Startup news and updates: daily roundup (July 8, 2022)
YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Friday July 8, 2022.
Data from Indeed shows R&D jobs in India at an all-time high
A report by the US-headquartered employment website showed that the number of job postings for research and development (R&D) roles in India saw a 42 percent increase in May 2022, as compared to the same period in 2019. From May 2020 to May 2021, the job postings for R&D rose by 40 percent.
A statement issued by the company said that product and engineering roles are likely to grow exponentially in the coming year.
According to the report, Bengaluru leads in the number of R&D job postings, followed by Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Chennai. The top five cities account for nearly 75 percent of total R&D roles in India. These job roles include R&D engineer, software engineer, software architect, and full-stack developer.
Crypto app CoinSwitch ropes in former Myntra executive to head engineering
Bengaluru-headquartered crypto investing app has announced the appointment of Sudheer Tumuluru as the head of crypto engineering. He will lead building of the technology stack driving crypto trading, exchange, and emerging crypto products.
Sudheer joined CoinSwitch after his stint at fashion retailer Myntra, where he served as the vice president of engineering. In his previous roles, he has worked with Flipkart, AWS, and Expedia.
Founded in 2017 by Ashish Singhal, Govind Soni, and Vimal Sagar Tiwari, CoinSwitch is backed by the likes of Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and others.
3SC Solutions appoints Manish Kumar as CTO
Gurugram-based supply chain analytics company Solutions has announced the appointment of Manish Kumar as CTO. Manish brings to the table extensive and diverse experience across retail, ecommerce, CPG, logistics, and other aspects.
In his previous role, he served as senior vice president with the customer engagement platform, Algonomy. He has also worked for the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System and Tesco in senior leadership roles.
At 3SC, he will be responsible for leading the company’s technical team, implementing large-scale software strategies, and offering a range of logistics-related solutions, supply chain management, and analytics advisory services as part of the 3SC platform.
Cricketer Ajinkya Rahane backs You Need Character’s India entity
Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane has invested in South Korea-headquartered animation production company You Need Character’s India entity, You Need Contents. The cricketer has served as the brand ambassador of the company’s popular kids animation series, Cricket Pang, since its launch in 2021.
You Need Character set up an Indian entity in Bengaluru in 2021. It has been actively pursuing multiple projects through its Cricket Pang IP in the sectors of education, character licensing, publication, and spatial entertainment, the company said in a statement.
The company was founded in 2017 by Minsu Song. You Need Character broadcasts its Cricket Pang animation across TV and OTT in India, South Korea, and the UAE. The company also plans on setting up a cricket scholarship to support young children in India with Ajinkya in the future.
Ajinkya Rahane
IIT Kanpur, KGMU Lucknow launch DBT-sponsored School of International Biodesign
IIT Kanpur and KGMU Lucknow have jointly launched School of International Biodesign—Synergising Healthcare Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIB-SHInE) programme.
The year-long full-time programme is a dedicated residential fellowship sponsored by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.
The programme is aimed at creating the next generation of biomedical entrepreneurs. The fellows will receive curated instructions and mentorship from experts in the fields of biodesign, clinical innovation, medical technology development, as well as finance management as part of the programme. The programme aims to further research and innovation in the field of medtech.
Nokia partners with IISc to set up robotics centre of excellence
Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia has partnered with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to set up Nokia Center of Excellence in networked robotics at its Bengaluru campus.
The Center of Excellence (CoE) will promote inter-disciplinary research involving robotics and advanced communication technologies in 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI), a joint statement said on Friday.
It will also develop use cases across industrial automation, agriculture and disaster management. The centre will facilitate engagement and cooperation between academia, startups, and industry ecosystem partners to research and develop these use cases, the statement said.
The agreement for setting up the CoE in Networked Robotics was concluded in August 2020, and since then a core group has worked to set up and equip the centre.
Nokia will fund the CoE for three consecutive years in order to sustain the first phase of the partnership between Nokia and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
Twitter says it removes 1 million spam accounts a day
Twitter said it removes a million spam accounts each day in a call with executives on Thursday, during a briefing that aimed to shed more light on the company's fake and bot accounts as it tussles with Elon Musk over spam bots.
The Tesla CEO, who has offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, has threatened to walk away from the deal if the company can't show that less than 5 percent of its daily active users are automated spam accounts.
Musk has argued, without presenting evidence, that Twitter has significantly underestimated the number of these spam bots—automated accounts that typically promote scams and misinformation on its service.
Twitter said on the call that spam accounts represent well below 5 percent of its active user base each quarter.
(This article will be updated with latest news throughout the day)
Edited by Kanishk Singh
