Google leads $300 mln funding at Sharechat parent; Airbus sets up an H2 R&D facility in the UK; One AI raises $8 mln

Amid a funding slowdown, Sharechat’s parent Mohalla Tech is expected to announce a $300 million funding round led by Google, India’s Times Group and Singapore’s Temasek, Reuters reports. Airbus has set up an R&D facility in the UK for cryogenic fuel technologies for its proposed hydrogen planes. One AI, an Israel and Silicon Valley NLP company has come out of stealth mode, raising $8 million in seed funding. Notes: Google, India’s Times Group and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings have invested nearly $300 million in Mohalla Tech, which runs the Indian social media platform Sharechat and short video app Moj, Reuters reports. The deal values Mohalla Tech at nearly $5 billion, two sources involved in the deal discussions told Reuters. The deal is set to be announced as early as next week, according to Reuters. It comes at a time when Indian startups are cutting costs and laying off staff as funding is drying up due to a global economic downturn. India’s government is ready with a consultation paper on cryptocurrencies, economic affairs secretary Ajay Seth told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Monday, Reuters reports. Seth said there needed to be a global consensus on cryptocurrencies and India would look at regulations enforced in other countries before deciding how it would regulate them. Uncertainty over crypto regulation in India has led some crypto startups to move their base from the country to locations such as Dubai. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger has acquired a stake in the Australian design company Canva and agreed to be an advisor to the privately held company, CNBC reports. Iger and Canva didn’t reveal the size of the investment. Canva raised money in September, valuing the company at $40 billion, according to CNBC. One AI, an NLP-as-a-service startup that helps developers to embed Language AI in their products, officially launched yesterday, with $8 million in seed funding, the Israel and Silicon Valley company said in a press release. Angel investors and VCs, including Ariel Maislos, Tech Aviv, and Tomer Wiengarten, CEO of Sentinel One, invested in the company. Airbus has launched a hydrogen technologies facility in the UK, in its latest move to support the design of its next generation of aircraft, CNBC reports. Airbus said in a statement last week that the Zero Emission Development Centre in Filton, Bristol, had already begun working on the development of the tech. One of the site’s main goals will centre around work on what Airbus called a “cost-competitive cryogenic fuel system” that its ZEROe aircraft will need. Details of three zero-emission, “hybrid-hydrogen” concept planes under the ZEROe moniker were released back in September 2020. Airbus has said it wants to develop “zero-emission commercial aircraft” by the year 2035, according to CNBC. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds