PlanetSpark, a Gurugram-based EdTech startup on a mission to make traditional tuitions obsolete through powerful and gamified learn-tech products and certified teachers in K8 segment, has been infused with funds worth Rs. 1.6 crore by FIITJEE, India’s leading education company. PlanetSpark will use the funds to rapidly grow its existing 200+ home based tuition centers by close to 350% to 750+ home-based tuition centers across Delhi NCR and beyond. The funds will also be used to develop powerful, heuristic, gamified learn-tech products for an integrated instructional learning experience.
At its core, PlanetSpark is a tech company aiming to organize the unorganized market of tuitions in India through scalable tech solutions. We firmly believe that the era of boring tuitions is over and the vast and unorganized tuition’s market is ripe for getting organized through full stack tutoring model, following the trend in other markets like transportation, logistics, food delivery or e-commerce.
Parents don’t want to send their children to unverified and un-certified tuition teachers any more and they are ready to prefer a professional brand which brings game-based learning models, instructional content, and technological backing and mobile apps.
With a ‘Blended Learning’ approach to teaching school subjects to preteens, the startup combines Face to face Classroom learning and tech-based learning. The company develops gamified learning content such as mobile based learning games, educational cartoons, learning activity boxes, workbooks and board games and partners with qualified homemakers and helps them start their home based tech enabled tuition centers using PlanetSpark’s gamified teaching content, technology and training.
We are clear that the future of early and primary education lies in a Blended Approach to learning where one combines face-to-face teaching with technology. It is a known fact that purely online ‘learning apps’ don’t work as one cannot eliminate the human element of a teacher, especially for younger kids. At the same time, just face to face learning models are neither scalable nor make the learning process fun and gamified using Tech. Hence the sweet spot lies in Blended Learning.
Kunal Malik [L], Maneesh Dooper [R] of Planet Spark Team with Teachers
In order to create highly engaging games and learning cartoons for children, the company’s game development team has designed two product innovations that can create a learning game or a learning cartoon within a few hours. This would help the company exponentially scale its content offerings to more subjects and classes in the coming months.
Commenting on the development, Mr. D. K. Goel, Chairman Emeritus Fiitjee Group, said
The home based blended learning model of Planet Spark is poised to empower teachers, students and parents in the learning process.
The team is now gearing-up for the release of its learning tablet which has been developed as a series of story-based learning adventures designed by Russian game design experts. The company plans to scale-up to 5 more cities in the next academic year to spread the joy of learning pan-India!
About Planet Spark
PlanetSpark is making traditional tuition’s obsolete through powerful and gamified learn-tech products and certified teachers. It partners with qualified and smart homemakers and opens tech-enabled tuition centres from their homes. It follows a blended learning approach of a combination of classroom teaching with gamified online learning.
It offers a complete spectrum of learning products such as mobile based learning games, educational cartoons, learning activity boxes, workbooks and board games, especially designed for younger children. PlanetSpark was founded by Kunal Malik and Maneesh Dhooper, alumni of XLRI Jamshedpur with experience in global organizations such as Unilever, Novartis Switzerland and startups such as UrbanClap. Find out more here.
MachPrinciple is a LinkedIn-like professional network that allows general public and academicians to connect with each other, find latest discoveries in the field of their interest, find upcoming conferences, give feedback about different educational institutes etc. It was launched in India on 7th December, 2018.
A social network for scientists is not a new concept. But there is no such network to bring science to general public, to disseminate scientific knowledge and to foster scientific way of thinking among people. MachPrinciple comes into existence to fill that void.
There are about 150,000 research papers published per month in different fields. But more than 50% papers are never read and more than 90% are never cited. The situation is getting worse as the things are getting digital. Therefore, researchers are trying to increase the exposure of their scholarly work through social media. MachPrinciple gives researchers a unique platform to increase the visibility of their work to the people both inside and outside their research field. All the articles are verified by admin before publishing.
The conference search engine in MachPrinciple.com allows researchers to find all the upcoming conferences in their research field. People can check the popularity of a conference, check who else is attending the conference, their profile etc. People can also explore the location of the conference, nearby hotels, airports, tourist destinations etc.
The final but the most powerful feature of MachPrinciple is the institute feedback section. While purchasing any product from Amazon or eBay, people always look for user rating and feedback. However, while choosing an educational institute there is no viable platform where you can check its feedback from previous students. MachPrinciple provides a platform for writing feedback about different educational institutes.
About MachPrinciple
MachPrinciple is developed by Santanu Das, a research scientist at University of Wisconsin, Madison, along with his team. It comes with a promise to change the way academics is done across the world. The desktop version of the website is launched. A mobile version is also about to come in early January 2019. People can go to MachPrinciple and directly login using their Google or LinkedIn profile, without going through the full verification process.
Start-up culture is at its’ boom in India. Start-up attracts Venture Capital [VC] or Private Equity [PE]. VC/PE investment sometimes requires hiring specialists. For Start-ups, it’s not easy to offer competitive pay to attract talent. Employee Share Option Scheme [ESOP] as part of salary package offered, comes in handy. At other times, ESOP is offered to retain talent and give a sense of ownership.
Flipkart deal has showered fortune on its employees holding shares under ESOP. Paytm and Citrus are other examples. But it’s the positive part of the story. Some startups shut down after receiving investment. Their ESOPs never get listed on any exchange or are bought back by any investor. ESOPs are not always about startups. Most of the big corporate like HDFC, ITC, Wipro, L&T etc. have awarded shares to recognize and reward employees.
Like many other things, ESOP story is two sided as well. This article talks about ESOP from employee side. The article will cover following aspects of ESOP:
What is an ESOP?
ESOP as part of offered package [Remuneration negotiation]
Eligible employees
Procedure of ESOP
Pricing of ESOP and lock-in period
Taxation
When you losses your rights under ESOP?
ESOP vs bonus
In the following article, we will discuss ESOP from the view of employer i.e. company.
What is an ESOP
ESOP is usually known as Employee Stock Option Plan in legal terms it may be called by different names as
Employee Stock Option Scheme
Employee Stock Purchase Scheme
Stock Appreciation Rights Scheme
General Employee Benefits Scheme
Retirement Benefit Scheme
By whatever name called, all the above schemes offers shares/securities of the Company for direct or indirect benefits of its employees. Here the important thing to be noted by an employee is that the ESOP needs not to be necessarily offered by the Company at whose payroll you are working. You may also receive ESOP from your holding company or from any other company of the same group.
In layman’s language an ESOP is an offer given to employee by his employer to buy shares of the Company at a predefined price and in a phased manner.
ESOP as part of offered package [Remuneration negotiation]
Always analyze risk associated with accepting an offer having ESOP. Startups are unlisted entity. So, ESOPs by startups will not have liquidity as is available in case of listed entities.
Pay package is often structured such that shares under ESOP are granted at the end of first year [like retention bonus] and then you must wait for vesting period of shares to benefit from share grant. This means you are investing for long term.
Last but not the least, under ESOP, shares are not given to you for free. You must pay the predefined purchase price. If all does not go well with the organization, the predefined price may be a higher price than the face value and market value of those shares, resulting in loss of speculated gain. Though, we all know that higher the risk the higher the gain.
ESOPs can be offered only to permanent employees.
My advice is to take calculated risk. Research ESOP grant timing, purchase price, eligibility and vesting period before accepting ESOPs as part of pay package.
Eligible employees – ESOP can be offered to below types of employees
A permanent employee of the company who has been working in India or outside India
A director of the company, whether a whole time director or not, but not to an independent director
An employee of holding company
Options under ESOP can’t be granted to promoters or person belonging to promoter group.
Most inquired questions about ESOP is – Can the new employee receive options under ESOP? Well, Compensation Committee of a company has the power to decide who will receive options under ESOP. A company is free to decide criteria for granting ESOP. ESOP scheme may be structured in a manner that option can be granted to senior employees to reward their loyalty, to young talent to retain them and to new employees to attract talent.
Procedure of ESOP
The implementation on ESOP consists of three steps-
Grant of option
Vesting of option
Exercise of option
Let’s take an example. Mr. A received 100 no. of options from his Company which will vest @25% each year from the end of first year of grant.
Here no. of grant is 100. Vesting each year at completion of one year of receiving of grant will be 25. Mr. A can exercise his right to buy shares/options so vested at the end of each year. Please note Mr. A can’t buy the shares/options before their vesting.
Some employee wonder if they can claim the difference in the share price [i.e. ESOP price – Market price] on exercise date. It can be done only if ESOP is managed by a trust, securities of the company are listed on stock exchange and ESOP scheme has such provision.
At the time of receiving ESOP always check whether your Company is listed or unlisted and options so received give you right to invest in shares of your company or your subsidiary/holding/group company. Please remember that shares of unlisted public company or private company can’t be sold in stock market. In that case, the only liquidity left is when an investor of the company is ready to buy those shares or the company itself decides to buy-back its own shares.
Pricing of ESOP and Lock-in
As an employee you are not going to receive any free share under ESOP. Exercise price is the price at which you can buy the options vested in your name. Current regulation gives freedom to the company to determine the exercise price provided accounting regulation is taken care off. Thus, the company can give you shares at discounted price.
ESOP scheme may specify a lock-in period. Lock-in means after buying the shares under ESOP you cannot sale it till the lock-in period is over. This is usually one year from the date of exercise of option.
Taxation – Shares purchased under ESOP are taxed twice:
At the exercise of option – At the time of exercise of option the price difference between the Fair Market Price of said shares and the exercise price is treated as perquisites in the hands of employee and shall be taxed under the head income from salary. That tax will be deducted at source by the employer and will reflect in Form 16 of the employee.
At sale of shares – ESOP shares will be liable for short-term capital gain or long term capital gain as the case may be, at the time of sale. For calculation of tax the price difference between fair market price at the date of sale of shares and the fair market price at the date of purchase of these shares will be considered. As at the time of purchase the difference between exercise price and fair market price would have already been taxed as perquisites.
When you lose your right under ESOP
If you retire, resign or die, ESOP is governed by specific terms of scheme. Below is a general discussion of these circumstances
i.) Termination – The options not vested on that date expire. Options already exercised by the employee, remain with the employee. A period is provided for exercise of options already vested.
ii.) Resignation – The options not vested on that date expire. Options already exercised by the employee, remain with the employee. A period is provided for exercise of options already vested.
iii.) Death or permanent disability – All the granted options will immediately become vested in the name of legal heir of the employee to whom the options were granted.
As an employee you shall also check the clause for treatment of bonus/right shares, if any, offered during the period of grant till the time of exercise of option. Effect of change in capital structure or corporate restructuring like mergers/amalgamations shall also be checked.
ESOP vs bonus
Indians prefer higher package or bonus than ESOP. ESOP only gives an option to invest in shares of the company at a pre-determined price. If ESOP is granted as a reward for your loyalty or to retain your without compromising the bonus or incentive structure, it is an added advantage.
Note – The article was originally published here and is reproduced with author’s consent. The author is Nikita Singh who is a Corporate Legal Advisor with expertise in overseas acquisition, IPO, ESOP, M&A, buy back and share swap FEMA compliance. She is attempting to make the legal world a layman’ walk through her articles and extensive exposure to corporate world. She can be contacted here and her LinkedIn profile is here.
A bike insurance plan has various components to it. This is why no two plans are identical in nature. This is a reason why you should always compare two wheeler insurance. Certain plans offer a particular type of cover, other plans offer a different cover. For instance, if you need a cover for your own vehicle, you will have to pay the own damage premium. Take a look at this article to know more about this very crucial bike insurance component.
The own damage premium calculation depends on a number of factors. These include
The scope of cover – Own damage refers to the money you are expected to pay if your vehicle is damaged or stolen. The damage can result from a road accident, from a natural calamity such as a cyclone or an earthquake, from mishaps such as fires, etc. You also need to replace your vehicle if it is stolen. For all these purposes, you can opt for an own damage bike insurance and get a claim. The insurance provider will compensate for your loss. You can then use the insurance money to either repair your bike or replace it altogether, depending on the situation. Higher the scope of the cover and the fewer the exclusions, higher will be the bike insurance premium. You can use a bike insurance calculator to understand what your premium liability will be like.
Value of the two-wheeler – An insurance cover depends on the value of the object being insured. So quite naturally the make and model of your two-wheeler plays an important role in determining the own damage premium. When you use a two wheeler insurance premium calculator, you are first asked what kind of a two-wheeler you own. If you have a TVS Scooty Pep, your premium will obviously be lower as compared to the premium for a Yamaha ZTR!
IDV – Every vehicle depreciates in value with time. The Insured Declared Value [IDV] is calculated keeping this in mind. A bike insurance calculator first calculates the IDV and then arrives at the accurate own damage premium. Your own damage premium liability is also dependent on the IDV. The older the bike is, the lower your premium is likely to be. Use a two wheeler insurance premium calculator to get a better understanding of the exact figures.
Insurer’s pricing – Bike insurance plans from different insurers have different rates. The own damage premium charged by one insurance provider will vary from the other. You, therefore, need to compare two wheeler insurance before you buy the plan. You will then find a good plan with the lowest and most comprehensive own damage premium.
Inclusive of third-party liability – Your own damage cover is usually available with a comprehensive plan. It is an optional cover, whereas a third party cover is compulsory. When you use the bike insurance calculator to find your own premium liabilities, you see a combined price of your third party as well as own damage premiums. Do not get duped into paying a separate third party premium. A comprehensive plan that offers an own damage cover automatically offers a third party cover too.
The Final Word
As you can clearly see from the points mentioned above, an insurance premium depends on various factors. When it comes to your own damage premium, you need to be careful and see whether or not you are being charged accurately. Use the online premium calculators for this purpose. Also, keep your bike’s IDV in mind. If you do the math properly and more importantly if you compare before you buy, you will surely find the accurate rate that you have to pay as your own damage premium.
Buying insurance for your sports car is just as important as buying the car itself. Not only is insurance legally mandatory, but your insurance policy will protect one of the biggest financial investments you will make. We will discuss the top models of sports cars, and give 10 tips to help you buy your car insurance policy.
Image Source – Car Insurance
Top Sports Cars
There are many brands of sports cars, but the top brands of sports cars are the following:
Porsche 911 Turbo S
Audi R8 LMX
Lamborghini Aventador
Aston Martin Vanquish
There are many others, but these are some of the trendiest cars in India. Once you have bought your sports car, it is time to buy car insurance online.
Tips When Buying Insurance
We recommend following the ten tips when buying insurance for your sports car. Sports cars are always at the top in the car groups of insurance companies, thus premiums will be much higher than a normal car.
#1 Buy Comprehensive Insurance
We would not recommend third-party car insurance for a sports car. We would recommend comprehensive insurance. This is because third-party car insurance will not cover damage to your car. If you have an accident, your car can end up as a worthless heap of metal, and you will have to foot the bill to replace it.
#2 Buy Insurance Add-Ons
Make sure that you buy insurance add-ons, such as engine cover. This will ensure that you are not out-of-pocket if anything goes wrong with your car that is not a part of the insurance coverage.
#3 Use Online Comparison Websites
The online comparison websites can compare car insurance quotes with a few clicks, saving you from doing the math. You can buy car insurance online through a comparison website.
#4 Theft Cover
Ensure your insurance policy covers theft. Sports cars are highly desirable and can be at a risk of theft. Most comprehensive insurance plans offer this as a part of the coverage. This is yet another reason not to go for third party car insurance for a sports car.
#5 Secure the parking space
Do you store your car in an unlocked garage or leave the doors unlocked? Your insurance company will often not pay you a penny, read your policy documents closely. Ensure your car is kept secure at all times. Ensure your driveway has CCTV.
#6 Renew your policy in time
Renew your car insurance as soon as it expires. This can save money, especially if you shop around. At the end of your policy, try bargaining with your current insurer instead of just renewing before you change providers, you might be surprised at the cost savings.
#7 Buy Tailored Insurance
Buy car insurance online that is tailored to your make and model of car. This is most certainly the case in the case of sports cars. Different brands of cars are in different groups, and this is used by insurance companies to determine premium costs, such as the cost of parts/labor. This is why it is important to shop around for insurance tailored to your make/model of sports car.
#8 Drive Carefully
This shouldn’t even need to be said, but drive with care. This will protect your no-claims bonus and will keep your insurance premium down.
#9 Customer Loyalty
This is often not rewarded in the car insurance industry, but if you have insurance with a certain provider already such as house insurance, you may find owning a car insurance policy with them to be much cheaper.
#10 Maintain Your Car
A well-maintained car will protect your no-claims bonus and will be required by some insurance companies to complete the process of insurance.
Now that you are armed with the above information, you can buy car insurance online for your sports car. Go with a good comprehensive insurance plan, follow the above advice, drive carefully and enjoy your new pride and joy that is your properly insured sports car.
Today, startups that build tools for businesses looking to automate their customer service experience and operations are being acquired by global companies. Though they may have the necessary automation tools that may be required during the digital journey, they may not necessarily have the experience to accelerate the digital transformation itself.
User/Customer Experience [CX] is the most important element in the journey of digital transformation that every organization should be striving to improve. Today AI drives almost every aspect of your shopping experience wherever or whoever you are. The dominance of user experience in retail, healthcare or banking verticals are due for the part to its mastery of artificial intelligence [including the decision-making process] to the ability of machines executing your request that was once the purview of humans alone. But then the question arises as to who should be the right people you will need to sign-up to be part of your journey? As customers we strive to expect more, and we will handshake only with partners/vendors that embrace this and deliver it through meaningful experiences.
Nowadays, most enterprises in their journey are not on a single digital platform. They’re on disparate platforms with number of different channels. For e.g. During our visits to different customer offices, we have witnessed enterprises using multiple tools that form their unified communication standards. Now if enterprises have to deep-dive and bring in their own teams to learn and then chalk out the DX roadmap, it could turn out very expensive or the ROI will take forever to be effective.
Collaboration of these instant-messaging or other in-house communication channels used with another programmable based API [Voice, Data, ITSM etc.] is something a managed service provider [MSP] will bring in the experience to integrate with all the components that form the part of the unified communication.
Secondly, the digital infrastructure that will be required as part of the digital transformation is often comprehensive and will be requiring a right service provider to stitch the solutions from many CX based solution partners that will form the full technology stack along with base infrastructure. This includes everything from managing the security and network for various omnichannel to rolling out AI and machine learning solutions to enable true digital transformation. I believe that enterprises will take more proactive steps to engage with the right service provider that has experience in bringing both sides of experience to empower their employees on how technology can change their everyday lives by embracing the DX journey.
Thirdly, with the way technology is behaving by evolving everyday as against a decade ago, managed service providers need to understand the enterprises ever changing business conditions and respond with a holistic solution during and after its DX transformation journey. Besides the one-time implementation strategy, a continuous improvement enhancement to analyze and inventory the CX environments on a regular basis, typically every quarterly will help to evaluate the validity of outcome when compared to its competition in the marketplace.
Enterprises that plan in taking the plunge into digital transformation journey, will need to have a strong relationship with IT managed service partner who can successfully guide them in adapting the new way of services model in this digital age.
About the author
Nilesh Gupta is the VP & Global Head – Digital Infrastructure Management Solutions & Strategy, at 3i Infotech Ltd. More details about him can be found here
As a child, you probably wanted to do many things when you grew up: become an astronaut or a detective like Sherlock Holmes, go underwater in a submarine, play cricket for India and own your dream car. However, as you grew, your perspective in life changed and your dreams took on new shapes. But despite all the ‘growing up’, one thing remained constant: your dream car. You wanted to own it then, and you want to own it now. Instead of taking a loan to make your dream come true, how about investing towards it?
Most people take out an auto loan to purchase a car. This seems like a simple solution but you need to think of different aspects such as:
How much money do I have to put down as down payment?
How much money should I take as the loan amount?
What is the rate of interest I have to pay?
After you decide on the answers, you apply for a loan from a bank or a lending company. Once your loan is approved and you get the car, you have to start paying EMIs. This can result in a significant outgo from your monthly salary.
This is why many experts don’t encourage auto loans. It is because, on a fundamental level, an auto loan does not create an asset that appreciates over time. In fact, the value of a car depreciates as years go by. And by the time you finish paying the loan, it may be time to purchase a new car.
Let’s take an example to illustrate how much you have to spend to purchase a car
Assume you wish to buy a car that costs you Rs. 10 lakhs. You make a down payment of Rs. 3 lakhs and take a loan amount of Rs. 7 lakhs. With the tenure of 6 years and 11% rate of interest on the loan, you would have to pay Rs. 12,000 as EMI each month throughout the loan.
Going the investment route
It is a great feeling to own and drive your dream car each day. But as mentioned above, a car is a depreciating asset that can result in a cash outgo from your pocket. But what if you could offset this outgo through investments.
This is how it is possible
As you pay the EMIs, you can simultaneously begin investing in mutual funds through a Systematic Investment Plan [SIP]. For example, let’s assume you invest Rs. 6,500 each month in a balanced mutual fund that offers 15% annual rate of return. By the end of 6 years, you would have earned an amount equal to Rs. 7.6 lakh. This is more than what you paid for as EMI for your car loan.
Therefore, an overall monthly outgo of Rs. 18,500 [12,000 + 6,500] over the tenure of the car loan can prevent a dent in your savings.
Investment planning
Another way is to bypass the auto loan route completely. Buying a car is a crucial decision in your life. It is something that you plan and think about carefully. So, if you are planning to buy your dream car, say, in another 5 years’ time, it is a good idea to start investing for it right away. You can invest regularly in equity funds or index funds through SIP and create a substantial lump sum right in time to buy the car you want.
Taking a loan to purchase a car is common but investing for a car is easier and more cost effective. By planning carefully, you can invest a lot more in SIPs because you don’t have to pay monthly EMIs anymore. And when you finally get the car of your dreams, think of it as a gift by you to you.
Almost everyone checks out reviews on social media before buying anything today. Brand messages combined with those from influencers can do wonders for businesses. They have been known to increase purchase intent 5.2X. No wonder why influencer marketing is said to be one of the most effective methods of customer acquisition.
However, you need thorough planning to get outstanding results from your influencer marketing campaigns. Here are a few strategies to help you get phenomenal results
Discount Codes
Discounts have always been effective in boosting sales and conversions. If you combine this strategy with influencer marketing, it can be even more effective. All you need to do is share a unique discount code with each of your influencers and ask them to share it with their followers.
This can drive more conversions and also help influencers woo their audiences more easily. For example, watchmaker Daniel Wellington provides unique discount codes to their influencers and asks them to share them in their sponsored posts. This strategy helps them get greater brand awareness and also increase their revenue.
Brand Mentions
When an influencer mentions your brand in their content, you get to grab more eyeballs and be seen by a relevant audience. This can help you build trust, generate greater brand awareness, and can make their followers buy from you as well.
Giveaways
Giveaways can help to increase your engagement drastically. After all, who doesn’t like free goodies? You can partner with influencers to host giveaways in which you give away some of your products as a reward. This can help you build brand awareness and encourage people to buy.
Takeovers
57% of marketers believe that influencer-generated content is more effective for marketing than the content they create. So, seasoned marketers often allow influencers to take over the brand’s social media accounts and post content on their behalf for a limited period of time.
Influencers promote such takeovers on their own accounts which can help brands gain more followers and engagement.
Long-Term Collaborations
In a long-term collaboration, an influencer becomes the face of a brand. They both have a vested interest in the partnership and work together for the growth of the company. This way, the brand as well as the influencers can gain more followers and get more visibility.
An influencer can help you enhance your brand’s personality and get you quality traffic. Long-term partnerships with influencers can help to enhance brand advocacy and awareness too.
Freebies
An influencer creates quality content and spends their valuable time engaging with their followers to drive traffic to your website. One way of collaborating with them is to offer free products or services in exchange for their hard work.
You can also offer such freebies in addition to their monetary compensation to thank them for their efforts. Such gestures go a long way to improve your relationships with influencers.
Influencer Challenges
When you challenge your influencers, they get motivated to put in their best work. You can arrange a little contest during which the influencer who can get you the maximum number of likes, comments, or shares, wins a prize.
Challenging influencers is a great strategy when you want to launch a new product. It can also help to boost brand awareness and drive more traffic.
These are just a few strategies that can help you run profitable influencer marketing campaigns. For some more ideas, check out the following gifographic
The ROI of Influencer Marketing Infographic
About the Author
Brandon Brown is the CEO of Grin, an influencer marketing software solution for brands. Grin’s software helps customers identify, recruit & activate the world’s most engaging influencers. Prior to Grin, he led marketing for the #1 energy drink market in the world, Los Angeles & Orange County, at Red Bull North America. You can know more about Brandon Brown here.
