Startup news and updates: daily roundup (January 2, 2023)

upGrad records 10,000+ graduates in 2022; highest CTC hike rose to 567%

Edtech unicorn upGrad on Monday said 10,000+ learners have completed their online courses with its domestic and international university partners and graduated in just one calendar year. 

The year also witnessed the highest CTC hike of 567% during October-November-December (OND) within the MBA domain. 

According to upGrad Data Labs (an internal arm of producing industry and company-specific data-driven reports and insights), MBA remained the most preferred hiring domain for recruiters during the year followed by Data Science, Machine Learning and AI, and Digital Marketing, respectively. The trends further revealed that Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai, in that order, topped the recruiting charts while Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai were amongst the next popular hiring locations.  

upGrad during the same year facilitated placements for over 1,200 learners into the MBA domain. Additionally, as per industry estimates, Data science-related job roles are one of the most in-demand tech jobs worldwide and are estimated to be the third-highest paying; expected to create 11 million jobs by 2026. 

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Ola registers record sales in December, grows market share to more than 30% in EV 2W segment

Electric vehicle company Ola Electric has announced its sales figures for the month of December. The company has registered total sales of over 25,000 units during the month.

With consistent growth in sales, Ola claims to have been successful in increasing its market share to upwards of 30% during the month.

Ola has been on an expansion spree on the D2C front. With 100 experience centres in operation already across the country, the company is on track to open 200 outlets by the end of March 2023. The company is also working towards building a robust roadmap of electric vehicles to accelerate the world’s transition to electric mobility.

The company has also recently rolled out MoveOS 3, the latest software update to over 1 lakh customers over the air (OTA). With 50+ features and performance improvements, MoveOS 3 promises to unlock the true potential of Ola’s S1 family of scooters. Another major advantage that the upgrade offers is the compatibility of Ola scooters with the company’s rapidly expanding Hypercharger network, currently spread across 27 Indian states.

Digital Personal Data Protection Bill industry-friendly: IAMAI

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), in a statement issued on Monday, said the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP) as industry-friendly. 

“It has struck the right balance between protecting the interests of the data principals while leaving enough room for tech start-ups to innovate and grow,” it said in the statement. 

According to the feedback received from the majority of IAMAI members, the reconceptualisation of the data protection framework in the DPDP to balance innovation and economic growth with the interests of users will go a long way to assuage concerns of digital businesses and help make India a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2025. 

In particular, IAMAI said it appreciates the more liberalised framework for cross-border data flows and the exclusion of non-personal data from the ambit of the DPDP Bill. It also added that it further appreciates that the Bill imposes only financial penalties for non-compliance as opposed to both financial and criminal penalties.

Commenting on the Bill, Dr Subho Ray, President, IAMAI stated, “By following a deep and wide process of consultation including that of a joint parliamentary committee, excluding non-essential provisions, by making a clear commitment that no Rules exceeding the provisions of the Act would be made, and yet protecting the interests of the state, citizens and the digital economy, this Bill has possibly set up new standards of law-making.”

Organic Kitchen raise undisclosed funds from Dineout Co-founder

Organic Kitchen raised investment from Vivek Kapoor, Co-founder, Dineout, last week. Co-founders Monika Dhaka and Krishnank Atrey said they are thrilled to have Vivek on board as an angel investor, joining existing investors Ajay Vishnu, Nitin Sahjwani, Abhishek Dhaka and Sidharth Chaudhary, the company said in a LinkedIn post.

"We thank Vivek for believing in the idea that Organic farmers in India deserve the pride and hence deserve to be shown to the consumers, who eventually should be able to trace their food journey," added the company.