Belgian Waffle Co concentrates on expansion

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October 21, 2021

The Belgian Waffle Co, owned and run by Bloombay Enterprises LLP, has expanded its horizons. The brand is currently concentrating on adding more new outlets to its inventory and getting into the FMCG category via e-commerce platforms and their stores.

Taking a multichannel approach, the brand, launched in 2015, now aspires to be present across categories such as QSRs, e-commerce platforms, modern trade, and A-list stores across the country.

It was the pandemic that accelerated the digital and FMCG growth of the company. “We had always planned to naturally extend into this segment and Covid fuelled the need to expedite this and diversify. We have a skilled product team and the right expertise that allowed us to innovate and create the perfect product basket for retail consumption, which resonated with our core brand promises,” said Shrey Aggarwal, founder of The Belgian Waffle Co.

The pandemic also prompted the QSR chain to focus as much, if not more, on online performance than in-store performance. However, the founder believes that the game will be played on an omnichannel level in the future, rather than online, in-store, or in silos.

“While third-party delivery platforms will continue to be a key lever in our growth platforms, we do believe having our own D2C platform will help us take our online experience to the customer even further and provide more value. Our own brand store will launch in the next couple of months and will provide some exciting additions,” Aggarwal added.

Belgian Waffles Co. began with a single location in Mumbai and has since expanded to 75 cities in India and Nepal, with 275 locations. In the next three years, the waffle company hopes to become the country’s most significant QSR dessert player, with 750 locations across the country and overseas.

“For our core business, we have always had a Pan Indian focus and ensured our model is built to fit that vision of scale while prioritising quality at all times. Our products have a high shelf life and we provide our own custom products and flavours centrally to all our own and partner stores throughout the country and internationally through 3P logistics,” Aggarwal stated.

He believes that today’s consumers are more adventurous and responsive to a good product. Gen Z and young millennial audiences are well-versed in global tastes and trends, as well as their preferences. He went on to say that the epidemic had a significant impact on consumption patterns.

He said, “We are seeing online consumption increasing and with higher ticket sizes than in-store purchases. With stores back open now, we are also witnessing consumers flocking back to our stores and picking up from where they left off. I think the consumer preferences are now going to be an amalgamation of offline and online consumption patterns, and those who serve omnichannel experiences and provide quality and convenience will make the most.”

Apple iPhone maker aims to manufacture electric vehicles in India

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BRL Editor

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October 20, 2021

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On Wednesday, Liu Young-way, Chairman of Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, said that the company is considering producing electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe, India, and Latin America and “indirectly” partnering with German automakers.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, aspires to become a key player in the global electric vehicle market and has signed agreements with Fisker Inc of the United States and PTT PCL of Thailand.

After introducing three electric vehicle prototypes on Monday, Liu told reporters at a business forum in Taipei that he couldn’t reveal any details about their plans for Europe, India, and Latin America due to “disclosure restrictions.”

“Europe will be a bit faster, I agree with that. But as to where, I can’t tell you,” he said.

When asked if they would work with German automakers, he answered “indirectly,” adding that Europe would come first, followed by India and Latin America, with Mexico being “very possible.”

In May, Foxconn and carmaker Stellantis announced that they would form a joint venture to deliver in-car and connected-car technologies to the whole automotive industry.

This month, Foxconn purchased a facility in the United States from Lordstown Motors Corp to manufacture electric vehicles. It purchased a semiconductor facility in Taiwan in August to meet future demand for auto chips.

Foxconn, which is best known for making iPhones for Apple Inc, has set a goal of providing components or services for 10% of the world’s electric vehicles by 2025-2027.

Facebook intends to change its name

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October 20, 2021

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According to The Verge, which cited a source with direct knowledge of the matter, social media behemoth Facebook Inc will rebrand itself with a new name next week.

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg wants to discuss the name change during its annual Connect conference on Oct. 28, but it might be revealed sooner, the Verge reported.

In response, Facebook said it does not comment on “rumour or speculation.”

The news comes when the US authorities scrutinize the company’s business operations. Facebook has been chastised by lawmakers from both parties, illustrating Congress’s growing dissatisfaction with the firm.

According to the Verge, the renaming will portray Facebook’s social network app as one of many products under a parent company that manages Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and other companies.

It’s not uncommon for companies in Silicon Valley to change their names to expand their offerings.

In 2015, Google formed Alphabet Inc as a holding company to oversee numerous other operations ranging from its autonomous vehicle unit and health technologies to delivering internet services in rural locations, in addition to its search and advertising companies.

According to the report, the rebranding will reflect Facebook’s focus on developing the so-called metaverse, an online world where people can travel and converse in a virtual environment using a variety of gadgets.

Facebook has made significant investments in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), intending to connect its almost three billion users via various devices and apps.

On Tuesday, the business announced plans to generate 10,000 jobs in the European Union over the next five years to aid in developing the metaverse.

Since July, Zuckerberg has been promoting the metaverse, first conceived in a dystopian novel three decades ago and has since been mentioned by other internet companies such as Microsoft.

Microsoft is terminating LinkedIn in China

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October 18, 2021

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The world’s most popular social media platforms are unavailable in China. None of the social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Messenger, are allowed to operate in China. The only major social networking platform that isn’t blocked in China is LinkedIn. And now that Microsoft has declared that LinkedIn would be shut down in China, it won’t be able to operate there.

In a blog post, the US-based tech giant said it is “facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China. Given this, we’ve made the decision to sunset the current localised version of LinkedIn, which is how people in China access LinkedIn’s global social media platform, later this year.”

According to a previous report by The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese internet regulator has instructed Microsoft to control its content properly. Some US journalists had their LinkedIn accounts prohibited in China, while professors and researchers had their accounts blocked. Big Tech companies have always been targeted in China, and corporations like Facebook and Google have a near-zero presence. Apple is one of the few major American tech companies with a significant presence in China.

Microsoft isn’t exiting China completely as the company said that its new strategy will be focused “on helping China-based professionals find jobs in China and Chinese companies find quality candidates.”

InJobs, a new job application portal for China, will be launched to help with this. It will lack a social feed, making it impossible for users to share posts or articles. “This decision aligns with our commitment to creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. While that has been our vision for nearly two decades now, it feels more important than ever as we all strive to build a global economy that delivers more prosperity and progress to people all over the world,” said Microsoft in the blog post.

Facebook intends to recruit 10,000 workers in EU

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October 18, 2021

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Facebook says it will hire 10,000 people in the European Union to work on a new computing platform over the next five years.

The high-skilled professionals will assist construct “the metaverse,” a futuristic concept for connecting people online that includes augmented and virtual reality, according to a blog post published by the firm on Sunday.

While dealing with other issues such as antitrust crackdowns, the testimony of a former whistleblowing employee, and concerns about how the company handles vaccine-related and political misinformation on its platform, Facebook executives have been touting the metaverse as the next big thing after the mobile internet.

In response to a Wall Street Journal report about the business’s inability to detect and remove hateful and extremely violent posts, the firm defended its approach to combating hate speech in a separate blog post published on Sunday.

“This investment (in new jobs) is a vote of confidence in the strength of the European tech industry and the potential of European tech talent,” the company said.

Ex-Intel executives’ startup plans to address spiraling costs of AI

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October 14, 2021

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After Intel Corp bought Naveen Rao and Hanlin Tang’s firm in 2016, their task was to assist the chip giant profit from artificial intelligence, which required a lot of computing power and had proven profitable for the chip industry.

However, after quitting Intel last year, the two announced their new startup, MosaicML, on Wednesday. Its goal is to let corporations and researchers use less computer power and fewer chips to do artificial intelligence tasks more efficiently. DCVC, Lux Capital, Future Ventures, Playground Global, and other venture capital firms have contributed $37 million to the company.

Artificial intelligence models, which must be “trained” using massive troves of data, have increased in complexity since 2018, according to MosaicML’s inventors. Training a model can now cost millions of dollars in processing power, making it out of reach for all but the largest businesses.

“Businesses can’t do this anymore – they can’t have access to the latest methods,” Rao told Reuters in an interview. “It’s not good for our field.”

Professor Michael Carbin and Jonathan Frankle, a Ph.D. candidate in his research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively, connected Rao and Tang with researchers who had published work on making machine learning more efficient. The group discovered no single method for lowering AI processing costs but rather a mosaic of multiple approaches forming among academics, hence the company’s name.

MosaicML transforms those existing ideas into something that enterprises can use right away. It then offers premium services, such as tools for calculating the tradeoffs between speed, cost, and accuracy when training an AI model using various types of computing hardware.

MosaicML’s work, according to David Kanter, executive director of MLCommons, an AI industry group that is not affiliated with MosaicML, is important to watch because predicting and controlling computing costs has become a key issue for businesses looking to take advantage of the latest advances in AI technology.

“Removing hassle, making it faster, making it more affordable, all these things are potentially beneficial to the industry,” Kanter said.

Nazara Technologies seeks to expand in the US, Europe

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October 14, 2021

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Nazara Technologies, a gaming and sports media company that recently raised Rs 315 crore to boost its acquisition strategy, has expanded its reach to the United States and Europe.

Nazara is attempting to fill some gaps in its casual, social multiplayer, e-sports, and real money gaming divisions, after actively exploring and purchasing startups over the last five years.

“We are looking at expanding our M&A team outside India. All our M&A has broadly happened in India because we are a product of the Indian ecosystem,” said chief executive Manish Agarwal. “We want to really kind of expand our M&A into Europe and US, especially in the mobile gaming space because that’s where you have a long history of game development in Europe for 40 years versus India for four-five years.”

In March, Nazara made its public market debut, becoming India’s first publicly traded gaming company. Since then, the stock has nearly doubled in value.

Gamnat Pte, an investment firm run by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, and Ahmedabad-based Plutus Wealth Management contributed to the company’s funding round last week.

“This money which we have raised is a war chest for us to quickly accelerate the deals. If you notice in the past, our deal is always done with a combination of our equity and cash,” said Agarwal. “Having cash really helps you in closing things because then you can satisfy the demands of the founders or financial security needs of the founders much better if you have some cash upfront that you can give.”

According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, the Indian gaming business is expected to reach $6-$7 billion in value by2025, up from $1.8 billion today (IAMAI).

People were hungry for entertainment options during the Covid-19 pandemic, which boosted the gaming industry’s growth, and video games’ popularity is predicted to continue.

Nazara’s IPO in March included a Rs 583 crore secondary share sale, but the business did not attract any new capital. The additional funds will allow the company to increase its acquisitions.

Lulu Group opens third shopping mall in Bengaluru

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October 12, 2021

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Lulu Group, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, unveiled a new shopping complex in Bengaluru on Monday and plans to develop two additional properties in India in the next six months, indicating that the company remains optimistic about long-term retail growth. Lulu Group Chairman and Managing Director M. A. Yusuff Ali told PTI that the company had committed an investment of around Rs 4,500 crore for the development of five shopping malls in India in the first phase of its expansion in the country, three of which have already opened in Kochi, Thrissur, and now Bengaluru.

The Lulu group will manage and operate the 8 lakh square feet ‘Global Mall’ in Rajajinagar, Bengaluru, which the Lulu company does not own.

“We have one large hypermarket in Kochi and one small hypermarket in Thrissur district. This (at Bengaluru) is our third Hypermarket in India,” Ali said, who is visiting India for the launch of the Bengaluru mall.

The Bengaluru mall will also feature a 60,000 sq ft entertainment zone called Funtura and a 2 lakh sq ft hypermarket.

“There has been some delay in our two mall projects at Trivandrum and Lucknow. We will not back off from any projects. We are going forward,” Ali said.

Trivandrum’s upcoming mall will open by the end of this year, while Lucknow’s retail mall will open in the first quarter of 2022.

“In the first phase, we had planned these five projects. The first batch of investment is around Rs 4,500 crore for all these five projects,” Ali said.

The company is looking at new markets in states where it currently has a presence and new states for the next round of investment.

Asked about the outlook on retail business amid the COVID pandemic, Ali said: “Being a retail organization with almost four decades of experience, we have gone through ups and downs. But obviously, the worst is behind us. Things cannot go worse than that. In challenging times, we have to make adjustments and fine-tunes things, but now I can fairly say with the confidence, it is only going forward.”

“Travel restrictions have eased out; people are vaccinated, they are more careful about themselves, people are eager to come out and enjoy and lead the life back. Enough of virtual and digital life. We are seeing tremendous growth potential,” he observed.

Graphy buys ed-tech startup Spayee for $25 million

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BRL Editor

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October 12, 2021

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Unacademy Group-owned Graphy announced on Monday that it had purchased ed-tech platform Spayee for $25 million to expand its reach and improve its product offerings.

Spayee will continue to operate independently following the acquisition, according to a statement from the firm.

Spayee, which has been around for seven years, allows content creators to create customized courses in the form of audio and video lessons, PDF papers, quizzes, assignments, and live classes.

Spayee also assists creators in designing and developing their websites and mobile apps for Android and iOS. Over 2,000 entrepreneurs and businesses have now used Spayee to build their platforms, according to the company.

“The creator economy is booming, and at Graphy, we are constantly on the lookout for avenues that will help creators grow and achieve their full potential. We share a common ethos with Spayee, recognising the need for an affordable, secured, and scalable medium for content creators to build an online education business. And Spayee has built a winning proposition for creators,” said Sumit Jain, co-founder, and chief executive officer, Graphy.

“We are confident that having them as part of the Unacademy Group will help us explore common synergies and build the world’s largest creator community,” added Jain.

Over 500 active creators are currently using the platform to expand their reach and monetize their skills.

Graphy has also recently introduced several programmes, like the Creator Grant and the Graphy Select Accelerator, to assist creators in monetizing their skills and launch an online school.

Unacademy raised $440 million in a new round of funding from General Atlantic, Tiger Global, and Softbank Vision Fund in August of this year. Unacademy was valued at $3.44 billion in the round, a more than twofold rise from its $1.45 billion valuations in September last year, when it joined India’s coveted unicorn club.

Unacademy has acquired three acquisitions this year, including TapChief, professional networking and future of work platform; Handa ka Funda, an online learning platform for CAT aspirants; and Rheo TV, a gaming platform streaming company.

Docprime Technologies invests $7.5 mn in Visit Health

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October 12, 2021

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Docprime Technologies, a unit of PB Fintech Ltd., which also owns Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, announced on Monday that it has invested $7.5 million in Visit Health, a telehealth and wellness platform.

Docprime has made its first investment in a complete telehealth and wellness platform.

Visit Health, which has been around for five years, offers an integrated solution that allows businesses to provide their employees with access to certified specialists while also guiding them in managing their healthcare needs. The technology enables businesses to improve their employees’ healthcare experiences while also reducing medical costs.

According to PB Fintech, the investment would help it improve its service capabilities in the health and wellness industry.

“Our goal with this investment is to back Visit Health in their vision to build a strong Digital Health Ecosystem – with outstanding customer service and new ways to help customers navigate a healthcare system. We are proud to back Visit as they approach their next phase of growth,” said Yashish Dahiya, chairman and chief executive officer, PB Fintech.

Docprime, the parent company of Policybazaar, launched its platform in August 2018 and allows customers to make appointments with doctors and diagnostic labs. The platform also serves as an agent, or a facilitator, for several healthcare, wellness, and personal care products.

“Visit is excited to have PB Fintech as a partner in our strategic vision to create a Digital Health Ecosystem. Our product offering is backed by Health insurers and the large cashless network stitched by us. With this investment, we plan to grow our platform and network capabilities and expand our teams across technology, sales, and network functions,” said Visit Health’s chief executive officer, Anurag Prasad on the acquisition.

Visit Health previously raised $1.4 million in a seed round and is backed by Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and Hetero Drugs Director Murali Krishna.

Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, invested in the startup in 2018.

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