Atlassian Doubles Down On Its VC Fund To Propel The SaaS Ecosystem In 1.5 Years Since Its Inception

* Atlassian Ventures has invested $110M in funding 

Atlassian Corporation Plc (NASDAQ: TEAM), a leading provider of team collaboration and productivity software and the maker of Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket and Trello products, has deployed over US$110 million in VC funding and now supports over 30 organisations, just shy of 18 months since launching Atlassian Ventures. 

The global funding provides an opportunity for SaaS startups looking to work with Atlassian’s best-in-class cloud products and platform. The company which is passionate about the future of work and new ways to collaborate in the cloud will also look to tap into India’s growing SaaS startup ecosystem and the country’s rich talent pool. Globally, it considers India a key market for innovation, having grown its office in Bengaluru into a world-class R&D center employing over 1,000 in India across engineering, design, product management and more. 

Established in late 2020 with an initial investment of US$50 million, the Atlassian Ventures team invest in companies across three focus areas where it can uniquely accelerate growth. Firstly - the early-stage startups, who are building apps for Atlassian’s cloud products. Secondly - larger, growth-stage startups deepening their partnerships with Atlassian; and thirdly, Atlassian channel partners creating new cloud products and services that support the future of teamwork. 

Head of Atlassian Ventures, Matt Sonefeldt says, “Our goal for Atlassian Ventures is to build a world-class venture capital fund, not just a great corporate venture program. We measure our success by how well we help founders grow their companies through Atlassian, and we’re excited about supporting awesome companies that are driving collaboration for teams on the cloud. This year we’ve built a dedicated team inside Atlassian to support Ventures and our portfolio founders as we set our sights on a much bigger goal, several times larger than the $110 million invested today.” 

Atlassian Ventures portfolio companies receive mentorship from the Atlassian team and global exposure at its events, in addition to the capital they receive. The mentor meets them regularly to check in on progress, give advice based on their experience in the ecosystem, and help with any roadblocks they may be facing. 

Highlighting the success of the venture fund, Dinesh Ajmera, Site Lead and Head of Engineering, India, Atlassian says, “One and a half years later, we've really seen first-hand the impact this funding has had on the global ecosystem. We’ve seen wonderful growth across the portfolio whether its partners seeing more integrated users, teams hiring talent or growing revenue, and developers turning side projects into full-time jobs. With the increasing focus on cloud and India being one of the biggest startup hubs in the world, we’re committed to doing our part to ensure a vibrant ecosystem. We’ve been amazed at how our ecosystem has innovated on top of Atlassian products and we want to continue enabling their success and growth.” 

Atlassian Ventures' three core focus areas are agile development, work management and IT service management. Outside of these fields, the corporate VC would also consider investing in start-ups playing in spaces such as product-led growth, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). 

For further information on how to apply for funding, visit http://atlassian.com/company/ventures. 

Wagh Bakri Foundation Donates Delivery Vehicle To Akshaya Patra, Reiterates Support Towards Feeding 65,000 Children

* The donations made by Wagh Bakri Foundation will help 3,300 nutritious meals reach about 65,877 students in government schools in Bengaluru

Adding another milestone to their long-standing relationship, Wagh Bakri Foundation has reiterated its support towards The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s mission to eliminate child malnutrition in India by donating a delivery vehicle that will help transport hot and nutritious mid-day meals to government schools in Bengaluru.

The vehicle that will be part of Akshaya Patra’s kitchen in Bengaluru will help the NGO deliver 3,300 meals to about 65,877 children.

The generous donation is one of the many initiatives undertaken by Wagh Bakri in collaboration with on Akshaya Patra. As part of their decade-long partnership, both organizations have come together on various occasions to provide mid-day meals, distribute Happiness kits, and cooked meals to the underprivileged.

The delivery vehicle donated to Hare Krishna Hill was flagged off in Bengaluru on 30th March 2022 in the presence of Mr. PV Suresh, Senior General Manager (Sales), Wagh Bakri Tea Group and Sri Sridham Krishna Dasa, Director, Resource Mobilisation, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Speaking on the decade-long association, Mr. Paras Desai, Executive Director, Wagh Bakri Tea Group and Trustee, Wagh Bakri Foundation, said, “The Group is elated to join hands with The Akshaya Patra Foundation for the noble cause of providing nutritious meals to underprivileged students across India. The culture of Wagh Bakri Group has always been to ‘Give back to society. We at Wagh Bakri Tea Group believe 'Food is a fundamental human right' hence we strive to work towards fulfilling this responsibility towards the society we live in. Stepping ahead towards the goal of providing the right nutrition, we aid Akshay Patra with 6 food distribution vehicles for serving ‘Mid-Day Meal’ scheme of the Government of India. The vehicles will help Akshay Patra Foundation to reach the larger area and needier.”

Expressing gratitude for the donation by Wagh Bakri Foundation, Sri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, said, “For the past 21 years, we’ve served hot and nutritious meals to children with an aim to eradicate classroom hunger and ascertain that no child should be deprived of education due to hunger. Our mission can only be achieved through partnerships like the one we have with Wagh Bakri. This long-standing collaboration and the donations being made as a part of a larger goal will go a long way in expanding the reach of Akshaya Patra’s meals to thousands more students in Bengaluru.”

About Wagh Bakri Tea Group

The Wagh Bakri Tea Group has been actively involved in philanthropic activities even before it was mandated by the CSR law. The Group has been making sincere endeavors to bring about a visible change in the society by contributing in the fields of education, healthcare, women empowerment and other socio-economic development activities.

Some of their notable contributions include the construction of education infrastructure at Vishvamangalam, Anera – Sabarkantha district of Gujarat, the creation of an endowment fund for ‘Cataract Surgeries’ to Blind People’s association, health equipment support to ‘Jivraj Mehta Smarak health Foundation’ in Ahmedabad, among others.

The Group has also extended support to the ‘Gujarat Cancer Society’ for spreading awareness & Prevention and joins hands during various relief interventions through partner organizations during the COVID pandemic.

About The Akshaya Patra Foundation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that strives to address classroom hunger and malnutrition in India. By implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Government and Government-aided schools, Akshaya Patra aims to fight hunger and, at the same time, bring children to school. Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching out to children with wholesome food every single school day. The Foundation is continuously leveraging technology to cater to millions of children. Its state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and attract curious visitors from around the world.

In partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments and the inestimable support of many philanthropic donors and well-wishers, Akshaya Patra has grown from humble beginnings serving just 1,500 school children across five schools to becoming the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programme, serving wholesome food to over 1.8 million children from 19,039 schools [as of March 2020] across 14 states and two union territory in India.

RFPIO Appoints New VP Sales To Bolster Global Expansion Plans In EMEA And APAC

* Astrid Masle-Boer has joined as Vice President of Sales to lead the company’s international expansion

RFPIO, the leading response management platform, today announces the appointment of Astrid Masle-Boer as vice president of sales to lead the company’s expansion plans and continue advancing its international presence in EMEA and APAC. With an estimated 20% of the company’s revenue from the EMEA and APAC in 2021, RFPIO further aims to expand its international presence with the new leadership team.

In the last six months, the company has witnessed a strong growth trajectory on the heels of two acquisitions including the acquisition of RFP360 to bolster best-in-class response management solutions for organizations of all sizes and InHub, a leading RFx management solution for the investment community. RFPIO also preparing for a year of expansion through investments in hiring and product development.

“A transformation in sales analytics and AI is redefining the way B2B organizations buy and sell. The process has been cumbersome and slow for too long,” says Ganesh Shankar, CEO and co-founder of RFPIO. “Growth leaders have realized they need to prioritize response management and there is a global need. With a huge market opportunity, Ms. Masle-Boer will play a key role in the creation and execution of RFPIO’s global strategy by adding team members and forming new alliances to expand its presence.”

Since its founding six years ago, RFPIO’s product vision has evolved to meet the market needs and include stakeholders well beyond the sales team. The platform's user base grew by an estimated 105,000 since the start of 2021 alone.

“Astrid is an outstanding addition to our leadership team. She is a proven sales leader with a demonstrated ability to build strategic relationships and will help RFPIO scale international operations.” continued Shankar. “As organizations embrace new work methodologies and environments, Astrid will play a critical role in ensuring that RFPIO’s offering aligns with what our customers need to meet their revenue goals.”

To learn more about RFPIO,  visit www.rfpio.com/.

About RFPIO

RFPIO is the market leader in response management software, trusted by some of the world's smartest companies to support RFP and security questionnaire response, create and manage sales proposals, and resolve inefficiencies rooted in decentralized and inaccessible content and knowledge. The software's robust and bi-directional integrations, along with an open API, allow teams to digitally transform response management processes and to harness the power of the knowledge and content across their teams. RFPIO supports response management for growing organizations of all sizes including Google, Adobe, Atlassian, Microsoft, Tenable, Zoom Video and others.

For more information, visit rfpio.com or follow @rfpioinc on Twitter.

Avaya And Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Announce Strategic Partnership To Accelerate Their Customers’ Transformation To The Cloud

Avaya (NYSE: AVYA), a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, and Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, a leading international provider of communications, networking and cloud solutions today announced a strategic partnership that extends the availability of Avaya’s OneCloud CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) composable solutions to ALE’s global base of customers while also making ALE’s digital networking solutions available on a global basis to Avaya customers.

Through this partnership, ALE will offer Avaya OneCloud™ CCaaS, which provides advanced AI, Identity and Security, Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) and customer service capabilities to ALE customers. Avaya will offer ALE Digital Age Networking solutions to its customers, covering the full spectrum of enterprise wired and wireless connectivity technologies with advanced cloud platform services, leveraging the latest in IoT analytics, digital workflow, secure mobility, AI for network automation.

“We are extremely pleased to partner with Avaya to deliver market-leading CCaaS capabilities to our customers and expand the market reach of our Digital Age Networking solutions,” said Jack Chen, CEO, ALE. “The extensibility and composability of the Avaya OneCloud CCaaS platform allows us to work with an ecosystem of industry-leading partners to build with Avaya deeper and more engaging experiences our customers need.”

“We are very excited to partner with ALE to offer our OneCloud CCaaS to their global base of nearly one million customers and nearly 3,000 partners, while bolstering our portfolio with the addition of ALE networking technologies,” said Jim Chirico, President and CEO, Avaya. “The partnership we announced today is highly complementary and we believe it represents a significant opportunity for Avaya and ALE customers alike to accelerate their move to the cloud by deploying world-class cloud technologies from two global communications leaders.”

Business customers across the globe will be able to achieve their digital transformation and move to the cloud delivering differentiated customer experiences for their end customers and better work experiences for their employees.

“The addition of ALE to the Avaya OneCloud ecosystem reflects the growing strength of Avaya’s cloud offerings, as well as the success of the company’s strategy for delivering a highly composable architecture for the Experience Economy,” said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst with ZK Research. “ALE benefits by gaining access to Avaya’s growing ecosystem of Experience Builders, as well as a surging customer base of companies that need support at all levels of cloud migration strategies while Avaya solutions will be enhanced through the addition of ALE’s digital age networking portfolio, including their industry-leading IoT connectivity solution. This combination of ALE’s end-to-end IoT management, plus their broader enterprise digital age network portfolio, coupled with the OneCloud Experience Platform will deliver unrivaled ability for their customers to compose the future of work, connect all elements of their enterprise, serve the everything customer, and compete in the Experience Economy.” 

About Avaya

Businesses are built by the experiences they provide, and everyday millions of those experiences are delivered by Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA). Avaya is shaping what's next for the future of work, with innovation and partnerships that deliver game-changing business benefits. Our cloud communications solutions and multi-cloud application ecosystem power personalized, intelligent, and effortless customer and employee experiences to help achieve strategic ambitions and desired outcomes. Together, we are committed to help grow your business by delivering Experiences that Matter. Learn more at http://www.avaya.com

About Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise delivers the customised technology experiences enterprises need to make everything connect.

ALE provides digital-age networking, communications and cloud solutions with services tailored to ensure customers’ success, with flexible business models in the cloud, on premises, and hybrid. All solutions have built-in security and limited environmental impact.

Over 100 years of innovation have made Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise a trusted advisor to more than a million customers all over the world.

With headquarters in France and 3,400 business partners worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise achieves an effective global reach with a local focus.

Taki, A Token Powered Social Network For Content Creators, Fuelled By Crypto Token $TAKI, Will Launch Soon In India

* Taki is incubated at SuperLayer, a leading Web3 venture studio

* Solana Foundation has partnered with Taki and provided a USD 2.5M fund to on-board content creators onto Taki

* Interested users can sign up to join the waitlist and participate in the upcoming community token sale in April

Taki, a global token-powered social network, is all set to launch the platform for users and content creators in India. India takes precedence and priority among other markets that Taki plans to expand into this year. The platform is currently invite-only, but users can sign up on the waitlist with public access coming soon. Taki brings a unique engagement platform for creators, users, and crypto enthusiasts, who can earn a daily income by simply posting content and chatting with others about things that interest them.

Users on the platform earn $TAKI, a crypto token, by creating content that other users enjoy, and by commenting on and liking posts. Taki also allows users to create their own user coin to build their own personal economy on the Taki platform. Taki aims to reward users who are spending their time every day on the internet to get entertained and engage socially. Engaging over the content themes and common passions, the users of Taki now have the opportunity for being economically rewarded with every single post exchanged, shared, or liked either by fans or the creators.

The platform allows users to earn in two ways, one through the crypto token $TAKI, and the second through individual user coins for every user ($UCOIN). In both ways, a user can earn by creating content that other users enjoy, or even by pursuing a basic level of engagement activities such as commenting on and liking the posts.

Taki becomes the first platform to introduce the concept of user coin ($UCOIN). A user coin is a monetary representation of the personal social network, where a user can buy and sell user coins using a $TAKI token. User coins can generate a new source of income for creators who are traditionally reliant on sponsored content deals. It allows users to control their personal economy with a branded coin that they own.

Taki introduces a multi-tiered crypto-economy design by allowing users to freely trade their user coins with others on Taki. It also allows existing users to buy a particular creator’s user coins at the initial stages and remain part of that creator’s economy while their community and token economy grows.

Taki is built with an “Engage2Earn" product design and integrates user coins with social media features to incentivize and reward activities that benefit the Taki community. Incubated at SuperLayer, Taki received product design advice and networking support prior to the project’s independent spin-out and launch. Taki is built on the Solana Blockchain which allows Taki to provide fast and inexpensive transactions with low environmental impact. Solana has partnered with Taki to set up a 2.5 million USD creator fund to bring content creators to Taki who can drive a high level of awareness and enhance overall user engagement for the platform.

Commenting on the pre-launch phase, Sakina Arsiwala, Co-Founder, Taki said “Taki is a work of passion and an amalgamation of vision to bring a new dimension and meaning for social content consumption. Our vision is to enable liberalization in personal economy space with the power of crypto tokens. Taki is designed to be a secure, safe and tech superior product that enables social enthusiasts to consume, invest, share, transact and build a token-based content portfolio.”

Speaking on creating economic success for the content creators in cryptocurrency, she said, “India is a hub for creative talent, and has emerged as one of the biggest adopters of cryptocurrency in comparison to the other countries. The growth of the Indian engagement economy is rooted in the success and the immense reach of content creators. Content creators are building communities, and need to evolve in their journey along with their fans. More than just enabling social popularity on the platform, Taki presents an economically rewarding opportunity for creators and their fans through cryptocurrency.”

The community token sale of $TAKI by the TAKI DAO is anticipated in April 2022 with the goal to enable broader distribution of $TAKI and promote awareness of the Taki project.

Towards Taki India launch, Kevin Chou, Managing Partner at SuperLayer said, “We are extremely excited about Taki as an emerging token-powered platform. We believe Taki is going to be a first of its kind to bridge the gap between normal netizens and Web3 experience at large. India has the real potential to nurture and grow the cryptocurrency ecosystem for the entire world.”   

About Taki

Taki is a global token-powered social network where everyone can earn a daily income by simply posting content and chatting with others about things that interest them. Users earn $TAKI, a crypto token, by creating content that other users enjoy, and by commenting on and liking posts. Taki also allows users to create their user coin to build their individual economy on the Taki platform.

About SuperLayer

SuperLayer is a community of builders creating transformative Web3 experiences that democratize opportunity and ownership of the internet. SuperLayer is made up of a team of crypto-passionate builders, founders, investors, operators, and product managers who’ve built multiple companies from zero-to-one and beyond. SuperLayer is a partner of the $RLY network, an open, decentralized network powered by its governance token, $RLY. It supports an ecosystem of consumer crypto applications to bring the next 100 million users into crypto.

3i Infotech Bags Orders Worth Rs. 105.8 Million Across Industry Verticals

* The new clients are from varied industries ranging from Retail, Financial Services, Edtech to SMEs in the manufacturing sector 

3i Infotech Limited (BSE: 532628, NSE: 3IINFOTECH), a global Information Technology company, committed to accelerating business transformation, has announced that they have signed the Master Service Agreements (MSA) with the following new clients and the starting contract value is Rs. 10.58 Crore (i.e., Rs. 105.8 million). The companies ranging from Retail, Financial Services, Edtech to SMEs in the Manufacturing sector include Vishal Mega Mart Private Limited, Dhani Loans and Services Limited (formerly India bulls Consumer Finance Limited), Amara Raja Batteries Ltd, Aavas Financiers Limited, Erulearning Solutions Private Limited and Rockman Industries Limited. 

Sushant Purushan, Business Head (Digital IMS, Cloud Transformation), 3i Infotech said, “We are excited to be chosen as a digital transformation partner for all these companies, who range from Retail, Financial Services, Edtech to SMEs in the manufacturing sector. Among other things, we will be deploying our Digital Infrastructure Managed Services and Multi-Vendor Services for them, which will help accelerate innovation and enable greater business outcomes in the long run. Our products and services will also help secure cloud and the edge.” 

3i Infotech’s Digital Infrastructure Managed Services includes Data Center Modernization Services, Data Center Managed Services (Server, Network, Storage, DB, Backup, Application Services), Hybrid Cloud Managed Services, Digital Integrated Service Desk, EUS Management Services, End Point Protection Services, Unified Messaging & Collaboration, Mobile Device Management Services and Virtual Desktop Services leverage rich multi-domain expertise to build optimal infrastructure setups with 24x7x365 IT support. 

3i Infotech’s Multi-Vendor Services provide preventive, corrective and on demand services through preferred delivery channel i.e., direct or B2B using their expertise and support network. Their key service offerings include - IT Assets Lifecycle Management, Tech Refresh and Integration, Projects and Consulting. 

About 3i Infotech  

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, since inception in 1993, 3i Infotech has been committed to driving business value across multiple industry verticals. 3i Infotech, today, has emerged as a leading name in propelling the current wave of digital transformation initiatives, with deep domain expertise across BFSI, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail and Government sectors. The Company has over 4500 employees in 32 offices, 15 countries and across 4 continents. With a wide range of IT services, 3i Infotech has successfully transformed business operations of 1,200+ customers across 50 countries. The Company has a very strong foothold and client base in geographies like North America, India, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

Website: https://www.3i-infotech.com/

MADAME Onboards Tara Sutaria As New Face Of The Fashion Brand

MADAME, India’s leading western wear fashion brand, has signed up Tara Sutaria as the face of the brand. The 26-year-old Bollywood actor will be endorsing the Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter Collection of the brand.

 “We are delighted to partner with Tara to endorse our new collections of MADAME. This is in line with our motto of supporting the modern Indian women who dare to achieve their dreams. I think Tara is a wonderful representative of what our brand stands for. We want all the women to feel inspired and be confident about themselves,” said Sumedha Jain, Head of Marketing and Communications.

“Confidence, paired with the perfect look, and you're ready to take on the day. That's why I'm excited to partner with MADAME to bring all you lovely women the opportunity to ‘MAKE NOW YOURS’,” said Tara Sutaria.

With the Spring Summer’22 collection by MADAME, you can claim every moment as your own. We believe that there’s no better moment than now and there’s no better person than you to grab every fleeting opportunity to celebrate.  Let the sun be your spotlight as you #MakeNowYours with MADAME.  

As summer has arrived, the collection will contain capsules such as Sorbet Blue, Lilac Sage, Indigo Breeze. Both SS’22 and AW’22 collections are aimed squarely at today's women who desire to dress stylishly and keep up with the latest fashion trends. MADAME is certain that its new collection and cooperation with Tara Sutaria will elicit excitement among its loyal clients as well as attract new buyers.