Mountain Capital Makes an Investment in Paytm

Paytm, Indian mobile payment and commerce platform, announced today that Mountain Capital will make an investment into Paytm. The fresh capital infusion will allow Paytm, the consumer brand of One97 Communications, to further accelerate and develop a vibrant mobile ecosystem in India encompassing payments, commerce and financial services. The proceeds of the investment will be used for expansion and scaling up, boosting payments and commerce and building and launching the proposed Paytm Payments Bank.

Speaking on the investment, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO, Paytm said, “India is an important emerging market with immense potential for smartphone devices, mobile payments, commerce, and financial services. MediaTek’s endorsement on Paytm through Mountain Capital further demonstrates its confidence in the proliferation of India’s digital payments and mobile Internet ecosystem. For Paytm, our mission is to bring half a billion Indians to the mainstream economy and we are happy to have a long term partner in the mobile chipset world to join us. India is ripe for its financial services revolution and with the growing penetration of smartphones, we have an opportunity to give a new business model of payment, banking and financial services combined with online commerce."

Paytm has an established and strong foothold in the offline payments and commerce space. It has become the most preferred choice of payments with retailers and the mobile wallet users. The mobile wallet company has powered strong acceptance for digital payments at a host of partner destinations such as movie tickets, fuel stations, automobile booking, education institutes, flight and hotels booking, utility bills, Kiran stores, cab fares, among many others.

With the current user base of more than 135 million, Paytm is on a mission to bring half a billion Indians to the main stream of the economy using mobile payment, commerce and soon to be launched payment banking services. The company is headquartered in New Delhi NCR. Its investors include Ant Financial (Alipay), Alibaba Group, SAIF Partners, Sapphire Venture and Silicon Valley Bank.

Mountain Capital Fund, L.P., one of the investment funds of MediaTek Inc., is focusing on high tech and innovative investments. MediaTek Inc. is a pioneering fabless semiconductor company and a market leader in cutting-edge system on chips (SoCs) for mobile devices, home entertainment, connectivity and IoT products.

B2C Vernacular Podcast Aggregator Platform Funcastic Gets Seed Funding from HT Media

Delhi-based B2C vernacular podcast aggregator platform - Funcastic has raised seed funding from a startup accelerator launched by HT Media Ltd and US-based investment firm North Base Media. The startup's founding team includes - Vivekraj Shah, a wall street banker and Surpreet Singh, a serial entrepreneur are both management graduates from Universal Business School, Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Before joining Universal Business School, Shah co-founded digital social media agency Webitude while Singh co-founded gaming events platform Gamers Association and Imaginations.

According to Surpreet Singh, Co-Founder, Funcastic, "I already owned a company and been an Entrepreneur before joining Universal Business School but it was only at Universal Business School I got practical Learning. My professors Mr. Gurudip Anand & Mr. Tarun Anand have been the influential figure. I have been speaking with them personally and have spent quality time with them and have gained vast knowledge form them."

According to Tarun Anand, Co-Founder and Executive Director at Universal Business School, "Vivekraj & Surpreet were determined from Day 1 that they don’t want the run of the mill job and want to pursue their dream to become successful entrepreneurs. They commenced their business plan in college and then ensured they bounced it against the experienced faculty members for inputs. They were extremely focused and hence I am so happy that they have clinched venture funding for their ideas."

Universal Business School (UBS) has taken a leap forward, by creating India’s first Green Business School ensuring eco-smart integrated thinking and a sustainable campus. It has created Asia’s first on campus trading room that has 30 cross-asset trading terminals worth 2 crores. The campus serves 58 luxurious four-bedroom campus-homes each 1,100 sq ft. It offers a three-year QAA certified BBA and AICTE approved 15-month and 24 month MBA programs with an option of obtaining both degrees from Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK.

Funcastic claims to be India’s first branded mobile podcast aggregator and allows users to listen to the content of their choice via the app.

It offers users multiple options to choose in the app, from news analysis to health and lifestyle, entertainment and spiritual content among others. It also has an offline model where users can download the podcast and listen to it later. Podcasts can also be streamed over a 2G network. The app has recorded about 7,000 downloads on the Google Play store.

Teesort Kicks Off Its Global Expansion with the US Market Entry

Indian online fashion brand Teesort today said that it will launch operations in the US market from September 01, 2016. Teesort will introduce a range of premium, stylish and affordable men’s clothing and accessories under their brand name ‘Teesort Prima’ in the US, and will later launch a line of fashion clothing and accessories for women as well. The company defines its target market as urban Americans in the age group of 18-30 years and interested in premium-quality apparel at a value for money price.

Teesort products conform to the strict international standards including the non-usage of 132 listed and banned chemicals. They have also done extensive research on popular clothing sizes in the US and developed exclusive products like handmade Indian leather jackets to capture the attention of their prospective customers.

Teesort’s US market entry follows the company’s aggressive growth in India, where the company has grown from an INR 1 Crore brand to an INR 100 Crore brand in a span of 3 years (2013-2016) with a growth of 300% year on year. Teesort also said it is actively exploring market entry into other countries in the European Union, UK, Middle-East and Asia.

Alok Agarwal, Founder at Teesort.com said, “The US market entry is a natural progression for us as we remain committed to maintain an industry-leading growth trajectory, following our tremendous success in the Indian market. The US is also a strategic market for us and is our first step towards building a global footprint for the TSX brand.”

Keeping up to their motto of trendy yet affordable fashion, the TSX range of products shall start from $14.99 and go upto $199.99 (all prices are inclusive of delivery charges). Teesort said it will set up an office in New Jersey on the east coast, but will cater to all Pin codes across the US through tie-ups with FedEx and USPS.

Atul Agarwal, Co-founder at Teesort.com said, “As a young Indian fashion brand, entering the US market is more than just a proud moment for us; it also aligns completely with the government’s vision of ‘Make in India’, all Teesort products to be sold in the US will be manufactured in India.”

Teesort said that the company’s international expansion will play an important role in achieving its internal target of reaching INR 500 crores revenues by 2020. The US is a highly lucrative and growing market for online apparel retailing. Research firm eMarketer last year forecasted that US retail ecommerce sales of apparel and accessories would reach $68.2 billion in 2016, growing at 13.7% over previous year, and keeping a 17.3% share of total US retail ecommerce.  Another research by the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor™, states that the US millennials (18-34 years) spend nearly $900 a year on apparel, which is 65 percent more than the Boomer generation2 (51-69 years).

 

Facility Management Major SBricks Acquires HomeCues

Hyderabad-based household services aggregation and facilitation company, HomeCues, promoted by Homefix Technologies India Pvt Ltd, has merged with SBricks Castle Care Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, a leading provider of facility management, home clean, laundry, repairs, and maintenance services.

Announcing the merger, D Nithin Reddy, CEO of SBricks Castle Care Pvt Ltd, has said that the similarity in businesses of the two companies has provided an opportunity for the merger. The combined entity, which will henceforth be called as SBricks Castle Care Pvt Ltd, foresees a growing business opportunity in the market for facilities management, laundry, home services like plumbing, electricity, cleaning, UV cleaning of mattresses and sofas, etc.

Mr Reddy said that HomeCues will henceforth be a 100 per cent subsidiary of SBricks Castle Care Pvt Ltd. The business opportunity to be added to SBricks, consequent upon the merger, would be a cleaning area of 2.5 mn to 3 mn sq feet.

“The urban lifestyles in the cities have undergone a sea change with household chores becoming essentially an extra burden on families. The business opportunity for services like home-cleaning, laundry, maid, plumber, electrician, AC maintenance, car cleaning and other services have increased enormously,” he said.

“We thought this would be a good synergy, bringing together our last-mile ownership and their aggregator model under one umbrella. We are aiming at standardizing these home services. Once we have created a perfect model in Hyderabad, replicating this to other cities is not going be a problem,” disclosed Nithin Reddy.

There is a huge employment potential in the market in facility management, laundry, repairs, maintenance and other services which has not been tapped so far to its fullest extent. SBricks has experience in handling such services in a very professional manner. The company, in its year and a half of existence, has provided its services to over 50,000 customers.

HomeCues, which has been aggregation of service providers, has been in existence for about two years and has handled over 25,000 clients so far.

While SBricks would continue its services in B2B and Corporate Entities, FMS (facility management services), small, medium and large format properties under its brand name, the B2C services will be offered under “HomeCues” brand, owned and operated by SBricks.

Market size

Rise in personal disposable income, changing lifestyle of the rural and urban population and the rising awareness have been contributing factors for reported CAGR 20% in 2015, according to Rural Marketing report. The Cleaning industry is expected to grow by 30 per cent in India, following the Swach Bharat initiative by Government of India.


The toiletries and household cleansing market alone in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.42% in FY’2014-FY’2019, according to Ken Research.

Neilson Survey put the CAGR of home cleaning over 15 per cent in India (Global Homecare Report). The developing markets reviewed showed the greatest growth, with sales increasing  by 11.5% in the Philippines, 11.2% in Indonesia, 10.5% in Turkey and 5.1% in India. Even Laundry cleaner sales in India registered over 19 per cent YoY CAGR.

GLOBAL SCENARIO

Globally, according to a survey published by Franchisehelp, the cleaning industry can be roughly divided into residential cleaning, commercial janitorial services, specialty cleaning and laundry/dry cleaning services. In 2015 there were approximately 875,000 businesses employing about 3.5 million people.

In 2015, the it generated $51 billion in revenue globally. This recent upward momentum can be attributed to both unemployment and office vacancy rates declining as well as a pickup in nonresidential construction activity. In other words – people have more money to spend and feel more secure spending it, and there are more offices that need cleaning.

Strong economic activity is forecast for the next 5 years as well, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics is predicting job growth of about 6% from 2014 levels to 2020, across the world.

Online Fashion Rental Portal Flyrobe Raises Rs 35 Cr Led by IDG, GREE Ventures & Sequoia India

Mumbai-based online fashion rental portal Flyrobe has raised Rs 35 crore in its second round of funding led by IDG Ventures, with the participation of Tokyo-based GREE Ventures and existing investor Sequoia India. The other investors who participated in the round include Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Stanhope Capital chairman Leon Seynave. Till now, the startup has raised a total of $7 million funding.

Flyrobe aims to utilize the raised funding to expand to five more cities including Hyderabad, Bangalore, as well as to strengthen its technology, product and business teams, as reported by ET. Flyrobe is currently operational in Delhi and Mumbai.

"We want to build the country's largest virtual wardrobe which women can rely whenever they have an occasion," said Shreya Mishra, 27, CEO and cofounder at Flyrobe.

Omapal Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which runs Flyrobe, was founded by IIT Bombay alumni Shreya Mishra, along with Pranay Surana and Tushar Saxena, it is an on-demand apparel rental platform that provides premium designer wear and branded outfits and accessories on rent at 10-15% of the retail price from for upto eight days.

On the supply side, the company is partnering with designers and brands to list their merchandise on a revenue sharing model. Also, it expects to grow 4-5 times, and triple its designer roster to 150 by March 2017.

Flyrobe competes with players like Bangalore based Flont, Delhi based Swishlist, Stage3, Mumbai based Blinge and Chennai-based HiFlame14 among others.

Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) Raises Investment from Ambit Pragma Private Equity

Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus, the world’s largest media services powerhouse, has secured the first round of funding from Ambit Pragma, a growth capital private equity (PE) fund.

Ambit Pragma generally invests as the first institutional investor in companies and supports management teams in accelerating growth, leveraging its teams’ deep operating experience. Transformative businesses in the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry, besides three other industry verticals are of particular interest to the fund.

PFT proposes to use the investment for intensifying development efforts of the SaaS products including CLEARMedia ERP and gaining deeper penetration and growth in strategic markets such as North America and EMEA with increased Sales and Marketing efforts.

PFT’s flagship product CLEAR Media ERP is targeted at M&E companies who increasingly adopt technology to tap the digital consumer landscape while enhancing efficiencies and lowering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

“Media ERP adoption in the global M&E industry has been growing steadily. With flat revenues and shrinking margins in traditional media,content enterprises especially broadcasters and studioshave a tough time finding resources to invest in new monetization opportunities. M&E companies have to completely re-think technology investments and re-jig their business model to survive in the new digital reality”, said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Founder and CEO, Prime Focus Technologies. “The investment by Ambit Pragma is tremendous market validation of the business opportunity we serve and offers us growth capital to execute on our strategy for global leadership in the Media ERP space. We are delighted to have a like-minded partner in Ambit Pragma who appreciates the realities and opportunities with in the M&E industry”.

“PFT is a global pioneer addressing the challenges content enterprises are facing in this hyper digital market through their cutting-edge technology. The architectural road map of the product, its multiple use cases and their management’s thought leadership, represent a compelling opportunity for us to make the investment.” said Rajeev Agrawal, CEO, Ambit Pragma.

CLEAR is the world's first and most proven Cloud-based Media ERP Suite that virtualizes the content supply chain and builds a connected enterprise for M&E companies.  PFT works with more than 300 clients in India and is the chosen technology partner for more than 100 clients globally including various leading broadcasters, studios, brands, sports and digital organizations.

PFT’s award winning CLEAR Media ERP suite and Cloud Media Services have been successfully deployed for the last eight years in global M&E companies such as 21st Century Fox-owned Star India, Novi Digital – Hotstar, Miramax, Disney, Warner Bros., Global Eagle Entertainment, Cricket Australia, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, FX Networks, Crown Media Holdings, Legendary Pictures, Starz Media, Lionsgate, A+E Networks, HBO, Mnet, CNBC Africa, SABC, IFC Films, HOOQ, Sony Music, Voot, Hearst Television, Showtime, BCCI, Indian Premier League and The Associated Press, among others.

IQLECT Gears up for Series A Round, Set to Launch Cloud Offering During Next Week’s VLDB Conference

Real time data analytics company IQLECT, the big data startup from Bangalore, founded by Ex-CTO of Jabong.com Sachin Sinha is set to raise Series A round of funding. In July 2015, the company raised US$2 million in seed funding from Exfinity Venture Partners. Exfinity venture partners is backed by software industry veterans such as Ex-Infosys directors TV Mohandas Pai & V. Balakrishnan among others. Recently, Lip-Bu Tan, founder of Silicon Valley-based Walden International and CEO of Cadence Design Systems; Michael Marks, former CEO of Flextronics and founding partner at Riverwood Capital; and Nicolas Braithwaite, founding partner at Riverwood Capital and former Flextronics CTO, have invested in their individual capacity too. The company has so far used these funds to build a world class product, both for cloud and on premise. With next round of funding IQLECT will be expanding the geographical reach and building a line-up of clients in e-commerce, financial services, media and telecommunication industries

IQLECT provides a ready-to-use software converged platform, for users to enable real-time data analysis for their businesses, in a cost-effective and process-efficient manner. IQLECT in partnership with Dell offers fully baked up, all-in-box solution that contains all necessary software pieces, which can be hosted on premise by enterprises. IQLECT is also set to launch the cloud offering during VLDB conference next week. VLDB (Very Large Data Bases) is an International forum for database researchers, vendors, practitioners, application developers, and users. The conference which is slated to be held in India after 20 years from 5th to 9th September in Delhi will feature research talks, tutorials, demonstrations, and workshops. VLDB conference is backed by Facebook, Google and LinkedIn among others and thousands of big data enthusiasts are set to visit this year.  V. Balakrishnan, Partner and Chairman of Exfinity ventures noted that, launching enterprise grade cloud product is an important milestone in the journey of IQLECT and businesses small or big can deploy real time analysis solution with a click of a button and take decisions for the desired business outcome

IQLECT’s cloud offering help simplifies the overall proposition to start getting insights with real-time data and analysis in less than few hours. The real-time stack for analysis could be launched in few clicks by the user in a fully featured manner. For corporations, IQLECT is a perfect fit since it offers an end to end solution with Ingest, Process, Store, Visualize, Act, Correlate, Notify all built in to the product. The product’s data visualization capability with intuitive and configurable dashboard paves way for predictive analytics and makes it easy to run different workflows for diverse business processes.

Looking ahead at the cloud offering launch, Sachin Sinha, Founder & CEO, IQLECT, says, "We are delighted to officially launch our cloud offering during VLDB 2016 conference. It’s an important opportunity for us to showcase our product to industry peers and big data experts during VLDB 2016.

Limeroad Head of Product Joins Curofy to Walk the Monetization Route

Curofy, the largest community of verified doctors has appointed former Head of Products Limeroad, Abhishek Sharma as VP Products.  As a seasoned campaigner, he has been a part of the start up ecosystem right from his early days at Flipkart. An IIT Delhi graduate rose up the ranks from a founding member of its technology team to become the Head of Products at Limeroad and has played a pivotal role in their success.

Abhishek has also tried his hand at entrepreneurship for a brief span of time when he started Offerbean.com, an eCommerce marketplace platform in 2011. With Abhishek in the team, the co-founders firmly believe that Curofy can certainly monetise their business without affecting the user experience.

Curofy has started pilots with major healthcare stake-holders in the industry.  Pharma giants like GSK, Abbott, Sanofi are already onboard to take advantage of the ever-growing and highly engaged doctor’s community on Curofy.  Curofy has also tied up with Philips in another deal that can prove to be crucial going into their next phase of growth.

Apart from the big names, various smaller firms have reached out to Curofy in order to get doctors on board economically. The projects range from product launches to webinar campaigns to brand recall to hard sales. The market for digital marketing of pharma products, medical devices, medical recruitment and medical content is expected to reach to north of US$1bn in India by 2021.

“The sheer range of projects the industry is coming up with is testimony of the potential they see in us.” says Pawan Gupta, co-founder, Curofy. “These pilots will also help us in zeroing in the best monetization paths for us.” he adds.  As the co-founder puts it, so far so good till now. “The industry is looking to go digital. They have identified companies Curofy as a viable channel. This poses a serious challenge, as it has not been before. And we are definitely up for it”.

In a time when the medical industry as whole is looking to cut down marketing budgets not only because of rising competition but also because of various government regulations. Hence digital has emerged as viable option for the industry to mobilise their target audience. Incidentally, this movement is turning out to be a global phenomenon. As it turns healthcare industries all over the world were facing inefficiencies of some kind, which they are actively trying overcome. Hence Curofy is venturing into pilots in certain countries where the time seems right.

Curofy has started its pilots in countries like UAE, Lebanon, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. "The pilots were mainly to judge the markets in these countries. Though language has been a palpable barrier, we have received pretty great response especially from Turkey where the market is very similar to that of India’s.", says Gupta.

Curofy wants to make the doctors more efficient every day. And if they can solve the industries problem and yet keep the experience of the doctors intact, they would go a long way towards achieving their ambitious dream. They have weathered the storm. They now need to ride the wave. And with a team comprising of the best of talents available today, the dream is certainly on.

Finvasia is Creating a Commission Free Financial Ecosystem in India; Gets Funding at a Valuation of Rs 1.5B

Finvasia, dedicated to create a technologically driven commission free financial ecosystem in India, announced that it closed a funding deal with some of the industry’s notable Venture Capitalists, where majority FDI stake is from Intrinsic Investment Limited. The company received an undisclosed amount against a valuation of INR 1.5 Billion from these investors in its pre-launch phase.

As India’s fastest growing FinTech Company, Finvasia aims to take the middleman out of an average investor's portfolio. The company believes that with the price war sharpening amongst brokers in India, there is an increasing need to create a technologically driven ecosystem in the country’s financial space. Finvasia believes that the 12 products it’s going to launch in next 24 months are going to usher the changes that they have envisioned.

Beginning 15th August 2016 Finvasia established itself as India’s first broker that offers Brokerage Free Trading. The company offers “Life-time” commission-free trading in ALL segments on ALL exchanges. The Principals of the company believe that a broker’s vested interests in churning trades to earn commissions topped by various hidden fees often kills existing investors and deters newbies from entering the market. But by eliminating brokerage and introducing artificial intelligence to trading, Finvasia hopes to eliminate the existing brokerage practices that are marring the Indian financial sector. The company is developing products which will revolutionize both the investment industry and the financial sector as a whole. Furthermore, Finvasia is eyeing expansion and is on the course of becoming a Commercial Clearing member with NSE and waiting to become a NBFC and a Depository Participant.

Along with brokerage free trading, Finvasia introduced Instant eKYC that allows investors to open verified trading accounts in 5 minutes and begin trading within 30 minutes. With instant eKYC, a user directly enters his PAN number and Date of Birth on Finvasia website and all his information gets instantly fetched from central KRA. The user then authorises and validates the information provided by supplying the OTP that was sent to his registered phone number.

Thereafter, KYC forms are auto generated and the user electronically signs the entire KYC document using an automated process that links KYC documents to user signatures from Aadhaar card.

Finvasia’s instant eKYC process is approved by NSE, BSE, MCX and SEBI as a valid KYC process. Finvasia is trying to redefine what is possible within the FINTECH ecosystem and beyond. This funding is the dawn of major company milestones like:

Robo Advisory

Finvasia is actively providing various technology based products such as social trading platform in global markets via its associated UK Company. The company now plans to bring the same technology to India. This automated, algorithm-based portfolio management advice will allow Finvasia customers to compare their portfolios and benchmark their performance against the Finvasia community, the markets, and their peers. Robo Advisors will act as a personal digital research assistant to an investor enabling him to manage his portfolio and its risk. Evaluating risk is much easier said than done and an average investor is usually not aware of the potential pit holes in the composition of his portfolio, whether its leverage, lack of diversification or statistically counter intuitive assumptions. This is where Finvasia’s Robo Advisors will lay it out a risk management plan in a very plain and simple words that can be understood by an average investor.

Open Source Web trader

Finvasia is planning to launch an open source web trader that traders can manipulate using API’s to build platforms that can be completely customised by a trader to fit their needs. This web trader will have widgets and apps, just like the ones on smart phones, so a user can customise his trading to his needs and not be constrained to the “One Size Fit All” type of trading terminals. Additionally, the company will be introducing various Algo based trading technologies for diversified client base.

Other Products

Over last several years, Finvasia has been offering innovative technological solutions to both institutional as well as retail investors in developed countries. They plan on bringing all these technologically innovative products to India, in a phase manner, over next 24 months. From a technological standpoint, the company is ready, but before it introduces any financial product, they need to make sure that they are in compliance with laws of the land. Finvasia is working with financial regulators and oversight agencies to make sure that the products meet the local legal and compliance requirements of India. The company is certain that it will get the same level of response from Indian investors as it had gotten from their counterparts in developed countries.

From the management

“The idea – to the take the middle man out of an investor’s portfolio sprouted from an epiphany, when we realized that when it does not cost to send an email or a whatsapp message, why does it cost to send a trade over to the exchange. All these prompts are nothing more than data packets that travel across a network from source to destination using internet bandwidth. And, sending a trade to the exchange uses the least amount of internet bandwidth when compared with an email or a standard facebook post. Today, an average individual has to either pay a fixed per trade charge or monthly fees, which is equivalent to paying for sending a whatsapp message. We believe there’s something inherently wrong with that and we’re on a path to transform the typical commission based market to a technology supported investment regime” cite co-founders and brothers - Mr. Sarvjeet Singh and Mr. Natty Virk.

Bala Girisaballa Appointed As CEO of Microsoft Accelerator India

Microsoft Tuesday said Bala Girisaballa will be leading Microsoft Accelerator in India as CEO-in-Residence.

Prior to this, Bala was with Globalisation and market expansion advisory Zinnov as Partner and Practice Head helping MNC R&D companies. He took charge of the Accelerator’s India operations, with effect from August 1. Microsoft also announced that Ravi Narayan, Director, will now assume the role of Global Director at Microsoft Accelerator.

Notably, Girisaballa is also the founder of PurpleFront, a Bengaluru-based technology startup helping small businesses leverage social media effectively to grow and retain customers.

Post his new appointment, Girisaballa will lead the Microsoft India Accelerator’s efforts to help market-ready startups and entrepreneurs to scale up and become successful businesses through the technology enablement, global go-to-market efforts and deep business advisory in the form of Hi-Po and Scale-Up programs, Microsoft said in a statement in Mumbai.

Ravi Narayan, in his new role as Global Director, will help Microsoft Accelerator in eight locations around the world to become market-ready, focused and accelerate these startups that have or will raise institutional funding from venture capitalists.He will also focus on scaling the startup acceleration model through global partners, it said.

Early last year, Microsoft Accelerator in India redesigned their programs to cater to market-ready startups. Since then, it has graduated three cohorts which include startups like iBot, CustomerXPs, Altizon, CloudCherry and Reverie Technologies.

It has also formed partnerships with Temasek, TCS, Citi, Reliance Industries and other multinational corporations under its corporate engagement program #CoInnovate, to help the startups in their go-to-market efforts and global expansion.

[Top Image - Denis Linine / Shutterstock.com]

Facebook's Zuckerberg is Almost Ready To Show Off His AI

"Keep Calm and live on" is a saying that can't be applied to Facebook's founder genius Mark Zuckerberg. While he surely does live on and bright and how, the keep calm part is something which cannot be associated with him ever. Proving the saying wrong once again, Zuckerberg is currently in the midst of perfecting an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to help him at home and work.

Zuckerberg first discussed the AI in the beginning of the year in January as part of his annual personal challenge. He once again discussed the idea yesterday at Facebook's town hall Q&A from Rome, Italy. Zuckerberg hopes that the AI will be somewhat similar to Tony Stark's much loved Jarvis.

The world could expect to see a preview of the AI somewhere in September. "It's starting to be able to do some pretty fun things, and I'm looking forward to being able to show it to the world," said Zuckerberg in the Rome town hall Q&A.

The Facebook founder also revealed that the AI assistant is already able to do simple tasks like adjusting the thermostat and controlling the lights and house gates. In addition to this, the AI is also able to make Zuckerberg toast.

There hasn't been much clarity on what Zuckerberg intends to do with the AI once it's completed. Whether he will use it for commercial purposes or keep it for himself, is something which we will have to wait to find out.

In addition to the town hall, Zuckerberg and his philanthropist wife Priscilla Chan, who is also a paediatrician, met Pope Francis and presented the pontiff with a model of the solar-powered, self-flying aircraft Aquila, which has been especially designed to give the gift of Wi-Fi to parts of the world currently without internet.

If you want to listen to Zuckerberg talk about the AI, you can jump to the 52-minute mark of his Rome town hall Q&A video.

Live from our Townhall Q&A in Rome. Comment to ask a question!

Live from our Townhall Q&A in Rome. Comment to ask a question!

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, 29 August 2016

 
[Top Image - Bangkokhappiness / Shutterstock.com]

Facebook's Zuckerberg is Almost Ready To Show Off His AI

"Keep Calm and live on" is a saying that can't be applied to Facebook's founder genius Mark Zuckerberg. While he surely does live on and bright and how, the keep calm part is something which cannot be associated with him ever. Proving the saying wrong once again, Zuckerberg is currently in the midst of perfecting an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to help him at home and work.

Zuckerberg first discussed the AI in the beginning of the year in January as part of his annual personal challenge. He once again discussed the idea yesterday at Facebook's town hall Q&A from Rome, Italy. Zuckerberg hopes that the AI will be somewhat similar to Tony Stark's much loved Jarvis.

The world could expect to see a preview of the AI somewhere in September. "It's starting to be able to do some pretty fun things, and I'm looking forward to being able to show it to the world," said Zuckerberg in the Rome town hall Q&A.

The Facebook founder also revealed that the AI assistant is already able to do simple tasks like adjusting the thermostat and controlling the lights and house gates. In addition to this, the AI is also able to make Zuckerberg toast.

There hasn't been much clarity on what Zuckerberg intends to do with the AI once it's completed. Whether he will use it for commercial purposes or keep it for himself, is something which we will have to wait to find out.

In addition to the town hall, Zuckerberg and his philanthropist wife Priscilla Chan, who is also a paediatrician, met Pope Francis and presented the pontiff with a model of the solar-powered, self-flying aircraft Aquila, which has been especially designed to give the gift of Wi-Fi to parts of the world currently without internet.

If you want to listen to Zuckerberg talk about the AI, you can jump to the 52-minute mark of his Rome town hall Q&A video.

Live from our Townhall Q&A in Rome. Comment to ask a question!

Live from our Townhall Q&A in Rome. Comment to ask a question!

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, 29 August 2016

 
[Top Image - Bangkokhappiness / Shutterstock.com]

MobiKwik Partners with 12 Eelectricity Boards in 8 States

Mobikwik, the largest digital payment company in India, today announced its tie ups with 12 state electricity boards. The move comes as a part of MobiKwik’s expansion plan to set up a national base for utility payments. The state electricity boards that have been tied up with are Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tripura, Meghalaya, Calcutta, Rajasthan and union territories of Daman and Diu.

Customers in these states will now be able to pay their electricity bills using Mobikwik website or app. The company already provides bill payment services for prominent power discoms such as Reliance Energy, BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd. and Chhattisgarh Electricity Board.

Speaking on the tie-up, Mrinal Sinha, COO, MobiKwik, said, “With these tie-ups, Mobikwik now provides electricity bill payment services for 25 power discoms in India. This development is in line with our vision to make digital payments ubiquitous.”

The electricity boards that have been partnered with include Bhagalpur Electricity Private Limited, India Power Corporation Limited, DNHPD, Rajasthan Vidyut Vitran Nigam, Tripura State Electricity Board, Madhya Pradesh Madhya Kshetra, Madhya Pradesh Paschim Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran, Madhya Pradesh Poorv Kshetra Jabalpur, Daman and Diu Electricity, Calcutta Electricity Supply, Meghalaya Electricity and Odisha Discom.

MobiKwik has a network of 32 million users and 100000 merchants across the country. A pioneer in India’s digital payments industry, MobiKwik also enables cash loading on its wallet with 100000 touch points across 1000 locations.

MobiKwik is already powering payments for IRCTC, Uber, Meru Cabs, Big Bazaar, OYO Rooms, Zomato, PVR, Archies, WHSmith India, BookMyShow, Grofers, Big Basket, Dominos, Burger King, Pizza Hut, eBay, ShopClues, Myntra, Jabong, Pepperfry, Barista, Food Panda, Nearbuy, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Louis Phillips, GoDaddy, MakeMyTrip.

Mobikwik closest competitor and probably much well-funded than Mobikwik is said to be picking more funding of approx. $300M from Goldman Sachs, Temasek and Mediatek.

Probability for Indian Startups in the Enterprising Philippines and the ASEAN Countries

As the ever-indulging human mind is constantly involved in thinking evolving ways of innovation, Startup culture is picking up steadily in the Southeast Asia and ASEAN countries. In my recent experience in learning the Philippines startup ecosystem, I understood that Philippines, a tourism savvy country with 1000 islands and a 100 million population, is at the helm to mobilize its youth towards developing Startups. With the government opening up to a larger change, the scope for the growth in startup culture is unfolding.

It is learnt that, over 100 thousand (approx.) talented people are working on outsourced Tech/IT projects from and around the world while being based in the Philippines. There are over 300 Startups in CEBU itself, which is developing and emerging as hub for talent and digital startups. CEBU hosts over 100 foreign startups, which are doing very well in digital technology, retail, innovative services, film production and Mobil technology development. Interestedly, along with a few Indian tech companies, we have a an Indian company, INSCOL setup at CEBU, they are into health Skills. “The western and European countries find Philippines to be one of the most suitable places to enterprise”, says Fionna, an Australian born women entrepreneur based out of CEBU. “Its affordable in terms of sourcing talent, working dedicated and happy work force” says Nick Brown from Engage Spark- an Indian owned Automated calls @ 2 way SMS company.

GOAB IMPACT:

The Geeks on a Beech conference in its 4th consecutive year this time, saw over 700 participants, including: geeks, developers and entrepreneurs, mainly from Asia. To accelerate the Philippine Innovation economy, the government earlier 2016 organized SLINGSHOTS 2016. Tina Amper- Co-founder of Techtalks and GOAB, moved back from US after a long stint and later setup Geeks on a Beach program and is its proud co founder. She has been very instrumental in bringing Philippines at a noticeable position in the world of Startups and the mushrooming Startup culture in the Asian continent, a true community developer. Appreciating the government’s interest, it was a personal experience to witness a wonderful cultural evening hosted and sponsored by the Governor of BOHOL and the young and visionary Senator from BOHOL, Mr. Bam Aquino for over 700 GOAB delegates. Mr. Aquino is a well-respected politician and social entrepreneur in the Philippines. At the evening, he was very informal in his approach and was willingly engaged in candid conversations with local and foreign startups. While I invited him to India, he mentioned that, he had already been to Bangalore and Hyderabad recently, and will plan to come again.

KEY FACTORS:

Talking about some key factors that could and have excited entrepreneurs to venture out from Philippines is its English speaking population. Being under the British rule and a former Spanish colony, Philippines people speak very well English, 95% people in Philippines speak very affluently, a very pleasant community. If I am not wrong, it’s the highest English speaking country in the world after America. Most of the Germans, Australians, Eastern Europeans and Americans have their companies/startups based out of Philippines. According to Mr. JoJo, a Stalwart and a well respected entrepreneur from Philippines. He is the co founder of Plug and Play Technology Centre and is learnt that his incubated startups have raised over 2 billion USD. JoJo, addressed at an Investors meet setup by GOAB, and said, “that Philippine people are open to work with global startup diaspora, and added, that the Philippine government is very supportive of endeavours that mobilises the youth and help give direction”.

DEVELOPING ECOSYSTEM:

Though there is a considerable rise in Tech Startups in Philippines, Fintech Startups, digital startups and services startups are much in demand in the Philippine’s. A big load of transactions happens in Philippines. Investors mainly from Australia are looking forward to identify some good startups in Fintech. Apart from Fintech, startups are venturing into are Services and Technology enabling products, Education, Ed-tech, Content building, Online Retail, AI, VR, AR (artificial intelligence, Virtual reality, augmented reality).

Fresh rise in Maker labs is coming to join the startup ecosystem. Roland who is most commonly known as RJ, runs a wonderful Makers lab in Quezon city, PH along with his co founder friend Denis. The lab runs over 800 sq mtrs. Bases like these are great for preliminary Inventions and prototyping.

Interestingly, the rise of accelerators and co working spaces is a not to miss observation. A non-profit space accelerator IDEASPACE out of Manila is pretty excited about its growth in Philippines. “We are doing well and are planning to spread across Philippines”, says Goldy- Associate Director at IdeaSpace Foundation. Another success story of an accelerator cum incubator is, government run, Malaysia based MAGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre). MAGIC has done a phenomenal contribution to the rise of Startup Ecosystem in Malaysia.

Global and successful accelerator and community based Organisations as, TECHSTARS and Startup Weekend (Startup weekend is now a part of Techstars) had all good reasons to host their Annual Community Leaders Summit 2016, at BOHOL, a much sought after tourist destination in Philippines. Techstars and Startup weekend have played a pivotal role in shaping up the Startup Communities at a micro/macro level in over 130 countries and 700 cities around the world. This is really an achievement to applaud for. They have been conducting several Startup weekend Programs in Asia and the Philippines. Co founder of Startup Weekend Marc Nager, who is now an entrepreneur in residence with Techstars and also an Investor, said “Community engagement and integral working amongst startup communities at a regional level will and has changed the dynamics of growth in Startup Culture/rise in communities”. In a panel talk at an Investors meet chaired by serial entreprenur David Brown- Co founder and Managing Director, Techstars at the GOAB summit, I asked him on the scope and growth of inventions and innovations: He answered “ It will be good to focus more on developing Customer base”. He said he is a firm believer of building a business that has a potential to acquire larger customers.

Surging Startup scenario in Asia is a not to miss opportunity for Indian startups to think ASEAN, collaborate and venture into new markets.

The recent conferences (TECHSTARS APAC SUMMIT AND GOAB 2016), which saw Entrepreneurs, Geeks, Tech folks, Investors, Community leaders, Decision makers and facilitators from over 25 countries, have been able to achieve and propel successfully, a United Startup revolution in the mystical, cultural and enterprising Asia.

The above article is written & contributed by Sumeer Walia, Director - CEED, Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development, Chitkara University.

BITS Pilani Ed-Tech Startup Project Mudra Grabs The Winner’s Title At Conquest 2016

The Grand Finale of Conquest 2016, BITS Pilani’s international startup challenge, concluded on a high note this Sunday at ITC Maurya, New Delhi in association with the title sponsor DCB Bank. Simultaneously, one name was mentioned throughout the startup ecosystem with excitement and awe. An idea that bounced around within a 4*4 room for months together, will now bask in the limelight as proud winners of Conquest 2016, savouring all the success and
spotlight.

The winner position was grabbed by Project Mudra, a technology based intervention to provide Braille literacy and K12 lessons for the blind while the runners up were Comfort Products, specializing in manufacturing of home appliances which includes SwiftChill, a portable beverage chiller that chills any drink in less than 5 minutes. The winner and the runner-up have been awarded INR 200k and INR 100k of equity-less cash funding.

Leading the brains behind Conquest, the Chief Executive Officer of Conquest 2016, Dhairik Fuletra says, “We feel delighted to see the culmination of yearlong hard work end on such a high note in the presence of investors, entrepreneurs and students joining in from across the nation. With the evolving Indian startup ecosystem, we have reinvented Conquest such that it delivers a perfect launchpad to emerging startups with funding, mentoring and broad networking opportunities with the key players all under one roof."



Attracting close to 1200 applications this year, followed by a month long rigorous analysis of these startups on the grounds of their revenue model, market traction, customer acquisition and various other parameters, the top 50 startups were shortlisted. These top 50 then attended one of the three networking sessions held in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Mentors shared their expert opinion with startups on critical aspects like Fundraising, Product Management,Customer Acquisition, Tech and Operations. The top 10 startups were then selected by the jury
to be a part of the Grand Finale.

Shri R Chandrasekhar, the Chief Guest of the event , is the current president of NASSCOM and former Secretary to the Indian Department of Information Technology. He motivated the startups in his speech by quoting his journey from an IAS Officer to the President of NASSCOM. Talking on Conquest, Prof. Ashoke Sarkar , the Director of BITS Pilani, says, “As part of the BITS’s Vision 2020, it is our imperative to promote entrepreneurship among students who are
the future of the country. Conquest, which was started by a group of enterprising students, has become a launch pad for young entrepreneurs. It is really hard to believe the amount of energy and effort coming from the students to pull such a great event".

The itinerary consisted of two panel discussions, a pitching round for the Top 10 startups in front of investors from over 25 investment firms and leading industrialists, a networking lunch along with interaction of the jury with the audience in the Fish Bowl round.

The first panel discussed the essence of hiring talent as well as retaining it in the fast paced world of startups. Some of the panelists who shared their thoughts on the topic were Sanjay Nath , Cofounder and Managing Partner of Blume Ventures, Abhiraj Bhal , CEO at UrbanClap and Bhawna Agarwal , CEO at NDTV Gadgets, Samar Singla , CEO at Jugnoo and Prukalpa Sankar , CoFounder at Social Cops.

The second panel consisting of Rajesh Sawhney , CEO and CoFounder of GSF Accelerator and InnerChef, Jitendra Gupta, CEO at Citrus Pay, Pankaj Jain , Partner at 500 Startups amongst other leading entrepreneurs discussed the pressing issues faced by a young entrepreneur today and how to resolve them.

Pankaj Jain on sharing his experience with Conquest, said “This is my second year at Conquest and the event has grown phenomenally with more people, better delivered pitches and entrepreneurs in different stages. Conquest has really evolved with wonderful ideas addressing real issues and problems and trying to get ahead of the curve instead of trailing the existing paths."

The Fish Bowl round was the most looked forward session where the students and entrepreneurs in the audience were given a chance to directly interact with the Jury members for the first time . ever by asking them questions in an opentoall discussion. The jury members included Dev Khare , MD at LightSpeed India Partners Advisors, Rajan Anandan , MD at Google India , Bharat Shanker , VC at Accel and Murali Natrajan, MD & CEO at DCB Bank were amongst other distinguished industry leads.

Some of the best entrepreneurs from across the nation were amongst the audience. Besides these distinguished personalities, enthusiastic students from the best institutes of the country also made it to the event. Altogether, the Grand Finale was everything a startup could ask for. From funding opportunities to networking with industry stalwarts and potential users, the Finale was in every way a perfect launchpad for the Top 10, just as promised.

KartRocket Appoints Gaurav Gupta as Their Chief Technical Officer

KartRocket, which offers an end to end eCommerce solution to help SME’s setup their online presence, has announced the appointment of its Chief Technical Officer, Gaurav Gupta. Prior to this, he was with the Free Culture Apparels Pvt. Ltd, an online fashion platform with a unique idea which enables users to monetize their digital designs. Gaurav is a dedicated Technical professional with past tenures at some of the leading firms such as Free Culture, Rightster India, Yahoo!, Atrenta, and Sequence Design.

In his current role, Gaurav is responsible for platform growth and stability. He will focus on search and discovery for Kraftly platform and seller enablement for brand building.

Speaking on the appointment, Saahil Goel, CoFounder & CEO, Kartrocket said, “We are happy to welcome Gaurav to Kartrocket. We are at the cusp of significant transformation, having witnessed tremendous growth in the past year on both, business and ecommerce industry. Gaurav’s leadership, vast knowledge &thorough experience is sure to provide us with the overall technical assistance.

Getting on board with KartRocket’s team, Gaurav elaborated “KartRocket is the most innovative and unique platform which offers an end to end eCommerce solution to help SME’s setup their online presence. I consider this as an opportunity to contribute to the growth and evolution of the firm. I am very excited to be here and look forward to working with a team of young and talented professionals and put in my best to strengthen the company more.”

KartRocket is made specifically for Indian SMEs. It focuses mainly on developing innovative and India-focused product solutions that will help merchants get online faster and make sales with minimal efforts.

iAugmentor Raises Rs 1 Cr in Seed Funding from National and International Investors

iAugmentor Pvt.Labs, a revolutionary technology enabled learning platform, has recently raised a funding of Rs. 1 crore, collectively from National and International Investors like RAIN (Rajasthan Angel Investor Network) and few undisclosed investors.

iAugmentor was founded in February 2016, by Arindam Sen, Ankit Ruia, Pratik Marwah, Sameer Sikka and Sarvagya Mishra. The platform curates personalized skill-based learning activities and plans to invest the amount on enhancing & implementing new and numerous learning mediums such as games, animations, cartoons and expert videos for higher accuracy in the results. This will engage the learners achieve personalized learning depending on the inclinations.

This 6-month old Start-up brings technology, human intervention and a whole gamut of learning activities under one roof, with, plans to expand its footprint across India, African continent and Arabian Peninsula over the next 12 months.

Mr. Pratik Marwah, Co- Founder & COO of iAugmentor Labs Pvt. Ltd. said the investment from Mr. Mahavir Pratap Sharma & RAIN is a validation of the iAugmentor platform as a need of the hour to prepare students and universities for the future.

Adding to this, Mr. Sameer Sikka, Co-Founder & CLO (Chief Learning Officer) of iAugmentor Labs, said "Personalized learning trajectory of learners on our platform, is going to be powered by millions of content items, across various learning media such as animations, cartoons games and expert videos to keep the learner engrossed. This investment will fund the continuous enhancement of iAugmentor's content repertoire."

In a short period of time, iAugmentor has been able to bring different universities on board, both nationally and internationally. iAugmentor recognizes the value of skill education and promotes it to bridge the gap between students and corporate lives.

India, a country where youth represents 25%of the total working age population but 40% of them is unemployed (ILO, FAO, 2015), iAugmentor understands the need of the hour and are encouraging the acquisitions of aptitudes amongst youth that will upgrade their capacity to settle on their respective educated decisions with respect to life and work.

25 Illuminating Business Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

A book one reads has a profound impact on one's personality and ideology. Whatever may be the genre of a book, one always ends up learning something or the other from a book. They're a really good source of knowledge as well as a great time pass or stress buster.

Being an entrepreneur, one should always try to read as much as one can and imbibe the knowledge/learnings and incorporate those into their business. Since an entrepreneur is always in action, donning several hats at one time to make it through the top, we, at IndianWeb2.com, decided to help these busy bees with their reading lists for another 1-2 years, at least.

1). Book- The Social Animal

Author - Elliot Aronson

67

Being an entrepreneur, one must understand the nerves of the market and its consumers. Aronson's The Social Animal is one of the best introduction to the concept of social psychology that there is available in the market. A must read for inspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs.

Hailed as one of psychology's greatest, Elliot Aronson is the only living being in the 120-year rich history of the American Psychological Association to have been able to sweep all the three major awards for writing, research, and teaching.

2). Hooked

Author - Nir Eyal

An entrepreneur always desires to build a product that encourages people to keep coming back for more. Nir Eyal's Hooked is a phenomenal guide on "how to build habit-forming products." The book carries numerous insights on building products that will make people always come back. The book is certainly SaaS focused, but can prove to be pretty engaging and knowledgeable for entrepreneurs of all types.

3). Think and Grow Rich

Author - Napoleon Hill

An all time best selling book, Napoleon Hill's 1937 published book Think and Grow Rich is an account of insights of interviews taken by the Great Depression-era author and former advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt of five hundred of the most successful men the country has ever known.

The book serves as a reminder that one of the only ways to achieve great wealth is by overcoming our emotions and negative mindset that is holding us back.

4). The Fountainhead

Author - Ayn Rand

A must-must read for inspiring entrepreneurs, The Fountainhead describes entrepreneurial passion as well as the passion of entrepreneurship in the very best way possible.

5). Conscious Capitalism

Authors - John Mackey and Raj Sisodia

The two authors, John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, through their book Conscious Capitalism openly root for a business culture that embodies “trust, accountability, caring, transparency, integrity, loyalty and egalitarianism." De-centralization, empowerment, innovation and collaboration are the four key elements of management ideal, according to the book. A must read for people who think good guys slaying at business is a myth.

6). Business Adventures

Author - John Brooks

One of the most favorite books of Bill Gates and recommended by the great Warren Buffet himself, this book is considered as one of the best business books of all time. In addition to having knowledgeable and inspiring content about the leaders’ strengths and their weaknesses in challenging and difficult situations, the book also covers specifications of one particular business or the other. A must one for entrepreneurs.

7). Increasing Customer Loyalty

Author - Harvard Business Review

Each one of us has at least one of Harvard Business Review's knowledgeable articles bookmarked on our desktops or mobile, many like me might even have the website favorited and check it every morning for some motivational dose. Well, if you are an ardent follower of Harvard Business Review, then Increasing Customer Loyalty is a must read for you. The book is a stupendous collection of some stellar Harvard Business Review articles on customer loyalty and how to increase it.

8). Accounting Made Simple

Author - Mike Piper, CPA

Since being an entrepreneur means multi-tasking, this particular book is a must to get a grasp of the concept of accounting. The book
concisely explains some of the driest accounting topics that there are in one of the most easy ways possible.

9). Zero to One

Author - Peter Thiel

The Economist describes the book as a crisply written, rational and practical book that should be read not just by aspiring entrepreneurs but by anyone seeking a thoughtful alternative to the current pervasive gloom about the prospects for the world. It is an important handbook to relentless improvement for big companies and beginning entrepreneurs alike.

10). Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs

Author - Karen Berman, Joe Knight and John Case

"Financing ain't easy, but it's necessary."

The book is a must have for entrepreneurs looking to understand the ABCD of financial statements and be more involved in the finances of their business.

11). Growing Great Employees

Author - Erika Andersen

Employees can make or break an organization. So, keeping them motivated and happy is necessary to keep the business engine running efficiently. The book offers some great insights on how new founders can help people thrive by pushing them to the best of their capabilities without pushing them away and give them honest, constructive feedback without letting the criticism go too far.

12). The Effective Executive

Author - Peter Drucker

One of the most famous books on business management, Peter Drucker's this book has had a central role in popularizing the various ideas related to management at a commonplace. The book talks about important concepts like decision-making, time-management and team-management etc. in detail.

13). Out of the Crisis

Author - W. Edwards Deming

Out of the Crisis mainly focuses on talking about how an organisation can optimize its productivity and have a grip over its quality control issues. It's hailed as one of the best management books written till date.

14). Brainfluence

Author - Roger Dooley

An author of Brainy Marketing on Forbes and the Neuroscience Marketing blog, Roger Dooley is a pro in the concept of neuro-marketing. Entrepreneurs wanting to explore this genre, should definitely began their study with Brainfluence. The book is an insightful collection of 100 of Dooley's favorite studies on various topics like pricing, loyalty etc.

15) Book- The Innovator’s Dilemma

Author - Clayton Christensen

One of the finest and best selling management innovation and change book currently in the market. According to Business Week, the book is one of the best handbook available for CEOs wanting to remake their businesses for the net.

16). The Essays of Warren Buffet

Author - Warren Edward Buffett

Chairman, CEO and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Edward Buffett is one of the most successful investors in the world. The book, The Essays of Warren Buffet, is an account of Warren Buffet's thoughts/learnings on how a business should be run and contains overviews of the mistakes he has made in his journey and what all the things he would have done differently.

17). Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Author - Malcolm Gladwell

A book that roots for snap judgments and mind reading, Blink mainly talks about the importance of the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance in which one knows what they want in an instant. Since being an entrepreneur one has to take numerous important decisions in a day, the book helps one to perfect the art of decision making.

18). Reality Check

Author - Guy Kawasaki

One of best handbooks for inspiring entrepreneurs, Guy Kawasaki brilliantly dispels many myths associated with business management and provides a number of practical steps to start and grow a successful business. In order to enhance one's “entrepreneurial quotient”, a special effort has been made to keep the chapters short and thought-provoking.

19). The Obstacle Is the Way

Author - Ryan Holiday

The Obstacle is the Way is an effort by Ryan Holiday to explain how knowledge and reason are still the highest good that there are in the world. It explains ways through which one can remain indifferent to pain and pleasure and objectively respond to different circumstances that one faces in life.

20). Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow

Author - Chip Conley

In the book, Chip Conley beautifully describes about how his company, Joie De Vivre Hospitality, applied Maslow's much famous theory of human needs to achieve great success in the hotel history. The book basically focuses on the miracle of human potential.

21). The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Startups That Win

Author - Steven Gary Blank

The book offers some great insights into what makes some startups climb the success ladder. A must read for people working on launching a product in the market market, writing a marketing plan, sales plan or business plan. In order to make people understand the concepts more clearly, the book offers a number of concrete examples.

22). Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

Author - Robert Coram

John Boyd, considered one of the most remarkable unsung hero in all of American military history, was also one of the greatest thinkers that the world has had till date. Robert Coram in his book Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War defines who Boyd was and how he dealt with problems. The book is almost like a behind the scenes account with a human being who longed to understand the strategy of strategy.

23). Brain Rules

Author - John Medina

The book makes an honest effort in helping people really know and understand themselves and other people. Having a reputation as a master storyteller, John Medina beautifully introduces his readers to 12 principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School.

24). Breakthrough Advertising

Author- Eugene Schwartz

Written in 1957, Breakthrough Advertising is considered as some of the most sophisticated thinking ever written on human psychology. The book talks about marketing and copy-writing, and is one of the most sought after books on those topics.

25). Never Eat Alone

Keith Ferraazzi with Tahl Raz

Networking is an important part of the trade, but many entrepreneurs often end up overlooking it. The book Never Eat Alone is an attempt at making people understand the importance of networking and being social. We must say, it is quite a beautiful attempt and read.

So, all you all bibliophile entrepreneurs out there, get to work. You have a lot of reading to do.

[Top Image - Radu Bercan / Shutterstock.com]

25 Illuminating Business Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

A book one reads has a profound impact on one's personality and ideology. Whatever may be the genre of a book, one always ends up learning something or the other from a book. They're a really good source of knowledge as well as a great time pass or stress buster.

Being an entrepreneur, one should always try to read as much as one can and imbibe the knowledge/learnings and incorporate those into their business. Since an entrepreneur is always in action, donning several hats at one time to make it through the top, we, at www.indianweb2.com, decided to help these busy bees with their reading lists for another 1-2 years, at least.

1). Book- The Social Animal

Author - Elliot Aronson

Being an entrepreneur, one must understand the nerves of the market and its consumers. Aronson's The Social Animal is one of the best introduction to the concept of social psychology that there is available in the market. A must read for inspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs.

Hailed as one of psychology's greatest, Elliot Aronson is the only living being in the 120-year rich history of the American Psychological Association to have been able to sweep all the three major awards for writing, research, and teaching.

2). Hooked

Author - Nir Eyal

An entrepreneur always desires to build a product that encourages people to keep coming back for more. Nir Eyal's Hooked is a phenomenal guide on "how to build habit-forming products." The book carries numerous insights on building products that will make people always come back. The book is certainly SaaS focused, but can prove to be pretty engaging and knowledgeable for entrepreneurs of all types.

3). Think and Grow Rich

Author - Napoleon Hill

An all time best selling book, Napoleon Hill's 1937 published book Think and Grow Rich is an account of insights of interviews taken by the Great Depression-era author and former advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt of five hundred of the most successful men the country has ever known.

The book serves as a reminder that one of the only ways to achieve great wealth is by overcoming our emotions and negative mindset that is holding us back.

4). The Fountainhead

Author - Ayn Rand

A must-must read for inspiring entrepreneurs, The Fountainhead describes entrepreneurial passion as well as the passion of entrepreneurship in the very best way possible.

5). Conscious Capitalism

Authors - John Mackey and Raj Sisodia

The two authors, John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, through their book Conscious Capitalism openly root for a business culture that embodies “trust, accountability, caring, transparency, integrity, loyalty and egalitarianism." De-centralization, empowerment, innovation and collaboration are the four key elements of management ideal, according to the book. A must read for people who think good guys slaying at business is a myth.

6). Business Adventures

Author - John Brooks

One of the most favorite books of Bill Gates and recommended by the great Warren Buffet himself, this book is considered as one of the best business books of all time. In addition to having knowledgeable and inspiring content about the leaders’ strengths and their weaknesses in challenging and difficult situations, the book also covers specifications of one particular business or the other. A must one for entrepreneurs.

7). Increasing Customer Loyalty

Author - Harvard Business Review

Each one of us has at least one of Harvard Business Review's knowledgeable articles bookmarked on our desktops or mobile, many like me might even have the website favourited and check it every morning for some motivational dose. Well, if you are an ardent follower of Harvard Business Review, then Increasing Customer Loyalty is a must read for you. The book is a stupendous collection of some stellar Harvard Business Review articles on customer loyalty and how to increase it.

8). Accounting Made Simple

Author - Mike Piper, CPA

Since being an entrepreneur means multi-tasking, this particular book is a must to get a grasp of the concept of accounting. The book
concisely explains some of the driest accounting topics that there are in one of the most easy ways possible.

9). Zero to One

Author - Peter Thiel

The Economist describes the book as a crisply written, rational and practical book that should be read not just by aspiring entrepreneurs but by anyone seeking a thoughtful alternative to the current pervasive gloom about the prospects for the world. It is an important handbook to relentless improvement for big companies and beginning entrepreneurs alike.

10). Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs

Author - Karen Berman, Joe Knight and John Case

"Financing ain't easy, but it's necessary."

The book is a must have for entrepreneurs looking to understand the ABCD of financial statements and be more involved in the finances of their business.

11). Growing Great Employees

Author - Erika Andersen

Employees can make or break an organization. So, keeping them motivated and happy is necessary to keep the business engine running efficiently. The book offers some great insights on how new founders can help people thrive by pushing them to the best of their capabilities without pushing them away and give them honest, constructive feedback without letting the criticism go too far.

12). The Effective Executive

Author - Peter Drucker

One of the most famous books on business management, Peter Drucker's this book has had a central role in popularizing the various ideas related to management at a commonplace. The book talks about important concepts like decision-making, time-management and team-management etc. in detail.

13). Out of the Crisis

Author - W. Edwards Deming

Out of the Crisis mainly focuses on talking about how an organisation can optimize its productivity and have a grip over its quality control issues. It's hailed as one of the best management books written till date.

14). Brainfluence

Author - Roger Dooley

An author of Brainy Marketing on Forbes and the Neuroscience Marketing blog, Roger Dooley is a pro in the concept of neuro-marketing. Entrepreneurs wanting to explore this genre, should definitely began their study with Brainfluence. The book is an insightful collection of 100 of Dooley's favorite studies on various topics like pricing, loyalty etc.

15) Book- The Innovator’s Dilemma

Author - Clayton Christensen

One of the finest and best selling management innovation and change book currently in the market. According to Business Week, the book is one of the best handbook available for CEOs wanting to remake their businesses for the net.

16). The Essays of Warren Buffet

Author - Warren Edward Buffett

Chairman, CEO and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Edward Buffett is one of the most successful investors in the world. The book, The Essays of Warren Buffet, is an account of Warren Buffet's thoughts/learnings on how a business should be run and contains overviews of the mistakes he has made in his journey and what all the things he would have done differently.

17). Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Author - Malcolm Gladwell

A book that roots for snap judgments and mind reading, Blink mainly talks about the importance of the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance in which one knows what they want in an instant. Since being an entrepreneur one has to take numerous important decisions in a day, the book helps one to perfect the art of decision making.

18). Reality Check

Author - Guy Kawasaki

One of best handbooks for inspiring entrepreneurs, Guy Kawasaki brilliantly dispels many myths associated with business management and provides a number of practical steps to start and grow a successful business. In order to enhance one's “entrepreneurial quotient”, a special effort has been made to keep the chapters short and thought-provoking.

19). The Obstacle Is the Way

Author - Ryan Holiday

The Obstacle is the Way is an effort by Ryan Holiday to explain how knowledge and reason are still the highest good that there are in the world. It explains ways through which one can remain indifferent to pain and pleasure and objectively respond to different circumstances that one faces in life.

20). Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow

Author - Chip Conley

In the book, Chip Conley beautifully describes about how his company, Joie De Vivre Hospitality, applied Maslow's much famous theory of human needs to achieve great success in the hotel history. The book basically focuses on the miracle of human potential.

21). The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Startups That Win

Author - Steven Gary Blank

The book offers some great insights into what makes some startups climb the success ladder. A must read for people working on launching a product in the market market, writing a marketing plan, sales plan or business plan. In order to make people understand the concepts more clearly, the book offers a number of concrete examples.

22). Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

Author - Robert Coram

John Boyd, considered one of the most remarkable unsung hero in all of American military history, was also one of the greatest thinkers that the world has had till date. Robert Coram in his book Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War defines who Boyd was and how he dealt with problems. The book is almost like a behind the scenes account with a human being who longed to understand the strategy of strategy.

23). Brain Rules

Author - John Medina

The book makes an honest effort in helping people really know and understand themselves and other people. Having a reputation as a master storyteller, John Medina beautifully introduces his readers to 12 principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School.

24). Breakthrough Advertising

Author- Eugene Schwartz

Written in 1957, Breakthrough Advertising is considered as some of the most sophisticated thinking ever written on human psychology. The book talks about marketing and copy-writing, and is one of the most sought after books on those topics.

25). Never Eat Alone

Keith Ferraazzi with Tahl Raz

Networking is an important part of the trade, but many entrepreneurs often end up overlooking it. The book Never Eat Alone is an attempt at making people understand the importance of networking and being social. We must say, it is quite a beautiful attempt and read.

So, all you all bibliophile entrepreneurs out there, get to work. You have a lot of reading to do.

[Top Image - Radu Bercan / Shutterstock.com]

Food Delivery Platform Runnr Gets Around $7M Led by Nexus, Blume Ventures

Food delivery platform Runnr, the combined entity which was formed after the merger of Roadrunnr and TinyOwl, has raised around $7 million co-led by existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Venture Partners, as reported by TOI. Their former investor Sequoia Capital did not participate in this round. Sequoia is also an investor in its rival, food discovery and delivery firm Zomato.

In June 2016, Roadrunnr had acquired food ordering firm TinyOwl Technology Pvt. Ltd and has transitioned into a food ordering and delivery platform under a new brand Runnr. Bengaluru-based Runnr was founded in 2015 by Mohit Kumar and Arpit Dave, it is a B2B hyperlocal on-demand delivery service that helps book, track and manage deliveries at scale.

Previously, the founders had secured $15 million, backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital, Yuri Milner, Nexus Venture Partners, Apoletto Asia, and Emerging Markets Internet Fund.

Runnr plans to go live on the consumer side in Delhi soon.

From last couple of months, food tech startups are facing a tough competition in the market.  Four startups in the hyperlocal food delivery space have reportedly shut down their businesses in the last few months. In May 2016, Gurgaon-based food-tech startup, Yumist, stopped its services in Bangalore. Recently, restaurants associated with Swiggy and Shadowfax pulled back from having their orders delivered by the startups.

Artha Venture Challenge and Upaya Social Ventures Invest in Agri Startup Krishi Star

Artha Venture Challenge (AVC) and Upaya Social Ventures are excited to announce a co-investment in Mumbai-based Krishi Star, an agri startup dedicated to improving livelihoods for small farmers in India by building a food brand
that sells products produced through a farmer-owned supply chain. Menterra Venture Advisors Private Limited will provide the company non-monetary support.

The Artha Initiative, under which the Artha Venture Challenge has been launched, has provided the company seed investment, while Menterra – which collaborates with AVC to invest in and incubate social enterprises in India – will support the company with strategic guidance to help grow the business. Upaya Social Ventures is co-investing in the company as well, along with 1to4 Foundation, a Swiss non-profit that invests in start-up and early-stage social enterprises, and a Mumbai based angel investor.

Food processing is a high potential industry, growing at over 20% per year, yet farmers do not consistently enter into it because of lack of market access and understanding of quality requirements. On the market side, buyers of fresh and processed foods cannot source consistent quality due to insufficient infrastructure and a fragmented supply chain with inconsistent inputs.

“By leveraging and aggregating existing farmer assets and providing a brand that ensures quality and consistency to end customers, we can greatly increase the efficiency and quality of India’s food supply chain and bring a large portion of this created value to farmers,” said Bryan Lee, co-founder of Krishi Star. “We are excited about this space because of the tremendous potential for sustainable social impact at scale.”

Bryan believes that the problem with farming in the long-run is actually a problem in the very nature of the economics of farming, a problem which could best be solved by transforming rural economies. And so Krishi Star was launched in 2014, with a model that approaches improvement of farmer livelihoods from a demand-pull perspective. It acts as a platform matching farmer-owned capacity and market-demand.

“Our vision is a scaled solution through which to improve livelihoods for the nearly 200 million people in India living in rural poverty. Our current strategy is for farmers to benefit in two main ways – first, the small farmers, as the owners of processing factories, would receive a higher stable form of income independent of the success of their individual harvests; second, the factories procure from the farmers and as such, create additional stable demand for the farmers' crops,” added Bryan.

Krishi Star is currently working with farmer-owned food processing units and has developed a product portfolio including tomato puree, whole-peeled tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes. The company is selling its products in Mumbai and Pune to hotels, restaurants, and catering groups.

“We have a particular interest in supporting the work of producers through the development of agri-processing, and we have been delighted to see that Krishi Star has demonstrated great resilience and commitment to serving its core communities,” said Audrey Selian, Director of Artha Initiative.

“Krishi team has brought to the market some interesting products and there are more in their pipeline. They have also built strong partnerships for sourcing and processing. These will help the company grow faster and will help many more farmers to earn a greater percentage of the end price of their produce. That excites us,” said Sreejith
Nedumpully, Director, Upaya Social Ventures India.

“We are optimistic about Krishi Star’s potential to scale and are looking forward to working with the Krishi Star team to build their business and its social impact,” said AB Chakravarthy, Senior Investment Manager, Menterra.

“Menterra and AVC’s advisory will be invaluable when we go to scale and raise our next round of funding,” said Bryan, adding, “We are also keen on tapping into their network of advisors across industries and geographies.”

The agricultural startup space has been seeing more entrants seeking to address challenges faced by small and marginal farmers. Recently, another Villgro incubatee, Flybird Innovations, which is developing an affordable smart irrigation controller to help small farmers' micro-irrigate their crops, received funding from a collaboration of

investors and incubators. Recognising the need for investing in agricultural startups, Menterra’s incubation partner, Villgro, has been working with partners like the Rianta Capital’s Artha Initiative to bring more investment and incubation support to social entreprises.

Additionally, Menterra and Artha Venture Challenge are collaborating to co-incubate and co-invest in scalable agri-enterprises that can create impact on the lives of small and marginal farmers. Entrepreneurs running early-stage for-profit enterprises that help small and marginal farmers can get matched equity funding of up to Rs 60 lakh, high-touch mentoring from agri-business experts and access to networks and downstream investors. Eligible enterprises can apply now for incubation support.

Zolo Raises Seed Funding from Swiss based Software Company Hitouch AG

Zolo, Indian on-demand talent marketplace where people can discover, buy and sell unique talents and skills raised undisclosed amount of seed funding from Switzerland based Software company Hitouch AG.

Hitouch AG sees an amazing opportunity of funding in India and specially the upcoming services sector. The CEO Oliver Westphal believes that Zolo can be the next revolutionary company in the sharing economy and thus makes its first investment.

Zolo connects the two parties; the service and goods providers and the folks that need these service and merchandise and acts as the intercessor, as the middleman, eliminating the headache and fuss caused by negotiations and making payments. Zolo handles the whole fussy and worrisome task so that all the entrepreneurs can focus on your core capabilities, skills, and talent and deliver quality results and surpass as professional businessmen.

Oliver Westphal, CEO, Hitouch AG, says "We see Zolo as eBay of services with a huge potential & touch millions of lives once it goes global"

With the funding amount Zolo intends to expand to other cities after establishing its base in Delhi-NCR. Also, Zolo intends to add more categories services under its kitty from current number i.e. 8. Apart from the funding, Zolo is a continuous Cash Flow model currently making 7-10% on every transaction.

“Zolo intends to capitalize on the growing trend of people looking to start their own business and work at their own convenience. We like to think of ourselves as a platform for solo entrepreneurs helping them build an income and a growing personal brand for long lasting success. We're also launching dedicated platforms like Zolo Homes, Zolo Skills, Zolo Rentals, Zolo Academy, Zolo Lounges & Zolo Eat to build a holistic environment with space, technology and marketing for solo entrepreneurs to build a business on their core competencies and leave the rest to us.” - Mr. Satayu Basu, Co-founder and CEO, Zolo.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Manish Tahillani, Co-founder & CMO, Zolo says, “Zolo aims to revolutionize the service industry by empowering talented individuals to follow their passion and share it with the world - as we truly believe passionate people are the ones that eventually change the world. With our unique pre-packaged gig model along with other innovative features Zolo intends lead the 'service-as-a-product' revolution in India.

Zolo is a commission-based model making around 10-20% from vendors on each sale they make through the platform. By March 2017, Zolo is expecting a revenue of $12-15 Million GMV.

Livspace Raises Rs 100 Cr Led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Jungle Ventures, and Helion

Livspace, Indian online home design company and the world’s first design automation platform, today announced that it has raised INR 100 crore from existing investors in its third round of funding. The round was led by Bessemer Ventures Partners with increased participation from Jungle Ventures and Helion. This round of funding comes within weeks of the launch of the world’s first ‘Home Design Automation Platform’. The funds will be used to expand operational footprint across metro cities (NOIDA, Gurgaon, Mumbai in 2016 and Pune, Hyderabad in 2017), set up new Livspace design studios with VR technology integration for the best home design experience, expand the design automation platform across thousands of freelance designers in the country, and strengthen the catalog depth, launch new modular products, and further optimize the backend technology.

Founded by Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma, Livspace is home to India’s biggest community of home design enthusiasts (over 600 thousand) and India’s largest community of home designers. Launched in December 2014, Livspace has raised $27.6M since inception. Livspace pioneered the end-to-end home design experience in India and, within the first year of its launch, Livspace made three acquisitions – DezignUp, Dwll.in, YoFloor and launched an exclusive line of Modular Kitchen and Wardrobe systems with deep eCommerce integration which now generates over 50% of Livspace’s business. Over the next year, Livspace aims to dramatically scale customer experience and make it rich, transparent, and predictable such that anyone can have a beautiful home in less than 12 weeks and modular installations in 8 weeks in India.

Anuj Srivastava, CEO and Co-founder of Livspace said, “We’ve built an enviable company which is truly a pioneer in its space worldwide. Ramakant and I want to create a truly innovative technology company out of India, with large scale revenue, and a commercially profitable footprint. By combining the principles of platform, technology and design, we have built Livspace into a technology-driven, consumer internet company that continues to make explosive growth across all business metrics”.

Speaking on the investment, Vishal Gupta, Managing Director, Bessemer Venture Partners, "We are very impressed with the pioneering approach, traction, and commercial scale achieved by Livspace, in a short period of time. Livspace is already India's largest online home design company and continues to see tremendous demand side scale due to the recently announced home design automation platform. Anuj and Ramakant are seasoned entrepreneurs and we are thrilled to partner with them and grow Livspace into one of India's most admired venture backed company.”

Amit Anand, Founding and Managing Partner, Jungle Ventures, added, “Anuj and Ramakant are top tier entrepreneurs who’ve created a truly pioneering idea out of India. It’s truly extensible across many cities across the world as the problem they’re solving is unique, pertinent, and fragmented the world over. I have only seen them go strength-to-strength and create an enviable team, a customer experience, and scale not seen before in the industry. We wish them well in the journey and are excited to build an exciting worldwide story.”

The home industry is estimated to be anywhere between $25-30B but over 95% of it is unorganized and serviced by turnkey contractors, small studios, freelance designers, and carpenters. Livspace sees a tremendous opportunity in adopting a platform driven approach which borrows from the principles of platforms like Uber, AirBnB, etc. to create design entrepreneurs and reduce fragmentation in the industry.  Livspace will also invest in technology, to streamline hundreds of contract manufacturers, modular furniture companies, home design services, decor marketplace, etc. and bring them under one platform. This will create supply side scale, creating huge benefits to customers.