Amazfit Verge Lite with AMOLED Screen and GPS Relaunching at INR 4,999 in Indian Market

Huami Corporation, a biometric and activity data-driven company with significant expertise in smart wearable technology and the number 1 smartwatch brand in the watch segment, has relaunched Amazfit Verge Lite in India at an interesting price point. Starting July 14 onwards, customers can purchase Amazfit Verge Lite on Flipkart at INR 4,999. Huami has partnered with PR Innovations, a leading technology importer, to market and distribute Amazfit Verge Lite in India.

Earlier priced at INR 6,999, Verge Lite was launched in India last year, the lighter version to Amazfit’s flagship product Verge. Verge Lite comes with advanced functionalities like the lasting battery life of up to 20 days*, 1.3” AMOLED display, which gives the screen an incredibly bright and colorful appeal; durable protection with the anti-fingerprint reinforced Corning Gorilla Glass. Exciting features like GPS enabled + GLONASS dual positioning, multi-sport tracking, 24 hours heart rate monitor, music control, app notifications, set up alarms, event reminders, and customizable watch faces, making this latest addition a fitness companion for the millennials.

Amazfit Verge Lite is equipped to track 7 different fitness activities like running, cycling, and elliptical training with real-time monitoring. The smartwatch features a self-developed high-precision optical sensor for more precise and reliable heart rate monitoring data. It also provides 24hrs of continuous heart rate monitoring with a comprehensive daily and weekly view on the heart’s condition.

With a blend of advanced technology and sleek aesthetics, Verge Lite also has a sleeping tracker, keeping its users continuously informed about the daily regime.

For more detailed product information, please go to in.amazfit.com/pages/amazfit-verge-lite

*Test conditions for an approximately 20-day typical usage scenario: Under the factory default settings, wear for 24 hours, measure heart rate every 30 minutes, 60 minutes exercise per week with GPS enabled, the screen on 30 times a day when wrist-raising, and receive 150 messages per day. 

About Huami Corporation 

Huami is a biometric and activity data-driven company with significant expertise in smart wearable technology. Since its inception in 2013, Huami has quickly established its global market leadership and recognition by shipping millions of units of smart wearable devices. In 2018, Huami shipped 27.5 million units of smart wearable devices. Huami has one of the largest biometric and activity databases in the global smart wearables industry. Huami's mobile apps work hand in hand with its smart wearable devices and provide users with a comprehensive view and analysis of their biometric and activity data.

Yes Bank Set for Major Comeback with Additional Fund Raising Through the FPO Offer from July 15

Yes Bank's Rs 15,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO) is set to hit the markets on 15 July. The bank has announced the floor price to be Rs 12 with a cap of Rs 13 per share, which is half of Friday's closing price of Rs 25.50. The pricing is attractive for new investors but there's more to understand before one invests in it.

Details on FPO The issue price is placed at Rs 12-13 per equity share. The FPO will open for anchor investors on 14 July and for all other categories of investors, the offer period will be July 15-17, 2020. Yes Bank's Capital Raising Committee (CRC) of the Board of Directors will meet on 14 July to allot shares to successful anchor investors who have pursued the offer and also determine an allocation price. A discount of one rupee per equity share will be given to the eligible employees of Yes Bank bidding in employee reservation portion. 

A maximum of Rs 200 crore worth of shares has been reserved for the employees of the bank. Interested investors can place bids in lots of 1,000 equity shares. The FPO is by the issue of fresh equity. State Bank of India (SBI), the largest stakeholder in Yes Bank, said last week that its central board has given approval for a maximum investment of up to Rs 1,760 crore in the FPO of Yes Bank. Background on Yes Bank and the FPO Amid rising debt and management issues, the government had approved RBI's (Reserve Bank of India) bailout plan for Yes Bank on 13 March 2020. 

Under the plan, Yes Bank received around Rs 10,000 crore from eight Indian financial institutions, including SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank, Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank and IDFC First Bank, via the equity route. Back in March, the reconstructed bank's board had approved plan to raise funds up to Rs 15,000 crore, by way of issuance of securities.   To boost capital levels in line with regulatory norms, Yes Bank's board is going to launch the FPO. The attractive discount given in the FPO will attract more market investors and reduce the burden on the consortium of banks that are the stakeholders. 

Further, experts say that Yes Bank chose the FPO route as it allows freedom in pricing the issue when compared to a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) route which requires pricing around recent market prices as per a formula set by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India). Due to a rise in NPAs (non-performing assets) and subsequent provisioning for the same, Yes Bank could not meet RBI's capital adequacy requirements. 

At the end of March 2020, the Tier 1 capital ratio for the bank was 6.5 percent, much below RBI's requirement of 8.875 percent, calling for the newly formed board to approve a fundraising plan. For the March ended quarter, Yes Bank reported a net profit of Rs 2,629 crore after the private lender wrote down additional tier-1 bonds as part of its reconstruction scheme. If the write-down was excluded, the bank's loss for the quarter was at Rs 3,668 crore, against a loss of Rs 1,507 crore in the same period of last year. 

After reporting a record loss of Rs 18,564 crore for the December-ended quarter, Yes Bank said that it is deemed to be "non-viable or approaching non-viability and accordingly the triggers for a write-down of certain Basel III AT-1 bonds have been triggered". As part of its reconstruction plan, its additional tier (AT-1) bonds worth Rs 8,415 crore of the Rs 8,695 crore issued, were written down in March, affecting mutual funds and other investors who had invested in them for the high-interest rates.

LAVA Overwhelmed with the Response for ‘Design in India Contest’ Extends Registration Deadline till July 18

Indian mobile handset brand, Lava International Limited, has extended the deadline of its ‘Design in India’ contest till 18th July. The decision has been taken owing to a large number of requests from all over the country for the extension of registrations. The applicants who missed the opportunity to register earlier, can now participate in this unique contest by Lava which has challenged students and working professionals to design the next #ProudlyIndian smartphone. 

Speaking about the contest, Tejinder Singh, Head- Product, Lava International said, “We are overwhelmed with the kind of response that we have received for the contest. So far, we have received more than 12000 registrations. Keeping the large number of requests in mind, we have now extended the deadline to give another chance to people who could not participate earlier. We will reach out to the participants with further updates once all the registrations are over.”

The Design in India contest was rolled out on 2nd July with an initial registration deadline of 9th July. The contest is open for students of B.Tech, B.E, B.Des and M.Des and engineering professionals from ECE, IT, CS, Mech, and Industrial Design departments. Students or professionals can choose to participate in the contest in groups of 1-3 and in the end, the top three teams will get a pre-placement interview opportunity at Lava. Additionally, they will receive a cash prize of Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000, and Rs 15,000 respectively. 

For T&C and to register, please visit- https://www.lavamobiles.com/design-in-india-challenge/

TECNO Launches SPARK 5 Pro, Offers Segment-Leading Big Dot-in Display & Five Cameras for Better Entertainment

Further strengthening its smartphone offerings from the Spark series, TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand, launched SPARK 5 Pro. TECNO SPARK 5Pro is designed to cater to the needs of the ‘Greater Bharat’ who are the aspiring, value-seeking consumers looking for premium features at an affordable price

Priced at INR 10, 499 SPARK 5 Pro has Super Big 6.6’ HD + Dot-in display coupled with 90.2% screen to body ratio and 20:9 aspect ratio. The immersive display and wide aspect ratio will add new spark to movie watching and gaming experience.

The Quad Rear camera (16MP+2+2+AI Lens) on SPARK 5 Pro boasts of a 16MP primary AI camera with F1.8 apertures, 2MP with 120-degree ultra-wide lens and macro lens for capturing wide frames and 4cm extreme close up shot, and a 2MP Depth lens that allows you to click breathtaking portrait photos that can be shared across social networks. Additionally, you can enjoy the AR mode on both front and rear cameras to enhance the fun aspect of photography.  For selfie lovers, the front sports a 8 MP AI dot-in selfie camera with dual front flash. Further, the device comes with an AI beauty mode that helps you click real and clearer selfies. Night or low light photos are also brighter with F1.8 large aperture and Quad flash in rear camera and dual flash in selfie camera

TECNO SPARK 5 pro comes with a high-density large capacity battery 5000 mAh. Once fully charged, it will run for the whole day and you can watch 17 hours of videos, enjoy 115 hours of music, play games for 13 hours, browse the web for 18 hours, call for 31 hours, standby time 480 hours. So, go all-out on BIG Multi-tasking, especially for you. It comes with other AI features like AI power saving, Safe Charge which automatically cuts the power when phone is fully charged to avoid overcharging. So, put all your worries to rest, now with this Best battery Smartphone

The SPARK 5 Pro is available in vibrant colour variants – Seabed Blue, Spark Orange and Ice Jadeite. Backed by a powerful A25 Octacore processor, face unlock and smart fingerprint scanner, 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM along with Android 10 version out of the box.

TECNO has been consistently pushing the envelope to deliver to the customers a complete smartphone experience.  TECNO SPARK 5 Pro is a complete ‘value package’ and yet a genuine all-rounder which brings in the combination of unique offers. Available for purchase across 35000+ retail stores pan India.

Trend Micro and Girls in Tech Partner to Help Close the Gender Gap in the Technology Industry

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced a new initiative in its long-running effort to close the diversity and talent gap in the technology industry. The company will extend its partnership with Girls in Tech, a global non-profit bringing the world together through education and experiences. Together, the two organizations will address the worldwide skills shortage in cybersecurity by helping to develop a large talent pool of women eager to get their start in the industry.

Although there is a global shortfall of more than four million cybersecurity professionals today, just a quarter (24%) of current roles are estimated to be taken by women. Both organizations, with global reach, are passionate about connecting with more women and gender-diverse talent and helping find them opportunities to advance their careers and secure the future. Girls in Tech, with 60,000 global members, has been dedicated to raising awareness of this skills gap and to overcome the divide for more than ten years and Trend Micro runs global education programs with a focus on helping women develop new skills to fill the open jobs.

“I’ve always been passionate about and dedicated to encouraging greater gender diversity in the industry. It’s why at Trend Micro we’re committed to supporting equal opportunities in the workplace and in 2018 launched our Close the Gap initiative,” said Eva Chen, co-founder and CEO of Trend Micro. “I’m delighted to be teaming with Girls in Tech to further advance our efforts. Especially in light of recent events, I believe we must celebrate and encourage diversity at every turn today. It’s what makes us human.”

As part of this expanded partnership with Girls in Tech, Trend Micro will develop a new Cybersecurity Fundamentals course for the non-profit. Instead of choosing a course that already exists within the program, Trend Micro has called on its world-class security team to build a custom course for Girls in Tech specific to today’s market need. The course, a blend of e-learning, online instructor-led classes and a hands-on lab via Trend Micro Product Cloud, will cover cybersecurity essentials, network security threats, an introduction to malware analysis, and much more.

“Girls in Tech shares with Trend Micro a unified vision for a future in which women are provided the same opportunities to pursue professions in technology as their male counterparts,” said Adriana Gascoigne, founder and CEO of Girls in Tech. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Trend Micro to positively impact the technology landscape for women today and generations to come.”

Trend Micro and Girls in Tech first worked together on the Close the Gap program at AWS re:Invent 2018 where they brought managing directors from 30 global Girls in Tech chapters together to brainstorm diversity ideas and programs with industry executives.

Registration for the new Cybersecurity Fundamentals course is now open. The virtual course will run from Aug. 31 to Sept. 25 and last four hours per week.

Mamaearth Starts a ‘Goodness Revolution’ with the Promise of #GoodnessInside

In its latest brand campaign, Mamaearth, a toxin-free personal care startup, announced its brand purpose as “Goodness Inside”. 

Goodness starts with the small things that each one of us can do every day! It resides in the little choices we can make in our daily lives. Mamaearth’s latest video brings forth this idea of ‘Goodness is a Choice’ to its consumers. It is a digital and social media led campaign with the key message that goodness isn’t a superpower or a special gift. It is simply a choice that you make every day, just like the choices that Mamaearth makes in its products and as a brand.

In 2016, Mamaearth came into being with the same philosophy. The brand has always chosen goodness in their products by using only the best of nature and not using any harmful chemicals or toxins in their products. Their philosophy of being animal cruelty free (PETA certified) and plastic positive, further adds to the goodness in the brand. Mamaearth recognises that millennial consumers have the same belief system. 

Mamaearth is Asia’s first brand with products that have Madesafe certification. It offers 100% toxin-free baby care, skincare, and hair care products, made from the best of nature. Started with six products in the baby care range, Mamaearth has now diversified into skin and hair care products for men and women across 100+ SKUs. Their growth story is fuelled by the "Generation good" – millenials who identify with the brand purpose.

“Millennials want to do good and steer their families into a better tomorrow. That’s why we call this generation as ‘Generation Good’.  At Mamaearth, we share the same values and moral compass as Gen Good. Our new tagline ‘Goodness Inside’ is a promise that we will do what is right for our consumers and for Mother Earth by staying loyal to our product roots of toxin free purity and natural goodness.” Said Ghazal Alagh, Co-Founder and Chief Mum at MamaEarth.

The brand purpose of Goodness Inside comes from what Mamaearth has stood for all along since its inception. It is also an environmentally conscious brand working towards the conservation of Mother Earth for future generations by recycling more plastic than they use. Their toxin-free products promise purity and natural goodness which is better not just for people but for the planet as well.

Commenting on the ‘Goodness Inside’ campaign, VS Kannan Sitaram, Venture Partner at Fireside Ventures said “We at Fireside firmly believe that great brands serve a larger purpose beyond delivering product benefits. Mamaearth is an outstanding example of a brand that lives its purpose in an admirable manner. Its values resonate strongly with its consumers and creates a loyal, growing community of consumers. With this firm anchoring, Mamaearth is set to grow multifold."

In its 4 years of existence, Mamaearth has stood by the promise of honesty and goodness in everything they do. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mamaearth decided not to profit from the situation by selling sanitizers. Instead, they distributed 50,000 sanitizers to people in need through 2500+ Goodness Ambassadors across the country. Recently, they’ve also distributed cotton reusable face masks with smiles printed on them, through these Goodness Ambassadors.

Lil’Goodness Introduces Immunity-Based Nutrition Filled with Vitamins and Minerals at their Doorsteps

Lil’Goodness, a Bengaluru-based kids food and nutrition start-up has been constantly innovating during this pandemic to positively influence the eating habits of the present and future generation through tasty, nutritious food options. Based on feedback received from parents, they have now introduced ‘Hearty’ – an initiative to provide immunity based nutritious meals filled with vitamins and minerals for those with medical needs across age groups at the convenience of their doorsteps.

‘Hearty’ from Lil’Goodness will offer some delightful ready-to-eat and easy-to-digest meal options from traditional Indian cuisines to international cuisines at a desired time-slot and can be ordered through whatsapp or text/telecall. The offering includes a free session with a nutritionist to understand medical conditions. Curated by nutrition experts, the meals are designed based inputs from nutritional experts and are customised for age specific carbs, proteins and healthy fats. Each meal also follows the Plate Method way of eating that ensures right portion sizes and high fibre intake that provides all micronutrients and prevents excess weight gain along with common old age problems like indigestion, diabetes, hypertension and cardiac issues, specifically critical during the times of COVID-19.

Prepared in safe and hygienic facilities, ‘Hearty’ is prepared from the best ingredients, are nutritionally balanced and freshly prepared for consumption. The company has a 9 point safety check in place that includes daily temperature checks of all staff, sanitization of facility and deep cleaning of vegetables along with UVC sterilization and contactless delivery in the light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the launch of this new initiative, Harshavardhan, CEO & Co-Founder Lil’Goodness said, “In the present pandemic situation, lower immunity levels and co-morbidities put the population with medical needs at a higher risk for coronavirus disease. There are also strict restrictions on their mobility. In our endeavour to positively influence lives, we realised that there was an urgent need to provide a convenient and contactless doorstep delivery of nutritious meals freshly prepared for those who have specific medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer etc. Encouraged by the success of our test marketing initiative with a group of 10 families where we received positive feedback and repeat orders, we have now decided to launch this service across the city.

Pariksha Rao, Chief Nutritionist & Co-founder, Lil’Goodness said, “Without doubt, boosting immunity is the utmost priority for most of us. ‘Hearty’ aims at providing all the right nutrition for the immunity and health of those with chronic conditions. Our NutriWiz consulting platform will help us understand the specific needs of these consumers, based on which the menu is tweaked to suit their needs. Consumption of nutritious foods rich in micronutrients including antioxidant vitamins and minerals and fiber, comfortable level of physical activity will enable the elderly to live active and meaningful healthy lives.”

About Lil’Goodness:

Lil’Goodness and sCoolMeal is a Bangalore based scientific food and nutrition enterprise with a vision to positively influence the eating habits of the future generation through tasty, nutritious food options. With special focus on kids, the company is aiming at empowering millennial moms with a unique combination of ‘goodness’ filled choices for their lil’ ones.

The company, led by IIM Calcutta alumnus, Harshavardhan & nutrition expert Pariksha Rao, with the vision of tr the eating habits among children through a comprehensive ecosystem of fresh and packaged meal options integrated with technology to create awareness of eating right amongst kids at an early age.

Set up in 2018, the company after investing more than 1000 hours in on-ground research talking to mothers and experimenting with recipes, the kids’ food and nutrition went live in July 2019. In September 2019, Lil’Goodness acquired sCoolMeal –a foodtech startup that provided services related to catering and serving, nutritious and wholesome food, including sourcing, preparation and delivery of a balanced meal to school children.