Sydney fintech Macrovue secures $1.25 million with themed investment plans.
Sydney based startup Macrovue has secured an oversubscribed $1.25 million funding round from AMP, James Goodwin, Inception Asset Management and other high net-worth investors.
Macrovue co-founder and chief executive Sid Sahgal believes the round was oversubscribed because the platform was “something innovative that wasn’t available in the market already”.
He noted that this investment was also indicative of a rise in interest in fintech companies in Australia.
Sahgal says this new round of investment will be directed at “commercialising and marketing” the platform, expanding it in Australia before moving overseas.
“At the moment we want to focus on Australia and getting it out as much as we can over here.
The team of ten are currently based out of Sydney fintech hub Stone and Chalk, and Macrovue will be eyeing off Asian markets for its next expansion, rather than establishing a presence in the US.
“With our product its a way to invest in global things: Americans are focused on buying American – they think you can get everything in America.
“Validate your idea as much as possible before you go out to investors: have a prototype, test it out, have some data to back up the fact that customers want your solution,” he says.
“That’s the key driver behind getting funding.” Advertisement

Kerala women venture into pre-dominant men’s occupation, become well-diggers to solve water scarcity.
Women in northern Palakkad district of Kerala decided to become well-diggers to earn a living and solve the water crisis in the area.
These villages have been facing scarcity as wells and small ponds are the only sources of water for the village.
These homemakers did not let their lack of professionalism become a barrier to construct 10-12 meter deep wells alone.
PTI quoted Lakshmi as saying, “We did not know anything about well digging initially.
We gradually learned the basics of the work through our experience.” Pookkottukavu which is around 40 km away from Palakkad town used to rely on lorries for drinking water during summer.
K Jayadevan, president of Pookkottukavu panchayat said that while the first well looked like a pit they have now perfected the skill.
He told PTI, “The first well, dug by a group of women, under the scheme looked like a pit.
The latest ones, made by them, are really structural marvels.
(Watch Video) It was the panchayat who encouraged the women that they could do take up well digging as a job.

There is a dire need to formulate a comprehensive national policy on water as Pakistan is going to face acute shortage of water in the near future.
As 80% rainfalls occurs during monsoon within 2-3 months the storage of rainwater is only way to address water and food security in the country.
The monsoon has set in and this thesis is particularly for the purpose to store every drop of water from household to pond and from pond to big dams.
The rain fall that occurs in pre-mountainous areas can be stored in small ponds.
It is import to share that storing water in small ponds can change the traditional agriculture of Potohar to production of fruits and vegetables, very much suits to the climate of the area.
The solution lies in adoption of best practices being carried on in advanced countries.
We at Arid Agriculture University developed models for urban and agricultural rainwater harvesting systems.
In the second stage five ponds have been built on the area of 2200 Kanal of land at University Research Farms in light of Rain Water Harvesting Model with collaboration of Higher Education Commission.
It is very difficult to take downward water to the upward areas, and thus command area of Potohar could not be developed for agriculture a heaven of i.e. fruits, flowers and vegetables by using Geo Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing Systems university has prepared a model for whole Potohar region to store rainwater by building ponds and to fulfill agricultural needs in effective way.
We believe collective efforts for rainwater harvesting even in the irrigated areas by the individual farmers at their farms will bring a revolution in the livelihood in this country along with a solution to the groundwater recharge for future use.

Project signed to increase water supply in Kingdom.
JEDDAH: Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli awarded a project to build 17 strategic water reservoirs in Makkah’s Al-Sharay and Taif’s Al-Hada areas, each with a capacity of 170,000 cubic meters, totaling 2.9 million cubic meters of potable water, reported Al-Hayat newspaper.
The water reservoir projects will be completed in three years, according to the contracts.
A similar project in Jeddah reached 97 percent completion of its first stage in January.
Fawwaz Bahlas of the National Water Co. (NWC) said the company started executing the Jeddah project in 2012 for the water storage in the city to reach 4 million cubic meters.
In the Eastern Province, the Water Service Administration announced the allocation of SR69 million ($18.4 million) for the region’s water-storage projects.
Some of the new measures include holding regular meetings with contractors, identifying reasons behind disruptions or delay of projects, and appointing good consultancy firms.
Another major initiative is to reuse wastewater across the country.
“Another initiative of the ministry is to promote awareness about conservation because water scarcity is one of the most significant challenges in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region,” said Mohammed Al-Solaiman, a water expert.
“To achieve this, billions of dollars of long-term capital investments have been committed to water projects, while government agencies are working to educate people to reduce water consumption,” he added.

‘A call to reflection’: Photography exhibit highlights water issues.
It encompasses Abdulaziz’s two years of travel to places like Nigeria, Brazil, and Pakistan as he explored stories of water sustainability and accessibility.
Metro spoke with Abdulaziz about his project after he arrived in Vancouver.
What do you hope people learn from your exhibit?
The idea with Water Stories is to create small narratives that interact with each other and deals with people and their environment.
When people look at this exhibition and they see the photograph in whatever capacity, they are looking at fundamentally human behaviour with the planet.
This [exhibit] is not necessarily to inform the viewer.
Imagine yourself in the world and then go out and behave as though you are a part of it.
There are only so many pictures you can show with a small kid with water in his cupped hands.
Will you include Canada in your future projects on water?

Restoring water bodies.
A team of four is busy working towards bringing water back to homes!
Water scarcity is fast becoming India’s biggest problem.
Reeling under a second successive drought, Telangana, is facing a water crisis, with scarcity hitting not just the villages but even the capital Hyderabad.
Helping the government of Telangana, in their effort to restore water bodies across the state, are four IIIT-H alumni.
G. Gowtham (33), Nagaraja Kaushik Gampa (32), Pullata Mahendra (30) along with their professor Dr Rajan, head, Lab for spatial informatics at IIIT-H, have started their company KAIINOS, that aims to help the Telangana government with Mission Kakatiya.
After the formation of Telangana, the government, under Mission Kakatiya, wanted to evaluate the state of water bodies and create a spatial database to be integrated into their existing systems.
With the help of the tools provided by us, department officials verified those tanks and are planning to rejuvenate them.
“We helped CRIDA to develop a tool for statistical analysis of watersheds, which in turn helped in developing watersheds across country,” says Mahendra.
Kaushik feels that it’s their passion to help the environment that drives the team.

Kerala women break barriers, dig wells to make village self-sufficient in water.
Even elderly women climb down pits using makeshift bamboo ladders and dig arduously for hours using pickaxe and shovel, removing mud and clay in search of water sources in Pookkottukavu, a village panchayat.
The risk factors, meagre wages and the general perception of it as a male-oriented job had made them hesitant to take up well digging initially, he said.
Lakshmi said even their own family members were initially reluctant to allow them to take up well-digging as a job.
Our family members and friends told us that it would not be suitable for women.
"Around 500 applications for digging wells are pending before us.
However, the delay in clearing pending dues under MGNREGS is one of the major hurdles faced by the project.
Our panchayat has to get a due of Rs 70 lakh in terms of various works under MGNREGS.
"Due to the delay in clearing the dues, we cannot even face the women who are indulging in these kinds of risky jobs.
But, Lakshmi said though they did not get any wage for the last seven months for digging wells, they would continue the job as water is a major concern.

THE Barbados Water Authority (BWA) has stepped up its game in bringing relief to the hundreds of residents in the north of the island affected by the prolonged drought of two years ago.
On Friday, the BWA launched the Personal Tank Programme (PTP), a water tank storage system managed by the BWA and available first to the most vulnerable in the parishes affected by drought and then to wider Barbados.
The BWA and City of Bridgetown (COB) Credit Union, signed the agreement for the partnership, which offers residents in St John, St Peter, St Joseph, St Andrew and St Thomas, a 400 gallon tank, pump, fittings and installation on a full tank solution under a 5-year interest free hire purchase agreement from the BWA.
“It must be noted here that the PTP is part of the Rapid Response Unit of the Barbados Water Authority and both are managed by Ms Joy-Ann Haigh, who is our Communications Specialist.
“Staff includes administrative personnel, inspectors and installers who will be trained continuously, particularly in effective customer service interaction with a view to establishing customer loyalty,” he said.
“The issue of water conservation and responsibility for the use of water continues to be of paramount importance to all Barbadians.
Certainly, with the issues in relation to global warming.
“The point ladies and gentleman is simple.
We must take action and we must take action now.
The challenge of water scarcity, water security and water management for this island is a real one.

Kaza to have degree college: Virbhadra.
Summary: Shimla: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh during the last day of his tour to tribal Lahaul-Spiti district on Saturday, announced the launch of a government degree college at Kaza in Spiti sub division.
He also announced the augmentation of lift water supply scheme in Tabo in Spiti worth Rs 1.18 crore.
A ‘Green Spiti’ mission would also be started, he said.Virbhadra also laid the foundation stone of the Rs 2.19- crore indoor stadium at Kaza, office-cum-residence of assistant director, animal husbandry and an upgraded drinking water supply scheme.
He has also directed officials to install electricity towers within a year so that power can be transmitted from Pooh.The chief minister made the announcement while addressing a public meeting at Kaza.
He said his government would keep a separate budgetary provision for the same.
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh during the last day of his tour to tribal Lahaul-Spiti district on Saturday, announced the launch of a government degree college at Kaza in Spiti sub division.
He has also directed officials to install electricity towers within a year so that power can be transmitted from Pooh.The chief minister made the announcement while addressing a public meeting at Kaza.
Since the local youth have to go to either Reckong-Peo or Rampur for higher studies, it becomes tough for them, especially girls to travel so far, the CM added.Virbhadra also took the opportunity to dedicate various projects to the people including a Community Centre at Kibber, bailey bridge at Losar and channelisation of Shweta Nallah at Losar.
He also announced installation of 22 hand pumps in the valley and construction of separate LPG godown in Pin Valley.The CM said that he was aware of water scarcity in the area and added that the forest department would be given the task of planting more trees.

In all democratic countries, standing committees are considered vital for promoting democratic culture, ensuring accountability and suggesting progressive recommendations on any particular issue to the Parliament.
The purpose of forming any such body is to focus on one particular issue at a time.
Pakistan, like all other parliamentary countries, has standing committees in both houses of the parliament.
In Pakistan too, the standing committees include the members from both treasury and opposition benches, which in itself is a step forward towards participatory democracy.
One can imagine how seriously these standing committees take up issues of urgent importance by looking at an example of a standing committee that focused on discussing the push-ups of Pakistan’s cricket team.
Not a single committee on these respective areas has come up with a comprehensive plan to find some solution for the abovementioned problems.
But, it can also be argued that the poor performance of our legislative members and visionless leadership has further deteriorated the state’s performance in all public sectors.
Political stability has returned to Pakistan now.
The parliament should ask these bodies to function as per their objective; ie, legislative oversight.
In this regard, clear and proper rules and procedures should be devised – starting with compulsory attendance for lawmakers and regular meetings of standing committees.