Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today kickstarted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Startup India mission at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. Modi, will be releasing the blueprint of ‘Startup India’ programme which may include a Startups and Entrepreneurship Law to make it easier for Indian entrepreneur to set up and run their new ventures.

Will join the programme to commence the #StartupIndia movement this evening. Looking forward to interacting with start-up entrepreneurs.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 16, 2016

The program started at 9:30 am, we bring you the live updates from the event.

9:46 AM

The first session was – Why is Innovation Important for India? Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Nirmala Sitharaman, Onno Ruhl, Country Director, World Bank, and Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP participated in the discussion.

Amitabh: Employment generation government’s top priority

Onnu: World Bank excited to work with govt on startup programme

Nirmala: Entrepreneurship isn’t jugaad. Government’s fund-of-funds will help startups.

Arun: I see a large no of potential entrepreneurs at Startup India launch l am not familiar with. Not usual suspects.

• We want to restrict the role of the State. Startup India will give freedom from the State.
• The DIPP will be a facilitator.
• Stand Up India scheme will be separately launched. It will help women and SC/ST entrepreneurs.
• More entrepreneur-friendly measures for the startups in the coming union Budget. Budget to have friendly taxation regime for startup
• Ideal situation for startup is to have complete freedom from the government

10:35 AM

The second session was Fostering The Spirit of innovation – Masayoshi Son, founder & CEO, Softbank spoke during the session.

Masayoshi

• India is the country of the 21st century, Smart people, young people, IT, Sunshine and ability to speak in English.
• Last year alone Softbank invested $2 Bn in India.If we rescale, it will only go up.
• I look at the eyes and ideas of an entrepreneurs-which field and passion, before investing
• 5-10 years from the startup, profit or balance sheet is not that important, customer acquisition, customer experience and overall business model needs to be created. You need a balance.
• You cannot burn the money in a stupid way.
• India can be bigger in momentum than China in next 10 years; 21st century belongs to India
• Smaller country, small market, even with capabilities, its too small to compete against global players, India is one of the very few countries, that has a huge domestic market that can ‘fight back.

11:00 AM

The third session was – Q&A Session – Moderated by Amitabh Kant Secretary, DIPP. On the panel were: Hasmukh Adhia Secretary Revenu;  V.S Oberoi  Secretary HRD; Tapan Ray Secretary  Corp Affairs; Shaktikanta Das Secretary  DEA;  Krishnaswamy Vijay Raghavan, Secretary  Biotechnology; K Shivaji Chairman and MD SIDBI; J.S Deepak Secretary, Department of Electronics and IT; Anup K. Pujari Secretary, MSME; Prashant Saran Member, SEBI.

The major highlights of the session were

• K Shivaji – Out of the INR 2000 Cr fund, INR  1100 Cr has already been invested.
• V.S Oberoi – Growth of startups should be spread across Indian and just in metros. In the next few months, there will be a strong element of support, which is not big city oriented. We hope to prove handholding, credit, to spread this across India.
• Amitabh Kant: There are 20 department services of government, listed on ebiz platform. We’re going to tie up with 10 state governments in 3 months.  We have hired 1000 patent examiners and we’re outsourcing to IITs. In 18 months time, we’ll bring our patent pendency level at the same level as US and Japan.
• Prashant Saran – We have done away with the problems startups face. Detailed object clauses in IPO document have been changed to suit startups.
• J.S.Deepak – Our two focus areas will be- funding and incubation. We are focused on being the best in this area. We have announced the electronic development fund with the corpus of $500 Mn. This include the possibilities of startups in areas where we import as well.
• Mohandas Pai – On startups looking at Singapore, Malaysia and US to shift their base, 6 of the 8 unicorns have redomiciled. We need to make provision to avoid startups migrating to the other places.

11:55 AM

The fourth session was “Freelancers and early stage startups: The EcoSystem Required” – Adam Neumann of Wework with Ravi Gururaj.

Adam Neumann

• We’re coming to India sooner than later. We’re going to have a local brand with a global playbook. We’re looking for CEO, CFO, COO and everything that comes in between.
• The more money you raise the more responsibility you put on your shoulders, the more you need to deliver.
• 83% of millennials in India will prefer to work for a company with an intention for a lower pay than for a company without intention.

12:31 PM

The fifth session was – ‘What do Indian startups need to grow & prosper”- Adil from Quality Council of India takes on the session as moderator.

On the question to what were some of the problems which as a startup, they faced while starting their entrepreneurial journey

Bhavish Aggarwal from Olacabs – Lack of skilled manpower was one of the biggest challenges we faced.

Kunal Bahl from Snapdeal – Many of the small businesses working with us don’t have resources to make a basic tech base. Over the next 3years, we want to create 1Mn successful online entrepreneurs.

The post Live Blog: #StartupIndia Standup India appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Finally at 6:30 pm today, Prime Minister Modi unveiled his ‘Startup India, Standup India’ Plan, in front of the 1500 rapt representatives of the startup community.

As the entire Indian ecosystem waited with bated breath, PM Modi announced a slew of measures aimed at simplifying compliance, exempting profits from startups for the first three years, and rolling out an action plan for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Through these policies, he has heralded a new era in the history of Indian startups.

Here’s a look at the key highlights:

Compliance Regime based on Self-Certification: This is to reduce the regulatory burden on startups thereby allowing them to focus on their core business and keep compliance cost low. The process of conducting inspections shall be made more meaningful and simple. Startups shall be allowed to self-certify compliance with 9 labour and environment laws. In case of the labour laws, no inspections will be conducted for a period of 3 years. Startups may be inspected on receipt of credible and verifiable complaint of violation, filed in writing and approved by at least one level senior to the inspecting officer.

Startup India Hub: The “Startup India Hub” will be a key stakeholder in this vibrant ecosystem and will;Work in a hub and spoke model and collaborate with Central & State governments, Indian and foreign VCs, angel networks, banks, incubators, legal partners, consultants, universities and R&D institutions; Assist Startups through their lifecycle with specific focus on important aspects like obtaining financing, feasibility testing, business structuring advisory, enhancement of marketing skills, technology commercialization and management evaluation; Organize mentorship programs in collaboration with government organizations, incubation centers, educational institutions and private organizations who aspire to foster innovation.

Rolling-out of Mobile App and Portal: The Government will introduce a Mobile App to provide on-the-go accessibility for registering Startups with relevant agencies of the Government; A simple form shall be made available for the same; The Mobile App shall have backend integration with Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Registrar of Firms for seamless information exchange and processing of the registration application; Tracking the status of the registration application and anytime downloading of the registration certificate; A digital version of the final registration certificate shall be made available for downloading through the Mobile App; Filing for compliances and obtaining information on various clearances/ approvals/ registrations required; Collaborating with various Startup ecosystem partners; The App shall provide a collaborative platform with a national network of stakeholders (including venture funds, incubators, academia, mentors etc.) of the Startup ecosystem and shall be made available from April 01, 2016.

Legal Support and Fast-tracking Patent Examination at Lower Costs: This will include Fast-tracking of Startup patent applications, Panel of facilitators will be empanelled by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) to assist in filing of IP applications, Government to bear facilitation cost and the startups will be provided an 80% rebate in filing of patents vis-a-vis other companies.
Relaxed Norms of Public Procurement for Startups: Government will exempt Startups (in the manufacturing sector) from the criteria of “prior experience/ turnover” without any relaxation in quality standards or technical parameters. The Startups will also have to demonstrate requisite capability to execute the project as per the requirements and should have their own manufacturing facility in India.

Faster Exit for Startups: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill 2015 (“IBB”), tabled in the Lok Sabha in December 2015 has provisions for the fast track and / or voluntary closure of businesses. In terms of the IBB, Startups with simple debt structures or those meeting such criteria as may be specified may be wound up within a period of 90 days from making of an application for winding up on a fast track basis.

Providing Funding Support through a Fund of Funds with a Corpus of INR 10,000 crore: 

• The Fund of Funds shall be managed by a Board with private professionals drawn from industry bodies, academia, and successful startups
• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) shall be a co-investor in the Fund of Funds
• The Fund of Funds shall contribute to a maximum of 50% of the stated daughter fund size. In order to be able to receive the contribution, the daughter fund should have already raised the balance 50% or more of the stated fund size as the case maybe. The Fund of Funds shall have representation on the governance structure/ board of the venture fund based on the contribution made.
• The Fund shall ensure support to a broad mix of sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, health, education, etc.

Credit Guarantee Fund for Startups: This is to catalyse entrepreneurship by providing credit to innovators across all sections of society. Credit guarantee mechanism through National Credit Guarantee Trust Company (NCGTC)/ SIDBI is being envisaged with a budgetary Corpus of INR 500 crore per year for the next four years.

Tax Exemption on Capital Gains: Exemption shall be given to persons who have capital gains during the year, if they have invested such capital gains in the Fund of Funds recognized by the Government. This will augment the funds available to various VCs/AIFs for investment in Startups. In addition, existing capital gain tax exemption for investment in newly formed manufacturing MSMEs by individuals shall be extended to all Startups. Currently, such an entity needs to purchase “new assets” with the capital gain received to avail such an exemption. Investment in ‘computer or computer software’ (as used in core business activity) shall also be considered as purchase of ‘new assets’ in order to promote technology driven Startups.

Tax Exemption to Startups for 3 years: This fiscal exemption shall facilitate growth of business and meet the working capital requirements during the initial years of operations. The exemption shall be available subject to non-distribution of dividend by the Startup.
Tax Exemption on Investments above Fair Market Value: This is to encourage seed-capital investment in Startups.

Organizing Startup Fests for Showcasing Innovation and Providing a Collaboration Platform:

• Hold one fest at the national level annually to enable all the stakeholders of Startup ecosystem to come together on one platform.
• Hold one fest at the international level annually in an international city known for its Startup ecosystem.

Launch of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) with Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU) Program:

• Entrepreneurship promotion through Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU), wherein innovators would be supported and mentored to become successful entrepreneurs
• Innovation promotion: to provide a platform where innovative ideas are generated

Harnessing Private Sector Expertise for Incubator Setup:

• 35 new incubators in existing institutions. Funding support of 40% (subject to a maximum of INR 10 crore) shall be provided by Central Government for establishment of new incubators for which 40% funding by the respective State Government and 20% funding by the private sector has been committed. The incubator shall be managed and operated by the private sector.
• 35 new private sector incubators. A grant of 50% (subject to a maximum of INR 10 crore) shall be provided by Central Government for incubators established by private sector in existing institutions. The incubator shall be managed and operated by the private sector.

Building Innovation Centres at National Institutes: In order to augment the incubation and R&D efforts in the country, the Government will set up/ scale up 31 centres (to provide facilities for over 1,200 new Startups) of innovation and entrepreneurship at national institutes, including:

• Setting-up 13 Startup centres: Annual funding support of INR 50 lakhs (shared 50:50 by DST and MHRD) shall be provided for three years for encouraging student driven Startups from the host institute.
• Setting-up/ Scaling-up 18 Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) at NITs/IITs/IIMs etc. as per funding model of DST with MHRD providing smooth approvals for TBI to have separate society and built up space.

Setting up of 7 New Research Parks Modeled on the Research Park Setup at IIT Madras: The Government shall set up 7 new Research Parks in institutes indicated below with an initial investment of INR 100 crore each. The Research Parks shall be modeled based on the Research Park setup at IIT Madras.

Promoting Startups in the Biotechnology Sector:

• 5 new Bio-clusters, 50 new Bio-Incubators, 150 technology transfer offices and 20 Bio-Connect offices will be set up in research institutes and universities across India.
• Biotech Equity Fund – BIRAC AcE Fund in partnership with National and Global Equity Funds (Bharat Fund, India Aspiration Fund amongst others) will provide financial assistance to young Biotech Startups

Launching of Innovation Focused Programs for Students: This is to foster a culture of innovation in the field of Science and Technology amongst students.

Annual Incubator Grand Challenge: An “Incubator Grand Challenge” exercise shall be carried out for identification of these incubators. The top select 10 incubators who have the potential to become world class would be given INR 10 crore each as financial assistance which may be used for ramping up the quality of service offerings. The incubators shall also become reference models for other incubators aspiring to offer best-in-class services. Video interviews of these incubators would be showcased on the Startup India portal. The exercise shall entail:

• Open invitation of applications from incubators
• Screening and evaluation based on pre-defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) The Incubator Grand Challenge shall be an annual exercise.

Check out the complete policy below.

The post Everything You Need To Know About PM Modi’s Startup Action Plan appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, today launched the Startup India initiative in New Delhi. The launch by the Prime Minister this evening, was preceded by a day-long workshop on various aspects of entrepreneurship. Modi during his speech said that successful startups are usually created by those who are driven by an idea, or an urge to solve a problem that people face. He said making money is not the primary objective, but is often a by-product. He announced number of policies for the startup community which have already received overwhelming response from the startup community.

Key Highlights

We caught up with a number of people from the startup ecosystem – investors, startups, ecosystem enablers etc., here is a review of what they have to say about Modi’s Startup Action Plan.

Reactions From The Investors

Entrepreneurship evangelist and startup mentor Prajakt Raut  stated , “ The startup plan was very sensibly thought of and measures on tax breaks are welcome. I think that the move to ease procurement norms for startups was a very smart one.  However I was disappointed that there were no measures to boost the angel investing ecosystem in India. While a lot was being talked about how to make individuals invest in startups, but there were no measures introduced in that regard  in the plan.”

Tarun Davda, Managing Partner at Matrix Venture Partners tweeted his approval terming it as a watershed moment.

1. Watershed moment for Indian startups. Self compliance, 1 day company registration, fast track patent applications…#StartupIndia

— Tarun Davda (@tarun_davda) January 16, 2016

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures lauded the plan for being the most comprehensive policy announcement from the Government. Anil said, “A big USP of the policy is that in order to foster more startups in India, government has announced initiatives not only to support entrepreneurs but the entire ecosystem, which consists of other stakeholders like investors, legal support for startups. I believe there is no stopping the startup boom in the country. There have been specific announcements made which will incentivize domestic investors to invest in startups as a asset class which hasn’t happened till now. The fact that businesses, which fail to take off, can close in 90 days is a big relief for the entrepreneurs and even the investors whose money gets stuck in such a scenario. Exemptions in Capital Gains tax and tax on profit, will ensure that during the early days, a startup will focus on innovation more and will be able to invest from the revenue generated from the business.”

Reaction From The Ecosystem Enablers

“It was an unprecedented event! There was a focus on arresting the exodus of Indian startups by resolving the issues set out in the Stay-in-India Checklist. The Stay-in-India Checklist is essentially a compilation of thirty four key regulatory irritants that, in our view, need to be urgently addressed to ensure that the startup ecosystem in India is made congenial for entrepreneurs to stay and build in India. We have been interacting with the government on the Stay-in-India Checklist success October. Our analysis of today’s announcements shows that there is a commitment to resolve 11/12 issues, and assurance to address about 10/12 more in due course. There is no clarity on the remaining issues as yet. Overall, this is certainly a positive start. We hope the announcements are implemented swiftly, and the assurances are converted into official announcements soon. While this is a step in the right direction, a lot still needs to be done,” Sharad Sharma of iSPIRT Said.

Ravi Narayan – Director Microsoft Ventures was pleased with the announcement that exit procedures for startups will be made simpler and faster. Stated Ravi, “This development will allow entrepreneurs to focus on innovation and building their solutions rather than be burdened by the worry of failing and the complex process of shutting down. The exemption from income tax and self-regulation for three years is significant for entrepreneurs focussed on building a company and taking it to the next level. In addition, the tax exemption from capital gains tax is also a good thing which will allow startups to invest more in their business. While the government’s announcement on making patent filing simpler and less expensive is an encouraging step, more needs to be done to make the Indian patents to be recognized internationally. We need to be at par with the international patents (e.g. Singapore or US Patent) for it to be really meaningful for a startup to derive true gain from its IP.”

Ravi also welcomed the government’s efforts in proposing to put together a network of incubators and the Startup India Hub. He also lauded the PM’s statement that the Government wants to be a facilitator and let the ecosystem mentor and grow on its own.

Reaction From The Startup Founders

The slew of reforms announced by the PM has bolstered the spirit of startup founders. The plan normally received favourable reaction from the community. Here is what some of the founders had to say about the policy.

Prafulla Mathur, Founder and CEO, WudStay welcoming the Startup India Initiative stated, “The initiative launched by PM Modi today will surely set an enabling and conducive environment for startups in India. We are overwhelmed to have such support from the Government which will certainly make a big boom in the Indian startup ecosystem to fuel the economy and create new age jobs. The policies announced today at the program, open doors for massive opportunities, boost further investments and innovations. We look forward to implementation of tax framework for startups and how regulations are reduced to help smoother operations.”

Reacting favourably to the 80% rebate on patents and the startup corpus, Sandeep Aggarwal – Founder and CEO, Droom, stated, “PM has inspired the nation today with the launch of the Startup India Standup India mission. His Vision and roadmap synergises with the economic necessities. His keywords business impact, affordable Excellence, innovation, self certification compliance, job creation assure us of sustainable nation building . A new major move is the startup exit policy. An 80%rebate on patent filing and a whopping fund of 10,000 Cr to startups is highly motivating.India needs same magnitude of efforts that created industrial revolution in 1740 and today’s announcement paves way for that.”

Harishankar Karunadhi, Co-founder HackerRank stated, “This is a major step for India in encouraging the huge pool of young and talented entrepreneurs. Its fantastic to see that the government is doing all it can to enable the startup ecosystem. I think the action plan that’s being laid out is very solid and would further foster entrepreneurship in India. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the number of startups grow by as much as 10X over the next few years. I also firmly believe that we are headed towards a more tech-oriented India, and this action plan can be a massive enabler in ensuring this happens.

Aakriti Bhargava, co-founder,  BoringBrands and Wizikey welcomed the easing of compliance measures. She said, “ Ease of policy in starting up is a great move that puts India on the map for startups to be in India to build for India.  Tax exemptions are the cherry on the cake. We hope to see ease of investments as the next step to build this momentum further.”

Nidhi Agarwal, CEO & Founder, KAARYAH.com said, “Startup India has been a very motivating event that has brought to the fore the power of India’s startup ecosystem. It has also highlighted the ability of Indians to innovate and solve the unique problems that we face in our country. It is heartening to see the government’s resolve to empower and grow the ecosystem. The need of the hour is to put in motion the schemes laid down by the PM. I am confident that today’s event will give more courage to the thousands who have been sitting on the fence to start up and make a difference.”

Rohan Bhargava, Co-founder, CashKaro.com said the initiative is a very encouraging start. said Rohan, “The direction of the plan shows that the Government understands the challenges of a startup. This is shown in the fact that they have addressed taxation, recognised the need for mentorship through the Startup India hub and created mechanisms for providing funding. Increased access to funding was a key expectation from this Plan and the Rs 10,000 Fund of Funds corpus is likely to be a huge support for startups.”

Manish Kumar, Co-founder & CEO GREX  lauded the change in the principle approach of the government towards the economy – that the government wants to stay away from deciding and directing on what needs to be done. Said Manish, “Instead, the Government looks at a policy of arm’s length enablement. This stand is a bold new change in the government policy and disruptive in its own right.”

However he was not happy that venture debt was miserably missing in the ecosystem. But he welcomed the addressal of concerns around notional valuation gains to investors over and above the fair market value and was looking forward to  more details on this front.

Adhil Shetty, CEO of Bankbazaar.com termed it as a landmark stating, “Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the mood and expectations of policy measures to be announced at the launch event matched the scale of the event itself. While the need for faster patent processes and startup-friendly tax laws were a common refrain, there was also a palpable anticipation of the enablement of paperless financial services, which could truly democratize the access and consumption of such services. The Action Plan unveiled by the Honourable Prime Minister of India covered a swathe of issues that had bogged down entrepreneurial activity of India. The proposed policy measures ranged from handholding initiatives like the Startup India Hub, fast tracking of patent applications, and setting up of sector-specific incubators and Tinkering Labs, to startup-friendly tax regimes, setting up of research parks, and funding support through a Fund of Funds.”

Radhika Aggarwal, Co-founder & CBO, Shopclues stated her approval by stating that the government has acted like a disruptive startup. Said Radhika, “The policies around cleaning the license raj will be a huge booster for Startup community while both setting up and dissolving a company. Other initiatives such as tax benefits, easy IPR regulations, and government academia will go a long way in making India’s startup ecosystem super successful.”

Ritesh Agarwal, founder OYO rooms, expressed his approval stating, “ The PM announced some forward-looking policies today which will accelerate the momentum in India’s startup ecosystem. It is a watershed moment for entrepreneurs in India. The government’s commitment will help put our start-ups on the global stage.  The array of policies announced today are definitely in the right direction. We have seen initiatives on policies, patents and promotions — all of which will facilitate the ease of starting up. I personally think the initiative to introduce counselling and mentoring at the school-level across the country will have a tremendous impact on nurturing creativity and fostering innovation. We are ready to send our made in India disrupters to the world.”

Shaifali Agarwal Holani,Founder & CEO, EasyFix stated, “ This initiative will give a platform to many enthusiastic but under confident talents to come out of their ordeal. Encouraging privatisation will speed the pace at which India is developing and we will become a developed country soon.”

Saurabh Arora, CEO, Lybrate, termed the plan as very encouraging, dynamic and invigorating. Said Saurabh, “Measures like single point contact, patent protection, creation of funds of funds and on top of all tax incentives will provide a huge boost to the entire startup ecosystem and propel startups to the next level. The government is very supportive and believes in the tremendous potential of entrepreneurial ventures and how immensely they can contribute to the socio-economic growth of the country. The steps announced will further spur entrepreneurial mindset in India.”

Nitin Gupta, CEO and Co-founder at PayU India expressed, “This marks the commencement of a new and bright future where a new idea is nurtured and supported from all ends. The fact that the PM has emphasised on applying patents showcases his belief in Indian talent and entrepreneurs.”

Sumit Chhazed, Co-Founder, CredR termed the move as a promising and a wonderful one stating, “The start up plan is quite a promising one and we are happy with few initiatives proposed by the government such as tax exemption for 3 years, no inspection for compliance under labour law and starting start- up in 1 day via mobile app. Also the government acknowledges failures to be part of building great startups and promises 90 days exit plan, which is well received by the startup community. Efforts to seed entrepreneurial culture and supporting it through incubation setups in universities should really propel product innovation. Government is looking to accentuate the Make in India and Make for India efforts. Plans to create 1000cr fund over next 4 yrs with incentive for tax capital gains to investors would really boost start – up risk appetite in the whole ecosystem.”

Krispian Lawrence, Co-Founder & CEO, Ducere Technologies stated, “The government’s initiative to fast track start-ups patent applications is a very beneficial move to encourage start-ups. In addition, 80% rebate on patent filing and prosecution deals will allow start-ups to file and create intellectual properties which in the long run will end up being additional sources of revenue. This will spur product innovations in the country and allow Indian product companies to compete globally.”

Let’s hope these policies will come out for the startup ecosystem!!

The post #StartupIndia – Here’s What India Inc Has To Say About Modi’s Startup Action Plan appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

One of the most trusted approaches in startup marketing is to have your customers advocate your brand. Can the same approach bring similar results when an Angel Investor advocates your startup and pitches with you to other Investors? Yes, you are right. It can fast-track your funding round, build trust and do wonders. And that is why it is the key agenda of LetsIgnite, India’s biggest Angel conference.

Here Are The Top 3 Reasons, Why Pitching With An Angel Is A Great Idea:

Builds Credibility For Your Startup

Angel Investors come with experience, expertise and connects. Their track record is often impressive. When an Angel pitches with you, it adds immense credibility into your funding round. You can equate it to having a high-quality endorsement on LinkedIn or 1000 retweets to your last opinion on #freebasics, just more professional.

Your Very Own Champion

Angel Investors invests in businesses because of multiple reasons, one of the key reason being – able to play the role of a Pseudo Entrepreneur, where they actively want to help you, build your business. An Angel that backs you, becomes the champion of your startup in the Investor community, promoting and up-talking you where it matters the most. Apart from that, they also ensure that you don’t face major roadblocks due to delayed funds.

Behind the scene, they also prepare you to pitch to other investors and and walk with you through the the due diligence processes.

Unlocked New Opportunities

The angel  investor who validates your startup and present it to others (lead investor) will not hold you in isolation. You will get opportunities to connect with their network and find prospective clients and more investors amongst them.

With lead investor on your side you will realize that because they know and understand your business, their experience can guide you well exactly in the places that you need to buck up. You end up finding not just funds but a great mentor for your startup and yourself.

Time is now! Apply for LetsIgnite to be vetted by Angels that make a difference – Meet Anupam Mittal, Venkat Raju, Vikram Chachra, Sanjay Mehta and more Stalwarts to pitch with at LetsIgnite 2016.

The post Here’s Why Pitching With An Angel Investor Increases Your Chances Of Fundraising appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Web Summit, one of the largest tech conference of Europe that witnessed more than 42,000 members of the global tech community, representing more than 134 countries, has now launched its India edition of the event by the name SURGE.

To celebrate women entrepreneurship, SURGE is inviting women entrepreneurs to register to avail free tickets.

Sinead Murphy, head of production at Web Summit opines, “I am acutely aware that female participation in the tech sector has and continues to be a significant issue. Since I have joined, I’ve pushed a range of initiatives to improve the ratio of female participation at Web Summit and at our other international events. However, that’s not enough so we’re expanding our initiatives significantly.”

Since her joining in 2013, Murphy said that she and the team has been trying to improve the ratio of women participants through a range of initiatives and bringing women to SURGE is one of them.

In order to bring women at the same platform as men in the tech space SURGE has announced the availability of free tickets for women entrepreneurs to attend the event. The team is inviting 10,000 extraordinary female entrepreneurs from around the world to its events around the world – and that includes SURGE, our first event in India.

“We want as many female entrepreneurs as possible to attend. Already through our Women in Tech initiative, 100s of talented female executives and founders have registered for SURGE for free tickets,” tells Murphy.

SURGE will be held in Bangalore on 23rd and 24th of February 2016. SURGE would witness over 5000 attendees from the startup community across India, Asia, Europe and the US. A few eminent attendees include Dave Mcclure, Founding Partner 500 Startups; Bipin Singh, Founder MobiKwik; Richa Kar, CEO Zivame.com; Rohit Bansal, Co-Founder Snapdeal; Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder of Flipkart.com; Benjamin Bauer, Co-Founder & Global CMO foodpanda; Saul Klein, Founder Seedcamp; Lisa Maki, Co-founder & CEO PokitDok; Sharad Devarajan, Co-Founder & CEO Graphic India; Amit Jain, CEO GirnarSoft; Bruno Gutierres, Head of Airbus BizLabs, among others.

Applications to nominate a female founder or an executive considering becoming an entrepreneur have opened here. You can nominate yourself!

The post Web Summit Comes To India As SURGE, Announces ‘Commitment To Change’ With Free Tickets For Women Entrepreneurs appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Bangalore-based matchmaking startup Aisle has raised about $183K (INR 1.25 Cr) in its Pre-Series A round.

The round was led by Anand Vijay, a Bay Area-based angel investor on TermSheet.io and jointly advised and syndicated with ah! Ventures. The round saw participation of Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief Product Officer of Snapdeal (who has previously invested in Pluss/Gigstart, Audeze, InnerChef, Instalively) and Mekin Maheshwari, former Chief People Officer with Flipkart, Akshay Syal, Richard Kim, Jana Pokkalla and Manish Gautam.

The startup plans to utilise the funds primarily for building a strong team and effective partnerships.

Founded in 2014 by Able Joseph, Aisle.co, is a matchmaking platform for singles that has evolved keeping in mind the new age Indians. The startup does not believe in a ‘one size fits all’ approach and hence right from the point of registration on the site, it maintains a high levels of screening and filtering of its audience to maintain top notch quality of its offering. 

“There is a crucial gap of a lack of a trustworthy matchmaking platform for individuals trying to find a match with a genuine intention of settling down, is something Aisle.co addresses,” said Able.

Filling The Gap

India as a culture, is comparatively quite new to the idea of dating as compared to the west but given the cultural globalization and the lifestyle of financial independence that the Indians are experiencing, this concept in its unique way, is rapidly finding its way in the lives of today’s audience. Although in spite of this change, the idea of dating and courtship via the digital medium still remains naïve. The audience is unfortunately offered extreme options of either  platforms encouraging casual dating, which do not interest the ones looking for serious relationships or the other option of matrimonial websites, which again bound the new age audience to marriage without even giving the relationship between the partners, a chance to evolve. This crucial need gap of a lack of a trustworthy matchmaking platform for individuals trying to find a match with a genuine intention of settling down, is something Aisle.co, as a brand aims to address.

The startup positions itself between portals like Tinder and Shaadi.com as it is more like a disrupted version of the traditional Indian matchmaking with the twist that couple spends time before they decide if they are ready to settle down.

Harshad Lahoti, Founder and CEO of ah! Ventures, said,

Online dating has seen very little innovation in the past couple of decades. Rarely do we see a dating app that is monetized from day one. When Aisle reached out to us, we instantly realized the potential in the product, the execution and the traction that it had gained. We’re excited to join Aisle in its journey of helping more of the 37 million single Indians from around the world, in successfully finding their partners. 

Quick Numbers

• It gets over 500-800 registrations per day
• The startup has over 25% of the registered base who are connected with each other along with hundreds of crafted relationships.
• Male-female ratio is 5:3
• It has users from more than 50 countries – India, USA, UK, Singapore, UAE and the top 5 community size is 35K users.

The Competition

Despite a good traction that the online dating sites are receiving, the idea of dating and courtship via digital medium remains naïve in India as compared to the western countries. There are various other online dating apps like TrulyMadly, OkCupid, Tinder and Woo that are currently active in India.

Tinder recently announced its first international office in the country with the appointment of Taru Kapoor as India Head. Another online dating and match-making startup, TrulyMadly, is aggressive with its establishment. It has witnessed over 1,000,000 installations with the growth at 100% month on month basis, in terms of downloads. TrulyMadly had raised $5 Mn (INR 35 Cr.) in March 2015, from Helion Venture Partners and Kae Capital. Tinder witnesses over 7.5 Mn swipes in India each day and according to Truly Madly, people spend over 40 minutes every day on its app.

Besides, Matrimony.com which runs BharatMatrimony.com, launched Matchify.com in April last year and People Group, which runs Shaadi.com, invested in mobile dating app – Thrill. iCrushiFlush raised Pre-Series A funding from IDG Ventures.

Banihal is another startup which raised funding from Dr. David Cheriton, the billionaire Computer Science Prof. from Stanford University who was also the one who wrote first check for Google. Banihal has developed a neuroscience based algorithm to give users 5 recommendations which are likely to lead to marriage.

Prior to this, Aisle.co had raised $100K in seed round of funding led by  several executives from Internet majors in the Bay Area and India.

Sonia Pradhan, TermSheet.io’s COO said

TermSheet.io focusses on identifying interesting startups that attract the attention of product-focused angels and firms looking for outliers. Aisle.co checks on all of these boxes. We love what Aisle is building. And that is why this is the second time we have facilitated a round for Aisle on our platform. We believe in introducing interesting investors to high-calibre founders like Able and both Mekin Maheshwari and Anand Chandrasekaran fit this profile.”

This was also TermSheet.io’s first follow on round.

Bivin Benny – Director, User Relations (ex-Ogilvy, ex-Flipkart.com) and Razee Marikar – CTO (ex-Amazon, ex-Akamai) are also part of startup’s team.

The post Aisle.co Gets A Funding Boost To Disrupt The Matchmaking Market In India appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

The online healthcare industry in India has taken a sudden boom with multiple players burgeoning in the sector. According to IBEF, the healthcare market in India was close to $100 Bn in 2015, it is expected to reach $280 Bn by 2020 at a CAGR of 22.9%. However, still a large portion of patients either neglect, or self–treat their medical problems, for multiple reasons, including the lack of availability of doctors in the neighbourhood. In fact, only 2.3 Bn consultations take place on average every year, as opposed to the expected estimate of 6.5 Bn.

To make healthcare consultation easily accessible to all patients, Jugal Anchalia (IIT, Kharagpur alumni), Abhishek Kumar (IIT, Roorkee alumni) and Vikash Singh (IIT, Kharagpur alumni) came together to launch a platform where patients could easily consult their problems with doctors just in few clicks.

The trio launched a video consultation startup, JustDoc, which today announced its seed funding from TracxnLabs, T.V.Mohandas Pai, Mohit Saxena from InMobi, Raghunandan G from TaxiForSure, Singapore Angel Network and others.

Launched in August 2015, JustDoc, connects patients and doctors over a video call for any medical consultation at any time of the day from over a 100 quality doctors from top hospitals such as like Apollo, Fortis, Manipal and AIIMS. Unlike Skype, while consulting on JustDoc, one doesn’t need to download any heavy desktop application. Apart from that other features like – online payment, ability to attach medical reports and fallback on mobile phone call (in case of poor internet connection) are also integrated in the system.

The startup is presently targeting five specialised areas which include General Medicine, Psychology, Gynaecology, Dermatology & Paediatrics. It plans to add more areas over the span of time. With its pan India presence, it is also providing patients in Tier II and Tier III cities an access to a lot of top doctors who are concentrated in metro cities.

“Many patients travel to big cities to access good doctors from Apollo, Manipal, Fortis and others. What if the patient gets to speak with the same doctor sitting at home. Around 70% of problems can actually be solved remotely without visiting a doctor for example – follow-up consultations, review on medical reports, most of the cases in Dermatology, Psychology, General Medicine etc,” Jugal said.

Abhishek Goyal, Co-Founder, Tracxn, said, “Service Quality in offline hospitals is not very exciting today – so there is a good opportunity to disrupt it and move it to digital medium. Along with “Primary Consultation”, a large fraction of “Second Opinion” and “Casual Health Queries” are significantly underserved globally. So there is an opportunity for someone to come and make a large impact. We were very excited about early signs given by JustDoc team and decided to join their journey.”

Owing to the increasing mobile penetration which is expected to have 236 Mn mobile internet users by 2016. JustDoc launched its android mobile app last month, which so far has received decent response from the users.

Quick Numbers

• Has over 100 of experienced doctors from hospitals like Apollo, Tata Memorial, Fortis, Manipal and AIIMS
• It has done 2500+ consultations till date.
• Over 100 video consultations on a daily basis
• Saved over 20,000 hours of patients through online consultation

The startup is now in the process of partnering with several top government and private hospitals.

On the monetising front, it charges INR 249 per consultation.

The newly raised funds will go in building product and hiring and customer acquisition as well. The startup plans to reach 500 consultation per day in the next 3 months.

Pranav Pai, investing on behalf of Mohandas Pai, said, “JustDoc is driving a platform approach to solve this problem for both sides of the equation – the patients and the doctors – by involving multiple stakeholders to arrive at a global optimum. A comprehensive solution in this space will require convenient access and secure records storage over multiple consultations on the one hand while helping doctors and clinics to optimise their time to serve more patients consistently and on priority on the other. JustDoc can bring about real and tangible improvements to hundreds of thousands of people’s lives every day, and I am happy to be part of their journey.”

Startups like Lybrate, Ziffi and Qikwell are healthcare aggregator platform that connects doctors and patients through its platform. Whereas, startups like  PlexusMD, Curofy and DocPlexus are online networking healthcare platforms that connects healthcare professionals and organisations to exchange news, information and research in medicine.

However, JustDoc faces stiff competition from Gurgaon-based, Doctor Insta, which operates as a “Video-Medicine” or rather video consultation platform. It also provides online consultation but in general medicine, pediatrics, psychology and nutrition. The startup raised $500K in pre series A funding from angel investor Rishi Parti and the US-based VC firm, BrahmaX Ventures, in December 2015. On the other hand, MeraDoctor is another healthtech startup that virtually connects doctors and patients through live chats. The startup raised (INR 7 Cr) in pre series A round of funding led by Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures, in December last year.

The post JustDoc Is Building Skype For Patient – Doctor Consultations; Raises Funding From Mohandas Pai, TracxnLabs & Others appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

After the successful first edition of The Ten Minute Million, Entrepreneurship Cell (eCell) of IIT Bombay organised the second edition of the program today during its The Entrepreneurship Summit 2016.

8 shortlisted startups were given 10-minutes each to present their ideas to a panel of angel investors to win on-the-spot funding of up to INR 1.5 Mn. The startups were given five minutes to pitch and follow up five minutes to answer the questions raised by the investors present.

The pitches were attended by Ajeet Khurana, Kunal Shah, Anupam Mittal, Atul Birla, Sanjay Mehta, VC Karthic, Suketu Shah, Samir Shah, Bharat Banka, Devesh Chawla, Srinivasan Swamy, Taha Nabee, Anand Ladsariya, Suneel Bandhu, Vikram Chachra, Manish Gandhi, and Miten Mehta.

The startup will share 4% equity with investors for INR 15 lakhs, it was considered a successful bid only if the startup received INR 15 lakhs commitment. It was considered as a failed bid, in case the startup failed to get less than INR 10 lakhs and in case the startup got 10-14 investors, they got a chance to revise the bid.

Startups That Won INR 15 Lakhs At “The Ten Minute Million”

Strike

Founder: Akshay Katyal, Aishwarya Jain

Founded In: 2014

Based Out Of: Bangalore

Funding: $28K

Strike is a mobile first email productivity platform for Gmail. You can think of it like Chrome extension for the Gmail app. With Strike, an email user can get all the popular apps it uses on the web, right inside their mobile. Currently, a user can perform multiple actions on the web, like checking social profiles, sending tracked emails, snoozing and email, adding it to CRM, etc. But when it comes to mobile, all a user can do is read and sometimes respond. Strike with its platform approach, is allowing businesses to integrate apps inside strike.

Investors: Ajeet Khurana, Anand Ladsariya, Samir Shah, Vikram Chachra, Srinivasan, Devesh Chawla, Kunal Shah, Manish Gandhi, Atul Birla, Miten Mehta, Anupam Mittal, Taha Nabee. Got over 2x subscribed with INR 28 lakh commitment. Will receive INR 15 Lakhs.

MaaxMarket

Founder: Lenin Srinivasan

Founded In: 2015

Based Out Of:

Funding: 

Businesses often struggle to create personalized content at the right time suiting customers’ demand. Forrester Research says that if businesses can personalize their sales, it will improve by over 87%. Personlisation also increases customer retention and satisfaction rate. How a small business can achieve personalisation in digital world? Maaxmarket is solving this problem by using machine learning and predictive analytics which uses thousands of data points to automatically send content to customers based on their online behaviour. Personalisation aided through machine learning and predictive analytics is one of its kind and the algorithms that Maaxmarket uses, makes it a unique product in the production.

Investors: Suketu Shah, Ajeet Khurana, Anand Ladsariya, Samir Shah, Vikram Chachra, VC Karthic, Srinivasan, Devesh Chawla, Bharat Banka, Manish Gandhi, Atul Birla, Sanjay Mehta, Suneel Bandhu, Anupam Mittal, Taha Nabee. The startup was 5x subscribed with INR 1.18 Cr. Will receive INR 15 Lakhs.

Gamooz

Founder: Gaurav Wadhwa

Founded In: 2012

Based Out Of: Gurgaon

Funding: 50K

Printed books are non-interactive. Text books contains lots of content but not all students are able to get all the learning out of the books. Publishers have been giving away free cds (with a cost of INR 20/book). With these books which contain lots of digital and multimedia content, but cds are not used effectively because of various reasons. Gamooz’s product, “ Rebook-Interactive Books Platform” is an augmented reality mobile app made for text books (different subjects including children books). It allows book publishers to add fun and interactivity to their printed books and also helps them save crores of rupees that were otherwise being spent on cds and content creation. Users can scan pages in a book using mobile camera, to access related videos, audios, interactive slideshows, interactive exercises like filling the blanks, true/false, match the following, MCQs etc. In addition, Rebook allows book publishers to access detail anlytics about what users likes/dislokes and popular chapters of topics. It also allows them to connect with their readers using push notifications, which was not possible earlier.

Investors: Anand Ladsariya,Samir Shah, Devesh Chawla, Suneel Bandhu, Miten Mehta, Anupam Mittal, Taha Nabee. They got commitment of INR 18 lakhs in total. Will receive INR 15 Lakhs.

Sound Surround

Founder: Pritam Baral, Ashray Malhotra

Founded In: 

Based Out Of: Mumbai

Funding: N/A

The startup is reinventing how sound is experienced in concerts. People pay a lot of money for concerts! But the only get a louder musical experience than they can get at home. Concert technology hasn’t changed since long. Speakers just keep getting louder. Even best audio technologies today are stuck at 5.1 systems. Soundsurround has build a system that connects up-to thousands of wearable speakers to give a highly immersive experience!

Investors: Suketu Shah, Ajeet Khurana, Anand Ladsariya, Samir Shah, VC Karthic, Srinivasan, Bharat Banka, Kunal Shah, Manish Gandhi, Atul Birla, Sanjay Mehta, Suneel Bandhu, Anupam Mittal, Taha Nabee. They got total commitment of INR 85 Lakhs.Will receive INR 15 Lakhs.

Other Startups That Pitched

Stomatobot

Founder: Anand Muglikar, Rajashri Shinde Muglikar

Founded In: 2015

Based Out Of: Pune

Funding: N/A

Stomatobot wants to give eyes to machines, so they can see better than us, eventually. Currently, it is aimed to solve the surveillance monitoring problem in near – real – time. People will get proactive alerts of abnormal behaviour and incidents in near – real -time on their mobile phones anywhere 24×7.

Investors: 

Sellulose

Founder: Geet Mehar, Rajiv Seelam

Founded In: 2015

Based Out Of:

Funding: N/A

Sales people usually spend majority of their time going after bad leads in B2B sales segment. They have less data to personlise the sales process for leads. Sellulose’s tool helps sales people priortise leads and where to spend most time to ensure maximum conversion. The tool gathers more data about leads which sales people can use to personalize their communication. It prioritises leads with accuracy so that sales people can optimise time on leads and provide more relevant data about leads which businesses might need to personalize messaging. They have a predictive model which has algorithm for predicting new leads which uses lead data like profile and buying intent

Investors: Ajeet Khurana (INR 2 Lakhs), Anupam Mittal (INR 2 Lakhs), Manish Gandhi (INR 2 Lakhs), Miten Mehta (INR 2 Lakhs).  – Couldn’t reach INR 10 Lakhs.

Rent Pitara

Founder: Akash Sinha, Ali Husen

Founded In: 2013

Based out Of: Pune

Previous Funding: Won IIT-Kanpur’s B-Plan competition IDEAS during Techkriti 2013, received INR 1.5 Mn in prize money.

There is a lack of organised rental market with trustworthy platforms to give and take things for short period of time. With the increase in need of “temporary access” of products, RentPitara provides a platform for people to rent, share or exchange products from one-another to not only fulfill their needs but also to live their desires.

Investors: No one bid

Medimojo

Founder: Dr. Shikha Suman, Vikas Ranjan

Founded In: 2015

Based Out Of: Delhi

Funding: N/A

The startup is helping in improving health outcomes by early detection and evidence based treatment. Its approach is to develop and use technology that allows to disrupt the healthcare ecosystem in a positive way. Medimojo is a patient centric health management solution providing digitisation of your health records, presenting visually analysed reports and connecting with your doctor from anywhere, any device.

Investors: No one bid

The post 4 Startups Win On The Spot Funding Of INR 15 Lakhs Each At IIT Bombay’s Ten Minute Million appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Oust Labs, an edtech startup whose gamified platform helps students excel in competitive exams, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services and Aarin Capital.

Oust was founded by Shrikant Latkar in Cupertino, California, with an aim to make learning fun and exciting in a mobile-first world. The company helps students excel in competitive exams in 2 minutes and 5 questions at a time.

According to a study by Forbes India, Indian consumers spend an average of 3 hours and 18 minutes on their smartphones every day. Oust is leveraging this growing amount of time spent on mobile devices to rollout a collaborative and competitive learning mobile-first solution – one that builds upon existing student behavior to deliver a natural fit.

The Need & The Solution

Today, students face a lot of pressure to perform in short period of time + have shorter attention spans. And every student wants to know where do they stand relative to others? How he/she can get better? Thus, the need of a platform which not only allows them to score better but also keep them engaged, clicked Shrikant to design Oust – ground-up by understanding student behavior in a mobile-first world.

The startup aims to make exam preparation fun for students by combining the fun and social aspects of mobile gaming with rigorous curriculum. One can add friends and join groups, which consists of students with the same goal. By infusing friendly competition with peers and other like-minded individuals who have similar aspirations, Oust helps students benchmark their performance.

Students can instantly track their performance on real time leaderboards and see where they stand.

The company had tested its first version of the product with high school students last year. Based on feedback, the team completely re-architected the product to address the user needs, so that students in smaller towns can seamlessly compete with students in larger metro cities and see where they stand.

“Several colleges, tuition centers and teachers are already using the product with their students and the feedback has been phenomenal. By making it easy for students to challenge peers in classes and other social contexts, we are able to engage students deeply in short bursts of time”, said Shrikant Latkar, Founder and CEO of Oust Labs. On monetisation front, the startup plans to keep the app for free and work with colleges for some sort of revenue engagements in future.

The Numbers

Oust has a total repository of 1.25 Lakh questions across Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology subjects, all curated by teachers and organised into modules, so that students can focus on their key areas of improvement.

For PUC I and II, Oust has more than 30,000+ free Multiple Choice Questions (including past question papers) for the Karnataka Common Entrance Examination. The product is also available for CBSE, AIPMT, COMEDK and Maharashtra CET exams. The startup has been doing extensive trials of its Oust App in smaller cities of Karnataka since August 2015.

According to Shrikant, users on average spend up to 12 minutes on the Android app which so far has over 7,500 downloads.

Currently, Oust has presence in California, Bangalore, Belagavi and Pune and is working with 6 member team.

“Oust is bringing about real innovation by studying the evolution of students’ learning behavior and building new value propositions that they can relate to. This includes the many forms of gamification and competitive challenges, cooperative knowledge discovery and sharing, and collaborative learning across local, state and national contexts. That is a very impressive vision, and I am glad to be a part of such an undertaking”, Mohandas Pai said.

The company counts several renowned Bay Area personalities as advisors, including Paulette Altmaier, EdTech Executive who previously was Head of Partnerships at Khan Academy, Gurmeet Lamba, a silicon valley veteran and VP of Engineering of Sentient Technologies (an AI company) and Venkatesh Venkataraman, entrepreneur and architect who has worked at several startups and large companies including Cisco Systems and Netflix.

Prior to launching Oust, Shrikant was CMO of InMobi, CRO at Fuel and Publisher of Apponomics.

Earlier this year, Gyaanzone.com, an online education gateway facilitating students with flexible learning opportunities through access to hundreds of Indian schools, colleges, universities, exams, courses and other distance learning programs raised an undisclosed amount in funding from GBIM Technologies.

The post Former InMobi Exec Raises Funding From Mohandas Pai To Build Gamified Platform For Competitive Exams appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

The Silicon-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, has managed to close $920 Mn fund capital to invest majorly in Indian startups along with South East Asian companies.

This has been identified as the biggest fundraise by any VC fund for India-specific investments. With this fundraise, venture fund’s asset value has increased to more than $3 Bn.

Sequoia has been bullish in the Indian startup fraternity. It has closed big deals like investing $100 Mn in budget accommodation startup Oyo Rooms, $90 Mn in healthcare app, Practo, and $80 Mn in FreeCharge. It also invested $20 Mn in Groupon India and helped it break away from its Chicago-based parent company. According to its website, the VC fund has invested in over 90 startups in India which includes companies like Mobikwik, BankBazaar, Capital Float, CarDekho, CleverTap, Craftsvilla, Druva, Just Dial, Zomato, among others.

Indian startups that Sequoia recently invested are consumer tecchnology company CREO and craft beer company Bira91.

The news to raise about $800 Mn for its fifth India-centric fund surfaced the media in September 2015, when Sequoia expressed its plans to steadily become the largest venture capital firm in India.

Earlier, Sequoia had added another $210 Mn to its existing $530 Mn India fund which it had raised in 2014.

Welcome to Flash Feed, your essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web – bite-sized and updated all day.

The post Sequoia Closes $920 Mn For New Fund, Plans To Invest Heavily In Indian Startups appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Startups are still on shaky ground as far as hiring is concerned. Continuing the hiring and firing trend in 2016, a Bangalore-based online recruitment firm, Hiree, has laid off 10-15% of its workforce.

Hiree founder Manjunath Talwar confirmed the firing and said that they have laid off 10 people from the sales department. Manjunath said, “Hiree is growing at a healthy pace. To optimise efficiencies and better streamline execution we reduced the staff by 10 people.”

According to our sources, the company has fired about 17 people. After this layoff, the startup now has a team strength of 102.

During July-August 2015, Hiree had started team expansion and hired senior employees from companies like DELL, Oracle, etc. to boost its sales efforts. The company had expanded to 4 cities including Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Hiree had also also started building new sales processes. However, the sales didn’t grew much exponentially, as it was in the first two-quarters of 2015, according to Inc42 sources.

However, Manjunath declined and said, “Hiree has been growing revenues over the months.”

The startup fraternity which is akin to a flower bud seems to constantly underestimate the importance of Human Resource. The year 2015 was retorted as the year of layoffs. The TinyOwl episode is still fresh in almost everyone’s mind. In this case, the company chose to let go of their employees who were predominantly field staff in short notice. With good intention, the co-founders decided to inform the employees in person which resulted in a veritable hostage situation. Staffs at their Pune office restrained the co-founder, demanding to settle down all dues  immediately. Even local politicians went banging at their doors. There were other startups as well who went through downsizing efforts which include Zomato, Spoonjoy, Ola, Vizury, Housing.com, among others.

Here is a snapshot of startups that have laid off employees in last few months:

• December 17, 2015: Bangalore-based real estate startup Grabhouse laid off over 100 employees as the company was trying to build stronger technology solutions, and most of them are from the operations team.
• November 16, 2015: Noida-based video micro-blogging platform, Frankly.me, laid off close to 30 employees which is about 40% of its team, as the company pivots its business model.
• November 16, 2015: LocalOye, an online platform to book ser vices online, laid off 60 employees as part of a restructuring effort.
• November 5, 2015: Online food ordering startup, TinyOwl, laid off 112 employees from Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Delhi, and decided to shut operations in these four cities.
• November 6, 2015: Bangalore-based Digital CRM company, Vizury, laid off about 50 employees across five cities.
• October 17, 2015: Zomato laid off 300 employees to shift focus to transaction-based business.
• October 12, 2015: Chat-based personal assistant app Helpchat fired over 100 employees. The company said it was not an unusual layoff but part of the ongoing business transformation.
• September 8, 2015: Online food ordering startup, TinyOwl Technology Pvt Ltd, laid off over 160 employees in Pune and Bangalore.

Hiree, earlier known as MyNoticePeriod, raised $3 Mn from IDG Ventures and other investors in February last year. The startup was founded in 2014 by Manjunath Talwar along with Abhijit Khasnis, but rebranded itself in May 2015 to expand the benefits of the platform to all categories of job seekers. The startup works like a marketplace connecting recruiters with the potential candidates. It is targeted towards recruiters who are looking for quick hire.

Welcome to Flash Feed, your essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web – bite-sized and updated all day.

The post From Offer Letters To Notice Periods: Hiree Fires 10% Workforce appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

InTech50, a platform for startups to showcase their innovative software products to a panel of Chief Information Officers (CIOs), Venture Capitalists and Product Leaders, has announced the launch of third edition and is inviting applications from the tech startups.

The program will have Global Advisory Team constituting of members like Ned Curic, Suren Gupta, Harmeen Mehta, Jack Pressman, Sashi Reddy, Narendra Kale among others. The startups will get an opportunity to showcase their products to the team and get an opportunity to set a global footprint.

Who can Apply?

• A software product company that plans to go global.

There is no application fee for the program, however, the selected 50 companies will have to pay a fee of INR 25,000, which will cover the expenses for two attendees and also a space to exhibit their product at the event. The companies will be shortlisted by the Advisory Board which comprises of global and Indian CIO’s, product company heads, venture capitalists and analysts.

What Will Startups Get?

• 50 companies, who will make it to the InTech50, will receive on-going mentoring, product marketing support and funding to scale their offering to the global markets.
• An opportunity to showcase, get validation of the concept and product direction, a better understanding of business value in the enterprise from Global CIOs.
• High probability of being selected by Global CIO’s for pilot or early adoption.
• The possibility of being selected by large product companies for add-on/bolt-on value add/partnerships to their large scale product solution sets.

Who Will Attend The Event?

About 25 top CIOs from global corporations and Indian companies each from established product company vendors seeking co-innovation/partnerships; an array of investors, angels, accelerators; analysts and media.

When & Where?

Date: April 13-14, 2016

Venue: The Leela Palace, Bangalore

Last date for application is February 22, 2016. Startups can apply here.

The post Calling Indian B2B Startups: iSPIRT Invites Application For Third Edition Of InTech50 appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Online retailer Amazon plans to formally launch the service to sell used goods on its subsidiary, Junglee.com. The initiative will be led by Mahendra Nerurkar, General Manager at Junglee.

Junglee, a comparison-shopping website, served as a launchpad for Amazon India operations way back in 2012. It has been testing the concept for sale of used goods by merchants on its website since July 2015. The portal will provide pick, pack and delivery services for merchants, a feature that it claims will help differentiate it from rivals.

A spokesperson for Junglee.com said, “Junglee will also promote sale of first-hand goods from small sellers who may not have the scale to list on larger marketplaces and may want to limit their business to one city.”

Amazon is extending its reach in the Indian retail market.  Last month, Amazon and Walmart Stores, together planned to invest over $300 Mn (INR 2,000 Cr) to gain a commanding position in the Indian retail market.

Amazon has invested approx. $250 Mn (INR 1,696 Cr) into Amazon Seller Services, which is marked as the biggest capital infusion in the company since its entry into the Indian market. This takes Amazon’s total investment to about $710 Mn (INR 4,800 Cr) in Amazon Seller Services in the past year.

With the selling of used goods, the company will enter the territory of portals like OLX and Quikr.

Welcome to Flash Feed, your essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web – bite-sized and updated all day.

The post Amazon To Now Compete With OLX & Quikr appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Indian ecommerce major Flipkart has infused $98.4 Mn (INR 666 Cr) in its logistics arm – eKart, through a Singapore-based group firm, according to reports.

Flipkart bought back eKart from WS Retail in September 2015. The acquisition was made through a new entity called Instakart Services Pvt Ltd, and has Ankit Nagori (Chief Business Officer, Flipkart) and Rajnish Singh Baweja (Finance controller of Flipkart) as the company’s shareholders and directors.

Flipkart that boasts of about 8 Mn shipments and over 50 Mn registered users on its platform, has infused the funds in its logistics business for the second time. Prior to this, in July 2015, Klick2Shop Logistics Services International invested $18.7 Mn (INR 127 Cr) in Instakart Services. The company is targeting sales worth $10 Bn on its platform by the end of 2016.

Besides, understanding the importance of last mile delivery, Flipkart is offering its logistics services to third party ecommerce firms.

Flipkart is equipped with 17 fulfilment centres (FC) and has a total warehouse space of up to 1.6 Mn sq ft. Last yeat, Flipkart had set up its largest fulfilment centre at Gundla Pochampally, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The company further plans to add 50-100 warehouses over the next four to five years.

eKart is being pitched to other ecommerce-focused logistics firms such as Delhivery (SSN Logistics Pvt. Ltd), Ecom Express Pvt. Ltd and Dotzot, the ecommerce arm of DTDC Express Ltd, among others, to provide last mile delivery. Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart for $330 Mn in May 2014, has already been using eKart services. According to sources, technical integration with Jabong is underway, while Shopclues will come on board in the next two weeks.

Lately, ecommerce companies in India have been concentrating on improving their logistics. Amazon currently has over 21 FCs across 10 states with a total of over 2 Mn-sq-ft of space, which according to Akhil Saxena, director operations of Amazon India, is said to be the largest storage capacity and warehouse infrastructure created by any ecommerce company for sellers across India. It added 13 new FCs in 2015 alone, along with launching its biggest fulfilment centre (warehouse) in Kothur, Mahbubnagar district.

On the other side, Snapdeal bought a large stake in its logistics firm GoJavas to improve its speed of order deliveries. It  infused about INR 237 Cr in GoJavas for a 42% stake, in October 2015.

Welcome to Flash Feed, your essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web – bite-sized and updated all day.

The post Flipkart Infuses About $98 Mn in Its Logistics Arm Ekart appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Spark10, India’s first European startup accelerator aimed at helping early-stage startups to turn their minimum viable product (MVP) into scalable investable business, launched its operations in Hyderabad, today.

With this launch, the accelerator is now inviting applications from the startups working in Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, Internet, smart technologies, analytics and machine learning domains.

The accelerator will be shortlisting 10 startups for the first batch. The duration of the batch will be three to four month and the startups will be provided mentorship and global network to facilitate business growth.

The accelerator will provide seed funding support of INR 20 lakh in exchange for an 8% equity.

Atal Malviya, lead founder of Spark10, said, “Spark 10′ s mission is to transform early-stage startups to convert it into investable businesses with support from 500+ global mentors which include Director of a Swiss nonprofit foundation, Jonathan Quigley, World Economic Forum, Switzerland; Director of CHC (Consumer Health Care) at Boehringer Ingelheim, a global group of companies in Japan and Founder CEO Sleepout UK.”

Spark10 also aims to invest $100 Mn across several startups over next two years along with extending support of international mentors, subject matter experts, angel investors, VCs and alumni network.

The startup accelerator is backed by Jon Bradford, considered as the godfather of European startup accelerators, Paul Smith, co-founder and managing director of the UK-based Ignite 100 Accelerator, Vijay Ketan Mitra, former vice-president of HSBC Bank Plc, serial entrepreneurs and private investors LN Parmi, Rajesh Gummadapu and Suresh Kamireddy.

The startups that have graduated from the accelerator in the include Dropbox, AirBnB and Quora to name a few.

Atal added, “We have arrived in India with a single motive to churn out startups into valuable companies.  We are here to foster rapid growth of portfolio of Tech Startups.”

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The post Spark10 Plans To Invest $100 Mn In Indian Startups; Invites Application Accelerator’s First Batch appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Recently Hyderabad-based venture capital and private equity firm, Anthill Ventures hosted an event entitled “The Marketplace 3.0” targeted towards online marketplaces and enablers looking to raise up to a million dollar.

Over 300+ startups had applied to be part of the event, out of which 25 startups were shortlisted. The startups were judged by Ramana Gogula from Unitus Seed Fund; Rajeev Menon, Prasad Vanga, Founder & Chief Accelerator Anthill Ventures and Pranay Gupta, co-founder, 91springboard.

Here Is The List Of 25 Startups

BizCrum (Shoekonnect)

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Sumat Nanda, Siddharth Rastogi, Siddharth Vij and Chaitanya Rathi

Funding: N/A

It is a marketplace which ensures that footwear retailers get the best variety, quality and price while manufacturers gain sale volume. The startup brings a connection and communication centric B2B portal to facilitate communication amongst entrepreneurs to get leads and expand their business network.

Bulbul Apps

Founded In: 2013

Founders: Prakash Dantuluri

Funding: $250 K in equity crowdfunding on January 2016.

BulBul Apps was started with a vision to enable illustrators, writers, musicians, animators and storytellers to create interactive content for kids all over the world. It offers variety of interactive stories and rhymes for preschool goers on smartphone and tablets.

Find Yahan

Founded In: 2013

Founders: Rachit Mathur and Snehil Khanor

Funding: Undisclosed amount from The Times Group’s Brand Capital in November 2015, funding from The Phoenix Fund in April 2015 in pre series A round, and  undisclosed amount from angel investors in February 2015.

FindYahan offers a location-based discovery platform that connects skilled individuals and home businesses to their target customers. It offers services in domestic help, car care, educational, tutoring, laundry, home maintenance and food categories, among others.

Flatpebble

Founded In: 2013

Founders: Venkatesan Seshadri and Pranav Mehta

Funding: $600K from IAN’s Sanjay Jesrani and Subram Kapoor

An online marketplace for hiring high quality photographers, videographers, stylists and other service providers.  It acts as a link between skilled professionals and customers seeking for professionals.

Fxchange

A marketplace that connects buyers and sellers through their friends by creating a social and local ecosystem to buy and sell pre-owned goods.

Gumbuya

A platform that provides unique experience between financial advisors, the financial ecosystem & their customers

iScholar

Founded In: 2013

Founders: Rajendra Prasad Nadella, H P Vellanki and Sumathi Vutukuri

Funding: N/A

An online portal that allows teachers to connect with students from different locations by using its internet based interactive tele-education platform.

Pickcel

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Abhijit Chaudhary

Funding: N/A

Pickcel is an ad aggregation platform that provides hyperlocal advertising. It focuses on public display advertising as most hyperlocal business like tiles shop owner, yoga instructor, movers & packers business, still don’t use digital marketing.

SparesHub

Founded In: 2013

Founders: Tapas Gupta and Arijit Chakraborty

Funding: Raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A round of funding led by Hyderabad Angels and M&S Partners.

SparesHub is an online marketplace for automobile spare parts for all the brands and models of cars in India. It addresses the pressing problem of unavailability of spare parts and lack of ease in buying them.

Sports365

Founded In: 2011

Founders: Aashutosh Chaudhari and G Chandra Sekhar Reddy

Funding: Raised $1 Mn in seed round of funding in February 2015 from Powerhouse Ventures and Zolon Ventures

Sports365 is a professionally managed company with exclusive focus on sports & fitness. It provides solutions in the areas of sports & fitness for consumers & institutions. In the consumer space, it is present through its online portal Sports365.in, offering widest range of sports
products across all national & international sports brands. In Institutional space, Sports365 offers solutions covering merchandising, events, infrastructure, consulting etc for sports & fitness for Schools, Clubs & Academies, Corporates & Real Estate.

TinMen

Founded In: 2015

Founders: Mukesh Manda and Chaitanya Degala

Funding: Raised an undisclosed amount in angel round of funding from the Lead Angel Network

Tinmen offers home cooked lunches to working professionals even in offices. Users can create weekly meal plans and restart or opt out of the deliveries at a day’s notice using the app’s scheduler.

Truepik

Founded In: 2014

Founders: N/A

Funding:  $1 M from expatriate HNIs including Kommareddy Group of Investors

It is a B2C fashion based platform that allows retail brands to extend the ‘in-store’ experience to mobiles.

WedMeGood

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Anand Shahani and Mehak Shahani

Funding: $406K (INR 2.7 crores) from IAN

Wedmegood is a comprehensive wedding resource that helps soon-to-be couples chalk out their wedding from planning to execution. It not only helps its customers choose the right vendor but also provides them with great inspiration, concepts and valuable wedding advice.

BookMEDS

Founded In: 2013

Founders: Mohammed Abubakr

Funding: $100K in seed funding from Fabella Singapore

BookMEDS is a healthcare ecommerce startup that enables customers to order medical products via its site. They are uberizing brick and mortar pharmacies in India

Buy Test Series

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Shirish Bhatt and Himanshu Jain

Funding: N/A

It is an ecommerce portal dedicated to help students in identifying the best coaching institutes and online test series across India. It provides test series for for MBA, Engineering, Medical, CA, CS, CWA, Olympiads, Bank and Government exams.

Honestkart

Founded In: 2013

Founders: Anil Varma Sayyaparaju

Funding: N/A

Honestkart.com is a platform where consumers contact organic farmers, stores, manufacturers and buy all organic products ranging from dairy, fruits, vegetables, juices, coffee, teas, dry fruits, groceries, body care, etc.

Hubchi

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Prasanthy Gurugubelli and Neha Yadav

Funding: N/A

Hubchi is a go-to-place for people looking for experiences in their leisure time. It offers facilities across art, adventure, food, travel, outdoors and even astronomy, and help them book easily.

Learnmor

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Tarun M and Ekta Bansal

Funding: N/A

LearnMor is a marketplace for tutors to find students that are passionate to learn the subject they want to teach.

Nectors Healthcare

Founded In: N/A

Founders: Ritesh Khera

Funding: N/A

A B2B2C solution for medical consultations, which allows patients from suburban populations to use their family doctor’s clinic to get referrals and conduct video consultations we offer.

Neuron

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Aaditya Kakde and Veer Mishra

Funding: Neuron was part of TLabs Accelerator

It’s a machine learning platform for text analysis through which developers can understand the Sentiments, topic & entities mentioned in a particular text data by accessing platform.

Organic Thali

Founded In: 2015

Founders: Satish Kumar Burra

Funding: N/A

Organic Thali is a catering company that serves 100% organic spicy, healthy and chemical free lunch to working executives.

Wishkarma

Founded In: N/A

Founders: N/A

Funding: N/A

A collaborative platform that brings together house owners, architects, service providers, brands and suppliers together.

Shoptap

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Racharla Manikanta and Raghu MUVVALA

Funding: N/A

ShopTap is an offline e-commerce platform designed to bridge the gap between retailers and consumers. It helps retailers to sell products without having to invest in inventory and working capital.

Tagglane

Founded In: 2015

Founders: Niren Pai

Funding: N/A

Tagglane is a marketplace of offline stores in India. It lists various stores with their products for shoppers to discover before contacting or walking to the store. Currently, it includes categories like apparel, home and living, art and craft.

Truelancer

Founded In: 2014

Founders: Dipesh Garg

Funding: Raised an undisclosed amount in November 2015

Truelancer.com is a Online Platform for Freelancers and Employers to Collaborate and Work together. Their vision is to create an Global Ecosystem of Trusted Freelancers and Employers around the world.

The startups were selected from over 300+ applications, with a majority of applications coming from Hyderabad (being the location of the event) followed by Delhi and Bangalore. Out of the applications received, more than 50% of the startups have had already raised funding or are in process of closing a round.

The startups were selected based on their scalability of an idea and strong entrepreneurial team. Besides, the startups necessarily needed to be a Marketplace or Marketplace Enabler and should have had at least a working prototype with some traction or validation.

The post Meet 25 Startups That Were Part Of Anthill Ventures’ Event “The Marketplace 3.0” appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Looking at the massive market size and trends in Indian online grocery segment, Amazon, has launched its grocery delivery app in India by the name Amazon Now. The app will allow users to order everyday essentials.

The new service will offer delivery within two hours and one can even opt for scheduled delivery. Customers can place orders anytime between 10 AM to 10 PM.

The service is currently available only on Android platform in 70+ pincodes in Bangalore. Amazon will probably expand the service in other cities as well over a course of time.

Amazon has tied up with retail chains like Big Bazaar, Reliance Fresh, Godrej Nature’s Basket, BPCL In & Out, Food World, and Good Food. It will deliver goods from categories like grocery, specialty foods, health & personal care, beauty, home & kitchen and baby items from nearby stores.

For its initial offer the company is even offering 20% cashback on all orders above INR 250, with a ceiling limit of up to INR 100 per order.

There have been many other ecommerce players that have been testing waters in the grocery space. Flipkart launched its grocery app by the name Flipkart Nearby. The app has recorded 100K downloads till date. Also, Ola too entered the grocery space with its Ola store.

Amazon offers similar service in the US through Amazon Prime. In India, there is no Amazon Prime, thus the service is referred to as Amazon Now.

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The post Amazon To Deliver Grocery In 2 Hours In Bangalore; Launches ‘Amazon Now’ appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Looks like Chinese ecommerce giant, Alibaba, plans to bring Indian ecommerce biggies under its umbrella. After investing in Paytm and Snapdeal, Alibaba is now looking out to invest in Indian ecommerce major Flipkart.

People close to the development said that the talks to invest in Flipkart is currently at nascent stage and the likelihood of a deal will depend upon Flipkart’s willingness to offer a discount on its current valuation of $15 Bn.

Flipkart’s was reported to be valued at $15 Bn after it raised $700 Mn from existing investors including Steadview Capital participating in the round.

According to a Livemint report, Flipkart has approached Alibaba to fund its operations in next 12-18 months, as that will be the time when it will have a complete burn down of its current funding.

The report also mentioned that Alibaba is in talks with Snapdeal as well to give a discount on the its current valuation of $6.5 Bn.

Though Alibaba has also invested over $830 Mn in Paytm against 30% stake but it hasn’t asked for any such commitment from the company. Primarily, Alibaba had a 20% stake in Paytm after it raised $680 Mn.

The Alibaba group has been eyeing the Indian businesses from a long time. In April 2015, the group had expressed to make a strategic investment in radio cab service Meru. It also launched an online platform for Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by the name SMILE (Small and Medium Industries Leveraging Export) that would provide an access to global business.

In April 2015 only, Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group and one of the richest persons in China with fortunes of about $24 Bn, had expressed his plans to capture larger chunk of the growing ecommerce space in India. He had said that Alibaba would look to acquire firms that can help improve customer experience as well as expand its range of products and services.

Chinese firms are increasingly taking interest in Indian economy. In January 2016, China’s travel booking giant, Ctrip, picked up a stake in MakeMyTrip by investing $180 Mn.

On the other side, Amazon has been trying hard to get a fair share in the Indian market. To some extent it has been a winner as well. Amazon along with Walmart Stores Inc has planned to invest over $300 Mn (INR 2,000 Cr) to build their network and gain a share in the Indian retail market. Besides, Amazon may invest about $5 Bn to build a war chest in India.

However, Flipkart and Snapdeal reported losses of about INR 2,000 Cr and INR 1328 Cr, respectively, in the fiscal year ending March 2015.

Hence, to keep spending on discounts, advertising and logistics Flipkart and Snapdeal need to keep topping up their war chests every 10-12 months.

The post Alibaba In Talks To Buy Stake In Flipkart: Report appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Tech Mahindra’s NFC-based digital payment wallet, MoboMoney, has tied up with ToneTag, to launch sound based contactless payments.

This association will help MoboMoney to be used for offline payments without revealing user’s mobile number.

ToneTag is a Bangalore-based mobile payment solution startup that allows easy, frictionless & secure mobile payments using soundwaves (Tone) or NFC (Tag), without the need of internet. The startup enables contactless payments in the existing payment ecosystem by integrating its proprietary software development kit at both Merchant (mobile,POS, EDC) and Customer interaction points (M-Wallet, M-Banking Apps).

ToneTag’s patented technology will be integrated into the MoboMoney mobile application, which will be an add-on feature for the NFC-enabled wallet. The technology will also facilitate peer-to-peer money transfer between two mobile devices.

Launched in December 2015, MoboMoney, is a contactless digital payment ecosystem that allows consumers to add money to their wallet through online banking, debit card, credit card or paying cash at its 1000+ retail network.The wallet can be used for over the counter payments, recharges and bill payments or online payments, and it ensures a secure transaction with multiple layers of encryption. Since the technology is also compatible with POS terminals, it enables proximity payments to work on existing 1.2 Mn POS terminal network in India, without upgrading the terminals to contactless NFC devices.

Further, Mobomoney plans to make about 14 Mn merchants in the country to accept digital payments on their phones with minimal or no investments.

Vivek Chandok, Head of Consumer Business, Tech Mahindra Ltd., said “With close to 1 Bn mobile consumers and a large population of consumers even in rural areas now owning smartphones. We plan to rapidly expand the offline payment ecosystem for a seamless payment experience. This association will simplify the user experience wherein customers and merchants can directly download the MoboMoney mobile application integrated with ToneTag SDK to start making and accepting digital payments.”

ToneTag started its operations in 2013 under former Infosys employee, Kumar Abhishek along with Vivek Kumar Singh with a clutch of angel Investors like Ram Sellaratnam and Rajesh Yohahana. It aims to reach 50,000 merchant devices and 1.8 Mn customers across the country by 2016. It raised $1 Mn in its first round of funding from Reliance Capital’s Venture fund arm in August 2015.

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The post MoboMoney Launches Sound-Based Contactless Payments appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.

Delhi-based luxury brand for pet products, Heads Up For Tails (HUFT), has raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding led by individual investors from USA, Singapore and India.

Heads Up For Tails was started in 2008 by Rashi Sanon Narang, an alumna of London School of Economics. In her quest to find a present for her Lab – Sara’s first birthday, Rashi was disappointed with what she found in the pet stores. This is where she decided to start her own line of top quality products for pets where pet parents can explore wide  variety of options to buy useful, but fun products!

HUFT is a exclusive luxury brand for ‘pawsh’ and fun doggie couture. Its products range from comfy and customised dog beds, chic collars and leashes, fashionable dog apparel, to accessories for pets and pet lovers!

With the raised funds, the company will be launching 4-6 new points of sale this year including one in New Delhi next month. The company is also focussing on international expansion and has recently launched the brand in the USA.

Rana Atheya, founder of DogSpot, speaking on whether the company plans to expand outside of India says, “India is the fastest growing pet industry globally and we are going to focus in India. We have double growth drivers with people spending more on pets and pet population is also increasing. The only challenge in the developed countries like UK, Europe  and USA is that the CAGR of the pet industry is very low. For eg: The UK pet industry is growing at about 3.5 % CAGR with 9 Mn pet dogs and 9 Mn pet cats. The biggest challenge in the UK is that the pet population is stagnant since last 8 years as compared to Indian pet industry which is growing at more than 30% CAGR.”

Currently, HUFT is a 15 member team with over 1000 products being listed on the platform. The average ticket size is INR 1200, and the company claims to have 50,000 active customers.

HUFT also has a monthly gift box called as Wag Box for pets that is packed by the team and is full of surprises. It is a subscription-based service where a customer has to share details of the dog’s personality, size, shape, breed and other relevant details. Based on dog’s profile, HUFT team handpick products for the pooch.

Currently, it offer 3 options – a one month Subscription at INR 1999, three months at INR 4999, and six months at Rs. 9999. It has shipped over 1000 wag boxes till date.

Speaking about the entry of ecommerce biggies in the pet products section, Rashi says, “There is plenty of competition and it’s growing everyday. But we are focussing on creating and developing our own brand to reach out to a niche segment of pet parents who are design and quality conscious. We work extremely hard on both those factors, and do believe that it helps to differentiate us in a very crowded market.”

Recently, DogSpot, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata, along with a few new and existing investors – Ronnie Screwvala, India Quotient and K Ganesh.

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The post Luxury Brand For Pet Products Heads Up For Tails Gets Seed Funding; Expands To The US appeared first on Inc42 Magazine.