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Showing posts from November, 2024

Zomato completes $1Bn fundraise

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Three days ago, food delivery aggregator Zomato initiated its Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue. Now, the firm has successfully raised $1 billion through the QIP. This marks its first major fundraising since its IPO three years ago. This development comes weeks after Swiggy had a spectacular IPO, listing at a premium of 7%, and a week after Zepto secured an additional $350 million from domestic investors. According to reports, the funds were raised approximately 336.5 million shares (33,64,73,755 equity shares to be precise) at ₹252.62 each, attracting strong interest from institutional investors. Prominent domestic mutual funds, including Motilal Oswal (who secured over 20% of the issued shares), ICICI Prudential (secured 12.78% of the shares), HDFC (it secured 8.68% of the issued shares), and Kotak (which secured 5.95% of the shares), to name some, acquired significant stakes in the Indian startup. With this development, the firm’s foreign ownership drops below the 50%...

Australian passes law that bans social media for users under 16 years

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Australia has successfully passed a new legislation, one that bans children under the age of 16 from accessing major social media platforms. With the bill now approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the country is set to enforce some of the strictest age restrictions for online platforms globally, and a first globally in terms of a blanket social media ban. This development comes at a time when there are increasing concerns about the harmful impact of social media on younger users, particularly regarding mental health, privacy, and exposure to inappropriate content. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and X (formerly Twitter) will be required to ensure that users below 16 cannot set up accounts. The law will come into effect by late 2025, giving platforms ample time to implement the necessary age-verification systems. Public support for the move has been overwhelming. A YouGov survey found that 77% of Australians approve of the new restrictions. Man...

Indian competition watchdog launches yet another investigation into Google

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Google is in hot waters in India (again). This time, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered yet another investigation into the tech titan, acting on a complaint lodged by domestic gaming company Winzo. This investigation will deal with allegations that Google has abused its dominant market position, engaging in anti-competitive behavior that disadvantages real-money gaming (RMG) applications. The CCI aims to complete the investigation within a period of 60 days. Winzo Games, a prominent player in India’s online gaming ecosystem, has accused Google of enforcing restrictive policies that hinder the operations of skill-based gaming applications. According to the complaint, Google’s policies selectively favor certain gaming categories, particularly Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and Rummy, while excluding other RMG apps from its Play Store. Winzo’s argument deals with Google’s Developer Distribution Agreement and Developer Program Policies, which the company describes as one-...

Elon Musk’s xAI looks to take on OpenAI with new standalone consumer app: WSJ

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OpenAI, Gemini, Claude – all of them have their own apps. Elon Musk’s XAi (and Grok)  though doesn’t, and it seems it wants to make up for it. Musk’s AI startup, according to WSJ , is gearing up to unveil its first consumer-facing product: a standalone consumer chatbot app. The app, which is expected to operate similarly to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, will provide users with access to Grok, xAI’s proprietary chatbot, directly from their personal devices. If the app eventually rolls out, then it will enter a crowded market dominated by well-established players like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, all of which offer consumer-ready AI tools. While Grok has so far been accessible only to Premium (and Premium Plus) subscribers of X (formerly Twitter), the app’s release could make the chatbot available to a broader user base, which could potentially be for free. Take the news with a pinch of salt for now, though, since this development is yet to be officially confirmed. For now, a free version o...

India’s Stellaris Venture Partners closes $300Mn 3rd Fund for early-stage bets

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Bengaluru-based venture capital firm Stellaris Venture Partners has now successful closed its latest third fund, raising $300 million. This latest fund, Fund III, aims to support 25 to 30 startups over the next three to four years. The third fund aims to focus mostly on early-stage investments – particularly in technology-driven sectors – and saw the participation from both returning Limited Partners (LPs) and new backers, including university endowments, pension funds, foundations, and established fund-of-funds. The firm’s previous funds, including a $90 million debut fund and a $225 million second fund in 2021, have already fueled the growth of 44 startups. Approximately 60% of these investments were in businesses at their inception stage as well. Fund III will aim to drive investments in technology-driven solutions, especially across sectors such as AI, software-as-a-service (SaaS), consumer technology, and fintech. In addition to this, Stellaris also plans to expand its presenc...

Uber launches ‘Uber One’ membership in India, starts at ₹149/month

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Uber has now introduced its subscription program, Uber One, in India, as it looks to grow and hold on to a rather stagnant but loyal user base in the country. The service is now available in several cities across the country – Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Chennai, to name some – and will cater to frequent riders across its ride categories (UberGo, Premier, XL, Reserve, Auto, Moto, Intercity, Rental, Shuttle and Package). From what we know so far, Uber One is a paid membership plan, allowing users to earn credits up to 10% for rides across two-wheeler, three-wheeler, and four-wheeler categories. For shuttle services, the program offers up to 35% credits, while intercity and rental rides provide a modest 1% credit back. These credits, which act as a form of cashback, can be redeemed for future trips, enhancing value for regular users. However, credits are capped at ₹150 per trip and are valid only for users with an active subscription. Speaking of subscriptions, users ca...

SoftBank offers $1.5Bn for OpenAI employee shares

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SoftBank, the global investment powerhouse led by Masayoshi Son, is now set to acquire up to $1.5 billion worth of shares from OpenAI employees, according to media reports. From what we know so far, this purchase will be conducted through a tender offer, which enables employees and stakeholders to sell their equity holdings under specific conditions. Both OpenAI and SoftBank have declined to comment on the development, while reports revealed that this offer is not related to OpenAI’s transition to a “for-profit organization.” To be precise, the tender offer allows eligible employees of OpenAI, both current and former, to sell their restricted stock units. To qualify, employees must have held their shares for at least two years, and the offering price is $210 per share (which matches OpenAI’s valuation during its last fundraising round in October. The window for employees to participate in this tender offer extends for nearly a month (until December 24) so they have a finite opportun...

Generative AI is set to be the highlight of AWS re:Invent 2024

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Amazon’s annual AWS re:Invent conference is now set to return to Las Vegas from December 2 to 6, 2024. The 13th edition of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) premier global event promises an array of keynotes, technical sessions, workshops, and interactive exhibits that are designed to engage cloud professionals, developers, and business leaders. As expected from Amazon’s focus on AI, generative AI is set to be the cynosure of every eye at the upcoming event. “Generative AI will be a focus at AWS’s biggest annual cloud event, as well as news, keynotes, and innovation talks,” the e-commerce giant revealed in an official statement. So attendees can expect deep dives into topics like AI’s role in aviation, humanitarian applications, and workplace transformation, to name some, as Amazon has over 500 generative AI-related sessions on the schedule. In fact, AWS has reported significant revenue growth in this domain, claiming “multiple billions” in earnings, even though it continues to fall behind...

Google launches Premium Tier at $299/year for its developer program

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Google is expanding its Developer Program by introducing a premium membership tier. This new offering builds upon the program’s success since its launch earlier this year at the I/O 2024 conference. The previous (standard) tier remains free and accessible to millions of developers worldwide, while the premium plan will provide several new features (and you have to pay to access them). “Earlier this year the Google Developer Program was announced at I/O. As part of this initial launch, developers got access to our standard suite of services and exclusive benefits, at no-cost, ranging from Gemini on documentation, Cloud Learning credits and more,” Google announced in a blog post. “Today, with millions of developers already in the standard membership, we’re thrilled to share the launch of the Google Developer Program premium membership which provides a tailored suite of services to help developers throughout the learning, building and deployment phases of their journey.” The new premiu...

Zomato launches $1Bn QIP to fund Blinkit expansion

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Food delivery aggregator Zomato has finally initiated its Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) issue, with the goal of raising ₹8,500 crore (~$1Bn). The issue opened on Monday, November 25, following approval from the company’s board of directors. The floor price for the QIP has been set at ₹265.91 per share, approximately 2.8% below the stock’s current market value. The funds raised through this QIP will primarily support Zomato’s quick commerce unit, Blinkit. According to the company’s filings, ₹2,137 crore will be allocated toward establishing and managing dark stores and warehouses, which are crucial for improving delivery times and scaling operations. Blinkit, which specializes in fast deliveries and has a presence in the domestic quick-commerce segment, aims to increase its network to 1,000 dark stores by the end of the current fiscal year, as well as double that figure by 2026. In addition to this, funds will also be deployed to strengthen the company’s market presence. Th...

Sony plans new handheld console for PS5 games: Report

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Sony is reportedly now in the preliminary stages of developing a new handheld gaming console capable of playing PlayStation 5 games independently. No official announcements have been made yet, though, so take this with a pinch of salt. Sony has a long history in handheld gaming, having introduced iconic devices like the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in 2004 and the PlayStation Vita in 2011. Both consoles offered features such as Bluetooth connectivity, media playback, and remote play capabilities. Still, these devices struggled to maintain long-term commercial success, particularly in the face of competition from Nintendo’s DS and 3DS series. By 2019, Sony had officially discontinued its handheld gaming efforts. Instead, the company chose to focus on its core console offerings, including the PS4 and later the PS5. According to reports, the concept of the portable console for PS5 games builds on the groundwork laid by the PlayStation Portal, a remote-play device Sony launched in 2023. F...

India competition regulator rejects Apple plea to halt antitrust probe

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India’s Competition Commission of India (CCI), country’s regulator in antitrust cases, has denied Apple’s request to suspend the review of a report alleging anti-competitive practices by the tech giant. This refusal means that the investigation against the iPhone maker – which began three years ago – will not be ending anytime soon. The central point of the investigation is whether Apple exploited its market dominance through restrictive practices within its iOS App Store. Prior to this, the CCI alleged that the Cupertino-headquartered Apple had imposed unfair conditions on app developers, harmed alternative payment processors, and limited user choice. Alongside this, developers have, for a long time, criticized the company for making use of its proprietary payment system (which includes a commission fee) mandatory, and have argued that this restricts fair competition in the market and creates an uneven playing field. For its part, Apple has denied these allegations, maintaining tha...

Amazon pumps additional $4Bn in Anthropic

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Amazon has (once again) invested in AI startup Anthropic. The e-commerce giant announced that it is making an additional $4 billion investment in the San Francisco-based AI startup, bringing Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic to $8 billion (even though Amazon retains its status as a minority investor). Earlier, Amazon had pumped in $2.75 billion in Anthropic (in March) and $1.25 billion in September 2023. “Amazon has (once again) invested in AI startup Anthropic. The e-commerce giant announced that it is making an additional $4 billion investment in the San Francisco-based AI startup, bringing Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic to $8 billion (even though Amazon retains its status as a minority investor),” Amazon noted in an official statement. “Last September, Amazon and Anthropic announced a strategic collaboration, which included Anthropic naming Amazon Web Services (AWS) its primary cloud provider and Amazon making a $4 billion investment in Anthropic. That announcement w...

Zepto secures $350Mn in third fundraise this year

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Zepto, the Indian quick commerce firm, has now secured $350 million in its third funding round in six months. The latest infusion of funds was led by Motilal Oswal Private Wealth. The newest funding round keeps the startup’s valuation to $5 billion — where it was in the previous round. The round has expanded its investor base to include the likes of Raamdeo Agrawal, and family offices tied to Mankind Pharma, Cello, and Haldiram’s, along with celebrity investors such as Sachin Tendulkar and Abhishek Bachchan, to name some. This funding round comes even as the quick commerce upstart is gearing up for an IPO sometime next year, and is said to be among the largest entirely domestic primary raises in the Indian startup ecosystem. It also comes at a time when the domestic quick commerce segment – in which Zepto operates – has seen a significant growth in recent times. The size of its market was estimated at $6 billion this year, and is projected to rise to $42 billion within the next six y...

Byju Raveendran faces legal battle over disputed financial dealings

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Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran, is at the center of yet another set of allegations involving hidden funds, financial mismanagement, and attempts to manipulate creditors to regain control of key assets. The allegations center around Raveendran’s attempts to recover Epic!, which Byju’s had acquired in 2021 but lost control of amidst its financial struggles. According to media reports, Raveendran recruited Nebraska businessman William R. Hailer, a former political consultant, in a plan to settle debts owed to U.S. creditors by purchasing distressed loans at significantly discounted rates. These loans, reportedly trading at around 24 cents on the dollar, amounted to over $1.2 billion. The alleged aim was to swap the acquired debt for ownership of Epic! and effectively circumvent the claims of the creditors, which would restore Raveendran’s control over the software company, which Byju’s had acquired in 2021. Hailer further added that Raveendran has transferred $11.25 million to Rose La...

Reddit recovers after suffering major outage

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Social media giant Reddit – known as the “front page of the internet” – is now back up after suffering a major technical outage. The disruption occurred on Wednesday afternoon, leaving users across the globe unable to access its services. The outage is the latest in a long line for Reddit, which has experienced several technical disruptions in recent months. Earlier this year, the platform faced a similar issue on Election Day in the US, when degraded performance left users struggling to access the site for hours. The newest outage at the social media platform began at nearly 3 PM ET and continued to persist for several hours, sparking widespread frustration among the platform’s millions of daily users. Both the desktop site and mobile applications were affected, with error messages and connectivity issues reported in high numbers. This ensured that users were unable to post, comment, or scroll across Reddit’s collection of discussion boards. If you had tried to access Reddit yesterd...

Microsoft unveils Windows 365 Link, a $349 mini-PC running Windows over cloud

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Tech titan Microsoft has now unveiled the Windows 365 Link, a compact and thin mini-PC that will let connect users directly to the company’s Windows 365 cloud platform. The announcement was made at the Ignite 2024 conference, and is set to roll out next year, in April. The device is priced at $349. “In 2021, we announced Windows 365 to the world and introduced the Cloud PC, a whole new category of cloud computing. Windows 365 Cloud PCs let employees securely stream their Windows desktop experience from the Microsoft Cloud to any device. As more and more organizations adopt Windows 365, we see them rethinking their endpoint strategy to improve user productivity, enhance security, increase IT efficiency, and advance sustainability. This is why we are now introducing Windows 365 Link, the first Cloud PC device purpose-built by Microsoft to connect securely to Windows 365 in seconds,” Microsoft announced in a blog post. Unlike traditional personal computers, the Windows 365 Link does no...

Indian news agency ANI alleges OpenAI used its news content to train AI models without authorisation

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Asian News International (ANI), one among India’s largest news agencies, has now filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorized use of its copyrighted content for training ChatGPT, the popular AI-powered chatbot. The case was submitted in the Delhi High Court, and marks the first instance of the US-based AI firm attracting the ire of an Indian news publisher. To be precise, the news agency has accused OpenAI of using its content without permission to train its large language models (LLMs) – something that is in violation of ANI’s intellectual property rights. According to ANI, the AI model reproduces content verbatim on the popular chatbot and generates responses that have a strong resemblance to the original news reports themselves. To add to this, the agency contends that the chatbot further attributed fabricated news stories to the news agency – the news agency cited cited instances where the chatbot produced fictional interviews, including one involving Indian politician R...

Perplexity’s AI search engine will shop for you with new ‘Buy with Pro’ feature

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Perplexity AI is now adding a new shopping feature within its AI search engine for its premium users. The feature, called ‘Buy with Pro’ lets users shop for their required products by giving prompts to the AI search engine, similar to how they would give for any other AI task. You get a thoroughly researched answer with compact visual product cards and can buy the products right from the answer with one click. According to Perplexity, the features works even better well for compound queries like “stuff to buy when I want to throw a disco party.” At the initial roll out stage, the “Buy with Pro” experience is currently available to US Perplexity Pro users, but is expected to expand internationally soon. The user authorizes Perplexity to transact on their behalf, and the checkout flow is accomplished with a mix of AI and humans in the loop. In terms of commercial value for Perplexity, the company says there is no such commercial kick back — commissions etc — that they are getting a...

HealthKart gets $153Mn in new $500Mn valuation round

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HealthKart, the Indian health supplement platform, has now secured a total of $153 million (nearly ₹1,270 crore) in a secondary funding round. This round was led by ChrysCapital and Motilal Oswal Alternates, making up one of the largest secondary transactions for a consumer startup this year. To recap, in secondary transactions, existing shareholders, including early investors and employees alike sell their stakes to new investors, and do not involve the issuance of new equity or fresh capital into the company in question. Instead, they provide liquidity to existing stakeholders, as well as enabling new investors to enter the fold. The latest round also included the participation from Neo Group and existing investor A91 Partners, elevating HealthKart’s valuation to approximately $500 million. This marks a notable increase from its previous valuation – during its previous funding round in 2022, the firm was valued at $370 million. Going forward, the startup has ambitious plans for th...

Oyo to get $65.1Mn from founder Ritesh Agarwal at $3.8Bn valuation, seeks additional investors

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According to a recently circulated note to its shareholders, Oyo has informed that founder Ritesh Agarwal will invest $65.1Mn into his founded hospitality chain, at a $3.8Bn valuation. The investment will come in via an investment vehicle named Redspring Innovation Partners, and is backed by Agarwal. The $3.8Bn valuation represents a noticeable 60% uptick from the $2.3Bn that the firm was last valued at , but is still over 60% below the peak $10Bn it had achieved in 2019. In fact, the present valuation that Agarwal has pegged his company at, is only slightly higher than the $3.4Bn in equity+debt that the company has raised so far from external investments. During the last round in June, where Oyo was valued at $2.3Bn in a $175Mn round, investment was again led by Agarwal’s Redspring with a $100Mn infusion, with the rest of $75Mn coming in from a group of existing and new investors. Multiple media reports also suggest, that like its previous round Agarwal is looking for additional in...

Netflix back up after outage disrupts Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight

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The much-hyped boxing match between 58-year-old legend Mike Tyson and 27-year-old internet star Jake Paul was expected to dominate headlines and draw massive viewership on Netflix. Instead, the event became notable for an entirely different reason: a widespread service outage that left thousands of fans frustrated and unable to tune in. Technical failures overshadowed what was shaping up to be a milestone moment for Netflix’s debut in live sports streaming, resulting in a significant disruption on Friday night, which left thousands of users unable to access its platform. The outage began during the undercard bouts leading up to the Tyson-Paul main event, held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The majority of these complaints centered on buffering, video pixelation, and distorted audio. Some users also reported complete service interruptions and login issues, which persisted well into the evening. In India, a smaller but significant number of users—around 1,200—also reported i...

Musk files revised lawsuit against OpenAI, this time naming Microsoft as well

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Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI , wherein he accused the company of abandoning its non-profit mission, is back in the headlines. Musk has now revised the said lawsuit , after it was briefly withdrawn in August for this revision. As per the latest amended lawsuit, Musk is now naming Microsoft as one of the defendants as well, for directly backing OpenAI with billions of dollars throughout its history. In a rather strongly worded lawsuit, Musk terms OpenAI a “$157Bn market-paralyzing gorgon” and accuses it of breaking “every principle of law governing economic activity”. The suit says, “Never before has a corporation gone from tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon—and in just eight years. Never before has it happened, because doing so violates almost every principle of law governing economic activity. It requires lying to donors, lying to members, lying to markets, lying to regulators.” The amended filing also adds new plaintiffs: Neuralink exec...

Delhivery’s net profit clocks steep quarterly plunge in Q2 FY25

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Gurugram-based logistics company Delhivery reported a net profit of ₹10.2 crore for the quarter ending September 30, noting a steep plunge of 81% from the previous. For reference, the previous quarter (June 2024) saw Delhivery clock ₹54.4 crore in net profit, as well as a loss of ₹102.9 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. For the recently-ended quarter, the logistics provider’s revenue from operations increased by 12.8% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹2,189.7 crore, up from ₹1,941.7 crore in Q2 FY24. Delhivery’s express parcel revenue reached ₹1,298 crore in Q2 FY25, a 7% YoY increase from ₹1,210 crore in Q2 FY24. Shipment volumes for express parcel services also rose by 3% YoY, increasing from 181 million to 185 million shipments. Meanwhile, PTL, a critical component of Delhivery’s revenue stream, grew significantly, with PTL revenue surging by 27% YoY to ₹474 crore, up from ₹373 crore in the same period last year. This growth in PTL was accompanied by a substantial 23% in...

OpenAI could launch an AI Agent tool named ‘Operator’ in January

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OpenAI is reportedly gearing up to launch ‘Operator’, a new AI agent tool through which it looks to capitalise on an ever-growing market for AI agents across sectors. This comes in via a Bloomberg report . The development though is hardly unexpected, given that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had hinted at this earlier. In an “Ask Me Anything” forum on Reddit, Altman noted that the company will “have better and better models,” but “I think the thing that will feel like the next giant breakthrough will be agents.” Later, at an OpenAI press event, the company’s chief product officer Kevin Weil said, “I think 2025 is going to be the year that agentic systems finally hit the mainstream.” The company aims to launch Operator as a research preview in January, making the tool accessible to developers through its API. According to reports, Operator can perform tasks on behalf of the user, performing multi-step, independent actions. This marks a shift to agentic AI (wherein a series of tasks can be pe...

Apple to launch an AI-powered, wall mounted tablet for smart home control: Report

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Apple is now making a new move into the smart home market, Bloomberg reports . The company is apparently planning to introduce a new AI-powered display to act as a central control hub for connected home devices. This device, internally code-named Project J490, could be launched as early as March 2025. The upcoming device is expected to resemble a small, wall-mounted iPad, and will come equipped with Apple Intelligence, the company’s suits of AI-powered tools and services. It, as per reports, will also come with a 6-inch touchscreen (which can be voice-activated) and include support for natural language processing, task management, and automation. It remains to be seen whether this device can enable Apple to make a mark in the smart home market, which is largely dominated by the likes of Google and Amazon. Both companies have made a name for themselves in this sector, and Apple has fallen behind so far. In addition to this, the device is set to come with a camera at the top, one tha...