Indian ride-hailing giant Ola is shutting down its operations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, six years after expanding to international markets as it shifts focus to shoring up its domestic business ahead of an initial public offering.
An Ola spokesperson told TechCrunch that the SoftBank-backed ride-hailing startup sees “immense opportunity for expansion in India,” where it operates in hundreds of cities and offers a range of transportation options, including two-wheelers.
“With this clear focus, we’ve reassessed our priorities and have decided to shut down our overseas ride-hailing business in its current form in the UK, Australia and New Zealand,” the spokesperson added.
The startup plans to file for an initial public offering after the public listing of Ola Electric, the leading electric two-wheeler brand in India that spun out of Ola.
Ola Electric is looking to raise $662 million from its IPO in India, according to paperwork it filed late last year.
The cross-border payments market is forecasted to reach over $250 trillion by 2027, according to the Bank of England.
So it’s no surprise that one of the trends among Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch of nearly 30 fintech startups is how to more easily move money globally.
Users get a U.S. bank account and access to low-cost local payment rails.
InfinityWhat it does: Cross-border banking for small businesses in IndiaWe heard from a lot of childhood friends during the past two days, so it was refreshing to see two siblings form a company.
Businesses in India account for $700 billion in cross-border trades per year, and Infinity makes 1% from those transactions.
The Asian technology and internet company YX International manufactures cellular networking equipment and provides SMS text message routing services.
YX International claims to send five million SMS text messages daily.
But codes sent over SMS text messages are not as secure as stronger forms of 2FA, such as an app-based code generator, since SMS text messages are prone to interception or exposure — or in this case, leaking from a database onto the open web.
TechCrunch found in the exposed database sets of internal email addresses and corresponding passwords associated with YX International, and alerted the company to the spilling database.
YX International would not say for how long the database was exposed.
Hyped AI startup Humane has announced plans for its first international market, inking a deal with South Korean carrier SK Telecom.
The announcement comes shortly after the San Francisco-based company revealed it was pushing back the shipping date of its Ai Pin device from March to mid-April in its domestic U.S. market.
The Ai Pin costs $699 up front, with a recurring $24 monthly subscription that gives the user a phone number and unlimited data to power as many AI-powered queries they like.
And just yesterday, SK Telecom announced a partnership with AI search engine Perplexity to bring its premium “Pro” plan to SK Telecom’s 32 million subscribers.
It’s also not yet clear when the Ai Pin might make it to market in South Korea, but given the delays currently surrounding its U.S. launch we maybe shouldn’t expect it too soon.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is launching a $1 billion venture capital (VC) fund of funds for international and regional venture capital funds, the sovereign wealth fund announced on Monday.
Similar to typical fund-of-funds structures, QIA’s initiative will invest indirectly through other VC funds but also make targeted co-investments with participating funds.
These funds, aiming to reduce reliance on oil, have increasingly poured money into tech startups in the region, hoping to nurture a thriving venture capital industry.
However, unlike Jada, the PIF’s $1 billion fund of funds and Saudi Venture Capital (SVC), which targets both venture capital and private equity funds, QIA’s fund of funds focuses solely on venture capital funds, marking the first of its kind in the region.
Historically, these wealth funds have backed foreign startups primarily in the U.S. and Asia, with limited ties to the Gulf region.
A coalition of international law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the U.K.’s National Crime Agency, have disrupted the operations of the prolific LockBit ransomware gang.
LockBit’s dark-web leak site — where the group publicly lists its victims and threatens to leak their stolen data unless a ransom demand is paid — was replaced with a law enforcement notice on Monday.
“This site is now under the control of the National Crime Agency of the UK, working in close cooperation with the FBI and the international law enforcement task force, ‘Operation Cronos,’ the message reads.
The group last year claimed responsibility for attacks against aerospace giant Boeing, chipmaker TSMC, and U.K. postal giant Royal Mail.
Monday’s takedown is the latest in a series of law enforcement actions targeting ransomware gangs.
International Battery Company, a startup developing lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles, has raised $35 million as it plans to bridge the demand-supply gap in the growing EV market in India.
International Battery Company touts to address these issues and fulfill both the current and projected demand of EV batteries in the country with its in-house Li-ion battery cells.
So, we want to participate in that journey in India,” Priyadarshi Panda, founder and CEO of International Battery Company, told TechCrunch in an interview.
“We are proactively preparing for the execution of building the gigafactory in India, which we will do with the additional fundraising.”Distinctive edgeNotably, International Battery Company is not alone in building Li-ion battery facilities in India.
“The [International Battery Company] founders, and the way they have approached so far is just very different from a lot of others.
EUR wallets also come with bank details, which means that Zing customers can receive SEPA payments to their EUR wallet directly.
When it comes to sending money, Zing supports dozens of currencies — more currencies than the ten I listed above.
When you convert GBP to EUR, Zing charges 0.6% in exchange fees.
Plus accounts can exchange up to £3,000 per month without exchange fees.
Premium, Metal and Ultra customers don’t pay exchange fees, but they pay £7.99 to £45 per month in subscription fees.
Canva has crafted a wildly successful business model on the idea that graphic design should be accessible to everyone.
Canva is in 190 countries and over 100 languages, and has signed on more than 170 million active users.
“We’ve concentrated a huge amount on having really international, localized, authentic content,” Adams said.
All of that authentic local experience has been crucial to our international growth.
And international growth has been the story of Canva.”Canva’s top market is the U.S., and Adams said that’s closely followed by Brazil and India.
Sophie is passionate about transcending borders, expanding opportunity, and connecting the world by practicing compassionate, visionary, and expert immigration law.
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Yes, the International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP) program remains available, but the time it takes for the U.S.
“The [IEP] program requires private venture capital firms to justify their track record and that they’ve made good investments,” says Newbold.
Let me describe how the IEP program works and dive into how to qualify for IEP and offer alternatives.
