Business briefs 2

Google Cloud Tuesday said it has appointed Amitabh Jacob as the head of Partnerships and Alliances for India. Jacob will be responsible for driving Google Cloud's route-to-market strategy across the India region through partnerships with system integrators, re-sellers, technology partners, managed services providers and distribution partners, it said.

He has joined Google with over 20 years of industry experience and has worked with Amazon web services, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft in the past.

* * * * Microsoft announces social entrepreneur accelerator in India with Ashoka

* Microsoft Corporation Tuesday announced the roll-out of its social entrepreneur accelerator programme in partnership with Ashoka in India. It aims to nurture and grow an ecosystem of tech-enabled start-ups focused on social and environmental issues, Microsoft said in a statement.

India and France will be the first countries to pilot the programme in March 2019.

* * * * Indian Angel Network invests in Artivatic Data Labs

* Indian Angel Network (IAN) Tuesday said it has invested an undisclosed amount into Artivatic.ai (owned by Artivatic Data Labs). The investee company will utilise the freshly-raised funds for business development, infrastructure enhancement and research and development, IAN said in a statement.

IAN member Rajesh Relan (ex-CEO – PNB Metlife Insurance) has joined Artivatic as a board member post the investment, it added. Established in early 2017 by Layak Singh (founder and CEO) and Puneet Tandon (co-founder and CPO), Artivatic Data Labs leverages technology like data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to address challenges faced by fintech and insurance businesses.

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To boost export policy, 40 clusters have been formed across the country: Com Min * Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu Tuesday held an interaction with Farmer Producers' Organizations (FPOs) and, discussed measures to be implemented to boost exports.

The ministry said in a statement that to implement the agriculture export policy, 40 clusters have been formed across the country. Through NABARD, APEDA, MPEDA and Plantation Boards farmer’s organisations will be given all assistance to ensure that farmers get adequate market price and are able to export their produce, it added.

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DCB bank announces launch of open banking platform * Private sector DCB Bank Tuesday announced launch of open banking platform that will create a collaborative ecosystem with enterprises, fintechs and app developers, to enhance customer-service delivery.

Over 20 start-ups, fintechs, merchants, enterprises and developers will partner DCB Bank for access to open banking platform application programming interface (APIs) as well as collaboration on innovation and customer centric products, a statement said. The open banking platform APIs will provide seamless integration of banking services by improving the existing banking technology infrastructure and at the same time meet the growing demand for innovative solutions from new-age customers, it said.