Twitter Co-founder and angel investor Christopher Issac 'Biz' Stone, on Friday announced that he will be investing in Kochi-based startup, Sieve. The announcement was made over a video-conference at the second edition of Kerala Startup Mission's event - Huddle 2019, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. While it is the first major initiative in the state, the funding amount remained undisclosed.
The Kochi-based startup is founded by Sanjay Nediyara, a hearing-impaired entrepreneur.
Founder Sanjay Nediyara with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
"I have used the product of Sieve as a freelancer. As an angel, I consider the person first and the product second. I find Sanjay as a dedicated, empathetic and extremely hardworking individual.”
Seive is a platform for freelancers and agencies, that provides infrastructure in the form of websites, digital signatures, invoicing and payment management. Currently serving in the US, Sieve will soon expand its services to the European market.
"Our larger vision is to build truly Internet companies in the cloud where people can form companies and work from anywhere in the world," Seive's founder said.
Sieve's other investors include Friends of Oorjja, an ecosystem empowering the differently-abled community; and Otis Elevators. Friends of Oorjja consists of senior professionals from the banking finance industry.
Nediyara was previously selected as one of Forbes' fellows in 2018. He has also been awarded the Reach Award, instituted by Eric Weihenmayer Foundation in the USA. Nediyara has also been previously invited by Google to attend its conference - Google IO.
Earlier on Friday, social media major Facebook announced that it was planning to invest in tech startups in the country.
Last month, Bengaluru-based regional language social media platform - ShareChat, raised $100 million in its Series D round of funding from Twitter and TrustBridge Partners. This is not the first time when Twitter had made an investment in an Indian company.
In January 2015, it acquiredZipDial, a Bengaluru-based company that developed an innovative platform that turns missed calls into mobile marketing and analytics product. While the amount was undisclosed, according to reports, the transaction was estimated between $40 and $50 million.
ScaleneWorks People Solutions, a Bengaluru-based talent solutioning organisation, on Friday announced that it has got into a definitive agreement to raise about $1 million from its existing investor, Hallmark Group (HG).
The firm plans to use the funding towards technology adoption and expansion. In 2015, it had raised $850,000 from HG. Hallmark Group is chaired by Jay Talluri, who is also the President and Head of the Telugu Association for North America (TANA).
Ashish Tiwari, Founder and CEO of ScaleneWorks said,
“We are fortunate to have HG Group’s support and backing in our growth story through the last several years, validating our confidence in formalisation of Indian informal workforce, beginning of lifestyle-led employment culture - emulating from western economies and inheriting the tenets of digitalisation across the recruiting processes.”
Established in 2010, ScaleneWorks provides human capital management solutions, task RPO, enterprise RPO and other bespoke innovative on-site recruitment solutions across the IT, non-IT and engineering industries, to a number of global blue chip and fast-emerging Indian companies.
Dhruv Katyal, COO and Partner at ScaleneWorks, said,
“Our business in India is growing at 2x rate year-on-year. We have seen a top-line growth of 137 percent last year and soon we would like to be a name which resonates with recruiting. A lot of these funds will be utilised towards expansion and scale, be it geography, technology or even consolidation of some talented, small time players.”
According to Katyal, talent acquisition is an unorganised economy and there is a dearth of standardisation, serious players in the industry. Scalene with its “no one size fits all” philosophy, is attempting to custom create unique value proposition for its customers across different industries.
With a presence in India and the US, the company has around 94+ clients across industries like BFSI, retail, IT services, etc., and has close to 128 million candidates.
In a statement, Scalene said it has also expanded into both global and domestic staffing services, with an absolute vision of becoming an international company from India.
Technological advances and changes have changed the way students, working professionals, and businesses view learning. Instead of set courses spread over a few years, people have woken up to the importance of lifelong learning. The rapid changes and increased complexity of today's world have led to new challenges and demands on the learning process. Venguswamy Ramaswamy, Global Head, TCS iON, reveals how they are using the phygital approach to redefine the education sector.
At India’s largest startup conference, we bring to you some of the best minds, top VCs from India and abroad, the poster children of the ecosystem, stalwarts from the industry, and top government officials. The conversations at TechSparks 2019 will focus on the next step - an Inclusive, Future-ready, and Intelligence-led India.
Is it the new TikTok? Only time will tell. But, HAGO is already one of the top downloaded apps in the world, and a huge hit in India with record engagement rates. Here’s what makes it a viral sensation.
As Vice President, Product Management Excellence and Innovation, Ingersoll Rand, Rasha Hasaneen is focused on automating homes and buildings, enhancing industrial productivity, and delivering efficient and reliable small transportation solutions.
Freelancing in today’s digital ecosystem has come of age - flexible working hours, working on projects that help you grow and choosing what work works for you. It’s no surprise then that India is one of the major hubs of the new-age gig economy. Here are some startups facilitating this growth.
Aayush Madhogaria, Director, Business Development, JIF
Here's how Kolkata-based Aayush Madhogaria completely transformed his family's iron castings business, Jagannath Iron Foundry (JIF), leading it to reach a Rs 30 crore turnover in just 4 years.
Savitha Kuttan (left) and Priyank Jain (right), co-founders of Omnicuris.
Bengaluru-based Omnicuris is attempting to improve the quality of healthcare in India by providing doctors and medical practitioners with free and engaging video-based content on a mobile app for continuous medical education.
Ahmed S Abdeally, Taher Ahmed and Aliasgar with AP Minister for Information Technology, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Nara Lokesh.
In Visakhapatnam, or Vizag, which is known as the industrial centre of Andhra Pradesh, technological advancements are becoming more prominent by the day. This has also set the ground for several startups to come into the market and grow themselves.
The Indian startup economy is getting bigger than ever. Your movie tickets, grocery delivery, food delivery, and blood tests are all done by startups.
But how could startups and entrepreneurs change so many things about the way we live? After all, it was just a few years ago that we couldn’t fathom just getting someone to do our errands with one tap on our phones.
Startups have changed the game of life. And at the 10th edition of YourStory’s annual tech summit TechSparks, you can witness all things and determinants that goes into building such startups.
YourStory brings together the entrepreneurs who have braved the odds and built on their vision, including the likes of Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm and Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola, among many others.
There will be angel investors and key personalities from major investment firms like Sequoia Capital and Qualcomm Ventures as well.
The who’s who from the ecosystem will deliberate on ‘India 2025 - Inclusive, Future-ready, Intelligence-led’. The two-day summit, to be held on October 10 and 11, is lined up with themed debates, policy discussions, workshops, product launches, and much more.
For startup enthusiasts and budding entrepreneurs looking to start up, the conference is a resource mine. TechSparks is sure to keep you informed and updated in what is coming for the startup boys and girls of India.
And guess what? The tickets are currently on a 50 percent discount just for you!
When the next disruptive idea rakes in, don’t tell us you didn’t see that coming!
YourStory has curated a list of job openings in the music industry.
Sound Design Music Producer
BYJU'S
Experience needed: 2+ years
BYJU'S is looking for a creative candidate who has excellent premix skills and has a working knowledge of VST, plugins, Logic Pro, and DAW-Pro Tools. Innovation and originality are the qualities that the company wants from the sound design music producer. They should be able to follow a brief and work on their own initiative.
The academy is on the lookout for a dedicated music teacher who will follow a collaborative teaching pattern. Matching the course pace with the learning pace of the students would be the candidate’s primary responsibility. They should be updated on the opportunities from the music field and incorporate new techniques to make learning fun. Excellent command over Hindustani/Carnatic music would be important criteria.
As a sound technician, the candidate’s responsibility will vary from production to post-production opportunities. In production, they should record sound onto digital audio tape and monitor audio signals for malfunctions, maintain and repair sound equipment. In post-production, they should integrate pre-recorded audio to visual content. Mixing and balancing sound would be their task.
Experience needed: Grade 5 in Western classical vocals
The selected candidate is expected to plan, prepare and execute music lessons to the students through convenient teaching methods. They must motivate the students and encourage them to engage in musical activities. Planning recitals and concerts for the students would also be a part of their job.
The academy is searching for an enthusiastic music teacher who sets clear targets and ensures high levels of interest from the students. They should be aware of and make provision for the differently-abled students. Efficient teaching and effective time management would be the key to get into the academy.
What exactly does a drink strategist do? There seems to be no clear-cut definition of this job profile, but going by what Fraser Campbell does, it looks like a profession that most people would love to have.
As a global brand ambassador for Dewar’s, a brand of blended scotch whiskey, Fraser hosts events, holds workshops, and travels around the world to put the joy back into the business of drinking whiskey. He is on a mission to dispel the myth that whiskey is a stuffy, serious drink.
Recently, Fraser was in India for the first time to create interesting whiskey-based cocktails for folks in Bengaluru.
Remember those famous songs that you’ve hummed along to, like ‘O Gujariya’ from the film Queen, and Mere Bina from the movie Crook? Singer Nikhil D’Souza, who sang the playback for these Bollywood hit numbers, has just launched his new single, Sitaare.
His new song is based on the premise that our destinies are written in the stars. We will meet certain people in our lives, whether we like it or not. They might come to us in the form of lovers, friends, enemies or even soul mates.
Also, check out his new song that can be found on several music platforms such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube Music, and the like.
Nikhil D'Souza
If you are crazy about spy thrillers, you will enjoy the web series, The Family Man, that is streaming on Amazon Prime now. But if you’ve already binge-watched the series, you must be dying to watch similar spy movies that are replete with suspense and exciting narratives.
Here’s our list of must-not-miss spy dramas to spice up your weekend. From Mission Impossible and Fallout to Baby, and many more, there is plenty of entertainment in store for those who love this genre of films.
There is nothing quite as enthralling as stories of espionage, laced with intrigue and non-stop thrills that will keep you glued to your couch for hours.
As we observe World Tourism Day this week, why not go green for your next vacation? Check out our article on sustainable tourism, and find out how you can become a ‘green’ traveller.
From choosing low carbon emission transport for your travels to finding a carbon neutral resort to stay in and purchasing local merchandise, there are plenty of guidelines out there to help you become an efficient ‘green’ traveller.
Can you imagine a day without coffee? But how about a cup of green coffee? As more and more people become health-conscious, they are looking for healthier alternatives for their regular cuppa Joe! One such alternative is the unroasted cousin of regular coffee called ‘green coffee’, which has become popular because it is both healthy and delicious.
As green coffee is not roasted, it retains the natural nutrition prevalent in coffee beans, and has three times more antioxidant power than regular roasted coffee.
Do you love beautiful handbags? Do you dream of being a food-critic but also love to be an entrepreneur? Is your favourite author Haruki Murakami? If so, meet Nidhi Kumra, Co-founder and CEO, YourSpace, who feels the same.
Nidhi Kumra
Nidhi was with Lehman Brothers in London as a trader, and then worked at a bank for almost a decade before becoming an entrepreneur.
YourSpace is a hostel brand in India co-founded by Shubha Lal, Karan Kaushish, and Nidhi, and is an initiative by IIM, Cambridge, and Oxford alumni.
What’s more, she lives by the motto ‘Great things never came from staying in your comfort zone’, and believes that it is the only maxim that can lead to great success.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note series has always been the I-can-do-everything device. It’s got a big vibrant display with some of the thinnest bezels ever seen on a smartphone. There’s the top of the line specifications to boot and an interesting array of colour options, including the wild aura glow for those who like to show off.
There’s also the game-changing S-Pen that learns new tricks each and every year. The Note 10 Plus is an iterative upgrade over last year’s Note 9, yet is the most refined Note from Samsung.
The question begs to be asked; Is it noteworthy? Let’s find out.
Top of the line specifications
Before we dive deep into the smartphone, here’s a rundown of all the specifications.
It’s got a 6.8-inch Quad HD+ (3040x1440) dynamic AMOLED display. It’s powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 9825 processor and paired with 12GB of RAM. There’s either 256GB or 512GB of storage available with support for further expansion via the microSD card slot.
There’s a triple-camera setup on the rear. A 16-megapixel ultra-wide (f/2.2), 12-megapixel wide-angle (f/1.5-f/2.4), 12-megapixel telephoto (f/2.1) and a VGA time-of-flight depth camera. On the front is a 10-megapixel hole-punch camera.
The smartphone is kept alive by a 4,300 mAh battery and is IP68 rated - waterproof and dust resistant. There’s no headphone jack on the Note 10 Plus this year. The mighty S-Pen is there, as always. The smartphone weighs 196g. Last but not least, the smartphone comes with One UI based on Android 9 Pie.
Aura glow
The most striking feature of the Note 10 Plus comes if you buy the aura glow colour. That’s the one I was given for this review. Depending on how the light hits it, one of the rainbow colours will reflect off of the back of the smartphone. It’s basically a mix of chrome (a reflector) and iridescence “a lustrous rainbow-like play of color caused by differential refraction of light waves (as from an oil slick, soap bubble, or fish scales) that tends to change as the angle of view changes”.
It’s magical. It’s eye-catching. It’s attention-grabbing. Personally, I wasn’t a fan (give me the aura red version) but a lot of people stopped me in my tracks to get a glimpse of this beauty.
Design & display: it’s all about the style
If last year’s Note 9 screamed “4,000 mAh battery” and “1TB of storage”, this year’s Note 10 is going all out on the style quotient. The 6.8-inch immersive display is surrounded by some of the thinnest bezels ever seen on a smartphone.
The AMOLED panel is the same one that debuted on Samsung’s S10 range. It’s sharp, vibrant, and punchy. It’s got HDR 10 and HDR+ certification with the darks being better than ever on the display. Watching shows like ‘Game of Thrones’ provides for a much better experience.
There’s a hole-punch camera on the front that is small and centred. The vertical camera layout is better than that of the S series. The only downside to the design is the fact that the rear attracts many a fingerprint.
I’d just like to take a moment to address the power button. Poof. It’s gone. The right side of the smartphone has no buttons at all. There is a volume rocker and ‘Bixby’ button on the left side and it’s a bit of a learning curve to get used to this.
One thing that you might find strange is that pressing and holding the power button activates Bixby and to turn off the phone one must hit the software toggle in the notification drawer. Thankfully, Samsung has allowed for remapping of the Bixby button, to make it do what we’re all used to it doing.
There’s the same ultrasonic fingerprint sensor as in the S series that sits under the glass. While it works just fine, some competitors like OnePlus and Oppo have much better implementations of the in-display fingerprint sensors. If unlocking your smartphone via a fingerprint doesn’t tickle your fancy, there’s always Face Unlock that is faster and more secure this time around.
Samsung decided to sacrifice the headphone jack (for a bigger battery) this year (wireless headphones for the win), and there is no dongle in the box.
The stereo speakers are objectively louder and clearer this time around as compared to on the Note 9. One just has to turn on Dolby Atmos in the settings for the full effect.
Performance: fast as a cheetah
Yes, the Note 10 Plus is one of the fastest Android smartphones I have ever used. It’s fluid and doesn’t lag. The massive 12GB of RAM helps with multitasking. Switching between apps is a breeze and I never noticed any hiccups during my usage. The Note 10 proved worthy even while gaming (though it got a little warmer than I expected) for long sessions.
No matter what you need to get done, the Note 10 Plus will never give up. It’s just an exhilarating experience no matter what you want to do on the Note 10 Plus. I tried breaking the Note 10 Plus by performing a variety of tasks but it hardly stuttered for even a second.
Battery life & charging
The battery of the Note 10 Plus left me with mixed feelings. The Note 10 Plus comes with a 4,300 mAh battery as opposed to the Note 9’s 4,000 mAh battery. The 300 mAh increase doesn’t satisfy though. Note 10 Plus’ battery life, on a day-to-day basis, is objectively worse. It may have to do with all the extra hardware that it has to power, but with some software tweaks, I believe Samsung could have achieved far better battery life.
On days with medium-to-heavy usage, I rarely got near six hours of screen-on time (SOT). The phone comfortably lasts a full day’s worth of usage but that’s without any periods of extended gaming. My typical usage involved phone calls, WhatsApp, Spotify, listening to podcasts, doodling with the S-Pen and clicking photos other than checking my social media feeds multiple times a day. It’s strictly on par, and sometimes even worse than, the Note 9’s battery life.
Sample image from the Note 10
My typical day started around 9 AM and ended around midnight. By then, the phone was near dead and crying for a charger.
On the flip side, Note 10 Plus' charging is really fast. I was mighty impressed with the 25W USB-PD charger included in the box. I managed to go from 0 to 100 percent in about 80 minutes. Mind you, the Note 10 Plus also supports up to 45W charging.
Camera
If you’ve used a Galaxy S10 Plus, you aren’t going to notice any difference in shots taken on the Note 10 Plus. What will be immediately noticeable is the change in the placement of the cameras. No more will your index finger get in the way of any shots.
The wide, standard, and telephoto lens give you the same sort of versatility as of the S10 Plus. The dynamic range is incredible and Samsung really has upped its game this year. It’s slightly less dramatic on the Note 10 Plus as compared to the S10 Plus.
With a 123-degree field-of-view, the Note 10 Plus’s wide-angle camera is wider than nearly every other smartphone on the market. It’s really useful when outdoors and shooting in good daylight conditions.
While the daylight photos are crips with great details and filled with colours, it’s the low-light camera that hasn’t kept up with the competition (Google and Huawei and even the iPhone take the cake here). The wide-angle and telephoto lens have a torrid time when shooting in minimal lighting conditions. The primary lens also fails more often than not in low-light conditions. Sometimes one can get extremely grainy photos and sometimes the photos are over-sharpened and sometimes the slow shutter means your photo ends up being blurred. Even using the in-built night mode, all you can get is a slightly brighter photo that lacks any details.
On the flip side, the front-facing camera is very good. There is a good dynamic range and images come out very sharp.
Night shot from the Note 10
Last but not least, I just want to mention one thing about videos. Video stabilisation on Note 10 Plus is one of the best I have ever used. It rivals that of the Huawei P30 Pro. The problem here, once again, is that videos struggle in low-light.
Other aspects: S-Pen, speakers, and more
The S-Pen's inclusion in the Note series has always brought about divided opinions. While it’s good for taking notes and doodling, the other features are mere gimmicks and most people don’t even have any use for it. There are some air gestures, thanks to the S-Pen having a gyroscope, but I barely used it. The only thing the S-Pen is good for, apart from doodling and note-taking, is acting as a remote shutter.
The Note 10 Plus ditched the headphone jack for the first time in the history of the Note series and this was met with a sharply divided reaction. While some will lament having to buy wireless earphones, Samsung has compensated by providing excellent stereo speakers with Dolby Audio. The speakers are loud and crisp and unless you’re playing heavy metal at full-volume, you’re going to have a great experience.
Competition: Is the Note 10 Plus good value for money?
The Note 10 Plus retails for Rs 79,999 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB of storage variant. The smaller Note 10 comes in at Rs 69,999 for the 8GB RAM + 256GB of storage variant. There is no doubt that the Note series is a premium device that costs a pretty penny.
The competitors are coming in thick and fast. For those who are swayed by the looks of the iPhone, the new iPhone 11 (from Rs 64,900) and iPhone 11 Pro Max (from Rs 99,900) are now available. For a device with a display that has a higher refresh rate (90Hz), there is the OnePlus 7T that comes in at just Rs 37,999.
The Pixel 4 series, one that is known to have the best camera on any smartphone, is coming in the second half of October. There’s also the Mate 30 Pro from Huawei that has excellent cameras and the best-in-class battery life.
There’s also the Redmi K20 Pro that comes in at less than Rs 30,000 and has almost all of the features one can ask for in a flagship.
Should you buy it? Hell yeah!
Rs 79,999 for the Note 10 Plus is a steep asking price, no doubt. But if money isn't a consideration, the Note 10 Plus should be on top of your shopping list. What you get in return in a feature-rich smartphone with the best-in-class display, a pretty excellent camera, performance that doesn't ever stutter and an S-Pen for taking notes and doodling.
It's Samsung's best smartphone till date, but if you're coming from last year's Note 9, there is absolutely no need to upgrade. If you're one of those who like smaller smartphones, then do check out the regular Note 10.
The Note 10 Plus is a smartphone with the least compromises. Anyone with an Android phone older than two years should check out the Note 10 Plus. It's a good phone to ride out the rocky transition to foldable and 5G smartphones.
Unlike last week, this week saw debt funding vanishing again, and with the help of two late-stage deals, total funding secured in the Indian startup ecosystem was just $88.8 million.
Two late-stage deals raised $39.9 million, while the balance amount was raised through early-stage and other deals.
Gurugram-based Ofbusiness raised Rs 250 crore ($35 million) in a Series D round led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Falcon Edge and Matrix Partners. The startup focuses on lending to small and medium businesses, and provides unsecured credit of up to Rs 2 crore to SMEs through NBFC Oxyzo Financial Services. It has also partnered with Tata Capital and AU Small Finance Bank.
Early stage deals
Darwinbox, a cloud-based end-to-end HR management startup raised $15 million Series B investment led by Sequoia India. The round also saw participation from existing investors Endiya Partners, Lightspeed India Partners, and 3one4 Capital. The freshly raised capital will be used to accelerate growth across Asia and focus on product innovation. The startup’s platform focuses on all HR needs across an employee's lifecycle.
Hyderabad-based WhistleDrive, an employee transportation startup, raised Rs 72 crore ($10 million) from Chicago-based Colosseum Group in a Series B round. The tech-platform, Whistle Tech, developed by the company, allows corporates to automate the entire transportation process. It serves 32 clients, registering more than one lakh trips a month to transport more than 15,000 employees to their offices, every day.
Cancer care aggregator Onco raised Series A funding of $7 million led by Accel Partners, Chiratae Ventures, and Dream Incubator. The platform aims to be a one-stop shop for all cancer-related needs of patients and caregivers. With this fund raise, the team plans to expand its customer base and scale operations globally.
Hyderabad-based Digi-Prex, a healthtech startup, raised $5.5 million in its seed round of funding, led by Khosla Ventures. Founded by Samarth Sindhi in 2019, a mechanical engineering graduate from Brown University, the startup was shortlisted for Y Combinator's Demo Day in August 2019.
Healthtech platform Pharmarack raised $3 million in Series-A round from IvyCap Ventures. Pharmarack also counts Unicorn India Ventures and Currae Healthtech Fund among its investors. The Pune-based startup plans to use the funds to expand its network for pharma manufacturers and retailers.
Electric vehicle mobility startup, Blu Smart raised an angel round of $3 million from KA Enterprises, the investment office of Deepika Padukone; JITO Angel Network; Kalpavriksh Trust (Centrum VC Fund); Survam Partners (family office of Hero Group’s Suman Kant Munjal), along with other prominent names.
Chennai based Aquaconnect, raised $1.1 million in seed funding led by Omnivore and HATCH. With this fund raise, the startup intends to accelerate the growth of its farmer network, launch new SaaS tools for the aquaculture ecosystem, roll out deep tech improvements on its platform FarmMOJO, and push monetisation on its omnichannel marketplace.
Clean-tech company Log 9 Spill Containment raised Rs 4 crore (0.56 million) from angel investors Renjit Shinto and Omkar Ghaisas in its Pre-Series A round. Log 9 Spill Containment, a subsidiary of Log 9 Materials Scientific, will use the funds for product innovation and development, as well as for infrastructure development.
Cloud kitchen startup Zesty Kitchen raised Rs 3 crore (approximately $422,085) of fund this week, from a group of angel investors.
Gurugram-headquartered Ketofy raised $250,000 as a part of its pre-Series A funding. Prominent investors include Alok Mittal, ex-MD, Canaan Partners; Rohit Chanana, Founder, Sarcha Advisory; and Tejinderpal Miglani, Co-founder, India Bulls, among others.
Late stage funding
Rivigo has now entered the unicorn club after raising $4.97 million from KB Global platform fund, the investment arm of South Korea-based KB Financial Group Inc. The total valuation of Rivigo is expected to be $1.05 billion, after its value went up to $950 million when it raised Series E funding of $65 million in July this year.
Others
Health solutions provider Agatsa raised $1 million in funding from Indian Angel Network (IAN) and the Technology Development Board (TDB), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. With this funding, Agatsa will scale up its operations and marketing along with expanding its global outreach.
DIPL, a Mumbai-based transaction service provider, raised Rs 5.75 crore ($0.8 million) from US-based investment group IC1101. The investment group was among the top eight investors who participated in India's funding platform, Horses Stable.
Delhi-based SpeakIn raised an undisclosed amount of funding from OYO South Asia CEO Aditya Ghosh-backed Homage Ventures. With this funding, SpeakIn announced its plans to launch a first-of-its kind “Expert Platform” and become the world’s window to Asian expertise.
Exits and acquisitions
Skill-gaming platform Junglee Games announced the completion of the acquisition of Algorin TechLabs, a Bengaluru-based gaming company. In a statement, Junglee Games said the strategic acquisition strengthens its position in the skill gaming space and provides a strong presence for the company in Bengaluru.
Flipkart Co-founder Sachin Bansal has picked up stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services (CRIDS), and has pumped in Rs 739 crore in the non-banking financial company.
Pune-based TIFA Working Studios is a unique combination of an art studio, makerspace, art library, exhibition area, and artist-in-resident space. It promotes public interaction and collaboration on critical issues of our times, and supports artists as well as entrepreneurs.
TIFA was founded by Trishla and Roshan Talera. Trishla is an artist and fellow at Art Think South Asia, while Rohan studied entrepreneurship at Babson College and was chair of CII’s Young Indians Pune. Shounak Pethe is the studio leader, and Aditi Rakhe heads its programmes.
Aditi studied architecture at SCET Surat, and has an MA in History of Art from the University of Nottingham. She has worked at Crop up Gallery and The Aftermath Project in Nottingham. In India, she has worked with Museum of Goa on a range of exhibitions, and was the project manager for the Goa Affordable Art Fest 2018.
TIFA’s base in a former Art Deco heritage hotel in the heart of Pune makes for an interesting artistic venue for production, experimentation, collaboration, and presentation. This month, Aditi is curating a festival titled Futures of Sexuality, supported by Godrej India Culture Lab and The Humsafar Trust.
Featured artists in the exhibition titled Labeless are from India, France, US and Singapore, some of whose works are included in this photo essay. The works span paintings, photographs, video, clay models, poetry scrolls, and mixed media. They are titled Pink Party, Anthropoid Within, Passive Dreams, Declaration of Empathy, Body Fluids, Pixel Pleasure, Waking, and Gender Fabric.
The artist lineup consists of Aditya Verma, Chaitanya Modak, Clare Chong, Isha Itwala, Ishita Savla, Lipika Bhargava, Nachiket Prakash, Sandeep TK, Sandrine Deumier, Surabhi Chowdhary and Zander Porter.
Festival activities include a screening of six films from the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, an LGBTQIA+ support meetup, panel discussion on inclusive spaces, drag performance, and seminar on relationship boundaries. The festival explores how sexuality affects everything from identity to culture.
“There is so much happening in India. Artists are defining things in amazing ways,” says festival curator Aditi Rakhe in a chat with YourStory. The themes and artists for this festival were chosen after extensive research, and an open call for participation put out on social media.
Putting together a festival calls for effective management of time, processes and people; empathy is needed between all stakeholders. “Working with the artists has been a lovely experience, they show so much humility,” Aditi explains.
One of her earlier exhibitions was titled Work in Progress, featuring artworks in various stages of completion. Aditi’s favourite festivals to attend include the Chennai Photo Biennale and the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa.
“Have an open mind, and overcome fear of taboos and misconceptions through understanding,” Aditi offers as suggestions to festivalgoers. “The definition of art is changing every day, thanks to trends like digital media,” she observes.
Aditi also offers tips for aspiring artists. “Just do it. The best way to learn is by experimentation,” she advises. “You have to be okay with making mistakes, you need to learn about the multiple factors at play, and move on,” she signs off.
Now, what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule, and find ways to uncover and change your deeper perceptions of the world?
See also the YourStory pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups,’ accessible as apps for Apple and Android devices.
Let's start with Sidu Ponnappa, the tech entrepreneur currently heading Gojek’s India Engineering Centre. His is a riveting story that speaks of his passion for technology, innovation, risk-taking, and entrepreneurship.
His 11-year-long experience as a tech entrepreneur has many lessons — on failures, entrepreneurship, and leadership — for anyone aspiring to strike out on their own. Still, if there’s one overriding takeaway from his story, then it’s undoubtedly Sidu’s relentless drive to successfully build and scale his company, until his eventual exit to Indonesia-based on-demand multi-service platform GoJek.
Flipkart is opening up the far-flung areas of India to ecommerce.
In the North Eastern corridors close to almost four international borders – Nepal, China, Bangladesh, and Bhutan – is the bustling city of Siliguri. Like most hill towns, the place is characterised by the usual humdrum of tourism and by the signs of unforeseen growth in Indian trade and ecommerce.
If you take a stroll in the city, you will come across a few Japanese-Chinese lifestyle stores, popular for their eclectic mix of everyday wares. There are also the globally-popular food chains, apparel stores, electronics brands, and more.
Even as each new day, these colourful, varied, and vivid new businesses come to life across the length and breadth of the city, Siliguri continues to bear an unmistakable charm associated with the hills.
“I think Prashant and Tushar who started this business have really scaled this up, and now it feels like Myntra’s early stages,” he says before letting us in on the next phase of the Bengaluru-based online healthcare platform.
“In the next 10 years, I look forward to building this up 10X,” he tells us, adding, “We want to try and build this into a multibillion-dollar business.”
Ananth Narayanan with Shivani of Your Story
San Francisco’s Mission Street is the scene of most action. It’s home to the art museums and the funky Salesforce Tower. But, tucked away at in a quaint old building is Y Combinator, better known in startup circles as YC.
Michael Seibel, CEO and Partner at Y Combinator, is an out-and-out “startup guy”. He sold Justin.TV (Twitch) - a video sharing platform - to Amazon for an estimated billion dollars and SocialCam - a mobile video platform - to Autodesk.
The former political science student knows the importance of one thing: clarity in anything one sets out to do. Since 2005, YC has funded 2,000 companies, including Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, and Coinbase; well-known Indian investments are ClearTax and Razorpay.
Last but not least, a custom apparel startup QuadB focusses on delivering premium quality products.
One of the main concerns for the bootstrapped startup was delivering high-quality products to the customer and building a manufacturing unit. Setting up a manufacturing unit is a capital-intensive process.
“In the early days, we used labour-intensive machinery, which produced good products but at a slightly higher cost. But since some of us had a production engineering background, we designed our machines with a lot of research and hard work, using world-renowned manufacturing techniques like Virtual Assembly Line (VAL) and Just in Time (JIT),” says Co-founder Litesh Gumbar.
The annual extravaganza of sales will begin shortly across India as ecommerce giants Amazon and Flipkart usher in the festive season. This year, there is added pressure given the backdrop of an economic slowdown but there is optimism that online shoppers would discount this element.
Similar to last year, Flipkart and Amazon are conducting their six-day festive sales, Big Billion Days and Great Indian Festival respectively, simultaneously.
As the two ecommerce giants put their best feet forward to attract a higher share of online shoppers, there is likely to be a change in overall trends as well.
Satish Meena, Senior Forecast Analyst of Forrester, says,
“Online retailers in India are expected to generate about $4.8 billion in sales during this year’s festive month (September 25 to October 29), mitigating the impact of the general economic slowdown.”
Around 80 percent of these sales are expected to happen during the six days, which is around $3.8 billion.
RedSeer Consulting, in its note, said, “E-tailers are on track to sell $3.7 billion of goods during the festive event, which is a 65 percent year on year rise.” This consulting firm feels that the key drivers of growth will be the expansion of online shoppers with product categories being broader. In essence, mobiles are unlikely to be at the top.
“Continued festive days growth is in-line with overall annual growth of the industry, which is on track to grow 32 percent for the whole of 2019 to reach $32 billion for CY19,” says RedSeer.
This year’s annual festive sale comes in the backdrop of certain changes for the ecommerce industry in the country. During the early part of this year, the government had brought in certain regulations that the ecommerce industry thought to be restrictive.
At the same time, there is also a general economic slowdown, which raises doubts on the spending power of consumers.
Satish, in his note on the festive sale season, says, “The shift in spending from offline to online and a slow first half will help push sales. Several factors contributed to the slow growth that online retailers experienced in the first half of 2019. These include a disruption due to the implementation of a new ecommerce policy in January and February, and the slowdown in the overall economy. However, these factors will have a limited impact on festive season sales as consumers will look for better deals and get a boost from marketplaces launching new products and offering aggressive discounts and affordable financing.”
In 2018, online sales during the festive season were estimated to be in the range of $2.3 to $2.9 billion. This year, the number is most likely to exceed.
However, certain changes are likely to happen in the 2019 festive edition sales. Mobiles are unlikely to be the top selling category and may be overtaken by consumer electronics.
“There is a wider trend of mobile sales growth slowing down and it accounts for a lesser share of GMV in 2019 than earlier years,” says RedSeer. It expects consumer electronics and fashion to be the preferred categories. The other surprise could be the furniture category.
This year’s festive season sale could also show the definite emergence of shoppers from Tier II and III locations. These are the geographies where Flipkart and Amazon are putting in their best efforts.
During the announcement of the Big Billion Days sale, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO – Flipkart Group, had said,
“The Big Billion Days is a time for the whole country to come together and celebrate, without worrying about budgets or constraints. At Flipkart, we’ve worked hard over the past year to prepare for The Big Billion Days and we look forward to collaborating with the whole ecosystem to deliver the best festive season yet.”
However, according to Satish, online sales in this festive season is likely to grow by around 32 percent, compared to the growth of 90 percent seen last year. He says, “The 30 percent growth is still good, given the consumer sentiments prevailing in the market. There is a decline in the consumer spends in the market.”
This is also not the time for consumer ecommerce companies to just tap into the festive mood as others like Walmart expanded its wares. Krish Iyer, President and CEO, Walmart India, says, “Over the years, our ‘Best Price’ Cash & Carry Stores have become a destination for ‘Festive Range’ for our kiranas and other small businesses. We’re proud to present a refreshing range across all our stores this year too, which includes products of our own brands, and new and differentiated items sourced from SME suppliers.”
This year, an aggressive clash between Flipkart and Amazon is all set to capture the mind and wallet share of online buyers. Satish says, “Both are aggressive. But compared to last year, Flipkart is more aggressive.”
Shankar Prasad started Pureplay Skin Sciences with a single idea in mind — to bring delightful goodness to the world of beauty. He wanted to offer products that not only claimed but also delivered delight to the consumers with every use.
“I didn’t think of skincare as a serious, boring, shade-card driven chore, but as a way of celebrating what we are born with and making friends with the beauty of nature around us,” Shankar explains.
Founded in 2014, Pureplay Skin Sciences has two brands: Plum, that largely caters to women and Ply, for men.
Both brands offer 100 percent vegan, cruelty-free, safe and sustainable beauty and grooming products. With more than 60 products in Plum and 12 in Phy, Its products range from skincare, cosmetics, body and bath essentials, etc.
During one of Shankar’s travels abroad, he observed that the consumer brands there followed a strong core philosophy. He was amazed by the quality and variety of consumer brands available, which triggered him to think where India lacked when it came to the skincare industry.
In his research, he found that the brands, which refrained from testing on animals in Europe and the US, did so in India. There was also a lack of conscience and transparency in the beauty industry.
Therefore, with the aim of filling this gap and provide Indian consumers with an ethical and sustainable brand, he started Pureplay Skin Sciences after a year of research, in July 2014.
“I started with a blank notebook – no assumptions, just lots of research, talking to consumers and trying to define what the brand is about. Then came the product formulations and this was really challenging. Most formulas at that time were the traditional ones and I had a hard time convincing people that we could look at alternative formulations that work better and are also cleaner. Then the hard task of sourcing packaging. Then I started selling online first, and gradually moved to distribution,” the IIT-Bombay alumnus says.
Identifying the right consumer value proposition, sourcing ingredients and packaging material matching the philosophy, and balancing between the business side of things and the creative side of things were some of the challenges for the company.
“We are inspired by the goodness of nature and driven by the desire to be good and do good. At the core, Plum and Phy as brands represent a changing mindset; that of conscious living – where thoughtfulness precedes and accompanies the action. We believe our customers should feel good about the skin they are born with and take ’good’ care of it with only the best that nature has to offer. We do not do fairness creams as a policy and stay away from making false promises and over-packaging,” Shankar says.
The company that started as a bootstrapped venture, secured Series A funding from Unilever Ventures, in 2018.
The company also gives extra focus on the design and packaging of their product.
“When I first saw the logo, and later the first pack mock-ups of Plum – I knew we were on to something delightful and special. To this day, we get into an extreme level of detail and debate when it comes to design and packaging – we just love it."
Speaking on future plans and expansions, Shankar says,
“The company has expanded its retail distribution to over 70 cities in India. About a third of our sales comes from retail distribution and this will go up to 60 percent in another three to four years. We are expecting to touch the Rs. 100 crore turnover mark very soon.”
The startup ecosystem is a highly competitive one. Though we have grown accustomed to the notion that a great idea that’s perfectly executed, is all it takes to reel in large investments and become a major player, this is no longer the case.
In today’s environment, companies need to beat out the competition, which is getting fiercer by the day. With more and more startups flooding the market in almost every sector, it is becoming harder to attract potential investors and customers.
In order to stand out and form a distinct identity, startups are forced to invest in their branding much earlier in their life cycle. While this may sound complicated, expensive and often unnecessary to entrepreneurs, especially since they have spent so much time and energy developing the product itself, it is an important element needed to succeed.
Actually, branding isn’t that difficult or expensive when we fully understand the underlying principles. From website design to developing a brand’s tone, these are the six fundamental basics of startup branding:
Create a Website
A website is crucial. This is the first place where potential customers and investors will search for you. If your company does not have a well-maintained site, you’ll most likely be left behind, while prospective customers move on to the nearest competitor.
More than anything, a lack of web presence reflects poorly on your brand. It sends the message that the startup is not relevant and is most likely not worth investing in.
Designing and programing a website may seem time and energy consuming. But with website builders, such as Wix, it can actually be done quite simply, without requiring large budgets or hiring designers and programmers.
Define your Brand’s Purpose
A well-defined purpose is at the core of brand identity and it is what separates truly successful enterprises from the rest of the pack. Purpose is not limited only to what the startup aims to provide, but also includes its culture and ideals.
Successful companies center their purpose around a promise to their customers. They aim to create change, to influence the world, to improve lives. This helps promote a sense of loyalty towards the brand, making it much more likely to stand out and garner a strong following.
When a company’s purpose is well defined, it lets investors and customers know exactly what to expect, which in turn allows the company to fulfill these expectations precisely.
Design a Visual Identity
The visual aspect of a brand is extremely important and has a great impact on the perception of a company. As such, the visual language should align with the brand’s identity.
The first thing most people think of when it comes to the visual side of branding is a logo, and it should be designed with that in mind. Designing a logo, like creating a website, has also been made easy and accessible, with services like logo maker, developed by Wix.
Though most startups do, in fact, create a logo, many neglect the other aspects of branding design. This is a huge mistake, as a company’s aesthetic plays a significant role in communicating its message. The fonts and colors used by a startup help create the “vibe” of the brand, which is critical in attracting the target audience.
Give the Startup a Voice
The concept of brands having a voice isn’t new, but it has definitely grown in importance over the last few decades. In the past, companies had to maintain their perceived identity in commercials and ads. These days, brands have infinite ways to reach the public, and vice-versa. There is open dialogue between the brand and the consumer, rather than the classic one-way advertisement. This places greater importance on the brand’s voice.
A voice, both written and verbal, is a brand’s “personality”. It is derived from its purpose and ideals and caters to the audience with consistency. Though different platforms and demographics may require different tones of voice, the message itself should maintain the brand’s core values at all times.
Utilise Social Media
Social media presence is much more than a part of a good branding effort. It is the main platform for outreach and a major part of a brand’s online existence.
Operating social media accounts on multiple platforms, while maintaining the voice and aesthetic previously established, helps solidify the brand’s identity. It increases visibility and improves communication with both investors and customers. This makes social media an extremely powerful tool for any brand in general, and startups in particular.
Although part of a broader effort, social media branding has its own set of guidelines, to help maximise reach and optimise public perception.
Think Outside the Box
This is where true creativity and entrepreneurship skills shine through. In today’s overcrowded startup environment, innovation is key. In fact, more than the product, innovation in branding can carry a startup a long way.
In essence, startup branding is all about differentiating and standing out in a competitive, saturated environment. With this in mind, startups can create their own branding strategies, avenues and techniques and be successful, as long as the basics are covered.
Weddings translate into immense stress for the bride, groom, and their families. There’s so much that needs to be finalised: the venue, catering, decor, clothes, gifts, jewellery, and – not to forget - the perfect wedding card. Looking for a unique card can be a long, drawn-out process, and it was to simplify this that Narmada Deb and Akshata Karnad started Mostly Handmade.
The ecommerce portal for wedding stationery, which offers 100 ready designs on its website, can customise the invite on your mind as you plan the wedding of your dreams.
The idea came to the duo when Narmada was working at Tanishq, and would see couples struggling to find quality and transparency. Akshata, who had worked for the likes of HP and other software companies, was keen to start a business. With a basic model in place, the duo began Mostly Handmade. They had met through common acquaintances and have been friends.
“We had observed a dearth of quality design in the wedding market,” Narmada says. There was a sea of wedding cards “replete with gaudy and overbearing designs”, and young couples struggling with poor card choices and a “dated service mindset that knew little about global Indians and their needs”.
However, what got them validation was a cold call from a young woman in South Africa. The woman said,
“I'm getting married in a couple of months. My fiance is from Nigeria and I have grown up in South Africa too. But we can’t find any wedding cards that understand our unique cultures and who can coordinate the whole thing while we are in a different continent....can you help?”
“The stress and desperation in her voice reached right us and we instantly said: ‘Of course’. We ended up doing not just her cards, but eco-friendly menus, gift boxes, the whole wedding suite....it was a huge moment for us to realise that there were so many people searching in vain and willing to put in the time and effort to find us. That’s when we knew we were on the right track. We've never looked back since then,” Narmada says.
Bootstrapped Mostly Handmade, which was launched in 2018, connects with customers, designers, and vendors across the globe, using Skype, WhatsApp, and other online solutions. Narmada explains that their “office” is scattered geographically across the globe, with clients across time zones.
The company works with multiple vendors - printing partners, talented designers, and logistics partners - to create a robust network and make any product available to couples looking to do “something different and special” for their wedding.
Shopping for cards is easy on the website, and Mostly Handmade assures full design support from “start to finish”, guaranteeing that your cards will be printed in 10 days. Apart from regular cards, they offer a range of eco-friendly of cards, which once sown grow into plants.
Working in a male-dominated industry
Two women entering a male-dominated traditional market that is centuries old certainly had its share of challenges.
“We were humble enough to accept that we knew little about the economies of the business and year one was all about discovery. We went door to door, asking traditional print makers to teach us and partner in our vision. We were turned away at many places; we were dismissed as crazy ladies with bees in our bonnets. But perseverance always pays off. We were fortunate that some forward thinkers in the old lanes of Bengaluru saw, in their own businesses, a need for fresh blood and opened their doors readily to us. Both sides learned on the job – the factory had to streamline to modern production pressures and standardisation challenges and we had so much to learn from them about paper, printing, and operations,” Narmada says.
The team claims to have more than 120 designs and international payment gateways, which has brought it repeat traffic from New York, California, London, Toronto, Sydney and across India (from Mumbai to Tripura).
The cards and envelope sets are made and customised as per the requirements of the couple. The team works closely with different designers and manufactures the cards with the help of a few vendors. Each card, with an envelope, is priced between Rs 70 and Rs 2,000, depending on the customisation. On average, the team claims to make 300 to 400 cards per order.
According to industry experts, the Indian wedding industry is worth Rs 1 lakh crore, and is growing at 25 percent annually. The market is quite lucrative and has witnessed many startups offering different solutions to the wedding industry. The estimated cost of an Indian wedding is anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 5 crore.
Other startups operating in the space are Mumbai-based Wedding Brigade, Gurugram-based ForMyShaadi, and Chennai-based Wedding Wishlist. However, these are focused on gift registry while Mostly Handmade is focused on the card business.
Narmada says, “When you connect to a set of consumers who are entering their ‘adulting’ age together and starting a whole new life, there is a complete lifecycle journey that you take with them. We have seen in our research among current customers that a wedding is a personal moment. Earning their trust at that time means that the customer comes back again, throughout their life’s milestones. MHM’s future brand extension line is promising, with a firm eye on lifestyle products for the global consumer.”
In a country like India where the participation of the IT sector in GDP is irreplaceable, the growth and relevance of the edtech sector is not surprising. According to a 2016 KPMG report, the Indian edtech market is pegged to touch $1.96 billion by 2021.
Today, it is a highly demanding sector for investors and entrepreneurs. While the edtech space in India has got a unicorn like Byju’s, there are also other players like Simplilearn, Khan Academy and UpGrad among others leading the disruption.
Here are some edtech startups that are making technical education accessible, and are enabling talented personnel.
Learning Matters
Having recognised the need for school education to be more engaging – especially in rural and semi-urban schools - three colleagues came together to launch Learning Matters, a technology-driven solution that not only makes learning more engaging but also helps teachers upgrade their skills.
Learning Matters Founders (L-R) Saras Ramamoorthy, Ramamoorthy G, and Gowri Mahesh are working on creating tech-driven solutions for the education sector.
This Bengaluru-based startup set up by Ramamoorthy G (aka Moorthy), Gowri Mahesh and Saras Ramamoorthy uses Alexa and videos to teach lessons.
Learning Matters offers four (related) products: The Star Teacher programme, the Star Teacher Tool Box, Tara (the cloud-based, NLP-powered virtual voice teacher), and Kengine, a curated library of learning videos from across the world, translated into Indian languages.
Great Learning
Gurugram-based edtech startup Great Learning aims to set professionals up for a “learning for life” with the high-quality and industry-relevant programmes.
Its user base is mostly mid-career professionals who want to upskill to stay relevant with market requirements or are unsatisfied with the education they have received earlier.
Team Great Learning
Founded in 2013 by Mohan Lakhamraju, the edtech startup claims to have impacted more than 60,000 people so far by providing various opportunities for upskilling.
Great Learning offers courses in business analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, cloud computing, etc.
The Extraclass app, presently available for Android, helps students prepare for school, college, and competitive entrance exams, including engineering, medical, foreign university admission, management entrances and government jobs.
Extraclass Team (L-R): Persainjit Singh (CEO), Swati Gupta (Head of Customer Delight), Prakash Gupta (COO), Divyansh Raj (CPO)
The startup provides free learning content to anyone between the ages of five and 25 years. With the app, students can start studying for free using animated videos and infographic study material, which aim to make learning more thought-provoking, accessible and enjoyable.
It offers video lectures, practice question banks, and adaptive assessment and test series. The company aims to make education more accessible, free while promoting self-study.
Started by couple Amalore Jude and Susan Jude in 2015, Modu Edulabs teaches robotics and coding to K-12 kids through an online platform.
This Bengaluru-based startup provides a five-level course to students. The first level is for kids above the age of eight years. Each level has about 25 lessons, and each lesson is of 40 minutes. In total, the platform has content spanning 1,000 minutes at the moment.
The videos are all uploaded online. A student just needs to log in to the website, take the course, assemble the kits, do the programming, and complete the course.
Apart from the course, Modo Edulabs also offers robotic kit sensors, tools and microprocessors for children to learn and programme.
iSchoolConnect
Ashish Fernando founded iSchoolConnect in 2017 after finding it hard to narrow down a master’s programme at a reputable American university.
Mumbai-based iSchoolConnect help streamlines the college search and application process for students around the world. It matches prospective students with educational programmes using predictive modelling and lets them create and submit their applications through a single interface.
The team at iSchoolConnect
Its platform uses deep learning techniques to provide corrective actions on student essays, resumes and video interviews, all in real-time, thus reducing the need for time-consuming human intervention.
The company claims to have a total of over 7,000 registered students on its platform until now.
What exactly does a drink strategist do? There seems to be no clear-cut definition of this job profile, but going by what Fraser Campbell does, it looks like a profession that most people would love to have.
They say that two souls do not find each other by accident; the whole universe conspires to bring them together. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Nikhil D’ Souza has communicated just that with his new single ‘Sitaare.’
If you are crazy about spy thrillers, you will enjoy the web series, The Family Man, that is streaming on Amazon Prime now. But if you’ve already binge-watched the series, you must be dying to watch similar spy movies that are replete with suspense and exciting narratives.
Most of us cannot think about a day without coffee. Be it to beat the Monday blues at the workplace or when you meet someone for the first time. With International Coffee Day around the corner, celebrity chef and restaurateur Kunal Kapur talks about green coffee and his passion for the brew.
By 2030, the World Travel & Tourism Council expects India to become the fourth-largest travel and tourism economy behind China, USA and Germany. As the world celebrates International Tourism Day this week, here’s how you can become a green traveller on your next vacation.
Do you love beautiful handbags? Do you dream of being a food-critic but also love to be an entrepreneur? Is your favourite author Haruki Murakami? If so, meet Nidhi Kumra, Co-founder and CEO, YourSpace, who feels the same.
Tucked away in Mumbai’s New Great Eastern Mills is a gem of an art gallery, called Nine Fish. It is managed by art platform Dot Line Space, co-founded in 2015 by Gourmoni Das, Piyush Bavalia, and Shruti Bhosle. All are graduates of JJ School of Art in Mumbai.
“We believe in bringing together different art movements from around the globe and creating spaces which become talking points of historically-diverse visual expressions,” says Gourmoni Das, Director of Dot Line Space, in a chat with YourStory.
“We create, curate, collaborate, and celebrate art in its diverse forms. Art, we think, is a profound language. And we are here to convey its many nuances through cross-cultural dialogue, critical inquiry, and interdisciplinary collaborations,” he adds.
Launched by Anurag Kanoria, Nine Fish Art Gallery is owned by The Great Eastern Home. The structure was reportedly built way back in 1839, and some of the elements of this old textile mill are still preserved. The quaint neighborhood also has an antique furniture store and a pond with swans.
“We started our very first exhibition, Retro-realism in a Postmodern World, in this very gallery. We have been managing the gallery since then,” Gourmoni recalls.
The focus is on sensitivity and debate, and on the true essence of art. The team has organised exhibitions, art camps, workshops and other activities that “connect the dots” within the art community. Audiences and partners include art institutions, government bodies, and corporates.
The batchmates started on this journey while in college, and are still partners today. As emerging trends in India’s art movement, Gourmoni identifies new media, installation art, and performance art as current buzzwords.
“We also believe that art should not be elitist in nature, and should have a place in everyone’s life. We have affordable art starting from Rs 5,000 onwards, in addition to works of master painters,” Gourmoni says.
Around 20 visual artists and 50 from other fields like music, drama, theatre and literature have performed or been featured with Dot Line Space. There are over 2,000 works in stock, ranging from paintings and sculptures to prints and mixed-media installations. “We have already hosted more than 50 experimental theatre performances, workshops, and musical events,” Gourmoni adds.
Past exhibitions have been titled Contemporary Trajectories, Re-Unveiling Kolte, Trilogy, Mutant Spaces, We Are All Islands, Fading Cultures, Journeys, Water, and Mapping Stillness. A national art camp has been conducted, and a pan-India art competition is being planned.
Much can be done to improve appreciation of art and design in India. “All art schools in India must have an art appreciation course along with the regular academics. Students of art must accept and explore learning activities outside of their own institution, through foundations, galleries, museums and government agencies,” Gourmoni recommends.
“Try and experience art. You don’t necessarily have to jump into finding a meaning. Not every artwork is necessarily representational, some are just expressions,” he advises audiences.
The artist lienup, some of whose works are featured in this photo essay, include Douglas John, Brajmohan Arya, Rahul Mukherjee, Sharmistha Ray, Srinivas Pulagam, Saju Kunhan, Helen Brahma, Digbijayee Khatua, Kedar Desai, Madhu Das, Mainaz Bano, Mitali Shah, and Rashesh Chauhan.
“Keep working and be free with your medium,” Gourmoni offers as tips for aspiring artists.
Now, what have you done today to not just find your passion but persevere to make it a reality?
See also the YourStory pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups,’ accessible as apps for Apple and Android devices.
Mars and the possibility of commercial space travel are not a distant dream anymore, thanks to one man. Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Engineer, SpaceX. The billionaire space enthusiast recently revealed some staggering updates as Space X's Boca Chica Rocket Assembly, located in South Texas, showed its newly built Starship Mk I orbital prototype spacecraft.
The main objective of this prototype would be to at least to reach a height of at least 12 miles before landing back to earth, like Starhopper which flew to an altitude of 500 feet with only one raptor engine.
During the live event, Elon Musk said,
"To become a space-based civilisation is to make space travel like air travel. When you fly a plane, you fly it many times as it is reusable; the same thing is required for space travel."
When asked about human traveling to orbit, Elon Musk said, "We would fly to orbit in Mk IV or V, as we want to reach orbit in less than six months. For now, the Mk II will be ready in couple of months, Mk III may be in three months, and Mk IV in four or five months."
Starship Mk I is seen alongside Space X Starhopper on the right. (Image: Twitter)
The vehicle has been designed to help achieve the company's final design, which will be a super-heavy launch vehicle and a fully and rapidly reusable system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, the Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system.
The prototype has been built entirely of steel and stands as tall as 50 meters in height. According to Elon Musk, the body is built out of steel, which will help it withstand higher temperature as compared to other materials like composites. Starship Mk I weighs around 200 tonnes, and goes up to 1,400 tonnes with fuel on-board. This spacecraft would be stacked upon another super-heavy rocket, after which the total weight would be 5,000 tonnes.
The heavy rocket, or the booster, will have around 37 raptor engines along with six landing legs.
Elon Musk makes an announcement at the event in Texas.
"The initial is 200 tonnes, and in series production, it would come down to somewhere 120 tonnes or even less. In terms of usefulness, it could do 150 tonnes with full reusability to orbit and back. The cost of a fully reusable system is its propellant system, which is mostly oxygen. For every one tonne of fuel, three-and-a-half tonnes of oxygen is being used."
The prototype version of the Starship Mk I will have only three massive raptor engines, which are built at Space X's headquarters in Hawthrone, California. These engines have already been tested at its facilities in McGregor, Texas.
The engine setup comprises six engines, including three sea-level engines to help the vehicle steer in its journey, and three vaccum engines used to optimise for efficiency.
The three raptor engines that will power the Starship Mk I. (Image: Twitter)
If reports are to be believed, the spacecraft and the rocket could go into commercial market in early 2021. In its maiden flight, the setup is likely to carry communication satellites.
Moreover, Elon Musk also has a plan to establish a base camp on Moon, following which he also proposes sending people to any location within an hour. Apart from sending humans to various locations on and off the Earth, Starship the spacecraft could also be used to send payloads to International Space Station.
Bihar, the state that is most prone to floods in India, has been witnessing heavy rainfall over the past few days. As rivers swell up due to heavy rains, the state battles another round of floods and normal life has been thrown out of gear.
A red warning was issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), which compelled the authorities in the region to begin rescue operations. Based on past history, 76 percent of Northern Bihar is under the constant threat of floods, while 16.5 percent of the total flood affected area in India is in Bihar.
In the past, many flood-affected states in the country have benefited from drone technology for rescue operations including the Uttarakhand floods in 2013 and the Kerala floods in 2018. Drones are most commonly used for surveying locations that cannot be accessed by vehicles or workers. Surveying roads, flooded areas or congested city landscapes are the appropriate assignments for drone technology.
Here are a few drone technology startups from the country that have helped with floods in the past, and could be of immense help in flood-affected Bihar.
Netra by ideaForge
ideaForge, an IIT-Bombay based company that deals with alternative energy charging devices, built a product named Netra, an autonomously hovering UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Netra was put to significant use during the 2013 Uttarakhand floods, for assistance in rescue operations. Multiple devices were deployed to scan air space and locate missing people.
Netra is shaped like a spider and weighs less than 1.5 kg. It looks like it is only a speck when flying at a height, but it can give real time inputs to the team controlling it on the ground.
Redwing Aerospace
Redwing Aerospace, a Bengaluru-based drone delivery startup goes beyond the idea of using drones for food-delivery or ecommerce. Targeting a deeper use-case, the team decided to use drones to deliver medicines, vaccines, and blood to the most remote parts of the world. In regions where getting a truck, van, or even a bike to deliver medical essentials is next to impossible, Redwing's drones come to the rescue.
The delivery works on a hub-and-spoke model. The team gets a message on the inventory needed. This is loaded at the central hub , and the drones take off, after the regular pre-flight tests and checks of wind conditions, audio pilot systems, and GPS tracker. The coordinates are fed into the systems and the health examiner picks up the vials at the drop-off point.
The startup may not have the permission to operate in India yet, but it is now focusing on delivering medicine and healthcare supplies to remote regions in other countries, like Papua New Guinea.
Saif Automation
Vizag-based Saif Automation, a lifeguard startup, has built an unmanned remote-controlled water drone in 2017, that has uses in both defence and civilian sectors.
The idea of the startup was to produce a 'Sea Water Drone', that can be deployed in an emergency situation arising at sea or in water bodies. It aims to help reduce incidents of drowning in places where the drone is deployed.
Co-founder, Saif Automation, Aliasgar Calcuttawala (Right).
The drone has a dedicated radio communication from its remote to the craft, which is independent on internet or any tower signal. Aliasgar Calcuttawala, founder of Saif Automation said,
This is particularly helpful because, in the event of a cyclone or earthquake. There will be network issues, and so we worked on free radio frequency. The drone once thrown on a water surface can go at a speed of 7 knots.
If a crew member sees a person drowning, they can immediately throw the drone out into the sea. With the handheld remote, they can control and manoeuvre the drone until it reaches and picks the drowning person and comes back to the ship or boat. The startup has designed more than 12 models of the drone for different purposes - tourism and entertainment, saving lives, surveillance, delivering medicines in flood-affected areas.
Aarav Unmanned Systems
Founded in 2013, the use-cases for the startup's commercial-grade drones include mapping of mines, forest cover, search and rescue operations, damage assessment after disaster relief, and property mapping for taxation. Aarav Unmanned Systems provides solutions across infrastructure design and development, urban and rural planning and surface transport and agriculture and irrigation.
It had recently worked with the Kerala Government to ascertain damage caused by the floods of 2018. The startup has already mapped out large parts of Punjab and Maharashtra, working with their local governments, and it has also mapped mines in Telangana.
R2Robotronics
Gurugram-based R2Robotronics built its flagship product DROSNAS (Drone Swarm Navigation System) in 2017, for the GIS (geographic information system). The product helps users fly their drones using its interface and specify the points for data collection, after which the drones fly autonomously. After collecting the data, the device relays it back to R2's cloud network, where it is crunched, analysed and then the insights are shared with the user.
Since it is a centrally monitored system, all the information about the drone fleet is available at one place. One can monitor the drones operating from anywhere in the world. This technology enables even regulatory bodies to maintain supervision over the flights that have been logged into the system. Being hardware and software-independent, DROSNAS is compatible with most of the drones in the market.
In India, a whopping 9.6 million users will be paying for online courses by 2021. And that’s not all. The online education market itself is expected to witness a huge surge, growing 8x since 2016 to reach the $1.96 billion mark in the next two years.
While currently, the data – courtesy of a joint report by KPMG and Google – indicates that “reskilling and online certification courses” commands the major chunk of this market, the tables, however, are set to turn in the near future.
With an estimated 280 million students enrolling in schools, the demand will shift towards online primary and secondary supplemental education. Regardless of the category driving this market, one thing is certain: Indians are no longer taking upskilling or online learning lightly.
But with the plethora of courses floating online, how does one find out which course is suitable for one’s career growth? Or which skills are in demand in the market and which trainer can be your ideal fit? Here’s where Get Me A Course comes into the picture.
Founding team of Get Me A Course
As the name implies, GMAC is an online aggregator of both online and classroom courses, curating courses from various learning platforms and bridging the gap between learners and trainers.
“The model is very similar to travel aggregation sites and apps that list all the different airlines, hotels, and travel service providers,” says Rohan Krishna, the CEO and Co-Founder of the Bengaluru-based startup. “GMAC is bringing the same efficiency to education and skilling,” he adds.
In order to stay relevant in their respective industries, professionals today need to constantly acquire new knowledge and keep upskilling. And GMAC, says Rohan, is their one-stop solution for lifelong learning and development needs.
Think of it as a Make My Trip or a Skyscanner but for education, where learners are matched with the right learning content.
“For learners, Get Me A Course brings the one-click efficiency to finding the right course. And for trainers, GMAC solves the ‘Discovery Problem’, where top trainers struggle to make themselves visible and reach students,” explains the founder.
Interestingly, GMAC’s inception has its roots in personal struggles. Launched in 2016 in Bengaluru, the startup is the brainchild of Rohan, a serial entrepreneur with a degree in engineering and business administration, and four others: Kshama Bhatia, Co-Founder, CFO, and CSO; Shashwat Swaroop, Co-founder and CPO; and Ammin Rajqotwala, Co-founder and Chairman. All of them had personally faced the dilemma of finding the right skills and upskilling as they navigated their careers.
In fact, the founding team itself – each with years of experience across domains such as product development, learning and development, software development, and hospitality management – was brought together by the common problem.
“Dr Kshama was the common person between us,” quips Rohan adding, “Through her, we all met and gradually recognised the synergy that was possible. We had experience, expertise, energy, freshness, and trust all on one table between us. And, Get Me A Course was the result.”
According to the founder of GMAC, this is the most difficult question staring both senior professionals and the unemployed youth in the face today. And even if you have charted a path for career advancement, the question remains, how do you identify and acquire the crucial skills required to make it to the top of the ladder.
GMAC plays an integral role here, removing the chance factor from learning. The online course aggregator’s skill-based career recommendation engine, called “Gravity”, helps individuals identify their current standing with respect to skills and pay scales. Following which, it outlines the succeeding levels in the career ladder that a learner can upgrade to, along with the expected pay range and required skills set along the given trajectory.
“This is supplemented by suggestions of top courses for the learner’s particular skill-building needs,” explains Rohan, adding, “The engine thus helps professionals answer the crucial ‘where do you find yourself in five years?’ question methodically.”
In addition to this elaborate procedure, GMAC is also addressing a key concern – low course completion rate. Out of 60 million people searching for courses online, only two percent are able to complete courses on most MOOCs today, says Rohan. So, to fill in this gap, GMAC ensures that its platform matches the learner’s intent with market data.
“For instance, would you really want to sign on to an expensive cryptocurrency course if there are only 15 job vacancies for that skill in your geography?” questions Rohan, quite aptly.
But above all, what GMAC is doing is supporting the lifetime needs of a person with regards to learning, employment and mentorship. In the process, bringing order to a hitherto-unorganised sector.
“We have learners of ages ranging from 18 to 65+ from a whopping 172 countries logging into GMAC, using 1,800+ keywords,” Rohan says. “The top five countries logging in are India, the US, Canada, Iran, and the UK,” he adds.
GMAC, which has established its presence globally, has moved beyond the validation phase.
It is now scaling up through user acquisition campaigns in multiple geographies around the world. The edtech startup at present boasts a 24 percent customer retention rate, with more than 48,000 courses being discovered through the platform. Being an affiliate of major course providers such as Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight etc, GMAC also has over 500 independent trainers who are using the platform for their daily course advertisements and student acquisition.
And the best part, quips Rohan, is that this has all happened in less than eight months.
That GMAC is in an expansion mode, is more than clear. In fact, just last year the startup closed its seed funding from an investor from Germany. As it continues to enhance its product, fine-tune its solution, and create a layer in the ecosystem between the employers and training/degrees that actually verifies and certifies the skills of every individual, however, Rohan acknowledges that there’s still a lot to do.
Most of which ends with streamlining online education, but starts with algorithms and AI-powered engines.
1557926745523.png?fm=png&auto=format&h=100&w=100&crop=entropy&fit=crop)
1568020319669.png?fm=png&auto=format&h=100&w=100&crop=entropy&fit=crop)
