(Reuters) — Japan’s SoftBank plans to merge internet unit Yahoo Japan with messaging app operator Line to create a $30 billion tech giant, as it bags struggling internet companies to bulk up against rivals like Rakuten.

The telco in a statement said Yahoo Japan, which last month changed its name to Z Holdings, will merge with Line, owned by South Korea’s Naver, in a deal to be completed in October 2020.

The companies aim for a definitive agreement by next month in a transaction that will see SoftBank and Naver form a 50:50 venture that will control Z Holdings, which will in turn operate Yahoo Japan and Line.

Z Holdings will continue to be a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank Corp, which is a unit of investment conglomerate SoftBank Group.

Z Holdings and Line will hold a news conference at 0800 GMT. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574073004.9152586/SoftBank-proposes-$30-billion-merger-between-Yahoo-Japan-and-Line?ref=audio_experience

This is the first time that a Japan-based English tutorial company has made such an investment in an Indian edtech startup.

In an email interaction, Multibhashi told Inc42 that the company plans to educate more Indians, especially the blue and grey collar workers.

Founded in 2007, RareJob is one of the leading online English as a Second language (ESL) schools in Japan and the Philippines.

It connects students to home-based tutors via an online platform or video chat for English lessons.

According to Inc42 Datalabs report in 2017, edtech startups came fourth in terms of the total funding with 23 deals. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574071205.6564856/Edtech-Startup-Multibhashi-Raises-Funding-From-RareJob-To-Expand-Team?ref=audio_experience

Our Start-up of the Week is Ethyca, a New York-based data privacy company led by an Irish engineer.

Ethyca is a data privacy technology platform that was created to make it easier to build ethical data-driven systems and businesses.

The privacy platform doesn’t see any raw data or personal information from these companies or their customers.

“Ethyca is privacy infrastructure for developer teams to automate compliance with, while managing user data privacy.

This system design minimises change in your stack while maximally controlling and managing data privacy requirements.”So what’s the goal for Ethyca? | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574069405.761019/Ethyca’s-data-privacy-platform-aims-to-be-more-than-a-‘retroactive-band-aid’?ref=audio_experience

Founded by Jamil Akhtar, Quikkloan is a digital loan marketplace that facilitates personal loans through its leading partnered banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFC’s).

The company offers loans to blue and white-collar salaried individuals, with a take-home salary of at least INR 20K a month, through its mobile app and website.

The company has been featured as the top 10 startups of a Global fintech accelerator startup boot camp at the Mumbai Fintech Program 2017.

In a press statement, Quikkloan said that it is developing its proprietary credit decision underwriting platform.

At present, Quikkloan competes with other fintech startups such as IndiaLends, MyLoancare, ShubhLoans, and LoanTap among others. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574067605.84457/Fintech-Startup-Quikkloan-Raises-Seed-Funding-To-Scale-Operations?ref=audio_experience

Diagnostic testing startup Healthians on Monday said it had raised Rs 85 crore, or about $ 12 million, as a part of its Series B funding, led by DG Incubation and DG Daiwa Ventures from Japan.

The round also saw participation from Mistletoe and Tokio Marine from Singapore, Kotak PE and Trifecta from India along with other existing investors.

According to the startup, it will be using the funds to expand its geographical presence and go deeper into existing cities alongside expanding its service portfolio.

Deepak Sahni, Founder and CEO, HealthiansFounded in 2015 by Deepak Sahni, Healthians provides lab tests in the comfort of a customer’s home in India.

Commenting on the investment, Kenji Uehara, Managing Director at DG Incubation, said,"The Healthians model is unique when compared to existing diagnostic businesses. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574065805.5901353/[Funding-alert]-Diagnostics-startup-Healthians-raises-Rs-85-Cr-in-Series-B-round?ref=audio_experience

That’s where YES Bank’s YES SCALE CampusConnect comes into play.

This includes creating schedules for each class, maintaining student attendance and placement data, processing grades and report cards, student enrolment, certificate generation, etc.

This will help them focus on what matters in education: developing deeper and more meaningful relationships with teachers, students, and parents.

YES SCALE CampusConnect gives schools a single view of key metrics across finances, administrative KPIs, student lifecycle management, vendor management and staff management.

YES SCALE CampusConnect is already being deployed with 25+ schools/colleges across the country, allowing them to automate their complete operations as well as encourage Digital Fee Collections. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574064106.3907835/The-next-big-digital-transformation-in-education-is-automation,-and-YES-SCALE-CampusConnect-is-your-go-to-platform?ref=audio_experience

Jaipur-based language learning platform Multibhashi on Monday announced that it has raised its latest round of investment from a set of investors led by Rarejob Inc, a leading online English learning player listed in Japan.

Multibhashi team with Gaku Nakamura, CEO, RarejobFounded in 2016 by Anuradha Agarwal, Multibhashi has over 11 languages (English, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Bengali, Hindi etc) through which it teaches English.

It claims to be one of the few learning apps which has a chatbot and a voice bot making learning much more immersive.

With "chances for everyone, everywhere" as the group's vision, RareJob aims to build a platform for people to play active roles globally and focuses on 10 million Japanese trying to learn English.

"Among these varied players, Multibashi stood out with its unwavering focus on learning outcomes and a unique model to deliver real learning outcomes with a combination of self-learning and tutor led learning," Nakamura added. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574062207.5805593/[Funding-alert]-Language-learning-startup-Multibhashi-raises-investment-from-Japanese-Firm-Rarejob?ref=audio_experience

The traders’ body has been alleging that the ecommerce companies have been involved in deep-discounts and predatory pricing, causing losses to small traders and merchants.

Moreover, CAIT says that the ecommerce companies are trying to control, dominate and monopolise the retail trade of India.

More than seven crore small businesses in the country are now at loggerhead with ecommerce companies and are feeling highly disappointed, added CAIT.

CAIT Demands Transparent Schemes For AllCAIT also demanded a uniform policy of discounting by brands for both online and offline trade.

“All schemes of the brands should be made available to online and offline trade in a transparent manner,” read CAIT’s letter to the commerce minister. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574060404.6523938/CAIT-Demands-Govt-To-Impose-MOP,-Transparent-Policy-On-Ecomm?ref=audio_experience

The government is considering to re-introduce restrictions on royalty payments for technology transfer in view of excessive outflow of such funds to overseas companies, sources said.

According to the proposal, limits could be imposed on royalty payments in case of technology transfer or collaboration involving foreign entities either directly or indirectly through any firm in India.

Before 2009, royalty payments were regulated by the government and capped at eight percent of exports and five percent of domestic sales in the case of technology transfer collaborations.

They were fixed at two percent of exports and one percent of domestic sales for use of trademark or brand name.

Auto major Maruti Suzuki pays an average royalty of around 5.5 percent of its net sales to its parent Suzuki. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574058605.3018694/Govt-considering-to-reintroduce-restrictions-on-royalty-payments?ref=audio_experience

WASHINGTON: E-commerce giant Amazon is doing "extremely well" in India, its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has said while expressing hope for regulatory stability in the country.Bezos' remarks came in response to a question on Amazon's concerns over some Indian policies with regard to digitization.

"Regulatory stability is the thing that we would always hope for India.

We'll see," Bezos, 55, told reporters on the sidelines of his induction into the National Portrait Gallery here on Sunday.He said Amazon was doing very well in India.

"Our business in India is doing extremely well.

Bezos had committed investment worth $5 billion in the Indian market in 2016. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1574056805.4772592/Amazon-doing-extremely-well-in-India:-Jeff-Bezos?ref=audio_experience