Espresso: Adobe's acquisition, Microsoft 365's price hike

Adobe to acquire Frame.io

Software company Adobe will acquire video-collaboration platform Frame.io for $1.3 billion to enhance its video editing offerings, Premiere Pro and After Effects.

Frame.io founders Emery Wells and John Traver will join Adobe, and the deal is likely to be complete by November 2021.

Adobe will leverage Frame.io’s cloud-first solution to provide real-time collaboration while editing video files that are large and require more computer resources to process.

Microsoft 365 prices to increase

Microsoft will hike the price of its enterprise product, Microsoft 365, for the first time since it introduced it as 'Office 365' a decade ago. The enterprise suite bundles Windows, Office 365 application, and Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS). 

The new prices, which have been raised by $1 to $4 for different plans, will come into effect in March 2022.

Office 365 has been Microsoft's top-selling product besides its cloud offering Azure. Microsoft has added applications, such as Teams, Power Apps, Power BI and OneDrive, to the suite which originally comprised Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Wipro launches @now Studio in Texas

Wipro has partnered with digital workflow provider ServiceNow to launch @now Studio, a platform to develop and showcase digital transformation solutions for enterprises.

Located at Wipro’s Technology Center in Texas, this is its first @now Studio. The @now Studio leverages ServiceNow’s digital workflows and simplified processes to develop customised solutions. It will focus on building competencies leveraging the ecosystem, including universities and leading startups.

Payment aggregators licence

Almost 30 firms have applied for the Payment Aggregators licence, which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue to identify non-bank payment providers.

These include Tata Group, Amazon, Reliance Industries, Paytm, Zomato, PhonePe and BharatPe, according to a report in The Economic Times.

As per the central bank's Payment Aggregators/Payment Gateway guidelines introduced in March 2020, only firms approved by RBI can offer payment services to merchants.

Facebook starts small business loans initiative

Facebook has launched a small business loans initiative, which allows small and medium-sized businesses across 200 cities in India to take business loans up to Rs 50 lakh.

The social media giant has partnered with Indifi, an online lending platform, which will approve the loan applications.

Facebook will help small businesses that advertise on it get loans at a pre-defined rate of interest.

Zomato shuts down US operations

Zomato's subsidiary in the United States (US) has been dissolved and wound up, the food-tech company said in an exchange filing on Friday.

Zomato said the management will focus on growing the Indian business. As the US subsidiary had no business activity, its contribution to business was nil, and the contribution to Zomato's net worth was 0.07 percent.