Google to invest $1 billion in Africa over five years

Google will invest $1 billion in Africa over five years to cover a range of initiatives from improved connectivity to startups, said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, at a virtual event.

“Increasingly, we are seeing innovation begin in Africa, and then spread throughout the world," he said, pointing to internet access through phone, rather than desktops, in Africa. Pichai also cited the ubiquity of mobile-money in Kenya before it was adopted by the rest of the world.

“This momentum will only increase as 300 million people come online in Africa over the next five years.”

TCS' local government project in Scotland

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is working with Scotland’s local government Improvement Service (IS) to accelerate its digital transformation programmes, the company said in a stock-exchange filing on Wednesday.

TCS is using DigiGOV, its public-service organisation solution, to digitise the processes, including the National Entitlement Card (NEC) — Scotland's national multi-application smart card, TCS said in a statement.

It has developed an online portal for people to apply for smart cards, which is being used by more than 2.2 million people in Scotland.

Sutherland partners with NIIT for talent tech

New York-based digital transformation company Sutherland has partnered with StackRoute, an NIIT Venture, to launch a training programme to identify and develop talent as full stack IT professionals, handling critical roles at Sutherland.

This initiative is a part of Talent Pipeline as a Service (TPaaS), which helps enterprises build an incoming, deep-skilled talent pool in leading digital technologies, platforms, and agile methodologies. The programme is for technical graduates with zero to two years of work experience.

Equitas SFB launches ASBA facility

Equitas Small Finance Bank said on Wednesday that its internet, mobile banking and UPI interface will carry Applications Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA) facility, which will allow its customers to directly trade in the primary market.

Stock markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mandates ASBA to apply to IPOs (initial public offers) and FPOs (follow-on public offers).

Targeting retail and high-net worth individuals, Equitas SFB's facility allows customers to benefit from high savings account interest until the date of allotment of shares. ASBA blocks the bank account for application money. When the entire IPO process is complete, the account is debited only to the extent of payment required for final allotment.

PNB Housing partners with CSC e‐Governance

PNB Housing Finance will work with CSC e‐Governance Services India to provide last‐mile home loan facilities to individuals living in second- and third-tier cities.

PNB Housing Finance aims to provide door‐to‐door home loan facility using the CSC network, while CSC will create awareness and guide local communities in applying for home loans. The CSC centres will also be delivery points for EMI (equated monthly instalments) repayments, and provide assistance to customers for online home loan application.

This initiative will also help PNB Housing’s vision to contribute to India’s financial inclusion agenda, the company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

Nazara raises Rs 315 crore from marquee investors

Gaming and sports media platform Nazara Technologies said on Wednesday that its board has approved preferential allotment of fresh equity to raise Rs 315.3 crore from marquee institutional investors.

This will be used to invest in growth initiatives and pursue strategic acquisitions in areas like gamified learning, freemium, skill-based real money gaming and e-sports, as the company continues to expand its “Friends of Nazara” ecosystem, Nazara Technologies said in a stock exchange filing.

“The investment from such institutional investors will act as a catalyst for the Nazara flywheel to operate faster across all business segments, and will result in compounding of the shareholder value organically and inorganically at parent as well as at subsidiary levels,” said Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Technologies.

Info Edge ups stake in 4B Networks

Info Edge has invested Rs 15 crore in 4B Networks to increase its stake in the broker network platform to 37.03 percent.

4B Networks, which was incorporated in November last year, enables real estate developers and brokers to communicate with each other and conduct their business on a broker network platform.

Nucleus Software's lending product goes live in Spain

Opel Vauxhall Finance (OVF), the finance captive of automakers Opel and Vauxhall supported by Stellantis and BNP Paribas, went live on Nucleus Software's lending product FinnOne in Spain.

OVF will provide auto financing products, including consumer loans, leasing, insurance and service contracts, according to a Nucleus Software press statement.

The OVF-Finnone partnership started with Italy, and is available in seven other countries. Spain is the ninth country where OVF will use Nucleus Software's FinnOne to run its operations.

Facebook blames outage on configuration change

Social network Facebook said its six-hour outage on Monday was caused by a faulty configuration change. "We have no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime,” it said in a blog post.

During the outage, Facebook's website showed an error in the Domain Name System (DNS), which allows web addresses to take users to their destination. The outage affected many of the internal tools and systems Facebook uses, complicating its attempts to quickly diagnose and resolve the problem.

Tinder rolls out in-app currency

Tinder is rolling out a virtual currency to encourage users to spend more time swiping, scrolling and eventually spending real money on the dating app, Bloomberg reported. 

These in-app coins were available in only Australia initially, which is representative of Tinder’s global member base, a spokesperson told Bloomberg.

They can be acquired as users remain active on the platform or keep their profiles up to date. They can also be bought with regular money. The coins can then be used to step up a user’s profile by purchasing Tinder’s perks such as Super Likes or Boosts, which can help increase the chances of finding a good match.