Business briefs

Global pension-tech platform PinBox on Tuesday said it has raised USD 1 million about Rs 7.4 crore in funding led by Venture Catalysts.Vcats accelerator fund 9unicorns also participated in the seed round, a statement said.Founded in 2016 by Parul Seth Khanna and Gautam Bhardwaj, PinBox addresses friction and access challenges in delivering micro-pension and insurance solutions to underserved informal sector workers.

Global pension-tech platform PinBox on Tuesday said it has raised USD 1 million (about Rs 7.4 crore) in funding led by Venture Catalysts.

Vcats' accelerator fund 9unicorns also participated in the seed round, a statement said.

Founded in 2016 by Parul Seth Khanna and Gautam Bhardwaj, PinBox addresses friction and access challenges in delivering micro-pension and insurance solutions to underserved informal sector workers. In 2020, pinBox joined hands with WhatsApp and integrated its platform with the app to make saving for old age as quick, easy and simple as sending a message.

In India, PinBox is working with HDFC Pension, SBI AMC and leading insurers to help deliver NPS and customised saving and insurance solutions.

''The funding from VCats will help us upscale our capacity to more effectively meet the growing interest in comprehensive social protection from multiple countries. We're also grateful to Positron Advisors for their valuable strategic inputs,'' PinBox co-founder Parul Seth Khanna said. **** CareerNinja raises funding from Unitus Ventures *Edtech platform CareerNinja on Tuesday said it has raised an undisclosed amount from Unitus Ventures. ''We aim to touch over a million learners by 2022. The (pre-seed) funding secured will help us to advance the product, team and technology to achieve this goal,” CareerNinja founder Shronit Ladhani said in a statement. Founded in 2017, CareerNinja provides personalised and experiential courses to users based on their goals and skill level to kick-start their careers. Surya Mantha, the Senior Partner at Unitus Ventures, said business needs are changing rapidly and hiring needs are constantly evolving to keep up. ''The roots of underemployment in our country are deep. One way to address this is to make upskilling affordable and outcome-focused for the millions in India's workforce. CareerNinja aligns with our outlook and investment thesis to create meaningful solutions to address this problem at scale,” he added.

**** Tableau partners with All India Council for Technical Education *Analytics platform Tableau on Tuesday said it has partnered with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to equip students and educators from AICTE's over 10,500 higher learning institutes with modern data analytics skills. Through this partnership, it will provide AICTE with Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep licenses, access to eLearning, and sample curriculum material co-created with University professors for educators to get started teaching analytics in classrooms, a statement said.

“Skill sets are changing across the globe to accommodate a data-driven world. It is increasingly valuable for knowledge workers across all industries to use data to problem solve and make decisions,” AICTE Chief Coordinating Officer Chandrasekhar Buddha said.

Since 2011, Tableau's Academic Programmes have enabled more than 1.7 million students and teachers from accredited institutions around the world with critical data skills.

''The year 2020 showed us the significance of data and how it is a strategic asset for all to navigate in the pandemic. Everyone, regardless of their position or department, must understand data which is the new language of business,'' Anand Ekambaram, Country Manager India at Tableau, said. ******** Kotak Mahindra Bank ties up with Indian Navy for salary accounts *private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank on Tuesday said it has tied up with the Indian Navy for salary accounts.

The bank will be offering enhanced personal accident insurance cover for both on-duty and off-duty incidents as part of the tie-up, which is applicable for both serving and retired personnel, as per an official statement.