US rapper Snoop Dogg has invested in Swedish online payments startup Klarna, which was last valued at $2.5 billion. Klarna, known for its "Smoooth Payments" slogan, has dubbed the 47-year-old artist as "Smoooth Dogg" as part of an ad campaign. Snoop Dogg's venture firm Casa Verde Capital has previously invested mainly in cannabis industry companies.

Zomato has apologised to a Maharashtra man after he found "plastic fibre" in the paneer dishes that he had ordered from its app. "My daughter told me that the paneer was very hard...When I tasted it, I found fibre," the man said. Zomato said the restaurant has been "suspended", adding, "We are deeply committed to food safety, quality and hygiene."

A California court has granted permission to subpoena musicians Grimes and Azealia Banks in the ongoing lawsuit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk by some shareholders. Grimes was in a relationship with Musk while Banks claimed she was staying at his place when the "funding secured" tweet was posted. The SEC earlier alleged Musk had posted the tweet to impress Grimes.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has launched Tokyo-based startup Star-ALE's mini-satellite aimed to deliver the world's first artificial meteor shower. The satellite carries 400 tiny balls, which the startup says will be enough for 20-30 events, that will glow as they rush down the atmosphere on being released. ALE plans to deliver its first show in Hiroshima in early 2020.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Friday e-mailed employees the company would cut its 45,000-strong workforce by around 7%. Musk wrote the firm faces a "very difficult" road ahead, making its electric cars, batteries and solar products cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Musk added Tesla's 4% profit in 2018 third quarter was "small" but the "first meaningful profit in its 15-year history".

Former Google executive Eisar Lipkovitz has joined US-based ride-hailing startup Lyft as Executive Vice President of Engineering to lead a team of over 1,000 engineers. "The work Lyft is doing intersects with my passion...couldn't be more excited to join", Lipkovitz said. He had led the team behind Google's display, video and apps advertising products and worked on Google Search's infrastructure.

Pokémon Go creator Niantic has finalised a Series C funding round of $245 million at a valuation of nearly $4 billion. The round was led by IVP and saw participation from aXiomatic Gaming, Battery Ventures, Causeway Media Partners, CRV and Samsung Ventures. Founded in 2010, Alphabet spin-off Niantic has raised around $470 million till date.

Amazon Robotics has made an electronic 'Robotic Tech Vest' that alerts warehouse robots to the location of workers wearing it, to prevent accidents. The vest has in-built sensors that let robots detect human workers in the facility and change paths to avoid collisions. In December 2018, 24 Amazon workers were hospitalised after a robot punctured a can of bear repellant.

Former Facebook employee Serkan Piantino's artificial intelligence (AI) platform Spell has raised $15 million in its Series A round of funding. The funding round was led by investors Eclipse Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures. Founded in 2017 by Piantino along with Trey Lawrence, Spell is a collaborative platform which lets anyone run AI-based experiments.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla's supermarket chain 'More' by Amazon and private equity fund Samara Capital. CCI has done due diligence from an impact-on-competition perspective and Amazon and Samara will have to modify the deal, made last September for around ₹4,200 crore, to comply with revised FDI norms, as per reports.

Mumbai-based Drums Food International, the parent company of Greek yoghurt brand Epigamia, has raised around ₹182 crore in a Series C round of funding. The round was led by Belgium-based consumer-focused investment firm Verlinvest and New York City-based Danone Manifesto Ventures. Founded in 2015, Epigamia has expanded its portfolio to include artisanal curd, snack pack and mishti doi.

Pune-based digital lending platform LoanTap has raised $8 million (around ₹57 crore) in its fifth fundraising round led by Bengaluru-based early-stage venture capital fund 3one4 Capital. The round saw participation from existing investors ShunWei Capital, Kae Capital, India Quotient, Tuscan Ventures and angel investor Ashish Goenka. LoanTap was founded in 2016 by Vikas Kumar and Satyam Kumar.

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has sought approval from the Competition Commission of India to invest in logistics startup Delhivery through its planned $100-billion Vision fund. It aims to pick up a 37.87% stake in Delhivery, regulatory filings revealed. This comes after previous reports said Delhivery could turn into a billion-dollar startup with around $450-million investment from SoftBank.

China's top market regulator has revealed Tesla will recall more than 14,000 Model S cars over faulty airbags made by Japan-based firm Takata. The move is part of an industry-wide recall of reportedly around 37 million vehicles containing the airbags. The defective airbags use a propellant that might rupture the airbag and cause serious injuries or even deaths.

Gurugram-based bus service startup Shuttl has raised around ₹10 crore debt fund from venture debt provider Trifecta Capital. The Amazon-backed startup had raised $1 million (around ₹7 crore) from Trifecta Capital in October 2018. Founded in 2015 by Amit Singh and Deepanshu Malviya, Shuttl offers intra-city transport powered by enhanced technology such as sound authentication system.

The CBDT has reportedly decided to relieve past notices issued to startups and investors over the 'Angel Tax'. Field officials will be asked not to press for payment until the case has been decided at the first stage of appeal, the report further claimed. A 30% 'Angel Tax' is levied on startup investments above "fair market value" by external investors.

Edtech startup Byju's has acquired US-based startup Osmo, that develops apps for kids, for over ₹850 crore ($120 million). Byju's intends to use Osmo's physical-to-digital technology and content to expand to a younger age group of kids between 3-8 years of age. Founded in 2013 by former Google employees Pramod Sharma and Jerome Scholler, Osmo creates reflective AI games.

Gurugram-based budget hospitality startup OYO Rooms is facing heavy criticism over its plans to share guest data with the government. This feature is already in effect in some cities which include Jaipur and states including West Bengal. Some users on social media have reportedly said they would 'think twice' before staying at OYO Rooms facilities due to privacy concerns.

Gurugram-based hotel startup OYO's parent Oravel Stays has reportedly been issued notices by the Income Tax Department over filing inaccurate income details for financial year 2016-17. The report said the case is linked to non-deduction of TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) on payments made by the company. OYO had also reported losses exceeding ₹400 crore in its returns for FY17.

Bengaluru-based ride-hailing startup Ola has said it aims to launch the postpaid billing feature, 'Ola Money Postpaid', for all its users over "the coming months". The feature presently allows accumulation of bills for up to 15 days, which would be increased to 30 days. A trial with 10% of users witnessed a 90% repeat rate, Ola revealed.

Bengaluru-based digital payments and e-commerce platform Instamojo has raised about ₹50 crore ($7 million) in a Series B funding round. Investors including Japanese payments firm AnyPay, Kalaari Capital, BEENEXT and Japan's Gunosy Capital participated in the round. Founded in 2012, Instamojo provides payments solutions, business tools, and connections to micro, small and medium enterprises.

Silicon Valley-based cloud data management startup Rubrik, led by Indian origin co-founders, has raised $261 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion in Series E funding round. New investor Bain Capital Ventures and existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners and IVP participated in the round. Bipul Sinha, Arvind Nithrakashyap, Arvind Jain and Soham Mazumdar founded Rubrik in 2014.

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is reportedly set to invest $400 million to acquire a 40% stake in Pune-based baby products startup FirstCry at a valuation of around $600-700 million. This comes after previous reports claimed that FirstCry may raise at least $150 million at an $800-900 million valuation from SoftBank. FirstCry was founded in 2010 by Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha.

Former Quikr executives' Mumbai-based startup Turtlemint has raised about ₹177 crore in a Series B funding round led by investor Sequoia India. Existing investors Blume Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners also participated in the funding round. Founded by Anand Prabhudesai, Dhirendra Mahyavanshi and Kunal Shah, Turtlemint is an insurance marketplace that offers car and life insurance among others.

Flipkart's Singapore-based parent entity, controlled by Walmart, has invested ₹1,431 crore in its India wholesale arm, Flipkart India Private Limited. The wholesale arm had received ₹2,190 crore on December 4, 2018, as per regulatory filings. The investment will reportedly be the third large fund infusion into Flipkart, after Walmart's acquisition deal and investments into the marketplace arm.