Archive: December 19, 2022

Introducing the $60M Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program

December 19, 2022 – Axelar, delivering secure interchain communication across Web3, announces the $60 million Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program. The program will accelerate the development of decentralized applications and protocols that can replace centralized exchanges, providing onramps to blockchain-based technology for millions of users.

A group of top-tier blockchain investors is committing capital to support the program: Blockchange, Chorus One, Collab+Currency, Cygni, dao5, DCVC, Divergence Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Lemniscap, Morningstar Ventures, Nima Capital, Node Capital, North Island Ventures, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, SCB 10X, and others.

“Recent innovations on the decentralized Web, from digital art to novel market infrastructure, have inspired speculative fervor, but centralized services have been the beneficiaries – with disastrous results,” said Sergey Gorbunov, co-founder of Axelar. “With the Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program, Axelar and its investment partners will back a new generation of Web3 startups that are poised to change that flow.”

The Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program is designed to nurture a pipeline of developers building Web3 products that are better than anything on the centralized web. That means they:

Solve global problems that the centralized internet cannot address.

Safeguard digital sovereignty, security and privacy.

Onboard masses easily, without unnecessary friction between specific blockchains or tokens.

The Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program will establish a connection between investors who share this vision, and the flow of new developers building interchain dApps that use Axelar as infrastructure to make it a reality. Investors get early exposure to projects; for developers, the program is an opportunity to connect with active Web3 investors who share their vision and goals.

“The next wave of crypto adoption won’t come on its own. We’re actively looking to invest in teams building applications and use cases that will build that momentum,” said Dragonfly Capital managing partner Haseeb Qureshi. “These teams have clear vision and they’re looking for infrastructure like Axelar to make their vision possible. This is the nexus through which the next wave in crypto emerges.”

Investors participating in the program will engage with teams individually, making independent investment decisions on the deals the Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program introduces. Powered by this visionary group of investors, the program will accelerate the growth of the decentralized web on all blockchains. To bootstrap the flow of new startups, the program intends to operate a series of hackathons, meetups and grant programs.

The Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program welcomes new Web3 builders who aim for mass adoption and impact. Axelar already connects nearly more blockchains than any other interoperability protocol, and provides features, like one-time deposit addresses, that traditional bridges cannot duplicate. Development partners like Arbitrum, Circle, Osmosis and Polygon are committed to our shared vision of mass adoption on the decentralized Web.

Sattvik Council of India Verified Lifestyle Foods Pvt. Ltd.

New Delhi, December 15th, 2022; Sattvik Council of India, the world’s first and pioneering vegetarian food and lifestyle Standard Development Organization has exclusively “Sattvik Verified” Chukde Spices- Lifestyle Foods Pvt. Ltd., which has its base of providing ‘The Safest Spices of India’ emphasizing that all the spices have been processed in compliance with Sattvik Management Standards ensuring 100% vegetarian processing of the products.

The certificate was handed to Mr. Deepak Luthra, Chairman of Lifestyle Foods Pvt. Ltd. by Mr. Abhishek Biswas, Founder & Secretary General of Sattvik Council of India.

“It’s a pleasure to associate with a brand like Chukde Spices, where the objective is to increase the natural and safe use of spices and set a benchmark by terminating the processes harming nature. Sattvik Verification is important for the Spices & their Packaging that is being produced in compliance with Sattvik Parameters to gain trust & confidence in the Vegetarian Oriented Market. Our vision is to cover all the upcoming organizations focusing on Vegetarian Friendly Food & Lifestyle in 2 years, so that Sattvik Certified food & lifestyle can reach each & every location in India”, said Mr. Biswas.

Chukde Spices, Lifestyle Foods Pvt. Ltd. has been part of the Indian Sattvik Culture by bringing the authentic flavours and wholesome goodness of pure and natural Indian spices, unadulterated. At Chukde Spices, their core focus has always been to bring in the technology that will make their spices safer and keep the flavours authentic.

“Our Mission is to uphold the standards of purity and sustain the cultural richness & diversity associated with Indian spices.” A great emphasis on the environmental impact of processing and packaging, which is leading to various initiatives by Chukde Spices to provide premium quality Indian spices domestically and abroad, and also helps in ‘Vegetarian Friendly Environment’ credentials. With every Chukde spice going through Fumigation, 27 rigorous Quality Tests, and ETO Sterilisation, they have become a preferred choice for the hospitality sector, online retail platforms, and end consumers alike.

By achieving the Sattvik Label Mark gives a symbol of quality that can be used on Vegan or Vegetarian Food Products that meet safety standards and pure quality of the food products. Sattvik Verification provides transparent assurance that products does not contain any hidden non-vegan, non-vegetarian and harmful substances.

To know more about us, please go to: www.sattvikcouncilofindia.org Or contact Sattvik IVR: +91 9667803001

GROHE Eurocube Ceramics: Perfectly Matched Beautifully Coordinated

Make a clear style statement with the pure lines and crisp angles of a cube. GROHE’s Eurocube collection of bathroom ceramics is the embodiment of minimalist chic, with every element drawing inspiration from Cubist geometry.

Explore a comprehensive range of basins, WCs and bidets, all manufactured from high-quality ceramic with GROHE’s trademark design and engineering excellence. GROHE Eurocube ceramic sanitaryware allows you to create a completely cohesive bathroom scheme using the same dynamic, architectural lines throughout – every element complimenting the various faucet designs from GROHE.

GROHE Eurocube WC adds a feeling of luxury and space to any modern bathroom or cloakroom! It not only looks fantastic but takes comfort and cleanliness to a new level. With an innovative surface technology, bowl profile and water injection system, this dual-flush WC produces a perfect flush every time. The rim-free design also makes it easy to clean and, as it has no rim shadow, the bowl looks cleaner and shinier too. The GROHE Hygiene surface repels dirt and germs while the soft-close seat is simple to remove so you can keep it spotless and hygienic. Understated architectural design at its very best!

GROHE Eurocube Ceramics Innovative features:

DreamClean- Innovative rim design releases a powerful rush of water, scrubs the bowl top-to-bottom with every flush

Powerful Flush- Forceful, clog-free siphon flushing action clears the bowl completely on the first flush.

Quick Release Seat- With push-button ease, remove and replace the seat for quick, easy, thorough cleaning.

Soft – Close Seat & Cover- Gentle motion is designed to eliminate the noise and annoyance of slamming.

The GROHE Eurocube Ceramics collection is easy to maintain and combines great aesthetics with superlative performance.

Find out more at: www.grohe.co.in

Elior India begins transfer of business to Compass Group

New Delhi, 19th December 2022:- Elior India has announced the sale of its business to Compass India. Mr. Rohit Sawhney, interim CEO of Elior India, informed employees in an internal announcement that a business transfer agreement had been signed with the Compass Group for the sale of Elior India’s business. The announcement states that the transaction involves only the sale of contracts to the Compass Group, with Elior India retaining staff, as agreed upon between the two companies.

The purchase of these contracts by Compass will enable it to become a market leader in key corporate catering markets in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi. While at the other end, The Elior Group is hoping that with the sale of these contracts to Compass, it will be able to exit India even though it remains in a protracted legal battle with its former India CEO. While it is unusual for any buyer to engage in a transaction during the pendency of a litigation, it seems the Compass Group, which is headquartered in London, was willing to ignore the legal compliance issues and proceed with the transaction. Earlier, a French company Sodexo and an Indian company, Foodlinks also shied away from the transaction due to legal compliance issues. It appears Compass was able to secure an attractive price for the purchase of the contracts due to the on going litigation.

The announcement made by the interim CEO, Rohit Sawhney further goes on to state that the sale of these contracts has already been communicated to the clients, and over the next 3 months, the sale to Compass will be concluded by Elior India, even as the current litigation with the former CEO rages on.

Last week, the Karnataka High Court removed the stay on the arbitration between the former CEO and Elior India and has now issued an order directing the arbitration to be resumed even as the Compass Group progresses with the transfer of the contracts. It now remains to be seen what the outcome of the arbitration will be given that the Elior India Interim CEO has already announced to the clients the signing of the sale agreement with the Compass Group.

Hon’ble Minister Dr. Ashwath Narayan C N inaugurates Cashfree Payments’ Mangaluru office under #BeyondBengaluru Initiative

Pic Credit: Cashfree Payments 

Bengaluru, December 19, 2022: Hon’ble Minister Dr. Ashwath Narayan C N, Minister of Higher Education, IT and BT, Sci and Tech and Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, Government of Karnataka today inaugurated the Mangaluru office of Cashfree Payments, a leading payment and API banking solutions company, strengthening its presence in Karnataka.

The inauguration ceremony took place in presence of several higher dignitaries including Shri Dr. E.V Ramana Reddy, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary to Government Commerce & Industries Department Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T Department, Government of Karnataka; Shri. Dr. N Shivashankara, IAS, Director Electronics, IT, Bt and Managing Director, Karnataka Innovation & Technology Society (KITS), Department of Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T and Shri. BV Naidu, Chairman, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM).

As a part of Smart Cities Mission list, Mangaluru is among the 100 smart cities to be developed in India. Further, Mangaluru is one of the three city clusters to spearhead the KDEM’s “The Beyond Bengaluru” program by attracting global companies to establish their offices and operate from this region. Cashfree Payments’ new office is in line with this program, which will lead to intensifying the drive to build a robust Fintech ecosystem in the region. It will also spotlight skill development, employment generation, and overall development across Karnataka.

Present at the occasion, Shri. BV Naidu, Chairman, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) said “Congratulations to Cashfree Payments for setting up operations in Mangaluru, as part of our #BeyondBengaluru initiative! Our mission is to work closely and support such emerging tech companies to expand to Beyond Bengaluru clusters across Karnataka. We are very happy that Cashfree Payments a leading fintech company choose to expand to Mangaluru as Mangaluru is being promoted as Fintech cluster. It is only the beginning, there are more fintech companies showing interest to expand to Mangaluru. It’s nice to see them drive the digital economy of Karnataka by accelerating skill development and employment generation in the state. We wish them lots of success in their endeavours.”.

Commenting on the launch, Akash Sinha, CEO and Co-founder, Cashfree Payments said “It gives us immense pleasure to start our operations in Mangaluru, a region which offers a dynamic and vibrant ecosystem with a prominent culture of innovation and rich entrepreneurship. New-age Fintechs are reshaping India into a more digitized country through deeper penetration. It is evident that now tier 2 and tier 3 cities are also becoming attracted to the Fintech revolution, driving the future of financial services in India. Mirroring the growth of Fintech across the nation, we at Cashfree Payments, are witnessing an exciting phase of growth too. Our operations in Mangaluru will certainly attract talent from the region, while allowing us to contribute to its overall growth imperative.”

75% of the employees at Cashfree Payments are based in Karnataka. The company has adopted a hybrid working model and the Mangaluru office will provide a convenient alternative for these employees, to work from the office. Also, it will help create employment opportunities for employees beyond Bengaluru. For this region, the company aims to hire across roles like engineering, product management, strategy and growth teams.

With over 50% market share among payment processors, Cashfree Payments today leads the way in bulk disbursals in India with its product Payouts. Recently, India’s largest lender, SBI invested in Cashfree Payments underscoring the company’s role in building a robust payments ecosystem. Cashfree Payments works closely with all leading banks to build the core payments and banking infrastructure that powers the company’s products and is also integrated with major platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Paytm and Google Pay. Apart from India, Cashfree Payments products are used in eight other countries including the USA, Canada and UAE.

SAGE Foundation adds UnLtd India’s incubation program to its portfolio

Mumbai,  December 2022: The Shahani Academic and Global Empowerment Foundation (SAGE Foundation), the non-profit arm of The Shahani Group, has announced that effective January 2023, it will take over the brand and operations of UnLtd India, a leading Indian incubator for social enterprises, from Social Entrepreneurs Foundation India (SEFI).

SAGE Foundation will now incubate social startups and NGOs in addition to the work it already does towards upskilling low-income youth for white-collar jobs. As part of their efforts to scale up the operations of UnLtd India, SAGE Foundation intends to incubate 1500 social entrepreneurs, Founders of NGOs/ Social Enterprises over the next 5 years.

UnLtd India was one of the first incubators to support early-stage social entrepreneurs and Founders of NGOs / Social Enterprises across India. Over the last 14 years, it has incubated 318 social entrepreneurial ventures, including Phool, Arpan, FUEL, and many others. Its incubatees have impacted 19.5 million lives and raised more than Rs. 30 billion until now. UnLtd India supports young organisations across the spectrum, from livelihoods, climate change, education to gender, and inclusive development. These organisations are built on ideas that will lead to an increase in income and or reduce the vulnerability of underserved communities and the environment as a whole.

SAGE Foundation has been working tirelessly to provide key in-demand industry skills to under-privileged Indian youth, to make them job-ready and secure employment in the BFSI sector, with support from Thadomal Shahani Centre For Management. To date, they have trained over 12,000 youth and have successfully placed over 90% of its graduates with leading Indian companies, such as Deloitte, Accenture, HDFC, Kotak & others

Combining these job skilling and incubation activities under one roof allows sharing of resources to reduce costs and enhance scalability. Transitioning the brand and operations of an incubator from one non-profit, Social Entrepreneurs Foundation India (SEFI), to another, SAGE Foundation is the first such transaction of its kind in the Indian non-profit sector. It could serve as a model to other non-profits looking to consolidate their operations.

Commenting on the development, Dr. Akhil Shahani, MD, SAGE Foundation, The Shahani Group, TSCFM, and ask.CAREERS, said, “We are thrilled to bring UnLtd India into our fold, and become a part of their amazing journey. At SAGE Foundation, we have been tackling the pressing social issue of empowering under-resourced youth with the education and skills that will enable them to obtain sustainable livelihoods so that they may uplift their and their family’s lives through white-collar employment, which offers job security and better incomes, as opposed to the daily wage jobs they would otherwise have to take.

By adding UnLtd India’s brand and its operations, we have further deepened our commitment to solving India’s social problems – this is a natural extension of the work we have already been doing, and we now look forward to helping social entrepreneurs and NGO founders in realising their vision for the betterment of Indian society. UnLtd India and Anshu Bhartia have already done some really excellent work in the past decade and a half. We intend not only to continue these efforts but also to scale up the operations exponentially.”

Discussing the announcement, Anshu Bhartia, CEO, UnLtd India, said, “UnLtd India has been committed to supporting passionate individuals who want to solve a pressing social need through entrepreneurship. Our commitment is to help an individual in their journey of becoming an entrepreneur and an idea for a sustainable high-impact organisation. Scaling our work using technology, partnerships, and ecosystem resources, at the most optimal cost was a key consideration for our long-term continued impact, meeting a deeply underserviced need. Transitioning the brand and its work to the SAGE Foundation led by Dr. Shahani, a Founding and Governing Board Member of UnLtd India was a no-brainer. The team of UnLtd India and I are very excited that the organization will be scaling under the umbrella of The Shahani Group and with Akhil’s leadership. This will ensure that UnLtd India’s focus on supporting social entrepreneurship will not be diluted and that the organisation will be able to help much more social enterprise and NGO founders every year.”

Rakuten Symphony celebrated Family Day emphasizing importance of both Family and Work Commitments

Indore December 2022: Rakuten Symphony a part of Rakuten Group of Companies, established as a Global product company in the mobile telecom industry, located in Indore, celebrated ‘Family Day’ for its employees on Saturday, December 10, 2022. Rakuten Symphony,  organized this event specifically for employees and their families to promote work- life balance in the corporate world. The families were invited to visit the workplace where their loved ones work. Many fun activities like musical and magical sessions, children’s games activities, along with delicious food were arranged, giving the event a festive look.

On this occasion, thanking the employees and their families, Mr. Naren, MD of Rakuten Symphony said,  “thank you for your support and cooperation in building great products. I am sure you might be wondering about the extra hours and odd hours your daughter or son or husband or wife or brother or sister is putting in – but please know that they are building products that will change the world. Your family member is working towards the vision to democratise connectivity for everyone in the world. Please know that they are in good hands and they have a platform to learn and excel” He also said that “Rakuten culture and vision is geared towards the betterment of society and values the family culture. You are part of Rakuten family and you are part of its success. Thank you so much for being part of our journey”

Working to reduce the cost and complexities of building and operating mobile networks,  Rakuten Symphony, presents the most advanced and low-risk strategies for its clients to achieve their goals of reducing vendor lock-in, with a changed step-in operational performance. Fully supporting industry standards, it gives operators the freedom to innovate at speed and scale. The company has been built from the ground up with a simple and optimized environment to offer service providers a truly low-cost, no-compromise option.

Pic Source: pr24x7