Uber to offer 12k free rides to National Association for Blind in 8 cities

Ride hailing major Uber on Tuesday said it has partnered with the National Association for the Blind (NAB), Delhi to facilitate 12,000 free rides (worth over Rs 25 lakhs) to blind, low-vision and other disabled persons, as well as their caregivers and teachers.

The association, which will be valid from October to December 2020, will enable their safe access to educational and training institutes as well as work places in eight cities, a statement said.

These cities include Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Chennai, and Kolkata.

In each of these cities, Uber's partnership with NAB will be implemented in collaboration with its local chapter - NAB Delhi in New Delhi.

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* Lendingkart appoints 3 new senior executives to head technology, operations team

Lendingkart Technologies on Tuesday announced the appointment of three new senior executives to head its technology and operations teams.

Lendingkart has expanded its leadership team with Giridhar Yasa joining as the Chief Technology Officer, Mahesh Parashar as the Chief of Collections, and Sameer Nagpal who will be joining as the Chief of Revenue Operations and Disbursement, a statement said.

"As we embark on our next wave of growth, we are building a stronger team of industry veterans from technology, collections and operations who will support our commitment towards empowering micro entrepreneurs...backed by their vast industry experience, we are confident they (the new executives) will play a crucial role in shaping the company amidst the dynamic and evolving digital lending ecosystem," Lendingkart co-founder and Managing Director Harshvardhan Lunia said.

Yasa, who was previously with Flipkart, will be responsible for growing Lendingkart's platform for customer, channel partners and co-lending partners to have minimal onboarding time and a configurable workflow catering to their requirements.

Parashar will be joining from Aditya Birla Finance Ltd, while Nagpal joins Lendingkart from Airtel Payments Bank.

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* Biddano secures pre-Series A investment led by Venture Catalysts

Venture Catalysts on Tuesday said it has recently led a funding round in Biddano, a tech-enabled B2B healthcare product distribution platform.

The pre-Series A funding round, whose size was not disclosed, also saw participation from other leading early-stage investors such as LetsVenture.

Established in 2016 by Talha Shaikh and Ashok Yadav, Biddano's platform simplifies order management for chemists and hospitals by enabling orders from multiple distributors to be easily consolidated into pharmacy-specific deliveries.

Through its fulfilment infrastructure, Biddano ensures that pharmacies, chemists, and hospitals can procure medicines in less than 3 hours of placing an order.