Manjeshwar MLA P B Abdul Razak passes away at 63

Bengaluru, May 17: Amidst mounting demand form Kannadigas across the world for repatriation flights in the wake of covid-19 lockdown, Dr Arathi Krishna, former Deputy Chairman of the NRI Forum of Karnataka government, has written to Hardeep Singh Puri Minister of Civil Aviation to operate more special flights to Gulf repatriate Kannadigas from gulf countries. 

Dr Arathi Krishna’s first request in the letter was to add flights from Kuwait, Bahrain and Jeddah to Bengaluru as many (from Karnataka) are stranded in these cities in precarious situations.

In addition, she also requested for a couple of flights from Dammam and Riyadh to Bengaluru as there are more than 3780 Kannadigas registered to return from Saudi Arabia and members of Bearys Chamber of Commerce and Industry are requesting the same. Any number of flights from Dubai to Bengaluru and Mangaluru will also help the stranded people, the letter stated. 

“Old and sick people, pregnant women and others are in urgent need to connect with the world are looking up to you for getting flights from different comers of the world. Indian communities are hopeful that you will use your position to help them to get the much needed mobility at this time,” the letter stated. 

She also said that the people in Karnataka are grateful to you (Mr Hardeep Singh Puri) for adding two flights from Dubai to Bengaluru in the last two schedules and one flight each from Riyadh, Dammam, Muscat and Doha.

Dr Arathi Krishna is currently serving as the Chairman of the NRI Cell of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and Secretary of Indian Overseas Congress.

Bengaluru, Jan 10: Education technology company Byju’s is learnt to have raised $200 million in a funding round from Tiger Global Management, which has valued the Bengaluru-based start-up at around $8 billion, making it the third-largest unicorn (start-up valued over $1 billion) in the country.

With this, the Byju Raveendran-founded company has seen over 50 per cent jump in its valuation in just around nine months. In March 2019, Byju’s was valued $5.4 billion, when it raised around $31 million from General Atlantic, and Chinese investment giant Tencent.

At the current valuation, Byju’s has now replaced home-grown cab-hailing major Ola as the third-largest unicorn, next only to Paytm and OYO, which are valued around $16 billion and $10 billion, respectively.

Byju’s confirmed the transaction through a press statement, though the company declined to share any specific details of the deal. Tiger Global could not be immediately reached for its comments.

“We are happy to partner with a strong investor like Tiger Global Management. They share our sense of purpose and this partnership will advance our long-term vision of creating an impact by changing the way students learn,” said Raveendran. “This partnership is both a validation of the impact created by us so far and a vote of confidence for our long-term vision.”

This is Tiger Global’s first investment in the edutech space in India after Vendantu, an online tutoring platform, where it, along with WestBridge Capital, led a $42-million round in August.

An early backer of India’s internet growth story, the New York-headquartered Tiger Global has been a prolific investor in the Indian start-up space. Its portfolio in the country ranges from consumer focused e-commerce companies that are vital for the growth of the sector, such as Flipkart, Delhivery, Grofers, Quikr and PolicyBazaar, to mention a few.

After tasting success with Flipkart, one of its earliest investments, where it had pumped in around $1 billion, the PE major is now doubling down its focus on the Indian start-up space, under its new investment head Scott Shleifer.

Shleifer, who set up international private equity practice for Tiger Global, is said to be as aggressive deal maker like his predecessor Lee Fixel, who left the investment firm in March. Since then, Tiger has also invested in a host of technology-focused companies in diverse sectors including Ninjacart, CRED, NoBroker and Facilio to mention a few.

“Byju’s has emerged as the leader in the Indian education-tech sector. They are pioneering technology shaping the future of learning for millions of school students in India,” Shleifer was quoted in the press statement issued by the edutech firm.

Newsroom, Jun 2: The government of India has announced operation of another 20 special flights to repatriate stranded NRIs from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under Vande Bharat Mission.

All the repatriation flights will take off from three major airports – Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah – between June 10 and June 16. Most of the flights will land in Kerala.

The first flight from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka in the new schedule will be operated on June 11. It will take off from Jeddah with passengers from both Kerala and Karnataka. After landing in Kozhikode it will continue its journey to Bengaluru. 

The next three flights  –  Dammam to Bengaluru on June 12, Jeddah to Bengaluru on June 13 and Riyadh to Bengaluru on June 15 – will directly fly to Karnataka. 

Even though thousands of Mangalureans are stranded in Saudi Arabian cities due to lockdown, the government has not announced any flight to Mangaluru International Airport.

The following are the newly announced flights from Saudi Arabia to India: