Bangaluru Startup To Get $1.2 Billion in Compensation from ISRO's Commercial Arm

Devas Multimedia, a Bengaluru-based startup, will get US$1.2 billion in compensation as a federal court in the United States has asked Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of ISRO, to pay Devas Multimedia the compensation of this amount for canceling a January 2005 deal to build and launch two satellites to provide multimedia services via the space band spectrum.

Incorporated in 2004, by a few former ISRO officials and US businessmen, Devas Multimedia is involved in motion picture, radio, television and other entertainment activities, according to Registrar of Companies (RoC), Bangalore.

In an agreement dated in January 2005, Antrix agreed to build, launch and operate two satellites and to make available 70 MHz of S-band spectrum to Devas, which the latter planned to use to offer hybrid satellite and terrestrial communication services throughout India.

Later in February 2011 the agreement was terminated by Antrix. Devas then approached various legal avenues in India over several years after Antrix cancelled the deal. This included the Supreme Court, which directed for a tribunal. In his order dated October 27, Judge Thomas S Zilly, US District Judge, Western District of Washington, Seattle, ruled that Antrix Corporation pay a compensation of USD 562.5 million to Devas Multimedia Corporation and the related interest rate amounting to a total of USD 1.2 billion.

The US federal court for the Western District of Washington on Tuesday confirmed an arbitration award made by the International Court of Commerce on September 14, 2015, in favor of Devas Multimedia -- on account of the government cancelling the 2005 satellite deal in February 2011 by citing the need for usage of the S-band spectrum for security communications.

The agreement was terminated by Antrix in February 2011. Over the next several years, Devas approached various legal avenues in India. This included the Supreme Court, which directed for a tribunal. In his order dated October 27, Judge Thomas S Zilly, US District Judge, Western District of Washington, Seattle, ruled that Antrix Corporation pay a compensation of USD 562.5 million to Devas Multimedia Corporation and the related interest rate amounting to a total of USD 1.2 billion.

According to the RoC, Bengaluru, Devas Multimedia has seven directors of Devas Multimedia Private Limited are Ramachandran Viswanathan, Arun Kumar Gupta, Lawrence Thomas Babbio Junior, Rajendra Singh, Chandrasekhar Gangarudraiah Muthugadahal, Brijendra Kumar Syngal, Gary Michael Parsons.

Indian Army Develops WhatsApp -like Secure App and An Automation Software for Infra Management

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Indian Army has developed a simple and secure messaging application named the “Secure Application for Internet (SAI)”. The application, which will be used within the Indian Army, supports end to end secure voice, text and video calling services for Android platform over internet. The model is similar to commercially available messaging applications like Whatsapp, Telegram, SAMVAD and GIMS and utilises end to end encryption messaging protocol. 

An End-to-end encryption means that private chat messages are scrambled, and only the sender and the receiver of the messages have the “keys” to read them. This ensures that no one besides sender and receiver can decipher (convert (a text written in code, or a coded signal) into normal language) the messages.

The SAI app scores over on security features with local in-house servers and coding which can be tweaked as per requirements, claims the release by PIB. 

The application has been carefully examined by CERT-in empaneled auditor and Army Cyber Group. The process for filing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), hosting the infrastructure on NIC and working on iOS platform is currently in progress. SAI will be utilized pan Army to facilitate secure messaging within the service.

The Raksha Mantri after reviewing the functionalities of the App complimented Col Sai Shankar for his skill and ingenuity for developing the application.

In addition to this app, the Indian Army has also introduced a software named the “Infrastructure Management System (IMS)’ software which was inaugurated by the COAS on the sidelines of the Army Commanders Conference on 28 October 2020.

The IMS will automate infrastructure management of the army. The scope of the IMS software package developed includes the following

• To automate works initiation, preparation of list and its approval by the MoD.
• To accord administrative approval and monitoring of execution by the CFA.
• To automate availability of CAO pool accommodation, plan vacation, re-allocation and undertake maintenance.
• To automate approval of accommodation allocation/extention for children education ground, special children and Battle/Physical casualty.
• Manage cantonment roads including emergency closure.
• Make land, works and quartering policies available on line.
• Monitor land encroachment, Old Grant Bungalows, VIP references and transfer/exchange of land.

 

Thales Launches Its Identity Verification Suite, a Secure Biometric Solution for Customer Onboarding

 

• Thales’s Gemalto Identity Verification Suite (IDV) minimizes ID fraud risks by verifying document authenticity so that service providers can digitally check identities of new customers.
• IDV is designed to onboard more users in a secure remote environment, offering a smooth user experience.
• The 100% automated solution leveraging Thales Artificial Intelligence, guarantees user privacy, high-level security and deployment flexibility.

Thales, world leader in digital security, has launched its Identity Verification Suite, in response to the rising need of remote client onboarding. With privacy and user experience as its heart, the IDV Suite enables a secure and 100%-AI identity verification service. It integrates the latest facial recognition technology, document security features recognition and machine learning engines. The solution addresses the Covid-19 environment with touchless interactions, allowing service providers to reach end users via their mobile handsets or the web.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201029005392/en/

 

(Photo: Thales)

Secure identity verification has become a crucial part of online security and digital onboarding, and constitutes a significant opportunity for businesses. In cases such as digital enrolment or KYC (Know Your Customer) regulations, ID verification is critical in order to efficiently detect fraud and therefore build user trust in the digital world.

 

The IDV Suite designed by Thales allows a secure and smooth user journey for markets from the travel industry (airlines and airport security, car rental companies, public and private transportation), telecom operators, banks, citizen services (International Driving Permit), and all types of online service providers looking to meet their KYC needs. To ease the deployment of the solution, Thales provides flexible onboarding options including a highly secure connection to Thales IDV server in SaaS (Solution as a service) mode.

 

The modular solution offers flexibility to deploy a single solution across all channels, whether through mobile applications, websites, or a network of dedicated document scanners, thus aligning with the security expectations of each industry. From checking the validity of the Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) of an ID document to more advanced control under white light, infra-red and UV checks, the suite can also securely perform contactless NFC verification using the chip of e-documents.

 

Advanced facial biometric technology is also a key feature in the IDV Suite, integrating passive liveness detection to facilitate end-user experience. The customer is asked to take a selfie, and then the solution transparently analyzes the liveness of the selfie and securely matches it against the portrait on the ID document, allowing for quick and efficient identity biometric verification.

 

“COVID-19 has created a number of key global shifts that are shaping the method in which people are accurately identified when signing up to new accounts or interacting with digital services. Goode Intelligence forecasts that electronic identity and document verification service adoption, in such crisis context, will be accelerated by 15-20 percent,” said Alan Goode, CEO & Chief Analyst at Goode Intelligence. “Thales IDV suite addresses the urgent imperative to identify people in a trustful and ‘touchless’ way which offers service providers a smart solution to securely onboard users”. 

About Thales 

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global high technology leader investing in digital and “deep tech” innovations –connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum technology – to build a future we can all trust, which is vital to the development of our societies. The company provides solutions, services and products that help its customers –businesses, organisations and states – in the defence, aeronautics, space, transportation and digital identity and security markets to fulfil their critical missions, by placing humans at the heart of the decision-making process. 

With 83,000 employees in 68 countries, Thales generated sales of €19 billion in 2019 (on a basis including Gemalto over 12 months)

 

Wipro and IBM strengthen relationship; announce the expansion of IBM Hybrid Cloud Practice

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Business Wire India

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced its intention to expand its IBM Hybrid Cloud Practice. Supported by technical experts from both organizations, the practice is expected to help Wipro customers modernize their digital operations across hybrid cloud environments by leveraging IBM Cloud Paks, containerized software running on Red Hat OpenShift.
 
Wipro’s IBM Hybrid Cloud Practice unit will help customers innovate at scale by leveraging industry-ready Wipro solutions such as BoundaryLess Enterprise (BLE) and ModernizR. Both of these solutions were built with IBM Cloud Paks on Red Hat OpenShift and can run in any cloud environment, including the IBM public cloud.

• BoundaryLess Enterprise (BLE) is a hybrid cloud management platform that offers a comprehensive array of technologies in a single environment that enables customers to run their cloud-native applications from anywhere. BLE leverages IBM’s open hybrid cloud capabilities to support containers, IaaS, and PaaS computing models that can help enterprises accelerate their transformation journey to the cloud. 
   
• ModernizR is a software-based solution built with IBM Cloud Pak for Applications, a key technology in Wipro’s cloud migration and operations portfolio. The solution is designed to help enterprises move their legacy applications to the cloud by leveraging artificial intelligence to mine and analyze customer’s legacy applications and data. The resulting insights can be used to assess risk and recommend a migration strategy that includes employing automation to help software developers re-engineer the application. 

Bhanumurthy B.M, President and Chief Operating Officer, Wipro Limited said, “Wipro empowers customers across industries to re-imagine their cloud journey with its business-first strategy and industrialized solutions approach. We believe the future will be driven by hybrid cloud hence, the expansion of IBM Hybrid cloud practice is intrinsic to our strategy. It will strengthen our relationship with IBM and help accelerate our clients’ transformation journey across hybrid cloud environments.”
 
Bob Lord, Senior Vice President, Cognitive Applications and Ecosystems, IBM said, “The expansion of our relationship with Wipro reinforces our joint commitment to help clients accelerate their journey to cloud across industries, including highly regulated sectors such as financial services, energy and utilities, manufacturing and healthcare. Wipro’s industry knowledge, combined with IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI platform powered by Red Hat OpenShift, can help enterprises drive real business transformation by migrating and managing their critical workloads across an open hybrid cloud environment.”

Wipro is part of IBM’s hybrid cloud ecosystem, an initiative to support global system integrators and independent software vendors to help clients modernize workloads with Red Hat OpenShift for any cloud environment, including the IBM public cloud. Red Hat OpenShift is the industry's leading enterprise Kubernetes platform. The IBM public cloud is the industry's most secure and open public cloud for business. With its security leadership, enterprise-grade capabilities and support for open source technologies, the IBM public cloud is designed to differentiate and extend on hybrid cloud capabilities for enterprise workloads. 
 
Wipro recently announced a 5G edge services solution suite that integrates IBM Edge Application Manager and TRIRIGA to address a range of concerns related to deploying and managing distributed services on devices, private edges and telecom operator’s Multi-Access Edges globally. The company received the IBM Beacon Award for Best IBM Hybrid Multi Cloud Practice at IBM PartnerWorld 2020.
 
Red Hat and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries.

New age Robots will be an inevitable part of Industry 4.0: IEEE

IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, today concluded its virtual roundtable focused on how immersive technologies like Robotics & AI will be the driving force in India. With the post-pandemic scenario dawning upon us, IEEE curated a roundtable to discuss how these cutting-edge technologies are crucial for businesses, associations and societies to establish a strong foundation in these rapidly changing environments.

 

During the roundtable, Senior IEEE Member and CEO, ASIMOV Robotics Pvt. Ltd, Jayakrishnan T said "Robotics will play a pivotal role in Industry 4.0 revolution. The new world order has not only expedited the development of health-tech, but also has influenced technology solutions across sectors."

 

During the last decade, the evolution of robotic capabilities was exponential. According to the International Robotic Federation (IRF) report, India has moved up one position to now feature among the top 10 countries with the most annual installations of robots in industries.

 

Adding to this Jayakrishnan said "With the accelerated pace of automation adoption, robotics will transform the world by the introduction of digital work force in combining the major game changers - Computer simulation, AR VR, Rapid prototyping, Collaborative robots, Big data analysis, AI, IOT, High speed internet and Cloud computing."

The roundtable also highlighted how AI is opening new fronts in Healthcare and is fueling predictive and prescriptive analytics to help increase efficiencies across sectors. A recent IDC study revealed that India's AI spending will grow at 30.8% CAGR to nearly ₹6,490.6 cr in 2023. 

Commenting on the same, Sukanya Mandal, Senior IEEE Member said, "Among other immersive technologies, AI & ML play critical role in helping businesses have an all-inclusive view of data, providing them a way to make connections. It's not a matter of eliminating human intelligence and insight. In fact, in order to augment intelligence for businesses, the amalgamation of human intuition and machine intelligence is of utmost importance. Going forward, we will witness companies spending exponentially in intelligent solutions to drive and ensure business continuity, cutting across verticals." 

As the pandemic has influenced the direction of latest trends in all technology applications, it has become mandatory to maintain the new world order in every aspect of development. The COVID-19 outbreak has taught the world a number of lessons, one of the important one is to use technological innovation in its full potential. The IEEE members underlined the need to invest in new digital infrastructure, vital projects and innovate for a better tomorrow.

 

About IEEE:

IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. Learn more at, https://www.ieee.org/

Tim Draper Backs Startup PORTL Hologram in $3M Seed Round

The Skype and Tesla VC leads the funding round for the L.A.-based holographic telepresence company planning to transform global video communications

PRTL Inc, founder David Nussbaum demonstrates the Epic PORTL hologram device, the world's first human-sized, single-passenger holoportation machine. The Tim Draper-backed startup's slogan is, "If you can't BE there, BEAM there!"

The holographic telepresence startup PORTL Inc. has secured a $3M seed round of funding led by venture capitalist investor Tim Draper . PORTL is a proprietary display, design, & live video streaming software, content management, and delivery platform. The company's first product, the Epic PORTL Hologram Machine allows people to beam in from remote locations for human sized, life-like interactive communication. The company's founder, David Nussbaum , calls it the first and only, completely self-contained, 4K resolution, single-passenger holoportation machine in the world. Draper is known for his early investments in many transformative startups including Tesla, Skype, Coindesk, SpaceX and Twitch.

"I am thrilled by what David has accomplished to date and I am excited by the prospects of a new form of communication through PORTL," said venture capitalist and investor Tim Draper.

Tim Draper, the tech VC behind Tesla, Skype and SpaceX, appears as a hologram for the first time. He was beamed into the Epic PORTL Hologram Device after leading a $3 million seed round for the L.A. startup, PORTL Inc.

"Having not only Tim's endorsement, but his partnership, is really the dream," said PORTL inventor and CEO David Nussbaum . "I created this machine based on my own experience in tech and entertainment and I knew people would be excited to have access to holographic telepresence in a compact device. Everyday we discover more uses for our PORTL machines, and I have no doubt they'll soon be everywhere, bringing people together no matter how far apart they are on the map."

PORTL Inc. was founded by Nussbaum in 2019 and is already shipping units worldwide. The Epic has made early appearances on the Emmys red carpet, at ComicCon, the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the Saturn Awards and on ReutersTV. A table top unit is expected to debut in Q2 2021. Nussbaum has been an innovator in the holographic projection industry for over six years, and has "beamed" Jimmy Kimmel from Hollywood to the CMA Awards in Nashville three times, in addition to collaborating on projects with Universal Music Group, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, Dior and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Pandora investor and former Electronic Arts executive Doug Barry has also invested in the round, and joined as founding COO and board member. Other investors include Joe Lewis , whose Joe Lewis Company is known for event and experiential production for clients such as the Oscars, Grammys, Disney and the NFL; Jim Boykin , Founder and CEO of Internet Marketing Ninjas, who is one of the most respected and influential SEOs marketers in the industry; and sports and entertainment money management firm True Capital Management.

About PORTL Inc.: 

PORTL Inc. was launched in May of 2019 by David Nussbaum, a pioneer in hologram technology and telepresence. The company seeks to advance the medium of hologram interaction by combining the patented hardware with a developing software ecosystem to accelerate adoption and creativity, and also serves as production house for original content. PORTL's first product is the PORTL "Epic", the first self-contained, human sized, scalable hologram projection device for live telepresence, content playback, and artificial intelligence. PORTL's studios are in Los Angeles, CA. More info: PORTLhologram.com

IIT Roorkee Researchers Develop the World’s 1st Specific Bacterial Biosensor for Detection of Environmental Detergent Pollutant- SDS

A five-member team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have developed the world's first specific reliable bacterial biosensor to detect the presence of common environmental pollutant- Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate /Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SDS). SDS is extensively used in soaps, toothpaste, creams, shampoos, laundry detergents in households, agricultural operations, laboratories, and industries. Its subsequent disposal in waterways causes harmful effects on aquatic organisms, environmental microcosms, and associated living organisms besides deteriorating the quality of drinking water. This objective of the study was to develop a novel biosensor for the detection of a detergent Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate /Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SDS) in environmental samples.

Until now, there were no specific biosensors developed to date for the detection of SDS with high precision. The IIT Roorkee team has developed a whole-cell biosensor using Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 strain as a framework (chassis). The system involves a highly specific regulator along with a fluorescent protein that is produced only when SDS is present in the sample. The system can even detect 0.1 ppm of SDS in aquatic samples. This biosensor is highly specific for SDS and has minimal interference from other detergents, metals, and inorganic ions present in the environment. Unlike conventional methods, it can easily distinguish between closely- related detergents-SDS and SDBS (Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate).

"Pseudomonads have an inherent capability to be used as an optimal destination framework for synthetic biology applications. The selected species of Pseudomonas can be engineered to detect various chemicals owing to their resilient nature to survive and adapt to harsh environmental conditions. The highlight of this research is the development of the world's first whole-cell bacterial biosensor for the direct, specific and efficient detection of SDS without involving sample preparation steps, toxic chemicals, sophisticated polymers and sensor development steps" said Sourik Dey, Final year MSc student at IIT Roorkee.

"SDS, if untreated, can harm the marine biodiversity and cause pollution of land and water-bodies. The highlight of this biosensor is its sensitivity to even minute quantities of SDS in the environment and its ability to distinguish between SDS and SDBS" said Prof. Naveen Kumar Navani, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Roorkee.

The biosensor showed a satisfactory and reproducible recovery rate for the detection of SDS in real samples of sewage water, river water, and pond water. Overall, this is a selective and reliable biosensor for monitoring SDS in the environment.

The lead author of the study is Sourik Dey who was supported by the Department of Biotechnology MSc program at IIT Roorkee. He completed this year and is leaving for Germany in first week of November for PhD. He did his thesis project in Prof Navani's laboratory. Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India, provided financial assistance to Prof. Naveen K Navani for conducting the research. The other members of the team are Shahnawaz Ahmad Baba, Ankita Bhatt, Rajat Dhyani. Department names needed for all.

SDS has diverse applications in the industrial sector as an emulsifier, food processing agent, stabilizer, leather softening, foaming, flocculating, and cleaning agent. It is the key pollutant in the domestic discharges and industrial effluents. The constant deterioration of the quality of drinking water and the harm caused to marine life are some of the major concerns. SDS has harmful effects on the survival and breeding of organisms in the aquatic ecosystem as it hampers their biological processes such as solubilization of phosphate, reduction of ammonia, nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis. It can cause dermal and ocular irritation, cardiac anomaly, hemolysis, tachycardia, kidney failure, and even death. SDS can also disrupt biological wastewater treatment processes and cause problems in sewage aeration and treatment facilities owing to its high foaming capacity.

About IIT Roorkee

IIT Roorkee is an institute of national importance imparting higher education in engineering, sciences, management, architecture and planning, and humanities and social sciences. Since its establishment in 1847, the Institute has played a vital role in providing technical human resources and know-how to the country.

India's Total Network of Supercomputers' Performance is Less than Swiss' Single Supercomputer PIZ DAINT

Swiss Supercomputer 'Piz Daint'

Under National Super Computing Mission (NSM), India is fast expanding its supercomputer facilities and developing the capacity to manufacture its own supercomputers in the country.

Infrastructure planned in NSM Phase-I has already been installed and much of Phase-II is already in place, said a release by Ministry of Science & Technology. The ministry said -

the network of supercomputers through the country will soon reach to around 16 Petaflops (PF). Phase-III, to be initiated in January 2021, will take the computing speed to around 45 Petaflops.

Soon the work on Phase-III will start in 2021 and will include three systems of 3 PF each and one system of 20 PF as a national facility.

Besides, with recent announcement of a 100 Artificial Intelligence (AI) PetaFlops supercomputing system, PARAM Siddhi – AI, which is being created and installed in C-DAC by NVIDIA, India is fast expanding its supercomputer facilities and developing the capacity to manufacture its own supercomputers in the country. Yet, comparing to other developed countries India has to still come a long way.

For an instance -- currently the total network of supercomputers across India, which is yet to reach 16 Petaflops (PF), is less than of Piz Daint, a supercomputer in the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre, which has performance power of 27.1 Petaflops (PF) [theoretical peak performance] and ranked 10th in TOP500 ranking of supercomputers until June 2020.

Pratyush and Mihir, the two supercomputers of India, ranked in at 67th and 120th spot on the list of TOP500.

The most powerful Supercomputer across the globe is Japan's Fugaku, which has a High Performance Linpack (HPL) result of 415.5 Petaflops (PF). Number.2 on the list is Summit, an IBM-built supercomputer that delivers 148.8 Petaflops on HPL.

India's NSM mission was targeting to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few teraFlops (TF) to Hundreds of teraFlops (TF) and three systems with greater than or equal to 3 petaFlops (PF) in academic and research institutions of National importance across the country by 2022. It is to be noted that One petaFLOPS is equal 1,000 teraFLOPS.

India's Indigenous Supercomputing Work under NSM 

So FarUnder the NSM, more than 2400 supercomputing manpower and faculties have been trained, till date.




The first supercomputer assembled indigenously -- 'Param Shivay' -- was installed in IIT (BHU), followed by Param Shakti and Param Brahma at IIT-Kharagpur and IISER, Pune, respectively.

India has developed an Indigenous server (Rudra), which can meet the High-Performance Computing (HPC) requirements of all governments and PSUs. This is the first time that a server system was made in India, along with the full software stack developed by C-DAC.

In addition to these, this system can handle incredibly large-scale AI workloads increasing the speed of computing-related to AI several times.

Bengaluru among Top 5 Global Cities for Fintech VC Investment Despite Pandemic

As coronavirus drives accelerated adoption of fintech products and services, investors are continuing to pump money into fintech companies in the UK and India.

According to latest data from London & Partners and Dealroom.co, London’s fintech sector has attracted $3.6bn in VC investment between January and September 2020, coming in second globally. Bengaluru takes the fifth spot in the global ranking with $900m in fintech VC investment, while New Delhi comes in eleventh with $400m invested so far this year.

Demonstrating confidence in the fintech sector from investors, the UK capital takes the top spot for deal count, with 169 deals so far this year, while Bengaluru comes in fifth globally with 35 deals. San Francisco follows London with 107 deals andParis is second in Europe with 40 deals.

Indian fintechs have attracted $2bn in VC investment between January and September 2020, coming in third globally behind the US with $16.6 billion and UK at $3.9 billion. Bengaluru and New Delhi are leading fintech hubs in India, with several companies expanding their operations to London in the last few years.

Debasmit Mohanty, CEO & Founder, StratLytics Consulting said: “When we were looking to expand into the European market, London was a natural choice for us. In London you have access to global financial markets, clients, world-class talent and supportive regulators all in one place. We opened our first European office in London this year, with the help of London & Partners, and we have joined a thriving and supportive tech ecosystem.”

While businesses around the world continue to tackle the impacts of coronavirus, London’s fintech sector appears to be weathering the storm. Fintech remains one of London’s largest and best performing sectors, accounting for 44% of all VC investment into London’s tech companies so far this year.

Although global investment flows around the world are below last year’s levels, London’s fintechs have already topped 2018 VC investment total of $2.3bn. What’s more, in the first half of 2020, London fintechs claimed 57% of European VC capital into fintech companies.

Hemin Bharucha, Chief Representative India, London & Partners said: “London is one of the most attractive cities in the world to scale a fintech company and these new investment figures demonstrate continued confidence in London as a global fintech hub. The UK capital is a natural home for fintech because it combines the power of global financial markets with a deep tech talent pool, supportive regulation and an early-adopting customer base."

Clarity AI Raises $15m to Fuel Expansion of Platform That Empowers Investors to Manage the Societal Impact of Their Portfolios

• DEUTSCHE BÖRSE LEADS FUNDING ROUND - CONDUCTED 100% REMOTELY DUE TO COVID-19
• COMPANY REPORTS RISING DEMAND DURING PERIOD OF SOCIAL UNREST AND VOLATILITY 

Clarity AI announced today that it has closed a USD $15 million funding round led by Deutsche Börse AG and co-investor Mundi Ventures. Clarity AI empowers investors to manage the impact of their portfolios through a proprietary technology platform that leverages big data and machine learning to assess sustainability for all societal stakeholders.

“Our purpose is simple: to measure the impact of companies on our society and planet,” said Rebeca Minguela, Founder and CEO of Clarity AI. “Investors attempting to evaluate impact have faced fragmented and unreliable data, inconsistent subjective definitions, and a lack of standards and tools for comprehensive analysis. Historically it has been too hard and resource-intensive to get accurate and transparent insights. Clarity AI provides a solution for that.” 

Since its founding in 2017, Clarity AI has attracted a client network representing in excess of $3 trillion of assets and funding from investors, including Kibo Ventures, Founders Fund, Seaya Ventures and Matthew Freud. The company has built the most reliable tech platform on social and environmental impact, featuring more than 30,000 companies, 198 countries, 187 local governments and over 200,000 funds. The company uses proprietary technology and algorithms to produce transparent assessments for investors that are the most consistent and comprehensive available. 

The “Sustainable Investment” market has grown 34% in the last two years and now represents one third of total global assets under management (AUM) – $30.7 trillion (of a total of $79.2 trillion).¹ This rapid growth comes as research shows that 81% of investors want to better understand and improve the impact performance of their investments, with millennials (in particular) demanding greater social impact transparency in their portfolios.² 

In the last six months, Clarity AI has seen a significant increase in demand for its services, including signing clients with eight times the assets under management as in the preceding period. 

Minguela added: “2020 has seen extraordinary volatility and uncertainty – from COVID-19 to social justice protests. It has never been more important for investors to have accurate insights on the true impact of the companies in which they place their trust and their money. That is why we are scaling up our business to enable investors to identify and support those companies helping to solve society’s biggest challenges.” 

The $15 million investment will drive Clarity AI’s sustainable expansion plans, including scaling-up investment in proprietary technology and AI, as well as integrating with the world’s largest financial services platforms. This approach will make it even quicker and easier for investors and corporations to analyze and report sustainability and impact. 

Deutsche Börse AG led the funding round, underscoring the strong alignment of the Clarity AI product offering with Deutsche Börse’s expanding presence in the sustainability space and the importance of accelerating the growth of a European-focused Impact and ESG technology platform. Clarity AI and Deutsche Börse are also exploring potential collaboration opportunities in various Deutsche Börse business areas, including Qontigo, a leading provider of indices and analytics. 

Sebastian Ceria, CEO of Qontigo, said: “This partnership reflects our mutual commitment to the ongoing enhancement of sustainable investing and the application of the latest technology in pursuit of this goal. We were very impressed by Rebeca and her team’s vision for Clarity AI and the advanced technology platform they have created. We are excited to be in a partnership that puts impact at the heart of investment.” 

Clarity AI has received widespread recognition for its positive impact and innovative approach, including being selected as a 2020 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and receiving awards from the Harvard Innovation Lab and funding from Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Research and Innovation program. 

Clarity AI is a global fintech company that empowers investors to manage the impact of their portfolios through a proprietary technology platform that leverages big data and machine learning to assess sustainability for all societal stakeholders. Founded in 2017 by Rebeca Minguela, Clarity AI has offices in the US, UK and Spain and a client network with over $3T assets under management (AUM). The company has a team of over 100 technology, sustainability and research experts with collective experience from leading organizations, businesses and research institutions including NASA, the World Bank, Google, Netflix, McKinsey & Company, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Harvard, M.I.T and more.

 

Rebeca Minguela is the Founder and CEO of Clarity AI. Previously, she led the Global Digital Transformation Program at Santander Bank after founding and leading Blink Booking, a last-minute hotel booking app acquired by Groupon in 2013, a company she moved to as Senior Director of Product and Technology thereafter. Rebeca has also worked at Bain Capital Private Equity, Boston Consulting Group, German Aerospace Agency, Siemens and IBM. She holds an MBA degree with distinction from Harvard Business School and has won several awards, including Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology in 2019 and 2020, Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2017 and European Young Leader in 2018.

¹ Global Asset Management 2018: The Digital Metamorphosis, https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/global-asset-management-2018-digital-metamorphosis; Global Sustainable Investment Alliance: 2018 Global Sustainable Investment Review, http://www.gsi-alliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GSIR_Review2018.3.28.pdf
²Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: Institutional Investor Survey 2020, https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/03/25/institutional-investor-survey-2020/

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201029005306/en/

Over 50% Asia's Internet Users will be Using Digital Financial Services by 2025

Analysts of the international fintech holding UnaFinancial revealed that more than half of internet users in the developing countries in South and Southeast Asia will be using digital financial services by 2025. Besides, by 2027 even digitally underdeveloped countries in the region will provide access to the Internet and digital technologies to 85% of the population.

The research considered the penetration of digital financial services in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri-Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

As the development of online financial services largely depends on the access to the Internet, the analysts made a forecast of the maximum Internet penetration for each country first. This level can be as high as 81-85% depending on the age structure of the population.

Taking into account the Internet penetration rate of the previous years, as well as the governmental measures towards digitalization and the impact of Covid-19, the analysts have predicted that Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, India and Sri Lanka will reach the maximum possible Internet penetration of 81-85% by 2025. The two remaining countries, Laos and Myanmar, will reach this level in 2027. 

Given the year of the maximum Internet level for each country, the experts estimated the penetration of digital financial services. The forecast considered the share of the population having online financial accounts and increase of financial inclusion during the previous years.

It revealed that in most countries, more than 50% of internet users will be using digital financial services by 2025-2027. In India, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia the level of financial services penetration will be especially high - from 62% to 69%. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar it will be relatively low. In these countries, the development of online financial services can be faster if the government takes a combined approach to develop financial technologies in terms of the legal framework and increase of digital and financial literacy.

World’s 1st Scientoon Book on Coronavirus Released; 3D Version to be Released Soon

World’s first scientoon book “Bye Bye Corona”on Coronavirus released by Governor of UP, Ms. Anandi Ben

The book, published by Vigyan Prasar of DST, makes people aware of Covid-19 in an engaging way

It is further planned to make a 3D version of this book to facilitate its multi lingual adaptation across India and abroad

“Post its launch in India, the book would soon be released in Brazil under Brazil-India Network program and would possibly be translated into Portuguese language”: Dr Pradeep Srivastava, Author

Cartoons are most effective at communicating with human beings. They not only tickle us but are also capable of delivering tough messages in a simple, subtle and riveting manner. Human mind is hard wired to take their messages on board ahead of other forms of communication. A ‘scientoon’ is a cartoon communication based on science. Scientoons are meant to inform and sensitize people to science and scientific concepts in an intelligible and interesting way.

World’s first scientoon book entitled “Bye Bye Corona”, written by ‘scientoonist’ Dr Pradeep Srivastava, former Senior Principal Scientist at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, was released today at a function held at Raj Bhawan, Lucknow, by Ms. Anandi Ben, Governor, Uttar Pradesh. The book is published by Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous agency under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India. Dr Nakul Parashar, Director, Vigyan Prasar, and Nimish Kapoor, scientist and head of publication division, Vigyan Prasar, are the chief editor and editor of the book.

The 220 pages book contains comprehensive information on novel coronavirus pandemic, its symptoms and its prevention through precautions. ‘Bye Bye Corona’ also has a very interesting chapter on the ‘Art of Living with Coronavirus’ highlighting the methods to deal with the virus in day to day life if it is here to stay for a longer time. The Book offers a perspective insight into the intricacies of the deadly pandemic without scaring the reader.

“The basic purpose of this book is to make people aware of COVID-19 in an engaging way. I drew few scientoons and posted them on my facebook. Dr Nakul Parashar (Director, Vigyan Prasar) noticed them and tossed the idea of developing a book of scientoon on coronavirus. I planned for a 50 pages book initially,as I was working single handedly on the project. After having realized the vastness of the subject, I decided to seek toon contribution from more people. 

The final version of the book has 220 pages” said Dr Pradeep Srivastava, the author. Other than him, seven students scientoonists namely Ms. Lakiesha Inacia Coehlho E Costa, Ms.Da Costa Maria Scimran Blossom, Ms. Priyanka Shanke, Ms Samaradini Paigankar, Ms.Selcea Savia Da Costa and Mr. Prathamesh P. Shetgaonkar from Parvati Bai Chowgule College, Madgaon, Goa, also contributed to the book . Another contributor is Vishal Mulia, a school teacher in Gujarat. “Post its launch in India, the book would soon be released in Brazil under Brazil-India Network program and would possibly be translated into Portuguese language” informed Dr Srivastava.

“Pictorial display of a fact or fiction has always been one of the most powerful medium of retaining the attention of a reader. In a number of graphical representations of communication that assist the reader, cartoons have always been preferred. In the domain of sciencetoon, Dr Pradeep Srivastava’s Bye Bye Corona stands apart with a topic so relevant that ardently requires cartoon form. A collection of science toons at a very relevant point. Indeed, a well awaited title!” said Dr Nakul Parashar, Director, Vigyan Prasar.

“Vigyan Prasar is actively publishing popular science books and Bye Bye Corona is a timely publication to understand the pandemic through cartoon characters. Awareness is the besttool for prevention, which in turn is the best way to save us from thispandemic” observed Nimish Kapoor, Head, Publication Division, Vigyan Prasar.

It is further planned to make a 3D version of this book, so as to facilitate its multi lingual adaptation across India and abroad. The scientoon book ‘Bye Bye Corona’ is expected to help create wider awareness about COVID-19 cutting across age, language, and national boundaries.

Download e-book Here

Aditya Bhushan is Now NetEnts New CTO

The departure of its technology chief has led to a management shakeup in online casino operator NetEnt.

Aditya Bhushan, the director of game platform and managing director of NetEnt India, has been tapped to take over the role of NetEnt’s chief technology officer (CTO) on the heels of Tobias Palmborg’s departure on September 4 to reportedly “pursue new opportunities,” according to iGaming Business.

Bhushan has been with NetEnt since 2009, starting his career as a system architect for the Stockholm-listed company known for providing online casino games to live casinos in India and other platforms around the world. Bhushan also worked ad domain architect and head of India development for more than four years, helping to “define, design and deliver the technical vision for a highly scalable gaming system handling close to 5 billion transactions a month, generating hundreds of terabytes of data and handling tens of thousands of concurrent users,” his LinkedIn profile noted.

Bhushan was promoted to the position of platform director and NetEnt India’s managing director in January 2020. Part of his responsibilities was to set up “an innovation and development center for NetEnt in Hyderabad.”
Future looks bright for NetEnt

The departure of Palmborg, who joined NetEnt in 2018 as head of casino operations, took place amid the casino game developer’s imminent merger with live casino specialist Evolution Gaming.

Evolution has made a bid to acquire the slots giant for SEK19.6 billion in June 2020, as part of a greater plan to become “the world leader in the online gaming industry.” The proposed merger will potentially see a marriage between NetEnt’s online slots with Evolution’s Live Casino—creating a combined product portfolio that can “drive the digitalization of the global gaming industry,” Finsmes reported.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently probing whether Evolution’s offer would decrease the competition in the region’s iGaming market.
Strong front amid COVID-19 pandemic

NetEnt recently released its interim report for the first nine months of 2020, reporting a 17% rise in year-on-year revenue.

Revenues for the January to September period reached SEK1.61 billion, while EBITDA amounted to SEK838 million—corresponding to a margin of 52%--and earnings after tax totaled SEK338 million, according to the company. NetEnt wasn’t immune to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but CEO Therese Hillman said, “The return of sports betting and the general easing of lockdowns in key markets resulted in a normalization of revenue growth to pre Covid-19 levels.”

Despite the pandemic, NetEnt continues to supply casino titles to platforms around the world including live casino India, where employees from the formal sector are gearing up to potentially resume working from their office premises. A recent TimesJob survey noted that “organizations are all set to re-open their offices with an array of policy changes and a bunch of safety checks in place.”

It’s also business as usual over at NetEnt, as the Stockholm company gears up for a hectic fourth quarter of 2020, which include entry to West Virginia as the first third-party supplier; an expected early entry in Michigan once the market opens; the launch of Red Tiger’s games under NetEnt’s license, expanding Red Tiger’s reach into regulated markets and Tier 1 customers; and the expansion of its Live Studio in Malta.

Vedanta Launches Global Corporate Innovation & Ventures program - “Vedanta Spark”

A strategic innovation and investment initiative to accelerate tech start-ups

• Most comprehensive corporate open innovation program in India
• Global program covers 16 opportunity themes and over 75 innovation challenges 
• Focus on Sustainability and ESG, Business Excellence, Exploration and Mining Practices 
• Programme partner: Forge (Incubator for Managed Corporate Innovation & Start-up Accelerator Services that has worked with Ministry of Defence, NITI Aayog) 

The Vedanta Group has announced the launch of "Vedanta Spark", an initiative wherein the company is looking to partner with early-stage, growth stage and venture stage Digital Tech start-ups in order to tap into massive innovation and growth opportunities. The launch event of the global start-up accelerator program will take place on 30 October, 4:00 PM IST.

Through Vedanta Spark, the company seeks young & innovative start-up companies and specialists to come forward and join hands with Vedanta thus unlocking value and growth potential at an accelerated pace.

Vedanta Spark is looking at start-ups from across the globe as part of the program, working in areas such as 360 Degree Sustainability & Excellence in HSE, Operational Excellence – Volume, Recovery & Efficiency Improvement, Asset Optimization and Predictive Maintenance, Exploration, Mining & Blasting, so and so forth.

"We are focused on nurturing Innovation at Vedanta and making it a way of working across all our operations and functions to energize and encourage our passionate leaders to think and act differently. It is our firm belief that by including innovation in everything we do will transform the entire organization and will bring a fresh energy and speed." said Sharad Gargiya, Senior VP, Group Commercial, Vedanta Limited

Speaking on the launch, Anand Laxshmivarahan R, Chief Digital Officer, Vedanta, said "To foster innovative thinking for disruptive ideas, it is essential to engage with people inside as well as outside the organization who can challenge the status-quo and offer a different perspective."

The initiative will offer various advantages for the start-ups - Partnerships & Collaborations, leverage massive capacity & resources of Vedanta group, tech & business expertise and most importantly strategic investments opportunities for the start-ups that offer significant value to Vedanta Limited.

"Easily the most comprehensive corporate open innovation program in India thus far, spanning 16 opportunity themes and over 75 innovation challenges, cutting across several core industrial functions in a globally diversified conglomerate as Vedanta Resources Limited. Envisioned to catalyse the seeding, building and scaling up of a permanent corporate innovation function to exploit start-ups as innovation and growth partners, Vedanta Spark is an amazing opportunity for Forge to execute a global corporate start-up accelerator program." said Mr. Vish Sahasranamam, Co-Founder & CEO, Forge.

The project will start with a discovery phase for start-ups to register on the website www.vedantaspark.com, choose the challenge area according to their expertise and then fill an application form and submit a pitch explaining their technology and benefits for Vedanta.

From an expected 1000+ registrations across the globe, Top 20 start-ups will get a chance to work with the different entities of Vedanta following a thorough evaluation process by expert panels consisting of Vedanta's professionals, domain experts and external mentors from reputed govt. ministries and industrial.

The program partner for Vedanta Spark is Forge (incubator for Managed Corporate Innovation & Start-up Accelerator Services that has worked with Ministry of Defence, NITI Aayog etc.)

About Vedanta Limited

Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world's leading Oil & Gas and Metals Company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa, Namibia, and Australia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing to India's growth story. The company is among the top private sector contributors to the exchequer with the contribution of c. INR 32,400 crore in FY 2020.

Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment. Vedanta Cares is the CSR platform which focuses on enhancing the lives of local communities. The flagship social impact program Nand Ghars are modernized anganwadis focused on eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare, and empowering women with skill development. The company has been featured in Dow Jones Sustainability Index, conferred CII-ITC Sustainability Award, the FICCI CSR Award, Dun & Bradstreet Awards in Metals & Mining, and certified as a Great Place to Work. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 

The United Nations Recognizes Edtech Startup GlobalShala’s Superhero U Contest

Superhero U contest gets a feature on the U.N.'s website for creative ways of engaging students to solve global problems. 

Taking inspiration from the United 'Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Ed-tech company had announced its initiative Superhero U. In the pursuit of cultivating a force of forward-thinking and self-responsible leaders. The contest invited students to self-imagine a "Superhero" that essentially takes on universal challenges and strives to make the world a better place. Winners of the competition will also be awarded an opportunity to visit the U.N. Headquarters in New York, USA.


To distinguish future leaders' creative engagement, the United Nations recognized the contest as an impactful initiative to encourage imaginative student ideas to solve global problems. This special recognition marks a proud moment for Globalshala, a company inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In today's complex, global society, the need for innovative and creative problem-solving has never been greater. Our communities face myriad challenges, and each individual should have a role in reimagining their future with the powers and intelligence required to create an idealistic society. Globalshala's dynamic engagement platform enables young social entrepreneurs to catalyze their creative thinking and social innovation.

Superhero U was a collaborative effort between GlobalShala and Northeastern University, a UNAI member institution, and a top 50 ranked research university in the U.S. and a global leader in experiential learning.

Anushika Jain, Founder & CEO, GlobalShala, said, "The entire GlobalShala team extends gratitude for the recognition from the United Nations for the innovative approach to inspiring students in solving real-world problems with the "Superhero U". It is delightful to see the impact of our work and 1,000+ aspirants from more than 80 countries taking upon the opportunities provided by GlobalShala. We revel on the feature on the U.N. website and hope to thrive more with our collaborative efforts."

GlobalShala focuses on empowering students and educators through experiential learning and education to open up hopes and dreams of lifelong learners worldwide. Through the GlobalShala platform, individuals can participate in exciting global competitions and events, have a chance to earn international scholarships, receive hands-on training through global internships, and secure batches and certificates towards lifelong learning.

About GlobalShala:

Inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, notably Education, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment; GlobalShala provides lifelong learners from across the globe a platform to express, experience, explore, and engage. Globalshala offers hopes and dreams to make a good world better through various learning opportunities, including competition, internships, and career-focused learning modules.

Link: https://globalshala.com/

9Unicorns Leads INR 1.5 Crore Funding of Janani, An Innovative Fertility Tech Start-up

The venture aims to develop and deliver a full-service fertility care platform that provides personalised, high-quality, effective, and affordable solutions to challenges in infertility.

 

9Unicorns, India's first idea-phase accelerator VC fund, has recently led an INR 1.5 crore pre-seed investment in Janani, a fertility care provider. The funding round saw participation from other investors too, Archana Priyadarshini and Sweta Rau led the round in AngelList. Other angels like the famous IVF expert Dr Nandita Palshetkar, Astir VC partner Kishore Ganji also participated in the round.

Established in June 2020, Janani aims to make the process of infertility treatment and assisted fertilisation easier and more affordable for the masses. The start-up operates at the intersection of modern technology and excellent medical care to maximize the chances of conceiving successfully. It will leverage a superior quality lab environment, consultation from expert gynaecologists, a skilled and experienced staff, and high-quality medicines to deliver superior out comes to patients. Furthermore, in keeping with its vision of providing the best and most personalised care to all, Janani aims to make these facilities available at extremely affordable price points with flexible payment options.

Dr Nandita quoted, "Janani is creating an AI and computer vision tool to help remove the subjectivity of embryologists while choosing the right embryo. This will increase the success rate of IVF and eventually help lower the costs."

Dr S S Vasan, a key member of the founding team is also the Chairman of Ankur Fertility Group. He mentioned, "Technological innovation in fertility management will ensure that patients' distress is minimised and that success is consistent and highly optimised. I am happy to be part of team Janani to bring in a revolution in access, simplification, technology, success and structured costs in the field of fertility management."

Speaking on the investment, Nilay Mehrotra – Founder of Janani, said, "I am grateful to Dr. Apoorva and the 9Unicorns team for showing faith in this idea at such an early stage. Dr. Apoorva, being the visionary that he is, understood what we wanted to achieve and the scope of disruption that we planned. The entire process was swift and seamless, as we closed the round with 9Unicorns." 

Nilay Mehrotra - Founder of Janani

Ms Archana, a key investor in the company, said that "The availability of high-quality infertility treatment in India is limited to a few major cities, the process being inconvenient and traumatic. Many patients also lack the means to afford these quality medical solutions. Janani aims to disrupt this space by providing best-in-class medical care at an affordable price point to the couples."

Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder & Managing Director – 9Unicorns, added, "We believe that there is extensive scope in the fertility tech space and are confident in the team's ability to capitalise on it with its unique, tech-led proposition."

Janani has set its eyes on the global fertility tech management market, currently estimated to be worth $36 Billion. It aims to use the funding to create better infertility treatment solutions and make the journey-to-conception more rewarding and hopeful for people around the world.

9Unicorns is India's First Accelerator VC providing acceleration support & seed funding to early-stage start-ups. The funding can be provided up to $100K per start-up in the first round and may invest further $500K-$2Mn in successive rounds with its co-investors. From the idea stage to the angel stage, it supports start-ups across various themes & sectors.

9Unicorns' strength & focus is to provide a hands-on support ecosystem for start-ups that goes beyond just capital. 9Unicorns, besides investment, opens doors to the startups for access to a wide network of successful founders, category leaders, CXOs of large corporations, seasoned angel investors & partners of global VC funds. Every portfolio company receives an acceleration support for 3 months & post-investment support of 18 months.  

Deep Connected Vehicle Platform Sibros to Accelerate Adoption of Advanced Vehicle Connectivity Solutions on AWS

• Sibros is announcing its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• It's important because it will accelerate the demand for OTA software updates and innovations needed for the automotive industry through its embedded in-vehicle offerings. Sibros solves two problems:
• OTA software updates
• Data collection
• Since virtually everything in the vehicle is now connected and controlled by software, important vehicle updates are available OTA, and also proactively to prevent any recalls, etc.
• The Sibros platform collects high-quality, useful data, rather than everything from the vehicle; OEMs can determine what data to collect based on events that are happening.

Image ~ www.sibros.tech

Deep Connected Vehicle platform company Sibros, announced today its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate the adoption of its advanced connectivity offerings for the global automotive industry. 

Sibros offers one of the world's first Deep Connectivity Platform for orchestrating total vehicle Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates with real time data logging, fleet/service management, diagnostics and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics. The platform also securely manages all in-vehicle software and data between vehicles, networks and the cloud from R&D to end-of-life, to enable the connected vehicle ecosystem of the future. This deep connectivity approach empowers vehicle makers to address hundreds of connected vehicle use cases and remedy software/electronic defects, both remotely and at scale using a single system.

The AWS Partner Network (APN) recognizes companies who are building and deploying customer applications using AWS services. Through this new collaboration, Sibros can now be discovered in the AWS Partner Solutions Finder and will participate in various joint marketing activities and events tailored for automakers.

Sibros has enabled its embedded in-vehicle software offerings with AWS leveraging AWS IoT, Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), AWS Machine Learning services, Amazon CloudFront, and other AWS products. The solution has been designed to scale from R&D fleets of 10 vehicles to production fleets of over 10 million vehicles with ready-to-run SaaS applications and a 1-click reference architecture. 

"The continued growth of connected vehicles and autonomous development is accelerating demand for new mobility solutions from predictive maintenance for fleets to advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) development," said Bill Foy, Director of Automotive, Amazon Web Services, Inc. "We're delighted to be working with Sibros and their automotive solutions. With over 300 million connected vehicles globally sold, hundreds of million lines of code, increasing complexity, and the growing frequency of recalls, our automotive customers are on alert to verify the quality and security of vehicle software to ensure driver safety." 

"With this expanded relationship, automotive customers can now rapidly deploy one of the world's most advanced vehicle connectivity solutions that's been optimized to run on their existing cloud infrastructure, tools and investments," said Xiaojian Huang, Vice President of Software for Sibros. "We look forward to bringing the combined automotive industry expertise of both Sibros and AWS to global automakers who are seeking to take their vehicle connectivity, software and data capabilities to the next level," added Huang. For more information on the Sibros Deep Connectivity Platform, visit www.sibros.tech.


About Sibros

Sibros offers the world's first Deep Connectivity Platform for whole-vehicle OTA software updates, live data collection and AI-powered analytics in a single system. The platform also securely manages all in-vehicle software and data between vehicles, networks and the cloud to enable the connected vehicle ecosystem of today and tomorrow. This transformative software-first approach empowers vehicle OEMs to address hundreds of connected vehicle use cases spanning service/fleet management, predictive maintenance, personalization, data monetization and beyond. To learn more about how Sibros is empowering OEMs to deliver never-before-available Connected Vehicle services at scale please visit https://www.sibros.tech/.

ISG Index: Managed Services Hits 14-Year Low in Asia Pacific

ITO, BPO markets slump on COVID -19 concerns, as companies turn to cloud-based services

SYDNEY, Australia, Oct. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Buffeted by pandemic concerns, the managed services market in Asia Pacific fell in the third quarter to its lowest level in 14 years, according to the latest state-of-the-industry report from Information Services Group (ISG ) (Nasdaq: III ), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The Asia Pacific ISG Index™, which measures commercial outsourcing contracts with annual contract value (ACV) of US $5 million or more, shows the region's managed services market plummeted 48 percent in the third quarter, to US $338 million, its worst showing since 2006. Within managed services, information technology outsourcing (ITO) was down 50 percent, to US $277 million, and business process outsourcing (BPO) was down 32 percent, to US $61 million.

Meanwhile, ACV for cloud-based services, traditionally the dominant force in the region's sourcing success, was up 6 percent in the third quarter, to US $1.6 billion. That figure includes infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), up 8 percent, to US $1.4 billion, and software-as-a-service (SaaS), down 8 percent, to US $222 million—one of its lightest quarters in the last three years.

Asia Pacific's combined market (both managed services and as-a-service) was down 10 percent, to US $1.97 billion, despite overall growth in the as-a-service segment.

"Asia Pacific began the year with a record quarter for cloud-based services, but the as-a-service market has drifted lower the last two quarters, reflecting slowing investment due to the pandemic," said Scott Bertsch, partner and regional leader, ISG Asia Pacific. "This quarter, the growth in cloud-based services was not enough to lift the combined market in Asia Pacific."

Market-share battles in cloud infrastructure continue to rage across the region, especially in India, where the action is heating up in the telco, broadband internet and public cloud markets, Bertsch said. AWS, for example, signed an agreement with Bharti Airtel to bring more cloud services to companies in India, while Microsoft formed a partnership with Jio.

In the managed services arena, Bertsch noted that contract volume fell back to more typical levels in the third quarter after a rise in contracting activity the previous quarter. "Virtually all the deals were below US $20 million," said Bertsch. "Large awards, historically a challenge for Asia Pacific, have dried up since the onset of COVID-19, and the path to closing those deals has grown longer."

Notable bright spots, Bertsch said, were Accenture winning a sizable transaction with a large manufacturer in Asia, and IBM closing a deal with the Airport Authority of Hong Kong.

Year-to-Date Performance

For the first nine months, Asia Pacific's combined market dropped 7 percent, to US $6.4 billion. Managed services dropped 41 percent, to US $1.4 billion, on a lack of large deals, with ITO (down 40 percent, to US $1.2 billion) and BPO (down 49 percent, to US $197 million) both contributing to the poor performance. Most of the region's geographic markets were down substantially, except for Australia-New Zealand (ANZ), which saw its ACV grow 3 percent year to date.

As-a-Service, meanwhile, rose 11 percent, to US $5 billion, although this segment is growing much more slowly than in previous years. IaaS was up 14 percent, to US $4.3 billion, even as SaaS declined 6 percent, to US $695 million.

Global F orecast

ISG is forecasting the global managed services market will be down 6 percent for the full year, 150 basis points better than its July forecast. The firm is projecting the global as-a-service market will grow by 15.5 percent in 2020, up from its 11 percent forecast in July.

About the ISG Index™

The ISG Index™ is recognized as the authoritative source for marketplace intelligence on the global technology and business services industry. For 72 consecutive quarters, it has detailed the latest industry data and trends for financial analysts, enterprise buyers, software and service providers, law firms, universities and the media. In 2016, the ISG Index was expanded to include coverage of the fast-growing as-a-service market, measuring the significant impact cloud-based services are having on digital business transformation. ISG also provides ongoing analysis of automation and other digital technologies in its quarterly ISG Index presentations. For more, visit this webpage .

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III ) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry's most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com .

Australia's REA Group to Acquire Controlling Interest in Owing Firm of Housing, PropTiger and Makaan.com

REA Group Ltd (ASX:REA) announced today that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd. owner of Housing.com, PropTiger.com and Makaan.com, in a deal that includes cash and newly issued REA shares. The transaction is expected to close in the current quarter, subject to confirmatory due diligence. India is an important piece in REA Group’s integrated global strategy and the business plans to continue to invest in Elara to create India’s leading digital real estate business. 

REA Group CEO, Owen Wilson commented: “India is an incredibly attractive market and one that provides excellent long-term growth opportunities, while complementing REA’s footprint in Australia, Asia and North America. The country is forecast to deliver strong growth over the next decade as it continues to experience rapid digital transformation.

“We plan to make significant investments in Elara going forward. With over 700 million internet users and roughly half a billion yet to come online, our increased investment in Elara will allow REA to be at the forefront of the considerable long-term opportunities within India, and the digitisation of the real estate sector,” he added.

Elara will continue to operate as a stand-alone entity within the REA Group structure. Dhruv Agarwala, co-founder and CEO, along with the current leadership team, will continue to lead the company.

“We are delighted with REA’s increased involvement in our business and the ability to collaborate more closely. I remain excited about the digital real estate opportunity in India and we are committed to our unique full-stack strategy as we focus on building leadership.

“With access to capital and expertise from REA we will continue to launch new products in the market to enhance the consumer experience and make the process of home buying, selling and renting simpler, more digital and more transparent,” said Mr. Agarwala.

Mr. Wilson further added: “Elara has a well-established, high-calibre management team with extensive experience across both the digital marketplace and real estate sectors. We believe that the company’s differentiated full-stack strategy will emerge as the winning model going forward. This transaction creates a unique opportunity to leverage the combined talent and digital expertise of REA and Elara to become the market leader in India.”

REA Group along with News Corp, already owns a significant minority stake in the company. The company has raised equity capital of USD 105 million to date from News Corp, REA Group, Elevation Capital, Softbank and Accel, among others.

This is an opportune time for the transaction given the massive acceleration in digital adoption in all categories over the last six months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a clear market acceptance and buy-in for digital solutions in real estate. Housing.com has seen organic traffic on its platform increase by more than 70% since February this year. The Indian real estate market is significant, with the current market size estimated at USD 180 billion and projected to grow at a CAGR of 19% over the next decade. The digital real estate classifieds advertising market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 29% until 2025, which provides the opportunity to build a big and profitable business.

Elara offers a full range of residential property services across digital advertising and transactions including personalised search, virtual viewing, site visits, home loans and post-sales services. The company began with PropTiger.com and since then it has grown significantly both organically and inorganically with the acquisition of Housing.com and Makaan.com. It is the leading full-stack digital real estate company in India with revenues growing at a CAGR of 42% over the last three years and organic traffic on Housing.com rapidly increasing at a CAGR of 56% in the period Sep ‘17-Sep ‘20.

The company is well positioned to take full advantage of attractive market dynamics with its differentiated full-stack strategy. According to SimilarWeb data, Elara’s platforms Housing.com and Makaan.com together have the market leading audience amongst digital real estate players in India. Its unique offering provides an end-to-end service for consumers, leading to a greater consumer experience and increased satisfaction, with an NPS score of over 74 among home buyers on Proptiger.com.

Mayank Khanduja, Partner at Elevation Capital, said: “I am pleased to see Elara become part of REA Group, one of the most valuable digital real estate companies in the world.” Prashanth Prakash, Partner at Accel, added: “Dhruv and team have done an excellent job of scaling the company to where it is today and I’m confident that with REA Group’s backing Elara can become the dominant digital real estate company in India.”