BUSINESS
Ola Money to shift to limited KYC wallet from April 1
The move comes at a time when the banking regulator RBI has been cracking down on fintechs for KYC non-compliance
TECHNOLOGY
Top ride-hailing firms experiment with subscription models to retain drivers and tackle competition
After Namma Yatri launched a subscription model for drivers to sustain its no-commission strategy, Ola, Uber, and Rapido have also begun testing similar features.
TECHNOLOGY
Tiger Global-backed fintech Jar to enter P2P lending business with Jar Plus
Jar Plus, the firm’s P2P lending product is currently in the testing phase and is in partnership with NBFC LendDenClub.
TECHNOLOGY
Freshworks' Girish Mathrubootham calls AI 'Monster Wave', similar to web browser era
Mathrubootham urged startups to integrate and upgrade their products with AI to stay relevant.
TECHNOLOGY
Sarvam AI to unveil its 1st commercial voice-to-voice endpoint tool with 10 Indian languages in next 6-12 months
Startups and businesses that are looking to build or use voice experiences as part of their services can tap into this tool, especially in Indian languages.
TECHNOLOGY
IndiGo promoter Rakesh Gangwal invests $20 million in B2B unicorn Zetwerk
Zetwerk was last valued at $2.8 billion and Gangwal will be investing through Wheelhouse Venture Capital and with that, he joins as a financial investor of the firm.
BUSINESS
Gen AI spending by enterprises to touch $200 bn by 2030, shows SaaSBoomi and McKinsey study
The study has also said that the penetration of Generative AI within enterprises will be 3 times faster than SaaS penetration.
BUSINESS
IIT-Madras’ lab AI4Bharat launches IndicVoices dataset covering 22 languages
Using IndicVoices, AI4Bharat aims to build IndicASR, the first Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) model to support all the 22 languages listed in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India.
TECHNOLOGY
Zoho to invest Rs 1,105 crore for Saudi Arabia's digital infra development
Zoho Corp has also allocated Rs 221 crore for SMEs in Saudi Arabia wherein the companies can utilise the amount in wallet credits yearly for the next 10 years, to access Zoho's cloud applications for training.
BUSINESS
India’s electric two-wheeler sales cross 80k units in Feb 2024, up 24% YoY
Industry observers reckon that the registration numbers indicate of 'market stabilisation' despite the govt’s move to lower the incentives under the FAME scheme Phase II
BUSINESS
Yes Bank to tighten compliance process for fintech partnerships says CEO Prashant Kumar
Post the regulatory clapmdown on Paytm Payments Bank, several banks have tightened the complaince and due-diligence process on their fintech partnerships to ensure there are no regulatory lapses.
TECHNOLOGY
Yes Bank open to acquiring the merchant accounts of Paytm Payments Bank: CEO Prashant Kumar
Kumar said that there will be a proper KYC compliance process which will be undertaken by the bank if they succeed in acquiring these merchants.
TECHNOLOGY
Capillary Technologies raises $95 million in extended Series D round
In June of 2023, Capillary announced raising funding in a mix of debt and equity from Avataar Ventures, Filter Capital, and Innoven Capital.
TECHNOLOGY
When Fintechs met FM: No mention of Paytm, Nirmala Sitharaman lends a patient ear & more
One of the main outcomes of the meet was that there will be monthly calls between the regulator and fintechs wherein, the latter can seek clarity on any regulations and get feedback.
TECHNOLOGY
Fastag has huge potential, 97% toll transactions are now electronic: NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe
"The volumes may remain with UPI but these products like Fastag and BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System) will service the niche segments, " Dilip Asbe said.
BUSINESS
Razorpay plans IPO post-FY26, India domicile process to close in 6-12 months: CEO Harshil Mathur
Razorpay initiated the process to move its parent entity to India from the US in May 2023, ahead of its plans to list in the Indian bourses
BUSINESS
Uber signs MoU with Government-backed ONDC for mobility service integration
Uber’s announcement comes after the company's direct rival in India, Ola, joined the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to provide food delivery services in September of 2023.
TECHNOLOGY
India is one of the toughest markets for Uber, says CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
Despite the challenges, Khosrowshahi said the company plans to expand its low-cost service segments, particularly two-wheeler and three-wheeler services in India.
BUSINESS
Ride-hailing firms knock EV 2W manufacturers’ doors for bike-taxi electrification
Several states including Karnataka and Delhi NCR have put down stringent rules on ride-hailing firms to convert their bike-taixs to electric vehicles.
TECHNOLOGY
Fintech wars intensify as Paytm, Pine Labs, and PhonePe rivalry spills onto social media
After Paytm's front-page ad on a national daily, Pine Labs came up with their digital ad campaign saying, 'The front page can be bought. Trust cannot.'
TECHNOLOGY
Ola Electric sells 10,000 scooters in three days after price cut
The firm last week announced a price cut on its S1 Pro, S1 Air, and S1 X+ by Rs 25,000 a unit in a move to increase adoption.
TECHNOLOGY
EV financing startup Vidyut raises $10-mn funding led by 3One4 Capital
BUSINESS
Freshworks board cancels Girish Mathrubootham’s CEO Performance Award of 6 million stock units
The board has also announced grant of time-based and performance based restricted stock units (RSUs) to other top executives in the firm including its President and CFO.
TECHNOLOGY
Endiya Partners to launch Fund III with corpus exceeding $100 million
With the new fund, the VC firm will continue to focus on deep tech, health, fintech, SaaS and also enter newer segments such as AI
