Espresso: Reliance New Energy Solar invests in Ambri

Reliance New Energy Solar invests in Ambri

Reliance New Energy Solar (RNESL), hedge fund Paulson & Co, and Bill Gates will invest $144 million in Ambri, an energy storage company in Massachusetts, USA.

RNESL will invest $50 million to acquire 42.3 million shares of preferred stock in Ambri. Based on patented technology and designed to last between four hours and 24 hours, Ambri’s long-duration energy storage systems will break through the cost, longevity and safety barriers associated with lithium-ion batteries used in grid-scale stationary storage applications, according to a Reliance Industries press statement.

Ambri will enable a crucial energy storage solution capable of supporting the increasing amounts of renewable energy being integrated into electric power grids. RNESL and Ambri are also in discussions for an exclusive collaboration to set up a large scale battery manufacturing facility in India, which could add scale and further bring down costs for Reliance’s green energy initiative.

Ambri can cater to projects that require energy storage systems from 10 megawatt-hours to over 2 gigwatt-hours.

TechnoPro acquires Robosoft for $108 million

Japanese company TechnoPro, which provides digital solutions for enterprises, will wholly buy out Indian digital transformation firm Robosoft for $108 million, Robosoft said in a statement.

“Partnership with TechnoPro will provide us new opportunities to grow in Japan, which is on a path of digital transformation while continuing to expand in our core markets of US, Europe and India,” said Ravi Teja Bommireddipalli, CEO of Robosoft.

He will remain the CEO after the acquisition and will also take up the role of managing director.

Zomato reports 2.7 times higher loss over March

Listed foodtech unicorn Zomato posted consolidated revenue of Rs 916.6 crore in the first quarter of financial year 2021-22, a sequential increase of 22.1 percent compared to Rs 750.8 crore in the quarter ended March.

The annual revenue growth of 223.3 percent is an aberration, as the June 2020 quarter was marred by lockdown and the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It posted a net loss of Rs 360.7 crore in the first quarter ended June 2021, nearly 2.7 times higher than the net loss of Rs 134.2 crore in the March 2021 quarter.

Zomato completed delivery of billion orders on its platform last week, according to a stock exchange filing on Tuesday.

NSE to allow trading of US stocks

Indian retail investors could soon use the NSE IFSC platform to trade in selected US stocks, said National Stock Exchange’s subsidiary NSE International Exchange (NSE IFSC).

The move will allow Indian investors to deal with US stocks conveniently and in an affordable way. Retail investors can also trade in fractional quantities of shares. 

“Investors will be able to hold the depository receipts in their own demat accounts opened in GIFT City, and will be entitled to receive corporate action benefits pertaining to the underlying stock,” it said in a statement. GIFT City is Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, where India’s first international stock exchange is located.

Salesforce to launch video streaming

Salesforce, the world’s leading customer relationship management (CRM) provider, will launch a video-streaming service that offers live and on-demand content for every role, industry and line of business. 

Salesforce+ will offer live experiences, original series, podcasts, and other programming to build trusted relationships in the business community. 

“Just as brands like Disney, Netflix and Peloton have done with streaming services for consumers, Salesforce+ is providing an always-on, business media platform,” said Sarah Franklin, President and Chief Marketing Officer, Salesforce. “We're not going back, we're creating the future now. 

Through Salesforce Studios, the company plans to grow its creative team of writers, editors, directors and producers to bring original content to the lineup.

RBL Bank selects AWS to accelerate AI efforts

RBL Bank has partnered with Amazon Web Services as its preferred cloud provider to strengthen its AI‐powered banking solutions, and drive digital transformation at the bank.

The money lender is building on its analytics practice, and investing in AI capabilities to implement various use cases across multiple segments, including risk, customer service, human resources, and operations.

RBL Bank will leverage Amazon Textract, a machine learning service that automatically extracts text, handwriting, and data from scanned documents, across the Bank’s Risk and Operations divisions to analyse documents such as financial statements, stock statements, and stock audit reports to predict default risk.

RBL Bank’s digital transactions grew 232 percent on a year-on-year basis.