Startup Nation February 2018

february 2018

VOL 1 ISSUE 1 panaji goa

the voice of startups

ritesh agarwal

Creating Value on his own terms The founder of OYO shares his plans and ideas for his game-changing startup

handy train secures $1M funding agriculture grand challenge

IIMB launches nationwide Women Start-up Programme

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contents Cover Story 8

OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal could have become the youngest Indian to head a unicorn, but he chose to consolidate operations and improve customer experience

Startup Services 14 How Express Bike Works set out to change attitudes towards bike care in the country

Traction 18

HandyTrain, a mobile SaaS platform secured a $ 1 million investment in the pre-Series A round; and 35k paid users

8

The Pitch 22

18

Driven by passion for adventure, Ratheesh MY and Anand B created India’s first “skatebike”

Fintech 26

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO and co-founder of Zeta explains how his start-up specialising in digital benefits transfer systems was born out of a ‘bootstrapped’ financing policy

Agriculture 30

The Ministry of Agriculture has organised the Agriculture Grand Challenge to find start-ups that will aid in their endeavour to make the agrarian sector technologically sound and commercially viable.

26 22

Man Machine 32

Artificial Intelligence-powered shopping assistant Niki.ai has revolutionised the way brands/companies interact with their customers

Travel 36

Ease India Travels provides customers with curated travel experiences in India’s sought after destinations

columns

50 Lateral Thinking

36

32

Daniel Albuquerque believes that electronic mobility is the way forward for automobiles

51 Startup Mantra

Surely an elevator is the last place to pitch a business idea… or is it? questions Nandini Vaidyanathan

04 Editorial 06 Startup News 39 Book Shelf 40 Funding 44 Accolades 46 Campus 48 Curtain Raiser 52 Startup Events 54 Newsmakers 54 SN Quiz

46 february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 03

editorial / harshvardhan bhatkuly

I February 2018 Editor & Publisher

Harshvardhan Bhatkuly Co-Publisher & Group Head

Urvija Bhatkuly Advisory Board

Datta Damodar Naik Ralph de Sousa Rajiv D’Silva Swapnil Kamat Vivek Mendonsa Business Head

Annalise Gouveia Editorial Consultant

Jonquil Sudhir de Souza Admin & Accounts

Ashok Kolvekar Sandra Dias Distribution & Logistics

Mayur Santinezkar Pritesh Naik Contributors in this Issue

Anna Fernandes Daniel Albuquerque Nandini Vaidyanathan Wrik Sen

Unsolicited material may not be returned. The opinions in columns and other stories expressed in STARTUP NATION are not necessarily that of the publishers and the Publisher/Editor shall not be held liable for any inaccuracy or otherwise. While great care is being taken to ensure accuracy of information, the publishers are not responsible for omissions or incorrect information. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the publishers.

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STARTUP NATION

409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji, 403001 Goa India Tel.: 0832-6456555, 2437822 Email: businessgoa.media@gmail.com

Where is your customer?

recently came across an advertisement for a startup event which prominently stated “I don’t need validation, my passion drives me.” Or something to that effect.

Over the last few years, as the startup ecosystem in this country has been maturing, this is one thought that has wreaked havoc with the way startups have looked at their business models.

There is no denying the fact that most entrepreneurs, including yours truly, have propelled their entrepreneurial vision on remaining passionate with their pet projects, interests and intrinsic strengths.

However, very often, the market for one’s business idea is nonexistent or is not mature enough to afford the economies of scale.

This fact has been reinforced by the recent finding that more than 40 percent of startups fail because there is no market for them.

So would it be a fair assumption that a significant number of startups hang their shingle, even raise funds, when there is no customer in sight?

While in discussion with a very senior and seasoned marketing consultant, he reminded me about Peter Drucker’s famous mantra “The purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

My senior friend also shared his disappointment for the utter disregard of market survey by youngsters. Let alone elaborate market research, a basic survey to find out who your customer is, is given a pass while founders are busy creating a product or service.

The other issue is of finding a strong differentiator for one’s startup. In the good old days, this was termed USP (unique selling proposition). Nowadays, you see may startups drum up their ‘differentiator’ for the sake of differentiation. There is no

04 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

core game-changing difference in the sense of building over someone’s business model that you find fascinating.

Whenever someone talks about market research within the startup scheme of things, this famous statement of Steve Jobs always pops up in defence “Some people say, ‘Give the customers what they want.’

But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, ‘If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘A faster horse!’’

People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.”

Optimism and confidence about the business idea is a pre-requisite for most entrepreneurs. It goes without saying that most entrepreneurs believe that their products are game-changers and that customers are bound to fall in love with them... and make a beeline to buy them.

This is perhaps one reason why market research is given a pass.

Optimism and confidence about the business idea is a pre-requisite for most entrepreneurs. It goes without saying that many startups believe that their products are game-changers and that customers are bound to fall in love with them... and make a beeline to buy them. This is perhaps one reason why market research is given a pass.

The other aspect is the cost of customer acquisition, which if assessed in real terms, can sometimes knock off the enthusiasm of a business ideator. Living in denial and hoping that your product or service will make a dent in the universe, is what some entrepreneurs wish for.

So who do you believe, Drucker or Jobs? The trick is to marry both thoughts.

Stay focussed on customer acquisition, while you don’t let the fizz off your passion for your startup idea. I know this is easier said than done. But who says that startups are for the weak-hearted?

Printed, published and owned by Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly and Published at 409, Citicentre, EDC Patto Plaza, Panaji - Goa 403001. Editor: Harshvardhan V. Bhatkuly

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startup news

DIPP asks SIDBI to commit `1.6K Crores under FFS for Startup India The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has made it incumbent on the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to commit `1,600 crore in additional funds from the government’s `10,000 crore Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS) launched under the Startup India Action Plan in 2016.

DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek tweeted: “Great! @DIPPGOI has conveyed to @sidbiofficial that they can commit `1,600 cr more from FFS by March. This will take total committed amount to `2,200 cr plus.

These will go a long way in supporting venture funding in India.”

The tweet came in response to a tweet by SIDBI stating that it has

committed `200 crore under the Fund of Funds Scheme to three AIFs – Bharat Innovation Fund, JM Financial Fund II and North Eastern Venture Fund.

SIDBI has backed funds such as Pi Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures Fund I, Ankur Capital Stellaris Fund, Menterra Social Impact Fund I and Endiya Seed Co-Creation Fund besides others.

The total number of sanctions to multiple venture capital funds from Sidbi stood upwards of 37 in FY17, an increase over 11 sanctions in FY15.

Also, capital to funds from SIDBI have increased from `314.4 crore in FY 2015, to upwards of `1,202.5 crore in FY17

Accelerator program by Kerala Startup Mission and Zone Startups Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in association with Zone Startups India has launched ‘Kerala Accelerator Program’.

KSUM and Zone Startups India will help startups achieve product-market fit through a curated customer validation process. The program will kick start on February 5.

The Kerala Accelerator Program will be a structured three-month virtual accelerator program that will comprise a mix of live virtual mentoring sessions, combined with mentors visiting Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi to interact with the selected startups. There

will also be a one-week residential program in Bangalore and Mumbai that the startups will be part of. The residential program is planned from February 12 to 16.

The travel and accommodation for selected startups will be sponsored as part of the program. Interested startups who have already launched their products will need to apply through Kerala Startup Mission website.

The last date for application is Thursday (January 18). The program cost is `1,00,000, and Kerala-based founders can get 90% scholarship from

06 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

Mohali to be the next big IT hub of North: Capt Amarinder Singh

Capt Singh speaks at the event

An MoU was been signed between Department of Industries, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Indian School of Business (ISB) and Punjab Technology University (PTU). ISB and PTU will act as knowledge partners of the startup.

Addressing a conclave on ‘Mohali as next big IT hub in the North’, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also announced a `100 crore fund in collaboration with PTU for the Mohali Startup Hub, to be spread over an area of 45000 sqft.

The Startup Hub would be part of the State Government’s new Policy for startup and entrepreneurship.

The Punjab Chief Minister also launched the Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion’s new Startup Portal for the

facilitation of industry, which would connect all the stakeholders.

Capt. Singh enumerated the various initiatives of his Government to boost the IT and ITES sectors.

He further announced the setting up of an ‘international desk’ within the Punjab Startup Hub to facilitate the new investors and entrepreneurs from across the globe who wished to invest in Punjab.

Capt. Singh further said that a new campaign had been launched to atract the Punjabi and Indian diaspora for making huge investments in Punjab, especially in view of the positive business and trade environment created by his government through the investor-friendly new industrial policy, with its thrust on ease of doing business

Kerala Startup Mission for attending the program.

Kerala Startup Mission is the state nodal agency for startups and innovation in the state of Kerala. The Kerala government has sanctioned support for established national and international incubators and accelerators to run their programs for startups in the state.

Zone Startups is the global brand of early stage tech accelerators and venture funds operated

by Toronto based Ryerson Futures Inc. Zone Startup India has been set up as a joint-venture of Ryerson Futures Inc., BSE Institute Limited, Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, B.C) and Department of Science and Technology

Maharashtra Innovation and Startup Policy to set up 15 incubators The Maharashtra State Cabinet has cleared the Innovation and Startup Policy. This is touted to benefit nearly 10,000 startups; while generating employment opportunities for about five lakh citizens of Maharashtra.

Maharashtra will set up 15 incubators over a period of five years which could attract about `5,000 crore in private equity to support startups. Through this policy, the government is also planning to pool `500 crore and will soon start inviting applications from startup potentials.

It is believed that the thrust area sectors include biotechnology, artificial

Devendra Fadnavis

intelligence, information technology, clean energy among others.

There is also expected to be a single-window clearance system under the ease of doing business scheme to make for easy licensing of units. Property registration, construction, electrical connections and the like will be made easier while labour laws and inter-

state goods transportation will be evaluated and modified.

The overall policies have been drawn up in sync with the central government’s policy of Startup India mission which mandates that a startup is defined as such till 7 years of its incorporation or till the company is under `25 crore.

However, biotechnology startups have been given an exception to this by the Maharashtra Government by extending that time frame to 10 years.

The state government has also announced a range of incentives for startups that include a waiver on stamp duty and registration

charges along with patent registration.

Recognised startups could avail of 100% waiver in stamp duty and registration charges on their first transaction to rent or buy property. They will also get an additional 50% waiver on their second transaction for the same purpose. Moreover, startups will get a subsidy of `2 lakh and `10 lakh for registering Indian and international patents respectively.

Of the total 5,000 tech startups in India, Mumbai hosts a maximum of 16% while Pune hosts 5%, says the Nasscom Indian startup ecosystem report 2017

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february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 07

COVER STORY

08 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

ritesh agarwal

Creating value on his own terms HARSHVARDHAN BHATKULY

W

hen Ritesh Agarwal founded OYO in 2013, he was 20 years old. He had the distinction of being one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the country to head a startup valued at $100 million. Considering the company’s trajectory, Ritesh could easily have become the youngest Indian to head a unicorn. But he had other priorities.

The startup, run by Oravel Stays Pvt Ltd, had its headquarters in Gurgaon.

It aggregated hotel rooms under the brand OYO and blocked rooms in partner hotels. In this manner, OYO managed to cluster 70,000 rooms in its network in three years. The company was well on the path to increasing that number when it discovered that several hotel partners were engaged in malpractices and irregularities. At this juncture, OYO chose to slow down expansion and consolidate its operations instead. It decided to follow a franchise model, where it controls inventory and determines pricing in consultation with exclusive hotel partners.

In its mission to improve customer experience and reduce losses, OYO’s march to unicorn status was stalled. But its commitment to stakeholders left an impression on investors. In September, 2017 OYO raised $250 million (`1,600 crore) in its Series D round of funding from a group of investors, led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.

In a smaller round of funding and what seems to be a strategic partnership, Chinese hotel operator China Lodging Group Ltd picked up less than 5% stake in OYO for $10 million (around `63.9 crore).

Now 24, Ritesh Agarwal is looking to change his business model and expand the growing online hotel booking business. Though the company operates overseas as well and hopes to expand in East Asia, for now OYO is concentrating on India.

february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 09

COVER STORY

10 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

What is the story/idea behind OYO? OYO was launched in May 2013 to solve problems I experienced as a traveller. After school, I joined a college in Delhi but spent most of my time at start-up events and networks, learning about how entrepreneurs establish their business. I was interested in travel, so I created a website to list small hotels, bed & breakfasts (B&B) and inns. To build the business, I travelled for more than three months, staying in more than 100 B&B, guesthouses and small hotels.

Through this experience, I realized the real problem for travellers was not lack of awareness but lack of trust because there was no standardised quality and service in unbranded budget hotels. The experience was a matter of chance – if one were lucky, one could have a comfortable stay. Otherwise, the issues ranged from bad-quality bed linen, dirty washrooms and disinterested or rude staff.

Most of the budget hotels did not enjoy customer confidence due to lack of predictability in the experience they offered. With OYO, we pioneered a business model that standardized hotel accommodation, offering guests a predictable, affordable and accessible experience. We identify, standardize and transform hotel rooms across the country, making them available to customers at affordable prices.

“I realized the real problem for travellers was not lack of awareness but lack of trust; because there was no standardised quality and service in unbranded budget hotels. Most of the budget hotels did not enjoy customer confidence due to lack of predictability in the experience that they offered”

What have been the highs and lows of your entrepreneurial journey?

One of the main challenges we faced was lack of funds and resources during the nascent stage. It was tough convincing hotel owners to participate in a new model of doing the business, as they had many apprehensions.

Gradually, they understood our sincerity towards their success and what we had to offer – an increase in revenues via access to technology, operational best practices, quality training to staff in soft and technological skills as well as a national ecosystem of vendors and sales channels. Through persistence, determination and dedication, we created what’s now India’s largest branded network of hotels.

Leadership hiring and getting the right team together was challenging earlier. Fortunately, once like-minded people joined, we expanded our network. Today, our leadership and mid-tier comprise exceptional talent from Harvard Business School, IIT, Stanford, McKinsey and ITC, among others.

What’s your milestone moment?

Receiving an acceptance from the Thiel Fellowship. I was 19 and, did not even have a passport! But the Fellowship was a turning point. I received a prestigious opportunity to be under the mentorship of a visionary like Peter Thiel and was also fortunate to be introduced to an array of inspirational leaders in Silicon Valley. The learning there was unprecedented. The recent round of funding of $250 million was another milestone moment. Funding reiterates investor confidence in our unique business model as well as our constant efforts to improve the quality of living spaces in India for travellers.

What are your thoughts on the start-up scene in India?

India has evolved tremendously over the years, it’s a great marketplace that can be hard to break into, but once february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 11

COVER STORY What are the future and expansion plans for OYO? How many hotels are you planning to add to your portfolio?

OYO has emerged as India’s largest, most-preferred hotel brand in both economy and mid-market segments.

With the recent round of funding, we plan to launch in new cities, including international markets in South-east Asia. We will scale up our network by penetrating further into existing cities; enhance customer experience by investing in resources and technology, and in establishing premium, self-managed hotels under the Townhouse brand. Our mission is to provide great quality living spaces for our customers without price or location constraints.

How widespread is OYO’s presence overseas and across the country?

We are located in 230 cities in India, Malaysia and Nepal. We have 8,500 hotels and 70,000 rooms. We are now focusing on further accelerating the network to consolidate leadership in economy via OYO Rooms and the mid-market category via the Townhouse brands. We will also deploy fresh capital to take our Made-in-India business model to international markets that are characterised by a similar demandsupply imbalance in real estate and hospitality.

“As a Thiel fellow, I received a grant of $100,000 that was invested in founding and establishing OYO. During the initial days, convincing investors and getting hotels on board were some the challenges that we faced. Since it was a completely new and untested business model, they were unsure about the value we could bring” you crack the code, it is immensely rewarding.There has been an upsurge in new entrepreneurs. Mergers and acquisitions among start-ups 12 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

have increased, attracting investors.

Finding the right kind of investors is difficult but innovative ideas are gradually being noticed.

What are the recent innovations and developments in the Company?

Innovation runs in OYO’s DNA. We believe in creative problem-solving.

A recent example: OYO Home, which we have launched to become a trusted Home Management partner. A large number of second homes and holiday homes are lying locked in India due to owners living in other cities, low rental yields and most commonly because of the lack of a trusted partner who would take responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of the home. This is where OYO steps in. Many of these homes are dotted across locations where OYO

hotels are already present. We want to bring our local expertise, hotel maintenance/housekeeping skills, revenue management algorithms and hospitality technology to homes and offer them on the OYO platform to discerning travellers who are looking for an alternate accommodation experience. For guests, this means the same thing that OYO stands for – high-quality accommodation at amazing prices available on-demand at a location of your choice. For owners, this means professional upkeep of their home and a chance to earn a meaningful financial return from an otherwise locked asset. As a hospitality company managing hotel assets worth millions across India, we thought we can add immense value by also improving quality and utilisation of homes. Thus, this is an innovative way to open up fresh supply while adding value to realestate and home-owners.

How did you raise funds for the first time?

As a Thiel fellow, I received a grant of $100,000 that was invested in founding and establishing OYO. During the initial days, convincing investors and getting hotels on board were some of the challenges that we faced. Since it was a completely new and untested business model, they were unsure about the value we could bring. One thing that I have learned from my experience is that no matter how big the challenge; if you have the will to solve a problem, things will fall into place. Your conviction is what drives investors and partners to believe in you.

Till date, we have raised $450 million and have leading global investors including the SoftBank Group, Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Hero Enterprise and China Lodging Group on our Board.

How does OYO plan to take on competition from global players like AirBnB?

“OYO has pioneered a unique business model which is a global first.

Within a span of four years, OYO has emerged as India’s largest hospitality company” OYO has pioneered a unique business model which is a global first. Within a span of four years, OYO has emerged as India’s largest hospitality company with presence in over 230 cities in India, Nepal and Malaysia. This is just the beginning. We are trying to solve a major socio-economic problem of supply-demand imbalance that exists in India’s hospitality industry. We are focused on creating quality and beautiful living spaces for travellers and city-dwellers.

Unlike the competition, we take ownership of the end-toend customer experience. The differentiated thinking and ingenuity that our teams bring to this industry give us confidence that OYO can scale, innovate and set new benchmarks.

I have two actually: Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience by Jonathan Tisch.

Zero To One by Peter Thiel – this is an inspiring and thought-provoking book that teaches you how to think like a leader

As someone who started out when you were really young, how do you handle work stress and moments of doubt?

I am grateful for what I have achieved – the love and trust of thousands of my colleagues and guests – and I strongly believe that there is still so much to do. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Whenever I get some free time I like to cycle and practice yoga. It helps me in relaxing. Catching a late-night movie with friends (mostly colleagues) is a de-stressor.

Which books have inspired you? And why would you recommend it as a worthy read?

Favourite Reads: Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience by Jonathan Tisch.

Zero To One by Peter Thiel – “This is an inspiring and thought-provoking book that teaches you how to think like a leader,” says Ritesh february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 13

startup services express bike works

Passion for bike care

14 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

In 2013, Niraj Taksande, Raghavendra Bhushan Karn, and Jigar Vora, put their combined engineering expertise and technical knowledge to create Express Bike Works (EBW), trying to redo the bike-care segment in the country. Here is a story of how they are set to change attitudes towards caring for bikes across the country WRIK SEN

3

LtoR: Raghavendra Bhushan Karn, Niraj Taksande and Jigar Vora

friends who happen to be qualified engineers and also biking enthusiasts, were rather unhappy at the state of care for their two-wheelers, and those across the country. From wasteful water usage to time consuming assembly lines, to even washing out of chemical laden, there were multiple issues, which made them look for a way out of the situation. Being passionate bikers, their road trips would end up taking their toll on the 2-wheelers, which would then make it tough to be driven to offices for regular commutes. Even a short trip to the bike cleaning center, would mean a 1-hour trip, and the other issues which came with it. Thus, with an aim to improve overall customer experience, lower environmental footprints, and making an economically feasible business plan, drove the trio towards creating Express Bike Works (EBW).

The entity’s first set of machines then came into being in 2013, designed in-house by the friends, before several renditions were made as corrections and revisions to come up with the final product by later half of 2014. By 2015, the first EBW commercial outlet came into existence.

Niraj Taksande happens to be a 2014 batch alumni of IIM Indore, and also a mechanical engineer, by choice. He had earlier been involved in the co-founding of Entropy Innovations, which operated in the similar space of 2-wheeler care like EBW. Raghavenra Bhushan Karn is a B.Tech and also a M.Tech degree holder from IIT, Mumbai, and is

known to use his technology and IT domain knowledge in his regular work. His previous employer also includes Entropy Innovations, apart from ASUS in Taiwan, where he was known for developing Machine Learning Algorithms.

Like Raghavendra, Jigar Vora has a similar set of degrees from IIT Mumbai, where he persued his B.Tech and M.Tech degrees. Jigar has his interests in bringing about cognitive changes and innovation to the world. He too, had been involved with co-founding Entropy Innovations, and aims to bring about changes to India’s unorganized service sector.

The funding for EBW came from the bootstrapped savings of the trio’s personal savings, apart from the investments which came from friends and family. This was enough to get the first machine prototype ready, and also have the first operational service center running, and bringing in revenues. Then in 2015, investors like Mark Mobious, Executive Chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets stepped in with funding for the venture. Due to the prototype being rather technically sound, the issue of potential investors being convinced became a comparatively easier task, where the dealers from authorized service centers were called in to take a look at the demo, before buying. During one such instance, the customer was impressed enough to pick up the product design immediately after the demo.

EBW works on the franchisee business model, where individual entrepreneurs are mentored through process, and guided for running february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 15

startup services

each center individually. EBW provides machinery, software, training, and branding support, so that each outlet can be run centrally.

For B2B customers, machines are sold to them directly, so that they can become operational as per their capabilities. This works out to be a productive solution for customers, by creating healthier working conditions for saff, and lower attrition rates, which remains a concern. EBW support also helps centers increase their productivity by enabling them to service 230250 vehicles a day with the help of 2 to 3 employees only. And the financial implications of such a business model has already borne 16 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

EBW works on the franchisee business model, where individual entrepreneurs are mentored through process, and guided for running each center individually. EBW provides machinery, software, training, and branding support, so that each outlet can be run centrally. For B2B customers, machines are sold to them directly, so that they can become operational as per their capabilities

fruit, because last fiscal, EBW made the initial investors’ successful exit, and also achieved fiscal profitability this year.

The market for EBW is potentially huge, considering the figures Niraj Taksande reveals. He says, “3 out of every 4 vehicles on our roads are two-wheelers. That is the potential of growth for us. India has a huge market for organized players in the bike service segment and there are not many players as well. Unorganized market is big but is very scattered and disorderly.�

EBW has already been joined by big ticket clients which are a major thrust to their enterprise, such as HPCL and IOCL. What this

has also done, is that the major store and franchisee locations challenges, don’t remain with EBW anymore, as the retail outlets of these companies have some of the largest networks around.

But getting such an enterprise to run, and do so with considerable ease, is a challenge; considering the focus on manpower involved in the process. EBW has regular training sessions while working on a strong technology platform.

This gives them the advantage of generating more employment opportunities, while creating the working environment, which binds the enterprise together for expansion, which the company is looking at in the near future. Apart

from now having 21 stores across India at various locations, EBW is looking to expand it’s footprint to 80-90 stores across the country. The international footprint has reached Rwanda, Indonesia, Thailand, Colombia, and Nepal, which have 1 store in the countries each, but by the end of 3 years, EBW wants to have a 1000 outlet strong network, all combined.

The scenario is on for a change, with more stimulus being directed towards entrepreneurs, for generating employment and expanding into new territory. As Niraj explains, “For entrepreneurs, bringing start-ups and their issues into focus has proved to be a much needed stimulus. This is quite important as we are experiencing a change in attitude of various stakeholders, i.e. banks, certifying bodies, regulators towards us. They understand our constraints and are seemingly much helpful.” While the start-up industry did experience a slump in terms of funding received, and several known names having to shut down, the focus of the government still remains on new enterprise growth, with initiatives like Skill India, Digital India, Make in India, apart from relaxed norms for new enterprises to operate in.

As a mark of advice to other entrepreneurs who are looking to embrace the profession, Niraj speaks of a 3-point suggestion.

“Have faith in your idea, work hard and be ready to improvise everyday,” he explains. While one may have imagined the profile of these IIT nurtured engineers to be vastly different from what it is now, but it goes to show that an innovative product, focus on getting a successful venture running, and also improvisation according to a changing environment can put one on to the winning path february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 17

TRACTION

Devadas Krishnan

co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, HandyTrain

18 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

HandyTrain secures $1 million in pre-Series A. Crosses 35K paid users

With the new infusion of funds and a steady growth of paid users, this mobile SaaS platform is poised for a big leap

february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 19

TRACTION startup nation news

H

andyTrain, a mobile SaaS platform for corporate training, recently secured a $1 million investment as a Pre-Series A round.

This is in addition to the seed round, also of roughly $1 million, raised about a year ago.

The current round was led by NB Ventures, a $50+ million Dubaibased fund, whose recent Indian investments include participation in the Series A of LetsTransport (coinvested with GMO of Japan) and the $7 million Series A for HealthifyMe. Says Neelesh Bhatnagar, Owner of Dubai based NB Ventures and strategic investor in HandyTrain “We see a recurring need for HandyTrain in the Middle East, given the transient worker population and the diverse catchment area that the labour and employee workforce comes from. We’ve not just invested but are working together on a roadmap for the expansion of HandyTrain through our three-decade old business network in the GCC region” HandyTrain has crossed a lifetime number of 35,000 users – every one of them a paying user – in India itself.

Unlike self-learning platforms, users on HandyTrain are paid-for by their companies.

Clients of HandyTrain providing monthly recurring revenue on a SaaSbasis include premier companies like Renault, TVS Electronics, Logicash, Spree Hotels and Mahindra Insurance Brokers.

“We are growing our user-base roughly 50% quarter-on-quarter since the beginning of 2017” says Devadas Krishnan, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of HandyTrain. Dev is a graduate IIMAhmedabad and was previously President and COO of PepperTap, besides having an almost decade-plus stint at Microland, Vodafone, G4S and ArcelorMittal.

The users are employees in industries as diverse as Infrastructure (Peak Infra, an arm of Brookfield Asset Management), Fintech 20 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

(Mobikwik) and Biotechnology (Wings). HandyTrain training is directed at everyone from specialists in corporate offices to blue-collar workers. For instance, Kotak Bank used HandyTrain to roll-out a nationwide deployment for KYC and Anti-money Laundering (AML) training. And on-boarded employees at the rate of over a thousand a week.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the global micro-finance organization Grameen Foundation has used HandyTrain to train 1,200 people in rural India who work for MFIs

supported by Grameen. Similarly, Samunnati Agro-finance is using HandyTrain to train their field agents in Tamil Nadu.

HandyTrain has a distinct advantage in its high on-boarding and course completion rate. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) like Coursera, Udemy, Edx sign-up millions of learners (incidentally, India is the second-largest market worldwide for Coursera) but have a staggeringly high courseabandonment-rate, measured at over 92%. This means that less than one out of ten people who sign-up ever complete the course.

“As compared to this, about 99% of every user who signs-up comes on-board and over 95% complete the entire course on HandyTrain” says Ralph da Silva, co-founder and Head of User Engagement. “This translates into a significantly higher propensity for the client to renew their SaaS contracts” One such company is Dr Lal’s Path Labs, an NSE-listed company with over 1,800 centres, which has been with HandyTrain since its first year.

Manoj Garg, Chief Human Resources Officer says “With a sales staff of 500+ across India and Nepal, it was not only expensive but logistically challenging to train them all at once.

Thanks to HandyTrain we can now remotely train whoever, wherever on whatever. Be it an induction program or complex diagnostic procedures and practices. Even topics like detailed human anatomy and physiology are delivered in concise yet memorable chunks” “It is not only the content that

“About 99% of every user who signs-up comes on-board and over 95% complete the entire course on HandyTrain” Ralph da Silva

co-founder and Head of User Engagement

is multi-lingual but also the entire interface of the HandyTrain user App,” says co-founder and Head Product, Utkarsh Apoorva “We’ve recently finished a pilot for a Chinese company that provides at-home senior care and employs hundreds of care-givers” That’s why HandyTrain is actively expanding its offering globally. One channel is through a partnership with Lumina Datamatics, one of the world’s leading digital content companies. Says Vidur V. Bhogilal, Vice Chairman of Lumina Datamatics “We work with 7 of the top 10 global publishers to manage their omnichannel content deployment. And digital content is downstream to training. Which is why, as a natural extension of our client engagement, we are jointly offering HandyTrain through our 8 sales offices in 3 continents.

We are already in advanced discussions with multiple global clients for doubledigit thousand user contracts with HandyTrain”.

H a n d y T r a i n ’s employee engagement layer is particularly useful for industries that employ young people. Millennials – regardless of their socio-economic background, tend to have low focus and an attention span fragmented across apps

“We are growing our user-base roughly 50% quarter-onquarter since the beginning of 2017” Devadas Krishnan co-founder and Chief Operating Officer

“It is not only the content that is multilingual but also the entire interface of the HandyTrain user App Utkarsh Apoorva

co-founder and Head Product

such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

Training scores of employees across geographies can be a drain on the L&D budget.

Ramkumar Venkateswaran, Head L&D at HomeTown, Future Retail Ltd whose retail sales employees are primarily millennials, says “HandyTrain’s philosophy of bitesized learning helps reduce the learning curve as well as helps retain learning. The Gurukul program on HandyTrain saves cost in terms of reaching the last mile. Reaching everybody and ensuring their knowledge level is the same is quite important. And HandyTrain helps us achieve that.” HomeTown has also been with HandyTrain since

its inception and has unfailingly renewed their SaaS contract.

HandyTrain was born at Prototyze, the Goa-based incubator that has launched multiple ventures that have collectively raised over $12 million in investment in the past year itself. These include digital lending company Seynse, mfitness company Mobiefit and IoT plus SaaS platform for transportation TempoGO february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 21

THE PITCH

vivrt MOTORS

NEED FOR

SPEED

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Ratheesh M Y

Conceptualized by Ratheesh M Y and Ananda B, VIVRT stands as the embodiment of a passion for adventure and a longing for discovery. This startup’s passion for automobiles and engineering has created what it calls “India’s first skatebike” ANNA FERNANDES

P

roducing a range of innovative automotive products – each epitomizing the essence of adventure, VIVRT Motors was incepted through a simple exchange of ideas between engineering batchmates with an ardent love for automobiles. This vision soon gained momentum through the creation of their first product and subsequently a fullfledged company around it.

Conceptualized by Ratheesh M Y and Ananda B, CEO and COO respectively on 23rd of June 2016, today, VIVRT stands as the embodiment of a passion for adventure and a longing for discovery.

The name “VIVRT” (Viv-Rt) has its origins in an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “discovery”. At VIVRT Motors, creating a sense of discovery, stands as the primary objective. In the words of the founders, “VIVRT is a promise to all its customers to unleash an adventure within them; be it a regular Joe or a pro rider, discover the passion and thrill of journeying the untreaded paths. Discovering the legacy of generations of automobile enthusiasts, tinkerers, and innovators who have surrounded us, touched our minds, working in small garages and home workshops; daring to chase their passion, indifferent of greasy hands or faces, working frugal and smart without any compromises to craftsmanship.”

For these automobile enthusiasts, VIVRT Motors is a tribute to those generations of riders and innovators of old, and a challenge to the fresh blood. VIVRT Motors is the embodiment of the path of discovery and craving for adventure within all of us. They wish to aid adventurers and wanderers seeking to go beyond the conventional means to explore the world around them.

With a vision to create innovative

automotive products built for performance, VIVRT not only seeks to delight customers but also to motivate them to challenge the status quo and discover themselves.

VIVRT falls under the area of sports, recreation. The company aims to be a pioneer in the field, having the biggest market share in the coming years. In a nation filled with youth looking for their need for speed and thrill, there are not many options available to them in the recreational and off-road motor sporting space.

Instead of creating a competing product, the innovators at VIVRT are working towards developing innovative and novel automotive solutions to fuel their customer’s need for speed, thrill, and serenity.

Their products are not just for those inducted into speed; but even for those who wish to explore a new dimension of automotive excellence.

VIVRT’s fundamental objective is to enable their customers to discover the

PATENTED No: 272851 Incubation and Seed Funded by, CIBA Goa First in Innovation Class IBW16, Goa First in Science & Technology Award From Campus Diaries Pace Cic 2014, the final of which was held in Italy in July 2014.

Recognised by Karnataka Startup Cell Finalists in Elevate -100 by Karnataka Startup Cell Recognised by Startup India Selected for accelerator program by Wadhwani Foundation Selected for MSME COE IISC, Bangalore

joy of adventure, of exploring their surroundings in a novel, thrilling and safe manner, with their innovative product line of automotive solutions for recreation and motorsports.

The capital to start the business was bootstrapped from family and personal savings, since the founders believed that the best funding option is not to seek funding at all, but rather to economise wherever they could and work on building the company.

Bootstrapping also helped them to focus on execution and build traction without outside interference. They met a few right people at the right time. Ratheesh was the winner for Science & Technology Award from Campus Siaries among 25 finalists. It was at this event where D S Prashanth, Director of Centre for Incubation and Business Acceleration (CIBA), Goa was invited to. Ratheesh made that right connect. This interaction had a big influence on the founders, and propelled them towards setting up a motorsport start-up from India.

Their business idea was backed up by Seed Fund, Business mentoring and Incubation.

The business model of VIVRT is both – B2B (where they will supply to other business like recreation parts, motorsports arena and amusement parks etc.) as well as B2C where customers can buy the product for themselves such as products like Skatocross. The plan of action to market their product is to create a brand along with an increased awareness of such a product to the target audience. This target buyer base will be drawn from the motorsports community, recreation, skateboard community. Their ideal customers will obviously be the ones who seek recreation, motorsports enthusiasts and thrill seekers.

As a marketing strategy, events like racing and motorsports recreation february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 23

THE PITCH will be organized to attract and acquire a potential customer base.

Another sales strategy is to make the Indian motorsport community and India motorsports achievers to use VIVRT products.

The company expects investment to appear from any source. Currently 3 crore is being spent to setup a manufacturing unit and start supplying their product. More attention is focussed on operations to bring in awareness about the company as a brand and product as a new dimension for thrill seeker.

VIVRT is ready to put its products in the market, and the team is certain that it will be well received by the public. Substantial studies and R&D has been carried out to ensure a steady presence in the market. Innovative Technology and Design are playing a major role in the process.

The company has a few indirect competitions. One of them is SEGWAY priced at 1.8 lakh and another is Baja Board priced at 1.5 lakh.

When asked about his experiences an entrepreneur, the major challenges and hurdles faced in setting up, Ratheesh says, “First being able to communicate and make someone believe in the idea was the first challenge that I faced. Ideating the concept from the ground up is always exciting. Naming the component that we designed that goes directly into

“Being able to communicate and make someone believe in the idea was the first challenge that I faced.

Ideating the concept from the ground up is always exciting. Naming the component that we designed that goes directly into the product has been hugely satisfying and has made us feel proud of what we do” Ratheesh M Y

co-founder and CEO, VIVRT Motors

the product was the biggest challenge that has been hugely satisfying and has made us feel proud of what we do.

Sourcing components from outside market was a big learning area for us as beginners. Our prototypes have many components that have come from other vehicles. Getting components fabricated with very less money encouraged us to acquire negotiation skills and helped us to befriend fabricators around the city.

We did have our own dose of ups and downs but we never stepped back nor stopped trying to be the best in everything that we do. Building products with utmost priority for the thrill and zeal of our customers and taking complete ownership and pride of every single unit built in all

SKATOCROSS by VIVRT Motors

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aspects.”

An Industrial and Production and Mechatronics engineer, Ratheesh is a true automobile enthusiast and an avid rider, who from an early age has had a passion for modifying and improving the vehicles around him. Ratheesh credits Nandini Vaidyanathan as his business mentor, a travelling professor who teaches entrepreneurship in several ivyleague business schools around the world including Princeton, London School of Economics and National University of Singapore, overseas and in India in IIM–A, IIM–B, IIM–L and ISB. Her insight and knowledge has been the guiding light for VIVRT Motors.

“Throughout history, people with new ideas, who think differently and try to change things, have always been called troublemakers”. The founders of VIVRT believe that in order to be successful, one cannot be discouraged by the numerous pitfalls and obstacles one inevitably encounters. VIVRT has faced its share of negativity in the form of those who doubted their business concept and vision that they had for the company. Ratheesh and Ananda urge future entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts to be strong in the face of difficulties, to push oneself out of their comfort zone, take the road less travelled and strive for the impossible

MARCH 6-11, 2018, GOA, INDIA

SEASIDE STARTUP SUMMIT media partner

seasidestartupsummit.in

FINTECH

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Bhavin Turakhia

zeta

Employee benefits on the digital pathway Co-Founder and CEO of Zeta, a Directi Group enterprise, Bhavin Turakhia explains the genesis of his enterprise specializing in digital benefits transfer systems, and the spirit of entrepreneurship he grew up with WRIK SEN

B

havin Thurakia embraced entrepreneurship rather early in life, and had his first dealings at age 17. At that age, along with his brother Divyank (who happened to be 15 years old then), Bhavin set out with Rs 25,000 seed funding from their father, and eventually created what the Directi Group is today. That was the year 1998, and it happened in Mumbai. But this culmination of the spirit of entrepreneurship was not limited to the seed fund the brothers received; books and knowledge had a pivotal role to play in building their vision, too. A closer look at the Directi Group Ventures shows that Bhavin was an ardent reader of books, on Computer Programming specifically, and by the time he started his first venture, had read somewhere between 30 to 40 books on the subject.

Bhavin received his early education from Arya Vidya Mandir in Mumbai, and did his

undergraduate studies from Ruparel College, also based in the same city.

The interesting part of his education however, is the fact that he admits to being a self taught engineer, something which formed the base of his future ventures. Moving on in his professional life rather early, he and Divyank tasted success quickly as consultants, while in their teens. At

Zeta was launched in April 2016, with $19 million in investments.

The startup directly stepped into the B2B space by offering enterprise solutions for corporates with Zeta Optima (Digital tax benefits), Zeta Spotlight (digital rewards and recognition) and Zeta Express which is about cashless cafeteria solutions

this juncture in life, while most of his friends were looking towards the West for higher education and their career development, Bhavin was focused on developing capabilities within India itself. In fact, ‘Made in Inida’ was a theme working in his mind, long before it became a slogan for the current Indian government. With time, he created multiple ventures under the DIrecti Group, about which he says, “In my circles, I have been called a serial tech entrepreneur; and I feel the tag suits me fine. I will always be a techie at heart and I believe that technology is the greatest enabler of innovation. I also believe that if we have the potential to make an impact, it becomes our moral duty to carry it on. This is the core philosophy that runs through all my entrepreneurial ventures.”

Zeta, like a lot of the other ventures, was born out of a ‘bootstrapped’ financing policy, whereby the excess cash reserves from the profitable ventures, were used to february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 27

FINTECH

Team ZETA

finance the next. That is exactly how this venture started in April 2016, with $19 million in investments.

They directly stepped into the B2B space by offering enterprise solutions for corporates with Zeta Optima (Digital tax benefits), Zeta Spotlight (digital rewards and recognition) and Zeta Express which is about cashless cafeteria solutions. The aim was to break barriers in the space which have traditionally been riddled with timeconsuming practices. Zeta’s products can be managed via a single digital interface, making them one of the very few services solution providers of their kind. The ‘Super Card’ is one such example, which is a pre-paid instrument with security features, which even banking institutions can look up to. This is what has crucially been the driving force behind the 28 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

For those looking to step into the world of business, and becoming entrepreneurs, Bhavin Turakhia follows the adage of ‘no shortcuts to success.’ He feels that one has to be focused, driven, and hardworking.

He then goes on to say, that hiring the right people is the next big thing one needs to spend time on.

On his own admission, he spends close to 30% of his time in interviewing people for his businesses, as he believes they are the most important assets of a business

product and service mix of Zeta for their customers.

During the short duration that Zeta has existed, awards and accolades have been there to be counted: Annual Entrepreneur India Awards 2016 for the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year in Innovation and Technology’, and ‘Serial Entrepreneur of the Year’ to begin with, followed by the ‘Fastest Growing Business of the Year’ (2016)

by Small Business Awards (SBA) and ‘Best Prepaid Card’ at Digital India Awards by IAMAI. Much before Zeta was launched, Bhavin Turakhia was awarded ‘Bharti Entrepreneur of the Year’ title in 2005.

The Directi Group was also ranked 10th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India program, 2005. In terms of prestigious ranks, Bhavin has also been the former chairman

for the global Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Accredited Registrars Constituency for two consecutive terms.

But getting to where the company is today, and the fact that Bhavin has won many accolades, is also testimony to the challenges that the business has faced over time. When Zeta started out, entering the market with the digital meal voucher meant, taking on a lot of traditional players of the market, who had been used to the ‘old-world’ or traditional methods of providing solutions. As he himself essays, “History is rife with examples of how status-quo can challenge progress and innovation. In our case, we were prepared for these challenges. Through a strong product and demonstrations, we proved that our platform could potentially save companies up to 90% of operationtime and resource costs as compared to the conventional, paper-based solutions that they were using.”

These are the times, when India goes digital. The ‘Digital India’ campaign started by the Narendra Modi led government’s vision falling aligning with the Bhavin’s company’s

Bhavin Turakhia

Much before Zeta was launched, Bhavin Turakhia was awarded ‘Bharti Entrepreneur of the Year’ title in 2005. The Directi Group was also ranked 10th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India program, 2005 vision, the digital transformation is well on its way. In other words, the digitization is a growing industry, and being a digital tax benefits service provider meant that, there was always new ground breaking along the way.

The aim, as mentioned before, was always to unify all systems on a single interface, with ease of use; and the added benefit of customization as per need of the customer, ended up making Zeta the ‘first-mover’ of its kind in the Indian industry scenario.

Even with demonetization which took place in late 2016, the transformation was always on the horizon, as Bhavin says, “Even before demonetization, the Indian market was very bullish on digital technologies. There was always evidence to support that Corporate India wanted to go digital. Now, with new rules and a brand new vision of a Digital India, the stage is set for the

digital transformation.”

Going forward, Zeta is currently very young, so growing the client base is top priority. Though there are 700 corporate names already on board, the scope of growing these numbers are far more; by the end of 2017-18, there will be an additional $25 million in investment, and the goal is to cross the 10-lakh (1 million) mark in terms of customer volume, as Bhavin mentions. That is not something which is too far-fetched in the backdrop of Bhavin’s claims, that Zeta has acquired 2 clients on a daily basis, making them the fastest growing in the B2B segment.

However, for other players to operate, and for industry to expand to a greater potential, the government’s focus should be on certain lines, “The focus, in my opinion, should be on skills development, education, mentorship and incubators. I think there is good amount of recognition to the start up culture in India and many government initiatives to back it like the income tax waivers, credit guarantee schemes for loans, reduction in patent registration fee, launch of new incubators etc.”

For those looking to step into the world of business, and becoming entrepreneurs, Bhavin Turakhia follows the adage of ‘no shortcuts to success.’ He feels that one has to be focused, driven, and hardworking.

He then goes on to say, that hiring the right people is the next big thing one needs to spend time on. On his own admission, he spends close to 30% of his time in interviewing people for his businesses, as he believes they are the most important assets of a business. As a parting piece of advice, he says, “Seek to build value; and not valuation. If your customers value your services then valuation will naturally follow.” These words may be echoing visions of a more medium term focus, but would certainly ring well with entrepreneurs who have always thought over longer durations of time, as a paradigm for leading their businesses february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 29

AGRICULTURE

Farming Profits

W

ith the advent of modern technology and constant innovation, there has been a steady rise of a host of startups offering technological solutions that attempt to resolve the complex needs of the nation. But, can a mere startup resolve the maze of challenges plaguing the agriculture sector in India, which supports 49% of the workforce?

Government of India certainly seems to believe so.

Under the Startup India scheme, which has a wholesome `10,000 crore war chest managed by the Small Industries Development Bank, the agriculture ministry have organised a first of its kind event, The Agriculture Grand Challenge, a contest that will seek startups offering best solutions and incubate them. Through this event, the Ministry of Agriculture hopes to raise commercially viable solutions in 12 preidentified areas.

“I urge young entrepreneurs to

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participate in our newly launched ‘Agriculture Grand Challenge’ and join forces to make agrarian sector technologically sound and commercially viable,” said agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh. The idea is to enable entrepreneurship and innovation, he said.

As per the government communiqué, the contest is divided into two stages – idea and enterprise.

The plan is to identify one startup for the idea and another for the enterprise stage across each of these 12 preidentified areas.

Commercially

viable ideas will be incubated at the government’s expense for three months, besides mentoring from domain experts and real-time testing in agricultural markets to see whether the concept works.

The government stated it would prefer solutions that are scalable and can reach small farmers. The average size of farm holdings is 1.15 hectares.

This means nearly 85% farmers are ‘small and marginal.’ India has 120 million agricultural land holdings.

A handful of startups for the rural economy are already a part of the growing ecosystem. According to the Economic Survey 2015-16, India has more than 19,000 startups, led by consumer internet and financial

“I urge young entrepreneurs to participate in our newly launched ‘Agriculture Grand Challenge’ and join forces to make the agrarian sector technologically sound and commercially viable” Radha Mohan Singh

Agriculture Minister

AGRI-SECTOR AT A GLANCE

services apps.

From 220 in 2014, the number of startups funded in the first 10 months of 2017 stood at 482.

As of December 2015, eight Indian startups belonged to the Unicorn category, a club of ventures valued at $1 billion or more. Yet, fewer than 10% of these cater to the farm or social sector.

The government document states that private-sector startups could offer viable interventions in an array of areas, notably linking farmers to markets and offering extension services. It seeks to rev up an emerging niche area that is being dubbed as farming as a service, or FAAS. Proposals are being invited for simplified, sensor-based quick testing of soil samples as well as realtime assaying and grading of food commodities in electronically linked eNAM markets. The government has linked 470 mandis electronically but many of them lack crucial infrastructure: food labs to test

samples being brought to these markets. The prospective app should preferably enable sample tests under two minutes to promote online trade.

The government is interested in apps to connect food processors with “agripreneurs” and growers, an official said. To help price discovery, the ministry is looking at price forecast apps for pulses, oilseeds, potato, onion and tomato at the time of sowing since these crop are vulnerable to price volatility.

According to the document, the success of the ‘Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana’, India’s main farm insurance scheme, depends on accurate yield estimates at village and farm levels for which it wants to incubate digital technologies.

Another priority area is custom hiring of farm machinery and cheaper disposal of crop residue that has become a major reason for pollution in the national capital from neighbouring states during winters.

“Given the high penetration of Internet-enabled mobile phones, this

• Over 58 percent of the rural households depend on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood.

• The Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest, with retail contributing 70 percent of the sales.

• The Indian food processing industry accounts for 32 percent of the county’s total food market, one of the largest industries in India and is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth.

• The online food delivery industry grew at 150 percent year-onyear with an estimated Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of Rs.300 milllion in 2016 • The Indian gourmet food market is currently valued at Rs.1.3 billion and is growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20 percent. India’s organic food market is expected to increase by three times by 2020 • According to report by Grant Thorton, there are 11% startups in the agri. products sector.

• According to Agfunder’s AgTech Investing Report for 2016, 53 Indian Agritech startups raised Rs.313 Mn in funding. As per the report, Indian continues to be one of the top six active geographies as far as deals in agritech were concerned Data from www.startupindiahub.org.in/content/ sih/en/agriculture-grand-challenge.html

is a good idea that can drive down cultivation costs,” said Ashok Duggal, one of the promoters of VentureIndia Labs.

A crop of startups aimed at harnessing the rural economy has made inroads already. AgroStar, a Pune-based mobile-commerce firm, directly sells farm inputs to farmers in Maharashtra and has raised more than $4 million. Farmers need to give a missed call to access its services.

EM3, another firm, offers farmlabour services at `2,000 an acre of wheat, which it claims is half of what it normally costs during peak season.

The applications for this startup challenge close on February 15, 2018. The winners will be announced on February 25, 2018. Incubation/ Market Access Program will begin from March 5, 2018 february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 31

MAN MACHINE

Sachin Jaiswal is the founder of Niki.Ai, an artificial intelligencepowered shopping assistant, which works on the lines of ‘chatbots’, helping businesses and customers connect on a more realtime basis. Here, he discusses the genesis of the idea, and his journey into the world of entrepreneurship

niki.ai

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Artificial Intelligence powering customer connect at Niki.ai

Slides above and overleaf showing transaction using Niki.ai

WRIK SEN

O

n a weekend in May 2015, Sachin Jaiswal, Keshav Prawasi, Nitin Babel, and Shishir Modi were enjoying their evening of beer and banter. It was here that the idea of an Artificial Intelligence-powered shopping assistant, Niki.Ai, was born. It currently helps brands connect to their consumers on a realtime basis. From changing the lives of the co-founders, Niki.Ai is now changing the lives of millions more.

The Niki.Ai team banked on considerable expertise and experience in the domain, especially Sachin, who happens to be the co-founder and chief executive officer. Sachin’s early education took place in the town of Howrah in West Bengal, from where

he did his schooling at St Ann’s Day School and the Maria’s Day School.

For his graduate studies, he went to the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur (IIT), where he studied for a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from 2007 to 2011. It was during his stint at IIT that Sachin got a lot of exposure. He was a member of the AIESEC branches, including Corporate Exchange and also gained experience during his stint as vicepresident of External Relations, and president of the local committee.

While at IIT, Sachin gained working experience with Siemens, Bangalore for three months in 2009; and then again in 2010. He also got to work with the Robert Bosch Engineering & Business Solutions for a month

in 2009. A full-time opportunity came in August 2011, when he became product manager with Oracle Financial Services, which he continued till August 2012. In the same year, he co-founded Innovacer, before co-creating Niki.Ai in 2015.

It perhaps comes as no real surprise that Sachin took the plunge into entrepreneurship, considering that he worked and gained so much experience at a relatively young age.

After Niki.Ai went live by the latter half of 2015, Sachin and his team focused on creating a true ‘valueadding’ product, which he believes is needed before funding concerns are addressed. It was in October that year that Unilazer Ventures came on board to get the Series-A funding, february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 33

MAN MACHINE before a follow-up round in May 2016, which also saw Ratan Tata come on board. The venture is now moving at 35% growth month-onmonth, and, by early 2018, they are scheduled to break even with their costs and earnings. The company follows a channel partnership model.

It takes orders from customers and passes it on to their partner, who is responsible for fulfillment. For every order generated, Niki.ai gets a commission from the partners. The next revenue earner is Niki Software Development Kit (Niki SDK), which a brand can integrate on any platform and enable conversational commerce for their consumers. This is also the area which demands the most innovation, and is pegged as a game changer in the industry.

One of the keys to an enterprise’s success is employee management.

Sachin Jaiswal with Team Niki.ai

34 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

Sachin Jaiswal

Sachin draws attention to the fact that he is lucky to have talented individuals in his team. This relieves him of the burden of micromanaging the company’s affairs. He ensures that the tasks and duties are aligned with employee strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations, which gives them a sense of belonging with the company.

Sachin explains, “When an employee feels that his work impacts the company, s/he is motivated towards company goals. Everyone wants to feel relevant and I try to facilitate that by aligning their career goals with company goals.”

Sachin’s policies, backed up by implementation, have helped him and his business interests progress.

InnovAccer itself is now a strong player in the healthcare analytics segment, with a 300+ strong team, headquartered in the United States.

Niki.ai has now set its goals on integrating more services into their interface, so that it becomes a one-stop for any user to simply access any service needed. This includes constant renovation of their interface to make it hassle-free and easy to use. In the future, don’t be surprised to find Niki as a stock broker, insurance agent, travel planner, or any other role it can take on

Most of the long-term collaborations that the company enjoys today are due to Sachin’s hard work, increased resource utility, and revenues. He is now attracting attention for his work with Niki.Ai, after featuring in the ‘35 under 35 2017- The Game Changers of 2017’ by Entrepreneurs India magazine, which included names like Virat Kohli and PV Sindhu.

In the connected lives we live in, ‘chatbots’ are the next big thing, Sachin feels. With the market getting larger, customers also have the option of skipping over to competitors, should they fail to experience quick and instantaneous interaction from the brand/company they are patronizing as customer.

For this reason, companies need to have strong human capital, which is an economically expensive idea.

In order to fill in the void which has emerged, chatbots bring in instantaneous customer interaction to

a large audience, and are a crucial and regular part of the entire interface.

Niki is an Artificial Intelligence-powered chatbot, which converses to help users shop for products and services and makes the whole journey from discovery to transaction smart, fast, convenient and rather simple. But getting this service underway as a final offering has been challenging, as Sachin points out, “Getting the AI bot (Niki) to understand our users’ natural language was a big challenge, and this remains a big hurdle for all the players in the segment. The algorithms behind the whole ‘understanding and then responding accordingly’ part is pretty complicated and definitely makes use of the most sophisticated of research in Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning.”

Getting this far was not easy and there have been hiccups along the way. In Niki’s case, there wasn’t a foolproof plan to create a successful start-up from the get-go. Sachin says that the wrong steps taken have been learning experiences that have played a part in getting them this far.

He adds that involving customers who provide regular feedback is also vital. “We have observed that referrals and recommendations are our biggest channel of acquisition.

On an average, loyal customers now

provide us with 10 times more value.

This has happened purely because we reached out to them – a practice every start up should follow.” He also underlines the need for constant and fresh innovation while emphasizing that the inevitable lows of the journey should not demoralize anyone.

Niki.ai has now set its goals on integrating more services into their interface, so that it becomes a onestop for any user to simply access any service needed. This includes constant renovation of their interface to make it hassle-free and easy to use.

In the future, don’t be surprised to find Niki as a stock broker, insurance agent, travel planner, or any other role it can take on. For now, HDFC Bank is using it to enable banking and commerce across their customer touch points. Mobin Signity, which has developed a 1-screen solution for Intex branded as LFTY, has integrated the SDK to increase engagement and monetize the mobile real estate with a smooth transactional utility experience for the end user. To drive up usage of their payment ecosystem, Oxigen wallet is providing consumers with a personalized and interactive experience. Ticketgoose, a bus booking service, is leveraging the one-to-one sales ability of the chatbot to tap into higher conversion to orders. Coho, a home rental service, is utilizing the SDK to improve their customers’ lifestyles by providing them with more services in their native app.

Considering the eagerness of new age brands to embrace Artificial Intelligence, the possibilities for Niki are endless! february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 35

TRAVEL

ease india travels

Curating enriching travel experiences A personal trip to Bhutan inspired Ritu Goyal to take a leap of faith and create her enterprise Ease India Travels, which creates memorable curated travel experiences for customers. An account of how she and her team create those experiences for sought-after destinations in India WRIK SEN

C

reating a successful enterprise was destined for Ritu Goyal, considering her father did so very early in his career in 1972, in Kerala.

Right after he got a Bachelor’s degree in Delhi, he established his business, married Ritu’s mother, and settled there. The couple then embraced the South-Indian state, adapting to its own unique culture, food, people, and the way of life. Ritu was born in 1974, and did her schooling at a missionary girl’s school in Fort Kochi, completing her Xth in 1989, and the XIIth in 1991. She had a desire to get out of Kerala; and Delhi became a natural choice for her.

She read for a Bachelor’s degree in

36 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

English (Hons) at the Indraprastha College in Delhi University in 1994.

The following year, her personal life changed when she got married, and moved location to Vishakhapatnam following her Naval-officer husband.

By 1996, Ritu grew tired of being at home and not pushing her career forward. She got in touch with the editor of Indian Express, with whom she had established a stream of letter exchanges. She was offered to join their team, which she took up as a part-time reporter. By 1997, she enrolled for a Master’s degree in Mass Communication at Andhra University; and completed the course in 1999. Her part-time assignment

with the Indian Express went on till 1998. By the year 2000, the family moved to Delhi as Ritu’s husband had been transferred to the Naval Headquarters; but Ritu’s tryst with journalism continued as a freelancer, during which her second child had also been born. She was also editing a corporate magazine on the sidelines, alongside a few other freelancing stints. But ‘being at home’ did not suit her liking. She then volunteered for an NGO in Delhi, which added to her wide profile of experiences; and the one where she would be convinced to take a position similar to that of a judge on a consumer court bench. She continued in this position

Ritu Goyal

for more than 2 years, from 2004 to 2006.

Ritu them move to Pune; thus also continuing her passion for journalism career once again, working with names like DNA and Times of India. To her credit, she had even reported on multiple frauds in the local real estate industry, and was even called in to handle consumer related incidents. She then worked from 2008 to 2010 at Indira School of Communication and Symbiosis International University since 2010.

In all of the journey of life thus far, Ritu Goyal was also reared with a penchant for travel. She recalls her fond memories of travelling with her

Ease India Travels is about tasting each destination as deeply as possible. As Ritu explained, “Our holidays are all about soaking in – the culture, cuisine, architecture, history, the way of life; and to get as close to living like a local as is possible. We call this new way of exploration ‘ExperienceTravel’, a term we have since trademarked” family in their Premier Padmini car, owing to her road-trip loving father.

Even after marriage, she would visit

many destinations in South India with her husband, where she visited the North-East, South, and Gujarat extensively. After her husband went to the UAE in 2011 for professional reasons, she decided to embark on a few more trips of her own, including the Kingdom of Bhutan, where she made “more than a dozen trips” to, ever since her first one in 2012, followed by a short one in 2013; and numerous ones from then. She even essayed her experiences on a blog called Ease India Travels, which was also to become the name of her registered venture in 2014. While it was mainly journalism combined with a trip curator’s work on a noprofit and no-loss basis; in 2016 she finally decided to continue her venture full-time, by building a team in Pune; and creating a network of local partners at various destinations.

Ease India Travels happens to be about tasting each destination as deeply as possible. As Ritu explained, “Our holidays are all about soaking in – the culture, cuisine, architecture, history, the way of life; and to get as close to living like a local as is possible. We call this new way of exploration ‘ExperienceTravel’, a term we have since trademarked.”

Ease India holidays are highly curated and customized, and remains offered for limited destinations such as Bhutan, Kangra Valley (Himachal Pradesh), Kerala, and even Coorg.

All these locations are known to Ritu rather well, which is why she and her team are able to offer the added value of the personalized and curated experience to the customers, taking them into a rather strong local experience at these locations.

Customers are also recommended to be ecologically conscious on their trips to these destinations, as the environment is a rather delicate one at the hilly locations. Sometimes, they may be asked to carry the plastic and other waste to be disposed off at a safer location, so as to maintain the ecological balance. february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 37

TRAVEL Ease India Travels happens to be a labour of passion for Ritu Goyal, who has invested all her savings into the venture, and not let external funding agencies play a role in it either. It is indeed bootstrapped, and whatever it earns, it spends.

In other words, Ease India Travels has always been breaking even since the time it started. The other characteristic that defines the company is the close knit small team, which is run according to passion and expertise of each member involved.

As Ritu explained, “Passion and expertise are the two benchmarks that define my man management policy. Commitment is another key element that I encourage my team members to strive towards. Together, we achieve the goals we have set out to achieve.” There may be the long hours, the dedication for each project execution; and the focus. But the increasing business as a result of happy customers is something that has always helped the venture rolled.

Going forward, Ritu is looking to establish herself as a Bhutan expert in the community, and is also expanding some of the services offered to clients, such as the service of a Royal Enfield bike, which they can use to explore the Himalayan Kingdom. Also, plans are on the cards to offer a new 500cc vehicle, so that drivers don’t find the journey to Bhutan as tedious. On the corporate front, Ease India Travels will be expanding its marketing foray to reach out to the community on a wider level. Adding a greater social media presence, a new destination to the existing ones, and some travel merchandise is on the cards, but for a longer term scheme of things.

Like every business enterprise, Ease India Travels and Ritu herself, have been met with challenges in achieving the set goals. In this case, it is about the social media savvy travel blogging community.

38 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

“Passion and expertise are the two benchmarks that define my man management policy.

Commitment is another key element that I encourage my team members to strive towards. Together, we achieve the goals we have set out to achieve”

Ritu Goyal

Ease India Travels

There are bloggers, storytellers, and photographers who had been engaged by the Ease India Team, but due to a lack of interest and commitment, the returns on investing with these bloggers and online community members, have not produced the desired result. Perhaps the desire to rethink its marketing objective takes root from this reason. That and creating a social media presence is most important, considering the power of the online community. As she comments on the changing face of the industry, Ritu stresses on a similar point saying, “Much of travel shopping still happens online; there are bargains galore and the ease of booking makes it attractive. But there is also a rising sense of disillusionment with such online offerings.” Apart from these, lack of involvement from the organizer, and inadequacy of the bigger enterprises to deal with situations which may occur ad-hoc for customers, is a situation which has a high demand for solutions in the travel sector. This is where Ease

India Travel fits, because it offers far more personalized experiences according to the taste and preferences of the individual customer. With the mobility and earning capacity, as Ritu mentions, paying a premium is not a habitual prohibition either.

Bringing the entire experience together for a traveller is more than just business. The government has a crucial gap to fill in, especially with basic infrastructure that the travel and other industries survive on – internet connectivity and speed, electricity, and the red-tape ridden process still remain a pain point, which she says will ensure that businesses continue to grow, and will not put any more stress on the government for additional incentives and support mechanisms.

Having been in the entrepreneurial space for a while now, Ritu makes some practical and crucial observations about the youth, and the future entrepreneurial ventures.

For one, it seems that the youth find success to be easily available than it actually is. “I suppose the start up India boom has also caused them to think that you’re only successful if you have 1000-crore funding for your idea, and the turnaround has to be quick,” Ritu Goyal observes. Though business is about the core idea most crucially, it is also as much about hard work, focus, determination, passion, the ability to take quick decisions and possess foresight; besides the desire to make a difference. Lastly, shortchanging customers with products and services will not make a business run for a very long time, either.

As Ritu lastly reveals another reason for her success, it has her family’s support. With long hours, and the seeming absenteeism from her immediate family’s life has been accepted with a pinch of salt, as they always have been there for Ritu to work on her venture. In fact, her daughter is now tracing her footsteps in business, and being a certified scuba-diver, is looking to offer it as a part of the business offerings

BOOK SHELF

Handbook for budding entrepreneurs Techpreneur PRAJYOT MAINKAR analyses Nandini Vaidyanathan’s book aimed at startups

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he word ‘entrepreneur’ has become a very hot buzzword these days.

Achieving goal sets, chasing dreams and building something that may be the next-big thing of tomorrow, are some of the key highlights of entrepreneurs in process. Even though entrepreneurship sounds like a buzz word, a random walk into a business minefield could be always challenging. It takes pure determination and street smarts to overcome the challenges en route.

Starting out your business is the easiest thing, but sustaining the productivity and growth is a game changer. Serious entrepreneurs will always plan each step carefully ensuring the route – though challenging, they have adequate resolution techniques to overcome it. Most of the businesses are most vulnerable to failure during the early years.

Statistically, 20% of businesses fold within first year of their launch.

These are purely not numbers per se, but they reveal a lot of truth not visible to the naked eye. These figures shouldn’t scare you off, but should they should prepare you for some of the challenges that entrepreneurs face when starting a business. With hard work and an awareness of the issues, your new business can be a great success. Every successful entrepreneur has been an amateur first. It’s just that they have trusted themselves to go to the milestonedream.

In her book Start Up Stand Up, Nandini Vaidyanathan provides “sutras” which could help you with step by step guide for growing your business.

The dilemma for any entrepreneur when they startup is whether to build products for customers or find customers for the product. Nandini highlights some of the key points to bringing the first valuable customer.

How much ever you must have

thought of the customer discovery, it all depends on the reality that you face when your product is out there and you start receiving consumer feedback. Besides, she also highlights who should be your ideal customer, someone from your network or a total stranger. In the later sections of the book, Nandini also writes on how one can acquire customers more intelligently.

With the Digital India theme going full-swing mode and investors bullish on the ecosystem, a lot of entrepreneurs focus on building business plans for investors rather than business plans for business.

That’s the difference that gets right treatment in the second sutra where Nandini shares her thoughts on building innovative business model.

Business Plan is entirely different from Business Model but they together influence greatly on the startup you grow.

In my business life, I have met several business owners and one of the most important criteria they speak

about, which I second as well, is the group of motivators that keep faith in your inspiration.

Stay amongst the network of people, who have faith in you and your ideas. Not all find the right kind of people, so the cue always points at tackling problems. Here is where a role of mentors come in, where they don’t just guide you in business triggers, but also keep you on toes so that you shouldn’t lose focus.

Crowdfunding is one of the popular ways you can raise funds. A lot of organizations such as KickStarter, IndieGogo and many other help entrepreneurs to raise funds for their startup. Nandini powerfully puts down her thoughts on how the approach of crowdfunding works.

Honestly, it’s one of the very few books that has crowdfunding covered which is cool to read especially where the world is witnessing plenty of crowdfunding projects going viral and converted to designed milestonegoals.

A brand is defined by customer experience, but it’s the team that builds this experience. Building a high performance culture, implementing design thinking and its importance for entrepreneurship are some of the important aspects in the book. Some of the other covered topics include ‘Art of Negotiation’, ‘Forming Advisory Board’ and ‘Science of Networking’. I loved the way how Nandini has expressed her honest views based on the industry and her own experiences.

If at all you want to bring a change, what stands between you and the change is your ‘approach’.

The pessimist complains about the wind and the optimist expects it to change. Instead, be a leader to adjust the sails Jaico Publishing House february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 39

FUNDING

Unilever invests `19 cr in Milkbasket consumer behaviour and disrupting technology in India.

“The fund looks to invest in startups that will be leaders in personal care and digital transformation,” said a spokesperson for Milkbasket’s Anant Goel, Ashish Goel, Anurag Jain and Yatish Talvadia Hindustan Unilever urgaon based Milkbasket, a (HUL), the Indian subsidiary of the micro delivery platform for British multinational. groceries, has secured `19 crore Unilever Ventures has invested in investment from Unilever Ventures, several Indian companies including the investment arm of consumer Chennai based water solutions packaged goods giant Unilever, and provider Morf, Karnataka-based ice its existing investors, upping its stake cream and dairy brand Hangyo and in small and medium-sized domestic Mumbai-based startup Peel-Works. companies to gain insights into Milkbasket, founded by Anant

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Facebook to invest in startup ecosystem in 2018

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he Startup India campaign, was initiated as an effective action plan intended to promote bank financing for start-up ventures to rev up the startup engine and enable entrepreneurship, technological progress and innovation.. Social media firm Facebook aims at keeping up with this campaign by investing in India’s startup ecosystem in 2018, and thus increase entrepreneurship and create more opportunities.

Ankhi Das, director of public policy for Facebook India said, “India is producing a new generation of startups that have incredible potential. Facebook is committed to helping create economic growth opportunities for startups and skill seekers in India and will continue investing in India’s digital skills of the future.” According to Das, “A lot of our focus will be to support small businesses in India, particularly those run by women to help them connect,

40 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

share and grow through more initiatives like #SheMeansBusiness and SheLeadsTech.

Through #SheMeansBusiness, Facebook has visited 18 cities across 6 states in India, providing skills training to more than 14,000 small businesses and self-help groups including 12,000 women entrepreneurs across the country.”

SheLeadsTech is a program that gives women-founded/co-founded startups access to a year-long program that provides tools, mentorship and resources to help overcome some of the barriers they face and build a successful business in technology.

The development comes a month after Facebook announced the launch of an initiative, wherein it will be setting up an online startup hub to help foster future talent that will help tech startups, developers and students in India build products using emerging technologies

Goel, Ashish Goel, Anurag Jain and Yatish Talvadia in 2015 is a subscription-based delivery platform providing about 5,000 products and serves over 15 clusters with a base of 500 customers each across Gurgaon.

Milkbasket follows the hybrid business model, in which products are sourced from neighbourhood stores, in addition to the company’s own stock, delivering milk and daily groceries at consumers’ doorsteps by 7am.

Anant Goel, CEO of Milkbasket said, “The endorsement from Unilever Ventures is an important mark of confidence in our potential.

Our vision is to become a strong player in online top-up groceries platform in India within the next five years.”

Milkbasket aims at utilizing the funds and Unilever’s expertise to strengthen technology; expand product assortment; and customer base and explore monetizing opportunities. On the other end of the deal, Unilever will be able to tap into a “disruptive and emerging” commerce model that leverages the habits and preferences of Indian consumers.

Anant Goel founded Milkbasket in 2015 along with Ashish Goel, Anurag Jain and Yatish Talavadia. Previously, it raised two rounds of funding from Blume Ventures, Lenovo Capital, Empower Investment, Hofan Capital and Draphant as well as angel investors including Peter Zou (CEO, YeahMobi), Vinay Bansal (former CFO, Wildcraft), Vikas Chauhan of 1MG and Deepak Jain of Bain & Co. Unilever Ventures invests in early-stage companies, accelerating their growth by providing access to Unilever’s global ecosystem, assets and expertise. The fund looks to invest in personal care and digital transformation technologies that include content creation, artificial intelligence, data analytics, e-commerce, internet of things, mobile marketing and video

Paymatrix secures seed funding from IIIT, Hyd

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rental platform that helps landlords and tenants to transact, Paymatrix has raised Rs. 25 lakh from IIIT Seed Fund. Earlier, the startup had raised a similar amount from another firm.

The start-up, incubated at Hyderabad’s T-Hub, is looking to expand its reach from the present 8,000 users to one lakh users as it plans to go for a Pre Series-A funding to raise Rs. 6 crore.

“We are planning to raise $1 million in three months to fund our expansion plans. We now have 4,000 tenants and landlords each on our platform. We would like to take it to one lakh users in a year,” said founder and CMO Mukesh Chandra Anchuri.

Mukesh Anchuri, Anusha Karupathi and Muralidhar Naik

Paymatrix makes it easy for tenants and landlords by providing services like tenant profiling, rental documentation, rent payment management and risk mitigation on the technology platform.

Paymatrix, which was a portfolio company of Axis Bank’s Thought Factory has also been recently selected to the PayPal Accelerator.

“Using the platform, they can even sign Aadhaarbased digital rent or lease agreements easily and ensure transparent documentation,” Anchuri added.

Viiveck Verma, CoFounder and Designated Partner at IIIT Seed Fund, said that the fund nurtures seed stage and early stage startups. “We also offer mentorship, coaching, business guidance and market access,” he said

Sequoia bullish about India

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ilicon Valley’s top-tier venture capital fund Sequoia Capital is looking to raise $1 billion for its sixth India-focused fund making it the largest corpus raised for the domestic market.

Sequoia’s gigantic fundraise sets the tone for long-term bullishness among investors in the Indian startup ecosystem.

Besides investing in companies in India, Sequoia Capital’s local team also leads investments in Southeast Asia and has set up an office in Singapore. This region will be a significant part of the strategy in the upcoming fund for Sequoia Capital India, which manages about $3.2 billion of investments.

Two years ago, Sequoia raised $930 million for its previous Indiafocused fund. Last year, venture capital investors invested a total $1.3 billion in early and growth-stage companies, show data from deals tracker Venture Intelligence.

The corpus for the new fund will be used for investments in multiple vehicles, where venture capital will focus on technology companies and growth-stage capital will go towards consumer and non-tech investments.

Sequoia Capital will use a part of its new fund to make investments in Southeast Asia which will be led by managing director Shailendra Singh. The development comes even as FreeCharge founder Kunal Shah, who served as an adviser to Sequoia Capital India, exited after his oneyear contract ended in December.

Shah confirmed the development, adding that his stint with Sequoia Capital India had been a “great learning experience.”

Sequoia Capital’s most wellknown invesments in India include restaurant aggregator Zomato, data sciences firm Mu Sigma and education technology firm Byju’s.

The firm invested about $183 million across 23 deals in India last year, mainly in the technology, consumer and healthcare sectors. The firm, which has been among the most active investors in the consumer space in India over the previous two years, has registered great success in the sector as compared to other investors. Its investments in the domestic-consumer market include snacks maker Prataap, which listed on the stock exchanges last year, and Fogg deodorant maker Vini

Cosmetics.

“Sequoia Capital has placed some consistent and big bets in consumer and healthcare. Those are going to pay off in 2018,” said a venture capital investor. “There will be more talk about these companies in 2018 through mark-ups and larger funding rounds.”

At the same time, Sequoia’s investments in a slew of hyperlocal companies including Tinyowl, RoadRunnr and Tapzo have not worked out. Sequoia got a stake in online marketplace Snapdeal when its portfolio company Free-Charge, a payments startup, was acquired by Axis Bank last year.

Sequoia’s portfolio includes tremendous successes in its investments in Southeast Asia. The firm made early investments in some of the most-valuable companies in the region, including in bike taxi firm Go-Jek that was valued at more than $3 billion recently.

Other notable investments include Indonesia’s largest online marketplace, Tokopedia, online travel firm Traveloka and sports brand One Championship february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 41

FUNDING

Unitus Seed Fund invests in operations crowdsourcing startup Awign

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wign Enterprises, a Bengalurubased operations and sales outsourcing startup that taps into India’s growing college student workforce, has raised `5 crore ($784,500) from early-stage investor Unitus Seed Fund and other angel investors.

An ‘outsourcing-bycrowdsourcing’ platform, Awign enables businesses to outsource aspects of their core operations and sales that require human workforce in distributed locations at high volumes, converts them into virtual internships for India’s growing student community.

The startup now plans to use the funds to expand its presence in 12,000 pin codes across India, partner with 100 corporates and startups and tap into over 500,000 students.

“We are currently operational in 130 cities in India and manage everything without ever physically visiting any city. We want to completely turn our service into product and influence career paths for a million students. The funds would be instrumental in both scaling our outreach and improving our product,” said Gurpreet Singh, co-founder of Awign.

The firm trains college students through its online do-it-yourself platform and employs them as interns for the outsourced work. The Awign app helps the company track the progress of the interns. The company charges the clients on the basis of the deliverables.

“Majority of business operations in India continue to be offlinedriven, requiring high-intensity human intervention at all stages.

Awign’s strong technology-enabled platform and a growing network of well-trained college temp workforce have successfully streamlined these operations, minimised turnaround time and completely eliminated setup and operation costs in multiple locations,” said Will Poole, cofounder and managing partner of

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Unitus Seed Fund.

Founded in July 2016 by Annanya Sarthak and his friends from IIT Ropar, Gurpreet Singh and Praveen Sah, Awign has worked with over 20 clients across multiple sectors such as ecommerce, IT & ITeS, BFSI, FMCG, media and entertainment, infrastructure and logistics, and competes with staffing firms

TeamLease and Adecco. More than 5,000 students have successfully completed an internship with Awign, earning an average stipend of `6000 to 7000 per month and nearly 50,000 students are currently registered on the platform.

In August 2017, Awign had raised about `90 lakh ($140,000) from a clutch of angel investors

RailYatri acqui-hires YatraChef

Sachin Saxena, Manish Rathi and Kapil Raizada of RailYatri

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iming at redefining travel experience, Noida-based RailYatri, a premier portal for commuters of the Indian Railways, recently ‘acquihired’ food delivery technology startup, YatraChef.

Through this partnership, Kochibased YatraChef will manage the pan-India side of RailYatri’s in transit delivery services.

Incepted in 2013, YatraChef, the brainchild of Arun Rajan and Rameez Ashraf, is a premier online food delivery service connecting the travelers of the Indian Railways to the best and finest restaurants, fast food chains and caterers across the country.”Having partnered with RailYatri for some time now, it was an obvious decision to join hands as we can make a much bigger impact together,” said Arun Rajan, CEO, and co-founder of YatraChef.

“YatraChef ’s skills will help us jointly develop new

offerings that would re-define the traveler experience with RailYatri.

We are delighted to have them on board,” said Manish Rathi, CEO, and co-founder of RailYatri.

RailYatri, founded in 2011 by Manish Rathi, Kapil Raizada and Sachin Saxena, is today a one stop solution for all Indian railway related enquiries. RailYatri continues to strive towards enriching customer satisfaction and convenience, by strengthening its supply side commerce capabilities, and adding new offerings and services to its travel marketplace Arjun Rajan and Rameez Ashraf of YatraChef

Paperflite secures seed funding led by The Chennai Angels

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aperflite, a Softwareas-a-Service mobilebased enterprise content marketing platform based in India and the US, recently closed a $400K (`2.55 crore) seed funding round led by The Chennai Angels.

The round included an active participation from other investors such as Lakshmi Narayanan, former chief executive of Cognizant, Chennai-based Like Mind Ventures led by Krishnan Srinivasan; and an HNI group led by Singaporebased Adrian Rusu. Srinivasan and Rusu will join PaperFlite’s board as observers.

Girish Mathrubootham, Founder and CEO of Freshworks, Mithun Sancheti, CEO of Titan-acquired Caratlane, T R Santhanakrishnan, CEO of DataTracks and former CFO of Sutherland Global Services, participated in the round as a part of The Chennai Angels.

Co-founded by former Cognizant executives Vinoth Kumar, Yega Kumarappan and Anant Bhat, in March 2016, Paperflite provides B2B marketers with a SaaS platform to deliver and measure content marketing. The firm’s mobile platform creates marketing content that sales representatives can use in their pitches. Discrete sets of content in the form of PDF documents, power

point presentations, and blogs, are presented as a single collection to clients.

Besides, sales teams can also track how a prospect is engaging with the shared content and who they share it with internally.

This, in turn, helps a sales team adopt the best follow-up action “The instances of salespersons being met with adverse responses during a sales pitch is on the rise.

Hence, a lot of businesses are moving towards content as a way of articulating their business and products better,” said Kumar, cofounder and CEO of Paperflite.

“Sales and marketing is witnessing a massive digital transformation to enable businesses create an engaging buying experience for their customers at every touch point.” said Lakshmi Narayanan, ex-Vice Chairman and ex-CEO of Cognizant. Possessing the right technology and objectives, Paperflite strives to meet the essential requirements of the marketing and data world.

The company aims at utilizing the funding to scale up its marketing and sales globally, and expand its product offerings to suit multiple industries.

“From an industry perspective, we are looking to get into technology, financial services, and life sciences, pharmaceutical and medical devices,” Kumar added. Going forward, the

company hopes to foray and expand its operations in the US and Europe to other emerging markets in the world.

With its headquarters in New York, the company operates through a wholly-owned subsidiary in Chennai, housing engineering, as well as a sales and marketing team.

The company has on-boarded over twenty enterprise clients from across the US, Australia and Europe. In India, it counts Freshworks and DataTrack among its customer base.

In the larger SaaS space, a few ventures have secured funding in recent times. Recently, e-commerce enabler KartRocket.com raised $4.1 million (`26.64 crore) from existing investors Bertelsmann India Investments, Nirvana Digital India Fund, Nirvana Digital Investment Holding Co Ltd and Singapore-based Beenext.

CleverTap, a mobile app analytics startup raised an undisclosed sum from Japan-based diversified consumer and business services provider Recruit Holdings Co along with existing investors Sequoia and Accel.

IDfy.com, an online human resources analytics platform that provides background verification services, also raised $3 million (`19.50 crore) in a fresh round of funding from new and existing investors

Bike taxi startup Bikxie raises funds from GEMs partners

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elhi-NCR-based bike taxi startup Bikxie has raised `2 crore ($315,200) from GEMs Partners, a micro venture capital fund, and Sachin Khandelwal, former chief executive and managing director at non-banking finance company Magma Fincorp.

The funds will be utilised to upgrade its technology and

infrastructure, speed up internal growth and expand operations to other cities.

Owned and operated

by Madhatters Voyage Pvt. Ltd., Bikxie was founded

by Mohit Sharma, Divya Kalia and Dennis Ching in January 2016.

It offers last-mile connectivity to commuters via bike taxis in Gurgaon and Faridabad.

“Over the last one year or so, we have been able to successfully boost our revenues by expanding our offering to corporates as well, thus leading to higher bike optimisation.

The fresh capital from GEMs will help us to scale up quickly within the NCR market and also expand to other cities,” Sharma said. The startup offers an all-female service named ‘Bikxie Pink’ for women, where the bikes are driven by female pilots february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 43

ACCOLADES

Winners of the YES Bank 5th Wharton India Startup Challenge

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he 22nd Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) has announced the winner of the YES Bank – Wharton India Startup challenge. Out of the top 10 finalists, three startups made it to the final pitching round. The Judge’s Choice Award along with $12K was won by Eduvanz Financing; The People’s Choice award along with $6K was bagged

by SpotDraft, while Saral Design won the Startup Exhibition Award and $2K prize money.

Founded by Raheel Shah, Varun Chopra, Atul Sashittal and Dinesh Gehlot, Eduvanz Financing, a Mumbaibased startup, aims to make education universally accessible by providing easy, transparent and speedy financial assistance using innovative technology solution.

SpotDraft is an AI-

invoices and payment reminders.

Saral Designs, founded

by Suhani Mohan and Kartik Mehta, is also Mumbai-based. The startup is working on increasing access to high quality Preeti Sinha, Senior President and affordable sanitary Global Convenor, YES GLOBAL INSTITUTE, napkins using a YES BANK presenting the Award to Eduvanz smart distributed Financing Pvt. Ltd. manufacturing technology developed in-house. Founded in 2015, Saral aims to create a better future in menstrual hygiene and sanitation-focussed product design, machine technology and innovative delivery mechanisms.

The Wharton India Founded by Raheel Shah, Varun Startup challenge offers Chopra, Atul Sashittal and Dinesh up-and-coming Indian Gehlot, Eduvanz Financing, a startups a platform to Mumbai-based startup, aims to make interact and connect with education universally accessible investors and industry by providing easy, transparent and stalwarts from the Indian speedy financial assistance using startup ecosystem. The innovative technology solution other eight finalists were driven end-to-end contract Anaxee, Ruban Bridge, Gamezop, lifecycle management SoundRex, Confirm Ticket, Perpule platform launched in and Plexus MD. January 2017 by Harvard Law School grad Shashank The jury for Wharton Bijapur and Madhav India Startup challenge people like Bhagat.

SpotDraft’s included technology is currently – Rehan Yar Khan aimed at small businesses (Managing Partner, Orios and freelancers to Venture Partners), Sandeep help them draft Murthy (Partner, Lightbox solid contracts, Ventures), Shivani Bhasin send automated Sachdeva (MD & CEO,

44 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

Suhani Mohan

Saral Designs, founded

by Suhani Mohan and Kartik Mehta, is working on increasing access to high quality affordable sanitary napkins using a smart distributed manufacturing technology developed in-house

India Alternatives), Karan Mohla (Executive Director, IDG Ventures India), Preeti Sinha (Senior President and Global Convenor, YES INSTITUTE at YES Bank Limited), Vishal Khare (Director, Enterprise, Citrix India and Angel Investor).

Founded in 1996, the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF), is an annual conference hosted by the students of Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It is a global business forum focussed on understanding and engaging with India’s startup landscape.

Hosted by the WIEF, the annual Wharton India Startup Challenge (WISC) is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in the country. Last year, IoT-

Madhav Bhagat

Shashank Bijapur

SpotDraft is an AI-driven end-to-end contract lifecycle management platform launched in January 2017 by Harvard Law School grad Shashank Bijapur and Madhav Bhagat based startup Detect Technologies received the “WIEF-SBI Startup Of The Year” award along with

$12K cash, while Kanpurbased social enterprise HELPUSGREEN was prized with “WIEF-SBI

People’s Choice” award along with $6K cash.

The competition also featured a Startup Exhibit, which hosted the top 10 finalists as well as 10 additional highcalibre startups that have demonstrated tremendous potential. While the Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice winners also get five hours of legal service from NovoJuris, all other startup exhibitors of the Wharton India Startup Challenge will have also have access to WeWorkIndia co-working space, fundraising services from LetsVenture, Baytree, and Mumbai Angels, mentorship from Innoven, and mentorship from Knowlarity and access to their Super Receptionist and Super conference product

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CAMPUS

IIMB launches nationwide “Women Start-up Programme”

Five lady entrepreneurs, incubated at the NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at IIMB. (L-R) Deepika Anu (ntalents), Shambhavi Naik (CloudKrate), Anushka Shetty (Penbound), Meeta Verma (Worksera) and Suhruta Kulkarni (GoCrackIt)

T

he NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has launched a nationwide “Women Startup Programme (WSP),” funded by Goldman Sachs, a global investment bank and active investor in India, and the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The WSP is India’s first customized online and classroom initiative designed to enthuse aspiring female entrepreneurs-inthe-making, across the country. The programme seeks to facilitate the growth of women entrepreneurs by providing in-depth training to foster and augment managerial and entrepreneurial skills through mentoring, incubation, and financial support. During the coming year, the WSP will provide training for up to 12,000 women through its five-week “Do Your Venture” Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which has been customized to encourage women to systematically identify and test their business ideas. Thereafter, 300 women entrepreneurs-to-be will be shortlisted for a boot camp to be held at partner campuses in the towns nearest to them, where they will receive classroom instructions on communications and customer interaction. From the 300 ventures, a select 100 women entrepreneurs will then travel to IIMB for a second

46 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

boot camp, where they will receive classroom instructions on developing a business plan, understanding costing and pricing, sales and marketing, and negotiation skills.

During this period, they will also have networking opportunities with successful women entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, IIMB students, and Goldman Sachs professionals.

After the completion of the boot camp, these women entrepreneurs will have their business ideas incubated for a year at a partner institution of their choice where each woman will also receive INR 30,000 per month for financial support and funding from a small prototype fund to run their ventures. The partner institutions are CIIE’s Innocity, Ahmedabad, IIM Indore, IIM Nagpur, IIM Udaipur, IIM Visakhapatnam, and Presidency University; Kolkata. The WSP builds off of a successful pilot programme launched in November 2016 by the NSRCEL which drew more than 1,700 aspiring female entrepreneurs from across the country. The pilot programme selected 50 women entrepreneurs to attend a threeweek boot camp at IIMB which enabled participants to develop customized methodology to test and comprehend the success and sustainability of their ventures. From there 15 of the top ideas were selected to be incubated. Ventures included matching volunteers to social causes,

specialized healthcare systems, and customized social networks. Among the top 15 ideas selected last year for incubation, Ntalents.ai, which uses data to assist companies discover their top sales talent and was founded

by Deepika Anu and Mayank Sharma, has successfully become a revenue generating venture with clients that include NestAway, Zoojoobe, JustOrganik, and EAI Consultancy.

“Building off the positive feedback from our pilot programme, we have been keen to expand our work to help women across the country.

Our vision and goal is to offer a technology-based and scalable training programme for female entrepreneurs that will address their needs and tap the potential of our vast country. Now, with the inclusion of additional partners to expand the ecosystem of this programme nationwide, it has become a reality,” said Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula, Chairperson, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development, NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore. Please visit http:// wsp.nsrcel.org for registration.

Programme Partners Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India will aim to assist and market the programme to potential women entrepreneurs throughout the country, the DST will support the hosting and organization of roadshows, events, and workshops. Dr. Anita Gupta, Scientist - G /Adviser and Associate Head at the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board in the DST, said, “The Department of Science & Technology sees the proven ‘Women Start-up Programme’ as part of the national ‘Start-up India’ and ‘Stand up India’ initiatives. We believe it will further foster an enabling ecosystem for women entrepreneurs while also serving to build a new pipeline of female talent throughout the country.”

Goldman Sachs has been a key

partner for the NSRCEL’s WSP and is an original partner who also funded the successful pilot programme.

“This initiative will empower female entrepreneurs, who will create jobs and in turn strengthen the foundations of our communities. In time, we hope to work with many of them on 10,000 Women, a global program which our firm has brought to India that provides business education and access to capital,” said Sonjoy Chatterjee, Chairman and CoCEO of Goldman Sachs in India. “In partnership with IIM Bangalore, we are proud to have funded the creation of the Women Startup Programme last year. We are delighted to work with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India in extending this successful initiative nationwide to promote growth and improve the national standard of living,” he added.

WSP Structure January – March: Five week “Do Your Venture” Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for up to 12,000 women to systematically identify and test their business ideas.

April: 300 ventures shortlisted for a boot camp at partner campuses nearest to them, to receive classroom instructions on communications and customer interaction. May: 100 women entrepreneurs selected for a second boot camp at IIMB where they receive classroom instructions on developing a business plan, understanding costing and pricing,

sales and marketing, and negotiation skills. Post second boot camp: Women will have their business ideas incubated at a partner campus of their choice for one year. About IIMB & NSRCEL Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) builds leaders and entrepreneurs through holistic, transformative and innovative education. An EQUIS accredited business school, IIMB is an acknowledged hub of academic activity in India and across the globe. IIMB’s research centres include the Centre for Capital Markets and Risk Management (CCMRM), Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship (CCGC), Centre for Management Communication (CMC), Centre for Public Policy (CPP), Centre for Software & Information Technology Management (CSITM), Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), IndiaJapan Study Centre, Israel Centre, NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), and Supply Chain Management Centre (SCMC).

The N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) incubates start-ups and provides free mentoring for budding entrepreneurs.

NSRCEL currently incubates 18 startups – perhaps the largest number for an incubation centre in an academic institution. Through its rapidly growing open mentoring initiatives, it is conservatively estimated that NSRCEL may have directly impacted

in excess of 10,000 entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs or other participants in the ecosystem since it was established in 2000.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Goldman Sachs has been serving Indian clients since the early 1990s and established an onshore presence in India in December 2006 following a ten-year joint venture.

Today, it serves leading corporate and institutional clients through corporate finance (investment banking), equity sales and trading and fixed income securities businesses, as well as providing macro-economic and investment research. Goldman Sachs is also an active investor in India, deploying more than $3.4 billion in capital since 2006. In 2004, Goldman Sachs opened its office in Bengaluru. Today, as an integral part of the firm’s global activities, the Bengaluru office with more than 5,000 professionals is the firm’s second largest office in the world. In 2014, the firm broke ground on a new campus in Bengaluru and will invest approximately INR 1,200 crore ($200 million) on the construction and the completion of a state-of-the-art complex, which is expected to open in 2019. Since 2008, Goldman Sachs has committed in excess of $1.6 billion to philanthropic initiatives, globally to academic partners and non-profit organizations, including in India.

As part of the firm’s ‘Community TeamWorks’ initiative, Goldman Sachs engages extensively with local non-governmental organizations around the world. To date, since 2005, Goldman Sachs in India has partnered with more than 100 nonprofit organizations to engage in approximately 1,900 community building initiatives

(L-R) Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIM B, Ravi Krishnan, CAO, Goldman Sachs, Dr. Anita Gupta, Adviser and Scientist, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, Nirmala Sankaran, IIMB alumna and co-Founder of HeyMath! and Prof. Suresh Bhagavatula, Director of WSP 2017-18 and Chairperson of NSRCEL’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development

february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 47

curtain raiser

Seaside Startup Summit in Goa from March 6 to 11

Pictures of the Sevan Startup Summit held last year at Armenia 48 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

Over 200 Startups and 100+ early stage investors from India, Europe, Armenia, Russia and Middle East will be participating in the Seaside Startup Summit

S

easide Startup Summit is a nonformal startup event, which is organized in a form of tent camp that aims to establish a new type of business platform worldwide. The first location of choice for launching the Summit in India is Goa from March 6 to 11, 2018 – the perfect place for this concept.

The four main pillars of the Summit are: Connect: During the summit, participants share a mode of life and make valuable connections.

There is also a coworking space in the territory of the Summit where participants have an opportunity to work collectively with their teams.

Moreover, startups get a chance to have matching sessions with their potential investors. Matching sessions are perfect for two sides to come together and discuss further possibilities of their co-operation.

Learn: One of the most important sections of the Summit is the Startup Bootcamp built into it. These set of workshops are an irreplaceable part of the education division that the Summit provides. Masters from all over the globe conduct a number of training sessions, give assignments to the participants in order for the attendees to know each other better, and what is more important, exchange and gain new skills. Besides this, informal campfire talks are held with famous entrepreneurs, experts and inspiring speakers to share their journey and experiences.

Win: Another significant thing that the Summit provides for startups is the chance of winning prizes during pitching battles to investors. Top startups from all over India and abroad will be chosen in 10 different tracks like Fintech, Healthcare, Retail, AI/ML, Social Impact etc. through an online competition. Top ten startups in each track will be invited to attend the summit FREE of cost and three startups will be chosen as winners in each track with prizes

Seaside Startup Summit is a nonformal startup event, which is organized in a form of tent camp that aims to establish a new type of business platform worldwide gather a number of speakers and mentors from various corners of the world, professionals with various fields of interest.

Top: Tent camps and; Above: Live pitches at the event

including the $1m Alpha Benefits card from F6S, invite to Level 4 of 100 Open Startups Open Innovation Week in Brazil/Europe, all expenses paid investor and customer connect trip to Japan, Invite to Strive and Thrive, LA USA among host of other awards and benefits; and for investors an opportunity to discover interesting startups to invest in.

Have Fun: One of the reasons to organize the Summit close to water basin, is strongly connected to the possibility to organize beach parties and various sport activities, such as volleyball, football, surfing and etc.

Seaside Startup Summit India.

Goa is organized by Startup India Foundation and Startup Armenia Foundation.

The co-organizers are KGS Advisors, COWE, and Granatus Ventures. The event will bring together 100s of startups, investors, VCs, and provide them an opportunity to build partnerships, exchange knowledge, and make valuable connections with key decision makers from government and industry. The Summit will also

SUCCESS STORY: Seaside Startup Summit was twice organized in Armenia as Sevan Startup Summit and has become one of the most significant startup events in the region by hosting 1500 people in 2016 and 3500 people in 2017 from 28 countries in total. In general, over 150 startups participated in the event, which were selected among 500 applicants. The number of partners has exceeded 100. The prize fund of Sevan Startup Summit 2017 reached $50,000 and over $200,000 investments were made.

After the success of the Summit, many international companies got interested in the organization of the event in their homelands. For this reason, it was decided to expand the geography of Sevan Startup Summit.

The Seaside Startup Summit will be held in Goa for the first time. It is part of a series of Seaside Startup Summits being organised across the globe in various startup hubs like UAE, Singapore, Australia, Spain etc.

All the participants (startups, investors, mentors etc.) are welcome to register on the event websitehttp://seasidestartupsummit.in.

All queries regarding partnership opportunities and speaking requests may be addressed to india@sss.am february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 49

lateral thinking / daniel albuquerque

EV Mobility: The top trend of 2018 I

The writer believes that electronic mobility is the way forward for automobiles

f I were to assert that Elon Musk – the multifaceted engineer, entrepreneur, and CEO of Tesla – is synonymous with the Electric Car, probably those who consider themselves as smart youngsters would agree with me.

They would scarcely believe if I told them that the first Electric Vehicle (EV) was produced 148 years ago, way back in 1880!

Amid a plethora of trends predicted for 2018, EV mobility (Electronic Mobility) seems to emerge as one of the topmost.

AI (Artificial Intelligence), AR (Augmented Reality), Real-Time Social Media, SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) – those technology experts required to educate and guide both industry and clients – Crypto Currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Etherum, Zcash, Dash, etc., Blockchain, the software platform for digital assets and several others are well in competition and seem to push each other out on almost weekly basis. With India taking a significant policy decision EV could be a frontrunner as trendsetter.

The Government of India has an ‘Electric Vehicle Mission 2030’ which is sometimes known as Automotive Mission Plan (AMP).

The vision is to be among the top three of the world in engineering, manufacturing and exporting of EVs. Accordingly, NITI Aayog, India’s policy making agency, wants to devise such policies that could leapfrog India to manufacture EVs, develop battery and storage solutions, build infrastructure for recharge and other allied services. NITI Ayog along with Rocky Mountain Institute of the US conducted a joint research on ‘Transformative Mobility Solutions’ in February, 2017. It proposed new comprehensive paradigm to achieve the mission.

Firstly, it consists of a shared system that integrates mobility service with inter-operable data. Secondly, it is

50 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favour” Elon Musk

about building an electric ecosystem of shared infrastructure consisting of mobility oriented development and vehicle grid integration. Thirdly, the most important, it consists in actual manufacturing and supplying of EVs. If this is achieved, then it would mean 67% energy efficiency and 37% cut in carbon emissions. The research showed that India has the entire wherewithal of leapfrog opportunity for EV. The Indian motor vehicle manufacturing companies are taking the government initiatives seriously.

Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors are already producing e-cars.

Maruti-Suzuki, India’s market leader is already selling hybrid cars. There are over a dozen companies which produce e-motorcycles and scooters.

Tata Motors, Goldstone (Himachal Pradesh) and Ashok Leyland have already produced buses, trucks, mini-trucks, semi-trailers, tractors and rickshaws functioning on the roads; however, scaling up is what is needed. Now the government is not going to hesitate and has already set the date that after 2030 only EVs will be sold and all the production of internal combustion vehicles will be stopped. Thus the warning for both the manufacturers and the buyers is well served.

At the Philadelphia Museum of Art there is a painting of Benjamin Franklin, drawing electricity from the sky. He was not only one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, but also one of

the greatest scientists that the world has ever seen. He discovered battery in 1748!

Then why did the world adopt fossil fuels which have only caused environmental disaster through global warming?

The crux of the matter is electricity stored in a battery, the technology of which remained underdeveloped whereas the internal combustion engine which was discovered much later, 1791, advanced due to the easy and cheap availability of fossil fuels and rapidly developing technology.

India has over 200 million vehicles and spends very close to five lakh crores in import of crude oil. In today’s scenario of the development renewable energy resources, such a situation needs rectification with the use of new energy and its storage technologies. The new global economics demonstrates that EVs produced in large scale would be much cheaper than the dwindling oil deposits and price volatility due to geopolitical reasons.

People dream of endless source of energy so that they could drive their cars for free. There are many such free sources but harnessing them is the problem. Other than the sun, hydrogen is also un-harnessed.

However, now it is certain that EV challenge can be met with evolving battery technology and its charging infrastructure. This is one area where India can wrest market leadership. Lithium-ion Batteries (LiBs) are being planned by top battery manufacturing firms and with government’s policy push, these batteries, which are otherwise costly would be cost effective as scaling up of manufacturing is undertaken. In the similar fashion, the infrastructure required for recharge could be another opportunity for entrepreneurs.

Now the question is whether India can seize the opportunity. The

startup mantra / nandini vaidyanathan

Elevator pitch in the elevator!

I

Surely an elevator is the last place to pitch a business idea… or is it?

t is one of those things, you know.

We all use words mindlessly, almost by rote. The science of entrepreneurship (some people may even judge me because I have called it a science!) is full of such jargon, myths, notions and superstitions.

Interestingly, all of them have been perpetuated by entrepreneurs themselves without knowing how they originated or even why. Worse, many are not even implemented as per their literal meaning. The term ‘elevator pitch’ is a case in point.

For a little over a decade, I have been teaching entrepreneurship and mentoring entrepreneurs. For the life of me, I can’t remember where I first came across this phrase – was it in a book, was it someone from the Silicon Valley who was showing off, was it someone invested enough in it to coin the phrase (like for instance, Friendship Day was created by Archies to sell more cards), or was it simply media hype? I don’t know. I also don’t know when I started using it. What I do remember is that over the years I embellished it enough to make it sound like a crime thriller.

The story goes something like this. You get out of a meeting with prospective investors and the meeting hasn’t gone well. It is raining cats and dogs. Normally, you would have run down the steps; it has never mattered which floor you are on. You are a fitness freak and it is distasteful to you to hang out outside an elevator.

But today is different. Bad meeting, tension amongst cofounders, a bank account that is increasingly ringing hollow, a family that is questioning your wisdom in persisting with a business that is going nowhere. Enough problems on

your platter to make Duracell run out.

Your legs naturally gravitate towards the elevator.

There is an annoying call from someone even as you get into the elevator. You are distracted and you don’t notice that there is an elderly gentleman already in the elevator.

You are riding from the 14th floor to the basement where your car is parked.

Somewhere around the 10th floor you begin to notice the gentleman.

And it soon occurs to you that you are actually riding with none other than the legendary Warren Buffett.

By the time you get over the shock and the excitement, you have already crossed the 6th floor. That is when it also occurs to you that an opportunity like this will never come your way again and desperation drives you to not only introduce yourself, but your business idea too.

By the time the elevator lands in the basement, what can you possibly tell Buffett in less than 30 seconds about your business that will make him take his checkbook out and say: whom should I make out the check to?! (yes, yes, it is a glorious fantasy, but who said fantasies don’t

happen?). Now you know why I said it is a crime thriller, don’t you?

Because this whole transaction happened in an elevator, it came to be known as ‘elevator pitch’. I don’t know who coined the term (I’m sure it wasn’t Buffett). I don’t even know if such a scenario has ever played out in an elevator, if not with Buffett, at least with lesser mortals), but if there is a buzz word in entrepreneurship, it is this.

To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever pitched to anyone in an elevator. Or at least I haven’t done it.

I have been on the jury of so many business plan competitions. But no one has ever designed the setting in the elevator, how uncool is that? And it has never occurred to me either to arrange for my own cohorts to do it in the elevator!

That is, until sometime ago, when I was introduced to someone called Professor Nathan Gold of the University of Berkeley. One of the things that jumped out at me when I read his resume was that he had actually conducted elevator pitches in – where else – the elevator for his University and for Wall Street Journal. I was so chuffed that I did not lose any time connecting with him and inviting him to be on the jury with me for the pitch I had for my class at Institute of Product Leadership (IPL), Bangalore.

IPL operates out of the ninth floor of the corporate park of the PESIT campus on the way to Electronic City.

We had seven groups presenting that day, all internet products, but quite different and interesting. In my next column, I will share my experience of conducting an elevator pitch in an elevator with you!

answer is in the affirmative. The Government of India has already placed a huge order with the Indian EV manufacturers. The only other state that has taken similar steps is

Karnataka. Rest of the states in India are not on the scene.

As I began with Elon Musk, so do I wish to conclude with his quote: “When something is important

enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favour.” EV is the most important in mobility and attempting our best to promote it is only going to take us to a better future february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 51

STARTUP EVENTS

Start-up Social by Axis Bank

B

anks have always looked forward to collaborating with startups so as to bring increased digitization among clients with regard to their banking experiences. Continuing the process of getting connected with the startups, Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank recently launched the first chapter of ‘Axis Startup Social’ an exclusive networking event for Indian entrepreneurs to share knowledge and also get assistance from the banking ecosystem.

Being a country with innumerable creative and innovative ideas, this networking platform endeavors to act as a great growth booster for all startups, by providing them with all the required knowledge of financial solutions and other related information.

“We are excited to launch Axis Start-up Social, a platform through which we hope to provide the much required, ‘extra edge’ to the start-up community by hand-holding them, sharing knowledge, and providing the required financial solutions,” said Sidharth Rath, Group Executive, Corporate and Transaction Banking, Axis Bank.

He added, “Today, the Indian ecosystem is flooded with innovative ideas but what is missing is the 52 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

presence of the right channel and guidance in terms of acceleration, scaling up and funding. Through Axis Start-up Social, we endeavour to create an ecosystem to encourage innovation and the next-level-ofgrowth opportunities to start-ups that are ready to take that leap.”

Further emphasizing on the need for such an initiative, MN Prakash, Regional head for Axis Bank’s new economy group for Karnataka and Kerala said, “Startup Social is primarily themed to bring in a social essence to the whole community to network, learn and grow together.

Banks have always had a traditional approach to any industry and Axis has taken the first step to change that.

The new economy group is a startup within the bank, making it relatable for the community. We curate solutions for the startups.”

The event was unveiled at WeWorks’ co-working space and saw participation from the banking and leading startup community of Bengaluru. Karan Virwani of WeWorks said, “We at WeWorks are trying to push the boundaries for the people in the way they work. WeWork as a platform has been successful in creating and building the ecosystem which helps each other. With the same ethos, Axis Bank is trying to create a support system for all the startups and businesses to push growth and accelerate a lot further.”

Also in attendance at the event was Vivek Gupta, CEO of Licious, and Rohit Rohtgi, Founder of Divert, sharing their journey, tips, and tricks with entrepreneurs.

Axis Bank had launched the Axis Start-up Banking product earlier this year, which is bundled with all key technology-enabled products and caters comprehensively to banking needs of startups. Curating solutions for the startups, Axis Bank’s innovation lab Thought Factory was also launched recently which looks to aid start-ups to expand, besides opening up avenues with potential investors and companies

“Today, the Indian ecosystem is flooded with innovative ideas but what is missing is the presence of the right channel and guidance in terms of acceleration, scaling up and funding. Through Axis Start-up Social, we endeavour to create an ecosystem to encourage innovation and the next-level-of-growth opportunities to start-ups that are ready to take that leap” Sidharth Rath

Group Executive, Corporate and Transaction Banking, Axis Bank

Startup Conclave at IIT Kanpur held

I

IT-Kanpur hosted a two-day conclave from January 27 for start-up enthusiasts, where venture capital (VC) firms and successful entrepreneurs shared their experiences and shed light on funding and other challenges B V R Mohan Reddy Saurabh Srivastava that could be faced by a corpus of Rs.1,000 crore for startnew startups.

The event was organised by ups in the State, was the guest Startup Master Class (SMC), an of honour at SMC. Other guests initiative launched by the IIT-K included industry veterans and angel investors like Nasscom Chairman Alumni Association four years ago.

The event aimed at building BVR Mohan Reddy, Indian Angel collaboration, inclusiveness and Network co-founder and Director Saurabh Srivastava, Indian American interaction among the community.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Forum’s National President Ravi Adityanath, who recently announced Sakhuja, and Chintan Vaishnav,

K.C. Ayyagari conducts Google Cloud Platform seminar at CIBA Goa

C

K. C. Ayyagari

IBA (Centre for Incubation and Business Acceleration) Verna, Goa in association with Google India, organized a seminar on “Google Cloud Platform” for startups and tech-preneurs of Goa. The session was conducted by K. C. Ayyagari, Program Manager at Google Cloud Startup Ecosystem.

The participants were sensitized about the cloud services by Google and how startups could implement it to scale-up and take their business to greater heights. After the seminar, a one and one session was conducted with interested startups. The eligible startups will be given credits worth 3000 USD through the startup program.

Google has partnered with CIBA for Google Cloud Credit programme for startups in Goa

subscribe to the voice of startups

Ravi Sakhuja

Chintan Vaishnav

Academic Director at MIT Tata Center in the US. Apart from sessions

by VCs and entrepreneurs, there were workshops on diverse topics such as blockchain, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, mobility, drones and bulletproofing start-up business held. Also lined up were 250 one-to-one interactions with mentors for budding entrepreneurs

Jodi Prins to host workshop on ‘Taking Your Startup Global’ in Bengaluru on Feb 17

J

odi Prins, co-founder and COO of RapidLoop, Inc will host a workshop on ‘Taking Your Startup Global’ at Bengaluru Jodi Prins on 17 February. This introductory workshop will consider key elements of setting up your company and preparing for sales and marketing on a global level. What should be considered in company setup? Which payments providers should you consider? What are the options for setting up sales and marketing with global reach?.

Jodi Prins has nearly 20 years experience managing tech businesses working with teams in both the US and India. RapidLoop is a global B2B SaaS startup with customers in the US, Europe and Asia, ranging from startups to the Fortune 500 february 2018 | STARTUP NaTION | 53

newsmakers

Momtaz Moussa appointed as GM of OLX India

Pankaj Kumar of MSS Payments bags B2B Award

OLX, the online classifieds marketplace for auto, real estate, goods and services, has named Momtaz Moussa as the General Manager of OLX India.

Joining the OLX Group in early 2016 as General Manager in Egypt, Moussa has been heading key markets in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, including Lebanon and Oman.

Moussa brings diverse experience and knowledge, with previous stints in multinational brands such as Booz & Co, telecom operator Vodafone apart from the OLX Group.

Moussa holds an MBA from INSEAD Business School and BSc in Computer Science from the American University in Cairo.

“India represents one of the most important markets for OLX Group. The appointment of Momtaz Moussa will help drive growth in the country. His track record in leading teams to deliver growth, combined with his deep knowledge of classifieds, puts him in the best position to take charge of our business in India,” said Leonardo Rubinstein, chief executive, ALMEA (Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa) for OLX Group.

Moussa’s appointment comes four months after OLX India CEO Amarjit Singh Batra quit stating that he would be moving to South African technology group Naspers, the parent of OLX in September

Pankaj Kumar’s MSS Payments has been awarded the Business to Business (B2B) Startup of the Year Award at a festival held at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITDelhi).

(MSS) Payments is a one-stop digital payment service available across the Globe. MSS Payments aims at serving the consumers (banked, unbanked and underbanked) with mobile banking facilities on the move from anywhere by transferring funds in their mobile phone.

“My startup won the award for offering products and services with highest client acquisitions. Around 35 million users are currently associated with the startup with most of them based in countries apart from India like Columbia (South America), Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Canada,” said Kumar.

“While there are many e-wallet companies in the market which offers digital payment solutions to their customers, we use block chain technology. This block chain technology provides multiple filters at every level of a transaction, ending the possibility of a cyber fraud,” he added. Roorkee based Kumar also founded PayQwik in 2014 a mobile payment service available across India

Sneha Jain awarded BHAVAN internship at Berkeley Lab Sneha Jain has been awarded an internship that will allow her to work at the prestigious Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), USA for six months. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Building Science Research at IIIT-Hyderabad.

The Building Energy Efficiency Higher And Advanced Network (BHAVAN) internship is the result of collaborative efforts between the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) with the aim of providing avenues of collaboration between students and scientists from India and the US. Of the 12 students selected for the internship across India, Sneha’s research on strategies to minimize glare and overheating in buildings especially due to the emerging trend of glass facades, has given her the opportunity to intern under the guidance of Christian Kohler, who is the head of Building Technology department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) 54 | STARTUP NaTION | FEBRUARY 2018

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1. Introduced by CompuServe in 1987 as 87a, it has since come into widespread usage on smartphones and internet due to its wide support and portability 2. Rati Rajkumar, Arjun Shetty, Adhil Shetty are the co-founders of which finance focussed startup?

3. Top of the US INC 500 list in 2017, this company has developed a mobile platform that enables users to host streaming video game tournaments and to interact directly with other fans of live sporting events. Name it.

4. Which two entrepreneurs developed a ‘blue box’ in the 1970s which allowed people to use free phone services illegally?

5. Founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin, it offers personal grooming products to customers by mail. It was bought out by Unilever in 2016. Name this startup.

6. Which term describes an affluent person who provides capital to a startup, usually in exchange for equity or convertible debt?

6. Identify this logo Email your answers to startupnation.media@gmail.com.

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