Google sent out over 12,000 warnings to users globally, including 500 in India, between July and September this year to alert them about being targeted by “government-backed attackers”.

As per the heatmap on 'Distribution of government-backed phishing targets in Q3 (July-September 2019)', users in India had received about 500 such warnings.

The US-based company pointed out that the number of warnings issued this quarter were on a par with the number of warnings sent in the same period of 2018 and 2017.

We encourage high-risk users—like journalists, human rights activists, and political campaigns—to enroll in our Advanced Protection Program (APP),” Google added.

Last month, WhatsApp had disclosed that the Pegasus spyware was used by unnamed entities to snoop on about 1,400 users globally, including 121 users from India. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574937005.4679525/Google-issued-12,000-warnings-to-users-globally-on-govt-backed-attackers,-500-in-India?ref=audio_experience

This is FirstCry's second major acquisition after it acquired Babyoye in 2016FirstCry plans to expand the playschool to more than 1000 centres across the country in five yearsOnline store for baby and kids’ products, FirstCry, now ventures into the education space by acquiring Oi Playschool.

Currently, Oi Playschool operates in around 55 centres in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

In January 2019, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank committed $395.7 Mn (INR 2,824 Cr) in a Series E round of the Pune-based startup.

Before the current Oi Playschool acquisition, FirstCry in 2016 also acquired Mahindra’s baby care retail business Babyoye for $54 Mn.

Oi Playschool, like most playschools across the country, operates through a franchisee model. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574935206.088811/FirstCry-Sets-Foot-In-Education-Space-With-Oi-Playschool-Acquisition?ref=audio_experience

Iotic, a London, UK-based Digital Twin Technology company, raised €7.5m in funding.

Backers included IQ Capital, Talis Capital and Breed Reply.

The company intends to use the funds to drive rapid deployment, deepen channel partnerships and expand market adoption of its patented Iotic Operating Environment, Twin technology and Event Analytics platform.

The digital twin has access to all its data and controls throughout its entire life, converting those end points into meaningful eventsThe company’s platform enables enterprises and their ecosystems of assets, objects, companies and people to interact automatically and securely.

Its global pipeline of enterprise customers include Rolls-Royce Power Systems and BAM Nuttall. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574933507.4498928/Iotic-Raises-£6.5M-in-Funding?ref=audio_experience

Maharashtra with 4729 startups has the seen most registrations among statesIT services startups, with 3443 startups, has seen the most registrationsThe Startup India Action Plan, since its launch in 2016, has added close to 25K startups in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, on November 27, said in the Lok Sabha that a total of 24,940 startups has been recognised by the department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT).

He also said that so far the IT services sector witnessed the most number of registration with 3443 new startups.

The IT sector, according to the minister, was closely followed by the Healthcare and Lifesciences sector with 2063 registered startups.

Related Article: Piyush Goyal Reveals Progress Made Under The Startup India InitiativeGoyal also said that Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of startups at 4729. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574931810.9084566/Govt-Recognised-Startups-To-Touch-25K-Mark-Soon:-Piyush-Goyal?ref=audio_experience

Edubees Education, an arm of FirstCry Group announced on Thursday, that it has acquired Oi Playschool, an initiative of People Combine Group.

LoEstro Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Oi Playschool on its sale to Edubees.

Founded in 2010, Oi Playschool refines skills, nurture curiosity, and encourage exploration among early learners.

FirstCry Co-founder Supam MaheshwariSupam Maheshwari, the CEO of Firstcry, said: “We are very happy with the accomplishments Oi Playschool achieved over the years.

It was a pleasure to work with the Company’s management team and LoEstro team and we wish them continued success.”Boutique Consulting firm LoEstro Advisors specialises in raising funds and structuring. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574929807.240316/SoftBank-backed-FirstCry-Group-acquires-Oi-Playschool?ref=audio_experience

State-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is currently looking to procure 200 luxury electric cars, starting from INR 25 Lakh, which will be leased out for commercial purposes in private cab aggregators Ola, Uber and Blu Smart.

The state-run body will lease out 50 luxury EVs each to Uber and Ola.

Actress Deepika Padukone-backed Blu Smart, which is an exclusive electric cab service, will be infused with 100 luxury EVs procured by EESL.

Currently, the luxury electric vehicles in Indian include Hyundai’s Kona, which costs around INR 23.71 Lakh.

With the decision to procure Kona, EESL was reportedly planning to limit the final order to around 3,000 cars by March 2020. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574928109.8554087/Ola,-Uber-And-Blu-Smart-to-Get-Luxury-EVs-From-Govt?ref=audio_experience

Gurugram-based foodtech unicorn Zomato has appointed Akriti Chopra as the Chief Financial Officer of the group.

Akriti Chopra, CFO, ZomatoA graduate of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Akriti has been with Zomato for a little more than eight years, and joined the startup in November 2011.

In her previous role at Zomato, she was the Vice President of Finance and Operations.

Her analytical bent of mind, high level of ownership, and moral authority makes her a great fit for a CFO role at Zomato".

From Rs 106 crore loss reported last year, it has increased to Rs 1001 crore in FY19, seeing almost a 9.4X rise. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574926205.933698/Zomato-elevates-Akriti-Chopra-as-CFO?ref=audio_experience

Selected startups will work towards developing solutions for healthcare challenges on the Edison platformGE Healthcare has chosen six startups as part of the first cohort of its first India-based startup collaboration programme, Edison[X].

These startups will work towards developing solutions on the Edison platform for tough healthcare challenges existing today.

“Edison[X] – Startups powered by GE Healthcare” will offer zero-equity cash-in-grant of $10K to each of the selected startups along with access to mentorship, skill development programs, commercial and regulatory guidance, and data provision.

Related Article: GE Healthcare Launches Collaboration Programme For Healthtech StartupsThe Startups Selected For GE Healthcare Edison[X]:SynapsicaHQ: BengaluruFounded: 2018Founders: Meenakshi and CherianThis platform uses AI, computer vision and data analytics to save reporting time for radiologists.

From 2015 to Q1 2019, the total funding in healthtech startups was $1.34 Bn with a deal count of 334. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574924405.8005364/GE-Healthcare-To-Mentor-Six-Indian-Startups-As-Part-Of-The-Edison-Programme?ref=audio_experience

Alibaba Cloud, named Aliyun, announced today that the core codes of Alink, its self-developed algorithm, have been made available on Github via open source.

Aliyun offers a broad range of algorithm libraries that support both batch and stream processing, which is critical for machine learning tasks like online product recommendation and intelligent customer services.

Apart from Alibaba’s proprietary data storage, it also supports other open-source data storage, such as Kafka, HDFS, and HBase.

Besides Github, Alibaba has also been active in open-source communities including Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Aliance for Open Media, Cloud Foundry, Hyperledger, Open Container Initiative, Continuous Delivery Foundation, The Apache Software Foundation, MariaDB Foundation, and The Linux Foundation.

Since the first batch of open-source projects launched in 2011, developers at Alibaba have been actively contributing to open-source communities. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574922607.6412852/Alibaba-Cloud-makes-available-its-self-developed-algorithm-via-open-source-on-Github?ref=audio_experience

Bengaluru-based dockless bike rental startup Bounce is reportedly raising $150 Mn in Series D from B Capital and Accel Partners, doubling the company’s valuation to $500 Mn.

With this funding, Bounce will accelerate its expansion across 10 Indian cities by 2020.

The sources had also specified that the funding can go upto $150 to $160 Mn, taking the company’s valuation close to $600 Mn.

Other investors in the round included Falcon Edge Capital, Chiratae Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital India and Qualcomm Ventures.

Bounce raised $3 Mn in March and $1.45 Mn in July from BAC Acquisitions, taking the company’s total funding to $94 Mn. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574920807.9671104/Bounce-To-Reach-$500-Mn-Valuation-With-Series-D-Funding?ref=audio_experience