In Brief: Facebook hate speech controversy; Infosys arm launches Nia DocAI

Social networking giant Facebook on Wednesday held an internal town hall with Indian employees, the Economic Times reports. The reason behind the meeting was to convey the message that controversies like the one around company's policy on hate speech posts are to be expected, given the platform’s reach. Menlo Park headquartered firm also reportedly told its employees that the India business of the company was structurally in a very sound place and now the focus should be on monetising opportunities. The report revealed that the town hall was attended by both India managing director Ajit Mohan and public policy director Ankhi Das.

Infosys’s subsidiary EdgeVerve Systems launches Nia DocAI to assist organisations 

EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of information technology services giant Infosys, has rolled out Nia DocAI – v 2.1, a document extraction, processing, and comprehension platform. Nia DocAI uses artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including computer vision and natural language processing (NLP), to help customers across industries extract information from complex enterprise documents, according to a statement.

StartupToScaleup global acceleration programme begins

Bengaluru based startup growth accelerator Global Accelerator for Innovation Network (GAIN), the implementation partner of MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is set to roll out its first cohort of 10 startups under StartupToScaleup programme. The programme, which will be held on August 27 2020 at 11.00 am (IST), has no fee or equity dilution for the startups as the programme is backed by MeitY, according to a joint statement.  The startups under the cohort include healthcare startups Houronearth - Ayurhythm, Kallows, 4S Medical research, AarogyaAI, Heamac Healthcare, Leucine Rich Bio, Pacify Medical Technologies, Bionic Hope, and ed-tech startups ExtraaEdge, and Skaas Technology. 

Zendesk launches real-time analytics solution Explore Enterprise

San Francisco headquartered customer service software company Zendesk on Thursday said that it has launched Explore Enterprise, a solution within its service-first CRM platform. This solution enables companies to analyse real-time data in order to understand changing needs, a statement said. Explore Enterprise can be used to share relevant insights instantly with other teams and departments, that will help them make quicker decisions to improve the entire customer experience.

Read: Zendesk partners with TCS to build enterprise CRM solutions

Nocca Robotics rolls out high-flow oxygen therapy device Noccarc H210 

Pune-based Nocca Robotics on Wednesday unveiled high-flow oxygen therapy (HFOT) device Noccarc H210. The device offers humidified oxygen-rich air to the patients through the nasal cannula, which increases the oxygen2 level supplied to the blood. Additionally, it provides easy oral suctioning and expectoration. Noccarc H210 will be effective while treating Covid-19 patients as it is easy to use and comfortable for the patients, the statement said. Nocc Robotics claims that this device reduces the chances of intubation.

Venture Catalysts bets on AI-based chit fund cashier The Money Club

Artificially intelligent chit fund cashier The Money Club has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round from integrated incubator Venture Catalysts. Dhruv Agarwala, CEO at Proptiger.com; Bharat Jaisinghni, director, Polycab Wires; Tushar Singh from Dominor Investments; Aloknath De from LetsVenture and Keiretsu Forum also participated in the round, the Noida headquartered company said in a statement. The startup plans to deploy the funds in the growth of the company as it aims to become the largest digital player in this space in the next 5-7 years.

Innoviti inks deal with global payments technology firm Visa

Innoviti Payment Solutions on Thursday said that it has joined hands with the global payments technology company Visa to build a platform that will enable users to extend credit to their cardholders at face-to-face point-of-sale in India. The companies plan to pilot a variety of installment use cases as part of this partnership, a statement said. 

Portea Medical inks deal with Capgemini

Home healthcare provider Portea Medical on Thursday said that it has collaborated with French multinational corporation Capgemini in India to offer several healthcare services during the ongoing crisis (Covid-19). Under the deal, employees of Capgemini who are either exposed to Covid and need testing, or have tested positive, will get the home care services offered by Portea, according to a joint statement. 

Bajaj Allianz launches Smart Assist

Pune headquartered Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has rolled out first-of-its-kind technology service Smart Assist. It will allow customers to connect with the company via a secure screen sharing feature, to avail real-time assistance on completion of their buy journey, anywhere, the company said. Smart Assist is built to help customers know all about their product while abiding by the social distancing protocols.

Staqu inks deal with Microsoft to bring its video analytics solutions on Microsoft Azure 

Gurugram based artificial intelligence (AI) startup  Staqu has collaborated with technology giant Microsoft to bring its video analytics solutions on Microsoft Azure. Staqu’s video analytics solution offers several Covid-19-centric features including identification, contact tracing, PPE monitoring, and safety.