HP Introduces Device-As-A-Service Programme For Indian businesses

The fools crib about changing times, the wise change themselves. Rajiv Srivastava, the managing director of HP Inc, India believes in changing with time rather than falling behind. Sticking to this ideology, HP has now started offering Device as a service or Destop-as-a-service (DaaS). Under this program, they offer devices to organizations for an extended period of time along with other services.  Once an organization signs up with them, they need to pay a monthly price for every seat they take and along with this HP gives them services like support from HP, including PC configuration and software installation, on-site break-fix and data migration along with the ability to upgrade to the latest HP devices for subsequent contract period.

This is the company's way of catering to the needs of the changing times by introducing the Daas service. This was started in India with the sales team of Maruti Suzuki. They were given tablets with customization as required by the company. This takes the typical leasing program a step further where the care and maintenance and the eventual disposal, all is covered in one contract, rather than having three separate ones.

HP announced this program about 6 months ago at their innovation day, with an aim of covering Asia pacific and Japan. This will be a big help to businesses and organizations as they no longer have to invest their resources in looking for infrastructure and then maintain them, as HP will take of this for them. This is sure to take a load off the minds of the heads of various businesses and help them work smoothly and with ease.

HP says that HP DaaS frees customers from having to pay the upfront costs of buying new PCs, it incorporates services, support and eventual disposal as part of an overall services agreement.

HP Introduces Device-As-A-Service Programme For Indian businesses

The fools crib about changing times, the wise change themselves. Rajiv Srivastava, the managing director of HP Inc, India believes in changing with time rather than falling behind. Sticking to this ideology, HP has now started offering Device as a service or Destop-as-a-service (DaaS). Under this program, they offer devices to organizations for an extended period of time along with other services.  Once an organization signs up with them, they need to pay a monthly price for every seat they take and along with this HP gives them services like support from HP, including PC configuration and software installation, on-site break-fix and data migration along with the ability to upgrade to the latest HP devices for subsequent contract period.

This is the company's way of catering to the needs of the changing times by introducing the Daas service. This was started in India with the sales team of Maruti Suzuki. They were given tablets with customization as required by the company. This takes the typical leasing program a step further where the care and maintenance and the eventual disposal, all is covered in one contract, rather than having three separate ones.

HP announced this program about 6 months ago at their innovation day, with an aim of covering Asia pacific and Japan. This will be a big help to businesses and organizations as they no longer have to invest their resources in looking for infrastructure and then maintain them, as HP will take of this for them. This is sure to take a load off the minds of the heads of various businesses and help them work smoothly and with ease.

HP says that HP DaaS frees customers from having to pay the upfront costs of buying new PCs, it incorporates services, support and eventual disposal as part of an overall services agreement.

Shuttl Speeds Through With 1 Million Rides Across Delhi NCR

Gurgaon-based Shuttl, a bus-aggregator company claims to hit another milestone by, reaching its one millionth completed rides across Delhi-NCR in only 194 days of its operations. From being an intra-city to a pan Delhi-NCR public transit service, Shuttl has seen massive transformation. Shuttl has also been able to save Rs 5.10 mn per day in fuel cost for commuters, has kept 4,727 vehicles off the road daily and saved 53,460 tonnes carbon emissions till date during all it operational days. Currently, 50% of users board their Shuttl from Gurgaon, the business haven of NCR, 33% from Noida, and 17% from Delhi and rest of NCR.

Speaking on the occasion, Shuttl co-founder and CEO Amit Singh said, "It’s been a phenomenal ten months for the team. The public has embraced Shuttl beyond our expectations and the kind of growth we have achieved is remarkable. While we are excited about our performance to-date, there is much to be done in the coming months. Milestones like these are valuable but what really brings us joy is to see how we’re all waking up to the power that rests in our hands - the power to lead our cities to a healthier future by commuting wisely."

With more than 60 routes already connecting Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad & Ghaziabad, Shuttl aims to become India’s favourite office-commute, offering a sustainable solution to counter all the difficulties associated with urban transit. Shuttl’s also been actively involved with Gurgaon police’s Car Free Tuesday initiative and the #OddEvenRule that was implemented earlier in January by the Delhi government.

Shuttl, which claims to be India's largest bus-aggregating platform, aims to make daily commute more convenient for urban intercity travellers. The company is based out of Gurgaon and caters to the needs of commuters in the Delhi-NCR region with more than 15000 rides per day. Shuttl launched its tech-enabled platform in April, 2015. It received its first round of funding from Sequoia Capital and Angel investors, which helped them create a robust technology and bring more than 500+ buses to the platform. The platform generates an e-ticket for each user with a confirmed seat in the Shuttl. It is trying to solve the problem of young Indians looking for a smarter mode of commuting. The increasing traffic woes and pollution has led to the birth of Shuttl as a greener and smarter transport alternative.

Shuttl Speeds Through With 1 Million Rides Across Delhi NCR

Gurgaon-based Shuttl, a bus-aggregator company claims to hit another milestone by, reaching its one millionth completed rides across Delhi-NCR in only 194 days of its operations. From being an intra-city to a pan Delhi-NCR public transit service, Shuttl has seen massive transformation. Shuttl has also been able to save Rs 5.10 mn per day in fuel cost for commuters, has kept 4,727 vehicles off the road daily and saved 53,460 tonnes carbon emissions till date during all it operational days. Currently, 50% of users board their Shuttl from Gurgaon, the business haven of NCR, 33% from Noida, and 17% from Delhi and rest of NCR.

Speaking on the occasion, Shuttl co-founder and CEO Amit Singh said, "It’s been a phenomenal ten months for the team. The public has embraced Shuttl beyond our expectations and the kind of growth we have achieved is remarkable. While we are excited about our performance to-date, there is much to be done in the coming months. Milestones like these are valuable but what really brings us joy is to see how we’re all waking up to the power that rests in our hands - the power to lead our cities to a healthier future by commuting wisely."

With more than 60 routes already connecting Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad & Ghaziabad, Shuttl aims to become India’s favourite office-commute, offering a sustainable solution to counter all the difficulties associated with urban transit. Shuttl’s also been actively involved with Gurgaon police’s Car Free Tuesday initiative and the #OddEvenRule that was implemented earlier in January by the Delhi government.

Shuttl, which claims to be India's largest bus-aggregating platform, aims to make daily commute more convenient for urban intercity travellers. The company is based out of Gurgaon and caters to the needs of commuters in the Delhi-NCR region with more than 15000 rides per day. Shuttl launched its tech-enabled platform in April, 2015. It received its first round of funding from Sequoia Capital and Angel investors, which helped them create a robust technology and bring more than 500+ buses to the platform. The platform generates an e-ticket for each user with a confirmed seat in the Shuttl. It is trying to solve the problem of young Indians looking for a smarter mode of commuting. The increasing traffic woes and pollution has led to the birth of Shuttl as a greener and smarter transport alternative.

Bike Rental Startup Wicked Ride Launches A Unique Bike Ride To Bhutan

Wicked Ride, a Bengaluru-based luxury bike rental company, has announced the launch of ‘Ride to Bhutan’, a unique bike ride to the land of the Thunder Dragon. This 8 nights and 9 days trip to Bhutan is scheduled to commence on 18th February 2016. Wicked Ride will manage all the logistics including shipping the bikes, accommodation and the ride itself allowing you to spend your time exploring Bhutan's expansive wilderness and absorb the majestic views.

Riders have an option of bringing their faithful bikes along and Wicked Ride can arrange for them to be shipped to Siliguri and back. The route, that takes you through some of the well tread path through Paro, Thimphu, Punakha and Haa, often on some of the best roads among dramatic scenery, is quite an adventure and great fun.. No trip to Bhutan is complete without a trek to the Takhtsang (Tiger's Nest) Monastery. For many, it is the main reason for their first trip to Bhutan.

Bhutan a little piece of heaven, nestled between India, Tibet & China, has a good share of best of the mountains from all three countries. It welcomes you to explore the iconic Himalayan range offering stunning views of the mountains that always seem to give you a big hug, has great weather and the crisp fresh air that intoxicates your lungs.

While towns and cities are comfortably tucked into its many valleys and the people are happy to say hello, or Kuzoo-Tzangpo-La, The Land Of The Thunder Dragon serves beautiful Himalayan vistas, mountains and forests in a fairy tale setting, amazing architecture, great traditional art, new cuisine, awesome photographic opportunities, happy people and of course, an inspiring ride.

"The once in a lifetime experience for many, of enjoying the world’s last remaining Buddhist Kingdom in the way that gives maximum exposure to the Himalayan elements, riding a motorcycle”, said Vivekananda H.R, Co-founder of Wicked Ride. “Wicked Ride offers it at an unbelievable price of INR 35,000/- excluding bike rentals. This includes accommodation for 8 nights and 9 days, all breakfasts, all lunches, all evening meals, and an English-speaking tour guide. The exclusions would be air-transfers, fuel, entry fees to monuments, museums, other personal expenses like shopping and other personal liability etc. We know the best roads; we book the accommodations and lead each of our tours. You simply have a great time!"

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Wicked Ride, a start-up, was founded in 2014 by three friends, Vivekananda H.R., Anil G and Varun Agni, who did not find options to rent motorcycles (especially high end luxury bikes) in Bengaluru at the time. Realizing that there is a rather new audience to cater to, they set up a company and started renting bikes starting from Royal Enfield to Harley-Davidson. They believe in making your dream come true as a biker – be it riding the premium bikes or experiencing the inexplicable joy of riding in the best biking destinations.

Bike Rental Startup Wicked Ride Launches A Unique Bike Ride To Bhutan

Wicked Ride, a Bengaluru-based luxury bike rental company, has announced the launch of ‘Ride to Bhutan’, a unique bike ride to the land of the Thunder Dragon. This 8 nights and 9 days trip to Bhutan is scheduled to commence on 18th February 2016. Wicked Ride will manage all the logistics including shipping the bikes, accommodation and the ride itself allowing you to spend your time exploring Bhutan's expansive wilderness and absorb the majestic views.

Riders have an option of bringing their faithful bikes along and Wicked Ride can arrange for them to be shipped to Siliguri and back. The route, that takes you through some of the well tread path through Paro, Thimphu, Punakha and Haa, often on some of the best roads among dramatic scenery, is quite an adventure and great fun.. No trip to Bhutan is complete without a trek to the Takhtsang (Tiger's Nest) Monastery. For many, it is the main reason for their first trip to Bhutan.

Bhutan a little piece of heaven, nestled between India, Tibet & China, has a good share of best of the mountains from all three countries. It welcomes you to explore the iconic Himalayan range offering stunning views of the mountains that always seem to give you a big hug, has great weather and the crisp fresh air that intoxicates your lungs.

While towns and cities are comfortably tucked into its many valleys and the people are happy to say hello, or Kuzoo-Tzangpo-La, The Land Of The Thunder Dragon serves beautiful Himalayan vistas, mountains and forests in a fairy tale setting, amazing architecture, great traditional art, new cuisine, awesome photographic opportunities, happy people and of course, an inspiring ride.

"The once in a lifetime experience for many, of enjoying the world’s last remaining Buddhist Kingdom in the way that gives maximum exposure to the Himalayan elements, riding a motorcycle”, said Vivekananda H.R, Co-founder of Wicked Ride. “Wicked Ride offers it at an unbelievable price of INR 35,000/- excluding bike rentals. This includes accommodation for 8 nights and 9 days, all breakfasts, all lunches, all evening meals, and an English-speaking tour guide. The exclusions would be air-transfers, fuel, entry fees to monuments, museums, other personal expenses like shopping and other personal liability etc. We know the best roads; we book the accommodations and lead each of our tours. You simply have a great time!"

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Wicked Ride, a start-up, was founded in 2014 by three friends, Vivekananda H.R., Anil G and Varun Agni, who did not find options to rent motorcycles (especially high end luxury bikes) in Bengaluru at the time. Realizing that there is a rather new audience to cater to, they set up a company and started renting bikes starting from Royal Enfield to Harley-Davidson. They believe in making your dream come true as a biker – be it riding the premium bikes or experiencing the inexplicable joy of riding in the best biking destinations.

OYO Rooms Appoints Former Coca-Cola Executive Dinesh R As Chief Human Resources Officer

OYO Rooms, India’s largest network of branded hotels, has announced the appointment of its Chief Human Resources Officer. Dinesh R joined the company to take on this newly-created position in January. Prior to this, he was leading Compensation & Benefits in the APAC region for The Coca-Cola Company. Dinesh is a seasoned HR professional with past tenures at Bharti Airtel, Hewitt Associates and ITC Limited.

Speaking on the appointment Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, OYO Rooms said, “We are thrilled to welcome Dinesh to OYO Rooms. We are at the cusp of significant transformation, having witnessed tremendous growth in the past year on both business and employee front. From a single-city office in Gurgaon, today we are present across more than 15 cities through our offices and 165 cities through our partner-properties. As we build value in our business and expand our geographical footprint, we remain focused on offering a rewarding employee experience and sustaining a vibrant OYO culture. Dinesh’s leadership and multi-market roll-out experience will help steer us in the right direction in this new phase."

OYO Rooms has disrupted the legacy-driven business of hospitality, creating a sizeable and new market opportunity. The standardization of unbranded hotel inventory has been a win-win proposition for customers, hoteliers and hospitality-sector workers who have benefitted from a resurgent sector. Today, OYO Rooms operates in over 165 Indian cities through more than 4500 hotels offerings 45,000 rooms. Having established its market leadership in India, OYO Rooms has also recently launched operations in Malaysia.

Dinesh elaborated on his decision to join, “OYO Rooms is one of the most innovative and original start-ups to come up in India in the recent past. I consider this an opportunity to contribute to the growth and evolution of a home-grown start-up that will disrupt markets globally. I am very excited to be here and look forward to an enriching tenure."

OYO Rooms pioneered the transformation of unbranded hotels in India to offer a predictable, standardized and affordable experience to customers. It promises comfortable and delightful stays with assured amenities such as an air conditioned room, complimentary breakfast and Wi-Fi with 24x7 customer service support. Guests can use the OYO Rooms App to search and book rooms, order room service (food and beverages), book a cab and also to search nearby restaurants.

OYO Rooms Appoints Former Coca-Cola Executive Dinesh R As Chief Human Resources Officer

OYO Rooms, India’s largest network of branded hotels, has announced the appointment of its Chief Human Resources Officer. Dinesh R joined the company to take on this newly-created position in January. Prior to this, he was leading Compensation & Benefits in the APAC region for The Coca-Cola Company. Dinesh is a seasoned HR professional with past tenures at Bharti Airtel, Hewitt Associates and ITC Limited.

Speaking on the appointment Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, OYO Rooms said, “We are thrilled to welcome Dinesh to OYO Rooms. We are at the cusp of significant transformation, having witnessed tremendous growth in the past year on both business and employee front. From a single-city office in Gurgaon, today we are present across more than 15 cities through our offices and 165 cities through our partner-properties. As we build value in our business and expand our geographical footprint, we remain focused on offering a rewarding employee experience and sustaining a vibrant OYO culture. Dinesh’s leadership and multi-market roll-out experience will help steer us in the right direction in this new phase."

OYO Rooms has disrupted the legacy-driven business of hospitality, creating a sizeable and new market opportunity. The standardization of unbranded hotel inventory has been a win-win proposition for customers, hoteliers and hospitality-sector workers who have benefitted from a resurgent sector. Today, OYO Rooms operates in over 165 Indian cities through more than 4500 hotels offerings 45,000 rooms. Having established its market leadership in India, OYO Rooms has also recently launched operations in Malaysia.

Dinesh elaborated on his decision to join, “OYO Rooms is one of the most innovative and original start-ups to come up in India in the recent past. I consider this an opportunity to contribute to the growth and evolution of a home-grown start-up that will disrupt markets globally. I am very excited to be here and look forward to an enriching tenure."

OYO Rooms pioneered the transformation of unbranded hotels in India to offer a predictable, standardized and affordable experience to customers. It promises comfortable and delightful stays with assured amenities such as an air conditioned room, complimentary breakfast and Wi-Fi with 24x7 customer service support. Guests can use the OYO Rooms App to search and book rooms, order room service (food and beverages), book a cab and also to search nearby restaurants.

Railway Broadband To Touch 5 Lakh Homes In Digital India Within 2 Years

Carving a niche for itself in Connected India -2020 project, Railtel Corporation's broadband will reach 500,000 households through its Railwire network providing a host of services at block levels in the next two years, a top Railway official said.

The Broadband Highway will involve a three-layer network – State capitals to District headquarters, District to sub-divisional and then to gram panchayats which will be joined to the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN), Mr Pradeep Kumar, Executive Director (East) of Railtel Corporation of India told a Global Communication Conclave held in Kolkata over the last weekend.

The Conclave, 10th in a series organised by Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), conducted a knowledge forum with the theme – Digital Now- What Next.

Mr Kumar said Railwire network architecture provides the answer for ‘what next’ as it will empower the people at village level with knowledge, skill development and core competencies. This will lead to good governance and transparent, corruption-free governments.

Railtel’s pan-India optic fibre network covers 4,400 plus railway stations across 44,300 km.

Railwire has also begun to tap the local cable operators focusing on pure play broadband and VPN services, content and application-driven network. “Our aim is to become a hub of local information and tool for rendering communication, infotainment, education, health and community services to the masses," Mr Kumar said.

In Eastern India alone, Railtel seeks to cover 36,000 gram panchayats and the broadband services include emails, online newspapers, online passport application, telemedicine, examination results and netsurfing for students with a minimum 2 Mpbps speed. The company’s pilot projects at Panisagar and Girania in Tripura have aroused a lot interest and enthusiasm, he said.

For the Railways itself, Railtel provides mission critical services such as computerized passenger reservation and ticketing system.

Ms Sashi Panja, West Bengal Women welfare and child development minister, who inaugurated the two-day conclave, focused on communicators role in ensuring the safety of women and children. In this context, she appreciated PRCI for setting up an internal compliance cell as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act makes it mandatory for all organizations to have such cells.

Explaining the significance of the conclave theme - Digital Now – What Next – PRCI national president and veteran media professional B N Kumar pointed out that it was important for communication professionals to keep themselves updated with the latest technology trends to be able to meet ever increasing challenges.

PRCI also focuses on skill development for communication professionals by expanding its operations and network not only across India but globally as well, he said.

PRCI chairman emeritus and chief mentor M B Jayaram said it was high time that the PR professionals thought big, embraced emerging challenges and convert them into opportunities and move towards a digital-first approach. The organization will soon initiate collaborative programmes with various business and technology forums to help the professionals upgrade their skills.

He pointed out that PRCI has come out with a unique e-magazine called PRapport which is becoming increasingly popular among global communication professionals due to its unique content being updated on a 24x7 basis.

Ms Geetha Shankar, chairperson of PRCI’s young communicators club (YCC), said the organizations emphasise on training mass communication students with practical aspects of media functioning to make them industry-ready. “In this regard, we are working with various universities and colleges teaching mass communication,” she said.

PRCI felicitated national achievers from among communication professionals with its coveted Chanakya awards, inducted senior practitioners into PR Hall of fame and presented a host of collateral awards at the conclave. Ujjivan Financial Services won the Corporate Citizen award, while Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals was given the innovative leadership award. Dainik Bhakskar Bhopal was given the excellence in social leadership award while and Businessworld fortnightly was adjudged the magazine of the year.

Railway Broadband To Touch 5 Lakh Homes In Digital India Within 2 Years

Carving a niche for itself in Connected India -2020 project, Railtel Corporation's broadband will reach 500,000 households through its Railwire network providing a host of services at block levels in the next two years, a top Railway official said.

The Broadband Highway will involve a three-layer network – State capitals to District headquarters, District to sub-divisional and then to gram panchayats which will be joined to the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN), Mr Pradeep Kumar, Executive Director (East) of Railtel Corporation of India told a Global Communication Conclave held in Kolkata over the last weekend.

The Conclave, 10th in a series organised by Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), conducted a knowledge forum with the theme – Digital Now- What Next.

Mr Kumar said Railwire network architecture provides the answer for ‘what next’ as it will empower the people at village level with knowledge, skill development and core competencies. This will lead to good governance and transparent, corruption-free governments.

Railtel’s pan-India optic fibre network covers 4,400 plus railway stations across 44,300 km.

Railwire has also begun to tap the local cable operators focusing on pure play broadband and VPN services, content and application-driven network. “Our aim is to become a hub of local information and tool for rendering communication, infotainment, education, health and community services to the masses," Mr Kumar said.

In Eastern India alone, Railtel seeks to cover 36,000 gram panchayats and the broadband services include emails, online newspapers, online passport application, telemedicine, examination results and netsurfing for students with a minimum 2 Mpbps speed. The company’s pilot projects at Panisagar and Girania in Tripura have aroused a lot interest and enthusiasm, he said.

For the Railways itself, Railtel provides mission critical services such as computerized passenger reservation and ticketing system.

Ms Sashi Panja, West Bengal Women welfare and child development minister, who inaugurated the two-day conclave, focused on communicators role in ensuring the safety of women and children. In this context, she appreciated PRCI for setting up an internal compliance cell as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act makes it mandatory for all organizations to have such cells.

Explaining the significance of the conclave theme - Digital Now – What Next – PRCI national president and veteran media professional B N Kumar pointed out that it was important for communication professionals to keep themselves updated with the latest technology trends to be able to meet ever increasing challenges.

PRCI also focuses on skill development for communication professionals by expanding its operations and network not only across India but globally as well, he said.

PRCI chairman emeritus and chief mentor M B Jayaram said it was high time that the PR professionals thought big, embraced emerging challenges and convert them into opportunities and move towards a digital-first approach. The organization will soon initiate collaborative programmes with various business and technology forums to help the professionals upgrade their skills.

He pointed out that PRCI has come out with a unique e-magazine called PRapport which is becoming increasingly popular among global communication professionals due to its unique content being updated on a 24x7 basis.

Ms Geetha Shankar, chairperson of PRCI’s young communicators club (YCC), said the organizations emphasise on training mass communication students with practical aspects of media functioning to make them industry-ready. “In this regard, we are working with various universities and colleges teaching mass communication,” she said.

PRCI felicitated national achievers from among communication professionals with its coveted Chanakya awards, inducted senior practitioners into PR Hall of fame and presented a host of collateral awards at the conclave. Ujjivan Financial Services won the Corporate Citizen award, while Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals was given the innovative leadership award. Dainik Bhakskar Bhopal was given the excellence in social leadership award while and Businessworld fortnightly was adjudged the magazine of the year.

UAE-Based Online Beauty & Wellness Platform Beawel Forays into India Market

Beawel, a subsidiary of AMI Internet Services, one of the fastest growing online platforms for beauty and wellness services based in UAE launches its operations in India.

Beawel aims to make spa, salon and fitness centers accessible to everyone through its user-friendly website and mobile apps for IOS and Android, with a vision to go beyond by adding events and other products to its growing list of services.

Beawel was conceptualized and co-founded by Dubai-based entrepreneur Anand Choudha and Ahmad Rizvi.



As online beauty & wellness platform, Beawel not only empowers the user but also the business owner, hence our motto: Get Noticed. We intend to create and deliver an unbiased platform, giving the consumer the option to choose what is best suited to their needs. The merchants are given a free-of-cost presence they can leverage to maximize their footfall, and get real-time feedback from their customers.

"It is said you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Our continuously evolving lifestyle places a great deal of importance in beauty and general well being. Beawel was born out of this need for people to Get Noticed, and thus its name - two halves of beauty (BEA) and wellness (WEL) joining to form a name easily identifiable as an enabler in the industry, " said a spokesperson of Beawel.

India's beauty and wellness market is set to double from Rs 41,224 crores in 2012-13 to Rs 80,370 crores by 2017-18, making it one of the fastest growing industries in India, which created this need for developing an ecosystem around beauty and wellness.

Current challenges in the beauty and wellness sector in India are mostly about the lack of reliable and updated information – price points, user reviews and access information. Large businesses thrive owing to their reputation, but lesser known players in the sector struggle to establish a foothold.

UAE-Based Online Beauty & Wellness Platform Beawel Forays into India Market

Beawel, a subsidiary of AMI Internet Services, one of the fastest growing online platforms for beauty and wellness services based in UAE launches its operations in India.

Beawel aims to make spa, salon and fitness centers accessible to everyone through its user-friendly website and mobile apps for IOS and Android, with a vision to go beyond by adding events and other products to its growing list of services.

Beawel was conceptualized and co-founded by Dubai-based entrepreneur Anand Choudha and Ahmad Rizvi.



As online beauty & wellness platform, Beawel not only empowers the user but also the business owner, hence our motto: Get Noticed. We intend to create and deliver an unbiased platform, giving the consumer the option to choose what is best suited to their needs. The merchants are given a free-of-cost presence they can leverage to maximize their footfall, and get real-time feedback from their customers.

"It is said you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Our continuously evolving lifestyle places a great deal of importance in beauty and general well being. Beawel was born out of this need for people to Get Noticed, and thus its name - two halves of beauty (BEA) and wellness (WEL) joining to form a name easily identifiable as an enabler in the industry, " said a spokesperson of Beawel.

India's beauty and wellness market is set to double from Rs 41,224 crores in 2012-13 to Rs 80,370 crores by 2017-18, making it one of the fastest growing industries in India, which created this need for developing an ecosystem around beauty and wellness.

Current challenges in the beauty and wellness sector in India are mostly about the lack of reliable and updated information – price points, user reviews and access information. Large businesses thrive owing to their reputation, but lesser known players in the sector struggle to establish a foothold.

Hindi Social Networking Site ShabdaNagari Raises $200k From Kanpur Angels & Others

ShabdaNagari, India's Hindi social networking portal, launched in January 2015, by IIT Mumbai alumni Amitesh Mishra along with Kaplnesh Gupta and Nikhil Tiwari, has raised $2,00,000 from Kanpur Angels and a clutch of other investors. The funds raised will be used to expand genres on the site and upgrade user interface.

Kalpnesh Gupta, Co-founder, ShabdaNagari, says, "With ShabdaNagari, we want to bring together Hindi speakers online where they can connected with like minded people and express their thoughts in their language. In the online space today, Hindi doesn’t feature in even top 10 languages despite being one of most popular languages. We have a goal of bridging this digital divide. The angel investment will give us the boost and confidence to grow ShabdaNagari into one of the largest social networking platform in the country."

ShabdaNagari has more than 20 thousand registered users, 150 thousand unique visits, 6 lakh page visits and over 100 articles being published on the site everyday with 25% repeat traffic, which proves that it has been successful towards giving the Hindi speaking population good quality content on the Internet. Gopal Sutwala, President of Kanpur Angels for the last one year, was mentoring the company, which is incubated in IIT Kanpur.

Rakesh Suri, Promoter, Kanpur Angels and investor, ShabdaNagari says, "We believe that ShabdaNagari is addressing a clear gap which exists in the online space today. With an increasing smartphone penetration in the hinterland, there is a demand for new and original local language content on the Internet. Currently, many large companies are working towards ensuring that the next 100 million users on the Internet should be able to engage in their local language. We believe ShabdaNagari is equipped to facilitate that with their vision to create a Hindi Internet platform."

Kanpur Angels have been closely associated with IIT Kanpur and other top colleges in Kanpur and have noticed a trend that entrepreneurs from small towns were compelled to shift to metros for raising funds and better infrastructure. That’s why members of Kanpur Angels have decided to set aside a corpus of Rs 10 crore to provide an angel investment to some of the promising startups in the city and help them grow. ShabdaNagari is their first investment.

ShabdaNagari has a fully featured mobile app available on Android platforms. In the coming months the company aims to reach over 1 - 1.5 million users, provide native mobile applications; create a marketplace for vernacular books on ShabdaNagari.

Shabdanagari is the first of its kind service that provides the ability to read and write content in Hindi. Users can post their articles, pictures, videos as well as questions using the tools provided on the website. The website was started last year with a vision to create a new platform where local language users in India can easily communicate and share their thoughts on Internet. The founding team of Shabdanagari has five members including Amitesh Misra, Nikhil Tiwari, Kalpnesh Gupta, Gopal Sutwala and Amaresh Chandra Misra.

Hindi Social Networking Site ShabdaNagari Raises $200k From Kanpur Angels & Others

ShabdaNagari, India's Hindi social networking portal, launched in January 2015, by IIT Mumbai alumni Amitesh Mishra along with Kaplnesh Gupta and Nikhil Tiwari, has raised $2,00,000 from Kanpur Angels and a clutch of other investors. The funds raised will be used to expand genres on the site and upgrade user interface.

Kalpnesh Gupta, Co-founder, ShabdaNagari, says, "With ShabdaNagari, we want to bring together Hindi speakers online where they can connected with like minded people and express their thoughts in their language. In the online space today, Hindi doesn’t feature in even top 10 languages despite being one of most popular languages. We have a goal of bridging this digital divide. The angel investment will give us the boost and confidence to grow ShabdaNagari into one of the largest social networking platform in the country."

ShabdaNagari has more than 20 thousand registered users, 150 thousand unique visits, 6 lakh page visits and over 100 articles being published on the site everyday with 25% repeat traffic, which proves that it has been successful towards giving the Hindi speaking population good quality content on the Internet. Gopal Sutwala, President of Kanpur Angels for the last one year, was mentoring the company, which is incubated in IIT Kanpur.

Rakesh Suri, Promoter, Kanpur Angels and investor, ShabdaNagari says, "We believe that ShabdaNagari is addressing a clear gap which exists in the online space today. With an increasing smartphone penetration in the hinterland, there is a demand for new and original local language content on the Internet. Currently, many large companies are working towards ensuring that the next 100 million users on the Internet should be able to engage in their local language. We believe ShabdaNagari is equipped to facilitate that with their vision to create a Hindi Internet platform."

Kanpur Angels have been closely associated with IIT Kanpur and other top colleges in Kanpur and have noticed a trend that entrepreneurs from small towns were compelled to shift to metros for raising funds and better infrastructure. That’s why members of Kanpur Angels have decided to set aside a corpus of Rs 10 crore to provide an angel investment to some of the promising startups in the city and help them grow. ShabdaNagari is their first investment.

ShabdaNagari has a fully featured mobile app available on Android platforms. In the coming months the company aims to reach over 1 - 1.5 million users, provide native mobile applications; create a marketplace for vernacular books on ShabdaNagari.

Shabdanagari is the first of its kind service that provides the ability to read and write content in Hindi. Users can post their articles, pictures, videos as well as questions using the tools provided on the website. The website was started last year with a vision to create a new platform where local language users in India can easily communicate and share their thoughts on Internet. The founding team of Shabdanagari has five members including Amitesh Misra, Nikhil Tiwari, Kalpnesh Gupta, Gopal Sutwala and Amaresh Chandra Misra.

Housing Is Back, Raises Rs 100 Crore Via Softbank

After more than a year of numb period, Mumbai-based real estate portal Housing.com has raised Rs 100 crore as fresh capital from Softbank, which has been the biggest investor in the company, and is expected to increase its hold further. Housing last raised funds of $100 million in November 2014 and 14 long months to raise additional funds today.

Notably, a few days back - in 'Start-up India' event, Softbank Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masayoshi Son told that he would accelerate investment in India and Housing is first tranche this year from Japanese conglomerate.

Softbank now holds more than 21 per cent in Housing. Softbank's India portfolio includes Delhi-based Snapdeal and Paytm, apart from Housing and Ola.

A statement released by the Housing.com said it would be using the funds to "drive its new strategy and growth plans". Housing has so far received more than $100 million in funds. "Softbank is one of the world's largest and most successful investors. Their continued support, as both investors and advisors, is invaluable to us and signifies their long-term commitment. We are now well-capitalised to aggressively execute on our focused strategy and growth plans," said Housing CEO Jason Kothari. Housing's cash burn had crippled the firm in the first half of 2015 and played a part in the restructuring. Son, however, said at the start-up summit that cash burn in some businesses was a necessary evil.

This week, Housing appointed cofounder Snehil Bakshi as its new chief product officer.

After controversial spat and ouster of then Housing CEO Rahul Yadav, the company shutdown some of its units, reduced its workforce and revamped its core business team to increase focus on profitability.

And, last year in October, Housing saw a plunge in its valuation from $400 million in 2014 to less than $50 million in October 2015.

Housing Is Back, Raises Rs 100 Crore Via Softbank

After more than a year of numb period, Mumbai-based real estate portal Housing.com has raised Rs 100 crore as fresh capital from Softbank, which has been the biggest investor in the company, and is expected to increase its hold further. Housing last raised funds of $100 million in November 2014 and 14 long months to raise additional funds today.

Notably, a few days back - in 'Start-up India' event, Softbank Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masayoshi Son told that he would accelerate investment in India and Housing is first tranche this year from Japanese conglomerate.

Softbank now holds more than 21 per cent in Housing. Softbank's India portfolio includes Delhi-based Snapdeal and Paytm, apart from Housing and Ola.

A statement released by the Housing.com said it would be using the funds to "drive its new strategy and growth plans". Housing has so far received more than $100 million in funds. "Softbank is one of the world's largest and most successful investors. Their continued support, as both investors and advisors, is invaluable to us and signifies their long-term commitment. We are now well-capitalised to aggressively execute on our focused strategy and growth plans," said Housing CEO Jason Kothari. Housing's cash burn had crippled the firm in the first half of 2015 and played a part in the restructuring. Son, however, said at the start-up summit that cash burn in some businesses was a necessary evil.

This week, Housing appointed cofounder Snehil Bakshi as its new chief product officer.

After controversial spat and ouster of then Housing CEO Rahul Yadav, the company shutdown some of its units, reduced its workforce and revamped its core business team to increase focus on profitability.

And, last year in October, Housing saw a plunge in its valuation from $400 million in 2014 to less than $50 million in October 2015.

Aurangabad-based Tidyhomz Is All-Things-Home E-Commerce Platform

[caption id="attachment_103286" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Team Tidyhomz[/caption]

A clean and tidy home is everyone's dream. After a long day at work, one just wants to go back to a clean, well arranged place where everything you need is right in front of your eyes and you don't have to spend the precious 'me' time you had projected in finding the sunglasses that you have to wear tomorrow. Sounds like your dream scenario, too? Well, making these 21st century modern dreams come true is an Aurangabad, Maharashtra based startup called Tidy Homz.

The startup is an online one-stop platform for all your home related needs, right from the often needed basic utility items to some fancier wooden furniture and furnishings, everything has been available on the platform.

With Tidy Homz, Pritika Chatterjee and Ajinkya Save, founders, aim to innovate, manufacture and even import in certain products which they think should be a basic in every Indian household.

[caption id="attachment_103284" align="aligncenter" width="341"] Pritika Chatterjee and Ajinkya Save[/caption]

Further, they aspire to make the daily Indian living much more simpler and easier. Their main mission is to get people interested in the various market products for their household which they might have not even known or seen before.

According to them, the typical Indian buyer always seeks for two things i.e. good quality and good price. And, these two are the things which set Tidy Homz apart from any other such startup currently in the market. In addition to this, they manufacture their own products and the parent company of Tidyhomz is an export house therefore the company says it understands what it takes to make a good product.

Tidyhomz launched its website on 8th January 2016 and have got close to 250 orders in just 10 days. The unique startup has around 250 SKUs till now and starting 1st Feb, they aspire to introduce at least 2 products per week.

Their parent company has put in 2 crores initially and now the startup is looking out for external investments.

The startup's future plans include taking the number of SKUs from the current 250 to 1,000 figure by the end of the year and have a good presence in all the 65 cities that they're catering to right now.

Aurangabad-based Tidyhomz Is All-Things-Home E-Commerce Platform

[caption id="attachment_103286" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Team Tidyhomz[/caption]

A clean and tidy home is everyone's dream. After a long day at work, one just wants to go back to a clean, well arranged place where everything you need is right in front of your eyes and you don't have to spend the precious 'me' time you had projected in finding the sunglasses that you have to wear tomorrow. Sounds like your dream scenario, too? Well, making these 21st century modern dreams come true is an Aurangabad, Maharashtra based startup called Tidy Homz.

The startup is an online one-stop platform for all your home related needs, right from the often needed basic utility items to some fancier wooden furniture and furnishings, everything has been available on the platform.

With Tidy Homz, Pritika Chatterjee and Ajinkya Save, founders, aim to innovate, manufacture and even import in certain products which they think should be a basic in every Indian household.

[caption id="attachment_103284" align="aligncenter" width="341"] Pritika Chatterjee and Ajinkya Save[/caption]

Further, they aspire to make the daily Indian living much more simpler and easier. Their main mission is to get people interested in the various market products for their household which they might have not even known or seen before.

According to them, the typical Indian buyer always seeks for two things i.e. good quality and good price. And, these two are the things which set Tidy Homz apart from any other such startup currently in the market. In addition to this, they manufacture their own products and the parent company of Tidyhomz is an export house therefore the company says it understands what it takes to make a good product.

Tidyhomz launched its website on 8th January 2016 and have got close to 250 orders in just 10 days. The unique startup has around 250 SKUs till now and starting 1st Feb, they aspire to introduce at least 2 products per week.

Their parent company has put in 2 crores initially and now the startup is looking out for external investments.

The startup's future plans include taking the number of SKUs from the current 250 to 1,000 figure by the end of the year and have a good presence in all the 65 cities that they're catering to right now.

Two Of The Youngest Innovators At The 'Startup India' Were Less than 12-year-old

The average age of an entrepreneur in India is roughly 28 years maybe give or take a few years. This January we came across two entrepreneurs who have a dream to make it big but they themselves are just a couple of pre-teens.

Among the bigwigs of the startup industry like Flipkart's Sachin Bansal and Uber's Travis Kalanick the other day, were two young boys concealing excitement with an idea of their own. Abhijit Premji(12) and Amarjjit Premji(10) had been invited to join the launch of "Startup India. Standup India" all the way from Kerela. These boys are toys enthusiasts. Bored of the same old monster trucks and the clapping clown, they decided to make their own toys. They would dismantle their toys and then using the parts make something new entirely! They played their one-minute movie at the event, summarizing their zeal and creativity while their parents sat there beaming with pride. Like any other venture or entrepreneur they had a similar reason for starting up, a desire to come up with a solution to a problem. This time, the problem turned out to be their own, and they used their creativity to alleviate it.

Their dreams started to take shape on Independence Day last year, when the boys, after hearing the PM's speech asked their father, "Dad, what's meant by a startup?" They have come a long way and their recently launched website indianhomemadetoys.com (IHT) is a host to numerous toys available for online purchase. The boys call their this online startup as 'smart-up'.



Abhijit the older brother thinks that rather buying toys, parents should get their kids kits or raw material and give them the freedom to make something unique and fun! Apart from youtube, the kids have their grandfather to thank for because it was him who helped nurture the spark of creativity.

Mr Premjith, the proud father of these two wonder kids, who is an automobile engineer, says, "I was pleasantly surprised to see their creations. Some of them are applications of theoretical concepts often taught to engineering students."

The kids have a huge variety of toys may be more than your neighboring toy store. These kids use whatever they can get their hands on and with a little bit of creativity, voila they have a new toy. Looking at their collection you will realise some of the raw materials are simple household things like plastic bottles, Thermocol, basic electronic equipment etc. Our young entrepreneurs are helped but some videos on youtube that give them the required guidance and sometimes ideas.



The toy market is flooded with toys from China and Italy and you can see only a few Indian manufacturers on the shelf. Another problem is that these imported toys are sometimes made out of harmful substances that might be dangerous but since there are no regulations to keep a check on that, they cross over into India with ease. Another major roadblock for Indian manufacturers is the availability of good quality raw materials at an affordable cost, which holds them back. The Indian toy industry is estimated at 8000 crores but sadly only 20% of this is met by Indian manufacturers. But seeing the enthusiasm in these kids and the sparkle in their eyes, we can expect a change in the trend.

 

 

Two Of The Youngest Innovators At The 'Startup India' Were Less than 12-year-old

The average age of an entrepreneur in India is roughly 28 years maybe give or take a few years. This January we came across two entrepreneurs who have a dream to make it big but they themselves are just a couple of pre-teens.

Among the bigwigs of the startup industry like Flipkart's Sachin Bansal and Uber's Travis Kalanick the other day, were two young boys concealing excitement with an idea of their own. Abhijit Premji(12) and Amarjjit Premji(10) had been invited to join the launch of "Startup India. Standup India" all the way from Kerela. These boys are toys enthusiasts. Bored of the same old monster trucks and the clapping clown, they decided to make their own toys. They would dismantle their toys and then using the parts make something new entirely! They played their one-minute movie at the event, summarizing their zeal and creativity while their parents sat there beaming with pride. Like any other venture or entrepreneur they had a similar reason for starting up, a desire to come up with a solution to a problem. This time, the problem turned out to be their own, and they used their creativity to alleviate it.

Their dreams started to take shape on Independence Day last year, when the boys, after hearing the PM's speech asked their father, "Dad, what's meant by a startup?" They have come a long way and their recently launched website indianhomemadetoys.com (IHT) is a host to numerous toys available for online purchase. The boys call their this online startup as 'smart-up'.



Abhijit the older brother thinks that rather buying toys, parents should get their kids kits or raw material and give them the freedom to make something unique and fun! Apart from youtube, the kids have their grandfather to thank for because it was him who helped nurture the spark of creativity.

Mr Premjith, the proud father of these two wonder kids, who is an automobile engineer, says, "I was pleasantly surprised to see their creations. Some of them are applications of theoretical concepts often taught to engineering students."

The kids have a huge variety of toys may be more than your neighboring toy store. These kids use whatever they can get their hands on and with a little bit of creativity, voila they have a new toy. Looking at their collection you will realise some of the raw materials are simple household things like plastic bottles, Thermocol, basic electronic equipment etc. Our young entrepreneurs are helped but some videos on youtube that give them the required guidance and sometimes ideas.



The toy market is flooded with toys from China and Italy and you can see only a few Indian manufacturers on the shelf. Another problem is that these imported toys are sometimes made out of harmful substances that might be dangerous but since there are no regulations to keep a check on that, they cross over into India with ease. Another major roadblock for Indian manufacturers is the availability of good quality raw materials at an affordable cost, which holds them back. The Indian toy industry is estimated at 8000 crores but sadly only 20% of this is met by Indian manufacturers. But seeing the enthusiasm in these kids and the sparkle in their eyes, we can expect a change in the trend.

 

 

DICCI To Set Up 4 Startup Incubators For Dalits

The Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI), which espouses the cause of dalit businessmen and entrepreneurs in India, is planning to establish four startup incubators across the country and one of them will come up in Hyderabad for South India.

"We are planning to set up four startup incubators in the four corners of the country to encourage first generation dalit entrepreneurs. We will soon start works for our incubation centre in Hyderabad where Telangana government has promised one acre land and Rs 5 crore support," Milind Kamble, Chairman, Dicci, told The Hans India on the sidelines of the CII Partnership Summit 2016 here.

Apart from Hyderabad, the incubation centres will come up in Mumbai for Western India, in New Delhi for North India and Jamshedpur for Eastern India. "We want all the four centres to support as many as 2,000 startups in phases," he said.

Founded in 2005 by Milind Kamble, DICCI is an Indian association that promotes business enterprises for Dalits.

Through this unique initiative, the Dicci is looking to encourage new ideas, provide marketing support and also enlist support from investors. "Our objective is to focus on all sectors as we need to encourage Dalit entrepreneurs in every industrial space," he added. Kamble further said the Stand-Up India scheme announced recently by the central government would benefit dalit and women entrepreneurs. "The Centre is allocating Rs 10,000 crore for this scheme through SIDBI and is also creating credit guarantee,” he said.

In 2013 DICCI announced to float Rs 500 crore venture capital fund to promote SC/ST entrepreneurs. SIDBI became first investor in the fund by announcing Rs 10 crore. DICCI has set up online SME portal - DICCI SME Portal, to bring micro, small and medium Dalit entrepreneurs on the same platform as the Government, non-governmental organizations and not-for-profit organizations from across India to do business.

The DICCI founder revealed that the industry body had approached the centre government with a proposal to see that each bank branch in the country extend financial support to at least one scheduled caste, one scheduled tribe and one women entrepreneur. “This way, dalit and women entrepreneurs will have opportunities across the country,” he said.

The industry body had a meeting with Department of Financial Services and discussed about the proposal. “We suggested that a committee should be appointed with District Collector as the chairman and District Industrial Centre GM as nodal officer to monitor the scheme which will be a part of Stand-up initiative,” he added.
Pointing out that promoters were required to invest 25 per cent under that Stand-Up scheme, he said Dicci had requested Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to provide 15 per cent margin money for dalit and women entrepreneurs in the State.

"That way, the Stand-Up initiative will be successful in AP," he said, adding that AP CM responded positively to his proposal.

Indian Startups At Risk As Investments Falls Down, Modi Fund Falls Short

All isn't well for the Indian startup industry. While the Modi government thinks that startups is the future of the nation and is hence trying its level best to take the industry to a different level altogether. Global investors and venture capitalists are doing the exact opposite. After showing immense interest in the Indian startups for the last 6-7 years, these investors are now tightening their purse strings.

A new report released by CB Insights and KPMG reveals some startling facts about the Indian startup investments. According to the report, the fourth quarter of the year 2015 saw the venture capital investments dip to nearly a half from $1.5 billion in July-September the same year.

According to industry experts, there could be two main reasons for such startling trends. Firstly, it could be the effects of China's economic slowdown lap around the world. Or, secondly, it could be because of the investors realisation over a period of time that huge online sales are still clouded by soaring valuations (over-valuation) and profits that were still nowhere to be seen.

Such discouraging statistics from the Indian startup industry can hugely impact its overall reputation and potential in the global market.

Industry insiders reveal that all isn't as hunky dory in the Indian startup scene as it seems from outside. According to them, a majority of Indian tech startups have been for long making losses, not profits. This is mostly because their focus is generating more revenue from the customers that buy goods and services by following a business model which is discount-driven. They then use this growth in 'gross merchandise value' on their platforms as a fancy endorsement in order to attract funding from investors.

Flipkart and Snapdeal, two of the most epic Indian startup success stories have a strong backing of big names like Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, Japan's SoftBank Group Corp and Accel Partners. These big names invested in these aforementioned startups by getting attracted by a huge growth potential in a country where only 252 million of the total 1.3 billion people currently have Internet access.

According to banking and industry sources, both these industry biggies have had huge losses in their race to compete for increasing sales and more market share through deep discount models.

Some startups have already detected the warning signs well in advance and have also started preparing for it. For example, food delivery companies like TinyOwl and Foodpanda have either shrunk their services or cut down on jobs.

What does the future hold for the Indian startup industry, is something which only time will tell but we would surely advice them to slow down, evaluate, introspect and then progress.

Indian Startups At Risk As Investments Falls Down, Modi Fund Falls Short

All isn't well for the Indian startup industry. While the Modi government thinks that startups is the future of the nation and is hence trying its level best to take the industry to a different level altogether. Global investors and venture capitalists are doing the exact opposite. After showing immense interest in the Indian startups for the last 6-7 years, these investors are now tightening their purse strings.

A new report released by CB Insights and KPMG reveals some startling facts about the Indian startup investments. According to the report, the fourth quarter of the year 2015 saw the venture capital investments dip to nearly a half from $1.5 billion in July-September the same year.

According to industry experts, there could be two main reasons for such startling trends. Firstly, it could be the effects of China's economic slowdown lap around the world. Or, secondly, it could be because of the investors realisation over a period of time that huge online sales are still clouded by soaring valuations (over-valuation) and profits that were still nowhere to be seen.

Such discouraging statistics from the Indian startup industry can hugely impact its overall reputation and potential in the global market.

Industry insiders reveal that all isn't as hunky dory in the Indian startup scene as it seems from outside. According to them, a majority of Indian tech startups have been for long making losses, not profits. This is mostly because their focus is generating more revenue from the customers that buy goods and services by following a business model which is discount-driven. They then use this growth in 'gross merchandise value' on their platforms as a fancy endorsement in order to attract funding from investors.

Flipkart and Snapdeal, two of the most epic Indian startup success stories have a strong backing of big names like Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, Japan's SoftBank Group Corp and Accel Partners. These big names invested in these aforementioned startups by getting attracted by a huge growth potential in a country where only 252 million of the total 1.3 billion people currently have Internet access.

According to banking and industry sources, both these industry biggies have had huge losses in their race to compete for increasing sales and more market share through deep discount models.

Some startups have already detected the warning signs well in advance and have also started preparing for it. For example, food delivery companies like TinyOwl and Foodpanda have either shrunk their services or cut down on jobs.

What does the future hold for the Indian startup industry, is something which only time will tell but we would surely advice them to slow down, evaluate, introspect and then progress.

Bengaluru-based Media Streaming Device Maker Raises $3 Million, To Launch Proprietary Android-based OS

Creo, a Bangalore based consumer technology company earlier known as Mango Man Consumer Electronics, has raised US$3 million funding from Sequoia India, Beenext Ventures and India Quotient. The young startup is makers of HDMI media streaming device Teewe which has re-branded itself to 'Creo'. The re-branding was announced on day of the launch of its proprietary Android OS on Thursday.

The startup plans to produce smartphones by developing a proprietary Android-based software OS and the smartphone itself.

"The idea of building an Android based operating system for a smartphone stemmed from the realization that in the current market, while hardware is getting better very fast, there is not enough differentiation on the software front. We want to be the ones bridging that gap," said Sai Srinivas, co-founder of CREO.

The startup's flagship product 'Teewe', which was launched in September 2014, is an HDMI Dongle that allows to stream media wirelessly via a smartphone application to television. Ever since Teewe 2 was launched in May 2015, the company claims the product has established itself in over 50,000 households.

Teewe was founded in August 2013 by young engineers - Sai Srinivas Kiran, an IIT-Kanpur graduate and Shubh Malhotra, a BITS Pilani (Goa) graduate. While Srinivas previously did stints with Zynga as a Product Manager and Bharti Soft Bank as the Director of Product. Malhotra was Product Manager in Bharti SoftBank working on technology behind mobile games built out of Tiny Mogul Games studio, a Bangalore based Gaming Studio operated by Bharti SoftBank.

Teewe added torrent streaming functionality through an update in late December 2015.

Bengaluru-based Media Streaming Device Maker Raises $3 Million, To Launch Proprietary Android-based OS

Creo, a Bangalore based consumer technology company earlier known as Mango Man Consumer Electronics, has raised US$3 million funding from Sequoia India, Beenext Ventures and India Quotient. The young startup is makers of HDMI media streaming device Teewe which has re-branded itself to 'Creo'. The re-branding was announced on day of the launch of its proprietary Android OS on Thursday.

The startup plans to produce smartphones by developing a proprietary Android-based software OS and the smartphone itself.

"The idea of building an Android based operating system for a smartphone stemmed from the realization that in the current market, while hardware is getting better very fast, there is not enough differentiation on the software front. We want to be the ones bridging that gap," said Sai Srinivas, co-founder of CREO.

The startup's flagship product 'Teewe', which was launched in September 2014, is an HDMI Dongle that allows to stream media wirelessly via a smartphone application to television. Ever since Teewe 2 was launched in May 2015, the company claims the product has established itself in over 50,000 households.

Teewe was founded in August 2013 by young engineers - Sai Srinivas Kiran, an IIT-Kanpur graduate and Shubh Malhotra, a BITS Pilani (Goa) graduate. While Srinivas previously did stints with Zynga as a Product Manager and Bharti Soft Bank as the Director of Product. Malhotra was Product Manager in Bharti SoftBank working on technology behind mobile games built out of Tiny Mogul Games studio, a Bangalore based Gaming Studio operated by Bharti SoftBank.

Teewe added torrent streaming functionality through an update in late December 2015.

Ratan Tata Invests In Firstcry

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, has invested an undisclosed amount in FirstCry.com, an e-commerce platform for baby and maternity products.

"A positive nod from a business leader of Tata’s stature is a great vote of confidence in the way we have created the ecosystem and validation of the business approach leading to definitive path to profitability," said Supam Maheshwari, founder and CEO of FirstCry.

Ratan Tata has made more than a dozen startup investment since 2015 and Firstcry is the fourth investment in 2016 for Ratan Tata after he backed pet portal DogSpot, data analytic startup Tracxn, and cashback and coupons site CashKaro - in his personal capacity.

Founded in 2010 by Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, FirstCry was initially an exclusive online retailer which now operates a hybrid online-offline model for retailing kids products. FirstCry has now morphed into a multi-channel retailer with presence across the web, mobile and offline segments. It has about 100 FirstCry-branded franchisee stores across 85 cities besides its e-commerce site.

Firstcry competitors are Babyoye, which was acquired by the Mahindra group, and Hopscotch backed by Facebook's co-founder Eduardo Saverin, early-stage investor Velos Capital and LionRock Capital, among others.

FirstCry has raised $69 million of funding in total so far from investors including IDG Ventures India, SAIF Partners, Vertex Ventures, Valiant Capital and NEA.

Ratan Tata Invests In Firstcry

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, has invested an undisclosed amount in FirstCry.com, an e-commerce platform for baby and maternity products.

"A positive nod from a business leader of Tata’s stature is a great vote of confidence in the way we have created the ecosystem and validation of the business approach leading to definitive path to profitability," said Supam Maheshwari, founder and CEO of FirstCry.

Ratan Tata has made more than a dozen startup investment since 2015 and Firstcry is the fourth investment in 2016 for Ratan Tata after he backed pet portal DogSpot, data analytic startup Tracxn, and cashback and coupons site CashKaro - in his personal capacity.

Founded in 2010 by Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, FirstCry was initially an exclusive online retailer which now operates a hybrid online-offline model for retailing kids products. FirstCry has now morphed into a multi-channel retailer with presence across the web, mobile and offline segments. It has about 100 FirstCry-branded franchisee stores across 85 cities besides its e-commerce site.

Firstcry competitors are Babyoye, which was acquired by the Mahindra group, and Hopscotch backed by Facebook's co-founder Eduardo Saverin, early-stage investor Velos Capital and LionRock Capital, among others.

FirstCry has raised $69 million of funding in total so far from investors including IDG Ventures India, SAIF Partners, Vertex Ventures, Valiant Capital and NEA.

Four Young Engineers Bring Free Wi-Fi in Indian villages

While the country is still debating the 'free' in Facebook's Free Basics platform, four young engineers from India, Shakeel Anjum, Tushar Bharthare, Bhanu Yadav and Abhishek Bharthare, have managed to attain what seemed to be a distant dream for the rural areas of the country for ages now. The magnificent four have been able to connect the Indian villages by providing them unrestricted Internet access for free.

The four young IT engineers have been successful in setting up and starting a free Wi-Fi service in a village in their home district Rajgarh in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India.

According to the four, it was the Narendra Modi's government's Digital India initiative that inspired them to do something for their village in the direction of providing digital access to it.

They started by developing Wi-Fi in Shivnathpura village in August last year. Having no financial help from the local government or private organisations in the area, they pooled in their resources in order to set up a 80-foot-high tower with a high-frequency device. Since the village also faced a problem of long power cuts, they also decided to set up an inverter to ensure uninterrupted Internet access.



The service was finally started in October and extended to the gram panchayat Bawdikheda jagir in November. The service was then officially launched in January this year.

On the whole, the project has costed them around Rs 2 lakhs but according to them, it is a small amount to pay for the immediate impact the Wi-Fi have had on the lives of the villagers.

According to the founders, setting up of free Wi-Fi has led to more and more villagers buying smartphones. Further, school children have now started using apps and e-books in order to help themselves in their studies. Not only this, a Bank of India kiosk which was already set up in the village can now work much more efficiently in opening new bank accounts because of uninterrupted Internet service it would get all thanks to the free Wi-Fu service set up. In order to make sure that each villager is able to reap in the benefits of free Wi-Fi, the four youngsters have tied up with a local NGO called Rajgarh Computer Seva Sanstha. The sanstha teaches the villagers on how they could use the Internet to make their everyday lives easier and more efficient.

Bearing monthly expenses amounting to Rs 8,000 for the free Wi-Fi, the four IT engineers are hopeful of getting help from the local government in the near future. They also plan on extending the low-cost Wi-Fi service to surrounding villages in Rajgarh within a 15 km-radius through the same tower.

Notably, last year, Google announced to set up free Wi-Fi in 100 railway stations and also plans to bring low-cost Internet connectivity to country's villages through Project Loon.

Four Young Engineers Bring Free Wi-Fi in Indian villages

While the country is still debating the 'free' in Facebook's Free Basics platform, four young engineers from India, Shakeel Anjum, Tushar Bharthare, Bhanu Yadav and Abhishek Bharthare, have managed to attain what seemed to be a distant dream for the rural areas of the country for ages now. The magnificent four have been able to connect the Indian villages by providing them unrestricted Internet access for free.

The four young IT engineers have been successful in setting up and starting a free Wi-Fi service in a village in their home district Rajgarh in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India.

According to the four, it was the Narendra Modi's government's Digital India initiative that inspired them to do something for their village in the direction of providing digital access to it.

They started by developing Wi-Fi in Shivnathpura village in August last year. Having no financial help from the local government or private organisations in the area, they pooled in their resources in order to set up a 80-foot-high tower with a high-frequency device. Since the village also faced a problem of long power cuts, they also decided to set up an inverter to ensure uninterrupted Internet access.



The service was finally started in October and extended to the gram panchayat Bawdikheda jagir in November. The service was then officially launched in January this year.

On the whole, the project has costed them around Rs 2 lakhs but according to them, it is a small amount to pay for the immediate impact the Wi-Fi have had on the lives of the villagers.

According to the founders, setting up of free Wi-Fi has led to more and more villagers buying smartphones. Further, school children have now started using apps and e-books in order to help themselves in their studies. Not only this, a Bank of India kiosk which was already set up in the village can now work much more efficiently in opening new bank accounts because of uninterrupted Internet service it would get all thanks to the free Wi-Fu service set up. In order to make sure that each villager is able to reap in the benefits of free Wi-Fi, the four youngsters have tied up with a local NGO called Rajgarh Computer Seva Sanstha. The sanstha teaches the villagers on how they could use the Internet to make their everyday lives easier and more efficient.

Bearing monthly expenses amounting to Rs 8,000 for the free Wi-Fi, the four IT engineers are hopeful of getting help from the local government in the near future. They also plan on extending the low-cost Wi-Fi service to surrounding villages in Rajgarh within a 15 km-radius through the same tower.

Notably, last year, Google announced to set up free Wi-Fi in 100 railway stations and also plans to bring low-cost Internet connectivity to country's villages through Project Loon.

Indians Are Largest In The World To Desire For Startup Jobs

This recent startup revolution that has taken over is not a global phenomenon, it is just restricted to the boundaries of a few nations, India being one of them. The startups have made their presence felt in our nation in a way that our youth today is swayed towards them more than well-established firms and companies. They would rather work for a promising startup than at an established company. This is probably because startups give more freedom and the work is more challenging in comparison to a company where no matter what you have to stick to the norms. This startup bug is not just restricted to the young generation, it has percolated its way through to the older generations and into politics as well.

Infosys, India's top consulting firm, recently commissioned a survey of young adults in nine major economies around the world and found a striking different opinions among different countries.

According to the surveys, the zeal to work in a startup is just restricted to a few countries of the likes of India, France, Brazil and a few others. Interest is highest in India, Brazil and France and is lowest in Australia. The US ranks close to the global average, at less than 10%, even though highly successful startups such as Facebook, Uber and AirBnb have attracted multi-billion-dollar valuations, while turning their founders into global celebrities.

[caption id="attachment_103249" align="aligncenter" width="700"] source: Infosys[/caption]

Worldwide only 8% of young adults prefer startups, rest 26% would still prefer a stable job at an established firm. The respondents still crave stability and job security of a prestigious company more than the dynamic and progressive working environment of a startup. That being said, in India, China, South Africa and Brazil, 26% of the respondents said that their ideal company would be one with about 250 employees. Also other than US and Germany, people preferred to start a business of their own rather than working for a small company. These are some figures giving us a peek into the mindset of the young generation of our world today.

India's PM, Mr. Narendra Modi, has recently launched the "Startup India, Standup India" program aimed at promoting startups and helping this startup ecosystem develop in our nation. Startups have swept all of us off are feet and is slowly spreading in the Indian society.

Indians Are Largest In The World To Desire For Startup Jobs

This recent startup revolution that has taken over is not a global phenomenon, it is just restricted to the boundaries of a few nations, India being one of them. The startups have made their presence felt in our nation in a way that our youth today is swayed towards them more than well-established firms and companies. They would rather work for a promising startup than at an established company. This is probably because startups give more freedom and the work is more challenging in comparison to a company where no matter what you have to stick to the norms. This startup bug is not just restricted to the young generation, it has percolated its way through to the older generations and into politics as well.

Infosys, India's top consulting firm, recently commissioned a survey of young adults in nine major economies around the world and found a striking different opinions among different countries.

According to the surveys, the zeal to work in a startup is just restricted to a few countries of the likes of India, France, Brazil and a few others. Interest is highest in India, Brazil and France and is lowest in Australia. The US ranks close to the global average, at less than 10%, even though highly successful startups such as Facebook, Uber and AirBnb have attracted multi-billion-dollar valuations, while turning their founders into global celebrities.

[caption id="attachment_103249" align="aligncenter" width="700"] source: Infosys[/caption]

Worldwide only 8% of young adults prefer startups, rest 26% would still prefer a stable job at an established firm. The respondents still crave stability and job security of a prestigious company more than the dynamic and progressive working environment of a startup. That being said, in India, China, South Africa and Brazil, 26% of the respondents said that their ideal company would be one with about 250 employees. Also other than US and Germany, people preferred to start a business of their own rather than working for a small company. These are some figures giving us a peek into the mindset of the young generation of our world today.

India's PM, Mr. Narendra Modi, has recently launched the "Startup India, Standup India" program aimed at promoting startups and helping this startup ecosystem develop in our nation. Startups have swept all of us off are feet and is slowly spreading in the Indian society.

Delhi Based Houzmax Is India's First House Possession Platform

While moving into a new apartment/house is always a matter of joy, all the workload associated with moving and fixing and making the place one's own, takes a lot of time,effort and energy out of one's system. Playing fairy to one's new apartment needs is a Delhi NCR based startup called Houzmax.

Promoted as India's First Possession Focused Marketplace, the startup is a crowd-sourced, collaborative, content and commerce driven platform aimed at building a synergy between buyers and the builders. It further helps real estate home buyers to move in to their apartments faster and smarter.

The platform's major offerings include pre-configured possession kits under different categories for different kinds of apartment owners. For example, if the owner of the apartment is considering renting out his/her apartment then the startup offers them rPK kits i.e. Rent Possession kits. These kits are cost effective and can be turned around in a faster time frame which helps the owners in getting a faster return on their real estate investment.

"We realized that the biggest pain point for any real estate buyer is the delayed possessions and the financial strains it creates for them and hence we wanted to ensure that there is a platform which addressed this pain point by way of transparent information sharing and answering the most challenging questions like when will I get my apartment and after I get it how do I monetize it for real gain," said Pankaj Dewan, co-founder, Houzmax.

Houzmax addresses the common problem related to post apartment/house poseession by anchoring its online platform in social, crowd-sourced content, community & commerce that will address home owners' pain points, solve their problems across the value chain – possession of apartments, builder buyer collaboration, preconfigured kits across category of products eg. our Essential Possession kits (ePK) and Design Possession Kits and Rent Possession Kits (rPK).

Houzmax is hyperlocal and offer curated multiple services on demand with extremely fast delivery times. It help home-owners get to thier house faster, smarter and also gives a platform to showcase prized possessions through Housewarming celebrations.

With HouzMax.com, the founders real aim was to create a platform that addresses real customer issues in the real estate sector. Their mission, as the proudly claim, is to provide – 'Maximum Housing experience to the customers'. Their pre-possession discussion forum, helps a buyer connect with the builder for a smooth journey to pre-possession.

What makes the startup standout from its competition (Housing.com, Nestaway, Zimba etc.) is that, it is a horizontal platform which offers its customers services across multiple category of services for apartments, right from electrical preconfigured kits, to pest control and project centric apartment designs with themes. Further, they also provide possession updates and advisory services for a smarter house possession.

The three brains behind the project, Rohit Dewan, Vikas Bagga and Pankaj Dewan are all professionals with good experience in real estate domain and technology besides the marketing and sales sector. Rohit Dewan, is a veteran with more than 20 years of global IT Project delivery experience with TCS, Vikas Bagga, on the other hand is a marketing veteran instrumental in launching the famous Woodland brand. Further, Pankaj has a strong strategy and management background having worked with world’s largest software companies SAP and Oracle.

In what seems to be like a dream run, Houzmax got its first order within a few days of its launch. The order was an online order of approx 2.2 lacs for its rPK wardrobe kits and the entire payment was made online. Not only was the first order delivered with the best quality but it also went on to create immense value to the customer with the apartment renting out in within 25 days for approx 32,000/ a month.

E-Media Solutions based out of Noida, is Houzmax's digital platform development partner and has been instrumental in helping the startup launch the website and add more functionality on demand which has helped the Delhi based startup considerably

The startup's immediate plans include launching the service in Gurgaon region shortly and ramping up the product and services categories by adding more housing financial products like apartment insurance besides getting builder participation on its platform.

Delhi Based Houzmax Is India's First House Possession Platform

While moving into a new apartment/house is always a matter of joy, all the workload associated with moving and fixing and making the place one's own, takes a lot of time,effort and energy out of one's system. Playing fairy to one's new apartment needs is a Delhi NCR based startup called Houzmax.

Promoted as India's First Possession Focused Marketplace, the startup is a crowd-sourced, collaborative, content and commerce driven platform aimed at building a synergy between buyers and the builders. It further helps real estate home buyers to move in to their apartments faster and smarter.

The platform's major offerings include pre-configured possession kits under different categories for different kinds of apartment owners. For example, if the owner of the apartment is considering renting out his/her apartment then the startup offers them rPK kits i.e. Rent Possession kits. These kits are cost effective and can be turned around in a faster time frame which helps the owners in getting a faster return on their real estate investment.

"We realized that the biggest pain point for any real estate buyer is the delayed possessions and the financial strains it creates for them and hence we wanted to ensure that there is a platform which addressed this pain point by way of transparent information sharing and answering the most challenging questions like when will I get my apartment and after I get it how do I monetize it for real gain," said Pankaj Dewan, co-founder, Houzmax.

Houzmax addresses the common problem related to post apartment/house poseession by anchoring its online platform in social, crowd-sourced content, community & commerce that will address home owners' pain points, solve their problems across the value chain – possession of apartments, builder buyer collaboration, preconfigured kits across category of products eg. our Essential Possession kits (ePK) and Design Possession Kits and Rent Possession Kits (rPK).

Houzmax is hyperlocal and offer curated multiple services on demand with extremely fast delivery times. It help home-owners get to thier house faster, smarter and also gives a platform to showcase prized possessions through Housewarming celebrations.

With HouzMax.com, the founders real aim was to create a platform that addresses real customer issues in the real estate sector. Their mission, as the proudly claim, is to provide – 'Maximum Housing experience to the customers'. Their pre-possession discussion forum, helps a buyer connect with the builder for a smooth journey to pre-possession.

What makes the startup standout from its competition (Housing.com, Nestaway, Zimba etc.) is that, it is a horizontal platform which offers its customers services across multiple category of services for apartments, right from electrical preconfigured kits, to pest control and project centric apartment designs with themes. Further, they also provide possession updates and advisory services for a smarter house possession.

The three brains behind the project, Rohit Dewan, Vikas Bagga and Pankaj Dewan are all professionals with good experience in real estate domain and technology besides the marketing and sales sector. Rohit Dewan, is a veteran with more than 20 years of global IT Project delivery experience with TCS, Vikas Bagga, on the other hand is a marketing veteran instrumental in launching the famous Woodland brand. Further, Pankaj has a strong strategy and management background having worked with world’s largest software companies SAP and Oracle.

In what seems to be like a dream run, Houzmax got its first order within a few days of its launch. The order was an online order of approx 2.2 lacs for its rPK wardrobe kits and the entire payment was made online. Not only was the first order delivered with the best quality but it also went on to create immense value to the customer with the apartment renting out in within 25 days for approx 32,000/ a month.

E-Media Solutions based out of Noida, is Houzmax's digital platform development partner and has been instrumental in helping the startup launch the website and add more functionality on demand which has helped the Delhi based startup considerably

The startup's immediate plans include launching the service in Gurgaon region shortly and ramping up the product and services categories by adding more housing financial products like apartment insurance besides getting builder participation on its platform.

Startup India: Govt Action Plan In 10 Points

'Startup India, Standup India' has been all over the news in print, electronic and social media since Saturday when India's esteemed Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, finally took the stage in Delhi to announce his government's action plan for the initiative he announced in his Independence Day address last year. For those who are still trying to comprehend what the buzz is all about, we at IndianWeb2.com have decided to come at your rescue by listing out the ten most important announcements made by PM Modi during the action plan launch.

1) Setting up of a Startup India hub -

In order to make the going easier for the new members of the business fraternity, the government plans to have a single point of contact for interactions with the government. This will help them in cutting down on their time and effort to get different document clearness from different departments and help them concentrate more on their product/ service.

2) Faster Exit/Shut-down

The action plan also includes 90 days for a startup to close down its business so as to provide them with the convenience of faster exits.

3) Tax Exemption For First 3 Years -

In what could be called as a real good news for the startup industry, the Narendra Modi government has decided to provide three years of tax exemptions and concessions on capital gains tax for the new members. This move will help the startups maintain a high growth trajectory and also retaining some capital for further usage.

4)Rs. 10,000 Crore Startup Fund, Again!

In an effort to encore more and more entrepreneurs to take the startup plunge, the action plan announcement also saw the PM announcing a fund of Rs 10,000 crore to back startups. Initially, the corpus will be Rs 2,500 crore. In addition to this, there is also a credit guarantee fund for the startups.

5) Mobile App For Startup Registration -

Making it a much easier process to register a startup than it is now, the Modi government has promised to launch a mobile app on April 1 which make registering a startup a one day process.

6) Relaxed norms of public-procurement -

According to the action plan, the Central and the State Government and the PSUs will exempt the manufacturing sector startups from its "prior experience/ turnover" criteria as long as they have their own manufacturing facility in the country. Further, they should have the requisite capabilities and should be able to fulfil all the requirements of the project.

7)No Mandatory Inspections For First 3 Years -

To reduce the regulatory burden on startups, the government will introduce a compliance regime based on self-certification. Under this, there will be no regulatory inspection for the three initial years.

8)Atal Innovation Mission

The action plan also mentions Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) whose main aim is to promote research and development which includes 500 tinkering labs, 35 public-private sector incubators, 31 innovation centres at national institutes, 7 new research parks and 5 new bio-clusters.

9)Including Schools in Startup Program

In order to sow the entrepreneur seed from school itself, the action plan also mentions the government's plan to involve 5 lakh schools and 10 lakh school students in core innovation programmes. Further, to provide visibility to the young, talented brains, national and international startup festivals will also be organised.