TechThisWeek: Zomato DRHP, CoWin crisis, Blackstone’s buy into Mphasis

In episode 61 of TechThisWeek, the week’s largest news development was Zomato filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a Rs 8,250 crore offering.  

Read: Zomato IPO: How the numbers stack up in a 13-year journey 

At a time when several Indian states have run out of Covid-19 vaccines, CoWin -- the central government’s nodal portal for vaccine registrations -- crashed its servers on Wednesday when registrations for 18+ age group opened up. Even as users continue to complain about non-availability of appointment slots across social media, the health ministry continues to request everyone’s patience and understanding, with the government’s Covid-19 death tally reaching 2,08,330 as of Friday afternoon.  

Separately, VCCircle’s Ankit Agarwal joins TechThisWeek to walk us through what is driving global PE giant Blackstone’s recent move with portfolio investment Mphasis.  

“In my reading due to tense market conditions arising with the rapid spread of coronavirus, Blackstone decided to rather shift its holding from an old fund to a couple of newer funds so as to buy some more time and sell its stake on a later date with much better returns in a better market condition,” Agarwal said.  

Catch up with all the big technology and startup news from the week.