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|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Students graduating in 2016 and considering beginning their professional life in Bengaluru can now rejoice, as Zenify [earlier coverage here], an online home rental aggregator & management startup, announces a complete package for those hoping to set up their new place via its platform. Zenify has tied up with various outlets like rental furniture, spas, eateries, salons, etc., in Bengaluru with special discounts to assist first-time job seekers in the city and help them adjust to their new surroundings. It will also reduce their expenses and offer them a complete hassle free stay.

Zenify will provide end to end solutions to students right from finding an apartment to setting it up and moving in. Individuals can rent 1/2/3 BHK apartments across Bengaluru with zero brokerage and a lower security deposit compared to current market standards. Additionally, with Zenify’s tie-up with various supermarkets and furniture companies, they will be able to avail discounts and offers on rental furniture, groceries, fine dining restaurants & pubs, local spas and salons, etc.

Bengaluru is the fifth most populous city in India with an estimated demography of 8.5 million individuals reported in 2011. Known as the Silicon Valley of India, it has witnessed constant influx of professionals ever since its IT boom in 1990’s and thrives on its job market for young professionals. Therefore, increase in number of job seekers has given rise to an ever increasing demand for rental housing service providers.

Since most newcomers here are fresh graduates, they are usually cash crunched and have a tough time in figuring out their basic needs especially when they have to stay in another city. It is this challenge that prompted Zenify to specifically cater their latest home rental package for job aspirants, who are seeking a home in an unfamiliar city.

Commenting on this, Sudarshan Purohit, Co-Founder & CEO, Zenify said

When I initially moved to Bangalore, the most difficult aspect was to figure out where, what, and whom to approach for any kind of assistance. There were no such platforms or services available back then and surviving in this city could sometimes become very challenging for newcomers. Therefore, ensued by my personal experience,we decided to launch our latest rental package for first-time job seekers. Our vision has remained constant since the inception of Zenify-to offer end to end home rental solutions. It has become even more relevant now with such add-on perks offered on our platform.

Zenify, recently raised Rs 6 crores in Pre-Series A from High Networth Individuals [HNI], who have a minor stake in this company. Their target is to have 6000 properties listed by March 2017. The company foresees scaling its business across the major cities of the country in less than two years and becoming a prominent player in the rental segment.

Sudarshan Purohit, Kailash Rathi and Ankur Agarwal, alumni of IIT- Madras co-founded Zenify, which lists over 2000 properties available for rent across Bengaluru. The platform provides owners and tenants a hassle free system to find and rent an apartment. The company aims to standardise the market rental pricing by predicting the market value of each property listed on their portal.

About Zenify

Zenify is India’s only complete Home Aggregator and Rental Management Startup. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the technology driven startup, has simplified home rentals with technology. Through Zenify’s unique ZRP [Zenify Rental Price], Zenify brings in standardisation for home rentals. ZRP is a fixed rental price for each property that is available for rent, the price is fixed based on its localities and demands. For more information, please visit Zenify

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Wooqer have announced that Ritesh Handa has joined the company as President – Operations, Finance & Corporate Development, reporting to Wooqer Founder & CEO, Vishal Purohit. Ritesh comes to Wooqer from a leading Indian publisher Pearson Education India. With a proven track record of over 15 years, he has worked with Microsoft, GE and Rockwell Automation.

[Image Credit – Wooqer]

Vishal Purohit, Wooqer Founder & CEO said

He is a passionate finance and operations senior executive with diversified business and management experience. He will be responsible for thought leadership by executing business strategies and operating plans.

We are fortunate to have incredible depth and breadth of talent across Wooqer’s executive team. Ritesh is hands-down the best operations executive I’ve ever worked with.

Prior to joining Pearson Education, Ritesh was associated with Core Objects in the capacity of VP & Director Finance. He was responsible for preparing monthly forecasts, annual and long-range financial plans at a country level resulting in financial plans that aligns with business/corporate objectives.

He holds Master in Business Administration from Faculty of Management Studies – Delhi and is also a Chartered Accountant from Deloitte.

About Wooqer
Wooqer is pioneering “end user computing” with an easy-to-use, do-It-yourself cloud based tool-set that enables faster, cheaper and smarter execution. Wooqer leads the space between the core systems for a business [dominated by software, hardware and services vendors] and consumer platforms [like Google, Facebook & others].

Founded by Vishal Purohit and backed by Indian business veterans like Harsh Mariwala, Chairman-Marico & BS Nagesh, Founder-TRRAIN as well as Silicon Valley legends like Michael Marks and Jim Davidson. Wooqer is among the most valuable B2B software companies in India by iSpirit Index for two consecutive years. Harvard Business Review has developed a business case on Wooqer now being taught in over 10 universities globally. For more information, please visit Wooqer

|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: India|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Hike messenger, one of India’s fastest growing Internet companies have announced appointment of Hemant Goyal as VP of Finance & Gautam Vohra as its General Counsel. Both Hemant and Gautam will be reporting to Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder & CEO Hike Messenger

Hemant comes from Unilever Singapore, where he was Finance Director for Global Supply Chain. He has worked with Unilever for over 12 years in various roles and across geographies including India and Europe. Prior to Unilever, he was with Tata Motors.

The Company has also roped in Amazon India’s Principle Legal Counsel Gautam Vohra as it’s General Counsel. Gautam is one of the leading legal experts in technology and intellectual property matters and as General Counsel for Hike. He will focus on building the legal, compliance & policy functions as the company expands to the next level of growth in India and envision a global footprint.

On the appointments, Kavin Bharti Mittal said

With Hemant and Gaurav on board, we add a strong financial and legal foundation to our leadership team. Both Hemant and Gaurav bring incredible cross-domain experience in their respective fields and we are excited to have them on join us.

On joining Hike, Hemant Goyal said

I am delighted to join Hike and work with this exceptional team. I’m excited about the umpteen possibilities to be explored within Hike and I look forward to sharing my experiences and contributing to the future direction and growth of one of India’s fastest growing internet companies.

Gautam Vohra commented

I’m thrilled to be a part of the organization at a time when the company is well-positioned to tap new possibilities during this time of ever evolving mobile-first rather mobile only world. Look forward to contributing towards the accomplishing the mission of bringing India online.

Hemant and Gautam take charge at a time when Hike readies for the next phase of growth in India’s fast growing mobile internet market. The company has been growing at an exponential pace and also building it’s leadership team as it continues to innovate in the hyper competitive messaging space.

Hike messenger also recently strengthened their leadership positions by roping in Vidur Vyas as VP of Marketing and Sumit Mehra as Studio Head.

Hike’s Growth Story

  • Dec 2012 – Global launch
  • Feb 2013 – Messaging traffic grows 10X week on week
  • April 2013 – Hit the first 5M user milestone in just 4 months of its launch | Raised $7M from BSB
  • Feb 2014 – Hit the 15M user mark
  • April 2014 – Received $14M fresh funding from BSB
  • June 2014 – Crossed 20M user mark, launched first TVC
  • July 2014 – Hit #1 rank on App stores
  • August 2014 – Crossed 35M user mark, receives $65M fresh funding led by Tiger Global & BSB
  • November 2014 – Launches regional stickers on hike
  • January 2015 – Launched free Hike Calls
  • February 2015 – Launched Cricket Scores on hike
  • Aug 2015: Hike announces 20 billion messages per month and launched Hike News
  • Sep 2015: Launched Group Calling with upto 100 people

Additional information

You can download the app at – http://get.hike.in For more information, please visit the Hike Blog

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Pine Labs, the largest integrated payment solution company of India has introduced Paybypoints – This platform enables card holders to pay for purchases & services instantly through their reward points accrued on leading banks/issuer cards, at a wide range of merchants.

In India, the average monthly points earned are worth Rs.50 crores and monthly redemption is about Rs. 20 crores.  Paybypoints enabled  merchants can now accept the redemption of reward points through Pine Labs point of sale, while accepting card holders payments at point of sale [POS]. Its first of its kind technology platform which aggregates India’s top loyalty reward programs on a single platform.

The process of reward points redemption for the Card Holders, which otherwise was a tedious and time consuming through catalogs ; now with Paybypoints is easy, convenient and the one with the magic of ‘instant gratification’ by facilitating use of reward points instantly at POS, to get what they want. No more wasting or lapsing of reward points, plus the card holders get an array of merchant outlets to choose from, to spend their reward points. The use of reward points, not cash or card to pay for a purchase or a service, is what creates – The true joy of shopping for the consumers. Paybypoints platform is estimated to give easy and convenient reward points redemption to reward point bank worth of Rs. 3000 crores held by more than 300 Million Card Holders.

Sharing his perspective about the launch, Lokvir Kapoor, CEO, Pine Labs India Pvt Ltd. said

In India, there is a huge pile of accumulated reward points and the card holder usually end up not utilizing it. In short, there is tremendous potential to increase spending at the merchant outlet with Paybypoints. Giving an option to pay with points creates a great pull for the card holders to Paybypoints enabled merchants.

Various marketing campaigns by Banks/issuers & Pine Labs would further create the reach and the opportunity for the merchants to access premium customers. Paybypoints, one single platform helps merchants to engage and acquire premium customers of multiple premium loyalty reward programs.

Paybypoints has brought together leading issuers like Amex, Citibank, Axis Bank, PAYBACK, etc. on a single platform. Some of its respectable and trusted partners are- Apple, BOSE, Samsung, The Mobile Store, Croma, Clarks, Vishal Megamart, VLCC, Wildcraft, Beer Cafe, Costa Coffee, Chaos,Shoppers Stop, Babyoye, Central, Westside, Marks & Spencer etc.

About Pine Labs

Pine labs is the largest integrated payment solutions company that simplifies payment acceptance, while creating business opportunities for Issuers, merchants and brands. Pine Labs began its journey with specialty payment and loyalty solutions for closed-user group applications for Retail Petroleum industry. Today it has evolved into a payment acceptance partner choice with a POS base of more than 1,00,000 ranging from large worldwide enterprises with a wide network across India to locally-owned small businesses.

Pine Labs merchants and partners get a robust platform to create new revenue streams with best in class value added solutions like Instant EMI, Instant Discounts, Cash Back Programs, Pay by Points, Loyalty Solution, Gift Solution, Targeted Promotions, Dynamic Currency Conversion etc.  For more information, please refer Pinelabs

[Image Credit* – Pine Labs]

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Freshersworld.com, India’s No 1 job site for freshers, announced the launch of JobForAll, a smart hiring solution for entry level positions in Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, Business Development, Retail, Content Writing as well as all junior level job roles. The platform promises to be a game changer in the entry level scene with advanced features which will help recruiters hire the best candidates for job openings across industries.

Unlike traditional job portals which only offer a bulk database from which a HR person has to manually sift through hundreds and thousands of resumes to identify the most relevant profiles, JobForAll provides a multi-touch point hiring solution that eliminates unnecessary and unproductive efforts by the HR team and helps identify relevant profiles using an automated, twin mapping mechanism.

Joby Joseph, CEO of Freshersworld.com said

Hiring for entry level positions continues to be among the toughest tasks for any recruitment team, using up resources and hindering efficiencies. Getting quality candidates to actually turn up for the interview is becoming increasingly challenging. Our smart hiring solution enables a recruitment team to quickly zero in on 10 double screened profiles, with these candidates having a thorough understanding of the job requirement, the salary offered and are equipped to appear for the interview.

This contemporary solution will save time, money and resources for a recruitment team, while accelerating the hiring process and position closure time. Freshersworld.com guarantees a 4 day turnaround for all recruitment teams who choose this platform for their entry level hiring needs.

JobForAll is supported by a highly intuitive web and mobile app which will ensure that the shortlisted candidates appear for the walk-ins. USP of the app include features like double screening, SMS confirmation, Map tracking, push notifications and questionnaires. Also, the ability to chat with the candidates before the walk-in date is a much needed feature that the company has seamlessly integrated with the app.

Freshersworld.com highlights a compelling double screening process to weed out irrelevant applications from the vast pool of resumes and maps candidate profiles that fit the job role perfectly. The ability to attach a questionnaire with jobs will ensure that the virtual screening of profiles is done in a manner similar to a face to face round.

About Freshersworld

Freshersworld.com offers innovative solutions for entry-level hiring, helping 50K+ recruiters realize best-in-class services and increased efficiencies. Started with a mission to facilitate fresh graduates find their first dream job, Freshersworld.com is a genuine effort to connect a fresher and an employer together to create a marketplace for entry level hiring. Freshersworld.com is India’s No 1 fresher hiring online platform with a database of over 5 million+ resumes, 1 Lakh+ resumes added every month, 2.5 lakh+ unique visitors every day with 40 million page views a month.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Accenture is launching the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, an immersive and collaborative analytics capability that makes data more accessible and engaging, helping insight-driven businesses make faster, more informed decisions.

The Experience is designed to make analytics easier to understand & expand the range of business users who can undertake an integrated analytics journey – from C-suite to functional managers to data scientists. By transforming their relationships with data, users with a variety of skill-sets can collaborate on a specific challenge in an analytics environment, more easily examine and interpret the insights via data visualizations, and innovate through data-driven exploration and decision making. Through an immersive environment, users can find the hidden value in their data, either live or remotely on their preferred devices and pursue outcomes in real-time.

The Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, delivered by Accenture Analytics, provides users with next-generation business intelligence powered by end-to-end analytics offerings including analytics strategy, a multidisciplinary data insights team, a data platform containing big data technologies and an analytics center of excellence that democratizes analytics.

Companies in the telecommunications, healthcare, consumer packaged goods & financial services industries are already participating in the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience.

Narendra Mulani, senior managing director, Accenture Analytics, part of Accenture Digital said

Accenture thrives on applying our industry and analytics expertise and developing new solutions that can uncover new data-driven opportunities. With the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, we can help take businesses and governments through every stage of their analytics journey, from issues to outcomes, mobilizing data, transforming data into insight and providing decision-makers with insight in visually appealing formats at the pivotal time to drive discussion, decisions and value.

Through the new immersive environment, companies are empowered in a whole new way as it brings a new energy into analytics and business intelligence, making it more collaborative, engaging, and accessible to a broader group of users, both physically and virtually.

The Accenture Connected Analytics Experience is a powerful example of a solution that was developed in conjunction with the Accenture Technology Labs, Accenture’s global R&D organization, which is focused on leveraging cutting edge technologies and applying them in new ways to address specific business challenges.

Paul Daugherty, chief technology officer, Accenture said

Innovation doesn’t happen singularly, it requires collaboration among people, data, and technology. By bringing all of these enabling elements together through the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience — from leading and emerging big data technologies and data visualization tools to Accenture’s large global multidisciplinary talent pool — businesses can more confidently weave collaborative, data-driven decision-making into their corporate cultures and take actions that can lead to innovation, transformation and disruption. Through the new relationships being established with data, we’ll be able to develop exciting new ways of educating, governing, working, living and more.

Accenture maintains relationships with an ecosystem of advanced analytics providers and emerging players in the analytics and big data space. Mezzanine from Oblong Industries, enables the immersive environment for the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience.

The Accenture Connected Analytics Experience is currently available in Accenture locations in New York City, San Jose, CA & Bangalore. Accenture plans to build environments in other locations around the world including Chicago, Paris, Madrid, Milan, London, Mumbai, Singapore and more. Immersive environments can also be built on premise at a company’s site.

For more information on the Accenture Connected Analytics Experience, please visit here