India to Get 1st Cancer Tech Focused Startup Incubator in Kochi, Kerala

India will get its first cancer technology incubator at the Kerala Technology Innovation Zone in KINFRA Hi-Tech Park, Kochi, to create India-focused innovations and developments in the cancer care sector, reported New India Express.

Floated by Cochin Cancer Research Centre (CCRC), the incubator will support in converting research into entrepreneurship in the cancer care sector. The incubator will also get research support from University of Illinois, which have recently signed an MoU with Kerala.

CRCC, which will help the incubator with its clinical expertise, will sign an MoU with KSUM on January 13.

Setup by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the nodal agency of Government of Kerala for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, the new centre is Called as "Centre for Biomedical Research, Innovation and Commercialization in Cancer" (BRICS).

The incubator will focus on technology innovations in cancer care, frugal innovations that can improve the access of best cancer treatment for the public, sector-specific fintech innovations and converting academic researches to products.

The incubator will have Deep Tech infrastructure, various labs for cancer research including Cytology, and an advanced prototype creation and validation facility.

Each startup selected for the incubation will get a maximum incubation period of three years without extension and it is due to the fact that gestation period in cancer research is relatively higher. However if recommended by an an expert committee then an additional one year will be considered as an extension.

KSUM CEO Dr Saji Gopinath, said in a media statement, "We are providing the basic infrastructure now. We hope that international start-ups and companies will join in future. Developing countries have a bigger cancer challenge because of late detection and financial issues. The solutions created here should increase the productivity of doctors, too,” said KSUM CEO Dr Saji Gopinath.

According to Dr Moni Abraham Kuriakose, Director at CCRC, “Most of the studies are done abroad and purely based on the needs and types of diseases faced by their population. We need a unique platform for ourselves and this would be the first step towards it. The use of imported technology is also the reason why the cost of cancer care treatment goes high. If we can develop our own technology, the expenses will also go down."

"We will be guiding the programme by bringing out the key areas where research and innovation is necessary. Our doctors will help out in their specific field of expertise.", he said.

Industry partnership with private players like Biocon, Siemens Healthineers, NeST Technologies, and IBS are being explored in order to address the issue of marketing channels for the products in future.

India contributes to 7.8% of the global cancer burden and 8.33% of global deaths due to cancer and was reported that the number of new cancer cases in India was 1,219,649 in 2016.

According to the National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), for every two women newly diagnosed with breast cancer in India, one woman dies of it.

To recall, it was in year 2016 when two Kerala-based researchers -- Dr. Manzoor Koyakutty and Dr. Shantikumar V. Nair, have had developed a technology alongside a gadget that will detect cancer within 30 minutes. Working at Amrita Center for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine, the researchers have even got international patent for same and an allocation of Rs 60 lakh funds from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Goa gets 'BITS BIRAC BioNEST' Incubator for Startups & Entrepreneurs in Healthcare and Environment Sector

BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Enterprise of government of India’s department of biotechnology (DBT) have come together to launch 'BITS BIRAC BioNEST Lab', a state-of-the-art startup incubator facility.

BITS BIRAC BioNEST Lab, which will act as Incubator as well as Innovation Lab, has been set up with funding of Rs 3 crore from DBT and will be will be opened on January 3 by Goa University vice-chancellor Varun Sahni and director of BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus G Raghurama

The 3,500 sq ft facility will focus on helping startups in the health and environment sectors to find innovative solutions to issues in these areas. The start-ups will be assisted by the lab by providing them with equipment, space and support facilities to test their ideas and prototype in the lab, before taking it to the market.

The lab will focus on health and environment startups that can create products which will not only have great market potential, but also provide a solution to several pressing problems of the modern-day.

Incubation support includes work benches and equipment, office space and common infrastructure, legal & IPR services, mentorship and training, sample testing and analysis, and consultancy.

Notably, this is second new incubator in the state that is being launched within a month, as earlier this month an another incubator called Forum for Innovation Incubation Research and Entrepreneurship (FiiRE) was launched at Don Bosco College of Engineering, a Goa University affiliated institute established in 1970.

BITS Pilani, Goa campus has called entrepreneurs, investors, engineers and scientists to be a part of the network and participate in innovative thinking and help create forward-looking startups.

Any student, individual and budding entrepreneurs who need a nurturing environment to help bring their idea or product to market and for industries that need a platform for trying new processes or technologies.

Source - Times of India

India's Largest Technical Varsity APJAKTU (Formerly UPTU) to Setup 150 Startup Incubators

The technical university of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (APJAKTU), formerly Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU), will be setting up 150 Incubators to extend technical support and funding to innovative startups by its engineering students.

The university would be setting up 150 incubators to mentor students in the new academic session.

The incubator programme will also be offered to affiliated colleges in the university. APJAKTU is touted as one of the largest technical universities in India with about 800 colleges affiliated to and having around 150,000 students enrolled in its various programmes .

Moreover, under the incubation programme stipend will also be provided to the startups and entrepreneurs selected for the upcoming incubators.

The application window for students to send their ideas to APJAKTU will open January onwards.

The university has also constituted a committee of 25 experts from different fields to shortlist the best entries which will then be incubated by AKTU.

According to Vinay Kumar Pathak, the vice-chancellor of APJAKTU, "The incubators will be set up on the lines of Small Industries Development Bank of India's Innovation and Incubation Centre at IIT-Kanpur. The young innovators will not only get infrastructural support but also a stipend. The support extended to students would include facilities for developing different parts of a machine in workshops, testing of prototypes and assembling parts with available equipment.

To recall, in February this year, the state government had massively hiked the fund allocation for startups in the state from Rs 5 crore to Rs 250 crore, which the state govt will use the startup fund to set up incubators in Lucknow.

Established in 2000, by the government of Uttar Pradesh as Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU), the university was officially renamed as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University in the remembrance of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a former President of India.

UP has introduced its Startup Policy in 2016 to encourage establishment of small business and industries by providing sops like interest subsidy and exemption in stamp and electricity duty.

In September last year, the state had announced that capital city Lucknow will get biggest incubator centre that the Indian startup ecosystem has seen till date.

The proposed incubator, which will be up and running in the next 3 years, will be setup in about 40 acres of land near Lucknow Airport, which is on outskirts of the city. The upcoming incubator will comprise data centre, business processes outsourcing (BPO), development centre, training centres etc. [Read More Here].

Source - Times of India |References - Wikipedia

Infibeam Terminates Acquisition Deal worth ₹120 Crore to Buy Snapdeal-owned Unicommerce

India’s first listed e-commerce firm, Infibeam Incorporation, which in May this year had announced to acquire Snapdeal’s subsidiary Unicommerce eSolutions for up to Rs 120 crore in stock, has now terminated the deal.

In a dramatic turn of events, the Ahmedabad-based Infibeam told stock exchanges in a filing on Friday that the share purchase agreement (SPA) has been terminated as the conditions precedent were not fulfilled within the stipulated time period.

In May this year, Infibeam Avenues had announced signing a definitive sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Unicommerce eSolutions and Jasper lnfotech (the parent of Snapdeal) to acquire 100% in Unicommerce.

It had pointed out that the acquisition would boost its e-commerce enabling capabilities and expand the product offerings for existing clients. The transaction was scheduled to close in three-five months.

According to the May filing, Infibeam was to issue optionally convertible debentures on a preferential basis to Jasper Infotech valued up to Rs 120 crore, subject to shareholders’ approval.

It had then said that Unicommerce eSolutions had a net worth of Rs 24.63 crore and a turnover of Rs 20.27 crore as on March 31, 2018.

In a separate statement, a Unicommerce spokesperson said “both the parties have mutually decided not to give effect to the said agreement”.

Unicommerce caters to more than 15% of India’s e-commerce transactions and has a growing presence in West Asia and South Asia and according to the spokesperson, the company will continue to deepen and expand its presence in India and key overseas markets.

“Accordingly, there will be no change in the shareholding structure of Unicommerce, which will continue to operate as a profitable and independently managed company,” the spokesperson added.

Started by a group of IIT/IIM graduates - Karun Singla and Manish Gupta in 2012, Unicommerce offers e-commerce enabling software for warehouse management and omni-channel services and has over 10,000 sellers, brands and online retailers as its clients. Before being acquired by Snapdeal in 2015, Unicommerce had raised funding from Tiger Global [Read here] and Nexus Ventures Partners in different funding rounds.

As part of the Snapdeal 2.0 strategy, which the e-tailer charted after its merger talks with Flipkart hit a dead end, It is looking to pivot to a pure play marketplace model. It will lay off a chunk of its workforce in the process. Shedding off its associated entities FreeCharge, Unicommerce and Vulcan was also reportedly part of the strategy.

Source - The Telegraph

Logistics Tech Startup Blackbuck Raises $12.5 Mn from Existing Investors and IFC of World Bank

Bangalore-based Zinka Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which owns and operates tech-enabled logistics and supply chain solutions brand, Blackbuck, has raised fresh $12.5 million (Rs 87 crore) from some of its existing investors, reported VCCircle.

BlackBuck's existing investor Sands Capital led the round by investing Rs 50.78 crore and rest came from
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank.

In October this year, the logistics firm had raised Rs 202.96 crore ($27.4 million) in a Series D round of funding led by Sequoia Capital along with participation from existing investors Sands Capital and Accel.

So far, the logistics startup has raised a total of about $148 million in funding over six rounds including this one.

Founded in 2015, by IIT Kharagpur alumni Rajesh Yabaji, Chankaya Hridaya, and Ramasubramaniam, Blackbuck offers B2B logistics solutions for long-haul trucking. With the help of its online marketplace, it facilitates intercity freight transportation by bringing together truckers and shippers.

Blackbuck has partnerships with World Bank and Indian government and claims to be present in 1000+ locations with 1200+ employees and 250,000+ trucks. The startup's clients include leading SME and corporate giants like Coca-Cola, Unilever, among others.

The fundraise by BlackBuck comes within few days after an another logistics startup, LetsTransport, had raised Rs. 100 Crores from Bertelsmann India Investments, Fosun International and other investors.

[Top Featured Image - Glassdoor.co.in]

Brand Capital Invests in Blockchain-powered Matchmaking App 'Ponder' To Launch In Indian Market

Brand Capital, the strategic investment arm of India’s largest media conglomerate the Times Group (BCCL), has acquired a stake in Ponder, a blockchain-based recommendations platform.

Ponder aims to simplify and make it enjoyable to make and find referrals. Where a referral leads to success, the person making the referral is financially rewarded. It is currently working on an app intended for recruitment purposes which would provide employers a way to source more high-quality referred candidates.

The platform uses blockchain technology to create secure matchmaking communities and ensure data and identity are protected.

According to official release by the startup, "Brand Capital’s investment in Ponder will help the startup launch into the Indian market and leverage the group’s media assets in order to build a robust community of users, increasing engagement on the Ponder platform for different verticals of referrals: recruitment, new customers & romance."

Founded in 2017 by Manshu Agarwal and Chris Imani, Ponder is a game-like mobile app to play matchmaker where users win money for making successful matches. With a drag and drop photos of friends or other singles that one think would be a good match, users play a matchmakers for singles and if singles like each other the user win $10, if they marry there's $1000 winning amount. For singles its a way to receive a curated stream of prospects suggested by friends and a community of matchmakers. For everyone, single or in a relationship, it's a fun, rewarding, and meaningful game.

By using blockchain technology, Ponder decentralizes matchmaking, allowing anybody to play matchmaker for their friends and a community of singles.

The app has been downloaded over 120,000 times and the startup is now aims to build an another referral app for recruitment purposes, providing employers a way to source more high-quality referred candidates.

Earlier this month, Brand Capital, along with other investors, had led investment of $35 million in Toppr, an edtech startup.

In September, Brand Capital had invested Rs. 26 Crore in Avenue11, a Bangalore-based O2O grocery firm.

Prior to this in June this year, HomeLane.com, India’s leading online home interiors brand had raised Rs 24 Crores from Brand Capital.

[Top Image - Kambletrupti [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons]

Via - Tokenpost

Bangalore-based AI-led Drone Startup Asteria Aerospace Raises Funds from Luxembourg-based Boundary Holding

Bangalore-based Asteria Aerospace, a robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) powered and Drone-based aerial data solution startup, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Boundary Holding, a Luxembourg-based fund of funds.

The funding is a part of an event ‘FutureTech’ that was organized by a partnership between the British High Commission and India’s NITI Aayog, to fastrack funds for Indian startups.

Founded in 2011, by Nihar Vartak and Neel Mehta, Asteria uses robotics and AI to develop drone based solutions to provide actionable intelligence from aerial data. The solutions that startup offers are available to varied sectors including armed forces, indsutrial uses, gas, mining, construction and agriculture as well.

The drone-based solutions by Asteria offer actionable intelligence from aerial data and integrate seamlessly into operational workflows.

A flagship drone by Asteria called 'A400' is designed to be flight ready in under 2 minutes. The complete assembly and disassembly of A400 does not require any tools, which makes it ideally suited for surveillance & security operations where rapid deployment is an essential need.

Notably, in September this year, Asteria has also launched an industrial Internet of Things (IoT) network platform for drones called 'Genesis'. Genesis is a secure enterprise software platform to enable organizations to effectively use and manage fleets of drones in surveillance & security operations.

Genesis platform has been used by the West Bengal state police force for event security during Durga Puja 2017 and Gangasagar 2018 festivals. This allowed live monitoring of video feeds at their Kolkata headquarters, from drones deployed in multiple districts.

To recall, in September this year, an another Drone-based startup, Sensehawk, had raised $2 million in funding round led by SAIF Partners. Based out of Bangalore and California, Sensehawk performs data analysis from autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Drones.

About Boundary Holding, it is a new-age technology fund founded by Rajat Khare and is based out Luxembourg, Europe. The fund which invests in distressed funds, Angel funds and Venture capital funds across different sub-sectors in AI. The investment firm had recently invested in XRVision, a Singapore-based wearable and mobile video analytics platform.

Speaking on investment in Asteria, Rajat Khare said, "With this investment, we seek to expand Boundary Holding’s portfolio in AI and create a positive scope of development in Drones and Artificial Intelligence. We believe the investment in Asteria Aerospace will bear fruitful results for the growth of Boundary Holding and Asteria. We have great trust in their team, and are glad to support the company."

In June last year, Boundary Holding has invested in Dronefence, a Germany-based developer of drone tracking and security systems.

Via - The London Economic | Source - News Hour

Women-centric Online Fashion Brands Faballey & Indya Raises ₹60 Cr from SAIF Partners

Noida-based High Street Essentials (HSE), which owns women-centric fashion brands, FabAlley and Indya, have raised Rs 60 crore in a Series B funding from SAIF Partners.

This round of funding also includes a partial secondary share sale by Indian Angel Network (IAN), which was early investor in the startup. IAN had invested undisclosed amount as seed fund in Faballey, in November 2013.

With latest round of funding, HSE, which is led by women founders, has raised a total of about $11.3 million in funding over four rounds, including this one. The latest is the third round funding by the startup, which last raised its Series A funding from India Quotient in October 2016 and a round of debt from Trifecta Capital earlier this year.

The startup intends to use the fresh funding towards increasing distribution, product expansion, brand-building and strengthening its technology.

Founded in 2012, by Tanvi Malik and Shivani Poddar, who quit their high-paying jobs in Titan Industries, Unilever and Avendus Capital, HSE had started FabAlley as a highly curated women-centered accessories only store. It then grown to become brand of globally trendy apparel and accessories both, and all of which designed in-house.

In 2016, HSE launched 'Indya', a second by company that offers contemporary Indian wear with modern and distinctive Indo-western elements for the women-centric market.

The company claims to have turned profitable in FY18 with gross sales of Rs 80 crore and said it was on track to close FY19 at Rs 150 crore, while remaining Ebitda positive.

“The capital infusion will help us scale our offline presence rapidly from 15 exclusive outlets and 120 shop-in-shops to 50 and 300, respectively, by the end of FY20. We will invest in Athleisure and our plus size brand, Curve. We will also look at amplifying our brands” said Shivani Podda.

Tanvi Malik added “Our goal is to capture both online and offline growth opportunities by leveraging our channel-agnostic approach through phygital store experiences, virtual fitting rooms, seamlessly merged forward and reverse logistics – all aimed at benefitting from the strategic advantages of both channels, while minimising their inherent disadvantages.”

Recent Funding Led By SAIF Partner

SAIF Partners, which is a Hong Kong-based venture and growth capital fund, had recently led a $3.3 million Series A round of funding of IIT Madras incubated Internet of Things (IoT) Startup, DeTect Technologies, in last month.

In October, SAIF had also led a $3.1 million funding of Meesho, a Bengaluru-based social e-commerce startup backed by Y Combinator. Prior to this, in September this year, SAIF led a Series A round of funding worth $2 million of Sensehawk, a Bangalore and California-based startup that performs data analysis from autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Drones.

Source - Financial Express

Indian Trains Now has 'USTAAD', An AI-Powered Robot to Ensure Safety

To check technical faults and ensure the safety of trains in India, a robot will now replace humans as Central Railways has developed an in-house robot named 'USTAAD' (abbreviation of 'Undergear Surveillance Through Artificial Intelligence Assisted Droid'), which will now check for safety in under gear parts of train coaches.

The new Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered robot will click photos and record videos of the train, under the gears and then transmits them over WiFi to engineers for maintenance and repair, thus reducing chances of human error while examining undergear equipment on Indian Railways trains.

Developed by Mechanical Branch of the Nagpur Division of Central Railways, the new robot USTAAD can watch and examine areas which cannot be seen and approached by humans usually, due to the narrow spaces between under-gear parts.

Some of the very proficient features and practical capabilities of USTAAD are as follows:

HD camera:

For the constructive and appropriate examination of train’s coaches or wagon’s parts, USTAAD has been facilitated with HD (high-definition) camera. This HD camera is able to move 320 degrees on X-axis and 130 degrees on Y axis so that the maximum portion of under gear gets covered. The camera captures video as well as still photographs of the under gear parts of the coaches in real time and then, can transfer them over Wi-Fi. The engineer can study these videos on the big screen and can record the same. The HD camera of USTAAD can be rotated in any direction as per commands given by the engineer. The camera can also zoom in or zoom out on the spot, during safety inspection.

[caption id="attachment_127897" align="aligncenter" width="660"] USTAAD, The AI-powered Robot (Image - Financialexpress.com)[/caption]

LED flood lights:

USTAAD is also equipped with LED (light-emitting diode) flood lights and is able to capture the videos in low light conditions as well as in dark mode. With the help of the robot’s technical power, the chances of any mistake overlooked by the human eye can be eliminated, which, in turn, reduces the chances of human error. With the help of USTAAD, engineers can easily analyse and examine areas which are difficult to see and impossible to approach manually. Cramped and narrow spaces, between or under the gear parts, can be easily captured by the robot.

Sound detection

The robot can also tap the sound of flat tyre, during placement of the rake on the Pit Line. This is particularly important for prior detection of flat tyre, in order to keep a check on the train’s swift journey.

Indian trains, which are second largest rail network of world, are known as the cheapest mode of transportation which millions of people prefer to travel in rather then other transport services. However, some times this busiest rail network comes to standstill due to accidents and mishaps.

By use of USTAAD robot, the chances of a mistake and any deficiency overlooked by the human eye can be eliminated.

It may also be recalled that in August this year, Indian Railways has also got its first 'SMART' coach including AI-enabled CCTV cameras. The 'SMART' coach, built by Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli, are equipped with black boxes and coach information and diagnostics systems.

Source - Financial Express

India May Lift Ban on Cryptocurrency As Govt Panel Push for Legalization

India's ban on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Ripple could be removed as the second interdisciplinary committee on cryptocurrencies in India formed by the central government is likely to recommend lifting the ban and legalize it. Did you know? you can now perform gb WhatsApp download from your phone. Check out softgoza for more information

The committee, which will submit its recommendations to the Finance ministry around February 2019, already has two meetings and is in favour of legalising cryptocurrencies in India, which are currently banned by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), upon recommendations by an earlier government committee back in mid-2017.

There is a general consensus that cryptocurrency cannot be dismissed as completely illegal. It needs to be legalized with strong riders, said the report citing a senior official who attended the panel’s meetings.

This means that India may see crypto legalization in 2019, albeit with heavy regulation.

Although RBI has put a ban on cryptocurrencies in April this year, the central bank of India isn’t giving up on the idea of a cryptocurrency completely, as in September 2017 it was reported that RBI is planning to introduce a fiat digital currency called 'Lakshmi' coin, which would become an alternative to the Indian rupee for digital transactions, and unlike bitcoin which is a non-fiat digital currency, the new one will be fiat-cryptocurrency.

If the ban on cryptocurrencies managed to get lifted completely in India, then there are several crypto-based startups lined up for entering the country's market. In January, an Indonesian startup called Pundi X announced that it is preparing to launch point-of-sale network in India so that people in the country can buy and invest in cryptocurrencies not just only online but offline as well.

Just few days back, it was also reported that Facebook is also wants to enter India with its own virtual currency as it is said to be working on making a cryptocurrency called 'Stablecoin' that will let users transfer money on WhatsApp messaging app, with India being first remittances market Facebook will be focusing at.

Geneva, Switzerland-based startup, MoonX, which is a decentralized ownership crypto exchange founded by an Indian entrepreneur, is also set to launch a decentralised non-profit trading platform for cryptocurrencies in India.

Via - CoinGeek | Source - New India Express

[Top Image - Golegal.co.za]

15 Tech Startups To Go Public in FY 2020

Within few weeks after Indian market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has made a number of relaxations for startups in emerging tech sectors like e-commerce, data analytics and biotechnology, among others, more than a dozen tech startups could go public in fiscal 2020 to tap the capital market, reported Business Line.

SEBI, which has just renamed the trading platform for startups as 'Innovators Growth Platform', is likely to issue the final and detailed listing guidelines for startups on January 20.

According to the report, some 15 tech startups from different segments have shown interest in getting listed and have approached global entrepreneurship organisation TiE’s Mumbai chapter to hand-hold them with the listing process.

SEBI will share the names of some of these startups only after it comes out with the final guidelines in January.

Moreover, SEBI is also planning a road-show in this regard soon.

Nishar, who, as TiE Mumbai President, has been following up with SEBI, said that in framing the guidelines, the market regulator has considered almost all the proposals by the start-up and investor community.

India is seeing a large number of IPOs on SME exchanges. In May this year, in a milestone achievement for Indian startup ecosystem, Delhi-based E2E Networks, which is a largely bootstrapped startup, had raised ₹22 Crore by getting listed on NSE Emerge, the stock exchange’s platform for small and medium businesses (SMB) by National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Besides allowing private equity investors an exit option, listing also enhances the involvement of savvy investors, giving small investors the much needed confidence to participate in this upcoming asset class -- startups.

Kerala Startup Tranzmeo Gets Funding from Hindustan Petroleum for Its AI-based Fault Detection Tech

Kochi, Kerala-based startup Tranzmeo, a new-age IT solution provider, has secured an undisclosed pre-seed round funding from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) for its flagship product called 'T-connect OneView', which is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered technology that detect and predict anomaly in petroleum pipeline.

Tranzmeo will utilize the raised money to accelerate R&D of its proprietary technology and product line-up, bolster business development opportunities, and to double the company headcount over the next 12 months. HPCL will also get board seats in the company.

Tranzmeo, which is a NASSCOM 10,000 incubated startup, has already launched a beta version of T-Connect and it currently analyses 508 km of HPCL’s petroleum pipeline for anomaly detection and prediction.

T-Connect is a self-learning, data-driven, comprehensive anomaly forensics application that runs on data streams to impact energy industries including petroleum industry.

Founded in 2017 by engineer turned entrepreneur Safil Sunny, Tranzmeo has developed T-connect as an auto fault detecting system that streams through real-time machine data to learn machine behaviour and predict anomalies. The application is capable of classifying the kind of failure from the incoming data stream and generate alerts.

The startup has also rolled up its sleeves to on-board more tech talent to speed up operations. In the next one year, Tranzmeo plans to further strengthen its leadership team, improve customer experience of existing product line up and outgrow the start-up tag.

Just to recall, besides HPCL other petro firms are also involved in supporting startups in India. In August, ONGC, an another oil-based Public Sector Unit, had launched a Rs 100 crore Start-up fund followed by Rs 30 crore startup fund scheme by Indian Oil Corporation.

[Top Image - Twitter.com/BloombergQuint]

Source - Business Line, Economic Times

Uber to Make India Its 'Laboratory of the World'; To Incubate Startups that Help Solve Mobility and Transport Problems

US-based cab hailing company Uber is considering a plan to incubate startups in India that will help in solving mobility and transport problems as part of its strategy to turn India into a laboratory of the world, for global research and development (R&D).

Additionally, the world's most valuable company with valuation of $75+ billion, Uber is also all set to make India the global capital of its research & development (R&D) activities. With 10 R&D centres across the world, Uber's India R&D unit is only one in Asia.

For its R&D centres at Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Uber will double the counts of its engineering team by next year.

Apurva Dalal, head of engineering, Uber India, said in a statement to Business Standard, “We want to find the best talent in an innovative way to solve the problems of mobility and transportation. We are definitely considering incubating many start-ups within Uber in the future and have some kind of incubation model. We are looking at doubling our R&D team in 2019 and this could be in the thousands,” said

To solve mobility and transportation problems of both India and other countries, Uber was trying to create ‘R&D muscle’ in India to make it the laboratory of the world, with charters to solve global as well as emerging market problems.

As part of this strategy, Apurva said that the company had been reasonably successful in persuading Indians in the US to come back and work in India.

One of the disruptive innovation which is product of UBer's R&D centres at Bengaluru and Hyderabad is 'Uber Lite', an app that is 85 % lighter than the original Uber app. Developed in India, Uber Lite is now catering to users in several emerging markets where there are connectivity issues and poor data rates, and where consumers mostly use low-end Android devices with limited storage.

According to a feedback data, in countries like India, Brazil, Mexico, and much of Africa, 70% of the sessions on Uber were happening on low-end Android phones. The Uber Lite app, first launched in India in July'18, is now being rolled out in 14 more countries in Latin America, Egypt, West Asia, and Africa.

To recall, in February this year, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi was on India tour and during his visit he met several Indian government officials, regulators and the company employees. In his visit, Khosrowshahi met India’s Minister of State for Civil Aviation, and talked about possible partnerships between the Uber and India, including a flying car collaboration.

Uber was said to be working with 6-7 different vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft and sees big potential for flying taxis in India.

Regarding incubating and mentoring startups in India, Uber already has 'UberEXCHANGE', a startup mentorship & investment programme launched in 2016 in partnership with government of India's investment promotion agency Invest India. In last two years, over 150 startups have been mentored by Uber’s senior leadership team. However, incubation of Indian startups will be something new that company will bring to India.

According to Business Standard report, Uber is now testing a new service “call to ride”, which is also developed in India and is meant for consumers such as elderly people who do not want to use apps at all and want to pay in cash.

In this system, riders merely have to call Uber on the phone and give details of their location and what kind of car they want.

[Top Featured Image - Recode.net]

Axilor Incubated Marax AI Launches Goal Based User Retention Platform with Funds from Zeroth.AI and Artesian VC

California and Bangalore-based marketing automation startup Marax AI has launched a goal based user retention and engagement platform which allows brands to retain and engage their users with personalized delightful experiences in real time; driving higher conversions and more meaningful engagements.

The platform is meant for broader set of e-commerce customers as the startup claims to have 9% reduction in churn for one of its customers, DailyNinja.

Marax is incubated at Axilor, a startup accelerator as well as early stage seed fund founded by Infosys co-founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and SD Shibulal.

Marax platform works on making user engagement more relevant and as personalized communications is becoming a key differentiator for making buying decisions, the platform by Marax focus on long-term user happiness, depending on industry.

According the startup, "Currently the market lacks a tool which optimizes for user intent and business goals simultaneously. For example - optimizing for a user’s intent to purchase a particular product with a personalized offer while also satisfying marketing budget constraints at the same time. And this is where Marax AI comes in."

[caption id="attachment_127871" width="537" align="aligncenter"] Raman Shrivastava - Founder/CEO - Marax[/caption]

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine at Marax works by monitoring millions of real-time data points of the critical moments in the user’s lifecycle and their interaction with retention and engagement campaigns to build a deep understanding of user behaviours with your product or service and then engage them through a multi-step recommendation process with the most relevant experiences at the right time through the customer’s preferred channels of communication to maximize long-term user satisfaction.

Started by Raman Shrivastava, Sumant US and Prateek Gupta in 2016, Marax is a goal based user retention and engagement platform which takes both - the company’s business objectives and customer motivations into consideration making every interaction with the brand a meaningful one.

Marax has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from Zeroth, Artesian VC and a series of angel investors. The company is currently in talks to raise another round of funding and they will use the new funds to strengthen their ML and AI offerings, expand their team and expand aggressively across international markets.

To ensure that brands only send the most personally relevant notifications to users, notifications are matched to users using machine learning models in a multi-step process. Traditionally, supervised learning models have been used for predicting click through rate (CTR) and likelihood that the notifications lead to meaningful interactions.

This however, doesn’t capture the long term or incremental value of sending notifications. There can be some signals that appear long after and cannot be attributed directly to the notification.

Supervised learning systems typically generate predictions, but then require data analysts and product managers to make sense of these predictions and craft a strategy to take actions.

Marax’s feedback driven learning systems, on other hand, can create systems that make decisions, take actions and improve based on the feedback they receive. With these implicit feedback driven systems, they have observed a significant improvement in overall long-term reward.

This approach also moves away from the traditional methods of rule based and event based triggered retention marketing campaigns optimized for immediate rewards such as a higher CTR, delivering results visible in the form of reduced churn rates, higher retention and better engagement metrics for brands.

The team currently consists of AI researchers, Data Scientists and software developers working in tandem with marketers and industry veterans, reminiscent of scenes from Mr. Robot.

Raman Shrivastava, CEO of Marax puts it, “We are building our way to the end of segmentation. Every customer is unique and they should be treated that way. We make this possible with automated and optimized actions delivery moving beyond just predictions while also taking into consideration, business constraints"

The company is currently running trials with their existing set of early adopters within the consumer internet space to gather feedback and refine their algorithms while also adding more integrations with the third party tools that their clients work with.

“Thanks to Marax, in just one one month of working together, we boosted user engagement and have been able to reduce our monthly churn rate by 9% ” Sushant- Product Manager at DailyNinja , Sequoia funded startup and one of Marax’s early adopters.

“Raman and the Marax team are one of the top customer and product-focused teams we have seen. Their customers love them because they take feedback well, treat those relationships sacred, and their success shows for it.” - Tak Lo, Partner, Zeroth.AI and one of Marax’s early investors.

“Kudos to Raman and team at Marax at having identified a potent technology in form of deep learning for user analytics, primarily retention. The use of deep learning combined with unique domain driven data strategy gives them better accuracy over conventional models.” - Dr.Srinivas Padmanabhuni, PhD. in Artificial Intelligence from University of Alberta, who advises Marax on their AI strategy and architecture.

India's Reliance Invests $5 Mn in UK-based Startup VHL that Uses Blockchain for Oil & Energy Trading

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has acquired 5.56% equity stake in a London-based technology startup, VAKT Holdings Limited (VHL), for $5 million (around Rs 35 crore).

Created and launched as an independent company in December 2017, VHL is backed by energy majors BP, Shell and Statoil, trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria; and banks ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale.

VHL has created a secure, real-time blockchain-based digital platform, working with global software consultancy ThoughtWorks and underpinned by JPMorgan’s Quorum private distributed ledger. The platform manages physical energy transactions from trade entry to final settlement, eliminating reconciliation and paper-based processes.

The blockchain platform essentially automates post-trade processes in the energy industry which will help oil companies do away with paper-based documentation and switch to smart contracts. This, in turn, is expected to reduce costs and lower the risk of errors and enhance the efficiency of post-trade processes. It will comprise a “secure, real-time blockchain-based platform to manage physical energy transactions.

This strategic investment by Reliance would accelerate its’s digital journey, through active participation in an emerging area for blockchain-enabled technology solutions for energy markets.

As per BSE filing, "No regulatory approvals were required for the said acquisition of shares. The investment does not fall within related party transactions and none of RIL's promoters/promoter group /group companies have any interest in VHL."

The blockchain platform developed by VHL was launched last month in the North Sea oil market. In 2019 VHL will look at ARA barges, waterborne markets and US crude pipelines.

VHL, which is also a member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), had made an announcement last month that the blockchain platform would be run as a new venture by the consortium members, to be managed and operated as an independent entity.

Home Interior Design E-Platform Design Cafe Raises $28 Mn Funding from WestBridge and Fireside

Design Cafe, a Bengaluru based online home interior design platform, announced that WestBridge Capital will invest up to Rs 200 cr in a series B round of funding with participation by existing investor Fireside Ventures.

Bangalore based, boutique Investment Bank Sprout Capital Advisors LLP was the exclusive financial advisor on the transaction.

In July last year, the startup had raised undisclosed amount from Fireside in its second round of funding.

Founded in 2015 by Gita Ramanan and Shezaan Bhojani, Design Cafe allows home owners to access best in the country designers which they would otherwise not have access to and allows them to create a designer home in a budget. It is the first of its kind modular home company where the entire home is almost factory made and comes with a
warranty.

[caption id="attachment_127864" align="aligncenter" width="780"] Shezaan Bhojani & Gita Ramanan, Co-Founders of Design Cafe[/caption]

Built on a strong technology backend, the company offers customized interior solutions & personalized designs to consumers.

Design Cafe was set up to address a large personalization and execution gap that existed in the mid-segment (i.e. homes of 1,000-2,000 sq ft.) home interior market. The company also allows Consumers to visualize their home in virtual reality before execution. The company proposes to use the additional capital to expand operations in 6 other cities including Mumbai, NCR and Hyderabad.

The startup is backed by Mr. Kanwaljit Singh (Ex MD. of Helion Ventures), The Salarpuria group through Apurva
Salarpuria and other HNI’s.

Commenting on the funding, Sandeep Singhal, Managing Partner, Westbridge Capital, said, “We have been impressed with Design Cafe’s rapid scaling up and initial success. Their high customer satisfaction rate is an excellent achievement and is a testimony to the company’s deep domain expertise in this sector, hard work and good business judgment. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with Design Cafe in their journey of taking the business to even greater heights and building a marquee brand in home design services and products.”

Kanwaljit Singh, Managing Partner of Fireside Ventures said “DesignCafe operates in a large white space and have built a solution that caters to a large target audience. Gita and Shezaan come with significant design experience which helps them understand the consumer need better. We have backed the company since its early days and are excited to partner with them to build a large home interior services Brand”

Speaking on the occasion, Shezaan Bhojani, Co-founder, Design Café said, “We are very pleased to have Westbridge, one of the leading PE investors in India, join the Design Cafe team. We are also excited to strengthen our already close relationship with existing investor Fireside Ventures, who is also participating in this round. These investors share our long-term mindset and align with our values and we are thrilled to have them join us in our journey to script the next chapter of Design Café."

Founded by KP Balaraj, Sumir Chadha, SK Jain and Sandeep Singhal, WestBridge Capital is a highly experienced investment firm, managing over $2 billion of capital, which focuses on investments in India. The PE firm invests through both direct secondary market purchases and negotiated deals. A typical investment ranges from $10 million to $80 million. The team is one of the most recognized in the industry and has a combined 50+ years of experience in investing in Indian companies.

Fireside is a focused early-stage investment platform for consumer brands. Anchored by a slew of marquee investors, including Premji Invest, Westbridge Capital, Mariwala Family Office, Unilever Ventures, Emami Ltd., RP-Sanjiv Goenka Family Office, Sunil Munjal’s Hero Enterprise Investment Office and ITC Ltd., Fireside manages a corpus of Rs 3.4 Bn to be invested in exciting consumer brand startups in multiple rounds, from Seed to Series A funding.

Northeast India Accounts Only 0.1% of India's Total 14,565 Recognized Startups

Northeast India that comprises eight states in north eastern region of India -- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura, accounts for exactly 0.144% of total 14,565 startups recognized under Start-up India initiative of Indian government, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

While Sikkim has the country's lowest number of just 1 startup, Manipur with 11 startups has highest number in Northeast region and rest of the 6 North-East states have less than 10 startups.

Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh are among those that have less than 100 start-ups.

Having huge geographies and diverse culture as well as languages, over 60% of the startups out of 14,565 startups recognized under Start-up India initiatives in India are concentrated in five States -

1. Maharashtra -- 2,787



2. Karnataka -- 2,107
,


3. Delhi -- 1,949



4. Uttar Pradesh -- 1,201



5. Telangana -- 824

The total number of applications received for recognition under Startup India initiative is 19,611, of which 14,565 applications have been approved, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

In a reply to the question in Lok Sabha, the Ministry further said, "The data of cost involved and manpower engaged under these initiatives across Central government ministries and various State governments is not centrally compiled,” stated the Ministry in a reply to the question in Lok Sabha. There are no provisions of loans under Make in India and Start-up India initiatives."

Launched in January 2016 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Start-up India is a flagship initiative of the government set-up under Invest India and is intended to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and start-ups in the country that will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.

Existing industries' regulations are for traditional industries and as they do not justify its purpose for new-age startup ventures working in emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things or even e-commerce for that matter these regulation become almost irrelevant. The Ministry is thus reviewing these regulations and some of them are either scrapped or modified in order to facilitate the booming ecosystem of the country which will foster and encourage startups to take root.

OYO Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Rival Treebo Hotels

Post raising massive $1 billion recently, India's budget hotel startup OYO is reportedly in talks to acquire Treebo Hotels, a rival firm also into affordable accommodation segment and headquartered in Bangalore, reported Business Standard citing sources privy to the development.

According to the report, while the acquisition would allow OYO to expand as well as to get an access to talent, for Treebo it will bring growth capital.

Notably, Matrix Partners and SAIF Partners are common investors in both OYO and Treebo.

If this acquisition deal goes through then this will be be the second-biggest deal in the domestic online travel market just after acquisition of ibibo by MakeMyTrip in 2016.

Founded in 2015, by Kadam Jeet Jain, Rahul Chaudhary and Sidharth Gupta, Treebo operates about 10,000 rooms across 400 properties in the country. The brand’s scale is pretty small compared to the scale OYO has managed to achieve with large funds. OYO operates about 8,700 properties in India with a strength of over 164,000 rooms. The numbers continue to expand month after month.

In October, it was also speculated that Treebo and FabHotels -- an another budget hotel brand -- may merge together to have a better scale and stand the growing competition from OYO. Both Treebo and FabHotels have been trying to raise funds in recent months without making much headway. FabHotels, which counts Goldman Sachs as an investor, has raised $35 million till date with last fund raise of $25 million happened in July 2017.

Treebo, which had recently acquired travel startup Events High in May this year, has raised a total of $57 million in funding over four rounds, according to data by Crunchbase. Beside Matrix and Saif, it counts Bertelsmann India Investments, Karst Peak Capital and Hong Kong-based investment firm Ward Ferry Management as its investors.

OYO, on other hand, has acquired three companies to date, with most recent one being of Weddingz in August of this year. Oyo began with one hotel in Gurgaon and has grown to 125,000 rooms in India, where it says it’s tripling year-over-year in terms of transactions. In China, where it began operations last November, it has expanded to 171 cities with 87,000 rooms. It is now in over 350 cities with 211,000 rooms.

Solar EPC Firm Rays Power Infra Raises $28.5 Mn from DMI Finance

Jaipur headquartered solar power developer and EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) player, Rays Power Infra, has closed first round of Rs 200-crore (~ US$28.514 million) in mix of debt and equity funding from DMI Finance (DMI), a New Delhi-based Non-Bank Finance Company.

The Solar startup would use majority of the fresh capital raised in strengthening its presence in the country and develop ground-mounted solar power projects. Rays also plans to grow its co-development business model, a bespoke model that Rays has pioneered in the Indian solar industry, a company statement said.

Founded in 2011, Rays Power Infra is one of the Largest solar developer and EPC management company. An EPC company provides engineering design, obtain equipment, and then deliver the functioning asset to the client. Rays has built a solar portfolio of 64 megawatt (MW) and has an EPC track record of delivering over 500 MW of solar assets.

Ketan Mehta, founder and managing director, Rays Power Infra, said, “...As co-developer partner, we are involved in financial closure and equity investment for development of project prior to sale. We intend to utilize the funds in pursuing development of further assets on co-development basis."

The company said that it is pursuing opportunities in distributed generation, rooftop solar assets and entering the retail sector with e-mobility solar solutions targeting retail consumers.

With 620 MW projects under its portfolio, Rays was ranked as the 3rd largest Solar EPC Player in the country in 2015 following which it again was recognized as one of the top 10 players across the globe apart from US & China in 2017 by IHS Markit.

In recent funding of solar energy companies, Delhi-based Azure Power, which is one of the country’s largest independent solar power producers with a solar portfolio of over 3 Giga Watt spread across 23 states, has raised around $185 million primary capital through an equity offering.

In August this year, Hyderabad based Cygni Energy Private Limited, an innovative Solar-DC solutions startup had raised funds of $ 6.4 Million in a combination of Equity and Debt. The equity funding is led by Endiya Partners, a leading early-stage venture capital firm that invests in product startups and the debt by IndusInd Bank, a leading Private Bank in India.

In June, an another solar energy startup, Fourth Partner Energy, also based out of Hyderabad had raised whopping $70 million in Series B funding from The Rise Fund, a global impact investment fund managed by TPG Growth.

Source - Economic Times

4 Ways that Entrepreneurs can use Legal Advice

As an entrepreneur you will find yourself needing legal advice from time as the world of business can be legally murky at times. The fact that businesses are regulated by law means that at one point you will need legal advice in case you are looking to venture into a new market or if you are looking for new acquisition. Getting the right legal advice can save entrepreneurs a lot of money and headaches as legal penalties can be quite high. An important note is that there are many legal experts out there but you need legal advice from a firm or professionals who have done it for years and have a lot of experience like Legalzoom.

1. Financial laws

Many entrepreneurs do not understand all the aspect of financial laws which exist and this is why they will need legal advice to break it down for them. The aspects of financial law which they can be advised about include issue on business insurance, the financial regulations which have been put by the government. This will also tie into the issue of financial transactions that a business is carrying out and if as a business you are at any risk of doing the wrong thing.

2. On employment and labour laws

This is another murky area when it comes to business; this is because if an entrepreneur does not follow the right employment they can find themselves embroiled in a fierce legal war. Here the advice you will need is how to hire people the right way and also the way to hire people the right way.  Many entrepreneurs who do not get the right advice on employment and labour laws most of the time find themselves in trouble with unions and government agency dealing with labour thus making it hard for them to do business.

3. On Marketing and  advertising

The government has put laws which ensure that a company is carrying out the right practices when it comes to marketing. There are the legal and ethical laws and guidelines which as an entrepreneur you may not be aware of and this is why you may need to have legal advice to avoid falling into this loophole. In advertising there more guidelines as to what is the acceptable way to advertise for your product and service without breaking the law and getting into trouble.

4. On legal business agreements

The other areas which you will need legal advice is on a legal business agreement such as contract, partnership and other sale agreement. You will also need advice on the legal documents which you need like licenses and permits. There are many details that you need to be aware of especially in the setting of a contract which is legally binding. As an entrepreneur, you will be getting into many contracts and agreement which some of them are legally binding and enforced by law. Here you will need advice on how to navigate this and make sure you do not make mistakes that can prove very costly.

Blockchain is the Missing Link to Transform Electric Power Industry

The highly regulated electric power industry is in need of enablers to move away from traditional business models with complex operating structures. Blockchain technology is one such to create a paradigm shift in the industry towards a more decentralized and transactional environment, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The key challenges that the electric utilities broadly face today are high operating costs, aging grids, security, regulatory compliance and personalized customer service. Due to blockchain’s potential in addressing many of these pain points, business leaders are increasingly interested in experimenting with the technology.

Archi Dasgupta, Disruptive Tech Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Blockchain could be the leading enabler of decentralization, democratization, and liberalization in the power industry. Using smart contracts, the technology can empower bilateral settlements in real-time by eliminating midpoint delays steering to a significant reduction in the operational costs of utilities.”

An analysis of GlobalData’s Disruptor Tech Database reveals interesting real-world use cases of blockchain in the power domain and select startups and electricity companies working on them.

Decentralization of power through blockchain has been giving rise to trading platforms like that implemented in the Brooklyn microgrid by LO3 Energy where power can be purchased or and sold directly within a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, eliminating the need for intermediaries. This will not only lower costs of both utilities and consumers but also present network transparency.

Australia’s crypto startup Power Ledger known for developing decentralized energy trading platforms on blockchain launched its first commercial deployment in the US. Its distributed P2P blockchain network allows consumers and businesses to sell their surplus solar power in their neighbourhood without a middle man.

Thanks to its intrinsic characteristic of traceability, blockchain can improve the tracking of power grid failures, which has never been a simple task. The technology can be used to stabilize and modernize the grid in many ways.

European transmission system operator TenneT’s pilot with Sonnen using blockchain based on IBM’s Hyperledger framework can enable energy storage systems within the network to absorb or discharge excess power within seconds and minimize transmission gridlocks.

Smart meters made quite a buzz in the yesteryears of power for their benefits to consumers. In a centralized network, however, they have not offered desired results, leaving them eager to experiment with their data on a decentralized network like blockchain. Lithuanian startup, WePower, has been working around the same in partnership with Estonia’s transmission system operator Elering.

WePower managed to upload 26,000 hours and 24TWh of energy production and consumption data from the smart meters of Estonia on to the Ethereum blockchain, which led to the creation of 39 billion smart energy tokens that are tradable.

Capitalizing on blockchain’s potential, P2P energy networks are able to create a decentralized marketplace connecting electric vehicle (EV) drivers and charging station owners for mutual benefits. German startup Motionwerk has launched a blockchain-based P2P energy sharing project Share&Charge, which enables users to share their private electric charging stations for money.

Other startup examples piloting with blockchain to disrupt the electric power include Drift, Electron, FlexiDAO, Grid+ and Riddle&Code.

Dasgupta concludes: “Although blockchain technology started scaling from its incumbent phase in the power industry, it is still largely dominated by proof-of-concept projects and small-scale production deployments. Its mass-scale commercial adoption is still three to five years away as there are several challenges to be addressed including deployment costs, the requirement of power to run the setup, and more importantly, the need to develop common standards and regulations. Electric utilities are similar to banks in the way they are centralized and highly regulated, hence it is crucial to creating an ideal set up for the implementation of transformative technologies such as blockchain."

Healthcare Firm Portea Raises ₹25 Cr in Venture Debt Funding from Alteria Capital

Bangalore-based Health Vista India, which owns and operates Portea Medical, a provider of in-home medical care, has raised Rs 25 crore in venture debt funding from Alteria Capital, a Mumbai-based specialty financing firm .

Touted as India's largest and fastest growing provider of in-home medical care, Portea has recently introduced specialised and critical care services, including critical care at home, respiratory services, sleep apnea care, palliative care, cancer support services, post-trauma care, specialised rehab services and end-of-life care.

“They (Alteria Capital) are quick to understand the needs of the business and are long-term partners. Venture debt is a great alternative source of capital for high-growth businesses like Portea,” Meena Ganesh, CEO of Portea, said in a statement to Economic Times.

Founded in 2012 by Zachary Jones and Karan Aneja, Portea was sold to serial entrepreneurs Krishnan Ganesh and his wife Meena Ganesh in 2013 for an undisclosed amount in an all-equity deal.

The startup has raised a total of $76 million in funding over four rounds including this one. The investors in Portea include Accel Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, private equity firm Sabre Partners and Worl Bank affiliated IFC.

Portea operates across primary care, chronic disease management, elder care and post-operative care. It offers services such as physiotherapy, doctor consultations, new mother-and-baby care, specialty pharmacy, nutritional wellness, diabetic care, surgery discovery and tele-consultation.

“Providing affordable, convenient healthcare services at home is a massive value proposition which is relevant for not just the Indian market but other emerging markets as well,” said Vinod Murali, managing partner at Alteria Capital.

Just a couple of months back, Alteria Capital made the second close of its maiden Alteria Capital India Fund I with commitments of more than Rs 625 crore. Anchor investments to Alteria’s fund included those from IndusInd Bank, SIDBI and a large domestic office family fund.

Alteria provides venture debt to startups with cheque sizes ranging from Rs 2 crore to Rs 100 crore. The firm, cofounded by Murali and Ajay Hattangdi, who previously helmed the venture debt play at Temasek-backed InnoVen Capital India, counts some of India’s top consumer and technology startups in its portfolio, including Fingerlix, Toppr Technologies, Raw Pressery, Vogo Bikes, Dunzo and Vinculum.

Recent funding in in-home medical care space include Mumbai-based HealWell24, which has raised $200K in its Pre-Series A round of funding from bunch of angel investors, in May this year. Other players in this sEgment are Care24, NRI Family Health, and Lybrate.

In September 2015, Portea Medical had raised $37.5 million in a Series B round of funding led by existing investor Accel Partners. In June last year, Medwell Ventures had raised $10 million in its Series A round investment from Fidelity Growth Partners India and Fidelity Biosciences.

In April 2016, Portea had acquired home medical equipment provider Health Mantra India for an undisclosed amount in cash and stock. Prior to this in January same year, the startup had also picked up a majority stake in healthtech startup, PSTakeCare, a platform that connects key stakeholders in the healthcare delivery ecosystem. The investment in PSTakeCare follows Portea’s acquisition of speciality pharmaceutical distributor, MedybizPharma in November 2015.

Source - Economic Times

[Top Image - Portea Medical founder and CEO Meena Ganesh | Credit - ANITH.com]

Facebook Making Cryptocurrency 'Stablecoin' for WhatsApp Money Transfer with India as 1st Target Market

It was in May this year when it was speculated that Facebook was planning to create its own Bitcoin-style cryptocurrency in order to allow its billions of users around the world to make electronic payments on its platform and outside as well. Now, according to a fresh report by Bloomberg, the social network giant is working on making a cryptocurrency called 'Stablecoin' that will let users transfer money on WhatsApp messaging app, with India being first remittances market Facebook will be focusing at.

According to the report, Facebook Inc. is trying to build a "stablecoin," a specific type of cryptocurrency with its value tied to U.S. dollar, which will be used to facilitate money transfers on WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Facebook.

However, as Facebook is still working on plenty of things to actually launch the cryptocurrency, the release of stablecoin is still far away.

Before actually releasing the coin, the company is said to be working on various things including a plan for custody assets, or regular currencies that would be held to protect the value of the stablecoin.

Back in 2009, Facebook had launched 'Facebook Credits', which was used to purchase virtual goods in games like Farmville as well as non-gaming applications on the social networking platform. One U.S. dollar was the equivalent of 10 Facebook Credits. It however eventually stopped by Facebook in 2012.

Facebook has chosen India to target remittances for 'Stablecoin' usage because of the fact that India leads the world in remittances and according to the the World Bank, Indians have had sent $69 billion to their home county in 2017 and also beacase India has more than 200 million WhatsApp users making it a country with largest user base then any other emerging markets nations.

To recall, India's local bank Federal Bank that primarily do its it business in Kerala is building a new cross-border remittance application on Corda, a Blockchain platform developed by consortium firm R3.

Kerala accounts for 35% of all foreign remittances that come into India and Federal Bank dominates this in Kerala.

Earlier this year, Facebook had announced it was launching a blockchain group. The team, helmed by former PayPal and Facebook Messenger boss David Marcus, has since remain silent about its goals, despite widespread speculation on what it might be up to.

In January, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg showed its interest in both cryptocurrencies and technology behind it -- blockchain, and said in his FB post, "There are important counter-trends to this –l ike encryption and cryptocurrency — that take power from centralized systems and put it back into people’s hands. But they come with the risk of being harder to control. I’m interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services."

Social Commerce Platform Shop101 Raises Fresh ₹80 Crore from Kalaari, Unilever Ventures

Mumbai based Shop101, a social commerce platform that enables entrepreneurs to sell on WhatsApp, Facebook & Instagram with zero investment, has raised Rs 80 crore (~ US$ 11 million) in Series B funding from Kalaari Capital and Unilever Ventures.

Existing investors, Stellaris Venture Partners, Vy Capital, and Livspace cofounder Ramakant Sharma also participated in the round.

The fresh funding comes in less than five months after the startup had raised $5 million in Series A round led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Vy Capital. To date, Shop101 has raised a total of $5.2 millioon in funding over two rounds including this one.

The startup will use the fresh funds to strengthen its core leadership and product team, scale the supplier network and enhance the technology platform, Abhinav Jain, Founder & CEO, Shop101.

Notably, just last month an another "Whatsapp/Facebook" based social commerce platform called 'Meesho' had raised $50 million in a Series C funding round from Shunwei Capital, DST Partners and RPS Ventures. Backed by Sequoia Capital, Meesho has raised a total of about $65 million in fundings and out of this $61.5 million have been raised in this year alone.

Shop101 enables reselling from a wide range of supply of products along with providing a technology platform to setup online stores integrated with a pan-India fulfillment network.

Founded in 2015, by IIT Kanpur alumni Abhinav Jain and Aditya Gupta, Shop101 helps small merchants sell to customers on social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. It has an online store with an inbuilt order-processing system. It also has a marketplace that helps small sellers procure supplies from distributors and manufacturers at the best price, further enabling micro-entrepreneurship.

“Social media as commerce platforms have the ability to disrupt traditional e-commerce players by offering personalised shopping experiences. Given India’s diverse population, social commerce will be the next great opportunity to reach new internet consumers,” said Vani Kola, managing director of Kalaari Capital.

"The Social Selling platform is tapping the large Indian e-commerce market potential beyond Metro cities. The model and unique technology empowers individuals across the country to become entrepreneurs. We believe Shop101 is well placed to grow this market" said Pawan Chaturvedi, Investment Director, Unilever Ventures.

[Top Image - Entrackr.com]

Source - Economic Times - ETTech

Ideal Insurance Acquires Insurance Biz of Emkay Insurance Brokers for ₹1.7 Crore

Kolkata headquartered Ideal Insurance Brokers Pvt Ltd, one of the leading insurance broking firms in India, today announced that it is acquiring the insurance broking business of Emkay Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd, a a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Financial Services Ltd (EGFSL), at an amount of Rs 1.71 crore. They have also got the In-principal approval from IRDA for the same.

Subject to receipt of final approval from IRDA, in an call cash deal, Ideal Insurance will take over the entire current team and existing Insurance business of Emkay Insurance Brokers Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emkay Global Financial Services.

Rahul Agarwal CEO, Ideal Insurance ,commented on the announcement: "Ideal is looking to expand quickly and capitalize on the growth in the Industry. It will be an important acquisition of Insurance broking business with respect to our strategy of building one of the largest and respected broking firm of India. They have a great team and some notable clients that will enable us to future strengthen our footprint in West . We are looking at more acquisitions across India. We look forward to the continued support of Mr Krishna Kumar Karwa and Mr Prakash Kacholia the MD’s of Emkay Global in our endeavours".

On this occasion Mr Prakash Kacholia, Director ,Emkay Insurance Broking Limited, said- Ideal Insurance Brokers , backed by Mr Rahul Agarwal is comprehensive insurance broking company with a clear vision and approach. The entire team of Ideal is capable, focused and highly driven and hence was a strong contender and an easy choice for our insurance vertical.

Ideal Insurance Brokers Pvt Ltd is an Insurance Management company providing Insurance Based Risk Solutions to both – Individuals and Corporate. Having an “Insurance Broking” license, they can deal with every insurance company and offer entire range of insurance products - Heath, life, Fire, marine, infrastructure, credit, etc. The company is headquartered in Kolkata with a presence in major Metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Surat and Raipur.

Global Financial Services Ltd (EGFSL), of which Emkay Insurance Broking Limited (EIBL) was a wholly owned subsidiary, was founded in 1995 with a clear goal of offering sound, researched backed financial advice, Emkay Global Financial Service Ltd is a leader in the financial services space , activity creating wealth for nearly 2 decades. Key services offerings including Investment Banking, Institutional Equities and Portfolio Management Services and Private Wealth Management. EIBL the wholly owned subsidiary of EGFSL was established in the year 2007 to carry on mainly the business of insurance broking.

4 Industries That Can Benefit from Advances in Technology

It seems as if there is always a new game-changing development in technology. The hype surrounding innovations like self-driving cars, augmented reality and artificial intelligence makes it seem as though everyone is onboard with these developments. However, for every business implementing new technology, there are hundreds or even thousands who haven’t even started to do the research. The marketing, banking, and retail industries have clearly embraced big data, and they are using it to offer the types of services modern consumers are demanding. However, there are still some industries which lag somewhat behind or which haven’t fully embraced all the benefits that technology provides.

Education - Personalized and Convenient Learning

Most developments in technology can be used in the educational sector in some way. Arguably though, the greatest benefits can be found in targeting educational programs to the needs of individual learners. Online education developed in response to the difficulties some people have in attending brick-and-mortar colleges. They may have family commitments, limited funds, transportation problems or other personal issues. There is scope for online education to be expanded even further, so people anywhere in the world have greater access to instruction.

However, even students in the classroom can benefit from personalized instruction. Those who are visual learners would glean more from being immersed in a VR experience than they would from a textbook. Teachers can also use digital simulations and models to explain complex phenomena. Learners are exposed to video and other visual content every day, so it makes sense to incorporate these features into educational experiences.

Conducting assessments online can also help educators to identify challenges students may be facing. Unlike paper tests, digital platforms allow them to see how long each student spent on each question. Ordinarily, teachers would only know which questions the students got right or wrong. Getting even more information on how students take tests would enable educators to zoom in on areas which prove to be difficult.

Healthcare - More Accurate Diagnoses and More Intensive Data Mining

It is likely that the use of artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry will grow rapidly over the next few years. Already, significant investments are being made. Some healthcare providers have moved from paper records to electronic record management systems, but there is scope for them to do even more. Governments, hospitals, and doctors’ offices have decades of data on patients’ symptoms, diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes. It would be almost impossible for them to manually mine this data for patterns and connections. The wider availability and application of artificial intelligence can produce actionable information to improve the healthcare services offered to patients.

AI can also help significantly with the diagnosis of illnesses. Early diagnosis leads to better outcomes for patients and cost savings to governments, insurance companies, and individuals. No matter how skilled healthcare professionals are, there are things which they may be incapable of picking up. AI technology developed by Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital was found to be more accurate at predicting heart disease than cardiologists. The widespread use of AI would, therefore, go a long way in helping doctors to better diagnose and treat illnesses across specialties.

Construction – Detailed Visualization and Centralized Management

The construction industry was initially one of the slowest to embrace technological developments. However, things have started to change, and as technology evolves, construction should follow suit. Technology can improve safety and efficiency, reduce costs and lead to better-built structures. Construction used to be about pen and paper, but tech has made it possible for transformations in both on-the-job tasks and business management.

Virtual reality and augmented reality can help workers and building owners to get 3D and 4D experiences of projects under construction. They can then collect data from the environment and make adjustments as needed. Apps like MeasureKit make it easy to measure distances and achieve level surfaces using a phone or iPad.

Sometimes a single app can assist across multiple areas. Take FieldPulse, for example. This hub helps contractors to:

• Manage and allocate human resources


• Create estimates and invoices


• Track employees time and location


• Collect online or on-the-spot payments

Centralized management reduces delays and errors, makes payment collection easier and reduces costs. It is expected that more construction companies will turn to digital solutions over time.

Customer Service – Video Chats and Bots for Speedy Assistance

Customer service is key to any business but it is especially important to those in competitive industries. When a customer doesn’t get a timely response from one business, they are almost guaranteed to go elsewhere. The business which provides fast and helpful responses to queries has an obvious competitive advantage. Technological advances can be used to anticipate what consumers want, adapt business processes to serve them, and ultimately make the business more efficient.

Many companies already use Facebook Messenger or live chat services on their websites to communicate with customers and prospects. However, text communication doesn’t convey tone well. Enter face-to-face video chats. Video is increasingly in demand, and there is no reason why it shouldn’t be incorporated into customer service. It allows for more personalized support and better relationships between businesses and those they serve.

Bots can also be used to serve and support customers when people can’t be there. Many operations can’t afford to have customer service staff on-call for 24 hours each day. Therefore, bots can answer common questions and assist with troubleshooting during off-peak hours. In the future, bots can be also be programmed to handle complex queries which involve teaching or training.

The technological revolution is well underway, and industries continue to be disrupted. Ride-sharing apps have disrupted transportation, Amazon continues to push the boundaries of retail, and digital payments have reduced the need to walk with cash. Despite, these advances, many of the technological solutions which are now gain ground can do a lot to boost many other industries. Mobile apps augmented and virtual reality, bots, and video can really lead to new frontiers in construction, education, healthcare, and customer service.

LetsTransport Raises ₹100 Cr in Series B from Bertelsmann India Investments and Others

Bengaluru-based Diptab Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which operates tech-enabled logistics marketplace for intracity deliveries LetsTransport has raised a total of INR 100 Crores (~ US $14.1 million) from Bertelsmann India Investments, Fosun International & other investors. Currently operational in 7 cities and having expertise across key industries, i.e. fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), eCommerce, retail and logistics, etc. the latest infusion of growth capital will also be used for strengthening technology, adding new industry verticals to lock in marquee clients and for scaling up the company’s operations.

Owing to the fragmented nature of the mini trucks industry in India, Intra-city logistics while on the one hand, it is twice as expensive as it is in other economies for the client, on the other hand, the truck driver community remains one of the most economically backward. This gap is attributed to inefficiencies in the existing ecosystem.

Founded in early 2015, LetsTransport is a technology-enabled managed marketplace which operates on an asset-light model wherein it partners to bring in operational efficiency for truck owners to cater to the within city logistics requirements. Its multimodal network of trucks clubbed with proprietary technology increases utilisation resulting in higher earnings for the trucks and a 30% reduction in distribution cost for the client. The platform offers one of the most reliable & elastic distribution networks that is trusted by marquee clients such as Coca-Cola, Amazon, Metro Cash & Carry, Big Bazaar etc. Letstransport has touched over 20,000 truckers by enabling higher earnings in the seven cities that it operates in—Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Vijayawada.

The company counts investors including Rebright Partners, NB Ventures, GMO Venture Partners and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital amongst others.

Pushkar Singh, CEO & Co-Founder, LetsTransport commented, “We share the same conviction as our investors to establish the largest network of intracity logistics network in a country with high urbanization rate along with a purpose to become the one-stop solution to one of the most oppressed communities – The truck drivers”. He also added, “We envision to create significant value for our clients and drivers, & are aware that the trust placed by them in us is not an entitlement, but something we need to earn, every day. With this infusion we now see ourselves penetrating the market with fantastic products and great solutions, with delighted customers backing up their journey with us. We see ourselves expanding to over 20 cities by the end of the year and our new products will help us in disrupting the industry."

Announcing the investment, Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director at Bertelsmann India Investments said, “Pushkar and his team bring in a rare combination of deep sector expertise, great industry solutions and high entrepreneurial energy. By leveraging technology to solve for fragmentation on the supply-side coupled with strong unit economics, we believe that the Company is strategically placed to capture the pole position in the market. We are excited to partner the Company’s next phase of growth."

LetsTransport, a techno-logistics solution provider precisely working on Intra City last mine logistics, Started back in early 2015 by Pushkar Singh, Sudarshan Ravi & Ankit Parasher, the company is based out of Bengaluru, and the network of the trucks is available in over seven cities and rapidly expanding to others. LetsTransport provides both on-demand and customised attachment solutions for its clients along with value-added services. LetsTransport’s services include screened drivers, audited vehicles, transparent pricing and point-to-point billing. They are working toward turning the logistic sector into a global phenomenon by making this sector smother, tech-enabled, cost-effective and unique

IKEA Inviting 20 Growth-Stage Startups to Join its Start-up Program 'IKEA Bootcamp'

Swedish furniture giant IKEA is inviting 20 growth-stage start-ups from across the world including India and Sweden to join its start-up program called IKEA Bootcamp, a 3-months long, semi-remote program slated from March 25 to June 18 2019,. With this startup program, IKEA aims to find partners that can help address the big challenges of future – ‘affordability for the many people’, ‘connecting with and being accessible for people across the world’, and ‘enabling a positive impact on the planet, the people and society’.

For its bootcamp program, IKEA has joined hands with Rainmaking, which is a startup incubator and venture development firm based out of Denmark.

IKEA Bootcamp first kicked off in 2017 where ten startups were invited to join the program, and work closely together with IKEA and Rainmaking to accelerate their startup. Now, the program has pivoted into a pilot-focused program with the aim to be working with 20 growth-stage startups.

Interested startups may apply here and the last date of application submission is 31 December, 2018.

Driven by curiosity and with a constant relevant vision in “Creating a better everyday life for the many people”, IKEA sets out to further explore how to enable the vision in the future. This in a world where everyone has to be more considerate about the limits of the planet and where an increasing urbanization is dawning, changing the needs and dreams of people.

By inviting 20 growth-stage startups to Älmhult, IKEA hopes to find partners that can help with the big challenges in creating a better everyday life at home for people all around the world, now and in the future. These challenges include ensuring ‘affordability for the many people’, ‘connecting with and being accessible for people across the world’, and ‘enabling a positive impact on the planet, the people and society’.

“IKEA has made a huge commitment where we will transform our business model from linear to a circular business – meaning many changes. For us this means a lot of entrepreneurial ‘doing’ and not waiting for perfection. We see the IKEA Bootcamp program as an opportunity to find startups with creativity and knowledge that can truly challenge us going forward.”, says Tony Sandelius, Range & Product Development manager, at IKEA of Sweden.

The 2019 program will be a three month semi-remote program, designed to accommodate the growth-stage startups, who are also managing their day-to-day business while co-creating with IKEA. Throughout the program, IKEA will continuously explore whether or not to progress with the collaborations. That means, the startups will only dedicate a full three months, if there’s a likelihood of partnering with IKEA. The program will be hosted in Älmhult - the heart of IKEA, where the startups will spend time on and off throughout the program. The Bootcamp will result in Demo Day as the “big finale” where progress and next steps with IKEA will be presented.

“IKEA Bootcamp is an initiative where we stretch ourselves to see where we can find new talents, new possibilities, and scale good ideas in order to be a partner for positive change. That is also how we will measure success, because this is not a powerpoint exercise, this is about solving real problems in a way we can act on.” says Per Krokstäde, IKEA Bootcamp manager, at IKEA of Sweden.

This year the IKEA Bootcamp will be a collaboration between IKEA Range & Supply, focusing on product and supply chain development, and the IKEA franchisee Ingka Group where the main focus will be on retail transformation for the future.

”We’re excited to get this process started as we see a huge potential in collaborating with startups to find innovative and inspiring solutions for future retail. With 75 years of experience in life at home and retail business, we are ready to explore new ways of meeting the customers’ needs, in all aspects of life. We want to create a more affordable, convenient and sustainable retail industry in collaborations with others,” says David McCabe, Development & Innovation Manager, Ingka Group.

The program will enable the selected startups to develop by applying Rainmaking’s knowledge and experience with accelerators, in the context of the IKEA values and vision.

“This second edition of the IKEA Bootcamp is more focused on bridging gaps between IKEA and impactful startups solving real-world problems. We’re proud to extend the partnership to also include the retail side of IKEA, which is a meaningful addition to the scope.”, says Alex Farcet, Partner for Rainmaking.

Via - Inventiva | Source - IKEA Newsroom