Ranchi Startup Ayena Innovation Gets Rs. 6 Cr from JSW Steel Subsidiary for 31% Stake

Early last week, JSW Steel Coated Products (JSWSCPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of JSW Steel, announced that it reached an agreement to buy a 31% ownership in Ayena Innovation, a Ranchi, Bihar based startup that operates in the home furnishings and décor industry, for a cash payment of INR 59.9 crores.

The investment in Ayena Innovation will allow JSWSCPL to further broaden its customer portfolio mix and strengthen its position in the retail industry. In a statement provided to stock markets on Tuesday, the business stated that the indicative time frame for the conclusion of the transaction was 45 days from the date the agreements were executed.

Founded in 2020, Ayena is a startup registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade that develops, manufactures, and sell quick-to-install modular solutions such as modular kitchens.

About JSW Steel, headquartered in Mumbai JSW Steel became India's second-largest private-sector steel company after the merger of ISPAT Steel and Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Limited.

Founded in 2013, JSWSCPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of JSW Steel. It claims to be the country's largest manufacturer and exporter of colour-coated steel products, and a wholly owned subsidiary of JSW Steel, according to the company's website.

Bihar-based Online Meat Delivery Brand Freshsharp Raises $125K in Seed Fund from Ok Acquired, Others

Majaz Hassan, CEO & founder, Freshsharp

Current Round Funds take Valuation at USD 1 Million

Freshsharp, a Patna, Bihar-based start-up that sells fresh meat, seafood and other fresh animal protein online has raised seed fund of $125k through equity from lead investor Ok Acquired (lending partners by a corporate lending financial services company), and angel Investor Syed Akbar Raza Ahmed & Hussain Ahmad.

With this new round of seed funding the current valuation of Freshsharp now stands at $1 million. The brand aims to utilize the fresh funds for financial and technological assistance to elevate their businesses and enhance growth.

Founded by 22 year old founder in December 2020 Freshsharp Private Limited strengthens the traditional businesses and started expanding in 2022 in Bihar and West Bengal. Currently, Majaz Hassan is pursuing his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Engineering & Management, Kolkata.

On securing the fund, Majaz Hassan, CEO & founder, said, “Freshsharp constantly strives to enable the best of its services through Supply chain, technology, and services for the betterment of farmer communities, and traditional businesses. We will use the funds raised to strengthen our ecosystem to meet the necessities of small and traditional vendors, dealers/distributors, farmer communities, processors and retailers. This will further boost disbursements, given the various opportunities that we have at present. We are very humble and thankful to our investors for their trust and are grateful to them for their unstinting backing during our growth phase.”

(L-R) Majaz Hassan, CEO & founder, Freshsharp and Shubham bhagat Business development manager

 
Majaz Added, We are also dealing with the B2B segment, and have done numerous partnerships with restaurants, hotels, cloud kitchen, and institutions.

Commenting on the investment, Sujit Jha, Managing Director & CEO - Ok Acquired affirmed “We are delighted to support Freshsharp in its growth journey of empowering small businesses in the meat value chain. Freshsharp plays a significant role in providing new market avenues as well as payment assurance to the suppliers in the meat ecosystem. Their platform provides strength to the local ecosystem players helping them to grow the business without affecting their margins thus creating a positive impact. We look forward to continuing our participation along their journey.”

“Due to Freshsharp’s focus on quality and strong execution, its successfully creates a habituated and loyal customer base. We believe under the leadership of Majaz, Freshsharp is best positioned to serve the fresh meat and seafood needs of India, and our aim is to leverage the farmers along with delivering the quality product to customers." Said Hussain Ahmed (Angel Investor).

“We are very excited to partner with Majaz Hassan, and the team at Freshsharp as they take their brand to national markets and continue to grow in the domestic market. Our
the investment fits very well with Freshsharp and backing solid founders in this space,” said Sayed Akbar Raza Ahmed (Angel Investor).

Freshsharp was founded by MajazHasaan in 2020. Since its launch, it claims to witnessed 200% growth and has served consumers across Darbhanga, Patna and Kolkata. The start-up has built a supply chain network across several Indian cities to be able to procure meat and seafood, keep them fresh and deliver them within hours of the order. It’s among a group of growing startups that is disrupting the meat and seafood category, an area that has largely been unorganized and underserved.

Freshsharp is backed by a strong team from supply chain to technology, which comprises Shubham Bhagat, Mohammad Amanullah and others.

IAN Leads $700k Round in Grid, a No-code Data and Operations Management Platform

• The Ranchi-based company intends to utilize the capital to expand its sales and marketing efforts across the target markets and to deepen the product suite
• Grid to focus on strengthening its leadership bench and on-board partners with operational expertise to expand its footprint in its key markets

Grid, a no-code data and operations management platform, has raised $700K in a funding round led by Indian Angel Network (IAN). The lead investors for the round are Mr. Jaideep Mehta, Mr. KRS Jamwal, Mr. Pramod Jajoo, and Mr. Shalil Gupta. The company intends to primarily utilize the freshly infused capital to expand its sales and marketing efforts across the target markets and strengthen its product suite. The Ranchi-based company will focus on bringing in the right talent as it scales up, both within the company as well as its partner ecosystem.

Grid Co-founders Shaurya Poddar, Shreyansh Jain, Udit Poddar and Aayush Agrawal

Incepted with a vision to bring the best data management practices from leading tech companies to traditional ones in 2017, Grid (Pragyaam Data Technologies) launched its first beta version and pivoted to a SaaS model in early 2021. Aayush Agrawal, Udit Poddar, Shreyansh Jain, and Shaurya Poddar started Grid as a data services company. However, they soon realized a need for a platform to assist mining, manufacturing, and public infrastructure companies in going digital using the mobile-first no-code apps.

The SaaS revolution has been influential in bringing a change for companies across the globe. However, most products are directed towards technology, sales, and service or accounting and finance teams and not towards core operations. Further, traditional asset-heavy industries have largely been under-served. With its offerings, the no-code B2B SaaS platform is driving efficiency in these industries that are at the centre of a sustainable future.

Interestingly, promoters of its several customers also invested in this round. It is a testimony of the value that Grid has delivered to their businesses and bodes well for the future.

Speaking about the funding, Udit Poddar, CEO & Co-Founder, Grid, said, “Most of these asset-heavy industries constantly generate operational data which can drive efficiency. The lack of easy-to-use and adapted tools has been a key deterrent for them to be digitized. With increasing commodity costs, companies are getting more data-centric to increase the efficiency of their operations. Starting as a no-code operations management platform, we envision Grid as the essential operational layer that brings together people and device data to create ESG-focused operations. We are delighted with this partnership and aim to use it to expand our operations further.”

Jaideep Mehta, Lead Investor at IAN said: "We are excited to partner with the Founders at Grid. They have demonstrated the ability to build a high performance business in under-served sectors such as mining and infrastructure, while at the same time developing easy-to-use technology that provides rapid ROI to their customers. With current success stories at both Indian and overseas customers, we are confident that Udit and team will build a truly global business in the years to come, and the IAN investment group will be partnering with them all the way".

Grid plans to launch the first marketplace for apps for operations management built in collaboration with industry experts in the second quarter. Operating across different markets, the company further wants to expand its international footprint in the FY2022-23 and the consecutive financial year. In 2020, the platform received a seed funding of $150,000 from Singapore-based VC Startup-O Ventures.

Indian Angel Network is India’s first and world’s largest business angel network with close to 500 members across the world, comprising the who’s who of successful entrepreneurs and dynamic CEOs. With investors from 12 countries, IAN’s presence spans 7 locations, which includes cities in India and the UK. The network is sector agnostic and has funded start-ups across 19 sectors in India and 7 other countries growing global footprint companies. With an excellent track record, IAN has been giving excellent cash exits year-on-year to its investor members, for the last 12 years. Some of its marquee investee companies include Druva, Spinny, Box8, Uniphore, WOW Momos, Consure, Fareye, NOCCARC, Propelld, Skit.ai amongst many others.

IAN Fund, an INR 375 crore VC fund is a uniquely differentiated seed/early stage Fund that aims to transform India’s entrepreneurial landscape. The fund invests in innovative companies in sectors including healthcare and medical devices, VR, AI, software as a service, marketplaces, fin-tech, big data, artificial intelligence, agritech, and hardware.

With this, IAN has created the single largest platform for seed and early-stage investing, enabling entrepreneurs to raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores.

Bihar's Traditional Super Food Startup Sattuz gets Funding from Indian Angel Network fund

Highlighting its commitment to driving start-up activities beyond the tier-1 and metropolitan regions in India, Indian Angel Network, the largest horizontal seed-stage platform in India, has recently invested in Sattuz. Under the aegis of Gorural Foods & Beverages, the Bihar-based brand is facilitating improved access to the goodness of foods and beverages of rural India for the global consumer base comprising new-age, health-conscious individuals. Prominent IAN investors Hari Balasubramanian and Vikas Kuthiala led the funding round and will join the company board at Sattuz post investment.

Incorporated on February 28, 2019, Gorural Foods & Beverages was founded by Sachin Kumar. Richa Kumari lends key support to the company in her role as its co-founder. The company was founded with the vision of providing a tasty and healthy alternative to carbonated and caffeinated beverages currently flooding the market. On account of the limited supply of such products and the growing health awareness, the demand for non-carbonated and non-caffeinated drinks has seen a great rise over the years the world over.

“People today – especially the younger generation – are very selective regarding what they eat and drink and how it will affect their health. Naturally, they realize the value of consuming non-carbonated and non-caffeinated beverages as part of a healthy diet,” Sachin Kumar, Founder, Sattuz commented. “But the problem is that such products have very limited availability, especially in India. And add to it the challenges faced by people with fast-paced or travel-centric lifestyles who seek healthy food on the fly. Through Sattuz, we aim to fill this void exactly. Not only do the drinks under this brand offer instant energy and nutritious boost to consumers but also give them a dollop of the natural goodness of rural food and beverages! The best part is, it comes in different flavors and requires no refrigeration.”

Non-alcoholic beverage industry currently stands at over INR 200,000 crore and Sattuz – on the back of its nutritional benefits and ease of transportation – is well-placed to disrupt this high-value market. The company is targeting to capture 1-2% of market share over the next 5 years.

Speaking on the investment, Hari Balasubramanian – Lead Investor, IAN said, “Sattu is amongst one of India’s ancient superfoods . We strongly endorse the vision of the founding team that a global FMCG brand can be created out of this ancient instant food if it is adapted for modern life styles. We are also pleased to see a decent number of innovative entrepreneurs from states like Bihar and appreciate the efforts of the Bihar Industries Association in incubating entrepreneurs from the state in partnership with Indian Angel Network . The Indian consumer is always looking for new and healthy non-alcoholic beverages with distinct taste and Sattuz comes as a unique option for beverage lovers not just domestically but also across the world. We hope state governments like Bihar where people consume Sattu also start recognising and supporting startups which are looking to build FMCG brands from traditional Indian food items. We have complete faith in the disruptive potential of this venture and are looking forward to an exciting journey ahead.

“We are thankful to IAN for recognizing the value of our venture. We will leverage the capital infusion to scale up our production, strengthen our team, and expand our commercial footprint,” Sachin added.

In addition to pioneering the burgeoning rural entrepreneurial landscape in the country, Gorural Foods & Beverages is also the first start-up from Bihar which has received investment from from IAN and some members of BIA (Bihar Industries Association). This investment furthers IAN’s commitment towards facilitating a commercial pathway to entrepreneurs from tier-2 and tier-3 cities in India which falls in line with its overarching goal of enabling the Indian start-up ecosystem.

Indian Angel Network, a pioneer in the seed and early-stage investing, has launched a ₹450 Crores VC fund making it now, the single largest platform for seed & early stage, where entrepreneurs can raise from Rs. 25 lakhs to Rs. 50 crores (with co-investors), thus making IAN the platform of choice!

BIADA To Offer Co-Working Space For Startups In Bihar

The Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) will provide common office space or say co-working space to startup firms at Pataliputra Industrial Estate and Udyog Bhawan in Patna.

The land was being identified at Pataliputra estate for the purpose on which co-working space will be developed and will also have provide high-speed internet services and other facilities to startups for research and other related functions.

Besides this, 600sqft of space on the ground floor of Udyog Bhawan, Patna has also been identified, which will be developed as an entrepreneurship lab.

Speaking at a review meeting on incubation centres and startups at Udyog Bhawan on Friday, BIADA's managing director R S Srivastava said, "Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna has developed a short-term course on entrepreneurship, which will be taught to budding entrepreneurs. The State-Level Bankers Committee has also been requested to help startups secure loans from banks."

The development was first reported in TOI.

Last year Bihar had already approved its Start Up Policy to support industries and young entrepreneurs in the state. Later in the same year, it received 30 startup proposals and also launched a website -- BiharStartupYatra.com -- for inviting people interested in setting up ventures with government support in the state.

Notably, in a states' ranking for ease of doing business released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Govt of India, in June 2016 Bihar acquired the first position.

Bihar To Come Up With New IT Policy

The current scenario is all about technology, digitization, the internet etc. And in such scenario, how can state like Bihar can lack behind. According to the ETtech report, Bihar is planning to come up with a new IT policy. This new policy will focus on promoting technology-oriented companies to set up a base and invest in the state’s technology and electronics manufacturing sector.

According to Rahul Singh, Bihar’s IT secretary the policy will have more benefits than the current sops offered to companies and will make the investment environment more conducive.

Work on the new policy has been going on for the past couple of months and the draft should be ready by the end of this month and that the policy is expected to be finalised by September.

Singh further stated that Bihar government is working on the draft of the information technology, IT-enabled services (ITeS) and electronics manufacturing investment policy strategy. He informed further that Bihar is undertaking a huge outreach effort to familiarise itself and the companies about the state’s potential.

“We are trying to understand what the industry is looking for in terms of help with incentives, clearances or support,” Singh told ETtech.

Recently at a consultation organised by the state’s IT department in association with industry body CII, Singh met around 35 senior industry members including senior executives from companies such as TCS, IBM, Cisco, HP India, Tech Mahindra, Softage, Tejas Networks etc.

Bihar Govt. Approves Start-up Policy For Entrepreneurs

In a move to promote entrepreneurship in the state, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar gave approval to the Start Up Policy, 2016 at a cabinet meeting. The Start Up Policy will support industries and young entrepreneurs in the state mainly. It will also encourage startups to start new ventures. Before this, Chief Minister had promised a dedicated policy for the entrepreneurs at the Bihar Entrepreneurship Summit in March 2015.

Industries Department Principal Secretary S Siddhartha shared that the startup policy would cater to the needs of emerging entrepreneurs and makes Bihar a promising destination for startup in India. Industries which are having a turnover of less than Rs 25 crore and not more than 5 years old would be eligible to avail the benefits of this policy. The Start Up venture capital of Rs 5,000 crore formed part of the CM’s ‘seven resolves’, which the grand secular alliance government has adopted as policy of governance for the next five years. In addition, 22% of the Rs 5, 000 crore venture funds under the policy has been reserved for scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) entrepreneurs.

To implement this policy successfully, an independent trust would be formed. The trust members will work to find out whether a particular company fits to avail the fund facility under this policy or not. The trust would also provide necessary guidance to the entrepreneurs. As of now, Development Commissioner would be the Chairman and Industries Department Principal Secretary the Member Secretary of the trust.

Moreover, the state government would also provide resources like working space, internet facility and many other things to startups for free for three years. The government would also provide grant-in-aid up to Rs 10 lakh in the beginning, depending on the concept and market value of the startup. Apart from this, 2% cost incurred by the startup on formulating and promoting the new concept, would also be borne by the government. The government would also provide 2% of the total cost incurred during fund-raising. If an entrepreneur manages to raise funds from other sources, the government would provide equal amount to the entrepreneur.

Earlier this month, Karnataka approved new startup policy with an aim to nurture 26,000 startups in the state. Jharkhand and its adjoining state of UP had already came up with their respective startup policy, in April this year.

In total, their are about 7 states with their own startup policies.

[Top Image - Shutterstock]

Ease of doing business: Bihar beats Gujarat to top chart in DIPP's real-time ranking

While Bihar might be facing some heat currently due to the faux-pas its education system has recently created, but here's some news which can surely cheer up the state.

A recently released ranking by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), has Nitish Kumar-led Bihar taking the lead over all the states and union territories in the country when it comes to steps taken to improve the ease of doing business on their land.

The ranking which saw Bihar emerge at the top, was carried out on real-time basis by the DIPP on business reforms and action plans.

While Bihar acquired the first position, it was followed by Telangana for second, Jharkhand for third and Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka for fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

According to industry experts, these rankings are dynamic in nature and might change time to time based on the various business focused initiatives the state and union territories initiate.

In what could be considered as a very encouraging news for the Eastern state, Bihar had finished at a disappointing 21st position in the final rankings of last year, but it certainly bounced back this year by finishing first with a score of 8.53%.

Commenting on the dynamic nature of the rankings, the DIPP said, it is currently in the midst of uploading and validating reforms by states, hence, and the "results and rankings displayed on this are highly dynamic".

In order to provide for a friendly but competitive business environment in the country, the now 2 years old Modi government had come up with an idea to start ranking the states on the basis of their business-friendly initiatives.

The World Bank had recently ranked Gujarat on the top among states, on the ease of doing business index but, quite surprisingly, the state has acquired a mediocre sixth position on the list calculated on real-time basis.

The commerce and industry ministry is reviewing the states on real time basis this year, making the rankings dynamic. Further, as against 91 last year, the evaluation is being carried on 340 parameters this year.

The 15 of this month i.e. June 15 is the deadline set for the States and union territories to upload the status of all their completed reforms. After that is done, the DIPP along with the help from the World Bank will release the final rankings.

According to a tweet by DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek, "States are in process of uploading ease of doing biz reforms done by them on DIPP portal. Ranking to happen only in July after validation".

As of now, only 16 states have locked in their details about reform measures initiated by them on the DIPP-managed portal.

eMithilaHaat Channelizing The Dying Art of Mithila Art

Mithila, a small town is Bihar is very famous for its Mithila Paintings. A lot of artists in Mithila have Padmashree in their names for the work they have done, but still live pitiable situations. Ankit Jha was born and bought up in that village. He studied computer science engineer from Belgaum but quit his software engineer job at an IT company to help improve the conditions of these artists. This was the start of eMithilaHaat project. eMithilaHaat stands for an online market of Mithila.

The company was registered in Darbhanga in Dec 2013 and it started its operations on Feb this year from Bangalore. For the initial months, Gurmeet Singh Ahuja, Jitendra Kishore Jha and Ankit Jha used to figure out ways to make eMithilaHaath visible to their niche market. Their artists follow Geographical Indication norms, which this art is famous for. (Read more about GI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indication )

[caption id="attachment_97235" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Team eMithilaHaat.com - Ankit, Anku and Ankita[/caption]

"I knew a lot of people who used to paint, but realized the importance of this art late in 2013. I came to know that these artists have bagged number of prestigious awards like Padmashree, Bihar Ratna, Guru Shreshta Shilpa, National Awards etc. Japan has a museum dedicated to this art. A number of documentary movies has been done on this subject. Even after all of these interesting facts, the artists were unable to find market and thus failing to sell their artwork,” says Ankit. Ankit took this up as a challenge and decided to provide an opportunity to the artists to reach a broader market and keep the style of painting alive in its original form.

The team comprises of 7 people, including 2 interns and one fashion designer. The paintings they sell has a certificate of genuineness making them different from other players of the market. “Our main aim is not to sell these arts and make lot of money out of it. Our focus is to take this art to a level it deserves,” says Jitendra, who is also Ankit’s father and mentor. They are currently selling only paintings but plan to expand to apparel ranges and home decors soon. The company is bootstrapped with the savings of the founders.

eMithilaHaat company is not currently partnering with other organizations but are looking for like-minded people and organizations who can help them take this art to an international level. As a message for future entrepreneurs, Ankit says, "Follow your dreams. No matter how crazy those dreams are. If you have dared to see that dream then you have ability to get them in reality. Don’t bother about the noise which you will surely come across if you are following your dreams. Don’t quit."

The vision of taking the Mithila Art to global level and helping the artist’s gain a respectful lifestyle is what keeps the founders awake. Join hands with them and promote the art!

Bihar Startups to Rejoice - STPI To Set Up New Incubation Facility In Patna Worth 10 Crore

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is all set to set up a brand new incubation facility in Patna with an investment of whopping ten Crores in order to meet the needs of the Information Technology industry and promote young entrepreneurs.

According to the plan, the new incubation facility can be expected to be operational within eighteen months. The facility will result in the creation of indirect and direct employment in Patna region.

The foundation stone of the new incubation facility was laid down by the IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on November 8^th, 2014.

According to a statement released by STPI, an organization under the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, the organization has been bestowed upon the duty to set up the new incubation facility that will cater to the needs of young entrepreneurs and their startups. The new facility will reportedly be 8,000 sq ft in size and require an investment of ten crores.

The incubation facility will also double up as a resource centre for IT/ITeS exporting units. It will offer them infrastructural facilities like high speed data communication with uninterrupted data connectivity and other things required for the export and development of software and services.

The facility will also be put in use for one of the programmes under the PM’s Digital India initiative, which involves indigenous production of software and IT hardware for exports and supports software product based startups.

The Software Technology Parks of India was set up in 1991 by the Ministry of Communications and IT in order to promote IT/ITeS exports from the country.  Exports by STP units have seen a tremendous growth from a mere Rs. 52 crore in the year 1992-93 to a whopping Rs. 2.73 lakh crore in 2013-14. Out of the total 53 STP centres in the country, 46 are located in tier-II and tier-III locations.

The Patna facility was established by STPI long back in 2008. The STPI has created 11,500 sq ft of hi-tech space in three acres of campus at Pataliputra Industrial area.  In the year 2013-14, the cumulative exports of the region stood at Rs 35 crore, while the software exports stood at Rs. 10 crore.

Bihar Startups to Rejoice - STPI To Set Up New Incubation Facility In Patna Worth 10 Crore

Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is all set to set up a brand new incubation facility in Patna with an investment of whopping ten Crores in order to meet the needs of the Information Technology industry and promote young entrepreneurs.

According to the plan, the new incubation facility can be expected to be operational within eighteen months. The facility will result in the creation of indirect and direct employment in Patna region.

The foundation stone of the new incubation facility was laid down by the IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on November 8^th, 2014.

According to a statement released by STPI, an organization under the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, the organization has been bestowed upon the duty to set up the new incubation facility that will cater to the needs of young entrepreneurs and their startups. The new facility will reportedly be 8,000 sq ft in size and require an investment of ten crores.

The incubation facility will also double up as a resource centre for IT/ITeS exporting units. It will offer them infrastructural facilities like high speed data communication with uninterrupted data connectivity and other things required for the export and development of software and services.

The facility will also be put in use for one of the programmes under the PM’s Digital India initiative, which involves indigenous production of software and IT hardware for exports and supports software product based startups.

The Software Technology Parks of India was set up in 1991 by the Ministry of Communications and IT in order to promote IT/ITeS exports from the country.  Exports by STP units have seen a tremendous growth from a mere Rs. 52 crore in the year 1992-93 to a whopping Rs. 2.73 lakh crore in 2013-14. Out of the total 53 STP centres in the country, 46 are located in tier-II and tier-III locations.

The Patna facility was established by STPI long back in 2008. The STPI has created 11,500 sq ft of hi-tech space in three acres of campus at Pataliputra Industrial area.  In the year 2013-14, the cumulative exports of the region stood at Rs 35 crore, while the software exports stood at Rs. 10 crore.