ETtech Bytes on 14 Jan. 2021: Top 5 Tech News Today, In 10 Minutes

News Journals

4 years ago

Google has eliminated lending apps in India to guard customers, amid regulatory motion in opposition to them. UBS fund is pursuing $400 million stake in Paytm. India’s main edtech startups are on a hiring spree.

Listed below are the top-five, must-read technology news in the present day:

Google removes some lending apps in India

Companies

Alphabet Inc.’s Google
has removed from the Play Retailer lending apps aimed toward customers in India, in an try to safeguard customers. “We’ve got reviewed tons of of private mortgage apps in India, based mostly on flags submitted by customers and authorities companies,” Suzanne Frey, vice chairman of product, android safety and privateness, stated in a
blogpost on Thursday

Why it issues: The net lending trade has come to the eye of authorities after not less than two suicides prior to now month linked to alleged harassment by restoration brokers of such apps.

A latest investigation by Reuters discovered not less than 10 lending apps on the Play Retailer breached Google’s guidelines on mortgage compensation lengths aimed toward defending weak debtors. It additionally discovered that quite a lot of the lending apps additionally flouted central financial institution laws.

And the Reserve Financial institution of India has reacted. The banking regulator
has set up a working group to control on-line lending via cellular apps in India.
(read more)

Incoming: Edtech jobs, by the hordes

The post-pandemic increase within the training know-how job market is continuous this 12 months, with edtech startups on a hiring spree to launch new merchandise and develop into newer markets.

Driving the information: Seven main Indian edtech startups—Byju’s, Talentedge, upGrad, Udemy, Unacademy, Simplilearn, and Scaler—collectively plan so as to add 12,600-13,000 staff in 2021, growing their general headcount by 93-96%, in response to knowledge collated by ET.

Particular person hiring will increase for these corporations will vary between 30-200%.

Traders, too, are upbeat concerning the large potential of this trade.
(read more)

ETtech Done Deals: UBS pursues $400 million stake in Paytm

UBS Group AG is in talks to invest $400 million in
Paytm, the most valuable Indian startup, in a bet on the surging digital payments market in the world’s second-most populous country, Bloomberg has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Driving the news: A fund run by UBS’s asset management arm is in discussions to buy a stake in Paytm alongside some of the Swiss bank’s clients, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. UBS is negotiating the purchase of Paytm stock from a group of the Indian fintech company’s employees, the people said.

UBS aims to finalise an agreement as soon as this month, though talks could still be delayed or fall apart, according to one of the people. Paytm isn’t raising any new capital as part of the deal, the people said. Representatives for UBS and Paytm declined to comment.
(read more)

■
Fast Heal Applied sciences Ltd.
has invested $2 million extra in L7 Protection, an Israel-based cybersecurity startup, as a part of its efforts to future-proof its cybersecurity enterprise. The funding will lead to strategic alignments between each the businesses—Fast Heal will have the ability to develop its vary of enterprise options beneath the ‘Seqrite’ umbrella and introduce L7’s flagship merchandise in India in addition to different areas within the APAC and EMEA.

■
Knocksense, a content-production platform based mostly in Lucknow,
raised $200,000 in funding from a clutch of angel traders, together with LetsVenture’s Mohit Satyanand. The agency now plans to launch video tales and hindi language content material to develop into Tier-II cities in India. It claims to generate greater than 20 million natural impressions in a month.

■
Rapyd, a fintech options agency,
has raised $300 million in a Collection D funding spherical led by world funding supervisor Coatue Administration. A number of new traders, together with Spark Capital and Avid Ventures have additionally come onboard. Rapyd will use the funds to double its engineering and product groups, in addition to develop the platform’s ‘self-service’ aspect.

For extra startup funding and deals news, click on
here
.

Govt scanner on WhatsApp’s policy changes

The Indian authorities has began an “examination” and is “accumulating particulars” on potential knowledge privateness violations by WhatsApp’s proposed privateness coverage adjustments, in response to a TOI report.

Why it issues: WhatsApp desires to share considerably extra person knowledge with mum or dad Fb Inc., and whereas
it has clarified that the privateness replace is proscribed to enterprise interactions and doesn’t lengthen to private chats, that hasn’t stopped customers from leaping ship to
Signal and Telegram.

WhatsApp head Will Cathcart
admitted the corporate’s communication about privateness coverage adjustments has brought on some confusion however reiterated that messages would stay encrypted.
(read more)

Additionally Learn:
WhatsApp’s new privacy policy ‘very confusing’: Signal’s Brian Acton

‘Reasonable’ OTT Censorship in India?

A parliamentary standing committee on data know-how has mentioned the challenges of defending inventive freedom and imposing affordable restrictions on content material on streaming platforms, The Occasions of India reported.

Showing earlier than the panel, Central Board of Movie Certification (CBFC) chief Prasoon Joshi defended the position of the censor board, and stated that filmmakers had been blissful to change or “lower” content material that runs afoul of Indian legal guidelines, or might harm sentiments.
(read more)

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