The Startup Guide series of books, launched in 2014 by Copenhagen-based publisher Sissel Hansen, covers over 20 cities such as London, Stockholm, Lisbon, Capetown, and Miami. See our reviews of the guidebooks for New York, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Johannesburg, and Singapore.

Startup Guide Paris is spread across 220 pages and makes for an informative and entertaining read, with profiles of founders, co-working spaces, accelerators, and other ecosystem players.

Paris is about much more than cuisine, fashion, and romance – it is also emerging as a hot startup hub, begins Sissel. There are influential entrepreneurs like Xavier Niel, J.A Granjon and Marc Simmoncini, and a new generation of startups like Blablacar, Sigfox, Criteo, and Doctolib.

Investment in startups increased from €50 million in 2014 to almost €3 billion in 2016. The government has launched the La French Tech initiative, and the world’s biggest startup campus, Station F, was opened in 2017.

“It is through innovation that we will be able to meet the major challenges of the 21st century, whether ecological, economic, social or democratic,” writes Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris.

The city has over 60 incubators and accelerators, hundreds of co-working spaces, and 30 digital manufacturing workshops. Paris aims to be a “real open-air laboratory” for all innovators, from startups to established companies.

Overview

The book begins with an overview of Paris facts and necessities such as rent (affordable away from the city centre), getting around (public or shared transportation, biking), people (analytical, not unhappy), job market (competitive, slightly slow-moving), language (French is key, though English is increasingly spoken), and setting up a business (bureaucratic, tricky).

The population of the greater Paris region is around seven million. It is a major artistic and cultural capital, boasting over 200 museums, 1,000 art galleries, 2,100 historic monuments and 420 parks.

Creative pioneers from Paris range from Marie Curie and Louis Pasteur to Coco Chanel and Kenzo. Outstanding neighbourhoods include the Latin Quarter, Montmartre, La Villette, Marais and Montparnasse.

Paris accounts for about a third of all French startups, and two-thirds of investment into French startups. More youth now want to create their own company, and there is a notable presence of international employees. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Rakuten have research centres in Paris.

I. Startup profiles

One section of the book profiles 12 startups based in Paris. They include Archive Valley (platform for footage requests and archive providers), Baby Sittor (app connecting parents with trusted babysitters), and Belty (smart belt combing wellbeing, fashion and technology).

Compte-Nickel allows customers to create bank-free accounts by leveraging the wide network of tobacco and convenience stores. It supports more than 600,000 customers across the country, and opens more than 1,000 accounts per day, more than any other bank in France.

Dataiku (‘data’ and ‘haiku’) provides collaborative tools for data science projects. It has a presence in Paris, New York and London. The platform drust is an app-based tool to make drivers better at driving. It gives them access to data from the automotive ecosystem.

Innerspace VR is a virtual reality entertainment studio to help people craft better interactive stories. Ulule is a crowdfunding site with efficient tools for project creators along with mentorship support; it has financed more than 17,000 projects with around €80 million.

La Ruche qui dit Oui! is a web platform that connects people directly to farmers and fresh produce. Its ‘food assemblies’ combine sustainable consumption with fairer revenues, and have been launched in Belgium, Spain and Germany as well.

Never Eat Alone is a web and mobile app that allows people within large corporations to connect on interests both professional and personal. Its clients include corporates like L’Oréal, Allianz, Danone and Société Générale.

Stanley Robotics provides robotic services in public environments, such as car parking in the Charles de Gaulle Airport. Talent.io is a recruitment marketplace for the technology industry; its founders sold their first startup (Cruisewise) to TripAdvisor,

II. Startup ecosystem

Two sections of the book profile the support system for startups, ranging from co-working spaces to programmes at incubators and accelerators. For example, Agoranov is a science and tech incubator, and has hosted over 320 startups, including Criteo (retail marketing).

The French Tech Ticket is a one-year programme and grant to attract international startup talent to France; the French Tech Visa is a fast track visa programme for startup founders and investors. Within two years, over 1,000 applications from more than 100 countries were received, and over 100 startups were accepted.

NUMA Paris runs a three-month long acceleration programme for startups. It arranges match-days where startups meet 15 mentors in 48 hours. Founders are encouraged to focus on the main product feature early on.

Paris&Co is the economic development and innovation agency of Paris, and has also become an innovation and incubation platform. In 2016, it nurtured more than 270 French and 30 international startups. Its Open Innovation Club and Innovation Dating sessions connect corporates and startups. It supports projects and experiments to make Paris a “hyperactive and dense playground for innovation.”

The International au Féminin is an international network and thinktank promoting women in tech industries (corporates as well as startups). It advocates entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship opportunities, and encourages members to think global.

Paris Pionniéres is a not-for-profit incubator for women entrepreneurs. Since 2005, it has launched 300 startups cofounded by women. Its accelerator program WoDi accepts 40 new startups per year. The aim is to go beyond the ‘bro’ culture of startups and help women entrepreneurs find suitable mentors, investors and business partners.

TheFamily nurtures startups through education and connections, and has empowered over 500 startups. The ‘Black Swan Factory’ has a presence in Paris, Berlin and London. It looks for founders with a ‘pay it forward’ mentality, believing that sometimes you have to give before you get.

The book also profiles nine co-working spaces, such as Kwerk (‘quirky’), which has custom-made installations from around the world to keep the place lively. It also provides a ‘co-breathing space’ with yoga sessions, showers and training rooms.

“It’s becoming prestigious to be an entrepreneur, but it can be lonely, too,” observes Leonid Goncharov, CEO and Founder of Anticafé République. It provides entrepreneur connects across its spaces in Paris, Lyon and Rome.

DRAFT Ateliers is a makerspace that connects tech communities to product designers and artists. “To see people holding their first prototype in their hands is a magic moment,” says co-founder Anne Gautier.

Le Laptop additionally provides workshops for entrepreneurs in the space of UX design. Le Loft 50 Partners is a community of 50 successful serial entrepreneurs who conduct weekly and monthly events as a “long-life incubator.”

Liberté Living-Lab has a focus on civic and social innovation. It organises forums like Hello Tomorrow, Data for Good, Bayes Impact, Jam and Lab School Network. It supports impact investing in areas like health and smart cities, and also implements programmes for refugees.

Nuage Café (‘cloud’ in French, also ‘new age’ in English) combines a corporate-quality space with the intimacy of a family business. ParTech Shaker was opened in 2014 by the VC firm Partech Ventures, and connects startups to corporates like Amazon, Stripe and Microsoft in its accelerator community.

Station F, the largest startup campus in the world, is an initiative of French entrepreneur Xavier Niel. It has 20 programmes for over a thousand startups, and also targets under-served communities.

III. Expert insights

One section of the book provides tips from experts representing accelerators and startup support initiatives in the city. The advice covers product-market fit, customer engagement, marketing, and talent.

Speed, simplicity and trust are key values for startups and corporates to collaborate in open innovation, according to Martin Duval, Founder and President of BlueNove. The company uses the collective intelligence platform Assembl, developed by a Montreal-based software company.

Its initiatives include the Spark Life Contest, a European competition connecting corporates to startups. Sponsors include Sodexo, Accor Hotels, Steelcase, SNCF, thecamp and Le Village, with themes such as health, wellbeing, environment and socialisation.

“We have 50,000 digital billboards operating in cities across the globe,” says Albert Asséraf, Executive VP of Strategy, Data and User Innovation, JCDecaux France. The company was founded in 1964 by Jean-Claude Decaux. It operates in over 75 countries and reaches over 400 million people in the world every day.

It has worked with Les Grands Prix de l’Innovation in Paris, and with Paris&Co for the Services Urbains Connectés business incubator. The programme has worked with startups such as Aerys, Park24 and TellMePlus, with solutions in intelligent car parks and digital ads.

JCDecaux also operated a six-month acceleration project with BNP Paribas’ Innov&Connect programme in 2016. This included a collaboration with Paris startup Diduenjoy to conduct app-based surveys on mobility projects such as bike-sharing. Another partner, Toucan Toco, offers apps for visualising business functions and for data storytelling.

With around 160 engineers based in Paris and 13,000 employees worldwide, JCDecaux is also thinking of developing its own in-house startup culture. Topics like realtime advertising via startups that can analyse digital conversations is a focus area.

The government initiative La French Tech has supported over 500 startups across 22 cities. Its programme, French Tech Diversity, targets founders from socially diverse backgrounds. Overall focus areas include deep tech such as AI, data science and biotech. “Paris is very well positioned in this respect, as France is world-renowned for the quality of its engineers,” according to David Monteau, Director, La French Tech.

OneRagtime combines investment with acceleration. Investments range from €25,000 to a few million euros, and the team spans New York, London, Barcelona and Paris. Portfolio startups include Kelinetwork, which creates short form videos distributed through social media platforms. Its channels are Ohmygoal (soccer), Gamology (video games), Genius Club (innovation) and Beauty Studio (health and beauty).

PwC France and Francophone Africa runs an incubation programme called DIVN (‘dive in’), PwC Accelerator, and Smart Up (PwC services priced at startup levels). Each year, 15 startups get a co-working space in PwC offices and access to internal experts, according to Geoffroy Schmitt, Transformation, Change and Innovation Leader.

Portfolio startups include Zenbase (HR chatbot) and Uptime (smart elevator maintenance solutions). They ran pilots with PwC and one of its real estate clients, respectively.

The Startup Focus programme is SAP’s global accelerator, founded in 2012. In Paris, it works with high-profile events such as VivaTechnology Paris and Le Grand Prix de l’Innovation de la Mairie de Paris. SAP France organises meetups like SAP Tech Me Up, SAP Build the Next, and SAP Startup Friday Pitch.

Portfolio startups include Meteo Protect, which offers weather risk management solutions for businesses. It has offices in Paris, London and Mumbai. Another startup from the programme is Indigo Media (IoT-solutions for retailers, brands and spaces).

“Customers demand greater time optimisation, convenience and personalisation as their habits are changing,” observes Eric Texier, Group VP, Innovation at Sodexo. Founded in 1966, the company has a range of solutions in food services, safety, maintenance, employee rewards and benefits. It operates across 80 countries and serves 75 million consumers every day.

In 2016, Sodexo founded Sodexo Ventures, a venture capital fund. In Paris it has partnered to create Village by Crédit Agricole, a physical space in for business and innovation. It also promotes Spark Life Contest, a pan-European startup challenge. Successful startups include Wynd (offline and online sales solutions for retailers) and Neo-nomade (platform for flexi-professionals to find workplaces).

Acceleration and intrapreneurship are the focus of thecamp, a European campus dedicated to emerging technology and social innovation. The campus plans to host up to 40 startups each year, and co-create with more than 25 intrapreneurs over a five-year period, according to Sofiane Ammar, Partner. Themes can include social-minded thinking about the next style of philanthropy or the next social project for smart cities.

IV. Founder advice

The final section of the book interviews founders of six startups, tracing their entrepreneurial journeys, challenges overcome, lessons learnt, and tips for the next wave of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Frédéric Mazzella, CEO of carpooling platform BlaBlaCar, graduated from Stanford and ECN (France) and then worked at NASA (USA) and NTT (Japan). “I must have had 20 different new company ideas, but the one that was really convincing was BlaBlaCar,” he recalls.

“We don’t know if it will work or not, but at least we’ll get to see you more,” his parents joked. The company initially focused on the B2B segment, connecting employees of individual businesses; this helped raise revenues for its C2C activity.

“I’m very connected to the Paris ecosystem. In the end, what really defines our humanity is creativity and our social links, social interactions,” Frédéric explains. He sees Paris as having the best of both worlds – tech evangelism as well as diversity and quality of life.

“You’re flooded by wrong opportunities. You have to decide which cards to discard, which ones to keep,” he advises aspiring entrepreneurs.

Marie Ekeland is co-founder of online and offline startup community platform Daphni. She is also co-founder of France Digitale, an association of founders and investors. She is a member of the French Digital Council and of the Startup Europe Advisory Board.

Marie worked at JPMorgan in New York as a computer scientist, and then at Elaia Partners, where she led investments in Criteo, Edoki Academy, mobirider, Pandacraft, Scoop.it, Teads, Wyplay and Ykone. Current startups include Agricool, founded by two sons of farmers who are transforming containers to grow fruits and vegetables in cities at scale.

“Don’t be ambitious for yourself. Be ambitious for your project,” advises Quentin Sannié, Co-founder and CEO of Devialet, which makes technology for amplifiers and speakers. “Your partners should be very different from you. Three me’s is just three times the same, bland,” he adds.

Being an entrepreneur is now considered trendy in France, he observes. “It’s considered positive. It’s considered helpful for the society, for the nation,” he adds.

“When you are an entrepreneur, your partner is incredibly important,” Quentin advises founders. “I have failed many times,” he recalls; one of them included a consulting firm which he had to close during the 2008 financial crisis.

In terms of performance and competitive spirit, entrepreneurs are like athletes, according to Stanislas Niox-Chateau, founder of medical appointment booking app Doctolib. He was a tennis player, but an injury forced him to quit athletics. The injury also gave him insights into the working of the medical profession.

Within three years, his startup accounted for 320 employees, serving 8.2 million French and German patients, and with 20,000 doctors on the platform every month. His earlier venture was startup studio Otium Capital, which invested in online booking platforms such as Balinea (hairdressers, beauty salons and spas), Weekendesk (short break travels) and eventually La Fourchette (restaurants), which was later sold to TripAdvisor.

Stanislas codifies the culture of his startup with the acronym SPAAH: Service, Passion, Ambition, Attack (as in sports strategy) and Humility. “Know that it’s only you and your co-founders who can make the best decisions for your business; do not delegate the hiring process to another organisation,” he emphasises.

Another serial entrepreneur profiled is Paulin Dementhon, Founder and CEO of Drivy, a platform, which lets car owners rent their vehicles. His earlier venture was a dynamic carpooling service called Quivaou.com.

He advises founders to invest in the user’s experience with their product. “Otherwise, you risk a lot more in the way of failure. You risk completely losing your audience,” he cautions. “You need to benchmark with other companies, but also realise that each company is different, has different needs,” he adds.

Guillaume Gibault, Founder and CEO of Le Slip Français, leveraged the “Made in France” branding for the company’s line of underwear, swimwear and accessories. It has boutiques in France, Japan, US and UK.

“I figured that within fashion, underwear was most likely the best product to sell online because it’s small, light, easy to ship and, most importantly, you don’t try it on,” Guillaume explains. He leverages social media for viral campaigns.

“I also box two to three times a week – it’s how I get my best ideas,” he jokes. “Understanding other companies’ issues has always helped me come up with new ideas for our own company, and I love to be challenged on the way we do things, to keep improving. Life is about always learning new things,” he adds.

The book ends with a directory of useful resources for startups, such as investors, conferences and meetup sites for entrepreneurs. Les Echos START is a French media outlet created in 2015 to cover the world of entrepreneurs.

Investors listed include Alven Capital Partners, Hardware Club, Idinvest Partners, and Isai. There are incubators and accelerators such as Blue Factory, Day One Entrepreneurs & Partners, Nextstars, Scientipole Bureau, Sensecube, Startup42, Techstars and Usine IO.

Listed startup events include DrinkEntrepreneurs, Femmepreneurs, Mashup, Paris New Tech, Start in Paris, Startup Grind Paris, Startup Weekend Paris, Techlunch Paris, FrenchPitch, Le 27, Pitch My Startup, and TheNextWomen Pitch Competition. VivaTechnology is a three-day event in Paris which includes tech leader talks as well as startup Lab sessions.

In sum, the book provides informative and entertaining insights into Paris’s startup ecosystem, as well as a useful framework for other cities to reflect on and improve their own startup ecosystems.

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Vahan Inc., a Bengaluru-based AI startup, which was a part of the latest batch of Y Combinator, has raised a fresh round of undisclosed funding from Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, and Pioneer Fund.

The startup aims to use these funds to hire talent across engineering, products, sales, marketing, and operations.

The Bengaluru-based startup has an AI-driven virtual assistant which is integrated with WhatsApp. It helps companies automate workforce engagement and offers blue-collar workers access to job opportunities, knowledge, and information to improve employability along with services such as loans and insurance. 

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Madhav Krishna, Founder and CEO of Vahan, told YourStory,

“They access our product simply by chatting with our AI-driven virtual assistant on messaging apps like WhatsApp. No separate app download is required. Being available on WhatsApp helps reduce the barrier to entry, and maximises user adoption and engagement.” 

With an intention to make education more accessible to underprivileged communities, Madhav Krishna built a product that facilitated vocational training to corresponding institutes in January 2016. Realising that most institutes were not interested in improving the quality of their training programmes, and looked to cut costs and increased margins, Madhav pivoted to a virtual assistant.

Vahan's expertise lies in high volume recruitment of delivery personnel for companies in the on-demand and ecommerce spaces. To apply for a job, a candidate simply needs to send a Hi to the company’s WhatsApp number. 

The virtual assistant qualifies the candidate, answers their questions, and even schedules an interview. The team has built Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technology to understand what the users type, especially to monitor a mix of two languages like English and Hindi. 

For this, the team built a separate consumer product that was able to act as a mousetrap for generating millions of Hinglish chat messages per month as a solution to this problem. The virtual assistant can be aligned to fit employers' communication, recruitment, and training needs. A web-based dashboard lets employers track data for business intelligence.

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Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital unveiled the names of 20 early-stage startups from India and Southeast Asia it has signed on as part of the second cohort of its Surge accelerator programme, with at least six startups in the batch at pre-launch stage, highlighting that “no stage is too early for Surge.”

Some 80 percent of Surge 02 startups have come onboard with co-investors, collectively raising upwards of $45 million in Surge rounds, according to Sequoia, which in January launched its Surge accelerator programme with the view to helping young startups with their early-stage choices, over two cohorts per year. 

“We are thrilled to welcome in Surge 02 a deeply committed and passionate group of founders who are solving a wide range of problems across diverse set of industry verticals, including consumer internet, edtech, agritech, clean energy, social commerce, fintech, SaaS, robotic, and DTC brands,” Sequoia India, said in a statement. 

During the four-month-long Surge 02 programme, each cohort will receive first-hand exposure to startups and trends in the global technology markets, along with mentorship support from accomplished founders, business leaders, and technologists.

“When we launched Surge at the start of 2019, we noted that it’s never too early to talk to Sequoia – and that no stage is too early for Surge. We’re doubling down on that with Surge 02… And we are incredibly excited to take the very first steps on their journey with them,” Sequoia said in a statement.

In the nine months since its launch, Surge has grown into a community of more than 80 founders from 37 startups, spread across six countries and from more than 10 industry verticals. 

The programme today boasts more than 50 mentors and speakers, with over dozens of co-investors, including angels and funds, supporting Surge startups.

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Here’s the full list of the 20 startups of Sequoia Surge 02.

Company: Airalo

Founders: Bahadir Ozdemir and Duran Akcaylier

Launched: March 2019

Co-investor: Antler

Airalo, the world's first eSIM store, provides travelers connectivity and freedom through access to over 100 eSIMs from around the world at the most affordable, local rates. 

Airalo was founded in Singapore in March 2019 by Bahadir Ozdemir and Duran Akcaylier. Bahadir is a serial entrepreneur with a background in shipping and telecommunications. His past startups include Wossco, a Foodpanda for ship supplies and Sim4Crew, a global MVNO for sailors. Duran has experience in developing high traffic web applications, together with building and managing development teams in both India and Turkey.

The eSIM, better known as embedded SIM, is now built into the latest versions of numerous smartphones, tablets and PCs, giving users the option of having multiple data plans on one device without changing their physical SIM card. Airalo has partnered with hundreds of the world's leading telcos to offer travellers access to local and global eSIMs.

Airalo aims to remove the stress people face in researching and seeking out the best roaming deal. The company's vision is to help travellers stay connected, globally, while keeping it simple, affordable and hassle-free.

Company: Bijak

Founders: Daya Rai, Jitender Bedwal, Mahesh Jakhotia, Nukul Upadhye and Nikhil Tripathi

Launched: May 2019

Co-investors: Omdiyar Network, Omnivore Partners and angels (Better Capital, Nipun Mehra)

Bijak is a B2B trade platform for the agricultural sector in India that enables traders, wholesalers and food processors to keep a ledger of their transactions, access transparent pricing, optimise logistics and improve their working capital cycles.

Bijak was founded in January 2019 by Nukul Upadhye, Mahesh Jakhotia, Jitender Bedwal, Daya Rai and Nikhil Tripathi who, together, have deep experience spanning a range of fields including agri-tech, finance, consulting and SaaS. The app was launched in May.

Bijak brings accountability and transparency in the agricultural value chain through a buyer/seller rating system that’s based on real time transaction data. Users on the platform can leverage those ratings to identify and trade with reliable counterparts. Bijak’s approach of enabling the existing players in the value chain underscores the company’s vision to be a trusted partner of the agriculture commerce community.

Most commodity traders refer to invoice details as Bijak, and that is where the app derives its name from. The app, which is highly customised for agriculture commodity traders, is available in a number of local languages and uses the same terminology that’s typically used in major wholesale markets (known as mandis).

Company: Brick&Bolt

Founders: Arpit Rajpurohit and Jayesh Rajpurohit

Launched: January 2018

Co-investors: Angels (Aakash Goel, Anuj S, Meghna Agarwal, Navin Dhanuka, Ramakant Sharma)

Brick&Bolt is an e-commerce platform that uses cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art systems and processes to make home and commercial construction absolutely simple, transparent and reliable for customers. 

Brick&Bolt was founded in January 2018 by Jayesh and Arpit Rajpurohit. Jayesh is a graduate of IIT-R, where he studied Civil Engineering and then went on to spend the next decade in companies like Ariba and BWin, designing and developing scalable systems. Arpit is a technologist at heart and has spent time at companies like Amazon and Ola.

Usually the entire experience of construction – from finding the right professionals, to the right price and the optimal timelines – tends to be opaque and a huge drain on resources and time. Brick&Bolt’s tech-based construction platform makes this process seamless by connecting customers to a curated set of service providers, enabling transparent pricing, managing projects to ensure adherence to approved quality & timelines and also levying penalties on the service providers in case of any delay. The process is augmented by an AI based engine predicting the work schedules and managing quality and progress of projects using computer vision.

Company: Chilibeli

Founders: Alex Feng, Damon Yue and Matt Li

Launched: July 2019

Chilibeli is a community-based social commerce platform that connects farmers, suppliers and consumers through the company’s network of agents to bring fresh, quality products and produce to every household, at affordable prices.

Chilibeli was founded in Singapore in May 2019 by Alex Feng, Damon Yue and Matt Li, who have experience spanning Alibaba, Lazada, BCG and Accenture.  The company launched its first market, in Indonesia, in July.

Chilibeli empowers farmers and its network of agents – many of whom are housewives who are active in their neighbourhood community – to earn extra income with ease and flexibility.  By streamlining the end to end supply chain, Chilibeli aims to help more local farmers, agents and consumers benefit from the social economy.

Company: Classplus

Founders: Bhaswat Agarwal, Mukul Rustagi

Launched: January 2018

Co-investors: Blume Ventures and angels (Alvin Tse, Kunal Shah)

Classplus, is a mobile OS that lets coaching institutes take their brick and mortar setups online. In India, tutors are often the primary channel for external supplementary academic support. 70M+ students in India take tutoring every year with over 750k+ coaching institutes and 1M+ tutors driving $21B annual cash-flow to India’s education sector.

Classplus was launched in 2018 by Mukul Rustagi and Bhaswat Agarwal. Mukul is an IIT Roorkee alumni of 2013, following which he pursued derivatives' trading across the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Bhaswat is an NSIT alumni of 2013 and spent a couple of years in Microsoft India Education as a tech-strategist for their learning-based products. Friends from school, this is Mukul and Bhaswat’s second venture together.

Classplus aims to streamline this massive but fragmented market, by helping tutors run all their communication, payments, assessments and online learning programmes on a full-stack mobile solution that doubles up as their online content repository. They also act as a new-age digital distribution platform for education content and products, enabling tutors to set up e-commerce channels that make video content and online assessments available to students.

With 1500+ coaching centres and 250k+ students across 50+ Indian cities using Classplus, they have become the category leader within 18 months of launch.

Company: Cognicept

Launched: September 2018

Founders: Alok Pathak, Michael Sayre and Ruchit Rami 

Co-investors: Antler

Cognicept, which believes robots and humans can work together for a better future, helps robotics companies get their products out of the lab and into the wilds of warehouses, sidewalks, and hospitals.

The company was founded in Singapore in 2018 by Michael Sayre, Ruchit Rami and Alok Pathak. Michael, a robotics engineer, is a third-time founder with over 11 years’ experience in developing and deploying robotics systems. Ruchit has a background in software development and data analytics, and Alok has expertise in IoT, robotics and communications protocols.

Cognicept provides Human-in-the-loop (HITL) error handling with telerobotic intervention technology that allows human operators to step in and guide their customers’ robots remotely. The company’s goal is to make it easier and more economical for customers to deploy robots by reducing errors and down time. Their supervised autonomy tools and services make unpredictable applications reliable and enable new use cases for robots.

Company: Freewill

Founders: Mohit Yadav, Rahul Yadav

Launched: August 2018

Freewill, launched in August 2018, is the first beauty company in India to create custom hair products based on each individual’s unique requirements, lifestyle habits, and environmental conditions. A user can visit their site to take an online consultation. Freewill’s proprietary algorithm then analyses over 1.7 billion formulations to create exclusive, custom-made formulas for each user from up to 68 high-impact ingredients. Created from scratch in their own labs, the collection includes shampoos, conditioners and hair serums, all freshly made-to-order, prepared from natural ingredients and shipped to the customers’ doorsteps.

The company was founded by Mohit and Rahul Yadav and is led by a team of tech entrepreneurs and former R&D heads at Estée Lauder & L’Oréal with 40 years of rich experience in the beauty industry. Mohit has 14 years of experience in startups and investment banking. He was previously CEO, SE Asia for CarDekho and expanded their business in the region. Rahul was Head of Product at CarDekho, scaling it from 5M to 30M active users. They also co-founded MangoStreet.com, an e-commerce platform for children’s products that was acquired in 2012.

Company: Hevo Data

Launched: August 2017 

Founders: Manish Jethani, Sourabh Agarwal 

Co-investors: Chiratae Ventures, Tracxn Labs

Hevo is an Automated Unified Data Platform that helps companies understand their users and customers better. Using Hevo, companies can build a 360-degree view of their customers by combining data from multiple disparate data sources and applications including sales CRM, advertising channels, marketing tech, financial system software and customer support products.

The company was founded in 2017 by Manish Jethani and Sourabh Agarwal. Manish, an IIT grad, is a second-time entrepreneur who previously founded SpoonJoy, which was acquired by Grofers. Sourabh, also an IIT alumni, has played key roles in the technology teams at Flipkart, Myntra and Grofers.

Data and information stored in various data sources and applications are often siloed, and it’s difficult for companies to get a complete view of their customers and business metrics. For example, an online commerce company that wants to give priority preference to its most loyal customers to drive brand loyalty or pay special attention to a customer who was aggravated in the past would need to look for information in different systems that sit within their sales, marketing, support and operation functions.

Hevo, which is an automated self-serve platform that even non-technical users can operate, intelligently builds user and customers profiles across all data sources.

Hevo targets the global market, with operations based across Bangalore, India and San Francisco, USA. The company is currently working with customers across five countries.

Company: InVideo

Founders: Harsh Vakharia, Pankit Chheda, Sanket Shah

Launched: March 2019

Co-investors: Angels (Anand Chandrasekaran, Gokul Rajaram, Haresh Chawla, Miten Sampat)

InVideo is a DIY video creation platform that democratizes professional-quality video production in a quick and easy manner. InVideo’s powerful web platform allows anyone to create videos from scratch, convert existing pieces of static content into videos and even add automated voice overs in native languages. 

InVideo was founded by Sanket Shah, Pankit Chheda and Harsh Vakharia in late 2017 as an enterprise-grade video suite. The rich insights they gained in the B2B space helped them adapt the initial product for the consumer market. Subsequently, InVideo.io was launched as a state-of-the-art, consumer-first online platform in March 2019.

InVideo currently serves a community of 24,000+ engaged users from 145+ countries who have created videos in 75+ languages. With a focus on global markets and a customer base that is growing by 10% every week, their goal is to make it to a million users by 2020. 

Their mission is to build the world’s best video creation platform. The metric they are most proud of is their customer NPS, which is 61 and only improving.

Company: Juno

Launched: Pre-launch

Founders: Ratnesh Ray, Siddharth Verma, Varun Deshpande

Co-investors: ConsenSys Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital and angels (Amrish Rau)

Juno is neo bank that aims to give users across the world a high yield account to grow their savings. Going live in select markets next year, Juno is taking a radical approach towards creating an open and global banking system for everyone, regardless of their location or income. 

Juno founders Varun Deshpande, Siddharth Verma and Ratnesh Ray are also the creators of Nuo protocol and had earlier founded BeeWise, an alternate credit analytics platform which was acquired in 2017 by Aditya Birla Money.

At its core, Juno is built using Ethereum blockchain and Nuo protocol which enables decentralised lending and borrowing of digital assets to earn a high yield on stable coins like USDC. Juno is leveraging these assets to build the next generation of global decentralised financial and banking services (DeFi).

Developed countries including the US, Europe, Japan and Singapore traditionally offer between 0.01% and 0.10% on checking and savings accounts. Juno customers will get a 5.5% annual interest on their savings with no lock-in or hidden fees. They will also be able to send and receive money anywhere in the world without any intermediaries and at no cost. Additionally, the company plans to introduce a debit card with a partner bank in the future.

Company: Klub

Founders: Anurakt Jain, Ishita Verma

Launched: August 2019

Co-investors: AngelList, Better Capital, EMVC Fintech Fund, Tracxn Labs and angels.

Angel Investors: Abhijit Gupta, Amit Gupta, Amiya Pathak, Bhuvan Srinivasan, Karumbaiah BK, Naveen Tewari, Nishant Verman, Nitin Sharma, Piyush Shah, Kunal Shah, Ram Sahasranam, Ramakant Sharma, Ram Sahasranam, Rajesh Yabaji, Sachin Maheshwari, Shailendra Singh (MarketsandMarkets), Shradha Sharma, Dr. SV Mahadevan

Klub is a fintech play providing growth financing to high-affinity brands. Klub’s investment platform, which utilizes financial innovation, community engagement and deep data-driven analytics, provides skin-in-the-game growth capital to entrepreneurs of much-loved brands across sectors.

The startup is currently in stealth-mode and is based out of Singapore and India. 

Klub is founded by Anurakt Jain and Ishita Verma. Anurakt, who is from IIT-D and Wharton, was an intrapreneur at InMobi building Glance and TruFactor and also had stints as an investor with Vertex and DFJ. Ishita, who is an IIM-B and LSR grad, was previously with Snyder UAE, worked as an investment banker with Unitus Capital and in institutional equities at Kotak.

Company: Log9 Materials

Founders: Akshay Singhal, Kartik Hajela and Pankaj Sharma

Launched: April 2015

Co-investor: Exfinity Venture Partners

Log9 Materials is a nanotechnology company that aims to revolutionize the energy sector with an innovative zero emission, low-cost aluminium-air fuel cell. 

Log9, which has over 16 global patents, was incubated at IIT-Roorkee in 2015 by Akshay Singhal and Kartik Hajela, who graduated with respective degrees in metallurgical and chemical engineering. The two set up Log 9 Materials in Bangalore in 2017.  Pankaj Sharma, a scientist with over 17 years’ experience in drug discovery, nano-biotechnology and molecule simulations, serves as a Co-Founding Advisor.

Log9’s mission is to create a clean, circular energy economy.  The company has developed a fuel cell prototype that can power an automobile for 1,000 km with zero waste and zero emissions. The battery’s novel air-cathode selectively allows air to pass through to the electrolyte, reacting with the aluminium placed inside a chamber to generate electricity. The by-product, aluminium hydroxide, is deposited at the bottom of the fuel-cell in a powder form that can be recycled at a smelter and reused in the same battery again. Fresh aluminium in a rectangular ‘cassette-like’ form is put into the fuel-cell, a process that takes less than five minutes.  

Existing Lithium batteries, in contrast, can power a car for 200 km, take two hours to recharge and typically wind up in a landfill after three or so years. The lack of dependence on lithium, cobalt and costly charging infrastructure would help Log9 resolve some of the largest bottlenecks in EV adoption today.

Company: PerroMart

Founders: Hideki Fujita, Roy Lim

Launched: August 2015

Co-Investors: Auric Pacific Group, DSG Consumer Partners

PerroMart is an O2O pet care company with a mission to help strengthen the bond between pets and humans for a lifetime. Pet ownership is rising sharply in Southeast Asia, tracking the rise in income and spending power across the region. 

PerroMart was founded by Roy Lim, who owns three dogs and has experience working in finance and operating a local retail and Hideki Fujita, who has invested in several successful startups, including SMS CO Ltd., FullSpeed Inc., Rentracks Co Ltd. and GoGoVan.

PerroMart, which started in August 2015 in Singapore as an e-commerce platform, is moving to an omnichannel business model that will allow the company to reach the larger proportion of Southeast Asia’s pet owners who still shop offline, and add new services - such as vet care and grooming - to cover the entire value chain.

Company: Quolum

Founder: Indus Khaitan

Launched: Pre-launch

Co-investors: Nexus Venture Partners

Quolum is a SaaS product – set up as an application to better manage risk and compliance for enterprises.

Currently in stealth, Quolum is founded by Indus Khaitan. Prior to Quolum, Indus built Bitzermobile, which was acquired by Oracle. He also ran growth at Chargebee. Originally from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India, Indus now lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

Company: Rheo TV

Founders: Prakash Kumar, Saksham Keshri

Launched: August 2019

Co-investors: LightSpeed Venture Partners and angels (Dinesh Kumar, Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh, Mahesh Narayanan, Phanindra Sama, Roman Saini)

Rheo TV is a game streaming platform that aims to make professional game streaming a mainstream career option in India, by building an entertainment ecosystem that drives engagement and monetization. Its mission is to bring gaming into the same league as that of cricket and Bollywood in India. 

Rheo TV was set up in August 2019 by Saksham Keshri and Prakash Kumar. Saksham has built teams and products from scratch at multiple fast-growing startups including Unacademy and JioSaavn. Prakash previously worked as a product engineer for Cuemath and Unacademy and has experience in building video platforms that have scaled to serve millions of users.

Today, India has nearly 200 million active gamers on smartphones. Ubiquitous internet infrastructure and affordable smartphones is leading to an increasing popularity of multi-player online gaming in India and Rheo TV is tapping into this phenomenon.

Company: Rukita

Launched: April 2019

Founders: Sabrina Soewatdy, Sarah Soewatdy, Wei-Chuan Chew, Xu-Zonne Ho and YC Ng

Co-investors: Golden Gate Ventures, SeedPlus, Shunwei Capital, and angels (David Tsang)

Rukita is an experience-focused co-living brand with a mission to make living better for urbanites in Asia’s fast-growing emerging economies, starting in Indonesia.

Rukita was founded in Jakarta in 2019 by Sabrina Soewatdy, Wei-Chuan Chew, Sarah Soewatdy, Xu-Zonne Ho and YC Ng - a team with deep roots in real estate, technology, hospitality and finance.

The company works with real estate owners and partners to transform potential assets in dense and pricey urban areas into fully-serviced Rukita Living experience for white-collar professionals and students. Rukita ensures high occupancy, happy tenants and improved asset yields for landlords by ensuring consistency of quality along with creation of spaces and experiences designed to build a sense of community.

Company: Storie

Founders: Feida “Fredy” Liu, Rizky Maulana and Yongming He

Launched: August 2019

Storie is a one-stop lifestyle community platform that answers consumer questions with useful and inspiring content and user-generated reviews. 

Storie was founded by Fredy Liu, Rizky Maulana, and Yongming He, who have extensive experience across many MNC digital companies focusing on the Indonesian lifestyle market and have a deep understanding of Indonesian consumers. The company launched in August 2019 with an initial focus on the beauty category. Within just one month, Storie was Indonesia’s No. 1 App in the Beauty Category on Google Play.

Storie aims to empower Indonesian people to make better product choices through the best input and most honest and inspiring experiences. Users can search and share first-hand experiences, photos and frank reviews to help community members make the right decision about lifestyle products and services. 

Company: Trell

Launched: August 2017

Founders: Arun Lodhi, Bimal Kartheek Rebba, Prashant Sachan, Pulkit Agarwal

Co-investors: Beenext, Sprout Ventures, WEH Ventures

Trell is building India’s largest lifestyle-community platform for the next 500 million internet users. The founding team consists of IIT Bombay Alumni Prashant Sachan (Ex-Microsoft, Samsung), Pulkit Agarwal (ex-Qualcomm), Arun Lodhi and NITIE Alumni Bimal Kartheek Rebba (ex-ITC).

Today, there is a dearth of meaningful and relatable content that helps Indian language internet users with lifestyle discovery and purchase decision making. The community on Trell shares original videos and blogs on new ideas, experiences, product recommendations and reviews with each other in multiple Indian languages. Trell, which will enable its creators to monetize their content in the future, aims to be India’s largest community-commerce platform by 2020.

Trell is currently present in 7 lifestyle categories like beauty, personal care, fashion, cooking, movies and web series reviews, gadgets, and travel. The app recently crossed 2 million monthly active users and is growing at 30 percent MoM.

Company: Yours

Founders: Navneet Kaur, Shivam Sharma

Launched: November 2018

Co-investors: Global Founders Capital, Kindred Ventures and angels (Alan Jiang)

Founded in November 2018 by Navneet Kaur and Shivam Sharma, both early stage Uber employees, Yours is a direct-to-consumer personalised skincare brand that uses technology to do personalisation at scale. All their products are made in Switzerland and are clean, cruelty-free, and environmentally friendly.

With Yours, users can take the guesswork out of the equation, and modify and adapt their skincare as their lifestyle changes. The process is seamless; users complete an online skin assessment by uploading a selfie and answering questions about their skin, lifestyle, and environment. Data from the selfie is extracted through computer vision algorithms and combined with inputs from the questionnaire; the complete data set is then fed into a proprietary personalisation model that decodes skin needs. Finally, active ingredients from Yours’ ever-evolving ingredient dataset are mapped to create a personalised skincare regimen for each user. 

Yours is a subscription service wherein the regimen is automatically updated every two months based on changing weather conditions, lifestyle and skin needs of the user. Going forward, the company will further invest heavily in computer vision and machine learning to improve personalisation at scale.

20th company in Stealth Mode

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When it comes to business, Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh is most famous for its locks industry. When childhood friends Mohammad Hamza and Sabir Ahmad Shamoo decided to start up from here, it was their attempt to put the city on India's startup map.

The 29-nine-year-olds started Engineering & Environmental Solutions (E&E Solutions) in their hometown in 2015. The firm develops environment-monitoring instruments using sensor-driven technologies for connected devices, with an automated approach to data collection and monitoring of solutions. 

The duo has roped in their childhood friends and seniors to form the core team, which includes Raheel Ahmad (43) as head of business development, Mohamad Misfer (27) as project head, Syed Abu Rehan (30) as technology head, and Shah Saud Abdali (29) as IT head.

Interestingly, all the core team members belong to Aligarh and demonstrate a zeal to prove that any business can be done from anywhere in India, backed by optimum knowledge and a good amount of passion.

Another reason for the founders to choose Aligarh as their home base is that it’s primarily a low-cost place and in close proximity to a large university which serves as a talent pool. It’s also conveniently located about 130 km southeast of Delhi-NCR and enjoys good connectivity with other major cities via the rail and road network, points out Hamza.

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The beginning

Hamza and Sabir recount their friendship that goes back to their childhood. They studied together till senior secondary school in Aligarh, after which Hamza did his MTech in Petrochemical Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University, while Sabir went on to get his degree in Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering from B.S. Abdur Rahman University, Chennai.

That is where he met their now-project head Misfer, a batchmate from Mechanical Engineering. Almost the entire core team, barring Raheel, happen to be batchmates or know each other in other ways – a fact that has served to cement their business association and enabled a cohesive team spirit.  

E&E Solutions came into being after Hamza and Sabir had a random conversation at a tea stall four years ago about opting out of their 9-to-5 jobs and starting something on their own. Having always possessed an entrepreneurial drive and sharing a concern for the environment, the duo decided to rent a small one-room apartment in Aligarh and set up their own firm, with an initial seed capital of Rs 1 lakh raised from family and friends. 

Currently, the startup has 48 team members, a full-fledged office and an assembly unit in Aligarh, with branches across Delhi, Kolkata, Tiruchirappalli, Bhopal, and Bhubaneshwar in India and in Michigan in the US. “We are striving to leave our footprint everywhere and are continuously expanding,” says Hamza.

Talking about their offerings, Hamza explains that the startup specialises in the design, manufacture, operation, and maintenance of air, hydrological, meteorological, and particulate monitoring systems. “Some of our key wins include remote control of devices and wireless transfer of continuous data through our IoT-enabled solutions and devices for real-time monitoring of environmental parameters,” he says.

E&E’s product portfolio comprises smart machines like indoor air quality monitoring systems, automatic weather stations, ambient air quality monitoring stations, digital ground water level recorders, continuous effluent/emission monitoring systems, and gas monitors, among others.

“The telemetry feature in these products enables the data to be transmitted in real-time to anywhere in the world using tools and platforms such as GSM, GPS, Wi-Fi, hologram, LoRa and LoRaWan. The transmitted real-time data can then be accessed and analysed from cloud servers using the internet on any desktop or even a smartphone,” explains Sabir.

In differentiating its solutions from the others available in the market, E&E focuses on robust, cost-effective and low-power systems for easy monitoring and control. “We have an R&D team of passionate and innovative engineers who are constantly driven to get us and the world future-ready. Moreover, all our instruments are made in-house, focusing on precision, quality, innovation and reliability of data,” adds Sabir.

Giving an example of how the company has found its market fit, Hamza talks about their solution to address the fast-depleting ground water level. 

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“To monitor this crucial resource and to keep a check on its misuse, our digital ground water level recorders are geared to continuously assess the levels of ground water in borewells and send data wirelessly to our servers. The ground water levels can then be monitored and analysed by using graphs and other tools. Installing these recorders has become a mandate for several industries to be in compliance with the Central Ground Water Board’s policies,” he explains.

E&E also works on customised solutions for clients across verticals. Talking about their on-going project with a real-estate developer in Delhi-NCR to address air pollution, Hamza shares that the startup has developed a customised solution to monitor indoor air quality on a real-time basis.

“Our team of environmental experts and engineers have come up with a simple yet effective mechanism to provide a solution using our sensor-based IoT devices. We are installing our air-quality monitors at different locations on each floor of the client’s 17-storey, high-rise building. The device measures various environmental parameters such as PM2.5, PM10, CO2, VOC, temperature and humidity and shows real-time data on a touch-screen display unit installed on each floor. A central wireless monitoring station also collectively displays the data for each floor in real-time,” he explains.

The competition and challenges

Sabir points out that this market has more challenges than competition, adding that the ability to sense various parameters, understand their co-relations, and explain and display the data in a user accessible format requires a lot of engineering chutzpah.

“If you can remain updated with the latest trends in technology and can constantly evolve and implement the best in your systems, all the time enhancing data reliability, then you can always remain ahead of the pack. In the end it’s all about ensuring great connections. That’s what we do and integrate in our sensors too,” he says.

He adds that E&E stands out for developing customized, turnkey solutions and for the dynamics of a young and passionate team powered by great problem-solving skills. “Moreover, we give our clients a strong and well-connected service support team, which is the main USP of E&E,” says Sabir.

The co-founders of E&E point out that India's environmental technologies market, including goods and services, is valued at around $23 billion and that environmental technology is a rapidly growing segment in India with a very strong potential.

Hamza adds that E&E’s growth potential is closely linked with the country policy-makers’ increasing focus on rules related to the environment, such as the new solid waste management rules, which have given rise to a need for newer and better monitoring and control technologies.

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Business growth

In a matter of just four years, E&E has bagged more than 30 clients, including companies like Whirlpool, Hero MotoCorp, The Leela, Taj Group, Mother Dairy, Dabur, Hindustan Steel, ITC Labs, the Centre for Ground Water Board in Lucknow, and the Centre for Science and Environment.

In its first year of inception, the company recorded revenues of just around Rs 36 lakhs; in the following year, the earnings saw a five-fold growth and crossed the crore-mark.

“The annual revenues crossed Rs 2 crores in FY18 and Rs 4 crores in FY19. In the current fiscal year, we are expecting to clock a Rs 20-crore turnover,” says Raheel.

He adds that the company has been seeing YoY growth of almost 300 percent and is looking to maintain the same rate over the next few years.

Raheel started his career in 1999 with LG Electronics and then worked with several other multinational companies before quitting his corporate career and coming on board with E&E. He goes on to share that the company has already recorded profitable performance, though the net profit margins are not as large as they could be, as a large chunk of the revenue goes towards R&D and technology upgradation. 

Going forward, the company plans to continue to explore newer vistas in the field of environmental monitoring and capture new markets. “We are expanding into the lucrative Middle-East market and the African countries. Though we are not yet catering to the already-developed US market, we have set up a sales office in North America,” says Hamza.

Funding plans

The bootstrapped startup is now seeking external funding for scaling up, to the tune of $8-10 million from investors and VC firms. “We would like to raise this money over the next one to two years. The main objectives are to scale up quickly, hire more people, enhance our technology, set up a larger factory, and invest heavily in R&D to be among the best in the sector,” says Sabir.

(Edited by Athirupa Geetha Manichandar)

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Rahul Antony Thomas, an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate, was living the good life working for a consultancy in Germany. It was here he was introduced to the concept of an “active lifestyle”. 

“My landlord, a 70-year-old, would play volleyball once a week with his gang. This realisation shook me. I was 25 years old and weighed over 90 kg. So without wasting too much time, I re-engaged with football. In a matter of months, I got back to my athletic best and I realised that this positively impacted the overall quality of my life,” Rahul says. 

Three years later, when his stint ended and he came back to India, Rahul realised that he couldn’t replicate that lifestyle here. It was during this time that he happened to meet Arun V Nair, who was a badminton enthusiast and had a similar experience in the US. Over a few coffee conversations, they decided to start Sporthood. 

The Bengaluru-based startup is a network of neighbourhood sports clubs, helping people across all age groups to connect with the sport they love and make it a part of their life. The services portfolio extends from grassroots coaching for five-year-olds to sports-based fitness programmes designed to meet the lifestyle needs of 50-year-olds. 

“Today, we have a community of approximately 20,000 kids and adults playing/training football and badminton with us across our network of close to 20 sports clubs across Bengaluru and Kochi,” Rahul says. 

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How does the model work? 

Sporthood ties up with venue partners, similar to how OYO/Treebo tie up with unbranded hotels, and helps them monetise the sports infrastructure they have set up leveraging “our unique capabilities, under a managed franchise mechanism, helping the venue partners generate up to 2.0X returns as compared to what they would get, if they stayed as an unbranded centre with no customer service layer”.

Once a venue partner is on-boarded, Sporthood takes care of the end-to-end customer experience, including staffing and using the tech backends to manage the venue operations and deploy trained coaches (who deliver their services portfolio across sports coaching, fitness training, events, etc).

Each programme has been productised with the appropriate curriculum and lesson plans delivered to coaches via our “trainer app”, Rahul says.  

The customers can access the entire service portfolio through the “Sporthood” app where their stats, progress, and entire sporting profile gets built. 

“From providing PE/sports training in schools to organising city-wide events, the first 18 months was a period of experimentation and learning. By January 2015, we pivoted to the model of neighbourhood sports clubs, and launched our services at PLAY Arena, our first venue partner in Bengaluru,” Rahul says. 

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Getting up and running 

When the duo started in 2015, the biggest challenge they faced was the availability of quality sports infrastructure across India. 

“In some sense, we were ahead of the market then, but spent the initial two to three years really understanding the customer needs and crafting solutions,” Rahul says. Soon, there was a growth of sports infrastructure across metros and Tier I cities in India. 

The other challenge was operational. Rahul explains that they spent a lot of time developing and fine-tuning systems and processes.

“We have developed a mobile app ecosystem that provides highly personalised user experience at the individual level, helping people track their sports performance and add it to their profile. Our vision is to become the McDonald's in sports. Over the next five years, we want to become the neighbourhood sports club where urban India plays,” Rahul says.

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The team and revenue model

The team roped in Nikhilesh MR as the CTO. An MTech from IIT-Madras, he was part of the founding teams of Aryaka Networks and Voonik. They also got in Vikram Devare, an IIM-Kozhikode alumnus, who had worked for the likes of ICICI Bank. Today, Sporthood is a team of 75 people. 

“We are generating a revenue run rate of Rs 6 crore per annum, growing at 10 to 15 percent month on month. The best part of the business model is that we are gross margin positive at the unit level. Right now, we are in the middle of raising a pre-Series A round to scale up our operations in Bengaluru and add more sports to our portfolio,” Rahul says. 

The revenue comes from individual customers who either subscribe to one of the membership packs or pays “per game” or “per training session” or event. Adults who play regularly with Sporthood pay around Rs 2,000 per month. Parents typically spend around Rs 3,000 per month for a child’s coaching, and family memberships come in at Rs 5,000 per month.

“We add partner centres to our network on a revenue share basis. The unit economics is comparable to gyms. We are able to increase the topline of partner centres by 1.5X to 2.0X while retaining a ~20 percent gross margin at the unit level,” Rahul says.

Market and the future 

According to MarketsandMarkets, the overall sports technology market would rise to $31.1 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 20.63 percent. The key growth factors include “significant improvement in audience engagement, growing demand for data-driven decisions and operations, and increasing sports events, online and offline”.

There are several sports startups such as Playo, Rooter, Fantain, and The Football Mind operational these days.

“We have trained experts who help you with warm-up, cool-down, and conditioning, which reduces the risk of getting injured by 90 percent. Our skill matching algorithm ensures that you get a good game every time you play with Sporthood. What’s more, your entire playing history, with stats, achievements, etc. gets tracked as you build your amateur sporting profile,” he says. 

The team is looking to add more sports like swimming, tennis, and cricket. The founders plan to expand operations to over 150 centres across the top 10 cities over the next three years. 

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

Bootstrapped startup Buzzo.ai is engaged in building a conversational AI assistant.

Buzzo.ai uses deep insights from product descriptions and user reviews to come up with precise recommendations and answers to follow-up questions that the customer might have on any of the shortlisted choices. The assistant addresses queries related to food, travel, entertainment and shopping experiences and can be deployed across multiple channels, including websites, mobile apps, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Alexa and Google Assistant.

Helping Buzzo.ai build this web-scale conversational intelligence technology in a cost-effective manner is Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “Having worked with other cloud providers, we have found that Oracle Cloud is less complex. The technical support available has been great,” says Buzzo.ai cofounder Pranav Tyagi. “Currently we are using Oracle Compute Cloud and Load Balancer services. This powers our entire platform, including our NLP and AI algorithms that run on vast amounts of public web data. All the client deployments of our AI Assistant are also set up on Oracle Cloud. To top it all, compared to our previous deployment, we have witnessed a significant reduction in our overall costs.”

Buzzo.ai joined Oracle for Startups in 2018 and has grown significantly since then.

Join Oracle for startups

Creating a cycle of innovation

A unique acceleration programme, Oracle for Startups enables mutually beneficial business-building partnerships for startups, Oracle and its customers. It starts with free cloud credits and enables rich collaboration with opportunities to engage with Oracle’s vast network of mentors, product experts, and customers—creating a cycle of innovation.

The programme is open for startups in the technology space with a large addressable market. Startups can be either B2B or B2C, and be of any size, stage or located anywhere in the world.

The programme does not take equity from startups, and also ensures that startups receive personalised mentorship and market connections. What makes the mentorship offered under this programme different is that the product experts guiding the startups are often former entrepreneurs who have joined Oracle via acquisition and chose to stay on board but are also closely involved in the startup ecosystem. The mentors have experience in all aspects of doing business including marketing, product development and sales.

The possibilities of free cloud

As part of the programme, startups receive $500 of free cloud credits (at a 70 percent discount, with the option to apply for more), migration credits and technical support. Startups across the world vouch for the fact that the Oracle Cloud delivers the speed, security, and value they need to scale. The cloud credits being offered as part of Oracle for Startups will give more startups a chance to verify this for themselves. Oracle believes that once the cloud credits get used, startups will have experienced Oracle Cloud well enough to know if it is the right fit for their needs and understand better how it will help them develop transformational technology.

Additionally, Oracle Cloud has no vendor lock-in, so it fits in perfectly with a multi-cloud strategy. With simple price structure and licensing, Oracle delivers lower cost of ownership on a robust cloud solution that offers an exceptional array of container shapes and sizes that are right for startups.

An opportunity to engage with Oracle's clients and its global ecosystem

Another aspect that makes the accelerator programme interesting for startups is that it unlocks the opportunity to level-up their solution, gain exposure and connect with Oracle’s global customer base.

Selected startups within the programme get the opportunity to speak onstage at global Oracle and third-party events, get introduced to high-level product management personnel to discuss integration strategies, receive introductions to potential customers, and get exposure to global media members and analysts.

“Our business is accelerating in large part due to the benefits of running on Oracle Cloud, connection to enterprise customers, and world-class mentoring,” says Govindraj Muthyalu, CEO of CashPundit, a FinTech startup that offers a cloud-based Cash Flow Management (CFM) solution. “With Oracle Cloud infrastructure, our speed, ease of use, and performance is far better than many others. And this is allowing us to help solve a major pain point for financial executives faster, better and more efficiently.” A member of Oracle for Startups, CashPundit says that the Oracle partnership in addition to helping the startup position for further scale and customer growth, particularly on the technology side of things, is also benefiting from introductions to Oracle’s global customers. “The Oracle global startup program is the best thing that has happened to us,” says Muthyalu.

In short, Oracle for Startups goes beyond just business and technology, and aims to understand the need of startups to partner with them accordingly. At the same time, it also demonstrates how Oracle Cloud delivers the speed, security, and value that the startups need to scale.

So if you are a B2B or B2C tech startup and want to level up your business with technology support and a secure, value-priced cloud, join Oracle for Startups.

Sign up and get building!

For months, a group of techies camped overnight at the fruit and vegetable market in the outskirts of Bengaluru. They had only one aim in mind: figuring out the complications of the supply chain. This is what led to the birth of B2B agritech startup Ninjacart, which, in four years, has notched up a delivery accuracy rate of 99.88 percent all year round.

In an exclusive chat with YourStory, Co-founder and CEO Thirukumaran Nagarajan talks about cracking the scale challenge, particularly in the fresh produce supply chain, with his sixth venture Ninjacart.

Hotstar’s Akash Saxena on why curiosity is everything

This week on Techie Tuesday, we feature Akash Saxena, SVP, Head of Technology, Hotstar. His tech journey has seen several ups and downs, and includes stints at Open Table, Persistent Systems, Vitrix, Exemplary Software, TinyOwl, and Craftsvilla.

Meet Payal Jain who has dressed Priyanka Chopra, Victoria Beckham

Designer Payal Jain has been at the forefront of the fashion evolution in India for the past 25 years, working with Indian textiles to create a brand ethos that she calls a 'western body with an Indian soul'.

Predera enables enterprises to deploy ML solutions at scale

San Jose-based Predera’s unified end-to-end automation engine provides intervention alerts, human-in-loop feedback, and autonomous workflow management capabilities to reduce the cost of maintenance of AI models.

This Harvard educated mum returned to India to start Shumee Toys

Meeta Sharma Gupta, 42, is an engineer by education, with degrees from IIT Delhi and Harvard University. She returned to India from the United States to make toys for children that are safe and sustainable.

5 companies helping small businesses and MSMEs avail easy credit

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YC-backed Vahan Inc. raises undisclosed funding from Khosla Ventures

Vahan Inc., a Bengaluru-based AI startup, which was a part of the latest batch of Y Combinator, has raised a fresh round of undisclosed funding from Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, and Pioneer Fund.

Flipkart creates spirit of goodwill for the underserved

As a leading ecommerce marketplace in India, Flipkart is leveraging its platform to enable its wider community of buyers and sellers to give back to the society for various social causes with its Daan Utsav programme.

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With most businesses focussing on being customer-centric, brands are increasingly looking for quick and accurate answers on what customers want and how they want it.

These include mining relevant data for customers from different platforms, including social media, blogs, review sites, news articles etc. In short, almost everywhere the brand finds a mention.

Traditional methods like insights based on surveys and analysing past data are passe. They are time consuming, and will soon become obsolete in the rapidly changing digital world.

There is a definite need in the market for a platform that provides brands with timely and concrete insights. Consumer analytics platform Rank Me Online aims to provide customers and brands with all the information relevant for growth and development.

Founded in November 2017 by Jyoti Gupta and Deepti Singh Chauhan, Rank Me Online is based in New Delhi. It is certified by the Centre’s Startup India Programme and and is part of its Innovation Stratups category. Their clients include Curefit, Social Konnect, and Pee Safe.

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Women in tech

Batchmates from Delhi Technological University, Jyoti and Deepti graduated in Computer Science Engineering in 2012. Jyoti went on to work in companies like Amazon, Directi, Limeroad, and Curefit.

Deepti, on the other hand worked with Cognizant and Samsung after graduation. She also pursued an MBA from IIFT - majoring in marketing.

Having worked with internet companies, both Jyoti and Deepti understood the power the customer wielded in world of new-age internet and social media.

They thought why not help businesses with one clear metric that presents customers’ opinion about a certain product or business.

"With a strong technical background and a passion for building a great product, our aim was to revolutionise the market," says Jyoti, who manages the overall strategy and execution of the product.

Deepti is responsible for Business Development, monitoring industry trends, and business operations. They work with a team of 10.

The founders initially started building the product at Bengaluru. However, being bootstrapped, they needed their parents’ help to provide them with a place to live. They shifted to their hometown New Delhi. The founders invested Rs 20 lakh from their savings to build the product and team, and towards marketing and operational costs.

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Analyse like Google

While it’s possible for individuals and businesses to manually search for online mentions and analyse data on their own, it becomes extremely difficult when the data is large. With social media platforms clocking more than a million posts a day, it is not humanly possible to analyse performance in every platform.

This is where Rank Me Online's product - Review Analyzer comes in. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to capture actionables from the customer. It provides insights on what the customer wants, what kind of features they prefer and the additional features they are looking for.

It works like Google Search where the customer/business adds keywords to set context for the project. The platform crawls relevant information using keywords from websites, news, forums, blogs, as well as social media websites. It then creates a structure for the data and analyses it further using the AI engine. 

"Brands can take action on these insights using the customer dashboard. They can also engage with existing as well as potential customers and influencers through the platform," says Jyoti.

Stating an example, Jyoti says that if a customer reviews a cafe online, saying 'coffee was good, but service was bad;' Review Analyzer shows that the coffee was termed positive and service as negative. Now the cafe can directly use this information to start promoting its coffee and internally work on its service.

Analysing tools

Rank Me Online offers the following services :

Social listening: The tool listens to all the brand mentions, competitor mentions and audience mentions thus, helping brands to directly engage with mentions, find leads, and influencers.

Online Reputation Management: The platform monitors and manages the brand reputation online by checking all mentions with sentiment analysis.

Competition, audience and campaign analysis: It analyses audience profiles through AI algorithms and understands market behaviour with ROI measurement.

How it works

Rank Me Online works as a typical SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform. Its target audience are B2C brands, branding agencies, PR agencies, and media houses. It offers its products on a monthly subscription basis, starting at $100 per month.

Once brands sign up for a package, Rank Me Online's account manager works closely with them to understand the requirement and set the goal for the projects.

Its product, Rank Me Evaluator, provides brands with all the services along with competitive analysis starting at $200 per month. It also provides brand and competitor analysis and a consultant who will help brands with market development strategy and improving the Net Promoter Score. These services are offered on a custom pricing model.

"After the projects are set, the brands use the dashboard to directly understand, analyse, and engage with the audience," says Jyoti.

It also provides in-house consultant support on request.

Rank Me Online is currently clocking revenue worth Rs 5 lakh a month and, Jyoti says, "We have a target to make around Rs 25 lakh a month by the end of this financial year."

The analytics business

Rank Me Online started operations 10 months ago and already has more than 2,000 B2B users on the platform. "Our current customer acquisition is mainly through offline sales channels," Jyoti says. Growing at a rate of 20 percent month-on-month, the startup has so far served 800 client projects.

According to Markets and Markets, the brand analytics market size is expected to grow from $2.23 billion in 2016 to $9.54 billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 28.6 percent.

It is in direct competition with companies like Brandwatch, Meltwater, and Vaizle.

Unlike its competitors, "Rank Me Online’s Review Analyzer can analyse huge data in a breeze," and that's what sets it apart, says Jyoti.

Future plans

Rank Me Online wishes to own the complete social media intelligence piece . "We plan to raise funds and are looking for investors who can help us in strategic partnerships and initiatives," Jyoti says.

(Rank Me Online was also a part of SheLeadsTech - a Facebook initiative powered by YourStory.)

(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)

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It is a great time to be an agri-business in India. Although we’ve traditionally been an agrarian economy, with nearly two-thirds of the country’s population earning its livelihood on farms, there is a renewed focus on the sector lately. 

Not only is the government more pro-active in doling out schemes and incentives for farmers, private funding has also gone up now.

As a result, a host of agri companies have mushroomed in the last 24-36 months. They are using new-age technologies to improve crop output, better farm management, increase farmer incomes, eliminate pesky middlemen, and drive efficiencies in the entire farm-to-fork value chain. 

In a recent report titled Agritech in India – Emerging Trends in 2019, industry body NASSCOM estimated there are over 450 agritech startups in India today. In 2019 alone, the sector received close to $250 million in funding, a whopping increase of 300 percent over last year. 

NASSCOM also expects India to have its first agritech unicorn in two to three years.

Incubators driving growth of agritech

Playing a critical role in the development of the sector are agri-business incubators. Delhi-based Indigram Labs is one of India’s first private incubators focused on agritech and related businesses.

Started in 2016, Indigram has incubated about 35 startups so far. It claims to be the largest agri incubator in India, with a network of 500,000 farmers, and 250 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) across 18 states. It focuses on tech-led agri ventures, and offers mentoring, funding, resources, and market linkage to its incubatees.

Indigram even provides lab facilities, where startups can test their product prototypes before taking them to market. It has trained more than 4,000 youths in collaboration with the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP).

Notable startups in Indigram’s portfolio include Intello Labs (AI-based agro commodity testing app), MyCrop Technologies (farm management system), AgriWatch (delivering market intelligence on agri commodities), Rowan Agronature (market linkage to farm produce and a credit platform), TechnifyBiz (managing the dry commodity supply chain), AgSmartic (farm management and smart irrigation), and Farms2Fork (farm automation).

Ashish Khetan, Director and Chief Investment Officer, Indigram Labs, tells YourStory,

“Agritech is one of the few sectors that is yet to be disrupted. There are many opportunities to create depth. We don’t know if there can be a Flipkart-like player in agritech, only time will tell. But if any startup can capture even five percent of the farm base, that will lead to a $100-billion valuation.”

In a decade, Indigram plans to incubate 100 startups from across segments in agritech - crop input/output, farming techniques, tractors and farm equipment, food processing and grading, farmers’ credit, cold storage and supply chain, and more.

The incubator, which Ashish says is “run like a proper business”, recently tied up with the Department of Science and Technology (DST). 

Indigram will fund agritech startups under the government’s National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations - Seed Support System (NIDHI-SSS) scheme.

It has earmarked a corpus of Rs 10 crore for the same, and will elevate startups to a level where they can draw angel or institutional investors. The investment for each startup will be capped at Rs 25 lakh. 

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How Indigram incubates and what it offers

What makes Indigram Labs different from other private incubators?

Ashish explains,

“Our incubation period is for three years. We don’t offer a classroom kind of session to graduate startups. Our aim is to help them go to market, identify new revenue streams, mentors, and investors."

He adds, "All kinds of support are offered in-house. We have agronomists, supply chain experts, strategy experts, consultants, and market intelligence people. We also have angel investors within the incubator.”

By the end of 2019, Indigram Labs is projected to be a 2,000-people organisation, making it one of the largest business incubators in the country. 

Because of its vast network, it has gained a deep understanding of the variable farmer psyche in India. Indigram is currently ‘active’ in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh across multiple agro-climatic zones.

Ashish says,

“Farmers are progressive in some areas and are keen to try out new products. But, others may be sensitive and not very trusting. In such cases, startups usually take the help of NGOs or village entrepreneurs. We can improve access to farmers, and help validate their product on the ground.”

Indigram reveals that setting up an agritech venture in southern states is “far more viable and sustainable” because state governments there are more lenient with subsidies. Also, in places like Karnataka, there are 10 different agro-climatic zones where “you can grow almost everything” - from betel nuts and spices to black pepper and coffee. “Farmers in the south are more organised too,” Ashish observes.

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Investing philosophy and “judgement calls”

For any incubator or institutional investor, taking “judgement calls” on startups is the all-important step. 

Several questions stare at them: Do you back the current idea or the potential of what it can become? Do you bet on the founder and the team? Do you look to fill gaps in your own portfolio? Do you focus on quick returns?

Indigram reveals that it rests “90 percent” of its selection on founder background. “Dekho, idea toh sabke paas hai (everyone has an idea),” Ashish says. “But, what we see is if the team has the ability to execute that idea. Does the founder have a commercial background? Can he scale a business?”

He adds, “We usually don’t put money in a startup which is already highly valued at the incubator stage. Our goal is to take it to Series A and get a 10-15X return.”

One of Indigram’s biggest success stories has been Intello Labs.

The Gurugram-based startup enables commodity grading with AI and image recognition technology, and is one of India’s most awarded agritech companies. Its platform scans one million images daily. In April 2019, Intello raised $2 million in seed funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Omnivore. 

Puneet Kumar, VP, Nexus Venture Partners, said in a statement, “Without the standardisation and digitisation of quality assessment of agricultural produce, e-Mandi and digital agriculture markets will remain a distant dream. Intello Labs is revolutionising quality assessment and grading for agricultural produce, utilising technology advancements in AI and ML.”

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Exits and returns on investment

Indigram claims that it earned 30-35X returns on its investment in Intello Labs.

“It was a successful exit,” Ashish says. He adds, “In another startup, TechnifyBiz, we’re getting a 100X return. But, we’re not looking to exit yet.”

What really is the right time to exit a startup?

“It varies with incubators. We usually stick around if we think that a startup can go from Series A to Series B in six to eight months," Ashish explains.

By 2020, Indigram plans to set up a new $30 million fund for “follow-up investments” of $500,000 to $2.5 million each in its startups.

CIO Ashish signs off by saying, “We also have a consulting arm. The idea is to help startups cut a bigger cheque of $10 million or more. We want to be looked at as an overall agritech solution, and not just as an incubator.” 

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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Bollywood singer Sukhbir Singh has invested an undisclosed amount in Noida-based coworking and managed office space provider Nukleus.

As part of the deal, Sukhbir Singh will join the advisory board of the startup as an active member. 

Sukhbir has recently started angel investments with Gurugram-based LQI, followed by Amritsar-based eBikeGo, Jaipur-based MEngage, and Goa-based Real Learning. He is evaluating more startups based out of India.

Founded in 2018, Nukleus said it has rapidly emerged as one of the biggest coworking companies in Delhi-NCR region. With the focus to cover major Tier I and II cities, Nukleus is aiming to open 10+ coworking centres across the country. 

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Founder and CEO of Nukleus Nipun Gupta expressed his deep interest in adding more value to the Indian office ecosystem, through collaborations and expansions in the coming years. 

Sukhbir and Nipun are excited to share a similar vision of making a difference in the way people spend time at the workplace, and make future workplaces more accessible, affordable,  productive, and startup-friendly.

Startup Buddy acted as the investment advisor for this strategic capital infusion. It is a one-stop solution offering end-to-end accounting, financial, and advisory services using high end technology and providing customised, professional, and holistic solutions.

A recent report by property consultancy JLL India predicts fast growth for India’s coworking industry. Coworking service providers have taken space from 1.11 million sq ft in 2017 to 3.44 million sq ft in 2018, indicating rapid growth of the sector. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) along with individual professionals, together contribute 35-40 percent of the demand for co-working space, followed by startups which is 15-20 percent.

The biggest players operating in this space are WeWork, CoWrks, and Awfis among others. SoftBank-backed hospitality unicorn OYO, in July, also marked its entry into this segment with the acquisition of Delhi-NCR-based Innov8 for Rs 220 crore. Innov8 is now part of OYO’s larger segment, Oyo Workspaces, led by Rohit Kapoor, CEO, New Real Estate Businesses.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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In an age of increasing digital distraction, people have become so busy or preoccupied that they are unable to have immersive experiences or be in the present, and have thus lost much of the capacity to see, listen, think, and act clearly.

But it is the power of curiosity and observation that can lead to better art and inventions, and to greater joy and bliss, as explained in the book The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday, by Rob Walker.

Hailed as a “sensory upgrade” and a “delightful field guide to being alive,” the book is packed with activities, questions, insights and humour. The book is a great read from cover to cover, or in random sampling.

Rob Walker is the author of Buying In and Significant Objects, and on the faculty of the Products of Design MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He is also a columnist for The Atlantic, New Yorker and Bloomberg Businessweek.

Becoming a better, deeper and more original observer of the world and of oneself improves the creative process, Rob begins. This applies to a broad range of professions and pursuits, including scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, social activists, and business professionals.

The five sections are spread across 240 well-designed pages, along with references to other books like Ways of Seeing, Predictably Irrational, The Artist’s Way, See for Yourself, How to See, Deep Listening, Explore Everything, Urban Smellscapes, Mindfulness, Zen Mind, Everything We Touch, and You May Also Like.

As diverse examples of people known for insightful observations, Rob points to Warren Buffet (investor), Jerry Seinfeld (comedian), Laurie Anderson (artist), Rachel Carson (biologist), and Billy Beane (baseball coach). Mindfulness training is on the rise in organisations around the world, as the value of poly consciousness and original perspectives is being prized.

Being distracted is part of human evolution, but being able to focus is important as well. Productivity needs to be balanced with exploration, and the spirit of curiosity applies in both directions. Reawakening our sense of creativity and wonder can lead to inspiration and insights, Rob advises.

Here are my key takeaways from this compelling book. See also my reviews of the related titles Quirky, Messy, InGenius, A Beautiful Constraint, Seeing What Others Don’t, How to get to Creative Ideas, The Creative Curve, and The Art of Creative Thinking.

The 131 exercises are divided into five categories of activity: looking, sensing, travel, connections, and being alone. They are physical activities but can also serve as thought experiments. Rob divides them into four types: easy, doable, enjoyably challenging, and advanced. “These ideas are meant to shake up the way you see, hear, notice, and otherwise experience the world,” he explains.

Being observant has some built-in trade-offs and balances – it can mean escaping a moment or being in it; it can mean blocking all distractions or choosing one of them. These aspects of observation are systematically and humorously brought out in the book.

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1. Looking

Activities to practise better observation include conducting a scavenger hunt (eg. security cameras, payphones, plaques, upcycled objects), spotting something new everyday on your regular commute, observing which colours jump out at you during a walk, and collecting images and photographs systematically (For example, shapes, textures, manhole covers).

Other recommended activities are spotting numbers, stargazing, focusing on a single object (for 10 minutes and even three hours), looking up (not just down or ahead), zooming in or out, looking out of ignored windows, identifying newest/oldest things around you, and framing or captioning what you see.

Rob also adds other unusual observation exercises in museums: look at flaws, guards, names of donors, behaviours of other visitors, and envision how random objects could become art. Another exercise is to draw objects instead of photographing them – this can bring out new details and perceptions.

Putting on different hats and functions can lead to interesting observations, for example, finding a plot connecting objects, viewing scenes like a historian or a futurist (or even a child or an improv performer).

Looking at what other people have abandoned can open up new kinds of insights and stories as well. Labels by the Fair Trade Network draw our attention to buried details such as working conditions of garment labourers.

Such techniques improve your perception of the unusual and the mundane, and ability to detect patterns. “Art is everywhere, if you say so,” Rob explains. “You’ll see details you missed, you’ll draw new connections, and you’ll reconsider first impressions,” he adds.

2. Sensing

Activities with regard to hearing include monitoring your own “sonic profile,” make an inventory or map of sounds you hear, listening to sound components (for example, an instrument or description), connecting sounds to the feelings induced, recording audio snapshots and discussing them, and deep listening.

This can extend to other senses as well, such as an audit or map of tastes and smells, a scent walk, imagining spirits in what you see, or putting together random objects in interesting ways.

Examples of art that draw on these principles include John Cage’s music composition 4’33” which consists of pure silence, and may even come across as a cultural prank. Marina Abramovic has designed performance art formats where attendees silently view one another or walk slowly across a room with intense concentration.

Rob describes an activity called ‘digital silence,’ where you observe others’ posts for a period of time but do not respond. He also asks us to wonder what we would post if we were allowed only a few updates a month, and to only a few people per week. This could increase our power of appreciation and focus.

Humans may actually have dozens of senses, Rob explains. These include detecting temperature differences, balance, pain, time, and even hunger. They can also remind us of specific instances or memories, and bring out a range of connotations and identities.

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3. Going places

Walking with a neighbourhood expert or a companion can bring out new objects, significances and connections along the way, Rob advises. Walking or drifting through unfamiliar parts of town, randomising your movements, and seeing how tourists view your own town are other revealing activities. Meeting faraway friends at geographic midpoints can open up new places to explore.

Stores can also become playgrounds; children are adept at devising games out of seemingly routine environments, Rob observes. An interesting activity is describing scenes or objects without using metaphors; this distinguishes between engagement and interpretation.

Other suggested exercises are eating in off-beat places, keeping a nature log or field guide about everyday objects, testing your memory of observation, making one-minute videos about and from different locations, and adding annotations to historical places or plaques on public objects that memorialise incidents.

Re-reading a travel diary after some years is another interesting activity. “Consider the difference between the immediate experience and what sticks in your mind later. Consider how this affects what you choose to try to remember now,” Rob suggests.

4. Connecting with others

Rob explains that some of the above activities reveal new insights when conducted with others, such as nature walks where you observe together, or when you walk together silently and only later share observations. “Walk and talk” meetings with colleagues or during conferences can open up new kinds of energy and conversations.

Seeking out strangers and talking to them may involve some discomfort in the beginning, but can open up new worlds of perception and opinion. This can improve your sense of empathy, and even inspire you. Another related exercise is writing a letter to a stranger, hero, or villain.

Other useful activities are interviewing friends and elders, or asking relatives and colleagues to interview you about incidents and stories revolving around happiness, pride, humour, loneliness or grief. In the workplace, asking five questions, requesting five suggestions, or giving five compliments a week can make you more alert and aware.

Rob also suggests filling out imaginary dialogue in conversations overheard when people are talking on the phone (‘halfalogue’), or imagining what passersby are thinking about. Volunteering time for social activities brings out feelings like accomplishment.

Spotting problems and complaining about them helps open the door to solutions and fixes, something which entrepreneurs excel at. “That which bothers you might just make your day,” Rob explains.

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5. Being alone

Interesting activities to follow here include eating or sitting alone in a crowded place (without looking at books or phones), being observant during boring activities like waiting in line, uni-tasking, learning new terms, and making lists of things you did not buy.

Keeping weekly lists of what has interested you, and observing them over time, reveals insights about your own perceptions of what is normal, Rob advises. Other quirky exercises are studying a rock in detail and empathising with it, interviewing objects, taking mindful showers, and even enjoying a hangover in terms of how it alters perception.

There are times to avoid distraction, and other times to enjoy distraction, Rob explains. Distraction can even lead to new surprises and discoveries; cruising can alternate with consciousness.

It is also important to connect to the natural world, something that seems lost in urban life. For ages, humans were keenly aware of the moon, but many people today don’t know what phase the moon is in today.

As a personal habit, Rob even advises making an appointment with yourself, to set aside time for reflection, creative play or passion projects.

Artist Brian Rea came up with a 30X15-foot mural in Barcelona expressing his own fears and those of others he spoke to there. Such art can serve as a time capsule on issues like climate, Rob explains.

The quantified-self enthusiast Matt Manhattan has made an inventory of every single thing he owns. He claims this made him a “more thoughtful and considered consumer.”

In sum, these exercises and meditations are meant to help understand what you want to care about, Rob explains. “This at its core is the art, and the joy, of noticing,” he signs off.

The book is packed with a number of inspiring quotes, and it would be appropriate to end this review with the sample below.

Attention is vitality. It connects you to others. It makes you eager. Stay eager. – Susan Sontag

Change ‘is’ to ‘could be’ and you become more mindful. – Adam Grant

It worries me greatly that today’s children can recognise 100 corporate logos and fewer than 10 plants. – Robin Wall Kimmerer

Once you start asking what the backstories are, you start noticing more and more things, each with its own story. – Paul Lukas

When you talk to strangers, you make beautiful and surprising interruptions in the expected narrative of your daily life. You shift perspective. – Kio Stark

Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough. – Gustave Flaubert

A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention. – Herb Simon

Paying attention is the only thing that guarantees insight. – Michelle Dean

Our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default. – William James

The ear hears. The brain listens. – Pauline Oliveros

(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)

YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android). 

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Home service marketplace UrbanClap launches its operations in Australia as part of its expansion plans. The company had launched its operations in the UAE last year.

According to a statement released by the startup, UrbanClap will launch home care and personal care services including hair and beauty services. 

With this expansion, it aims to bridge the gap between service providers and customers by providing reliable services by matching quality service professionals with the service seekers in Australia.

The startup was in a funding spree this year. In August, it raised $75 million in Series E led by Tiger Global Management with participation from existing investors, including Steadview Capital and Vy Capital.

UrbanClap had also secured funding of about Rs 1.5 crore in July, from former Flipkart CPO Mekin Maheshwari and Avaana Capital Founder Anjali Bansal.  

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Commenting on the launch, Abhiraj Bhal, Co-founder of UrbanClap said,

“Australia, with its demographic advantages, holds great promise for UrbanClap. We will launch first in the Greater Sydney Area. We believe that there is a huge opportunity for us to deliver high quality service in home repairs and beauty services. We have created a new axis in matching demand to supply and we look forward to contribute to building a healthy service ecosystem in Australia.”

Founded in November 2014, UrbanClap offers services such as beauty and spa at home, cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, appliance repair, painting etc. through its mobile app and website.

It operates in 14 cities in India (including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam) and two international markets (Dubai and Abu Dhabi).

Ritesh Garg, Country Head at UrbanClap Sydney, said,

“UrbanClap is well-poised for explosive growth internationally, and I am excited to lead this expansion effort. There is a huge demand for standardised services in the region and we have a tremendous opportunity to provide more quality driven experience to all our customers.” 

At present, the startup claims to have a partner network of over 20,000 service professionals.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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In the last decade, we have seen the emergence of the gig economy. The consequent demand for convenience, flexibility and speed has seen a rise in the popularity of on-demand services such as ride-sharing apps, food delivery apps, streaming content and much more.

While fast and flexible can be used to define everything else in today’s urban scenario, sadly, one of the things that these terms do not apply to is our daily commute. The interminable waste of time being stuck in traffic on overcrowded roads is something that all of us are very familiar with. Our fuel bills mount up, as does our guilt over contributing to noise and air pollution. Even when there are options for public transport, these are often cumbersome and lack the convenience factor.

What if we told you that there was a way in which you could enjoy an eco-friendly commute, in which you would have the option of being chauffeur-driven to work and back in an electric vehicle so you can use the time more productively instead of cursing your fate and other commuters on the road? With Mahindra and Mahindra’s urban mobility solution Glyd, a smart, shared, and sustainable commute is what is promised.

Launched in February this year, the premium technology-based, e-mobility service is currently offered on select routes in Mumbai.

DRT model to see phenomenal growth in the next decade

The launch of Glyd is a step to gain a foothold in the fast-expanding shared urban mobility market. Across the world, the demand responsive transit (DRT) model for urban mobility is finding many takers. This model incorporates the best aspects of the sharing economy and helps bring down the burden of dependency on personal cars and inefficient public transport. A Frost & Sullivan study says that the global fleet size for the DRT market is expected to expand from about 25,000 vehicles in 2018 to more than 4 million by 2030, a compound annual growth (CAGR) of more than 50 percent. The resultant increase in revenues is likely to be a phenomenal 400 times to reach an estimated $200 billion in 2030. According to the study, 60 percent of this growth is likely to come from the Asia-Pacific region

Currently, the fleet size for DRT vehicles in India is just 2,000 vehicles but is poised to grow to nearly 150,000 vehicles by 2030, with a proportionate increase in revenue from $0.1 billion in 2018 to $24.0 billion.

High quality, comfortable and personalised commute

When it comes to the electric mobility industry in India, Mahindra and Mahindra has been one of the pioneers and is the country’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer. It’s diversified offerings in the space include electric sedan eVerito and electric three-wheeler Treo. In addition, they have also partnered with mobility startups to supply eco-friendly vehicles.

The Mahindra Glyd fleet comprises of customized eVerito sedans equipped with a number of facilities to ensure a high-quality and comfortable commute. These include connectivity on the rides, and the company has tied up with Vodafone-Idea Limited and other service and content providers in this regard. This helps commuters to use their time productively to catch up on work, or unwind with entertainment options including curated music. To make passengers feel at home, the seats also come with privacy screens and are headphones enabled, and can be personalised to suit individual preferences. Each vehicle also comes with air purifiers installed. The capacity of each shuttle is three passengers per vehicle.

End-to-end mobility solutions

Currently, Glyd runs on four routes within Mumbai during the work week from Monday to Friday. The app-based service allows customers to book single or round trips, for one day or multiple days, and even includes airport drops and pick-ups. In the seven months since it was launched, the service has already garnered a subscriber base of more than 17,000. They have plans to scale up operations to cover other major Indian cities over the course of the year.

With a view to provide end-to-end mobility solutions, Mahindra & Mahindra is also trying out first and last mile connectivity solutions within Thane, using a fleet of 25 Treos, its electric, three-wheeler. These vehicles can be pre-booked by commuters.

With Glyd, the company is well on track to play a pivotal role in creating a sustainable model for urban mobility in India.

Melorra, a Bengaluru-based jewellery brand, raised $12 million funding from VC Lightbox, BlackSoil Capital and family offices of some of India’s biggest business houses.

These include Ravi Sheth's Great Eastern Shipping Company, the Burmans of Dabur, Rainmaker Ventures, and the Jeejeebhoy family office. 

Saroja Yeramilli, Founder and CEO of Melorra, said, 

“We are very happy to have raised this round of funding from Lightbox and some of India’s leading family offices."

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She added, "Going forward, our aim is to become the largest daily-wear fine jewellery brand in the country."

Founded in 2016, Melorra has a no-inventory approach. The founder claims that its use of the latest computer-aided design (CAD) technology makes it a leading digital direct to consumer jewellery brand. 

The brand claims to have recorded a year-on-year growth of 400 percent in FY 2019 and is expected to grow 5X in revenue in FY 2020.

The startup aims to be a Rs 400 crore revenue company in FY21 and is on the fast-moving track to profitability. Mellora also said that it has delivered to 1,300 towns across the country. The startup has made its mark everywhere - from areas with a population of less than 10,000 to those above one million.

Sid Talwar, Partner, Lightbox, said, 

“As a consumer brand by a woman for women, Melorra has been a changemaker in the segment, bringing about a transformation in the way people look at gold jewellery. We are sure the funding will enable them to enhance their capabilities and grow deeper in the markets that they service.”

Before this round, Lightbox Ventures had infused $5 million in Melorra in 2016. 

Earlier in August, online jewellery marketplace JewelMaze raised a funding of $4 million from Brand Capital, the strategic investment arm of Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th on an annual global competitiveness index, largely due to improvements witnessed by several other economies, while Singapore has replaced the US as the world's most competitive economy.

India, which was ranked 58th in the annual Global Competitiveness Index compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), is among the worst-performing BRICS nations along with Brazil (ranked even lower than India at 71st this year).

Announcing its latest index, the WEF said India ranks high in terms of macroeconomic stability and market size, while its financial sector is relatively deep and stable despite the high delinquency rate, which contributes to weakening the soundness of its banking system.

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India is ranked high at 15th place in terms of corporate governance, while it is ranked second globally for shareholder governance, the WEF study showed. In terms of the market size, India is ranked third, while it has the same rank for renewable energy regulation.

Besides, India also punches above its development status when it comes to innovation, which is well ahead of most emerging economies and on par with several advanced economies, the report said.

But, these positive metrics contrast with major shortcomings in some of the basic enablers of competitiveness in case of India, the WEF said, while flagging limited ICT (information, communications and technology) adoption, poor health conditions and low healthy life expectancy.

The WEF said healthy life expectancy, where India has been ranked 109th out of total the 141 countries surveyed, is one of the shortest outside Africa and significantly below the South Asian average.

Besides, India needs to grow its skills base while its product market efficiency is undermined by a lack of trade openness and the labour market is characterised by a lack of worker rights' protections, insufficiently developed active labour market policies, and critically low participation of women.

With a ratio of female workers to male workers of 0.26, India has been ranked very low at 128th place. India is also ranked low at 118th in terms of meritocracy and incentivisation and at 107th place for skills.

In the overall ranking, India is followed by some of its neighbours including Sri Lanka at 84th place, Bangladesh at 105th, Nepal at 108th and Pakistan at 110th place.

The WEF said the drop of 10 places in India's position to 68th place may look dramatic, but the decline in the country's competitiveness score is relatively small. Several similarly-placed economies including Colombia, South Africa and Turkey improved over the past year and hence have overtaken India.

The study highlighted that the global economy is unprepared for a major slowdown.

The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which was launched in 1979, maps the competitiveness landscape of 141 economies through 103 indicators organised into 12 pillars.

Singapore became the world's most competitive economy in 2019, pushing the US to second place. Hong Kong SAR is ranked 3rd, the Netherlands is 4th and Switzerland is ranked 5th.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of WEF, said, "The Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 provides a compass for thriving in the new economy where innovation becomes the key factor of competitiveness.

"The report shows that those countries which integrate into their economic policies an emphasis on infrastructure, skills, research and development and support those left behind are more successful compared to those that focus only on traditional factors of growth."

The report showed that several economies with strong innovation capability like Korea, Japan and France, or increasing capability, like China, India and Brazil, must improve their talent base and the functioning of their labour markets.

The presence of many competitive countries in Asia-Pacific makes this region the most competitive in the world, followed closely by Europe and North America.

China is ranked 28th (the highest-ranked among the BRICS) while Vietnam is the most improved country in the region this year at 67th place.

The WEF said 10 years on from the global financial crisis, the global economy remains locked in a cycle of low or flat productivity growth despite the injection of more than $10 trillion by central banks.

"While these unprecedented measures were successful in averting a deeper recession, they are not enough on their own to catalyse the allocation of resources towards productivity-enhancing investments in the private and public sectors.

"As monetary policies begin to run out of steam, it is crucial for economies to rely on fiscal policy and public incentives to boost research and development, enhance the skills base of the current and future workforce, develop new infrastructure and integrate new technologies, among other measures," it added.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Neuroleap, a Mumbai-based brain enhancement and mental health venture, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, and Sminu Jindal, MD, Jindal Saw, and Founder Chairperson, Svayam. 

Sminu Jindal said, 

“Neuroleap is successfully delivering better brain outcomes. [Kumaar] Bagrodia is a visionary entrepreneur and is steadily building the future of mental health and wellness in India. I'm happy to invest in the venture which is leveraging innovative technology for a more advanced way to understand the brain and safely enhance it without pharma or medical interventions."

Founded by Kumaar Bagrodia in 2017, NeuroLeap uses advanced Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology to safely understand brain activity and help it perform at optimum potential. This is done completely non-invasively, without using any medication and with zero side effects. 

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“This is the new age of brain enhancement and mental health, which is safe and technology based. Our clients who have benefited include businessmen, professionals, homemakers, students, celebrities, and leaders who are achievers in their fields and naturally want to stay fit, not just physically but mentally as well, and even enhance various areas of their brain function and emotions. We have helped clients with various mental health disorders lead healthier, happier, fulfilling, and enriched lives," Kumaar said.

He added the investments by Birla and Jindal would encourage the company to grow its presence across the country.

At its centres in Mumbai and New Delhi, Neuroleap said it had successfully delivered brain enhancement for various areas like attention, executive function, calmness, sleep, memory, and emotional health for people from all walks of life and across age groups, who may or may not have any mental disorders. 

IIT has also signed an MoU with NeuroLeap for promoting research in BCI technology for neuro enhancement.

“NeuroLeap is the leading company in India offering advanced neurotechnology-based brain assessment and improvement," said Professor Vinod Prasad, Dean, Industry Collaboration, IIT-Palakkad.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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WeWork India, owned by realty firm Embassy Group, is foraying into Noida market, and has taken on lease over three lakh sq ft office space to open three coworking centres comprising nearly 3,900 seats.

At present, it has 26 operational coworking centres with 46,000 seating capacity. The startup has nine centres in Bengaluru, 10 in Mumbai, six in Gurugram, and one in Pune. Seats are available in a price range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 40,000 per desk per month.

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It has taken on lease nearly 1.4 lakh sq ft area from Berger Group, 74,000 sq ft from Logix and around 92,000 sq ft from Advant in Noida for these new facilities, they added.

When contacted, WeWork India spokesperson confirmed that it is entering into Noida market but did not share details.

"We are seeing an uptick in the demand for collaborative spaces by large enterprises because of flexible lease terms, lower deposit requirements, overall cost reduction, as well as plug-and-play simplicity that collaborative spaces offer. Keeping this demand in mind, WeWork is now strengthening its presence by entering the Noida market," the spokesperson said.

The growing demand from freelancers, consultants, and corporates has led to a growth in the co-working sector like never before, the spokesperson added.

"We are very happy to announce our partnership with WeWork India as they enter Noida. Demand for office space in Noida is growing at a fast rate owing to the presence of service industries, large corporations and media hubs all of which are now looking to work out of a collaborative workspace that caters to all their requirements," said Sunil Sharma, Managing Director, Advant India.

Bengaluru-based Embassy Group, a major player in Indian commercial real estate that launched India's first REIT earlier this year, had partnered US-based WeWork in 2016 to enter into coworking business.

WeWork India is an independent entity with the right to execute its business in India and pays a management fee to the American firm.

Last week, Embassy Group said there would be no impact on the Indian operation of coworking business due to deferment of initial public offering (IPO) of the US-based WeWork' parent - The We Company.

The IPO was postponed a week after the SoftBank-backed startup removed founder Adam Neumann as its chief executive officer.

"WeWork India, which is wholly owned and funded by Embassy Group, is our big bet in this space. WeWork India is a strategic long-term play for Embassy group and its performance has exceeded our expectations this year," an Embassy Group spokesperson had said.

Under the leadership of Karan Virwani and Ryan Bennett, the WeWork India team is currently focussed on strategic expansion with an accelerated path to profitability, the spokesperson added.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)

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Bengaluru-based location Intelligence platform, GeoIQ, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from IP Ventures. 

Founded in 2018 by Devashish Fuloria (CEO), Tusheet Shrivastava (CTO) and Ankita Thakur (Chief Data Scientist), GeoIQ has over 25 clients across retail and logistics including Sanofi, Eko Financial, Bounce, Curefit, etc. The startup said it has already established itself in the space of location intelligence based on multiple data sources.

Ankita said,

“We intend to utilise the funds to hire tech team members, product development, and focused marketing.”

The founders come with startup domain and consulting experience, as well as expertise in ML & AI having solved large data problems in their previous roles. 

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Devashish said, “For an enterprise product like ours, the access to the right set of people is paramount. IP Ventures brings together an excellent group of people, with experience across major industry sectors who provide direct assistance on how to tailor our product as per the industry needs."

A recent report by Gartner states that the location intelligence global industry is pegged to be at $25 billion by 2025. While North America is the largest market, APAC is the fastest-growing region.

Tusheet said, “A strong blend of ML capabilities, data engineering, geo-spatial expertise and a state-of-the-art product is driving GeoIQ. With this unique set, we have married client data with satellite imagery and government data with ridiculous ease.” 

This September, IP Ventures had also backed two startups including esports gaming platform SoStronk and a social health enterprise iKure Techsoft Pvt Ltd.

Speaking on his investment, IP Ventures angel investor Rajeev Pandiya said, 

“GeoIQ offers real-time solutions to help allocate resources towards the real Target Customer Group in a cost-efficient manner. In a slowing economy, this can be a competitive advantage for senior management trying to gain market share as well as get real-time accurate data to keep a check on sales teams’ expenditures justifying wasteful promotion schemes, incentives etc.”

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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Homegrown clothing brand Kosha on Wedenesday announced that it has raised an undiclosed amount in its seed round from Tres Monos Capital and Narendra Hiranandani, Founder of Enhira Software.

Founded in 2017, Kosha designs eco-friendly travel-wear at reasonable prices such as thermals, puffer jackets and hard-shells, that can be worn in conditions where the temperature goes up to -30 degree Celsius. Kosha's thermals are made of Merino Wool and bamboo.

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Founded by Yuktie Jhangiani, Kosha claims to be the only player that can dress consumers ready to summit Mount Elbrus (5,642 ft) in Russia, in under Rs 10,000. Kosha’s products have also been tested by the Indian Air Force while summiting Mount Vincent in Antarctica. 

In a press release, Founder and CEO Yuktie Jhangiani said:

“This is just the first step towards creating a one-stop travel platform. Kosha will be a brand that not only designs cutting-edge gear for leisure and adventure travel, but is also a platform that brings travellers together. Indian consumers have had to pay very high price to wear outerwear designed for sub-zero temperatures. We’ve customised our offering at one-tenth the price, without compromising quality and keeping all the manufacturing operations in India."

The company has sold over 10,000 thermals and 600 jackets in the last two years and hopes to scale its business with the new fund infusion.

Sweta Jagirdar, General Partner of Tres Monos Capital said:

“Indians are traveling for leisure more than ever before, seeking adventures and interesting experiences, both within and outside the country, and we believe that a team like Kosha, that empathises with the customer and appreciates their sense of aesthetics, has a unique opportunity to serve this market. We are excited about partnering with Yuktie and her team as they continue to innovate on new product lines, grow online sales, and expand their retail presence outside of Mumbai.”

Tres Monos aims to support value-driven and non-traditional entrepreneurs and was founded by Kahran Singh, Sweta Jagirdar and Sahil Sagar.

Investor Narendra Hiranandani said:

“Kosha is creating its own unique niche positioning and brand in an otherwise competitive winter apparel market. I envision the  Kosha Brand establishing itself as a market leader in its segment."

(Edited by Suman Singh)

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The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) is organizing JETRO Global Connection, to enable international startups and Japanese companies in the fields of mobility, health tech and smart homes to network and meet up on a common platform.

The four-day event from October 15-18 is being held as part of the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) 2019, Japan's largest CPS/IoT-related trade fair. This is the 20^th edition of CEATEC which began in 2000. Over 750 companies are slated to participate in the event this year being held at Makuhari Messe near Tokyo.

From 180 promising startups working in mobility, health tech, and smart homes from around the world, 37 companies from 15 countries have been shortlisted to participate in JETRO Global Connection. The startups are from Israel, India the UK, Estonia, Canada, Colombia, Singapore, Switzerland, China, Finland, France, the US, Portugal, Luxembourg and Taiwan.

These include ride-sharing solutions provider Via (US), powered exoskeleton developers FREE Bionics (Taiwan) and ExoAtlet (Luxembourg) and smart-home device provider Swidget (Canada). The eight startups from India that are part of the event include:

AlphaICs: AlphaICs provides real AI processors that enable AI-based automatic learning solutions. Their products can be applied to data centers (HPC), automated driving, drones, robots, factory automation, AR, VR, MR, etc.

Intellicar: Intellicar provides a vehicle tracking system. Through it, such functions are capable as location determination by GPS, drive scoring, real-time capturing of gasoline consumption, remote engine operation, and more.

KiteMaps AMS (Redwing Labs): Redwing Labs offers a drone-based delivery system that enables last-mile transportation. With the support of Techstars and others, they also developed a hybrid VTOL (vertical take-off and landing aircraft).

SenseGiz Technologies: SenseGiz Technologies provides state monitoring solutions using small sensor nodes. Their product builds a large-scale ultra-low power mesh network of sensor nodes. They have motion sensing, pressure, vibration, temperature and humidity sensors in very small coin-sized devices. Their products can be customized to meet customer needs.

Jetsons Robotics: Jetsons Robotics has developed an automatic cleaning machine that can remove dust adhering to the surface of solar panels for photovoltaic power generation. Power generation efficiency can be improved by cleaning. It can be cleaned every day using very little electricity and water. Since remote control is possible, it has the effect of reducing the number of people cleaning a large power plant.

ToneTag: Tonetag provides a payment device that detects sound waves and allows payment without touch. It is highly secure and can be used for shopping and parking payments from inside a vehicle through mobile devices such as smartphones. They are partnering with Amazon and MasterCard.

Ushva Clean Technology: Ushva Clean Technology provides next-generation interactive solar inverters (beacons, signal transmitters) and IIOT edge devices. Alumni from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITBombay) have developed solutions to improve the efficiency of, and save labor for, solar power generation, as well as to realize Industry 4.0 and smart grids.

Veda Labs: Veda Labs is a retail tech company that uses AI to analyse consumer behaviour and facial expressions through deep learning. Using existing store cameras (CCTV), it analyses the routes and attributes of consumers and identifies repeaters customers.

In April this year, JETRO established an Innovation Promotion Division to strengthen business connections between Japanese companies working on open innovation and startups from overseas and JETRO Global Connection is a significant step in this direction.