Hyderabad based Wisdomjobs, one of India’s leading end to end online recruitment and career solutions portals, has been declared as the Winner of the top 100 SMEs in India, 2016, by ‘India SME Forum‘. The forum is supported by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India which is India’s largest SME initiative with over 76,000 members and over 500,000 registered SMEs. Wisdomjobs is India’s 1st job portal with an integrated online skill testing & rating system with a database of over 30 million profiles and 3,500 clients.
The Award Ceremony witnessed the presence of several eminent dignitaries including Mr. Kalraj Mishra, Union Cabinet Minister of MSME, Govt. of India, Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Union Cabinet Minister of Railways, Govt. of India and Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Cabinet Minister of Steel & Mines, Govt. of India amongst others. The Award was presented to Mr. Ajay Kolla, Founder & CEO of Wisdomjobs by Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar.
Founded in 2010, Wisdomjobs.com emerged as one of the top 100 SME’s in the country out of more than 49,000 nominations. The eminent Jury members included Mr. Prahlad Kakkar, Advertising and Branding Guru, Dr. Anup K Pujari [IAS], Ex – Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India, Mr. Tilak Raj Bajalia, Ex Deputy MD, SIDBI, Mr Ajay Thakur, Head, BSE SME, etc. The Winners were announced after a stringent evaluation of nominees score across parameters such as Financial Strength, Innovation, International Outlook, Corporate Governance and People Capital.
It is an honor to receive this recognition which reflects our intense dedication in making Wisdom Jobs one of the leaders in this industry. Our pioneering and unique products like Pragnya Meter and VConnect have played a key role in creating a niche position for us. This award is a testimony to the innovative work done by Wisdomjobs and will pave the way for a much higher growth for the company.
The third edition of ‘India SME 100 Awards’ was attended by several dignitaries including policy makers, senior bureaucrats, business leaders, experts and key functionaries of the Indian Venture Capital & Finance Industry.
About Wisdom Jobs
Started in 2010 and headquartered in Hyderabad, Wisdomjobs is one of India’s leading job portals providing end-to-end recruitment solutions to organizations and career opportunities to individuals. Wisdomjobs is India’s first job portal with an integrated online skill testing & rating system – Pragnya Meter.
Within a short span of 5 years, Wisdomjobs has developed a database of over 30 million profiles spanning experience levels, skill sets and industries, thereby providing a huge pool of relevant candidates to various organizations. Wisdomjobs is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company with a clientele exceeding 3500 customers including some of the prominent names of the industry. For more details please visit Wisdomjobs.com
SINE- Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – the technology business incubator hosted by IIT Bombay, has just celebrated 12 years of its existence. What started as an IT incubation pilot project was formally set up as a non-profit society on 15th April, 2004, to incubate start-ups in all technology domains to address the lack of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Today, IIT Bombay has a number of entrepreneurship -related initiatives, such as the DS Centre for Entrepreneurship, which offers formal academic courses; eCell– a student-led centre, and several R&D centres aimed at translational research.
All these together with start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors, service experts outside the campus, rapidly are merging into what is being established as the “Powai Valley”. And SINE has today grown into a leading academic-linked incubator in India.
SINE has been the launch pad for over 80 product-based entrepreneurial ventures out of IIT-Bombay since its inception. More than half have graduated from incubation after becoming revenue-generating companies, several got acquired by larger companies, and some have also failed.
Many have raised one or more round of funding, offering exit opportunity to SINE’s equity stakes in the companies. SINE currently incubates 27 start-ups, and more are in its pipeline. Current start-ups are in varied areas such as fin-tech, med-tech, clean-tech, big data, security, media.
Entrepreneurship environment for technology product based start-ups is still far from being mature in India. To address this gap, SINE has focused on product & intellectual property- based technology start-ups. Out of the total start-ups incubated so far, 25 companies are direct spin-offs of IIT Bombay technologies, and 6 are focused on social innovation via technology. 22 are founded or closely mentored by IIT-B faculty. Nearly half of its companies have been able to raise multiple round of funding, several have crossed valuation in multiple of 100 cr., and few have achieved or close to achieving revenue of Rs. 100 crore
Sharing her sentiments at the anniversary celebration, Ms. Poyni Bhatt, COO, SINE says
The entrepreneurship initiative started in early 2000 with SINE at IIT Bombay, has now become mainstream not only within the campus, but also influenced the environment around in Powai, Mumbai. The entrepreneurial risk appetite amongst students and faculty-interest in technology commercialization via start-ups have exponentially increased over the years.
SINE offers incubation support for up to 3 years. Incubated companies get workspace, seed support, easy access to IIT Bombay labs, technical and IP resources, business planning and mentoring, and expert services on softer terms. Association with the incubator also brings visibility and credibility for the startups, because of the due diligence and validation that happens prior to admission. SINE also offers prototype support to students in terms of money as also setting the first tinkerer’s lab at IIT Bombay.
The incubator is set to expand the depth and width of its activities. It aims to form partnerships with corporate entities as institutional mentors and financiers under their CSR initiatives. Plans are underway to enhance its capacity to house 50 plus start ups, and set up domain specific programmes in sectors such as bio/med tech and hardware products.
Details of a few graduate start-ups
For more details, please visit their website SINE IITB
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is investing Rs. 171 Crores in Indian eye-wear company Lenskart, to help the company expand access to high-quality and affordable eye-care products in Tier-III, Tier-IV cities. IFC was the lead investor for the Rs. 400 crores Series D investment round which also saw participation from TPG Growth, Adveq Management and IDG Ventures. In addition, Ratan Tata & Kris Gopalakrishnan [Co-founder of Infosys)] invested in their personal capacity as part of this round. Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to this transaction.
Lenskart is into assembly, manufacturing, wholesale distribution and supply of high quality eye-wear products, such as eyeglasses, power sunglasses and contact lenses. Company plans to utilize the funds for strengthening its technology, supply chain, lens manufacturing, and expanding reach of its high-quality eye-wear products across 400 cities.
IFC is a long-term partner with global knowledge and a broad network of Internet, technology and healthcare clients, including in the eye care space. We appreciate IFC for their support to our vision of ‘Lenskart glasses in every home’. We will be able to draw on IFC’s extensive global experience in the healthcare and manufacturing sectors, particularly in supply chain development and capacity building to realize its potential and develop best practices, he further added.
Pravan Malhotra, IFC’s co-lead for Global Internet Investments & lead for VC investments in South & Southeast Asia said
The Lenskart investment is a part of IFC’s Venture Capital group’s strategy to invest in innovative Internet, Healthcare and Technology companies across emerging markets. This investment will support a rapidly growing market leader in the Internet sector, while meeting a significant gap in the Indian eye care market As part of this investment, he will join Lenskart’s Board of Directors.
Lenskart has adopted a unique omni-channel approach thereby making eyewear truly accessible by making it available on desktop, mobile, hypermarkets, high streets, malls, hospitals and now even at home. The company conducts over 1,500 eye exams daily through its home eye exam service which it intends to make available for every home in urban and rural India.
Lenskart with its special focus on skill development and entrepreneurship development in India, gets people certified by National Skill Development Corporation [NSDC]. It runs skill development programs across four cities for training people on operating complex machinery required for manufacturing lenses as well as conducting accurate eye exams. It has over 100 business partners who run and operate stores and plans to partner with another 1000 entrepreneurs in the next three years. The company encourages women entrepreneurs under the Stand Up India scheme where it helps them get bank loans to become entrepreneurs.
Lenskart has been relentless about its focus on customer centricity. The company has built a strong leadership team, all of who work with the single mission of ‘creating enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time’. It has roped in professional stalwarts from retail, marketing and digital industries to head the respective divisions. The company will continue hiring great talent, particularly in technology.
About Lenskart
Founded in 2010, Lenskart is India’s largest online retailer of premium quality and stylish eye-wear, offering over 10,000 different styles to suit all pocket sizes and diverse consumer needs. With a unique click and mortar business model, Lenskart is revolutionizing the eye-wear industry by offering disruptive services like Free Home Eye check-up, 3D Try On, Free Home Trial and First Frame Free among others. Through innovative technology and a deep focus on consumer satisfaction, Lenskart has grown more than 200% year on year in the last 2 years, to be among the top 3 optical businesses in India. Lenskart has been funded by three venture capitalists till date, namely IDG Ventures ($4 million in October 2011) and Ronnie Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures [$10 million in February 2013] and TPG Growth & TR Capital [$22 million in January 2015]. For more information, please visit LensKart
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. IFC’s committed portfolio in India is over $5 billion as of June 30, 2015. In FY15, IFC committed $1.4 billion in new investments. In addition to strengthening local capital markets in India, IFC is focused on boosting financing in infrastructure and logistics, promoting financial inclusion, helping create conditions to attract increased private capital, and helping structure public-private partnerships.
In India, IFC’s venture capital group has supported a number of healthcare companies like Portea, EyeQ and Nephroplus. IFC is also building a portfolio of market leading internet companies that include BigBasket in India, Netshoes in Brazil, Souq in the Middle East and Hepsiburada in Turkey. For more information, please visit IFC
The Zuver app offers customers great flexibility as they can book a driver in advance or real time for an hour, or for a whole day through an app. The technology that powers Zuver allows them to locate and dispatch the driver who is positioned closest to the customer, within 40 minutes. All these services are offered at a highly competitive price. Zuver is available on Android as well as on iOS and at http://zuver.in or you can connect with them at 022-43686868.
If you are a regular traveller, you can upgrade your Zuver App with a monthly subscription where you can avail the driver for an entire month at a discounted rate and unlike other driver services, you can even book a driver for an outstation trip. The Package deal for 8 hours which only costs you 650 rupees, pay per minute and flexi-plans make Zuver a highly economical choice.
With almost 60 drivers on board, Zuver is currently seeking Pre-Series A funding to expand to Pune and Bangalore. They are also planning to increase the number of drivers to 150 in Mumbai by May.
Commenting on the funding, Sidhanth Mally, Co-Founder of Zuver said
The term Zuver means reliable. Our idea was to launch an app that offers a reliable, cost-effective and flexible driver on demand service. What would make us one of a kind is the credibility. We ensure that our drivers have gone through multiple screening processes and tests before they are Zuver Drivers. The first round funding was used to kickstart our operations in Mumbai. We will soon be seeking Pre-Series A funding to expand to other metros. Currently, our focus is to ensure that Zuver is launched and functioning immaculately
The concept of a driver on demand is underserved. An integrated app that would let you book, track and pay for premium driver services which not just offers any driver, but a sophisticated, well-spoken and well-mannered one at your doorstep is certainly a novel concept. We are empowered by a technology that would let us dispatch a driver within 40 minutes of your booking. Zuver will transform the way many commutes
Zuver for Android and iOS is available here & here respectively.
About Zuver – Driver on Demand
Zuver is a start-up with a unique selling proposition –a service that promises reliable, skilled, well-trained ‘driver on demand’ at your doorstep. They aim to make their drivers the gold standard for industry drivers and create a new benchmark. This mobile-first company that offers the best in class service is on its course to expand its presence in other metros. Zuver, Your driver on demand is available on Android and iOS or at 022-43686868. For more information, please refer Zuver
Swiss Re has announced the launch of its first-ever corporate InsurTech accelerator to help startups develop business solutions that could revolutionize the way (re)insurance conducts business. The accelerator is a program managed by Kyron.
A number of themes identified for the program include the Internet of things [home, industrial, health and motor], Systems of engagement [innovative distribution channels and models, digital assistants/Robo advisors etc.] & Smart analytics [across insurance value chain].
Jason Richards, Head P&C Business Management and Technology , Reinsurance, Swiss Re said
Fintech is already disrupting the wider financial services world and is now starting to make its mark on insurance. We are seeing Fintech being used to engage with customers in novel ways: new methods of delivery, new products and new data sources will all have an impact on underwriting and our understanding of risk. Swiss Re aims to be at the heart of these changes, helping to make the world more resilient to shocks.
The Accelerator program provides a great opportunity for innovative startups to develop their products and business case. And it allows Swiss Re to connect with innovative, new companies to share ideas and learning. For the first program, up to five startups in India will be selected. Managing risk may have been our core business for more than 150 years but we have never stood still. We want to continue to collaborate and learn so that we can create smarter solutions for our clients, helping the world rebuild, renew and move forward.
Speaking at the occassion, Alok Kumar, Managing Director, Swiss Re Bangalore said
The world, today, is constantly changing and to keep pace with the risk landscape, we need to continually innovate around how we offer risk protection products. Through this program, we are creating an innovation platform that reinforces our long-standing commitment to bring out new and improved solutions that directly addresses real-world business challenges for the insurance industry.
Vidhya Shankar, Head – Partnerships, NASSCOM 10000 startups said
We are excited about our partnership with Swiss Re to discover, mentor and accelerate high potential startups in the larger fintech space. Given NIPP’s [NASSCOM Industry Partnership Program] endeavor to bridge disruptive startups with global enterprises keen to adopt Open Innovation we enable collaboration at multiple levels – M&A, Go to Market, Domain specific Mentorship, Acquihire. The InsurTech accelerator program by Swiss Re is pioneering and will go a long way in bringing Indian innovation to the global business community.
During the program, startups will have access to global expertise and insights from the Swiss Re team, strong mentoring support from global thought leaders and technical enablement to work effectively from the Swiss Re, Bengaluru office. At the end of 16 weeks, the selected startups will present their learnings and achievements to Swiss Re’s ecosystem partners, potential investors and panel of judges.
Additional program benefits
Engagement with global reinsurance leader
Opportunity to work for global markets/business topics
State of the art facility located in Bangalore
3+1 months of office space
Invitation to participate in industry related events
This initiative is the first-ever initiative by a reinsurance company to foster technology innovation amongst startups in the insurance tech area in India.
Program will commence in July 2016 and interested startups can apply for the program here
Entire 2015 had revolved around startups in the Hyper-Local segment that aimed at bringing more convenience to the customers by delivering daily chores at the doorstep. This was all done at the click of a Button i.e. through an app. Be it Peppertap (that recently shut down it’s Grocery Business), Grofers etc., each one of them wanted a share of the pie.
With the Hyper-local segment getting over-crowded with many players & customer-acquisition costs rising, it gave rise to the next wave of commerce namely ‘Conversational Commerce‘. Here the consumer has the privilege to locate nearby businesses, chat with the business-owners and place order on the App. Once the order has been confirmed, logistics team delivers the order at your doorstep (free of cost). This is termed as O2O (Online to Offline) commerce. The startups that pre-dominantly operate in this market segment are GoodBox, Look Up, MagicX etc. Some of them use AI to reduce manual intervention when answering questions from customer over the chat (thus resulting in reduction of overall operational costs).
The core of all these ‘Conversational Commerce’ startups is to leverage medium of chat so that customers can order anything (food, grocery etc.) on the app. For curiosity purpose, we happened to give a shot to GoodBox and the experience was overall satisfactory (right from Items Search-> Adding them to cart-> Placing the order and doing the payment). In this article, we review GoodBox App from features, reliability, UX, payment etc. point of view; so let’s get started.
GoodBox is a conversational m-commerce startup that has is co-founded by Abey Zachariah [ex-RedBus core team], Anand Kelaginamani [IIM-B], Charan Raj [ex-Accenture], Mahesh Herle [ex-National Instruments], Mayank Bidawatka [ex-RedBus core team & co-founder The Media Ant], Mohit Maheshwari [IIM-B] and Nithin Chandra [NIT-K & IIM-B].
It aims to bring neighbourhood Kirana stores, saloons, spas, restaurants etc. online and helps them create a store-front [using the GoodBox Seller App] within minutes. Just like traditional e-commerce companies, there is a customer facing app and the other is Seller app [that seller can use to manage his inventory]. It provides the seller Seamless Discovery, Ordering and Payment. It was recently in news when they acquired SmartPocket for an un-disclosed amount. It had earlier raised $2.5 Million in Series-A funding from Nexus Venture Partners.
GoodBox : Key Features
As mentioned earlier, GoodBox wants customers to connect, chat and buy (the final transaction) from your local businesses without any compromise on the privacy. On launch of the app, it shows the registration page where user needs to enter his/her mobile number and email. An OTP is then received to complete the verification. We found the registration process very simple and less time-consuming (since un-necessary fields were not required to be filled at the registration time).
The App only requires access to GPS and the number is kept private (since the entire transaction occurs over chat)!! Some of the key features of GoodBox are:
Discover : Find businesses around you which might otherwise might take time to locate.
WhatsApp like easy chat interface : Since virtually every mobile user in India is present on WhatsApp, hence it was primarily important that their chat interface did not have many deviations in it’s UX. The customer facing GoodBox app is very well designed and is easy to use (since we are all familiar with WhatsApp)!!
No Middleman : There is one to one chat between the customer and seller that results in lesser delay (in responding to chats).
Business Profile : You can check the Business Profile, Business Timings, Last online status of the seller, location etc. What we liked about this feature is that there was a specific mention about the seller’s average response time (on chat) and that coupled with Last Online mightresult in customer-stickiness i.e. if Seller response time is fast, than there are high chances that customer might not look for similar seller in his/her vicinity.
Payment : Payment can be done either via Card or Cash. Surely, the team at GoodBox would be working with the SmartPocket team for their in-house wallet integration that would result in better margins on every per-transaction.
Online Catalogue & Prompt Delivery: 100+ categories (Groceries, Restaurants, Chemists, Laundry etc) are present on the app. It has tied-up with major super-markets and local grocery stores in Bangalore (for the areas where GoodBox is currently operational). There are 10000+ grocery products and browsing (and comparing them with similar products) is very easy.
BESCOM Bill Payment : You can pay your BESCOM bill on GoodBox without any hassles. You need to just enter your Account ID to make the payment.
GoodBox : Detailed review
Once the user logs-in to GoodBox, it takes you to the home screen. You can now search for Businesses who are present on GoodBox (and available in your vicinity) via the ‘Explore’ button. What we really liked is that the Seller rating is also displayed along with the search, this results in making informed decisions since user does not have to go to ‘Seller Profile’ to check the rating!!
Once you have short-listed the seller, you can start chatting with them. In case if the seller does not respond in stipulated time (which is the average response time), the Reminder feature is turned ON. Once the user selects Remind, GoodBox would ping the seller once they are online. It is a very good approach so that the seller does not loose a prospective customer (which might result in customer retention).
The Seller Business Timings are also mentioned in the address bar that is necessary so that it is clear to customer whether any response from seller is expected (at that very moment).
For the review, we ordered cake from nearby Cake Shop (that is listed on GoodBox) and the entire process was seamless. Payment was done using Mobikwik and delivery was prompt (within 30 minutes) & was fulfilled by the Cake Shop itself. Similar to Hyper-local businesses, GoodBox relies on Seller’s logistics capabilities (if they have it) or might have tied-up with logistics providers that provide last-mile delivery (which is useful for sellers who do not want to own logistics).
GoodBox : Scope for improvement
Last online : When we searched for sellers, we noticed that there are many sellers who were ‘last online on GoodBox’ 2~3 months back. For the purpose of the review, we pinged them but there was no response from them (even after 30 minutes). On the other hand, some sellers did not respond even after having read the message!!
This might result in bad-customer experience and hence, it becomes primary for the GoodBox team to educate sellers about timely communication.
Pin Code suggestion : GoodBox is currently present in selected areas of Bengaluru. Hence, in order to target their next ‘area of expansion’; it would have been better if a text-box was provided where customer could enter his/her pin-code. Once GoodBox is present in that locality, customer can than be notified about it thereby resulting in better customer stickiness.
Bar Code support : Similar to Amazon Dash, where user scans bar-code of the product and is prompted to add the product to the cart; GoodBox can add support for bar-code scanner (in it’s app) so that user can scan the bar-code and continue with the next step for completing the purchase.
Once product is searched, it can then list down the ‘Sellers in customer’s vicinity’ making the entire cycle of ‘Product Discovery and Purchase’ more friction-less !!
GoodBox : Closing Thoughts
We liked the overall look and feel of the GoodBox app. The customer-facing app is very well-designed (we could not look into the seller-side app). The entire concept of interacting directly with business owners is very unique and saves lot of time in communication (which might not have been the case if an agent was involved).
As mentioned in their mantra, GoodBox is definitely taking “Buying from local businesses” a notch higher!! GoodBox for Android is available here, GoodBox for iOS is available here. If you have used the GoodBox App, please leave your experience in the comments section.
Cheetah Mobile, the world’s leading mobile utility and security app developer, hosts Cheetah Connect Summit, a mobile industry conference that aims to form an open communication platform for app developers around the world, and revealed two new initiatives – A data-driven content strategy that will start with Toupai, a short video service designed for online influencers and fans, and a new Cheetah Robotics R&D and investment venture.
Our 2016 strategy is very clear. We will use our utility products as the entry point for mobile users, then add content products to build a platform, increasing the engagement of our users. At the same time, we’ll use Cheetah Mobile’s big data analytics to create a strategic high-ground advantage to better serve both our users and advertisers.
Cheetah Mobile’s new 3-year plan will capitalize on the global content opportunities that have arisen from the mobile internet. With a foundation of more than 635 million monthly active users, Cheetah Mobile’s big data platform will power new forms of intelligent content discovery.
The first of these is Toupai, a next-generation social video service which helps fans find their top idols and online celebrities find their #1 fans. Toupai, which you can preview today at http://v.cmcm.com, will focus first on the Chinese market with an official launch event on May 20th. Toupai is backed by PurpleCow Startup Fund, which will provide entrepreneurship advice to its communities of online influencers.
Alongside Cheetah Mobile’s new content efforts, the company also announced a major investment into the exciting field of robotics. Cheetah Robotics will invest $50 million into deep learning and artificial intelligence R&D. Cheetah Mobile CEO Sheng Fu, who is personally investing in the venture, views the field of robotics as the ultimate evolution of the mobile tools category that Cheetah Mobile leads.
This rapid growth of the mobile internet industry around the world sets the backdrop for Cheetah Connect Summit, taking place on April 27 in Beijing. Providing a top-down view of the mobile app industry, the summit will host more than 1,000 app developers and mobile industry executives, with more than 100 media in attendance, including 20+ overseas media from the United States, India, Korea and Taiwan. The event includes an impressive speaker roster including “Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind” author Yuval Noah Harari; Oculus VR Co-founder and global virtual reality leader Jack McCauley, PurpleCow Startup Fund partner Quanling Zhang, Inke CEO Yousheng Feng, Cheetah Mobile CEO Sheng Fu and many others.
Also, at the summit, Cheetah Global Lab joined with App Insight to issue the “Global App Development Report”,examining global app industry trends across multiple dimensions, including countries, industries, and publishers. Cheetah Global Lab also combined Cheetah Mobile’s big data insights and editorial recommendations to award the top 50 fastest growing and most innovative apps so far in 2016.
Cheetah Mobile Senior Vice President and Cheetah Global Lab Dean Jie Xiao announced the company’s new App Insight product
The “Global App Development Report” provides extremely useful guidance for app developers looking to head overseas. For instance, which opportunities are left in developed markets like Japan, Korea, Europe and the US? How did China’s social video apps grow so quickly? Which types of apps do users from emerging markets like India and Russia use the most? The report answers each of these questions.
Throughout 2015, Cheetah Mobile made substantial progress in growing its international user base and monetizing its products. In the fourth quarter of 2015, Cheetah Mobile brought in $174.9 million in revenue, growing overseas revenue by over 343%. The company’s monthly active users topped 635 million in the fourth quarter, with over 78% coming from outside of China.
Setting an example for other mobile companies going overseas, Cheetah Mobile hopes that the Cheetah Connect Summit brings together the leading scholars, entrepreneurs, investors, and global app developers to share our experiences and observations from the global market.
About Cheetah Mobile Inc
Cheetah Mobile is a leading mobile internet company. The Company aims to provide the best apps for mobile users worldwide, while building a leading global mobile ad platform for advertisers. Cheetah Mobile had approximately 567 million global mobile monthly active users in September 2015. Its mission critical applications, including Clean Master, CM Security, Battery Doctor and Duba Anti-virus, help make the internet and mobile experience speedier, simpler, and safer for users worldwide. For more information, please visit Cheetah Mobile
Ideaspring Capital, an early stage venture fund by entrepreneurs and for entrepreneurs have announced its official launch in Bangalore. The Rs. 125 crore fund will focus on early-stage product innovation startups and entrepreneurs in India. Ideaspring Capital aims to bring sustained partnerships to startups and entrepreneurs through a unique high-touch model to foster global scale product innovation companies from inception. Eminent investors and entrepreneurs including Naganand Doraswamy, Mohandas Pai, Arihant Patni, Amit Patni, Prashant Deshpande, Rajiv Mody lead the fund.
The fund will work with entrepreneurs having deep technical and domain expertise, developing early stage enterprise products in major cities across India. Intellectual property in the form of algorithms and deep technology will be a key differentiator. Key areas that the fund will cover include Machine Learning & Deep Learning, Computer Vision & Image Processing, Big Data Analytics, Internet of Things, Augmented & Virtual Reality, HealthTech, FinTech amongst others.
Through its ‘Startup Assist‘ program, Ideaspring Capital will help startups to build scale in product management, customer management and building products for a global footprint. Ideaspring Capital will provide key interventions in aspects that include Business Market fit, Product management, Customer connects and connect to next level of investors. Ideaspring Capital is planning to invest in only 4-6 startups a year and provide high touch Startup Assist program.
Start-ups across sectors are attracting early and growth capital. In 2015 alone, the total amount of investment in the start-up ecosystem stood at $5.4 billion according to data from VCCEdge, a financial research platform of VCCircle Network, which highlights the dependence on foreign capital for Indian start-ups.
The Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha mentioned that 90-95% of the venture capital money pumped into Indian start-ups comes from outside India. The government is now looking at ways to boost domestic funding to start-ups. Ideaspring Capital is one such venture fund that aims to fuel tech entrepreneurship in the country. Ideaspring Capital has raised majority of its investment from Indian investors with Aarin Capital as the anchor investor.
Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Director & CEO, Ideaspring Capital commented
We see immense growth potential for enterprise product innovation from India and are confident that India’s next wave of innovation will come from this space. Ideaspring Capital is a coming together of entrepreneurs and investors with rich experience to partner with entrepreneurs who are re-imagining technology to enable a better world.
About Ideaspring Capital
Ideaspring Capital is an early stage venture fund focused on investing in technology startups in India. We take a hands-on approach, to nurture high-potential ideas, and transform vision into reality. They usher entrepreneurs and help transform their value proposition into sustainable businesses through their experience and business acumen. For more information, please visit Ideaspring Capital
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