J. Mitra in Collab with IIT-Madras Launches 'iQuant', India’s First Portable Diagnostics Solution Device

One of India’s oldest and leading research-based biotechnology company, J. Mitra & Co., in collaboration with IIT Madras’ HTIC (Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre), has launched India’s first portable diagnostic solution - the iQuant immunoassay analyzer in the Indian market.

The developed device, named iQuant, is designed to read multiple test kits, and reads the calibration information directly from the test kit without the need for a separate calibration chip. The product is meant for small to medium labs, and is hence designed in an aesthetic desktop form factor, with an intuitive touch screen display, battery back-up and capabilities for advanced data storage, syncing and transmission capabilities.

iQuant provides 8 separate diagnostic tests for -- TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone), T3 (Tri-iodo thyronine), T4 (Thyroxin), Vitamin D, Dengue NS1 Antigen, Dengue IgM, Dengue IgG and HbA1c test.

This portable, battery-powered device is a state-of-the-art Fluorescence Immunoassay Analyzer for quantitative and qualitative determination of blood test parameter. Beta-testing for the product had been going on for the past 8 months and has generated tremendous positive response and demand. With this launch, various highly-active and sought-after diagnostic solutions will be available across the country and in the remotest of locations at the fraction of a cost. J. Mitra is India’s leading IVD (in-vitro diagnostic) tests manufacturing company with exports to more than 45 countries across the globe. J. Mitra also holds the maximum number of patents (over 55 patents) in the IVD segment for its innovative and research-based solutions.

J. Mitra will be adding to the number of diagnostic solutions, which will be available as a software upgrade on the cloud. Speaking on the occasion, Jatin Mahajan, managing director, J Mitra said, "iQuant is an innovative mix – on the product side, it is a mix of science, IT, healthcare and research, while on the implementation side it is great combination of social conditions, ground realities coupled with business sense." He further added, "This is an innovative, path-breaking product that will greatly influence the detection and diagnostic process, which will hasten the treatment and cure process – resulting in a healthier India, in line with government’s healthcare-for-all initiative."

This is a home-grown innovative solution – a “completely Made-in-India” offering. While being the most cost-effective solution available in the market today, what sets it apart is the fact that it is completely portable. It can be carried with ease and has a self-sustaining power supply. It is thus quite suited for Indian conditions, especially for remote and electricity-dark areas.

Performing all these broad varieties of tests generally requires more than one instrument in any laboratory, however, with iQuant analyzer it is possible to perform all these tests on a single machine. The analyzer is equipped with state of the art fluorescence immunoassay technology and has unique features like use of high-end processors, inbuilt memory that stores up to 1-lac patients data, ergonomic design, 10-inches color display, Bluetooth for wireless printing, Wi-Fi connectivity for online support, iCloud facility for up gradation of software and training, 1-hour battery back-up in case of power failure and very easy portability owing to its light weight of approx. 2 kgs.

J. Mitra, which is India’s leading in-vitro diagnostics manufacturing company, is currently offering these Quanti range test kits to be performed on i-Quant analyze. These tests are high volume builders for the laboratories. This FIA technology of i-Quant offers the advantage of ease of use of rapid tests and sensitivities far better than other conventional test methods like ELISA. Each test cartridge is precision engineered and assembled through robotic technology. There are no lot specific calibrations required as each kit is embedded with lot specific data on QR codes present on each test cartridge. J. Mitra has launched these kits on advanced FIA (Fluorescence immunoassay) technology with accurate results and at very affordable prices.

It may be recalled that in June, Tata Trusts’ Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) with its incubatee startup, Voxelgrids, launched a high-tech portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, a first ever in the country, designed to make MRI affordable and accessible for everyone.

Last year in July, government of India launched - Sohum, a new hearing screening device meant especially for newborns and developed by School of International Biodesign (SIB) startup Sohum Innovation Labs .

In October 2016, Medi Tech Innovations, a healthcare IT start-up launched a ‘Solar Powered Health Care Screening Kits’ for the Indian armed forces and para-military. This specially designed kit helps keep a record of the vital information such as blood sugar level, blood pressure, heart rhythm of the people posted in remote locations.

Via - Business Wire India

Why Future-Oriented Entrepreneurs No Longer Work Without A Progressive Web App Today!

The mobile presence of small and medium-sized enterprises is already necessary today and will play an even more important role in the future. From mobile websites to native applications to progressive web applications. All this should be considered in a modern business and marketing strategy to successfully win new customers.

But isn't that just something the biggest companies can afford? No!
Progressive tech companies have already set themselves the task of enabling even the smallest companies to communicate with their customers through an app. And that works!

pwa-builder.io specializes in creating progressive web apps for small and medium enterprises in India with a DIY kit. The focus was on the Indian market, as there is very great potential here, which will be further expanded in the coming years.

As a small company, this step towards new technologies already gives you a valuable advantage over your competitors without great financial expenditure, as you can manage your customers with state-of-the-art technology.

Companies that have already upgraded to a progressive web application have achieved the best results. With a progressive web app, Trivago achieved a significantly higher conversion rate than with its native app. The click rate on hotel bookings increased by 97%.

The conversion rate has improved significantly, which is due to the fact that the pwa is much easier to achieve for users.

A native app must first be downloaded from the Appstore and then takes up a large part of the memory. This takes a lot of time in today's always faster getting world and is less and less accepted by users these days.

Steps for native apps

Open the appstore → find app → install → download and maintain → approve → use app
this is a long way to go - it’s too long for your users

Step for progressive web applications

require only one click, just open the URL, which you can then use immediately.
That “20% of users are lost with every step on the way to the download” gives you an impression of how outdated the technology of the native app is compared to the progressive web app.

Directly after opening the progressive web app the user reaches the complete unfiltered content of your app. After a short time a banner appears asking the user if he wants to accept push messages from the app.

A moment later, a second banner appears, with confirmation of which the pwa is added to the home screen with a click.
The progressive web app can now be seen on the smartphone's home screen and looks exactly like a conventional native app from the appstore thanks to the icon. Even if the pwa is opened, it looks and feels like a native app.

Nevertheless, it is a PWA that is always up to date and can also be used offline due to its storage in cache.

Companies that already recognize this trend can communicate easily and quickly with their customers, send them push messages and inform them about current company news.

The app takes over the booking of appointments for previously necessary telephone calls.
The progressive web app can be managed on the go and created and modified according to your own wishes. What normally costs tens of thousands of dollars is now possible for every small company, so small business owners can now book a package for only 1 dollar and publish their own first app.



The DIY pwa builder opens up a whole new target group for the app industry. This means that small and medium-sized enterprises can also take advantage of their own app. Progressive web applications are much faster than their predecessors, the native applications, because the amount of stored data is much smaller.

Choosing an advanced web application right from the start and taking advantage of the cost benefits Advantages over a native app are worth it.

This software has been designed for you to communicate optimally with your users and customers.
App users can quickly and easily find out everything about your company and will get the best possible user experience.

With your own Progressive web app you have the possibility to offer your customers great discount promotions through stamp cards and campaigns as well.

Take the chance to be a big step ahead of your competitors by using a progressive web app - this is the future of websites.

→ The shop module

Use the shop function of the app and create your first own online shop where you can sell your company's products online to save more time and money. Your customers can order directly in the app with paypal.

Your visitors benefit from a fast app that doesn't take more than 3 seconds to load, they get the best possible user experience as the app adapts to any device and looks perfect. This is what mobile websites and apps will look like in the future, and you can already have this now.

If you want to use this technology today, you can create and test your own app for free in a few minutes. Look here on pwa-builder.io

AI Driven HealthTech Startup HealthPlix Raises $3Mn from Kalaari Capital and IDG Ventures India

HealthPlix, a Bengaluru based healthtech firm that assists doctors digitally, has raised $3 Million from IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital in its Series A round. It was co-founded by Raghuraj Sunder Raju, Sandeep Gudibanda and Prasad Basavaraj.

HealthPlix will utilise the funds to further strengthen its technology to assist doctors better and expand its team and services in other geographical markets. It is a first of its kind healthcare technology that brings transformative change in the way diseases are treated in the Indian outpatient care.

While making the announcement, Sandeep Gudibanda, Co-Founder & CEO of HealthPlix said, “Population level health problems can be better managed if digital tools assist doctors at the time of treating their patients. Our goal at HealthPlix is to drive better Health Outcomes by enabling widespread adoption of our platform.

HealthPlix software is lot more than just an EMR. Its assistive-AI goes 4 levels deep: It adapts to doctors’ specialty, their practice preference, patient's disease and the stage of the disease.”

“We are happy to have gained valuable support from the leading investors - IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. The fundraise will help us to enhance clinical experiences for patients & doctors and thereby create a platform which will revolutionize the Indian healthcare ecosystem.” Sandeep Gudibanda added.

Raghuraj Sunder Raju, Co-Founder, HealthPlix said, “In India, 90% of care is delivered in an outpatient setting i.e. clinics and hospital OPDs. That's our target segment. We are trying to empower doctors and hospitals digitally by eliminating the conventional pen & paper prescriptions and shift to new age EMR.

Additionally, our focus is to improve patient compliance by helping doctors give prescriptions in the languages patients understand. Today, 60% of our prescriptions is vernacular; solving for rural healthcare is imperative when solving for India. Goal is to drive India Healthy!”

Affirming the investments, Mandar Dandekar, Principal, Kalaari Capital said, “India has a very low doctor to patient ratio and would need to quadruple the number of doctors in the next 10 years to serve the growing population. Since it is impossible to quadruple, the next best thing is to improve the productivity and efficiency of doctors. HealthPlix team has been able to leverage their deep domain expertise in their AI driven EMR which significantly enhances doctor efficiency leading to better patient health outcomes.”

Venkatesh Peddi, Executive Director, IDG Ventures India said, “Evidence based care & Prevention of Medical Errors is a $21 Billion market globally and more importantly saves millions of lives! HealthPlix's Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software for Hospitals and Clinics is driven by assistive-AI led Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system to assist doctors on various diseases and protocols. This can help doctors treat patients better and faster! It truly empowers the doctors in real time.”

HealthPlix is a healthtech platform that helps doctors increase their efficiency and productivity by digitally assisting them in their Clinics and Hospital OPDs. Further, the software allows the doctors to give prescriptions in more than 18 languages which significantly helps in attaining better patient compliance to treatment.

More than 1.2 million unique patients are treated by doctors in 150 cities across 20 states using HealthPlix EMR. Uniquely for HealthPlix, 60% of their user base is in tier 2, tier 3 towns and beyond.

[Top Image - HealthPlix Founders [L-to-R ] Prasad Basavaraj, Sandeep Gudibanda and Raghuraj Sunderraju.

Recent Activity in Health Tech Segment

Earlier this month, NetApp Inc., a Fortune 500 American multinational storage and data management company, announced that it is launching a new programme that will enable product-ready startups, particularly for those focusing on fintech and healthtech, to work with it on an ongoing basis.

In June, New Delhi-based healthcare technology startup Navia Life Care Pvt. has raised $100,000 in a a bridge round of funding from existing investor Benori Ventures, a Gurgaon-based Venture Capital & Private Equity firm led by research major Evalueserve’s former chief operating officer Ashish Gupta.

In May, India urged the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to invest in health and fintech startups in the country, to help improve the quality of life in Asia while sharpening focus on infrastructure lending by ensuring loan disbursals within a year of request.

Prior to that, Mumbai-based i3systems, a healthcare machine learning product company raised $1 million from Unitus Ventures, a marquee impact investment firm.

AI Driven HealthTech Startup HealthPlix Raises $3Mn from Kalaari Capital and IDG Ventures India

HealthPlix, a Bengaluru based healthtech firm that assists doctors digitally, has raised $3 Million from IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital in its Series A round. It was co-founded by Raghuraj Sunder Raju, Sandeep Gudibanda and Prasad Basavaraj.

HealthPlix will utilise the funds to further strengthen its technology to assist doctors better and expand its team and services in other geographical markets. It is a first of its kind healthcare technology that brings transformative change in the way diseases are treated in the Indian outpatient care.

While making the announcement, Sandeep Gudibanda, Co-Founder & CEO of HealthPlix said, “Population level health problems can be better managed if digital tools assist doctors at the time of treating their patients. Our goal at HealthPlix is to drive better Health Outcomes by enabling widespread adoption of our platform.

HealthPlix software is lot more than just an EMR. Its assistive-AI goes 4 levels deep: It adapts to doctors’ specialty, their practice preference, patient's disease and the stage of the disease.”

“We are happy to have gained valuable support from the leading investors - IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. The fundraise will help us to enhance clinical experiences for patients & doctors and thereby create a platform which will revolutionize the Indian healthcare ecosystem.” Sandeep Gudibanda added.

Raghuraj Sunder Raju, Co-Founder, HealthPlix said, “In India, 90% of care is delivered in an outpatient setting i.e. clinics and hospital OPDs. That's our target segment. We are trying to empower doctors and hospitals digitally by eliminating the conventional pen & paper prescriptions and shift to new age EMR.

Additionally, our focus is to improve patient compliance by helping doctors give prescriptions in the languages patients understand. Today, 60% of our prescriptions is vernacular; solving for rural healthcare is imperative when solving for India. Goal is to drive India Healthy!”

Affirming the investments, Mandar Dandekar, Principal, Kalaari Capital said, “India has a very low doctor to patient ratio and would need to quadruple the number of doctors in the next 10 years to serve the growing population. Since it is impossible to quadruple, the next best thing is to improve the productivity and efficiency of doctors. HealthPlix team has been able to leverage their deep domain expertise in their AI driven EMR which significantly enhances doctor efficiency leading to better patient health outcomes.”

Venkatesh Peddi, Executive Director, IDG Ventures India said, “Evidence based care & Prevention of Medical Errors is a $21 Billion market globally and more importantly saves millions of lives! HealthPlix's Electronic Medical Records (EMR) software for Hospitals and Clinics is driven by assistive-AI led Clinical Decision Support (CDS) system to assist doctors on various diseases and protocols. This can help doctors treat patients better and faster! It truly empowers the doctors in real time.”

HealthPlix is a healthtech platform that helps doctors increase their efficiency and productivity by digitally assisting them in their Clinics and Hospital OPDs. Further, the software allows the doctors to give prescriptions in more than 18 languages which significantly helps in attaining better patient compliance to treatment.

More than 1.2 million unique patients are treated by doctors in 150 cities across 20 states using HealthPlix EMR. Uniquely for HealthPlix, 60% of their user base is in tier 2, tier 3 towns and beyond.

[Top Image - HealthPlix Founders [L-to-R ] Prasad Basavaraj, Sandeep Gudibanda and Raghuraj Sunderraju.

Recent Activity in Health Tech Segment

Earlier this month, NetApp Inc., a Fortune 500 American multinational storage and data management company, announced that it is launching a new programme that will enable product-ready startups, particularly for those focusing on fintech and healthtech, to work with it on an ongoing basis.

In June, New Delhi-based healthcare technology startup Navia Life Care Pvt. has raised $100,000 in a a bridge round of funding from existing investor Benori Ventures, a Gurgaon-based Venture Capital & Private Equity firm led by research major Evalueserve’s former chief operating officer Ashish Gupta.

In May, India urged the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to invest in health and fintech startups in the country, to help improve the quality of life in Asia while sharpening focus on infrastructure lending by ensuring loan disbursals within a year of request.

Prior to that, Mumbai-based i3systems, a healthcare machine learning product company raised $1 million from Unitus Ventures, a marquee impact investment firm.

Medical Science Focused Media Startup NextGen Science Media Raises $145K Seed Funding from Singapore's Emerge Ventures

NextGen Science Media (NGSM), a start-up media venture that focuses on emerging medical science and technology trends for new-age clinicians, raised its first round of funding from Singapore-based Emerge Ventures, DC Books India and a group of individual investors. The company raised Rs 1 crore as seed capital, which will be used to develop and launch high quality medical science and news content in print and digital formats in India.

NGSM has today unveiled its maiden product -- India’s first medical science and technology news magazine, titled Future Medicine. The magazine, now available in print and digital formats will have doctors, healthcare professionals and allied medical industry as its primary audience. Dr Pratap C Reddy, Founder & Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, received the first copy of this premium monthly at an august function in New Delhi.

“Future Medicine is a uniquely positioned medical science and technology news magazine that not only enriches knowledge for Indian doctors with emerging scientific trends from across the world, but also provides a great platform for doctors, researchers and medical students to discuss and debate the latest and most relevant topics in medical science,” said Dr Reddy. He added that this magazine will help in driving greater awareness and provide latest knowledge access to India’s healthcare setup that is critically missed in our country and I am sure this will be a game changer.

In this era of innovation, medical science is getting redefined by the day. New technologies aided by robotics and artificial intelligence are fast taking over certain medical procedures where precision is crucial, while genomics and molecular science push the boundaries of our knowledge further. It is also a time when India is witnessing revolutionary growth in healthcare industry, especially in the private sector, where an increasing number of doctors are taking up multiple roles of doctor, researcher and entrepreneur. This makes it imperative for the new-age doctors and the medical community, in general to keep pace with the latest developments in the field from all over the world.

“The launch of Future Medicine marks the culmination of years of ideation and deliberations among doctors, researchers, regulators and industry stakeholders about building a single-point solution to help India’s medical community keep pace with these changes. At the same time, Future Medicine - a first-of-its-kind news magazine, upholds the strictest editorial standards and will function with complete independence,” said CH Unnikrishnan, Founder & Editor of Future Medicine, and Director, NGSM.

Conceived and crafted by a team of senior journalists, scientific writers, medical researchers and doctors, Future Medicine connects Indian clinicians with the ever-evolving science of healthcare and helps bridge the gap between research and real world medical practice, while bringing a refreshing change in the way scientific and industry information is disseminated. The scientific content of Future Medicine is thoroughly reviewed and authenticated by NGSM’s knowledge partner SGRF, one of the most credible global life sciences think tanks.

“Emerge Ventures is focused on investing in innovative and impactful ideas in the area of healthcare and life sciences. We found NGSM’s concept of enabling clinicians to keep pace with evolving medicine and science very exciting. Indian market has a dearth of medical content of high quality that Future Medicine will fulfill,” said Mahesh Pratapneni, Managing Director, Emerge Ventures Pte Ltd.

“The idea of a new media tool for medical science and industry update for clinicians and healthcare industry goes exactly in line with DC Books’ philosophy of promoting education and awareness in the areas of literature, science and management. At the same time, we are also aware of the important role that such a product can play in the market,” said Ravi Dee Cee, Chief Executive Officer, DC Books and Publisher, Future Medicine.
About NGSM

NextGen Science Media Pvt Ltd is a Bangalore-based knowledge driven media startup backed by Emerge Ventures- Singapore, DC Books India and a team of individual shareholders. The company’s key focus is to generate and disseminate high quality content on latest and emerging developments in the field of medical science and healthcare technologies as well as industry trends for the clinicians, medical researchers, students and key decision makers in healthcare management.

Via - Business Wire India

Former Sequoia Capital India's MDs To Launch ₹2000 Crore Investment Firm

VT Bharadwaj and Gautam Mago, two former managing directors of India unit of Silicon Valley's top venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, have teamed up to launch a new Rs 2,000 crore (~ $290 million) investment firm, which will back early- to growth-stage private companies, reported Times of India citing people privy to the development.

According to the report, the new investment firm called as 'A91 Partners' will invest in emerging start-up ventures across consumer, healthcare, financial services and technology sectors. The upcoming firm aim to start making investments by early 2019 with ticket size of $10-30 million, typically at the series-B stage.

Bharadwaj, who had worked for over decade at Sequoia Capital India, quit the firm in April this year, hinting that he is about to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations. Prior to this, Gautam Mago had already resigned from the VC firm.

Confirming the report, Bharadwaj said to TOI, “Gautam and I believe this is the right time for us to be embarking on an entrepreneurial journey in the investment business. We want to be active meaningful long-term partners in the best emerging small- and mid-sized private companies in India.”

An IIM-Ahmedabad alumni, Bharadwaj had previously worked with McKinsey & Company as an engagement manager for six years till 2007. He currently serves on the board of 14 companies including Genesis Colours, Indigo Paints, Hector Beverages, RAW Pressery, Urban Ladder, Healthkart, among others.

In 2011, a similar intance took place when four founding MDs of the Sequoia Capital India unit -- Sumir Chadha, K P Balaraj, Sandeep Singhal and S K Jain -- relaunched WestBridge Capital, a public markets fund which focuses on investments in India. Later in March this year, it was reported that while KP Balaraj retired, SK Jain is planning to start his own family office to back new-age entrepreneurs.

In 2016, three senior executives from Helion Venture Partners — Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal and Rahul Chowdhri — came together to start Stellaris Venture Partners, a technology-focused fund. Others like Rishi Navani, co-founder & MD at Matrix Partners, quit to launch Epiq Capital. Helion Venture Partners’ founding partner Kanwaljit Singh formed Fireside Ventures. SAIF Partners also saw two of its fund managers, Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain, leave to launch Pravega Ventures in 2016.

Earlier this month, Sashi Parvatha Reddi, a veteran entrepreneur and angel investor, launched of $100 Mn early-stage venture capital fund - SRI Capital Fund-I, his first technology-focused fund.

In this same month, Ganesh Ventures, set up by Jessica Wong (former founding partner, Cyber Carrier, a Hong Kong based VC) announce $250 million fund for investing in Indian Startups. The Fund aims to invest this amount in Indian startups across sectors like TMT, consumer products, fintech and health-tech over the next 3-5 years. The first close has been at $30 million

Former Sequoia Capital India's MDs To Launch ₹2000 Crore Investment Firm

VT Bharadwaj and Gautam Mago, two former managing directors of India unit of Silicon Valley's top venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, have teamed up to launch a new Rs 2,000 crore (~ $290 million) investment firm, which will back early- to growth-stage private companies, reported Times of India citing people privy to the development.

According to the report, the new investment firm called as 'A91 Partners' will invest in emerging start-up ventures across consumer, healthcare, financial services and technology sectors. The upcoming firm aim to start making investments by early 2019 with ticket size of $10-30 million, typically at the series-B stage.

Bharadwaj, who had worked for over decade at Sequoia Capital India, quit the firm in April this year, hinting that he is about to pursue his entrepreneurial aspirations. Prior to this, Gautam Mago had already resigned from the VC firm.

Confirming the report, Bharadwaj said to TOI, “Gautam and I believe this is the right time for us to be embarking on an entrepreneurial journey in the investment business. We want to be active meaningful long-term partners in the best emerging small- and mid-sized private companies in India.”

An IIM-Ahmedabad alumni, Bharadwaj had previously worked with McKinsey & Company as an engagement manager for six years till 2007. He currently serves on the board of 14 companies including Genesis Colours, Indigo Paints, Hector Beverages, RAW Pressery, Urban Ladder, Healthkart, among others.

In 2011, a similar intance took place when four founding MDs of the Sequoia Capital India unit -- Sumir Chadha, K P Balaraj, Sandeep Singhal and S K Jain -- relaunched WestBridge Capital, a public markets fund which focuses on investments in India. Later in March this year, it was reported that while KP Balaraj retired, SK Jain is planning to start his own family office to back new-age entrepreneurs.

In 2016, three senior executives from Helion Venture Partners — Ritesh Banglani, Alok Goyal and Rahul Chowdhri — came together to start Stellaris Venture Partners, a technology-focused fund. Others like Rishi Navani, co-founder & MD at Matrix Partners, quit to launch Epiq Capital. Helion Venture Partners’ founding partner Kanwaljit Singh formed Fireside Ventures. SAIF Partners also saw two of its fund managers, Mukul Singhal and Rohit Jain, leave to launch Pravega Ventures in 2016.

Earlier this month, Sashi Parvatha Reddi, a veteran entrepreneur and angel investor, launched of $100 Mn early-stage venture capital fund - SRI Capital Fund-I, his first technology-focused fund.

In this same month, Ganesh Ventures, set up by Jessica Wong (former founding partner, Cyber Carrier, a Hong Kong based VC) announce $250 million fund for investing in Indian Startups. The Fund aims to invest this amount in Indian startups across sectors like TMT, consumer products, fintech and health-tech over the next 3-5 years. The first close has been at $30 million

CleanTech-led Logistics Startup Tessol Raises Follow-on Funding from 1Crowd, Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital

Tessol, a Mumbai-based startup in the CleanTech-led cold chain logistics space, has recently raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on equity funding from early stage venture capital firm 1Crowd, and existing investors Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital.

Founded in 2013 by IIT Delhi – Harvard alumnus Rajat Gupta, Tessol (Thermal Energy Service Solutions Private Limited) aims to revolutionize the cold chain distribution in India using its proprietary "Energy Storage" technology based solutions. These products and solutions, while being environmentally sustainable, reduce the lifetime cost of cooling by more than 50% therefore making cold chain on low value products viable. Over the last few years, TESSOL has developed solutions ranging from farm level collection to home delivery and works with the largest FMCG, food processing and e-commerce players in India. Funds raised in this round would be utilized by TESSOL for strengthening the current product suite and bringing some disruptive products that were under development to pilot and commercialization.

It may be recalled that, last year in May, the startup was among the 6 winners of the Startup Energy Transition Awards organised by the Deutsche Energie–Agentur, the German Energy Agency (dena) for recognizing innovative business ideas in clean tech and energy transition area from across the world.

“There are huge gaps in the Indian food supply chain and while there are several cold chain products available in the market, there is a dearth of viable solutions. At TESSOL, we believe in partnering with our customers and working out system level solutions that can drastically impact costs while improving the performance,” said Rajat Gupta, CEO of Tessol, who has several years of past industry experience.

“We see Tessol occupy a sweet spot at the intersection of India’s underserved cold chain architecture and a vacuum in environmentally-friendly clean energy solutions. Tessol’s farm-to-fork product range serves myriad use cases, application segments and customer profiles, and the breadth and depth of their client roster bears ample testimony to the efficacy of their innovation-driven offerings,” said Anil Gudibande, co-founder of 1Crowd.

“Tessol is one of the very few innovation-driven cold chain product companies. With their superior energy-efficient technology, already adopted by many marquee clients across industries, the company is well-positioned to service the growing demand for cold chain infrastructure,” said Amber Maheshwari, Vice PresidentatInfuse Ventures.

“We are excited about the rapid growth in TESSOL’s range of cost efficient, high performance cold-chain solutions, which is bringing in new, quality-conscious customers across end-user segments. We believe TESSOL’s technology can, over the longer-term, aid significant reduction in losses in the agri/food chain from the current high levels,” said Krishnan Neelakantan, Senior Directorat Ankur Capital.

In April, 1Crowd led $650K investment of an another logistics segment startup, Mojro, a Bengaluru-based smart urban logistics platform, which offers a machine learning driven intra-city logistic planning and optimization.

Earlier this month, 1Crowd, along with government’s BIRAC, has invested undisclosed amount in Pune-based healthcare startup SynThera Biomedical Private Limited, which focuses on R&D, manufacture and commercialization of affordable biomaterials-based medical devices.

[Top Image Via - dena.de]

CleanTech-led Logistics Startup Tessol Raises Follow-on Funding from 1Crowd, Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital

Tessol, a Mumbai-based startup in the CleanTech-led cold chain logistics space, has recently raised an undisclosed amount in follow-on equity funding from early stage venture capital firm 1Crowd, and existing investors Infuse Ventures and Ankur Capital.

Founded in 2013 by IIT Delhi – Harvard alumnus Rajat Gupta, Tessol (Thermal Energy Service Solutions Private Limited) aims to revolutionize the cold chain distribution in India using its proprietary "Energy Storage" technology based solutions. These products and solutions, while being environmentally sustainable, reduce the lifetime cost of cooling by more than 50% therefore making cold chain on low value products viable. 

Over the last few years, TESSOL has developed solutions ranging from farm level collection to home delivery and works with the largest FMCG, food processing and e-commerce players in India. Funds raised in this round would be utilized by TESSOL for strengthening the current product suite and bringing some disruptive products that were under development to pilot and commercialization.

It may be recalled that, last year in May, the startup was among the 6 winners of the Startup Energy Transition Awards organised by the Deutsche Energie–Agentur, the German Energy Agency (dena) for recognizing innovative business ideas in clean tech and energy transition area from across the world.

"There are huge gaps in the Indian food supply chain and while there are several cold chain products available in the market, there is a dearth of viable solutions. At TESSOL, we believe in partnering with our customers and working out system level solutions that can drastically impact costs while improving the performance,” said Rajat Gupta, CEO of Tessol, who has several years of past industry experience.

“We see Tessol occupy a sweet spot at the intersection of India’s underserved cold chain architecture and a vacuum in environmentally-friendly clean energy solutions. Tessol’s farm-to-fork product range serves myriad use cases, application segments and customer profiles, and the breadth and depth of their client roster bears ample testimony to the efficacy of their innovation-driven offerings,” said Anil Gudibande, co-founder of 1Crowd.

“Tessol is one of the very few innovation-driven cold chain product companies. With their superior energy-efficient technology, already adopted by many marquee clients across industries, the company is well-positioned to service the growing demand for cold chain infrastructure,” said Amber Maheshwari, Vice PresidentatInfuse Ventures.

“We are excited about the rapid growth in TESSOL’s range of cost efficient, high performance cold-chain solutions, which is bringing in new, quality-conscious customers across end-user segments. We believe TESSOL’s technology can, over the longer-term, aid significant reduction in losses in the agri/food chain from the current high levels,” said Krishnan Neelakantan, Senior Directorat Ankur Capital.

In April, 1Crowd led $650K investment of an another logistics segment startup, Mojro, a Bengaluru-based smart urban logistics platform, which offers a machine learning driven intra-city logistic planning and optimization.

Earlier this month, 1Crowd, along with government’s BIRAC, has invested undisclosed amount in Pune-based healthcare startup SynThera Biomedical Private Limited, which focuses on R&D, manufacture and commercialization of affordable biomaterials-based medical devices.

[Top Image Via - dena.de]

Online Interactive Courses on Artificial Intelligence in Trading, First Time on Internet

Quantra, an e-learning portal of Mumbai-based QuantInsti, an algorithmic Trading research & training institute, has launched online courses on using Neural Network & Decision Tree models in trading, claiming it as fist time on Internet.

While the whole world is talking about machines taking over the financial markets, QuantInsti is busy prepping the next generation of Algorithmic and Quantitative traders to meet the challenges of coming decades. How to make sense of statistics, econometrics, financial computing and trading strategies by using advanced techniques of deep learning and artificial intelligence? Quantra has a solution.

A student report of Stanford University based on the application of deep learning to algorithmic trading displayed 81% successful trade and a 66% of directional accuracy on the application of deep learning based trading strategy on a test data set. The report said, 'Deep Learning models with multiple layers have been shown as a promising architecture that can be suitable for predicting financial time series data.'

Here is what Anthony Antenucci, VP of global business development at Intelenet Global Services had to say, "It wasn’t long before statisticians at Wall Street got in the game and realized that applying machine learning programs (AI models) to investment trading applications, they could effectively crunch millions upon millions of data points in real time and capture information that current statistical models couldn’t."

Quantra by QuantInsti is believed to be one of the most advanced self-paced learning interactive platforms when it comes to algorithmic and quantitative trading. Started in early 2017, Quantra has been the go-to learning platform for algorithmic and quantitative trading enthusiasts across 130+ countries. Currently, the platform hosts 16 specialised courses with some of them authored by well know industry practitioners including the likes of Dr. E. P. Chan. Quantra recently launched two new courses 'Neural Networks for Trading' and 'Decision Trees for Trading' which aim to empower traders with the advanced trading techniques.

The self-paced learning programmes are the new avenue being explored by a lot of aspiring algorithmic traders which offers open and paid learning material with a practical approach. A great opportunity for aspiring traders to get hands-on learning experience.

"A very interesting and exciting platform. I had a lot of fun following the concepts presented and the Python coding for the same. I am glad I found Quantra that has so many interesting courses in the area of Algorithmic Trading," said Dan Comescu, Director of Firmware Engineering, Econis-Labs LLC, USA.

The innovative learning approach, interactive exercises, and credible certifications make it easy to efficiently accelerate the learning curve. Quantra has also partnered with some of the leading financial institutes to create more awareness in this domain.

Here is what Nitesh Khandelwal, Director and Co-founder, QuantInsti had to say, “E-learning programmes have been well received by students around the world considering the convenience to practice and value that is derived from them. With the growing potential of automation in financial markets, there is a high demand for skilled resources, we want to create an e-learning hub that will groom professionals to keep up with technology and enhance their skills. Quantra is the foundation of one such initiative in the form of a knowledge-based marketplace which caters to aspiring quantitative and algorithmic traders across the world.”

Traditional traders are now turning their path to the algorithmic way. Platforms like Quantra are making sure that the masses are educated about the changing landscape in the algorithmic trading world by means of their learning programmes, it makes easier for people to acquire the required skill set. There are ample of case studies from Quantra that prove professionals are no longer afraid of changing their field anymore, people with no finance, technology or programming related background are trying their hands on algorithmic trading.

In the quest to seek the elusive alpha, techniques related to Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Decision Tree, Sentiment Analysis and Neural Networks are being used to model trading strategies. A new financial world is being built on these concepts.

The algorithmic & quantitative trading domain now offers some of the most appealing career opportunities. No wonder that most of the trading across the trading destinations globally have been moving towards automation.4

Source - Business Wire India

[Top Image - Sohu.com]

Blockchain's Potential in India and Accelerating Its Adoption

Bitcoin might be temporarily losing its sheen but the technology that catapulted the cryptocurrency into the limelight is continuing to generate huge interest. Known as the blockchain, this technology is the backbone to which Bitcoin owes its success and popularity completely. It is estimated that the global market size for blockchain would reach $7 billion by 2022 growing at a staggering compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 79.6% from 2017. While cryptocurrencies were its earliest use cases, the scope of blockchain has been identified across many sectors such as banking, telecom, supply chain, digital voting and many others. Though most of the blockchain related technological development is in the West, developing economies like India, China and others are believed to have the greatest impact from the blockchain technology. According to David Crosbie, a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, blockchain’s impact will be the most significant in the developing world. According to him, developing economies face issues of poor and inefficient governance, red-tapism, lack of transparency and primarily rely on a paper-based record keeping system. Blockchain being a distributed public ledger therefore fundamentally eliminates all such issues and gives way for a complete digital transformation.  

For India, currently, the sixth largest economy, blockchain technology offers numerous opportunities across many sectors. According to a news report, Indeed, a job website saw a stunning 290% rise in the number of blockchain or cryptography related jobs proving the huge interested the field has generated since Bitcoin came into popularity. Besides, it is estimated that of the 15 million cryptocurrency wallet users worldwide, 1.5 million users are based in India. For one of the most populous countries, the number is too insignificant (0.1% of the total population). Regardless, banking institutions in India have already started to experiment with blockchain. For instance, in 2016, ICICI bank conducted a pilot transaction using blockchain network and it is reported that State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to implement a full-fledged blockchain solution in its remittances, trade finance operations and reconciliation in 2019.

In a country like India, there are very many underlying problems that Blockchain technology has the potential to eliminate.  However, to motivate widespread adoption of the blockchain, there needs to be a massive awareness about this technology. Currently, there is a severe lack of talent to build this technology to address real-world problems. For India to take advantage of such an opportunity, talent needs to be developed at the grassroots level of colleges, universities and technical institutes.

• DiscoveryLabs is a remarkable initiative that is aimed at heralding this change at the colleges and universities level. Run by DiscoveryIoT, an IoT based supply chain startup, DiscoveryLabs is a training and development centre promoting research focused on the blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and backscattering technologies. Through research in these exciting fields and industry-academia engagement, the aim is to introduce the student community to the fields that are at the forefront of the technology revolution.

Selvam VMS (Co-founder and CEO of DiscoveryIoT)

“While there are millions of students graduating with a tech degree each year in India, it has been reported that 90% of these graduates lack employable skills, by partnering with academic institutions and industry leaders, Discovery Labs is an initiative targeted to improve this state by getting students involved in on demand technologies like Blockchain and AI, and help them be a seed for the evolving technological landscape in India” says Selvam VMS, founder of Discovery Labs. Such initiatives are imperative to accelerate blockchain adoption and in addition, it helps to build and foster a vibrant tech entrepreneurial culture.

According to a report by 6Wresearch, the market for blockchain technology in India is expected to grow at CAGR 58% during 2018-24. This rate of growth is primarily attributed to the increase in digital payment solutions and following is a glimpse at the few use cases in India where blockchain has a great potential to be implemented in the near future:

Banking and Finance

As with the rapid adoption of digital payments, blockchain has the potential to transform the finance sector like never before. A majority of the trade in India occurs in the informal retail sector, therefore, for India to become a cashless economy, there needs to be a compelling reason for small-scale merchants to adopt digital services when there is a high set up cost for card swiping terminal and cost associated with every transaction. With blockchain, instant and feeless transactions can be carried out by removing the third parties involved. In the banking sector, banks can explore various cases with blockchain such as KYC, asset registries and etc. Serving as an example, state-owned bank SBI is looking to aggressively deploy blockchain solution in their services and in future, the rest could follow suit.

Telecom

With top telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Reliance Jio planning to deploy blockchain into their platforms, telecom sector in India is set for a complete transformation. At a time when there is fierce competition in this sector, telcos are looking for ways to streamline their existing services and lower the operational costs. Blockchain has convincing use cases in number portability, smart transactions, data and content monetization. By maintaining an inter-company ledger, numbers can be ported swiftly for customers and in addition, databases can be managed effectively.

Recently, India's telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) also intended to utilize blockchain technology to curb pesky & irritating telemarketing spam calls.

Voting

Blockchain technology is the most promising solution to ensure free, fair and transparent elections and voting processes. By its nature, blockchain cannot be tampered with and it can keep the records secured over a ledger with a time stamp. Hence, allowing anyone to verify the records at any time.

Last year, it was reported that Election Commission of India is contemplating the use of blockchain technology in voting machines.

Conclusion

While blockchain technology is still in its nascent state, it is important to realize the potential it holds in shaping the digital future of a country. With ambitious projects for digital transformation, it is imperative that India leverage the resources it has to orient itself to be the front-runner in technology advancement. Blockchain lends itself to be a solution to some of the biggest challenges faced in India and it is time that we embrace it.

[Top Image - Blokt.com]

Chennai Startup AirOK Launches India’s 1st Locally Developed Smart Air Purifier

CHennai-based startup AirOK Technologies has launched India’s first indigenously developed smart air purifier ‘Vistar’ at Chennai on Saturday. Equipped with Wi-Fi and touch interface, the purifier has filter that is not only relatively more efficient but also last longer than other air purifiers.

Founded in 2014 by IIT-Madras alumni Deekshith Vara Prasad, Yasa Pavan Reddy and Sravan Krishna, the startup did 2 years of ground reality research and development to come up with hexagonal dual stratified filtering technology called - EGAPA (Efficient Granular Adsorbent Particulate Arrester) which can filter pollutants including air suspended particulate matter (SPM) up to 0.3 microns along with VOC`s, microbes, fungus, Pet dander’s and even gaseous substances.

[caption id="attachment_125324" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Co-founders of AirOk Technologies -
(from left) Vanam Sravan Krishna, COO; V Deekshith Vara Prasad, CEO; and, Pavan Reddy, CTO
Image - TheHinduBusinessLine.com[/caption]

The purifier named as 'Vistar 550' has coverage area of 550 square feet and will be priced at around Rs 20,000. Its indigenously developed filter will have a life of about one year, which is twice that of the air purifiers currently available in the market that typically need filter-replacecment once every 3-4 months.

[caption id="attachment_125322" align="aligncenter" width="700"] AirOK Purifier | Image credit - airoktech.com[/caption]

The purifier has been validated as positive by laboratory and field tests conducted at Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Bengaluru and field trials by a Children specialty hospital in Chennai.

Incubated at IIT-Madras incubation cell, AirOK got ₹5 lakh seed fund from the incubation cell, which helped them test and validate the filter.

The startup had even caught the attention of Gurgaon-based SAR Group, the makers of water purifiers under Livpure brand, which then invested about ₹12 crore in AirOK, late last year. AirOK has licensed its residential segment product to SAR Group, which will be the distribution partner for it's retail air-purifier product.

The startup can manufacture up to 30 units per day currently and can increase the production capacity to 1,000 without any major additional investment.

The startup is currently targeting institutional segment which includes hospitals, hospitality, commercial real estate, food processing and manufacturing in the initial phase.

Also Read - Team At IIT-Delhi Develops A ₹10 Pollution Fighting Device

Additionally, the startup is also working on a pipeline of products in the air pollution segment in association with one of the country’s oldest and largest conglomerate, which the startup didn't disclosed. The pipeline includes purifiers for cars and kitchens. It is also indigenously working on solutions for issues such as ambient air pollution.

An another startup in Cleantech segment is Bonphul Air Products, Delhi-based product startup which makes OxyMax, which the startup claims as India's first oxygen optimizer that increases the oxygen level in the indoor air from its current level to 21%, creating an environment of freshness and vigour. Bonphul has recently raised ₹2 Crore in an Angel Investment Round from Rx Infotech and Karmesh Global Technologies.

The indoor air purifier industry is growing at 45% CAGR (compounded annual growth rate), but experts believe that with ever increasing pollution in Indian cities the growth will increase to 55-60% CAGR in the next four years.

Source - Telangana Today | References - Business Line

TRAI Chief 'Data Leak Challenge' Fall Flat As His Aadhaar Data Got Leaked

You won't be surprised if you get to know that the chief of Indian telecom watchdog TRAI - R.S. Sharma, who is one of the biggest supporter of Aadhaar, has not linked his any of the bank accounts with the Aadhaar Number - 7621-7768-2740 and mobile number of his secretary is 9958587977 (open to pesky telemarketers !), and his WhatsApp profile picture is this.

Now if by any chance you are wandering how these details have gone public then the reason is Mr.Sharma himself, who earlier today threw a challenge on twitter, asking twitterati if they can harm his Aadhaar data. Ironically, within few hours people spilled the beans and made his personal data public over Twitter.

My Aadhaar number is 7621 7768 2740
Now I give this challenge to you: Show me one concrete example where you can do any harm to me!

— RS Sharma (@rssharma3) July 28, 2018

Popular french security expert, who goes by the nickname Elliot Alderson and had earlier too revealed the security loopholes in Aadhaar system, caused ripples on the social media when in a series of tweets he leaked "personal address, DoB, alternate phone number" and explaining to Mr Sharma, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman, how risky it was to make the Aadhaar number public.

One of the screenshots in Elliot's tweet even carried Mr.Sharma's PAN details. But that was hidden/blackened.

People managed to get your personal address, dob and your alternate phone number.

I stop here, I hope you will understand why make your #Aadhaar number public is not a good idea pic.twitter.com/IVrReb4xIM

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 28, 2018

Earlier, the security researcher also busted the security flaws in 'Kimbho', a messaging app launched by Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali, in May this year.

In March, Eliiot alleged and somewhat busted the fact that the official mobile app of Indian PM Narendra Modi is sending personal information of its users to a third party website.

India, UAE Sign MoU for $20 Bn Artificial Intelligence Benefits

Government of India’s official investment promotion agency 'Invest India' and the UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) have signed a bilateral Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bridge agreement that seeks to create economic benefits worth $20 billion during the next decade.

Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, and Deepak Bagla, managing director and CEO of Invest India, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) - UAE Artificial Intelligence Bridge on Friday in New Delhi. This partnership will generate an estimated $20 billion in economic benefits during the next decade for both countries.

The MoU will spur development across areas like Blockchain, AI and Analytics as data and processing will be a catalyst for innovation and business growth and serve as the backbone of more effective and efficient service delivery systems. By 2035 AI can potentially add $957 billion to the Indian economy.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu and H.E. Ahmad Sultan Al Falahi, Minister Plenipotentiary – Commercial Attache, UAE Embassy at the India leg of GovHack series of World Government Summit. The Minister appreciated the effort made by UAE on leading the initiative to change the government and governance through technology and reiterated India’s commitment with UAE in the field of AI.

The UAE-India collaboration will seek to evaluate the dynamic nature of innovation and technology by convening a UAE-India AI Working Group (TWG) between the UAE Ministry for Artificial Intelligence, Invest India and Startup India. The TWG will meet once a year with the mandate to increase investment in AI startups and research activities in partnership with the private sector.

India and UAE share a bond that extends beyond business as Indians make-up the largest expat community in the UAE at 27% and the UAE is India’s third largest trading partner.

Also Read - Nobel-Winner Paul Krugman Warns India On AI and Lagging Manufacturing Sector

The UAE has invested over $5.3 billion in India and infrastructure is one of the top 5 focus sections of UAE-India bilateral trade. The UAE has committed $75 billion towards infrastructure development in India. The Government of India is launching multiple initiatives to create an environment for digital growth through which the potential of AI can be realized in the areas of agriculture supply, healthcare and disaster management services.

In the same week, 'Invest India' has also inked an MoU with 'Business France', a French government agency, to promote investment facilitation and cooperation between start-ups of the two countries.

Since beginning of this year, Indian agencies are proactively working in AI segment by indulging in setting up task force, making reports and inking pacts to inculcate AI into India's each and every minuscule sector from Agriculture to Defense.

In May, government of India's policy think, NITI Aayog, partnered with IBM to develop a crop yield prediction model using artificial intelligence to provide real time advisory to farmers in backward states of India. In the same month, NITI Aayog also joined hands with Google to foster AI and Machine Learning ecosystem in India.

In February, India joined hands with Japan to launch robotics and artificial intelligence in the defense segment.

Source - PIB Delhi

[Top Image - ActivistPost.com]

India, UAE Sign MoU for $20 Bn Artificial Intelligence Benefits

Government of India’s official investment promotion agency 'Invest India' and the UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) have signed a bilateral Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bridge agreement that seeks to create economic benefits worth $20 billion during the next decade.

Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, and Deepak Bagla, managing director and CEO of Invest India, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) - UAE Artificial Intelligence Bridge on Friday in New Delhi. This partnership will generate an estimated $20 billion in economic benefits during the next decade for both countries.

The MoU will spur development across areas like Blockchain, AI and Analytics as data and processing will be a catalyst for innovation and business growth and serve as the backbone of more effective and efficient service delivery systems. By 2035 AI can potentially add $957 billion to the Indian economy.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu and H.E. Ahmad Sultan Al Falahi, Minister Plenipotentiary – Commercial Attache, UAE Embassy at the India leg of GovHack series of World Government Summit. The Minister appreciated the effort made by UAE on leading the initiative to change the government and governance through technology and reiterated India’s commitment with UAE in the field of AI.

The UAE-India collaboration will seek to evaluate the dynamic nature of innovation and technology by convening a UAE-India AI Working Group (TWG) between the UAE Ministry for Artificial Intelligence, Invest India and Startup India. The TWG will meet once a year with the mandate to increase investment in AI startups and research activities in partnership with the private sector.

India and UAE share a bond that extends beyond business as Indians make-up the largest expat community in the UAE at 27% and the UAE is India’s third largest trading partner.

Also Read - Nobel-Winner Paul Krugman Warns India On AI and Lagging Manufacturing Sector

The UAE has invested over $5.3 billion in India and infrastructure is one of the top 5 focus sections of UAE-India bilateral trade. The UAE has committed $75 billion towards infrastructure development in India. The Government of India is launching multiple initiatives to create an environment for digital growth through which the potential of AI can be realized in the areas of agriculture supply, healthcare and disaster management services.

In the same week, 'Invest India' has also inked an MoU with 'Business France', a French government agency, to promote investment facilitation and cooperation between start-ups of the two countries.

Since beginning of this year, Indian agencies are proactively working in AI segment by indulging in setting up task force, making reports and inking pacts to inculcate AI into India's each and every minuscule sector from Agriculture to Defense.

In May, government of India's policy think, NITI Aayog, partnered with IBM to develop a crop yield prediction model using artificial intelligence to provide real time advisory to farmers in backward states of India. In the same month, NITI Aayog also joined hands with Google to foster AI and Machine Learning ecosystem in India.

In February, India joined hands with Japan to launch robotics and artificial intelligence in the defense segment.

Source - PIB Delhi

[Top Image - ActivistPost.com]

New Tech Alliance Formed To Support India's PropTech Startups & Digitally Transform Realty Sector

India’s real estate industry leaders have announced their support for the new ‘Built World Technology Alliance’, which has been founded to accelerate the digital transformation of India’s real estate sector. The alliance is also being touted as India’s first CRETech community.

The move comes as part of a global trend to explore CRETech (the converge of property and technology), or ‘PropTech’ as it’s known in Europe.

“Built World Technology Alliance is a collective of real estate investors and developers, venture capital funds and technology companies”, said Robert Marten, Co-Founder of the Alliance. “The Alliance shares in a mission to accelerate the digital transformation of India’s real estate sector, revolutionize the safety and efficiency of construction and to improve the performance of workplaces.”

The formation of alliance can be seen as an opportunity for startups and VCs to disrupt the Indian real estate sector and the digitally transform its incumbents. Emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), automation, Virtual Reality, among others should be seen as ‘technology as an opportunity’ rather than ‘technology as a threat’, says Robert Marten, Co-Founder of Built World Technology Alliance, in his blog whhile ephasizing the use of these emerging tech in real estate industry.

"New technology always takes time to enter into people’s consciousness," says Hemanth Velury, CEO of VR innovator Virtual Spaces. "As it becomes more mainstream, acceptance levels will get higher."

Indian real estate industry leaders Yash Gupta, Anuj Puri and the RMZ Family Office are supporting the first Annual Event of the Built World Technology Alliance under the banner of their new CRETech venture capital fund Blue Sky.

Blue Sky Ventures, a new venture capital fund from Yash Gupta, Anuj Puri and CapitalM (RMZ Family Office), also lending support to the alliance and its annual event.

The Alliance’s inaugural event - Built World Technology Show - will be hosted in partnership with Blue Sky Ventures on 20-21 February 2019 at CoWrks Worli in Mumbai.

“We are very optimistic about the future of CRETech in India and encourage leaders of our real estate, venture capital and technology communities to join us in exploring new opportunities,” said Yash Gupta, Partner at Blue Sky.

The infusion of emerging tech in Indian real estate sector started showing its signs when, in 2016, Bengaluru-based Brigade Enterprises, a 30-year-old Indian real estate firm, launched India’s first real estate-focused startup accelerator programme named "Real Estate Accelerator Program (REAP)" with an aim to work exclusively with the tech startups serving in real estate industry.

The accelerator has recently on-boarded 5 Real Estate tech startups for its 4th Cohort. With over 80 start-ups having applied to the program, 11 Start-ups were shortlisted out of which 5 were inducted into the program.

Earlier this month, Info Edge (India) invested about Rs 30 million in Zippserv, a Bangalore-based technology-driven real estate risk assessment platform.

Source - Build World Tech Alliance Blog | Via - Rebecca King, Co-Founder at Built World Technology Alliance India, United Kingdom

[Top Image Via - QuantInsti.com]

Bahrain Inviting Indian Startups and Venture Capitalists

Island nation Bahrain, which recently launched and closed a $100 million 'superfund' called Al Waha Venture Capital 'Fund of Funds', is welcoming startups and venture capitalists (VC) from India to access the country's startup ecosystem, said John Kilmartin, Executive Director, ICT at Bahrain's Economic Development Board (EDB).

Set up by EDB in May, Al Waha Fund of Funds specializes in fund of fund investments which typically invests in venture capital funds supporting startups in Bahrain and across the Middle East. The idea is to bring more VCs into the Bahrain ecosystem as majority of the ecosystem is in the early stage and is trying to get VCs who will invest.

The EDB is open to welcoming early-stage startups based out of India and even support them in scaling up further, said Kilmartin. To recall, EDB already set up its office in Mumbai to accelerate its fintech development program and even launched a new fintech fund to invest in Indian startups that have an economic interest in Bahrain.

Through Bahrain, start-up companies that have built their products or services in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai or other parts of India can access the market in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an alliance of six countries in the Arabian Peninsula - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Speaking on how startup VCs can raise funds in Bahrain, Kilmartin further said,“We are looking at launching government funding for tech companies. It will be launched in the near future. We see three elements of funding that needs to be put in place — the government, availability of money in the early stages of a startup and encouraging angel investment, so that private investments can get made during the seeding stage. We are also looking to attract and have VC investments in place.”

Notably in last year, Bahrain ranked 2nd in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in terms of Ease of Doing Business. MENA encompasses approximately 22 countries.

The number of startups in the country has grown at a compound annual growth rate of almost 50 percent over the past three years, as per the data by EDB.

Bahrain is also home to many accelerators and incubators that support fintech startups in gaining access to expertise funding. Additionally, payments services are also boosting in Bahrain as the Central Bank of Bahrain launched launched the nation’s first e-wallet 'BenefitPay', in June this year.

During a his visit to the Indian subcontinent, Simon Galpin, the then Managing Director of EDB had invited Indian fintech companies to relocate their offices to Bahrain's newly launch Fintech center.

Get Baqala, an Indian grocery delivery app, was among the startups that found their way to Bahrain. Founded in 2016 by Amjad Puliyali and Aboobacker Shinan, the startup was incubated with Bahrain Development Bank’s Rowad program, where it got access to initial working capital through the Seedfuel program and access to the Global Accelerator Network (GAN).

Last year, Bahrain also introduced regulation to allow onshore crowdfunding in conventional and sharia-compliant finance, reduced the minimum capital required for starting a business. With this, Bahrain becomes the second country within the Gulf Cooperation Council, after the United Arab Emirates, to allow crowdfunding.

Source - Money Control

[Top Image - bizbahrain.com]

Bahrain Inviting Indian Startups and Venture Capitalists

Island nation Bahrain, which recently launched and closed a $100 million 'superfund' called Al Waha Venture Capital 'Fund of Funds', is welcoming startups and venture capitalists (VC) from India to access the country's startup ecosystem, said John Kilmartin, Executive Director, ICT at Bahrain's Economic Development Board (EDB).

Set up by EDB in May, Al Waha Fund of Funds specializes in fund of fund investments which typically invests in venture capital funds supporting startups in Bahrain and across the Middle East. The idea is to bring more VCs into the Bahrain ecosystem as majority of the ecosystem is in the early stage and is trying to get VCs who will invest.

The EDB is open to welcoming early-stage startups based out of India and even support them in scaling up further, said Kilmartin. To recall, EDB already set up its office in Mumbai to accelerate its fintech development program and even launched a new fintech fund to invest in Indian startups that have an economic interest in Bahrain.

Through Bahrain, start-up companies that have built their products or services in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai or other parts of India can access the market in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an alliance of six countries in the Arabian Peninsula - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Speaking on how startup VCs can raise funds in Bahrain, Kilmartin further said,“We are looking at launching government funding for tech companies. It will be launched in the near future. We see three elements of funding that needs to be put in place — the government, availability of money in the early stages of a startup and encouraging angel investment, so that private investments can get made during the seeding stage. We are also looking to attract and have VC investments in place.”

Notably in last year, Bahrain ranked 2nd in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in terms of Ease of Doing Business. MENA encompasses approximately 22 countries.

The number of startups in the country has grown at a compound annual growth rate of almost 50 percent over the past three years, as per the data by EDB.

Bahrain is also home to many accelerators and incubators that support fintech startups in gaining access to expertise funding. Additionally, payments services are also boosting in Bahrain as the Central Bank of Bahrain launched launched the nation’s first e-wallet 'BenefitPay', in June this year.

During a his visit to the Indian subcontinent, Simon Galpin, the then Managing Director of EDB had invited Indian fintech companies to relocate their offices to Bahrain's newly launch Fintech center.

Get Baqala, an Indian grocery delivery app, was among the startups that found their way to Bahrain. Founded in 2016 by Amjad Puliyali and Aboobacker Shinan, the startup was incubated with Bahrain Development Bank’s Rowad program, where it got access to initial working capital through the Seedfuel program and access to the Global Accelerator Network (GAN).

Last year, Bahrain also introduced regulation to allow onshore crowdfunding in conventional and sharia-compliant finance, reduced the minimum capital required for starting a business. With this, Bahrain becomes the second country within the Gulf Cooperation Council, after the United Arab Emirates, to allow crowdfunding.

Source - Money Control

[Top Image - bizbahrain.com]

Indian and French Govt. Agencies Join Hands To Promote Startup Ecosystem Cooperation

Government agencies of India and France -- 'Invest India' and 'Business France', have joined hands by signing an MoU to promote investment facilitation and cooperation between start-ups of India and France.

Both the agencies will collaborate to promote business and startup ecosystem cooperation through joint activities and exchange experiences to strengthen institutional knowledge and identify opportunities between businesses in the French and Indian private sector, creating a dedicated support structure to facilitate inbound companies and startups.

The goal of MoU will essentially be to facilitate direct foreign investment by providing practical investment information to enterprises/startups and support the companies pursuing those opportunities which contribute positively to economic growth of the two countries, Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a release.

Set up in 2010, ‘Invest India’ is government of India’s official investment promotion agency dedicated to investment promotion and facilitation. It acts as a single window facilitator and structured mechanism to attract investment. Between Oct 2014 and Sept 2017, the agency has brought in foreign investments worth $7.4 billion.

Deepak Bagla, MD and CEO Invest India, said that the partnership, between Invest India and Business France, will result in the cross-pollination of ideas, talent and technologies between the start-up ecosystems of India and France, which are among the world’s largest and most vibrant.

A MoU was signed between #InvestIndia and #BusinessFrance to promote business and #startup ecosystem cooperation. It aims to strengthen institutional knowledge and identify opportunities between businesses in the French and Indian private sectors. pic.twitter.com/HmBkdnzKf0

— Business France IN (@BF_India) July 25, 2018

'Business France' is a French Government agency created in January 2015 through a merger between UBIFRANCE, a French agency for export promotion, and InvestInFrance, an another French agency for International Investment. It promotes International Business Development for French companies and professionals through a worldwide network of 80 Trade Commissions, which have worked with over 7,500 SMEs & mid-caps during 2017 itself. Business France mobilizes the expertise of 1,400 persons in France and in 70 other countries.

Also Read - India, Sweden Launch Initiative for Startups

Sophie Clavelier, Director South Asia Business France, stated that, by entering into this agreement with India, the aim of Business France is to create new opportunities, catalyse joint collaboration, and help innovative startups to be successful.

It is to be noted that 'Invest India' is as a joint venture entity between the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry (35% equity), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) (51% equity), and State Governments of India (0.5% each).

The Ministry said that the french partnership will strengthen the existing business relations between India and France and provide a seamless facilitation channel for new businesses and innovations from India and France to grow in the French and Indian markets. Make in India campaign is also being managed by Invest India.

Meanwhile, India has recently become the world's sixth-biggest economy, pushing France into seventh place, according to updated World Bank figures for 2017.

Via - KNN India

[Top Image - French President Emmanuel Macron with Indian PM Modi | Via - Hindustan Times]

TaxiForSure Co-founder’s Vernacular Platform Vokal Raises $5 Mn from China’s Shunwei Capital

Vokal, a peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge-sharing platform in Indian Languages, has announced that it has raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding lead by China’s Shunwei Capital, and new investor 500 startups.

The financing round also saw participation from existing investors Accel India and Blume Ventures, it said in a statement.

Notably, Vokal was co-founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna, who is one of co-founders of cab hailing, TaxiForSure, which got acquired by its bigger rival Ola in 2015.

In the same year, Radhakrishnan co-founded Vokal along with Mayank Bidawatka. In Feb. 2016, the startup raised it first funding of $2 million from Blume Ventures and Accel, who had invested in TaxiForSure too.

Vokal was also one of the participants at Google India’s first mentorship and bootcamp program called - Solve For India - that the tech giant officially launched in this year only.

"Anyone who doesn’t know English in India has a huge problem of accessing relevant answers to their questions. Their Internet experience is poor with a dearth of meaningful content. We’re building a peer-to-peer content network that can cater to their information & knowledge needs," said Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and CEO, Vokal.

On the talent front, Radhakrishna said, “We are 35 people and will keep it a tight team for the foreseeable future, not exceeding 50.”

“Language diversity is an Indian problem and Vokal is building India-specific solutions to cater to the information and knowledge needs for the non-English users. We are happy to support Vokal’s mission of creating a destination for the vernacular audience. The market is expected to balloon to 550+ million users over the next couple of years,” Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel Partners added.

Vokal is a few months old and already boasts of 200000+ questions with 1000s of questions pouring in everyday on varied topics. It also has a live video streaming feature where experts share their knowledge with users.

Vokal is currently available in Hindi and is launching in multiple languages in the next few months, the statement added.

In March, a report by IAMAI and Kantar IMRB said that 205 million new internet users would come online if content is available in Indian languages, which will be key motivation of using internet for people who are not using it, said

Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder, Vokal said, “India is one of the few countries with such a large language diversity. The Indian vernacular segment is poised to be almost twice the size of the United States. Their Internet experience is broken with basic translation widgets available as solutions for their information and knowledge needs. We are creating a product grounds-up that they can use everyday."

To recall, Vokal has recently acqui-hired StupidChat Technologies, a quizzing app startup, in an all-stock deal, in May this year.

Commenting on the Vokal deal, Tuck Lye Koh, Partner and CEO, Shunwei Capital said, “India is a large market and the language Internet users are underserved today. We are bullish on Vokal’s ability to create an information and knowledge platform to cater to this segment of users.”

Recent Investment in Vernacular Segment

Last year in May, Kalaari Capital owned seed program, Kstart Capital, had invested an undisclosed amount in Vernacular.ai, a broad-based engagement platform for a billion Indians using AI to address needs of people who can be reached only through vernacular languages.

Last August, Delhi-based B2C vernacular podcast aggregator platform Funcastic raised seed funding from a startup accelerator launched by HT Media Ltd and US-based investment firm North Base Media.

Shunwei Capital & Its India Investments

Founded in 2011 by Tuck Lye Koh and Lei Jun, Beijing-based Shunwei Capital is a venture capital fund focused primarily on early- to mid-stage investments in China’s internet industry and manages over 2 billion in US dollars across five funds. The VC firm seeks to invest in the technology, media, telecommunications, high technology, new media, games, internet finance, and rural area internet sectors.

Shunwei has increased its investment portfolio in India in the past few years. Last July, It led $1 million seed round of Clip App, a Bengaluru-based digital media video startup. Prior to this, it also invested $3M in Series A funding of Truebil, an India's only curated, authentic and verified marketplace for pre-owned cars.

It also led a $6.25 million (Rs 43 crore) funding round for Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap, and participated in a $30 million Series B round raised by Cheche365.com, an auto insurance search engine, in November last year that was led by China Capital Group Ltd. A month before that, Shunwei along with Xiaomi Technologies led an $8 million Series A round for Bangalore-based microlending platform KrazyBee.

TaxiForSure Co-founder’s Vernacular Platform Vokal Raises $5 Mn from China’s Shunwei Capital

Vokal, a peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge-sharing platform in Indian Languages, has announced that it has raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding lead by China’s Shunwei Capital, and new investor 500 startups.

The financing round also saw participation from existing investors Accel India and Blume Ventures, it said in a statement.

Notably, Vokal was co-founded by Aprameya Radhakrishna, who is one of co-founders of cab hailing, TaxiForSure, which got acquired by its bigger rival Ola in 2015.

In the same year, Radhakrishnan co-founded Vokal along with Mayank Bidawatka. In Feb. 2016, the startup raised it first funding of $2 million from Blume Ventures and Accel, who had invested in TaxiForSure too.

Vokal was also one of the participants at Google India’s first mentorship and bootcamp program called - Solve For India - that the tech giant officially launched in this year only.

"Anyone who doesn’t know English in India has a huge problem of accessing relevant answers to their questions. Their Internet experience is poor with a dearth of meaningful content. We’re building a peer-to-peer content network that can cater to their information & knowledge needs," said Aprameya Radhakrishna, co-founder and CEO, Vokal.

On the talent front, Radhakrishna said, “We are 35 people and will keep it a tight team for the foreseeable future, not exceeding 50.”

“Language diversity is an Indian problem and Vokal is building India-specific solutions to cater to the information and knowledge needs for the non-English users. We are happy to support Vokal’s mission of creating a destination for the vernacular audience. The market is expected to balloon to 550+ million users over the next couple of years,” Anand Daniel, Partner, Accel Partners added.

Vokal is a few months old and already boasts of 200000+ questions with 1000s of questions pouring in everyday on varied topics. It also has a live video streaming feature where experts share their knowledge with users.

Vokal is currently available in Hindi and is launching in multiple languages in the next few months, the statement added.

In March, a report by IAMAI and Kantar IMRB said that 205 million new internet users would come online if content is available in Indian languages, which will be key motivation of using internet for people who are not using it, said

Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder, Vokal said, “India is one of the few countries with such a large language diversity. The Indian vernacular segment is poised to be almost twice the size of the United States. Their Internet experience is broken with basic translation widgets available as solutions for their information and knowledge needs. We are creating a product grounds-up that they can use everyday."

To recall, Vokal has recently acqui-hired StupidChat Technologies, a quizzing app startup, in an all-stock deal, in May this year.

Commenting on the Vokal deal, Tuck Lye Koh, Partner and CEO, Shunwei Capital said, “India is a large market and the language Internet users are underserved today. We are bullish on Vokal’s ability to create an information and knowledge platform to cater to this segment of users.”

Recent Investment in Vernacular Segment

Last year in May, Kalaari Capital owned seed program, Kstart Capital, had invested an undisclosed amount in Vernacular.ai, a broad-based engagement platform for a billion Indians using AI to address needs of people who can be reached only through vernacular languages.

Last August, Delhi-based B2C vernacular podcast aggregator platform Funcastic raised seed funding from a startup accelerator launched by HT Media Ltd and US-based investment firm North Base Media.

Shunwei Capital & Its India Investments

Founded in 2011 by Tuck Lye Koh and Lei Jun, Beijing-based Shunwei Capital is a venture capital fund focused primarily on early- to mid-stage investments in China’s internet industry and manages over 2 billion in US dollars across five funds. The VC firm seeks to invest in the technology, media, telecommunications, high technology, new media, games, internet finance, and rural area internet sectors.

Shunwei has increased its investment portfolio in India in the past few years. Last July, It led $1 million seed round of Clip App, a Bengaluru-based digital media video startup. Prior to this, it also invested $3M in Series A funding of Truebil, an India's only curated, authentic and verified marketplace for pre-owned cars.

It also led a $6.25 million (Rs 43 crore) funding round for Pune-based online lending startup LoanTap, and participated in a $30 million Series B round raised by Cheche365.com, an auto insurance search engine, in November last year that was led by China Capital Group Ltd. A month before that, Shunwei along with Xiaomi Technologies led an $8 million Series A round for Bangalore-based microlending platform KrazyBee.