LinkedIn’s 2020 Top Voices list;Bitcoin at nearly 3 year high;Whitehat Jr’s CEO files 20 crore defamation case;...continue
Week 47,2020
Hi , Shubham Shekhar here,
Welcome all to the weekly compilation of wonderful tech and related news.
Also Including the best tweet/thread/infographic of the week. Do read and engage.
Here is Your weekly dose,
#1
Bitcoin at nearly three -year high
Bitcoin surged to $18,766.79 (roughly Rs. 13.9 lakhs), the highest since December 2017.
Reasons being PayPal allowing its account holders to buy, sell, and transfer bitcoin, as well as Square's bitcoin purchase worth $50 million.
JPMorgan recently said that it could double or even triple in value as it becomes more established as an alternative currency.
Thomas Fitzpatrick,Citibank analyst Says Bitcoin Could Pass $300K by December 2021 .
#2
LinkedIn’s 2020 Top Voices list
LinkedIn News is unveiling our 5th annual Top Voices list in India, a collection of 20 local experts driving today’s professional conversation.
For List Compilation,combination of qualitative and quantitative signals — including engagement (including reactions, comments and shares across each member’s content); posting cadence; and follower growth.
Some of the TopVoices are as follows:-
Check here for full list - link
#3
Tech Giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and many more companies have threatened to leave Pakistan
Pakistan government granted blanket powers to authorities to censor digital content, a move critics say was aimed at curtailing freedom of expression in the conservative Islamic nation.
Asia Internet Coalition,said it was “alarmed by the scope of Pakistan's new law targeting internet companies, as well as the government's opaque process by which these rules were developed.”
Under the new regulations, social media companies or internet service providers face a fine of up to $3.14 million (roughly Rs. 23.28 crores) for failure to curb the sharing of content deemed to be defamatory of Islam, promoting terrorism, hate speech, pornography or any content viewed as endangering national security.
The coalition said the “draconian data localisation requirements will damage the ability of people to access a free and open internet and shut Pakistan's digital economy off from the rest of the world." It said the new rules will make it difficult for its members “to make their services available to Pakistani users and businesses."
Recently the Pakistan Government temporarily banned the video-sharing platform TikTok.
#4
Whitehat Jr’s CEO files 20 crore defamation suit against Pradeep Poonia(WhiteHatSnr)
Byju’s owned WhiteHat’s Jr CEO and founder Karan Bajaj, filed an INR 20 crore defamation case against software engineer, highlighting violation of the Trade Marks Act of 199, The copyright act of 1957 and code of civil procedure of 1908.
The case has been filed for “Infringement of registered and unregistered Trademarks”.Poonia has also been accused for invasion of privacy of the company and its employees.
Look at the notice here.
The thread highlights how whitehat Jr’s ORM team handled any negative comments against the company on the Internet.
#5
[Funding Alerts]
Krimanshi
Animal nutrition startup Krimanshi raises Rs 5 Cr from RVCF(Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund)
The Jodhpur-based startup will use the funding to increase its product offerings and scale in Rajasthan and Karnataka.
Founded in 2015, Krimanshi is working in animal feed production, primarily in dairy, and is bringing innovation by establishing a new supply chain for unconventional ingredients in the animal nutrition sector.
"Animal feed sector is an underserved market and not much innovation has been seen here in the past. Quality and affordability do not go hand in hand and hence most dairy farmers could not get their hands on the best of the products. We are trying to change this through our deeper understanding of animal nutrition, chemistry and biotechnology and are focused to reduce the feed costs while ensuring better quality feeds to our livestock farmers,” said Nikhil Bohra, Founder and CEO of Krimanshi.
Instoried
AI-driven content startup Instoried raises $1M from 9Unicorns, Mumbai Angels, others
The startup plans to utilise the fresh funds in its expansion activities, hire a larger team, initiate marketing activities and increase its product offerings globally.
Founded in 2018 by former Mu Sigma employee Sharmin Ali, Instoried has created a tool which helps brands to strategise, execute, and deliver content using predictive analysis to increase customer engagement.
The tool is currently available in English and Hindi, but will expand to cover a larger set of vernacular languages in the foreseeable future.
“We have grown over 3X in the last 10 months. We found a huge opportunity in this adversity and have scaled at a rate of 60 percent month-on-month. Brands globally now understand and acknowledge the importance of having a strong online engagement as an absolute mandate with the new normal."
MindTickle
SoftBank leads $100 mn funding(in equity and debt funding) in SaaS platform MindTickle
California- and Pune-based MindTickle,was set up in 2011 by Krishna Depura, Mohit Garg, Deepak Diwakar and Nishant Mungali.
Turtlemint
Insurtech platform Turtlemint raises $30 million in funding led by GGV Capital(Formerly known as Granite Global Ventures)
Turtlemint has 100,000 partners who are point-of-sales-persons selling insurance products.
Turtlemint co-founder Dhirendra Mahyavanshi said that this funding will be used to increase distribution and scale up the platform.“Due to coronavirus, there is a rise in awareness of insurance and segments like health insurance have seen a jump. The funding will help us expand this business,” he added.
Launched in 2015,the platform allows for instant online issuance, making the purchase process across more than 40 insurers paperless. It also helps reduce the average turnaround time to less than 10 minutes versus the prevalent industry average of more than 48 hours.
Insurance products had reached less than 3% of the population as of 2017, according to rating agency ICRA.
PlayerzPot
Fantasy gaming startup PlayerzPot raises around $3M
Mumbai-based gaming platform PlayerzPot plans to use the funds to expand its verticals, enhance user experience and branding, and make advancements in RMG.
Founder Yogesh Doiphode said in a statement:"The online gaming industry in India is growing tremendously and is expected to multiply at an unprecedented rate. There is a huge untapped market potential, and the funds will help the brand scale higher while paving the way for latest innovations."
PlayerzPot was co-founded in 2015 by Yogesh and Mitesh Gangar
The startup has recorded 3x growth in its revenue and 2x growth in its user base during IPL 2020. According to a statement issued by the startup, it has recorded its highest growth from Tier II and Tier III towns and cities of India.
Arata
Personal care brand Arata raises $1M in pre-Series A round
Arata plans to deploy the raised funds to create brand awareness, R&D, new product launches, along with marketing and building inventory to cater to the increasing personal care products demand.
Launched in February 2018 by Dhruv Madhok and Dhruv Bhasin, the Delhi-based personal care brand caters to the core philosophy of clean formulations, responsible practices, and sustainability.
The brand creates safe toxin-free skin, hair, and oral care products, using plant-based ingredients.
True Balance
Gurugram-based fintech startup True Balance raises $28M from SoftBank, others
This funding round will be used to fuel the company’s India expansion plans, bolstering the technology that drives the fintech player, and preparing for the next round of growth that it now foresees.
Headquartered in Seoul and Gurugram, True Balance is operated by Balancehero India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Balancehero Korea.
Charlie Lee, Founder and CEO, True Balance said, “From the day we launched, our focus was on the next billion Indian users. These people will continue to be at the heart of every decision-making process, every change, every pivot, every new service, or product line that we introduce in India. We will continue focusing on non-online payment users, non-credit score users, people who deserve our help, but need a way to get to it."
Thread of the week-
Credit & Debt 101 by Sahil Bloom, Investor, Educator, Storyteller | @Stanford @StanfordBSB Alum
Click on the image to continue.
Infographic of the week-
That’s all for this week. Will now be hitting your inbox next week.