In the burgeoning eyewear market of India, organised players such as Lenskart, Fastrack, and Titan Eye Plus have been gaining ground on the back of a diverse range of stylish and high-quality eyewear solutions. Despite this, a stark visual disparity persists throughout the country.

A significant portion of India’s population, particularly those from low-income communities and from Tier III parts of the country and beyond, have vision impairment and hardly any access to affordable eyewear. It is worth noting that an estimated 270 Mn people in the country face vision issues, with up to 40% lacking access to a basic pair of spectacles.

Interestingly, Ghaziabad-based ClearDekho has been addressing this issue since 2017. It offers affordable glasses and eye check programmes via its stores in small towns and cities to address the scarcity of eye care facilities and essential vision care services.

The Vision Behind ClearDekho

Before starting ClearDekho, founder and CEO Shivi Singh worked with VisionSpring, a programme aimed at delivering affordable and high-quality eyewear services across Southeast Asian markets, including India.

During his tenure with VisionSpring, where he managed the supply side and sourcing for Warby Parker’s social initiative, he recognised that low-income families were not getting access to affordable eyewear.

“At the time, LensKart was doing very well and I was inspired by their growth and their disruption in Tier-I cities. Then I recognised a significant gap in the eyewear market at Tier III & IV levels. That’s when ClearDekho was born, and the idea behind its incorporation was to standardise eyewear accessibility for consumers in smaller towns and cities, providing a value-for-money experience,” Singh said.

ClearDekho started its journey focussing on online presence, and as it aspired to offer a cost-effective eyewear experience, it realised the importance of reliable eye testing and also looked at offline expansion in 2018. Due to financial constraints, they had to engage in frugal marketing activities.

Navigating The North

The eyewear startup, which commenced its journey from Ghaziabad, has been focussed on the North Indian market since inception, particularly Uttar Pradesh (UP).

This is because the state (UP) lags in the number of total optical stores, Singh said. Recognising the untapped potential in the state, the founder has solidified ClearDekho’s presence across Ghaziabad and Noida, and smaller towns like Meerut, Hardoi, and Moradabad where larger brands are not present.

Currently, ClearDekho operates in 100 stores across India under the franchise-owned company company-operated (FOCO) model. Of these, a total of 50 stores are in UP and Delhi NCR region.

ClearDekho also has its presence in northern states, including Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. It is now looking to establish its footprint in states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Assam.

“This is again a market where you will not find many of the eyewear brands. We look at small pockets and small towns to deliver eyewear experience and leverage the first-mover advantage,” Singh said.

The key USP of ClearDekho lies in its affordable price range for eyeglasses and sunglasses, ranging from INR 200 to INR600. However, Singh emphasises that pricing is not the sole dimension, as the business model focusses on delivering high-quality products in the convenient vicinity of small towns.

Singh gave an example of the Saharanpur district, which has a dearth of eyewear brands. “In a district where over 5 Lakh people lacked access to optical stores, ClearDekho became the first to deliver eyewear services,” he added.

Balancing Margins, Quality & Profitability

Speaking with Inc42, Singh emphasised that ClearDekho never compromised on profit margins while offering budget-friendly glasses.

Despite the high cost typically associated with eyewear, ClearDekho aimed to provide a quality product priced at 500 rupees.

For Singh, the focus isn’t solely on maximising profit margins; the primary objective is to encourage widespread adoption of the product, thereby organically expanding the user base.

With a staggering 600 Mn Indians requiring eyeglasses, the fact that 50% of this demographic lacks access to affordable eyeglasses highlights the enormous opportunity for ClearDekho.

Additionally, there is a growing demand in the kids’ eyewear and protective eyewear segments. Currently, protective eyewear contributes 10% to the total eyewear business in India, Singh added.

In FY22, ClearDekho reported an operating revenue of INR 7.5 Cr, marking a 1.7X year-on-year increase from INR 4.4 Cr in FY21, according to Tofler. However, the company incurred a loss of INR 6.4 Cr in FY22, compared to INR 3.4 Cr in FY21. The financial results for FY23 are yet to be disclosed.

Meanwhile, Singh is confident that the company will achieve profitability in the next two years.

The eyewear market in India is projected to reach $5.58 Bn in 2023, with prescription glasses dominating at an expected $2.52 Bn. Notably, 94% of sales are anticipated in the non-luxury category, indicating the country’s increasing demand for affordable yet stylish eyewear, including frames and prescription lenses. This presents significant tailwinds for startups like ClearDekho going ahead.

The post How Eyewear Brand ClearDekho Is Becoming The Lenskart For Tier III & IV Indian Cities appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Jewellery has been an integral part of Indian culture for centuries. From wedding ceremonies and family gatherings to festivals or regular wear, Indians just can’t do without it. This is probably one of the key reasons that has propelled India to secure a prominent position in the global jewellery industry.

According to a Statista report, the Indian jewellery industry garnered a staggering revenue of $76.77 Bn in 2023, making it the world’s leading market in the sector, surpassing China, the US, Japan, and Russia. Furthermore, the industry is projected to maintain a compounded annual growth rate of 4.93% by 2026.

Another notable study from Inc42’s State of Indian Ecommerce Report 2023 reveals that 47% of cross-border sales on Amazon pertain to jewellery.

Moving on, the jewellery industry has lately undergone a paradigm shift, with the new generation now seeking lightweight, minimalist, and customised jewellery to complement the contemporary lifestyle.

However, what has fuelled this shift is worth understanding. Per Ishendra Agarwal, the founder of D2C jewellery brand GIVA, “Earlier people used to look at jewellery as an investment, but today, it is more about fast fashion, justifying Indians inclination towards lightweight jewellery. Notably, this trend entered the US and China a few years ago and has started impacting India of late.”

Moving on, traditional jewellers, on the other hand, have today transitioned to understanding their customers through data-driven insights. Moreover, we today have SaaS startups that offer end-to-end tech solutions tailored to fit all key requirements of jewellers. Further, many jewellery stores, both online and offline, are today using augmented reality (AR) to woo customers. And we have barely scratched the surface here.

Notably, at the forefront of the Indian jewellery industry’s current state of affairs are the increasing number of startups in the space, which are leaving no stone unturned to set the latest industry.

Consider Metaman for example — the Bengaluru-based startup is determined to shake up the men’s accessories and jewellery market. Similarly, Jaipur-based Voylla started with women’s jewellery but ventured into the men’s jewellery space in 2015. Today, the startup takes pride in crafting contemporary accessories per the current fashion trends.

According to Inc42, India currently has more than 15 funded jewellery startups, which have together raised more than $288.6 Mn since 2014. These new-age ventures are not only addressing the evolving taste of Indians but also playing a key role in writing the next chapter of the Indian jewellery industry.

A day ahead of Dhanteras, we have compiled a list of 10 startups that are making waves and setting new trends in the glamorous Indian jewellery industry.

(Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups in
alphabetical order.)

1. Bluestone

Founded in 2011, BlueStone is an omnichannel jewellery startup that offers a diverse range of over 8,000 exquisite designs, spanning categories like rings, pendants, and earrings.

The company generates revenues from online sales and a network of both company-owned and
franchise-operated retail stores.

This direct-to-consumer (D2C) jewellery brand recently secured INR 550 Cr from existing and new investors. Some of the key names that backed the startup include Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha; Ranjan Pai, the chairman of the Manipal Group; Amit Jain, the CEO and cofounder of Cardekho Group; Deepinder Goyal of Zomato, etc.

In the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), the Bengaluru-based startup’s operating revenue stood at
INR 770.7 Cr, up 67% year-on-year (YoY).

Furthermore, there are reports that Singapore’s Temasek Holdings is poised to invest $100 Mn in the Tata-backed startup for an approximately 20% stake. The investment deal is expected to confer a valuation of nearly $500 Mn upon BlueStone.

2. Caratlane

Chennai-based CaratLane is an omnichannel jewellery brand, which offers a diverse selection
of loose diamonds. Incorporated in 2008 by Mithun Sacheti and Srinivasa Gopalan, CaratLane functions as a subsidiary of Titan. Over the years, the company has successfully secured a total of $617.8 Mn in five funding rounds.

Titan is poised to acquire a 27.18% stake in CaratLane for INR 4,621 Cr. This investment places a valuation of over INR 17,000 Cr ($2 Bn) on CaratLane, officially elevating the omnichannel jewellery brand to unicorn status.

CaratLane operates in both India and the United States. Two years ago, the startup launched international shipping to overcome existing geographical and economic barriers.

Today, as part of the Tata Group heritage, the company boasts an extensive presence with over 123 retail stores spanning 45+ Indian cities.

Additionally, it is equipped to ship globally to 132 countries, including the USA, the UK, Singapore, Dubai, Australia, and Canada.

3. GIVA

Ishendra Agarwal, Nikita Prasad, and Sachin Shetty founded GIVA in 2019 to provide exquisite silver jewellery. However, the startup has since pivoted to offering gold jewellery to its customers.

As of July 2023, the D2C jewellery brand boasted its presence in over 50 stores in major Indian cities, along with plans for nationwide expansion over the next five years. Committed to innovation, GIVA launches more than 250 new designs every month.

Currently, the Bengaluru-based startup ships to Australia, Cambodia, the Caribbean, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, the US, Spain, Thailand, the UK, and Vietnam.

It last raised INR 270 Cr ($32.9 Mn) in a Series B funding led by Premji Invest in July.

4. GoldSetu

Incorporated by Vikas Verma and Anuj Sachdev in 2021, GoldSetu is a B2B jewellery startup, which enables jewellers to purchase, organise, market, and sell jewellery.

The startup also takes pride in its mission to revolutionise the Indian jewellery business with its end-to-end tech solutions tailored to fit all key requirements of jewellers.

The startup also showcases itself as a one-stop B2B jewellery store for jewellery retailers and claims to have an extensive inventory, comprising more than 50,000 products across categories like gold, diamond, platinum, and other high-quality jewellery items.

Since its inception, the company has secured a total of $2.3 Mn across four rounds. Notably, the SaaS startup strengthened its presence in the space by acquiring BuymyJewel, a B2B jewellery ecommerce company, last year for an undisclosed amount. Simultaneously, it raised $1.1 Mn in October 2022 to support its growth initiatives.

5. Melorra

Founded in 2016 by Saroja Yeramilli, Melorra offers lightweight and fashionable gold and diamond jewellery for a contemporary wardrobe.

The Bengaluru-based startup sells jewellery through its website and offline stores. It delivers across 26,000 pin codes across India, the US, the UK, Europe and the UAE. In India, the startup has a presence in 718 districts and over 2,800 towns.

Since its inception, Melorra has secured $94.4 Mn in nine funding rounds. It last raised $16 Mn in a Series D round in May 2022.

The company enjoys the backing of 23 investors, with the SRF Family Office and Axis Growth Avenues AIF-I being its most recent backers. Melorra claims to have grown at a CAGR of 200% in the past few years and asserts to have clocked revenue of more than INR 360 Cr in FY22. In the short term, the D2C jewellery brand aims to generate $1 Bn in revenue by FY26.

6. MetaMan

Founded in 2022 by Anil Shetty, MetaMan sells men’s jewellery like bracelets, pendants, chains, earrings, and rings. Its investors include Nikhil Kamath from Zerodha, Prashanth Prakash from Accel Partners, and cricketer KL Rahul.

Its entire product range is priced below INR 10,000, targeting the increasing demand for men’s jewellery. Initially launching with 25 designs priced under INR 2,000, the startup’s current emphasis is on men’s fashion jewellery and essential product categories.

However, the D2C brand envisions expanding in various directions and branching into additional product Recently, Shetty told inc42 that he plans to sell the company’s products via online marketplaces such as Nykaa Man, AJIO Live, and Flipkart, among others. Going forward, Metaman plans to foray into the fine jewellery segment by launching its gold jewellery line and building variations on top of it, such as a line for different occasions.

Additionally, the brand recently acquired millennial-focussed luxury jewellery brand Drip Project for $1 Mn to strengthen its presence in the growing Indian online men’s jewellery market.

7. Pipa Bella

Founded by Shuchi Pandya in 2013, Pipa Bella is an online store that offers custom and ready-made fashion jewellery at affordable prices.

The startup, which was acquired by Nykaa in 2021, launched approximately 100 new styles of fashion accessories every week that are all priced well between INR 500 to INR 3,000. Its target audience consists of fashion-conscious urban women aged between 22 and 35 who are active on social media and quick to adopt the latest trends.

Pipa Bella draws its name from two European terms that mirror the company’s product range and its diverse customer base. A typical “Pipa” woman is bold, edgy and always ready to experiment and a typical “Bella” woman is a classicist, graceful, and more conservative.

The startup has secured a total of $1.6 Mn in two funding rounds since its inception from investors like LionRock Capital and Fireside Ventures.

8. Priyaasi

Gurugram-based Priyaasi, which started by selling just a few hundred fashion jewellery pieces in 2015, witnessed remarkable growth, reaching over 90,000 pieces sold per month in 2020.

The bootstrapped startup achieved a turnover of more than INR 35 Cr in the same year.

Despite having a minimal social media presence, this D2C brand successfully expanded its operations across various online marketplaces. Priyaasi’s journey began when its founder, Priyanka Khandelwal, launched the startup on Myntra in 2018. As of today, Priyaasi has established a strong presence on major fashion platforms, including Nykaa, Amazon, and Flipkart.

Mensa Brands acquired Priyaasi on October 6, 2021. The D2C brand currently operates across online marketplaces and has expanded its presence on the international stage by recently launching on Amazon US.

According to Khandelwal, the brand’s revenue experienced remarkable growth, increasing by over 100% from INR 16 Cr in FY20 to INR 35 Cr in FY21.

9. Sukkhi

Established in 2012, Sukkhi Jewellery is a retail startup that specialises in the design and sale of jewellery collections for women.

Founded by Bhavesh Navlakha, Sukkhi was incorporated with a vision to provide quality and trendy fashion jewellery at competitive prices.

Initially started as an exclusively offline brand, the company expanded its horizons by introducing its website in October 2016 and then scaled its presence to 27 diverse online marketplaces and made foray into two international markets.

As of 2018, online sales accounts for 33% of its revenues. The company claims to have grown at a CAGR of over 100% since its inception. The Mumbai-based jewellery startup raised $7 Mn in funding from Carpediem Capital and Duane Park in 2018.

10. Voylla

Founded in 2011 by Vishwas Shringi and Jagrati Shringi, Voylla is a Jaipur-based fashion jewellery startup. Voylla is an omnichannel brand with a presence across multiple online channels and 250 offline stores across India.

Voylla started with women’s jewellery, further venturing into the men’s jewellery space in 2015. The brand now offers women’s jewellery across 11 categories and men’s jewellery across 10 categories, in materials such as gold, silver and pearl, among others. Since its inception, the jewellery brand has secured over $15.5 Mn in funding from Peepul Capital and Snow Leopard Technology Ventures.

The startup claims one of its USPs is the traditional art-inspired designs, crafts and narratives to create contemporary accessories per the current fashion trends.

The post Shining Brightly: Meet The 10 Indian Startup Gems In The Homegrown Jewellery Industry’s Crown appeared first on Inc42 Media.

From horse wagons to iconic black and yellow Fiat Padmini cruising through the bustling streets of Indian metropolises, the evolution of taxis in India is rich and quite elaborate. It’s a journey that has also seen transformative changes, from the emergence of Ola and Uber to the current era of hassle-free electric vehicle cabs. 

The history of taxis in India also tells us that the highly unorganised sector underwent a major transition 10 years ago when Uber entered the country in August 2013 and Android smartphones were baptising Indian telecom users at a break-neck speed.

Up until the entry of Uber in India, autorickshaws (three-wheelers), too, remained the dominating force for passenger intracity transit. However, by the time 2013 ended, a majority of Indians were seen ditching traditional taxis, only to shift to the new ones – Ola and Uber. This is because Indians could now book cabs with a single tap on their smartphone and get discounts and free rides while using these services. 

On the other hand, a wave of new drivers entered this segment and joined Ola and Uber, lapping up handsome monthly earnings. Finally, the market was disrupted, dominated and captured by these new players, outpacing traditional taxis.

A decade later, history seems to be repeating itself, as a new race of taxi service providers has now started disrupting the ride-hailing market, freeing customers from inconveniences such as ride cancellations, surges, and subpar quality of services in many cases.

At the forefront of this seismic shift are Mayank Bindal and Jaydip Mukherjee, who want to address the existing pain points in urban transportation with their electric cab service, Snap-E Cabs.

Incorporated in 2022, the Kolkata-based startup offers several unique value propositions — from no-cancellation policies to no-surge fees — to passengers, who rely on the duopoly of Ola and Uber to move from point A to point B in the city.

Since its inception, the e-cabs provider has expanded its business significantly in Kolkata, with hardly any commitment to pipeline emissions. 

With a push from the government to increase passenger and commercial EVs in the country, the sector is expected to witness unprecedented growth soon. 

As per Vahan data, of the total 1.77 Lakh motor cabs registered till November 1 this year, more than 8K vehicles are electric. In 2022, the number stood at 1.14 Lakh versus 4.9K+ units.

Humble Beginnings Of The Bootstrapped Snap-E

When Snap-E initiated its operations in August 2022, the startup did not have an app and instead partnered with Uber to deploy its e-taxis on the streets of Kolkata.

Acquiring customers is one of the most challenging parts of app-based B2C businesses, cofounder and CEO Bindal told Inc42, reminiscing how the startup began its humble journey.

This very dilemma led Snap-E to opt for collaborating with Uber’s platform but with Snap-E’s branding on vehicles. This strategic decision helped the startup curtail the initial expenses associated with managing an app, customer relationships, and onboarding.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the startup witnessed a demand surge within two months of its operations. This also proved to be a huge learning curve for Bindal, who told Inc42 that they were able to disrupt the market and establish themselves just by streamlining the supply side of the sector. 

“After seeing an unexpected demand surge, we realised that the real problem was in supply and not demand, following which we launched our app in October 2022, which received 30K downloads within weeks, giving us the window to emerge as a separate brand,” Bindal said.

The Snap-E app today has 4-5 Lakh downloads, and the startup receives close to 12K-15K ride requests daily in and around Kolkata.

“Unfortunately, with supply being a challenge, we are only able to do anywhere between 2,500-3,000 rides a day,” he added.

To resolve the demand side of the issue, the cofounder wants to take his current fleet of around 600 EVs to 1,000 by March next year.

An Uber challenger, Snap-E has procured about 160-170 cars from leasing firms like Mahindra and Muffin Green. For the remaining cars in its current fleet, the startup has taken bank loans. 

According to Bindal, with about INR 20-22 Cr internal investment, Snap-E is bootstrapped so far. 

Snap-E’s Always On Roads 

 In addition to its B2C taxi service model, Snap-E also operates a B2B business segment. The company has established partnerships with corporations such as TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, and several others to offer pick-and-drop services to their employees.

“Compared to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, Kolkata is still more of a day city and there is little traffic post 11 PM. That is predominantly the reason that we thought B2B was going to give us a steady stream of revenue with the maximum utilisation for our cars. And since the IT companies need cars for employee transportation, we decided to tie up with them,” Bindal said.

Snap-E effectively deploys all its vehicles during the day, with approximately 30-35% of them dedicated to providing employee pick-and-drop services during the nighttime hours.

Currently, around 75% of the company’s total revenue is derived from its B2C operations, while the remaining 25% originates from its B2B engagements.

In terms of its overall business performance, Snap-E achieved a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR 2.45 Cr in September alone. Over the past six months, the total GMV has amounted to INR 11 Cr.

Snap-E follows a pricing structure that entails a flat fee of INR 150 for journeys up to 5 Km. Beyond this initial distance, the charge increases by INR 22.5 per km.

Building The Ecosystem

We cannot ignore the fact that building a robust charging infrastructure is the most important aspect when it comes to increasing the number of EVs and boosting the overall EV ecosystem. 

Staying one step ahead in ensuring that its business runs seamlessly, Bindal said that Snap-E has established partnerships with various charge point operators (CPOs) such as Jio-bp, Tata Power, Chargezone, Evre, and others.

However, in the long run, the startup wants to do more than just depend on these CPOs. It wants to operate its own charging stations. 

Snap-E has already signed an MoU with Kolkata Port Trust for building the charging stations, and the authority is ready to give them parcels of land on lease for 20-25 years.

Furthermore, the startup has commenced the process of entering into contracts with various potential parking aggregators to facilitate the operation of its vehicles in key locations, including airports and railway stations.

Meanwhile, Snap-E aims to deploy 2,000-3,000 more cars in Kolkata in the next 18-24 months. Moving forward, the startup aims to expand to other cities that have less access to ride-hailing platforms.

Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Bhuvaneshwar in Odisha are the two Indian cities Snap-E is currently planning to foray into, all while expanding its footprint in Kolkata.

Meanwhile, the startup is in talks with some VC firms and angel investors to raise funds. If the talks move through, Snap-E may announce the news in the next few months. The cofounder, however, has not disclosed the amount that he wishes to pick.

It’s worth noting Snap-E competes with players like BluSmart, Uber, Ola, and others, making significant strides in the EV ride-hailing space. 

BluSmart, for instance, promotes customer-friendly features such as no surge fees and a no-cancellation policy, although its operations are currently limited to Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR.

Notable, Snap-E, too, is part of this rapidly evolving landscape and seems to be carving a niche for itself as one of the pioneering e-cab service providers.

However, going ahead, it will be fascinating to observe how the startup positions itself in the market in the years to come, especially when it comes to operating alongside established ride-hailing giants.

The post How The Uber Challenger Snap-E Cabs Is Disrupting Kolkata’s Ride-Hailing Market appeared first on Inc42 Media.

No one can see the future, yet millions of Indians turn to fortune tellers, astrologers and seers to get a glimpse of their days to come. It’s no wonder then that astrology marketplace Astrotalk has emerged as an outlier in the sea of loss-making growth stage startups.

Of course, it would be folly to think of this as a business based around espousing superstitions. In many cases, this is akin to counselling or one-on-one guidance rather than completely relying on the stars, according to founder and CEO Puneet Gupta.

In the past, Gupta has been known to have said that he did not believe in astrology, till one such consultation in 2014 during a tough time in his career proved fortuitous.

It was this happenstance that led to Astrotalk, which first achieved profitability in FY20 and has scaled up exponentially in the past couple of years. Today the company believes that it is poised to be the ‘Uber’ for astrology.

Astrotalk’s Fortune Grows

As per Astrotalk’s audited FY23 financials, accessed by Inc42, the company has reported revenue of INR 282 Cr with a profit of INR 27 Cr in the last fiscal year. That’s 2X-plus growth on the revenue front, as well as a remarkable near 4X surge in profits. And even though the company’s net profit fell in FY22 in comparison to FY21, the FY23 profit is higher than FY21.

In many ways, FY21 was an anomaly, which explains the drop in profit in FY22. It was of course during the pandemic (2020-21) that the demand shot up for online consultations in astrology and related services.

During the first month of lockdown, AstroTalk saw a drop of about 10% in revenue but since then, it saw MoM growth rate of 10% throughout FY21. Daily revenue grew from INR 14 Lakh to INR 19 Lakh within six months. The startup latched onto this momentum by signing up astrologers in droves and connecting them to customers. It gave the company enough cash flow to continue adding more service providers.

And the way this segment is growing, Astrotalk expects to touch INR 600 Cr in revenue by the end of FY24, with a 16% EBITDA margin or INR 100 Cr projected.

Such EBITDA efficiency is not unprecedented but rare. Astrotalk cofounder and chief business officer Anmol Jain believes this is simply because the startup figured out that the quality of the service providers is paramount.

This is especially relevant in a sensitive field such as astrology, where often it’s a one-on-one service and not a company providing services to an end customer.

Seller-First Marketplace Approach

“We chose to go with a curated marketplace where the ‘inventory’ side of the marketplace grows slowly and steadily. There’s a vetting process before astrologers are on-boarded and we typically have a 70% selection rate for astrologers, with four to five rounds of interviews,” cofounder Jain told Inc42.

The model is dependent on verified professionals, since 90% of Astrotalk’s revenue comes from one-on-one consultations, where users pay per minute to talk to astrologers. About 5% of the revenue comes from live streaming fees where astrologers answer questions from multiple users and the rest comes from the ecommerce vertical including the ad revenue and sale of products for rituals and poojas.

Another distinct advantage for Astrotalk with its curated marketplace approach was that sellers or astrologers in this case do not pay to be a part of the marketplace. Instead, Astrotalk charges a commission for each transaction between customers and astrologers. Customers deposit funds, a portion of which is used for their one-on-one or group calls.

The company did not disclose details of how much commission it charges. Per-minute pricing for calls ranges from INR 10 to INR 200 per minute.

The evaluation criteria also involve setting the initial price of each astrologer. The pricing is then regulated based on quality parameters, review as well as demand for particular astrologers.

While some astrologers can pay to advertise and promote themselves to boost discovery, others choose to use YouTube and other affiliate links to bring customers on to Astrotalk.

“We took a conscious call to not charge the astrologers even from a point of view of training because it creates a lot of mistrust when we want to grow our brand and also asking for money to be part of the model. It’s like getting a job somewhere but you have to pay for it,” Jain added.

This allowed the startup to retain most of its astrologers and service providers even though competition has emerged in the space, as we will see.

Astrotalk’s Unit Economics 

So far the startup has raised around $800K from CRED founder Kunal Shah’s QED Innovation Labs, but it is in talks with investors to raise between $30 Mn – $40 Mn in what is being reported as a pre-IPO round.

While Astrotalk cofounder Jain did not specify the size of the upcoming round, he did confirm that the startup is in talks to raise significant funding, which along with its cash flow will hold it in good stead for the expansion on the cards.

The biggest expense for the company is in the form of the astrologer payouts, followed by marketing, largely performance marketing with some degree of social media promotions thrown in.

Currently, Astrotalk sees about 2.2 Lakh to 2.3 Lakh customers coming through paid campaigns every month, which is a mix of Indian and international customers. The total base of monthly transacting users is currently around the 5 Lakh mark.

The blended customer acquisition cost for each customer is in the $6-$9 range. From a contribution margin perspective, this cost is recovered in six to eight months.

In this case, repeat usage becomes vital to unlock profitable growth, and Jain claims that the platform sees 80% of its revenue from repeat customers. “We see people who have been transacting with us for the last three, four years,” he added.

Building The ‘Uber’ For Astrology 

While the CAC may seem to be on the higher side, that’s because the startup spends a lot on performance marketing in international geographies, where ad rates are higher. But the international market has been a major growth driver for Astrotalk, Jain added.

“Right now, about a sixth of our marketing spend is on the international markets, 1/6th of the revenue also comes from these geographies, primarily from non-resident Indians in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and other English-speaking countries.”

To cut down on the acquisition costs within India, Astrotalk has partnered with a major nationwide publication, which would act as a distribution channel for the startup.

Given the company’s target of reaching INR 2,000 Cr in revenue before an IPO in 2025-26, curbing marketing spends will be a significant challenge, particularly as it looks to expand internationally, acquire non-Indian users and increase the revenue share from international customers.

But as the startup has shown, this particular model works and the competition is moving in this direction as well. Those astrologers who have not partnered with platforms also use WhatsApp and Telegram for digital services.

Plus despite digital platforms, astrology consultation in the offline space is also booming. An EMR study pegs the Indian religious and spiritual market at a value of $ 58.56 Bn in 2023. This is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% between 2024-2032 to reach around $150 Bn in less than a decade.

Astrotalk competes with the likes of Astrosage, AstroYogi, AstroBuddy, Ganeshaspeaks, AppsForBharat, and other unorganised players as well as independent astrology service providers.

But the international market remains the holy grail, and Astrotalk plans to add so-called non-Indian horoscopes and astrology-related practices such as tarot, psychic reading or shamanic counselling. Internationally, the startup competes with keen.com, as well Kasamba, both of which offer psychic readings.

Cofounder and CBO Jain believes that Astrotalk is poised to be the ‘Uber’ for astrology, as the core product has use cases and parallels worldwide, and the problem of trustworthiness is universal.

The post Decoding Astrotalk’s Fortunes: How The Astrology Startup Hit 4X Profit Growth  appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The year so far has thrown many challenges at Indian startups, yet founders have emerged more powerful than ever in the face of adversities.

Well, speaking about adversities, the startup funding has regressed to 2020 levels. The $8.3 Bn raised in 2023 so far is nearly one-fourth of what the Indian startup ecosystem had raised during the same period in 2021.

From a macro lens, things may look quite challenging for Indian startups and new-age sectors, however, a closer glance would unravel the dark horses of the Indian startup realm. 

One such example is the Indian SaaS market, which is scaling quite impressively and is projected to become a $50 Bn market opportunity by 2030, quadrupling its current size. Notably, Indian SaaS startups have raised more than $899 Mn so far this year. 

Not only this, even though the funding winter engulfed most of 2023, the month of October infused some hope, as Indian startups raised $1.1 Bn during the month, up from $846 Mn raised in the corresponding month last year. 

While this was hardly any respite for Indian startups, who continue to see a funding famine, we decided to stick to our tradition of bringing some of the most past-breaking startups to the fore every month.

In this edition of ‘30 Startups To Watch’, we have endeavoured to shine the spotlight on SaaS startups, accounting for the maximum number of startups in the list, followed by AI, edtech and fintech startups.

Amid the current scheme of things, we yet again raise a toast to Indian founders for their resilience as we bring you the 41st edition of ‘30 Startups To Watch’.

Editor’s Note: The list below is not a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.

AccioJob

Unlocking India’s Tech Potential

In today’s tech-driven world, data analysts and software developers are in high demand. This is because businesses have increased their reliance on data-driven strategies and software-powered solutions. These fields offer promising career prospects, luring a significant number of undergraduates to seek and cultivate the requisite skills.

Based in Gurugram, AccioJob has positioned itself to cater to this burgeoning market by providing structured online learning programmes, which are tailored to help recent college graduates launch their careers in software development and data analytics.

At the heart of its offerings are comprehensive, live training courses in areas like Java full-stack development, MERN full-stack development, and data analytics.

Established in 2018 by Yashwardhan Burad, Priyanshu Agarwal, Vishu Bansal, and Harsh Sharma, AccioJob has plans to include high-demand domains such as DevOps, Testing, and Data Science by 2024.

AccioJob’s vision for the future includes exploring opportunities in formal education. This entails potential collaborations with colleges to integrate their programmes into undergraduate and postgraduate degree curricula. Additionally, AccioJob is considering establishing its proprietary degree offerings, either in partnership with institutions or with its physical infrastructure.

Algomage

The AI-Powered Photography Companion

In a bid to help fellow photographers ease their workloads and deliver images to their clients faster and with greater efficiency, Anand Rathi, Canon India ambassador, founded Algomage in 2021.

The startup, which also made an appearance on Shark Tank India, has three flagship products – AlgoCull, AlgoEdit and AlgoShare.

AlgoCull automates the culling and rating of thousands of images within an hour, based on user-defined parameters. AlgoEdit, on the other hand, uses AI to edit images in Lightroom, learning a photographer’s style and preferences over time as it receives user input. AlgoShare employs facial recognition to ensure that all event attendees receive their images.

The startup monetises its products through a freemium subscription model, allowing photographers to subscribe to any of Algomage’s three apps on a monthly or annual basis. Algomage also offers a free plan with limited features.

Altitude

Invest In Modern Assets With Mutual Funds-Like Ease

While there is a growing number of Indians who are making investments across a wide variety of assets, alternative assets like private credit, agronomy, real estate and private equity remain one of the most attractive classes of assets. While they promise high returns, only a few have the acumen to invest in such assets.

The gap in knowledge and the absence of a platform to help users invest in such assets prompted Krisha Maggo to build Altitude, a fixed-income platform enabling investments in alternative assets. The startup is set to soon launch its first investment opportunity, Prism Fund, on the National Stock Exchange.

The fund is a multi-asset structured investment opportunity designed as a diversified basket of 10+ modern assets, including real estate, private credit, litigation, inventory and revenue-based finance, structured notes, and private equity, among others. Altitude is also in the middle of establishing thematic investment schemes within the alternative asset category.

While Altitude has yet to receive SEBI’s approval for the Prism Fund, it claims to have 35K+ investors waiting for the fund launch.

It is looking to reach INR 100 Cr ($12 Mn) in assets under management (AUM) by November 2023, with an eye on scaling the number to $30 Mn (INR 250 Cr) AUM by December 2024.

AuditCue

Streamlining Audits With Flexible Solutions

Effective solutions for risk and audit programs have often proven elusive for many companies. Legacy options tend to complicate processes, while other established players often offer one-size-fits-all solutions that fail to address specific challenges.

AuditCue aims to disrupt this paradigm by delivering tailor-made solutions that boost process resiliency and agility for its clients. Founded in 2022 by entrepreneurs Gaurav Kulkarni and Naren Janakiraman, AuditCue wants to redefine the audit experience for both auditors and auditees.

What sets this Chennai-based startup apart is its flexible and modular platform. AuditCue understands that each organisation has unique challenges and needs, and it is committed to tailoring its services to meet those specific requirements.

AuditCue’s SaaS solution not only streamlines audit lifecycles but also enhances process resiliency and agility. It accelerates audit cycles, allowing organisations to stay ahead of the ever-evolving risk landscape.

Avidii

On-Demand Personalised Learning Platform

Amid the rapid growth of edtech platforms in India over the past five years, Switzerland and Bengaluru-based Avidii, which is now expanding in the Indian market, distinguishes itself through its unique approach. Avidii offers immediate, personalised, and commitment-free educational services, catering to individual preferences and needs, setting it apart from the crowd of other edtech platforms.

Founded in 2021 by Deepak Subbarao, Avidii claims to have onboarded over 400 expert tutors across India and has garnered more than 5,000 downloads within a short period. Avidii, which is active in four countries, has plans to reach 1 Mn users and downloads in India by the end of the year.

Avidii’s core offering is a 24×7 on-demand learning service, providing customised support in subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, commerce, and arts, primarily aimed at students aged between 11 and 18.

The platform operates with two primary business models. While its B2B segment focusses on partnerships with educational institutions to enhance the learning experience within schools and colleges, the startup’s B2C segment enables direct one-on-one interactions between students and tutors, creating a personalised deep-learning experience.

BellyRubs

Comprehensive Pet Supply With Care

In a country like India, where pet ownership is on the rise, the pet care industry plays a pivotal role. The significance of this industry extends beyond convenience; it underscores the bond between humans and their pets. The growing awareness of pet care reflects an evolving society that values its four-legged members as family. BellyRubs understands this shift and stands at the forefront, offering a curated selection of high-quality products sourced from around the world.

BellyRubs, an online pet supply store founded by Shirin Lamba and Ridhi Verma, is a one-stop shop for all your pet-related needs. The startup boasts an extensive array of products, spanning grooming essentials, premium food, engaging toys, and fashionable clothing for dogs.

At BellyRubs, the focus is clear: happy owners, happy pets, and a happier world. It is not just about pet products; it is about improving the lives of beloved animals, ensuring they receive the best care possible.

Brown Living

Providing Easy Access To Sustainable Products, Deliveries

With the growing environmental concerns, businesses are increasingly acknowledging the need to minimise their environmental impact and maximise social contributions. However, challenges such as limited capital, small-scale production, and building brand credibility persist in the ever-expanding eco-conscious market, hindering the growth of sustainable businesses.

Established in 2019 by Chaitsi Ahuja, Brown Living aims to bridge this gap by making sustainability a mainstream choice through the doorstep delivery of eco-friendly everyday-use products via its ecommerce platform. The company follows a drop-ship model to ensure plastic-free deliveries and support remote businesses.

The ecommerce startup hosts over 500 brands on its platform, offering more than 65,000 SKUs across various sectors, including fashion, home decor, lifestyle, food, and kitchen essentials. Using its proprietary curation method, The Brown Lens, the company claims to have physically assessed over 1,200 businesses.

Beyond being an ecommerce platform, Brown Living provides knowledge and education to support a sustainable lifestyle through its media service content. According to the company, 78% of its GMV comes from its online platform, followed by B2B orders and offline sales.

ClearFeed

AI-Powered Conversational Support Platform

Incorporated in September 2021, Bangalore-based ClearFeed is a conversational support platform designed to improve customer service and streamline internal communication for enterprises. Cofounded by Ankit Jain, Joydeep Sen Sarma, and Lalit Indoria, the startup leverages the power of AI and deep integration with popular tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams to revolutionise how businesses handle customer and employee requests.

As remote work has become the norm, communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams have become integral to business operations.

ClearFeed recognises the growing need for efficient conversational support tools to bridge the gaps across various departments. The startup uses AI models to track and escalate inquiries and requests. This allows different departments to interact seamlessly, enabling service teams to manage high query volumes and provide quick responses.

ClearFeed has introduced innovative features such as triage channels, one-click ticket filing, and live two-way syncing of data. The startup’s platform also integrates OpenAI’s GPT-4, which indexes product documentation, knowledge bases and wikis. This system can automatically generate answers in response to user queries, assisting agents in resolving user issues.

With a strong focus on product development, ClearFeed has experienced exponential growth since its launch. The platform is now used by over 100 organisations globally, including industry leaders like Atlan Data, Last9, Sprinto, and Plum Insurance.

Clinikally

Expert Dermatology At Your Fingertips

India’s professional skincare market has experienced significant growth, driven by an increasing awareness of the benefits of skincare. While this market initially focused on women, it now attracts a growing number of men who recognise the significance of maintaining healthy skin and addressing skin and hair-related concerns.

Founded in 2021 by Arjun Soin, Clinikally is a healthtech startup that addresses the scarcity of dermatologists in India by offering a comprehensive and convenient telehealth platform. The company connects consumers with licenced dermatology practitioners, who create personalised treatment plans for various skin conditions.

In addition to its core services, Clinikally has expanded into pharma distribution with private-label products under the Clinikally brand for aesthetic conditions and the Soteri Skin brand for chronic skin conditions. The platform offers dermatologist consultations at an affordable rate of INR 199 and presents innovative skincare products to its customers.

Clinikally’s short-term objectives revolve around strengthening its telehealth services, broadening its nutrition and nutraceutical offerings, and increasing the number of private-label partnerships from 175 to 500+ doctor clinics. Looking ahead to 2026, the company aspires to become a comprehensive platform for dermatology and nutrition care, featuring telehealth services, an online pharmacy, premium consumer brands, a nationwide network of dermatology specialists, and offline clinic partnerships.

Contiinex

High-Accuracy Private Cloud Speech AI Platform

In an era of automation, speech AI has a crucial role to play in improving user experiences and aiding data-driven decision-making. Founded in December 2020 by Prateek Mehta and Vijay Krishna BS, Contiinex is looking to target the English-speaking global speech market.

With its proprietary speech-to-text engine and the Contiinex Open Framework for Insights (COFI), driven by Language Model (LLM) technology, the company has already made progress in the healthcare and insurance sectors.

The startup is focussed on transforming customer experience, enhancing business productivity, and optimising costs for companies in India, the US, and Australia. Contiinex’s Speech AI platform can analyse voice files and empower businesses to understand their customers better and make strategic business decisions.

The Bengaluru-based startup is also looking at expanding its Gen AI product offerings to address the space of unstructured data across all mediums like voice, chat, email, videos and visuals. With its in-house LLM capabilities, Contiinex wants to expand its horizons to other verticals like banking, retail and utilities.

DPDzero

Debt Collections Made Stress-Free

In recent years, India has witnessed numerous instances of debt recovery gone awry, leaving both lenders and borrowers in distress. The use of unscrupulous tactics by collection agencies employed by banks and NBFCs has exacerbated the situation, sometimes pushing borrowers to take extreme measures.

Recognising that the tech-enabled intervention in this domain has been limited, Ananth Shroff and Ranjith Ramachandra founded DPDzero, an AI-powered collections and debt recovery platform, in 2020. The startup serves both secured and unsecured products while maximising collection efficiency, especially for unsecured lending products.

In recent months, DPDzero has forged partnerships with major NBFCs, including Tata Capital, KreditBee, Cashe, LazyPay and Snapmint, witnessing an impressive 7X growth in revenue within the past ten months. The startup generates revenue by earning a share of collections.

In the short term, DPDzero aims to assemble a high-calibre team, bolster information security measures, and optimise its processes. By 2026, the company plans to invest in advanced AI models to introduce hyper-personalisation, expedite default prediction, and implement advanced borrower negotiation models.

Dressfolk

Ethical Fashion, Sustainably Sourced

The state of child labour in the fashion industry is appalling at best. According to a report, nearly 60% of the workers in Indian mills were under 18 when they were first hired.

Dressfolk, founded in 2017 by Nitin Mehrotra, specialises in creating traditional Indian dresses from across the country. The startup has partnered with 720+ artisans to empower the local weavers’ community, focussing on sourcing its products responsibly and free of child labour at any stage of its supply chain.

Dressfolk is also focussed on building collaborative relationships with artisans to understand craft regions and traditions.

The startup sells its products across categories such as sarees, blouses, fabrics, dupattas and suit sets via its website and several offline multi-brand and online marketplaces in the premium price category. Dressfolk claims to have a user base in 20 countries and boasts that it has increased the income of its partner artisans by more than 150%.

Equal

Consumer Verification Platform

Founded by Keshav Reddy and Rajeev Ranjan in 2022, Equal is a pioneering startup that envisions a world where access to essential services and opportunities is based on merit, not identity. In a nation as diverse as India, where numerous individuals are denied access to credit, housing, benefits, and products due to various factors, Equal seeks to level the playing field for over a billion Indians.

At the heart of their mission is the Equal ID Gateway, a product that empowers businesses to establish seamless and secure identity-sharing workflows for consumers. Much like a payment gateway facilitates financial transactions, the Equal ID Gateway facilitates the exchange of personal identification information when requested, all while maintaining privacy and security.

It spans a wide array of use cases, from healthcare to education, employment, and travel, essentially anywhere a consumer needs to share their identity with a business.

Equal’s revenue is generated through a pay-per-verification model. It claims to have over 1 Mn consumers currently.

Fairdeal

Revolutionising Retail Distribution With Data-Driven Insights

D2C brands have gained substantial traction in recent years, but expanding beyond online channels has been challenging due to high costs. The primary issue is establishing efficient offline distribution networks.

Fairdeal, founded by Prateek and Yash Bansal, aims to disrupt the retail distribution landscape in India with its innovative data-driven approach. The startup provides comprehensive offline distribution services to D2C brands, enabling them to tap into the vast potential of the Indian market.

Fairdeal connects D2C brands with a network of over 10,000 retailers. Leveraging data, Fairdeal ensures optimal brand-to-retailer matching, resulting in faster and more substantial sales. Additionally, the company helps brands co-create new products and develop pricing strategies. This approach benefits not only emerging D2C brands but also established local brands seeking expansion into new territories.

Figr

Next-Gen Design Tools On Offer

The user interface (UI) is a critical component of app and website design, serving as the initial point of interaction for users. However, many design teams struggle with a lack of inspiration, motivation, resources, or time, resulting in subpar UI and disappointing user experiences.

Founded in 2023 by Chirag Singla and Moksh Garg, Figr aims to address these challenges with its AI-driven tools, including Lookr, Flash UI, and Prokit.

Lookr provides users with a vast database of high-quality design work, helping them find design inspiration through a search-based method and recommendations for needed elements.

Flash UI takes that inspiration and offers editable templates, enabling users to create customised apps or websites. Prokit provides design resources such as icons, fonts, and colour palettes, allowing users to develop a unique design language for their brand.

Figr is also in the process of launching two new products, Identity and Construct, which will enable users to build a brand identity from scratch and visualise concepts in a UI format. The startup operates on a subscription-based model, monetising its platforms through monthly or annual subscriptions.

FlexifyMe

Curing Postural Syndrome With Technology

According to a 2023 report, approximately 19% of India’s adult population is grappling with chronic pain, often stemming from poor postural habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Additionally, India witnesses nearly 2 Lakh cases of spinal injuries every year, with the majority attributed to chronic bad posture and habits.

In response to these pressing health concerns, Manjeet Singh, who successfully recovered from Lumbar Spondylitis in 2016-17, joined forces with his long-time friend and tech veteran, Amit Bhayani, to launch FlexifyMe in 2021.

FlexifyMe is an AI-powered platform designed to assist individuals in correcting their posture and alleviating chronic pain. Utilising advanced AI motion tracking, it can detect postural defects, muscle inflexibility, and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).

The startup claims its AI motion coach generates the world’s first physical posture analysis report that identifies the root cause of chronic pain and creates a custom plan combining the latest physiotherapy postures with yoga and meditation. FlexifyMe offers personalised subscription plans, with an average cost of INR 16,000 for six months.

Currently, FlexifyMe claims to have attracted 2,000 paying clients from India and 24 other countries. They have ambitious plans to expand their user base to over 10,000 by the end of 2024, establishing partnerships with over 200 doctors in the process.

Giga ML

On-Premise Custom LLMs For Enterprises

One of the biggest problems is that most LLMs are only available as cloud-based services, meaning enterprises need to share data with third parties to use LLMs. That is not a viable option for many enterprises due to privacy concerns or compliance requirements.

Solving these problems is Bengaluru-based Giga ML, set up by Varun Vummadi and Esha Manideep Dinne in 2023. The startup provides on-premise deployment, fine-tuning and privacy for LLMs. Its X1-Large model is currently the most powerful LLM available for on-premise deployment. Giga ML also offers an API compatible with OpenAI’s API, so users can switch to the startup’s API seamlessly without rewriting code.

The startup targets enterprises that need to use LLMs for internal purposes but don’t want to use cloud-based services or share their data with third parties. Giga ML’s on-premise deployment option gives enterprises full control over their data and their LLMs. The startup also offers fine-tuning services for LLMs, so enterprises can train LLMs on their data to perform specific tasks. This allows enterprises to create LLMs that are tailored to their specific needs.

Giga ML’s privacy features are designed to protect the confidentiality of enterprise data. The startup does not use any data its customers upload to its platform. Giga ML monetises its product through a subscription model. Enterprises can pay a monthly fee to use Giga ML’s platform to deploy, fine-tune, and use LLMs on their servers.

Novatr

Empowering AEC Professionals

India has witnessed a significant surge in the edtech sector, primarily focussed on K-12 education, test preparation, and upskilling in areas like data science and marketing. However, Novatr, formerly known as Oneistox, stands out as an educational technology startup with a unique emphasis on transforming the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry.

Founded in 2021 by a team of architects and engineers, including Harkunwar Singh, Vipanchi Handa, Mehul Kumar, and Chaithanya Murali, Novatr aims to bridge the gap between traditional AEC education and the rapidly evolving technological landscape, equipping learners to become future-ready professionals.

The platform offers a diverse range of courses and programmes, including Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Computational Design, to help learners develop essential skills and stay at the forefront of industry advancements.

Established by accomplished professionals with backgrounds from prestigious institutions such as SPA Delhi and IIT Madras, Novatr empowers learners to become forward-thinking AEC professionals. It achieved remarkable net revenue growth of 30% MoM in FY23 and is projected to experience a 12X revenue growth in FY24.

Oyela

Empowering The New Wave Of Digital Entrepreneurs

There is an emerging trend of millennials and Gen Z starting online businesses on social media. Recognising the potential and challenges, two IIT Bombay alumni Rahul Gope and Anjan Kumar Patel launched Oyela in 2021 to empower the creative entrepreneurship explosion in India by providing essential tools and opportunities through social media.

Oyela assists emerging businesses, product creators, and artists in effectively selling their products and expanding their online presence. It offers features such as digital storefront management, collaboration tools for wider exposure, and seamless integration with Instagram for automated sales through social media.

A core focus of Oyela is building trust among Indian consumers by providing transparent ratings and reviews, instilling confidence in sellers’ digital storefronts. Furthermore, Oyela prioritises operational efficiency by offering tools to streamline operations and logistics, ultimately enhancing the overall selling process and delivering a more personalised and efficient shopping experience to buyers.

Oyela currently operates across India, charging a 6-10% commission on orders, thereby facilitating seller collaborations and benefiting them. The platform boasts over 20,000 sellers who have joined at no cost and facilitates more than 1 Mn seller collaborations each month.

This Gurugram-based startup has set its sights on reaching $1 Mn in revenue and empowering 200K social stores by 2024. Its long-term aspirations encompass nurturing entrepreneurship and empowering 2 Mn social stores to capture a substantial market share in the Indian ecommerce and social commerce arena.

Pep

Social-first Content Marketplace

Founded in early 2023 by IIT alumni Nav Agrawal and Swapnil Upadhyay, Bengaluru-based Pep aims to revolutionise the content creation landscape in the era of Gen AI. The rapid evolution of technology has made content creation more accessible, but it has also inundated the internet with a deluge of low-quality content. Pep addresses this challenge through a unique approach, emphasising curation, categorisation, and content credibility.

Pep’s mission is to establish a social-first online marketplace for content that empowers users to explore, purchase, and monetise a wide variety of content and services. The platform offers a one-stop destination, granting users access to live sessions, one-on-one consultations, and the ability to purchase various content formats, including PDFs, videos, and audio.

Recognising content discovery as a major pain point for online users, Pep employs personalised machine learning algorithms to facilitate tailored content discovery at reasonable prices, making it effortless for users to discover valuable and relevant content.

Its core concept revolves around user-generated content, with a focus on micro-courses and micro-payments. The marketplace offers content ranging from INR 29 to INR 2,000, catering to a wide spectrum of user interests, from cooking and DIY crafts to fashion and health and fitness.

Pep empowers users to easily monetise their expertise by selling content through a commission-based model, with fees varying from 20% to 50%, contingent on the content category. With its machine learning algorithms, the startup ensures that customers discover and purchase content at affordable prices, fostering a no-regret approach to content consumption.

Platos

Simplifying Cafeteria Management

Running cafeterias without the use of technology often leads to operational inefficiencies such as manual order processing, inventory mismanagement, and a lack of transparency. To address these challenges, Arjun Subramanian and Raj Jain founded Platos in 2019.

At the heart of Platos’ vision are three distinct applications designed to create a smarter cafeteria experience for customers, food partners, and cafeteria managers. The Platos App empowers customers to effortlessly place orders, track their food, and provide feedback.

The Platos Partner App, tailored for on-site vendors, simplifies inventory management and order cycle control. Meanwhile, the Admin Web Dashboard offers comprehensive real-time data and financial insights, enabling administrators to efficiently manage cafeterias.

The journey of Platos began with thorough market research and hands-on experience running cafeterias without technology. Before the pandemic, the founders operated cafeterias in Chennai which clearly illustrated the imperative need for technological solutions to optimise and elevate cafeteria management.

Platos aims to tackle issues such as high aggregator commissions, cafeteria management inefficiencies, and transparency gaps, ultimately enhancing the cafeteria experience for clients and food partners. With its commitment to seamless technology and professional food partnerships, Platos is set to reshape the corporate catering landscape.

QuriousBit

Redefining Casual Gaming

Casual gaming has gained immense importance in recent years, reflecting the changing dynamics of the gaming industry, which like many other sectors and industries has greatly benefited from the widespread availability of affordable mobile data. Even those with basic smartphones can easily access and contribute to the growing mobile gaming community through app stores.

Founded by Ramakrishna Reddy Y L and Shubham Joshi in 2023, QuriousBit, a gaming studio based in Bengaluru, is on a mission to revolutionise the mobile gaming industry by offering high-quality casual puzzle games. In a genre largely dominated by match3 and blast-themed games, QuriousBit seeks to introduce a fresh and personalised gaming experience.

The founders bring a wealth of experience, having previously developed and managed games for PlaySimple Games, a global leader in word games that was acquired for over $500 Mn in 2021. QuriousBit is fuelled by the ambition to put India on the map of hit puzzle games globally.

With the global mobile casual games market valued at around $18 Bn in 2023 and projected to reach $25 Bn by 2027, QuriousBit is well-positioned to tap into the growing casual gamers of the country.

SYSOTEL.AI

Transforming Hospitality with AI, ML Solutions

Founded in 2021 by Raj Sahu, Kiran and Ravish, SYSOTEL.AI is on a mission to revolutionise the hospitality industry through innovative technological solutions. At the heart of SYSOTEL.AI’s product suite is a platform, Intelligent Booking Engine (IBE), that not only ensures secure online reservations but also simplifies the booking process for guests.

This engine integrates with Google’s extensive travel services, making it the preferred choice for hotels seeking to solidify their online presence.

The company also has a fully automated revenue management system, Intelligent Yield Automation (IYE), that harnesses the power of AI and ML to recommend competitive rates based on real-time market data and native demand trends. It also provides invaluable insights into market dynamics, event planning, and reputation management.

The 1% Club

Helping Indians Achieve Financial Freedom

Today, a majority of Indians are worried about their financial well-being, and there are several reasons behind this. One such reason is that India, despite being a savings-first nation, saw its household savings hit a 47-year low in FY23, according to the RBI data.

Amid the current scheme of things, many individuals get stuck in situations, be it poorly paying investment cycles or even investment scams, which only deteriorate their financial health further.

Having been in this space for a long time, finfluencers Sharan Hegde and Raghav Gupta set up The 1% Club in 2022 to address the challenges budding investors face in their investment journey.

The 1% Club is a members-only financial education platform that offers educational resources, mentorship, entrepreneurial opportunities and networking avenues to its members looking to achieve financial independence.

The platform offers curated courses across personal finance and the stock market. Each module starts with the basics and then goes deeper. For instance, the personal finance segment goes from investments across different asset classes to insurance planning and, finally, tax planning. Similarly, the stock market module starts with the stakeholders and moves to IPOs, financial statements, annual reports and the psychological aspects of investing.

The startup claims to be the first influencer-backed venture to delve into entrepreneurship. In the short term, The 1% Club is looking to get registered with the market regulator SEBI.

The Cube Club

Weights, Workouts, Tech & More

India is fast becoming the world capital for lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Despite this, a lack of motivation to pursue a healthier lifestyle continues to grip most individuals.

Having sensed the underlying problem, Pratik Agarwal, Siddhesh Ghuge and Yash Thakur came together to launch The Cube Club in 2020. The Cube Club is an online marketplace from where users can buy fitness equipment and accessories such as dumbbells and weights, benches, pull-up bars, yoga mats, and more.

In October 2023, the startup launched its fitness app, Dopamine, which allows users to embark on their fitness journey with friends from the comfort of their own homes. Users can create workout channels on the app, allowing them to track their progress and stay motivated. The Dopamine app uses AI-based tech to track a user’s workout routine, which then can be shared with friends in a gamified manner.

Currently, The Cube Club generates revenue by selling fitness equipment on its website, Amazon, and over 100 offline stores. Looking ahead, the startup plans to diversify its revenue streams by monetising Dopamine.

Valo

Invest In The Stock Market And Earn Rewards

At the end of January 2023, Indians held more than 11 Cr demat accounts, up from around 8 Cr accounts a year ago. The high number still translates to a mere 3% of India’s total households actively investing in the stock market. The market’s complexity and the lack of substantial returns have made it a daunting prospect for many.

Recognising the challenges, Ayush Agarwal, Mihir Verma, Hemant Patil and Ajay Sharma, all avid stock market investors, seized the opportunity to create a platform that rewards investors for their consistent participation in the stock market. Thus, Valo was born in 2023.

The startup has formed partnerships with numerous brands, including Domino’s, Spotify, Netflix, Swiggy, Zomato, and others, to incentivise users for their stock market investments. Valo also offers a dedicated finance community where investors can engage, learn, and grow together in the personal finance domain. Additionally, it features a finance marketplace similar to the Google Play Store but for finance-only apps.

The platform utilises broker API to access investment data, providing users with rewards and key metrics without the need for email or SMS access, thus safeguarding user privacy.

Valo generates revenue through brand partnerships and commissions from trades, without imposing any charges on its users. Despite its recent launch in September 2023, the platform has already attracted over 1,000 users within a month. Valo’s ambitious plans involve expanding its user base to 10,000+ by the end of 2024.

Vegapay

Streamlining Credit Card Issuance For Enterprises

Credit cards are rapidly gaining popularity in India. This has prompted many companies across segments to launch co-branded credit cards with major banks and networks. However, the process takes anywhere between 12 and 15 months and requires 10+ tech integrations across processes.

With the NPCI and banks targeting 300 Mn credit cards in the next five to seven years, banking and technology veterans Gaurav Mittal, Abhinav Garg, Himanshu Agrawal and Puneet Sharma founded Vegapay in 2022. The startup offers a core Credit Card Management System (CCMS) for both the supply side (banks) and the demand side (co-brand partners).

Vegapay enables hyper-configurable solutions for credit card offerings, alongside white-label dashboards for the issuers to create and manage programmes without any dependency on tech.

Currently, Vegapay has established partnerships with a bank to oversee all aspects of credit card management and aims to onboard four banks by the end of the coming year. Vegapay has also recently introduced a multi-currency card in collaboration with two issuers and a co-branding partner.

Vegapay’s revenue model relies on a one-time fee and subsequent commission from minimum monthly billing done by the user banks. The startup is now working to expand to Middle East and North African regions and reach 15+ banking partners by the end of 2025.

Wootz.work

Custom Engineering Procurement Simplified

Founded by Karan Anand and Himanshu Uniyal in 2023, Wootz.work is a global sourcing platform specialising in custom engineering equipment and solutions. It is dedicated to streamlining the cross-border buying experience for light engineering products through technology and ownership of the entire process, from design to delivery.

The platform not only connects buyers with sellers but also offers a unique capability to link them directly to products and solutions tailored to their specific needs. The startup’s technology leverages an understanding of basic parameters, the buyer’s geography, industry, and application to instantly customise products. This approach reduces the procurement timeline, providing quotations within 24 hours.

In a rapidly evolving engineering equipment industry valued at $1.7 Tn, Wootz.work addresses the challenges faced by Western buyers looking to source from Southeast Asia. The platform simplifies the complex landscape of SME suppliers, overcoming language barriers, long pre-sales times, and other complexities. Wootz.work aims to bridge this gap and create a reliable global procurement channel for SMEs, allowing them to access value-driven capital expenditure.

Wootz.work emphasises value engineering, offering products optimised for easy installation and efficient shipping, with components chosen for end-market serviceability and compliance. The platform also provides virtual factory tours, comprehensive fulfilment dashboards, and round-the-clock after-sales support.

Zeron

Enhanced Cybersecurity For Enterprises

Cybersecurity challenges persist as threats become increasingly sophisticated. Issues such as data breaches, ransomware attacks, and vulnerabilities in technology infrastructure remain prominent. Addressing these challenges demands robust defence strategies, threat intelligence, and innovative solutions.

Founded in 2020 by Sanket Sarkar, Zeron, the cyber risk posture management platform, is working on cybersecurity for enterprises. It offers a comprehensive suite of solutions, following an ABCD framework, to address various aspects of cyber risk management. These modules include attack surface automation, business posture assessment, compliance automation, defence automation, and a cloud monitor.

Zeron’s flagship product serves as the single source of truth for cybersecurity, providing real-time insights into an organisation’s vulnerabilities, strengths, compliance alignment, and defence effectiveness. Zeron’s compliance automation and AI solutions automate workflows, technical evidence mapping, and policy enhancements, reducing compliance time and errors, improving audit readiness, and ensuring proactive policy improvements.

Zeron operates on a subscription-based revenue model, granting clients flexibility in payment terms. The company’s presence extends globally, with its headquarters in Mumbai, India, and outreach in the ASEAN, MENA, the Americas, and the EU regions through strategic partnerships.

In the short term, Zeron aims to onboard 50 customers and strengthen its presence in the MENA and ASEAN regions. In the long term, the company envisions creating an ecosystem for cybersecurity trust among organisations, simplifying their business journey.

Zopnote

Giving A Tech Boost To Local Commerce

India had 2.79 Cr formalised jobs as of August 2023, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. However, this figure represents only about 5% of the 52.4 Cr Indians actively participating in the labour force. The vast unorganised sector is gradually recognising the potential of technology and its transformative capabilities.

At the forefront of this transformative movement is Zopnote, a B2B2C SaaS platform dedicated to local commerce. Founded in 2019 by Rajesh Badgeri and Chengappa Chottera, this innovative startup offers two distinctive apps — a merchant mobile app and a customer app.

The former empowers small local businesses with features like customer engagement, automated billing, online collection, bookkeeping, and business intelligence. The latter enables end customers to discover and purchase products and services in their vicinity, track expenses, and make payments seamlessly. For instance, businesses can list their products and services on the platform, allowing users to explore and place orders directly from the app.

Although currently operational only in Bengaluru, Zopnote has successfully garnered over 52,000 B2C customers across 1,000+ communities in the city, processing more than 2.3 Cr bills each month. The startup monetises its platform through a subscription fee that merchants pay to utilise its services.

In the short term, Zopnote aims to achieve product-market fit (PMF), with long-term plans involving the creation of a decentralised model to leverage the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and expand its reach across India.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post 30 Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eyes In October 2023 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

From bullet trains to state-of-the-art maglev (magnetic levitation) systems, countries across the globe have long been obsessed with making their locomotives run at break-neck speeds, all while maintaining safety. 

However, this fascination reached new heights in 2013 when Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in one of his research papers, introduced the concept of hyperloop. 

This innovative technology envisions trains hurtling through low-pressure tubes at more than 1,200 km/h, paving the way for a new era of rapid transit. For context, the fastest train in the world is the Shanghai Transrapid Maglev Train in China, which is capable of reaching speeds of over 400 km/h.

Despite intriguing the interest of many nations across the globe, the technology, which today is being envisioned as the fifth mode of transportation, continues to be a distant dream even a decade later.

Meanwhile, something quite interesting is happening back home. Well, several entities, including state governments and private players, have been mulling the development and deployment of hyperloop technology in the country for a few years now. And at the forefront of this paradigm shift is a Pune-based startup, Quintrans.

Founded in 2021 by Pranay Luniya, Kartik Kulkarni, Aniruddha Atigre, and Prasanna Kadambi, Quintrans is developing the country’s very own hyperloop technology, aiming to connect the Pune-Mumbai route. 

Notably, the startup is already in discussion with the Maharashtra government to deploy its tech on the route. The project, if sees the light of day, has the potential to reduce the 3-hour journey to just 30 minutes. 

Amid this, the most interesting part of the Quintrans story is that it is working in a space that is yet to become fully tangible. Nevertheless, with several projects and research across the globe, the hyperloop technology is expected to soon cater to an increasing need for a faster and cheaper transportation system.  

As per a research report, the global Hyperloop train market size is projected to achieve a market size of $57.5 Bn by 2032.

Quintrans: The Genesis

Before becoming a fully functional business, a startup if you will, Quintrans was initially a research unit, which the then engineering students of MIT Pune (now the cofounders of Quintrans) started in 2018.

Speaking with Inc42, the CEO of Quintrans, Luniya, said that the research unit got a startup makeover after the team realised the commercial viability of the project were working on.

Taking clues from Musk’s research, the cofounders developed their Hyperloop technology, which they showcased at several global competitions, including the SpaceX Hyperloop pod competition and European Hyperloop Week.

These competitions gave them a major push and they were able to attract the attention of companies like IBM India, Festo India, and Aeron Systems, which gave them financial backing. 

Currently, Quintrans has reached a stage where it is developing a 30-metre full-scale pilot setup of its Hyperloop in Pune to showcase the technology and its potential to different authorities, including the Railway Ministry, NITI Aayog, the Maharashtra government, and others. The startup aims to develop the prototype by the end of 2024.

Quintrans has so far received around INR 80 Lakh-INR 85 Lakh as grant money. Luniya said that currently, an agreement for another INR 60 Lakh-INR 80 Lakh government grant is under process, which is expected to happen by December this year or January 2024.

Unlocking New Avenues In Cargo Movement

As per Luniya, the proposition for passenger hyperloops is going to take at least another decade. Hence, Quintrans is not limiting itself to only speeding up the Pune-Mumbai route railway movement with its technology.

The startup has already started exploring alternate ways of generating revenue from industries that require guided movement of vehicles for cargo, particularly in the logistics space.

The company is already in talks with a few port authorities in India where Quintrans’ technology can power the movement of shipping containers from ports to cargo hubs. 

Besides, the startup is also in talks with some industrial corridors to help them fast-track the transportation of goods from one corridor to the other, built 30-40 km apart.

Quintrans has held discussions with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) for the same. It is also looking to collaborate with Bengaluru International Airport to help the authority in exploring ways to connect the airport with the centre of the city.

While most of these entities are interested in deploying the technology, they require a better understanding of Hyperloop, Luniyas said, adding that the startup’s 30-metre pilot track is a step in that direction.

Forging Ahead In The Hyperloop Frontier

While Quintrans aims to keep itself open to various other channels for generating revenue, its research to further develop the 30-metre track will continue. Also, the company is in talks with a few VCs to raise funds.

Establishing Hyperloops is cost-intensive, which has also been one of the barriers to deploying it at scale anywhere in the world.

Today, the 30-metre pilot set up by Quintrans in India costs around $1 Mn. “Going ahead, the per km cost of the hyperloop would be somewhere around INR 150 Cr,” Luniya said.

While regulatory challenges in the implementation and execution of Hyperloops, particularly due to safety concerns, also remain a major roadblock, Luniya believes that more tests carried out by tech players like Quintrans would help prove the merits of the technology.

In India, the startup competes with DGWHyperloop and research units like Avishkar Hyperloop. In the global market, some of the startups working on this tech include Europe’s Zeleros Hyperloop and Hardt Hyperloop.

While many, including Richard Branson’s Hyperloop One (Virgin Hyperloop), have failed to make the technology a reality even after millions of dollars of investment, it will be interesting to see how Quintrans pulls it off.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post The Need For Speed: Pune-Based Startup Quintrans Wants To Bring Hyperloop To India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Behind the glimmer and shimmer of the  most polished brands that we see every day are often the stories whose chapters were once written with sweating blood. And it is not every day that we tend to learn about the struggles of the founders in forging such brands, especially in the era of easy access to capital.

We believe that such stories should come to the fore to fuel the spirits of founders and aspiring entrepreneurs during the direst of times.

Similar is the narrative of Manish Chowdhary, now the cofounder of WOW Skin Science, whose retail electronics business incurred a loss of $1 Mn due to unsold inventory. Much to his chagrin, he had to call it quits, but only to start afresh. 

Some may see it as a failure, however, had it not been for the lost $1 Mn, the country would have been short of a soonicorn today.

Well, after having traded his electronics business for key learnings in the school of hard knocks, Chowdhary, along with his brother Karan and two friends Arvind Sokke and Ashwin Sokke, decided to wade into uncharted territories — the Indian beauty and personal care (BPC) segment. 

After a year of research and pilots, the team, spearheaded by Chowdhary, incorporated Fit&Glow in 2014 and launched its first brand WOW. 

The founders made the foray into the segment at a time when it was dominated by deep-pocketed big players like HUL, Patanjali, Himalaya, Lotus, VLCC, and Biotique, just to count a few names.

So, what chances of survival did a bunch of Davids (the founding team) have in front of the Goliaths in command of the industry?  

“We realised that despite the presence of giants, the Indian beauty and personal care space was highly under-penetrated, leaving plenty of opportunity for young companies like us to enter the market and provide consumers with outstanding products and a compelling story,” Chowdhary reminisced during a fireside discussion at Inc42’s recently held D2C Summit.

Not sure if the founders deeply studied the market data back then, but they ended up tapping into the Indian beauty and personal care market at the right time. 

For context, the Indian beauty and personal care segment was a $26.3 Bn market opportunity in 2022 and is expected to reach $38 Bn by 2028. On a global scale, the segment is expected to touch $783.49 Bn by 2028.

Nine years on, the company, which is now registered as Body Cupid Private Limited, fosters four brands — WOW Skin Science (its flagship brand), WOW Life Science, Body Cupid, and Nature Derma — and has a portfolio of over 500 products.

Today, the BPC brand has a presence in more than 200 Indian cities and has expanded itself to 22 countries, with a focus on the US and South Asia as anchor markets. In 2022, it also expanded to the UAE market and in 2023 to Saudi Arabia.

“We are also seeing robust growth in the UAE. Saudi is a big opportunity and we are focussing our efforts to build our presence there,” Chowdhary said in an exclusive conversation with Inc42.

The new-age D2C brand today has its eyes fixed on achieving INR 1,000 Cr in revenue, and according to Chowdhary, the company is well on track for this.

Notably, the INR 1,000 Cr revenue journey seems to be a long one from where the company is standing right now. According to the company’s MCA filings, it reported a total income of INR 273.01 Cr in FY23 against INR 343. 94 Cr a fiscal year ago. 

The slump in revenues could largely be attributed to the relatively tougher 2022 which was headlined by adverse market conditions, rising inflation and curbing of discretionary spending by users. 

On top of that, renewed competition from incumbents as well as new entrants, which also included deep-pocketed conglomerates, could have also weighed heavily on WOW Skin Science.

Additionally, despite offering frequent discounts, the beauty brand also faced headwinds in FY23 as demand for premium products saw an uptick over the course of last year – a segment which offers higher margins. 

However, according to Chowdhary, this is the part that many fail to understand as, after a point, the trajectory of business changes and challenges increase for founders. 

“In a startup’s journey, whether it’s going from 1 to 10, 10 to 100, or 100 to 500, founders are bound to encounter obstacles at every milestone. However, it’s precisely at these times that they mustn’t give up. They need to maintain patience, recalibrate, and continue innovating to stay competitive,” the cofounder said.

WOW Skin Science’s Scaling Strategies

Currently, there are over 5,500 skincare companies in India, and more brands are realising the untapped potential in this sector, which is keeping founders on their toes. 

According to Chowdhary, most founders can successfully launch a brand from zero to one, but it’s when they attempt to go beyond that point that they encounter challenges and hit mental barriers. 

This is probably why 45% of new business startups don’t survive the fifth year, and 65% of new startups fail during the first 10 years.

For a business model like Body Cupid, where minimum order quantities (MOQs) are small, it’s relatively easier to experiment with products based on anticipated customer needs. In this context, it is extremely crucial to tap on the market beats and consumer interests and pivot whenever it feels necessary.

During his journey, Chowdhary asserted, he embraced aggressive pivoting, not just quarterly but as frequently as every 15 days to a month. For instance, WOW initially started as a dietary supplement brand in 2014 but within a year, it quickly recognised a shift in consumer preferences toward skin and haircare needs. 

Before 2016 hit, not only did the company meet the new demands of consumers for herbal, paraben and sulfate-free products, but it also made these products accessible at an affordable price range.

Speaking with Inc42, Chowdhary gave deep insights into his building and scaling strategies, which are as follows:

Brand Building Is Paramount

For Chowdhary, the core value proposition for WOW Skin Science and other brands is online – everything, including innovations, starts with ecommerce or digital platforms. However, unlike a few years ago, the competition has intensified, which has made it challenging for D2C brands to retain customers, thereby spiking their customer acquisition costs.

“In the last 18 months, we have been recalibrating our story, with a significant focus on brand marketing rather than performance marketing. After all, a brand’s products are manufactured in a factory, but brands are built in the minds of consumers,” he added.

While digital marketing can drive consumer reach faster, the ultimate goal is to build a brand with lasting impact and a high repeat-customer ratio. Over the last three years, market dynamics have changed significantly, compelling brands like WOW Skin Science to adjust their strategies, with supply chain and distribution being the primary challenges.

Chowdhary also acknowledges that despite their focus over the past two years, they have yet to streamline their branding fully. However, over the next 12-18 months, the team has planned substantial brand-building activities, although he didn’t share the specifics.

Celebrities Don’t Guarantee Success

One trend, which has emerged in the last few years, is the growing collaboration between celebrities and D2C brands. According to the WOW cofounder, it’s a common belief that onboarding celebrities increases brand adoption, but the reality is that one can not be too sure about it. 

After experimenting with celebrity-based endorsements and campaigns for 24 months, he realised that modern consumers prioritise influencers and relatability over traditional celebrity endorsements. 

He advises brands to incorporate a few campaigns without celebrities and then reintroduce celebrity endorsements based on consumer responses. However, the timing should be flexible and based on consumer feedback.

Moreover, the longevity of celebrity endorsements can be uncertain, as celebrities have a limited shelf life. The strategy should be to organically acquire customers based on the brand’s products, story, and roots.

“Returning to basic strategies, we will soon launch three new campaigns without celebrities, focussing on showcasing the true essence of our brand. However, the approach varies depending on the category,” he added.

Pricing Is Crucial

Finding the right pricing balance is paramount for a D2C brand. High competition demands startups to keep a competitive yet affordable pricing. 

According to Chowdhary, overpricing can deter consumers, while underpricing can increase the time and cost required to achieve desired results. Access to analytics and data science enables startups to determine the best times to adjust pricing based on market dynamics. 

“We’ve witnessed this in action. In today’s era, if you sell on Amazon, you can experiment with pricing by gradually increasing or decreasing it until you find the right match,” he added.

He also emphasised the importance of data collection, highlighting that startups now have access to robust analytics and data science to determine the ideal times to adjust pricing based on market intensity.

“Less Is More” In Critical Situations

Regardless of the category, innovation is crucial, whether for a new-age company or an established organisation. However, there are limits to how much innovation can be introduced in sectors like beauty and skincare.

Customers who have found a product that serves their skincare regime may be hesitant to switch to another. Differentiation is crucial and striking the right balance between innovation and product stability is essential.

“In our case, we focussed on a core set of ingredients, ensuring that even as we expanded our product range, it wouldn’t confuse consumers. Remember, it’s better to be highly focussed on innovation, support those innovations for three to four years, and then reinvent along the way. Ultimately, ‘less is more’ often proves more effective,” he added.

Packaging Will Set You Apart

For any D2C brand, packaging plays a huge role in creating the first positive impression and the initial excitement for the product. Many brands are choosing different ways to offer products in a more personalised and customised packaging. Chowdhary also experimented with different strategies to differentiate themselves in a saturated market, including opting for unique packaging. 

For example, the founders discovered that gold, in particular, captured consumers’ attention for a few extra seconds. So, while most products in India are packaged in white, WOW chose amber and gold packaging to stand out. 

Don’t Rush Into Offline Expansion

Although D2C brands are increasingly considering omnichannel strategies, Chowdhary advises caution when expanding offline. He suggests that a brand should wait until it achieves INR 100 Cr in revenue within two to three years of online operations before contemplating offline expansion.

While online offers flexibility in growth strategy, offline requires a substantial commitment. Brands should view offline as just another channel to gain repeat customers, allowing founders to track “top of mind” metrics quarter by quarter. Only when the brand is well-established digitally should offline expansion be considered.

“It may seem appealing in the short term due to initial sales, but unsold stock can negatively impact profitability. This is a story that needs to be added at the right time and revenue,” he added.

What’s Next For WOW Skin

According to an Inc42 report, the beauty and personal care segment is projected to be a $28 Bn market opportunity by 2030. In 2022, the segment was a $4 Bn market only. 

This market opportunity has kept many players on their toes. While some well-funded entities have managed to pour substantial resources into marketing and branding efforts, leading to increased revenues and eventual profitability, many others are saddled with losses. 

Mamaearth reported profitability in FY22, boasting a net profit of INR 19.8 Cr on a standalone basis, compared to a net loss of INR 1,332.2 Cr in FY21. 

Meanwhile, companies like The Ayurveda Company, Purplle, and mCaffeine, among others, have continued to grapple with mounting losses. Interestingly, WOW Skin Science last saw profits in FY20.

Given the current landscape, it’s imperative for startups to maintain a steady flow of backup funding while concurrently trimming expenses. WOW Skin Science recently secured $48 Mn from Singapore’s GIC in June 2022, adding to a total funding of $125 Mn across multiple rounds to date. 

In light of FY23 financials, Chowdhary has continued to remain optimistic. He places his faith in innovation and anticipates that growth will be propelled by both national and international sales in the near future. 

As he shared with Inc42, apart from focussing on growing the top line and profitability of the India business, the company will restart its US business. Also, the cofounder is looking at investing heavily in digital capabilities, using AI in marketing, data analytics, and implementing SAP for future readiness.

Lastly, from Chowdhary’s spectacle, the company is on track for double-digit growth and has eyes on achieving INR 1,000 Cr revenue in the short term.

The post The WOW Factor: WOW Skin Science’s Blueprint For Breaking Through In The $783 Bn BPC Segment appeared first on Inc42 Media.

What’s the biggest gap in the financial advisory and asset management space in India? For Neo, a Mumbai-based startup that was founded in November 2021, the answer is two-fold — unbiased advice from trusted experts and transparency.

“You see bias in a lot of players because of the conflict of interest in terms of the way the organisations are structured,” says Nitin Jain, founder, chairman and managing director of Neo Wealth and Asset Management.

Neo’s approach to the financial advisory space can be broken down into four central verticals — wealth advisory, asset management, multi-family offices and a wealth management platform for independent advisors. This makes Neo a lot more diverse and transparent than many players in the market, the founder claimed.

Jain brings a wealth of expertise to the financial advisory space. Before starting up with Neo, he was the wealth management CEO at PAG-Edelweiss Financial Services and as he recalled, the market opportunity was massive after the liquidity boom of 2021.

The founder told us he got together with ‘some friends’ to tap this opportunity and he saw there was room enough for an advisory that was focussed on yield-based investing as long the right people are leading the charge (more on Neo’s leadership team later).

Having started off with a $40 Mn seed fund from some external investors and the founding team, Neo has today announced a $35 Mn (INR 300 Cr) round led by Peak XV Partners.

The founder said that the fresh round will help catalyse growth initiatives at Neo, develop and expand the wealth management business, deepen the asset management franchise model, and help attract top talent, which he believes will be a key competitive advantage to tap the massive wealth and asset management opportunity in India.

Neo: From Wealth Advisory To Multi-Family Office

Neo’s businesses include a wealth advisory where it is purely advising clients and an asset management arm that will create products in the space of alternatives with a sharp focus on yield-based income solutions. Jain believes that a lot of fund managers in India focus on growth, which is why it’s an opportunity to target yield, which is a better proposition for younger investors.

“The typical AMC promise is that if the money stays with them for five years or 10 years, then the investor will get an X or Y amount in return. But with Neo, we create a good yield and cash flows for you over a period of time. So actually the money starts to work for you and you’re getting some cash and it can be a good second income for a lot of professionals.”

Currently, Neo has solved for three yield buckets for 10%-12%, 16%-18% and 18%-20% returns in its asset management vertical. Yield in this case refers to the earnings generated and realised by investors on any investment over an annual, quarterly or monthly basis.

Under the asset management business, Neo’s focus is on delivering inflation-beating returns without the volatility of equity markets, which has been particularly of note in the past two years.

Besides asset management and wealth advisory, Neo has also forayed into the wealth management side through a multi-family office setup as well as a CIO-like approach for families that are in the HNI or UHNI category.

The multi-family office model targets those families that have more than $400 Mn-$500 Mn of investible surplus. As more and more Indian HNI families realise the need to diversify their portfolio, multi-family offices have become more and more commonplace. The primary advantage here for advisors is that they can operate at a greater cost efficiency by managing several families through a central infrastructure.

“We actually represent the family offices in conversations with businesses and funds. In this case, we actually buy products for the client. But we have also created a platform called Neo Wealth Partners where we provide the infrastructure, the brand, the capital and other capabilities and bring on registered wealth managers to grow their client base with us,” the founder and CMD added.

He further explained that Neo Wealth Partners are not paid by the company, but by their clients directly, with Neo keeping a small share as a platform fee. This makes them completely independent. “We do not have a say in what their advice is or which products they should be selling. There’s complete transparency so clients can choose which independent wealth managers they want to work with.”

Around 300 relationship managers in the wealth space practically control around 65%-75% of the total AUM in India, Jain added. His initial fear with Neo was that investors might be hesitant to move away from these dominant players who have 10-12 years of experience and have major organisations backing them.

“We actually do not pay RMs any meaningful fixed compensation but I’ve been very positively surprised by the response. In six months, we have been able to bring on 25 RMs and we will have close to 40 by the end of the year.”

From a technology point of view, RMs get a dashboard to access the track record of a client, their investment history as well as data related to industry reports, performance of particular asset classes and more. This enables RMs to make the right decisions for each client independently.

At the moment, Neo is largely using technology as an enabler for its expertise-driven advisory. However, the company is planning to leverage emerging technology in a big way for products in the year to come. Jain did not elaborate on the new products expected from Neo in the future.

Wealth Management’s New Faces

The growing opportunity in the wealth management and asset management space has seen heavyweights such as Reliance throw their hats into the ring. Jio Financial Services, which signed a joint venture with BlackRock for an AMC, is set to bring its financial muscle and vast resources to the arena.

Besides JFS, new entrants in the AMC space include the likes of startups such as Zerodha and Groww, along with Bajaj Finserv Asset Management, NJ Mutual Fund and WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund, as well as Edelweiss Asset Management, Jain’s former company.

Overall, more than 40 companies are operating in the asset management space and incumbents believe that the advantage they have is on pricing and products.

Incumbents argue that the new entrants will definitely disrupt distribution and bring more investors to the space, but they will not be able to challenge existing players in terms of pricing or product innovation.

The total assets under management of the Indian mutual fund industry was about INR 46 Lakh Cr as of September 2023, which is just 15% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP).

This is several leagues behind developed nations. In the US, for example, the MF-to-GDP ratio is at 80%. This is the real opportunity for AMCs in India as the economy, GDP and per capita income grow in the next five to ten years.

Of course, macroeconomic swings such as the one in the past 20 months come and go, but given the fact that the MF-to-GDP ratio has grown from around 10% in March 2020 to 15% today shows just how rapidly the market is maturing.

Jain reiterated that Neo’s competitive edge in AMC comes from its sharp focus on yield-based income solutions. This, he believes, is a more common need in the market than wealth appreciation which is how other asset managers approach this space.

“I can’t think of more than two or three names in that category today. We think there is a very unique opportunity to build private credit and invest in real assets. Our clients would be buying out of solar plants, buying out of road projects. We convert them eventually into InvITs (Infrastructure Investment Trust) and give our clients a stream of cash flows rather than one big cheque at the end of five or seven years and locking in their money.”

Neo Taps Family Office Boom

When it comes to the multi-family office vertical, Neo has taken a diversification-first approach but it’s also looking at new-age asset classes such as startup investments, which may have a longer investment horizon.

According to an Inc42 report, there are 300-plus family offices in India, and this number is expected to increase significantly. Our estimates show that the number of family offices actively taking part on an annual basis in startup investments will likely increase 5x to 735 by 2030 from 123 in 2023.

Several experts pointed to a sea change in the way family offices manage their wealth today versus a decade ago. The focus is higher on startups and new-age businesses as opposed to real estate or gold or public markets.

Jain and Neo will be faced with competition such as Waterfield Advisors, Cervin Advisors and other emerging players that are formally targeting HNI families. The Neo founder believes that the distinct advantages for Neo are the company’s ability to negotiate with funds and ensure better governance standards on the startup side.

He claims that Neo works closely with some exceptional fund managers in the startup ecosystem that the leadership team has known for decades. “When we advise families to go into direct investing, we have the capability to evaluate deals independently. Or we will take family offices to the pedigreed firms and get the most preferred terms and co-investment solutions for them.”

Banking On A Wealth Of Experience

The other major advantage for Nitin Jain is the leadership team at Neo. Besides Jain, Neo’s founding team includes Varun Bajpai, former country head, Macquarie Group; Hemant Daga, former CEO, Edelweiss Asset Management ; Puneet Jain, former executive director at Goldman Sachs and Kotak Institutional Equities; and A Srikanth, BridgeMonte Advisors founder and former CEO of Motilal Oswal Wealth.

Each of the founding members of Neo plays a critical role in these various verticals.

Bajpai is the CEO of Neo Wealth Management and also heads Neo World, the investment education and personal finance platform which is currently under development. This platform will take users through a goal-oriented journey of savings and investments through gamification and emerging technologies.

Daga is the CEO of Neo Asset Management, while Puneet Jain is the MD and CIO of Neo Asset Management. Finally, Srikanth leads Neo Wealth Partners as a CEO to advise ultra-high net worth families on strategic investments, estate planning, offshoring and asset acquisitions.

Together these individuals brought over 100 years of wealth and investment advisory experience to Neo and close to INR 3 Lakh Cr of assets under advice. “When you go to a doctor, you look to check their pedigree as a caregiver and how they have performed over the years. So not only do we have a very unique positioning, vis-a-vis the competition, but also some of the most competent and most experienced people in that space.”

The post How Peak XV-Backed Neo Is Looking To Disrupt The Wealth Advisory, AMC & Family Office Space appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Little did the two young aspiring Chartered Accountants (CAs), Nayan Ratandhayara and Vishal Totla, realise back in 2012 that one day they would emerge as dynamic entrepreneurs within the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, dedicated to tackling a myriad of challenges faced by small and medium enterprises.

After becoming professional CAs in 2011, the duo, Ratandhayara and Totla, embarked on their professional journeys in separate companies. However, it didn’t take them long to recognise their potential to bridge the gaps within the Indian logistics industry, due to which smaller and emerging D2C brands remained the minority beneficiaries of the industry offerings.

Understanding the limitations these companies faced in terms of resources and opportunities to tap into the Indian logistics landscape to propel their businesses to new heights, they decided to take up the challenge. Their vision was clear — to serve this underserved segment of businesses, empowering them to thrive.

According to Ratandhayara, even though India, today, cradles more than 50K digital brands, only a handful of these brands have been able to grow at a break-neck speed, leveraging the power of India’s logistics industry. 

“It is ‘Lions’ versus ‘Cubs’ out there, especially when it comes to the Indian D2C landscape. There are a number of smaller D2C brands (‘cub’ brands as we like to call them) that are underserved by the Indian logistics players, and we aim to give these ‘cubs’ the roar to operate on par with the ‘Lions’ or the cash-rich brands,” Ratandhayara said.

Launched in 2013, Mumbai-based Shipyaari is a logistics solutions provider, which helps small and medium-sized businesses manage logistics operations like transportation, inventory management, real-time order tracking, warehousing, fulfilment and last-mile deliveries pan-India and across borders to 190+ countries, along with courier services. 

On the back of this playbook, to service the underserved, Shipyaari has partnered with 25,000 businesses, including BYJU’S, Portronics, GOQii, cult.fit, Dr Vaidyas, Supertails, Ferns N Petals and Bummer, just to count a few. 

Among its 25-plus carrier partners, some prominent names include Blue Dart Express, Delhivery and Ecom Express. Talking about Shipyaari’s reach and impact, Totla told Inc42 that the startup serves more than 29K pin codes across the country and facilitates an average of 250K monthly shipments. 

According to him, Shipyaari has helped its partner brands witness up to 93% reduction in return to origin (RTO), curbing expenses and improving margins for the merchants.

The startup has two products, Shipyaari Delta and RTO Hubs, which help brands combat RTO challenges across the country. (More on this later).

The Pandemic Push

It was not until the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world that the founders understood the perks of becoming fully digital. 

In Shipyaari’s early days, technology wasn’t their primary focus, revealed Totla. It mainly emphasised service and operations, using technology as a tool to support its work. At the start, the startup outsourced its tech needs and tailored the systems to serve small and medium-sized businesses.

But then, Covid-19 struck, directly impacting consumer behaviour, amid the rise of the D2C wave. “Customers needed to be served from the confines of their homes due to the Covid-induced lockdowns, and amid this, D2C brands were sitting on bulks of orders that had to be delivered across the nation,” Totla said. 

This also gave Shipyaari an opportunity to grow and scale by providing tech-driven logistics solutions to D2C brands. 

To stay ahead in the game, the founders began expanding their tech team to stay abreast of the sudden spurt in the Indian D2C industry, with a core focus on providing efficient and quick logistics solutions. 

They hired subject matter experts from domains like product management, IT, sales, marketing and customer support. Within a span of two years, the Shipyaari team grew from 20 members to 100+ employees. The startup, today, has offices across Mumbai, Surat, Gurugram, Aurangabad and Bengaluru.

Between March 2020 and March 2022, Shipyaari helped many D2C brands scale their businesses by partnering with sellers pan-India, delivering across 18,000 pin codes. While speaking about the revenue, Totla disclosed that the startup’s monthly recurring revenue grew over 3.5X during this period.

While briefly talking about Shipyaari’s revenue model, Ratandhayara said, “Shipyaari’s revenue model focusses on transparency and delivering maximum benefits to its clients.” 

Shipyaari operates on a principal-to-principal basis, which means it works directly with its clients, fostering a relationship of equality and direct interaction. He added, “We do not charge commission fees or take a percentage of our clients’ transactions. Instead, we pass on the significant cost savings we achieve through economies of scale.”

Empowering ‘Cub’ Brands

Ratandhayara believes that one of the key reasons that is limiting the growth of ‘cub’ brands is that third-party logistics prefer to cater to the ‘lion’ brands more than the ‘cub’ brands.

Furthermore, he believes that many of these companies, even those from remote areas, will gain significant market share in the future and Shipyaari aims to help these ‘cub’ brands ‘access their aspirations’. “We have always wanted to create a fair business environment where everyone has an equal chance to succeed,” said Ratandhayara.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Shipyaari launched its plug-and-play logistics solution for smaller brands, simplifying the entire logistics process for them through a single dashboard. 

The startup also assigns relationship managers to assist users in efficiently handling logistics. Shipyaari’s solutions also bring transparency to invoicing, saving time and effort, which otherwise would have been spent managing multiple accounts with different providers.

In addition, the startup’s solutions empower brands to seamlessly integrate their systems with the platform, manage bulk and B2B shipping, access warehousing and fulfilment services, and even facilitate international shipping through one dashboard.

Meanwhile, the startup’s tech stack comprises two solutions among others —  Shipyaari Delta and RTO Hubs (both launched in 2023) — to tackle the RTO woes of D2C brands specifically. 

While Shipyaari Delta is an automated WhatsApp chatbot integrated with the D2C brands’ mobile app and websites to engage with customers, RTO hubs are centres that manage reverse logistics, where returned orders from customers are managed. 

These RTO hubs are located strategically near high demand locations and manage reverse logistics. Additionally, these hubs double as fulfilment centres for future orders, which saves SMEs time and cost.

This speeds up the delivery, as the item is already at a convenient location, further reducing the time and cost of going to distant locations.

Both of these solutions have been launched by the startup keeping the challenges of return to origin in mind, often a costly affair for D2C brands.

Shipyaari Delta offers personalised customer experience by sending them automated messages related to orders, which has helped many brands reduce RTO by up to 40% . 

What’s On The Cards?

As of now, Shipyaari is focussed on advancing its tech, Shipyaari Sprint, for same – or next – day deliveries. For this, it is looking forward to collaborating with local courier partners. 

Further, it will open new offices in cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana by next year. It is also looking to double its team size from 100+ to 200 by 2025. Totla said that the startup is also open to forging strategic alliances with brands that are in sync with its goals and values.

Ratandhayara said jumping on the ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) bandwagon has been a game changer for the startup. “This initiative empowers brands to establish a presence and conduct sales through ONDC, holding the immense potential to democratise India’s digital commerce landscape,” he added.

With government-run initiatives like the ONDC, along with a sustained rise in the D2C wave, India is projected to become the second-largest ecommerce market by 2034 and, one of its enablers, the warehousing market is set to reach $34.99 Bn by 2027.

Amid this, players like Shipyaari are well poised to grow at an unprecedented scale. What will further prove to be the key cog in the growth wheel is their commitment to serve the underserved D2C brands with their tech stack, thereby unclogging logistics bottlenecks for them.

The post ‘Cubs Vs. Lions’: How Shipyaari Has Given The Roar To Smaller D2C Brands With Its Logistics Tech Stack appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Industry 4.0 is already upon us, and a cyber-physical world is fast emerging where smart machines call the shots, and the agility to adapt determines business success. For companies of all sizes and industries, this also means a rapid shift from manual to digital, especially via the cloud, that ensures fast operations for maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness.      

The growth of affordable cloud computing in the B2B realm is good news for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) all over the globe as they seek access to technology to boost their businesses but lack the resources of deep-pocketed corporate giants. Nine years ago, a report by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) came up with a comprehensive picture of how SMEs could become micro-multinationals propelled by digital technologies and the resulting globalisation. The new era has finally arrived in a post-pandemic India, driven by growing digital literacy and a level playing field enabled by easily accessible, affordable, scalable cloud technology.

According to the SME Chamber of India, SMEs contribute 40% of total exports and 37.54% to the country’s GDP. It is no surprise, therefore, that smaller enterprises across the country are now keen to adopt cloud-based business services to stay ahead in their digital journey. 

With more than 63 Mn SMEs in India and the cloud computing market set to reach $17.8 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 23.4%, tech giants like Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are already gunning for this market. But joining them in the race is another global contender – Kladana – the B2B SaaS brand of Moscow-based MoySklad (My Warehouse).

The ERP cloud solutions company helps small manufacturing, wholesale and ecommerce companies manage and automate their business processes. Users can register on Kladana free of cost and access its all-in-one solution, including inventory and warehouse management, transaction and finance management, CRM, analytics, documentation and more. For manufacturers, it helps in planning, stocktaking, raw materials transfers, packaging and selling of ready-to-use goods. 

After successfully onboarding 96K+ small businesses in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, Kladana made its strategic foray into India in 2022. The brand is registered locally and the company opened an office in Mumbai to boost its India operations. To date, it has onboarded 40 SMEs and aims to grow to thousands in the coming years. 

For Aleksandra Brovchuk, Kladana’s regional CEO in India, the country was an obvious choice for the company’s next phase of expansion. “Before entering the Indian market, we thoroughly analysed a number of countries. India won in all respects,” she said. 

During a discussion, Brovchuk also emphasised India’s impressive economic growth as a key criterion for expansion. “The country boasts a rapidly expanding economy, 63 Mn small and medium-sized businesses, to be precise. In comparison, Russia has a significantly smaller SMB count at only 6 Mn,” she said.

Besides, most Indians have a good command of the English language. This linguistic advantage made it easier to tailor its solutions for the Indian market.

In FY23, Kladana clocked a global revenue of $15 Mn. And it targets a 53% increase or $23 Mn in the current financial year. Brovchuk believes Kladana’s India entry will be vital for achieving this feat.  

Empowering Small Entrepreneurs Via Cloud

In 2007, Askar Rakhimberdiev and Oleg Alekseev embarked on their entrepreneurial journey while balancing their day jobs in managerial roles. They often spent their evenings at a Moscow café, where the initial codes and interfaces for MoySklad were developed. 

It was officially born in 2008, but with the launch of its beta version, the founders faced the daunting task of finding an investor. “Russian VCs were not ready to invest in cloud solutions and the value of SaaS was not so obvious at the time,” recalled Rakhimberdiev. 

However, Estonia-based Ambient Sound Investments (set up by Skype founders) saw its potential and bought a 30% stake in MoySklad for $200,000. Within a year, it bagged 50 clients, which would multiply exponentially as the company ventured into new territories.

The company attributes the growth to its commitment to empowering small entrepreneurs. Brovchuk adds that one of its key differentiators is the platform’s easy-to-use interface and users do not need any technical skills to access Kladana.

What’s more, Kladana is integrated with the widely used virtual storefront builder Shopify. This is a great advantage, as the integration enables businesses to synchronise orders and product availability, allowing them to automatically add items to online stores and manage sales and transactions without hassles. Besides, the software helps businesses generate comprehensive financial reports, analyse cash flow, monitor profits and losses, store data securely and manage CRM activities.

As for manufacturers, the company seamlessly automates the entire production cycle within a single integrated system. According to the company, this is especially useful for small manufacturers who often rely on excel sheets for maintaining varied lists and documents such as goods lists, bills of materials and production order graphs. In addition, it calculates the unit costs of all items so that production costs can be tracked throughout.

The ERP system has made significant efforts to localise its app and website to operate smoothly throughout India. For instance, it has added local currency transactions and ensured all transactions are GST-compliant. It has also created text and video tutorials to simplify product use for its B2B customers. The platform has invested $1.5 Mn as part of its expansion efforts in India and most of the money has gone into product development. 

How Kladana Plans To Win Over Indian SMEs In A Crowded Cloud Market

The rising demand for cloud computing and SaaS (software as a service) has prompted global platforms to explore India’s lucrative but less-explored SME sector. Nevertheless, it is a bold step for an outlier to enter the local market when the economy, in general, was struggling to cope with geopolitical conflicts and the fear of stagflation. 

Also, the SME landscape in India is not without its challenges. For starters, shifting from traditional business processes to the cloud or adopting SaaS are still met with some resistance, as small businesses often find the transition and the transformation quite overwhelming. But this may not be a limiting factor for long, as cloud computing, once the domain of corporate giants, has become a critical growth factor for small businesses. 

According to the IDC, about 35% of Indian SMBs will migrate one-third of their core workloads to the cloud by 2024. This initiative aligns well with their pursuit of enhanced business agility and future resilience.

Given this ground reality, global and homegrown cloud service providers are now vying for a market share, especially in the Tier II and III business markets. After all, this ecosystem is huge and may soon outpace its Tier I peers. 

Unsurprisingly, global behemoths like Amazon, and the like have developed customised solutions for their new clientele. For instance, Amazon’s AWS Smart Business Hub caters to the SMEs’ growing requirements such as unifying and managing fragmented data, controlling IT costs and enhancing data security. On the other hand, Google Cloud allows SMEs to analyse and streamline data, offers cloud storage, solutions to monitor performance among other solutions. 

Homegrown players are also taking note of this trend. Companies like Cyfuture Cloud, BrowserStack and CloudCodes offer a diverse range of cloud solutions, and they have a better understanding of the domestic market, giving them a unique advantage.

But Kladana is well aware of the state of things. It is also confident that 15 years of global exposure in creating cloud solutions for SMEs will give it a cutting edge. “We entered the Indian market for the long haul. We have opened an office here and hired a local team who works with clients and communicates with them in English and Hindi. We have even localised the products and demo materials,” said Brovchuk.

Aware that hand-holding will be needed to onboard and retain first-time users, the platform offers free demos and extends the services of a robust customer support team.

It also focuses on creating value in a price-sensitive market. That’s why Kladana offers a monthly payment plan, and users can opt for the cheapest one without long-term commitments. 

The company said that the basic plan starts at INR 990 (excluding GST) per month and includes several features such as transaction management and CRM.  

It will also invest in brand building/advertising, scaling up its India team and is exploring a partnership programme with IT and consulting companies  in 2023. Kladana also has ambitious plans to cater to Amazon and Flipkart sellers in 2024, thus strengthening its market presence and capabilities.

Asked whether the Indian SME market would get too saturated too soon, given the neck-and-neck competition among service providers, Brovchuk said there would be immense scope for growth. “Cloud software is a quick and inexpensive start. No specialists or large budgets are needed to implement it. I think in the near future, all small and medium businesses will work exclusively in the cloud as it is an optimal solution,” she added.

 Meanwhile, tech companies will continue to innovate consumer-quality cloud solutions (given their range and ease of use) and make a beeline for the enterprise cloud market in India. Of course, the bar is bound to get a lot higher in the SME space and other sectors. But it will be interesting to watch whether global big tech and homegrown players can carve their niches and create unique value propositions to flourish in this space.

The post Why Moscow-Based Kladana Considers Indian SME Sector As The Next Big Market For Cloud Computing appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ever since launching the first edition of ‘30 Startups To Watch’ in February 2020, Inc42 has aided the discovery of 1,200+ new startups. In this journey of more than three years, we have kept a close watch on the Indian startup ecosystem, which underwent significant transformations — some much-needed, others forced by market conditions.

As the days of generous inflow of capital into the ecosystem turned into investors exercising caution for months on end, the Indian entrepreneurial spirit has remained largely unaffected. More and more founders are entering the Indian startup ecosystem with more grit and ambitions to solve real-world problems with their Midas touch.

It is off the back of this positive stead that the number of government-recognised startups in the country has more than tripled since 2020 to 1 Lakh as of September 2023. This is exactly what has fuelled our ambition to find more pathbreaking new-age ventures over the years, as we remain steadfast in our mission of identifying newer startups every month. 

With that said, we present the 40th edition of ‘30 Startups To Watch’. We believe these ventures have immense potential to not only disrupt their respective playgrounds but also transform the world. In this edition, we have covered startups from various sectors, including cleantech, generative AI and D2C, among many others. 

Before we set the stage for this month’s 30 startups, we should also mention the ongoing funding winter and the fact that it has dragged on for too long.

Making it 18 months of near-continuous decline in the third quarter of 2023, startup funding was at a three-quarter low of a mere $1.7 Bn, according to Inc42’s ‘Indian Startup Funding Report Q3 2023’ report. Further, year-on-year funding for this period tanked by 43.8%, with funding deals plummeting 38.6% compared to Q3 2022.

Despite this, Indian entrepreneurs have displayed remarkable resilience and determination. And rather than retreating, more and more new ventures continue to add muscle to the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. 

Editor’s Note: The list below is not a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.

altM

Sustainable Biomaterials For A Greener Earth

As the world seeks alternatives to environmentally harmful materials, biomaterials sourced from agricultural residue have gained prominence. While a majority has turned to recycled materials, biomaterials – materials sourced from crop residue – are another key variable in the sustainability equation.

Addressing the need for these biomaterials materials is altM. Founded in 2022 by Apoorv Garg and Yugal Raj Jain, both ex-Tesla employees, altM aims to develop and manufacture sustainable materials from agricultural residue to help companies reduce their carbon footprints and increase circularity in their supply chains.

altM uses lignocellulosic agricultural residues as their raw material to produce advanced materials as alternatives to unsustainable incumbents. Lignocellulosic residue refers to dry plant residue and includes wheat, rice, barley straw, corn stover, sorghum stalks, coconut husks, sugarcane bagasse and banana leaves.

Given its sustainability potential and functional properties, lignocellulosic residue can be used to develop materials such as paper, biofuels and polymers.

AppEQ.ai

Empowering Businesses To Bolster Revenue Streams

Retaining existing customers is the top priority for product-based companies, as customer churn can significantly impact their bottom line. AppEQ.ai, founded by Rajat Shukla and Manoranjan Ingudam, offers an AI-based copilot platform to help businesses preserve their revenue streams by improving customer retention.

AppEQ.ai provides a unified view of each customer account by integrating seamlessly with a company’s existing CRM and help desk systems. By using machine learning, it generates valuable customer insights, identifies patterns, and detects trends that can be used to enhance customer retention strategies.

For example, the platform can flag customers who haven’t recently used a product or contacted customer support, enabling proactive measures to address their needs. It also identifies upselling and cross-selling opportunities, boosting revenue retention.

AppEQ.ai offers a subscription-based pricing model starting at $25 per user per month, with pricing tiers based on features and the number of users.

In the competitive landscape of customer retention, AppEQ.ai empowers businesses with actionable insights to reduce churn and bolster revenue.

Aretto

Ultimate Comfort For Growing Feet

Founded in 2022 by Krutika Lal and Satyajit Mittal, Aretto is a kids’ footwear brand. It wants to emerge as a prominent player in the children’s footwear market in India while offering quality, and comfort for young wearers. 

Earlier this year, Aretto secured a patent for its innovative sole technology, making it one of the pioneering brands in India to receive such recognition.

Aretto’s unique selling proposition lies in the ability of its products to intuitively sense and adapt to children’s growth patterns, expanding up to 3 sizes to provide the perfect fit.

Looking ahead, Aretto has plans for global expansion, targeting markets such as the US, the UK, and the UAE. Currently headquartered in Pune, Aretto is poised to introduce a comprehensive product line in the children’s footwear market.

Aroleap

Home Gym Reimagined

Lifestyle diseases like diabetes and obesity are on the rise in India, especially in the country’s metropolitan and Tier I and II cities. One of the major contributors to this rising trend is that more and more Indians have distanced themselves from following a healthy lifestyle due to their ever-increasing workload to put bread on the table. As per a recent survey, only about 0.5% of India’s total population goes to a gym or exercise regularly. 

With a vision to democratise data-driven personal training for preventive healthcare, Anurag Dani, Rohit Patel, Amal George, and Aman Rai founded Aroleap in 2020.

The startup uses cutting-edge technology to deliver personalised insights and training built on strong foundations of science-backed fitness knowledge. Its Aroleap X is a smart, wall-mounted gym equipment designed for comprehensive weight training.

What sets the Aroleap X apart is its patented motor-powered electromagnetic resistance technology, which simulates the sensation of traditional weights. This groundbreaking equipment is effective and portable as it occupies very little wall space, making it a practical choice for all. 

Not just this, Aroleap goes beyond conventional fitness equipment by precisely tracking user movements and mapping strength-related data, which is then utilised to identify imbalances and tailor a highly personalised fitness regime based on individual goals, strengths, and weaknesses.

Aroleap primarily operates in the B2C segment and has priced its home gym, the Aroleap X, at a competitive price of INR 1.99 Lakh per unit. Furthermore, the startup has strategically partnered with various hospitality chains to accommodate bulk orders, expanding its reach and influence in the fitness industry.

Bitsila

Simplifying ONDC Entry For Businesses

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has gained significant traction in the Indian ecommerce segment over the past few months, with numerous startups and enterprises now joining the government’s digital commerce network. However, setting up shop on the ONDC network can be challenging for less tech-savvy companies.

Bitsila, established by Dasharatham Bitla in 2020, aims to assist these companies in joining the ONDC ecosystem. This SaaS startup provides an integrated platform that facilitates connections with all ecommerce channels, including ONDC. Once onboarded on Bitsila’s platform, a seller can link their retail ERP to all ecommerce channels.

Some prominent users of the startup’s platform include BigBasket, Rebel Foods, Himalaya Wellness, and Glenmark Pharma, among others. Bitsila monetises its platform through transactional commissions on all orders and SaaS charges for software usage.

Currently, the startup is working toward onboarding 500 major enterprises to become a full-fledged network partner of ONDC, with long-term ambitions to bring in 2.5 Lakh companies by 2026.

Boxs

Personalised Interior Solutions For Home & Kitchen

The world of interior design and construction has evolved beyond mere aesthetics, and this transformation has been evident in the current market landscape. Startups such as Pepperfry, Urban Ladder, Livspace, and HomeLane have emerged in recent years, bringing both style and substance to the interior designing industry. However, these brands often provide limited personalisation options, and modular choices are scarce.

Founded in 2022 by Vikram Venkatesan and Satheesh Ramdass, Chennai-based Boxs offers a comprehensive solution for all interior needs. The platform features an innovative online tool that empowers users to create modular designs and instantly calculates the cost for their specifications. 

This online tool allows users to upload their renditions and seamlessly integrate Boxs products, enhancing customisation and creativity. Boxs components are fully parametric, complete with precise measurements to help users visualise their desired interior.

The platform boasts an extensive catalogue of over 10,000 SKUs. Once users have crafted their ideal designs, they can order products directly from Boxs and have them delivered to their doorstep.

Cirkla

Healing The Planet With Sustainable Packaging Solutions

Packaging is a leading contributor to global pollution as this industry accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste generated worldwide.

To address this issue, Vaibhav Goel, along with Ankur Gupta and Kapil Bhardwaj, founded Cirkla in 2019 to supply sustainable packaging solutions to enterprises. Cirkla maintains a vast network for sales and manufacturing, offering various categories, including moulded fibre, recycled polymers, pulp, paper, and advanced technologies.

The startup has developed proprietary life cycle assessment models, enabling businesses to evaluate the environmental impact of their packaging and prioritise SKUs for maximum sustainability. Additionally, Cirkla has an in-house packaging development team that designs alternative solutions using sustainable materials, meeting functional requirements while remaining cost-competitive.

Cirkla generates revenue through designing, prototyping, and assessment services, as well as by supplying packaging. The startup now plans to expand its presence in the US and EU.

EaseMyAI

Streamlining Workflows With Video Analytics

In recent years, video analytics technology has made significant advancements, expanding its applications far beyond traditional security and surveillance. Recognising the potential of video analytics, Gagan Randhawa and Yaman Bharadwaj incorporated EaseMyAI in 2022.

The founders have built a platform that extracts data from videos, IoT sensors, audio devices and third-party software, enabling AI-driven decision-making and end-to-end process automation. 

The startup also provides a marketplace for AI and traditional IT companies to access, upload and download various business use cases and services to customise their dashboard and automate their specific workflows.

EaseMyAI charges clients through a subscription-based model, with pricing ranging from $2 to $1,000 per month per AI model or IoT device. The Mumbai-based startup claims to have secured 20 clients across sectors. Its use cases include railway track defect monitoring, textile quality control, and gunshot detection.

With a team of 25 and month-on-month revenue growth of 15%, Ease My AI wants to enter the US market through partnerships with AWS and Microsoft.

Ellipsol

Making Solar Cells More Efficient

A typical photovoltaic cell can only convert around 15-20% of the sunlight it receives into electricity, making it a less efficient process than generating electricity from other renewable sources such as wind (30-40%) and hydroelectricity (90%). 

Ellipsol, a Delhi NCR-based startup founded in 2022 by Samarth Jain and Kaustubh Tyagi, claims to “Brighten The Sun” by doubling the energy generation capability of a solar panel at only 10% additional cost. To be sure, there are several ways the efficiency of a solar panel can be improved – anti-reflective coatings and microinverters can take the efficiency up from around 15% to 20%, but none of the conventional methods doubles it.

The startup’s core product is a retrofittable solution, which it claims can double the yield of conventional photovoltaic solar panels. It can potentially be installed across all existing solar panels. 

Jain and Tyagi, who have previously worked together on an energy storage startup, Baud Resources, are currently working in stealth mode. As such, the specifics of the technology behind Ellipsol’s solution remain undisclosed.

Floik

The Storyteller Of SaaS Companies

Thousands of SaaS companies have come up across the world, each competing with dozens that offer similar products and services over a similar sliver of market share. Given the competitive landscape in the space, conveying the right message plays a pivotal role in aligning the needs of individuals or businesses with your products and services.

Understanding this, Vartika Bansal and Vidyasankar Krishnamurthy founded Floik in 2022. Bansal’s struggle to find, purchase, and effectively implement SaaS tools led to the ideation of Floik, a platform that showcases SaaS products effectively. Today, the Bengaluru-headquartered startup positions itself as the storyteller in the SaaS industry. 

Floik’s product offers a diverse range of use cases, including interactive knowledge base content, feature announcements, internal communication, ongoing customer support, and product-led blogs. The platform allows users to effortlessly record workflows and transform them into interactive demos, explainer videos, or step-by-step guides using an intuitive editor.

Operating across India, the US, Singapore, and Europe, Floik transitioned from beta to a full-fledged platform in July 2023. The startup monetises its platform with a subscription-based revenue model, including a Pro plan at $29/month and a Teams plan at $499/month.

The startup’s short-term goals include global market expansion, team scaling and user base growth by 2024. Meanwhile, Floik aims to invest in technology, diversify its product portfolio and forge strategic partnerships in the long term.

Growtomation

HubSpot Tailored To Your Needs

HubSpot is one of the top companies that competes with giants like Salesforce and Zoho in the CRM space. While its platform’s versatility allows for plugin integration, this often necessitates significant resources — both human and financial — to tailor it to specific requirements.

Founded in 2021 by Nishant Gupta and Jatin Chhabra, Growtomation addresses this challenge by offering customised HubSpot solutions, which are designed to streamline and optimise marketing and sales processes. The startup primarily serves the US market and has collaborated with over 350 companies spanning various industries.

Growtomation facilitates seamless integration across sales, marketing, CRM, service, and web development operations. After conducting a thorough audit for potential clients, Growtomation defines all HubSpot deliverables and subsequently implements them. Following this, the startup provides support while adopting the new HubSpot implementations and fine-tunes them to align with specific needs.

In addition to HubSpot customisation, the startup enables companies to incorporate generative AI solutions into their workflows, encompassing strategy development, training, capacity building, development, deployment, and data management. This integration enhances automation and boosts productivity for businesses.

HaiVE

Supercharging Chat Support With GenAI

Generative AI revolutionising industries, with customer support being at the forefront. From chat support to how-to guides, GenAI platforms are doing it all. However, most of these platforms require companies to upload sensitive user data to their servers, posing a security risk.

Incorporated in 2023 by Deepika Loganathan and Aravinth Ramesh, HaiVE brings AI to the premises of its customers, developing LLM models that run off a company’s servers. The startup builds and trains chat support AI for companies looking to automate customer support. The AI can integrate across several platforms, including Salesforce, Freshworks, Shopify and WooCommerce. 

What sets HaiVE apart is its commitment to data security. The intellectual property generated during the process remains the customer’s property. Additionally, HaiVE offers customised AI training, tailoring solutions to specific use cases, eliminating the need for generalised intelligence in many contexts.

HaiVE monetises its platform through a one-time setup cost, varying based on user requirements, and charges for ongoing maintenance and support.

House Of EM5

Solid Perfumes To Revive Your Skin And Senses

Fragrances are an integral part of personal grooming for individuals of all genders, and the Indian market is replete with brands offering a variety of products. Unfortunately, many of these products contain harmful chemicals like Parabens, linked to skin cancer, and Phthalates, which can disrupt hormones.

House of EM5, a D2C fragrance brand founded by Shashank Chourey in 2022, addresses these concerns by curating products made from sustainable ingredients. The startup proudly asserts that its products are entirely free from parabens, sulfates, silicones, and all other carcinogenic chemicals. EM5 has developed a range of fragrance products in multiple forms, including sprays, roll-ons, mists, creams, beard balms, foot sprays, candles, and reed diffusers.

In addition to its core product line, the D2C brand offers curated gift sets and an annual subscription package that includes five fragrance samples delivered to customers at a rate of INR 1,999 per month. Since April 2023, EM5 has maintained a monthly revenue run rate of INR 75 Lakh.

Hypergro.ai

Supercharging Brands With UGC Video Ads

In today’s digital landscape, rising customer acquisition costs (CAC) often consume substantial budgets without delivering satisfactory returns. This challenge is exacerbated by poor returns on ad spend (ROAS), even with substantial investments. 

Hypergro.ai, founded in 2022 by Rituraj Biswas, Neha Soman, Abhijeet Kumar, and Arijit Mukhopadhyay, offers a solution. This startup empowers brands to create compelling video ads using user-generated content (UGC).

Hypergro.ai’s AI-powered platform connects brands with creators who can craft videos that resonate with their target audience. The platform also enables content creators to monetise their work by collaborating on UGC-based ads for brands.

Additionally, Hypergro.ai provides a comprehensive platform for brands to oversee the video creation process and monitor campaign results. The dashboard facilitates collaboration among multiple users, simplifies content approval processes, and tracks key metrics, all in one place.

The startup operates on a SaaS-like subscription model for brands to access its platform, with separate pricing agreements for brands and content creators on its platform. 

InsideFPV

Fostering India’s Drone Ecosystem

India’s dependency on drone imports has been a notable concern. When geopolitical tension escalated in 2020, Deyvant Bhardwaj and Oshi Kumari founded InsideFPV to address this challenge.

It started by designing and building drones and educating Indians on how to ply them by setting up drone experience arenas in schools and colleges. Now, the Surat-based startup builds and sells drones catering to consumers, agriculture, and defence needs.

InsideFPV claims to have delivered more than 1,600 shipments and served more than 1,200 clients to date. It offers a comprehensive range of services, from selling ready-to-fly FPV (first-person view) drones to providing a wide selection of spare electronics and parts for repair and service needs. 

The startup generates revenue through the sale of domestically designed, assembled, and software-integrated plug-and-fly FPV drones. They also offer spare electronics and parts for repair services as well as drone consultation services.

It plans to launch an upgraded consumer product line soon. By 2024, the startup has plans to establish drone experience arenas in malls akin to gaming zones, supply drones for educational labs, expand into the UAE market, offer type-certified agriculture drones, and advance its V2 product for defence applications. 

Justbaat AI

GenAI-Powered Brand Anchors

With nearly 500 hours of video content uploaded every minute, YouTube presents a vast landscape of content creators and consumers. However, video content generation remains a complex and time-consuming endeavour, involving meticulous planning, execution, production, and editing.

Streamlining this process is Justbaat, a video creation platform harnessing AI to simplify video production for users. It empowers users to create digital avatars, translate videos into 63 languages, and generate videos from text inputs.

Users can initiate video creation by uploading text, images, or videos onto the platform, which then utilises AI to generate a video based on the provided input.

The startup also offers the capability to craft lifelike images of individuals to serve as ‘anchors’ for video content. Justbaat’s AI models recreate the person’s voice, enabling content creation without requiring audio inputs. Furthermore, users can generate videos in various formats and export the final product to platforms like YouTube.

Kidbea

Kidswear Made Of Bamboo

Despite a plethora of kidswear options in the market, a significant portion of these products is made from synthetic materials, which can lead to allergies or skin irritations.

Recognising the need for natural materials in kidswear, Swapnil Srivastav, Mohammad Hussain, and Aman Kumar Mahto founded Kidbea in 2021. Kidbea is a kidswear brand that utilises bamboo to create its products.

Kidbea claims to address common issues such as germs from food spillage, skin rashes, and discomfort in newborns through its patent-filed herbal spill-proof textile technology, which also has antibacterial properties.

The startup offers a range of products, including reusable cloth diapers, clothing sets, rompers, t-shirts, and non-toxic soft toys. Kidbea currently operates in India and the UAE, with plans for further expansion in the MENA region and long-term aspirations to enter the US and European markets through a partnership with Lidl, a series of large-format stores, given that the CEO of Lidl has invested in the startup.

LISSUN

Mental Peace At Your Fingertips

Despite the increasing need for care, mental health remains a neglected aspect of health in India. According to a report by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), nearly 150 Mn Indians require mental health care but fewer than 30 Mn are seeking it.

Founded in 2021 by Dr Krishna Veer Singh and Tarun Gupta, LISSUN aims to make therapy more accessible, particularly for individuals with chronic illnesses such as cancer, kidney diseases and so on. LISSUN collects real-world data on these diseases via its partner hospitals and using its AI and ML-enabled engines, develops holistic therapy and mental healthcare into their journey.

LISSUN’s platform is focused on maximising micro-interventions in its user’s journey so that they are more accessible, repeatable and habit-forming. It has developed a telehealth platform, wellness journeys, gratitude journals and communities platform to help improve the mental health of its users. Further, the startup has also developed several child development centres – Sunshine – to address autism spectrum disorders.

The startup works on a B2B2C business model and gets a majority of its customers and revenue via its partner institutions. Working across 40+ cities, LISSUN is looking to expand its Sunshine centres across the country and launch contextualised products for its users.

Newtrace

Betting Big On Green Hydrogen

Founded in 2021 by Prasanta Sarkar and Rochan Sinha, Newtrace focuses on sustainability and aims to address the pressing issue of fossil-fuel-derived hydrogen production, which generates over 900 Mn tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. 

Newtrace’s proprietary electrolyser technology leverages fluid engineering techniques and an enhanced electrocatalyst, eliminating the need for rare earth metals. This results in ultrapure hydrogen while slashing production costs by an impressive 60%. 

Moreover, Newtrace employs advanced manufacturing methods and real-time analytics, making their electrolysers not only cost-effective but also readily deployable across various industries.

Newtrace plans to extend its impact to multiple sectors, including refineries, fertilisers, chemicals, steel, cement and transportation. Additionally, they are exploring opportunities for long-term storage and conversion of green hydrogen and ammonia.

PierSight Space

Satellite-Powered Ocean Surveillance

India is surrounded by three major water bodies – the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The larger Indian Ocean Region, which comprises these three regions, is a major travel route as 80% of the world’s maritime oil passes through this area, as per US Air Force University. However, this region is also fraught with issues such as piracy.

Founded in 2023 by ex-ISRO scientist Gaurav Seth and former US-based National Instruments employee Vinit Bansal, PierSight keeps a watchful eye over the high seas in all weather conditions, 24/7. The Ahmedabad-based startup manages this via a constellation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging and Automatic Identification System (AIS) satellites.

PierSight’s objective is to provide continuous monitoring of maritime operations in 30-minute intervals, a service it claims to be unparalleled in the industry. The startup’s engagements span a diverse spectrum of clients, including island nations, commerce divisions of governments and environmental agencies, all of which share a pressing concern about the pervasive exploitation of Exclusive Economic Zones.

Over the next two years, PierSight is poised to launch the world’s first commercial satellite integrating SAR and AIS capabilities. The startup’s commitment to this endeavour is fully aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 14, which underscores the importance of conserving and sustainably utilising oceans and marine resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

Peping

Offering Complete Gastro Care

According to a 2022 research paper, 18% of Indian adults suffered from chronic gastrointestinal problems, with numbers only rising with age. While India has seen a surge in people becoming more health-conscious post-pandemic, those already suffering from chronic gastrointestinal issues face hurdles in getting the correct care.

Peping founders Prateek Maheshwari and Chirag Maheshwari saw the gap for an end-to-end chronic gastric management and health platform, and they went the digital way to solve the problem.

Founded in 2022, the startup offers care plans for managing diseases and disorders such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and Dyspepsia, among others. The solution includes a holistic and personalised approach to dietary interventions (focus on healthy eating) with lifestyle interventions (stress management, physical activity). 

Peping’s team of gastro and hepatology doctors, nutritionists and lifestyle coaches claim to deliver a patient-centric care plan to manage and reverse chronic gut health issues that have become especially prevalent thanks to urbanised lifestyles.

The company has a suite of products with proprietary formulations containing high-quality probiotics. Currently, the startup is focused on finding the right go-to-market approach and is testing various strategies to streamline its unit economics.

Portkey.ai

Helping Business Incorporate Generative AI Seamlessly

Many startups and corporations are integrating generative AI capabilities into their products to enhance customer experiences. From recipe suggestions to improved product listings, the applications are diverse. However, managing and deploying large language models (LLMs) can be complex.

Founded in 2023 by Google alumni Rohit Agarwal and Ayush Garg, Portkey.ai simplifies this process. The startup offers three key products — model management, prompt management, as well as monitoring and analytics.

Portkey.ai provides a centralised platform to manage all LLM models, including versions, configurations, and parameters. The platform simplifies the often challenging task of handling multiple models.

Additionally, the platform allows companies to manage all LLM prompts in one place, facilitating prompt experimentation and result optimisation. Finally, it offers real-time monitoring and analytics of LLM usage, enabling businesses to identify and address potential issues promptly.

Portkey.ai’s platform is available as a cloud-based SaaS product, eliminating the need for businesses to set up complex infrastructure. Companies pay a monthly fee based on the number of LLMs they manage and the volume of traffic they route through the platform.

Rebolt Network

Establishing a Nationwide Charging Network

As of July 31, 2023, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) reported 10,967 operational public EV charging stations in India, equipped with 15,493 EV chargers. Despite the government’s ambitious goal of installing 5 Lakh public EV charging stations by 2027, the rapid surge in EV adoption across India has outpaced the growth of public charging infrastructure.

The inception of Rebolt dates back to 2021, when its founders, Murali Shankar and Sunil Prabhakar, recognised the crucial need for robust charging infrastructure to foster EV adoption. The startup is on a mission to create what it proudly claims as India’s largest public EV charging network, strategically placing charging stations in urban hubs, along highways and in key commercial areas.

Through the Rebolt mobile app, EV owners can effortlessly locate charging stations on a map, reserve charging slots in advance, or check real-time charger availability before arriving.

Once at the charging station, EV owners can scan a QR code to initiate charging, with automatic payment deducted from their wallet upon session completion. Rebolt charges a uniform rate of INR 18 per kilowatt nationwide, but they also offer a subscription plan that grants users unlimited charging for a monthly fee.

Additionally, Rebolt generates revenue through partnerships with businesses hosting their chargers. Hosts are provided with a comprehensive dashboard that allows them to manage their charger locations, track bookings and usage, monitor commissions due, process payments, and more.

SayF

Empowering Individuals To Save While They Shop

India has one of the largest populations of online shoppers in the world, with the number set to reach 350 Mn by 2025. However, the prevalence of dark patterns on major online shopping sites ensures that customers end up spending more than they should, shrinking their savings.

This enabled Aman Singh and Priyesh Gandhi to incorporate SayF, a platform that empowers users to save money while shopping online. The startup, which has partnered with over 400 brands, offers discounts ranging from 3% to 15% on top of brand or platform discounts. 

Users can access these discounts by selecting SayF’s gift card as their payment method during checkout. Following a transaction, the app invests the discount’s value into the user’s SayF account, which can then be utilised to invest in various financial products. SayF’s flagship product is its savings platform, allowing users to either save while shopping or set specific savings rules for regular saving and improved returns.

The startup primarily earns commissions from brand partnerships and stands to gain commissions when users invest their savings via SayF’s platform. 

Currently, SayF is developing a UPI layer and plans to evolve it into a Credit-on-UPI system by 2024, with a target of reaching 1 Mn users by then. In the long term, SayF aims to expand globally, integrate blockchain capabilities, and reach 10 Mn users by 2026.

Sheshi AI

Effortless Financial Reporting

Reporting financial performance is one of the most crucial activities for any for-profit company, as they have a fiduciary responsibility towards their stakeholders and sector regulators to present their performance. However, this task is far from simple, especially for tech startups with complex business models and intricate revenue recognition systems.

Having been in the finance industry for nearly two decades, Ganesh Kumar and Sumedha saw the struggles of highly qualified professionals being reduced to the mundane tasks of putting out financial statements. The duo, themselves qualified chartered accountants, came up with the idea of an AI-enabled financial reporting system, setting up Sheshi AI in 2021. 

The startup’s reporting platform, Sheshi FR, generates financial reports in under 30 minutes. The platform delivers print-ready financial statements that can be digitally signed and submitted for audits. The platform seamlessly integrates with major ERP systems, effortlessly fetching financial data. Additionally, AI-enabled ledger tagging minimises errors, ensuring streamlined data interpretation. Users also enjoy the flexibility to customise financial reports while remaining compliant with the latest GAAP regulations.

Sheshi AI operates on an annual subscription model for its SaaS platform. The startup’s short-term plans involve refining its product further and expanding into new geographies.

Svenklas

Luxury Made Sustainable

With the rise in the disposable income of individuals, India has witnessed a spurt in the demand for luxury goods, especially office and travel bags. According to Statista, luxury bags are now a $1.4 Bn market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.51% annually till 2028. However, such goods have a major environmental impact, which can’t be overlooked.

In a bid to cull the impact of such products on the environment, Nischal and Nikhil Sharma set up Svenklas, a brand that makes luxury bags from sustainable materials, in 2017. With a total of 24 SKUs across six categories, the brand’s flagship products are its unisex backpacks.

Svenklas, which manufactures its products in Gurugram and Noida, claims to ensure sustainability across its supply chain, including clean energy-powered manufacturing and fair wages to workers. The startup currently sells all its products online via its website and other ecommerce channels. Svenklas recently launched its offline stores in Delhi and Mumbai and stepped outside India by opening a distribution channel in the Middle East.

As of now, Svenklas has set its eyes on introducing new products, keeping its female audience in mind, while its long-term plans include expanding to the Southeast Asian market.

TaxNodes

Simplifying Crypto Tax Complications

While India has not yet implemented comprehensive regulations governing cryptocurrencies, it did bring crypto transactions under taxation in July 2022. Founded in December 2022 by Avinash Shekhar, Singapore-based TaxNodes is a crypto tax startup that aims to simplify crypto profitability assessment, taxation, and reporting in India.

TaxNodes streamlines the tax computation process for both retail investors and cryptocurrency exchanges. The startup allows users to automate crypto taxation by consolidating transactions from multiple sources, including various exchanges, peer-to-peer trades, private wallets, and diverse blockchains, providing near real-time profit/loss calculations and portfolio tracking.

TaxNodes not only caters to individual investors but also assists crypto exchanges in enhancing their internal controls, automating crypto accounting and integrating with traditional accounting systems.

Furthermore, TaxNodes offers solutions to government regulators, empowering them to ensure tax and regulatory compliance among crypto users and exchanges through audit tools.

Teleport

Enabling Hassle-Free Tourist Visas

Obtaining a tourist visa can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially for individuals unfamiliar with the requirements. The extensive documentation and long wait times can disrupt travel plans.

Nikita Dresswala encountered these challenges during her three-week cycling journey across Southeast Asia. Her experiences, coupled with her visa application struggles, led her to establish Teleport in 2022. Today, the startup streamlines the visa application process for travellers by offering automated flows, guided steps, and data-driven decisions to maximise visa approval rates. 

Teleport provides tourist visas for over 40 countries, including popular destinations like France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malaysia, and more. Powered by AI and ML, the platform automates various tasks in the visa application process. It also leverages its AI and ML capabilities to provide users with personalised advice and recommendations.

The travel tech startup monetises its platform via commissions from visa applications and from more than 100 travel agents who use its platform. In the short term, Teleport aims to process 1 Lakh visas in 2023, with long-term plans to expand into other travel-related services, including forex, eSIMs, and insurance.

Ulipsu

Empowering Students With Multi-Skill Learning

In India, the need of the hour is to align the skill sets that are taught in schools with the demands of industries. Addressing this, in the ever-expanding edtech universe, Ulipsu stands out as an OTT-like platform that offers a wide range of skill development courses for school students.

Set up in 2022 by Sumanth Prabhu and Nikhil Bhaskar, Ulipsu is an OTT-like edtech platform that offers multiple skilling courses for schoolgoers. The platform features basic to intermediate courses across multiple future-ready subjects.

Ulipsu delivers its courses through mobile and web apps, with partner schools incorporating them into their curricula. The gamified content fosters effective and engaging learning, converting passive screen time into active learning. The gamified content that the startup offers helps children grasp better, ensuring an effective and comprehensive learning process.

The startup aims to increase its user base from 350K to over 1 Mn by 2025, driven by its partnerships with schools across the country.

ZEVO

Airbnb For Microwarehousing

Per the European Environment Agency, the logistics industry is one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions in the world, accounting for nearly 25% of the total global annual emissions. Experts opine that these numbers may rise to as much as 40% if corrective actions are not taken. Access to sustainable mobility for businesses remains patchy, especially in India, which contributes to the ecological damage. 

Chartered accountants and childhood friends Aditya Singh Ratnu and Dhruv Bhatia have first-hand experience in solving this problem even before they founded ZEVO in 2022. Their research on the electric mobility segment showed that the ecosystem lacked a suite of products and services that address sustainable mobility and micro-warehousing challenges.

As ecommerce fulfilment trends move towards same-day delivery and quick commerce, companies require sustainable solutions that address micro-warehousing (smaller delivery hubs) and last-mile logistics needs. 

ZEVO’s core products include electric vehicle mobility as a service (EVaaS), micro-warehousing as a service (MWaaS), temperature-controlled refrigerated delivery, refrigerated micro-warehousing and agricultural supply chain electrification.

The startup enables integrated same-day fulfilment on a demand or subscription basis. Businesses can book EVs for various purposes such as deliveries, transporting goods, as well as forward and reverse logistics for both refrigerated and non-refrigerated products. The startup is currently operational in Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai.

In the short term, the startup is working to expand its electric fleet and geographic reach to 3,000 EVs and 16 cities, respectively.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post 30 Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eyes In September 2023 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Upon being cornered on multiple fronts due to market meltdowns, diminishing investor confidence, pandemic, falling business metrics and negative cash flows, among other things, what would a majority of business owners do? Well, while many may give in and start afresh, only a few are likely to show resilience to die another day, not literally though.

Similar is the story of FlexiLoans, a Mumbai-based digital NBFC incorporated in 2016 and run by cofounders Deepak Jain, Manish Lunia and Ritesh Jain, which is largely driven by its instincts to survive and determination to go down swinging if it had to, in the face of major headwinds.

Within three years of its existence, the digital NBFC found itself in a lurch in the backdrop of the IL&FS crisis, India’s one of the most ghastly financial disasters.

Not to mention, the country’s very own Lehman Brothers-like event created a snowball effect, and prominent Indian NBFCs were bewildered as they saw their market share plummeting to unanticipated lows as borrowing costs started setting new records.

It was in the aftermath of the IL&FS event that Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL), one of the major Indian NBFCs, saw a sharp 60% drop in its stock price, as mutual funds dimmed their NBFC exposure by 20% YoY. Further, taking preventive measures to cull the occurrence of any such undesired events in the future, the RBI solidified licensing mandates, but the damage had already been done and investors were seen shying away from newly incorporated NBFCs.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place was FlexiLoans with a meagre asset under management (AUM) size of INR 150 Cr and a huge fixed cost. Nonetheless, the founders, Deepak Jain, Manish Lunia and Ritesh Jain decided to show resilience in driving the organisation through the turmoil with their effective leadership and business acumen.

While they were engaged in an uphill battle, bogged down in losses, a silver lining appeared in terms of revenues, which rose to INR 24.36 Cr in FY19 and INR 39.69 Cr in FY20 from INR 9.9 Cr in the crisis-led FY18, as per company filings with MCA.

But When It Rains It Pours…

Much to everyone’s chagrin, the unfortunate events were far from over. After sustaining the IL&FS crisis somehow and stabilising their expenditures in FY20, FlexiLoans got another jolt. However, this time, the crisis was not man-made.

We are talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought the world down to its knees. The mayhem called Covid-19 hit Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) the most as multiple lockdowns made their survival difficult. Many SMEs that had taken loans started defaulting, leading to an unprecedented surge in non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans.

Amid this, FlexiLoans continued to accumulate losses, while its revenues sank to INR 32.54 Cr in FY21.

“From early March to September 2020, our business came to a screeching halt, NPAs reached unprecedented levels, and we had to increase provisioning due to the RBI’s six-month moratorium on instalment payments,” Lunia said, reflecting on the challenging period.

However, the cofounders were determined and with a “this too shall pass” mindset, they once again braced themselves to fight yet another battle for survival.

Finally, their efforts to even out the odds proved fruitful, and in FY23, FlexiLoans was able to reignite its revenues and emerge as a dark horse by becoming profitable. During the year under review (FY23), the NBFC garnered INR 109.73 Cr in revenues with a net profit of INR 6.66 Cr, we were told.

According to the cofounders, FlexiLoans currently manages more than INR 1,000 Cr of AUM and has an annual disbursement run rate of over INR 4,000 Cr. It offers both term loans and supply chain business loans, with the former contributing 70% to its business. It also claims to have 100+ ecosystem partners who give them business leads. Some of these partners include Flipkart, Pine Labs and Paisabazaar.

“FlexiLoans has been profitable at a relatively early AUM compared to its peers due to its high operating leverage built on a frugal business model. We have been profitable since September 2022 month-on-month, and in FY24, we are all set to witness a healthy PAT number on the back of a significant build-up in AUM,” Lunia said.

FlexiLoans’ Balancing Act

According to Lunia, FlexiLoans ensured its survival by offering the lowest credit costs in the entire country. This helped them bring their loan write-off costs down dramatically.

“During the pandemic period, one of our major competitors wrote off over INR 300 Cr, while our total write-offs stood at only INR 8 Cr. Our credit costs and NPAs accounted for less than 5% of our revenue. Even banks couldn’t boast such ratios. Furthermore, while we restructured fees for only 7% of our customers, many other NBFCs had to go beyond the 40-50% mark,” a satisfied Lunia gloated.

The prudent financial management of the cofounders, fuelled by a strict control on costs, not only helped the company remain stable in 2020 but also enabled it to secure a debt and equity round of INR 150 Cr ($18 Mn) led by Falguni and Sanjay Nayar’s Family Office.  Falguni Nayar is the founder of Nykaa while Sanjay Nayar was the ex-advisor of KKR India and is now the founder of VC fund, Sorin.

Subsequently, in 2021, as liquidity and enthusiasm returned to the market, the company’s growth metrics improved, stabilising it further. During this period, FlexiLoans successfully secured another $90 Mn in a Series B debt and equity funding round.

“So, starting from INR 150 Cr, we achieved 100% growth in our AUM, reaching INR 350 Cr by the end of FY22. The credit costs for FY22 remained under 2.5%, once again below the industry average of 5%, even though we experienced marginal losses due to increased investments, provisions and the recruitment of senior management for the initial four months of FY23. However, since September 2022, we have consistently been profitable every month,” the cofounder added.

Crafting An Effective Acquisition Funnel

The cofounders deployed three key customer acquisition strategies to expand its reach among SMEs and boost loan disbursals.

Firstly, they forged partnerships with platforms that boast extensive SME networks. These platforms include ecommerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon, along with PoS players such as Pine Labs and Mswipe and neobanks like Open. When these partners onboarded their clients, they presented FlexiLoans’ offerings as an option, thereby fortifying SMEs’ trust in the NBFC.

Secondly, during the pandemic, when many lending players scaled back their operations, FlexiLoans seized the opportunity to collaborate with them and extend their offerings through their platforms. Consequently, FlexiLoans emerged as one of the top three lenders on the Paisabazaar platform.

Finally, between FY20 and FY23, the NBFC concentrated heavily on expanding its organic reach through digital marketing initiatives. The team initiated blog writing, leveraged vernacular content, and joined hands with Instagram influencers to promote the user-friendly onboarding process and standardised interest rates of the NBFC, thereby increasing its brand visibility.

By the time they entered FY23, they had already doubled their marketing budgets to stay competitive amid rising competition from firms like Lendingkart, and Kinara Capital among others.

“As a result, by the end of FY23, our website was attracting over 3 Lakh visitors monthly. Nevertheless, we remained committed to controlling our customer acquisition costs while investing in digital marketing,” he observed.

Today, FlexiLoans caters to an array of industries, including fashion and apparel, FMCG, groceries, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. Further, online sellers collectively constitute more than 50% of the company’s loan book.

This strategic diversity within their customer segment has allowed FlexiLoans to mitigate risks and capitalise on opportunities, ensuring robust growth and a stable lending portfolio.

The NBFC’s 73% customers are from Tier II cities and beyond, and the top states served by the organisation are Maharashtra (20%), Delhi (14%), Uttar Pradesh (12%), Gujarat (11%), and Karnataka (10%).

Betting Big On Tech And Bigger On Colending

At the core of FlexiLoans, technology plays a pivotal role in covering most of its operational processes — from onboarding of clients to underwriting and from data protection to data analysis. New-age technologies such as AI, ML, and Big Data are seamlessly integrated into every aspect of the company’s operations.

According to Lunia, the company’s ace up the sleeve is its risk models, which are meticulously trained to accurately assess and price unsecured MSME loans in India.

Not just this, FlexiLoans boasts a dedicated team of 100 experts who have helped it excel in complex areas like image processing, scoring, digital extraction, credit analysis, and financial analysis through AI/ML technologies.

Customer-uploaded documents are efficiently categorised and tagged by their in-house ML engine. Their in-house ML technologies can process hundreds of diverse documents within seconds, and their credit analytics tool provides real-time credit decisions.

FlexiLoans also possesses over 20 proprietary data science assets and five algorithms (yet to receive patents) that span the entire loan lifecycle. The technology platform allows the company to increase transparency and reduce bad debts.

“Today, we are 90-95% digital, but in certain cases, around 5%, we do require face-to-face interactions with customers. We have agency partners and a dedicated team spread across India to meet customers. Nonetheless, technology enables us to reach a wider audience and the need for physical meetings decreases accordingly,” Lunia said.

Meanwhile, recognising the role of collaborations in the digital lending space, FlexiLoans introduced Bi-Frost, an end-to-end API solution, which expedites integration with various lending institutions in a matter of weeks.

This initiative has empowered the company to facilitate working capital loans within 48 hours, boasting an impressive 98% approval rate from lending partners. Currently, FlexiLoans’ colending platform is being leveraged by over eight financial institutions.

What’s Next? 

Beyond expediting lending processes, FlexiLoans’ colending platform widens the pool of available capital for small businesses. It fosters new lending partnerships, promoting a more diverse and inclusive lending environment.

“Approximately 70% of our AUM growth is seamlessly supported by our partner lenders through our colending platform. Leading players like Fullerton, RBL Bank, and Karur Vysya Bank are already on board. Furthermore, we scaled our supply chain solutions eightfold in FY23, helped by the unique blend of vendor financing and BNPL solutions,” Lunia adds.

As of now, the cofounders are confident that FlexiLoans will surpass an AUM of INR 2,000 Cr this year. They envision an even stronger FY25 with INR 7,500 Cr in AUM, of course, with all eyes set on profitability.

Not just this, the cofounders are fixated on building a future-proof organisation by refining its product offerings and streamlining SME processes for SMEs. Additionally, the startup plans to expand its co-lending activities and forge partnerships with more PSU banks.

However, one of the major challenges for the company, and the sector, is getting access to longer-term, cost-effective capital. The availability of quality funds, on par with recognised banks, will go a long way in mitigating many NPA-related risks and creating a collaborative ecosystem to ensure win-win for all stakeholders.

The post After Six Years Of Resilience, How FlexiLoans Emerged Profitable In The High-Risk MSME Lending Arena appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Indian startup ecosystem is abuzz with the stories of individuals who have quit their high-paying jobs and embraced entrepreneurship to pursue their passions. Among these inspiring stories is that of Abhay Singh and Amit Kumar, cofounders of Eeki Foods, an agritech startup, which sprouted its roots towards the end of 2018.

Today, the startup specialises in growing high-quality, nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits with the help of its patented IoT-powered growing chambers or polyhouse. However, there is a lot underneath the creation of the startup that uses Internet of Things (IoT) to address the pain points of the Indian agri industry.

Before we dive into the story of Eeki Foods, it is essential to note that building an agritech startup was never part of Singh and Kumar’s plan when they met at IIT Bombay.

After graduating from one of the country’s premier institutes, Kumar entered the world of product design and IoT, while Singh pursued business development with startups.

Even though the duo was involved in different job roles, the only thing that kept them together was their vision, in pursuance of which they zeroed in on solving a global challenge — the scarcity of high-quality agricultural produce.

Then came the day when Singh and Kumar finally bid adieu to their jobs and made it their mission to support sustainable agriculture and combat malnutrition by producing fresh, healthy, and affordable fruits and vegetables. 

Refraining from the urge to rush into establishing a startup, Kumar and Singh first built a rooftop polyhouse in Kota in March 2018. Their aim was to make a hi-tech chamber that was capable of reducing human efforts that go into maintaining farmlands and could boost the production of quality farm yield. 

After months of research and development, the duo created an IoT-powered growing chamber from polymer composites. The chamber was capable of enhancing nutrient absorption in plants, which, in turn, promised optimal farm growth.

While polymer composites helped them create a higher-quality sustainable chamber, their IoT tech stack made the production cost-effective. The cofounders claim that they found a natural alternative to insecticides and pesticides, which was mint plants, helping them further deter the cost of their produce.

Now that Kumar and Singh were fully equipped, they incorporated Eeki Foods in December 2018. Today, Eeki Foods specialises in growing high-quality, nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits using their patented IoT-powered growing chambers. 

The startup collaborates with landowners, including the ones that hold barren tracts, to set up their state-of-the-art growing chambers. This partnership not only enables landlords to earn tax-free agricultural income but also facilitates year-round farming, effectively transforming their lands into long-term fixed assets.

Eeki Foods’ business model has attracted significant investor interest, and since its inception, the startup has raised a total of INR 70 Cr from investors such as General Catalyst, Avaana Capital, iStart, GSF Accelerator and Better Capital.

The agritech startup, which claims to have cloaked revenues to the tune of INR 29 Cr in FY23, is ambitiously targeting INR 65 Cr in revenue for FY24, up 124% year-on-year (YoY). Currently, the cofounders of the agritech startup have partnered with 18 farms to revolutionise the Indian farm landscape.

Eeki Foods’ Initial Hits And Misses

Before setting up their rooftop polyhouse in Kota, the duo embarked on extensive grassroots research. They travelled across India to understand various farming techniques while gaining insights into how the Indian climate impacts crop production.

Their research revealed that many of the conventional farming practices in the country were unsustainable and financially burdensome. They also discovered that Indian consumers had a strong preference for locally grown produce over exotic varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies and more. However, there was a glaring absence of high-quality Indian agricultural products. 

This realisation changed the mindset of the cofounders, who initially aspired to cultivate exotic vegetables for the metro markets in India.

As they progressed, the cofounders experimented with various farming methods, including the use of coco-peat (a coconut derivative used to grow crops) and aquaponics (using fish to grow crops). While these methods showed promising results, the only lacuna was the cost associated with them. However, in the backdrop, the duo did not stop burning the midnight oil to come up with their solutions to produce high-quality farm yields cheaply, which they eventually did.

“As we moved ahead, we realised that we needed to create awareness around the kind of low-quality farm produce people are being served on their plates and how we can introduce them to high-quality affordable fruits and vegetables,” Singh said. 

For this, the cofounders joined hands with retail distributors to connect with a wider range of consumers. This move also helped them spread nutritional awareness and counter the consequences of consuming low-quality vegetables.

Their dedication and perseverance bore fruit when, in June 2019, Eeki Foods received its first funding from a local investor. The fund infusion helped the cofounders take initial first steps towards advancing their technology, and by January 2020, they ended up establishing their first R&D farm spanning 10,000 sq ft in Rangpur to assess the scalability of their technology. 

Progressing further, in March 2021, the duo set foot in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, by setting up a farm on a half-acre piece of land, making their first commercial move. 

Close on the heels, GSF Accelerator provided seed funding in May 2021 and became the first venture capital firm to believe in its vision. 

By December 2021, with substantial funding and investor trust, Eeki Foods constructed four more commercial farms, which are today selling fresh high-quality farm produce across Rajasthan. 

Observing the potential of the cofounders, Avaana Capital infused $2 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round in February 2022, further bolstering the startup’s growth trajectory. As of November 2022, Eeki Foods had more than 40 acres of IoT-enabled farms under development across India.

“We also received a significant boost from the Rajasthan government’s iStart initiative, which infused INR 20 Lakh in our startup. They have also opened doors to valuable networking opportunities that are helpful in building connections with potential key stakeholders,” the cofounders said.

Today, Eeki Foods has five acres of land in Panipat (Haryana) and over 15 acres of land in Rajasthan. By the end of 2023, the startup plans to collaborate with landowners in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

What’s The Business Model?

Eeki Foods employs a multifaceted approach. As mentioned above, to expand its reach and empower the agriculture sector the startup partners with landowners that have unused pieces of land. 

These landowners provide land and the necessary capital for establishing the farm. This allows Eeki Foods to leverage otherwise idle lands into productive use by establishing their IoT-enabled growing chambers. Meanwhile, landowners receive tax-free profits from the produce, which is sold in the metro markets via vegetable distributors.

Companies like Country Delight, Barton Breeze and Fit Farms have also partnered with Eeki Foods to offer fresh quality indigenous vegetables directly to consumers.  

What’s At The Heart Of Eeki Foods’ Tech Stack

Eeki Foods harnesses the power of IoT technology to create suitable conditions for crops inside its specialised growing chambers. This technology facilitates remote monitoring of critical factors like temperature and humidity, enabling farmers to oversee conditions from a distance.

As stated earlier, these growing chambers are made from a special polymer composite material, which provides the ideal environment for plant roots, ensuring superior quality vegetable production year-round at all Eeki Foods’ farms. 

Additionally, these chambers not only aid in effective nutrient absorption by the plants but also enable farmers to directly observe the roots, making it easier to spot and address any issues quickly.

Not just this, the tech automates adjustments to maintain suitable growing conditions and sends alerts if problems arise. This ensures consistent and ideal conditions and contributes to greater energy efficiency.

The Road Ahead  

Eeki Foods is committed to advancing its cost-effective farming technology and aims to develop its growing chambers to reduce farming costs by 30%. 

Additionally, it plans to leverage machine learning to enable predictive disease analysis and proactively address nutritional deficiencies in crops and pest attacks. 

Eeki Foods has also developed specialised recipes for providing the right nutrients to specific crops, such as cucumbers and various types of tomatoes. 

“The integration of IoT and data analytics empowers farmers with valuable insights to enhance crop yields. Sustainability and eco-friendly practices are gaining momentum, contributing to reduced carbon emissions and the fight against climate change,” cofounders said. 

The cofounders believe that with active support from the government through various schemes, agritech is poised to play a pivotal role in reshaping India’s agriculture sector.

Eeki Foods competes with the likes of Unnati Agri, Leads Connect, DeHaat, VEGROW, BharatAgri and Ergos in the Indian agritech space. Notably, each of these startups employs distinct business models and offers diverse tech solutions to address unique agricultural challenges.

Per an Ernst & Young report, the Indian agritech industry is expected to grow to a size of $24.1 Bn by 2025. As of now, agritech startups like Eeki seem to be sitting on a massive market opportunity with their innovative solutions devised to help farmers multiply their income and farm yield. 

The post How Eeki Foods Is Revolutionising Farming With Its IoT-Powered Growing Chambers appeared first on Inc42 Media.

“One of the keys for Indifi has been neutralising the pre-existing biases and assumptions in MSME lending. That is helping us get a larger share of women-run MSMEs and cater to high-risk MSMEs without much risk,” Indifi cofounder and CEO Alok Mittal

MSME lending in India remains the big hope for a host of digital lending startups. Even as fintech startups and ‘super apps’ have flocked to the lending aisle to shore up flagging revenue from other segments, the likes of Indifi and others are banking on their competitive advantage and MSME-specific risk models to edge out the new competition.

Founded in 2015 by Mittal, Siddharth Mahanot. and Sudeep Sahi, the startup claims to have hit its first profitability milestone in February 2022. Sahi quit the company in 2017 and is currently the founder of a payroll management company, Skuad.

Indifi reported a net profit of INR 5.1 Cr in FY23 as compared to a loss of INR 32.8 Cr in FY22, its maiden profit for the full year. Revenue from operations more than doubled to INR 198 Cr in March 2023 from INR 96 Cr, and Mittal is confident about maintaining this growth rate in FY24 as well.

This makes it a rare startup in the fintech space, as 40 out of the 48 fintech unicorns and soonicorns posted losses in FY22. This includes some direct rivals to Indifi besides the likes of CRED, BharatPe, PhonePe Paytm and the ones who also lend to merchants.

With rising digitisation and the constantly growing credit needs of MSMEs, the digital lending sector has emerged as a vital segment within fintech. India is estimated to be home to more than 63 Mn MSMEs, as per the MSME ministry data.

Gurugram-based Indifi’s growth in the past year has also attracted investors, even amid the ongoing funding winter. The startup raised $35 Mn in a Series E round in June this year, taking its lifetime funding tally to over $120 Mn.

Now, armed with this capital, Indifi and Mittal are ready to double down on the strategy that has unlocked profitable growth in the past two years.

How Covid Changed Indifi

First, some context on why digital lending emerged as something of a winner in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) space after Covid. Before 2020, most MSME lending was led by banks and NBFCs, but as more MSMEs adopted digital tools during the pandemic, digital lending players leveraged the new data that was created to scale up.

The RBI’s 2022 report on ‘Trend and Progress of Banking in India’ noted that in the post-Covid period, credit growth to MSMEs in the industrial sector was distinctly higher on a year-on-year basis, as well as in comparison with credit growth to large industries.

Mittal recalled that Indifi pretty much restarted the business in June 2021 at about the same level that it had left it in March 2020 when the pandemic began. “In those 15 months, our risk models got stronger. When you go through these down cycles, the negative data of the cycle starts to come into your models,” Mittal told Inc42.

The cofounder and CEO also believes that the market conditions and the improved risk models from the Covid era helped streamline collection capacity and processes for Indifi, as it did for most of the other players.

Competing with the likes of Incred, Yubi, Lendingkart, Kinara Capital among a host of other players, Indifi primarily provides unsecured term loans and credit lines to MSMEs. The model involves lending directly from the NBFC as well as a marketplace for other lenders.

Indifi’s focus is entirely on the MSME class and retail merchants, whereas competitors have occupied other niches. Kinara Capital for instance is focussed on manufacturing, whereas ofBusiness has built its lending play around commodity supply chains as well as manufacturing.

This allows the startup to not only get direct revenue from interest on loans but also through origination and collection fees from third-party lenders. The diversification in the revenue stream helps Indifi shore up the bottom line, but for Mittal and Indifi, the real growth story has come in the past two years amid the pandemic.

Since July 2021, Indifi claims to have quadrupled its business on a monthly basis in terms of assets under management. To date, Mittal claims Indifi has disbursed more than 89,000 loans, with a cumulative value of over INR 4,100 Cr.

The company claims to have an average ticket size of INR 5 Lakh across the borrower base. A majority of its customers (63%) are from metro locations.

Mittal claimed that Indifi targets and maintains a 2.5%-3% rate of gross non-performing assets (NPAs). But how exactly have Indifi’s risk models evolved in the past two years and what does the founder mean when he talks about negative data from the Covid era?

Rewriting MSME Lending Risk Models

To start with, we all know that Covid created a lot of stress for MSMEs, resulting in a dramatic increase in their credit needs. The government schemes guaranteeing credit for MSMEs are a key indicator of the need in the market in mid-2020.

But Mittal emphasises that any credit slowdown doesn’t affect all MSMEs in the same manner.

“We started to get data around what kind of MSMEs are more vulnerable to stress relative to others. We modelled the stress response of different MSMEs differently. In a normal case, a particular MSME operates in a certain fashion, but is it resilient to stressful situations? That is the new dimension we added to our models,” the Indifi CEO, who was previously the managing director of Canaan Partners, added.

While conventionally, underwriting has been done with a view to take a yes or no decision on a particular application, Mittal said Indifi wanted to delve deep into segment and category data.

“We can take a different approach, a more proven approach of understanding what is the absolute level of risk that this (any business or category) represents. If someone represents a 1% risk of default, then I can price it differently for that customer than someone who represents a 5% risk of default,” he added.

Indifi’s Category-Specific Risk Models

Breaking this down, Mittal reveals the three key elements that are factored into the customer models:

• The Extent Of Digitalisation Of The MSME 
• How Underserved The Category Is 
• How Indifi Can Fill The Gap

“Strategically, we have chosen to be in the unserved to underserved MSME zone. We don’t want to go after the same demand that banks are going after because we cannot compete on pricing there,” he added.

The rationale is that this is typically the customers and categories that have credit concerns. Take for example the restaurant business, where working capital needs keep growing as the business scales and the rate of failure is very high.

Banks and NBFCs don’t typically create business-level models, the CEO claimed. “They create surface-level models but not business survival models. So, those are the core gaps that we look at.”

Something like 15% of restaurants go out of business every year, he claimed. Indifi claims to have built an industry-first model to predict whether a restaurant will be alive in 18 months or not. However, the segment-level risks very often do not manifest themselves in cash flow projections.

“So, we ask deeper questions — which micro market are they in? What cuisine are they serving? What is the price point? What are customers saying about them? These end up being more predictive of future performance and most importantly survival than the current cash flows,” Mittal told Inc42.

The other major differentiation is, of course, the tech platform, where Indifi has automated some onboarding processes for new customers and where it feeds in market data as it is evolving for various MSME categories. Besides customer-level data, Indifi leverages new data streams.

According to Mittal, what helps digital lending companies is that they are more agile in adopting new processes and technology such as automating underwriting processes, KYC and managing customer contactability. ”Banks are not adjusting for more data as quickly, and there are biases in the way they approach particular categories,” the Indifi chief added.

Similarly, other MSMEs have specific risks that vary from category to category. For instance, in the MSME travel business, the risk is about what the working capital will be used for because often it is used for personal expenses such as real estate. In ecommerce, there are pricing, discounting and commoditisation risks.

“These questions vary across segments, and hence, our solution to them varies depending on the answer. And these answers are then baked into our risk models. For instance, we know that contactability of entrepreneurs has improved, so we use the extent of contactability data to assess risks,” the cofounder added.

Technology adoption for customer verification and KYC includes paperless onboarding and continuous KYC compliance. Indifi uses a risk-based approach (RBA) to address and manage identified risks, and this in turn has improved collections as well.

When it comes to collections, Indifi has an in-house team and uses recovery agencies across states. “We have implemented a tiered system based on postal codes, which have been configured through an AI/ML-based scoring engine through the analysis of thousands of our customers. By categorising regions based on their capability and risk profiles, we are better equipped to allocate resources where they are most needed.”

Gaining With Financial Inclusion 

The category-specific approach has paid off for Indifi so far in terms of revenue growth. For Indifi, the approach has yielded favourable outcomes for lending to businesses run by women entrepreneurs, another niche and underserved category.

Mittal believes that the unfavourable outcomes typically seen around lending to women entrepreneurs are largely due to the bias that women entrepreneurs face today from traditional lenders.

Financial inclusion is a major objective for most of India’s MSME lenders, as priority sector lending by banks and NBFCs has not managed to close the credit gap for businesses run by women entrepreneurs.

“If you look at the broad MSME market, about 20% of the businesses are run by women but formal credit penetration is less than 10%. If you take microfinance out, which is the primary women-centric model in MSME lending, the situation is even worse,” according to the Indifi CEO.

Women MSME entrepreneurs find it harder to raise capital than their male counterparts because there are biases in the traditional banking and NBFC system.

“So, in our case, what we have done is take that variable out so our risk models don’t have a gender variable. And just by doing this, we’ve been able to level the playing field. In our case, 20% to 25% of borrowers are women-run MSMEs,” Mitttal added.

Digital MSME lending players have become critical enablers of the economy by supplementing the bank and NBFC credit lines. Despite several startups competing for the pie, Mittal believes MSME lending is severely underpenetrated.

To reach new categories of businesses, Indifi is eyeing lending products in supply chain finance, secured loans, and even non-lending use cases such as insurance, payments and wealth tech where there’s a real opportunity to disrupt the MSME space.

As per Inc42’s ‘State Of The Indian Fintech Report Q2 2023’ report, the lending tech market opportunity will grow at a 22% CAGR from $270 Bn in calendar year 2022 to $1.3 Tn by 2030.

Mittal is confident that the market has more than enough room for the host of competitors. His bullishness seems reasonable from a financial inclusion lens. Only 15% of the MSME credit demand is being fulfilled by all the players combined, the CEO added.

For Indifi, this room for growth means more opportunities for all players to solve the financial inclusion problem. Ultimately, a thriving MSME sector will lift all players in the fintech space.

The post How Indifi Honed Its Indian MSME Lending Playbook For 2X Revenue Growth In FY23 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Think Azadpur Mandi, one of the biggest wholesale markets in India dealing in fruits and vegetables, and one can easily imagine huge gunny bags filled to capacity and a long row of pickup vehicles patiently waiting outside to deliver bulk orders.

Ask ‘cargo owners’ if fast and efficient transportation is a huge challenge and they will agree en masse. Things are so chaotic that business owners seek the services of brokers/agents (read intermediaries) to arrange deliveries. Worse still, owners of small fleets have to wait long and negotiate the fares, often making losses due to delayed load availability, payments and random deductions.

But the scenario has changed to a large extent after Gurugram-based Raaho started operating as the ‘Uber for trucks’ in India. It connects shippers (third-party logistics/3PL players) with truck/fleet owners in about 15-20 minutes, focussing on efficiency and operational transparency in a largely unorganised inter-city trucking sector.

Raaho was founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur Md Imthiaz, Muralidharan Chandrashekhar, Vipul Sharma, Abu Fahad and Joshua Jebakumar. Operational since 2017, it is  an online truck aggregator and on-demand inter-city truck-hailing platform that eliminates the need for intermediaries. The startup uses machine learning and data science for freight matching and route optimisation, thus slashing extra miles and emissions and guaranteeing higher incomes for the trucking community.

In 2014, Imthiaz exited hyperlocal reward and discovery platform. The serial entrepreneur began searching for his next project and wanted to venture into the grocery space.

But before starting up, the founders frequently visited Azadpur Mandi for a deeper understanding of the supply chain dynamics. During these visits, they witnessed for the first time the difficulties faced by truckers.

“They depend on brokers for the freight,” recalled Imthiaz. Moreover, the freight matching is done completely manually using a register that contains all essential data such as the driver’s name, licence number of the vehicle and vehicle type with information on the origin & destination (called ODVT in the industry parlance). This manual method was time-consuming and quite inefficient. Truck owners used to report to those brokers early in the day and waited until the evening/ next day for their freight.

Besides the chaotic demand-supply scenario, the founders noticed yet another problem. “Small truckers owning fewer than 10 trucks dominate this fragmented market,” said Imthiaz. So, optimised asset utilisation is critical for these truckers for a steady revenue flow, which means they require quick and consistent freight orders.

Aware that the segment was ripe for disruption, the five set up Raaho.  Its key clientele includes the prominent transporters and 3PL players such as Delhivery, Gati, RITCO, Safexpress, Om Logistics, TCI (Transport Corporation of India), V Trans, Okay Logistics among others.

The startup has onboarded 3,800+ fleet owners and now covers as many as 15 cities, including Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Patna and more.

In March 2023, the startup raised INR 20 Cr from Inflection Point Ventures (IPV), Roots Ventures, Blume Founders Fund and marquee angels like Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Kunal Shah and more as part of its extended Pre-Series A round. It clocked INR 129 Cr in revenue in FY23, a 3x jump from the previous financial year, claimed Imthiaz.

Raaho’s Inclusive Solutions For Key Stakeholders

In a bid to change how logistics operations are carried out, Raaho has developed a B2B model, keeping in mind all three stakeholders. These include businesses/shippers needing to deliver bulk orders efficiently; fleet owners, mostly small players, offering transportation services, and drivers on the ground responsible for transporting goods within states and across state lines. Despite their codependence, there is a clear lack of convergence among these stakeholders, the critical challenge the platform aims to address.

To that end, the startup has developed three separate apps on Google Playstore for shippers, truck owners and drivers – each tailored to meet the specific requirements of respective stakeholders.

To begin with, a shipper can raise a booking request via the shipper app by specifying the pickup and delivery locations, type of freight and desired delivery date. On the trucker app, fleet owners can bid on the request by setting the price they will accept for the load. Next, Raaho uses its algorithms to list the highest bids and nearest locations matching the freight request. Raaho provides real-time shipment tracking when a job is accepted.

The platform streamlines the entire process, including easy onboarding of truck owners and drivers, document uploading and managing the same through shared access.

The startup also helps drivers working for fleet owners. On the Raaho driver app, they can easily indicate their readiness for a load and receive round-the-clock customer support They also gain by finding instant loads, optimised routes and quick payments. In contrast, offline brokers can seldom suggest shortest routes and the traditional payment cycles are usually longer. According to Imthiaz, Raaho’s partner trucks cover about 11,000 km per month, significantly higher than the industry standard of 8,000 km.

“There is a substantial boost in income for our partner truck owners and drivers due to this increased efficiency. Their earnings have seen a remarkable surge of approximately 35%,” said Imthiaz.

Raaho also handles payments seamlessly and ensures truckers get 90% in advance via a secure digital payment solution on the app. The remaining amount is paid within 24 hours of the submission of proof of delivery, revealed the founder.

Raaho’s revenue model is pretty straightforward. It earns a margin on every trip made through its platform. The margin is the difference between what a shipper pays and what Raaho pays to the truck owner undertaking the delivery. In the marketplace parlance, this is often called the ‘take rate’.

Will Customer Support, Tech-Managed Trucking Drive Growth?

Raaho’s inclusive business model and tech-driven capabilities have brought much-needed operational transparency to commercial trucking. The rising digital awareness across India is another boon for the platform, which plans to double the number of truck owners and drivers from 3,800+ to 8,000+ by the end of FY24. It also aims to reach every pin code in the next three to five years.

That is easier said than done, as the logistics space in India is still fraught with many challenges. Consider this. When Raaho began its operations six years ago, digital awareness was low and convincing the trucking community to switch from the age-old agent system to a fully digitalised platform was daunting. More importantly, digital payments, which form the backbone of the platform’s business model, were not widely adopted at the time. In brief, the concept of a ‘digital Bharat’ was taking shape, but early adopters were few and far between.

Still, those very challenges helped build a stellar customer support team, always ready to assist shippers, fleet owners and drivers via its digital channels. The team conducted onboarding campaigns in locations with high road freight demand. The goal was to build trust among these players, get them comfortable with digital processes and onboard them seamlessly.

Incidentally, Imthiaz and other founders had gone the extra mile to ensure they understood the trucker problem. They invested their own money, approximately INR 2 Cr, to buy 10 trucks and drove them around the country to understand the life of  truck drivers and what hindered smooth operations. Their first-hand experience helped build what Raaho is today.

Even the Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a game-changer due to the surge in digital awareness and mass adoption of digital tech, including online payments. Add to that proactive policy initiatives, improved infrastructure and the focus on sustainable logistics, which amply explain why India has climbed up six places in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index in 2023.

This does not mean Raaho can grow exponentially without tapping into the latest technology. For starters, a handful of startups like BlackBuck and Vahak use deeptech applications to transform India’s trucking sector, as 66% of the cargo (in tonne-km) movement in the country is done via road transportation. This logistics trend has unleashed a mammoth opportunity for young logistics companies, and Raaho, too, is keen to leverage it.

“Raaho will introduce the National Digital Freight Index, showcasing daily vehicle and lane-wise pricing. This nationwide launch is set for 2024,” said Imthiaz.

Finally, trucking startups like Raaho are trying to tackle one of the toughest challenges of inter-city trucking: The deadhead miles. They refer to the extra distance that empty trucks must travel to pick up the next shipment after unloading their cargo.

But this issue is not limited to India alone. Even developed economies like the US face the same challenge. According to a report by Convoy, a trucking software company, up to 35% of U.S. truck miles may be empty. In India, the situation can be worse due to the fragmented nature of the industry.

Deadhead miles result in massive losses for truck owners because they are not paid for the time and the fuel. A report by ICICI Lombard suggests that the Indian logistics sector incurred an annual loss of $21.3 Bn in 2022 due to order delays and extra fuel consumption.

Nothing short of tech-driven load matching, smart routing and real-time monitoring and communications can do away with these hurdles and drive growth across India’s deeply fragmented logistics sector that costs between 13-14% of GDP. Can Raaho and its ilk put things right with the help of a multimodal digital infrastructure and sustainable strategies?

The post How Raaho Is Using Tech To Transform India’s Fragmented Commercial Trucking appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With Indian startups shifting their focus from growth at all costs to achieving sustainable profitability, the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem is going through a paradigm shift.

Unfortunately, this much-needed shift has come at a time when investors are restraining from writing large cheques, despite sitting on billions of dollars of dry powder.

However, what stands out is the fact that taking lessons from past mistakes, Indian startups have now started to innovate like never before, achieving maturity and thereby becoming more promising bets for both domestic and international investors.

Despite this upheaval in the startup ecosystem, innovation and the launch of new ventures have refused to stop on a dime. While the pace may not match that of 2-3 years ago, what’s particularly intriguing is that these new ventures are largely being helmed by individuals who have previously held top roles in large corporations and startups.

And continuing our tradition, we are back with the 39th edition of 30 Startups To Watch to shine a spotlight on the early stage startups who are set to become disruptors of tomorrow. What makes these startups appealing is the way they have embraced technology to run businesses efficiently, with a key focus on solving real-world challenges.

What’s more fascinating is that at the core of the operations of many of these startups is their conscious efforts to serve environmental, social and governance (ESG) obligations.

As many as 20 of the 30 startups that comprise the August edition of our endeavour to identify cream-of-the-crop early stage ventures operate in the B2B space, with none of them having raised more than $1.5 Mn in funding since their establishment. Incidentally, last month’s edition of 30 Startups To Watch featured 17 startups from the B2B segment. 

This also mirrors the trend that an increasing number of Indian founders today want to solve enterprise-level problems, thereby building a customer base that has lower acquisition costs but higher average revenue per user compared to their B2C counterparts.

Without any further ado, here are the startups which caught our attention in August.

Editor’s Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.

30 Startups To Watch: August 2023

Attron Automotive

Solving Component Sourcing Challenges For Indian EV OEMs

One of the primary obstacles in India’s burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) sector is the dearth of essential components such as batteries, motors, and controllers. Attron Automotive, a Pune-based startup, aims to handle this with an iron hand by introducing motors and controllers with advanced features.

Mosam Ugemuge and Shubham Pode, schoolmates and now the founders of Attron, had long dreamed of becoming entrepreneurs one day. Their desire in this direction was fuelled when they collaborated on a race car project in their earlier years. In 2021, when the EV industry was booming, the duo shifted their focus from building a motorcycle to developing customised EV components, solving sourcing challenges for Indian EV OEMs. Later, Udhay Singh and Mohit Borkar, too, joined the startup as cofounders.

Today, the startup’s product line consists of high-performance electric motors and controllers tailored for various applications, including EVs, industrial machinery, defence systems, marine vessels, aviation, and agriculture. 

With its patented technology, Attron Automotive aims to enhance the performance of EVs in India while staying committed to meeting stringent environmental standards. 

The startup wants to enter the EV market with its offerings in 2024. Further, it plans to expand its product portfolio by incorporating e-drive systems, comprising a motor, controller, and gearbox, in its fancy lineup of products.

Blend

AI-Powered Design Partner for Ecommerce Success

Design plays a pivotal role in shaping a brand’s identity, and it often constitutes a significant portion of a brand’s expenses. To put things in perspective, the process of photographing products and formatting images to meet the diverse image guidelines of various ecommerce platforms can cost a lot.

With a background in ecommerce, Vaibhav Prakash, Vishwanath Kollapudi, and Jamsheed Kamardeen recognised the challenges faced by small ecommerce businesses, as these often struggle to allocate substantial budgets for branding. In response to this, the trio came together to establish Blend.

The startup offers an AI photo editor, graphic designer, and poster maker platform for digital creators, small businesses, online sellers, ecommerce sellers and online resellers. The startup offers three flagship products — Background Remover, Magic Create and AI-generated background scenes. Magic Create, for instance, uses generative AI to create custom designs with a simple prompt. 

Similarly, its background scene-generating feature also deploys generative AI to develop backgrounds for product images. Lastly, Blend’s background-removing tool does what it says on the tin – removes backgrounds from images for further editing. The startup also allows its users to edit images in batches.

Blend also offers a DAAS (design-as-a-service) set of APIs that allow users to remove backgrounds from images and access the startup’s growing library of templates to use in social media posts, ecommerce creatives and more.

Coupl

A Neobank For Young Couples

Today, on a global scale, India is known to foster one of the most reliable and robust banking systems. However, when it comes to catering to specific verticals like teenagers, couples, and freelancers, Indian banks have yet to scale up. 

Understand the need of the hour, a Bengaluru-based startup is focussed on resolving the evolving financial requirements of couples.

Founded in 2022 by Srinivas Sarkar, and Kushagra Manglik, Coupl wants to position itself as a neobank for young couples and simplify their shared financial management. They provide a joint wallet equipped with two RuPay cards, one for each partner, facilitating shared expense management. Couples can pool funds into the Coupl Joint Wallet, execute shared payments via individual RuPay virtual cards, and establish auto-deposits. 

Additionally, Coupl has partnered with Bharat BillPay, an NPCI-powered service, to enable seamless utility bill payments through their app. The app is available on both the Google Play Store and the App Store.

Traditional joint accounts are typically restricted to married or blood-related individuals, excluding unmarried couples, LGBTQ couples, and live-in partners. Coupl wants to disrupt this paradigm by offering a swift solution regardless of the relationship status.

Covrzy

Disrupting Business Insurance For SMEs & Startups

Even though insurance is vital for contingency planning in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and startups, a substantial number of such companies often overlook the necessity of choosing required safety nets.

Founded in 2023 by Ankit Kamra and Veera Thota, Bengaluru-based Covrzy aims to assist founders in securing their businesses against a variety of risks. The business insurance aggregator offers the right insurance recommendations for startups and SMEs based on their needs, such as workforce and category of work.

However, Covrzy aspires to go beyond a conventional insurance aggregator. The founders claim the product will directly help founders and business owners navigate the complexities of business risk and insurance claims.

For instance, its recommendation engine considers the specific details of an industry and sector to suggest coverage that’s tailor-made for startups and SMEs. Further, businesses can complete the purchase of insurance entirely on WhatsApp thanks to the Covrzy chatbot.

Covrzy claims to have onboarded more than 150 businesses as customers and is targeting 1,000 clients by the upcoming quarter.

DailyPe

Helping MSMEs Manage Their Daily Cash Flows

Despite being one of the largest contributors to the Indian economy, The Indian MSME sector continues to grapple with several issues, with easy access to financing being the most prominent one. 

To address this glaring gap, Shashwat Shrikhande and Saurabh Gupta founded DailyPe, a lending tech startup, in 2023 to solve the daily cash flow needs of micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

The Surat-based startup provides business loans to MSMEs such as medical stores, food joints, mobile repairing shops, and saloons, among others, which depend on daily revenues for their day-to-day operations. By offering daily loans, as low as INR 5K, DailyPe claims to ease bookkeeping efforts for such business owners.

Not just this, DailyPe offers collateral-free loans at low-interest rates. It currently claims to have a portfolio value of more than INR 100 Cr. It aims to generate revenues to the tune of INR 30 Cr in 2024 and achieve a customer retention rate of 80%.

Going forward, it wants to obtain a bank licence and build a portfolio size of INR 5,000 Cr with revenues of INR 1,000 Cr. It also aims to expand its offerings by taking multiple financial products such as savings, current and demat accounts, and insurance under its ambit.

Devnagri

Breaking Linguistic Barriers With AI-Human Collaboration

In a bid to unlock the full potential of the internet for Indian netizens, Himanshu Sharma and Nakul Kundra founded Devnagri, an AI-enabled language translation platform, in 2019. Today, the platform can translate online content into all major Indian languages, including English. Not just this, Devnagri also offers translation for documents, websites, mobile apps, APIs, images, and searches.

Along with this, the founders have developed a machine translation engine, which allows users to translate between languages automatically and the platform can also be trained to fit certain industry-specific contexts.

Devnagri’s translation services are powered by a combination of artificial intelligence and human translators. The AI helps to provide a quick and accurate translation, while human interventions ensure that the translations are accurate and culturally appropriate.

The startup claims that it has 100+ paying users, which include brands like Zomato, Swiggy, Policybazaar, Meesho, and Network18. The startup earns revenues by offering subscription plans on a monthly and yearly basis.

Expertia AI

Hiring Gets An AI Tweak

Hiring has always been a time-consuming process, as it sometimes takes anywhere between weeks to months for businesses to hire the right talent. Yet, there is a high chance of candidates backing out or not proving to be the right cultural fit, which may lead to high attrition rates.

Having met at the Entrepreneur First (EF) cohort in 2021, a former researcher at IBM, Akshay Gugnani, and the cofounder of Koovs.com, Kanishk Shukla, joined hands to address this issue together, and from this partnership emerged Expertia AI, an AI-enabled platform built to assist hiring teams across companies.

The startup offers an AI-powered recruiting platform for end-to-end hiring, the Expertia Recruiter, which can go beyond the resume to understand the skills, personality and background of the candidate and provide a certain Expertia score. 

The platform not only identifies a candidate’s skills but also pinpoints skill gaps. It actively engages with candidates on various fronts and makes them offer-ready. The startup boasts a user base of over 9,500 companies and has successfully screened and assessed more than 4 Mn professionals in less than a year.

Expertia offers a freemium B2B SaaS subscription model. Users can get started for free and explore Expertia’s ability to find professionals for them. Expertia subscriptions start as low as $200 a month and go as high as $10K or more for custom enterprise users.

The startup has set a short-term goal to reach 10 Mn professionals and 25K+ companies using the platform. Expertia is poised to reach $1 Mn in annual revenue run rate (ARR) for FY24.

Fundamento

An AI Platform To Manage Call Centres

Second-time entrepreneurs Ankit Durga and Megha Aggarwal got the idea for Fundamento while in the seventh year of their first startup, LEAP Skills. 

The duo noticed a gap when it came to customer support services through call centres. They realised that while companies were aware of the criticality of investing in customer support teams, the return on investment was low due to high attrition rates of agents and extended ramp-up periods, that is, training and onboarding.

Fundamento positions itself as an automation platform catering to customer contact centres. The platform consists of a multimodal, multilingual, API-centric stack, which becomes the core pillar for customer contact centres. 

Fundamento’s AI stack is claimed to help companies transition from agent assistance to full automation of customer support at the lower levels. The Delhi NCR-based startup has forged partnerships with tech giants like IBM, Google, and Microsoft. In the last quarter, it claims to have also secured three large contracts from IndiaMart and two other enterprises.

Its product offerings include Augment (agent copilot for query handling), Accelerate (agent copilot for task automation), and Automate (near-human AI bots for upstream customer interactions).

Fundamento’s pricing model offers per-agent, per-month subscriptions for Augment and Accelerate, while Automate operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, billed per minute of usage. Besides this, there’s an initial one-time cost for tech integration and setup. 

In the next six months, Fundamento aims to secure 10-12 significant accounts and expand to the US market through channel partnerships. The startup plans to establish a global sales team by 2026 to support its potential client base in the US and eventually extend its reach to the APAC region.

GoldPe

Invest In Gold With As Little As INR 10

According to a consumer data intelligence report from 2022, more than 65% of Indians invest a part of their income in one form or another. Even though gold is one of the most popular investment vehicles, the connection with the yellow metal among younger generations appears to be diminishing.

Understanding the need for ‘fun’ investment opportunities while working in the personal finance space, Parth Shah and Yaagni Raolji founded GoldPe, a digital savings platform helping users start their gold investment journey with as little as INR 10.

Not just this, every time users save INR 100, they earn 10 entries to the platform’s weekly draw where they can win prizes in the range of INR 1 Lakh to INR 10 Lakh. The more users save, the more entries they receive, increasing their chances of winning cash prizes. 

The startup works on a commission-based revenue model and earns a commission on the amount saved in the digital gold. The app has 140K+ downloads on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

GoldPe has plans to expand its user base to 1 Mn and manage INR 100 Cr in assets under management (AUM) by 2024. The founders anticipate these numbers to increase 10X by 2026.

GroClub

Subscription-Based Bicycle Marketplace

Cycling holds a special place in everyone’s childhood memories. However, in recent years, the cost of bicycles has been steadily rising, and as children grow, it becomes increasingly impractical to keep purchasing larger bikes to accommodate their growth.

Established in 2021 by Roopesh Shah and Hrishikesh Halekote Shivanna, GroClub is dedicated to providing a bicycle subscription service rooted in sustainability. The startup offers bicycle subscriptions for individuals aged four and above. 

Customers can select their desired bicycle, which is then delivered fully assembled right to their doorstep. GroClub goes a step further by offering comprehensive service and maintenance throughout the entire subscription period, all while guaranteeing a lifetime warranty on all mechanical components.

Upon completion of the subscription term, GroClub retrieves the bicycle and offers customers the option to receive a newer model if desired or renew the subscription for the existing one. Returned bicycles undergo a rejuvenation process, where the old frames are repurposed to create brand-new bicycles. 

Additionally, GroClub extends the opportunity for customers to purchase the bicycle outright at the end of their subscription, offering a generous 30% discount off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. What’s more, the startup deducts the subscription cost from the total bill. 

GroClub also sells multiple bicycle accessories to fit the particular model. The startup is also planning to introduce multiple children-focused products soon, including car seats, carry cots, strollers and bunk beds to its repertoire.

Guardians

Medical Emergency Support In Under 10 Seconds

Efficient medical emergency response mechanisms are a major challenge in India. This is due to several alarming statistics which reveal that over 50% of ambulances fail to arrive within 60 minutes of a medical emergency, 90% of them lack basic equipment, and 97% of them do not have adequately trained personnel. 

Having spent more than 10,000 hours in emergency rooms in India and the UK, Dr Karan Raj Jaggi had seen the problem up close. His experiences with this problem drove Shubham Jain and Vedant Jain to come back to India and set up Guardians in 2022.

The startup’s approach revolves around a real-time emergency management system and a comprehensive network of ambulances and hospitals. This approach empowers them to address the critical prehospital phase of a patient’s journey. To date, they have successfully established a network of more than 3,300 ambulances, 500-plus hospitals, and highly-trained dispatch officers.

The medical emergency response platform claims to be able to connect patients to trained personnel in less than 10 seconds, taking 500-1,000 emergency calls per month. The startup has developed systems that help users make decisions during medical emergencies.

The startup’s core revenue stream is Protect, a subscription plan that includes a medical emergency plan and zero ambulance charges, among other things. Users can sign up for the plan for as low as INR 49 per user per month. Guardians also makes money via monthly service fees it charges from hospitals for using its network.

Presently, operational in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru, Guardians has plans to expand to 100 cities by the end of 2024. Additionally, the company is forming partnerships with health insurance providers to extend its protective services to the masses.

Humanify

Transforming User Research Through Technology

User research is an imperative step for any product-based company, as such research methods can help companies find the right product-market fit faster than their peers. More often than not, user research is time-consuming, slow and difficult to scale, which can lead to problems in the future.

Understanding this, second-time cofounders Geetika and Jashish Kambli incorporated Humanify in 2022. The startup offers a remote research platform called ExploraStory, which allows businesses to conduct user research without stepping foot outside of their offices.

ExploraStory helps businesses directly connect with their users via a secure video call, providing companies with much-needed pace and context in their research results. The startup claims to cut down research conclusion time significantly – from weeks to mere days – which is crucial in a fast-paced startup environment.

After connecting with users, businesses can then ask them to complete tasks or answer questions while they are using their products or services. ExploraStory monitors users’ screen activities, audio and videos, which are then analysed by Humanify’s AI platform to provide insights into their behaviour and experience.

Humanify offers a subscription-based pricing model for the platform, allowing companies to choose from a variety of plans based on their needs and budget.

humblx

Housekeeping Made Digital

According to a report by IBEF, India’s housekeeping market was worth $6 Bn in 2022, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5% between 2023 and 2028. However, much of this market is fragmented and unorganised, making it difficult for businesses to hire housekeepers.

Bringing some meaning to the madness is humblx. Founded by Samir Dayal Singh, Ujjwal Kumar, and Yadev Jayachandran in 2018, the startup helps enterprises manage housekeeping and janitorial staff effectively through its SaaS solution. 

Via humblx’s QR-based solution, staff managers can schedule shifts, create and assign tasks for the housekeeping staff, track their progress, and receive notifications when tasks are completed. The platform also generates reports and analytics for better efficiency. The platform also offers remote monitoring of staff and public feedback on their performance. 

The startup offers usage-based plans, with its basic plan starting at INR 200 per QR code per month. Some of humblx’s top clients include Sulabh, State Health Society Maharashtra, AIIMS Patna, and Garv Toilets, among others.

Instaminutes

AI-Powered Sales Assistant

AI automation tools are emerging as an integral part of the modern sales stack, not just for their ability to streamline productivity and processes, but also to enhance and drive revenue growth. IIT alumni Shivam Gupta and Akshat Anand drew upon their experience in natural language processing (NLP) development to launch a summarisation tool that simplifies note-taking during meetings.

This idea became the seed for Instaminutes which was founded in 2021 as an AI assistant tailored for revenue teams, which claims to boost their productivity by over 2X. Powered by InstaGPT, a specialised ChatGPT framework, it automates non-productive tasks. What sets it apart is its capacity for continuous improvement through training and optimisation. 

The core tech of Instaminutes is patent-pending — the startup has filed for a patent in India and is also planning to file applications in the US and UK within the next six months.

The founders want to position it as ChatGPT integrated with the popular productivity apps, capable of summarising meetings, and emails, updating CRMs, and executing recurring tasks with a simple command. While currently available only in English, the roadmap includes support for Hindi, Spanish, French, and more.

The startup’s go-to-market strategy includes SEO and content marketing, Google Search Ads, and LinkedIn engagement. Right now, Instaminutes operates a freemium revenue model, offering essential features for free and pro, and advanced versions through monthly or annual subscriptions. 

On2Cook

Offering AI-Powered Cooking Solutions

At a time when artificial intelligence-driven products and services are increasingly gaining popularity across sectors and industries, the constantly-evolving tech, AI, has found a use case in the cookware segment as well. 

In a bid to make the lives of individuals or professional chefs easier by making cooking a hassle-free affair, with a core focus on healthy meals, Ahmedabad-based On2Cook entered the cookware market in 2022. 

Founded by Sanandan Sudhir, the startup, with its AI-based connected cooking devices, is on a mission to make cooking at home or restaurants more efficient, thereby saving a lot of time for individuals living a fast-paced lifestyle.

According to the founder, Sudhir, the product reduces the time and effort that go into cooking by 70% and 50%, respectively. Further, the product speeds up the cooking process without compromising on the quality of the meals — nutrients, natural colour and texture.

Last year, the cookware startup secured seed funding of INR 17 Cr from angel investors. Besides ensuring faster and better quality food at an economical price point, On2Cook can be operated via a smartphone app. 

Ossus Biorenewables

Pioneering Green Hydrogen Production For A Sustainable Future

According to the Asian Development Bank, hydrogen demand is set to rise to 15-25 Mn metric tonnes per annum by 2040, taking the market to $35 Bn by then. This growth can be attributed to the numerous practical applications of this highly flammable gas in industries such as steel manufacturing, fuel cells, fertilisers, and refineries.

Capitalising on this opportunity is Ossus Biorenewables, a green hydrogen startup, which specialises in providing process industries with on-site, on-demand green hydrogen using the waste carbon present in on-site effluents. This approach eliminates the need for storing, compressing, and transporting hydrogen.

The startup has developed its proprietary autonomous bioreactors – the OB HydraCel – that use the organic content of industrial effluents as feedstock for green hydrogen production. Pending patents in India, Japan and Italy, the OB HydraCel can produce one gram of hydrogen from a similar quantity of organic content in effluent.

One of Ossus Biorenewables’ unique advantages lies in its bioreactors’ ability to recycle effluent by consuming both organic and inorganic components, making it available for reuse on-site.

Ossus operates on a build-own-operate model, which implies that the potential customer has to pay for every kilogram of hydrogen produced, apart from a nominal installation fee. Ossus sells green hydrogen at $0.5-1.2 per kilogram, depending on the organic content in the industrial effluent and the chain length of the primary organic chemicals contributing to production. The business model has put the startup on a revenue run rate of INR 37.9 Cr for the upcoming year.

The startup has set up shop in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, with another plant coming up in Ahmedabad, which will help it take green hydrogen production to 5 metric tonnes per day. The startup also has a demo plant in Bengaluru, producing 500 litres of green hydrogen daily. Ossus’ long-term goal is to boost its production to 20,000 metric tonnes per day by 2026.

Pikndel

Efficient Same-Day Delivery For Brands

While shoppers are increasingly showing interest in D2C brands, they ultimately turn to larger marketplaces like Amazon or Flipkart due to the more seamless delivery experience, especially same-day delivery. 

To enable all ecommerce startups with same-day delivery experience, logistics startup Pikndel comes with a network of shared dark stores which tackle the problem of last-mile delivery. 

Brands can store their products in the startup’s dark stores for ultra-fast 4-hour deliveries and the company also collects products directly from existing brand-owned warehouses for same-day delivery.

The Delhi NCR-based startup charges a fixed fee on brands for every order it fulfils, while it is currently operating in the capital as well as Mumbai and Bengaluru, two high-volume hubs for D2C brands. 

Over the next year, Pikndel aims to expand its same-day delivery services to all Tier-I cities in India. The startup’s roadmap includes an AI-based product that it claims will provide a personalised experience to shoppers in its delivery network.

Recipeat

Hospitality Sector Gets A Job Marketplace

As per a report, India’s food services industry is set to create 10 Mn jobs by 2025, with hundreds of thousands of establishments looking for job-ready individuals. However, hiring is a major challenge for this space given the highly unorganised nature of the domain.

To change this, Ram Vaibhav Kumaran and Adrien Jasserand set up Recipeat, a job marketplace for the hospitality industry, in 2022. The platform connects job seekers in the hospitality industry with establishments seeking workers across roles such as waiters, cleaners, baristas, receptionists, and stewards, among others.

The Bengaluru-based startup onboards restaurants, hotels and other establishments, allowing them to make job listings on its platform. 

The startup charges INR 4,000 (excluding GST) per month for a single listing, with pricing going up to INR 22,500 (excluding GST) per month for up to five listings. Recipeat also offers custom pricing plans for establishments looking to list more than five jobs per month.

Roopya

Empowering Fintechs For Seamless Digital Lending

Lendingtech has become the largest market opportunity within fintech and is set to rise to $1.3 Tn in size by 2030, per Inc42 data. Lending has also emerged as a viable option for many fintech startups to hit profitability and grow sustainably. However, many fintech startups simply lack the technical know-how to set up a lending infrastructure.

Having worked in finance and banking for nearly two decades, Raman Vig and Sudipta Ghosh set up Roopya in 2022 to provide fintech startups with the means to kickstart their digital lending ventures in under five minutes through the Roopya Money product suite.

Roopya offers four key solutions – AI Insights, Loan Origination System, CRM for Fintechs and Loan Origination Platform. The startup’s analytics platform gives insights into bureau data, alternate data and customer behaviour data, allowing fintechs to predict their customers’ needs and act accordingly. Roopya is also a part of India’s OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network) network.

The startup’s loan origination system connects a B2B user with hundreds of LSPs (loan service providers) to generate leads. At the same time, Roopya’s loan origination platform, a cloud-based, automated platform, helps lenders to originate and underwrite loans. Lastly, the startup also offers a CRM platform designed for fintech startups to manage lending operations.

The startup has two pricing plans, one each for a credit institution and an LSP. For the former, Roopya charges INR 3.75 Lakh per month, alongside INR 95 per transaction. An LSP can avail the startup’s products at INR 5.5 Lakh per month, along with INR 125 per transaction.

Satyukt Analytics

Transforming Indian Agriculture With Satellite-Powered Solutions

Agriculture is India’s largest industry, with nearly 55% of the country’s population directly relying on agriculture and related sectors for their livelihoods. According to statistics from Inc42, the Indian agritech sector is projected to grow to $24 Bn by 2025, highlighting the pressing need for agricultural modernisation in the country.

Recognising this need, Sat Kumar Tomer and Yukti Gill founded Satyukt in 2018, a SaaS startup harnessing satellite technology to provide advisory services to customers. The company has developed proprietary technology capable of swiftly measuring soil nutrient content, enabling farmers to assess soil quality through their mobile devices without the need for on-site visits. Satyukt offers four primary products: Sat2Farm, Sat4Agri, Sat4Risk, and Sat2Credit.

Sat2Farm is a mobile app that delivers real-time data to farmers, including information on soil moisture, crop health, and crop yield potential. Sat4Agri offers agricultural enterprises insights into crop acreage, growth stages, and distribution. Sat4Risk supplies crop insurance companies with data regarding crop health and yield potential. Lastly, Sat2Credit assists BFSI  institutions in evaluating a farm’s creditworthiness.

The startup provides its services in nine different languages and boasts an impressive client roster that includes Marico, Mahindra, Bosch, Adani, IIM Bangalore, and CISCO, among others.

Seekho

Bridging The Skill Gap in Regional Languages

Skill development is one of the fastest-growing sub-segments within the Indian edtech space and is set to become a $2.5 Bn market opportunity by 2030, as per an Inc42 report.

While working with Kuku FM, the trio of Rohit Choudhary, Keertay Agarwal and Yash Banwani realised that there was a high demand for educational content in regional Indian languages. As such, they started building Seekho, a learning-focussed edutainment platform offering skill-development courses.

The platform offers engaging bite-sized videos around technology, money and business categories in Hindi and Bangla. The content is created by experts and is curated to deliver a fun learning experience. Seekho focuses on edutainment, crafting an engaging learning environment that merges education with entertainment.

Seekho monetises its platform via a subscription model. A user can subscribe to unlock all available content on the platform for INR 199 per month, as the startup continues to focus on affordability. The startup plans to tap an ARR of $10 Mn by 2024, which currently stands at $1 Mn and is growing 35% MoM.

SellerGeni

Enabling Sellers Unlock The Full Potential Of Amazon Ads

A recent Amazon India report showed that there were more than 10 Lakh sellers active on its ecommerce platform, making it one of the largest online retailers in the country. While it offers advertisement services to sellers to be more competitive, there are only a few sellers who can effectively leverage Amazon’s advertising tools.

Having witnessed the problem first-hand, Athmajith Colote, Yogendra R. and Andrew Jervis set up SellerGeni in 2020 to help brands and sellers accelerate growth and automate ads through its suite of tools on Amazon.

Brands working on Amazon can connect their Amazon accounts and get intelligent recommendations on strategy automation. The startup claims to automate 98% of the user’s day-to-day activities in the first seven days of onboarding.

The startup has two key products, GrowZ and AisleDominator, which help brands execute complex growth strategies in just a few steps. SellerGeni’s tools allow users to know what is not working in their campaigns, why it is not working and how users can improve the outcome.

The startup charges users based on their ad spend on Amazon, with plans starting from $100 per month. Having gained 100+ users, SellerGeni is on course for a $700K ARR for FY24, growing at 20% MoM. The SaaS platform is active across geographies, though 51% of its clients come from India. 

Moving forward, SellerGeni is looking to expand to the US, Canada and Japan by 2024, adding support for other platforms, including Meta, Google, Walmart and Flipkart (subject to API availability).

Skippi

Ice Pops With A Healthy Twist

There is hardly any kid in this world who will say no to an ice pop or maybe two. While several brands manufacture ice pops in the highly fragmented Indian market, there is hardly any brand offering healthier popsicles that are largely free of sugar and artificial flavours.

To change this, Ravi and Anuja Kabra decided to set up Skippi Ice Pops in Hyderabad in 2020. While the husband-wife duo faced initial teething issues during the pandemic, the brand took off in 2021.

Today, the startup offers popsicles in more than five flavours, cream rolls and cornsticks via an omnichannel retail business model. The products are made using all-natural ingredients and flavours and use only RO water for their ice pops. Skippi sells via its website and quick commerce apps. It also has a distribution network of 200+ stockists and distributors across India. The startup claims to manufacture its products using a patented technology.

Skippi appeared on ‘Shark Tank India’ in 2021 and secured an ‘All-Shark deal’ in the process. The startup claims to be on a sharp growth trajectory, recording a 40X growth in revenue last year and receiving orders worth INR 2-2.8 Cr per month.

StarAndDaisy

Your Parenting Partner

Over the past few years, the mom and baby care segment has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sectors in the Indian startup ecosystem. This can be substantiated by the fact that the country today fosters more than 6K startups, which offer baby products and services to parents.

Founded by Akshay and Anshul Arya, Delhi NCR-based StarAndDaisy aids parents in their parenting journey with its products, including prams, cribs and cradles, baby walkers, study tables for kids, and toys, among other babycare items.

StarAndDaisy’s lineup of products is available across marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, and Firstcry. The startup roped in Indian actor Ameesha Patel as its brand ambassador last year.

tan90

The Cold Chain Enablers

The Indian cold chain market is highly unorganised, and it is due to this fragmented nature of this sector that many businesses that trade in perishable goods have no other option but to depend on rudimentary solutions like using ice slabs, dry ice or cost-intensive solutions like a refrigerated truck.

Notably, even though the country has cold storage that is run on solar panels; however, these solar-powered centres lack efficiencies on various fronts.

During their research days at IIT Madras in 2015, Dr Soumalya Mukherjee, Dr Shiv Sharma, and Dr Rajani Kant Rai were working on phase change materials (PCM), a substance which releases or absorbs sufficient energy at phase transition to provide useful heat or cooling. This research enabled them to manufacture PCM for the thermal management of supply chains. As a result, tan90 came into existence in 2019.

The startup manufactures 20 tonnes of inorganic PCM daily in various form factors, including sachets for short usages to panels for lengthier usages, at its Chennai plant. The startup has developed its PCMs and can serve temperatures between -24 to +50°C for applications across industries such as frozen, chilled and ambient food products, pharmaceuticals and biological samples.

These PCMs have pending patent applications in India.

The startup also offers Cooling-as-a-Service (CaaS), which is aimed at customers who are in the mid-mile movement and have been using dry ice and refrigerated trucks. Via its PCM-based solutions, customers can use normal trucks for the movement of frozen products. For the same, the startup provides pre-frozen PCM panels on a lease to maintain the temperature inside ice boxes.

tan90 has two primary revenue streams – selling PCMs directly and leasing them via CaaS. The startup sells PCMs across India, UAE, Oman, Philippines, Germany, and South Korea, while CaaS is available in Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad.

The startup plans to ramp up its CaaS to six more cities, while its long-term plans include expansion into the SEA market and HVAC services.

The Mainstreet Marketplace

Reseller Marketplace For Sought-After Sneakers

The sneaker culture is one of the biggest subcultures within the fashion industry, and India is no exception. According to research firm Allied Market Research, India’s sneaker market reached $3 Bn in size in 2023 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.18% between 2023 and 2028.

However, some of the most coveted sneakers are beyond the reach of many. Having witnessed the absence of good sneakers, Vedant Lamba founded The Mainstreet Marketplace in 2017. The initiative first started as a YouTube channel and eventually became a reselling marketplace.

Today, the platform has expanded to include other fashion goods such as watches, handbags, t-shirts, and more. Currently, the startup lists more than 8,000 SKUs on its platform.

The Mainstreet Marketplace follows a C2B2C business model, which means that the platform connects individual sellers to buyers. The startup acquires stock from sellers and then ships it to buyers from its locations in Delhi and Mumbai. The Mainstreet Marketplace also allows users to pay for their products in instalments via MNST Pay Later at zero extra cost or interest.

The startup earns a commission on each product sold on its platform. Its YouTube channel, which now has more than 100K subscribers, also contributes to its overall revenues.

The Mainstreet Marketplace recently achieved INR 100 Cr in annualised revenue run rate and is gearing up to launch its in-house range of products, MNST Gear. In the long term, the startup is working on expanding its retail business to four more countries beyond India.

Transitry

Transforming ESG Metrics With Digital MRV Solutions

Companies are now mandated to report the environmental impact of their activities in the form of ESG reports. However, while attempts have been made to introduce a standardised system, many companies have internal metrics to showcase environmental impact, which may not be accurate and unbiased.

Having witnessed the problem first-hand while working with farmers to develop and implement climate-friendly land management practices, Navarun  Atraya and Vishan Ravi Tejaas established Transitry, a climate tech startup, in 2021.

Transitry, an AI-enabled platform, provides digital MRV (measurement, reporting and verification) solutions to help organisations measure, report and verify their carbon emissions. 

The startup also allows organisations to track their carbon footprint, identify opportunities to reduce emissions and demonstrate their commitment to sustainability metrics. The platform helps organisations, businesses, government departments and NGOs compile and verify their carbon emissions data, which is essential for complying with carbon reporting requirements.

Transitry’s advisory services help companies develop and implement climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. The startup also guides how to access green finance, used to invest in climate-friendly projects. 

WorkHack

Elevating Data Solutions With ChatGPT

Pretty much nothing has changed the dynamics of the tech industry in the past decade as much as generative AI.  An increasing number of organisations are jumping on the AI bandwagon now with the proliferation of ChatGPT-based tools, so naturally, the market is ripe for early innovation in this domain. 

Like WorkHack, a startup founded in early 2023 by Akshat Tyagi, started off exploring some use cases in HR and marketing, before turning its focus to data collection via generative AI.

The startup is targeting pre-sales areas such as lead generation, lead qualification, quote generation, and order creation where ChatGPT can automate repetitive manual tasks. 

Going forward, the startup aims to cater to solutions down the funnel, i.e., after customers are brought on board, with features targeting engagement, retention, and cancellation.

WorkHack operates on a subscription-based pricing model, billing users monthly. It claims to be catering to businesses that have workforces ranging from 10,000 to 2,00,000 individuals. The pricing ranges from INR 7-INR 3 per user per month. The startup currently serves customers in the Indian and US markets. 

Xylem AI

Building AI Infra For Software Engineers

Bengaluru-based Xylem, which positions itself as an AI infra provider, is building a low-code platform for software development teams to build, manage, and deploy production-ready AI models into their products.

Founded in 2023 by Arko Chattopadhyay, Enrique Ferrao and Pranav Reddy, Xylem has various use cases for developers. With the help of Xylem, developers can simply connect their data source, choose from its embed models, decide on resources and select the required LLM model.

The startup’s proprietary search and ranking engine, RavenX, integrates both keyword and semantic search, which helps reduce LLM costs and latency as well as eliminate inefficiencies by processing relevant data. 

Xylem is planning to release the first public build of the platform by 2024 and aims to clock in $75K-$100K ARR in the same year. Xylem AI is looking to capture the growing global market of the AI enablement layer. In the short term, the startup also plans to train its in-house AI engines for use cases in businesses beyond generative AI.

Zoplar

Unclogging Supply-Chain Bottlenecks In The Procurement Of Medical Supplies

Although India has been one of the major pharmacy markets in the world, supply-chain issues remain a major pain point internally. 

Understanding that the fragmented nature of supply chains makes the procurement process complex and hampers the quality of products, Amit Sah and Umesh Sharma founded Zoplar to simplify medical supply procurement with a one-stop platform for all healthcare requirements.  

Incorporated in 2022, the Gurugram-based startup makes the procurement of medical supplies more convenient and cost-effective, thereby giving hospitals and manufacturers of medical equipment a much-needed respite.

Zoplar offers access to a wide range of products eliminates pricing and inventory complexity and ensures quality delivery and after-sales experiences. 

The medical supplies provider counts Titan Capital, Saison Capital, and Beenext as its investors. It claims to have over 250 clients and delivered 50,000-plus units across more than 7,000 pin codes in India.

[Edited by Shishir Parashar]

The post 30 Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eyes In August 2023 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In 2008, when the concept of waste management was still in its infancy in India, a Noida-based startup, Attero, entered the arena of recycling electronic waste (e-waste) at a time when the country was leading generators of e-waste globally.

Leveraging the booming consumer electronics products market, Attero started recovering gold, silver, aluminium, and copper from e-waste such as discarded laptops, mobile phones, televisions, and refrigerators.

Before delving deeper into the story of Attero, a Noida-based recycling startup, it is crucial to understand that the idea of recovery, recycling, and reusing metals extracted from discarded electronic devices gained serious attention in the country only in the 2000s. 

Years on, the growth of the recycling sector has largely failed to budge. To put things into perspective, the country could only process 22% of the total 10.1 Lakh Tonnes of e-waste generated in 2019-20, the Central Pollution Control Board data suggests.

While the challenge of processing e-waste is yet to be fully addressed, a new source of more hazardous waste, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, has started dominating the country’s landfills, and at the core of this is the increasing use of mobile phones and growing electric vehicles (EVs).

Familiar with the challenges in the field of e-waste management and the opportunities this sector holds for its stakeholders, Attero fuelled its R&D efforts in the area of Li-ion battery recycling in 2019 to make the country’s EV landscape sustainable. 

In just two years, Attero’s new business vertical took off at a commercial scale, and with this, the e-waste management startup was ready to make waves in the global recycling space, which is expected to reach a market size of $23.6 Bn by 2030.

The Setting Up Of Li-ion Battery Recycling Business

Speaking with Inc42 about its journey in the Li-ion battery recycling space, Attero’s CEO and cofounder Nitin Gupta reminisced that the company soon started receiving an increasing amount of batteries as part of the e-waste sourcing stream. 

“When we dug deeper into it, we realised that Li-ion battery technology is the best battery technology in the world because it’s got the highest energy density, fastest charging time and slowest discharging time. But, most importantly, close to around $100 Bn had been invested in the Li-ion battery ecosystem,” he said.

From its research, Attero realised that this creates two problems. First, as Li-ion batteries become more ubiquitous, they will grow exponentially. Given these are hazardous, they need to be recycled in an environmentally friendly manner.

“Besides, the obvious problem today is at least 50% of the cost of EVs is the cost of the batteries, out of which at least 45% is the cost of raw materials that make up the battery, which includes cobalt, lithium, nickel, graphite, manganese,” Gupta said, adding that these critical battery materials also have significant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.

Due to controversies about the environmental impact of mining lithium and child labour in the cobalt mines of the Congo region, the EV ecosystem is already frowned upon by many. 

Also, more than 90% of the world’s lithium gets refined in China, which is caught up in geopolitical issues with India and other nations. With a sharp focus on ESG issues, the company built its Li-ion battery recycling technology and today has a total of 38 global patents under its belt.

Amid all this, Attero has already achieved operational profitability, as it clocked INR 40 Cr in profit and revenues of INR 214 Cr in FY22. Its profit stood at INR 13 Cr and revenues at INR 114 Cr in the year-ago fiscal.

Gupta also claimed that the company is cash flow positive and growing exponentially. Attero claims to have clocked revenues to the tune of INR 300 Cr in FY23.

What’s Behind The Tech?

Today, the biggest challenge for the e-waste processing industry is to recover the maximum amount of raw material from dead batteries at minimum costs.

If we look at the global Li-ion battery recycling market today, hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy are the two main Li-ion battery recycling processes that companies prefer to deploy across the globe. However, both processes have certain loopholes. 

While pyrometallurgy has a very low extraction rate, hydrometallurgy demands higher material costs and is a complex process. Before we move on to explaining Attero’s tech, let’s understand the entire battery recycling process in depth.

It must be noted that dead Li-ion batteries or packs are first dismantled and shredded. The shredded material is then processed to produce ‘black mass’, which consists of high amounts of different types of metals.

According to Gupta, most of the Li-ion recycling in India currently stops at the mechanical process, which is proceeding with this ‘black mass’. However, with its hydro process, Attero claims to have gone far beyond to produce pure elements from the black mass.

In the hydro process, the black mass is put through various chemical steps, including leaching, electrowinning, and solvent extraction.

While other global players like SungEel HiTech and US-based Li-Cycle have also adopted the hydrometallurgy process for recycling, their recovery efficiency is low at 75%-80% of cobalt, less than 50% of lithium, 75% of nickel, no graphite, according to Gupta.

However, he claimed that Attero’s patented technology helps it recover more than 98% of lithium carbonate, cobalt, nickel, and graphite from these batteries. 

“In our case, the first thing that we do is leach out graphite. Now, once you do leaching of graphite, we receive two outputs – one stream of leach liquor or liquid, which is graphite-free, and another stream of precipitant, which is pure graphite,” Gupta explained.

The leach liquor that comes out is then put through a copper electrowinning system. Now, at a certain temperature, current and voltage, copper ions dissociate from the solution and get deposited on the cathode. Once again, we receive two outputs — the one that has copper and the second is a leach liquor, which is now copper-free.

Similarly, each metal is extracted separately using this methodology and then they are sold to various industries for reuse.

But when it comes to extracting Lithium, one can only precipitate 50% of lithium at normal temperatures and pressure. However, Attero claims to have broken that limit as well by using its chemical research and technology.

Besides, Attero claims that despite using the hydrometallurgy process, it has the lowest capex per tonne in the world, at $3,200 per tonne, which is at least 40% cheaper compared to others in the battery recycling space.

Gupta said that the minimum capex for a regular hydro process is $5,500 per tonne and for a pyro process, it is $10,000 per tonne.

Attero’s Billion-Dollar Dream In Recycling Business

Attero, which claims to be extremely capital-efficient, has raised a total of around $25 Mn so far from Kalaari Capital, Granite Hill Capital, and others. In FY23, 85% of its business came from e-waste recycling while Li-ion battery recycling accounted for 15% of the total business. 

Attero says that it sells 99.9% pure cobalt chips, which are battery-grade. A part of it is exported while the remaining is sold in India. The company also sells lithium carbonate, which is 99.9% pure and is of pharmaceutical grade.

Notably, lithium carbonate has multiple uses across industries, including in pharmaceuticals, where it is used for the treatment of some neurological disorders.

Similarly, other extracted materials are also put back into the circular economy. Currently, the startup works with around 40 clients in India and globally.

Gupta projects his company’s revenue to touch $1 Bn in the next three years, with 70% coming from Li-ion battery recycling and 30% from e-waste.

Currently, Attero has one manufacturing facility in Uttarakhand, while plans are afoot to set up another facility in the country this year. 

Besides, as part of its global expansion, the startup is setting up manufacturing facilities in Poland and Indonesia. Poland’s hub is expected to start running in 2023, while the operations in the Indonesian facility are expected to kick off next year.

The founder has plans to list Attero on the Indian bourses by 2025.

While globally, Attero competes with giants, including Umicore in Belgium, Glencore in Canada and Redwood Materials in the US, the startup is witnessing competition from the likes of Lohum, ACE Green, and Metastable Materials in India, who have also started to develop technologies to ensure maximum extractions.

However, what could solidify Attero’s footprint in the e-waste management and battery recycling spaces is its unwavering commitment to spending on R&D. With multiple global patents under its belt, the climate tech startup’s road ahead seems full of opportunities, especially when there is an increased awareness towards ESG practices. 

The post How Attero Clocked INR 300 Cr In Revenue By Recycling E-Waste Into Industrial Gold appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With sustainability becoming one of the top priorities for countries and businesses alike, the narrative around increasing the usage of electric vehicles (EVs) has taken centre stage in the past few years. Though the electrification of vehicles started a bit late in India compared to some European countries, the US, China, and Japan, the country’s EV adoption has grown exponentially on the back of more startups joining the segment and government policies. 

Many Indian EV startups such as Ather Energy, Altigreen, BluSmart, and Exponent Energy have now come up with sustainable solutions for mobility. The Indian EV market houses various small as well as large EV startups and is estimated to reach $15,397 Bn by 2027.

Indian EV startups offer services such as sustainable mobility, energy infrastructure, commercial mobility and battery management system, among others, to the general masses and enterprises. Besides, they are also helping reduce carbon emissions and offering a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels.

Let’s take a look at some of the Indian startups that are helping keep the earth healthy and green through their technology and products. The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. The Indian EV brands have been listed in alphabetical order.

Startups In The EV Segment 

1. 3EV Industries

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Peter Hartmut Voelkner, Suman K. Mishra
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Credence Family Office
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

3EV Industries was founded in association between RUGGED Solar Products Pvt Ltd and ReBatt Limited in 2019. It offers last-mile hyper-local connectivity to customers across India. 

In November 2021, 3EV Industries raised $2 Mn in its seed funding round from several family offices including Credence Family Office. The startup originally aligns with the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ ambitions.

It manufactures vehicles across cargo and passenger segments, along with kits to convert conventional vehicles to electric. It aims to use renewable energy and off-grid power systems to optimise last-mile logistics. 

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2. Altigreen Propulsion Labs

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Amitabh Saran, Shalendra Gupta 
• Funding Raised To Date: $40 Mn 
• Investors: Reliance New Energy Limited, Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Altigreen offers last-mile transportation through two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler EVs for commercial use.

In February 2022, Altigreen raised INR 300 Cr ($40 Mn) in a Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. The round saw participation from Reliance New Energy Limited (RNEL), Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital.

The startup has a presence in 60 countries, along with 26 global patents. It had a turnover of INR 1.04  Cr in FY21 against INR 61.62 lakh in FY20.

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3. AMO Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Sushant Kumar
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Noida

AMO Mobility is an MSME-registered and ICAT-certified electric mobility startup. It is also certified by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). 

The original equipment manufacturer follows a business model for both B2C and B2B customers. Besides selling its electric two-wheelers through dealerships, AMO also has partnerships with OEMs, sub-dealerships, channel partners, and B2C partners to distribute its products. 

Some of its most noteworthy B2B partnerships include JustDial, Indiamart, the ecommerce platform of Paytm, and BikeDekho.

Recently, AMO Mobility signed a pact with EV-as-a -service platform, Trigo Electric, to provide its advanced electric mobility solutions to the company.

AMO Mobility has a range of escooter models, including Jaunty, Feisty, and Inspirer. Its customer base comprises corporates, ecommerce players, and CSR segments.

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4. Ather Energy

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Tarun Mehta, Swapnil Jain
• Funding Raised To Date: $225 Mn
• Investors: Hero Motocorp, Department of Science and Technology, IIT Madras, Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal, Tiger Global, NIIF Limited
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ather Energy offers sustainable mobility and energy infrastructure solutions. It manufactures two-wheeler electric vehicles, 450X and 450 Plus, that are sold on its website and offline retail stores. 

In May, Ather secured $128 Mn in its Series E funding round from sovereign fund NIIF Limited and existing investor Hero MotoCorp. With this round, it also closed its Series E round.

The startup claims to have installed more than 1,000 charging stations across 80 cities in India. It aims to have around 2,500+ charging stations by the end of 2023.

It was earlier reported that the EV startup had set up its second manufacturing plant in Hosur to meet the demand for electric scooters. In October 2021, its annual revenue rate (ARR) rose by 12X to $100 Mn.

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5. Baaz Bikes

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Karan Singla, Abhijeet Saxena, Shubham Srivastava 
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Kalaari Capital, AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns, Sumant Sinha
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Baaz Bikes, a subsidiary of ElecTorq Technologies, offers micro-mobility solutions to gig workers. It helps gig workers earn money by using its electric scooters for deliveries for companies such as Zomato, Amazon and Grofers.

Baaz Bikes raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round from Kalaari Capital along with the participation of AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns and Renew Power’s Sumant Sinha.

The EV startup’s scooters can cover a distance of 60 km on a single charge. It also has built battery swapping infrastructure in India. It claims that its swapping infrastructure is live in two zones in Delhi.

As per its website, its tech stack includes Baaz, Baaz Swap, Baazigar Platform and Baaz VU.

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6. Battery Smart

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka
• Funding Raised To Date: $43 Mn 
• Investors: Blume Ventures, Orios Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Niraj Singh, Amit Bhasin  
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Battery Smart allows customers to swap their EV batteries at its stations, called Swap Stations. It currently offers its services to e-rickshaw owners. 

Battery Smart claims to operate more than 100 Swap Stations across Delhi-NCR and says it has completed more than 3 lakh battery swaps. Currently, it has 1200 active vehicles on its platform and makes 5,000 swaps on a daily basis.

In November 2021, Battery Smart raised $7 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures. The round saw participation from investors including Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, and angel investors such as Bluestone’s Srinivas Anumolu, and GrowthStory.in’s K Ganesh, Spinny’s Niraj Singh and GoMechanic’s Amit Bhasin.

Prior to this, Battery Smart raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a seed funding round from Orios Venture Partners in February 2021. The startup has further raised $25 Mn in its Series A round in June 2022 led by Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures and two debt rounds from Stride Ventures and BlackSoil.

Battery Smart claims to have completed 10 Mn swaps, set up 550+ live swap stations across 18 cities and works with 18,500 vehicles.

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7. BGauss

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Hemant Kabra
• Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
• Investors: Darshan Patel
• Headquarters:  Mumbai

BGauss, which is promoted by RR Global, offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup manufactures two EVs – BGauss B8 and BGauss A2 – which are sold on its website as well as in offline stores. It is currently expanding its product portfolio by launching two new EV scooters in 2022. 

According to an Inc42 report, BGauss’ new EV scooter D15 will be launched in May 2022, while the other scooter will be launched later this year. The startup claims that these scooters will be 100% ‘Made in India’ at its production facility located in Chakan near Pune.

Recently, the EV startup got $7 Mn in funding from Vini Cosmetics’ Darshan Patel to expand retail and manufacturing capacity in India, perform R&D and develop in-house products across various EV components. It claims to have 100 dealer networks across India and is planning to enter Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities by the end of 2022. It is further looking to scale up operations and focus on the export market.

As per its website, it has a presence in more than 85 countries. It also has 13 manufacturing facilities and over 25K retail stores. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

8. BluSmart 

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Anmol Singh Jaggi, Punit K Goyal
• Funding Raised To Date: $67 Mn
• Investors: Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil, UCIC, BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns, Suvan Partners,  Mumbai Angels, Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts
• Headquarters: Gurugram

BluSmart offers electric ride-hailing mobility services through its mobile-based app. It primarily provides sustainable mobility solutions to urban customers.

In May, BluSmart secured $25 Mn through equity and debt financing in its Series A funding round. Investors who participated in the round include BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil and UCIC.

Recently, it started intercity EV services from Delhi NCR to Jaipur and Chandigarh. It has also scaled EV services at Delhi IGI Airport. It is currently looking to expand its EV charging hubs across Delhi NCR and expand its fleet to over 5,000. 

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9. BOLT

• Founded: 2017
• Founders: Jyotiranjan Harichandan and Mohit Yadav
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn 
• Investors: ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, SUN Mobility, Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture Partners
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

BOLT, previously known as REVOS, is an AI-based IoT platform that helps people operate EVs. It essentially tracks and monitors motor controllers as well as batteries on the platform. 

In September 2021, BOLT raised $4 Mn in its Series A round led by Union Square Ventures (USV) and Prime Venture Partners. It claims to have sold about 1,000 devices, including EVs and chargers in 30 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), across India, China, Nepal, Egypt and Vietnam to date. The startup claims it has installed 10,000 EV charging stations in India in the past six months. 

BOLT is reportedly aiming to deploy 100K charging stations in the coming six months to meet the demand in cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nagpur, Nashik, Chandigarh, Surat, and Bhubaneswar, among others.

Recently, BOLT also partnered with the Delhi Capitals cricket team for the IPL.

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10. Cell Propulsion

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Nakul Kukar, Paras Kaushal, Supratim Naskar
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn
• Investors: growX ventures, Micelio, Endiya Partners, CIIE.CO, Sangam Ventures
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Cell Propulsion offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. The startup develops high-voltage powertrains technology for commercial vehicle applications. Besides this, it manufactures electric commercial vehicles – Oryx Electric and Beluga Electric. While Oryx Electric is available for sale, Beluga Electric has not been officially launched yet by the startup. 

As per its website, GrowX Ventures, Endiya, Micelio and CIIE.CO and Sangam Ventures are among its investors. It has covered over 200K emission-free distance and onboarded five fleets to date. It is currently managing over 10 fast-charging stations.

In 2021, it reportedly secured $2 Mn of funding from a cohort of private equity investors including Endiya Partners, GrowX Ventures, Huddle Accelerator and Micelio. Prior to this, it raised $1 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round in September 2020. 

In 2019, it was also a part of Huddle and growX Ventures’ EV accelerator program.

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11. CHARGE+ZONE

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Kartikey Hariyani and Pavan Bakeri
• Funding Raised To Date: $17 Mn
• Investors: Venture Catalysts, Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Ramakrishnan Family Office
• Headquarters: Gujarat

CHARGE+ZONE offers an OEM charging network through its app-based charging stations. Its app provides an array of services to EV drivers, such as finding charging points, and booking them in advance. 

In December 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $10 Mn in a bridge funding round led by Venture Catalysts. Prior to this, it raised $4 Mn in the same round. CHARGE+ZONE currently aims to raise another $50 Mn in a Series A funding round in 2022. 

In November 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $3 Mn in a Pre-Series funding A round led by Venture Catalysts. The round saw participation from Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum and Ramakrishnan Family Office. Earlier in May 2021, it raised an undisclosed amount from Mumbai Angels. 

CHARGE+ZONE is reported to have started the distribution of AC-Type2 EV charging networks and intercity fast DC charging networks for 1,500 new points over the next 150 days.

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12. Chargeup

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Varun Goenka and Ankur Madan
• Funding Raised To Date: $2.5 Mn
• Investors:  Capital A, Anicut Capital, MapmyIndia,  Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor  
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Chargeup offers battery swapping services for three-wheeler EVs in India. 

In February 2022, Chargeup reportedly raised $2.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Capital A and Anicut Capita. 

The round also saw participation from angel investors including boAt’s Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor. The startup claims to have expanded to 100 stations and onboarded 800 drivers on its platform. It further says that it has 100 dealers working with the platform.

As per its website, Chargeup has an AI and ML-based platform that provides services such as subscription-based usage, delivers 5,000 MwHr, forecasts demand hotspots, predicts energy demand, and operates 10K charging stations. The startup claims to have 800 satisfied users and 100 dealers associated with it. It also aims to power 1 Mn EVs by 2027.

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13. Corrit Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Mayur Misra
• Funding Raised To Date: $9 Mn 
• Investors: SphitiCap
• Headquarters: Noida

Corrit Electric offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers and B2B customers. It sells three electric bikes – Hover 1.0, Hover 2.0 and Hover 2.0+. The company has recently launched an electric bike, Transit, for B2B deliveries. It has a top speed of 70 kmph and payload capacity of 200 Kg. 

In November 2022, it secured $9 Mn in funding from venture capital fund SphitiCap to ramp up its production facility and manufacture electric bikes to resolve issues related to last-mile connectivity.

Earlier, it had shared plans to build 1.5 Lakh electric bikes in the next three years.

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14. ElectricPe

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Avinash Sharma, Raghav Rohila
• Funding Raised To Date: $8 Mn
• Investors: Blume Ventures, Micelio Fund, Anshuman Bapna, Anupam Mittal, Arjun Ravi Sheth, Ashish Goel, Bhuvan Gupta, Green Frontier Capital, NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus, and Climate Angels
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

ElectricPe offers charging infrastructure to customers. Through its app, EV owners can locate charging stations near them.

In November 2021, ElectricPe raised $3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund. The round saw participation from Terra.do’s Anshuman Bapna, Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal, Anchorage Capital’s Arjun Ravi Sheth, Urban Ladder’s Ashish Goel, and OfBusiness’ Bhuvan Gupta, among others.

Recently, Hero Electric partnered with ElectricPe to set up charging points pan-India for its customers. The charging infrastructure would be built in residential complexes, offices, malls, and other establishments. The partnership aims to strengthen the charging network and support EV adoption across India.

Prior to this, NoBroker had also partnered with ElectricPe to set up 1 Lakh electric charging stations in residential communities across India in 2022.

In January 2022, ElectricPe raised $5 Mn in its pre-series A round led by Green Frontier Capital, Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund, with participation from NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus and Climate Angels.

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15. Emflux Motors 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Ankit Khatry, Varun Mittal, Vinay Raj Somashekar
• Funding Raised To Date: $648K
• Investors: Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Nitish Singh and Risabh Gupta
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Emflux Motors offers sustainable mobility solutions and other tech solutions for EVs. It sells an electronic bike Emflux One that has a maximum speed of 200 kmph and can cover up to 200 km on a single charge. Besides this, it sells technology stack such as battery management system, motors, motor controller, charger circuit, EVSE, master controller, and battery pack. 

In 2017, Emflux Motors raised $648K in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Jugnoo’s Nitish Singh, and Risabh Gupta.

The EV startup aims to create 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs in India by 2027. It primarily focuses on building brand and loyalty by creating high-performance electric vehicles.  It also plans to build an ecosystem of partner OEMs and become their tech and component supplier. 

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16. EMO Energy

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Sheetanshu Tyagi and Rahul Patel
• Funding Raised To Date: $1.5 Mn
• Investors: Transition VC, Gruhas
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

With its integrated tech stack for two- and three-wheeler EVs and heavy-duty vehicles, deeptech startup EMO Energy is addressing two challenges adversely affecting EV adoption in India – safety and charging efficiency. 

The startup calls its technology platform ZEN, which comes with different applications such as ZEN PAC (swappable battery packs for two- and three-wheelers), ZEN Ctrl. (battery management system and connected software), ZEN Rig (battery packs for heavy-duty vehicles), and ZEN Wall (fully integrated battery inverter system for residential and light commercial use).

EMO Energy has successfully conducted pilot programmes with nearly 10 electric vehicle (EV) companies in the country, deploying approximately 100 batteries to date. The startup is rapidly expanding its network of partnerships. While most of its offerings are still in the pilot phase, EMO Energy has already started generating revenue by selling its battery packs, ranging from 2 kWh to 3 kWh, for two- and three-wheelers.

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17. EMotorad

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Rajib Gangopadhyay, Kunal Gupta, Aditya Oza, Sumedh Battewar
• Funding Raised To Date: $5.9 Mn
• Investor: Basant Lohia from TaraSafe, Green Frontier Capital (GFC), LetsVenture, Ivy Growth associates
• Headquarters: Pune
• EMotorad sells electric cycles for daily commuting and casual rides. The startup uses local sourcing and manufacturing facilities in India to build electric cycles.

In October, the Pune-based startup secured $2.9 Mn (INR 24 Cr) in its Pre-Series A funding round. During that time, it asserted that it sold more than 16K electric cycles in India since its inception

It raised $3 Mn in its seed funding round in late 2021. Its cap table includes Green Frontier Capital (GFC), LetsVenture, Ivy Growth associates and Basant Lohia from TaraSafe.

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18. ETrio 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Sathya Yalamanchili, Deepak M V 
• Funding Raised To Date: $3 Mn
• Investor: Janardhan Rao
• Headquarters: Hyderabad

Etrio offers commercial and non-commercial electricity mobility solutions. Its product portfolio includes electric kits, retrofitted electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs), a three-wheeler EV named Touro, and two bicycles – Ashva and iSwitch. eLCVs have been launched to transform and electrify the logistics segment, while bicycles were launched to meet the demands of cargo and personal segments. 

In 2020, ETrio raised $3 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Triumph Global’s Janardhan Rao. The round saw participation from a cohort of Singapore-based HNIs. 

As per its website, ETrio has partnered with various companies including Amazon, BigBasket, Flipkart, DIAGEO, Lightning Logistics, Amplus Solar, and ZYPP Electric. 

It has also received certifications from various government bodies such as ARAI, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, among others. 

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19. Euler Motors

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders:  Saurav Kumar
• Funding Raised To Date:  $21.8 Mn 
• Investors: Blume Venture, Emergent Ventures, Andrew Lee, Inventus India, Jetty Ventures, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Sujeet Kumar, QRG Investments and Holdings, ADB Ventures,
• Headquarters: New Delhi 

Euler Motors offers commercial electrical mobility solutions through three-wheeler EVs, energy infrastructure, app and web-based software solutions. Its three-wheeler EV, Euler HiLoad, has the capacity to hold up to 688 Kg. The company claims it can get charged in 15 minutes and cover a distance of 151 Km on a single charge.

In the charging infra, the EV startup offers three types of chargers – Flash2, onboard charger, and Charge on Wheels. In the software segment, its app provides an array of services such as real-time GPS tracking, learning analytics, geo-fencing, and battery temperature, among others. 

In April 2022, Euler Motors raised about $5 Mn in a follow-on Series B round from Moglix. Prior to that, it raised $10 Mn as a part of a Series B funding round led by QRG Holdings. The round saw participation from ADB Ventures, Inventus Capital, and Blume Ventures. 

It claims to have supplied more than 250 three-wheeler EVs to various companies including Ecom Express, BigBasket and Udaan.

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20. EVage

• Founded In: 2014
• Founders: Inderveer Singh, Pulkit Srivastava, Harnoor Kaur
• Funding Raised To Date: $28 Mn
• Investors: RedBlue Capital
• Headquarters: Chandigarh

EVage offers commercial solutions for sustainable mobility. It plans to supply electric commercial vehicles to the delivery fleets of logistics companies. 

Recently, Evage raised $28 Mn in a seed funding round from RedBlue Capital. Its first model, X, is a one-tonne truck built for the commercial delivery market.

The startup claims to be the supplier to Amazon India’s delivery partners. 

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21. Evera

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Nimish Trivedi, Vikas Bansal, Rajeev Tiwari
• Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
• Investors: Westova Capital, Devonshire Capital, IEG – Investment Banking Group
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Evera is a New Delhi-based electric cab services provider that operates in both B2B and B2C verticals. Founded in 2019, the startup claims to have taken more than 40,000 rides, with a network of 43 charging stations in the national capital region. Its parent entity is Prakriti E-Mobility.

Unlike many ride-hailing companies, Evera employs full-time drivers rather than working with gig workers. The startup says the drivers can’t cancel rides since they’re paid by the startup.

In early 2023, Evera raised $7 Mn in multiple tranches as part of its Pre-Series A funding round, led by IEG Investment Banking Group, Direct Capital, and Westova Global.

Evera competes directly with BluSmart, which raised $42 Mn in May 2023.

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22. Exponent Energy

• Founded In: 2020 
• Founders: Arun Vinayak, Sanjay Byalal
• Funding Raised To Date: $18 Mn 
• Investors: YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, Motherson Group, Rajesh Yabaji, Pushkar Singh
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Exponent Energy offers energy solutions to EV owners. The startup claims that its lithium-ion battery and charger combo can charge EVs up to 100% within 15 minutes.  

In December 2021, the EV startup raised $5 Mn in a Pre Series A funding round led by existing investor YourNest VC. The round saw participation from other investors including 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC and Motherson Group. 

As per an Inc42 report, it also raised an undisclosed investment in September 2021 from investors including YourNest, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge, BlackBuck’s Rajesh Yabaji, and LetsTransport’s Pushkar Singh among others.

Before launching Exponent Energy, its cofounder Arun Vinayak worked with Ather Energy for seven years, while the other cofounder Sanjay Byalal had earlier worked with Ather Energy as well as HUL.

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23. Fresh Bus

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Sudhakar Reddy Chirra
• Funding Raised To Date: $3.1 Mn
• Investors: ixigo
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded by former AbhiBus founder Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, Fresh Bus is an electric bus (ebus) platform that operates in the intercity bus travel market.

The startup, backed by traveltech major ixigo, launched its ebus service in early 2023 by unveiling its first route between Bengaluru and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. Currently, the bus service is also functional on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada route while the startup plans to start its intercity ebus service on newer routes like Bengaluru-Chennai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, and Goa-Pune.

Fleet operator Fresh Bus has collaborated with EV manufacturer Olectra to procure its buses. 

In the growing ebus market, Fresh Bus competes with NueGo, Zingbus, and other major intercity bus platforms in the market. The startup has also built its own charging station network.

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24. Fyn Mobility

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Visakh Sasikumar
• Funding Raised To Date: $2.4 Mn 
• Investors: Eagle10 Ventures, Bluehill Capital, Sattva Group, Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication, Conscience Multi-Family Office, GAIL (India) Ltd,  Arshad Sayyad, Vijay Ratnaparke, Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Fyn Mobility, which was earlier known as Pi Beam, offers micro-mobility EV solutions and data analytics services for the EV ecosystem. Its product portfolio includes PIMO Utility two-wheeler, E-Trike, E-Kart, and E-Auto.  

In March 2022, Fyn reportedly raised $1.7 Mn in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. 

The round saw participation from investors including Sattva Group and Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication and Conscience Multi-Family Office, and angel investors Fidelity Investments’ Arshad Sayyad, Robert Bosch’s Vijay Ratnaparke, Royal Enfield’s Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.

Prior to this, the EV startup raised $705K in a bridge funding round from GAIL (India) Ltd. Currently, it has a presence in Bengaluru and Chennai. It plans to add 2,000 EVs by FY23. 

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25. goEgoNetwork

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Sayantan Chakraborti, Dheeman Kadam, Pravin Kumar 
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Olivier Guillaumond, Rishi Bagla
• Headquarters: Pune

goEgoNetwork offers energy solutions to customers. With its goME app, EV owners can locate the nearest charging stations and use them. 

In August 2021, goEgoNetwork raised $2 Mn (nearly INR 15 Cr) in seed funding to expand its existing electric charging network. The round saw participation from Bagla Group’s Rishi Bagla and Global Innovation Labs’ Olivier Guillaumond.

In 2021, goEgoNetwork is reported to have partnered with TVS Motor to promote EV infra in Himachal Pradesh. Following this, it set up an EV charging facility at Kaza in Spiti Valley to cater to the needs of EV scooters and cars in the region.

The EV startup has got certifications from various government bodies including ARAI and OCA.

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26. Grinntech 

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Nikhilesh Mishra, Puneet Jain
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn  
• Investors: V Sumantran, Lakshmi Narayan, KS Manian
• Headquarters: Chennai

Grinntech offers energy storage solutions to customers. It claims to provide an array of lithium-ion batteries such as IC Engine starter batteries, e-cycle and robotics batteries, two-wheeler batteries, three-wheeler batteries, small commercial vehicle batteries, light commercial vehicle batteries, and MHCV batteries, among others.

In 2020, Grinntech raised $2 Mn in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from investors including Ashok Leyland’s V Sumantran, Cognizant’s Lakshmi Narayan, and NAPC’s KS Manian. During the same year, the startup also graduated from the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

In 2020, Grinntech inked an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government involving an investment of INR 100 Cr. In the following year, it established a manufacturing facility in Chennai that can meet the demand of up to 400 MWh.

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27. Kabira Mobility

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Jaibir Siwach, Akash Siwach, and Sagar Siwach
• Funding Raised To Date: $52 Mn
• Investors: Al-Abdulla Group, Classic Group
• Headquarters: Goa

Kabira Mobility is a Goa-based electric motorcycle manufacturer, which started a fledged sales of its ebikes in April 2022. It targets young bike enthusiasts. 

The startup has so far launched two models of its flagship bikes – KM3000 and KM4000. While its KM3000 bike model comes with a 4.14 kWh battery capacity and a range of 120 km per charge, the KM4000 model has a battery capacity of 4.60 kWh and offers a range of 150 km. 

Kabira Mobility also has plans to launch pro variants of its KM3000 and KM4000 models this year. Next year, the ebike startup is expected to launch a new model – KM5000 – in the cruiser bike category.

Earlier this year, the startup raised $50 Mn (around INR 412 Cr) in its Series A funding round Qatar-based Al-Abdulla Group, taking its total funding received to INR 430 Cr.

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28. Kazam EV

• Founded In: 2020 
• Founders: Akshay Shekhar, Vaibhav Tyagi
• Funding Raised To Date: $4.53 Mn
• Investors: Inflection Point Ventures, We Founder Circle 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Kazam EV offers software solutions for energy infrastructure. Besides aligning with its own charging stations, the startup’s software supports charging stations of other EV companies as well. It additionally helps micro-entrepreneurs earn money by setting up charging stations in their parking areas. 

In 2021, Kazam raised INR 7 Cr ($0.93 Mn) in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Besides, it raised an undisclosed amount of investment from We Founder Circle. Earlier in May 2023, the startup picked up $3.6 Mn in a round led by Avaana Climate Fund.

As per its website, Kazam has set up over 7,000 charging stations in India. It has a presence in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Its products are essentially utilised by EV OEMs, EV fleet operators and micro-entrepreneurs.

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29. Lithium Urban Technologies

• Founded In: 2014
• Founders: Sanjay Krishnan
• Funding Raised To Date: $58 Mn
• Investors: IFC, EverSource Capital 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Lithium Urban offers sustainability solutions and charging infrastructure to business organisations. The startup essentially offers transport service through its fleet of EVs and associated charging stations.

As per its website, the startup is certified by ISO for implementing guidance on social responsibility. It presently has a fleet size of 2,000 vehicles and operates in over 15 cities, including Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. 

Through its tech stack, the startup claims to deliver 2X productivity, reduce carbon footprint and cut down transportation costs by 40%. As per Tofler, its revenue from operations stood at INR 53.6 Cr in FY20 as against INR 41.8 Cr in FY19. However, its loss widened to INR 21.1 Cr in FY20 as compared to INR 15.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

A few days ago, it reportedly partnered with Tata Motors to deploy 5000 XPRES T Electric Sedans across India for employee transportation.

In March 2022, EverSource Capital, which manages India’s largest climate impact funds, acquired a majority stake in the startup for about $50 Mn. Prior to this, the startup raised $8 Mn from World Bank’s investment arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), as an equity investor. It raised additional capital from other investors as well. 

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30. Lohum

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Rajat Verma, Justin Lemmon, Gazanfar Safvi
• Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+
• Investors: Baring Private Equity Partners, Talbros Automotive Components, Stride Ventures
• Headquarters: Noida

Lohum is a producer of lithium-ion battery raw materials, which it achieves by recycling, repurposing, and low-carbon refining.

Working in a closed-loop recycling model, Lohum acquires used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, stationary storage, and consumer electronics. These batteries are then tested and, if deemed reusable, they are given a second life. If the batteries reach their end-of-life, Lohum recycles the battery materials and sells the resulting metals and chemicals to various customers across the supply chain.

Since its inception, the startup has raised over $20 Mn in funding. Lohum recently said that it has collaborated with insurtech unicorn ACKO to optimise the battery insurance and financing costs for the customers.

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31. Magenta Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Maxson Lewis
• Funding Raised To Date: $35 Mn
• Investors: bp Ventures, Morgan Stanley India, JITO Angel Network
• Headquarters: Mumbai

From being a solution provider in the EV charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility has pivoted to becoming an end-to-end integrated emobility solution provider. 

Currently, it operates over 1,550 electric three-wheelers in the L5 category for last-mile delivery, which it is planning to expand to more than 3,000 vehicles by the end of FY24. Magenta Mobility runs its cargo delivery and logistics services in nine cities, including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Pune Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad. The startup is not a manufacturer and sources its three-wheeler EVs from Piaggio, Altigreen Propulsion Labs, Euler Motors, and Mahindra.

In its charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility manages 39 charging depots to cater to the charging needs of its EV fleet.

Besides, it also develops software technology to enable this entire emobility ecosystem.

In April 2023, Magenta Mobility raised $22 Mn (about INR 180.6 Cr) in its Series A1 funding round from bp Ventures and Morgan Stanley India infrastructure.

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32. Metastable Materials

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Shubham Vishvakarma, Saurav Goyal, Manikumar Uppala
• Funding Raised To Date: Undisclosed 
• Investors: Sequoia Capital’s Surge,  Speciale Invest, Theia Ventures, Akshay Singhal, Sanjeev Rangrass
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Metastable Materials has developed a one-of-its-kind mechanism, a chemical-free integrated carbothermal reduction process, for extracting and recycling materials from lithium-ion batteries in a more economical and efficient manner. 

The startup was part of the eighth cohort of Sequoia’s Surge accelerator program.

In April 2023, the cleantech startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its Seed round from Sequoia Capital’s Surge and other venture capitalists like Speciale Invest and Theia Ventures. 

Metastable Materials is now setting up a 21,000 sq ft battery recycling facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

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33. MoEVing

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Mragank Jain, Vikash Mishra
• Funding Raised To Date:  $10 Mn 
• Investors:  D.S. Brar, Anshuman Maheshwary, Srihari Raju Kalidindi, Ashish Goel, Krishnadeva Veerareddy, BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, Strides One, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain
• Headquarters: Gurugram

MoEVing offers intra-city last-mile delivery solutions, energy infrastructure and fintech solutions. It provides delivery services to companies operating in ecommerce, e-grocery, FMCG, logistics and D2C. Besides, it also works along with OEMs, drivers and financial institutions to address the problems of EV owners when they adopt EVs.

In May, the EV startup secured $5 Mn through equity and debt financing in its ongoing seed funding round. Investors like BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, Strides One, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain from Nazara Technologies participated in the round. 

MoEving has a presence in 10 cities in India including Delhi-NCR, Pune, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata. It aims to add 10,000 EVs and 100 charging hubs in 30 cities by 2023. 

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34. Motovolt Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Tushar Choudhary 
• Funding Raised To Date: $1.9 Mn 
• Investors: Wami Capital, PPAP Automotive, Vikrampati Singhania, Ankur Agarwal, Vikas Bagaria
• Headquarters: Kolkata

Motovolt offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers. Some of its electric bikes are URBN e-Bike, Kivo Easy, Ice, and Kivo 24. 

Recently, the startup also launched an electric bike called URBN for its consumers. The new electric bike has removable twin batteries, weighing about 10 kg each.

In November last year, it bagged $1.9 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Wami Capital. Earlier, it had shared plans to invest INR 200 Cr into its business (in 2023) to enhance product offerings and expand its facility as well as sales network. It claims to have more than 100 POS across the country.

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35. Oben Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Madhumita Agrawal, Dinkar Agarwal, and Sagar Thakkar
• Funding Raised To Date: $10.7 Mn
• Investors: Stride Ventures, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Mumbai Angels, We Founder Circle
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Currently, the electric two-wheeler market is predominantly dominated by escooter manufacturers. However, the electric motorcycle sector is relatively limited, with only a few companies operating in this space.

Oben Electric is one of those few startups that are manufacturing electric bikes to make a major shift in a market ruled by the stalwarts like Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp, and Eicher Motors.

Its flagship electric motorcycle Oben Rorr comes with a top speed of 100 km per hour and a 4.4 kWh battery capacity that can fully charge in two hours.

In the electric motorcycle manufacturing space, Oben Electric currently competes with Revolt Motors, Ultraviolette, Matter, Odysse, Hop Electric, Kabira Mobility, and Orxa Energies.

The startup has raised around $10.7 Mn (over 88 Cr) in total funding so far. In its extended Pre-Series A funding round, it raised $4.88 Mn (INR 72 Cr) in June 2023.

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36. Odysse Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Nemin Vora
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Mumbai

Electric mobility startup Odysse is a part of the Vora group of companies that has a vast line of businesses with a primary focus on automobile-based products. As a two-wheeler EV manufacturer, Odysse makes both electric scooters and motorcycles.

In the motorcycle category, the startup has two models – Evoqis and Vader. In the escooter category, Odysse’s main two-wheeler models are E2go, Hawk, and V2.

Odysse also manufactures a last-mile delivery escooter electric scooter, TROT.

Hence, the startup competes with the major players across the EV two-wheeler market, including Revolt, Oben Electric, Ola Electric, TVS Motor, Hero Electric as well as the likes of Yulu.

The company has set up its EV manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In July 2023, Odysse announced a strategic partnership with Flipkart to help customers pre-book and purchase Odysse’s EVs more seamlessly from the marketplace.

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37. Ohm Mobility

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Nikhil Nair
• Funding Raised To Date: $400K
• Investors: Antler India, Blume Founders Fund, Catalyst Fund, Kunal Shah
• Headquarters: Bangalore

Ohm Mobility is an end-to-end EV-focussed financing platform, which aims to help EV players to get easier access to institutional capital while enabling lenders to discover, verify, and deploy capital to EV companies. It is building a technology platform to connect EV buyers with capital providers.

In May 2023, Ohm Mobility raised INR 3 Cr in a pre-seed funding round led by Antler India. The funding round also saw participation from Blume Founders Fund and angels like Sagar Gubbi, Anshuman Bapna Mathew Chako, and Karishma Menon.

Its current client portfolio includes Race Energy, Eveez, and Hala Mobility, among others. The startup competes with the likes of Vidyut and Turno in the space.

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38. Okinawa Autotech

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Jeetender Sharma 
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped 
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Gurugram

Okinawa offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup offers EV vehicles–RIDGE+, PRAISE PRO, IPRAISE+, R30, Okinawa R30 and LITE. Its high-speed scooters hold various features such as detachable batteries, fast charging, central locking, app connectivity, etc. Its EV vehicles are priced at INR 50K-INR 1.14 Lakh.

As per LinkedIn, it has over 350 dealerships across India so far. It has received a FAME II subsidy from the Indian government and also, got IATD certification for design and manufacturing. It also partnered with the Indian Navy, Delhi Transport Corporation and Tirupati Smart City.

It claims to have sold more than 1 lakh EV scooters since its inception. It has two manufacturing plants in Rajasthan; one plant with a capacity of more than 1 lakh units is in Bhiwandi while the other with 0.5 Mn units is in Alwar. 

Since It’s a bootstrapped venture, the startup has not got external financing so far. However, it is reportedly looking at raising INR 400-INR 500 Cr from American and European private equity players.

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39. Ola Electric 

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Bhavish Aggarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $859.7 Mn  
• Investors: Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, Tiger Global and Matrix India, SoftBank, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Bank of Baroda, Falcon Edge, IIFL PE, Cars 24, Moglix, Dealshare, VSS Investco, Pawan Munjal, Ratan Tata, Rahul Mehta
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola Electric offers two-wheelers EVs and energy infrastructure. Founded in 2017, the EV startup manufacturing facility, Ola Future Factory, has a production capacity of 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs per annum and deploys over 3000 robots. 

Recently, Ola Electric was also selected for receiving incentives from the Indian government under the $2.4 Bn PLI scheme to manufacture advanced chemistry cell batteries. A few days later, it also invested in Israel-based battery technology company StoreDot to have access to its XFC battery technology that charges batteries in five minutes. 

In January 2022, Ola Electric completed a $200 Mn Series C funding round at a valuation of $5 Bn. The round saw participation from investors including Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, and Edelweiss, among others. 

Ola Electric claims to have sold EV scooters worth $150 Mn to date. As per Tofler, it clocked a revenue of INR 107 Cr and a loss before taxes of INR 107 Cr in FY21. 

In December 2021, Ola Electric was expected to head for IPO listing as the EV startup increased its authorised share capital to INR 3,825 Cr.

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40. Pure EV 

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Rohit Vadera, Nishanth Dongari
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: VC Nannapaneni
• Headquarters: Telangana

PURE offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy storage systems. It manufactures Lithium batteries and five EVs including eTryst 350, epluto, epluto7G, ETranceNEO and ETrance+.   

Its electric bike, eTryst 350 is powered by 4.0 KW peak and 3.0 KW nominal motors. The EV bike’s top speed is 85 kmph and has a load capacity of 160 kg. The epluto scooter is powered with 250 Watt brushless hub motor, and has a top speed of 25 kmph. The epluto7G is powered by 2.2 KW peak and 1.5 KW nominal motors and has a top speed of 60 kmph. 

The ETranceNEO scooter is powered by 2.2 KW peak and 1.5 KW nominal motors and has a top speed of 60 kmph. It has a loading capacity of 150 kg. The ETrance+ is powered by a 250-watt motor and has a top speed of 25 kmph.

The startup graduated from IIT Hyderabad. In 2019, it reportedly secured an undisclosed amount of funding from VC Nannapaneni, chairman and managing director of Natco Pharma, at a valuation of $35 Mn.  

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41. RACEnergy

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Arun Sreyas, Gautham M
• Funding Raised To Date: $4.3 Mn
• Investors:  Huddle, Prophetic Ventures, Micelio, growX Ventures
• Headquarters: Hyderabad

RACEnergy builds retrofit kits for transforming conventional three-wheeler vehicles into EVs. It also provides energy infrastructure via its battery-swapping stations.

The startup reportedly raised $1.3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Micelio Fund and growX ventures in 2021. The round saw participation from Huddle, Prophetic Ventures and BITSian Angels, among others. 

The capital, raised from the round, was infused in research and development (R&D), enhancing the startup’s swapping technology and infrastructure. Prior to this, it raised $500K in a seed funding round from growX ventures, Prophetic Ventures and some angel investors.

RACEnergy raised a Seed round of $ 1.3 Mn, led by Micelio Fund and growX ventures, along with investments from Huddle and Prophetic Ventures. The company raised $3 Mn in a pre-series A round led by growx Ventures with participation from Micelio Mobility, Huddle and other angel investors. The funds will be used for market expansion and for building a new facility.

It aims to set up an extensive battery-swapping network in India and foray into other continents by ​2023.

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42. Revolt Motors 

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Rahul Sharma 
• Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+ (approx)
• Investors: RattanIndia Group
• Headquarters: Haryana

Revolt offers sustainable mobility solutions across India. The startup manufactures AI-enabled EV bikes – RV 400 and RV 300. Its EV bikes are equipped with onboard charging and portable charging features. The RV 400 has a 3.24 kWh lithium battery while RV 300 has a 2.7 kWh lithium battery. 

The startup also offers app-based battery swapping stations named Revolt Switch Stations where EV bike owners can exchange their batteries for a charged one. It has retail stores in multiple cities of India, including Jaipur, Surat, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Noida, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Kochi and Hubli. 

In April 2021, it secured INR 150 Cr (around $20.12 Mn at then exchange rates) from RattanIndia Group to expand its footprint in India and the South Asian market. With this investment, RattanIndia acquired a 43% stake in the Haryana-based EV startup, while Rajiv Rattan, chairman of RattanIndia Enterprises, joined its board as a non-executive chairman.

Earlier this year, RattanIndia acquired Revolt entirely, making it a wholly-owned subsidy.

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43. River

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Aravind Mani and Vipin George
• Funding Raised To Date: $28 Mn
• Investors: Al Futtaim Group, Lowercarbon Capital, Toyota Ventures, Maniv Mobility
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

River is an electric two-wheeler manufacturer that launched its first escooter model India in February this year. The startup ran operations in stealth mode for the last two years while working on its product development and R&D.

River’s Indie comes with a motor that has a peak power of 6.7 kW and can reach a top speed of 90 km per hour. The current vehicle model has a 4 kWh battery with a range of 120 km. 

River throws direct competition to the escooter majors like Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motor, Pure EV, and others.

In June, River raised $15 Mn (INR 124 Cr) and is looking to start its vehicle delivery in August this year. So far, the startup has raised $28 Mn in three funding rounds.

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44. SmartE 

• Founded In: 2015 
• Founders: Goldie Srivastava 
• Funding Raised To Date: $18.3 Mn 
• Investors: Mitsui and Co, Ecotransit Investments International, Shell Foundation
• Headquarters: Delhi

SmartE offers last-mile connectivity to commuters. The startup operates a fleet of electric vehicles in more than 10 cities in India, including Faridabad, Noida, Gurugram, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. 

In January 2022, SmartE along with Revfin, an EV-focused lending startup, got an undisclosed amount of investment from the Shell Foundation to extend new loans to three-wheelers EVs on its platform. In July 2019, it raised INR 100 Cr in a Series B funding round from Mitsui and Co. Prior to this, it had raised $5 Mn in Series A round from Ecotransit Investments International.  

According to its website, SmartE has partnered with 17 companies such as Kinetic Green, NTPC, SBI, HSIIDC, ACME, Sun Mobility, Exicom and AMARA RAJA. It further claims to have worked with more than 25 clients, including BigBasket, Flipkart, SpicXpress, Milkbasket, and Blowhorn.

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45. SUN Mobility 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Chetan Maini, Uday Khemka
• Funding Raised To Date: $50 Mn 
• Investors: Vitol
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

SUN Mobility, a joint venture of Maini Group and Sun Group, offers energy infrastructure. It manufactures lithium-ion batteries, named Smart Batteries, for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and buses. 

Through its app, EV drivers can locate its battery swapping stations and Quick Interchange Solutions, and swap their batteries. 

As per its website, the startup has partnered with various companies such as Omega Seiki, Vitol, Zypp Electric, Tata Power-DDL, Zyngo, Bosch, Piaggio, IndianOil, Uber, SmartE, Microsoft, and Ashok Leyland. It presently has 65 swapping stations in 15 cities in India, including Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurugram, and Bengaluru.

In October 2021, it reportedly secured $50 Mn in funding from Vitol to expand its footprint in India and abroad. 

It aims to set up 500 battery-swapping stations in the country by the end of the current year. It further plans to launch new products to improve the battery-swapping experience and strengthen its leadership.

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46. TSUYO

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Lalit Baid, Vijay Kumar 
• Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn+
• Investors: Ramkrishna Forgings
• Headquarters: Delhi

TSUYO Manufacturing, a subsidiary of JYVA Engineering, makes powertrain solutions for electric vehicles (EVs) in India and other Asian nations.  

The startup produces BLDC motors and controllers for three-wheeler electric vehicles. It also builds customised EV solutions for companies, according to its website.

In December last year, Kolkata-based supplier Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd. acquired a 51% stake in TSUYO for around INR 100 Cr (around $12.07 Mn at the then exchange rates). 

Ramkrishna Forgings had said that it would invest heavily in TSUYO in the next five years to increase its turnover to around INR 500 Cr by the end of the fifth year. 

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47. Ultraviolette Automotive

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan  
• Funding Raised To Date: $20.56 Mn
• Investors: TVS, Zoho Corporation, Kumar Vembu, 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ultraviolette Automotive offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy infrastructure to customers. The EV startup sells a zero-emission electric bike named F77 and batteries on its website. 

In December 2021, Ultraviolette Automotive raised INR 112.5 Cr (about $15 Mn) from TVS Motor and Zoho. While TVS invested INR 75 Cr, Zoho pumped INR 38 Cr into the startup.  

Prior to this, Ultraviolette Automotive got an investment of INR 30 Cr from TVS in Series B funding round. In October 2020, it got an undisclosed amount of investment from GoFrugal’s Kumar Vembu as a part of a Series B round. Vembu also invested in the EV startup’s Series A round.

In 2018, Ultraviolette Automotive raised $862K (INR 6 Cr) in Series A round from TVS Motor Company. Earlier in 2017, TVS invested $700K (INR5 Cr) for a 14.78% stake in the EV startup.

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48. Vecmocon

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders:  Peeyush Asati, Adarshkumar B and Shivam Wankhede 
• Funding Raised To Date: Funding: $5.2 Mn
• Investors: Tiger Global, Blume Ventures, Tessellate Ventures
• Headquarters: Delhi-NCR

Vecmocon offers battery management systems, vehicle intelligence services, chargers and instrument clusters. Its plug-and-play service integrates into electric vehicles’ OEMs. It is currently offering these services to electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, forklifts and tractors.

According to its website, the EV startup will soon begin offering motor controllers and fleet management for electric vehicles. 

In October, the EV startup secured $5.2 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round from Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and other angel investors. The startup said it powered 5K EVs to date and aims to power more than 500K electric vehicles by 2025.

In 2019, it secured $300K in its seed funding round led by Tessellate Ventures.

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49. Vidyut Tech

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Xitij Kothi and Gaurav Srivastava
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn+
• Investors: Force Ventures, Veda VC, Kunal Shah, Sahil Barua
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded in 2021, Vidyut Tech is a commercial EV financing and vehicle lifecycle management platform, which aims to make commercial EV ownership more accessible and affordable.

The startup is trying to solve some of the biggest problems in the EV financing space by decoupling batteries from vehicles while underwriting loans for EVs. Given there is a gap in the longevity of EV batteries and vehicle chassis, Vidyut Tech believes that this approach works better for most customers in the L5 category of vehicles that it caters to.

Besides a traditional term loan plan, Vidyut provides buyers with a hybrid financing model for vehicle loans with a battery subscription. This brings down the upfront cost of the EVs by 40%-50%.

Using battery health data and its proprietary underwriting model, Vidyut extracts a high residual value for EVs, enabling customers to get an effective interest rate of 7% while buying the vehicles.

In December last year, the startup raised $4 Mn in Seed funding round.

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50. Yulu

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Amit Gupta, RK Misra, Naveen Dachuri, Hemant Gupta
• Funding Raised To Date: $27.4 Mn
• Investors: Blume Ventures, 3One4 Capital, Wavemaker Partners, Incubate Fund India, Grey Cell Ventures, Bajaj, Rocketship
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Yulu offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. The startup uses IoT, ML and AI for demand-supply management and efficient operations. It manufactures three EVs – Yulu Miracle for urban commuters, Yulu Move for short-distance commutes, and Yulu DEX for commuters carrying goods. Besides this, it offers rental services to commuters for up to 90 days in a few Indian cities, including Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune. 

It is currently operating in cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar in India. In November 2021, it reportedly started a wide network of battery and swapping stations – Yulu Max Network. 

In December last year, it reportedly raised $7 Mn in a debt funding round from Magna International INC through non-convertible notes. It has secured a total funding of $27.4 Mn to date. It claims to have swapped 3 Mn batteries to date and will expand its fleet to 100K units by the end of 2022. It further aims to start a franchise model and offer services to individual buyers over the next year.

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51. Zypp Electric

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Akash Gupta, Rashi Agarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn
• Investors: Northern Arc, 9Unicorns, Anthill Ventures, Nanavati Family Office, We Founder Circle, Riso Capital Fund, Dholakia Ventures, Venture Catalysts, IAN Fund, Tarun Saraf, Rahul Khera, Arjun Seth, Mark Joseph
• Headquarters: Gurugram

Zypp Electric offers B2B delivery and shared mobility services to consumers. It provides electric scooters for last-mile delivery to more than 50 companies, including Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, PharmEasy, Delhivery, and Spencers, among others. 

Earlier, it had shared that with 6,000 electric vehicles on the road, it helped its partners complete more than 5 Mn deliveries in the financial year 2021-22.

In September 2021, it bagged $7 Mn in a Series A funding round led by 9Unicorns and Anthill Ventures. 

It has a headcount of 400 employees and plans to double its employee base by September 2023. 

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list.

Last updated on Sept 8, 2023

The post 51 EV Startups That Are Helping Keep The Earth Healthy And Clean appeared first on Inc42 Media.

While working with schools in Rajasthan, under a fellowship programme, in 2019, tier II educators and childhood friends Ajay Vishwakarma and Tanu Aggarwal realised that there was a serious dearth of skilled teachers and resources — both essential for quality education — for students. 

To bridge this gap, Vishwakarma and Aggarwal made it their mission to change the face of academics with a cost-effective solution that could play a key role in upgrading academic standards and ensuring quality education for all.

At the outset, the duo would record chapters in a creative and appealing fashion and share them with teachers on WhatsApp groups — a strategy that was a hit among students.

This vision paved the way for what many students today know as SunoKitaab. Launched in January 2020, the edtech startup provides academic content in the form of audiobooks and podcasts. On its website, it claims to have a compendium of more than 10K lectures in English and Hindi for students studying in Classes I to XII and the ones preparing for competitive exams.  

It is pertinent to mention here that just a few months after its launch, the startup received a major boost in its user base as Covid-19 wreaked havoc across the globe.

While on the one hand, the pandemic gave a significant thrust to many edtech business models, as everyone was forced to stay in the confines of their homes, it, on the other hand, unearthed many unique challenges for students.

For starters, the students with enough resources to study online were exposed to the harmful effects of longer screen time. In contrast, students hailing from the hinterlands of the country, or the ones with little resources to study online, lagged in their studies.    

At this point, the founders took inspiration from a music audio player, Caravaan, and launched an audio player for academic studies called ‘VidyaBox’ in 2022.

“Our academic audiobooks and podcasts bridge the gap between videos and written content, providing an accessible and engaging way to consume educational materials. We are helping students get access to valuable resources with zero screen time,” the cofounder and CEO of SunoKitaab, Vishwakarma, said.

The cofounders’ efforts to make education accessible have been well-received by both students and teachers. As a result, the startup today boasts having a user base of 2 Lakh students and 1,000 teachers. 

Not just this, SunoKitaab has successfully raised INR 20 Lakh from Startup India Seed Funds, Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). Notably, the startup has also received immense backing from the Rajasthan government’s iStart initiative. 

“iStart programme has provided us with invaluable support, including mentors and essential infrastructure,” Vishwakarma said.

SunoKitaab’s Humble Beginnings 

At the outset, when the cofounders decided to embark on their journey to make available academic courses via audio means, they knew that the road they wished to take wouldn’t be a bed of roses as they lacked the technical skills to pursue their mission.

Another major pain point was a serious dearth of funds. However, the duo took a great leap of faith with just INR 1.5 Lakh in hand, and as they stepped forth into uncharted territory, they met Gurkaran Singh.

As the chief technology officer, Singh has played a pivotal role in building the SunoKitaab website and app.

Once the startup’s tech stack was ready, the cofounders leveraged platforms like Google and Facebook, along with content marketing campaigns to target its audience. 

“This increased our visibility and engagement, ultimately aiding in attracting and acquiring new learners for SunoKitaab,” Vishwakarma said.

Interestingly, Vishwakarma gives credit to the rise of non-music audio platforms for the success of SunoKitaab. The platforms that played a key role in inspiring the CEO to offer quality education to one and all are homegrown names like Audible Suno, Pocket FM, Khabr, and Kuku FM, just to name a few. 

In fact, Kuku FM is the closest competitor to SunoKitaab in the space. For context, Kuku FM has a range of educational content on various subjects on its platform.

A Deep Dive Into SunoKitaab’s Playbook

The non-music audio OTT approach has worked wonders for SunoKitaab to emerge in the edtech space. SunoKitaab offers a repository of audio content like recorded lectures and summaries. Their playbook has been to reduce screen time and internet dependency. 

This has made SunoKitaab a preferred platform for students who do not want to spend hours staring at computer screens for learning.

On the other hand, SunoKitaab’s VidyaBox has proved to be a game changer for students in the rural areas of the country. This is because VidyaBox is not only cost-effective but also gives access to offline learning in a creative vogue.

Vishwakarma claims that VidyaBox has been adopted by 70% of school students who do not have the internet, smartphones, or personal computers.  

The educational content provided via VidyaBox has been curated by 1,000 teachers and subject experts. The device helps students with ease of learning in different languages.

These teachers record their voices to provide educational content in VidyaBox. Post the first recording session, a team of audio editors and subject experts reviews the recorded content to ensure the sound and content quality before it’s made available on the platform/device.

Another aspect of ensuring content quality is to keep it relevant and up-to-date. For this, the startup takes regular student feedback and closely monitors school and state board syllabi.

All the recording sessions take place in the in-house studio equipped with the necessary audio equipment. This allows the startup to have full control over the content creation process.

The content can be tailored to suit the distinct needs and preferences of different students, with ongoing efforts to make it even more student-specific.

To customise the content in VidyaBox, the startup provides a form on the website to take the details of the academic needs of the students. Based on the input fed by the students, the curriculum is recorded and delivered to the students. It takes a maximum of seven days to deliver the device to the students and the costs for which are incurred by the startup. 

Vishwakarma claims that the platform has empowered many visually impaired students by providing them access to education through its audio content. He said, “Over 30,000 visually impaired students have benefited from SunoKitaab and more than 1 Lakh students in rural areas have gained access to quality education, showcasing the startup’s meaningful contribution to education.”

Moving on, the cofounders also started a fellowship in 2019 which continued after SunoKitaab’s inception. Fellows collaborate with schools to demonstrate the usage of VidyaBox across Tier II and III regions. Eligibility criteria for the fellowship require the candidate to be a graduate with strong communication skills.

The startup generates revenue by selling audio devices, app subscriptions and content creation.

What’s Next For SunoKitaab?

SunoKitaab is dedicated to expanding its audio content across various education boards in multiple regional languages. The startup’s objective is to optimise the learning journey by giving easy access to quality education.

“Audiobooks are gaining momentum as students and parents recognise their value in education. Audio offers quality content without the need for visuals,” Vishwakarma said.  

He believes that the country’s rural areas, including Tier II and Tier III cities and towns, represent a huge market for edtechs today. Not just this, even the quality of education in these areas will get a major overhaul if edtech founders shift their focus from Tier I towns and cities to these high-potential smaller regions. 

At a time when hybrid learning has become a buzzword in the edtech space, SunoKitaab is already catering to both offline and online learners. While we cannot ignore the strides that the startup has made since its inception a few years ago, there are areas that SunoKitaab can work on. 

For instance, its VidyaBox device is priced at INR 3,999, which is a lot of money for students hailing from the rural areas of the country and could defeat the founders’ vision to extend high-quality education in these regions. Realising this, the startup has partnered with Simpl for a buy now pay later option and also provides EMI options. 

As of now, it remains to be seen if the edtech will be able to secure a juicy chunk of the audiobook market, which is expected to touch $35 Bn by 2030, especially when a majority of edtech startups are looking to pivot to survive.

Disclaimer: This article is part of Inc42 and the Government of Rajasthan’s initiative to shine a spotlight on the state’s emerging startups.

The post How SunoKitaab Is Overhauling Education In India’s Tier II & III Towns With Its Audio Learning Playbook appeared first on Inc42 Media.

At a time when the adoption of electric cars and escooters has been well received in the realm of electric vehicles (EVs), electric motorcycles have yet to become a common spectacle – both on roads and race tracks.

While the earliest reference to electric motorcycles can be traced back to the late 1800s, internal combustion engine (ICE) motorcycles manufactured by Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Royal Enfield, Hero, BMW, Harley Davidson, and Ducati have continued to rule roads worldwide.

The situation is no different In India, where the EV market is more nascent than some of its peers like China, the US, and Europe. 

Though India’s electric two-wheeler adoption has jumped by almost 4-5X year-on-year since 2020, helped by hundreds of escooter OEM players entering the market, electric motorcycles have yet to receive this boost. This is because there are fewer players in the market that want to entertain the intricacies, complexities and costs associated with building top-notch products to rival traditional ICE motorcycles.

Amid this, Bengaluru-based Ultraviolette Automotive has emerged as one of the pioneering startups to begin the production of high-performance electric motorcycles in India.

Founded in 2016 by Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan, Ultraviolette took six years to launch their first flagship vehicle, F77.

Before embarking on their entrepreneurial journey, Subramaniam and Rajmohan served the automotive sector for almost a decade, working with global tech companies. Their tech backgrounds have played a crucial role in paving the way for Ultraviolette, which today boasts India’s first lineup of high-performance electric motorcycles — F77 Original and two special editions, F77 Recon and F77 Space Edition.

Ultraviolette’s Race Has Just Begun

From building the core IPs for most technologies used in F77, including the battery tech, drivetrain, and software to establishing a well-integrated servicing network, Ultraviolette’s vision since its inception has been to create ‘top-of-the-line mobility solutions driven by progressive design and energy efficient technology’.

“Our focus has always been on innovation,” said Subramaniam, the cofounder and CEO of Ultraviolette.

We were told that Ultraviolette draws inspiration from the aviation and aerospace sectors, which is evident in the design philosophy of its bikes. All the standard and special edition bikes under its F series showcase jet-inspired design. 

As per the founders, what sets Ultraviolette’s approach apart is its application of principles from aircraft engineering, encompassing mechanics, electronics, and architecture, in building emotorcycles.

Further, the F77 lineup has been built keeping the future needs of the users in mind — as they are expected to use the product for at least 7 to 10 years. Given that the EV technology is growing and changing at an unprecedented scale, the founders told Inc42 that they have tried to make their motorcycles future-proof by selecting components that are durable and deploying technology that doesn’t become obsolete soon.

In addition, to ensure quality control and affordability once rolled out, the startup has built the entire vertical integration, including battery technology, drivetrain electronics, the cloud-connected system, the architecture, vehicle chassis, and charging system over the years.

Ultravoilette’s F77s Get Ready To Race

The pivotal moment arrived in late 2019 when Ultraviolette introduced its F77 model with a range of 150 km. However, with the emergence of the pandemic in 2020, the company halted production and directed all its efforts towards enhancing battery technology.

Between 2019 and 2022, F77 underwent a whole revamp to achieve a range of 200 km for its Original model and later touched the 300 km mark for its F77 RECON limited edition. This transformation encompassed both architectural changes and the adoption of a new cell format to enhance the battery performance.

In November 2022, Ultraviolette finally launched its motorcycles in Bengaluru. 

But why did the startup choose the high-performance emotorcycle segment?

“In a diverse country like India, the first challenge is to make people excited about EVs. People still hold many misconceptions about this technology. So, we understood that if we had to change their mindset, it would be better to start with a segment that is exciting, engaging, and nuanced,” said Subramaniam, adding that it was a very calculated decision to start with the aspirational segment.

In the performance bike market, Ultraviolette bikes compete with quarter-litre or half-litre categories (300 to 500 CC) – a segment that alone witnesses sales of 1-2 Lakh ICE motorcycles per month in India.

So far, the startup has raised around $60 Mn in multiple rounds from Exor, TVS Motor Company, Qualcomm Ventures, Lingotto, and Zoho Corporation, among others. 

This financial support extends beyond capital infusion as many of these investors are actively engaged in augmenting Ultraviolette’s technological capabilities and expanding its market presence that would soon transcend beyond India.

Today, the startup’s emotorcycles run in six Indian cities — Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Kochi, and Hyderabad.

The startup believes that the pure D2C approach cannot work for motorcycles. Hence, the first step to expanding into these markets was establishing after-sales servicing facilities in each of these cities. These servicing stations are directly managed by Ultraviolette.

Taking On Global Players With Competent Price Point

Ultraviolette does not compete with players that offer commuter bikes in the range of INR 1 Lakh to INR 2 Lakh, but rather the players that offer high-performance ICE motorcycles. In its segment, the company counts players like Kawasaki, KTM, and BMW as its competitors.

Ultraviolette F77 starts from INR 3.8 Lakh onwards, ex-showroom. According to Subramaniam, Ultraviolette’s ebike may seem more expensive in comparison to its ICE counterparts, however, it costs quite less in the long run since it is an EV. 

“Also, if compared with the other high-end aspirational electric motorcycles in the global market, our bikes are at least 3-4X less expensive,” the CEO said.

However, when it comes to staying abreast of international players, the startup’s price point looks quite lucrative.

For example, US-based Zero Motorcycles, which is currently one of the global leaders in the electric motorcycles market, charges a minimum of $12,000 (INR 9.9 Lakh) for its ZERO FX dual sports variant that offers a range of approximately 145 km on a single charge and has a peak power of 46 HP with 106 NM torque. 

In contrast, Ultraviolette’s F77 Original offers a range of over 200 km with a peak power of 36 hp and 85 NM of torque — not much difference in power but a huge variation in range and pricing. 

(Note: While the two segments of bikes (ZERO FX and F77 Original) cannot be compared, we have picked the lowest-priced models of both companies)

Moving on, another example is Harley Davidson’s electric motorcycle LiveWire S2 Del Mar, which offers a 200 km range, 84 horses and a massive 260 NM of torque, is priced at around $15,499 (manufacturer’s suggested retail price), which translates to around INR 13 Lakh.

According to Ultraviolette’s cofounder and CTO Rajmohan, it is due to the company’s proprietary tech stack that they have been able to keep the pricing of their F77 lineup competent.

“There is always an additional cost associated when working with third parties because every player wants to keep their margins.

It is pertinent to note that players like Revolt, Oben Electric, Kabira Mobility, and Odysse, too, operate in the electric motorcycle segment, but they largely offer commuter vehicles.

Ultraviolette also unveiled its F99 Factory racing platform earlier this year at Auto Expo 2023, which comes with a peak power output of 65 horses and offers a top speed of over 200 km per hour. The startup plans to develop this technology further only for race tracks.

Ultraviolette’s In The Speed Lane

According to the cofounders, Ultraviolette is gross margin positive. The startup has a total headcount of around 350 employees with 200 of them dedicated solely to the R&D unit.

Ultraviolette recently launched a Space Edition of its flagship F77 as a tribute to India’s Chandraayan-3 mission and specetech development. The limited edition bike comes with aluminium, paints, and other materials used in spacecraft. It is available for only 10 bookings.

While Ultraviolette did not reveal the plans pertaining to its upcoming bike launches, the startup is expected to roll out a fast-charging network in various parts of the country soon.

Currently, the startup offers two chargers – a standard charger that takes around 8-9 hours to fully charge a vehicle and a boost charger that takes about 4 hours to fully charge an ebike. The startup is also coming up with a fast charger, which would take less than 2 hours to fully charge its ebikes.

As per Vahan portal data, Ultraviolette has seen the registrations of over 195 vehicles this year. The founders claimed that they project at least 1,000 Ultraviolette motorcycles to be on the road by the end of this year.

In the next 12 months, the startup plans to extend its footprint to 12-15 cities. Besides, it plans to jump the Indian borders starting next year, with eyes set on countries like Italy, Germany, Spain, the US, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil, along with Southeast Asian countries.

Meanwhile, in India, the enthusiasm of EV players to enter the electric motorcycle market is growing. Recently, Ola Electric announced that it will launch four electric bikes next year. 

Bengaluru-based Orxa Energies is also preparing for the launch of its flagship all-electric high-performance motorcycle, the Mantis.

As per a report, the global electric two-wheeler market is set to grow at a CAGR of 19.1% between 2022 and 2030, reaching $121.08 Bn in 2030 with electric motorcycles expected to cherish almost half the market during this period.

Even though the pace of adoption of electric motorcycles has been slow in India, the entire domestic two-wheeler electric market is set to reach $6.2 Bn in size by 2030. 

Nonetheless, for Indian EV players like Ultraviolette, who have also set their eyes on foreign lands too, these are some of the most exciting times. 

However, as more established players will enter the high-performance motorcycle market with global collaboration, the road ahead could get a bit patchy for smaller players. While this is just an anticipation, it would be interesting to see how Ultraviolette’s high-performance playbook inspires other Indian EV OEMs to make a paradigm shift in a bid to stay abreast of their western counterparts.

The post Inside Ultraviolette’s 6-Year Electric Revolution: How The Emotorcycle Maker Is Ready To Race It Out With KTMs & BMWs appeared first on Inc42 Media.

As India is engrossed in celebrating the success of Chandrayaan-3’s Moon landing, it is pertinent to note that many homegrown spacetech startups have emerged as silent knights. 

India, which until a few years ago was seen as shying away from splurging on space missions, recorded a historic 2022 with its first private rocket launch by Skyroot and multiple other satellite launches, grabbing eyeballs the world over.

Not to mention, behind this is the government’s willingness and trust in the country’s private spacetech players, who have massive backing from the Centre in all key areas ranging from funding, technology access, and infrastructure support, among others.

In July, the GST Council set the launchpad for spacetech startups with a 0% GST regime. During the 50th meeting of the Council, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that the initiative was aimed at fostering emerging startups in the rapidly growing spacetech sector.

The buzz in this burgeoning sector has been such that last year alone as many as 100 spacetech startups got registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Further, Microsoft joined hands with ISRO in January 2023 to fuel the growth of spacetech startups in India.

The growth has come on the back of approximately $205 Mn in funding raised by India’s spacetech startups across 30+ deals between 2014 and July 2023, according to data compiled by Inc42.

According to a study published by IBEF in December 2022, India accounted for 2.1% of the global space economy in 2020, with a market share of $9.6 Bn, comprising 0.4% of the country’s total GDP.

At a time when India is inching closer to unravelling the secrets of space and what lies beyond horizons, let’s take a closer look at the 15 Indian spacetech startups that are expected to write the next chapter of the Indian growth story in the nascent but ever-growing spacetech domain. 

(Note: The list is not meant to be a ranking of any kind and will be updated from time to time. We have listed the Indian spacetech startups in alphabetical order.)

Here’s The List of Spacetech Startups In India

1. Aadyah Aerospace

Founded in 2016 by Shaju Stephen, Aadyah Aerospace is a provider of aeronautics, space, and defence engineering and technology solutions. Headquartered in Bengaluru, this innovative aerospace startup aims to revolutionise computer vision, communication, and motion control through the integration of AI.

The startup operates in both the space and aerospace sectors, specialising in self-designing satellites, launch vehicle subsystems, and drones. 

The startup’s primary focus lies in manufacturing cutting-edge electro-mechanical actuators, control actuation systems, and electro-optic systems for missiles and launch vehicles. 

Notably, the spacetech startup has successfully developed a cube set dispenser that securely holds satellites in position during launches until they are deployed into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

Within one year of its establishment, Aadyah Aerospace secured nearly $1 Mn from the US-based Keiretsu Forum.

2. Agnikul

Established in 2017, Agnikul achieved a significant milestone by constructing its own launchpad and mission control centre at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Founded by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM, and SR Chakravarthy, the spacetech startup has raised a total of $34.5 Mn across six funding rounds. Its most recent funding round in November 2022 was led by Rocketship.vc and Venture Catalysts.

The spacetech startup has garnered support from notable angel investors, including Sriram Krishnan of Andreessen Horowitz, Anand Mahindra, Nithin Kamath of Zerodha, and Naval Ravikant of AngelList.

Agnikul has secured a significant achievement as one of the first Indian private enterprises to forge partnerships with both ISRO and IN-SPACe for the development of its projects.

Operating in the fiercely competitive space industry, Agnikul faces competition from players such as Skyroot, Dhruva Space, Pixxel and Astrome.

3. Astrogate Labs

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Astrogate Labs is at the forefront of enabling high-speed communications for small satellites. The startup, established in 2017 by Aditya Kedlaya and Nitish Singh, is dedicated to unveiling its groundbreaking space-to-ground laser communications link. 

After getting an undisclosed amount of funding from Speciale Invest in 2019, Astrogate secured $200K from 9Unicorns Accelerator Fund in 2020. With a vision to address the challenge of high-speed communication in space, the startup initially planned to establish a comprehensive chain of optical communication systems. 

The spacetech startup’s strategy includes managing a network of optical ground stations and in-space relays to support the increasing demands of satellite downlink operations.

4. Bellatrix Aerospace

Spacetech startup Bellatrix Aerospace was established in 2015 by Rohan M Ganapathy and Yashas Karanam. To date, the company has successfully raised a total of $11.1 Mn in funding across four rounds, with the latest round led by ANIC-ARISE in 2022.

The primary focus of Bellatrix Aerospace lies in the development of advanced in-space propulsion systems and rocket propulsion technologies. The startup is dedicated to making space more accessible and affordable for various applications. 

One of its key areas of emphasis is the development of propulsion systems, or thrusters, for heavy (>2 ton), micro, and nanosatellite. The startup primarily targets satellite operators engaged in observation, imaging, navigation, and technology applications within the spacetech industry.

5. Dhruva Space

Established in 2012 by Sanjay Nekkanti, Dhruva Space is a spacetech startup based in Hyderabad. The startup specialises in providing integrated solutions for space-based applications by offering satellites, earth stations, and launching services as a comprehensive package.

In 2021, Dhruva became the first Indian entity to secure an order for the design and development of space-qualified solar arrays from inception. The startup claims that it stands as the sole private spacetech firm in India to possess both satellite and launcher interfaces.

The startup further successfully tested and space-qualification of its ‘3U and 6U Satellite Orbital Deployers’ and ‘Orbital Link’ in April 2023. These advancements were accompanied by a launch in April, where Dhruva Space independently constructed satellite deployment systems that are compatible with the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) launch vehicle.

6. Digantara

Founded in 2018, the spacetech startup is focused on a sustainable space environment and working on developing a space debris detector.

Founded by Anirudh Sharma, Rahul Rawat, and Tanveer Ahmed, the Bengaluru-based startup aims to create an ecosystem for small satellites in India and has networked with local partners as well. This year, it launched the satellite Pushan-Alpha which will serve as a space weather testbed in a sun-synchronous orbit.

Digantara is also developing an end-to-end infrastructure to resolve the difficulties of space operations and manage space traffic through its Space Mission Assurance Platform.

Having closed its last funding round in August 2022, Digantara has raised a total funding of $2.5M to date.

7. GalaxEye Space

GalaxEye was founded in 2020 by Denil Chawda, Kishan Thakkar, Pranit Mehta, Rakshit Bhatt, Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy and Suyash Singh. Based out of Chennai, the startup provides multi-sensor imagery via satellites.

Since its inception, the startup has raised around $4 Mn from investors, including Speciale Invest, Artha India Ventures, Anicut Capital, Veda VC, Zerodha founder Nithin Kamath, EaseMyTrip’s Prashant Pitti, and Tracxn founder Abhishek Goyal, among others.

The startup claims that it can provide all-weather imaging at any time, without any atmospheric interference. It is also capacitated to produce high-resolution images using a small satellite constellation.

Equipped with its Drishti sensors, built in-house, the startup aims to launch its first-ever satellite in space in the second quarter of FY24.

In a bid to help insurance companies better scrutinise the damage from natural disasters and artificial crises on the insurance claimants, GalaxEye plans to empower them with its satellite data and images.

8. InspeCity

Founded in 2022 by Professor Arindrajit Chowdhury and Dr Tausif Sheikh, Mumbai-based and IIT Bombay-incubated InspeCity is a satellite servicing startup that offers satellite life-enhancing and deorbiting services, positioning itself as the ‘space mechanics’. 

The spacetech startup is working on developing an autonomous robotic platform on top of ISRO’s polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) stage four’s module, the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM). This will allow InspeCity to service satellites in space and is a step towards a larger plan of building an orbital habitat around Earth’s orbit.

InspeCity is working towards a larger vision of building space-based cities – based on O’Neill cylinders – across major bodies of the solar system, capable of housing 1 Mn people at any given time. For now, the startup has set a timeline of 2030 to deploy an orbital habitat to demonstrate proof of concept of a technology, which would be scalable to house millions of people in the future.

The startup has raised $1.5 Mn in pre-seed funding recently from a clutch of investors, including Speciale Invest, Antler India, Veda VC, Anicut Capital and DeVC India.

9. Kawa Space

Founded in 2019 by Bala Menon and Kris Nair, Kawa Space builds critical earth observation infra. The Mumbai-based startup has raised a total of $1.2 Mn in four rounds. The latest round was announced in April 2023 and led by AWS Space Accelerator. It has brought on board 30 strategic suppliers, which contribute to manufacturing, payloads and rocket construction.

In the year of its inception, it had launched one satellite orbit, while 18 more were underway. Kawa Space aims to make satellite imagery accessible to all. The startup is focused on powering multiple use cases for our agriculture, infrastructure, and environment-focused customers.

10. Newspace Research & Technologies

Headquartered in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru, Newspace Research & Technologies is an aerospace startup that claims to be building next-generation aerospace technology, including unmanned air systems, collective robotics, GPS-denied operations, augmented reality, virtual reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

Founded in 2017, the startup is run by a former IAF officer, Sameer Joshi. NewSpace raised $21 Mn in a funding round led by Pavestone Technology Fund in February 2022. 

The startup has also bagged a deal from the Ministry of Defence to develop a High-Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS), which is an unmanned aircraft that operates at altitudes over 65,000 feet and is capable of conducting surveillance operations by staying airborne for months at a stretch.

The startup has bagged a total funding of $33 Mn to date. According to the company’s website, it is pushing for the use of cutting-edge solutions for aerospace in industrial UAVs, collective robotics, AI, and augmented & virtual reality simulations.

11. Omnipresent Robot Technologies

Omnipresent Robotech was launched by Aakash Sinha and Jyoti Sinha in 2010. The startup deals in robotics, electronic sensing and intelligent electronics. The startup develops drones for agriculture, defence and environment and software for operations. 

The startup uses computer vision, machine learning and virtual reality to cater to the various needs of its clients. It bagged an undisclosed amount of funding in 2022 from Gruhas Proptech’s Abhijeet Pai and Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath.

During the project planning of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2, the startup presented a concept note on the orientation mechanism design of the Vikram Lander. Additionally, it also designed Perception Navigation Software to create 3D images from data collected by the rover’s cameras and help in navigation.

These images would help the rover to navigate across the lunar surface by allowing accurate assessment of distances from rocks, while also mapping the lunar landscape.

While Chandrayaan-2 was unsuccessful, Omnipresent’s tech is being used on Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan Rover to map the lunar surface and enable the rover’s navigation via 3D imaging.

12. Pixxel

Founded in 2019 by BITS Pilani alumni Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal, Bengaluru-based Pixxel is building a high-resolution hyperspectral imaging satellite constellation to offer its clients AI-powered insights that discover, solve and predict climate issues in real time.

Pixxel mainly operates in the hyperspectral imaging sphere that gives a better analysis of the Earth’s surface and captures high-resolution images for data analysis. It is looking to launch six commercial satellites, which will be the first set of satellites that will sell data commercially.

The startup launched its third hyperspectral satellite, Anand, in November 2022. The microsatellite weighs 15 kg and has a total of more than 150-plus bands that enable it to see Earth in more detail as compared to non-hyperspectral satellites, the cofounders said. The startup secured $25 Mn in March 2022, along with a strategic round in August 2022 from Accenture.

13. SatSure

Founded in 2017 by Prateep Basu, Rashmit Singh Sukhmani and Abhishek Raju, the Bengaluru-based spacetech startup, SatSure, uses satellite data to offer ‘decision intelligence’ across the BFSI, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors.

The startup claims to be making space data easily consumable for all its users. It also offers a SaaS product that enables financial institutions to offer on-demand credit to farmers. 

This year, the spacetech startup has received investment from banking giants ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC, as part of its INR 120 Cr Series A funding round. It plans to use the funds to own a fleet of four high-resolution data-producing satellites by 2024.

14. Skyroot

Founded in 2018 by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot builds space launch vehicles.

Skyroot became the first private Indian company to launch a rocket into space on November 18, 2022, creating history. The startup successfully launched its Vikram-S rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The launch took place a year after Skyroot tested India’s first privately developed cryogenic rocket – Dhawan 1.

Skyroot has three different rockets in production, Vikram I, II and III. The startup claims that its rockets can be assembled and ready for launch within 24-72 hours, depending on the rocket and the size of the payload. The rockets can carry between 290 kg and 815 kg of payload, depending on the rocket’s size and the target orbit.

The startup has raised more than $66 Mn in funding so far, with $51 Mn coming in Skyroot’s Series B funding round in September 2022.

15. Vasundhara Geo Technologies

Founded in 2017 by Aditya Tekale, Vasundharaa is a data mining startup that specialises in the acquisition and analysis of data sourced from satellites, aerial platforms, and field sensors.

Employing cutting-edge proprietary deep learning algorithms, Vasundharaa navigates through vast and complex datasets, delivering swift and incisive insights. 

The startup boasts a dedicated ensemble of skilled data analysts, software developers, geologists, and business professionals, collectively driving the successful completion of over 75 projects since its inception.

The startup’s impact spans diverse sectors, including agriculture, environment, defence, disaster management, and urban development, effectively catering to the unique needs of its clientele. 

Last updated: August 24, 2023, 12:50 PM

The post To Infinity & Beyond: Meet The 15 Spacetech Startups Winning The Space Race For India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The user interface (UI) is the first point of contact between a product or service and its users. As such, it dictates the entire user experience for any app or website. Indeed, one of the ways that startups and small enterprises one-up competition is through innovative and delightful UI. 

At the same time, broken or clunky UI can create a damaging user experience. However, getting the right talent for frontend development (which is the technical term for UI development) is not exactly inexpensive. Startups, especially at the early stage, are limited by cash and talent resources, which results in UI/UX gaps.

While some have tried to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as image processing models (Midjourney, DALL-E, et al) to solve the UI problem, the results have been far from perfect. Most image-processing AI models are not as proficient as large language models such as ChatGPT or Bard in generating code, which is the foundation of great UI and therefore UX.

But former Mindtickle executives Dipanjan Dey and Abhijit Bhole want to change this with Kombai. Generative AI has opened up a whole range of new models, and the duo wanted to create a product that designs like humans and has the ability to write code accurately for frontend development.

Dey and Bhole set up Kombai in 2022 and since then it has been a 16-month journey to develop the right frameworks for the product’s generative AI model, from scratch. As the founders claimed, they wanted to ‘bring fun back to frontend development’.

Essentially, Kombai is a dev tool to automate mechanical frontend development tasks, which accounts for a lot of man-hours and cost. This allows dev teams to focus on writing the best code possible and making meaningful improvements to the product. 

Developers give Kombai visual input and prompts, which are converted into usable code for frontend and UI development. “We are building a generative AI model that understands design as humans do,” Dey told Inc42. 

Today, the Pune-based startup has announced the launch of its public research preview, along with its $4.5 Mn seed funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners and Foundation Capital, with angel participation from CTOs and SaaS executives. 

Coding With AI: The New Norm?

Kombai’s primary aim is to eliminate mundane, repetitive work that frontend and full-stack developers have to put themselves through to create UI. 

According to Dey, there are 5 Mn frontend developers and 15 Mn full-stack developers in the world. “Most of them are spending a disproportionate amount of their time, anything between 25% to 75%, on doing a bunch of really mundane mechanical stuff that they hate doing,” he claimed.

But Kombai employs the term “generative AI” with some creative freedom. While it does respond to prompts similar to ChatGPT and Midjourney, the startup asserts that it excels in generating frontend code that surpasses the accuracy and usability of larger language models (LLMs). 

According to Dey, tackling UI design complexity is challenging for vision and language models. This prompted the startup to develop its own AI model, tailor-made for UI development. 

UI design and development involves taking inspiration from existing work and frameworks. But developers cannot just translate visuals into code — they have to make hundreds of micro-decisions, which poses problems for existing generative AI models. 

“That’s the technology that we have built. We have those fundamental models that can hopefully interpret design files as a human being does. We are not doing this mechanically just based on the visual prompts, but adding that human intuition on top of this,” Dey claimed. 

Kombai is an ‘ensemble’ of deep learning and heuristic AI models, which enables it to understand various parts of the UI and generate code as a developer does. The deep learning component gives the system a wealth of data to build new code, while the heuristic rules are intended to increase Kombai’s probability of responding in the right manner. Plus, this helps the startup prioritise speed over accuracy to give several results. 

Dey said before starting up, the startup did not expect to build the entire algorithm from scratch. During the ideation stage, the founders were able to talk to large companies working in LLMs, including OpenAI and others, about addressing UI development with existing AI models.

However, their general-purpose solutions did not address niche problems very easily.

“So I think it has been challenging, but it has also been a very interesting exercise for us, to solve something that has not been done anywhere in the world. I don’t think anybody in the world has still sort of come up with a new model that can understand design,” CEO Dey claimed.

While there are tools such as Adobe XD and Figma that allow developers to translate design and visuals to code, Kombai is able to bring better accuracy and context in terms of different coding requirements and languages. However, developers need to have Figma accounts to import designs from the design software. 

Kombai competes with Locofy.ai, another Indian startup allowing customers to turn design to code. Other startups such as Sydney-based Relume are looking to take a similar approach to web design. 

The Next Leap

Having secured its seed funding, Kombai will look to improve the underlying models and focus on product development. The startup also plans to expand its team of 12 in the coming months.

According to the cofounder and CEO, most of the funding will be utilised for product development. “There are some specific areas of focus in terms of product development. The first would be developing, and improving the underlying models further,” Dey added.

The startup expects to learn a lot from its research review phase and implement the feedback in the foundational mode, more frugally than large model players such as OpenAI.

Kombai also plans to invest more in the product workflows around its fundamental model. 

Trailblazed by OpenAI and ChatGPT, generative AI has taken the world by storm since last year. India has also seen startups either launch generative AI products or make the tech their front and centre. 

The likes of SocialBoat, ZuAI and many others have placed their bets on generative AI, with major names such as Zomato, Swiggy, BYJU’S and Freshworks also experimenting with generative AI-based products. 

While there are no immediate plans for monetising the platform, Dey said the plan was to first accumulate feedback from the public research preview. “For individual developers, I think the research preview phase at least is not going to be monetised at least for the next six months,” said Dey, adding that Kombai will be enterprise-focused for the time being.

The post How Ex-Mindtickle Exec’s Gen AI Startup Kombai Aims To Simplify UI Coding appeared first on Inc42 Media.

At a time when commercially viable battery charging technologies worldwide take a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 10 hours to fully charge electric vehicles (EVs), depending on battery capacity and vehicle types, Bengaluru-based Exponent Energy claims to have broken all records with its 15-minute EV charging tech, with the vehicle category no bar.

The startup has made 15-minute rapid charging an on-road reality with its patented ‘water-based’ off-board thermal management system.

But before we delve deeper into the technology and Exponent Energy’s journey in building its tech stack, it is pertinent to understand why such a technology is groundbreaking. 

In an attempt to make the usage of EVs more seamless, various players across the globe are working on curbing the EV charging time down to as low as 10 minutes.

However, so far, only a handful of players, including Tesla, California-based Enevate, and European tech giant ABB, have been successful in achieving this and that too for certain use cases, while many such technologies are still being championed in ultra hi-tech labs.

Amid this, India’s Exponent Energy’s tech innovation is applicable across use cases. The tech not only reduces charging time but also enhances the life of EV batteries, thereby making them cost-effective in the long run.

Spilling The 15-Minute Rapid Charging Beans

Former Ather Energy executives Arun Vinayak and Sanjay Byalal founded Exponent Energy in 2020, with the sole motive of building a tech enablement platform that can help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across segments to go electric with unmatched agility.

According to CEO and cofounder Vinayak, the only hurdle in the path of EV adoption in India is the efficiency of these vehicles, which can be improved multifold.

“Our problem statement in focus was battery life, battery charging times, the charging network… this is where the energy stack was really broken, and we needed to make energy much faster, simpler, accessible, and affordable,” Vinayak said.

When it comes to rapid charging, the biggest hurdle is overheating of batteries and battery life degradation. A 15-minute rapid charging generates almost 256X more heat than a 4-hour charging, which is the industry average. 

Notably, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are highly sensitive to extreme temperature conditions. Hence, battery thermal management systems are crucial for these battery packs as they help them function seamlessly even in extreme temperatures.

In most cases, various cooling systems such as air cooling, liquid cooling, and phase change material cooling are used worldwide to keep these batteries at their optimal temperature. 

However, according to Vinayak, liquid cooling systems, which are the most common solution for thermal management in EVs today, hardly solve this problem, particularly in countries like India where the ambient temperature is normally 40 degrees Celsius or higher.

To resolve this, Exponent has built an advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, which is ‘off-boarded’ from the vehicle and is deployed at its charging stations, ‘e^pump’. 

EV players like Tesla, Lucid, and Hyundai also have advanced HVAC systems, but the only issue is that these systems are an integral part of their vehicles and make them heavier and more expensive.

To resolve this pain point, the startup has built chargers and charging stations that come with this technology, reducing the burden on OEMs to incorporate such technology in EVs.

Its charging station, ‘e^pump’, transfers refrigerated water through its charging connector, ‘e^plug’, preventing Li-ion cells in its batteries from getting overheated while charging. The technology ensures that the temperature of its battery packs, ‘e^packs’, doesn’t exceed 35°C in any climatic condition. 

Overall, Exponent Energy’s secret sauce of efficient 15-minute rapid charging is engrained in its tech stack that comprises ‘e^packs’, ‘e^pumps’, and ‘e^plugs’.

Making Batteries Last Longer

Besides reducing the charging time by controlling overheating, Exponent Energy has also been able to increase battery life by controlling lithium plating – the formation of metallic lithium around the anode of Li-ion batteries during charging.

Lithium plating is a phenomenon that degrades battery life and leads to battery malfunction. 

While newer and more advanced cell chemistries are being developed to change the anode itself at a fundamental level, they are not mainstream yet.

“We are using the same material science and same anode but using a more software and electronics-based approach to smartly push the same anode to do more without actually damaging it,” Vinayak said. He added that the startup’s BMS and charging algorithms have been able to address the problem of lithium plating at the grassroots level, increasing the battery life.

Building The Business

Since its inception, Exponent Energy has raised $18 Mn in total funding from the likes of Lightspeed India, YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, Hero MotoCorp’s chairman and CEO Dr Pawan Munjal’s family office, and Motherson Group.

Enabling efficient last-mile deliveries being the startup’s major focus area, it partnered with one of the leading OEMs in the three-wheeler commercial vehicle segment, Altigreen Propulsion Labs, in 2022. It claims that EVs powered by its tech stack have already covered over 10 Lakh kms with more than 25,000 rapid charging sessions. 

However, the only catch here is that the startup sells its entire tech stack as a solution, and its ‘e^pumps’ can only charge ‘e^packs’. It has its ‘e^pumps’ at 30 locations in Bengaluru, which generate revenues on a subscription basis, based on the energy consumed per vehicle.

The startup’s ‘e^packs’ can be charged anywhere but they take at least an hour to fully charge. For maximum 15-minute efficiency, the battery packs need the company’s proprietary ‘e^plugs’ and ‘e^pumps’.

All of Exponent’s battery packs, which are also cell agnostic, come with a warranty of 3,000 cycle life, 3X the industry standard. They cost almost 30% less than other EV batteries in the market, as per the company.

Charging Ahead

After establishing its first set of charging networks in Bengaluru, Exponent Energy is planning to expand its operations to five more cities – Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad – by the end of the financial year 2023-24.

The startup has also set an ambitious target of deploying 1,000 ‘e^pumps’ and 25,000 Exponent-powered EVs by 2025 in the aforementioned cities, eyeing a revenue of around INR 600 Cr during the year.

Currently, more than 200 EVs powered by the startup are running on Bengaluru roads.

Vinayak says that as an energy company, Exponent is more focussed on high-energy value products, hence the startup is not looking to enable two-wheelers right now. After three-wheeler commercial vehicles, it would target the three-wheeler passenger vehicle market.

Besides, Exponent is all set to soon launch 15-minute rapid charging capabilities for intercity ebuses as well as etrucks by next year.

It must be noted that the ebuses market is slowly getting more mature in the country, with existing and new players launching intercity bus services with well-established charging networks. Currently, FreshBus and NueGo are the two main players in this market, with the likes of ZingBus expected to enter the market soon.

While Exponent currently faces minimal competition in India, more players could emerge with advanced cell chemistries and battery tech as the EV industry keeps growing. To substantiate this fact, Bengaluru-based EMO Energy has also launched 30-minute chargeable portable battery packs for various vehicle categories. 

Meanwhile, big players like Ola Electric are working on building their own cell and battery technology, though it remains to be seen if, and to what degree, the upcoming technologies would prove to be pathbreaking in the near future. 

The post Locking Horns With Tesla? Here’s How Exponent Energy Has Made 15-Minute EV Charging A Reality appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ever since the centre liberalised the policy governing drones operation in India via the Drones Rules 2021, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) ecosystem heaved a sigh of relief. 

A slew of positive announcements related to the segment. For example, the Cabinet’s approval of INR 120 Cr PLI scheme, a ban on the import of drones – intended to boost domestic manufacturing, and the drone certification scheme to ensure safety and quality requirements are a few positive steps. Besides, the establishment of digital airspace mapping for drones alongside announcements such as Drone Shakti and Kisan drones have been touted as a step in the right direction by experts.

All of these point in one direction – the developments will enable more jobs and help support an industry that has long been struggling due to bureaucratic hurdles. Finally, the segment can focus on building an investment-friendly ecosystem, as well as work with the government on programmes that incentivise local manufacturing.

In fact, India has witnessed a 34.4% surge in the number of drone or UAV startups between August 2021 (157 startups) and February 2022 (221 drone startups). 

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that India has the potential to become a global drone hub by 2030 since a large number of industries will adopt drone innovation. Prior to this, he also estimated that the Indian drone industry would have a turnover of around INR 15,000 Cr by 2026.

In this article, Inc42 has compiled a list of 28 Indian drone startups, detailing their journeys – from what they do to their plans amid the booming deeptech segment.

The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the Indian drone startups in alphabetical order.

Aereo

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Vipul Singh, Suhas Banshiwala
• Funding Raised To Date: $748K
• Investors: GrowX, 500 Startups, StartupXseed, 3one4 capital, Valpro
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Launched in 2013, Aereo (earlier Aarav Unmanned Systems) offers end-to-end drone solutions. AUS is building commercial-grade drones and provides drone-based solutions for enterprise applications in Mining, Infrastructure, Urban Planning, Irrigation, Energy and Agriculture. 

It also offers integrated solutions for drone applications, providing the drone, an operator and a cloud platform for data analysis. It was also amongst the three companies that were shortlisted to map India’s 600,000 villages by the government.

In July 2022, it signed an MoU with Tata Steel to develop and offer integrated drone solutions for open cast mining operations.

Prior to that, it got into a lease financial deal worth INR 3.75 Cr with Grip to build new revenue streams by leveraging lease financing for more than 50 drones.

Aero360

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Pragadish Santhosh
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Chennai

Founded in 2017, Chennai-based Aero360 builds autonomous hybrid drones to enhance aerial surveying, surveillance and rescue applications. The startup has developed six unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the aforementioned applications.

All its UAVs are equipped with multiple features like infrared sensors, thermal cameras, magnetometers, and fail-safes mechanisms such as return to home on communication breakdown.

It has also built an agricultural spraying drone – Agri – which features a 17 L storage tank for pesticides, fertilisers and other agrochemicals for precision spraying.

While the startup has yet to raise equity funding, Aero360 has partnered with Indian Coast Guard and Indian Army for surveillance purposes.

AOTOM TECHNOLOGY

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Krunal Kalbende
• Funding Raised To Date: $100K
• Investors: Krunal Kalbende
• Headquarters: Nagpur

Aotom Technology works in the field of drone technology, geophysical services, AI, data analytics, face recognition and blockchain technology.

The startup offers machine learning services, regression techniques, deep neural networks, pattern recognition, cognitive intelligence, NLP/text mining, visual/audio entity tagging, and text captioning, among others to examine a human face and the surface of the earth. 

Its expertise helps it select an appropriate algorithm based on the data structure, patterns and desired outcomes. Coupled with its experience in digital technologies, platforms and the business domain, the startup offers comprehensive solutions and services for business and technology teams of enterprises to apply AI/ML in various lines of business.

Asteria Aerospace

• Founded In: 2011
• Founders: Neel Mehta, Nihar Vartak
• Funding Raised To Date: INR 23.12 Cr
• Investors: Reliance Industries
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Asteria is a robotics and AI startup that offers drone-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions and builds drones for industries such as defence, agriculture, oil and gas, mining and construction, telecommunications, and energy.   

Its products include DGCA-certified micro-sized drone A200, small-sized multirotor drone A410, and a vertical take-off and landing aircraft drone AT-15. 

In December 2019, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) bought 51.78% equity in Asteria for INR 23.12 Cr. During that time, RIL shared that it would infuse an additional INR 125 Cr in the startup to increase its stake to 87.3% by December 2021. 

In the financial year 2021, its operating revenue stood at INR 8 Cr and net loss was at INR 8.2 Cr. 

BharatRohan

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Amandeep Panwar, Rishabh Chaudhary
• Funding Raised To Date: $0.33K
• Investors: Upaya Social Ventures, Acumen Fund Inc 
• Headquarters: Hyderabad 

BharatRohan is a tech-enabled agri-enabler that provides drone-based advisory services to around 6K farmers across 30K acre farms in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The startup provides a four-part service that is intended to optimise input usage, minimise crop losses and maximise profit margins. 

The startup also enables a marketplace where farmers can collaborate with different companies via contract farming. While farmers can buy raw materials such as pesticides and seeds from sellers, the FMCG, retail and exporter companies can buy agri-commodities from the farmers’ fields.

While BharatRohan is categorically an agritech startup, the use of drones is the product’s USP. With a drone, the startup generates a detailed map of a farm that characterises specific agronomic issues including nutrient deficiencies, disease infections, as well as pest and weed infestations. 

Its drones and satellite-based remote sensing imagery of fields, along with the corresponding historical climate and weather records, helps BharatRohan provide value addition to farmers to optimise their outputs. 

In March 2022, it raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Upaya Social Ventures and Acumen Fund Inc.

Dhaksha Unmanned Systems

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Ramanathan Narayanan
• Funding Raised To Date: Undisclosed
• Investors: Dare Ventures 
• Headquarters: Chennai 

Dhaksha Unmanned offers seven drone-based solutions for sectors such as agriculture, mining, defence and surveillance. It manufactures battery-operated and petrol engine-based drones. 

In September, the startup received an undisclosed amount of funding from Coromandel International’s venture capital arm Dare Ventures. 

Prior to that, the Chennai-based startup along with 13 other drone companies got selected for the government’s PLI scheme that stimulates manufacturing drones and drone components in India. 

Interestingly, its drone named AgriGator has received ‘Type Certificate’ from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), according to its website.

It reported a revenue of INR 3 Cr while its profit stood at INR 2.3 Cr in the financial year 2020, according to Tofler. 

DroneAcharya Aerial

• Founded In: 2017
• Founder: Prateek Srivastava 
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: Shankar Sharma, Aegis Investment Fund, Maven India Fund, Nav Capital VCC-NAV Capital Emerging Star Fund, Zinnia Global Fund
• Headquarters: Pune

DroneAcharya offers drone-based enterprise solutions to several industries such as oil and gas, mining, infrastructure, and agriculture. It also provides training for drone piloting, drone building, drone data processing, and using industrial drone applications, among others. 

In early December 2022, the listed drone startup secured INR 9.66 Cr in a pre-IPO round from Aegis Investment Fund, Maven India Fund, Nav Capital VCC-NAV Capital Emerging Star Fund, and Zinnia Global Fund. 

On the first day of its IPO, it saw a positive response and got subscribed 22.94 times. It was trading at INR 156.25 on the BSE as on 10 February 2023. 

EndureAir Systems

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Dr. Abhishek, Rama Krishna, Chirag Jain, Dr. Mangal Kothari
• Funding Raised To Date: INR 13.5 Cr
• Investors: Sangeet Kumar, Prateek Jain, Bir Singh, Satish Kumar Shukla, Amit Kumar, Jalaj Dani
• Headquarters: Noida

Endure Air Systems offers personalised unmanned drones that can be utilised for various functions including border surveillance, logistics and aerial mapping, among others. 

In July, the drone startup secured INR 13.5 Cr in its seed funding round from Jalaj Dani from Asian Paints and founders of Addverb Technologies.

During that time frame, it claims to have manufactured more than 10 products. The startup holds five patents in landing technology and vertical takeoff segments. 

Additionally, it has collaborated with various government agencies including Uttar Pradesh Police, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), among others to date. 

Enercomp Solutions

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Jatin Patel
• Funding Raised To Date: $660K
• Investors: ah! Ventures 
• Headquarters: Ahmedabad

AI drone startup Enercomp offers service with UAV ‘drones’ and a variety of sensors for efficient and reliable data acquisition and processing, providing high standards analytics to gain insights into the data. 

“We had around 90% of revenue coming from the B2B sector and from the drone services business. We are launching our drones and our GIS platform and in fact, we have booked orders of around INR 35 lakh for products. With our strong positioning in the survey/inspection business, we aim to achieve the target of INR 2.5 crore in the current financial year with an increased share in the B2G business as well (around 40% of target revenue),” said Jatin Patel.

With its proprietary tech, Enercomp’s solutions have capabilities to cater to diverse sectors ranging from agriculture to industrial services to defence. 

Enord

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Muhammad Anas, Zain Saeed
• Funding Raised To Date: NA 
• Investors: NA 
• Headquarters: Delhi

Enord designs and develops an AI pilot drone, INSPECTOR, for B2B sector and government agencies. Its drone mainly conducts inspection of high-power transmission lines, telco-towers and thermal lines. Its drone also carries out inspections of day-to-day operations in various sectors.

Explaining its product offering, the startup shared that its AI drone INSPECTOR is operated in confined spaces without GPS or human intervention. It gives insights into how to improve operational efficiency of its clients. 

The startup is recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and is being incubated at IIITD Innovation and Incubation Center, according to its LinkedIn profile.

FlytBase

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Nitin Gupta 
• Funding Raised To Date: NA   
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Pune 

FlytBase offers drone-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions for surveillance and security, public safety, and construction. It also offers cloud-based software solutions to manage drone deliveries.

In November last year, it partnered with avionics tech company Iris Automation to integrate Iris’ Casia G ground-based detect and alert system with FlytNow. 

In December 2020, it had secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from early-stage VCs and angel investors. 

Garuda Aerospace 

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Agnishwar Jayaprakash
• Funding Raised To Date:  $5 Mn
• Investors: Ocgrow Ventures, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
• Headquarters: Chennai 

Garuda Aerospace designs, builds and customises drones for multiple purposes such as event photography, agricultural survey, reconnaissance and surveillance. Its product offerings include agri mapping, surveillance (drone), solar panel cleaning, seed dropping, loudspeaker, UGV, and Fixed-wing VTOL drone, among others. 

Notably, Garuda is one of the four drone startups that have partnered with the foodtech unicorn Swiggy for drone grocery delivery trials in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR. Besides, it has received orders of more than 8,000 drones from several countries including Malaysia, Panama, and UAE. 

In 2020, it carried out sanitisation operations in PM Narendra Modi’s electoral constituency. Its drones and pilots were also employed for disinfecting hospitals, public spaces and societies in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Chattisgarh. 

Earlier In June, Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni invested in Garuda Aerospace. As a part of the deal, Dhoni joined its cap table and also became its brand ambassador. A month ago, the drone startup secured investment from Ocgrow Ventures along with a few angel investors from the banking sector. 

Recently, its founder shared plans of raising $100 Mn-$150 Mn in Series B funding in 2023 at a valuation of $500 Mn-$600 Mn. The startup also aims to sell 25K drones in the next eight months and export 10K drones to 100 countries in the next 12-15 months. 

General Aeronautics

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Abhishek Burman, Kota Harinarayana and Anutosh Moitra
• Funding Raised To Date:  INR 6.5 Cr
• Investors: Mela Ventures, Adani Defence 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

General Aeronautics, which was incubated at the Indian Institute of Science, offers drone-based solutions for crop protection services, farming, and yield monitoring services in the agriculture sector. Besides, it also offers medical solutions to government agencies and private organisations. Its team holds decades of experience working in research and development organisations across the globe. 

General Aeronautics provides an end-to-end crop protection solution that comprises agri drones named Krishak, an agri app and hub, as well as mapping and survey drones. Krishaks are employed for spraying agrochemicals, fertilisers and speciality nutrients. It sprays 50 droplets per sq cm and has the ability to cover 100 acres of land in a day. 

In May, Adani Enterprises’ subsidiary, Adani Defence Systems and Technologies acquired a 50% stake in General Aeronautics in an all-cash deal. Prior to this, the drone startup secured INR 6.5 Cr in its Pre-Series A funding round from Mela Ventures. 

ideaForge

• Founded In: 2007
• Founders: Ankit Mehta, Ashish Bhat, Rahul Singh, Vipul Joshi
• Funding Raised To Date: $38.4 Mn
• Investors: Blacksoil, Infosys, Qualcomm Ventures, Indian Army
• Headquarters: Mumbai

Drone manufacturing startup ideaForge makes UAV systems for inspection, surveillance and mapping. Its solutions are used across sectors such as defence, homeland security, mining, construction, agriculture, energy and utilities.

As per its website, ideaForge has 20 patents and has completed more than 220K end customer missions. Its customers include the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, all CAPFs (CRPF, BSF, NSG, etc), state police forces and Indian Railways, Survey of India, TAFE, NTPC, DRDO and L&T.

It has designed its vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAVs to help the Indian Army to have access to clear airspace or a runway. As a part of its contract with the Indian Army, the drone startup shall deliver 200 systems soon to augment the Army’s surveillance capabilities.

Thus, its high altitude version has a service ceiling of 6,000 mtr therefore, can do high altitude missions across even the high tension borders in the north and west. Its flagship product is SWITCH UAV, a 6 kg VTOL that can fly for more than two hours on a single charge.

In April, it bagged $20 Mn in its Series B funding round from several investors including Florintree, Celesta, Infosys, Qualcomm, Infina and Exim Bank of India, among others.

As of Today (11 February, 2023), it reportedly filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an IPO. Its public issue will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth INR 300 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of approximately 48.7 Lakh shares.

Indrones

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Pravin Prajapati
• Funding Raised To Date: INR 7 Cr
• Investors: MapmyIndia
• Headquarters: Mumbai

Founded in 2015 by Pravin Prajapati, Indrones is a mapping startup that deploys drones to carry out topographic surveys, volumetric estimations, 3D modelling, and data collection.

Indrones manufactures three drones: the Sigma 25, Sigma 75, and Vector VTOL. The three drones have a flight ceiling between 400 m and 5,000 m, making them useful for different types of use cases, including construction, railways, disaster management, agriculture, mining and oil & gas.

Apart from manufacturing drones, Indrones also has a Drone as a Service (DaaS) platform. Indrones has raised a total funding of INR 7 Cr to date from MapmyIndia.

IoTechWorld 

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Anup Kumar Upadhyay, Deepak Bhardwaj
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn 
• Investors: Dhanuka Agritech
• Headquarters: Delhi NCR

IoTechWorld is a drone Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that makes drones for applications in agriculture, survey and surveillance. The startup has four products – an Agribot (a-DGCA approved agri-spray drone); a Surveybot (a DGCA-approved drone with LiDar and high-resolution camera, typically useful for defence purposes, Drishti comes with a range of payloads including EOIR, thermals, zoom cameras, radars, LiDars and Heavybot is used for logistics. Heavybot can carry up to 10 Kg payload. 

IoTechWorld plans to encourage indigenous products under the ‘Make In India’ initiative. It intends to expand its sales network and company-owned service stations in 10 states in India. It has about 25 dealers across India and would raise the number to 100 in future. IoTechWorld would launch its high-endurance drone models which can go up to 50-100 km. 

Marut Drones

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Prem Kumar Vislawath, Sai Kumar, Suraj Peddi
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: Kiran Darsi and Parusharam
• Headquarters: Hyderabad

Founded by three IIT alumni, Marut Drones is one of the pioneering agricultural drone manufacturers in the country. 

The startup has developed drone-based agri-intelligence and agri-automation solutions for precision agriculture and the early detection of crop disease. Marut has been extensively collaborating with the Indian government to further facilitate the usage of Kisan drones for better agricultural productivity and more sustainable farming.

The startup has so far built four different drone models – Agricopter, Seedcopter, Marut ZAP, and Hepicopter. Its DGCA Type certified Agricopter, AG 365, serves across multiple applications – from seeing to harvesting. The startup claims to have sprayed over 10K acres of land.

Meanwhile, its Seedcopter solution has been made for rapid afforestation. The drone has planted over 50 Lakh seed balls across three states. Recently, the startup launched drone seeding in and around Agra and Ferozabad districts in UP.

Besides agri drones, Marut has built ZAP – a mosquito eradication drone. Further, its Hepicopter is a Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) medical delivery drone.

NewSpace Research & Technologies

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Rajinder Rana and Sameer Joshi.
• Funding Raised To Date: $21 Mn
• Investors: Pavestone Capital
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Bengaluru-based NewSpace also has an office in Delhi-NCR. It has signed contracts with the Indian government for delivering products to the armed forces. The startup specialises in swarm drones and is associated with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to develop products for surveillance and communications.

NewSpace has already delivered SWARM drones to the Indian Army. A swarm of 100 drones can be used for hitting targets at least 50 km into enemy territory.

The startup also plans to manufacture drones for civil uses. NewSpace uses technologies such as unmanned aerial systems, collective robotics, GPS-denied operations, augmented reality, virtual reality, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Omnipresent Robot Technologies

• Founded In: 2010
• Founders: Aakash Sinha
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: Gruhas Proptech (Nikhil Kamath, Abhijeet Pai)
• Headquarters: Delhi

Omnipresent Robot Technologies is an industrial drone and robotics solutions provider that became the first drone company in the country to receive full clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct trials for long-range BVLOS operations in 2020.

Operational since 2010, Omnipresent has developed drone solutions for varied use cases, including survey, surveillance, and inspection, automated mapping, and precision agriculture, as well as in ecommerce, food, and medical delivery. 

During the pandemic, it worked with some government bodies to deploy drones for ensuring social distancing.

Omnipresent has also become one of the beneficiaries of the Indian government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drone and drone components.

In 2022, the startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Nikhil Kamath and Abhijeet Pai’s investment firm Gruhas Proptech. The round also saw the participation of Kavin Shah and other high-net-worth individuals (HNIs).

As a robotics firm, Omnipresent has also worked on the Chandrayaan-2 project by developing navigation software for the Chandrayaan-2 rover.

Optimized Electrotech

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Anil Yekkala, Dharin Shah, Kuldeep Saxena, Purvi Shah, Sandeep Shah
• Funding Raised To Date: $2.8 Mn
• Investors: Starburst Accelerator and Venture Catalysts
• Headquarters: Ahmedabad

Defence tech startup Optimized Electrotech produces indigenous surveillance systems for security forces, national assets, defence and aerospace companies. 

It provides accurate, actionable and real-time insights about surroundings through autonomous, field-upgradable, secure platforms, as claimed by the startup.

The startup would like to design new-age surveillance systems, product innovations, and build more prototypes to be used in the railways sector, smart city and intelligent border projects.

Redwing Labs

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Anshul Sharma, Arunabha Bhattacharya, Rishabh Gupta
• Funding Raised To Date: $120K
• Investors:  Asymmetry Ventures and Techstars 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Redwing Labs, the Bengaluru-based drone logistics system startup designs, manufactures and operates autonomous drone logistics systems. It aims at enhancing the last-mile healthcare supply chains. 

The initial idea behind the formation of the startup was to create drones for medical supplies and deliveries. Currently, the startup does around 80 deliveries a day. The last-mile delivery drone features climate control to enable temperature-sensitive deliveries such as vaccines.

According to the company’s website, the team has received a total of 15 awards in the United States of America and Asia-Pacific for best-performance drones and has been felicitated by key government agencies and industry giants in the US such as NASA, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Airbus.

Skye Air

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Swapnik Jakkampudi, Ankit Kumar and Chandra Prakash
• Funding Raised To Date: $1.7 Mn
• Investors: LetsVenture, Chiratae Ventures, Lead Angels, O2 Angels, Agility Ventures 
• Headquarters: Delhi

Skye Air is a drone delivery startup largely focussed on healthcare, ecommerce, quick commerce, and agri commodity sectors. Its first BVLOS flight took off in September 2021.

Skye Air operates across several Indian states, including Kerala, Maharashtra, Haryana, and Meghalaya, from its shared and dedicated hubs. Since 2021, it has done numerous trials with companies such as Dunzo, Flipkart Health+, Curefoods, Tata 1mg, and Redcliffe Labs.

In June last year, Aster DM Healthcare and Skye Air initiated trials for essential medicines and critical lab sample delivery using drones from Kozhikode to Areekode in Kerala.

The startup claims that its drones have taken 2,150 flights so far, covering a total of 11,500 km and delivering 7,500 kg of items.

In November last year, Skye Air raised $1.7 Mn in its seed funding round led by Chiratae Ventures. 

Skylark Drones

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Mrinal Pai, Mughilan Thiru Ramasamy
• Funding Raised To Date: $3 Mn 
• Investors: InfoEdge Ventures, IAN Fund, AdvantEdge Founders, Fowler Westrup, Redstart Labs, IKP, Vimson Group 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Skylark Drones provides end-to-end drone-based solutions that offer insights to help businesses scale. 

Its drones provide business intelligence to enterprises and believe industries ranging from infrastructure, mining, agriculture, utilities to oil & gas could benefit immensely from the reach, efficiency and productivity that drones offer. 

Skylark aims to provide geospatial intelligence to enterprises with its product called Spectra and Drone Mission Ops. Spectra enables worksite intelligence, several platform integrations and API access. Drone Mission Ops, on the other hand, enables project and fleet management for large enterprises and individual operators to plan and execute drone missions. 

Skylark’s computer vision software analyses aerial imagery to offer industry-specific insights to its clients.

The startup plans to further enhance insights from its drone data, to aid and simplify superior business decisions and strategy for its clients. It also intends to spur international product expansion and development of its drone data analytics-based products. 

TechEagle Innovations

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Vikram Singh Meena, Anshu Abhishek
• Funding Raised To Date: $500K
• Investors: India Accelerator, Vinners Group, Sitics Logistics 
• Headquarters: Delhi NCR 

TechEagle is a drone logistics airline startup for last and mid-mile deliveries. To make its vision a reality, TechEagle has already received approvals from the government of India (MoCA) and the regulators (DGCA) to conduct package delivery BVLOS (beyond the visual line of sight) flights in various parts of the country. 

The startup plans to launch new indigenous products, scale operations in India, and hire across functions.

Throttle Aerospace Systems

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Nagendran Kandasamy
• Investors: Neosky
• Headquarters:  Bengaluru

Throttle Aerospace offers drone solutions to the mining and agriculture sectors. Besides, its drones are also employed for capturing aerial images, and surveillance purposes. Its team holds over 15 years of experience in designing, engineering, manufacturing, software development and supply chain in the aerospace and defence industries. 

As per the website, Throttle is the first DGCA-approved drone manufacturer for civil drones. It has also got a licence from the Ministry of Defense for manufacturing military drones. Its manufacturing facility is spread across 10,000 sq ft in Kolar, Karnataka. 

In May, RattanIndia Enterprises’ subsidiary NeoSky acquired a 60% stake in Throttle Aerospace for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition would facilitate Neosky in offering all types of drone solutions including drones as a product (DAAP) and drone as a service (DAAS) etc to customers.

TSAW Drones

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Kishan Tiwari, Rimanshu Pandey
• Funding Raised To Date: INR 2.5 Cr
• Investors: We Founder Circle, Soonicorn Ventures, Chandigarh Angels Network, POD World, Qubit Capital, Zypp Electric, PedalStart, Kartik Hajela
• Headquarters: Delhi

TSAW Drones is a drone manufacturing startup based out of IIT Delhi, which works with companies to enable logistics via drones. The startup participated in the recently concluded Aero India Show 2023.

TSAW Drones’ logistics arm, DRONECO, facilitates a point-to-point drone delivery supply chain in urban and remote or rural areas of the nation. Users can also track their deliveries in real-time.

The startup provides last-mile delivery services via its three drones – Adarna V2, Adarna Mini and Maruthi 3.1. These drones have a range of 40 to 120 km and a payload capacity of 2 to 20 kg.

UrbanMatrix

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Rishabh Verma, Ashutosh Kumar, Divyanshu Pundir, Chitransh Chauhan
• Funding Raised To Date: $497K
• Investors: Sara Elgi, Laxminarayana 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Urban Matrix Technologies specialises in micro drones and enables industries to easily leverage the power of aerial data by building compliant drone hardware, with proprietary software solutions. 

The founders spotted a gap between the available drone options and industry requirements. Taking photos and videos was not enough, industries require seamless integration of aerial data with their ongoing workflow in order to make real-time decisions that can save time and cost. The startup addressed this by generating actionable data via a dedicated cloud-based platform – UMT Console.

“For a long time, drone technology was limited to military applications. But now, commercial drones are rising with industries adopting them. A time when drones will become an essential part of human civilisation is much nearer than you have imagined,” said Rishabh Verma, CEO of UrbanMatrix Technologies.

UrbanMatrix has expertise in designing and manufacturing industrial drone systems along with world-class proprietary software infrastructure. It allows enterprises to not only control and manage drones but also effortlessly draw functional insights using integrated aerial data processing tools. 

The startup plans to work towards strengthening research and development, deepening market penetration and delivering industry-oriented solutions across verticals. 

The startup lately set a record by flying a drone from a distance of 3,000 Km via 4G technology. It flew the drone in Bengaluru while controlling the whole flight from Dubai.

VECROS

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Besta Prem Sai, Sai Allu
• Funding Raised To Date: $68.49K 
• Investors: IIT Delhi, NSRCEL-IIMB, STARTUP OASIS, 100xVC, NVIDIA 
• Headquarters: Delhi NCR

Vecros is a drone tech startup. Its drones have embedded cameras and CPUs that can mimic human behaviour which help them achieve greater autonomy.

The startup that specialises in ML, aerial robotics, control system, robotics sensor tech, and autopilots began as a small student group working on drones from the IIT Delhi campus, where its first aerial robot was developed. Today, Vecros has developed JETPIX, an operating system for drones, that uses AI and computer vision algorithms to make intelligent decisions so that the drones can match the capabilities of a pilot.

Vecro’s solutions are intended for industrial AI applications that centralise around surveillance and optimising and providing enhanced stack or fleet management. It provides solutions to agriculture, mining, construction and oil and gas industries.

Vecros claims its drones can fly without any pilot input around complex environments. The drone startup aims to sell at least 1,000 drones by the end of 2022 and would expand its team and resources to help achieve its goal. 

Further, it is planning to establish a manufacturing plant and an R&D centre with the help of IIT Delhi and DST to boost further state-of-the-art technology in drones. 

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list

Last updated on August 10, 2023.

The post Eyes In The Sky: 28 Indian Drone Startups Looking For A Major Pie appeared first on Inc42 Media.