<p>Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever is in advanced talks to acquire 4-year-old direct-to-consumer startup Minimalist for up to $350 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. An acquisition would add to the Unilever subsidiary&#8217;s buying spree in India, where it expanded into the health and well-being category by acquiring Oziva and Wellbeing Nutrition [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever is in advanced talks to acquire 4-year-old direct-to-consumer startup Minimalist for up to $350 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. An acquisition would add to the Unilever subsidiary&#8217;s buying spree in India, where it expanded into the health and well-being category by acquiring Oziva and Wellbeing Nutrition [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Indian online pharmacy PharmEasy is now being valued at about $456 million after its investor Janus Henderson said in a filing that it valued its stake of 12.9 million shares in the startup at $766,043. The asset manager&#8217;s Global Research Fund had originally spent $9.4 million to acquire these shares. This valuation is 92% less [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Days after web hosting provider WP Engine won a preliminary injunction against WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg and rival hosting provider Automattic, Mullenweg announced that WordPress.org is taking a holiday break. WordPress.org — a site that provides access to WordPress plug-ins, themes, and other artifacts to the community — will take a break from providing free [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Yet another major investment is going down in the travel sector, underscoring its ongoing rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosus, the tech conglomerate controlled by Naspers, is paying $1.7 billion to acquire Despegar, one of the biggest online travel agencies in Latin America, to scale up its operations in the region. Despegar’s board of directors [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Shein must surrender all data of Indian customers and control of its local operations to its partner, Reliance Retail, and keep operations fully local to re-enter the Indian market, according to new government disclosures that reveal how the apparel and accessories retailer secured a rare exception to India&#8217;s ban on Chinese-linked apps. In a parliamentary [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The tourism and travel industries are finally back on track, expected to make a “full recovery” to pre-pandemic levels of activity, the UN said earlier this month. As an indicator of that, Hostaway, one of the bigger software startups in the space, is announcing a giant round of funding to double down on growth.&nbsp; The [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Google has ended a test in which it was returning basic &#8220;blue link&#8221; search results for hotel-related searches in a handful of markets in the European Union, in response to compliance complaints related to the bloc&#8217;s Digital Markets Act (DMA). These blue links appeared instead of visually richer results, where its search engine will display [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Google has ended a test in which it was returning basic &#8220;blue link&#8221; search results for hotel-related searches in a handful of markets in the European Union, in response to compliance complaints related to the bloc&#8217;s Digital Markets Act (DMA). These blue links appeared instead of visually richer results, where its search engine will display [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Epic Games is partnering with Telefónica, one of the largest telecommunication providers in the world, to preinstall the Epic Games Store on all new compatible Android devices on its network. Telefónica services Spain, the U.K., Germany, and Latin America. The company says the partnership will bring the Epic Games Store to &#8220;millions&#8221; of phones, marking [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Epic Games is partnering with Telefónica, one of the largest telecommunication providers in the world, to preinstall the Epic Games Store on all new compatible Android devices on its network. Telefónica services Spain, the U.K., Germany, and Latin America. The company says the partnership will bring the Epic Games Store to &#8220;millions&#8221; of phones, marking [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Laam, a curated online fashion marketplace based in Pakistan, has raised $5.5 million in a seed round to take South Asian fashion to the world.</p>

<p>Laam, a curated online fashion marketplace based in Pakistan, has raised $5.5 million in a seed round to take South Asian fashion to the world.</p>

<p>A California district court judge on Tuesday ruled that Automattic and its CEO Matt Mullenweg must restore WP Engine&#8217;s access to WordPress.org, a theme and plug-in repository owned by Mullenweg. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin noted that WP Engine&#8217;s access to WordPress.org, themes, plugins, and subdomains should be restored as they were on September 20, when Mullenweg [&hellip;]</p>

<p>TikTok&#8217;s e-commerce Shop feature is going live in Spain, the company announced on Tuesday, marking the first step of a wider European rollout. The launch indicates that TikTok parent ByteDance is speeding up the expansion of the TikTok Shop in European markets as a potential U.S. ban looms. Users in Spain will now be able [&hellip;]</p>

<p>TikTok&#8217;s e-commerce Shop feature is going live in Spain, the company announced on Tuesday, marking the first step of a wider European rollout. The launch indicates that TikTok parent ByteDance is speeding up the expansion of the TikTok Shop in European markets as a potential U.S. ban looms. Users in Spain will now be able [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Amazon on Tuesday said it is piloting a quick commerce service in India that will see the U.S. tech giant delivering grocery and other items in 15 minutes or less. The firm is the sixth major entrant in India&#8217;s quick-commerce market, which is currently clocking more than $6 billion in annual sales. Zomato-owned BlinkIt, Swiggy, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Amazon on Tuesday said it is piloting a quick commerce service in India that will see the U.S. tech giant delivering grocery and other items in 15 minutes or less. The firm is the sixth major entrant in India&#8217;s quick-commerce market, which is currently clocking more than $6 billion in annual sales. Zomato-owned BlinkIt, Swiggy, [&hellip;]</p>

<p>French unicorn Mirakl is announcing its third acquisition in three years with the acquisition of Adspert, a German adtech startup focused on e-commerce advertising. Mirakl isn’t disclosing the terms of the acquisition, but the entire Adspert team of 30 employees will join Mirakl. As a reminder, Mirakl originally started as a software solution to add [&hellip;]</p>

<p>French unicorn Mirakl is announcing its third acquisition in three years with the acquisition of Adspert, a German adtech startup focused on e-commerce advertising. Mirakl isn’t disclosing the terms of the acquisition, but the entire Adspert team of 30 employees will join Mirakl. As a reminder, Mirakl originally started as a software solution to add [&hellip;]</p>