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<ul><li>Luminary has entered into a strategic partnership with <keyword id="4519251" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword>. </li><li>Times Bridge will enable Luminary to launch, scale and expand its reach in India, the world’s largest open Internet market.</li></ul>Luminary, among the world’s leading subscription platforms for high-quality podcasts, today announced a partnership with Times Bridge to bring its premium audio experience to Indian consumers. Times Bridge, a leading global investments and partnerships firm, will enable Luminary to launch, scale and expand its reach in India, the world’s largest open Internet market. With news of this strategic partnership, Luminary joins Times Bridge’s global portfolio of market-leading, mission-driven partners who see India as essential to their global business: consumer and enterprise businesses alike, including Airbnb, Coursera, Headspace, Houzz, Stack Overflow, Smule, Uber and Wattpad, have all generated outsized global value for themselves in recent years by partnering with Times Bridge in India. Times Bridge is a division of The <keyword id="11125" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Times-Group">Times Group</keyword>, India’s oldest and largest media and digital company. Founded in 2018 and backed by marquee global investors including NEA, Luminary has set out to transform the global podcasting industry by offering an elevated experience for both listeners and creators. The company offers a subscription service for its premium content - which features personalities such as Russell Brand, Lena Dunham, Trevor Noah, and Dave Chappelle - and has amassed a slew of accolades, most recently from The New Yorker, The Webby Awards and Adweek. In April, Luminary announced that its podcasts would be offered on the Luminary channel of Apple Podcasts, making them available globally. <a name="m_-7922449519507527228_m_-469251050635407937_m_6068447029345576171_m_-706644968640035600_m_2072713269564072058_m_6896817252801412630_m_6296800022619968465_m_4879747725434813834_m_-6029213800918870495_m_-8064029617444494804__2iiegcvfk1lq"></a>Luminary’s official launch in the Indian market coincides with exceptional growth in audio consumption across India in recent years. The country is now the world’s third-largest podcast market, after China and the United States, with a monthly listenership of 58 million and expected growth to 200 million by 2024. Luminary aims to meaningfully cater to India’s vibrant cultural, demographic and linguistic diversity with soon-to-be-launched exclusive Indian content. <a name="m_-7922449519507527228_m_-469251050635407937_m_6068447029345576171_m_-706644968640035600_m_2072713269564072058_m_6896817252801412630_m_6296800022619968465_m_4879747725434813834_m_-6029213800918870495_m_-8064029617444494804__z8u3paip9mik"></a>Drawing on Times Bridge’s local know-how, its operational support and the unmatched reach of Times Group assets, Luminary will forge strategic partnerships, launch original Indian content, build a localized brand voice and contextualize its product experience for the Indian market. Times Bridge’s unique influence-and-insight oriented approach and dedicated resources will accelerate the growth of Luminary’s platform and advance its mission in India. Simon Sutton, CEO of Luminary Media, said, “India is an incredibly exciting audio market, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to serve it with Times Bridge. We cannot wait for Indian audiences to experience our unique content offering. Over the course of the next year, we plan on becoming a part of the robust Indian podcast ecosystem. “ <a name="m_-7922449519507527228_m_-469251050635407937_m_6068447029345576171_m_-706644968640035600_m_2072713269564072058_m_6896817252801412630_m_6296800022619968465_m_4879747725434813834_m_-6029213800918870495_m_-8064029617444494804__fgkqux3ldpd4"></a>Rishi Jaitly, CEO of Times Bridge, added: “Times Bridge’s mission is to bring the world’s best ideas to India and share India’s best insights with the world. Luminary is an original idea with proven appeal with audiences who are passionate about high-quality audio experiences. With podcasting as a medium on the rise in India, and with millions of Indians now developing a habit of educating and engaging via audio, we are confident Luminary will delight new audiences in India - and unlock new stories from India for the world.”

Luminary partners with Times Bridge to bring its premium podcast platform to India

<ul><li>Smule and Radio Mirchi have launched a second season of their digital talent hunt.</li><li>Interested participants simply need to download the Smule app and sing their cover entry. </li><li>Earlier this year, Ashmik Patil was crowned the first Smule Mirchi Cover Star and performed with the Meet Brothers at the 11th Mirchi Music Awards in front of the Bollywood music fraternity. </li></ul>Smule and Radio Mirchi have renewed their property – Cover Star – for second season. The first edition of this digital <keyword id="36618" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Singing-talent">singing talent</keyword> hunt saw over 50,000 unique entries. Smule Mirchi Cover Star is a coveted platform for youngsters to showcase their singing talent and offers winners a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at the 12th Mirchi Music Awards in Mumbai in the presence of leading icons of the Indian music industry. Interested participants simply need to download the Smule app and sing their cover entry. Smule is backed in India by <keyword id="4519251" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword>, an investment arm of the Times Group. Sharing how important this opportunity is for Smule worldwide, Bill Bradford, President, Smule said, “India is a strategic market for us and a key part of our truly global community. Smule Mirchi Cover Star is a terrific way of not just unearthing and investing in local talent, but also of establishing our credentials as the most innovative and impactful musical performance platform. We want to use the mobile phone to connect people through music and bring it back to its social roots.” Viral Jani, Senior Vice-President, Investment Operations, Times Bridge, adds, “Our mission at <keyword id="6970546" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smule-india">Smule India</keyword> is to give our users an unparalleled sing-along experience. Offering a national canvas makes Smule Mirchi Cover Star a unique platform to showcase musical talent in a truly democratic and accessible way. It’s an unmatched experience for winners to perform in front of prominent names of the music fraternity.” Yatish Mehrishi (COO), Radio Mirchi, said, “Looking at the growing trends in the singing category and the excitement that people have for such activities, we were keen to give our listens one such innovative platform. Smule Mirchi Cover Star is a platform that not only will help people explore their hidden singing talent but also, something that people will enjoy while participating. After an amazing response in the first season we look forward to discover many such hidden gems and give the winner the stage of Mirchi Music Awards.” In phase one of the contest, all entries will be screened and the top 100 will be shortlisted. These will be uploaded on the Smule Mirchi Cover Star website (<a href="http://www.mirchicoverstar.com">www.mirchicoverstar.com</a>) for voting and social engagement. These form the basis for evaluation, along with the decisions of judges Jonita Gandhi, Shilpa Rao and the Meet Brothers. Thereafter, five entries will be shortlisted from the 100 for the final round. The top five will battle it out at a specially curated event with press, fans and judges. The winner will be chosen and then groomed for various performances, including at the Mirchi Music Awards 2020. Earlier this year, Ashmik Patil was crowned the first Smule Mirchi Cover Star and performed with the Meet Brothers at the 11th Mirchi Music Awards in front of the Bollywood music fraternity. Telling us what the experience was like, Patil shares, “It’s been a life-changing experience - to be mentored by and share the stage with the Meet Brothers; I’m grateful to Smule and Radio Mirchi for the opportunity.”

Smule and Radio Mirchi take forward a second season for their digital talent hunt after a successful collaboration

We may not default to weather as just small talk anymore. With India battling a crazy and unpredictable spate of weather events in 13 of its states recently, it is perhaps time to take weather seriously. And keeping that critical mission in mind, <keyword id="4519251" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword> - the global investment arm of the <keyword id="11125" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Times-Group">Times Group</keyword> - announced its new partnership in India with The Weather Channel today. The partnership aims to bring in personalised weather data and climate coverage that is specific to the Indian subcontinent. The acclaimed weather forecasting and technology company launched the Indian edition of the app and website today. This is currently available in English but plans to launch the Hindi version are in the pipeline. The Weather Company wants to address the challenges of India’s various climate regions, agricultural areas and volatile weather shifts by analysing raw data from primary sources. The <keyword id="10875" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IBM">IBM</keyword> business pegs itself as the ‘the most accurate forecaster in the world’ and wants to connect the Indian audience to information that is specific to their region and relevant to their surroundings. The launch timing could not have been more poignant. The inclement weather events are fast mutating the economic fortune of the country. The monsoon is a critical driver for the country's farm-dependent $2 trillion economy as at least half the farmlands are rain-fed. The country gets about 70% of annual rainfall in the June-September monsoon season, making it crucial for an estimated 263 million farmers. It is quite evident that India needs a smart and hyper-local weather forecasting channel with an actionable advisory oriented approach. Weather plans to publish temperature and wind maps for the region, along with satellite, radar and alerts. User-friendly features include forecasts to help with health decisions and lifestyle choices via the application of air pollution indices, cricket forecasts, and a sweat index among other things. The culmination of which should result in daily planning recommendations based on the data available. “At a macro level, the effect of climate change is perhaps one of the most pressing issues of our time. At a micro level, having an accurate forecast helps people plan their wardrobes, commutes and crops. Building solid reporting institutions around this spectrum is critical,” said <keyword id="4644934" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="thane-richard">Thane Richard</keyword>, Times Bridge’s Senior Director of Publishing and Creative. The impact of weather can in no way be underestimated given the current climatic changes and the Weather Channel aims to help you understand and make better decisions around the weather. Download the app on the Play Store through The Weather Channel App or login to <a href="http://www.weather.com/in">www.weather.com/in</a>. Disclaimer: Business Insider is also a partner with the Times Group in India.

The End of Small Talk - The Weather Company launches in India with region specific features

Our hyper-connected world has in many ways made our lives better. From meeting people to buying clothes to booking a cab, now everything is just a click away. While the Internet provides convenience, it is no easy task to manage one’s digital life - there’s a subscription service for every category including news, entertainment, lifestyle and more that promises to offer a premium experience while saving money. Meet <keyword id="7391793" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Times-Prime">Times Prime</keyword>, India’s first subscription service that offers you access to a premium experience across 20+ brands. Users can integrate their digital identity with a single account with exclusive access to 4 premium memberships along with curated offers and much more at an introductory price of Rs. 999. Speaking with Business Insider, Vivek Jain, the Business Head of Times Prime said, “At Times Prime, our business strategy has been to handpick premium benefits &amp; experiences that our customers love. We noticed that online food delivery was increasingly becoming an integral part of the lives of urban Indians, and we have partnered with the country’s largest online food delivery platform to add its premium offering to our bundle.” In addition to 1+1 on Food, Drinks and Buffets across 1000+ top restaurants across Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Chennai, a Times Prime membership offers unlimited song downloads, access to HD ad-free music for both downloading and streaming songs on the country’s largest music streaming app. It also offers exclusive access to the ad-free version of the world’s most circulated newspaper and curated offers across dining, entertainment, travel &amp; hospitality, grocery delivery, healthcare, events, online shopping and more. It also offers discounts &amp; privileges at some of the best events &amp; experiences in the country including bookings made on Insider.in and at Adlabs Imagica, Smaaash, Canvas Laugh Club and more.

Meet Times Prime, the Indian subscription service that offers privileges across 20+ Brands

<keyword id="3562082" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="thrive-global">Thrive Global</keyword>, a well-being and productivity platform, is coming to India. <keyword id="554193" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arianna-Huffington">Arianna Huffington</keyword> and <keyword id="4519251" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword>, a division of the Times Group, formally launched <keyword id="4704435" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Thrive-global-in-india">Thrive Global in India</keyword>. Thrive Global, which wants to end the global stress and epidemic burnout, was launched in New York in 2016 and this is its first international partnership in India. "I'm thrilled to be partnering with the Times Group to expand Thrive Global's presence to India. India faces many challenges with stress and burnout. But it also has many of its own solutions. India's ancient spiritual traditions, in addition to traditional Indian practices like yoga and meditation, have been validated by modern science, and form the basis for many of Thrive Global's tools and strategies.I'm looking forward to the opportunity for Thrive Global, along with Times Bridge, to bring them to India," said Arianna <keyword id="3562462" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Huffington">Huffington</keyword>, founder and CEO of Thrive Global. 
 
 
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 Times Bridge, the global partnerships arm of The Times Group, has investments in Airbnb, Coursera, Uber, Vice, and HuffPost, among others. Rishi Jaitly, CEO of Times Bridge said, "Times Bridge mission is to bring the world's best ideas to India, and share India's best insights with the world. Thrive Global is a cutting-edge idea whose time has come and we're thrilled to be able to help advance Thrive's mission, services and products across the length and breadth of India." 
 
 
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Arianna Huffington, Times Bridge launch Thrive Global in India. Here are the details

<ul><li><keyword id="4519251" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword>, the global investment and partnerships arm of the Times Group, announced that its strategic investment in <keyword id="191951" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Smule">Smule</keyword>, the social network for music.</li><li><keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> is the 2nd largest international market for the app and they're keen to tap into India's multi-lingual music culture. </li><li>Aside from an investment of $20 million, Times Bridge will partner with Smule on community building, collaborations with local artists as well as targeted regional programs.</li></ul> If you like music, then you’ve probably heard of Smule. And, today the leading social network for music has announced a strategic investment from Times Bridge, the global investment and partnerships arm of the Times Group. Going forward, Times Bridge will empower Smule with strategic insight as it expands its operations in India. This is especially significant since the country is Smule’s second largest international market. Smule currently has 50 million active users that are using the platform to transform the global music scene from just passive listen to active collaboration, creation and expressive sharing. Anyone, anywhere in the world can log in and find different genres of music on the platform. The strategic partnership entails an investment of over $20 million along with help on how to localise the platform for the Indian masses. India’s multi-lingual music culture is a good fit for the app, and an opportunity to tap into an even wider market. This is Times Bridge's third investment this year, after investing in MUBI and Houzz, in their bid to expand their existing investment portfolio of innovative consumer tech companies. Leveraging its vast network of media assets, Times Bridge will partner on varied aspects such as community building, collaborations with top artists, targeted regional programs and advertising. Smule is the first social music platform to partner with Times Bridge in India. India and Smule India has a long and rich history of music. Its varied culture and shared passion for music makes it a priority market for Smule. With this investment, Smule plans to increase its exposure in the Indian digital music market and grow the market organically. Smule is keen to tap into India’s flourishing diverse music culture and is pioneering a unique way for people to create and engage with music. In May 2017, Smule raised $54 million in a financing round led by Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. “Indian audiences are passionate about connecting through music. We want to enhance those connections in an authentic way and we are thrilled to partner with Times Bridge to marshal the best of The Times Group on Smule’s behalf,” said Jeffrey Smith, Smule’s CEO and co-founder. “Smule is about empowering our community to do more of what they love – from singing with their favourite celebrities to collaborating with friends to discovering new music. We're thrilled to find a partner that both shares our vision and has the cultural insights and market reach to deliver it.” Rishi Jaitly, CEO of Times Bridge, said, "Times Bridge’s mission is to bring the world’s best ideas to India and share India’s best insights with the world. Smule is a deeply original, bold idea with a mission of changing the way the world experiences music. Our investment will advance Smule’s music mission across the Indian subcontinent and unlock the creativity of many millions along the way. We are delighted to be working with a partner who approaches India with the empathy, conviction and optimism that the Indian market warrants.”

Smule Announces Strategic Investment from Times Bridge in India

In 1995, <keyword id="3612226" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Adi-Tatarko">Adi Tatarko</keyword>, a college student from Israel, boarded a bus in Thailand with a few of her college girlfriends. They were headed for the islands - a 15-hour ride from Bangkok. The bus was crowded, so the bus driver directed Tatarko to an empty seat in the back next to another foreigner. This stranger’s name was <keyword id="3612225" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alon-Cohen">Alon Cohen</keyword> and he would soon become her husband and later co-founder of <keyword id="1291598" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Houzz">Houzz</keyword>, a $4 billion home renovation and design company that has global ambitions. On October 11, 2017, Houzz announced a strategic partnership with <keyword id="4519251" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword>, the investment arm of The Times Group, to dramatically expand its footprint in India (disclosure: Business Insider is a strategic partner with Times Bridge). If the relationship between Tatarko and Cohen led to the catharsis that is Houzz, then one could view their rapid expansion in South Asia as a homecoming of sorts. “We ended up talking throughout the entire 15-hour bus ride and spending the rest of our vacation together,” recalls Tatarko. She describes it as feeling like four dates at once. Three years later they got married. Shortly thereafter, they moved to New York City and, in 2001, to Palo Alto where their quest to decorate their new home led to the first iterations of what would become Houzz. It was a project built organically from need, a trait investors love because it reveals a true consumer pain point. Houzz lets homeowners browse and save design ideas by architects and designers, connecting professional and consumer so people improving and designing their homes can buy what they like from anywhere. For Tatarko, Houzz can be broken into four phases: side project, company, monetization and expansion. A SIDE PROJECT The idea for Houzz emerged sometime during the three years when Tatarko and Cohen were struggling to get their four-bedroom ranch house in Palo Alto renovated. Several months went by as they scanned through magazines and books looking for pictures that could match their vision. Once they found a design, they then had to search for the right products and professionals to turn their dream house into a reality. Each and every effort made reaped no results - Google was barely three years old. Facebook did not exist (Mark Zuckerberg had not even been accepted into Harvard yet). While it was disappointing and frustrating, they were quick to spot the underlying opportunity. Despite the mad rush in the consumer Internet startup space, no one seemed to have noticed the same problem they had. Houzz’s first users were 20 parents from the school that their kids attended, and a few architects and designers from the Bay Area. At that time, Tatarko was working at an investment firm and juggling the demands of work and home, managing two young children. Cohen was leading teams of developers at eBay. While the early days gave the couple the time to focus on building a great product and user experience, stacking this work onto their full time jobs it was very easy for them to lose work-life balance, and their kids would often notice it. “We sat down as a family and figured out together how we could make things right. Now, we have regular check-ins to assess where we are and adjust as needs change both at work and at home,” says Tatarko. While the personal concerns were being taken care of, challenges on the professional front were increasing. A COMPANY Both Tatarko and Cohen quit their jobs. They also realized more money needed to flow into Houzz if it had to expand. They opted to put in personal money - the idea of approaching venture capitalists was dropped for the time being. Instead, the couple focused on the quality of the services being offered on Houzz and continued bootstrapping in favour of providing jittery homeowners with exactly what they wanted so they could build their dream homes. Turns out a moral call they took years back is one of the major reasons for the success of Houzz today.
	
	
	
	
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 Tatarko feels proud to share that bootstrapping ended up being one of the best things to have happened to Houzz. “By the time we decided that we should turn Houzz into a company, we already had a product that many people used and loved using. In retrospect, we didn’t realize that what we were doing was bootstrapping but it enabled us to take our time and build the company from the ground up the right way," she says. But not every feature they created was perfect. “For a long time, I asked Alon to kill the ‘Buzz’ section and to launch an 'Ask A Question' section on Houzz instead. He delayed it for a long time as he was working on other site functionalities,” says Tatarko. Alon was the only developer for Houzz at the time. When he eventually flipped the switch on “Ask A Question,” Houzz immediately saw hundreds of questions every day from homeowners accompanied by responses from professionals. “It was a lesson well learnt,” Tatarko says jokingly, adding what Cohen often says about the incident: “Sometimes small changes can have high impact; and sometimes you should listen to your wife.” But for all the focus on user experience and feature improvements, people could still not buy anything on Houzz. MONETIZATION "I remember taking calls to the office from people asking where the ‘Add to Cart’ button was on our site, or whether we could ship a freestanding bathtub they saw in a photo to their home. People saw the green tags we had on photos with product information... but still had to go to many different places to purchase the products they liked.” recalls Tatarko. This burgeoning demand from the fast-expanding community led the couple to introduce a home products marketplace in October 2014. The beta version of the Houzz Marketplace was launched in the U.S.. This closed the loop for people and became their one-stop solution where they could get everything they needed to renovate or design their home in a single place. Meanwhile, money was being poured into Houzz by investors. This had begun in July 2010 with a $2 million investment. By late 2014, Houzz had closed a $165 million Series D round led by Sequoia Capital valuing the company at $2.3 billion. More recently, Houzz raised a $400 million Series E round of funding nudging the valuation up to roughly $4 billion. With funding and revenue came expansion. “The third phase [of Houzz] would be establishing the infrastructure to be a global company and the beginning of monetization. We expanded beyond our small office in Palo Alto to other locations, including our first international office in London,” says Tatarko. They made money mostly through paid listings for local home professionals and service providers, and through the product marketplace. "We are now monetizing in many of the countries where we operate," says Tatarko. In India, however, she says revenue taking off will happen later; right now Houzz is focusing on spreading its wings. SCALE While the deal with Times Bridge was only announced yesterday, Houzz’s footprint in India is a bit older. A million customers and more than 50,000 service providers signed up from India on Houzz even before it was launched in the country. Indians were using the international site to build their brands, collaborate with clients and connect with homeowners globally. The Houzz team then decided to launch a custom site for the Indian market in January this year. 
	
	
	
	
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 This comes at a time when the Indian home design and decor market is poised to grow from $13 billion in 2010 to over $45 billion by the end of this year. The boom in the residential real estate industry over the last few decades has given impetus to the home decor market. Also driving the growth of this sector is an increased consciousness among homeowners about stylish interiors coupled with the means to actualize that desire. According to National Council of Applied Economic Research, it is estimated that the size of India’s new middle class will run as high as 11.38 million by 2025-26. This year alone, as many as 4,00,000 new homes will be bought across just the major cities and the vast majority of them will need to get their home designed. When it comes to India market competitiveness, Houzz already dominates the online interior design and furnishing space globally and is quick in embracing new technologies to enhance the user experience, something Indian <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> lack at the moment. “Designs from across Asia are some of the most popular and in-demand styles among the global Houzz community,” says Tatarko. “People are eager to learn from, buy from as well as hire talented Indian professionals. We’re excited to make Indian design and talent even more accessible to Houzz users around the world.” Regarding technology, Houzz came out with the initial version of View in My Room 3D within its iPhone and iPad apps this past May. Users can use it to preview hundreds of thousands of home furniture and decor products from the Houzz Shop in 3D, within their own homes, before buying. Last year, it introduced a deep learning tool to scan more than 15 million retina-quality home photos on Houzz to identify furniture and decor in living spaces and surface visually similar inventory from the Houzz marketplace. It’s also applying deep learning technology to natural language understanding to improve things like search, ads and recommendations. While a few Indian start-ups like Lenskart and Caratlane have invested in Augmented Reality to offer users enhanced experience, the home remodelling and design market in India is slow in adopting newer technologies. “Each market has unique challenges, which is why our focus first and foremost is on tailoring the experience and building our community the right way, based on the needs of the industry in India. This focus on first localizing our platform and building our local content and community is the approach we have taken in every market where we have launched, including the United States, and it’s working,” says Tatarko. But with so much going on, could this new phase of global scaling affect work-life balance again? Not according to Tatarko: family is never going to take a backseat. Whenever the parents get time off, they like to spend it as a weekend away together or just spend quality time at home. They are particularly fond of holidaying in Tel Aviv for its great food, beach, nightlife, culture, architecture and people. As the unlikely Thai bus pair turned Silicon Valley power couple makes mistakes, learns and moves ahead, Tatarko remembers what she said to her husband years ago when they started a life together: "When I married Alon, I told him life with me would be one big, fun, crazy ride. I think it has been! We’ve been together for more than 20 years now and our relationship has only gotten stronger. The truth is, we really enjoy working and building things together.”

The inspiring story of Houzz, a $4 billion Silicon Valley company that wants to remodel India

<ul><li>In its first campaign, <keyword id="6970546" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smule-india">Smule India</keyword> reminds you how you can make use of your free time creatively by jamming with your friends in any corner of the country. </li><li>'India Jam Karega' tells a musical story highlighting different tenets of the social <keyword id="8158731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="singing-app">singing app</keyword>. </li></ul> Smule India has launched its first-ever brand campaign, 'India Jam Karega', and is trying to inspire all of India to make friends with music and music with friends. With its campaign, Smule is inviting music-lovers across the country to come together and jam online. Whether it's singing a duet, crooning away with an international or local artist, creating an original, cheering each other on, making friends across the globe, sparking the creative energy of Indians and getting music lovers across languages and geographies together. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> The new brand campaign - India Jam Karega, tells a musical story highlighting the tenets of the social singing app. Set to a groovy, foot-thumping anthem by the inimitable Sneha Khanwalkar, sung by Benny Dayal and Shalmali Kholgadhe, they are expressing the joy of jamming that people in India enjoy, the film weaves through various situations showing people from all corners of the country singing together. It has a friendly and inviting vibe, completely in sync with the essence of the brand- a community of music lovers uniting across the globe, including jamming with the biggest names in the music industry like Darshan Raval, Neha Kakkar, Salim Merchant, Papon &amp; many others. Playing up the authenticity factor, the lyrics encourage people to sing with pride and without fear of any judgment. The film also brings out the features of the app where users can show appreciation for each other's singing by awarding virtual ‘gifts’. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> <keyword id="8779738" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="bill-bradford">Bill Bradford</keyword>, President, Smule said, “Music has the inter-cultural ability to cross frontiers. It’s a language the world understands and that connects societies. We believe it's more crucial than ever to invoke the power of music to bring people closer, while encouraging, engaging and exciting anyone who likes to sing, anytime, anywhere. We aim to be the one stage where all of India unites to celebrate its passion for music. This campaign is an invitation for Indian music lovers to join our growing community of millions of music lovers – the rookie, the enthusiast and the expert.” <keyword id="3010984" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Viral-Jani">Viral Jani</keyword>, Sr. VP Investment Operations, <keyword id="4519251" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword> said, “At Times Bridge, it is our endeavor to work with our global partners to help them find a brand voice that will resonate with the discerning Indian consumer thereby become a part of the Indian cultural zeitgeist. The campaign “India Jam Karega” is an expression of how the Indian consumer connects over music and forms new connections that are driven by the passion of singing together from north to south, east to west of India and across the world. This campaign is a true reflection of how the Smule community of singers in India come together to Jam and unite on this platform.” Smule is backed by Times Bridge, a leading investment firm that seeks to bring the world’s best ideas to India and India’s best ideas to the world. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div>

Smule’s ‘India Jam Karega’ calls for unity over shared passion for music

Yesterday’s <a href="https://thewire.in/media/vice-india-amit-shah-times-bridge-group">article in The Wire</a> makes clear what many of us already know: “freedom of the press” has to be put in quotes in India. As a foreign media brand operating in India, this is something Business Insider India has to contend with daily. In other words, self censorship is not VICE’s problem; as Indians, it is our problem. Consider this line from The Wire article referring to VICE India forming a committee to review stories for political sensitivity before publication: “Such a committee doesn’t even exist in Vice newsrooms in <keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> and China, which, at 148 and 176, rank worse than India’s score of 136 in the <a href="https://rsf.org/en/ranking">World Press Freedom Index</a>.” We debated in our newsroom how telling it is about the state of dissent that VICE’s local and global leadership -- media veterans well-versed in being provocative -- feel the need to supposedly be more cautious in India than in China or Russia. Self censorship is, by its very nature, extremely difficult to quantify. Other mechanisms aside from committees may exist in VICE’s other offices, but the material presented by The Wire does peg India at a shameful position on the global spectrum of tolerance for dissension. This is our shame as the media industry collectively. Yes, we can fairly assign blame to the government: the embarrassingly low rank of 136, which is in such close proximity to nations with overt censorship regimes, along with <a href="http://www.thehoot.org/free-speech/media-freedom/the-india-freedom-report-january-2016-april-2017-10080">numerous other anecdotal examples</a>, make it difficult to claim Indian democracy is healthy. The government should never curtail or chill free expression, full stop. But the media should also give up zero ground when we feel our freedom slipping. We should publish, sue, protest, and petition to protect the Indian citizen’s right to know. We should also combine these reactionary measures with a coordinated solution-based vision for getting India to #1 on such lists. So allow us to be clear at Business Insider India: The opinions of the <keyword id="58687" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharatiya-Janata-Party">Bharatiya Janata Party</keyword> (<keyword id="14666" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="BJP">BJP</keyword>), the <keyword id="1571" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress-party">Congress Party</keyword>, and their leaders on our coverage do not concern us. The opinions of all other power brokers, from corporate India to state government to the military and beyond, are not accounted for when we at Business Insider India make editorial decisions. These should be non-controversial statements. We serve our readers and the public at large. To the extent these leaders are private citizens, we care deeply about their views on how Business Insider India should report the news just as we care deeply for the opinions of the millions of other Indians who visit our website every month as well as the millions who don’t. Furthermore, we echo the sentiments of both VICE India leadership and the writers who felt the need to resign: we respect the laws of India and abide by the ethics that govern journalists everywhere. While we believe some laws need to be changed to make journalism safer in India, we respect the rule of law and the fundamental character of Indian democracy. They are reflections of India’s people, our true masters. Like VICE India, Business Insider India is also a part of the <keyword id="4519251" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="times-bridge">Times Bridge</keyword> portfolio. Therefore we feel obliged to address notions of editorial interference on that front as well. We invite anyone, especially our readers, to suggest ideas and coverage to us. We do not disregard emails from management that inquire about our vision for Business Insider India. Indeed, we welcome and value inquisitiveness. Having well aligned business and editorial teams is essential to success. But, once again, the opinions of those in power, <keyword id="11125" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Times-Group">Times Group</keyword> included, do not drive our editorial decisions. Finally, when it comes to stories that pass muster on legality and ethics but make VICE leadership nervous about communal backlash or damaged egos, we invite VICE India (and all other media institutions) to <a href="https://creativecommons.org/">openly license</a> such articles or email them to <a href="mailto:editor@businessinsider.in">editor@businessinsider.in</a> so that we can openly license them. Stories that deserve to be told should not be shelved because of fear. If you stand for truth, Business Insider India stands with you. One thing the age of the Internet has made clear is that someone somewhere will be offended by anything we do or publish. Our job is not to please, our job is to be honest and the truth is often uncomfortable and even offensive.

Self censorship is much bigger than VICE India

<ul><li>Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. </li><li>Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform. </li><li>The partnership with Times Bridge will help the company boost its presence in India and reach new users.</li></ul>The Toronto, Canada-based online publishing platform Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge*, the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group, to grow its presence in India and reach new users. Aside from offering the publishing platform like Amazon and Fictionpress.com, Wattpad has created a community for writers. There are forums and contests to engage with peers around the world. Winners of these contests have been known to find publishers. "My Life with the Walter Boys" by Ali Novak, "The Kissing Booth" by Beth Reekles, and "Nothing Left to Lose" by Kristy Moresely, found publishers for the paperback versions through Wattpad, according to a review on another online publishing platform Odyssey. Novak’s work, for instance, had 33 million reads even before it got published, <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Life-Walter-Boys-Ali-Novak/dp/1402297866">according</a> to Amazon. That was the reach of Wattpad in 2014. Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform, the company said in a statement. In 2018, it also tied up with Sony, online streaming service iflix, TV show producers Huayi Brothers Korea and Bavaria Fiction, and the US cable television channel SYFY to turn many of the stories into books, TV shows, films, and digital projects. Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. And its founder Allen Lau, an electrical engineer turned entrepreneur, wants more of the Indian pie. The India outreach will be led by country manager Devashish Sharma, who was <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/devashishsharma/?originalSubdomain=in">part</a> of the founding team at CoHo, one of India’s co-living companies founded in 2015. Wattpad’s partnership with Times Group, one of the biggest media conglomerates in India, will also be an advantage. “Wattpad is a bold, proven idea that has changed how audiences around the world create and experience stories. Our investment will advance Wattpad’s mission, and original storytelling, across the Indian subcontinent, unlocking the creativity of many millions along the way,” Rishi Jaitly, the CEO of Times Bridge, said. Times Bridge’s previous investments include Uber, Airbnb, Coursera, Houzz, MUBI and Smule among others. In January 2018, Wattpad raised $51 million from Chinese investment giant Tencent, Globe Telecom’s Kickstart Ventures, Peterson Group, Canso, and existing investor Raine. *Times Bridge is also a partner in Business Insider India See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-will-groom-these-10-indian-startups-that-use-ai-and-machine-learning/articleshow/68384856.cms">Google will groom these 10 Indian startups that use AI and machine learning</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Spotify-got-a-million-Indians-to-try-its-app-in-a-week-but-they-will-only-stay-if-the-price-is-right/articleshow/68297160.cms">Spotify got a million Indians to try its app in a week — but they will only stay if the price is right</a>

Tencent-backed Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge to woo more Indian writers and readers

China is about to open the world's longest sea bridge. It cost $20 billion and is 20 times longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Bobby Yip/ReutersThe bridge will open to traffic on Wednesday.</div></div></div>After nine years of construction and controversy, China will officially unveil the world's longest sea bridge at a Tuesday ceremony in Hong Kong. At more than 34 miles long, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-worlds-longest-sea-bridge-2018-4">Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge</a> is part of a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2149002/china-holds-greater-bay-area-master-plan-trade-turmoil-clouds">master plan</a> to create a global <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> and technology hub by connecting two Chinese territories, Hong Kong and Macau (the world's largest gambling center), to nine nearby cities.With an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-new-34-mile-bridge-to-link-up-70-million-people-in-planned-megalopolis-1540207727?cx_testId=16&amp;cx_testVariant=cx&amp;cx_artPos=0&amp;cx_tag=collabctx&amp;cx_navSource=newsReel#cxrecs_s">economic output</a> of $1.5 trillion, the new mega-region- known as the Greater Bay Area - is positioned to rival the Silicon Valley. The plan also includes the construction of an $11 billion <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/bullet-train-extends-beijings-reach-into-hong-kong-1537708190">bullet train</a>, which opened in September. The bridge is expected to open to traffic on Wednesday, though only certain vehicles - shuttles, freight cars, and privates cars with permits - are allowed to cross. Pedestrians and bicyclists are prohibited. While some have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/22/longest-sea-bridge-to-open-china-hong-kong-zhuhai-macau-permit">criticized the structure</a> as a waste of taxpayer dollars, others tout its ability to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-new-34-mile-bridge-to-link-up-70-million-people-in-planned-megalopolis-1540207727">connect up to 70 million people</a> in the region.Take a look at its remarkable design below.

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Luminary partners with Times Bridge to bring its premium podcast platform to India

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The End of Small Talk - The Weather Company launches in India with region specific features

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Meet Times Prime, the Indian subscription service that offers privileges across 20+ Brands

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Arianna Huffington, Times Bridge launch Thrive Global in India. Here are the details

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Smule Announces Strategic Investment from Times Bridge in India

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The inspiring story of Houzz, a $4 billion Silicon Valley company that wants to remodel India

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Smule’s ‘India Jam Karega’ calls for unity over shared passion for music

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Self censorship is much bigger than VICE India

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Tencent-backed Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge to woo more Indian writers and readers

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China is about to open the world's longest sea bridge. It cost $20 billion and is 20 times longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

China is about to open the world's longest sea bridge. It cost $20 billion and is 20 times longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

Aria Bendix

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