Facebook is Giving Your Phone Numbers to Advertisers without You Know About This

Social network giant, Facebook, which has a knack of being in controversy for its greed towards users' data, has again land up in controversial revelation according to which Facebook has admitted that it is using your phone number to target ads whether you give it to them willingly or not.

This simply means that Facebook is sharing its users' phone numbers with advertisers without the users actually realizing this fact. the social network company confirmed that it uses phone numbers provided for security reason, such as 2-factor authorization (2FA), to personalize users's experience on the platform.

A company spokeswoman told Gizmodo that “we use the information people provide to offer a more personalized experience, including showing more relevant ads.” Shockingly, the spokeswoman pointed out that people can set up two-factor authentication without offering their phone numbers -- something not many aware of.

The revelation was first reported by Gizmodo as well as researchers from Northeastern and Princeton Universities.

2FA is a login method that requires users to enter NOT only their username and password, but also a second piece of information to ensure authenticity of users.



Gizmodo and the researchers also found that Facebook can collect and share your information even if another Facebook user uploads their contacts with your info included.

Gizmodo reported -- Researchers at Northwestern uploaded a list of hundreds of landline numbers from Northeastern University. These are numbers that people who work for Northeastern are unlikely to have added to their accounts, though it’s very likely that the numbers would be in the address books of people who know them and who might have uploaded them to Facebook in order to “find friends.” The researchers found that many of these numbers could be targeted with ads, and when they ran an ad campaign, the ad turned up in the Facebook news feed of Mislove, whose landline had been included in the file; I confirmed this with my own test targeting his landline number.

What this means is that even if you don’t want Facebook to allow advertisers to target you by your phone number, Facebook is still finding a way to let advertisers target you by your phone number and other personal details. This is even true if you literally don’t give Facebook your phone number. If you gave Facebook a fake email account when you signed up, behind the scenes, they know what your real email account is.

This immoral practice by Facebook is in existence despite of the Facebook reiterating statements where it says that the company is transparent regarding its ads policies.

Nevertheless, concerned Facebook users, instead of giving phone numbers, can opt to choose alternate methods as 2FA like Google Authenticator or Duo Security Inc. However these options was only made available in May 2018, before which Facebook required mobile numbers for 2FA.

India's 1st Bitcoin Company Shuts Down Amid RBI's Crypto Ban

It all started in late 2012 when Mahin Gupta started India's first Bitcoin exchange, buysellbitco.in, and made it most trusted and used exchange in India pioneering online purchase of Bitcoin in the country and voted as best new bitcoin company at CoinAgenda conference in Las Vegas in 2014. Later in September 2014, Buysellbitco.inwas was rebranded to Zebpay -- a bitcoin wallet. In 2016, the company announced that it had crossed a whopping ₹100 crore (~$15 Million) turnover milestone.

Everything was going well with Zebpay, one of the first to usher buying Bitcoins in India, until one silly day India's central bank Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banned banks from servicing crypto exchanges/wallets.

Despite the ban, Zebpay has survived and was up and running by introducing Crypto-to-Crypto trading but all gone in vain as on Friday, the crypto exchange Zebpay announced that it is shutting down after the long fight the exchange has given to prejudiced and pessimism about cryptocurrencies in India.

In its official blog post, ZebPay officially announced that it was forced to stop activity due to legal and regulatory obstacles.

"Despite regulatory and banking problems along our journey, we continued to look for solutions as we did not want India to miss the bus of digital assets that power the public blockchain," said the blog post of Zebpay.

[caption id="attachment_126431" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Zebpay Co-founders (From Left ) Sandeep Goenka, Mahin Gupta and Saurabh Agrawal [Image ForbesIndia.com, Mexy Xavier][/caption]

It further said, "At this point, we are unable to find a reasonable way to conduct the cryptocurrency exchange business. As a result, we are stopping our exchange activities. At 4 p.m. today (28 September 2018), we will cancel all unexecuted crypto-to-crypto orders and credit your coins / tokens back to your Zebpay wallet. No new orders will be accepted until further notice.”

In a statement to Crypto-News India, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zebpay Ajeet Khurana, said "The Indian environment is highly non-conducive to the crypto business. Our revenue model is only through transaction fees. So by shutting the exchange, we have effectively made our revenue zero. Naturally no company would want to do that if it has a choice.”

Notably in February 2017, Zebpay along with other bitcoin startups in India -- Unocoin, Coinsecure and Searchtrade, jointly launched Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI) for the orderly and transparent growth of virtual currency market. It however didn't resulted into anything fruitful and nothing substantial happened in DABFI apart from the fact that in November 2017 the self-regulatory body eventually merged with the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the internet industry body. The new merged entity is called as 'IAMAI FinTech Council' however even after this no new development has been heard since then.

Ironically, in January this year, a nationwide survey revealed that people in India have invested in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies worth whopping $3.5 billion. Seeing this, income tax (I-T) department had even sent notices to tens of thousands of such people who have done trading in any of the cryptocurrencies.

Zebpay’s might have lost its fight, but still there are quite a few Indian cryptocurrency exchanges up and running work without interruption and seek new solutions such as Peer-to-Peer transactions. These companies include WazirX, Koinex, LocalBitcoins, Unocoin, and many others.

Digital Lending Startup OptaCredit in Early Talks to Raise US$8-10 Million

Chennai-based OptaCredit, an alternative-lending fintech startup focused on untouched Salaried Employees, is in early talks with Funds to raise around 8-10 Mil USD to fund expansion and growth plans. OptaCredit, which has more than 40 employees, had as part of its Pre-Series A, raised an undisclosed amount earlier, led by the Family Office of one of the founders of a pioneering payment technology company. Impact funds and Asian funds are said to be showing very keen interest in the model, confirmed a source privy to the development.

Unlike many fintech players including lead-generators and marketplaces, OptaCredit operates as a data-driven end-to-end lending stack powered by artificial intelligence, with control right from sourcing to disbursements to collections. The Chennai-based fintech startup, which currently operates in a number of Tier-1 Cities, has a hybrid approach, where it contributes a certain % of loan assets generated via its platform, on its balance sheet as it has a lending license.

In one of the largest credit lines secured by a Fintech Startup in India, OptaCredit has secured additional credit lines of Rs. 200 Crores (~ 30 Mil USD) from DMI Finance. This is on top of the initial 25 Crore line, which was reported in early 2018. DMI is an India-focused financial services platform with businesses in corporate lending, housing finance, consumer finance and asset management. OptaCredit is also in discussions with multiple other institutions for additional credit lines.

Chennai-based Investment Bank Advay Capital Advisors has been appointed to run the mandate.

Using its proprietary scoring techniques, OptaCredit focuses on exploring unique, alternative mechanisms to create new ways for a more defined customer assessment to determine “credit-worthiness” of “Thin-File” applicants, mainly to salaried employees belonging to unlisted/uncategorised employers being denied credit or provided sub-optimal credit. There has been a constant and growing need for credit solutions in the “Missing middle” in this segment, which not many lenders cater to.

Assimilating various forms of non-traditional and traditional data, every eligible applicant is assigned an OptaScore (OptaCredit’s proprietary score), to make convenient, quicker, and cost-effective loans available to the previously underserved. By deploying machine learning algorithms on these varied data-sets which help analyse and capture complex patterns in repayment data, OptaCredit is able to make better credit decisions, which results directly in lower portfolio delinquency rates without negatively affecting approval rates. This has allowed the startup to provide straightforward and transparent financing to a broader set of consumers.

Recently, we reported that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working on setting up a regulatory sandbox for fintech companies especially digital lending startups. With Sandbox, companies can test out their product before releasing it to public usage. This will also involve bypassing RBI regulations, though for testing purpose only.

To recall, in this month China's ShunWei Capital has led the $5 million series A financing round of Mumbai headquartered micro-lending platform Upwards Fintech Pvt. Ltd.

Prior to this, Bangalore-based peer to peer (P2P) lending platform Finzy raised $2.3 million in Pre-Series A round, from senior professionals from BFSI industry. In the same month, Bangalore-based digital consumer lending startup HappyEMI raised $1 million from AJ Ventures, JAN and Anand Sankeshwar, Managing Director of VRL Logistics.

[Top Featured Image - Optacredit Team | ~ Via YorStory.com]

Byju's Raises Fresh $100 Mn from General Atlantic at New Valuation of $2 Bn

India's largest education technology company Byju's, which is reinventing how students learn through mobile app, has raised a fresh $100 million in a funding from private equity player General Atlantic India for a 5% stake in the startup, which comes in a single tranche , reported Business Standard today.

With this, Byju’s valuation has reached $2 billion, which is more than double the company’s value from its previous round, and certainly marks its status as one of the emerging startups from India in the past five years.

With investment in Byju's, General Atlantic marks its first investment in the education space. The New York-based growth equity firm known for its investment in AirBnB, Slack and Snapchat among 115 other investments. The firm usually invests in four global sectors -- Consumer, Finance, Healthcare and Technology. Byju's however is an exception in a pool of its investment portfolio companies. The firm has its office in Mumbai.

Founded in 2008, by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, BYJU’S has raised a total of $344 million in funding over eight rounds including this one. Prior to this, the startup had raised $40 million from Tencent Holdings.

In May this year, Byju’s claimed that it is one of the few India-based billion-dollar startups that has become profitable. The startup posted revenue of more than Rs 100 crore ($1 billion) that pushed the edtech firm to revise its annual revenue guidance to Rs 1,400 crore. The startup posted revenue of Rs 45 crore in 2014-15, Rs 110 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 240 crore in 2016-17.

The startup has also made few acquisition in short period of time. In July this year, Byju's acquired of Bengaluru-based Math Adventures, a math learning startup, for undisclosed amount. Prior to this, in 2017, it has acquired
TutorVista.com and Vidyartha (SPAN Thoughtworks Pvt. Ltd.), both based out of Bengaluru.

BYJU's is backed by investors such as Tencent, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg), Belgian family office Verlinvest and the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation.

National Stock Exchange to Test E-Voting Using Blockchain Built by Matrix-backed Startup

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) is conducting tests to use blockchain for e-voting for listed companies on the Elemential Labs platform, announced the exchange on Thursday.

Elemential Labs which has built the blockchain for NSE's e-voting pilot, is a Mumbai-based blockchain startup that recently raised $1 million from investors led by Matrix Partners India, in April this year.

The test involves setting up a blockchain to connect the regulator with the company and the RTA during the voting process. Voting rights will be tokenised, thus making them easy to transfer and proxy. The test will be evaluated on the auditability of the actions on the chain as well as the ease of conducting the process using blockchain.

Sankarson Banerjee, CTO-Projects, NSE said, “The immutable nature of blockchain will ensure that every action taken by a network participant is transparent to the regulator. Additionally, the smart contract framework enables synchronisation of the vote count process between the company and the regulator in real time. These features will take us closer to an environment of improved corporate governance and compliance.”

The pilot, aimed at providing a highly transparent and low-risk solution for e-voting, would enhance transparency in the voting process. The blockchain will be built using the Elemential platform on the Hyperledger framework. The SI partner is NSE IT, which is in-charge of building and managing the front-end application.

In February, when National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and a group of domestic banks collaborated on a know-your-customer (KYC) data trial involving blockchain, it was Elemential Labs that provided the technology for the trial.

Speaking about the blockchain-based e-voting pilot, Raunaq Vaisoha, CEO Elemential Lab said, “Blockchain enables a real-time, immutable trail of all activities for the regulator. This brings us a step closer to highly transparent and clear corporate governance, an operating standard that most companies aspire to."

It may be recalled that in June NITI Aayog and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) joined hands work to towards implementing a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) application by using the blockchain technology to disburse fertilizer subsidy among farmers.

India’s first blockchain-based network went live in April this year, when three online bill-discounting exchange platforms -- eceivables Exchange of India (RXIL), A.TReDS, and M1xchange -- came together and implemented a solution for their operations to deter fraud.

In the same month, what could be called as the first attempt in India to design and develop a blockchain platform for e-governance, a $5 million blockchain project has been commissioned by central cybersecurity agency of India. For same, National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) has engaged Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to develop an indigenous blockchain architecture to be used in India's e-governance.

National Stock Exchange to Test E-Voting Using Blockchain Built by Matrix-backed Startup

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) is conducting tests to use blockchain for e-voting for listed companies on the Elemential Labs platform, announced the exchange on Thursday.

Elemential Labs which has built the blockchain for NSE's e-voting pilot, is a Mumbai-based blockchain startup that recently raised $1 million from investors led by Matrix Partners India, in April this year.

The test involves setting up a blockchain to connect the regulator with the company and the RTA during the voting process. Voting rights will be tokenised, thus making them easy to transfer and proxy. The test will be evaluated on the auditability of the actions on the chain as well as the ease of conducting the process using blockchain.

Sankarson Banerjee, CTO-Projects, NSE said, “The immutable nature of blockchain will ensure that every action taken by a network participant is transparent to the regulator. Additionally, the smart contract framework enables synchronisation of the vote count process between the company and the regulator in real time. These features will take us closer to an environment of improved corporate governance and compliance.”

The pilot, aimed at providing a highly transparent and low-risk solution for e-voting, would enhance transparency in the voting process. The blockchain will be built using the Elemential platform on the Hyperledger framework. The SI partner is NSE IT, which is in-charge of building and managing the front-end application.

In February, when National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and a group of domestic banks collaborated on a know-your-customer (KYC) data trial involving blockchain, it was Elemential Labs that provided the technology for the trial.

Speaking about the blockchain-based e-voting pilot, Raunaq Vaisoha, CEO Elemential Lab said, “Blockchain enables a real-time, immutable trail of all activities for the regulator. This brings us a step closer to highly transparent and clear corporate governance, an operating standard that most companies aspire to."

It may be recalled that in June NITI Aayog and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) joined hands work to towards implementing a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) application by using the blockchain technology to disburse fertilizer subsidy among farmers.

India’s first blockchain-based network went live in April this year, when three online bill-discounting exchange platforms -- eceivables Exchange of India (RXIL), A.TReDS, and M1xchange -- came together and implemented a solution for their operations to deter fraud.

In the same month, what could be called as the first attempt in India to design and develop a blockchain platform for e-governance, a $5 million blockchain project has been commissioned by central cybersecurity agency of India. For same, National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) has engaged Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to develop an indigenous blockchain architecture to be used in India's e-governance.

China's No.1 Electric Vehicle Firm Sunra to Open Manufacturing Plant in India

The Chinese Electric Vehicle (EV) company, Sunra, which boast of being No.1 in sales volume in the world, is expecting India to be the world’s biggest market for electric bikes, so the firm is planning to set up its manufacturing facility in India.

Sunra's General Manager Victor Lu told news agency IANS that the company is studying the EV policies in India and want to set up a factory in India, most likely in Bangalore.

According to Victor, India will outpace China in four or five years in terms of demand for electric vehicles. "We see India as the world's biggest market for e-bikes and we want to tap into it. There is a so much pollution in Delhi and other Indian cities. People would switch to e-bikes very soon," he said.

There are six models of Sunra that are being tested under Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), the apex Industry body representing leading vehicle and vehicular engine manufacturers in India. Additionally, the Chinese firm has already partnered with 16 small firms in Delhi, helping these small firms in assembling electric bikes.

Sunra has been exporting e-bikes and its spares to 70 other countries including India. Currently, Sunra makes 20 percent of e-bikes in India and are planning to take the percentage level to 80.

Sunra already has a presence in India as it exports batteries, other spares parts and e-bikes to the country.

Founded in 1999, Sunra is a large-scale civilian-run joint-stock listed company, specializing in the R&D, production and distribution of electric vehicles and key spare parts and components.

[caption id="attachment_126414" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Miku Max - an electric scooter from Sunra[/caption]

Sunra's Miku is an electric scooter from the the company which has a European EEC certificate and has a high quality 800 watt Bosch electric motor and a 20 Ah removable Lithium battery for a range of 60 km.

Sunra is now a leader in Chinese Electric Vehicle Industry, owning 6 major production bases in Wuxi(Headquarters, Tianjin, Dongguan, Xiangyang, Henan, Xuzhou in China. according to Sunra website, the company has a total of more than 5,000 employees including 500 engineers, total asset of RMB 1.3 billion (~ US$189 Million), and annual production capacity of 4 million electric vehicles of various models that include Electric Bicycles, Electric Scooters, Electric Motorcycles, Electric Tricycles as well as Electric cars.

[Source - Economic Times, SunraEV.com]

Temasek-backed UST Global Acquires SeviTech, A Bangalore-based Chip Design Startup

California, US-based UST Global has acquired Bengaluru-based SeviTech Systems, a fast-growing chip design (VLSI) services company and a leading application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design solutions firm.

SeviTech will be retained as an independent entity and positioned as an expert in the pre-silicon engineering services business. It will continue to operate as a subsidiary of UST Global.

The acquisition will bring in the advanced technology and deep end-market expertise of the two companies, delivering advanced end-to-end solutions to global semiconductor manufacturers. The acquisition reinforces UST Global’s strength and focus in India, and elevates its position as a world’s most premium VLSI solutions provider, and a market leader in pre-silicon engineering.

Founded in 2013, by Prabhu Bhairi, Ashish Gupta, Shekhar Sharma and Anil Dalwani, SeviTech is one of fastest growing chip design (VLSI) Services Company, working with top IC design companies. The company has about 350 employees expertizing in end-to-end ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) design and embedded solutions. SeviTech has RnD centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad. In 2017, the company was recognized as the 50 best startups to work for by Silicon India.

UST Global had recently raised $250 million from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, in June this year, valuing it at over $1 billion. SeviTech is UST's third acquisition so far. In 2012, the company had acquired Andare, a company engaged in developing mobile solutions for large enterprise CRM applications. This was followed by acquisition of Kanchi Technologies, a company with primary focus in Engineer Services, in 2014.

UST Global’s Semiconductor business provides an end-to-end engineering and technology services that support the entire silicon lifecycle for original device manufacturer (ODM), original equipment manufacturer (OEM), integrated hardware vendor (IHV), and ASIC (Digital & Full Custom) Design, Verification & Implementation, FPGA implementation along with embedded software development. With the added capabilities and teams from SeviTech, the company will now be able to cater to the large volume of demand from global semiconductor manufacturers.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gilroy Mathew, Global Head of Semiconductor and Head of APAC, UST Global, said “Globally, our semiconductor business has seen an inspiring and phenomenal growth over the years. The acquisition of SeviTech is an integral part of our plan to strengthen our Technical Centers of Excellence providing RTL to GDSII solutions to our customers globally. With this acquisition, UST is now placed as a leader with expertise in delivering low power, high-performance chipset solutions for Automotive, Communication, Storage and other industries. The acquisition not only reinforces our VLSI capabilities but also highlights the company as an industry powerhouse focused on the high growth opportunities in the silicon world.”

“The global presence of UST Global coupled with strong ASIC engineering teams of SeviTech Systems positions us to provide innovative solutions to customers worldwide. It enhances our service portfolio and strengthens our position with customers for the end-to-end chip design solutions,” said Prabhu Bhairi, CEO & Co-Founder, SeviTech Systems.

To ensure the continued strong growth of SeviTech and a mutually beneficial association for both parties going forward, UST Global will maintain SeviTech as an independent entity and positioning it further as an expert in pre-silicon engineering services business. SeviTech will continue to operate as a subsidiary of UST Global.

To recall, in this month only Intel has acquired Indian entrepreneurs founded NetSpeed Systems, a San Jose, California-based provider of system-on-chip design tools and interconnect fabric intellectual property.

~ Business Line | Source - UST Global

[Top Featured Image - Glassdoor]

Temasek-backed UST Global Acquires SeviTech, A Bangalore-based Chip Design Startup

California, US-based UST Global has acquired Bengaluru-based SeviTech Systems, a fast-growing chip design (VLSI) services company and a leading application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design solutions firm.

SeviTech will be retained as an independent entity and positioned as an expert in the pre-silicon engineering services business. It will continue to operate as a subsidiary of UST Global.

The acquisition will bring in the advanced technology and deep end-market expertise of the two companies, delivering advanced end-to-end solutions to global semiconductor manufacturers. The acquisition reinforces UST Global’s strength and focus in India, and elevates its position as a world’s most premium VLSI solutions provider, and a market leader in pre-silicon engineering.

Founded in 2013, by Prabhu Bhairi, Ashish Gupta, Shekhar Sharma and Anil Dalwani, SeviTech is one of fastest growing chip design (VLSI) Services Company, working with top IC design companies. The company has about 350 employees expertizing in end-to-end ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) design and embedded solutions. SeviTech has RnD centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad. In 2017, the company was recognized as the 50 best startups to work for by Silicon India.

UST Global had recently raised $250 million from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, in June this year, valuing it at over $1 billion. SeviTech is UST's third acquisition so far. In 2012, the company had acquired Andare, a company engaged in developing mobile solutions for large enterprise CRM applications. This was followed by acquisition of Kanchi Technologies, a company with primary focus in Engineer Services, in 2014.

UST Global’s Semiconductor business provides an end-to-end engineering and technology services that support the entire silicon lifecycle for original device manufacturer (ODM), original equipment manufacturer (OEM), integrated hardware vendor (IHV), and ASIC (Digital & Full Custom) Design, Verification & Implementation, FPGA implementation along with embedded software development. With the added capabilities and teams from SeviTech, the company will now be able to cater to the large volume of demand from global semiconductor manufacturers.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gilroy Mathew, Global Head of Semiconductor and Head of APAC, UST Global, said “Globally, our semiconductor business has seen an inspiring and phenomenal growth over the years. The acquisition of SeviTech is an integral part of our plan to strengthen our Technical Centers of Excellence providing RTL to GDSII solutions to our customers globally. With this acquisition, UST is now placed as a leader with expertise in delivering low power, high-performance chipset solutions for Automotive, Communication, Storage and other industries. The acquisition not only reinforces our VLSI capabilities but also highlights the company as an industry powerhouse focused on the high growth opportunities in the silicon world.”

“The global presence of UST Global coupled with strong ASIC engineering teams of SeviTech Systems positions us to provide innovative solutions to customers worldwide. It enhances our service portfolio and strengthens our position with customers for the end-to-end chip design solutions,” said Prabhu Bhairi, CEO & Co-Founder, SeviTech Systems.

To ensure the continued strong growth of SeviTech and a mutually beneficial association for both parties going forward, UST Global will maintain SeviTech as an independent entity and positioning it further as an expert in pre-silicon engineering services business. SeviTech will continue to operate as a subsidiary of UST Global.

To recall, in this month only Intel has acquired Indian entrepreneurs founded NetSpeed Systems, a San Jose, California-based provider of system-on-chip design tools and interconnect fabric intellectual property.

~ Business Line | Source - UST Global

[Top Featured Image - Glassdoor]

All India Radio Now Streaming on Amazon Alexa Speakers

All India Radio, a national public radio broadcaster of India since 1956, is now have its own streaming services on Amazon’s Alexa Smart Speakers. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information & Broadcasting and Sports & Youth Affairs Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd.) launched All India Radio’s Streaming Services on Amazon’s Alexa Smart Speakers here today. Chairman Prasar Bharati Shri A Surya Prakash, CEO Prasar Bharati Dr Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Shri Rajiv Sawhney, Principal Tech Business Development, Amazon Alexa (Asia) and other senior officials of the Ministry were also present at the event.

With this, Vividh Bharati and 14 other regional language streaming services of All India Radio will be streamed on Amazon Alexa.

Archival assets of All India Radio will be made available in Amazon Alexa in near future. All India Radio will get an additional platform for global and domestic audiences and will cover all the shadow areas of the terrestrial broadcasting in the regional, headquarters and metro cities in particular. Alexa would supplement All India Radio’s website and App.

Alexa is a voice-enabled platform led by artificial intelligence.

Speaking at the launch of Alexa in New Delhi, Mr Rathore said, Radio is the only medium which is being listened to across the country. He said, launching of All India Radio’s Streaming Services on Amazon’s Alexa platform would be a synergy of Old and Modern forms of Communication. The Minister said that this initiative will benefit Indian diaspora around the world.

[caption id="attachment_126404" align="aligncenter" width="960"] All India Radio's 17 services in 14 Indian Languages are now available on Alexa. [/caption]

Through this device, AIR will get an additional platform for global and domestic audiences and will cover all the shadow areas of the terrestrial broadcasting in the regional headquarters and metro cities in particular.

17 channels of All India Radio including Vividh Bharati, FM Gold, FM Rainbow and Northeastern Services are being live streamed on Alexa.

The device will lure people into listening to AIR which is bound to enhance the brand image of the Public Service Broadcaster.

Chairman Prasar Bharati Shri A Surya Prakash, CEO Prasar Bharati Dr Shashi Shekhar Vempati and other senior officials of the Ministry were also present at the event.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event on the anniversary of surgical strikes, Mr Rathore said, the Indian army has been serving the country by working round the clock. He said, youth of the country can take inspiration from the brave soldiers of the country. Mr Rathore said, every soldier is committed to safeguarding the borders of the country.

Source - PIB.nic.in | Newsonair.com

Doctors, Engineers Innovate for Low-Cost Medical Innovation at IIT-Bombay’s MEDIC

The much-awaited annual event - Medical Device Innovation Camp (MEDIC), an initiative by BETiC - Biomedical Engineering and Technology incubation Centre at IIT Bombay, kick-started today at the IIT Bombay campus.

This year, MEDIC has brought together 60 participants from across India including doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, managers and teachers to brainstorm and develop novel solutions for 15 unmet clinical needs curated from different hospitals.

Over five days and four nights (Fri, 28 Sep to Tue, 2 Oct 2018), these participants will form inter-disciplinary teams, brainstorm ideas, develop proof-of-concept, and demonstrate to an eminent panel of senior doctors as jury.

Padma Vibhushan Dr Anil Kakodkar, scientist and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India said in his inaugural address, “ individual research alone rarely nurtures an innovation environment. However, the MEDIC formula of group research is extremely important. It is only through this that you can translate fundamental research into application domain."

Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said at the inaugural, “ there are times when the individual’s energy can get eroded. However, we must make sure that the energy of a system such as this, to foster innovation to solve problems, never gets eroded."

[caption id="attachment_126398" align="aligncenter" width="700"] From LtoR - Prof. A.K. Suresh, Dr Manish Agarwal, Dr Anil Kakodkar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prof B Ravi[/caption]

Prof. B. Ravi, Head of BETiC, IIT Bombay, the architect of MEDIC added, “Participants of the Medical Device Innovation Camp start off with four uncertainties - they do not know the place, do not know the problem, do not know who they will work with, and do not know the tools they will use. Yet over the next four days and nights, it all magically comes together, and they will present brilliant proof-of-concepts for unmet clinical needs. Winners of past camps have gone on to fully develop their ideas into medical products, file patents and license the technology to their own startup companies or to the industry."

Winners of past MEDIC have developed inventions such as the Ayulink smart stethoscope (to record and send heart & lung sounds of rural patients to urban doctors for correct diagnosis), diabetic foot scanner (to prevent long-term ulceration and amputation), hybrid plaster splint (to immobilize fractured bones to prevent further damage during transport) and patient-specific anatomical models as well as surgical jigs (for better planning and execution of surgeries). 16 such innovations are chronicled in Prof B Ravi’s book ‘Essence of Medical Device Innovation’, which was applauded by Hon. PM Narendra Modi during his visit to IIT Bombay last month.

The second edition of this book, was inaugurated at MEDIC today by iconic filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

“We need to rapidly traverse the path from idea to invention to innovation to impact in healthcare domain. This requires all relevant stakeholders to come out of their comfort zones and work together. Our experience at BETiC shows that this is now possible in India - thanks to the market pull by doctors, technology push by researchers and conducive environment created by the government for entrepreneurs" added Prof B Ravi.

Prof. A.K. Suresh (Deputy Director of IIT-B) said “an innovative approach to device development is absolutely of essence, and the ability to do this on scale, so that the fruits can be reaped by a large section of the society in quick time is equally important."

Dr. Manish Agarwal (Orthopedic Surgeon, Hinduja Hospital, co-PI of OrthoCAD project) also spoke at the inaugural, highlighting the need for an innovation ecosystem in the country.

BETiC Biomedical Engineering and Technology incubation Centre is located at IIT Bombay, with satellite centres in five engineering colleges (VNIT Nagpur, COE Pune, KJSCE Mumbai, MIT-ADT Pune and Symbiosis Pune) and three medical institutes (MGMIHS Sanpada, DMIMS Wardha and BKLWH Dervan). The initiative is envisioned and supported by RGSTC, Govt. of Maharashtra, Mumbai and DST, New Delhi, to accelerate indigenous development of affordable medical devices suitable for local manufacture and use.

Doctors, Engineers Innovate for Low-Cost Medical Innovation at IIT-Bombay’s MEDIC

The much-awaited annual event - Medical Device Innovation Camp (MEDIC), an initiative by BETiC - Biomedical Engineering and Technology incubation Centre at IIT Bombay, kick-started today at the IIT Bombay campus.

This year, MEDIC has brought together 60 participants from across India including doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, managers and teachers to brainstorm and develop novel solutions for 15 unmet clinical needs curated from different hospitals.

Over five days and four nights (Fri, 28 Sep to Tue, 2 Oct 2018), these participants will form inter-disciplinary teams, brainstorm ideas, develop proof-of-concept, and demonstrate to an eminent panel of senior doctors as jury.

Padma Vibhushan Dr Anil Kakodkar, scientist and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India said in his inaugural address, “ individual research alone rarely nurtures an innovation environment. However, the MEDIC formula of group research is extremely important. It is only through this that you can translate fundamental research into application domain."

Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said at the inaugural, “ there are times when the individual’s energy can get eroded. However, we must make sure that the energy of a system such as this, to foster innovation to solve problems, never gets eroded."

[caption id="attachment_126398" align="aligncenter" width="700"] From LtoR - Prof. A.K. Suresh, Dr Manish Agarwal, Dr Anil Kakodkar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prof B Ravi[/caption]

Prof. B. Ravi, Head of BETiC, IIT Bombay, the architect of MEDIC added, “Participants of the Medical Device Innovation Camp start off with four uncertainties - they do not know the place, do not know the problem, do not know who they will work with, and do not know the tools they will use. Yet over the next four days and nights, it all magically comes together, and they will present brilliant proof-of-concepts for unmet clinical needs. Winners of past camps have gone on to fully develop their ideas into medical products, file patents and license the technology to their own startup companies or to the industry."

Winners of past MEDIC have developed inventions such as the Ayulink smart stethoscope (to record and send heart & lung sounds of rural patients to urban doctors for correct diagnosis), diabetic foot scanner (to prevent long-term ulceration and amputation), hybrid plaster splint (to immobilize fractured bones to prevent further damage during transport) and patient-specific anatomical models as well as surgical jigs (for better planning and execution of surgeries). 16 such innovations are chronicled in Prof B Ravi’s book ‘Essence of Medical Device Innovation’, which was applauded by Hon. PM Narendra Modi during his visit to IIT Bombay last month.

The second edition of this book, was inaugurated at MEDIC today by iconic filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

“We need to rapidly traverse the path from idea to invention to innovation to impact in healthcare domain. This requires all relevant stakeholders to come out of their comfort zones and work together. Our experience at BETiC shows that this is now possible in India - thanks to the market pull by doctors, technology push by researchers and conducive environment created by the government for entrepreneurs" added Prof B Ravi.

Prof. A.K. Suresh (Deputy Director of IIT-B) said “an innovative approach to device development is absolutely of essence, and the ability to do this on scale, so that the fruits can be reaped by a large section of the society in quick time is equally important."

Dr. Manish Agarwal (Orthopedic Surgeon, Hinduja Hospital, co-PI of OrthoCAD project) also spoke at the inaugural, highlighting the need for an innovation ecosystem in the country.

BETiC Biomedical Engineering and Technology incubation Centre is located at IIT Bombay, with satellite centres in five engineering colleges (VNIT Nagpur, COE Pune, KJSCE Mumbai, MIT-ADT Pune and Symbiosis Pune) and three medical institutes (MGMIHS Sanpada, DMIMS Wardha and BKLWH Dervan). The initiative is envisioned and supported by RGSTC, Govt. of Maharashtra, Mumbai and DST, New Delhi, to accelerate indigenous development of affordable medical devices suitable for local manufacture and use.

Xender and SONY India Join Hands to Create Indian Version of 'Netflix'

Xender, a leading offline mobile file transfer and sharing app, has taken another giant stride by tying knots with SONY India for its MovieChain project -- A Decentralized Movie Distribution Ecosystem. For the movie industry, this partnership between Xender and SONY India has reached a whole new level in the content business.

After Xender kicked off its MovieChain project, SONY India is the sixth mainstream movie studio that has agreed to join this venture. Earlier, Xender closed deals with several top-notch Bollywood movie studios including PVR, EROS, Yash Raj Film, Shemaroo, Viacom18. These movie studios have agreed to enrich Xender’s movie platform with almost a thousand latest and most popular Bollywood and Hollywood movies.

A senior specialist from SONY Pictures, Mr. Gaurav Nagpal, stated, “Earlier, Chinese companies could only enter the Indian market by importing Indian movies or exporting Chinese movies, but now Xender has created an innovative and revolutionary model based on thousands of millions of Indian Xender users and a decentralized Device to Device offline distribution mechanism. This product is expected to flip the movie industry around starting from mobile terminals.”

He suggested further that all major movie studios, distribution companies and cinema lines should learn to adapt to these new changes in the rapidly evolving internet era.

From zero to jumbo and from online to offline, this change is not only an indication of the change in terms of distribution channels for Bollywood movies, but also an indication that movies, being the best agent to convey arts, education and other values, will be able to cover a huge portion of traditionally neglected audience.

People who get held up by expensive movie tickets and a scarcity of cinema lines before would also have a chance to enjoy the latest movies and at a relatively cheaper price. Everything combined points directly to a new market and a patch of audiences.

Xender movie is focused on micropayments with high frequency. Its users no longer need to get all dressed up and travel through huge traffic to a cinema hall, nor do they have to pay a high subscription fee from now on. Now, they can access tons of Bollywood and Hollywood blockbusters on their mobile phones anytime, anywhere at the lowest price (Rs 10-50/movie) one can ever imagine.

Meanwhile, Xender will bring so many incremental sales for copyright holders as it pushes each movie title directly to the hands of the millions of its users.

The founder of Xender and MovieChain project Mr. Peter Jiang believes that as global movie industry develops and expands at such a rapid pace, Xender and its MovieChain project will continue to explore opportunities to work with major movie studios all over the world. Having successfully closed the deal with SONY India further strengthens Xender’s strategic expansion on a global scale.

"This deal with SONY has made Xender a step further towards its goal: an offline version of Netflix. Although to change an industry requires a generation of people’s effort but we firmly believe that movie as a form of art is created for the great mass of people and hence should be enjoyed by the masses as well. Cinemas and online streaming platforms cannot monopolise the industry and more players would emerge as the next stage of the Internet revolution hits all the rising nations over the world," said Mr. Jiang.

As early as 2013, Xender started successfully as a tool application, with its speed and convenience, Xender has won over thousands of million users from more than 200 countries. It also tops the Google Play store and Apple store on tool ranks frequently. In 2017, Xender team initiated MovieChain project by introducing blockchain technology and a series of innovative business concepts: real-time revenue split, decentralised content storage, offline distribution, two-layer incentive mechanism and so on.

It is also expected to be one of the biggest disruptive players in the field from now on. For now, Xender and MovieChain project have planned to penetrate movie distribution, sales, copyright protection and all other lines of the movie industry.

Mr. Jiang is convinced that to most original content creators, copyright protection is the most difficult part. To tackle this problem, MovieChain is also proposing to start a non-profit organisation to jointly protect the interests and rights of the movie and other content creators.
About Xender

Xender is one of the world's leading application for file transfer and sharing. It offers users the convenience to transfer files of different types and sizes between mobile devices, either Android or iOS based, with no need for cables or Wi-Fi or cellular internet connection, and with absolutely no mobile data usage for transfer.

The company was established in 2011 with the vision to provide better connectivity to the world through technology innovation and devotion to users. Powered by a truly global team we are committed to highest quality standards and user experiences of our applications. With high growth rate in the past few years, we have now more than 700 million activated users globally covering all time zones and more than 30 different languages.

- Via BusinessWire India Feed

Berkshire Hathaway Invests $300 Mn in Paytm for 2.9% Stake

Noida-based One97 Communications, the parent entity of India’s largest digital payments firm, Paytm, has received $300 million (Rs 21.79 billion) in fresh funding from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The deal is the Warren Buffett-led firm’s first investment in the country.

IndianWeb2, via ET, had first reported in last month that Warren Buffet-owned firm is set to buy a stake in Paytm, India’s largest payment services provider, and talks with Berkshire Hathaway have been on since early February this year to raise about $358 million (~ Rs 2,000-2,500 crore) at a valuation of about $10-12 billion.

According to regulatory filings sourced from Paper.vc, One97 Communications issued 1.7 million shares to BH International Holdings on September 27. Post the investment, Berkshire Hathaway will have around 2.9 per cent holding in the Indian firm.

Paytm’s value post the investment will stand at Rs 731 billion ($10 billion).

Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway had confirmed it was investing in Paytm, but clarified that Buffett himself wasn't involved in making the deal. The investment is yet to be officially announced by either Berkshire Hathaway or Paytm.

“We feel both excited and humbled by this endorsement. Berkshire’s experience in financial services, and long-term investment horizon is going to be a huge advantage in Paytm’s journey of bringing 500 million Indians to the mainstream economy through financial inclusion,” Paytm boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said in a statement soon after.

The investment comes at a time when Paytm is going up against global giants Google and Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Both the US giants have either launched or are in the process of launching their digital payment products built on top of India’s indigenous payment system UPI.

The fund raise comes close in time of funding of US-based payment startup Stripe, which has just raised $245 million, valuing it at whopping $20 billion. Post the funding, Stripe is all set to enter India and Southeast Asia. The startup has already launched its engineering hub at Singapore.

Source - Business Standard

Berkshire Hathaway Invests $300 Mn in Paytm for 2.9% Stake

Noida-based One97 Communications, the parent entity of India’s largest digital payments firm, Paytm, has received $300 million (Rs 21.79 billion) in fresh funding from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The deal is the Warren Buffett-led firm’s first investment in the country.

IndianWeb2, via ET, had first reported in last month that Warren Buffet-owned firm is set to buy a stake in Paytm, India’s largest payment services provider, and talks with Berkshire Hathaway have been on since early February this year to raise about $358 million (~ Rs 2,000-2,500 crore) at a valuation of about $10-12 billion.

According to regulatory filings sourced from Paper.vc, One97 Communications issued 1.7 million shares to BH International Holdings on September 27. Post the investment, Berkshire Hathaway will have around 2.9 per cent holding in the Indian firm.

Paytm’s value post the investment will stand at Rs 731 billion ($10 billion).

Earlier this month, Berkshire Hathaway had confirmed it was investing in Paytm, but clarified that Buffett himself wasn't involved in making the deal. The investment is yet to be officially announced by either Berkshire Hathaway or Paytm.

“We feel both excited and humbled by this endorsement. Berkshire’s experience in financial services, and long-term investment horizon is going to be a huge advantage in Paytm’s journey of bringing 500 million Indians to the mainstream economy through financial inclusion,” Paytm boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said in a statement soon after.

The investment comes at a time when Paytm is going up against global giants Google and Facebook-owned WhatsApp. Both the US giants have either launched or are in the process of launching their digital payment products built on top of India’s indigenous payment system UPI.

The fund raise comes close in time of funding of US-based payment startup Stripe, which has just raised $245 million, valuing it at whopping $20 billion. Post the funding, Stripe is all set to enter India and Southeast Asia. The startup has already launched its engineering hub at Singapore.

Source - Business Standard

Porsche to Launch its Electric Car 'Taycan' in India by 2020

Within few days after premium car maker Audi had announced that it will launch its electric SUV, e-tron, by end of next year, an another luxury car maker, Porsche, has just announced to bring its electric car in India sooner than expected. In an official statement shared with clean energy news website, Mercom, Porsche said that it aims to bring electric car 'Taycan' to India by 2020.

Taycan, which is Porsche's first all-electric car globally, will be launched globally by the end of 2019 while in India it will enter by 2020.

Taycan, which can go upto 500 km on a single charge, has two permanently excited synchronous motors (PSM) with a system output of over 590 bhp. The Porsche Taycan electric sports car can do a 0-100 kmph sprint in well under 3.5 seconds and to 200 kmph in under 12 seconds. This performance is in addition to a continuous power level that is unprecedented among electric vehicles: Multiple jump starts are possible in succession without loss of performance, and the vehicle's maximum range is over 500 km in accordance with the NEDC.

[caption id="attachment_126386" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Porsche Taycans Driving Dashboard[/caption]

Porche EV rival Tesla's Model S (P100D), on the other hand, does the 0-100kmph stint in 2.5s and also has a claimed range of 500km.

Additionally, Porsche also announced that it is dropping its diesel cars like 'Porche Cayenne' for good, as the company has confirmed there will be no diesel-engined Cayenne for India.

In a reply to an Autocar India query, Peter Vogel, Acting Chief Executive of Porsche Middle East & Africa FZE, said, “Porsche has decided to stop offering diesel models in the current product portfolio, as a result of changing market conditions and increasing interest in hybrid and electric vehicles. This is a global decision and includes Porsche models offered in India.”

Porsche plans to invest massive €6 billion (~ US$ 6.9 billion) in electric mobility by 2022, doubling the expenditure that the company had originally planned. Some €500 million out of this budget of the company will be used for the development of Taycan variants and derivatives, around one billion euro for electrification and hybridization of the existing product range, several hundred million for the expansion of production sites, plus around 700 million euro for new technologies, charging infrastructure and smart mobility.

With India rolling out multiple Electric Vehicle policies lately, Porsche has its eyes set on India . Indian government recently approved a subsidy corpus of ₹55 billion (~$0.78 billion) to be disbursed under the second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) program. The FAME II program will be in force for five years.

Earlier this month, Maruti Suzuki has announced that it will start testing prototypes of its flagship electric vehicles in India by October this year.

[Top Featured Image - AutoExpress.co.uk ]

Cheap Electric Car Maker Strom Motors Raises Funding from Indian Angel Network

Mumbai-based mobility startup, Strom Motors (E14 Technologies Pvt Ltd), that manufactures affordable electric car, has secured undisclosed amount in angel funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN).

The round was led by IAN members Neeraj Garg, Sanjay Bhasin and Anirudh Agarwal, who will also be strategic members to the company’s board.

Strom Motors is building an all electric urban commute, which is a fully air-conditioned 2+1 seater three wheeled reverse trike

In April this year, the startup had unveiled Strom R3, its affordable electric car that would cost mere ₹3 lakh and costs 40 paise per km and can be parked in a space no bigger than 2 bikes.

The funds raised by the startup will be be utilized to strengthen its leadership position in the smart mobility market, boosting product sales, accelerating its geographical expansion, along with increasing consumer base across markets. The funds raised will also be used to set up its assembly plant in Mumbai for Strom-R3 which has already received over 100 pre-orders from the Maharashtra region. The funds will also

Founded in 2011 by Pratik Gupta, Jean-Luc Abaziou and Dr Gilmer Blankenship, Strom Motors aims to redefine urban mobility and re-invent Indias personal transportation through its smart electric car.



Talking about the investment, Pratik Gupta, CEO at Strom Motors said, “We are looking forward to leveraging the expertise and in-depth industry knowledge of IAN members to bring significant developments in the company. Sustainable personal mobility solution in India is still in its nascent stages and there is huge opportunity for electric vehicle segment to grow in the coming years.”

Also Read - Audi’s 1st Electric Car ‘e-tron’ Unveiled; To Launch in India Next Year

He further added, “Our efforts are not only to bring substantial innovation in the EV space, but also solve some of the key challenges faced by the country today such as road congestion and air pollution. The investment will help us to strengthen our roots in India and obtain homologation and begin deliveries of Strom-R3.”

Earlier this year, Strom Motors unveiled its smart electric car StromR3. The startup claims to have already received over 100 pre-orders for its electric car from the Maharashtra region.

Strom Motors has also tied up with what3words, a geo-addressing company based in the UK, to optimize GPS mapping and bring accuracy to navigation in a complex road infrastructure like India.

With the electric mobility space expected to be a multi-billion dollar industry and Indian government pushing towards sustainable solutions, more Indian startups are expected to drive the transition from fossil fuel-propelled vehicles to clean fuel driven vehicles.

According to Start Up team of Invest India, currently there are about 136 startups related to electric vehicles in India.

Earlier this month, Escorts Limited announced it’s unique Automated Farming Solutions with the launch of Automated Concept Tractor touted as India's 1st Automated, driverless tractor.


In this month only, Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, which has "Maruti Suzuki" as its subsidiary in India, announced that its India unit will start road-running tests using a fleet of 50 EV prototype vehicles in India from October this year, in order to develop safe and easy-to-use EVs for Indian customers. Maruti is gearing up to deliver a fleet of electric cars in India by 2020.

Last month, Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) startup, Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd, which is currently building an electric motorcycle, received an additional investment of ₹6 crore from TVS Motor, which has bought a 14.78 per cent stake in Ultraviolette Automotive, in December 2017.

In May this year, Co-founders of Indian cab hailing firm Ola, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, have together invested $66,810 in Pune-based EV startup Tork Motorcycles.

In the same month, it was reported that government is considering establishing of a venture capital (VC) fund of ₹500 crore in order to support startups related to electric vehicles (EV) in India


Source - MoneyControl

Cheap Electric Car Maker Strom Motors Raises Funding from Indian Angel Network

Mumbai-based mobility startup, Strom Motors (E14 Technologies Pvt Ltd), that manufactures affordable electric car, has secured undisclosed amount in angel funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN).

The round was led by IAN members Neeraj Garg, Sanjay Bhasin and Anirudh Agarwal, who will also be strategic members to the company’s board.

Strom Motors is building an all electric urban commute, which is a fully air-conditioned 2+1 seater three wheeled reverse trike

In April this year, the startup had unveiled Strom R3, its affordable electric car that would cost mere ₹3 lakh and costs 40 paise per km and can be parked in a space no bigger than 2 bikes.

The funds raised by the startup will be be utilized to strengthen its leadership position in the smart mobility market, boosting product sales, accelerating its geographical expansion, along with increasing consumer base across markets. The funds raised will also be used to set up its assembly plant in Mumbai for Strom-R3 which has already received over 100 pre-orders from the Maharashtra region. The funds will also

Founded in 2011 by Pratik Gupta, Jean-Luc Abaziou and Dr Gilmer Blankenship, Strom Motors aims to redefine urban mobility and re-invent Indias personal transportation through its smart electric car.



Talking about the investment, Pratik Gupta, CEO at Strom Motors said, “We are looking forward to leveraging the expertise and in-depth industry knowledge of IAN members to bring significant developments in the company. Sustainable personal mobility solution in India is still in its nascent stages and there is huge opportunity for electric vehicle segment to grow in the coming years.”

Also Read - Audi’s 1st Electric Car ‘e-tron’ Unveiled; To Launch in India Next Year

He further added, “Our efforts are not only to bring substantial innovation in the EV space, but also solve some of the key challenges faced by the country today such as road congestion and air pollution. The investment will help us to strengthen our roots in India and obtain homologation and begin deliveries of Strom-R3.”

Earlier this year, Strom Motors unveiled its smart electric car StromR3. The startup claims to have already received over 100 pre-orders for its electric car from the Maharashtra region.

Strom Motors has also tied up with what3words, a geo-addressing company based in the UK, to optimize GPS mapping and bring accuracy to navigation in a complex road infrastructure like India.

With the electric mobility space expected to be a multi-billion dollar industry and Indian government pushing towards sustainable solutions, more Indian startups are expected to drive the transition from fossil fuel-propelled vehicles to clean fuel driven vehicles.

According to Start Up team of Invest India, currently there are about 136 startups related to electric vehicles in India.

Earlier this month, Escorts Limited announced it’s unique Automated Farming Solutions with the launch of Automated Concept Tractor touted as India's 1st Automated, driverless tractor.


In this month only, Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, which has "Maruti Suzuki" as its subsidiary in India, announced that its India unit will start road-running tests using a fleet of 50 EV prototype vehicles in India from October this year, in order to develop safe and easy-to-use EVs for Indian customers. Maruti is gearing up to deliver a fleet of electric cars in India by 2020.

Last month, Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) startup, Ultraviolette Automotive Pvt Ltd, which is currently building an electric motorcycle, received an additional investment of ₹6 crore from TVS Motor, which has bought a 14.78 per cent stake in Ultraviolette Automotive, in December 2017.

In May this year, Co-founders of Indian cab hailing firm Ola, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, have together invested $66,810 in Pune-based EV startup Tork Motorcycles.

In the same month, it was reported that government is considering establishing of a venture capital (VC) fund of ₹500 crore in order to support startups related to electric vehicles (EV) in India


Source - MoneyControl

GREX and UAE Govt's AIM Startup Signs MoU to Bring the World's Leading FDI Platform Closer to Indian Startups

Pune-based private market platform GREX and AIM Startup, an initiative of UAE Government, have signed an MoU, on Thursday, to provide better access for Indian companies to the markets in MENA region (Middle East and North Africa region), and forge meaningful relations with business leaders, investors and international Government entities.

Launched in 2017, AIM Startup, an initiative of the UAE Ministry of Economy, aims to connect promising startups with investors and business partners from all around the world. It is set in the heart of UAE's Annual Investment Meeting that happens in Dubai, the World's Leading FDI Platform for Emerging Markets.

GREX is a private market platform, and its associated ecosystem, that help companies access multiple financial products as they grow from Incubator to IPO. This initiative endeavors to provide more growth opportunities to companies on GREX.

This partnership between AIM Startup and GREX is going to open a large set of opportunities for the companies not only on GREX but also all the other companies looking for growth in the Middle East.

[caption id="attachment_126375" align="aligncenter" width="700"] MoU Signing between GREX and AIM Startup[/caption]

Mr. Dawood Al Shezawi, President, AIM Startup said “We believe that the local ecosystems can benefit from international cooperation. The market in the region can certainly accommodate companies and innovators that will not only benefit from doing business in GCC but will also bring in know-how and best practices. This is where we have the pleasure to welcome our partner GREX for the 3rd Edition of AIM Start-up with whom we are looking to ensure India’s business leaders of tomorrow will take an active part in our platform as start-ups, investors and mentors.”

On this occasion Neera Inamdar, VP Strategic Alliances, GREX mentioned “This way we are trying to bridge a gap between an international finance hub and Indian startup ecosystem. We are very happy with this partnership and we look forward to cultivate it further.”

GREX is association with AIM Startup will conduct several events in various parts of India to create awareness among Indian companies and bring opportunities to expand their footprint in Middle East. Shortlisted companies will get a chance to showcase themselves during the AIM Startup Event in 2019.

Debashis Das, CEO of Bharati Robotic Systems added “It is an encouraging step for the companies in India looking to explore Middle East market for business growth. I would like to congratulate GREX and UAE Government for this positive step and believe that a number of companies will take advantage of this opportunity.”

To recall, in July Government of India’s official investment promotion agency 'Invest India' and the UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) have signed a bilateral AI Bridge agreement that seeks to create economic benefits worth $20 billion during the next decade.

A month back, UAE-based OMA Emirates Group has launched a fintech Fund of $3 million to focus on emerging and potential financial technology companies and startups in India

Besides UAE, Bahrain is an another middle east nation looking at Indian Startup ecosystem as an oppurtunity. In July this year, Bahrain announced that it keen on welcoming startups and venture capitalists (VC) from India to access the country's startup ecosystem, said John Kilmartin, Executive Director, ICT at Bahrain's Economic Development Board (EDB).

GREX and UAE Govt's AIM Startup Signs MoU to Bring the World's Leading FDI Platform Closer to Indian Startups

Pune-based private market platform GREX and AIM Startup, an initiative of UAE Government, have signed an MoU, on Thursday, to provide better access for Indian companies to the markets in MENA region (Middle East and North Africa region), and forge meaningful relations with business leaders, investors and international Government entities.

Launched in 2017, AIM Startup, an initiative of the UAE Ministry of Economy, aims to connect promising startups with investors and business partners from all around the world. It is set in the heart of UAE's Annual Investment Meeting that happens in Dubai, the World's Leading FDI Platform for Emerging Markets.

GREX is a private market platform, and its associated ecosystem, that help companies access multiple financial products as they grow from Incubator to IPO. This initiative endeavors to provide more growth opportunities to companies on GREX.

This partnership between AIM Startup and GREX is going to open a large set of opportunities for the companies not only on GREX but also all the other companies looking for growth in the Middle East.

[caption id="attachment_126375" align="aligncenter" width="700"] MoU Signing between GREX and AIM Startup[/caption]

Mr. Dawood Al Shezawi, President, AIM Startup said “We believe that the local ecosystems can benefit from international cooperation. The market in the region can certainly accommodate companies and innovators that will not only benefit from doing business in GCC but will also bring in know-how and best practices. This is where we have the pleasure to welcome our partner GREX for the 3rd Edition of AIM Start-up with whom we are looking to ensure India’s business leaders of tomorrow will take an active part in our platform as start-ups, investors and mentors.”

On this occasion Neera Inamdar, VP Strategic Alliances, GREX mentioned “This way we are trying to bridge a gap between an international finance hub and Indian startup ecosystem. We are very happy with this partnership and we look forward to cultivate it further.”

GREX is association with AIM Startup will conduct several events in various parts of India to create awareness among Indian companies and bring opportunities to expand their footprint in Middle East. Shortlisted companies will get a chance to showcase themselves during the AIM Startup Event in 2019.

Debashis Das, CEO of Bharati Robotic Systems added “It is an encouraging step for the companies in India looking to explore Middle East market for business growth. I would like to congratulate GREX and UAE Government for this positive step and believe that a number of companies will take advantage of this opportunity.”

To recall, in July Government of India’s official investment promotion agency 'Invest India' and the UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) have signed a bilateral AI Bridge agreement that seeks to create economic benefits worth $20 billion during the next decade.

A month back, UAE-based OMA Emirates Group has launched a fintech Fund of $3 million to focus on emerging and potential financial technology companies and startups in India

Besides UAE, Bahrain is an another middle east nation looking at Indian Startup ecosystem as an oppurtunity. In July this year, Bahrain announced that it keen on welcoming startups and venture capitalists (VC) from India to access the country's startup ecosystem, said John Kilmartin, Executive Director, ICT at Bahrain's Economic Development Board (EDB).

After Valuing at $20 Bn, US-based Payment Startup Stripe to Enter India, Southeast Asia

San Francisco, California-based innovative payment startup Stripe has just raised $245 million, valuing the company at $20 billion. Post this funding, the startup is now determined to expand to new markets globally and attract bigger customers.

Stripe will use the freshly raised funds to fuel growth in key overseas markets such as Southeast Asia and India, where it plans to tap into the growth of the e-commerce industry to expand its payments products. More than 500 million people in Southeast Asia and India are expected to become online customers in the next three years, Stripe said.

Within few hours after the fund raise announcement, Stripe has opened its fourth engineering hub in Singapore.

"In the years ahead, we plan to hire hundreds of people to help us expand our infrastructure, build completely new products, and ensure that Stripe’s product suite works just as well in Southeast Asia as it does in Europe and North America," announced Stripe in its official blog's post.

Singapore hub will include all of the core Stripe functions - product and engineering teams based here will work on expanding the geographic footprint of Stripe’s existing global payments and treasury network, help build completely new products, and further develop the underlying infrastructure powering Stripe, announced the company.

Founded in 2010, by John and Patrick Collison, Stripe provides the technical, fraud prevention, and banking infrastructure required to operate on-line payment systems. Stripe is a Y Combinator startup that counts Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz as its investors.

Stripe provides APIs that web developers can use to integrate payment processing into their websites and mobile applications. In April 2018, the company released anti-fraud tools that run alongside payment APIs to block fraudulent transactions.

While payments is Stripe’s backbone, the startup has also been diversifying and now also includes Stripe Issuing, Stripe Terminal, fraud detection and potentially cash advances, among its various offerings.

The recently launched Stripe Terminal is innovative Point of Sale (PoS) device from the company as unlike any other PoS device, Stripe Terminal is programmable that enable in-person payments for any business model with pre-certified card readers, JavaScript and mobile SDKs, and cloud-based hardware management.

Stripe entering India will be a landmark event not just for country's payment industry but whole fintech space as the Stripe will hopefully compell local payment companies like Alibaba-backed PayTM or Mobikwik to innovate, which until now is "putting everything under single umbrella" in the name of innovation.

Stripe, which operates in 25 countries, charges a fee on each transaction processed through its platform. Its products have expanded to include credit cards, subscription-based billing and debit cards.

The company also announced on Wednesday a number of new customers, including Alphabet Inc's Google, ride-hailing services Didi and Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] and music streaming service Spotify Technology SA.

To recall, in June this year, an another California-based startup Tala, which is named in one of the fastest growing FinTech startups in the world by Forbes, announced the launch of its first engineering hub in Bangalore in order to broaden access to credit and financial services. Tala plans to build India as the hub for its Asian operations.

Soon Dell Servers in India will have AI and Blockchain Capabilities

Tech giant Dell has announced that it is planning to look at leveraging emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics by introducing products that are enabled by these technologies.

The company says that it expects to retain its prime position in the India server market as it looks to introduce newer products that have capabilities in AI, blockchain and analytics and are compliant with cloud requirements.

Dell’s servers and networking business reportedly drew a revenue of $5.1 billion in Q2 2018, a 34 percent increase from the same quarter the previous year.

The senior director and general manager at Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell EMC India, Manish Gupta, told media outlets, “The clients that we work with are looking to tap these technologies, which is why we are bringing in servers that allows them to optimize on traditional workloads as well as invest into new age workloads such as cloud, artificial intelligence, analytics and blockchain.”

Gupta further said that most of the company's demands are coming from information technology (IT)-enabled services, financial services, banking, among others. He added, “With the launch of our new servers PowerEdge MX, we are aiming to bring in modern architecture along with scalability."

PowerEdge MX is Dell's newest high performance, modular infrastructure, designed to support a wide variety of traditional and emerging data centers.

From a data center perspective, the smart contract capability of a blockchain would seem to lend itself to the automation of “rules-based” operation and management functions. In taking over responsibility for applications like Capacity planning, Virtualization, Cooling and asset mananagement, a blockchain-based management system would potentially deliver enhanced transparency and cost savings in terms of operations.

It is also to be noted that one of Dell's subsidiaries, VMware, has been working on Project Concord -- an open-source blockchain infrastructure designed to be both scalable and energy efficient -- for roughly two years, and through this project it aims to provide a base for blockchain implementations which can solve certain scaling issues in cloud computing and virtualization industry.

In India, as of now there are three Dell facilities in Chennai, Hyderabad and Noida. The US and India are the only countries that have all Dell's business functions and provide support globally: research and development, manufacturing, finance, analysis, and customer care.

Just a few days back, Synerise, a European tech firm developing "AI Growth Cloud", has officially entered India's cloud market. Its "AI Growth Cloud" is a platform based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that automates business processes, increases customer loyalty and boosts revenues.


Source - Economic Times

Facebook to Host 1st India Startup Day in Delhi on October 9

Facebook on Wednesday said it will host its first-ever India Startup Day in New Delhi on October 9 in a bid to recognize the country’s thriving start-up ecosystem.

At the event, Facebook will celebrate Indian stories of founders and leaders applying technology to solve current and future societal problems.

Fcebook will also recognize outstanding startup stories with the India Startup Day Awards. For more details on India Startup Day, and to register your interest for the awards, please log-on to https://fbindiastartupday.splashthat.com/. Registration for India Startup Day Awards ends on September 28th.



Catch us live here on the Facebook India page on October 9, 2018 for India Startup Day!

The event will also see key business, policy leaders, and aspiring start-ups discuss opportunities and challenges of the new generation of entrepreneurs, the social media giant said in a statement.

“As the third largest start-up destination globally and with one of the fastest-growing base of developers in the world, India is on a journey to usher in rapid advances in technology and economic growth,” said Facebook.

Facebook is already working with the start-up ecosystem in the country.

According to Facebook, India Startup Day is its way of reaffirming the company's commitment to help enable the developer and start-up community through its tech programs and to support entrepreneurs who are building the future. At the event, Facebook will be celebrating stories of entrepreneurs applying technology to solve current and future societal challenges, and talking to leaders to learn more about the challenges this new generation of entrepreneurs face.

Bangalore Airport to Build Advanced Data Analytics Platform, CoE for Improved Passenger Experience

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), which operates Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport has entered into an agreement with American global IT firm, Unisys Corporation, to develop an Analytics Center of Excellence (CoE).

The Analytics CoE will support a business intelligence and advanced data analytics platform for BIAL to consolidate and rationalize the Airport’s strategic, tactical and operational reporting. According to a statement by the airport this will enable Airport staff to make faster and better-informed business decisions, process air travelers more quickly and enhance the airport experience for the customer.

As part of the new data-driven airport framework, the Unisys-developed platform will allow BIAL to generate more than 150 insightful, interactive business intelligence reports, utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning to forecast future travel patterns and traveler trends. This will enable the airport to shift its strategy from hindsight to foresight, predictive to prescriptive and improve future decision-making processes. Hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, the solution employs Azure capabilities such as Azure HDInsight, SQL Data Warehouse, Azure Machine Learning and Azure Advanced Data Analytics services.

“BIAL is committed to being a data-driven organization that will create a smart, futuristic and intuitive airport journey for passengers. Unisys brings a strong combination of in-depth understanding of the aviation industry and proven experience in delivering digital transformation for organizations of all sizes. Unisys’ solution will provide us with intelligent and intuitive data and analytics that will support the enhancement of the customer experience we provide,” said Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy and Development Officer, BIAL.

[caption id="attachment_126359" align="aligncenter" width="700"] L-R: Javed Malik, Chief Operating Officer, BIAL, Raja Ponnuru, Financial Controller, Unisys India, Ramachandran CK, AGM – Business Intelligence, Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy & Development Officer, (back) Subhash Choudhary, Sales Director, Unisys India[/caption]

The platform will allow the Airport to provide real-time content information pertaining to Airport services and flight information. The services will also provide travelers access to improved airport navigation, communication of airport services and proactive and personalized retail offerings based on passenger preferences and past spending history. This offers passengers greater visibility into airport amenities and services, in addition to establishing an avenue for BIAL to generate non-aeronautical revenues.

“BIAL is a perfect partner, committed to meeting the growing needs of today’s connected traveler,” said Tony Windever, Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Unisys. “This strategic collaboration leverages Unisys’ deep domain expertise and digital transformation capabilities, like the Analytics Center of Excellence, to create a more agile, predictive business model for travel and transportation customers. Supporting BIAL’s innovative vision, this has the potential to become one of the most advanced deployments of data and analytics for any airport in India, and potentially in the world.”

BIAL is a public-private consortium that owns and operates Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, the third busiest airport in India by passenger traffic. According to BIAL, the annual passenger traffic through the Airport is expected to grow from 26.91 million passengers in FY2018 to over 65 million passengers in the next decade. To meet growing passenger demand the airport will introduce a second runway by 2019 and open a second terminal by 2021.

“This strategic collaboration leverages Unisys’ deep domain expertise and digital transformation capabilities, like the Analytics Center of Excellence, to create a more agile, predictive business model for travel and transportation customers,” said Tony Windever, Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Unisys.

In 2016, BIAL had launched the BLR Airport app, as part of its digital platform offering. Through the app, BIAL revolutionized the travel experience at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB) through a combination of digital technologies that include the Internet of Things, people, services and data.

Source - Unisys

[Top Image - TheIndianExpress.com]

Pharmeasy Raises $50 million in Series C Funding from Eight Roads Ventures India

Mumbai headquartered online healthcare and pharma aggregator Pharmeasy has raised $50 million (~ Rs.364 Crores) in Series C funding from Eight Roads Ventures India, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International Ltd. The round is largest of all three rounds raised till date by the startup.

The other investors are F-Prime Capital, Nandan Nilakeni, Sanjeev Aggarwal-backed Fundamentum Partnership and San Francisco-based hedge fund Think Investments.

Existing investors BVP also participated in this round which was run by investment banking firm Avendus. With this round, the total fund raised by Pharmeasy stands at $75 million. Its earlier investors include BVP, Orios Venture Partners, Aarin Capital and MEMG.

Founded in 2015 by Dharmil Sheth and Dhaval Shah, Pharmeasy connects patients to local pharmacies and diagnostic centres through an integrated online platform, making healthcare accessible and affordable across India via quick and efficient doorstep delivery and savings on their healthcare needs.

Pharmeasy will use the funds to expand the consumer base, improve the technology and expand into more cities. “The way we have grown in the last three years, more than 200% YOY is testament to the fact that affordable and accessible healthcare is very much possible,” the company’s founder, Dhaval Shah, said.

Dharmil Sheth, co-founder of Pharmeasy, said, “It has always been our aim to make healthcare affordable and accessible to everyone. And the new funding will only push us closer to achieving this goal, helping us change the healthcare ecosystem in the country. We plan to use this funds to strengthen our tech capabilities in operations and also in ensuring that we are able to provide personalised healthcare solutions to the consumers.’’

Pharmeasy provides e-consultation and at-home diagnostic tests, medicine dosage reminders and an automated medicine refill subscription service. It also specialises in chronic care segment, forming a significant part of its scope of services.

The startup is also working on industry wide issues which revolve around eliminating fake medicines from the system by scrupulously validating prescriptions and barcoding every drug in its inventory to establish their genuineness. Currently, the company is delivering affordable and authentic healthcare solutions to more than 22000 pin codes.

Just a few weeks back, Chennai-based NetMeds hasd too raised $35 million in Series C funding round, which was followed by acquisition of telemedicine app JustDoc.

In June, New Delhi-based healthcare technology startup Navia Life Care Pvt. had raised $100,000 in a a bridge round of funding from existing investor Benori Ventures and angel investors.

In May, Mumbai-based home healthcare services aggregator HealWell24 raised $200,000 in Pre-Series A round of funding from bunch of angel investors including Prashant Mehta, Mitali Pawar, Nikhil G and Bhavesh P, members of Indian Cooperative Oncology Network (ICON), and R Ranganathan

Last November, Mumbai based Instinct Innovations has raised a seed round of funding led by Vida Ventures and Dr. Aniruddha Malpani for its artificial intelligence (AI) enabled Redbook platform.

Drone based Data Solutions Startup SenseHawk Raises $2 Mn from SAIF Partners

Data solutions startup Sensehawk Technologies Pvt. Ltd has raised $2 million (Rs 13.6 crore) in a Series A round led by venture capital and growth equity investment firm SAIF Partners. Besides SAIF, few angel investors also participated in the round.

Bangalore and California-based Sensehawk aims to revolutionize Infrastructure and Mining space using data from autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Drones.

The Series A round of investment will be utilized for business development and engineering. Expansion of business outside of India, US and Australia will be a key focus in addition to strengthening of existing contracts.

SenseHawk is attempting to transform the way asset enterprises operate by using AI and ML coupled with data collected from autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other novel sensing platforms. Its solutions combine different kinds of UAVs, sensors, data processing and planning chains to create decision making tools that drive productivity in energy and infrastructure industries.

Swarup Mavanoor, Co-founder and CEO, SenseHawk said, “Our goal is to digitize infrastructure asset industries through the creation of a scalable AI driven platform that combines new age sensor data and expert knowledge to deliver insights to users across functions. With large investments into new infrastructure and strong downward pressure on investment returns, combating process inefficiency with new sensing technologies and intelligent software has become a critical requirement. We are addressing exactly this requirement with an initial focus on the Solar Industry.”

“We are happy to have gained valuable support from SAIF as it adds a lot of credibility to our business model. The expanded capital base will allow SenseHawk to focus on business development, expand geographically and diversify the depth of solutions offered to enterprises,” he added.

Founded in 2016, by Swarup Mavanoor and Rahul Sankhe, SenseHawk is building a suite of SaaS tools that work to streamline processes across the life-cycle of infrastructure assets. Its solutions work with the latest data acquisition tools including UAVs, IoT enabled devices and SCADA systems to provide asset owners, developers, investors, lenders, EPC contractors and technical teams with timely and super accurate information.

Announcing the investment, Mayank Khanduja, Principal, SAIF Partners said, “We are thrilled to partner with Sensehawk in their quest to build a unique data solutions platform that leverages computer vision and artificial intelligence. We are impressed at the upside that Sensehawk solution brings to the multi billion dollar Solar industry today and will soon do the same for other industries. As the solar industry attracts more investment, we believe that Swarup, Rahul and their team will be at the forefront of building an intelligent analytics platform that allows asset owners to maximize asset performance, and we feel excited to work with them on this next phase of growth.”

SenseHawk provides easy to use end to end aerial data solutions for the Infrastructure and Mining Industry. From managing the autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to subsequent data management and analysis tools, the platform provides an end to end solution to enterprises so that they get the highest quality of data for planning large scale projects.

The company has a 20-member team with operations in India, US and Australia and more than 20 leading corporates as their customers.

Source - IndiaInfoline

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