Sequoia Capital India raises $1.35 billion, Uncademy buys PrepLadder and other top startup stories of the day

Sequoia will continue to invest in startups from India and Southeast Asia, a strategy it has followed for the past few years. It last raised a $695 million fund in 2018, its sixth, following which it extended the fund by $200 million in 2019.

2. Unacademy buys PrepLadder

Facebook-backed online learning platform Unacademy has acquired postgraduate medical entrance exam preparation platform PrepLadder for $50 million. With this move Unacademy will strengthen its presence in medical entrance examination categories such as NEET PG and FMGE.

Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO, Unacademy, says bringing PrepLadder on board will play a strategic role for Unacademy in the medical entrance examinations category.

Started in 2016, PrepLadder specialises in medical examinations and provides access to education services and preparation material for exams such as NEET PG, AIIMS PG, NEET SS, and FMGE.

Aarogya Setu, the COVID-19 contact tracing app developed by the Indian government, has released a new update which allows users to delete their account and all the associated data stored in the app. It has also introduced a couple of new features like sharing health data access with third-party apps and using Bluetooth contacts to assess risk levels associated with coronavirus.

To get the new features, users must update the Aarogya Setu app to iOS version 2.0.0 from the Apple App Store and version 1.3.1 on Android from the Google Play Store.

CEOs from four tech giants — Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google — will testify before the US’s House Judiciary Committee on July 27. The testimony will mark the final steps before the House Judiciary Committee completes its anti-trust investigation into the four tech companies launched in June 2019 and is expected to bring new legislative proposals to reform and regulate the digital market.

The hearing would mark the first time all four executives testified together in front of the Congress, though it’s not yet clear if the event would take place in person or virtually given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Facebook, Google and Twitter have suspended processing government requests for user data in Hong Kong following China’s establishment of a sweeping new national security law for the semi-autonomous city.

Facebook, which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram, said in a statement it was “pausing” reviews for all of its services "pending further assessment of the national security law."

TikTok will exit the Hong Kong market within days as other technology companies including Facebook Inc suspend processing government requests for user data in the region, reported Reuters.

The short form video app owned by China-based ByteDance has made the decision to exit the region following China’s establishment of a sweeping new national security law for the semi-autonomous city.

The company, now run by former Walt Disney Co executive Kevin Mayer, has said in the past that the app’s user data is not stored in China.

TikTok has also said previously that it would not comply with any requests made by the Chinese government to censor content or for access to TikTok’s user data, nor has it ever been asked to do so.