Get Funded at Indore's 'i5 Summit' - An Entrepreneurship Summit by IIM & IIT Indore

i5 Summit,  a two-day entrepreneurship summit is being organized by IIM & IIT Indore and will takes place at IIM Indore. As the largest entrepreneurship summit of central India, it offers a host of speaker sessions and live pitching sessions.

A celebration of entrepreneurship at its very core, i5 Summit has something to offer for everyone- whether seasoned or aspiring entrepreneurs, investors, or students.

Through panel discussions and informal networking sessions, entrepreneurs and industry experts share their experiences and insights with the attendees. Through competitions such as Get Funded and Social Entrepreneurship, participants can win funding for their startups. A startup expo will also be held in the i5 summit where there will be numerous opportunities for the attendees to bag internships.

The events that will be held this year are:

• GetFunded! – the flagship event of i5 Summit, the event provides a huge oppurtunity for budding startups to raise funding from one of the biggest investors pan India by presenting their Business Plan in front of them. The teams have to submit their business plans which will be shortlisted by an internal jury of IIM Indore faculty members. Shortlisted teams have to present their plans at the IIM Indore campus on the day of the event, and win the chance to secure funding from a distinguished panel of Venture Capitalists and angel investors.

• Keynote Speeches made by eminent guest from the industry about their respective domains

• Panel Discussions involving entrepreneurs across industries discussing the current scenario and future possibilities

• Chai Pe Charcha – the event of I5 Summit where start-ups and investors get an opportunity to interact informally in an exclusive area over tea and snacks. In this event the participating start-ups are provided a platform to connect with some of the most reputed investors of the country.

• Workshops for participants to learn from entrepreneurs.

Venue: IIM Indore
Dates: 17th and 18th August 2019

CONTACT Harshit Arya p18harshitarya@iimidr.ac.in or Phone- 9999597787

Indore-based ShopKirana Raises $2Mn from Info Edge, Japan's AET Fund and Others

Indore-headquartered B2B e-commerce startup ShopKirana has raised $2 million in funding from Info Edge, along with Japan's AET Fund, Akatsuki and Incubate Fund and Better Capital AngelList syndicate.

Post this investment, Info Edge has now acquired 15.5 percent stake in Shopkirana, on a fully converted & diluted basis.

The funds raised will be used by the startup to expand its business operations across India as the startup is aiming to launch in ten cities by next year, targeting one lakh retailers and connecting farmers with retailers.

Prior to this fundraise, ShopKirana had raised an undisclosed amount in December 2016, which was its pre-series A round led by Lead Angels, Incubate fund and senior executives from top FMCG Companies. To date, Shopkirana has raised a total of $2.1 million in funding over four rounds.

Founded in 2015 by Deepak Dhanotiya, Sumit Ghorawat, Tanutejas Saraswat, Shopkirana is connecting brands & traditional brick-and-mortar retailers with the help of technology & supply chain innovation. ShopKirana aims to build biggest & fastest Go-To-Market platform for 90% of India's retail market which is unorganised and need to get transformed quickly.

According to Sumit Ghorawat, co-founder, ShopKirana, the startup has entered the growth phase and now plans to aggressively expand pan India.

"Unlike a lot of startups, we took inspiration from the McDonalds and the 7-Elevens of the world, where they did not open 100 stores on day 1. They operated one store initially, made the order taking streamlined, recipe standardized and then scaling became easy. Now, not just the leadership but my entire team is confident in scaling the business," he said.

Speaking on the investment, Kitty Agarwal, Head-Corporate Development, Info Edge, said, "We believe that the next frontier for internet businesses will be Bharat and not India. Shopkirana is servicing small retailers and empowering them to compete with organized retail and online players. The team is outstanding and has focused well on delivering the proof of concept with promising economics. They are addressing a large problem and we look forward to working with them closely."

Tomoya Ogawa, Managing Director of AET Fund (Akatsuki Entertainment Technology Fund) and CFO of Akatsuki, said, "We're thrilled to partner up with ShopKirana. We aim to realize the delightful lifestyle change of retailers by transferring our global expertise on entertainment including gamification."

Tokyo-based AET Fund is a venture capital fund specializing in the intersection of entertainment and technology. The fund actively invests in new forms of entertainment such as streaming services, voice assist, the gamification of existing industries and spreads beyond the bounds of conventional categories such as games, music, sports, beauty and fitness.

Traditional retail is still the bigger part of the market in India, and Ghorawat said that the company was targeting a 5% market share over the next five years, which would translate into sales of $3-5 billion.

Source - Economic Times, MoneyControl

With Network of Over 34K Cities, Indore-based Golofty Aims To Disrupt India's $120 Bn Bus Ticketing Market

If you are planning a trip, what is the one task which keeps on bothering you the most? Booking a bus ticket? Standing in a long queue to book a ticket could be a trying process. And when you are living in a digital world where you can access anything anywhere by just clicking a button, in such a scenario how can travel industry lack behind.

The bus travel industry in India is unorganized and highly fragmented. According to the reports, it is a $120 billion annual turnover industry with a growth rate of 25% per year which indicates that it is growing at a rapid pace. There are around 2000 private bus operators which function with almost 20, 000 buses on point to point routes.

Sensing the opportunity to tap the untapped market various players like redBus, Yatra.com, Travelyaari, Makemytrip etc mushroomed up. Despite the online bus ticketing market being dominated by these big players, yet there is another startup which is trying to make its place in the market and that is Indore-based startup -- Golofty.

Founded in December 2016 by Aman Khurana, Golofty is a hub for all your bus booking needs.

Hailing from a business background, Aman always wanted to to do something different that leaves a trail. Obsessed with the transportation sector, Aman, after completing his graduation started bidding in various schemes of government and private tenders in transportation space. While working in the industry, he observed that people are still facing problem in booking bus ticket or hiring a bus for their family trip. And this is where Aman stumbled upon the idea of Golofty.

“I always wanted something that describes some exclusive quality which differs from all which is something related to high-rise, elevated and "Buland" that is essential in every business and so I decided the word LOFTY that describes all this in one word. For finalizing and combining it to tourism, I launched it with GoLofty,” says Aman Khurana, founder, Golofty.

Business Mockup

[caption id="attachment_116848" align="alignleft" width="317"] Aman Khurana, Founder - GoLofty[/caption]GoLofty.com is a hub for all bus booking needs covering over 75,000 routes in India. The startup claims to have more than 2500 bus operators along with the specialists constantly to help its customers avail great deals. “Our network of bus ticket bookings and bus hire spread in 3440 cities across India which are growing every day too,” informs Aman.

Having a presence on both mobile and desktop, Golofty is experiencing express checkout of 10 seconds on both the platform by making booking hassle free from its customer. Talking about how secure is the site, Founder claims that portal is also fully secured with green lock and comply with all regulations.

On asking about the response from the customers, Aman says,“The customers are really liking the simple and attractive format of our website due to the ease it provides in booking tickets. Since our inception, we have seen the significant rise in our customer base which are hailing from all major cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Indore, Aurangabad, Pune, Mumbai, Coimbatore to name few,” says Aman.

Starting with the initial investment of INR 10 -15 lacs, Golofty has achieved a massive increment in its sale in a short period of time.

What Makes Them Unique

Talking about their competitors, Aman believes that Golofty doesn't have any direct competitors. But they do have indirect competition with startups like Redbus, Yatra.com to name few.

“All the features which we have introduced are launched for the first time in its category. We expertise to offer our premium customers the power to search for group tours. If one is planning to hire a bus for any marriage purpose, corporate tour, outing or any pilgrimage purpose, Golofty is here to find it for its customers with ease. They just need to give us their details and we will get back to them with the best offers from major operators near them,” says Aman.

Another interesting thing that stands them aloof from their competitor is the advertising. Golofty has designed an advertising campaign, especially for the bus operators. According to Aman, bus operators are given the option to advertise with them through which they can list their newly launched buses and also promote their routes

Road Ahead

As Golofty continues to grow in India, Aman is already eyeing opportunities beyond online bus ticketing. In near future, Aman plans to introduce several other services like rail reservation, flight booking, cab/taxi booking, tour/holidays packages, hotel booking, mobile/DTH recharge, bill payment and domestic money transfer for its users.

Not only this, the bootstrapped startup is planning to raise its angel round to strengthen its technology and to expand its category. “I am currently looking to raise around INR 3-5 Mn to increase our market size and make people aware about are features.Our ambition is to bring every bit of available routes online and to create the easiest and cheapest way for customers to book it,” concludes Aman.

With Network of Over 34K Cities, Indore-based Golofty Aims To Disrupt India's $120 Bn Bus Ticketing Market

If you are planning a trip, what is the one task which keeps on bothering you the most? Booking a bus ticket? Standing in a long queue to book a ticket could be a trying process. And when you are living in a digital world where you can access anything anywhere by just clicking a button, in such a scenario how can travel industry lack behind.

The bus travel industry in India is unorganized and highly fragmented. According to the reports, it is a $120 billion annual turnover industry with a growth rate of 25% per year which indicates that it is growing at a rapid pace. There are around 2000 private bus operators which function with almost 20, 000 buses on point to point routes.

Sensing the opportunity to tap the untapped market various players like redBus, Yatra.com, Travelyaari, Makemytrip etc mushroomed up. Despite the online bus ticketing market being dominated by these big players, yet there is another startup which is trying to make its place in the market and that is Indore-based startup -- Golofty.

Founded in December 2016 by Aman Khurana, Golofty is a hub for all your bus booking needs.

Hailing from a business background, Aman always wanted to to do something different that leaves a trail. Obsessed with the transportation sector, Aman, after completing his graduation started bidding in various schemes of government and private tenders in transportation space. While working in the industry, he observed that people are still facing problem in booking bus ticket or hiring a bus for their family trip. And this is where Aman stumbled upon the idea of Golofty.

“I always wanted something that describes some exclusive quality which differs from all which is something related to high-rise, elevated and "Buland" that is essential in every business and so I decided the word LOFTY that describes all this in one word. For finalizing and combining it to tourism, I launched it with GoLofty,” says Aman Khurana, founder, Golofty.

Business Mockup

[caption id="attachment_116848" align="alignleft" width="317"] Aman Khurana, Founder - GoLofty[/caption]GoLofty.com is a hub for all bus booking needs covering over 75,000 routes in India. The startup claims to have more than 2500 bus operators along with the specialists constantly to help its customers avail great deals. “Our network of bus ticket bookings and bus hire spread in 3440 cities across India which are growing every day too,” informs Aman.

Having a presence on both mobile and desktop, Golofty is experiencing express checkout of 10 seconds on both the platform by making booking hassle free from its customer. Talking about how secure is the site, Founder claims that portal is also fully secured with green lock and comply with all regulations.

On asking about the response from the customers, Aman says,“The customers are really liking the simple and attractive format of our website due to the ease it provides in booking tickets. Since our inception, we have seen the significant rise in our customer base which are hailing from all major cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Indore, Aurangabad, Pune, Mumbai, Coimbatore to name few,” says Aman.

Starting with the initial investment of INR 10 -15 lacs, Golofty has achieved a massive increment in its sale in a short period of time.

What Makes Them Unique

Talking about their competitors, Aman believes that Golofty doesn't have any direct competitors. But they do have indirect competition with startups like Redbus, Yatra.com to name few.

“All the features which we have introduced are launched for the first time in its category. We expertise to offer our premium customers the power to search for group tours. If one is planning to hire a bus for any marriage purpose, corporate tour, outing or any pilgrimage purpose, Golofty is here to find it for its customers with ease. They just need to give us their details and we will get back to them with the best offers from major operators near them,” says Aman.

Another interesting thing that stands them aloof from their competitor is the advertising. Golofty has designed an advertising campaign, especially for the bus operators. According to Aman, bus operators are given the option to advertise with them through which they can list their newly launched buses and also promote their routes

Road Ahead

As Golofty continues to grow in India, Aman is already eyeing opportunities beyond online bus ticketing. In near future, Aman plans to introduce several other services like rail reservation, flight booking, cab/taxi booking, tour/holidays packages, hotel booking, mobile/DTH recharge, bill payment and domestic money transfer for its users.

Not only this, the bootstrapped startup is planning to raise its angel round to strengthen its technology and to expand its category. “I am currently looking to raise around INR 3-5 Mn to increase our market size and make people aware about are features.Our ambition is to bring every bit of available routes online and to create the easiest and cheapest way for customers to book it,” concludes Aman.

Indore Based ZiPi, A Chatbot Platform Raised Funding From Swan Angel Network

Indore based ZiPi, a chatbot platform, has announced today that it has raised funding from Swan Angel Network this month. Founded in October 2015, ZiPi was launched in January 2016 for public by a 15-member team led by Sukrat Ray, Pranav Singhi, Sumay Dubey & Siddharth Ray.

ZiPi offers an interactive and convenient way for users to do their day to day tasks like book taxi, read news and trends, order food, find doctors, ordering groceries, movie ticket booking, connecting with local business & stores and lots more, all packed inside one single app. ZiPi is built on conversational interface similar to popular messaging apps that the users are already comfortable using. Chatbots and Assisted Interface makes the app very user friendly to get things done fast and easy. And with most of the services under one App, Users have found an easy solution for their storage problems.

ZiPi plans to use the funds to accelerate sales and continue developing technology that securely connects businesses with their customer by means of bots and conversational interface.

“ZiPi is built after a lot of brainstorming, research on apps and current trends. The users can use features of multiple apps in one without actually downloading each application. The technology stack allows a lot of customization for the business by the manager/owner. We know what the business wants and technology makes it scalable and affordable for any local business or brand. This intelligence has been built over data points and messages between the business and its customers collected over years.” says Pranav, another co-founder.

Sukrat Ray founder and CEO of ZiPi said “Local businesses are the backbone of the economy and our technology enables them to keep up with the big guys.” further in the discussion he told “We are democratizing bots and mobile customer engagement for businesses similar to what platforms like Wix have done for websites. The business can build micro apps on the ZiPi platform in 1/10th the time and cost without the requirement of any specialized skill set. This along with push notifications and solutions for re-marketing to loyal customers is our selling point of the businesses that will generate revenues for us.”

ZiPi is available on both Android and iOS and has tied up with over 50 brands and businesses to host their micro apps on the ZiPi platform. With more than 15000 user base, ZiPi is expanding aggressively in the domestic market and plan to mark their presence nationwide in coming months.

How Three Friends Are Building Big Opportunity in Premium Wooden Watches Segment

Indore based TSAR was launched by a team of obsessive breed of thinkers, artists and designers who are admirer of style and classical designs’ watches. They came together to create something of greater value and style in the segment.

Love and passion for beautiful watches became a biz idea for these three Indore based youths and evolved in the formation of TSAR, a premium wooden watches brand in 2015. Three friends include Abdul Kadīr Bhandari, Abbas Mansoor Ali and Haider Safdar alumnus of KPB Hinduja College, NM College and KC College, Mumbai respectively are bonded by their passion for luxurious and vintage watches. They took a decision to work together on an idea that could ensure sustainable growth with the delivery of eco-friendly watches. They started off TSAR in November 2015 to deliver the finest wood timepieces for all those who want to keep track of time and admire opulence. This trio is very much optimistic for their idea as they believe that the delivery of original quality time pieces as per the customers’ expediency will guarantee a regular revenue and good reputation within the industry.

A Finest Class Product

All three firmly believe in the philosophy that “every wrist is the world is our real estate, which can be earned through sheer quality and precision”. Abbas Mansoor Ali, Co-founder, TSAR, explains, “As the developments taking place in this segment, our watches are broadly acknowledged and treasured. They carry exceptional features like high durability, precise dimensions, excellent finish and more to set high quality principles.”  “We know people are crazy for brands especially while buying a watch. So we have chosen TSAR, a name that gives our product range an international consideration,” adds Abdul. They took wood as an inspiration for creating an awesome range of fine quality designer watches. “Our each piece is unique and designed by the best designers. In addition, every watch can be personalized easily by every buyer as per his/her choice,” adds Abdul. However, to ensure quality, they imported some fine type of woods from across the world.

Ensuring Sustainable Growth and Eco – Friendly Products

Haider Safdar, co- founder, TSAR shares, “We sustainably source the finest wood like Sandalwood from Africa, Koa from the USA, Walnut wood from Canada and some other fine type of woods from around the world.” However they were well aware for the fact that anything related to wood will directly lead to cutting of trees, so they implemented a policy of plantation of a tree after every sale. “For this purpose we have joined hands with “Grow-trees” NGO,” informs Abbas. Asking about market competition, Abbas replies confidently, “Pan Coupe and Dtree are few of our competitors and what makes us different from them is the premium look and design of TSAR watches. Also we keep price point accessible to most of the Indian."

Growing Swiftly

All these three love vintage fashion and know all about the current online business techniques. So they started selling these watches online as per the customers demand. Within a short span of time they succeed to win the customers’ trust and today get good number of orders on daily basis.  Abbas says, “We registered our business in November previous year and following year in March we were ready for business. By the end of 4 months of commencement of business we have made a sale of more than 210 watches with an increasing pace of sale every month. We have protected sale of up to 1500 watches this fiscal year.”

What’s more, today, TSAR gets more than 300 visitors on their website daily basis. Abdul further adds, “We currently have TSAR watches available in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Indore and Delhi. We intend to make reach to 3 more major cities, with our target being to make it available in top 3 watch retailers in the city.”

Asking about future plans, he adds, “By the end of 2 years TSAR watches will be available in more than 50 locations all over India. We are gradually expanding our operations across the border and also have an alliance office in Dubai. We are coming up with new designs and hoping that it will lead to fast growth soon.”

Vatsana Technologies developing products to make networking easier

Started in a college hostel room by Shashank Vaishnav, Vinay Sinhal and Parveen Singhal in 2010, Vatsana Technologies is a promising Indore based startup creating innovative products to make life easier for all of us. Before starting with their products, the company provided services for almost 18 months and gained the required funds to start making products. They are a strong, 12 member team working dedicatedly towards their products.

Currently they have 2 products in the market:

• FollowMe247: It is a cloud enabled - hierarchy based - internet less - instant information sharing application.


• Evrystry: A story sharing platform which allows users to crowd source their stories and experiences. With thousands of amazing stories, evrystry aims to make people smile every day.

FollowMe247 is a very interesting student-teacher interaction platform which works without internet or smartphones. “There is so much innovation and technology being brought into the education market but all of it is happening around the syllabus and the content delivery,” says Shashank. “But what everyone else was missing is that content delivery can happen only when there is a bond between the teachers and students and a bond is built only when they can interact, freely, no matter when and where, without any restriction and hesitation, with atmost privacy and zero cost!” added Vinay.



A teacher will never have to login to talk to his students, whenever, wherever, with an assurance that all of them will get the message because a student doesn’t need to install any app or even to have access to Internet. All they need is a phone, a basic phone with simple message facility. It is going to affect their daily lives by completely revolutionizing the way they connect, talk and interact with each other. Currently it is being used by 10 small and big colleges in India. SRM University, Chennai and IIT, Indore are two of the big names among them.

The product has sent more than 4million communication by more than 1000 registered teacher to over 20,000 students in last 12 months. It is coming out of beta this summer and will be available for all the education institutes across the country. They charge the organization based on the number of students, annually (INR 199 per student per year). “We plan to grow FollowMe247 to at least 500 colleges in the country before 2014 ends. Also, FollowMe247 is our first product for the education market. We have many more coming in near future,” they added.

On the other hand, Evrystry is a global story sharing platform which aims to share all the amazing and unique stories in the world. These stories can be about people, places, nature, animals and everything else where there is story unheard, untold to the world. “Evrystry acts like a one stop shop for all the photographers to tell us the story behind that amazing picture we all loved, it helps travelers to tell us the stories of amazing people whom they meet in a foreign country who help them when they needed the most, their experiences of different cultures and everything else that they felt during their journeys, it allows a blogger to blog in a better way, to engage its users in a whole new and different style,” said Parveen, the youngest of the three.

"Usually, people build a website/concept and then try to build the user/customer base. We did the opposite. We build our community first in form of a facebook page called 'Amazing Things In The World'," they said. Currently, the website strives on the income from ads. They plan to make it ad free soon. With 150,000 unique visitors and 400,000 page views on our website on daily basis, this Chennai based startup has made 1.7 Cr. turnover in its 4 years of operations.