|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The essence of Diwali lies in its spirit of generosity, which sees friends and relatives exchange gifts with those most important to them. And yet a festival that should be celebrated by all means nothing to those without the means to celebrate. The homeless and the orphaned, children who scrape by with no notion of anything but the hardships and hunger of life deserve to smile during Diwali.

Orphans afflicted with HIV are society’s most vulnerable members, alone and without a family to rely on. Fate has placed a cruel burden on these children, and Faasos is determined to help them bear it. Faasos fulfills the culinary desires of thousands of people every day, but we don’t believe that the luxury of a meal should be denied to anyone. That’s why this Diwali, Faasos will let anyone ask #AajKhaneMeinKyaHai.

Faasos is reviving the charitable spirit of the season with the introduction of a special Diwali coupon code – LIGHTUP. All a customer has to do is place their order using this code and Faasos will donate the entire order amount to The Desire Organization. An equivalent amount will also be contributed by InnoVen Capital, India’s first and largest Venture Debt provider which has also invested in Faasos. With the help of it’s customers, Faasos along with InnoVen Capital, plan to raise at least Rs. 5 Lakhs, enough to provide meals to 200 children for 30 days.

Revant Bhate, Head of Marketing, Faasos, said

‘AajKhaneMeinKyaHai’, is the core element of our business, and yet for so many people across our country, the question is not what, but if, they’ll be eating today. We’ve decided that we want to make a positive change this Diwali season, and focus all of our efforts on providing delicious meals to those who need them the most. In partnership with InnoVen, we’ve decided to donate the full cost of any meal order placed with our specially released coupon code to the Desire Organization, to live up to the true spirit of generosity that Diwali is built around.

So, brighten someone’s life this Diwali, and let the joy on their faces light up your holiday. Order on Faasos using the coupon code LIGHTUP.

[Image Source* – Faasos]

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Helpchat, the chat-based personal assistant app that helps you get more things done has started an unqiue campaign this Diwali. People have wardrobes filled with a multitude of clothing. A lot of which they would like to donate to those who don’t necessarily have the same privileges. But here is where the challenge lies for many, as people these days either don’t have the time or the knowledge of where they can make their respective contributions.

Helpchat is organising a clothing donation drive with its social media campaign #DiwaliDilSe. Helpchat users in Bengaluru can conveniently donate their old clothes and belongings this festive season by just clicking a picture of their old clothes and posting it to social media using #DiwaliDilSe.

Speaking on #DiwaliDilSe, Kali Charan Shukla, Vice President – Marketing, Helpchat

During Diwali, many people want to donate items to the less fortunate. However, they seldom have the time or the knowledge regarding the best way to go about this. As the perfect personal assistant, Helpchat is enabling its users to illuminate other lives this Diwali by facilitating the process of donating clothes. Users have to simply register a request online and Helpchat will organize a door-step pick-up at a pre-designated time!

Led by the online medium, Helpchat will invite its users to register for the clothing donation drive through social platforms & emails. Users simply have to provide their contact details and Helpchat will do the rest. Creating a positive impact in others lives’ was never easier!

About Helpchat

Helpchat [earlier called Akosha] launched it’s personal assistant chat app in January 2015 and raised Rs. 100 crores from Sequoia Capital in June 2015. It recently opened a Bangalore office to add more engineers and product people to its team. Be it anything, from recharging your phone to tech support, from travel booking to holiday guidance, from grocery to food ordering, from shopping assistance to finding deals & coupons, from finding gifts to suggesting the best electronic item, from doing a web check-in to getting your laundry done – Helpchat can get all of them done for you.

|In: CloudComputing|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Zoho Corporation the parent company of Zoho, ManageEngine and WebNMS have announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to contribute towards Microsoft’s O365 Marketplace, Azure Marketplace and the Mobility of Windows at Microsoft’s Future Unleashed event, held in Mumbai, India, last week. Zoho Corporation will work together with the Microsoft local cloud to enhance customer experience and redefine productivity.

The partnership will provide Microsoft’s customers with a suite of business productivity applications and IT management products on its O365 and Azure Marketplace. Users can benefit from Zoho Corporation’s products running on the Microsoft local cloud as well as integrating with third-party products to enhance productivity and solve IT management and business problems online. Zoho Corporation will also support the mobility of Windows for all its products on Windows environments. This will offer customers a variety of software options from a single repository, ensuring a seamless user experience on the cloud.

Zoho’s applications such as Zoho CRM and Zoho ShowTime will be integrated with Office 365, increasing users’ efficiency on the cloud. Also, Zoho Finance mobile apps, such as Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice, will be available for Windows phones, helping users to be productive on the go.

ManageEngine’s Password Manager Pro, a password security software and ServiceDesk Plus, an ITIL ready IT help desk software, will now be available on Azure Marketplace. Azure users can now use these specialised offerings as a BYOL [Bring Your Own License] model. The basic version of the Password Manager Pro and the Standard version of the ServiceDesk Plus will be available for free with complete technical support.

Speaking about the collaboration, Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India said

Technology in the hands of brilliant people drives business and societal progress. Our partnership with Zoho Corporation is a step towards making the best of technology available to SMBs & Enterprises across the world. Integration of Zoho Corporation applications with Microsoft Office365 and Microsoft Azure will empower them to collaborate better, engage faster with their customers and drive business growth.

Manikandan Vembu, COO, Zoho Corporation said

India is taking a huge leap in digitisation with the adoption of cloud technology, and we appreciate Microsoft’s initiative in setting up new data centers here. Zoho Corporation is excited to partner with Microsoft to offer integrated solutions to customers. The end users in enterprises will now have better software options to efficiently work online.

We are confident that this partnership will prove pivotal in reaching out to the growing Indian Enterprise market. We look forward to adding more products from Zoho.com and ManageEngine, to make the marketplace increasingly rich and diverse.

With the advent of digitisation and availability of better cloud services in India, the cloud adoption rate has been soaring to new heights. Enterprises can now evade the capital investment burden of setting up of servers and maintaining them on a day-to-day basis, at an organizational level. This facility will aid growing enterprises to move online.

Additional Zoho Resources

Zoho blogs – http://blogs.zoho.com
Zoho on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/zoho
Zoho on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/zoho

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Each one of us wants to make our loved ones feel special 🙂 So what comes to our mind – Gifting, Holiday, Partying etc. But what if someone could make that “Special Day” or occasion unique & memorable!! This is where Oye Happy can come to your rescue.

Oye Happy is a startup that provides a unique platform for making special occasions memorable through gifts, experiences or even simple wishes of the day.

We caught up with Varun Todi & Harshvardhan Khemani, Co-Founders of Oye Happy who shared their thoughts on Oye Happy, Startup mantras & Entrepreneurship.

Note : “I” in the conversation refers to Varun Todi.

Can you give a small background about your start-up and it’s founders?

I worked as a copywriter and creative consultant for several advertising agencies and Harsh was a strategy and operational efficiency consultant at KPMG before Oye Happy.  We are cousins.

Oye Happy was started as a passion project by us in 2009 while we continued working in our respective fields. It wasn’t till 2014 that it evolved from a fun project to a serious business. We launched our e-commerce portal last year and soon grew into a team of 12 delivering surprises across the country.

Every idea is born out of a problem, what was the trigger of starting Oye Happy?

Harsh and I have always been great at making special occasions extra special for our loved ones. A friend once requested us to surprise her boyfriend at the airport as he was flying in from the US. We actually held a mock swayamvar to welcome him! We had a blast getting it together and they couldn’t have been happier. This led to a whole bunch of similar requests coming our way from friends and friends of friends who wanted to pay us.

It didn’t take us long to realise that the Indian customer had evolved. People don’t spend enough time with their loved ones so the time that they do spend together, especially on special occasions, matters a lot. Buying a gift is a form of expression and people look for emotional connect in the gifts they get.

We noticed that unique experiences were valued much more highly than traditional gifts and various studies backed up our observation. People chose to create memories rather than invest in expensive material presents. Our surprises helped in building that connect in a way flowers and cakes simply couldn’t.

How did your team come up with the name Oye Happy?

We considered a lot of names at first. We wanted it to be bigger than gifts or even surprises because, as we like to believe, what we’re ultimately delivering is happiness. Harsh came up with “Oye Happy” and I thought it was perfect.

What are some of the unique services offered by Oye Happy?

At the moment we have two distinct products – our gifts and our experiences. These gifts are unique ideas conceptualised by our in-house product development team. We then create them ourselves and have it mass manufactured by external vendors or tie-up with professionals who handle end-to-end making of them. Experiences too are similarly conceptualised and executed.

This essentially makes the majority of our products unavailable elsewhere. Our customers are usually more than impressed with what have to offer considering they have never encountered similar services especially in India. You can treat your loved one to a play date with puppies, get a pani-puri stall set up at a chaat lover’s doorstep and do so much more beyond the usual cakes and flowers through us.

Which are the cities where Oye Happy is currently operational?

We have delivered our gifts to more than 50 cities and towns since our launch. Our immediate plan is to have a physical presence in every metro to start offering the experiences as well since we have already gotten queries from across the country, including smaller towns for them.

Does it cater to enterprise segment or Oye Happy only caters to B2C segment?

Besides our retail operation, we have launched Oye Happy ‘Excite’ which are experience boxes for businesses. This will allow companies to gift a memorable experience to their employees and clients instead of conventional gifts. Employees can choose to do what interests them from a host of options like wine tasting, horse riding, Zumba classes, etc. available in the experience box.

What are some of the customer retention policies followed by Oye Happy as special moments for every person might be few.

70% of our repeat clients order again with us within 3 months of their first order. They do not necessarily employ us for special occasions that only involve their inner circle [spouse, best friends and kids/parents] but also beyond that like valued colleagues and relatives with typically lower cost products.

The key customer retention policy we have followed so far is only limited to good and prompt service. Even without customer referral or loyalty programs we have seen a steady increase in repeat and referral customers.

How does Oye Happy stake up when compared to other startups in more or less similar market segment?

We are the only company that not just creates our own unique gifts but also creates experiences. While companies like Giftxoxo, etc. are essentially curators, we go a step beyond by also creating products that fit our customers’ need perfectly. What is currently and widely available in the market no longer cuts it for the customer and we constantly provide them with more options that are not otherwise available.

What are some of the factors that entrepreneurs should consider while naming their start-up?

Two important questions to consider would be – “Does this work for the brand I’m building and will customers be able to relate the name to the service I provide?” and “Is this a name my target audience will like and be able to recall?”. And they should also probably ask themselves, “Is this a name I can repeat over a hundred times a day for a long time to come and not cringe?”.  We’re glad “Oye Happy” fit all three criteria!

What are the major changes that you experienced when paved your way into entrepreneurship?

Both Harsh and I were leading our teams in our respective workplaces before we started Oye Happy so running the show wasn’t new to us. And as far not having a boss is concerned, we’re still answerable to each other so it helps having a co-founder. You keep each other in check.

What are your key advice(s) to people who want to start-up?

The only advice we have for entrepreneurs is that they should be truly passionate about the industry they are getting into and to be able to admit it when they are wrong. If you’re willing to invest several years of your life in an idea, you need to enjoy every moment of it and constructive criticism is always more helpful than blind agreement.

Can you give some pointers on Scaling Up & Customer Acquisition?

Every entrepreneur must acquire the first few customers themselves for proof of concept. It is imperative that the business grows organically in the initial stage through repeat purchases and word of mouth marketing for an objective view of your product in the market.

How important it for startups especially web, mobile to follow Lean Methodology?

The idea behind using technology aggressively is to make a business process-driven. Scaling up a business need not to be in proportion to scaling up the manpower. A company that follows the lean methodology from the beginning allows you to focus on perfecting the process without it being dependent extensively on manpower, especially applicable for startups that use web and mobile platforms.

Thanks Varun & Harsh for your time and sharing your thoughts with us. We hope that Oye Happy grows leaps and bounds to make ‘Gifting’ unique & memorable.

If you have any questions for Oye Happy or their founders, please leave them in the comments section…

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

9Apps & 9Game, the world’s leading third-party app stores for Android apps/games have announced that it has 140 million Monthly Active Users [MAUs]. The two stores altogether have also reached 8.5 million Daily Active Users [DAUs] with over 18 million daily aggregate downloads of apps and games.

Launched in 2012, 9Apps and 9Game, which are part of UCWeb, a business within Alibaba Group’s mobile business division, operate across regions including India, Indonesia, the Middle East and Russia. Boosted by mobile proliferation in these countries/regions and the marketplaces’ size-able app repository, 9Apps and 9Game have quickly risen to become the go-to destination for smartphone users in where it serves.

In addition, by providing in-depth localized operation & integrated promotion services, the app stores have also helped their partners around the world to grow through reaching out to a considerable user base.

Talking on the new milestone, Simon Shi, Head of 9Apps and 9Game, said

We have an active user community across China, India and other emerging markets which have helped us achieve this mark. 9Apps & 9Game give Android users an ideal alternative to download apps and games with no need for account registration. We have not just an abundant and varied app repository but also a huge collection of region-specific apps for each market – that’s one of the factors contributed to our uptrend. While the popularity we’re enjoying also speaks to the opportunity for our app developer partners as they stand a better chance to reach out to more users.

Recently, UCWeb announced the launch of UC Open Platform 2.0 – an ecosystem to help Indian mobile internet players to acquire users and monetize traffic through UC Browser, 9Apps, 9Game & UC Union – a global traffic platform that has a vast distribution network and abundant campaign offers.

UC Open Platform covers most genres of mobile internet players in India, including content and service providers, affiliates, developers, agencies, ad networks, publishers and advertises – providing a full-suite promotion and monetization platform.

9Apps marked its entry into India with an office opened in Mumbai in June 2014. The business has shown deep commitment to Indian market with its ‘Fundraiser Program’ launched earlier this year. 9Apps has committed Rs 10 lakh to not-for-profit organization Prayas for education of the girl child in India.

About 9Apps

9Apps is one of the most popular Android marketplaces globally with a huge audience base as well as an abundant and varied app repository in India. 9Apps supports incremental updates to help users save traffic and increase the speed of product upgrades. Download 9Apps from 9apps.com

|In: Events|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The fastest growing enterprise communication and collaboration app Flock continued its trend of creating waves yet again at the recent Gartner Symposium held in Goa this week. Flock participated in the ITxpo as a Silver Sponsor of the event, and as usual was one of the primary show stealers at the event.

The Gartner Symposium IT expo is the world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives with an agenda that is designed to provide the strategies, insights and tools needed to lead the next generation of IT and achieve business outcomes.

Gartner invites leaders and executives from some of the most reputable firms in the market for the event, and the turnout this year did not disappoint, with over 1100+ people attending. It was these global leaders that Flock presented itself to and received a highly positive response and rave reviews. Members of the Gartner team itself complemented and congratulated Flock on its tremendous job at engaging such influential people with their insight and product.

The features that generated most interest were its slick, clutter-free interface across platforms, rich, intuitive user experience and newer features such as Video Calling, Shared Group To-Do’s, Reminders and Integration with other apps. Flock’s tagline of ‘Get Work Done. Faster.’ and promise of increasing employee efficiency by a significant amount resonated with members of startups and big businesses alike and made for a convincing proposition.

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO, Flock [and its parent company Directi] said

The Gartner Symposium is an extremely prestigious platform, and our main focus is to let people at the event know how Flock is changing the way teams communicate and collaborate. Most teams in organizations struggle with using multiple distributed systems for different collaborative tasks. With Flock, companies can actually make people and teams more efficient, by helping them get work done faster. This is a space that is ripe for disruption and Flock is quickly breaking new ground. I am very happy with what we have achieved here today as a team.

About Flock

Flock is a free enterprise communication and collaboration service for enterprises that is designed to enable people to get work done faster. Flock simplifies communication within teams and enables quick communication across multiple platforms without the need for IT admin support. It is scalable to any number of users and has a simple, clutter-free and intuitive interface synced across multiple platforms. Flock is the perfect communication tool for fast moving teams and organizations. It is available for download for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and Chrome from flock.co

[Image Credit* – Flock]

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

YourDOST, a technology start-up aiming to establish a unique platform for mental well being and emotional support, has completed its first round of Angel funding. The venture which has been operational since December 2014 through the web portal, offers complete support to people looking to discuss any kind of emotional issues by providing them instant online access to experts along with the much required anonymity. YourDOST is also available to people on mobile now with the launch of its mobile app on android platform and available for free download from Android Play Store.

Commenting on the venture, Richa Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, YourDOST

With YourDOST we aim to create awareness and reduce the stigma associated with mental wellness in our society. We all face problems, stress, and anxiety at some point in our life but mostly we are not willing to talk about these fearing social implications, being judged and for the fear of being judged. We are confident that technology combined with empathy and right kind of experts will go a long way in helping people going through a various emotional and mental challenges and equipping them to better deal with it.

Bootstrapped for initial period of its operations, YourDOST has raised close to USD 400,000 [Rs. 2.5 crores] in Angel round to fund its marketing and expansion needs. Owing to the uniqueness of the idea, the start-up has been able to attract established entrepreneurs and professionals like Phanindra Sama [Redbus Founder], Aprameya Radhakrishna [TaxiForSure Founder], Aneesh Reddy [Capillary Founder], Nagesh Grandhi [Hyderabad Angels] and many more into its investor portfolio.

Started by Richa Singh, an IIT-Guhawati alumnus in partnership with Puneet Manuja, IIM-B alumunus & Prakhar Verma, a computer science graduate from BMSCE, Bangalore, in last 10 months of its operations, YourDOST has received tremendous response from the market with close to 70,000 users so far and the number growing at about 40% month on month. With 10,000 registered users currently, a team of 75+ experts service around 300 one to one interactions on a daily basis.

Adding further, Richa said

We are delighted with the response received from the users so far. We have received very good traction from the users by word of mouth and it is very encouraging for a young team like us. With the first round of funding in place and having such experienced people on board with us as investors and mentors, we are certain that YourDOST will benefit immensely from their association and guidance

YourDOST – Addressing the need gap

Access and awareness towards mental & emotional well-being is very restricted in India and comes with several taboos associated with it. Here are some facts highlighting this challenge

  • According to government estimates, 1 in 5 people in India need counselling, either psychological or psychiatric
  • For an estimated 70 million+ people living with psycho-social problems and disabilities, there are less than 50 government mental health establishments.
  • According to a report by WHO in 2011, 1 out of 7 people in India i.e. 15% of Indian population was suffering from depression in 2015, this has seen an alarming rise with 20% of Indian population being depressed today.
  • 50% of corporate India is suffering from chronic stress. In fact as per a survey by ASSOCHAM earlier this year, highlights that the rate of emotional problems such as anxiety and depression has increased by 45-50% among corporate employees in the last eight years.
  • According to medical experts, 4 in 5 people suffering from severe mental ailment in India choose not to treat it which causes early death by at least 15-20 years as compared to mentally healthy people

Dealing with societal pressure, pressure to perform and excel at work, family and marital issues, stress of studies, constant lifestyle comparison with the peer group due to over exposure to social media and several other factors have led to severe disturbances in our emotional stability. While the stress is on a constant rise, discussing it openly or dealing with it medically is still a taboo in our country.

This huge need gap and Richa Singh’s personal experience of a friend losing her life at IIT due to placement pressure led to birth of YourDOST to provide people with convenient yet anonymous access to experts consisting of life coaches, psychologists and other experienced individuals. Through this online platform which is available as a free service both through web portal and mobile app, users can choose to get into a live chat, find answers over email or book an appointment with the expert of their choice.

YourDOST team strongly believes that awareness at this stage is key; people need to know and acknowledge the importance of mental wellness, then comes the next step of seeking help.

About YourDOST

YourDOST is one of its kind online emotional wellness platform to get support from experts consisting of life coaches, psychologists and other experienced individuals. Launched in December 2014, YourDOST is available to people via its web platform & also on mobile through its recently launched mobile app on android platform. YourDOST allows instant access to users to a team of 75+ experts and share their problems through an online interface be it a live chat or email query or even book one on one interaction with the expert of their choice. The key aspect of this venture is that people are kept completely anonymous throughout the platform.

YourDOST aims to reduce the stigma attached to seeking help for mental wellness in our country and with the use of technology wants to make expert help widely and instantly available to people looking for emotional and mental well-being.

[Image Source* – YourDOST Blog]

|In: India|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In an effort to provide a comprehensive overview of the Indian Games industry, The National Association of Software and Services Companies [NASSCOM] have released a report titled the Indian Games Market Review at the NASSCOM Gaming Developer Conference 2015 taking place in Pune. The report aims to provide an overview of the Indian media & entertainment industry and digital landscape, showcasing the history and evolution of the Indian games industry, an assessment of the Indian games market from consumer spending and demographic insights into the Indian gamer.

Talking about the findings of the report, R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM said

To provide a holistic picture of the growing gaming landscape in India, NASSCOM interviewed the key players to conducted an extensive survey of the Indian developer and service provider ecosystem. The report provides a road map to start-up’s, Indies and investors based on internet usage patterns, mobile smartphones and tablets, to digital media and mobile advertising.

According to the report, mobile gamers lead the market in India, with a Smartphone install base estimated at 200 million by the end of 2015 that is estimated to grow by 100 million each year thereafter.

  • Approximately 40 to 50 million people play games on their smartphones and feature phones, with an annual growth rate of 40% to 50%.
  • Mobile gaming revenues are currently estimated at $150 million across all revenue models.
  • Additionally, the console market size, is estimated to be around 3 – 4 million gamers, with 3 – 3.5 million of lifetime sales for all consoles including PlayStation 2 [2 million] and 100,000 units for PlayStation 4 and X-Box One combined.
  • The cyber cafe market is currently estimated at 3000 cafes in India with games, of which 1500 have 5 machines or more dedicated to games.

It’s estimated that there are 250,000 active PC/MMO players, with popular games including Counter strike, DOTA, League of Legends and World of Tanks.

On the content creation side, the report outlines a young industry that has changed dramatically in the last five years and now includes over 200 games development studios and service providers. The advent of self-publishing, investment and crowdfunding, has led to a new breed of agile indie developers, whose focus is on mobile and PC social games.

More than half of Indian Game Developers and Service Providers were established from 2012 onwards and the industry follows a lean structure, with 57% of companies having less than 10 employees and in 2014, 27% of all Indian Game Developers and Service Providers had revenues of above $1.6 million. The report further states that, 75% of Indian developers are focused on building games for the global gaming market. 96% of developers work on mobile games, with 61% of those building free-to-play games. Among studios, arcade games are the most popular genre, followed by puzzle and racing releases.

Currently most game developers and service providers in India are focused on the global market, with development, game art services and animation being the main sources of revenue. Approximately 9% generate revenue from the domestic market, while foreign games dominate the app store rankings. With recent developments such as Apple and Google lowering the minimum price for apps and in-app purchases in India, the report expects more Indian companies to turn their focus towards the Indian market in the future.

On the sidelines of the NASSCOM Gaming Developer Conference 2015, NASSCOM also announced the winners of the NGF Awards 2015, to evangelize the community in India and recognize their achievements in Game development and encourage the creation of IP. The Winners are:

To view the full Indian Games Market Review report visit NASSCOM report

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1800 members, which includes both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM’s member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPM, e-commerce and web services, engineering services and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs about 3.5 million professionals.