It’s nearly Christmas, and it’s the season of giving. Quite appropriately, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s 31 year old billionaire founder, has pledged to give away 99% of his Facebook shares towards good causes. These shares have a combined value of $45 billion.
As startup founders would readily attest, hiring is never easy. You send messages to potential employees on LinkedIn, post on job portals, and pay recruiters large sums of money just to get that one hire. But if you run a large website with a dedicated userbase, you sometimes need to do none of that.
Earlier this week, Indian Tinder users browsing through their daily quota of eligible singles came up with a strange new match. It wasn’t quite the usual hottie with five selfies from five angles. This match meant serious business.
Not only have the Chennai rains managed to ravage the city transport and power arrangements, but also penetrated the campuses of some of big IT offices.
QikPod will launch a network of intelligent lockers for delivery of ecommerce parcels to online consumers across the metros. Parcel Locker is a unit that is installed alongside neighborhood delivery and collection box units or in conjunction with Post Office Boxes in a retail facility that is used for parcel delivery. The startup venture will be launched by serial entrepreneur Ravi Gururaj backed with a $9 million funding from Flipkart, Delivery, Accel Partners and Foxmobile.
Nestle had barely had time to celebrate the return of Maggi on Indian shelves, when another of its products is in the dock. The UP government has raised concerns about the levels of lead in Pazzta, Maggi’s pasta brand.
With FDI being eased in single brand retailing and permission being granted to foreign companies to market through ecommerce platforms, the Government plans to encourage Indian luxury designers and brands enter into the global market, thus putting the nation on the international map.
Indian employers forecast an increase of 14.5% in hiring outlook next year, according to the India Skills Report 2016. Among sectors, retail, e-commerce, transport and logistics, telecom, pharma and healthcare are expected to lead the numbers with over 25% increase in hiring followed by banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) at 15-25%. The positive hiring sentiment in the economy reflects a strong optimism for growth in the coming year.
From a cross category classifieds business, Quikr has now ventures into the entertainment industry, partnering with filmmakers. It has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with filmmaker Vivek Bohra and casting director Aadore Mukherjee, to launch a platform for actors, casting directors, and production houses. The new platform will unite the different entities which will o help meet the needs of the entertainment industry.
Grofers has wrapped up a $120 million (Rs.800 crore) funding led by Japan’s SoftBank, thus taking the ecommerce stores to a valuation of $400 million. Other investors included Apoletto Asia, the personal investment vehicle of DST Global’s partners, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, along with existing backers Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital India, according to Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa.