Number of Facebook users fall first time ever; Cognizant posts strong Q4 numbers; Chargebee raises $250 million

Facebook saw its first-ever quarterly decline of daily users globally. Parent company Meta warned of a slowdown in the growth of ad sales that sent its shares plunging by 20 percent on Wednesday. US IT services giant Cognizant joined its rivals in posting strong December quarter numbers. Chargebee, a SaaS company raised a quarter of a billion dollars with a big jump in valuation. Notes: Facebook daily users fell for the first time in the company’s history Facebook saw its first-ever quarterly decline of daily users globally and parent company Meta warned of a slowdown in the growth of ad sales that sent its shares plunging by 20 percent on Wednesday. Overall, Meta’s family of apps—including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp—were used by an average of 2.82 billion people daily around the world in the three months ended December 31, the company’s fourth quarter of 2021, compared with 2.81 billion people in the previous quarter. The Facebook app itself, however, saw a decline in daily active users to 1.929 billion in Q4, from 1.93 billion in Q3. This was the first such decline in the company’s history, as confirmed by a company spokesperson, The Verge reported. Cognizant posts strong Q4 numbers Cognizant Technology Solutions reported fiscal Q4 revenue of $4.8 billion, up 14.5 percent, and full-year revenue of $18.5 billion, a 10 percent increase. Digital services revenue increased 20 percent and 19 percent year-over-year in Q4 and full-year, respectively. Order bookings in Q4 increased 22 percent year-over-year and the total contract value signed in 2021 was $23.1 billion, Cognizant said in a press release. Cognizant projects revenue for 2022 to increase by 8.5 percent to 11.5 percent to be in the range of $20 billion to $20.5 billion. Chargebee raises $250 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion Chargebee, which sells billing and subscription management software to business customers, has raised $250 million in a new funding round co-led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, Economic Times reports. The investment values Chargebee at $3.5 billion. Existing investors including Insight Partners, Sapphire and Steadview Capital also participated. Park Place acquires Storfirst software platform Park Place Technologies, a data centre and networking optimisation provider, has purchased Congruity360’s Storfirst software platform. Storfirst is the industry’s most secure, OEM and platform-agnostic file system migration and information management software, the company said in a press release. FourKites acquires NIC-place to expand operations in Europe FourKites, a real-time supply chain visibility platform provider, has acquired NIC-place, a similar company in Europe. FourKites and NIC-place’s combined over-the-road, rail and ocean carrier networks create the largest multimodal carrier network in Europe, the company said in a press release. OneTo11 has raised $2.5 million in seed funding OneTo11, which is developing a blockchain gaming ecosystem, has recently raised $2.5 million in its private and seed funding from a wide selection of investment and capital groups and global blockchain investors, the company said in a press release. The company was founded in 2020. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds