As Ayodhya readies itself for the glittering, much-awaited consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir on January 22, and as millions of pilgrims and devotees pour into the holy city for the momentous event, companies are rushing to do their bit and be a part of the mega celebrations. Some are offering a part of their profits as donations, telcos are beefing up the number of cellular towers to ensure better connectivity, and there are those distributing jalebis and food platters.
BlackRock has again reduced the valuation of its share in edtech firm Byju's - this time to about $1 billion, TechCrunch reported on Friday, citing disclosures made by the US-based asset manager. This is 95 per cent less than its peak valuation of $22 billion in 2022. The markdown comes at a time when the company is facing a multitude of challenges, including securing fresh capital, delays in financial reporting and legal disputes with lenders.
'In India, the GenAI startup ecosystem is unfolding with remarkable speed, signalling a new era of technological advancement and investment opportunities.'
'We have informed the government multiple times that the situation in the US and India are different.' 'Here, there will be a 500 MHz gap in the frequencies which will safely allow aviation without interference.'
Several food and grocery delivery firms witnessed their highest ever single-day orders on New Year eve, December 31. Zomato achieved a record-breaking number of orders on its app. The company carried out nearly as many orders on December 31 as the total for the equivalent day in the period from 2015 to 2020.
With investors asking for a change in the board structure at Byju's, the edtech giant's founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Byju Raveendran, is now asking them to put $300 million into the company for more control. The company has rung up $5.8 billion from investors such as General Atlantic, Sofina, the Qatar Investment Authority, Sumeru Ventures, Vitruvian Partners, BlackRock, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia, Silver Lake, Bond Capital, Tencent, and Tiger Global.
While the market for satellite broadband currently is small, the potential is large as an estimated 30 per cent of the country does not have reliable terrestrial broadband services.
'Given that the situation is quickly escalating, such attacks will affect the flow of crude in the short term from West Asia' Subhayan Chakraborty and Dhruvaksh Saha report.
Officials said the bill has provided a clear legal basis for spectrum allocation, which till now was allocated or auctioned by the government based on the interpretation of various laws and judgements.
Social media unicorn ShareChat has laid off 200 employees, around 15 per cent of its workforce, in another round of layoffs this year to reduce costs and achieve profitability within the next six quarters. In January, Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd, the parent company of platforms ShareChat and Moj, fired 500 employees, 20 per cent of its workforce. The same month, company co-founders Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan also stepped down from executive roles.
An online company would show a particular price to the customer and then quickly increase the cost after analysing consumer behaviour or detecting any kind of desperation.
India is expected to ramp up its purchase of crude oil from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the coming months following discussions between the two countries on the sidelines of the ongoing COP28 summit in Dubai, multiple sources in the know said. The UAE has historically been India's third-largest source of crude. It has suffered the largest drop in shipments since Indian refiners began to binge on Russian crude in 2022.
Amphibious drones for maritime inspection... devices that extract pure oxygen from water for patients in need... self-balancing electric bikes...
The next spectrum auction will be held in late February 2024 and the reserve price for most bands will remain the same as the 2022 auction, department of telecommunications (DoT) officials have said. The government expects operators to go for low bands beginning in 600 megahertz (MHz), licences for many of which are lapsing soon. Back in September 2021, the government had decided that spectrum auctions should be held annually.
There's a hint of new competition riding into a sector that has attracted attention for being in a duopoly-like situation. Rapido, a commute app known for its budget-friendly bike-taxi services, on Tuesday announced its entry into the cab market, which is currently dominated by marquee brands Uber and Ola. Rapido's cab foray will be enabled by a software as a service (SaaS)-based platform.
Byju Raveendran, founder of educational technology (edtech) firm Byju's, has injected around Rs 4,000 crore of personal capital into the company in recent months. This move comes as the company grapples with challenges, including securing fresh capital, delays in financial reporting, and legal disputes with lenders. "Raveendran has pledged personal property to assist the company in dealing with the crisis. "He conveyed to employees that despite perceptions of being a billionaire, he has reinvested a major portion of his wealth back into the company," said a person familiar with the matter.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI), climate tech and fintech sectors will be the hot areas for venture capitalists and founders in the next year, according to the prediction by Prashanth Prakash, founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partners in India and the chairperson of Karnataka Startup Vision Group. Prakash said that about $25 billion has been invested into building Gen AI globally. But a lot of that capital has not yet come to India, opening up huge opportunities for startups in the country.
'Considering Pai is putting his own personal money in Byju's, stakeholders in the company can look forward to more governance and transparency.'
As the Men in Blue took on Australia in an intriguing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, the orders on quick delivery platforms reflected the pulsating mood of the nation.
'Byju's financials only reflect the core business. At a group level, they are experiencing substantial losses.'
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