CRED, the credit card bill payment platform and sponsor of Vivo IPL 2021, has announced 100% cashback for four members who paid their credit card bills on the app, as part of its campaign. CRED also released a follow-up to their viral ad film featuring cricketer Rahul Dravid. The new film features veteran actor Jackie Shroff.

Swiggy has apologised after Rohit Sharma's fans called to boycott the service for mocking the cricketer. '#BoycottSwiggy' began trending after Swiggy's Twitter handle retweeted a morphed image showing the cricketer reaching out for the food at a vada pav stall and tweeted, "Haters will say it's photoshopped!" Swiggy apologised and tweeted, "It wasn't meant to offend anyone in the least."

Alibaba Group's American depositary receipts climbed 9.3% in New York, their biggest jump in nearly four years, leading to an increase of $2.3 billion in Co-founder Jack Ma's fortune. His net worth rose to $52.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This comes after Chinese authorities imposed a record $2.75 billion fine on Alibaba for violating anti-monopoly rules.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has responded to a man who tweeted that the SpaceX Founder and CEO worked at a videogame company named 'Rocket Science' in the early 90s. The man had also remarked on the coincidence and tweeted, "Fate loves irony." Musk responded, "True. Ancient times...Had to flip CPU registers explicitly, as the computer was so slow."

SoftBank-backed Grab on Tuesday announced it has struck a $40-billion deal to go public through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. Grab, Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing and food delivery firm, intends to list on the Nasdaq. SPACs are shell companies or blank-check companies set up for the purpose of raising capital to acquire private companies.

The government has slashed the annual minimum marking fee to get a new Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) licence and certification by 50% for startups, micro-enterprises, and women entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises with existing BIS licence will be given an additional 10% concession, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said. The move is aimed at promoting Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Amazon India has announced that it will cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccination for over 10 lakh people. The benefit will be applicable to employees, associates, sellers with an active listing since last year, delivery service partner associates and their eligible dependants, the company said. The new benefit is in addition to the earlier investments made by the company.

Space technology startup Astrobotic has chosen SpaceX's Falcon Heavy for its Griffin Mission 1 lunar lander mission, which will deliver NASA's rover VIPER to the Moon in 2023. Astrobotic didn't disclose the deal's terms. VIPER is a mobile robot that will investigate Moon's South Pole to get a close-up view of the location of water ice that could be harvested.

The New York Stock Exchange has launched "First Trade" NFTs of six stocks that recently went public to "memorialize" their First Trade. NYSE's first class of NFTs represents the First Trade of Spotify, which executed the inaugural direct listing on the exchange. NYSE's offerings also include Snowflake, Unity, DoorDash, Roblox and Coupang.

Coinbase Co-founder Fred Ehrsam said that when he started the cryptocurrency exchange platform in 2012, Bitcoin was worth $6. "It was only known by a few nerds on the internet," he said, adding that he met Coinbase Co-founder Brian Armstrong on Reddit. Ehrsam further said that Coinbase launched out of a two-bedroom apartment that they shared with another company.

Nykaa is aiming to go for an initial public offering (IPO) before the end of 2021, Bloomberg reported. The nine-year-old startup could raise at least $500 million, valuing it at $4 billion. Nykaa, which was founded by former investment banker Falguni Nayar, is said to have selected Kotak Mahindra Capital and Morgan Stanley to work on the potential offering.

Pine Labs announced that it has acquired Malaysian loyalty and cashback platform Fave in a cash-and-stock deal worth $45 million. Post acquisition, Fave founders will remain at the company and lead the overall consumer platform. Fave's investors will receive an all-cash payout, while founders and key Fave employees will receive both cash and shares of Pine Labs, the companies said.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is one of the three firms chosen by the US government to build and demonstrate a nuclear-based propulsion system on a spacecraft in orbit by 2025. The contracts awarded to the companies are for the first 18-month phase of the programme, with two tracks. Blue Origin has been awarded $2.5 million for the programme.

US-based home gym startup has raised $220 million in Series C round led by SoftBank. Other participants in the Series C round included Bling Capital, DCM, General Catalyst and Norwest Venture Partners. Tempo launched a freestanding cabinet in 2020 that includes a 42-inch touchscreen with a 3D motion-tracking camera that consistently scans, tracks and coaches users as they work out.

DealShare, an e-commerce platform for middle and lower income groups of consumers, is in late stage talks to raise $70-$100 million in Series D financing round led by Tiger Global, Entrackr reported. New York-based Tiger Global could value the three-year-old startup at over $400 million in the potential round. DealShare earlier raised $21 million in its Series C funding round.

Edtech startup upGrad has raised ₹70 crore from Unilazer Ventures, Entrackr reported, citing regulatory filings. Notably, Unilazer Ventures was founded by upGrad's Co-founder and Executive Chairman Ronnie Screwvala. The publication also reported that upGrad is in advanced stages to raise over $100 million from Temasek and International Finance Corporation.

Food delivery platform Zomato's holding entity has been converted from a private company to a public limited company ahead of its public listing, Entrackr reported, citing regulatory filings. The company has reportedly been renamed as Zomato Limited with effect from April 9, 2021. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Zomato could file for an initial public offering (IPO) by April.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said that the ride hailing platform could start delivering cannabis once it is legalised under US federal law. "When the road is clear for cannabis, when federal laws come into play, we're absolutely going to take a look at it," Khosrowshahi told CNBC. Right now, Uber will focus on food and alcohol deliveries, he added.

Siddharth Shah, Co-founder and CEO of PharmEasy-parent API Holdings, revealed that his father invested over 95% of their family's net worth in his venture. "My father owned a hospital in Mumbai, he mortgaged that and put entire money on the startup," Shah told Business Insider. "He exemplifies courage, risk appetite, never-say-die...He put his money where his mouth is," Shah added.

Walmart-owned e-commerce startup Flipkart is close to acquiring the online travel portal Cleartrip in a distress sale, the Economic Times reported, citing sources. The deal, expected to be a mix of cash and equity, is likely to value 15-year-old Cleartrip at $40 million, the report added. Cleartrip last raised funds in 2016 when it was reportedly valued at $300 million.

Billionaire Elon Musk-led space company SpaceX has raised about $1.16 billion in equity financing over the last two months, the company said in amended regulatory filing. Earlier in February, SpaceX reported that it had raised about $850 million at a reported valuation of $74 billion. SpaceX plans on landing its Starship rockets on Mars before 2030, Musk said last month.

China's central bank has ordered Jack Ma-owned Ant Group to become a financial holding company that will be regulated more like a bank. It ordered Ant to rectify its business in five areas, including eliminating unfair competition in its payments business. Earlier, China fined Ma's Alibaba $2.75 billion for violating anti-monopoly rules and abusing its dominant market position.

Co-working space startup WeWork India has raised ₹200 crore from investors, through a mix of debt and equity. The company announced its "most successful sales quarter yet", saying it sold 10,000 desks between January and March. It further said that it is aiming to become profitable this year. WeWork India is owned and operated by Embassy Group.

Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin successfully launched the New Shepard rocket on Wednesday. The uncrewed reusable spacecraft soared roughly 105-km above ground to suborbital space and returned for a parachute-assisted landing at the launch facility. An “astronaut rehearsal” was also carried out wherein Blue Origin personnel entered the capsule prior to the launch to go through pre-flight operations.

Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin plans to run an "astronaut rehearsal", in preparation for human space flight, during the launch of its New Shepard NS-15 flight on April 14. Blue Origin personnel will board the flight prior to launch, go through pre-flight operations and then return to the capsule once it has landed to rehearse hatch opening, and exiting the capsule.