In Brief: Walmart asks Myntra to cut discounts; Byju’s offers free access to app

Walmart has asked its Indian subsidiary Myntra, an online fashion retailer, to focus on profitability by reducing discounts, shutting down small warehouses and bringing down the level of stored inventory, The Economic Times reported. The reduction in inventory will help the company to unlock working capital, the financial daily said. Myntra’s net loss increased around 260% to Rs 539 crore in the year ended March 2019, the report added. 

Read: Flipkart shutters fashion ecommerce platform Jabong

CarTrade eyes NBFC license, plans IPO in next two years

Automobile classifieds portal CarTrade is planning to apply for an non-banking financial company (NBFC) license, The Economic Times reported. In the country’s $30 billion used car market, only 5% gets organised funding and that leaves a big opportunity to plug, the financial daily quoted the company’s managing director Vinay Sanghi as saying. Additionally, the Mumbai headquartered company has also set aside Rs 400-450 crore to acquire some small companies to beef up its operations and is planning an initial public offering in 18-24 months to provide an exit option to some of its investors, the report said. 

Mphasis gets Amazon Web Services certification

Information technology (IT) outsourcing services provider Mphasis announced that it has won the certification of being a premier consulting partner in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network. Mphasis, along with its Stelligent division, said the recognition was the result of delivering platform-led enterprise portfolio modernisation and migration programs on industrial Dev(Sec)Ops foundations. Mphasis in 2018 acquired Stelligent, a technology services company that provides DevOps automation on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The certification will enable Mphasis to participate in the AWS Service Delivery Program and expand Stelligent’s AWS competencies in DevOps, security and financial services. 

HackerEarth partners with JazzHR for developer recruitment and hiring solutions

Developer assessment solutions provider HackerEarth has partnered with JazzHR, a recruiting software provider for small and medium-sized businesses, for developer recruitment and hiring solutions. Under the partnership, JazzHR’s solution Applicant Tracking System (ATS) will integrate with HackerEarth’s platform to provide skill-based candidate screening, the companies said in a joint statement. The integration will also help the companies create customisable assessments for over 500 technical skills, streamline the test process through automated invites, manage results and feedback from a central location and access in-depth candidate analytics.

DAMO’s NLP model tops rankings

DAMO Academy, a global research initiative of China-based Alibaba Group, has topped the General Language Understanding Evaluation (GLUE) rankings, a platform that evaluates and analyses NLP systems. The model is deployed in technology company Alibaba’s ecosystem and used in text analysis of medical records and epidemiological investigation by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in China in its fight against COVID-19. 

Read: AI, cloud computing and Blockchain as a Service to grow in 2020 : Alibaba DAMO Academy

Byju’s offers free access to app for school students until April end

Bengaluru headquartered edtech platform Byju’s has announced free access to its app for school students until the end of April. The move is in line with the government-led advisory for schools to remain closed to safeguard the health of students. The company said that students in classes 1-3 can access maths and English lessons, and students in classes 4-12 can learn maths and science concepts on its app. A report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that education of over 290 million students across 13 countries will be interrupted because of the COVID-19 crisis.