homestartup NewsStartup Digest: Koo fires 30% workforce, Meta lays off employees in technical roles & SpaceX's starship explodes during test flight
Startup Digest: Koo fires 30% workforce, Meta lays off employees in technical roles & SpaceX's starship explodes during test flight
By Aishwarya Anand Apr 20, 2023 9:04:16 PM IST (Published)
Here are the top headlines from the startup space.
Koo fires 30% workforce over the course of the year
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"We are a young startup with a long way ahead of us. The global sentiment right now is more focused on efficiency than growth and businesses need to work towards proving unit economics," said the spokesperson.
Meta lays off employees in technical roles, product-facing teams face job cuts
Tech giant Meta has begun letting go of employees, especially in technical roles as part of its second round of layoffs, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNBC. The number of employees affected has yet to be made public.
Employees in India earlier told CNBC-TV18 there were indications that job cuts could begin on April 19 but that they had not received any official communication until Tuesday evening.
While the company has yet to release an official statement, a person in the know has told CNBC-TV18 that employees in India shall also be affected by the second round of layoffs, which the company had announced in March. The person added people in tech roles will among those be laid off and that since senior executives have not been coming to office, an official statement is unlikely to be released.
Abu Dhabi Fund 10X AD, Apollo Global in talks to invest in Byju’s parent or Aakash: Report
Abu Dhabi-based 10X AD is in talks with Byju’s CEO Byju Raveendran to invest in parent company Think and Learn or its arm Aakash Education Services (AES) as the edtech company looks to raise at least $400-600 million from investors, the Economic Times reported.
It’s not clear if 10X AD will lead an investor consortium of family offices and ultra-high net-worth individuals in Abu Dhabi or go it alone and invest $150-200 million, the report added.
Disrupt AD, Abu Dhabi-based ADQ’s venture capital arm, may also double down on its earlier commitment, ET report said.
EcoSoul Home gets $10M in Series A round from Accel & others
Eco-friendly home essentials startup EcoSoul Home, has raised $10 million in its Series A funding round led by Accel and also saw the participation from Washington DC-based investment office Singh Capital Partners.
According to the company, the funds will be used for launching new products, expand to geographies such as the European Union, the UK, and the Asian markets. The brand will also look to enhance its data and tech capabilities.
“We are excited to see the strong adoption of our products in the US market. We thrive on this momentum and plan to expand our product range in potential international markets,” said Rahul Singh and Arvind Ganesan, co-founders of EcoSould Home.
Mesa School of Business bags Rs 34 Crore from Elevation and angel investors
Mesa School of Business, a business school focused on creating startup leaders, has raised Rs 34 crore in a funding round led by Elevation Capital. The round also saw participation from angel investors including Kunal Shah of Cred, Vidit Aatrey of Meesho and others.
The company intends to use the fresh capital for building a cutting-edge, hands-on and application-based curriculum, designed and delivered in partnership with startup leaders and potential future employers for a founding cohort of just 60 hand-picked students.
This will be a 12 months, full time PG program in startup leadership, based out of Bengaluru. At the end of the program, students will get access to opportunities for leadership roles at top startups and technology companies in the country. The founding cohort for the one-year PG program in startup leadership is set to commence in September this year, the firm said in a statement.
Cognecto raises Rs 4 crore in seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures
Internet-of-things solutions provider Cognecto has raised Rs 4 crore in a seed funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The funds will be used to develop Regenerative Artificial Intelligence technology that is aimed at providing valuable business and operational insights for the mining and construction sectors, a statement said.
As per the firm, the technology will involve integrating data from existing and highly distributed telematics systems, along with operator inputs through mobile apps and wearable devices, and combining AI to drive smart allocation, routing, and operational and maintenance effectiveness.
“With this funding, we are excited to accelerate the development of our product and bring real-time data analytics to the forefront of mining and construction operations,” said Rohet Sareen, Head of Business Development, Cognecto.
Apple likely to double employee base to two lakh in India: Report
Apple has opened the doors to its two stores in India’s Delhi and Mumbai this week and a report suggests the US tech giant is likely to double its employment base at its contract manufacturers in the country to around two lakh soon.
"Apple has created one lakh employment in India. Based on the discussions, we feel that they will double the employment base very soon," PTI reported citing a government source. It added that Apple CEO Tim Cook has sought government support to widen its components supplier base in India.
One of the PTI sources said Cook has also asked support to skill Indian manpower to suit the company's requirement, to which the government has asked the firm to define a skill set, and it will support in facilitating it.
PFC approves largest-ever Rs 633 Cr EV financing facility to BluSmart
In the largest EV asset financing deal in India, the Power Finance Corporation has sanctioned a loan of Rs 633 crore to Gensol Engineering (GEL) for purchase of 5,000 passenger electric vehicles (EVs) and 1,000 cargo EVs.
The passenger EVs will be leased to BluSmart Mobility to expand its fleet of ride-hailing cabs. The first tranche of the loan has been disbursed and the first lot of EV cabs has hit the roads of Delhi, the corporation said in a statement. The 5,000 e4Ws funded by PFC are likely to result in emission savings of over 1,00,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent -- equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by over 5 million fully grown trees in a year.
"India is set to play a pivotal role in driving global disruption in the electric mobility sector. We are excited with this financing through PFC which will help us deploy more EVs on the streets of our cities and continue to build on our vision to create a unique customer experience through electric mobility in India," said Anmol Singh Jaggi, CEO and Co-founder of BluSmart.
Myntra acquires distribution rights for French Connection, FCUK
Fashion ecommerce giant Myntra's wholesale entity, Myntra Jabong, has acquired distribution and management rights for fashion brand, French Connection and its sub-brand FCUK, expanding its portfolio of international licenced brands.
As a part of the deal, Myntra will re-launch the brand in India, and assist French Connection and FCUK with wholesale distribution through a network of independent third-party franchise partners and authorised distributors, a statement said. The brand is set to offer an extensive range of apparel across t-shirts, shirts, and jeans for men, and t-shirts, tops, jeans, and dresses for women.
“Through this collaboration, Myntra will enable French Connection and FCUK to tap into the burgeoning Indian fashion consumer base and reach millions across the country including Myntra’s thriving Gen Z and Millennial cohort. With our technology-driven approach, fashion expertise, in-house design capabilities, the association is poised to strengthen the brand's presence further in the country,” said Nihal Rajan- Senior Vice President, House of Brands, Myntra.
Atal Community Innovation Centre at BML Munjal University announces $1 million funding for startup enthusiasts at Propel Pitchfest23
BML Munjal University, a Hero Group initiative, is gearing up to host the fourth edition of Propel Pitchfest23, a two-day event on April 27 and 28. The Pitchfest will witness startups and student ventures from across India pitch their ideas to a jury of investors and founders, receive feedback, gain recognition, and win exciting prizes.
The platform is provided by the Atal Community Innovation Center (ACIC) and Propel Incubator at BML Munjal University to encourage and foster the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation amongst young minds. Alongside, an academic conference on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Society (EIS) would be conducted on the same day.
Applicants will have the opportunity to seek funding from a set of Angel and VC funds who will collectively have an investment chest of $1 Million.
Indian music industry witnesses surge in OTT audio services, Spotify leads with 26% share: Redseer Strategy Consultants
Digital has emerged as a significant contributor to the growth of the music industry in India and with that people are turning to OTT Audio services such as Spotify, Gaana, Jio Saavan, Resso, Wynk, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Amazon Music to stream and listen to music.
Further, the continuous growth in OTTA streams is led by both user and engagement. According to a report by tech and data-driven consultancy firm, Redseer Strategy Consultants, over the past three years, the industry has witnessed a surge of about 1.6X in daily streams to reach 460 million in FY23.
International music streams have also grown by 11 percent and the report suggests that the rising users are between 18 to 30 years of age from metro cities, some also being first-time internet users. While more than 60 percent of streams still come from metro cities (top 8), Tier 2+ has seen growing contribution.
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS
SpaceX's starship explodes during test flight
SpaceX's Starship, the biggest rocket in the world, exploded during its test flight on Thursday. The incident occurred at the company's launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Earlier, SpaceX made a first go at getting this launch off the ground on Monday, but a pressure valve in the Super Heavy booster apparently froze. The company’s teams worked to resolve a number of unidentified issues to make a second attempt possible today.
SpaceX leadership has repeatedly stressed the experimental nature of the launch and said any result that involved Starship getting off the launchpad would be a success.
Amazon launches program to identify and track counterfeiters
Amazon has launched its Anti-Counterfeiting Exchange (ACX), an initiative to help retail stores label and track marketplace counterfeits as part of the e-commerce giant's efforts to crack down on organized crime on its platform, the company announced on Thursday.
Online marketplaces in the United States including Amazon face hurdles in keeping counterfeiters off their platforms and fake merchandise from entering their warehouses. The new program mimics data exchange programs by the credit card industry to find scammers and identify their tactics.
Stores and Amazon marketplace sellers can anonymously contribute information and records flagging counterfeiters to a third-party database or use the database to avoid doing business with the bad actors.
Irish data regulator warns against rushing into chatbot bans
Generative AI, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, needs to be regulated, but governing bodies must figure out how to do so properly before rushing into prohibitions that "really aren't going to stand up", Ireland's data protection chief said.
"It needs to be regulated and it's about figuring out how to regulate it properly," Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) Helen Dixon told a Bloomberg conference, saying the debate extended to thousands of ChatGPT equivalents.
"For the Irish data protection commission, where we are at is trying to understand a little bit more about the technology, about the large language models, about where the training data is sourced."
The body that unites Europe's national privacy watchdogs last week set up a task force on ChatGPT following a unilateral move by Italy to temporarily ban the chatbot which is rapidly growing in popularity.
Huawei launches in-house software system after being cut off from US services
China's Huawei Technologies it is replacing internal software management systems it once sourced from U.S. vendors with its own in-house version, hailing it as a victory over U.S. curbs that once threatened its survival, as per a Reuters report.
Huawei held an internal ceremony to celebrate the switch to its own 'MetaERP' (enterprise resource planning system) in Dongguan, south China on Thursday, attended by the Huawei's rotating Chairperson Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder Ren Zhengfei.
"We were cut off from the old ERP system and other core operation and management systems three years ago," said Tao Jingwen, a Huawei board member and president of its quality, business process and IT management department.
The in-house Meta-ERP has been rolled out across 80 percent of the company's business, Huawei said in a news release.
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