Andreessen Horowitz plans $1 billion cryptocurrency VC fund: Report

The new fund is aiming to raise between $800 million and $1 billion from investors, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

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Twitter may struggle to replicate bumper 2020 growth: Analysts

Twitter shares sank more than 12% on Friday after the social media company warned the current quarter could be its worse as it eyed a weaker 2021.

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China's Ximalaya, Qiniu file for U.S. IPOs

The largest online audio platform in China, Ximalaya had 250 million average monthly average users in the first quarter of 2021, according to a regulatory filing.

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Intel seeks $10 billion in subsidies for European chip plant

Pat Gelsinger, on his first European tour since taking charge, met European Commissioner Thierry Breton in Brussels on Friday.

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Tech companies set up biz continuity plans

Companies have increased insurance cover, set up Covid helplines, home quarantine facilities and mental wellness programmes for employees and their families.

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Telangana gets nod for experimental delivery of Covid jabs using drones

The approvals come at a time when India is looking to ramp up its Covid-19 vaccination programme, as cases continue to surge across the country.

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India Inc steps up with coronavirus care centres for employees hit by second wave

Employees recuperating at these centres will have access to nurses and doctors, even oxygen, while for more serious cases, the necessary medical help/hospitalisation will be arranged as available. These centres, meant largely for mildly symptomatic/asymptomatic cases, are especially useful for people who live alone or in small homes with family and would otherwise face difficulty in isolating.

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A $42-billion joke

We take a closer look at Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that started as a joke in 2013 but is currently the world's seventh-largest digital coin.

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Startups withdraw internships offers to B-school students amid second wave of Covid-19

From cybersecurity to business-to-business sales and mid-sized startups, companies across sectors have informed B-school placement cells that the internships are on hold or that they would not pay stipends

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Apple says EU anti-trust case is 'opposite of fair competition'

The move by the European Commission followed a complaint by Swedish music streaming service Spotify two years ago

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Russia says Twitter complying with demand to remove 'banned content'

Russia this month extended the punitive slowdown until May 15, while acknowledging that the U.S. social media company had accelerated the deletion of content

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ETtech Deals Digest: Urban Company, ElasticRun raise funds this week

On-demand home service provider Urban Company and corner-stores commerce platform ElasticRun were among the startups that raise funds this week.

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EU hits Apple with music streaming charge in boost for Spotify

The preliminary findings are the first time Brussels has levelled anti-competitive charges against Apple

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Will engage openly and constructively on govt's content withholding requests: Twitter

The microblogging platform had received a number of takedown requests from India over the past few months around content that the government termed as misinformation around farmer protests and the Covid-19 pandemic

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TCS names Samir Seksaria as CFO

Seksaria started his career in TCS in 1999 and spent his early years in consulting assignments involving regulatory compliance and M&A spin-offs

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Facebook to roll out vaccine finder tool on mobile app in India

The social media giant had, earlier this week, announced a $10 million grant for emergency response efforts for Covid-19 situation in the country

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There should be no clampdown on citizen seeking COVID-19 help on internet, say SC

"There should be free flow of information, we should hear voices of citizen," said a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud, and asked the Centre, states and all DGPs not to take any action against anyone posting a shortage of oxygen, beds or doctors as spreading rumour.

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Walmart announces Covid relief efforts in India

The company said its businesses across the globe are looking to procure oxygen concentrators and other equipment India needs

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Amazon caps blockbuster Big Tech earnings reports

The e-commerce colossus is among the internet giants whose businesses thrived as precautions against Covid-19 led people around the world to go online for work, school, shopping and socializing.

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Ranjan Pai's family office invests Rs 40 crore in Finnable

Finnable has built a digital lending platform that approves loans in real-time to customers who are unable to approach the banks for their immediate loan requirement

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Persistent Systems net profit up 64.3% in Q4-FY21

Revenues of the Pune-headquartered company were up 20.2% to Rs 1,113.35 crore and up 20.3% at $152.82 million in dollar terms.

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Wipro raises forecast after completing Capco acquisition, to grow 8-10% in Q1

Wipro had forecast earlier that it expects revenue to grow 2-4% in the range of $2.19 billion to $2.23 billion, as global clients signed up the company to transform their technology and shift to digital.

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Twitter says it will engage openly if government asks for tweet removal

To put the spotlight on credible conversation on the pandemic in India, Twitter has launched a dedicated Covid-19 hub that one can navigate to via the Explore tab.

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Palantir's Alex Karp gets $1 billion payday in 2020

Known for its work with the Central Intelligence Agency and other government bodies, Palantir went public in September and has gained more than two-and-a-half times its debut price.

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Route Mobile to buy AI firm Phonon for Rs 29 crore

Phonon offers a complete suite of conversational AI-driven contact centre solutions with integration on cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

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Twitter breaks tech's blockbuster streak

Twitter posted revenues and user numbers mostly in line with analyst estimates in stark contrast to the better performing digital ad firms like Facebook and Alphabet.

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Has Netflix Peaked?

The subscriber shortfall in the last quarter points to how the streaming pioneer is naturally losing the ability to add so many customers.

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Fitness and meditation apps see increased usage as Indians ease out stress

Downloads have gone up by about 50% as physical and mental well-being takes centre stage.

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Deal with it

In today's ETtech Morning Dispatch: Tata-BigBasket deal; Byju's may land new funds; and GreyOrange eyes US listing.

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Amazon posts record profits amid pandemic boom

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, shoppers have relied increasingly on Amazon for delivery of home staples, and the company sees this trend continuing post-pandemic, particularly for groceries.

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Robotics company GreyOrange eyes $600 million via US listing

The artificial intelligence robotics company may be valued at $1.5-1.7 billion

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Ministry of Corporate Affairs nudges Sebi on startups listing rules

A startup that has listed on the IGP platform can migrate to the mainboard provided the company meets several conditions, including a profit of at least Rs 15 crore in the last three years

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Uber to recruit 20,000 UK drivers on post-lockdown demand

The San Francisco-based ride-hailing company said Thursday it aims to sign up the additional drivers by the end of the year, adding to the 70,000 it already has in the U.K.

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Udaan to buy back employee stocks worth Rs 165-175 crore

Udaan joins a slew of companies such as Cred, Swiggy, Razorpay, Acko, Zerodha and Browserstack that have announced Esop buybacks in the past six months

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Vahdam India partners with Doctors For You to crowdfund global Covid emergency relief fund

The proceeds of this fund will be used to set up more temporary Covid treatment facilities, get more supply of oxygen cylinders and oxygen concentrators for critical cases

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Byju's raising $150 million in funding from UBS

UBS could also infuse additional funding into Byju's that has seen significant growth in the past few quarters on the back of strong uptake of online education

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Angry Birds' maker Rovio's Q1 profit dips, upbeat on outlook

The mobile gaming market continues to grow, with casual gaming being a major growth driver, the company said.

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Canada's lululemon athletica to launch tech development centre in Bengaluru

​​The India Technology Hub will help expand its technology capabilities and infrastructure to enable and support global growth, the company said in a statement.

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KPIT to look for acquisitions, improve dividend payout for better cash utilisation

KPIT has also put in place a new dividend policy with the aim to improve returns for shareholders to 35% over the next two to three years.

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Excited about Zomato IPO? Firm says we’re in loss, will be this way for long

Dealers in the grey market said the company could be valued at more than Rs 53,000 crore.

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China readies sizeable penalty for Tencent in sweeping antitrust crackdown, say sources

Tencent faces penalties for not properly reporting past acquisitions and investments for antitrust reviews, an offence with a fine capped at 500,000 yuan per case, and for anticompetitive practices in some of its businesses, with music streaming in particular focus, said the sources.

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Salesforce to send plane load of medical supplies to India: Founder Marc Benioff

Marc Benioff, among the pioneers of cloud-based software and created an industry, is also involved in philanthropy in the United States.

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Facebook says it blocked hashtag calling for PM's resignation by mistake

The development comes amid reports that social media companies are being asked to remove posts that are critical of the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Gartner forecasts India public cloud end-user spending to total $4.4 billion in 2021

Software-as-a-Service (Saas) and cloud management and security services will show double-digit growth in India for the first time

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Facebook blocks #ResignModi posts for hours as India's Covid crisis grows

​Facebook said it barred the hashtag by mistake and not at the behest of the government, without elaborating. Facebook periodically blocks hashtags for a variety of reasons, some manually but many also based on automated internal guidelines.

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Competition Commission gives nod to BigBasket’s 64% stake sale to Tata Digital

Tata Digital is likely to buy out Alibaba, which holds 27.58% stake and Actis LLP, which acquired several portfolios of scandal-hit Abraaj Group.

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India and other emerging markets have done "incredibly well": Apple CFO

Apple registered more than one million shipments for two consecutive quarters to India for the first time in Oct-Dec and Jan-March, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research.

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upGrad in talks to raise $40 million at $850 million valuation

Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek wrote a cheque of $120 million as upGrad’s first external investor this week.

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Apple soars past sales, profit targets with strong iPhone demand, warns of chip shortages

Apple had thrived through the coronavirus pandemic as home-bound consumers stocked up on electronic devices and signed up for paid apps and services for fitness and music, and sales shot up even higher as Apple released 5G iPhone models last fall.

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Facebook benefits from pandemic ad spending but Apple could spoil its party

A surge in digital ad spending during the pandemic when consumers shopped online, along with higher ad prices, helped Facebook revenue surge 48%

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