Also in this letter
- Flipkart names Myntra executive as Cleartrip CEO
- Spiritual wellness, astrology apps gain ground amid Covid
- Pristyn Care eyes unicorn club
Crypto exchanges start blocking ‘suspicious’ accounts
Indian cryptocurrency exchanges have started reporting and blocking trading accounts which undertake suspicious trades.
Why now? This comes after government agencies raised red flags over cryptocurrencies being used for money laundering. India is yet to come out with any regulations around cryptocurrencies or a way to tax them.
Investigators including cybercrime officials, the Enforcement Directorate and the income tax department, have raised concerns in the past few months.
WazirX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, said that between April and September this year, the exchange received 377 requests from legal enforcement agencies, out of which 38 requests were from foreign law enforcement agencies. The crypto exchange locked about 1,500 accounts.
Quote: “Initiatives such as the transparency report add credibility to the ecosystem and make the crypto world look more appealing to outsiders,” Nischal Shetty, CEO and founder, WazirX.
Six months after acquiring Cleartrip, Flipkart appoints a new CEO
In a significant restructuring move, ecommerce giant Flipkart has appointed a new CEO for its subsidiary Cleartrip.
The Walmart-owned e-tailer had acquired travel portal Cleartrip earlier this year to diversify its offerings.
What’s happening? Ayyappan R, who has been the chief business officer at Flipkart-owned fashion e-commerce platform Myntra, has been elevated as the chief executive. Ayyappan is an old-time Flipkart executive who joined the e-commerce company back in 2013. He’s also in the company’s core led by Flipkart group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy’s having worked across various categories and verticals within the e-commerce major for eight years. Ayyappan R’s role in Myntra will be taken over by Sharon Pais who is presently head of loyalty and travel at Flipkart.
Stuart Crighton, who cofounded the Cleartrip with Hrush Bhatt and Matthew Spacie in 2006, will move to a new role where he will lead Cleartrip International, sources added.
What’s the significance? Brining in Ayyappan, an old timer at Flipkart who is among Krishnamurthy’s trusted group of senior executives, signals the focus on this vertical. For a few years, both Flipkart and Amazon have been pushing into newer categories in their diversification push. Online travel and hotel bookings were largely through partnerships with online travel agencies. But that did not find enough traction. Now with Flipkart acquiring Cleartrip for a paltry $40 million amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and appointing of a CEO, the online retailer is cleverly looking to amp up this business.
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Spiritual wellness, astrology apps gain ground amid pandemic
Around 18 startups have launched apps in astrology, horoscopes, palm-reading and numerology segment since last year, according to the latest numbers by Tracxn, a market intelligence provider for private company data.
- This comes on the back of growing appetite of Indians wanting to forecast their future amid the pandemic-led uncertainty.
While astrology has been popular in the country for ages, rising online penetration and availability of experts, awareness amongst millennials who are willing to adapt and experiment with the mystic air around astrology to seek life guidance is at its unprecedented high, say companies.
Quote: “The pandemic has created situations that pushed many towards depression to the extent that they needed external help to preserve their sanity. In India the most common form of that external help is hope by seeking the help of the divine,” said Gaurav Tiwari, founder of Sutradhar, a Titan Capital backed spiritual and devotional content provider.
Using tech to predict the future: Unlike traditional janam kundli, these startups use machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analyst software to study planetary bodies, zodiac signs and unique cosmic signatures and predict career and personal growth.
About 10 such firms cumulatively raised Rs 130 crore since the start of 2020, three times the combined amount raised by such startups over the previous five years, according to Tracxn.
Since last year, many apps in this domain have witnessed a growth rate of 40-400% month-on-month with at least ten apps having more than 10 million downloads each.
TCS asks employees to get back to ‘deputed location’ by November 15
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has asked its emplyees to return to their “deputed location (base branch)” by November 15.
- This comes at a time when India’s largest IT services provider is preparing employees in the country to start working from offices.
Calibrated return: The return to work is a calibrated move that will take into account employee health and safety, the company said in a statement to ET. TCS has 528,748 workers on its rolls, both in India as well as overseas. Currently, about 5% of its associates work from offices.
TCS had earlier said that only one-fourth of its total workforce will have to go to office in the future and that by 2025, only 25% of its associates will need to work out of offices.
Exclusive: Pristyn Care in talks to close new round at over $1.2 billion valuation
Pristyn Care founders (from left) Vaibhav Kapoor, Harsimarbir Singh, and Garima Sawhney
Pristyn Care, a three-year-old Gurugram-based healthcare startup is in talks with investors like Sequoia Capital US and others to raise $90-110 million, which may value the company at $1.2-$1.4 billion, according to three people with knowledge of the development.
If the latest funding round goes through, the healthcare startup will see its valuation double in six months after it raised $53 million from investors led by Tiger Global, valuing it at $550 million in April this year.
Riding the wave: Healthtech companies have seen unprecedented growth in business traction due to the pandemic. In the recent past startups like MFine, Visit, ConnectedH, HealthPlix, mHealth have received funding from risk investors.
Other done deals…
■ Adtech firm InMobi said it has signed a definitive agreement to buy Appsumer, a UK-based performance insights platform for mobile app advertisers, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition of Appsumer extends InMobi’s recent enterprise expansions. Last month, InMobi launched InMobi Telco to help mobile carriers and handset makers optimise their customer experiences and diversify their revenue streams.
■ Direct-to-consumer jewellery brand Melorra has raised $24 million in a funding round led by 9Unicorns, Symphony International Holdings Limited, Value Quest, Venture Catalysts, and Param Capital. The funds raised will be used to strengthen technology, ramp up brand marketing, and open retail outlets across India.
■ Arcana Network, a blockchain startup that offers decentralised storage and data privacy platform for Ethereum, has raised $2.3 million led by Republic Crypto and Woodstock Fund. Digital Currency Group (DCG), Hyperedge, Sahil Lavingia’s shl.vc, Fenbushi Capital, LD Capital, and Paradigm Shift VC also participated in the round.
■ Technology company Nothing, founded by OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei, said it has raised $50 million from strategic and private investors, and has partnered with US chipmaker Qualcomm. A tie-up with Qualcomm, whose chips are present in a range of devices from cars to phones, would help Nothing to build future products.
■ Insurtech startup GramCover announced that it has raised $7 million in a Series A round co-led by Siana Capital and Inflexor Ventures in a Series A round. The fresh capital will be used to strengthen the technology and product offerings and also scale up the business and support functions.
Salman Khan to launch his NFT collection
A digital art piece, Everydays – The First 5000 Days by Beeple, sold at an auction for nearly $70 million. That transaction made headlines around the world and buoyed the rising interest in these kinds of digital objects — known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs — that has caught the attention of celebrities and collectors alike. This trend is a true FOMO moment.
Joining this NFT craze is Bollywood actor Salman Khan. The actor on Wednesday announced that he will launch a collection for his fans soon.
This development follows Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s announcement of launching his own NFT-backed videos, signed posters, and digital collectables.
What is NFT? Simply put, NFTs are crypto tokens that represent ownership of unique items, whether digital or physical. NFTs can represent real estate, art, music and even a tweet. Read our full explainer on NFTs here.
Khan’s NFTs will be available on an NFT marketplace Bollycoin.com and will be purchasable through its native token by Bollycoin which will open for presale later this month. The NFT platform will go live in December this year, according to the website.
Tell me more: The founding team of the marketplace included Khan’s brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri. The marketplace has partnered with Arbaaz Khan Production, Sohail Khan Productionz and Salman Khan Films to begin with. It plans to partner with other celebrities and production houses too.
According to the white paper of its native token Bollycoin, the marketplace will sell digital collectables from Bollywood which will be auctioned on the Ethereum blockchain.
Khan is jumping on the NFT bandwagon amid keen interest among cricketers and celebrities to tap into NFTs to monetise their creations.
- NFT platform Rario launched a cricket-based digital collectibles platform in August and has partnered with former Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan.
- Fashion designer Manish Malhotra also recently sold fashion themed NFTs on WazirX NFT marketplace. The platform said they were sold out within a couple of minutes.
Global celebs: Celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Reese Witherspoon are embracing this new trend of crypto art.
On Monday, actor Reese Witherspoon said she has purchased her first-ever non-fungible token. The actor made the announcement on Twitter and said she’s keen on knowing about “amazing women creating” NFTs.
Other global celebrities who have joined the NFT bandwagon include Ellen Degeneres, Eminem and Emily Ratajkowski
Globally, NFT startups have raked in over $3 billion this year, according to data sourced from industry tracker Traxcn. Investors have invested nearly $41 million into NFT startups in India this year.
Data from DappRadar shows that sales volumes of NFTs surged to $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021, up more than eightfold from the previous quarter, data from market tracker DappRadar shows. The third-quarter figure was up from $1.3 billion in Q2 and $1.2 billion in Q1.
Related coverage
As the buzz surrounding cryptocurrency and blockchain continues to rise, so have job openings in this new and niche sector. A war of wages is brewing!
Infosys Q2 net profit jumps
Software services firm Infosys clocked better-than-expected profit and revenue in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal.
- The earnings were aided by broad-based growth across geographies and segments.
By the numbers
- India’s second largest IT services exporter reported a 11.8% year-on-year jump in net profit to Rs 5,421 crore.
- Its revenue was up 20.5% at Rs 29,602 crore.
- The Bengaluru-based company announced an interim dividend of Rs 15 per share.
- It also revised its revenue guidance to 16.5-17.5% for FY22 from 14-16% as stated during Q1.
Infosys said its chief operating officer Pravin Rao will be retiring in the third quarter of the current fiscal and the company will announce a new corporate structure soon.
Meanwhile, Infosys CEO Salil Parikh said that the income tax portal has been further bolstered and close to 1.9 crore returns have been filed using the new system.
Also Read: Wipro crosses $10 billion annualised revenue run rate milestone in Q2
Other Top Stories By Our Reporters
InMobi’s Roposo pivots to live commerce from short video: Roposo, a short-video app owned by mobile ad services and content firm, InMobi Group, is pivoting to creator-led live commerce. This comes at a time when nearly all social media and technology companies are betting on the instantaneous interactivity of live shopping experience to drive monetisation.
IBM Consulting expands hiring: IBM Consulting has expanded hiring at double-digits across its global delivery network, including 55,000 fully cloud-trained consultants globally, and over 70% of professionals have deep industry expertise, Mark Foster, senior vice president, IBM Consulting said
Oyo appoints Deepa Malik as independent director: Oyo announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Deepa Malik, an Indian athlete and a silver-medalist at the 2016 Paralympic Games, as an independent director. Malik is currently the president of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI).
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