Kochi-based IsGoingOnline (IGO) that Enables SMEs To List Offerings Online Raises ₹1.50 Cr in Funding Led by Artha Venture Fund

L to R - Sai Santhosh Vaidyam Anandan CTO and Eobin Alex George CEO IsGoingOnline

• Unicorn India Ventures and SEA Fund also participated in the round
• Previously known as PerfectFit, the startup pivoted from 3D scanning and now enables SMEs via online listing offerings and digital cataloguing
• The startup has been witnessing 25% MoM growth
• Connects 400+ businesses to 120,000+ buyers across the country
• The funds have been earmarked for international growth, with a focus on the US, Canada, and the Middle East

INDIA, Mumbai, 25th August 2021: Kochi-based IsGoingOnline (IGO), a digital catalogue and online marketplace that enables SMEs to list their offerings online, has raised ₹1.5 crores in a Pre-Series A round led by Artha Venture Fund, India's first early-stage micro-VC fund. Unicorn India Ventures, SEA Fund, and Brookfield Asset Management’s former Managing Partner, Devdatt Shah, also participated in the round.

IsGoingOnline, previously known as PerfectFit, pivoted its existing 3D scanning business to that of digital cataloguing and online listing. 

According to a CRISIL study, that covered 566 small and micro enterprises, 53% of small enterprises had pivoted to digital sales channels – up from just 29% before the pandemic. IGO caters to this market and offers products that help MSMEs and other stores, who are finding it difficult to keep the offline models afloat amidst the pandemic and changing consumption patterns. 

The startup offers a holistic services stack for setting up online operations, powered by new technologies like AI, to small and medium businesses looking to set up their own marketplace or get listed on third party websites such as Amazon and Flipkart amongst others. In an industry that is growing 16% YoY, IGO currently connects 400+ businesses to 120,000+ buyers across the country by leveraging the power of social commerce.

IGO plans to use the funds from this round to scale up internationally and enable SMEs to go online. The company is taking its operations to the US, Canada and the Middle East, in addition to the already established business in India. The investment round is also expected to enable IGO to expand its platform and add key product capabilities. The startup is looking at a market share of 18% by FY 2023-24.

Vinod Keni

Vinod Keni, Growth Partner, Artha Venture Fund, said, “The pandemic has resulted in shifting consumer demands online, having a domino effect leading to the transition of sellers to cater to these needs. We were impressed by the team at IGO and how they are leveraging new age proprietary technologies to cater to these business needs. Their successful business pivot and a strong (inbound) pipeline of SMEs was another factor that led us to invest in them. It showcased their adaptability and zeal to create real business solutions for the lesser tapped market of small enterprises in the country. We are excited to partner with them in this journey and welcome IsGoingOnline to the AVF family!”

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, said, “As a fund, we are a firm believer of enabling startups who have a disruptive model. IGO has the know how and deep understanding of the retail business and the necessary tools that can enable a massive chunk of SMEs to explore social commerce thereby directly impacting their bottomline. Unicorn India has been working closely with the founders to shape a pivot where the core skill sets of the team and pandemic induced need for digital transformation meet to birth an attractive business idea. We are already seeing healthy traction build up in the business which encouraged us to back the team in the current round."

Eobin George, CEO, IsGoingOnline commented, "Artha Venture Fund’s strategic approach, that went beyond just financial investment, was what drew us to them. We were looking for investors who would be holistically involved in our journey and help us in scaling our business. The success stories that form part of the AVF portfolio are testament to this. We are delighted to partner with AVF and hope this is the beginning of a fruitful and long journey together."

“We started as a platform that facilitated 3D scanning of products for sellers. However, while interacting with small businesses, we realised that they were finding it challenging to use traditional online listing platforms as well. While the challenges varied, the high commission seemed to be a common denominator. There was a clear gap in the market that led us to pivot our business and expand our existing platform towards the creation of IsGoingOnline. We plan to keep adding to our product capabilities to continue catering to the evolving market needs”, Eobin added.

In the few months since its launch, IGO has witnessed a 25% month-on-month growth and boasts a clientele that includes Bigbasket, Namdhari, French Terrain, and IceBasket etc. Additionally, it also offers value-added services via its studio arm Perfit Studio Network, which helps businesses generate professional-grade photos and videos of their products. 

IGO recently launched its App for sellers that helps create ultralight web stores that can be shared through Whatsapp and social media platforms. IGO prides itself in enabling businesses to create online storefronts within 60 minutes! The mobile app is currently available on Android’s Google Play. IGO currently has over 2 patents in the digitization and display technologies segment.

About IsGoingOnline

IsGoingOnline (IGO) is a digital catalogue and online marketplace that enables SMEs to list their businesses online. IGO has streamlined the digital transformation of businesses across India. Its offerings include IGO Studio solution for product creatives, IGO e-seller Solution for Web listing and an IGO App for monitoring orders. Sellers use these services to digitize products, enhance and sell them online. This enables businesses to make a seamless transition as they scale to a multi-platform store. IGO solutions are used by over 400 sellers for product onboarding and online listing. For more information, visit www.isgoing.online

About Artha Venture Fund

Artha Venture Fund (AVF) is India's first early-stage micro-VC firm with a corpus of ₹225 crores. Since its inception in late 2018, AVF has primarily funded and supported multiple startups that operate as enablers and entities focused on solving the challenges of Indian consumers and businesses. The current fund makes thematic investment allocations for B2B, B2C/D2C, and D2C enablers. Led by a second-generation investor, Anirudh A Damani, the firm has a network of limited partners, co-investors, founders, and family offices that traverse the globe. AVF's portfolio includes Agnikul, LenDenClub, HobSpace, PiggyRide, Daalchini, Kabbadi Adda, and more.

AVF is part of Artha Group with investments in 85+ startups across India, the US, and Israel like OYO Rooms, Purplle, Tala, Coutloot, Karza Technologies, Mobilewalla, Interstellar and more. For more information, please visit www.artha.vc

About Unicorn India Ventures

Unicorn India Ventures is a Mumbai-based early stage fund house started in 2015 by Anil Joshi and Bhaskar Majumdar. The Fund has also launched a UK India cross border fund for funding UK startups looking to enter India and have invested in 7 UK startups. From its first Fund, UIV has invested in 18 companies like Inc42, Sequretek, Pharmarack, Genrobotics, NeuroEquilibrium, SmartCoin, Open Bank, Open app to name a few. Unicorn India has also announced Fund II, which is a Rs 400 crore fund launched in 2019 which has invested in 7 companies so far.

Kochi Based Startup Develops Covid-19 Virus Sterilizing Device – 'The Wolf Airmask'

Allabout Innovations Pvt Ltd Incubating under Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), developed this path-breaking revolutionary electronic device that contains airborne spread of Covid-19 by performing real-time sterilization.

Wolf Air Mask Wall Mount Assembly

New Delhi, 19th April 2021: Kerala based startup Allabout Innovations Pvt. Ltd developed a device - The Wolf Air Mask which can reduce 99 per cent of the novel coronavirus according to the test held with support from the Indian Council of Medical Research. Incubating under Kerala Startup Mission, Allabout Innovations’s Wolf Airmask is developed with components from Denmark.

Just one Wolf Airmask can be used for 60,000 hours (spanning 6.5 years). The gadget facilitates sterilization of air up to a space of 1,000 sq.ft and requires no service or change of parts. The Wolf Airmask can deactivate the microbes, bacteria and fungus while also reducing the subject MS2 bacteriophage.

The ‘Wolf Airmask’ ruptures the SARS-CoV-2, and has proven its efficiency at tests conducted by Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The ‘Wolf Airmask’ is the first of its kind in the country for RGCB to give such an attestation.

The product price starts at Rs. 10,000- to Rs 50,000 depending on the area covered. It also helps in reducing difficulty in Asthmatic Patients, reducing stress, boost immune system function, increase metabolism of carbs and fats. It also helps regulate sleep patterns and mood.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
PRODUCT NAME	WOLF AIRMASK ION THRUSTER
OPERATION	PLASMA AIR STERILIZATION
DIMENSION	250 x 209 x 209 MM
INPUT	110-230 AC/50Hz, SINGLE PHASE
POWER RATING	30 WATTS (max)
ESTIMATED ELECTRON PRODUCTION	10-100 TRILLION/SECOND
APPLICABLE AREA	1000 SQUARE FEET
EFFECTIVE AREA COVERED	10,000 CUBIC FEET
OZONE EMISSION	BDL (Meets the requirement of US EPA)
INSTALLATION	WALL MOUNT
WEIGHT (Net/Gross)	2.65/4.05 Kg

The new tool will be of benefit in contemporary world where household routine and office work are subject to pandemic-induced protocols. The closed-door living culture adds to the risk of acquiring the Covid-19 virus, against which is the Wolf Airmask is set to fight successfully. It also promotes low-cost purification of the air in enclosed spaces such as hospitals, laboratories, auditoria (including cinema houses), cafeteria and banks where people frequent great numbers.

Founded in August 2020 and headquartered in Alappuzha, Allabout Innovations has been a working in association with scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, social volunteers and commercial partners to make out sustainable and eco-friendly solutions complying to the modern revolution 4.0.

The company came up with the country's first ion-based Covid-preventive product, fetching two national awards: MSME Time2Leap Best Covid Solution and Business Mint (under the Social Innovation of 2020).

Speaking on the development of the Wolf Airmask , Allabout Innovations founders said “The company's appliance, when switched on, will provide 360-degree protection, 24x7 shield by sterilizing the air. This will also prevent the in-house transmission of viruses inside any space.”

“The negative ions also have proven to enhance health and vitality. "Negative ion thrusters are standard devices used in developed countries like Japan." the founders added.

KSUM, as a non-profit entity registered in 2014 under Society Act 1956, is an incubator approved by the Union government's Department of Science and Technology's National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board. The agency, which works for the promotion of entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, undertakes planning, establishment and management of technology business incubators and accelerators to promote technology-based ventures by creating the infrastructure and environment

Actor Suniel Shetty Invests in Kochi-based Healthtech Startup Vieroots

• Vieroots, founded by noted Wellness evangelist and bio-hacker Sajeev Nair, is a Kochi-based health-tech start-up.
• Suniel Shetty gives further impetus to the Vieroots brand.
• Vieroots is a pioneer in Personalized Lifestyle Management using Epigenetics with a focus on peak performance and healthy aging.

Bollywood stalwart Suniel Shetty has invested an undisclosed amount in Vieroots Wellness Solutions Pvt Ltd (VWS). Registered in 2018, Vieroots is estimated to be valued at around 100 Crores.

Vieroots, founded by noted Wellness evangelist and bio-hacker Sajeev Nair, is a Kochi-based health-tech start-up and pioneer in Personalized Lifestyle Management using Epigenetic science. Vieroots also provides world-class research-based products and services for people who aspire to live healthy and productive lives, with specific focus on productive aging.

 

Vieroots' association with celebrity investor Suniel Shetty who's well known for his passion in the areas of fitness and wellness was fascinated by the pioneering concept authored by Mr. Sajeev Nair, called Epigenetic Lifestyle Modification, gives further impetus to the brand. Suniel Shetty said, “I could relate to the company‘s core values and innovative thought process in the wellness category hence the decision to invest.“

Epigenetic lifestyle modification is a three-step method which includes V genome test, Vieroots App -EPILIMO and a detailed personalized lifestyle modification plan. Through this process one will get every possible information on all disease which may have inherited from their ancestors. This valuable and authentic information will help a person to modify his lifestyle to avert the possible dangers on his health. VIEGENOME test is the most comprehensive genetic predisposition test available in the world which analyses more than 200 different health parameters. The Epigenetic Lifestyle Modification mobile App, ‘EPLIMO’, is a user-friendly next-generation health & wellness ecosystem converging genetics with AI and robotics and provides a Geno-Metabolic report. Vieroots’ medical and genetic experts create a highly personalized wellness management plan for users based on their genetics and metabolism. The whole process can enhance overall quality of life and support to live long and stay young, physically and mentally.

Suniel Shetty is widely regarded as a smart investor. This investment is the latest one in a series of investments that include FTC – India’s first online talent and casting platform, the fitness app – FITTR which raised USD 2 million from Sequoia Capital in pre-series A Funding in April 2020, Sai Estate Management & Skills Institute’s (SEMSI) curated online platform offering online courses and certifications in real estate, sales and marketing. Previously, Suniel’s Beardo, a range of Men’s grooming products, had raised USD 0.5 million from Venture Catalyst and followed by approximately USD 8-10 million from Marico Ltd.

Booming Wellness Sector

The wellness sector has been booming since 2018 as alternative therapies and measures are being deduced to shield Indians from mass sickness hazards.

As per a recent study by Stanford Research Institute International, the global wellness industry represents a market of nearly US$ 2 trillion as opposed to the Indian Wellness Industry, which is a US$ 9.8 billion market; accounting therefore, 2% of the global wellness industry. Securing a sustainable future and boosting health, the Indian wellness industry is looking to reach new heights of success.

Speaking about the stake sale, Sajeev Nair, Chairman & Chief Mentor, Vieroots, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Mr. Suniel Shetty on board to drive the Live Long and Grow Young Movement which is a critical juncture for the Wellness industry. We feel that the market has huge prospects to get bigger amidst the looming health uncertainties. Co-morbidity causing lifestyle diseases and pandemics tell us to place more emphasis on disease prevention, and enhance the community’s herd immunity.”

Speaking about the partnership, Suniel Shetty said, “Vieroots sees a world where people live long, healthy, fulfilling lives by taking charge of their own bodies and minds. They offer a happy synergy between modern sciences; technology and age-old wellness concepts thereby bring forth innovations long awaited in the wellness industry. Their key brand element is the continuum which depicts the regeneration and regression of life. I am positive that my association with the brand will boost its prospects."

Kochi-Startup Sastra Robotics inks MoU with Lockheed Martin

Kochi-based startup Sastra Robotics India Pvt Ltd has signed an MoU with the US global aerospace, defence security company Lockheed Martin, paving way for the robots produced by the Indian venture to gain entry into avionics testing.

Successful qualification would enable Sastra Robotics to be a supplier to Lockheed Martin and other Tier-1 OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers).

These products can help in the testing of avionics display of tactical fighter platforms, including the F-21.

Mentored by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), Sastra Robotics focuses on manufacturing intelligent robotic platforms for industrial product testing automation, a press release here said.

Since 2015, global brands like Robert BOSCH, Honeywell, HCL, Audiences, and Knowles are using their robots for HMI testing automation of real physical devices.

Meanwhile, the US firm also signed MoUs with Chennai-based startup Terero Mobility, and Bengaluru-based startup NoPo Nanotechnologies for providing various technlogy services.

Commenting on the pact, Vivek Lall, Vice President for Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, said, "The agreements attest to the commitment of Lockheed Martin to cultivate and integrate indigenous content into global systems and platforms.

Through the agreement, we look to provide engineering support, mentoring, and assistance in the qualification of some of the technologies proposed, all of which contribute to our mission of making in India."

"Kerala has a pool of scale up startups and we find startups getting recognized by the industries on the quality of their products.

Initiatives like the India Innovation Growth Programme (IIGP) help startups get connected with industries and we really look forward for more industries to be part of the Kerala startup ecosystem," Manager, Business Development, KSUM, Ashok Kurian Panjikaran said.

KSUM is the nodal agency of Government of Kerala for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state. PTI UD ROH

India's 1st Fully Automated, 'Amazon Go' Like Retail Store Launches in Kochi, Kerala

Two years back global e-commerce giant Amazon, in its biggest announcement, lunched Amazon Go, a new kind of brick-n-mortar shopping store featuring the world’s most advanced shopping technology with no queening up for checkout required just walk out shopping experience, simply use the mobile app to enter the store, take the products you want, and go!.

As India has still to wait for Amazon Go to arrive in the country, a Kochi, Kerala-based startup called Nayasale Retail Pvt Ltd. is set to launch a fully automated live store called 'Watasale', which is modelled on Amazon Go and will make use of cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, computer vision, deep learning, and sensor fusion to provide the customers with a hassle-free shopping experience.

Launched to public #India first fully Automated store #Watasale #DigitalTransformation @retail pic.twitter.com/eEme1JIIUt

— Wat A Sale (@watasale) August 31, 2018

How Watasale Works

Watasale is a fully autonomous unmanned store. The customer can walk into the store with their mobile, take the product and just walk away! That's it. No cashier, no scanning, no waiting in line. The customer scans the QR generated in Watasale app to enter and after you are done with the shopping, you can pick the items and just leave. The bill will be deducted from your credit/ debit card or mobile wallet linked to the app.

According to Rajesh Malamal, CMO of watasale, the watasale concept can be used in retailing any product ranging from ice-creams to packed items.

Moreover as Watasale stores can be installed in any locations, store owners and managers can also use this concept and have a breather into their otherwise monotonous lives by automating store process and use manpower for more productive off store works.

Watasale which opened its first store in Kochi plans to expand to other cities including Bengaluru and New Delhi in the near future.

Future Plans

Watasale is planning to come up with the next generation automated online delivery to customer doorsteps using automated delivery robots. The startup envisions opening 1000’s of stores in various horizontal markets all across the world.

Kerala-based Software Defined Radio Startup Inntot Raises Seed Funding from Unicorn India Ventures

Unicorn India Ventures, an early stage VC fund, has announced another investment in Kerala -- an emerging hub for startups. The Fund has invested in Inntot, a software defined radio startup based in Kochi, Kerala. It is a seed-funding round, which marks Unicorn India as the first institutional investor in Inntot.

Founded in 2014 by Rajith Nair and Prasanth Thankappan, Inntot Technologies, is a technology driven company with prime focus on enabling cost effective next generation digital media receivers. Inntot has Software enabled IP Solutions for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM and DRM+) Receivers, DAB/DAB+ Receivers, ISDB-T Digital Television. Inntot Technologies is all set to play a pivotal role in the Analog Sunset of AM and FM broadcast radio transmission paving way to Digital Radio Transmission in the near future.

This is Unicorn India’s sixth announcement in the State The Fund invested in five startups — Genrobotics, Perfectfit and SectorQube, Bank Open and Clootrack early this year.

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says, “Over the last one year, as a Fund, we have been on a look out for next gen tech startups and investment made by us clearly reflect our intent to find such growing startups and invest in them. Kerala, in that respect, has surprised as we have seen our investments going to startups which are working on cutting edge technology like IoT, 3D, Robotics and now digital radio receivers.” Investment in Inntot is inspired by the success that we have seen in new age tech startups who are not chasing the tempting matrix but building a product from ground up and opening up a completely new market for themselves rather fighting for a small piece of a big pie, he adds.

Started in 2014, by Rajith Nair and Prasanth Thankappan, with 36 years of cumulative experience across consumer electronics and automotive entertainment in companies like Philips, Wipro, LSI Logic and ISRO. Inntot aims to bring down the cost of digital radio receivers substantially for OEMs or ODMs. The Company has developed a software-based solution, which will enable them to achieve this vision without using specialized hardware chipsets. Inntot has already sold first SDR license to Telechips Inc, a South Korean company that sells system on chip products used in automotive entertainment systems and consumer electronics. Due to Inntot’s competitiveness, its solution is now being considered by OEMs and ODMs in Asia for their future Digital Radio Receivers, which indicates at a healthy pipeline of potential clients for the Company.

Rajith Nair, Co-founder and Managing Director, Inntot Technologies, says, “Our mission is to facilitate a seamless switchover from Analog Radio Broadcast (AM and FM) to Digital Radio Broadcast by providing high quality and cost effective Digital Radio Receiver solution that enables mass acceptance. Collaboration of Inntot with a technology savvy investor like Unicorn India, who shares our view, will accelerate our mission. ”

Inntot is the only company in India today working on SDR based end to end digital radio receiver software stack that could make digital receiving solutions for home and car audio affordable. The Company pegs the demand at close to 7.5 million for such devices over the next three years in India and Asia alone. The funds raised in this round will be used for procuring hi-tech testing equipment, enhanced marketing efforts, solution field testing and hiring key personnel in critical functions like marketing, sales, and software.

Unicorn India Ventures has also taken a board seat in the Company. Aayush Jain, Principal, Unicorn India Ventures has been appointed as the Board Member in Inntot.

Kerala-based Software Defined Radio Startup Inntot Raises Seed Funding from Unicorn India Ventures

Unicorn India Ventures, an early stage VC fund, has announced another investment in Kerala -- an emerging hub for startups. The Fund has invested in Inntot, a software defined radio startup based in Kochi, Kerala. It is a seed-funding round, which marks Unicorn India as the first institutional investor in Inntot.

Founded in 2014 by Rajith Nair and Prasanth Thankappan, Inntot Technologies, is a technology driven company with prime focus on enabling cost effective next generation digital media receivers. Inntot has Software enabled IP Solutions for Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM and DRM+) Receivers, DAB/DAB+ Receivers, ISDB-T Digital Television. Inntot Technologies is all set to play a pivotal role in the Analog Sunset of AM and FM broadcast radio transmission paving way to Digital Radio Transmission in the near future.

This is Unicorn India’s sixth announcement in the State The Fund invested in five startups — Genrobotics, Perfectfit and SectorQube, Bank Open and Clootrack early this year.

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says, “Over the last one year, as a Fund, we have been on a look out for next gen tech startups and investment made by us clearly reflect our intent to find such growing startups and invest in them. Kerala, in that respect, has surprised as we have seen our investments going to startups which are working on cutting edge technology like IoT, 3D, Robotics and now digital radio receivers.” Investment in Inntot is inspired by the success that we have seen in new age tech startups who are not chasing the tempting matrix but building a product from ground up and opening up a completely new market for themselves rather fighting for a small piece of a big pie, he adds.

Started in 2014, by Rajith Nair and Prasanth Thankappan, with 36 years of cumulative experience across consumer electronics and automotive entertainment in companies like Philips, Wipro, LSI Logic and ISRO. Inntot aims to bring down the cost of digital radio receivers substantially for OEMs or ODMs. The Company has developed a software-based solution, which will enable them to achieve this vision without using specialized hardware chipsets. Inntot has already sold first SDR license to Telechips Inc, a South Korean company that sells system on chip products used in automotive entertainment systems and consumer electronics. Due to Inntot’s competitiveness, its solution is now being considered by OEMs and ODMs in Asia for their future Digital Radio Receivers, which indicates at a healthy pipeline of potential clients for the Company.

Rajith Nair, Co-founder and Managing Director, Inntot Technologies, says, “Our mission is to facilitate a seamless switchover from Analog Radio Broadcast (AM and FM) to Digital Radio Broadcast by providing high quality and cost effective Digital Radio Receiver solution that enables mass acceptance. Collaboration of Inntot with a technology savvy investor like Unicorn India, who shares our view, will accelerate our mission. ”

Inntot is the only company in India today working on SDR based end to end digital radio receiver software stack that could make digital receiving solutions for home and car audio affordable. The Company pegs the demand at close to 7.5 million for such devices over the next three years in India and Asia alone. The funds raised in this round will be used for procuring hi-tech testing equipment, enhanced marketing efforts, solution field testing and hiring key personnel in critical functions like marketing, sales, and software.

Unicorn India Ventures has also taken a board seat in the Company. Aayush Jain, Principal, Unicorn India Ventures has been appointed as the Board Member in Inntot.

Kochi Startup Launches India's First AI-Powered Music Networking Platform 'SocialMob'

Kochi-based Padath Infotainment on Monday launched SocialMob, which is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered music and content delivery platform, in India.

With the launch, SocialMob has become India's first AI-powered music networking solution. Depending on your interest the AI in the app will customize itself, giving you the latest -- of what you like -- from the infotainment world.

SocialMob app aims at connecting like-minded individuals globally who share similar social interests in music, food, entertainment, food and travel.

"With 'SocialMob,' we aspire to provide a secure platform for music aficionados and uplift independent artists across the globe," said Aghin Johnson, CEO at Padath Infotainment.

"By leveraging AI, we are able to connect users with similar interests and create one global community," Johnson added.

"SocialMob" claims it currently represents over 500 independent artists from around the world along with an "off-beat magazine" publishing articles by in-house content writers and bloggers.

The startup also plans to promote in-house projects, "SocialMob" and "Muses Studio" which will focus on promoting independent Indian music, aiming at a 10 million user base in the next five years.

To increase the user-app interaction, the app comes with an "Instant Messaging" feature to let the users exchange real-time messages.

The above news was first reported in Business Standard.

Integrating music with new-age technologies is a new phenomena these days. Last September, Amper, an AI composer unveiled the first-ever music album composed, produced entirely by Artificial Intelligence.

Aurovine, for an instance, is a blockchain-powered music sharing platform launched in India, in July 2017. Aurovine is a music sharing platform supported by blockchain development company BlockPool.

Kochi Startup Launches India's First AI-Powered Music Networking Platform 'SocialMob'

Kochi-based Padath Infotainment on Monday launched SocialMob, which is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered music and content delivery platform, in India.

With the launch, SocialMob has become India's first AI-powered music networking solution. Depending on your interest the AI in the app will customize itself, giving you the latest -- of what you like -- from the infotainment world.

SocialMob app aims at connecting like-minded individuals globally who share similar social interests in music, food, entertainment, food and travel.

"With 'SocialMob,' we aspire to provide a secure platform for music aficionados and uplift independent artists across the globe," said Aghin Johnson, CEO at Padath Infotainment.

"By leveraging AI, we are able to connect users with similar interests and create one global community," Johnson added.

"SocialMob" claims it currently represents over 500 independent artists from around the world along with an "off-beat magazine" publishing articles by in-house content writers and bloggers.

The startup also plans to promote in-house projects, "SocialMob" and "Muses Studio" which will focus on promoting independent Indian music, aiming at a 10 million user base in the next five years.

To increase the user-app interaction, the app comes with an "Instant Messaging" feature to let the users exchange real-time messages.

The above news was first reported in Business Standard.

Integrating music with new-age technologies is a new phenomena these days. Last September, Amper, an AI composer unveiled the first-ever music album composed, produced entirely by Artificial Intelligence.

Aurovine, for an instance, is a blockchain-powered music sharing platform launched in India, in July 2017. Aurovine is a music sharing platform supported by blockchain development company BlockPool.

Kochi Startup Builds Robotic Drone To Capture Real-Time HD Videos of Underwater Structures

With a large ecosystem of over 4,500 startups, India might be the third largest startup ecosystem in the world. But still, the number of hardware startups in the Indian subcontinent is very less when compared to their software counterparts. Hence, it is not quite often that a new, innovative hardware startup sprouts in the country. But one such startup that has been gaining a lot of traction since the past few months is, Kochi-based EyeROV.

The startup, which is currently pre-incubated at Kochi's Maker Village, has successfully developed an robotic drone that is capable of performing Visual inspection/survey of underwater/ submerged structures. The drone can send real-time video of ships or for that matter any underwater structure for maintenance and repair operations purposes.

The EyeROV drone has been successfully tested on India's first solar ferry at Vaikom and can be navigated up to a depth of 50 meters for taking real-time HD videos of ship hulls, bridge moorings and undersea cables etc.



The light rover, which can be easily controlled using a laptop/joystick, weighs less than 10 kgs and eliminates the need for manual inspection, which is very risky and costly at the same time. The technology can prove to be useful for inspection of dams, ports and nuclear power plants.

The startup founded by IIT alumni Johns T Mathai and Kannappa Palaniappan P recently grabbed eyeballs when it won the India edition of AlphaLab Gear National Hardware Cup. Not only did they walk with a cash prize of Rs 25,000, but the startup also got a chance to represent India in the international finals to be held at Pittsburg USA on April 18 and 19 and compete for a $50,000 grand prize.

About the Founders

While Johns is an Electrical Engineer with a Masters in Computer Technology from IIT Delhi; Kannappa, on the other hand, is a Mechanical Engineer and has a Masters Degree in Ocean Engineering from IIT Madras. During their undergraduate days at College of Engineering, Trivandrum, the duo had engaged in lots of robotics projects and had even won laurels at National Level Techfest. Johns brings on board 3 years of industrial experience (Grey Orange Robotics, Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore), while Kannappa has 2 years in experience (SAINT GOBAIN, NIOT). Together, they believe, they have a keen "eye" for engineering and creativity and EyeROV is example of just that.

[Top Image - EyeROV team with the judges of the Kochi AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup. (from left) Prof S Rajeev, Thenmozhi Shanmugam, Johns T Mathai, Mr Kannappa Palaniappan P, Jeyash P and Sreekumar V M / Picture Credit - newindianexpress.com]

Public E-Commerce Comparison Engine Dotmic Simplifies Online Shopping

Dotmic is an e-commerce search engine that helps people search and compare prices of products from different online stores. The founder Dipin Prakash initially wanted to work for Google, but decided to make his own e-commerce search engine in 2012. In a conversation with Dotmic, we learn about the company and their future plans.

"Dotmic is one stop solution for online shopping in India. The user gets to search and compare hundreds of stores along with checking the product and store reviews. It’s the google for shopping," says Dipin. They have high speed search algorithms that enable its users to search across millions of products from hundreds of stores. Wider product range and much faster processing helps customer browse, compare, select and continue with their online shopping experience compared to any other online store in India. They use self-developed web crawlers called dotbot to gather product information form 460 stores with about 7 million products.

"We have partnered with 59 stores and is our main source of revenue. These stores include amazon, Flipkart, Jabong, Myntra and all other major stores operating in India," says Jiji Sukumar, their CMO. Dotmic operates on 3 servers in the US and 2 in India. "We consume 7TB of data every month. Most of the bandwidth is consumed by Dotbots (automated web crawlers developed by the company)," he adds.

A large product collection poses the big challenge for searching. When a user enters a query Dotmic has to search all 7M products for the occurrence of these keywords and it has to do this in a second or less. For this they have developed a new search algorithms. "We have recently integrated Hadoop into our server to calculate the search relevance. Though our algorithms are fast enough to deliver thousand of results in milliseconds, we are working on even faster once that can manage our future demands," says Dipin.



This 2 member team based out of Kochi wants to capture the data from all 900 e-commerce stores in India before expanding to other countries. Dotmic got selected to be incubated at Startup Village last year. Startup village is the country's first not-for-profit Public Private Partnership (PPP) telecom business incubator. The promoters of Startup Village are Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Technopark, Trivandrum and MobME Wireless.

Dotmic recently released its first free API. The API enables users to get product data feeds, which can integrated into both web and mobile platforms to build search, comparison engines or as a source of information in blogs. The API makes it easier for programmers to build product search platforms and saves the trouble in managing and searching millions of products online. The information provided by the API includes product name, price, image, seller info, description, product link and date of update.

As a message for future entrepreneurs, Dipin said "Never wait for the perfect plan. Work out a rough for a year, another clear plan for the first 3 months and then start executing your plan. Improvise your plan on the go."

Percpktika Providing Extensive Data Based Services To Superpower Your Startup

Percpktika Brand Labs is a Kochi based startup (headquartered in Delhi) founded in 2011. The co-founders are both Software engineers working with startups to help them make data and media driven decisions. "We basically aim at conceptualizing, designing and developing your brand which also include business process re-engineering and re-structuring mechanisms. This is done with the help of our research and development team," says Madhav Shankar, the co-founder. "Packed with thorough analysis our specialty is brand networking which gives you helping hands to raise your business," adds Vishnu Shankar, who started up PBL with Madhav.

Percpktika is a sophisticated form of 'perspective'. The company works on social and business based development projects which helps in monetizing and brand building. Their creative design team helps startups with brand image. They specialize in motion ads and creative campaigning helping startups grow bigger and better. "We are like an Infosys for startups!" says Madhav. "We work by creating projects for collaboration thereby connecting clients with more startups. This attracted a lot of startups who were service oriented as they received more customers and they felt happy working with us," Vishnu added.

[caption id="attachment_95139" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Madhav Shankar & Vishnu Shankar, Co-Founders, Percepktika[/caption]

This 5 member team is partnering with organizations like Vigyan Bharati and Tungsten and are soon to be associated with the 'Ganga Cleaning Project'. The PBL team is already working on a lot of social and tech projects, now that they have expanded to Delhi. They have successfully created entrepreneurship awareness among people with their “Think Independent” campaign.

They provide the following services:
1. Research and Analytics: Data Survey, Product Research, Market Analytics, Product Intelligence, Social Media Analytics

2. Design: Product Design, Marketing material Design, Identity Designs, UI/UX research and Development, Package Designs, Web Wireframe and Themes

3. Social Engineering: Campaigning and Outreach Planning, Proposal Writing, Project Development, Workshop and Awareness, Networking

4. Marketing: Offline Marketing, Online and Social Media, Merchandising, Outreach media, Micro Ad Production

5. Development: Web Development, Application Development, E- Commerce Framework Development, Product Testing and Quality Control, Enterprise Solutions and Maintenance



They have products like Vicinitee, GetUrClient and Lumiere Shop to provide their services. PBL is not funded but has grown by providing excellent services to clients like Hakuhodo Percept and Ashok Leyland. As a message for future entrepreneurs, Madhav says, "Never startup for the sake of doing it, never fall for the CEO tag unless u think you have earned it. Hard work and precision is the greatest tool to develop by yourself." Vishnu adds, "People say business is all about contacts and references, I would say it's really true but it takes boldness and effective communication with people to make it happen." They believe that there is no small idea. It's just knowing how to sell your product and engaging yourself with your customer. They always like to stay updated as it keeps the product alive.

EdDiary wants to replace your child's school diary with app

Now all the message conveyed by teachers in class of your child will reach directly on your smartphone. Your child's schoold diary can be digitized and even let you carry it on your palm as your mobile. Eddiary is a new utility mobile app in other words a digital School diary which digitalise the basic communication between teachers and parents.

"Ed-diary" is an application for the parents and the schools which is not just a substitute for the conventional diary system but adds value and convenience in a busy day to day life. An App that would help the parents to update with their kid’s activities at school, they could peacefully make sure that they 'do not miss a thing'.

With EdDiary, all school activities including their kid's home works, class tests, notices, announcements and even the child's time table will be right at their fingertip. All these will be posted by the respective faculties from the school. Hence this app not only makes sure the involvement of parents in their child’s day to day life but also improves the parent-teacher interaction by reducing the communication gap.



EdDiary App mainly has two sides:

• Teacher App: Teachers can enter daily assignments, like homework, test, task and announcements to respective classes through a web or mobile based interface. In fact, instead of adding to teachers’ workload, schools can employ a dedicated resource for entering the assignments of all teachers at the end of the school day.


• Parent App: Parents can log into a school-specific account and access all scheduling and assignment related information for their children. Even if they have missed out any specific assignment, they will be getting SMS notifications.

EdDiary is product from Kochi based startup 'Vergekeys Solutions' incubated at Startup Village, Kerala. The startup build educational apps and the startup is also on verge of launching its next product - College social app.

The startup was founded just a year back by Ninan K Sunny, a non-techie guy who managed to built a tech-company with promising results. He's managing the startup along with Jaison and Sam Rajan as a team.

Koottan - A revolutionary new way to find good food online

Good Food is the basic necessity for most of the human beings. With thousands and thousands of restaurants directories thronging the net, it has become highly impossible to find a decent place to eat. But a new online restaurant/food discovery portal - Koottan.com promises to be different from the rest.

Koottan.com helps people in finding "good" food which according to them comprises of various factors like uniqueness, ambience, taste, cleanliness, affordability and atmosphere etc.

It is different from the rest as it just doesn't simply lists all the restaurants for it users, it even brings the experience to its users even before he/she has actually visited the restaurant. The site provides its users with restaurant ratings, social recommendations, community generated reviews and food ratings. All these factors allow the users to choose the restaurant which matches their dining need and taste buds.

Koottan is Kochi based online startup co-founded by Pretheesh Tomas and Boney Mathew in June 2014. The company is incubated at Startup Village, Kerala.



The website currently only caters to Kerala cities, althoug it might have been a good competition for Zomato.com if the website caters to all over India or even just metro cities.

According to Koottan.com, they don't sell food. They sell the restaurant experience. The company has partnered with some top restaurants in Kerala so as to provide its users with discounts and unique offers.

Koottan.com even allows small food businesses like small bakeries and teashops build their reputation online. The company does all the listings absolutely free of cost. The site has around 600 restaurants listed on it. The service is currently only available in Kerala and serves around 18 localities and tourists visiting Kerala.

Koottan mobile application is also in testing phase and expected to be launched in coming weeks.

Spinack.com is the company's website in Tanzania's Dar Es Salaam. The company is also contemplating a 2015 New Year's launch of hyperdiner.com, which will be a global version of Koottan.com and Spinack.com.

The company has an ultimate goal of being the one stop shop for everything related to food.

Koottan - A revolutionary new way to find good food online

Good Food is the basic necessity for most of the human beings. With thousands and thousands of restaurants directories thronging the net, it has become highly impossible to find a decent place to eat. But a new online restaurant/food discovery portal - Koottan.com promises to be different from the rest.

Koottan.com helps people in finding "good" food which according to them comprises of various factors like uniqueness, ambience, taste, cleanliness, affordability and atmosphere etc.

It is different from the rest as it just doesn't simply lists all the restaurants for it users, it even brings the experience to its users even before he/she has actually visited the restaurant. The site provides its users with restaurant ratings, social recommendations, community generated reviews and food ratings. All these factors allow the users to choose the restaurant which matches their dining need and taste buds.

Koottan is Kochi based online startup co-founded by Pretheesh Tomas and Boney Mathew in June 2014. The company is incubated at Startup Village, Kerala.



The website currently only caters to Kerala cities, althoug it might have been a good competition for Zomato.com if the website caters to all over India or even just metro cities.

According to Koottan.com, they don't sell food. They sell the restaurant experience. The company has partnered with some top restaurants in Kerala so as to provide its users with discounts and unique offers.

Koottan.com even allows small food businesses like small bakeries and teashops build their reputation online. The company does all the listings absolutely free of cost. The site has around 600 restaurants listed on it. The service is currently only available in Kerala and serves around 18 localities and tourists visiting Kerala.

Koottan mobile application is also in testing phase and expected to be launched in coming weeks.

Spinack.com is the company's website in Tanzania's Dar Es Salaam. The company is also contemplating a 2015 New Year's launch of hyperdiner.com, which will be a global version of Koottan.com and Spinack.com.

The company has an ultimate goal of being the one stop shop for everything related to food.

Dotmic is the Google of online shopping in India

Dotmic is an e-commerce search engine startup based out of Kochi, Kerala that helps people search and compare prices of products from different online stores. The founder Dipin Prakash initially wanted to work for Google, but decided to make his own e-commerce search engine in 2012. In a conversation with Dotmic, we learn about the company and their future plans.

"Dotmic is one stop solution for online shopping in India. The user gets to search and compare hundreds of stores along with checking the product and store reviews. It's the google for shopping," says Dipin. They have high speed search algorithms that enable its users to search across millions of products from hundreds of stores. Wider product range and much faster processing helps customer browse, compare, select and continue with their online shopping experience compared to any other online store in India. They use self-developed web crawlers called dotbot to gather product information form 460 stores with about 7 million products.

"We have partnered with 59 stores and is our main source of revenue. These stores include amazon, Flipkart, Jabong, Myntra and all other major stores operating in India," says Jiji Sukumar, their CMO. Dotmic operates on 3 servers in the US and 2 in India. "We consume 7TB of data every month. Most of the bandwidth is consumed by Dotbots (automated web crawlers developed by the company)," he adds.



A large product collection poses the big challenge for searching. When a user enters a query Dotmic has to search all 7M products for the occurrence of these keywords and it has to do this in a second or less. For this they have developed a new search algorithms. "We have recently integrated Hadoop into our server to calculate the search relevance. Though our algorithms are fast enough to deliver thousand of results in milliseconds, we are working on even faster once that can manage our future demands," says Dipin.

This 2 member team based out of Kochi wants to capture the data from all 900 e-commerce stores in India before expanding to other countries. Dotmic got selected to be incubated at Startup Village last year. Startup village is the country's first not-for-profit Public Private Partnership (PPP) telecom business incubator. The promoters of Startup Village are Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Technopark, Trivandrum and MobME Wireless. Dotmic recently released its first free API. The API enables users to get product data feeds, which can integrated into both web and mobile platforms to build search, comparison engines or as a source of information in blogs. The API makes it easier for programmers to build product search platforms and saves the trouble in managing and searching millions of products online. The information provided by the API includes product name, price, image, seller info, description, product link and date of update.

As a message for future entrepreneurs, Dipin said "Never wait for the perfect plan. Work out a rough for a year, another clear plan for the first 3 months and then start executing your plan. Improvise your plan on the go."

Xincoz Labs, a Kochi based startup protecting movies from piracy

Blaise Crowly and George Soni started Xincoz labs, a technology R&D company based that aims at identifying areas in society where application of technology can solve challenges faced by the Individuals, Public, Companies and Nature. The company now being headed by Blaise Crowly and Gautham Vyas is working on a project named HexGlass. These college students will allow movies to be released online while protecting it from piracy by the end user. "Our technology will allow users to download and enjoy their movies on their favorite device but prevents the copying and distribution of the same making use of multiple means", says Gautham.

The company started in June 2012 and initiated the development of products a year later. "The idea for our product came when we were talking on phone one night and found that there was no legal and efficient way a person could enjoy movies that were currently in the theaters. This condition is worst in case of NRIs who find it very difficult to access their native content in the country they are forcing them to resort to pirated content", said Blaise. ‘But releasing movies online would mean that the content would be open and can very easily get pirated’, added Gautham. Their technology allows users to download and enjoy their movies on their favorite device but prevents the copying and distribution of the same making use of multiple means.



We asked them how such a thing would be possible, and they said "The file by itself will be rendered useless on another system than on which it was downloaded on and also the video content will be digitally tagged using special markers to the identity of the downloader hence preventing activities like screen capture from being used. We have currently talked with producer association of the regional movies and they have extended their support for the same." The 4 team member from Kochi is now in the process of finishing their product.

They are a part of the 2013 edition of MIT AITI accelerator program conducted jointly by MIT USA and Google. These undergraduate students have done their part of giving back to the open source community by releasing an open source Server Cluster management tool Kronos.

Their technologies are all self-developed making use of only proven Open source frameworks and technologies. "One of the major factors is the use of LibVLC which is the library that powers the popular VLC video player", they say. They would be partnering with the major units of the film industry and most importantly the producers associations of regional films to help them make use of the new possibilities internet has opened up in terms of movie distribution and monetization. ‘We hope to in the coming year open the service in at least 4 major languages starting with Malayalam across 50+ countries’, said Gautham.

As an advice from future entrepreneurs, Blaise said, "Sometimes things look like they are all burning down and it is easy to lose our heart at those times. If you slow down or stop it will consume you but just keep moving faster and in time you will see that the fire that was meant to burn you has molded you." Gautham added to this with a good example. He said, "Entrepreneurship is like going fishing, there is no doubt fishing in shallow waters will get you lot of fish but deciding to go into the deep sea to hunt whales is going to raise doubts for sure, but that is no reason to not do it anyway."

Check out this space when their product launches and in the meanwhile, go here.

Kochi based Sentinel bags U.N. award for intelligent app

An app developed by Kochi, India based student startup company Mindhelix Technosol bagged prestigious UN-sponsored award for its mobile app invention called - Sentinel. Sentinel is personal security app by MindHelix Technosol.

The app is runner-up of World Youth Award Summit 2013 in Power2Women category and only startup representing India. ‘Sentinel’ is among the 18 startups selected from among 400 entries for the awards which will be presented in Sri Lankan capital Colombo later this month.

Actually, the app Sentinel is an essential app for women especially in India, which in case of emergency send alerts to friends and family of sender. With just one click from the application and user send SMS, emails and Interactive Voice Response calls to all your emergency contacts making sure that you are safe.

The app also provide live tracking from the application that puts user in emergency situation over a map that is available only to emergency contacts with location, travel history, direction of travel and helps the first respondents to reach you as fast as possible.

The application triggers an alerts even if the user in not connected to internet by sending SMS with location to server. The interactive map gives information about the current location as well as location history. The application help achieves the six millennium goals of the UN that include women’s safety.

The app is available for Android as well for iPhone mobile users free of cost for limited time. The company behind the app is part of startup incubator center - The Startup Village, Kochi.

The student startup which developed this app is founded by Kallidil Kalidasan and Christin George. The company has also developed Sentinel Mobile Application for Corporates : Sentinel for Corporates is a mobile phone based personal security application to be used by the Corporate employees,  available on Android, iPhone and Windows Phone  8, the App constantly keeps track of each employee using GPS  and dynamic cell tower location services.