PUBG to relaunch in India; 20mn data breach for BigBasket's;Reliance acquires Urban Ladder;Python creator Joins Microsoft;Kajal Agarwal acquires 15% stake in OKIE gaming.....continue.
Week 46,2020
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
BigBasket’s 20mn user details on sale?
According to US-based cybersecurity intelligence firm Cyble, the Online grocery platform has faced a potential data breach.
The data, being sold for $40,000, includes the full names, email IDs, password hashes (potentially hashed OTPs), PIN, contact numbers, addresses, dates of birth, location, and IP addresses of login, among other bits of information, says a Cyble blogpost.
BigBasket has filed an First Information Report (FIR) on November 6, 2020, with the cyber cell of the Bengaluru Police to investigate the incident — a day before Cyble had made public, the details of the breach.
Ironically, it appears that the complaint has made against Cyble itself – who was the informant of the breach aka “shooting the messenger”. We have updated the timeline with more information to avoid any ambiguity, which malicious-intent or paid reporters might take advantage of. [says cyble blogpost]
Read the claim here.(link)
#2
Urban Ladder’s 96% stake acquired by Reliance.
Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), has bought a 96 per cent stake in online furniture retailer Urban Ladder for ₹ 182.12 crore ($24.4 million).
RVL has a further option of acquiring the balance stake.adding that it intends to invest a further 75 crore by December 2023.
Urban Ladder posted a net profit of Rs 49.41 crore and turnover of Rs 434 crore in FY19.
“The aforesaid investment will further enable the group`s digital and new commerce initiatives and widen the bouquet of consumer products provided by the group while enhancing user engagement and experience across its retail offerings." Reliance Retail said in a statement.
Founded by Ashish Goel and Rajiv Srivatsa in 2012, the company raised more than ₹700 crore from top venture capital funds such as Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, Kalaari Capital and hedge fund Steadview Capital.
In August, Reliance Retail acquired a majority equity stake in online pharma firm Netmeds for around ₹620 crore.
#3
Python Creator Guido Van Rossum end retirement, joins Microsoft.
Guido van Rossum, the creator of the Python programming language, on 12th nov, announced that he has unretired and joined Microsoft’s Developer Division.
At Microsoft, van Rossum says, he’ll work to “make using Python better for sure (and not just on Windows).”
“We’re excited to have him as part of the Developer Division. Microsoft is committed to contributing to and growing with the Python community, and Guido’s on-boarding is a reflection of that commitment,” the Microsoft spokesperson said.
Guido previously worked with Dropbox and Google.
#4
15% stake of OKIE gaming acquired by South superstar Kajal Aggarwal.
Kajal Aggarwal has invested an undisclosed amount in gaming platform OKIE Gaming to pick up 15% stake and join the Mumbai-based gaming company as a strategic partner.
"The gaming industry is booming at this time and this is the right time to be part of it. I have always been a passionate gamer myself, and I hope to influence and open new avenues for women gamers in India," Aggarwal told news agency PTI.
Jitin Masand, CEO of Okie Ventures (parent company of Okie Gaming), said Aggarwal's personal interest in gaming industry, wide reach and appeal will help the brand scale up to a much higher level.
"She's an involved investor who brings a unique set of ideas and insights to Okie Gaming," he added.
"We have five games on the platform... We want to launch a new game every month," he said.
Okie Gaming is a real money gaming platform that will include games like Smart Housie, Fantasy Cricket, Smart Number Quiz, Ludo, Cricket, Rummy, and Smart Words. Currently available on the web, the company will soon make the Okie Gaming app available for download on Google and iOS app stores by mid-December.
#5
PUBG mobile gearing to relaunch its application in India.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, banned PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite and 115 other Chinese apps in September in India.
Krafton Inc also announced plans to invest $100 million in India. Krafton is the holding company, of which PUBG Corporation is a subsidiary.
In addition to the investment, PUBG Corporation will also set up an India base where it would employ over 100 people to enhance communications and services.
“We believe that the game will 100% comeback. It is between Bluehole and the government of India to resolve this. The steps that Bluehole has announced to address the concerns are proactive. As the largest non-manufacturing investment into India by a Korean Company, it represents a positive mindset. The final decision remains between the Govt and Bluehole,” Akshat Rathee, MD & Co-Founder at NODWIN Gaming, told indianexpress.com.
PUBG Corporation has tied up with Microsoft to store user data on Azure Cloud. Azure Cloud data centres are located in India.
Other countries where the game is banned include China, Jordan, Nepal, Israel and Iraq.
#6
[FUNDING ALERT
Zomato
"Zomato Pvt Ltd has closed a primary fundraise of $195 million from six different investors... the transactions valued Zomato at a post-money valuation of $3.6 billion," Info Edge said in a regulatory filing.
Zomato plans to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of 2021.
In September, the company raised $160 million from US hedge fund Tiger Global Management LLC and a unit of Singapore's Temasek Holdings.
InFeedo
InFeedo, a four-year-old “people analytics” SaaS startup with headquarters in Gurgaon, said on Thursday it has raised $3.2 million in a new financing round.
Bling Capital led the round, and its founder, Benjamin Ling has assumed a board seat at InFeedo.
InFeedo is tackling this challenge through Amber, a chatbot it has built that touches base with employees periodically to quickly check how things are going, explained Tanmaya Jain, founder and chief executive of the four-year-old startup.
InFeedo has amassed more than 100 customers — including GE Healthcare, Puma, steel-to-salt conglomerate Tata Group, telecom firm Airtel, computer vendor Lenovo, Oyo, Indian internet conglomerate Times Internet and edtech giant Byju’s — across over 50 countries, it said. More than 300,000 users today use InFeedo’s service. The startup today is clocking an annual revenue run rate of $1.6 million, something Jain said he is working to get to $10 million over a period he did not specify.
Slice
Fintech startup Slice(formerly known as SlicePay) raises Rs 39 Cr in debt funding.
The company will use this fresh infusion of funds to grow its book and widen the reach of their credit solutions to youngsters across the country.
Founded in 2016 by Rajan Bajaj, Slice has built one-of-a-kind data-driven financial product – the Slice Card, which is a physical and virtual card, designed exclusively for young customers in India that includes freelancers, college students, and salaried professionals.
It claims to have processed a transaction volume of Rs 1,100 crore to more than 260,000 youngsters since inception.
Earlier in July 2020, the startup raised Rs 46 crore in a Pre-Series B round led by Japan-based investor Gunosy.
FrontRow
Edtech Startup FrontRow Raises $3.2 Mn Funding in a seed funding round led by venture capital firms Lightspeed and Elevation (formerly SAIF Partners), along with Deepika Padukone’s Family Office.
The company plans to onboard more people, and add more community-specific features to the platform.
The company claims to have celebrities such as Neha Kakkar, Divine & Gully Gang, Suresh Raina, Amit Trivedi, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as its first set of instructors.
FrontRow has about 20K people across platforms, who are part of the company’s communities, on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
Ishaan Preet Singh,co-founder, said that it has a subscription-based model. “The courses are currently priced at INR 500 and it will range in between INR 500 to 2000. It’s a one-time payment for accessing the recorded courses.”
JadeForest
Huddle accelerator startup Jade Forest, a Delhi-based premium beverage and mixers brand raises $250,000 in seed round.
Jade Forest will use the funding to increase marketing budgets and a stronger sales force to capture a $3,000 million market of beverages. It plans to build a robust ecommerce presence and enter newer geographies with a selection of novel products.
Nektar.ai
B2B sales platform Nektar.ai raises $2.15M seed investment led by Nexus Venture Partners.
Singapore-based B2B sales platform Nektar.ai will use the $2.15 million seed investment to build an AI-powered GTM collaboration engine for modern revenue teams, focus on its platform, and expand its product and engineering teams.
The startup was founded by Abhijeet Vijayvergiya, a seasoned SaaS sales leader, ex-President and MD APAC of Capillary Technologies, and Aravind Ravi Sulekha, ex-Zendesk tech leader.
Abhijeet Vijayvergiya, Co-founder and CEO, said: "In the last decade, investment in sales tools globally has grown by five times but the average sales quota attainment has fallen 40 percent. According to Forbes, 57 percent of sales reps missed their numbers in 2018.
ClientJoy
SaaS startup Clientjoy raises $800K from GVFL(Gujarat Venture Finance Limited), an early-stage venture capital firm.
The investment will be used by the Ahmedabad-based startup to grow the company’s sales, marketing and engineering to expand its product offering.
Launched in 2019 by Abhishek Doshi, Yash Shah, Anupama Panchal, and Shashwat Bhatt, Clientjoy offers client lifecycle management software for modern agencies, services companies, and freelancers to manage leads, proposals, clients, invoicing and revenues under a single roof.
iKure
Ratan Tata invests in healthtech startup iKure.
iKure plans to scale its operations across India and globally, and provide healthcare services to over 10 million people in the next five years.
Founded in 2010, iKure,the Kolkata based healthtech startup delivers primary healthcare, wellness and prevention services to rural, semi-urban and urban population through its hubs-and-spokes clinic model.
GoNuts
Celebrity-fan engagement platform GoNuts has raised Rs 3.5 crore in its seed round led by Sweta Rau (White Ventures), Archana Priyadarshini (Unicorn India Ventures). 9Unicorns, AngelList, Lets Venture, Pankaj Chaddah, co-founder of Mindhouse and Zomato, Ramakant Sharma, co-founder of LivSpace and others.
GoNuts targets to onboard 5,000 influencers. At present, it has 700 celebrities on the platform across genres films, television, sports and music.
Founded by Vinamra Pandiya and Mayank Gupta and Joji George, GoNuts lets users get personalised greetings from celebrities.
Some notable celebrities on the platform include Shankar Mahadevan, Kailash Kher, Sukhbir, Hariharan, and Jonty Rhodes.
GoNuts has partnered with CRED, BulBul TV, BookMyShow and several others.
Kirana King
Grocery retail aggregator Kirana King raises Rs 7Cr from RVCF(Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund)
Kirana King started its retail aggregation operations in 2017 and has a grocery retail network of more than 200 stores in Jaipur.
It now aims to expand its operations in various parts of Rajasthan where it targets achieving 1,000 stores by the end of 2021.
Thread of the week-
Leverage — a mental model coined by @Naval
Click on the image to continue.
Infographic of the week-
That’s all for this week. Will now be hitting your inbox next week.