Vexed by the heavy charges by Ola as part of their lease agreements, over 150 Ola drivers are protesting outside Ola’s S R Layout, Murgeshpallya office. The drivers are carrying boards and shouting slogans, Inc42’s reporter at the scene said.

Talking to Inc42, one of the drivers protesting outside the office said, “We have to pay INR 1,000 every day for leased car. We see the demand in the area while booking, in summer, there are fewer bookings. With respect to that, 3 point AC doesn’t help and we face losses. We work 18 hours, and earn INR 3,000 out of which we pay INR 1,100 to Ola. We have to pay INR 1,000 for diesel, and then more for commission and at the end we are left with INR 300. From last 4 months, we gave notice to Ola and also asked for standard rates.”

The people at the protest also said that cab drivers who have taken cars on lease from Ola have alleged that the company has not transferred ownership of the cars even after the drivers had completed three years of the lease.

Few of Ola staff members are handling the crowd and trying to get their list of demands to be addressed.

Ola originally started its cab leasing programme in September 2015, as part of an initiative aimed at allowing its drivers to borrow taxis at cheaper interest rates. To avail the facility, partner drivers are required to make an initial deposit as well as monthly instalments for a period ranging from three to five years.

Ola representatives declined to comment on the situation.

The story is developing, stay tuned for more details.

Edit Note 1

The earlier version of the story had mentioned 25-30 drivers, it has been updated now.

The post Breaking: Over 150 Cab Drivers Stage Protest Outside Ola’s Bengaluru Office appeared first on Inc42 Media.

India today is home to more than 39K startups. The Indian startup ecosystem is producing unicorns at double the speed than before, with multi-billion dollar fundings from global investors, and celebrating high-profile exits such as the $16 Bn Walmart-Flipkart acquisition last year. At the same time, the country’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector comprising 577 Cr companies is beating challenges of setting up and building the consumer base, among others.

But an idea remains an idea if it does not get the requisite working capital on time. According to reports, less than 5% of MSMEs have access to formal credit, while others rely on informal sources to fund their businesses. For Indian startups, while there are a number of private equity and debt funding options available, to get funding at the idea or early stage is a challenge.

In a much-needed move to address this gap, the Indian government has rolled out initiatives to offer business loans for startups and MSMEs through authorised channels. Among the several MSME schemes for entrepreneurs, one of the most important ones was the recently-launched 59-minute loan platform that enables easy access to credit for MSMEs.

Also, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has started lending to companies directly instead of through banks. These government loans for startups are at least 300 basis points lower than the ones that are offered by banks. SIDBI offers long-term loans of up to five years online.

A number of other government startup loans and schemes for entrepreneurs in India have been introduced in the past few years. Here is a list of some of the most popular and notable government schemes that offer business loans for startups And MSMEs in India.

1. 42 (End to End Energy Efficiency) – Click to read more ➤
2. Bank Credit Facilitation Scheme – Click to read more ➤
3. Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) – Click to read more ➤
4. Credit Linked Capital Subsidy for Technology Upgrades – Click to read more ➤
5. Coir Udyami Yojana – Click to read more ➤
6. MSME Business Loans For Startups In 59 Minutes – Click to read more ➤
7. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) – Click to read more ➤
8. SIDBI Make in India Soft Loan Fund for MSMEs (SMILE) – Click to read more ➤
9. Standup India – Click to read more ➤
10. Sustainable Finance Scheme – Click to read more ➤

4E (End to End Energy Efficiency)

Launched in: September 2016

Headed by: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

Industry: Sector-agnostic

Eligibility: MSME startups in the manufacturing or services sector that have been operating for at least three years and have earned cash profits in the last two years are eligible for the loan. Here are the specific eligibility criteria.

• The startup should not be in default with any bank/financial institutions
• It should have undergone a process of detailed energy audit (DEA) through a technical agency/consultant that is a Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)-certified energy auditor
• The detailed project report (DPR) prepared by the technical agency/consultant should have been vetted by the Energy Efficiency Cell (EEC), SIDBI
• The unit should not have availed a performance linked grant under the World Bank-Global Environment Facility (WB-GEF) Project for the proposed energy efficiency (EE) Project and should be in compliance with the Environment and Social Management Framework

Overview: This MSME scheme for entrepreneurs has been launched jointly by India SME Technology Services Ltd (ISTSL) in association with World Bank. The main objective is to implement energy efficiency measures across Indian industries on an end-to-end basis. Also, it aims to help startups finance purchases of second-hand machinery/equipment.

The business loans for startups under this scheme meet part costs of:

• capital expenditure, including for the purchase of equipment/machinery, installation, civil works, commissioning, etc.
• any other related expenditure required by the unit provided it is not more than 50% of capital expenditure.

Fiscal incentives under the 4E scheme:

• The MSME startup has to pay only INR 30,000 and applicable taxes and the balance fee will be paid by SIDBI to auditors
• Up to 90% of the project cost with a minimum loan amount of INR 10 Lakh and a maximum loan amount not exceeding INR 150 Lakh per eligible borrower can be granted under this scheme.
• Eligible loan amount should not exceed one-fifth of the total turnover of the applicant unit.

Time period: The repayment period, including the initial moratorium period of up to six months, shall not be more than 36 months for loans up to INR 100 Lakh and 60 months for loans beyond INR 100 Lakh.

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Bank Credit Facilitation Scheme

Launched in: NA

Headed by: National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC)

Industry: Sector-agnostic

Eligibility: MSMEs registered in India

Overview: The scheme aims to meet the credit requirements of MSME units. The NSIC has entered into a MoU with various nationalised and private sector banks for the purpose. Through syndication with these banks, the NSIC arranges for credit support (fund- or non-fund-based limits) from banks without any cost to MSMEs.

Fiscal incentives: NA

Time period: The repayment period varies depending on the income generated from the startup and generally extends from five to seven years. However, in exceptional cases, it can go up to to 11 years.

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS)

Headed by: Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE)

Industry: Sector-agnostic

Eligibility: The scheme is applicable to new and existing MSMEs engaged in manufacturing or service activities, excluding retail trade, educational institutions, agriculture, self-help groups (SHGs), training institutions, etc.

Overview: The Credit Guarantee Scheme was launched by the government to strengthen the credit delivery system and to facilitate the flow of credit to the MSME sector. The lending institutions under this scheme mainly include public, private, and foreign banks, along with regional rural banks and the SBI and its associate banks.

Fiscal incentives: This MSME scheme for entrepreneurs comes with a number of benefits, including term loans and/or working capital loan facility up to INR 200 Lakh per borrowing unit. Here are some more details of the scheme:

• The guarantee cover provided is up to 75% of the credit facility up to INR 150 Lakh
• 85% of credit facility for loans up to INR 5 Lakh is provided to micro-enterprises
• 80% of credit facility for MSMEs owned/operated by women and all loans to NER including Sikkim
• For MSME Retail trade, the guarantee cover is 50% of the amount in default subject to a maximum of INR 50 Lakh.

Time period: The credit guarantee will commence from the date of payment of guarantee fee and will run through the agreed tenure of the term credit in case of term loans/composite loans and for a period of five years where working capital facilities alone are extended to borrowers, or for such period as may be specified by the guarantee trust.

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Credit Linked Capital Subsidy for Technology Upgrades

Headed by: Office of the Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSMEs

Industry: Sector-agnostic

Eligibility: Existing small-scale industry (SSI) startups registered with the State Directorate of Industries that have upgraded their existing plant and machinery with state-of-the-art technology, with or without expansion, are eligible for this scheme. Also, new SSI units registered with the State Directorate of Industries that use the appropriate, eligible, and proven technology, duly approved by the Governing and Technology Approval Board (GTAB)/Technical Sub­Committee (TSC), will be eligible.

Overview: This business loan for startups aims to facilitate technology upgrades by providing upfront capital subsidies to SSI units, including khadi, village, and coir industrial units, on institutional finance (credit) availed by them for modernisation of their production equipment (plant and machinery) and techniques.

Fiscal incentives: The ceiling on business loans for startups under the scheme has been raised from INR 40 Lakh to INR 1 Cr while the rate of subsidy has been enhanced from 12% to 15%. Here, the admissible capital subsidy is calculated with reference to the purchase price of plant and machinery, instead of the term loan disbursed to the beneficiary unit.

Time period: NA

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Coir Udyami Yojana

Headed by: Coir Board

Industry: Agriculture

Eligibility: All coir processing MSME startups registered with the Coir Board under the Coir Industry (Registration) Rules, 2008, are eligible for this scheme. Here is the criteria:

• Assistance under the scheme will be made available to individuals, companies, self-help groups, NGOs, institutions registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, production co-operative societies, joint liability groups, and charitable trusts
• Startups that have already availed of a government subsidy under any other scheme of the Indian government or any state government for the same purpose are not eligible to claim a subsidy.

Overview: The scheme is aimed at supporting the establishment of coir units. Banks will finance capital expenditure in the form of a term loan to meet the working capital requirements in the form of cash credit. Projects can also be financed by the bank in the form of composite loans consisting of capex and working capital.

Fiscal incentives: Banks will support project cost of up to INR 10 Lakh plus one cycle of working capital, which shall not exceed 25% of the project cost. In addition:

• This should be exclusive of the INR 10 Lakh limit proposed.

• The amount of credit will be 55% of the total project cost after deducting 40% margin money (subsidy) and the owner’s contribution of 5% from beneficiaries.
• The subsidy will be computed excluding working capital component.

Time period: Rate of interest chargeable for the business loans for startups shall be at par with the base rate. Repayment schedule may not exceed seven years after an initial moratorium, as may be prescribed by the concerned bank/financial institution.

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian Government, click here.

MSME Business Loans For Startups In 59 Minutes

Launched in: September 2018

Headed by: Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE)

Industry: Sector Agnostic

Eligibility: For existing businesses: Borrower should be GST, IT compliant and must have six months bank statement facility. The business loan eligibility is determined by a company’s:

a. Income/ Revenue
b. Repayment capacity
c. Existing credit facilities
d. Any other factors as set by lenders (banks)

Overview: Prime Minister Narendra Modi described this initiative last year while unveiling the 12-point action plan for the MSME sector. The initiative aims at automation of various processes to loan appraisal in such a way that one gets an eligibility letter, in-principle approval in less than 60 minutes and chooses the bank that one may prefer to ease access to credit to smaller and micro enterprises.

Post the in-principle approval, the time taken for business loan disbursement depends on the information and documentation provided on the platform and to the banks. Generally, post the in-principle approval, the loan is expected to be sanction/disbursed in 7-8 working days.

Fiscal Incentives: The contactless business loans for startups are currently provided for value from INR 1 Lakhs Upto INR 1 Cr. The rate of interest starts from 8% onwards.

Time Period: NA

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)

Launched in: 2015

Headed by: Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd (MUDRA)

Industry: Sector-agnostic

Eligibility: Non–corporate small business segment (NCSB) comprising proprietorship/partnership firms in rural and urban areas can apply for the loan. Here are some examples of NCSBs:

• small manufacturing units
• service sector units
• shopkeepers
• fruits / vegetable vendors
• truck operators
• food-service units
• repair shops
• machine operators
• small industries
• artisans
• food processors and others

All kinds of manufacturing, trading and service sector activities can get a MUDRA loan.

Overview: MUDRA provides refinance support to banks/Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) for lending to micro units that have loan requirements of up to INR 10 Lakh. According to recent media reports, in the financial year 2017-18, overall business loans worth INR 2.54 Lakh Cr were classified as Mudra loans, an increase of 41% from INR 1.80 Lakh Cr loans sanctioned in this category in the last financial year.

For 2018-19, a target of INR 3 Lakh Cr has been set. Interestingly, the non-performing assets (NPA) level under the PMMY was only 5.38% as on March 31, 2018 — almost half of the gross NPAs across all sectors in the country, which crossed 10% in fiscal 2017-18.

Fiscal incentives: MUDRA offers incentives through these interventions:

> Shishu: Loans upto INR 50,000

> Kishor: Loans above INR 50,000 and up to INR 5 Lakh

> Tarun: Loans above INR 5 Lakh and upto INR 10 Lakh

Generally, loans upto INR 10 Lakh issued by banks to MSMEs are given without collateral. Also, within these interventions, MUDRA ensures to meet the requirements of different sectors/business activities as well as business/entrepreneur segments.

Time period: NA

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

SIDBI Make in India Soft Loan Fund for MSMEs (SMILE)

Launched in: August 2015

Headed by: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

Industry: Sector-agnostic

Eligibility: New enterprises in manufacturing as well as the services sector can apply for this scheme. Existing enterprises undertaking expansion, modernisation, technology upgrades, or other projects for growing their business will also be covered.

Overview: The aim of this scheme is to provide soft loans, in the nature of quasi-equity, and term loans on relatively soft terms to MSMEs to meet the required debt-equity ratio for the establishment of new MSMEs and also to enable the growth for existing ones.

Fiscal incentives:

• For the general category, 10% of the project cost, subject to a maximum of INR 20 Lakh is provided as the loan amount
• 15% for the enterprises promoted by Scheduled Caste (SC) /Scheduled Tribe (ST) / Persons with Disabilities (PwD), and women, subject to a maximum of INR 30 Lakh
• Persons belonging to these categories must own a controlling stake (ie 51% or higher)

Time period: On expiry of three years from the date of the first disbursement, the outstanding soft loan, together with any dues thereon, shall be converted into a secured term loan and the entire loan shall carry an applicable rate of interest as per internal rating of the borrower. The repayment period is generally upto seven years, inclusive of the moratorium up to one-and-a-half years for the term loan and up to two years for a soft loan.

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Standup India

Launched in: April 2016

Headed by: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

Industry: Sector-agnostic

Eligibility: Enterprises in trading, manufacturing, or services. In the case of non-individual enterprises, at least 51% of the shareholding and controlling stake should be held by an SC/ST or woman entrepreneur. The borrower should not be in default with any bank or financial institution.

Overview: This scheme by the Indian government facilitates bank loans between INR 10 Lakh and INR 1 Cr to at least one SC or ST borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch, for setting up of a greenfield enterprise. So far, 3457 online business loans for startups have been sanctioned through the Standup India platform.

Fiscal incentives:

• It offers composite loans between INR 10 Lakh and INR 1 Cr to cover 75% of the project, inclusive of the term loan and working capital
• The stipulation of the loan being expected to cover 75% of the project cost would not apply if the borrower’s contribution along with convergence support from any other schemes exceeds 25% of the project cost
• The rate of interest would be the lowest applicable rate of the bank for that category (rating category) not to exceed [base rate (MCLR) + 3%+ tenor premium]

Time period: This government business loan for startups is repayable in seven years with a maximum moratorium period of 18 months.

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Sustainable Finance Scheme

Headed by: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

Industry: Green energy, non-renewable energy, technology hardware, renewable energy

Eligibility: Renewable energy projects such as solar power plants, wind energy generators, mini hydel power projects, biomass gasifier power plants, etc, for captive/non-captive use (ie, power generated is sold/supplied to the grid/off-grid).

• Any kind of potential cleaner production (CP) investments including waste management
• Suitable assistance to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) which manufacture energy efficient/cleaner production/green machinery/equipment
• Either the OEM should be an MSME or it should be supplying its products to a substantial number of MSMEs

Overview: The objective of this startup scheme by the government is to assist the entire value chain of energy efficiency (EE)/cleaner production (CP) and sustainable development projects which lead to significant improvements in EE/CP/sustainable development in the MSMEs and which are presently not covered under the existing sustainable financing lines of credits.

Fiscal Incentives: Suitable assistance by way of term loan/working capital to ESCOs implementing EE/CP/Renewable Energy project provided either the ESCO should be an MSME or the unit to which it is offering its services is an MSME. The rate of interest will be applicable on basis of credit rating of MSMEs.

Time period: NA

To know more about this startup scheme by the Indian government, click here.

Since the launch of the Startup India Action Plan and Standup India scheme in January 2016, and the setting up of the Funds of Funds worth INR 10K Cr, more than 50 government schemes for small businesses have been put in place to support early-stage startups in taking off.

These government loans for small-scale industries are a handful of the many initiatives taken by the Indian government to boost the ease of doing business in the country. India ranked 77th in 2018 on the World Bank matrix in ease of doing business.

The government has been working at a macro level to promote entrepreneurship and opening up international startup corridors between India and the world. To this end, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) also launched the State Startup Ranking framework, on the basis of which it ranked states on the startup ecosystems, with Gujarat emerging on top of the chart.

At the micro level, the government’s efforts to offer business loans to startups and MSMEs will certainly supplement its larger gameplan and enable more entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into businesses.

The post 10 Business Loans For Startups And MSMEs By The Indian Government appeared first on Inc42 Media.

It all started in the latter half of 2015 when the need for having a structured body was felt in the city of Chandigarh. The seasoned entrepreneurs of the region have had their wholesome journeys of building and running their businesses. They understood the challenges faced by young entrepreneurs when they had to go to Tier 1 cities for raising capital or seeking mentorship.

So, these experienced entrepreneurs who were otherwise investing in startups through their network realised that there was an opportunity to invest together as a group to get more mature deal flow. They intended to support local entrepreneurs by means of mentoring and funding, so the next Flipkart or Paytm was birthed and headquartered in Chandigarh rather than escaping to metros like Bengaluru.

This led to the inception of Chandigarh Angel Network (CAN) — a network which has more than 40 investors and has backed 15 startups in the last three years. The inception story of CAN is not different from how a journey of startup begins.

The Problem. The Need. The Solution.

While cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru have evolved ecosystems — the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities lack in the resources that early stage companies initially need. With the increasing focus of the government and the private individuals’/organisations’ bid to tap into opportunities in these hubs — the startup ecosystems have now started to evolve.

While the early stage venture funds, incubators and accelerators are  playing their part in the growth of India’s emerging startup hubs well, another enabler which is fuelling the roots here are the local angel networks.

As part of the Inc42 and Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) ongoing series, Over The Horizon — this time, in our quest to find the hidden heroes of the investment world, we put the spotlight on the angel networks which identify a potential startup, help it raise funds, and be the guide for its growth from early-stage to building a sustainable business.

From the first angel network — Mumbai Angels — launched in 2006, India, today has over 30+ angel networks and platforms that are bringing together investors across the country on a single platform. On one side, they are helping startups gain investor attention and on the other, they are providing investors with the right deals to invest in.

While, the networks/platforms like LetsVenture, or Indian Angel Network provides startups with access to capital without being limited to particular hubs, the need of evolving the local ecosystem has led to the emergence of locally-situated networks which bring together the HNIs in the hub itself as investors, besides, other investors.

According to Inc42 DataLabs, 19 networks invested across 81 deals in 2018 and the top spots were gained by Venture Catalysts (33), Mumbai Angels (10 deals), Indian Angel Network (11) and LetsVenture (4). A further breakdown shows that in hubs in Tier 2 and beyond, the most active angel networks include names such as Venture Catalysts, Chandigarh Angel Network, Calcutta Angles, Chennai Angels, TiE Amaravati — which highlights the crucial roles these local networks are playing for the ecosystems in their vicinity.

Although the Tier 1 cities of India will continue to be the top startup hubs of the country, angel networks are boosting the ecosystem in traditional business zones and that is why a number of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are emerging as the next startup hubs in the country. Cities like Chennai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad — have witnessed their share of success stories including the likes of Zoho/Freshworks, Cardekho and Beardo (Acquired by Marico) respectively. However, their growth as an overall hub remained stagnant to a certain extent.

Interestingly, in 2018 alone, around 93 deals were executed and $720 Mn was invested in startup hubs across India, excluding the deals reported in top five hubs — Delhi/NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Pune (Inc42 Datalabs estimates).

Smaller Cities Are Emerging As New Startup Hubs. How?

Even a few years back, people in smaller cities like Chandigarh, Mohali, Jaipur, Ranchi, Lucknow and Indore, were primarily involved in traditional businesses and the ecosystem for startups was nascent.

With time, smaller cities like Chandigarh, Mohali, Jaipur, etc. which were earlier traditional business zones have seen the rise of startups — that are now co-existing with other businesses.

Moreover, the ecosystems in smaller cities are maturing and the major factors driving this growth are increased awareness complimented with the rise in the number of investors, incubators, accelerators which form the support system fueling the growth.

In a conversation with Inc42, Dr. Apoorv Ranjan Sharma – cofounder and president at Venture Catalysts said, “The angel investors, which were initially more inclined to invest in startups through funds, gradually started investing in their individual capacity in tier 2 and tier 3 startups due to better business bandwidth in these cities.”

And this led to the creation of networks which takes away the pain of sourcing local deals and potential startups for investments and building sustainable business models in their own cities instead of flying to metro cities.

The opportunity is huge. And, clearly, Venture Catalysts’ expansion to multiple Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is an example of this. Today, it has its network in cities like — Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Surat, Nagpur, Jaipur, Kolkata, Siliguri, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad among others — and from these cities, it has x investors on-board.

Over the years, besides, Venture Catalysts, India has seen the rise of several hub-focussed networks that are working towards supporting the ecosystem, these include —  Gujarat Angel Network, Chandigarh Angel Network, Calcutta Angels, TiE Amravati. These networks are not just helping startups gain access to investors but also, helping HNIs (and traditional players) to learn about the investing etc. And, apparently, this is the reason why startups are coming up from cities which people could hardly imagine. For instance, WittyFeed from Indore and TaxMantra from Kolkata.

Angel Networks: Boosting Local Ecosystem, Creating Awareness And Opportunities

One of the main challenges, which existed before and have some relevance today is sourcing potential investee companies. The non-availability of a steady flow of investable deals, mainly due to lack of awareness about startups. As Nair shares, “The lack of institutional funds and lack of large global business operating locally has hurt us. This, in turn, affects the quality of suitable talent at multiple levels.”

When Venture Catalysts was expanding to these cities, it went ahead and conducted about 220 masterclasses in cities like Dehradun, Kanpur, Lucknow, Surat, Jaipur and Raipur, among others. Sharma started educating traditional business owners who were running businesses with a turnover in the range of $6.94 Mn to $694 Mn (INR 50 Cr – INR 5,000 Cr) and made them realise that startups are a powerful asset class.

Fortunately, all these efforts are making a huge mark in the Indian startup ecosystem. For instance, Venture Catalyst funded Ahmedabad-based Beardo got acquired by Mumbai-based health and beauty manufacturing company, Marico. Chandigarh Angel Network’s investee startup – Biryani by Kilo – a quick service restaurant chain selling premium biryani now sells around $493.7K (INR3.5 Cr) worth of Biryani every month.

Not just in terms of economy, startups in smaller cities are even creating a social impact as Vineet Khurana of Chandigarh Angel Network says, “Our portfolio companies employ more than 1,500 employees cumulatively.”

Interestingly, Inc42 DataLabs analysts forecast that startups are expected to create 200K to 250K new jobs (direct and Indirect) in 2019 and moreover, consumer startups are expected to make an increased contribution to indirect job creation as they foray into Tier 2 cities.

With both private and public offices across sectors adopting deep tech solutions right into their core operations, it is clear that the future of work will be rooted in utilising IoT, AI, machine learning and automation to increase efficiency. This gives a chance for regional startups to leverage their unique knowledge to solve grassroots-level problems that often get overlooked. And when entrepreneurs are ready with solutions, investor networks such as Chandigarh Angel Network are there to not just give them the much-needed initial support but also act as a bridge to help them scale into Tier 1 cities and possibly go global.

The post Unsung Heroes: How Angel Networks Are Nurturing India’s Small Town Startups appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based women-focused social networking app Healofy has raised $8 Mn (INR 55 Cr) in a fresh funding round from Chinese maternity and child-focused (M&C) community platform BabyTree Group, BAce Capital and existing investor Omidyar Network India.

Started as a prenatal and early childhood focused social networking platform, Healofy will now expand into newer categories such as fashion, food and lifestyle and will be available in eight vernacular languages from the existing bilingual support (English and Hindi). The company is specifically focusing on making ecommerce accessible for women in smaller cities and towns.

The company will also use the funds to strengthen its product, engineering and data science teams along with scaling its machine learning and personalisation engine.

Healofy: 500K Daily Active Users & Counting

Founded in September 2016 by Gaurav Aggarwal and Shubham Maheshwari, the company claims to have over 500K Daily Active Users (DAUs) on their mobile app.  

It is now looking to strengthen its community play by focusing on user-generated content to create a network for like-minded women to consume content tailored to their preferences, forge strong relationships with members and freely share views on a wide range of topics.

“We believe in the potential of she-economy in India. In China, leveraging content and social features, BabyTree seized the first-mover advantage of serving M&C population. We believe the excellent Healofy team can grow aggressively in this sector,” said Huainan Wang, founder and CEO of BabyTree.

The company had earlier raised funds from Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi.com and Jitendra Gupta, founder of Citrus Pay and other Silicon Valley-based marquee investors in October 2017. They were also selected by Y Combinator in 2017. It also plans to catalyze ecommerce for women in the smaller cities and towns by helping them transact online.

“Women are the primary purchase decision makers in most Indian households. Our data shows they are social in their decision making underlining the importance of building trust through a strong network. To help them transact online, it is critical to innovate and provide for an online shopping experience similar to the offline world, ” said Gaurav Aggarwal, CEO, Healofy.

Attracting Women Consumers

As the company changed its focus from parenting network to a diversified community for women, the company’s competitors such as BabyChakra, MamaEarth, and Sheroes have also evolved.

India has been slowly coming to terms with the potential market capabilities of women who account for 48% of its 1.3 Bn population. On the professional front, women make only 27% of the workforce (2018 World Bank Report), and women in startups form an even smaller demographic.

However, they continue to be a huge promising part of the consumer side. Along those lines, in the consumer health market , the focus on women-centric products has evolved over time and is receiving increased investor attention as well as customer traction.

While there are products focusing on women’s menstrual cycle such as Nua, then there are products such as PeeBuddy and PeeSafe addressing female hygiene. At the same time, we have women-focused drinks &Me, women-focused community apps such as POPxo while there are ecommerce platforms such as Clovia and Zivame and beauty marketplaces such as Nykaa and NewU as well.

The post Women-Centric App Healofy Readies For Expansion With $8 Mn Funding appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Vexed by the heavy charges by Ola as part of their lease agreements, and other grievances related to Ola’s policies, over 150 Ola drivers are protesting outside Ola’s S R Layout, Murgeshpallya office. The drivers are carrying boards and shouting slogans, Inc42’s reporter at the scene said.

The grievances also include the behaviour of Ola executives with partner drivers, differential pricing and blacklisting of drivers based on user inputs.

Talking to Inc42, one of the drivers protesting outside the office said, “We have to pay INR 1,000 every day for leased car. We see the demand in the area while booking, in summer, there are fewer bookings. With respect to that, 3 point AC doesn’t help and we face losses. We work 18 hours, and earn INR 3,000 out of which we pay INR 1,100 to Ola. We have to pay INR 1,000 for diesel, and then more for commission and at the end we are left with INR 300. From last 4 months, we gave notice to Ola and also asked for standard rates.”

The people at the protest also said that cab drivers who have taken cars on lease from Ola have alleged that the company has not transferred ownership of the cars even after the drivers had completed three years of the lease. Few of Ola staff members are handling the crowd and trying to get their list of demands to be addressed.

Ola originally started its cab leasing programme in September 2015, as part of an initiative aimed at allowing its drivers to borrow taxis at cheaper interest rates. To avail the facility, partner drivers are required to make an initial deposit as well as monthly instalments for a period ranging from three to five years.

Ola representatives declined to comment about the situation.

Demands Of The Drivers

In an 11-page letter, dated, 7th February, the Suvarna Bhoomi Chalakara Sangha had submitted their demands and grievances to Ola. The demands include — identifying leased Ola operators to be considered Ola Partners — who shall log in for 12-14 hours for an operator bill of INR 3,500.

Some of their demands included:

• Upgrading customer care department to address Ola Partners’ demands better
• Ola billing charges should be same irrespective of customer pick up from rural or urban area
• Daily internet charges (INR 60 on sedans) should be abolished
• Executive misbehaviour including threatening life should be addressed
• Ola Partners should get option of flexi working hours which is not being allowed due to duties during traffic hours
• KYC of customers to help Ola Partners handle any false complaints lodged against them
• Capping of fare to be shared with Ola Partner, switch between services such as Mini, Micro and Prime etc
• Standard commission charges, offroad limits etc. They alleged handful of cars have been given to the drivers after promised lease of 3 years
• Mobile application to ensure the safety of drivers
• Amend company policy to onboard spare drivers in case Ola Partners cannot work
• Ola vehicles leasing staff are responsible for recent activities committed by Ola Partners

The association has given company 15 days to respond or it has threatened legal action against the company.

Edit Note 1

The earlier version of the story had mentioned 25-30 drivers, it has been updated to reflect the growing number of protesting drivers in front of Ola’s office.

The post Over 150 Cab Drivers Stage Protest Outside Ola’s Bengaluru Office appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In today’s world where one bad customer review can make or break enterprises, getting customer service right is as important as getting a product’s quality right. Among the many support choices, customers are constantly caught amidst a plethora of IVR options to choose from, redundant answers from bots acting as customer executives, delayed email responses and much more. Companies are often found playing ‘catch up’ in the area of satisfactory customer service. The result —  higher customer churn.

It was a bad customer experience involving a broken television set that led to the founding of Freshworks (then Freshdesk) in 2010. Freshworks was an attempt to fill the visible gap in the customer service industry. What started out as a mission to create software to improve customer support, soon ushered in innovative offerings in ITSM (IT service management) and CRM (Customer relationship management) domains.

Today, with a unicorn status and eight product offerings, the company is serving more than 150,000 clients across domains such as fitness, production & distribution, careers, and giving a neck-to-neck competition to its counterparts.

“One bad experience can ruin a brand’s reputation. These days, it is no longer just about getting on the phone with customers to resolve queries, one needs to be present across all platforms—email, social media, mobile app, etc, to create a positive experience,” said Arvind Parthiban, director of marketing at Freshworks.

With a comprehensive product suite, clients from vast domains, and a presence across continents, Freshworks has garnered thorough feedback from different verticals, establishing themselves as a market leader with deep expertise in enhancing customer service.

In the pursuit of imparting this knowledge to more stakeholders, Freshworks is organising  Customer First Summit, an ‘online conference’ which will be held on April 9-10, 2019. The summit will be a good opportunity for B2C and B2B companies who are struggling to get the nuances of customer service right.

“If you’re an entrepreneur, marketer, salesperson, or anyone who interacts with customers every day, the summit has a lot to offer for you. The summit will give insight, tips, and hacks into how obsessing over customer experience can help you build great companies,” said Praveen Ramesh, community and outreach manager at Freshworks.

The best strategies for tackling any situation come from real-life experiences.  The Customer First Summit is bringing together noticeable names from across the globe who will share their customer success anecdotes, learnings, and strategies to help companies strengthen their customer service.

Some of the speakers include — Girish Mathrubootham- Founder & CEO, Freshworks; Megan Guy, Head of Customer Marketing, Segment; David Apple, VP Customer Success, Typeform; Mary Poppen, Chief Customer Officer, Glint Inc (A Linkedin Company) and Suneet Bhatt, GM, Crazy Egg.

Why Great Customer Service Matters

According to an industry study, 42% of B2C customers showed more interest in purchasing a product or service after experiencing good customer service, and 52% stopped doing so due to a single disappointing customer service interaction. With customer service being that critical, companies are doubling down on investments in AI-driven customer based front-end bots. On the other hand, SaaS-based customer service providers are continuously iterating to improve functionality, interaction, and support of their product-offerings, in an effort to help their clients reduce the amount of customer grievances.

Despite the presence of a number of companies in customer service, such as Salesforce, Zendesk and Zoho, Freshworks has stayed ahead of their competition with their responsiveness to customer needs. In addition, facilitating a 360-degree view of business information has been the key USP helping them ride the wave of competition.

With Freshworks leading the chart for SaaS-enabled customer support for their client suite, this summit gives B2C and B2B companies the much needed insight from the leaders at the summit, to improve their customer service mechanisms at play.

The post The Torchbearer of SaaS — Freshworks — Is inviting Companies For Its ‘Customer First Summit’ appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based hyperlocal startup BigBasket is close to completing its $150 Mn funding round with sizable investments from Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, South Korean Mirae Asset Global Investments and the UK government-backed CDC Group.

According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs filing, dated March 27 accessed by Inc42:

• Alibaba Group will pick up 437.5K Series F CCPS in the company for $50 Mn at a value of $114.29 per share
• Mirae Asset will pick up 524.9K Series F CCPS for $59.9 Mn at a value of $114.29 per share. It will also pick up 100 equity shares at a value of $11.43 per share for $1142.86
• CDC will pick up 350K Series F CCPS  in the company for $40 Mn at a value of $114.29 per share

Prior to this round, BigBasket had raised a total of $874.6 Mn across 13 funding rounds from investors such as Alibaba, Helion Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Abraaj Group, LionRock Capital and others.

The company’s last funding round was closed in February 2018 with a massive $300 Mn, led by Chinese conglomerate Alibaba along with the participation of Abraaj Capital, Sands Capital and IFC.

BigBasket was launched in 2011 by VS Sudhakar, Hari Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari. The company plans to touch $1 Bn gross sales run rate by the end of FY19. It has recorded close to $33 Mn (INR 230 Cr) in gross monthly sales, with an annual exit rate of around $435.8 Mn (INR 3K Cr) in March 2018.

BigBasket has been putting its efforts to create in-house brands such as Fresho for vegetables and idli and dosa batter; Royal and Popular for staples; Tasties, for snacks will help drive growth going forward. This addition helps BigBasket in becoming self-reliant while other players have to depend on kirana stores for their supply of these products.

According to a TechSci Research report, the Indian online grocery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 55% during 2016 – 2021.

Last year saw BigBasket’s competition growing exponentially, with the foray of big players like Flipkart, Amazon India, and Paytm Mall in the grocery delivery sector.

Also, earlier this month, Gurugram-based online grocery startup Grofers has raised nearly $60 Mn in a fresh Series F funding round from SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF). This is reportedly the first tranche of the larger $120 Mn-$140 Mn funding round that is under works for Grofers.

The post BigBasket Inches Closer To $150 Mn Fundraise From Alibaba, Mirae, CDC Group appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Change is the only constant in life, and in the world of business. Like everything else, music — from how it’s composed to how it’s consumed has evolved dramatically over time.

In terms of music types — from folk and country music to hip-hop and electronic dance music (EDM), and in terms of output i.e. from gramophones in the late 1800s to CD players in the late 1900s to iPods in the early 2000s and finally to wireless digital playback systems today.

The current size of India’s music industry is $122.2 Mn (including both physical and digital music platforms), showcases the growing demand for not just production but also on how it will be consumed. For example, income from subscription-based audio streaming stood at a staggering $31.6 Mn in India in 2018, a three-fold growth from subscription-based revenue in 2017.

And to cater to these diversifying needs for music, global giants such as Apple, Sony, Bose, JBL, and Sennheiser offer a plethora of output devices ranging from wired headphones to wireless bluetooth speakers.

However, not every Indian can afford these high-end products. But on the flipside, their low-cost counterparts lack quality — both in terms of music output and shelf life. However, despite being a price-sensitive country, Indian users want a great experience at an affordable price.

This was the thought that led Aman Gupta, a music aficionado and a chartered account on a quest to find the right product for the right price. Soon after starting, Gupta, a former director of sales at speaker maker Harman International, met Sameer Mehta, a former executive director at Kores (India) Ltd, who shared his passion for music. The result — the inception of boAt, a consumer tech company offering bass-focused music accessories.

Launched in January 2016, the startup produces fashionable consumer electronics such as earphones, headphones, speakers, travel chargers, and premium cables for millennials — who are primary consumers of high-bass (a powerful, low-pitched and deep-toned musical sound) music. Interestingly, India has the largest youth population of 400 Mn as of 2017.

“boAt creates the kind of music experience millennials in India desire,’’ says Gupta.

Within two years into operations, boAt registered $15.4 Mn (INR 108 Cr) gross sales in FY18, which is almost a 300% hike since the last financial year.

At present, boAt sells roughly 6,000 units per day at an average of 4 units per minute.

boAt’s Fight For Acceptance

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, though. Like any other startup, boAt has had its share of hurdles. Gupta says that the biggest challenge was winning the trust of people, especially in the presence of bigger and established brands in the music output space.

Back in 2016, the acceptance rate of boAt products by both consumers and retailers was low. But with time, things have changed. “People started using boAt products and building faith in us,” adds Gupta. This is one of the reasons that 30% of its customers fall under the repeat category.

In terms of distribution, boAt started out with selling its products on only popular ecommerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart, and has now adopted the offline mode as well by selling in third-party retail stores.

An Ocean Of Competition

The music accessory sector is crowded with a number of well-established brands, including renowned brands such as Sony and Sennheiser and Indian players such as Karbonn, iBall and Intex and MuVu. Then, there are the ‘easily available’ low-cost Chinese products that inundate the market, giving a wide range of choices to millennials.

So, how did boAt strike the right chord?

boAt sets itself apart in this crowded sea of players with its focus sharply set on millennials who want to experience high-bass music and for whom music accessories are more than just a piece of audio equipment.

While products of these global brands start at an average price of $15, boAt offers similar products in a price range of below $10. Whereas other locally manufactured products offer music accessories at as low as $1.43, but they lack quality and have a low shelf-life. On the other hand, boAt products are made up of tangle-free wires and with metallic finish, small touches which go a long way.

According to the company, the low-price devices, which come with value-added features have been important factors fuelling the growth for them. For instance, boAt Airdopes 211 True Wireless Earbuds are available at a price of $35.9 (INR 2,499) whereas products similar to it offered by big players such as Apple are priced at $184.24 (INR 12,900), Nokia at $142.81 (INR 9,999), and Sennheiser at $357.05 (INR 24,999).

Being a tech startup, boAt has always focussed on innovation. It recently came up with boAt Stone 700A — a waterproof and shockproof portable smart speaker with built-in Alexa, priced at around $49.97 (INR 3,499). Similar products from other brands start roughly around  $57.12 (INR 3,999). boAt even offers Apple-certified metallic lightning cables for iPhones and iPads which they claim are indestructible.

boAt products, which are manufactured in China on a contract basis, undergo a “six-people quality check” to ensure better-build quality. They are made of eco-friendly and non-hazardous materials.

“If the rating of any of our product goes below 3.5, we discontinue the product and look for better ways to improve our next product.” — Gupta

However, although India is a price-sensitive market, it is also value-driven. Gupta says, “If we reduce our product prices further, we will get a better market, but we are here to build a sustainable business.”

Tuning Into The Future

According to Inc42 DataLabs, with a total of 27 deals securing $111 Mn funding from 2018 to February 2019, the consumer technology sector looks promising. Industry reports state that the market of Indian appliances and consumer electronics (ACE) reached $31.48 Bn (INR 2.05 Tn) in 2017, making the country one of the largest electronics markets in the world. It further states that the market is expected to grow at 41% CAGR between 2017-20 and reach $400 Bn. Analysts also forecast that with the rising number of startups such as GenRobotics, SectorQube, boAt and Planys Technologies, the consumer technology sector is set to make a mark in the overall Indian startup industry.

Building a product for the younger generation makes sense, especially when it comes to music. “Millennials shop in a different manner, which is more logical. They conduct a wide research and know the difference between low-cost and quality yet affordable products,” adds Gupta.

Encashing on the opportunity, boAt has hit its benchmark of $15 Mn in gross sales in a short span of two years. Moving forward, the startup plans to come up with more fashion-oriented innovative products, home-audio devices and aims to reach its next milestone of more than $70 Mn in sales within the next five years.

boAt was a Gifting Partner At Inc42’s flagship conference — The Ecosystem Summit.

The post How boAt Is Striking A Chord With Millennials And Competing With The Likes Of Apple & Bose In India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Online classifieds marketplace Quikr is acquiring Bengaluru-based online laundry services startup LaundryAnna, and a deal between the two will be finalised within the next week, a source close to the development told Inc42.

The deal will involve sharing of technical expertise and expansion of LaundryAnna’s physical stores, the source said.

While LaundryAnna refused to comment on the matter, an email sent to Quikr’s corporate communications team did not elicit any response to Inc42’s queries till the time of publication.

Yesterday (30th March), in a message sent to its users, LaundryAnna said that “LaundryAnna is now powered by Quikr and going forward all notifications shall be sent from our new sender ID QUIKRR” — indicating an acquisition. 

LaundryAnna which was founded in 2015 by Prateek Rana and Rohit Melwin offers laundry and dry cleaning services. It allows users to schedule a pick-up using its platform.

According to an Inc42 source, Quikr is also planning to introduce self-service laundry systems i.e. laundromats. The concept of laundromats is quite new in India in comparison to the west. Laundromats are basically walk-in facilities popular in hostels, etc. offering walk-in laundry facilities — where people can simply pay and use washing machines to wash and dry their laundry. In India, Delhi-based UClean, Bengaluru-based WashBuddy and The Laundry Basket offer similar services. QuikrEasy Laundromats will go live in the next 10-15 days.

The unit will be part of QuikrEasy, the home services arm of Quikr which offers a host of services including — repair, electrician, trainers, and other day to day needs. The company already offers laundry services.

LaundryAnna had raised $150K funding from a group of angel investors in 2016. The company also ventured into offline space last year, opening its first franchise outlet in Bengaluru. According to the company, with the launch of its first franchise outlet in Koramangala, it became the first laundry chain to begin a franchisee-owned company operated (FOCO) model in India.

As of May last year, the company had five offline stores. The startup has created its own in-house processing and logistics infrastructure and is popular among college goers and residential societies.

In an earlier statement released by the company last year, it had claimed to be profitable since the 6th month of its operations.

Online Laundry Market In India

Increasing penetration of the internet has undoubtedly helped the online consumer services space flourish. A large number of startups are now allowing people to get their mundane tasks completed with a few clicks. Success stories of startups like Urbanclap, Dunzo shows the potential this sector.

As far as laundry services are concerned, a report by FMI, titled “Laundry Care Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment”, estimated that the global laundry sector will grow to reach $127 Bn by 2027 end with a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period.

According to a couple of reports, the Indian Laundry Industry is estimated at $33 Bn (INR 2,20,000 Cr), of which the unorganised market (dhobis, maid/servants, and mom-and-pop stores) valued at $771 Mn (INR 5,000 Cr).

The sector is fragmented with 7,67,000 establishments, 98% of which are micro-sized laundries with fewer than 10 workers. The organised segment comprises a mere 2-3% of the entire laundry market in India.

According to Inc42 DataLabs estimates, India has nearly 100 startups in the laundry space including — DhobiLite, UrbanDhobi, Pickmylaundry, Super Dhobi, Wassup, UClean, and Washbuddy. Besides there are many more hyperlocal services startups which offer laundry services as well including — Urbanclap, among others.

In terms of exits in this segment, in 2017, PickMyLaundry had acquired subscription-based laundry services provider OneClickWash in an all-cash deal. Before that, in 2016, Chennai-based Wassup had acquired Ezeewash in a full equity deal.

Quikr’s Ever-Expanding Empire

With about 15 acquisitions since 2015, Quikr has sought to grow across verticals through the acquisitions route. With its most recent acquisition India Property Online Pvt Ltd, a real estate platform and talks to acquire refurbished furniture marketplace Zefo, the company’s strategy is to build the transaction business on top of its classifieds business.

The group’s parent company Quikr India Pvt Ltd reported consolidated revenue of $24.54 Mn (INR 173.49 Cr) for the year ending March 2018, a jump of 95% from its revenue from operations in the year before.

Founded in 2008, Quikr claims to have a user base of over 30 Mn per month and operates across 14 classifieds businesses including mobile phones, household goods, cars, real estate, jobs, services and education.

The online classified platform has taken up the acquisition strategy to strengthen different verticals. It’s the strategy of combining the acquisition model along with its own large supply-and-demand base has helped it grow its business.  In January 2018, the company had reported that the acquired startups were responsible for up to 55% of Quikr’s overall revenues.

The post Exclusive: Quikr Is Acquiring LaundryAnna To Ramp Up Its Laundry Play appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Back in 2012, former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee introduced Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act 1961, to curb the practice of hiding black money by investing it in shell companies. The move though well-intentioned, claimed many startups as collateral damage, so much so that it was soon dubbed “angel tax.”

2019 did bring some resolution to the issue, with government authorities, central tax executives and startup communities coming together to clear out the issue. While there has been some clarity in the matter, with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issuing exemption certificates to a paltry 120 startups but now another notification has been introduced, which could create more trouble than solve problems for Indian startups.

A new gazette notification issued on February 21, states that a company incorporated on or before the 31st  December, 2017 shall need to file particulars of the company and its registered office via filling the e-form called ACTIVE (Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification).

However the ACTIVE form is not just another layer of documentation that a startup needs to clear, it is perhaps one of the most hands-on form that every business in India may have ever had to fill.

Some of the requirements that need to be met as part of form also known as INC22A, include:

1. Photo of the external building of the registered office showing nameplate including CIN, Registered address, email and phone number of the company.
2. Photo of the internal premises of the registered office showing at least one director who will also sign the form
3. Latitude and longitude of the registered office
4. Email ID of the company
5. Details of Directors/CFO/Managing Directors/ Independent Director/CEO/WTD
6. Details of Statutory Auditor (PAN, the name of auditor, the period of appointment, etc)

The amendment rule has also come up with some serious penalties which might change the health of the startups. For instance, if a startup fails to file the e-form by April 25, it will be marked by the government as ACTIVE non-compliant.

According to the monthly information bulletin released by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in December 2017, as on December 31, 2017, out of the total 17.2 Lakh registered companies, over 11 Lakh companies are active. However, MCA has given hardly two months for companies to fill the ACTIVE form.

The companies which fail to file the form within the given period will be marked as ‘Active, Non-compliant’. Such companies will not be able to file other updates such as:

• SH-07 (Change in authorized capital);
• PAS-03 (Change in paid-up capital);
• DIR-12 (Changes in director except cessation);
• INC-22 (Change in registered office);
• INC-28 (amalgamation, de-merger)

On filing the late submission, the companies will also have to pay $145.84 (INR 10,000).  

Steps Shown To Submit Pictures:

Is This Yet Another Addition To A Startup’s Burden?

Most of the time early stage startups usually don’t have the luxury of operating out designated offices let alone getting a plaque outside the building (which is one of the photo requirements). And startups that do have some money may choose to operate from a co-sharing space, which again makes it tough to meet the above requirements.

But according to Dipankar Bandopadhyay, partner at Mumbai-based law firm VERUS Advocates, this isn’t an issue.

“This is done to signal a change in the mindset of the government, targeting shell companies. What the authorities found post demonetisation is that during the course of their investigations they landed at the doorsteps of companies that didn’t even have a signboard… this will ensure that the company will have a presence,” said Bandyopadhyay.

Bandyopadhyay added that the new ordinance will look to strengthen the current requirement under the Companies Law under Section 12, under which the registered office should be capable of receiving communication for notices, without the need for any specific infrastructure.

Further, there are startups which have mushroomed from home, backyards, garage and coworking spaces. Such startups do not share a permanent address.

“You don’t need a fancy office, or massive board. You can have your house as a registered office, said Siddartha Pai, partner at 3one4 Capital.

He further added, “If you have been following the law, this ordinance is just a marginal extension of the existing rule. “The moment you incorporate a company there are forms like the INC-22/INC-7 , wherein you already have to give proof of your registered office with details like name board and GST number. What the active form does now is that it targets the shell companies of which over 4 lakh have been delisted over the past couple of years and whose titles have been debarred for not making filings and for violations of the law,” Pai said.

But Sreejith Moolayil, cofounder and COO of True Elements disagrees.

“This is bizarre, we file so many things anyway and now they want us to click and send them to pictures to show that we are alive and active. They have complete data of the companies that do their filings every month, so why this additional measures,” said Moolayil.

Moolayi believes the authorities are taking the easy way over the rather laborious process of compiling data with the help of agencies that handle data like goods and service tax, provident fund etc.  and removing the companies who have monthly returns while sending the notice to the rest and asking them to prove they are active.

Financial submissions are made by shell companies too, clarified Archit Gupta, founder and CEO ClearTax.

Speaking to Inc42, Gupta said, “The whole initiative is to trace down the shell companies and strike them off. Financial submissions are also done by all shell companies too. Shell companies are the ones that are being incorporated for many reasons, rolling of money and tax avoidance are a few.”

Gupta gave an account of the flipside as well. He said, on the positive side, startups who file the forms for  ‘Active Company Tagging Identities and Verification’ will be seen as compliant and actively participating in the actual growth of the economy.

However, as for the negative, the details that are to be provided in the e-forms are comprehensive and companies that are not fully operational may find it difficult to furnish these details. Further, non-compliance will entail the company be classified as ‘ACTIVE non-compliant’ and may lead to severe consequences including a physical verification of the registered office by the Registrar of Companies (ROC), he added.

What seems to be a simple form can cause some serious problems if not filled in time.

While the debate around whether this will have any impact on the operations of startups is unclear this is certainly another point of contention or lack of ease felt by some of the stakeholders part of the Indian startup community. However as the culture of enforcement picks up, it can help the ecosystem become more accountable and mature.

With Angel tax Issue still being solved, the reaction of the startup community to this new notification will need to be closely watched.

The post Is Your Startup ACTIVE Compliant? Everything You Need To Know About Govt’s Latest Rule appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Unique ideas can solve a problem, target a certain market segment or even create a successful and profitable business. However execution is as important as the idea. The journey between an idea and it coming true often poses shortcomings only visible in the long run. While funding, investors help startups sail through the challenges, but there is always a constant need for institutions which help startups with a structured approach in their early phases of existence. This very need has led to the demand for incubators and accelerators in India.

In the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay, India got its first startup incubator in 2004, and its first accelerator, Morpheus, in 2008. The change that the two would bring in to the Indian startup ecosystem over the next 11-15 years would be is enormous.

Though the Indian startup ecosystem has since been through numerous ups and downs, never has it turned back. Today, there are more than 70 startup accelerators in India. Clearly, from only a small number then, the count of operational startups in the country has growth to 39K today.

With a view to supporting the ecosystem further in India, and taking the startups to global heights, foreign companies such as Microsoft Accelerator, Techstars and Y Combinator have launched accelerators.

As part of  the ongoing series, Hidden Ecosystem Champions, by Inc42 and Amazon Web Services (AWS), which focuses on the stakeholders responsible for creating an impact in the Indian startup ecosystem, Revvx Accelerator, India Accelerator and BLS Accelerator, among many others, share their views on how accelerators are enabling early-stage startups to build sustainable business models.

Based on the ownership models, analysts have diversified accelerators in the following manner:

Accelerators: Aiding Startups To Overcome Challenges With Go-To Market Strategies

Even though India has emerged as the third largest startup hub in the world, its ecosystem is still characterised with a high failure rate.

Giving an insight into this aspect of the many challenges facing the Indian startup ecosystem, Avinash Kaushik of Revvx Accelerator, a startup accelerator, tells Inc42 that more than 90% of startups are bound to fail no matter which part of the world they are located, and accelerators can only mitigate early-stage risks. Bengaluru-based Revvx Accelerator is focused on hardware startups.

Elaborating on the core areas served by startup accelerators, Ashish Bhatia, founder and managing director of India Accelerator, adds, “Accelerators play the role of an aggregator and bring all the components together to provide support to startups to grow at an accelerated pace and increase their overall chances of survival.”

The industry veterans say that startups fail for a variety of reasons, with the biggest factor being issues related to funding and cash crunch. Startups today face severe challenges from domestic as well as international competitors across many factors, such as positioning, pricing, quality and functionality of products and even market acquisition strategy by rivals.

Many startups do not gauge market demand and fail to enhance just the product categories that are in vogue. Other factors like stagnancy in delivery, leniency in developing a distribution network that is both robust and scalable, and poor networking skills have also been known to lead to startup failures.

“Though entrepreneurs are primarily blamed for their failures, it is an equal responsibility of the accelerator to gauge its own potential in supporting a startup that requires a strong go-to-market (GTM) strategy to sustain the business,” says Riya Aggarwal, CEO of BLS Accelerator, a startup accelerator based out of Delhi.

This realisation alone, she tells Inc42, made her come up with an acceleration model, which focuses on the long-term goal of building sustainable businesses, discounting any short-term benefits.

Noting another key obstacle common to many startups, Mona Singh, co-founder and partner at India Accelerator, tells Inc42 that though the count of startups is rising, competition remains the most inevitable challenge for startups. Based in Gurugram, Haryana, India Accelerator is focused on seed-stage startups.

In fact, she explains, startups have to bear the brunt of a two-pronged challenge:

1. one emanating from monopolistic businesses that have dominated the market and rendered it difficult to enter;
2. and the existence of a multitude of startups in the same domain, possessing innovative ideas but saturating the market to a great degree.

She also says  that the fear of being held culpable for pitfalls, or blamed for failures, often acts as a  major roadblock for startups to achieving their goals.

Recalling his stint as the IFC’s ICT Incubation Centre at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kaushik of Revvx Accelerator says it was then that he realised the importance of  information and communication technologies-driven  models in India. That is why, he remarks, after understanding the situation well through research, he launched Revvx Accelerator in 2014, with the goal of enabling startups to overcome the challenges. Kaushik worked an executive advisor with the Washington, DC-headquartered IFC, a member of the World Bank group, from 2008 to 2010.

Why Are Corporates Launching Accelerators To Help Startups Succeed?

Acknowledging the rising potential of the Indian startup ecosystem, many large companies such as Microsoft and Reliance Jio Infocomm are launching their accelerator programmes. But how does a corporate accelerator help a startup grow?

Aggarwal of BLS Accelerator says, “Corporates bring a wealth of experience and strong market knowledge to understand segment nuances and are more capable to sustain the startup through its growth challenges.”

Large corporates bring with them the ability to make bold decisions and essential market insight far beyond the scope of a newly-established business.

Calling the corporate-startup partnership programmes “a two-way street”, Kaushik says  such tie-ups need to be backed by a strong exchange of value and outcome. While the startups can leverage the strong distribution channels shared by corporate-backed accelerators, in return they can generate the solutions to be deployed within their partners’ operations or be bundled as a co-branded product, he emphasises.

In most cases, the corporate accelerators are sector-focussed. Since all the accelerators acquire a share of the startup or charge equity in exchange for a catalysing programme, in good faith that the startup will succeed eventually, young entrepreneurs often stand at the crossroads of challenges while choosing an accelerator. They often face a dilemma: whether to select an accelerator that is sector-specific, or one that is sector-agnostic.

Why Should A Startup Choose A Sector-Specific Accelerator Over A Sector-Agnostic One?

According to the founders of several accelerators in India, a sector-specific approach is believed to have a higher success ratio compared to one which does not specialise in a particular space.

A single domain-focused accelerator provides the startup with an opportunity to learn rapidly through regular interactions and, in the process, address any gaps by innovaring and providing the required solutions to support growth, explains BLS Accelerator’s Aggarwal.

But should that be the only reason for choosing a specialist accelerator?

India Accelerator responds, “Choosing an industry-specific accelerator increases the likelihood that your mission will align with the larger mission of the accelerator.”

“Your success could benefit the accelerator financially, but the fact that it could also drive the organisation closer to its larger goal makes a synergistic relationship all the more worthwhile for both you and the accelerator,” Mr Bhatia tells startups.

The Real Picture Of India’s Startup Ecosystem: “An Exciting Future”

Although the ecosystem is supported by investors, venture capital funds, angel networks, incubators, venture studios, accelerators and sector-focussed catalysts, the experts say that the ecosystem has an enormous scope for development to be a global startup hub. This can be achieved by increasing focus on capacity building in order to help entrepreneurs learn and train themselves through structured programmes, they add.

Developed nations are now looking towards rapidly-growing and emerging nations such as India to tap the huge potential in these markets.

Revvx Accelerator’s Kaushik tells Inc42 that in his opinion, India’s manufacturing ecosystem is “slowly maturing”.

“With the likes of Foxconn and Wistron setting up plants in India, and Xiaomi and Apple setting up manufacturing units in India… we are poised for an exciting future to build solutions for India, and successful businesses in India and abroad.”

Indian startups are proving to be a major tool for attracting a significant chunk of foreign wealth into the economy.

Quoting data from a survey of 75 founders and investors, Bhatia of India Accelerator says entrepreneurs more optimistic about their prospects. More than half of the founders expect their revenue or gross sales to double in the next 12 months, and about 90% of the investors intend to increase their investments over the next 12 months, he says citing the findings of the survey.

Exuding confidence on the India startup story, Bhatia adds — “With the developments in the ecosystem, indigenous startups will not only make the lives of people easier through their affordable and convenient services but will also act as a major boost for the development, and the progress of the Indian economy.”

The post From Seed To Success: How Accelerators Make A Difference In A Startup’s Journey appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Rahul Sharma, cofounder of Indian phone maker Micromax, has forayed into the electric vehicle space. The Micromax veteran has started a new enterprise called Revolt Intellicorp Pvt. Ltd, with plans to  launch an artificial intelligence (AI) based motorcycle.

Talking about the new venture, Sharma, who is setting up the company with a personal investment of about INR 400-500 Cr, said that, “ My vision is to see every household in India have access to sustainable mobility.”

Based in Gurugram, Revolt Intellicorp is focused at making personal mobility practical, affordable and sustainable. The proposed AI-enabled motorcycle will have a range of 156.8 km and a top speed of 85km/hr. The commercial launch of the motorcycle is scheduled in June this year.

“We are working on the premise of making intelligent vehicles that don’t compromise on the form factor and performance of ICE vehicles. To this we added our tech prowess and our ambition is to replace them completely,” Sharma added.

Revolt: Bringing Charging Infrastructure

The company has a 100K square ft. manufacturing facility in Manesar, Haryana. The facility has a production capacity of 120K vehicles that have been commissioned for Phase 1.

Addressing the select gathering during the launch of venture, Sharma said that the company has focused on a few major aspects which includes design language, performance, long distance range etc. One of the most interesting things here is that Revolt would be setting up its own charging infrastructure as it starts rolling out its products.

Revolt also plans to have a disruptive go-to-market strategy under which it will follow offline as well as online model. They are also very much focused on enabling experience stores across the cities so that the customers could experience the touch and feel of the product.

The first phase of rollout will start from Delhi-NCR. The product as of now is working on 4G LTE service and will require very minimum service, according to Sharma. With a team of automobile industry veterans, Sharma is eyeing double-digit market share in the automobile industry and just not the electric vehicles segment. Sharma also shared that the company has a slew of products lined up for a launch to disrupt the segment.

Market Potential Of EV Two Wheelers

India is the second-largest motorcycle market in the world, with sales dominated by basic commuters. More than 20 Mn two-wheelers were sold to domestic customers in 2017 – 18, making it the most popular vehicle category sold in India. Rahul Sharma said that he expects the electric vehicle market to change in the next three years.

This makes two wheelers most harmful for the environment and hence, there is immense scope to make the segment cleaner and more sustainable, the company said in a media statement.

Another automobile company, Tork Motors have developed an cloud connected customisable electric motorcycle T6X, which is expected to be launched soon. Tork’s motorcycle has a range of 100 km and will effectively cost INR 28 for one full charge as per the current electricity rates.  

Recently in March, the Indian government also launched the second phase of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) which has laid out subsidies for electric two wheelers and public transport. The government has also expanded the list of concessions for EV makers by cutting import duties on essential parts such as batteries and powertrains.

[The story was co-written by Bhumika Khatri and Yatti Soni.]

The post Micromax Cofounder Rahul Sharma Launches An AI-Enabled Motorcycle Brand appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Launching its election manifesto today (April 8), the Narendra Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party has promised an investment of Rs 100 Lakh Cr ($14.36 Bn) in the infrastructure sector during the next five years.

“We recognise that investment driven growth requires cheaper cost of capital. By anchoring inflation at 4% and cleaning up our banking system we have created the space for structural reduction in the cost of capital. This will not only help infrastructure investment but investment in the wider economy,” the manifesto said.

BJP has also said in its manifesto that “In the next five years, we will ensure that 50 cities are covered with a strong metro network.” Currently, the metro is operational in 10 cities.

In the railways sector, BJP said it will ensure the conversion of all viable rail tracks to broad gauge by 2022, and will make all efforts to ensure electrification of all railway tracks by 2022.

The BJP will also launch a massive programme for modernisation of railway stations in the country and will equip all main railway stations with Wi-Fi facility by 2022.

Taking the number of functional airports up from 65 to 101 in the last five years, BJP proposes to double that number in the next five years.

The BJP, if elected to power, “will also set up five regional centres of excellence on urban issues. These centres will provide support to states and local bodies on issues of urban governance and growth”, the manifesto mentioned.

The BJP government “will launch a National Urban Mobility Mission to provide technology based urban mobility solutions to all urban local bodies and increase the use of public transport”.

The manifesto also promised that the BJP will bring in new technologies and designs in road construction, operation and maintenance.  The BJP will aim at next generation infrastructure which will include i-ways (information ways).

In the manifesto, BJP highlighted their desire to make India a world leader in e-mobility and mentioned that 10,000 crores have already been allocated to launch a programme for promoting clean energy and battery operated vehicles. The manifesto also said that the BJP will further work on this front to ensure expansion of this new mobility experience.

Shedding light on BJP’s Digital Connectivity plans, the manifesto mentioned that every Gram Panchayat will be connected with high speed optical fibre network by 2022. Through village level high speed broadband services, the BJP government plans to provide a range of services such as telemedicine, tele-education and agriculture related advisories.

The 48-page manifesto has committed itself to building the Ram Temple and introduction of a Uniform Civil Code, apart from its infrastructure and agricultural plans. With the tagline ‘Sankalpit India, Sashakt India’ (Committed India, Strong India), BJP’s manifesto is definitely aiming to please individuals as well as businesses. However with the country’s industrial growth and foreign investments slowing down, it remains to be seen how such massive programmes will be financed. To read more about Lok Sabha elections and analyse the pre-poll promises of Congress and BJP click here.  

The post Modernisation Of Railways, Metros And Airports: BJP Promises 1 Lakh Cr In Infrastructure If Voted To Power appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Preparing for the biggest event in the democracy of India, Facebook is blocking or removing approximately one million accounts per day.

With the 17th Lok Sabha elections just three days away Facebook India’s managing director and vice president Ajit Mohan said in a blog post that, “We’ve also gotten better at using artificial intelligence and machine learning to fight interference. For example, these tools help us block or remove approximately one million accounts a day. They also help us, at a large scale, identify abusive or violating content, quickly locate it across the platform and remove it in bulk.”

In the blogpost he said, “our family of apps continue our efforts to help make sure the elections are fair and free from interference, both foreign and domestic.”

“One of the most important new product changes we’ve launched in this effort is our political ad transparency tools, giving people a clearer picture of who is placing the ads they see. Anyone who wants to run an ad in India related to politics has to first confirm their identity and location, and give more details about who paid for or published the ad. We then run the ad with a ‘Paid for by’ or ‘Published by’ disclaimer and house it in a searchable Ad Library for seven years,” he said in the blogpost.

The social media giant is also activating new regional operations centers, focused on election integrity situated in Singapore and Dublin. These teams include engineers, operations specialists and data scientists, and will work closely with staff in our Menlo Park, CA headquarters, as well as with local experts in Delhi.

Last week, the social media platform removed nearly 700 Pages, Groups and accounts in India for violating Facebook’s policies on coordinated inauthentic behaviour and spam.

Facebook has also expanded its partnerships with third-party fact-checkers to seven accredited organizations in India. These groups cover eight of the most spoken languages — English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Gujarati — and Facebook is looking to add more.

“This partnership work extends to other media groups, as well — such as Indian Institute of Mass Communication and the Asian College of Journalism — to develop training workshops on digital literacy, including how to spot false news and identify misinformation during election campaigns,” the blogpost read.

On March 6, a parliamentary panel of the Indian government summoned Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram representatives to scrutinise the steps taken by these social media companies ahead of General Elections in May 2019. The discussions were led on the topic of safeguarding citizens rights on social/online news media platforms.

The post In Run Up To Lok Sabha Elections, Facebook Removes 1 Mn Accounts Per Day appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said in a statement that “the draft Policy is likely to severely bring down FDI flows in the sector which is the backbone to building a trillion-dollar digital economy.”

The association also found that the process of making the policy itself was less than inclusive and open as compared to more recent national level policies such as the National Digital Communications Policy 2018.

IAMAI also expressed the difference in opinion with the draft policy’s understanding of ‘data is the new oil’. The statement issued by IAMAI stated that, “unlike non-renewable natural resources like oil or coal, data is non-exclusive, non-exhaustive and easily replicable. Furthermore, unlike the other natural resources, processing of data does not deplete the stock of data and only created further data.”

The draft ecommerce policy which proposes a “legal and technological framework to be created that can provide the basis for imposing restrictions on cross-border data flow,” has been drawing flak from multiple trade bodies.

The draft policy imposes stringent conditions on companies storing data outside the country like: data stored abroad shall not be made available to other business entities outside India, for any purpose, even with the customer consent; data stored abroad shall not be made available to a third party, for any purpose, even if the customer consents to it; a request from Indian authorities to have access to all such data stored abroad, shall be complied with immediately etc,.

Companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, Amazon and Twitter are part of IAMAI along with many Indian media houses, telecos and ecommerce companies.

Recently, the United States Trade Representative in its factsheet for National Trade Estimate (2019) slammed the Cross-Border Data Flows and Data Localization Requirements.

“Restrictions included in India’s draft Personal Data Protection law and draft e-Commerce Policy threaten to undermine the digital economy as a major source of growth for India,” USTR mentioned in its factsheet.

The government had invited comments from stakeholders including consumers on the draft National Ecommerce Policy the last date for which was till March 29.

The post Draft Ecommerce Policy May Be A Roadblock To India’s Economic Ambitions: IAMAI appeared first on Inc42 Media.

It’s been six years, we have been working tirelessly to foster the startup ecosystem and help entrepreneurs succeed, while, constantly adapting to the needs of our readers and the changing landscape. When we started Inc42, we not only wanted to become an authority on startups in India but also foster a community for startups, entrepreneurs and investors.

Over the years, we have built this strong community and support the growth of founders. With a ringside view of the Indian startup ecosystem, we understand the needs and know what matters, as well as the people who matter. This is evident in every story we do, and every event we host. Be it our city conference — The Ecosystem Summit — or The Junction, our residential conference, or even the small community events such as VC Dinners, Mixers or Founders Meetup.

We have helped build networks and relationships over the years, and have helped the startup community come closer and work in tandem. In continuation to our principles and ideologies and to keep the trend going — we are bringing our invite-only tech party — Pulse42 back after almost two years in a new and evolved format!

At the heart of Pulse42 is the need to grow a community of entrepreneurs and investors. Coming at the start of the new financial year, it is the ultimate showcase of India’s thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, with a confluence of startups, investors, accelerators, incubators and other ecosystem stakeholders from the corporate and government spheres coming under one roof — with no agenda!

Tap Into ‘The Pulse of Tech’

India is one of the largest startup ecosystems in the world, and it is growing at an unprecedented pace. Since we started Pulse42 in 2015, Indian startup ecosystem has added more than 12,000 startups, taking the total tally of startups to 49,000 (Inc42 DataLabs). That’s a massive growth from the total number of startups till 2015 in India, and it’s finally time to expand the community to include the new faces.

In the past, Pulse42 has remained a closed doors event — most of you might not even have heard about it, no one knew when they happened except the ones invited as the best of India’s startups and investors mingled in an exclusive networking event. But the community has grown immensely and after doing 10 editions of Pulse42 and engaging over 1000+ founders, investors and ecosystem enablers, it’s time to break out of stealth mode and give more people a chance to experience the same.

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”
– Henry Ford

While in past editions, Pulse42 was an ‘invite-only’ shindig, this year anyone in the startup world can apply to attend by filling in a simple application form. If you make the cut, you will be invited to the most happening startup party in town.

Like previous years, this year’s Pulse42 is all about bringing ‘The Pulse of Tech’ outside sterile meeting rooms, and to a more vibrant atmosphere with food, drinks, music and quirky conversations in India’s tech capital, Bengaluru. Celebrate the vibrant community of startups, and tap into ‘The Pulse of Tech’ by applying for a chance to be at Pulse42.

No Agenda Formal Meetups

As we have seen in the past, Pulse42 not only brings businesses and investors together but also creates an atmosphere for honest and open discussions thanks to its community focus, with none of the formal baggage of conventional tech meetings. Simply put, this is India’s most fun tech meetup.

You won’t find predetermined speaker lists, old-fashioned agendas or formal introductions with suit-clad executives and investors. Come in your finest party attire, and hang out with your peers in this amazing no-holds-barred tech party where churn rates are all about your conversations and there’s absolutely no pressure to exit.

To keep conversations flowing, Pulse42 will be held at a mesmeric venue, with scrumptious food and cocktails, and plenty of time to pitch your ideas and have an open discussion with the community.

Curated Guests, Leading Startups and Exclusive Interactions

As with every Inc42 event over the past six years, Pulse42 will see the most impressive curated guest-list for a startup meet ever, with some superlative names in tech, headlining the night.

This is the place where relationships are forged, and startups get funded. Pulse42 has seen partnerships bloom like never before, just like it happened for Unacademy in 2016.

We’re expecting over 100 techsters to attend this scintillating evening. And that’s the ultimate who’s who of the Indian startup ecosystem – past editions have witnessed luminaries such as Rajan Anandan (Google), Anupam Mittal (Shaadi.com), Arihant Patni (Hive Technologies), Sanjay Nath (Blume Ventures), Sid Talwar (LightBox Ventures) among others from the Indian startup ecosystem!

Pulse42 is all about disrupting what you expect from a typical tech meetup; it turns your idea of tech meetups on its head. The only thing we ask is you chat, network and connect with like-minded people. Bring your best ideas and give wings to your startup dreams at Pulse42.

Applications to attend Pulse42 are live now. Early bird applicants get a discounted price of INR 3,999 per invite, while applications after the introductory offer period are priced at INR 4,999 per invite.

The post Pulse42: The Most Happening Startup Party Comes To Bengaluru – Are You Game? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

On February 10 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the southern state of Tamil Nadu, it was not just PM and his team who were working tirelessly, Twitter bots rooting for and against Modi were also breaking a sweat.

A new study by an US-based cyber watchdog, Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab)  shows that on February 9-10, pro-BJP Twitter accounts were busy trying to popularise the hashtag ‘TNwelcomesModi’ while pro-Congress or anti-BJP accounts kept mentioning the hashtag ‘GoBackModi’.

The study took a set of the first 50K tweets from a massive 777K mentions for the hashtag ‘TNwelcomesModi’ on February 9-10. These sampled tweets were posted by just 891 accounts, the study found. The account which posted the hashtag the most was a Twitter handle @SasiMaha6, who tweeted 1,803 times during the scanned period. This translates into a humanly impossible task of sending one tweet every 15 seconds for 7 hours and 48 minutes.

(Image source: BFRLab Medium post)

@priyamanaval6 was another high volume account rooting for Modi which posted #TNWelcomesModi 1,677 times, one tweet every 17 seconds!

Not to be outdone, pro-Congress or anti-BJP bots also started retweeting competing hashtags such as ‘#GoBackModi’ which went on to get 447K mentions during the duration of the scan. During DFRLab’s scan, the set of first 50K tweets of #GoBackModi was posted from 7,394 accounts.

The most active pro-Congress bot was an account by the name @PhillyTdp which tweeted the hashtag ‘GoBackModi’ a staggering 2,197 times; one tweet every 5.3 seconds for over three hours.

(Image source: BFRLab Medium post)

The second most anti-Modi Twitter account active was @nritdpusa, which posted 1,899 times in three hours, or roughly one tweet every 6 seconds.

The research from DFRLab reveals that just 50 accounts posted two-thirds of the total volume of tweets mentioning the hashtag #TNwelcomesModi and made it trend on Twitter. It must be noted that the sample set was limited to 50K tweets due to a technical constraint on DFRLab’s part.

Winner Winner Twitter Dinner?

Twitter determines the most popular hashtags using its Trending Topics (TTs) algorithm, which registers a spike in the use of a hashtag and then labels it trending. For example, if a hashtag is used several thousand times over a few months it will not make it to the trending list, but if the same volume of tweets use the hashtag in one day, then it will be shown as trending.

DFRLab’s statistics showed that while BJP-supporting bots were more in volume, the Congress Twitter bot army was way ahead in speed. While #TNwelcomesModi took seven hours to reach 50K retweets and mentions, the anti-Modi bot army did that in just over three hours.

The analysis by DFRLab is based on a method known as Coefficient of Traffic Manipulation (CTM) which compares the flow of organic traffic on Twitter with traffic that is seemingly manipulated by bots. DFRLab states that non-manipulated traffic typically has a CTM score of 12 or lower, while bot-manipulated traffic reaches a CTM score of 60. (For a detailed explanation of how these scores are calculated, click here).

According to DFRLab’s study, pro-BJP bots set a record of sorts with a CTM score of 123.98 during the seven-hour window of the scan. Meanwhile the Congress’s bot army scored a much lower CTM score of 46.81 for the same time period.

While it’s obvious that bots are being used heavily to manipulate the public discourse, Twitter is also upping its game to tackle the issue of fake accounts or bots.

Responding to email queries, a Twitter spokesperson told Inc42 that “Twitter fights platform manipulation (including spam and malicious automation) strategically and at scale. We have developed machine learning tools that identify and take action on networks of spammy or automated accounts automatically. This lets us tackle attempts to manipulate conversations at scale, across languages and time zones, without relying on reactive reports.”

Twitter has also made intensive investments “to identify and combat bad-faith actors who try to manipulate the service,” the spokesperson added.

Many  Twitter accounts, which even an eyeball test can prove to be bots, have been suspended by Twitter over the last year. Apart from this, “We [Twitter] continue to make strong progress and are now removing 214 percent more accounts year-over-year for violating our platform manipulation policies,” the spokesperson told us.

With India going to polls from tomorrow, such Twitter battles are likely to continue till the last polling day. While the Election Commission is trying hard to stop such mal-practices, bad-actors are sure to slip through the cracks in the forthcoming days and will try to influence the elections.

The post #MainBhiBot: The War Between BJP And Congress To Conquer Twitter appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Coffee brings people together, but not often do people come together and end up changing how coffee is made and drank. That’s what Arman Sood and Ashwajeet Singh did, even if their idea of building a venture came to fruition, many years after they first met.

Sood and Singh, cofounders of Sleepy Owl, met in law school and knew even back then that someday they wanted to build their own venture. Their sweet dream became a mini-ecommerce venture on campus called ‘eShack’ making it the first online store for beverages and party accessories. Soon after graduation, though, the duo went their separate ways; while Sood joined an edtech startup, Singh joined an apparel company.

To their credit, they never gave up on starting something on their own. And in 2016, Sood and Singh along with Ajai Thandi, the latter’s childhood friend, founded Sleepy Owl.
embed code:

The ‘Brew’ At Sleepy Owl

Sleepy Owl packages cold brew coffees, which are extracted by steeping ground coffee beans in cold water. The entire process takes about 18-24 hours and the final result is a ready-to-drink brew, straight-up, with milk or hot. This process helps cut down the acidic content and bitterness of the coffee.

”Each batch of Sleepy Owl cold brew coffee is made using the highest quality beans sourced from Chikmagulur, Karnataka and medium-roasted to extract all the chocolatey, nutty flavours. Each batch is then cold-brewed for 18-24 hours which gives it a naturally sweet, smooth, non-acidic flavor which is then delivered fresh,’’ says Singh.

Since cold-brewing quality coffee is complicated and tedious for consumers, Sleepy Owl came up with a Brew Boxes and Brew Packs and Brew Bottles, targeting the cold brew market. Sleepy Owl manufactures its Brew Boxes and Brew Packs in Shahpur Jat in New Delhi and its ready-to-drink coffee is manufactured in Ghaziabad. The Brew Box is a cardboard box which contains brewed coffee. Each box contains 10 cups of coffee which stay fresh for a month. Currently the startups is selling a pack of 3 boxes at $23.75 (INR 1,650) where each box is delivered in a gap of 7 days. These are available online and for retail in Delhi-NCR.

The Brew Packs on the other hand contain balanced and ground coffee, packed in a filter bag, which can be dropped in 500 ml of water and left overnight. A pack of 5 is priced at $7 (INR 500). The Brew Packs are available online on the Sleepy Owl website pan india and in retail outlets in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.

‘’We believe the genesis of Sleepy Owl took place at a very fertile time when the Indian coffeescape was undergoing its third wave. We timed it with the growth in popularity of cold brew in the West and were confident it was a direction we could bring and establish in the Indian market,’’ says Thandi.

Satiating The Indian Demand For Cold Brew

The founders started brewing their cold brew concoction in a two-bedroom apartment in Dwarka. It took about six months of experimenting with different beans, and processes to get the right concoction, which they took to retailers. This became the biggest challenge for Sleepy Owl, as retailers were skeptical to shelve these new brews. The team then decided to go online to promote its products, and built on ecommerce and social media marketing to take its cold brew to market.

The second challenge Sleepy Owl faced was that the cold brew product in its first iteration, was a 1.5 litre package, making it difficult to ship owing to the high net weight. The company had to go back and figure out other packaging options for the products that could be distributed more easily cater to a wider audience.

Beating tall odds, Sleepy Owl soon saw brighter days and is today backed by DSG Consumer Partners with a seed round of $500K and is present in 120 retail outlets across Delhi-NCR and in 75 stores in Mumbai, besides the online sales presence.

Competitive Landscape For The Oxymoron That Is Sleepy Owl

While Cold Brew as a beverage category is still very niche in India, gourmet coffee has been a more familiar presence in the market. The success of gourmet coffee brands has created a shift in the coffee consumption pattern in India from regular coffees to speciality coffees.

Clearly, the gourmet coffee market has plenty of takers, and Sleepy Owl is just one of the companies gunning to fill those mugs with a razor-sharp focus on cold brews and with competitive pricing.

The Ready-To-Drink (RTD) market according to an industry report, from 2012 to 2017, has observed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.85% with sales value of $14.1 Mn in 2017, an increase of 14.96% over 2016. The reasons for this range from the convenience of having a drink in a pack/bottle, to the changing lifestyles that demand easy-to-consume and healthier food & beverages. Add to that is the growing exposure to high quality beverages among urban consumers and a startup such as Sleepy Owl that understands the changing landscape. Sounds like a recipe for success.

”Over the last 3 years, we are proud to say Sleepy Owl has been successful in crafting a narrative on Cold Brew Coffee in urban India,’’ Singh says to sign off.

Sleepy Owl was a gifting partner at The Ecosystem Summit.

The post Can Sleepy Owl Warm India Up To The Cold Brew Revolution? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In what could become a regulatory problem for Gpay, the Delhi High Court has today questioned the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about the legality Google’s payment app.

A division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice AJ Bhambhani posed the question to RBI about how Gpay was facilitating financial transactions without the requisite authorisation from the central bank.

The petition was filed by Abhijit Mishra who has said that  GPay does not figure in RBI’s list of authorised ‘payment systems operators’ released by the central bank on March 29, 2019.

The PIL said that GPay was acting as a payments system provider in violation of the Payments and Settlements Act, 2007.

Responding to the High Court’s question, a Google spokesperson told Inc42 that “Google Pay operates as a technology service provider to its partner banks, to allow for payments through the UPI infrastructure, and is not part of payment processing or settlement. There is no requirement for licensing of these services under the prevailing statutory and regulatory provisions.”

A cursory glance through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) showed that Google Pay is registered as a third-party app for UPI and is partnering with State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC bank.

“The central bank is apprised of the progress and we remain committed to complying with the laws of the land,” Google spokesperson added.

Commenting on the data localisation hurdle that Google is crossing currently the Google spokesperson said that, “In order to support our partner banks, our efforts in complying with the government’s data localisation norms are underway, and given the scale and complexity, we are being mindful to prioritise data security and uninterrupted services to our users as we make this transition.”

The matter has been listed on April 29 for further hearing

Gpay, which was earlier called Google Tez was launched in September 2017 and the name was changed to Google Pay in August 2018. According to data from January 2019, Google Pay has clocked nearly 220 Mn transactions. Meanwhile, its monthly user base has grown from 14 Mn in March 2018 to 45 Mn last month (March 2019).

The post Delhi HC Asks RBI How Google Is Running Payments Ops Without Authorisation appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management have invested $26 Mn (approx INR 180 Cr) in San Francisco and Mumbai-based WizRocket, the parent company of CleverTap, a mobile marketing platform. Accel Partner an existing investor in CleverTap, also participated in the round.

The new funding brings the company’s valuation to more than $150 Mn. According to the company, its revenue has been growing at 250% year-over-year since 2015, driving over $2 Bn in incremental revenue for its customers.

Founded in 2013, by Anand Jain, Sunil Thomas and Suresh Kondamudi who quit their lucrative jobs at Network18 to build the customised platform which could analyse user behaviour, group them into multiple groups and on the basis of what they have done or not done, send them push notifications, emails, SMSes, etc.

Scott Shleifer, partner at Tiger Global said that, “Marketing technology is undergoing rapid transformation, and we believe CleverTap is well positioned to help consumer businesses drive materially higher customer lifetime values.”

CleverTap’s cofounder, Anand Jain said, “We want to double down our efforts in machine learning and Artificial Intelligence, we want to expand our team, add more engineers and data scientists”

CleverTap has so far raised a total of $41 Mn of funding in three rounds rounds.

CleverTap’s Growth

CleverTap recently opened its APAC headquarters in Singapore and has expanded its presence in the Americas and Europe to serve rapidly-scaling brands. The company also plans on expanding its  geographic presence. “We will hopefully expand into Europe this year and expand our presence in the US,” Jain said.

It counts over 8,000 companies including Vodafone, Star, Sony, Domino’s Pizza, GO-JEK, Cleartrip and BookMyShow among its clients.

One of CleverTap’s services is to send time-sensitive campaigns activated by real-time user activity or inactivity. The mobile networking platform also sends campaigns based on when users are most likely to engage with the brand, for example, campaigns designed around IPL.

The Mobile Marketing Space

Urban Airship, another competitor CleverTap has raised $25 million in Series F funding. Also backed by Sequoia, Amplitude is a larger rival of CleverTap with over 20,000 clients. Other competitors of CleverTap are WebEngage, Kahuna, Lean Plum etc,. According to data from Grand View Research, the mobile marketing market is expected to reach $223.41 Bn by 2025 growing at a CAGR of 22.8% in the said period.

The post Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Lead $26 Mn Round in CleverTap appeared first on Inc42 Media.