Startup news and updates: daily roundup (Aug 11, 2023)

Chryscapital-backed Xoriant acquires Thoucentric

Xoriant, a digital engineering services company backed by ChrysCapital—a private equity firm, said that it has acquired consulting firm Thoucentric.

Thoucentric, a Bengaluru-headquartered specialised consulting firm, focuses on solving business problems using digital solutions in the supply chain, sales and distribution, and finance domains.

Xoriant, which is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, provides services and solutions focused on digital product engineering, cloud infrastructure and operations, security, data engineering/management and analytics. It has Fortune 100 customers worldwide.

Through this strategic acquisition, Xoriant aims to enhance its services by incorporating consulting into its portfolio. Xoriant’s proficiencies in AI and data, cloud, security, and operational services coupled with Thoucentric's expertise in domain knowledge and digital consulting will help clients efficiently realise their digital transformation goals, according to the company's statement.

Xoriant currently has a workforce of 5,000 employees and this acquisition will result in a 10% increase in staff.

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BharatPe launches BharatPe Swipe Android machine for merchants

BharatPe, on Friday, launched its new Android Point of Sale (POS) terminal. Known as BharatPe Swipe Android, the device offers multiple modes for digital payment acceptance, including debit/credit cards, UPI, mobile wallets, and QR code.

The company, which launched Linux-based POS devices in the year 2020, already has a network of over two lakh POS machines across 400 cities in the country. BharatPe will give its merchants an option to upgrade from the Linux-based POS to the new Android POS device.

Additionally, it plans to double its POS network count over the next 12 months, with the launch of BharatPe Swipe Android.

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Startups have created over 10.34 lakh direct jobs: Piyush Goyal

As on April 30, more than 10.34 lakh direct jobs have been created by over 98,000 recognised startups in the country. In a reply in the Lok Sabha, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said there has not been a slowdown in the growth of startups in the country, and that the government has been implementing various initiatives under the Startup India initiative launched on January 16, 2016.

The number of recognised startups has increased from 428 in 2016 to 98,119 as of April 30, 2023.

Goyal told Lok Sabha that the government implements annual exercises and programs including States’ Startup Ranking, National Startup Awards and Innovation Week which play an important role in the holistic development of the startup ecosystem. 

Web3 infrastructure provider Zeeve partners with Telos

India-based blockchain deployment and Web3 infrastructure management platform Zeeve and Telos Blockchain have joined hands to simplify working on Telos. With a sizable community of over 2700 developer partners, hosting over 6,000 nodes and providing support for over 45 blockchains, Zeeve claims to be one of Asia’s leading Web3 Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platforms. Along with other top projects across the space, Telos support will now be fully offered through Zeeve, including node deployment and management.

In addition to the technical components of this partnership, Zeeve will also work with Telos to develop educational resources on the project to share with its vast, highly capable community of developers and blockchain evangelists. Furthermore, Telos will also be introduced to Zeeve’s community through in-person hackathons, meetups and workshops.

Unacademy appoints Anurag Tiwari as national academic director for Unacademy Centres

Edtech platform Unacademytoday announced the appointment of Anurag Tiwari as the National Academic Director for Unacademy Centres. With over 18 years of experience in the education sector, Anurag brings a wealth of expertise and a proven track record to his new role.

Prior to joining Unacademy, Anurag served as the National Academic Director at Aakash Educational Services Limited for 13 years.

"I am excited to join Unacademy, a brand that is at the forefront of transforming the education sector in India. Unacademy's commitment to providing quality education and empowering learners resonates with my own principles as an Educator and administrator in the field of education," said Anurag Tiwari. "I look forward to contributing to Unacademy's mission of making high-quality education accessible to students across the nation."

Health-tech startup Suraksha QR onboards Actor Murali Sharma as Brand Ambassador

Hyderabad-headquartered healthcare-technology startup Suraksha QR has announced the appointment of veteran actor Murali Sharma as its brand ambassador. Following this, the actor will be representing the emerging Suraksha QR brand as its ‘key face’ across various offline and online channels.

Additionally, Suraksha QR shall be collaborating with Murali Sharma for a series of marketing, outreach, events, and other promotional activities in the near future, in a bid to enable the startup to rapidly grow and scale its reach and impact pan-India.

Suraksha QR, owned and operated by Scan Help Technologies Pvt. Ltd., is a healthcare-technology platform based out of Hyderabad. Its aim is to bring every doctor to everyone’s house, all at a very affordable price. Through its innovative, affordable, and unique health-tech platform, they are also improving the accessibility to better healthcare for Indians, backed by ecosystem partnerships, curated health insurance products, and superlative healthcare delivery services.

(The copy will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)