There were several important developments in the startup space during this week. Here are the top stories in the startup universe that made headlines this week.

Delhi HC asks Centre to respond to pleas by Facebook, WhatsApp challenging new IT Rules

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Centre to reply to pleas by Facebook and WhatsApp challenging the new IT rules requiring the messaging app to trace chats and make provisions to identify the first originator of the information.

The pleas have challenged the new rules on the grounds that they violate the right to privacy and are unconstitutional.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued notice and asked the Centre through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to file a reply to the petition as well as application to stay the implementation of the Rules. The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 22.

WhatsApp, in its plea said the requirement of intermediaries enabling the identification of the first originator of information in India upon government or court order puts end-to-end encryption and its benefits "at risk".

Govt collaborates with cos to boost startup ecosystem

In a big boost to the Indian startup ecosystem, several collaborations have been announced this week.

Fintech major Paytm has signed an agreement with IT ministry's startup hub to scale deep-tech startups by providing access to platform, knowledge series, experts, resources, and larger community of stakeholders.

The collaboration focuses on fostering partnerships with incubators, accelerators, investors, offering a startup toolkit to solve payments, distribution and growth challenges for early stage startups.

Tech giant, Microsoft India has collaborated with Invest India to support tech startups in the country.

As part of the partnership, the Microsoft for Startups programme will work with Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi Mission) – a programme of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, the company said.

Meanwhile, central government on Wednesday launched a programme to support 300 IT startups under which it will provide seed funding, mentorship and market access with a view to creating 100 unicorns out of the selected startups. Under the Samridh programme, the Meity will provide seed funds of up to Rs 40 lakh for the selected start-ups and mentorship for six months.

Not just that, Centre will soon launch a special incentive scheme to support 75 startups in areas of telemedicine, digital health and artificial intelligence, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said.

The scheme will be launched by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector enterprise under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

IPO-bound Paytm, HDFC Bank in strategic partnership to launch fintech services

With an aim to strengthen its financial services offering ahead of an initial public offering, Paytm has announced a strategic partnership with HDFC Bank for delivering financial solutions to end consumers and merchants across India.

Through this tie-up, the two companies aim to build comprehensive solutions across payment gateway, POS machines and credit products including Paytm postpaid which is Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solution, Eazy EMI and Flexi Pay, and more.

The first leg of the partnership will include Payment Gateway and POS solutions for Indian merchant partners.

From credit programs for kiranas to social commerce platform Shopsy,

Flipkart is on a roll!

E-commerce major Flipkart’s digital B2B marketplace, Flipkart Wholesale, on Tuesday announced the launch of credit programs to help kiranas manage their working capital requirements and grow their business. The programs include ‘Easy Credit’ in partnership with IDFC FIRST Bank as well as other fintech institutions.

The credit line will range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh with an interest-free period of up to 14 days. Kiranas can also avail the benefits of flexible repayment options through cash and online transfers as well as instant refunds in case of order cancellation while keeping a tab on their credit balance and bills.

Meanwhile, Flipkart's newly launched social commerce platform Shopsy is the world-first foray into the space for American retail giant Walmart, the latter's international president and CEO Judith McKenna said on Thursday.

Shopsy was launched in July and Flipkart had said it aims to enable over 25 million online entrepreneurs by 2023, adding that Shopsy will offer 15 crore products across Fashion, Beauty, Mobiles, Home etc for individual entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon claimed that the Indian retail segment is poised to grow to over a trillion dollars by 20225. McMillon pointed out that Walmart's e-commerce unit Flipkart and digital payment firm PhonePe are both growing very well and have an "amazing number" of users.

BharatPe forays into P2P lending with ‘12% Club’

Newly-minted unicorn, BharatPe, is bolstering its consumer play, foraying into the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending space with the launch of its product -- 12% Club.

BharatPe’s P2P offering will allow individual investors to invest and borrow at 12 percent interest through the ‘12 percent Club’ app. For the consumer product, BharatPe has partnered with LenDenClub and is in the process of onboarding Liquiloans.

P2P investors on BharatPe’s platform will be lending to its merchants, as it wants to ensure low delinquencies. The borrowing on ‘12% Club’ will be fueled by a standard non-banking finance companies (NBFC) such as Hindon Mercantile to give loans to consumers. The company aims to achieve an investment AUM of $100 million and a lending AUM of $50 million from this product, by the end of the current fiscal.

Google ties up with fintech Setu to let its users open FDs on GPay

Google has joined hands with fintech company Setu to allow its users to open fixed deposits (FDs) through Google Pay.

Initially, the FDs of Equitas Small Finance Bank will be offered for a period of one year carrying a maximum interest rate of 6.35 percent.

Consumers can book via the Google Pay app high-interest rate FDs fully digitally - without needing to open a savings account with Equitas Bank on its own, the company said in a statement.

With this move, Equitas SFB has extended its Digital Banking products portfolio to include digital FDs via Fintech partners. Equitas has launched two Neobanks on the Digital Savings Accoun. As per the company, this digital FD product brings a whole new digital banking experience to the customer via the Google Pay platform.

PhonePe gets in-principle nod from RBI to operate as account aggregator

Digital payments platform PhonePe has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an account aggregator (AA).

The Walmart-backed company said the licence will enable free and instant exchange of financial data between the Financial Information Users (FIUs) and Financial Information Providers (FIPs) with due consent from customers, in a safe and secure manner.

The development is a big milestone for the platform that has over 30 crore registered users and is accepted by over two crore merchant outlets across India.

Swiggy launches Jumpstart 2.0 to support restaurant partners; offers benefits worth Rs 63 Cr

In a bid to help the restaurants affected by the pandemic, online food delivery platform Swiggy has announced the launch of Jumpstart 2.0.

Under this initiative, Swiggy is offering Rs 63 crores to its restaurant partners and is assisting them in the recovery and revival of their business.

Swiggy is also giving restaurant partners benefits such as enhanced visibility of restaurants for consumers up to 12 kilometers, bi-weekly payment to enable better cash flows particularly for small-medium restaurants and facilitation of attractive business loans for restaurant partners as part of Capital Assist Program.

The initiative is an extension of Swiggy’s Jumpstart Package launched in June 2020 which aided over 50,000 restaurants partners in recovery and growth post the impact of Covid-19.

Dunzo’s revenue shoots up 1.6 times; plans to add 300 micro-fulfilment centres to deliver grocery

Hyperlocal delivery firm Duzo plans to add over 300 micro-fulfilment centres across 700 neighbourhoods with a focus on express grocery delivery.

Through Dunzo Daily, the company will scale its services to the top 20 cities in India over the next 18 months. Making in-roads into the on-demand grocery delivery market, the company recently launched Dunzo Daily which promises to deliver essentials in under 19 minutes.

The company has also scaled up its gross merchandise value 1.6 times during the financial year 2021 as compared to the previous year, it said in a statement. Dunzo also claimed that it has improved its unit economics by reducing its expenses per rupee of operating revenue earned from Rs13 in FY20 to Rs 6 in FY21.

Govt to decide on cryptocurrency bill in next Parl session

The Centre is expected to take up the bill to regulate cryptocurrency in the next parliament session.

Government officials told CNBC-TV18 that crypto issue needs to be thought through from all angels. They added that government can’t end up doing something where good also gets harmed.

The cryptocurrency bill's primary aim is to create an official digital currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The bill seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India.

However, the central government will not accept cryptocurrency as legal tender any time soon. The Centre has reiterated time and again that it does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin.

Google introduces global kids safety programme in India

Google on Wednesday launched its global 'Be Internet Awesome' programme for children in India in partnership with Indian comic book publisher Amar Chitra Katha to interweave critical internet safety lessons across eight Indian languages.

The tech giant has also launched a newly enhanced Google Safety Centre in eight Indic languages as part of its efforts to step up safety of users on the internet.

The latest initiatives are supported by a series of new global policies announced by Google that include product changes to Google accounts for people under 18 across YouTube, search, location history, Play and Google Workspace for Education.

Facebook to bring voice and video calling to main app

Facebook is letting some users make voice and video calls within its main app on a trial basis, aiming to make it easier to place calls without opening its standalone Messenger app.

The social media giant spun out Messenger from its main app years ago, meaning users would have to download a separate app in order to send messages and make calls.

According to Reuters, it plans to eventually integrate WhatsApp into the mix. However, a Facebook spokesperson said on Monday that for a full-featured messaging, audio and video call experience, people should continue using Messenger.

T-Hub announces sixth batch of Lab32 Program with 22 tech startups

Startup ecosystem enabler T-Hub has announced the onboarding of 22 diverse startups for the sixth edition of its flagship pre-acceleration program, Lab32.

T-Hub is allowing international startups to be part of this program in order to provide a global outlook to the existing batch. The pre-acceleration program will run until November 2021, and it will continue with its hybrid model, launched last year owing to the pandemic.

It comprises startups from emerging industries such as Mobility, Electric Vehicles, Edtech, IoT, Healthtech, Legaltech, Enterprise Tech, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and others.

Euler Motors bags order for 2,500 units from e-commerce players

Electric vehicle maker Euler Motors said it has bagged a total order for 2,500 units of its upcoming electric three-wheeler cargo carrier from e-commerce players, including BigBasket and Udaan.

It also includes orders from hyperlocal and B2B delivery players for intra-city deliveries.

As per the EV maker, the companies will deploy Euler Motors EV (electric vehicles) across Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. Deliveries of these vehicles are scheduled to take place in the next 6-8 months, it added.

The firm is expected to launch its first three-wheeler cargo vehicle next quarter in the middle of the festive season.

Teachmint partners with Dhaka-based edtech Shikho

Teaching platform Teachmint has partnered with Dhaka-based edtech startup Shikho, in order to deliver classroom solutions to students in Bangladesh, leveraging Teachmint’s live class technology infrastructure.

This partnership comes as part of Shikho’s new Live Class offering, launching later this year powered by Teachmint’s Video-as-a-Service (VaaS) offering for edtech organisations across the globe, the company said.

Stanza Living offers ESOPs to over 800 employees

Co-living operator Stanza Living has allocated Rs 35 crore as part of a new full-scale ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans) plan.

It will cover over 800 employees across its network, including corporate teams and ground-operations staff in this plan, the company said in a statement.

Stanza Living also plans to create an ESOP-linked rewards and recognitions programme from the pool.

GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & STARTUP NEWS

Tim Cook receives over 5 mn shares of Apple stock worth $750 mn

Apple CEO Tim Cook received more than 5 million shares of Apple stock this week, selling most of the stock for more than $750 million, according to CNBC.

The tranche of stock is the final part of the compensation package that Cook received when he took over as CEO of Apple 10 years ago. Last year, he got a new compensation package that runs through 2026. The majority of Cook’s compensation is in the form of restricted stock units.

Cook received the largest amount of stock he was eligible for under the 2011 agreement, which depended on how Apple’s stock performed compared to other companies in the S&P 500.

Apple was in the top third of companies in the cohort, with total shareholder return of 191.83 percent over the past three years, ranking 13th out of 442 companies, according to CNBC.

China plans to ban US IPOs for data-heavy tech firms - WSJ

China plans to propose new rules that would ban companies with large amounts of sensitive consumer data from going public in the Unites States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Officials from China's stock regulator have told some companies and international investors in recent weeks, that the new rules would prohibit internet firms holding a swath of user-related data from listing abroad, according to the report.

Microsoft warns cloud customers of exposed databases

Microsoft has warned thousands of its cloud computing customers that intruders could have the ability to read, change or even delete their main databases, Reuters reported.

The vulnerability is in Microsoft Azure's flagship Cosmos DB database. A research team at security company Wiz discovered it was able to access keys that control access to databases held by thousands of companies.

Microsoft has agreed to pay Wiz $40,000 for finding the flaw and reporting it.

PayPal launches its cryptocurrency service in the UK

PayPal is launching its cryptocurrency service in the UK, CNBC reported.

The US online payments giant said Monday it would let British customers buy, hold and sell digital currencies, starting this week.

It marks the first international expansion of PayPal’s crypto product, which first launched in the US in October last year.

'Black Widow' helps Disney collect $125 mn in online revenue

Walt Disney said in a court filing on Friday that it has garnered $125 million in online revenue from the Marvel superhero film "Black Widow", three weeks after getting sued by its star Scarlett Johansson.

As per Reuters, the actress last month sued Disney alleging that the company breached her contract when it offered the movie on streaming at the same time it played in theaters

The entertainment company, in the filing, has countered Johansson's request for a civil trial in Los Angeles by asking for the suit to be sent to arbitration in New York.

Johansson's suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, argued that the dual release strategy of "Black Widow" had reduced her compensation.

Facebook-Giphy deal puts antitrust focus back on stealth M&A

Facebook’s $400-million acquisition of image library Giphy was targeted in a new antitrust complaint filed by the US Federal Trade Commission, according to Bloomberg News.

The commission said that Facebook has illegally maintained a monopoly in social media by buying companies it sees as competitive threats.

Facebook said it disagreed with the regulator’s findings and said the deal was in the interest of people and businesses in the UK and around the world.

The review is ongoing, according to the commission.

Facebook is now in danger of being forced to sell Giphy. The UK’s antitrust watchdog has provisionally determined that the acquisition threatens competition in social media and display advertising. The Competition and Markets Authority said the only way to address its concerns is for Facebook to sell Giphy. The CMA plans to issue its final report in October.

Airbnb to host 20,000 Afghan refugees

Online accommodation platform Airbnb has said it will house 20,000 Afghan refugees at no charge to help them resettle across the world.

The company's boss Brian Chesky said the move was in response to "one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time".

The refugees will be housed in properties listed on Airbnb's platform and the stays will be funded by Airbnb, Chesky said on Twitter, without specifying exactly how much the company plans to spend on the commitment or how long refugees will be housed for.

Eyewear maker Warby Parker to go public via direct listing on NYSE

Eyewear company Warby Parker on Tuesday filed paperwork with U.S. regulators for a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, revealing a 53 percent surge in revenue for the first half of 2021.

According to Reuters, the company, whose existing investors include Tiger Global Management and General Catalyst, did not disclose the number of Class A common shares its stockholders were looking to sell. It will not receive any proceeds from the sale of such shares.

The New York-based firm, known for its fashionable eyewear starting at $95, was valued at $3 billion after a $245 million funding round in 2020, the Wall Street Journal had reported.

S.Korea parl committee votes to curb Google, Apple commission dominance

A South Korean parliamentary committee voted on Wednesday to recommend amending a law, a key step toward banning Google and Apple from forcibly charging software developers commissions on in-app purchases, the first such curb by a major economy.

Apple and Google have faced global criticism because they require software developers using their app stores to use proprietary payment systems that charge commissions of up to 30 percent.

As per Reuters, Apple said the bill "will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections", hurt user trust in App Store purchases and lead to fewer opportunities for South Korean developers.

Based on South Korean parliament records, the amendment bans app store operators with dominant market positions from forcing payment systems on content providers and "inappropriately" delaying the review of, or deleting, mobile contents from app markets.

US approves licenses for Huawei to buy auto chips

US has approved license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for China's blacklisted telecom company Huawei to buy chips for its growing auto component business, sources told Reuters.

Huawei has been hobbled by trade restrictions imposed by the Trump administration on the sale of chips and other components used in its network gear and smartphones businesses. The Biden administration has been reinforcing the hard line on exports to Huawei, denying licenses to sell chips to Huawei for use in or with 5g devices.

Sources told Reuters the US has granted licenses authorising suppliers to sell chips to Huawei for such vehicle components as video screens and sensors. The approvals come as Huawei pivots its business toward items that are less susceptible to US trade bans.

Buffett-backed Nubank to seek IPO valuation of over $55 bn

Brazil's Nubank is seeking a valuation in its planned US IPO that would push the eight-year-old fintech past the $55.4 billion value of the country's top traditional lender, Reuters reported.

In a recent funding round led by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Nubank was valued at $30 billion. If Nubank is listed at a market cap greater than Itau Unibanco Holding $55.4 billion, it would vault into the ranks of the world's largest fintechs, ahead of recently listed Robinhood Markets, for example.

In recent weeks Nubank's bankers have pitched a valuation of as much as $100 billion. But the sources tell Reuters that the Brazilian fintech unicorn was unlikely to be valued so highly at the time it goes public.

JOYY's top shareholders plan take-private deal, value firm at up to $8 bn

Chinese social media company JOYY’s top two shareholders, its Chairman David Li and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, plan to take the Nasdaq-listed company private in a deal that could value it at up to $8 billion, sources told Reuters.

They are teaming up for the deal as they believe the company is undervalued in the US market, sources added. JOYY had an average market value of $3.9 billion over the past month, while its net asset value totalled $5.6 billion as of June 30, based on its quarterly results.

Li and Lei are looking to offer $75-$100 per share to take the cash-rich JOYY private, a premium of 50-100 percent to the share's average price over the past month.

If completed, the deal will add to a growing number of New York-listed Chinese firms that have already opted out of US bourses by going private or returning to equity markets closer to home via second listings.

Instagram rolls out ads on Shop tab globally

Facebook owned Instagram will launch advertising on its Shop feature globally, Reuters reported, as the social media giant seeks to earn more money from brands hoping to reach new customers.

Instagram Shop is a tab on the photo- and video-sharing app that lets users browse items such as clothes and beauty products and in some cases purchase the items directly within the Instagram app. Users can click on an Instagram Shop ad to view more details about the product, browse additional items from the brand or save the product to a wishlist.

The company began testing the ads earlier this month with a few select advertisers, but the feature is now open to brands globally wherever Instagram Shop is available.

Facebook considers forming an election commission –NYT

Facebook has approached academics and policy experts about forming a commission to advise it on issues relating to global elections, The New York Times reported.

The proposed body could decide on matters such as political ads and their viability and concerns around election-related misinformation, according to the report.

An announcement on the commission could come this fall in preparation for the 2022 US midterm elections, the report said, cautioning such efforts were preliminary and could still fall apart.

First Published:Aug 28, 2021 12:44 AM IST