TRENDS
ICC World Cup 2023: India-Pakistan match shatters global streaming record on Disney Hotstar
India vs. Pakistan during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 drew 3.5 crore viewers on Disney+ Hotstar, breaking the 3.2 crore viewership record set during the IPL finale.
BUSINESS
Dream11 parent launches its first mobile game Dream Cricket 2024 in India
Dream Cricket 2024 launch comes amid a maturing Indian gaming market that has reached an inflection point in terms of scale and the propensity to pay.
BUSINESS
Zomato forays into logistics, launches Xtreme for merchants
Zomato already has more than over 3 lakh delivery partners under Xtreme. The Xtreme app will also allow merchants to live track their shipments as is with food deliveries
BUSINESS
Spotify limits features for free users in India
Starting October 9, free users of Spotify will not be able to play songs in any specific order within a playlist, repeat songs, go back to previous songs, or select a specific part of a song to listen to.
BUSINESS
Truecaller acquires Bengaluru-based TrustCheckr to strengthen enterprise offerings
As part of this deal, TrustCheckr will bring existing customers such as IIFL Finance Limited and Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited along with other potential customers to Truecaller for Business
BUSINESS
Dream11 acqhires fantasy cricket stocks startup Sixer
Sixer is a fantasy cricket game where prominent cricket players are presented as stocks that people can buy and sell.
BUSINESS
WinZO forays into Brazil, to invest $25 million on expansion
WinZO will enable over 100 developers to offer their mobile games to users in the Brazil market. This launch comes after India implemented 28% GST on real-money gaming sector.
BUSINESS
Google Assistant is getting generative AI capabilities with Bard
Google Assistant with Bard combines the generative and reasoning capabilities of Google's AI chatbot Bard with Assistant's personalised help.
BUSINESS
Nodwin Gaming's Singapore unit buys 100% stake in Nazara-owned game marketing agency Publishme
Nodwin Gaming has made a series of acquisitions and investments to expand its offerings in India and International markets in the past year or so.
BUSINESS
BGMI maker Krafton announces up to $150k financial support for Indian gaming startups in debut incubator launch
Krafton India Gaming Incubator will provide game developers with guidance, mentorship, and financial assistance ranging from $50,000-$150,000
BUSINESS
28% GST on real-money gaming: AIGF urges govt to defer rollout
The 28% GST on real-money gaming sector is set to come into effect on October 1; some states are however yet to amend their GST laws
BUSINESS
Karnataka notifies ordinance for 28% GST on real-money gaming
Karnataka is expected to generate around Rs 1,500 crore, state Commissioner for Commercial Taxes C Shikha said. The move comes ahead of the Union government's planned implementation of the tax regime from October
BUSINESS
Saregama buys 51.8% in 'Little Things' maker Pocket Aces for Rs 174 crore
Saregama said this acquisition will enable them to leverage Pocket Aces' distribution network of over 95 million followers to popularize its music library among the 18-35 audience segment.
BUSINESS
Meta's big generative AI bet: Chatbots, AI characters, creative tools, and more
Facebook parent Meta heats up AI arms race by bringing a slew of generative AI feature to its apps that billions of people use, including Instagram and WhatsApp
BUSINESS
Casual gaming studio QuriousBit bags $2 million funding from Lumikai, General Catalyst
Founded by former PlaySimple executives, QuriousBit aims to build casual puzzle games in India for the global audiences
BUSINESS
Death knell, fight for survival: Retrospective tax haunts India’s real-money gaming sector
The forthcoming 28 percent GST tax regime, combined with potential retrospective taxation dues, will make the overall operations unfeasible, likely leading many companies to wind down their businesses, executives say.
BUSINESS
Dream11 parent moves Bombay HC challenging GST evasion notice
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs is likely to send showcause notices to more than 40 skill-gaming companies for alleged tax evasion.
BUSINESS
PhonePe to open its app store to developers to counter Google, Apple clout
The Indus Appstore will allow developers to list their apps in 12 Indian languages apart from English and charge a zero percent fee on in-app purchases
BUSINESS
YouTube unveils new generative AI tools to help creators make better videos
YouTube also debuted a new mobile editing app called YouTube Create, that is designed to make video production easier for creators making short and long videos on smartphones.
TECHNOLOGY
OpenAI's ChatGPT will let users generate images with DALL-E 3 integration
OpenAI's move comes on heels of Google bolstering its Bard AI chatbot with deeper app integration and expanded visual search capabilities.
BUSINESS
Eloelo raises $22 million in funding led by Courtside Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners
Eloelo plans to use the funds raised to partner with more creators, develop new AR & AI tools, and bolster its monetisation initiatives
BUSINESS
Kuku FM bags $25 million funding led by Nandan Nilekani's Fundamentum Partnership, IFC
Kuku FM plans to use the funds raised to further strengthen its content ecosystem and increase the depth of content across Indian languages, it states
BUSINESS
A23 owner Head Digital Works forays into online poker ahead of the 28% GST rollout
Head Digital Works expects online poker to make up nearly 20 percent of its revenues over the next three years
BUSINESS
Google deepens Bard AI chatbot's integration with Gmail, Docs, YouTube, more
Users can now enable Bard to interact with their Gmail, Docs and Drive accounts to summarize and answer questions across their personal content.
