SoftBank may invest $10 bln in India in 2022; Spotify buys Findaway; and a chat with Shashank Kumar, CEO of DeHaat

SoftBank Group may invest as much as $10 billion in India next year, chief executive Rajeev Misra said in a virtual conference on Thursday, TechCrunch reports. SoftBank, which returned to Flipkart with a fresh investment this year, has already invested $3 billion in Indian companies this year. In India, the group will look for the right companies at the right valuations to invest between $5 billion and $10 billion in 2022. US President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law, the Secure Equipment Act, to prevent Chinese companies that are seen as security threats from receiving new equipment licenses from US regulators. According to the Reuters report, this will affect companies such as like Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp. The signing comes days before Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual summit. The new law requires the Federal Communications Commission to no longer review or approve any authorisation application for equipment that poses an unacceptable risk to America’s national security, according to the report. Spotify Technology has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Findaway, a digital audiobooks distribution company, as Spotify expands its business beyond music and podcasts. Findaway’s technology infrastructure will enable Spotify to quickly scale its audiobook catalogue and innovate on the experience for consumers; simultaneously providing new avenues for publishers, authors, and independent creators to reach new audiences around the globe. A91 Partners, a Mumbai VC firm has closed its fund II at $550 million as it seeks to invest in the next generation of emerging Indian startups, general partner Gautam Mago said on Twitter. While it was started only in 2018, the young VC firm is an investor in well known Indian startups such as Oyo, Ola, Freshworks, CarDekho, Sugar, Capital Float, and CueMath.  Wipro, India’s fourth-biggest IT services company, has launched Click-Shift-Drive—a contactless car-buying solution that addresses the complete automobile buying journey. Scalable, flexible, and rapidly deployed, the end-to-end solution enables automakers and dealers to offer everything from research and loan approval to purchase and delivery, the company said in a press release. Click-Shift-Drive incorporates a range of Salesforce technologies. Wipro also partnered with ThreeKit 3D & Augmented Reality to provide an augmented reality component so buyers can visualise a virtual rendering of the automobile in their own driveway. (3:42) Interview: Shashank Kumar, co-founder and CEO of DeHaat, on India’s biggest agri startup funding so far, and plans ahead Perseverance is finally paying off for some of India's agri-tech startups, where founders patiently toiled away, having started their businesses long before the idea of a startup was fashionable in India. Last month, when DeHaat announced a $115 million funding round, it was the biggest fundraise by an agri startup in India so far. In today's interview, Shashank Kumar, co-founder and CEO of DeHaat, returns to this podcast to talk about the ongoing change in the Indian agri startup scene and plans ahead at his company.