Crowdfunding Platform Kickstarter Launches in India

Kickstarter, one of the largest crowdfunding platform in the world is entering India in association with Amazon Launchpad and HAX. Together, the three global entities will launch Startup C-Cube, a multi-level challenge for Indian start-ups that flags off in Bangalore on the 5th of December 2017.

HAX is a hardware accelerator that invests in select startups in their early stages and provides guidance and resources in exchange for equity. Kickstarter is a platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their products and start a crowdfunding program. Amazon Launchpad is a global program that curates, showcases and delivers all kinds of products from startups to Amazon customers.

The Startup C-Cube challenge will be officially flagged off by Amazon Launchpad, HAX and Kickstarter at an event in Bangalore on the 5th of December. This will also mark Amazon Launchpad’s one year anniversary in the Indian market. The winning start-up will be supported by the three companies through the entire “concept-to-customer” journey and the joint program will also provide resources to the winner for launch, both in India and in Europe/US, depending on the scalability of the idea.

Manish Tiwary, VP of Category Management at Amazon India said, "Business growth of some of the start-ups on Amazon Launchpad has elicited interest in these start-ups from VCs as well as other funding agencies in the last one year.

"We are very happy to bring Kickstarter and HAX to India to give Indian start-ups an opportunity to get their ideas noticed at the global stage and arm them with resources to convert these into real business opportunities", he added.

Gurgaon Based Startup DAZL Gets Backing From Silicon Valley Accelerator HAX

Women’s Safety startup DAZL has been selected to participate in HAX Growth, an eight-week bootcamp for hardware startups based in San Francisco, reports VCCircle.

As part of the programme, SOS Ventures, which runs the accelerator programme, will pick a minority stake in the startup and will offer DAZL services worth $100k.

Acceptance rates at HAX run below 5% for Startups with a ready product. This Program is the best-in-class hardware accelerator focused on launching hardware startups. It provides hands-on help, a crystal-clear launch, sales and distribution strategy, access to potential customers, and life-long mentor relationships. The B2C teams meet with national big box retailers, such as Target and Best Buy, for potential product placement deals across their nationwide stores.

[caption id="attachment_120555" align="aligncenter" width="700"] (Left) Aditi Chadha, Founder, DAZL at HAX; (Right) Anuj Sharma, Electronics Lead and Head of Operations, DAZL[/caption]

HAX has previously selected two startups from India for its programme. In October 2016, it invested $100k in Bengaluru-based Ray IoT, a non-contact baby monitoring technology solutions company, and it selected Mumbai-based health-tech startup Diabeto for its bootcamp in San Francisco.

Founded in 2015 by the daughter-mother duo Aditi Chadha, and Anu Chadha, DAZL builds connected devices for women’s safety. It’s wearable technology and IoT safety solution works with a connected smartphone over a range of 100 feet. It is easy to use. Users in an emergency can trigger an SOS alert by pressing a button, which then emits a very loud sound. Talking about its battery life, the hardware solution has a battery life that lasts over 45 days on a single charge (standby time).With the help of

With the help of the device, one can get important notifications on their jewellery without constantly reaching for their phone, emails, texts, calls, calendar alerts, health and wellness reminders.

One can either wear it on a necklace, blouse, belt, key chain or attach it to their purse, it's up to users how to carry it. Besides the safety features, it allows users locate their misplaced devices through the mobile app.

Earlier in March 2017, DAZL secured seed funding from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Previously, the company had won the ‘Vodafone Startup Award’ and received seed funding from Vodafone in August 2016.

Owned and operated by MyKavach Wearable Technology Pvt. Ltd., DAZL is exploring both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) approaches. On the B2B front, DAZL will tie up with jewellery manufacturers as tech partners to make their products smart by incorporating its wearable technology in them, while as a B2C player, it will sell its smart wearables like keychains directly to customers online, reports VCCircle.