Facebook is now Meta; Apple warns of supply constraints; Lightspeed to raise $5.5 bln; a chat with Gramophone’s CEO Tauseef Khan

Facebook has rebranded itself as Meta. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees the future of the business being built increasingly around the virtual world of metaverse that the company is investing heavily into. Zuckerberg was widely anticipated to reveal the new name at the company’s annual Connect event. Meta will now be the parent company of businesses that comprise the family of apps including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and other services such as the Facebook Reality Labs, which includes the metaverse effort. The name change also follows a series of revelations about the undesirable impact of Facebook—with its close to 4 billion users —as a platform for spreading hate and misinformation that were brought to the fore by a former product manager turned whistleblower Frances Haugen. Apple reported its fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year results and said it was moving closer to its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. The fiscal year 2021 was one in which Apple sales rose 29 percent and the company made inroads into emerging markets. The maker of iPhones doubled its business in India and Vietnam, CEO Tim Cook said in an earnings call. Apple’s fiscal year 2021 that ended September 30, was also one in which supply constraints due to the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage, and disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic hurt sales and profits. In the September quarter alone, Apple sales were lower by $6 billion due to these constraints, Cook told CNBC in an interview. Amazon reported its fiscal third-quarter results, which showed the online retail giant has slowed down as America opens up after the pandemic. Online sales for the quarter rose only 3 percent during the September quarter, compared with 13 percent in the previous quarter and about 40 percent each in multiple quarters preceding that. Overall sales rose 15 percent helped by the continued strong performance at Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing unit, which grew almost 40 percent. Lightspeed Venture Partners, a well known Silicon Valley VC firm that has multiple investments in the Indian startup scene as well, is raising more than $5.5 billion for early- and late-stage investments, The Information reports. The fresh pool of capital represents the largest fundraising yet for the 20-year old firm that made early bets on Snap and Affirm. (3:22) Interview: Tauseef Khan, co-founder and CEO of agri-tech startup Gramophone, on plans ahead after fresh funding Covid-19 accelerated the adoption of technology even in India’s agri and farm sectors, where previously, despite greater rural penetration, smartphones were not being used by many. The increased adoption is now helping agri startups bring more services to the farmer’s doorstep—from seeds and fertilisers to scientific advice to marketplaces for selling their produce. In today’s interview, Tauseef Khan—co-founder and CEO of Gramophone, an agri-tech startup based in Madhya Pradesh—tells us about expansion plans in a more digital Bharat, after a fresh round of funding.