PayPal announced the graduation of three startups incubated at its Start Tank Incubation Center in Chennai. The three companies — DoPartTime, Fantain & Kobster — started their incubation at Start Tank between 2013-14. The occasion marks another milestone for Start Tank, which is located within PayPal’s Technology Center in Chennai.
PayPal’s Start Tank aims to identify and incubate the country’s next generation tech startups. These startups receive technology mentorship and infrastructure support from PayPal, as well as business mentorship from charter members of The Indus Entrepreneurs [TiE] Chennai.
Speaking about the graduation, Anupam Pahuja, General Manager, Technology, Asia-Pacific, PayPal said
As one of the world’s largest startups, we at PayPal are proud to see the graduating startups benefit from our mentorship and expand their teams and businesses while at Start Tank. This occasion is another major step in our commitment to the development of a strong technology ecosystem in India. We wish the three companies the best in their entrepreneurial endeavors.
Details about the Graduating Startups
DoPartTime, founded by Mohankumar Swaminathan and Arun David, is a marketplace for bringing together part-time job seekers and job providers. The portal facilitates the finding and hiring of flexible and temporary jobs through a technology-led web and mobile platform. The company was selected through the Start Tank Incubation Challenge startup selection event in Chennai.
Talking about the experince, Mohankumar Swaminathan, Co-founder & CEO, DoPartTime said
This tenure at PayPal has helped us with a myriad of opportunities. The periodic review meetings and regular technology guidance gave us the necessary direction to grow our company. We also made our first sale through the incubator when we helped fellow-incubatee – Kobster hire 15 candidates. We are aiming to become the country’s “hyperlocal job marketplace”.
Fantain, founded by Anand Ramachandran & Vivek Venugopalan, helps sports companies use ‘Fan Data’ to increase revenue and predictability. Through its ‘Fan Data Management Platform,’ it engages, collects, and analyzes ‘Fan Data’ from various sources and provides actionable insights to customers.
During its stint at Start Tank, Fantain expanded its headcount to 15 and won 3 clients, including the Indian Premier League T20 cricket team Sunrisers Hyderabad. Fantain was the recipient of the ‘Promising Startup Award’ at the Confederation of Indian Industry [CII] Startupreneurs Conference & Expo 2014.
Talking about their stint, Aravind Ramachandran, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, Fantain
Sports fan engagement is a niche business, yet a highly potential space in India. PayPal’s fantastic support enabled us to take risks and achieve our targets in a relatively short period of time. We currently have more than one-third market share in our area of focus.
Kobster.com, founded by Vineet Neeraj, Karthik Ramaiah & Mohan Gayam, is a web-based, B2B e-commerce player that helps corporate buyers, retailers, SMEs, home offices, hotels, etc. to purchase office supplies in bulk at wholesale rates.
Kobster recently raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Splice Advisors and has seen its revenues grow from INR 40 lakhs to INR 6.5 crores by April 2015 while at Start Tank. The company aims to become the largest B2B provider in the space by creating an online platform for buyers and wholesale sellers from across the country.
Talking about their experience at PayPal, Karthik Ramaiah said
When we joined Start Tank, we were a four-member team. We’ve now become a 23-member strong enterprise and expanded our revenues tenfold. PayPal has been like a fourth co-founder, helping us build our company through their technological expertise and a great professional network including lawyers and chartered accountants.
About PayPal Start Tank
PayPal India formally launched its startup incubator in association with TiE Chennai in November 2013. The exclusive facility in PayPal’s Chennai technology center provides an obligation-free environment as well as technology and business mentorship for select startups to evolve. It has an office area of more than 11,000 square feet with a world-class incubation space, state-of-the-art conference rooms and other amenities.
Start Tank is located globally across PayPal offices in London and Chennai and provides access to global mentors, angel investors and venture capitalists. Start Tank Chennai currently hosts two other startups: Konotor and PiQube. PiQube recently secured $500,000 in funding from The HR Fund. More information about Start Tank here