The Honourable Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Shri Vasundhara Raje, today (August 23) unveiled the state’s online payment application Bhamashah Wallet.

The announcement was made during the launch of India’s biggest startup incubator centre — the Bhamashah Techno Hub — in Jaipur. The incubation centre is spread over a whopping 100k sq ft and has the capacity to seat 700.

The Bhamashah Wallet is a fully secure payment app that offers instant banking services using a single identity such as name, QR code, or the mobile number of the user.

Further, in order to use the Bhamashah Wallet, the user must have a Bhamashah Id (linked with the single sign on or SSO ID), a smartphone, and a bank account to avail the services provided by the wallet.

Key Features Of The Bhamashah Wallet

In order to enhance the security of the Bhamashah Wallet, the user needs to enter a passcode (MPIN) every time he/she opens the wallet or makes any transaction.

It must be noted that all transactions carried out using the Bhamashah Wallet are done over secure bank networks and all communications between the wallet and banks are done over encrypted channels.

With Bhamashah Wallet, one can pay for merchant transactions and e-mitra services such as mobile, electricity, and water bills. A user can also perform:

• Wallet-to-wallet transactions
• Wallet-to-bank transactions
• Check the wallet balance anytime
• Send money to friends and family using their mobile number or by scanning their QR code (provided they use the Bhamashah Wallet)

Not only this, the Bhamashah Wallet is linked with the state’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) engine. The app is available in a bilingual interface for ease of use and is a part of a free digikit.

Earlier, in January 2018, the Rajasthan government announced that it would distribute 10K digital kits to e-Mitra operators and small traders in 33 districts of the state. This kit includes a tablet, a biometric verification machine, thermal printer and a pin pad (to accept payments from the Card) along with necessary software.

Bhamashah Wallet: Tapping Into Online Payments To Create New Milestones

Since its launch in 2013, the Bhamashah Yojana has been developed as a one-stop solution for the disbursement of all government benefits to the bank accounts of women, with the robust DBT engine playing an effective role in the success of this programme.

There have been 5.61 Cr registrations and 37.5 Cr direct benefit transactions on the platform so far, and INR 14K Cr has been deposited directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries, as of April 2018.

“If may be not today, then, in a short while, people will realise that digital is tomorrow, digital is the future, and digital is what is going to make us free of all the incumberences that we have suffered so far,”  said Rajasthan CM during her speech at the event.

The government of Rajasthan has been dedicatedly working towards the digital growth of the state and is taking every possible measure to digitally empower the state’s residents. These efforts are helping Rajasthan emerge as the digital leader of our country.

Recently, Inc42 conducted a 10-day Digital Rajasthan Yatra, covering more than 3,300 Km and travelling through 10 districts of the state.

The Digital Rajasthan Yatra II report sheds light on how the lives of women, youth, farmers, and others in the state have changed for the better, and how sectors such as small businesses, healthcare, education, and agriculture have been impacted by the wave of technology and eGovernance initiatives transforming Rajasthan.

There are various other on-ground initiatives such as e-Sakhi, eMitra, eMitra+, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, eNam, among others which have been implemented in line with CM Raje’s Digisthan mission and vision.

The Bhamashah Wallet is yet another step in this direction and is expected to replicate the success of Rajasthan government’s earlier digital initiatives.

The post CM Raje Launches Rajasthan’s New, Secure Payments App — Bhamashah Wallet appeared first on Inc42 Media.

“Blockchain isn’t a disruptive technology; it’s a foundational technology.” — Harvard Business Review

Prime Minister Modi’s flagship project — the Smart Cities Mission — has unleashed a huge potential market for the cutting-edge technology market in India. Blockchain is one of them. This despite the fact that the mega-project, which was launched on June 25, 2015, reportedly failed to meet the deadline with only 1.8% of the sanctioned funds having been utilised so far.

With a view create livable cities for its citizens, 100 cities have been selected under the Smart Cities Mission. The goal of the Mission is to implement innovative digital technologies in these smart cities and dovetail them with the Digital India vision to enable the digital empowerment of citizens. The project envisions the integration of ‘digital’ into every aspect of city life — from infrastructure, healthcare, education, cleaning, hygiene, waste management to services.

On May 17, the Indian Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation issued a clarification and an update on the Smart Cities Mission, saying that so far 1,333 projects worth INR 50,626 Cr have been completed or are under implementation/tendering.

If the Mission is to make lives in smart cities as digital as possible, the technology behind it has to be blockchain. The technology, which is transforming the foundations of entire industries, can act as both the brain and soul of smart cities integrating key factors such as adaptability, accountability, transparency, accuracy and efficiency into the machinery that runs these cities.

For readers who are still new to the blockchain bandwagon, a blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that stores information across a number of systems enabling peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions and creating a trust-free, secured distributed storage using a validation process which is fully democratic in nature and is based on consensus. Here, “trust-free” means a blockchain network does not need any intermediary entity for any sort of validation.

Most importantly, blockchain (Public) uses either a proof of work (PoW) or a proof of stack (PoS) to arrive at the consensus, after which data once recorded in a block and added to the block-tree (blockchain) can’t be deleted and manipulated. This brings transparency and removes any scope of data manipulation.

Right from voting, security, land registration, logistics, healthcare, power distribution, banking, certificates — birth, death, education, residential and so on — to other governance-related areas, blockchain removes the “trust factor” completely.

While the Indian government is yet to explore the entire gamut of potential applications and implementation of blockchain in smart cities, a series of blockchain-based PoCs (proof-of-concept) have already been built into the areas mentioned above. The NITI Aayog should take a serious look at these PoCs while working on IndiaChain, a mega blockchain project that’s crucial for the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission.

One of the biggest issues with blockchain implementation has been the lack of a comprehensive report relating to Indian scenario.

Taking the initiative of filling the gap in this regard, Inc42 has just launched the Blockchain Technology Report 2018: An In-depth Study Of The Current State and Future Of Blockchain In India.

Order the Inc42 Blockchain Technology Report 2018 now!

Blockchain Can Make Smart Cities Secure, Smarter

Considering we’re fast heading towards a future where data is the new oil and where life could be encrypted in data packs, it has become extremely important to secure data first. With an optical fibre network already been laid across, expanding at a CAGR of 17%, and 4G communication being widely available, securing cities’ data via blockchain won’t be a tough task.

Kamanashis Biswas and Vallipuram Muthukkumarasamy of Griffith University, Australia, in their research paper Securing Smart Cities Using Blockchain Technology show how a security framework can integrate blockchain with smart devices to provide a secure communication platform in a smart city.

As highlighted by Biswas, “The main advantage of using blockchain security framework is that it is resilient against many threats. Further, it provides a number of unique features such as improved reliability, better fault tolerance capability, faster and efficient operation, and scalability.”

“Thus, integration of blockchain technology with devices in a smart city will create a common platform where all devices would be able to communicate securely in a distributed environment. The future works will aim to design a system-level model to investigate the interoperability and scalability of different platforms used in a smart city,” the paper added.

Order the Inc42 Blockchain Technology Report 2018 now!

Blockchain Can Help Secure Aadhaar And The Electoral System

In the existing scenario in India, where half of the data is in hard copies and half is integrated with digital systems across sectors and organisations, data can be easily manipulated, controlled, or erased by any intermediary entity, and users have to rely on the “trust” of data operators, controllers, and processors.

For instance, a number of complaints have been made on the massive Aadhaar data leaks. However, not once has the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) acknowledged the problem. The issue now is no more about just data security now, but about the “trust” of people in the organisation.

To tackle this problem, India can take a leaf out of Estonia’s book. Similar to what Estonia has done with its e-residential data, the entire Aadhaar data of a smart city citizen could be replicated on a public blockchain model, which will once and for all erase the “trust” issue the organisations like the UIDAI.

In Estonia, even after giving his/her nod, a citizen can at any point in time fetch his/her personal information and see the list of organisations that have accessed the data, when they’ve accessed it, and for what purpose the data was fetched.

A similar system could be implemented to ensure transparency and security of India’s voting system as well. At a time when with every passing election, complaints of manipulation of electronic voting machines (EVMs), records, and data are rising, blockchain could be a sure shot way to erase the “trust” over the machine, which can reportedly be easily rigged.

The smart cities project could pave the way to adopt blockchain in the world’s largest voting system, which will not only bring down the cost of conducting elections, but will also majorly improve the transparency and efficiency of the system.

Order the Inc42 Blockchain Technology Report 2018 now!

Adopting Blockchain In Health, Land, Education, And More

Besides banking, given the push for maintenance of electronic health records (EHR) across government and private healthcare institutions, blockchain can change the way healthcare data relating to critical drugs, blood, organs, medical licenses, and doctors’ records are handled at present.

Inc42’s Blockchain Report 2018 has also elaborated how the Rajasthan government is implementing blockchain in maintaining EHR.

According to a Deloitte-WSJ report, about 70% of health plan and health system IT executives believe that blockchain holds significant promise for healthcare interoperability.

Similar is the case with other records — educational certificates or records, birth/death certificates, land records, energy distribution, and all other data that comes under the RTI can be brought on the blockchain.

Blockchain can also be used in warehousing, cold storage, and to store other agro-data to increase transparency, reduce complexity, and the cost in the existing scenario.

Once data related to any topic/issue is added on a public blockchain, it can do away with the entire RTI system, as the data can be fetched by anyone, anytime, depending on the permissions granted.

NITI Aayog, which has been working on a concept paper for IndiaChain, which it describes as a “shared, India-specific blockchain infrastructure”, hasn’t provided any further update since last year. Similarly, the Smart Cities Mission is also not being implemented the way it was planned.

However, regardless of how slow or fast the development is, there is immense potential for blockchain implementation in making smart cities really, truly smart. The sooner the authorities realise, the better will the project optimisation be.

Order the Inc42 Blockchain Technology Report 2018 now!

The post For A Smart City To Be Really ‘Smart’, Blockchain Has To Be Its Brain — And Soul appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Like many other global leaders, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi realises the potential of new and upcoming technology in reforming sectors and the lives of people in India. With a view to ensure that India doesn’t miss the blockchain boat, PM recently said: “India’s youth can lead a revolutionary movement using AI (artificial intelligence) and blockchain technologies with a value addition.”

However, words need to be translated into action. As Inc42 earlier reported, more than 80% of the blockchain developers in India may move abroad in search of better opportunities and owing to the lack of “robust regulatory framework.”

But, what, really, is the big deal about blockchain? How is it different from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum? Why is every government, consulting firm, technology giant, and startup alike — and across sectors such as e-governance, fintech, healthcare, education — rushing in to explore blockchain applications?

What is its real potential — especially blockchain as a technology/framework and blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) — in the context of India? How are other countries exploiting blockchain to their advantage? What is the existing scenario, and the future, of blockchain in India?

This, and a lot of more questions on blockchain have remained unanswered at large, primarily due to two reasons — lack of real understanding and knowledge of the technology, and the absence of comprehensive analytical data relating to its usage/potential usage in India.

To answer these unanswered questions, cut out the hype from the reality, and clear the air of confusion pervading the technology, Inc42 is launching the Blockchain Technology Report 2018: An In-depth Study Of The Current State and Future Of Blockchain In India.

The report delves into the hype around the technology, decoding blockchain and its frameworks, and discussing its features — primarily information consensus across multiple parties, its transparency, and security. Providing a rundown on the leading frameworks — Ethereum, Hyperledger, Multichain, Corda, Quorum, Lisk, and more — the report also places the technology in context, bringing in the classic case study of Telegram. It aims to clarify the difference between blockchain and cryptocurrencies for readers with limited or no knowledge about the technology.

It also elucidates the current ongoing applications and the landscape of blockchain adaptation across the world and in India, exploring the various initiatives taken by governments the world over to incorporate the technology to bring more visibility into governance.

The report talks about the various projects being implemented by Indian government think tank Niti Aayog and state governments to digitise land records and exam certification using a blockchain called IndiaChain.

Most importantly, it discusses the vast scope of application of blockchain across industries, specifically exploring opportunities in India.

Here’s A Look At Some Global Blockchain Facts:

• Only 0.5% of the world’s population is using blockchain today, but 50% or 3.77 Bn people use the Internet
• Over the last five years, venture capitalists (VCs) have invested more than $1 Bn in blockchain companies
• About 90% of the major North American and European banks are exploring blockchain solutions
• The global blockchain market is expected to be worth $20 Bn by 2024
• It is estimated that banks could save $8-12 Bn annually if they use blockchain technology
• In April 2018, a group of 22 European nations formed a new blockchain partnership aimed at exchanging information on the technology. The countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, and the Netherlands, signed a declaration on April 10, 2018, establishing the new group, dubbed the European Blockchain Partnership, according to a release from the European Commission, which led the effort

The increasing importance of blockchain can be understood by the fact that leading IT company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) believes 2018-19 will be the year of blockchain adoption by the largest banks and stock exchanges in India and expects to generate at least $200 Mn in annual revenues from its blockchain practice. ICICI Bank announced that it has on-boarded more than 250 corporates on its blockchain platform for domestic and international trade finance.

Now, more than ever, Indian businesses need to be made aware of the importance of implementing blockchain in the banking system, especially to control frauds. According to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report, sourced by Reuters through a Right To Information (RTI) appeal, state-run banks have reported as many as 8,670 “loan fraud” cases, totalling INR 61,260 crore, over the last five financial years up to March 31, 2017.

Closely tracking the trends among the early adopters of blockchain in India, Inc42 Datalabs has also addressed the challenges blockchain startups have faced while designing PoCs (Proof of Concept).

While the Inc42 Blockchain Technology Report 2018 offers indepth insights for professionals seeking to gain an understanding grip of the subject, it could be a fun read for n00bs looking to decode the technology — especially for those who have been bingeing on Mr Robot, a popular TV series based on cryptocurrency, primarily the Bitcoin.

In the blockchain world, find out which block does India stand in.

Order the Inc42 Blockchain Technology Report 2018 now!

The post Inc42’s Blockchain Technology Report 2018: Demystifying The Hottest Technology Of The Moment appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 (PDP Bill) is out in the public domain and is generating a lot of debate, criticism, and feedback from various stakeholders. The Bill will have a far-reaching impact on all aspects of a business — including data collection, processing, storage, and cross-border data transfers.

Inc42, along with Delhi-based legal firm TRA Law, is initiating a dialogue on the impact of the Bill on startups. ‘The Dialogue: A Roundtable Discussion’ will provide a platform to make your voice heard by those who make the policy and play an active role in shaping how this bill will affect the Indian ecosystem.

We invite all startups, investors, and other stakeholders from the Indian startup ecosystem to come and enrich the roundtable.

Data is supreme. No matter which technology you’re leveraging — artificial intelligence, IoT, blockchain, big data analytics, SaaS-based solutions, or deeptech — if you’re a technology startup in India, you’re likely involved either in data collection or operation.

With an aim to regulate how Indian users’ data should be managed, processed and transferred across borders by data fiduciaries, a 10-member Committee of Experts chaired by former Supreme Court Justice BN Srikrishna on July 27 submitted its report and a draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018. The committee was earlier tasked by the Central government with creating a comprehensive framework for data protection in India.

The draft PDP Bill mandates live data mirroring or localisation (meaning that at least one copy of all personal user data must be stored in India), which will drive up costs for companies. Startups will be required to conduct periodic reviews of their security practices and data protection impact assessments.

The draft PDP Bill also prescribes steep penalties and even a list of non-bailable and cognizable criminal offences for violation of the law and wants all large data fiduciaries to appoint data protection officers.

Apart from this, it proposes the creation of a Data Protection Authority (DPA) with overarching powers to deal with all data-related issues in the country, which may result in the re-creation of the erstwhile ‘License Raj’ in the tech sector.

All these provisions are likely to dis-incentivise innovation and incentivise the license raj era.

While most corporates maintain some sort of piggy banks and are capable of hiring data protection officers to deal with the legalities, most Indian startups run on “piggy bank money” raised from their investors and don’t have funds to spend continuously on legal compliances.

So, what is the way forward for startups? What are the essential steps one has to take in the transition period to ensure they’re prepared when the Bill is implemented?

We will enable ecosystem partners to discuss and seek the answers.

With The Dialogue — A Roundtable on the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, Inc42 and TRA Law are providing a platform for stakeholders to discuss the Bill and its implications for Indian startups.

Data Localisation: ‘Chilling Effect’ On Startups

What’s the biggest issue with the draft PDP Bill for startups? Data localisation and the resulting costs for companies. Tuhina Joshi, Associate, TRA Law, explains that according to a McKinsey report, 80% of tech-based startups worldwide are ‘born global’, utilising foreign customers, financing, and suppliers from day one. It is estimated that cutting off access to global cloud computing services — through localisation — will force local companies in Brazil and the EU to pay 10.5 to 62.5% more for some cloud computing services.

She adds, “Enforcing data localisation requirements would massively raise operational costs for startups, as they would have to invest in local data centres. This would have a chilling effect on innovation by bootstrapped startups by imposing a high barrier of entry for new local entrants in a wide range of sectors in the Indian market.”

While data localisation is largely being seen as an added layer for protection of Indian data introduced by pro-government think tanks, Pooja Sareen, Editor-In-Chief, Inc42 Media, believes that such a big step can’t be taken simply under the garb of security and safety measures.

“Although the data localisation clause in the Bill might help drive BharatNet and similar projects across the country, it will be a costly affair for Indian tech startups who want to cater to the global market,” says Sareen.

Data Protection Authority: Another Authority, Another Headache

The draft Personal Data Protection Bill proposes the establishment of a separate Data Protection Authority (DPA) to implement, regulate, and oversee data protection in the country.

This doesn’t bode well for startups as the Data Protection Authority is vested with broad, overarching powers to discharge quasi-executive, quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial functions, according to Joshi. “This includes mandating compulsory audits for all personal data by external auditors, assigning public trust scores, the presence of harsh criminal penalties, onerous reporting obligations to the DPA, etc,” she opines.

Given the fact that startups usually fall short of resources such as time, manpower, and, most importantly, money which they would utilise to meet the compliances in time, this will have adverse implications for startups. Sareen states, “Complying with norms and orders as directed by the DPA will be a tedious task for startups. In case of GST disputes, we have seen how the Telangana Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) and West Bengal AAR not only gave conflicting verdicts but also used different methodologies to arrive at their conclusions.”

So, Who Benefits From The PDP Bill? Difficult To Say

Complying with the provisions of the draft PDP Bill will require huge investments from companies on several fronts, which will ultimately increase the cost of the related product/service. “Ultimately, the cost of all regulation will percolate to the consumer. In an alternate scenario, if the regulated entity bears the costs, its profits will be eroded until it is no longer profitable or even possible to remain in business. Both of these scenarios would be counterproductive to user interest,” says Joshi.

The Inc42-TRA Law Roundtable on the Draft Data Protection Bill will debate and seek answers to the above-mentioned issues, amongst others. It will also decode the proposed Bill for ease of understanding. So, to hear it from the experts, put forward your views, and discuss your concerns with them — we invite you to attend the upcoming Roundtable discussion on September 7.

The post Draft Personal Data Protection Bill: Make Your Voice Heard In ‘The Dialogue’ By Inc42 & TRA Law appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Delhi-based healthcare startup myUpchar has raised $5 Mn from Nexus Venture Partners, Omidyar Network, and Shunwei Capital in the Series A funding round.

myUpchar was founded in 2016 by Rajat Garg and Manuj Garg when they realised that there was a serious lack of Indian health content in India. It offers information on various disciplines such as allopathy, ayurveda, and homoeopathy.

The startup aims to use the funding to develop its product and technology offering. It will further strengthen its voice, video, and virtual reality interfaces and also work on the development of newer interfaces. The funding will also help myUpchar make large-scale remote provisions of health services a reality, said the founders in a media statement.

In a recent interaction with Inc42, Garg said, “We look to create trustworthy content to make sure that they (consumers) can rely on us for a long time. A lot of sites create lightweight health content in India now which is medically incorrect. Our content is created by doctors and experts which is then translated by our team into various languages.”

A One-Stop Destination For All Healthcare Needs

myUpchar has partnered with doctors to create credible and authoritative health content in 13 different languages for the Indian market.

It’s proprietary voice search, as well as text-to-speech technology for all health content, has enabled it to serve customers who are not comfortable with typing or reading the content on a phone.

It also has hundreds of partner doctors across specialities who serve several thousand patient queries every day. These consultations are conducted in a simple interface to make sure the consulting product is accessible to customers with any level of comfort with technology.

“myUpchar has the potential to solve for health information and infrastructure asymmetry for the masses, closely aligned with the government’s National Health Protection Mission,” said Siddharth Nautiyal, investment partner at Omidyar Network.

myUpchar Looks To Serve 500 Mn People 

At present, the services of myUpchar are accessed by more than 10 Mn people. According to the founders, the startup aims to provide healthcare awareness and access across a wide socio-economic spectrum in India.

The startup is looking to grow its presence and expects to serve more than 500 Mn Indians who want quality information and services but are unable to access them either because they are not available locally or are not available in regional languages.

“We have a unique opportunity to solve the acute awareness and access problem in the healthcare space. Our focus over the next couple of years is to address this gap via technology and content. As our technology gets smarter and smarter, we will personalise every user’s experience to enhance our ability to have a real impact on their health outcomes,” said Garg.

The overall healthcare market in India is pegged at $30 Bn and is at present attracting attention from investors’ globally. According to Inc42 DataLabs, healthtech startups raised $180 Mn in H12018 and the sector was among the top five in terms of fundraising.

Other prominent players in the Indian healthcare content space are Healthifyme, 1mg, Practo,  Couch to 5K, and Medinfi, among others.

The post Healthcare App myUpchar Raises $5 Mn Funding In Series A Round appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Rajasthan government, in a first, has gone global with the initiative by the Department of Information Technology & Communications (DoIT&C) for a Student Startup Exposure Program to encourage entrepreneurship among the youth of the state. Under this programme, the Rajasthan government has sent a delegation of 91 people, which includes students from the state, on an all-expense-paid residential learning trip to Silicon Valley.

The Startup India Initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was launched in January 2015, has caught on like wildfire among all the states in the country. Various state governments have jumped on the startup bandwagon to create an advanced and cohesive startup ecosystem in their respective states. In this race, Rajasthan has established itself as a frontrunner, emerging as an example for others to follow. The government is infusing digital technology into every aspect and is giving a complete facelift to the state.

Encouraging entrepreneurship has been a key goal of the Rajasthan government, for which it has taken initiatives such as the iStart platform, the recently launched Bhamashah Techno Hub (India’s largest business incubator in Jaipur), and many more, thereby competing with favoured startup locations like Telangana, Bangalore, and Pune.

Announced in May 2018, the Students Startup Exposure Program received more than 20K applications of which 4,500+ applications were from female students in the state. The department had mandated that 25% of the total strength travelling to Silicon Valley for the programme should be women. The emphasis not surprising as women’s empowerment is high on the agenda of the present government led by chief minister Vasundhara Raje. This effort translated into 40% of the students in the programme being women.

Things To Watch Out For In The Programme

Over the course of two weeks, the students who’ve travelled to Silicon Valley will get an opportunity to learn various aspects of building a tech product startup from renowned experts in the global startup ecosystem. The participants will receive mentorship to build their prototype and pitch it to prospective investors in Silicon Valley and gain feedback from them. The participants will also get a chance to acquire on-the-job training at some eminent organisations and interact with successful founders and other professionals.

Along with the two-week residential programme, selected students will also be provided three-month access to an online learning course to further improve their knowledge and make them ready for the startup world. The course will be the same for the resident Silicon Valley programme.

Rajasthan’s Department of IT & Communications has become the first government body to launch an initiative such as this to promote student entrepreneurs and give them a global platform to learn.

A senior official from the department said, “The Rajasthan Student Startup Exposure Program was conceptualised to fulfill the vision of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje who wanted to provide the youth of the state with a platform to explore their entrepreneurial skills and learn from the best startup professionals of the world.”

The exposure programme will provide world-class facilities and exposure to young entrepreneurs of Rajasthan. Its main aim is to help the young minds of the state to transform their innovative ideas into successful businesses thus adding value to the country in terms of product and job creation.

This DoIT&C initiative will certainly open the doors for students to make their entrepreneurship dreams come true. Not only this, it will also turn out to be a huge milestone in the startup journey of Rajasthan and bring college students and the budding entrepreneurs into the ecosystem. The initiative is not just another page in the Indian startup story but an acknowledgement of the startup spirit in India and reflects the Rajasthan government’s commitment to improve India’s position on the world map.

Follow this Live Blog for further update on the programme!

Student Delegation Tours Startup Mecca University Avenue, Visits Stanford University

Summary:

• Day 1 started with an orientation session for the student-preneurs from Rajasthan
• The online learning program has modules spanning the stages in a startup’s development process — from idea selection to alpha prototype development
• The students also got a chance to visit the HP Garage, which is considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley

The student delegation sent for the Rajasthan government’s Students Startup Exposure Program was quick to settle in after the long journey from India to Silicon Valley. Day 1 started with the enthusiastic students making their way for an orientation session organised. They also got a chance to visit University Avenue in Palo Alto, California — the Mecca of startups — and see the building where the likes of Google and Logitech started out.

The session aimed to provide an overview of Silicon Valley and its culture. The objective was to equip the students with an understanding of how their approach should be to be able to make the most of their Silicon Valley experience.

At the orientation, the students were explained how the learning programme component of the tour is structured and given access to the online modules. Over the course of the next two weeks, student teams will be working on their own individual projects to develop their alpha prototypes.

The online learning programme, designed for self-learning, takes in modules spanning the stages in a startup’s development process — from idea selection to alpha prototype development. The best performing teams will also get a chance to pitch their project ideas to organisations such as Silicon Valley Bank and TechCode.  

In the second half of the orientation session, students were given time to go around and explore the renowned University Avenue and the Stanford University campus. ‘165 University Ave’ is a small rented office building on University Avenue, the main commercial street in downtown Palo Alto, California, which held the early offices of Google, PayPal, Logitech, etc. Palo Alto is the places from where several Silicon Valley startups launched their operations from garages and humble offices and went on to make it big.

The students also got a chance to visit the HP Garage, considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley, and Coupa Cafe, the famous coffee shop in University Avenue full of founders going through startup formation and fundraising discussions. Adjacent to Stanford is Sandhill Road as well, where almost all the names in the VC world have their offices.

Note: The author of this story is on a sponsored trip to the Silicon Valley by the Rajasthan Government for the coverage of the Student Startup Exposure Program.

The post [Live Blog] Rajasthan: Enabling A New Age Of Next-Gen Student Startups Through Silicon Valley Exposure Programme appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Government-owned UPI app BHIM which aids in cashless transactions using a mobile phone, is working on a revised cashback scheme targeted towards the merchants.

BHIM app, developed by National Payments Corporation of India, had rolled out cashback incentives this year, on April 14, 2018, for consumers and merchant. According to the scheme offered to the consumers of BHIM:

•  An amount of $0.73 (INR 51) was given on the minimum transaction value of INR 1 to their first-time users.
• An amount of $0.36 (The original value is this – INR 25) cashback per transaction for 20 unique transactions done in a month.
• For the merchants, the platform offered 10% of their transaction and also up to $14.24 (The original value is this – INR 1000) per month.

However, they had to roll it back after a few months.

With the revised scheme, the ministry will focus more on providing incentives to the merchants.

The scheme is being currently developed and now the government plans to seek an initial seed funding of $18.5 Mn – $ 19.9 Mn (INR 130-140 Cr) before rolling out the scheme.

The ministry believes that this step may drive the usage higher than peer-to-peer payments.

According to the reports, when the scheme was first introduced, an approval for $71.2 Mn (INR 500 Cr) was given to the Ministry however, it remained only in the papers.

The move came at a time when UPI recorded a 4% decline in the number of transactions from 246 Mn in June to 235.6 Mn in July 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also advised the central and state departments to set and achieve targets to boost the number of transactions made using BHIM app.

Further, among these declining numbers, Flipkart-owned PhonePe has reportedly taken the top spot as they claim to have a 40% share of the market.

Growth Of Digital Payment Sector In India

With the onset of digitisation, the country has witnessed the growth of several online money transfer companies like Google Tez, Amazon Pay, PhonePe, Paytm among many others.

However, the sector is now on the edge of facing a war between the local and the foreign payment companies. For instance, recently digital payment giant Paytm’s parent company, One97 Communications received a funding from US based conglomerate run by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

At the same time foreign companies like Amazon Pay and WhatsApp Pay are struggling to roll out their full scale operation in the country. The recently adopted guidelines such as storing all data and setting up a separate office in the country, have further increased the difficulties for the foreign payment companies.

Inc42 had previously reported that, according to July 2016 Google-BCG report, the digital expenditure is expected to grow tp $100 Bn, that is, nearly 2.5 times more by 2020. Will BHIM be able to make its stand amid the ongoing battle in the Indian digital payment industry, will be interesting to watch.

[The development was reported by ETTech.]

The post Merchant Cashback Scheme To Help UPI App BHIM Gain Higher Usage appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The US-based search giant Google during its fourth Google for India event, has announced a new initiative Navlekha to help Indians publish their content in regional languages.

As per the official Google blog, the amount of online content in Indian regional languages account for only 1% of what is  available in English.

In order to resolve this issue, Google has come up with this new project Navlekha. Under this, a user is provider with a tool that uses AI to render any PDF containing Indian language content into editable text, which helps the publishers create mobile-friendly content.

The publishers will also be provided with the free web hosting with AdSense support to the regional publishers which will enable them to monetise their content immediately. The users will be receiving training and will also be given a page domain for the first three years.

The company claimed that the project has already began its services with people participating from Delhi and hopes that it would reach out to the other regions from September, 2018

Google’s Other Initiatives For Indian Users

According to January 2017 Google- KPMG report, India can be expected to have nearly 735 Mn Internet users by 2021 and hence Google is trying to undertake projects that help the users.

Furthermore, the user base of local languages will continue to grow at 18% annually to reach 536 Mn in the next four years, compared to the English Internet user base growing at 3% to reach 199 Mn. Hence, local language internet users are expected to account for nearly 75% of India’s Internet user base by 2021.

Earlier, Google has also come up with the Solve For India Program to boost India startups. It has also been attempting to reach rural India with its Internet Saathi initiative and till date 15 Mn women from 150K villages in India have benefitted from the initiative.

Further, in order to eradicate fake news, the company has launched Google News Initiative Training Network in India which aims to train 8,000 journalists in English and other languages.

They have also extended the news initiative to Youtube where the video content will be focused on not only improving the news experience but will also help curb the spread of fake news.

During the event, Google had also announced development of other projects including rebranding to Tez to Google Pay, launch android phones at cheaper rate, partner with Andhra Pradesh to make internet available in secluded areas.

Other than Google, one of the major local player in this segment is Bengaluru-based, self-publishing platform Pratilipi which allows Indian publishers to share their content online in eight regional languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.

Then there are also players like PlanetGoGo, an app for content discovery in regional languages, ShabdaNagari, a social networking site in Hindi and Indian regional language social platform ShareChat.

The post Google’s Navlekha To Help Indians Publish Content in Regional Language appeared first on Inc42 Media.

San Francisco and Bengaluru based post-purchase customer engagement platform Narvar has raised  $30 Mn in a Series C Funding Round led by existing investor, the California based venture capital firm Accel (formerly known as Accel Partners).

Accel had also earlier led the Series A round in Narvar.

Other existing investors like U.S. based Battery Ventures along with new investors Salesforce Ventures and Scale Venture Partners also participated in the funding round.

With this new round of funding, the company plans to ramp up the product innovation and R&D efforts and also increase the hiring to support its growing offices around the world.

Along with the funding, partner at Accel, Ryan Sweeney will also join Narvar’s board.

Narvar: The Journey So Far

Narvar, founded in 2012 by Amit Sharma is a customer experience platform that helps engage customers at a time of high anticipation and build long-term loyalty with their customers.

Amit recognised a huge opportunity for brands to deliver exceptional post-purchase customer engagement. So far, Narvar have helped retailers realise this vision for more than 300 Mn people.

At the same time, ecommerce adoption has skyrocketed — in fact, more than 70% of adults online have interacted with Narvar through the retailers it supports, and Amit anticipates this will continue trending up.

“We’ll use this new investment to continue developing leading products for our customers while investing heavily in international growth to support global brands,” he added.

Here are some key facts about the company:

• Doubled its revenue and employee headcount in the last 12 months
• Added more than 100 brands, including Costco and Lululemon
• Expanded its global footprint into APAC and EMEA —  opening a London office and making its first leadership hires in Germany.
• Currently serves 500+ retailers like Sephora, Patagonia, Home Depot, Gap, and Bose
• Claims to have served approximately 5 Bn customer interactions across 38 countries and in nearly 50 languages.

Narvar’s Future Plans For India

In an email interaction with Inc42, the Narvar spokesperson stated that the company plans to scale its business in India over the next three years. It further plans on directing a significant part of its investment towards data analytics and grow R&D wing in Bengaluru and also expand its product technology.

According to Narvar, they see a great growth opportunity in India and has also established platforms in the country.

The company hopes to onboard their first set of e-commerce and retail clients by the end of the September.

Last year, Narvar had acquired Indian logistics company GoPigeon in a hope to expand its market position in the Asia-Pacific region.

The post SaaS Platform Narvar Raises $30 Mn With Plans To Scale Its India Operations appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Search engine giant Google is in talks to acquire the two-year-old, Bengaluru-based startup, Where is my Train for $30-40 Mn. At the same time, smartphone maker Xiaomi is looking to invest an undisclosed amount in the startup as well.

Founded by five former executives from the US-based technology-entertainment company named, TiVo Corporation, Where is my Train is run by Sigmoid Labs. It basically helps provide live train updates without the use of internet and Global Positioning System (GPS) .

“The talks with Google are more advanced and they are likely to buy the company as a part of their Next Billion Users initiative,” one of the unnamed sources told ET, and also added that the transaction is yet to be finalised.

If the deal succeeds this will be the first product acquisition in India by Google. However, Ahmed Nizam Mohaideen, the cofounder of Sigmoid Labs that owns the startup has denied the information about the acquisition in a media statement.

Synergy Between Google And Where is my Train

Where is my Train has a popular mobile app which has recorded more than 10 Mn downloads in the country so far. Its app uses information from cell tower instead of the internet of GPS to locate the trains and also help people select the train after mentioning their source and destination in the app.

The services are currently available in English as well as regional languages.

The acquisition of Where is my Train will further help Google in tapping the Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities and even the remote locations where internet penetration is negligible.

This year, Google had also claimed that it had achieved its target of powering 400 free WiFi enabled station in India with Dibrugarh railway station in Assam to be the last one.

Earlier, Google had also acquired Bengaluru based AI startup named Halli Labs in 2017 that helped Google to utilise the startup’s advanced AI and ML (Machine Learning) technology to upgrade their older domains and platforms for better performance.

Chinese Smartphone Maker Xiaomi’s Acquisitions In India And Startup Investments

In November 2017, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun stated that the company is looking to invest $1 Bn over the next five years with an aim to create ecosystem af apps around its smartphone brand. Here are a few major investments done by the company in the Indian startups:

• Led a $13.4 Mn funding round in Bengaluru-based digital lending startup named ZestMoney
• Co-led with Sequoia Capital India a $7 Mn funding round in Hyderabad-based Samosa Labs which is a vernacular social media and chat entertainment app
• Invested $18.2 Mn in Bengaluru-based regional language social platform ShareChat

[This development was reported by ET.]

The post Google, Xiaomi In Talks To Invest In Indian Startup Where Is My Train appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mumbai based venture capital firm Iron Pillar which is focused on mid-stage technology investments in India has led a $15 Mn Series B investment round in after sales and management assistant startup, Servify

Servify was founded in November 2015, by Sreevathsa Prabhakar as a personal device management platform for gadgets, consumer electronics and home appliances. It also helps the users to access authentic brand authorised service during in-warranty as well as out of warranty scenarios.

The startup’s existing investors, Mumbai based Blume Ventures and Singapore based BEENEXT also participated in the funding round.

This round was Servify’s third funding round, following two previous rounds in April and November 2016.

Servify plans to use the funds to add depth to their senior management and also build new technology solutions for their clients. It has already launched its services in the US and is also setting up its operations in Europe to meet the needs of the clients.

They presently work with OEM brands, retailers, carriers and service providers. The platform experiences market competition from Krakow based AVSystem, California based Smith Micro among many others.

Iron Pillar Capital was founded by former director of Morgan Creek, Anand Prasanna, former Citigroup India Investment Banking Head, Sameer Nath, and former DFJ India Head Mohanjit Jolly. Apart from India, it has a presence in Mauritius, Palo Alto, Shanghai, and Singapore.

The firm usually invests in Series B, C and D rounds in Indian technology startups with a ticket size of $10 Mn to $50 Mn.

Last year, in January, Iron Pillar had entered into a strategic partnership with Chinese investment company Fosun International Ltd which helped Indian fund access to Fosun’s extensive networks, knowledge, and platform.

Soon after that, in May, Iron Pillar announced its maiden India focused fund, thereby funding two startups:  Nowfloats, an SME SaaS company in India raised $10 Mn in January 2017 and Bluestone, a leading online jewellery retail brand raised $5.4 Mn (INR 35.51 Cr) in February 2018.

Prior to that, Iron Pillar also invested an undisclosed amount in ecommerce player Snapdeal in February 2016.

[The development was reported by LiveMint.]

The post Iron Pillar Marks Its Fourth Major Investment In India With Servify appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru based venture capital firm, Prime Venture Partners has led a $1Mn investment round in logistics tech startup, WheelsEye.

Earlier this year, in March, Prime Venture Partners closed its third fund at $61.6 Mn. Some of its recent investments include AI focused health tech startup mfine ($4.2 Mn, Series A, May 2018) and myGate ($2.5 Mn).

WheelsEye was founded in 2017 by Anshul Mimani and Manish Somani. It aims to disrupt the logistics sector by enabling use of technology to decrease operational efficiencies and also lower overall cost.

The startup is building a Software as a service (SaaS) product for the logistics industry to enable automation and bring efficiency to the otherwise manually run sector.

As mentioned on its website, “Our software helps you to identify which factors are driving your business success and guides you to make data driven logistic decisions. Wheelseye promises minimum guarantee levels for critical support, implementation, training & access to new released features.”

The founders plan to use the funding to refine its product, which is still in the early stages of development.

The Challenges WheelsEye Is Trying To Address

According to Economic Survey 2017-18 report,  the Indian logistics industry which is worth around $160 Bn has reportedly grown at a compound annual growth rate or CAGR of 7.8% in last five years. The sector has also been recorded to provide employment to more than 22 million people.

However, the sector currently faces certain challenges which are related to infrastructural deficiency, skilled manpower and slow adoption of technology.

Further, there is reportedly a lack of awareness in the logistics sector about the economic benefits of using digital technology which is leading to operational inefficiencies and poor asset utilisation.

“In India the sector is plagued by many challenges, hence we see a huge opportunity for a technological transformation. Effective prioritization and application of data and technology is what the industry needs. We are passionate about solving for these specific issues and are excited about the fund raise,” said Anshul.

Other startups that compete with WheelsEye, like Bengaluru based LetsTransport also wish to streamline and revolutionize intra-city logistics at the tap of a button. Also, companies like Bengaluru based Blowhorn and Shippr among many more are some of the popular players in this field.

The post Prime Ventures Backs Logistics Tech Startup WheelsEye appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mumbai-based engineering company Greaves Cotton has announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in the Tamil Nadu-based electric vehicle maker, Ampere Vehicles.

Ampere Vehicles was founded in 2008 by Hemalatha Annamalai. The company raised an undisclosed amount from Ratan Tata in 2015. It has so far raised $ 1.2 Mn funding and counts Tata, and Chairman Axilor Ventures  Senapathy “Kris” Gopalakrishnan as its key investors.

The company will reportedly acquire 67% stake in Ampere Vehicles for $10.8 Mn (INR 77 Cr) in the first phase of acquisition.

Following the first phase, Greaves Cotton plans to acquire an additional 13% stake in Ampere Vehicles company in the next three years “at its discretion” for $10.6 Mn ( INR 75.5 Cr). This will result in a total deal value of $16.2 Mn (INR 115 Cr).

Post completion of the acquisition, Ampere Vehicles will become an independent subsidiary of Greaves and Hemalatha would  continue to remain as the CEO.

An email sent to the company did not elicit any response till the time of publication.

Ampere Vehicles which was established in 2008, aims to be a “trend setter” in the electrical vehicles space

As mentioned on the company website, “ Ampere was incorporated consciously to bring about awareness of high dependency of our country in fossil fuels and propagate alternate transport solutions using disruptive business models. Ampere’s team will innovate in every aspect to be a self-reliant manufacturer to design key components of an electric vehicle.”

In an earlier email interaction with Inc42, an Hemalatha has stated that the [EV] industry needs a separate fund for continuous innovation, research and development in the area of advanced power electronics, which are crucial as “Electric” Vehicle will now transform into “Electronic” vehicle in the next three to five years.

“It will be a paradigm shift of a Multi-folded Disruptions in Business Model, Technology and Application, transforming the entire Mobility spectrum & its constituents,” added Hemalatha.

With the increase in the number of local EV players such as Emflux Motors, Ather Energy and the steps taken by corporates such as Mahindra, etc, the Indian government has also started taking measures to support the sector.

Under the FAME India Scheme [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India], the authorities have been notified recently for the implementation of the second phase with effect from September 7.

The FAME II Scheme will include an investment of nearly $783.65 Mn over five years. Under this scheme, subsidies will be provided for all two, three and four wheeler electric vehicles in order to promote green vehicles and keep a check on the pollution levels in the country.

Hemalatha further believes that the continuation of FAME India Scheme is vital for sustaining the ecosystem, to convert 30% of automobile fleet into EVs by 2030.

“The EV industry, which is still in the nascent stage, needs support to achieve the targeted number, which should be at least 1% of the gasoline two-wheelers, as a first step to make the EV proposition affordable with volume drivers,” she added.

[This development was reported by ET Tech]

The post Ratan Tata Backed EV Company Ampere To Sell Its 67% Stake To Greaves Cotton appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Google Launchpad Accelerator India has announced the first batch of its inaugural class of 10 Indian startups, starting September 10, 2018.

In July 2018, Google launched the India chapter of its global launchpad programme and aims to provide a cohort of 8-10 Indian startups mentorship and support from the best of Google in AI/ML, Cloud, UX, Android, web, product strategy and marketing, along with up to $100K of Google Cloud credits.

The shortlisted startups will go through a two-week intensive mentorship boot camp which will be followed by a customised virtual support for the remaining duration of three months.

Paul Ravindranath G, Program Manager, Google India stated that the shortlisted startups are doing incredible work in areas, from enhancing employability and earning-abilities of the blue-collared workforce to using satellite imagery to support farmers’ decision-making process.

“These startups are using the state-of-the-art technology to solve for India’s real needs and we are hopeful that with this programme, we will be able to bring the best of Google — our expertise, platforms, tools and core strengths including machine learning and AI, to help Indian startups build, scale and grow their offering,” he said.

Meet The 10 Startups From The First batch Of Google Launchpad Accelerator India

CareNx Innovations Pvt Ltd:  Mumbai-based CareNx was founded by Shantanu Pathak and Aditya Kulkarni in 2015 and helps build healthcare technologies to deliver health services to the remote patients using mobile platforms. The startup claims to specialise in Women Health, Point of care diagnostics, and Mobile Health. It’s products include smartphone-enabled fetal heart monitor for early detection of fetal asphyxia.

Vassar Labs: Based in Vishakhapatnam with headquarters in Boston, Vassar Labs is a Machine learning and AI based solution provider that wants to enable customers bring new business models and differentiated service based on Internet-of-Things (IoT), Machine Learning, AI and Big Data. Using sensors, satellite and crowdsourced data, they provide decision-making support in sectors like water, agriculture, education etc.

Wysa: Based out in London and Bengaluru, Wysa developed by Touchkin, is an AI-based chat therapy for mental health where the conversations are supported by human coaches. The startup was co-founded by Ramakant Vempati and  Jo Aggarwal in 2015.

MultiBhashi: Based out in Bengaluru, Multibhashi is an android app to learn languages. The current version offers audiovisual courses and quizzes to help the users learn English Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. The startup was founded by Anuradha Agarwal in 2016.

GenRobotics: Kerala-based Genrobotics Innovations designs robots that will tackle with the social impotent issues and also  military purposes. It was founded in 2015 by Arun George, Nikhil NP, Rashid Bin Abdulla and Vimal Govind MK.

OliveWear: Bengaluru-based OliveWear aims to provide home-based predictive maternal care ecosystem in both urban and rural areas. The startup helps create a better, healthier lifestyle by bringing IoT-based medical devices to pregnant women, encouraging them to take care of their health and to be informed.

Signzy: Fintech startup Signzy, founded in 2015 by Ankit Ratan, Ankur Pandey, Arpit Ratan, uses AI and Blockchain to provide smart e-verification and risk prediction and aims to simplify and secure digital regulatory processes.

SlangLabs: Bengaluru- based SlangLabs was founded in 2017 by Giridhar Murthy, Kumar Rangarajan and Satish Chandra Gupta. It is a software platform for building multilingual voice interfaces for mobile apps, which enables app interactions via voice in addition to touch.

ten3THealthcare : Based out in Bengaluru, ten3T was founded by Sudhir Borgonha, Rahul Shingrani, and Prasad Bhat. It builds wearable medical devices that collect and integrates medical-grade data in real time. The startup offers an early detection system for preventable clinical adverse events by monitoring rreal-time remote, and continuous vital signs of patients

Uncanny Vision: Bengaluru-based Uncanny Vision delivers AI-based surveillance solutions. The startup was founded in 2015 by Rajinth Parakkal and Navanee Sundaramoorthy. They also offer real-time surveillance and analytics for the customers in retail and banking.

The Google Launchpad Accelerator India comes after the company launched Solve For India roadshow in August 2017.

As part of Solve For India, 10 startups were shortlisted from across India for four days of one-on-one consults with experts and mentors from the industry with the aim of solving critical product and growth challenges.

The post Meet The 10 Startups From Google Launchpad Accelerator India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

We’ve kept you updated on the happenings in the Indian startup ecosystem. With the week coming to a close, it’s time to catch up on the important updates in the tech and startup ecosystem around the world.

Last week, with a view to bringing on-demand autonomous ride-hailing service to the market, global cab hailing company Uber raised $500 Mn from Japan-based automaker Toyota.

According to both the companies, as part of this deal, Toyota’s Sienna minivans will be equipped with self-driving technology by Uber and will also be deployed on the ride-hailing company’s network.

Further, as the push for electric vehicles (EVs) intensifies globally, China-based automaker Byton (founded by former BMW and Infiniti executives) has produced the first 10 prototypes of its tech-centric, all-electric SUV. Some of these will be sent to the US before the year ends.

The company also plans to produce another 100 prototypes of the SUV, which is named as M Byte, by the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, venture capital Firms Cleo Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners are working to raise funds.

Sarah Kunst, managing director of Cleo Capital, is planning the fundraise to support female entrepreneurs who will act as scouts. The scouts will look for viable early stage startups for VC firms to invest in and will even receive a cut of the profits on the investments.

Also, California-based early stage venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners is aiming to raise $1.6 Bn for its 10th flagship fund.

Another interesting update last week was that China-based smartphone maker Huawei claimed the second position in the global smartphone rankings for the second quarter this year, overtaking Apple in the smartphone market, according to a recent report by Gartner.

Further, the data showed that sales of smartphones to end users grew by 2% in the quarter, reaching 374 Mn units.

In Inc42’s weekly rundown of international stories to educate and entertain you and keep you informed about the startup landscape across the globe, we bring you the important developments from the week gone by. Here are some more:

Google Signs Secret Deal With Mastercard To Track Offline Purchases

Tech giant Google may have signed a secret deal US-based global payments and technology company Mastercard in order to track retail sales using transaction data, according to four people with knowledge of the deal, three of whom worked on it directly.

The deal gave select Google advertisers access to a potent new tool to track whether the ads they ran online led to sales at a physical store in the US.

According to a report, all the transaction details of MasterCard are encrypted and sent to Google, which is paying the former “millions of dollars” for the data. As part of the deal, Google will not get access to individual transactions but will be allowed to extract relevant information, the sources said.

A Mastercard spokesperson declined to comment on the deal but said that Mastercard shares transaction trends with merchants and their service providers to help them measure “the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.”

However, the deal is likely to raise privacy concerns as most of the 2 Bn Mastercard holders aren’t aware of this clandestine tracking.

Apple’s Attempt at Self-Driving Meets With An Accident

Apple’s secretive self-driving vehicle programme has disclosed its first accident — a low speed one — which occurred on August 24. As companies test self-driving technologies, accidents have been on the rise, with more than 40 accidents involving self-driving cars being reported to the California Department of Motor Vehicles this year (CA DMV).

An Apple test car under its self-driving vehicle programme was attempting to merge onto an expressway near the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. The car was reportedly travelling at about 1 mile per hour, when it was hit by a Nissan Leaf, according to a report filed with the CA DMV.

There were no injuries from the accident and both the parties reported moderate damage to their vehicles.

Apple Mandates Privacy Policy By Apps

US-based handset maker Apple has announced that all apps, including those still in testing, will be required to have a privacy policy by October 3 this year.

The company has been targeting apps that do not inform their users how is their personal data being used.

Apple will hold platforms on which the apps are hosted accountable for any instances of data misuse that may occur during use of mobile applications due to the policies of these apps.

Twitter May Add New Features While Continuing Account Suspensions

In line with previous account suspension by social media giants Twitter and Facebook for users “engaging in coordinated manipulation”, Twitter last week announced the suspension of 486 accounts for the same reason.

According to Twitter, while many of the accounts suspended earlier appeared to have originated from Iran, this time the batch of accounts it removed included accounts mainly from the US.

At the same time, Twitter head Jack Dorsey hinted that the platform may offer new updates such as ‘Presence’ to help people know which users are online and ‘Threading’ to enable users easily read conversation threads.

Following this report, several people commented and expressed their concern over the ‘Presence’ feature.

China’s Didi Chuxing Suspends Carpool Service

Chinese ride-hailing service, Didi Chuxing suspended its Hitch carpool service after a murder incident in which a driver allegedly killed a 20-year-old female passenger in the city of Wenzhou.

Didi also fired Hitch’s general manager and customer service vice-president.

The company also said that the suspect had no previous criminal records; however, female passengers had previously lodged complaints against him.

Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Tesla Over Model 3 Production

A shareholder lawsuit claiming that Tesla had made false statements about Model 3 production was dismissed last week. Tesla asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit in May.

The lawsuit, filed in October 2017, had alleged that California based multinational corporation Tesla Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk had shareholders about the progress being made on the full-scale production of Model 3, the company’s first mass-market vehicle.

Tesla’s lawyers argued that the company and Musk, in the same SEC filings and phone calls cited by the petitioner, had “bluntly warned of the many challenges of Model 3 production in stark terms.”

The case has however not been completely closed as the presiding judge granted “leave to amend”, which will allow the complainant to consider the judgement and file an adjusted complaint by September 28.

Facebook Watch To Be Rolled Out Worldwide

The Watch Tab — the video-on-demand service by Facebook — was launched in August 2017 but was made available only in the US over the past year.

Now, the social media giant is making the service available globally. It is also offering its ‘Ad Breaks’ feature to more publishers to enable them to insert advertisements by themselves or use Facebook’s automated ad insertion features for the purpose.

Further, the company is also globally launching Creator Studio, using which pages can manage their entire content library and business.

Air Canada Confirms Data Breach Via App

Canadian Airline service Air Canada confirmed a data breach that may have affected nearly 20,000 people, who constitute 1% of the total 1.7 Mn people who use the Air Canada application.

According to the company, it “detected unusual log-in behavior” between August 22-24. In an email sent out to its customers, the airline said that the attackers may have accessed their profile data such as name, address, etc, and also certain sensitive data that they had included in their app profiles.

Yahoo Scans Emails For Tailoring Ads

It has come to the fore that Internet giant Yahoo conducts email scans in order to refine its ad-targeting effort to display the most relevant ads.

The massive email scanning operation is carried out by Oath, a Verizon-owned subsidiary that’s the combined business of AOL and Yahoo. In this scanning process, more than 200 Mn AOL and Yahoo inboxes are scanned and the information collected is sold to advertisers.

Major email service providers such as Google had banned their scanning programme owing to security issues.

Stay tuned for the next week edition of Around The Tech And Startup World!

The post Huawei Overtakes Apple In Smartphone Rankings, Twitters Suspends 468 Accounts, And More: News From The Tech And Startup World [August 27-September 2] appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Here is Inc42’s latest edition of startup events coming up this week. But before we dive into what’s in store for this week, let’s catch up on the successful events of the past week.

Last week, Inc42 successfully hosted Episode One of Season Three of Venture Capitalist (VC) Dinner in Mumbai. The event — attended by the who’s who of the Indian startup ecosystem — was organised by Inc42 in association with AWS and Kotak Mahindra Bank. It hosted 30-40 guests who were accorded an opportunity for one-to-one networking with VCs, angel investors, family offices, entrepreneurs, and others.

In the 21st episode of Inc42 Ask Me Anything (AMA), we hosted Sid Talwar, co-founder and partner of venture capital firm Lightbox, who shared his thoughts on the Indian startup ecosystem and said that the present landscape of the country provides an opportunity for anybody to come and try their luck at creating a business without being judged.

Meanwhile, TiE Delhi-NCR hosted the fifth edition of India Education Entrepreneurship Day 2018, which focussed on the way partnerships and business models are expanding the horizons for budding entrepreneurs in India.

TiE Delhi-NCR also conducted the finals of Startup Jerusalem, in which Kerala-based startup Genrobotic Innovations emerged as the winner. Genrobotic will represent India at the Startup JLM Festival to be held in November this year.

At the same time, startup ecosystem development organisation Headstart, along with IILM University, launched #StartupSaturday, its flagship event in Gurugram, which witnessed more than 100 entrepreneurs participation. The theme of the event was ‘Basics of Entrepreneurship’.

Some experts such as Abhishek Mohan, vice-president, Sequoia; Amit Ramani, founder and CEO, Awfis Space Solutions; and Shailendra Ahuja, director, Aviant Capital Advisors, attend the event, who shared tips on how one can launch a successful entrepreneurship venture.

Without further ado, here are all the events awaiting bookmarks in your calendars for the coming week!

Creating Talks at IIT Delhi

In a world where people are chasing virtual goals, Creating Talks aims to create a platform where irrespective of race, caste, creed or any other judging attributes, one can share his/her ideas, stories, and journeys with millions of people with a view to inspire them.

Speakers from different fields will gather at the event and share their experiences, struggles, achievements with the audience to help them build their careers.

The talk will not only include success stories but also those that will help create more success stories.

Who Should Attend: Students, Startup enthusiasts, Entrepreneurs

Speakers:  Arnav Gupta, co-founder, Coding Blocks; Takuno Nishimura, global manager, Progate; Gaurav Gupta, standup comedian; Kanika Tekriwal, co-founder and CEO, JetSetGo, among others

Date: September 2, 2018

Venue: Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi

Entry Fees: INR 499

Webinar: Freelancing For Students 101

Numerous reports have stated that the quality of Indian graduates entering the job market does not meet recruiters’ expectations these days. At the same time, young graduates gaining experience as interns further complicates the issue because exposure in internships are not effective unless it provides students with job skills that companies look for.

Freelancing can be a game-changer for graduates as they can gain experience working on real projects, enabling them to pick up technical skills as well. It also enabled them to learn soft skills such as interacting with clients, understanding their requirements, and delivering stellar results to delight their customers.

Inc42 and PayPal are organising a webinar to explore the importance of freelancing for young graduates to guide them on how they can use freelancing to upskill while studying in college.

Who Should Attend: Young graduates, students, entrepreneurs, startup enthusiasts

Key Speakers: Sanyam Bhutani, student freelancer, SRM University, Chennai; V Chandramouliswaran, senior director, Enterprise Data Services at PayPal

Date: September 4, 2018 | 4:30 pm

MoveHack

Niti Aayog has launched MoveHack, a global mobility hackathon that will provide a platform for driven individuals and teams to collaborate and produce ideas, solutions, and prototypes for some of the most pressing issues in urban mobility in the country today.

The global mobility hackathon is an integral part of the ‘MOVE: Global Mobility Summit’, being organised by Niti Aayog in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners in New Delhi on September 7-8, 2018.

The top 30 teams selected from online submissions for MoveHack will be mentored in New Delhi on September 5 and 6 by a group of experts. Apart from the prize money, amounting to $282.4 K (INR 2 Cr), this event will provide a unique opportunity for startups to come up with end-to-end solutions that will be put to use in Smart Cities and state and central ministries through commercial implementation.

The event is focussed on 10 themes, including multimodal commuter mobility in cities, multimodal freight handling and transportation, road safety, future of mobility, etc.

Key Speakers: Masayoshi Son, CEO, SoftBank; Takeshi Uchiyamada, chairman, Toyota Motor Corporation; Anand G Mahindra, chairman, Mahindra Group; Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO, Ola, and others.

Date: MOVE-Global Mobility Summit on September 7-8, 2018

Venue: Vigyan Bhavan, Central Secretariat, New Delhi

The Dialogue: A Roundtable On Data Protection Bill

Inc42 in association with Delhi-based legal firm Ikigai Law (Previously TRA Law) is organising ‘The Dialogue: A Roundtable Discussion’ that will highlight the important implications of the Personal Data Protection Bill (PDP Bill) for startups and will also enable startup entrepreneurs to place their opinion before policymakers.

The draft of the PDP Bill, which was submitted on July 27, by the 10-member committee of experts chaired by former Supreme Court Justice BN Srikrishna, has been getting feedback and criticism from many stakeholders.

The Roundtable will host discussions on:

• Data localisation: How this will affect Indian startups in terms of cost and their operational efficiency
• Data Protection Authority and its jurisdiction areas
• Criminal penalties recommended in the draft: Measures to be taken by startups to avoid penalties

Date: September 7, 2018

Who Should Attend: Investors, Startups, Stakeholders

ISB Leadership Summit 2018

The ISB Leadership Summit is an annual event held at the Indian School of Business which brings together exemplary leaders in their respective fields to share their valuable insights on holistic education philosophy.

The overarching theme of the ISB Summit 2018 is ‘Catalysts of Change’, and its aim is to encourage a discourse focused on meaningful impact, exemplary sector-wide leadership, and community-driven excellence.

Who Should Attend: Startups, entrepreneurs.

Key Speakers: Karan Singh, MD, Bain & Co, India; Abhijit Avasthi, Sideways Consulting; Rohan Mirchandani, founder, Epigamia; Anjana Sasidharan, principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors; Rega Jha, founder, BuzzFeed India, and others

Date: September 7-8, 2018

Venue: ISB, Mohali Campus

Date: September 8-9, 2018

Venue: ISB Hyderabad Campus

India IoT-TI Automotive 2018

The India IoT-TI Automotive 2018 conference aims to create innovative applications and domain capability across verticals such as smart cities, smart health, smart manufacturing, smart agriculture, and others.

It plans to guide the audience and help them build industry capable talent, a startup community, and an entrepreneurial ecosystem for IoT. It also aims to provide an ecosystem for innovation to thrive and embrace entrepreneurship.

Who Should Attend: Investors, automobile manufacturers, policymakers, logistics & transport

Date: September 6, 2018 | 9 AM

Venue: The Westin, Koregaon Park, Pune

[Stay tuned for the next edition of Events to Attend!]

The post Startup Events To Attend This Week: Inc42 & Ikigai Law To Host ‘The Dialogue’ On PDP Bill, And More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

National Payments Corporation of India’s instant interbank payment system, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has recorded 312 Mn transactions in August 2018.

According to the data by NPCI, the platform has witnessed a growth of 32% since it recorded 235.6 Mn transaction in July 2018. However, the average transaction size for the month of August was $25.3 (INR 1,800) which was similar to previous months.

This development followed after UPI witnessed a drop of 4% as the number of transactions went down from 246 Mn in June to 235.6 Mn in July 2018.

NPCI had also launched UPI version 2.0 in July 2018 which included an additional feature such as generating collect payment requests along with invoice/ bill attachment, a one-time mandate with block functionality, signed intent/quick response code and others.

Current Status Of Digital Payments Industry In India

According to the report ‘Digital Payments – Trends, Issues, and Opportunities’ by Niti Aayog, the Indian digital payment industry is estimated to grow to $1 Tn by 2023.

In August, Bengaluru-based startup PhonePe that aids in digital payment had also claimed that they have a 40% share of the market. According to them, the platform had crossed 100 Mn transactions in the month of July and drives nearly 70% of overall merchant transactions on the UPI network.

The Indian government’s UPI based BHIM app also recorded a growth by 18% after crossing 19 Mn transactions in July as compared to 16 Mn in June.

Though the digital payments sector is undergoing developments, one of the major event in this sector is the delaying launch of Whatsapp Pay as the Indian government has warned the company that it can’t began its services until it sets up an office and recruits a team in the country.

The post UPI Overcomes The Fall In Transactions With 32% Growth In August appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Gurugram-based  online travel agency (OTA) platform HappyEasyGo, has reportedly raised an undisclosed amount of fund in a Series A+ round from South Korea-based Korea Investment Partners (KIP), Samsung and China-based CITIC Capital along with other investors.

The startup was founded by Vivek Prabhakar in May 2017. It aims to ensure that every person can fly at best price tickets. China-based venture capital firm Ganesh Ventures, a Jack Ma backed fund which invests in tech startups is among its existing investors.

The platform has reportedly invested in customer acquisition by giving cashback offers for app downloads. It also allows users to directly transfer cashback amount to bank accounts. Under this policy, the startup had introduced Happy Wallet which is a virtual account of the user where cashback rewards are saved.

In July 2018, Ganesh Ventures announced to invest $250 Mn in Indian startups. It aimed to invest this amount in Indian startups across sectors like TMT, consumer products, fintech, and healthtech over the next three to five years.

According to the reports, the platform reportedly books 180K to 200K flight tickets per month.

Response to an email enquiry sent by Inc42 to the HappyEasyGo founder was awaited till the time of publishing this story.

Growth Of OTA Market In India

According to June 2017 Google-BCG report, the overall Indian travel market is expected to reach $48 Bn by 2020 at a CAGR of 11%-11.5%.

Recently, The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of Indian Railways, had increased the amount it charges from the OTAs for allowing them to sell railway tickets on their platforms.

According to the revised plan, instead of charging flat fee of $35 K (INR 25 Lakh), the IRCTC will charge of $0.16 (INR 12) on each ticket booked through OTAs.

In March 2018, ecommerce platform Flipkart had forged a strategic partnership with three of MakeMyTrip’s brands – MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and redBus in order to provide OTA services on its platform.

The post OTA Platform HappyEasyGo Raises Funds From Korean, Chinese Investors appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With Indian consumer Internet unicorns Paytm and Flipkart looking to up their game in the financial services industry, Times Internet-backed financial services platform ETMoney has shifted its gears in the space as well.

ETMoney, after operating for three years as a regular mutual funds platform, has now shifted to offering only direct mutual fund plans on its platform. ETMoney (formerly known as SmartSpends) was launched in July 2015 as a personal money management app and was rebranded as ETMONEY — a mutual funds aggregator platform — in September 2016.

For the uninitiated, regular mutual funds plans are those that require a user to pay commission to the distributor. On the other hand, direct mutual funds are a low-cost alternative to regular plans and eliminate the expense on distributor commissions, thus offering users mutual fund subscriptions on a zero-commission basis.

According to Mukesh P Kalra, CEO of ETMoney, there is a huge uptick in direct MF investments online, most of which are happening on mutual funds websites.

“We figured out that our cost of operating is extremely low because of implementing a tech-focused approach. We have been very clear that technology, when combined with mobile, should help in democratising access to financial services in India. We are excited that we are able to pass the benefit of our low-cost mobile investing platform to every Indian,” he added.

ETMoney users who have already opted for regular mutual fund plans can switch to direct plans without going through the eKYC process again. “The exit load and tax implications will be highlighted to the user so that the consumers can make an informed choice,” added Kalra.

ET Money: Key Facts To Consider

• Offers more than 1,000 mutual funds on its platform
• Has tied up with 20 asset management companies (AMCs) to offer direct mutual fund plans
• Has seen more than 2 Cr transactions on its platform since it started offering mutual funds in 2016
• At present, 1.5 of 10 monthly online Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) in the country are made on its mobile app
• The company also claims to have helped increase the penetration of mutual funds in the country
• Claims to be the first player to create an online mandate for  Electronic Clearance Service (ECS) debit for monthly SIPs that a user can sign on the phone itself

ETMoney: Betting On Technology-Led, Mobile-Based Innovation

In the last two years, ETMoney has successfully launched multiple initiatives such as completely paperless e-KYC, Mutual Funds Report Cards, instant withdrawals through SmartDeposit, Online Gold Deposit, Personalised Smart Solutions, one-tap auto payments, one-time mandate, and more.

Kalra claims that the ETMoney platform has also simplified investment decisions for Indian consumers as compared to its peers. It has worked with Value Research to answers questions such as: “Has it (a mutual fund) given consistent returns or not?” and “Has it beaten the stock market or not?” among others.

To make discovery easier, the mutual funds are divided into different themes on the platform. Also, it offers real-time performance metrics of the mutual funds in comparison to the market besides suggesting the amount that can be invested in each mutual fund for maximum returns.

Recently, the company, in partnership with RBL Bank, also launched a mobile app-based money lending platform called ETMoney CreditLine, using which consumers can transfer money directly to their bank accounts and repay on their own terms within a few days to a few months.

Unicorn Descend On The Online Mutual Fund Space

The Indian fintech market is forecast to touch $2.4 Bn by 2020 — a two-fold increase from the current market size which stands at $1.2 Bn. According to the IBEF, the mutual funds industry in India has seen rapid growth in its total AUM.

To cash in on this potential, many big companies, especially unicorns, are launching online mutual fund services.

Recently, decacorn Paytm publicly launched its fourth consumer brand in India — a mutual funds platform called Paytm Money. Similar to ETMoney, Paytm Money also enables users to do their fully KYC digitally.

Paytm Money has partnered with 25 asset management companies (AMCs), which cover 90% of the industry assets under management (AUM) and will also offer direct mutual funds plans.

After reeling in 500K registrations well before the launch, the company officially started its operations with 850K users. It aims to double the mutual fund investor base in India within the next three to five years.

Meanwhile, ecommerce unicorn Flipkart, which was recently acquired by Walmart, has also been speculated to start selling mutual funds and insurance products on its financial marketplace.

Some other startups that offer mutual fund investment and portfolio management services in India include Wealthy, Scripbox, Fisdom, WealthTrust etc. MyUniverse, MoneyLover. MoneyView, MTrakr, IOU (I Owe You) are also some of the players in the personal money management space.

The opportunity in the online mutual fund space is still untapped and far from saturation. Which of these leading platforms — EtMoney, Paytm Money, and Flipkart — will be able to carve out a leading position in the market will be interesting to watch.

The post ETMoney Moves To Zero-Commission Direct Mutual Funds To Take On Paytm Money, Flipkart appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has announced the launch of ‘Swiggy Packaging Assist’, a new initiative that will help restaurant partners access a range of innovative packaging solutions.

Also, Gurugram-based restaurant search and discovery service Zomato has expressed its concern over the environmental hazards caused due to plastic packaging. It has introduced a new feature in their app that enables customers to opt out of cutlery when they order, thereby reducing the use of plastic.

Swiggy Launches Recycling Packaging Materials

Swiggy plans to expand its catalogue to introduce eco-friendly meal trays and other items made of materials such as cornstarch and bagasse, the dry, pulpy residue left after extraction of juice from sugarcane.

This will include eco-friendly options that suit their menu needs at the right price. In order to achieve this, Swiggy plans to use materials such as paper and aluminium, which can be completely recycled, unlike plastic.

The foodtech unicorn is working with several design consultants and manufacturers to come up with innovations and enhancement to food packaging material offered on its platform and is encouraging the use of sustainable packaging right from the restaurant level.

At present, Swiggy has rolled out the option to partners in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune and will make it accessible to the rest of the cities within the next three months.

This is Swiggy’s second partner-focused initiative after the launch of Swiggy Capital Assist, which was its partner financing programme in 2017.

“We have already received a lot of compliments from customers for using superior quality packing material such as wooden spoons and forks. Seeing the success of the initiative, we have requested for some more customised designs. The process of ordering online has made the switch from our previous vendor a simple one,” said Rohit Shetty from Mumbai-based South Indian restaurant Udupi Express.

Zomato: Working To Reduce Food And Fuel Wastage

As Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, wrote in his blog post, Zomato alone processes 16.5 Mn orders a month and all the food delivery aggregators in India combined process around 35-40 Mn orders a month. These orders add up to 22,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste being created every month in India.

The Zomato team is working with its restaurant partners to increase subscribers to its new opt out of cutlery feature.

Further, Zomato is also working with kitchens to help them adjust serving portions based on the feedback the company receives on its orders to reduce overall food wastage.

It is also looking to reduce fuel wastage with support from its restaurant partners.

Its delivery partners use insulated, specially designed bags that keep food fresh without additional packaging layers.

“On Sunday, Zomato’s delivery fleet drove for 2.4 Mn Km to deliver around 600k orders — that’s six times the distance between the earth and the moon. It is imperative that we work with restaurants and users to ‘pool’ delivery routes, thereby reducing fuel consumption while keeping delivery times intact,” said the blog post.

Ecofriendly Steps Taken By Indian Startup Ecosystem

The Indian startup ecosystem, which is growing at a spiralling pace, has been taking baby steps to reduce its carbon footprint and the pollution caused by plastic and other non-biodegradable waste.

In July 2017, ecommerce platform Flipkart organised a crowdsourced innovative named Gridlock Hackathon and invited techies around the country to suggest ideas and solutions on the problem of traffic congestion in Bengaluru.

Another startup idea to help ease environmental struggles was initiated by dockless bicycle sharing players like Mobycy, Vogo Automotive, ONN Bikes, ZoomCar’s PEDL, among others.

Further, ride-sharing companies like Uber, Ola, Wunder are also working towards saving on fuel as well as reducing carbon emissions by trying to adopt electric vehicles etc.

In June 2017, Uber claimed that its ride-sharing service UberPool had been able to save 936K litres of fuel reduced carbon emissions in Mumbai by 2622 Metric Tonnes.

The Indian government is also taking serious steps to boost the adoption of electric vehicles in the country. The government has launched the FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) scheme, under which it now will offer subsidies in all categories of electric vehicles — two, three, and four-wheelers — in order to promote green vehicles and check pollution in India.

While technology-driven services such as ecommerce, ride-hailing, and online food and groceries delivery have made life convenient for Indians, they’re also adding to the burden of pollution in the country through packaging waste and the sheer increase in the number of vehicles on the roads.

The Indian startup community seems to have realised this and is making efforts to cut down its negative impact on the ecological ecosystem.

The post Startups Go EcoFriendly: Swiggy, Zomato Now Offer Recycled Packaging Material appeared first on Inc42 Media.