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|In: Venture Capital|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

M12, Microsoft’s corporate venture fund, would extend its investing coverage to India to help entrepreneurs innovate and grow with Microsoft’s reach, expertise, and technologies. Rashmi Gopinath, partner at M12, will be leading M12’s investments in India.  Microsoft continues its portfolio of investment in the Indian startup ecosystem with M12 announcing its first India investment, Innovaccer, a startup working to solve data interoperability challenges in healthcare and helping health systems enhance their clinical and financial outcomes with a data-first approach.

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Venture capital investments in Indian tech Business-To-Business [B2B] start-ups have been trending upwards with over US$3.09B raised in equity funding across 415 deals in 2018, 28 percent more than $2.41B invested in 2017 [Source: Tracxn 2018]. Moreover, an increasing number of enterprise B2B startups are being founded in India that cater to a global customer base, most notably in artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, software as a service [SaaS], data analytics and Internet of Things [IoT]. These sectors continue to be top strategic priority focus areas for Microsoft and M12 as well. In addition, India offers unique competitive advantages by being home to top technical talent in the world including deep tech areas such as computer vision, robotics, blockchain and autonomous driving. These factors position India favorably to support highly innovative startups that can effectively compete on a global scale.

Nagraj Kashyap, Global head of M12 and Corporate Vice President, Microsoft, said

We are thrilled to broaden M12’s reach to include India. India is a market rich with entrepreneurs creating world-class startups that are poised for success on a global scale. In working with these innovative startups, we believe together we will help disrupt enterprises and industries ripe for digital transformation.

Innovaccer is a shining example of the startup opportunity in India. The healthcare SaaS startup has offices in both India and the United States, offering a comprehensive Healthcare Data Platform and intelligent care application modules for over 10,000 healthcare providers across 500 practice locations. Leveraging machine learning and healthcare-related contextual expertise, Innovaccer enables its users to consolidate financial, claims, patient, and operational data together to provide a comprehensive patient 360-view for better decision-making, care coordination, and reporting.

Abhinav Shashank, CEO Innovaccer, said

Our unique value proposition is a holistic healthcare data platform that offers data aggregation and key analytics to help healthcare systems and insurance providers to align with value-based care models and realize significant cost savings and operational efficiency. We are excited to work with M12 and Microsoft in order to leverage their best-in-class technical, industry, and go-to-market expertise to help address needs for healthcare organizations across the world.

M12 is comprised of experienced VCs and Microsoft veterans – with team members on the ground in North America, Europe and Israel. Globally, M12 has invested in over 70 startups in areas ranging from cybersecurity and artificial intelligence to business SaaS and industrial drones. While the investment team functions like a traditional VC firm, the portfolio development and venture engagement groups strengthen the lines of communication between Microsoft and many of the innovation communities around the world. It has access to, and knowledge of, Microsoft’s strategic assets, enabling it to value add in excess of the contributed capital.

About M12

As the corporate venture arm for Microsoft, M12 [formerly Microsoft Ventures] invests in enterprise software companies in the Series A through C funding stage with a focus on big data & analytics, business SaaS, cloud infrastructure, machine learning & artificial intelligence, productivity and security. As part of its value-add to portfolio companies, M12 offers unique access to strategic go-to-market resources and relationships globally. The Company has offices in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London and Tel Aviv. Please visit M12 VC for more information.

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

It is estimated that by 2025, there will be 1 Lakh active startups in India employing about 32 Lakh people. India has observed a substantial growth in the startup industry. As per a statement issued by the ex-Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, India has shown a promising startup growth of 36% in 2017. This trend is set to grow exponentially in the future.

Image Source – Inc42

However, with this rise in the number of startups, there has also been a hike in the ‘dead pool’ of startups. While the socio-economic system plays a vital role in ticking this number, lack of proper guidance to the startups still remains the prime cause for a lot of them to never see the light of day. While there are multiple startup accelerators now that are in place to help the startups, most of them focus either on sector-specific startups or startups that are ready to be funded. This leaves startups that are on the ideation stage and those in the unconventional sectors particularly vulnerable.

In order to address these issues, Espark-Viridian is back with the fifth edition of #AccessXcceleration, inviting early-stage startups across all sectors to participate. Interested candidates can apply between January 14, 2019~February 18, 2019. And over the period of the next four months, the acceleration program will roll out two modules providing participating startups with a dedicated mentor who would provide them with business insights, problem-solving strategies, individual mentoring sessions, besides guiding each business idea based on their specific needs.

Module 1 – It has been designed to focus on ideation for the startups. Through a validation process, startups get a platform here to discuss their startup idea in great depth, test their prototype, and guide them to reach the MVP stage. Based on requirements, the module also helps the entrepreneurs to come up with an effective pivot strategy.

Module 2 – It focuses on providing a platform to the entrepreneurs to design their startups in a lean operating framework. Following that, they design the process flow to make it reach a stage where the idea is suitable to be pitched to investors. The acceleration program also provides emerging entrepreneurs a platform to network, interact, exchange ideas, and learn from each other.

The program also includes sessions and workshops across both modules to provide knowledge-based business solutions to the young entrepreneurs. They are led by expert mentors from fields such as marketing, business development, operations, and legal, to cover every functional aspect of a startup.

The centres of Espark-Viridian are strategically located all over the country to cover regions that have seen the highest growth of startups in the past few years. Espark-Viridian is currently present in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Greater Noida, Ahmedabad, and Chandigarh. Espark invites you to kickstart your startup voyage with #AccessXcceleration by applying at https://goo.gl/fFyaH8

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Kerala Startup Mission, the nodal agency of Govt. of Kerala for technical entrepreneurship in the State has partnered with Unity Technologies to launch a Centre of Excellence for AR/VR and gaming. Through this Centre of Excellence, Unity will extend support to startups developing products, services, and games on platforms including mobile, PC, and various AR/VR hardware. This Centre of Excellence will also have a special focus on providing different levels of training on AR/VR developer tools to students and professionals in the State. The partnership is a significant step forward for developing an AR/VR ecosystem in Kerala.

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Shri. M Sivasankar IAS, Secretary Department of IT & Electronics, Govt. of Kerala, said

The AR/VR market is expected to witness huge growth globally in the next 5-6 years. This growth in demand for AR/VR content and solutions will be accompanied by the sprouting up of a new set of businesses. This Centre of Excellence for AR/VR Developer tools with Unity Technologies is a step taken by the Govt of Kerala towards creating an ecosystem for new businesses to grow and cater to the global demand.

Hubert Larenaudie, Vice President of Asia Pacific at Unity Technologies, said

Unity is at the center of the AR/VR ecosystem, powering 60%+ of all content and we see this industry growing significantly over the next few years. This Centre of Excellence for AR/VR developer tools is a step taken by the government of Kerala to create an ecosystem for these new businesses to grow and thrive.

Saji Gopinath, CEO, Kerala Startup Mission, said

Kerala Startup Mission is committed towards creating an enabling ecosystem for young ventures working on various emerging technologies. With its rich pool of creative talent, Kerala has the opportunity to become a hub for this extended reality disruption, which is a combination of content and solutions powered by hardware and distribution platforms. This emerging industry will, in turn, create new jobs that require new sets of skills. We will be working with ICT Academy of Kerala for skilling interested students and professionals on these design and development tools.

In line with the Knowledge City initiative of Government of Kerala, KSUM has a special emphasis in promoting startups working in various emerging technologies like AI, Cyber Security, AR/VR etc. Over the past one year, KSUM has touched bases with more than one hundred [to be precise] startups in these emerging technologies and has provided these startups with various support mechanisms including technology access through Future Technologies Lab, Innovation Grants, seed loans, exposure programs, and market connects. Future Technologies Lab also runs evangelization drives across the State to attract more professionals and students to take up research, learning and development programs in these newer technologies.

Santhosh Kurup, CEO, ICT Academy of Kerala, said

In the Industry 4.0 world, AR/VR is a vital technology that has applications in multiple domains, hence youth with skills and competencies in AR/VR will have a unique advantage in the future jobs market. ICTAK is delighted to be skilling interested students and professionals on these design and development tools.

About Kerala Startup Mission

Kerala Startup Mission is the nodal agency of Government of Kerala for promoting technology entrepreneurship in the state and is the implementing body for the Kerala Technology Startup Policy that supports the startup ecosystem by means of different components such as infrastructure, incubators and accelerators, human capital development, funding, and exposure programs. For more information, please visit Kerala Startup Mission.

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Early stage startup accelerator Espark-Viridian launched Case In Point 2018-19 to ignite the spark of entrepreneurship throughout the country. Case In Point 2018-19 is in the second year of the flagship case study solving competition organised by Espark-Viridian. Case In Point helps budding entrepreneurs to understand the problems that a real startup faces. This provides them with an opportunity to assess their entrepreneurial and problem-solving abilities. You can find more details about Case In Point 2018-19 in our coverage here.

After an overwhelming response, the last date for attempting the online quiz has now been extended to 8th January 2019. You can attempt the case studies at http://www.espark-viridian.org/caseinpoint/ 

Finales will be conducted across 3 cities – Delhi on 19th January, Bengaluru on 22nd January and Mumbai on 24th of January. The winners will be awarded prizes from a gratification pool of ?2 Lac. They would also be awarded 6 months of free Cloud Telephony Solutions [Super Receptionist Basic Plan] by their Tech Partner, Knowlarity.

Participants selected from the first round would be divided into teams in the finales. They would be expected to come up with a feasible solution based on the detailed case study provided during the round. The presentation to the judges will be part of the decision-making process to select the winner.

Their endeavour to grow the Indian ecosystem is being supported by Faculty of Management Studies [Ecosystem partner], Innov8 [Ecosystem partner], What after College [Ecosystem partner], Startups India [Ecosystem partner], Young Engine [Ecosystem partner], Bizztor India [Digital partner], Inc42 [Digital partner] and Knowlarity [Tech partner].

About Espark-Viridian

Espark-Viridian is a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups. They offer a 4 month multi-centre, multi-sector accelerator programme across 5 centres in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. To know more visit Espark-Viridian

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Winners of the India Innovation Growth Programme [IIGP] 2.0, showcased their award winning technologies under a Demo Day held in Bengaluru today. The innovations included 12 industrial and 4 social sector technologies, from 2017 and 2018. The India Innovation Growth Programme [IIGP] 2.0 is a unique tripartite initiative of the Department of Science and Technology [DST], Government of India, Lockheed Martin and Tata Trusts. Supporting the Government of India’s missions of ‘Start-up India’ and ‘Make in India’, IIGP 2.0 enhances the Indian innovation ecosystem by enabling innovators and entrepreneurs through the stages of ideation and innovation, to develop technology-based solutions for tomorrow.

Complemented by several implementation partners, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry [FICCI], Indo-US Science and Technology Forum [IUSSTF], Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship [CIIE] at IIM Ahmedabad, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the Tata Center for Technology and Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the programme aims to build an innovation pipeline in India through a high-impact programme focused on the social and industrial innovation ecosystem.

Launched in 2007, India Innovation Growth Programme [IIGP] has been one of India’s longest standing public-private partnerships. The programme has provided mentoring and hand-holding assistance to over 400 innovators coming from diverse sectors from across the country; generated over 350 commercial agreements and over $900 Million of economic value for India. [Source – Second Impact Analysis Report by Ernst & Young in 2015].

Winners of IIGP 2.0 [Source]

Through two annual parallel tracks viz. University Challenge and Open Innovation Challenge, IIGP 2.0 identifies and supports both industrial and social innovations. As part of the Demo Day event, 16 start-ups made presentations about their technologies and also interacted with potential investors and the wider startup ecosystem of Bengaluru.

[L-R] Jacob Crasta, Samir Kumar, Jagmohan Singh, Harkesh Mittal, Manoj Kumar, Himanshu Malik, R Varadharajan

These start-ups attended an intensive one-week Bootcamp at IIM Ahmedabad which included classroom sessions focused on measuring financial performance, financial modeling and valuation, design thinking, leadership, business models, pricing, etc. as well as one-on-one mentoring sessions, pitching training and networking opportunities. 10 start-ups in 2017 and 16 start-ups in 2018 were selected as winners and received grants worth Rs. 25 Lacs each as well as an opportunity to participate in an intensive global exposure visit to the United States of America to learn and access the US start-up ecosystem.

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Early stage startup accelerator Espark-Viridian has launched Case In Point 2018 to inculcate the spark of entrepreneurship within our country. Case In Point 2018 is in the second year of the flagship case study solving competition organised by Espark-Viridian.

Case In Point helps budding entrepreneurs to understand the problems that a real time startup faces. This  provides them an opportunity to assess their entrepreneurial and problem solving abilities.

Post the warm reception of CIP 2017 which had its finale in Delhi, Espark-Viridian is expanding the accessibility of the event pan India. This time the event’s finale will be conducted across 3 cities – Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai and has a gratification pool of Rs. 2 Lac. The winner would also be awarded with 6 months of free Cloud Telephony Solutions [Super Receptionist Basic Plan] by their Tech Partners, Knowlarity.

Speaking on the flagship event, Espark-Viridian Director Vibhuti Channa explained

We were overwhelmed with the response last year and had participants travelling from all parts of the nation to be a part of the finals. We want to make Case In Point more accessible for the budding entrepreneurs across India.

CIP 2018 would be held over 2 rounds. The first round would invite applicants to register individually and participate in an online case study competition. The case study will be based on real challenges that are faced by a startup. The second round would be held at a physical location in 3 cities – Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Participants selected from the prior round, would be divided into teams. They would be expected to come up with a feasible solution based on the detailed case study provided. The presentation to the judges will be part of the decision making process to arrive at the winner.

Their endeavour to grow the Indian ecosystem is being supported by Faculty of Management Studies [Ecosystem partner], Innov8 [Ecosystem partner], What after College [Ecosystem partner], Startups India [Ecosystem partner], Young Engine [Ecosystem partner], Bizztor India [Digital partner], Inc42 [Digital partner] and Knowlarity [Tech partner].

Espark-Viridian hopes to benefit the young developing entrepreneurs minds and add value to the Indian startup ecosystem. The last date for attempting the online quiz is January 5th 2019. To know more, please visit the Espark-Viridian website at http://www.espark-viridian.org/caseinpoint/

About Espark-Viridian

Espark-Viridian is a startup accelerator for early and growth seeking startups. They offer a 4 month multi-centre, multi-sector accelerator programme across 5 centres in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. To know more visit Espark-Viridian

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Fino Paytech, the payments technology company and promoter of Fino Payments Bank, has invested in CityCash [Tap Smart Data Information Services Private Limited], a Mumbai-based fintech start-up, for an undisclosed stake. The investment is in line with Fino’s strategy of providing banking and payments solutions to emerging India.

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The two companies have joined hands to design an ecosystem for payments wherein Fino will be the issuance and settlement institution of the prepaid payment instrument and CityCash will offer its NFC-based cashless payments technology and micro-payment merchant acquisition.

India’s public transport system of 150000 buses carries over 70 million commuters every day, clocking an annual turnover of about INR 50000 crores, of which 95% transactions happen in cash. There is a massive opportunity to digitize this sector using low cost NFC based TAP and PAY solution on the lines of highly successful Oyster card of London and Octopus card of Hong Kong. Customers can similarly use Fino and CityCash co-branded card for all retail micro-payments apart from other transport payments such as for auto and cabs.

The partnership with Fino shall bring the most extensive network of BC agents across the country to enable physical card issuance and on-going service of the customers. Some large state and city bus corporations have shown tremendous interest in the Fino and CityCash payment solution and implementation is at advanced stages.

As a part of its digital strategy to engage with customers, Fino has already launched a suite of products such as RuPay debit cards, mobile banking app BPay, UPI, Net banking and FasTag for toll payments.

These products along with NFC based tap and pay solutions would allow Fino to reach out and facilitate digital payments for a wider segment in line with Digital India initiative of the Government.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

ITC Infotech, a specialized global technology services provider and a fully-owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd, successfully concluded the fourth edition of its flagship annual co-creation and technology innovation platform ‘iTech 2018‘. As part of iTech 2018, ITC Infotech organized a Startup Showcase and a programing Codeathon on December 8~9, 2018, at its Bengaluru headquarters.

The Startup ‘Showcase’ has been designed with the objective of providing innovative technology startups a platform to present their solutions directly to businesses. Shortlisted startups pitched business solutions powered by new age technologies including Artificial Intelligence, Augment Virtual & Mixed Reality, Blockchain and IoT across three industry verticals – Industry 4.0, HealthTech and FinTech. The potential clients for these startups included C level executives from ITC Infotech’s global client base, senior business decision makers, including CIOs from various ITC Ltd., businesses, technology leaders from ITC Infotech’s leading ISV and technology platform partners, and leaders from across ITC Infotech’s various technology LoBs and industry verticals.

Two startups, JioVio and Ethereal Machines won a cash prize of Rs. 2 Lakhs each, and the chance to co-develop their solution with ITC Infotech as a part of its go-to-market strategy. JioVio is a med-tech company focused on providing a positive pregnancy, infant care and parenting experience with its innovation in healthcare technology. Ethereal Machines solves manufacturing problems faced by industries by equipping them with affordable machines. Additionally, this year two startups – Detect Technology and NeoEyed won the special jury award for presenting exemplary solutions.

Ms. Sushma Rajagopalan, MD – ITC Infotech with the winners

The iTech programing Codeathon, an open forum for students, professional developers and early stage technology startups, witnessed some of the sharpest technology minds compete and created code for complex business applications. Participants addressed various challenges included applications to enable labor matching for farmers & farm owners, interactive mobile UI component using platform specific SDKs, offline analytics for mobile applications, offline app sync and process automation.

The Codeathon also had an open innovation category to explore Blockchain solution across Industry 4.0, HealthTech and Fintech. Pulse [formerly known as DocTalk] won the Codeathon challenge and was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 2 Lakhs. The first runner-up was a team from Institute of Technical Education & Research Bhubaneshwar who won a cash prize of Rs. 1 Lakhs and the second runner-up was a team from RR Donnelley who won a cash prize of Rs. 50,000. Team from CMR Institute of Technology and Mangalore Institute of Technology & Engineering won special jury awards. Select Codeathon participants were also offered internship opportunities with ITC Infotech.

The iTech 2018 jury panel consisted of business leaders from ITC Infotech’s clients and platform & ISV partners, along with senior leaders from various divisions of ITC Ltd.

Commenting on the success of iTech 2018, Sushma Rajagopalan, CEO & MD, ITC Infotech, said

As a technology company in the digital era, it is important for us to create an effective eco-system in order to develop innovative and disruptive solutions. Our objective is to collaborate with our employees, with our clients and ISV partners, and the world of startups, to work at the cutting edge of technology and make innovation a way of life at ITC Infotech. iTech is an extension of our philosophy to foster startups in a non-threating environment through partnership with our clients, and the larger ecosystem. Through iTech, we are also creating a platform to enhance the learning experiences of the next generation of technologists.

The fourth edition of iTech 2018 received over 3500 entries for the Codeathon challenge and 32 teams were shortlisted for the final round of development. For Startup Showcase, 15 shortlisted startups were invited to showcase their solutions at the event as a part of the start-up showcase from the 200+ entries that were received.