How does the WhatsApp update affect you?

We have all, in the past few days, pondered over how the latest WhatsApp update affects us and our businesses (for those using WhatsApp Business). 

There have been umpteen WhatsApp group messages about WhatsApp and its latest privacy policy. You've had the likes of Elon Musk recommending Signal as an alternative in light of the latest updates. 

And closer home, Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu also tweeted about Arratai — a Made in India alternative that his team is currently testing out with friends and family. 

Amidst all this speculation, there's finally some much-needed clarity from Will Cathcart himself. The WhatsApp Head, in a series of tweets, clarified that the company updated its policy "to be transparent and to better describe optional people-to-business features".

The Interview 

Leading financial services firm Avendus’ Co-founder and Vice-Chairman Ranu Vohra knows the Indian startup ecosystem in and out, having observed its evolution first-hand over the last two decades. When he says, “The next five years for India’s startups are going to be ‘much larger’ than the previous five,” you listen with rapt attention.

Here are some key takeaways you cannot afford to miss:

• The COVID-19 disruption: Music to entrepreneur’s ears
• The acceleration of digitisation
• Startups going public
• Creating actual wealth

Startup Spotlight

Coding startup Tinker Coders enrolled 2.5 lakh students in less than 10 months

While India going through a coding revolution, parents want to make their kids ‘future-ready’ with new-age skills. And Tinker Coders — a platform offering online coding classes to K-12 students — confirms that the curiosity around the subject may be peaking right now among children as well.

News & Updates

• DIG Investment Founder Martin HP Söderström joined on the board of OYO's European Vacation Homes business. He will also be buying shares worth an undisclosed amount in the parent company.

• From India’s Silicon Valley to the original Silicon Valley in the US, fly with an all-women cockpit crew on Air India’s longest direct flight. The crew comprises Capt Zoya Aggarwal, Capt Papagari Thanmai, Capt Akansha Sonaware, and Capt Shivani.

• Zoho Corp is getting set to launch a messaging app called Arattai. The move comes after WhatsApp recently updated its privacy policy, which allows it to share more information with Facebook.

• State-owned telecom companies BSNL and MTNL have turned EBITDA positive for the first half of the current financial year, providing the signal of a faster turnaround. According to sources in DoT, both these organisations are expected to reduce their losses by 50 percent in FY21 when compared to FY20.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“The easiest thing we can do as a startup community is to support each other. Most of the toxicity and hate comes from within the startups themselves. Avoid doing that to each other.”

— Kunal Shah, Founder and CEO, CRED

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