IC BYTES
IC Bytes of the Week: 17/01/21
Welcome to IC Bytes, where we quickly sum up the hottest news of the week in tech and business — in layman terms that our young readers can easily understand.
⚡Top things that happened
- Dating app Bumble preparing for $6 billion-plus IPO, says report
Bumble, a dating app that lets women make the first move, is preparing for an initial public offering that could come early next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bumble could seek a valuation of $6 billion to $8 billion, said one of the people, asking not to be named because the matter is private. While it is talking to banks, it hasn’t settled on a lineup, the people added. No plans have been finalized and the timing of Bumble’s IPO could still change.
It would be the latest technology company to consider jumping into the hot IPO market, which could see listings this year from well-known brands including Airbnb Inc and Doordash Inc.
Private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. bought a majority stake in Bumble last year — when it was known as MagicLab — in a deal that valued the company at $3 billion.
2. Byju’s to acquire Blackstone-backed Aakash Educational Services for $1 billion
India’s biggest online-education startup Byju’s has signed a deal to acquire Blackstone-backed Aakash Educational Services for $1 billion, reported Bloomberg quoting people familiar with the matter. The deal will be the largest edtech acquisitions in the world and is likely to be closed in the next two to three months.
Bengaluru-headquartered Byju’s, valued at $12 billion, had been on a fundraising spree as demand for online classes peaked during the pandemic. India’s second-most valuable startup has been backed by the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg initiative, Tiger Global Management and Bond Capital, co-founded by Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker.
With more than 200 physical centres across the country, Aakash Institutes preps students across the country to gain entry into India’s elite engineering colleges and medical schools. These institutes have over 2,50,000 students, according to the website.
While online learning startups like Byju’s thrived during the pandemic, physical learning centres including schools and coaching institutes were badly hit. This could be a reason why Byju’s has managed to secure a deal to acquire Aakash Educational Services.
3. Messaging app Signal faces global outage days after adding millions of users
Cross-platform messaging app Signal faced a global outage on Friday, just days after it was downloaded by millions of new users. Users across the world reported they were unable to send messages on both the mobile and desktop applications. The company posted on Twitter that it was experiencing technical difficulties and was “working hard to restore service as quickly as possible.” Ever since its rival WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, unveiled its new privacy terms last week, Signal has seen a huge interest from new users.
Signal said that it has been adding new servers and extra capacity at “a record pace” every single day this week nonstop. “But today exceeded even our most optimistic projections. Millions upon millions of new users are sending a message that privacy matters. We appreciate your patience,” the messaging app tweeted. It further said it is working to get the service back online.
4. Facing backlash, WhatsApp to delay new privacy policy by three months
WhatsApp has pushed implementing its new privacy policy to May 15 from February 8 after backlash from users who switched to rival messaging apps such as Signal.
“No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8,” the WhatsApp said in a blog post. “ We’re also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp. We’ll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15.”
India is the largest market in terms of users for WhatsApp with over 400 million people who use the messaging app to communicate with their friends and family. The in-app update to users had mandated them to either accept the terms of service and privacy policy or lose access to chats. The move had caused users to move away from Facebook and its platforms.
5. Google announces that its acquisition of Fitbit is complete
Google has officially completed its acquisition of Fitbit, the company best known for its fitness bands and smartwatches. The deal was originally announced in November 2019 for $2.1 billion. However, the acquisition is still under investigation from the US Department of Justice over anti-competition and anti-trust charges.
Fitbit has so far sold more than 120 million devices in over 100 countries. The company revealed that so far users have logged a total of 275 trillion steps and over 15 billion hours of sleep using the devices. While Fitbit has loyal users, it is nowhere close to Apple or Xiaomi in terms of shipments, and has struggled to remain in the top five. On its part, Google has not seen success in the fitness segment, and its Android WearOS devices failed to make any impact.
6. Tesla enters Indian Market
American automobile company Tesla has registered itself in India amid indications that the company is set to enter the country’s automobile market.
The company has been registered as an unlisted private entity with a paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh.
According to a regulatory filing, the firm has registered Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd with RoC Bangalore.
Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein have been appointed as directors of Tesla India, as per the Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing.
7. Funding: La Renon raises about $30 million, CoinSwitch Kuber has raised $15 million, Digit Insurance bags $18.5 million, BharatPe secures $19 million in debt
A91 Partners, floated by former Sequoia Capital’s managing directors VT Bharadwaj, Gautam Mago and Abhay Pandey, has pumped in $30 million in Ahmedabad-based pharma company La Renon.
Cryptocurrency investment platform CoinSwitch Kuber has raised $15 million or Rs 109 crore in its Series A funding round led by US-based fintech fund Ribbit Capital and San-Francisco based investment firm Paradigm.
General insurance provider Digit Insurance has become the latest entrant to the unicorn club with a fresh infusion of Rs $18.5 million from existing investors.
Merchant focused QR code-based payments firm BharatPe has secured Rs 140 crore or $19 million in debt from ICICI Bank and Alteria Capital. Last week, the company had raised Rs 60 crore in debt from Innoven Capital.
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