Meta acquires virtual-reality venture, bullish about fitness

Meta acquired Within, a virtual-reality (VR) venture that has developed physical-fitness application 'Supernatural', on Friday.

"We believe fitness will be a massive success in VR where multiple third-party fitness apps can succeed," said Jason Rubin, Vice President of Play at Oculus, Meta's VR division, in a blog post.

While Supernatural will operate independently as part of Meta's Reality Labs, it will work with its new parent to enhance future hardware that support VR fitness apps, he added.

On October 28, the Facebook board renamed the company as 'Meta', which will start trading under stock ticker 'MVRS' from December 1, 2021. It will report its results for the fourth quarter of 2021 under two operating segments: 'Family of Apps' and 'Reality Labs'.

Aurum picks up stake in Intergrow

Aurum Proptech will pay Rs 25 crore for a 49 percent stake in Integrow Asset Management, an investor management and advisory firm, according to a stock-exchange filing on Sunday.

Intergrow was incorporated on September 8, 2020, in India, and did not have any revenue as it has recently started its operations, Aurum Proptech said in the filing.

Amazon owns 20 percent of Rivian

Amazon owns 20 percent stake of electric-truck manufacturer Rivian Automotive, which is preparing for an IPO, the ecommerce giant told stockmarkets on Friday.

Amazon had ordered 100,000 electric-vehicles from Rivian Automotive in 2019, Amazon disclosed. Ten of these will be delivered in December this year, and the remaining by 2025.

Rivian aims to raise between $5 billion and $8 billion in a stock-market debut, and is seeking a valuation of about $80 billion, according to a Reuters report.

Accenture acquires BCS Consulting

Accenture will acquire financial services firm BCS Consulting in the UK, the IT giant said last week.

“BCS Consulting’s focus on employee development aligns well to Accenture’s commitment to growing the next generation of financial services consultants,” said Paul Stanley, head of financial services at Accenture in the U.K. and Ireland. BCS Consulting has 250 employees.

Adani Group buys stake in Cleartrip

Adani Enterprises will acquire a significant minority stake in travel website Cleartrip, the company said in a stock-exchange filing on Friday.

As a part of the investment, Cleartrip will serve as the Adani Group’s online travel agency partner. The deal is expected to close in November 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

“We have a strongly developing relationship with Flipkart that spans multiple dimensions, including data centres, fulfilment centres, and now air travel,” said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, in the exchange filing.

Tata Consumer Products exits Tata Cha

Tata Cha, a quick-service restaurant chain of 12 stores in Bengaluru, has become part of Indian Hotels Company's (IHCL) Qmin Shops.

"The business is a good strategic fit for IHCL, and can be synergised with their Qmin brand," stated a stock-exchange filing by Tata Consumer Products, which operated Tata Cha since its inception.

“Though it is a relatively small venture in its current form, exiting Tata Cha will enable us to sharpen focus on our core FMCG business,” said Sunil D’Souza , Managing Director of Tata Consumer Products.

Infosys, bp to pilot ‘energy as a service’

Energy company bp and IT major Infosys have agreed to develop and pilot an energy-as-a-service (EaaS) solution to help businesses improve their energy-efficiency of infrastructure, and meet their decarbonisation goals.

The two will work to develop a digital platform at the Infosys' development centre in Pune to collect data from multiple energy assets, and use artificial intelligence to optimise the energy supply and demand for power, heat, cooling, and EV charging.

“Integrating advances in energy, mobility and digital technologies and services has huge potential to accelerate the progress towards a more sustainable and resilient future,” said Sashi Mukundan, President, bp India.