HomeLane, a Bangalore, India-based furniture company, raised $30m in Series D funding.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach to other cities as well as to extend its development efforts.

Co-founded by Rama Harinath and Srikanth Iyer, HomeLane is a holistic furniture business that delivers smart interior solutions.

The company’s designers specialize in home interior designs and home décor, and help users create a personalized home that suits their lifestyle.

HomeLane has established 16 experience centers in seven Indian cities which enable people to see materials and furniture. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578243610.9569142/HomeLane-Raises-$30M-in-Series-D-Funding?ref=audio_experience

Quantiphi, a US and India based-AI solutions provider, raises USD20m in Series A funding.

The investment was made by Multiples Alternate Asset Management.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to strengthen its research and development, and scale its global team to deepen its presence in the North American and European Markets.

Founded by Asif Hasan, Reghu Hariharan, Ritesh Patel and Vivek Khemani – over six years ago, Quantiphi is an Applied Artificial Intelligence and Big Data services company.

Its solutions enable enterprises to create tangible business value by building smart products, achieving frictionless customer experiences, automating complex processes, and managing risks. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578241808.9477227/Quantiphi-Raises-USD20M-in-Series-A-Funding?ref=audio_experience

Bucharest-based startup Evertoys has managed to raise the €150K target for its campaign on the first Romanian equity crowdfunding platform, Seedblink.com.

This crowdfunding campaign was the first equity crowdfunding session that went public for the equity platform, although Seedblink has been around since November.

“Evertoys’ vision is a world in which every child has an easy time accessing the right game or toy, at the right moment in his cognitive or dextrous development.

We want to grow by choosing the right portfolio of toys, an easy to use service and a flawless relationship with our customers”, state Evertoys.

This successful crowdfunding campaign follows a trend of Romanian investments, both internal and with external backing, that help Eastern European startups grow and expand their reach. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578240800.9523578/Bucharest-based-EverToys,-the-“Romanian-Netflix-for-toys”,-smashes-€150K-crowdfunding-target?ref=audio_experience

That’s AI (Artificial Intelligence) for business.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has infiltrated our lives like some form of body snatcher.

Competing in the Age of AIAs small business owners, we straddle the intersection of user and creator.

To answer that question, I turned to a new book, Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World by Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani.

Competing in the Age of AI will help you on this journey. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578238236.6184943/Strategy-and-Leadership-When-Competing-in-the-Age-of-AI?ref=audio_experience

The ministry of commerce and industry has announced a blueprint to improve India’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.

The Indian government will be sharing the reform activities undertaken for ease of doing business (EoDB) in May-June, 2020.

In 2014, out of 190 countries that were listed under World Bank’s EoDB Index, India was in the 142nd spot.

Notebly, India is among the best performers on the ease of doing business along with China, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Togo and Nigeria among others.

Currently, New Zealand tops the World Bank’s EoDB list, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, South Korea, US and Georgia among others. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578236407.2030885/India-Sets-Sight-On-Top-50-In-Ease-Of-Doing-Business-By-Next-Year?ref=audio_experience

Officially slated to start on Tuesday, January 7 through Friday, January 10, CES 2020 is expected to see more than 4,500 exhibitors showcase around 20,000 new tech products.

CES 2020 will feature over 1,100 industry experts and visionaries, who are slated to speak at over 300 sessions.

Apart from this, one tech major is making a rare official appearance at CES 2020 – Apple.

For the first time, sex tech companies will be able showcase their products at CES or qualify for awards at the tech event.

YourStory is at Las Vegas, Nevada to cover CES 2020 at the invitation of the Consumer Technology Association. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578234612.704264/CES-2020:-From-Apple-and-Ivanka-Trump-to-5G,-AI-and-robotics-–-here's-what’s-in-store-at-the-annual-tech-bonan?ref=audio_experience

Subscribe to the Crunchbase DailyAs evidence of that, this morning, Brazilian digital real estate platform Loft announced it has closed on $175 million in Series C funding co-led by Vulcan Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

QED Investors, Fifth Wall Ventures, Thrive Capital, Valor Capital, Monashees and others, also participated in the funding.

It’s focused only on apartments (which are typically more prevalent in Latin America than single-family homes).

It recently tapped Juan Pablo Ramos, the former director of regional operations at UberEats in Latin America, to serve as the general manager of its Mexico operations.

Market contextTo Loft, the opportunity is huge with an estimated $6 trillion residential real estate market in Latin America. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578233553.63924/Brazil’s-Loft-Raises-a16z-Led-$175M-Series-C-For-Digital-Real-Estate-Platform?ref=audio_experience

Andreessen Horowitz is doubling down on its first Brazil investment with Loft, a two-year-old real estate marketplace.

That transparency doesn’t exist in Latin America.

Loft founder and co-CEO Mate Pencz describes the residential real estate market in Latin America as a $6 trillion opportunity.

The company wants to completely upend real estate in Latin America, and those big ambitions have piqued investor interest.

Andreessen Horowitz and Vulcan Capital co-led the Series C, with participation from QED Investors, Fifth Wall Ventures, Thrive Capital, Valor Capital and Monashees. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578231743.094517/How-two-year-old-Loft-nabbed-$175M-led-by-Andreessen-Horowitz-–-TechCrunch?ref=audio_experience

As protests against the contentious act continue across the country, the Indian central government seemed to have taken social media marketing to a new level.

Other accounts promised free Netflix usernames and passwords.

“If you want free Netflix please use someone else’s account like the rest of us,” the company’s India account tweeted.

Unsurprisingly, the campaign has given more ammunition to the government’s critics on social media.

The opposition leaders accused the ruling government of running a highly deceptive social media campaign to trick citizens into supporting a controversial law. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578229213.0823393/Govt’s-Pro-CAA-Campaign-Spreads-Fear,-Fake-Netflix-Offers-On-Twitter?ref=audio_experience

An Insight of Porter's Five Forces ModelThe Porter’s Five Forces of Model is a tool which analyses a business competition and helps determining the level of competition an industry can face.

Five Factors to Analyse Industry CompetitionFive Factors of Porter's Five Forces ModelAccording to this model, the five factors to analyse industry competition are:1.

So under this factor, the threat of entry will determine the industry competition.

Industry CompetitionAn industry competition comprises the total companies which deal in particular industry.

In such a market, the businesses are dependent upon market forces to determine the prices. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1578227410.8856103/The-Five-Forces-Model-to-Determine-Your-Industry-Competition?ref=audio_experience