All Posts in startups

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Espark Viridian Accelerator [earlier covered here and here], a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups in-association with Headstart Network Foundation, announced Marketyard Agrisolutions from Pune as the winner of its – SmartUp 2017, a pan India B-plan Competition.

Image Source – ESpark Viridian

SmartUp 2017 offers a nurturing platform with competitive spark to facilitate budding entrepreneurs by validating their ideas, mentor them under globally acclaimed experts and offering access to a wide network of investors.

Marketyard is a Mobile Platform that enables Users to buy, sell and rent everything related to agriculture using Classifieds services, Hourly Weather Forecast, Digital Land Records, Local Business Listings, etc. They help farmers to directly sell to end consumer by removing the need for middlemen.

Machstatz from Bengaluru an end to end solution in the IIoT [Industrial Internet of Things] space became the first runner-up and ClinMD from Jaipur which offers help doctors to record store and digitize regular handwritten notes & prescriptions was chosen second runner-up. The winning teams were awarded a cash prize of Rs 1 Lakh, Rs 50000 & Rs 25,000 respectively.

Vibhuti Channa, Director, Espark-Viridian Accelerator, said

India has a 1.25 billion of youth population and entrepreneurship is the need of an hour. Our endeavor has been to identify budding entrepreneurs and provide them with all necessary support. It is important to nurture and guide an idea in its early stage to ensure it reaches its maximum potential.

Espark-Viridian in association with Headstart Network is committed to promoting entrepreneurship in India. The top 25 startups were shortlisted by the jury members. The event culminated in Delhi at KiroriMal College Delhi over two days dedicated to intensive one to one mentoring by expert mentors and investors followed by a pitching session.

The esteemed jury — which included Arpit Agrawal [Principal, Blume Ventures, Co-founder and Director, Headstart Network Foundation], Ashish Taneja [Managing Director, Growx Ventures], Paresh Gupta [Founder, Global Centre for Entrepreneurship and Commerce], Amit Singh [Founder & CEO, Wow Labz Co-Founder and MD, Headstart Network Foundation] and Vibhuti Channa [Director Espark- Viridian Accelerator] – selected the prize winners.

Anil Lade, Founder – Marketyard Agrisolutions, said

Such Competitions provide a good platform for young entrepreneurs to showcase their talent and gain from one on one mentoring. I am thankful to the Espark-Viridian and Headstart Network who have provided clarity in further enhancing my idea.

About Espark-Viridian

Espark-Viridian is a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups. We offer an up-to 18-month multi-center, multi-sector accelerator programme through 5 centres spread across Bangalore, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. To know more, please visit Espark-Viridian

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Each one of us come up with ideas, be it whether you are working in a corporate environment or you already have a business. However, it all depends on how well the idea is executed, the team, timing, funding, etc.

Wrike, a project management information systems software company that has various products in the project management software area has come up with a very precise and handy infographic titled – ‘Top 10 reasons startups fail‘

Top 10 Reasons Startups Fail

Infographic brought to you by Wrike project management information systems software

What according to you are some of the reasons, startups fail? Do leave your thoughts in the comments section…

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Bengaluru based home maintenance services start-up, Gapoon Online Consumer Services Pvt. Ltd, has raised USD 250,000 in a Pre-Series-A round. The investment is led by Vida Ventures and other independent and seasoned investors including Snehal Mantri, Anshu Bahadur, Partner at Cognizant and angel investors from their previous round Pankaj Kapoor, Director at one of the leading investment banks and Chandrasekhar BV, a veteran in the telecom industry.

Founded in 2015 by IIT Kanpur graduates Apoorva Mishra, Ankita Asai, Ankit Bindal and Nikhil Gupta from IIT Delhi, Gapoon is a one-stop shop for maintenance services. The company has pioneered subscription packages offering annual maintenance cover for homes & businesses resulting in long term partnerships with house owners, developers, property management aggregators, restaurants & retail outlets. It also operates on an on-demand basis for handymen services like plumbing, electrical, deep cleaning, pest control, mason/civil work, etc.

Founders of Gapoon

Apoorva Mishra, Co-founder and CEO, Gapoon, said,

This investment comes at a crucial point; Gapoon is very close to becoming the first start-up in the industry to achieve net profitability while maintaining the growth targets. The in-house developed, intelligent mapping algorithm and fully automated system has helped us achieve the favourable unit economics and offer superior service quality to our customers. This investment will be used for new initiatives towards product and technology enhancements. In the coming months, we are focused on penetrating deeper into market segments and replicate the success in other cities as well.

While customers [both homes and businesses] avail the benefits of our subscription product, the vendors earn up to 40% higher compared to other aggregators. This model drives a favourable unit economics which is easier to replicate in multiple cities. I believe this win-win-win model for customers, service providers and aggregators in the only way towards sustainable organisation of this market.

Lead investor, Ankit Solanki, Advisor at Vida Ventures, said,

We have always believed in the opportunity in the on-demand and subscription-based services for property maintenance. It was a question of finding the right balance. Gapoon’s technology optimizes all elements of the equation, which are cost of acquiring supply, clients and the cost of servicing clients. This round of investment will enable them to expand their lead in Bengaluru and replicate their model in other demand hotspots across the country.

Apart from the convenience of offering a wide range of services under one umbrella, Gapoon’s key features include its year-long warranty on all services, exceptional service quality owing to proprietary attribute mapping algorithm for vendor allocation, and the exceptional vendor training and loyalty program that drives vendors to give their best.

About Gapoon

Gapoon is a Bengaluru-based startup that operates an on-demand as well as subscription-based model for services such as deep cleaning, electricians, appliances maintenance, plumbing, civil, painting, pest control and carpentry. Gapoon has pioneered maintenance subscription packages in India – Gapoon Maintenance Cover [GMC]. It offers a comprehensive solution to any property with unlimited scope of services, trusted professionals, cashless transactions and yearlong convenience.

 

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

With the vision to bring more ‘energy’ to the Indian startup community, Shell India is inviting all energy and IT startups to enter its pan-India programme, Shell E4 [Energizing and Enabling Energy Entrepreneurs].

Through the Shell E4 programme, Shell will be scouting for startups and businesses in early, pilot, or post-pilot stages to collaborate and work together on ideas that have the potential to impact the future of energy. Shell will work with the selected cohort for a period of six months and provide them with access to Shell’s Technology and IT labs in Bengaluru, technical and commercial mentorship from within and outside of Shell, access to potential customers through its network of partners and a fixed sum investment of USD 20,000 per startup.

The Shell E4 programme builds upon the company’s global vision to support the energy sector’s evolving ecosystem. Shell has a rich history of working with entrepreneurs across the energy value chain globally. For cleaner energy solutions, Shell also introduced Make The Future campaign, under which #makethefuture Accelerator India 2017 was concluded in March this year. The programme was a platform for millennials to showcase their bright energy ideas to build solutions for the future energy challenges both globally and in India.

Commenting on the launch of the programme, Nitin Prasad, Chairman, Shell Companies in India, said

At Shell, we believe that the answers to energy challenges lie in the power of innovation. With this programme, we aim to provide a platform to energy startups that have the potential to impact the future of energy. The Shell E4 Programme provides a platform for collaboration and conversation around valuable energy transitions, offering startups an opportunity to bring their ideas to life with Shell’s guidance and support.

Shell E4 will be located at the Shell Technology Centre Bengaluru [STCB] and, is well positioned to leverage the vibrant Bengaluru ecosystem.

Important Dates for Shell E4

Following the evaluation, the selected startups will form the 1st cohort and will be incubated with Shell for a period of 6 months at their campus in Bengaluru. As part of the incubation, the cohort will gain exposure to Shell’s advanced infrastructure and IT facilities; technical and commercial mentorship; an opportunity to pitch their ideas to other potential investors and an access to Shell’s network of partners and customers in India and abroad. In addition to this, Shell will also make a fixed amount of investment. For more details and to apply visit Shell India

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

If there is one reliable thing NRIs have always vouched for and continue to invest in, it is property back home in India. Bengaluru, Kochi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Delhi have been investment hotspots. However, the lucrative investment comes with strings attached – how does one know their tenant is good, that their house is not damaged in their absence, or what if the tenant calls them from across the seas to get a plumbing problem fixed ?

Being so far off, and rarely visiting their hometowns, NRIs now are turning to property management companies to take care of the nitty gritty of their treasured properties.

Rentprop4u, a Bengaluru-based realty startup, says it has seen an almost 60 per cent increase in the number of inquiries over the past one year from NRIs in Australia, US, Canada, New Zealand and the Gulf. The company helps NRIs realize the full potential of their real estate investments.

Nagaraju M, CEO, Rentprop4u, said

Usually NRI home owners are worried about things like finding the right tenant quickly, showing the property, tenant vacation hassles and legal implications, rent variation, lack of tenant screening and house maintenance, dependency on brokers and inability to inspect the property during tenant stay.

Nagaraju lays out the current details, very specific to NRIs – nearly 25 per cent of apartments in Bengaluru are bought by NRIs. In Kochi it is about 40 per cent. Investment by NRIs in other cities such as MMR, NCR, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Dehradun varies between 5 to 10 per cent of the overall market sales.

According to the census of India 2011, out of the 90 million residential census units, 11 million units were vacant; that is about 12 per cent of the total urban housing stock. And a lot of home owners prefer to let their investments lie idle rather than face the trouble of letting them out.

Nagaraju speaks of how companies like his have now become popular with NRIs, because they offer 100 per cent property assistance – including rent assistance, rental agreements and payments, maintenance, quarterly inspection of properties with photographs taken and sent to owners. They also offer niche on-demand services such as furnishing and payment of property taxes.

Rentprop4u takes care of one other worry for NRIs – safety – through tenant screening and background verification as well. They do a police verification of the tenant through their legal team. Established in 2016, Rentprop4u currently has 200 plus registered properties and more than 400 users. Be it a single property or a large portfolio, the company is so confident of its tenant placement services that it guarantees to let out the property in less than 30 days or start paying the rent to the owner within a month.

Nagaraju M, CEO, Rentprop4u, added

We give them 15-20 per cent higher returns compared to brokers, so NRIs find our deals attractive. We can assure uninterrupted rent payments to property owners even when some of the properties are vacant for short periods.

About Rentprop4u

Rentprop4u is a Bengaluru-based realty start-up offering property management and rental solutions to owners and tenants. Established in 2016, Rentprop4u currently has 200 plus registered properties and more than 400 users.

The company offers an end-to-end online rental solution for tenants to find suitable properties at zero brokerage with minimal paperwork, while owners can make use of Rentprop4u’s services to manage their properties and maximize their rental income.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Airtel has been selected as the preferred partner for Government of Karnataka’s Start-Up Cell initiative. Shri Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT & BT, Government of Karnataka unveiled Airtel’s ‘Office-In-a-Box’, a suite of connectivity solutions specially designed for start-ups. It will be available to over 1000 start-ups registered with the Karnataka Start-Up Cell.

A power-packed collection of software tools and services tailor-made to cater to the business requirements of young startups, Airtel’s ‘Office-In-a-Box’ is available on a scale-as-you-grow model with easy payment options. The services offered include voice and data solutions, audio and web collaboration, cloud services, payments bank services, go-to-market support across SMS, MMS, Email, Voice, IVR and USSD, as well as GPS & RFID-based tracking of assets.

Startup Karnataka acts like a single-window agency through which start-ups get access to the complete ecosystem needed for their growth – right from the ideation to the enterprise stage. The Start-up Karnataka Booster Kit contains a gamut of services, such as software tools, cloud credits, access to mentors, legal and accounting consultants, as well as access to state-funded and supported incubators, among others.

Speaking at Airtel’s ‘Office-In-a-Box’ launch, Shri Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT & BT, Government of Karnataka, said

The need of the hour is to inspire and encourage young startups to think big. And the Government of Karnataka is committed to provide all the support they need to make it happen. Recently, eight MoUs were signed at the ‘Elevate 100’ conference to cater to the varied needs of startups in the state. We realize that affordable connectivity is a major concern as startups collaborate with companies across geographies. Now, with Airtel’s ‘Office-In-a-Box’ offering, startups registered with the Karnataka Start-Up Cell can easily acquire and retain customers worldwide.

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Grand Challenges-Karnataka, an initiative under the innovative Start-up Policy of the Government of Karnataka, has launched its ‘Grand Challenge Call 5 and Call 6‘, to unearth innovative solutions to reduce traffic congestion in Bengaluru City as well as tackle the perennial water shortage.

Image Source – Startup Karnataka

The cherry-picked ideas will get access to funding and go through prototyping, testing & scaling up in Bengaluru. The last date to apply for ‘Grand Challenge Call 5 and Call 6’ will be October 15th, 2017.

Anyone from any discipline in India – from individuals, researchers and faculty in colleges/ universities/government/start-ups/not-for-profit organisations, etc. can apply for the Grand Challenge by logging onto Call 5 Impact Karnataka. ‘GrandChallenge Call 5’ will focus primarily on technology innovations involving last-mile connectivity, real-time info on public transport, ease of transition from one mode of transport to the other and innovative parking solutions.

More than three-quarters of Bangloreans commuting to work each day are driving by themselves. That’s a lot of empty seats on the road – and all that traffic and congestion has a large financial, environmental, and emotional cost. With Bengaluru among the fastest growing cities in Asia, the population has rapidly increased from 53 lakh in 2001 to 87 lakh in 2011. In fact, vehicle population growth rate is even higher than population growth rate and about 5 lakh vehicles are being added to Bengaluru streets every year. Various studies have pegged the economic loss of Bengaluru’s traffic gridlock between one to five billion dollars.

Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s IT, BT & Tourism Minister, said

When we think of the future of transport, we have a tendency to picture a world in which people fly around on personal jetpacks and cars levitating down streets. In reality, the way we get around, in the short and medium term at least, will be a little less sci-fi than that. But it will still involve some truly revolutionary changes.

The future of your commute is unlikely to lie in any one big invention. Instead it will grow out of many new innovations which can be used alongside existing technologies. They will work within the context of increasingly smart transport networks that are able to respond quickly and efficiently to our ever-changing needs. ‘Grand Challenge Call 5’ is an attempt to create a big picture from small solutions.

‘Grand Challenge Call 6’ is a rallying cry to unearth innovative solutions to aide water conservation in Karnataka. The state government launched the ‘Call 6’ to generate and utilize real-time data on quality and quantity of water being utilized at individual level including water use in agriculture for predicting a potential water crisis.

Call 6 seeks crowd-sourced solutions for data generation and development of sustainable, feasible, scalable & low maintenance kits/mobile app/technology for monitoring water quality, etc.

Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s IT, BT & Tourism Minister, added

Water may very well be the new oil. A finite resource essential to consumer, agricultural and industrial users and a vital component our economic growth. That’s why water as an investment has some compelling long-term investment appeal.

This creates opportunity for startups, who can contribute to creating a sustainable water supply and participate in investments likely to experience long-term growth.

During the first phase, five innovators will be eligible for testing the proposed solution for funding of up to INR 10 lakh for a period of six months. They will have to develop and successfully demonstrate three functional prototypes [in case the system involves prototyping a new device] or demonstrate the solution for at least 10 users [in the case the system is a service/software/ app-based solution] in two locations in Karnataka. The period of live demonstration is part of the six months allocated to Phase I.

Phase two will see one innovator being selected for a further funding of up to INR 50 lakh for a period of 12 months to scale-up. The idea will be tested for ability to define and demonstrate the product/solution as well as evaluated on stability, robustness and scalability of the solution through a sustainable revenue model. User validation will also be determined through feedback.

‘Grand Challenges’ are a set of initiatives by the Karnataka government to turn crowd-sourced data-driven innovations to prime opportunities to contribute to effective, localized, and measurable change to the challenges facing Karnataka. In the process, startups with game-changing ideas, will get the golden opportunity to channelize innovations for social impact, and also grow their business in the process.

The support provided under ‘Grand Challenges’ will be catalytic in enabling startups to test and scale their innovations in target locations across Karnataka. The programme will not only provide funds but also work with the awardees for the duration of their project and beyond, to ensure project implementation. It will also offer the awardees collective experience of mentors, resources and network.

The selection criteria will be based on parameters including alignment with the mandate of the cell, the potential impact, feasibility, sustainability, accessibility & novelty of the idea proposed as well as the execution capacity.

For more information, please visit Grand Challenge 5 Official Page

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Espark Viridian Accelerator [earlier covered here and here], a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups in-association with Headstart Network Foundation, brings a unique opportunity for all the aspiring entrepreneurs- SmartUp 2017. SmartUp is a Pan India Business Plan Competition that could help win a cash prize worth Rs 1.75 lakh, entry to Espark-Viridian’s accelerator program, live one-to-one mentoring, potential to raise seed investment, network with all the who’s who of the business world.

Image Source – ESpark Viridian

Espark-Viridian in association with Headstart Network are committed to promote entrepreneurship in India. Early stage startups having original idea and clear business model with significant market research are eligible to apply. Top 25 startups will be shortlisted by selected jury members. The event would culminate with two full days dedicated to one to one mentoring from national level mentors followed by a pitching session to top rated investors wherein one could get a chance to raise a seed investment. The deadline application submission is 25th September 2017.

Vibhuti Channa, Director, Espark Viridian Accelerator, said

We, at Espark-Viridan Accelerator believe that India has tremendous potential and startups are the future of business ecosystem. This is a one-of a–kind business plan competition for budding entrepreneurs to turn their dreams into reality. Besides a potential to raising seed investment, the startups will get the opportunity for one-to one mentorship.

Amit Singh, Co-founder & MD, Headstart Network, said

SmartUp 2017 is Espark-Viridian and Headstart’s endeavor to identify and nurture India’s young entrepreneurs who have the aspiration and ability to solve big problems through their ventures. With Espark-Viridian’s enablement led program and Headstart’s country wide network -we seek to make mentoring and funding accessible to the early stage startups.

Individuals with an idea and passion for entrepreneurship need to register at SmartUp 2017  for participation.

About Espark-Viridian

Espark-Viridian is a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups. We offer an up-to 18-month multi-center, multi-sector accelerator programme through 5 centres spread across Bangalore, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. To know more, please visit Espark-Viridian