Back in October 2020, Carl Pei, the Co Founder of OnePlus, decided to leave the company to work on starting his own venture. Now, the Pei has announced that he has successfully raised 7 million US Dollars to start his new audio startup.

The finances Carl has raised arrives from his friends and family and is set to be unveiled sometime early next year. The lineup of seed investors for the new startup includes major names like iPod inventor Tony Fadell, YouTuber Casey Neistat, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, PCH CEO Liam Casey, Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave, and Product Hunt CEO Josh Buckley.

Editor’s Pick: Apple launches its first ever wireless headphones AirPods Max with ANC, 20hrs battery life

According to an AndroidCentral report, the upcoming venture will be based around audio and related technology. The first product from this startup will be launched sometime in 2021. Unfortunately, finer details regarding these products or its exact business is still unknownm, but Pei has stated that the company will have a broader focus rather than jut making hearables like headphones.

In statement to Wired, Pei stated that “I am grateful and tremendously excited to have friends of this caliber supporting us in building what’s next. We plan on moving aggressively against our vision, and can’t wait to see how the market will react. This seed investment will support the creation of a head office in London, hiring of the team, and finance ongoing product research and development efforts.” He further clarified that there were no fallout with OnePlus Co founder and CEO Pete Lau that might have caused him to leave the company.

UP NEXT: The Mi A3 among a leaked list of Xiaomi models said to get Android 11 upgrade soon

The post OnePlus Co Founder Carl Pei is working on launching an audio startup appeared first on Gizmochina.

Apple has reportedly acquired another startup. This time its a VR based company called Spaces, which has a dedicated team that specializes in virtual reality based technology, according to a report from Protocol.

Spaces is a company created by veterans from DreamWorks Animation back in 2016. The startup has been developing VR products and has also built tools for Zoom in the form of an add on that allows users to hold virtual reality video conferences and use animated avatars as well. However, just last week, the company abruptly ended all of its services without any further details or prior notice. The only information currently available on Spaces’ official website is that it is “heading in a new direction.”

Editor’s Pick: Apple attempts at shutting down Epic Games’ Unreal Engine blocked by Judge

The official note says, “Thank you to our users and partners who participated in our awesome VR video conferencing product and the many people who enjoyed our VR location-based entertainment attractions found at theme parks, theaters, and more.” At the moment, both Apple and Spaces have yet to respond to this matter. It is also unknown what price the former paid to acquire the latter.

Apple is currently working on VR and AR related products that are set to launch in the near future. While it is uncertain if Spaces would join the company’s VR projects, the company’s former employees might just be absorbed into Apple’s team. Unfortunately, this is still an unconfirmed report, so take it with a pinch of salt for now and stay tuned for more updates.

UP NEXT: OPPO A53 with Snapdragon 460, 90Hz display and 5,000mAh battery launched for Rs. 12,990 (~$174)

The post Apple has acquired Spaces, a VR Startup: Report appeared first on Gizmochina.

A new report from the Korean Herald has revealed that various startups from South Korea are banding together to call for an investigation against Apple and Google. The probe would be for both tech giants’ in app purchase systems.

The group between the various developers and small scale companies have submitted a petition to the Korea Communications Commission earlier this week. In the petition, the group sought an investigation against both Apple and Google, which may be violating South Korean laws regarding in-app purchases and anti-competitive behavior. They said that Apple has been forcing developers to use their proprietary in app purchase structure since 2011.

Editor’s Pick: OnePlus TV U1 55-inch Review: Beautiful Design, Vibrant 4K Screen makes it an Excellent Buy under ₹50,000

This payment structure has Apple take a 30 percent cut off the total expenditure as commission. Similarly, Google demands the same from gaming application, requiring them to use its own in app purchase system for games on its platform. According to Choi Sung-jin, President of the Korea Startup Forum, “While the 30 percent commission rate is too high in itself, it is more problematic that they force a specific payment system for the app markets.”

Sung-jin further added that unlike larger developers, the small scale or newer startups have fewer opportunities to negotiate the terms with either Apple or Google. Furthermore, they fear that an attempted negotiation might lead to a hike in commissions for the in app purchases done by the customer. In 2019, both known brands account for 87.8 percent of the total South Korean app market. Notably, this arrives just after Epic sued both companies for anti competitive practices regarding their respective app stores for very similar reasons.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi explains it charges a 4,500mAh battery in 40 minutes through its 50W wireless charging

The post Apple and Google may face trouble as startups seek probe on their in-app purchase system appeared first on Gizmochina.

Startups in India have raised a record 14.8 billion US Dollars in 2019 alone. It marks a major year on year growth from 10.6 billion US Dollars back in 2018.

According to Tracxn, a research firm, Tech related startups in India this year had participated in over 1,185 financial rounds. In this, about 459 of these were Series A (1st stage startups after conceptualisation) or later rounds raised the amount from 917 different investors. Notably, about 81 of these financial dealings were in between the sizes of 25 million to 100 million US Dollars.

On the other hand, early-stage startups also participated in pre-Series A financial rounds and raised upwards of 6.9 billion US Dollars. This is a bit more than double of last year’s 3.3 billion US Dollars, according to reports from a venture debt firm named InnoVen Capital.

Editor’s Pick: OnePlus rolls out Android 10 updates for OnePlus 6 and 6T for the third time

Furthermore, 128 startups in India also got publicly listed which attracted a record number of international investors in 2019. This is indicative of the Southeast Asian country’s strong growth which is on a steady climb. To paint a broader picture, Indian startups only raised about 550 million US Dollars at the start of the decade back in 2010.

Initially, these startups were more inclined towards western trends, in which they provided e-commerce solutions and ideas to the market. Now, they are highly diversified and take on all sorts of fields tackling anything under the Sun. Reportedly, there a 150 educational and learning app startups, 160 fintech startups, 82 ride hailing services (Similar to Uber), 42 insurance firms, and a lot more.

UP NEXT: Samsung to showcase SelfieType, a new way of typing with front cameras at CES 2020

(Via)

The post Indian Startups raised a record high $14.8 Billion in 2019 appeared first on Gizmochina.