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|In: Incubators|Last Updated:

PayPal announced the graduation of three startups incubated at its Start Tank Incubation Center in Chennai. The three companies — DoPartTime, Fantain & Kobster — started their incubation at Start Tank between 2013-14. The occasion marks another milestone for Start Tank, which is located within PayPal’s Technology Center in Chennai.

PayPal

PayPal’s Start Tank aims to identify and incubate the country’s next generation tech startups. These startups receive technology mentorship and infrastructure support from PayPal, as well as business mentorship from charter members of The Indus Entrepreneurs [TiE] Chennai.

Speaking about the graduation, Anupam Pahuja, General Manager, Technology, Asia-Pacific, PayPal said

As one of the world’s largest startups, we at PayPal are proud to see the graduating startups benefit from our mentorship and expand their teams and businesses while at Start Tank. This occasion is another major step in our commitment to the development of a strong technology ecosystem in India. We wish the three companies the best in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Details about the Graduating Startups

Do_Part_Time_1DoPartTime, founded by Mohankumar Swaminathan and Arun David, is a marketplace for bringing together part-time job seekers and job providers. The portal facilitates the finding and hiring of flexible and temporary jobs through a technology-led web and mobile platform. The company was selected through the Start Tank Incubation Challenge startup selection event in Chennai.

Talking about the experince, Mohankumar Swaminathan, Co-founder & CEO, DoPartTime said

This tenure at PayPal has helped us with a myriad of opportunities. The periodic review meetings and regular technology guidance gave us the necessary direction to grow our company. We also made our first sale through the incubator when we helped fellow-incubatee – Kobster hire 15 candidates. We are aiming to become the country’s “hyperlocal job marketplace”.

Fantain_1Fantain, founded by Anand Ramachandran & Vivek Venugopalan, helps sports companies use ‘Fan Data’ to increase revenue and predictability. Through its ‘Fan Data Management Platform,’ it engages, collects, and analyzes ‘Fan Data’ from various sources and provides actionable insights to customers.

During its stint at Start Tank, Fantain expanded its headcount to 15 and won 3 clients, including the Indian Premier League T20 cricket team Sunrisers Hyderabad. Fantain was the recipient of the ‘Promising Startup Award’ at the Confederation of Indian Industry [CII] Startupreneurs Conference & Expo 2014.

Talking about their stint, Aravind Ramachandran, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, Fantain

Sports fan engagement is a niche business, yet a highly potential space in India. PayPal’s fantastic support enabled us to take risks and achieve our targets in a relatively short period of time. We currently have more than one-third market share in our area of focus.

Kobster_1Kobster.com, founded by Vineet Neeraj, Karthik Ramaiah & Mohan Gayam, is a web-based, B2B e-commerce player that helps corporate buyers, retailers, SMEs, home offices, hotels, etc. to purchase office supplies in bulk at wholesale rates.

Kobster recently raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Splice Advisors and has seen its revenues grow from INR 40 lakhs to INR 6.5 crores by April 2015 while at Start Tank. The company aims to become the largest B2B provider in the space by creating an online platform for buyers and wholesale sellers from across the country.

Talking about their experience at PayPal, Karthik Ramaiah said

When we joined Start Tank, we were a four-member team. We’ve now become a 23-member strong enterprise and expanded our revenues tenfold. PayPal has been like a fourth co-founder, helping us build our company through their technological expertise and a great professional network including lawyers and chartered accountants.

About PayPal Start Tank

PayPal India formally launched its startup incubator in association with TiE Chennai in November 2013. The exclusive facility in PayPal’s Chennai technology center provides an obligation-free environment as well as technology and business mentorship for select startups to evolve. It has an office area of more than 11,000 square feet with a world-class incubation space, state-of-the-art conference rooms and other amenities.

Start Tank is located globally across PayPal offices in London and Chennai and provides access to global mentors, angel investors and venture capitalists. Start Tank Chennai currently hosts two other startups: Konotor and PiQube. PiQube recently secured $500,000 in funding from The HR Fund. More information about Start Tank here

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated:

In an effort to promote a culture of entrepreneurship among the student community, PayPal has opened the doors of its Start Tank incubator for students aspiring to start their own enterprise. The incubation center in Chennai, which hosts & grooms tech startup companies, now encourages student entrepreneurs from across top universities to pitch their tech ideas and turn them into reality.

For the first time since its inception in 2013, PayPal’s Start Tank rolled out its Incubation Challenge at the recently held “Entrepreneurship Conclave & Startup Hive” at IIT-Madras and selected two teams from the competition. They will now have a direct entry into the finals of the Incubation Challenge to be conducted later this year, and upon selection, get incubated at Start Tank.

The winning idea of “delivering logistics via drones” was pitched by a team of MTech students from IIT-M & the runner-up idea “pushing dynamic ads into mobile games in place of the obtrusive banner ads” came from a team of dual degree students, also from IIT-M. Several promising concepts such as crowd-funding to support the underprivileged, 3D printing & distribution, “green garbage” waste management, among many others, were also presented by students from several leading universities in the country.

Speaking about the association, Anupam Pahuja, General Manager, Technology – Asia-Pacific, PayPal

Extending the Start Tank Incubation Challenge to student entrepreneurs comes with the commitment of supporting their innovative startup ideas and tech concepts. It is encouraging to see many students in India daring to dream to give wings to their ideas and set up business ventures. Through Start Tank, we aim to help them with the right kind of mentorship and guidance to enter the market right after graduation.

PayPal launched ‘Start Tank Incubation Challenge’ last year to identify and incubate the country’s next generation tech-centric startups. After IIT-Madras, PayPal has now partnered with SASTRA University, to organize the incubation challenge as part of their techno-management fest to be held in Thanjavur in February 2015.

Interested applicants, student/non-student entrepreneurs, can register for Start Tank Incubation Challenge with their tech-centric ideas at http://chennai.starttank.com/apply

PayPal’s Start Tank provides an obligation-free environment for select startups to evolve. The exclusive facility in PayPal’s Chennai development center has an office area of more than 11,000 square feet with a world-class incubation space, state-of-the-art conference rooms and other amenities.

Start Tank runs globally across PayPal offices in Boston, London and Chennai, and provides access to global mentors, angel investors and venture capitalists. PayPal formally launched its Chennai startup incubator in association with TiE Chennai in November 2013 and currently hosts six startups: DoPartTime, Fantain, Hey Feedback, Kobster.com, Konotor, and PiQube.

For more information, please check http://chennai.starttank.com

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated:

PayPal India has selected two new tech startups for its ‘Start Tank’ Incubation Center in Chennai. The winners — Clockwork Interviews Private Limited & Demach Software India Private Limited were chosen from among 11 other startups that presented their business pitch at the Start Tank Incubation Challenge final on October 31, 2014.

The selection was organized as part of PitchFest in partnership with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Chennai.

The unique Incubation Challenge was launched in September 2014 across four cities in Tamil Nadu to identify & nurture some of the country’s next generation technology-centric startups. More than 60 applications were received for incubation at PayPal’s Start Tank Chennai.

As per Anupam Pahuja, General Manager, Technology – Asia-Pacific, PayPal

PayPal is proud to announce the selection of Demach Software & Clockwork Interviews for incubation at Start Tank, Chennai. As a company that was started by young entrepreneurs, PayPal recognizes the importance of encouraging the growth of tech startups and the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We truly believe that the new incubatees will benefit from our technology mentorship and the obligation-free environment we provide at Start Tank.

Jayadev Mahalingam, co-founder of PiQube, a product of Clockwork Interviews, a Hiring Analytics company, said

We are eagerly looking forward to the technology and business mentorship support from PayPal & TiE, and we hope to make the most of this opportunity to fuel our business.

Srikrishnan Ganesan, co-founder of Demach Software, makers of Konotor, a user-engagement solution for mobile apps, said

The Start Tank Incubation Challenge gave us an opportunity to meet some very promising startups. The incubation, along with the world-class support from brand names like PayPal & TiE will certainly enable us to take our company to the next level. The timing is perfect for us as we expand our team and bring in new people into a dynamic environment.

PayPal’s Start Tank provides an obligation-free environment for select startups to evolve. The exclusive facility in PayPal’s Chennai development center has an office area of more than 11,000 square feet with a world-class incubation space, state-of-the-art conference rooms and other amenities.

Start Tank runs globally across PayPal offices in Boston, London and Chennai & provides access to global mentors, angel investors and venture capitalists. PayPal formally launched its Chennai startup incubator in association with TiE Chennai in November 2013 & currently hosts four startups: DoPartTime, Fantain, Hey Feedback & Kobster