All Posts by Himanshu Sheth

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Intellecap Impact Investment Network [I3N], Rianta Capital along with ah! Ventures have invested Rs. 10 Million in waste management startup Sampurn(e)arth. Co-founded by Debartha Banerjee, Jayanth Nataraju, & Ritvik Rao, Sampurn(e)arth provides end-to-end decentralized and customized waste management solutions such as  dry waste collection and processing, bio-gas plant installation, composting, O&M and consulting services.

SampurnEarth

It works closely with the non-profit waste picker organization Stree Mukti Sanghatana and actively incorporates waste pickers into the process, thereby up-skilling them and increasing incomes. Its clientele includes municipal bodies, corporate parks educational campuses and residential units.

Sharing the statistics on the scale of the problem in the waste management segment, Co-founder Jayanth Nataraju said

In Mumbai alone, about 10,000 tonnes of waste is generated daily, so there is a huge opportunity for intervention. With initiation of the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, there is an increased interest in our solutions and we are seeing tremendous support from stakeholders across the value chain. We are confident that with the guidance of investors on scaling the business, we will be able to move the needle on this vast challenge.

Talking about the investment, Ajay Dalmia, I3N, said

The current method of dumping waste into landfills leads to several environmental and societal problems. This practice adversely affects the health of people and also fails to recognize the inherent value in the waste. Sampurn(e)arth is bringing in an effective decentralized asset light business model that is environmentally sustainable, generates employment and is profitable. This is an execution intensive model and we have full faith in the promoters’ passion for the cause and ability to deliver.

Sidharth Pansari, Angel Investor & Director, Primarc Projects added

It is our responsibility to give our environment and the people living around us, a more sustainable future than we have today. By investing in Sampurn(e)arth we are directly contributing in creating a positive impact on the environment, coming up with innovative ways in which one can turn waste into re-usable resources and renewable energy. Primarc Group’s real estate projects have been developed with environment friendly features like rain water harvesting, sewage treatment plant, Solar hot water, fly ash bricks and organic water treatment. We should put our knowledge and experience to come up with new sustainable solutions for the greater benefit of the planet by creating better disposal options and safer treatment of waste.

Harshad Lahoti, Founder & CEO, ah! Ventures. said

ah! Impact, the platform through with the investment in Sampurn(e)arth was made, validates our commitment and foresight towards social investing in India, also the large number of our investors, which are mostly first time investors have shown great interest in investing in social enterprises with high potential and measurable social or environmental impact. ah! Impact recently reinvested in Ketto, a crowdfunding platform for social, personal and creative projects.

ah! Impact also recently reinvested in Ketto, a crowdfunding platform for social, personal and creative projects.

About Sampurn(e)arth

Sampurn(e)arth Environment Solutions Pvt. Ltd provides wet and dry waste management solutions for corporates, residential societies and construction companies. A TISS [Tata Institute of Social Science] incubator project, Sampurn(e)arth was launched in 2012 with an objective of making solid waste management efficient, decentralized and even profitable. Sampurn(e)arth works on the principle that transporting waste to the city’s dumping grounds is inefficient and expensive and also hazardous. It encourages on-site segregation, wherever possible. It also sets up on-site bio-gas or composting facilities for wet waste, while non- biodegradable waste is transported directly to recycling units. This leaves only a small amount of dry waste to be transported to the dumping grounds.

About ah! Ventures

ah! Ventures is a startup focused growth catalyst that brings together promising businesses and investors by creating wealth creation opportunities for both. ah!’s unique model serves investors, entrepreneurs and enablers through a unique blend of customized services, skill, and industry & domain experience.

Founded in 2010, ah! Ventures has systematically disrupted India’s early stage funding ecosystem through its innovative approach toward startup investing. First of its kind initiatives like the CLUB ah! network & platform, ah! Angels (India’s largest angel network), ah! Seeders and ah! VC networks (India’s first seed & VC investment networks respectively), have brought together and integrated the otherwise previously segregated startup funding lifecycle, under one roof. This, coupled with ah! Impact network, an impact investment network for investing in social enterprises and ah! Mentors network, a mentor network to assist startups in their growth and expansion, has today made ah! Ventures not just one of India’s most respected change leaders, but also a formidable industry force to recon with.

About I3N

Intellecap Impact Investment Network (I3N or I-cube-N) is a global network of impact investors, both individuals and institutions who come together to co-invest in impact enterprises across India and East Africa. It’s aim is to plug the pre-VC funding gap early stage enterprises face by mobilizing domestic capital and connecting international investors to domestic investors. Investors come together to support brilliant and passionate entrepreneurs who are dedicated to solving difficult problems at the bottom of the pyramid.

|In: Events|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

The August Fest, India’s largest Startup Conference that Celebrates Arts & Entrepreneurship is coming up with the 2015 edition. The August Fest is on its way to building India’s First International Startup Conference apart from being one of the Largest Startup Conferences in Asia.

TheAugustFest

It is geared to host around 5000+ great minds from across India and few of them from Asia, Middle East, Europe and the U.S.A ! Along with the awesome participants, there would be 50+ Speakers, 50+ Incubators & 200+ Investors would be participating in the event.

The event will be held on 29th & 30th of August in Hyderabad [JRC Convention]

AugustFest_2015_Dates

August Fest – Detailed Agenda

  • Action Packed Two Day Conference | Applications For Startup Demos/Arts Track Submissions open from July.
  • 15 Boot Camps In 8 Countries Before August ! Dates Will Be Out Soon !
  • Startups Can Pitch In Respective Cities to Win a Wild Card Entry to Demo @The August Fest Stage !
  • Remarkable Journeys | Incredible Talks | Intriguing Panels
  • Best of The Best Startup Demos | Non Stop Film Screening
  • IoT/Makers Edition | Startup Expo
  • Intense Workshops | Interactive Sessions
  • 50+ Speakers | 50+ Incubators | 200+ Investors
  • Live Music | Witty Skits | Stage Plays
  • Heritage Crawls | Unbelievable After Party

August Fest – Speaker Desk

There is an awesome line-up of speakers for the 2015 edition of August Fest [and still the team at August Fest are working to bring some more speakers on-board :)]

Registration & Launchpad for Startups

You can register for the event by Buying tickets from here If you are a startup founder, you can pitch your idea by registering for the Launch Pad. The August Fest Launch Pad is for Startups looking to Pitch on Stage ! Film Makers and Creative Folks looking forward to Showcase their works can submit entries too !

Past Event Snapshots

Follow August Fest on Twitter @TheAugustFest and connect with them on Facebook at facebook.com/TheAugustFest

|In: Events|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Accenture, in partnership with Yahoo India, has launched the fourth season of Innovation Jockeys – The Hunt for India’s most Innovative Minds. Undergraduate, graduate & post graduate students across India are welcome to submit innovative ideas for using technology to transform India.

This year’s contest, which will focus on disruptive technology innovations related to the themes Cognitive Computing and Internet of Things and ‘Digital Application Marketplace, aims to discover bright, young, home-grown innovators.

Raghavan Iyer, MD, Technology Delivery and Innovation Council lead for Accenture in India said

We’re looking for India’s next generation of innovators – young people with drive, passion and creativity who will make a difference in the way businesses and society function. In the previous three seasons, the program drew over 7,180 idea submissions from over 900 campuses and more than 125,300 newsletter sign-ups from students at more than 1,000 colleges across India. We have seen an encouraging response each year and are expecting more students to participate and showcase their solutions.

This year’s contest winners will be selected by a renowned jury, consisting of Ravi Gururaj, Chair – Product Council & Member-Executive Council, NASSCOM; Kalyan Veeramachaneni, Research Scientist, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Unni Aravindakshan, Vice President – Production Engineering & Head, Yahoo Software Development India; Raj Dam, Founder, QuizWorks; Vinay Gupta, CEO, Via.com; Nandini Vaidyanathan, CMD, CARMa Venture Services & Alok Goyal, Partner at Helion Advisors.

Unni Aravindakshan, VP – Production Engineering & Head, Yahoo Software Development India Pvt. Ltd said

Over the last three years, Innovation Jockeys has surfaced ideas that solve real-world problems and make a difference in our daily lives. We are happy to be part of the process that fosters this innovation. We are looking forward to how India’s bright young minds will innovate and push the envelope this year, as they take on new challenges.

Each member of the winning team will receive a trip to Accenture Technology Labs, San Francisco, a Lenovo tablet & an Apple iPhone 6. Winning entries for each category will also receive an Apple  iPad and a Pebble Smart Watch. The five most popular ideas will win an Amazon Kindle.

To find out more and participate in Innovation Jockeys: The Hunt for India’s most Innovative Minds, log on to Innovation Jockeys. The deadline for submitting entries is September 20, 2015. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 6, 2015 in Bangalore.

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Money View – an android app that empowers its users to take informed decisions to be financially fit – has recently added an interesting feature that will help one to remain within budget and save more!

The feature called Budget Management, allows users to set monthly budgets and track ‘available to spend’ cash based on the set goal.  To make it user-friendly, this feature has been designed as a quick-to-comprehend graphical representation of how much more they can safely spend; which in turn desists Money View users from overspending and be credit free.

Additionally, the Money View app has an expense tracker that gives the user multiple categories of spends which is also represented by icons for ease of use, to show where the money is being spent. With another inherent feature that flags impending bill payments, Money View ensures that its users get a holistic outlook of their finances month on month and are empowered to stay on top of their funds with minimal effort.

Features of MoneyView app

With the Free Money View app, you get a real-time visibility into your entire Personal Finances. It works by itself without any manual data entry – our daily expense manager app organizes your financial summary by analyzing SMS sent by your bank and billers to your phone. The app auto-tracks your expense, bills and account balances across all your financial accounts to help you stay on top of your money. The app is highly secure as it never reads any sensitive data – no full bank account numbers, no OTP, and no Net-banking login/password. [Source – MoneyView App Link]

Easy Expense Tracker

  • Auto-tracks all your spend through credit/debit cards, net-banking, cash withdrawals or cheques.
  • Categorizes your spend to show where your money is being spent.
  • Easy cash management tool to track your cash income and spend.

Bill Tracker and Bill Management

  • All your mobile, credit card and utility bills & EMI’s in one place with timely reminder to pay bills on time.
  • Easy and fast bill payment through the app; Whiz Pay – one-click bill payment for select billers.

Smart Financial Planning

  • All your bank and credit card accounts in one place.
  • Real-time tracking of transaction activities and account balances

Shared expenses

  • Best way to manage shared expenses – shared apartment expenses with room-mates, vacation with friends, etc.
  • Keep track of personal loans – with friends or family.

Highly Secure

  • No access to sensitive information – No full account numbers, never reads OTP.
  • Your financial information is never shared.
  • Set Passcode on the App for added security

You can find MoneyView in action below

The MoneyView app for Android can be downloaded from here

For more information visit www.moneyview.in

|In: Elearning|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Simplilearn, the largest destination for online training and professional certification courses, has announced the availability of an updated and improved PMI-ACP training course that enables project management professionals to become skilled Agile Certified Practitioners.  With the course content aligned to the PMI-ACP 2015 exam model, Simplilearn is one of the few training providers to upgrade the course, considering the changing agile trends. Being a pioneering professional training provider, Simplilearn has always offered the most up-to-date courseware across business and technology categories.

With 80% of all software projects being agile based, the demand for agile certification is increasing by the day.  The revised PMI-ACP certification training from Simplilearn helps professionals to advance their skills on agile principles, tools and technologies across agile methodologies.

Simplilearn

Like all of Simplilearn’s trainings, the short-term certification course further aids in showcasing in-depth knowledge and experience in agile for brighter career prospects.

Priced from INR 6999, the PMI-ACP certification training caters to PMO leaders, project managers who are looking for successful ways for project planning and execution.  Learners will benefit from 25 hours of high quality e-learning content, chapter quizzes, simulation exams, and downloadable e-book and course completion certificates. The updated course from Simplilearn is available on online self-learning and classroom training models.

PMI-ACP Certification is a globally recognized agile certification offered by the PMI Institute to professionals who qualify in the PMI ACP exam.  

About Simplilearn

Simplilearn is the world’s largest provider of short term certification courses that addresses the unique learning needs of working professionals. Having trained over 4,00,000 professionals worldwide,  Simplilearn provides unmatched customer experience, which handholds a customer – right from enrolling into an online course to getting Industry-recognized certificate in hand.  Simplilearn’s course contents are recognized by over 40 certification bodies, prominent ones being PMI, Axelos, Scrum Alliance, Peoplecert, and The Open Group. Simplilearn has also diversified into vendor certification like those from Microsoft, Cisco, and Salesforce. For more information, visit SimpliLearn

|In: India|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Mindtree, a leading digital transformation and technology services company, today announced it has been named a Top 10 Outsourcing Service Provider in USA and EMEA by Information Services Group [ISG], a leading technology insights, market intelligence & advisory services company.

Mindtree was among the leading providers in the Breakthrough 10 category for both the regions based on Annual Contract Value [ACV] won over the last 12 months, according to the ISG Global Outsourcing Index. Now in its 51st consecutive quarter, the ISG Outsourcing Index provides an independent quarterly review of the latest sourcing industry data and trends for enterprises, service providers, analysts & the media.

Mindtree_Small_Updated

Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO and MD, Mindtree, said

Being named in the top 10 Outsourcing providers by ISG in the US and EMEA reflects our expertise in leading digital transformation efforts for clients globally. Our Digital DNA helps us create remarkable customer experiences across the value-chain, enabling our clients to outperform its competition and stay ahead of the industry.

Paul Reynolds, chief research officer of ISG said

Mindtree continues to establish itself as a leading and growing player in the global market for technology services, based on its volume of business in relation to other industry providers. This is the second consecutive time Mindtree has been featured in one of our top provider lists in 2015.

For more than a decade, the ISG Outsourcing Index has been the authoritative source for marketplace intelligence related to outsourcing transaction structures and terms, industry adoption, geographic prevalence and service provider performance.  Mindtree’s inclusion in the ISG Outsourcing Index is based on data the company submits to ISG each quarter.

About Information Services Group

Information Services Group is a leading technology insights, market intelligence and advisory services company, serving more than 500 clients around the world to help them achieve operational excellence. ISG supports private and public sector organizations to transform and optimize their operational environments through research, bench-marking, consulting & managed services, with a focus on information technology, business process transformation, program management services and enterprise resource planning. For additional information, visit ISG One

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

JDA Software Group, Inc., has announced that it is hosting the 9th Edition of the Supply Chain Practitioners Council (SCPC) at its Bangalore office on August 21. The day-long event will bring together supply chain experts from different industry verticals and organizations, including Mukesh Singh, founder and CEO of ZopNow, Suresh Satyamurthy, Co-founder and CEO of Tarnea, Vinay Mohan Sharma, Director, Retail Solutions at JDA Software, George Kochumman, Senior Manager at Chainalytics & Prashanth Mahadevaiah, head of the  Supply Chain Group for Capgemini India

JDA

The SCPC aims to bring together the leading supply chain practitioners from across industries to showcase achievements and share best practices, while building a community which can influence policy making.  This forum intends to foster an environment to propel India towards global supply chain leadership and make it a go-to place for supply chain excellence.

This widely attended supply chain forum has occurred successfully in Bangalore for the past two years and eight such editions have been hosted by companies/institutes such as Dell, Cisco, JDA, Honeywell, SAP Labs & IIM Bangalore.

Dr. Narasimha Kamath, director, Product Management, JDA Software India. said

We hosted the 5th edition of the SCPC which was manufacturing-centric. The theme for the 9th edition is ‘last mile delivery and returns management, which is retail-centric. The eminent speakers will discuss current opportunities and challenges. It is also a great networking opportunity for supply chain professionals.

JDA has a large client base in manufacturing, distribution, retail, category management and store operations. It is a privilege to provide a platform that helps supply chain professionals to actively collaborate, think collectively and act decisively. The SCPC helps promote understanding of the current market problems and the way they are currently being solved, as well as provides guidance on moving enterprises to the next level of supply chain maturity.

About JDA Software Group, Inc.

JDA isa the leading provider of end-to-end, integrated retail, omni-channel and supply chain planning and execution solutions for more than 4,000 customers worldwide.  For more information, please visit JDA or JDA on SlideShare

|In: India|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Arcserve, a leading provider of data protection and recovery software today announced that it aims to expand its presence in Indian market rapidly with its industry first Unified Data Protection [UDP] solution which has been adopted by about 10,000 worldwide customers since the launch in May 2014.

Arcserve India is headquartered in Bangalore with sales representatives across Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai; its India Development Center is located in Hyderabad. The company achieved double-digit growth in India over the last fiscal year, post spinning out of CA Technologies.

arcserve logo

With an experienced team, an exclusive channel network and award-winning solutions, Arcserve plans to expand into new verticals including manufacturing, BFSI and IT/ITES to increase its foothold across India & SAARC region.

Commenting on this development, Ganesh Kuppuswamy, director for India & SAARC at Arcserve said

India is a key growth market for Arcserve in Asia Pacific and we are going to invest heavily in this market by increasing headcounts, recruiting more partners and growing the market share in the next 12 months.

According to NASSCOM, Indian SMB market will grow by 15 percent annually; which will propel the IT spending in the sector to over $18.5 billion by 2018. It says the Indian SMBs are rapidly innovating and adopting technology solutions to enhance competitiveness in the global and domestic business environment.

The results from a recent survey commissioned by Arcserve indicated that APAC market including India is slightly slower in adopting newer data protection technologies and practices that are being adopted in Europe and North America.

Over a third (35%) of the APAC respondents are holding onto their investment in tape as a primary target for backup, while 51 percent are using disk based data protection. Cloud as a primary means of backup is still not gaining traction at the business level with only four percent of the respondents using Cloud as the backup target.

Commenting on the survey, Ganesh Kuppuswamy added

From the survey results we can see that there is still a requirement for some of the ‘older’ backup technologies to be supported into the future. Tape continues to have relevance in the backup space and we suspect this will continue for a long time to come.

The survey also reveals that the backup software market is becoming more fragmented than ever before with no one dominant player. And over half of the respondents expressed willingness to change data protection solutions in the near future.

It’s clear that the data protection market in APAC is in a state of transition driven by business requirements and new technologies. We are glad to see that change is already underway and to some point a tipping point has been reached. This is a perfect opportunity for Arcserve to disrupt the market with newer technologies and better solutions.

In addition to team expansion, Arcserve has launched a new Arcserve Partner Program in July which offers a rewarding framework that channel partners can easily use to build and scale a successful data protection solution and services that customers will value. 

About Arcserve

Arcserve is a leading provider of data protection and recovery software that provides organizations with the assurance that they can recover their data and applications when needed. Founded in 1990, Arcserve provides a comprehensive solution for virtual and physical environments, on premise or in the cloud, backed by unsurpassed support and expertise. The new unified architecture, Arcserve Unified Data Protection [UDP], drives a full range of highly efficient and integrated data protection capabilities through a simple, web-based user console. Arcserve has an active customer base of 43,000 end users in more than 50 countries. The company partners with over 7,500 distributors, re-sellers and service providers around the world. Arcserve is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with offices around the world. Please visit Arcserve & Arcserve blog for more information.