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|In: Fintech|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

MoneyTap, India’s first app-based credit line, has crossed 1,00,000 app installs in three months since launch, becoming the fastest app-based lending start-up to achieve the feat. The company has also lowered minimum salary eligibility to INR 20,000 per month and made the service available to consumers living in shared accommodation.

Since lowering the entry barrier late December 2016, MoneyTap has seen a huge demand from consumers in the lower-middle income group, with average salaries of around INR 22,000 per month and or living with their friends in shared housing.

In the last 20 days, more than 25% consumers who have applied for MoneyTap are in this category. This new category of young consumers, working in public, private or multinational companies in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities are underserved by the financial institutions and are usually shunned in the absence of credible credit history. MoneyTap realised the need to tap this segment and provide credit line to the eligible shared accommodation dwellers with credible KYC.  This is a significant number of potential customers for MoneyTap.

MoneyTap introduced the concept of a Credit Line [personal line of credit for consumers] for the first time in India when it launched in end of September 2016. “Credit Line” means that the bank will issue a limit of up to INR 5 lakhs, without any collateral or charging any interest.

The credit limit could range from INR 25,000 to INR 5 Lakhs depending on individual credit history. With a patent-pending chat interface, the free app rapidly evaluates the user’s credit in 7-minutes and tells them right then and there the amount they are eligible for. Against this limit, using the MoneyTap app, consumers can borrow as little as INR 3000 or as much as INR 5 lakhs and repay it as EMIs from 2 months to 3 years. Interest is paid only on the amount borrowed and rates can be as low as 1.25% per month. Credit limit also gets automatically topped up as soon as EMIs are paid back.

MoneyTap launched the product in September end with its first banking partner, The RBL Bank. RBL’s technology enables MoneyTap to provide instant decision and instant access to money, 24/7, irrespective of holidays. Though all actions are initiated on the MoneyTap app, per RBI guidelines, all financial transactions such as billing, repayment or withdrawals are directly dealt with the bank using secure APIs. Consumers do not have to hold a bank account or any other account with the partner bank to avail MoneyTap. As an added convenience for shopping needs, a MoneyTap RBL Credit Card is also provided to the user. This is a regular MasterCard Credit Card that is accepted at all locations and for all card purchases – offline and online.

The MoneyTap app is available on Android Playstore to all salaried employees, living in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad & Chennai. The company is continuously expanding across India and will soon be announcing other cities. Qualified customers, after completing the KYC [right from the app with no paperwork involved], will pay a one-time Line setup fee of INR 499 + tax in their first month e-settlement. This includes the cost of issuing the limit for the customer, a free MoneyTap RBL MasterCard and a slew of other benefits. There are no hidden fees or charges and every time the customer chooses to take an EMI, they will be shown the interest & any other applicable charges and the customer will be required to provide explicit consent before borrowing.

Bala Parthasarathy, Co-founder, MoneyTap says

We are humbled by the feedback we have received from our customers and are happy that we have been able to reach a large number of them. Since its inception, MoneyTap’s focus has been to enable easy access to small credit needs. The lower-middle income group in India is largely underserved by financial institutions. It is also a segment which is expanding and in need of credit. With the proliferation of smartphones in every nook & corner of the country, an expanding middle-income group and increasing ability to earn and spend, it will be interesting to see how access to a Credit Line will change their lives.

About MoneyTap

MoneyTap is a Bengaluru-based fintech startup, founded by serial entrepreneurs Bala Parthasarathy, Anuj Kacker & Kunal Varma, who are IIT/ISB alumni. Bala has co-founded multiple startups in Silicon Valley including Snapfish (sold to Hewlett Packard), which he helped grow to 100M users and $300M in revenue. After moving to India in 2007, he volunteered for UIDAI under Mr. Nandan Nilekani before starting AngelPrime in 2011 (now Prime Venture Partners) where he helped create companies like ZipDial (sold to Twitter), EZETap, Happay, etc. Kunal (ex Texas Instruments) & Anuj (ex Airtel & JWT) co-founded Tapstart that grew to 300K users and turned profitable in 2 years. MoneyTap works in very close partnerships with various banks and other financial institutions to make the process painless and on-app. For more details, please visit MoneyTap

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Shell is calling all energy start-ups to enter a national competition that will help develop their bright energy business ideas. The Shell #makethefuture Accelerator India 2017, launched in India for the first time, aims to encourage and accelerate the development of ideas that can help provide more and cleaner energy solutions.

Globally, we are using more energy than ever before. At the same time, the significance of climate change means the world must reduce CO2 emissions. We need innovative thinking to make today’s energy go further and to find cleaner energy to take us towards a lower carbon world. Great ideas come from conversation, collaboration, partnerships; great minds coming together. The aim of the Shell #makethefuture Accelerator India programme is to seek out and support solutions for our energy future.

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

At Shell, we believe that collaboration is vital to our purpose of ‘powering progress together for more and cleaner energy’ & to solve the complex global energy challenges. The #makethefuture Accelerator programme provides a platform for innovation, collaboration and conversation around the energy transitions and global energy future while offering a chance for energy start-ups with bright ideas to demonstrate their ability in bringing those ideas to life.

Shell #makethefuture currently supports seven bright energy ideas globally including GravityLight, a UK start-up that, with Shell’s support, recently launched their clean energy solution to communities in Kenya.

Who can apply

The competition is open to startups with products, technologies, services or initiatives that fulfill one or more of the following criteria:

  • improves energy efficiency
  • reduces energy waste;
  • reduces CO2 emissions;
  • generates energy from a new source
  • broadens access to energy.

Enterprises must

  • Operate in an Indian city
  • Have an India registered entity
  • Be in post-pilot or prototype stage

Now, Shell is bringing the #makethefuture Accelerator programme to India to give start-ups across the country the opportunity to collaborate showcasing and developing their bright energy ideas.

Be a part of Make the Future Singapore festival and win ? 10 lakh

Interested energy start-ups will need to apply through an application form available on Shell’s India website. Registration opens on 16th January and will close by midnight 3rd February.

The top 3 finalists will get the opportunity to participate in an Accelerator Event, gather useful insights for their final pitch presentation and connect with like-minded energy start-ups from across the world at Make the Future Singapore, a festival of ideas and innovation for Asia being held in March 2017. During the Accelerator event, the finalists will receive coaching from experts, network and exchange tips with other Asian start-ups on how to grow their ideas into a reality.

These top 3 finalists will then pitch their ideas to an esteemed jury including senior leaders from Shell and Nitin Prasad, Chairman of Shell India at the launch of the Shell Technology Centre Bangalore by March end 2017. Seven semi-finalists will be invited to also showcase their ideas to leaders from business, government and media at the launch event.

The winning start-up will be awarded prize money of ? 10 lakh along with mentorship by senior Shell and industry leaders that will help build a strong value proposition and enable them to access funding to scale.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Tally Solutions Private Limited, a premier Indian software product company, in association with one of the leading financial news channel CNBC Awaaz and business media house The Guild, conducted its successful SME Futures program in Gurgaon, in a mission to train and educate the [non-corporate sector] SME community for easy GST compliance and transition along with discussion on SME related issues and topics.

The event was attended by 200 businesses, members from several Industry associations and CAs. The event was designed to equip the participants on fundamentals, impact on business and preparation in the realm of GST and its seamless adoption among others.

The topics covered in the program included the Journey from USD 1 Million to USD 100 Million Mark, Make in India and the Competitiveness of SMEs in a Globalized Economy; driving growth through innovation and new technologies; deciphering the nuances and impact of GST implementation on SMEs in the coming future. The event was a grand success, helping the SME community in decoding GST and reaping the benefits of technology for transition and implementation.

Sathya Prasad, CFO Tally Solutions Pvt Ltd

Speaking about the meet held in Gurgaon, Bharat Goenka, MD-Tally Solutions said

It is evident from the overwhelming response to our GST program held in Gurgaon, that every businessman is anxious to understand and get ready for this massive change.  Our partnership with CNBC Awaaz-The Guild was motivated by this need to maximize reach to the business community, who are likely to be the most dramatically effected section. We are not just preparing the right products and technologies for them, but also wanting to ensure they are equipped with the right understanding of GST, such that they can transition effectively and take advantage of this revolutionary tax regime.

We have already conducted hundreds of such events, and are executing several thousand more to get as many businesses of India ready as possible.

Speaking at the event, Sathya Prasad, CFO-Tally Solutions said

We are glad to see such an overwhelming response to our event. Gurgaon has evolved as an Industrial and manufacturing hub, as the symbol of rising new India. The entire region will stand to benefit a lot from GST compliance and for that to happen it is very important for them to become aware about the new tax structure. This is one of the reasons for us having chosen Gurgaon as a hub for the series.

Tally partnering with The Guild & CNBC Awaaz, plans to drive the SME Futures program for the SME community in 12 key cities during the course of the next 3 months.

About The Guild

The Guild is India’s first progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, business, leadership, and design. In an era where digital revolution is changing business, and business is changing the world. Discarding the old rules of business, The Guild is set out to chronicle how these changing companies will create and compete, to highlight new business practices, and to showcase the teams and individuals who are inventing the future and reinventing business. The Guild will provide an insider’s access to India’s innovation economy, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

NEA & Orios backed retail analytics provider Intelligence Node Consulting Pvt. Ltd., raised Rs. 5 crores from Mumbai based specialized financing NBFC firm BlackSoil Capital Private Limited. Intelligence Node is also backed by marquee angel investors, viz. Gaurav Sharma, Sunil Varrier, Arindam Das, Anupam Mittal and Gul Mukhey.

Launched in 2012 as a consulting service, Intelligence Node is providing technology-based products and service providers to global retail players. It has a total customer base of 35 clients and covers over 1 bn+ unique products of over 130,000 brands. The company’s two products [InCompetitor & InOptimizer] enable the customers to get an overview of the competitive landscape in terms of pricing & visibility. It also suggests the client the most optimum pricing for its products. Its strong back-end analytics process is able to support a wide range of offerings in terms of refined data in the most efficient matter.

Sanjeev Sularia, CEO and Co-founder of IntelligenceNode said

IntelligenceNode has some great aspirations in reaching out to blue-chip MNC’s in global retail. The utility for our products & services is immense and with the help of venture debt provided by BlackSoil our business has got optimum fuel to run and grow faster in this industry.

Ankur Bansal, Director, BlackSoil Capital Private Limited. said

We found the products, the technology, the founders and the utility of IntelligenceNode very impressive & path breaking. The company has strong client traction coupled with zero client churn. We have great hopes from the company and wish the team all the luck for its future endeavors.

After investments in Cloud based telephony company Knowlarity, Indian arm of NASDAQ listed company Groupon Nearbuy, BlackSoil has completed its third Venture debt transaction with Intelligence Node. In six months of its operation, the NBFC has reached a INR 75 Crores loan book across 7 transactions and in process to expand their loan book to ~INR 100 Crores by March 2017.

BlackSoil is backed by the family offices of respected corporate houses such as: Gala family-Promoters of Navneet Education Limited, Shetty family-Promoters of Avvashya Group and Virendra Gala, a renowned real estate expert in Mumbai.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Trainman, the online platform catering to Indian Railway travelers by assisting them with various train related information and intelligence, has tied up with Datawind, a leading provider of low cost internet connectivity and wireless web access products. The partnership will mean that the Trainman app would be pre-installed in all Datawind tablets and mobile handsets, enabling easy access to information related to train travel and queries.

By virtue of this tie-up, consumers of Datawind tablets and mobile handsets will be able to access the pre installed Trainman app. Upon clicking the icon on the home screen, consumers will be directed to the app where they will be able to check vital information like PNR status, seat availability, train schedules, etc all at one go. With intelligence built over a base of two crore PNR numbers, Trainman’s core strength lies in its wait-list ticket prediction, with an accuracy of over 90%.

Talking about the tie-up, Vineet Chirania, Director & CEO, Trainman said

We are extremely happy with our tie-up with Datawind. Datawind which is the market leader in affordable tablets and smart phones industry has a widespread reach in terms of its customer base. Since most train travelers too are the ones that are on a lookout for affordable means of transportation, there is a clear synergy between the segments of people who we are aiming to tap with this tie up. We are positive that it will help us expand our presence in untapped territories, by being accessible on their handsets and tablets.

Speaking on the development, Suneet Singh Tuli, President & CEO, Datawind, said

Datawind devices are meant for the common man and taking the same vision forward we have tied up with Trainman, which also provides services catering to the common man on a day to day basis for train travel purpose. We believe that people will be greatly benefited through the association between Datawind and Trainman, wherein the customer will not have the hassle of downloading the app since it comes pre-installed on our devices.

With the advancement of digital platforms and the growing smart phone industry, Trainman has witnessed close to 8 lakh app downloads and receives over 3 lakh visits a day across its site and apps. For the ease of customers, Trainman has also tied up with Cleartrip to enable them to book train tickets, in addition to associating with Indian online transportation network Ola to solve last mile connectivity issues.

Trainman App is available on the Play Store and can be downloaded from here

About Trainman

The uncertainty of confirmation for waitlisted tickets coupled with the complex rules and regulations of Indian Railways paved way for the launch of Trainman, a smart and simple system that not only predicts the confirmation probability of waitlisted tickets but is one stop shop for all train related queries. Trainman’s core strength lies in its waiting ticket prediction functionality with over 90% accuracy. Apart from PNR status prediction, the constantly evolving platform also provides features like Automatic Trip Detection from IRCTC SMS, automatic Notification on Change in PNR Status, Seat Availability Calendar, Train Schedule and Running Status, Live Station Status and Platform Number and Coach Position among others. For more information, please visit Trainman

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

A person walks into a hypermarket on a busy weekend and shops a bunch of expensive merchandise. He carefully scans the checkout counters and selects a cashier who seems to be a trainee as he has done it many times in many stores. His turn comes and since total bill runs into a very high sum, cashier asks for a card. The person extends a shiny new card to the cashier but what happens next makes the person with the merchandise sweat even in cold winter. He was caught carrying a forged credit card and is asked to step aside. The fraud was detected thanks to a technology called Real Time Data Analytics deployed by the card company.

Image Source – LinkedIn

The next scenario – a home maker logs into her favorite ecommerce portal to buy the curtains for her living room. While browsing the curtains, she taps into a set of queen size bed sheets but goes back finding the right color of curtains as that’s her priority. For ecommerce back-end, the mere tap on the bed sheets were enough to know what the customer may like. She checks out with a set of curtains along with a nice matching set of bed sheets. What happened? In technical language, it’s called using clickstream data to help customer find what she likes in real time a.k.a Real Time Data Analytics. Based on the product clicks along with the recent browsing history of colors of curtains, the customer was recommended with bed sheets which she may like and ultimately buy. The customer is happy to find the items and eCommerce has sold one extra piece of merchandise without any investment in promotion.

Today, Newer innovations are changing the way technology based business is managed with advance developments in artificial intelligence, big data analysis and predictive technologies. IQLECT is leveraging its proprietary innovation in helping corporations add newer revenue streams which may not have been possible earlier or help in saving resources with real time analytics which may been wasted so far.

IDC predicts that by 2020, organizations who can analyze all relevant data and deliver actionable insight will achieve an extra USD 430 billion in productivity gains over their less analytically oriented peers.

Even though the need for real time analytics is on the rise, the technology options are limited and are not enough to support the needs adequately. Doing real time analytics could be tough especially when data ingestion, data analysis, pattern recognition, actionable insights extraction etc all should happen while the event is still happening. This could require responding to the interesting events in less than a second or sometime even less. There are only a handful of companies worldwide which are in high tech field of Real Time Data Analytics and IQLECT is a leading platform from ASIA.

IQLECT simplifies the overall proposition and offers a fully baked off-the- shelf software converged platform, either on the cloud or as a converged hardware-software all-in-a-box platform. The convergence of all necessary software and hardware in one box enables the users to get up and running in a few hours, thus making the proposition highly scalable, cost effective and easy to integrate and accelerates the time to market for enterprises. Enterprises can use IQLECT platform in various ways.

A representative chart as follows:

Looking ahead, Sachin Sinha, Founder & CEO, IQLECT, said

We are expanding across geography and many industry verticals. Over the last few years we have built and shaped a cutting edge platform and that gives us an opportunity to showcase our product to leading companies and Industry peers globally.

About IQLECT

IQLECT is a big data analytics company based in Bengaluru. IQLECT offers a hardware-software converged platform, for users to enable real-time data analysis for their businesses, in a cost-effective and process-efficient manner.  The company has raised US$2 million in seed funding from Exfinity Venture Partners. Exfinity venture partners is backed by software industry veterans such as TV Mohandas Pai, V. Balakrishnan, Deepak Ghaisas, Girish Paranjpe among others. The company has used these funds in expansion of team and product development. For more information, please visit IQLECT

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

MobiDent, a Bengaluru based dental care company that provides inexpensive dental care by dentists at home has raised a round of Pre-Series A funding from New York based DanGold Investment Corp.  The funds will be utilized towards rolling out home dental services in twelve new markets that include metros and mini metros. With the current round, MobiDent will hire 250 dentists and invest in strengthening digital technology, marketing & sales.

Started by Dr Devaiah, a dentist with over 20 years of experience, and Vivek Madappa, a serial entrepreneur, MobiDent’s Dental clinic in a suitcase is the first and one of its kind innovation that aims to make oral hygiene and preventive dental protection inexpensive and delivered at homes.

In Nov 2015, MobiDent was shortlisted as one among the Top 10 ideas out of 19,000 startup ventures by Economic Times Power of an Idea competition. In March 2016 MobiDent was awarded the best startup idea by Royal Academy of Engineering London. Earlier in August 2016, MobiDent secured funding from IIM- Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE).

MobiDent’s Vivek Madappa[L] and Dr. Devaiah [R]

Vivek Madappa, CEO and Co–Founder, MobiDent said

In the 21st century health care delivery must be designed to be inexpensive and easily accessible. The traditional model of health care delivered only at  hospitals & clinics is not economically sustainable due to very high real estate & infrastructure costs. Also the traditional model of revenue share with doctors leads to ethical conflicts. The time is right for disruptive innovation using digital technology and portable equipments.

We are excited to bring on board DanGold Investment Corp who can help us fuel our next phase of growth.  The investment will enable us to enhance our technology platform, strengthen marketing & sales and hire 250 dentists across the country.  The funds will also be used to expand our footprint across Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai and Hyderabad within the next three months.

Over the last 2 years MobiDent has been able to create a need for oral hygiene & preventive dental care among the educated and health conscious consumers with its awareness campaign ‘good health begins with the health of the mouth’

In India the state of the dental industry is appalling. In the Metro towns,  the ratio of a dentist to population is 1:20,000 and in rural areas it is 1:3,00,000. Every year 30,000 dental students graduate. Yet,  unlike other professional courses, there is no organised industry or company waiting to hire them. MobiDent  was started with an aim to create an organised industry for dentists. In the next three years, MobiDent plans to hire 3000 dentists and train 1000 dental hygienists.

Ashu Chahal, Managing Partner, DanGold Investment Corp added

MobiDent is fulfilling a large unmet need with its disruptive home delivery business model. We believe the highly talented team at MobiDent will revolutionize the dental eco system in India.

MobiDent’s business model has been executed across three verticals-Homes, Corporates and Hospital chains. Over the last 24 months, Mobident has served 51,000 patients across 510+ companies and has partnered with more than 20 hospitals  across Bangalore, Mysore, Pune and Ahmedabad.

About MobiDent

MobiDent, a Bengaluru based start-up started in 2014 by Vivek Madappa, a serial entrepreneur and Dr Devaiah, a reputed dentist trained in Switzerland, has launched ‘Dental clinic in a suitcase’ to deliver inexpensive dental care at homes. For more information, please visit MobiDent

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Google India reaffirmed its commitment to digitally empower India’s 51 million strong small and medium business community. Making the announcements at an event held in the city today, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, spoke to representatives from hundreds of small and medium business from across the country on the benefits of the web and digital technology.

During his address, Sundar Pichai said

The Internet is a powerful equalizer and we are motivated to bring the benefits of information and technology to as many people as possible. Building for everyone and making it available in the hands of as many people is at the heart and core of what we do. And we do this by investing in open ecosystems.

Referring specifically to small and medium businesses, Pichai added

The Internet and digital technology will be an engine of growth for the Indian economy. Today, anyone can become an entrepreneur, a developer, or a creator, but it is important that they have the right tools and skills to digitize. We believe it is important for us to invest in training and equipping these individuals and small businesses to accelerate their journey of growth.

Setting the context for the initiative Google unveiled a joint research study with KPMG titled Impact of internet and digitization on SMBs in India. The study reiterates that 68% of the 51 million Indian SMBs are offline. Highlighting the macro-economic impact of the internet, the research found that rising penetration and greater uptake for digital by SMBs could help increase their contribution to India’s GDP by 10 percentage points, taking it up to 46-48% by 2020.

Ascertaining the benefits of going digital for small businesses, it determined that profits of digitally engaged SMBs grow twice as fast compared to offline SMBs. Likewise digitally engaged businesses are able to grow their customer base significantly with 52% catering to customers beyond their home city versus only 29% offline SMBs. The report cites the lack of understanding of the benefits of digital technologies and technical skills as the essential reasons for being offline.

To address the gap, Google announced the launch of Digital Unlocked, a training program to empower thousands of Indian SMBs with essential digital skills that will enable them to get online and start using the power of the internet to grow their business. Google also previewed My Business Websites, an easy-to-use offering to help businesses to have a rich, mobile optimized digital presence that will be launched later this year.

With Digital Unlocked, Google is committed to ensuring that every single small business in India that wants to go digital has access to quality training. The offline training is being conducted in partnership with FICCI and over the next three years, 5,000 workshops will be held across 40 Indian cities. The online training comprises a set of 90 self-paced video tutorials, curated specifically for India and is available free of charge here. The tutorials cover a comprehensive set of topics ranging from building a web presence and driving online growth to reaching customers over mobile and video. The training’s are certified by Google, Indian School of Business and FICCI.

Further, for India’s mobile-first audience, Google also launched Primer, a free mobile app uniquely designed to teach digital marketing skills in a quick, easy and interactive way. It is available for download through the Google Play and iOS app store. Primer also works offline and is currently available in English and Hindi with Tamil, Telugu and Marathi versions coming shortly.

At the event, Google also previewed My Business Websites, aimed at equipping the vast majority of small businesses with a simple way to start their digital journey by creating  a free, mobile optimised website, easily and instantly. Available for Google My Business users later in the year, this new feature will provide simple, templated, editable websites for small businesses created from their data and photos on Google Maps. My Business Websites will be available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam.

Several small businesses that have leveraged Google’s products and technologies were also present at the event. Three of them-Walnut, GoCoop and Maganlal Dresswalla-were in conversation with Sundar Pichai and shared their journey to digital using Google offerings including Google My Business, Google AdWords as well as the Google Cloud Platform.

The announcement is a continuation of Google’s efforts to support Digital India. Last year Google had launched Google My Business, a program aimed at helping small medium businesses get an online presence on Google Search and Google Maps, without having to invest in a website or domain. Over 8 million Indian SMBs are already on these platforms, with thousands more coming online every month.