Prathidhwani Women Forum started ‘Back to Work’ programme to help women restart IT career

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March 10, 2022

A women’s collective of government IT parks in the state has started a ‘Back to Work’ programme for women IT professionals in a unique initiative to bring back women who had worked in the IT field and were forced to take a break from their job owing to various reasons.

The women forum of Prathidhwani, a welfare organization for IT personnel, inaugurated the initiative at Infopark in Kochi, Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, and Cyberpark in Kozhikode.

The programme is open to all women who have worked in the IT sector for at least one year and are looking to restart their careers. The candidates who have been accepted will go through two months of re-skilling and up-skilling training.

Various technical subjects will be covered during the special training sessions. Following the training, the collective will assist the candidates in finding jobs in various IT organizations via their job portal.

“Many women IT professionals were forced to leave their job due to various reasons, including marriage, childcare, etc. Even if they want to return to their profession, it would be difficult for them to get a placement in IT companies mainly due to the career break. We are planning to extend support to such candidates,” said a member of the Women Forum of Prathidhwani Aswathi J G.

“Those who are interested in restarting their career can approach us. We will categorize the candidates based on their experience, training and current requirement trends. After training, their profiles will be shared across all the companies for evaluation. The training sessions would be held through virtual platforms,” she said.

“We will assist the candidates to become updated by supporting in the training and interview preparations, but the placement would be carried out by the companies based on the performance of the respective candidates,” she said, adding that Prathidhwani will reach out to all the companies registered in the organization’s job portal requesting evaluation of the candidates.

On International Women’s Day, registration for the programme opened on Tuesday. “The response to the programme was overwhelming. More than 200 people have registered for the programme until Wednesday evening. The registration would remain open till Friday,” she said.

Jiffy.ai collects $53mn in funding from Eight Road Ventures

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March 9, 2022

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Eight Roads Ventures led a $53 million fundraising round for Jiffy.ai, a business-to-business (B2B) automation platform. According to the company, the funds will be used to expand the company’s sales and marketing operations and advance its HyperApp platform.

According to the company, Iron Pillar, R-Squared, and existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Reaction Capital, and Rebright Partners all participated in the round.

“This funding will help build autonomous enterprises of the future by applying artificial intelligence and automation to transform enterprise operations,” said Babu Sivadasan, cofounder and chief executive, Jiffy.ai.

The company, founded in 2018 as Paanini Inc.’s go-to-market brand, is focusing on developing its intelligent automation platform. Clients can use the platform to build automated business capabilities to learn and adapt to changing needs with minimal additional resources and operational expenditure.

“The automation of business processes has become an integral pillar of the digital transformation agenda of enterprises, especially post-pandemic,” said Shweta Bhatia, partner & head of technology investments in India at Eight Roads Ventures.

“Jiffy.ai’s intelligent automation platform, powered by a no-code development engine, is set to accelerate the digital transformation of the global enterprise,” said Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director of Nexus Venture Partners.

“Jiffy.ai has combined the ease of building enterprise workflows with the power of AI, ML, IDP and other core technologies to deliver a powerful, comprehensive solution,” said Mohanjit Jolly, Partner at Iron Pillar.

B2B enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) has attracted a lot of interest from risk investors, and it’s been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the recent funding boom.

Muthoot Microfin to provide healthcare in rural India via e-clinics

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March 9, 2022

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Muthoot Microfin has partnered with M-SWASTH to establish e-clinics at its branches to provide rural India with accessible and affordable healthcare. Across the initial phase, the MFI opened 12 e-clinics in Kerala, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh.

According to the WHO, everyone, including people and communities, should get the healthcare they need regardless of their financial situation. When it comes to healthcare, people in rural areas are often underserved. Muthoot Microfin and M-SWASTH have partnered up to start e-clinics in distant regions across India to address this issue with a unique and revolutionary e-clinic strategy that uses technology.

E-clinics are specially built compact kiosks equipped with a tablet or laptop for a video consultation with a doctor and medical equipment for a basic vitals check-up, such as temperature, blood pressure, weight, blood sugar, etc., blood count, and other vital signs. It is a basic and straightforward method of obtaining medical treatment that is economical and rapid and reaches rural areas. The customer and her entire family are welcome to use the facility.

Asha employees will operate the e-clinics, and dedicated staff will be stationed across the Muthoot Microfin branch.

Sadaf Sayeed, CEO of Muthoot Microfin, stated, “We are already addressing the ‘WASH’ related challenges of our customers. This is another remarkable step taking the most advanced and digital health facilities to our customers from the remote, rural villages of India. The people from such places deserve to have the advantages of evolving advancements in the health sector. Our plan is to open the e-clinics in all our branches and hope, this will have a great impact on health and awareness of our customers and the rural India.”

Consulting firm Zinnov starts office in Pune to focus on talent acquisition

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March 9, 2022

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Zinnov, a consulting firm, announced that its newest India office would open in Pune, Maharashtra, in March 2022. After working as a trusted consulting partner with leaders and organisations in Pune for the past two decades, this move will allow Zinnov to play a more integral role in the Pune technology ecosystem.

Zinnov has recently assisted several global companies in establishing their India centres in Pune, even during the height of the pandemic, demonstrating the city’s strategic importance.

Pune’s proximity to the financial capital, a strong university ecosystem, a vibrant tech start-up ecosystem, and a tightly knit technology community make it a destination of choice for many new companies/companies looking to expand their operations. As a result, it is home to 12% of India’s total 1430+ GCoEs.

Speaking about the new office location, Harish Singh, Managing Partner, Zinnov, said, “Pune has always been an important location for us since our inception. We have strong connects in the ecosystem, and we have partnered with companies, industry bodies, and universities, to solve problems across talent, technology, process, and innovation. As Zinnov continues to grow, Pune has become a logical extension of our growth plan. We will be leveraging this office to deepen our connects and provide strategic support to the region’s growth and innovation agenda.”

Rakhi Deshpande, Director – Talent Acquisition, Zinnov, said, “Pune was a logical choice for us and for our growing clientele. Given Pune’s importance as a digital talent house, the new office will not only enable customer proximity and knowledge, but also help us better deliver on our role as an ecosystem orchestrator. The goal is to drive more value-focused conversations and idea exchanges for the technology community as a whole. A large part of the team based out of Pune will be focused on Talent and helping our customers scale their operations more efficiently and quickly.”

Citi intends 900 hires for commercial banking unit over three years

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March 8, 2022

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Citigroup’s commercial banking unit, which serves mid-sized businesses in more than 60 countries, plans to add roughly 900 people over the next three years, including over 400 commercial bankers.

According to a report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2018, MNEs account for half of the worldwide exports, nearly one-third of global GDP, and about one-fourth of global employment.

“Servicing clients whose annual revenues range from $10 million to $3 billion, Citi anticipates that the financial needs of this critical client segment will evolve, requiring the sophisticated banking solutions and expertise a global bank like Citi can offer,” it said.

Citigroup is investing extensively in this sector, with most new hiring centred in areas where business activity is expected to pick up, such as the United States, China, Brazil, India, and Western European countries.

“In today’s interconnected world, mid-sized companies quickly outgrow the capabilities of a local or even a regional bank. They are going global faster and reaching scale sooner than ever before,” explained Tasnim Ghiawadwala, Global Head, Citi Commercial Bank.

“CCB is the ideal banking partner for our clients as they seek Citi’s global connectivity and institutional expertise across working capital management and strategic capital market offerings. We can offer our mid-sized clients the suite of capabilities used by the largest companies in the world customized to their needs and scale of operations,” she continued.

The commercial banking unit is focusing on deepening penetration in emerging, high-growth disruptor sectors by recruiting industry expert senior bankers and improving training and development for existing bankers, in addition to expanding its digital capabilities.

The move comes as the Wall Street institution reduces its international footprint by abandoning non-core areas. Jane Fraser, who took over as CEO last year, has worked to simplify the bank and bring its profitability in line with its competitors.

Citi said in a separate statement that it would add close to 350 people, including nearly 200 commercial bankers, as part of its worldwide headcount expansion plan over the next three years to accelerate growth in the Asia Pacific region.

Digital presence to support Bajaj Finance’s growth

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March 8, 2022

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The new digital platform from Bajaj Finance Ltd is a step ahead in terms of offering services similar to those offered by fintech apps like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay. While phase one of the business transformation journey focused on laying a firm foundation, phase two focuses on improving the customer experience by providing new features and expanding on existing capabilities.

The existing consumer app has 16.5 million active subscribers as of December 31, 2021, whereas the new platform had 6 million. True, rival finance apps like Paytm have a larger user base, but Bajaj can leverage its strengths in the offline channel as a key financier in categories like consumer durables and move revenue-generating consumers to the digital platform.

“While competition in EMI-financing space for consumer durables is increasing, we aren’t as concerned about risk of loss of market-share/ pricing pressure because (1) Banks largely focus on prime and carded customers, (2) Fintechs have yet not developed collection capabilities or fully tested their retail lending modules and (3) while ecommerce platforms are expanding market and/or gaining share from physical stores, physical stores are also putting-up a fight by matching prices or service, especially in segments like electronics,” said analysts at Jefferies India Pvt. Ltd in a report.

“Addition of such partnerships should drive greater engagement and transaction throughput, thus extending the platform from being a leading financial services provider to an omnichannel financial marketplace. Along with customer additions, we would closely track new-to-Bajaj additions through the digital route,” said analysts at JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd in a report.

All eyes are on the progress of the digital transformation journey as operating metrics hit pre-covid levels.

“We believe Bajaj Finance is catching up well with fintech players in terms of digital interface while delivering profitability, hence we remain constructive on this business transformation journey,” added the JM Financial report.

Faasos turns the largest Indian-origin QSR chain in 10 countries

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March 8, 2022

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Faasos, Rebel Foods’ in-house brand, has announced that it has reached the 500-restaurant mark in ten countries, making it the world’s largest Indian-origin QSR chain.

In 2021, Faasos expanded into seven new countries: the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. In the recent quarter, the company added 55 new internet restaurants and 50 new cities in India, motivated by an 80% consumer repeat rate and a sustained focus on customer love and taste.

Within months of its launch in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, the brand saw a 7.5X increase in orders and has received positive feedback from customers worldwide.

Faasos is the only organized competitor in the area that offers a diverse range of items while maintaining the consistency and reliability of a large-scale QSR. In addition, the firm is considering releasing new additions from consumer-first initiatives such as party packs, Faasos fit, and select global bestsellers.

In 2022, Faasos hopes to continue to attract new customers and expand into new locations and geographies.

Speaking of this development, Ankush Grover, Co-founder, Rebel Foods says, “Faasos was started out of passion in 2003 and was built as our first cloud kitchen brand under the Rebel portfolio in 2011. Since then, Faasos has received customer love from 10 countries in the last 10+ years. This is a very special milestone for us and our loyal customers, as Faasos is where our Rebel journey started. This journey has contributed manifold towards us reaching the unicorn status. We are the pioneers in personalization, innovation, and transparency in the food-tech space and will continue to serve our existing and newer food missions powered by automation and tech.”

“We have seen great consumer love in all the markets we are present in with great product ratings. In 2022, we want to work on building awareness and salience for Faasos in these markets to grow it further. We’ll also look at the continued increase in footprint in current markets and expand into a few new markets. We are also excited to explore an assorted Global best sellers collection where we pick some of the best-selling products in each of our markets and club them together.”, he further added.

Insurtech platform Zopper touches $100 million annualized insurance premium

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March 7, 2022

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Insurtech platform Zopper announced that it had reached $100 million in annualized insurance premium due to the acceleration of digital transformation, the demand for digital solutions exploding across the insurance value chain, and ecosystem partners collaborating with insurtech players.

“Achieving $100 million in annual insurance premium is a significant moment for stakeholders,” Surjendu Kuila, founder and CEO, Zopper said.

“We aim to increase insurance penetration in the country by leveraging new-age technology. The world is embracing digitalization at a much faster pace than expected, especially owing to the pandemic. The share of digital insurance is anticipated to grow to 19% by 2027, and we look forward to scaling to 50 million policies over this period.”

Zopper, backed by Tiger Global and Blume Ventures, provides end-to-end insurance solutions through its API platform to its distribution partners. Amazon, Ola, Cars24, Xiaomi, Croma, Titan Eye Plus, StoreKing, IIFL, Chaitanya, and other firms are among the company’s more than 60 distribution partners.

Microsoft to open largest India data centre region in Hyderabad

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March 7, 2022

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Microsoft Corp. announced that it would build its largest India data centre region in Hyderabad, Telangana. By 2025, the first phase should be fully functioning.

After its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft’s largest investment in the country, with the highest number of employees, is in Hyderabad. Anant Maheshwari, president of Microsoft India, said there will be an “ongoing investment process which will expand” without providing specific investment figures.

According to Microsoft, this strategic investment is “aligned with its commitment to help customers thrive in a cloud and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled digital economy and will become part of the world’s largest cloud infrastructure.”

The announcement comes as customer demand for cloud-as-a-platform for digital transformation in India grows. Microsoft data centre regions in India generated $9.5 billion in revenue between 2016 and 2020, according to IDC. In addition to the GDP boost, the IDC analysis estimates that 1.5 million new jobs were added to the economy, including 169,000 new skilled IT jobs.

The Hyderabad data centre area will join the existing network of three Indian data centre regions, which include Pune, Mumbai, and Chennai. For enterprises, startups, developers, education, and government institutions, it will offer the complete Microsoft portfolio, including cloud, data solutions, AI, productivity tools, and customer relationship management (CRM) with advanced data security.

Microsoft launched Azure Availability Zones in its Central India data centre area in December last year to provide clients with additional resilience options for their cloud applications. Azure Availability Zones are physically and logically distinct data centres with power, network, and cooling systems.

“Cloud services are poised to play a critical role in reimagining the future of business and governance and enabling overall inclusion in the country. The new data centre will augment Microsoft’s cloud capabilities and capacity to support those working across the country. It will also support new entrepreneurial opportunities while meeting critical security and compliance needs. The new data centre region is a testament to our mission to empower the people and organizations of India to achieve more. We are pleased to be collaborating with the Government of Telangana on this major milestone and we deeply appreciate their support,” said Maheshwari.

Jio, Inmobi, Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Apollo Hospitals, Mahindra, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Piramal, State Bank of India, Flipkart, Pidilite, and Amity are among Microsoft’s customers in India.

Microsoft has stated that by 2025, it aims to have a renewable energy supply equal to the amount of electricity utilized by its data centres. The new data centre region will be designed and operated sustainably, allowing Microsoft to deliver reliable and highly available cloud services at scale, according to the company.

Captain Fresh bags $50mn, bringing valuation to $500 million

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March 7, 2022

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Captain Fresh, a B2B seafood and meat marketplace raised $50 million in a round led by existing investors Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global.

The round was also attended by Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, and Incubate Fund. This is the organization’s second fundraising attempt in three months.

According to Utham Gowda, co-founder and CEO of Captain Fresh, the company’s worth has more than doubled to $500 million due to the investment round.

A strategic investor is anticipated to provide an additional $10 million, a source said.

The new funds will mostly be used for acquisitions, he said.

“We are looking at various assets which are critical in the global supply chain,” he said. “We are shoring up capital for that purpose. These are mostly distribution focussed assets.”

Captain Fresh was established in 2019 as a seafood marketplace with the goal of aggregating the country’s fragmented retail demand and connecting it to small fishermen and farmers.

On the back-to-back funding round, Gowda stated that the company’s “business quality” had improved dramatically over the previous quarter and that the annualized revenue run rate for the year had doubled since December.

“On the supply side, from a seafood marketplace, they are now entering into the larger animal protein industry,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of investments, India, at Prosus Ventures. “On the demand side as well, they have expanded their focus by adding new export markets.”

According to Gowda, the company has made substantial progress in exports since December, with about 20% of its revenue now coming from markets outside India.

The company’s main export markets include the United States, European markets, and West Asian countries. The firm stated that it would expand into Africa and other Asian areas.

“We have increased our addressable market significantly,” he said. “Last quarter we just had plans for the export market, now there are early signs that we can deliver… We continue to attract capital.”

The company said in a statement that its “vision has now expanded to build a sizeable animal protein platform with a play across multi-channel, multi-geography, multi-specie and multi-format retail (fresh/frozen/live).”

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