Author: News Desk
86th unicorn from India Livspace has crossed the billion-dollar valuation mark after raising $180 million in a late-stage funding round led by KKR & Co. The firm looks to double down on international expansion and take on local competitors. According to Venture Intelligence Unicorn Tracker, the home renovation platform is the 86th “unicorn” from India. In a period of record funding, Indian start-ups saw 43 firms join the club last year alone. Swedish retailer Ikea, among other early backers Jungle Ventures, Venturi Partners and Peugeot Investments, also invested in the round. Expansion plans Livspace, a Singapore-registered firm with significant operations…
https://youtu.be/VpRpefvl-yQ Major recall Tesla has issued a major recall of over 8 lakh electric cars over faulty seat belt reminder alert. An audible alert may not activate when a vehicle starts and the driver has not buckled the seat belt. The US electric car maker is recalling more than 817,000 vehicles in the country. No crashes reported The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the recall pertains to 2021-2022 Model S and Model X. The other models are 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y. These models failed to comply with the “Occupant Crash Protection”. Tesla told NHTSA that…
https://youtu.be/Jov-yZICsc0 Jio’s AI plansJio Platforms Ltd has invested $15 million in Two Platforms Inc. The investment is for a 25% equity stake on a fully diluted basis. Two Platforms Inc is a startup founded by Pranav Mistry. Two Platforms is an artificial reality company, with focus on building interactive and immersive AI experiences.Its platform enables real-time AI voice and video calls, digital humans & immersive spaces. Two Platforms will work collaboratively with Jio Platforms. It will fast-track the adoption of new technologies and build disruptive technologies.
Boom in space tech startups Indian space technology start-ups are soaring to new heights. Funding into Indian space technology startups increased by 198.67 per cent in 2021 . This touched $67.2 million across 11 rounds, up from $22.5 million in 2020 across nine rounds, according to a media report. The major space tech start-ups which raised funding last year are satellite-based services and applications start-ups Pixxel, Astrome and Dhruva Space. The other top firms to raise funds were Space launch vehicle manufacturing start-ups AgniKul and Skyroot. Pixxel is the highest funded start-up among all. According to the Economic Survey 2022,…
Hyundai’s clarification Hyundai Motor India has said it stands strong on its ethos of respecting nationalism following a backlash in social media after a dealer of Hyundai in Pakistan posted a message supporting separatists in Kashmir. A Twitter account of a Hyundai dealer in Pakistan with handle @hyundaiPakistanOfficial had posted a message supporting Kashmir Solidarity day, supporting what it called as “struggle for freedom”. Following it, #BoycottHyundai trended on Twitter in India with many people asking to stop buying the company’s products in the country. Reacting to the developments, Hyundai Motors India put out a message on social media reiterating…
EV is the future In the recently-presented Union Budget 2022-23, the union government made it clear that electric vehicles are going to be the future of mobility in India in the next decade. The annual sales of electric two-wheelers have witnessed an over 5x growth in this financial year, according to a report by The Economic Times. EV penetration is still low at 0.8 percent despite the growth. Some of the reasons for slow adoption are range anxiety, lack of charging infrastructure and high cost of cars. On the other hand, rising fuel prices have pushed buyers to think of…
https://youtu.be/OeMscCEdp5g E-bike for forest guards The students of National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal along with Professor U Pruthviraj, who currently heads e-mobility projects have developed the VidhYug 4.0 electric bike (e-bike) for forest guards. The e-bike has garnered much praise for its reliability in a forest marked by steep inclines and rough terrain. It was unveiled during the ‘Shola Utsav’ organised by the Kudremukh Wildlife Division on November 17 last year, to raise awareness on the importance and conservation of Shola forests to senior forest department officers. “The Kudremukh Wildlife Division, which is home to the vast shola…
https://youtu.be/rB-b1zJPvFA Meta stocks fallIndustrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani are now richer than Mark Zuckerberg. This happened after Zuckerberg lost USD 29 billion in net worth on Thursday. Facebook-owned Meta Platorm’s Inc’s stock marked a record one-day plunge. Following the wipeout, Zuckerberg is in the twelfth spot on Forbes’ list of real-time billionaires. This pulled down Zuckerberg’s net worth to USD 85 billion, according to Forbes. Zuckerberg owns about 12.8 per cent of the tech behemoth formerly known as Facebook.
https://youtu.be/zlJxZd41vHw IPO awaitedLIC’s embedded value has been finalised at more than 5 trillion rupees ($66.82 billion), a govt official said. Investors are eagerly waiting for the release of its IPO draft prospectus, which is expected in a few days. The embedded value will help establish LIC’s market valuation and determine how much money the govt raises in the flotationHigh expectations by governmentThat will be crucial to the government to help meet its divestment targets and keep its fiscal deficit in check. LIC has a majority share of the life insurance market in India. The government hopes to raise as much as…
https://youtu.be/HOnW5ipDn64 Products by MarchElectric two-wheeler startup Oben EV will launch the first of its products by March. The firm will deliver its “high-performance” electric bike, Oben Rorr, between April and June. Rorr will have a top speed of 100 km/hr and a range of 200 kilometres. The Rorr will have a fixed battery, which will not allow for battery swapping. The price point would be in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. Oben’s future e-bike and e-scooter products will be manufactured at a new facility in Bengaluru.