The acquisition of Prione Business Services by Amazon Asia-Pacific Resources has been approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Prione was a joint venture between Catamaran, founded by Narayan Murthy, and Amazon. Cloudtail India, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, is one of Amazon’s top sellers in the country. On March 9, CCI announced the launch of a microblogging site. In December, Amazon announced its intention to buy Prione. So far, Amazon and Catamaran have jointly controlled Prione Business Services, whose fully owned subsidiary Cloudtail India has been extensively scrutinised…
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Business
RBI directs Paytm Payments Bank to stop onboarding new customers
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked Paytm’s digital banking unit, Paytm Payments Bank, to halt new user onboarding on its platform. The RBI explained its decision, stating that it was prompted by “some serious supervisory concerns” in the bank. Furthermore, the bank has been ordered to hire an IT auditing firm to undertake a full system audit of its IT system. “Action against Paytm Payments Bank Ltd under section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The RBI has today, in the exercise of its powers, inter alia,…
Read MoreDeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman launches new AI venture
DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman has joined two other high-profile industry figures in launching a new venture called Inflection AI. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is joining Suleyman on the venture. “Reid and I are excited to announce that we are co-founding a new company, Inflection AI,” wrote Suleyman in a statement. “Inflection will be an AI-first consumer products company, incubated at Greylock, with all the advantages and expertise that come from being part of one of the most storied venture capital firms in the world.” Dr Karén Simonyan, another former DeepMind…
Read MoreMicrosoft acquires Nuance to usher in ‘new era of outcomes-based AI’
Nuance, the company behind Siri’s backend, has been acquired by Microsoft in a massive deal that the company claims would usher in a “new age of outcomes-based AI.” “Completion of this significant and strategic acquisition brings together Nuance’s best-in-class conversational AI and ambient intelligence with Microsoft’s secure and trusted industry cloud offerings,” said Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud + AI Group at Microsoft. “This powerful combination will help providers offer more affordable, effective, and accessible healthcare, and help organisations in every industry create more personalised and meaningful…
Read MoreAmazon’s Clubhouse competitor Amp will let users host live radio shows
Amp, an Amazon app with Clubhouse-like features, has just been released. The software is similar to an audio player, but it will include additional capabilities such as the ability to host live radio shows. Show hosts can select tracks from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and a slew of independent music labels, including Beggars Group, Believe, CD Baby, and others. Talking about the new app, John Ciancutti, vice president of Amp, said, “Radio has always been about music and culture. But imagine if you were inventing…
Read MoreFlipkart partners with Google Cloud for providing better customer service
Flipkart has signed a multi-year agreement with Google Cloud, allowing it to use Google’s data centres and services to improve its overall customer service. Cloud computing allows businesses to develop goods and services without having to maintain their own servers and data centres. Flipkart will be able to handle more traffic during peak shopping seasons as a result of this partnership, and hence reach more customers. Flipkart will also be able to accelerate the development of new products in order to expand into tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Flipkart’s data analytics will…
Read MoreUkraine invasion sets back Musk’s dream for cheaper EVs, for now
Rising material costs, worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, might put Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other auto executives’ plans to roll out more cheap electric vehicles on hold. According to Gregory Miller, an analyst at industry forecaster Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, rising prices of nickel, lithium, and other materials threaten to slow or even reverse the long-term trend of falling costs of batteries, the most expensive part of EVs, impeding broader adoption of the technology. That’s on top of a supply chain already clogged by the COVID-19 outbreak and a…
Read MoreWomen entrepreneurs leading India’s billion dollar startups
Four of the 44 Indian startups that became unicorns last year were run by women. Although the number appears modest at first glance, it is significantly greater than the two companies that made the list in 2020. To make matters even better, in the first two months of 2022, four female-led businesses have already joined the unicorn club. Mamaearth by Ghazal Alagh, Hasura by Rajoshi Ghosh, LEAD School by Smita Seorah, and Pristyn Care by Dr Garima Sawhney are among the names on the list. In startup jargon, a unicorn…
Read MoreGoogle reaches new deal with French newspapers on licensing rights
Google and a trade group representing almost 300 French newspapers have achieved a new agreement on content publishing rights, the two parties announced on Thursday. According to a joint statement, the agreement indicated that negotiations on how much to pay publications for utilising their material in Google search results, which began in September, were successful. In January, Google and the French publishers’ lobby announced that they had reached an agreement on a copyright framework that would allow the US internet giant to pay news publishers for online content, paving the…
Read MoreIndia no longer just a low cost centre but main innovation hub: Chandra Reddy, head of engineering and R&D – India, Capgemini
Digital practises are increasingly accounting for a larger share of revenue for IT services firms. Digital has effectively cut across major core engineering verticals—manufacturing, automotive, wireless technology, logistics, and many more—with Covid-19 accelerating digital adoption. Despite Covid-19, according to a recent Zinnov report, engineering, research, and development (ER&D) spending has remained resilient, increasing by 3% year over year. It also predicted that global ER&D spending would reach $2.1 trillion by 2024, with a CAGR of 9%. This massive opportunity has attracted IT services brands from around the world to capitalise…
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