Manish Singh, Author at TechCrunch

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway exits Paytm at a 40% loss

Manish Singh — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 14:36:37 +0000

Berkshire Hathaway exited Paytm-parent firm One97 Communications Friday at a loss of about 40% on the high-profile investment it made more than five years ago. The Warren Buffett firm invested about $260 million in Paytm in 2018, acquiring a 3% stake in the financial services startup at a valuation of about $10 billion. The investment […]

India seeks to regulate deepfakes amid ethical concerns

Manish 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 […]

India’s Pocket FM closes in on $80 million funding after revenue tops $160 million

Manish Singh — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 07:05:40 +0000

Audio entertainment startup Pocket FM has topped $160 million in annualized revenue runrate and is inching closer to raising over $80 million in a new funding round, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Lightspeed, an existing investor in Pocket FM, is in late stages of talks to lead the funding round into the […]

Sam Altman to return as OpenAI CEO

Manish Singh — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 06:06:55 +0000

Sam Altman is returning to OpenAI as its chief executive, the high-profile AI startup said Wednesday, a dramatic reversal that caps an intense five days of discussions, debates and convincing following the sudden dismissal of Altman last week from the startup he co-founded. OpenAI, which is the most valuable U.S. startup, said it has reached […]

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

Manish 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 […]

India accuses edtech giant Byju’s of $1.1 billion forex violations

Manish Singh — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:35:44 +0000

India’s Enforcement Directorate, its crime-fighting agency, has issued a show-cause notice to Byju’s, accusing it of violating the nation’s foreign exchange rules. The ED’s allegations say that the Bengaluru-headquartered startup has violated rules under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), to the tune of $1.12 billion, by failing to submit documents of imports against advance […]

Microsoft hires ex-OpenAI leaders Altman and Brockman to lead new AI group

Manish Singh — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:01:46 +0000

Microsoft has hired OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman to head up a “new advanced AI research team,” the software conglomerate’s chief Satya Nadella said Monday, capping three days of intense discussions following the unexpected decision by OpenAI’s board to dismiss Altman. Many OpenAI members, including the co-founder Brockman, left the firm in protest […]

Disney’s Hotstar draws 59 million concurrent viewers, setting new record

Manish Singh — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 09:07:09 +0000

In India, few events garner as much attention as a cricket game. And there’s no match for a World Cup final. The Sunday game topped 59 million concurrent viewers, shattering the 53 million milestone that was set just earlier this week. With no high-profile cricket game any time soon, Hotstar is likely to maintain the […]

Greg Brockman quits OpenAI after abrupt firing of Sam Altman

Manish Singh — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 00:21:39 +0000

OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman has quit the firm, he said Friday, hours after the Microsoft-backed giant abruptly fired its chief executive Sam Altman and assured that Brockman would remain at the startup. Brockman’s sudden departure adds to the day’s uncertainties at OpenAI, following closely on the heels of its maiden developer conference led […]

Indian central bank tightening consumer loans curb to impact startups

Manish Singh — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 06:03:10 +0000

India’s central bank has enforced several measures to cool down high growth in consumer credit in a move that will impact consumer spending and many startups in the South Asian market, industry executives said. The Reserve Bank of India raised risk weights on unsecured personal loans, credit card, consumer durable loans by banks and non-banking financial companies […]

Apple to finally bring RCS to iPhones

Manish Singh — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 19:07:20 +0000

Apple plans to add support for the RCS standard on iOS next year, the iPhone-maker said Thursday in a major reversal that would resolve the widespread issue of compatibility in text messaging between iPhones and Android smartphones, but stopped short of eliminating what is known colloquially as the “green bubble” dread. Apple’s longstanding unwillingness to support […]

Disney’s Hotstar tops 50 million concurrent viewers in India-New Zealand cricket clash

Manish Singh — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:37:53 +0000

A crucial knock-out cricket game between India and New Zealand shattered all previous on-demand video streaming records Wednesday, sending over 53 million concurrent viewers to Disney’s Hotstar. The milestone exceeded the prior record of 44 million simultaneous viewers set by the Disney-owned streamer earlier this month. As far as the concurrent viewers metric is concerned, […]

Former YC Continuity head targets $350 million growth-stage fund

Manish Singh — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 20:18:33 +0000

Anu Hariharan, who led YC Continuity before the storied accelerator scrapped the program, has partnered with two of her former colleagues and former Brex executive Lucas Fox to launch a new fund that is targeting raising about $350 million and operating a program that some peg as “YC for growth,” four sources familiar with the […]

Bob Iger says Disney would like to stay in India, looking to strengthen hand

Manish Singh — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 03:09:00 +0000

Bob Iger said Wednesday that Disney “would like to stay” in India and is considering its options in the world’s most populous country where its TV business continues to pull profit but the crown jewel streamer Hotstar is struggling to contain subscriber loss. Hotstar lost 2.8 million subscribers in the quarter ending September, widening its […]

Apple says it ‘expects to make’ App Store policy changes due to EU DMA

Manish Singh — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 13:29:06 +0000

Apple has bowed to the inevitable and said it “expects to make” App Store policy changes to comply with EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The pan-EU DMA came into application across the bloc back in May. Apple has likely been expecting for months, if not years, to be subject to the new ex ante competition […]

Vanguard slashes Ola valuation by over 60%; NB reduces PharmEasy’s by over 90%

Manish Singh — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 07:11:55 +0000

The U.S. index fund pioneer Vanguard has cut the worth of its holding in the Indian ride-hailing startup Ola by nearly two-thirds since original investment, and Neuberger Berman has slashed the worth of its PharmEasy shares by more than 90%, according to an analysis of the funds’ filings. Vanguard cut the worth of its shares […]

Ontario Teachers’ fund backs Indian logistics unicorn Xpressbees in $80 million funding

Manish Singh — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 07:36:44 +0000

Xpressbees, an Indian logistics firm that works with several e-commerce firms in the country, has raised $80 million in a new funding round led by Ontario Teachers’ late-stage venture growth fund amid a surge in the country’s online shopping activity. The Canadian pension fund has acquired a stake in the Pune-headquartered startup at about $1.4 […]

Mamaearth makes public debut, youngest Indian unicorn to list

Manish Singh — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 04:50:42 +0000

Shares of Honasa Consumer, the parent firm of direct-to-customer beauty and personal care Mamaearth, jumped slightly in a key public listing watched by many Indian startups as they evaluate their own initial public offerings. Mamaearth, a seven-year-old company that has seen a surge in the demand of its products after the pandemic, ended the debut […]

WeWork, once valued at $47B, files for bankruptcy

Manish Singh — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 02:52:32 +0000

Flexible office-space firm WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing over $18.6 billion of debt in a remarkable collapse for the once high-flying startup co-founded by Adam Neumann and bankrolled by SoftBank, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs. The New York–based firm, which raised over $22 billion and was valued at $47 billion at its […]