One Thing Today in Tech
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Softbank may invest in Flipkart again; TCS sets 2030 zero carbon target; new Google Pixel buds; chat with Anthill Ventures' CEO on speed scaling
Leading this briefing is news that SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks with Flipkart to invest again, four years after it sold its stake in the Indian ecommerce company to Walmart, according to news reports. SoftBank's Vision Fund could invest $600-700 million in Flipkart. Also in this programme, TCS commits to net zero carbon footprint by 2030; and we speak with Prasad Vanga, CEO of Anthill Ventures about the firm's speed-scaling process for startups
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Urban Company seeks IPO; Clubhouse hires Aarthi Ramamurthy; Zerodha's trade-tagging feature; and Probir Roy Chowdhury of J Sagar Associates bats for crypto regulation
Leading today's briefing is news that Urban Company, a tech-enabled home services marketplace, plans to go public in the next 18-24 months after it announced a fresh $255 million funding round Wednesday. Also in the programme, Clubhouse hires FB's Aarthi Ramamurthy; Locus raises $50 million; and Probir Roy Chowdhury, a partner at the law firm J Sagar Associates, says cryptocurrency regulation in India will take time, but there is a groundswell of expectation that a ban won't happen
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Crypto lobby welcomes RBI clarification; conversational AI rises; and a talk with Dhruvil Sanghvi of Loginext on automation in logistics
Leading today's briefing is news that some of India's cryptocurrency exchange businesses have set up a self-regulatory code, and are setting up a board to oversee its implementation. Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council, a lobby formed by these businesses, welcomed the Reserve Bank of India's clarification to banks on Monday—you can hear more on Monday's tech brief. Also in the programme, the rise of conversational AI; and an interview with Loginext's co-founder and CEO on automation in logistics
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RBI's 2018 crypto circular no longer valid, it tells banks; Xiaomi's 8-minute hypercharge; and a chat with an Infosys cloud exec on trillion-dollar benefits
The Reserve Bank of India has told banks that they cannot refer to its April 2018 circular—struck down by the Supreme Court in 2020—to caution customers about trading in cryptocurrency. This comes at a time when Indian banks have been reportedly sending notices to customers, warning of penalties and account closures if it is being used for crypto transactions. Also in this programme, we talk to Narsimha Rao Mannepalli, an executive VP at Infosys, about the company's latest cloud findings
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Google Photos unlimited ends today; new Nintendo Switch soon; and a chat with Amitabh Saran, CEO of EV startup Altigreen Propulsion Labs
Leading today's briefing is a reminder that unlimited uploads on Google Photos end today. From tomorrow, if you upload photos and videos to Google Photos, they will count towards the 15GB free limit that Google provides as a free account. Also today, Amitabh Saran, co-founder and CEO of Altigreen Propulsion Labs, talks about painstakingly building electric vehicles that work well even in India's harsh driving conditions
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Paytm said to be planning $3 billion IPO; OnePlus Nord CE 5G; and a chat with the makers of Dozee, a contact-less health monitor
Leading today's briefing is news that Paytm, India's biggest digital payments provider, is planning an initial share sale to raise about $3 billion, or 218 billion rupees, around November, according to Bloomberg. This would be India's biggest IPO. Later, we talk to Mudit Dandwate and Gaurav Parchani, founders of Dozee, who have digitalised a 150-year-old technique of listening to the human heart to build a contact-less health monitor
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Clubhouse hires Google veteran Justin Uberti; Amazon buys MGM; and a chat with UpGrad on personalised education and Rs. 2,000 crore revenue target
Leading the briefing today is news that Clubhouse has hired Justin Uberti, creator of the WebRTC standard and the Google Duo video chat app. He leaves Google after nearly 15 years at the company, where he was most recently the engineering lead for Google's Stadia cloud gaming service. Also, Google strikes a deal to get more healthcare data; Amazon buys MGM; and we speak with edtech startup UpGrad on its recent purchase of Impartus.
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Daily Tech Briefing: Moderna says vaccine works in teens, and a conversation with the one who makes the voice assistant in Tata cars
Leading the briefing today is news that US biotech company Moderna's vaccine against Covid 19 was found to be 93 percent efficacious in teens in a study of 3,700 participants between 12 years and 18 years of age. Also, IBM is opening up its quantum computers to India's top research and tech institutes; and we talk to Tapan Barman, co-founder and CEO of Mihup Communications, which makes the voice assistant in Tata Motors' cars
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Daily Tech Briefing: Zeta becomes a unicorn, and a chat with Skyroot Aerospace's founders
Leading the briefing today, Zeta, a banking tech startup co-founded by serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakia, has secured 250 million dollars in investment from SoftBank Vision Fund II. This is Zeta's Series C funding and the deal values the startup at $1.45 billion. Also, Clubhouse Android gets a million downloads in two weeks; and we talk to Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharat Daka, co-founders of Skyroot Aerospace, about their multi-start capable space rockets
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Special Tech Briefing: A glimpse into Tata Consultancy Services' Pace innovation network with Sapthagiri Chapalapalli, head of TCS Europe
In today's special briefing, we look at how Tata Consultancy Services, India's biggest and one of the world's largest IT services companies, is expanding its network of innovation centres under a brand and architecture called Pace. These centres are physical-digital hubs in Tokyo, New York and now in Amsterdam, bringing together the best that TCS has to offer with some of the finest universities around the world and the local startup ecosystems
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Daily Tech Briefing: Apple CEO Tim Cook's day in court; Android crosses 3 billion users; and Realme's Madhav Sheth on the new Qualcomm 778G 5G platform
Apple CEO Tim Cook may appear in court as early as today, in a lawsuit brought against it by Epic Games, which is accusing Apple of abusing its market power with its App Store policies. Google reveals there are now over three billion Android users; and we chat with Madhav Sheth, CEO of Realme India and Europe, about the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset and why it makes sense to buy a 5G phone today while the network rollout is at least a year away