Hike messaging app has shut down and vanished from Google and Apple's app stores after the startup announced its app was going off the air earlier this month without giving explanation. Hike Founder Kavin Bharti Mittal had on January 6 announced the closure of Hike Sticker Chat. "India won't have its own messenger," Mittal had tweeted amid WhatsApp's policy controversy.

Mumbai-based Nazara Technologies has become India's first gaming technology startup to seek a market debut as it filed Initial Public Offering (IPO) documents with the market regulator. Backed by billionaire business magnate Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Nazara was founded in 2000 by gamer Nitish Mittersain when he was a college undergrad. He started Nazara with ₹3 crore borrowed from friends and family.

Wishing Wikipedia on its 20th anniversary on Friday, Tesla's billionaire CEO Elon Musk tweeted, "Happy birthday Wikipedia! So glad you exist." Founded on January 15, 2001, by American-British entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia is now the seventh-most popular website in the world. It hosts more than 55 million articles which attract 15 billion hits from visitors every month.

Over 3,000 donors, including Amazon and Uber, made new contributions to US President-elect Joe Biden's inaugural ceremonies. The Biden Presidential Inaugural Committee disclosed the names of 3,184 additional donors after it made its first disclosure of 959 donors, which included Microsoft and Google, last week. Each donor has given at least $200, but individual amounts have not been disclosed.

A security flaw in Amazon-owned Ring's Neighbors app was exposing the precise locations and home addresses of users who had posted to the app. A Ring spokesperson said it fixed the issue soon after it became aware of the bug. The spokesperson added that Ring had not identified any evidence of users' information being accessed or used maliciously.

Bharti Global and the UK government's jointly owned internet satellite firm OneWeb has received additional funding of $400 million from SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems, which takes OneWeb's total funding to $1.4 billion. As part of the investment, SoftBank will gain a seat on OneWeb's board. Bharti, along with the UK government, had acquired OneWeb for $1 billion in November.

US-based online publishing platform Medium on Saturday said it has acquired French social digital book platform Glose. Glose CEO Nicolas Princen said the deal could help readers jump from an article directly into a book. "We're impressed...by Glose's reading products, technology [and] experience in partnering with book authors and publishers," Medium CEO Ev Williams said.

Amazon announced the release of Alexa Custom Assistant, built directly on Alexa's technology, that would let firms create their own intelligent assistants. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is the first Alexa Custom Assistant customer and has already started planning FCA-branded assistant's development. Alexa Custom Assistant is available in select countries, including Japan, India, Italy and Brazil.

Elon Musk-led Tesla's investment for the Indian unit will be routed through the jurisdiction of Netherlands, as it has registered Tesla Motors Amsterdam as the parent organisation for Tesla India Motors and Energy, according to the company's incorporation documents. This would offer Tesla tax benefits related to capital gains and dividend payments, tax experts told Economic Times.

Around 6,000 workers at Amazon's warehouse in Alabama will begin voting next month on whether to unionise their workplace, potentially paving the way for the first US-based union at Amazon. The election will let workers cast a vote by mail-in ballots beginning February 8. Workers will be deciding on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Fintech startup BharatPe has raised ₹200 crore in debt from ICICI Bank, Alteria Capital and Innoven Capital, filings revealed. Earlier, BharatPe had announced plans to raise around ₹1,100 crore-₹1,465 crore in equity funding and around ₹3,660 crore of debt. Its Co-founder Ashneer Grover said the debt will be raised over two years.

Grocery delivery startup BigBasket is aiming to go public in the coming years, Co-founder and CEO Hari Menon said at Prarambh, the Startup India International Summit. "We would like to go public. There are exits needed...and the best form of doing it is through IPO," Menon added. He further said BigBasket would want to go for an IPO in India.

While addressing Prarambh, an international startup summit, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal urged investors to also focus on startups in the BIMSTEC region. "We can truly demonstrate...our collective commitment...to make startups the pillar on which future economic development will...prosper," he said. He said true talent lies in small towns, citing his talks with startups in Varanasi.

Singapore-based ride-hailing and food delivery startup Grab is considering to list in US this year, Reuters reported. The IPO could raise at least $2 billion, which would make it the largest overseas share offering by a Southeast Asian company, the report said. Founded in 2012, Grab has been backed by the SoftBank Group and is valued at over $16 billion.

SoftBank Vision Fund Managing Partner Jeffrey Housenbold who led the investment in 17 companies, including DoorDash, Rappi and WHOOP, will be leaving the firm. He will continue for a few months to ensure a "smooth changeover" and will later be a Senior Adviser to CEO Rajeev Misra and SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son. Housenbold joined the firm nearly four years ago.

PM Narendra Modi, while addressing international startup summit Prarambh, said, "Earlier, on hearing about a startup, people used to ask 'why don't you do a job?' But now people say why not create a startup instead of doing a job." He also said that startups have the "capability to change the future" and also discussed their importance in combating COVID-19.

Healthtech startup MFine on Monday said that it has raised $16 million in a funding round led by Heritas Capital. The round also saw participation from Singapore-based family office YS Investment and existing investors such as SBI Investment, BEENEXT and Alteria Capital. Founded by Prasad Kompalli and Ashutosh Lawania in 2017, MFine provides users on-demand access to medical care online.

Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit on Monday successfully launched its LauncherOne rocket into orbit for the first time, delivering nine satellites to low Earth orbit on behalf of NASA. The rocket took off from the ground attached to the wing of a modified Boeing 747 aircraft and detached and fired itself into Earth's orbit after reaching the launch altitude.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' aerospace company Blue Origin has successfully launched and landed its latest New Shepard rocket and crew capsule. The capsule reached a maximum altitude of 107 kilometres, while the rocket flew up to a height of 106 kilometres. The capsule features six seats and has speakers with a microphone and a push-to-talk button at each seat.

Bengaluru-based health and fitness startup Cure.fit has announced the acquisition of California-based digital fitness company Onyx for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2018, Onyx specialises in body tracking technology and personalisation of workout feedback. Cure.fit said that the acquisition will help improve its at-home fitness offerings as well as in expanding its international business.

Bengaluru-based insurance technology startup Digit Insurance has become the first Indian unicorn of 2021 with a fresh, undisclosed round of funding. The startup's valuation hit $1.9 billion with the fresh fundraise. Founded in 2016 by Kamesh Goyal, the startup counts Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa's Fairfax Holdings, A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital among its investors.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a ₹1,000-crore Startup India Seed Fund, while addressing Prarambh, an international startup summit. "This will help to start and grow new startups. Through the Fund of Funds, startups are already receiving assistance," he said. PM Modi also launched a TV show named 'Startup Champions' to showcase innovations by Indian entrepreneurs.

Fintech startup BharatPe has raised ₹139 crore in debt from Alteria Capital and ICICI Bank, Co-founder and CEO Ashneer Grover confirmed on Sunday. Out of the ₹139 crore, ₹90 crore in debt came from Alteria Capital, whereas the remaining ₹49 crore came from ICICI Bank. BharatPe plans to raise ₹5,000 crore in debt funding in the next two years.

Food delivery businesses and restaurants have demanded that the goods and services tax (GST) on home delivery of food be lowered to 5% from the current 18%, industry officials told PTI. Customers opting for home/office delivery of food are paying 13% higher price compared to customers walking down to the restaurants as the dine-in tax rate is 5%, they added.

Gurugram-based edtech startup Udayy has raised $2.5 million in a seed round led by Alpha Wave Incubation, managed by Falcon Edge Capital and Info Edge ventures. CRED Founder Kunal Shah and Better Capital also participated in the funding round. Udayy was founded by IIT Delhi and Stanford University alumni and it teaches Mathematics and English to six to 11-year-old children.