Gaming Startups Central to Growth of Mobile Gaming in India

The Indian gaming industry has undergone significant growth in recent years. Much of this growth has been in the mobile sector, as the youth population of the country has invested in smartphones and tablets. The growth in mobile gaming has paved the way for the creation of a myriad of different startups. As the success of these startups has increased so it has assisted in the further growth of the industry. 

Businesses cover a range of different gaming opportunities. For instance, Showlion founded year 2019, focuses on providing traditional casino games for the Indian market. On the other hand, companies like Gamezop include their games in apps that are already popular, thereby adopting a streamlined approach. Let's take a closer look at the important Indian gaming startup industry in more detail. 

Well-known Indian gaming startups 

There are numerous startups in the Indian gaming industry that are contributing to the expansion of mobile gaming in the country. Taking a look at three of the best known provides more insight into the industry. 

99Games 

This company was founded in 2008 and continues to develop popular games today. The success of the company began with the development of the iOS-based WordsWorth. Today, this startup has grown into a respected name in gaming that is famous for games such as StarChef and SpellUp. 

PlaySimple Games 

PlaySimple Games is famous for concentrating on the mobile market with games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and Bubble Safari. The company acquired further funding of $4 million in 2016 and continues to develop relationships with potential funding partners. 

Gameberry Labs 

Gameberry Labs is a relatively new gaming startup, having been created in 2017, in Bangalore. The developers and designers are given a level of autonomy when it comes to creating new games. This ethos seems to have worked well, with the creation of popular digital versions of Ludo and Parchisi. 

There is no doubt that these startups have been central to the growth of mobile gaming in India. However, they have been helped by the appetite for gaming within the youth population which has come from the entertainment and income elements of gaming. 

Entertainment and earnings 

There is no doubt that the 250 million plus mobile gamers in India enjoy the entertainment value of the activity. However, there is also a financial element to the mobile gaming industry in India. People can make money from working within the industry and from gaming professionally. 

There are thousands of jobs in the gaming industry in India. These jobs include the opportunity to work in game design and development within one of the 200 plus gaming startups in the country. 

There is also money to be made from taking part in gaming tournaments and live streaming gameplay on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. The top Indian gamers like Tejas "Ace" Sawant, Karan "Excali" Mhawadkar and Balaji "BlizzarD" Ramnarayan can earn thousands of dollars in prize money alone. 

Given the current appetite for gaming in India, it seems likely that the market will only continue to expand. This is good news for the startups that are at the centre of the mobile gaming industry in the country. 

Great Ideas To Keep You Entertained While You’re On COVID-19 Lockdown

We are facing unprecedented times and as social creatures, we are finding it increasingly difficult to entertain ourselves while locked away. 

I have taken from my own personal experience to provide the ultimate entertainment package during this lockdown: 

Try your luck at an online casino 

From offline to online, slots are one of the most popular casino games around. They’re easy to learn and fun to play so why not try something new? You’ll be surprised what a boredom killer it can be. 

You should decide on your limits before playing. It’s important to make sure that you gamble responsibly. The reason for this is to ensure that the majority of your game time is about having fun. A cash prize is a bonus, do not let it ruin your enjoyment. 

Maximizing your fun is crucial, and finding the right casino is a big part of that. Try review pages on sites like Online Casinos and scan for offers that appeal to you. Remember free spins mean more fun without the risk. There are lots of 50 free spins casinos available, but there are many better deals around if you do the research.

Lose yourself in another world

As we stare from the window, the outside feels a step too close to dystopia. Comparable to the barren wasteland of Fallout and the eerie silence of The Last Of Us. Only we feel lost in the fold, as reality goes by. 

You may find solace in the ability to manipulate the virtual world. Here we are the survivor who champions the apocalypse and the hero who harmonizes evil with the good. Not to say we are not capable of impacting real-life — but if we’re honest — it’s more fun from the comfort of our home. 

In light of a worldwide lockdown, gaming platforms from Steam to the Playstation Store are producing some amazing Spring sales to keep gamers entertained. I recommend investing in the brilliant Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The game develops a fantastical yet believable world, ripe for complete emersion.  

Make a playlist

Are you working from home? Or seeking a soundtrack to the lockdown? Look no further than your phone. Take some time to build a playlist tailored for you, by you. A collaboration project between you and your favorite artists.

Music is a brilliant way to express your mood. All too often we become acclimated to the default playlists on streaming apps. The lockdown is the perfect excuse to discover new music. No more lucky dips into Hip Hop Caviar or Hot Hits UK. Create something of your own that will never get boring to listen to. 

There are many streaming services nowadays from Apple Music to Soundcloud (and each has its merits) yet the king remains Spotify. Tightening its grip in recent months by claiming streaming rights to the Jay Z catalog and Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. There is strong depth represented on any streaming platform. So the user has a deal of freedom in creating a great playlist wherever they choose. 

Design a home cinema

The lockdown has taken away the cinema experience. But that does not mean we cannot enjoy a good movie (or hilariously bad ones) amongst great company. You can create a home cinema out of equipment dotted around the house. 

If anything like my housemates and me, you hold a great affinity to film. Nothing will stop you from watching the latest flick — particularly not the cinemas closing. 

You can build a DIY home cinema. All you need is an HDMI cable, A large monitor and your mate’s speakers. Soon you will be enjoying movies together again. Yet, many do not have the fortune to live with friends and family. Due to the wonders of technology you can watch along with each other online, by using services such as Netflix Party. 

The COVID-19 epidemic is a scary and uncertain time for everyone. So, all the better reason to find sanctuary in entertainment. Give these great ideas a shot and you may feel better for it. 

MYSUN, A Leading Rooftop Solar Platform, Raises Rs 32 Crores ($4.2 Mn)

MYSUN, a Delhi based technology platform for rooftop solar energy solutions for industry, SMEs/MSMEs and homes, has raised INR 32 Crores from its existing investors in a structured equity deal as a part of its Pre-Series A round. As the company is planning newer markets and newer business models in the short to medium term to scale up its technology, customer acquisition and financing play, it is looking to raise Rs 250 Crores over the next few quarters.

MYSUN is an end to end solar solutions and services company, backed by advanced technology and engineering with emphasis on providing tailor-made solar solutions and solar financing solutions to industry, SMEs and MSMEs in particular, and homes/ residential customers. Its proprietary demand generation and demand aggregation tools already make it the largest online solar platform in India.

MYSUN is revolutionizing the complete ownership experience of solar in India with a strong backbone of technology including AI-based tools, a one-of-its-kind advanced mobile app for on-site surveying & shadow analysis for accurate energy forecasting, and IoT tools for energy monitoring and enhanced customer experience.

The company plans to use the capital to further improve its technology infrastructure, scale up the service offerings, and expand to newer geographies, both in India and globally, including parts of Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. With this investment, MYSUN will also foray deeper into its in-house SME financing solutions, catering to the unique solar financing needs of SMEs/ MSMEs and individuals making solar ownership a hassle-free experience.

Commenting on the development, Mr Gagan Vermani, Founder and CEO of MYSUN said “We are committed to the vision to make solar energy access easy and reliable for the consumers. Our focus continues to use technology as a backbone of our business and to unlock the huge underserved consumer segments like SMEs and homes. We are happy to continue to have the confidence of our investors and the patronage of our ever-rising pool of customers.”

“As the energy landscape, as well as the overall economic landscape, is changing rapidly due to the recent global events, we foresee higher and higher demand for independent solar energy systems across the B2B and B2C consumer segments around the globe over the next many years. With its innovative technology, business model and a highly experienced team, MYSUN is well placed to leverage this demand into a sustainable growth business. ”, Mr Vermani further added.

Since its inception, MYSUN has already catered to millions of customers online and in the past 4 years, expanded across several states in India, with the commissioning of major projects for large, medium and small industries; homes and institutes.

ZEUX Innovation Partners with Discovery India for India 1st Aggregated Real-Life Entertainment App

• Launched in March 2020, Discovery+ app has received rave reviews and a rapidly expanding user base


• ZEUX’s UX design expertise enabled the app to stand out in terms of discoverability, stickiness, share-ability and intelligence


• Unique features including Shorts and WhatsApp sharing have garnered tremendous traction & praise from users

ZEUX Innovation, India’s pre-eminent outcome driven UX design firm, proudly partnered with Discovery India to design the Discovery+ app. The app was launched on 18th March 2020 and continues to garner rave reviews across major app stores for its content and user experience.

Commenting on the ZEUX & Discovery collaboration, Issac John, Business Head, Discovery India said, “As a product, our team was very conscious of solving barriers for user adoption in a cluttered OTT market like India. The various researches and design workshops that ZEUX led for us, placed user motivations at the heart for solving these barriers. The iterative work, completed over several months, has paid rich dividends for us as expressed by the umpteen user reviews that have highlighted the rich yet simple to navigate UI & UX of Discovery Plus”.

ZEUX designed the Discovery+ app with an end objective to deliver a best-in-class and differentiated OTT experience. 

The ZEUX Edge: 5 key UX design pillars for Discovery+

One-stop-shop	As a first step, ZEUX conducted foundational research with target users across India to ascertain Discovery’s app consolidated strategy. Other insights gathered regarding content preferences, subscription models, pricing, etc. also helped establish a clear app strategy and laid down a solid foundation for the design effort.
Discoverability	ZEUX completely re-imagined the content categorisation approach for Discovery+ and created several innovative content buckets and micro-genres (such as: time of day, emotion, content length, life stage, brag value, etc.). This not only ensured that the overall information architecture of the app matches the target users’ mental models but also enhanced content findability.
Stickiness	The unique ”Shorts” feature was an innovation crafted specifically to enhance engagement for the new-age generation. Never seen before on any OTT platform, Shorts brought snackable non-fiction content & infinite scrolling to offer a unique engagement strategy for Discovery+
Shareability	ZEUX built a hyper-simple sharing experience by seamlessly integrating user’s most preferred sharing channel (WhatsApp) into the app interface. This innovation has proven to be a key factor in enhancing content share-ability resulting in higher organic user acquisitions for Discovery+
Intelligence	Circular content toggles at the top of key pages were created by ZEUX to ensure that the home & landing pages for core content categories showcase Discovery’s vast content breadth and depth. Click-data from the toggles also fortified the app’s intelligence gathering mechanism and fuelled its content personalisation & recommendation engines.

Commenting on the success, Saurabh Gupta, Co-founder, ZEUX Innovation, said, “We are proud to be the UX design partner for Discovery+. We leveraged the science of human performance & persuasion design to craft an OTT experience that is a perfect balance between delivering specific business outcomes, addressing diverse user needs and effectively managing technology considerations”.

Adding to the perspective, Hemal Gathani, Co-founder, ZEUX Innovation, said, “Client support was the key factor in transforming our thoughts into reality. The fact that the Discovery team supported our thought process and empowered us to think laterally, led to a seamless delivery from our end”.

About ZEUX Innovation

Set up in 2016 by Saurabh Gupta and Hemal Gathani, ZEUX Innovation was built with a vision to design exceptional digital experiences and deliver real business outcomes. Mumbai headquartered ZEUX Innovation today caters to an esteemed clientele across sectors and is focused on delivering business empowering UX ecosystems. Clientele includes: Reliance Retail, Discovery, Stanley Black & Decker, IDFC First Bank, HDFC Life, Tata Sons, Dream11, etc.

TiE Delhi-NCR Launches Digital Platform for On-Demand Educational Content for Startups

Building on its commitment to empowering startups through education and knowledge-sharing, TiE Delhi-NCR has recently announced the launch of TiE Institute Online. The move aims to facilitate on-demand educational content for startups besides enabling them to remotely connect with mentors and experts irrespective of their geographical location.

In the current scheme of things, this development also brings much-needed succour to the quarantined venture builders by connecting them with experienced industry stakeholders and experts through a series of courses & webinars.

As an organization at the forefront of India’s entrepreneurial revolution, TiE Delhi-NCR has been providing entrepreneurs with the right guidance, mentorship, networking and funding opportunities that are critical for a business in its nascent stages.

To achieve this objective, the organisation leverages its strong mentor support base and provides a knowledge-sharing platform where aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from experienced industry stakeholders. ‘TiE Institute Online’ is the manifest pTiEroduct of its mission. The online institute’s faculty comprises renowned startup founders, professionals, investors, and seasoned entrepreneurs.

“In the post-pandemic world, the integration of digital tools for carrying out everyday business activities will become a new normal. As a pioneering organisation focused on empowering young innovators in the country, we have launched ‘TiE Institute Online’ to stay ahead of the digital curve,” Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR, commented. “Entrepreneurs can access this knowledge bank anytime, anywhere by enrolling for courses on TiE Institute Online hosted on the Knorish platform. They will also benefit from the vast wealth of experience and expertise of the faculty comprising top industry stakeholders.

The initiative is aimed at enabling innovators with answers to their ecosystem-related queries, be it concerning the accessibility of funds, attracting the right investor, or devising an effective business plan that will help them overcome all odds – all at the click of a button!"

With this development, TiE Delhi-NCR further underscores its commitment to supporting the startup ecosystem to unlock its maximum potential.. Some of the online courses that entrepreneurs can look forward to attend include ‘Consumer Brands in times of COVID 19’ featuring Rajan Anandan, President, TiE Delhi-NCR & MD, Sequoia Capital and Kanwaljit Singh Founder & Managing Partner,Fireside Ventures | ‘Writing An Awesome Business Plan For Fundraising’ by Ashish Kashyap, Founder, IndWealth, Goibibo, RedBus & PayU; ‘Demystifying Fundraising’ by Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder, ShopClues & Droom & many more.

TiE is a global not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship through mentoring, networking, education, incubation and funding. It is spread across a vast network of 61 Chapters in 14 countries. TiE Delhi-NCR is among the most active and vibrant chapters across the vast TiE network. In the last 20 years, it has continuously taken the lead in creating an increasingly positive ecosystem for entrepreneurs and investors. With a strong mentor support base, marquee events and focused workshops throughout the year it has emerged as one of the most valuable platforms supporting entrepreneurship, nationally. TiE has a wide range of programs including TiE Global Summit, TiEcon, Startup Expo, Special Interest Groups (SIGs) across sectors, TiE Institute & TiE Young Entrepreneurs. For more details, visit www.delhi.tie.org

Kapil Dev backed Services Marketplace WizCounsel has grown 5X during Covid-19

Wizcounsel, an on-demand MSME service booking Platform has grown five times in the past four weeks amid the ongoing coronavirus lockdown. The platform has tailored to the requirements of over 1,000 SMEs and consumers, providing them the option of booking services from the comfort of home with an overall NPS rating of 90+.

Ranu Gupta and Royce Raju Beena founded Wiz Counsel 1 year back as a marketplace to book Tax, Accounting & Compliance Services.

The product then pivoted to a proper white-collar SME services marketplace adding 7 categories including Design and Ecommerce Services and more than 100 Service Products specifically targeting Micro SMEs & Consumers. Using the platform, SMEs book services with verified experts in budget with 100 percent assurance.

"The idea is to help Micro and Local SMEs book micro white-collar services just like an eCommerce marketplace at 6x Affordable Prices, 10x Faster and with 100% Assurance” Quoted Ranu Gupta, Founder & CEO, WizCounsel.

Royce said “The Pivot made sense looking at MSME Landscape. Out of 60 Million SMEs, only a handful are online and the rest are set to go online. 2 Million new SMEs come up each year in India. They definitely find it tough to procure services while running their business.”

Till now, WizCounsel has helped 1000+ SMEs & Consumers and have more than 1000 Verified Subject Matter Experts.

WizCounsel was backed by the Legendary Cricketer Kapil Dev, Dr. Manas Fuloria, Founder & CEO, Nagarro, and Sunil Kumar Gupta, Chairman SARC Associates.


SMEs can book services with minimal booking amount and then pay in installments. There is also a Pay Later option for certain services. They are also building a community, a resource center, and a free consultation model for Small Businesses to help them with various services and running COVID Discounts too.

“Covid19 will lead to much wider market acceptance for online service booking and will open the future of work and gig economy in India.” said Ranu Gupta.

All services are WizAssured at the platform. This means that customers can get 100 percent payment protection, delivery assurance, track delivery, and prompt support.

Kapil Dev said “ Such a platform is the need of the hour. There are so many local shops and businesses in different parts of the country who want to scale their business but struggle with getting affordable services."

Talking about the near future, Royce Said “ In the next 6 months, we want to enable the product in different languages to penetrate more locally into India and also plan to offer credit and capital to Freelancers and SMEs based on proprietary data-led algorithms.


“Further, we are soon going to ship our inbuilt feature GigStore. Using which Service Experts can create custom products and sell them with self-branding covered by our Assurance.”

ReNew Power, Tata Power Top India's Solar Sector Market Leaderboard - Report

Mercom Communications India, a subsidiary of global clean energy communications and consulting firm Mercom Capital Group, has released its report, India Solar Market Leaderboard 2020. The report covers market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain in 2019.

During the calendar year (CY) 2019, India installed 7.3 GW of solar power across the country, consolidating its position as the third-largest solar market in the world. India also had a robust pipeline of utility-scale projects under development of 23.7 GW at the end of 2019, with another 31.5 GW of tenders pending auction.

“The solar market leaders have changed in almost every category compared with last year. With a tough year ahead, we expect strong, resilient, and innovative companies continue to do well,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.



The report reveals that the top ten large-scale project developers account for 68% market share in 2019. ReNew Power was the top utility-scale developer during 2019, while Azure Power owns the largest project pipeline.

There are around 29 large-scale solar developers with a project pipeline of 100 MW or more in India.

Large-scale solar installations in 2019 accounted for 85% with 6.2 GW. Also, solar accounted for 41% of new power capacity additions in 2019 behind coal which accounted for 44%.

Companies offering engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) services saw a lot of projects moved to 2020 due to delays caused by general elections, land, and evacuation issues, among others. Mahindra Susten was the top EPC player for utility-scale solar installations in 2019, followed by L&T.

Tata Power Solar had the largest cumulative rooftop portfolio, followed by CleanMax Solar. At the end of 2019, the top ten rooftop solar installers represented 34% of the total rooftop solar market share. In 2019, the rooftop solar market growth came down by 33% compared to CY 2018.

Huawei led the solar inverter market in India in 2019, followed by Sungrow. Other top string inverter suppliers included Growatt, Solis Inverters, and Delta Power Solutions.

At the end of December 2019, Trina Solar was the leading module supplier to India in terms of cumulative shipments, while Waaree Energies, Adani, and Risen Energy held the top spot in CY 2019. The top ten module suppliers accounted for over 62% of the market in 2019.

Ganges Internationale was the top supplier of solar mounting structures in 2019, followed by Purshotam Profiles and Strolar. Scorpius Trackers was the top supplier of solar trackers in 2019.

Rays Power Experts and CleanMax Solar were the top open access developers as of December 2019.

Ecoppia was the top supplier of solar robotic cleaning systems as of December 2019.

For the detailed and comprehensive report, click here

WhatsApp Now Allows up to 8 People to Connect on a Group Video Call

WhatsApp on Tuesday said it will now allow up to eight people to connect on a group video call as an increasing number of people turn to digital platforms to connect with friends and family amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

 The Facebook-owned company said over the last month, people on average are spending over 15 billion minutes talking each day on WhatsApp calls, well above a typical day before the pandemic.

"...we see that people all over the world are turning to voice and video calling on WhatsApp more than ever before. Group calling has been particularly useful and our users have asked to connect with more people at once," WhatsApp said in a blogpost.

Starting Tuesday, the company is doubling the number of participants one can have on a WhatsApp video or voice call from 4 to 8 people at a time, it added.

WhatsApp emphasised that like written messages, all calls on its platform are protected with end-to-end encryption.

"We have built group calling in a way that makes it available for as many users as possible, including people on lower-end devices and slow network conditions," it added.

WhatsApp said that to access the new, higher participant limit on WhatsApp calls, all participants in a call need to update to the latest version of WhatsApp available on iPhone or Android.

Video calling tools like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and others have also seen a significant jump in userbase and traffic as people connect while maintaining social distancing amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Last week, Facebook had introduced Messenger Rooms that will soon hold up to 50 people with no time limit.

It had added that the company will also add ways to create rooms from Instagram Direct, WhatsApp and Portal.

Noting that between WhatsApp and Messenger, more than 700 million accounts participate in calls every day, Facebook had said, adding that video calling on Messenger and WhatsApp more than doubled in many countries.

Also, views of Facebook Live and Instagram Live videos have also increased significantly in March, it said.

7 Important Lessons for Startups from Ramayana

Heralded as the biggest epic in history, Ramayana is a household name in India and other subcontinents. The sensational mythology is rife with values and lessons on relationships and promises. Not only does the story benefit on an individual level, but even companies, especially startups, can learn a lot from it. 

Mentioned below are some of the lessons, which if adopted, can improve the chances of success for a startup: 

1. 
   

   Know your team’s strength -
   

   
   Rama knew his core team well. For instance, Rama sent Angad (Bali’s son) for a peace talk with Ravan, knowing very well that Angad had great negotiation skills. Rama was also aware that Nala and Neel had a curse bestowed on them—that they couldn’t sink anything in water. Rama capitalized on this and used their unique ability towards building a bridge to Lanka. Like Rama, companies should focus on knowing their employees’ strengths to keep them engaged and perform better.


2. 
   

   Develop Strategic Relationships for Future Partnerships -

   
   
   Rama made friends with Sughreev, promised to make him king, and later followed through on his promise. In return, Sughreev lent his entire army to Rama in his fight against Ravana. Taking a leaf out of this strategic move, startups may initiate a goodwill towards client: they could work a project or two pro bono and in this way start to build trust with the client. The key is to give without expectation—especially when you are in the early stage of your business. A good client would be appreciative of the effort and may reciprocate with a long-term partnership.


3. 
   

   Hire from Competitors -

   
   [caption id="attachment_144837" align="aligncenter" width="730"] Image - Bhaskar.com[/caption]
   
   One of the major reasons behind Ravana’s defeat was his brother Vibhishana, who was on Rama’s side. He gave away all major strategies of Ravana’s army, including tipping Rama on the right way to kill Ravana . If you’re a startup, hiring smart talent from self-same industry may help you update your own strategies and broaden knowledge; it may lead you to approach your audience in a different light.
   


4. 
   

   Consult your team before making crucial decisions -

   
   
   Ramayana shows multiple instances where Rama, Dashratha, and Bharata consult with their ministers about any major decisions. On the other hand, the egocentric Ravana is shown to act on his own and not listen to his ministers, including the instance where they urge Ravana to let go of Sita but he doesn’t, which in turn costs him his empire. This is an important lesson for startups: when management listens to their team, a range of perspectives is shared. It’s a win- win situation as not just the management benefits from it but the employees also feel heard and valued—which in general could lead to employees feeling positively towards their company.


5. 
   

   Be true to your words -

   
   "Praan Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye”— was one of the most important lessons from Ramayana. We saw many occasions where Rama kept his promises, be it going for 14 years of exile or giving Sughreev his kingdom back. Being honest and committed to your word plays a critical part in any organisation. This can include adhering to timelines given to clients and vendors, sending them assured deliverables, fulfilling promises made to employees, and so on. The company should look to follow through on their word so the trust is intact among all their stakeholders.


6. 
   

   Never underestimate your competition -

   
   Ravana never believed that Rama with his Vanar  army could defeat him. He never thought that they could cross the sea and destroy his kingdom. Ravana in his arrogance underestimated Rama and all his moves. Similarly, a company needs to be able to correctly gauge the abilities and strengths of their competition. Self-confidence is different from arrogance: while former can lead you to success, the latter is directly detrimental to success.


7. 
   

   Be patient and hopeful -

   
   Last but not the least, a very important lesson from Ramayana is to be patient. When Rama knew that Sita was kidnapped by Ravana, he took his time processing the enormity of the situation: he couldn’t have just directly entered into a battle with Ravana and his Lanka. It took Rama several months but he utilized his time efficiently, building his army and focussing on strategies. Likewise, for a startup, it is necessary to be patient and not lose hope especially at a time when they are in their early stages. Committing a 100% to their goal and achieving results take time. 

Ramayana is filled with timeless wisdom and a belief that good triumphs over evil. Incorporating the above lessons in your organization will promise a successful start and a fruitful sustenance. Ramayana is not an epic story, it’s a way of life! 

[box title="Author of this Content"]The above content is contributed by Rohit Gawali, who is the co-founder of Officebing which operates and provides flexible and coworking offices PAN India.[/box]

IIT-Bombay's Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship Mentored Startups Offer Novel COVID-19 Solutions

Contactless detection, hot spot monitoring, smart trolley for hospitals, real-time monitoring of logistics, rapid ambulance service and pregnancy care some novel solutions.

The Desai Sethi School of Entrepreneurship was set up to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. More than 25 start-ups including Augle, Adapt, CareNx, Faclon, HelpNow, JanYu, Phabio, R2MI and others, started by IIT-B students who were inspired and empowered through DSSE courses and mentoring programs, are now rising to meet the COVID challenges with fresh thinking and effective solutions.

IIT Bombay start-ups have developed several novel technological weapons for front-line professionals and workers to effectively battle COVID-19.

Facial Recognition plus temperature sensing

Two start-up companies Augle AI and Faclon Labs have devised solutions for detection, tracking and localization in a densely populated city. The temperature sensing system developed by Augle, skims through hundreds of people moving in public places. Tejendu, head of their tech team, says, “We are integrating this with our existing facial recognition system to strengthen the safety and security in offices, government buildings, public places, malls – any place where people gather in large numbers.” They also provide drone-based crowd analytics for quarantined areas for increasing the safety of police officials and health workers. Faclon is working closely with the BMC to install automatic plug & play screening devices that can be mounted on wall or tripod. They capture thermal snapshots of individuals and activate alarms upon detecting those with fever.

Robotic smart trolley

A robotic smart trolley with racks designed by the start-up JanYu Technologies is being tested in local hospitals. Dr. Om Singh of Lifecare Hospital, Vasai recommends the trolley with its WiFi connected tablet screen and in-built camera for patient interaction through live audio-visuals. Lt. Gen. Subrata Saha (Retd.) tweeted about the smart trolley for remote care for COVID patients. These trolleys can be remotely operated, for taking food, medicine, clothing and other critical supplies between isolation wards and supply units. “Our company develops robots for hazardous workspaces. We modified these to meet the current requirements, and are delivering trolleys to hospitals in Hyderabad, Lucknow and Delhi” said Sai Hemanth, founder of the company.

Personal Protection Equipment

Routetomarket Media India (R2MI), which offers sales, distribution and media management services, is manufacturing customisable personal protection equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals, law and order personnel and other frontline workers. Harsh, one of the founders of R2MI, says “We are manufacturing about 5,000 PPEs per day and have pledged to donate 50% of them.”

Adapt Ideations provides Cloud-based platforms for real-time monitoring of logistics and delivery. They utilised their network to manufacture face protection shields with BSL-2 compliance for use by doctors, health workers and enforcement officials. As of today, 200 face shields were donated to Thane traffic police, and 1250 were supplied to Aastha Pratishthan for Ratnagiri Police. More are in production, to meet the requests from Andhra Pradesh police, Telangana medical authorities, and Dharavi residents in Mumbai.

Spot.Corona App

A PhD student Farha joined hands with Sukanya, founder of a bioplastics start-up called Phabio, to develop a community engagement project. Their Spot.Corona app provides a heat map for informed decisions on contaminant zones, by predicting the number of hidden and reported cases. It uses multiple sets of data including symptoms, detection, travel history and contact tracing to identify infection hotspots. This helps in deciding about increased tests, optimal isolation zones and localised lockdown.

Pregnancy counselling webinars

The pandemic poses questions for a vast range of people with various medical conditions, including expecting mothers and their families worried about routine check-up, delivery and infection of new-borns. The CareNx team developed a video series and webinars called ‘Don't Panic, Protect’ in partnership with renowned gynaecologists, doctors and counsellors. Their app is used by frontline workers to counsel more than 10,000 pregnant women in remote areas.

15 mnt. ambulance service

The HelpNow start-up team developed an app called MedCabs, reducing the time required to get an ambulance to under 15 minutes. They are aggregating ambulances, mobilising Uber drivers and giving them AHA-certified training as well as protective equipment. More than 350 such vehicles are currently moving on Mumbai roads, and have serviced over 9000 calls for help. The team launched a 24x7 helpline to provide sanitised ambulances with ventilators for COVID emergencies and are helping the government to sanitize public places like CST, BKC and Dharavi.

“HelpNow was started by Aditya Makkar after his father suffered a heart attack and was told to wait for 45 minutes for an ambulance; he was saved by driving to the hospital in their own car” shared Dr. Aparna Rao, who coordinates various courses offered by Desai Sethi School for Entrepreneurship at IIT Bombay.

Most of these were developed within days of the nation-wide lock-down announced by the government.,” adds Prof B Ravi, Head of the Desai Sethi Centre for Entrepreneurship and Founder of BETiC innovation centre.

Home Cloud Kitchen “Homefoodi” to deliver Home-Cooked Meals throughout the Lockdown

A cloud kitchen is primarily a kitchen that accepts incoming orders only through online ordering systems and offers no dine-in facility. They have a base kitchen that delivers food to the customers' doorstep. While the term Cloud Kitchen has largely been used for Commercial Kitchens, a new wave has been sweeping for Home Kitchens. A Home Cloud Kitchen is a Home Kitchen which delivers Home Cooked Food just as any other Cloud Kitchen without any dining facility.

Amidst the current events, Homefoodi a Noida based e-commerce startup and also a renowned aggregator of Cloud Kitchens operating from Home aims to offer nutritious and hygienic meals to its customers while undertaking maximum measures while ensuring the safety of its home-chefs, delivery executives and customers.

Homefoodi is India's 1st Mobile App for authentic home-made food made by Genuine home chefs in their home Kitchens. With over 200+ Home Chefs in Noida, the Homefoodi Mobile App offers access to the widest range of Home Food and Bakery products prepared by home chefs during the course of the lockdown period.



The current global scenario and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic are disturbing every facet of our lives, keeping the current scenario in mind, the Government of India recently extended lockdown across the country. A lockdown does not allow one to step out of their premises unless an emergency. A recent incident of a renowned Pizza Outlet in Delhi caught the eyeballs of the entire nation with a Corona Positive Pizza Delivery Executive was found delivering pizzas across the city endangering his own colleagues as well as his customers, and completely violating the rules set by our Government.

Homefoodi, therefore, undertakes preventive readiness measures for the safety of their customers, home-chefs as well as the delivery executives. 

They follow a 3 C framework of Delivery Hygiene:

• CARRY: All Delivery Representatives have been ably trained on Hygiene and Sanitization standards. As a practice, every Delivery Rep carries a Kit comprising of A) Hand Sanitizer B) Face Mask and C) Gloves and D) Thermometer.


• CONTACT LESS: Delivery packages are picked and dropped without any contact with Home Chef and the Consumer.   


• CONFIRM: All Delivery representatives are supervised daily to confirm to Sanitization, Hygiene and Social Distancing Norms as outlined.

These are the times when most of the Commercial kitchens are shut. Homefoodi in compliance with the Govt. mandate is offering homemade food made by home chefs. Homefoodi is providing their services across Noida, Greater Noida and Indirapuram. 

With the announcement of the Lockdown, Homefoodi has also rolled out a key initiative, wherein they have been ‘Donating a Meal for Every Order Placed’ to the needy on behalf of the customer.

Narendra Singh Dahiya, Founder and Director Homefoodi stated, “Our business model is built around Health and Hygiene. We are delighted that our passionate and talented community of 200 plus Home Chefs can now serve Healthy, Fresh and Hygienic Home food to countless Customers."

Homefoodi has been very selective and responsible in selecting every Home Chefs. As a Company policy, the Homefoodi team visits every Home chef to ensure Food taste, quality, hygiene, cleanliness of their kitchen, and packaging standards before on-boarding them. All Home Chefs are 100% FSSAI Certified and uphold the Highest Standards of Cleanliness and Hygiene that can be only witnessed at Homes. Homefoodi Home Chefs make food in their Home Kitchens that prioritizing Fresh, Healthy, and Hygienic food. 

Homefoodi is a Mobile Application for Home Food made by Home Chefs that empowers and connects society. Based out of Noida, the company has a mission of creating “Ghar-Ghar Start-Up” with an aim to create India’s biggest self-employment opportunity for women by offering a platform to earn from home being a Home Chef. The company aims towards advocating initiatives like Healthy India, Women empowerment, which empowers every homemaker towards nation-building and healthy India. The screening criterion for all chefs is a comprehensive process. To deliver 100% authenticity, the Homefoodi team visits the aspiring Home Chefs to check for food tasting, food quality, hygiene, and cleanliness of their kitchen and packaging standards. All Home Chefs are 100% FSSAI Certified.

Helm Chart Repositories are Re-Defining Kubernetes Development Environments

Helm chart repositories are redefining the modern Kubernetes programming environment. Kubernetes clustering framework is increasingly garnering more interest amongst modern development teams. Currently, there are over 2,000 active contributors to Kubernetes repositories, making up over 8,000 total commits. Over 60% of modern IT professionals are using two or more container orchestration tools in order to enhance development procedures. Helm chart repositories offer modern development teams several resources to improve the quality, accuracy, and speed of Kubernetes programming.

Helm repositories are essential for local, remote, and virtual chart support. Once integrated into your Kubernetes build, you can immediately take advantage of several programming features to accelerate your overall program results. If you are interested in deploying an advanced, modern solution into your next software program, read on to learn about the top ways a Helm chart repository improves Kubernetes programming.

Enhance Privacy

Helm chart repositories enhance security and privacy across the development of your Kubernetes program. Within a Helm repository installed, your development team can take advantage of several advanced security features.

For example, Helm repository limit users' ability to view resources through specific credentials or cluster-wide authorizations. This ensures that developers only access materials they are qualified to be working with. At the same time, lead developers can utilize remote repositories in order to proxy and cache remote, public Helm charts, and aggregate local and remote resources. Consider Helm chart repositories to improve privacy across Kubernetes programming. 

Deliver High Availability

Helm chart repositories deliver high availability across the duration of your Kubernetes programming lifecycle. Helm repositories are extremely accessible, even for remote development teams. All of your remote resources can be found within a centralized, virtual Helm repository. Here, development teams can access, organize, and aggregate their Helm charts from a single URL. In order to enhance the availability across software development, integrate a Helm repository to improve Kubernetes programming. 

Improve System Access Control

Helm chart repositories improve system access control throughout the course of Kubernetes development. With an integrated Helm repository, you can access multiple role-based access control features within your system. Helm charts allow you to grant privileged operations to administrators. These are essential for development teams looking to build on secure and reliable ecosystems. Privileged operations allow you to create new resources or roles cluster-wide for your software program. At the same time, Helm repositories restrict the ability to create new resources like deployments, pods, or volumes to specific developers.

At the same time, you can enable these access restrictions through cluster-wide codes like roles, custom definitions, and resource quotas. Integrating an automated Helm repository into your Kubernetes program helps you strengthen system access control. 

Scalable For Enterprise Repository Management

Helm chart repositories are scalable for enterprise repository management. Scalable systems largely improve Kubernetes programming for modern development teams. Helm charts storage access cloud solutions in order to maximize efficiency. Cloud-based providers can help you balance a hybrid storage system using both cloud and on-premise locations. At the same time, Helm repositories offer replication options that are able to support any network infrastructure. This enhances the performance of geographically distant sites, as well as protecting against disaster recovery. Development teams utilizing Helm chart repositories can enhance the scalability of their Kubernetes programs for enterprise ready management. 

Deploy Automated Development Solutions  

Programming with Helm chart repositories allows you to deploy automated solutions towards your Kubernetes programming. Artifactories allow you to deploy automated Helm charts to your Kubernetes clusters. Automated solutions help you simplify and optimize needed scripts for your program. With automated software development, these scrips can run more efficient, operate more readable, and be easier to maintain across your system. Through the proper deployment of automated Helm charts, your development team can deliver an optimized, fully-automated software program. Consider integrating Helm charts into your development team in order to take advantage of automated solutions. 

Using a Helm chart repository offers several features for developers to improve programming. Through adding a reliable Helm chart to your Kubernetes programming environment, you can take advantage of several key development features. Helm charts enhance program security and privacy. Using these repositories delivers high availability across the lifecycle of your program.

At the same time, Helm charts repository system access control throughout development and deployment. Helm charts are scalable for enterprise-ready repository management. Furthermore, Helm charts allow you to take advantage of automated Kubernetes programming solutions. Consider the points mentioned above to learn more about the essential ways a Helm chart repository improves Kubernetes programming. 

Helm Chart Repositories are Re-Defining Kubernetes Development Environments

Helm chart repositories are redefining the modern Kubernetes programming environment. Kubernetes clustering framework is increasingly garnering more interest amongst modern development teams. Currently, there are over 2,000 active contributors to Kubernetes repositories, making up over 8,000 total commits. Over 60% of modern IT professionals are using two or more container orchestration tools in order to enhance development procedures. Helm chart repositories offer modern development teams several resources to improve the quality, accuracy, and speed of Kubernetes programming.

Helm repositories are essential for local, remote, and virtual chart support. Once integrated into your Kubernetes build, you can immediately take advantage of several programming features to accelerate your overall program results. If you are interested in deploying an advanced, modern solution into your next software program, read on to learn about the top ways a Helm chart repository improves Kubernetes programming.

Enhance Privacy

Helm chart repositories enhance security and privacy across the development of your Kubernetes program. Within a Helm repository installed, your development team can take advantage of several advanced security features.

For example, Helm repository limit users' ability to view resources through specific credentials or cluster-wide authorizations. This ensures that developers only access materials they are qualified to be working with. At the same time, lead developers can utilize remote repositories in order to proxy and cache remote, public Helm charts, and aggregate local and remote resources. Consider Helm chart repositories to improve privacy across Kubernetes programming. 

Deliver High Availability

Helm chart repositories deliver high availability across the duration of your Kubernetes programming lifecycle. Helm repositories are extremely accessible, even for remote development teams. All of your remote resources can be found within a centralized, virtual Helm repository. Here, development teams can access, organize, and aggregate their Helm charts from a single URL. In order to enhance the availability across software development, integrate a Helm repository to improve Kubernetes programming. 

Improve System Access Control

Helm chart repositories improve system access control throughout the course of Kubernetes development. With an integrated Helm repository, you can access multiple role-based access control features within your system. Helm charts allow you to grant privileged operations to administrators. These are essential for development teams looking to build on secure and reliable ecosystems. Privileged operations allow you to create new resources or roles cluster-wide for your software program. At the same time, Helm repositories restrict the ability to create new resources like deployments, pods, or volumes to specific developers.

At the same time, you can enable these access restrictions through cluster-wide codes like roles, custom definitions, and resource quotas. Integrating an automated Helm repository into your Kubernetes program helps you strengthen system access control. 

Scalable For Enterprise Repository Management

Helm chart repositories are scalable for enterprise repository management. Scalable systems largely improve Kubernetes programming for modern development teams. Helm charts storage access cloud solutions in order to maximize efficiency. Cloud-based providers can help you balance a hybrid storage system using both cloud and on-premise locations. At the same time, Helm repositories offer replication options that are able to support any network infrastructure. This enhances the performance of geographically distant sites, as well as protecting against disaster recovery. Development teams utilizing Helm chart repositories can enhance the scalability of their Kubernetes programs for enterprise ready management. 

Deploy Automated Development Solutions  

Programming with Helm chart repositories allows you to deploy automated solutions towards your Kubernetes programming. Artifactories allow you to deploy automated Helm charts to your Kubernetes clusters. Automated solutions help you simplify and optimize needed scripts for your program. With automated software development, these scrips can run more efficient, operate more readable, and be easier to maintain across your system. Through the proper deployment of automated Helm charts, your development team can deliver an optimized, fully-automated software program. Consider integrating Helm charts into your development team in order to take advantage of automated solutions. 

Using a Helm chart repository offers several features for developers to improve programming. Through adding a reliable Helm chart to your Kubernetes programming environment, you can take advantage of several key development features. Helm charts enhance program security and privacy. Using these repositories delivers high availability across the lifecycle of your program.

At the same time, Helm charts repository system access control throughout development and deployment. Helm charts are scalable for enterprise-ready repository management. Furthermore, Helm charts allow you to take advantage of automated Kubernetes programming solutions. Consider the points mentioned above to learn more about the essential ways a Helm chart repository improves Kubernetes programming. 

New Cryptocurrency 'CRO' to list on CoinDCX Crypto Exchange

• Crypto.com’s CRO Token on CoinDCX will be traded on in two pairs


• In combination with MCO listing in early April, Crypto.com’s full range of financial services is available to the Indian market

CoinDCX, India’s largest and safest cryptocurrency exchange and liquidity aggregator, announced that crypto payments pioneer Crypto.com will be listing its cryptocurrency CRO token on the CoinDCX exchange. It will be traded in two pairs CRO/BTC and CRO/INR. It means, Indian traders trading on the exchange can buy or sell CRO token in exchange of BTC (Bitcoin) or Indian Rupee. Following the successful listing of the MCO token on CoinDCX earlier this month, the CRO listing marks Hong Kong-based Crypto.com’s official entrance into the Indian market. With the integration of MCO and CRO onto the CoinDCX exchange, CoinDCX bolsters its crypto-based financial services offering, fulfilling its vision of building a trustless, borderless, and all-inclusive crypto ecosystem.

Deposit address open: 28 April 2020 (Tuesday) at 4pm IST / 6:30 pm HKT

Trading starts: 28 April 2020 (Tuesday) at 6pm IST / 8:30 pm HKT

Trading pairs: CRO/BTC & CRO/INR

Speaking on the listing, Sumit Gupta, CEO & Co-founder of CoinDCX said: ​“At a time when we are witnessing unprecedented growth in the use of cryptocurrencies in India, there is a need to provide users with an extensive range of crypto-based financial services that can ensure the faster, simpler, and uninterrupted flow of capital. We are thrilled that CRO is entering India, through our platform, which will help nearly 1.3 billion people in crypto trade CRO through INR. This is also an amazing opportunity for us to encourage more people to enter the crypto market through our ongoing #TryCrypto initiative.”

While the MCO token features key payment and finance utilities within the Crypto.com ecosystem, the CRO token is primarily used for settlements on the Crypto.com Chain, enabling transactions worldwide between merchants and cryptocurrency users in a seamless, secure and cost-efficient way.

“By using CRO as an intermediary currency on the Crypto.com Chain, participants — customers, merchants, crypto customer acquirers, and merchant acquirers — can convert their cryptocurrencies to their fiat counterparts at a much-reduced cost,” said Neeraj Khandelwal, Co-founder of CoinDCX. “The combination of MCO and CRO creates a full-service, global system that encourages the adoption of cryptocurrencies that is inspired by real-life use cases."

In 2019, the CRO token and the Crypto.com Chain project have made headlines based on the token’s dramatic price increases which propelled it to the top 50 position on the CoinMarketCap’s ranking.

The listing of MCO and CRO on CoinDCX follows the successful closing of CoinDCX’s ​$3 million Series A funding round by Polychain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, as well as HDR Group, Operator of BitMEX. Following the lifting of an industry-wide banking ban by the Reserve Bank of India in February, the crypto exchange witnessed a 10x growth in sign-ups in one week. It also launched its long-term campaign entitled #TryCrypto​, pledging a sum of $1.3 million USD to bring about crypto mainstream adoption and the total number of crypto users in India to 50 million. 

About CoinDCX

CoinDCX is India’s largest and safest cryptocurrency exchange. Built with user experience and security in mind, CoinDCX provides instant fiat to crypto conversions with zero fees, so that users can have access to a diverse suite of financial products and services that are backed by industry-leading security processes and insurance protection.

CoinDCX aims to be the global gateway to cryptocurrencies. Its proprietary liquidity aggregation model provides its users with access to liquidity from leading global crypto exchanges. Recognised and awarded for its contribution to the Indian emerging tech space, CoinDCX is backed by investors such as Polychain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and HDR Group, operator of BitMEX.

CoinDCX offers users an integrated suite of products, including DCXinsta, providing fiat onboarding from Indian Rupees (INR) to crypto, DCXlend, a decentralised lending service, and DCXmargin, with up to 6x leverage trades across more than 250 markets, and DCXfutures, with up to 20x leverage trades on leading digital assets futures. For more information, visit https://coindcx.com/ 

About Crypto.com

Crypto.com was founded in 2016 on a simple belief: it's a basic human right for everyone to control their money, data and identity. With over 1 million users on its platform today, Crypto.com provides a powerful alternative to traditional financial services, turning its vision of "cryptocurrency in every wallet" into reality, one customer at a time. Crypto.com is built on a solid foundation of security, privacy and compliance and is the first cryptocurrency company in the world to have CCSS Level 3, ISO27001:2013 and PCI:DSS 3.2.1, Level 1 compliance. Crypto.com is headquartered in Hong Kong with a 250+ strong team.

Find out more by visiting https://crypto.com.

BIGO LIVE: Building and Nurturing the Community through Virtual Fitness Classes for Free

The coronavirus pandemic prompted a nation-wide stay-at-home order forcing adjustments to all our routines. Being confined to our houses 24/7 not only takes a physical but also a mental toll on people. To keep the users engaged and stress free during this pandemic, BIGO LIVE, a product of BIGO Technology a Singapore based technology giant and a leading live streaming platform is bringing virtual fitness sessions under their initiative, 'Get Fit with BIGO' with professional instructors for free of cost.

This initiative aims to promote a healthy and fit lifestyle by providing live fitness sessions to all BIGO LIVE users enabling a transition of gyms into virtual fitness classes. Users can choose the fitness class of their choice from diverse options that include Zumba, yoga, Acroyoga, female fitness, right way to do cardio and Desi fitness, which can be done at home without any fancy gym equipment's. The introduction of fitness will encourage people to lead a healthy lifestyle. It will also help disrupt the monotony of the quarantine life and bring a sense of commitment and achievement in their lives.



While the web is flooded with free workout videos, the advantage of practicing fitness from BIGO LIVE is that the BIGO fitness experts can offer specific training to individuals or group of users as per their requirement through its various features and keep changing the workout according to their clients' fitness level. The BIGO LIVE users can also get real time feedback from the instructors on their performance and raise queries on the topics related to health and fitness and get them resolved instantly during or after the live session. You can also keep updating the level of your workout as per your progress. These sessions do not require any expenditure. All you need is a yoga mat and you are good to go.

The users can also have a Q&A session with the fitness experts and get customized routines and advice as per their concerns. This initiative not only benefits the users but also the fitness hosts and coaches to have a source of income while widening their reach and gaining more audiences. The platform will also keep updating the fitness schedule while adding new fitness hosts every week. This will help widen the options for the users and bring in more activity and vigour in the platform.

"The idea behind 'Get Fit with BIGO LIVE' is to provide our users with means to partake in healthy living practices and get over the humdrum caused by the pandemic. These virtual sessions will be open to all our users free of cost. There are various categories under workout that people can avail as per their liking. Our main aim through this initiative is to promote a healthy and active lifestyle. We are looking forward to active participation from people and will bring on board more health gurus as hosts to guide people. We wish to make it a lively campaign and hope more and more people join these live sessions and encourage their friends and family members to adopt this kind of lifestyle as well. I strongly believe that this is a wonderful way to still feel a sense of community while joining our hands together to promote physical and mental well-being and also give opportunity to lots of fitness experts to earn through this platform which makes it a win-win situation for content creators as well as viewers," Nagesh Banga, Deputy Country Head of BIGO LIVE commented on the occasion.

Riya Singh who is a Yoga instructor and a BIGO LIVE Fitness Host remarked that, "This COVID-19 outbreak has taken a toll on all of us. There are growing levels of anxiety among people because of the pandemic and in order to maintain normality during lockdown, a workout regime can be very helpful. BIGO LIVE's 'Get Fit with BIGO' initiative is a wonderful opportunity for all to keep yourselves in shape and work on your mental and physical health. It is also a great way to connect with other people and support one another to sail through this pandemic. Hence, I am using my fitness expertise to work towards a healthy and a fit lifestyle and reach out to my fans through these virtual fitness classes."

About Bigo Technology

BIGO is a fast-growing Singapore technology company established in 2014. BIGO operates products and services in more than 150 countries in the world. BIGOs products include BIGO LIVE (global live streaming platform), Likee (global short video creation platform) and imo (global video communication platform). BIGOs headquarters and regional centres are focused on building Artificial Intelligence capabilities and enhancements specifically for localization and country specific requirements. At present, BIGO has seven R&D centers, in Singapore, U.S., Middle East, India, and China, and over 20 offices around the globe. BIGO aims to provide their users with a world class experience through their cutting-edge technology. Building a global and inspiring social community based on video service. BIGO encourages people to share their creativity, passion and happiness in life and make the world a better place.

Visit BIGO's www.bigo.sg for more information on their brand and products.

Startup Incubator Huddle Looking to Back Solutions For a Post COVID-19 India

Huddle, one of India's leading incubators based in Gurgaon has launched an exclusive Incubation Program inviting early-stage and growth-stage ventures offering innovative solutions to combat the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of the program, Singularity University's Gurgaon team, a part of the Singularity University global innovation and thought leadership network, has partnered to provide their expertise as Knowledge partners for this program. Singularity University Gurgaon Board, and other reputed corporations will be a part of the jury to support the companies for a post Covid-19 India.



In line with Huddle's mission to provide ventures with 360-degree business support and Singularity University’s commitment to galvanize communities with expertise, knowledge, and resources, the program is inviting ventures with solutions that help curb the trouble caused by Covid-19. The overarching theme of the program is focused on solutions resurrecting economic growth, improving preventive healthcare measures, and aiding purchasing behavior and supply chain constraints. 

The program is focused on B2B and B2C startups driving a social impact for the masses by utilizing relevant technologies in both opportunistic and need gap driven scenarios. 

The focus areas of the program will include innovations across the following 3 sectors:

Social, managerial and economic solutions for the Gig Economy segment across

• Solutions that offer social and economic relief for daily wage earners
  
  


• Managerial solutions that improve an individual’s ability to work from home or remotely through workforce management, productivity monitoring, and staffing of remote-work freelancers.

Crowd Management Solutions dedicated to solve for mass movement control and other preventive healthcare measures

• Innovations around inculcating queue management systems, smart surveillance, ramping up contact tracing methods, other relevant use cases. 

Innovations that aid purchasing behavior and supply chain constraints in the form of:

• Products and Services helping to stimulate and retain consumer demand across sectors
   


• New-Age, Homegrown Consumer brands operating despite local and regional supply chain disruptions

The selected startups will have access to seed funding and fundraising support, pilot opportunities with large corporate organisations, dedicated mentorship from Huddle and Singularity University Gurgaon’s reputed board, and access to a host of other support functions highlighted below:

• Seed Funding and fundraising support in subsequent funding rounds through Huddle and its institutional investment partners.
  
  


• Opportunity to conduct Pilots and POCs with established corporate partners throughout solution development, testing, and commercialization.
  
  


• Access to expert industry guidance in the form of a dedicated mentor, assigned to each selected venture.
  
  


• Meticulous business development support with access to relevant distribution networks.
  
  


• Ability to leverage Huddle’s existing portfolio of companies as and when required. 

The program is currently accepting applications until 17th May 2020. Applications can be submitted on connect@huddle.work

APAC to Dominate Coronavirus Testing Kits Market until 2025: Research

Growing cases of COVID-19 disease across the globe to drive the growth of global coronavirus testing kits market

According to TechSci Research report, “Global Coronavirus Testing Kits Market By Type of Test (Molecular v/s Serology), By Use (Disposable v/s Reusable), By Full Test Time (5 Minutes, 5- 15 Minutes, 15-60Minutes, 1 Hours- 5 Hours, 5 Hours-12Hours, 12 Hours-24Hours, More Than 1 Days), By Technology (RT-PCR, IgG, IgM ELISA Test, Microneutralization Assays), By Specimen Type (Nose & Throat Swab, Blood, Sputum, Nasal Aspirate), By Mobility (Portable v/s Stationary), By End Use (Hospitals, Clinics, Public Health Labs, Private or Commercial Labs, Physician Labs, Research Institutes, Others), By Region, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025”, the global coronavirus testing kits market is expected to grow at a robust rate during the forecast period on account of increasing R&D activities related to production of coronavirus testing kits by major companies and research laboratories around the globe.

Additionally, increasing funding & grants by various governments around the globe for development of testing kits, so that they can identify each case and take necessary preventive measures, is expected to foster the market over the next few years. Moreover, deployment of test kits at massive scale for testing suspects is anticipated to spur the market.

Furthermore, increasing healthcare spending and rising need to protect the population from the outbreak are positively impacting the growth of market. However, high cost of testing kits might hamper the growth of market especially in the developing economies. Additionally, non-availability and shortage of testing kits might hinder the growth of market. Besides, it has been found that some testing kits are not that efficient also, which is negatively impacting market growth.

Browse XX market data Tables and XX Figures spread through XXX Pages and an in-depth TOC on" Global Coronavirus Testing Kits Market".

The global coronavirus testing kits market is segmented based on type, use, full test time, technology, specimen type, mobility, end user, company and region. Based on type, the market can be bifurcated into molecular and serological tests. The molecular type of test segment is expected to dominate the market during forecast period since it looks for the signs of an active infection or symptom. A sample from the back of the throat is taken and sent for testing.

Additionally, the sample undergoes a PCR test to find out the presence of virus’ genetic material. The PCR confirms the diagnosis of COVID-19 if it finds two genes of SARS-COV-2 virus. Moreover, these tests are helpful in identifying the current cases of COVID-19 disease. The serological tests segment is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast years since these tests are done using blood samples and they detect the antibodies produced by the body against the virus. Such antibodies are present in an individual who has just recovered from COVID-19. Further, these tests are helpful in determining patients with mild or no symptoms.

Based on use, the market can be divided into disposable and reusable. The disposable testing kits segment is expected to witness significant growth in the market during the next five years since they are based on antibody tests and provide early diagnosis of the disease. Additionally, they provide faster diagnosis, are accurate and simple & convenient to use. Furthermore, they can be customized according to the requirements of the patient or doctor. Also, they are available at competitive prices coupled with fast delivery of the kits. Based on full test time, the market can be fragmented into 5 minutes, 5- 15 minutes, 15-60minutes, 1 hours- 5 hours, 5 hours-12hours, 12 hours-24hours and more than 1 day. The 5-12 hours segment is expected to dominate the market since the most preferable mode for testing RT-PCR, generally takes this much time for the diagnosis of COVID. The RT-PCR test is followed by gene fingerprinting which usually takes time. The 15- 60 minutes segment is also expected to witness significant growth during the forecast years because California-based molecular diagnostics company Cepheid has developed a rapid coronavirus diagnostic test with a detection time of about 45 minutes and has got the approval from FDA.

Also, Abbot Laboratories have developed a rapid test that will take around 5 minutes to diagnose the disease. Based on specimen type, the market can be segregated into nose & throat swab, blood, sputum and nasal aspirate. The nose & throat swab specimen type is expected to dominate the market since these are the two prominent regions where the coronavirus replicates and hence are preferred for taking the patient’s specimen or sample. Also, the blood specimen type segment is expected to grow rapidly during forecast period on account of the availability and growing preference for antibody based testing kits, since they provide faster diagnostics of the disease. Based on end user, the market can be grouped into hospitals, public health labs, private or commercial labs, physician labs and others. The hospitals segment is expected to dominate the market owing to the presence of sophisticated diagnostic and treatment facilities in them.

Abbott Laboratories, Altona Diagnostics, MyLab, Roche Diagnostics, Qiagen, BioMednomics, Getein Biotech, Sensing Self Ltd, Hangzhou Biotest Biotech, AmonMed Biotechnology Co, Beijing Tigsun Diagnostics Co Ltd, Biomaxima, CTK Biotech, Hunan Lituo Biotechnology Co, Vivacheck Lab, MD Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Siemens, Seegene Technologies, FastSense Diagnostics and others are some of the leading players operating in global coronavirus testing kits market. The companies operating in the market are using organic strategies such as product launches, mergers and collaborations to boost their share.

For an instance, in March 2020, Pune (India) based molecular diagnostic company Mylab became the first Indian company to have received the validation for its COVID-19 diagnostic test kits also known as the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests by the Drug Controller of India, after the National Institute of Virology validated its test. Today, the company along with companies like Altona Diagnostics and Siemens is supplying diagnostic kits to the world.

“Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the global coronavirus testing kits market during forecast years since China was the epicenter of this novel coronavirus disease, hence witnesses a great demand for the testing kits. Additionally, many other countries in the region along with China have already developed their testing kits and are supplying them to the world. For instance, in March 2020, Seegene, a South Korean company, announced that Los Angeles, Government of U.S. has purchased 20,000 corona test kits from Seegene Technologies. Mylab (India) is also supplying kits to the world. Also, Japan Kurabo Industries Ltd., has apparently launched a new range of testing kits which are expected to give results within 15 minutes.” said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

“Global Coronavirus Testing Kits Market By Type of Test (Molecular v/s Serology), By Use (Disposable v/s Reusable), By Full Test Time (5 Minutes, 5- 15 Minutes, 15-60Minutes, 1 Hours- 5 Hours, 5 Hours-12Hours, 12 Hours-24Hours, More Than 1 Days), By Technology (RT-PCR, IgG, IgM ELISA Test, Microneutralization Assays), By Specimen Type (Nose & Throat Swab, Blood, Sputum, Nasal Aspirate), By Mobility (Portable v/s Stationary), By End Use (Hospitals, Clinics, Public Health Labs, Private or Commercial Labs, Physician Labs, Research Institutes, Others), By Region, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025”,” has evaluated the future growth potential of global coronavirus testing kits market and provides statistics & 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 global coronavirus testing kits market.

Chennai Startup launches India's 1st Master Course Focusing Electric Vehicles

First of its kind engineering technical education platform Skill-lync releases a Masters in Electric Vehicle Design and Simulations coursework, India’s first Master course to focus in the area of EV

 

• The startup is upskilling Mechanical, Electrical Engineers around the world during this Covid19 period


• Sees 6X growth in its traffic specially from US, Europe and Asia

 

 

Chennai headquartered global startup Skill-lync announces the launch of a special masters course in Electric Vehicle Design and simulation. The startup provides job leading courses for Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering students in India and across the world. This special course is the first such curriculum in India which focuses on Electric Vehicles (EV). With colleges shut and students looking to make the most of the time that they are at home the startup has fast tracked the development of this program and releasing it amid Covid-19.

The cost of the special course would be Rs. 2,75,000 and has two types of duration for students thinking of opting for a full time or part-time option. 

Officially founded in April 2018 by Sarangarajan V(CTO) and Suryanarayanan P(CEO), both had their  first hand impact due to the lack of quality and application based learning in the Indian undergraduate education system. Skill-Lync was earlier started out as a YouTube channel to share engineering tips, but today it is an online training course for mechanical engineering candidates. It operates three different types of courses, ranging from one-off modules to full-time curriculums.

[caption id="attachment_144798" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] (Left-to-Right) Sarangarajan V (CTO) and Suryanarayanan P (CEO)[/caption]

Understanding that there is a significant skill gap similar to Mechanical Engineering in other nonsoftware engineering domains, the company’s focus is to help non-software engineers accelerate their career. This is important, because in India more than 70% of engineers are non-software engineers. This represents 5.6 million new engineers who are currently pursuing their engineering degree. Skill- Lync’s content generation engine, technical support engine and student success engine is setup to address the needs of non-software engineering students accelerate their careers.

Amidst Covid, Skill-lync’s YouTube channel, which contains free technical webinars and explanations on short technical concepts, saw 6-fold growth in viewership as compared to last month. The interesting thing is not only did they see traffic coming in from India, but had users signing up for the course from US, Europe and Asia. US contributed to more than 10% of their website traffic. 85% of this total traffic is coming from Asia, 10% from Americas and 4% from Europe. A vast number of students are applying from countries like Pakistan, UAE, South Korea, Saudi, Singapore, Japan & China for the courses. 

In Americas, 92% of the students came from US, the remaining majorly from Canada, Brazil & Mexico. Students from US have been Skill-lync’s second highest demography of premium subscribers followed by Europe. 

“As a whole the automotive industry is shifting to developing Electric or hybrid electric vehicles. But there is no educational institution in India or across the world that is focussed on teaching the technical aspects specific to these domains. Students are the ones who get affected by this gap. So we decided to get in touch with some of the best industry experts and develop a course that will aid Electrical & Electronics engineers with skills that will help them get equipped for the EV future.” Said Surya P, Co-founder & CEO, Skill-Lync.

Online Fitness Portal FITTR Raises USD $2 Mn from Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s Scale-Up Program

• Fittr is one of the largest online fitness communities with over 850,000 members


• Fittr’s mission is to create a community of a billion people engaged in physical, mental and spiritual well-being

In major news for the Indian startup community, Pune-based fitness startup, Fittr (formerly SQUATS Fitness Pvt. Ltd.) has raised USD 2 million in Pre-Series A funding from Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s rapid scale-up program for early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia.

Fittr was founded in January 2016 by Jitendra Chouksey, a software engineer who transformed himself while working a 12-hour/day IT job. Today, Fittr is one of the largest online fitness communities in the world, with over 850,000 members. The company was bootstrapped and has been profitable since inception, achieving a cumulative revenue of $13 million USD.

Surge has partnered with several high-growth startups in the past year. A number of Surge startups have already raised USD 250M+ in financing rounds following the completion of the program. The investment in Fittr comes on the back of the fitness startup’s impressive growth, and is a testament to the firm’s confidence in its founders and market potential.

Speaking on this latest development, founder Jitendra Chouksey said, “Fittr has been an incredible journey for everyone involved. When I was working in IT, everyone around me wanted to know the secret to my fitness levels. I started a WhatsApp group way back in 2014 to help train a few people. Today, Fittr has become one of the most engaging and informative fitness groups on Facebook – loved equally by experts and coaches, as well as those just starting out on their fitness journey. Our vision is to become the leading global social platform and marketplace for fitness coaching, and the confidence shown by Surge in this vision is a shot in the arm for Fittr.”

Offering a freemium model, the Fittr app was launched in 2018 and is a one-stop-shop for all health and fitness needs. Fittr provides free access to diet and training tools, over 5000 healthy recipes, live fitness sessions with experts, Q&A with coaches, and connects users to a community of fitness experts and enthusiasts. Users can get personalized nutrition and exercise plans to reach their health and fitness goals by paying a small premium. The customised plans are provided by one of Fittr’s 200 certified coaches, who also come from the Fittr community, with their own stories of transformation. Subscribed users get an in-depth consultation call with the coach, as well as weekly check-ups on their progress via the app.

Co-founder Sonal Singh who is an LSE graduate & who previously worked as a strategy consultant with Deloitte adds, “At the core of Fittr is the community. We’ve grown organically through word-of-mouth and transformation photos shared by Facebook group members. So far, we’ve transformed over 100,000 people and 30% of our user base is global, spread across the US, UK, Australia, UAE and Canada. The central philosophy underpinning Fittr is to empower the end-user to transform and inspire others to get fit.”

Fittr’s other co-founders include Jyoti Dabas, an IIM graduate & former Citigroup analyst, Bala Krishna Reddy, a University of North Carolina graduate and former developer at Ford Motors, and Rohit Chattopadhyay, a management graduate and former business-owner. Coming from diverse backgrounds, the five founders are united by their cause to help make people fit.

Max Life to be 70:30 Joint Venture between Max Financial Services and Axis Bank

• Deal marks coming together of 3rd largest private bank and 4th largest private life insurer.


• Strategic transaction to strengthen the franchise and bring long term orientation to the relationship.


• Axis Bank to own 30% stake in Max Life post transaction closure.


• Max Life to include Axis Bank logo in its brand tag line to demonstrate the close-knit partnership

Axis Bank Limited (Axis Bank) and Max Financial Services Limited (MFS) announced the signing of definitive agreements to become joint venture partners in Max Life Insurance Company Limited (Max Life). Axis Bank will hold 30% stake in Max Life post transaction closure. The development will result in a mutually beneficial and enduring relationship between Axis Bank and Max Life and bring the stability of a long-term partnership to India's fourth largest private life insurance franchise. The joint venture arrangement will significantly improve Max Life's competitive position vis a vis its competitors, including the other large bank owned private life insurers.

The Boards of Axis Bank, MFS and Max Life approved the transaction late on 27th April 2020. This is an outcome of the inter-se discussions after the three companies had signed a confidentiality and exclusivity arrangement on 20th Feb 2020 to explore the possibility of a long-term strategic partnership between Axis Bank and Max Life.

Max Financial Services presently holds a 72.5% stake in Max Life and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) owns 25.5% stake. Axis Bank also has a minor stake in the life insurer.

The aforesaid transaction with Axis Bank follows the ongoing swapping by MSI of 20.6% stake that it holds in Max Life with a 21.9% stake in MFS. MFS also plans to purchase MSI's balance stake in Max Life. Post completion of the series of transactions, Max Life will become a 70:30 joint venture between MFS and Axis Bank. The proposed transactions are subject to approval of requisite corporate and regulatory authorities (including IRDAI, RBI and CCI).

Max Life's tag line will include Axis Bank's name, which will further enhance customer trust in the brand and highlight the strength of the partnership.

Axis Bank is the third largest private bank and Max Life is the fourth largest private life insurer in India. The two companies have had a successful business relationship for over a decade, providing long term saving and protection products to over 19 lakh customers. The total premium generated through this relationship has aggregated to over Rs. 38,000 crores. Both companies have invested extensively in product and need-based sales training, thereby leading to consistent increase in productivity.

Announcing the transaction, Mr. Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO, Axis Bank, said, "We continue to believe in the long-term prospects of India's under-penetrated life insurance space, current environment notwithstanding. We see this joint venture creating immense value for our stakeholders given our long standing, high performing partnership with Max Life. We believe this transaction will allow us to deepen our working relationship leading to better integrated teams and infrastructure and a superior alignment in our approach."

Welcoming the development, Mr. Analjit Singh, Founder and Chairman, Max Group, said, "This move is an emphatic signal that Max Life will become an even more formidable player in the Indian life insurance space. We at Max Group have had a long-standing record of having successful joint ventures. We achieve this by choosing partners with complementary skills, a matching belief system and a shared vision for the future of the business. I believe that in Axis, we have found an exceptional partner and we have conviction that this will make Max Life fundamentally stronger, better performing and will bring stability to the franchise. We will run the organization as if it's an equal partnership, a philosophy which has held us in good stead earlier as well."

Mr. Pralay Mondal, Executive Director - Retail Banking, Axis Bank, added, "This transaction would enable Axis Bank to take its partnership with Max Life to the next level. Max has been a well-managed, professional organization with product and distribution capabilities that can be significantly augmented by this partnership, thus leading to greater customer value."

Elaborating the rationale for the potential transaction, Mr. Mohit Talwar, Vice Chairman, Max Group and Managing Director, Max Financial Services said, "The strategic benefits of this partnership will be multi-pronged and will continue to unfold over a long period of time. I have no doubt that this joint venture has the potential to catapult Max Life further up on the life insurance league table. The combined trust of the Max and Axis franchise will hold us in good stead, especially in the current scenario where people are seeking safety in well governed and trusted institutions."

Axis Capital acted as the sole advisor to Axis Bank for this transaction.

About Axis Bank

Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture and Retail Businesses. With its 4,415 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 12,173 ATMs across the country as on 31st December, 2019, the network of Axis Bank spreads across 2,521 centres, enabling the Bank to reach out to a large cross-section of customers with an array of products and services. The Axis Group includes Axis Mutual Fund, Axis Securities Ltd., Axis Finance, Axis Trustee, Axis Capital, A.TReDS Ltd., Freecharge and Axis Bank Foundation.

About Max Financial Services

Max Financial Services Limited (MFS), a part of the leading Indian multi-business conglomerate Max Group, is the parent company of Max Life, India's largest non-bank, private life insurance company. MFS actively manages a 72.5% stake in Max Life Insurance Company Limited, making it India's first listed company focused exclusively on life insurance.

MFS is listed on the NSE and BSE. Besides a 28.3% holding by Analjit Singh sponsor family, some of Max Financial Services' marquee shareholders include KKR, New York Life, Baron, Vanguard, Blackrock, Aberdeen, First Voyager, Jupiter, Dimension, East Spring and the Asset Management Companies of Nippon, HDFC, ICICI Prudential, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Mirae, BNP, DSP and Sundaram.

About Max Life

Launched in 2000, Max Life is India's largest non-bank private life insurer and the fourth largest private life insurance company, with gross premium income of Rs. 14,575 crore and a Claims Paid Ratio of 98.74% in FY19 It currently has over 4 million policies in force and has a pan-India presence through 345 branch units. Max Life Insurance offers comprehensive long-term savings, protection and retirement solutions through its high-quality agency distribution and multi-channel distribution partners. A financially stable company with a strong track record demonstrated over the last 2 decades, Max Life Insurance offers superior investment expertise. Max Life Insurance has the vision 'to be the most admired life insurance company by securing the financial future of our customers'. The company has a strong customer-centric approach focused on advice-based sales and quality service delivered through its superior human capital.