Short-video platform Chingari raises $15 mn funding led by Republic Capital

 Short-video platform Chingari on Monday said it has raised $15 million (about Rs 111.4 crore) in funding led by Republic Capital.

Short-video platform Chingari on Monday said it has raised USD 15 million (about Rs 111.4 crore) in funding led by Republic Capital.

The extended Series A round also saw participation from Onmobile, JPIN Venture Catalysts, Hill Harbour, Angellist, Venture Collective, Makan Family, Cowa Ventures, MVC Friends, Protocol Labs and other HNI family offices, a statement said.

The app will invest this new round of funds to enhance and integrate new in-app features, strengthen the backend technology team, as well as boost its marketing initiatives for 2022, it added.

Chingari had raised USD 19 million in crypto tokens from venture funds and individuals, including Republic Crypto, Solana Capital and Kraken, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange in October last year.

In April last year, Chingari had raised USD 13 million in a pre-Series A round led by OnMobile Global.

Major part of the fresh investment will be utilised to enhance the technology on the app, launch new features and augment the backend tech team by appointing the finest talent across artificial intelligence and machine learning with an aim to further enrich Chingari's user experience, it said.

Another important area of focus is to increase marketing initiatives to strengthen the brand's reach further into the roots of Bharat by making it a favourite among the tier III and IV audiences too, it added.

Walmart reveals plans to enter blockchain-based Metaverse, sell NFTs

 Amid the buzz around Metaverse, retail giant Walmart has revealed plans to enter the field of highly immersive virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) and Blockchain-based world

Amid the buzz around Metaverse, retail giant Walmart has revealed plans to enter the field of highly immersive virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) and Blockchain-based world.

Walmart's trademark filings indicate that the company is looking to establish its own NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and cryptocurrency, reports CNBC.

One of the trademark applications details possible "physical fitness training services" and "classes in the field of health and nutrition" that could take place in VR/AR environments.

In a separate filing, the company said "it would offer users a virtual currency, as well as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs," the report said on Sunday.

"Walmart is continuously exploring how emerging technologies may shape future shopping experiences," a Walmart spokesperson was quoted as saying in media reports. "We are testing new ideas all the time. Some ideas become products or services that make it to customers. And some we test, iterate, and learn from," according to the company.

Other retailers also have plans to enter metaverse, like Nike that aims to introduce NFTs and virtual sneakers while Adidas selling out of its aInto the Metaverse' NFT collection.

Gap has also started selling NFTs of its iconic logo sweatshirts.

The market for transactions in the Metaverse is expected to reach $6.1 billion this year, as tech giants like Meta (formerly Facebook) aim big on the VR/AR-based technology to bring deeper immersive experiences to billions in the future.

The global Metaverse market is forecast to hit nearly $42 billion globally by 2026, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Agritech startup DeHaat acquires Helicrofter, to empower farmers

 Agritech startup DeHaat on Monday said it has acquired Maharashtra-based B2B agri-input marketplace startup called Helicrofter, for an undisclosed sum

Agritech startup DeHaat on Monday said it has acquired Maharashtra-based B2B agri-input marketplace startup called Helicrofter, for an undisclosed sum

With the integration of Helicrofter, encompassing over 2,000 agri-input retailers and 30 sellers across Maharashtra, DeHaat has expanded its operation to another major agricultural belt, said Shashank Kumar, DeHaat's Co-founder and CEO.

DeHaat currently serves over 700,000 farmers across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Founded in 2020 by Siddhartha Choudhary, Helicrofter is a farm input e-commerce platform designed to do away with supply chain inefficiencies in the rural ecosystem.

Despite the pandemic, Helicrofter has achieved annual revenue in excess of Rs 50 crore.

"What makes this partnership even more ideal for us is the complementing ideologies and synergy of function that will enable us to work together in materialising our vision for the farmer communities that we jointly serve," said Choudhary.

DeHaat provides farmers with access to over 3,200 agricultural inputs, combined with AI-based customised crop advisory on pest and disease management, delivered via mobile app and call centres.

The platform also aggregates more than 30 crops from farmers on their network and directly supplies it to over 600 commodity bulk buyers, including retail chains, e-commerce players, FMCG giants, and SME food processors.

"We have been consistent with 35-40 per cent growth in our network on a month-on-month basis, and this acquisition will cement our footprint into Maharashtra and thereby the western part of India, which forms a major agri-cluster for the nation," said Amrendra Singh, Co-founder, DeHaat.

Tesla wooed by Indian states after Musk flags government problems

 The pitches, tweeted over the weekend, touted everything from infrastructure, sustainability and a streamlined approval process

Politicians from at least four Indian states took to Twitter to invite Tesla Inc. to set up shop in their provinces, just days after billionaire founder Elon Musk said the U.S. electric-vehicle pioneer was still facing a lot of challenges with the national government.

The pitches, tweeted over the weekend, touted everything from infrastructure, sustainability and a streamlined approval process. They were made from different parts of India -- Telangana in the south, Maharashtra in the west, Punjab in the north, and West Bengal in the east.

Musk and the Indian government have been in talks for years, but disagreements over a local factory and import duties have led to an impasse, meaning Tesla still doesn’t sell cars in India, three years after showing definite intent. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration wants Tesla to set up a factory to sell locally and export, Musk has insisted on slashing import duties of as much as 100% so that Tesla can first establish a market.

All the states that invited Tesla to start operations are ruled by parties opposed to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which runs the federal government.

Setting up car factories in India could be difficult even for local companies without any government support, as red tape, land acquisition and labor rights remain a constant challenge. In 2008, Tata Motors Ltd., run by India’s biggest conglomerate, was forced to abandon a near-complete facility in West Bengal after violent protests by farmers against land acquisition, thwarting its attempt to build the Nano, the world’s cheapest car, in the state.

“Drop here, we in West Bengal have best infra & our leader @MamataOfficial has got the vision. Bengal means Business,” Ghulam Rabbani, West Bengal’s minister for minority affairs and Madrassah education tweeted to Musk on Saturday. As an opposition leader, the state’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee had spearheaded a campaign demanding Tata Motors return the land acquired by the provincial government to farmers unwilling to give it up.

50 more startups with the potential to be unicorns in 2022: Report

 India has 50 startups with the potential to achieve the coveted unicorn' status in 2022 and by the end of the year, the list of the new-age companies valued at over $1 billion will be at least 100

India has 50 startups with the potential to achieve the coveted unicorn' status in 2022 and by the end of the year, the list of the new-age companies valued at over USD 1 billion will be at least 100, a report by a consultancy firm said on Monday.

In 2021, which witnessed a huge spike in company valuations in the listed and unlisted space driven by ample liquidity, according to some watchers, India added 43 startups to the list and the number of unicorns shot up to 68 by the end of the year.

Over USD 10 billion was invested in the Indian startup ecosystem in the October-December quarter alone, according to the report by PwC India.

We can see that the base of the companies in the growth stage and late-stage deals have improved significantly in CY21, depicting a stronger base of companies having the potential to reach unicorn status, the firm's partner for deals and startups Amit Nawka said.

He added that market sentiments are placed favourably towards startups, and when coupled with the large base of startups, the number of unicorns will go well beyond 100 by the end of 2022.

A December 2021 report by the Hurun Research Institute had said India is the third-largest home for unicorns globally but trails the US and China by a wide margin.

The PwC report said USD 35 billion were raised by Indian startups in over 1,000 rounds of funding in 2021, which was 1.5 times higher than the previous year. Edtech, software as a service and fintech sectors witnessed the highest activity.

From pandemic to endemic: Can 2022 succeed where 2021 failed?

 Health experts, however, are preaching caution, saying there's too much uncertainty about how virus will evolve, how much immunity society has built up, potential damage if people stop being careful

After two years of contagion and death, Covid is shifting again. Omicron is spreading faster than any previous variant, but it’s also proving less malevolent. There’s growing talk that the worst pandemic of the past century may soon be known in another way — as endemic.

Spain threw out the idea this week, when Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it’s time to think about new ways of living with Covid long term, such as the world does with the flu. Other countries jumped in, saying they may be moving toward a new chapter of the disease.

Health experts, however, are preaching caution, saying there’s too much uncertainty about how the virus will evolve, how much immunity society has built up and potential damage if people stop being careful.

From pandemic to endemic: Can 2022 succeed where 2021 failed?
It’s inevitable that governments will eventually need to regard Covid as one of many public health challenges that can be managed — rather than one requiring the urgency and focus devoted since early 2020.

The appetite for economically damaging lockdowns is long gone. Vaccines are protecting swathes of the population, and there’s even hope that omicron, with its frenetic spread and less powerful punch, may be hastening the path to the pandemic’s exit.

“We probably are starting to see a transition phase toward this becoming an endemic disease, which doesn’t mean that we have to stop being very prudent,” Spain’s deputy prime minister, Nadia Calvino, told Bloomberg Television. “But it does signal that we should take measures that are very different to the ones we had to take two years ago.”

Maruti Suzuki hikes vehicle prices by 4.3% to offset rise in input costs

 The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India said it has increased prices of its models by up to 4.3% with immediate effect to partially offset the impact of the rise in input costs

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Saturday said it has increased prices of its models by up to 4.3 per cent with immediate effect to partially offset the impact of the rise in input costs.

The company has enhanced prices across its models in the range of 0.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent owing to increase in various input costs.

"The weighted average price increase in ex-showroom Prices (Delhi) across models is 1.7 per cent. The new prices are effective from today," the auto major said in a regulatory filing.

MSI sells a range of cars from Alto to S-Cross priced between Rs 3.15 lakh and Rs 12.56 lakh, respectively.

The auto major has already hiked the vehicle prices three times last year by 1.4 per cent in January, 1.6 per cent in April and 1.9 per cent in September, taking the total quantum to 4.9 per cent.

Last month, the company had stated that it has been forced to hike prices due to the increase in cost of essential commodities like steel, aluminum, copper, plastic and precious metals over the last one year.