We are back with our weekly recap. Here are the 10 startup biz news which becomes the talk of the town this week.
IIIT-Hyderabad and National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) have recently joined hands and signed an MOU which aims to set up an Agritech startup accelerator programme. IIIT-Hyderabad and MANAGE’s Agritech Startup Accelerator Programme will be identifying, supporting and facilitating idea-stage enterprises making use of innovation and technology to solve agriculture related problems being encountered in the Indian subcontinent.
MANAGE is hoping that its MOU with IIIT-Hyderabad will help make a significant impact on farmers’ lives, entrepreneurs, and agri-startups in India.
In the latest development, to encourage startups, the government is considering the further reduction in taxation for startups and a three months exit procedure for those ventures who have failed to take off.
Taking the podium at the India international MSME and Startup Expo 2017, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of Development for North-eastern state and Minister of State for Prime Minister Office Personnel revealed that the Indian central government is contemplating a new tax holiday, a temporary reduction or elimination of tax for new ventures with a three months exit window.
Currently, Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB) certified startups in the country are allowed a three-year tax exemption within the first seven years of their existence. The Union Budget for 2017-18 had allowed eligible startups to make use of their three-year tax holiday in a period of seven years instead of five years.
The government of India’s flagship program to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is inviting applications for ‘Mentor India’. Mentor India is a strategic nation building initiative to engage leaders who can guide and mentor schools students in 900+ Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) established by AIM in schools across India.
Through Mentor India, AIM is looking to engage leaders who can dedicate 1 – 2 hours every week in one or more such labs and enable school students to experience, learn and practice future skills such as design and computational thinking. AIM is looking for corporates/professionals/academicians/students etc. who are keen to contribute to this strategic nation building initiative. ATLs are dedicated works spaces where students (from Class 6th to Class 12th) learn innovation skills and develop ideas that will go on to transform India.
India’s homegrown ride-hailing app Ola has joined hands with tech giant Google for its ‘outstation’ category. The new partnership will allow people using the services of Ola for their outstation journeys to easily find and book their inter-city rides facilitated by Google maps, which is considered as one of the best web mapping service that there is today.
Not only this, the Ola Outstation category will initially enable outstation bookings from 23 cities to over 215 one-way routes in the Indian subcontinent. This will then be extended to a total of 500 routes in the coming weeks.
IIM Bangalore’s NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) has shortlisted eight early-stage non-profits startups for its 18-month incubation programme. All the selected eight startups are working on solving some of the toughest education and skills challenges that poor communities in the country are facing.
The programme is an inclusive part of India’s first-ever, nonprofit startup incubator supported by the famous Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Some of the selected entrepreneurs are graduates of leading global institutions like Harvard Business School, IITs, and IIMs etc.
Haryana is all set to announce the launch of its startup policy at the Digital Haryana Summit that will be held on 15 September. The announcement of launch will be made in the summit which is scheduled to be held on September 15 in Gurgaon. The government had earlier planned to launch the policy in 2015, and then later in 2016. But on both occasions, it suffered unparalleled delays. Haryana’s startup policy will be an attempt to make it easier for entrepreneurs to launch and run businesses in the state.
Z Nation Lab, a Silicon Valley and Mumbai based accelerator has partnered with Unlimit – powered by Reliance. This comes at a time when the outlook for IoT services and products in India and elsewhere are projected to rise from 200 million dollars to 3 billion dollars by 2020. Together, they will identify and nurture startups in targeted markets and technologies relevant to Reliance’s businesses; engage meaningfully with startups for pilot projects, investments or strategic partnerships.
Unlimit falls under the Reliance group of industries and is solely dedicated to providing Internet of Things (IoT) services to enterprise customers throughout India.
A recent World Economic Forum (WEF) report has taken everyone in the financial services sector by surprise. According to the report, ‘Beyond Fintech: A Pragmatic Assessment of Disruptive Potential in Financial Services‘, as against the common belief that the fintech sector is going to be the endgame for banks, it is the technology giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google that pose a bigger threat to the longevity of banks and their services.
The report claims that these technology big weights are slowly but steadily hollowing out the value proposition of the financial institutions by carrying out more and more of their core functions, even as banks and insurers are really working hard to outdo them.
Paytm’s e-commerce arm, Paytm Mall is eyeing to invest $35 million in technology and infrastructure. Not only this, the firm further plans to shorten its delivery timelines. Paytm Mall plans to achieve this by servicing demand with local suppliers to provide same-day and next-day deliveries in categories such as electronics and appliances across 25 cities. The move comes after the e-commerce platform recently delisted 50 percent logistics partners and 30 courier aggregation centers to restructure their logistics network.
IIIT-H Signs MoU With MANAGE To Encourage Indian Agritech Industry
IIIT-Hyderabad and National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) have recently joined hands and signed an MOU which aims to set up an Agritech startup accelerator programme. IIIT-Hyderabad and MANAGE’s Agritech Startup Accelerator Programme will be identifying, supporting and facilitating idea-stage enterprises making use of innovation and technology to solve agriculture related problems being encountered in the Indian subcontinent.
MANAGE is hoping that its MOU with IIIT-Hyderabad will help make a significant impact on farmers’ lives, entrepreneurs, and agri-startups in India.
Now Failed Indian Startups Can Exit in 3 Months, Here’s How
In the latest development, to encourage startups, the government is considering the further reduction in taxation for startups and a three months exit procedure for those ventures who have failed to take off.
Taking the podium at the India international MSME and Startup Expo 2017, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of Development for North-eastern state and Minister of State for Prime Minister Office Personnel revealed that the Indian central government is contemplating a new tax holiday, a temporary reduction or elimination of tax for new ventures with a three months exit window.
Currently, Inter-Ministerial Board (IMB) certified startups in the country are allowed a three-year tax exemption within the first seven years of their existence. The Union Budget for 2017-18 had allowed eligible startups to make use of their three-year tax holiday in a period of seven years instead of five years.
NITI Aayog Calls for Applications for Atal Innovation Mission ‘Mentor India’
The government of India’s flagship program to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is inviting applications for ‘Mentor India’. Mentor India is a strategic nation building initiative to engage leaders who can guide and mentor schools students in 900+ Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) established by AIM in schools across India.
Through Mentor India, AIM is looking to engage leaders who can dedicate 1 – 2 hours every week in one or more such labs and enable school students to experience, learn and practice future skills such as design and computational thinking. AIM is looking for corporates/professionals/academicians/students etc. who are keen to contribute to this strategic nation building initiative. ATLs are dedicated works spaces where students (from Class 6th to Class 12th) learn innovation skills and develop ideas that will go on to transform India.
Ola, Google Join Hands To Introduce ‘Outstation’ Cabs To Maps
India’s homegrown ride-hailing app Ola has joined hands with tech giant Google for its ‘outstation’ category. The new partnership will allow people using the services of Ola for their outstation journeys to easily find and book their inter-city rides facilitated by Google maps, which is considered as one of the best web mapping service that there is today.
Not only this, the Ola Outstation category will initially enable outstation bookings from 23 cities to over 215 one-way routes in the Indian subcontinent. This will then be extended to a total of 500 routes in the coming weeks.
Eight Startups Are Selected By IIMB For Its Non-Profit Incubator Programme
IIM Bangalore’s NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) has shortlisted eight early-stage non-profits startups for its 18-month incubation programme. All the selected eight startups are working on solving some of the toughest education and skills challenges that poor communities in the country are facing.
The programme is an inclusive part of India’s first-ever, nonprofit startup incubator supported by the famous Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Some of the selected entrepreneurs are graduates of leading global institutions like Harvard Business School, IITs, and IIMs etc.
Startup Policy To Be Launch By Haryana On September 15
Haryana is all set to announce the launch of its startup policy at the Digital Haryana Summit that will be held on 15 September. The announcement of launch will be made in the summit which is scheduled to be held on September 15 in Gurgaon. The government had earlier planned to launch the policy in 2015, and then later in 2016. But on both occasions, it suffered unparalleled delays. Haryana’s startup policy will be an attempt to make it easier for entrepreneurs to launch and run businesses in the state.
Reliance Powered Unlimit Partners With Z Nation Lab To Search Next IoT Disruption
Z Nation Lab, a Silicon Valley and Mumbai based accelerator has partnered with Unlimit – powered by Reliance. This comes at a time when the outlook for IoT services and products in India and elsewhere are projected to rise from 200 million dollars to 3 billion dollars by 2020. Together, they will identify and nurture startups in targeted markets and technologies relevant to Reliance’s businesses; engage meaningfully with startups for pilot projects, investments or strategic partnerships.
Unlimit falls under the Reliance group of industries and is solely dedicated to providing Internet of Things (IoT) services to enterprise customers throughout India.
"Facebook, Amazon And Google Are Bigger Threat To Banks Than Fintech Startups’’
A recent World Economic Forum (WEF) report has taken everyone in the financial services sector by surprise. According to the report, ‘Beyond Fintech: A Pragmatic Assessment of Disruptive Potential in Financial Services‘, as against the common belief that the fintech sector is going to be the endgame for banks, it is the technology giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google that pose a bigger threat to the longevity of banks and their services.
The report claims that these technology big weights are slowly but steadily hollowing out the value proposition of the financial institutions by carrying out more and more of their core functions, even as banks and insurers are really working hard to outdo them.
Paytm Mall To Invest $35 Mn In Its Tech And Logistics Biz
Paytm’s e-commerce arm, Paytm Mall is eyeing to invest $35 million in technology and infrastructure. Not only this, the firm further plans to shorten its delivery timelines. Paytm Mall plans to achieve this by servicing demand with local suppliers to provide same-day and next-day deliveries in categories such as electronics and appliances across 25 cities. The move comes after the e-commerce platform recently delisted 50 percent logistics partners and 30 courier aggregation centers to restructure their logistics network.
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