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|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The National Association of Software and Services Companies [NASSCOM] announced the fifth phase of NASSCOM 10,000 Startups ‘Konnect’ and will be impacting applications from technology startups across the country. Phase five is focused on identifying, supporting, incubating & accelerating innovative technology start-ups in India.

Sharing his views, Rajat Tandon, Vice President, NASSCOM 10K Startups said

India is the third largest startup ecosystem in the World with immense talent and innovative startups flourishing each day. With the strong support from mentors, industry experts, investors and VCs, we have successfully created a significant impact on the startup ecosystem of the country. Phase 5 is going to be our biggest Konnect to date as we are aiming to create a greater impact across the early stage startup ecosystem.

For the fifth phase, NASSCOM has shortlisted 200+ domain centric applications from startups, which will provide a detailed overview of their business idea and the market opportunity. Startups who have applied in the last 4 months are now being considered for Phase five shortlisting and for the 10K Nurture program.

The shortlisted startups will be pitching to over 100 investors in six locations and will have the access to participate in the intensive accelerator pitch and mentoring Konnect sessions. The program has strong support from 50+ industry experts [NIPP] and close to 100 incubator partners. The sessions will start in the first week of March across Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Kochi & Hyderabad.

In its last four phases, a total of 11,000 startups applied out of which 1,100 were shortlisted and 500 have been impacted by way of funding, acceleration and mentoring. Some of their impacted startups include SmartVizX, Lazylad, EnglishDost, Flutura, SeekSherpa, Faircent, Hiree, Sliderule, Vidgyor, CustomerXPS to name a few.

NASSCOM 10,000 Startups is a startup incubation program whose objective is to create 10,000 domain specific startups in the country by 2020. Phase Four of the NASSCOM 10K Start-ups Konnect had 150+ startup shortlists that went through pitch and mentoring sessions

About 10,000 Startups

Started in April 2013, 10,000 Startups is an ambitious attempt by NASSCOM to scale up the startup ecosystem in India by 10x. 10,000 Startups aims to enable incubation, funding and support for 10,000 technology startups in India over the next ten years. The initiative brings together key stakeholders of the ecosystem including startup incubators, accelerators, angel investors, venture capitalists, startup support groups, mentors, and technology corporations.

Since its launch in April 2013, they have done about 450+ events in 22 cities of the country which were attended by a whopping 25,000 attendees and received 9000 Applicants, 800 Startups Shortlists, and 150 Impacts.

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The program is supported by founding partner Google for Entrepreneurs, Microsoft Ventures, Intel and Kotak Mahindra Bank

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In an effort to accelerate digital transformation at the start-up level, NASSCOM in partnership with IBM, launched Techstartup.in Delhi on IBM Cloud.

Techstartup.in was first launched in Bangalore in October 2015. The new, localized Delhi version of the site is designed to help stimulate innovation in Delhi while spurring growth within the entire Indian start-up economy. The portal is a first-of-its-kind online platform that will serve as a centralized hub for India’s tech ecosystem city by city providing information and resources to help turn ideas into businesses, deliver valuable tools for tech startups, and connect citizen entrepreneurs to opportunities in the tech ecosystem.

This is a platform for the entire Indian start-up & product ecosystem to network, stimulate local innovation and grow the economy.

The Indian technology start-ups landscape has seen a remarkable growth towards creation of innovative start-ups. India, a home to a new breed of young start-ups, has clearly evolved to become the third largest base of technology start-ups in the world. As per NASSCOM Start-up Report 2015, within one year, the number of start-ups in India has grown by 40 per cent, and this number is expected to cross 4,200 by the end of 2015. With over 100 per cent growth in number of PE/VCs/Angel investors along with a 125 per cent growth in funding over last year, the Indian start-up ecosystem has risen to the next level. The total funding in the India based start-ups is estimated to be nearly $5 billion by the end of 2015.

This growth will only increase as thousands of start-ups are expected to establish themselves in India, generating employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people. This will not only pave the way for innovative services, but will also act as a major booster for the development and the progress of the Indian economy.

Mr. Rajat Tandon, Vice President, NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups, said

With Techstartup.in we want to democratize access to key resources and information across the country digitally connecting India’s expanding tech-preneurs. Building it together in support with IBM, it will be a personification of a united commitment to increase jobs, train the workforce of the future, support new startups, and ultimately ensure India is at the centre of technology innovation

Built on IBM Cloud, TechStartup.in will be updated regularly using tools from Bluemix, IBM’s cloud platform that includes tools for social, mobile, analytics, cloud integration, Internet of Things, Watson cognitive computing and more.

Additionally, as part of its commitment to the global startup community, IBM will offer up to $120,000 of free IBM Cloud credits for local qualified startups to use as they build their businesses on IBM Cloud.

Ms. Sandy Carter, General Manager, Cloud Ecosystem and Developers, IBM, said

Our collaboration with NASSCOM helps IBM deliver on its commitment to empower entrepreneurs on both the local and global levels. Techstartup.in allows Indian start-up communities to experience first-hand the benefits of IBM Cloud, while providing a supportive environment for the entire start-up ecosystem to connect, learn, network and thrive in both the local and global marketplaces.

Techstartup.in, a playground for 10,000 start-ups will further support the progressive phase of start-ups in India. The platform will offer a pioneering search engine and database which will profile virtually every city-based tech company and investor; a continuously updated list of tech and start-up job openings, a citywide tech event and class calendar; an interactive map of tech companies, start-up resources across the boroughs; and additional features that combine to create a comprehensive one-stop shop for everything start-up.

About 10,000 Startups

Started in April 2013, 10,000 Startups is an ambitious attempt by NASSCOM to scale up the startup ecosystem in India by 10x. 10,000 Startups aims to enable incubation, funding and support for 10,000 technology startups in India over the next ten years. The initiative brings together key stakeholders of the ecosystem including startup incubators, accelerators, angel investors, venture capitalists, startup support groups, mentors, and technology corporations.

Since its launch in April 2013, they have done about 450+ events in 22 cities of the country which were attended by a whopping 25,000 attendees and received 9000 Applicants, 800 Startups Shortlists, and 150 Impacts.

Nasscom-Partners

For more information about IBM Cloud, please visit http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing

|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.

|In: India|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Taking forward NASSCOM Gaming Forum’s drive to showcase the Indian talent in video game content, NASSCOM will be sending a delegation of India’s premier independent studios to Casual Connect USA 2015 that will be taking place in San Francisco from August 11th – 13th.

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Rajesh Rao, Chairman of NASSCOM Gaming Forum stated

We are incredibly excited to be sending some of the best games development talent from India to Casual Connect USA 2015 in San Francisco. Both the IDEA showcase and the indie delegation, will offer our developers the opportunity to network and make new relationships, as they present their properties at the conference.

The delegation will consist of two sets

The first delegation will feature five Premium IDEA Showcases from studios including mobile & IP development leader [x]cube GAMES, mobile studio June Software, indie start-up All in a Day’s Play that is specializing in Trivia, Arcade & Simulation genres and mobile start-up’s Roosh and Playblazer.

The second set will feature Indian indie developers including VR Playing Games, Dastan Games, Underdog Studios, Ether Games & Seven Summits Studio, who were shortlisted by the Casual Connect Indie Prize Jury. Other Indies who are part of the delegation showcasing their games at the conference include Apar Games, Boink Games, Ogre Head Studios, Xigma Games and Zabuza Labs.

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.

|In: Analytics|Last Updated:

To showcase how organizations are creating value by leveraging analytics across industries, NASSCOM & Hansa Customer Equity Pvt. Ltd. announced the commencement of a case study on Analytics and its Attributes. As part of the study, companies across sectors can participate and showcase the business impact by leveraging analytics in the four application areas of Customer Experience & Lifecycle Management, Revenue Maximization, Operational Efficiency, and Compliance & Risk Management.

Technologies such as Social Media, Mobility, Big Data and Analytics and Cloud [SMAC] are reshaping businesses across sectors. An increased number of companies across India, from service providers to customers, are leveraging analytics to create value. Many of them leverage Chief Data Scientists and Chief Analytics Officer to capitalize on the SMAC opportunities. The objective of this study is to promote the usage of analytics that involves business applications of Descriptive, Predictive or Prescriptive Analytics and identify the most innovative companies demonstrating excellence in analytics.

Speaking at the occasion, Mohan Krishnan, Director, NASSCOM said

Businesses are challenged by the digital revolution, changing consumer demographics who demand omni-channel experience, the reduced time-to-market and stringent regulations. This is creating huge amount of data. This explosion of data in enterprises is fuelling the rise of analytics, creating a sizeable business opportunity.

To leverage this opportunity, NASSCOM is actively engaged in promoting adoption of analytics and sustaining India’s position as the analytics hub of the world. According to NASSCOM the big data analytics industry is expected to grow to more than double to $2.5 billion by the end of 2017-18. While some sectors have taken the lead, others have realized its importance for long-term growth and surviving in a highly competitive environment. Dynamically changing customer trends will further drive the growth of analytics, compelling organizations across sectors to analyze how information can be used intelligently.

Speaking about the study, Swaminathan, Co-founder & CEO, Hansa Cequity said

At Hansa Cequity, we believe that Data is the new fuel and competitive advantage for the enterprise and Data-driven marketing will become the new normal in companies. Hansa Cequity’s pole position of analytics expertise and a unique status as a service provider will help companies improve their marketing maturity using analytics as a great platform for launching this initiative.

While sharing his views on the initiative, Ajay Kelkar, Co-founder & COO, Hansa Cequity, said

This case study is a great platform for companies in India to showcase how analytics has positively impacted their business. In this changing world, business leaders and marketers need to transform their approach to connecting and engaging with these customers.

The vast proliferation of data and the pressing need to stay one step ahead of the competition has sharpened focus on using analytics within organizations. Analytics today has proven to be the crucial ingredient of success for organizations across industries, rehashing the key business dimensions which form the basis of competition -Customer, Risk & Operations.

 

Milestone Milestone Date
Submission of Abstract 30th Mar 2015
Notification of acceptance for final Case Study submission 15th Apr 2015
Case study Submission 14th May 2015
Notification of winners 12thJune 2015
Presentation by winners at NASSCOM Conference To be Announced

Application Process

  • All interested parties should send an abstract by 30th March 2015.
  • Abstracts will be reviewed by an expert panel and will comprise of an eminent panel of analytics experts, both academicians as well as practitioners.
  • Short-listed abstract applicants will be requested for submission for case studies.

Criteria for Evaluation

  • Innovation – Innovative use of any analytical technique
  • Methodology – Robustness of the methodology and the rigour involved
  • Business Impact – Impact of the analysis

About Hansa Cequity

Hansa Cequity is a customer marketing company where they bring the power of Data, Analytics & Insights & marketing action together for enhancing customer relationships & customer value. The company has a team of specialists with diverse skill sets who work together to deliver highly relevant digital and social media campaigns. The whole-brain approach to marketing brings together logic, driven by data and analytics, and the magic of creative thinking to deliver enriching customer experiences. Some of the renowned clients include Croma, Celio, Hypercity, Westside, Axis Bank, Birla Sun Life, Tata Sky, Zee TV & many more.

|In: India|Last Updated:

IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council NASSCOM [SSC NASSCOM] announced that it has developed “Career Guides” which will provide clarity for all stakeholders, especially students about the career opportunities available in the IT-BPM industry.

Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions, especially for students. These guides provide details about the skills & competencies required, to join the IT-BPM industry. The career-paths provided are for various job roles starting from entry to leadership level, including details of vertical & horizontal mobility within this industry and across other industries.

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According to the National Skills Mission, about 350 million professionals would need to be skilled by 2022 to make them employable. To be able to achieve this target, a structured approach is required involving all stakeholders. One of the critical actions required is to create awareness with students about the career opportunities available in the IT- BPM industry across the four sub-sectors, namely IT Services [ITS], Business Process Management [BPM], Software Products [SPD] & Engineering & Research Development [SPD].

On the occasion Dr. Sandhya Chintala, Executive Director, SSC NASSCOM & Vice President, NASSCOM said

In the last couple of years SSC NASSCOM has made great in-roads in identifying unique job roles/ qualification packs across all IT-BPM industry sub-sectors. We are pleased to announce that they are now packaged in a comprehensive manner as “Career Guides”. Career guides will be available on our website www.sscnasscom.in

Informed career decisions about one’s aspirational career role will greatly benefit the individual, the companies and the community at large, thus creating a strong value proposition for all concerned.

About Sector Skill Council, NASSCOM

“IT-ITES SSC NASSCOM” is the skill standard setting body of the IT-ITeS industry and is the education & skill development initiative of NASSCOM. The council works with NASSCOM industry members, select academic and skill development institutions to help improve the quality and quantity of the employable workforce available to the industry.

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 1400 members, which include 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 3.1 million professionals.

|In: Business|Last Updated:

NASSCOM organized the NASSCOM Diversity & Inclusion Summit 2015 with ‘Empowering Inclusion’ as the core theme. The summit witnessed industry leaders share insights on the need to include diversity as a business imperative by energizing with the agenda of inclusive growth.

NASSCOM & NTT DATA also announced the launch of ‘Ntercept’ a mobile based safety application for women, aimed at creating a secure working environment for employees of the sector.

Earlier engineering was considered the exclusive domain of men. However, that has now evolved, with almost 50% of entry level workforce in the IT/ITES companies represented by women. Over the last few years the industry has also been actively pursuing inclusion of people with disabilities as well as encouraging an overall inclusive work culture.

The Summit witnessed speakers from all walks of life sharing best practices on the organizational initiatives that encourage inclusion. A few key thought leaders highlighted innovative programs that have worked in many organizations and shared perspective on driving the inclusivity journey to the next level across the industry.

Speaking at the occasion Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM

The Indian IT and ITES Industry is a successful model that demonstrates the power of creating an inclusive and diverse work environment. Diversity as we now know is not just about gender and our next imperative is to unravel the various elements that impact the culture of organizations. Knowledge of generational diversity from a cultural point of view is also very important with a deeper understanding of what each generation values at both the individual and organizational scale. We at NASSCOM will continue to work with the government and NGO’s to aid and assist companies in their diversity and inclusion journey and honoring these companies in their endeavors to encourage best practice.

On the sidelines of the event, NASSCOM also declared the winners of the NASSCOM Corporate Awards for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion to recognize and honor companies that have adopted and implemented policies and practices to promote inclusion as well as enabled employees to contribute towards the success of their enterprise across all levels. This year, the nominations were across three different categories i.e.Excellence in Gender Inclusivity, Excellence in Inclusivity for Persons with Disabilities and Excellence in Leadership (Individual) for Promotion of Diversity & Inclusion.

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|In: Accelerator|Last Updated:

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With more than 3,000 tech start-ups, India is the fourth largest base for young businesses in the world and it is expected that by 2020 the base will increase to 11,500 tech start-ups. This along with other interesting findings were revealed in ‘Tech Start-up in India: A Bright Future’ a study report by National Association of Software and Services Companies [NASSCOM] and Zinnov.

The report suggests that the Indian start-ups with their unique solutions are witnessing increased traction in global whitespace opportunities such as Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, Smart hardware, Business Intelligence & many more.

With technology spreading its wings into different domains, “Domain+Tech’ solutions are taking over other trends”. The emerging niche technology solutions are primarily focused on Ad-tech, Edu-tech, Health-tech, Agri-tech & many more. Geographically, Bangalore & National Capital Region [NCR] tops the chart for being home to maximum number of young businesses.

The findings also highlight that many trends are maturing in the ecosystem, especially funding aspect. Multiple and easily accessible platform like VC/PE, angel investors, incubators, financial institutes and even banks, are the driving force for the same.

Commenting on the new evolution of the ecosystem, Mr. Rajat Tandon, Senior Director, NASSCOM 10,000 Startups, added [Note : We in the article refers to NASSCOM 10,000 Startups]

These latest findings clearly indicate the beginning of the golden era for young tech-based businesses where opportunities for growth are much larger than the challenges in the ecosystem. We are proud to be once again at the cutting edge in helping to support a growing niche within this field and we are excited to ink new partnerships as we close the year to accelerate our efforts in that direction.

NASSCOM’s 10,000 Start-ups program has successfully paved way for 3 inevitable trends that are shaping the Indian economy with the potential to shake things up: Digitalization, Faster innovation cycles &the rise of young, ambitious talent. Start-ups are both a consequence and an accelerating catalyst of these trends. It’s exciting to be here, but we have much to do. This ecosystem is growing in scale and strength and as we move forward, we are focused towards domain specific strategic partnerships to drive it to the next level of maturity in FY 2015.

  1. The Program is partnering with AstroLabs Dubai, to navigate Indian Tech Startups to the MENA region. This association will give a tangible edge to support tech entrepreneurs emerging from the 10,000 Start-ups program, both with the physical space and with formal training programs.
  2. The Program’s partnership with ValPro, an investment banking & financial advisory services to leverage a web based platform “Enablers” which facilitates start-ups & SME’s to connect with HNI’s, Angels and VC’s for fund raising. It is a tool that makes entrepreneurs investor-ready and handhold them through various stages of fund raising.
  3. The Program inked another association with CampusEAI Consortium, a leader in the world of higher education information technology services. CampusEAI EduTech Venture Fund invests in early stage enterprise software, Internet and Mobile companies that target the education market or companies created from intellectual property technology transfer from colleges and universities.
  4. To support early-stage companies in Healthcare and Life-sciences domain, we partnered with Escape Velocity Accelerator to review applications for selecting entrepreneurs into its incubation program.

Speaking about the partnership, Anjli Jain, CEO of CampusEAI and Managing Director of CampusEAI’s EduTech Venture Fund stated

Our partnership with NASSCOM’s 10,000 Start-ups program gives us an opportunity to expand our portfolio and existing investments in India-based start-ups and provide early-stage entrepreneurs with the mentorship, guidance and funds they require to be successful. We look forward to working with NASSCOM and accelerating the mission of the 10,000 Start-ups initiative.

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Muhammed Mekki, Founding Partner, AstroLabs stated:

We look forward to welcoming members of 10,000 Startups at AstroLabs Dubai, enabling their expansion into the growing Middle Eastern market and providing direct access to a region that has the highest smartphone penetration in the world.

Interesting info-graphic giving an in-depth view about the “Startup Landscape in India”

[Note : Click on the image to Enlarge]

Indian Startup Ecosystem - Click on the image to enlarge

*10,000 Start-ups is a NASSCOM initiative supported by Google for Entrepreneurs, Microsoft Ventures, Verisign, & Intel