Google says it has paused enforcement of its in-app billing policy on Google Play in India, following a recent ruling of the Competition Commission of India (Vikas SN/Moneycontrol)

Vikas SN / Moneycontrol:
Meta confirms WhatsApp India head Abhijit Bose and India’s public policy head Rajiv Aggarwal have stepped down; sources say the exits are not layoff related  —  Shivnath Thukral, who is currently serving as the director of public policy at WhatsApp India, has been appointed the director …

Vikas SN / Moneycontrol:
Google extends third-party in-app billing to India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and the European Economic Area; non-gaming developers globally can participate  —  All non-gaming developers can offer an additional billing option to their mobile and tablet users on Google Play in India …

Nikhil Patwardhan / Moneycontrol:
Simplilearn, which offers upskilling courses, bootcamps, and certifications, raised $45M led by GSV Ventures; Blackstone acquired a $250M majority stake in 2021  —  The higher learning edtech platform will use the funds to boost its growth plans in India and international markets

Moneycontrol:
WhatsApp confirms Manesh Mahatme, who led its Indian payments business, has stepped down after 18 months; a source says Mahatme plans to rejoin Amazon  —  Mahatme’s resignation comes at a time when WhatsApp’s mobile payments business has failed to take off in a significant fashion in India

Priyanka Iyer / Moneycontrol:
India-based DotPe, which helps businesses get online, raised a $58M Series B led by Temasek, and says it will introduce digital lending to merchants  —  The company plans to use the proceeds of the fundraise to grow its merchant base three times in the next two to three years

Moneycontrol:
Prosus valued its 9.67% stake in Byju’s at $578M at the end of Q3 2022, implying Byju’s total value to be $5.9B; Byju’s was valued at $22B in October 2022  —  Although Prosus’ accounting entry implies that it values Byju’s at $5.9 billion, experts say that different shareholders may value a private company differently in their books.