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Razorpay launches Smart Account for freelancers, saving 50% on international transfers 

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In a move poised to benefit an estimated 15 million Indian freelancers, Razorpay, a prominent omnichannel payments and banking platform, has expanded its MoneySaver Export Account to encompass international payment services. This initiative marks a significant development within the Indian fintech sector, specifically targeting the pain point of high costs associated with international bank transfers for freelancers.

Traditionally, international payments for freelancers have relied on direct bank transfers, which can incur significant fees of up to $30 per transaction. On top of this, currency conversion charges add another layer of cost, potentially leading to a loss of up to 25% of a freelancer’s income.

Razorpay’s MoneySaver Export Account offers a solution to these challenges. By leveraging their platform, freelancers can expect reduced fees, streamlined currency conversion, and a more efficient process for receiving international payments. This translates to retaining a larger portion of their earnings, ultimately empowering them financially.

Freelancers can open accounts in just seconds within major countries like the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. This eliminates the traditional hurdles and allows them to leverage preferred banking networks like ACH, SEPA, SWIFT, and FPS for their transactions. However, the real benefit lies in the zero withdrawal fees. Freelancers can receive local payments directly through bank transfers on the Razorpay platform, bypassing any additional charges that might affect their earnings.

This focus on cost reduction and efficiency is particularly relevant to India’s booming freelance market. As the second-largest contributor to the global freelancer market, many Indian professionals rely on online platforms to find work. However, current payment solutions are often inefficient and expensive. For instance, according to RBI reports, traditional methods like SWIFT transfers can cost around $13 for every $200 remitted. These high fees and currency conversion charges can significantly reduce a freelancer’s income.

Razorpay’s MoneySaver Export Account steps in to bridge this gap. By offering a cost-effective and user-friendly solution, Razorpay empowers Indian freelancers to retain a larger share of their earnings and compete more effectively in the global marketplace.

Firstly, opening a MoneySaver Export Account is a breeze. Freelancers can set up accounts in various countries within seconds without hidden charges. This ensures a transparent and affordable experience from the start.

Secondly, the account streamlines transactions. Freelancers can receive payments directly into their accounts from over 160 countries within seconds. This eliminates the delays and paperwork hassles often associated with traditional methods.

Security remains a top priority. The account follows the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and utilizes video KYC for secure transactions.

The MoneySaver Export Account further streamlines the process by providing a single-click Digital Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC). This eliminates the need for additional paperwork, saving valuable time and effort.

Razorpay’s MoneySaver Export Account is a comprehensive solution designed specifically for Indian freelancers. It offers a secure, affordable, and user-friendly platform that empowers them to retain a larger portion of their income and thrive in the competitive global freelance market.

“By addressing these challenges, our solution aims to significantly reduce the burden of high transaction fees and currency conversion charges that freelancers often face, thereby empowering this community with the unparalleled benefit of seamless, border-free global banking,” Rahul Kothari, Chief Operating Officer at Razorpay said.

Razorpay has already supported export payments through its MoneySaver Export Account, which over 15,000 exporters have adopted since its launch last year. Additionally, the company introduced a Forex Service for founders, enabling Indian startups to transfer globally raised funds to India, thus maximizing their Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows.

ClearTax unveils its latest Digital Campaign – ‘Next’, taking the tax filing experience to next level with #IdharNahiToKidhar

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Archit Gupta, founder and CEO of ClearTax

In preparation for the upcoming tax season, ClearTax, India’s leading online tax filing platform, launched its “Next” digital campaign. This campaign aims to make tax filing a seamless and convenient experience for many individuals and businesses.

The campaign’s tagline, “#IdharNahiToKidhar”, conveys the core message, which translates to “Nowhere Else But Here”. This emphasizes ClearTax’s position as the ideal platform for a stress-free tax filing experience, thanks to its innovative features and user-friendly design.

The centerpiece of the “Next” campaign is a series of four targeted ad films. Each film caters to a specific audience segment, including salaried individuals, those with capital gains, freelancers, and individuals with income from salaries and capital gains. Two of these ad films have already been released.

These ad films showcase the simplicity of filing taxes on the ClearTax platform. The key message revolves around the ease of navigation – users must press “Next” to progress through the process. This highlights ClearTax’s commitment to making tax filing accessible and efficient for everyone.

The “Next” campaign goes beyond just promoting ease of use. ClearTax recognizes the diverse needs of its user base. They’ve created a series of targeted ad films that address the specific challenges salaried individuals face, those with capital gains, freelancers, and people with combined income sources. These ad films showcase features and address use cases relevant to each segment, reinforcing ClearTax’s commitment to a personalized experience.

In addition to the ad films, the firm is introducing “Ask Neha,” a new AI assistant feature. This AI co-pilot guides users through tax filing and provides 24/7 support for tax-related questions. 

The campaign’s humorous tone aims to highlight the ease of access to this AI assistant, further positioning ClearTax as a one-stop shop for all your tax filing needs.

Archit Gupta, Founder, and CEO of ClearTax, said, “While we are committed to revolutionizing the tax filing experience for individuals and businesses across India, with our ‘Next’ campaign, we have taken a solid leap forward in simplifying the process, making it intuitive for every user. Our unique ad films and AI Assistant feature are a testament to our continuous pursuit of innovation, ensuring that tax filing is no longer a dreaded task but a seamless experience. We are confident this campaign will connect well with our users and reinforce ClearTax’s position as the nation’s go-to platform for hassle-free tax filing.”

The “Next” campaign isn’t just about attracting new users. It also serves as a welcome reminder for existing ClearTax customers. The campaign tagline, “Next level ease” and “Next level breeze,” emphasizes the continued improvements made to the platform, ensuring an even smoother tax filing experience. For those new to filing taxes or considering a DIY approach for the first time, the campaign highlights that ClearTax offers a user-friendly platform that can easily and conveniently guide them through the entire process.

Fintech firm Pine Labs weighs $1 billion IPO in India 

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Pine Labs, a prominent Asian digital payments provider, is making headlines with potential plans to go public in India. According to sources familiar with the matter, the company is considering an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indian stock exchange. This move comes amidst a surge in investor interest within the Indian market.

The reported goal for this IPO is to raise around $1 billion. Pine Labs also aims high for its valuation, with sources suggesting they hope to achieve a valuation exceeding $6 billion after going public. The structure of the offering could involve issuing both new and existing shares held by current investors. Additionally, there’s a possibility that Pine Labs might pursue a pre-IPO fundraising round to secure additional capital before the official public offering.

These developments signal Pine Labs’ confidence in the Indian stock market and its growth trajectory.

Pine Labs’ proposed IPO of around $1 billion could be a landmark moment for the Indian fintech industry. If successful, it would surpass the record-breaking $2.5 billion IPO achieved by One97 Communications Ltd., the company behind Paytm, in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This potential achievement underscores Pine Labs’ confidence in the Indian market and its growth trajectory.

Interestingly, the company had filed confidentially with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO in 2022. 

However, they likely opted for the Indian market due to the booming IPO scene. Data suggests that around $7 billion has been raised via IPOs in India this year, more than triple the volume from the same period in 2023. This surge has made India one of the hottest markets for share sales globally.

The people said that considerations are preliminary, and no final decisions have been made. They said details such as size and value may change. Representatives for Pine Labs and Peak XV declined to comment.

Boasting a vast network of over 500,000 merchants across 3,700 cities in Asia and the Middle East, Pine Labs is a major player in the financial technology sector. According to their website, they offer payment solutions and a wider range of financial services to businesses of all sizes. Their impressive client list includes big names like Sony, BMW, and Samsung.

Coforge earns prestigious Great Place to Work honor for 4th year in a row

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Pankaj Khanna, Chief People Officer, Coforge

For the fourth year, Coforge Limited, a global leader in digital services and solutions, has been recognized for its outstanding workplace culture. This prestigious achievement comes from the esteemed Great Place To Work® India, which awarded Coforge the Great Place To Work® Certification™.

This recognition underscores the company’s unwavering commitment to creating a positive, engaging, and supportive work environment for its employees. Their dedication to employee satisfaction, growth, and well-being is a core value. It has successfully met the stringent assessment criteria set by Great Place To Work, which is considered a gold standard in evaluating workplace culture.

Great Place To Work measured employee perceptions through a rigorous survey called the Great Place To Work Trust Index™. The survey included over 5,000 employees from the firm and evaluated the company across five key dimensions. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with “Pride” as the highest scoring dimension. This indicates that company employees are strongly proud of their work, their teams, and the company itself.

Additionally, employees rated their company highly on the “Credibility of Management” dimension. This reflects their trust in management’s communication practices, competence, and integrity. Coforge also scored well in the remaining three categories: “Camaraderie between People,” “Respect for People,” and “Fairness at the Workplace.” These scores highlight the strong sense of teamwork, respect, and fairness within the Coforge work environment.

Overall, this recognition by Great Place To Work is a testament to firm’s dedication to fostering a workplace culture that empowers and motivates its employees.

Pankaj Khanna, Chief People Officer of the firm, said, “Over the past six years, Team Coforge’s journey has witnessed exceptional growth while maintaining one of the highest employee retention rates in the industry. Coforge is People, Coforge is Growth.” 

He added, “The firm has built and sustained a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture. We have established a workplace where individuals feel truly cherished, appreciated, and encouraged to perform their best. Looking ahead, Coforge remains committed to cultivating a culture founded on respect, inclusivity, and trust, positioning itself as the preferred destination for talented professionals seeking an enriching career.”

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son talks up artificial super intelligence ambitions

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SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son

SoftBank Group’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, has set a bold ambition for the company, and he believes their mission is to advance humanity by achieving artificial super intelligence (ASI). According to Son, this ASI would surpass human capabilities by a staggering 10,000 times.

“SoftBank Group has done many things until now that have all been a warm up for my great dream to realize artificial super intelligence,” Son told shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting. 

Masayoshi Son is a champion of new technologies’ transformative potential, and his success with the rise of the internet and smartphones is a testament to that vision. This latest focus on achieving artificial super intelligence seems to be another example of Son’s willingness to push boundaries.

SoftBank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, isn’t just aiming for the stars. He’s building the spaceship. Known for his big bets on transformative technologies, Son revealed plans to go all-in on AI robots for everything from factories and logistics to self-driving cars. 

This ambitious vision, however, requires a hefty investment, and Son acknowledges that SoftBank will need to partner up to pool resources for this “immense capital” undertaking.

SoftBank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, has a complex reputation regarding tech investments. While he’s known for championing groundbreaking technologies like the internet and smartphones, some recent setbacks have cast a shadow. Many tech startups funded by SoftBank’s Vision Funds have struggled since 2021, and his predictions about the “internet of things” haven’t come to fruition.

The recent success of SoftBank’s subsidiary Arm, a chip designer, has rekindled investor confidence in his vision, particularly regarding AI. This positive momentum seems to fuel Son’s current focus: super intelligent AI robots for various industries.

Awfis to expand in new markets, says CMD Amit Ramani

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Amit Ramani, chairman & managing director, Awfis

Awfis, a leading office space-sharing company in India, plans to expand into new markets while strengthening its presence in existing ones. According to Amit Ramani, the company’s chairman and managing director, this includes strategically targeting smaller cities for early investment.

“Our approach will be to have a controlled and methodical expansion of markets,” Ramani told analysts during a post-earnings call. “We will continue to invest in markets where we believe there are strong returns in the long term… We will also make strategic early investments in tier II cities.” 

Awfis boasts a strong presence across India, with 181 centers in 17 different cities. This network offers 110,000 seats and covers a significant 5.6 million square feet of workspace. As of March 2024, they have established themselves in eight tier-II cities, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar, Indore, Kochi, and Guwahati. This focus on major and developing areas highlights their commitment to widespread accessibility.

“Currently, we have approximately 95,000 operational seats. We plan to add around 40,000 new seats in FY25, reaching a total of approximately 135,000 seats by the end of FY25,” Sumit Lakhani, deputy chief executive officer of Awfis, said. 

The company aims to increase its revenue by 30% in FY25, driven by supply expansion and higher occupancy rates at its existing operational centres. “Due to an increase in occupancy and operating leverage on cost, we should be able to improve our Ebitda margins by approximately 1.5% for FY25,” Lakhani said.

Awfis’s financial performance for FY24 shows positive signs. In Q4 FY24, the company turned a corner, reporting a net profit of Rs 1.3 crore compared to a loss of Rs 13.8 crore in Q4 FY23. This swing to profitability was accompanied by a strong growth in operating revenue, which increased by 45% year-on-year to Rs 232.3 crore in Q4 FY24.

Looking at the full year FY24, Awfis’s performance is even more encouraging. The company’s operating revenue reached Rs 848.8 crore, representing a 55.7% increase from Rs 545.2 crore in FY23. It also reduced its losses by 62.4% in FY24, reporting a loss of Rs 17.5 crore compared to Rs 46.6 crore in FY23. These financial results suggest that Awfis’s business strategy is starting to pay off.

Following a successful IPO on May 30th, Awfis entered the stock market. The company raised Rs 128 crore in fresh capital through this Rs 599-crore IPO. Existing investors, Peak XV Partners and ChrysCapital, also offloaded a portion of their shares during the offering – 6.6 million and 5.6 million shares, respectively.

Awfis’s debut on the stock exchange was positive. Their shares began trading on the NSE at Rs 435, a 13.58% increase over the IPO price of Rs 383. This momentum continued as the stock closed at Rs 501 on the BSE on Thursday, marking a slight increase from the previous day’s closing price.

While the global co-working space market might face challenges, India’s co-working sector appears to be progressing.

Specialty chemicals platform Distil raises $3.1M in funding

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Atanuu Agarrwal, cofounder & CEO, Distil

Distil, a startup building a platform for specialty chemicals, secured $3.1 million in seed funding. This round is led by Jungle Ventures and India Quotient, with participation from other investors.

This marks Jungle Venture’s first seed investment in India since the launch of its First Cheque@Jungle programme, which is aimed at investing at least $2 million in startups from the idea to the seed stage, according to a joint news release from the venture capital firm and Distil on Thursday.

Distil plans to leverage the funding to grow in several ways. The startup will expand their sales, research, and development teams while investing in other departments. This growth spurt aims to develop their specialty chemicals and establish themselves as a major player in life sciences, including flavors, fragrances, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products.

Distil aims to serve not only the Indian market but also international ones like the US, EU, and the Middle East and North Africa region.

The company was founded by a talented trio – IIT-Bombay alumni Atanuu Agarrwal, Karan Hirani, and Viraj Shah. Distil’s tech-powered platform simplifies specialty chemical procurement, offering customizable and scalable solutions.

Distil aims to solve major pain points in the specialty chemicals industry. Fragmented supply chains with unreliable quality, long wait times, and limited options are all challenges Distil seeks to eliminate.

A tech-enabled platform offering customized formulations and manufacturing, ensuring clients get exactly what they need to meet specific performance and regulatory standards.

This funding round is particularly interesting because it’s the first seed investment by Jungle Ventures under their First Cheque@Jungle program. This program offers unique investment terms: half the investment is in equity, and the other half is in convertible notes. These notes convert to equity later, with no limit on the valuation at conversion, potentially offering Distil a significant boost down the line.

“Their focus on solving supply chain challenges through R&D and technology aligns perfectly with our investment philosophy. The founding team is exceptionally strong, with a mix of a second-time founder and seasoned operators with over 15 years of experience in the speciality chemicals domain,” said Rishab Malik, partner of seed investments at Jungle Ventures.

AI startup OrbitShift raises $7M in funding 

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OrbitShift founders Swapnil Saykar (left) and Saurabh Mishra

OrbitShift, an AI sales intelligence startup founded in 2022, has secured $7 million in funding. Surge led this seed round and the scale-up program of Peak XV Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners.

The fresh funds will fuel OrbitShift’s growth in two key areas. First, the company plans to expand its US customer base. Second, they will invest in their technology and product teams to develop new offerings. This will broaden their product portfolio and cater to wider needs.

“We are privileged with the confidence shown by Stellaris Venture Partners, Peak XV and other angel investors. We are at an interesting juncture where we have seen phenomenal traction over the last 18 months, with some of the leaders in the industry being our clients,” said co-founder and chief executive Saurabh Mishra.

OrbitShift is a one-stop platform designed to streamline the sales process for tech and IT services companies. It supports various stages, including pre-sales, sales operations, and marketing. The platform utilizes advanced technology like purpose-built models and large language models (LLMs) to deliver the best results. Notably, OrbitShift primarily targets large enterprises with users across the US, EU, and APAC regions.

OrbitShift’s recent funding round is their second time securing investment. In 2023, they received $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from Stellaris Venture Partners and other angel investors. With this new funding, OrbitShift’s total capital increased to $8.5 million.

“The OrbitShift team is targeting some of the largest businesses in the world, and there is no doubt that AI can make a massive impact on them and, therefore, on their customers,” said Alok Goyal, partner at Stellaris Venture Partners. 

“But, you need to meet a bar for accuracy which is very high, and building a product and the underlying technology stack for that is, therefore, non-trivial and costs money… We are fortunate and thankful that they (Orbitshift) agreed to work with us, and we are very excited about their journey”. 

OrbitShift offers a subscription service to its clients. The cost is determined by two main factors: the length of the subscription (deal duration) and how many users and accounts are involved.

In addition to the cost savings, OrbitShift boasts impressive results for its enterprise customers. They claim the platform can slash research and sales planning time by 40-50%. This translates to faster client outreach, better quality responses, and efficient meeting content creation. Ultimately, this leads to increased productivity and stronger client relationships, all on a larger scale.

“We believe that pretty much every enterprise process that we know of will be rethought or will be reimagined and therefore, we are massive believers of a lot of new great enterprise application startups being created,” Goyal added. 

Peak XV Partners’ startup accelerator program, Surge, recently announced its ninth cohort. This group includes exciting new deeptech manufacturing and AI companies, such as Ethereal Machines, ZeroK, Australia-based Relevance AI, and Singapore-based Pix.ai.

Proptech startup Landeed raises strategic funding 

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Landeed, the leading property title search engine platform, has closed a new funding round led by Paradigm Shift VC. This exciting development comes on the heels of a successful seed round in January 2023, which saw participation from Y Combinator, Draper Associates, and Bayhouse Capital. 

The new funds will be used to propel Landeed forward on two key fronts: product development and team expansion both domestically and internationally.

“Though we weren’t actively raising funds, were heavily oversubscribed in the last round and still had the majority of our previous round’s funding intact, we decided to move forward with their investment due to our strong relationship. We will use this additional capital to expand our consumer-side offerings and scale our engineering team. Expect to see several new initiatives being accelerated in the coming two quarters as we aggressively double down on our fast-growing business lines and geographic expansion.” said Sanjay Mandava, Co-founder and CEO of Landeed.

Landeed has experienced phenomenal growth since its launch, with a staggering 22x increase in key financial metrics. This impressive trajectory is further bolstered by their user base, surpassing 5 million downloads – making them the undisputed champion of title search engines in the country.

Landeed’s user-friendly mobile app empowers property owners, agents, developers, and legal advisors. With Landeed, users can easily access real estate records, simplifying processes for building, lending, and transacting properties. Over 100,000 property professionals and owners have already turned to Landeed for their real estate needs, highlighting the significant impact the platform is making on the industry.

Landeed recently launched India’s first AI Property Analyzer, a groundbreaking tool that empowers users to understand a property’s complete ownership history. This innovative feature provides a clear and concise timeline,tracing ownership from the initial owner to the most recent, including any past transactions or encumbrances. The analyzer leverages a model trained to comprehend the complexities of legal language found in Indian property documents.This ensures efficient and accurate results, saving users valuable time and effort when researching a property’s ownership history.

“We are leading this funding round to emphatically show our vote of confidence in the team and their ability to win the market and make real estate buyers’ lives easier” said Surabhi Washishth, Founding General Partner at Paradigm Shift Capital.

Established in 2022 by Sanjay Mandava, ZJ Lin, and Jonathan Richards, Landeed is transforming property due diligence for all parties involved, facilitating seamless communication and efficient deal closures.

Google launches Gemini mobile app in India, available in 9 Indian languages 

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Google released its AI assistant app, Gemini, in India on Tuesday. This means people in India can now use Gemini in nine different languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. In addition to the app, Gemini Advanced, which gives users access to more powerful AI features, is also available in these nine languages.

On microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), Google chief executive Sundar Pichai posted, “Exciting news! Today, we’re launching the Gemini mobile app in India, available in English and nine Indian languages. We’re also adding these local languages to Gemini Advanced, plus other new features, and launching Gemini in Google Messages in English.” 

Google announced new features for its AI assistant, Gemini Advanced. These features include uploading files and analyzing data, making Gemini a more powerful tool. Users can also chat with Gemini directly within Google Messages, though currently only in English. 

The app allows users to interact with Gemini in three ways: typing, speaking, or taking pictures. For instance, a user can take a picture of a flat tire and receive instructions on changing it. It’s important to note that iPhone users must wait a few weeks to access Gemini through the Google app.

In a blog post, Amar Subramanya, vice president of engineering at Gemini Experiences, said, “Gemini has had an exciting first year in India. We’ve been thrilled to see how people across the country are using it to collaborate with AI in diverse ways — be it for schoolwork, coding, or creative exploration. From students to developers and many other curious minds, people in India are embracing Gemini’s capabilities to enhance their productivity, learning, and creativity in everyday life.” 

Now, whether one needs to plan a game night, create a recipe with specific ingredients, or craft a social media caption, Gemini is available on the go. 

Android users can access Gemini in two ways: download the dedicated app or opt-in through Google Assistant. Once activated, you can easily summon Gemini with a corner swipe, a power button press (on specific phones), or a simple “Hey Google” command.

This handy overlay experience puts Gemini and contextual help readily at your fingertips. Plus, many familiar voice features from Google Assistant, like setting timers, making calls, and setting reminders, are now accessible through the Gemini app.

For Indian users, Google is bringing even more power to Gemini. The Gemini Advanced version, available in nine Indian languages, now boasts Google’s most advanced AI model, Gemini 1.5 Pro.

This model features a whopping one million token context window, the longest of any widely available consumer chatbot. This translates to processing and understanding massive amounts of information – from lengthy documents (think 1,500 pages!) and emails to, soon, even hours of video and complex codebases.

This expanded capacity unlocks new features for Gemini Advanced, including document uploads. You can now upload multiple large documents, totalling up to 1,500 pages, or have Gemini summarize a whopping 100 emails at once.

After uploading documents or emails, Gemini Advanced can provide quick summaries, personalized feedback, and actionable insights. This saves you time and boosts your productivity. Now, one can quickly get answers and insights about dense documents, like figuring out the details of the pet policy in a rental agreement or comparing key arguments from multiple long research papers. 

One can also tackle complex data analysis tasks by uploading spreadsheets (Google Sheets, CSVs, Excel).  

Gemini Advanced can clean, explore, analyze, and visualize your data, transforming it into interactive charts and graphs. So whether it’s figuring out patterns in expenses or the average total sales of a small business, Gemini Advanced can act as a personal data analyst, uncovering insights and building custom visualizations on the fly. 

Gemini keeps files private, and they’re not used to train its models. Google is also introducing Gemini in Google Messages as another way to collaborate with Gemini on the phone. One can get help drafting messages, brainstorming ideas, or planning events – without leaving the Messages app. It will be rolling Gemini in Google Messages in English on select devices.

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