Vande Bharatam will conduct a nationwide search for innovators, entrepreneurs and changemakers across all 36 States and Union Territories and more than 800 districts.

Seventy-five finalists will be selected through a multi-stage process and invited to Ahmedabad for an immersive programme culminating in a national Grand Finale around Independence Day.

Designed to extend opportunity beyond established start-up hubs, the initiative aims to identify entrepreneurial talent across geographies, sectors, languages and communities.

The programme will reach all 36 States and Union Territories, more than 800 districts and multiple Indian languages. Open to participants of all ages and backgrounds, it aims to bring promising ideas and entrepreneurial talent from beyond India's traditional start-up centres onto a national platform.

Vande Bharatam is a nationwide entrepreneurship and innovation initiative launched by Mr Gautam Adani to identify, nurture and showcase entrepreneurial talent from every State and Union Territory of India. Through a structured selection process, mentorship opportunities and a national finale, the programme aims to broaden access to entrepreneurial opportunity and support the next generation of Indian innovators.

Acclaimed actor, television host and entrepreneur Mr Rajeev Khandelwal will serve as the Ambassador and Host of Vande Bharatam. With a career spanning television, cinema and digital platforms, he will help champion the initiative's mission of identifying, celebrating and amplifying entrepreneurial talent from across India.

Source: Adani

The launch of international investing is two-three months away, depending on the preparedness and testing, say sources

Raise Securities, which runs Dhan, also launched US stocks last week. IndMoney was among the first Indian broking firms to secure the international investing license through the IFSCA.

IFSCA is the authority for the development and regulation of financial products, services and institutions in the GIFT City.

While Zerodha and Upstox will operate as broker- dealers, Groww and Angel One will run operations as global access providers (GAP).

To enable international investing, Zerodha and Upstox will route trades through foreign clearing firms ViewTrade International, Interactive Brokers, and Alpaca Securities, sources said.

Source: Moneycontrol

Payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have made ​a joint offer to acquire PayPal Holdings Inc, for $60.50 per share, in a deal that would value the payments company at more than $53 billion, ‌two people said.

The offer, submitted earlier this month, is backed by about $50 billion in committed financing from banks, said one of the people. The offer represents around a 28% premium to PayPal's closing share price on Tuesday.

The people, who are familiar with the matter, declined to be named as the deal discussions are confidential. PayPal, Stripe and Advent declined to comment.

The proposal follows an initial approach made ​in early April, the sources said. Stripe and Advent have not received a response from PayPal and are seeking to advance discussions in the coming ​weeks, the sources added.

Under the proposal, Stripe and Advent would jointly own PayPal, with each holding an equal stake, rather than breaking ⁠up the company, the people said. There is no certainty the approach will result in a transaction, they added.

PayPal shares were last up 15% in premarket trading.

Founded in ​the late 1990s, PayPal was an early player in digital payments, but has faced increasing competition as consumers have embraced alternative payment methods and rivals such as Apple Pay ​and Google Pay have gained market share.

It has spent the past several years grappling with slowing growth and intensifying competition in digital payments, wiping out much of the value it gained during the pandemic.

The company's market capitalization peaked at about $360 billion in 2021 and fell to as low as roughly $36 billion this year. It has lost more than 40% of its market value over the past 12 ​months.

After taking over in March, PayPal CEO Enrique Lores started a sweeping turnaround exercise to simplify the payments provider and sharpen its focus on growth.

In April, the company split ​its operations into three units covering checkout, consumer financial services Venmo, and payments and crypto, while making a series of management changes.

PayPal's revenue rose 7% to $8.35 billion in ​the first quarter, beating ⁠analysts' average estimate of $8.05 billion. On a currency-neutral basis, total payment volumes jumped 8% over a year ago to about $464 billion.

Lores outlined plans in May to leverage artificial intelligence to streamline operations across the company and eliminate duplication in workforce layers, but did not provide additional details.

The company has said these initiatives would save about $1.5 billion over the next two to ⁠three years, adding ​it will reinvest that amount to drive new growth.

Stripe, which is privately held, is among the industry's ​most valuable companies. It was valued at $159 billion in a tender offer for employees and shareholders in February, a more than 70% jump from a similar share sale a year earlier.

The company, with headquarters in San ​Francisco and Dublin, allows companies to accept payments, make payouts and automate financial processes.

Source: Reuters

Claude gets India pricing

• Pro: ₹2,000/month (annual billing)
• Max: starts at ₹11,999/month
• Team: ₹2,399/seat/month

Only cards and app store billing available. No UPI yet.

Muse Spark 1.1 is strongest at agentic performance, tool use, and computer use.

It does well on long-running tasks with 1M token context window, can delegate execution to sub-agents running in parallel, and is trained to use computer interfaces on desktop, mobile, or browser, as per META.

It's available through Meta's new Model API and in Meta AI.

The Meta Model API allows developers to build using Muse Spark for the first time. Their focus is on delivering strong agentic and multimodal models at very low cost. More to come soon.

Source: Mark Zuckerberg