E-commerce giant Amazon is all set to acquire home security firm Ring after both companies agreed to the terms and conditions of the deal. Although the exact valuation of the deal is not known, but media reports claim that Amazon will be paying nearly $1 billion for the acquisition deal. A report in Washington Post claims that the e-commerce behemoth already owns a minority stake in the Ring since it led a funding round for the California based startup nearly two years back. Confirming the buyout deal, Amazon Spokesman heaped praises on Ring and its product quality. “Ring’s home security…
Author: Girish Shetti
Chinese internet giant Tencent has led an investment round of $115-million or Rs 740-crore in the Mumbai based music streaming company Ganna (which means ‘song’ in English). Ganna is owned by Times Internet, which is a part of the Indian media conglomerate Times Group. The group is the owner of the leading English newspaper Times of India. Parent company Times Internet also participated in the round, an official statement issued by the company said. This is the first time that Ganna has received funds from a foreign investor and the company could not have asked for a better investor…
Chinese conglomerate Alibaba is on the cusp of making one of the biggest deals in Chinese startup space in recent times. Alibaba, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, is said to be in talks to take complete control over the food delivery startup Ele.me. Currently, the e-commerce juggernaut along with its subsidiary firm Ant Financials own 40% stake in Ele.me while the remaining 60% is owned by other investors including Chinese search giant Baidu. Alibaba and Ele.me have so far refused to comment on the news report. If this speculative deal does materialize, Alibaba may end up taking…
Alibaba Group, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Jack ma, is currently holding talks to pick up a minority stake in news aggregator startup Dailyhunt, two sources familiar with the matter have claimed. These talks once again demonstrate Alibaba’s growing interest in the Indian startups, after investing in multitude of startup firms ranging from cab hailing to food tech startups. The Chinese Behemoth has already proposed a valuation of nearly $500 million for the news aggregator firm, one source claimed. “The talks are, however, not yet conclusive as Dailyhunt is also looking for other funding options apart from Alibaba,” the…
Uber’s new chief Dara Khosrowshahi has pledged that the ride-hailing giant will continue to invest heavily in Southeast Asia despite mounting losses. Khosrowshahi’s disclosure came while talking to the press in Indian capital city of New Delhi, where he is scheduled to attend a business summit and will also meet several high ranking government officials. “We expect to lose money in Southeast Asia and expect to invest aggressively in terms of marketing, subsidies etc,” Uber’s newly appointed CEO told media reporters, adding that the region still offers huge potential for growth. Khosrowshahi’s comment on Southeast Asian markets comes amid media…
Online grocery delivery startup Grofers is in discussion to raise nearly $60-65 Mn capital from some of its existing investors. However, these funds will be reportedly raised at almost 40% drop in current valuation of the company. According to business publication LiveMint, two sources familiar with the matter have claimed that this latest fund raising round will be led by existing investors SoftBank and Tiger Global management. Sequoia Capital, one of the early stage investors in Grofers, won’t be taking part in this fund raising round. During last one and half years, Grofers has been struggling on profitability and revenue…
Electronic giant Sony Corporation announced on Tuesday that it will build a ride-hailing system for Japanese commuters. This ride-hailing system will be launched during this year’s spring season, according to popular website Techcrunch. However, the most noteworthy thing about this ride-hailing network would be that it will be completely based on Artificial intelligence (AI) and Sony will be collaborating with five Taxi companies to pull off this ambitious AI based project. The names of these five taxi companies are as follows: Daiwa Motor Transportation, Hinomaru Kotsu, Kokusai Motorcars, Green Cab and Checker Cab Group. The AI technology, which obviously would…
If Richard Branson owned Virgin Hyperloop has its way, then commuter’s traveling time between Mumbai to Pune will reduce to merely 14 – 25 minutes. This is no exaggeration, but a fact that can turn into reality. And to turn this incredible feet into reality, the Los Angeles based Virgin Hyperloop signed a framework agreement with Maharashtra government in the ongoing Maharashtra Magnetic event. The company will start groundwork for this ambitious project after conducting a six-month in-depth feasibility study, which along with analyzing and defining the route alignment, will study environmental impact as well as whether the project is…
Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Ltd has infused $27.6 million (Rs 176 crore) in self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar. The investment gives auto major 16% stake in the Bengaluru based startup. M&M’s investment was part of Zoomcar’s series C funding round that also saw participation by some of the existing investors. Overall, the startup managed to raise $40 million (Rs 256 crore) through this round and with it the company has taken its valuation to around $172 million (Rs 1,100 crore). Last month, VCCircle had reported that M&M and Ford Smart Mobility (startup arm of Ford Motors) has signed…
Paytm’s founder Vijay Sharma on Wednesday took to Twitter to denounce what he termed as unfair competitive advantage allotted to WhatsApp, after the latter was allowed to start a payment service without fulfilling many critical mandatory rules. Sharma’s salvo on Twitter comes barely days after the Facebook-owned Whatsapp announced that it would start payment service in India on a trial basis. Sharma minced no words as he accused Facebook of monopolizing Unified Payments Interface (UPI) by the virtue of its money power and clout within the government agencies. “After failing to win war against India’s open Internet with cheap tricks…
India’s ride-hailing Major Ola has finally made its international debut by launching a trail based service in Perth city, capital of Western Australia, according to a statement issued by the company on Wednesday. This marks a new chapter for the cab aggregator firm, which until now offered its services only in major Indian cities. “Ola is offering affordable fares for customers and higher commissions for driver-partners to create a high-quality travel experience for Australia, and is excited to start with the Perth community,” the company said in a statement. As per the trail offer, Ola will be offering Perth customers…
Alibaba is playing a frontal role in integrating services of Paytm Mall, BigBasket and XpressBees. The strategic move may help in increasing the revenue and productivity of all the three firms, in which Chinese e commerce giant Alibaba owns majority as well as minority stakes. Alibaba owns majority stake in Paytm Mall, while it owns minority stake in BigBasket and XpressBees. It led a $300 million round in the online grocery startup BigBasket barely a week ago. As per Alibaba’s integration plan, Paytm Mall will sell Big Basket’s grocery products through an online store on its web as well as…