Student held for derogatory Facebook post against Tipu Sultan

Mangaluru, Jun 17: The first chartered flight repatriating Indians stranded at Kuwait for months landed at the international airport here.

The Jazeera Airways flight privately booked by the Keralites and coastal Kannadigas living in the Arab country had left sometime in the afternoon with 160 passengers on board.

The flight also carried the mortal remains of Sathish Kochu Shetty (45), who died in a fire tragedy at a refinery in Kuwait on June 14.

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.

Bengaluru, Mar 15: The Karnataka government on Saturday issued a statement saying that surveillance and containment measures against the spread of coronavirus have been increased in the state.

"In the wake of coronavirus scare, 104 Arogya Sahayavani (call centre) has reserved 20 lines for receiving calls for COVID-19," read the statement.

It also read that the dedicated seating at the 104 call centre has been increased to 40 and one person form 108 call centre will be responsible for coordinating with the ambulance services.

The statement also read that the government had arranged an orientation for the medical college staff to train them to deal with coronavirus patients.

While six people from the state were reported positive of coronavirus, the Union Ministry of Health, one amongst them was a 76-year-old man from the Kalaburagi region and he died due to co-morbidity.

The state Health Department Commissioner has said that the Telangana government has been notified about the man's death as he was also admitted to a hospital there.

So far, 84 people have been infected with COVID-19 in India.