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<keyword id="20594409" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gupshup" source="keywords">Gupshup</keyword>, the conversational engagement pioneer, today announced the launch of <keyword id="20832751" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="conversation-cloud" source="keywords">Conversation Cloud</keyword>, a comprehensive suite of SaaS tools that are set to revolutionize business-to-customer interactions. AI-powered conversations represent the next major paradigm shift in user interfaces after web and app, and the Conversation Cloud provides businesses with the essential tools for customer engagement in this new era. Gupshup enables businesses to drive customer acquisition, engagement, commerce, and support, on conversational channels such as WhatsApp, RCS, Instagram, Voice, etc, helping them achieve substantial ROI increase (6-10X). The Conversation Cloud consists of three key modules, Converse, Advertise, and Communicate, that enable conversational relationship management across the full customer lifecycle. <keyword id="20832754" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gupshup-converse" source="keywords">Gupshup Converse</keyword> helps businesses build rich two-way conversational journeys across the customer lifecycle. Business users can leverage advanced no-code tools to configure customer journeys, bot flows, and auto-trigger contextual messages. Interactions across the customer funnel leverage Gupshup Customer360's unified profiles based on customer attributes and real-time conversational events. Marketers can create granular segments and engage customers better with personalized experiences. The Converse product comes packed with conversational commerce modules such as catalogs, payment integrations, and agent-assist to enable automated or human-assisted commerce. Converse also includes ACE LLM, Gupshup's domain-specific large language model to build AI bots that can handle all kinds of natural language queries while operating within safety guardrails appropriate for a business conversation. "For our 2023 Switch-off campaign, we leveraged WhatsApp in partnership with Gupshup to amplify the message and engage people through a conversational survey. The results have been quite encouraging, helping us not only connect one-on-one with customers but also gain valuable insights. Gupshup has been a great partner and enabler for us to tap into the power of conversational messaging through this innovative campaign. We wish them good luck on the launch of their Conversation Cloud", said <keyword id="20832753" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mayank-prabhakar" source="keywords">Mayank Prabhakar</keyword>, Head of Digital Marketing at smartphone maker Vivo's India office. Gupshup Advertise enables marketers to acquire, qualify, and convert customers by leveraging Click to WhatsApp and Click to Instagram Ads. This significantly enhances new customer acquisition, and campaign ROI while empowering brands to build their first-party database. Brands leveraging Advertise have seen 60-70% lower cost per qualified lead and 1.6X sign-ups compared to traditional channels. <keyword id="20832755" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gupshup-communicate" source="keywords">Gupshup Communicate</keyword> is a significant step up from traditional CPaaS, and has smart capabilities such as Gen-AI powered automatic message translation, optimized scheduling to maximize open rates, and omnichannel message failover, in addition to its pre-existing capability to send messages across 30+ channels. "The Conversational Internet is among the biggest trends shaking up the customer experience. It is rapidly digitizing the mobile-first countries in emerging markets. Every business and brand will need new tools to build and manage conversational experiences. Gupshup builds on its reputation for innovation by launching the first such comprehensive platform, the Conversation Cloud, that transforms customer experiences and delivers substantial ROI to businesses", said Beerud Sheth, Co-founder and CEO of Gupshup. "Messaging continues to emerge as a leading channel for brands to authentically connect with customers, far and wide. We are excited to see partners like Gupshup further enhancing the tools and solutions that will help brands drive even more value in customer interactions", said <keyword id="20832752" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ravi-garg" source="keywords">Ravi Garg</keyword>, Director, Business Messaging, Meta India. To know more about our Conversation Cloud and why brands should leverage the Conversational Internet, watch this video. Chat with Guppy, our new Gen AI-powered virtual assistant - Ask him anything about Conversation Cloud and witness Guppy in action! SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/passenger-vehicles-record-11-3-growth-in-february-2024-two-wheelers-record-35-growth/articleshow/108204817.cms">Passenger vehicles record 11.3% growth in February 2024, two-wheelers record 35% growth</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/reliance-jio-and-airtel-add-subscribers-as-vis-subscriber-base-continues-to-decline/articleshow/107934565.cms">Reliance Jio and Airtel add subscribers as Vi’s subscriber base continues to decline</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/from-usernames-to-secret-codes-for-locked-chats-here-are-the-upcoming-whatsapp-features/articleshow/107885651.cms">From usernames to secret codes for locked chats, here are the upcoming WhatsApp features</a>

Gupshup launches Conversation Cloud, AI-powered tool for businesses

<keyword id="70910" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hyundai-motor" source="Orion">Hyundai Motor</keyword> India Ltd is on track to achieving 60 per cent of its total domestic <keyword id="6357824" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sales" source="Orion">sales</keyword> from <keyword id="60427" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="suvs" source="Orion">SUVs</keyword> this year with models like Creta and the newly launched Exter accelerating the growth, according to company COO Tarun Garg. With exports accelerating in the last three months, the company is also confident of sustaining its overseas shipments momentum despite concerns over global geopolitical situation. "We will end up with more than 60 per cent at the end of the year which is what we said at the beginning of the year...We are now almost reaching there," Garg told PTI. He was responding to a query on how much would SUVs contribute to the company's overall sales considering the traction its models have witnessed in the market. He further said,"For us the good thing has been that SUV contribution has moved to 63 per cent in October and year-to-date at 59 per cent as against industry SUV percentage of 48 per cent. So that has really helped us to outperform the industry in terms of January to October numbers." Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) clocked total sales of 68,728 units in October 2023 as compared to 58,006 units in the same month a year ago, a growth of 18.48 per cent. In the January-October period this year, total sales stood at 6,43,535 units as against 5,78,956 units in the year-ago months , a growth of 11.15 per cent. In the <keyword id="6382118" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="domestic-market" source="Orion">domestic market</keyword>, sales during the period were at 5,09,910 units as compared to 4,65,678 units in the corresponding period last year, up 9.49 per cent. At the beginning of 2023, Garg said the contribution of SUVs to the company's total sales was 53 per cent. Explaining reasons behind the growth of HMIL's SUV sales, he said,"The Creta continues to be an outperformer.With the year-till-date growth of 16 per cent it maintains the segment leadership. Also, Exter is doing very well." Hyundai Creta competes with the likes of Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki's Grand Vitara, among others in the Indian passenger vehicle market. On the exports front, Garg said the company is also on track to meeting its target of 1.6 lakh units for the year with the last "two to three" months turning out to be good. "From July, we have been able to increase our <keyword id="6390515" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="capacity" source="Orion">capacity</keyword> by about 4,000 units a month and that gives us some leeway in terms of managing domestic and exports demand," he said, adding the company has been able to fulfill "backorders" in this quarter for exports. Another factor for increase in exports is that the "Latin American markets have been doing quite well and that has really helped us to put in very healthy export numbers," Garg said. He, however, acknowledged that there are concerns over the global geopolitical developments, specially in Israel and the Middle East. "We are keeping our fingers crossed but as of now the order inflow has been reasonably okay," Garg said, adding the supply flexibility has helped HMIL export more in the last three months.

Hyundai Motor India set for SUVs accounting over 60% of total sales this year: COO Tarun Garg

<keyword id="596" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="hyundai" source="Orion">Hyundai</keyword> Motor <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> on Tuesday introduced a new version of its mid-sized sedan <keyword id="79789" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="verna" source="Orion">Verna</keyword> in the country priced between Rs 10.89 lakh and Rs 17.37 lakh (ex-showroom), hotting up the competition in the segment. The new Verna competes with the likes of Honda City, Skoda Slavia, Volkswagen Virtus and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz in the domestic market. The 1.5-litre trims of the 6th generation Verna have priced between Rs 10.89 lakh and Rs 16.19 lakh while the 1.5-litre turbo petrol variants, which come with enhanced power, are priced between Rs 14.83 lakh and Rs 17.37 lakh (all prices ex-showroom). As per the company, the model delivers fuel efficiency ranging between 18.6 to 20.6 km per litre, depending upon the engine options. Hyundai Motor India MD and CEO <keyword id="12755813" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="unsoo-kim" source="Orion">Unsoo Kim</keyword> said Verna has been one of the company's most iconic models globally. He noted the company has sold 4.65 lakh units of the sedan in the domestic market and also exported around 4.5 lakh units of the model till date. Kim said the new Verna would also be exported. Hyundai first launched the Verna brand in India in 2006. The automaker said the new Verna comes with 30 standard safety features including six airbags, 17 Level 2 - ADAS features and over 65 connected car features. In an interaction with PTI, Hyundai Motor India Chief Operating Officer Tarun <keyword id="196154" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="garg" source="Orion">Garg</keyword> said the company aims to sell close to 40,000 units of the sedan this year, doubling volumes from 2022. The country's second-largest carmaker sold around 19,000 Verna units last year. "We believe that with a product like Verna, we have a winner in hand. It is now larger as compared with the outgoing model, comes with advanced technology like level II ADAS system and other connected features," Garg said. He noted that the company has already received close to 8,000 bookings for the model so far. The overall booking backlog of the company stood at 1.15 units. Garg noted that the overall sedan segment volumes grew to around 4.12 lakh units last year from 2.96 units in 2021. Similarly, the mid-size sedan segment sales grew to around 1.10 lakh units last year from around 82,000 units in 2021. He said the sedan segment is witnessing growth in sales as new models are being launched, giving an option to buyers who seek comfort and performance in their daily commute. "Globally, there has been a trend towards the SUV body style. India has also witnessed the same. Despite a strong pull towards the SUVs, a latent demand still remains for sedans and that is why we have seen volumes grow in the segment," he stated. The sedan segment accounted for 10.8 per cent of the overall passenger vehicle segment last year, an increase from around 9.5 per cent in 2021, Garg said. Hyundai has launched the new Verna with petrol powertrains only while doing away with the 1.5 litre diesel engine. "We have seen demand for the diesel trims come down in this segment. It is shifting to the SUV segment, where diesel remains strong," Garg said. When asked about the chip shortage, Garg said the situation is improving but not completely over. "We do not see an issue with production and with the GM plant coming into the picture we will be better placed," he noted. Earlier this month Hyundai said it has initiated a process to acquire General Motors India's Talegaon-based manufacturing plant. On the market scenario, Garg noted that India is better placed when compared with other markets globally, many of which were facing economic issues. He, however, noted that high-interest rates and the negative impact from global markets could have some impact on the Indian market as well. Diminishing pent-up demand is another challenge so a strong single-digit growth for the passenger vehicle industry this year is going to be a good sign. Garg noted that the passenger vehicle industry witnessed over 20 per cent sales growth over a low base of 2021 and to expect a similar kind of growth this year as well is not practical. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/long-covid-infection-linked-with-risk-of-developing-face-blindness-says-study/articleshow/98858060.cms">Long Covid infection linked with risk of developing 'face blindness' says study</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/israeli-shekel-devalues-by-8-3-in-less-than-2-months/articleshow/98857874.cms">Israeli shekel devalues by 8.3% in less than 2 months</a>

Hyundai drives in new Verna starting at ₹10.89 lakh; hots up competition in mid-size sedan segment

<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> is projected to fall "well short" of its target for 2022 of having 100 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity, largely due to slow uptake of rooftop solar, a new report by JMK Research and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said on Tuesday. As of December 2021, India's cumulative installed solar capacity was 55GW, with grid-connected utility-scale projects contributing 77 per cent and the balance coming from grid-connected rooftop solar (20 per cent) and mini or micro off-grid projects (three per cent). With just eight months of 2022 remaining, only about 50 per cent of the 100GW target, consisting of 60GW of utility-scale and 40GW of rooftop solar capacity, has been met. Approximately 19GW of solar capacity is expected to be added in 2022 -- 15.8GW from utility-scale and 3.5GW from rooftop solar. "Even with this capacity addition, about 27 per cent of India's 100GW solar target would be unmet," says report co-author <keyword id="5005000" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="jyoti-gulia" source="Orion">Jyoti Gulia</keyword>, Founder, JMK Research. The report projects that by December 2022 there will be a 25GW shortfall in the 40GW rooftop solar target, compared to just 1.8GW in the utility-scale solar target. "Utility-scale solar capacity addition is on track. India is set to achieve nearly 97 per cent of its 60GW target," says <keyword id="13598083" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="gulia" source="Orion">Gulia</keyword>. "This makes it imperative to have a more concerted effort towards expanding rooftop solar." Headwinds ranging from pandemic-induced supply chain disruption to deeply rooted policy restrictions have impeded the growth of India's rooftop solar (onsite solar power) and open access solar (offsite solar) installations. "The anticipated 27GW shortfall from the 2022 solar target can be attributed to a string of challenges which are slowing overall progress on renewable energy targets," says co-author <keyword id="4412277" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="vibhuti-garg" source="Orion">Vibhuti Garg</keyword>, Energy Economist and Lead India, IEEFA. On the current trajectory, the report finds India's solar target of 300GW by 2030 will be off the mark by about 86GW. These challenges include: regulatory roadblocks; net metering limits; the twin burdens of basic customs duty (BCD) on imported cells and modules and issues with the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM); unsigned power supply agreements and banking restrictions; financing issues plus delays in or rejection of open access approval grants; and the unpredictability of future open access charges. "Central and state government policies and regulations must be aligned to support the solar sector overall, and especially the ailing rooftop and open access segments of the market," says co-author Akhil Thayillam, Senior Research Associate, JMK Research. The report proposes short- and long-term measures to get India back on track to meet solar targets. The short-term measures include uniform policies to apply nationally for at least the next five years and consistent regulations for net metering and banking facilities, also to apply nationally. In the long-term, stricter enforcement of the renewable purchase obligation and improved financial health, and potentially privatisation, of distribution companies (discoms). In rooftop solar, state-level efforts such as Gujarat's Surya Scheme need to be replicated by other states in the short-term to help in boosting capacity, says Gulia. "It is also likely that the government, in the short-term, will push aggressively for expediting solar capacity addition to achieve the 100GW target by 2022 by re-allocating some of the unmet rooftop target to utility-scale generation." SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/koo-founder-invites-elon-musk-after-he-turns-down-twitter-board-seat/articleshow/90780040.cms">Koo cofounder urges Elon Musk to work with Twitter’s rival in India</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/netflix-introduces-two-thumbs-up-for-shows-and-movies-you-really-really-like-and-want-to-see-more-of/articleshow/90783309.cms">Netflix introduces Two Thumbs Up for shows and movies you really, really like and want to see more of</a>

India likely to miss 2022 solar target by 27%, says report

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12682922" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="better-com" source="Orion">Better.com</keyword> is slated to lay off about 4,000 workers this week, TechCrunch <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/07/better-com-plans-to-lay-off-about-4000-people-this-week-sources-say/?tpcc=tcplustwitter">reported</a>.</li><li>TechCrunch cited "sources familiar with internal happenings at the company."</li></ul>Three months after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ceo-takes-leave-fires-900-employees-zoom-2021-12">firing 900 workers via a Zoom call,</a> mortgage company Better.com is slated to lay off roughly 4,000 people — about half of its employees, TechCrunch <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/07/better-com-plans-to-lay-off-about-4000-people-this-week-sources-say/?tpcc=tcplustwitter&amp;guccounter=1">reported</a>, citing "sources familiar with internal happenings at the company." During the pandemic, the company saw enormous increases in customers looking for online options, especially low <keyword id="6371181" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="interest-rates" source="Orion">interest rates</keyword> made that process more appealing. The company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bettercom-received-funding-as-demand-for-digital-solution-grows-2021-4">raised $500 million from SoftBank in April 2021</a>, pushing its valuation to $6 billion. But as <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-markets-tech-bond-yields-interest-rates-federal-reserve-explained-2022-1">interest rates have gone up</a>, the environment has become more challenging for the company. Like <keyword id="11928679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="peloton" source="Orion">Peloton</keyword>, Better.com grew massively amid a set of pandemic-era conditions that changed abruptly, leading both to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/im-one-of-2800-people-peloton-laid-off-im-shocked-2022-2">lay off workers</a>. Employees have been buzzing for weeks about the potential for a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-more-layoffs-rumors-metrics-vishal-garg-sarah-pierce-2022-2">new round of layoffs</a>, Insider first reported last month. "The mood is grim," one person told Insider. "Everyone is nervous."According to a memo Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ceo-takes-leave-fires-900-employees-zoom-2021-12">reviewed</a>, Better.com CEO <keyword id="12704893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vishal-garg" source="Orion">Vishal Garg</keyword> took time off after the December <keyword id="12651442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="layoffs" source="Orion">layoffs</keyword>. The company planned to bring in a third party for "a leadership and cultural assessment" to "build a long-term sustainable and positive culture at Better."Garg also said in a meeting after the layoffs that the company had overhired people, lost $100 million the prior quarter, and that cutting down staff would, lead to "Better 2.0" with " a "leaner, meaner, hungrier workforce" per a video snippet of the meeting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ceo-vishal-garg-explains-layoffs-in-leaked-video-meeting-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">given to Insider</a>.High-level executives also resigned after the first round of layoffs, Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/departed-better-mortgage-executives-left-after-ceo-vishal-garg-returned-2022-2">reported</a>. After the December layoffs, an employee <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-wasnt-fired-in-bettercoms-900-person-layoff-im-terrified-2021-12">described to Insider</a> the environment for those who remained. "There was absolutely no warning, and in the aftermath, Garg belittled the laid-off workers to the rest of us and told us there would be no second chances from now on. The whole thing was demoralizing," they said. "Since the layoffs, everyone has been on edge. We're all looking behind our backs, expecting to get fired next. It's not a healthy environment."Better.com didn't respond to a request by Insider for comment.

Better.com is reportedly set to lay off 4,000 more workers this week

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Better CEO <keyword id="12704893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vishal-garg" source="Orion">Vishal Garg</keyword> is back to head the company after his leave of absence.</li><li>He spent his time off reflecting on his leadership and working with an executive coach, an internal memo shows.</li></ul>Better founder Vishal Garg is back as CEO of the online-mortgage startup."As you know, Better's CEO Vishal Garg has been taking a break from his full-time duties to reflect on his leadership, reconnect with the values that make Better great and work closely with an executive coach," Better's board told staff in an internal memo, according to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/bettercom-founder-vishal-garg-returns-as-ceo-a-month-after-brutal-mass-firing">The Daily Beast,</a> which first reported the <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword>. "We are confident in Vishal and in the changes he is committed to making to provide the type of leadership, focus and vision that Better needs at this pivotal time."Garg has been on a leave of absence since December 10 after a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-com-ceo-accused-hundreds-layoff-staff-working-2-hours-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">controversial mass layoff</a> of 900 employees in a three-minute group Zoom. Garg also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-com-ceo-accused-hundreds-layoff-staff-working-2-hours-2021-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accused at least 250 terminated staff members of "stealing"</a> from the company by working just two hours a day while claiming pay for eight or more, according posts on the job-focused social network Blind that were first reported by <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/12/03/better-com-ceo-attacks-laid-off-employees-blind-message-board/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fortune</a>.Garg told remaining staff in a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ceo-vishal-garg-explains-layoffs-in-leaked-video-meeting-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">livestreamed town hall</a> half an hour after the <keyword id="12651442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="layoffs" source="Orion">layoffs</keyword> that the company "should have done this three months ago." He said he wanted to create "Better 2.0," with a "leaner, meaner, hungrier workforce." The developments triggered widespread <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vishal-garg-better-ceo-profile-layoffs-2021-12">outrage</a> and ignited broader discussions about toxic work cultures.Garg later <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-memo-better-ceo-vishal-garg-sent-apologizing-about-layoffs-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">apologized to the company's remaining staff</a>, saying he had "blundered the execution" of the layoffs. He then went on a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ceo-takes-leave-fires-900-employees-zoom-2021-12">leave of absence</a> while Better engaged an independent third party to "do a leadership and cultural assessment."The company has since conducted a "thorough, independent" review and will be expanding its leadership with a new board chairman, a president, and a chief human resources officer, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/business/better-ceo-vishal-garg.html">New York Times</a> reported, citing the internal memo on Tuesday. It also announced a training program on building "a respectful workplace" and a new ethics and compliance committee that reports directly to the board.Better did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment.

Vishal Garg is stepping back into his role as CEO of Better one month after firing 900 employees over Zoom

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The blank-check company that previously announced it's taking <keyword id="12711455" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="better" source="Orion">Better</keyword> public is standing behind the company.</li><li>Better employees have called for CEO <keyword id="12704893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vishal-garg" source="Orion">Vishal Garg</keyword>'s resignation after he laid off 900 workers in a video call.</li></ul>At a time when Better founder and CEO Vishal Garg is facing internal and external calls for his resignation, the company officially has the support of a key partner: the blank-check firm intending to take Better public.In <a href="https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1835856/000119312521366661/d279737d8k.htm">regulatory filings</a> with the SEC on Monday, <keyword id="12189643" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aurora" source="Orion">Aurora</keyword> Acquisition Corp. noted Garg's decision to remain as CEO even as he steps away from his duties "to reflect and refocus."Aurora's filing was in response to "events which occurred" earlier this month — an opaque reference to a widely publicized video call in which Garg <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/online-mortgage-startup-better-lays-off-staff-as-ipo-looms-2021-12">laid off 900 employees</a>, and later said many were "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-com-ceo-accused-hundreds-layoff-staff-working-2-hours-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">stealing</a>" from the company.The fallout from the scandal rocked the digital mortgage company, but Aurora said that it "remains confident in Better and the proposed transaction."Better did not immediately respond to Insider's request for a comment on the filing. Following the scandal, Garg apologized in a <a href="https://cdn.brandfolder.io/A8SA0YBW/at/ggkbfpsbjbvc335cprpv33bg/A_Message_From_Our_Founder___CEO.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">letter to staff</a> on December 6. "I realize that the way I communicated this <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> made a difficult situation worse," he wrote. "I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be."The filing is the first indication of how investors feel about Better ahead of a planned deal to make it a public company. The transaction was expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2021, and was projected give Better a valuation of $7.7 billion, according to <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210511005602/en/Digital-Homeownership-Platform-Better-to-Become-a-Publicly-Listed-Company-via-Merger-with-Aurora-Acquisition-Corp.-Company-is-Redefining-the-Homeownership-Experience">an announcement in March</a>.Led by Thor Björgólfsson, Arnaud Massenet, and Prabhu Narasimhan, the London-based Aurora says it operates with a philosophy of "founders investing in Founders."Correction: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect Aurora's statement in its regulatory filing.

The SPAC backing Better says it 'remains confident' in the company amid CEO Vishal Garg's decision to take a break to 'reflect and refocus'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Better CEO <keyword id="12704893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vishal-garg" source="Orion">Vishal Garg</keyword> became an internet villain when he laid off 900 people over Zoom.</li><li>Current and former employees said that Garg initially wanted to grant one or two weeks of <keyword id="12751517" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="severance" source="Orion">severance</keyword>.</li></ul>It took <keyword id="12682922" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="better-com" source="Orion">Better.com</keyword> CEO Vishal Garg just <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/online-mortgage-startup-better-lays-off-staff-as-ipo-looms-2021-12">three minutes</a> to cull 900 people from his company's payroll, but that wasn't the only thing he reportedly wanted done quickly.In one of dozens of planning meetings leading up to the <keyword id="12651442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="layoffs" source="Orion">layoffs</keyword>, Garg reportedly sought to give laid-off workers just <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vishal-garg-better-ceo-profile-layoffs-2021-12">one or two weeks of severance pay</a> — even as the company gave no indication the cuts were coming — according to two people with direct knowledge of the meetings.The people — current and former employees — also told Insider that other executives pushed for periods of two months or 10 weeks, and that several even walked out of the discussion over the small size of Garg's proposed package.Garg relented somewhat, offering employees four weeks of severance at the time of the layoffs, but that number was later <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ups-severance-for-laid-off-workers-as-class-action-lawsuits-loom-2021-12">increased to 60 days</a> after lawyers threatened to sue the company for violating US law concerning advance notice for "mass layoffs."One of the sources told Insider that Garg was aware that his actions potentially violated the WARN Act, which requires 60 days' notice or pay before conducting large-scale layoffs.The details around severance were revealed after Insider spoke with 20 current and former employees of the company about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vishal-garg-better-ceo-profile-layoffs-2021-12">Garg's informal and sometimes profane management style</a>.Garg <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ceo-takes-leave-fires-900-employees-zoom-2021-12">is currently on a leave of absence</a> as an outside firm conducts an investigation into his conduct, and neither he nor Better have responded to Insider's request for comment.<h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vishal-garg-better-ceo-profile-layoffs-2021-12">If you're a subscriber, you can read the full investigation.</a></h2>

Better CEO Vishal Garg wanted to give laid-off employees only one week of severance pay

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A private job fair is being held for the 900 <keyword id="12682922" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="better-com" source="Orion">Better.com</keyword> employees fired last week over Zoom. </li><li>Recruiters from <keyword id="11895708" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="microsoft" source="Orion">Microsoft</keyword> and <keyword id="11896285" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="robinhood" source="Orion">Robinhood</keyword> will attend the event, one organizer told Insider.</li></ul>One of the Better.com employees fired in a now-infamous Zoom call is working with local groups to set up a career fair for the hundreds of fellow employees laid off by the digital-mortgage company.Recruiters from Microsoft and Robinhood are set to attend <a href="https://live.remo.co/e/rapid-connect/register">the event</a>, which is sponsored by the City of Charlotte &amp; the NCWorks Career Center.Better.com CEO <keyword id="12704893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vishal-garg" source="Orion">Vishal Garg</keyword> told 900 employees in a three-minute call on December 1 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-com-ceo-accused-hundreds-layoff-staff-working-2-hours-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">they were being laid off</a>, "effective immediately."Laid-off staff said that the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-bettercom-staff-zoom-mass-firing-layoff-vishal-garg-reactions-2021-12">firings were unexpected</a> and that they were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-bettercom-fired-staff-layoffs-vishal-garg-email-access-zoom-2021-12">cut off from their work devices almost immediately</a>. Since announcing the mass layoffs, Better's top marketing, PR, and communications executives have<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-marketing-communications-pr-executives-resign-after-layoffs-2021-12?r=US&amp;IR=T"> resigned</a>, Insider reported.Organizing a job fair for the affected Better.com employees was a "no brainer," according to Demi Knight Clark, former regional director at Better.com and one of the event leads. "We've got companies that we're working with that are desperately looking for top talent like this.""You have to understand, right now in the job market ... you don't really have 900 people that are plug and play to be able to go to work," she added. As The Great Resignation and national labor shortage continue to cause hiring challenges across the nation, having hundreds of well-trained <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">tech</keyword> employees available for immediate work is a "dream" for employers, she said. Many of the fired staffers are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-bettercom-staff-zoom-mass-firing-layoff-vishal-garg-reactions-2021-12">scrambling for jobs ahead of the holidays</a>, as Insider previously reported. Allstate, Intercontinental Capital Group, Microsoft, and Robinhood have confirmed they will each have recruiters attending the private job fair, a spokesperson from the City of Charlotte told Insider. "Charlotte has a collaborative business community, so it is no surprise that several of our top employers have stepped up to consider these talented displaced employees for their organizations," a spokesperson for the City of Charlotte told Insider in a statement. "This rapid response hiring event is a testament to our community wanting to keep these employees and the value they bring through their knowledge, skills, and abilities in Charlotte and contributing to our overall economic success."Do you work at Better? Do you have a story to share about working there or insight into its layoffs? Contact reporter Alex Nicoll via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (646) 768-4772 using a non-work phone, email at <a href="mailto:anicoll@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">anicoll@insider.com</a>, or Twitter DM at @AlexONicoll.

Microsoft and Robinhood are among the companies lining up to recruit fired Better.com employees: '900 people on the market ... it's a dream'

<ul><li>The company currently serves more than 100 clients including Dolby, Tata Communications, NetApp, Booking.com, TriNet.</li><li>The company is planning to increase its workforce from 200 people to 500 people by the end of this year.</li><li>At Business Insider’s <keyword id="1967222" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="future-of-work" source="Orion">Future of Work</keyword> event, <keyword id="228169" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ashutosh-garg" source="Orion">Ashutosh Garg</keyword>, founder and CEO of the company, said that the idea behind AI was never to replace humans.</li></ul>California and Noida-based <keyword id="12115845" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Eightfold-ai" source="Orion">Eightfold.ai</keyword>, a talent intelligence platform, will be <keyword id="6357342" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hiring" source="Orion">hiring</keyword> nearly 300 techies across the globe, and some from India too. The company is looking forward to increasing its workforce from 200 employees to 500 employees by the end of this year. The five-year old startup, backed by SoftBank, which currently employs 80-100 people in India, uses <keyword id="107950" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence" source="Orion">artificial intelligence</keyword> (AI) to filter thousands of resumes and help its client recruiters to find suitable candidates. The company currently serves more than 100 clients including Dolby, Tata Communications, NetApp, Booking.com, TriNet. In an exclusive interview at the Future of Work event hosted by Business Insider, founder and chief executive of Eightfold.ai, Ashutosh Garg said, “We are growing from 200 people to 500 people this year. We plan to hire 300 people across the globe by December.” When asked about the vision of the company during the interview, Garg said, “HR market is a $50 billion industry whereas finding the right talent is a trillion dollar problem. We are here to solve the trillion dollar problem for the companies who spend millions every year just on hiring, to make sure that they not only hire quickly, but hire the right talent and retain their employees as well.” <div type="twitter" handle="BiIndia" handlename="Business Insider India🇮🇳" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1232926719016718336/sfffJHNV_normal.jpg" favoritecount="6" retweetcount="0" status=".@ashutoshg, the founder of @eightfoldai speaks on what is the success metric of artificial intelligence in elimina… https://t.co/zDXmuDWPYT" createdat="1631809500000" id="1438539424560652289"></div> Another aspect, which Garg highlighted in the interview was that the company is more focused on making the entire hiring process ‘unbiased’. Citing the example of Amazon news story published by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-jobs-automation-insight-idUSKCN1MK08G">Reuters</a> in 2018 that the company secretly scrapped its AI recruiting tool because it was biased against women, Garg said, “The simple trick to reduce biases is to apply right algorithms and by learning about the skills and capabilities from a global data or perspective, we can mitigate the problem.” Garg also clarified about one of the biggest fears many people have that ‘AI is a threat to entry level jobs’. He said, “ The idea behind AI was never to replace humans, but to augment them with data which is updated and relevant.” SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/the-only-way-to-beat-the-bots-from-taking-your-job-is-to-be-more-human/articleshow/86282273.cms">Future of Work 2021: The only way to beat the bots from taking your job is to be more human</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/universal-pension-is-a-better-idea-than-universal-basic-income-says-indias-chief-economic-advisor/articleshow/86282048.cms">Future of Work 2021: Universal pension is a better idea than universal basic income, says India's Chief Economic Advisor</a>

Eightfold.ai is looking to hire 300 techies from India and across the globe

<ul><li><keyword id="2739029" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nobroker" source="Orion">NoBroker</keyword> came into existence 7 years back when its founders had bad experiences with brokers.</li><li>What started as a service in 2 cities has now expanded to 6, and the platform aims to reach out to the top 50 Indian cities in the next 3-4 years.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="262315" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="saurabh-garg" source="Orion">Saurabh Garg</keyword>, Co founder &amp; CBO, NoBroker who talks to us about the platform’s journey so far and what the next few years will look like for the platform.</li></ul>How many of you have rented, bought or sold a house and have absolutely hated the experience of paying brokerage? And if you are from places like Mumbai, chances are you have paid brokerage to the same broker for numerous years, even if you have not moved houses. For years, information asymmetry has forced many of us to unwillingly resort to using the services of brokers. It is this consumer problem that NoBroker identified and tried to solve by creating its platform over 7 years back, which came into existence from the personal experiences of the founding members. Fast forward 7 years, NoBroker has now expanded from simply connecting buyers and sellers or homeowners and tenants to even offering services like painting, cleaning, Movers and Packers, Home Sanitization to even AC Service &amp; Repair and Pest Control. It has also expanded to six major urban centers. The platform is now looking at ringing in its next phase of growth and recently launched a high decibel campaign to educate people about its buy-sell proposition. “We have been around for around 7 years now and a lot of our growth has come from word-of-mouth. However, there is also latent demand. People hate paying brokerage, and that’s where we have come in, and addressed a pain-point almost all of us have gone through,” said Saurabh Garg, Co founder &amp; CBO, NoBroker. Today, the platform claims to handle $2 billion worth of transactions on its platform annually. “Currently, we do nearly 50,000 rental transactions every month and around 4,500 buy-sell transactions, which is a much larger number in comparison to most of our competitors,” shared Garg. For now, the platform wants to focus on its buy and sell offering and wants to grow the number manifold. The campaign While NoBroker had earlier released a rental campaign, it was primarily aimed at targeting home owners rather than people looking for rent. The platform, over the years, has used digital advertising more. It has also come up with a lot of regional communication. But with the current campaign, the aim is to talk to a larger audience. <div type="Youtube" id="4y5Xve6LLNg" title="NoBroker Nahi Kiya Kya?" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4y5Xve6LLNg/mqdefault.jpg"></div> “While word-of-mouth has been an important driver for us, the latent demand for our offerings has helped us carve a space for ourselves. We listened to our consumers and solved a problem they had been struggling with. Currently, almost 65-70% of our customers come to us organically, without us doing any kind of marketing which is a big advantage for us. However, we thought it was a good time to come up with the campaign because people still feel we are very large in the rental space, but we are now very large in buy and sell too. We do 4,500 transactions in buy and sell every month which almost amounts to Rs 3,000 crore worth of transactions every month. So our objective behind the campaign was to tell everyone that we are pretty big in the buy and sell segment too. NoBroker came into existence because we did not want people to pay brokerage, our aim was to make the process easier and more convenient. Our ad aims to introduce NoBroker as a friend who will help you buy and sell in a more hassle-free way,” explained Garg. Expansion plans When NoBroker had been launched, it had started as a website. A mobile app followed a few years later. It started its operations in two cities, Mumbai and Bangalore. From there, NoBroker is today present in 6 large cities. The aim is to grow its presence substantially in the next few years. “We think this problem related to brokers exists in the top 50 cities in India. So, in the next 3-4 years, we want to go to the top 50 cities and solve the problem across rental, resale, or new sales. We also think that our proposition of non-brokerage clubbed with a one-stop shop works really well because as you move to smaller cities, getting professional services is also a big problem. Services like painting, movers and packers etc play a critical role in the entire real-estate journey and we are trying to make it a painless process, a one-stop shop. Our aim is to make it as seamless for our consumers as possible. We also want to ensure that when someone is availing a service on our platform, there is a certain level of quality and it is done in a proper manner. The future NoBroker had announced in April last year that it had raised $30 million (Rs 230 crore) in its series D round of funding that was led by General Atlantic. Right now, from a communication perspective, the platform will continue to talk about its increasing market share in the buy and sell segment. The aim is to increase the number of transactions drastically in the coming years. “The number of listings we have for buy and sell are much larger than a lot of other platforms. The task at hand for us is to make people aware of our play in the space and to figure out if we can take the 4500 closures to 3X that number in a year. We do resale and primary, which is also a very big business for us. So driving traction on sales and taking it from here to a very large business will be our key focus. Secondly, we want to keep on increasing our market share because when that happens, you are able to give more options to consumers, whether it is a buyer or tenant. So we will aim at going deeper into the cities. Thirdly, we will also focus on identifying pain-points and offering services to make the process easier for them. Over a period of time, we have realized that rent agreement, packers and movers and painting are pain-points, so we have added those services. People can also pay rent on our platform. So our endeavour would be to keep removing our consumers’ pain-points by adding important services so that we can make our consumers’ journey seamless. Also, <keyword id="9264124" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nobrokerhood" source="Orion">NoBrokerhood</keyword>, our society management app has also gained a lot of traction so that is also something we will keep investing on,” concluded Garg.

You Searched For "Garg" and got 11 results

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Almost 65-70% of our customers come to us organically, without us doing any kind of marketing: Saurabh Garg, NoBroker

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