News Roundup: 7 Stories You Don’t Want To Miss This Week [10-15 Nov]

Uber Partners With Paytm to offer semi closed wallet

Uber this week announced that has tied up with Paytm to offer a semi-closed wallet which will work through the mobile app. This step will help Uber to comply with rule of two-step verification declared mandatory by RBI. Under the new mechanism,  the two-factor authentication will have to be done only at the time of loading or recharging the virtual wallet accounts, and not after each ride and the fare will be auto-debited from the wallets.

Flipkart Announces New Additions to Its Leadership Team

Flipkart this week announced major additions to its team. This include Ravi Vasudev as a new vice president- Fashion (Retail); Parameswaran Balakrishnan as Vice President- HR for supply chain and Aditya Agarwal as an independent board member in Board of Directors. Ravi Vasudev had worked with global brands and companies and has 15 years of experience in fashion and retail industry, while, Aditya Agarwal had worked as a Director- Product Engineering Facebook and Vice President- Engineering at Dropbox, whereas Parameswaran holds over two decades of experience working with large organisations like Toyota and Tata Motors.

Kerala gets a new Business Incubator

A new Tech Business Incubator was launched in the Kerala state by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) at KINFRA Park. The 5,000-sqft incubator, set up at the Geo Info Centre, can accommodate 30-40 startups and will be focused on the electronic and IT startup ventures.  Datafactors Software (P) Ltd, Tuttifrutti Interactive, 3Q Mentors and Grabmy Grocery, as well as individual promoters, will be setting up startup ventures at the centre. The KSIDC also plans to open business incubation centres in Angamaly, Kozhikode, and Kannur.

HomeShop18 scraps its proposed $75M IPO on NYSE plans

Seven months after filing for a $75 Mn public issue on the NYSE, HomeShop18 this week scrapped its proposed public issue. The development comes a few months after Network18 was acquired by cash-rich Reliance Industries. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, HomeShop18 said it was not proceeding with this offering but evaluating other means of fund-raising instruments.

Switch Idea Takes First Global Step By Launching In Amsterdam

Mumbai based internship startup connecting students to potential employers in the country, Switch Idea has taken its first step towards international expansion by launching in Amsterdam. Students and employers in Amsterdam now have a platform where they can easily connect with each other for their internship and entry level job offerings. They are currently promoting their platform to the students of Utrecht University. Internship opportunities from companies like Bombardier, Nike, Palo Alto Networks, Vodafone, Philips, Netapps, Travelbirds are now available for students studying in the Netherlands.

11 Startups Raised More than INR 80 Cr. this week

This week in total, more than INR 80 Cr. was raised by 11 startups (based on the startups that disclosed their funding amount) and four acquisitions took place.

Read More Details here. 

Youtube Introduces Music Subscription Service

Google’s video-sharing website YouTube introduced a music subscription service for ads-free music, background play and offline viewing called YouTube ‘Music Key’ beta, which which will allow its users to watch and listen music without ads. A Monthly subscription service can be availed at INR 419 – 614 as a promotional price. This will also include the subscription to Google Play Music. In the coming days, it will also allow users to watch YouTube official music videos right from the app.

Apart from these, few other developments of the week include:

PayUMoney introduces SMS Invoicing for collecting payments

PayUMoney has introduced a new payment collection feature – ‘SMS Invoicing’. Via this new feature now, invoice (essentially a Payment Link) cane be sent via SMS to a customer. As a merchant, one can specify the amount of payment, the mobile number of customer, name of customer, description and transaction id for your reference. The customer receives a SMS with the above details and a payment link which he/she can click to make the payment.

Printvenue launches NFC enabled business cards on its website

Online printing portal Printvenue.com, has recently partnered with Magic Tap Solutions, to launch NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled business cards on its website. These business cards render hassle-free wireless transfer of contact details from NFC Chips to NFC-enabled smartphones, which leads to advancement in business with new paradigms of technology and exchange corporate credentials smartly. It also allow user to choose the business template and match it according to its preference.

Digital Vidya Partners with Google India to Train Google Partner Agencies

Digital Vidya, a Digital Marketing education company has announced its partnership with Google India. Under this partnership, Digital Vidya will train Google Partner Agencies on latest & advanced areas about Google Advertising & Analytics to help them better serve their customers.