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|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Qyura, from the Spanish word ‘Cure’ aims to educate users on and about the available healthcare solutions around them, enabling them to make informed decisions in case of any medical requirement. Unlike any other e-healthcare providers in the market, Qyura is not just about doctor bookings or medicine delivery, but covers nearly every aspect of healthcare ranging from getting an X-ray done from the nearest diagnostic centre to calling for an ambulance in case of an emergency. Qyura is also the first and only provider in the category which networks hospitals and enables the users to make the right choice.

Image Source - Twitter
Image Source – Twitter

It is a platform that is designed to enhance revenues, reputation and operational efficiency as well as reduce expenditure for the healthcare service providers. The mobile application has been launched in three cities – Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Users can also avail all the services offered by Qyura through the website.

In a span of 60 days, Qyura has been successful in partnering with 2000+ medical service providers and boasts of names like SRL, Manipal Hospital, Apollo Spectra Hospitals amongst others.

Additionally, to expand fast and penetrate multiple markets quickly, Qyura will be entering into a Franchisee model. It will support its franchisees by offering them 360° marketing, tech and operational support. The emphasis would be on the philosophy of building up entrepreneurship and corporations through their designed network infused with the company culture.

Commenting on the launch, Siddhant Jatia, Founder & Director, Qyura said

Healthcare in India is still a severely unorganised sector. Patients are subjected to indefinite queues, bad customer service, unequal pricing and most importantly, severe neglect in times of dire need. Moreover, critical information with regards to medical institutions, doctors, blood banks, emergency services – is fragmented, unclear and sometimes entirely unavailable.

Qyura aims to organize the medical sector to allow patients to make informed decisions by becoming both a discovery platform as well as an opinion generating medium. Be it preventive healthcare, a person’s day today medical requirement or assistance at the time of emergencies, Qyura is the go-to place for everyone.

The platform aims to offer booking assistance, reminders before appointments, letting the patient know if the doctor cancels and a gamut of impromptu calls-to-action which demonstrates the extra-mile to its users.

The company will also be launching a pharmacy module, where medicines will be delivered at the user’s doorstep.

About Qyura

The brand Qyura is owned by Medicraft Technologies Pvt. Ltd which is a completely self-funded. Promoted by the Jatia Business House in Kolkata, a group which has a century old legacy in business, it aims to revolutionize the e-health segment with both head and heart. The Jatia Group, under the young and energetic leadership of 24 year old Siddhant, has seen steady growth since his entry into the business at only 16 years of age and is currently diversifying its activities into the e-healthcare sphere by launching India’s first, one-of- its-kind 360° market aggregator.

Siddhant is a fourth generation entrepreneur from Kolkata with about 7 years of experience in business and marketing. He aims to bridge the gap between health and care through his latest venture. Qyura will be soon launched in cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Indore to name a few. For more information, please visit Qyura

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments
On-demand repair services & refurbishment company, Gadgetwood raises approximately USD 6 million in funding from Carpediem Capital, an India focused private equity fund, and its investors. Abhishek Sharman, Founder and Managing Director of Carpediem Capital will be joining the board of the company as part of the investment.
Founded in 2013, by three young entrepreneurs Jayant Jha, Ankit Saraf and Anmol Gupta, Gadgetwood offers the Indian consumer, reliable repair and support services for mobiles and tablets across all brands. The company also operates in the refurbished device sales markets.
Other value-added solutions offered by Gadgetwood include warranties and insurance to new smartphone buyers, and warranty management services to warranty selling companies. Gadgetwood has state-of-the-art repair facilities and its in-house repair capabilities allow the company to offer after-repair warranty on all successful repairs. The company repairs in excess of 10,000 devices every month and is an authorized service provider for a leading mobile manufacturer.
Speaking about the investment, Jayant Jha, Co-Founder & CEO, Gadgetwood, said
The team at Gadgetwood is committed to high levels of customer service and satisfaction. India is the second largest mobile market globally, having sold 100 million phones last year, thereby creating a significant opportunity to service these devices. By providing end-to-end solutions for the entire product life-cycle, we aim to become the Most Preferred & Trusted Service Provider to our customers, and a leader in the organized consumer electronics repair & refurbishment industry.
We plan to utilize this round of funding towards geographical expansion, creating a nationwide network for servicing mobile devices and selling refurbished products. We intend to establish a presence in 10 cities across the country over the next year, and broaden the scope of our repairs capabilities to include, laptops, wearable tech, LED TVs, etc.
We look forward to the support of Carpediem Capital, while building a credible service organisation providing best in class services for every mobile device in the country.
Commenting on the investment, Abhishek Sharman, Founder & Managing Director, Carpediem Capital said
The investment in Gadgetwood is very much in line with Carpediem’s philosophy to invest in emerging leaders in the organized services category.
The repairs & refurbishment market in India is highly fragmented and unorganised, and there is a significant opportunity for a company like Gadgetwood to create a scalable business servicing a large gap in the industry. Since their inception the company has strived to become the category leader in the markets in which it operates. Furthermore, we believe that the Gadetwood team is driven to provide every customer a fulfilling experience with the most personal device in the customer’s life.
Carpediem Capital’s earlier investments include Adinath Agro and Briyani Blues

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Espark-Viridian, a joint venture between Viridian Ventures and Europe’s most dynamic business accelerator Entrepreneurial Spark, UK, is now accepting applications for the October 2016 Batch.

Image Source - Twitter
Image Source – Twitter

Espark-Viridian : Build People who Build Businesses

Espark-Viridian is a business accelerator that aims at growing the Indian startup ecosystem by helping entrepreneurs transform their ideas into realizable and feasible businesses, through its 18 month programme. A tested model adopted from its parent accelerator, Entrepreneurial Spark, UK, has an amazing track record and so far, there is a success rate of 88% with more than 650+ Startups enabled* [Entrepreneurial Spark, UK figures].

In sync with the government’s growing support to the young entrepreneurs, around the country, Espark-Viridian has expanded its acceleration programme to Chandigarh and Mumbai with the launch of #StartSomething campaign.

Espark-Viridian : What’s in it for YOU, the entrepreneur

Through a national network of accelerator centers that follow a programme based approach to building entrepreneurs, Espark-Viridian will provide a comprehensive platform that includes infrastructure, access to seed capital and mentoring.

In the initial 45 days of the Programme, shortlisted startups would go through an Idea Validation and Market Feasibility phase. This phase would help them understand the ground-level impact of their idea. An Enabler would be assigned to each team. The Enabler keeps track of the progress of the startup and helps them shape their ideas into a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or make it market ready. Successful entrepreneurs, Mentors and experts from the industry act as Mentors in the Programme. Shortlisted startups would get the necessary support in the Fund Raising Process so that they can take their startup to the next-level.

The Espark-Viridian has the following to offer for entrepreneurs:

  • Multi center and multi sector innovation environment
  • A large portfolio of mentors and passionate enablers
  • Opportunities to raise seed funding
  • Pool of service providers to smoothen daily processes
  • Access to global markets and networking opportunities
  • World class infrastructure and other amenities
  • Weekly workshops and events to enhance business skills

In the last one year of its entry into India, close to 25 startups have graduated from Espark-Viridian accelerator across sectors ranging from tech to farming, with a belief to not only build a business, but also the entrepreneur behind the business.

Espark-Viridian : Graduated Startups

Some of the startups graduated from their earlier batch are below

Startups Graduated from espark-viridian accelerator
Startups Graduated from the Espark-Viridian accelerator

Espark-Viridian : #StartSomething and How to apply

Espark-Viridian has key industry partners namely AWS Activate, Paytm, HeadStart, IAmWire, YourStory, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. The intake of early stage startups and entrepreneurs, for the first batch commencing this October is in process.

Along with inviting applications for the October 2016 batch for all the four centers (Mumbai, Delhi, Gandhinagar and Chandigarh), Espark-Viridian will also be hosting #SparkSessions in all the four cities, to meet aspiring startups and entrepreneurs.

You can follow Espark-Viridian on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  To apply for the Programme, please visit ESpark-Viridian Application Page. If you want any more information or have any doubts about the Programme, please leave them in the comments section or email at himanshu.sheth@gmail.com

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

GenNext Hub is the startup scalerator by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) that is nurturing digital entrepreneurship in India. At GenNext Hub, RIL is catalysing a unique start-up ecosystem, which rests on the tripod of talent, technology and trust. This venture is aimed at spotting and encouraging talent, helping them harness their technology and backing them by putting total trust in them. The applications for the Winter 2016 program are open until Sunday, 2nd October 2016.

During the four-month-long programme, GenNext Hub conducts workshops and mentoring sessions for start-ups in the areas of customer development, market traction, operations, product road-map, fund raising and pitching. It also provides expertise in IP, legal, financial compliance, HR and specific sectorial expertise. GenNext Hub is uniquely positioned as a global programme that helps start-ups think big and grow fast.

With its structured program, GenNext Hub is able to revisit, refine and reinforce the startups’ core product offering and business model. Its rich mentor panel consists of thought-leaders, industry icons, subject matter experts and established entrepreneurs. Along with the external mentors, startups at GenNext Hub also have access to select leaders of RIL for business and technology guidance. The resources made available through GenNext Hub’s global partner network including Microsoft Accelerator, offers startups a holistic support system. Startups leverage the networking events organized by GenNext Hub for both customer and investor connects.

What truly makes GenNext Hub a Scalerator is the unparalleled access to RIL for the startups to potentially collaborate and co-innovate. With its diverse portfolio of businesses across various sectors and domains, RIL is able to provide the testing bed for the startups to validate their technology and business, execute Proof of Concept (PoC) and develop win-win partnerships.

Startups of Summer 2016

Codemojo: Retaining users is a tough job in today’s competitive world of apps and websites. Codemojo offers customer engagement with 10 lines of code & 10 minutes of API integration for omni channel businesses to increase daily & monthly active user base through loyalty, behavior, gamification, referral, wallet, etc. According to the company, the cost of retaining a loyal user is currently $4 with a 125% Year-on-Year (YoY) increase translating into a $40 Billion market. Codemojo has recently raised investment from CIO Angel Network (CAN). For more information, please visit codemojo.io/

Dattus: About 75% of the industrial equipment are over 20 years old and costs $100 Billion annually due to downtime. DATTUS is an industrial IoT company providing seamless hardware and software solutions to sense, connect, visualize and analyze industrial equipment to ensure a long lifespan and to reduce the cost of maintenance. The company was founded by winning multiple business plan competitions through which they raised $250,000. They are the winner of the MIRA Awards, ‘The Best of Tech in Indiana’ for 2016. Recently they have raised Series Seed round from U.S. based venture capitalists. For more information, please visit https://www.dattus.com/

Don’t Scratch Your Head (DSYH): Lack of seamless reconciliation of sales and inventory causes significant losses for sellers on e-commerce market places. DSYH is next generation data-analytics company that solves the reconciliation problem with a cloud-based solution. The company has engaged major market places and retailers in the Indian ecosystem to address the $500+ Million opportunity and has raised $250,000 angel investment from Venture Catalysts. For more information, please visit http://www.dsyh.in/

Happy2Refer (H2R): It is a pain to reach and engage quality passive talent through traditional job portals and recruiters. H2R is changing the way of hiring by leveraging the power of multi-degree referrals to spot and engage passive talent. The company says that the Indian staffing market is a $4.2 Billion opportunity and it has already acquired an impressive list of clientele including Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive, Shaadi.com, etc. For more information, please visit happy2refer.com/

Headspin: With growing number of mobile devices being used in various cellular networks, it is very challenging for app developers to understand how their apps behave from remote locations. Backed by Google Ventures and other major Silicon Valley based investors, Headspin makes it possible to test apps on any device with real SIM cards over cloud on massive scale. Potentially all apps with 500,000+ global users will need Headspin. For more information, please visit https://headspin.io/

Megdap: Only 10% of India’s population speaks English while majority of the digital communication happens in English. Megdap solves this problem through TexLang, a language technology platform for near time & accurate language translation. Megdap is engaged with major banking customers. For more information, please visit www.megdap.com/

NavStik: Each commercial drone application is unique and requires high level of customization. Through a single platform called FlytOS, NavStik Labs is able to address the unique need of every commercial drone application. The market opportunity is estimated to reach $100+ Billion by 2022. NavStik has recently raised investment from 7 prominent angel investors. For more information, please visit www.navstik.org/

Recipe Book: Figuring out what to cook on a daily basis is always a challenge given today’s busy lifestyle. Recipe Book is an app that makes it extremely easy to discover new and interesting recipes. The app is an intelligent recipe recommendation and discovery platform based on Image Recognition and Natural Learning Processing (NLP). They were featured in Google I/O 2016 and was the first Indian app to be in Google Play Editors’ Choice. Recipe Book for Android can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/z8xxub8

Tagalys: Personalizing online retailers’ website to match the individual users’ taste is a big challenge that leads to lower conversion to sales. Tagalys maximizes e-commerce revenues by personalizing visitor-product engagement across features like site search, browsing and recommendations. Tagalys is targeting customers with more than $5 Million of annual revenues which leads to an estimated total market opportunity of approximately $5 Billion. For more information, please visit www.tagalys.com/

Applications for the Winter 2016 program are open until Sunday, 2nd October 2016. Interested startups may click here to apply now!

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

IBM and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad announced the first-of-its kind Cognitive Tech based Challenge-Cognitive Entrepreneurship Challenge. The Challenge will reach out to students and start-ups across India.  Registrations started on September 5, 2016 with various rounds and the finale is expected to happen towards mid-November 2016.

Cognitive Entrepreneurship Challenge (CEC) is an IBM led initiative wherein students and start-ups will be trained via interactive workshops on Cognitive based API on Bluemix. CEC is part of Masterplan 2016-which is an annual competition held within IIM-A where students and startups build business solutions and win exciting prizes. The Cognitive track will be an integral part of Masterplan 2016.

The main objective of CEC is to encourage young entrepreneurs and the student community to build business solutions around capabilities using IBM’s Cognitive platform-Bluemix. Bluemix is a platform as a Service (PaaS) offering from IBM based on open standards and cloud to build, deploy, manage and run omni-channel applications like web and mobile, big data and other smart services. Other than the IBM Bluemix platform, students will also have access to other relevant IBM technology platforms in the areas of Analytics and Security.

The participants will be evaluated and mentored by the IBM India Watson team. Students across all engineering and management disciplines will be invited to take part in this event.

Prof. Anish Sugathan, faculty of Business Policy, and the Masterplan faculty advisor at IIM-A said

Cognitive computing is fast augmenting human knowledge, capabilities and experience. Recent applications of this technology in data analytics, financial services, medical diagnostics and public service delivery shows potential to generate tremendous societal and enterprise value.

Specifically, in the case of rapidly digitizing Indian economy, there is vast untapped potential for creative applications of cognitive technologies by enterprises, entrepreneurs and change-makers. IIM-A Masterplan 2016 is  excited to partner with IBM, which brings IBM’s legendary Watson technology — that beat humans on the game of Jeopardy -to the vast pool of CEC participants and startups to help them create cutting-edge solutions.

Dr. Prashant Pradhan, Watson India Lead, IBM India / South Asia said

We are pleased to partner with IIM-Ahmedabad on the first-ever Cognitive Entrepreneur Challenge in India. In the cognitive era, we see various ecosystem constituents coming together to co-create game changing applications to solve real world challenges. IBM is committed to creating this innovation ecosystem by opening up Watson APIs to the world. India as a region has tremendous potential for applying Cognitive at scale, and Indian entrepreneurs have shown tremendous creativity and passion in applying technology to create value. So we really see this as the start of an exciting partnership, and a testimony to our commitment to make India Digital

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Online go-to-destination portal for fun-tastic activities & trips, interesting experiences and exciting deals-TripXOXO ties-up with India’s leading integrated e-payment processing company CyberPlat for a 360-degree content distribution across India. TripXOXO has over 25,000 tours, activities and experiences available for booking from over 140 countries.

With this tie-up TripXOXO will be able to reach out to their potential customers-families, solo travellers, couples, small groups and business travellers through CyberPlats wide network of distributors and channel partners across the country. CyberPlat’s network currently services over 300+ partners and reaches out to over 500,000 touch points in the B2B and B2C space covering retail networks, online websites, mobile based businesses, self-service kiosks, POS-terminals, cash desks, amongst others, both in rural and urban India. This association will help TripXOXO increase their market penetration and increase sales volume.

TripXOXO has over 1000 attractions and experiences from all over India on their website and allows booking for attractions like Adlabs Imagica, Kidzania, EsselWorld, food & vineyard tours, sailing trips, bike tours, road trips and many other exciting travel options. They also facilitate airport transfers at more than 2000 airports across the world.

The portal also offers dining deals in more than 100 cities across the world, real time tickets to 300+ monuments, 5000+ tours in less $10 USD and more than 150 free tours that makes TripXOXO a promising platform for all outbound solutions across the globe and for the Indian traveller they provide the comfort of paying in INR for all bookings.

Ms. Heena Akhtar, Founder, TripXOXO said

With CyberPlat we will get a nationwide distribution channel for our products. Every neighbourhood will have an authorized partner where customers can make the bookings. We will also have the facility for offline payment collections which will make the booking process easier, especially, for customers who like to pay in cash. Through this association, we will have a wider reach and our customers will get an easy access to our gamut of products and services.

Commenting on their tie-up, Alok Jha, MD, CyberPlat India said

Almost 41% of travel gross bookings takes place online today, with the increasing Internet and mobile Internet penetration rates playing a vital role in the Indian online travel market growth story. It is estimated that by 2020 almost all travel related transactions could happen online. This growth is also contributed to the increasing disposable income of the middle-class segment which plans at least one vacation per year.

Tractions coming from tier II and tier III cities from across India are also increasing, with numbers noticeably multiplying every 6 months. Also, maximum travel related searches and bookings are primarily being done from smartphones with the use of cards. This makes our services thoroughly viable for TripXOXO as our products enable our channel partners and consumers to enjoy seamless transactions. Our retail partners will also have a new, exciting range of services for their customers with this association. They can now book nearby attractions, amusement parks, activity tickets etc.

About CyberPlat

CyberPlat is India’s leading and most reliable integrated electronic payment processing and distribution company for financial institutions, service providers and retailers. The company provides multi-channel solutions that are comprehensive, innovative and cost-efficient. They are payment products aggregators enabling payment collection, micro flexible top ups,solutions providers to companies across different verticals including retail, financial services, online, m-commerce and Kiosk/ATM networks. For more information, please visit CyberPlat 

About TripXOXO

Founded in 2015 by Heena Akthar, a travel industry veteran, TripXOXO is an online go-to-destination for travelers looking for fun-tastic activities & trips, interesting experiences and exciting deals. From a planned family vacation to a backpacker’s delight, this platform offers 5000 plus travel experiences which comes with a lowest price guarantee. With more than 25,000 trip ideas and 100+ categories, this platform provides an array of distinguished support to travellers out of which transfer services at more than 2000 airports, hassle-free ticket bookings for amusements around the globe, local assistance with multi lingual support – all at the comfort of paying in INR. For more information, please visit TripXOXO

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

IIT-B’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) in Mumbai and Global Venture Alliance (GVA) in Moscow are partnering to run a bilateral entrepreneur exchange program, entitled India Russia Bridge for Innovations (IRBI). In the second half of September this year, a cohort of ten innovative startups from across India will participate in a 2-week accelerator program in Moscow that will include educational, practical, networking and cultural components aiming to facilitate a structured introduction into the Russian market.

The program is the first initiative between India and Russia with a focus on science and technology based entrepreneurship. The entire program is fully sponsored and supported by the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST), and the GVA in anticipation that partnerships and collaborations forged in course of IRBI, will not only lay foundations for increased bilateral trade across the nations, but also further goals of key national initiatives like Start-Up India, Make-in-India and Digital India.

The selected startups are in areas of medical devices and applications, energy, IoT, Ed-tech and Retail Tech. The startups have been identified on the basis of scalability, and with the inputs from GVA for potential of immediate partnership with businesses in Russia. The expected outcome of the program is for the entrepreneurs to acquire knowledge from experts in Russia in order to find partners, clients and test their products in local market through a collaborative ecosystem. There is also a potential to pioneer new cross border partnerships and collaborative programs between the two countries.

Relevance

As Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime minister of Russia and his Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj meet on September 13th in New Delhi at the 22nd session of the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) to discuss a plethora of topics including expanding bilateral trade to reach the $30 Billion goal, Indian entrepreneurs behind 10 innovative startups will leave for Moscow the very next day for this one-of-a-kind Indo-Russian entrepreneur exchange program in attempt to do further just that goal.

Leading up to the much anticipated India-Russia summit between PM Modi and President Putin on the sidelines of the 6th BRICS Summit in Goa on 15-16th of October, officials and entrepreneurs in both India and Russia have been eager to make the ambitious commitment of increasing the bilateral trade threefold in the next decade a reality.

Programs such as the IRBI will go a long way in sparking a strong bilateral economic tie in innovation and entrepreneurship between the two nations.

About the India Russia Bridge for Innovations (IRBI)

The program with its educational, practical, networking and cultural components will facilitate a structured introduction into Russia for the participating startups. This two-week immersion program will cover a plethora of topics ranging from the ways to engage the 150 million strong Russian market to the nuances of doing business there. The entrepreneurs, other than attending networking events with a wide range of industry stakeholders, will also visit the Skolkovo Innovation Park, a one-of-a-kind Innovation and Entrepreneurship hub just outside Moscow.

About the selected Startups

Field Assist – Divir Tiwari – is an on-field sales monitoring tool for mobile sales teams using smartphones and tablets. Website – http://fieldassist.in

Ecolibrium Energy – Harit Soni – Big Data Energy analytics Platform provides the insights that increases operational efficiency of utilities, commercial & industrial consumers by optimizing energy usage & improving asset utilization. Website – http://ecolibriumenergy.com

Transcell Biologics – Dr Subhadra Dravida – Transcell is a Biotech company with a strong commitment to develop innovative & transformative stem cell based approaches in advancing evidence based practice in disease management. Website – http://transcell.in

Frodo – Amardeep Singh – A technology start-up striving to create the perfect adventure camera called Frodocam which could be the world’s first truly wearable camera which you can strap on your wrist, head, bike or any adventure gear. Website – http://www.frodocam.com

A3 RMT – Vishal Shah – Customizes wireless portable medical technology to tackle area-specific healthcare inefficiencies in emerging markets, with innovative and reliable products. Website – http://a3rmt.com

Medprime Technologies – Binil Jacob – is a medical device company, dedicated to developing the best, customer-centric solutions for the healthcare needs of people around the world, with a focus on patient monitoring and diagnostic devices.  Website – http://medprimetech.com

CareNx Innovations – Aditya Kulkarni – builds technologies to deliver healthcare services to remote patients using mobile platforms, it’s latest offerings are in the prenatal caregiving sphere. Website – http://carenx.com

Algosurg Products – Amit Maurya – is developing the next generation of products, that can revolutionise the way surgeries are being performed, using advanced computing methods, enhanced visualisation and automation. Website – http://www.algosurg.com/

Campus Time – Amruta Desai –  is a mobile app for students on college campuses to engage with their college community by making it easy to connect, collaborate & explore. Website – http://www.campusti.me

ShopsUp – Anmol Vij – is a hyperlocal store discovery app with cognitive capabilities, which enhances the shopping experience of it’s users and helps brick and mortar stores to get more relevant foot traffic to their stores. Website – http://www.shopsup.com

About SINE

The Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) is a leading technology business incubator backed by IIT Bombay. Since it’s inception, SINE has incubated over 85 startups of which many are revenue generating, raised many rounds of funding and also have cross border operations.

About GVA

Global Venture Alliance (GVA)’s primary focus is on high-tech entrepreneurs. GVA, based out of Moscow’s central administrative district, organizes development programs for high-tech entrepreneurs, educates and invests in them. It works closely with Governments, large international corporations and investors in a number of countries. The company currently has permanent offices in San Francisco and Moscow and also has over 20 partners in different countries around the world.

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

DigitalOcean, the cloud for developers announced Hatch, a global incubator program designed to support the next generation of startups as they launch and scale. The program provides startups with access to DigitalOcean’s cloud for 12 months so they can focus on building their businesses and not worry about their infrastructure. The program also provides startups with free technical training, mentorship, priority support, and an opportunity to connect with other startups, accelerators, and investors.

Ben Uretsky, Co-founder and CEO of DigitalOcean said

Use of the cloud has significantly decreased the capital required to start a business, yet still remains one of the largest expenses founding teams face in the early days. We got started as part of the Techstars accelerator program so we understand, firsthand, the challenges and what it takes to launch and scale a company. That’s why we are supporting the next generation of startups in getting their products off the ground.

Hatch is an expansion of DigitalOcean’s established partnership ecosystem with several of the top accelerators, including Y Combinator, Techstars, 500 Startups and NASSCOM 10K. Over the past few years, DigitalOcean has powered the applications and production workloads for more than 800 startups that are part of these accelerator programs by offering support and infrastructure credits.

DigitalOcean will be piloting Hatch through their accelerator and investor partnership network and will on-board a larger group of bootstrapped and funded startups around the world later this year.

Rajat Tandon, Vice President at NASSCOM said

A program like Hatch will be of great help to the startups in this space. Not only does the cloud result in cost savings but it is a revolution that is defining the modern IT antics. Many SAAS companies face scaling issues due to lack of support and mentorships. Startups in this segment are emerging like how! Hatch would be their go-to support which will help them scale up fast efficiently and effectively.

Investor Andreessen Horowitz’s Partner Frank Chen said

Early in their lives, startups need to focus 100% on building a product that customers love rather than on keeping the service up and running. With access to programs like Hatch, startups can focus on running experiments on their way to product-market fit and entrust the infrastructure to DigitalOcean.

Startup GitLab’s Co-Founder & CEO Sid Sijbrandij said

Agile processes are especially important to a new startup looking to get a product out the door and to start collecting feedback on it. While Continuous Integration (CI) is necessary, it can be costly. This past April, we partnered with DigitalOcean to help make CI faster and more affordable. In just six months, GitLab.com users have leveraged DigitalOcean Droplets to execute over 1.1 million builds. The launch of Hatch will be yet another great resource for new and growing teams. It’s great to see DigitalOcean focused on supporting startups and we’re excited to see the amazing companies and products that come out of Hatch.

DigitalOcean’s investment in community programs has been a cornerstone of the company’s success. The Hatch program is another example of the company’s focus on ensuring developers and high-growth startups can seamlessly launch, scale, and manage any size application.

To learn more about Hatch, please visit https://www.digitalocean.com/hatch

About DigitalOcean

Founded in 2011, DigitalOcean is a cloud platform focused on simplifying the complexities of infrastructure for software developers. DigitalOcean has become the second largest and fastest growing cloud computing platform in the total number of public facing apps and websites, according to Netcraft.com. The company has raised $123 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Access Industries, IA Ventures, CrunchFund, and Techstars. The company is headquartered in New York City with data center regions throughout the world. For more information, please visit Digital Ocean