Jagmeet Singh, Author at TechCrunch

India’s EMotorad rides high with $20M investment for global e-bike push

Jagmeet Singh — Sun, 26 Nov 2023 23:30:17 +0000

EMotorad, an Indian startup manufacturing electric bikes, raised $20 million in a Series B round as it aims to disrupt China’s market domination and expand its presence in global markets. The three-year-old startup has raised more than $22.5 million in total funding, with Singapore’s Panthera Growth Partners leading the latest round, along with participation from […]

India seeks to regulate deepfakes amid ethical concerns

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 07:01:23 +0000

India is drafting rules to detect and limit the spread of deepfake content and other harmful AI media, a senior lawmaker said Thursday, following reports of proliferation of such content on social media platforms in recent weeks. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s IT Minister, said the ministry held meetings with all large social media companies, industry body […]

Anti-censorship tools are quietly disappearing into thin air in China

Jagmeet Singh — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 14:54:00 +0000

China — the biggest internet market globally with more than 1 billion users — is no stranger to online censorship. For years, authorities in the country have built out a series of techno-policy restraints, commonly referred to as The Great Firewall, to restrict open access to the internet. But those restrictions have also given rise […]

Starlink-rival OneWeb scores approval to launch satellite broadband services in India

Jagmeet Singh — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 13:53:44 +0000

OneWeb India, the local subsidiary of low-earth orbit operator Eutelsat OneWeb, has received the necessary approval from the country’s newly created space regulatory body to launch its commercial satellite broadband services in the South Asian nation. The company said Tuesday it’s the first organization to receive authorization from the nodal agency to launch its satellite […]

Cybersecurity investor Ballistic Ventures seeks $300M for new fund

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 21:35:17 +0000

Ballistic Ventures, a venture capital firm dedicated to funding and incubating cybersecurity startups, is looking to raise as much as $300 million for a new fund, according to a regulatory filing. The San Francisco-based VC firm Wednesday filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $300 million for its second fund — over […]

Archer Aviation aims to launch all-electric air taxi service in India in 2026

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 20:21:13 +0000

Archer Aviation, the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle startup, has partnered with India’s travel and hospitality conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises to launch an all-electric air taxi service in the country in 2026. If successful, it would make the South Asian nation its second international market outside the U.S. to experience its ambitious air taxi […]

Investors double down on Snaptrude in challenging legacy building design platforms

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 09:30:17 +0000

Snaptrude — a startup aiming to compete against traditional platforms in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) design sector, including Autodesk, Trimble and Nemetschek — with its modern approach and cloud-based offering, has raised $14 million in a Series A round, just 10 months after announcing its seed funding. With Foundamental and Accel leading the […]

Android’s new real-time app scanning aims to combat malicious sideloaded apps

Jagmeet Singh — Sat, 04 Nov 2023 17:20:56 +0000

Android’s in-built security engine Google Play Protect has a new feature that conducts a real-time analysis of an Android app’s code and blocks it from installing the app if it’s considered potentially harmful. Google announced in October the new real-time app scanning feature built into Google Play Protect that the company says can help catch […]

Apple iPhone shipments just had their best quarter in India

Jagmeet Singh — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 12:32:27 +0000

Apple just saw its highest-ever quarterly shipments in India in Q3. The numbers come as the country’s overall numbers remain flat. Between July and September, the Cupertino firm shipped more than 2.5 million iPhone units in India, analyst firm Counterpoint said on Wednesday. The record shipments marked a 34% year-on-year increase. The iPhone 14 accounts […]

India’s bike taxi startup Rapido is getting into the cab business

Jagmeet Singh — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 06:35:52 +0000

Rapido, the eight-year-old Indian bike taxi startup, is expanding into the cab market in the South Asian nation, where Uber and its homegrown competitor Ola dominate. The Bengaluru-based startup has begun a pilot of its cab service in the southern city of Hyderabad, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed. The company plans to expand the service […]

Google Maps partners with India’s ONDC to add metro ticket booking

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 07:56:15 +0000

Google Maps will soon allow users in India to book metro tickets directly through the mapping app, the search giant announced as it deepens collaboration with the country’s open e-commerce network. At the Google for India event on Thursday, Google said its users will be able to book metro tickets through the Maps app, as […]

India aims to send its first astronaut to the moon by 2040

Jagmeet Singh — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 15:34:44 +0000

India is set to take its space activities to new levels by sending its first astronaut to the moon by 2040 — the obvious but ambitious move after the successful landing of its lunar probe Chandrayaan-3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the space department to set up the country’s native space station called “Bhartiya Antariksha […]

India’s Agnikul gets $26.7M to prepare for commercial space launches

Jagmeet Singh — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 03:00:58 +0000

Agnikul, an Indian space tech startup developing small-lift launch vehicles, has raised $26.7 million in fresh investment as it looks to begin commercial launches using its customizable satellite rocket. Companies — from big tech giants to startups — are looking to launch their small satellites (up to 500 kg in weight) to space to improve […]

India’s CtrlS says it will invest $2B to expand datacenter business

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:29:41 +0000

CtrlS Datacenters, the India-headquartered data center giant, said Thursday it plans to invest $2 billion over the next six years to scale its operations and expand business, as the demand for data processing and cloud storage surges across major markets. The Hyderabad-based company said it will invest in technologies and strategies in areas such as […]

World Bank’s IFC backs Indian insurtech startup Onsurity in $24M funding

Jagmeet Singh — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 04:30:11 +0000

Onsurity, an Indian startup that offers monthly subscription-based insurance solutions to micro, small and medium enterprises, startups and growing businesses, has raised $24 million in a funding round led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). The Series B round also saw the participation from existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Quona Capital. With […]

Tech group calls India’s proposed guidelines against dark patterns ‘regulatory overlap’

Jagmeet Singh — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 04:00:51 +0000

An industry group representing several major U.S. tech companies has opposed the Indian government’s proposal against dark patterns, which are used to deceive online users, and said the move would adversely affect the state promise of enabling “ease of doing business” in the economy and bring “regulatory overlap” with existing laws. New Delhi released the […]

Union Square Ventures backs Indian EV infra startup Bolt.Earth in $20M funding

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 08:58:16 +0000

Bolt.Earth, an Indian startup that offers charging infrastructure and software solutions for electric vehicles, has raised $20 million in a funding round to expand its presence within the South Asian nation and enter into new markets. The Bengaluru-based startup has raised fresh capital from its existing and new investors, including Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture […]

Krafton India launches gaming incubator to expand local ecosystem

Jagmeet Singh — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:30:53 +0000

Krafton India has launched a gaming incubator in the South Asian nation as it seeks to expand the local ecosystem and support the domestic talent looking to enter the fast-growing gaming market. Called Krafton India Gaming Incubator (KIGI), the program aims to support six to 10 teams annually, with the total duration ranging from six […]

India’s national logistics portal exposed sensitive personal data, trade records

Jagmeet Singh — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 11:45:29 +0000

India’s state-owned logistics portal has fixed misconfigurations and vulnerabilities that exposed sensitive personal data and various state and private trade records. Called the National Logistics Portal-Marine, the website made the sensitive and private data public due to misconfigured Amazon S3 buckets. It also carried a JavaScript file that included login credentials into the web source […]

India gov’t to propose setting up a separate body for vast data management, draft bill shows

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 10:50:28 +0000

With data being considered the new oil, India, the world’s second-largest internet market after China, is looking to establish a dedicated entity to manage the data it generates and set up rules and regulations for non-personal and anonymized personal data. The Indian government plans to propose setting up the National Data Management Office, according to […]