Google to slow hiring through 2023; HCL Tech reports strong Q1 numbers; Lightspeed India closes $500 mln fund

Google’s parent Alphabet will slow the pace of hiring and investments through 2023, responding to the global economic slowdown, CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees on Tuesday, CNBC reports. HCL Technologies reported its services business grew strongly in its fiscal first quarter, joining TCS in signalling customers continue to invest in the move to the cloud. And Lightspeed announced a half-a-billion-dollar fund close for India and south-east Asia. Notes: Google’s parent Alphabet will slow the pace of hiring and investments through 2023, CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees on Tuesday, CNBC reports. “Like all companies, we’re not immune to economic headwinds,” Pichai wrote in the memo, which was seen by CNBC. “We need to be more entrepreneurial working with greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we’ve shown on sunnier days,” Pichai wrote, according to CNBC. Pichai said in the letter that the company hired 10,000 employees in the second quarter. And “because of the hiring progress achieved so far this year, we’ll be slowing the pace of hiring for the rest of the year, while still supporting our most important opportunities,” he wrote. “For the balance of 2022 and 2023, the company will focus on hiring on engineering, technical and other critical roles,” Pichai wrote, according to CNBC. HCL Technologies, yesterday, reported fiscal first-quarter revenues of $3.025 billion, a 15.6 percent increase year over year in constant currency, and 2.7 percent over the previous quarter. Noida-based HCL Tech, India’s third-biggest IT services company, joins larger rival TCS in signalling customers are continuing to invest in moving more IT to the cloud, which is helping India’s biggest software services companies win larger orders. The company’s main services business, which contributes the bulk of its revenues and profits, rose strongly at 19 percent year over year. “Our services business continues to have robust growth momentum … driven by our digital engineering and digital application services with cloud adoption being a horizontal theme across all services and verticals,” CEO C Vijayakumar said in a press release. The company’s new orders grew by 23.4 percent with a good mix of large and mid-sized deals and its pipeline remains near a record high, he added. Lightspeed yesterday announced the closing of a $500 million early-stage fund, the LSIP Fund IV, for India and Southeast Asia as part of its global $7 billion fundraise bringing its total capital under management to about $18 billion. Lightspeed has been investing in Indian startups since 2007, and in addition to the fourth fund, it invests in growth-stage companies from its Select and Opportunity funds. Lightspeed’s investments in this region include Indian Energy Exchange, Oyo, Byju’s, Grab, Acko, Razorpay, Udaan, Sharechat and Innovaccer. Wheelocity, a supply chain network provider for fresh produce, has raised $12 million in series A funding led by Lightspeed. The round, a mix of equity and venture debt, also saw participation from Anicut Capital and other investors, according to a press release. Wheelocity was started in September 2021 by Selvam VMS, Senthil and Cdr. Amresh. Its customers include Swiggy’s Instamart, Ninjacart, Dunzo and Blinkit. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds