PayPal acquires Simility for $120 M; WickedRide raises $9.1 M led by Sequoia Capital, Accel

Online bike rental platform WickedRide has raised funding of $9.1 million led by Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners. According to the Registrar of Companies filing submitted by the company, Raghunandan G, co-founder of TaxiforSure, which was later acquired by Ola, also participated in this round of funding. The platform was started in 2014 by Vivekananda Hallekere, Varun Agni, and Arun G. Initially focussed on luxury bike rentals, WickedRide is now also into scooter rentals.

Global payments major PayPal is acquiring fraud detection startup Simility in an all-cash deal worth $120 million. California-based Simility offers AI and machine learning-based tools to online merchants to help prevent fraudulent transactions. This marks PayPal’s fourth acquisition in the last 12 months. PayPal will make Simility’s risk management tools available to its 237 million global merchants after the deal is completed in the third quarter of this year.

Chai Point hit a century, launching its 100th store in Bengaluru at Indiranagar's 12th Main Road. The store, however, is not like other Chai Point stores, and is fashioned as a cafe. The store has many ‘new’ things associated with it. Apart from being Chai Point's first cafe, the store also has face recognition billing for loyal customers. 

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, have emerged as the next big frontier of technology, and these devices are already being employed in diverse sectors. However, safety and privacy issues has driven the government to regulate their use. YourStory lists seven drone companies to watch out for.

Rohan Rao, Abhijit Gupta, and Rajat Rao, pursuing their B tech and M Tech from IIT-Madras, set to solve their hometown Bengaluru's traffic problems. In 2017, the trio started Dynamove, an integrated hardware platform for intelligent transportation systems. Its solutions are aimed at tackling the various issues faced by a vehicle user, from safety and reliability issues to inefficiencies and environmental damage.

Swedish audiobook service Storytel launched in India, its first market outside Europe, last November, and signed up local publishers like HarperCollins India, Karadi Tales, Penguin Random House, Duckbill, and others. While India is not a prominent podcast or audio-streaming market, Storytel reckons the country’s rich oral traditions will lead to the adoption of audiobooks. Storytel is confident that the market will grow. 

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