One Thing Today in Tech

Facebook has rebranded itself as Meta. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees the future of the business being built increasingly around the virtual world of metaverse that the company is investing heavily into. Zuckerberg was widely anticipated to reveal the new name at the company’s annual Connect event. Meta will now be the parent company of businesses that comprise the family of apps including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and other services such as the Facebook Reality Labs, which includes the metaverse effort. The name change also follows a series of revelations about the undesirable impact of Facebook—with its close to 4 billion users —as a platform for spreading hate and misinformation that were brought to the fore by a former product manager turned whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Apple reported its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year results and said it was moving closer to its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. The fiscal year 2021 was one in which Apple sales rose 29 percent and the company made inroads into emerging markets. The maker of iPhones doubled its business in India and Vietnam, CEO Tim Cook said in an earnings call. Apple’s fiscal year 2021 that ended September 30, was also one in which supply constraints due to the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage, and disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic hurt sales and profits. In the September quarter alone, Apple sales were lower by $6 billion due to these constraints, Cook told CNBC in an interview.

Amazon reported its fiscal third-quarter results, which showed the online retail giant has slowed down as America opens up after the pandemic. Online sales for the quarter rose only 3 percent during the September quarter, compared with 13 percent in the previous quarter and about 40 percent each in multiple quarters preceding that. Overall sales rose 15 percent helped by the continued strong performance at Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing unit, which grew almost 40 percent.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, a well known Silicon Valley VC firm that has multiple investments in the Indian startup scene as well, is raising more than $5.5 billion for early- and late-stage investments, The Information reports. The fresh pool of capital represents the largest fundraising yet for the 20-year old firm that made early bets on Snap and Affirm.

(3:22) Interview: Tauseef Khan, co-founder and CEO of agri-tech startup Gramophone, on plans ahead after fresh funding

Covid-19 accelerated the adoption of technology even in India’s agri and farm sectors, where previously, despite greater rural penetration, smartphones were not being used by many. The increased adoption is now helping agri startups bring more services to the farmer’s doorstep—from seeds and fertilisers to scientific advice to marketplaces for selling their produce. In today’s interview, Tauseef Khan—co-founder and CEO of Gramophone, an agri-tech startup based in Madhya Pradesh—tells us about expansion plans in a more digital Bharat, after a fresh round of funding.

India successfully tested its surface-to-surface ballistic missile Agni-5 on Wednesday. According to a statement by the Ministry of Defence, it can strike targets at ranges up to 5,000km with a very high degree of accuracy. The successful test of Agni-5, which can carry nuclear bombs, is in line with India's stated policy to have credible minimum deterrence that underpins the commitment to ‘no first use,’ the defence ministry said in the statement.

Merck, an American drug company, will give out the formula for its Covid-19 pill—which could potentially save lives among those at higher risk of hospitalisation from the coronavirus infection—to other pharmaceutical companies worldwide. The drug, known as Molnupiravir, has shown promise in treating the disease. Merck signed the first agreement to license its production with the Medicines Patent Pool—a United Nations-backed public health organisation working to increase access to and facilitate the development of life-saving medicines for low- and middle-income countries.

China has built a quantum computer 10 million times faster than Google’s Sycamore, reports Indiatimes. Created by researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and led by Pan Jianwei, the quantum computing system is called, Zuchongzhi 2.1—after a mathematician from the 5th century. The world’s biggest tech companies including Google, IBM and Honeywell, as well as several startups are in a race to build commercial quantum computers that use qubits, which can exhibit multiple quantum states rather than the binary states of 1 and 0 in current computers.

Snap has hit 100 million monthly active users in India of the Snapchat app, co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said in a virtual event on Wednesday. According to a report by TechCrunch, the company is striking deals with Android smartphone makers, TV channels Sony and Zee TV and e-commerce company Flipkart to expand its reach in the subcontinent. Snap has over 500 million monthly active users worldwide.

Acko has raised $255 million in a new funding round led by General Atlantic and Multiples Private Equity, valuing the four-year-old insurance company at $1.1 billion, Economic Times reports. Canada’s largest pension fund, CPPIB, and Lightspeed Growth as well as existing investors Intact Ventures and Munich Re Ventures also participated in the funding round. Acko will use the money to expand into health insurance, according to ET.

(3:22) Interview: Mohit Yadav, co-founder of REVOS on a peer-to-peer charging network

India is on the cusp of an EV revolution and several emerging startups are building various parts of the ecosystem. In today’s interview, Mohit Yadav, co-founder of REVOS tells Forbes India about his company’s efforts to build a peer-to-peer charging network with a smart-socket based charging point that can be used across different makes of vehicles. The P2P network also allows users to make some money by sharing their electricity.

Google’s parent Alphabet reported strong results for its fiscal third quarter that ended September 30, with better-than-expected ad sales at Google. The company reported revenues for the quarter rose 15 percent in constant currency terms year-on-year to $65.1 billion. Profits rose 68 percent to nearly $19 billion. Google Cloud saw revenues rise to almost $5 billion from $3.45 billion a year ago, with operating losses halving to $640 million.

Zolve, a digital bank, has raised Rs. 300 crore ($40 million) in Series A funding. The round was led by partners of DST Global, who have previously led rounds in prominent fintech companies such as Robinhood, Nubank, Chime, Revolut, and Wealthsimple. The round also saw participation from Tiger Global, Alkeon Capital, as well as existing investors Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The 10-month old startup will use the money to scale up its services, including offering banking services to Indians going to the US. The investment values the startup by Raghunandan G, co-founder of ride-hailing service TaxiForSure, at Rs. 1,575 crore or about $210 million, according to the release.

DeHaat, an agri-tech company in Gurugram, near Delhi, has raised $115 million in Series D funding to expand its operations, Shashank Kumar, co-founder and CEO, tweeted. DeHaat sees itself as a ‘full-stack’ agri platform, meaning it aims to help farmers with everything from farm inputs and finance to scientific information and advice to selling their produce. This investment, co-led by Sofina and Lightrock, is the largest funding round for an agritech startup in India, according to TechCrunch. Temasek and existing investors Prosus Ventures, RTP Global, Sequoia Capital India and FMO also participated in the new round, which brings DeHaat’s total funding to $161 million.

In more agri-startup news, Gramophone, which also offers services similar to DeHaat, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Z3Partners. Gramophone will use the money to expand its operations, including acquiring other ventures, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. Existing investors Info Edge, Asha Impact, and Siana Capital also joined the funding.

Dhruva Space, a space tech startup in Hyderabad, has raised Rs. 22 crores (about $3 million) led by IAN Fund and Blue Ashva Capital, as it gears up to launch satellite-as-a-service, space-grade solar arrays and ground station solutions, in India and abroad. The company made the announcement in a press release on Tuesday. With operations in Hyderabad and Austria, Dhruva is already executing orders worth several millions of dollars and expects to add customers in the US and West Asia.

(3:40) Interview: Sangeeta Bavi, director of startup ecosystem, Microsoft India on the AI Innovate programme.

Sangeeta Bavi spends a lot of time talking to startup founders every day. The director of Microsoft India’s startup ecosystem unit started out as a developer herself and is active in multiple networks, including SaaS BOOMi. In conversation with Forbes India, Sangeeta tells us about AI Innovate, a new programme at Microsoft India, focused on helping startups take advantage of Microsoft’s AI technologies.

Greenhouse emissions continue to rise at an alarming rate, hitting new records. The economic slowdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t slow them down, the World Meteorological Organisation warned on Monday as ministers from countries around the world prepare to meet in Scotland for the COP26 climate talks. COP26 is the next annual UN climate change conference.

COP stands for ‘Conference of the Parties.' The summit will be attended by the countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—a treaty that came into force in 1994.

“Greenhouse gas levels are at new records. Again concentration of CO2 in 2020 was 149 percent of pre-industrial times; Economic slowdown from COVID-19 had no real impact; We are set for an increase much higher than the #ParisAgreement target of 1.5°C-2°C," the WMO said on its Twitter page.

Britain, which is chairing the COP26 talks, said in a press statement that there has been some progress on getting the developed nations to meet the target of contributing $100 billion each, per year, towards climate action.

Tesla hit $1 trillion in market value as America’s biggest electric car maker continues to benefit from the world’s shift towards electric vehicles. Shares in the company surged 12.6 percent on Monday after Tesla struck a $4.2 billion deal with rental car service Hertz, to supply an initial order of 100,000 electric cars and new charging infrastructure by the end of 2022. Tesla joins Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google’s parent company Alphabet in the $1 trillion club as the world’s most valuable companies.

Facebook has said that the operating profits for 2021 will be lower by $10 billion owing to increasing investments in its metaverse plan and augmented reality and virtual reality. That includes its investments in hardware products like the new 128GB Oculus Quest2 headset. The social networking company reported its fiscal third-quarter earnings results after markets in the US on Monday. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that, starting the current quarter, the company will break out additional financial metrics for Facebook Reality Labs—which includes the augmented reality and virtual reality work—and Facebook’s ‘family of apps’—which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other services.

(3:23) Interview: Rajat Verma and Justin Lemmon, co-founders of Lohum Cleantech, on ambitions for cell manufacturing in India

Rajat Verma and Justin Lemmon found themselves next to each other due to the seating arrangements in their MBA class at Harvard Business School back in 2004. They struck up a fast friendship and eventually co-founded Lohum Cleantech, a battery solutions company for the EV and energy storage market. Forbes India caught up with the duo for a quick update on their plans. They spoke about expanding capacity in India; plans for a battery recycling factory in the US; and efforts to get closer to manufacturing the lithium-ion cells themselves in India, for which they are currently reliant on imports from China and South Korea.

Facebook, which sees India as a vital market, is also a platform used for spreading hate and misinformation in the country, Bloomberg reports, citing a 46-page research note that is part of the documents released by Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager who turned whistleblower.

The report — ‘An Indian test user’s descent into a sea of polarizing, nationalist messages’ — shows how little control Facebook has in one of its most important markets, where it has also invested close to $6 billion into a partnership with Reliance Industries, the country’s biggest conglomerate, according to the Bloomberg report, which is behind a paywall, but was also carried by Economic Times.

Meanwhile, Haugen gives evidence, today, to the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Britain’s draft Online Safety Bill. This follows her testimony to the US Congress on Oct. 5. It will be the first public evidence she has given in Europe regarding her experiences at the company and her ideas to regulate social media.

Facebook, which is expected to announce a new name for itself later this week, also reports its latest quarterly results today.

Groww, an online investment platform provider in Bangalore, has raised $251 million in its series E round of venture capital funding, tripling its valuation to $3 billion, TechCrunch reports. The investment was led by Iconic Growth, joined by Alkeon, Lone Pine Capital and Steadfast as well as existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity, Tiger Global, and Propel Venture Partners.

Groww was founded in 2016 by four former Flipkart employees. It has now raised more than $390 million so far, and was valued at $1 billion in April this year.

Clear, which makes the popular tax filing platform ClearTax for consumers, has raised $75 million in series C funding, led by Kora Capital, Stripe, Alua Capital, Think Investments and existing investors. The funds will be used to accelerate Clear’s expansion into lending and payments for business customers, and into international markets.

Clear’s cloud platform grew five-fold in the last 18 months, adding more than 3000 large enterprise customers. It also saw a surge in usage with over one million small businesses on the platform, which now processes more than 10 percent of India’s business invoices with a GMV of $400 billion, according to the company. Clear recently acquired yBANQ to expand into B2B payments.

(3:18) Interview: Shashank Kumar, co-founder and CTO, Razorpay, on RBI’s rules, and finding and nurturing talent in India.

When Shashank Kumar and Harshil Mathur teamed up to start Razorpay, most folks asked them why they were starting another payments gateway, and the duo had little knowledge of the financial sector in India, he recalls. Today, the Bengaluru company has become one of India's best known fintech successes, and a rapidly expanding platform for digital banking, lending, insurance, payroll management and a growing list of other financial services for a large number of customers.

I caught up with Shashank for a quick update, and he spoke about topics including RBI's new rules and how Razorpay attracts and retains talented people. Here's more from our conversation.

Ericsson is one of the world’s biggest telecom equipment makers, already supplying gear to more than half of the world’s telecom operators rolling out 5G networks. The Swedish company has had a presence in India since 1904. Spanning operations and R&D, today it has more employees in India than at home. As India prepares for 5G, the opportunity ahead will unleash tremendous innovation enabled with 5G, Magnus Ewerbring—chief technology officer for the Asia Pacific at Ericsson—tells Forbes India in an interview.

But, it will also take time for mass adoption, given the decadal evolution of each wireless standard. Ewerbring points out that even though 5G has been rolling out in different markets around the world for the past 30 months(some 176 live commercial 5G networks are operating already and Ericsson is a supplier to 97 of them), 4G wireless will still have more subscribers in 2026 than 5G.

By the end of 2026, Ericsson forecasts 3.5 billion 5G subscriptions globally, accounting for around 40 percent of all mobile subscriptions at that time. 4G will remain the dominant mobile access technology by subscription over the forecast period. During Q1 2021 (Jan-March), 4G subscriptions increased by approximately 100 million, worldwide, exceeding 4.6 billion, equaling 58 percent of all mobile subscriptions.

As more subscribers migrate to 5G, it is projected to peak during the year at 4.8 billion subscriptions before declining to around 3.9 billion subscriptions by the end of 2026. The net addition of mobile subscriptions was low during Q1 2021 at 59 million. According to the latest mobility report by Ericsson, this is likely due to the pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions. India had the most net additions (+26 million), followed by China (+6 million) and South Africa (+2 million).

India could have as many as 330 million 5G mobile subscribers by 2026, Ericsson projects in its report. The company estimates that 5G mobile subscriptions worldwide will exceed 580 million by the end of 2021, driven by an estimated one million new 5G mobile subscriptions every day. The forecast, which features in the 20th edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report, shows that 5G will become the fastest adopted mobile generation.

In India too, "the technology is there, the equipment is there. What we need now is to have the radio spectrum becoming available on reasonable terms for the operators to launch their services,” Ewerbring says.

PayPal, is looking to buy Pinterest—a platform that allows people to collect and share content about their interests—as the US payments giant moves to expand into online commerce. PayPal could pay about $70 dollars a share, valuing Pinterest at $39 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Facebook is planning to change its name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, and ambition to be seen as much more than a social media company. Facebook has already announced plans to hire 10,000 people in Europe to advance its plans to build a metaverse—a virtual world on the internet in which people could have digital avatars for work and play.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about the name change at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28, but it could be announced sooner, according to The Verge. The change is seen as something similar to how Google restructured itself to become one of the companies under parent Alphabet.

Facebook, could similarly be one of many products under a parent company overseeing units including Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus.

Apple is conducting a series of more than 100 online live sessions for developers, called Tech Talks. It is also offering 1,500 office hours, over the next eight weeks to provide developers access to information, tips and tutorials on its latest technologies.

Tech Talks will provide an opportunity for developers to directly connect with Apple experts to learn more about new technologies, ask questions, and receive one-on-one guidance. They will also serve as a new way for developers to share direct feedback with Apple team members about their experiences building and distributing apps on the App Store, Apple said in a press release.

Sessions will be conducted online from Apple locations around the world in multiple time zones, including Bangalore, Cupertino, London, Mexico City, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

According to a report by Razorpay, based on data from its customers, startup salaries in India have jumped over the last six months. The pandemic caused many startups to freeze performance appraisals and increments last year. But between April and September this year, the scenario has reversed. Edtech, fintech, and electronics are some of the sectors that witnessed a significant increase in salary spends, according to Razorpay.

Total salary spends rose 43 percent, based on data of 25,000 employees from 360 startups in more than 15 sectors that use Razorpay’s products and platforms.

Some of the other findings include a 52 percent increase in organisations that disbursed bonuses; a 30 percent increase in employee headcount; a 14 percent increase in employee headcount in entry-level roles; and a 50 percent rise in reimbursements in the last 6 months.

(3:39) Interview: Anand Prasanna, managing partner at Iron Pillar on Indian startups going global 

Anand Prasanna's investment career has led him to back companies in India, China and then back in India across multiple marquee investment firms. Over the last five years, Anand and his fellow partners at the VC firm Iron Pillar have been backing startups with an Indian heritage that have found customers worldwide. I spoke with Anand about Iron Pillar's strategy of finding companies at the Series B stage and beyond, helping them to tap multibillion-dollar market opportunities. He also has some advice for aspiring VC investors.

Google released its Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones on Tuesday, which are equipped with some of the AI capabilities that the internet search giant has to offer. Most notably, the new phones have an AI-powered camera system so big that it takes up an entire bar across the width of the phones, jutting out on the back.

The phones run on Google’s Tensor processor, a system-on-chip designed by Google. Reports in August suggested the chip was based on an Exynos chip from Samsung. The Pixel 6 starts at around $600 dollars and the Pixel 6 Pro will set you back by about $900 dollars. The phones will be available in the US from October 28.

Aiven, an open-source data management startup in Finland, has more than doubled its valuation to $2 billion in fresh fundraising, the company’s CEO Oskari Saarenmaa said in a blog post. Aiven has raised $60 million in an extension of a Series C round in which it had raised $100 million in March. The company had been valued at $800 million at the time. The company’s investors include World Innovation Lab, IVP, Atomico, Earlybird, First Fellows, Lifeline Ventures and Salesforce Ventures.

Zoho Corporation, an India-US software products company that makes business management and office productivity software, has introduced six new apps, three new services and seven major platform enhancements in Zoho One—the company’s flagship suite of products. 

The new release helps businesses solve disjointed data challenges and close communications gaps across silos, so they can become more productive, adapt more quickly to remote and hybrid work models, and be better prepared for growth, Zoho said in a press release.

ConveGenius, a Singapore-India ed-tech company, has raised $5 million in funding to develop a conversational AI platform, the company said in a press release. The pre-seed round was led by new investors, BAce Capital, Heritas Capital and 3Lines Venture Capital and existing investors, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

Convegenius.AI aims to expand its products on Whatsapp and other Conversational AI-based channels horizontally, to service more customers across different verticals and allow developers to launch their solutions on the platform.

Devnagri, a startup that offers an Indian language translation engine of the same name, with its focus on business customers, has raised $600,000 in seed funding from Venture Catalyst, Inflection Point Ventures and other co-investors.

Nakul Kundra and Himanshu Sharma, the founders of Devnagri, want to make the internet accessible to Indians in their own languages. The platform combines neural machine translation with machine learning and a community to help with translations. Its AI-human combination can help businesses scale their operations in local languages at lower costs and faster and more accurate translations, according to the company.

(3:52)Interview: Mayur Relekar, CEO of Arcana Network, a blockchain tech company

Mayur Relekar is probably third time lucky with his startup Arcana Network, a blockchain technologies company in Bengaluru that is building a decentralised storage and data privacy platform for developers on the Ethereum network. Relekar and his founders belive the future belongs to decentralised finance and applications and they have raised some funding to build out their first commercial product.

India is revising its space industry policies and is also in the process of bringing in new ones to increase private industry participation, K Sivan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and secretary, department of space, said. He was speaking at the inaugural session on ‘Future of space — international participations and collaborations' at the India pavilion in Dubai’s Expo 2020 trade fair. The policies will enable ISRO to collaborate much more with India’s space tech startups.

Pawan Goenka, chairman of, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) said that India aspires to launch a dozen missions every year as against four or five currently. He also added that the country is working on reusable launch vehicles and other advanced applications.

Apple has unveiled its new MacBook Pro equipped with new processors, the M1 Pro and M1 Max that feature a 16-core Neural Engine. Available in 14-inch and 16-inch models, MacBook Pro delivers superior processing, graphics, and machine learning performance without compromising on battery life, Apple said in a press release. The new MacBook Pro also features a Liquid Retina XDR display, a wide range of ports for advanced connectivity, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, and the best audio system in an Apple laptop. The MacBook Pro starts at about $2000, with orders open now and shipping to customers starting October 26.

Tata Consultancy Services has been selected as a strategic partner by Cainz Corporation, Japan’s leading home improvement company, to accelerate its digital transformation, improve customer experience, and drive growth, India’s top IT company said in a press release.

CAINZ operates 226 stores across 28 prefectures nationwide, making it the largest home improvement retailer in Japan. TCS will set up a new global development centre for Cainz and bring in agile development of software solutions for the retailer, including ‘Find in Cainz’ a mobile app.

Bumble, an online dating app company that allows women to make the first move, has found the next set of women leaders to support through its ‘moves making impact’ feature, the company said in a press release.

Launched in 2019, ‘moves making impact’ is a product feature where Bumble gives back on behalf of every person who makes the first move on its app. Bumble users can choose one of three causes — human rights, women’s health, or inclusive arts and culture — that they want to support through making the first move.

The programme offers up to $60,000 for each woman leader with additional funding from the company over the next 12 months based on the number of first moves made on Bumble that are associated with their cause. The donations will be made to each woman through Vital Voices, a non-profit organisation.

(3:09) Interview: Dhyanesh Bhatt, CEO, GramCover on tapping tech to bring insurance to rural India

Much of rural India doesn’t have any access to insurance, be it agriculture related or personal health cover. And the problem represents a massive opportunity for new tech-enabled insurance startups. I spoke to Dhyanesh Bhatt, CEO of one such company, GramCover, to learn a bit more about how tech can help bring insurance to those who need it in rural India, with innovations that make cover both relevant and affordable. 

China has amped-up its military technology race against the US, demonstrating advanced space capabilities with the test of a new hypersonic missile in August, the Financial Times reports. The missile missed its target by about 24 miles, but the test demonstrated China had made “astounding progress” on hypersonic weapons and was far more advanced than US officials realised, according to the report.

Hypersonic missiles fly at low-altitude trajectories at more than five times the speed of sound. The missile tested by China is said to be of a type that is manoeuvrable and does not follow a fixed trajectory, making it harder to track and defend against. The FT’s report is behind a paywall, but was cited by Business Insider.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s LinkedIn unit is shutting down its current localised version in China due to “a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements,” the company said in a blog post last week. LinkedIn will open a new jobs app, called InJobs, that will not have the social media features of a feed or sharing any posts or articles, according to the company.

Klarna, a Swedish fintech startup built around a buy-now-pay-later product, is introducing a number of changes to its product in the UK, as British financial regulators prepare to tighten rules on the fast-growing practice of offering loans on the go to consumers typically for ecommerce purchases. Buy now pay later is surging in markets including India, where Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm all offer the product.

Backed by some of the world’s biggest investors, including SoftBank Group, Klarna has risen to become one of the world’s most valuable startups. Among the changes it is implementing is stronger credit checks. Klarna said in a press release that it will also introduce the option for users to pay for things in one go, and make it more clear to users that buy-now-pay-later is basically a loan that they will have to repay.

Arcana Network, a blockchain startup that offers a decentralised storage and data privacy platform for Ethereum and EVM compatible app developers, has raised $2.3 million in fresh funding, the company said in a press release. The investment was led by Republic Crypto and Woodstock Fund, and also saw participation from Digital Currency Group, Hyperedge, Paradigm Shift VC and others.

Arcana was founded by Mayur Relekar, Aravindh Kumar, and Abhishek Chaudhary in 2019. It will use the money to expand its team, strengthen its product portfolio, build a community of developers and launch its XAR token.

Interview: Canada’s Startup Visa — a gateway to the US for Indian startups(3:26)

One of the ways Indian startups could crack the North American market is to start with Canada, where a startup-friendly visa programme allows entrepreneurs to tap a vibrant local ecosystem of finance as well as STEM talent, Esha Chopra, director for strategy and marketing at the Toronto Business Development Centre, tells Forbes India in our interview today.

Founders can find flexibility in terms of not only the stipulations for their business but also on the family front, as they can bring in spouses and children and get on a faster path to permanent residency status, Esha says.