Xiaomi has teased the launch of HyperCharge support for its upcoming global event

Xiaomi, a popular smartphone manufacturer, has recently made an announcement that it will hold a global launch event on September 15th. The company is looking forward to introducing its new fast charging technology. In a separate, new video, Xiaomi has teased that it will be launching a new range of Xiaomi 11T smartphones. The new 11T series is expected to have two variants, namely 11T and 11T Pro, and both phones will come with a 120W HyperCharge feature. The official teaser from Xiaomi’s Twitter handle had revealed that the new flagship devices would come with the hyperfast charging feature.

As of now, there is no official name for the models or the hypercharge feature, but the teaser leaks make it clear that the devil will come with a hypercharge adapter and charging support. Many tipsters in the past had revealed about Xiaomi’s upcoming phones, and in addition to the above-mentioned hypercharge feature, the smartphone is expected to come with a 5000mAh battery, super AMOLED display, octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. The vanilla variant of the new phone from Xiaomi is expected to be powered by MediaTek Dimensity 1200 Soc, and it will also have a 120Hz display. The camera on both devices is expected to come with a 64mp sensor.

 

Bangladesh's Full-stack B2B Commerce Platform ShopUp Secures $75 Million in Funding

Bangladesh's ShopUp has secured $75 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. The Series B round also saw participation from Prosus Ventures, and existing investors Flourish Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, and VEON Ventures.

The funding round for the largest full-stack B2B commerce platform in South Asia went oversubscribed. The company has raised $110 million in total funding till date.

"Our mission is to put 4.5 million small retailers in the driving seat of Bangladesh’s economic growth. We are building best-in-class infrastructure to support retail operations all over the country, adding new categories to serve the underserved small retailers and launching new financial products to meet the unarticulated needs of the retailers we serve," said Afeef Zaman, CEO and co-founder of ShopUp.

Bangladesh has one of the largest fragmented retail markets in Asia. 98% of retail consumption in the country happens through the small mom-and-pops stores. These stores often struggle while procuring goods from multiple suppliers, distributor and wholesalers. They also encounter many other problems such as unreliable delivery, lack of price transparency. ShopUp is looking to help these retailers by removing the inherent blockers within traditional supply chain, logistics, and financing.

 

Western Union Recommences Afghanistan Money Transfers and Waives Transfer Fees

Western Union, one of America's most renowned multinational financial services companies which had to suspend all forms of money transfer and payment services in Afghanistan last month as the Taliban took control of the country following the withdrawal of US-NATO forces, has now announced that it will resume its money transfer services into Afghanistan, and it will start from September 3.

The financial services company has stated that it is restarting its money transfer program so that its customers can once again send money and care for their loved ones at this crucial time of financial crisis in Afghanistan. Remittances from Afghans who currently reside abroad can now easily transfer money. The money transfers will be paid out in US dollars or Afghani, based on the type of the transfer as per the sender's requirement.

Western Union has further added that the payouts are available in only select locations based on local operating times, and most of the transfers will happen in the Kabul area. The firm has also confirmed that other outbound services, such as sending money from Afghanistan to other countries will remain suspended at this time.

 

The new Realme Pad is teased to come with a bigger display and aluminum unibody

Realme Pad is gearing up to be launched this week on the 9th. A dedicated page for the release of the same on ecommerce platforms has made it clear that the device will be available soon. The page has revealed some key details about the tablet’s specifications, and new details regarding its display were also available. The tablet’s build and design were teased online through ecommerce pages. Two cameras are present on the tablet, one at the back and one in the front. The tablet is also expected to be 6.9mm thin.

The Realme Pad will house a 10.4-inch fullscreen with a display resolution of 2000x1200. The renders on the ecommerce pages make it clear that bezels will be on all sides. The tablet shown on the page has a gold finish, but leaks from the past have confirmed that it may also come with a Grey finish. The Realme logo will be seen on the back panel of the tablet. The launch event will take place at 12:30 pm on 9th this week. The event is online-only, and it is free for all to see. Past leaks also have hinted that the new Realme Pad may have an aluminum unibody and type-c port for charging with a stylus.

 

 

French Energy Giant Totalenergies to Invest a Whooping Sum of $27 Billion in Iraq

French energy giant TotalEnergies, in a recent press meet, has stated that it is planning to invest a huge sum of $27 billion in Iraq in a 25-year deal which will, in turn, boost its position in the country. The deal will include various investments in energy projects, including seawater into oil fields to enhance the amount of oil recovered, a natural-gas processing plant, and a solar farm. The company has said that there will be an initial investment of $10 billion.

These projects would help TotalEnergies to improve Iraq's electricity supply. Also, Iraq is already facing severe scarcity of drinkable water, especially in the summer; this project will allow them to overcome these issues. Also, it will help them to reduce the dependency on Iranian natural gas. Besides, TotalEnergies have planned this deal tactically at a time when oil and gas companies are starting to reassess their portfolios to address concerns over their carbon emissions. This deal will also focus on helping Iraq to reduce high carbon emissions.

 

 

Realme GT Neo’s successor gets a nod and it will be launched soon

Realme has recently confirmed that Realme GT Neo 2 is expected to make its debut soon. As of now, there is no official launch date for the phone, but various sources hint that it will be out this month. Realme GT Neo was launched earlier this year, and its descendant will come with more new specs this year. Leaks that surfaced online this month showed the official render for Realme GT Neo 2, and a post from a popular tipster, Weibo, also confirmed that the phone would be launched this year.

As shown in the leaks, the Realme GT Neo 2 is expected to house a 6.62-inch full HD display, and it might also come with Android 11 out of the box. The Realme GT Neo 2 could have 8GB of RAM paired with a Snapdragon 870 SoC processor and 128GB storage. The camera specs for the new phone are touted to be a triple rear camera setup of 64 mp, eight mp, and 2mp, along with a 16mp front camera. A 5000mAh battery could back all the above specs. Steve Hemmerstoffer, a popular tipster, had recently revealed the renders for Realme GT Neo 2 in which a hole punch was seen on the screen for the front camera.

 

 

Care-Giving and Health platform Homage Secures $30M in Series C

Singapore-based care-giving and health platform Homage has secured $30 million in its Series C. This round was led by Sheares Healthcare Group. Series C saw the participation from new investors DG Daiwa Ventures and Sagana Capital, alongside existing investors including East Ventures (Growth), HealthXCapital, SeedPlus, Trihill Capital and Alternate Ventures.

Homage's funding round went oversubscribed and was one of the largest financing rounds by an on-demand care platform in Southeast Asia and Oceania region. The company has so far raised $45 million. The Chief Corporate Development Officer of Sheares Healthcare, Khoo Ee Ping, will be joining Homage's board of directors as part of the funding round.

"Our mission is to make everyday care for older adults and the chronic-ill personalised, accessible as well as cost effective. By combining high touch with high tech, we have been able to prove that we improve the lives, health and wellness outcomes of our care recipients and families at scale. I am thrilled to partner with this group of outstanding institutional investors that are like-minded in our mission to provide trusted value-based care and bridge the gaps in the healthcare ecosystem – across payor, provider and care recipient," said Gillian Tee, Founder and CEO of Homage.

The company intends to use the fresh funding to invest in its technology platform and deepen its integration with the aged and disability care payor and provider infrastructure across the region.