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Sep 22
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Narzo 20 Series Is Built To Cater To Performance Seekers: Madhav Sheth

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Narzo 20 Series Is Built To Cater To Performance Seekers: Madhav Sheth

Published on 22nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

The success of narzo 10 series gave us confidence and motivation to step further to cover the wider price segment, attempting to meet the needs of young gamers and performance seekers and offer them a variety like portrait lens. How is the narzo 20 series different from the narzo 10 series? Narzo 20 is our series upgrade over narzo 10 and with the new 20 series, we have brought more features and options to the Indian consumers. “Powerful Processor” – narzo series is known for being performance-oriented and all three products – narzo 20 Pro, narzo 20 and narzo 20A feature best-in-segment processors to cater to young players. Narzo 20 Pro has the world’s leading MediaTek G95 SoC, narzo 20 has a MediaTek G85 gaming processor and narzo 20A offers Qualcomm Snapdragon 665. Will the new narzo 20 series cater to this audience? Yes, narzo 20 series exactly caters to this and brings the world’s leading gaming-focused chipsets with MediaTek Helio G95 SoC and MediaTek G85 SoC in 20 Pro and 20 respectively, while the powerful Snapdragon 665 processor is brought to narzo 20A for the first time in this price.

Sep 22
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Charged Up By Demand From B2B Companies, Hero Electric To Design Customised E-Scooters For Segment

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Charged Up By Demand From B2B Companies, Hero Electric To Design Customised E-Scooters For Segment

Published on 22nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

Hero Electric, India’s biggest electric two-wheeler company, is witnessing a steady increase in demand for electric scooters from companies that specialise in last-mile deliveries. Logistics providers of e-commerce companies such as Flipkart or those hired by Amazon and others, as well as food delivery agents of Zomato and Swiggy are switching to electric scooters. With an eye on this segment, Delhi-based Hero Electric is developing e-scooters specifically for institutional, business-to-business buyers. According to a senior Hero Electric executive, such e-scooters promise better cost dynamics than personal scooters. “It is difficult to convince a personal buyer to give up petrol and switch to electric. But in the B2B segment it is much easier. To ride 80 km, someone may be using two litres of petrol, which is more than Rs 160 a day. But in the case of electric, the same range can be done in four units of electricity, which is around Rs 30. This is a very appealing cost proposition for the B2B customer,” Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric, said in an interview with Moneycontrol. Electric two-wheelers saw a jump of 20 percent in sales to 152,000 units in FY20, up from 126,000 units in FY19, according to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicle.

Sep 22
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HCL Tech Acquires Australian IT Firm DWS For $115.8 Million

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HCL Tech Acquires Australian IT Firm DWS For $115.8 Million

Published on 22nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

NEW DELHI: HCL Technologies has announced the acquisition of Australian IT firm DWS Ltd for $115.8 million in a bid to further expand its digital offerings especially in Australia and New Zealand. The DWS Group closed FY 2020 with revenues of $ 122.9 million and has over 700 employees with operations in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Canberra. “Michael Horton, Executive Vice President & Country Manager, Australia & New Zealand, HCL Technologies, said”We are excited for this expansion of HCL Technologies in Australia and New Zealand and are confident that our combined strengths will further accelerate the digital transformation journeys of our clients and innovations for their end customers. HCL has invested in the region for over 20 years and is committed to enabling digitilisation and growing the local ecosystem, he added. HCL currently employs 1600 people in major cities, including Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. Danny Wallis, CEO and Managing Director, DWS said, “We are delighted the DWS team is joining HCL. This acquisition represents an outstanding outcome for all DWS stakeholders: shareholders, employees, clients and other business partners.”

Sep 22
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MPL Bags $90m; Valuation Rises To $450 Million

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MPL Bags $90m; Valuation Rises To $450 Million

Published on 22nd Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

Bengaluru: Gaming startup Mobile Premier League has raised $90 million in its latest financing round, its top executive told ET. The company also executed a buyback of employee stock ownership plans worth $3.2 million as part of the fundraising. The latest round, valuing the real money competitive mobile gaming platform at $450 million, was led by SIG Global and RTP Global, along with MDI Ventures and Pegasus Tech Ventures. Existing investors Sequoia India, Go-Ventures and Base Partners also participated in the round. MPL’s early investor also includes Times Internet, a part of the Times group, which publishes this paper. This takes the total investment raised by the two-year-old firm to $130.5 million. “Our goal, with respect to this fundraise, is to set us up to go to multiple international markets… and, separately, as a part of this raise we are doing a significant Esop buyback,” Sai Srinivas, cofounder and CEO of MPL, told ET.”This valuation is more of a validation of the business. We look at long-term success as listing our company on the Nasdaq or equivalent exchange,” he said. MPL is a gaming platform that offers more than 70 real-money games, including fantasy sports, rummy, poker, chess, 3D pool, ludo, and carrom.

Sep 21
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34K Startups Gave Direct Employment To 4.2L: Government Data

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34K Startups Gave Direct Employment To 4.2L: Government Data

Published on 21st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

BENGALURU: Emerging as a major job creator, more than 34,000 startups, as of September 2020, gave direct employment of over 4.2 lakh people. According to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry, the department for promotion of industry and internal trade has so far recognised 36,106 startups, of which 34,267 have self-reported employment data. The 4.2 lakh count is a significant increase from the 1.9 lakh such jobs startups created in 2016. Guruprasad Mohapatra, secretary, DPIIT, told TOI, “The figures have been provided by startups registered with us. The registration enables them to avail some direct and indirect tax benefits. It also helps them gain access to other departments and ministries of the central government. But yes, not all startups register with us.” The latest data trend shows that 36% of the jobs were created in Maharashtra and Karnataka, which are also states that have the most number of startups, followed by Delhi. V Balakrishnan, chairman, Exfinity Ventures, a venture capitalist firm that invests in startups, said, “The overall number is positive, but new employment is happening only in patches. The startup job environment is not so bad, but it is not as good as last year as firms are more concerned about fundraising and business management.”

Sep 21
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How Fintech Can Provide Innovative Financing Solutions To India’s EV Sector

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How Fintech Can Provide Innovative Financing Solutions To India's EV Sector

Published on 21st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

Here, the Fintechs, with their innovative solutions, have stepped up their contribution to the growth of the sector. Fintech solutions for the EV industry Fintechs offer speed, ease and reach to the EV industry. Credit supply solutions for potential buyers – Access to finance for buying e-rickshaw is difficult for the buyer. Digital payment solutions – Fintechs are looking to drive digital payments in the commercial e-rickshaw first/last-mile delivery segment. Other innovative digital solutions – Embedded IOT devices help lenders and insurers to keep track of vehicles, limit the range of vehicle movement through geo-fencing or immobilize vehicles in case of theft. Fintechs supporting the EV ecosystem – Fintechs are playing a significant role in developing the ecosystem for electric vehicles, through tie-ups with insurance providers; partnerships with battery manufacturers to finance replacement batteries; creating an instalment-cum-subscription model to make it easier for buyers to buy the vehicle. A healthy combination of digital technologies of fintechs, eCommerce players, insurers, in addition to support from the government, spell a fantastic time of growth for the EV sector in India.

Sep 21
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Mandi Alternatives: How Agri-Tech Startups Beat The Lockdown Blues

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Mandi Alternatives: How Agri-Tech Startups Beat The Lockdown Blues

Published on 21st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

Gurgaon: While the farmers’ union protests against the Centre’s agriculture reform ordinances, now bills, the alternative path for farm produce that these legislations seek to open up – outside the mandi chain – has been evident for the past six months. That’s how a Sonipat farmer found a reseller in a Gurgaon condominium. Another in west UP found the tomatoes and brinjals he grew being delivered by food aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato in Delhi-NCR. It began with the lockdown, which froze all gears of the mandi machinery, setting off a desperate search for ways to sell millions of tonnes of farm produce. How startups linked farmers and merchantsOn June 5, the Centre passed the ordinance ending the monopoly of APMCs and allowing farmers to opt to sell directly to private players. In the March-August period, when the economy hit rock bottom, startups marketing farm produce all registered significant growth. Farmers who tied up with startups saved on transportation, unlike in the mandi system where they have to carry it themselves.

Sep 21
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Vedantu Co-Founder Launches Edtech Platform Uable

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Vedantu Co-Founder Launches Edtech Platform Uable

Published on 21st Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

NEW DELHI: Saurabh Saxena, co-founder of online tutoring platform Vedantu and Lakshya, is on to his third entrepreneurial venture with Uable, a life skill development online platform for kids. Uable focuses on the 6-12 year-old category and aims to nurture creative intelligence and develop future-ready skills among them through playful learning methods. Most edtech startups primarily focus on school curriculum for students and online entrance exam preparation for college students. Saxena made an exit from Vedantu in 2018 after a successful stint with the live tutoring startup for about eight years. Saxena said his aim is to make Uable a one-stop platform for beyond-curriculum learning for children and bridge the skill gap even before a child finishes from school. In June, 2019, Uable raised seed funding from venture capital firm 3one4 capital and a clutch of angel investors including Pine Labs’ CEO Amrish Rau. “We are growing 50% month on month,” said Saxena, adding that Uable makes sense in a post-covid world.

Sep 19
0

Paytm App Removed From Google Play Store

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Paytm App Removed From Google Play Store

Published on 19th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

Google has removed Paytm’s mobile application from its mobile app store platform Play Store. The app could have been removed because of Paytm First Games, sources said. Paytm, in a statement shared on Twitter, said its Android app is temporarily unavailable on Google’s Play Store for new downloads or updates but will be back very soon. Sources pointed out that Google does not allow apps to redirect users to other platforms from within the apps and, in this case, Paytm was doing it for Paytm First Games, they said. “This includes, if an app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money or cash prizes, it is a violation of our policies,” the blog post read. Google said the developer is always notified and the app removed till it complies with the guidelines. While Google did not specify which service on the Paytm app was non-compliant, sources pointed fingers at Paytm First Games that offers cash prizes against participation in paid tournaments. Moneycontrol found that other Paytm applications like Paytm Money and Paytm for Business are still available on the Google Play Store.

Sep 19
0

Zuper Raises $1.1 Mn From Prime Venture Partners And Others

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Zuper Raises $1.1 Mn From Prime Venture Partners And Others

Published on 19th Sept, 2020 | 1 min read

Workforce management platform Zuper has raised $1.1 million in seed funding from Prime Venture Partners along with other investors Gunderson Dettemer and Gemba Capital. Zuper is a SaaS-based mobile first workforce management platform that helps businesses modernise operations and provide on-demand customer experience. Zuper was founded in August 2016 with offices in Seattle, US and Chennai by Raghav Gurumani, Karthik Rao and Vijay Narasiman. Anand Subbaraj, joined Zuper as its chief executive in 2020, having spent more than 13 years in Microsoft as a head of product in Azure Data. The company claims that enterprises and mid-sized businesses which have used Zuper have benefited from 50 percent increase in workforce utilization, 35 percent reduction in service turnaround time, 45 percent increase in customer adoption and profitability, and 30 percent reduction in costs. The solution helps businesses across different industries ensure their workforce stays compliant and up-to-date with the latest COVID-19 protocols and guidelines. “We formulated our hypothesis based on our own experiences with customer service and started reaching out to service businesses in different parts of the world…we soon realized that it was a huge global problem that needs to be tackled at scale using a modern technology solution,” said Anand Subbaraj, co-founder, Zuper.