In Brief: Vodafone Idea partners with Zomato for BVLOS drones; Amazon launches $2bn climate pledge fund

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea has marked its entry in the drone ecosystem of India by partnering with food aggregator Zomato, according to a report by MediaNama. The two companies are expected to test beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drones in the upcoming flight experiments organised by India’s civil aviation regulator. Vodafone Idea and Zomato are part of the ClearSky consortium, which is one of the 13 consortia that has been allowed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for trials. The news comes days after the food aggregator pulled out from the TechEagle acquisition deal. 

Read: Food delivery via drones a distant dream as govt issues new UAS rules

Amazon pledges a $2 billion venture capital fund to invest in clean energy

Seattle, Washington-based retail giant Amazon announced on Tuesday that it is launching a $2 billion in venture capital fund to invest in technology and products that reduce the impact of climate change, according to a press release. The Climate Pledge Fund will invest in companies in multiple industries such as energy, transport and logistics, manufacturing and materials, food and agriculture among others. The company has committed to be net carbon neutral by 2040. 

Indian customs to perform a complete check on all imports from China 

India custom authorities will soon start inspecting all import consignments from China at ports and airports across the country, The Economic Times reported. This move is followed by rising tension China, the report said. The complete check of imports might lead to a delay in the release of consignments. Meanwhile, Chennai became the first port to opt for such closer scrutiny of Chinese imports, it added.

Check Point inks deal with Coursera to offer free online courses

Software company Check Point Software Technologies has joined hands with online learning platform Coursera to offer a series of Check Point cyber-security courses and content to security and network professionals. The course, Check Point Jump Start series, is already available on the platform, a statement said. The course is aimed at upskilling security and information technology (IT) administrators on cyber-threats and security management across mid-size and larger enterprise networks, it added.

C-CAMP, Applied Materials India to offer financial, technical support to two startups 

Bengaluru-based research foundation Centre for Cellular And Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) and Applied Materials India have jointly announced financial and technical support to two biotech startups working on products to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The startups include assisted respiratory technology-based Coeo Labs and air sanitization technology-based Biomoneta, according to a statement. Both the startups are incubated under the C-CAMP, an initiative of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). There were 31 aspirants, of which the aforementioned were selected, it added.

Read: C-CAMP picks 13 startups fighting Covid-19

Flipkart adds three languages to its platform

Walmart owned Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has added three languages -- Tamil, Telugu and Kannada -- on its platform. The made for India stack has been developed in house by Flipkart’s team of engineers, a statement said. Additionally, more than 5.4 million words were translated to help reduce the language barrier for users, it added.

Sachin Bansal’s Navi rolls out lending app for personal loan

Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal’s investment vehicle Navi Technologies has rolled out Navi Lending App to provide instant personal loans to customers. The app is aimed at helping the middle-income segment of the society as it will offer instant personal loans of upto Rs 5 lakhs, a statement said. The app is available on Google Play.