Archive: July 13, 2022

PETRONAS announced as Strategic Lubricants Partner for Tata Motors

Bengaluru, 13^th July 2022: PETRONAS Lubricants (India) Pvt. Ltd (PLIPL) and Tata Motors announced their new partnership today at a signing ceremony, making PETRONAS Lubricants a strategic lubricants partner for Tata Motors’ Commercial vehicles.

Speaking on this partnership, Mr. Giuseppe Pedretti, Regional Managing Director – Asia for PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI) said, “It is a matter of great pride for us to partner with Tata Motors, the leading commercial vehicle manufacturer in India, from the house of the globally admired Tata Group. We are excited to see how this strategic partnership helps elevate both PLI and Tata Motors to the next level.”

Mr. Pranav Bhanage, CEO of PLIPL said, “This partnership further strengthens the relationship between our two organizations given that we also supply lubricants for Tata Motors’ Passenger vehicles and is a testimony to the quality of our PETRONAS Fluid Technology Solutions™.”

Mr. Bhanage also highlighted the holistic nature of the partnership which not only pertains to the supply of lubricants for the After Market channel of Tata Motors, but also in the Research and Development of new lubricants tailored to Tata Motors’ evolving needs.

Commenting on the alliance, Mr. R. Ramakrishnan – Global Head, Customer Care, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “We are delighted to have PETRONAS as Tata Motors’ strategic lubricant partner for our commercial vehicles. This partnership will further increase the accessibility of Tata Motors Genuine Oil, at competitive prices to our customers. Tata Motors Genuine Oil – a unique oil formulated by Tata Motors, enhances the vehicle’s performance, fuel efficiency, enabling long duty-cycles and higher uptime. This alliance will ensure that the high-quality oil will be available at Tata Motors’ authorized workshops across India.”

Furlenco to increase its annual revenue run rate by 2.5X by June 2023

New Delhi, July 2022: In line with its core philosophy of providing freedom and flexibility to its customers, Furlenco, India’s leading furniture and lifestyle brand is now evolving to expand its basket of access, where consumers can now also buy brand new furniture with the option to sell back. With the latest addition, Furlenco aims to become India’s largest furniture and lifestyle brand by 2024.

This latest offering provides customers with the freedom of choice, where they can choose which furniture they want; access it the way they want (rent existing or buy brand new furniture) and change it as and when needed by returning or selling it back to Furlenco.

This basket of access will enable Furlenco to increase its annual revenue run rate by 2.5X by June 2023. Also in the last year Furlenco had doubled its Annualised Revenue Run rate (ARR) from ₹100cr to an ARR of ₹200cr.

Furlenco aims to add 500+ products and 250 + designs to its arsenal over the next 12 months.

Speaking on the new offering, Ajith Mohan Karimpana, Founder and CEO, House of Kieraya (HoK) and Furlenco commented, “Furlenco has been a pioneer in the rental industry for a decade now and rental is our core proposition. However, we have also seen that there are individuals who want to own products but don’t want to be stuck with them. So what we decided to do is, sell brand new furniture but with the unique proposition where customers can sell it back to us.”

He further added, “And today after carving a niche in the D2C furniture industry and establishing a world-class refurbishment centre, we are ready to expand our basket of access to our consumers. This will make Furlenco the preferred choice of customers across age groups and life stages. We want to touch the lives of 1 million households by the end of 2024. ”

By early 2023, Furlenco plans to launch a first-of-its-kind unified storefront to offer their basket of access across urban India. Their product catalogue consists of all home and lifestyle products for living room, dining room, bedrooms, study and storage. Rental packages start at Rs.999 per month and brand new designer furniture is available for buying starting at Rs.5999. Customers can currently access the latest offerings on furlenco.com and its microsite store.furlenco.com.

Lam Research, Entegris, Gelest Team Up to Advance EUV Dry Resist Technology Ecosystem

Bengaluru, July 13, 2022 – Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX), Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG), and Gelest, Inc, a Mitsubishi Chemical Group company, today announced a strategic collaboration that will provide semiconductor manufacturers worldwide with reliable access to precursor chemicals for Lam’s breakthrough dry photoresist technology for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, an innovative approach used in the production of next-generation semiconductors. The parties will work together on EUV dry resist technology research and development (R&D) for future device generations of logic and DRAM products that will help enable everything from machine learning and artificial intelligence to mobile devices.

A robust supply chain for process chemicals is critical to EUV dry resist technology integration into high-volume manufacturing. This new long-term collaboration further broadens the growing ecosystem for dry resist technology and will provide dual-source supply from semiconductor material leaders with provisions for continuity of delivery in all global markets.

In addition, Lam, Entegris, and Gelest will work together to accelerate the development of future cost-effective EUV dry resist solutions for high numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV patterning. High-NA EUV is widely seen as the patterning technology that will be required for continued device scaling and advancement of semiconductor technology over the coming decades. Dry resist provides the high etch resistance and tunable thickness scaling of deposition and development necessary to support high-NA EUV’s reduced depth of focus requirements.

“Dry resist technology is a breakthrough that shatters the biggest barriers to scaling to future DRAM nodes and logic with EUV lithography,” said Rick Gottscho, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Lam Research. “This collaboration brings together Lam’s dry resist expertise and cutting-edge solutions with material science capabilities and trusted supply channels from two industry precursor chemical leaders. This important expansion of the dry resist ecosystem paves the way for exciting new levels of innovation and high-volume manufacturing with the technology.”

First developed by Lam in collaboration with ASML and IMEC, dry resist extends the resolution, productivity, and yield of EUV lithography, thereby addressing key challenges associated with creation of next-generation DRAM and logic technologies. It provides superior dose-to-size and dose-to-defectivity performance, enabling higher EUV scanner productivity and lower cost of ownership. In addition, Lam’s dry resist process offers key sustainability benefits by consuming less energy and five to ten times less raw materials than traditional resist processes.

“Lam’s dry resist approach reflects key innovations at the material level and offers a wide range of advantages, including better resolution, improved cost-efficiency and compelling sustainability benefits,” said Bertrand Loy, chief executive officer of Entegris. “We are proud to be a part of this innovative collaboration to accelerate dry resist adoption and to be a trusted process materials supplier for customers as they push to create the next generation of semiconductors with this important technology.”

“Our collaboration with Lam and Entegris to advance dry resists for EUV lithography demonstrates our commitment to support chipmakers as they innovate in materials science,” said Jonathan Goff, president of Gelest, a Mitsubishi Chemical Group company. “We’ve seen EUV demonstrate exceptional value in recent years, and we’re pleased to be part of the growing ecosystem to extend its potential.”

Aptos Opens Innovation Center in Bengaluru to Accelerate ‘What’s Next’ in Retail Tech

BENGALURU — July 2022 — Aptos, a recognized market leader in retail technology solutions, announced today the opening of a new innovation center in Bengaluru. In addition to the state-of-the-art facility, the company shared plans to have more than 200 colleagues in India by the end of 2022. Employees are being recruited across key positions, including engineering, consulting and customer operations.

Following Aptos’ receipt of a strategic capital commitment from Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 2020, the company has pursued accelerated investments in product innovation, reinvesting up to 20% of its revenue into R&D for its market-leading and next-generation retail solutions.

According to Aptos CEO Pete Sinisgalli, the launch of Aptos India plays a vital role in Aptos’ trajectory to become the leading global provider of unified commerce solutions and services for enterprise retailers.

“India’s vibrant ecosystem of highly skilled software talent enables Aptos to go further, faster on all strategic fronts — product innovation, delivery excellence and customer delight,” Sinisgalli said. “We’ve welcomed over 100 colleagues to Aptos India in recent months, and we’re well on our way to doubling that number by the end of the year.

“When hiring for Aptos India, and globally, we are looking for individuals who want to spend their days doing groundbreaking work, harnessing the power of cutting-edge technologies to deliver ‘what’s next’ to the world’s largest retail brands,” Sinisgalli added. “It’s an exciting time to be at Aptos — and an exciting time to put down roots in Bengaluru.”

To lead Aptos’ expansion in the region, Prashant Kamat has joined as vice president and managing director of Aptos India. Kamat has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, having worked for global product and services companies, including SAP, IBM and Capgemini.

Kamat brings to Aptos a long track record of helping global firms successfully expand into the Indian market in a way that creates maximum value for the business, its customers and its colleagues.

“Our goal is to create high-caliber teams that leverage deep retail domain expertise and advanced technological skills to develop modern, cloud-native unified commerce solutions,” Kamat said.

“Aptos India colleagues can see their impact day to day while enjoying the confidence that comes from being employed at one of the largest technology providers servicing the retail sector,” Kamat added. “I am proud of the team we have in India currently, and our focus on recruiting the best and brightest continues, reinforcing a workplace culture that is welcoming to new people and new ideas.”

MediBuddy acquires Clinix, plans to make healthcare accessible for rural India

India, 13^th July 2022: MediBuddy, India’s largest Digital Healthcare platform today announced that it has acquired Clinix, an online doctor consultation platform specializing in rural India. Clinix has a widespread network across 20 tier 3 & 4 cities, catering to the healthcare needs of the rural population. MediBuddy’s acquisition of Clinix will help them to further scale their operations and expand services to the interiors in rural India and make quality healthcare within reach to scores of people.

The rural population often encounters several difficulties with regards to sound tech infrastructure in place, doctor-to-patient ratio, technical know-how, internet penetration, online payments systems, etc to avail of quality healthcare facilities. Language also plays a major barrier in rural areas. Clinix has set up a system of training and empowering locals by teaching them the booking procedures for online doctor consultations. In addition, they have put up kiosks in several localities which essentially functions as an e-clinic, where individuals can consult a doctor online for their primary healthcare needs with the help of the facilitator.

Commenting on the acquisition, Satish Kannan, Co-Founder, and CEO at MediBuddy, “We see our acquisition of Clinix as a significant step forward in our aim to provide quality healthcare made accessible to every Indian. Clinix has a wide presence in the rural areas and with our network and infra-tech support, we aim to further expand our reach and services and achieve our goal of covering a large section of the population, who have limited access to quality healthcare solutions.”

Aravind Dhulipala, Co-founder and CEO of Clinix, “In India, the doctor-patient ratio is very skewed and when you compare it to rural India it becomes even lesser. MediBuddy’s advanced technology and extensive network will go a long way in helping us cover a wider range of population and bridge the urban-rural divide in terms of quality healthcare solutions.”

MediBuddy has always been at the forefront of India’s digital healthcare transformation. The digital healthcare platform has a partner network of over 90,000 doctors, 7,000 hospitals, 3000 diagnostic centers, 2,500 pharmacies & 1,800-members team. It has created an integrated ecosystem that offers patients several healthcare services in 16 Indian languages to enable user-friendly consultation to people in tier2&3 cities that they can seamlessly access anytime and anywhere. MediBuddy offers online doctor consultations, medicine delivery, lab tests at home, mental health consultations, and many more services.

CEAT launches SportDrive, ultra-high-performance tyre…

New Delhi, July 2022: CEAT Ltd., India’s leading tyre manufacturer has launched its ultra-high-performance tyre range – CEAT SportDrive and CEAT SportDrive SUV for the luxury segment in India. The product, first introduced in the European market in 2017, has been customized for Indian road conditions.

CEAT’s SportDrive range of tyres are specifically designed keeping in mind the requirements of luxury sedans and SUVs in the Indian automotive market. The carefully crafted SportDrive ensures superior control and comfort. Its asymmetric tread pattern with MRC Technology offers excellent cornering stability and precise steering control at high speeds while the advanced tread technology helps in lowering noise levels, thus leading to a comfortable driving experience. The tyre’s Dual Silica Compound ensures excellent grip on the road in both wet and dry conditions.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Arnab Banerjee, Chief Operating Officer (COO), CEAT Tyres Ltd, said, “The launch of CEAT SportDrive and CEAT SportDrive SUV tyres in India marks our entry into the luxury tyre category, fulfilling a long-standing demand of our customers. The tyre has been performing extremely well in European markets and has now been customized to meet Indian road and weather conditions. It marks yet another step in our efforts to make mobility safer and smarter everyday by allowing luxury car owners in India to let their enthusiasm meet the reliability of SportDrive.” 

The CEAT SportDrive range is available in 11 sizes for rims size of 17 to 19, covering a wide range of premium passenger car models like Mercedes-Benz CLA Class, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Mercedes E-Class, BMW 1 series, BMW 3 series, BMW 5 Series, Jaguar XF, Volvo S90, Audi A8, Volkswagen Tiguan Q5, MINI Cooper amongst others.

On Guru Purnima, Arjun Deshpande, a Young Entrepreneur lauds his mentor Ratan Tata

Arjun Deshpande Founder, Generic Aadhaar Says

“The place of Guru is paramount and when the Guru is Ratan Tata Sir then you are bound to shine. Whenever I meet Ratan Tata Sir, I feel extremely inspired. Having a guru like him is a blessing. His presence in life makes you a different human being altogether. His smile is a source of encouragement for me. May everyone be blessed with such a great personality in their lives. Always keep one thing in mind, keep holding the hands of elders, follow their shadow and you will be successful for sure. It is impossible to sum up Ratan Tata’s Sir experience in texts. His company makes you humble, virtuous, and far-sighted.

God bless Ratan sir!”

Spinny’s Q2 report reveals continued demand for used cars

India – 13th July – As demand for personal mobility increases, Spinny, India’s full-stack used car marketplace, witnessed significant growth in its used car inventory in the second quarter of 2022. In Spinny’s Q2 trend report 2022, over 57% of buyers were first-time buyers. This report reveals several interesting insights about buying and selling pre-owned cars in India. As a result of the high demand for contactless buying & selling in the used-car industry, Spinny reported 44% digital transactions.  Interestingly, Spinny has witnessed 32% women buyers in Q2.

Most of Spinny’s car buyers are between 30 and 40 years old. The boost in demand for used cars is due to a number of factors, including personal mobility needs, economic factors, and the acceptance of used cars. The key goal of the brand is to create an efficient, credible and reliable ecosystem for used-car owners. Among favourite brands, Maruti, Hyundai, and Honda cars reign supreme. Hatchbacks are the most popular model type, followed by sedans and SUVs. Three of the most preferred car models are the Hyundai elite i20, grand i10 and Maruti Suzuki Baleno. Colours like white, grey, and silver, specifically in that order, are among Spinny buyers’ favourites. 

Speaking on Spinny’s Q2 insights, Niraj Singh, Founder & CEO, Spinny, commented – “Today, a car is no longer merely a novelty, but is increasingly being regarded as a necessity in urban areas of India. Spinny has maintained its commitment to home delivery and home test drives with #Extracare.  With our focus on the pillars of Spinny Assured® designed to include quality, standardisation and the greatest degree of customer-centricity, people have come to trust a pre-owned car company and have helped us drive life-long relationships with car buyers. Our data shows that we are making progress toward our goal of providing high-quality automobiles to every household in the nation.”

Seeing young India’s aspirational consumption and its appetite for luxury vehicles, Spinny had recently launched its luxury segment, Spinny Max. With an assortment of over 500 cars and delivery service through 250 cities, the company has witnessed an increase in demand from metro cities and under the age bracket of 31 to 45 years. In the second quarter of 2022, Spinny Max premium cars are governed by brands such as Mercedes, Audi & BMW & the preferred car models are Mercedes C class, BMW 3 series & Audi Q3. Colours like white, grey, and black, specifically in that order, are among Spinny Max buyers’ favourites.