|In: HealthCare|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Health 2.0 and the Indian School of Business [ISB] are excited to announce the fourth edition of the Health 2.0 India conference on November 10, 2017, at ISB’s Hyderabad campus. The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Highlighting Innovation and Enabling Growth in the Indian Healthcare Ecosystem’ with a focus on showcasing cutting-edge innovations that are transforming healthcare.

Image Source – Health 2.0 India

The conference will host over 30 visionary speakers along with 20 live demos from some of the most ground-breaking technologies in the healthcare industry. Sessions have been planned to enable an interactive, learning experience and networking with peers, experts and innovators in this space. Health 2.0 is working closely with ISB’s Max Institute of Healthcare Management in curating the conference panel. The conference has been designed for C-suite professionals, CIOs, hospital providers, government officials, public policy experts, clinical engineering professionals, investors, entrepreneurs, patients, healthcare delivery staff and digital innovators.

Expressing his views on the importance of this conference, Professor Sarang Deo, Executive Director, Max Institute, ISB, said

The Max Healthcare Institute and faculty at ISB are working on developing deep insights that can help improve health systems in India and the region. Early findings from these studies, across a wide range of settings and disease conditions, highlight the critical role of digital technology in expanding healthcare access in a cost-effective manner. A large number of start-ups are working on bringing exciting technologies, mobile apps, products and services to the market.

It is necessary to combine this energy and creativity with pragmatism and experience of industry insiders. In this context, we are excited to partner with Health 2.0, to host the India conference that will bring together stakeholders across the entire health technology ecosystem on a common platform.

Sharing an industry perspective, Matthew Holt, Co-Chairman, Health 2.0 said

From our very first conference in San Francisco in 2007, Health 2.0 has explored the worlds of ‘user-generated healthcare’. What became our tag line contains the germ of a compelling idea that India and the surrounding region bring to life. Patients are using new tools to guide their own care.

And these tools are starting to integrate with the healthcare system. Doctors, patients, and healthcare organizations are all starting to use a new generation of online and mobile technologies which are fundamentally changing the way healthcare is delivered.  Health 2.0 India will focus on the specific opportunities of the Indian market in Piloting new technologies, Innovations in Med tech, Operational Efficiency through technology in hospitals, investment trends and global opportunities in Indian healthcare ecosystem.

The discussions at the Health 2.0 India conference will be around the following –

The conference promises to be a learning, engaging and networking platform with participation from some of the best minds in this space. Some of them include

  • Dr. Balram Bhargava, Executive Director Stanford-India Biodesign and Professor of Cardiology at AIIMS, New Delhi
  • Shashank ND, Co-Founder and CEO of Practo
  • Dr. Scott Dulchavsky, CEO, Henry Ford Health System
  • Ravi Ramaswamy, Head – Health Systems, Philips Innovation Campus, India
  • Dr. Mudit Kapoor, Group CEO, CARE Hospitals
  • Jitendar Kumar Sharma, CEO, Andhra Medtech Zone

More details on the speakers and agenda for the conference available here

|In: Fintech|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Traditionally, banks and similar financial institutions have been the major players in the financial ecosystem in the country. But with the emergence of FinTech startups in India, the scene is changing pretty fast. Various aspects of banking including lending, payment, asset management, and equity finance have been impacted, and many see this as a welcome development in a sector that has lagged behind in offering ample options to meet the demands of a modern market.

Though FinTech is still at a nascent stage in India, the question that is being asked is whether they are merely disrupting banking services or working towards making the financial ecosystem ready for the new-age demands. The jury is still out on that but looking at the latest trends, it seems FinTech companies hold the promise to improve the financial market.

Here’s how they are doing it

Helping banks to reinvent themselves

Digital transformation in the banking sector was long overdue. The popularity of FinTech enabled services like digital wallets, and online money lending has propelled banks to engage themselves with emerging innovations including better, faster, and cheaper services.

Offering greater convenience

FinTech has made making payments, keeping track of one’s finances, and comparing investment policies much simpler. You can make online payment of your bills, pay taxi fare or lend or borrow money with just a click of the button. In today’s world where we are hard pressed for time this convenience of doing your financial transactions sitting at home is certainly a boon.

Providing more options

When it comes to making financial investments, the advice of not putting all eggs in one basket is the right one. But traditional financial institutions don’t offer a variety of financial instruments to choose from and whatever they offer do not give very high returns. FinTech companies are changing this. They not only offer better, more flexible and high return investments options but do so with better online experience. For instance, TachyLoans, a personal loan online provider allows its lenders to lend money to an unlimited number of borrowers and earn a relatively higher return on investment [anywhere between 11.5 % and 25%].

Contributing to the vision of Digital India

By making available a host of financial services electronically, FinTech startups in India are accelerating the vision of Digital India. As digital wallets, online payment, and P2P loans in India have become more common; a digitally empowered Indian financial ecosystem is slowly becoming a reality.

In short, FinTech is going to have a lasting impact on the financial environment of the country and hopefully change it for the better.

|In: Hackathon|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

HackerEarth, a leader in innovation and talent management software have released a report titled Global Hackathon Report outlining the market shares of key regions and sectors contributing to Hackathons. The report was released at IndiaHacks 2017. More than 1000 hackathons, conducted across 75 countries in the world, from 2015 till date have been analysed for the report.

Image Source – HackerMoon

Key findings from the Global Hackathon Report

Hackathon phenomenon catching on world over

  • Not surprisingly, with 379 hackathons, the US topped the list of countries with most hackathons
  • India ranks second with 105 hackathons
  • The list of top cities had no surprise entrants with London having conducted the most hackathons (31), followed by San Francisco (28)
  • Three Indian cities, Bangalore,  Mumbai and Hyderabad  make it to the list of top 10 cities in the world

Private companies rule the roost

  • Of the hackathons conducted, almost 50% were hosted by Private organizations in different sectors to develop low-cost solutions, fast-track innovative ideas, and encourage creativity among employees
  • Nonprofits primarily conducted hackathons for social good or the environment
  • Public companies and governments use hackathons to build relationships between disciplines, mine data for new useful content, develop new technology approaches, create economic value

Hackathons are not one-off events

  • According to the research around 52% are recurring hackathons with annual editions.

Women-only hackathons are nowhere near enough, but the report did bring a glimmer of hope

  • The number of all-female events almost doubled from 2015 to 2016. The study separately analyzed close to 40 women-only hackathons
  • The report indicates that organizations do understand the barriers—sexism, isolation, condescension, and frustration—women in technology face
  • The  number of all-female hackathons in 2016 was almost twice that in 2015 and companies have begun to recognize that gender disparity has far-reaching consequences and are making a conscious effort to mitigate them

Domains and themes hinting at new possibilities

  • Traditionally, hackathons were conducted exclusively in the IT sector. However, in the last decade, firms in sectors as diverse as banking, food, climate, and health care are experimenting with hackathons to address problem-solving and new ways of thinking
  • Emerging technologies such as IoT, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, and Augmented reality/Virtual reality were among the top domains in the two-year period, reinforcing their positions as potential intelligent and digital disruptors across industries
  • Mobile app and web development was the second most popular domain.
  • The most popular domain and theme is Multi-discipline, which comprises hackathons where people [mostly high-schoolers and university grads] were asked to come together to ‘learn, build, and share’ exciting ideas or creations using any language, tool, or platform of their choice; this category also includes events for which finer details were not made public on their websites.
  • Cloud and data science were also popular domains at the hackathons
  • Payment, geo, communication, social, and music APIs were also popular

Universities more keen on encouraging learning than offering cash prizes

  • It is interesting to note that opportunities from mentors, investors & accelerators/incubators were the most popular form of award at these hackathons
  • Student hackathons were more about learning and innovative thinking, in no specific domain or theme, than cash prizes and sophisticated gadgets. This hints at a culture where today’s academia emphasizes out-of-the-box thinking, providing the students with chances to network and learn
  • Student-only hackathons are open to all students in high schools and universities; some hackathons also permit participation if a student has graduated recently.

The entire report can be accessed here

|In: AI|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Kruzr, positioned as the world’s first technology powered smart driving assistant launches their operations in the United States and United Kingdom, to address the problem of increasing number of deaths and accidents resulting from mobile phone usage while driving. Kruzr, a startup promoted by co-founders Pallav Singh and Dinesh Fatehpuria was conceptualized and designed on the principle of ‘safety first’ when it comes to driving.

The launch comes after several months of ground research and development to understand and address the requirements of the region. Following the success of their launch in India, the founders have decided to tap these markets considering the immense potential where the per capita adoption of cars is extremely high.

The smart app that leverages multiple technologies including pattern recognition, machine learning, natural language processing etc activates when one starts driving. The app then automatically manages incoming calls and messages to the owner [driver] with the personalized bot interacting and alerting inbound callers that one is driving at the moment and hence can leave a message for deferred attention.

Pallav Singh, Cofounder, Kruzr added

The per capita adoption of cars in the United States alone averages close to 800 as opposed to India which is around 167. This large adoption coupled with the heightened awareness of driving safety in these markets provides ample opportunity for a product like Kruzr. Team Kruzr have also taken into account the high speeds in which cars are driven in the West, increasing the probability of accidents and collateral damage.

[L-R] Pallav Singh, Co-Founder& CEO, Dinesh-Fatehpuria, Co-Founder& CTO – Kruzr

According to a recent report in the US with regards to driving and accidents:

  • The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.
  • Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving.
  • 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.
  • Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk.
  • Answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that’s enough time to travel the length of a football field.
  • Texting while driving causes a 400% increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
  • Of all cell phone related tasks, texting is by far the most dangerous activity.
  • 94% of drivers support a ban on texting while driving.
  • 74% of drivers support a ban on hand-held cell phone use.

How Kruzr works

Kruzr is a free mobile app, which can be downloaded by anyone on to their smart phones. It is the ideal driving assistant, always with you and protecting you on every trip short or long. Kruzr has been meticulously designed and requires zero effort from drivers. Once it is set up, Kruzr runs in the background and kicks in when driving is detected. It detects driving within 30 seconds and activates automatically. The smart app then handles all calls and messages and only allows the important communication to filter through. Only those calls that pass the ‘Extremely Important’ muster will reach and alert the driver immediately.

On receiving an important call, the driver is advised to slow down and park the car to be safe. Important message notifications are buzzed and displayed only when one stops, like at a signal. In this scenario, reading and replying to even important messages becomes totally safe and harmless even during a trip.

A light and easy to use application, Kruzr helps cut down distractions by more than 95%, thereby reducing road accidents and fatalities as a direct fall out. Currently the app is free for everyone to download and use.

Kruzr : Enhancements in future releases

The Kruzr team is also currently working on developing other new age technologies to further enhance the capabilities of mobile devices with an aim to ensure better safety on roads. These include complete voice interface and automatic crash detection. Voice interface will ensure that the driver never needs to look at the phone or take his hands off the steering wheel to get anything done on the phone. With automatic crash detection, the app will automatically detect accidents and we will ensure medical help reaches the accident site ASAP.

Kruzr for Android can be downloaded from here, iOS version is coming soon…

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Grand Challenges-Karnataka, an initiative under the innovative Start-up Policy of the Government of Karnataka, has launched its ‘Grand Challenge Call 5 and Call 6‘, to unearth innovative solutions to reduce traffic congestion in Bengaluru City as well as tackle the perennial water shortage.

Image Source – Startup Karnataka

The cherry-picked ideas will get access to funding and go through prototyping, testing & scaling up in Bengaluru. The last date to apply for ‘Grand Challenge Call 5 and Call 6’ will be October 15th, 2017.

Anyone from any discipline in India – from individuals, researchers and faculty in colleges/ universities/government/start-ups/not-for-profit organisations, etc. can apply for the Grand Challenge by logging onto Call 5 Impact Karnataka. ‘GrandChallenge Call 5’ will focus primarily on technology innovations involving last-mile connectivity, real-time info on public transport, ease of transition from one mode of transport to the other and innovative parking solutions.

More than three-quarters of Bangloreans commuting to work each day are driving by themselves. That’s a lot of empty seats on the road – and all that traffic and congestion has a large financial, environmental, and emotional cost. With Bengaluru among the fastest growing cities in Asia, the population has rapidly increased from 53 lakh in 2001 to 87 lakh in 2011. In fact, vehicle population growth rate is even higher than population growth rate and about 5 lakh vehicles are being added to Bengaluru streets every year. Various studies have pegged the economic loss of Bengaluru’s traffic gridlock between one to five billion dollars.

Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s IT, BT & Tourism Minister, said

When we think of the future of transport, we have a tendency to picture a world in which people fly around on personal jetpacks and cars levitating down streets. In reality, the way we get around, in the short and medium term at least, will be a little less sci-fi than that. But it will still involve some truly revolutionary changes.

The future of your commute is unlikely to lie in any one big invention. Instead it will grow out of many new innovations which can be used alongside existing technologies. They will work within the context of increasingly smart transport networks that are able to respond quickly and efficiently to our ever-changing needs. ‘Grand Challenge Call 5’ is an attempt to create a big picture from small solutions.

‘Grand Challenge Call 6’ is a rallying cry to unearth innovative solutions to aide water conservation in Karnataka. The state government launched the ‘Call 6’ to generate and utilize real-time data on quality and quantity of water being utilized at individual level including water use in agriculture for predicting a potential water crisis.

Call 6 seeks crowd-sourced solutions for data generation and development of sustainable, feasible, scalable & low maintenance kits/mobile app/technology for monitoring water quality, etc.

Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s IT, BT & Tourism Minister, added

Water may very well be the new oil. A finite resource essential to consumer, agricultural and industrial users and a vital component our economic growth. That’s why water as an investment has some compelling long-term investment appeal.

This creates opportunity for startups, who can contribute to creating a sustainable water supply and participate in investments likely to experience long-term growth.

During the first phase, five innovators will be eligible for testing the proposed solution for funding of up to INR 10 lakh for a period of six months. They will have to develop and successfully demonstrate three functional prototypes [in case the system involves prototyping a new device] or demonstrate the solution for at least 10 users [in the case the system is a service/software/ app-based solution] in two locations in Karnataka. The period of live demonstration is part of the six months allocated to Phase I.

Phase two will see one innovator being selected for a further funding of up to INR 50 lakh for a period of 12 months to scale-up. The idea will be tested for ability to define and demonstrate the product/solution as well as evaluated on stability, robustness and scalability of the solution through a sustainable revenue model. User validation will also be determined through feedback.

‘Grand Challenges’ are a set of initiatives by the Karnataka government to turn crowd-sourced data-driven innovations to prime opportunities to contribute to effective, localized, and measurable change to the challenges facing Karnataka. In the process, startups with game-changing ideas, will get the golden opportunity to channelize innovations for social impact, and also grow their business in the process.

The support provided under ‘Grand Challenges’ will be catalytic in enabling startups to test and scale their innovations in target locations across Karnataka. The programme will not only provide funds but also work with the awardees for the duration of their project and beyond, to ensure project implementation. It will also offer the awardees collective experience of mentors, resources and network.

The selection criteria will be based on parameters including alignment with the mandate of the cell, the potential impact, feasibility, sustainability, accessibility & novelty of the idea proposed as well as the execution capacity.

For more information, please visit Grand Challenge 5 Official Page

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Espark Viridian Accelerator [earlier covered here and here], a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups in-association with Headstart Network Foundation, brings a unique opportunity for all the aspiring entrepreneurs- SmartUp 2017. SmartUp is a Pan India Business Plan Competition that could help win a cash prize worth Rs 1.75 lakh, entry to Espark-Viridian’s accelerator program, live one-to-one mentoring, potential to raise seed investment, network with all the who’s who of the business world.

Image Source – ESpark Viridian

Espark-Viridian in association with Headstart Network are committed to promote entrepreneurship in India. Early stage startups having original idea and clear business model with significant market research are eligible to apply. Top 25 startups will be shortlisted by selected jury members. The event would culminate with two full days dedicated to one to one mentoring from national level mentors followed by a pitching session to top rated investors wherein one could get a chance to raise a seed investment. The deadline application submission is 25th September 2017.

Vibhuti Channa, Director, Espark Viridian Accelerator, said

We, at Espark-Viridan Accelerator believe that India has tremendous potential and startups are the future of business ecosystem. This is a one-of a–kind business plan competition for budding entrepreneurs to turn their dreams into reality. Besides a potential to raising seed investment, the startups will get the opportunity for one-to one mentorship.

Amit Singh, Co-founder & MD, Headstart Network, said

SmartUp 2017 is Espark-Viridian and Headstart’s endeavor to identify and nurture India’s young entrepreneurs who have the aspiration and ability to solve big problems through their ventures. With Espark-Viridian’s enablement led program and Headstart’s country wide network -we seek to make mentoring and funding accessible to the early stage startups.

Individuals with an idea and passion for entrepreneurship need to register at SmartUp 2017  for participation.

About Espark-Viridian

Espark-Viridian is a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups. We offer an up-to 18-month multi-center, multi-sector accelerator programme through 5 centres spread across Bangalore, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. To know more, please visit Espark-Viridian

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

BookMyShow’s recently launched audio entertainment offering Jukebox has now introduced a wide variety of digital audio shows on its platform.  In addition to downloading their favourite songs, Jukebox – a unique digital radio service will now enable its listeners to easily discover and listen to specially curated BookMyShow original audio shows and licenced content.

This marks BookMyShow’s entry into non-music entertainment providing  listeners comprehensive audio entertainment options across categories including Horror, Sports, Bollywood, News and Business, Kids, Comedy, Music, Entertainment [story-telling, drama, mystery etc.], History, and Mythology & Devotion. Together this will offer over 2000 hours of on-demand content to Jukebox listeners, free! Moreover, Jukebox is the only service allowing its users to download the content and listen to it offline, without any fee.

The ‘JustPressPlay’ proposition, will give Jukebox users the best curated entertainment options on their fingertips. For easy discoverability, Jukebox has been designed to show trending content first, followed by recently added and then delving into different categories of content. In addition to English, ‘talk content’ will also be available through over 60 shows in multiple regional languages including Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Oriya to name a few. Jukebox will add new shows every 15 days, and release new episodes of existing shows on a daily or weekly basis.

The Jukebox listeners will also have the liberty to choose from four different streaming speed options- Data Saver, Normal, Good and HD.

Aditya Kuber, Associate VP-Audio Entertainment, BookMyShow said

As BookMyShow is moving toward becoming a 360 degree entertainment destination, we are excited to explore the potential of audio entertainment with Jukebox. To make the experience unique for each listener, we will use a mix of machine and deep learning to understand user preferences and offer content suggestions in line with them.

Through BookMyShow Jukebox, we also want to identify and promote new talent and work towards building the complete ecosystem around talk radio. It’s a category that we believe has tremendous potential and we look forward to working with audio enthusiasts to create the most engaging content.

Jukebox will now be offering curated playlists by experts including Nikhil Chinapa, Rohit Barker, Brian Tellis among others. BookMyShow has also roped in major music labels such as Universal, Sony Music, Warner, T-Series, Zee, Saregama, Times Music, and Think Music.  Some of the original ‘talk content’ shows to look forward to include The Suresh & Jose show by Suresh Menon and Jose Covaco, and Hrishi K to name a few. The service is currently available on Android and will be available for iOS users soon.

BookMyShow had earlier acquired Nfusion for its robust tech platform and an experienced team, which provided a fillip to BookMyShow’s audio entertainment offerings.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

You have a path-breaking idea and willing to quit your job to start-up on your own, great! But depending on the idea and the market that you are targeting e.g. mobile, software, IOT, etc. you need to figure out whether you need to look out for external/institutional funding or continue being a bootstrapped startup [on the lines that you at least have an MVP ready]. If you are a hardware startup, you might also think of starting a Kickstarter campaign.

Wrike, a project management software products platform that is used by high-performance teams has come up with a very informative infographic titled 7 Ways to fund your startup. We liked the overall presentation due to which it can be an informative guide for a newbie entrepreneur or for someone who is willing to take their startup to the next phase.

7 Ways to Fund Your Startup
Infographic brought to you by Wrike project management software products

Do leave your feedback in the comments section…