‘Merger of overseas Indian affairs ministry with MEA is an insult to NRIs’

Udupi, Jul 21: Sri Sugunendra Teertha Swami, the chief pontiff of Puthige Mutt, has tested positive for coronavirus. 

The pontiff got admitted into KMC Hospital Manipal last night and his treatment is in progress at the said hospital.

He was supposed to initiate his annual Chaturmasa Vruta at Padigaru Mutt on Tuesday.

According to sources, he was suffering from fever and hence he opted to get tested for covid-19. His health condition is said to be stable.

Bengaluru, May 3: Five more COVID-19 cases have been reported from Karnataka, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 606, the state government said on Sunday.

The total number of cases includes, 25 deaths and 282 discharged.

"Five new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Karnataka from 2nd May, 5 pm to 3rd May, 12 noon; taking the total number of positive cases to 606 which includes 25 deaths and 282 discharges," the government stated.

According to the statement, out of the five cases, three have been reported from Kalaburagi and two have been identified from Mudhol.

Bengaluru, Jan 15: The Indian startups secured 12.7 billion in funding last year -- a 15% growth compared to 2018 - and Bengaluru startup community topped the list, with securing $5.3 billion across 267 deals, a new report said on Tuesday.

In total, the Indian startups attracted 766 deals in 2019, taking total deal count between 2014-2019 to 5,011, said DataLabs by Inc42 in its annual startup funding report.

Sequoia took the top spot as the most active VC in 2019 with 53 deals, followed by Accel that participated in 38 deals. Blume Ventures, Matrix Partners and Tiger Global were in the top five VCs in 2019.

"The Indian startup economy is entering new decade with over $58 billion in fundraising and 2,984 funded startups between 2014-2019," the findings showed.

With an average of $21 million, the ticket size value of funding increased by 15% in 2019.

Ecommerce and fintech -- with $2.6 billion funding each -- took the top slot with 93 deals and 125 deals, respectively.

"Ecommerce continued to remain at the top by the end of 2019. The growing investor confidence towards sub-sectors such as vertical ecommerce, social commerce and private label businesses is one major factor for ecommerce maintaining its lead," a DataLabs spokesperson said in a statement.

According to the estimates, the funding amount and deal count in 2020 will be around $12.6 billion at a 1% decline from 2019.

"Nevertheless, the investment activity is expected to rise in 2021," said the report.

The data suggests that 2019 had lowest number of startups funded (664) in the last five years, with seed-stage funding deals dropping by 53%, compared to 2016.

With $252 million in funding, seed-stage deal value fell by 44% (compared to 2018) as only 306 seed funding deals were recorded, the report said.

The enterprise tech had a blockbuster year with total funding of $1.15 billion across 114 deals in 2019. The sector recorded a 49% surge in total funding amount, compared to 2018.

The Indian startup economy saw 275 unique VCs participating in funding in 2019, said the report.