Shriram Properties’ sales bookings increase 27% to ₹747-cr in Apr-Sept 2022

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November 4, 2022

Shriram Properties announced that sales bookings increased by 27% to Rs 747 crore in the first half of this fiscal year.

Shriram Properties said that compared to the first quarter of the same fiscal year when the company sold 0.66 million sq ft, sales volume increased by 52% to 1.01 million sq ft in the second quarter of FY23.

Compared to the first quarter of FY23, when the aggregate sales value stood at Rs 313 crores, it increased by 39% in the second quarter to Rs 435 crores.

The company reported a sales volume of 1.67 million sq ft, compared to 1.56 million sq ft in H1 of FY22, for the first six months of FY23.

The total sales value increased more rapidly, by 27% year over year, reaching Rs 747 crore in the first half of FY23.

“We are encouraged by the strong performance on key operating parameters and expect to see further momentum in the seasonally strong periods of H2FY23. We are on track to deliver full year targets in terms of sales volumes, collection and construction, apart from profitability in line with guidance,” M Murali, Chairman and Managing Director of Shriram Properties, said.

upGrad plans to merge all M&As into the parent company

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November 3, 2022

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Edtech unicorn upGrad has announced plans to consolidate all its mergers and acquisitions in India into One upGrad and complete the integration process by March-June 2023.

UpGrad has chosen to simplify the corporate structure to prepare for an IPO in 2024. Additionally, they have decided to expense out all costs associated with acquisitions and their growth capital in their FY22 and partially in their FY23 financials.

“We are delighted to have over 15 Co-founders from our M&As join the leadership team at upGrad and participate in the Integrated vision – where upGrad has to impact college learners and working professionals in India, Asia, and the world, across their LifeLongLearning journey,” said Mayank Kumar, Co-founder, upGrad.

“This consolidation also gets us financially ready for a future listing as we put costs behind us between the last and this year to focus on a high growth and high profitability model while creating impact and having the largest alumni base in Higher Education,” he added.

To establish Harappa Global School of Leadership, upGrad contributed an extra Rs 320 crore (just under $40 million) to Harappa Education in September 2022. The edtech giant acquired corporate training solutions provider Centum Learning in the same month through a share swap deal.

UpGrad raised $210 million in August of this year from Temasek, IFC, IIFL, Bodhi Tree, the family offices of Bharti Airtel, Narotam Sekhsaria, and Lakshmi Mittal, as well as ETS Global, Bodhi Tree, and Kaizen Management Advisors in Singapore.

The Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad had raised significant funds and successfully closed takeover acquisitions when the edtech industry struggled with layoffs and funding challenges.

Over the last 2.5 years, upGrad has acquired 11 startups in an M&A spree. It has recently acquired the edtech startup Harappa Education from New Delhi and the recruitment and staffing company WOLVES from Bengaluru.

The startup has purchased 14 companies across various verticals, including programmes for upskilling and reskilling, exam preparation, college courses, a segment for study abroad, and short skilling courses.

ZingHR launches MEA Innovation Hub in Dubai

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November 3, 2022

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Human resource management system platform ZingHR has opened ZingHR MEA Innovation Hub in Dubai, according to Zawya. The development strengthens its presence in the Middle East.

“We are already familiar with the specific needs of this region and with the opening of this new Innovation Hub we are now closer to our partners here, in an even better position to be of service,” said Chandrasekar Subramanian, ZingHR’s Business Head-MENA Region.

Over 800 customers and 1.6 million active users globally use ZingHR, funded by Tata Capital Growth Fund. ZingHR services are offered in 26 global languages, including Arabic. Its highly configurable platform has been successfully integrated with all local payroll regulations and procedures.

CEO & Founder of ZingHR, Mr Prasad Rajappan, added, “Welcome to ZingHR Innovation hub. We have named it The ZingHR Pit Stop where we help organisations achieve their business outcomes in a lean and agile way.”

ZingHR is available in all major world markets, including South East Asia, India, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Meta to introduce NFT minting and trading feature on Instagram

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November 3, 2022

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Mark Zuckerberg led Meta on Thursday officially announced that it is testing and selling Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on Instagram. The NFTs will initially only be available to a limited number of American users, but the company plans to extend its reach to other countries soon.

In its blog post, the firm stated, “Creators will soon be able to make their own digital collectibles on Instagram and sell them to fans, both on and off Instagram. They’ll have an end-to-end toolkit—from creation and showcasing, to selling. People can easily support their favourite creators by buying their digital collectibles directly within Instagram.”

Ryan Watt, CEO of Polygon Studios, tweeted about the collaboration and mentioned that the NFTs would be minted on the Polygon blockchain.

The company had previously announced that it would work with Ethereum and Flow. In a recent blog post, the firm also announced that it would be adding support for Phantom Wallet and the Solana Blockchain.

The blog post further stated that “information for select collections where the metadata has been enriched by OpenSea, such as collection name and descriptions, will now be available on Instagram.”

Saudi Arabia opens innovative economic zone in Riyadh

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November 2, 2022

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On October 31, 2022, Saleh Al-Jasser, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Transport and Logistics, officially opened a cutting-edge economic zone for the logistics sector in Riyadh, according to Zawya. The zone is regarded as the most innovative economic zone in the world.

The three million square metres Special Integrated Logistics Zone is ideally situated to service prospective clients from Africa, Asia, and Europe. It uses cutting-edge inventory management systems optimised for e-commerce to speed the movement of goods while establishing direct connections between investors, suppliers, customs, and government entities.

According to Al Jasser, the economic zone’s debut is on pace with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

“The launch of the Special Integrated Logistics Zone today is a testimony to Vision 2030 and the relentless support of His Royal Highness for the sector, positioning the Kingdom as a global logistics hub connecting three continents, attracting the largest companies in the world to the Kingdom as our logistics sector is transformed by the National Transport and Logistics Strategy,” he said.

Saudi Arabia is focused on expanding its annual cargo capacity to over 4.5 million tonnes and raising the sector’s contribution to the national gross domestic product from 6% to 10%.

This objective is part of KSA’s broader logistics industry restructuring by 2030. This will encourage corporate expansion, attract inward investment, and increase the sector’s non-oil revenues.

Cloud-based SaaS technology provider Amagi secures $100mn in a round led by General Atlantic

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November 2, 2022

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General Atlantic has invested $82 million in Amagi, a global media SaaS technology company with offices in India and the US. According to the company notice, General Atlantic will have 8% equity in the company.

The existence of a secondary transaction is also shown through filings. General Atlantic will purchase 1,12,374 equity and preference shares from the existing investor for a total of 27.5 million after the funds were raised through preferential allotment and private placement in two tranches.

The primary and secondary deal raises a total of $110 million.

According to the notice, the board at Amagi issued 3,35,854 Series F CCPS at a company face value of an issue price of Rs 19,505.5 per share to raise $82 million.

Amagi, a cloud-based broadcast and advertising technology solution provider, was founded in 2008. The company was founded in India to offer solutions for targeted TV advertising, but it eventually changed its focus to drive cloud adoption and promote cloud technologies for broadcast.

After receiving $95 million for a valuation of over $1 billion in a funding round headed by Accel and involving investors including Norwest Venture Partners and Avataar Ventures, the company became a unicorn in March. The fundraising round came after a 108% year-over-year (YoY) growth; since 2021, the number of clients has increased by 59%.

The company provides live, linear, and on-demand channel creation, distribution, and monetization services across cable, OTT, and CTV-led Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) platforms globally.

With locations in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London, Paris, Australia, South Korea, and Singapore, Amagi currently supports over 700 content brands, 800 playout chains, and over 2,000 channel deliveries on its platform across over 40 countries. With a centre for innovation in Bengaluru, it also has broadcast operations in New Delhi.

Lotus Herbals buys 20 pc stake in Yogic Secrets Healthcare

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November 2, 2022

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Packaged consumer goods company Lotus Herbals has acquired a 20 per cent stake in Gurugram-based startup Yogic Secrets Healthcare for an undisclosed amount. According to a joint statement, Yogic Secrets Healthcare, which deals in research-based nutraceutical products, would expand its operations in India utilizing the funds collected from Lotus Herbals’ family office.

Additionally, it added that this would aid in broadening horizons in international markets such as the USA, UK, and Australia.

Anil Khandelwal founded Yogic Secrets Healthcare in 2018.

“With the Lotus Herbals investment opening new horizons, we see a tremendous possibility of catapulting us towards our vision to provide preventive, palliative and curative healthcare,” Khandelwal said.

Lotus Herbals operates in the natural personal care and cosmetics space, with seven brands and more than 12 sub-brands.

NeoGrowth secures USD 20mn via ECBs from United States DFC

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November 1, 2022

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NeoGrowth, an NBFC that specialises in lending to MSMEs, stated that it had secured funding from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for USD 20 million under the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) route.

According to ECB guidelines, this funding commitment, which has a 5-year term with a 2-year moratorium on principal payments, will be used for subsequent lending to SME customers.

Arun Nayyar, Whole-time Director and CEO, said, “NeoGrowth is funding India’s small businesses by leveraging the digital ecosystem, and this backing from DFC will help us drive that mission further while also creating a positive impact on SMEs. We will be using these funds to further extend credit to our customers to propel their business growth.”

The United States development finance institution, International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), collaborates with the private sector to finance technology, healthcare, energy, and critical infrastructure solutions.

DFC also offers financing to small firms and female entrepreneurs to support the development of new markets and the creation of jobs.

James Polan, DFC’s Vice President of the Office of Development Credit, said, “DFC’s investment in NeoGrowth will increase access to capital for small businesses in India. NeoGrowth’s digital, flexible model enables it to reach more small businesses, promoting financial inclusion, economic growth, and development across the country.

Booking.com aims new projects in the Bengaluru centre

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November 1, 2022

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Netherlands-based travel portal Booking.com’s parent company Booking Holdings, which has just opened an engineering centre in Bengaluru, is working on using artificial intelligence and machine learning to increase the scope of risk management on the site.

The company aims to expand into verifying customers’ IDs, such as passports and driver’s licences, in addition to the current verification of properties for stay.

According to Daniel Marovitz, senior vice president of fintech at Booking.com, this is one of the projects being worked on at the Bengaluru centre of excellence. Booking predicts that by the end of 2022, the centre’s strength, which is currently 20, will increase to 100.

Another project the team here will work on is a forex card that will function like a regular credit/debit card. “When you transact in a different currency, there might be a difference between the actual forex rate versus what is given to you. That will not happen with this card. So, with the FX card, you can not only book your hotel but also shop with it, commute, and pay your restaurant bills. This will be connected to your Booking.com ID,” Marovitz said. Connecting everything to a Booking.com ID will enable users to access facilities like buy-now-pay-later for all their transactions.

Booking plans to tokenize the card in addition to having a physical card. Actual card details are kept private throughout transactions owing to tokenization. Additionally, for greater security, the token numbers are constantly changing.

Twitter reports 85% decrease in monthly complaints in India

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October 31, 2022

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Between August 26 and September 25, Twitter in India received 157 complaints regarding harassment and hateful conduct, an 85% decrease over the prior month. This is also the year’s lowest monthly grievance total in India.

Between August 26 and September 25, the microblogging site suspended nearly 54,000 accounts in India because they had broken the platform’s policies.

For reasons involving non-consensual nudity, child sexual exploitation, and other content, Twitter suspended 52,141 accounts. In addition, Twitter’s India Transparency Report reveals that 1,982 additional accounts were deleted for promoting terrorism.

The platform claimed to have also received complaints regarding sensitive pornographic content, intellectual property infringement, and sexual assault. In addition, according to the report, the company handled 43 grievance claims appealing account suspension.

Last month, Twitter removed close to 60,200 accounts after receiving 1,088 complaints.

Every month, the social networking site—recently acquired by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk—releases statistics on the actions taken in response to reported posts.

Musk has stated that the social media firm would establish a “content moderation council,” and any significant content determinations or account reinstatements would occur after such a group has convened.

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