Current Affairs
April 2019 Part 1
▶ WhatsApp cannibalising Facebook, Instagram revenues, says Zuckerberg https://4-2.co/2GMyUch
▶ Walmart’s latest ‘Lab’ showcases the future of retail https://4-2.co/2XPdZuJ
▶ Women account for only a fifth of India’s startup workforce: report https://4-2.co/2Waog4g
▶ Xiaomi launches electric bike Himo T1 in China https://4-2.co/2GOIuLO
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Brian Acton , Jan Koum |
Brian Acton
Jan Koum
Founders
Logo of WhatsApp
Himo T1
▶ Funding galore: Indian startup funding of the week https://4-2.co/2IWANVi
▶ Movers and shakers of the week https://4-2.co/2J4QLNn
▶ RBI approves e-Mandates for Internet banking, Debit cards https://4-2.co/2ISpeyu
▶ Ride-hailing giant Uber seeks $8 Bn-$10 Bn IPO in May https://4-2.co/2DxWUy0
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Uber | Garrett Camp Travis Kalanick |
Garrett Camp
Travis Kalanick
▶ Amazon gets faster! says will slash Prime delivery time to a single day
▶ Telangana govt to release EV policy after the Lok Sabha elections https://4-2.co/2J3iEp3
▶ Google employees allege that the company is retaliating against them for Nov protests https://4-2.co/2XIth4t
▶ Amazon overcomes slowdown in India to post revenue growth in Q1 https://4-2.co/2vw1atv
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Larry Page , Sergey Brin |
Larry Page
Sergey Brin
▶ Quikr acquires used goods marketplace Zefo https://4-2.co/2vrfdA9
▶ Plagued by data breaches, Facebook expects to be hit $5 Bn in fines https://4-2.co/2W49Jax
▶ Agritech focused VC Omnivore closes second fund at $97 Mn https://4-2.co/2XG6OoL
▶ Amazon India changes seller commission structure to control cash burn https://4-2.co/2J25nx1
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Quikr | Pranay Chulet , Jiby Thomas |
| Zefo | Arjit Gupta, Rohit Ramasubramanian, Himesh Joshi , Karan Gupta |
Pranay Chulet
Jiby Thomas
▶ Nilekani-led RBI panel to recommend making all govt payments digital https://lnkd.in/g-zYJFF
▶ Exclusive: Sequoia, Naspers, Venture Highway invest INR 104 Cr in Quick Ride https://4-2.co/2WcltHK
▶ Madras High Court lifts ban on TikTok app https://lnkd.in/gSftv3g
▶ Agritech startup Ninjacart secures $89 Mn from Tiger Global https://4-2.co/2IEJKTY
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Naspers | Bob van Dijk |
| Ninjacart | Ashutosh Vikram, Kartheeswaran K K, Sharath Loganathan, Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Vasudevan |
Bob van Dijk
Thirukumaran Nagarajan
Nandan Nilekani
▶ Mobile Premier League raises $35.5 Mn funding from Sequoia, Times Internet and more https://4-2.co/2IFaIKX
▶ A meeting of giants: Why SoftBank wants a piece of Reliance Jio https://lnkd.in/gQTTvQJ
▶ Masayoshi Son lost $130 Mn after getting caught up in Bitcoin mania https://lnkd.in/gnNxk-A
▶ Spotify to remove entire Saregama catalogue from its platform https://lnkd.in/gh9dths
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Mobile Premier League | Sai Srinivas Kiran G , Shubham Malhotra |
| Times Internet | falls under The Times Group |
| Spotify | Daniel Ek; Martin Lorentzon |
Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubam Malhotra
Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon
▶ Mayfield and Axilor invest $3 Mn in payments platform EnKash https://lnkd.in/gJhg3wM
▶ NITI Aayog asks Oil Ministry to set up EV charging infrastructure at fuel stations https://lnkd.in/gDVfYjW
▶ ZestMoney tops up $20 Mn to broaden its technology focus https://4-2.co/2IPK2GO
▶ mfine raises $17.2 Mn to expand its healthcare network https://4-2.co/2DnHVGL
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Mayfield | William F. Miller, Thomas J. Davis Jr. |
| Axilor | Kris Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, Tarun Khanna, Srinath Batni, Ganapathy Venugopal |
| Zestmoney | Lizzie Chapman, Ashish Anantharaman and Priya Sharma |
| mfine | Ashutosh Lawania , Prasad Kompalli |
Logos
William F. Miller
Kris Gopalakrishnan
Ganapathy Venugopal
Lizzie Chapman, Ashish Anantharaman and Priya Sharma
Text
Ashutosh Lawania and Prasad Kompalli
▶ Edtech startup DoubtNut raises $3.3 Mn funding led by Sequoia’s Surge https://4-2.co/2Dvg5Z2
▶ Ola says usage-based incentive necessary for driving India’s emobility goals https://4-2.co/2IAw7oH
▶ Walmart investigates allegations of graft at Flipkart warehouses https://4-2.co/2GAitj6
▶ RailYatri applies for a license to sell train tickets after High Court ruling https://lnkd.in/fsYQcxT
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| DoubtNut | Aditya Shankar, Tanushree Nagori |
| Ola | Bhavish Aggarwal, Ankit Bhati |
Aditya Shankar and
Tanushree Nagori
Bhavish Aggarwal
and
Ankit Bhati
▶ Apple will ramp up iPhone production in India beat heavy import duties, lower prices
▶ Elon Musk promises a million “Self-Driving Robotaxis” by 2020 https://4-2.co/2XxByIs
▶ TikTok Ban: Supreme Court gives Madras Court two days for final decision https://4-2.co/2W1W5ES
▶ Paytm Mall turns to eBay to arrest sliding ecommerce market share, sales https://4-2.co/2IA75G9
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Apple | Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne |
| e-Bay | Pierre Omidyar |
Pierre Omidyar
▶ Ola may offer subscription service for luxury car rentals: reports https://4-2.co/2IzTH4Q
▶ Stop streaming web series on PM Modi, Election Commission tells Eros Now https://4-2.co/2IynbAm
▶ TRAI looks to ensure level playing field between Telcos and OTT players https://4-2.co/2XyXyCU
▶ Ola and Foodpanda might be heading for a senior level rejig: report https://4-2.co/2GAecfK
owned and controlled by Eros Digital
▶ Japanese healthtech co M3 picks up majority stake in DailyRounds https://4-2.co/2GyDmv2
▶ Bike rental startup Bounce raises $3 Mn from InnoVen Capital https://4-2.co/2ICUAK6
▶ Homigo fraud case transferred to CCB, founders still absconding https://4-2.co/2GyEChK
▶ Despite TikTok scrutiny, ByteDance to invest $1 Bn in India https://4-2.co/2XnzKSf
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| M3 | |
| Bounce | Vivekananda Hallekare, Varun Agni and Anil G, |
Vivekananda Hallekare, Varun Agni and Anil G,
▶ Sixth Sense Ventures invests $3 Mn in healthcare startup MyHealthcare https://4-2.co/2IvvWer
▶ Meet the 8 Indian startups from first cohort of Sequoia Surge https://4-2.co/2Dma6Wl
▶ With regulatory Sandbox, RBI looks to create Innovation Test Lab for Fintech https://4-2.co/2GvADCF
▶ Railways Ministry plans INR 1500 Cr IRCTC, IRFC IPO by September https://4-2.co/2XpvUYM
Founder : Nikhil Vora
▶ Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy denies exit report; Says he’s fully committed for the long term
▶ Facebook admits to harvesting email contacts of 1.5 Mn users without consent https://4-2.co/2IF5EWn
▶ To ensure safe elections, ShareChat suspends 54K accounts for violating guidelines https://4-2.co/2IzLBZo
▶ Justdial says data leak affecting 100 Mn users fixed, but security researcher disputes claims https://4-2.co/2ICzavI
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Flipkart | Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal |
| Sharechat | Farid Ahsan, Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Singh |
Sachin Bansal , Binny Bansal
Farid Ahsan,
Bhanu Singh ,
Ankush Sachdeva,
▶ Original content in India driving new subscriptions, Netflix tells investors https://4-2.co/2VTdrDy
▶ Amazon winds down China marketplace business in face of stiff competition https://4-2.co/2VU9mPB
▶ Hotstar hikes monthly subscription to INR 299 to capitalize on IPL, Game Of Thrones mania https://4-2.co/2IFXFbp
▶ Amazon could offer credit options in India to boost premium smartphone sales https://4-2.co/2GtKysi
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Netflix | Reed Hastings |
| Hotstar | Parent company is Star India |
Reed Hastings
▶ In Ecommerce war, Reliance is banking on exclusivity and pulling partner brands from Amazon, Flipkart https://4-2.co/2XitWcK
▶ After Google, Apple removes TikTok from its App Store https://lnkd.in/gNawjpH
▶ Supply chain management startup Increff raises $3 Mn from Binny Bansal, 021 Capital
▶ Hike leverages AI and Machine Learning in revamped sticker chat app https://4-2.co/2VJRtD3
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Increff | Romil Jain , Rajul Jain , Anshuman Agarwal |
| Hike | Kavin Bharti Mittal |
Romil Jain ,
Rajul Jain ,
Anshuman Agarwal
Kavin Bharti Mittal
▶ Jio Infocomm seeks In-flight connectivity license from DOT https://4-2.co/2IpvXAv
▶ Delhi HC stays its 2018 order to restore ShopClues’ Intermediary Status https://4-2.co/2DhL7Ue
▶ Indian Govt asks Apple & Google to ban TikTok from app stores https://lnkd.in/gZYwn58
▶ Amazon could challenge Spotify, YouTube Music with free streaming service https://lnkd.in/gU6SChF
▶ Routematic raises $2.5 Mn as it looks to build an EV network for smart cities https://lnkd.in/ggxYN6B
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Amazon | Jeff Bezos |
| Routematic | Surajit Das |
Jeff Bezos
Surajit Das
▶ Karan Bajaj’s WhiteHat Jr picks up $1.3 Mn seed funding to teach the next generation of coders https://lnkd.in/g2Pev_6
▶ BookMyShow invests in cashless payments platform AtomX https://lnkd.in/gQCjNUH
▶ NPCI looks to enable Blockchain-based digital payments https://4-2.co/2IA0Lho
▶ No relief for TikTok, Supreme Court refuses to stay ban on TikTok downloads
| Company | Founder(s) / Expansion |
|---|---|
| BookMyShow | Ashish Hemrajani |
| NPCI | National Payments Corporation of India |
Ashish Hemrajani
▶ YouTube brings Breaking News section, Top News and fact-check cards to India https://4-2.co/2XcLCGI
▶ Cred raising $100 Mn from Hillhouse Capital, existing investors: report https://4-2.co/2Il1S5a
▶ Ola, Uber cab registrations in Maharashtra to restart from today https://4-2.co/2GlJerq
▶ CarDekho reports 62% hike in its FY19 revenue https://4-2.co/2Xe1mJn
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| YouTube | Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim |
| Cred | Kunal Shah |
| CarDekho | Amit Jain , Anurag Jain |
Chad Hurley,
Steve Chen ,
Jawed Karim
Kunal Shah
Amit Jain and Anurag Jain
▶ Sachin Bansal likely to acquiring a Bengaluru-based microfinance firm https://4-2.co/2VG3iKy
▶ It’s official: PayU acquires online payments processor Wibmo for $70 Mn https://4-2.co/2Gizpe7
▶ DSG, Akatsuki fund invest $2 mn in merchandise maker Planet Superheroes https://4-2.co/2IdbOgZ
▶ Angel tax is close to an end: 277 Startups get I-T clearances https://4-2.co/2IrXgte
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| PayU | Nitin Gupta, Martin Schrimpff, Arjan Bakker, Jose Velez, Shailaz Nag, Grzegorz Brochocki |
| Wibmo | Govind Setlur , Veena Mistry |
| Akatsuki | Genki Shiota, Tetsuro Kouda |
Nitin Gupta
Martin Schrimpff
Shailaz Nag
Govind Setlur
Jose Velez
Tetsuro Kouda , Genki Shiota
▶ With $3.6 Mn in fresh funding, Tripoto makes new travel plans https://4-2.co/2GjVskt
▶ Uber files for one of the biggest IPO in years, But warns it may never make a profit https://4-2.co/2GjfZFR
▶ WhatsApp may take 5 months to comply with data localisation norms: report https://4-2.co/2IyaBzY
| Company | Founder(s) |
|---|---|
| Tripoto | Anirudh Gupta , Michael Lyngdoh |
| Uber | Garrett Camp Travis Kalanick |
Garrett Camp
Travis Kalanick
Anirudh Gupta , Michael Lyngdoh