Manish Singh
TechCrunch
India
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Recent articles by Manish:
Indian stock exchanges approve $3.4B Reliance and Future deal in setback for Amazon –
Indian stock exchanges approved the $3.4 billion deal between retail giants Reliance Retail and Future Group on late Wednesday in yet another setback for Amazon, which has invested over $6.5 billion in the world’s second largest internet market and sought to block the aforementioned deal. The Bombay Stock Exchange said in a notification that it […] → Read More
India asks WhatsApp to withdraw new privacy policy, expresses ‘grave concerns’ –
India has asked WhatsApp to withdraw the planned change to its privacy policy, posing a new headache to Facebook-owned service that identifies the South Asian nation as its biggest market by users. In an email to WhatsApp head Will Cathcart, the nation’s IT ministry said WhatsApp’s planned update to its data-sharing policy raised “grave concerns […] → Read More
Google backs India’s Dunzo in $40 million funding round –
Google is writing check to another startup in India. The Android-maker, which last year unveiled a $10 billion fund to invest in the world’s second largest internet market, said on Tuesday that it is participating in a $40 million investment round of hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo, a Bangalore-based firm that it has also previously backed. […] → Read More
Prosus Ventures leads $30 million investment in Indian agritech startup DeHaat –
Once overlooked, agritech startups are beginning to have a moment in India. On Tuesday, DeHaat, an online platform that offers full-stack agricultural services to farmers, said it has raised $30 million in a new financing round as the Indian firm looks to maintain its accelerated growth despite the pandemic. Prosus Ventures, formerly known as Naspers […] → Read More
Salesforce leads $15M investment round in Indian HR tech platform Darwinbox –
Darwinbox, which operates a cloud-based human resource management platform, has raised $15 million in a new financing round as the Indian startup looks to expand beyond the country and Southeast Asian markets. The new round, a Series C, for the Hyderabad-based startup was led by Salesforce Ventures, the venture arm of the American software giant. […] → Read More
Tencent-backed Hike, once India’s answer to WhatsApp, has given up on messaging –
India’s answer to WhatsApp has completely moved on from messaging. Hike Messenger, backed by Tencent, Tiger Global and SoftBank and valued at $1.4 billion in 2016, earlier this month announced that it was shutting down Sticker Chat, its messaging app. The startup, founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, this month pivoted to two virtual social apps […] → Read More
Twitter is bringing Moments to Indian social app Dailyhunt –
Five years after its launch, Twitter Moments is growing beyond the American social networking platform. On Monday, Twitter said it had partnered with Dailyhunt to bring Moments to the Indian social app. Dailyhunt app now has a dedicated tab called ‘Twitter Moments India’ to showcase curated tweets pertaining to news and other events in the […] → Read More
Flipkart doubles down on rewards program, partners with 5,000 retail outlets in India –
Flipkart on Monday launched SuperCoin Pay that its customers will be able to use across thousands of retail stores across the country as Walmart-owned e-commerce giant bets on its loyalty program to win and sustain its user base in the world’s second largest internet market. The Bangalore-headquartered e-commerce giant said it had partnered with over […] → Read More
WhatsApp delays new data-sharing policy enforcement to May 15 –
WhatsApp said on Friday that it won’t enforce its new data-sharing policy to users until May 15, weeks after news about the new terms created confusion among its users, exposed the Facebook-app to a potential lawsuit, launched a nationwide investigation, and led of its loyal fans to explore alternative messaging apps. “We’re now moving back […] → Read More
WhatsApp faces legal challenge over privacy in its biggest market –
WhatsApp is facing a legal challenge in India, its biggest market, after a petition was filed Thursday before Delhi High Court over the upcoming change in the Facebook-owned app’s data sharing policy. The petition alleges the new terms that WhatsApp requires its roughly 450 million users in the country to accept is a violation of […] → Read More
Google cracks down on personal loan apps in India following abuse and outcry –
Google said on Thursday it has pulled some personal loan apps in India and was implementing stronger measures to prevent abuse following reports that several firms were targeting vulnerable borrowers in the country and then going to extreme lengths to recover their money. The Android-maker said users and government agencies in India recently flagged several […] → Read More
Amazon launches mobile-only Prime Video subscription in India –
Amazon is doubling down on one of the biggest strengths of Prime Video streaming service: Aggressive pricing. The e-commerce giant on Wednesday announced Prime Video Mobile Edition, an even more affordable tier of the on-demand video streaming service — now also bundling additional perks. The Prime Video Mobile Edition, for which Amazon has partnered with […] → Read More
Amazon makes education push in India with JEE preparation app –
Amazon on Wednesday launched Amazon Academy, a service that will aim to help students in India prepare for entry into the nation’s prestigious engineering college. The e-commerce giant is the latest entrant to this market, where scores of startups and institutes have launched digital offering to serve students. The e-commerce giant said Amazon Academy will […] → Read More
Signal’s Brian Acton talks about exploding growth, monetization and WhatsApp data-sharing outrage –
Brian Acton is crossing paths again with Facebook. Over more than a decade of building and operating WhatsApp, the company’s co-founder first competed against and then sold his instant messaging app to the social juggernaut. Only a few years ago he parted ways with the company that made him a billionaire in a bitter split […] → Read More
Byju’s is reportedly buying Indian brick-and-mortar institute Aakash for $1 billion
We may finally have an answer to why Byju’s, the world’s most valuable edtech startup, spent the last year raising hundreds of millions of dollars. Bloomberg reports that the Bangalore-based startup has agreed to buy Aakash Educational Services, which owns and operates more than 200 physical tutoring centres across the country aimed at students preparing […] → Read More
YouTube and WhatsApp inch closer to half a billion users in India
WhatsApp has enjoyed unrivaled reach in India for years. By mid-2019, the Facebook-owned app had amassed over 400 million users in the country. Its closest app rival at the time was YouTube, which, according to the company’s own statement and data from mobile insight firm App Annie, had about 260 million users in India then. […] → Read More
Jumbotail raises $14.2 million for its wholesale marketplace in India –
Jumbotail, an online wholesale marketplace for grocery and food items, said on Friday it has raised an additional $14.2 million as the Bangalore-based startup chases the opportunity to digitize neighborhood stores in the world’s second largest internet market. The five-year-old startup said the new tranche of its Series B financing round was led by VII […] → Read More
US says India, Italy, and Turkey digital taxes are discriminatory, but won’t take any actions for now –
Digital services taxes adopted by India, Italy, and Turkey in the past years discriminate against U.S. companies, the U.S. Trade Representative said on Wednesday. USTR, which began investigations into the three nation’s digital services taxes in June last year, said it found them to be inconsistent with international tax principles, unreasonable, and burdening or restricting […] → Read More
Indian B2B e-commerce startup Udaan raises $280 million –
Business-to-business marketplace Udaan has raised $280 million from new and existing investors as the Indian startup builds a war-chest to accelerate its growth and fend off rivals. The new capital is not part of a new financing round but is an extension of Series D. The Bangalore-based startup, which secured $585 million prior to the […] → Read More
Indian electronics and lifestyle brand Boat raises $100 million from Warburg Pincus –
Boat, an electronics lifestyle startup in India, has raised $100 million in a new financing round that many independent investors termed as the most successful hardware startup story in the world’s second largest internet market. An affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a New York-headquartered private equity firm, financed the entire Series B round for the four-year-old […] → Read More