In Brief: Munich Re may back Acko; Union Cabinet approves changes in MSME definition

Acko Technology may raise $60-70 million from Germany headquartered Munich Re Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Munich Reinsurance, and other investors, The Economic Times reported. Existing investors such as ecommerce giant Amazon, former SoftBank executive Kabir Misra's RPS Ventures and Intact Ventures will also join the ongoing fundraising. The funding is expected to value Acko at around $400-$500 million, the report said.

Union Cabinet allows changes in the definition of MSME

The Union Cabinet has allowed changes in the definition of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), The Economic Times reported. Under the new definition, companies with an investment of one crore and turnover of Rs 5 crore will be known as micro-enterprises, whereas companies with an investment of Rs 10 crore and turnover of Rs 50 crore will be classified as small enterprises. Organisations with an investment of Rs 50 crore and a turnover of Rs 250 crore will be marked under medium enterprises. Earlier, the definition of MSME announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the Rs 20 lakh-crore Atmanirbhar Bharat package had pegged the investment limit for medium companies at Rs 20 crore and turnover at Rs 100 crore. 

Indian security researcher earns Rs 75 lakh from Apple for finding a bug

Indian security researcher Bhavuk Jain (27) has earned $100,000 (over Rs 75 lakh) from consumer technology firm Apple. Jain discovered Zero-Day vulnerability in the sign in with Apple account authentication, The Economic Times reported. This vulnerability could have allowed a hacker to break into an Apple user's account. The bug affected third-party applications like Dropbox, Spotify, and Airbnb, Jain added.

Alibaba.com hosts online training workshops to helps MSMEs

Alibaba.com, the business-to-business (B2B)  arm of Alibaba Group, has hosted several online training workshops in last two months to back micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The company claims that the workshop saw over 800 attendees from almost 50 towns and cities in India. Most of the attendees operate in textile, handicrafts, jewellery and machinery sectors, according to a statement. Approximately, 10-15% of these attendees comprised women entrepreneurs. The workshop has 6 modules for beginners and 2 modules designed for medium to senior levels, the company added.

Capital Floats inks deal with image recognition startup Hyperverge

Image recognition startup HyperVerge has joined hands with digital lender Capital Float to roll out video know your customer (KYC) solution. The solution will help a customer to remotely authenticate KYC verification with Capital Float from their home or office, according to a statement. The companies claim that the whole process will take 2-5 minutes. Additionally, the solution will enable each agent to be able to process 200 KYCs a day.