Eruditus: India's 4th edtech unicorn🦄
US bill to rein in Apple’s, Google’s app stores, DoorDash in talks to buy Instacart, and more.
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Eruditus raises $650 Mn, valuation quadruples to $3.2 Bn🤯
Mumbai-based Eruditus, which works with top universities globally to offer more than 100 executive-level courses to students in over 80 nations, said on Thursday it has raised $650 million in a new financing round led by Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The funding pushes the company into the ranks of Indian startup unicorns.
Eruditus’ fundraising is one of the biggest in India’s edtech sector. It is also the second bet by SoftBank in this space, after Unacademy last year.
To put things into perspective, the company was valued at $800 million before this fundraiser. It is now a unicorn thrice over.
India, which is the world’s second-largest internet market, has produced over 23 unicorns this year (Eruditus is the 23rd), up from 11 last year and 6 in 2019.
US bill seeks to rein in Apple’s, Google’s app stores🚫
A bipartisan trio of senators introduced a bill that would rein in app stores of companies they said exert too much market control, including Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Amy Klobuchar, both Democrats, teamed up with Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn to sponsor the bill, which would bar big app stores from requiring app providers to use their payment system. It would also prohibit them from punishing apps that offer different prices or conditions through another app store or payment system.
The bill won praise from Spotify, Epic Games, and Tile, which have legal disputes with Apple and Google.
Hot Shorts ⚡
VerSe Innovation, the parent company of Dailyhunt, an online news aggregator, and Josh, a short-video platform, has raised $450 million in a funding round.
Heads Up For Tails, a pet care company has raised $37 million (about 277 crores). Heads Up For Tails, which is a retailer of pet products, intends to use this financing to expand its distribution base across India.
Miko, which makes companion robots for children, has raised $28 million for product development and strengthening global alliances.
DoorDash in talks to buy Instacart for $40-$50 Billion🚚
US food delivery firm DoorDash Inc. has held talks over the past two months to buy grocery delivery company Instacart for a likely price of between $40 billion and $50 billion.
Instacart, which plans to list in the next few months, initiated the deal talks after discussions on a sales partnership with Uber Eats fell through.
The acquisition would bring together a well-known restaurant delivery platform and a leading grocery delivery service.
Tweet of the day🐥
✅ Crypto market hits $2 trillion again after three months as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins jump.⬆
✅ Twitter Introduces New, Less-Cluttered Design Across Platform and Rolls Out Chirp Font.🐥
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive.
To breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
- Marcus Aurelius
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