Missed out your daily updates on startup ecosystem? Not worry. IndianWeb2 brings to its reader weekly update of the startup world so that it’s viewer don’t miss a single happening of the ecosystem. Indian startup ecosystem, last week saw major shifts. From Zomato hacking email and password of its users to Paytm raising funds, the week was full of roller coaster ride for the Indian startups. Our weekly roundup is here to keep you posted every week.
Digital payments startup Paytm has raised $1.4 billion from Japan’s SoftBank Group. The latest round will help the startup to expand its user base of 220 million so that it can build a large offering of financial services products. Media reports state that SoftBank will join Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as a major shareholder and will take a seat on the Paytm board.
Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm run and operate under One97 Communications, headquartered in Noida. If we look at its valuation, post this funding, One97 values at $7 billion.
A study report released by IBM on Indian Startup Ecosystem, that consist of about 1,300 Indian respondents, around 600 of whom are entrepreneurs and another 100 VC investors, revealed that ‘unethical business conduct’ is the major cause behind the failure of Indian startups [Read More]. The study also unearthed that Indian startups fail within the first five years. And the most common reason for failure is lack of innovation -- 77% of venture capitalists surveyed believe that Indian startups lack new technologies or unique business models [Read More].
The food delivery app, Zomato recently announced that their app was hacked, resulted in the security breach which compromised the data of over 17 million users on its network. The app was hacked by a vendor named, “nclay” who claimed that he is selling the data of its 17 million registered users on a popular Dark Web marketplace. The database, which includes emails and password hashes of registered Zomato users is being sold for $ 1,001.43 (BTC 0.5587).
After this incidence came into notice, Zomato decided that it will soon launch a bug bounty program on Hackerone — a platform that connects businesses with ethical hackers and researchers. Zomato’s big bounty program will be in line with Facebook’s ‘White Hat’ program which the company is running since 2011.
Tesla Motors’ founder, Elon Musk again created a buzz by announcing the launch of its Roboschool. In 2015, Musk founded OpenAI, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to furthering A.I. research and one of the most prominent achievements of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is the OpenAI Gym that they launched in April 2016.
Earlier this week, Musk’s Open AI took to Twitter to announce the launch of Roboschool, an update to the last year launched OpenAI Gym that could help developers in preparing better robots for the real world. The Roboschool comes along with an upgrade to Musk’s AI organisation’s physics engine, which makes it much easier for more variables and constraints to be introduced. OpenAI Gym integrated Roboschool is currently providing 12 different environments for controlling robots. Through this, it is providing a way to train multiple agents at once in one environment. Tasks researchers can leverage include multiplayer Pong, having two or more legs on the ground, walking and providing humanoid benefits.
Japanese multinational electronics giant, Panasonic has announced the launch of its first India Innovation Centre (IIC) in Bengaluru. The company claims that centre will be first such in India and the third globally. Panasonic India has tied up with Indian IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) for the innovation centre, which will focus on developing technologies in the field of Internet of Things (IoT), mobility and artificial intelligence. Panasonic, further highlights that it will be going to invest Rs240 crore over the next five years in the centre and aims to employ around 60 people within a year, including existing employees from both TCS and Panasonic India.
Company’s other innovation centres are in Japan and the US, set up in April 2016. The firm’s innovation centres function independently from its Centre of Excellence (CoEs).
Bahrain’s EDB has set up its new fintech fund in Mumbai. The fund will invest in Indian startups that have an economic interest in Bahrain. The firm has tied up with the Singapore Fintech Consortium to invest in fintech startups in the middle-east and Asia region to boost the development of financial technology in Bahrain.
The new fund will earmark a certain portion of its investment assets to Indian startups that have an interest in the Bahrain region and those that are planning to scale up their operations in the middle-east.
Not only this, Bahrain will also run accelerator programs to bring fintech innovation to the Middle-east.
A team of researchers from IIT Delhi has developed a device to fight pollution, which just cost Rs 10. They have created a respiratory filter, named Nasofilters which is capable of protecting its users against most of the fine dust and air pollutants for a period of at least eight-hours.
The product has been developed by assembling millions of small sized pores to create a thin flexible membrane, which is capable of capturing very small particles with high efficiency. According to its creators, the product has been proven to restrict entry of any foreign particulate matter including bacteria and pollen allergens, besides 2.5-micron sized particulate. The brain behind the device consist of IIT Delhi professors, Manjeet Jassal and Ashwini K Agrawal; its alumni Sanjeev Jain, Prateek Sharma and Tushar Vyas; and a student Jatin Kewlan. They together founded a company, Nanoclean Global Pvt. Ltd which recently bagged the Startups National Award 2017 by the Technology Development Board.
Once Again, Funding Bells For Paytm
Digital payments startup Paytm has raised $1.4 billion from Japan’s SoftBank Group. The latest round will help the startup to expand its user base of 220 million so that it can build a large offering of financial services products. Media reports state that SoftBank will join Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as a major shareholder and will take a seat on the Paytm board.
Founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm run and operate under One97 Communications, headquartered in Noida. If we look at its valuation, post this funding, One97 values at $7 billion.
IBM Report - Indian Startups Fail Due To Unethical Business Conduct
A study report released by IBM on Indian Startup Ecosystem, that consist of about 1,300 Indian respondents, around 600 of whom are entrepreneurs and another 100 VC investors, revealed that ‘unethical business conduct’ is the major cause behind the failure of Indian startups [Read More]. The study also unearthed that Indian startups fail within the first five years. And the most common reason for failure is lack of innovation -- 77% of venture capitalists surveyed believe that Indian startups lack new technologies or unique business models [Read More].
Zomato Again In News For Hacking User Base, Plan To Launch Bug Bounty Program
The food delivery app, Zomato recently announced that their app was hacked, resulted in the security breach which compromised the data of over 17 million users on its network. The app was hacked by a vendor named, “nclay” who claimed that he is selling the data of its 17 million registered users on a popular Dark Web marketplace. The database, which includes emails and password hashes of registered Zomato users is being sold for $ 1,001.43 (BTC 0.5587).
After this incidence came into notice, Zomato decided that it will soon launch a bug bounty program on Hackerone — a platform that connects businesses with ethical hackers and researchers. Zomato’s big bounty program will be in line with Facebook’s ‘White Hat’ program which the company is running since 2011.
Elon Musk To Help Geeks To Build Smarter Robots With Its Roboschool
Tesla Motors’ founder, Elon Musk again created a buzz by announcing the launch of its Roboschool. In 2015, Musk founded OpenAI, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to furthering A.I. research and one of the most prominent achievements of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company is the OpenAI Gym that they launched in April 2016.
Earlier this week, Musk’s Open AI took to Twitter to announce the launch of Roboschool, an update to the last year launched OpenAI Gym that could help developers in preparing better robots for the real world. The Roboschool comes along with an upgrade to Musk’s AI organisation’s physics engine, which makes it much easier for more variables and constraints to be introduced. OpenAI Gym integrated Roboschool is currently providing 12 different environments for controlling robots. Through this, it is providing a way to train multiple agents at once in one environment. Tasks researchers can leverage include multiplayer Pong, having two or more legs on the ground, walking and providing humanoid benefits.
Panasonic To Now Boost IoT, AI based Technologies Through Innovation Centre in Bengaluru
Japanese multinational electronics giant, Panasonic has announced the launch of its first India Innovation Centre (IIC) in Bengaluru. The company claims that centre will be first such in India and the third globally. Panasonic India has tied up with Indian IT firm Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) for the innovation centre, which will focus on developing technologies in the field of Internet of Things (IoT), mobility and artificial intelligence. Panasonic, further highlights that it will be going to invest Rs240 crore over the next five years in the centre and aims to employ around 60 people within a year, including existing employees from both TCS and Panasonic India.
Company’s other innovation centres are in Japan and the US, set up in April 2016. The firm’s innovation centres function independently from its Centre of Excellence (CoEs).
Bahrain’s EDB To Accelerate Its Fintech Development Program
Bahrain’s EDB has set up its new fintech fund in Mumbai. The fund will invest in Indian startups that have an economic interest in Bahrain. The firm has tied up with the Singapore Fintech Consortium to invest in fintech startups in the middle-east and Asia region to boost the development of financial technology in Bahrain.
The new fund will earmark a certain portion of its investment assets to Indian startups that have an interest in the Bahrain region and those that are planning to scale up their operations in the middle-east.
Not only this, Bahrain will also run accelerator programs to bring fintech innovation to the Middle-east.
IIT-Delhi Won Startup National Award 2017 For Making A Pollution Fighting Device Worth Just Rs.10
A team of researchers from IIT Delhi has developed a device to fight pollution, which just cost Rs 10. They have created a respiratory filter, named Nasofilters which is capable of protecting its users against most of the fine dust and air pollutants for a period of at least eight-hours.
The product has been developed by assembling millions of small sized pores to create a thin flexible membrane, which is capable of capturing very small particles with high efficiency. According to its creators, the product has been proven to restrict entry of any foreign particulate matter including bacteria and pollen allergens, besides 2.5-micron sized particulate. The brain behind the device consist of IIT Delhi professors, Manjeet Jassal and Ashwini K Agrawal; its alumni Sanjeev Jain, Prateek Sharma and Tushar Vyas; and a student Jatin Kewlan. They together founded a company, Nanoclean Global Pvt. Ltd which recently bagged the Startups National Award 2017 by the Technology Development Board.
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