FutureTech

UpGrad, an upskilling and higher learning edtech company, announced the opening of upGrad Foundation, a philanthropic and non-profit division on Monday. The foundation plans to focus on a variety of working professionals, including first-generation students, women returning to the workforce, and those in the public sector or the military forces, with a capital of Rs 50 crore. “LifeLongLearning, upskilling, and career enhancements can no longer be the right of only those who can afford it. Online learning has changed the perspective of all working professionals around the world and how…

Enkash, a corporate spend management business backed by fintech entrepreneurs Amrish Rau and Jitendra Gupta, has acquired $20 million in a new round of funding led by Ascent Capital, Baring India Private Equity Partners, and Singapore-based White Ventures. Other backers already on board Axilor Ventures and Mayfield India also took part in the investment round. The fintech firm provides a payments management platform for businesses, including corporate card issuance. The Mumbai-based firm plans to utilise the capital to expand its offerings around banking-as-a-service, scaling up its ‘plug and play’ cards…

Even as the global startup ecosystem begins to talk about a slowdown in dealmaking due to macroeconomic challenges, Indian companies raised more than $10 billion in the first quarter of 2022, up from $5.7 billion in the same time of 2021, according to Venture Intelligence statistics. Because official deal announcements often take a few months after closing, the record-breaking first quarter funding data does not account for the present downturn. A rise in US interest rates, rising geopolitical tensions as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, record-high fuel prices,…

Pixxel, a spacetech startup, has successfully launched its first full-fledged commercial satellite, dubbed ‘Shakuntala,’ using SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket, which is run by Elon Musk. ‘Shakuntala,’ Pixxel’s first fully-fledged satellite, hosts one of the highest resolution hyperspectral commercial cameras ever flown to orbit, putting the company one step closer to developing a 24×7 health monitor for the globe, according to the company. This launch, which took place on Friday on SpaceX’s Transporter-4 mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, gets the business closer to completing its ambitious aim of assembling one of the…