Archive: March 17, 2023

Mudrex Bags Best Crypto-Investing Platform of the Year at Web3 Global Awards

Bangalore, March 17th, 2023: Mudrex, a crypto investing platform headquartered in Bengaluru and San Francisco, has been recognized as the ‘Best Crypto-Investing Platform of the Year’ for its efforts in simplifying the process of crypto investing in India and worldwide. The award was presented at Web 3.0 Summit 2023 organized by Entrepreneur India where Mudrex was acknowledged for its outstanding products and services related to crypto investing. The award was presented by Ritu Marya, Editor in Chief, APAC, Entrepreneur India on March 13th, 2023.

Commenting on this, Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder, Mudrex said, “We are honored to receive the ‘Best Crypto-Investing Platform of the Year’ award at Web 3.0 Summit 2023 organized by Entrepreneur India. This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team. Mudrex’s commitment to creating accessible crypto investment products for retail investors has garnered the company a prominent position within the industry. With a focus on simplifying the complex asset class, Mudrex has emerged as the go-to choice for retail crypto investors seeking reliable investment opportunities. We feel encouraged by this recognition to keep enhancing and innovating our products and services.”

A Japanese Odyssey – Oto Matsuri at Novotel Vijayawada Varun

Experience the vibrant culture and cuisine of Japan at the Oto Matsuri Festival, hosted by Novotel Vijayawada Varun from March 16th onwards at their pan-Asian restaurant, Wugan. Inspired by the traditional Fire Festival of Japan, this festival celebrates the lively atmosphere and delicious local food stalls that surround the World Heritage Site Kamikura Shrine.
The festival features a masterfully crafted menu of authentic Japanese dishes prepared over a teppanyaki grill, including Horsenso Gomaee, Tori Miso Udon, Xo Suzuki, Tomorokoshi Yaki, Yaki Soba, Ebi Gyoza Nabe, Yasai Okonomiyaki, and more. And for dessert, indulge in the Flaming Walnut Brownie and Teppanyaki Burnt Ice Cream.

Join us at the Oto Matsuri Food Festival and savor the tantalizing flavors of Japan while experiencing its rich traditions. We can’t wait to welcome you!

CMR University becomes a member of the Global Design Thinking Alliance

Bengaluru (India), 17th March 2023: CMR University (CMRU), one of Bengaluru’s leading private universities today announced its membership with the Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA), becoming one of the three universities from India to be a member of the GDTA. This announcement came during CMRU’s annual flagship event, ‘CMRU Design Thinking Day’ (DTD) on Friday 17th March 2023 to promote excellence in Design Thinking education, and research, and further develop the methods and mindsets of Design Thinking. Prof. Uli Weinberg – President, of Global Design Thinking Alliance (GDTA), and Dr. Tristha Ramamurthy, Provost, CMR University and Founder of Ekya Schools signed an agreement to this effect. Other dignitaries present on the occasion include the Chief Guest, Dr. David Kusuma – President, of the World Design Organization (WDO) & Senior Vice President of Product Management & Innovation, Oregon Tool, USA, and Guests of Honor, Shri Venkat Venugopal – R&D Site Head & Director Engineering, Schneider Electric, India, and Prof. Uli Weinberg, President, Global Design Thinking Alliance among others.

In his address to the participants of Design Thinking Day at CMRU, Prof. Uli Weinberg, President, GDTA speaking from Germany said, “The Design Thinking Day saw participation from 3000+ number of students from universities in India as well as North America, the Middle East, and Asia. I feel terribly honored to be a part of CMRU’s Cause 2023 Design Thinking Day. I am impressed with the sheer number of participants from different countries and the scale at which the university has organized this event. Design Thinking helps in developing the top 10 skills listed by the World Economic Forum and not limiting ourselves to just knowledge transfer. We must collaborate across disciplines and not compete with each other to achieve our objectives. It is important to grow the Design Thinking allies with a network of like-minded people. It is our pleasure to welcome CMR University to GDTA and with this, we have four member institutions from India and no other country in the World so far has that many institutions as members of GDTA. This is very encouraging.”. He thanked CMR University and the students for all the support.”

CMRU, through its Common Core Curriculum (CCC), is India’s first University to make design thinking a mandatory credit course for all its Undergraduate and Postgraduate programs across all its School of Studies with effect from the academic year 2021-22. The Design Thinking course aims to prepare students with a “Fail fast, Fail forward” mindset to solve real-life problems, using this nuanced framework. This development is in line with the announcement by the World Design Council to support the Karnataka govt to promote design thinking in schools, and colleges.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Tristha Ramamurthy, Provost, CMR University and Founder of Ekya Schools said, “CMR University was intended and built to nurture creative thinkers who drive positive global change. The Department of Common Core Curriculum is spearheading this intention. We are empowering our students to create a better world using design thinking skills. This is just the start of a long road ahead.”

To encourage design thinking in all schools and colleges across the globe, CMRU organized a first-of-its-kind Design Thinking Challenge called ‘CAUSE 2023’ – A Global Open Innovation Challenge, in which 750 teams from 90 institutions participated from across 10 countries including India. It created an international platform to encourage all students to come up with innovative solutions to real-world problems that they deeply care about aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using the design thinking process. CMRU is at the forefront of building a competent skill force for the 21st century through its CCC.

Radio City associates with Legends League Cricket as its exclusive Radio Partner from India

India, March 2023: Radio City, India’s leading FM radio network in India has associated with the prestigious Legends League Cricket (LLC) as an exclusive radio partner from India. Starting March 10th until 20th March 2023, Qatar has opened doors for the T-20 cricket league featuring players including recently retired international players. In the Asia Town Cricket Stadium in Doha, Qatar, cricket legends from India, Asia, and the rest of the world will reunite to rebuild their competitions and provide new life to the old memories. As an exclusive radio partner from India, Radio City’s RJ Yuvi has flown to Qatar and will be seen interacting with the players and providing live updates on the matches, giving listeners a front-row seat to all the action.

Speaking about this partnership, Mr. Kartik Kalla, Chief Creative Officer, Radio City, said, “We are excited to associate with Legends League Cricket as an exclusive radio partner from India. As part of our partnership, we will be bringing our listeners exclusive coverage of the LLC event, including live updates, interviews with players, and expert analysis from our very own RJ Yuvi who has traveled to Doha to cover the event. RJ Yuvi will bring the best sports content showcasing the LLC event to our listeners across India. Through such collaborations, Radio City will continue to build its visibility and deepen perception among the global audience.”

Cricket is a sport that unites everyone to share their passion for the game. In light of this, Radio City aims to delight cricket lovers across in the true spirit of the game by disseminating exciting highlights and updates of all the LLC matches. This season of LLC Masters will reach millions of cricket fans through television broadcasts on Star Sports channel and on the radio platform Radio City. As part of the partnership, the cricketer jerseys will have the Radio City logo. To enhance the reach and brand visibility of Radio City among a global audience, all the promotional collaterals will include the radio channel’s logo.

Commenting on collaborating with Radio City, Mr. Raman Raheja, Co-Founder and CEO of Legends League Cricket said, “Legends League Cricket is a celebration of recently retired legendary international cricketers and this year, the LLC matches are being held at Qatar. We are delighted to associate with Radio City as our official radio partner from India, as it is the most sought-after radio station in the country. Radio City’s RJ Yuvi is at the forefront of building excitement around the matches by keeping the audiences hooked with the latest updates of this year’s matches, trivia, and much more. We are confident that our partnership with Radio City will aid in amplifying the reach and perception of LLC across the globe.”

Isuzu Motors India to roll-out ‘ISUZU I-Care Pre-Summer Camp’ across India.

Customers can avail the exciting service benefits* at all ISUZU authorised dealer service outlets from 22nd to 29th March, 2023

17th March, 2023, Pune: In a constant endeavour to reaffirm ISUZU’s commitment to provide best service and ownership experience, Isuzu Motors India will be conducting a nation-wide ‘ISUZU I-Care Pre-Summer Camp’ for its range of ISUZU D-MAX Pick-ups and SUVs. This service camp is aimed at offering customers exciting benefits and preventive maintenance checks for a hassle-free driving experience during the season across the country.

An initiative of ‘ISUZU Care’, the Pre-Summer Camp will be organised across all ISUZU authorised dealer service outlets, between 22nd to 29th March, 2023 (both days inclusive). During this period, customers can also avail special offers & benefits for their vehicles.

Customers visiting the camp will receive the following: –

Free 37-Point Comprehensive Check-up
10% discount on Labour*
5% discount on Parts*
5% discount on Lubes & Fluids*
10% Discount on Retail RSA purchase*
Free Top Wash
Free ‘REGEN’**

The Pre-Summer Camp will be organised at all authorised service facilities of ISUZU located in Ahmedabad, Baramulla, Bengaluru, Bimavaram, Bhuj, Calicut, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Dimapur, Gandhidham, Gorakhpur, Gurugram, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kurnool, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mehsana, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nellore, Pune, Raipur, Rajahmundry, Rajkot, Siliguri, Surat, Tirupati, Trivandrum, Vadodara, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Arthan to bring prominent think tanks from the social sector to deliberate solutions on Building impactful and inclusive M&E organizations

Delhi, 17/3/23: In 2022, Arthan conducted a landscaping study to understand India’s Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Ecosystem. The study yielded critical insights into the organizational development, talent management, and skills and capacity deficit in grassroots NGOs, especially in ensuring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and leveraging technology concerning accessing relevant data. To disseminate and discuss the study findings and exchange perspectives and deliberate solutions for and by the sector. Arthan is organizing a conference on March 23rd, 2023, on Building impactful and inclusive M&E organizations. The conference aims to bring together some of the key stakeholders from the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) ecosystem to deepen insights and formulate recommendations around the key areas of inquiry, i.e., prominent practices in the sector, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), capacity building and talent management needs within the M&E ecosystem.

Arthan will host two panels and an interactive workshop session as part of the convening.

Panel one will focus on ‘Building capacities in evaluation: Integrating grassroots organizations at every step.’ The speakers for the panel are Neeta Goel (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Gayatri Rao (IMAGO Global Grassroots), Megha Pradhan (CLEAR – JPAL South Asia), and Rahul Agrawal (Intellecap Advisory Services Pvt Ltd).

The second-panel discussion explores ways of ‘Building inclusive research organizations.’The speakers for the panel are Monica Jain (International Initiative for Impact Evaluation), Sabina Dewan (JustJobs Network), Aditi Vyas (International Centre for Research on Women), and Neeraj Trivedi (Pratham).

In addition to the panel discussions, a workshop will be organized on developing an Evaluation ecosystem platform- Co-creating the future of M&E: Intersection of technology, data, and capacity led by Tech4Good founders- Shemeer Babu and Arunabha Bhattacharya.

About the Study: The overarching goal was to investigate the existing M&E organizational practices and the limitations and challenges grassroots NGOs face.

The purposive and intentional research sample constituted 40+ participating organizations, evaluation and research experts, and job seekers. The findings focused on understanding the status of
1. Organisational development and talent management in organizations working in the M&E ecosystem
2. Skills and capacity development efforts for delivering M&E projects,
3. Status of DEI integration in strategy and practices, and
4. Accessing and integrating relevant data and technology.

The organizations were classified into four key archetypes:
1. Consulting organizations,
2. M&E organizations,
3. Implementation organizations and
4. Think Tank organizations.

The key findings are as follows:
● Large organizations (greater than 300 employees) have the required capacity to undertake in-house evaluations and demonstrate very low preference towards commissioning work to external organizations or consultants.
● Organisations with women in senior leadership roles positively influence the presence of female employees in the staff body.
● As much as 56% of organizations have reportedly embraced equity and diversity in their pursuit of developing M&E approaches, methodologies, and frameworks. M&E and think tank organizations should concentrate on effectively integrating DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) practices into their organizational processes. They should create affirmative policies and incorporate DEI practices prominently and lucidly within their organizational framework.
● Grassroots and implementation organizations must accord top priority to developing technical skills among their internal staff, as it is an indispensable requirement for recruiting and retaining top talent.

In particular, a key recommendation was to undertake capacity-building efforts using specialized training modules to build capacities of grassroots NGOs in Organisational Development, M&E, Marketing,and Strategy, Technology, Fundraising, and DEI.

Zamit brings together national and international education experts for a succession of symposia on CPD for teachers in India

New Delhi,  March 2023: In a significant development that has far-reaching implications for the quality of teaching and indeed teachers in India, Zamit, a leading AI-enabled one-stop solution provider for the school ecosystem, organizes a series of symposia on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for the teaching community. Importantly, these knowledge-sharing sessions at the symposia also contribute towards meeting the 50 hours of CPD requirement for the teachers as mandated by the landmark National Education Policy, or NEP 2020. The symposia are being sponsored by The Future Foundation, a not-for-profit body.

As a part of this series, the tech-driven innovator for the school ecosystem has already had a few sessions over February and the first weeks of March and will continue to host similar events every Friday at 5 pm. As many as 500 teachers have benefited from the ongoing program so far and several hundred more are expected to benefit in the coming weeks.

“Efficient teaching is not only about simple imparting and transferring of knowledge but is also a function of creative thinking and processes that teachers must employ to make their teachings more effective, practicable and to ensure are of lasting value for their students. So, just like other professions, teachers also need to stay ahead of the curve as a professional. This is in terms of not only curricula and content but also tools, methodologies, and best practices that are being adopted in the best schools, particularly in the more advanced parts of the world. And with technology reshaping the whole teacher-student exchange process, a set of new expectations have arisen for both teachers and students. Keeping this in mind, we hope that the insights from these series of discussions will help teachers not only make their students future-ready but also make them future-ready,” said Mr. Aarul Malaviya, Founder and Director of Zammit.

The symposia have been certified by Zamit’s Certification Partner, Qualifications and Assessments International (QAI), UK, a private international awarding, accrediting, assessing, and quality assurance body specializing in teacher training, teaching qualifications, and assessments. Each session addresses one subject related to CPD for teachers and is conducted over 90 minutes. While the topic for discussion for the first symposium was Digital Literacy, the upcoming second symposium is to see a discussion on the topic titled Professionalism and Continuous Professional Development, and the third one thereafter on Creativity in Teaching and Learning.

Those schools and teachers wishing to participate in these symposia must register on Zamit’s website www.zamit.one. Registration is free.

SentinelOne Expands Singularity Marketplace with new SOAR, Insider Threat, Training, and Prioritization Integrations

Bengaluru, March 2023: SentinelOne (NYSE: S), an autonomous cybersecurity platform company, today announced integrations with Revelstoke, Fletch, Code42, and KnowBe4, adding new use cases to the Singularity Marketplace. The new integrations expand Singularity XDR’s Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR), insider threat protection, automated prioritization, and end-user training capabilities.

“We are committed to strengthening the SentinelOne Singularity Platform ecosystem by partnering with leading vendors across the security stack,” said Akhil Kapoor, Vice President of Technology Partnerships, SentinelOne. “We’re pleased to expand our offerings through our partnerships with Revelstoke, Fletch, Code42, and KnowBe4, helping customers gain additional detection, investigation, and response synergies with their security tooling.”

Improved Detection, Investigation, and Response with Revelstoke

The integration of SentinelOne Singularity Platform and Revelstoke’s SOAR capabilities enables organizations to optimize their security workflows through the automation of alert triage and incident remediation. SentinelOne Singularity XDR delivers rapid protection and precise threat detection across all attack surfaces, as well as proactive threat hunting and automated remediation. With the integration of Revelstoke’s low-code automation, organizations can easily streamline SentinelOne alert triage and response, improving their security workflows and reducing alert fatigue.

“Our next-level SOAR solution and its ability to correlate alerts paired with SentinelOne’s platform, which can secure endpoint, cloud, and identity, gives analysts the power to respond faster and more efficiently to real cyber threats facing their organizations,” said Bob Kruse, Co-Founder, and CEO, Revelstoke. “We look forward to working with SentinelOne on further integrations going forward and delivering even more value for our joint customers.”

Prioritize Remediation Efforts with Fletch

The SentinelOne Singularity XDR and Fletch integration incorporates best-of-breed XDR and natural language search technology, correlating Fletch’s findings with each customer’s Singularity XDR data to provide a personalized, prioritized list of the threats that are most relevant to their business. Fletch’s Natural Language Search Engine continuously scours the internet to determine which threats are significant and automatically links its findings to Singularity XDR data, providing extra context to quickly respond to relevant threats. Fletch and SentinelOne alert customers if a trending threat represents a risk to them and provide an extensive context for rapid triage and remediation, eliminating the need to manually sift through threat feeds and conduct security analytics.

“Cybersecurity comes down to knowing what you need to know before it’s too late,” said Grant Wernick, CEO, and co-founder, Fletch. “Teams of all sizes struggle to keep up with the volume of threats. Most never get ahead. With the power of Fletch and SentinelOne, folks can finally focus on the threats that matter before they matter with their personal Daily Threat Report”

Combat Insider Threats with Code42

The SentinelOne Singularity XDR and Code42 Incydr integration significantly reduces the risks associated with insider threats by combatting data exposure and exfiltration. When investigating insider risk alerts from Incydr, analysts can quickly respond to data exposure by using SentinelOne’s network isolation capability to isolate the user’s endpoint to prevent further exfiltration or risky activity. SentinelOne’s best-of-breed XDR technology and Code42’s insider threat detection protect organizations from unusual and high-severity activity with the controls to correct and contain data risk.

“Data protection is a critical responsibility of every security department,” said Aimee Simpson. Director of Product Marketing, Code42. “With Code42 Incydr and SentinelOne, security teams can quickly detect data exfiltration events and quarantine devices to contain imminent threats.”

Instill Strong Security Culture with KnowBe4

Introducing KnowBe4 SecurityCoach into the SentinelOne platform gives organizations a mechanism for improving security literacy across their business. SecurityCoach ingests and analyzes threat incidents and alerts from SentinelOne and maps these incidents to specific end users, delivering real-time coaching as the incidents occur. With SecurityCoach automating coaching, users gradually eliminate risky behavior, reducing the number of human error-related incidents and instilling a security-first culture without dominating the security team’s time.

“KnowBe4 is proud to partner with SentinelOne to provide a seamless integration with our new SecurityCoach product, which aims to deliver real-time security coaching and advice to help end users enhance their cybersecurity knowledge and strengthen their role in contributing to a strong security culture,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “KnowBe4 is actively working with SentinelOne to ingest real-time alerts from SentinelOne Singularity XDR and then coach users in real-time based on the SentinelOne alerts.”

Moneyboxx secures term loan worth INR 20 crores from Maanaveeya (Oikocredit) to further boost its financial inclusion efforts

March 17, 2023, Mumbai: Moneyboxx Finance Limited, a BSE-listed NBFC that focuses on impact financing by providing business loans to micro entrepreneurs in Tier-III cities and below, secured INR 20 crores term loan from Maanaveeya Development & Finance Private Limited (Maanaveeya), an Indian subsidiary of Oikocredit, a 40-year-old Global Development Financing Institution that responds to the needs of businesses that create jobs and income for disadvantaged people. The Company will utilize the funds for onward lending to the microentrepreneurs.

Moneyboxx is supported by 24 lenders, including leading banks (State Bank of India, IDFC First Bank, DCB Bank, AU SFB) and NBFCs and impact funds and has raised cumulative debt of close to INR 400 crores. With planned equity raise and continuous support from lenders and co-lending partnerships, the company aims to transform lives of micro entrepreneurs in India and is targeting AUM of about INR 1,000 crores by FY24 from current AUM of INR 290 Crore as of Feb 2023. The Company plans to increase its branch network to 100 by FY24 from current 56 branches.

Deepak Aggarwal, Co-Founder,Moneyboxx said, “We are excited and thankful to Maanaveeya for this vote of confidence in our extremely successful and unique phygital business model, wherein we not only provide growth capital to microentrepreneurs,but also supplement this with significant beyond-lending initiatives. The loan from Maanaveeya will help boost our efforts in fostering financial inclusion by addressing the unmet and growing need for credit in the INR 1-10 lacs small business loan segment. With a robust and highly scalable business model in place, backed by an entirely digital process and risk analytics capabilities, we are poised to create a greater positive impact on small businesses across small towns.”

Moneyboxx is driving financial inclusion by catering to the unmet credit needs of micro entrepreneurs in Tier-3 and below regions. With cumulative disbursements of over INR 471 crores up to Feb’23, it has transformed lives of over 28,300 borrowers, of which 53% were women and 35% new-to-credit.The company has engendered sustainable and transformational changes in borrowers’ lives through various impact initiatives such as free vet consultation service for livestock borrowers and free plantation of fruit-bearing trees for its borrowers who own agricultural land, thereby providing them with an alternate source of income.