All Posts in startups

|In: Elearning|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Simplilearn, the largest destination for online training and professional certification courses, has announced the availability of an updated and improved PMI-ACP training course that enables project management professionals to become skilled Agile Certified Practitioners.  With the course content aligned to the PMI-ACP 2015 exam model, Simplilearn is one of the few training providers to upgrade the course, considering the changing agile trends. Being a pioneering professional training provider, Simplilearn has always offered the most up-to-date courseware across business and technology categories.

With 80% of all software projects being agile based, the demand for agile certification is increasing by the day.  The revised PMI-ACP certification training from Simplilearn helps professionals to advance their skills on agile principles, tools and technologies across agile methodologies.

Simplilearn

Like all of Simplilearn’s trainings, the short-term certification course further aids in showcasing in-depth knowledge and experience in agile for brighter career prospects.

Priced from INR 6999, the PMI-ACP certification training caters to PMO leaders, project managers who are looking for successful ways for project planning and execution.  Learners will benefit from 25 hours of high quality e-learning content, chapter quizzes, simulation exams, and downloadable e-book and course completion certificates. The updated course from Simplilearn is available on online self-learning and classroom training models.

PMI-ACP Certification is a globally recognized agile certification offered by the PMI Institute to professionals who qualify in the PMI ACP exam.  

About Simplilearn

Simplilearn is the world’s largest provider of short term certification courses that addresses the unique learning needs of working professionals. Having trained over 4,00,000 professionals worldwide,  Simplilearn provides unmatched customer experience, which handholds a customer – right from enrolling into an online course to getting Industry-recognized certificate in hand.  Simplilearn’s course contents are recognized by over 40 certification bodies, prominent ones being PMI, Axelos, Scrum Alliance, Peoplecert, and The Open Group. Simplilearn has also diversified into vendor certification like those from Microsoft, Cisco, and Salesforce. For more information, visit SimpliLearn

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Wegilant, a pioneer in the mobile app security space has raised USD 500,000 from existing investors in a pre-series A round. The investors include Ravi Gururaj – Chair NASSCOM Product Council, Gaurav Sharma – Director Yahoo Inc., Viswanath Ramachandran – Ex-Gupshup CTO, SINE-IIT Bombay Business Incubator, RippleWave & a strategic investor [a large global IT Security company].

The flagship product of Wegilant is Appvigil, which is a Mobile Reputation Protection Suite for Enterprises. Appvigil is based on global patent-pending technologies. Appvigil looks for security vulnerabilities and loopholes in mobile apps.

In layman terms, it helps identify whether a mobile app is hack-able or not. Organisations involved in the development of mobile apps such app development  agencies, startups, product enterprises etc. can integrate Appvigil in the development life-cycle of the app to resolve all   security issues in the development phase itself. Mobile phone users can install “Appvigil free app” to check hack-ability of the mobile apps in their phones and report to the developer in case any loopholes exist.

Wegilant

Appvigil can also be integrated into Software Development Life Cycle [SDLC]. It provides unattended static & dynamic analysis for security loopholes and is highly cost effective and scalable, making it capable of catering to the needs of an individual developer, mid-size & large-size development teams and companies seeking BYOD solutions.

Founded in 2011 by Toshendra Sharma while he was a first year masters student in CSE department, IIT Bombay, the company got incubated in Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay, in Aug’2014. Wegilant has also been nominated in the top 10 of Emerge 50 Award 2014- an award given by NASSCOM.

Toshendra Sharma, CEO, Wegilant said

The funds will be used towards technology expansion, research and development and customer acquisition. Previously, we were offering app security solutions in the Android environment only and now as a natural business extension, are expanding to iOS & Windows operating systems as well.

Mobile security is a global issue and our mission is to become a de-facto standard in this space. We would be carrying out the global sales operations from India itself. There is a more focused effort to constantly evolve the product in the light of new innovations in the mobile security market and black hats market. Apart from Appvigil, our flagship product, the company is developing new security products too. We intend to build a globally admired company by solving customer problems.

Ravi Gururaj, Chair NASSCOM Product Council added

Water tight security of your mobile device is no longer a luxury, it is an absolute necessity. News of security beaches are regular events which I expect will increase in frequency and severity. Every major brand has a customer facing mobile experience which they now need to ensure is secure for all their stakeholders. Wegilant addresses this critical growing market need with very innovative and robust products. The Wegilant team exhibits winning combination of domain thought leadership and entrepreneurial passion.

The company lately underwent a major re-branding exercise in effort to position itself as a thought leader in the mobile security industry. The company has also set up an office in Gurgaon [Delhi NCR] apart from Mumbai to accelerate business expansion. Wegilant also intends to set up offices across other major cities in India. The company has also doubled its team strength from 11 to 22 employees and is on a hiring spree.

About Wegilant

Wegilant is a global mobile app security company based in India. Founded in 2011 and incubated at the renowned Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay, in 2014, Wegilant today provides cloud based mobile security solutions. . Appvigil, the company’s cloud based flagship product accessible through three different platforms checks for security vulnerabilities and loopholes in android apps. Appvigil is highly cost effective and scalable, making it capable of catering to the needs of an individual developer, mid-size & large-size development teams and companies seeking BYOD solutions. Wegilant was also nominated in the top 10 of Emerge 50 Award 2014- an award given by NASSCOM.

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

V-Star Labs has unveiled Cityscape, a new way of exploring our neighborhood & changing the way we connect with our locals. The app enables people to report, alert & raise local awareness by following and connecting with their local area and other locals. With features to share pictures, check-ins, selfies and fun content with those around as well as share and consume local news and events from the local community, the app helps users engage with their locals.

Cityscape

The mission is to inform and delight users by helping them stay connected with their local area of choice and other locals to stay up-to date on current and important matters. Updates can be shared by anyone using the app and the Cityscape app automatically shows users just the ones from their local area of choice.

Commenting on the same, Vishal Shah, Founder- V-Star Labs said

Cityscape is a simple to use secure local social platform for people with a strong social attitude, to stay connected with their neighborhood, however small or big. We are extremely excited and look forward to adding more updates to the app, which is available exclusively on the Android Play Store and believe it will be well-received by everyone.

Cityscape was designed keeping ease of use and security in mind. It is one of the easiest to use amongst existing local social networks. It does not require the users email, actual address, or Facebook / Twitter account access. While a phone number is not required to use the app, it is necessary for verification to avoid spam and abuse.

Users can choose to remain anonymous with Cityscape and it does not share personal data. Cityscape also has additional features like local classifieds & discussion forums available to discuss matters that people care about, with other locals, easily and effortlessly.

The app was launched on the Android platform, it will soon be followed by iOS & Windows in the future. Currently users will be able to select one neighborhood, though in future versions, it will be expanded to 3 -for example around their home, work and another place of interest. 

Cityscape is available exclusively in India, with plans to be launched globally in the near future.

About V-Star Labs

V-Star Labs is founded and bootstrapped by Vishal (V) Shah, an entrepreneur with years of experience in the Silicon Valley & education degrees from both India and the United States. The primary mission of V-Star Labs is to connect users by building innovative social technologies and platforms for our day-to-day problems that are useful, yet simple, creative and beautiful. For more details please visit Cityscape

Cityscape for Android can be downloaded from here

[Image Credit* – Cityscape]

|In: Gaming|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Kids of the 90’s [surely many can co-relate to this :)], we used to enjoy doing lot of activities i.e. playing outdoor games like cricket, volleyball etc., playing marbles etc. One activity that used to come to the rescue when weather was bad was “Cards”. But with the advent of technology & growing use of internet, card games have also taken the “online route” 🙂 One of the card games that has made a special place in our hearts is definitely The Indian Rummy

Rummy is not only a Card game but it is a ‘Mind Game’ !! It is more about Time Management, Flexing your mind muscles, Rational Thinking and above all FUN 🙂

Mobile era has arrived with ‘Mobile Rummy’

If you are a Rummy Player & have enjoyed playing Rummy online, than this update is the one which you might be eagerly waiting for 🙂 Your favourite game of Indian Rummy Game on Rummy Circle is now available for your Android mobile phones and tablets for a faster & smoother rummy experience. This app ensures that you can play Rummy On-The-Go & we are sure that you would have a “Delightful” experience.

We are sure that you have pulled your Android Phone to download the Rummy Circle App & you won’t have to wait any longer ….

How to get Rummy Circle App for Android

Missed Call – Give a missed call on 08080894422 & you would receive a download link via SMS. Downloading the app is the simplest task you can have in your life 🙂

Downloading the apk – Click on this link from your mobile handsets & follow the same process above.

QR Code – Scan the QR code from your mobile phone to start the download

RummyCircle_App_QR_Code

We are sure that you were able to download your favorite Rummy App on your Android Phone & it definitely sticks to it’s mantra – “Provide a Seamless Rummy experience On-The-Go” !!

If you are novice to the game of Rummy, you can refer Rummy Rules & a guide on Learn How To Play Rummy

Review – Rummy Circle on Android

Login / Sign-up

As soon as you open the app, you would be prompted to Login [in case you already have an account] or you need to sign-up with Rummy Circle. For the review, we performed the sign-up using the Android App & it was breezy.

Varied levels of game

If you new to Rummy or not a “Pro” in the game, than you have an option to opt for any of the available levels of the game i.e. Cash Games, Tournaments or Practice. For Cash Games & Tournaments, you need to deposit money in your Rummy Account. We played a Practice game & the experience was very good.

You can definitely hone your Rummy skills with the “Practice” games 🙂 Get your hands dirty with the game & than move to the Cash Games or Tournaments

Screenshot_2015-08-02-15-39-15

Competing with players from across India

As seen in the snapshot above, at the bottom of the screen you will have the “Online Player Count” & when we tested the app, there were totally 7K+ Rummy players online. Doesn’t it sound challenging !! Unlike other apps which are mostly “Single Player Games” [& the second player is a machine], this app is “Multi-Player” in every sense.

You can choose with whom you want to compete for the game – Freedom in truest sense 🙂

Screenshot_2015-08-02-15-50-14

Impressive UX

Rummy Circle app only works in Landscape mode & this is what makes playing Rummy on mobile screen easy [Remember, real estate on mobile screen is very less & UX plays a pivotal role in it]. The overall design & UX of the game is very good. We never encountered any issues in the game. There is a single-row card lay out for easy navigation.

Screenshot_2015-08-02-15-52-58

Stay up-to-date with latest offers

In today’s world, mobile has become a core necessity [When was the last time, you left your house without your cell phone :)]. With Rummy Circle on mobile, you will never miss an opportunity i.e. new tournaments, special offers, weekend loots etc.

Rummy Circle has ensured that it’s users have FUN playing Rummy but also make some real hard CASH 🙂

Screenshot_2015-08-02-16-54-20

If you are on iOS or Windows or any other platform, you can still enjoy Rummy on their Rummy Circle’s mobile website. We are sure that app’s for these platforms would be out, sooner than later !!

So what are you waiting for, pull your phone out of your pocket & download Rummy Circle to have ‘FUN & Make real Cash’ 🙂

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Helpchat, a chat-based personal assistant app that helps you get more things done announces the appointment of Deena Jacob as its Chief Financial Officer. A chartered accountant with 14 years of rich experience, Deena brings the relevant expertise to steer Helpchat as it enters into a new phase of growth and development.

Speaking on her appointment, Ankur Singla, Founder and CEO, Helpchat said

We are thrilled to have Deena on board. She has a lot of experience in managing finance and for start-ups, and shares our vision for Helpchat. Adding Deena to the executive leadership team as chief financial officer is sure to set the company ahead to deliver the future of messaging. Her experience at TFS, especially running a multi-city 80 people finance team, would come in handy for Helpchat.

Deena Jacob, newly appointed CFO for Helpchat said

I am excited to join the talented, ambitious and vibrant team at Helpchat, who are driven by a passion to bring in true disruption in the way things get done in India. I see immense potential in the goal of Helpchat, to help people get things done faster, in a world where an individual has a plethora of options but is constrained by time availability. I am impressed by the team’s achievements in the past, and I look forward to playing my part, as the company moves into its next stage of evolution.

In her earlier stint, Deena has led Finance at TaxiForSure and Zansaar. Her experience in designing and setting systems that are nimble and efficient at each stage, building high performing teams and handling compliance and regulatory issues of new business models are some of the key assets that she brings with herself. She also has immense knowledge gained through funding rounds which will prove to be highly valuable at Helpchat.

About Helpchat

Helpchat is a chat-based personal assistant app that helps people to get more things done. Previously known as Akosha, Helpchat goes a step further by being a true power tool in the hands of consumers. It amplifies their ability to get things done easily with its brand promise: “Do more by doing less”.

Be it anything, from recharging your phone to tech support, travel booking to holiday guidance, grocery to food ordering, shopping assistance to finding deals and coupons, web check-in to getting your laundry done, Helpchat can get all of this done over chat. In a world where one’s ability to do more things finally defines success, Helpchat can be every smart consumer’s little trump card.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Arena Animation, the leader in the domain of training institutes in Animation & VFX, is collaborating with premier real estate portal Housing.com’s in-house design architectural design studio – AATIK, to help fulfill the latter’s recruitment requirement of high quality Architectural Visualization Artists.

lookup

Despite the dearth of visualization artists, Housing.com only wanted the best performers to be recruited and thus teamed up with Arena Animation that has proudly churned out professionals such as architectural visualization artists amongst others in various industries. The tie-up resulted in a pan-India competition that was organized amongst the Arena students wherein they were asked to create animated content in various categories such as- Perspective views, Animation and Animated characters. The winner in each category was awarded an opportunity for employment in the realty company.

Easso Thampy, Business Head for Arena Animation said

This pan-India competition is an excellent platform to showcase the talent of our students. Working for ATTIK is an incredible opportunity to continue developing skills while working on interesting and innovative projects. We’re happy that we can provide this chance for our best artists to compete for these positions, and proud that our students are recognized as being among the best talents in the country.

ATTIK’s Senior Creative Director, Lenny Schutz, said

The commitment to seeking out and hiring only the best talent is what has made the studio so great so quickly. “We never compromise on quality. Our team has grown from one to fifty, but we only hire if we believe the candidate is truly an amazing artist. Housing works with all of India’s best developers, and we don’t provide them with anything less than the best. Through partnerships with world leaders like V-Ray Pioneer & the Chaos Group, we train our team with all of the latest technology. We know that students of Arena Animation are talented and dedicated, and will be valuable members of the ATTIK team.

Competitions & tie-ups like this prove that companies these days are only looking to employ the best in all sectors. The competitiveness has certainly increased as students find themselves in the job hunt from an early stage in their training.

Subsequently it also proves that animation has become a very important skill to know and can add an invaluable significance to a prospective employee. Animation finds use in practically every segment of the market. A student with a good working knowledge of animation will be chosen above one that does not possess this skill. With the onset of digitization, employees face the danger of redundancy without skills that will help the company grow. The collaboration will re-establish the career prospects that animation has in store for a professional and will prove once again that animation is an exciting and promising career option in today’s day and age.

About Arena Animation

Arena Animation is a Pioneer, Trendsetter and Global Leader in Animation education. Arena has an extensive network of centers & has trained over 4,00,000 students globally since its inception in 1996.

Arena offers industry relevant courses on Animation & Multimedia to students aspiring for global careers in this New Age industry. It trains students as well as professionals in the latest industry relevant courses backed by alliances with world leaders, a world-class faculty and the latest technical educational tools.

For more information, please refer Arena Multimedia.

Fore more information on ATTIK, please visit ATTIK@Housing

[Image Credit* – TechStory]

|In: acquisition|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

Altran has announced the acquisition of SiCon Design Technologies [SiConTech], an engineering services company specialised in semiconductor design. SiConTech currently works with seven of the top ten global semiconductor companies and was ranked one of the fastest growing ASIC design services companies in India by Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India in 2013 and 2014.

Founded in Bangalore in 2010, the company has a team of over 500 experts, specialised in ASIC Design, Verification, DFT [Design For Test], FPGA [Field-Programmable Gate Array] implementation & embedded software development.

AltranThe acquisition of SiConTech is perfectly in line with the Group strategy to expand its footprint in India and reinforce the Altran global Intelligent Systems solution dedicated to autonomous systems, smartphones, smart meters, medical devices, connected cars, advanced air traffic control & smart sensors.

Commenting on the operation, Dominique Cerutti, Altran Chairman & CEO,  stated

This acquisition meets all the acquisition criteria defined by our group in terms of profitability and growth potential. For Altran, the interests of this operation are two-fold: India is a key market for delivering engineering services on the global stage where Altran is set on becoming a key player. With this acquisition, the Group has reached and surpassed a symbolic milestone and Altran India now has a team of more than one thousand employees. In addition, the acquisition of SiConTech will enable us to accompany our strategic American clients operating in semi-conductors and embedded software, two major sectors.

Sanjay Kumar, CEO & Managing Director of Altran India added

From the time Altran gained a foothold in India, we’ve gone from strength to strength with respect to innovating and delivering more value to our customers in all industrial sectors both in India and throughout the world. The acquisition of SiConTech will help us to enhance our embedded software offering and to expand our range of services

Speaking for SiConTech, company CEO Naveen Chava said

Altran and SiConTech share the same drive to make a difference and innovate through technology. Becoming part of the Altran group will broaden our expertise, as well as enhance both our client portfolio and our research and development capacity, and reinforce our position with our customers. We are very excited about what the future holds for us as part of a larger organisation.

The acquisition of SiConTech was financed entirely by the Altran group and will be EPS enhancing as of the first year. The operation is expected to be finalised in 2015, and is subject to customary conditions precedent.

About Altran

As global leader in innovation and high-tech engineering consulting, Altran accompanies its clients in the creation and development of their new products and services. Altran Innovation Makers have been providing their expertise for over thirty years to key players in the Aerospace, Automotive, Defence, Energy, Finance, Life Sciences, Railway, and Telecoms sectors, among others. Covering every stage of project development from strategic planning to manufacturing, Altran solutions capitalise on the Group’s technological know-how in five key areas: Innovative Product Development, Intelligent Systems, Lifecycle Experience, Mechanical Engineering, and Information Systems.

In 2014, the Altran group generated revenues of 1.756 bn euros. For more information, please visit Altran

|In: e-commerce|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Hindi movie PK shattered all box-office records and along with the Gyaan about religious (dis)beliefs, it also touched upon an interesting topic – SEX 🙂 We laughed our hearts out during the scene where Aamir Khan asks ladies & gentleman about condoms but they felt embarrassed and showed lot of reluctance. Though the scene was funny, it did convey an important message “Indians are very much reluctant to talk about Sex and Protection”.

This “reluctance” has created an opportunity for startups to create a mark in the evolving “Sexual & Wellness” Market in India.

The Sexual Wellness Market

Sexual wellness is a term used to describe products that are related to the enhancement of sexual health and experience. It is a state of body/mind that enables you to enjoy and explore sex on your own terms & in your own time. Some of the products in this category include condoms, sex toys, costumes etc.

As per the reports from ResearchAndMarkets, the Sexual Wellness market in India to grow at a CAGR of 34.76% over the period 2014-2019. Though Horizontal e-commerce biggies like Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, Snapdeal all having a dedicated section for “Sexual Wellness” , there has been a lot of Vertical e-commerce companies like imbesharam, angooor.com etc. that are trying to create a “niche” in the evolving Sexual Wellness Market [Google on keyword ‘sexual wellness India’ just gives an indication :)]

Niche in Sexual Wellness – Condoms

It is a very common scene – Person feels highly embarrassed to buy condoms from a medical store. Though condoms are available in plenty & in almost every next outlet that we come across, the stigma associated with buying condoms is still not vanished. For many men buying condoms from a shop is still a very uncomfortable affair, for few it is even a biggest nightmare. As the purpose of buying condoms is obvious, people fear getting branded as ‘bad’ or ‘immoral’.

It is identified that the embarrassment factor & lack of knowledge about condoms are to be immediately tackled to ensure Indian men get habituated to use condoms in future to enjoy safe and hassle free sex.

This is the “pain point” that Niche e-commerce companies into “Sexual Wellness” are trying to solve !! Condombazaar aims to be one stop-shop for buying condoms so that the customer no longer faces embarrassment.

CondomBazaar

Condombazaar : Solving the ‘Embarrassment’ pain-point

As mentioned earlier, there has been a Flurry of Vertical e-commerce companies even in the Sexual Wellness arena but Condombazaar wants to create Niche in that segment i.e. Condoms. Condombazaar is an online condom shop to buy almost all brands of condoms available in India including all the variants of each brand. Buyers can browse through various brands and choose his or her choice quite easily. It also intends to educate & create awareness about the usage of Condoms.

The taboo associated with “Talking about Sex” & embarrassment associated with “Buying condoms” is solved by Condombazaar by ensuring that privacy is not compromised. The anonymity is maintained even from the delivery person. Details are also not featured on the delivery slips so that contents of the box would be known to only one person – ‘The Buyer’.

Even when the buyer buys them online, the word Condom would never appear in the Credit/Debit Card statements. Condoms are delivered in a discreet packaging. No one other than the buyer will know that condoms are packed inside until the packaging is completely removed.

Condombazaar : The USP

Sex is a very-very private matter & so is the process of “Buying Condoms”. Customers can only trust a brand that brings in some USP 🙂 This where Condombazaar has an upper hand over it’s competitors, It aims to be “One stop shop destination for Indian consumers for buying condoms online”.

It provides unique offering of Condoms ranging from Variants [Dotted, Ultra thin, Extra smooth etc.] & caters to both sections of the society [Him & Her]. The only site that displays widest range of condom brands and almost all of their variants. No where one can get such an exhaustive array of condoms.

Unlike scores of fly-by-night online condom platforms which came and gone quickly, condombazaar has been running and serving the needs of young Indian men and women since 2009. The company delivers fresh condoms with long expiry periods. An internal team verifies the pack before buying them from condom companies to ensure absolute customer satisfaction is guaranteed with every order.

Female condoms varieties are also sold at condombazaar. Those women desirous of trying it can use the site to buy female condoms instantly.

Condombazaar : Habituating Indian youth to condom usage

As per the Sexual Wellness Market in India 2015~2019 report, one of the major challenges that the Sexual-Wellness market faces is the lack of social acceptance. Deep-rooted norms have attached social stigma to sexual wellness, inhibiting consumers from buying the related products. Condombazaar is an earnest attempt to habituate Indian youth to condom usage !! The per capita consumption of condoms in India is 0.5, way below the European average, which is 3 to 4. Logically Indian consumption should be higher as India has huge number of young brigades compared to ageing European population. But it is the inhibition and lack of knowledge that prevents Indians from trying condoms [Source – Condombazaar]

Closing Thoughts

With it’s currently offering, Condombazaar is trying to create a dent in the niche “Online condom segment” !! As it’s tag-line goes ‘Condombazaar wants ts sell privacy to you, not condoms”

It’s better Safe than Sorry, use Condoms 🙂

[Image Credit* – Condombazaar]