Facebook-Backed Indian Social Commerce Platform Meesho Raises $570Million

Meesho, an Indian 'social commerce' platform invested in by Facebook and Softbank, has raised $570 million (roughly Rs. 4,230 crores) in its latest funding round, the company has announced. https://ift.tt/3uu6pYi

Delhi-based EV ride-hailing and charging startup BluSmart raises $25M Series A led by BP to expand its network to five new Indian cities (The Economic Times)

The Economic Times:
Delhi-based EV ride-hailing and charging startup BluSmart raises $25M Series A led by BP to expand its network to five new Indian cities  —  New Delhi: BP Ventures has made its first direct investment in India by pumping in $13 million in integrated EV ride-hailing and charging company BluSmart.

SoftBank says Alphabet's Loon moonshot has transferred about 200 patents to it; Alphabet says it also handed over patents to partner Raven Industries (Pavel Alpeyev/Bloomberg)

Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg:
SoftBank says Alphabet's Loon moonshot has transferred about 200 patents to it; Alphabet says it also handed over patents to partner Raven Industries  —  - SoftBank paid $125 million for a stake in Loon project in 2019  — Google closed the high-altitude internet initiative this year

Israel-based Speedata, which is developing custom chips for data analytics processing, emerges from stealth with $55M Series A and $15M seed (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Israel-based Speedata, which is developing custom chips for data analytics processing, emerges from stealth with $55M Series A and $15M seed  —  Datacenters are taking on ever-more specialized chips to handle different kinds of workloads, moving away from CPUs and adopting GPUs and other kinds …

Modular phone maker Fairphone, which uses ethically sourced materials, announces Fairphone 4 with a 6.3-inch display, 5G, and up to 256GB, starting at €579 (Jon Porter/The Verge)

Jon Porter / The Verge:
Modular phone maker Fairphone, which uses ethically sourced materials, announces Fairphone 4 with a 6.3-inch display, 5G, and up to 256GB, starting at €579  —  The Fairphone 4's software support should stretch until 2025  —  Fairphone, the manufacturer focused on making easy …

Researchers: a flaw in Apple Pay lets attackers make a Visa payment with a locked iPhone in Express Transit mode; Apple calls it "a concern with a Visa system" (BBC)

BBC:
Researchers: a flaw in Apple Pay lets attackers make a Visa payment with a locked iPhone in Express Transit mode; Apple calls it “a concern with a Visa system”  —  Large unauthorised contactless payments can be made on locked iPhones by exploiting how an Apple Pay feature designed …

El Salvador's bitcoin 'experiment' leaves digital poor on the sidelines

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Facebook could face hefty fine in Russia over banned content, report says

State communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Facebook's repeated violations could see it fined 5% or 10% of its annual Russian turnover. Moscow has increased pressure on foreign tech companies over the last year as part of a long-running push to assert greater sovereignty over its segment of the internet. https://ift.tt/3us3OOc

Flipkart to deploy over 2,000 electric vehicles in delivery fleet ahead of festive season

Walmart-owned Flipkart on Wednesday said it will deploy over 2,000 electric vehicles in its delivery fleet prior to the festive season and the Big Billion Days. https://ift.tt/3olVQVS

Popular Premium Smartwatches to Check Out

Premium smartwatches are feature-loaded and equipped with various sensors to generate accurate data. If you are looking to invest in a premium smartwatch, here are some options for you. https://ift.tt/3omtAT1

Vivo X70 Pro, Vivo X70 Pro+ With Quad Rear Cameras Launched in India

Vivo X70 Pro and Vivo X70 Pro+ were launched in India on Thursday. The new Vivo phones come with quad rear cameras that are backed by the company's proprietary image stabilisation (OIS) technology... https://ift.tt/39QLBR9

Google Maps Makes It Easy to See Wildfires, Green Cover With New Update

Google Maps has introduced three new features that will help users understand wildfires, track tree canopy, and get to locations without proper addresses. With the Address Maker app, people can create... https://ift.tt/2ZJoOF8

ContractPodAI, which offers AI contract management tools, raises $115M Series C led by Vision Fund 2, bringing total funding to $170M+ (Kyle Wiggers/VentureBeat)

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
ContractPodAI, which offers AI contract management tools, raises $115M Series C led by Vision Fund 2, bringing total funding to $170M+  —  The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility.  Register now!

GM announces Ultifi, a software platform for its cars that will enable OTA updates, in-car subscription services, and more, rolling out in 2023 (Andrew J. Hawkins/The Verge)

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
GM announces Ultifi, a software platform for its cars that will enable OTA updates, in-car subscription services, and more, rolling out in 2023  —  Ultifi will start rolling out to GM vehicles in 2023  —  General Motors announced a new “end-to-end” software platform for its cars called …

US and EU will cooperate across various tech areas, including AI, semiconductors, and supply chain security, to ensure sensitive technologies are not misused (Campbell Kwan/ZDNet)

Campbell Kwan / ZDNet:
US and EU will cooperate across various tech areas, including AI, semiconductors, and supply chain security, to ensure sensitive technologies are not misused  —  The new US-EU Trade and Technology Council aims to keep an eye on how sensitive technologies are used.