Espresso: New Shepard's human flight to space

New Shepard’s first human flight

Blue Origin completed New Shepard’s first human flight on Tuesday with four passengers. The passengers on the New Shepard flight were Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, brother Mark, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, and 82-year-old Wally Funk.

New Shepard thus became the first commercial vehicle under a suborbital reusable launch vehicle licence to fly paying customers, both payloads and astronauts, to space and back.

Infosys' digital technology centre in Germany

Infosys will launch an Automotive Digital Technology and Innovation Center in Stuttgart, Germany, to drive innovation and IT infrastructure transformation in the sector. 

Last year, Infosys entered into an eight-year long partnership with Daimler AG. With the new centre, Infosys will help Daimler strengthen its automotive IT infrastructure. Encouraging sustainable growth within the German automotive sector, Infosys will provide its customers with tools to meet the country’s growing demand for electric vehicles by leveraging Daimler’s resources.

YouTube buys Indian social commerce startup

YouTube will acquire the Indian social commerce start-up Simsim, the company said on Tuesday. TechCrunch reported that the start-up was valued at over $70 million.

“We are taking another step to help viewers discover and buy products from local businesses,” Gautam Anand, Vice President, YouTube APAC, said in a Google blog post yesterday.

Simsim is helping small businesses in India transition to e-commerce by using video. “Creators post video reviews about products from local businesses, and viewers can buy those products directly through the app,” Anand said. Retailers of all sizes can reach buyers through video in Hindi, Tamil or Bengali.

Newgen's Q1 revenue up 21 percent

Newgen Software Technologies reported operational revenue of Rs 160 crore in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022. It was 21 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago, but 20 percent lower sequentially.

The Gurugram-headquartered company’s profit of Rs 21.6 crore also declined 59 percent sequentially, but was 137 percent higher than the Rs 9-crore profit in the same quarter last year.

Newgen is a digital transformation platform that generates 35 percent revenue from the US market, and 30 percent from Europe, West Asia and Africa.

Adobe partners CEAT for D2C model

Tyre manufacturer CEAT will start a direct-to-consumer service powered by Adobe’s cloud-based software tools.

“The services will include home delivery, fitment at store, and home fitment,” according to a press statement from Adobe. The software company’s tools will drive the content management capability on CEAT’s website, and catalogue, cart and check-out processes, among others.

“Customers can now buy online and do a pick-up and fitment at the nearest CEAT Shoppe, or avail of doorstep fitment services (powered by TyresnMore),” said Arnab Banerjee, Chief Operating Officer of CEAT. “This also includes servicing and sanitisation of their vehicles from the safety of their homes.”

TV18 Broadcast’s Q1 results

TV18 Broadcast reported revenue of Rs 1,155 crore in the first quarter of FY2022, growing 49 percent over a year ago when the pandemic led to lockdowns across India.

“While advertising hit a speed-breaker (primarily in entertainment), growing engagement on our platforms across TV and digital make us confident of delivering for all our stakeholders even amidst a choppy environment,” said Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of TV18. The news business grew 17 percent over last year, and entertainment clocked 62 percent growth in the same period.

The company reported operating profit of Rs 188 crore.