Listen: Big Blue has a new chief; Tiger Global’s $3.8 bn warchest; UrbanClap gets a new identity

TechCircle’s podcast TechThisWeek brings you news, insights, wrapped up in a weekly roundup of the following hand-picked developments in the startup and enterprise technology ecosystems in India.

The week comes to an end with the big announcement of Arvind Krishna being elected as the new IBM chief. Krishna will take over from incumbent CEO Ginni Rometty in April. Rometty will continue as executive chairman of the board till the end of the year when she retires after a 40-year stint with the firm. IIT Kanpur alumnus Krishna was the principal architect of the $34 billion Red Hat acquisition.

New York-based alternative investments firm Tiger Global Management raised $3.8 billion in its global fund. This comes at a time when the fund is on a renewed investment run in the Indian early stage market, with a focus on B2B startups. Continuing from the past two years, the firm opened 2020 on a strong note in terms of new investments. It invested $200 million in Bengaluru-based edtech company Byju’s and joined London-based hedge fund Steadview Capital in a $39 million round in logistics automation platform Loginext.

This week also saw Bengaluru-based information technology services major Infosys exiting its investment in Danish AI (artificial intelligence) startup Unsilo after three years at a more than 60% loss. Infosys sold its undisclosed minority stake in the advanced text analysis startup for $0.8 million (Rs 5.7 crore) to Cactus Communications, a global scientific communications company.

UrbanClap has rebranded itself as Urban Company, along with various verticals into sub-brands. Abhiraj Bhal, the co-founder of the company, said that this is a simple name with a global appeal. He added that the step captures the company’s ambition to be a horizontal gig marketplace with a global footprint across categories such as beauty, wellness and home repairs.