating last year by these aggregator conglomerates. Foresight-fully having contemplated a counter move, last year HRAWI had already made an exclusive arrangement with YATRA, specifically for its members, where many hotels individually have signed and got immunity. Some hotels in Mumbai too have already delisted the online portals because of the unfair and uneven commission-based business model.”

The hotel associations have claimed that after disrupting the market by providing deep discounts, OYO is not keeping up with the agreements. In some cases, they are reportedly telling the hotels to change the agreements, else they will not pay them and are asking for the new clause. The association emphasised that OYO has a big legal team and it is tough for individual hotel owners to litigate and get the money.

An OYO spokesperson said, “We have always stood for fairness, whether it is to offer quality living spaces at affordable prices to our customers or the operational capabilities to help asset owners scale to newer heights by leasing or franchising their asset with Oyo. It will be business as usual for us in Mumbai and guest experience will continue to be a priority for us and our asset owners.”

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Gujarat, which represents 400 properties, said hotels in Ahmedabad will not accept any discounting from December 1 and that commissions won’t exceed 18%.

In an ultimatum to Go-MMT, the Gujarat association has said, “Cancellation policy, early check-in and late check-out policy will be strictly of the hotel. Go-MMT will not have any condition and rigidness on the same. If they come directly to individual hotels, we request you not to entertain them… In case we do not unite together now we will be nowhere in some time.”

[The development was reported by ET.]

The post Hotel Owners Across The Country Are Banding Together Against OYO. Here’s Why appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Aadhaar regulatory body Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has asked banks not to discontinue the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) as it may cause problems in delivering welfare benefits.

This announcement comes in after the State Bank of India (SBI) sent a letter mentioning its intention to stop AePS following the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling.

The AePS system was developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and allows people to carry out financial transactions on a Micro-ATM by using the Aadhaar number and verifying it with their fingerprint or iris scan.

By using this system, people could transfer money from one bank account to another just with their Aadhaar numbers.

Further, users also do not need to enter their bank account details for carrying out these transactions.  The AePS system offers various services such as cash withdrawal, cash deposit, balance enquiry, Aadhaar to Aadhaar fund transfer, mini statement and best finger detection.

The confusion among the banks related to the use of Aadhaar was also clarified earlier by UIDAI after some of the private banks had stopped their AePS services.

UIDAI also clarified that the judgement does not affect any payment mechanism which is using Aadhaar authentication or verification of bank account using eKYC for the purpose of identifying potential beneficiary of welfare scheme.

The apex court in a landmark judgement in the Aadhaar validation case, Aadhaar is mandatory only for filing income tax returns and for the allotment of PAN. It won’t be essential for opening bank accounts or getting SIM cards from telecom operators.

After striking down Section 57 of Aadhaar Act which allowed private companies to seek Aaadhaar details of the users, the apex court had also barred telecom and fintech players from using Aadhaar based e-KYC process for customer onboarding.

Recently the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) claimed that AePS had recorded 15.07 Cr transactions with a value of $812.8 Mn (INR 5,893 Cr) as of October 2018.

[The development was reported by Livemint.]

The post Banks Can Continue Using Aadhaar ePS For Providing Welfare Scheme: UIDAI appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, one of Bollywood’s most prolific film production houses, has launched a digital content company called Dharmatic .

In a set of tweets announcing the move, Johar said that Dharmatic will be jointly headed by him and Dharma Productions CEO Apoorva Mehta. The duo will exclusively create fiction, non-fiction and feature films for digital platforms.

Johar will be overlooking the creative end while Mehta will be driving the business side of Dharmatic.

There are many stories which cannot be told in a 2.5-3 hours feature film and need a longer duration, he said adding that “Digital, on the other hand, allows you to build the characters beautifully. And with so many Indian and international OTT platforms, I believe it’s the best time for us to be the content providers for this medium too.”

The director had directed a segment of a Netflix series called Lust Stories earlier this year.

The new digital version of Dharma Productions has also hired Somen Mishra to head fiction and former journalist Aneesha Baig as head of non-fiction.

The move marks the entry of mainstream Bollywood into the Over The Top(OTT) digital content space, which is said to have a market potential of $5 Bn by 2023, according to a BCG report.

Dharmatic is looking to bring a variety of content in formats such as long-form, short-form, reality shows, travel, food, and game shows.

Video-on-demand is a growing segment in the country with players such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Voot, Ogle, Big Flix, Eros Now, Ditto TV, Muvi, and Spuul, AltBalaji jostling for eyeballs. There are currently 30 OTT companies offering on-demand video streaming services in India.

The country’s shift from watching TV in a social, mostly familial, manner to highly personalised small screen consumption is being driven by access to affordable data, rural mobile phone penetration, rising affluence, and service adoption across demographic segments — including women and older generations.

[The development was reported by ET.]

The post Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions Launches Digital Content Division appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The number of digital transactions that took place over government-backed United Payments Interface (UPI) in November was recorded at 524.94 Mn, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

The volume of transactions in November rose 8.82% from October 2018.

This marks the first time that the volume of monthly UPI transactions has crossed the half a billion milestone. The total value of the transactions on the UPI platform stood at $11.78 Bn (INR 82,232.21 Cr).

In July 2018, NPCI had also launched UPI 2.0 which included an additional feature such as generating collect payment requests along with invoice/ bill attachment, a one-time mandate with block functionality, signed intent/quick response code and others.

Recently, finance minister Arun Jaitley said that foreign companies such as Visa and Mastercard are losing market share to Indian financial services such as RuPay and UPI.

In August 2018, the total number of digital transactions had increased threefold to 2.44 Bn from 736.7 Mn transactions in October 2016, when the government’s demonetisation drive removed INR 1000 and INR 500 currency notes from the system.

The move, which led to a severe cash crunch, forced people and businesses to adopt digital payments and also sparked the government’s efforts to develop homegrown payments solutions such as UPI and RuPay.

Here are the statistics from the other digital payments platforms in India:

• Paytm recorded 137 Mn UPI transactions in September, a lion’s share of this coming from offline transactions
• The government-run BHIM registered a slight drop in transactions in September—to 16.3 Mn from 16.5 Mn in August
• Prepaid payment instruments or mobile wallets recorded 351.8 Mn transactions, up from 332.9 Mn in June and 350 Mn in May

According to Credit Suisse, India’s digital payments industry, which is currently worth around $200 Bn, is expected to grow five-fold to reach $1 Tn by 2023.

The post For The First Time India Records Over 500 Mn UPI Transactions In A Month appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Social networking company Facebook has announced the launch of its video monetisation feature for Indian content creators during its Creator Day event on November 30.

Facebook said that videos from  pages with 10K or more followers can be monetised, provided they are longer than three minutes. To be eligible for the monetisation plan, creators will also need to garner 30K one-minute views on their videos within 60 days, Facebook added.

With this feature, now the qualifying creators will be able to earn about 55% share of the revenue from the ads placed on their videos.

Currently, Facebook’s video monetisation programme is available to creators in more than 30 countries.

Under this process, Facebook places small ads in the middle of the eligible videos known as ‘ad breaks’.

Apart from English, the ads will also be available for content produced in vernacular languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam.

Facebook also launched its ‘Brand Collabs Manager’ feature, using which brands can find creators to collaborate with and provide an opportunity for creating branded content.

With the Brand Collabs Manager,  creators will also be able to make a portfolio of their own, making it easier for the brands to contact them for partnerships. This feature will be available in India from next year.

According to a September 2018, KPMG report, the online video viewing audience in India is projected to reach 550 Mn by FY23 from around 225 Mn in FY18.

[The development was reported by ET]

The post Facebook Launches Video Monetisation Tools For India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based foodtech startup Foodvista India Private Limited, which runs FreshMenu, reported a jump of 62% in its revenue for the financial year ending March 31, 2018 reaching $17.73 Mn (INR 123.72 Cr) from $10.89 Mn (INR 76 Cr) in the previous year.

According to the company filings accessed via Tofler, a business intelligence platform for India, FreshMenu’s loss widened to $6.29 Mn (INR 43.89 Cr) in FY18, an increase of 3.8% compared to $6 Mn (INR 42.28 Cr) in the financial year 2017.

The expenses for the year increased due to increased spending on employee and advertising:

• FreshMenu’s employee benefits expenses increased by 33.3% from $4.73 Mn (INR 33 Cr) in FY17 to $6.3 Mn (INR 44 Cr) in FY18
• The company also increased its advertising promotional expenses by 6.88% reaching $2.2 Mn (INR 15.38 Cr) from $2.06 Mn (INR 14.39 Cr) in FY17

Founded in 2014 by Rashmi Daga, FreshMenu offers meal kit delivery service from its 35 cloud kitchens across Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi NCR. It claims to receive 13K orders every day with an average order value of $5 (INR 325), which, incidentally, is close to foodtech unicorn Swiggy’s average order value of $5.39(INR 350).

The company is said to be looking for fresh funds of nearly $75 Mn as part of its Series C fundraise. With this, the company is looking to raise its valuation to $250 Mn.

FreshMenu had recently become a target of social media uproar after data breach-tracker HaveIBeenPwned.com (HIBP) revealed about a breach in the systems of FreshMenu in July 2016 had exposed personal data, including the names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, and order histories of its customer.

The company had recently clarified that the company took immediate action and worked with AppSecure and Anand Prakash, India’s best-known white hat hacker, “to audit our systems and help us make our system’s security robust.”

An April 2017 report by Netscribes expects online food delivery market in India to grow by 34-36% over 2015 to 2020. Some of the major players that dominate the industry include Foodpanda (acquired by Ola), Swiggy, and Zomato.

The post FreshMenu’s FY18 Loss Widens 3.8% As Advertising, Employee Costs Rise appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Exactly one year back, angel investor Sanjay Mehta, who actively invests in blockchain and crypto startups said: “I believe, Bitcoin price is highly inflated. The ideal price of Bitcoin should be around $1K. Slowly and eventually, Bitcoin price will come down to the same.”

Back then Bitcoin was riding on a high, valued at $15K . These were the heydays of cryptocurrencies. Global investors and crypto enthusiasts like John McAfee were going gaga, estimating Bitcoin to hit $50K in the next six months. Even Wallstreet was taking notice. The way Bitcoin mania was spreading, Mehta’s statement would seem uninformed.

Coming back to November 2018, Bitcoin is struggling to maintain its price at $4K and reports suggest that mining for more will cost more than its worth at its current price.

However, understanding Bitcoin’s valuation is not an easy job. Former CIA employee, Edward Snowden, during an interaction with Ben Wizner, director, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project explained, “Let’s step outside of paper currencies, which have no fundamental value, to a more difficult case: why is gold worth so much more than its limited but real practical uses in industry? Because people generally agree it’s worth more than its practical value. That’s really it.”

The social belief that it’s expensive to dig out of the ground and put on a shelf, along with the expectation that others are also likely to value it, transforms a boring metal into the world’s oldest store of value. – Edward Snowden

Snowden said that blockchain-based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have very limited fundamental value: at most, it’s a token that lets you save data into the blocks of their respective blockchains, forcing everybody participating in that blockchain to keep a copy of it for you.

Despite its falling value, Bitcoin remains in one the top searches on Google.

Let’s take a look at this week’s block in cryptocurrencies and ICOs!

Declining Mining Infection: Kaspersky Report

The year saw a rise in the number of miner-related attacks. However as cryptocurrency valuations started dropping, infection activity noticeably declined, according to antivirus maker Kaspersky. However, the report showed that while the number of cryptominer attacks decreased, the threat is still current.

US State To Start Accepting Bitcoin For Tax payments

US state Ohio has announced plans to accept Bitcoin for tax payments. The state has joined hands with an Atlanta-based payments wallet company Bitpay which will help convert taxpayers’ Bitcoins into dollars for tax payments.

Ohio’s state treasurer Josh Mandel told CNBC that the decision was twofold: It increases “options and ease” for taxpayers, and it opens the door to software engineers and tech startups.

Pro Boxer Floyd Mayweather And Musician DJ Khaled In Trouble For Promoting ICOs

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has now issued professional boxer Floyd Mayweather and music composer DJ Khaled for promoting ICOs on social media. SEC announced settled charges against boxer Mayweather Jr. and Khaled Mohamed Khaled, known as DJ Khaled, for failing to disclose payments they received for promoting investments in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

These are the SEC’s first cases to charge touting violations involving ICOs.

The SEC’s orders found that Mayweather failed to disclose promotional payments from three ICO issuers, including $100K from Centra Tech Inc., and that Khaled failed to disclose a $50K payment from Centra Tech, which he touted on his social media accounts as a “Game changer.” Mayweather’s promotions included a message to his Twitter followers that Centra’s ICO “starts in a few hours. Get yours before they sell out, I got mine…”

Cryptocurrency: German PE Fund Bets Big On Mining

Amid sinking Bitcoin values, a Munich-based PE firm Xolaris is preparing to launch a $50 Mn Bitcoin mining fund targeting asian investors, reported South China Morning Post.

Subscription for the Asian fund would start in December after the launch of its European fund this week.

In other news, four Iranians were found to be involved in Ransomware attacks and SamSam scheme which caused $30 Mn in financial damage, affecting more than 200 victims, including city governments, universities and hospitals across North America and the UK.

The post Cryptocurrency This Week: How Much Is Bitcoin Really Worth, Cryptominer Attacks Fall And More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

“The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.” — Steve Jobs, co-founder, Apple

In the startup world, where hustle is the essential key to making it through the day and to the next day, working for a startup has been considered a thrill as well as a chase by many.

But for entrepreneurs, finding the right employees remains a challenge. Should one hire an older (than the founders) and more experienced employee? If yes, how does one handle them? Or should one hire rookies for a low cost and train them? Also, how does one retain employees at a time when it is no longer taboo to shift jobs frequently?

Young entrepreneurs in India find themselves asking these questions ever so often.

Hiring ‘people like you’ helps in forming a homogeneous group that can deliver faster while heterogeneous groups can bring in diversity and creativity. Which way does one go?

What complicates thing further is the fact that most founders are answerable to their investors for each salary that goes out of the company’s coffers. Then there is the matter of deciding on and setting a work culture that is cool and reflects the startup’s values while being productive at the same time.

In this week’s Startup 101, Pallav Nadhani, cofounder and CEO of FusionCharts, which help developers convert any kind of data into meaningful and engaging visualizations, tells us how to hire the right employees.

Nadhani shares three golden rules to hire the right — and the best — employees in a startup:

• Always hire better than you
• Run a good process, and even if you meet somebody who is really good, don’t get blindsided
• Even if you’re not hiring right now, keep looking for people — you may not get the right person at the right time

As Jim Collins, an American author and lecturer on company sustainability and growth, said, great vision without great people is irrelevant.

Find your great team to be a great startup!

The post Startup 101: Here’s How To Find The Best Employees For Your Startup appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Dissent has been brewing both inside and outside Google against the company’s controversial China search engine project — Dragonfly. Last week, the internal dissent came to the fore when hundreds of Google employees signed a petition protesting against the project and asking that it be discontinued.

Google has been colluding with the Chinese government to build a search engine that complies with China’s online censorship regime that will blacklist certain websites and search terms, including human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest.

Meanwhile, in the US — and in India — ecommerce companies have been making hay while the festive sun shines, raking in huge profits from sale after sale. US-based ecommerce giant Amazon announced it recorded the highest sales in the company’s history on Cyber Monday (a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the US) on November 26 in terms of the total number of products sold worldwide.

Though the company did not reveal any figures, this may indicate that the Cyber Monday sales were even higher than Black Friday (November 23) and its own flagship sales event — Prime Day.

With online shopping on a high, digital payments companies’ cash registers have been ringing as well. US-based online payment platform PayPal recorded over $1 Bn in mobile payment volume or the number of transactions on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It reportedly processed more than $25K per second during the sale days with nearly $11K per second being processed through mobiles.

We’ve kept you updated on the latest news from the Indian startup ecosystem. Here’s Inc42’s weekly roundup of the latest news from the international technology and startup ecosystem for the week of November 26-December 2:

Google Faces Privacy Complaint For Tracking Users

EU consumer organisations, including Norway’s Consumer Council, have filed a privacy complaint against Google, alleging that the company has been using underhanded tactics to track user location for ad targetting purposes. The groups have alleged that the search company does not have an appropriate legal framework to track users via the ‘Location History’ and ‘Web and App Activity’ settings, which are integrated into all Google accounts. The complaint has been filed under EU’s new data protection framework, GDPR.

Amazon Senior Executive To Join Airbnb As CFO

US-based online community marketplace Airbnb has hired Amazon vice-president Dave Stephenson as its chief financial officer (CFO). According to reports, the company has been looking to hire for the post after former CFO Laurence Tosi left the company to focus on his own investment firm. In an official blog post, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said that Stephenson, who comes with 17 years experience at Amazon, will drive Airbnb’s long-term growth.

Google May Shut Down Hangouts

Google is reportedly planning to shut down its messaging app Google Hangouts from 2020. The app, which was launched in 2013 as a replacement for Gchat, hasn’t been updated in recent times. The company had reportedly signalled the shutdown in April when it announced plans to launch a Rich Communication Services (RCS) chat, which will combine the operating processes of Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp on one platform.

WeChat Partners With Line To Develop Payment Services

Chinese messaging application WeChat has reportedly joined hands with Japan’s chat app Line to develop digital payment services. As part of the deal, the duo will provide Japanese brick-and-mortar merchants with a Line Pay terminal to process WeChat Pay transactions directly. In simple terms, now Chinese travellers in Japan can simply pay using their WeChat Pay services through the QR code without worrying about currency changes.

Amazon Launches Machine Learning Service To Extract Medical Data

Amazon has launched a new service named Amazon Comprehend Medical, which will use machine learning (ML) to extract key learning data from patient records. It will help researchers save money, make treatment decisions, and manage clinical trials better.

The cloud software uses text analysis along with ML to read patient records, including prescriptions, notes, audio interviews, and test reports. Once the documents are uploaded on the software, it takes up and organises information about diagnoses, treatments, medication dosage, and symptoms.

Amazon Steps Into Space-Related Business

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the launch of AWS Ground Station, a fully managed ground station service for satellite providers. According to reports, the ground station unit is setting up a network of 12 satellite facilities across the globe. The company also announced that the ground station may begin its operations from mid-2019.

Netflix To Produce Animated Series On Dahl Books

US-based over-the-top (OTT) platform Netflix has signed a deal with The Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC), which manages the copyrights of the children’s author, to produce animated “event series” on popular classic books written by Dahl. As part of this deal, popular series such as Charlie, Matilda will be produced along with lesser-known stories such as George’s Marvelous Medicine, and Going Solo.

[Stay tuned for the next week’s edition of Around The Tech And Startup World!]

The post Google Faces Privacy Complaint For Tracking User Locations In EU: News From Tech And Startup World [Nov 26- Dec 2] appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Singapore’s cab-hailing company Grab is reportedly going to invest $100 Mn in Indian hospitality chain OYO as both the companies look to expand their services in Indonesia.

A media report citing two people briefed on the matter said that the funding is under advanced discussion and the deal may be closed in the next few days. If talks are successful, this will be Grab’s first investment in India.

The deal which is expected to be done via Grab’s A1Holdings Inc., is part of OYO’s ongoing $1Bn funding round.

In September, OYO had raised $800 Mn in funding, led by SoftBank Vision Fund, along with existing investors Lightspeed India Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Greenoaks Capital. The company also received a $200 Mn commitment from undisclosed investors.

The fresh funding round is expected to value the company at $5 Bn.

OYO has launched its hotel chain in three cities of Indonesia — Jakarta, Surabaya, and Palembang — bringing over 30 full-inventory, franchised and operated hotels, and over 1,000 rooms across the three Indonesian cities. The company has plans of investing $100 Mn for expanding in 35 cities in the country.

At the time, OYO founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal had said, “Indonesia is one of the top choices for both global and Indian travellers, and with our market learning and expertise we are ready to tap this opportunity.”

Agarwal said OYO’s expansion will create over 60K direct and indirect livelihood opportunities in Indonesia.

[The development was reported by ET.]

The post Singapore’s Grab May Invest $100 Mn In OYO’s Next Funding Round appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indonesia’s technology unicorn Go-Jek’s investment arm, Go-Ventures, may invest $30 Mn in fresh funding in Bengaluru-based esports startup Mobile Premier League (MPL).

A media report citing sources said that the deal will increase MPL’s valuation nearly 10x to $150 Mn.

Founded in 2018 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubham Malhotra, Mobile Premier League is a mobile application for users to play mobile games with real money.

MPL allows users to choose from games ranging from cricket to CandyCrush or TempleRun and select a tournament according to their budget. If the user stays in the game for a certain pre-decided duration defeating other players, he wins.

In October the startup had raised $5 Mn in Series A funding from investors including Sequoia, BeeNext Ventures and Times Internet. At the time, the startup was valued at $12-13 Mn.

Kiran and Malhotra had earlier worked together on Bengaluru-based media streaming technology startup, Creo, which was acquired by messaging service Hike in August 2017.

The new brainchild of Kiran and Malhotra, Mobile Premier League currently has more than 1 Mn installs and claims to enable multiple skill-based mobile games to win real money.

Go-Jek, via Go-Ventures, has earlier invested in three Indian businesses to beef up its for its technology and engineering teams, including Pianta, a home healthcare provider marketplace, CodeIgnition, an infrastructure automation and technology solution provider, and LeftShift, a mobile app development company.

With the investment in the Mobile Premier League, the company is moving beyond transportation and wants to be ‘like a super app’ in Indonesia and neighbouring countries. “They could look to take MPL international as they expand to Southeast Asian markets,” the report added.

A Google KPMG report released in May 2017 estimates that the online gaming industry in India will be worth over $360 Mn and is poised to grow and reach $1 Tn Bn by 2021.

[The development was reported by ET.]

The post Go-Jek May Invest $30 Mn In India’s Mobile Premier League appeared first on Inc42 Media.