Indonesian ride-hailing and payments firm Gojek closed an additional $1.2 billion of funding last week, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. The memo said the company’s total funding stands at just under $3 billion, and added it was still seeing “strong demand” among the investment community despite “turbulence within the tech investment environment […]

Former India cricket team captain M S Dhoni has invested an undisclosed sum in accounting services provider Khatabook. He will also be the brand ambassador of the startup, which helps merchants record and track business transactions. “He (Dhoni) embodies the spirit of true sportsmanship and entrepreneurship. At Khatabook, we aspire to build the same level […]

Amazon on Monday said it would hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers in the United States to deal with a surge in online orders, as many consumers have turned to the web to meet their needs during the coronavirus outbreak. With shoppers clearing out shelves in fear of quarantines or product shortages, retailers are racing […]

Alphabet’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter warned on Monday that more videos and other content could be erroneously removed for policy violations, as the companies empty offices and rely on automated takedown software during the coronavirus pandemic. In a blog post, Google said that to reduce the need for people to come into offices, YouTube and […]

The Supreme Court has announced a slew of measures that will drastically curtail human interface in the judiciary, including options for lawyers to argue their cases through videoconferencing, 24×7 e-filing facilities and a provision to beam proceedings through smart TVs into press rooms inside the court complex, to ward off the novel coronavirus threat. The […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Savvy digital marketers are using Covid-19 (or novel coronavirus) as a keyword to make their products and services visible online, capitalising on the concerns of consumers who search for information and protection against the infection. The spread of the virus has led to a flurry of searches online for tools and tricks […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi The National Restaurant Association of India has reached out to the commissioner of police in Mumbai to seek clarification on the operations of standalone restaurants and bars after a lockdown was initiated on Sunday. “Our understanding is that the circular is very specific to shutting down operations within malls… However, we have […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Shut shops, cancelled airline tickets and slower discretionary spends by consumers on dining out and movies are starting to hurt the country’s fast-growing digital payments sector. With industries across the board seeing a sharp slowdown, the digital payments sector is estimated to have registered a decline of around 30% in transaction value […]

Illustration: Rahul Awasthi Global decentralised cryptocurrency exchange Binance Group has set up a $50 million (Rs 370 crore) blockchain technology fund for India, weeks after the Supreme Court struck down the curbs on cryptocurrency trade in the country. The fund, which plans to invest upwards of $100,000 per startup, promises to open up direct access […]

As the novel coronavirus spreads like wildfire across countries, Microsoft‘s Bing team has launched a web portal to track its progress worldwide. The website provides up-to-date infection statistics for each country. An interactive map allows users to click on the country to see the specific number of cases and related articles from a variety of […]