Author: Arabian Media staff

DPDzero, a startup focused on reimagining debt collection for Indian lenders, has raised $7 million in a Series A funding round led by GMO Venture Partners. The round also saw participation from SMBC Asia Rising Fund, Blume Ventures, India Quotient, Sinarmas Group, and others.The Bengaluru-based company said the funds will be used to scale its AI-led multilingual collections platform and roll out a professional network of field collection agents. The company aims to build a high-performance, ethics-focused collections infrastructure for India’s financial institutions.“Collection has been the ignored stepchild of lending; it’s low tech, low intelligence, and worryingly, low ethics, as…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Most entrepreneurs chase freedom, but end up building businesses that trap them.They leave the 9-to-5 in pursuit of autonomy, flexibility and financial independence. Yet somewhere along the way, the dream gets replaced by a demanding reality: a business that can’t function without them, inconsistent income and the gnawing feeling that they’re stuck in the very grind they wanted to escape.After working with thousands of business owners across North America, I’ve seen this pattern repeat itself, regardless of industry, revenue or experience. Entrepreneurs confuse income with freedom. They equate being busy with success.…

Visa is launching a Cybersecurity Advisory Practice in response to the growing threat that AI-generated voice scams are having on the banking industry. The new program is aimed at helping Visa clients “identify, evaluate, and thwart emerging cybersecurity threats,” the company told Entrepreneur in an email.In March, consulting firm Accenture surveyed 600 banks about the onslaught of AI-generated scams, and 80% said generative AI is allowing hackers to launch attacks faster than they can respond. Last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told a crowd of financial regulators and industry experts at a Federal Reserve conference that banks using voices as…

The Reserve Bank of India has published the first stand-alone directions for co-lending, laying down common rules for banks and non-bank finance companies that jointly originate loans. The 2025 Directions take effect on 1 January 2026, though lenders may adopt them sooner.When the draft was issued in May, industry players warned that some provisions would raise costs and slow adoption. The final version deletes one of those flashpoints: each partner no longer has to repeat customer-identification checks. Instead, the partner NBFC or bank “may rely upon the originating RE for the Customer Identification Process”.Mandar Kagade, founder of policy advisory Black…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Before billions of people streamed videos on their phones or ran businesses from their pockets, the groundwork was quietly being laid. Satellites were going into orbit. Fiber-optic cables were being buried beneath cities. 5G towers were rising across skylines. That hidden infrastructure is what made the mobile internet possible.I’ve seen this playbook before. The Ergen family spent decades helping to expand the physical backbone of global connectivity, long before most people realized the importance of that infrastructure. Today, I see the same story playing out again, this time in the naturally evolving…

Meta’s AI training may have exposed your personal information to contract workers.To fine-tune its AI models, Meta hires outside contractors to read conversations between users and its chatbot, which has one billion monthly active users as of May, according to the company. Now, some contractors are claiming to have viewed personal data while reading and reviewing exchanges.Four contract workers hired through training companies Outlier and Alignerr told Business Insider that they repeatedly saw Meta AI chats that contained the user’s name, phone number, email address, gender, hobbies, and personal details. The information was either included in the text of a…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Reputation management for CEOs is absolutely critical. As one of the most visible faces of your business, anything you say or do that’s unpopular can — and likely will — harm not just your personal reputation but also your company’s brand and revenue.That’s why it’s always better to be proactive. Avoiding controversy, whether through your business practices or personal opinions, is key. A smart way to safeguard yourself is by working with a CEO reputation-management consultant who can remove negative search results.Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference…

Apex exporters body FIEO on Wednesday said it has inked a pact with leading e-retailer Amazon to increase awareness among domestic companies about huge export opportunities through the ecommerce medium.This partnership aims to establish a dedicated ecommerce export task force to collaboratively shape policy frameworks, enable infrastructure support, and increase awareness of ecommerce export opportunities among Indian businesses, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said.Amazon and FIEO will jointly conduct workshops and training sessions focused on high-potential categories such as home décor, health and personal care, apparel, toys, packaged foods, and handicrafts. The initiative specifically aims to build the…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. The past few years have pushed employees to their limits. Post-pandemic fatigue, hybrid work struggles, economic uncertainty and constant change have created an environment where burnout is no longer the exception. For a lot of people, it’s become the norm. According to our 2025 Well-being Report, 32% of employees report frequently feeling stressed at work, with 25% experiencing burnout.The results of these emotions are often higher attrition, lower engagement and declining performance. Companies are rightly investing in mental health resources and wellness programs, but many are missing a basic human truth: when…

Former India cricket captain MS Dhoni has invested in House of Biryan (HOB), a chef-led cloud kitchen brand that offers customisable biryani through its “Meri Wali Biryani” concept, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.Founded in 2022 by industry veteran Mohammed K. Bhol and Chef Mikhail Shahani, HOB currently operates 20+ kitchens across Mumbai, Delhi, and Dubai. With Dhoni’s backing, the company plans to expand to over 120 kitchens globally, targeting new markets such as Australia, Japan, the UK, and North America.“I’ve always believed in backing teams with strong vision, disciplined execution, and a deep connection to their roots.…