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Outplay gets $7.3-million Series A funding from Sequoia India

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Bengaluru: Outplay has raised $7.3 million from Sequoia Capital India in its Series A round, as the sales engagement platform looks to ride the tailwind of digitisation of outbound sales due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Founded in 2018 and launched in the subsequent year by twin brothers Ram and Laxman Papineni, Outplay helps automate and personalise sales calls and brings conversations from multiple channels such as email, phone, SMS, LinkedIn, Twitter and chat into a single interface.

“Outbound sales teams are truly the dark horse of the sales organisation—the targets are high, but the methods aren’t scientific,” Outplay’s chief executive officer Laxman Papineni said. “Outplay is committed to making outbound outreach data-driven, so that sales teams are talking only to the warmest prospects at any given point across multiple channels, optimising time and resources.”

The startup has seen its revenue grow four times and team size treble in the four months since it raised $2 million seed capital from Sequoia India’s Surge accelerator programme, of which it was a part.

Customers have been able to qualify prospects faster and grow their sales pipeline by 300% using its tool alongside inbound chat, it said.

“Outbound sales needs are evolving rapidly, and reps now need personalized, automated and contextual tools to drive sales which Outplay is successfully enabling,” said Harshjit Sethi, principal at Sequoia India. “Sales reps spend an average of four hours per day on Outplay, demonstrating the effectiveness of the product which has category-leading customer reviews.”

Stayflexi raises $1.6m in seed round funding

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California-based hotel and vacation rental software startup, Stayflexi, has announced that it has raised $1.6 million in a seed funding round.

The proptech SaaS startup, which claims to already be profitable in more than 100 cities around the world, has received investment from Y Combinator, as well as the likes of Agya Ventures, BlueField Capital, Asymmetry Ventures, Good New Ventures, and a number of unnamed individuals.

Founded in 2018 by Venkatesh Sakamuri, Stayflexi automates check-in, check-out and other interactions with guests to create the most customised services possible, in both vacation rental properties and boutique hotels. The company’s proprietary software is designed to automatically establish up-selling opportunities for property owners and managers, including room reservations, hands-free check-ins and contact-free payments.

CEO Venkatesh Sakamuri said that fixed check-in and check-out times had been an ongoing issue within the hotel industry and that Stayflexi would be incorporating flexible check-in and check-out times to fill vacant rooms and cater to the surge in travel demand.

"The supply side is the problem — the system and the processes of running a hotel. There has to be a fundamental change. That’s how we decided to create an operating system.”

In the space of three years, Stayflexi has sourced 15,000 rooms in six countries and accumulated more than 3000 room bookings across 740 hotels on average every day. The company now aims to be managing 15,000 properties by 2024 and 85,000 by 2027 as part of its ambitious growth strategy.

Bhaskar Sunkara (31) in the list of Fortune 40 Under 40 Government and Politics

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The majority of Americans probably haven’t heard of Jacobin magazine, but the leading leftist publication holds great political influence among the growing progressive sect of the Democratic Party. The publication, which examines current events and culture from a socialist slant, has a current print run of 60,000 subscribers per issue and about 2 million website views per month. The magazine’s popularity is no accident: Its trajectory has grown alongside the Democratic Socialist movement, ushered in by celebrity politicians like senator Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but founder and publisher, Bhaskar Sunkara, has been honing the look and editorial direction since its launch in 2010. At 12 years old Sunkara was reading Leon Trotsky and the New Left Review, and by 17, he was editor of The Activist, the youth blog for the Democratic Socialists of America. A few years later, he launched Jacobin while he was still a student at George Washington University.

Today, Jacobin has an international affiliate in Italy and its own book-publishing arm, hosts video content, and features the work of thinkers like Slavoj Žižek, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Jeremy Corbyn.

Munirathna Naidu sworn in as the new Minister of Karnataka

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4 August 2021: Maanyam Munirathna Naidu takes oath of office today as Minister of Karnataka

Munirathna Naidu is a two-time MLA from Raja Rajeswari Nagar and is a migrant BJP leader from Congress party. He represents the Kamma community that falls under OBC quota in Karnataka. He is a Yediyurappa loyalist.

Munirathna Naidu, commonly known as Munirathna, is an Indian film producer turned politician from Karnataka and a member of the BJP. He elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka from Rajarajeshwari Nagar in the year 2013,2018 & 2020. He resigned from the Assembly in July 2019. Munirathna Naidu won the Raja Rajeshwari Nagar bye-elections by a huge margin of 57,936 votes. 



Crypto Platform FalconX Quintuples Valuation to $3.75 Billion

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FalconX, a cryptocurrency and digital-asset trading platform, has more than quintupled its valuation in five months to $3.75 billion, founder and ChiefExecutive OfficerRaghu Yarlagadda said in an interview.

The San Mateo, California-based startup raised $210 million in a funding round led by Altimeter Capital, Sapphire Ventures, B Capital Group and Tiger Global Management, he said. Amex Ventures, an arm of American Express Co., and Mirae Asset also participated.

The company, which has been profitable for roughly a year, saw its revenue grow by a multiple of 30 times in the 12 months to June 30, Yarlagadda said, declining to provide specifics. He said investors established conviction around the company in part due to its growth trajectory and gross margin profile of close to 80%, a similar level to some enterprise software companies.

“We’re excited to back a market leader in an industry in the early innings of strong secular growth,” Altimeter Capital founder and CEO Brad Gerstner said in an emailed statement. “FalconX’s product velocity and pace of innovation is remarkable and we believe will play an important role in the future of financial and crypto market infrastructure.”

The company’s customer-triggered monthly transaction volume has reached over $10 billion, Yarlagadda said. FalconX is able to provide clients -- including hedge funds, venture funds and payment providers -- with more reliable pricing due to its connectivity with over 100 venues, including cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and FTX, proprietary trading firms and OTC desks, he said.

Yarlagadda said FalconX will spend its fresh funding on scaling up, including by hiring staff to further build its technical infrastructure, global expansion -- especially in Asia -- and launching products inspired by customer requests such as a delayed settlement product, which allows institutions to settle in 20 business days. FalconX doesn’t itself take on exposure to market movements by over-collateralizing loans and reserving the right to liquidate positions, he said.

“As institutional investors continue entering the cryptocurrency market, FalconX has significantly scaled its business and product lines to meet their needs,” Scott Shleifer, a partner at Tiger Global Management, said in an emailed statement. “We’re excited to double down on the leading one-stop-shop for institutional trading, credit and clearing,” he said, referencing Tiger’s backing of FalconX earlier this year at a $675 million valuation.

FalconX’s existing investors include Coinbase Ventures, Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Avon Ventures, which is affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent of Fidelity Investments. Its clients include Galois Capital, QCP Capital, Hehmeyer and Three Arrows Capital, its website shows.

Early-stage VC Inflexor Ventures raises Rs 600-crore fund

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Early-stage tech-focused venture capital fund Inflexor Ventures has raised Rs 600 crore towards the final close of its new fund, driven by oversubscription from homegrown institutional investors.


The total fundraise has exceeded its initial target of Rs 500 crore and includes a green shoe option of Rs 100 crore, senior fund officials said.

Inflexor joins a bevy of rupee funds that have raised capital from domestic investors in the recent past. SBICAP Ventures, SIDBI (from Fund of Funds for Startups), Suman Kant Munjal’s family office Survam and other family offices and ultra HNIs have also invested in the new fund.

Launched in early 2020, Inflexor Technology Fund takes small bets on startups leveraging deeptech, technology IP, innovation in areas like AI-ML, Industry 4.0, AR, VR, Big Data, Robotics, Cybersecurity, Blockchain and SpaceTech among others, the fund said.

It will look to invest in pre-Series A to Series B rounds with initial cheques ranging from Rs 5 crore to Rs 20 crore. It will also double down investments in winner portfolio companies.

The fund raised Rs 230 crore towards its first close in August last year.

The fund intends to invest in around 25 startups over the next 3-4 yearperiod.

Founded in 2019 by Venkat Vallabhaneniand Jatin Desai, Inflexor Ventures has so far invested in four startups from its fund:

  • Steradian, which develops AI-based surveillance systems for autonomous vehicles
  • PlayShifu, which makes augmented reality-based education technology toys
  • Vitra.ai, an AI-ML-based content translation platform
  • Kale Logistics, an AI- and blockchain-enabled logistics tech company
The fund is also working on 2-3 other late-stage deals, which are likely to be announced soon. “We look to invest in seven to eight companies each year,” said Vallabhaneni.

“We started the fundraise during the first wave of Covid-19 last year and did the final close during the second wave. Despite the tough conditions, we are happy that we exceeded our domestic fund corpus target,” Vallabhaneni and Desai said in a joint statement.

“While the pandemic posed serious challenges globally, it has also acted as a catalyst for technology-based automation and digitization efforts around the globe, and we hope to invest in startups that will benefit from this trend that was underway even before the onset of the pandemic,” they added.

This is Vallabhaneni and Desai’s second venture together. They launched their first fund, Parampara, in 2015 and invested in 12 startups including PlayShifu, Atomberg, Entropik, Bellatrix and Cloudsek.

Funds backing early-stage startups are finding more takers among domestic institutional investors and family offices. From seed-angel funds to Special Opportunities and Distress funds, domestic investors deploying rupee capital have significantly more exposure to startups today. Not only has the bouquet of investments broadened, but fund sizes have also been inching up.

Funds such as Alteria Capital, Trifecta Capital, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund, Edelweiss Alternative Advisors and Tata Capital are among those that have either closed their capital raising or in the market to raise large rupee funds.

South India’s tallest skyscraper to come up in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad-based company SAS Infra (Dr. Gude VenkateswaraRao - Chairman, Rajkumar Kurra - Managing director)  is going to construct South India’s tallest skyscraper in the Golden Mile Layout at Kokapet.

According to sources it will be a 57-storied building. The height of the skyscraper, SAS Crown will be 228 meters.

Recently, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) issued permission for the construction of the building. Telangana Real Estate Regulatory Authority has also approved it.

HMDA officials saying that permission has been granted after analyzing traffic assessments.

SAS Infra’s spokes person said that the construction of the building has been started and it is expected to be completed in 2025. The building will have one apartment per floor.

After the completion of the construction, it will become the tallest skyscraper in South India. Currently, a 50-storied building in Bengaluru is the tallest skyscraper in South India.



Shri Harish Parvathaneni appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany

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Shri Harish Parvathaneni (IFS: 1990), presently Additional Secretary in the Ministry, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany.

Since joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1990, he has learnt Arabic at the American University of Cairo and passed the examination with distinction.

He has served in the Indian Missions in Cairo and Riyadh and headed the Post as India's Representative to the Palestinian Authority stationed in Gaza city. He was on Secondment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as the Chief of the Policy Analysis Unit at UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza.

He thereafter worked in the East Asia and External Publicity Divisions in the Ministry of External Affairs. For a period of five years since 2007, Mr. Harish was the Joint Secretary and Officer on Special Duty to the Hon'ble Vice President of India and Chairman of the council of States of the Indian Parliament, Mr. M. Hamid Ansari. Mr. Harish has been the Consul General of India, Houston, USA since 30 th July 2012. Before joining as Additional Secretary (Economic Diplomacy & States), Mr. Harish was the Ambassador of India to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 16 th April 2016 to June 2019.

Mr Parvathaneni Harish is a gold medalist Mechanical Engineering graduate from Osmania University College of Engineering, Hyderabad and has studied at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He is married to Mrs. Parvathaneni Nandita and has two daughters, Ayushi and Amani.


Kamma boys secured top 1, 2 ranks in TS EAMCET 2021

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Mandava Karthikeya 

Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTUH), Hyderabad released the TS EAMCET 2021 exam result on August 25.

Duggineni Venkata Paneesh has secured  2nd rank in the engineering stream and Mandava Karthikeya has secured 1st rank, Kanneganti Lasya Chowdary got7th rank in Telangana State EAMCET 2021  Medical stream.

Pharma Entrepreneur Chava Satyanarayana Joins Billionaire Ranks

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India’s pharma sector, which has been in the spotlight during the pandemic, has just minted a new billionaire. Satyanarayana Chava, 60, founder and CEO of the $658 million (revenue) Laurus Labs—an integrated pharma and biotech company which makes everything from pharma ingredients to enzymes and proteins—saw his personal net worth cross $1.1 billion after shares of his company jumped this week. The stock has risen 176% in the past 12 months.

Laurus Labs supplies pharma ingredients for drugs to treat HIV, cancer, asthma and diabetes. The company says that one out of three HIV-infected patients in low and middle income countries are taking meds with ingredients supplied by Laurus Labs. It has marquee clients, including some of the world’s big pharma players, who buy pharma intermediates, generics and contract manufacturing research services from Laurus.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, the company recorded a 70% uptick in revenue and a 286% surge in net profit to 9.8 billion rupees ($135 million) buoyed by rising demand for pharma ingredients, capacity expansions and greater operational efficiencies.

After spending more than two decades in the pharma business, Chava decided to set up his own venture in 2005 at age 44. He founded Laurus in his hometown of Hyderabad as a pharma R&D outfit. He pooled his savings, borrowed money from friends and family and took bank loans to raise the initial capital of 600 million rupees ($14 million).

Chava chose the name “Laurus” as a nod to the botanical name for a class of Mediterranean shrubs and trees as well as the Greek tradition of honoring victors with laurel wreaths. “We wanted the company to represent evergreen victory,” says Chava.

As for his strategy of starting off with research,“it always has to begin with R&D,” explains Chava, who still spends 25% of his time in labs. “I am a scientist at heart. I am passionate about chemistry.” He is listed as an inventor, along with others, in 145 patents granted to the company.

Laurus now has R&D units in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and the U.S. as well as eight FDA-approved factories in southern India for contract manufacturing and producing active pharma ingredients and intermediaries.

Chava is also actively involved with the introduction of new products. “I work on what product we should we go after because that will ultimately decide how well we are doing,” says Chava, who has brought more than 50 products to market in the last 15 years.

Chava says he is not enamored by his billionaire status. “For me it’s just one part of life—it’s not the only thing,” he says attributing his down-to-earth approach to his modest upbringing.

Chava grew up in the village of Munnaluru on the banks of the river Krishna in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. (His parents still live there). He walked six miles every day to attend school in the neighboring village. Chava discovered his passion for chemistry in college, which led him to a Ph.D. in bioactive marine natural products and his initial career as a university lecturer.

In 1993, he took up his first corporate job as a research assistant with the erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories, a company that was eventually acquired by pharma billionaire Dilip Shanghvi’s Sun Pharmaceuticals. In 1995, he moved to Matrix Labs, a maker of pharma ingredients for HIV drugs, where he worked for the next decade in various divisions, eventually becoming COO. Matrix was taken over by global pharma major Mylan in 2006.

Today, Chava says that his goal for 16-year-old Laurus is to retain the company’s entrepreneurial spirit. “We believe we are a startup in our thinking, action and in our speed of execution,” he says. As the company readies itself for expansion, he says the biggest challenge is people. “We have the money; we have the business but the key is in attracting, identifying, training and retaining talent,” he says. Laurus is working with local universities to design courses that are relevant for the industry.


Meghana Musunuri Shortlisted For Global Teacher Prize 2021

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This Hyderabad-based teacher Meghana Musunurihas made it to the top 50 shortlist for this year’s USD 1,000,000 Global Teacher Prize.  She teaches social studies, English and maths. Her name as a shortlist was announced on 9 September.

She is an education futurist, philanthropist and an entrepreneur. She is the founder and chairperson of Fountainhead Global School & Junior College -Hyderabad ; Founder of conservation NGO Save Water And Nature (SWAN); CEO of My Edu Guru and also Hyderabad Champion for Google’s Women Entrepreneurs On The Web (WEOW) working towards her mission of guiding women entrepreneurs in establishing their online presence.

According to a report, she went through multiple rounds of interviews and her work was reviewed not only in the education sector but also outside it. For instance, she said that her school has worked towards reviving the Meedi Kunta Lake and that’s a significant contribution.

According to Musunuri, this prize given to teachers is like giving a Nobel Prize to them.

“Teachers are extremely passionate but the recognition that they get is limited. It is very important to be out there and tell the world what all you are doing and that makes the difference,” she said 

She is an ardent believer of the fact that a teacher should strive to handle multiple subjects. She encourages all her teachers to teach different subjects as it leads to the evolution of their respective teaching abilities.

She is looking forward to be in the award category for the Top 10 finalists which will be announced next month. The winners will be chosen by the Global Teacher Prize Academy and felicitated at an award ceremony in Paris in November.

The selection process

Following the shortlist announcement, the top 10 finalists of the prize will be announced next month. The winners will be chosen by the Global Teacher Prize Academy and unveiled at an award ceremony in Paris in November.

The second Indian shortlist for the award is Satyam Mishra, a mathematics teacher from Bhagalpur in Bihar.

Kamma UPSC toppers

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48 Ranker Nalabothula Sai Manasa

289 Ranker Narayan Malempati




Jyothi Surekha Vennam wins 3 silver medals at 2021 Archery World Championships

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Indian archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam lost a nerve-wracking final to Colombian heavyweight Sara Lopez to clinch a silver in the compound women's individual section at the World Championships on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Indian was near her best and shot a perfect final end but the five-time World Cup champion Sara was superior to clinch the issue by two points (146-144).

Vennam has now won five medals at the Worlds, including three silvers and two bronzes. Other than the two silvers here, she won two bronzes in 2019 (compound women's team and compound individual) and a silver in 2017 (compound women's team).

Earlier on Friday, Jyothi was a member of the Indian women's and mixed pair compound archery teams which signed off with silver medals after lop-sided losses to Colombia here.

India were in pursuit of their first ever gold medal at the world event.

Jyothi dished out a consistent display shooting 28, 29 and 29 in her first three ends, but the Colombian top seed opened up a two-point lead at the halfway mark, drilling in seven perfect 10s with two X (closest to the centre) from nine arrows.

The sixth seeded Indian shot three 10s from three arrows in the final end but that was not enough as Sara wrapped up the gold medal match by two points.

Rajendra Vattikuti E & Y Entrepreneur Of The Year US National Award winner

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Entrepreneur Of The Year US National Award winner

Raj Vattikuti | Altimet

When Raj Vattikuti founded Altimetrik eight years ago, he set out to revamp the conventional approach to digital transformation. From his experience as a founder of several other companies, Vattikuti knew that consulting companies would too often identify a solution before they understood the problem. This approach wasted time and money, and it failed to deliver sustainable business outcomes.

Instead, Vattikuti recognized that companies would be better off by identifying the data they needed to make more informed business decisions before deploying new technology. Following this approach has helped Altimetrik grow into a global enterprise with double-digit revenue growth; more than 2,500 employees; and offices in Canada, India, Japan, Singapore and Uruguay.  

A serial entrepreneur and three-time Entrepreneur Of The Year Award regional winner, Vattikuti is also a strong believer in giving back. After taking one of the companies he founded public in 2001, he established the Vattikuti Foundation with his wife, Padma. The foundation has donated more than $40 million for cancer research. And when the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread earlier in 2020, the foundation kicked into high gear to donate funds for mobile COVID-19 testing centers for senior citizens and other vulnerable populations.

Vattikuti carefully vets each charity, making sure each organization will use the funds wisely. His contributions have helped to promote the use of technology to achieve better results, from robotic prostate surgeries to using state-of-the-art tools for breast cancer. 

Reshma Kosaraju from USA Finalist Children's Climate Prize 2021

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Stockholm, Sweden: 
15-year-old Reshma Kosaraju from Siratoga, California - US is applying AI in a life-saving way. She has created a model that proactively predicts forest fires using meteorological data and other parameters.

Forest fires have been increasing in frequency and intensity over the years, directly and indirectly causing over 339,000 premature deaths worldwide.

They result in forest degradation as they wipe out trees and vegetation, cause soil erosion - leading to secondary disasters like mudslides - and destroy the habits of many species, thereby shrinking biodiversity.

“Reshma represents the best of youth entrepreneurship: brave, innovative and solution-oriented,” says the jury. “Her model uses AI and technology in an innovative and savvy way in order to accurately predict the risk of forest fires while also accounting for the independent variables of climate, weather and human behavior.”

From using AI to fight deforestation, to turning football goals into trees, five talented teenagers are showing us there’s no limit to how we can re-create the world.

The finalists of the Children’s Climate Prize have all impressed the jury with their projects, and are waiting to find out who will win SEK 100,000 for their cause on 8 November, as well as a diploma and medal.

Each one would be a worthy winner of the award, organised by the Children’s Climate Foundation - an initiative from Swedish renewable energy company Telge Energei.


Murali Divi Richest Hyderabad and 14th richest person in India

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Murali Divi of Divi Labs is the richest Hyderabadi and is ranked the 14th richest person in the country with 61 per cent change in his wealth and has a wealth of Rs.79,000 crore. Divi has moved up three spots from his previous ranking of 17. His wealth has increased by 61% over a year.

Laurus Labs founder CEO Chava Satyanarayana was one of those who saw the biggest rank changes in the list over the last five years by moving up to 209 position this year with a wealth of Rs 8,400 crore from 218 in 2017.

Suven Pharmaceuticals promoter Venkateswarlu Jasti & family, also made it to the list of top 10 new additions on the overall 2021 rich list with a wealth of Rs 9,700


List of 30 Kamma Billionaires and rankings

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The IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021 shows that India has more than 1,000 individuals who have a net worth of 1,000 crore or more across 119 cities. The cumulative wealth in the country has gone up by 51 per cent, while the average wealth has also increased by 25 per cent, the report by Hurun India said. 30 Kamma business and industrialists finds place in the list from AP, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

14. Murali Divi Rs76,000 crores Divis Laboratories

179. Venkateswarlu Jasti 9,600 crores Suven Pharma 

190. Veeraiah Chowdary Nannapaneni 9,100 crores NATCO Laboratories 

209. Chava Satyanarayana 8,400 crores Laurus Labs

264. Satya Nadella 6,200 crores Microsoft

368. Mandava PrabhakaraRao 4,300 crores Nuziveedu seeds

377. Ella KrishnaMurthy 4,100 crores Bharat Biotech

384. Boppalapudi Bhaktavatsala Rao 4000 crores Privi Speciality Chemicals

398. Galla Ramachandra Naidu  3,900 crores Amara Raja Batteries 

398. Chinta VisveswaraRao 3,900 crores Navayuga Engineering

409. Mahesh Kolli 3,800 crores Greenko group

427 Bollineni Bhaskara Rao 3,600 crores KIMS Hospital

433. Potru Brahmanandam 3,500 crores Devi sea foods

447 Chigurupati Krishna Prasad 3,400 crores Granules India 

456. Reddy Veeranna, 3,300 crores Embassy office parks

483. Alluri Indra Kumar 3,000 crores Avanti feeds

494. Cherukuri Ramoji Rao 2,900 crores Eenadu Group

518  Challa Rajendra Prasad 2,700 crores Continental Coffee

528. B Soundararajan 2,600 crores Suguna foods

528. GB Soundararajan 2,600 crores Suguna foods

582 Jairam Varadaraj 2,300 crores Elgi Equipments

602. Sreenivsan Ravi 2,200 crores Craftsman Automation 

661. Kondragunta Venkat Prasad 1,900 crores Sandhya Marine Foods

661. Nekkanti Seetharamachandra Murthy 1,900 crores Nekkanti Sea Foods

715. Karnati VenkateswaraRao 1,700 crores Kakinada SeaPorts

733. Kanakamedala Mallikarjuna Vara PrasadaRao 1,600 crores KMV Projects

934. G Rajendran 1,100 crores CRI Pumps

956. Gude VenkateswaraRao 1,000 crores SAS Infra

956. Aluru Jagadish Prasad 1,000 crores HBL Power

956. Venkata Lakshmana Rao Chunduru 1,000 crores Laurus Labs

The list was missing some billionaires like Rajamohan Rao Potluri of UTL Group, Prasad Motaparti, Boppana SatyanarayanaRao of Sri Chaitanya Institutions, Chukkapalli Ramesh of Phoenix group, Koneru Prasad of Trimex group, Devadoss of VGN Group, Rajendra Vattikuti etc..

 



Kore.ai, which develops workflow automation technologies, raises $70M

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Kore.ai, a no-code automation platform designed for enterprise applications, today announced that it raised $50 million in a series C round led by Vistara Growth and PNC with participation from Next Equity Partners, Nicola Wealth, and Beedie Capital, along with $20 million in debt from Sterling National Bank. The funds, which bring Kore’s total raised to over $100 million to date, will be put toward expanding the company’s workforce while developing new product features, according to co-founder and CEO Raj Koneru.

In 2015, just 10% of organizations reported that they either already used automation technology or would be doing so in the near future. Fast forward to 2019, and that number rose to 37% — which means that more than one in three organizations are either using AI or have plans to do so. Indeed, according to a 2019 Salesforce survey, 1 in 4 sales teams currently use AI in their day-to-day work. Another source found that revenue grew by up to 5% for four in ten marketing and sales departments after their adoption of AI.

Orlando, Florida-based Kore, which was founded in 2013, provides internal and customer-facing workflow automation tools including “purpose-built” and “domain-trained” chatbots. Kore’s conversational voice and text assistants respond to and deflect queries, offering search tools for knowledge databases, IT support manuals, and more.

Kore’s platform allows companies to design, build, test, and deploy AI-powered virtual assistants and automation solutions. Beyond this, the startup recently launched SmartAssist, a contact center product with an integrated virtual assistant, desktop console, and workspace that enables customer service agents to manage conversations.

Kore claims to have automated over a billion interactions for more than 500,000 users at companies including eBay, PNC, Roche, Airbus, AT&T, and Cigna.


MAA Elections: Manchu Vishnu defeats Prakash Raj by a huge margin

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Vishnu Manchuhas defeated Prakash Raj in MAA elections 2021 by a huge margin.

Actor Vishnu Manchu is the new president of the Movie Artists Association (MAA). While everyone predicted a neck-to-neck contest between Vishnu and his rival Prakash Raj, the former won the elections by a huge margin of over 107 votes

Telugu news channels have noted that Vishnu’s father Mohan Babu played a huge role in the former’s victory. It is said that he took control of Vishnu’s campaign and threw his entire might behind him, leading him to a comfortable win.

All the key posts in the Association won by Kamma Actors 

1) President: Manchu Vishnu
2) General Secretary: Yerra RaghuBabu
3) Executive Vice President: Meka Srikanth
4) Vice Presidents: Madala Ravi
5) Maganti Benarjee 

Congratulations to all our members.

Megha Ganne named AJGA Rolex Player of the Year

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Every time Megha Ganne teed it up in an American Junior Golf Association event in 2021, she contended. For those in the know, it came as no surprise that she also contended in one of women’s golf biggest events – the U.S. Women’s Open.

Ganne was hardly an unknown entering the year, having qualified for the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals four times and advanced to the semifinals at the 2018 U.S. Women’s Amateur. But she took her game to a new level this season, especially on the junior circuit. She played in five events recognized by the Rolex AJGA Rankings without ever finishing outside the top four and has been named the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year. It’s the junior golf association’s highest honor for players.

Ganne finished T3 at the Rolex Tournament of Champions and T3 at the ANNIKA Invitational early in the AJGA season. She won the Scott Robertson Memorial, a long-running junior golf event in Virginia, before making big headlines as the 17-year-old contending at the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic Club.

Ultimately, Ganne finished T14 that week for low-amateur honors.

The back half of her year was a whirlwind of team events. She represented the U.S. as an alternate on the victorious Curtis Cup team and was a playing member of the Ping Junior Solheim Cup team and Junior Ryder Cup team.

Megha Ganne,who is verbally committed to Stanford, ended the year ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek Junior Rankings and No. 22 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Ganne and the rest of the 2021 Rolex Junior All-America Teams listed below will be honored virtually through a Rolex Junior All-America Awards celebration on Friday, Dec. 3 dubbed “The Greatest Night in Junior Golf.”


Indian-American Reshma Kosaraju wins Children’s Climate Prize

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Forest fires have become a global problem, causing over 339,000 premature deaths worldwide – and threatening biodiversity by destroying animals and nature. While the world is still looking for a solution for this issue, Reshma Kosaraju’s project on the uses of AI technology to predict forest fires has won her the Children’s Climate Prize, 2021. A fifteen-year-old from Saratoga, USA, Reshma’s innovative and solution-oriented approach to forest fires, a highly topical and growing global issue, made her project stand out.

The Children’s Climate Prize (CCP) was started by the Swedish company Telge Energi. It’s been given every year since 2016 to a person between the ages of 12 and 17 who has made “extraordinary efforts” to improve life on the planet for children now and in the future. This year, the prize organizers report that a record number of young people from 32 different countries were nominated for the prize.

The project — AI against forest fires — can predict forest fires with almost 90 per cent accuracy. It uses open data, such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, soil moisture and human behavior to, with the help of AI, calculate where and when the probability of a forest fire occurring is greatest.

Reshma hopes the Children’s Climate Prize will draw attention to her project, so that more people can become aware of the AI model’s existence. “I’m so happy and my hope is that this win will lead to more people hearing about AI against forest fires, and that it will become a universally accessible tool for predicting forest fires. I especially wish for people living in areas more prone to forest fires to be aware and make use of this project, as it could greatly improve preparedness,” she said in a note on the project.
Currently, this technology is a functioning prototype on a computer. However, the goal moving forward is to make the model publicly available in the form of an app, while heavily marketing its use within fire departments to proactively mitigate forest fires. Appreciating Reshma’s effort and brilliance, Johannes Boson, CEO of Telge Energi and Chairman of the Children’s Climate Foundation said: “The world needs Reshma’s innovation and we need to support the courageous youth who are working for a better tomorrow. We hope that the win will help boost Reshma’s hopes for the project – both financially and through the increased awareness that comes with the prize.”

This year marks the sixth edition of the Children’s Climate Prize, one of the world’s biggest international climate awards for young innovators, entrepreneurs, conservators and changemakers.

Australian Academy of Science appoints nanotechnology pioneer Chennupati Jagadish as president

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One of the World-leading physicist and Australian National University professor Chennupati Jagadish has been elected as the next president of the Australian Academy of Science.

The nanotechnology pioneer will be the 20th president in the national science organisation's history and the first Australian of Indian heritage appointed to the coveted position by his peers.

The role of academy president will have him champion the cause of scientific excellence while leading the organisation in providing advice to the Australian Parliament.

He will replace biochemist and molecular biologist Professor John Shine, who has held the position since 2018. The academy's home, the Shine Dome, was renamed after the outgoing professor in 2000 in recognition of a $1 million donation he made to help restore the iconic Canberra building.

Professor Jagadish takes on the role of president at the same time the academy is reporting young scientific researchers have been severely impacted by the pandemic.


Geetika Kodali To Lead USA Women Under-19 Team

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Geetika Kodali (Captain), Laasya Mullapudi (Vice Captain)to lead USA Women Under-19 Team To St. Vincent.

USA Cricket are incredibly pleased to announce a historic inaugural international tour for the USA Women’s Under 19s team as they are set to travel to the Caribbean next month to play against Windward Islands U19 Women’s team in a series of four Twenty20 matches. The Windward Islands comprise the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St. Lucia and Dominica.

In partnership with both the Windward Islands Cricket Board and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Cricket Association, this tour is part of the wider long-term strategic partnership that USA Cricket has with Cricket West Indies (CWI), our nearest Full Member Nation of the ICC.

This tour is the culmination of a huge year for the Women and Girls game in the United States, with the newly launched domestic pathway, the Sistar Mortgage Women’s National Championships (Senior Women’s and Under 19) alongside the successful ICC T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in Mexico and the recently-abandoned ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. The Windward Islands tour is another demonstration of the progress made on our USA Cricket Foundational Plan’s strategic focus on Women & Girls.

USA Cricket Board Member and Women and Girls Committee Chair, Nadia Gruny said, “We are pleased to partner with the Windward Islands Cricket Board (WICB) and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association to create a T20 series that would be mutually beneficial to both our under 19 teams. In line with our recently launched plan to Shape the Future for Women & Girls in American Cricket to ‘Create increased competitive international match opportunities’, this tour will present a fantastic opportunity for some of the young talent who have stood out on our new domestic pathway this year to get international exposure and a competitive level of cricket in the Caribbean. On behalf of the board, I thank the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Government for the support of the development of women’s cricket in the region and everyone involved in helping to make this tour a reality in such a challenging time. Congratulations to all of the girls selected and we look forward to a successful tour.”


Meghana Sabbineni selected for Women World Cup squad

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Sabbineni Meghana from Vijayawada who currently plays for Railways. She plays primarily as a right-handed batter. So far she has appeared in 6 Twenty20 Internationals for India, and recently selected to the 2022 Women World Cup squad. 

The T20I will be played at Napier on February 9. It will be followed by a five-match ODI series, from February 11 to 24.

India’s matches at the World Cup: v Pakistan, Tauranga, March 6; v New Zealand, Hamilton, March 10; v West Indies, Hamilton, March 12; v England, Tauranga, March 16; v Australia, Auckland, March 19; v Bangladesh, Hamilton, March 22; v South Africa, Christchurch, March 27.

The squad for the T-20I: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-capt.), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatiya, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gaykwad, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Sabbhineni Meghana and Simran Bahadur.

Gaddam Meghana elected as MP to the 10th Youth Parliament of New Zealand

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Meghana Gaddam with Waikato MP Tim van de Molen at St Peter’s School in Cambridge

Meghana Gaddam lives in St Kilda and is holidaying with family in India. Her parents are from Tanguturu - Prakasam District, Aandhra Pradesh.

She was St Peter’s School - Cambridge head girl this year and excelled through her studies and extracurricular activities including volunteering for two years at the Refugee Orientation Centre Trust in Hamilton and contributing to the Model United Nations.

As part of Meghana’s Head Girl role, her responsibilities included planning the Waipā Youth Awards, chairing the student executive and leading the prefect team.

She intends doing either a Bachelor of Property / Bachelor of Commerce in economics and finance conjoint, or a bachelor of property / bachelor of global studies in international relations and business next year, at Auckland University.

Van de Molen said Meghana’s four-minute video, where she gave her  opinion on issues facing youth in the Waikato, was excellent and could have come straight from Parliament’s general debate.

The 10th Youth Parliament includes Youth MPs selected by each MP and a Youth Press Gallery which will report on the activities of Youth MPs and learn from the Press Gallery journalists about the key role they play.





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