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Swiss startup iProPal launched its platform in India on 20th July 2019 at Swissnex India, Consulate General of Switzerland. iProPal’s platform enables remote job seekers and providers to post their profiles and requirements, and intelligently matches the seeker’s requirement of skills, time and budget with the best IT developers.

iProPal provides opportunities to work on niche IT technologies like Blockchain, Machine learning, Python, etc. Uniquely positioned in Switzerland, iPropal aims to bridge the upcoming shortage where Swiss companies will face a shortfall of 25,000 qualified IT specialists by 2024.

At the launch activity, the founder of iProPal, Jakeer Mohammad, presented the key features of the widely used platform to the strong software developers community gathered at Swissnex India. He talked about the opportunities in the Swiss market as well as the work culture in Switzerland. He also went on to emphasize the demand among his Swiss clients for the highly skilled workforce in India followed by extensive Q&A with the developer community in India.

Also present at the launch were Vivek Prakash, the Co-founder of HackerEarth and Nabomita Mazumdar, a business woman considered one among the top 20 HR influencers in India. Vivek talked about the high quality of India’s software developers. [HackerEarth is the platform partner for iProPal. Developers have to solve HackerEarth’s multiple coding challenges to join the community of developers on iProPal’s platform]. Nabomita presented the changing global landscape of employment culture. The talks were followed by a panel discussion on the benefits of remote working.

Through the launch, iProPal received 300+ sign ups from India on their platform. To join the community of remote developers interested in working on Swiss projects, visit the iProPal website.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

PlayShifu, the award-winning technology startup raised a $7 million Series A round of funding led by Chiratae [formerly IDG Ventures India], Inventus Capital and Bharat Innovation Fund [BIF]. Existing investor, IDFC-Parampara Fund also participated. A pioneer in the field of creating highly engaging and immersive AR experiences for children that encourage early STEM skills, PlayShifu has an aggressive strategic plan in place to expand on its tech prowess with this round of funding.

With $8.5 million raised to date, the company’s primary focus will remain tech innovation, continued research on unique phygital interactions and new product developments. PlayShifu also plans to update current products significantly and expand the diverse retail presence from 15 countries to 30+ countries in 2020 and beyond.

Vivek Goyal, CEO, and Co-Founder of Playshifu, said

We are extremely excited to have investors who are highly focused on consumer tech, on board in our journey to make early learning fun and accessible to children around the world. We have an exhaustive product pipeline, an incessantly creative and passionate team of innovators, and now, the right partners to make an extremely positive impact on the educational foundations of generations to come.

PlayShifu’s first flagship product, Shifu Orboot, is an AR-based globe that promises an adventure around the world. The user base has crossed 250,000 kids worldwide, but that’s not all. Orboot has seen unprecedented engagement among 4-8-year-olds. While the best of the children’s apps/toys retain approximately 8% of kids after the first month, Orboot boasts more than 40% of kids retained in the second month! In other words, the amount of time spent on the app, thanks in large part to the breadth and depth of learning, has resulted in an impressive frequency of play, and month-after-month retention equal to 4~5 times that of kids-app category benchmarks.

In less than a year, teachers and technology integrators from hundreds of schools in the US, Europe, India discovered PlayShifu and experimented with adopting the innovative products in their tech-friendly classrooms. Today, more than 65% of these schools use Orboot every week in their classes. With Orboot 2.0 launching soon [student profiles and progress tracking, teachers’ portal, detailed lesson plans], this engagement will only increase from here, as PlayShifu prepares to expand its reach in schools by 10x this year.

The newest addition, Shifu Plugo, combines the charm of classic physical consoles with new-age digital interactions. Helping kids conquer STEM skills with super-fun characters, captivating storylines, and enriching tactile play, Plugo will soon replace tons of toys in your kid’s toy box.

The physical consoles bring alive the alphabet, math, engineering, music, steering, and more. With two consoles available today, PlayShifu plans to introduce four more by the end of 2019. PlayShifu’s global appeal is evident from the fact that they have managed a deep-rooted retail presence in key markets and countries around the world, including the US, Canada, UK, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Hong Kong, South Africa, Middle East, and Japan.

Dinesh Advani, Co-Founder, and COO, said

We are experiencing incredible demand from international markets across the world, purely due to the reason that our innovative products make early learning agnostic to markets and languages. Our products make an instant connection with kids and parents alike. We now have the tools at our disposal to execute against an even more impactful retail strategy and presence, while we continue to strengthen our position as the segment leader and disruptor in the early learning space.

About PlayShifu

Founded in 2016, PlayShifu has offices in Bay Area and Bengaluru. The co-founders Vivek Goyal and Dinesh Advani, graduates of Stanford GSB and IIT Kharagpur, are two dads who juggle toddlers, tech, and toys in their daily lives. They are revolutionizing the toy industry by creating groundbreaking AR experiences with a passionate pack at PlayShifu.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Anthill Ventures, an investment and Speed Scaling platform for early growth stage startups, in partnership with HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited [HCG], the largest provider of cancer care in India, announced that it has shortlisted six start-ups for Lumos Health. Lumos Health is a Market Access Program focused on scaling technology start-ups in Healthcare and Life Sciences, powered by Anthill Ventures & HCG.

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The program is for 12 months and had launched its call-for-applications during late last year. It is designed to help startups focused on emerging technologies in Healthcare and Life Sciences, accelerate their business growth by providing them support and mentorship. Lumos Health will help the selected startups to raise investments, provide assistance with mentoring and regulatory approvals, increase their customer base and generate more revenues. A cohort of six start-ups that brings in exciting solutions for healthcare and life sciences has been selected out of over 120 applications received from across the world.

Speaking on the occasion, Prasad Vanga, Founder & CEO of Anthill Ventures said

There is tremendous growth of emerging technologies in the healthcare and life sciences industry globally, that have a huge potential to disrupt the space. We are thrilled to work with these start-ups – Alixir, AyuRythm, BiMedis, C-Test Medicals, Kronikare, and Raybaby. We will scale them with speed to the global markets as some of them will work on real use cases, and deploy their products in real client engagements through our tailored market access program.

Lumos Health is focused on scouting startups in the verticals of Oncology, Fertility, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Research & Diagnostics. The six selected startups have the potential to enhance the healthcare & life sciences innovation ecosystem in India. The entrepreneurs have developed solutions using Key Technologies such as Image-Based Pathology, Mobile Health, Artificial Intelligence [AI], Early Detection of Cancers, Easy wound assessments.

Panel discussion organised at the launch of Lumos Health program by HCG and Anthill Ventures

Speaking at the launch event, Dr B.S. Ajaikumar, Chairman & CEO, HCG Enterprise Limited said

Today technology has become a crucial part of healthcare. There is an advent of various innovations to bring about better outcomes in healthcare, particularly in fields like cancer, diabetes and other wellness programs.

HCG is looking at being at the forefront of bringing new disruptive technologies. To encourage this, we have partnered with Anthill to give an opportunity to the young minds of India and across the globe to come up with their proposals. I sincerely hope that our shared enthusiasm and passion for working in the healthcare segment will result in a grand success for everyone involved.

Anjali Ajaikumar, Program Director, Lumos Health & Vice President – Strategy & Quality, HCG Enterprise Limited, said

HCG and Anthill’s combined experience and history of fast growth makes this partnership ideal for healthcare start-ups to leverage upon. Under the Lumos Program, start-ups will enhance their product, have impactful interactions with our 30+ partner companies in both the local and global network and see how their company is making a difference in the quality of health and patient care.

I am excited that Lumos is paving the way for start-ups to make a significant impact in the future of how healthcare will be delivered.

This cohort of the latest generation of healthcare & life sciences startups will benefit from

  • Smart Capital through Anthill Venture Fund and investor ecosystem.
  • Access to diverse customer network through partnerships with corporates, hospitals, NGOs, various government bodies and foreign embassies.
  • Access to extensive R&D facilities at HCG.
  • Opportunity to work and scale up under the aegis of Dr B.S. Ajaikumar and other renowned clinicians of HCG. Startups selected through this program will work with subject matter experts, mentors, and coaches from both Anthill Ventures and HCG, to collaborate and enhance their solution.

Selected from 120 applications, 20 startups presented to a jury comprising of subject matter experts from HCG, Anthill Ventures, and external industry members for the shortlisting process. The participants were reviewed based on the quality of technology solution, product/solution readiness, and growth potential.

A panel discussion was organised during the launch of Lumos Health program by HCG and Anthill Ventures on how to scale up the healthcare delivery ecosystem collaborating with start-ups. which was moderated by Dr BS Ajaikumar, Chairman and CEO, Healthcare Global Enterprise. Present at the discussion was Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Dept. of ITBT, Government of Karnataka, Shantanu Ghosh, Ex Business Leader and CFO, General Electric, Genpact and Unilever, Krishnakumar Shankarnarayan, Executive Director, PWC Consulting Service, Naveen Kumar S, VP – Research and Innovation, Altran and Dr. Ramesh Byrapaneni, Managing Director, Endrya Partners.

Chosen startups for the program

Alixir – Alixir [HQ – Australia] aims to replace the reliance on radiologists with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that scans digital mammographs and detects breast cancer. AI system provides an instant report with 96% sensitivity and 95% specificity. Accuracy achieved through usage of ‘gold standard data’ i.e. biopsies and diagnoses from surgeons.

Value proposition – Brings in value for Radiologists, Patients, Doctors, caregivers and the entire hospital system

AyuRythm – AyuRythm [HQ – India] is the world’s first application that can detect the age-old and renowned Naadi Pariksha [Pulse diagnosis], via a smartphone camera which integrates pulse detection technology and Ayurveda. It then uses Artificial Intelligence [AI] algorithm to recommend proactive solutions for the underlying causes and treatments of the ailments and stress-related issues.

Value proposition – Brings in value for Ayurvedic and alternate medicine users, as well as enthusiasts interested in natural fitness.

BiMedis – BiMedis [HQ – Ukraine] is an international medical equipment trading platform where medical devices buyers, sellers and service providers from all over the world can come together and communicate and close their deals in a professional environment. Unlike some of the marketplace aggregators BiMedis doesn’t charge a sales commission instead runs on ad revenue.

Value proposition – Brings in value for equipment manufacturers, hospitals, clinics, doctors and other service providers.

C-Test Medicals – C-Test Medicals [HQ: India] designs and manufactures a ‘Sampling’ tool which collects cells from the tissue in very painless fashion without any bleeding, needles, sutures and anti-biotics. It is the first in the market to provide a sampling tool to collect cells from third layer of epidermis [to detect oral cancers at an early stage].

Value Proposition – Brings in value for Hospitals, Clinics, Dentists, ENTs, Nurses, Government programs and service providers in rural areas who don’t have access to healthcare facility.

Kronikare – Kronikare [HQ – Singapore] offers a mobile application along with a hardware device that uses computer vision, thermal imaging and laser for Wound & Tissue Analysis, Detecting Complication and Preventive Care. It is one of the few companies to use Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence [AI] to understand tissue damage, assess wounds and predict complication against traditional manual inspection & caregivers’ guess work.

Value Proposition – Brings in value for hospitals, caregivers, patients with quicker and accurate assessments of chronic wounds

Raybaby – Raybaby [HQ – US] is a non-wearable sleep and breathing monitor, choosing breathing as one of the most important vital signs to track. It combines radar sensor with Artificial Intelligence [AI] powered platform to create intelligent and accurate baby monitor. It’s incredibly child-friendly design fits easily in a child’s nursery.

Value Proposition – Brings in value for parents, childcare centers, caregivers, baby

About Lumos Health

Lumos Health is a 12-month programme designed for Health Tech start-ups with disruptive solutions and technologies within the core businesses of HCG which include oncology, fertility, precision medicine, genomics, research and diagnostics, as well as emerging areas across the healthcare ecosystem. The programme is designed to help selected startups scale with speed by securing industry connections, technology mentoring, regulatory approvals, business growth and access to smart capital.

The programme enables its startups to secure product review and readiness, work on real use cases and deploy their products and solutions in real client engagements. Selected startups have the opportunity to raise funding from Anthill Ventures and their associated investor ecosystem.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Conquest, in association with Larsen and Toubro InfoTech Ltd. [LTI], Accel Partners and Grant Thornton, is the first student-run startup accelerator of India. This annual event organized by BITS Pilani wrapped up with its Top 50 Mentoring sessions on the 26th of May. With participation from over 600 startups across the country, the Top 50 were shortlisted by our esteemed partners LetsVenture and Applyifi, to take part in multi-city mentoring sessions held in – Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The Delhi and Bangalore sessions were held at the NASSCOM offices, while the Mumbai session was held at the LTI Office, located in Powai. The sessions were interactive, and had eminent personalities like Gaurav Dahake, the co-founder of Buyhatke; Mitesh Shah, the CFO at Bookmyshow, and Saurabh Jain, VP at PayTM.

With the Top 50 startups being shortlisted based on their model, sustainability, scalability and other such parameters after several rounds of scrutiny, fifteen startups from diverse fields qualified for the next stage.  Conquest aims to provide the top 15 startups with a platform where they can get proper guidance and training to successfully execute their vision.

The Top 15 startups for this year are

  1. ScoutMyTrip Pvt Ltd – A DIY [Do It Yourself] road trip planner & market place of travel experts who can be hired to curate and provide virtual trip assistance.
  2. Shreyasi By PassiveReferral – BOT Shreyasi is an AI-based Virtual Recruiter which can interview candidates over the phone and conduct an end to end recruitment Process.
  3. HRBOT – AI-based remote hiring platform that can identify potential job seekers in small towns and create their profile using automated chatbots, which eliminates the need for a resume.
  4. AAYUSH – Cost effective ingestible battery-less electronic Health Pill supported by AI and Cloud to predict and prevent Heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrests.
  5. LetsEndorse – A matching platform for proven social innovations with nuanced local challenges and development capital, to eradicate social issues at scale.
  6. Checkin – Checkin leverages AI to identify customers & analyse their dining preferences, to make personalized new recommendations just as a waiter would do.
  7. Xplorazzi – A technology development and services company focused on 360 imaging, virtual reality and augmented reality; building AI to aid efficient property inspection.
  8. 4MirrorTech Innovatives Pvt. Ltd. – India’s first IoT Based monitoring platform for big facilities; building solutions like Washroom, Rodent, Dustbin, Seat Occupancy and Employee monitoring.
  9. SecondHandKart – Delivering quality checked used products with up to 12 months repair Warranty, 12 months buyback guarantee, ‘Check on delivery’, 3 days replacement policy and even after-sales service.
  10. InvestoAsia – A seamlessly efficient system that enables investment into emerging markets by digitizing their securities using the blockchain technology into tokenized assets and further trade them on a private platform.
  11. GnomikX – Reducing the lifestyle disorder burden by shifting the mindset from cure to prevention, using personalized genetics.
  12. Nimble Vision Pvt. Ltd. – Simplifying water consumption with latest technologies like Smart Water Meter; Leakage detection; Water Quality Indicator [TDS]; Water consumption metrics based on pin code/area/city and much more.
  13. VenueMonk – A high-tech booking platform which helps people book venues quickly, effortlessly and at the lowest possible price.
  14. Sorted AI – An AI-based document management app which is a digital vault for your personal docs, automatically segregated & tagged by an AI Engine.
  15. Farmsurge – A digital platform which connects small farmers directly with agribusinesses for both forward & backward market linkages, providing a one stop solution of farm inputs, farm services and farm produce market linking.

These startups are currently undergoing  6-weeks of online mentorship by renowned entrepreneurs and field experts, like Suvonil Chatterjee from OLA Cabs, Anuj Rathi from Swiggy and Abhishek Nayak from Accel. The first session was conducted on 12th June and received very positive feedback from the startups. In further sessions, topics like Customer Acquisition, Pitching, Fundraising, Scaling Up & Operations, Product Management and Tech [UI, UX and Development] are to be covered, so as to give an all-round experience to the startups.

To ensure that the critical areas of a startup’s growth are touched upon and given the necessary attention on a personal basis,  each startup will be assigned a Startup Coach.The mentor would personally guide the startup throughout the program.

Based on the feedback from the mentors, the top 10 startups will participate in the 7-day accelerator program where they will be provided free Co-living and Co-working spaces. The program will consist of investment workshops by firms like Blume Ventures and Accel Partners, mentoring sessions by successful founders and pitching to seed stage investors, along with a wide array of other activities.

The accelerator program will culminate with a Grand Finale on 28th July 2019, where the startups will pitch before media partners and investors. Prominent entrepreneurs, top investors, policymakers and various other stakeholders of the startup ecosystem will be attending the Finale.

Conquest has grown into a well established platform which has something to offer to every entrepreneur and continues to attract more and more startups every year. With the belief that even the craziest ideas should be given proper recognition because they are the ones that change the world, Conquest has made its mark into being one of the best startup launchpads.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Furthering its commitment towards accelerating hardware innovation and entrepreneurship in India, Intel India recently hosted the 2nd edition of Plugin Startups Demo Day as part of the Intel India Maker Lab program in Bengaluru. At the event, 11 startups showcased innovative products and solutions developed by them as part of Plugin, a collaborative incubation program between Intel India, Department of Science and Technology [DST] – Government of India and Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship [SINE] – Indian Institute of Technology [IIT] Bombay.

As part of the initiative this year, these startups worked on their prototypes by leveraging key tools & platforms, funding, mentorship and ecosystem connect from Intel India Maker Lab in Bengaluru and SINE IIT-Bombay to develop products and solutions. Through the use of exponential technologies like Artificial Intelligence [AI], Machine Learning, IoT [Internet of Things], Cloud and Edge computing, the current batch of startups developed innovative products and solutions that can advance digitalization by solving some real life problems in key industries like healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation.

Out of the 11 startups, 5 startups have revenue generating products, 3 are doing customer trials, another 3 are in the final product stage of product development. The Plugin Startups Demo Day offered them a platform to showcase their products and solutions to the industry, including potential investors and hardware startup accelerators.

Speaking on the occasion, Nivruti Rai, Country Head Intel India and VP Data Center Group, Intel Corp, said

Intel India is deeply committed towards advancing innovation and entrepreneurship in the hardware and systems space that maximizes the use of data-centric technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud and Edge computing to develop exciting products and solutions. This paves the way for India to become a product innovation hub for the world.

Underlining this commitment, the third batch of startups from Intel India Maker Lab have developed exciting products for both local and global markets. Many of these products are already in the market, generating revenue and other products look equally promising; we hope to see them achieve greater heights soon. In this effort, we deeply value our collaboration with DST and SINE, IIT-Bombay.

Dr Anita Gupta, Associate Head, NSTEDB [National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board], DST, Government of India, said

Furthering its commitment towards creating an enabling ecosystem for innovative startups with a focus on hardware systems and products, DST initiated the Plugin program, a partnership with Intel and SINE, IIT-Bombay to promote startups to develop new products that deliver remarkable innovations. Through the program, we encourage startups that have real solutions to problems of the society, to shape their idea into commercially scalable products.

It’s very encouraging to see very innovative products and solutions from the second batch of the Plugin startups from segments like healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation. We are proud to collaborate with Intel India and SINE, IIT Bombay for Plugin as together they bring a lot of value along with technical & industry expertise to the program.

The 11 startups of the third batch of Intel India Marker Lab are below

Segment – Transportation

Kaaenaat

Technology – AI-Deep Learning, Computer Vision

Kaaenaat’s intelligent automotive solution, KROOZ, uses real-time, deep learning inference at the edge to provide driver assistance and route monitoring capabilities for vehicles operating in unstructured driving conditions. It leverages computer vision at the edge and analyze video data in real-time without needing them to be streamed to the cloud for analysis and processing.

Combat Robotics

Technology – IoT, Computer Vision

Combat Robotics‘ solution Arishta is an unmanned remote-controlled portable vehicle for tactical surveillance and intelligence gathering on difficult terrains with its unique and adaptive chassis-less motion technology.

Cyrrup

Technology – IoT, Machine Learning

Cyrrup‘s solution, Diesel Eye, helps in building trust and reducing operating expenses for commercial fleet owners by monitoring fuel theft in real-time built on a robust IoT platform and offering host of services.

Segment – Retail

NOOS Technologies

Technology – IoT, Machine Learning

NOOS Technologies  provides Unified Brand Protection Solution using Innovative Non-Clonable Patent-pending Packaging Security Technology.

Maxerience

Technology – AI-Deep Learning, Computer Vision

Using AI and Internet of Things (IoT), Maxerience‘s solution Helix enables FMCG companies comprehend product availability at the retail shelf level in real time using vision edge analytics.

Entropik Tech

Technology – Artificial Intelligence – Deep Learning, Computer Vision

Entropik Tech‘s Affect Lab is a SaaS Emotion AI platform that enables brands and agencies to measure human emotions at scale to optimize marketing ROI. The cloud-based solution uses Electroencephalograms, facial coding, and eye tracking to measure human emotions.

Segment – Manufacturing

SensoVision Systems

Technology – Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

SensoVision is enabling automation of quality inspection in manufacturing units through its artificial intelligence [AI] solution. Combining AI and computer vision with custom mechanical and optical engineering, the solution helps automate parts inspections ranging from screws to big automobiles. The end-to-end solution QualViz identifies visual and dimensional defects with a 99.99% accuracy while processing 250,000 parts per day.

Its product, QualViz, is a fully automated and accurate quality inspection solution for manufacturing industry built upon advanced AI powered image analytics capability.

Constems-AI

Technology – AI-ML, Computer Vision

Constems-AI uses computer vision-based AI to automate business operations processes by eliminating manual interventions and enhancing safety, security, control, and operational efficiencies. Its range of solutions offer critical insights for industrial product quality checks, retail store asset tracking and in-store consumer engagement with the help of Deep learning enabled image analytics.

Segment – Healthcare

SkinCurate Research

Technology – AI-Deep Learning, Computer Vision

SkinCurate Research‘s product, DerminSIGHT helps primary health physicians screen and diagnose different skin conditions using a Deep Learning inference models on an edge device.

Cyclops MedTech

Technology – Artificial Intelligence – Computer Vision

Close to a billion patients suffer from medical disorders like vertigo, migraine, epilepsy, concussion, ADHD and over 20 other conditions. All these conditions show up as measurable manifestations in the eye.  Cyclops MedTech is catering to this need by building clinical and wearable diagnostic and rehabilitation products for early and timely detection of neuro-vestibular disorders using eye tracking technology.

Its product BalanceEye helps neurologists, audiologists and ENT specialists ascertain the root cause of dizziness and multiple balance disorders using eye tracking technology.

Uber Diagnostics Pvt Ltd

Technology – IoT, Machine Learning

Uber Diagnostics’ Cardiotrack is an AI based SaaS platform for cardiac care solution that provides cloud and edge computing based diagnostics for heart care. They significantly reduce the cost of diagnosis through continuous innovation. The Cardiotrack m-Health platform allows primary care physicians to view ECG data captured by the IoT sensors, store patient records for easy retrieval and send the information for secure storage in the cloud.

About Intel India Maker Lab

Since its inception in January 2016, the Intel India Maker Lab, a first-of-its-kind incubation program for hardware and systems startups in India, has supported 60+ startups by offering infrastructure, technology, mentorship and business connect support for their products in the areas of manufacturing, retail, healthcare, agriculture, BFSI, and e-governance, across AI, cloud, IoT, and client compute.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Freight Tiger, India’s leading B2B logistics technology startup, announced funding of 8 million USD. The funding round is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Alsthom Industries [one of the Dalmia Group Companies] and Pawan Munjal Family Trust.

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Mumbai-based Freight Tiger with offices in Bangalore and Delhi is a company building a real time logistics visibility and collaboration platform for the freight industry.

In order to ensure a strong ecosystem, Freight Tiger adopts a collaborative approach in the rapidly emerging space. It works closely with 3PLs, logistics service companies/transporters and consignors. Close collaborations with leading brands and manufacturers allow Freight Tiger to focus on end to end supply chain and not be limited to only one part of it. Their goal is to empower key stakeholders to make better and faster decisions.

Swapnil Shah, CEO and Founder, Freight Tiger said

We are keen on building an internationally transformative company. We have built a world-class multidisciplinary team with technology, operations and product backgrounds to make a significant impact. The current fundraising round and investors’ confidence strengthens our vision to build an operating system that powers the entire logistics and freight ecosystem.

Ashok Goyal, Managing Director, BLR Logistiks said

We have been working with the Freight Tiger team for the past several years and impressed by their customer centricity. They have been a great technology partner and a neutral platform in our goal to digitize our operations and drive transformative customer service to our customers.

Bejul Somaia, Managing Director, Lightspeed India said

The past couple of years has seen rapid technology adoption by Indian Enterprises and Freight Tiger has been at the forefront of powering supply chains for some of India’s largest companies through its depth and breadth of software products. We look forward to partnering with the Freight Tiger team as they unlock new possibilities in one of the world’s largest logistics markets.

Shekhar Kulkarni, Head of Supply Chain Management at Saint Gobain – Gyproc Business said

We at Saint Gobain India Pvt Ltd., have been using the Freight Tiger platform for a while now and have realized the advantages of working with a dynamic startup that is trying to build an operating system for the logistics space. It has helped us focus on our core business processes and we have gained great insights on our business’ freight movement using their offerings. We look forward to deepen our cooperation with Swapnil and team Freight Tiger.

Freight Tiger is the largest logistics technology platform and network in the country today with 170+ customers including some of the largest consignors/manufacturers such as Saint Gobain, JSW Steel, Apollo Tyres and leading logistics companies such as BLR Logistiks and several 3PLs.

Freight Commerce Solutions Pvt Ltd, the parent company of FT had earlier received seed investment from Shriram Transport Finance Corporation and Mathew Cyriac – former Co-CEO of Blackstone’s India Office. Following this funding round, Freight Tiger plans to connect with more customers, expand its product and technology through Artificial Intelligence as well as Machine Learning and build industry specific AI extensions on the platform.

About Freight Tiger

Freight Tiger is a real time logistics visibility and collaboration technology platform. We bring 100% visibility into every freight transaction including shipments on market trucks and build a single version of truth for all the stakeholders involved. We help companies reduce their total logistics cost, provide visibility to their customers/trade partners for better customer service and improve safety.  For premium customers, we provide comprehensive data analytics dashboard, control tower software and managed services where we provide skilled control tower manpower resources for exception and escalation handling. For more information, please visit Freight Tiger.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The Chennai Angels [TCA] announced Rs. 1 crore investment in The Indus Valley, engaged in running an online healthy cookware products store. The Indus Valley, was founded in 2016 by the husband and wife duo Jagadeesh Kumar and Madhumitha Udaykumar. Their idea is to transform Indian kitchens with healthier cookware options. The funds will be used to expand their presence in India’s growing home and cookware products space.

Chandu Nair who lead the investment from The Chennai Angels said

Indus Valley is a natural cookware brand designing and selling healthy cookware options that are made using natural materials like iron, clay and wood, working with artisans to produce the products. Their core customers are women in major cities between 25-40 years of age, who are health conscious.

The cookware industry is poised to grow at 21% p.a. and customers are getting increasingly health conscious and the organic food, wellness market, fitness market is growing are all growing at 20-25%. We look forward to working with the Indus Valley team and help them scale up their operations.

Jagadeesh Kumar, Co-Founder of The Indus Valley said

We are extremely excited to partner with The Chennai Angels. Our investors come with varied skill set and would be a great value addition to our company through their constant mentoring and support. More people in India are moving towards healthier lifestyle choices. Our solution to transform Indian Kitchens with healthier cookware products is a constant hit among our target group. 

The Chennai Angels is one of India’s most active angel investing groups. Founded in the year 2007, it is comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders with a track record of starting and scaling large enterprises. Additionally, several seed and venture capital firms hold institutional membership in the group.

Though it is located in Chennai, TCA’s investing members and portfolio investments are not limited by geography. Unusually for an angel investing group, TCA has a diversified portfolio that goes well beyond a restrictive tech focus, reflecting the diversity of its members’ interests. TCA portfolio companies benefit from the collective expertise and rolodex of its members.

|In: acquisition|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

upGrad, India’s leading Online Higher Education Company, has acquired CohortPlus, India’s largest and the most active community on Product Management and one of India’s largest communities on Data Science.

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India has seen more than 400% rise in demand for data science professionals across varied industry sectors at a time when the supply of such talent witnesses a slow growth, said Talent Supply Index [TSI] by Belong. Built with the vision of becoming a career partner for people looking to transition into new age careers and having grown organically to 31K+ community members, CohortPlus brings with itself rich consumer insights, which will enable upGrad to enhance its offerings for the learners.

Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, Co-founders, upGrad in a joint statement, said

Employees in India are looking forward to picking up new age skills to make themselves more relevant in the current workforce. upGrad’s highly engaging online learning solution along with CohortPlus’s deep penetration in the community of Data Scientists and Product Managers, will allow us to reach a much larger and relevant audience.

CohortPlus is an online community founded in 2015 by Srinivasan Narayan, which brings together like-minded career aspirants in a single community platform, where they can network with each other, ask and clarify doubts and be abreast of the latest events in the field of data science and product management. Its members comprise of 31100+ professionals from around the world, from companies like Google, Adobe, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Uber, Amazon, Practo, Zomato etc. It is one of India’s largest and most active communities in Data Science and Product Management.

Members can post their questions and get various perspectives from industry professionals and can also get assistance for job interviews. The 3 member team of CohortPlus is based out of Bangalore. Today this community is one of the largest and the fastest growing community in this domain and continues to grow organically. CohortPlus had raised angel investment from Manish Maheshwari [Twitter India MD], Alok Mittal [Indifi Founder] and Sujatha Kumar in 2015.

Srinivasan Narayan, Founder & CEO, CohortPlus, said

With upGrad’s support, CohortPlus intends to build a proprietary go-to platform for anyone looking to take a step up in their careers. We are looking forward to widen the joint vision of building careers of tomorrow and becoming transformational partners for those looking to up-skill and move up in their careers.

About upGrad

upGrad was founded in early 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli and Ravijot Chugh, with an aim of empowering individuals to reach their full professional potential by providing them with formal educational programs.

The company provides programs in the areas of Data Science, Technology and Management to college students and working professionals. These programs are created by partnering with a number of top academic institutions, including BITS Pilani, IIIT-Bangalore, Cambridge Judge Business School of Executive Education and MICA. The company also has collaborations with some of industry’s best such as Google, Flipkart, Gramener to name a few in order to create a cohesive and practical learning experience.

upGrad has powered over 3 lakh careers since its inception. The company has been awarded the ‘Best Tech for Education’ by IAMAI in 2019. The company received the ‘Best Education Brands’ award by Economic Times and has made it to LinkedIn’s ‘Top 25 Startups’ in 2018. For more information, please visit upGrad.