Startup news and updates: daily roundup (August 9, 2022)

Mark Zuckerberg announces new privacy features on WhatsApp

On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp is bringing three new privacy features to users, giving them more control over their conversations and adding layers of protection when messaging.

“New privacy features coming to WhatsApp: exit group chats without notifying everyone, control who can see when you're online, and prevent screenshots on view once messages. We'll keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta.

Over the years, WhatsApp has added new layers of privacy protections to give users multiple ways to secure their messages, including disappearing messages that self-destruct, end-to-end encrypted backups when they want to save their chat history, two-step verification for added security, and the ability to block and report unwanted chats. 

Today’s three new product updates join WhatsApp’s growing list of privacy features that users can take advantage of and that provide even more layers of protection, giving users more control over their messages. The new privacy features on WhatsApp include:

Leave groups silently—Users will be able to exit a group privately without having to notify everyone. Now, instead of notifying the full group when leaving, only the admins will be notified. This feature starts to roll out to all users this month.

Choose who can see when you’re online—Seeing when friends or family are online help users feel connected to one another, but everyone has had times when they wanted to check their WhatsApp privately. For the times you want to keep your online presence private, WhatsApp is introducing the ability to select who can and can’t see when you’re online. This will start rolling out to all users this month.

Screenshot blocking for view once messages—View Once is already an incredibly popular way to share photos or media that don’t need to have a permanent digital record. Now, WhatsApp is enabling screenshot blocking for View Once messages for an added layer of protection. This feature is being tested and will be rolled out to users soon.

SAVE Solutions acquires SaGgraha Management Services

SAVE Solutions Pvt Ltd, a rural financial services group and SaGgraha, announce their synergetic collaboration. Save Solutions has acquired South India-based SaGgraha Management Services, which is a strategic move by the company with an aim to strengthen its mission for deeper financial inclusion across India.

Bengaluru-based SaGgraha caters to the base of the pyramid population, with the mission to contribute to India’s goal of financial inclusion. It currently offers group microfinance loans and has immediate plans to further diversify into secured and unsecured MSME loans. 

Through this acquisition, SAVE, with its corporate office in Delhi, makes a ready and deep penetration into the diverse south Indian rural markets. The company, last year, had also acquired a housing finance company, New Habitat Housing Finance and Development Limited, to offer its customers all-round financial products.

Ajeet Kumar Singh, Founder Director, MD and CEO of SAVE Solutions said, 

“SaGgraha is a renowned regional player, and this association will bring immediate synergies in the areas of governance, technology, operations, and diversification of portfolio. We sincerely thank all our stakeholders for their continued support, especially Incofin’s team for their leadership and Maj Invest’s team for their guidance on the transaction.”

Already a mid-sized organisation with over 1,700 employees, SAVE is readily prepared to onboard over 1,650 new employees who will be joining them from SaGgraha Management Services Pvt Ltd, making the total employee strength of the organisation over 3,350.

SAVE is a trusted business correspondent partner for various PSU banks across India including State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank along with Jharkhand Rajya Gramin Bank, Baroda UP Bank.

Upriver expands its horizon to Nepal, ties-up with V-Chitra 

Upriver, an agency in the D2C and marketplace enablement space, on Tuesday announced that it has signed an agreement with V-Chitra—a Nepal-based marketing and communication agency. As part of the agreement, Upriver and V-Chitra will jointly work and assist Nepalese brands to sell in the Indian market. 

Nepal-based businesses that are looking for assistance in accomplishing their goals and growing their operations in India would benefit from this collaboration. This alliance will also support Indian and International brands aiming to broaden their market reach in Nepal.

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Baqar Iftikhar Naqvi, CEO and Co-founder, Upriver, said, 

“Ecommerce is growing in Nepal at a rapid pace and this partnership will further accelerate the same. There are many niche brands based out of Nepal and this partnership can bring those to Indian and international consumers, opening up very large markets for them. We are incredibly excited and eager to collaborate with V-Chitra.”

V-Chitra is a 17-year-old company with competence in a wide variety of marketing solutions, including brand advertising, customer relationship management (CRM) and media planning. 

Speaking on the partnership, Sekhar Chettri, MD, V-Chitra said, 

“This will give Nepalese brands access to ecommerce platforms in India. With the growth of the digital economy and increasing trust on online platforms in Nepal, Upriver solutions would help brands get prominence.”

In order to service the European market, Upriver recently partnered with the Swedish company Curamando AB. Upriver works with over a 100 brands and sellers including leading names like Wipro Consumer Products, Reliance Brands, Nykd by Nykaa etc.

WiJungle receives ICSA Labs certification

WiJungle, a unified cyber security platform, has recently announced that it has received ICSA Labs Firewall Certification. With the achievement of this milestone, WiJungle has become the first and only Indian cybersecurity Product to attain both the ICSA certification and the BIS certification, proving its credibility to global organisations. 

ICSA Labs, an independent, third-party security product testing and certification entity, performed the rigorous certification. The ICSA Labs certification aims to elevate user and enterprise trust in cybersecurity solutions.

Being recognised with a US certification will allow WiJungle to attain global acceptance and overcome the gap between global organisations and homegrown products, transcending the strong bias in national and international markets against local innovations. As a stamp of approval, the ICSA certification will enable WiJungle to accelerate its global expansion plans and supply its cybersecurity solutions worldwide.

“We are honoured to receive the ICSA Labs certification after undergoing meticulous testing through the highly accredited test facility. The ICSA certification shall accelerate our expansion into international markets. We are pleased to become the first Make in India cyber security product to receive both ICSA and BIS certification. Customers can use our cybersecurity solutions with a high degree of confidence now, knowing they are using a product that has been tested by a credible organisation,” said Karmesh Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of WiJungle.

Founded by Karmesh Gupta and Praveen Gupta, WiJungle consolidates diverse security functions of multiple security products, enabling organisations to secure and strengthen their entire network using a single window. The tech-driven cybersecurity platform offers a comprehensive security stack encompassing solutions such as Network Firewall, Web Application Firewall, SD-WAN, Data Leak Prevention, Hotspot Gateway, Load Balancer, Anti-DDoS and Vulnerability Assessment, among others.

The cybersecurity startup develops and markets unified security solutions to the government and private giants across all major industry verticals like hospitality, healthcare, defence, education and ITES, among others.

Recently, WiJungle successfully mitigated over three billion cyber threats across its customer base, strengthening its digital infrastructure. Additionally, the cybersecurity startup raised seed funding at a valuation of $22 million from SOSV, a global venture capital firm based in the United States. With the ICSA Labs certification, the unified cyber security platform aims to begin its aggressive expansion.

Thomson forays into small home appliances segment with Flipkart

The French consumer electronics brand Thomson on Tuesday announced its foray into the small home appliances segment with Flipkart, an ecommerce marketplace. As customers are increasingly opting for newer and smarter appliances to manage household chores efficiently and save on time, Thomson’s foray into the segment will cater to these evolving needs.

As part of the launch, Thomson will introduce a wide range of appliances across the kitchen appliances segment (juice mixers, sandwich maker, electric cooker), seasonal appliances (geysers, room heaters), and other home appliances (dry and steam irons) and more on Flipkart. The new product categories will make quality appliances available at affordable prices and bring Thomson’s French touch to Indian kitchens.

Sébastien Crombez, Thomson’s representative, said,

“Of its 129 years of history, the Thomson brand has been warmly welcomed by Indians when it made its way back to India with Television in 2018. Thomson has an important focus on India, we would like to bring quality products that bring the best experience and ease of use to customers. In this endeavour, we feel small home appliances play a major role in making our lives easier and more convenient and our foray into this segment will enable us to cater to the evolving preference of Indian consumers with products that embodies the brand’s French touch while making them accessible and affordable.”