Oyo partners with Motherland; AYE Finance raises funds; Google's free WiFi reaches 400 railway stations in 2 years

OYO announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Motherland Joint Ventures. This partnership will enable both the companies to co-develop a series of new hotel formats and enhance various aspects of customer experience – including key touch points such as Interiors and ergonomics.

Google’s free WiFi service in India, which was launched two years ago, now covers 400 railway stations and reaches eight million people every month. The project undertaken by the internet giant, in association with RailTel, the telecom arm of Indian Railways, reached its 400th destination - Dibrugarh station in Assam - last week.

Gurgaon-based Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) AYE Finance raised Rs 147 crore ($21.5 million) as a part of its Series-C equity investment from CapitalG (formerly Google Capital). Existing investors SAIF Partners and LGT also participated in the round. The company plans to use the raised funds to fuel its business growth.

In an interview with Shradha Sharma, Founder, YourStory, Dr BS Ajaikumar gave up a lucrative career in the US to set up a cancer care hospital in India, which would not only provide patients the latest in treatment, but also ensure it was affordable and accessible. Today, HCG has 18 centres all across India, as well as one in Kenya, and remains devoted to its cause of ensuring that cancer patients can benefit from the latest global innovations.

One97 Communications Limited, which owns digital payments giant Paytm, stated that it has driven digital payments across the country’s semi-urban and rural areas, enabling cash-less transactions in more than three lakh villages. It further said that more than three million merchant partners across small towns. The company is touted to have a merchant base of approximately seven million.

If investments in startups are risky, then Info Edge India Limited lives with it. While the company posted a net profit for the financial year 2018, it categorised Rs 186 crore as written off/exited/provisioned in its startup investment portfolio for quarter, ending March 31, 2018. The number had stood at Rs 83 crore as of January 30, 2017, thus taking the total written-off amount in the company's startup portfolio over the last one year to more than Rs 100 crore.

Now get the Daily Capsule in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter today!