Manish Singh, Author at TechCrunch

Indian news agency sues OpenAI alleging copyright infringement

Manish Singh — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 07:56:51 +0000

One of India's largest news agencies has sued OpenAI in a case that could set a precedent for how AI companies use copyrighted news content.

India orders Meta to curb WhatsApp data sharing, levies $25M fine

Manish Singh — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 16:00:34 +0000

India’s competition watchdog has ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with other Meta units for advertising purposes for five years and also levied a fine of $25.4 million for antitrust violations related to WhatsApp’s controversial 2021 privacy policy. The Competition Commission of India, which began the investigation in 2021, found that WhatsApp’s “take-it-or-leave-it” privacy […]

Xiaomi taps PhonePe’s app store for India smartphones

Manish Singh — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 12:31:40 +0000

Xiaomi will replace its app store with fintech PhonePe’s offering for customers in India starting in January. The move is a major win for the Indian startup, as well as a sign of further recalibration for the Chinese hardware giant in one of its biggest markets outside its home country. Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone […]

MakeMyTrip buys Happay from CRED

Manish Singh — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 11:10:11 +0000

Indian travel and hospitality aggregator MakeMyTrip has agreed to acquire expense management platform Happay from fintech CRED. The deal, announced on Monday, will see Happay’s expense management business and team transition to MakeMyTrip, while the payments division will remain at CRED. The financial terms were not disclosed and couldn’t be immediately learned. CRED, which had […]

India’s HealthKart valued at $500M in new investment

Manish Singh — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 08:53:09 +0000

Indian nutrition startup HealthKart’s valuation has surged to about $500 million in a new all-secondary investment of $153 million, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The investment, one of the largest for an Indian consumer startup this year, was co-led by private equity firms ChrysCapital and Motilal Oswal, with Avendus Capital serving as […]

Oyo founder seeks new investment at $3.8B valuation

Manish Singh — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 04:44:22 +0000

An investment vehicle backed by Oyo’s founder, Ritesh Agarwal, has proposed to inject another $65.1 million into the Indian hospitality startup, according to notices to shareholders that were reviewed by TechCrunch. The investment, through Redsprig Innovation Partners, would value the SoftBank-backed company at $3.8 billion, according to terms shared in a notice to shareholders. While […]

Reliance, Disney complete India media merger valued at $8.5B

Manish Singh — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 12:21:46 +0000

Reliance and Disney have completed their landmark Indian media merger, creating an $8.5 billion entertainment powerhouse in the country’s streaming and television markets. The deal, proposed in February, brings together Disney Star with Reliance-controlled Viacom18 under a joint venture that will control about 85% of India’s streaming market and roughly half of television viewership in […]

Prosus eyes PayU IPO in 2025 after stellar Swiggy listing

Manish Singh — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:36:03 +0000

Prosus aims to list fintech firm PayU in 2025 as the Dutch investor looks to shift more focus to India. On Wednesday it described the market as a pillar for its investment business after the stellar listing of food delivery and quick commerce firm Swiggy netted it gains of $2 billion. PayU, which is wholly […]

India’s Swiggy defies weak market in largest 2024 tech IPO globally

Manish Singh — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 04:43:24 +0000

Shares of Swiggy surged 7% to ₹440 on Wednesday as the food-delivery and quick-commerce startup concluded India's second-largest IPO this year.

SoftBank Vision Fund co-CEO Misra to leave firm

Manish Singh — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:24:56 +0000

SoftBank said the co-CEO of Vision Fund, Rajeev Misra, will soon step down from his leadership roles at the firm’s flagship technology investment vehicles, marking the departure of one of the Japanese group’s most prominent dealmakers. The company said on Tuesday that Misra, who helped steer the $100 billion Vision Fund through both its explosive […]

Swiggy’s public debut will test India’s appetite for $1B+ IPOs

Manish Singh — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 12:16:07 +0000

Swiggy’s upcoming IPO on Wednesday will finally give many analysts a public comparable for what has been long considered to be the Indian internet stock: Zomato. It will also test the nation’s appetite for IPOs that can scale past the $1 billion mark. For its IPO, Swiggy has already secured $1.4 billion from institutional investors, […]

Truecaller’s founders step down as the spam blocking app regains momentum

Manish Singh — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 05:20:07 +0000

The co-founders of Swedish caller identification app Truecaller are stepping back from day-to-day operations, marking the end of an era for one of Sweden’s most successful consumer technology companies. Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam (pictured above), who co-founded Truecaller in 2009, will hand over control in January to Rishit Jhunjhunwala, the company’s product chief and […]

Swiggy IPO nets $606 million from institutional investors

Manish Singh — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 17:00:36 +0000

Swiggy has raised around $606 million from a set of more than 75 anchor investors as part of its $1.35 billion initial public offering, as the Indian food delivery and quick commerce startup prepares for the country’s second-largest listing of the year next week. The Bengaluru-based startup, which is seeking an $11.3 billion valuation in […]

Wikipedia says hasn’t received notice over alleged bias concerns from India

Manish Singh — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 11:24:03 +0000

Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia, said on Thursday that the firm hasn’t received an official notice from the Indian government over alleged concentrated editorial control and persistent complaints about bias and inaccuracies on the platform. A number of outlets, including TechCrunch, reported on Tuesday that the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting […]

Vanguard cuts Indian rideshare startup Ola’s valuation to $2B

Manish Singh — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 10:40:23 +0000

Vanguard has revised its valuation of Indian ride-hailing startup Ola to about $2 billion as of the end of August.

Indonesia blocks Google Pixel sales after ban on iPhone 16

Manish Singh — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 06:13:31 +0000

Indonesia has banned sales of Google Pixel smartphones for failing to meet domestic content requirements, days after blocking Apple’s iPhone 16 in Southeast Asia’s largest phone market. The Indonesian Ministry of Industry said Google’s phones cannot be traded until they comply with rules requiring 40% local content in smartphones sold in Indonesia. Google must obtain […]

Swiggy seeks $11.3B value at IPO, less than half Zomato’s worth

Manish Singh — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 07:30:17 +0000

Swiggy, one of India’s largest food delivery and quick-commerce startups, is seeking a valuation of up to $11.3 billion in its initial public offering, marking a 57% discount to rival Zomato’s market cap. The lossmaking Bengaluru-based company has set an IPO price band of ₹371 to ₹390 ($4.41 to $4.64) per share for next month’s […]

Meesho claims Indian e-commerce first with positive cash flow

Manish Singh — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 06:10:39 +0000

Meesho has become India’s first horizontal e-commerce firm to generate positive cash flow, marking a significant shift in a market where profitability has long remained elusive even as new competitive threats emerge. The SoftBank and Prosus-backed startup, which serves customers in smaller Indian cities and towns, reported positive operating cash flow of ₹232 crores ($27.6 […]

Krafton backs IMM Investment’s first India fund

Manish Singh — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 04:30:46 +0000

The Indian arm of gaming firm Krafton has backed IMM Investment’s first India fund as an anchor limited partner. Seoul-based IMM Investment, an early backer of Krafton and an investor in roughly half of South Korea’s unicorns, has marked the first close of the India fund and has hired former Legend Capital partner Prakhar Khanduja […]

Indian fintech Slice seals bank merger

Manish Singh — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 04:00:24 +0000

Indian fintech startup Slice said it has completed its merger with North East Small Finance Bank, marking a rare instance of a startup successfully entering India’s tightly regulated banking sector. The merger, first proposed last year, transforms the Bengaluru-based startup into a banking entity, following months of regulatory scrutiny. Slice, which gained prominence by issuing […]