Chennai based Education Reform Startup Chrysalis Raises Pre Series-A Funding

Chennai based EZ Vidya Pvt Ltd, a parent company which runs Chrysalis, an education reform startup, has raised a pre-series A funding round from Indian education sector focused investor Gray Matters Capital.

The capital raised by the startup will be used to build on its research and development, and to strengthen its multichannel approach leading the company to further target on its goal of improving education in K-12 schools. There are currently 250 million children enrolled in these schools of which 100 million are in the private school segment.

The development was first reported by Economic Times.

According to Chrysalis, "There was a huge and fundamental problem at hand - the education system was killing the human potential in the children in for 15,16,892 private and Government schools in India."

Chrysalis thus designed solutions that were essential for the child, ones that helped bring out the human potential in every child.

Founded 16 years ago by Chitra Ravi, Chrysalis works closely with schools on areas such as teacher empowerment, curriculum development and administrative processes. We lend our expertise in education and pedagogy to leading organizations in their socio-educational initiatives to deliver high-impact interventions in schools.

"Our mission is to stand up for the child, by reforming the Indian education system in a way that every child realizes his/her human potential. In our estimation, we have more than 15,00,000 schools failing in this regard. We have established a roadmap to bring in a fundamental change in the system by engaging 5 principal mediums - policy makers, government schools, private schools, parents and public, by open-sourcing our intellectual property selectively. We are committed to this mission and were seeking investors who were aligned to it. We found the right fit in Gray Matters Capital, which has a vision to transform human lives using education as a medium", said Chitra who is also CEO of the company.

Chrysalis' flagship product is ThinkRoom, a student-centric academic programme based on a 'Human Potential' framework developed through 16 years of pedagogic research.

Chrysalis is operational in schools of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, Haryana, Orissa and Punjab.

On investment in Chrysalis, Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital, said "We see Chrysalis as one of the most innovative, mission driven and student centric educational enterprises in India, which has the potential of bringing about a tangible change in the way education is imparted in our schools."

In an another funding of education related startup, Ed-tech start up GreyAtom, has raised a $1M funding round led by early-stage fund Pravega Ventures, this month only.

The Educational startups space in India is seeing lot of traction off late, as in recent months number of funding and M&A took place. Just last week, Bengaluru-based enterprise platform for educational institutions CollPoll has raised its pre-series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services [MaGE].

In November 2017, AEON Learning Private Limited, which is backed by Kris Gopalkrishnan, acquired Acadgild, an online edtech startup, for $10 million in an all stock deal.

In the same month, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

Chennai based Education Reform Startup Chrysalis Raises Pre Series-A Funding

Chennai based EZ Vidya Pvt Ltd, a parent company which runs Chrysalis, an education reform startup, has raised a pre-series A funding round from Indian education sector focused investor Gray Matters Capital.

The capital raised by the startup will be used to build on its research and development, and to strengthen its multichannel approach leading the company to further target on its goal of improving education in K-12 schools. There are currently 250 million children enrolled in these schools of which 100 million are in the private school segment.

The development was first reported by Economic Times.

According to Chrysalis, "There was a huge and fundamental problem at hand - the education system was killing the human potential in the children in for 15,16,892 private and Government schools in India."

Chrysalis thus designed solutions that were essential for the child, ones that helped bring out the human potential in every child.

Founded 16 years ago by Chitra Ravi, Chrysalis works closely with schools on areas such as teacher empowerment, curriculum development and administrative processes. We lend our expertise in education and pedagogy to leading organizations in their socio-educational initiatives to deliver high-impact interventions in schools.

"Our mission is to stand up for the child, by reforming the Indian education system in a way that every child realizes his/her human potential. In our estimation, we have more than 15,00,000 schools failing in this regard. We have established a roadmap to bring in a fundamental change in the system by engaging 5 principal mediums - policy makers, government schools, private schools, parents and public, by open-sourcing our intellectual property selectively. We are committed to this mission and were seeking investors who were aligned to it. We found the right fit in Gray Matters Capital, which has a vision to transform human lives using education as a medium", said Chitra who is also CEO of the company.

Chrysalis' flagship product is ThinkRoom, a student-centric academic programme based on a 'Human Potential' framework developed through 16 years of pedagogic research.

Chrysalis is operational in schools of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, Haryana, Orissa and Punjab.

On investment in Chrysalis, Ragini Bajaj Chaudhary, India CEO, Gray Matters Capital, said "We see Chrysalis as one of the most innovative, mission driven and student centric educational enterprises in India, which has the potential of bringing about a tangible change in the way education is imparted in our schools."

In an another funding of education related startup, Ed-tech start up GreyAtom, has raised a $1M funding round led by early-stage fund Pravega Ventures, this month only.

The Educational startups space in India is seeing lot of traction off late, as in recent months number of funding and M&A took place. Just last week, Bengaluru-based enterprise platform for educational institutions CollPoll has raised its pre-series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services [MaGE].

In November 2017, AEON Learning Private Limited, which is backed by Kris Gopalkrishnan, acquired Acadgild, an online edtech startup, for $10 million in an all stock deal.

In the same month, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

A Primer To The Benefits And Types of Payroll Software

Payroll administration is one of those processes that a business has to which does not generate direct revenue. At the same time, it is also one of the most tedious and time-consuming processes carried out by a business. So, it is in the best interest of the business to reduce the time and cost allocated to this process as much as possible. And this is where Payroll Software steps in, and it helps you by automating various tasks related to payroll administration so that you can dedicate your time and energy to much more profitable tasks.

On average, payroll software systems reduce costs to a great extent. It is possible because payroll systems require very little human input. Most of the times, all it needs are the details of the wage and the working hours of a particular person. And all the other functions such as the calculation of total wage, necessary tax deductions, awarding of bonuses, etc. are done by the software on its own.

Benefits of Payroll Software

The following are the major benefits of using Payroll software:

Reduces Errors - Most of the payroll processes are tedious and time-consuming. And as with any long, time-consuming process, they are prone to a lot of errors. Errors can sometimes even turn out be a havoc. For example, adding an extra zero or two to the end of an employee's wage would result in a lot of headaches and further rectification works. The use of payroll software removes all such risk by fully automating the entire process.

Cuts costs - The lesser the need for human involvement means lesser the cost. Also, since there is a very little possibility of errors occurring, it also saves any future rectification expenses.

Helps build transparency - If the payroll system is cloud-based, it means that the data is available to everyone with access to the right credentials anywhere at anytime. It allows HR personnel, employees, accounts, etc. to check their data so that if at all any errors arise and it leads to disputes, it can be settled then and there.

Improved security - Since payroll processes take up a lot of time, it is general practice to outsource it to third parties, but it can compromise the security of payroll details. Payroll software helps alleviate this threat by enabling businesses to do the process on their own.

Types of Payroll Software

Payroll software systems are of two types - dedicated payroll systems and integrated payroll systems.

Dedicated Payroll Systems - Dedicated payroll systems are built to carry out payroll processes. Such processes are what they specialize in, but at the same time, they also do certain other added functions depending upon the software you buy.

Integrated Payroll Systems - These are part of a more comprehensive Human Resource Management System which includes other functions like attendance management system, employee leave management system, etc. Payroll Software usually comes as a part most of the famous HR software India uses, or you may need to pay extra to avail the service.

Payroll software systems are a must for small and large scale businesses alike, the advantages of having such a system far outweigh the ones of not having one.

Gurgaon based Advantage Club Raises $300K In A Funding Led By Axilor Ventures

Advantage Club, India’s only platform for both employee perks and reward & recognition,has raised an additional $300K from Axilor Ventures, Mumbai Angels, Purvi Ventures and prominent investors. The company provides curated privileges in essential and luxury segments for corporate employees and effectively increases an employee's spending/saving power by 10%. Premium brands on the other hand, get to target selected clientele without brand dilution. Initially started as a perk platform, they started receiving a high demand for rewards and recognition from their existing clientele, and recently launched the same.The funds will be used to enhance the reward and recognition program, building distinguished features and redemption options.

The founder couple, Sourabhand SmitiDeorahare both UCLA alumni and have worked with Amazon and Microsoft in the United States, before starting Advantage Club. Their aim is to create an analytical tech-platform which redefines employee rewards beyond gift cards and corporate discounts beyond dining.

Currently, 6000+ brands across 12 different categories including Samsung, Max Healthcare, Home Centre, Zoomcar, Smaaash, Mother’s Pride, Footprintsand Lifestyle are offering exclusive privileges via Advantage Club. They have onboarded 200+ companies including Accenture, Fidelity, Concentrix, Home Credit, Tech Mahindra, PNB Metlife, RBS, Hero and many more.There are 6 Crore+ organized sector employees in India which they aim to target.

Axilor led the round, with Ten Innovate and returning investors Mumbai Angels, Chicago Based Purvi Ventures also participating. Other prominent individual investors including Avtar Singh Monga (COO IDFC Bank), Amit Singal and Manish Aggarwal (Startup Buddy) participated in the round again.Advantage Club had raised $400k earlier from Purvi Capital, Mumbai Angels and other prominent individual investors.

Sourabh Deorah Co-Founder and CEO said, “We aim to delight corporates and employees via our app with exclusive privileges from premium brands, and features like wish lists, a 365-day customer helpline and usage dashboard. We now also enable companies to run rewards and recognition via us, and offer redemption options beyond gift cards and internal buying portals, through our extensive network of perks redeemable through reward points.Overall, we aim to be a technology company which gives multiple solutions to enhance employee and customer engagement.”

According to Smiti, COO and Co-Founder, “Every brand wants to reach out to the niche corporate clientele. But in today's unorganized market, even if they offer acorporate privilege, it is not promoted among the employees creating lose-lose situation for them. We not only help brands market within corporates, but throughfeatures like smart personalized notifications and newsletters, we are able to influence the choices of the customer right before he/she is about to make adecision. Through our Rewards and Recognition program, brands also get a share of the HR recognition and gifting budget, which is hard to achieve independently.”

Commenting on the investment, Payal Shah, Head of Investments at Axilor Ventures said, “We were impressed by the high level of savings enabled by AdvantageClub for some of India’s largest corporate houses. We are excited to help the company build a world class product that will touch the daily lives of millions of corporate employees.”

Ravi Srivastava, Founding Partner at Purvi Capital said, “Advantage club has shown outstanding growth since we invested last year, and the team has demonstrated that they don't just have a great product, but are capable of acquiring & delighting clients at scale. Similar to other mature markets, employee engagement programs are becoming indispensable in India. And Advantage Club is strong on track to lead this massive market.”

Amit Singhal, Founder at Startup Buddy said, “Advantage Club has proven that they are the right platform for brands to reach out to targeted niche audiences. Their focus on technology and strong unit economics has enabled them to build a venture which is not justsustainablebut alsoscalable.”

Advantage Club is aiming to extend their product bouquet to introduceadditional dimensions in employee/customer engagement. The program is already live in all major metro cities, and is planned to expand across India with stronger presence in tier-2 cities.

Zeta Is The Only Indian startup Selected In Mastercard Global Incubator

As part of its commitment to building the future of commerce, Mastercard recently announced the group of companies selected to matriculate into the Mastercard Start Path Global 2017 wave. Out of the 11 startups selected, Zeta - the fintech startup to revolutionise employee tax benefits in India is the only entrant from the Asia Pacific region.

Co-founded by Bhavin Turakhia (CEO) and Ramki Gaddipati (CTO), Zeta has revolutionised the space of employee claims and reimbursements by launching an innovative cloud-based enterprise solution suite called Zeta OptimaTM. The product offering includes employee benefits such as reimbursements for medical, fuel, LTA, mobile, books and several other such company benefits - all accessible digitally for both corporations and employees. Zeta Optima™ is used by 1.5 million users across 12,000+ organizations in India. Zeta is a single platform which manages multiple benefits and the solution is compliant and customisable at the same time, making it a first-of-its-kind offering in the employee benefits space in India.

Start Path Global will provide Zeta and its fellow matriculants with operational support, commercial access and strategic investment. Launched in 2014, the program has seen much success around the world. The program has mentored approximately 1,600 startups per year and engages with more than 150 of them around the globe.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Porush Singh, Country Corporate Officer, India & Division President, South Asia, Mastercard said, “Over the past few years, India has witnessed a tremendous growth in its start-up ecosystem. To continue driving momentum, providing the right mentorship and operational support to these upcoming companies is mission critical. Start Path is one such initiative by Mastercard that exposes young professionals to international markets and provides an enriching global experience. I congratulate Zeta on being chosen for the Global Start Path Program.”

Commenting on their selection, Mr Ramki Gaddipati, CTO and Co-founder, Zeta said, “We are proud to be shortlisted for the Mastercard Start Path program. As pioneers in digital employee benefits, we are handling complex payment scenarios and bridging transaction data with enterprise policies and systems. Mastercard will be a great partner helping us participate in the global digital payment ecosystem. Start Path specifically gives us an opportunity to take our solutions to a range of Mastercard partners across the world.”

The other Start Path companies selected this year are:

• AID:Tech delivers digital entitlements transparently through blockchain technology and digital identity.


• b.well makes managing healthcare and insurance simple by unlocking insights on patients.


• Flutterwave is fostering digital payment acceptance and infrastructure for banks and businesses across Africa.


• Goodworld powers the world’s only technology for frictionless hashtag payments on social media.


• HYPR reduces the risk of data breaches by eliminating the need for a centralized credential store.


• Mobeewave enables smartphones to accept contactless payments without external hardware.


• Railsbank gives companies access to a global banking network through simple APIs.


• Sensibill’s platform turns everyday purchase receipts into a core part of the digital banking experience.


• ShieldPay‘s instant digital escrow facility enables everyone, everywhere to transact with each other in total confidence.


• Trunomi unlocks the power of customer data using data rights management.

These companies will work with Start Path against a tailored plan to help them scale. Applications for the six-month virtual program are accepted on a rolling basis. The program is open to startups who are rethinking banking, payments and commerce and have raised a significant seed or Series A round of investment. Interested startups can visit https://www.startpath.com/ for additional information and to submit an application.

About Mastercard Start Path

Mastercard Start Path is a global effort to support innovative startups developing the next generation of commerce solutions today. Start Path was launched in 2014 with an objective to help startups to grow their businesses faster than they could by themselves. Startups that join the program can benefit from the knowledge of a global network of Mastercard experts, access to Mastercard customers and partners, and the ability to innovate on top of Mastercard solutions. Mastercard customers that join the program as partners get connected to the best and brightest startups and gain access to innovations from across the globe.

Investing Platform Groww Raises Seed Funding from Y Combinator, Mukesh Bansal, Ankit Nagori

Investing platform Groww has raised funding from Y Combinator, Mukesh Bansal (founder Myntra & Curefit) and Ankit Nagori (Curefit, ex-CBO Flipkart) to make investing simple for new investors in India.

Groww is founded by ex-Flipkart team with rich experience in engineering, product, finance and e-commerce. They faced this problem when they began to invest and wanted to build a product that really works for Indian millennials.

Groww leverages data science to make investing simple, accessible and transparent. It. is a customer-centric investment platform that also hosts several communities that help investors make the right investing decisions. Groww lets investors understand financial products through its user-friendly interface and content that is specific to their needs. Currently, investors can find more than 5000 mutual funds on Groww and invest without any paperwork. Groww is available on an Android app and website and would be coming soon on iOS.

Lalit Keshre, Co-founder & CEO, says, “Our long-term vision is to build a modern financial services company out of India, accessible to everyone. That means anything that users get from a bank, should be able to get it faster and cheaper on Groww with 10x better user experience.”

Mukesh Bansal, says, “Ankit and I are excited to partner with Groww to transform personal investing in India. Groww has an exceptional team, built a solid product in a short period of time and is demonstrating very robust growth. Groww’s approach in bringing cutting edge technology and highly customer centric user interface will make investing easy for millions of consumers.”

Holly Liu, Partner at Y Combinator and Co-founder of Kabam adds, “I cannot think of a better way to empower the growing group of Indian millennials by enabling them to make financial investment choices that are more accessible, faster, and cheaper than traditional banks. Groww's product does just that. The product is built from a team with the right expertise and the right experience to tackle this large opportunity.”

With more than 300 million online transacting users, less than 15 million users invest. Investing is complicated. Groww lets users invest in mutual funds just like they shop online or book a cab. The traditional tedious and time-consuming process of investing through offline brokers is losing relevance with more people moving online and expecting transparency with convenience. Groww’s mission is to make investing simple for the next 100 million people to effectively grow their wealth by moving towards digital financial products.

British Cocktail Startup HappyDown Set To Enter India in June

UK-based cocktail startup HappyDown is planning to enter India by June this year and will raise about USD 2 million to be used for the launch and expansion of its beverages, reported India Today.

Indian origin co-founders -- Paritosh Bhandari and Vishal Mair, launched HappyDown last year under its parent company Tipple Brands Ltd.

HappyDown, which is focused on craft alcohol, is looking to tap all the major metros of India and will be targeting the millennial.

"Indian consumers are experimental and there are different set of consumers who don't mind paying a premium for any good product. The mindset is we will consume less but will consume better," Tipple Brands co-founder Paritosh Bhandari told PTI.

He further added, "The funds we will raise will largely be used for the launch and distribution of the brand in India and we have been in talks with various investors for further investment."

The startup is also assessing the market to decide whether to get into home production or import from the UK.

The startup is in talks with distributors in India and will compete with other Indian brands like Bira 91 and White Rhino.

India is the third-largest and fastest-growing liquor market in the world. Alcoholic beverages is considered a sunrise industry owing to its high-growth potential and increasing social acceptance. According to a research report, the alcoholic beverages market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 7.72% over a 10 year period to reach a value of INR 5.3 trillion in FY 2026.

According to research conducted by IMAGES Group – the publisher of Progressive Grocer India – for The India Food Report 2016, the market for beverages in India is close to Rs 195,000 crore and is growing at 20–23 per cent. This growth rate will take the category at three-and-a-half times of its present size by 2020.

Earlier this month only, a beverage (non-alcoholic) startup from Gurgaon KIVA raised funding from several marquee investors including Zomato co-founder Pankaj Chaddah.

Prior to that, Kolkata-based food and beverages (F&B) startup Chai Break has received Rs 5 crore angel funding from Venture Catalysts, in December 2017.

Beside HappyDown, another British startup Deliveroo, an online food delivery firm, is also on verge of entering India.

British Cocktail Startup HappyDown Set To Enter India in June

UK-based cocktail startup HappyDown is planning to enter India by June this year and will raise about USD 2 million to be used for the launch and expansion of its beverages, reported India Today.

Indian origin co-founders -- Paritosh Bhandari and Vishal Mair, launched HappyDown last year under its parent company Tipple Brands Ltd.

HappyDown, which is focused on craft alcohol, is looking to tap all the major metros of India and will be targeting the millennial.

"Indian consumers are experimental and there are different set of consumers who don't mind paying a premium for any good product. The mindset is we will consume less but will consume better," Tipple Brands co-founder Paritosh Bhandari told PTI.

He further added, "The funds we will raise will largely be used for the launch and distribution of the brand in India and we have been in talks with various investors for further investment."

The startup is also assessing the market to decide whether to get into home production or import from the UK.

The startup is in talks with distributors in India and will compete with other Indian brands like Bira 91 and White Rhino.

India is the third-largest and fastest-growing liquor market in the world. Alcoholic beverages is considered a sunrise industry owing to its high-growth potential and increasing social acceptance. According to a research report, the alcoholic beverages market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 7.72% over a 10 year period to reach a value of INR 5.3 trillion in FY 2026.

According to research conducted by IMAGES Group – the publisher of Progressive Grocer India – for The India Food Report 2016, the market for beverages in India is close to Rs 195,000 crore and is growing at 20–23 per cent. This growth rate will take the category at three-and-a-half times of its present size by 2020.

Earlier this month only, a beverage (non-alcoholic) startup from Gurgaon KIVA raised funding from several marquee investors including Zomato co-founder Pankaj Chaddah.

Prior to that, Kolkata-based food and beverages (F&B) startup Chai Break has received Rs 5 crore angel funding from Venture Catalysts, in December 2017.

Beside HappyDown, another British startup Deliveroo, an online food delivery firm, is also on verge of entering India.

UP Govt To Link 60,000 Villages with Start-up India Programme

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said the state government will link 60,000 villages of the state with the Start-up India programme.

He made the announcement while addressing the Start-Up Master Class programme held at IIT Kanpur.

The chief minister said, "The state government will link 60,000 villages of the state with the Start-up India programme and technology will reach the villages, so that the villagers can get employment from their home itself."

Adityanath further said that the villages will be technically-sound and the people will come to know about various public welfare schemes.

At Kanpur's Harcourt Butler Technical University, the chief minister inaugurated and laid foundations of projects worth Rs 7876.17 crore.

The above development was first reported in Gadgets Now.

Earlier in 2016, before Yogi Adityanath became CM of the state, Uttar Pradesh government had already introduced Start-up Policy for entrepreneurs and startups in the state.

In last couple of years, the only major startup, which is based out of Uttar Pradesh, that received funding and in news was education startup EduGorilla which had raised funding in July 2017.

In September 2017, it was also announced that Uttar Pradesh’s capital city Lucknow is all set to get the biggest incubator centre that the Indian startup ecosystem has seen till date.

UP Govt To Link 60,000 Villages with Start-up India Programme

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said the state government will link 60,000 villages of the state with the Start-up India programme.

He made the announcement while addressing the Start-Up Master Class programme held at IIT Kanpur.

The chief minister said, "The state government will link 60,000 villages of the state with the Start-up India programme and technology will reach the villages, so that the villagers can get employment from their home itself."

Adityanath further said that the villages will be technically-sound and the people will come to know about various public welfare schemes.

At Kanpur's Harcourt Butler Technical University, the chief minister inaugurated and laid foundations of projects worth Rs 7876.17 crore.

The above development was first reported in Gadgets Now.

Earlier in 2016, before Yogi Adityanath became CM of the state, Uttar Pradesh government had already introduced Start-up Policy for entrepreneurs and startups in the state.

In last couple of years, the only major startup, which is based out of Uttar Pradesh, that received funding and in news was education startup EduGorilla which had raised funding in July 2017.

In September 2017, it was also announced that Uttar Pradesh’s capital city Lucknow is all set to get the biggest incubator centre that the Indian startup ecosystem has seen till date.

Medtech Startup Axio Biosolutions Raises $7.4 Mn Via Ratan Tata's RNT Capital

Medtech startup Axio Biosolutions raised USD 7.4 million funding in Series B round from Ratan Tata's RNT Capital, which will be used for expansion to new markets, and development of high-impact medical products, reported ANI.

Apart from the Tata, existing investors Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India also participated in this round of funding.

Founded by Leo Mavely and Ashish Pandya, Axio is the first Indian company to launch an emergency haemostat for trauma care. Its flagship invention -- Axiostat, is a patented and CE-approved product that has prevented countless deaths due to haemorrhage and grievous injuries.

[caption id="attachment_115866" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Battlefield proven Military Variant of Axiostat currently used by Army, Paramilitary of India and abroad[/caption]

The first-aid dressing stops uncontrollable bleeding within just 2-3 minutes of its application, thus saving lives. Axiostat is the de-facto product of Indian armed forces after being used in the surgical strike to save the lives of soldiers and is now an essential part of their field kit. The product caters to the Indian Armed Forces, BSF, NSG, para-military forces, hospitals and emergency services in India and across the globe, and for this we have put Axio among India's 9 Top Defence Tech Startups.

"Uncontrolled bleeding is one of the leading causes of death from traumatic injuries. We are grateful to make a meaningful impact in this space by saving lives of innocent victims. The current round of funding will help us expand into new markets and introduce more products in the wound care and drug delivery space", said Leo Mavely, Founder and CEO of Axio Biosolutions.

Headquartered in Boston, Axio Biosolutions has its corporate office in Bengaluru and GMP-certified manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The company has built a strong R&D structure, with multiple patents to its credit in the wound healing, mucoadhesive drug delivery, and hemostats space.

In September 2016, Axio expanded its operations to UK and with that it expanded its footprints in thirteen countries including Europe, Middle-East and Africa, reinforcing its commitment to address the unmet wound care challenges across the globe.

Talking about Ratan Tata, he recently announced his ₹900 million plan to fund in such Indian startups in which no other investors like to invest. The funding will be made through his Tata Trust’s FISE or the Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, a social impact fund as well as a business incubator.

Medtech Startup Axio Biosolutions Raises $7.4 Mn Via Ratan Tata's RNT Capital

Medtech startup Axio Biosolutions raised USD 7.4 million funding in Series B round from Ratan Tata's RNT Capital, which will be used for expansion to new markets, and development of high-impact medical products, reported ANI.

Apart from the Tata, existing investors Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India also participated in this round of funding.

Founded by Leo Mavely and Ashish Pandya, Axio is the first Indian company to launch an emergency haemostat for trauma care. Its flagship invention -- Axiostat, is a patented and CE-approved product that has prevented countless deaths due to haemorrhage and grievous injuries.

[caption id="attachment_115866" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Battlefield proven Military Variant of Axiostat currently used by Army, Paramilitary of India and abroad[/caption]

The first-aid dressing stops uncontrollable bleeding within just 2-3 minutes of its application, thus saving lives. Axiostat is the de-facto product of Indian armed forces after being used in the surgical strike to save the lives of soldiers and is now an essential part of their field kit. The product caters to the Indian Armed Forces, BSF, NSG, para-military forces, hospitals and emergency services in India and across the globe, and for this we have put Axio among India's 9 Top Defence Tech Startups.

"Uncontrolled bleeding is one of the leading causes of death from traumatic injuries. We are grateful to make a meaningful impact in this space by saving lives of innocent victims. The current round of funding will help us expand into new markets and introduce more products in the wound care and drug delivery space", said Leo Mavely, Founder and CEO of Axio Biosolutions.

Headquartered in Boston, Axio Biosolutions has its corporate office in Bengaluru and GMP-certified manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The company has built a strong R&D structure, with multiple patents to its credit in the wound healing, mucoadhesive drug delivery, and hemostats space.

In September 2016, Axio expanded its operations to UK and with that it expanded its footprints in thirteen countries including Europe, Middle-East and Africa, reinforcing its commitment to address the unmet wound care challenges across the globe.

Talking about Ratan Tata, he recently announced his ₹900 million plan to fund in such Indian startups in which no other investors like to invest. The funding will be made through his Tata Trust’s FISE or the Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, a social impact fund as well as a business incubator.

Future Group Acquires Snapdeal's Logistics Arm For ₹35 Crore

Kishore Biyani's Future Group's Supply Chain Solutions today said it will fully acquire Snapdeal's logistics service provider Vulcan Express Pvt Ltd in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 35 crore, reported Business Line.

With this acquisition, Future Group plans to boost its last mile capabilities and also offer modern solutions to its e-commerce and retail clients.

The acquisition deal happened in less than a month after Snapdeal infused fresh funds of ₹27 crore into Vulcan Express. Earlier in this month only, we reported about the possibilities of this acquisition.

Snapdeal Chief Strategy and Investment Officer Jason Kothari said, "Similar to our recent sale of FreeCharge, we believe Snapdeal's sale of Vulcan Express to Future Group is a successful deal for all three parties."

"Company divests off an asset that is non-strategic in nature for Snapdeal 2.0, allowing it to focus its capital and management on its core e-commerce business; Future Group gains high-quality pan-India end-to-end e-commerce logistics capabilities, and Vulcan secures a great new home for its business, including its team.", added Kothari in an official statement.

In an internal mail to employees, Vulcan Express CEO Hardeep Singh said, "This association is being recognised to be one of the most significant developments in the logistics industry in India... Vulcan's capabilities will be of big value to Future Supply Chain in enhancing its footprint and services".

Earlier in July 2017, it was reported that for sale of Vulcan Express Snapdeal was in talks with a few contenders including Gati, the express distribution and supply chain company, considered one of the largest in the country, and TVS Logistics. But it did not materialise into a firm deal.

Formed in 2014, Vulcan Express used to manage about half of Snapdeal's deliveries and shipments, replacing gojavas as the primary logistics partner, when about three years ago Snapdeal abandoned its plan to acquire Gojavas.

Future Group has been on an acquisition spree in the recent past. In April 2016, Future Group had also acquired Fabfurnish, an online furniture retailer, in an all-cash deal, followed by acquisition of Shoppers' Stop for Rs 655 crore.

Future Group Acquires Snapdeal's Logistics Arm For ₹35 Crore

Kishore Biyani's Future Group's Supply Chain Solutions today said it will fully acquire Snapdeal's logistics service provider Vulcan Express Pvt Ltd in an all-cash deal valued at Rs 35 crore, reported Business Line.

With this acquisition, Future Group plans to boost its last mile capabilities and also offer modern solutions to its e-commerce and retail clients.

The acquisition deal happened in less than a month after Snapdeal infused fresh funds of ₹27 crore into Vulcan Express. Earlier in this month only, we reported about the possibilities of this acquisition.

Snapdeal Chief Strategy and Investment Officer Jason Kothari said, "Similar to our recent sale of FreeCharge, we believe Snapdeal's sale of Vulcan Express to Future Group is a successful deal for all three parties."

"Company divests off an asset that is non-strategic in nature for Snapdeal 2.0, allowing it to focus its capital and management on its core e-commerce business; Future Group gains high-quality pan-India end-to-end e-commerce logistics capabilities, and Vulcan secures a great new home for its business, including its team.", added Kothari in an official statement.

In an internal mail to employees, Vulcan Express CEO Hardeep Singh said, "This association is being recognised to be one of the most significant developments in the logistics industry in India... Vulcan's capabilities will be of big value to Future Supply Chain in enhancing its footprint and services".

Earlier in July 2017, it was reported that for sale of Vulcan Express Snapdeal was in talks with a few contenders including Gati, the express distribution and supply chain company, considered one of the largest in the country, and TVS Logistics. But it did not materialise into a firm deal.

Formed in 2014, Vulcan Express used to manage about half of Snapdeal's deliveries and shipments, replacing gojavas as the primary logistics partner, when about three years ago Snapdeal abandoned its plan to acquire Gojavas.

Future Group has been on an acquisition spree in the recent past. In April 2016, Future Group had also acquired Fabfurnish, an online furniture retailer, in an all-cash deal, followed by acquisition of Shoppers' Stop for Rs 655 crore.

Edtech Startup GreyAtom Raises $1M Funding From Pravega Ventures

Ed-tech start up GreyAtom, has raised a $1M funding round led by early-stage fund Pravega Ventures.

GreyAtom is a bootcamp style immersive learning program for Data Science, Machine Learning and AI. Aspirants learn technologies for future by working on REAL problem statements and datasets from GreyAtom’s industry partners. Learn = Do Real work is their mantra. At the heart of student learning is Commit.Live, a homegrown cloud based learning platform that ensures that learning stays practice centered, personally meaningful and social at the same time.

Commit.Live empowers the student with deep insight into the qualitative aspects of project work done with metrics like competency maps, code efficiency and adherence to industry standards. In little under an year, GreyAtom has onboarded 35 companies to be Industry Partners, empanelled 41 Certified Instructors and processed over 450 students under various programmes.

GreyAtom is founded by Shweta Doshi, Mitul Thakkar and Mayuresh Shilotri in February 2017.

Previously, Mitul and Mayuresh co-founded Customer360 a company in Customer Engagement Management space, which was acquired by NASDAQ listed Indianapolis, U.S. based-Interactive Intelligence in Nov ‘15, while Shweta worked as Associate Director at Nielsen.

Shweta is an engineering graduate from V.J.T.I., Mumbai. Mayuresh is an alumnus of IIT Madras and Mitul has graduated with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from State University of New York (SUNY),
Binghamton.

“Modern employers are interested whether a prospective hire will be able to solve it’s real world problem and less concerned with pedigree. As a result, learning outcomes become more critical when teaching engineering disciplines. A mix of
online-offline blended approach is the way forward. We have built a product
Commit.Live where the students login to solve real-world problems based on real data provided by industry partners. Not just a single faculty but the whole ecosystem is harvested for the benefit of aspirants” said Mitul Thakkar, Co-Founder of GreyAtom.

“Commit.Live brings a fresh perspective to education by enabling a compelling learning experience. Commit.Live balances the adherence of traditional training and mixing
best of modern academia. Team at GreyAtom is experienced and fanatic about driving learning outcomes for Students and Organizations looking to upskill workforce.”said Rohit Jain, Partner at Pravega Ventures.

Pravega Ventures was founded in 2016 by Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain. The fund provides seed and pre-series A stage capital to startups. The VC fund has previously invested in companies like Silicon Valley-based big data startup Innovaccer Inc, AI driven expense management company Fyle among other companies.

EdTech Startup Space in India -

The Ed-Tech sector in India is seeing lot of traction off late, as in recent months number of funding and M&A took place. Just last week, Bengaluru-based enterprise platform for educational institutions CollPoll has raised its pre-series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services [MaGE].

In November 2017, AEON Learning Private Limited, which is backed by Kris Gopalkrishnan, acquired Acadgild, an online edtech startup, for $10 million in an all stock deal.

In the same month, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

Edtech Startup GreyAtom Raises $1M Funding From Pravega Ventures

Ed-tech start up GreyAtom, has raised a $1M funding round led by early-stage fund Pravega Ventures.

GreyAtom is a bootcamp style immersive learning program for Data Science, Machine Learning and AI. Aspirants learn technologies for future by working on REAL problem statements and datasets from GreyAtom’s industry partners. Learn = Do Real work is their mantra. At the heart of student learning is Commit.Live, a homegrown cloud based learning platform that ensures that learning stays practice centered, personally meaningful and social at the same time.

Commit.Live empowers the student with deep insight into the qualitative aspects of project work done with metrics like competency maps, code efficiency and adherence to industry standards. In little under an year, GreyAtom has onboarded 35 companies to be Industry Partners, empanelled 41 Certified Instructors and processed over 450 students under various programmes.

GreyAtom is founded by Shweta Doshi, Mitul Thakkar and Mayuresh Shilotri in February 2017.

Previously, Mitul and Mayuresh co-founded Customer360 a company in Customer Engagement Management space, which was acquired by NASDAQ listed Indianapolis, U.S. based-Interactive Intelligence in Nov ‘15, while Shweta worked as Associate Director at Nielsen.

Shweta is an engineering graduate from V.J.T.I., Mumbai. Mayuresh is an alumnus of IIT Madras and Mitul has graduated with a Master’s degree in Computer Science from State University of New York (SUNY),
Binghamton.

“Modern employers are interested whether a prospective hire will be able to solve it’s real world problem and less concerned with pedigree. As a result, learning outcomes become more critical when teaching engineering disciplines. A mix of
online-offline blended approach is the way forward. We have built a product
Commit.Live where the students login to solve real-world problems based on real data provided by industry partners. Not just a single faculty but the whole ecosystem is harvested for the benefit of aspirants” said Mitul Thakkar, Co-Founder of GreyAtom.

“Commit.Live brings a fresh perspective to education by enabling a compelling learning experience. Commit.Live balances the adherence of traditional training and mixing
best of modern academia. Team at GreyAtom is experienced and fanatic about driving learning outcomes for Students and Organizations looking to upskill workforce.”said Rohit Jain, Partner at Pravega Ventures.

Pravega Ventures was founded in 2016 by Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain. The fund provides seed and pre-series A stage capital to startups. The VC fund has previously invested in companies like Silicon Valley-based big data startup Innovaccer Inc, AI driven expense management company Fyle among other companies.

EdTech Startup Space in India -

The Ed-Tech sector in India is seeing lot of traction off late, as in recent months number of funding and M&A took place. Just last week, Bengaluru-based enterprise platform for educational institutions CollPoll has raised its pre-series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services [MaGE].

In November 2017, AEON Learning Private Limited, which is backed by Kris Gopalkrishnan, acquired Acadgild, an online edtech startup, for $10 million in an all stock deal.

In the same month, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

BookMyShow To Raise $60 Mn Via TPG Growth: Report

Mumbai based online entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow.com is in advanced talks to raise around $50-60 million (approximately Rs320-380 crore) from private equity firm TPG Growth, reported Live Mint citing two people aware of the development.

TPG Growth, which is the middle market and growth equity platform of the US-based alternative asset firm TPG, is looking to pick up a minority stake of about 10% in Bookmyshow, said the report.

If the deal goes through, it will be the fourth round of fund-raising (Series-D) for BookMyShow and TPG are likely to value BookMyShow at around $750 million, which is quite near to becoming an another unicorn startup from India.

Bookmyshow last raised ₹550 crore in a round led by Stripes Venture, in July 2016, and the funding was biggest for any internet startup in that year.

Prior to that, the company had raised an amount of Rs. 150 crore from Network18 Media, SAIF Partners and Accel Partners. As of date, the total capital invested in the company now adds up to a whopping figure of Rs. 800 crore ($124.5 million).

Founded in 1999 by Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande, BookMyShow's core business remains movie ticketing however the company, in recent years, has been diversifying its business to add categories such as sporting events, music events and plays.

Additionally, if this funding deal materialize then this will help Bookmyshow to strengthen its leadership position, which has been under pressure due to entry of players such as Alibaba-backed Paytm in the movie ticketing space.

Moreover, since its inception the company has also acquired six other companies including Burrp, MastTicket, Infusion and Eventifier, among others.

BookMyShow To Raise $60 Mn Via TPG Growth: Report

Mumbai based online entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow.com is in advanced talks to raise around $50-60 million (approximately Rs320-380 crore) from private equity firm TPG Growth, reported Live Mint citing two people aware of the development.

TPG Growth, which is the middle market and growth equity platform of the US-based alternative asset firm TPG, is looking to pick up a minority stake of about 10% in Bookmyshow, said the report.

If the deal goes through, it will be the fourth round of fund-raising (Series-D) for BookMyShow and TPG are likely to value BookMyShow at around $750 million, which is quite near to becoming an another unicorn startup from India.

Bookmyshow last raised ₹550 crore in a round led by Stripes Venture, in July 2016, and the funding was biggest for any internet startup in that year.

Prior to that, the company had raised an amount of Rs. 150 crore from Network18 Media, SAIF Partners and Accel Partners. As of date, the total capital invested in the company now adds up to a whopping figure of Rs. 800 crore ($124.5 million).

Founded in 1999 by Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande, BookMyShow's core business remains movie ticketing however the company, in recent years, has been diversifying its business to add categories such as sporting events, music events and plays.

Additionally, if this funding deal materialize then this will help Bookmyshow to strengthen its leadership position, which has been under pressure due to entry of players such as Alibaba-backed Paytm in the movie ticketing space.

Moreover, since its inception the company has also acquired six other companies including Burrp, MastTicket, Infusion and Eventifier, among others.

Video-Based Social Network Spoofin Raises Funding Via Mumbai Angels Network

Gurgaon-based Spoofin, a video-based social network, has raised undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai Angels Network, announced Mumbai Angels in a press release sent to IndianWeb2.

Founded by Siddhant Sahni, Mrityunjaya Sharma, Kapil Nawani, Vallari Bhardwaj and Swati Sharma, Spoofin, which is yet to be launched, will allows it’s users to create and share hilarious parody videos. The app allows users to interact and manipulate video content by way of an intuitive creator’s studio, equipped with video editing, voice-over and audio imposing capabilities. The launch of their MVP in the international markets is scheduled early 2018.

The website/app will allow the users to source a video via either the In-App A/V Library, Computer/Phone Gallery and/or Phone Camera and add their own audio over the existing video to make a parody voiceover.

Jatin Aneja, Deal Lead, Mumbai Angels Network & Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas "Spoofin” is a strong product that presents an exciting opportunity to create a new and original social media network/community where the user can create, consume and share comic video content in an entirely fresh perspective. As a Deal Lead of Spoofin, I see this as an interesting investment opportunity with exponential returns upon gaining scale in a thriving yet uncluttered market. I would be helping & mentoring the company to grow.

Siddhant Sahni, Co-Founder, Spoofin
“The Mumbai Angels Network has been an instrumental part of our seed round journey. The network is teaming with investors who actively mentor and participate in the progress of the startups, which was exactly what we were looking for. The introductions and networking opportunities afforded to us have been foundational to the successful close of our round"

Few days back, Mumbai Angels has announced its partnership with Calcutta Angels to work as a team for investing in startups in the country. The role of Calcutta Angels in the funding of Spoofin is unclear though.

Video-Based Social Network Spoofin Raises Funding Via Mumbai Angels Network

Gurgaon-based Spoofin, a video-based social network, has raised undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai Angels Network, announced Mumbai Angels in a press release sent to IndianWeb2.

Founded by Siddhant Sahni, Mrityunjaya Sharma, Kapil Nawani, Vallari Bhardwaj and Swati Sharma, Spoofin, which is yet to be launched, will allows it’s users to create and share hilarious parody videos. The app allows users to interact and manipulate video content by way of an intuitive creator’s studio, equipped with video editing, voice-over and audio imposing capabilities. The launch of their MVP in the international markets is scheduled early 2018.

The website/app will allow the users to source a video via either the In-App A/V Library, Computer/Phone Gallery and/or Phone Camera and add their own audio over the existing video to make a parody voiceover.

Jatin Aneja, Deal Lead, Mumbai Angels Network & Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas "Spoofin” is a strong product that presents an exciting opportunity to create a new and original social media network/community where the user can create, consume and share comic video content in an entirely fresh perspective. As a Deal Lead of Spoofin, I see this as an interesting investment opportunity with exponential returns upon gaining scale in a thriving yet uncluttered market. I would be helping & mentoring the company to grow.

Siddhant Sahni, Co-Founder, Spoofin
“The Mumbai Angels Network has been an instrumental part of our seed round journey. The network is teaming with investors who actively mentor and participate in the progress of the startups, which was exactly what we were looking for. The introductions and networking opportunities afforded to us have been foundational to the successful close of our round"

Few days back, Mumbai Angels has announced its partnership with Calcutta Angels to work as a team for investing in startups in the country. The role of Calcutta Angels in the funding of Spoofin is unclear though.

Udacity In India Launches Online Course For Flying Cars and Drone Tech

Udacity, the Silicon Valley-based lifelong learning platform, has opened applications for enrollments into its latest Nanodegree – an exclusive program on Flying Cars. This course will feature globally renowned experts as instructors, including Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun (CEO, KittyHawk and acknowledged expert in autonomous systems). Interested applicants can go to the Udacity website, where they can view a free preview of the program and apply for enrolment till February 7th, 2018.

For India’s dense urban sprawls and gridlocked streets, aerial transportation of goods and people is the most viable avenue for smart transportation in the future. The commercial potential for this sector can be seen in market projections from BI Intelligence, which expects sales of drones to surpass USD 12 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2016. The potential applications for these technologies are endless – drones have already been used to provide disaster relief, and can provide supplies or act as an autonomous ambulance in medical emergencies.

Udacity’s aim for this course is to push beyond the current generation of quadrotors and remote-controlled drones, and provide the skills to create autonomous flight systems that will be the transport technology of the future. The course will act as the first step students take into the world of this exciting and developing field. It will prepare students for jobs of tomorrow like Unmanned Aircraft Software Engineer, Guidance Navigation and Controls (GNC) Engineer, Aerial Roboticist, Software and Controls Engineer, and Autonomous Systems Engineer.

Commenting on the opportunities that participants will gain from this program, Ishan Gupta, Managing Director (India) – Udacity said, “Udacity’s endeavour to prepare India’s workforce for the jobs of tomorrow requires us to evolve and help create a larger pool of developers who can contribute to emerging technologies. The Flying Car Nanodegree Program will empower students to translate concepts of drone technology from the classroom to simulation and ultimately build their own self-flying drones. Flying Cars will find application in the aerospace, transportation, technology, and defense industries, and this course will help create the aerial roboticists and autonomous systems engineers that will shape this technology and how people travel in the future.”

Udacity has partnered with Quidich to be the hiring partner for this new Nanodegree in India. Quidich has been using drones in India to create extraordinary aerial cinematography, aerial visual displays, and project/real-estate surveying. Quidich will be providing internship and mentorship opportunities to the graduates of the Flying Car Nanodegree Program, in addition to sponsoring 10 candidates.

Commenting on being the hiring partner for the Flying Car Nanodegree, Rahat Kulshreshtha, Founder and CEO, Quidich, said, “The drone industry has increasingly proved that today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality. Quidich is proud to partner with Udacity for the Flying Car Nanodegree. We believe that this course will fuel the imagination of entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts; while creating a platform to propel aerial technology to new heights.”

The Flying Car Nanodegree Program is a course available exclusively on Udacity. Applicants to this program will be reviewed on the basis of their readiness for the curriculum. Students of the Self-Driving Car Engineer and Robotics Software Engineer Nanodegree Programs, as well as Intro to Self-Driving Cars graduates, are guaranteed admission and the opportunity to enrol. The program will consist of two 12-week terms – the first on Aerial Robotics, and the second on Intelligent Air Systems. With the addition of the Flying Cars Nanodegree Program, Udacity now offers potential students the opportunity to embrace the coming paradigm shift in the future of transportation.

About Udacity

Udacity is democratizing education to make it affordable and accessible for people around the world to get the jobs they want to improve their lives. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with operations in China, Germany, India, Brazil and the UK, Udacity provides online education to millions of students in collaboration with top industry leaders including Google, Facebook, AT&T, IBM Watson, Amazon Alexa, Mercedes, DiDi, and more. The company’s Nanodegree certification program, a credential built and backed by industry, is designed to give students the skills they need to be in demand for the global workforce. The company offers Nanodegree programs across a range of subjects including self-driving car engineering, virtual reality development, AI engineering, machine learning, web and mobile development, and data analytics. Udacity has recently secured a prestigious spot in the CNBC Disruptor 50 list.

For more information, go to in.udacity.com.

AgriTech Startup KisanHub Raises $2.43 Mn For Big Data Potato Platform

Cambridge and Pune-based agricultural technology startup KisanHub has raised $2.43 million in pre-Series A funding.

This round was led by UK-based B2B tech venture capital firms Notion Capital and IQ Capital. Calibrate Management and other angel investors also participated in the round.

KisanHub will use the funds raised to continue developing its proprietary technology, which leverages big data and machine learning to help producers and suppliers within the agricultural industry make decisions.

The news was first reported in AgFunderNews.com

Founded in 2012 by Sachin Shende and Giles Barker, KisanHub is a Crop Intelligence Platform and was borne out of a desire to give farmers everywhere a sophisticated, meaningful yet, simple decision-support. The platform connects enterprises with their growers to provide crop intelligence through crop specific apps and is focussed on in-season agronomy advice on pest/diseases, fertiliser application, irrigation management and yield prediction to reduce the input costs and improve profit margins.

KisanHub uses big data analytics, cloud computing, and machine learning to bring together data from various sources such as satellite imagery, weather stations, and soil sensors in order to help potato farmers make decisions and to help potato sellers manage contracts with yield predictions, pesticide application monitoring and more.

KisanHub software is currently used by 2300 growers in the UK and 700 in India, all paid for by the enterprise customers.

KisanHub’s CEO Dr Sachin Shende, on fresh funding, said, “KisanHub is on an ambitious mission to create a field level data infrastructure of the future and integrate that data with our Crop Intelligence Platform to deliver actionable insights to enterprises and their growers. With the new investment, we will kick start the hardware deployment in the UK, attract new talent into sales and customer success functions and expand our engineering capabilities to deliver end-to-end supply chain solutions."

KisanHub previously raised a $1 million seed round in 2016 after being accelerated out of the Cambridge University Judge Business School’s Accelerate Program in 2013.

In November 2017, Bengaluru based agri-tech startup KrishiHub has raised undisclosed seed funding from IIT-Kanpur INVENT accelerator and Villgro Innovation Fund.

In the same month, an another agri-tech startup Farmlink had raised seed funding from Pioneering Ventures, a Swiss-based incubator and investment firm, and Syngenta, a Swiss agribusiness firm. The startup is based out of Mumbai.

Earlier, in August, Gurgaon-based agritech startup Crofarm had raised Rs 5 crore in a pre-Series A round from Rajan Anandan, Google India MD, and Jitendra Gupta, and PayU India MD, among others.

AgriTech Startup KisanHub Raises $2.43 Mn For Big Data Potato Platform

Cambridge and Pune-based agricultural technology startup KisanHub has raised $2.43 million in pre-Series A funding.

This round was led by UK-based B2B tech venture capital firms Notion Capital and IQ Capital. Calibrate Management and other angel investors also participated in the round.

KisanHub will use the funds raised to continue developing its proprietary technology, which leverages big data and machine learning to help producers and suppliers within the agricultural industry make decisions.

The news was first reported in AgFunderNews.com

Founded in 2012 by Sachin Shende and Giles Barker, KisanHub is a Crop Intelligence Platform and was borne out of a desire to give farmers everywhere a sophisticated, meaningful yet, simple decision-support. The platform connects enterprises with their growers to provide crop intelligence through crop specific apps and is focussed on in-season agronomy advice on pest/diseases, fertiliser application, irrigation management and yield prediction to reduce the input costs and improve profit margins.

KisanHub uses big data analytics, cloud computing, and machine learning to bring together data from various sources such as satellite imagery, weather stations, and soil sensors in order to help potato farmers make decisions and to help potato sellers manage contracts with yield predictions, pesticide application monitoring and more.

KisanHub software is currently used by 2300 growers in the UK and 700 in India, all paid for by the enterprise customers.

KisanHub’s CEO Dr Sachin Shende, on fresh funding, said, “KisanHub is on an ambitious mission to create a field level data infrastructure of the future and integrate that data with our Crop Intelligence Platform to deliver actionable insights to enterprises and their growers. With the new investment, we will kick start the hardware deployment in the UK, attract new talent into sales and customer success functions and expand our engineering capabilities to deliver end-to-end supply chain solutions."

KisanHub previously raised a $1 million seed round in 2016 after being accelerated out of the Cambridge University Judge Business School’s Accelerate Program in 2013.

In November 2017, Bengaluru based agri-tech startup KrishiHub has raised undisclosed seed funding from IIT-Kanpur INVENT accelerator and Villgro Innovation Fund.

In the same month, an another agri-tech startup Farmlink had raised seed funding from Pioneering Ventures, a Swiss-based incubator and investment firm, and Syngenta, a Swiss agribusiness firm. The startup is based out of Mumbai.

Earlier, in August, Gurgaon-based agritech startup Crofarm had raised Rs 5 crore in a pre-Series A round from Rajan Anandan, Google India MD, and Jitendra Gupta, and PayU India MD, among others.

Noida-based RailYatri Acqui-Hires Food Delivery Startup YatraChef

Noida-based startup RailYatri, which runs train travel app, has acqui-hired Kochi-based food-delivery technology startup YatraChef, reported Times of India.

Post acquisition, YatraChef's team will manage the pan-India supply side of RailYatri's in transit delivery business.

With this acqui-hiring, RailYatri aims to strengthen its supply-side commerce capabilities, as it continues to add new offerings to its travel marketplace.

Founded in 2011 by Kapil Raizada, Manish Rathi and Sachin Saxena, RailYatri is backed Google's prestigious launchpad accelerator and well funded by investors including Nandan Nilekani, Blume Ventures and Helion Venture, among others.

RailYatri mobile app provides real-time information on live train status, PNR Status, seat availability predictions, fare calculator, platforms/ facilities at stations, personalized alerts, access to essential travel services like meals and taxi.

"YatraChef's skills will help us jointly develop new offerings that would re-define the traveller experience with RailYatri. We are delighted to have them on board," said Manish Rathi, CEO, and co-founder of RailYatri.

YatraChef was founded in 2013 by Rameez Ashraf and Arun Rajan with an aim to serve restaurant food for passengers of Indian Railways.

Arun Rajan, CEO and co-founder at YatraChef said, "Having partnered with RailYatri for some time now, it was an obvious decision to join hands as we can make a much bigger impact together. We are excited to be part of the RailYatri family and look forward to continuing growing stronger than before".

RailYatri was among six shortlisted startups for Google Launchpad accelerator programme in May 2017.

Noida-based RailYatri Acqui-Hires Food Delivery Startup YatraChef

Noida-based startup RailYatri, which runs train travel app, has acqui-hired Kochi-based food-delivery technology startup YatraChef, reported Times of India.

Post acquisition, YatraChef's team will manage the pan-India supply side of RailYatri's in transit delivery business.

With this acqui-hiring, RailYatri aims to strengthen its supply-side commerce capabilities, as it continues to add new offerings to its travel marketplace.

Founded in 2011 by Kapil Raizada, Manish Rathi and Sachin Saxena, RailYatri is backed Google's prestigious launchpad accelerator and well funded by investors including Nandan Nilekani, Blume Ventures and Helion Venture, among others.

RailYatri mobile app provides real-time information on live train status, PNR Status, seat availability predictions, fare calculator, platforms/ facilities at stations, personalized alerts, access to essential travel services like meals and taxi.

"YatraChef's skills will help us jointly develop new offerings that would re-define the traveller experience with RailYatri. We are delighted to have them on board," said Manish Rathi, CEO, and co-founder of RailYatri.

YatraChef was founded in 2013 by Rameez Ashraf and Arun Rajan with an aim to serve restaurant food for passengers of Indian Railways.

Arun Rajan, CEO and co-founder at YatraChef said, "Having partnered with RailYatri for some time now, it was an obvious decision to join hands as we can make a much bigger impact together. We are excited to be part of the RailYatri family and look forward to continuing growing stronger than before".

RailYatri was among six shortlisted startups for Google Launchpad accelerator programme in May 2017.

ixigo Introduces India’s First Augmented Reality Feature For Train Passengers

ixigo, India’s leading travel marketplace, has introduced India’s first augmented reality (AR) feature on its trains app. The AR Coach Position feature will enable train travellers to accurately locate their coach positions for over 13,000 passenger trains at more than 7,000 railway stations across India.

With the Coach Position feature, iOS users using the iPhone 6+ and above just need to use their smartphone in order to have their coaches instantly categorized and labeled, thereby identifying how far away they are from their intended coach. ixigo’s AR feature leverages ARKit, Apple's augmented reality (AR) technology toolkit, that delivers engaging experiences through the seamless blending of virtual objects with the real world. Users with the ixigo trains app need to grant camera access to the app, point it at the railway platform, and the app will overlay coach positions of their train on the phone screen.



Along with the Coach Position feature, ixigo is rolling out other key updates such as Station Alarm and Rescheduled trains. These new features will provide users with live updates and instructions to improve their train travel experience. The Station Alarm feature will alert users as they approach their destination station, ensuring that users can sleep worry free. The Rescheduled trains feature will allow users to easily check if their train is cancelled, diverted or rescheduled. ixigo has also added a host of interesting iMessage stickers to help users communicate on the go.

Commenting on the development, Rajnish Kumar, CTO & Co-founder, ixigo said, “At ixigo, our constant endeavor is to use innovation to improve traveller experience and diminish pain points. Due to overcrowding at railway stations, passengers often worry about not having the right information with them when needed, leading to anxious moments before they board their train. To curb this, we worked on developing our AR Coach Position feature. We are quite excited about being the first in the indian travel services market with an AR use case that will greatly ease passenger pain.”

ixigo trains app has become India’s most used train travel app with over 7 million monthly active users. It now helps close to 1 million train travellers every single day across 200+ Indian towns to book train tickets, check train schedules, get live train running status, get PNR status predictions and to view crowdsourced platform numbers, coach positions and train ratings & reviews for all trains in India.

ixigo Introduces India’s First Augmented Reality Feature For Train Passengers

ixigo, India’s leading travel marketplace, has introduced India’s first augmented reality (AR) feature on its trains app. The AR Coach Position feature will enable train travellers to accurately locate their coach positions for over 13,000 passenger trains at more than 7,000 railway stations across India.

With the Coach Position feature, iOS users using the iPhone 6+ and above just need to use their smartphone in order to have their coaches instantly categorized and labeled, thereby identifying how far away they are from their intended coach. ixigo’s AR feature leverages ARKit, Apple's augmented reality (AR) technology toolkit, that delivers engaging experiences through the seamless blending of virtual objects with the real world. Users with the ixigo trains app need to grant camera access to the app, point it at the railway platform, and the app will overlay coach positions of their train on the phone screen.



Along with the Coach Position feature, ixigo is rolling out other key updates such as Station Alarm and Rescheduled trains. These new features will provide users with live updates and instructions to improve their train travel experience. The Station Alarm feature will alert users as they approach their destination station, ensuring that users can sleep worry free. The Rescheduled trains feature will allow users to easily check if their train is cancelled, diverted or rescheduled. ixigo has also added a host of interesting iMessage stickers to help users communicate on the go.

Commenting on the development, Rajnish Kumar, CTO & Co-founder, ixigo said, “At ixigo, our constant endeavor is to use innovation to improve traveller experience and diminish pain points. Due to overcrowding at railway stations, passengers often worry about not having the right information with them when needed, leading to anxious moments before they board their train. To curb this, we worked on developing our AR Coach Position feature. We are quite excited about being the first in the indian travel services market with an AR use case that will greatly ease passenger pain.”

ixigo trains app has become India’s most used train travel app with over 7 million monthly active users. It now helps close to 1 million train travellers every single day across 200+ Indian towns to book train tickets, check train schedules, get live train running status, get PNR status predictions and to view crowdsourced platform numbers, coach positions and train ratings & reviews for all trains in India.

AEON Learning Raises $3.2 Mn in Series B from Ranjan Pai’s MEMG Family Office LLP

AEON Learning, a leading edtech company based out of Bangalore has raised USD 3.2mn in Series B funding from MEMG Family Office LLP, a fund set up by Dr. Ranjan Pai, chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group. AEON will use the latest investments towards growing business from its university partnerships, and skill programs. The startup expects to reach a student base of over 100,000 in the next 5 years and is currently operating in India and the US.

AEON Learning, offers its platforms Avagmah and Acadgild, that has continuing higher education offered by its academic partners and technology skills courses to working professionals; helping them upgrade their skills and capabilities to remain relevant in today’s fast evolving employment scenario.

Karthik KS, founder and CEO of AEON Learning says, “The combined and complementary strengths of Avagmah and Acadgild have already positioned AEON Learning at the forefront of the tech-enabled education revolution in India. With a proven track record of successful execution we are now ready to scale up and serve more users with an integrated portfolio of technology skills and in-demand higher education courses.”

“We are glad to have MEMG Family Office LLP as our investment partners who believe in our vision of making continuing education more accessible to working professionals worldover and supporting in growing our existing 7 academic partnerships and technology skills programs ”, added Karthik.

Dr. Ranjan Pai, CEO and MD of MEMG says, “Skills gap is a huge roadblock for continuing economic growth not just in India, but around the world. AEON Learning has the right product portfolio and a highly competent leadership team, which is making a difference in the evolving online education industry. The global online education market opportunity is huge, and we are glad to partner and support AEON Learning as they gear up to leverage this opportunity.”

In future, AEON Learning plans to expand to new geographies and go global with its academic collaborations. The company will continue to explore fundraise to realise this ambition. AEON Learning currently has a total student base of 20,000 spanning across 66 countries, and works with 7 leading institutes and university partners, 36 corporate partners, with 20% business originating from the US.

Recently, AEON Learning acquired the business of online edtech startup Acadgild, which takes a differentiated approach and offers a hybrid model that combines live classes and an online platform for learning. Acadgild was co-founded by Vikalp Jain and Vinod Dham in 2014.

AEON Learning has cumulatively secured $6.5 million from marquee investors like Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys; Atul Nishar, founder of Hexaware and Aptech Computer Education; Singapore based Lionrock Capital; Neeraj Bhargava, of Zodius Capital, Jupiter Capital and Enki in the past. Both Avagmah and Acadgild have been promoted by GrowthStory.

In the last financial year, AEON Learning has expanded its operations from just in South India to now being present in 150 towns and cities across the country and have posted a combined growth of 100%. The company aims to tap into the fast growing online higher education market, which is pegged to be a $1.96 billion industry by 2021 (as per a latest KPMG-Google report).

Last week only, an another edtech startup CollPoll has raised undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services.

In November 2017, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

AEON Learning Raises $3.2 Mn in Series B from Ranjan Pai’s MEMG Family Office LLP

AEON Learning, a leading edtech company based out of Bangalore has raised USD 3.2mn in Series B funding from MEMG Family Office LLP, a fund set up by Dr. Ranjan Pai, chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group. AEON will use the latest investments towards growing business from its university partnerships, and skill programs. The startup expects to reach a student base of over 100,000 in the next 5 years and is currently operating in India and the US.

AEON Learning, offers its platforms Avagmah and Acadgild, that has continuing higher education offered by its academic partners and technology skills courses to working professionals; helping them upgrade their skills and capabilities to remain relevant in today’s fast evolving employment scenario.

Karthik KS, founder and CEO of AEON Learning says, “The combined and complementary strengths of Avagmah and Acadgild have already positioned AEON Learning at the forefront of the tech-enabled education revolution in India. With a proven track record of successful execution we are now ready to scale up and serve more users with an integrated portfolio of technology skills and in-demand higher education courses.”

“We are glad to have MEMG Family Office LLP as our investment partners who believe in our vision of making continuing education more accessible to working professionals worldover and supporting in growing our existing 7 academic partnerships and technology skills programs ”, added Karthik.

Dr. Ranjan Pai, CEO and MD of MEMG says, “Skills gap is a huge roadblock for continuing economic growth not just in India, but around the world. AEON Learning has the right product portfolio and a highly competent leadership team, which is making a difference in the evolving online education industry. The global online education market opportunity is huge, and we are glad to partner and support AEON Learning as they gear up to leverage this opportunity.”

In future, AEON Learning plans to expand to new geographies and go global with its academic collaborations. The company will continue to explore fundraise to realise this ambition. AEON Learning currently has a total student base of 20,000 spanning across 66 countries, and works with 7 leading institutes and university partners, 36 corporate partners, with 20% business originating from the US.

Recently, AEON Learning acquired the business of online edtech startup Acadgild, which takes a differentiated approach and offers a hybrid model that combines live classes and an online platform for learning. Acadgild was co-founded by Vikalp Jain and Vinod Dham in 2014.

AEON Learning has cumulatively secured $6.5 million from marquee investors like Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys; Atul Nishar, founder of Hexaware and Aptech Computer Education; Singapore based Lionrock Capital; Neeraj Bhargava, of Zodius Capital, Jupiter Capital and Enki in the past. Both Avagmah and Acadgild have been promoted by GrowthStory.

In the last financial year, AEON Learning has expanded its operations from just in South India to now being present in 150 towns and cities across the country and have posted a combined growth of 100%. The company aims to tap into the fast growing online higher education market, which is pegged to be a $1.96 billion industry by 2021 (as per a latest KPMG-Google report).

Last week only, an another edtech startup CollPoll has raised undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services.

In November 2017, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

5 Tips to keeping your information safe when replacing a lost social security card online

Identity theft is something that can happen to anyone at anytime. That is why it is important to keep your information safe and in a spot where you can find it when you need it. Social security cards, passports, identification cards, and birth certificates are all necessary items that you should keep in a safe so that you have these documents when you need them. While storing these documents seems like an easy task, these things have a tendency to become lost in the shuffle. This article will highlight some tips that will help you keep your information safe when applying for a social security card replacement online.

• Make sure that you have a secure connection. When applying for a social security card online, the first thing that you want to check is that the website you are visiting has a secure connection. The easiest way to tell this is by checking for the “https” in the search engine bar. If the website begins with an “https” then that means that the website is secure. If the website begins with an “http” it is best to avoid supplying any important information on to the website as it is not secure. This means that a potential hacker could steal your information.


• Keep your documents locked up. When you are not using your documents, be sure to keep them locked up and in a secure place in your home. One of the ways that you can keep your documents safe is by keeping them in a safe or in a spot in your home that is not easy to access by intruders.


• Do not give out your information to just anyone. Before you apply for a social security card online, make sure that you are doing so through a reputable website. Many websites can look secure and like a legit government website but they may actually just be a facade. To avoid giving your personal information to those who do not need it, be sure to go to a website that has pertinent government information about security card administration.


• Keep printouts of your transactions. When you apply for a social security card online, make sure to keep copies of all transactions that you make. The reason for this is that you can use the documentation should you need to contact the social security administration office in person.


• Avoid using a public computer to apply for a social security card online. Sometimes this cannot be avoided, but whenever possible, try to avoid using a public computer. Public computers are used by anyone and even if you don’t think that your personal information had been saved on the computer, you cannot be for sure. When applying for sensitive, personal documents such as a passport or a social security card, be sure to do so on a private computer.

Indians Traded Cryptocurrencies Worth $3.5 Bn; I-T Deptt Sends Notices

A nationwide survey has revealed that, in last 17 months of period, people in India have invested in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies worth whopping US $3.5 billion. Seeing this, income tax (I-T) department has sent notices to tens of thousands of such people who have done trading in any of the cryptocurrencies, reported MoneyControl.

Tech-savvy young investors, real estate players and jewellers are among those invested in bitcoin and other virtual currencies, tax officials told Reuters after gathering data from nine cryptocurrency exchanges in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune.

Despite government's repeated warnings against cryptocurrency investment, people are trading in it at large, so much so that an industry estimated that trading in virtual currencies are adding 200,000 users in India every month.

B.R. Balakrishnan, a director general of investigations at the income tax department in the southern state of Karnataka, said notices were sent following the survey to assess the penetration and patterns of virtual currency trade.

"We cannot turn a blind eye. It would have been disastrous to wait until the final verdict was out on its legality," he told Reuters.

Moreover, it was found that people investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Ripple are not accounting this activity at all and are not even reflecting such investment in their tax returns.

Thus, the tax department has asked people dealing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to pay tax on capital gains. They have also asked for details about their total holdings and the source of funds in the tax notice seen by Reuters.

Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, soared more than 1,700 percent last year but later it crashed due China's crackdown through ban on virtual currencies.

Despite of all this, to prevent people in investing in cryptocurrencies, an Indonesian blockchain startup announced recently that by end of this year it will a point-of-sale network so that people in India can do daily transaction using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in offline mode as well.

In February this year, India's leading bitcoin startups -- Zebpay, Unocoin, Coinsecure and Searchtrade, jointly launched Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI) for the orderly and transparent growth of virtual currency market.

Thereafter, in November 2017, DABFI had announced its merger with the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the internet industry body now has the mandate to represent Blockchain startups in India. The new merged entity will.now be called as -- IAMAI FinTech Council.