Youwecan Ventures led by ace Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, has recently invested in SportyBeans, which is India’s largest and Premier Multi-Sport Program for children between the ages of 1.5 – 8 years. SportyBeans has developed a highly research backed sports and fitness curriculum for the program across nine popular ball sports, viz Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball, Hockey, Tennis, Cricket, Rugby and Golf; which is focused on creating a skills-driven, high-energy and fun-filled environment.

Yuvraj understands the importance of physical fitness and sports involvement from an early age and SportyBeans is the ideal platform to provide this foundation to the young children of the Country. Yuvraj would also be leveraging his own knowledge and experience to co-design the course curriculum for SportyBeans. Thus, Yuvraj’s Association with the Brand would be unique as it would extend much beyond being just an investor.

Speaking on his decision to team up with SportyBeans, Yuvraj said

Sporty Beans is a unique platform to identify and develop interest in sports at an early age of 2 years to 8 years and hopefully it will help in creating a transformational impact on building next generation of sports persons in India

Having started its First Centre in 2010 and having enrolments of over 30,000 children till date , SportyBeans has now established a strong proof of concept with a sizeable presence across the country. With over 35 centres spread across 17 cities, SportyBeans currently caters to over 15,000 children a year and boasts of a highly profitable business model with a proven track record across its Franchise network.

SportyBeans is a new economy unique platform to target the wallet share of spending around children besides traditional K-12 education, apparel, toys, health care etc. Keeping this large target audience in mind, the brand is now looking at an aggressive growth plan which would see ~200 SportyBeans centers across India over the next 2 years. Catering to student strength of about 1,40,000 children in these centres, the brand is looking at revenues of over Rs. 80 crores.

Karan Sareen, Director at SportyBeans said

We have signed our first International Franchise in Mauritius and shall soon be announcing a Country Franchise in Malaysia as well.He further stated that this would be the first step towards a strong global presence as the brand looks to be present in 10 international locations within the next year, with talks already in progress in the Asia Pacific Region.

SportyBeans is the first brand in its space to transform its business by leveraging mobile technology as a platform wherein it allow users to make bookings online for not only the regular sessions, but also for personal coaching, in-school sessions and birthday parties at centre’s nearest to them.

With applications developed for both the Android and iOS platforms, SportyBeans aims at giving Parents a seamless avenue not only to monitor the progress of their child, but to experience the growth and development of their child first hand through technology thereby helping to create an entire social community through the mobile technology platform.

SportyBeans brings to the table a program which has been carefully cultivated and nurtured over the last 5 years with a very high degree of passion and expertise. Yuvraj Singh’s coming on-board will lend a higher sense of credibility to the overall program which will propel it to the next level.

About YouWeCan Ventures

YouWeCan is a 50 CR seed fund that is created to empower young entrepreneurs on their journey to build brands and successful business ventures and improve the life standard of society. More information at their website.

Image Credit – pixr8

Eywa Media, a leading digital signal processing technology startup, has raised a seed fund round of $1M+ through ah! Ventures, Viktor Koenig PE Fund & Mantra Ventures. The deal was supported and syndicated by ah! Ventures and led to closure on its investment platform, CLUBah.com

Founded in late 2013, incubated at the famous Kyron Accelerator and with operations launched in 2014, Eywa Media is a leading digital signal processing technology startup which leads audience interaction and engagement measurement along with deep analytics using sophisticated audio detection technology for Brands, Broadcasters, Retailers, Advertisers, Production Houses, Agencies etc across connected devices using its multi patent pending EYWAConnect TV+ cloud platform!. The company is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Mumbai and Bangalore.

Ramsubramaniya Raja, Founder & CEO of Eywa Media said

Today traditional networks [TV, Radio, OOH, Cinema etc] along with digital networks function in silos whereas the consumer is still the same consuming content and ads across. Thus our EYWAConnect TV+ platform seamlessly connects with the ecosystem of connected devices using our Mobilesync SDK on one end and the cloud based enterprise software on the other end with broadcasters and advertisers allowing broadcasters, advertisers etc to embed consumer interactivity, engagement using our audio detection technology to reach out to the consumers which till now has not been fully possible.

Today our EYWAConnect TV+ platform has given rise to products like Mobilesync SDK, Tango, DSP, Analytics and in future we wish to build more which caters to higher functionalities for our clients, partners and consumers in the markets we serve. Thus adding tremendous value to the entire ad and content consumption value chain. The industry can now see more reach with consumers across networks, more meaningful engagement leading to more interactivity and precise analytics!

Anshuman Pratap Chaudhary, Co-founder & CSO of Eywa Media said

Over the course of next 12 months our focus is to build massive scale in embedding our Mobilesync SDK across Devices, SIM’s, 3^rdParty Apps, Browsers etc. and install our EYWAConnect TV+ cloud platform with our clients in the focused countries which will catapult the disruption across the ecosystem.

Once this happens, the humongous amount of analytics that our platform will provide to our clients will pave way to higher choices on re-targeting, attribution, lead conversion, consumer demographics and add to the unlimited possibilities for multi-screen conversations. This round was oversubscribed and thus our sincere thanks to our investors who believe that our technology can be impactful globally.

Abhijeet Kumar, Founding Partner, ah! Ventures said

I have been always interested in technology startups and Eywa Media is definitely a promising one. Their technology of identifying the TV, Radio, OOH and Digital advertisements 7 programs on the basis of audio frequency and pushing notifications on mobile device in the real time is a stage apart. Their IP is much robust, scalable & privacy driven targeted to redefine the next level of advertiser, consumer and broadcaster ecosystem. On top of that, they have a smart, driven and dedicated team with Co-Founder, Anshuman already having done a venture exit, to take this company global.

Setup by ah! Ventures in 2012, CLUB ah! is India’s first full-spectrum startup investment network and platform comprising of over 500 investors, including some of the renowned angels and early-stage VCs. CLUB ah! platform today has over 3500+ startups, 450+ seed/angel investors and over 65 VCs & intuitional investors, making it one of the largest platform of investors and startups. The network also recently secured its first profitable exit from Harness Handitouch within 2 years of its investment. CLUB ah! has till date invested close to INR 48 crores in over 16 startups spread across varied industries and domains, including Eywa Media.

Vijay Kumar Raja from Viktor Koenig PE Fund said

We at Viktor Koenig AG have always been interested in high value ventures… however, since last year we have begun to focus on raging startups which will make a mark tomorrow. Eywa Media, with its high end technology, profound market plan and great team, caught our attention quite early and between two meetings we knew we wanted them to be in our portfolio. We wish to see this company grow globally and given our presence across the US, UK, Luxembourg, UAE, Singapore and Hong Kong, we would do all it takes to help this venture scale to newer heights of success!

Vishal Gupta, Managing Director, Mantra Ventures said

We are confident of the global potential of the technology which tends to evangelize and facilitate real time two way interactions with the audience through second screen. Eywa Media, with the help of its technology and global network tend to re-define the protocols for audience engagement and will mark the commencement of a new chapter in the world of media using digital signal processing technologies.

Lalit Ahuja, Founder, Kyron Accelerator said

Eywa Media’s product ushers a new wave of technological disruption for the media industry and Kyron is excited to partner with them and help them realize the full potential of their product. The power of strategic storytelling to consumers across all platforms from broadcasters to retailers will create a compelling environment for customer engagement and we’re confident of Ram and his team’s ability to execute this on a global scale.

Giving an investors’ perspective, Harshad Lahoti, Founder & CEO of ah! Ventures

As the world gets further connected through multiple devices, the ability to analyze data in real time and give actionable intelligence to marketers and broadcasters becomes super critical. Eywa Media’s patent-able audio detection technology algorithm opens up a whole new opportunity by allowing unlimited multi-screen conversations in real time across TV, Radio, Web TV, Cinema, OOH, Live Concert etc; this strategy is in line with where the world is moving towards – multiple screens, multiple networks and truly connected real time ecosystem! This, in my opinion, the future of consumer engagement. We at ah! Ventures had no second thoughts on wanting to be early investors in Eywa Media as we are confident or their technology and also their ability to create significant shareholder value.

About Eywa Media

Eywa Media is a leading digital signal processing technology startup which leads audience interaction and engagement measurement along with deep analytics using sophisticated audio detection technology for Brands, Broadcasters, Devices, SIM’s, Advertisers, Production Houses, Agencies etc across connected devices using its patent pending EywaConnect TV+ cloud platform! For more information, please visit Eywa Media

CanvasFlip, a cloud based Prototyping & Usability testing platform has raised $1.2 million USD in seed round from Silicon Valley ­based venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners.

CanvasFlip is a cloud based prototyping & usability testing platform allowing Product Managers, UX teams and Non­Tech Entrepreneurs to validate their idea and user experience without writing a single line of code. Users can create prototype [clickable demo of apps] from design and share it with other stakeholders to get actionable analytics on these prototypes. Validating flow and user experience at the design stage helps companies to save significant
amount of time and development iterations.

In the last 2­3 months, CanvasFlip has grown to a 140+ enterprise customer base consisting of some very successful enterprises including Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Dine Out, Tech Mahindra among others.

Vipul Mishra, CEO ­ CanvasFlip said

It’s great to have the support of one of the world’s largest venture funds. This is more than financial backing. Even before this investment, the Bessemer team has been helping us to evolve the product and business model. We [CanvasFlip Team & Investors] share the vision of CanvasFlip solving major pain­points in the UX space. These funds will be used to enhance product capabilities and enable growth practices. We have started exploring the international market and may soon open a front ­office in Silicon Valley.

Raghav Bahl, Vice President, BVP commented on the development saying

CanvasFlip enables product managers to validate mobile application design, by providing rich and conclusive usage feedback from the target user segment, even before a single line of code is written. This helps product managers reduce the time taken to bring the application to market and also, save on expensive development resources. Finally, this is a passionate founding team with a deep understanding of the consumer pain point and strong product development skills.

About CanvasFlip
CanvasFlip was founded by 26­ year ­old duo Vipul Mishra & Manish Jha in Hyderabad as an online animation platform and after a series of pivotal experiments, it emerged as a prototyping  & usability testing solution. Vipul and Manish started their professional journey with Tech Mahindra and have been part of many innovations together including Yougle, FbViralVideos etc. For more information, please visit CanvasFlip

Wegilant, a pioneer in the mobile app security space has raised USD 500,000 from existing investors in a pre-series A round. The investors include Ravi Gururaj – Chair NASSCOM Product Council, Gaurav Sharma – Director Yahoo Inc., Viswanath Ramachandran – Ex-Gupshup CTO, SINE-IIT Bombay Business Incubator, RippleWave & a strategic investor [a large global IT Security company].

The flagship product of Wegilant is Appvigil, which is a Mobile Reputation Protection Suite for Enterprises. Appvigil is based on global patent-pending technologies. Appvigil looks for security vulnerabilities and loopholes in mobile apps.

In layman terms, it helps identify whether a mobile app is hack-able or not. Organisations involved in the development of mobile apps such app development  agencies, startups, product enterprises etc. can integrate Appvigil in the development life-cycle of the app to resolve all   security issues in the development phase itself. Mobile phone users can install “Appvigil free app” to check hack-ability of the mobile apps in their phones and report to the developer in case any loopholes exist.

Appvigil can also be integrated into Software Development Life Cycle [SDLC]. It provides unattended static & dynamic analysis for security loopholes and is highly cost effective and scalable, making it capable of catering to the needs of an individual developer, mid-size & large-size development teams and companies seeking BYOD solutions.

Founded in 2011 by Toshendra Sharma while he was a first year masters student in CSE department, IIT Bombay, the company got incubated in Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay, in Aug’2014. Wegilant has also been nominated in the top 10 of Emerge 50 Award 2014- an award given by NASSCOM.

Toshendra Sharma, CEO, Wegilant said

The funds will be used towards technology expansion, research and development and customer acquisition. Previously, we were offering app security solutions in the Android environment only and now as a natural business extension, are expanding to iOS & Windows operating systems as well.

Mobile security is a global issue and our mission is to become a de-facto standard in this space. We would be carrying out the global sales operations from India itself. There is a more focused effort to constantly evolve the product in the light of new innovations in the mobile security market and black hats market. Apart from Appvigil, our flagship product, the company is developing new security products too. We intend to build a globally admired company by solving customer problems.

Ravi Gururaj, Chair NASSCOM Product Council added

Water tight security of your mobile device is no longer a luxury, it is an absolute necessity. News of security beaches are regular events which I expect will increase in frequency and severity. Every major brand has a customer facing mobile experience which they now need to ensure is secure for all their stakeholders. Wegilant addresses this critical growing market need with very innovative and robust products. The Wegilant team exhibits winning combination of domain thought leadership and entrepreneurial passion.

The company lately underwent a major re-branding exercise in effort to position itself as a thought leader in the mobile security industry. The company has also set up an office in Gurgaon [Delhi NCR] apart from Mumbai to accelerate business expansion. Wegilant also intends to set up offices across other major cities in India. The company has also doubled its team strength from 11 to 22 employees and is on a hiring spree.

About Wegilant

Wegilant is a global mobile app security company based in India. Founded in 2011 and incubated at the renowned Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay, in 2014, Wegilant today provides cloud based mobile security solutions. . Appvigil, the company’s cloud based flagship product accessible through three different platforms checks for security vulnerabilities and loopholes in android apps. Appvigil is highly cost effective and scalable, making it capable of catering to the needs of an individual developer, mid-size & large-size development teams and companies seeking BYOD solutions. Wegilant was also nominated in the top 10 of Emerge 50 Award 2014- an award given by NASSCOM.

iDreamCareer [iDC], a Delhi based Ed-tech startup, has raised an undisclosed sum as angel capital through ah! Ventures, a startup focused growth catalyst bridging ideas and money. The angels from ah! Ventures together with angel investors Vivek Joshi, Mohit Satyanand, Indian Designs Group & others partnered to fund the startup. The deal was solely advised and syndicated by ah! Ventures and led to closure on its private equity investment platform, CLUBah.

Founded in late 2013, iDreamCareer has grown to become India’s leading EdTech brand in the space of career & higher education planning for students and it is being promoted by IIT/IBS alumnus. Understanding the growing problem for students in deciding a career for themselves, iDC developed a 3S framework program – “Structured, Scientific & Scalable”, which is currently being used by students in India, Middle East & East Africa.

iDC Career planning Program empower students to take informed career decisions through its proprietary Career Assessment tool and one-on-one career mentoring. iDC package plans ranges from one time engagement session to two year plans with multiple engagements with experts mentors, delivered over combination of face to face, Skype and phone sessions.

Speaking about the funding, Ayush Bansal, co-founder of iDreamCareer.com said

Our vision is to build future proof career for students through unbiased and credible career planning programs. In the business where trust is the key element, our focus has been on providing quality career planning service to students and parents that empowers them for taking informed career decisions. Over the last year and a half, more than 55,000 students have benefited through iDreamcareer.

This was achievable purely because of the trust the student and parent community have reposed in us. Over 40% of the students on the platform come through referrals, which is an indicator of the trust they have on the brand. We are happy to have angels on board who understand our vision.

Pravesh Dudani, an alumnus from IIT Kharagpur & co-founder of iDreamCareer.com adds

Given the complex structure of our higher education system, choosing a career path as well as process of applying to colleges is one of the most daunting task for students and parents. New age parents, consider a career choice as most important and life altering decision for their children and hence they are willing to pay for availing professional guidance from trusted and reliable advisors.

The current investment round will be utilized to upgrade our product line with addition of information alert tools, college application system, content up-gradation etc. Additionally funds will be utilized in sales & marketing to grow our business in new geographies across India & Middle East & also to improve our service delivery system.

Vivek Joshi, lead investor said

iDreamCareer is rightly placed in the current educational context where plethora of courses are available to students, making it difficult for them to choose the right course and hence a career. Ayush and Pravesh are very committed towards making a difference by helping students make better career decisions. I am excited to be part of the journey at iDreamCareer.com

Abhijeet Kumar, Co-founder of ah! Ventures said

EdTech has always been an interesting area for us and iDreamCareer is really disrupting the space of career and higher education planning through a combination of a hard working team, innovative & proven business model, strong revenue pipeline and usage of next generation technology. Their global footprint makes them a leader in this space. This deal was concluded through the private equity investment platform, CLUB ah!

CLUB ah! is India’s first full-spectrum startup investment network and platform comprising of over 475 plus investors, including some of the renowned angels and early-stage VC’s. CLUB ah! platform today has over 2500+ startups, 425+ seed/angel investors and over 60 VCs & intuitional investors, Making it one of the largest platform of investors and startups.

The network also recently secured its first profitable exit from Harness Handitouch within 2 years of its investment. CLUB ah! has till date invested close to INR 30 crores in over 13 startups spread across varied industries and domains.

Giving an investors’ perspective, Harshad Lahoti, Founder & CEO of ah! Ventures said

iDreamCareer has demonstrated their ability to disrupt the market using their unique customized career planning program rather than competitors’ plain vanilla assessment reports created using online aptitude tests. Tech is undoubtedly used as an enabler for automation of content and the assessment process – but iDC’s mix of online and offline models of career planning through 1-on-1 sessions using their retail offices and telephonic interviews, gives a more holistic approach.

This coupled with a strong team of senior people like Punam Kashyap, Rahul Parmar & others on their advisory board and their ability to successfully penetrate the international markets like Middle Eastern countries, made iDC a very attractive investment opportunities for ah! Ventures’ investors. The career planning sector for high school students in India is estimated to be over USD 1.5 billion and iDC is perfectly positioned to target and dominate a majority of it. We at ah! look forward to partnering iDC in their next growth phase

For more information, please visit iDreamCareer, ah! Ventures & CLUB ah! Deals