Truecaller gets USD 60 million funding, plans aggressive push in India

The company will use the Series C round of financing to fuel product development, hire new talent and expand the company's global footprint, including in its largest market India.

The investors include Atomico, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Sequoia Capital, Jerry Murdock (co-founder of Insight Venture Partners) and Stefan Lennhammer.

"We have over 200,000 new users joining daily and almost half of this are from India. About 40 million of our userbase is from India. The number of smartphone users is growing strongly here," TrueCaller chief executive officer and co-founder Alan Mamedi told.

He added that looking at the importance of the Indian market, the company had set up an office here last year.

"We will add 3-5 people more at the office in Gurgaon," he said.

The Stockholm-based firm has more than 85 million users who utilise the app to search contact numbers, block spam and identify incoming calls to their mobile phones.

"We will use the funds to also expand our platform and work on enhancing the product to ensure the product works well even in areas with bad or slow network," he said.

In February, Truecaller had received USD 18.8 million in funding, led by Sequoia Capital, bringing the total investment in the company to more than USD 80 million.

As part of the current round, John Doerr (partner at KPCB), Mattias Ljungman (managing partner at Atomico) and investor Jerry Murdock will join Truecaller's board.

Atomico founder and Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom will also join the board as a special adviser.

Talking about other growing markets, Mamedi said it is seeing tremendous growth in other emerging markets like the Middle East, Brazil and Africa as well.

He said there has been a significant increase in name and number searches on its platform with monthly searches nearly doubling from about 800 million six months ago to more than 1.5 billion currently.

Source:  Latest News from Business News

Dhoni sole Indian on Forbes' most valuable athlete brand list

Dhoni is ranked fifth with a brand value of USD20 million in 2014, slightly down from USD21 million last year.

Forbes said Dhoni signed bat sponsorship deals with Spartan Sports and Amity University in late 2013, reportedly worth a combined USD4 million annually, up from the USD1 million Reebok was paying previously.

Forbes's Most Valuable Athlete Brands in Sports lists 10 athletes whose endorsement income exceeded the endorsement income earned by their peers by the largest amount during the past year.

James tops the list with a brand value of USD37 million in 2014.

The NBA's biggest marketing star pulled in a total of USD53 million from endorsers like Nike, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Upper Deck.

The publication said for the first time since 2007, the top athlete brand is not Woods but James, who will be rejoining the Cleveland Cavaliers after fours season and two National Basketball Association (NBA) titles with the Miami Heat.

James pulled in USD53 million off the court during the past year and his brand is worth USD37 million, which is the amount his endorsement and non-basketball earnings exceeded the average top 10 off the court earners in the NBA.

Woods is ranked second and has a 2014 brand value of USD36 million.

Woods' earnings took a hit after Electronic Arts announced in 2013 that it would end its relationship with him and his eponymous video game after 14 versions.

On the third spot is Federer, whose brand value in 2014 is USD32 million.

The list also includes Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt (6), Portugal and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo (7), Argentine professional footballer Lionel Messi (9) and Nadal on the 10 position.

The list is part of Forbes Fab 40, which consists of the 10 most valuable sports brands in businesses, events, teams and athletes and quantifies the earning power of each brand relative to its competitors.

The most valuable sports business brand is Nike, worth usd19 billion. Sporting event brands are based on revenue-per-event-day.

The top event brand is the Super Bowl, which last season generated an estimated USD518 million in revenue from broadcasting, tickets, the halftime show, concessions and licensing.

The Super Bowl has been the most valuable sporting event brand in each of the six Fab 40 rankings we have compiled since 2007, largely due the record television ratings and advertising rate the game generates, Forbes said.

Professional baseball team New York Yankees is the most valuable team brand in sports, worth USD521 million.d list

Source: Latest News

1st ODI: Crisis-hit West Indies thrash India by 124 runs

The Caribbeans, who were on the verge of boycotting the ODI, rode on Marlon Samuels' career-best equalling 126 not out to post 321 for six and then shot out the Indians for 197 in 41 overs in a rather one-sided contest at the Nehru Stadium.
   
India paid the price for some mediocre bowling and shoddy batting as they were outplayed by the crisis-hit visiting team in all departments of the game to suffer a heavy defeat.
   
Indian bowlers gave away too many runs at the second part of West Indies innings to allow the visitors pile up a big total after being put into bat and then the much-vaunted home batsmen, except for Shikhar Dhawan (68), failed to fire on a batting pitch.
   
Most of Indian batsmen were out on poor shot selection and they could not stitch any substantial partnership in the face of some tight bowling by the visiting bowlers, the highest being the 49 in 8.4 overs for the opening wicket between Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane (24). Dhawan's scratchy 68 came from 92 balls with the help of nine fours.

SCORECARD: INDIA VS WEST INDIES

Ravindra Jadeja (33 not out) was the other Indian batsman who scored more than 20 runs.
   
West Indies, even without their mystery spinner Sunil Narine, could tie down the top Indian batsmen who failed to get the runs when required.
   
Chasing a huge target of 322 for a win, India could not get to a good start as Rahane was run out in a bizarre mixed-up in the ninth over with just 49 on board.
   
Rahane tapped the length ball off Ravi Rampaul on the pads between short fine leg and square leg and after taking the first run quickly, he wanted a second and continued to run hard. But, Dhawan went back after taking a step and both found themselves at the keeper's end and Rahane had to depart for the dressing room.

Virat Kohli (2) continued his struggle for form and even on a batting pitch, he could not do much and got dismissed the next over after facing just five balls. Kohli defended a Jerome Taylor delivery which held its line on the backfoot with an angled bat and the outside edge flew to Sammy at wide slip for a low catch.
   
Ambati Rayudu (13) looked like he would settle down for a partnership with Dhawan but lasted just six overs before he was out in the 16th over.
   
India were in a spot of bother when Rayudu was out at 82 for three but the home side's chances of a win was dealt a blow after in-form Suresh Raina was dismissed for a duck three balls later off the bowling of Dwayne Bravo.
   
Raina, who hit a match-winning unbeaten century for Chennai Super Kings in Champions League Twenty20 final a few days ago, got an inside edge which knocked off his bails.
   
India were still in a chance till captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was at the crease but it was not the day for the 'Master Finisher' as he was bowled by Darren Sammy for an uncharacteristic eight runs from 21 balls.
   
Runs dried up in the middle overs with the West Indies bolwers spot on in their line and length and propped up by some good fielding. By the time Dhoni was out in the 26th over, the asking rate had gone up to over eight with half of the batting line up cooling their heels at the dressing room.
   
Dhawan kept one end intact before he was out in the 29th over but after departed it was as good as over for India. Jadeja stretched the end of the match along with the lower order as the Indians batted for the sake of formalities only.
   
For West Indies, Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Marlon Samuels grabbed two wickets apiece while Jerome Taylor, Andre Russell and Darren Sammy took a wicket each.

The squads:

West Indies: Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samuels, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy (Captain), Andre Russell, Sulieman Benn, Ravi Rampaul, Jerome Taylor

India: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma.

Source:Latest News from Sports News

Shah Rukh Khan thanks wife on her birthday

The 48-year-old actor celebrated his wife's birthday last night with close friends which included Karisma Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Farah Khan, Zoya Akhtar among others.
  
"Happy Birthday to my wife Gauri. May you smile today, as much as you have made the family smile. Love and Happiness always," SRK posted on twitter.
  
The 'Chennai Express' star has been married to Gauri for almost 23 years now and are parents to three children- Aryan, Suhana and AbRam.

Source:Latest news from Entertainment News

Deepika Padukone floored by her 'oldest' fan

Zee TV’s multi-city tour in search of happy souls who dance direct dil se -- on "Dil Se Naachein Indiawaale" -- recently started with a round of Mumbai auditions that witnessed spirited performances from contestants across all age groups and diverse backgrounds.

Amongst many dance enthusiasts, The Bold & The Beautiful -- a group of eight senior citizens from a laughter club here left the show’s panelists surprised with their dance. While they received a standing ovation from all the celebrity panelists and live audience, one of the senior most members of the group - Vinod, floored Deepika as he revealed that it has been his wish to dance with the actress since his "childhood", read a statement.

He said: “Meri umar hai pachpan, par mujh mein abhi bhi hai bachpan” (My age is 55, but I am a child at heart).

Deepika agreed to dance with him and said that it was an honour for her to perform with him. She was blown away by Vinod’s energy levels when they shook a leg together on one of Deepika’s favourite songs “Balam pichkari”.

Source:Latest news from Entertainment News

World's oldest rock art discovered in Indonesia

The team's discovery of cave art on the island of Sulawesi, estimated to be about 40,000 years old, challenges the idea that the oldest artwork had originated in Spain and France, Xinhua reported.

An Australian geochemist from Griffith University said he was stunned when he tested the samples from the cave and realized how old the art was.

The team's study dates the earliest image, a hand stencil, to be at least 39,900 years old, 900 years prior to the world's oldest known cave painting, a red disc in Spain.

The series of Indonesian images discovered also includes pig-like animals painted more than 35,400 years ago, possibly older than the earliest known figurative rock art in western Europe a painted rhinoceros in France, estimated to be between 35,300 and 38,800 years old.

The report said the sheer volume of ancient cave art in Europe had pointed to the theory that the human capacity for abstract thinking originated there, but the new discovery makes the case that this development was occurring in Asia at the same time.

Source:Latest News from Lifestyle News

How binge drinking harms the liver

"Our research shows that epigenetic modifications in histone (protein) structures occur within the liver as a result of heavy binge drinking," explained lead researcher Shivendra Shukla, Margaret Proctor Mulligan professor at the University of Missouri's School of Medicine.

Epigenetic alterations are changes in genes that are not caused by changes in the DNA sequence or genetic code. Histones are proteins that act like a spool to compact and organise the thread-like DNA strands which wrap around them. Histones work to protect the DNA strand and help it function correctly.

Although histone modification does occur naturally, Shukla and his team found that binge drinking results in unnatural modifications to histones. In turn, these changes adversely affect how a person's genetic code is interpreted and how it is regulated.

"Every response in the body is due to alterations in proteins. Binge drinking is an environmental trigger that negatively affects histones by altering the correct binding of DNA," Shukla informed.

"This initially causes inflammation and damage to the cells as they form, but it is also eventually the cause of more serious diseases such as cirrhosis and cancer," he maintained.

Binge drinking can create an inflammatory response in the liver that is like a cluster bomb, sending out various damaging signals to other organ systems in the body.

"If those organs are working at a lower level of function, then a whole host of physiological processes are affected as a consequence of binge drinking," Shukla noted.

The paper appeared in Hepatology International, the journal of the Asian Pacific Association for the study of the liver.

Source:Latest News from Lifestyle News

Facebook may launch app for sharing posts anonymously

The standalone app may also have health-focused features to connect users suffering from the same illnesses to create a kind of support network, a US daily reported.

According to the report, the app will allow people to use pseudonyms so they can have discussions about topics "which they may not be comfortable connecting to their real names".

Whether the standalone app will connect to Facebook's main page and users' account is still not clear.

Earlier this year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that releasing new standalone apps would be a top priority for the social networking site.

Facebook has already launched an ephemeral messaging app called Slingshot. The Facebook Messenger app has already been downloaded over 500 million times on Android-based devices.

Facebook-owned Instagram has also released a standalone private messaging app called Bolt.

Source: Latest News

HTC launches waterproof selfie camera

The USD 199 "Re Camera" is slim and tube-shaped camera and can be clipped to a backpack, mounted on a bicycle or taken underwater, a US daily reported.

The camera weighs about 2.5 ounces, similar to that of an extra-large egg. HTC hopes the growing selfie trend tendency will help it engineer a turnaround.

Last year, HTC fell out of the world's top 10 smartphone brands amid branding weakness and strong competition from Samsung.

According to chief financial officer Chialin Chang, the new product will help it return to sales growth in coming quarters. HTC's sales have fallen for the past 12 quarters.

Source: Latest News

Live Blog: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg addresses Internet.org summit

Speech over.

2:31 PM : More than 65% of FB users worldwide  use FB in language other than English

2:31 PM : 60% in Indian who are not connected are unclear on utility of being connected

2:31 PM : Why is the Internet useful to them

2:31 PM : In July to launch the Internet.org app

2:31 PM : Design for lower data costs

2:31 PM : Breaks down social barriers

2:31 PM : 911 for the Internet.  Free Access for basic services

2:31 PM : Airtel was the first operator in Zambia

2:31 PM : More than 80percent of content in 10 languages

2:31 PM : Last barrier to connectivity, to ensure more local language content

2:31 PM : More local language content.

2:31 PM : Most services even in india mostly in English

2:31 PM : Knock down the barriers to connectivity

2:31 PM : Speech over.  We are over and out ;)

2:31 PM : Innovation challenge - apps in local languages.   Provide funding to top apps in different categories

2:31 PM : Connecting the world with Internet.org

2:27 PM : More than 80percent of content in 10 languages

2:27 PM : Most services even in India mostly in English

2:28 PM : More than 65% of FB users worldwide  use FB in language other than English

2:28 PM : 65percent of people use fb in languages other than English

2:26 PM : More local language content.

2:26 PM: Last barrier to connectivity, to ensure more local language content

2:20 PM : 3-social

2:21 PM : Why is the Internet useful to them

2:21 PM : 60% in Indian who are not connected are unclear on utility of being connected

2:22 PM : 911 for the Internet.  Free Access for basic services

2:23 PM  : Breaks down social barriers

2:23 PM : Airtel was the first operator in Zambia

2:24 PM : In July to launch the Internet.org app

2:24 PM : Design for lower data costs

2:21 PM : Why is the Internet useful to them

2:21 PM: 60% in Indian who are not connected are unclear on utility of being connected

2:20 PM: Three challenges: Infrastructure Affordability Social Barriers (lack of relevant local language content)

2:20 PM : 3-social

2:19 PM : Or affordability

2:15 PM : Only 1/3 have access to the Internet.   World stat

2:15 PM : 1/3'rd if world population has access to net

2:14 PM : Benefits of Internet shared across everyone

2:14 PM : Bring india to the world and the world to india.  With the Internet

2:14 PM : Long way to go

2:13 PM : Free connectivity to basic services

2:12 PM : When people are connected..  We can do amazing things.   Mark

2:12 PM: Technology has to serve the whole society

After Sheryl Sandberg, its now the turn of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg visiting India, the second biggest market for the social networking giant.

Mark Zuckerberg is visiting the country to address the first Internet.org summit to be held on October 9-10 in Delhi.

Zuckerberg is the third high profile visit by a CEO after Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Micrsoft’s Satya Nadella.

'Internet.Org' aims to make Internet access affordable for people across the globe.

Focussed on enabling the next five billion people without Internet access to come online, the founding members of the project include Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung.

The partners are collaborating on developing lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and deploying Internet access in under-served communities.


The Internet.org summit will bring together experts, officials and industry leaders to focus on ways to deliver more Internet services for people in languages other than English.


In July, Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sandberg visited India. She had met Modi, who has effectively used social networking during his election campaign and later even in governance.


When Modi met Sandberg, he had suggested the use of Facebook for improving governance, better interaction between people and the government, and to attract more tourists to India.


India is an important market for the social networking company. With over one billion users globally, the company gets over 100 million users from India.

Many of these users log onto the website from their mobile devices.

According to research firm eMarketer, the number of users in India will touch 108.9 million by the end of the year as compared to 77.8 million in 2013.

Source:Latest News from India News

Previous governments didn't help MP to shed 'BIMARU' tag: PM Modi

"Despite previous governments not helping it to come out of the BIMARU states list, Madhya Pradesh, under the leadership of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has progressed at a rapid pace and shown a direction to the country," Modi said while addressing party workers at the airport here.

'BIMARU', which means sick, was an acronym formed in the 80s from the initial letters of the names of four states - Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

Modi arrived here on his first official visit after becoming the Prime Minister to inaugurate the state government's ambitious Global Investors Summit (GIS).

He was accorded a warm welcome at the airport by Chief Minister Chouhan, state BJP unit president Nandkumar Singh Chouhan and local MLAs.

In his brief address, Modi recalled the party's journey from Jansangh to BJP and said that since beginning the party's aim was to ensure progress of Dalits and poor people.

"We have to strive hard to ensure that India becomes world guru as people have given us a big mandate. We are more duty bound to ensure the country's progresses at a rapid pace," the 64-year-old senior BJP leader said.

Praising Madhya Pradesh's farmers, he said they have made a tremendous progress by ensuring that the state remains number two position in wheat production, while earlier it was dependent on others for its requirement.

On the occasion, he assured Chouhan that the Centre will give full-fledged support to Madhya Pradesh in implementing development schemes.

Addressing the party workers, Chouhan praised Modi's leadership and said that after he became Prime Minister, the country's self-confidence level has increased manifold with stocks and share markets showing an upward trend.

Praising Modi for his historic US trip, he said it was like Swami Vivekanand's Chicago visit.

Source:Latest News from India News

LED bulb worth Rs 10 to be sold by Power Ministry

"The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) together with the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which is a joint venture of four central public sector undertakings in the power sector, have worked with electricity distribution companies (discoms) to develop a business model under which EESL procures LED bulbs in bulk and sells them to households at Rs.10," an official release here said.

"The discoms then repay EESL, over a period of five to eight years from the savings that accrue due to use of this energy efficient lighting technology," it added. Under an MoU between EESL and the Andhra Pradesh government, EESL last week completed the procurement of two million LEDs, the statement said.

"Almost the entire lighting industry participated in the bid and the lowest quoted price was Rs.204 per LED bulb," it added. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on October 2 launched the Energy Conservation Mission's Demand Side Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) in the state, which promotes replacement of incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs.

The DELP is covering 3.7 million households, who will be provided with two high quality LED bulbs each at a subsidized price of Rs 10. The programme started in Guntur, to be followed by Anantapur, West Godavari and Srikakulam districts.

The union power ministry has already decided that all below-poverty line households at the time of electrification under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyuthikaran Yojana (RGGVY) would be provided LED technology.

LEDs are emerging as the most energy-efficient source of lighting as they use one-tenth of the energy of a normal incandescent bulb and half as much energy as a Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) to produce the same amount of light.

The first LED lamp made in India, in 2010, was sold for Rs.1,200, the ministry said. EESL has already completed a number of projects to retrofit existing streetlights to LED streetlights as well as a 750,000 LED bulb replacement project for households in Puducherry, the statement said.

"Increase in domestic demand would further reduce cost of LED bulbs with larger production capacities getting created in India," it said.All lighting manufacturers have established domestic manufacturing facilities for LED-based lighting system, and have started training programmes for engineers and demonstration programmes in various buildings to showcase this technology, it added.

During the Durga Puja celebrations last week, a neighbourhood association in south Kolkata had erected a puja pandal that contained, and was illuminated by, 16,000 LED bulbs manufactured by a reputed multinational in India.

Source:Latest News from India News

Tougher screening at US airports for people from Ebola areas

The five airports are John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, Washington Dulles International Airport outside Washington, DC, O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

"By far the most effective screening measure that is in place is not any screening that takes place here in US, it's the screening that takes place in these three countries in West Africa where they're experiencing this Ebola outbreak," he said.

"Preventing individuals who are already exhibiting symptoms of Ebola from boarding a plane in the first place is the most effective measure that will counter and has countered the spread of Ebola," the Press Secretary said adding that about 150 passengers that originated or have recently travelled to those three countries are entering US at those five airports every day.

"This is an additional layer of screening that can be targeted to that small population in a way that will enhance security, but also minimise disruption to the broader travelling public," he noted.

US officials have been heavily involved with advising those African countries in the protocols that they have put in place to screen passengers seeking to board planes, he said.

US has been involved in providing supplies to the individuals who are responsible for performing those screening measures, he added.

"We have been for a number of weeks, in addition to doing that screening in West Africa prior to departure, there were already screening measures in place here in US to evaluate the traffic of individuals who are entering the country.

"Because of those screening measures, because of our medical infrastructure that we have in place, we think that the risk of an outbreak here in US is exceedingly low, and we do believe that the screening measures that we put in place have been effective in protecting the American public.

"In this case, after some thought and evaluation of the systems that we do have in place, our security professionals determined that there were additional steps that we could take to further strengthen the safety of the American public without causing a significant disruption to the broader traveling public," Earnest said.

Source: Latest News from World News

Modi has a practical approach to trade, investment: Bhagwati

Highly appreciative of the administrative measures taken by the new Indian government, Bhagwati believes that Modi would be able to address problems of large-scale unemployment by promoting labour-intensive investments.

In an interview to Bloomberg News TV, the Columbia University professor, however, said that because of BJP's opposition to multi-brand retail it is unlikely that Wal-Mart would be visible in India soon.

"The new Prime Minister, his DNA is that of the Gujarat state, which is also where I come from. Which is a practical approach to trade and investment. So he's loosened up trade a great deal in his own home state and on the direct investment, on equity investment, he's also been, we've had one-stop shopping actually within a week he would clear investments," Bhagwati said.

"Now he is scaling it up at the national level," he said.

When asked about Wal-Mart's India presence, Bhagwati said, "I think it will happen soon." "But it won't happen right away because the Prime Minister's party is often supported by small retailers who are actually complaining about the inability to compete with big firms like Wal-Mart."

The top economist based in New York, said Modi would address unemployment "by promoting a whole lot of labour-intensive investments".

Bhagwati said it is possible to combine modern technics with labour-intensive methods of production. "These are not necessarily alternatives...before Modi came in (it) was (considered) to go in for highly capital intensive projects."

"They were not necessarily more efficient but they just used up a lot of capital and did not create enough impact," he said.

"And alongside this, there was of course a lot of regulation which prevented the small funds from expanding," Bhagwati said.

The top Indian-American economist said, "So we got to eliminate the labour law but the Prime Minister has said that's what he's going to do. And it's a bit like clearing up after a Tsunami."

"We have just had our 120 days and what he's done so far is quite remarkable," he said and added "fantastic" when asked about the 300 new investments coming to India.

Source:Latest News from World News

Road Ministry's NHIDCL to award first project for North-East in October

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid special emphasis on the development of the north-eastern region. His government plans to focus on constructing National Highways and good roads in the region.
  
The government has also allocated Rs 3,000 crore in the Union Budget 2014-15 for improving highways and state roads in the region.
  
The focus of this company will be to develop roads and other infrastructure of highest standard in the country with focus on the north-eastern region and border areas, a Ministry official said.

The company is mandated to build 10,000 km of roads in the North-East (Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh) and Uttarakhand.
  
The official said that as many as five projects in Meghalaya are under various stages of development and one of the projects is likely to be awarded this month by National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
  
The financial bid for the up-gradation of 66 km long 2-lane stretches from Nongstoin to Domiasiat via Wahkaji has been received and the project is likely to be awarded this month, the official said.
  
The detailed project report (DPR) of three 2-laning projects in Meghalaya, totaling a length of over 240 km are ready and target of awarding these projects is December, 2014.
  
The DPR for the up-gradation of Nongstoin-Rambrai-Kyrshai road up to Meghalaya-Assam border, is in progress and this project is likely to be completed by the end of this year.

Source:Latest News from State News