One Thing Today in Tech

Wipro and Pandorum Technologies, a biotechnology company working in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, have teamed up to develop technologies that shorten time-to-market and maximise patient outcomes during R&D and clinical trials of regenerative medicine; Walmart Global Tech and IIT Madras will collaborate on research, and continued education for Walmart associates; And Blinkit raises money from Zomato, ET reports.

Wipro and Pandorum Technologies, a biotechnology company working in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, have teamed up to develop technologies that shorten time-to-market and maximise patient outcomes during R&D and clinical trials of regenerative medicine, India’s fourth biggest IT services company said in a press release yesterday.

Walmart Global Tech is partnering Indian Institute of Technology Madras to accelerate research in new areas of technology, provide Walmart associates with continuing education and collaborate on projects for Corporate Social Responsibility for their India operations, the retail giant said in a press release.

IITM students and WGT associates will work on research projects together, facilitated by the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (IC&SR) at IITM.

Blinkit (formerly Grofers), has closed an additional $100 million in financing as a part of its ongoing fundraise, Economic Times reports. The funds are being raised through convertible notes from Zomato, which will later be converted into equity, according to ET. This is a part of a larger $400-million funding Blinkit is looking to raise from Zomato and other investors, which is expected to close in the next two quarters, according to ET.

Ninjacart, an agri-platform provider, has acquired Tecxprt, a company with expertise in integrating cloud software. Ninjacart didn’t provide any financial details.

Ambee, an environmental intelligence company that supplies hyperlocal environmental data in real-time, has launched ‘SmartFarming Data’, a new offering that brings data science techniques to farmers and agribusinesses to improve the health of their farms.

‘SmartFarming Data’ by Ambee will help farmers understand their farms better, mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture, take measures to monitor and mitigate soil degradation, and increase agricultural productivity using environmental data, according to a press release.

Loco, a game streaming startup, has raised $42 million as it looks to build what it has described to some investors as “Twitch for India,” TechCrunch reports.

The startup — run by Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, who previously co-founded content platform Pocket Aces — has raised about $51 million to date. Pocket Aces acquired Loco in 2018.

Kuku FM, an audio content platform provider, has secured Series B funding of $19.5 million led by South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON, according to a press release. The round also saw participation from its existing investors including 3one4 Capital, Vertex Ventures, and India Quotient, with Founder Bank Capital and Verlinvest joining as new investors.

Mentor Match, an ed-tech startup, has raised $1 million in its pre-seed round of funding from Sapient Fund a US-based seed-stage venture fund led by Karthik Sundaram, according to a press release.

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US President Joe Biden issued a new executive order on Wednesday on regulating cryptocurrencies in America, laying out a broad strategy for how the government plans to balance consumer protection without stifling innovation. Amazon shares surged on its plan for a 20-1 stock split, Bloomberg reports. And Money View, a fintech startup, Jiffy.ai, a B2B automation platform and Atlan, a data management venture, have all raised substantial funding.

The Reserve Bank of India yesterday launched additional features on the Unified Payments Interface platform that will allow people to make payments even on basic feature phones, which are still widely used in India.

Considering that there are more than 40 crore feature phone mobile subscribers in the country, UPI123pay will materially improve the options for such users to access UPI, it said.

Google has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mandiant, a leader in dynamic cyber defence and response, for $23.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion, inclusive of Mandiant’s net cash.

According to the release, The acquisition of Mandiant will complement Google Cloud’s existing strengths in security.

In more Google Cloud news, the company has won a contract from Walmart’s ecommerce unit Flipkart.

Apple yesterday announced its latest iPhone SE, which has the company’s A15 Bionic chip, a larger battery than the previous model and 5G wireless support. The new SE retains the home button and touch sensor, along with the compact 4.7-inch display. It has tougher glass than its predecessor, the same IP67 water resistance, but supports wireless charging.

The phone is available in three colours — midnight, starlight, and red. iPhone SE will be available for pre-order this Friday, March 11, with availability beginning Friday, March 18. Prices in India start from Rs. 43,900, with no-cost EMIs available for qualifying credit cards.

Swiggy, a food and groceries delivery service in India, has hired bankers as it gears up for an initial public offering next year to raise as much as $1 billion, TechCrunch reports.

The Bangalore startup was valued at $10.7 billion after a funding round in January this year. The company, backed by investors including Prosus Ventures, Accel and SoftBank Group, has hired JP Morgan and ICICI Securities to help it with the listing, according to TechCrunch.

InfoEdge is acquiring a 76 percent stake in Aisle, an Indian dating app provider, for Rs. 91 crores. With both Aisle and Jeevansathi, InfoEdge will look to strengthen its products in the matchmaking segment, the company said in a press release yesterday. Able Joseph, Founder and CEO of Aisle will continue to run Aisle.

Cooby, a Taiwan-based conversation management tool provider, has raised $2.9 million to date, led by Sequoia India’s Surge and Pear VC. Cooby is the first Taiwan startup to raise funding from Surge, according to a press release.

Wizzy, an advanced site search solution for e-commerce stores and marketplaces, has raised nearly $300,000 in fresh funding from several investors, the 100X.VC portfolio startup said in a press release. The company will use the funds to develop its product, amplify its reach to store and marketplace owners around the world.

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Amazon is allegedly employing suppliers in China with links to forced labour, according to a report from the Tech Transparency Project, a research group owned by the nonprofit watchdog organisation Campaign for Accountability. The report accuses Amazon of continuing to work with these suppliers, despite evidence of their association with Uyghur labour camps in China, and in one case, continuing to buy from a supplier that has been sanctioned by the US government for employing forced labour in China. In China, programmes euphemistically called “labour transfers” move workers from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a predominantly Muslim area in western China, to factories in other parts of the country, according to the Tech Transparency Project (TTP). Three Amazon suppliers are reported to have used forced labour directly: Luxshare Precision Industry, AcBel Polytech, and Lens Technology. Another two, GoerTek and Hefei BOE Optoelectronics, are themselves supplied by factories that have been implicated in forced labour, according to TTP.

Better.com, the online mortgage lender, whose CEO callously laid off 900 people over a zoom call three months ago, is about to lay off roughly half of its staff of about 8,000 this week, TechCrunch reports, citing sources within the company. This new round of layoffs is expected to happen tomorrow. The majority of its staff are in sales and operations roles, but the layoff is believed to be impacting the whole company and will directly affect approximately 4,000 people. Better.com has employees around the world, including in the US and India, according to TechCrunch.

Electric two-wheelers are on the cusp of mass adoption in India, data from the Federation of Automobiles Dealers Association shows (FADA). Sales of electric two-wheelers jumped 433 percent to 32,443 units in February 2022, compared with 6,083 for the year-earlier period. Electric passenger vehicles also rose, by about 300 percent, to more than 2,350 units. Hero Electric, Okinawa Autotech, Ampere Vehicles and Ather Energy all saw big jumps in their sales. And Ola Electric saw sales of more than 3,900 electric scooters, according to FADA.

Eruditus, an ed-tech startup focused on executive education, has closed a $350 million debt financing from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to fund its acquisition plans overseas, Economic Times reports, citing co-founder Ashwin Damera. Eruditus, which is backed by investors including SoftBank Group, is in talks for strategic acquisitions and plans to spend as much as $1 billion on these purchases, according to ET. The company plans to grow its gross annual bookings by 90 percent to around $950 million in the fiscal year 2023, as against an estimated $500 million in this fiscal year ending March 31.

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Meesho is preparing for an IPO as early as 2023, Reuters reports, citing an internal company document it has seen. According to Reuters, the Bangalore company is working to be ready for a listing by the end of 2022 and is evaluating both Indian and US exchanges. Ninjacart, an agri-tech platform provider, has launched a $25 million fund. And CredAvenue has raised $137 million, tripling its valuation in the process, according to ET. 

Meesho is preparing for an IPO as early as 2023, Reuters reports, citing an internal company document it has seen. According to Reuters, the Bangalore company is working to be ready for a listing by the end of 2022 and is evaluating both Indian and US exchanges.

Meesho, which raised $570 million in September last year, is moving away from its social commerce roots to become a larger e-commerce company. Its venture capital investors valued it at $4.9 billion in September.

CredAvenue, an online debt marketplace for businesses, has raised $137 million in funding led by Insight Partners, B Capital Group and Dragoneer, Economic Times reports. According to ET, existing investors also participated, and the company’s valuation has tripled to $1.3 billion from September last. Nikhil Sachdev, managing director at Insight Partners, will join CredAvenue’s board of directors.

Ninjacart, an agri-tech platform provider, has launched a $25 million fund to support emerging and new-age startups in the agriculture sector, the company said in a press release. Ninjacart will make seed investments in new startups, as well as exceptional tech teams even though they may not immediately have specific ideas or solutions.

Apollo.io, a San Francisco company that provides a sales intelligence and engagement platform, has closed $110 million in a Series C funding led by Sequoia Capital, along with existing investors Tribe Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and NewView Capital, the company said in a press release.

With this funding, the Silicon Valley company, which also has a Bangalore centre, will accelerate its product-led growth, nearly tripling its investment in product and engineering. The company has raised over $150 million to date.

Nasscom has announced a Launchpad Programme for Canada in partnership with the Province of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the City of Brampton that will help Indian tech companies expand into the North American Market, the Indian tech lobby said in a press release on Friday.

Log9 Materials, a battery cell technologies company, has entered into a three-year agreement to collaborate on a mutual-interest basis with the Centre for Automotive Research and Tribology at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, the Bangalore startup said in a press release.

Aston Martin has teamed up with lithium-ion battery cell technologies company Britishvolt to make batteries for the British luxury car maker’s high-performance vehicles, according to Green Car Reports.

Aston Martin plans to launch its first battery-electric vehicle in 2025, which is expected to directly replace one of the automaker’s current front-engine sports cars. The automaker also aims to provide an electrified powertrain option to all new product lines by 2026.

The company expects 95 percent of its lineup to be electrified (meaning hybrid or all-electric) by 2030, with the remaining 5 percent retaining gasoline-only powertrains limited to track use.

Green Car Reports

https://shrtm.nu/POZ6

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Mfine, a digital health platform provider, has launched a Heart Rate Monitoring Tool on its mobile app that uses the phone’s camera flash. Infosys and Roland-Garros have renewed their partnership for another five years. Filo, Docsumo, and Pocketly raise funding. Plus, Tide, UK, has a plan to support 500,000 women entrepreneurs.

Notes:

Mfine, a digital health platform provider, has launched a Heart Rate Monitoring Tool on its mobile app, the Bangalore company said in a press release. The app uses the smartphone’s camera flash to measure the ebb and flow of blood at the fingertips as the heart pumps blood. It is currently able to measure the heart rate at 90 percent medical accuracy, according to Mfine’s press release.

The company expects to launch glucose monitoring and blood pressure measurement via its app by the end of this year.

Infosys, and Roland-Garros, have renewed their three-year partnership for another five years, the Bangalore based Indian IT services giant said in a press release. Roland-Garros and Infosys have brought new digital experiences for the entire tennis ecosystem, introducing solutions that use AI, cloud computing, and analytics.

The contract renewal will see Infosys continue to develop broadcast and technology innovations, and launch a new social inclusion initiative at Roland-Garros 2022.

Daimler Truck has announced the launch of its Daimler Truck Innovation Center India at Bangalore, the German truck maker said in a press release yesterday. The centre will serve as the backbone for all innovations and technology developments for Daimler Truck globally including Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, Fuso, Bharat Benz, and EvoBus.

Tide, a UK based business financial platform, with operations and an imminent launch in India, has announced a target of supporting 500,000 women-led businesses to start up, over the next five years, the company said in a press release. This move comes on the heels of Tide’s ‘Women in Business’ initiative in the UK and the company’s plan to work as an incubator for women business owners in India. Through this initiative, Tide aims to help women-led SMEs start and grow their businesses.

Filo, an instant live tutoring startup, has raised $23 million in Series A funding led by Anthos Capital, the company said in a press release. The round also saw participation from existing investor Better Capital along with GSV, Sapling Capital, and many individual investors. Filo will use the money for product development, expanding the team, tapping new categories, and expanding its tutor base across the country.

Docsumo, a document management software provider in Singapore, has raised $3.5 million in seed capital, the company said in a press release. The round was led by Common Ocean with participation from Fifth Wall, Arbor Realty Trust, and existing investor Better Capital. Docsumo will use the money to expand its client base in the North American market and grow the team.

Pocketly, an online lender to young adults, has raised $3 million in debt and equity funding as part of its Pre-Series A round. The round was led by Dholakia Ventures, with several angel investors joining in. The company is part of 100x.VC’s first batch. It is now serving more than 100,000 borrowers and is currently disbursing more than Rs. 250 crore annually.

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Mindtree’s founders have closed the inaugural fund at their early-stage venture capital firm Mela Ventures at Rs. 320 crore, well exceeding their initial target of Rs. 200 crore, Economic Times reports. EV company Ather Energy sold 2,042 scooters in February this year, a 140 percent increase over the same month in 2021. Plus, Sony has released a new wireless headphone for bass enthusiasts.

Notes:

Mindtree founders’ VC firm closes first fund at 320 crore rupees

Mindtree’s founders have closed the inaugural fund at their early-stage venture capital firm Mela Ventures at Rs. 320 crore, well exceeding their initial target of Rs. 200 crore, Economic Times reports.

Krishnakumar Natarajan and Parthasarathy NS started Mela after leaving Mindtree, their Bangalore based IT services company which was acquired by Larsen & Toubro Group. They will back companies in the business-to-business segment. Mela achieved the first close in August 2020 when it secured Rs. 130 crore from investors.

The fund of funds from India’s Small Industries Development Bank contributed a significant portion of Mela’s first fund, while the rest came from investors including Nippon India Digital Fund, several family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, according to ET.

EV company Ather can’t keep up with demand

Ather Energy sold 2,042 scooters in February this year, a 140 percent increase over the same month in 2021, the company said in a newsletter. The company could have sold many more if it had been able to make them faster, according to the newsletter. Ather says that February’s sales represent a fraction of the Bangalore-based electric scooter maker’s pending pre-orders.

Bizongo sees jump in revenue as textile units adopt its tech

Bizongo, which provides an online platform for small manufacturers to digitalise their operations, saw its revenues increase 20-times to Rs. 600 crore in the last 11 months, on an annualised basis, as its solutions saw rapid adoption by the textile hubs of the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, the Bangalore startup said in a press release yesterday.

A substantial part of the growth is driven by the digitalised and automated supply chain financing solution provided to manufacturers to help them with their credit and working capital needs. Bizongo has been helping MSMEs with collateral-free and minimum documentation working capital lines, according to the press release.

Student loan startup Kuhoo raises $20 mln in seed funding

Kuhoo, a fintech startup providing student loans, has raised $20 million in seed funding from WestBridge Capital. The Mumbai-based company founded by Prashant Bhonsle, a former banker, aims to provide online loans to students aspiring to study in universities in India and abroad. The company’s products will cover engineering, MBA, executive education, online courses, coaching classes, and even-new age courses, it said in a press release.

Sony releases WH-XB910 with more bass

Sony India has launched a new overhead wireless headphones WH-XB910 featuring the company’s EXTRA BASS technology, the company said in a press release on February 28th. The headphones are equipped with 40 mm drivers and they offer club-like bass, improved noise cancellation with dual-sensor noise technology, adaptive sound control, and up to 30 hours of battery life. The headphones are now on sale and will set you back by about Rs 15,000.

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Biocon Biologics has struck a $3.335 billion cash-and-stock deal with US pharmaceuticals company Viatris to acquire its global biosimilars business including rights in the partnered in-licensed portfolio. Infosys has launched a ‘metaverse foundry’ to fast-track its customers’ adoption of the online environment. And Prime Venture Partners, a Bangalore VC firm focused on early-stage startups has closed its latest fund at $120 million.

Notes:

Biocon Biologics acquires Viatris’s biosimilars unit for $3.35 billion

Biocon Biologics has struck a deal with US pharmaceuticals company Viatris to acquire its global biosimilars business including rights in a partnered in-licensed portfolio. This acquisition gives Bangalore-based Biocon Biologics access to Viatris’ commercial engine in developed and emerging markets and will be value accretive, the subsidiary of Indian biopharma company Biocon, said in a press release.

The cash-and-stock deal is valued at $3.335 billion and will give Biocon Biologics access to Viatris global biosimilars business projected to be a $1 billion business by revenue in 2023.

“This acquisition is transformational and will create a unique fully integrated, world-leading biosimilars enterprise,” Biocon’s founder and chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said in the press release.

Infosys launches ‘Metaverse Foundry’ as a cloud service

Infosys, India’s second-biggest IT services provider, has launched a ‘metaverse foundry’ to fast-track its customers’ adoption of the online environment, the company said in a press release last week. The foundry will include virtual and augmented environments, for their end customers, workplaces, products and operations.

The metaverse foundry brings together domain and design expertise, platforms and digital accelerators, with strong relationships in a rich creator-partner economy, Infosys said. Customers can use this as a cloud-based service, to build their own metaverse environments, deliver signature experiences in an existing metaverse, and take advantage of advanced AI-powered data analytics and simulations.

Prime VP closes the fourth fund at $120 million

Prime Venture Partners, an early-stage India-focused VC firm, has secured the final close of its fourth fund, at $120 million, the company said in a press release last week. The fund was oversubscribed and has exceeded its target of $100 million in commitments and will invest in startups in FinTech, EdTech, HealthTech, Consumer Internet and Global SaaS.

With this closing, the new fund takes the total capital under management across all Prime VP funds to more than $250 million.

GigForce raises more funding to take the total to $6 million

GigForce, a B2B on-demand gig-tech platform, has raised fresh funding from Meraki Labs taking its total funding to $6 million, the company said in a press release. VC firm Endiya Partners had led Gigforce’s last round, with participation from Unitus Ventures and angel investors.

The platform aims to provide employers with a predictable and flexible demand fulfilment solution at scale and helps gig workers up-skill, earn, and develop their careers.

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Hasura raises $100 million to expand SaaS product, becomes a unicorn

Hasura, which provides software for developers to connect disparate sources of data, has secured $100 million in funding in a round led by Greenoaks with participation from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Vertex Ventures, the company said in a press release.

The Series C round brings the total capital raised by Hasura to $136.5 million and the company’s valuation to $1 billion. Hasura plans to use the funding to accelerate research and development and expand go-to-market activities globally for the company’s GraphQL Engine, which makes it fast and easy for even those with zero GraphQL expertise to compose a GraphQL API from existing APIs and databases.

Vymo raises $22 million in series C funding

Vymo, an Intelligent Sales Engagement platform for Financial Institutions, has raised $22 million in Series C funding, led by Bertelsmann India Investments with existing investors Emergence Capital and Sequoia Capital participating. As part of the financing, BII’s Rohit Sood will be joining the company’s board.

In 2021 Vymo saw over 20 percent quarterly growth, 142 percent net retention rate, zero logo churn, entry into the US with wins like Berkshire Hathaway, and onboarding some of the largest Insurers in Japan, co-founder and CEO Yamini Bhat said in a press release yesterday. The latest funding will help Vymo go after a market opportunity to provide sales intelligence estimated at $10 billion.

Wipro Ventures invests in vFunction in cloud services partnership

Wipro, India’s fourth-biggest IT services provider, has formed a joint go-to-market partnership with vFunction, a Palo Alto-based startup that has developed a technology platform for modernising Java applications and accelerating migration to the cloud, the Bangalore company said in a press release yesterday.

The partnership will strengthen Wipro’s cloud services business. In conjunction with this partnership, Wipro Ventures, the corporate investment arm of Wipro, has invested in vFunction’s Series A funding round to deepen the strategic partnership. Wipro didn’t provide financial details.

UMG launches Def Jam India to take Indian rap to other markets

Universal Music Group has launched Def Jam India, a new label division within India and South Asia dedicated to representing the best hip-hop and rap talent from the region, the Dutch-American music corporation said in a press release yesterday. Def Jam India will follow the blueprint of the iconic Def Jam Recordings label, which has led and influenced the cutting-edge in hip-hop and urban culture for more than 35 years.

UMG aims to tap the growing popularity of hip-hop as a genre in India and take Indian hip hop to other markets. Artists it has signed on already include Dino James and Fotty Seven.

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India is formulating rules to get all its states to share data via a common searchable database, according to a draft policy document released on Monday by the country’s Ministry of Electronics and IT, Economic Times reports. Eka Software is in talks to be acquired by PE firms. Plus, AI can’t claim its own art, US officials copyright officials decide