Amazon has permanently banned over 600 Chinese brands across 3,000 different seller accounts, the company confirmed to The Verge. Amazon said the brands were banned across five months in a global crackdown for knowingly, repeatedly and significantly violating its policies. This comes after reports claimed that some companies offered gift cards to customers in exchange for positive reviews.

Elon Musk, the world's richest person with $198-billion fortune, has pulled his last remaining house, a Bay Area estate in US' California, off the market, Zillow records showed. The house was listed for sale in June for $37.5 million. Earlier, Musk had "decided to sell" the house as he was downsizing his life to work on sustainable energy for Earth.

Amazon clarified that for the year ended March 31, 2020, the legal fee it paid was ₹52 crore from the total legal and professional expenses of ₹1,967 crore. Amazon's clarification came after a report said Amazon allegedly paid ₹8,456 crore as legal expenses to maintain its presence in India during 2018-20. Amazon is reportedly investigating allegations of bribing Indian officials.

The government has said that the allegations that Amazon's legal representatives bribed officials in India will be investigated, NDTV reported. "There's zero tolerance towards corruption of any kind in the government," officials were quoted as saying. The officials also reportedly cited public accounts of some Amazon companies, which showed nearly ₹8,500 crore was spent as legal fee in two years.

The Finance Ministry has raised 12 objections against the proposed e-commerce rules drafted by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Reuters reported citing internal government memos. The Ministry of Finance described some of the proposals as "excessive" and "without economic rationale". The proposed rules were shared by the Consumer Affairs Ministry in June 2021, which included ending flash sales.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in response to being asked about whether Tesla's next Gigafactory will be in Russia, said, "Tesla has not yet decided on a fourth Gigafactory location." Earlier, a Russian news site, Arguments of the Week, reported that the first Tesla Russian plant will be built in Korolev. It said the report was backed by two government sources.

AI-powered cameras in Amazon's delivery vans are penalising drivers in the US for things such as looking at side mirrors, adjusting the radio and even getting cut off in traffic by someone else, Motherboard reported. This has been affecting drivers' bonuses, extra pay and prizes. Some drivers have resorted to covering up cameras with stickers to avoid getting unnecessary infractions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed Amazon's tax record issue when he met Jeff Bezos in New York, the UK government said. "The Prime Minister...hoped progress could be [made] in implementing the G7 agreement on tax," a spokesperson said. Earlier, Johnson had said he would tell Bezos that Amazon must pay its fair share of taxes in the UK.

Quick service restaurant brand Wow! Momo Foods has raised $15 million led by Tree Line Investment Management in Series C funding round at a valuation of over $166 million. The funding round also saw participation from IAN Fund and Lighthouse Funds. Launched in August 2008, the brand operates 350 outlets of Wow! Momo and over 50 outlets of Wow! China.

US-based software company Salesforce has made a "strategic investment" in fintech unicorn Razorpay. However, the size of the investment was not disclosed by either of the platforms. Earlier in April, Razorpay had raised $160 million in Series E funding round co-led by Sequoia India and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC at a $3-billion valuation.

Berkeley-based Ripple Foods, which makes yellow pea-based dairy products, on Tuesday said that it has raised $60 million in new funding. The Series E round was led by Rage Capital, Ajax Strategies and S2G Ventures. Founded in 2014 by Neil Renninger and Adam Lowry, the startup also produces plant-based protein shakes, half and half milk, and frozen desserts.

Amazon is expanding efforts to push the US government to legalise marijuana. It said that it is supporting the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act which aims to remove cannabis from federal list of controlled substances. "We also reinstated the employment eligibility for former employees and applicants who were previously terminated or deferred during...marijuana screenings," Amazon added.

FloBiz, a neobank startup that helps digitise small and medium businesses, has raised $31 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India and Think Investments. The Series B round saw participation from existing investors Elevation Capital and BEENEXT. High-profile entrepreneurs, including Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and CRED Founder Kunal Shah, also backed the two-year-old startup.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed that he met the all-civilian Inspiration4 space crew members to congratulate them in person in Florida. Earlier this month, the crew completed a three-day flight of the world's first all-civilian crew ever sent into orbit, and landed safely back on Earth. Inspiration4 crew was launched into space by Musk-owned SpaceX.

After Reuters reported that DiDi Global's Co-founder and President Jean Liu is planning to step down, the company said, "Rumours about management changes are untrue and unsubstantiated." "We strongly condemn those malicious and repeated rumours fabricated and distributed on certain media," it added. Liu expects China to eventually take control of DiDi and appoint new management, Reuters reported.

Mumbai-based AI videobot edtech startup Expertrons has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from CRED Founder Kunal Shah and Microsoft India's President Anant Maheshwari. The latest investment comes a month after Expertrons raised $2.3 million in its pre-Series A funding. Expertrons was founded by IIT Bombay alumni Jatin Solanki and Vivek Gupta in 2019.

France's Sorare, which has built a fantasy football platform based on NFTs, has raised $680 million led by SoftBank. The Series B round saw participation from Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian and Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué. Founded in 2018, Sorare is an online game where players buy officially licensed cards representing soccer players and build teams which play against each other.

Dream11 parent Sporta Technologies has posted a net profit of ₹180.77 crore for FY20, as compared to a net loss of ₹87.8 crore in the year-ago period, according to a filing sourced by Tofler. This makes Dream11 one of the rare consumer-focused startup unicorns in India that has recorded a profit. Dream11's operational revenue grew to ₹2,070.4 crore in FY20.

Indian traders' body CAIT has written to Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai saying the bill to ban online gambling or betting in the state will "hurt" the Indian startups. "The bill...makes all online games of skill, which charge a small...fee, illegal," CAIT wrote. It will only affect Indian companies and not foreign apps where "children spend thousands of rupees", it added.

Online marketplace for automobiles Droom is planning to raise up to ₹1,000 crore through an initial public offering, Mint reported. "They have picked up two domestic investment banks, JM Financial and ICICI Securities, to begin work on their IPO," a source told the publication. Founded in 2014 by Sandeep Aggarwal who also founded ShopClues, Droom achieved unicorn status this year.

Freshworks has raised its target price range for a US IPO from $28 to $32 per share to $32 to $34 per share. It is now targeting to raise up to $969 million, which could value the customer engagement software maker at nearly $9.6 billion. Freshworks is expected to list on the Nasdaq on September 22 under the symbol "FRSH".

Eat Just, a San Francisco-based startup which makes plant-based egg products, said on Monday that its GOOD Meat division has raised $97 million in new funding. The investment is part of a round announced in May that raised $170 million. This brings the round to $267 million, making it the largest ever for cultivated meat, the startup said.

China's crackdown on technology industry will turn attention of global investors seeking emerging-markets exposure to India, US firm March Capital Co-founder Sumant Mandal said. He added Indian startups offer strong growth prospects but without a similar risk from the government as in China. Mandal said China's market size is "unmatched", but the "risk-reward structure around China has changed".

India has moved two spots up and has been ranked 46th by the World Intellectual Property Organisation in the Global Innovation Index 2021 rankings. India has shot up from a rank of 81 in 2015 to 46 in 2021. Switzerland topped the league table, followed by Sweden, the US and the UK, while China stood at the 12th position.