Author: News Desk

https://youtu.be/lC1RIoDKHXo Biggest ever  acquisitionMicrosoft Corp is buying “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The all-cash deal was announced by Microsoft this week. It’s Microsoft’s biggest-ever acquisition. It will bolster its firepower in the video gaming market where it takes on leaders Tencent and Sony. It also represents the American multinational’s bet on the “metaverse”. Microsoft’s offer of $95 per share represents a premium of 45% to Activision’s close in the stock exchange last week. 

Huge subscriber base In about two years of commercial roll out of its fixed-line broadband services, Reliance Jio has toppled 20-year-old State-run telecom company BSNL as top service provider in the segment. According to a monthly telecom subscribers report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Jio now leads the fixed-line broadband segment with 4.34 million customers. The segment had been dominated by the State-run telecom since its inception about 20 years ago. Reliance Jio fixed-line broadband customer base increased to 4.34 million in November from 4.16 million in October. Increase in broadband subscribers BSNL’s customer base declined…

https://youtu.be/9oJ-OM_cfIk Addverb Technologies plans bigReliance Industries has picked up a 54% stake in Addverb Technologies for Rs 983 million. With this investment, RIL will become a strategic partner. This funding round will accelerate addverb’s expansion in Europe and the US. It will also enable the company to set up a large robotic manufacturing facility.Ajio and JioMart gets advantageThe facility will be completely automated and will propel India as a world leader in the robotic sector. Addverb’s technology is expected to help Reliance scale up its platforms Ajio and JioMart.

Startups looking towards budget Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that January 16 will be celebrated as “National Start-up Day” to encourage startups and take the startup culture to the far flung areas of the country. The Union Budget is round the corner and the startups, micro and small enterprise sectors are hoping that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will deliver a fair budget which supports startups amid the uncertainty caused due to Covid pandemic. There are some recommendations for the government for the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23 from the startup industry. The government should consider extending and expanding the Emergency…

https://youtu.be/P8_VcWF2sGA Tech Mahindra’s second-largest acquisitionTech Mahindra has acquired Com Tec Co IT for 310 million euros. It includes earnouts and synergy linked payouts. It is also investing another 20 million euros in acquiring 25 percent ownership in SWFT and Surance platform. The  acquisitions will strengthen its digital engineering and insurance technology businesses. It is the second-largest acquisition that the company has made after Satyam in April 2010.

https://youtu.be/QCyzhE3-HLE Boost supply chain of electric vehicleTen companies, including Reliance, Hyundai and Ola have applied for the Rs 18,100-crore PLI scheme for advanced chemistry cell (ACC). The companies collectively bid for setting up 130 GWh of cell manufacturing capacity. The scheme is expected to boost the local supply chain of electric vehicles (EV) in India. Reduce crude oil exportsNew Delhi expects the ACC PLI scheme to help reduce crude-oil imports by promoting EVs. It will also increase the share of renewable energy at the national grid level .The  ACC PLI scheme comes with a minimum localisation of 25% within two years before…

https://youtu.be/Ktxyf1VFUkU Flipkart LeapE-commerce firm Flipkart has announced the evolution of its flagship startup accelerator programme, Flipkart Leap. The first phase of the programme has been successfully completed As part of the evolution, the programme will evolve into two – Flipkart Leap Ahead (FLA) and Flipkart Leap Innovation Network (FLIN).Support startupsThe programmes will identify wider and relevant market opportunities for selected startups.They will support the startups through insights, mentorship and funding, helping them scale and build disruptive innovations. Flipkart Leap Ahead will invest in seed-stage startups, having disruptive business models. Flipkart Leap Innovation Network will look at mature startups that have a…

 Will Tesla open its plant in Bengaluru?Karnataka has invited Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla to set up its plant in Bengaluru, considered as the Silicon Valley of India. Murugesh Nirani, Minister for Large and Medium Industries, took to twitter to invite electric major Tesla to start operations from the state.”With over 400 Research and Development centers, 45 plus Electrical Vehicle (EV) startups and an EV cluster near Bengaluru, Karnataka has emerged as the EV hub of India. Mr Elon Musk, Karnataka would be an ideal destination to set up a Tesla plant. Bengaluru is already Tesla’s maiden address in India,”…

 Thrasio-styleThe Thrasio-style startups are those new kinds of startups that specialize in acquiring fast-growing digital-first brands and scaling their products. This was first started by US startup Thrasio, which acquires successful third-party Amazon sellers and gives their founders a lucrative exit. Thrasio was founded in 2018. It made a whopping profit of $100-million in 2020 on revenue of $500 million. Thrasio is valued at $6 billion based on its latest funding round. The firm now manages a global portfolio of nearly 100 brands.  How does it work? There are three step processes followed by Thrasio-style startup. In the first step, the seller…

Indian presence in US A recent study by Ilya A. Strebulaev, a Finance Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business has found that out of 1,078 founders across 500 unicorns in the USA, 90 entrepreneurs were Indian born. This gives a significant presence of Indian Americans in the country’s startup as well as tech economy. Out of the 44% Non-US born Unicorn founders, the number of India-born founders was the highest at 90. This was followed by the other non-US-born ones from Israel, Canada, UK, and China, with 52,42,31, and 27 founders respectively for these nations. Indians leaving the…