1947 Tech — Week 5
A few good articles that I came across this week..
Week 5, 2018
1. Chinese capital decides India’s next unicorn, say investors
Indian companies chosen by tech giants such as Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding have received vast amounts of capital, enabling them to put rivals out of business by building their own ecosystem and developing new products.
Chinese investors have been using this “winner-takes-all” strategy in India for the past few years, having seen it pay off for late stage start-ups in China and the US, said Karthik Reddy, co-founder and managing director of Mumbai-based Blume Ventures.
For example Ola, India’s equivalent of Uber, with the backing by Tencent and SoftBank was able to shut down its rival TaxiForSure — part of Blume Ventures’ portfolio — in 2016, a year after it bought the competitor for US$200 million.
2. How JioPhone led India’s feature phone revolution in 2017
In just three months, JioPhone is the market leader in feature phones, surpassing Samsung, Micromax, Itel and Nokia.
Feature phones might be a dying breed globally, but they continue to thrive in India — the fastest-growing mobile telephony market in the world. Analysts estimate that there are over 400 million feature phone users in India, and the smartphone revolution has eluded them. They either don’t need smartphones or cannot afford/access them.
But, something changed last August with the rollout of Reliance Industries’ JioPhone — a unique in-between kind of a device that looks like a feature phone, is priced like a feature phone, but is smart enough to offer 4G mobile data. Scores of new users took to it, and the JioPhone recorded six million pre-orders.
3. India vows to eliminate use of cryptocurrencies
India will move to stamp out use of cryptocurrencies, which it considers illegal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, launching a no-holds-barred attack on virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.
“The government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system,” Jaitley told parliament in his annual budget speech.
4. Budget 2018: What’s in it for startups?
More than 50 percent of India’s population is below the age of 25, and over 65 percent below 35. This gives India a phenomenal advantage from an economic standpoint, and otherwise too. Startups, disruptive technology, and new age businesses are pushing India to be a global economic superpower, and were expecting this Budget to be a more focused one.
The creation of a new regulatory regime for venture capital funds and angel investors, a national programme for artificial intelligence, five lakh Wi-Fi hotspots in rural areas, and hybrid instruments to attract venture capital investment all found mentions in Jaitley’s speech.
5. India is finally taking frontier technologies seriously, thank you.
India has a severe shortage of engineers in these technologies, especially when countries like the US have a talent pool of 850,000 AI engineers.
Finally, India begins to take Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D Printing, and IOT technologies seriously. The finance minister announced during his Budget 2018 speech emphasised the need to set up centres of excellence to enhance their impact on business and the economy.
The budget has allocated Rs 3,073 crore for this purpose, which has doubled from last year.
6. Alibaba was all over India last week:
Online grocer BigBasket gets $300 M from Alibaba and others in fresh funding round
Alibaba’s Ant Financial pumps $200 million into Zomato, takes valuation to $1.1 billion
Logistics firm Xpressbees rejigs board in wake of Alibaba funding
Please share any feedback, questions or comments with me on Twitter
Have a great week.
