|In: Incubators|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Startup incubator Kstart, an initiative of Indian venture capital firm Kalaari Capital, announced a collaboration with IBM to foster the startup ecosystem in India. Together, Kstart & IBM will offer training & mentoring sessions and Kstart’s entire roster of seed-stage portfolio companies will have the opportunity to apply for the IBM Global Entrepreneur Program, which provides business mentoring, technical support, networking opportunities with enterprise clients and credits to help entrepreneurs build their applications on IBM Cloud.

According to a 2015 report by industry body NASSCOM and Zinnov, India holds the third position in the world in terms of the number of startups, and has the fastest growing startup base worldwide [Source – NASSCOM]

To support this boom in the Indian startup ecosystem, Kstart and IBM will work together to spur the next generation of innovation throughout the country and ensure that startups have access to the support they need to get their solutions into the marketplace. IBM business leaders and technology experts will help Kstart portfolio companies create go-to-market strategies, achieve market alignment and augment their technology road-maps. IBM will also invite Kstart participants to training sessions on cognitive learning, analytics and product design.

In return, Kstart will drive awareness and engagement with IBM’s Global Entrepreneur Program (GEP), where startups can apply for up to $120,000 in cloud credits to develop and run their applications on IBM Cloud. Credits can be used on cloud infrastructure or development through Bluemix, which offers 150 APIs from IBM and third parties, including a number of Watson APIs.

Developers can tap into next-generation technology areas like cognitive computing, IoT & analytics and rapidly bring their solutions to market on a cloud platform that spans 46 cloud data centers worldwide. The GEP also provides business mentoring, technology expertise and connections with IBM’s global roster of enterprise clients.

IBM’s collaboration with Kstart is an extension of IBM’s commitment to the Indian ecosystem and builds on the company’s previous announcements, including its cloud data centre in Chennai and partnership with NASSCOM for Techstartup, a digital hub wherein the entire Indian startup ecosystem, including angels, mentors, investors, academia and venture capitalists, can interact with each other to grow the cloud market. Shortly after launching that hub, IBM also introduced localized hubs in Bangalore [techstartup.in] and Delhi [delhi.techstartup.in].

Nipun Mehrotra, Vice President, Growth Initiatives IBM India/ South Asia said

We believe in creating an environment that can foster innovation, which is why we working with Kalaari Capital to encourage and support the startup community in their journeys. IBM is committed to helping incubators, early stage startup companies and next-generation developer communities get access to a range of IBM innovations around cloud, analytics, mobile and cognitive to build and innovate. By using a combination of IBM’s technology offerings, guidance and support, startups can accelerate their time-to-market and establish enhancements that differentiate the customer experience.

Sandy Carter, general manager of the developer ecosystem and startups at IBM said

IBM partners with key incubators and accelerators around the world in order to support local startups. We offer cloud technology, business expertise and industry knowledge in support of these great enablers of entrepreneurship.

Kalaari is one of India’s largest VCs with a fund value of $650 million and investments in companies like Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, Simplilearn, Myntra and more. Kalaari has made a significant investment in the ecosystem by starting an early stage startup incubator and is taking this investment a step further in its relationship with IBM.

Vani Kola, Venture Capitalist, Kalaari said

We have chosen to work with IBM because of the value of its Global Entrepreneur Program, which aligns with our own core tenants of success, including business mentoring and supportive networks. Collaborating with IBM will help us equip our entrepreneurs with the right expertise and tools to succeed. We welcome our new working relationship with IBM to create impact in India by enabling next-generation startups. We appreciate the support and initiative from IBM to foster the startup community. 

About Kstart

Kstart, a Kalaari Capital initiative, is a unique seed program designed to empower next generation startups and accelerate disruptive ideas to become market-leading companies. For details, please visit kstart.in and follow Kstart on Twitter @kstartIndia

[Image Source* – KStart]

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Fresh To Home, India’s first e-commerce venture for fresh, chemical-free seafood and meat, announced the official launch of their brand in India. On the occasion, the company unveiled the Fresh To Home marketplace, a first-of-its kind Internet based market place that will organize and connect fish & meat farmers to consumers directly. The company also announced the launch of same-day delivery operations across two time slots in a day across 100 locations in Bangalore.

The India Market is among the largest in the world for perishable food produce with over $200 billion of fresh produce consumed in 2014. The non-vegetarian segment has seen a particularly large growth with over 60% of Indians consuming non-vegetarian product. As an example, the poultry and chicken market in India has been growing at a CAGR of over 20% year on year.

India is also the second largest producer of fish in the world having produced around $50 Billion worth of fish with over 90% of it consumed domestically. However in spite of the large market size, less than 1% of the supply chain goes through organized segments. Rest goes through a multitude of middlemen from the farmer to the consumer leading to food safety issues, use of chemical preservatives, wastage and the consumer not getting the best quality produce.

Freshtohome.com takes a fresh look at solving the problems inherent in the supply chain of perishables in India, by connecting the fishermen & farmers directly with the consumers through the use of some disruptive technology.  The company utilizes innovative supply chain and sourcing methods through the Fresh To Home Market Place technology to provide fresh, chemical-free food produce directly from the producers at the doorsteps of the consumers. Since its soft launch in August 2015, the company has fast become a popular destination for chemical-free fish and antibiotic-free meats sourced directly from the coasts and farm, having crossed 20,000 users in the last 6 months. The company, which clocks in 3 tons of produce per day, has seen 65% month-on-month customer retention. Fresh To Home currently serves customers in Bangalore, Delhi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

Shan Kadavil, CEO of Fresh To Home said

In today’s fast-paced lifestyle, it is important for one to understand and consume fresh and chemical-free food. At Fresh to Home, we take great pride in enabling a first of its kind market place for fish & meat, which will ensure direct procurement from the fishermen or farmers without any middlemen in between.

We are not Hyper Local but Hyper Fresh as we provide the freshest of fresh food to you straight from the source. This investment is a powerful endorsement of our ability to provide unique and fresh products to our customers. We are delighted to partner with a strong team of investors who can help realize our vision and aggressive growth expectations.

The company is backed by some of the leading entrepreneurs and investors in the world including Mark Pincus of Zynga Inc, Rajan Anandan of Google, Pavan Ongole; ex-India Head of Softbank Capital, Walter Kortshack of Kortshack Investments, Timothy Flaherty; Co-Founder Silver Creek Capital among others.

About Fresh To Home

The Fresh To Home platform utilizes innovative supply chain and sourcing methods using technology to connect meat farmers and fishermen with the consumers directly. Since its soft launch in August 2015, the company has fast become a popular destination for chemical-free fish and antibiotic-free meats sourced directly from the coasts and farm, having crossed 20,000 users in the last 6 months. For more information, please visit FreshToHome

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Cheetah Mobile, the leading mobile utility provider have announced findings on top apps across different categories that generate the most data on Android phones. The findings were based on the company’s flagship application, Clean Master, data gathering from India where Cheetah Mobile is ranked the second largest application developer [behind Facebook]. Popular applications including Flipkart, PicsArt, Facebook and UC Browser have been identified for creating the maximum junk files in their respective categories.

In India in 2015, Clean Master had an install base of roughly 20 million devices, with the highest number of downloads in Android 4.4. It was used 81,000,000 times to clean a total of 128PB junk files.

The above chart demonstrates the percentage of different Android versions which have been loaded with Clean Master. As can be seen, Android 4.4 accounts for 46%, which is about half of the total number. Android 5.0 and 5.1 rank the second and third. While Android 6.0 only makes up 2%.

  • The overall number of times cleaned in India 2015 – 81,000,000
  • The total size of junk files being cleaned – 128 PB
  • Daily cleaning times – 2,000,000 times
  • Daily cleaning size – 300,000 GB

As depicted in the chart below, videos, photography and tools are the top three app categories that created the most data.

Top app categories generating the most data

The data by Clean Master indicates tools, social apps and video apps as the top three categories that have been cleaned most times.

Top categories that create the most junk files

Top app categories by number of times cleaned

Tools, social apps and video apps are the three categories that have been cleaned for most times.

Top apps generating the most data files in every category:

Videos [pre-installed video apps excluded]

The top two video apps generating the most data are TubeMate and MX Player, both of which are mainly used to download videos.

Photography [pre-installed photo apps excluded]

PicsArt and BeautyPlus are the top two photography apps which generating the most data.

Tools [pre-installed tool apps excluded]

Among the top 10 tool apps generating the most data files, there are three file transferring tools, two security apps, and two app lockers. Most of the junks created by transferring tools are installation packages.

Social apps [pre-installed social apps excluded]

Facebook generates the most among all social apps, and the main data it creates are system caches, which also applies to Instagram and WhatsApp.

Browsers [pre-installed browsers excluded]

The UC Browser family generates the most data here on user devices.

Games

Clash of Clans generates the most data among all mobile games, followed by Pirate Kings. Most data created by the games exist in system storage.

Shopping apps

Flipkart and Paytm generate the most data among all shopping apps. And the former creates about
three times more data than the latter.

[The above data is based on Clean Master’s data gathering and applies only to India]

|In: Blogging|Last Updated: | 0 Comments
Are you losing possible new sales, registrations and subscribers ?
Before you answer that question, answer this one:
Can you remember the last time you updated ‘About Me’ page ? If your answer to this question is anything other than ‘YES’, then you need this guide. Andrew Wise from Wise Startup Blog has a complete about me page guide on what Should be on your page and what Should Not.
Before you read the guide, here’s an actionable tip you can use right now

Build a Call to Action Into Your About Me Page

What’s a call to action?… If you run a blog, then your call to action should be to “subscribe” to your blog. If you are a salesperson, your readers should “call you”. If you have an ecommerce site, then you should promote your “100% satisfaction guarantee”, or whatever your promo is to encourage customers to buy.

You get it. Okay, so now implement this technique and checkout the rest of the guide or just skim the infographic below:

[Source* – Andrew Wise Blog]
If you loved the info-graphic, than you would surely enjoy the ‘Mantras’ shared by Andrew Wise on creating Killer About-Me Page
Note* : Content reproduced with Andrew Wise’s consent

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

One of the coolest features on Hike Messenger is Cricket! With the T20 World Cup, followed by the IPL, the next three months are going to be exciting for cricket lovers across the country! And with Hike, this experience will be more fun and more social!

Not only can folks view the live cricket updates, latest scores, fixtures, news, and results on Hike, they can also share score cards with friends, both on Hike and on other platforms. Plus, they can access interactive score cards of previous matches to check any action they may have missed. The Cricket experience on Hike is simple and bite sized, so Hikers can consume cricket content quickly while balancing other stuff!

So, This World Cup, Make Hike your Cricket Companion 🙂

Hike’s Growth Story

  • Dec 2012 – Global launch
  • Feb 2013 – Messaging traffic grows 10X week on week
  • April 2013 – Hit the first 5M user milestone in just 4 months of its launch | Raised $7M from BSB
  • Feb 2014 – Hit the 15M user mark
  • April 2014 – Received $14M fresh funding from BSB
  • June 2014 – Crossed 20M user mark, launched first TVC
  • July 2014 – Hit #1 rank on App stores
  • August 2014 – Crossed 35M user mark, receives $65M fresh funding led by Tiger Global & BSB
  • November 2014 – Launches regional stickers on hike
  • January 2015 – Launched free Hike Calls
  • February 2015 – Launched Cricket Scores on hike
  • Aug 2015: Hike announces 20 billion messages per month and launched Hike News
  • Sep 2015: Launched Group Calling with upto 100 people

Additional information

You can download the app at – http://get.hike.in For more information, please visit the Hike Blog

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Fin-tech start-up IndiaLends has launched India’s first Credit Score and Analytics app that allows consumers to check their Credit Score on their mobile phones instantly and for free.

Gaurav Chopra, co-founder, IndiaLends said

Credit awareness in India continues to be very low vis-a-vis countries like the United States. If you were to ask a consumer in the US what his credit score is, 10 out of 10 people would know it. In India, only a handful of consumers are aware of their credit score. As a result, unaware consumers who apply for loans are more likely to get their applications rejected or be charged higher interest rates and fees. Our app gives consumers the power to access their credit scores for free, and that too instantly. This enables them to make better decisions and negotiate affordable interest rates.

There are currently more than 230 million mobile internet users in India, most of whom are using their mobile phones for online shopping and financial transactions. However most consumers have limited knowledge about the importance of a healthy credit score and its different uses to fulfil their credit needs. With the IndiaLends App, consumers will find it simple and convenient to access and manage their credit on their mobile phones.

Gaurav Chopra, co-founder, IndiaLends added

We received an overwhelming response to our online Credit Score and Analytics product that was launched in December 2015 and got over 10,000 credit report applications within the first 45 days. With our app, we will now be able to expand the reach of our services to a larger audience.

Mayank Kachhwaha, co-founder, IndiaLends said

Besides credit awareness, the IndiaLends app has features to simplify the way consumers manage their personal finances. Our app offers consumers a suite of services such as the ability to track and manage multiple credit accounts including credit cards, home loans, car loans, gold loans,etc., get recommendations on how to improve their credit score, set EMI payment reminders, and get updates on the best loan or credit card deals. Consumers can also use the spend analysis feature on our app to manage their savings better. Having both their credit and expenditure information together, will enable consumers to achieve their financial goals more easily.

Mayank Kachhwaha was recently recognized by the Forbes India magazine as one of the ‘30 under 30’ people in India who are making a huge impact. IndiaLends, which raised its second round of funding in October 2015 from prominent investors such as DSG Consumer Partners, Siddharth Parekh and Gautam Radhakrishnan, amongst others, has plans to add more products and services to achieve their vision of making credit products more affordable to consumers in India. With the IndiaLends app and online platform, consumers have the opportunity to become aware of their credit worthiness and can work towards improving it in future.

Talking about this development, Deepak Shahdadpuri, Managing Director, DSG Consumer Partners said

This is the first consumer-facing mobile app from IndiaLends’ product roadmap. This is indicative of how the next generation of financial services companies will use technology,fragmented and un-organized data, analytics and data science to deliver a product that consumers can use to make real time decisions based on their current financial position.

We are excited to be working with the IndiaLends team to be part of the new generation of Indian businesses partnering with banks, NBFCs, insurance companies and other financial services companies, to deliver a more relevant product offering to the Indian millennial’s.

The IndiaLends App is currently available on the Android platform and can be downloaded from here. It will soon be launching on the iOS platform.

About IndiaLends

IndiaLends is a credit underwriting and analytics platform for unsecured consumer lending. Available on both the web and mobile, IndiaLends uses proprietary algorithms to connect borrowers with the right financial institutions. IndiaLends also provides data analytics and risk scoring services along with a loan management platform to financial institutions. It has also helped automate workflows and risk assessments thereby making the loan disbursal process much more efficient. IndiaLends is run by a team of bankers and data scientists with multiple years of experience in consumer and small business credit. For further information, please visit IndiaLends

|In: Review|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

In today’s technological era there are few online options available wherein you can flex your mind muscles, get entertained, join a like-minded network, and also make some money 🙂 With summer sneaking in, many of us [including kids] prefer staying in-doors especially during the afternoon and that is the best time when family can relax with their kids!! Parents look for indoor games that not only provide wholesome entertainment, but also sharpen their kid’s thinking 🙂 One such game that falls in this category is the good old card game – Indian Rummy.

With shopping, ticket booking, mobile recharge etc. already having taken the online route, time had come for the awesome Rummy game also to go ‘Online’. One of the major advantages of Rummy is that it can be played with teens, and helps improve hand eye co-ordination, develop patience and concentration skills. Today, we review KhelPlay Rummy; an Indian rummy site that provides range of options for users to play Rummy both on the web as well as on mobile apps.

KhelPlay Rummy: Comprehensive Online Rummy options

KhelPlay Rummy offers online rummy games in the 13 & 21 cards category. In the 13 card games category, there are formats like Points Rummy, Deal Rummy and Pool Rummy about which we would elaborate later in the article.  For beginners too Rummy, KhelPlay Rummy provides a  How to Play Rummy video tutorial that walk you through the Rummy rules & scoring system of the site.

[Image Source – KhelPlayRummy]

For players venturing into the ocean of Rummy, this site has a special module where they can play unlimited FREE rummy games with unlimited ‘Chips’ [account balance] to perfect their Rummy Skills. On registration, player’s account is credited with 10,000. Free Rummy Chips this allows them to play unlimited free rummy games and participate in some free rummy tournaments where Real Cash Chips are at stake.

KhelPlay Rummy: Security, Legality & other aspects

When we think about online games that are not casual but that involve ‘Real Money’, one thought that definitely comes to our mind is “Whether it is legal or not to play Online Rummy” and “Whether it is secure since we would deposit money in their account”. As per this SC judgment, Online Rummy has been termed as a Game of Skill and does not belong to the Online-Gambling category, and hence it’s perfectly safe to play

In order to participate in tournaments [other than practice tournaments], player needs to have ‘Real Chips’ in his/her KhelPlay Rummy account. Real Chips are cash chips that you need to purchase by depositing cash in your KhelPlay Rummy account. Once your deposit is processed, your account is upgraded to play Real Rummy online. You need to be above the age of 18 years to play with real chips. In case, you deposit money in their account but it is not yet reflected in your KhelPlay Rummy account, then you can write a mail to support@khelplayrummy.com to get the matter checked and rectified.

Their payment partners are PayU, EBS, TechProcess etc. which definitely signifies that your money is in safe hands & you can use your debit/credit card without any hesitation since all online transactions at KhelPlay Rummy pass through the SSL layer [and are encrypted & secure].

KhelPlay Rummy: Line-up of Tournaments

KhelPlay Rummy offers two different types of Tournaments:

  • Time Based tournaments – Players need to complete the game within a stipulated time frame.
  • Round Based tournaments – Number of deals would be fixed in these tournaments

All tournaments have auto play mode in every round and level. In case a player fails to join after registration or gets disconnected due to network problems or fails to respond during a game, their turn will go in auto mode which gives them an opportunity to re-join the game. You can find the detailed Rummy tournament rules on their page.

As mentioned earlier, there are three different variants of Rummy that can be played on KhelPlay Rummy platform – Points Rummy, Pool Rummy and Deals Rummy

  • Points Rummy – Each deal forms an individual game in Points Rummy format where players play for points. The chip value is pre-decided and the winner wins chips basis the number of points per chip. You can also enjoy the 21 card rummy that is popular in local clubs.
  • Pool Rummy – Two variants that are possible in this category are ‘101 Pool’ & ‘201 Pool’.
  • Deals Rummy – KhelPlay Rummy offers ‘Best of 3 Deals Rummy’, which is a points rummy variation and the winner is decided after the final tally of points after 3 deals of rummy

For the review, we played a couple of games on the site & found the ‘Multi-Player Gaming’ experience awesome. The UI on the site is engaging which makes game-play interesting!! In addition to the variations listed above, there are different tournaments on KhelPlay Rummy. Some of them are Cash Players Tournament, Mighty Monday Tournament, KhelPlay Cash Card Tournament, Friday Fever Tournament etc. We found the line-up of Rummy Tournaments on KhelPlay Rummy exhaustive as well as intriguing.

KhelPlayRummy : Rummy on the go

With the smart-phone penetration increasing in India at a breath neck speed, it is one sector that can never be ignored. Rummy enthusiasts & seasoned Rummy players who are constantly on the move can still play their favorite game on mobiles. KhelPlay Rummy is available for download on the Apple Store and Khelplay Rummy play store link. To top it all, you also get a Bonus of Rs. 1000 once you download the App 🙂

Some of the salient features of the KhelPlay Rummy Mobile app are below:

  • Enjoy your favorite cash games.
  • Easy navigation & awesome game-play experience.
  • Faster & easier withdrawals.
  • App only attractive cash offers.

For more details, please visit the Rummy App Page

KhelPlayRummy : Closing Thoughts

If you are a ‘Cards game enthusiast’ and planning to take your first step into the world of Rummy, than do give KhelPlay Rummy a spin. If you are a Rummy-Pro, there are in-numerable reasons to sign-up on the site.

Do give KhelPlay Rummy a spin and leave your feedback in the comments section.

|In: Marketing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Digital marketing is essential to the success of any business. Although there is still a place for traditional marketing methods, these must be used in conjunction with a good digital marketing plan. It is only through digital marketing that you can reach a huge market of previously untapped potential. Here are the reasons and tips for getting the right strategy:

Devising a digital marketing plan

The first step in devising a digital marketing strategy is planning; the sheer number of options available can be mind blowing it. It is essential to know what you are after to ensure you target the right markets.

Over doing it

The worst decision to make is attempting to launch a presence on all the social media sites at the same time; it will be too complicated and time consuming to keep up to date with all of them and you will be unlikely to get a good level of success from any of the sites.

Customers

Before you can launch your marketing efforts you must decide what your customer base is and which sites or advertising routes are most likely to obtain their attention. Your marketing campaign must be aimed at them as personally as possible.

Assess the market

The next important criterion is looking at the market, your competition and, in particular, what they are offering and how you can offer something better of critically different. Identifying your competitors will also help you to identify where to launch your digital marketing campaign. The stages will ensure that your digital marketing strategy has a direction; this will also give your business direction. You must know what your goals are before you develop your strategy, if you do not your business will flounder.

A solid strategy and an understanding of the market will also give you a good understanding of your customers and their needs. This will ensure you do not duplicate your efforts and you do not waste time on campaigns that will have very little chance of success.

Goals

Having decided upon a market and how you will differentiate your product you will need to look at your current position and where you would like to be. It is essential to have a plan and a goal to aim for; this gives you something to assure the success of your digital campaigns by and the drive and motivation to do well in business.

Measuring

One of the most important parts of any digital strategy is actually monitoring the success of a campaign; this will provide valuable information regarding whether to repeat the campaign, extend it, or simply discard it and try another approach. To ensure you can do this properly you must decide upon your monitoring tools before you start the campaign; and get them ready.

The tools you use to measure can also give you a good indication of your current market share; this is important as you will need to know which direction to take your campaign depending upon who your main competition is and which parts of the market you are currently performing well in.

Decide on the right type of campaign

Finally, before you can launch any digital marketing campaign you must decide which type of campaign you wish to run. You can target people via email, social media or increase the profile of your website; you can even use pay per click advertising. In reality you may wish to use a mixture of all these techniques and others, if you do it is advisable to launch each one as a separate marketing campaign. This will help you to control the campaign and assess the results on an individual basis.

It is essential to have an online presence which is agile enough to adjust to sudden market changes and allows you to integrate with your customers; their trust is what will convince them to buy from you. Think outside the box, and focus your attention on crafting the smartest plan. Use digital marketing guidelines that fit with your business mantra, and find a way to set yourself apart from the crowd. The more unique and innovative your ideas are, the greatest chances you have to make yourself noticed.

This is a guest article by Denny Averill & Romax.co.uk