SoftBank-backed Ola Electric took the wraps off its maiden e-scooter offerings -- Ola S1 and S1 Pro -- for a commercial launch on Sunday. With prices starting from Rs 99,999 (excluding state government incentives, registration fee, and insurance cost), the Bhavesh Aggarwal-founded firm said the e-scooters are designed and engineered in India for the world and will deliver the best scooter experience to the consumer. He suggested that after 2025, sale of petrol-powered two-wheelers should not be allowed.
The man with the golden arm could surpass some, if not all, top cricketers -- the demigods who stand well above athletes from other disciplines in India
E-commerce giant Amazon and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures have "mutually decided" to not continue their joint venture (JV) beyond the end of its current term. The JV, Prione Business Services, which has been running successfully for the past seven years, was coming up for renewal on May 19, 2022. The JV enabled over 300,000 sellers and entrepreneurs to go online. It also enabled 4 million merchants with digital payment capabilities, providing these small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and merchants access to millions of customers across the country.
SoftBank-backed mobility firm Ola, announced expansion of its employee stock options (ESOP) pool to Rs 3000 crore. Ola is also allocating an additional Rs 400 crore worth of stocks to employees in the run up to its IPO. The allocation rewards Ola's high impact employees and will lead to long term wealth creation for them.
India is currently home to 52 unicorn startups and one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems.
BlackBuck, India's leading online trucking platform, has closed a $67 million round of equity financing. The round was led by Tribe Capital, IFC Emerging Asia Fund and VEF. Existing investors Wellington Management, Sands Capital, and International Finance Corporation also participated in the round. The investment has made the Bengaluru-based company a 'unicorn,' or a startup valued at more than $1 billion, according to the firm. The company will use these funds to further penetrate the market and launch new service offerings for its customer base.
Recently, an Air India flyer sent a legal notice to the airline seeking damages of Rs 30 lakh for the breach of personal data of 4.5 million passengers, including her husband and herself. Air India had informed the complainant of the data leak a month earlier, after it emerged that its passenger service system provider fell prey to a cyberattack in February. However, in the absence of a data protection law, India lacks a mechanism for compensation or grievance redress of consumers in such cases, say experts. Advocate Virag Gupta, a New Delhi-based cyber law expert, explains that a legal notice is a good beginning in the Air India case, but it raises many questions. These include whether sensitive personal information has been leaked and whether the airline is responsible or not, given that a passenger service system provider was also involved.
The proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, that are envisioned to protect consumer interests, may further compound the impact of multiplicity of regulations on the e-commerce sector, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) had told the ministry of consumer affairs. IACC, the apex bilateral chamber for Indo-US business, had told the government that the proposed amendments would increase compliance liabilities that risk severely impairing the growth of the sector.
Skylark Drones, a leading drone platform company that counts Tata Steel, Ultratech Cement, Softbank Energy among its customers has secured $3 million in a pre-series A funding round. It would use the funding to strengthen its product offerings and fuel international expansion.
'We are having an outsize impact not only on the lives of the customers and livelihood, but also the economy of India.'
'There are already multiple lawsuits against the IT rules.' 'So questions of compliance are like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.'
A WhatsApp spokesperson said the update 'does not impact the privacy of personal messages for anyone'.
Billionaire and Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra along with top Silicon Valley investors Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan are backing space tech start-up Agnikul as part of a new funding round. Chennai-based Agnikul said, on Thursday, that it has raised $11 million in Series A funding round led by Mayfield India. It is the largest funding round for a private Indian space technology company in the country. Existing investors pi Ventures, Speciale Invest and Artha Venture Fund also invested in this round.
'We look forward to providing great customer experiences in India.'
With scrutiny that comes with a public listing, Deepinder Goyal's leadership could face its sternest test yet.
Zomato said it has consistently gained market share over the last four years to become the category leader in the food delivery space in India in terms of gross order value from October 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
There seems to be no dearth of funds to fuel this growth, report Peerzada Abrar and Shivani Shinde.
'Overall, compared to the previous episode, we are in a better shape because the vaccine is already out there and vaccination drives are proceeding'
'One out of three phones sold in India is a Xiaomi phone.'