Google Cloud Enters Into a Partnership to Offer Gaming Engine to Developers 🤝
Scott D. Clary | Daily Business, Tech & Finance Newsletter
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Here’s whats happening:
- Google Cloud enters into a partnership to offer a gaming engine to developers
- Bank of Japan to pilot digital yen
- Ramani, a micro-distribution startup just raised $32 million to expand its operations
- Hackers steal $42 million from Chinese VC’s wallet
- Google Messages starts testing emoji reactions
Google Cloud Enters Into a Partnership to Offer Gaming Engine to Developers 🤝
Google Cloud has partnered with Indian gaming company SuperGaming to offer the startup’s proprietary gaming engine, SuperPlatform, to developers worldwide.
Key Points:
- The new platform will be available to gaming developers as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and will serve as an independent software vendor on Google Cloud.
- The platform will allow game developers to manage live operations, player progression, player data, analytics, server scaling, sales, and merchandising, among other features.
- Additionally, the platform will help to integrate with popular game development platforms like Unity, Unreal Engine, PlayCanvas, and Cocos Creator.
Why does it matter?
The move is the latest step from Google Cloud to expand its focus on the gaming industry.
The partnership will allow game developers to create better games and will also help Google Cloud to compete for supremacy in the cloud service market with rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft.
Bank of Japan to Pilot Digital Yen 💴
Japan’s central bank has reportedly started a central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment with the country’s major financial players.
Quick Takeaways:
- The Bank of Japan has collaborated with three megabanks and regional banks to conduct a CBDC issuance pilot.
- The project aims to provide demo experiments for the issuance of Japan’s national digital currency, the digital yen, starting in spring 2023.
- During the trial, the Japanese central bank is expected to cooperate with major private banks and other organizations to detect and solve any issues related to customer deposits and withdrawals on bank accounts.
- The pilot will also include testing the offline functionality of Japan’s possible CBDC, targeting payments without the internet.
What’s next?
The Japanese central bank plans to proceed with its CBDC experiment for about two years and decide on whether to issue a digital currency by 2026.
Ramani, a Micro-Distribution Startup Just Raised $32 Million to Expand Its Operations 💰
Ramani, a startup building a cloud network of micro-distribution centers for Africa’s consumer-packaged goods supply chain, has raised $32 million in its Series A funding round of equity & debt.
The Investors:
The equity round was led by global technology investors Flexcap Ventures and founder/CEO of Infoscout, Jared Schreiber. The debt funding was raised from undisclosed investors.
What will Ramani do with the funding?
With this fresh capital, Ramani will scale its network of micro-distribution centers (MDCs) and launch a new micro-credit offering for select MDCs.
About Ramani:
Founded in 2019 by Kibet Martin, Iain Usiri, and Calvin Usiri, Ramani is focused on fixing fragmented consumer goods supply chains that traditionally suffer from a lack of data visibility and are burdened by limited access to financial services.
The startup provides tech-enabled inventory management systems, procurement services, and point-of-sale (POS) software to help digitize the processes of MDCs.
By leveraging Ramani’s technology, MDCs can digitally track their operations easily and get financing based on the performance of their businesses.
Hackers Steal $42 Million From Chinese VC’s Wallet 🚨
Bo Shen, the founding partner of venture capital firm Fenbushi Capital, claims that $42 million worth of funds were drained from his Trust Wallet.
Here are the details:
- Bo Shen took to Twitter to share the news of hackers stealing as much as $42 million in crypto from his personal wallet.
- According to Shen, the theft occurred on November 10, with most of the stolen assets being the USDC stablecoin.
- He also noted that the stolen funds are personal funds and do not affect any entities related to Fenbushi.
Google Messages Starts Testing Emoji Reactions 🧪
Tech giant Google has started testing full emoji reactions in its Messages platform, allowing users to react with all the available emojis.
How does the new feature work?
The feature, which is similar to other messaging platforms like Slack, WhatsApp, etc., will allow users to press and hold on to a message to give standard emoji reactions with whatever they want.
The new addition to emoji reactions on Google Messages has been rolled out with the latest beta; however, the feature is not widely available yet.
With the latest beta update, Google has reportedly added a “plus” icon to the emoji reaction panel. By clicking this icon, users can bring up a full emoji picker which will be organized by category.
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