One Thing Today in Tech
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TCS announces surprise CEO change: Rajesh Gopinathan resigns, Krithivasan is the new boss
Tata Consultancy Services, India's biggest technology services and consulting company, announced a surprise change at the top yesterday. CEO Rajesh Gopinathan has resigned to "pursue his other interests," and K Krithivasan, another company veteran will take over in the coming months, the Mumbai-listed IT giant told the stock exchanges after the markets closed. Also in this brief, Xoriant, an engineering services provider in the US, gets a new chief executive; and the UK bans TikTok on government devices
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Early-stage startup funding shored up deal volume in India in 2022, but funding fell 33 pct — Bain-IVCA report
Venture capital funding for India's startups fell from $38.5 billion in 2021 to $25.7 billion in 2022, according to the latest report on the sector by Bain and Company, a consultancy, and Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association. However, more early-stage deals were struck in 2022, helping the overall deal volume to be marginally higher, according to the report, released yesterday. Also in this brief, the Indian IT services sector has become a less significant recruiter, according to a staffing company
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Meta lays off another 10,000 employees; India investigating crypto startups for money laundering
Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms will lay off 10,000 more workers and incur restructuring costs ranging from $3 billion to $5 billion, the company announced Tuesday, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg warning economic instability could continue for "many years," CNBC reports. Also in this brief, OpenAI releases GPT-4, the latest version of its large language model AI; and Infosys sees a second big exit in 2023, as Mohit Joshi, a president and 22-year veteran at the Bengaluru company, is named CEO-designate at smaller rival Tech Mahindra
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Women-led startups outperformed the overall startup ecosystem in India — Tracxn report
The year 2022 saw women-led startups in India increase their share of venture capital investments and do better than the overall startup ecosystem in the country, even as the so-called funding winter descended on the sector amid worsening global macroeconomic conditions. Marquee investors such as Sequoia Capital and Accel as well as accelerators and incubators such as CIIE backed more women entrepreneurs, according to data from Tracxn, a Mumbai-listed private markets intelligence provider. Also in this brief, Spotify hit half a billion active users, the Swedish company said at its Stream On ev
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Foxconn says 'no definitive agreement' after news of $700 mln Apple iPhone factory in Bengaluru
Foxconn, one of Apple's largest contract manufacturers, said on Saturday that there was no definitive agreement about investment in India, the French news agency AFP reported. This came after a report from Bloomberg on Friday last that Foxconn will invest about $700 million to build a new plant near India's tech capital Bengaluru. Also in this brief, Universal Hydrogen, a hydrogen fuel cell technologies company, last week, conducted the first test of a 40-passenger regional airliner aircraft, using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion
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Amazon to integrate logistics network, SmartCommerce with ONDC; Ericsson lays off 8,500 staff
Amazon announced on February 24 that it will integrate its logistics network and SmartCommerce, a suite of SaaS products built on Amazon Web Services, with the government of India-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Ericsson has announced the largest layoff in the telecom sector in the current economic slowdown, Reuters reports. Also in this brief, Nokia has announced the G22 — a smartphone with a backplate made from recycled plastic that can be removed easily for DIY repairs; and the latest on how India is stepping up its semiconductor efforts
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Google offers a 4 percent cut to comply with India's competition order; MapMyIndia launches hardware devices
Google has started to support third-party billing for Google Play Store purchases in India as the Android maker begins to comply with local rules, after its challenge to a diktat from India's Competition Commission was initially rejected by the country's top courts, but remains pending, TechCrunch reports. Meanwhile, C.E. Info Systems, better known for its geospatial software tech products under the brand MapMyIndia, which competes with Google Maps, for example, yesterday launched a new line of navigation and entertainment hardware products for cars and two-wheelers
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India and Singapore UPI-PayNow linkage goes live; Capgemini forecasts slower growth in 2023
India and Singapore have linked their digital payments systems, UPI and PayNow, to support instant and low-cost cross-border payments. The system went live yesterday. Capgemini forecast weaker revenue growth and said it would slow down hiring in 2023 amid a global economic slowdown, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, Wipro is asking some recruits to join at lower pay, according to Economic Times. Also in this brief, the US Supreme court is hearing an important case against Google; and a British trial of four-day work weeks results in many participants sticking with it
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Tata Group's JLR opens three autonomous-tech hubs in Europe; Infosys names Shaji Mathew HR boss
Tata Group's Jaguar Land Rover said on Tuesday it is opening three new engineering hubs in Europe to develop autonomous vehicle technologies as part of its partnership with Silicon Valley artificial intelligence company Nvidia, Reuters reports. Also in this brief, several countries, last week, agreed on a call to action over the use of AI in warfare; and Freshworks, yesterday, named Sandie Overtveld as the Senior Vice President and general manager for its Asia-Pacific, Japan, and Middle East and Africa markets
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Microsoft's Bing AI is offering bizarre responses to testers; G20 Digital Innovation Alliance open to startups
Microsoft's announcement of its Bing AI last week was received with much fanfare, which even prompted Google to rush through its botched announcement. The experience of some early testers, however, hasn't been very good, and the whole thing could backfire. Also in this brief, Tesla is recalling more than 360,000 cars over safety concerns related to its driver-assistance software. And scientists in India have developed a non-toxic nanocomposite coating to prevent bacterial infections at the site of surgical wounds that is superior to existing commercial products
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Salesforce's Marc Benioff took French Polynesia vacation amid layoffs; Stripe burned $500 mln last year — report
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff took a vacation to French Polynesia to "detox" himself from gadgets and other digital distractions, the entrepreneur told The New York Times, Business Insider reports — the original piece is behind a paywall. Benioff took a vacation after firing 10 percent of the cloud-based CRM provider's staff. Meanwhile, fintech darling Stripe burned through half a billion dollars in 2022, The Information reports exclusively, as its revenue rose much more slowly than the previous year's pandemic-driven frenzy that saw every business shifting more work on