BYJU's raises $400M, valued at $4bn; RBI gets a new Governor; funding gains steam
Edtech unicorn Byju's has just raised $400 million led by Canada’s CPP Investment Board, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic and some existing investors. With this, Byju’s valuation soared, as it entered the leagues of the top five most valuable startup in India – namely Flipkart ($22 billion), Paytm ($16 billion), Oyo ($5 billion) and Ola ($4 billion).
RBI appoints new Governor
After Urjit Patel’s sudden resignation late Monday, former finance secretary and current member of the finance commission, Shaktikanta Das has been appointed as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With this, Das, a former civil servant will become the 25th Governor of the central bank.
Wow Venue raised $1.5 million
Wow Venue raised $1.5 million in funding from strategic investor Pranav Pathak. The company has big plans in the near future, including tie-ups with premium hotels and cruises globally. “Leveraging our existing position as a premium venue booking and event management company, we look forward to creating a strong brand presence for Wow Venue,” said co-founder and Director Ankit Agarwal.
Heart attack alert: This digestible electronic pill can give an early warning to heart patients
Imagine if there was some pill or medicine that could prevent a heart attack. While medical science is yet to come up with a plausible solution for this, Nihal Konan, an engineering student from Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bengaluru has an innovative idea – a digestible, electronic pill - that can send an early alert of an impending heart attack.
Microsoft releases Indic Phonetic keyboards for 10 Indian languages
The desi internet is growing by the day. And tech giant Microsoft doesn’t want to be left behind in the game. In a bid to woo the desi internet users, the company recently released Indic Phonetic keyboards for 10 Indian languages - Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odia, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Incidentally, Microsoft is not the only player with Bengaluru-based Ka-Naada also coming up with its own Indic keyboard.
SoftBank will be raising $23.5 B from the IPO
SoftBank is all set to achieve a new milestone as it plans to raise $23.5 billion from the initial public offer (IPO) for its Japanese mobile business. This is also the second-biggest stock market listing after Alibaba, which had raised $25 billion in 2014 at the current exchange rates. Incidentally, in India, SoftBank is one of the major investors in the startup ecosystem.
HMD Global releases its new flagship phone Nokia 8.1
HMD Global, the manufacturer of Nokia branded phones, has launched its flagship model Nokia 8.1 – a device that is HDR-10 compliant and comes packed with a full HD+ display, 3,500 mAh battery, and a dual face detection focus camera. Priced at Rs 26,999 for a 4GB/64GB variant, the device comes in colours of blue/silver and iron/steel and will be available for purchase from December 21.
London-based OweMe raises $1 M seed funding from Bengaluru-based pi Ventures
OweMe, co-founded by Nishant Singh and Nisha Singh in 2016, has raised $1 million in a seed funding round led by Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence and IoT-focused early stage venture fund pi Ventures. Following this, the London-based startup, that helps companies move money efficiently through their supply chain, will be using the funds to strengthen their product and the team.
Mattress company WakeFit raises Rs 65 crore led by Sequoia Capital
WakeFit, the Bengaluru-based mattress and sleep-related products company, has raised Rs 65 crore from Sequoia Capital. The funds raised will be used to strengthen the company’s manufacturing capabilities and to create customer awareness of the need for a good quality mattress.
Google Plus hit by massive security breach, to shut down in April
In a year’s time, this is the second time Google’s social network has reported a software flaw, only this time the bug has impacted the private information of close to 52.5 million users. Given how the company prioritises the protection of user data, the latest breach, however, has also accelerated the shut-down of Google+, four months ahead of the deadline in August 2019.
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