General Catalyst makes India push with Venture Highway merger

General Catalyst, a Silicon Valley venture capital group, is expanding its presence in India by joining forces with a local venture firm and earmarking more than $500 million for investments in the world’s most populous nation. The U.S. venture capital group is merging with Venture Highway, an India-based firm whose investments include social commerce startup […]

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Google brings Gemini mobile app to India with nine Indian languages support

Google has released its dedicated AI mobile app Gemini in India — over four months after its debut in the U.S. — with support for nine Indian languages alongside English. The Gemini mobile app in India supports nine Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. This lets users in the country […]

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India’s Oyo, once valued at $10B, finalizes new funding at $2.5B valuation

Oyo, the Indian budget-hotel chain startup, is finalizing a fresh fundraise of about $100 million to $125 million that slashes its valuation to $2.5 billion, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.  That’s a steep decline in the Gurgaon-headquartered startup’s value, which was worth $10 billion in 2019. The startup, struggling to raise from […]

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Google’s updated AI-powered NotebookLM expands to India, UK and over 200 other countries

Google on Thursday said it is rolling out NotebookLM, its AI-powered note-taking assistant, to over 200 new countries, nearly six months after opening its access in the U.S. The platform, powered by Google’s multimodal LLM Gemini 1.5 Pro, has also been upgraded with new features and languages to help more people use AI to generate […]

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Amazon buys Indian video streaming service MX Player

Amazon has agreed to acquire Indian video streaming service MX Player from the local media powerhouse Times Internet, the latest step by the e-commerce giant to make its services and brand popular in smaller cities and towns in the key overseas market.  The two firms reached a definitive agreement for the deal on Wednesday evening, […]

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Modi’s third term signals policy continuity in India – but with spending cuts

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has emerged victorious in India’s 2024 general election, but with a smaller majority compared to 2019. According to post-election analysis by Goldman Sachs, UBS, Bernstein and Citi, this slimmer mandate may push the government – known for transforming India into a global manufacturing powerhouse and making investments in sectors […]

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Stripe curbs its India ambitions over regulatory situation

Stripe, the world’s most valuable fintech startup, said on Friday that it will temporarily move to an invite-only model for new account sign-ups in India, “a tough decision” it’s making as it navigates the country’s evolving regulatory landscape. In a statement posted on its website, Stripe said that businesses in India will no longer be […]

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India’s Agnikul launches 3D-printed rocket in sub-orbital test after initial delays

After two years of preparation and four delays over the past several months due to technical glitches, Indian space startup Agnikul has successfully launched its first sub-orbital test vehicle, powered by its unique 3D-printed rocket engines, space agency Indian Space Research Organisation said Thursday. Called Agnibaan SOrTeD (Sub-Orbital Technology Demonstrator), the single-stage launch vehicle lifted […]

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Avendus, India’s top venture advisor, confirms it’s looking to raise a $350 million fund

Avendus, the top investment bank for venture deals in India, confirmed on Wednesday it is looking to raise up to $350 million for its new private equity fund.  The new fund, called Future Leaders Fund III, will enable the Mumbai-headquartered firm to write larger checks and maintain a meaningful position in the startups it backs, […]

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