‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات Anand Mahindra. إظهار كافة الرسائل
‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات Anand Mahindra. إظهار كافة الرسائل

Chennai-based AhaGuru Raises Funding Led by Anand Mahindra's Family Office

AhaGuru Founders Gomathi Shanmugasudaram and Balaji Sampath


AhaGuru, a pioneer in online learning, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series A round led by an investment firm managed by Mr. Anand Mahindra's family office. The funds will be used to develop new technology features and online courses for high school students and increase its student base across the country as well as in the Middle East. The funds will also help the company expand its team of expert teachers and mentors. 

AhaGuru was founded by Dr. Balaji Sampath and Ms. Gomathi Shanmugasundaram to research and develop solutions to the learning quality problem. AhaGuru’s research into learning gaps has helped it develop unique techniques to greatly improve concept understanding and problem-solving abilities of students. These special techniques in turn leads to AhaGuru students excelling both in competitive exams and school boards. For example, AhaGuru student, Muhender Raj, secured All India Rank 4 in IIT JEE (Advanced) and 100% (percentile) in JEE (Mains) that were conducted last month. Another AhaGuru student, Jay Murekar, ranked TN State First in JEE. Even more impressive than their long list of toppers is the overall performance of AhaGuru students. And while the coaching industry average is less than 20% students clearing JEE, over 75% of AhaGuru students cleared JEE and over 95% cleared NEET in 2020.

This focus on learning quality has helped AhaGuru grow organically in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata and the investment from Mr. Anand Mahindra’s family office will help it scale to many more students across more geographies.

Mr. Anand Mahindra says, “AhaGuru stands for making learning easier and understandable by deploying well researched techniques. Their sharp focus on enhancing the quality of teaching Science and Math can help students grasp fundamentals more effectively. I am hopeful that AhaGuru will help Indian students build curiosity and a scientific temper.”

“This funding enables us to launch new courses to help students with their school and board exams. We are also working on several new technology features to make the student learning experience richer. We are investing in Artificial Intelligence to personalize the learning experience for each student. Our predictive learning model, identifies student learning patterns and suggests enhancements that improves success rate of students,” says Dr. Balaji Sampath.

AhaGuru’s Live Online Classes and Recorded Video Courses has been a boon to students preparing for JEE and NEET. These comprehensive courses not only provide clearly presented lectures, but also have lots of video examples that demonstrate how to apply concepts to different problem-situations. Each lesson also includes a large number of practice questions with detailed solutions. The well-researched methodology helps students not only understand concepts deeply but also helps them easily master problem-solving. Students say that AhaGuru's courses not only builds their concepts and skills, but also gives them a huge confidence booster.

AhaGuru's online coaching which has been growing steadily over the last few years, has seen a big surge during the Covid pandemic. “The number of students enrolling for both our live online classes as well as our recorded video courses has tripled. Our teams are working overtime to ensure every student is learning well. This investment will help us get more teachers and provide personalized learning support to our students,” says Ms. Gomathi.

Unlike many other players in the EdTech space, AhaGuru does not want to dilute its focus by expanding to lots of different subjects and exams. “We focus exclusively on Science and Math education for middle and high school students. Our team is constantly researching and developing better and better ways to help students master these subjects. Our courses are quite intensive and meant for serious students willing to spend 6 to 8 hours per week for each subject,” says Dr. Sampath. It is this focus on subject mastery that sets AhaGuru apart as a premium player in the EdTech space attracting serious students who want a deep understanding of Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology.

Mahindra Plans to Roll Out Three New Electric Vehicles

Mahindra & Mahindra, which reported on Wednesday a 52.56 per cent decline in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 894.11 crore in the first quarter ended June 30 due to lower volume growth, has said it plans to roll out a range of new electric vehicles.

At the same time, chairman Anand Mahindra at the company's 73rd annual general meeting said there is a "tectonic shift" occurring in the industry and the time is ripe for that shift.

He said that the task of going all EVs is achievable and India has the potential to become a hub for these vehicles. "To come back to the joint road-map, I can see a clear and achievable goal to make India the global hub for EVs," Mahindra said.

He also said that the company is investing Rs 12,000 crore for capex over next 3 years in addition to an investment of Rs 6,000 crore in its subsidiaries over the same time. In total, M&M is investing Rs 18,000 crore over next 3 years.

Commenting on the government's EV push, Mahindra told shareholders, "Why should it come as a surprise that the government is putting all its weight behind the introduction of EVs."

The company already has the electric version of its Verito sedan and it will bring out at least three more electric four-wheelers in another two and half year, said Pawan Goenka, managing director, M&M at the announcement of the Q1 earnings.



"Its worth mentioning that our performance has been better than the performance of the industry, across all the sectors in which we operate. "In the three wheeler segment, industry de-grew 7 per cent and we only de-grew 2.4 per cent; in commercial vehicles, we were slightly better than industry (9.4 per cent vs 9.5 per cent degrowth) and in passenger vehicles, while industry de-grew 18 per cent, we de-grew less than 2 per cent," said Mahindra.

Although the industry has been facing challenges so far, we are now experiencing the full bounty of the monsoons, he said.

"This teamed with the forecast of normalisation of rain in August and September, makes me hopeful that there will be an uptick in the industry," he told shareholders. Welcoming the government's push for electric vehicles, Mahindra said,"we have a long engagement with EVs. We are fully future ready, and just waiting for the wave to rise."

On the other hand, Goenka at the results announcement said while the electric three wheelers are a 'low hanging fruit', the company will be rolling with new electric four-wheeler as well. "On the four wheeler portfolio, we only have an electric Verito now, by the end of this year, we will launch the electric KUV, followed by S210 a year later, then an E-Aspire six months after that," Goenka said. With the five percent GST reduction, the business case for EVerito becomes almost even, he said.

At present, Mahindra currently has about 1,500-2,000 e-Veritos in the market.

The industry is currently going through one of the biggest slow downs in the recent times, he said adding the retail financing is a problem because of host of issues such as liquidity, interest rates and the banks tightening norms for financing.

"This has led to non-availability of financing to some customers that is one of the reasons for degrowth to some extent in the industry," he added.



He said that the the interest rate cuts have also not been passed on and they are going to stay because of which transaction cost remains still very high, which has in turn resulted in price hike.

The overall GDP growth, the delayed monsoon, rural spending and income all factors together have led to negative sentiment, he said.

Seeking a cut in the GST rates, Goenka said the industry needs some kind of shot in the arm and therefore we will have to wait and see what the government decides to do for the auto industry.

"A 6-7 percent reduction in excise duty during the period of earlier recessions, have led the industry take-off in the past. What we need right now is to have some kind of relief in GST. Hope it comes and that will definitely help the industry to change the sentiment," Goenka said.

Noting that the fall in sales in tractors was a due to the macroeconomic factors that are affecting the industry, he projected a flat growth for the tractor industry this fiscal with a "positive bias," including monsoon, which had just 6 per cent deficit till Tuesday of the normal.

He said that in the current environment, there is a huge danger of job losses, which are happening in areas like OEMS, suppliers, dealers and unorganised sectors or typically the service sector.

He also said that as many as 260 dealerships have been closed in the last 6-9 months due to lack of affordability amid the downturn. PTI IAS

Tech Mahindra with GCAS Launches World’s 1st Artificial Intelligence Challenge to Fight Climate Change

Indian multinational IT services provider, Tech Mahindra, announced today its partnership with the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) to launch AI4Action, the first global Artificial Intelligence (AI) challenge aimed at delivering solutions for climate change.

The competition will challenge students from schools and colleges, universities and corporates in four major cities – San Francisco, New York, London and New Delhi – to come up with creative, AI-powered applications over the next year that will help to tackle climate issues impacting the environment. Tech Mahindra and GCAS will select ten finalists that can demonstrate tangible solutions for climate action. The overall winner must present an actionable idea that can be transformed into a real-world solution in time for the United Nations Climate Summit in 2019.





For more details, join #AI4Action community here - #AI4ACTION by Tech Mahindra

“This challenge mobilizes some of the brightest minds, utilizing the most advanced technology, to imagine – and pursue – solutions to the climate crisis that do not even exist today,” said Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, said, “The world has a historic opportunity to reboot future development with de-carbonised, climate compliant technologies. AI will be a powerful new tool in the fight against climate change and the more businesses that get behind this technology, the faster we can all transition to a cleaner, more energy efficient economy. Tech Mahindra’s AI4Action initiative along with the global partners is a step in the right direction.”

Tech Mahindra will supply an open source AI platform, Acumos, co-developed with AT&T and hosted by the Linux Foundation, that will allow AI4Action participants to build, share and deploy their AI-driven models for tackling climate change. Acumos will provide a collaborative marketplace for accessing, using and enhancing AI models and software. Developers and businesses will be able to use the platform to string together individual applications to create complex and sophisticated AI services.

Linux Foundation Executive Director, Jim Zemlin, said, “The potential uses for AI are limitless, and taking advantage of this rapidly advancing technology to address climate change – an issue that affects us all – is the best use case I can envision. The Linux Foundation is proud to support this important initiative. We are thrilled to see the Acumos AI project leveraged for such a positive purpose through the AI4Action challenge.”

CP Gurnani, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra, said, “At Tech Mahindra we are committed to leveraging next gen technologies like Artificial Intelligence that will enable a sustainable society and environment. Our goal with AI4Action is to leverage the latest in artificial intelligence technology to combat climate change, one of the most pressing issues of our time. We are excited to collaborate with our partners and create the first ever global ‘AI for Action’ movement.”

This announcement comes at the back of Tech Mahindra’s commitment to create a sustainable future and mitigate the impact of climate change by harnessing next gen technologies like Artificial Intelligence.

Anand Mahindra Invites Startups To Build 'Desi' Facebook Version With Blockchain Tech

Amid Facebook-Cambridge Analytica controversy, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra said that it could be the right time to find an Indian alternative of Facebook which unlike social media giant will be regulated by laws.

Billionaire businessman Mahindra took to twitter and said, "Beginning to wonder if it's time to consider having our own social networking company that is very widely owned&professionally managed&willingly regulated.Any relevant Indian start-ups out there?If any young teams have such plans I'd like to see if I can assist with seed capital (sic)"

Under the tweet, he attached the cover of the latest The Economist magazine issue on the Facebook privacy-breach controversy.




Among those who liked his idea was India's IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had last week issued a warning to Facebook. Mahindra's idea of a home-grown social networking startup has thus garnered support from IT Minister too, and it will be interesting to see the next course of action from both.




Later in his another tweet, Mahindra even announced that he is ready to “assist with seed capital” for any “relevant Indian startup”. He then asked people interested in his idea to copy their tweets to Jaspreet Bindra (@j_bindra) who will work with Mahindra on this exploration of desi version of Facebook. "If nothing else, it should be fun...", said Mahindra in second tweet in the context.

There is no information on what type of social network Mahindra would like to invest but he has shown some interest on a blockchain-enabled platform. Notably, Mahindra is also said to invest $1 million in connected car IoT-device startup Carsense for 23% stake.

In January, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he hopes for Facebook's future in marriage with blockchain-technology which could help to legitimize/globalize Facebook's credibility and decentralize the internet.

According to Forbes, for Facebook blockchain offers a unique solution to many of the industry’s deep-seated problems. By bringing together social networks and blockchain technology, it creates the possibility for a more interactive, trusted and rewarding experience on social media.

Notably, there's already a social media platforms using blockchain technology called ONZ and steemit.com, although these are not decentralized. ONZ allows people to make money doing what they do for free on Facebook, for instance - posting and liking. In addition, there is Yours (formerly Datt), based on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Just a day back, ONO launched in China, dubbed as the first blockchain-based social network in China. Ono is founded female founder, who is one of the earliest blockchain entrepreneurs in China.

Other blockchain-based social network platform include Akasha, Synereo and Obsidian. Obsidian is a blockchain-based platform for messaging, data sharing, which also supports cryptocurrency as a means of sending money.

Anand Mahindra Invites Startups To Build 'Desi' Facebook Version With Blockchain Tech

Amid Facebook-Cambridge Analytica controversy, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra said that it could be the right time to find an Indian alternative of Facebook which unlike social media giant will be regulated by laws.

Billionaire businessman Mahindra took to twitter and said, "Beginning to wonder if it's time to consider having our own social networking company that is very widely owned&professionally managed&willingly regulated.Any relevant Indian start-ups out there?If any young teams have such plans I'd like to see if I can assist with seed capital (sic)"

Under the tweet, he attached the cover of the latest The Economist magazine issue on the Facebook privacy-breach controversy.




Among those who liked his idea was India's IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had last week issued a warning to Facebook. Mahindra's idea of a home-grown social networking startup has thus garnered support from IT Minister too, and it will be interesting to see the next course of action from both.




Later in his another tweet, Mahindra even announced that he is ready to “assist with seed capital” for any “relevant Indian startup”. He then asked people interested in his idea to copy their tweets to Jaspreet Bindra (@j_bindra) who will work with Mahindra on this exploration of desi version of Facebook. "If nothing else, it should be fun...", said Mahindra in second tweet in the context.

There is no information on what type of social network Mahindra would like to invest but he has shown some interest on a blockchain-enabled platform. Notably, Mahindra is also said to invest $1 million in connected car IoT-device startup Carsense for 23% stake.

In January, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that he hopes for Facebook's future in marriage with blockchain-technology which could help to legitimize/globalize Facebook's credibility and decentralize the internet.

According to Forbes, for Facebook blockchain offers a unique solution to many of the industry’s deep-seated problems. By bringing together social networks and blockchain technology, it creates the possibility for a more interactive, trusted and rewarding experience on social media.

Notably, there's already a social media platforms using blockchain technology called ONZ and steemit.com, although these are not decentralized. ONZ allows people to make money doing what they do for free on Facebook, for instance - posting and liking. In addition, there is Yours (formerly Datt), based on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Just a day back, ONO launched in China, dubbed as the first blockchain-based social network in China. Ono is founded female founder, who is one of the earliest blockchain entrepreneurs in China.

Other blockchain-based social network platform include Akasha, Synereo and Obsidian. Obsidian is a blockchain-based platform for messaging, data sharing, which also supports cryptocurrency as a means of sending money.

Dell Foundation, Anand Mahindra Invest Rs 4 Cr In NEST Education

Naandi Education Support & Training (NEST), a technology driven, social impact focused company has secured follow-on funding of Rs 4 crore from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group.

The company plans to utilize funds to widen its outreach and achieve the goal of educating 100,000 students by FY 2022.Commenting on the development, Debasish Mitter, Country Director, Dell Foundation said, “We find the ability of NEST to aggregate content from around the world and to deliver multiple products through their centers very appealing.”

Commenting on the development, Debasish Mitter, Country Director, Dell Foundation said, “We find the ability of NEST to aggregate content from around the world and to deliver multiple products through their centers very appealing.”

NEST Education owns and operates two centers under the brand 'Alphabyte The Learning Terminal’. With a unique ‘Tech-N-Brick’ education model, Alphabyte aims to upgrade human capital across urban India. At alphabyte, technology is seamlessly used to fast track learning of each and every individual through customised learning modules that are curated from the best knowledge providers and pedagogies across the globe.

“Entrepreneurial efforts like NEST that combines technology and center-based coaching to aspiring children and youth are the best way to upgrade human capital in our country today,“ said Mahindra.

According to the company website, the team aspires to reach out to a hundred thousand children and young adults in next 5 years, helping them scale the social and economic ladder with the power of education.

In August 2017, an online platform for higher education, Leverage had raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from a bunch of prominent investors.

Earlier in July 2017, Gamified edtech startup PlayAblo had secured $600k funding led by ABI-Showatech (India) Ltd. In the same month, Thinkerbell Labs, which builds literacy devices for the visually impaired had raised an angel investment of Rs 1.3 Crore from Indian Angel Network and Anand Mahindra.

 

Auto Major Mahindra Gets Smitten By Startup Fever, Chairman Calls To foster In-House Startups

Mahindra, one of India's leading autos-to technology conglomerates, seems to have caught the startup fever.

According to a recent statement given by the group's executive chairman, Anand Mahindra, the group is looking to promote a greater startup culture within the group, and foster new, innovative businesses and ideas, which could act as compliments to its various existing products and services.

Speaking to Reuters at an investor gathering recently, Anand Mahindra said "We don't believe start-ups are the private preserve of only garage start-ups...The corporate garage is going to be the scene of a lot of action."

In September last year, Mahindra's automotive arm Mahindra & Mahindra had announced about joining hands with popular Indian ride-sharing company Ola in order to increase the sales of its cars, and also take advantage of Ola's data on drivers and rides so as to inspire and influence the company's cars designs in the future.

During the announcement event, Mahindra had also announced that the Mahindra & Mahindra and Ola partnership would also be feeding into research on autonomous driving and cars.

It is interesting to note that several of India's young and inspiring young talents have been able to successfully tap into domestic and overseas investors so as to build themselves startups like Flipkart and Snapdeal, which are now fighting it out on an equal level as global e-commerce giant Amazon.com in the Indian market. The same is the case with homegrown Ola, which is fighting it out tooth and nail with international biggie Uber Technologies.

While the talent has been here all along, it was only recently that big Indian corporations shifted their focus towards them with an aim of internally fostering innovation and startups, and avoid getting disrupted by up-start companies.

According to sources, the group will get on the startup bandwagon very soon with investments in the sector being primarily made via group's venture capital arm, Mahindra Partners, which is already a house to several startups like Smart Shift, Trringo etc.

The group has emphasised that while scouting and filtering the startups, it would be meticulously searching for products and technologies that would someway or the other prove advantageous to the group's existing companies.

Currently, the group is specially looking forward to investing in primary health care and diagnostics, as well scouting for sometime investment opportunities in the digital sphere, such as the emerging Blockchain technology.

For the unversed, Blockchain is a slowly emerging but promising technology that allows for transactions and data transfers to be completed in just a matter of a few seconds through a peer-to-peer computer network, with no dependence on a third party. The tech is being considered as a potential game changer for the banking industry, a sector that the conglomerate's IT services arm, Tech Mahindra Ltd has its eyes set on.

Anand Mahindra Invests in Digital Storytelling Platform for Women SheThePeople.TV

funding

Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group has invested into Indian digital storytelling platform for women SheThePeople.TV, founded by journalist Shaili Chopra.

Mahindra has invested in his private capacity in the video platform, which is building a much-needed digital media space and ecosystem for women achievers and is dedicated to championing and promoting their success stories.

Since its inception, SheThePeople.TV has profiled stories of nearly 10,000 inspiring women, who are entrepreneurs, authors, game-changers, sportswomen, corporate executives and more. It has been able to offer networking opportunities to over 100,000 women via conferences, meets and other events. It was an official partner for the government’s prime program for entrepreneurs Start-Up India and for the startup initiative at Make In India week in Mumbai.

Regarding his decision to support the platform, Mr Mahindra said ‘Women need a space that quenches their intellectual hunger, engages, and empowers them with relatable content. With Shaili as founder possessing a solid understanding of both conventional and digital media over 15 years, I have great confidence that SheThePeople.TV will become a focal point of inspiration for tomorrow’s women leaders.’

SheThePeople.TV is the go-to platform for women in India for inspiration, engagement, and is documenting the changing discourse on women in the country. The stories are currently offered in English and Hindi versions and driven primarily by video content. Shaili Chopra’s fifteen years of experience in television and her discerning understanding of the digital media business have together helped her build this to a critical mass within one year of its inception.

The funds will help SheThePeople with its future expansion plans as it launches new initiatives including forums, events and regional languages.

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