One Thing Today in Tech
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Tata Digital taps Mad Street Den as 'AI partner of choice'; Apple supplier plays down lockdown impact; Liminal raises $4.7 mln
Tata Digital has partnered with Mad Street Den, an AI platform provider, to make Tata Neu, the so-called 'super app' it is developing for retail consumers, a more personalised and connected experience for users. Apple supplier Foxconn says the impact of March Covid lockdowns in China is lower than expected on production. And crypto startup Liminal raises more funding
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Google leads $300 mln funding at Sharechat parent; Airbus sets up an H2 R&D facility in the UK; One AI raises $8 mln
Amid a funding slowdown, Sharechat's parent Mohalla Tech is expected to announce a $300 million funding round led by Google, India's Times Group and Singapore's Temasek, Reuters reports. Airbus has set up an R&D facility in the UK for cryogenic fuel technologies for its proposed hydrogen planes. One AI, an Israel and Silicon Valley NLP company has come out of stealth mode, raising $8 million in seed funding
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Broadcom to acquire VMware for $61 bln; Meta updates privacy policies; Google exploring joining India's ONDC
Broadcom has agreed to pay $61 billion for VMware, as the semiconductor giant looks to expand into cloud software for enterprises, making it the biggest tech deal this year after Microsoft's $68 billion deal to buy games maker Activision Blizzard in January. Facebook parent Meta is updating its privacy policies. And Google is exploring ways to join India's open network for digital commerce, Economic Times reports
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Sequoia to founders: Prepare for the long haul; Andreessen Horowitz commits $4.5 bln more to crypto's 'golden era'
Sequoia Capital, one of the world's best-known venture capital firms, has warned founders of its portfolio companies that the flow of cheap money is over, and investors now have a distinct preference for ventures that can generate cash today. Andreessen Horowitz, meanwhile, has announced massive crypto and Web3 fund. And Snowflake is the latest tech company to warn of a slowdown
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US lawmakers to Google: Stop collecting data that could target abortion seekers; the UK fines Clearview; Arcadia acquires Urjanet
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has been urged by a group of 42 US lawmakers from the Democratic party to stop collecting and keeping unnecessary or non-aggregated location data that could be used to identify people seeking abortions, in an open letter on Tuesday, CNBC reports. Britain's information and privacy regulator has fined Clearview AI for collecting people's photographs with no consent. And Arcadia acquires Urjanet to expand its energy data tech and business
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Broadcom in talks to buy VMware; Klarna fires 10 percent of staff; Infosys wins Backcountry contract; 1K Kirana raises $25 mln
Broadcom is in talks to pay around $60 billion for VMware, as the semiconductor giant looks to expand into cloud software for enterprises, Wall Street Journal reports. Startup cost-cutting ramps up, with Swedish buy now, pay later darling sacking 700 staff. Infosys adds another contract for its digital tech and cloud services. And startups are still raising funding
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TCS chief executive says tech spending will sustain; Infosys extends CEO Parekh's tenure; MFine sacks 500 staff
Technology investments by the world's biggest companies will continue to grow despite the ongoing global uncertainties, Rajesh Gopinathan, chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, one of the world's biggest IT services companies, writes in the company's latest annual report. At rival Infosys, CEO Salil Parekh's role has been extended for another five years. And one more well-known startup has laid off hundreds of staff, according to Inc42 and ET
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Softbank to play 'defence' after record loss; Google teases Pixel watch; Bansal adds Aatrey to Navi board; Ather raises $128 mln
SoftBank's Vision Funds lost more than $27 billion in the last fiscal year, by far their worst performance on record, CNN reports. CEO Masayoshi Son said he will now play defence and be more selective about investments. Google teased its Pixel watch at its I/O conference, planned for a launch around September. Sachin Bansal adds Vidit Aatrey to Navi's board. And Ather has raised more money
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Amazon, Flipkart to join India's open network for digital commerce; Uber to expand India tech team by 50 percent
Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart unit are joining the country's new Open Network for Digital Commerce, Economic Times reports. The network is being compared with India's Unified Payments Interface, to support the idea that it could do for online commerce what UPI did for payments. And Uber, which is looking to cut costs in the US, is significantly and rapidly expanding its tech team in India
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Apple ends the iPod; Google I/O starts today; Delhivery's IPO subscription opens today; Lightspeed, Moore join Razorpay
Apple is ending the iPod Touch, the last of the company's series of music devices — including the iPod nano and the Shuffle — that changed how people listen to music forever. Google's annual developer conference starts today. Delhivery gets strong interest from anchor investors ahead of IPO subscription. And Razorpay offers staff an ESOP buyback while bringing on new investors
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Apple's ML specialist quits over return-to-office policy; Uber to cut back hiring and spending; Bitcoin crashes to a 10-month low
Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, is leaving the company due to its return to work policy, according to a tweet by Zoe Schiffer, a tech reporter with The Verge. Ride-hailing network provider Uber's CEO has promised cutbacks on spending, CNBC reports. And the global tech-led sell-off after US monetary tightening has hit cryptocurrencies as well, with Bitcoin losing more than half its value from its November peak