Startup Around

Indian Railways’ Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala has developed a prototype of a ventilator named ‘Jeevan’ to be used in isolation wards or quarantine facilities on train coaches across India.

This holds particular significance as it is the first such development to come from a manufacturing unit directly and was developed in a week’s time.

The ICMR is to begin testing the device soon.

Ravinder Gupta, General Manager of RCF says that the cost without the compressor should be under 10,000 Rupees, a fraction of the price of a standard ventilator. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586242805.4138973/Indian-Railways-Develops-Low-Cost-Ventilator-Prototype-in-a-Week?ref=audio_experience

India's growth could slip below three percent in the current fiscal if COVID-19 proliferates within India, lockdown extended and global economy slips into recession, a KPMG report said.

The KPMG report presented three scenarios to explain the economic effects of COVID--19.

In the second scenario where India is able to control COVID-19 spread, but there is a significant global recession, the KPMG report said India's growth is expected to be in the range of 4-4.5 percent.

India's growth may fall below 3 percent under this scenario," it added.

These growth projections compare to an estimated 5 percent growth rate in 2019-20. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586241006.0740209/India's-growth-may-slip-below-3-pc-in-FY21-if-COVID-19-proliferates:-KPMG?ref=audio_experience

Airbnb on Monday announced it was taking a billion dollars in new investment to endure and, it hoped, thrive in a travel world transformed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners will invest the money into the home-sharing platform in the form of debt and equity, according to Airbnb.

Airbnb employees started the fund with a million dollars, and the two co-founders contributed another $9 million, according to the company.

Airbnb is also helping hosts with financial losses after guests cancelled travel plans.

It has set aside $250 million for hosts to help cover the cost of COVID-19 cancellations. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586239206.0238554/Airbnb-gets-$1B-investment-for-coronavirus-recovery?ref=audio_experience

In a health crisis medical helplines — as many people are now discovering first hand — quickly get overwhelmed.

So when Microsoft offered a free chatbot that could help handle some of the call volume, Lippert jumped at the offer.

But so far, we haven’t seen any cases where people didn’t call us because a chatbot missed the signs,” says Lippert.

Meanwhile, call volumes on the two medical helplines have returned to “nearly normal” levels.

It worked well enough that the chatbot service was rolled out beyond just the initial Copenhagen area to all of Denmark. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586237405.3868914/Chatbots-take-the-strain-from-Denmarks-emergency-helplines?ref=audio_experience

BENGALURU: Zivame has brought on board Yash Dayal as its chief technology officer ( CTO ), said a company statement.

Dayal will build and lead the technology and engineering vision and shoulder the responsibility of building Zivame into a highly personalised platform for consumers with a strong data orientation.Prior to this, he was a senior director for Myntra and Jabong .

He was the technology leader for Myntra apps and the Myntra insider programme, and was also instrumental in building the tech systems for Myntra Fashion SuperStar.

He comes with rich experience in building highly scalable technology products and leading high performing engineering teams.“Yash brings a wealth of industry experience and we look forward to his contribution in making Zivame a personal and inclusive platform for our consumers along with driving efficiencies in supply chain and operations.

I am eager to build on the seamless and hyper-personalised experience for our consumers and also harness the numerous opportunities to leverage data science for improving efficiencies in the warehouse operations, demand and inventory management and logistics,” said Dayal. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586235605.2091596/Zivame-appoints-new-chief-technology-officer?ref=audio_experience

Covid 19: As cities go for lockdown, out of nowhere Zoom has become the video calling app of choice | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586233805.388648/Covid-19:-From-Shamli-to-Bhatinda,-education-in-Tier-III-cities-and-villages-move-to-WhatsApp,-YouTube?ref=audio_experience

Gurugram and Patna-based agritech platform DeHaat has raised Series A funding of $12 million led by Sequoia Capital.

The platform will use some of the new funding to automate its supply chain and build the next layer of data analytics to drive further supply chain efficiency.

Shashank Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of DeHaat, said:“We are excited to partner with Sequoia India and FMO as we drive towards one million farmers on the DeHaat platform.

The team plans to scale up to 2,000 rural retail centres for last-mile delivery and produce aggregation, and bring one million farmers on the network by 2021.

Abhishek Mohan, VP, Sequoia Capital India LLP, said, “Indian agriculture is a $350 billion industry powered by close to 100 million small and independent farmers. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586232005.6568017/[Funding-alert]-Agritech-platform-DeHaat-raises-$12M-in-Series-A-led-by-Sequoia-Capital?ref=audio_experience

While the government is battling Covid-19 on all fronts, it has one more challenge to tackle — curbing misinformation and fake news.

Working with all the stakeholders including state governments and social media platforms, the main aim is to stop rumours and misleading information from becoming mainstream and harming individuals.

Voyager Infosec analysed around 30K videos on social media and found hundreds of videos which had misleading, hate-mongering and instigating content.

After these videos gain traction on social media, TikTok has faced severe outrage on other social media platforms like Twitter.

For instance, the Karnataka government has started creating Covid-19 awareness videos on Tiktok to reach the masses. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586230206.2530305/TikTok,-Facebook-Told-To-Curb-Covid-19-Fake-News-That-Endanger-Lives?ref=audio_experience

While healthtech gains prominence, other startups are working on stretching their runway amid slowdown of the business.

Bengaluru-based budget hotel chain Treebo asked its employees to take voluntary resignations as the company is trying to cut costs.

Healthtech Platforms Rise To ProminenceYuvraj Singh-backed diagnostics and wellness startup Healthians has resumed its doorstep health test services.

Meanwhile, Gurugram-based healthtech startup Meddo has started accepting online booking for Covid-19 tests in Delhi NCR.

Gurugram-based home services startup Urban Company, which was previously known as UrbanClap, has resumed its essential services in Gurugram, Noida, and Faridabad. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586228406.4449778/Swiggy-Expands-Grocery-Delivery-As-Healthtech-Shines-On-Lockdown-Day-13?ref=audio_experience

Airbnb could run out of cash in one year, even with the $1 billion it just raised, because of how devastating the coronavirus is on its business | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586226611.493157/Airbnb-could-run-out-of-cash-in-one-year,-even-with-the-$1-billion-it-just-raised,-because-of-how-devastating-the-coronavirus-is-on-its-business?ref=audio_experience