Author: Liton Paul

Early life and background Hardik Pandya was born on 11 October 1993 in Surat, Gujarat. His father Himanshu Pandya ran a small car finance business in Surat which he shut down and shifted to Vadodara when Hardik was five; he did so in order to facilitate his sons with better cricket training facilities. He enrolled his two sons (Hardik and Krunal) into Kiran More’s cricket academy in Vadodara. Financially weak, the Pandya family lived in a rented apartment in Gorwa, with the brothers using a second-hand car to travel to the cricket ground. Hardik studied at the MK High School…

Born to a professor and the former director at the National Institute of Technology, Rahul developed a keen interest in cricket from an early age. His parents spotted his desire and arranged for formal training to help him achieve his potential. At 18, he moved to Bangalore to pursue his cricket career. Rahul’s Start as a Cricketer Rahul started playing first-class cricket for Karnataka in the 2010-11 season. The same year he represented India in the ICC Under 19 World cup. He started his IPL career in 2013 with Royal Challengers Bangalore. His domestic performance got him a call up…

B2B wealth-tech platform BeyondIRR said on Friday that it has secured seed funding from Zerodha’s venture capital arm Rainmatter and Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar. The company and investors did not disclose the funding amount. BeyondIRR said that it plans to use the funds to expand its team and build a robust tech platform. Parag Kasliwal, Co-founder and CEO of BeyondIRR, said, “We are thrilled to have garnered the support that we needed to build BeyondIRR from Rainmatter and Sujeet. Our tech-enabled and insight-driven platform would enable investment specialists to have engaging conversations with their clients on markets, investment products and…

Fintech unicorn Bolt is buying crypto startup, Wyre, for $1.5 billion. The cash-and-stock deal for Wyre, founded in 2013, adds crypto payment capabilities to Bolt’s e-commerce checkout technology. Wyre has raised $29.1 million from venture investors, including a raise in January 2021 led by blockchain investor Stellar Development Foundation. San Francisco-based Bolt has raised a total of $1 billion from private investors, including $355 million most recently as part of its Series E raise. The company is valued at an estimated $11 billion, according to The Crunchbase Unicorn Board. The Wyre acquisition is expected to close in the third or…

Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant on Friday said seven schools in the city have received bomb threat through e-mail and police teams are at the spot conducting checks. “Our local police are checking about it,” Mr Pant said. There is a drill and the bomb squads have gone there for checking, he added. All children from seven schools were immediately evacuated and taken to safer places. “Based on the email, our teams are checking there at the spot…when more information comes, it will be shared with you (media),” the Commissioner said. DCP (East Zone) Bheemashankar Guled said that police…

India is believed to have conveyed to the United States that the alternatives to Russian weapons were too expensive, news agency Bloomberg reported. The report quoting people aware of India’s recent exchanges with the US following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said India informed US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the drawbacks of alternatives to Russian weapons. India informed Nuland that the alternatives to Russian weapons were too expensive, the report said. In addition, Russian companies are more willing to set up joint ventures with Indian companies that include some technology transfer, something US defense firms are reluctant to…

Bengaluru-based robotics startup CynLr has raised $4.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Speciale Invest and growX Ventures. The round also saw participation from investors including Anicut Capital, Infoedge, Java Capital, Venture Catalysts and Arali Ventures. Angel investors including Srivats Ram (MD, Wheels India), Shriram Vijayaraghavan (president, Wheels India), Arvind Vasu (former Asia Head, ABB Technology Ventures), Nalin Advani (former CEO, Asia Pacific, GreyOrange Robotics) and Jayaram Pillai (former MD – India, Russia, Arabia, NI). With the current round, CynLr claims to have raised a  total funding of $5.25 Mn to date. The robotics startup plans to enter…

Joe Biden’s top economic adviser said the administration has warned India against aligning itself with Russia, and that U.S. officials have been “disappointed” with some of New Delhi’s reaction to the Ukraine invasion. “There are certainly areas where we have been disappointed by both China and India’s decisions, in the context of the invasion,” the director of the White House National Economic Council, Brian Deese, told reporters at a breakfast on Wednesday hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. The U.S. has told India that the consequences of a “more explicit strategic alignment” with Moscow would be “significant and long-term,” he…

Over 3,000 people, including 1,000 children, have been affected as flood hits Assam Dibrugarh district on Wednesday. This was informed by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA). The incident of flood has been reported from the Chabua revenue circle in Assam’s Dibrugarh district. This was informed by the Chief executive officer of the ASDMA GD Tripathi. Tripathi said that the district does not currently have an alert for high flooding. However, heavy rainfall is predicted in Dibrugarh, Assam. “All emergency services in the state have been kept on the highest level of alertness,” he said. A total of 3,857 people…

The United States is ready to support India in diversifying its energy imports, the White House said on Wednesday, reiterating its desire that New Delhi does not purchase oil from Russia amid American sanctions on Moscow for invading Ukraine. “We do not think India should accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities even as, obviously, those decisions are made by individual countries,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference. “And (the US is) also making clear that we stand ready to support India as in any efforts to diversify its imports…