Daily Tech Briefing: NetMeds, Leap Bag Funding; Google For Startups & More

Amid the Covid-19 led struggle for survival, healthtech startup NetMeds has received a fresh infusion of funds from its parent, Tresara Health. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company received INR 6.68 Cr in two tranches from Tresara Health on May 27 and June 4 by issuing fresh equity shares.

Further, logistics startup Leap is also raising fresh debt and rights issue funding. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the company in a board meeting on June 11, approved the offer to issue 4175 convertible debentures worth INR 9.99 Cr to Sargam Retails Private Limited and INR 11.24 Cr worth Rights issue to existing shareholders.

Google Launches Playbook For Startups

Google India has launched the ‘Playbook for startups to face the Covid-19 challenge’  in partnership with Blume Ventures, Prime Venture Partners, Matrix Partners India, mental health app Wysa and hyperlocal startup Dunzo.

The playbook is a compilation of practical suggestions for founders to address both, the strategic and the operational challenges posed by the pandemic. It also touches upon managing burn, identifying new sources of revenue, managing teams and work-from-home and strategic thinking for the startup’s future.

Sachin Bansal’s fintech ambitions seem to have hit a minor hurdle after Navi General Insurance laid off 40 employees and re-examined its future course. The layoffs have reduced Navi’s team of 163-odd employees by a fourth. Bansal informed the team that the company is relocating to Bengaluru from Mumbai by December 31, 2020. The layoffs include the general insurance division’s CEO and other senior and mid-management officials of one of its insurance products COCO.

Chinese Goods Boycott & Indian Internet

Following the violent clashes between India and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, the demand for the boycott of China and Chinese products has once again been rekindled. But this time it has taken a much more serious turn with 20 Indian soldiers martyred in a violent face-off.

Amid such clamor, Indian intelligence agencies have advised the government to block 52 mobile applications linked to China. These include daily usage apps like Zoom, TikTok, UC browser, Xender, SHAREit and Clean-master, among others. This recommendation has been made over concerns that these apps were extracting large amounts of data outside India. See the full list here.

MFine & Hike’s New Products

Healthtech platform MFine has now launched a corporate healthcare package and claims to be used by over 200K corporate employees and their families for preventive health checks, mental health consultations and advanced screenings. The MFine Corporate product claims to have seen strong growth in the last two months with more than 35 organizations partnering with the company to offer virtual OPD consultation benefits to their employees.

The company aims to add 200 more corporates in the next six months

Further, Hike has launched a new social product called HikeLand, a mobile-first virtual world accessible through its messaging platform. It allows users to hang out with their friends virtually and watch videos together while interacting over a voice-led experience.

Hikeland launches with two basic experiences — Home and Big Screen. Home is a virtual personalised space where individuals can customise to hang out with friends, with a synced video playlist for all guests as well as voice-based interaction. Big Screen, on the other hand, is Hike’s take on a movie hall experience, where your interaction with fellow guests is limited to the duration of the movie or the show playing. 

FreshWorks Ties Up With TCS

Further, Freshworks announced a strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to jointly build and market new age marketing, sales, support, customer success, and ITSM solutions on top of Freshworks cloud software to elevate end-user and employee experiences.TCS will provide its global experience with extensive market presence and deep contextual knowledge of customer engagement, reinforced with digital offerings built on its Business 4.0™️ thought leadership framework. 

A tele-ICU solution, Cloudphysician, has partnered with the Karnataka government to offer its services at the Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS). The firm provides solutions to manage critically ill Covid-19 patients using intensive EMR, audio-visuals and alert systems.

The tele-ICU enables hospitals to have their beds and patient data remotely monitored via real-time audio-visual tools and internet-connected sensors while giving hospitals access to highly qualified remote intensivists and nurses.

Globally, Elon Musk’s ambitious business SpaceX is now looking to build floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon and hypersonic travel around Earth.