Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, has unveiled a slew of ambitious artificial-intelligence projects, calling AI “the key to unlocking the Metaverse.” He used the AI feature Builder Bot to create a basic virtual world, complete with an island, trees, and a beach, in a livestreamed demonstration. Mr. Zuckerberg also stated that he intends to develop a universal speech translator. “The ability to communicate with anyone in any language is a superpower that was dreamt of forever,” he said. Builder Bot was part of Meta’s CAIRaoke project to improve AI…
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Neobanking startup Niyo raises $100 Mn led by Accel and Lightrock
Niyo, a consumer neo-banking platform, has raised $100 million in a Series C round led by Accel and Lightrock India, with Beams Fintech Fund participating. This round also included existing investors Prime Venture Partners and JS Capital. The new funds come after a more than 30-month wait for the Bengaluru-based company, which raised $35 million in a Series B round in July 2019 from Horizons Ventures, Tencent, and others. According to a press release from Niyo, the funds will be used for product innovation, marketing and branding, expanding its distribution…
Read MoreFintech startup Perfios raises $70 Mn
Perfios, a fintech startup, has raised around $70 million in a Series C round led by Warburg Pincus and Bessemer India. In November 2019, the Bengaluru-based startup raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Warburg Pincus and Bessemer Venture. According to Perfios’ regulatory filings, the company has passed a special resolution to allot 416,336 Series C preference shares at an issue price of Rs 12,610 per share to raise Rs 525 crore ($70 million). In this round, Warburg has put in Rs 412.5 crore, while Bessemer has…
Read MoreVedanta team visits Pune to check feasibility for setting up semiconductor plant
A team from Indian conglomerate Vedanta visited Pune on Friday to assess the feasibility of establishing an electronic chip plant in the district, according to a government official. Under the government’s incentive scheme, Vedanta Group companies have applied to set up semiconductor and display manufacturing units in the country. By 2024, it expects to have display units for mobile phones and electronics devices on the market, as well as electronic chips made in India by 2025. Several automobile companies have manufacturing plants in Pune. Vedanta intends to start with 28…
Read MoreRezolve.ai expects revenues to cross $50 million in the next three years
Rezolve.ai, a service desk and workplace automation company, said it expects to reach $50 million in revenue in the next three years, thanks to the planned acquisition of nearly 1,500 clients around the world. In comparison to the entire year of 2020, the company’s revenues trebled in 2021, and it signed many new clients in December 2021. Despite sporadic office re-openings during two pandemic waves last year, it kept all of its clients. “We are seeing an accelerating shift in the customer’s preferences from a legacy agent focused ticketing system…
Read MoreWe should go for indigenous manufacturing in defence sector : PM Modi
Cyber security is no longer limited to just the digital world as it has now become a matter of national security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday. He also noted that the process of importing defence items is so long that by the time they reach our security forces, many of them have become outdated and therefore, the solution is to go for indigenous manufacturing. “Even during the period of slavery and immediately after Independence, the strength of our defence manufacturing was very high. Weapons made in India played…
Read MoreHealthcare company MediBuddy raises $125 Mn in Series C round
Quadria Capital and Lightrock India joined existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, India Life Sciences Fund III, Rebright Partners, JAFCO Asia, TEAMFund LP, FinSight Ventures, InnoVen Capital, Stride Ventures, and Alteria Capital in a $125 million Series C funding round. The Bengaluru-based firm previously raised $40 million in its Series B round in February of last year, eight months after its merger with online doctor consultation platform DocsApp. MediBuddy and DocsApp share the same brand name: MediBuddy. According to a press release from Medibuddy, the new round of funding will be…
Read MoreBounce shrinks 83% in FY21, Rs 2,152 Cr losses ride pillion
Bounce, which pivoted to become an electric scooter manufacturer at the start of the ongoing fiscal (FY22) with the acquisition of 22Motors was a scooter rental platform in FY21. The pivot and the pandemic on fiscal year (FY21) has wiped out its scale. Bounce’s operating revenue fell by 83 percent during the year, to around Rs 15 crore in FY21 from Rs 87.5 crore in FY20. Approximately 96 percent of the company’s operating revenue came from motorcycle and bicycle rentals in the six cities where it currently operates. This revenue…
Read MoreWhatsapp spotted working on a slew of new features
WhatsApp has been developing a number of new features to improve the user experience. WhatsApp’s message reactions feature was recently spotted on WhatsApp Desktop beta, and the messaging app was recently spotted working on a new search message shortcut. WhatsApp users will soon be able to respond to messages with emojis. In a message, users will be able to choose from six different emoji options. The feature was discovered in the messaging app’s beta version. The messaging app was spotted testing the message reactions feature on the WhatsApp desktop app…
Read MoreGoogle Workspace users to migrate from Hangouts to Chat in March
Google has been working on moving users from Hangouts to Chat for a long time, and they now have a timeline. The time to permanently switch to Chat is rapidly approaching, and Google’s most recent update has set a deadline for when users will be moved. Google is ready to move Hangouts into the final phase, according to a blog post on Workspace, and this follows the opt-out migration option it rolled out last year. If they haven’t already done so, all users will have “Chat preferred” enabled in their…
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