In Brief: Google Pay ties-up with Qwikcilver for gift cards; Walmart explores Flipkart share sale

Bengaluru based gift card solution provider Qwikcilver, owned by Pine Labs, has tied up with Google Pay to issue real-time virtual gift cards to its users. Qwikcilver has launched the WoohooDigital gift card store on Google Spot Platform, which it said would allow merchants to create branded commercial experiences within its application.  Users will have the option to choose digital gift cards from over 150 brands. The cards can be used at offline stores across 1,500 cities and online portals, the statement said.  

Vijay Shekhar Sharma to provide scholarships

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma will provide scholarships for two students from Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute (LMSAI) to study at Harvard University, according to a statement released on Monday. The scholarship is expected to encourage cross-disciplinary working with the faculty, researchers and students. With the scholarship, the institute will be able to deepen research and teaching in cultural and global issues related to South Asia, the statement said.

Piqual begins India operations at Kochi

Digital marketing agency Piqual, part of  New York headquartered Nuivio Ventures,  has begun its India operations in Kochi.  The company said it is focused on building capabilities at its India center in areas such as creative design, search engine optimization, content writing and digital campaigns. Piqual’s leadership includes Scott Nugent from Experian and Rob Clare from RBS/Natwest.

Vedantu hires Ranjan Sakalley as head of engineering and technology

Bengaluru based online tutoring platform Vedantu has appointed Ranjan Sakalley as its new head of engineering and technology. Sakalley is an IT veteran with over 20 years of experience with stints at companies such as Gojek, GoPay, ThoughtWorks, and Proteans. In his new role Sakalley will report to CEO Vamsi Krishna and will spearhead the expansion of Vedantu’s tech and engineering team to 200 members by the end of the current financial year, according to a statement. Vedantu will hire at multiple levels including senior and supporting roles.

In his previous roles, Sakalley built products and custom software to solve distributed computing issues and has also engineered new products and features for end users, the release said.

Lenovo Data Center Group launches new data management solutions

Lenovo data center group (DCG) has announced a new set of end-to-end data management solutions that it said would allow customers of all sizes to harness data more securely and efficiently from the edge to the core to the cloud. While the new Lenovo ThinkSystem DM series Storage manager OS would help in low-latency storage at an affordable price, the ThinkSystem Intelligent Monitoring 2.0 for cloud based management has been updated with improved analytics and predictive AI (artificial intelligence) guidance, according to a statement. Additionally, Lenovo said that the ThinkSystem DM5100F all-flash storage array would help in delivering 45% improved performance for customers, as compared to its previous iterations.