Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro with 16MP in-display camera to go on sale today at 12pm via Amazon

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro comes in three color options, Aurora Blue, Glacier White and Interstellar Black. https://ift.tt/315vADd

Inside Facebook's early days of lobbying in India, led by Ankhi Das

Once flagged, Facebook's decisions involving elected representatives go through a thorough process https://ift.tt/2EgcKAA https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Oracle Enters Race to Buy TikTok's US Operations: Report

Oracle has held preliminary talks with TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, and was seriously considering buying the app's operations in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the... https://ift.tt/2CA5BdG

BBMP to roll out app-based paid parking services in Bengaluru

Parking meter booths being installed on 10 roads in CBD area; service to go live in a week https://ift.tt/2Eg7blG https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Apple says "the problem Epic has created for itself is one that can easily be remedied" if they revert to comply with the guidelines they agreed to (Sam Byford/The Verge)

Sam Byford / The Verge:
Apple says “the problem Epic has created for itself is one that can easily be remedied” if they revert to comply with the guidelines they agreed to  —  “The problem Epic has created for itself is one that can easily be remedied.”  —  Apple has responded to Epic Games' latest salvo …

Sources: Oracle, working with US investors who own a stake in ByteDance, held preliminary talks to acquire TikTok's operations in US, Canada, Australia, and NZ (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
Sources: Oracle, working with US investors who own a stake in ByteDance, held preliminary talks to acquire TikTok's operations in US, Canada, Australia, and NZ  —  Tech group is working with investors in effort to outbid Microsoft after Trump divestment order

Many Silicon Valley startups are offering virtual fall internships, as college students consider taking a gap semester/year to avoid online classes (Ellen Huet/Bloomberg)

Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
Many Silicon Valley startups are offering virtual fall internships, as college students consider taking a gap semester/year to avoid online classes  —  To many college students, the prospect of a year of school during a pandemic—with virtual classes, restricted movements and no parties—is a huge bummer.

Samsung launches Galaxy Buds Live at Rs 14,990: How they compare to Apple AirPods Pro, Jabra Elite Active 75t and Sony WF-SP800N

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Oracle enters race to buy TikTok's US operations: Report

Twitter had also approached ByteDance to express interest in acquiring the U.S. operations of TikTok, while Microsoft is still the favorite to clinch a deal in the race https://ift.tt/2FtM7IJ https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Flipkart in talks for e-pharmacy biz

Flipkart is building its own team internally for the e-pharmacy business but has also held early-stage partnership talks with PharmEasy https://ift.tt/3h6rCzL https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Hate speech row: Congress wants Facebook to take action against its India executives

CPM backs Congress' call for JPC, wants Facebook temporarily barred from working with govt departments https://ift.tt/3kWlNaH https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Redmi Note 9 Pro to Go on Sale in India Today via Amazon.in, Mi.com

Redmi Note 9 Pro is all set to go on sale in India once again. The Redmi Note 9 Pro has been available only via flash sales since its launch due to production and supply issues caused by the ongoing... https://ift.tt/320Pbnp

Drones to fly over 70% of country under Digital Sky watch

For local drone industry, opening up of green and yellow zones under Digital Sky, could provide confidence to manufacture NPNT drones https://ift.tt/3kQIM6S https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Lightspeed raises $275 million fund for India

Lightspeed India Partners on Tuesday announced it has closed $275 million from LPs for its third fund as the top American venture firm looks to ramp up its investments in the world’s second-largest internet market.

The new fund, its biggest for India, will enable Lightspeed India Partners to make early stage bets on more than two dozen startups in the region, said Hemant Mohapatra, a partner at the firm, in an interview with TechCrunch.

The announcement comes as the firm, which began investing in India in 2007, has made two high-profile partial exits in the past year from budget-lodging startup Oyo and edtech giant Byju’s that together delivered returns of more than $900 million.

Some of its other major bets including backing business-to-business marketplace Udaan, which was valued at more than $2.75 billion last year, local social media platform ShareChat, which is in advanced stages of discussions to raise capital at more than $1 billion valuation, and SaaS startups DarwinBox, Yellow Messenger, and OkCredit.

The firm, which has six partners in the region, closed its first dedicated fund for India, of $135 million, in 2015. In 2018, it closed its second fund for the region, which was $175 million in size. But the venture firm has invested more than $750 million to date.

The Indian arm, which typically invests at early stages of a startup, continues to work with its global mothership for writing bigger checks to support some portfolio startups at later phases. (More than 80% of its investments have been committed to firms at Seed or Series A stages in India.)

“That’s one of the strongest points of differentiation we have. There are not many venture firms that have such a global presence. Our synergy with the global fund will continue,” said Mohapatra. (Lightspeed also has a big presence in China. Last year, its China arm announced a $560 million fund.)

Lightspeed partners in India. From left: Bejul Somaia, Akshay Bhushan, Harsha Kumar, Dev Khare, Vaibhav Agrawal, and Hemant Mohapatra. (Photo credit: Lightspeed)

Lightspeed, which earlier this year closed a $4 billion fund globally, is one of the handful of American venture firms that aggressively scouts for deals in India. Sequoia, its global peer, announced two venture funds, of $1.35 billion in size, last month for India and Southeast Asia. 11 of its early-stage bets have grown to become unicorns in the last 14 years in this region.

Mohapatra said the Indian startup ecosystem has matured in recent years, demonstrating high-scale growth and delivering big outcomes. It’s also seeing more exits than ever before. Earlier this month, Byju’s acquired WhiteHat Jr., an 18-month-old startup that teaches coding to children, for $300 million in an all-cash deal.

Indian startups raised more than $14.5 billion last year — a record for the local community. The coronavirus has decelerated the funding spree in India, like in any other market.

Mohapatra said a fraction of the firm’s portfolio startups has been disrupted by the virus, but noted that most startups are marching ahead unfazed and some have accelerated in recent months.

“Lightspeed believes this is when the best entrepreneurs and companies of the future will emerge. Strong founders are utilizing the tailwinds of India’s digital ecosystem growth to build out a new future and Lightspeed is strongly committed to backing these founders,” it said in a statement.

Sources: Epic has reached out to other tech companies, including Spotify, about forming a coalition of companies critical of Apple's App Store policies (The Information)

The Information:
Sources: Epic has reached out to other tech companies, including Spotify, about forming a coalition of companies critical of Apple's App Store policies  —  Epic Games, the videogame maker that started a daring legal brawl with Apple last week, is hoping to organize wider opposition to the tech giant.