MobiKwik to Clock 70,000 Digital Loans in May 2019

MobiKwik, India’s leading FinTech Company, today announced that it will clock 70,000 fully-digital loans in May 2019. MobiKwik has disbursed over 5 lakh loans since it started digital lending on its app last year and approx. 55,000 loans in April 2019 alone. MobiKwik’s Digital Lending business is amongst the fastest growing in the industry with over 25% MoM growth in 2019. As a Payments platform, the company has the unique opportunity to distribute affordable loan products to millions of its users and SMEs using their payments and profile data for credit underwriting. Each month about 1 million users apply for a digital loan on the MobiKwik Android and iOS apps.

MobiKwik’s loan products are delivered end-to-end on its mobile app, including the entire user targeting, loan journey, and money disbursal. The company offers an extensive portfolio of loans including Boost Term Loan, Boost Credit Line, and Shopping Loan to cater to diverse customer requirements. These loans are made available to users at competitive interest rates in partnership with 5 leading NBFCs. MobiKwik was the first Consumer Payments company to launch Digital Lending and is also the first in the industry to disburse loans in the customer’s mobile wallet.

MobiKwik recently partnered with a select set of its merchants to roll out ‘MobiKwik Money Solutions’ which empowers small and medium merchants to instantly facilitate digital loans to the thousands of walk-in customers in his/her store. This unique approach allows MobiKwik to extend the distribution of its ‘Boost’ loan to customers who are not on its app while at the same time creating a new revenue stream for its merchants and boosting their income.

Speaking on the growth of the credit business, Ms. Upasana Taku, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, MobiKwik, said, “Digital Lending has been our top performing business line since its roll out in March 2018 and is the largest contributor to our growth story. We started out with the objective of providing affordable and accessible financial services to billions of Indians. Over the last one year, our loan products have been well received by customers across tier-1, 2 and 3 towns and cities. With our simple products, easy user journeys and robust payments ecosystem, we have made it possible for lacs of Indians to get access to digital credit in their mobile app in 90 seconds. This is hugely rewarding and motivating for us as an organization. We hope to impact millions of lives in a similar fashion with our innovative loan, insurance and investment products in the coming years.”

Added Ms. Taku, “Lending in India is a trillion-dollar opportunity and this early success is only the tip of the iceberg. We are in the process of rolling out several new loan products for both consumers and SMEs and are confident of a 5X growth in FY20.”

Last year, MobiKwik revolutionized the digital lending industry with the roll out of its 90-second personal loan product ‘Boost’- that offers instant loan disbursal to MobiKwik users. ‘Boost’ loan does not require any security, is processed digitally and makes it possible for users to get the money in their mobile wallet in 90 seconds. MobiKwik disburses instant loans of as low as Rs. 1000 ticket size to as high as Rs. 100,000.

MobiKwik has significant data on its users, based on their transactions on the MobiKwik platform. Using this data, MobiKwik has created its own proprietary credit score called MobiScore, which is used to decide the loan eligibility for the user. The loan availed, can be used by the user across a range of use cases including urgent purchases, marriage expenses, travel plans, hotel bookings, medical emergencies, as well as payments to offline and online merchants. The loan amount is payable in easy monthly instalments. The customers can either payback from the MobiKwik app or can enable MobiKwik’s NBFC partner to auto-debit the monthly EMI from their bank account.

MobiKwik, one of India’s leading fintech platforms, operates businesses in consumer payments, payment gateway, and financial services. The vision of the company is to build accessible, and affordable digital financial services for a Billion Indians. Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company has raised 4 rounds of funding from marquee investors including Sequoia Capital, American Express, and Net1.

MobiKwik’s consumer payments network is one of the largest in India with 107 million users, 3 million merchants, and 200+ billers. In the last year, the company has launched 3 new financial services - lending, insurance and wealth for its users and merchants. Earlier in 2018, it launched India’s fastest loan product ‘Boost’, which disburses money in the user’s wallet in 90 seconds. In Oct 2018, the company acquired Clearfunds, one of India’s emerging wealth startups.

[Published Unedited Via Business Wire India feed]

How a Project Management Professional Certification can Boost Your career

Project Managers struggle on multiple fronts in leading projects forward from initiation to closure. They must employ both soft skills and hard skills to unify disparate teams and systems to work together towards achieving one goal against a clock that moves stubbornly forward regardless of the issues and challenges that crop up in the course of a project’s lifetime.

Whilst this can prove to be the most rewarding aspect of a project manager’s career, without a sound strategy and a solid framework on which to tackle these challenges, this can prove to be a defeating endeavor rather than the fulfilling experience that it can be. To this end, Project Managers would do well to undergo Project Management Professional training and certification to not only manage projects more effectively but to also boost their careers forward to success.

Whilst there are many ways to manage a project, the underlying structure on how to effectively manage it is universal. This is due to the fact that projects flow through the same phases regardless of industry, location, and size. Moreover, the same areas of interest are common throughout all projects to be the scope, costs, communications, etc.

To this end, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has identified a framework that has since become an international standard employed the world over in projects of all sizes. Its foundational yet comprehensive nature has become the gold standard of project management, giving certified project managers an executable framework that greatly aids the chances of success. The framework is identified in PMI’s PMBoK, the Project Management Body of Knowledge, on which the PMP training and certification is based.

To this end, the PMP coursework focuses on 4 main areas as follows

• Project Framework


• Project Lifecycle


• Project Knowledge Areas


• Ethics and Conduct

Each of these areas provides an indispensable structure on which to build a career in project management whilst offering a strong yet flexible framework on which projects can be built and managed successfully. Each area tackles a different aspect of project management whilst together they provide a tried and tested methodology that can increase projects’ success rates exponentially.

Project Framework

The Project Framework section outlines the best practices in the general administration of projects. Highlighting the differences between programs, portfolios, and projects, it goes on to provide a strong foundational understanding of the operations aspect of project management. This includes alignment of mission, vision, goals, and strategy, objectives and tactics, and organizational strategy and how it links with the projects being undertaken.

Furthermore, it explains how project managers can enumerate the business benefits any given project will realize and how these can be of value to the business. Working with constraints and organizational systems is another important aspect of project management which is covered in the course along with the role PMs play within the entire ecosystem.

Project Lifecycle

The project lifecycle is a consistent structure that is true for any project. A project is defined as a that has a beginning and an end, thus providing us with the first and last steps of the project lifecycle – initiation and closure. Within that time span, each project goes through the same stages. Once the project is initiated, that is to say, the requirements have been gathered, goals set and objects agreed upon, projects move on to the next logical phase, that of planning. In the planning phase, project managers, plan every aspect of the project from scope and timelines, to communication plans, the project charter, and costs involved. Once the planning phase has been fully completed, the project will move to execution where the carefully laid-out-plans are executed. Once the project execution gets underway, control and monitoring kick in which includes reporting to all stakeholders, and management of the actual project as it is being executed according to the plan. Once these phases are fully completed, the project will move to its closure phase where the objectives are met and signed-off and the project is declared a success.

Project Knowledge Areas

The project knowledge areas identify those areas that project managers need to concern themselves with. Traditionally, 3 areas are identified; cost, resources, and time, however, PMP digs deeper to provide a more holistic and realistic view of the several requirements projects have across the globe. By successfully managing the ten knowledge areas laid out in the PMP training, project managers increase their chances of success many folds over, thus ensuring the entire lifecycle moves forward with fewer disruptions and an equally less chance of failure.

The knowledge areas are identified as follows;

• Integration


• Scope


• Schedule


• Cost


• Quality


• Resources


• Communication


• Risk


• Procurement


• Stakeholder

These 10 areas, when considered together, provide a far stronger picture of project management and project managers would do well to spend extra time and attention in making sure that they familiarise themselves fully with all ten areas.

Ethics and Conduct

Project Managers need to conduct themselves responsibly and professionally at all times. As the ones bearing responsibility for the project, bringing together teams and people who might not always have the same goals can prove to be a challenge. With this responsibility in mind, bringing everyone together towards one vision and one goal might not always be the easiest of endeavors and as such ethical conduct if of the utmost importance. This not only helps people work together but ensures that the project manager responsible for the project is held in high esteem and regard, thus being able to provide better leadership to those on whom she or he depends.

Managing projects can be a highly rewarding career. From meeting different people to working with different business functions, being a project manager is an experience that helps the individual grow exponentially whilst teaching valuable leadership and life skills which can cross over to many other functions thus increasing the amount and breadth of future opportunities.

This can only happen if project management is done right and through acquiring a PMP certification, practitioners can ensure that they are putting both of their feet onto the path of success.

Fintech Startup Progcap Raises ₹7 Crore Seed Funding led by GrowX Ventures

Delhi-based Progcap, a technology-driven lending startup for last mile businesses, has raised a seed funding round of ₹ 7 Crores led by GrowX ventures, a leading B2B and deep tech-focused early-stage venture fund. Progcap’s mission is to empower these customers by providing them affordable and timely credit, leveraging world-class technology. Apart from GrowX, Contrarian Drishti, along with angel investors Somak Ghosh and Abhishek Dalmia, participated in the round.

Progcap (Desiderata Impact Ventures) is an inclusive financing technology firm working to disrupt the market for credit for last mile businesses through a mix of technology and alternative data driven credit scoring. Through its Last Mile Retailer Finance Facility, Progcap provides the under banked, semi-urban and rural retailers in India access to flexible, collateral-free working capital.

The startup was founded by Pallavi Shrivastava and Himanshu Chandra in 2017 after years of working on the ground with small businesses in their respective jobs. Pallavi has a background in development finance having worked in organizations including International Finance Corporation and the World Bank. Himanshu’s experience spans over a decade in the financial services industry, with institutions such as Standard Chartered, Barclays and Carlyle Group.

Commenting on the fundraise, the company's founders said, "Our vision is to broaden the opportunities for businesses in the last mile. There are over 20 million retailers in India who are unplugged from formal financing. We are working towards building a platform to integrate these businesses into the real economy.” The team added, “It’s been a terrific partnership with GrowX. They have helped us tremendously in broadening the vision for the Company while also helping build key partnerships."

Through its Last Mile Retailer Finance facility (LMRF), Progcap provides access to fast and flexible collateral-free, working capital to retailers in Tier II, III and IV towns, where retailers typically face challenges in accessing capital for their businesses. Over half of Progcap’s customers are new to the credit ecosystem. Progcap’s lending platform risk models these businesses using non-traditional ecosystem data creating credit scores for customers that are currently left out by the traditional financial institutions.

Speaking about the investment, Manu Rikhye, Partner at GrowX ventures, said, “Pallavi and Himanshu are an outstanding team, and GrowX is very excited to be part of their journey. Progcap is focused on a very large and underserved market of micro-business owners. Their approach to solving the financial needs of the last mile retailers will deliver tremendous value across the supply chain, starting from the large brands and distributors to the retailers."

GrowX is a B2B and deep tech focused early-stage venture fund, which works closely with investee firms at both strategic and operational levels to drive scale and success. Its investments are focused on seed and pre-Series A stages across a wide range of sectors. GrowX has invested in over 25 companies, including Doxper, Fynd, Locus, Mad Street Den, Quandl, Wellthy Therapeutics, and Ziploan among others.

Solar Tech Startup ZunRoof Raises $1.2 Mn from Godrej family office

Gurgaon headquartered ZunRoof, a solar tech startup, has raised a fresh round of pre-series A funding of $1.2 million from Godrej family office.

ZunRoof, which has designed solar rooftops for over 10,000 residential houses, plans to use the funds raised in its expansion and further strengthen its product portfolio.

With this round, the startup has raised a total of about $1.5 million in funding over four rounds. The startup last raised funds in January when it receives an undisclosed capital in its 3rd round of angel funding from angel investors including Ramakant Sharma, Founder of Livspace and Arun Diaz of IntelleGrow along with the lead investors of ZunRoof's previous round.

The ZunrRoof funding comes within a week after an another rooftop solar PV startup, CleanMax Solar, raised $39 million in funding from the United Kingdom (UK) Climate Investments LLP (UKCI), which is a joint venture between the Green Investment Group and the U.K. Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Launched in 2016, ZunRoof designs and delivers the right Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) solution for urban home owners in Delhi (NCR). It installs solar PV systems on rooftops to produce and sell electricity to the grid. The company uses computer vision, AI (artificial intelligence) and VR (virtual reality) to streamline the solar rooftop installation and maintenance for homeowners.

The startup claims to be contributing to the government's target of achieving 40 Gw of rooftop solar power by 2022.

"Our pre-series A and backing from Pirojsha Godrej comes at the perfect time - allows us to hire and retain great talent, scale solar rooftop operations across India and launch our home-IOT products. We are already market leaders for residential solar rooftops in more than 40 cities and aim to build on this lead to bring smart and clean energy choices to every home in India," Pranesh Chaudhary, founder & chief executive officer of ZunRoof said on the fourth round of funding.

The home tech startup serves customers in more than 40 cities, including Delhi-NCR region, Bengaluru, Chennai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Jaipur, Haridwar, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar.

"We are delighted to support ZunRoof's exciting plans in the home IOT (internet of things) and solar rooftop spaces. The founders' exciting vision combined with the passion, knowledge and the leadership they've demonstrated in the space makes us very excited to be a part of their journey," said Pirojsha Godrej, Executive Chairman, Godrej Properties.

Zunroof has developed proprietary tools, which help it to come up with accurate size and design of the system as well as all techno-economic feasibility metrics of the roof within minutes.

According to Mercom India Research’s Q4 and Annual 2018 India Solar Market update, Rooftop solar had an impressive year in 2018 growing by 66%. While the Indian solar market installed 8,263 MW in CY 2018, down 15.5% compared to 9,782 MW in CY 2017 as the safeguard duty, GST issues, and land and transmission issues took a toll on the large-scale installations.

Via ~ Business Standard

Top Image - Walmart.com

‘HandiTalks’ Inspires Foodprenuers and F&B Start-Ups

Hyderabad based start-up, “The Culinary Lounge” is pioneering a new wave called ‘HandiTalks’, giving foodprenuers, F & B start-ups, foodies and wannabe chefs an open live platform to develop culinary ideas, interact and to get inspired on what is needed in getting into culinary business or learning to know how to run food & beverages business and create a place in the industry.

The concept has already generated much interest among foodprenuers and wannabe chefs who have signed up for HandiTalks that happens during the last Saturday of every month.

Since its launch in June 2018, with 9 editions to boast and more than 300 food enthusiasts have signed up for ‘HandiTalks’ till now. While the HandiTalks has no fee for entry, applicants are strictly screened, vetted and approved by the creators of this novel concept.

The last edition of HandiTalks saw Young foodprenuer Neehar Bisabathini, the founder of CHURROLTO. Neehar shared his entrepreneurial journey of making a savoury and desert place CHURROLTO, how he is crossing all barriers to run it successfully last 4 years, and grown from his small 400 square foot place to establish a vast place in the upmarket Jubilee hills. He shared his challenges in building his venture, managing kitchen, standing at the counter, and his interactions with variety of customers. The interaction with this budding entrepreneur was the longest of all the previous editions of HandiTalks.

HandiTalks is the brainchild of Gopi Krishna Byluppala, a 36-year-old, serial budding entrepreneur, an Electronics Engineer from Madras University, a firm believer of #NeverEatAlone philosophy, along with his Key Partner Sushma Thotta.

“We wanted to celebrate cooking, learning, enjoying food and get culinary enthusiasts in touch with each other to know how enjoyable or tough to get into F & B business. HandiTalks, is a congregation of intellectuals to network and to talk on food & beverages business and to help build the ecosystem in a fun filled, evocative manner." says the founder Gopi Krishna Byluppala.

HandiTalks is a growing HUB for “pros”, “learners”, and “proletarians”, offering opportunity to learn all about food and food business on the go, and to pick up some tricks of the trade, or enrich their culinary knowledge.” Key Partner, Sushma adds.

“The Culinary Lounge” ideas have been growing steadily and attracted a lot of participation for their different properties other than “HandiTalks”, they also have 3 interesting properties namely “Impossible chefs”, “Supper Club” and “Dad’s Cooking Club.

“The Culinary Lounge” is a Bootstrapped, angel funded start-up, aims to tap its next round of funding soon. While the revenue in 2018-2019 grew 4X times the previous financial year, The Culinary Lounge grew from a 3-member team to a 15-member team, and continue to grow aggressively. The plan for this year is to grow a team size of 50. And also scaling up to other cities this year. Till now 50+ events for Corporate, 1800+ for kids, 150+ private events and experiential dinners have been hosted at The Culinary Lounge.

AI, Cybersecurity, IoT & Cloud Accounts 50% of Tech Patents Filed by Indian Firms in the US

India's apex body for IT, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industries in India, released a report on April 26 named "Emerging Technologies: Leading the next wave of IP Creation for India", which states that in the 4 years -- from 2015 to 2018 -- Indian companies filed over 4,600 patents in the United States, the majority of which (64.8%) are technology patents.

According to the report, share of tech patents in total patents filed in the US increased to two-third (2/3rd) in 2017/18 from half in 2015. Of the technology patents, the share of emerging technologies has increased consistently to 56.3% in the 2017-2018 period from 38.3% in 2015.

Notably, 40% of the tech patents filed by Indian firms have been granted, said the report.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) leads the emerging technologies patent race both in terms of a total number of patents. From 2015 to 2018, some 330 AI patents were filed in the US by Indian firms. It was followed by patents filed in cybersecurity (193), IoT (107) and cloud computing (88).

Under AI, Machine Learning was the leading sub-domain in AI with over 70% share.

Focusing on the Indian technology innovation story, the Nasscom report explore how companies domiciled in India
are creating IP assets in the US, as exports to US are almost 62% of the technology industry in India and almost 80% of US MNCs have set up presence in India.

Indian startups are also catching up as during 2015-18, India-based startups have filed nearly 200 patents in the US, the majority of which focused on emerging technology areas including image processing, AI, cybersecurity, vehicle technology, and IoT.

NASSCOM President Debjani Ghosh said the report is the first in a series to understand how Indian technology companies are creating IP assets in its largest market.

"As a country, India can further strengthen its potential as an innovation hub through more investments in research and strategic collaborations. We are confident that we will usher in a new wave of innovation and intelligence in the country," said Debjani in a media statement.

It noted that the average patent granting time in the US is 22 months, and nearly 40% of the tech patents filed during 2015- 2018 period had been granted as of February 2019.

The top filers were also top Indian companies, namely Reliance Industries Limited, Welspun Steel, Mahindra, Bharat Petroleum, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL, and Infosys.

New applications areas including Navigation, Digital Payments, Logistics, Text/Data Mining and Cyber Security are leading the growth story.





In one of AI patents filed, Bangalore-based Edtech startup, Indiavidual Learning Pvt Ltd (also known as Embibe) has a patent called "Adaptive learning machine for score improvement", wherein Indiavidual Learning has filed patents related to method or system for providing an adaptive learning machine based user interaction. The patent provides a self- learning/adapting system that uses novel user-targeted behavioral interventions thereby allowing a user to continually improve her scoring ability by generating challenges and remedial spot recommendations based on user's previous attempts, aptitude level of user, behavioral, and test-taking skill, thus allowing the user to continuously improve her score in a limited time frame.

In one of IoT patents filed, Bangalore-based IoT firm, Mangasost Consulting has a patent for a Wearable device for a child to communicate with parents and friends.

Under UAVs/ Drone, Infosys-backed drone startup, Ideaforge Technology Pvt Ltd, has filed patent in the field of multi-rotor aerial vehicle called "Multi-rotor aerial vehicle with single arm failure redundancy", that is capable of maintaining a stable flight even if one of its arms and/or associated components fail due to any reason.

Top Featured Image (representative) by Amber Avalona from Pixabay

Jungle Ventures' third VC Fund gets $175 Mn from Temasek, IFC, Cisco and Others

Singapore based Venture Capital (VC) firm, Jungle Ventures, that invests in and helps build tech category leaders from Asia, has received commitments of around $175 million for its third VC fund, said a report by Livemint.

According to the report, about 90% of the $175 million of third VC fund, which may increase to $220 million, came from institutional investors in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which include International Finance Corporation (IFC) of World Bank group, DEG - Deutsche Investitions, Germany, Cisco Investments, and Temasek Holdings among others.

Jungle Ventures, which has recently invested in Singapore's TookiTaki, has raised a total of $275 Mn across two VC funds. The third, Jungle Ventures III, was announced in December last year.

Founded in 2012, by Anurag Srivastava (IIM-Calcutta) and Amit Anand (IIT-Kanpur), Jungle Ventures invests in technology and e-commerce start-ups in India and south-east Asia. The firm later on-boarrrded Jayesh Parekh, the co-founder of Sony Entertainment Television, and David Gowdey, the former operating partner at private equity firm TPG Growth. In July last year, Grace Xia, Tencent’s former senior director of strategy & development, joined Jungle Ventures as a principal.

From its third fund, Jungle Ventures has already made 5 new investments where it led Series A & Series B rounds, said the report. Each year, the firm invests in around 10-15 tech startups and software companies, specifically across Series A and B rounds.

In India, some of the recent investments of Jungle ventures include Livspace, Paysense, Moglix and Klinify among others. The funds’ last 8 investments globally in Southeast Asia have collectively reached over $500 Mn.

London gets UK-India Tech Hub to Nurture Startups amid Brexit Uncertainty

A new United Kingdom (UK)-India tech hub was inaugurated in London on Monday to promote cross-border technology transfer in early stage businesses between the two countries.

The hub, described as a first-of-its-kind collaboration between a venture capital (VC) fund and a business district, has been set up by UK-based VC fund Pontaq at the new Royal Albert Dock business district in East London.

The hub, described as a first-of-its-kind collaboration between a venture capital (VC) fund and a business district, has been set up by UK-based VC fund Pontaq at the new Royal Albert Dock business district in East London.

It aims at promoting bilateral investments in the field of financial technology (fintech), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and smart cities.

"Brexit or no Brexit, Indian tech companies will always choose the UK as one of the locations of choice," said Dr Mohan Kaul, chairman of Pontaq.

"Both India and the UK are among the top five in the world when it comes to tech start-ups and with this new hub, we feel Indian companies can find a lot of traction and space to go global," he said.

Pontaq, launched as a VC fund focussed on the India-UK corridor last year, has nine companies as part of its portfolio and expects around 40 others to join the ranks over the next three years.

The tech hub, which will serve as Pontaq's UK headquarters, will give its portfolio of companies access to funding as well as office space and mentoring.

The hub is located at the Royal Albert Dock business district, being set up as part of a 1.7 billion pounds investment plan and phase-wise development in east London.

The hub was inaugurated by UK investment minister Graham Stuart, who hailed London as the world's "leading financial centre with best-in-class regulation and world-class professional services," and Indian high commissioner to the UK Ruchi Ghanashyam, who reiterated that Brexit would not dampen the spirit of Indian investments into the UK.

Source - Business Standard

Robotics to Blockchain, Game-Changing Products Unboxed at India Internet Day Launchpad

The Launchpad at TIE India Internet Day had the audience sitting on the edge of their seats, when Mitra - the Humanoid took to stage to welcome six disrupting products from India. Conceptualised by BoringBrands, #iDay Launchpad, was anchored by Rajan Anandan, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital, provided an opportunity to the curated startups for presenting their new products/services to an audience of VCs, entrepreneurs, and other prominent leaders of the industry. TiE Delhi-NCR hosted its 8th edition of India Internet Day, following the theme, 'India Internet Unboxed: Getting ready for a 100 Unicorns'.

Products presented at the event included:

Bandikoot by Genrobotic Innovations- The first robotic scavenger, the delight of the Launchpad, solves for manual scavenging. The founder revealed a heart warming story of how an erstwhile manual scavenger was now a robot operator at their startup.

Mirrar by StyleDotMe- A Fashion Tech startup providing virtual experience to try jewellery with the help of Augmented Reality (AR) on their iOS devices. Working with top jewelers across the country already, Styledotme launched its app version at Launchpad.

Appstract- While Blockchain has found immense popularity in the payments world, Appstract revealed an app built on the blockchain technology to reinvent the digital distribution of game items. The jury at Launchpad believed that this would open up the world of gaming and take it to next-level.

Ambee- A data-driven environmental intelligence technology to improve health, is drilling pollution data block by block. The startup founders believe that this data can help government to take constructive action towards better living.

Probus- A full suite of IoT solutions that monitor the health of distribution sub- station. The founders believe that every product result from the ideas formed on their lab's whiteboards and worktables must bring smiles in the lives of people using them. Acting as a IoT platform, Probus is working on building energy efficiency in the power distribution industry.

Clinikk- A one-stop shop for affordable and accessible point of contact for health assistance. The founders believe that India continues to have unmet services when it comes to healthcare. With Clinikk, people can now avail healthcare services at one click.



A set of four jury members that comprised of Rajan Anandan, Managing Director at Sequoia India; Vani Kola, Managing Director of Kalaari Capital; Deep Kalra, Group CEO at MakeMyTrip, and Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director at Bertelsmann India Investments selected the six startups out of the 70+ received.

Commenting on the event, Rajan Anandan - President, Director , TiE Delhi-NCR said, “This is the first time that we have organized a session like Launchpad at India Internet Day. It is a part of one of our many initiatives to 10x the startup ecosystem in India. NCR has emerged as a hot bed of ideation and startup activity and we are working to take things towards their logical course. The event was amazing with top 6 entrepreneurial companies from across the country showcasing their innovative products. We have already received a lot of appreciation and we look forward to more such years of success."

Adding to this, Aakriti Bhargava, Co-Founder at BoringBrands said, “Indian entrepreneurs are building some fantastic products. It was heartwarming to see the products showcased here solving some real issues with Robotics and Data Science. It is mesmerizing to see young entrepreneurs taking initiatives to identify and plan to bridge prevalent issues in society."

It has been a great experience working with TiE to bring out a successful session like #iDay Launchpad. ’’, she added.

Networking at the event, one of the new-age entrepreneurs stated, “The #iDay Launchpad is a great session that aims at raising a hundred new start-ups and ventures backed up by internet-centric innovations with the prospect of being global”. TiE believes in the power of innovation by startups, and the zest and zeal shown by entrepreneurs at the Launchpad, empowered the next-gen pioneers to pick up a more profound knowledge into the chances and advancing patterns in the business, he added. Sharing views on the concept of Launchpad, another entrepreneur said “The energy at this platform is insane and this is one of the greatest places to be at. It also gives the exposure to meet different investors and connect on a higher level to give the startup culture a hope of the future,”

The India Internet Day is an annual meet which brings together different stakeholders along with pioneers of the internet and entrepreneurial community to deliver ideas for the benefit of young entrepreneurs. It aims at empowering the next- generation leaders in getting a deeper insight in the advancing patterns in the industry. This year, the main theme at the 8th edition of India Internet Day, 2019 is India Internet Unboxed : Getting ready for a 100 Unicorns. The event plans to have focused and thought-provoking discussions to target entrepreneurs which attracts start-ups, unicorns, industry leaders, investors, mentors, policy-makers, and many more key domain experts from across the country every year.

India's Poor Ecosystem Holding Back Women Entrepreneurs - Facebook Official

Four out of every five women from metros as well as smaller towns in India are eager to start their own businesses and become entrepreneurs, but lack of networks and accessible technological infrastructure are holding them back in their tracks, a top Facebook official has said.

Facebook, in 2017, introduced a programme for women-founded companies — SheLeads Tech — to support them with access to community, tools, mentorship and resources to succeed in building a business in technology.

The programme has now expanded to 87 cities in the country with 596 women-led tech start-ups across agritech, edutech, gaming and other verticals in just two years since its launch.

“If we go back three years, the number of women-founded start-ups in the ecosystem were about nine per cent and today it has grown to 14 per cent.

“Even the money that was raised by women entrepreneurs and their start-ups has increased from 3.5 per cent to 5.4 per cent now,” Satyajeet Singh, Head of Platform Partnerships, South Asia, Facebook told IANS.

India is the third largest start-up market globally and with its start-up initiatives like SheLeads Tech, Code for the Next Billion, India Innovation Hub and more, Facebook has come to discover that the start-up phenomenon is rapidly expanding to smaller cities.

“We have start-ups coming from Dehradun, Hubli, Nasik and other smaller cities. The widespread start-ups phenomenon is very much present in tier two and three towns,” Singh said.

Supported by 30 women mentors, Facebook’s SheLeads Tech initiative aims to provide a platform to women entrepreneurs across all tech-related sectors like agritech, healthtech, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), gaming, beauty, sanitation, water harvesting and more.

The education technology sector has especially seen a massive inclination from Indian women entrepreneurs, according to Facebook.

“Facebook’s SheLeads Tech is a very close community that has helped me stay connected with what all is happening in the start-up world across the country,” said Sai Gole, Co-founder of Pune-based start-up, LeanAgri, that designs tech solutions for unorganised sectors and underserved communities like farmers in India.

"Facebook’s training and mentoring sessions have helped us understand consumer psychology and ways to target campaigns in the market."

The social networking giant believes that for start-ups to flourish in India, entrepreneurs in smaller towns must get access to metro-level infrastructure and learning from established people and companies, who are willing to mentor and give back to the community.

Encouraged by the positive response that the social networking giant has received through its start-up boosting initiatives in India, the company now plans to double its efforts in helping students in technology related fields to escalate the country’s businesses and economy.

“We not only have to invest in start-ups today, we also have to start investing in start-ups for tomorrow, like tech students. We have to make sure that we are inspiring them to start up and create more jobs rather than looking for one,” Singh added.

This content was first published in CNBCTV18

MilkBasket Raises $2.85 Mn in Debt Funding from Sachin Bansal's BAC Acquisitions

Gurgaon headquartered grocery and milk delivery startup MilkBasket has raised an additional Rs 20 crore ( ~ US$2.863 million) in venture debt led by Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal’s BAC Acquisitions, reported Economic Times citing sources.

With this funding, Milkbasket has raised close to $19 million in total from seven rounds since its inception in 2015. Prior to this, the company had last raised $7 million in Series A from Mayfield Fund, in December.

Mikbasket, which competes with ZopNow, Supr Daily, Country Delight and DailyNinja, counts high profile investos as it backers that include Kalaari Capital, Unilever Ventures, EVC Ventures, BeeNext, and Blume Ventures.

Launched in 2015, by Anant Goel, Anurag Jain, Ashish Goel, Ekwe Chiwundu Charles and Yatish Talavdia, Milkbasket is touted as India's first subscription-based micro-delivery service fulfilling daily dairy essentials and household needs of consumers. The company closed FY18 with Rs 35 crore in revenue.

Last month, Milkbasket made its first acquisition when it acquired Noida-based Veggie India, an online store for organic fruits and vegetables.

Sequoia-backed DailyNinja, also a hyper-local delivery startup for milk and groceries, had raised $5.5 million from Matrix Partners India, in September last year. The closest competitor of Milkbasket has raied total of $10 Mn and made two small acquisitions of -- WakeupBasket and 4amShop, both based out of Hyderabad.4

Mumbai-based SuprDaily, which is backed by Y Combinator, is also into daily subscription business for milk along with bread, eggs, coconut water, etc.. SuprDaily has raised a total of ₹10 crore in funding over three rounds, accoding to the data by Crunchbase.

Notably all three -- MilkBasket, DailyNinja and SuprDaily were launched in same year of 2015 when Indian startup space was going through funding crunch.

Tiger Global to Invest in 5 Indian SaaS-based Startups in Next Month

Tiger Global Management is likely to invest in as many as 5 SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies in India in May including Locus, a logistics management software company, reported Livemint citing two people familiar with the development.

According to the report, Tiger Global will evaluate SaaS bets at all stages—not just early but even series B and beyond. While a few of them are sub-$20 million cheques, there are 1-2 other SaaS companies the New York-based firm is talking to for Series B and C financing.

Tiger Global’s latest fund Tiger Global Private Investment Partners XI of $3.75 billion, which it had closed in October last year, will focus on consumer internet, cloud computing, industry software and direct-to-consumer companies in India, China and the US.

Tiger Global has now started giving term sheets to several SaaS companies in India.

In this month, the New York-based hedge fund has already invested in Innovapptive, a Houston and Hyderabad-based connected workforce platform for asset intensive industries, and in CleverTap, a marketing automation and analytics platform. Last month, it led the $42 Mn funding of Ola Electric Mobility, the Electric Vehicle (EV) unit of ANI Technologies that owns the home-grown cab-hailing firm Ola. Prior to this, it had invested in expense management software Fyle, facilities management software startup Facilio.

Tiger Global, which is one of the early backers of India’s flourishing startup ecosystem, had slowed down their investments for several years in India, but now with their new fund, investments in India have picked up pace. "Now that there are high-quality SaaS companies in India, Tiger is bullish on them," said the Livemint report

Globally, the fund has invested in companies such as China’s Udesk, which is an enterprise platform for intelligent customer service. It has also invested in US-based Green Bits, a company that makes point-of-sale software for cannabis retailers.

In November last year, Tiger Global had led the $3 million Series A funding round of Checkmate, a platform that helps small & medium sized restaurants to integrate with multiple online ordering plaforms, founded by a Delhi University alumnus.

To recall, in February this year, two former Tiger Global executives -- Ravi Venkatesh and Edwina Yeo, had launched a new set of venture funds called 'Tanglin Venture Partners', which is also backed by local internet entrepreneurs in India including Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal, Udaan cofounder Sujeet Kumar, Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Facebook’s Asia Pacific head Dan Neary.

Pune-based Industrial IoT Firm Altizon Raises $7Mn from TVS Motor's Singapore Subsidy

Pune-based Altizon Inc, a global Industrial IoT (IIoT) platform company addressing the manufacturing industries, today announced the closure of its series A+ funding round of $7 million. This important round was led by TVS Motor Company (Singapore) Pte. Limited, the Singapore based Subsidiary of TVS Motor Company Limited and participated by existing investors The Hive, Wipro Ventures, and Lumis Partners.

Altizon plans to use the funds to strengthen its international presence and continue its investments in IP development. Altizon’s Datonis Industrial IoT platform addresses the breadth of industrial IoT needs from intelligent edge computing to business applications for smart manufacturing.

With the latest funding, Altizon raised a total of about $11 million in five rounds. The startup had earlier raised undisclosed amount in July 2018 from a non-equity assistance round. Prior to which, it had raised $4 million in Series A funding round led by Wipro Ventures, the $100-million venture capital arm of India's third largest software exporter Wipro, in February 2016.

“The Industrial IOT market continues to expand at a rapid pace and this investment brings on board TVS Motor Company which is the flagship company of the multi-billion $ TVS Group, with deep experience building companies in the industrial sector,” said Vinay Nathan, CEO of Altizon. Vinay further added, “We have a strong roster of global industrial majors as our customers and they can now gain further benefit from our global footprints and enhanced technology offerings.”

Rajesh Narasimhan, Board Member of TVS Motor Company and CEO of TVS Motor (Singapore) quoted “After detailed assessments around industrial IOT platforms we found Altizon’s technology portfolio of definitive value in driving digital transformation with Industrial IOT. We are hence delighted to invest and have the opportunity to partner them in their exciting journey of growth and market leadership. This is amongst our first set of investments in digital start-ups focused on the Automotive and Fintech Industries.”

TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte. Limited, headquartered in Singapore is the wholly owned subsidiary of TVS Motor Company that is being leveraged to operationalize a digital technology startup focused on the Automotive and Fintech industries with portfolios and offerings that will deliver high quality solutions to help address real life business challenges by harnessing the power of Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML) and Virtual reality (VR). The strategy adopts both inorganic and organic means for the initial build out and subsequent expansion and growth.

Founded in 2013, by Ranjit Nair, Vinay Nathan and Yogesh Kulkarni, Altizon is an Industrial IoT company empowering Industrial Digital Revolutions globally by helping enterprises use machine data to drive business decisions. With a global footprint of over 100 enterprise users, Altizon is recognized by Gartner in its Magic Quadrant for IIoT Platforms and by other analyst firms including Forrester Research, Frost & Sullivan, VDC Research and BCG.

TVS Motor Company is a public listed company headquartered in India. It is a highly reputed two and three-wheeler manufacturer, and the flagship company of the USD 8.5 billion TVS Group. Rooted in the 100-year legacy of Trust, Value, Passion for Customers and Exactness, it takes pride in making internationally aspirational products of the highest quality through innovative and sustainable processes. TVS Motor Company is also the only two-wheeler company to have received the prestigious Deming Prize. It is the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and ranks in the top 10 globally. The company has an excellent track record with innovation and quality and is the market leader in customer service.

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Samsung Developing Blockchain based on Ethereum, To Issue its own "Samsung Coin" Token

South Korean multinational conglomerate and electronics giant Samsung is developing its own blockchain network based on Ethereum and even planning to issue its own token eventually thereafter, reported CoinDesk Korea citing a person privy to Samsung’s internal developments.

Samsung’s blockchain task force, which is part of its wireless division, is building a blockchain mainnet based on Ethereum in an “internal experimental” stage, said the report.

The report quoted the person and said, "Currently, we are thinking of private blockchain, though it is not yet confirmed. It could also be public blockchain in the future, but I think it will be hybrid – that is, a combination of public and private blockchains."

The report further said that after the company is done with the development of the blockchain, it may also move to launch a "Samsung Coin" token.

It is to be noted that, Samsung has already unveiled its flagship smartphone with "Crypto features" wherein the smartphone -- Galaxy S10 -- can store cryptocurrency private keys and support a host of blockchain-based features including digital signatures.

Notably, on Wednesday, Samsung SDS, the IT subsidiary of Samsung, has released a new version of its enterprise blockchain platform dubbed Nexledger Universal.

Prior to this, Samsung SDS had also announced the partnership with India's IT major Tech Mahindra to collaborate in the global blockchain market. As part of the collaboration between the two companies, Tech Mahindra will offer Nexledger in both Indian and global market.

Besides blockchain, Samsung is also front runner in Internet of Things (IoT) as back in March 2016 Samsung along with IBM had unveiled a proof-of-concept (PoC) for ADEPT, a system which uses a blockchain protocol as a basis for a distributed network of devices and Samsung called it "a sort of decentralized Internet of Things (IoT)".

Later in 2017, the electronics giant announced the launch of the Exynos i T200, Samsung's first processor optimized for IoT devices.

India Online Food Ordering and Delivery Market to Grow at a CAGR of over 7% till 2024

India Online Food Ordering and Delivery Market By Operation Type, By Source, By Payment, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2024”, India online food ordering and delivery market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 7% on the back of rising disposable income, increasing penetration of internet and usage of smartphones, according to TechSci Research report.

Moreover, restaurants and cafes are showing inclination towards online sale of their food items as it significantly reduces operational overheads.

In terms of payment, India online food ordering and delivery market is categorized into mobile wallet, card payment, cash on delivery and net banking. Among these payment modes, cash on delivery dominated India online food ordering and delivery market in 2018. The growth of cash on delivery payment category can be attributed to the fact that people, in India, while making online payments, are skeptical of the process and mechanism they have to go through while making a payment online. However, with increasing security features being provided by various banks while making online transactions is gaining customer’s trust which is anticipated to increase the market share of other payment methods.

The card payment category is predicted to grow at a decent pace during forecast period owing to increasing preference towards using plastic money, after the government’s announcement of incentives on the use of debit/credit cards in the country wherein, service charges and surcharge will not be applicable while making payment through debit/credit cards. Moreover, reward points and grace period are other factors encouraging the use of card payment in India.

Regionally, India online food ordering and delivery market is categorized into North, South, East and West. Among the regions, the southern part of the country accounted for a significant portion of the Indian market in 2018. The growth of the southern region is due to the presence of large number of students and working professionals from other regions of the country.

“India online food ordering and delivery market is expected to offer tremendous potential for growth over the course of next five years. The growth of the market is majorly due to the discounts, cashbacks, coupons and deals that a user can avail while ordering food online. Moreover, growing investments in online food ordering and delivery market is further positively influencing the growth of the market.” said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

According to TechSci Research “India Online Food Ordering and Delivery Market By Operation Type, By Source, By Payment, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2024”, has evaluated the future growth potential of India online food ordering and delivery market and provides statistics and information on market size, structure and future market growth. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in India online food ordering and delivery market.

Vizag Startup Geo Climate Receives An Offer for ₹2 Cr Funding from Gas Authority of India

Vizag, Andhra Pradesh-based startup, Geo Climate Risk Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Geo Climate), has received an offer for funding of ₹2 crore from Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), India's largest state-owned natural gas marketer, reported The Hindu.

Geo Climate builds Environmental Risk Management Solutions using geospatial information, satellite remote sensing techniques, and Spatial Analytics for Humanitarian fields, Industry and communities. The startup is currently under incubation at the NASSCOM Warehouse at Innovation Valley and is recognized by government of India's 'Startup India'.

GAIL has recognized Geo Climate as a GAIL Pankh Emerging Startup. The Vizag (or Visakhapatnam ) startup will get a funding of ₹2 crore by GAIL, under the later's initiative called Pankh, which aims to nurture startup entrepreneurs and for same GAIL has set up a fund to the tune of $7.7 million.

Founded in 2014, by Prasad Babu, an IIT Kanpur alumnus, Geo Climate works towards finding sustainability solutions for environment, industries, location intelligence, artificial intelligence and machine learning, socio-economic and risk analytics.

Prasad Babu, who has worked with the UNDP, the United Nations' global development network, said “I started the venture with my savings, and now with GAIL funding, we are confident of scaling up soon. We have received an investment from GAIL to upscale our product which deals with sustainability solution. We also provide risk information and possible risk reduction and adaptation strategies through a location intelligence and spatial technologies platform,” he said.

Besides Geo Climate, GAIL ha earlier invested in Hungry Foal, a Gurugram based food-tech startup, in November 2017.

Last August, GAIL has sought shareholder approval to amend the company's charter to invest in startups in core business areas and non-core areas (like health, social and environment, safety, and security) either directly or indirectly.

Besides investing in startups, GAIL also sought approval to build solar power plants and set up battery charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) as it looks to diversify its portfolio beyond gas and petrochemicals.

Canadian Fintech Startup Accelerator Findigm Enters India with SMEStreet

North America based Fintech Accelerator Program – Findigm is set to enter into Indian market as a joint venture with SMEStreet – India’s flagship ecosystem for MSMEs and Startups.

Findigm is a global Accelerator Program aimed at facilitating fast and efficient business ecosystem for Fintech startups and help them in getting ready for the market in less time and with global expertise at their helm.

Fintech as a subject has gained a great amount of popularity among startups and aspiring entrepreneurs in India. The program will not only motivate such fintech initiatives but also ensure the availability of entire technology architecture which is required to run various types of fintech businesses and also give international exposure to reaching out the unreached.

SMEStreet has become a knowledge-driven ecosystem for Indian MSMEs and Startups. As a fast growing community, this tie-up will help the startups of this ecosystem to avail the best for their fintech related market vision.

“The biggest challenge for any startup exists in their initial days of business operation. These initial days spent in the creation of the product. In the case of fintech related products, it becomes very critical to introduce something really robust, secure and scalable in the market, but to build such product a lot of time is required. This accelerator program will ensure that startups should not face this challenge and enter into the market in very less time. In such a scenario, the business life cycle can get started quickly,” says Vinay Kotapati & Massimo Barone, Co-Founders of Findigm.

"Fintech is getting considered among the top five business priorities for startups and aspiring entrepreneurs in India. This strategic association between SMEStreet and FINDIGM will address a wide market segment. Through this tie-up, the whole pre-launch process for any fintech startup will become efficient. We are proud to be part of this as a facilitator and India outreach partner," finds Faiz Askari Co-Founder of SMEStreet.

Findigm India will focus on providing startups their proprietary frameworks and API’s developed in the areas of Blockchain, Machine Learning and AI-based technology and global payments Solutions which ease out the pressure of surviving in business for the initial days of product development and faster deployments to markets.
About Findigm India

Findigm is the new paradigm of comprehensive startup ecosystem backed by a strong technology firm providing solutions, frameworks, API’s in the areas of BlockChain, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, IoT and End to End Payment solutions. As a global accelerator program, Findigm has developed a ready to use proprietary frameworks for startups in the following areas:

<ul>
<li>Cloud-based EMV Host platform, Incentive management platform with QR Code for issuance and acceptance of payments across the globe</li>

    <li>Blockchain solution creating Digital ID Keys for Financial Institutions, Merchants and individuals to deliver a powerful, digital ecosystem for Financial Institutions, ICO's and Payment processors, a closed loop ecosystem for ICO's, Gaming & Entertainment Industries.</li>

    <li>White label solutions for alternative payment gateway, FX, MPOS, Mobile Wallet, closed/ open loop card program and redemptions for ecommerce applications</li>

About SMEStreet, the platform was formed in 2014 with an aim to become knowledge sharing driven ecosystem for Startups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Since then, SMEStreet as a dynamic digital media platform have created exclusivity through the pro-business content and have managed to attract close to a million of Entrepreneurs, CXOs and Policymakers who are involved in the small business segment. Being part of Vertical Business Media Pvt. Ltd. this media platform is committed to contribute proactively in facilitating and cknowledging business growth through effective on –ground market analysis, understanding the trend and more.

• Published via Business Wire India feed

Digital Lending Startup RevFin Ties with Saera Electric, Maker of E-Rickshaws to Embrace Clean Technology

India's leading Digital lending startup, RevFin, has signed a business agreement with E-Rickshaw manufacturer, Mayuri, with an aim to reduce pollution by adoption and acceleration of clean technology-based E-Rickshaws in India. This initiative will facilitate lending to low-income groups to buy E-Rickshaws in order to earn a livelihood and make their standard of living better.

Saera Electric, manufacturers of Mayuri, is one of India’s leading E-Rickshaw Companies which is growing at the pace of more than 100% YOY and it has the capacity to produce more than 300 vehicles per day. With this partnership, RevFin aims to create an opportunity for needy people across the length and breadth of India through an easy process for financing E-Rickshaws. This initiative will not only encourage and uplift the lives of millions out there by giving them a means of earning through E-Rickshaws but also help in promoting green and clean technology for public transportation in order to reduce pollution.

Currently, the electric Rickshaw market has very poor availability of finance. The sector has the potential to grow 10X to 15X in the next 10 years if finance is made available. Envisaging this potential growth, RevFin has decided to bridge this gap by making finance accessible to this segment.

Elated upon the partnership, Sameer Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, RevFin said, “We are happy to announce our tie-up with Mayuri, one of India’s leading E-Rickshaw providers. Our motive and strategy behind this initiative are to improve the problem of financial inclusion while working towards Green and clean technologies. We are starting our pilot process with Mayuri in Uttrakhand & Haryana and will soon be financing loan across all India in a phased manner.”

“Customers in this segment typically have low-income levels, lack of financial literacy and very limited access to formal credit. Therefore, we are offering loans that are affordable at a pace that helps the underserved segment improve their earning capacity. This also helps us support and spread financial inclusion in the country.” he further added.

Nitin Kapoor, M.D, Saera Electric said, “We chose RevFin for this tie-up over others as their product offerings are tailor-made to benefit the financially weak segments and it can truly uplift the economic welfare of their lives. Despite the technological advancement and availability of benefits financial inclusion, people are still unbanked in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. But the concerted efforts by service providers like RevFin, are raising their living standard and this agreement with Mayuri to finance E-Rickshaws will surely boost the Electric Vehicle Industry to a great extent. Secondly, we are sure that Sameer Aggarwal & his team are very committed and aggressive in their approach to serve this EV Segment”.

RevFin is aggressively looking at unique opportunities for financing that can help both financial inclusion and aid to the usage of green and clean technology. RevFin is looking to lend Rs. 3,000 crores in the next five years to finance electric vehicles.

REVFIN is a financial technology (Fintech) start-up which is aimed at building the world’s most advanced digital platform. The platform will be used to underwrite and manage consumer loans through our own NBFC. Through the unique approach to underwriting, rich value proposition, and a differentiated distribution model, RevFin plan to build a lending book of Rs.3000Cr in the next 5 years, with ROE of 20%+. Their vision is to create a lending platform that is agnostic of language, literacy, geography, and culture. Once the platform has been proven successful, they will use it to rapidly scale the lending book in India while leveraging the platform in other geographies.

Mayuri brand of E-Rickshaws is the flagship product of Saera Electric, India’s No 1 E-Rickshaw company. The company's product has been directly managed by CMD Mr V.K. Kapoor who is also known as ‘Father of E-Rickshaw’ in India. The company has a wide range of E-Rickshaws and has the capacity to produce more than 300+ E-Rickshaws every day.

Europe's Largest IP Firm Zacco Acquires Coimbatore-based Lakhshya Cybersecurity Labs

Zacco, one of Europe’s largest intellectual property (IP) firms, has acquired Coimbatore, India-based Lakhshya Cybersecurity Labs, a cybersecurity research and consulting services startup, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition would help the Copenhagen-based Zacco in establishing a global Cybersecurity Centre in India.

“India is today a global hub for advanced digital technology. Lakhshya is adding unique expertise to our current R&D centre in Bengaluru,” said Mats Boström, CEO, Zacco Group. “In the digitalised world, cybercrime and digital threats are unfortunately an increasing challenge for many organisations and individuals. Data, algorithms and all types of digital technology are today significant intellectual property and strategic assets,” said Bostrom.

Lakhshya Labs was founded by Premchand Kurup and Pradeep Menon in 2017

Over the past 2 years, Lakhshya has built considerable experience in niche areas of cybersecurity such as malware analysis, cyber breach investigation, red teaming and Devsecops. Premchand Kurup, CEO of Paramount Computer Systems and one of the founders of Lakhshya Labs says, “This combination will be able to add significant expertise and value to Zacco and enable the combined entity to address clients’ Digital Asset Protection in a holistic manner.”

Zacco India R&D Centre started 15 months ago and is now more than 100 employees. "This acquisition is an exciting & proud moment for all of us at Zacco India. We will integrate Lakhshya into our cybersecurity division and enhance our current offerings. We will also use Lakhshya research labs to innovate new offerings in the intellectual property space.” Ravi Sunderrajan – MD, Zacco India R&D.

Lakhshya Labs will add a team of more than 40 professionals with expertise across banking, financial services and insurance, aviation, government, automotive, manufacturing and trading verticals with real time 24/7 monitoring services through its SOC facility. Pradeep Menon, who is the current Chief Officer at Lakhshya Labs, will continue as Chief Officer post acquisition. “In a short span, Lakhshya Cybersecurity Labs had established itself as a renowned cybersecurity research and development company serving global clientele with cutting edge offerings. Powered by Zacco, we now look forward to influencing and transforming the cybersecurity strategies and operations of organizations globally. This opportunity enables us to rapidly accelerate our research and development initiatives, build new competencies and solutions and become a cybersecurity research and development Centre of Excellence for Zacco in India.” Pradeep Menon – Chief Officer, Lakhshya Cybersecurity Labs.

Via ~ Prime Time | Source - Zacco

Intelligent Retail Platform Vue.ai Raises $17 Mn from Falcon Edge, Sequoia India and Global Brain

Mad Street Den, the maker of Vue.ai, a platform for intelligent retail automation, today announced it has raised a $17 million Series B led by Falcon Edge Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital India and Global Brain, a GP of KDDI Innovation Fund.

The new round brings the company’s total capital raised to $27.5 million. After experiencing a fourfold annual revenue increase, the funds will be used to grow the team, deliver on the product roadmap and scale the company’s existing customer base that already includes leading retailers from across the globe like Macy’s, Mercadolibre and Tata.

Last September, the AI startup had received undisclosed amount in strategic investment from KIDDI Corporation of Tokyo, Japan. The funds have been routed through KIDDI’s investment arm, KDDI Open Innovation Fund 2, managed by Global Brain.

Retailers have entered an era where consumers expect a seamless brand experience thanks to behemoths like Amazon and Alibaba who are using AI to personalize products and services for shoppers. The battle to stay competitive comes at a tremendous cost to retailers who are projected to spend more than $7B billion on AI over the next 3 years. By offering a one-stop shop across the value chain, Vue.ai is the first AI solution to automate critical functions across departments heavily dependent on human intuition, unifying data about products, people and processes.

Vue.ai combines seven different products to offer retailers a unified system used as a ‘neural network’ for decision-making. Using a centralized data brain, the platform digitally maps a retail product’s DNA, then translates product information into language that teams can easily understand. With better accuracy and insights, retailers can easily decode the qualities of their merchandise, make intelligent updates on the fly, and deliver unique experiences along every step of the customer journey.

“The future of retail is entertainment. The experience economy we see today is the start of that era,” said Ashwini Asokan, CEO and Founder of Vue.ai. “Brands are shifting to designing worlds that consumers want to be a part of and that has to integrate with the new ways people shop. Vue is the electricity that powers all these complicated and important retail functions so retailers can focus on the business of entertaining you"

"The Vue.ai team is on a mission to put AI and intelligent automation in the hands of teams across the globe in ways that improve productivity and growth multi-fold,” said Anandamoy Roychowdhary, CTO and Director of Sequoia Capital India. “We’ve seen incredible growth in how they’ve brought this value across multiple functions in the retail industry in just two years since we started this journey with them. Sequoia India is excited to partner with Falcon Edge in this round, enabling Ashwini and Anand to scale Vue.ai globally.”

California-headquartered firm which has an office in Chennai, Vue.ai was launched by husband-wife duo - Ashwini Asokan and Anand Chandrasekaran in 2016 as the first AI brand from its parent company Mad Street Den. The team is comprised of neuroscientists and AI experts from IBM, Intel and DARPA. The company serves major retailers across the US, UK, India, Middle East and Latin America.

The company has recently announced Human Model Generator, an AI that can generate garment-to-model images & predict how the garment fits.

Solar Startup CleanMax Solar Raises $39 Mn from UK Climate Investments

CleanMax Solar, a leading rooftop solar developer, has raised ₹275 core (~ US$39 million) in investment from the United Kingdom (UK) Climate Investments LLP (UKCI), which is a joint venture between the Green Investment Group and the U.K. Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The funds will help support CleanMax Solar’s business expansion and development of a nationwide network of solar photovoltaic (PV) farms for corporates.

UKCI’s investment will support CleanMax Solar as it expands its renewable energy portfolio – facilitating renewable energy buying for corporates through the construction of a network of private solar farms across India.

Kuldeep Jain, the founder and managing director of CleanMax Solar said, “Corporates are quickly adopting renewables sourcing at scale to achieve the twin benefits of profit improvement and carbon footprint reduction. This investment, along with the know-how of Macquarie will enable CleanMax to continue being the market leader in B2B solar sector. We are excited with our aim to enhance our portfolio from 500 MW to 2000 MW in the next three years.”

Speaking about their interest in CleanMax Solar, Richard Abel, the managing director of UK Climate Investments, said, “CleanMax Solar is helping businesses in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies rethink how they produce and consume electricity. Our partnership represents an exciting opportunity to help take their platform to the next level – underpinning investment in new renewable generation capacity whilst accelerating India’s transition to a low-carbon future.”

UBS Securities India Private Limited was the sole financial advisor to CleanMax on this transaction.

This is the third time that CleanMax Solar has successfully raised equity financing. In November 2017, CleanMax raised $15 million (~₹964.5 million) investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. IFC invested in convertible debentures in of the company. This was the first time IFC acquired an equity stake in a distributed-generation firm.

Last year in July, CleanMax Solar had secured equity financing of about $100 million from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing.

Recently, its subsidiary CleanMax IPP received ₹1.58 billion ($22.6 million) in a loan from PTC India Financial Services to refinance earlier loan.

CleanMax Solar emerged as the top rooftop solar installer in 2018 followed by Fourth Partner Energy, whereas Tata Power still has the largest cumulative installations in the solar rooftop segment. These findings were revealed in Mercom’s newly released India Solar Market Leaderboard 2019 report that covers market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain in 2018.

The Indian solar market installed 8,263 MW in CY 2018, down 15.5% compared to 9,782 MW in CY 2017 as the safeguard duty, GST issues, and land and transmission issues took a toll on the large-scale installations, according to report by Mercom India Research.

Early this year, an another solar rooftop startup, ZunRoof, had raised an undisclosed sum in the third round of angel funding from angel investors including Ramakant Sharma, Founder of Livspace and Arun Diaz of IntelleGrow along with the lead investors of ZunRoof's previous round.

A month before that, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited ('RIIHL'), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd, announced to acquire Kanoda Energy Systems, an Ahmedabad-based renewable energy services firm that offers services in solar advisory, product design and technology validation. RIIHL is picking up a controlling stake of 88% for ₹ 75 crore (about $10.7 million), in an all-cash deal.

Last year in April, Gurgaon headquartered ReNew Power acquired of Delhi-based solar energy sartup Ostro Energy Private Limited for whopping $1.5 billion, to create the India’s largest clean energy firm by installed capacity.

Last June, Hyderabad-based solar energy solution startup Fourth Partner Energy had raised $70 million in Series B funding from The Rise Fund, a global impact investment fund managed by TPG Growth.

The above news was first reported at Mercomindia.com

eSports Platform Mobile Premier League Raises $35.5 Mn from Sequoia India, Times Internet, Other

Mobile Premier League (MPL), the fastest growing mobile eSports Platform in India today, announced a Series A investment of USD 35.5 Million, led by Sequoia India, Times Internet, and GoVentures with participation from other investors including RTP Global, BeeNext, Base Growth, and Venture Highway. The funds will enable the newly launched mobile gaming platform to invest in product and user growth in India.

“Our goal is to build India's largest Mobile eSports Platform which is accessible to all. MPL today provides users access to all formats and types of competitive games. Like with everything else, Competitive Gaming in India will be mobile first and MPL wants to be the platform of choice for the user. In the 7 months since launch, the user love we have received is testimony to that. We are thankful and excited to have investors who share the same bold vision.” said Sai Srinivas Kiran G, Co-Founder and CEO of Mobile Premier League.

“Sequoia India is very happy to back Sai and Shubh a second time, and believe solidly in their vision of creating the largest esports platform for India and other emerging markets,'' said Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore. “We’re thrilled with the early progress at MPL. With their industry leading growth and engagement metrics, MPL has the potential to become a major mobile internet company in India.” he added.

MPL is currently one of the Playstore's top ranking apps across categories with over 25 million installs making it the fastest growing app in India. A large part of the platform’s success can be attributed to its highly engaging and social gaming content.

“MPL has captured the imagination of gamers on smartphones like no other platform out there. Skill based competitive casual games are highly engaging social experiences, and we believe MPL will be a leader in this category globally” said Miten Sampat, VP Corp Dev, Times Internet.

Mobile eSports is becoming popular by the day and MPL aims to break barriers of access to make mobile gaming a household sport across the country.

Speaking on the association Samir Sood, Founder, Venture Highway said “E-gaming has witnessed an exponential growth in India with the rapid penetration of digital infrastructure. In a short timeframe, MPL has shown tremendous growth, capturing a sizeable chunk of this market. We are excited to partner with MPL, in its vision of becoming the go-to-platform for mobile gamers, not just across the country, but beyond.”

BigBasket Raises Fresh $40 Mn from CDC Group of UK Govt at Valuation of $1.2 Bn

Online grocer BigBasket has raised fresh $40 million from CDC Group, the UK government's development finance institution, reported LiveMint today.

The investment is part of a bigger round of $150 million that BigBasket is raising at a valuation of $1.2 billion, making it the latest entrant to India's coveted unicorn club of startups.

The investment in Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt. Limited, which owns and operates BigBasket is along with an investment of about $60 million from Korea’s Mirae Global Asset Investments, another new investor as well as existing backer- China’s Alibaba investing $50 million, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), and media reports.

“We will help the organization support the economic empowerment of its local supplier farmers as it guarantees fair pricing and provides production and quality crop training," CDC’s statement said. “Our capital will directly contribute to a substantial projected increase in smallholder farmers supplying the Bigbasket brand, thereby boosting local income creation and living standards," it added.

Although the CDC Group has been investing in India for over 30 years, the BigBasket deal marks CDC’s first deal in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia at CDC India Advisers, said "Key to CDC’s investment approach is creating a meaningful difference in people’s lives. This is done by backing businesses that fuel job creation to support economic empowerment within communities. This is the reason behind CDC’s investment in SGSPL and brand BigBasket"

CDC, which is one of the largest institutional investors in Indian PE funds and with commitments of over $1.7 billion since 2004 CDC has invested over $1.3 billion in India since 1987.

In the Indian renewable space, it has invested $25 million in IDFC Alternatives-backed clean energy firm Green Infra in November 2013. In April 2017, CDC announced an investment of up to $100 million to support the development of renewable energy projects in India.

The above news was first published at LiveMint

Lending Platform Money Loji Launches Its App that Offers Loans to Salaried Professionals Within 5 Minutes

Money Loji, a modern money lending platform, has launched its App, which offers quickest and the most secure loans to salaried professionals for an immediate requirement with flexible repayment options starting from 7 days to a maximum of 90 days. They follow a unique three-step process - Application, Approval, Disbursement which is carried out within 3-4 minutes.

Say goodbye to the days of mustering the embarrassment of borrowing money from a relative or friend. Month-end or early-month days will no longer be crucial and testing, whether it’s a salary delay or an immediate medical expense, we finally have a solution. Money Loji, a modern money ending platform, has launched its App, which offers Quickest and the most secure loans to salaried professionals for an immediate requirement with flexible repayment options starting from 7 days to a maximum of 90 days. They follow a unique three-step process - Application, Approval, Disbursement which is carried out within 3-4 minutes. The eligibility criterion is a minimum in-hand salary of ₹20,000/month and a minimum age of 23 years. The application requires the users to upload an Identity Proof, an Address Proof, last 3 months Bank Statement alongside the salary slips.

For meeting unexpected medical expenses, purchasing a new gadget or appliance, planning a short trip or a short-term education course, monthly rents or advancing someone urgent funds, hospital bills, or EMIs on personal loans, housing loans, and insurance policies, Money Loji App is an ideal platform for salaried professionals.

It ensures security and reduces chances of data misuse backed by world-class security protocols to encrypt all your data, whether you need to borrow 10,000 or an instant short-term loan of 1,00,000 rupees.

The USP of the App is its flexible repayment process. You can pay in one EMI if the tenure of the loan is below 30 days, while you get an option to pay in three easy EMIs if your loan tenure is above 30 days and up to 90 days.

The latest technologies in AI for application and disbursement will ensure that the loan amount is credited to your account in just a few clicks, that too in the comfort of your home.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Binit Kumar, CEO, Money Loji, said, “it's the most unique platform because of no manual interference and disbursement happening within 5 minutes. Being a registered NBFC it gives us an upper hand among various fintech lending platforms present in India as it not only provides us the flexibility in terms of product changes but also confidence among the consumers. Unsecured Personal loan business with customers having flexible credit scores has seen a growth of 33% as compared to last year. The payday loan market in India has been currently estimated at 80,000 cr and is only going up YOY basis. We will be coming out soon with similar lending platform for self-employed, business professionals and SME’s keeping the core USPs like algorithmic, machine intelligence, no manual interference and disbursement within 5 minutes intact.”
About Money Loji

MoneyLoJi.com is owned by Ganesh Leasfin Private Limited, an RBI registered non-bank financial company (NBFC) and are proud members of the Leading CREDIT BUREAUS in India, CIBIL, CRIF High Mark, Experian, Equifax.

[Published unedited via Business Wire India feed]

In Asia’s 1st Satellite Launch by Girl Students, Tamil Nadu's PMIST Creates History

A team of 15 girl students of Periyar Maniammai Institute of Science Technology (PMIST), Vallam, in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, have launched a satellite contained in a helium-filled balloon. With this, it becomes Asia’s first Satellite launch by girl students.

The 'power-puff' girls were guided by the Dean (Academic) and Convener, SKI NSLV (Near Space Launch Vehicle) 9 Maniammaiyar SAT (name of the satellite), P.K.Srividhya, and were mentored and trained by the Chennai-based Space Kidz India, a Chennai-based organization dedicated in designing innovative concepts for students in the field of education. Earlier this year, Space Kidz was in news for making Kalamsat-V2, world's lightest satellite ever launched globally.

Designed and developed entirely by girls at PMIST, the satellite was designed to reach a height of 70,000 feet, 5,000 feet above the troposphere, using helium-filled balloon. The satellite they made was capable of sending live telemetry consisting of data and flight parameters to the control station at PMIST premises.

The satellite reached an altitude of 1,38,000 feet (approx 42km). The Space officially begins at an altitude of 100 KM above the Earth's surface.

https://t.co/otK6bILlrG

— PMIST Deemed to be University (@PMIST2) April 21, 2019

The telemetry contained call sign, packet number, latitude, altitude, velocity, heading, GPS timing, temperature data that would be processed by a micro-controller and transmitted to the base station throughout its flight, both ascending while being lifted up by the balloon and descending after coming under the influence of gravity due to explosion of the helium filled balloon at a height of 70000 feet above the ground level, according to university sources.

Further, the data recorded from the sensors and images captured by the camera would be stored in an in-built storage provision in the satellite. The signals received at the base station would help track and landing of the payload (satellite) for retrieving the same. The payload with a parachute, attached to the helium filled balloon was released into the atmosphere by around 11-30 a.m. from the PMIST premises.

Chief guest of the balloon satellite launching event, Mylswamy Annadurai, whos former Mission Director at ISRO, called upon universities to improve their standard so that students could excel in their professional career. Such events should be conducted at the school level in order to kindle the interest among the younger generation to pursue aerospace technology as their career, he observed.

PMIST Vice-Chancellor, S.Velusami said the institute was planning to establish a Centre for Excellence in Robotics soon. The launch of balloon satellite formed a part of the ongoing birth centenary of Maniammaiyar, he said.

Source - The Hindu

[All Pictures - pmu.edu]

Travel Startup Thrillophilia Announces Partnership with Tourism Authority of Thailand

Thrillophilia.com, India’s biggest online platform for booking 10,000+ activities and experiences, has tied-up with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to promote Thailand's most unique and off-beat experiences focusing on adventure, art, culture, and luxury. With this, Thrillophilia will also help in the overall efforts to promote Thailand as a value-for-money niche destination.

Thailand is one of the most sought after foreign travel destinations in India with Indians ranking sixth among nationalities visiting Thailand. With an estimated 50 million Indian tourists expected to travel abroad by 2020, Thailand is poised to have an increased influx of approximately 2 million Indian tourists in 2019. With this partnership between Thrillophilia and TAT, the objective is to allow these Indian travellers to explore the undiscovered parts of Thailand, beyond the Bangkok-Pattayacircuit to less popular and off-beat destinations such as Chiang Rai, Ko Samui, Khao Yai, Chiang Mai etc.

While working with TAT, Thrillophilia has brought more than 100 unique experiences online which are now available for booking on Thrillophilia.com. Travellers can discover and book experiences such as Flight of the Gibbon in Chiang Mai, Art in Paradise in Pattaya, Temple Tour in Chiang Rai, Death Railway in Kanchanaburi, Adventure at Khao Yai, Khao Sok tour and more. This partnership also seeks to encourage more Indian women travellers to travel to Thailand, by highlighting special experiences revolving around them such as culinary lessons, Muay Thai boxing classes, meditation in temples etc.

Further, to drive awareness about these activities and experiences among Indian travellers who are shifting focus towards offbeat and adventure activities, Thrillophilia is actively promoting the unique experiences on its online channels and also doing marketing and social media campaigns around the theme: “Experience Thailand Differently”.

Chitra Gurnani Daga, CEO of Thrillophilia said, “Thailand has been one of the safest countries to travel in Asia. Thai people are some of the most kind, gentle and welcoming people on the planet. We are quite excited with this partnership, and I am really glad that some of the best local experiences of Thailand will now be available in India to book before one actually travels. It is an Instagram world and Thailand, with its pristine beauty and unique experiences makes for a perfect choice for this generation’s traveller. We are also working on a series of videos to promote these experiences across different channels."

Addressing the partnership with Thrillophilia, Ms. Cholada Shiddhivarn, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand Mumbai Office said, “In addition to the breathtaking beaches and gorgeous nightlife, which are already known. There is an abundance of experiences that Thailand has to offer to its visitors. As a destination, we want to reach out to the millennials who are constantly seeking for offbeat experiences and also adventure sports. Thrillophilia serves as an ideal platform to reach out to these digitally savvy audiences and help us influence their travel choice. Through this association, we are aiming to introduce and promote New Shades of Amazing Thailand to the new age Indian traveler”.

Tele-Medicine Mobile App SeekMed to Directly Connect Patients to Eminent Doctors on Mobile

A unique tele-medicine mobile application, called ‘SeekMed’ has been launched recently to connect the patients from anywhere in the country with the top doctors of India, mostly based in Tier I cities and working with India’s Top Hospitals.

This app for the first time has brought leading doctors who has been awarded for their contribution to the field of healthcare, majority of doctors on the platform are recipient of Padma Awards and awards like B C Roy. Top Doctors from India’s leading hospitals like AIIMS, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, PSRI and others can be contacted directly through video consultation feature of the App at a reasonable consultation fees. This application is available and can be downloaded for free from Google Play Store.

Mr. Alok Awasthi, Founder of SeekMed said, “The idea is to bridge the huge gap between the quality of the healthcare available in big cities and those in smaller towns and remote areas by increasing access and affordability, With a few simple clicks, patients can find leading doctors & send appointment requests. Patients can upload any number of files that can be accessed from anywhere.”

Apart from offering quality medical help, experts believe that the opportunity to take a second opinion from top medical professionals can play an instrumental role in ensuring a correct diagnosis, right treatment and optimum clinical outcomes.

Dr. T S Kler, ( Padma Bhushan Awardee) and also Chairman, PSRI Heart Institute New Delhi said “We need a platform that patients can trust to seek expert, credible & ethical medical opinion. That is unique aspect of Seekmed which is building a solid network of quality doctors who are considered one of the best in their respective specialty.”

SeekMed will allow patients from anywhere in the world to seek expert advice from India's award-winning & top doctors via video consultation. The key features of the app include:

<ul>
<li>Top experts from leading hospitals from across the country</li>

    <li>GPS based doctor search</li>

    <li>Appointment management</li>

    <li>Online payment (incl. wallets, UPI)</li>

    <li>Video consultation</li>

    <li>Doctor report and e-prescriptions.</li>

    <li>User-friendly (with just a few buttons on the screen). Option for Hindi interface for broader reach
User data protection</li>

In situations, which in fact are very common in India, when patient needs a second opinion about a possible surgery from the best doctor but is not in a position to travel; when patient is not happy with his/her medical condition and has tried all local doctors for treatment; when patient has gone back to his/her home town after surgical procedure and needs to see doctor every few months for follow up or when patient is not able to afford travel cost to contact India's best doctors, such video consultation platforms can turn out to be a game changer.

“Whether living in small towns or abroad, now the patients will have a choice to get a second opinion from qualified doctors and make informed decisions. We are hopeful that this initiative will help in bringing radical changes across all the vertex of healthcare delivery, not just in the country but for the patient community living abroad,” added Mr. Awasthi.

With a large number of the patients in the country travelling every day to metropolitans, just to get a second opinion from top experts or for the follow-ups after a treatment, while spending a lot of money, time and human force, it will be interesting to see how innovative video consultation platforms like SeekMed, are going to play their role in patient care.

[Published unedited via Business Wire India feed]