All Posts in startups

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

DigitalOcean, the 2nd largest cloud hosting provider in the world, has announced its partnership with NASSCOM 10,000 startups initiative, a program developed by NASSCOM to incubate, fund and assist 10,000 Indian technology startups by 2020. The announcement comes shortly after DigitalOcean appointed Prabhakar Jayakumar as it’s country manager, as the company gets ready to launch its first data-center in Bengaluru this summer. DigitalOcean has joined a select group of sponsors supporting the 10,000 startups initiative.

The main aim of this collaboration is to grow and support the startup ecosystem in India, through this association, DigitalOcean plans to assist startups on both technical and non-technical aspects through one-on-one interactions, workshops, boot camps and mentorship programs. DigitalOcean has created a special cloud credit program as an incentive to the startups associated with the NASSCOM 10K startup initiative. As part of this program, eligible startups can apply up to $10,000 in cloud credits to their DigitalOcean account.

The purpose of the NASSCOM 10K startups initiative is to nurture the budding startups into full-fledged technology dedicated companies, by giving them support via access to startup incubators, accelerators, angel investors, venture capitalists, startup support groups, mentors, and technology corporations. The association has received over 13,800 startup applications, out of which 2,276 were shortlisted and 1350 have been impacted by way of funding, acceleration and mentoring.

Prabhakar Jayakumar, Country Manager, DigitalOcean commented

The technology startup sector in India has exploded in the past few years and our agenda is to fuel this growth and support the innovation landscape in India. We consider ourselves “the startup for startups”. Having been through the process ourselves, we know exactly what the needs are for scaling companies.

This collaboration is a proud moment for us as it gives us an opportunity to enable entrepreneurs in India to create companies and chase their dreams, by lowering the barrier of entry through simplifying the complexities of cloud infrastructure.

Commenting on the partnership, Rajat Tandon, Vice President, NASSCOM said

We are happy to partner with DigitalOcean to build an inclusive ecosystem for start-ups in the country. Today, India is on the precipice of new ideas which need the right guidance and funding to be scalable for the market. I am sure that through this partnership, we will be able to achieve our targets for the sector and help entrepreneurs realize their dreams.

With the rapidly expanding startup ecosystem in India, such collaborations will not only ensure that selected startups have access to mentorship and guidance from relevant industry leaders, but also give them much needed support through DigitalOcean’s cloud credit program, making it easier than ever before for startups and teams of software developers to deploy and scale their applications.

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1800 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM’s member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software services, software products, consulting services, BPM, e-commerce & web services, engineering services & animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs about 3.5 million professionals. For more information, visit NASSCOM

About DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is a cloud infrastructure provider focused on simplifying web infrastructure for software developers. The company is headquartered in New York City with data-centers throughout the world. For more information, please visit DigitalOcean

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Industrybuying, a leading B2B E-commerce platform selling a wide range of business and industrial products to SMEs as well as large businesses, has launched its own mobile app for Android users. The iOS version of the app is due for launch later this month.

IndustryBuying

The latest development is in line with Industrybuying’s strategy to enhance the customer experience and provide a seamless procurement process in every possible way. The app allows its B2B customers to explore more than 1 million industrial utility products from over 40+ categories and more than 3000 brands !!!

Swati Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Industrybuying said

Mobile is a key growth driver for us. In last quarter alone our mobile visits have grown 25%. More than 6,00,000 users visit our online platform every month via mobile. Businesses need that on-the-go flexibility and ease of use to search, select and order goods whenever they find time in their busy schedule. With the launch of our mobile app, we aim to provide just that.

Currently, with more than 1.5 million monthly visits, Industrybuying boasts of a wide range of brands and OEM’s including major players like 3M, Wuerth, Grainger, Honeywell & others.

Industrybuying app is available for android users to download on Google Play and will soon be launched on the iOS store as well. Industrybuying Android app can be downloaded from here

About Industrybuying

Industrybuying is a leading Business e-commerce platform, selling a wide range of business and industrial products to SMEs as well as large businesses. It has over 4,000 registered sellers and more than 60,000 registered businesses – SMEs & large corporates that are procuring online from Industrybuying. Industrybuying offers over 1 million products across 45+ categories ranging from Safety and Security, Electrical and Lighting, Power and Solar, to MRO supplies and many more categories.

Industrybuying is backed by some of the leading Indian and global investors. Based out of Delhi NCR, the company has a Pan-India footprint with fulfillment centres in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad & Bangalore. For more information, please visit IndustryBuying.com

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments
PurpleHealth, a 360-degree “Health On Demand” platform, has raised USD 100,000 from disruptive tech investor, Katabole Technology Ventures.
Founded in 2014, PurpleHealth is a 360-degree health & wellness platform that delivers a diverse spectrum of solutions, services and products to consumers, corporates, healthcare providers and institutions. The platform empowers consumers to take active control of their health by providing a one-stop seamless interface to choose the right medical practitioners, schedule appointments, set up video & audio chats with doctors and much more, thus helping them better manage their health and wellness interactions.
Furthermore, PurpleHealth enables healthcare providers with tools and technologies that assist them to better engage with their customers. The platform currently has over 38,000 doctors and 4000 hospitals as part of its vast and growing network.
PurpleHealth Co-founders : L-R Vikram Nair, Prakash Sathyapalan, Mini Balaraman
Vikram Nair, Co-founder & CEO, PurpleHealth said
At PurpleHealth, we work with a unique ‘Total Health’ approach that focuses on meeting the country’s (and moving forward, the world’s) health-care challenges with integrated solutions through a 360-degree health platform. The Indian healthcare sector is expected to register a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.9% during 2015-20 and grow to USD 280 billion. We intend to play a substantial part in that growth story by creating a massive, positive impact on how health & wellness products and services are accessed by and delivered to every individual, corporate & institution.
We will use this round of funding to further build on the PurpleHealth.com product roadmap and strengthen the team.
Balaji Jagannathan, Founder & CEO, Katabole said
We believe that when it comes to health, people today, by and large, feel dis-empowered. They want the ability to choose and decide by themselves and they crave the right platform that will give them access to all the information they need to make their health-related decisions
What really excited us about PurpleHealth was their inclusive approach that recognizes the scale of the problems the health space presents, and looks for imaginative (and sustainable) solutions that deal with the ecosystem, and involve all stakeholders, small and big-healthcare providers, corporates, other institutions and individual consumers. With this as the backdrop, we are positively confident that PurpleHealth.com will disrupt the Health & Wellness industry. Their product roadmap is very exciting and we are looking forward to the innovations that PurpleHealth will be bringing to the market.
About PurpleHealth
PurpleHealth is a 360-degree health platform that delivers a large and diverse spectrum of solutions, services and products to consumers, healthcare providers and institutions. Currently, the Healthcare delivery ecosystem operates through individual, independent and unconnected silos. PurpleHealth aims to build collaborative healthcare distribution models with a common customer pool, through integrated technology. PurpleHealth enables consumers to take active control of their health by providing a one stop seamless interface with it’s fast growing healthcare network, which is already 38,000 Doctors and 4000 Hospitals strong. The platform empowers its users to choose the right medical practitioners, schedule appointments, set up video & audio chats with doctors, and much more. PurpleHealth’s range of products and services spans the entire spectrum of health and wellness needs. PurpleHealth believes that in order to achieve a positive impact, it is important to provide quantifiable, personalized and accessible care, services and solutions to the consumer. In addition, PurpleHealth provides bundled Health and Wellness solutions to corporates – customized at individual and group level – due to the growing incidence of chronic and preventable lifestyle ailments. The goal of these solutions is to reward healthy behaviours and positively reinforce healthy living habits amongst its users. For more information, please visit PurpleHealth
About Katabole Technology Venture
Katabole means disruption and also, laying the foundation. It is the genesis of an exciting future, seeded by technology and driven by possibility-thinking. Katabole has a simple, crystal-clear purpose: pick smart people with fresh, disruptive, technology-driven ideas and help convert those ideas into big, phenomenally big, really, really, really big businesses, worldwide that challenge and obliterate the status quo. Katabole invests in disruptive ideas across Education, Healthcare, Fintech, Digital, Security, Storage, IOT, Mobile, Social Networks and Data Analytics. For more information, please visit KataBole

|In: Guest Blogging|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Start Up is an ultimate dream of any young college graduate. These day’s students coming out of IIT’s (and also other colleges) are venturing into Start Ups rather being hired by some corporation. Start Up sounds very fascinating however it has other side also. Start Ups could make or break things.

In this article we try to figure out advantages as well as disadvantages of Start Up business in India. If you live here then you have to consider both sides of the picture. You can’t just see the rosy side of the story and ignore the underbelly of a start up business in India. Let us first look at some of the major advantages of Start Ups in India.

[Image Credit - Indian Startups]
[Image Courtesy* – Indian Startups]

Advantages of Start Up Business in India

Sky is the Limit When it Comes to Innovation

One of the biggest advantages of a Start Up is that you are full of energy and willing to experiment something new. You are not afraid of failure or breaking the rules because you can conceive and implement whatever you like.

This kind of freedom is missing if you are working for a regular company. You can take innovation to a new level and create products that no one has done before. A fearless mind, the energy and the excitement you can only find in a Start Up and not if you are working for some other company.

Create Your Own Rule, You’re the Boss

This is true for any other country. In a startup you don’t have to listen to your clients because you are in the driving seat. Usually if you are working for some other company then you have issues where you have to listen to management and make changes accordingly.

However in a startup you can take risk and make your own rule although this has its own risk. Here you are not following any fixed formula but still you can do it in a startup.

No Dearth of Seed Funding if the Start Up is Promising

If your idea is solid then you don’t have to worry about the funding. Today there are multiple seed investors in the country and outside who are ready to fund as much as they like.

There is no limit to capital that you can access. However your new startup has to convince them that the idea is really great and it is going to give returns on every penny they are investing. Recently Tata invested into an online car portal named CarDekho.com, the exact amount is unknown.

Start Ups Better at Pricing then Corporations

Start Ups can offer really competitive price to their customers. Why so many start ups are successful because price of their products are very competitive.

Start Up gives you complete control over designing and setting price of your new product. This is absolutely not possible if you are working for another company because they usually stick to a formula.

Availability of Start Up Eco System

The eco system is very important. Although in India you do have a developed ecosystem for certain kind of startups. If your startup is all about online shopping or anything to do with e-commerce then it is quite successful.

So you have the right kind of mentors who are ready to guide you through the tough times. So these were few advantages of a startup in India and elsewhere.

You also need to see other side of the picture because a startup in India could land in many troubles.

Disadvantages of Start Up Business in India

Higher Cost, Tax and Regulations for a Start Up in India

Starting up in India isn’t that easy because the cost is very higher compared to other parts of the world. The taxes are higher and there are regulations from the government that makes things more difficult.

The upfront cost before you start your venture could go up to $2000. You have to pay huge cost if you want to close your start up and move one.

No Seed Funding Unless the Start Up is Exceptionally Promising

Well you do get seed funding only when your start up is exceptionally promising. Previously in the article I mentioned how Tata has funded CarDekho an online car portal.

When Tata gave funds to CarDekho the company already was priced at over $100 million. This is not possible with every other startup. Forget about $100 million, only few startups are able to raise $1 million. So how a mediocre entrepreneur is going to raise funds for their startup without any seed funding?

Ecosystem Still Not Very Developed

Ecosystem is developed for only few kinds of startups like e-commerce. If you are venturing into something very technical in nature (like hardware startups) then you will face problems because there is no one around to guide you.

You will not find mentors in India if your startup is not about e-commerce (or if it is not an online venture). That is why most of the startups move to Silicon Valley.

Hiring New Employees Could Be a Challenge

The last but not the least problem is human resource. Not very people are interested working in a startup. Usually they find problems working in a startup so they avoid it and join an established company because that is important for their career.

They don’t trust startup because they don’t know whether they are going to succeed or not. So hiring employees could be a challenge.

Whether you Should go for it or not?
You might be confused by reading advantages and disadvantages of a startup. There are advantages as well as disadvantages. But if you really believe you have a great idea that can change the marketplace and give tough competition to its competitors then go for it.

You really worth a shot as it may turn out to be the next $100 million company.

However if you aren’t sure about the product then you better lie low. You need to develop your product first and then think of venturing out.

Without any plan you can fail and it will cost you heavily. Remember 9 out 10 startups fail.

About the author

Priya Nagrale is the Co-founder of SureJob, a job listing portal and can be contacted at admin@surejob.in

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

CleverTap, a next generation mobile engagement platform, with more than 1500 customers globally announced a global partnership with App Promo an award wining app marketing and promotional agency that help developers succeed in the discovery, downloads and monetization of mobile applications.

The partnership will give access to all of App Promo clients CleverTap’s mobile engagement platform.  Developers will now have immediate access to CleverTap’s world-class analytics to create more personalized mobile experiences and increase user engagement.

Sunil Thomas, Co-Founder & CEO, CleverTap said

With developers creating apps from all around the world, it was key to find an app marketing agency that is able to help market their applications not just in the US App Store but from a global perspective,” said . “For us, partnering with App Promo is a great way to help developers with a full 360 approach to app marketing from discovery to download to engagement

Gary Yentin, CEO of App Promo added

For App Promo, the partnership significantly enhances App Promo’s post app launch marketing, guiding clients to focus on engagement and retention. Offering our clients the CleverTap’s SDK now allows them up to 1 Million monthly events at No Charge, with unlimited messaging and MAUs. Now we can help developers not only with the launch of the application but also follow up with post launch engagement, retention and monetization strategies – focusing on the business of the application.

About CleverTap

CleverTap is the next generation mobile engagement platform. It enables marketers to identify, engage and retain users and provides developers with unprecedented code-level access to build dynamic app experiences for user groups. CleverTap includes out-of-the-box prescriptive campaigns, omni-channel messaging, un-install data and the industry’s largest free messaging tier. To learn more about CleverTap please visit clevertap.com

About App Promo

Since App Promo’s launch in 2010, App Promo has helped hundreds of app developers, brands, advertisers and content providers in the business of mobile applications, taking their apps to the next level. App Promo creates custom marketing and advertising solutions to ensure that apps are discovered, downloaded, engaged with and monetized. For more information please visit www.app-promo.com

|In: India|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Hike Messenger, India’s first homegrown messaging platform, is enabling its 100 million Hikers to spread love for the most awesome people in the world, mothers!

Hike is launching its Mother’s Day micro-app that will enable you to show the world, how much your mother means to you by letting you post and share ready made stickers and cards dedicated to your mom.

For Hikers who love to express via stickers, the adorable Mother’s Day stickers will surely mush you up. And the expressive Mother’s Day cards will give an extra punch as they can be easily personalized; you can use them as they are or personalize them with an image, edit the quotes, add a message and so on.

You can then post these cards and stickers on your timeline or share amongst your friends, not only on Hike but also on any other platform of your choice! It is that simple!

Hike’s sending the Mother’s Day micro-app to all its uses on the eve of Mother’s Day, that is on 7th May evening. Expect a notification on your Hike app. Your Mother’s Day micro-app will be live for use for 2 days.

So go ahead spread love this Mother’s Day!

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

Hyderabad based Wisdomjobs, one of India’s leading end to end online recruitment and career solutions portals, has been declared as the Winner of the top 100 SMEs in India, 2016, by ‘India SME Forum‘. The forum is supported by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India which is India’s largest SME initiative with over 76,000 members and over 500,000 registered SMEs. Wisdomjobs is India’s 1st job portal with an integrated online skill testing & rating system with a database of over 30 million profiles and 3,500 clients.

The Award Ceremony witnessed the presence of several eminent dignitaries including Mr. Kalraj Mishra, Union Cabinet Minister of MSME, Govt. of India, Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Union Cabinet Minister of Railways, Govt. of India and Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Cabinet Minister of Steel & Mines, Govt. of India amongst others. The Award was presented to Mr. Ajay Kolla, Founder & CEO of Wisdomjobs by Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar.

[Image Credit* - Wisdomjobs]
[Image Credit* – Wisdomjobs]

Founded in 2010, Wisdomjobs.com emerged as one of the top 100 SME’s in the country out of more than 49,000 nominations. The eminent Jury members included Mr. Prahlad Kakkar, Advertising and Branding Guru, Dr. Anup K Pujari [IAS], Ex – Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India, Mr. Tilak Raj Bajalia, Ex Deputy MD, SIDBI, Mr Ajay Thakur, Head, BSE SME, etc. The Winners were announced after a stringent evaluation of nominees score across parameters such as Financial Strength, Innovation, International Outlook, Corporate Governance and People Capital.

Upon receiving the award, Ajay Kolla, Founder & CEO, Wisdomjobs said

It is an honor to receive this recognition which reflects our intense dedication in making Wisdom Jobs one of the leaders in this industry. Our pioneering and unique products like Pragnya Meter and VConnect have played a key role in creating a niche position for us. This award is a testimony to the innovative work done by Wisdomjobs and will pave the way for a much higher growth for the company.

The third edition of ‘India SME 100 Awards’ was attended by several dignitaries including policy makers, senior bureaucrats, business leaders, experts and key functionaries of the Indian Venture Capital & Finance Industry.

About Wisdom Jobs

Started in 2010 and headquartered in Hyderabad, Wisdomjobs is one of India’s leading job portals providing end-to-end recruitment solutions to organizations and career opportunities to individuals. Wisdomjobs is India’s first job portal with an integrated online skill testing & rating system – Pragnya Meter.

Within a short span of 5 years, Wisdomjobs has developed a database of over 30 million profiles spanning experience levels, skill sets and industries, thereby providing a huge pool of relevant candidates to various organizations. Wisdomjobs is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company with a clientele exceeding 3500 customers including some of the prominent names of the industry. For more details please visit Wisdomjobs.com

|In: IIT Mumbai|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

SINE- Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – the technology business incubator hosted by IIT Bombay, has just celebrated 12 years of its existence. What started as an IT incubation pilot project was formally set up as a non-profit society on 15th April, 2004, to incubate start-ups in all technology domains to address the lack of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Today, IIT Bombay has a number of entrepreneurship -related initiatives, such as the DS Centre for Entrepreneurship, which offers formal academic courses; eCell– a student-led centre, and several R&D centres aimed at translational research.

All these together with start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors, service experts outside the campus, rapidly are merging into what is being established as the “Powai Valley”. And SINE has today grown into a leading academic-linked incubator in India.

SINE has been the launch pad for over 80 product-based entrepreneurial ventures out of IIT-Bombay since its inception. More than half have graduated from incubation after becoming revenue-generating companies, several got acquired by larger companies, and some have also failed.

Many have raised one or more round of funding, offering exit opportunity to SINE’s equity stakes in the companies. SINE currently incubates 27 start-ups, and more are in its pipeline. Current start-ups are in varied areas such as fin-tech, med-tech, clean-tech, big data, security, media.

Entrepreneurship environment for technology product based start-ups is still far from being mature in India. To address this gap, SINE has focused on product & intellectual property- based technology start-ups. Out of the total start-ups incubated so far, 25 companies are direct spin-offs of IIT Bombay technologies, and 6 are focused on social innovation via technology. 22 are founded or closely mentored by IIT-B faculty.  Nearly half of its companies have been able to raise multiple round of funding, several have crossed valuation in multiple of 100 cr., and few have achieved or close to achieving revenue of Rs. 100 crore

Sharing her sentiments at the anniversary celebration, Ms. Poyni Bhatt, COO, SINE says

The entrepreneurship initiative started in early 2000 with SINE at IIT Bombay, has now become mainstream not only within the campus, but also influenced the environment around in Powai, Mumbai. The entrepreneurial risk appetite amongst students and faculty-interest in technology commercialization via start-ups have exponentially increased over the years.

SINE offers incubation support for up to 3 years. Incubated companies get workspace, seed support, easy access to IIT Bombay labs, technical and IP resources, business planning and mentoring, and expert services on softer terms. Association with the incubator also brings visibility and credibility for the startups, because of the due diligence and validation that happens prior to admission. SINE also offers prototype support to students in terms of money as also setting the first tinkerer’s lab at IIT Bombay.

The incubator is set to expand the depth and width of its activities. It aims to form partnerships with corporate entities as institutional mentors and financiers under their CSR initiatives. Plans are underway to enhance its capacity to house 50 plus start ups, and set up domain specific programmes in sectors such as bio/med tech and hardware products.

Details of a few graduate start-ups

For more details, please visit their website SINE IITB