Illustration: Rahul Awasthi MaxWholesale, a B2B e-commerce platform for kirana (mom-and-pop stores) has raised $3 million led by Indian Angel Network and Al Falaj Investment Company (AFI), an Abu Dhabi based private family office. Existing investor Maple Capital also participated in this round along with Infoedge’s ex-CFO Ambarish Raghuvanshi, Maple Capital’s Abhinav Grover and Biba […]
Archives for 2020
Swedish investor lowers Quikr valuation by 45%
Swedish investment firm Kinnevik has marked down the valuation of Quikr by 45% to about $570 million from more than $1 billion as of September 2019, the firm said in its annual earnings statement earlier this month. The fall in valuation comes as the Bengaluru-based online classifieds and transactions marketplace discovered fraud in its co-living […]
Bezos launches $10B fund to combat climate change
His company is often criticized for its environmental record, but Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the world’s richest man, said Monday that he was committing $10 billion to a new fund to tackle climate change. In a post to his 1.4 million followers on Instagram, the e-commerce tycoon said the Bezos Earth Fund would […]
Visa says OTP not needed for ‘routine’ transactions
Global card network provider Visa aims to phase out the twofactor authentication (2FA) process on routine card transactions during digital checkouts and replace the scrutiny layer with a riskbased prompt, where transactions deemed unusual or risky by banks would be vetted through a One Time Password (OTP) check. For this, Visa plans to hold discussions […]
A human may never read your resume again
Awesome, not awesome. #Awesome“Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been working to improve the state of global health through his nonprofit foundation for 20 years, and today he told the nation’s premier scientific gathering that advances in artificial intelligence and gene editing could accelerate those improvements exponentially in the years ahead. “We have an opportunity with […]
Trump administration is reportedly weighing limits to China’s access to chip technology
A worker at the photolithography section of a semiconductor plant of the Mikron Group in Zelenograd, Moscow. Anton Novoderezhkin | TASS | Getty Images The Trump administration is weighing trade restrictions on China that would limit the use of American chip-making equipment, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. People familiar with the matter told the […]
Digital payments firms Paytm and PhonePe amp up marketing spends
Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Homegrown digital payment companies PhonePe and Paytm plan to spend a combined Rs 2,000 crore on marketing this year, as they look to increase awareness, credibility and promote products to a wider consumer audience, top executives at these firms said. While PhonePe has earmarked Rs 800 crore for marketing, Paytm plans to […]
Environmental activists stage protests at commodities groups in Geneva – police
ZURICH (Reuters) – Environmental activists staged protests at offices of commodities groups Cargill [CARG.UL], Vitol [VITOLV.UL] and Mercuria in Geneva on Monday, Swiss police said on Monday. About 50 activists were present for about 15 minutes at Cargill’s offices, but then left, a spokesman for Geneva cantonal police said. Sit-ins lasted for most of the […]
Masayoshi Son’s real estate bet has some big problems
By Pavel Alpeyev and Takahiko Hyuga Last March, months before the meltdown at WeWork, Masayoshi Son worked through the prospects for another one of his favorite portfolio companies — a startup from India called Oyo. In a spacious conference hall at his Tokyo headquarters, the Japanese billionaire huddled with lieutenants from the startup and his […]
Google to wind down ‘Station’, working with partners to transition existing sites
Tech giant Google on Monday said it has decided to wind down its ‘Station’ programme globally through 2020, including in India, given that going online has become much easier and cheaper over the last five years. The US-based company said it is working with its partners to transition existing sites so they can remain useful […]