News and Articles
How electric tuk-tuks could become a ‘virtual power plant’ for this country
The streets of Dhaka are filled with constant clamor. Among the chorus of honking horns and ringing bells, roaring cars, and rattling rickshaws, you can hear the electric hum of the city’s three-wheeled open taxis, called tuk-tuks, as they weave through traffic.
Among the chaos, one Bangladeshi startup has spotted an opportunity. SOLshare plans to tap into the country’s estimated 2.5 million electric tuk-tuks, and turn them into a “virtual power plant.”
“When (the tuk-tuks) return to the garage at the end of the night, they come back with 30% juice in their batteries,” says Salma Islam, head of projects, fundraising and communication at SOLshare. “If they can feed that back into the grid when the demand is really high, that would be amazing.
Indian data centre major Yotta to invest Tk 2,000 crore in Bangladesh
The operator of Asia’s largest certified Tier-IV data centre will build two hyperscale data centre buildings at Kaliakair
Yotta Data Services – the data centre and cloud services arm of the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hiranandani Group – has announced plans to invest over Tk2,000 crore to set up a modern data centre facility in Bangladesh.
The investment will arrive in four to six years, according to the announcement.
Yotta, the operator of Asia's largest certified Tier-IV data centre, would build its data centre park at the Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City in Kaliakair, Gazipur to house two hyperscale data centre buildings, featuring 4,800 racks and 28.8MW IT power capacity, according to a statement by the company.
Intel Chair Dr. Omar Ishrak: Why I’m investing in Praava Health
My country of origin, Bangladesh, ranks as the 8th most populous country in the world, with a total population of approximately 170 million. Today, it’s widely described as the “next Asian tiger,” boasting a rapidly-growing middle class and one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, in line or greater than India in GDP per capita. This exciting frontier market is also the home to Praava Health — a startup in which I am proud to be an investor, as it is not only disrupting the healthcare industry in Bangladesh, but it also can potentially offer a number of valuable lessons to the healthcare community worldwide.
Bangladesh moves up 14 notches in the GII 2022
Bangladesh has advanced 14 spots in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2022 in a major stride but it still lags behind some of its innovative peers.
The ranking by the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) placed the country at 102nd last year, up from 116th in 2021, among 132 economies.
Although Bangladesh's overall score was 19.7 compared to top-ranked Switzerland's 64.6, its performance was in line with the level of the country's development, according to the report.
The lower ranking, however, highlights Bangladesh's weak education system, lack of human capital and research, and shortfall in business sophistication.
The index uses various indicators to rank innovation. They include measures on the political environment, education, infrastructure and knowledge creation.
Paperfly bags another Tk 102 crore investment
Logistics-tech company Paperfly today confirmed another Tk 102 crore investment from the leading Indian tech-based e-commerce logistics solutions provider, Ecom Express.
The Indian company also invested TK 100 crore into Paperfly last year, taking its total investment in local start-up to Tk 202 crore.
Founded in 2016 by Shahriar Hasan, Razibul Islam, Rahath Ahmed, and Shamsuddin Ahmed, Paperfly is the first homegrown tech-enabled logistics company in Bangladesh to offer nationwide coverage, said a press release of Paperfly.
With the investment, the company looks to digitize the courier sector of Bangladesh, according to an official of Paperfly.