News roundup: Top startup stories of the week

Video and live stream led commerce platform BulBul raised $8.7 million in a funding round led by internet company Info Edge. While Info Edge has invested $6.33 million through its IE Venture Fund I, the balance amount has been raised from existing investors in BulBul, including Sequoia and Leo Capital. As part of the agreement, Info Edge will acquire 416 ordinary shares and 2002 Series A Preference Shares, through a mix of primary and secondary mode of acquisition. The investment means that Info Edge has a 17.82 percent stake in the company.

Food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy said it is laying off 350 employees in the second round of job cuts as part of the realignment exercise it started in May on account of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Swiggy added that the company is concluding the exercise and has no further plans for any restructuring. This includes a minimum of three months to eight months of salary based on tenure (includes an extra month of ex-gratia for every year served in addition to their notice period pay), accelerated vesting of ESOPs, an extension of accident and term insurance for impacted employees and health insurance for them and their families till December 20, the statement said.

Flipkart plans to offer 90-minute deliveries for groceries and home accessories, as the Walmart-owned online retailer goes head to head with Amazon in a key growth market for ecommerce. Flipkart said its hyperlocal service, dubbed Flipkart Quick, will also sell mobile phones and stationery items, taking it a step further than existing quick-delivery services which mainly offer just groceries. Flipkart Quick will debut in select locations in Bengaluru, the company said, without specifying a launch date. The new service puts Flipkart more directly in competition with Amazon and Alibaba-backed BigBasket, both of which offer quick deliveries of groceries

OYO’s group chief executive Ritesh Agarwal has set up a new investment entity Aroa Ventures that will focus on growth-stage businesses in the consumer, technology, and leisure infrastructure sectors. Aroa Ventures is sponsored by RACo holding company and according to its official website, this is a Singapore-based entity. This investment arm is looking to invest anywhere between invest between $500,000 and $5 million. Along with Ritesh, Gaurav Gulati who was part of the founding team and COO of Innov8 Co-working, which was acquired by OYO, will be heading Aroa Ventures. OYO has not responded to CNBC-TV18’s queries or shared an official comment on this development yet.

A month after it banned 59 Chinese apps, the government has banned 47 more apps -- largely clones of the apps banned previously -- on privacy and national-security considerations, multiple media reports said. Some reports added that the government has drawn up a list of over 250 apps that it may consider banning, including popular gaming app PUBG. An official word from the government on either the list of apps that have been or may be banned is awaited.

Digital banking fintech start-up Niyo has acquired Goalwise, a new-age mutual funds investment platform to expand its product offering to the millennials. Niyo plans to expand its user base through a mobile app experience and innovative product suite that will now include wealth management products. Niyo is also offering 10-12 percent salary hikes, bonuses and ESOPs, taking the total stock grants to over Rs 100 crore for all eligible employees. The firm plans to double the size of its tech and product teams by the end of March 2021.

A government-constituted committee headed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan released the Non-Personal Data Protection Framework this month, and is seeking public feedback up to August 12. Non-Personal Data, according to the draft report, released on July 12, 2020, is any data that is not related to an identified or identifiable natural person, or is personal data that has been anonymised.

"The government will set up an authority through regulation in the Parliament, just as the Personal Data Protection Bill. This will also go through as a bill that will be passed by the Parliament, which is what I am given to believe. We recommended a separate authority since non-personal data is different from personal data. We have said the authority should be harmonised with the personal data protection authority and Competition Commission of India. We have recommended that an industry representative should be part of the authority," said Kris Gopalakrishnan

On The Global Front:

The members of the House Antitrust Subcommittee grilled the CEOs of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook over their dominance and allegations of monopolistic practices that could kill competition. The five hours of testimony and questioning saw very few revelations or striking confrontations as the executives faced tough questioning and multiple interruptions from lawmakers of both parties. The top bosses provided data to show the competitive landscape and the valur their innovation and essential services offer to consumers. Some answers to pointed questions business practices got were skirted by the group. They also confronted a range of other concerns about alleged political bias, their effect on US democracy and their role in China.

Google parent-company Alphabet beat expectations for its second quarter earnings but marked its first revenue decline in company history as the coronavirus pandemic slowed economic growth and advertisers pulled back spending during the quarter. Revenue for the quarter came in at $38.30 billion.

Amazon reported blowout second-quarter results including a huge beat on the top line and double-digit revenue growth year-over-year, helped by surging sales amid the coronavirus pandemic. The ecommerce giant announced a revenue of $88.91 billion for the quarter. The tech giant plans to take on SpaceX, and will invest $10 billion in a satellite broadband plan. The 'Project Kuiper' will build a network of 3,236 satellites that will provide high-speed broadband internet services to people around the world who lack such access.

Facebook reports slowest revenue growth since its 2012 IPO, revenues grew 11 percent to $18.7 billion with daily active users at 1.79 billion.“We are seeing signs of normalisation in user growth and engagement as shelter in-place measures have eased around the world, particularly in developed markets where Facebook’s penetration is higher,” the company said in the statement.

Apple reported record Q3 earnings. Revenues rose $59.7 billion, an increase of 11 percent from the year-ago quarter. In terms of sales, international sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue. Apple chief financial officer Luca Maestri confirms that the new lineup of iPhones, usually released in late September, would face delays of a few weeks.

Search engine giant Google will extend its work from home order for its employees until July 2021, a report said. The change will affect "nearly all" of Google's 200,000 employees, including contractors and full-time workers, reported CNBC. According to the report, Sundar Pichai made the decision himself last week after debate among Google Leads, an internal group of top executives that he chairs. Earlier, Google had said employees should expect to return to the office in January 2021.