Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (September 24, 2021)

Artha Venture Fund earmarks Rs 225 Cr for investments in Indian startups

Venture capital firm Artha Venture Fund on Thursday announced the Artha Access programme to make early-stage investments in Indian startups from its recently closed fund of Rs 225 crore. The firm plans to invest in 40 startups, with a limit of up to Rs 25 lakh per deal, by 2025. Artha Venture Fund (AVF) has collaborated with accelerator Huddle and IIM Calcutta Innovation Park to roll out its investment plan.

PM Modi meets leading American CEOs from key sectors; encourages them to invest in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held extensive discussions with top American CEOs and business leaders on investment in India, and explored ways to forge closer Indo-US economic linkages that would benefit the people of the two countries. PM Modi, who arrived here on Wednesday on an official visit to the US during which he will hold the first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris, held separate meetings with CEOs of Qualcomm, Adobe, First Solar, General Atomics and Blackstone.

Amazon infuses Rs 450 Cr in Amazon Pay

Amazon has infused Rs 450 crore into its payments unit in India, Amazon Pay, according to regulatory documents. The fresh infusion comes just ahead of the festive season where the US ecommerce giant will compete head-on against Walmart-owned Flipkart and others.

Amazon Pay (India) has allotted 45 crore equity shares, aggregating to Rs 450 crore to Amazon Corporate Holdings Pvt Ltd and Amazon.com.inc Ltd, regulatory documents filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and sourced by business intelligence platform Tofler, showed. Amazon did not respond to emailed queries.

Twitter to add new features for improved conversations, more monetisation opportunities for creators

Twitter on Thursday announced a slew of new features that are being rolled out, including updates to Spaces and global expansion of Tips, as the microblogging platform aims to improve conversations, support more monetisation avenues for users, and provide them with a safe experience.

Twitter Head of Consumer Product Kayvon Beykpour said the platform can be the conversational layer of the internet, and can lead everyone to greater opportunities to speak freely which is core to an open society.

Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma to get Esops for first time

IPO-bound Paytm's founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma will get employee stock options (Esops) for the first time as a reward to drive the company into a leadership position in the digital payments and financial services space, according to sources. The Esops for Shekhar comes when the company is wrapping up the final number of shares that will become part of its proposed Rs 16,600 crore IPO.

Amazon launches Prime Video Channels, to provide content from multiple streaming services

Amazon Prime Video on Friday announced that it has partnered with eight other streaming services to provide an expanded content library on its platform. The streaming service unveiled Prime Video Channels, which will offer diverse content from its counterparts like discovery+, Lionsgate Play, Eros Now, Docubay, MUBI, hoichoi, Manorama Max, and Shorts TV. The company will provide its subscribers the option for add-on subscriptions on Amazon Prime Video app and website to access the content of these streaming services.