Innovations Financial News

Lamb Weston is naming a new CEO as the frozen French fry maker moved to a loss in its second quarter and trimmed its fiscal 2025 forecast

Guideline Geo to set up a world-class Centre in India for geophysical exploration with state-of-the-art instruments services, and applications to support the industrial and startup ecosystem. With increasing worldwide development, the demand for minerals is rising. In this context, “ninerals” can refer to different rock types and sediments but more likely commodities such as gold, copper, iron, etc. Mineral exploration can be challenging, with large areas to cover, sometimes in very rough terrain, and complicated geological structures hiding the minerals we want to mine. This means that the chosen investigation technique should be able to address these issues. This can only be achieved by accelerating the advanced practices in geophysical exploration techniques, offering a non-destructive and cost-efficient way of gaining a better understanding of the sub-surface conditions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Despite a dull first half of FY25 (H1FY25), shareholders of Coromandel International are brimming with optimism. The fertiliser firm’s stock hit a new 52-week high of ₹1,882 on Wednesday, taking its returns so far this calendar year to 45%.

Private equity major KKR has acquired a stake in Mumbai-based Rebel Foods, the parent company of Faasos, Behrouz Biryani, and other cloud kitchen brands, according to a company statement. The investment was made through a secondary share purchase transaction and follows Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek-led $210 million (approximately Rs 1,782 crore) funding round announced on December 12. KKR has not disclosed the size of its investment. A significant portion of the latest financing round comprises secondary share sales, conducted at a lower valuation of around $750-800 million. In contrast, the primary funding infusion was executed at a flat valuation of $1.4 billion. While secondaries are typically done at a discount to the last primary valuation, this transaction reflects a steep discount of approximately 50%.

Diageo is rolling out multiple initiatives to drive diversity and inclusion in India, says Caroline Rhodes, global HR director — learning and inclusion at the London-headquartered alcohol beverages company. On a recent visit to India, she talked to ET’s Brinda Sarkar about Diageo’s outlook towards inclusion and diversity, employee well-being and how critical India is in the context of global operations. Edited Excerpts: What are your growth plans for India? India is such a critical part of our business. We’re at about 1,400-odd corporate employees (in India), and an equal or so number in our manufacturing units across the country. Our product portfolio here is interesting because it’s not just the Diageo products we sell including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Gordon’s, and Baileys, but also a large part of the United Spirits portfolio that we inherited. McDowell’s is the largest selling whiskey in the world, and with Royal Challenge there is the affiliation to the RCB men’s and women’s cricket teams.

The Environmental Protection Agency has granted two requests from California to enforce strict standards for vehicle emissions, including a rule aimed at banning sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035

Speciale Invest. The deep tech startups, however, need to consider alternative funding such as venture debt, asset financing, and project financing during their initial stages to address the science risk, the firm's founding partner Vishesh Rajaram told ET. Speciale has been investing in seed-stage startups, and GalaxEye Space, Agnikul Cosmos, ePlane Company, Uravu Labs and CynLr are some of the investee startups. The VC firm’s report titled 'India's Deep Tech Revolution' on the sector, which is slated for release on Thursday and accessed by ET, highlights that the global market share of funding in Indian deep tech startups (1.30%) is significantly lower than the overall funding available to Indian tech startups (3.86%) which needs to be encouraged. It also added that back home, Indian corporations are still warming up to the idea of innovation through deep-tech startups and are yet to see an acquisition of a deep-tech startup.

Infosys, country's second largest IT services giant, on Wednesday announced investment of Rs 426 crore for its new 320,000 square feet development centre in Kolkata. “This state-of-the-art facility with an investment of over Rs 426 crore is designed to accommodate over 4,000 employees in a hybrid working model,” the Bengaluru based company said in a statement. The centre will generate employment opportunities in next-gen technologies such as cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). «The centre will provide employees greater flexibility and enable them to work on new-age technologies such as cloud, AI, and digital, across a diverse range of industries, including manufacturing, logistics, financial services, energy & utilities,» the statement added.

Barcelona's subway system is using regenerative braking to help power both its convoys but also recharge electric cars at street level

G20 Talent Visa. Targeted at scholars, researchers, and professionals from G20 nations, this initiative aims to bolster India's scientific and educational ecosystem. The announcement aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal at the G20 Summit in September, where he emphasized the need to create opportunities for top talent in science and technology. Speaking at the summit, the Prime Minister Modi said, “Similar to how all countries issue different categories of visas, we can establish a ‘G20 Talent Visa’ as a special category. This type of visa could be highly beneficial for our top science and technology talent to explore global opportunities. Their talent and efforts can contribute significantly to our economies.”

DexBoss is one of the noteworthy meme coins this season. DexBoss (DEBO) recently began its presale at $0.01 with the target to list at $0.0505. The token will power the DexBoss ecosystem and provide utility through a deflationary buyback-and-burn model that reduces supply to boost scarcity. DexBoss provides decentralised exchange functionalities similar to the ones in the centralised platforms. The model has a set number of tokens, and the demand keeps rising. It, therefore, means there will be long-term value for the investors. This is one opportunity for anyone entering the decentralised finance (DeFI) space.

MathCo is looking to hire 400-odd people by the end of this fiscal, taking its workforce to 2,500 globally. It has already hired 400 people so far this fiscal. The startup is recruiting AI/ML engineers, data engineers, data scientists and consumption specialists. As its technical workforce grows, the company will also expand its enablement functions to support this growth. While a major focus will be on fresh talent right out of campus, the firm will also continue to hire laterally across profiles. With GenAI being a relatively new and rapidly evolving field, the company is prioritising both internal upskilling and onboarding new talent with relevant backgrounds to strengthen its capabilities in this area.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. could receive up to $15 billion in federal loans to help the utility modernize its power grid and expand clean energy infrastructure across central and northern California

high-end fashion brands and retailers, prompting further interest in offering cryptocurrencies as a means of payment to tap in to fresh pockets of wealth and build loyalty with crypto investors. Until recently, only a handful of luxury brands including LVMH watch labels Hublot and Tag Heuer as well as Kering-owned fashion brands Gucci and Balenciaga have experimented with crypto payment offers. In recent weeks, upscale French luxury department store Printemps announced it was teaming up with the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, and French financial tech company Lyzi to accept cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum in its stores in France — becoming the first European department store to do so. The move, coming as bitcoin rises, has been noticed by other brands and retailers who are showing interest in joining in.

HDFC Bank and Tally Solutions to help startups growth. Under the MoU with the bank, startups will benefit from customised banking and financial products designed to cater to their specific requirements, such as working capital, credit access, and cash flow management. Sumeet Kumar Jarangal, director of Startup India, said by leveraging the bank's expertise and resources, DPIIT aims to provide startups with seamless access to financial services and innovative solutions. «This collaboration will not only effectively combat the critical challenges like funding and financial management but also create a conducive environment for startups to innovate and flourish in a result-oriented manner,» he said.

Dish TV India has collaborated with UK-based C21 Media to launch a trade event, Content India, aimed at positioning India as a global content powerhouse. Scheduled for April 1-3, 2025, the three-day summit will lay the groundwork for the comprehensive Content India 2026 event. Modeled on the globally successful formats of C21 Media’s Content London and Content Americas, the event will integrate a marketplace, conferences, and networking opportunities to connect creators, producers, distributors, platforms, and channels. Dish TV India, a leading content aggregator and distributor, aims to establish Content India as a pivotal platform to showcase Indian content globally while attracting international players to explore opportunities within India.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As a design brand rooted in travel, TUMI explores a new destination through each of its collection. Its latest autumn/winter 2024 collection, for instance, derives inspiration from Seoul's bold architecture, colourful street culture and innovative mindset.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. At a massive semiconductor trade show in Tokyo last week, I watched robots shoot hoops and play table tennis and witnessed an impressive lineup of executives share their visions on everything from quantum computing to artificial intelligence (AI). More than 1,000 companies representing nearly every facet of the supply chain gathered to show off their latest technologies to an estimated 100,000 attendees.

Union Budget 2025 approaches, set to be unveiled in February, it’s a good time to understand the concept of strategic disinvestment and how it differs from disinvestment. Here’s a simple breakdown:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must"—Thucydides. Nothing describes the evolution of the Westphalian system of ‘nation states’ that humanity has adopted better than Thucydides’ pithy observation in his Melian Dialogue.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Vani Kola-led Kalaari Capital has returned more than $100 million in exits in the current calendar year. This comes at a time when the backer of unicorn companies like Elastic Run, Dream11 and Upstox, among others, has pumped in around $25 million in more than 10 companies this calendar year, Kola said in an interview with Mint.