Also, Elon Musk wants to take Tesla private and Cradle CEO death investigated as murder
Shadowfax raises US$22 million to scale its O2O logistics platform — [Press Release]
Bangalore-based logistics startup, Shadowfax, announced today it has raised US$22 million to scale the product with the goal of attaching hundreds of thousands of new businesses to its network.
Launched in 2015, the company has previously raised US$18.5 million dollars. The product is unique because it has built and AI system that allows it to make quick automated decisions regarding cost optimisation.
“This latest funding is a manifestation of the investors’ faith in us and our technology. We are ready to take multiple steps forward towards our mission of connecting the next million micro entrepreneurs and suppliers in logistics using a singular platform to bridge the information gap and eradicate inefficiencies across the value chain,” said Abhishek Bansal, the company CEO, in a statement.
Cradle Fund CEO death being probed as murder — [e27]
The police chief of a Malaysian state told local newspapers that the death of Cradle CEO Nazrin Hassan is being investigated as a murder.
The news comes after the report from the fire department found that his room contained traces of petrol.
Hassan served as Cradle’s CEO from 2007 and passed the day before the Idul Fitri holiday.
Elon Musk wants to take Tesla private — [Tesla]
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to take the car company private at a price of US$420 per share, according to an email he sent to Tesla employees today.
The decision is not yet final, but company stocks shot-up after investors heard the news.
In the email, Musk cites wild fluctuations in the price of the stock and says taking the company private will be best for the operations of Tesla. The company has raised US$85 million to purchase back the shares.
One aspect of the news was Musk is a prominent figure and when he tweeted about the story, and stock prices rose, some people questioned whether the tweets were market manipulation.
Baidu confident it can defeat Google if American search giant enters China — [South China Morning Post]
Chinese online search market Baidu is confident that it can stop Google to return to China, according to the South China Morning Post.
Despite the reports that Google planned to launch new mobile search and news aggregation apps designed to meet China’s strict censorship laws, Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong has no plan on backing down.
“If Google re-enters the market, it gives us the opportunity to player-kill with real swords and spears and win one more time,” Li said on Tuesday.
Google exited China while holding about 14 per cent of China’s search traffic and 33 per cent revenue share in 2010. Now, reports said that Google is in talks with major Chinese companies to bring its cloud services operation. This news reportedly tumbled Baidu’s Nasdaq share 7.7 per cent to US$ 228.07.
Hansel.io raises US$4 million from Vertex — [e27]
Southeast Asia’s branch of Vertex Ventures has announced a fresh US$4 million funding for Bangalore-based Hansel.io that included investment from with IDG Ventures India and Endiya Partners.
Hansel.io was founded in 2015 by Varun Ramamurthy, a former product and engineering lead for Disney, Flipkart and Zynga. Its Hansel’s Experience Lake helps product team test out user experience without the time-consuming coding cycle at any time change happens.
“The problem we are solving for is how to enable business teams to move fast without breaking things,” said Ramamurthy the CEO of Hansel.io.
Hansel’s product is available Android, iOS, Web and common backend platforms.
—
The post Today’s top tech news, August 8: Shadowfax raises US$22M, Baidu confident against Google appeared first on e27.
Source: E27