News

Lachy Groom to back India startup Pronto at a $200M valuation, sources say

Published

17 seconds ago

April 25, 2026

Preport

Pronto, an Indian instant house-help startup, is finalizing a funding round led by tech investor Lachy Groom that would value the fast-growing company at about $200 million after investment, TechCrunch has learned.

The deal is expected to bring in about $20 million in fresh capital and would mark a sharp jump from the $100 million valuation at which the company raised $25 million in a Series B round led by Epiq Capital in early March, doubling its valuation in a matter of weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

Bengaluru-based Pronto completed about 500,000 orders last month and is currently handling around 24,000–25,000 orders daily, up from about 18,000 daily bookings in March and roughly 1,000 last year.

Founded in 2025, Pronto connects households with on-demand domestic help for services such as cleaning and chores, promising quick turnaround times through a managed network of workers.

In March, Pronto founder Anjali Sardana told TechCrunch the startup had expanded from one city to 10 — including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai — and from five to more than 150 micromarkets. However, much of its activity remains concentrated in a handful of markets, with the National Capital Region accounting for about half of total bookings.

The startup has over 4,500 active professionals on its platform, around 99% of whom are women, Sardana said last month, adding that demand continued to outpace onboarding of new workers as bookings grew about 20% week over week.

Before this funding, Pronto had raised about $40 million in total. Its investors include Epiq Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Catalyst and Bain Capital Ventures.

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Pronto and Groom did not respond to requests for comment.

Business

NCC hails Edo gov’t for safeguarding telecom Infrastructure during Construction

Published

3 hours ago

April 25, 2026

Preport

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has commended the Edo government for its approach in safeguarding telecom infrastructure during road construction.

The NCC said that contractors notified the commission and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) before commencing road construction works.

The Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr Amimu Maida, who gave the commendation during a media breakfast meeting on Friday in Abuja, also urged other states to emulate Edo in reducing fibre cuts during construction.

“I would commend a particular state, Edo, its approach the matter.

“I will like to appreciate the state’s authorities in the way they have handled that collaboration in a very simple but effective manner.

“Their contractors, prior to starting any work, send out letters to the commission to inform all the telco service providers who own infrastructure to basically give them notice of work.

“That simple action has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of incidences that occur due to construction activities. So it is a model now that we are encouraging other states to adopt.”

On the quality of service that Nigerians are getting from service providers, Maida said that the commission was beginning to see positive signals through independent crowd-sourced data.

He, h, said that more work needed to be done.

“We are still not where we want to be, but we are beginning to see the right signals.

“The quality of experience is improving rather than services degrading, but at the same time, we are seeing a rise in consumption.

“We are still not where we want to be, but are we satisfied as a regulator? I think the area of satisfaction is the fact that we are beginning to see the right signals.”

The EVC said that operators upgraded about 2,800 sites last year across the three major operators, MTN, Airtel and Globacom, covering new sites, technology upgrades from 2G and 3G to 4G and 5G, and fibre additions.

He said operators had now committed to about 12,000 additional site upgrades and deployments this year.

“These numbers in terms of the work done also support this. Last year we saw just under 3,000 sites being upgraded and introduced for coverage and capacity.

“But this year they have committed to upgrading and introducing sites, which in total are about 12,000.

“This is across the three major operators, Airtel, Globalcom, and MTM. And this is a combination of new sites which have been upgraded from slower technologies, 2G, 3G, to 4G and 5G.”

On consumer protection, Maida said the NCC recently introduced a compensation directive for subscribers affected by poor service delivery.

He said the move was aimed at ensuring that consumers directly benefited, rather than government alone collecting financial penalties from defaulting operators.

“This is something that is going to be ongoing for those operators that are not showing commitment towards improving and addressing these issues,” he said.

He said that tower companies were also included in the directive, and are required to make additional investments in power and security infrastructure to support better service delivery.

In her remarks, the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management (ECSM), Rimini Makama, said that the quarterly engagement was organised to enable the media to properly inform the public.

“This quarterly interaction is being held precisely because we believe that a well-informed press produces a well informed public.

“A well informed public is one of the strongest tools we have for driving real progress in the telecom sector,” she said.

Earlier, the Director Public Affairs, NCC, Nnena Ukoha, said that the commission looked forward to frank, constructive conversations on telecom trends.

“It is my expectation that we will constructively utilise this platform for open and frank conversations, sharing insights on the emerging trends in the telecommunications industry.”

NAN

The post NCC hails Edo gov’t for safeguarding telecom Infrastructure during Construction appeared first on Business Today NG.

News

Steve Ballmer blasts founder he backed who pleaded guilty to fraud: ‘I was duped and feel silly’

Published

4 hours ago

April 25, 2026

Preport

Silicon Valley tends to tolerate a certain amount of founder exaggeration when pitching investors, often dismissing it as part of selling a vision. But some choices cross the line and can lead to jail time for founders and scandal for their investors.

A case in point is Joseph Sanberg, whose once high-flying fintech startup Aspiration Partners was backed by a roster of tech celebrities, including former Microsoft CEO and current Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. In August 2025, Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and defrauding multiple investors and lenders, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for Monday, victims were invited to describe their experience with Sanberg to the judge. Ballmer did so, and publicly. Ballmer’s lawyers said in the letter that he has lost money, been vilified, and that the NBA is investigating allegations stemming from the association.

Sanberg co-founded green fintech startup Aspiration Partners, which offered what it called sustainable banking services like credit cards and investment products that avoided fossil fuels. The startup promised to “automatically plant trees with every card purchase.” In 2021, it announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger at a value of $2.3 billion, though that transaction never took place.

The DOJ alleged that Aspiration booked and recognized revenue from entities held by Sanberg, who made the company appear as if it had a steady stream of customers and revenue that it didn’t actually have. The agency further alleged he defrauded investors by showing them a fabricated letter from Aspiration’s audit committee that said the company had $250 million in available cash and equivalents when it had less than $1 million. The DOJ alleged that Sanberg, along with a board member who also pleaded guilty, falsified financial records to obtain $145 million in loans.

When Ballmer shared his letter on X, asking the judge to consider the harm done to him in sentencing, he wrote, “I was duped and feel silly about that. Everyone who believed in Aspiration, including employees, customers and investors, was also duped. Everyone is still tallying the losses.”

Five years ago, I invested in Aspiration, a company focused on environmental sustainability, a cause deeply important to me and my family. I also bought carbon credits and trees through the company to reduce the carbon footprint of the Clippers, Intuit Dome, the Kia Forum and all…

— Steve Ballmer (@Steven_Ballmer) April 23, 2026

The letter says that Ballmer invested a total of $60 million in the company, and lost all of it. Ballmer was not only an investor, but had contracted with Aspiration to provide carbon-offsetting programs for the Clippers and its stadium. Aspiration also became a major Clippers sponsor.

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The billionaire said in the letter that not only did he lose that money, his reputation was negatively affected. He used the letter to deny the reporting of a multi-part series from famed sports podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out that delved into the relationship between the Clippers and Aspiration. The podcast made allegations that Aspiration helped sidestep the salary cap for a star Clippers player. Ballmer’s lawyers called those allegations “misapprehension or intentional disregard of the facts,” in the letter.

Ballmer’s letter also said that as a result of the association with this company, the podcast and other public attention of it, he’s been named in lawsuits. Meanwhile, the NBA said in its own letter regarding Sanberg’s sentencing that it’s investigating the salary cap allegations and Sanberg has been providing evidence, ESPN reported.

While the basketball world is embroiled in all of these downstream developments, the message founders can take from it is clear: If one fabricates financial documents to raise capital, the outcome will very likely be prison.

The Ballmer Group did not respond to our request for comment.

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