Amazon expands quick service in India; MoEngage acquires AI infra startup Aampe
Amazon plans to scale its micro fulfilment centres and urban fulfilment centres to house an expanded selection of daily essentials.
Hello,
Does AI have a gender and racial bias?
Citing a study in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, UN Women notes that an analysis of 133 AI systems worldwide found that 44% exhibited gender bias, with 26% showing both gender and racial bias. The organisation cautions that discriminatory algorithms could perpetuate gender inequality and discrimination.
Apart from bias, AI is increasing online violence against women and girls, who already face unequal access to digital spaces.
Elsewhere, technology company Meta has paused a programme that tracked employees’ computer activity amid data privacy concerns, The Guardian reports.The company had introduced a tool that tracked staff keystrokes, mouse clicks and content displayed on computer screens to collect data for training its AI models.
As AI tools get more sophisticated, a common fear is that it will replace human workers but is it really cheaper to hire AI agents? According to a report from Gartner, coding costs will overtake the average developers’ salary by 2028 due to rising large language model (LLM) token consumption and the shift to consumption-based licensing models.
AI tokens are the units of data processed by generative AI models. Token consumption directly impacts the cost of AI coding tools, particularly under consumption-based pricing structures. Many vendors lack transparency into how they calculate and bill token consumptions, limiting enterprises’ ability to accurately forecast and control costs.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- Amazon expands quick service in India
- MoEngage acquires AI infra startup Aampe
Here’s your trivia for today: Which country is divided in two by the Cook Strait?
Ecommerce
Amazon expands quick service in India
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is currently visiting India and the company has announced plans to expand its quick service to 300 cities across India.
Called Amazon Now, the quick commerce business unit currently has service in 15 locations in cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Amritsar and Kochi, according to a blog post from the company.
Key takeaways:
- Amazon plans to scale its micro fulfilment centres and urban fulfilment centres to house an expanded selection of daily essentials ranging from groceries (including fruits & vegetables and frozen food), personal care, fashion & beauty products to small appliances, home and kitchen products.
- Amazon also introduced ‘Sammaan’, a programme designed to support delivery associates through upgraded health and life insurance, education scholarships for their children.
- As part of the programme, Amazon will also expand its Ashray rest centers to 250 locations this year, open to any delivery associate in the industry.
<Funding Alert>
Startup: JustAI
Amount: $17M
Round: Series A
Startup: SaffronStays
Amount: $3.5M
Round: Undisclosed
Startup: QOSMIC
Amount: $3.3M
Round: Seed
Mergers and acquisitions
MoEngage acquires AI infra startup Aampe
SaaS company MoEngage has acquired San Francisco-based AI infrastructure startup Aampe for an undisclosed amount.
In a statement, MoEngage said the acquisition strengthens its AI-powered marketing capabilities. While the company has been building AI-driven marketing workflows through its Merlin AI platform, Aampe adds advanced agentic decision-making technology to its offerings.
Key takeaways:
- According to MoEngage, Aampe’s AI agents independently determine the most effective message, timing, frequency, and communication channel for each individual user, continuously learning and improving based on outcomes.
- Founded in 2014 by Raviteja Dodda and Yashwant Kumar, MoEngage provides technology solutions that drive customer engagement for brands.
- With presence across North America, EMEA and Asia, the company’s tech platform is used by over 1,350 global consumer brands such as Flipkart, Domino's, Airtel, Swiggy, Coca-Cola, Policybazaar, and Soundcloud.
News & updates
- Computing race: A supercomputer made in China is now the fastest, giving the country a boost in its tech race with the US. The LineShine machine has replaced the American titleholder El Capitan in the latest biannual TOP500 ranking, which tracks the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
- Extreme heat: Amid a record-breaking summer in Europe, a heat-related incident left around 68,000 homes without electricity in western France. At 44.3 degree Celsius, France on Tuesday recorded its hottest day ever on a national scale, according to the Meteo France weather service.
Which country is divided in two by the Cook Strait?
Answer: New Zealand
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