Gokulam Group invests in road restroom start-up Travlounge
Promoted by the Kozhikode-based Beacon Group, it has already set up units at Walayar in Palakkad and Adimali near Munnar. Travlounge's co-founder P.T. Safeer said that apart from building more units, the company would also be partnering with existing businesses that operate on the highways across the country.
The services offered to travellers include hygienic toilets, cafeteria and sleeping pods. 'We have had 1.5 lakh customers so far at our Walayar unit, which became operational two years ago,' Mr. Safeer said. 'We have received a lot of interest from States outside Kerala as well, especially Tamil Nadu.'
Travlounge's app was launched here by Kerala's Minister for Tourism and Public Works P.A. Mohamed Riyas, who said the government was also open to the idea of cooperating with the project. The start-up was seed-funded by Abdul Azeez of AZCCO Global. Gokulam's chairman Gokulam Gopalan said his company made the investment in Travlounge because the business had a lot of potential.
Mamta Mohandas, brand ambassador, said she wanted to be part of the company after discovering Travlounge's maiden unit on her drive from Chennai. 'This was something travellers, especially women, badly needed in India,' the popular actress said. 'I wanted to be part of the company.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
33 minutes ago
- Time of India
IBM rolls out new chips and servers, aims for simplified AI
International Business Machines on Tuesday announced a new line of data center chips and servers that it says will be more power-efficient than rivals and will simplify the process of rolling out artificial intelligence in business operations. IBM introduced its new Power11 chips on Tuesday, marking its first major update to its "Power" line of chips since 2020. These chips have traditionally vied against offerings from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices in data centers, particularly in specialised sectors such as financial services, manufacturing and healthcare. Like Nvidia's AI servers, IBM's Power systems are an integrated package of chips and software. Tom McPherson, general manager of Power systems at IBM, said the Armonk, New York-based company used that tight coupling to focus on reliability and security. The Power11 systems, available from July 25, will not need any planned downtime for software updates, and their unplanned downtime each year averages just over 30 seconds. They are also designed to detect and respond within a minute to a ransomware attack - where hackers encrypt data and then try to extract a ransom in exchange for the keys, IBM said. In the fourth quarter of this year, IBM plans to integrate Power11 with Spyre, its AI chip introduced last year. McPherson said IBM does not aim to compete with Nvidia in helping create and train AI systems, but is instead focused on simplifying AI deployment for inference, the process of putting an AI system to work in speeding up a business task. "We can integrate AI capabilities seamlessly into this for inference acceleration and help their business process improvements," McPherson said in an interview last week referring to work with early customers. "It's not going to have all the horsepower for training or anything, but it's going to have really good inferencing capabilities that are simple to integrate."
Economic Times
38 minutes ago
- Economic Times
WeWork India's plans to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore through IPO moves ahead as Sebi lifts abeyance status
WeWork India Management plans to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore through an IPO comprising solely of an offer for sale. Promoters Embassy Buildcon LLP and investor 1 Ariel Way Tenant will offload a total of 4.37 crore shares. The issue follows SEBI lifting the abeyance on the draft offer document, with the IPO now pending final regulatory observations. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads WeWork India Management Limited, a leading player in India's premium flexible workspace segment, plans to raise up to Rs 4,000 crore through an initial public offering (IPO), according to IPO, as detailed in the DOD, will be an offer for sale (OFS) comprising up to 43,753,952 equity shares. The OFS will see Embassy Buildcon LLP, the promoter selling shareholder, offload 33,458,659 shares, while 1 Ariel Way Tenant Limited, an investor selling shareholder, will offer 10,295,293 shares. No fresh issuance of shares is planned, meaning the proceeds will go directly to the selling shareholders.'The firm expects to raise anywhere between Rs 3000 crore and Rs 4000 crore and will start the road show soon considering the abeyance has been lifted,' said a person aware of the fund India did not reply to ET lifting of the abeyance status comes after a period of regulatory pause during which SEBI likely sought clarifications or additional disclosures. While SEBI did not provide detailed reasons for the earlier abeyance in the public domain, such actions are often undertaken when a company's draft documents require closer scrutiny due to operational complexity, sectoral challenges, or disclosure per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)'s July 4, 2025 update, the company's Draft Offer Document (DOD) has been moved out of abeyance and is now pending final observations from the market regulator.'Now back on track, WeWork India awaits SEBI's final observations — the last step before it can proceed with the IPO launch and red herring prospectus filing,' said another as a joint venture between WeWork Global and Bengaluru-based Embassy Group, WeWork India has emerged as the largest co-working space operator by total revenue over the past three fiscal years, according to CBRE. WeWork India is currently operational across eight cities including Chennai, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad. Its portfolio includes over 100,000 desks across its 68 flexible workspace centres in these global volatility in the flexible workspace sector — especially after the bankruptcy filing of its U.S.-based counterpart WeWork Inc. in 2023 — WeWork India has remained relatively resilient. The company operates independently from its global namesake, with local leadership and Embassy Group ownership playing a crucial role in its financial and operational to market experts, the timing of the IPO comes amid renewed investor interest in commercial real estate-linked business models, particularly those focused on asset-light operations and scalable tech-enabled platforms.'Demand for premium, agile office solutions continues to grow among startups and enterprises alike. The recently planned public listing could further institutionalize the flex space segment and set a benchmark for other operators eyeing scale and capital. With India's Grade-A office absorption rebounding this segment is well-positioned to tap into both occupier demand and investor interest,' said Sankey Prasad, chairman & managing director, Middle East & India at IPO is being managed by a consortium of leading investment banks. JM Financial , ICICI Securities, Jefferies India, Kotak Mahindra Capital, and 360 ONE WAM are acting as Book Running Lead Managers (BRLMs) to the issue. Their role will be instrumental in marketing the IPO to institutional and retail investors SEBI's final approval, WeWork India will file its Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) and launch a roadshow to engage with potential investors. Market sources suggest the IPO could hit the markets as early as September 2025, subject to market conditions and final regulatory successful, this IPO will mark one of the largest public issues in the co-working space sector in India. It will also serve as a test for investor appetite in flexible workspace operators, especially at a time when hybrid work models continue to shape the future of commercial real estate.
Mint
41 minutes ago
- Mint
Intel to lay off over 500 employees in Oregon as part of massive restructuring: Report
Intel Corp. will lay off 529 employees in Oregon this month, as part of a broader cost-cutting plan expected to impact roughly 20% of the company's global workforce, according to a report. Intel has not publicly confirmed the total number of job cuts, but a source familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported, that as much as one-fifth of the company's workforce could ultimately be affected. The cuts will affect operations at Intel's campuses in Aloha and Hillsboro starting July 15, according to a regulatory filing. The move is part of a sweeping overhaul under newly appointed CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took charge in April amid mounting pressure to reverse the chipmaker's decline and reclaim lost technological ground. In a statement, the Santa Clara-based tech giant said the layoffs were necessary to streamline operations and improve competitiveness: 'We are making these decisions based on careful consideration of what's needed to position our business for the future, and we will treat people with care and respect as we complete this important work.' The company added: 'Removing organizational complexity and empowering our engineers will enable us to better serve the needs of our customers and strengthen our execution.' Once a dominant force in semiconductor innovation, Intel has faced setbacks in recent years, losing its leadership in chip manufacturing to rivals such as TSMC and missing out on the explosion in demand for AI-focused computing hardware — a space now dominated by Nvidia Corp. Tan has made it clear that bold changes are needed to reposition Intel in an era increasingly defined by AI, advanced foundry competition, and lean innovation cycles.
