With ‘mobile eating the world‘, e-commerce platforms are now focusing on improving the user experience on mobile apps through personalization by various means. Customer acquisition is not as big a problem as customer retention right now.

It is common to see the bigger players in the eco-system acquiring the smaller ones that they think would add value either to their product or team and help them go one up on their competitors.  Voonik, the Indian personal shopping app, today announced that they had acquihired TrialKart, a mobile platform that provides a virtual dressing room experience, for an undisclosed amount.

Starting up

TrialKart was co-founded by Vipul Divyanshu, Jayalakshmi Manohar and Harsha M about six months ago. They identified that while e-commerce platforms provided a good experience for consumers in most product categories, apparels and accessories posed a problem. Harsha says, “28-40% of all apparel sold online is returned by dissatisfied customers due to trial and fitting issues. Although online shopping is a convenience, it can be a nightmare when it comes to apparels, especially for women. When they shop for dresses, t-shirts, shirts etc, they want to try it on themselves before they buy it. They miss the trial room experience and often end up returning what they’ve bought after a frustrating experience online.”

Related read: With ‘virtual dressing rooms’ TrialKart wants to save time and revenues for e-commerce players

TrialKart decided to solve this problem for consumers through ‘Virtual dressing rooms’, where users could pinch, zoom, readjust and orient apparel on pictures shot through smartphones. This way users could virtually ‘try’ on different clothes or accessory they liked, get an idea how they would look in them and then buy them.

Voonik, a Bengaluru-based shopping app for women that had recently raised $5M in funding from Sequoia Capital and existing investor Seedfund, saw potential in TrialKart. Voonik was founded in 2013 by Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan. Sujayath said,

I read about TrialKart on YourStory and was interested in the product that the team had built, so we connected to take things further.

Harsha added, “We have been in touch with the Voonik team for about 40 days now. They were impressed with the work we had done in five months. What we have on our app on the Google Playstore is about 20% of the work we’ve done. We liked the use cases that Voonik team has in mind and hence went ahead with the deal.”

Sujayath added, “Voonik entered the negotiations with an open mind and we had considered all possibilities such as investing in them, acquisition but finally decided to go ahead with acquihiring. As tech guys, we saw that they were interested in the use cases we have in the pipeline for image intelligence.”

Sector overview

Flipkart-backed Myntra is the biggest player in this space. Earlier this year, they had acquired Native5 to boost their mobile app growth and were also in the news for their mobile app-only strategy. Roposo, a fashion-focused social network, recently raised a SeriesB round of $15M in funding from Tiger Global, to accelerate their growth. Limeroad, a social discovery platform for women, had raised a $30M Series C round from Tiger Global and other existing investors in March 2015. With 19.7 average sessions per user/month and two minute, 42 second average session duration, based on App Annie data for the month of July, Voonik is ahead of it’s competitors, for some key metrics.

Apart from image intelligence, another interesting sector in fashion e-commerce is visual search. While the biggies such as Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal, and others have their ‘eyes’ on visual search and have made soft launches, Snapshopr founded by Navneet Sharma and Debashish Pattnaik, Wazzat Labs founded by Mauktik Kulkarni, Jay Guru Panda, and Naveen Sinha have been around for some time.

Future plans

Going forward, the TrialKart team will be absorbed into Voonik and will be working on a new division under them called ‘Image Intelligence’, which aims to augment the technology backbone of the Voonik app. Sujayath added,

We ultimately want to reach a stage where we don’t want to rely on vendor data at all for our personalization features. Image intelligence and virtual dressing rooms are the holy grail for fashion and e-commerce and we plan to implement these solutions in the Voonik app in the future.

At the time of their Series A round, Voonik claimed to be doing close to 2500 transactions a day and currently claim to be clocking about 7000 transactions a day across India with 50% of orders coming from metro cities and remaining 50% from Tier 2 cities and towns. They are also looking at other investment opportunities to help them accelerate their growth further.  Sujayayth added, “While we got our termsheet from our investors we were doing about INR 1 crore in sales a month, we have now grown 12 times that number.”

Website: Voonik

OneDigitalAd, a cross-medium and cross-device, audience-centric advertising technology platform, was born in October 2013 with the aim of meeting the need of a single-marketing platform covering audiences across devices and providing brand experience continuity.

The digital marketing technology platform (DSP, demand side platform in the digital marketing landscape) is integrated with the world’s top ad exchanges such as Google, Rubicon, InMobi and PubMatic.

One of the founders, Prashant Kunal, says “Our proprietary real-time bidding (RTB) technology evaluates digital inventory from ad exchanges, impression-by-impression, and matches real-time the right inventory for the advertisers”.

He, along with cofounders Sudarsan Parida, Rajesh Gaikwad and Karthik Pattabhiraman, who were colleagues in Bangalore as well as studied together at NIT Warangal, have resolved what they call ‘the core problem’: how to better identify the target audience in the display world without collecting any personal information of the user.

“Our audience profiling engine connects various dots to build the audience profile,” Prashant says.

The Bengaluru-based company uses massive data and technology to profile audiences and help advertisers reach the right audience with the right message on the right device, and caters mainly to digital marketers looking to increase brand awareness and engagement in the marketing funnel.

“The target customers are brands and agencies looking to optimise their digital marketing efforts and spend by reaching only the audience that matters most. We work with brands from almost all verticals, such as auto, BFSI, retail, e-commerce and travel,” explains Sudarsan , Co-founder, OneDigitalAd.

Current customers include leading e-commerce players, shopping comparison portals, travel portals, brands from the FMCG sector, retail, fashion, home décor and food tech.

The bootstrapped company had the four founders pooling in savings to fund the capital and operating expenses. The spending was mostly on office rent and purchase of software services. The company started realising revenue towards the end of the first year of operation and has been profitable since.

“We are growing at a rate of 50 per cent month-on-month currently. As we scale up and also expand to other countries, we are expecting higher month-on-month growth,” Sudarsan adds.

What is different?

On what OneDigitalAd has added to this segment, and what particular issue it has addressed that others had failed to deliver, Rajesh  says, “Most of the current ad-tech platforms have focused on re-marketing and customer acquisition, thus increasing the bottomline for brands and advertisers. Our focus is to increase topline by solving the awareness and engagement problem.”

According to him, OneDigitalAd is solving this problem with specific audience profiling and segmentation so that brands and advertisers reach the right audience.

He also believes their venture has a competitive advantage – with its unique blend of mobile-first approach, audience-centric profile and the first party-mobile SDK – even though there are other players solving specific problems around mobile advertising.

“Advertisers end up targeting devices instead of consumers. This results in lower consumer engagement, conversions and returns. OneDigitalAd being a mobile-focussed platform, helps brands understand their audience better in terms of app-engagement metrics,” says Karthik, another Co-founder.

The founders maintain they are in the segment for the long haul. “Our competitors range from ad-tech companies to ad networks and ad agencies to ad-centric services companies. But we are confident about our product and the plan, and are here for the long term. However, in the short term, the exit options could be merging or partnering with large ad-tech companies or large global agency networks where our technology would complement their offering,” says Karthik, adding that the company should be growing at four-five times quarter-on-quarter in medium to long term.

Anticipating challenges

There is no dearth of players in digital advertising, which is currently pegged at 10 per cent of the total advertising spend and is growing at a healthy rate of 40 per cent year-on-year.

Numerous ad tech companies in India are engaged in solving different problems and vying for the advertising spend pie.

Prashant says that India being a mobile-first country has seen exponential growth in mobile internet penetration. Due to technology limitations on mobile and new audience getting added everyday, this throws unique challenges of identifying the target audience and reaching them. “With the cofounders having significant expertise on mobile and cloud technologies, we are solving the problem by better identification of target audience and optimised ad delivery. We would like to apply this learning to other markets as well. Hence, we are planning to scale beyond India,” he adds.  Prashant says they would be looking at funding avenues in the near future.

Website

Funding is key for any startup to expand its horizon of products and resources. Pitching for investments and getting a deal is one aspect, but the legal side is something that founders find complicated.

I experienced this when I saw some of my clients panicking about how to go about legal compliance, once they received confirmation of funds from investors in India or abroad.

Below are the pre- and post- funding compliances that a private limited company has to adhere to while receiving funds from investors:

Compliance with the Registrar of Companies (RoC)

When a company receives funding, it has to a give a piece of equity to its investors in exchange, by allotment of shares. As per the guidelines of the Companies Act, 2013, a private limited company can issue shares to raise money (from within and outside India) by making a Preferential Allotment of Shares.

Preferential allotments are made to people who wish to take a strategic stake in the company, like angel investors, seed investors and venture capitalists.

The issuing of shares on a preferential basis should be authorized by the articles of association of the company. Allotment of shares should also be authorized by a special resolution, and the price of such shares should be determined by the company valuation report.

There are five steps for allotment of shares on a preferential basis:

Step 1: Conducting a Board Meeting:

A meeting of the Board of Directors of the company should be called for making a proposal for Preferential Allotment.

Step 2: Conducting an Extra Ordinary General Meeting:

An Extra Ordinary General meeting of shareholders should be held for approving the Preferential Allotment by passing a Special Resolution (i.e. 75% of votes should be in favor of the resolution). This special resolution is valid for a period of 12 months, and the Preferential Allotment can take place anytime during this validity period.

Step 3: Issue of Offer Letters:

Once the proposal has been approved by the majority, the company can go ahead and issue Offer Letters in specified formats to investors. A complete record of Preferential Allotment is to be filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), within 30 days of issuing the Offer Letters. After filing this record with the RoC, the company is free to receive money from the investors.

Step 4: Allotment of shares:

The company has to allot securities to the investors within 60 days of receiving the funds, by passing a resolution in a Board Meeting, and filing a return of allotment with the Registrar within 30 days of such allotment. The Return of Allotment contains a list of all shareholders, with their full names, addresses, percentage of shareholding allotted and other such relevant information.

Step 5: Issue Share Certificates:

On completion of the allotment, the company can finally issue share certificates to the investors that are now the “shareholders” of the company.

All the above steps always apply, whether the private company is receiving funds from domestic or foreign investors.

At this point, it is prudent to mention that raising funds from foreign investors entails some additional compliance, according to the guidelines issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), summarized as under:

RBI Compliance on raising funds from Foreign Investors

A two-stage reporting procedure is to be followed when a company is raising funds from a foreign investor:

• On receipt of funds:

The company has to provide details in an “Advance Reporting Form” to the RBI, within 30 days of receiving funds from foreign investor(s). This form should contain the following:

1. Name and address of the foreign investors;
2. Date of receiving funds and the amount equivalent in rupees;
3. Name and address of the bank/authorized dealer through whom the funds have been received;
4. Details of the government approval, if any; and
5. KYC report on the non-resident investor from the overseas bank, remitting the amount of consideration.

Also, the company has to issue shares within 180 days from the date of receiving funds. Otherwise, it would lead to violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regulations.

• On issue of shares to foreign investors:

The company has to report in specified form (FC-GPR) to the RBI, within 30 days from the date of issue of shares along with:

A) A Certificate from the Company Secretary certifying that

1. the company has complied with the procedure for the issue of shares, as laid down under the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Scheme, and,
2. the investment is below the ceiling permissible under the Automatic Route of the Reserve Bank, and/or in terms of the approval of the government, as the case may be, and that all the requirements of the Companies Act have been complied with

B) A certificate from a Chartered Accountant indicating the manner of arriving at the price of the shares issued to the foreign investors.

Although the procedures stated above are lengthy, it is very important for companies raising capital to be aware and ensure compliance for a smooth business.

You may get in touch with the author on her website VenturEasy.com for more information.

Ever wondered whether all those different dietary plans going around actually work? Or have you just wanted one good remedy for a migraine headache? If these questions have bothered you, you would have most likely hit Google or Quora and gone through a whole bunch of different sites to find the answers. To solve this problem Gaurav Arora and Amandeep Singh joined hands to launch O2nutritions.

Their platform aims to provide detailed information on all diet and health-related queries. Apart from providing users with a range of dietary supplements and vitamins, O2nutritions also has a transformation specialist or guide to provide workout routines, diet and supplements. The duo’s venture stemmed from a shared interest in the field of fitness and wellness.

Image Credit: ShutterStock

What does the platform do?

The team is focussed on building a strong platform that gives users all the needed information on health and fitness, along with supplements and products. Gaurav says that they’re investing heavily in building brand presence. The market size is huge, ranging from 18 to 45 years of age and hence provides a big funnel to work with. “We are playing around with different marketing and revenue frameworks to reach out to the target audience in the best possible way,” he adds.

Traction and marketing

Launched in April 2015, the team has seen an increase in brand awareness by over 20 per cent. The team claims it will see a conversion rate of close to six per cent in the next few weeks with its A/B testing in place. O2nutritions claims to currently process close to 10 orders on a daily basis, with an average basket value of Rs 4250. “Basket abandonment of the website has gone down tremendously with clever tweaking of the checkout process, making it a seamless process from click to buy,” Gaurav says.

The team started working on SEO, design amends and social media campaigns which helped put the word out and started ticking the sales sheet. They have recently partnered with RockMySales to look after social media channels and Google Adwords and retargeting campaigns, which they believe will further help leverage sales.

Challenges and growth

Amandeep Singh and Gaurav Arora, Co-founders, O2nutritions

However, though the team has begun seeing some growth and traction on the sales side, it has had its share amount of challenges. “From building the right set of developers to building the site to getting the website to tick without bugs has been a challenge,” says Gaurav, adding that  building a free source for all fitness needs hasn’t been easy either. They’ve had to curate the right information and tie up with reliable vendors.

Currently, O2nutritions is a bootstrapped venture. But the team is looking to get investors on board to achieve its vision for the brand. It aims to provide 18-24 hour live support with fitness experts to its customers. “Furthermore, we would also be looking to hire physicians and doctors in our team for consults on medical related queries. The brand aims to become the most trusted health supplements and fitness information provider in India,” says Gaurav.

The market space

With changes happening in people’s lifestyle habits and income levels, the wellness industry in India has become a sunrise sector, and is set to grow by 20-30 per cent year on year. With several fitness aggregators hitting the market, the question of information provision and differentiator also arises.

According to a joint study by FICCI and PWC, the Indian wellness industry will touch Rs one trillion in 2015. There seems to be stronger investor attention in the space as well.

Rajesh Raju, MD, Kalaari Capital, says “We believe that wellness is the next frontier for tech-led disruption. Startups that are using technology to attain scale in addressing a large space like wellness will provide for great investment opportunities. Moreover, startups that build a trusted brand for the masses can generate outsized profits and ROI.”

O2nutritions is currently in the B2C segment. It would be interesting to see if it will enter the B2B segment as well.

Website 

Lloyd Shefsky is Professor of Entrepreneurship at Kellogg School of Management, as well as Co-Director, Center for Family Enterprises. In addition to being a Co-Founder of several businesses and nonprofits, he has taught and lectured in a number of countries. His bestselling books include ‘Invent, Reinvent, Thrive: the keys to success for any startup, entrepreneur or family business’ (see my book review), and ‘Entrepreneurs Are Made, Not Born.’

Shefsky joins us in this exclusive interview on challenges and success factors for entrepreneurs, management education, and emerging research directions.

YS: What is your current field of research in entrepreneurship?

LS: My current research, which relates to entrepreneurial ventures, family businesses, and large corporations alike, is somewhat an extension of my work in Invent Reinvent Thrive. I am now exploring what exactly happens when people are confronted with the opportunity to reach for a new brass ring.

How do they measure the risk of losing the handful of gold they already have in the hand as they reach out for a new brass ring? How do they validate the concept? How did they convince other people, stakeholders, to go along with their somewhat risky venture and then how do they implement it? This will focus on a “how to” approach, to teach lessons to others, so that they can learn from some of the best.

YS: How big a role does academics play in entrepreneurship?

LS: Academia is playing a growing role in entrepreneurship. When I first became a professor of entrepreneurship in 1996, there was very little being done in the country with respect to the academic analysis of entrepreneurship. Academia is evolving. We are learning what works and what works better, and one by one, universities across the country and globally are finding newer and better ways to teach entrepreneurship. There is a growing body of research – and more importantly a growing body of particular procedures in the classroom – that shows evidence of various degrees of success in teaching entrepreneurs to do a better job at entrepreneuring.

As this matures, we will find academics playing a growing role. Of course other factors like mentorship and experience also play important roles. As we balance all of these factors, hopefully, we can improve once again both the success factor in entrepreneurship and the encouragement of appropriate wannabes to be entrepreneurs.

YS: How was your book received? What were some of the unusual responses and reactions you got? 

LS: The book Invent Reinvent Thrive has been received quite well; I am very pleased. It seems to be attractive to a wide spectrum of people, including those who are thinking about becoming entrepreneurs, those who are entrepreneurs, family businesspeople worried about succession to the next generation, and even to large companies.

Shortly after the book came out, a program on CNBC discussing the prospects for IBM cited my book as having dealt with the topic. A few hours later, I received an email from an officer of IBM offering to talk with me. So the interest in the book seems to run the span from IBM to wannabe entrepreneurs and just about everyone in between.

I have learned from my first book Entrepreneurs Are Made Not Born, that sometimes, the interest in the book is reported somewhat later. For example, just a couple of years ago, I read a posting that quoted Erik Prince, the author of Civilian Warriors, who said he had read my book while on a transport ship and it prompted him to start Blackwater USA (company retained by the US govt. to provide security in Iraq).

YS: In the time since your book was published, what are some notable new examples you have come across of companies who reinvented themselves?

LS: Perhaps the best way of answering this question is to tell you some of the people whom I have already interviewed in my current research, which likely will form the body of information and teaching in my next book. These include:

Ross Perot, Sr., Ross Perot Jr.;

Ken Keverian, SVP Corporate Strategy, IBM

Cindi Bigelow, CEO, Bigelow Tea;

Rocky Wirtz, Owner, Chicago Blackhawks

Keith Williams, CEO, Underwriters Laboratories;

Eitan Wertheimer, whose company was the first non-US company bought by Warren Buffet;

Jim Covert, founder, Security Link;

Bill Terlato, CEO, Terlato Wines;

Marc Schulman, CEO, Eli’s Cheesecake;

Jim Stephen, CEO, Weber Grills; and

Bob Walter, Founder, Cardinal Health.

YS: What are the typical challenges entrepreneurs face as they scale up, and what prevents them from regaining their original creativity? 

LS: While there are some special people, e.g., Steve Jobs, who are virtual creativity machines and who constantly combine creativity with a finger on the pulse of their customers to provide an ever expanding flow of successful new product ideas, such people are one in a billion or so.

For most, a creative business idea is a sudden inspiration followed by a willingness to do what needs to be done. Implicit in that combination of inspiration and dedication is a passion for the idea which provides the energy for forward movement. The problem is that the passion often prevents the entrepreneur from recognizing the need to follow changing demands or situations to follow new directions toward success.

That reluctance means greater expenditures of time and effort in an upstream swimming frenzy, attempting to offset the apparent need to change direction. As a result, many fail or lose out to more adept competitors.

YS: How should innovators strike that delicate balance between ‘Stick to your vision’ and ‘Adapt to a changed world’?

LS: That is a very tricky situation – that balance between ‘stick to your vision’ and ‘adapt to a changing world.’ I am a firm believer in focus, but the mantra ‘focus, focus, focus’ is suitable only if you can do so without wearing blinders. It’s much like driving a car – you always are looking forward but peripheral vision lets you know if somebody on the side is entering your lane or doing something ridiculous, so that you can back off and prevent an accident.

Much the same in business – you must drive forward to your focused destination or goal but must be mindful of both challenges and opportunities coming at you from the side. To say it must be done does not mean it’s easy. It’s simply means it’s necessary, and good entrepreneurs and other business people learn how to do it.

YS: Is there such a thing as the ‘ideal age’ for creativity, or can the start-up bug strike you at any time? How should people keep themselves open for adopting an entrepreneurial career later in life?

LS: The ideal stage for creativity is very specific for each individual. I once asked my mother, when I was a very young boy, when I would be old enough to drink coffee. She answered: “When you’re ready, you will know it!” The same is true for businesses but the implementation is even more so like my coffee. I probably tasted coffee several times before I learned to like it. That may have resulted from maturing tastes or from availability through my good friend, Howard Schultz [Starbucks’ CEO].

In entrepreneurship, one must look at prospects or ideas periodically and develop mechanisms to test whether or not a particular one is appropriate and will prove successful. At some point, the entrepreneur picks up an idea and goes for it, hopefully with improved measures of judgment from prior attempts and explorations. The same is true of mature businesses. More are learning the importance of entrepreneurship. And the same is true in family businesses, where some form of entrepreneurship becomes the catalyst for a good succession plan.

It is also true that “necessity is the mother of invention.” During the Great Recession, we found many mature people who had been laid off from their jobs and had need for a new vocation. They used or adapted their prior skills to become entrepreneurs at a later age. I studied that prospect and wrote about it in Invent Reinvent Thrive.

YS: What are the kinds of challenges entrepreneurs face with their board of directors or investors during re-invention, and how can they be overcome?

LS: In the typical scenario, an entrepreneur or the CEO of a mature company spends inordinate time selling directors and investors (or in larger companies, the investment street) on the vision that they are leading. If they’ve done their job well, they have exacerbated the difficulty of getting those directors or investors to accept that the old vision was wrong and that a new vision should be followed.

It’s much like sailing at sea. But there, when the captain says tack, the crew follows the directions without questions because it can be a matter of life or death. In business, discussions are subject to good governance. It takes longer for large companies to die, but in small companies death comes almost as quickly as for a bad sailor at sea. The price in large companies may not be death of the company but can very well be termination of the CEO’s position.

YS: Who are some of the entrepreneurs you admire the most today? What is it that makes them role models?

LS: I admire many successful entrepreneurs. Large numbers of them are famous and well-known to your readers. You can see their names in my books, including Invent Reinvent Thrive and in my future book. There are even more less-know entrepreneurs I admire for their fortitude, their ability to stick with it, their willingness to reinvent, and their sensibilities about the need for staying power, which includes capital and people. They may be less famous but they are equally admirable.

YS: What is your parting message to the startups and aspiring entrepreneurs in our audience?

LS: Learn lessons from some of the best and most successful businesspeople. The stories may be fun reading, but I urge people to step back and think about what was done, why it was done, and how it led to success or prevented failure. The list of lessons already examined in my books such as Invent Reinvent Thrive is too long to provide here. And of course there will be more lessons in my next book!

Financial Literacy is not a core subject for students, but the government is trying to introduce financial courses at the school level. However, it will take another five to seven years for schools to adopt the new curriculum and actually pass the benefits of financial awareness to students.

Forget about school students; if you ask college students about their personal financial management, you will be surprised that they lack even basic understanding. What will happen if we prepare the youth of our country to earn money but do not teach them how to handle it? They, most probably, will lose their hard-earned money to bank/insurance and real estate agents.

In today’s scenario where access to knowledge is not restricted to the privileged alone, one can gain financial literacy from reading relevant articles on the internet or following blogs by people who provide tips on financial planning. Conventional ways like interacting with professors and teachers, discussing with family and friends, reading books and business newspapers are still great ways to expand your knowledge in this domain. It seems the challenge is that people don’t know what they don’t know. In such cases, workshops, orientation sessions and even assessment tests can help them realise the need of being financially literate.

Youth Money Olympiad (YMO) is a multiple-choice question test that can be taken in little over an hour, after which you get an assessment which ranks your personal finance knowledge among different sections such as investment, insurance, taxation, credit and more. It also helps you compare your score with respect to your peer group.

The YMO is an initiative by Money-Wizards, an IIM-alumni venture. The founders felt that most college students lacked knowledge of basic personal finance although they would be soon graduating and earn money. Their aim was to help young people become aware of the importance of personal finance in a quick and simple way and believed YMO test would help them do that.

Initially, YMO was rolled out in 20 colleges in south Indian metros.  Founder of YMO Venkatesh Varadachari explained how the test started out. “We started out small and now the initiative has grown exponentially. Last year, Principal Mutual Fund agreed to sponsor the YMO. We reached out to over 7,700 students from 75 colleges across 41 cities. The list included several IIMs, IITs and top universities like VIT and SRM”.

The Olympiad has two rounds: college/university round and the national round, or the finals, wherein winners of the college round compete against each other. Ranjai Banerji from IIM Calcutta bagged the first place in YMO Finals 2015. The second place was tied among three other students, Rohit Garg, IIM Kozhikode; Pritpal Singh, IIM Ahmedabad and Binny Rajpal, IIM Ranchi. Surprisingly, the third place was secured by a young girl, Janani Srinivasan, who is an undergraduate of Ethiraj College, Chennai and not someone from an IIM or IIT.

However, that was not the only surprise; when the team at Money-Wizards spearheaded YMO, it expected large participation from colleges in metro cities. However, YMO 2015 saw its largest participation from non-metro cities like Tonk, a district in Rajasthan, Pondicherry, Raipur and few others. “The faculty from Banasthali University, Tonk and Achariya Institute, Pondicherry had played a major role in making YMO a large success, as they believed in the importance of the subject and were thought leaders for their students,” said Deepak Gaba, who looks after the YMO programme.

The winners and faculty from Banasthali University and Achariya Institute were invited to a prize distribution ceremony recently held at NSE, Mumbai. The winners were given iPads as their prizes and the faculty members were given the Financial Literacy Thought Leader award. YMO also awarded a student from IIT Roorkee, Bhavnoor Singh, who was given the Best Campus Entrepreneur award, given to the student who had best organised the YMO at his/her campus.

The test has been welcomed by several students across India and has impacted their mindset and financial decisions as well. Janani (the student who won the third prize) said she had made her first investment after taking the YMO, while Ranjai believed that formal education in accounting and finance help but general awareness in finance and a desire to learn are more important, and that Money-Wizards is trying to help students improve both.

With YMO 2015 wrapped up, the team worked for YMO’s development so that it can be kickstarted with more vigour for this year. In many cases, the students of an institute are interested to take YMO but couldn’t because the faculty or management had not given a green signal for the event to be held on campus. So this time around, the Youth Money Olympiad can also be taken online: one can test one’s financial IQ at their own convenience from their smartphone.

Money-Wizards’s aim is to take YMO to every young person regardless of their location, and YMO 2016 is a step forward in that. This year, the initiative plans to reach out to 15,000 students. These students will have a lot to look forward to: other than an assessment, they can win employability certificates and get access to a career portal that will give them regular insights of opportunities in different industries from respective experts in the particular industry.

Website

Coditas, a Pune based software development and user experience consultancy, today announced that it has acquired SudoSaints, an android development and design firm. With the acquisition, the entire team of 11 at SudoSaints joins Coditas. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Coditas was founded by Mitul Bid and Janak Porwal, Computer Science graduates from IIT Bombay. Their vision for Coditas is to change the perception on the software services industry in India. “We believe that Software is not only about fulfilling functional requirements but also creating intuitive and elegant user experiences,” says Mitul. They realized that software development is outsourced to India primarily to save cost. And this was a perception they want to change.

A services company, Coditas has been profitable from the first month. Starting out in November 2014, Coditas has an impressive client list. “From vacation rental portals to heart rate monitoring on smartphones, Coditas has converted many challenging client visions into reality,” says Mitul. Coditas boasts of clients like Monsanto, Sencha and more global clients.

They offer services pertaining to the entire software development life cycle- engaging clients at any stage, right from conceptualization to deployment and support. They are open to all models but list down three main models with which they work-

• Build, Operate, Transfer (building transferable softeware development teams)- Clients wishing to set up development centers engage in this model. Coditas helps to build the team with full transparency and whenever the client is ready, the team is transferred to the client entity.
• Remote resource augmentation- This model is for clients who already have an existing team and wish to add remote team members. Coditas has experience working with remote client teams across different timezones and variety of collaborative and communication tools.
• Managed solution delivery- A model preferred by clients wanting minimal involvement with timely deliveries, Coditas takes ownership of the entire solution delivery and works towards achieving agreed upon timelines.

In SudoSaints, Coditas found a team sharing the same vision. SudoSaints was founded by Chandan Mishra and Varun Srinivas, with a goal of making people’s life easy with an intelligent and simple user experience on the Android platform. After delivering more than 50 android application, SudoSaints wanted to reach out to a larger global audience. They have known Coditas from the day of their inception and strongly believe in their vision. With a common vision both Coditas and SudoSaints are looking to combine their collective skills and give the best to their clients.

Website: Coditas

The estimated healthcare expenditure in India in 2013 was USD 96.3 billion, which constituted almost five per cent of the GDP. With a growth rate of approximately 12 per cent, this number is expected to cross USD 195 billion in the next three years. However, according to records, India as a nation has only 0.6 doctors per 1000 people. Many believe that technology is yet to hit the medical devices segment.

The genesis

In order to bridge this gap, Vibhav Joshi and Sumedh Kaulgud, along with other alumni of BITS Pilani, founded Sattva MedTech in 2014. The duo had met in campus and began working on the concept in late 2013. The idea came to Vibhav, when he had gone home for a Diwali break in 2013. His mother, a gynaecologist, had recently purchased an NST-CTG (Fetal Non-Stress Test-cardiotocography) machine. However, she wasn’t happy with the device and had qualms about its reliability.

Vibhav sensed an opportunity and started digging deep into the clinical need for fetal monitoring, history of the NST technology and literature available on advances in fetal monitoring and labor management. Many issues related to the usability and high skill requirement of the NST-CTG were obvious. When he went back to campus, he got together a group of people interested in medical instrumentation and they started brainstorming on how to build a highly reliable, low-cost fetal monitoring device.

Team @ Sattva Medtech

What does the device do?

This is how Sattva MedTech was born. “We’re developing a next-generation fetal health monitoring device which leverages advanced sensors and algorithms. This device, called the Sattva Fetal Lite, has been designed and engineered for use in India and other low-and-mid-income countries,” says Vibhav.

The team has also received the BITS 75 Charitable trust grant and has completed its first clinical study with St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru. It  won the title ‘Top 10 Innovator’ in the India Innovation Growth Programme run by Stanford GSB, Lockheed Martin, IC squared – University of Texas at Austin,  FICCI & DST – Government of India.

Problems and challenges

However, the team hasn’t had it easy, especially due to the lack of cheap and fast prototyping facilities. “The learning curve is really steep and a startup is under a lot of pressure to execute without mistakes; since we have limited resources, any error can set us back by weeks. Turn-around time for hardware is a lot longer than a software product,” says Vibhav.

The team intends to target all healthcare settings where antenatal checkups and deliveries are done. They are also looking at midwives, obstetricians, nurses and health volunteers who can operate this device to detect fetal distress and take the necessary action. “We are looking at 60,000 institutions conducting such procedures by 2018 in India. This is a market of USD 300 million. The ex-India market is USD 800 million,” says Vibhav.

Funding and future plans

The team has currently raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from InnAccel. The funding, Vibhav says, will be used to increase the depth of their team and build some of the most advanced hardware and algorithms to analyse biophysical data.

He adds that they aim to leverage technology to equalise access to quality healthcare for everyone. “Our differentiator is a very strong tech team and absolute focus on user experience and designing for the Indian healthcare scenario,” he says.

Speaking about the investment, Siraj Dhanani of InnAccel says that the team is building a device that they believe can save several lives. This, he adds, can be done by enabling monitoring of the 10 million high-risk pregnancies in India annually. They aim to bring the Sattva Fetal Lite to the market by early 2016. There are several other products in the pipeline as well.

The perinatal death problem

As of 2012, there were 5.9 million perinatal deaths worldwide. The WHO global estimates stated that a third of the still births occurred during delivery. Vibhav says India has a reported 30 million pregnancies every year, of which 10 million mothers require extra monitoring during labor to detect complications. He adds that 3,00,000 perinatal deaths are recorded every year due to undetected fetal distress and related conditions.

“The technology available today for fetal distress monitoring is variable, highly skill-dependent, bulky and expensive. This technology is neither viable nor available for close to 80 per cent of the care-settings in India,” he says.

Adding to this, Dr. Jagdish Chaturvedi, Director of Clinical Innovations at InnAccel, says that fetal heart rate monitoring through Fetal ECG acquisition is an accurate way to assess heart rate and determine fetal distress. With Sattva, the team aims to address the 3,00,000 annual perinatal deaths in India.

The market space

Expected to touch USD 79 billion in 2012, the healthcare sector is now expected to reach USD 160 billion by 2017, and USD 280 billion by 2020. Today, it is considered one of the largest sectors in India, in terms of both revenue and employment.

Website 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to interact with technology and business leaders and focus on innovation, digital economy and renewable energy during his US trip next month, a top Indian diplomat has said. Modi is expected to travel to the US late September to attend the 70th annual session of the UN General Assembly. While no official announcement has been made yet, Modi is scheduled to travel to San Francisco to address the Indian American community in the Silicon Valley on September 27.

More than 25,000 people have signed up for the event at the SAP Centre, which has a seating capacity of 18,000. Both in New York and in San Jose hub of the Silicon Valley Modi is likely to meet people, experts and corporate leaders to further his twin agendas of inclusive growth and fast tracking economic development.

“The Prime Minister is expected to be here in the US in September in New York and in California. During his visit to California he would also interact with people representing the technology and business sector, wherein there would be emphasis on entrepreneurship, innovation, digital economy and renewable energy”, Indian Ambassador Arun K Singh told PTI.

Ahead of Modi’s visit to the US, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal is visiting India and Sri Lanka. In New Delhi, Biswal is expected to hold talks with her Indian counterparts on forthcoming prime ministerial trip and the first India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in September. Climate change and renewable energy are the two issues that brings Modi and US President Barack Obama together. Climate change “will be at the fore front” of the leader’s agenda and that is dealing with its adverse consequences, said Peter Lavoy, Special Assistant to the US President for National Security Affairs.

“Prime Minister Modi has talked about the obligation he has to the earth into India and to the Indian people and has set very ambitious carbon reduction guidelines. And each leader has agreed to work together to seek a very strong conclusion to the Paris conference later this year”, he said. “This is one example of the many examples that they have come together, where our cooperation can produce tangible results for dealing with important world issues”, Lavoy said.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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The idea for his startup came to Navish Jain when the message ‘SOLD: 2005 Honda Civic’ flashed on his computer screen at his workplace Cisco in the US. The company had an internal emailer list, where employees posted information on used items they wanted to buy or sell from other Cisco employees.  Additionally,  friends from other companies requested their ads to be cross posted in the company’s mailer list and vice versa.

So the need for an inter-company classifieds platform, where users are identified based on their employer but without any professional or personal information being revealed pushed Navish to launch Cirtru.

He explains,

Posting an ad on Cirtru involves two simple steps: enter the ad details and then identify the user. We identify users based on their work email but we do not display or share it. It remains hidden and private. We also make anonymous their personal email address because we know that user privacy plays a critical role in classifieds.

According to Navish, Cirtru saw one lakh page views last month, as they were focusing on brand awareness more than conversion. The startup has achieved a user base of more than 750 companies and universities so far.

He is not too sure on the number of transactions that happen per month on Cirtru, as he says it is hard to track offline activities like car selling, finalising roommates and other activities.

How did the journey begin?

Navish longed to launch Cirtru in US but it was not possible for him to do so without having a green card. He kept waiting for the green card that unfortunately never came. Meanwhile, he met with two life-changing incidents: he lost his father and he was blessed with a baby boy. This was when he decided to return to India.

He says,

After moving back to India, I tried a couple of gigs and then I pulled myself together and got into Cirtru. The only thing that remains constant and should remain constant is the passion to solve a real problem. Cirtru is based out of Mumbai and, currently, we have a team of three people.

Online classifieds market in India

Online classifieds market in India is very young compared to the US. The recent surge in India’s internet penetration has fuelled the growth of online classifieds but there is still a long way to go.

The biggest challenges in online classifieds market are monetisation and profitability whereas the opportunity lies in building niche, be it around verticals or user segment.

On competition, Navish says they are not competing directly against other classifieds players. Cirtru builds classifieds for professionals and students. He has compared his business model with Airbnb’s: just as how Airbnb took the vacation-rental vertical out of existing players, Cirtru is taking a user segment out of existing players.

It’s time to gain traction

In India, many companies do not even have intra-company platforms for employees to buy and sell items. Cirtru has received a good number of requests from startups looking to build an intra-company platform to enable classifieds and forums.

Based on the initial reaction from users, Navish observed that for USA, the inter-company classifieds model gained significant traction in the past few months. But, India requires both models – inter-company classifieds and intra-company social network, which will ultimately help users move towards inter-company classifieds.

He adds,

In the next six to twelve months, our focus is to launch Cirtru in other metro cities and simultaneously add more companies and startups for our intra-company social network product.

Website

The F&B industry in India is facing testing times with the new FSSAI regulations hampering product imports. The global trends tilt towards sourcing local food, sustainability, decreasing carbon footprints and bringing to the fore local/regional cuisine and street food. These very principles are the mainstay of Chef Sabyasachi Gorai’s food philosophy. The ex-Director of Kitchens at Olive Bar & Kitchen, Saby, as he is fondly known in the industry has moved on from his glamorous job to a more gratifying role as the Ring Master at Fabrica by Saby, a boutique restaurant consultancy venture and eventually launched his own restaurant, Lavaash by Saby.

The early years

42 year old Saby,  who has a cult following in the culinary world, started his career in hotel management and did some odds and ends  before being enchanted by the kitchen where he saw his creativity take shape. Coming from a middle class Bengali family, Saby, an art graduate, realised soon enough that art is not going to be a sustainable profession for him.

Given his background in music and arts, Saby started to use food as a medium of creative expression. After getting a hold of the medium, he treated the plate as a canvas. “I liked playing with textures and colours and would never make a dish look the same next time, so I would request my staff to record or click the plating, for continuity.” Over the years, he has worked across the globe and has cooked for the Bachchans, Ambanis, F1 teams among other known names and has acquired a cult following of his own.

Reluctant steps towards entrepreneurship

With Fabrica by Saby, he started providing consultancy to other restaurants for menu, staffing and sourcing along with setting up a culinary institute for training budding chefs. Besides, Saby has also instituted a scholarship in the name of his mother, to help girls from the weaker sections of society. He says, “Most girls from underprivileged society already know cooking, so I am only acting as a catalyst to help them earn and establish themselves.” In fact, he also encourages them to be hired within his network.

“And after a lot of deliberation, introspection, resistance, I finally plunged into what I never wanted to do: open a restaurant of my own,” he says. He has launched Lavaash by Saby at Mehrauli, which traces the culinary influence of early Armenian settlers in Asansol (his home town) on the food that we eat today. Quiz him about his entrepreneurial sojourn and Saby says, “There was this excessive desire to leave behind a legacy, especially for my daughter, and that made me push myself towards entrepreneurship”.

Tracing a culinary legacy

Though he had his heart in place about the restaurant, it was increasingly difficult to get information about Armenian food, as there was little to go by way of information, online or otherwise.  He shares, “Traditional Armenian food is not available anywhere and it took me almost a year to sheaf through my father, Sakti Gorai’s book ‘100 years of the Coal mining history’ (which spoke about the Armenian settlers in the coal belt) and my grandmother’s recipe book from the 1930’s. I also went through newspaper cuttings, met a few Armenian chefs for recipe research and read up blogs. I dug up my past and researched on recipes to bring in my version of the quintessential preparations of Bengali delicacies on the table as well.” His child like enthusiasm is infectious when he shares about rediscovering recipes which had been lost over time. Saby also put his thinking cap when he was recreating those recipes. “I went back in time and thought how I would have cooked these dishes 100 years ago, with the then available utensils and techniques. I have thus applied the same principles and science and the results have been mind-blowing,” he adds.

Food philosophy

“Today’s diners are more aware and want to know about the origin of food on their table and the menus of today are an indication of that. And I did not want to disappoint myself or them. So for my restaurant, I consciously chose to go local by sourcing local ingredients from Kolkata (be it Gondhoraj lemons, local cheese, jaggery or a particular variety of bitter gourd) to using clay cooking pots and utensils,” he reveals.

Coming from a mofussil town, Chef Saby has travelled a long way. With the knowledge that he has gathered over the years, Saby is almost an institution in himself. He has received India’s Best Chef Award from the President of India amongst other numerable recognitions and awards. Each of them are reminiscent of his contribution to the food industry, but his biggest reward comes from cooking for a fellow human being. “The long hours, challenging working conditions, back and knee problems, no weekends, no festive holidays, working while everyone else is enjoying with their families, gets offset by the joy of serving a soul satisfying meal”, says Saby.

Say you need a new pair of scissors. Which would you choose? A or B?

If you picked A, then good luck dealing with Wrap Rage!

Wrap Rage – (n)

The anger and frustration arising from trying to open clamshell packaging, leading to cuts and blisters on one’s fingers.

But I’m sure you made the smart choice and picked B.

There is literally no difference between those two products. Both are your standard pairs.

So why B?

The choice is obvious. The relief from the nightmarish finger cuts of the former is only part of the answer. The main reason is the easy-to-use packaging style of the latter. Also, in the case of exhibit A, you know instantly that you need another pair of scissors to open up the packaging to your new one. Who wants that, right?

This is pretty much an everyday occurrence, I would say – having to choose between products that serve the same purpose, but are miles apart in terms of presentation and packaging.

Startups are finding it hard to make products that people will unquestionably choose over similar products from their competitors. Or in other words, products that sustain in the market. How many times have we witnessed great products not making the cut just because of their shabby design? Products face a sustenance-crisis because of bad design. So we now face the obvious question, “What can startups do to actually create products that are not just great, but great and appealing to users?”

The way I see it, design is much, much more than simple aesthetics. It is a language that speaks directly to consumers.

Design has the power to create images – either positive or negative – in people’s minds. This is what we call ‘first impressions’ and these are formed even before people begin using your product. By creating well-designed products you send a strong message to your customers, saying ‘trustworthy’. In general, you make them feel good about your product.

You can use design-thinking everywhere – websites, logos, product packaging, taglines, events – and I’m just naming the bare minimum. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can’t jump headfirst into elaborate design lessons. However, there are a couple of things that you could do to adopt design-thinking.

I’m always pro-minimalist. If there is anything that I find ‘extra’, I remove it.

Strip down to the basics:

I know it sounds counter-intuitive. But all those extra features will only confuse your users. Don’t bog down your awesome product with unnecessary details.

Keep it simple and keep it focused, a.k.a make it grandma-friendly. This picture right here shows you how many buttons we don’t use on a remote.

Another example is Instagram. Instagram had a precursor named Burbn, which was a terrible mess – it had check-ins, events, a points system, and lastly, photo posts. The guys who developed Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, decided to kill some of the ‘extra’ features of the app, after consulting some heavy-duty analytics. They focused on the most important feature, photo-sharing, and released Instagram. The rest is history.

Yes, you might have to throw out some great idea for the sake of the product, and NO, it is not a bad thing to do so. If you strip away all that’s unnecessary, what you are left with is pure design.

And that makes a killer product.

Speaking of Instagram, the design process isn’t equivalent to applying filters to make the blemishes on your products just vanish.

Design doesn’t work like filters. It can’t be postponed till the end. On the contrary, it has to form the core.

Until a decade ago, kajal, common eye makeup for the average Indian woman, was available only in clunky and roughly shaped cones. This led to a lot of waste of product, and uneven application. Women didn’t like carrying it around, because it wasn’t easy to use.

But now it is available in pen/pencil format. This simple redesigning literally transformed the product. Needless to say, sales spiked, mainly through word of mouth. Women everywhere raved about it. Soon the kajal pen became one of the staples of ladies’ handbags.

I cannot stress this enough – simplicity and ease of use make for good designs. It is nearly impossible to achieve simplicity in the last stage of product creation. So stop treating it like the final decoration, a mere embellishment. Instead, begin with design.

Design is an unstoppable force. Convincing yourself that designing happens only once is a common mistake. You don’t stop using design after just one kickass product. No matter how well you think you have modeled your product, there is always a better way, a simpler way, to do things.

In fact, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, says that design-thinking doesn’t just make him a better designer – it makes him better at anything. In an interview, he spoke of applying ‘design-thinking’ to his life, like say, planning a dinner party.

Here’s what he says,

“I design that experience. I start thinking about how the food and the space work together, all the things that I naturally think about as a designer. That’s what design-thinking does for you. It’s a set of tools that allows you to approach life – particularly where it might be advantageous to solve a problem – differently.”

I think this is exactly what we startups need today. A paradigm shift that puts design-thinking in the core of our business. Figuring out the purpose for your company can be tricky and  challenging. Often that purpose is lost in a myriad of distractions. In my humble opinion, design-thinking can take you there like a horse with blinders on.

So to summarize,

1. Go minimalist.
2. Don’t just decorate, design your product.
3. Think, do, repeat.

I would urge startups in India to make design-thinking a part of their work culture, and believe in the design movement.

About the guest author:

Anil Kumar is the CEO of Coimbatore-based startupmypromovideos.com. The team helps clients with their brand and marketing messages via short explainer videos. With an impressive portfolio that comprises clients like Flipkart, WebEngage, HCL, FreshDesk etc, the startup is an inspiring Bootstrap Hero. Read their full story.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

Today, disruptive technology is not just about innovation, but also about how your product or service is simplifying lives. That’s exactly what a startup does; it solves a problem by providing a solution that is convenient, as well as effectively connects with the masses.

Having said that, a NASSCOM study revealed that approximately 3,100 startups emerged in 2014. This number is guesstimated to reach more than 11,500 by 2020. This proves that the startup phenomenon isn’t just another passing trend or a bubble waiting to burst. It’s a revolution in itself and is expected to grow in conjunction with increasing demand for mobile, internet and web services. For a country such as India, with so much potential for startups to explore and expand untapped markets, this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to IAMAI, internet reach in tier-II and tier-III cities is expected to reach 280 million by 2018, provided initiatives such as the government’s National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) bear fruit on target. This, in turn, is literally going to change the business landscape, as well as consumption trends, in India.

Looking at the numbers, and the speed at which startups are sprouting, we cannot afford to neglect things like awareness creation, keeping an eye on competition, and following market trends, if we want to ensure that startups are able to woo the right investors, as well as increase footfalls. Managing a brand’s image and ensuring perception management plays a significant role in deriving value for the brand.

Understanding the concept of a start up from a PR perspective

A startup is just like a ‘baby’ to its founders – which is why founders are called ‘parents’. And every parent wants their baby to not just grow, but also be recognized and celebrated. Every parent wants their baby to be appreciated by friends, family and society. Here, family is the employees of the company, and society is the market at large.

Creating the right Perception is a game changer when used effectively

Richard Branson right states, “Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad.”

One of Public Relations’s (or Image Management’s) most important roles is to improve a company’s reputation so that their store of goodwill is increased. Public Relations is that fundamental channel that curates successful business stories about the company. Public Relations is a process through which benefits, stories, and attributes associated with a specific entity are highlighted in various arenas.

With a good PR campaign in place, a company can really grow in the long run. While it may not bring immediate financial benefits, in the long run, it will increase your business.

Public Relations is more than a sales tool, it is also reputation management for startups

Public relations is not just a medium to obtain customers, but also one that helps provide the right amount of visibility for the products and services offered by the startup. It subsequently helps build the brand and image of a company or organization. It acts as a booster for the company and its employees’ morale.

It is therefore critical to invest not just money, but also time and effort into ensuring that the image management and perception-building campaigns achieve the desired results. Today, public relations is not just restricted to disseminating press releases or flooding the media with newsletters. Image management involves constantly engaging with the target audience through varied media, either offline in the form of face-to-face interactions, or tele-meetings – and through social networking platforms such as tweet chats, FaceTime etc., a method which is currently trending.

Image management is that powerful tool that can help make or break a brand.

“If I was down to the last dollar of my marketing budget I’d spend it on PR,” Bill Gates.

In many situations, companies feel that they do not need to spend extra money on image management when they are doing well. Public Relations is absolutely critical to the success of your business, and slashing budget spends on marketing and PR is not a healthy way to look at growth in the long term. Also, one needs to understand that PR is a consistent effort in positioning, building and simultaneously managing the reputation of the brand, especially if you are a startup. There is no such thing as ‘temporary’ or ‘short-term’ PR.

In a nutshell, PR is an ongoing process that helps build and sustain a successful business model. Using PR can effectively help startups to deal better with anything that goes wrong. And no matter what you might believe at the moment, it will increase your sales in the long run.

The above article is written by Juhee Bagri – Entrepreneur / Image Consultant / PR Strategist / mom

Image credit “ShutterStock“

Days after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan flagged concerns on emerging financial instruments, including crowd funding, his deputy S S Mundra said there is a need for bringing in a legislation to regulate electronic fund raising platforms. “It is near impossible to regulate the behaviour and choices of individuals hence, it will be more practical for the regulatory authorities to bring in appropriate regulatory changes in their jurisdictions, which would enable regulation of the aggregators’ electronic dealing platforms”, Mundra said at the concluding day of the annual bankers summit Fibac in Mumbai.

The remarks were made in the context of peer to peer lending, a flourishing system of lending money to unrelated parties gaining popularity in the West, and crowd funding which has already started in the country with platforms like Ketto, Wishberry and Start 51 among others. Mundra said bringing in regulations for electronic platforms will make it easier to regulate their activities. The need, he said, is to regulate such disruptive innovations for the orderly growth of the market.

Speaking at an event last week, Rajan had flagged concerns on crowd-funding, saying, “One of my worries about crowd funding is that it works while going is good. But when you have to recover funds, who is going to recover and does it happen especially in an environment where enforcement is difficult in the first place”. Mundra acknowledged that such activities are in their infancy, but have the potential to grow into having significant presence.

“As a regulator, one may not be overtly concerned about the manner in which the finance is raised, but there are concerns around the orderly growth of the system, consumer protection and grievance redressal, disaster recovery and business stability plans for the intermediating electronic platforms”, the banker said. Mundra also said there is a need for restricting “harmful disruptions” and also asked the innovators to first show the product to the regulator before introducing it in the markets, promising an early clearance for the same.

He also spoke about other emerging innovations, including virtual currencies like Bitcoins, setting up of online lending companies by e-commerce players and high frequency trading, among others and pointed out that there are some concerns in all of them. “Unbridled proliferation of virtual currencies, particularly the decentralised ones, could have implications for central banks in terms of money supply estimates and consequently for monetary and exchange rate policies”, he said, adding that it needs to be “monitored closely”.

High frequency trades and Algo trading reduce the resilience of the market in a stress situation and also needs focused monitoring for erroneous trades and market manipulation. Apart from these, there is also an emerging trend of having “electronic currencies”, wherein vendors claim to have developed algorithms for issue of digital tender which can be issued by a central bank in a secured fashion. Mundra further said one such company has made a product presentation before RBI as well, and added that we are yet to have any central bank adopt it. There is a need for financial sector regulators across the world to coordinate closely and share case studies on the emerging trends, he added.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Hike Messenger, today announced the launch of ‘hike 4.0′, aimed at redefining the consumer experience in the instant messaging space. The latest release is available for Android users on the Google Play Store today and will be available to Apple users on the iOS platform next week.

Hike messenger was founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal and was globally launched in 2012. In April 2013, they hit their first 5M user milestone and had raised $7M in funding. Then in April 2014, they received $14M in fresh funding from BSB and crossed the 20M user mark in June 2014. Then a month after achieving the #1 rank on Android and iOS platforms, they crossed the 35M user mark in August 2014 and received $65M in funding led by Tiger Global. Post that from November 2014 to February 2015 they launched features such as regional stickers, free VoIP calls and cricket scores on Hike in partnership with CricBuzz.

Hike claims that the version 4.0 is 5x faster than its predecessor and is designed for the ‘next billion’ Indian consumers, who are experiencing Internet for the first time. They claim to have optimized the new update for low-end phones and poor network conditions. To add to the mass appeal, they have introduced about 10 new features, including ‘short form news’ updates within the app, group chat for up to 500 people among other features.

What’s new in Hike?

The latest release includes ‘Sticker Suggestions’, that recommends stickers to users as they type allowing them to express themselves through a catalogue of about 5000 stickers available on the platform. Hike now also allows up to 500 members in a single group chat and has introduced the ability to have multiple admins in a group to make managing groups better and easier for larger groups of people. Regarding sticker suggestions and groups, Kavin told YourStory,

We took our most popular feature and amplified it to the next level. It is so much easier now to use stickers as the suggestions are contextual to what you’re typing. Multiple group admins is something users have asked for and this is especially powerful in a large group so we also bumped up our group size to 500 members. Now any big group whether it be alumnis, forums etc can come on to hike and manage their groups in a much better way.

In addition to gearing up for 4G, hike has introduced the ability to transfer files in the form of documents, PDF, zip and all other kinds of files up to a 100 MB limit. They have also launched photo filters and doodles to allow consumers to have fun and spice up their photos. About the thought process behind these features, Kavin added,

In a mobile-first market like India where people are going to be witnessing photo sharing for the first time especially with low-end phones, we wanted to provide a set of tools to allow them to make their photos look better and have a bit of fun. That’s the idea behind photo filters and doodles. We’ve got really cool local filters like Sholay!

The biggest update from YourStory’s point of view is a ‘Short form news’ feature that Hike has launched within their app. The service allows users on the platform to get quick bite-sized news updates in under a 100 characters. Within 24 hours of the launch of ‘News’, hike claims to have over a million people actively using the service currently. About the news feature, Kavin added,

We aggregate news content from the top news publications and blogs across India. We parse through over a thousand stories every day and using some smarts ensure that the most relevant, timely content is delivered to users multiple times during the day in a bit-sized format.

Screenshot of the news feature

Kavin sees the demand for quick, bite-sized news updates on smartphones to be quite large over the course of a day, and considers it an ideal choice for people living in a mobile-first world. He added, “Approximately 100 stories are published every day but we’re careful not to bombard people with everything. You’ll see no more than three-four notifications throughout the day showing news articles that are extremely popular.”

Inshorts, that had raised $20M from Tiger Global (Tiger Global is also an investor in Hike) and Way2News which is backed by Way2SMS are standalone apps in the ‘short form news’ space in India. Circa which was one of the pioneers of short form content globally, went on an ‘indefinite hiatus’ earlier this year as they were unable to crack their business model. Some smaller players in this space are Cruxtor, which summarises news in a timeline format and Awesummly, which automates news summaries. About the competition in the news space, Kavin said,

It’s too early to comment. At the end of the day as Hike we want to build the best experience for our users. I wouldn’t rule out a possible partnership in the future.

Hike Messenger, also announced that it’s users now exchange about 20 billion messages on a monthly basis. They claim that the number has doubled in less than a year since the company’s previous announcement of 10 billion monthly messaging volume in August 2014. The app also includes a free virtual assistant codenamed ‘Natasha’ and a ‘Hidden Mode’ that allows users to hide all the chats that they want to keep private with a password.

Commenting on the launch and their future plans, Kavin said, “We’re excited to bring Hike 4.0 to the market. It’s been six months in the making and it’s a big update from it’s predecessors. We’ve got a lot more coming. Expect us to release one big new feature on top of this every month until the end of the year.”

Sector overview

The mobile app space has seen a lot of activity around the world and India. Messaging apps have been the most ‘sticky’ apps retaining a large section of users and constantly topping the Android and iOS Playstores. Globally, Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger together have the largest user base when it comes to instant messaging. WeChat, Line, and Kakao Talk are big players in Asia. Andreessen Horowitz recently wrote an article about WeChat and their ‘App within an app’ strategy and how one app is ruling everything in China. Globally other big players in the messaging sector are SnapChat and Telegram (which allows users to send files up to 1GB). It will be interesting to see how Hike goes about with its strategy in India and what their future plans and updates include.

Website: hike

Related read: [Techie Tuesdays] ‘My mission is to bring a billion people online': Rajat Bansal, CTO, Hike

This year’s hottest sector is without a doubt ‘hyperlocal services’ and PepperTap has emerged as one of the top companies.

It was Co-founder Navneet Singh’s personal experience that led him to launch PepperTap along with Milind Sharma. “I used to work six days and spend a major chunk of my Sundays purchasing grocery. This prompted me to start PepperTap,” Navneet said during a panel discussion on local commerce during MobileSparks 2015.

Launched in November 2014, PepperTap allows customers to buy groceries on demand through an app. The company started out by providing services in Gurgaon. PepperTap today operates in Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Chennai.

There is a lot of buzz around hyperlocal this year with investors pumping in around $250 million this year, mostly in companies that are less than two-years-old. PepperTap too raised funding of $10 million earlier this year from SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital.

The sector has also evolved rapidly in a short period. Startups have come up in various segments within hyperlocal ranging from grocery and food delivery and handyman services to on-demand logistics. Industry insiders say customer behaviour is trending towards on-demand. Increasingly, consumers are also becoming mobile-first and the hyperlocal startups are best placed to take advantage of this shift. With technology advancements in mobile-tech and location, these young companies are able to provide quick service to a growing customer base.

It is no wonder then that PepperTap’s Navneet believes that the challenge does not lie on the demand side, but on the supply side. The main focus for PepperTap is to find the right partners across multiple localities and cities. For PepperTap and other hyperlocal companies getting the model right in one location and then scaling up to other geographies also acts as an advantage.

In this video interview, Navneet talks about expansion, challenges and possible acquisitions.

Complete online solution for beauty professionals and consumers Vyomo has raised less than $2 million in pre series A funding round from Berlin-based Rocket Internet. The company will likely use the funding towards expansion, marketing and hiring more talent across functions.

YourStory tried contacting Vyomo’s CEO, Abhinav Khare over phone but he was not reachable. Our email queries to Vyomo and Rocket Internet didn’t elicit any response so far. According to YourStory’s sources, Abhinav and Aprameya A, an angel investor in the company have been scouting for this round in Singapore from some time.

Vyomo had so far amaseed over 50K app downloads of which close to 30 percent of downloaders are actually using the product. On the merchant side, it has registered more than 3000 salons and spas and 1,500 stylists across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

This funding for Vyomo came after four months of it seed round. The company claims to have raised six crores in its seed round with participation from cricketing icon Yuvraj Singh, Aprameya and Qatar Investment Authority.

The brainchild of London Business School alumnus Abhinav Khare, Vyomo aims to create one-stop solution for consumers and beauty professionals to manage and grow their business through a smartphone.

YourStory’s take

On demand beauty space is getting significant traction this year. On the lines of Peppertap, Grofers, Localoye and Urbanpro, startups like Vyomo, Bigstylist and Stayglad want to grab the major pie of the beauty and salon segment.

The YouWeCan funded venture competes with Belita, Bulbul, BigStylist, VanityCube and Getalook. VanityCube had raised close to $250K from unnamed investors. Belita secured seed round from India Quotient in 2012 and Bengaluru based Stayglad raised undisclosed amount from Sahil Barua and Tracxn Labs.

At present the online beauty service space is estimated anywhere between $4 to 5 billion. This is a big opportunity for startups and with rise on demand phenomenon the space appears promising in overall hyperlocal space.

Just when you are thinking that a particular startup segment is reaching its saturation point, you find that another startup is ready to make a foray into that very segment.

Mohit Lohiya, who was working in the marketing department of a furniture company, observed that the demand for industrial furniture was not noticed by many e-commerce players in the furniture and home décor segment.

Mohit Lohiya , Co-founder

In July, 2014, Shivani Lohiya and Mohit Lohiya co-founded Home Glamour, an ecommerce furniture and home décor platform specializing in vintage-styled industrial furniture. “The furniture market is filled with Chinese or Indonesian, or the so-called ‘rosewood’  furniture. The existing demand and unfulfilled supply in the industrial furniture market led us to launch this platform.”

Entering a highly competitive and crowded market is a daunting task. A new idea demands a dose of uniqueness. Home Glamour offers customization in the vintage industrial furniture category right from scratch. The website aims to add a design quotient to this furniture segment.

Home Glamour started with an initial investment of Rs. 2 lakhs, most of which was spent on website development and social media marketing. The website addresses the B2C market, targeting primarily the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.

At the moment, the venture is completely bootstrapped and is looking forward to infuse more funds for product development and customer acquisition. Talking about  raising funding from investors, Mohit says that he’s trying his best to keep the venture bootstrapped for as long as possible. He, however, observes that the competition in the market is fierce and he would likely have to raise funds to scale up the operations, improve customer acquisition and innovate on the product offering.

Shivani Lohiya , Co-founder

During the year 2014-15, Home Glamour claims to have clocked a turnover of around Rs. 9 lakhs. It has been seeing around 90 per cent, month on month growth. In comparison to last year, it witnessed an increase of 118 per cent in revenue from its website.

“The Indian audience has started developing a taste for this kind of furniture and we personally see huge growth prospects of our venture in the coming days. On the product roadmap, we are working on some never seen before product themes; a beautiful fusion of modern elements with vintage styled furniture,” says Mohit.

Competition

The furniture and furnishings market in India is pegged at $ 20 billion in size, and is ranked the fifth largest market in the world. Despite the huge size of the overall market, the online furniture market is small, and ruled by only a few. Mohit realizes that the biggest challenge comes from other established players in the segment such as UrbanLadder, FabFurnish and PepperFry. Analyzing the figures in this segment, it transpires that these players have a tight grip the online market, and they seem to have left little space for any other player to grow in the past few years. The three companies have also raised huge funding from various investors.

In April, 2015, Urban Ladder raised $50 million in a new round of funding led by Sequoia Capital along with TR Capital, and existing investors Steadview Capital, SAIF Partners and Kalaari Capital.

Late last month, Pepperfry snapped up $ 100 million and became the first player to reach the magic figure in the niche e-commerce segment in the country. The round of funding was led by Goldman Sachs and Zodius Technology Fund. Existing investors Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) and Silicon Valley-based Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) also participated in this round.

According to a PTI report, FabFurnish is set to raise over USD 50 million from its existing investors, including Rocket Internet and Kinnevik, within the next one year to fund its expansion plans. The Gurgaon-based company has already raised more than USD 30 million from these investors.

Commenting on the existing market, Mohit says, “We believe that competition will be always there. To overcome the competition we are focusing on our product offering, quality and service. By offering unique products we would like to create our niche in the market, and develop Home Glamour as a brand in the industrial furniture segment.”

It will be interesting to witness the arrival of new players in this segment, and see how they go about creating their niche in the face of such severe competition.

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I’ve met doctors and I’ve met lawyers, and they all say they have jobs that help them sleep like a baby. I’ve met chartered accountants and I’ve met builders, astrophysicists and engineers, architects and chefs, all doing exactly what their 11-year-old selves had wanted. However, ask each of them if there was one thing they’d throw away their entire career for, something that would grant them fulfilment as well as unabashed happiness. A guilty-pleasure, if you may. That unanimous fantasy is travel journalism.

Here’s a man who went after the global dream with a vengeance. And oh by Magellan, did that risk pay off. The awe-inspiring chronicles of this rolling stone, Ajay Jain, made sure his one true ambition gathers no moss. His journeys of discovery and self-discovery as a traveller, blogger and entrepreneur, mark the journey of Kunzum.com: at first, a travel blogger’s diary, then the wildly popular website which led to the opening of Kunzum Travel Café. Today, Kunzum is a virtual as well as physical landmark and reference point for people who like their travel served raw and real.

“I just woke up one day and decided to….

Leaving the nest of a secure job is usually how the greatest journeys begin, and Ajay was faced with the same crucial fork in the road.  The fork was exceptionally obtuse, as he was not only an accomplished journalist at the very heart of his field, but also a popular tech blogger at the time.

“I had been writing on business, technology and matters related to youth for a few years. My tech blog, Techgazing.com, was the most popular tech blog in the country at that time. But overnight, I discontinued it as I was yearning to be a travel writer. I figured travel content could create a legacy of its own rather than yet another gadget review. So, I just woke up one day in June 2007 and decided to be a travel writer,” Ajay says.

Conversation with the gods

Deciding to perch on a Himalayan wonder, somewhere at an altitude of 4,551 metres, sure invokes deliciously crazy things in people. Ajay was one of the many who go up there to have inspiration whack their whimsies into action.

“My first journey as a ‘travel writer’ was to Lahaul Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, within a few days of my decision. The trip included crossing Kunzum La- a spectacular junction in my journey – literal, and of life. I had never stood on such high ground; it seemed I was with the gods. The sheer beauty of the landscape and the overall experience just strengthened my resolve to pursue this profession,” Ajay says.

So moving was the experience, that he came back and branded his travel blog ‘Kunzum’.

First Lap

Ajay explains how he never intended for Kunzum to become a brand – to him, it was more of an enterprise to show Indians and the world how one needn’t go too far in search of ethereal beauty. “In a way, Kunzum started as a social enterprise. I wanted my blog to do its bit to sell the India Travel Story to the wider world, promote tourism and create sustainable livelihoods,” he adds.  As of today, the site directly reaches over 70,000 people, and many more through shares and forwards.

Being an entrepreneur in spirit, though, I could never stop at just writing content. I ventured into Kunzum as if I were on a journey, and just like any trip, I allowed myself to be surprised at every milestone. This is how ‘Kunzum – the business’ evolved.

When wanderlust met business acumen

Under the Kunzum name, Ajay began exploring everything else he could do for to help his love for travel along.

I started writing books and these were published under the imprint Kunzum.

In 2009, he took up a space in south Delhi’s trendy district, Hauz Khas Village, to set up a gallery for his photographic art prints. The gallery was as galleries went: with fair footfalls of some connoisseurs, and others who weren’t.

…And when acumen met opportunism!

“One day, over homemade dosas at a friend’s place, the idea of the Kunzum Travel Café was born. We did the math and realised our downside would only be the raw material cost of the coffee, tea and cookies. We were anyway running the space as a gallery with staff, which was trained to make coffee. The café did not have any additional overheads,” Ajay explains.

What fits right into Hauz Khas’ artsy landscape as a beloved haunt is that it really is a jaunt, taking one far away from the city’s brouhaha as soon as one enters. The walls continue to be the gallivanter’s gallery. The floor space, though, is like a “face-to-face Facebook” for travellers, photographers, filmmakers, writers, musicians and other creative folk.

The place soon became the talk of the town, turning it into a hub for events. Sponsorships from brands followed, giving the café PR that money could not have possibly bought.

“The decision was strategic from one angle: when people come in for coffee, they will see my books and prints, and that would lead to sales. That happened, and lots more too. ‘Kunzum – the brand’ today would not be as known but for the café,” Ajay notes.

Cutting the monthly paycheque in half

Did it feel like treading on thin ice, in order to follow this unstoppable yet unpredictable passion?

“To be honest, I am prone to decisions that may not always pass the test of rationality. Yes, financial security is important; I ensure I have a reserve before jumping into choppy waters. My philosophy is that if things go bad, I can always go back to a secure job or business environment. Till then, I do what I feel is a more satisfying way of leading life, without worrying about chasing paycheques,” Ajay says.

But, luckily, it hasn’t ever come down to that, and it doesn’t look like it will. “Due to the experimental nature of our business, we don’t have a steady revenue curve but our revenues have been growing by at least 50 per cent for the last five years,” he adds.

Ajay Jain’s top three hacks at changing swiftly the traveller, blogger, and entrepreneur hats

Hear the top three cheats right from the horse’s mouth. Follow them, and there is no reason why your blog won’t make business sense too.

Ajay says,

First, address the following questions: Why am I blogging? Who is my audience? Why would they consume my content? How will I market my blog to get to the desired audience? Bloggers must be multitaskers, and have a grip on writing, photography, videography maybe, a bit of technology, marketing, accounts and design. Most bloggers will have to do all these themselves; it is not easy to afford to hire someone to do it.

Once it does start grabbing eyeballs like you had planned, you must strike the iron when it is hot. “You cannot just rely on eyeballs alone to get you ample advertising revenue. Be enterprising. This could include books, e-books, consulting, events, content syndication and speaking engagements. The blog can be the springboard to open other avenues for you,” Ajay adds.

You may have flat tyres, but these only create pauses, not stops

“Get real!” he exclaims.

There is no shortcut to building traffic. You have to wait it out and have to be pragmatic about a lot of things including finances and your own limitations as a creative person. Perseverance, dedication and patience will be your best friends on the path to success.

On-demand, home-service hyperlocal marketplace seems to be a favourite among both investors and entrepreneurs. Despite more than a dozen known on-demand service providers being available in Gurgaon itself, the number of new startups in the segment continues. New entrants (entrepreneurs) reason that the current on-demand service providers have not been able to meet the customers’ satisfaction and that there are various issues that need to be addressed.

When Anubhav Srivastava suffered an unpleasant experience with the service of a reputed on-demand hyperlocal service player, he observed the existing issues and challenges in the industry. Undeterred by the number of existing players, he decided to launch his own on-demand home-service platform.

In Feb 2015, Anubhav and Vivek Singh Bagri cofounded Gurgaon-based Facility Kart. It is a technology-driven mobile app that provides on-demand, home-needs services,  acting as a hyperlocal, micro-managed marketplace. However, the platform became operational from March.

Co-founder and COO Anubhav says, “We are dealing with the inherent problem of the segment: skillset. Consumers require high quality service, which is yet to be addressed by even big players in the segment. The objective is to organise the entire segment, including services and payment system”.

He explains that others are concentrating on customer ecosystem, but he is, instead, focusing on the servicing ecosystem as much as on the former.

Working with over 1,000 vendors in Gurgaon, the platform offers services in over 13 categories and sub-categories including plumbing, painting, CCTV security installation, mobile or tablet repair, laundry, gardening, beauty and household packaging and moving services.

With vendors, the platform works on a commission basis. Between March and July, the traction on the platform has increased from three requests a day to over 50 requests. The average transaction size is Rs 450 per request.

The venture is looking to raise angel round funding and is in talks with investors. It expects to raise funding by end of September this year to make its entry into 10 cities.

According to Anubhav, honouring each customer, working with skillful vendors and customer awareness are some of the main challenges in the segment. “Delivery of services at the promised time to consumers is a daunting task. The industry is dependent on vendors and the negligence caused by either will result in service fallout. Besides, finding skillful vendors is another challenge. Lastly, another challenge we face is that a large base of consumer is not aware of such on-demand facilities,” he says.

Existing competition in the space

The on-demand home service segment is filled with ventures catering to hyperlocal consumers.  UrbanClap, TimeSaverz, Taskbob, Mr. Right, Zimmber, Zepper, Doormint, Urbanpro, and Localoye are vying with each other to emerge as the biggest challenger for new entrants. Recently, these companies have managed to secure large funds from various investors.

In June this year, Delhi-based UrbanClap raised USD 10 million in funding from its existing investors, SAIF Partners and Accel Partners. In April 2015, Taskbob raised USD 1.2 million worth of seed funding from Orios Venture Partners and the Mayfield Fund. In June this year, UrbanClap raised USD 10 million in Series-A funding. In July, Zimmber secured USD 2 million from IDG Ventures, Omdiyar Networks, and others. This month, Mumbai-based Doormint raised USD 3-million funding led by Helion Ventures and Kalaari Capital.

In the past few years, the entire on-demand hyperlocal sector has witnessed a large boom. According to our research and that of data analysis company Venture Intelligence, this till mid-June year, , the hyperlocal sector witnessed 27 deals, with funding amounting to over USD 135 million. Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, Nexus Ventures, Accel Partners India, Tiger Global and Nirvana Ventures — to name a few — are some of the investors in the segment.

Talking about the existing competition, Anubhav says that the market size is as big as USD five billion and there’s an opportunity for everyone in the segment. The only competition he sees in the space is capturing the marketing space in the hyperlocal areas. “If the marketing issues are addressed, we will be able to make a successful brand name in the segment,” he adds.

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