Author: Manish Singh

Cellphone plans get up to 40% costlier in India India has long been a wonderland for cellphone users. At a time when most telecom operators across the globe charge anywhere between $5 to $10 for a gigabyte of mobile data, telcos in India deliver that for just a few cents. Spare another $2 to the same telecom operator, and you get a gigabyte of mobile data everyday for a month and all your nationwide calls become free. How is that possible, you ask? In 2016, India’s richest man launched Reliance…

Xiaomi’s Q3 earnings report shows slowing growth Xiaomi, the world’s fourth largest smartphone vendor, on Wednesday shared its earnings figures for the quarter that ended in September. While the results fell largely in line with analysts’ expectations, a drastic drop in the company’s growth underscores some of the struggles that handset makers are facing as they shift to services to make up for dwindling smartphone purchases globally. The Chinese electronics firm posted Q3 revenue of 53.7 billion yuan, or $7.65 billion, up 3.3% from 51.95 billion yuan ($7.39 billion) revenue it…

Indian scooter rental startup Bounce raises 0M Big bucks are pouring to get you through the chaotic traffic on Indian roads. Bounce, a Bangalore-based startup that operates over 17,000 electric and gasoline scooters in three dozen cities in India, has raised about $150 million as part of an ongoing financing round led by existing investors Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital and Accel Partners India, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The new financing round, dubbed Series D, values the startup “well over $500 million,” the people said, requesting anonymity….

India’s Ola to begin operations in London in ‘coming weeks’ Indian ride-hailing giant Ola said today it will begin operations in London “in the coming weeks,” a day after the local authorities revoked Uber’s license to operate in one of the world’s most lucrative cities. The Indian firm, which entered portions of the UK last year, said it has started to sign up drivers in London ahead of the launch in the city. The company, which has raised over $3.5 billion to date, aims to on-board 50,000 drivers in London…

India’s electric bike rental startup Yulu inks strategic partnership with Bajaj Auto, raises M Yulu, a Bangalore-based electric bike sharing platform that maintains a partnership with Uber, said today it has won the backing of one of the country’s largest automaker firms. The two-year-old startup said it has entered into a strategic partnership with Bajaj Auto, which has also funded Yulu’s $8 million Series A financing round. As part of the partnership, Bajaj will co-design and manufacture future generation of Yulu two-wheelers, Amit Gupta, cofounder and chief executive of Yulu, told…

Amazon-backed Shuttl raises M to expand its app-based bus aggregator in India Shuttl, a startup that runs an app-based bus aggregator service in India, said on Monday that it has raised $18 million in a new financing round as it looks to scale its business in the country. Toyota Tsusho Corporate and SPARX Group, through its Mirai Creation Fund II, funded Shuttl’s Series C financing round, the four-year-old startup said. Shuttl, which is based in Gurgaon and counts Amazon as one of its investors, has raised about $66.5 million to date….