Amazon plans to delist large seller Appario, in which it has a stake, from its Indian marketplace in the next year, following scrutiny on some large sellers (Manish Singh/TechCrunch)

Swati Bhat / Reuters:
The Reserve Bank of India plans to launch a retail pilot for its CBDC on December 1, after testing with nine banks since November 1  —  The Reserve Bank of India’s first pilot for a retail e-rupee, its version of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), will be launched on Dec. 1, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tony Lystra / GeekWire:
Seattle-based Swiftly, which offers branded apps and retail software to grocery stores, raised a $100M Series C at a $1B+ valuation after raising $100M in March  —  Retail software provider Swiftly raised $100 million in a Series C funding round, helping the company become the latest Seattle-area startup …

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Trendsi, which helps sellers and manufacturers predict demand, raised a $25M Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $30M  —  In the traditional business-to-business world, sellers often don’t know how much of a product they should order.

Karen Weise / New York Times:
In an email to recruiters, Amazon says it is freezing most corporate hiring in its retail business for the rest of 2022; AWS is not affected by the freeze  —  It is the latest tech company to pump the brakes on hiring amid growing economic concerns.  —  Amazon is freezing corporate hiring …

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Indian B2B marketplace Udaan raised $120M in convertible notes and debt, taking its funding to $350M+ in the past year, and plans an IPO in 12-18 months  —  India’s Udaan has raised $120 million in convertible notes and debt led by existing shareholders and bondholders …

Paul Hill / Neowin:
Amazon announces the US launch of Veeqo, a shipping software that lets sellers connect their sales channels and access discounts on UPS, USPS, DHL, and FedEx  —  Amazon has announced that it’s launching a new version of Veeqo in the United States.  Veeqo is a multichannel shipping service …