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In its continued efforts to accelerate the startup ecosystem, Microsoft has made a commitment of USD 500M to support startups and local startup ecosystems around the world to grow, build and connect. Microsoft for Startups through its ScaleUp program provides a platform for Series A startups to co-sell with their sales teams, get access to top tech venture capitals [VCs] in the global arena and get strategic intervention from world class thought leaders and industry mentors. In less than 18 months, Microsoft for startups has closed about 127 co-sell deals by getting USD 20M as startup revenue and has more than USD 126M in active pipeline for startups.

Startups today have seen a significant growth in their business but face challenges in expanding globally due to lack of viable technology solutions and limited access to large enterprises. To address this issue, Microsoft has designed a co-sell motion which consists of a dedicated resource to help navigate the co-sell process. With one of the largest sales team, Microsoft enables entrepreneurs to sell qualified solutions into their customer accounts based on the startup’s value and expand into international markets.

Lathika Pai, Country Head, Microsoft for Startups, MENA & SAARC, said

Being an entrepreneur for 17 years, I understand the dynamics of the challenges and shortcoming startups face while trying to scale. Microsoft for Startups offers entrepreneurs access to technology and infrastructure. Our programs like ScaleUp allows startups understand the length and breadth of Microsoft. We are committed to enrich the startup ecosystem and our co-sell motion aims to provide a joint sales experience for them to scale.

During the key note session at the recently held TiE Delhi-NCR India Internet Day, Lathika spoke about how ScaleUp acts as a platform for innovation and was launched under the Microsoft for Startups initiative. The program is currently present in eight cities worldwide and supports pre-series A/Series A B2B tech-enabled startups that aspire to evolve from being market ready to enterprise ready. The current portfolio of Microsoft consists of startups across a variety of industries including Fintech, Healthcare, Enterprise SaaS, Mobility Solutions and Robotic Process Automation.

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Pitney Bowes Inc., a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping, mailing, finance, and data, and Shyplite, a logistics technology company that provides a multi-carrier integrated SaaS platform, announced a strategic partnership. The two technology companies have teamed to launch a multi-carrier shipping platform for small businesses that simplifies office shipping.

This partnership will provide cost savings for small and medium-sized businesses in India by optimizing parcel delivery. Customers will be able to select the most efficient shipping option at the best price, creating an improved customer experience with each parcel delivery. By removing the complexity of everyday shipping, small businesses and e-commerce retailers can focus on delighting customers and growing their business. Additionally, this solution offers plug-ins for shopping platforms, parcel consignment, parcel tracking, billing and customer support from one convenient dashboard.

Venkat Rao, Country Director, Pitney Bowes India, said

For nearly 100 years, Pitney Bowes has been removing the complexity of mailing for our clients. Now, we are focused on doing the same for shipping. We look forward to continuing to innovate with our partner Shyplite.

Sugam Jain, CEO and Co-Founder, Shyplite, said

This alliance is a step forward in making shipping affordable, simple and reliable for smaller businesses in India that previously did not have access to the improved customer experience and cost savings of a shipping platform like we have developed.

According to the Pitney Bowes Shipping Index, India shipped 1 parcel per person in 2017. The overall parcel volume grew 15 per cent YOY, reaching a total of 1.5 billion parcels shipped compared to 1.3 billion parcels in 2016. This new shipping solution reduces shipping costs for both retailers and office shippers and speeds accurate delivery to Indian customers and online shoppers.

About Shyplite

Shyplite is a logistics technology platform providing an automated single window Multi-Carrier Integrated Environment. A ‘Shipping Gateway’ which enables the e-tailers to automate their logistics for better productivity, increased efficiency in shipments and drastic reduction in cost by providing a single window booking for all carriers through API integration & Dashboard.

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Jio has launched a revolutionary digital product called JioNews in the form of a mobile application as well as web-based service. The app is available on both the Google Play Store & Apple App Store for users to download.

The launch of JioNews comes at a time when the nation will be glued to the Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections 2019, IPL 2019, Cricket World Cup 2019 and other major events across India & the world. Users will get the latest news on the move on JioNews. It is a one stop solution for Breaking News, Live TV, Videos, Magazines, Newspapers & much more. JioNews is the millennial way to stay ahead.

JioNews offers its users the true power to personalize their reading experience by choosing preferences from 12+ Indian languages. With breaking news every second, 150+ Live News channels, 800+ Magazines, 250+ Newspapers, Famous Blogs and news websites from India and across the world, JioNews brings the best news content as fast as possible. Users can completely personalize their homepage by choosing their interest areas from politics, sports, entertainment, business, technology, lifestyle, fashion, career, health, astrology, financial and many more. With an integrated AI & ML technology, JioNews scans thousands of news sources and brings only the most relevant of the content to its users to consume.

Users can also enjoy news on the go with 150+ Live TV news channels which include all the leading and popular TV news channels from across the country. One can also enjoy the latest trending videos across Bollywood, fashion, health, automotive, technology, sports & the list goes on. For those who prefer reading, they will be able to choose from 800+ magazines across various categories. They can start their mornings with leading daily newspapers from across the country and much more on JioNews

JioNews is a consolidated offering of JioXpressNews, JioMags and JioNewsPaper with additional offering of Live TV and videos. All existing users of these apps will be migrated to JioNews and they can seamlessly continue consuming content with JioNews. Jio users will have premium access to all the features of the JioNews app. Non-Jio users can access all the features in the app by simply logging in to it during the trial period.

With so much of content, an intuitive and a clean interface, JioNews will change the way people consume content on their devices. It truly stands for ‘Your News. Your Language’.

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ACT Fibernet, India’s largest fiber-focused broadband provider, has launched its first consumer product ACT Stream TV 4K device powered by Android. As part of the new brand strategy towards offering innovative customer centric solutions to enhance user experience, the streaming device will provide a 360 spin to all entertainment needs of a consumer.

Key Features and Offerings

ACT Stream TV 4K is a one stop entertainment solution for customers where they can enjoy their favourite movies, TV shows, sports, music videos from existing on-demand streaming providers and TV channels. Powered with ACT Fibernet’s high speed fibernet connectivity ACT Stream TV 4K has the capacity to transform a living space into a full-fledged entertainment zone.

Some key features of the box include

  1. 4K device with Dolby Pass-through – Future ready to enable users experience their favourite content in its fullest.
  2. ACT Stream TV 4K will allow streaming content from popular apps such as Netflix, Hotstar, Sony Liv, Hooq, Zee5, YouTube, Sun NxT and from 3000+ apps available on Google Play Store.  Customers can also watch over 100 of their favourite Free to air TV channels.
  3. Single click subscription – Customers can subscribe to premium content from existing OTT streaming partners and channels that have tied up with ACT Fibernet and pay for their subscription directly as part of their monthly bill.
  4. Catch up TV – Customers can catch up on their favourite TV shows, matches and highlights for upto 24 hours.
  5. Powered by Android 9 Pie – Brings the power of the latest Android Pie operating system with access to over 3000 TV apps in the Google Play Store.
  6. Voice search powered by the Google Assistant – Easy to search desired content and control device with voice commands powered by the Google Assistant.
  7. External devices – Allows to connect hard disk, USB, joysticks, camera to view family pictures, video chat with friends or play games and more.

Compact and Sleek Design

Combined with latest technology and design, the box has been customized to make it intuitive and user friendly.  The device is supported with a remote-control unit which can be used to operate the box. The remote has an ergonomic design with minimalistic keys making it extremely easy to use and helps users launch their favourite apps from any screen they are in.

Price, Availability and Offers

The ACT Stream TV 4K box is priced at INR 4499. It will be available with select plans and for purchase post commercial launch in May 2019. Customers can visit this link for purchasing the device.

As an introductory offer, ACT Fibernet will provide the ACT StreamTV 4K complimentary to select 5000 customers. Additionally, customers will get a bundle of other exclusive offers including, discounted rates on the VOD apps, extended trial periods on content apps, free access to pay-per-view content, download apps from Google Play store and more.

More details about the partnerships and launch please visit #AdvantageEntertainment on Twitter

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With an aim to further strengthen the BSE Startups platform, BSE, Asia’s oldest exchange and now world’s fastest exchange with the speed of 6 microseconds, has signed a memorandum of understanding [MoU] with HDFC Bank. The MoU has been signed to spread more awareness on the benefits of listing on BSES Startups on this platform.

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BSE had launched the Start Up platform on December 22, 2018 with an aim to encourage entrepreneurs to get listed and raise equity capital for their growth and expansion.

Benefits of the platform

  • Develop awareness of BSE’s Startup platform amongst HDFC Bank’s portfolio of startups. Also, extend value-added support for eligible startups, along with BSE for the listing
  • Offer Banking and Lending solutions to eligible start-ups already listed or due-to-list on BSE Startup platform
  • Ability to access capital via BSE’s Startup platform in turn will enable startups to access growth capital and enhance tradability of an otherwise illiquid/ high-risk investment asset class.

Commenting on the collaboration, Ajay Kumar Thakur, Head BSE SME & Start Up said

BSE is the first exchange to have launched the Start Up platform. The idea was to help entrepreneurs look beyond the conventional channels of raising capital and enable them to list on the stock exchange to further enhance the credibility of the firm.

While we have conducted numerous seminars in Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities on the benefits of listing on the  BSE Start Up platform, we believe by associating with a leading bank like HDFC that boasts of a large network, presence and Start up base would enable more firms to choose our platform and raise funds as well as improve productivity.

Commenting on the association, Ms Smita Bhagat, Country Head – Government, e-commerce and Start-ups, HDFC Bank

This is part of our commitment to the larger cause of strengthening the Startup community/ecosystem in the country. Startups are today re-imagining and reshaping the world we live in. We are already partnering with them by mentoring them and giving them a chance to work with us. We are extremely happy to reinforce our commitment to them through this partnership with BSE.

About BSE

BSE [formerly Bombay Stock Exchange] established in 1875, is Asia’s first & now the world’s fastest Stock Exchange with a speed of 6 microseconds. BSE is India’s leading exchange group and has played a prominent role in developing the Indian capital market. BSE is a corporatized and demutualised entity, with a broad shareholder base that includes the leading global exchange- Deutsche Bourse, as a strategic partner.

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Reliance Industries Limited announced that its subsidiary Reliance Jio Digital Services Limited has entered into a definitive business transfer agreement with Haptik Infotech Pvt Ltd. The transaction size, including investment for growth and expansion, is estimated at about Rs. 700 crore, with Rs. 230 crore as the consideration for the initial business transfer. The Haptik team will continue to drive growth of the business, including the enterprise platform as well as digital consumer assistants. On a fully diluted basis Reliance will hold about around 87% of the business with the rest being held by Haptik founders and employees through stock option grants.

This transaction enables Reliance Jio to leverage Haptik’s capabilities across various devices and touch points in the consumer’s journey. The investment focus is on enhancement and expansion of the platform, with an addressable market opportunity of over 1 billion users in India. This partnership will also give a boost to Haptik’s existing enterprise grade business, with the company continuing to build innovative AI solutions for corporates globally.

Speaking on this strategic investment, Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio, said

This strategic investment underlines our commitment to further boost the digital ecosystem and provide Indian users conversational AI enabled devices with multi-lingual capabilities. We believe voice interactivity will be the primary mode of interaction for Digital India. We are delighted to announce this partnership, and look forward to working with the experienced team of Haptik in realizing this vision for offering greater connectivity and rich communication experiences to the billion+ Indian consumers.

Aakrit Vaish, Co-Founder & CEO, Haptik said

We started with the idea that conversational interfaces will cause a paradigm shift in the way people get things done. Over the course, we have built various products across both consumer and enterprise businesses, with the backbone always being a full stack chat and voice enabled AI technology platform. We truly believe now is the opportunity to serve the next billion users who come online, and who better to partner with than one of the world’s largest digital ecosystems in Jio. We look forward to using this strategic opportunity to exponentially scale up the business across various product lines.

About Haptik

Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev founded Haptik in 2013, as a chat based virtual concierge mobile application. Over the last two years, the focus has been on technology enhancement and enterprise grade solutions

Haptik is one of the world’s largest conversational AI platforms. It has processed more than 2 billion interactions till date, with a marquee client list that includes Samsung, Coca-Cola, Future Retail, KFC, Tata Group, Oyo Rooms, Mahindra Group, among others. The company focuses on key customer engagement use cases such as customer support, concierge, lead generation and live chat. Haptik was the first company globally to open source a conversation based Entity Detection engine, and was recently awarded Frost & Sullivan’s Conversational AI Company of the year 2018.

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Zippserv, India’s first comprehensive Real-Estate Risk Assessment startup has launched Group Buy – a platform which empowers serious home buyers to leverage the power of groups to get the best discounts and deals within the same project. ‘Group Buy’ is a free product by Zippserv, that is designed to promote and create transparency for open dialogue and honest negotiation. This product has been conceived from the reality that builders typically offer different rates to different customers depending on factors such as demand supply, negotiation, amenities, etc.

‘Group Buy’ is a unique opportunity to negotiate the best deal possible with minimum effort and in a transparent manner, without bias or influence from third parties. Currently over 20% of the apartment buyers in Bangalore are using the various free products and tools built by Zippserv over the years.

Using the ‘Group Buy’ feature, Zippserv users can create or join an existing group on the website for RERA approved projects. Once verified, they are linked to other home buyers within the same project. The group is live for a period of twenty days wherein more buyers can join the group. After the end date, the group is closed and Zippserv acquaints all the participants who can then drive conversations, visits and negotiations with the builder to get the best deal possible. Zippserv has also made it convenient for builders and customers alike by letting builders offer instant group discounts to these serious buyers.

Sudeep Anandapuram, Co-founder & CEO of Zippserv, said

Group Buy empowers apartment buyers to get the best deal by leveraging the power that comes with forming a group. This is first of its kind in the real estate sector to have an organized group approaching builders to make a bulk purchase.

Debashish Hota, Co-founder & COO with Zippserv, added

Property buyers often find themselves in situations which make them very uncomfortable. We have strived to create products that assist consumers in their decision making considering it is probably one of the largest transactions of their life. This is an attempt to empower them so as to enable them to negotiate from a strong vantage point.

Studies have shown that home buying is lengthy process which could take up to two months or more. Zippserv helps to condense this purchase journey for a buyer. It lists out all the information a home buyer needs in order to begin their property search. Buyers can start their home buying journey by looking at a curated list of approved projects in the locality/ neighborhood where they intend to buy. Projects that have been vetted by professionals have detailed reports with the exact next steps to be taken by the buyer.

‘Group Buy’, the biggest disrupter in the home buying market, will now further enable a buyer to leverage the power of the group and get the best deal possible. Thus, Zippserv is effective in bridging the entire process to less than two months helping buyers to avoid all the hassles they have to face while buying properties. In July 2018, Zippserv, raised a Pre-Series A funding of Rs. 3 crore [around $440,000] from their existing investors – Info Edge (India) Ltd.

The initiative also resonated with Om Ahuja, Ex- CEO Brigade Residential and JLL, a key investor of Zippserv. Commenting on the initiative, Om Ahuja said

Zippserv’s Group Buy is a first of a kind platform where like-minded buyers conglomerate to approach buying within the same apartment project. This group buy platform creates transparency for open dialogue and honest negotiation while giving comfort and confidence to home buyers. This in turn also helps builders improve their conversions, reduces closing cost which can be passed on as a benefit to home buyers.

About Zippserv

Zippserv launched in December 2015 by Sudeep Anandapuram and Debashish Hota is positioned as India’s first comprehensive Real-Estate Risk Assessment platform that works towards safeguarding property investments of buyers. Zippserv was launched with a vision to remove the information asymmetry in the real-estate market and to empower property buyers with the requisite insights towards making their property buying experience stress-free and pleasant. For more information, please visit Zippserv

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Truecaller announced a strategic partnership with world’s largest online bus ticket booking platform, redBus to enable simple, safe and fast bus ticket booking service within the Truecaller app. This partnership is aimed at facilitating a seamless ticketing experience for more than 100 million daily active users for Truecaller in India.  As part of the integration, redBus will now be available as a mini app under the Payments section on the Truecaller app.

This collaboration will allow consumers to carry out end-to-end booking transactions from login to search, compare and checkout with Truecaller login credentials. Further to make the ticketing experience more immersive, Truecaller has also integrated its robust UPI platform enabling users to carry out payment transactions directly using Truecaller Pay during checkout.

Commenting on the partnership, Sony Joy, VP & Head of Payments, Truecaller, said

We are incredibly excited about this partnership with redBus, the market leaders and disruptors of an entire mode of transport in India. We believe we can combine redBus’ expertise, Truecaller’s scale of distribution & seamless BHIM UPI payments on Truecaller Pay, to make bus ticketing a delight for our customers. This is special to us also because this is first of many such partnerships for mini-apps where our vision is to provide super-smooth transactional experiences on a variety of use cases with a high potential for growth.

 

Anoop Menon, CTO, redBus, said

We are excited to partner with Truecaller for our very first full stack integration within their app.  This will allow users to have a completely hassle-free login to checkout experience within the app. In addition to this, we believe that integrating Truecaller Pay to the process will also add maximum value to users who need not switch to multiple platform or apps for payments. We are confident that together we will be able to offer industry’s best booking experience to our users.

About redBus

redBus was founded in 2006 in India and today is the world’s largest online bus ticketing platform. After having solved complex problems of bus customers in India, redBus also launched operations in Singapore and Malaysia in 2015 and acquired a majority stake in Peru based bus ticketing platform Busportal [now redBus.Pe] in the subsequent year. With this acquisition, redBus successfully launched operations in Latin America markets, Peru & shortly thereafter, Colombia.