All posts by Neel Achary

Bengaluru, 24 February 2023: JAIN Online’s student community platform “ENGAGE” will hold an engagement program in Dubai from 27th Feb to 3rd March 2023. The program’s core objective is to connect all its online learners into one close-knit community and to provide them with a unique opportunity to gain real-world skills and knowledge through practical experience.

This offline program is meant to arm them with invaluable life lessons with such practical tools as how to form a well-organized community; identify potential talent and utilize it; fulfill various business needs; and delegate and collaborate on multiple tasks.

Commenting on this program Dr. Raj Singh, Vice-Chancellor, JAIN (Deemed-to-be-University), said, “This engagement will provide our students one-of-its-kind opportunity to understand Business and Economy in Dubai – considered the business hub of Western Asia. The tour will help develop their practical skills and expand their education. This unique experience will also ensure the prospect of creating lifelong friendships and collaborating on exciting new ideas that may become unicorns.”

Together for five days, the learners will learn about the culture, history, economy, and business practices of Dubai which will establish a holistic understanding of the business world. There’s no city like this one to travel together, attend various programs of academic importance, explore fun places, and bond over international cuisines all while spending time with their fellow students.

ENGAGE, the learner’s community space of JAIN Online, is built upon the four pillars of engage, ignite, inspire, upskill & upgrade. With the core idea to connect all learners with each other, it invigorates them through various contests and fun campaigns and connects them with entrepreneurs, business owners, and industry experts to inspire. The aim of ENGAGE is to motivate them with real-life examples to hone their skills and also to reward them.

New Delhi, February 24, 2023: Barbeque Nation is launching a street food festival – Khoa Galli Mela that allows its esteemed customers to savour the taste of a choice of zesty, popular street food preparations that are really spicy, and crunchy, bite after bite.

The food festival will commence on 24th February 2023 till 17th March 2023 across all Barbeque Nation outlets in Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Kaushambhi.

On this occasion, Mr. Faiz Azim – Chief Operating Officer, Barbeque Nation Hospitality Limited, said, “We are pleased to invite our guests to relish and celebrate the food festival ― Khao Galli Mela. We would be offering popular street food dishes that are specially crafted by our chefs.”

At the Khao, Galli Mela take a trip down the street food corners of India. The curated menu for this food festival includes veg and non-veg dishes like Green Garlic Kumbh, Tandoori Paneer Tikka, Hing Mutter Kebab, Dahi Ke Kabab, Assorted Vegetables Skiver, Pudina Ananas Ke Tikka, Cheese Malai Broccoli, Crispy Corn, Cajun Spice Potato, Chicken Sheek Kebab, Malai Chicken Tikka, and Surkh Fish Tikka.

This is besides Barbeque Nation’s plethora of vegetarian and non-vegetarian spreads. For starters, non-vegetarians can indulge in the famous Mexican Chilli Garlic Fish, Hot Garlic Chicken Wings, Tandoori Tangdi, Cajun Seekh Kebab, Coastal Barbeque Prawns, and much more, while vegetarians can feast on the mouth-watering Kuti Mirch Ka Paneer Tikka, Wok Tossed Seekh Kebab, Shabnam ke Moti Mushroom, Poori Kebab, and Honey Sesame Cinnamon Pineapple, among others. The main course section for non-vegetarians includes Chicken Dum Biryani, Rajasthani Laal Maas, and Dum Ka Murgh, while vegetarians can indulge in Paneer Butter Masala, Methi Matar Malai, Dal-E-Dum, and Veg Dum Biryani. The live counters offer a variety of non-veg/veg options like Chilli Crispy Puri, Palak Chaat, Margarita Pizza, Keema Pav, and Chicken Sheek. The dessert section comprises Chocolate Brownie, Red Velvet Pastries, Angoori Gulab Jamun, Kesari Phirnee, and more. The wide range of Kulfis at the restaurant will leave the guests asking for more. These kulfis can be twisted by mixing various flavours into one and creating diverse combinations of the much-loved dessert.

Mumbai, February 24, 2023: TreZix, a unified B2B SaaS platform for export and import, has raised USD 1.2 million in seed stage funding to shape its product in the market. TreZix was launched to fill the end-to-end process technology vacuum in the export and import industry. With best-in-class features, this platform’s vision is to streamline and digitise the Export and Import process including logistics, financial management & Compliance. TreZix aspires to be the leading platform in this space.

The funding is a joint contribution of the Government of Gujarat start-up grant and investments from Soha Ventures, along with other angel investors.

Soha Ventures forays its investment portfolio in the innovation space of lab grown diamond, gems & jewelry, and disruptive new technologies for business impact. The venture is run by Chirag Limbasiya, pioneer in building new categories in the space of gems & jewelry. Sumeet Prakash, Angel Investor is Co-Founder and Director at Emarson Infotech Pvt Limited. He has been actively investing in SAAS, Fintech and Consumer Tech companies.

The backdrop of TreZix is helping its customers with a platform to scale their businesses when India is anticipated to become a 3 trillion export-import market. TreZix is establishing itself as the interface for exporters and importers by becoming tech-enabled and utilizing technology to increase business efficiency and add more profits to the bottom line.

With almost three decades of experience in the export and import industry, the founders of TreZix presented the platform’s framework to the Government of Gujarat in 2020. In 2021, the Gujarat government gave a nod to offer them the grant and helped them with customers through chambers. In January 2022, TreZix was incorporated, and the product was commercially launched in October 2022.

Sunil Kharbanda, Co-founder, and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at TreZix, said,” For the past two decades, my partners Haresh Calcuttawala, Shailesh Sapale and I have been a part of the ERP space. It was in 2020 we formed the framework of TreZix with an aim to offer end-to-end digital platform for importers and exporters, streamlining of document and data structure, controls, visibility, compliance, and predictability to bring ease and rapid growth to their businesses. We have started acquiring initial customers for the product and we are getting great feedback from them. We believe this reduces the cost and time taken to handle the EXIM processes.

Hyderabad, 24 February 2023: L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) crossed a major milestone in preventing avoidable blindness in newborn babies by managing 1,00,000 preterm babies for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) across its network centers in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. ROP is a blinding eye disease and an emerging epidemic of the 21st century. Babies born early (premature) or with low birth weight (less than 2 kg at birth) are at the risk of developing ROP. To mark this milestone achievement, the LVPEI team launched the unique, one-of-its-kind atlas ‘LVPEI Atlas of Retinopathy of Prematurity and other Neonatal Retinal Diseases’ – a useful guide for clinicians, researchers, healthcare personnel and policymakers.

LVPEI is the pioneer in starting ROP screening and management program in India. It was first started in 1998 in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and later extended to the tertiary centres of LVPEI in Bhubaneswar, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. Over 1,00,687 babies from across the country and neighbouring countries have been managed for ROP by providing preventative, curative and rehabilitative care. Of these, 64,000 babies have been managed at LVPEI’s Kallam Anji Reddy campus in Hyderabad, 17,000 at the Bhubaneswar campus, 9000 at the Vijayawada campus, 8000 at the Visakhapatnam campus and 9500 through the LVPEI rural secondary centres. Among those identified with ROP, 6685 babies (20,362 eyes) were safely operated, 4559 babies (10,273 eyes) received lasers, and 1510 babies (2901 eyes) received injections to manage difficult stages of ROP.

“Each treated baby can take anywhere from 1-4 hours of focused care by the team followed by months and years of follow-up care to achieve the best possible vision for these babies by the time they enter school life. Additionally, the ROP program has significantly contributed towards training over 350 healthcare professionals, including nurses from across the country, and setting up neonatal anaesthesia and care units and neonatal rehabilitation and early intervention programs for the first time within eye care hospitals in India. The learnings from the program have resulted in twenty-five scientific publications and reports on better management of ROP babies,” said Dr Subhadra Jalali, Network Director, Newborn Eye Health Alliance (NEHA), L V Prasad Eye Institute.

The launch of ‘LVPEI Atlas of Retinopathy of Prematurity and other Neonatal Retinal Diseases’ is another important milestone in the care and management of newborn babies. The atlas, supported by an educational grant from Carl Zeiss India, contains 100 ROP images of varying disease severity and in different clinical situations – entire spectrum of ROP presentations, follow-up, pre and post treatment and its natural history. “Taking fundus photographs (images of the interior surface of the eye – retina) of tiny babies is not an easy task and requires tender handling coupled with efficient technology. This atlas is a great tool for clinicians and health care professionals to better understand ROP and other neonatal eye diseases and their management,” said Dr Akash Belenje, Consultant, Anant Bajaj Retina Institute, LVPEI Prasad Eye Institute. Dr Belenje along with Mr R Ugandhar Reddy, Optometrist at LVPEI, have compiled the images for this atlas.

24 February 2023: Arth – A Culture Fest 2023, a festival that celebrates all the aspects of Indian culture, from heritage to history and much more, is coming back on ground in the capital city of New Delhi. Scheduled to take place at the beautiful Sunder Nursery from 24th to 26th February 2023, the festival is all set to enthrall live audiences with a host of phenomenal guests, interesting panels and musical and poetry performances.

Arth’s collaboration with the Rekhta Foundation promises a bigger and better experience of cultural affairs like never before.

The event will be graced by popular and highly celebrated faces from the country, such as Honorable Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports, ANURAG SINGH THAKUR, and Honorable Cabinet Minister for the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Minister of Minority Affairs, SMRITI IRANI.

Along with them, dignitaries like Barkha Dutt, J Sai Deepak, Kabir Bedi, Manoj Bajpayee, Prakash Raj, R Jagannathan, Sanjeev Sanyal, Smita Prakash, Vivek Agnihotri, and many more will also take the stage at Arth – A Culture Fest. Luminaries like Begum Parveen Sultana, Javed Ali, Kutle Khan, Manav Kaul, among others will be seen showcasing the best of classical performances, giving the audience a taste of priceless treasure trove of memories and experiences to take home.

Register now on BookMyShow to be a part of a ravishing experience of culture at https://www.arthlive.in/

Event: Arth – A Culture Fest 2023

Where: Sunder Nursery, New Delhi

When: 24th to 26th February 2023

Time: 12 pm onwards

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India, February 24, 2023: Manish Agarwal and Ishank Gupta, today announced a fundraise of INR 160 cr at a valuation of INR 1200 cr for their new Web3 gaming venture, Kratos Studios. The seed round was led by Accel, with participation from investors including Prosus Ventures, Courtside Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Nazara & others.

Kratos Studios has completed the acquisition of IndiGG through a token swap. As co-founders, Manish and Ishank are building the world’s largest Web3 gaming Decentralised Autonomous Organization (DAO) under the IndiGG brand. The funding will help them build distribution rails in emerging markets for global Web3 games. Additionally, the DAO will also invest in the most promising Web3 games across the world. Manish and Ishank will continue to work closely with Polygon’s co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Yield Guild Games (YGG)’s co-founder Gabby Dizon towards the mission of building the largest gaming DAO in the world.

Nazara Technologies, where Manish was formerly the CEO, has also invested in this round with an intent to collaborate with IndiGG on the web3 front.

Commenting on this development, Manish Agarwal said, “We are providing the 500M+ South Asian gamers an opportunity to leverage their time and skill to become creators of digital goods on the blockchain for global games. This will enable South Asia to transform into a digital goods’ factory for the gaming world.”

Ishank Gupta said, “The IndiGG stack will partner with existing gaming micro-communities in South Asia, both on-ground and online, as sub-DAOs in the IndiGG ecosystem. These micro-communities will facilitate explosive community growth for global Web3 games.”

Subrata Mitra, Partner at Accel added, “Blockchain can fundamentally transform gaming and accelerate the growth in emerging markets. We believe that this team is the best suited to unlock this value for Gamers. We are committed to build a vibrant gaming ecosystem alongside IndiGG.”

Following the acquisition, existing INDI token holders will be swapped to new tokens at the time of Token Generation Event for the new token. Until such time, the INDI token will continue to trade on existing exchanges.

GURUGRAM, India – February 24, 2023: Samsung R&D Institute Noida (SRI-N) is a global R&D Center developing advanced solutions to suit global and local market needs with expertise in the commercialization of products. SRI-N significantly contributes to the development of smartphones and other innovations. SRI-N closely collaborated with teams in Korea and made contributions in breakthrough innovations in the new Galaxy S23 series.

SRI-N engineers contributed in areas like user experience, health features, performance improvement, and user safety in the Galaxy S23 series.

“The domain of mobile technology is constantly changing in today’s world. As an R&D Centre, SRI-N is developing innovative and intuitive mobile experiences that empower, educate and enrich the lives of our customers. Our responsibility to provide innovative technology to our customers has deepened. With our domain expertise and skill sets, SRI-N is constantly developing innovative products that attract consumers and also shape the future of technology,” said KY Roo, MD of Samsung R&D Institute – Noida.

Improved User Experience

User experience is critical in today’s digital world, where users anticipate a highly intuitive experience. The Galaxy to Share app has been developed to allow users to share all customizations and own personalization settings across Galaxy devices in India. Similarly, the multi-timer feature enables the user to simultaneously have multiple timers, all at the same time, for different activities and tasks. The Bedtime Alarm feature is also more robust, allowing users to customize alarm timings day-wise. To enhance communication, the Direct Dial 4X1 widget has been added to the S23 Home Screen for easy accessibility of priority contacts and dial them at a single touch. SRI-N developed these apps and features to provide the most seamless and intuitive experience to customers while providing a wide scope for customization.

Health feature development & Performance Improvement

With domain expertise in health and wearables, SRI-N engineers have been focused on enhancing health features in the Flagship devices. The Galaxy S23 series is equipped with a new Sleep tracker widget on the home screen, which enables users to track their sleeping patterns and sleep score very easily. Similarly, the Water tracker feature allows users to set their own day-wise water intake targets and sends reminders at custom scheduled timings. SRI-N engineers also contributed towards the improvements in the Samsung Health trackers like Water, Body composition, Cycle tracking, and Heart rate. Such features have been developed, keeping in mind the preference of Gen Z and millennials who like to balance their physical health, fitness, and mindfulness; all together and seamlessly.

User Safety

As technology advances, more personal information is required to offer a better user experience and keep users safe. In order to provide the best experience, engineers at SRI-N have developed the Emergency SOS and Emergency Sharing feature to enable users to send help messages with their own location information and video recording during an emergency, all through a simple action of pressing the power button 3 times. The action initiates the emergency call, which is then followed by the emergency message.

Our consumers are increasingly driven by the productivity, quality, and authenticity of any product. And as an R&D center, SRI-N passionately drives creativity, innovation, and excellence in day-to-day work to pioneer technology transformations that not just appeal to new-age customers but also pave the way for future technology.

Bangalore, February 24, 2023: Tech Data, a TD SYNNEX company, today announced the expansion of its AI (artificial intelligence) and predictive analytics solutions portfolio with a strategic partnership with Tangent Works – a leading predictive modeling and advanced forecasting company. Tech Data will be offering cloud-native technologies of Tangent Works to further strengthen its AI and predictive analytics solutions portfolio, while accelerating AI project adoptions across the IT ecosystem.

At launch, Tangent Works’ Tangent Information Modeler (TIM), an automatic model-building engine for time-series forecasting and anomaly detection, will be available in Singapore, Malaysia and India. Tangent Works’ TIM is highly effective in leveraging AI technology to improve operational efficiency in industries like energy, utilities, manufacturing, healthcare and FSI sectors.

Commenting on the development, Bennett Wong, Vice President, Advanced Solutions – Modern Data Centre & Analytics, Tech Data Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), said “The global AI market size was valued at USD 93.5 billion in 2021 and in Asia Pacific and Japan it is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45% from 2022 to 2030 1 . The predictive analytics market in the region is expected to increase from USD 2.89 billion in 2022 to USD 9.59 billion by 2028 2 . Given this setting, we are excited to add Tangent Works to our Asia Pacific and
Japan portfolio, to empower ISVs, our partners, and their end-users with extended capabilities in addressing complex AI environment challenges via secure and simplified cloud-native technologies.”

Tangent Works’ TIM, a multi-award winner in the field of predictive models, engineers features and applies a highly efficient algorithm in a single step. As compared to expert-intensive AutoML, where users need to do feature engineering, model selection and tuning, the TIM hyper-automated engine covers all these steps in one pass of the data, bringing increased speed, efficiency, productivity and scalability.

“Time series forecasting, and anomaly detection are hard problems to solve. TIM makes it quick and easy for business users to benefit from predictive analytics,” said Tangent Works co- founder & CEO Henk De Metsenaere. “Together with Tech Data, we are bringing end-to-end predictive analytics solutions and consultancy to the Asia Pacific and Japan region. We are confident that by partnering with Tech Data, we will benefit from their global ecosystem of technology providers and partners.”

1 Grand View Research: Artificial Intelligence Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Solution, By Technology (Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Machine Vision), By End Use, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2022 – 2030 2 Research and Markets: Asia Pacific Predictive Analytics Market Forecast to 2028

On February 24, 2023, UK-based Hive Energy [Hive] finalised the acquisition of 50% of shares in BambooLogic, a leading bamboo plantation company in Europe.

Hive Energy is a global renewable energy developer and circular economy investor. The company is on a mission to save the planet and currently holds a 27 GW pipeline of clean energy projects across more than 20 countries. The Hive Energy Group consists of global clean futures teams, including Hive Ventures, based in Liverpool, UK.

Hive Ventures is at the heart of Hive Energy’s circular economy investments. Over the past two years, the Hive Ventures team has invested in three green start-ups in the UK and the Netherlands; the companies produce sustainable packaging alternatives and bioenergy. The BambooLogic acquisition marks the fourth procurement for Hive Ventures.

BambooLogic is a well-aligned partner for Hive Energy as the company’s European low-footprint bamboo production is low-waste, fully biodegradable, and beneficial for carbon sequestration and storage within soil and durable products. The investment from Hive will support BambooLogic to accelerate business across Portugal and Europe, with plans to plant 2,000 hectares of bamboo over the next two years.

BambooLogic is the first large-scale and industry-oriented bamboo plantation company in Europe. Currently, the company has around 150 hectares established in Southern Portugal to grow bamboo, which will then be sold as a low-footprint material for use across the textile, paper, construction, composite, and food sectors. In addition to the production of affordable and sustainable bamboo, the company will be storing carbon in the soil on the farms which can then be assigned as carbon removal credits. Over the first 15 years of the project, BambooLogic plan to sequester 1,000,000 tonnes of CO2.

Rupert Maitland-Titterton, Director of Circular Economy at Hive, commented on the deal: “We are thrilled to partner with BambooLogic. At Hive Ventures we are committed to investing in circular economy businesses which have an overall carbon negative impact is the best way to secure a sustainable and clean future for our planet. BambooLogic offer a unique business proposal that utilises a natural material with minimal environmental impact. Bamboo can produce sustainable alternatives to many carbon-intensive products, and we cannot wait to see the potential of the business develop.”

Jorre Appel, Managing Director of Bamboologic commented: “I am delighted with the conclusion of this exciting deal and look forward now to fully developing the project to its full potential with Hive Energy, our new partner.”

Mumbai/ Stanlow, 24 February 2023: Vertex Hydrogen (“Vertex”) is a leader in the energy transition, developing the UK’s first large scale, low carbon hydrogen production hub at Essar’s site in Ellesmere Port – the heart of the HyNet North West cluster.

Vertex has now signed agreements to supply over 1,000MW of low-carbon hydrogen to leading industrial names in the region. This is a similar amount of energy that powers a major city like Liverpool, secures the entire initial hydrogen production capacity of Vertex and enables the vital hydrogen infrastructure investments in the region. This milestone reflects Vertex’s status as the largest and most advanced low-carbon hydrogen hub in the UK.

The Project will capture some 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 per annum to be stored by the HyNet project to reduce more than 10% of the region’s industrial emissions – the equivalent to taking 750,000 cars off the roads.

The Project will see over £2 billion of direct investments in the hydrogen plant and associated regional hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure – securing and growing vital jobs in the region.

The hydrogen demand comes from global businesses operating in the region, who are looking to become the first low carbon operations in a number of key sectors by switching their current high carbon fuels to low carbon hydrogen. These consumers are substantial direct and indirect contributors to the 340,000 people employed in manufacturing in the North West. It also includes innovators in the sustainable aviation fuels, glass and cement industries.

Adrian Curry, Managing Director of Encirc, said: “This partnership with Vertex Hydrogen will help us to change the face of glass as we aim to produce Net Zero bottles by 2030. Glass is an incredible material and sustainable in so many ways. It has been around since 3500 BC, and by using hydrogen to decarbonise it, we believe it will be the packaging choice for centuries to come.”

Deepak Maheshwari, CEO of Essar Oil UK, added: “This offtake agreement, and our other initiatives, are continuing examples of us taking clear actions to deliver our strategic goals. We are proud to be a leader in the region and the UK more broadly in industrial decarbonisation.”

Martin Ashcroft, Managing Director of Tata Chemicals Europe, commented: “We have
been supporters of Vertex and the low carbon hydrogen segment as a real opportunity to further reduce emissions at our world class CHP facility. This agreement marks the next step in our relationship as we continue our journey as a leader in industrial decarbonisation.”

Neil Syder, Managing Director of Pilkington United Kingdom Limited said: “We are fully committed to our NSG Group target of achieving carbon neutral by 2050. Firing the float glass furnace using hydrogen instead of natural gas is a key part of our strategy to reduce carbon emissions.”

Jeff Ovens, Managing Director of Fulcrum BioEnergy said: “As a leader in pioneering waste based sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), we are working closely with Vertex to supply low carbon hydrogen for our Fulcrum NorthPoint SAF facility at Ellesmere Port. SAF is the only realistic solution to decarbonise aviation and using low carbon hydrogen as part of our SAF production process, will further improve the overall net CO2 reduction benefits of Fulcrum’s fuel.”

John Lewis MBE, Managing Director of SOG Group, commented: “Access to reliable sources of low carbon energy is absolutely vital to our Net Zero aspirations. The agreement we have now signed with Vertex Hydrogen ensures our entire Heath Park project will be ultimately powered by low carbon energy. I view this as a landmark agreement that will enable us to deliver a world-leading business and community environment in the North-West which will benefit future generations.”

Mo Moussaoui, Carbon Reduction Manager, Carrington Power, ESB, said: “In line with our Net Zero to 2040 strategy, we are decarbonising the carbon intensity of our generation fleet. We are delighted to work with Vertex Hydrogen as we work towards decarbonising our Carrington plant, and the many benefits that will bring.”

Darren Elsom, Director of Hydrogen Operations at Cadent said: “We warmly welcome the announcement that Vertex has signed agreements for over 1000MW of low carbon Hydrogen, which is a major step in decarbonising industry in the North West. At Cadent we remain focussed on developing the pipeline infrastructure in readiness to connect and transport Hydrogen to industry whilst protecting the planet for our customers and the communities we serve.”

Paul Shelley, Site Manager at Warrington Ingevity: “Ingevity is proud to partner with HyNet Northwest and Vertex as we work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the manufacture of our Caprolactone range of specialty chemicals at our site in Warrington.”

Joe Seifert, CEO of Vertex Hydrogen, said: “We have always said that Vertex is demand-led from leading industrial companies and we have now signed agreements for over 1000MW of hydrogen – our entire expected production capacity from the initial phases of our project. This milestone gives us huge confidence in the economics of the project and the long-term demand for low carbon hydrogen in the coming decades.”

Prashant Ruia, from Essar, said: “Securing over 1000MW of low carbon hydrogen demand from leading UK industrial sites and innovators is a vital step in delivering this world class project. Essar continues to invest in an array of industry leading projects from hydrogen production, biofuels, industrial decarbonisation and infrastructure leveraging our infrastructure, expertise, capital and desire to be a world leader in decarbonisation.”