Google has removed rental apps in India to keep consumers safe. The UBS Fund is targeting a $ 400 million stake in Paytm. India’s leading edtech startups are on a hiring frenzy.
Here are the top five tech news items you need to read today:
Google is removing some loan apps in India
Agencies
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has removed consumer rental apps from the Play Store in India to keep users safe. “We reviewed hundreds of personal loan apps in India based on flags submitted by users and government agencies,” said Suzanne Frey, vice president of product, Android security and privacy, in a blog post Thursday
Why it matters: The online lending industry has become aware of the authorities after at least two suicides in the past month related to alleged harassment of such apps by recovery agents.
A recent research by Reuters found that at least 10 loan apps on the Play Store violated Google’s loan repayment length rules to protect vulnerable borrowers. It was also found that some of the loan apps were also in breach of central bank regulations.
And the Reserve Bank of India responded. The banking regulator has set up a working group to regulate online lending through mobile apps in India. (Continue reading)
Incoming: Edtech jobs with the hordes
The post-pandemic boom in the educational technology labor market continues this year. Edtech startups are looking for new products and expanding into newer markets.
Driving messages: Seven leading Indian edtech startups – Byju’s, Talentedge, upGrad, Udemy, Unacademy, Simplilearn and Scaler – plan to hire 12,600 to 13,000 employees in 2021, increasing their workforce by 93 to 96%, according to ET.
The individual hiring increases for these companies are between 30 and 200%.
Investors are also optimistic about the great potential of this industry. (Continue reading)
ETtech Done Deals: UBS is pursuing a $ 400 million stake in Paytm
UBS Group AG is in talks to invest $ 400 million
PaytmBloomberg, the most valuable Indian startup banking on the emerging digital payments market in the world’s second largest country, reported to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.
Driving messages: A fund operated by UBS’s asset management company is currently in talks to acquire a stake in Paytm together with some of the Swiss bank’s clients, according to those surveyed, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. UBS is negotiating the purchase of Paytm shares from a group of employees at the Indian fintech company.
UBS plans to close a deal earlier this month, though talks are still being delayed or may fall apart, according to one respondent. Paytm is not raising any new capital as part of the deal, people said. Representatives from UBS and Paytm declined to comment. (Continue reading)
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Quick Heal Technologies Ltd.
invested an additional $ 2 million in L7 Defense, an Israel-based cybersecurity startup, to future proof its cybersecurity business. The investment will result in a strategic alignment between the two companies. Quick Heal will be able to expand its enterprise solution offering under the Seqrite umbrella and introduce L7’s flagship products in India as well as other regions of APAC and EMEA.
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Knocksense, a Lucknow-based content production platform, raised $ 200,000 in funding from a variety of angel investors, including LetsVenture’s Mohit Satyanand. The company now plans to publish video stories and content in Hindi to expand into Tier II cities in India. It claims to generate more than 20 million organic impressions in a month.
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RapydThe fintech solutions company has raised $ 300 million in a Series D funding round led by global investment manager Coatue Management. Several new investors, including Spark Capital and Avid Ventures, have also joined. Rapyd will use the funds to double its engineering and product teams and expand the self-service element of the platform.
For more information on seed funding and offers, click here.
Govt scanner for WhatsApp policy changes
The Indian government has launched an “audit” and is “gathering” details of potential data breaches from WhatsApp’s proposed privacy policy changes, according to a TOI report.
Why it matters: WhatsApp would like to share significantly more user data with the parent Facebook Inc. While it was made clear that the privacy update was limited to business interactions and not extended to face-to-face chats, this hasn’t stopped users from switching to Signal and Telegram.
WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart admitted that the company’s communications about changes to privacy policy created some confusion, but reiterated that messages would remain encrypted. (Continue reading)
Also read:
WhatsApp’s new privacy policy “very confusing”: Brian Acton of Signal
“Appropriate” OTT Censorship in India?
A standing parliamentary committee on information technology has discussed the challenges of protecting creative freedom and imposing appropriate restrictions on content on streaming platforms, The Times of India reported.
Prasoon Joshi, chief of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), who appeared before the panel, defended the role of the censorship committee, saying filmmakers would like to change or “cut” content that violates Indian law or could affect mood. (Continue reading)
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