Author: Arabian Media staff

Days after announcing that its hybrid employees would have to return to the office (RTO) four days a week starting Jan. 5, NBCUniversal is offering an alternative to its mandate — accept a buyout.According to internal documents obtained by Business Insider, NBC is offering employees who don’t want to return to the office the following severance package: eight weeks of pay, plus medical, dental, and vision benefits for three months after their departure. Employees will also receive a full bonus if eligible.The package does not add additional compensation based on the employee’s tenure. Workers have to ask their HR managers…

Sebi on Wednesday said angel funds can raise capital only from accredited investors, as part of the revised framework notified by the regulator to streamline fundraising, investment and compliance norms under the alternative investment funds rules.In a circular, the regulator said angel funds, which are granted registration by Sebi, will be permitted to onboard only accredited investors, while existing funds have been given time until September 8, 2026, to align with the new regime.During this transition, they may not offer investment opportunities to more than 200 non-accredited investors. Existing investors of such angel funds will be allowed to retain their…

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Rashmi Kulkarni and her team built a mobile app to mark student attendance using facial recognition. When users began tricking the system with videos and images, she and Co-founder Eric Fonseca realised the need for a more secure, scalable solution. In 2021, that challenge gave rise to Pune-based startup IndoAI, which develops AI-powered edge cameras that run multiple vision models in real time without relying on external servers.CEO Kulkarni has worked at TCS and later at SpiderG. Fonseca, Kulkarni’s classmate from DY Patil College, started his career in quality analysis before joining a fintech project called SpiderG.“We…

Workers are taking more mental health leaves now than they were in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic started.According to data collected by behavioral health services provider ComPsych, the percentage of workers taking a leave of absence increased by 30% from 2019 to 2024, while mental health leaves increased by 300% in the same time frame. ComPsych analyzed data from over six million global employees.ComPsych’s Chief Clinical Officer Jennifer Birdsall told CNBC that mental health leaves have increased “so tremendously” due to factors like uncertain economic conditions. In addition, the pandemic lessened the stigma around asking for mental health support and…

This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Shanaz Hemmati, COO and co-founder of ZenBusiness, a $1.5 billion company that provides an all-in-one platform helping small businesses become official, stay compliant, manage finances and more. Her co-founder is Ross Buhrdorf, who serves as CEO. The piece has been edited for length and clarity. Image Credit: Courtesy of ZenBusiness. Co-founder and COO Shanaz Hemmati.I always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but I never really thought about going off and starting my own business.At the University of Texas at Austin, I studied computer engineering, starting with hardware design before pivoting to software…

Indian venture capital (VC) firms have revamped an age-old strategy—follow-on investments. While it has been usual practice for funds to reserve capital to back portfolio startups that showcase potential or even set up new funds to support portfolio winners, recent trends suggest that more funds are accommodating growth investments within new funds. For instance, deeptech-focused venture capital firm Speciale Invest, in August, closed its third fund with a target corpus of Rs 600 crore. The Agnikul Cosmos-backer is earmarking 50% of the fund to make follow-on investments. According to Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at Speciale Invest, this allows its portfolio companies to…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Most major marketing shifts don’t announce themselves with a press release; they strike with a shock that scatters the chessboard. I witnessed this firsthand during the dot-com boom — a tectonic event that substantially rewired my profession.And yet, the disruption we face today from artificial intelligence represents a shift of even greater magnitude. It isn’t simply a new tool; it feels more like an extinction event for an entire way of working. As a result, the professional environment is changing at breathtaking speed, and for marketers, the choice is the same as…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. As entrepreneurs know, running a business is both exciting and challenging. With markets constantly growing and changing, it can be difficult to stay ahead of the curve and competition. This is why many consider hiring a business coach to lean on for guidance and support.If you’re thinking about hiring a coach, there are several factors to weigh when deciding on who may be the best fit.Related: 9 Qualities You Need to Look for in a Business Coach Expertise and experienceSimilar to any hiring situation, one of the most important things to look…

Sachin Bansal’s Navi Technologies has entered India’s unicorn ranks at a $1.7 billion valuation, leading a fintech-heavy cohort in the ASK Private Wealth–Hurun India Unicorn & Future Unicorn Report 2025. Other fintech newcomers on the list include Moneyview, Vivriti Capital, JusPay and Veritas Finance, underscoring resilience in consumer credit and infrastructure rails.Navi’s listing follows a steady return to external capital markets. The Bengaluru-based lender and insurer has explored a fresh raise at around a $2 billion valuation, according to earlier reports, and in July secured Rs 170 crore via a private placement to institutional and private investors.Beyond fintech, new entries…

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced the American Franchise Act, legislation aimed at ending years of uncertainty surrounding how federal labor law treats franchisors and franchisees.”Changes to joint-employer rules have caused costly uncertainty in the industry for too long,” Representative Don Davis (D-NC), one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a press release. “The American Franchise Act aims to restore stability by clarifying that franchisors and franchisees operate as independent employers while safeguarding workers through established labor standards.”The bill, introduced by 14 House members, including Davis and Representative Kevin Hern (R-OK), seeks to formally establish in federal law that…