ServiceNow launches data centres in Mumbai and Bengaluru

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March 31, 2022

ServiceNow, a NYSE-listed software company, launched two local data centre facilities in Mumbai and Bengaluru on Thursday to help Indian customers adopt new digital solutions and meet local data residency standards.

“India is a top growth market for ServiceNow and we are seeing larger local organizations partnering with us to benefit from the power of our platform to drive their digital transformation needs,” said Arun Balasubramanian, managing director of India & SAARC, ServiceNow. “ServiceNow is committed to manage data locally and meet India’s data protection and sovereignty standards. The new data centres enable even more financial services, technology and other regulated verticals to reap the benefits of ServiceNow’s single, unifying Platform for digital business.”

According to Mike Lents, ServiceNow senior vice president of Global Cloud Services, the new data centres are large sites for ServiceNow with a complete network and capacity to deliver performance at scale and increased sustainability.

“ServiceNow has certified Data Centre Sustainability Professionals (CDCSP) serving our customers and partners in every region we operate, including Asia Pacific,” Lents said.

ServiceNow said it has invested in new data centre locations with sustainability as a significant concern, citing estimates for the India data centre market to grow by more than 15% through 2027.

“These data centres give ServiceNow’s customers and partners a sustainable way to responsibly source cloud data hosting in India and contribute positively to their own ESG commitments,” Lents added.

ServiceNow also stated that by 2022, 18,000 people, including partners and customers, will have been trained and certified in India to fulfil the growing demand for ServiceNow product specialists.

Apple announces a $50mn fund to upskill employees

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March 30, 2022

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Apple announced a $50 million Supplier Employee Development Fund on Wednesday, which will be used to create learning opportunities and enhance skills among its manufacturing partners’ employees.

According to the company, employees in India’s manufacturing division and those in the United States, China, and Vietnam will be among the first to profit from the fund.

According to Apple, the fund would provide “new learning opportunities” to over 100,000 supplier employees. Leadership training, technical certifications, coding, robotics, and advanced manufacturing fundamentals, including green manufacturing, are featured.

The company collaborated with the International Labour Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and global education experts for the learning programmes.

The corporation did not say whether it would collaborate with Indian educators and rights organisations for the programme. Still, it did say that the fund has “expanded partnerships” with prominent human rights advocates, universities, and non-profits worldwide.

The Supplier Employee Development Fund will also be used to expand Apple’s existing virtual education and skill-building courses for its manufacturing partners. The corporation claims that their supplier employee educational programmes have reached 5 million people.

The new fund will assist Apple in ensuring that its supply chain runs smoothly.

Investment platform Nivesh to offer digital gold as an investment option

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March 30, 2022

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To offer digital gold as an investment option, Nivesh, a digital-first financial services firm, has teamed with MMTC-PAMP, a joint venture between India’s MMTC (a government of India initiative) and Switzerland’s PAMP SA.

Digital gold is a virtual gold investment with pure gold as the underlying asset, translating to virtual gold possession. MMTC-PAMP offers 24K, 999.9 purest gold stored in insured bank-grade vaults on behalf of investors.

According to Nivesh, gold recognised by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) is accessible as low as Re 1 on the platform, making it a safe and sound investment.

Anurag Garg, Founder and CEO of Nivesh, said, “We had started our journey with offering mutual funds as an investment option. Over the years, we have expanded our offerings and today we are glad to introduce digital gold as another investment option for our customers. Digital gold is an excellent mode of holding gold and building investment gradually in the long-term without associated costs of storage and safety.”

Sharing her views on this collaboration, Anika Agarwal, president, consumer business, MMTC-PAMP, said, “Digital Gold is a dynamic investment instrument that is completely liquid by allowing investors to buy/sell at any time, without levying any transaction or exit charges and unlike gold jewellery, digital gold doesn’t incur making charges. Whenever required, investors could liquidate their investments 24×7 with a single click going by real-time rates.”

Nivesh also offers mutual funds, term deposits, peer-to-peer lending, alternative investment funds (AIF), NPS, bonds, and other investment options.

Tech company hiring about 1,000 techies in Kerala

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March 30, 2022

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According to company officials, Acsia Technologies, a Technopark-based company that develops software for major automotive OEMs and Tier 1s, is planning to hire 1,000 people to work on upcoming projects to build software for connected, autonomous, shared, and electrified automotive technologies.

The company will hire B.Tech graduates and diploma holders who graduated in 2020, 2021, or 2022. The firm will hold an online test on April 4th, and candidates must have good C/C++ programming skills. Individuals with experience with Embedded or Linux are preferred, and candidates who have completed a C++ / Embedded Systems course are preferred. Trivandrum, Kerala, would be the work location.

Meanwhile, Acsia Technologies plans to expand its facilities at the Embassy Taurus TechZone at Technopark Phase-III in Thiruvananthapuram to 85,000 square feet.

According to the company, the new headquarters would accommodate more than 1,000 employees, which provides software solutions for major automotive carmakers.

Acsia Technologies, a global automotive Electronic Control Unit (ECU) software solution and research company, announced that it was one of the first companies to sign the deal with Embassy Taurus TechZone.

According to Jijimon Chandran, CEO of Acsia Technologies, the present office in Technopark will work in tandem with the new office.

“The automotive market trends highlight the growing need for automotive software fueled by the rapid expansion in electric and electronics adoption in automotive. Automakers and related companies are currently redefining their software make-or-buy strategy by developing a partnership ecosystem,” Chandran said.

Leading companies have expressed interest in partnering with Acsia Technologies, he said.

“The new office is being set up as part of meeting the demands of the customers which require talent in the advanced automotive software.

The new office at Embassy Taurus TechZone will help in developing software of Electrified, Autonomous, Connected and Shared technologies in future,” the company said.

Acsia began operations at Technopark in 2014 and has already signed agreements to provide products and services to Basemark, Segula Technologies, and other European vehicle firms. The Downtown Trivandrum Embassy Taurus Techzone (ETTZ) spans 12 acres and offers 2 million square feet of collaborative, sustainable, and healthy workspaces. A 2 million square feet IT/ITES Special Economic Zone (SEZ) makes up the TechZone.

Citymall bags $75mn in funding headed by Norwest Venture Partners

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March 30, 2022

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Citymall, a social commerce platform, has raised $75 million in a Series C fundraising round headed by Norwest Venture Partners to expand its community group buying concept to more small towns across the country.

According to a senior company official, the round values Citymall at around $350 million.

According to Angad Kikla, co-founder and CEO of Citymall, the funds will be used to grow across categories and geographies and develop the company’s back-end technology.

“We plan to expand to 100 cities in next 18 months,” Kikla said. “We plan to enter newer states within India and will expand into fashion and general merchandise, too.”

Over the following 12 months, Citymall anticipates its platform’s gross merchandise value (GMV) to reach $1 billion. In addition, the company has raised a total of $110 million to date.

“The company’s GMV has been growing strongly at 30% month on month and we are seeing greater traction from our tier III and II markets,” Kikla said.

“We have been impressed by the strong product-market fit and hypergrowth that Citymall has demonstrated over the last few months,” said Niren Shah, managing director and India head of Norwest Venture Partners. In addition, he praised the firm’s “efficient customer acquisition and lower supply chain costs”.

Indians adopt new normal with greater purpose; plan to spend more: 2022 Global Travel Trends Report

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March 29, 2022

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According to the American Express Travel: Global Travel Trends Report, 93% of Indians plan to spend more or the same on travel in 2022 compared to a typical pre-pandemic year, and 96% agree that they like to eat and shop at local businesses to support local economies, Indian travelers are looking to adopt the new normal with more purpose.

The survey report, which is based on data from seven countries, including the United States, Australia, India, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the United Kingdom, also finds that 48% of Indians want to travel to learn new things, 46% to relax, and 45% to explore new destinations.

Overall, Indians believe that 2022 will be a better year for planning travel than 2021, with the majority of respondents predicting that travel will be less stressful this year than last year, and many looking forward to regaining control of their trips in 2022 after feeling overwhelmed the previous year.

According to the survey, Indians travel to see loved ones, celebrate major life milestones, go on wish list trips, attend in-person events, and pursue enhanced wellbeing and self-care, much like their counterparts. In addition, 91% of surveyed Indians think they will plan a dream vacation in 2022 that they would not have considered before the pandemic, and 87% want to book an once-in-a-lifetime vacation in 2022, which is the most of all the countries surveyed.

HDFC Bank to invest ₹3cr to acquire stake in IDRCL

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March 29, 2022

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HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank by assets, plans to invest Rs 3 crore in the first tranche to acquire a stake in the India Debt Resolution Company Limited (“IDRCL”) by an equity securities subscription. In total, HDFC Bank plans to invest Rs 7.50 crore in IDRCL to acquire a 15% share.

On March 28, HDFC Bank and IDRCL inked an agreement, with the first tranche expected to be completed by March 31, 2022.

In its regulatory filing, HDFC Bank said, “equity investment will be done in tranches and the first tranche of equity investment of ₹3 crore is expected to be completed by March 31, 2022. Subsequent tranches of equity investment will be made as and when determined by the Board of Directors of IDRCL.”

IDRCL was founded on September 3, 2021, to operate as a debt management company and provide debt management, operational management, and consultation services regarding debt resolution for asset reconstruction companies, investment trusts, and other securities portfolios.

Hyderabad-based SuperK raises $5.5mn led by 021 Capital, others

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March 29, 2022

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SuperK, a Hyderabad-based tech-enabled franchised grocery retailer for small towns, announced that it had raised $5.5 million in a pre-series A round led by Binny Bansal’s 021 Capital with other investors.

The participating investors include Curefoods founder Ankit Nagori, Razorpay founders MarsShot Ventures, Blume Founders Fund, xto10x co-founder & CEO Saikiran Krishnamurthy, Ula founder & CEO Nipun Mehra, and public market investor Ashish Kacholia (Public market investor) in addition to existing investors.

SuperK plans to use the funds to expand its business, establish a strong team and brand, and improve its technological and supply chain infrastructure, according to the company.

According to SuperK co-founders Neeraj Menta and Anil Thontepu, BITS Pilani batchmates, the startup aims to swiftly scale and reach over 200 stores across more than 120 towns in Andhra Pradesh by the end of next year.

Over the last year, SuperK has co-created close to 50 stores in 20 towns across Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa and Anantapur districts, serving over one lakh families.

It also stated that it plans to hire in sales and marketing, technology and product development, and analytics and data science.

SuperK is a franchised grocery retail chain founded in 2019 to bring modern retail to small towns in India (tier 3 and beyond). Its data-driven and technology-backed processes enable SuperK to operate on an asset-light, franchised supermarket retail chain structure.

Byju’s signs deal with QIA to establish MENA-focused subsidiary in Doha

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March 28, 2022

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Byju’s announced that it has signed an agreement with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund, to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in Doha that would focus on students in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).

The platform will establish a research and development center in Doha to develop Arabic-language learning content and products as part of the agreement.

At the 2022 Doha Forum on Saturday and Sunday, Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO of Byju’s, and Mansoor Al-Mahmoud, CEO of QIA, signed the MoU in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar and Chairman of QIA, as well as representatives of Byju’s.

“As we continue to witness accelerated growth in Indian and international markets, we are excited to partner with QIA in this next phase of expansion, development and building new innovations in learning in the MENA region. With a sustained focus on creating life-long value for our learners, this partnership with QIA is a significant step in realizing our vision,” said Raveendran.

“QIA is proud to help enable the development of innovative education technology platforms in the MENA region to inspire children to learn. QIA has a strong focus on investing in leading innovators globally and we want to help drive the creation of new technologies that have a positive impact on society,” said Mansoor Al-Mahmoud.

The announcement also marks a huge drive for the edtech company to expand outside of the United States ahead of its proposed IPO.

INDmoney bags $11mn from Sixteenth Street Capital, Ankur Warikoo, others

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March 28, 2022

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Neo-banking platform INDmoney has raised $11 million from Singapore-based Sixteenth Street Capital, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal, entrepreneur and influencer Ankur Warikoo, and others.

With this, Tiger Global, Steadview Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Sixteenth Street Capital, Peyush Bansal, Ankur Warikoo, and others have invested in INDmoney’s $86 million Series D round.

This round also saw participation from founder Ashish Kashyap and some of the key team members of the company comprising Sunny Bajaj (chief compliance officer and General Counsel), Divyang Bhardwaj (head of marketing), Ankur Goyal (strategy and finance), and Vinay Saraf (head of finance).

Rashmi Kwatra, founder and managing partner of Sixteenth Street Capital, said, “Technology enabled, mobile first financial services providers are reaching and catering to previously unserviced customer segments. This is transforming the financial services landscape in the traditionally underpenetrated markets of South and Southeast Asia. Ashish Kashyap and INDmoney have an extremely vigilant product focus. A product first mentality coupled with an impeccable execution ability is resulting in a delightful consumer experience for millions of people. These customers want to understand and grow their personal finances.”

Peyush Bansal, founder and CEO of Lenskart said: “There are very few product companies in India which are scaling on the back of consumer experience and deep tech vs advertising. I have been using INDmoney, and it is an amazing product with global potential, and that’s what I love about it.”

Warikoo, an active INDMoney user, expressed his delight at the opportunity to become an investor in the company.

Ashish Kashyap, the founder of INDmoney, said: “I am excited about this development for two reasons. First: To partner with the best institutions and individuals that will enable us to fulfill our mission of enabling consumers to better their financial lives via our Neo banking features. Second: it is an excellent validation when your own customers and team members invest behind the mission.”

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