In an unexpected announcement, tech giant Apple has revealed that it has invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing (formerly known as Didi Kuaidi), China’s biggest ride-sharing service.
Travis Kalanick’s girlfriend owns shares in Apple. With Apple’s investment in Didi, her money will essentially fund the Chinese company as it tries to push Uber out of China.
Six Indian startups are among the two-dozen promising startups selected by Google for its second Launchpad Accelerator programme.
Finally a big player has taken note and decided to throw its hat in the wallets ring. Reliance quietly launched its JioMoney wallet on the Play Store yesterday.
Chauffeur provider DriversKart has acquired startup Driven in a cash and equity deal. Consequently, DriversKart is in the drivers’ seat to become market leader in India’s on-demand driver marketplace.
Rahul Yadav, who’d earlier claimed that his new startup would be unlike anything that the Indian industry had ever seen, and had said that it would be 10x bigger than any other internet company, has said that his new startup idea is not working out.
There was a time the founder of the deals and coupons site Groupon would go to great lengths to tell prospective candidates how they didn’t have a swanky office or crazy perks but thrived on challenges and hard work. That seems to be a thing of the past. Groupon has since become Nearbuy, and along with the name and city change, has come a swanky office in Gurgaon, which could rival any of the biggies in the hood. Here’s a peek at this office that the founders like to describe as “Where playstations meet workstations.”
After reports that HSBC had slashed Zomato’s valuation by 50%, valuing it at just $500 million, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal wasted no time in clearing the air. In an email sent this morning to Zomato’s global employees, Goyal talks about Zomato’s numbers, points out how HSBC’s report might have overlooked certain aspects, and urges his team to “get back to work.”
It’s the season of markdowns. After Flipkart has seen its valuation being marked down by as many as 4 separate investors, HSBC has valued Zomato at about $500 million, a full $500 million short of the $1 billion valuation at which it had raised funds last year.