Lightspeed Venture Partners announced the closings of Lightspeed Venture Partners XIII, L.P. with $890 million, Lightspeed Venture Partners Select IV, L.P. with $1.83 billion, and Lightspeed Opportunity Fund, L.P. with $1.5 billion of limited partner committed capital. According to the press release, the California-based venture capital firm said, “In these difficult times, as the world…
Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), announced a full suite of business continuity solutions designed to help clients and their employees manage contact centers during the COVID-19 crisis, which has caused reduced staffing levels due to government mandated guidelines. “HGS Digital has tapped into its deep understanding of people and technology to deliver the same frictionless digital…
With long queues at grocery stores and society arranged vegetable marts, swarming online orders, delivery slots are overbooked, stocks are scarce, and people are struggling to get the basic cooking essentials in their households. Lining up at the supermarkets and being exposed to contacted surfaces isn’t the safest choice either, when social distancing is the…
Pledging its support towards India’s fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Canon India, one of the leaders in the imaging space, announced plethora of initiatives to empower the people of its adopted villages and SOS village homes. “To ensure that the community members are fully equipped, safe and motivated to win the COVID-19 battle, the company…
HCL, a global conglomerate, announced the launch of a new program, ‘HCL Concerts – Baithak’, to help people access live virtual performances by both young and accomplished Indian classical music and dance artists. ‘HCL Concerts-Baithak’ will be a platform for artists to create music that translates into an experience of calm, positivity and optimism for…
PayPal Holdings, Inc., announced that the company is now providing access to small business loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program. This follows approval from the SBA for PayPal to participate in the program as one of the first non-bank institutions. “Small businesses have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus…
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has donated ₹5Cr to non-profit Give India, thus matching Google’s earlier donation of ₹5Cr to the online NGO donation platform. Thanking Pichai, Give India in a tweet said, “Thank you @sundarpichai for matching @Googleorg’s Rs 5 crore grant to provide desperately needed cash assistance for vulnerable daily wage worker…
The state of Maharashtra has become the worst affected state in India due to the coronavirus pandemic. The state so far has confirmed 1,619 positive cases and about 140 people have lost their lives. The state’s capital Mumbai, which is also the financial capital of India has since last month came to halt. Organizations which…
As the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals as well as organizations are doing their bit for support the frontline workers and the less-privileged sections of society. On April 12th, 2020, the QSR leader McDonald’s India and Paytm, India’s leading digital payments & financial services platform joined hands to distribute safe and hygienic food to…
The Coronavirus pandemic and the concern related to the extent of damage it can cause had brought in a good degree of participation form major corporations, philanthropists, and business leaders to support the fight against the pandemic. Pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) announced a contribution of Rs 21 crores for relief efforts directed towards mitigating…
Naspers-backed Prosus, the global consumer internet-focused investor, announced it has committed Rs 100 crore to the PM CARES Fund, the disaster relief trust set up to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. The commitment by Prosus is possibly the largest by a single risk capital investor in India so far, and comes 10 days after a number…
Boston-based restaurant management platform Toast recently announced that it has laid off about half of its staff as the coronavirus pandemic forces restaurant closure globally. Citing restaurant sales decline as the reason, CEO of Toast Chris Comparato through a company blog said, “During the month of March, as a result of necessary social distancing and…
Private banking company Kotak Mahindra Bank recently announced that the group’s leadership team has unanimously and voluntarily opted to take a 15% cut in compensation for the financial year 2020-21. The Managing Director of the bank, Uday Kotak has personally opted to forgo his salary, and will receive Re 1/- as compensation. The bank in…
We all have been trying to work out the plans for our work life post lockdown. Businesses and business managers have been planning their next course of action – to take stock of damage inflicted, to work out their manpower strategy, etc. and to re-calibrate their work related processes once normal work life resumes. Those…
The novel coronavirus outbreak has put brakes on the global economy. The once highly interconnected world has now imposed travel bans and countries have gone into a lockdown. Businesses are closed and employees are now asked to work from home. But the remote working concept is only limited to certain kinds of jobs. The manufacturing…