1 in 3 Indians Watches Online Videos, Usually in Hindi, says Google Report

Who's the new Indian online video viewer? According to Google, they're 15-34 year-olds (73%) who Google videos whenever they wish to learn something. The internet search engine revealed these details in a report titled the 'Indian online video viewer' based on viewership patterns and behaviour on its video-streaming platform, YouTube.

The report highlights prominent usage bands for the platform's video content, including average watch time (67 minutes), language preferences (Hindi) and the reasons behind video time, alongside other prominent insights. With 245 million monthly active users, YouTube reaches 80 to 85 per cent of India's internet population, making India one of the biggest consumers of YouTube content.

"These insights allow us to have a more in-depth look at the Indian video audience. They have confirmed some obvious inferences in terms of audience age, watch time and language patterns, which we've observed amid our video audience too", said Shakir Ebrahim, the founder of Bisbo India.

As a sign of the turbulent times, Google says 55% online users accessed the internet as a way to de-stress, followed by a need to learn. Only 11% go online to connect with another person. 33% or one in every three Indians are online to watch videos. The pattern about what they watch has shifted too, including explainers and other news and current affairs content, over live feeds and music.

BARC India had recently revealed how India's online viewership had changed its consumption patterns during the coronavirus pandemic and the nation-wide lockdown. Their report highlighted how news and analysis trumped needs for entertainment from January 2020 to March 2020.

In terms of language, the preference is for Hindi and regional languages, over English. The report revealed that 54% audience preferred Hindi videos, followed by content in English (16%). The rest preferred to watch content in Telugu (7%), Kannada (6%), Tamil (5%) and Bengali (3%).

"Since BISBO's inception, we've seen a steady rise in viewership for our Hindi content - it currently accounts for half of our video views and watch time, against the viewership of our other five main channels. Our short videos, which clock between 6-10 minutes, provide learning and entertainment and so cater to 89% of the online market", Ebrahim added.

The Google report has laid down the pattern for upcoming Indian YouTubers too. "Inform, entertain and talk to the Indian audience in its language - that's the way to the Indian online viewer's eyeballs."

About Bisbo India:

Bisbo India is India's first and the only YouTube channel to create animated current news videos and has a combined subscription base of approx 1.5 million subscribers, with 125 million views across 9 channels in 8 different Indian languages. It is the only producer of news content in animated format.

Bisbo India was awarded "Best Startup in Asia" in 2018-19. The channels presently have a watch time varying from 40-75 million monthly minutes, watched by the adults in the age group of 15-44. The news videos are comprehensive, covering real hard news in a fun, imaginative way and always end with a limerick or poem on the subject. Each screen is individually drawn by a team of 15 full time illustrators/animators and written by a desk of journalists having prior experience in well-known brands in traditional news media.

Future Supply Chain Inaugurates National Distribution Centre of Benetton India Pvt Ltd

Future Supply Chain Solutions Limited (FSC) is pleased to announce the inauguration of the National Distribution Centre of Benetton India Private Limited (Benetton India) at Koka, Jhajjar, Haryana. FSC, with its proven experience, is now a preferred partner for Benetton India in streamlining their domestic supply chain and expanding their business into new markets.

Commenting on this partnership, P V Sheshadri, Chief Executive Officer, Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. says “FSC has been serving many retail giants and players in fashion and lifestyle products with its premium warehousing and distribution solutions. Again, we are making a move to uphold the high standards we set for ourselves and establishing a warehouse of this level. We are confident that the new facility at Koka will fulfil the rapidly changing demands of lifestyle and fashion customers. We will continue to work with all the stakeholders to ensure the highest levels of service for Benetton India.”

“Collaboration is what we believe in and that’s how we are able to co-create solutions successfully,” he added.

The built-to-suit warehouse spans 1,12,000 sq.ft. and serves as the primary distribution centre for Benetton India Pvt. Ltd. It has the capacity to handle an inventory volume of over 4 mn and more than 1,00,000 SKUs, as well as various value added services like product kitting, customized packaging and returns management. It is equipped with shelving/racking storage, advanced material handling equipment, dock levellers, packaging machines and a full back-up generator.

Furthermore, the facility represents FSC’s commitment to sustainability and features an efficient 50kW Solar Power Plant, sky lighting, and two Sewage Treatment Plants for enabling reuse of contaminated water.

Sundeep Chugh, Managing Director and CEO, Benetton India Private Limited said “I am extremely delighted that Benetton has partnered with Future Supply Chain to run their national distribution centre. This project was executed in a record time and I appreciate their effort to design a solution that meets our vision and scale. I congratulate the entire team and look forward to this partnership for years to come.”

The inauguration ceremony of the new warehouse was attended by Mr. Sundeep Chugh, MD & CEO, Benetton India Private Limited and Mr. Abhik Saha, Director, Supply Chain, Benetton India Private Limited. About 50 delegates from Benetton India attended the celebration. Following the safety instruction inside the warehouse, everyone took a tour of the warehouse.

About Future Supply Chain Solutions Limited:

Future Supply Chain Solutions Limited is a public company domiciled in India and incorporated on March 8, 2006. The equity shares of FSC were listed on BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited on December 18, 2017. 

FSC is a leading third-party logistics service operator in India and covers the entire gamut of supply chain services across logistics value chain including smart warehousing, an efficient transportation and distribution system, temperature controlled logistics and last mile delivery logistics. FSC operates a pan-India distribution network, offers integrated warehouse management systems with highly automated state-of-the-art technology systems, and hub and spoke transportation model that enable innovative service offerings to the customers in an optimized and cost efficient manner. It caters to corporates in diverse sectors. 

As of June 30, 2019, FSC operations are run through 80 distribution centers across India, covering approximately 8.09 million sq. ft. of warehouse space. Its “hub-and-spoke” distribution model comprising 13 hubs and 126 branches across India.

TO THE NEW Develops ‘Performance Smartboard’ for the Ministry of External Affairs

TO THE NEW, a leading digital technology company was recently appointed by the Ministry of External Affairs to design and develop the MEA Performance Smartboard -- https://meadashboard.gov.in/

The dashboard is an initiative of the government to provide quick insights into various citizen-centric services like visas, Pilgrims, OCI cards and even the posts of MEA across the world, in one glance.

The MEA Performance Smartboard was launched by Hon'ble Minister of External Affairs, Dr. S Jaishankar, on Wednesday, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan, New Delhi. The Dashboard is a major priority set by the Hon’ble PM for all the Ministries, bringing transparency and accountability across all systems of government and is a tool for performance monitoring, allowing citizens and senior officials to view the key performance indicators of MEA. It encourages users to deep dive into key metrics of the various schemes, programs, and initiatives of MEA, in one glance.

[caption id="attachment_133253" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] MEA Dashboard[/caption]

The dashboard is an integration of three types of Dashboards - Operational (for real-time monitoring), Tactical (for analysis and benchmarking) and Strategic (for tracking the achievement of strategic objectives). It further details out MEA's global and Indian footprint showcasing key information such as 'Mission and Posts', 'Iconic Projects', the number of Passport Seva Kendras pan India and lots more.

"Thanks to TO THE NEW for their services in the successful creation and launch of a wonderful and beautifully designed MEA Performance Smartboard, with many world-class features! Their razor-sharp insights into website design, technical solutions, and data analytics are truly commendable, as also their commitment to timely delivery of the Product. It was wonderful to work with and know the ever-reliable and creative team at TO THE NEW”, said Upender Singh Rawat, Joint Secretary (eG&IT&CD), MEA.

Commenting on the engagement, Mr. Deepak Mittal, CEO & Co-Founder, TO THE NEW said, “TO THE NEW joined hands with Startup India back in 2017 and since then we've had the opportunity to work with Invest India and now the Ministry of External Affairs. The Government of India has truly embarked on a Digital Transformation journey and we are glad to be an integral part of it. We are proud to be playing a critical role in the Digital India initiatives that will propel our country to the forefront of the global landscape.”

TO THE NEW has followed a rigorous experience design process to analyze the end objectives and the workflow of the website. Leveraging a time tested open source content management system, TO THE NEW has built a superior digital experience for the Ministry of External Affairs.

The superior UX design ensures that the visitor has access to a variety of information in just a couple of clicks. In the coming days, TO THE NEW also plans to offer backend data analytics and integration that will continuously enhance the user experience as well as update all data on an almost real-time basis where available.

42% Cos Struggle with Sourcing Quality Tech Talent: Report

With digital transformations across domains, there is a surge in the demand for quality technology professionals, however, 42 per cent companies surveyed said it was the biggest challenge for them while
sourcing top tech candidates.

For the majority (42 per cent) of the companies surveyed, the first step of the hiring process, that is the sourcing of top tech candidates comprised the biggest challenge they faced while carrying out recruitment, according to 'Tech Hiring & Technology Adoption Trends 2019' report by Mercer|Mettl.

"Rapid digital transformation across domains has resulted in a steep rise in the demand for quality technology professionals the world over. However, as everybody is onboarding the automation bandwagon, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain quality tech talent. This is mostly on account of inadequate knowledge regarding tech-driven best practices and widening demand-
supply gap," Mercer|Mettl CEO Siddhartha Gupta said.

The report is based on a survey of 350 industry leaders from over 200 companies of different sizes.

Further, the report revealed that one-fifth (20 per cent) of the respondents cited the time taken to close a tech position as the primary reason causing the potential engagement to fall through.

The report further reveals that a competitor firm offering better pay package contributed to more than half of the reasons (60 per cent) for a candidate to decline a job offer.

Recruiters also reported to having conducted rehiring for the same position 23 per cent of the times in a financial year, it said.

The main reasons (85 per cent) that lead a candidate to accept a job offer include the pay and the quality of work, it added.

Regarding the channels used by tech recruiters to source candidates, more than one-fifth (23 per cent) of the respondents said they depend on employee referrals while 22 per cent used job portals and forums.

On the other hand, organisations (12 per cent) that conducted campus hiring reported to having the highest success rate by closing tech positions 67 per cent of the time, it opined.

While evaluating candidates, proficiency in the required tech skills comprised the top criterion for 20 per cent of the organisations, while 18 per cent of them tested the candidates with the view of up-skilling them as and when necessary.

In this case, cognitive ability and learning agility formed the basis for evaluation, it added. PTI SM

Co-Working Firm Plus Offices Invests $2 Mn to Set up Two Centres; To Raise $5-10 Mn

Co-working operator Plus Offices on Saturday said it has invested USD 2 million to set up two centres in Gurugram and is looking to raise up to USD 10 million for expansion.

Founded in 2018, Plus Offices has launched two centres in Gurugram, Haryana, which have a total of about 2,800 seats spread over 1.55 lakh sq ft area.

"We have invested around USD 2 million to set up these two centres with seed funding from angel investors," Plus Offices Chief Operating Officer Ravi Kikan said. The first centre, comprising 45,000 sq ft and 800 seats, has 80% occupancy, he added.

Kikan said the second centre has two phases, each having 55,000 sq ft area and 1,000 seating capacities. The first phase is 40% leased out. "We have launched the second phase as well focusing on customised workspace solution. A large US firm has taken up 5,500 sq ft area recently," he added.

On expansion, Kikan said the company is looking to set up more centres in tier II and tier III cities to meet rising demand for flexible space.

"We are in the process to raise USD 5-10 million fund to implement our expansion plan," he said.

Kikan said the company's aim is to be the one-stop solution for startups and SMEs, not just for their workspace requirements but also for strategic growth.

"With our seamless operations, the current revenue run rate will touch around USD 1 million by the next quarter end," he said.

Plus Offices also shares alliance with angel investors Anil Kumar and Amit Mavi for strategic real estate partnerships.

The development comes at time when similar plaayer Spring House Coworking, a chain of collaborative office spaces, has unveiled its flagship property across 30,000 sq. ft. yesterday at Grand Mall, MG Road, Gurugram. While another Coworking operator GoWork had recently raised $53 million debt funding from US-based BlackRock and CLSA Capital Partner to expand its business.

Spring House Co-working launches Its 30,000 Sq Ft Flagship Property at Gurugram

Spring House Coworking, a chain of collaborative office spaces, unveils its flagship property across 30,000 sq. ft. today at Grand Mall, MG Road, Gurugram. With a capacity of more than 500 seats, this coworking hub provides 100 open seats and 400 private seats, and a conference and meeting room with state-of-the-art interiors, bespoke furnishings and modern amenities, based on contemporary design ethos. The space has been set up with an investment of INR 2.5 crores.

This facility provides space for teams of all sizes, an individual consultant, a start-up or an established company. The space offers different packages – flexi, monthly and daily, customized to the needs of the persons opting to operate from Spring House properties. The price of a seat ranges from INR 10,000 to INR 15,000, with a day pass of INR 800. It also has beautifully designed common areas with walls adorned with distinctive art pieces and contemporary furnishings to unwind, giving an opportunity to interact with the co-workers at the space.

[caption id="attachment_132911" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Spring House Coworking - Grand Mall, Gurgaon 14[/caption]

Commenting on the launch of the new facility, Mukul Pasricha, Founder & CEO of Spring House, said, “The launch of this space at Grand Mall is a big leap for us and opening our flagship space of 30,000 sq. ft. instills the drive to constantly to move forward to achieve greater heights. We shall continue to cater to the needs of our clients by offering them spectacular work spaces and endless networking opportunities to grow and nurture their business.”

[caption id="attachment_132910" align="aligncenter" width="6685"] Spring House Coworking - Grand Mall, Gurgaon 7[/caption]

Spring House Coworking’s new space is located at Grand Mall, Mehrauli Gurgaon Road and has great connectivity with Delhi and Gurugram by the Metro rail and road network, which makes commutation easier and chaos free. Walking distance from two of the main metro stations in Gurugram, MG Road and Sikanderpur, this destination makes connectivity from all ends easy and is accessible by near and afar. Surrounded by the best localities, shopping complexes and popular markets of Gurugram, this is the ideal workspace for any team.

The space will house a café in the near future, which will be open to all mall visitors.

“Looking at the growing demand of coworking spaces in India, we are planning to come up with three more properties by the end of the FY-2019-2020. For expansion in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai, we intend to raise funds”, added Pasricha.

Spring House currently has 14 properties in Delhi, NOIDA, Gurugram and Lucknow with a total seating capacity of 2800+ seats.

Founded in June 2014, Spring House is a chain of collaborative work spaces, spread across 2,00,000 sq. ft. at different locations in Delhi, Gurugram, NOIDA and Lucknow. The coworking provides a nurturing environment for start-ups and entrepreneurs to grow. The company spearheaded from a 40 seater co-working space in Gurugram to offering more than 2800 seats currently in the National Capital Region.

Spring House Coworking is more than just a place to work. It is a movement to bolster the growing start-up ecosystem within the country. Whether it is a small business, a freelancer, wandering worker or just a simple dreamer, there is a mélange of private offices, co-working desks, meeting rooms, managerial cabins and virtual offices to choose from. One can easily book by the hour, day or multiple months. With 14 diverse spaces in and around Delhi and NCR, one can gain access to all the benefits of an office space along with a fun, efficient and friendly environment to work at. The company places sheer confidence in the fact that, while you focus on your to-do’s it takes care of the rest.

Music App Gaana Looking to Break-Even in Next 4-5 Years

Music app Gaana expects to achieve break-even in the next 4-5 years with 100 per cent year-on-year revenue growth and traction of paid users on its platform.

The company is also planning to invest in non-music genre to increase the engagement time of users on the platform.

Industry will become profitable when 50% of Indian people start using streaming apps, and 'paid music' as a model becomes the norm, Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal told PTI.

"Our revenue have been growing 100 per cent year-on-year. We expect to reach break-even at this rate in next 4-5 years," he added.

The Times Internet Group firm expects to double the number of monthly active users on its platform to 200 million in the next two years representing around 50 per cent share of the overall market.

"In next 3-4 years, we expect 500-600 million users will start using music app out of which we expect 30 million to start paying for music. This will take music streaming segment towards healthy profits. We will maintain our share of over 50 per cent in this kind of market as well," Agarwal said.

The company raised USD 115 million last year, which includes USD 100 million from Chinese company Tencent and USD 15 million from Times Internet.

Besides music, Gaana is now expanding non-music content to enhance user engagement.

"We are basically focussing on content from motivational speakers, meditation, workouts, comedy and story telling. This will enhance engagement of users on our platform," Agarwal said.

Gaana has also partnered with Google Playstore to launch an instant app for listeners who want to experience the app without actually downloading it.

"This feature is targeted towards the next 100 million users coming online. We have registered a 5 per cent surge in app installs per day as more people are realising the convenience of being able to listen to their favourite songs anytime anywhere even before they download our app," Agarwal said. PTI PRS

Vehicle-Sharing Platform Drivezy to Expand to 10 US Cities including Los Angeles

Bengaluru-based vehicle sharing marketplace Drivezy on Tuesday said it is planning to expand its services in about 10 cities in the US, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle over the next 12 months.

Drivezy, which counts names like Das Capital, Yamaha Motor Co Ltd and Axan Partners among its investors, had started pilot in San Francisco earlier this year and currently has a fleet of 100 cars in the city.

"The vehicles in the US have been listed through the peer-to-peer channel. We received a strong response and we are now expanding our services to 10 cities in the US with a fleet of 1,000 cars by next year," Drivezy Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Ashwarya Singh told PTI.

He added that the cities being considered includes San Diego, Dallas, Las Vegas, Houston and others.

"We are also looking at South America. For that market, we are looking at collaborating with a local partner and we are hopeful of that happening in the next one or two months," he said.

Singh said that over the next two years, international markets, such as the US, Latin America and Southeast Asia, is expected to account for about 20 per cent of the company's revenues with India continuing to account for a lion's share of the business.

Founded in 2015 by Ashwarya Singh, Abhishek Mahajan, Hemant Sah, Vasant Verma and Amit Sahu, Drivezy (formerly JustRide) operates peer-to-peer vehicle sharing network with over 2,000 owners as its partners. In November last year, the company had announced raising USD 20 million in funding and securing an additional USD 100 million in an asset financing deal.

At the end of June 2019, it had over 2,700 cars and close to 17,000 bikes listed on its platform. PTI SR

PMS Bazaar, EbixCash Fintech partner for India's 1st All-in-One PMS & AIF Investment Portal

PMS Bazaar & EbixCash Financial Technologies have partnered for a strategic collaboration, to introduce all-in-one PMS & AIF tracking portal for investors. Now investors can seamlessly analyse their entire gamut of investments in a click. The comprehensive platform offers a very safe, easy accessible various PMS & AIF investment reports in one go.

PMS Bazaar partnership with ECFT's is historic as it will leverage the comprehensive offering to cover its entire wealth management functions across its various business units, replacing multiple legacy systems and improving efficiency.

The newly introduced portal lets investors look into their PMS & AIF dashboards comprising different investments with comparison charts, analytics metrics and other information combined with expert investment advice.

"We cannot expect the field force of today, to work effectively with our Clients & Partners while dealing with a ton of paperwork. We need to unburden and empower them with the latest tools. MoneyWare was an easy choice for us because their suite allows PMS Bazaar to bring forth the technology advancements, we need to keep us competitive and enable business growth," said Hameed Rahman, Director - PMS Bazaar

Milan Ganatra, Managing Director ECFT adds, "MoneyWare Wealth Management is a proven solution with high scalability and flexibility. We are sure with this deployment the PMS Bazaar is well poised to leverage its existing investments in technology & it will also help them to enhance the ease of doing business with their Clients & Partners. ECFT will also be partnering with PMS Bazaar in its foray into utilising emerging Client Portal to the fullest.

In February, one of Ebix Inc's subsidiaries in India acquired 80% controlling stake in Delhi-based Zillious Solutions Private Limited for an undisclosed amount. Last October, EbixCash subsidiaries has acquired a 67% stake in Routier, a Delhi-based B2B Marketplace for Trucking Logistics.

PMS Bazaar, India's first online portal for investors looking for PMS & AIF comparisons, investments, information, analytics and investment advice. PMS Bazaar covers nearly the entire range of PMS & AIF avenues available in India. PMS Bazaar currently serves 8000+ Registered Investors, with 100+ strategies and supports investors across 10+Countries.

Digital Tech Firm TO THE NEW offers ESOPs to All Employees Post 1 Yr Completion

TO THE NEW, a leading digital technology company, widely acknowledged for consistently contributing to its employees’ (internally referred to as ‘Newers’) growth and welfare, has announced its employee stock option scheme. As per the scheme, the company will provide stock options to all Newers who complete 1 year with the company.

Another distinct feature of the employee stock option scheme is that it allows option holders to apply for cash settlement of their vested options -- within the employment period or at the time of separation.

As per the projections, the company expects to continue its CAGR of around 50% and plans to go public once it hits the annual revenue run-rate of US$ 100 million in 2022.

With its innovative ESOP, TO THE NEW aims to promote inclusivity and incentivize everybody towards their contribution to the growth of the company.

TO THE NEW has also been a regular feature on the list of Great Place to Work in India and has been awarded:

• Top 100 Great Place to Work-Certified - Large-Size Workplaces - 2019


• India’s Top 50 Great Mid-Size Workplaces – 2018


• India's Best Workplaces in IT & IT-BPM- 2018


• India’s Top 50 Great Mid-Size Workplaces – 2017


• India’s Top 50 IT-BPM Companies – 2015

 

Satya Sharma, CHRO & Co-founder, TO THE NEW, stated, “We are really excited to roll-out the Employee Stock Option Plan and believe that it will not only reward our people for their contribution but will also enhance the sense of ownership and belonging.”

Deepak Mittal, CEO & Co-founder of the company, stated, “Our people are our most important stakeholders. We are always trying to improve & upgrade the facilities & benefits that we offer and hence we enhance our benefits program on a continuous basis. We are glad to roll-out our Employee Stock Option plan that will help us share the wealth with everyone at TO THE NEW.”

TO THE NEW provides end-to-end product engineering services. TO THE NEW leverages the power of experience design, cutting-edge engineering and cloud to build disruptive web and mobile products and enable digital transformation for businesses across the US, UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and India.

TO THE NEW practices agile methodologies to develop innovative products with a faster time to market. With a team of 1000+ passionate technologists, TO THE NEW constantly challenges the status quo to empower Fortune 500 companies as well as startups across the globe.

In the last FY, TO THE NEW has witnessed 55% growth and aims at targeting multi-fold growth in the coming few years.

PR Solution Global Launching World’s Largest Online Corporate Etiquette Institute

‘Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential’, a well written quote by Will Cuddy indicates the importance and value of etiquette in the social and business world. Recognizing the importance of etiquette in the people’s life, PR Solution (PRS) Global is soon going to launch International Institute of Corporate Etiquette(IICE), the World’s largest online etiquette institute, to teach the people on etiquette and social graces of the daily life.

‘A person with skill is a talented person but once he’s sharpened with etiquette; he gets ready to work in the corporate world. It becomes easier for him to work, grow and learn in their careers. Our Institute instigates the vision to carve a talented person into a corporate professional’, said S Vijay Kumar, Founder of International Institute of Corporate Etiquette.

‘International Institute of Corporate Etiquette teaches every candidate at an individual level to upgrade their personal as well as professional skills. We envision that every person could give their best to uplift the organization and society as a whole. With a vision to help the youth realize their dreams and aspirations, PR Solution is ready to launch the International Institute of Corporate Etiquette soon’, Dr. Ranjan Kumar, Board of Director, added.

The courses offered in the International Institute of Corporate Etiquette includes Ambassadorship and people skills, persuasive communication skills, executive presence, business etiquette, dining etiquette, grace and style, media savvy, cross cultural communication skills, hospitality management training, etiquettes for men and women, image mastery, dressing sense, impressing women, entrepreneurship skills, social graces, public speaking, personality development and many more

Vishnu Khanna, Chief Advisor PR Solution (PRS) Global said, ‘International Institute of Corporate Etiquette aims at providing students an overall skill development focused more on practical knowledge and personality development. We are an international expert in Executive Presence, Image, Etiquette, Manners and Communication Essentials. PRS Global is pleased to offer the World’s Most Exclusive Finishing School to sophisticated, elite clients who value private, confidential coaching in a location of their choice.’

International Institute of Corporate Etiquette is one of its kinds in the country that is offering social and business etiquette courses in e-learning format so that it can be made accessible to everybody.

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

Animal Science Firm Tropical Animal Genetics' Innovative Tech Platform to Double Dairy Farmers Income in India

Tropical Animal Genetics (TAG), a Gurugram-based livestock technology company pioneering innovations to ensure sustainable and profitable income to the dairy farmers, today has announced the launch of its latest Patented technology platform “Tropical Bovine Genetics (TBG)”.

Tropical Animal Genetics’ (TAG) innovative product profile is committed to doubling the Indian dairy farmers’ income with a mantra of assured genetics with Embryo Technology (ET) and assured lactation with Pregnancy Free Lactation (PFL).

Tropical Animal Genetics (TAG) is an animal sciences company focused on transforming the future of protein production by pioneering innovations in dairy, aqua, and poultry farming.

TAG has strategic and technology partnerships with Transova Genetics Inc, USA, Roslin Institute University of Edinburgh, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), IIT Madras and National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS).

The company’s dual technology – (1) Affordable Assured Genetics with ET and (2) Assured lactation with PFL, will increase rural employment, provide safe milk to the consumers and will save the environment.

• Affordable Assured Genetics – Poor genetics of the herd results in low milk productivity per animal. TAG has industrialized sexed embryo technology allowing dairy farmers to access high productivity cows at affordable prices. Embryo derived milking cows (EDM) ensures dairy farmer will double his profits as compared to cows derived from Artificial Insemination (AI) using sperms. This is because only embryos give 100% genetics while AI gives 50% of the genetics.


• Assured Lactation – PFL technology does not require a pregnancy in a cow in order to produce milk. Instead, lactation is induced by mimicking the conditions of pregnancy. PFL is a groundbreaking solution that extends the productive life of a cow till the end of her life. This addresses the stray cattle problem in India as it will convert infertile animals into productive cattle. It will also help gaushalas become profitable.

Announcing the TAG’s innovative technologies, Dr. Pravin Kini, Managing Director, Tropical Animal Genetics said, “Our vision is to provide the right genetics for dairy in India that will help farmers secure a life of abundance and prosperity. We aspire to bring Indian farmers guaranteed pregnancies and better genetics.”

Dr. Bruce Whitelaw, Professor Animal Biotech, Univestity of Edinburgh and Future Technology Architect, TAG said, “Our R&D in India and UK will bring more advances to dairy farmers by further reducing costs of producing safe milk for the consumer while increasing farmer’s income.”

Dr Tom Mercuro, President, Transova Technologies said, “We are very excited about bringing Transova’s expertise to India and working with TAG to help in their goal of doubling farmer’s income.”

Mr. Srinivas Aluri, CoFounder TAG said “TAG is a new age Indian startup that is harnessing the power of deep technology to create positive social impact.”

TAG’s technologies also benefit the climate by reducing the number of unproductive animals. PFL will make infertile animals productive. Benefits of lower cattle population include reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and slowing of deforestation. TAG’s superior technology helps Bovine Breeder farmers convert sexed embryo to an embryo derived milch cow for sale to a dairy farmer, thus creating a new breed of rural entrepreneurs and generating employment opportunities. TAG is also working on a rural entrepreneurship program to create jobs by providing business and technical training.
About TAG: (Tropical Animal Genetics)

Tropical Animal Genetics a livestock technology company pioneering innovations for a sustainable food secure future. TAG’s Product TBG (Tropical Bovine Genetics) is committed to doubling the Indian dairy Farmers income with a mantra of assured genetics plus assured lactation to get assured revenue. The company’s technologies - affordable assured genetics and pregnancy free lactation for assured lactation will double farmer income, increase rural employment, provide safe milk to the consumers and save the environment.

~ Business Wire India

Aiwa Re-Enters India with its Consumer Electronic Products

Japanese consumer electronics brand Aiwa has re-entered Indian market with its range of AudioVisual products.

The company is all set to start selling Premium SMART 4K Ultra High Definition LED TVs, SMART Home Audio systems, wireless Headphones and personal audio products.

"This launch is the first step in that direction and will cater to the ever-evolving expectations of our target audience for simple and affordable technology products. We plan to invest approximately over Rs 200 crore in the coming years," said Manmit Chaudhry, Managing Director, AIWA India.

The company has aggressively priced its LED TVs range from Rs 7,999 to 1.99 lakh.

Founded in 1951 as AIKO Denki Sangyo Co., Ltd., AIWA got its its name to Aiwa Co. Ltd in 1959. Manufacturing microphones Sony corporation had a 54.6% controlling stake in the company till 1982 an in 2015 Aiwa was fully purchased by Sony Corporation.

In April, 2017, Japanese audio equipment manufactuer Towada Audio announced that Towada acquired Aiwa brand rights from Sony and would produce Aiwa-branded audio and record player products

Move over Cricket API, AI Sports Tech Startup Roanuz launches its Football Fantasy API

India's leading sports tech AI startup Roanuz Softwares Pvt Ltd today announced the launch of its Football API. Fantasy Football is a way for fans of the sport to participate in the game. Instead of just watching, they can put together a team for the match and interact with the ongoing ones on the field in various ways. This makes the user a part of the game instead of an observer and increases his knowledge about the game, his enjoyment and sense of inclusion.

This initiative is a part of a launching campaign. Roanuz has, however, an extended list of customers in all sorts of business areas: Game/Entertainers Developers, Sports Startups, Sports Fans Clubs etc. supporting thousands of apps, web-solutions and direct information displays all over the world.

This live and interactive method of participatory sports gaming creates possibilities for developers, that until recently were not possible. The Fantasy API provides easy to use, readymade data for the developers that can be easily integrated to their platforms. It takes away a lot of the hassle for them to collect and manipulate data, as it is served on a plate.

Talking about the Football Fantasy API, Anto Binish Kaspar, Founder and CEO of Roanuz Softwares Pvt Ltd said “The users themselves experience a much deeper engagement to the game, when the live data is used. He learns more about the game and all its complications through own experience and develops a tighter relationship with the sport itself. By gamifying the observer role, the game also takes a more competitive form for everyone and develops the feeling of inclusion in a group of gamers. When the game-player does exceptionally well, the observer even becomes the observed.”

Player Credit value (Market Value) for the match is the crucial factor for any Fantasy Game. Today, App developers have a dedicated team to manually create Player Credit Value for each player for every match based on the players stats & recent performance. This is huge work for App developers and its error-prone manual process. Roanuz Football Fantasy API takes care of Player Credit Value and uses it Artificial intelligence to control Credit value to improve the gamification.

He adds “Also, We have introduced a new credit management system where customer can choose the specific match and update the player credit value as per the demand of customer application use case and get through the same credit value of his player in an immediate basis on his Credit Variation API [Credit value can update from customer using our credit management interface].”

Roanuz Softwares Pvt Ltd, is India's one of the leading AI-based sports tech company offering cricket information via bot. The bot titled Cricket Bot API addresses an exhaustive set of information, from live and historical data on matches to player and team stats. Currently, 75 % of the top Cricket Fantasy Apps are built with the Roanuz Cricket API. Also, Roanuz Cricket API provides various solutions like Chatbot API, Performance API to construct an effective application.

With the closure of FY 2018-19, Roanuz witnessed a whopping increase in their sales growth (owing to the IPL season) – 276%. The splendid performance has boosted the team further, and they are now targeting a 350% hike in the current financial year.

About Roanuz Softwares Pvt Ltd.

Artificial Intelligence has found its way into almost all the key sectors today and has brought in tremendous transformations in all the sectors that it has touched. Be it, technology/startups, pharmaceutical, education, logistics, ecommerce, etc. AI has been helping achieve the unthinkable. Sports technology is one such sector that has been witnessing newer developments, all thanks to the AI technology. Roanuz is one such AI-based sports technology company whose creative ideas have opened up new possibilities for the sports enthusiasts.

Roanuz was conceptualized, formed and bootstrapped by Anto Binish Kaspar (Founder & CEO) with dream to make huge global impact on A.I and Sports Tech. Very soon the team realised cricket is far away from latest tech, and they worked towards the same through their platform to bring in new innovative possibilities and avenues for the game enthusiast. They realised Cricket Dataset quality and availability wasn't good as others sports like Soccer. So the team believed, Cricket API will bring state-of-art tech into Cricket data & faster delivery.

E-Sports Platform WinZO Empowering Housewives and School Teachers

WinZO, India’s largest vernacular e-sports gaming platform, today announced that it has partnered with more than 600 housewives and school teachers in rural Bharat to empower them by providing a parallel stream of income.

WinZO, backed by Kaalari Capital, offers 30+ games on its App based platform in 10 languages, namely English, Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri. Interestingly, all the translation done for the app is facilitated by housewives and school teachers across rural India.

The Housewives and school teachers on an average earn 10,000 – 15000 rupees by translating the app and trivia content in different languages. Currently, WinZO Trivia has a database of 5 lakh+ questions, the translation of which is solely driven by Housewives, college students and teachers.

WinZO Games has created a sustainable model to support and boost the gaming ecosystem in India. On the platform, more than 80% of users are using the app in non-English languages. The average time spent by the players on the platform is close to 55 minutes, only 10% of the players are from the top cities of the country.

Commenting on strengthening the online gaming ecosystem Mr. Paavan Nanda, Co-Founder said: ‘Online Gaming as an entertainment category is growing rapidly and with the penetration of mobile phones and internet the traction and usage is just increasing manifold. This reach has opened a lot of opportunities for people residing in the rural India. Many of the WinZO users are making their very first entertainment and media transaction on the platform and we aim to strengthen this confidence by adopting a more social and customized content creation for our users’

He further added ‘We as a part of creative economy are looking forward to build a product which has both commercial and cultural value. WinZO further commits to spur the Indian market by acting as an enabler, by providing opportunities for the rich and diverse population of rural India’.

With an aim to strengthen the influencer community, WinZO also started an influencer-focused feature, ‘WinZO Superstar’ across India. Through this, it is inviting the influencers to partner with WinZO. After registering for this feature, these influencers are provided with specific links to promote WinZO on their social media handles for which they are rewarded. WinZO offers these influencer’s opportunities with high-earning potential that varies from Rs. 25,000 daily to Rs 5 lakhs monthly, basis the leader board on the app and other incentives. Many such influencers come from far flung areas of India and are working with WinZO Games as an Influencer and the amount won through the platform has helped them with college/tuition fee etc.

This feature is empowering social media influencers with parallel earning and employment opportunity and has created an innovative and stable incentive channel for these local influencers on a larger scale to support every effort they make to promote the platform. WinZO is helping these micro influencers to grow their reach on their respective social media handles by featuring their content on their app and social handles as well. Currently WinZO has collaborated with 20,000+ such influencers and is building a strong locale around the same.

WinZO has helped these micro influencers to envision the bigger possibilities in life and achieve what they have always dreamt of. Video content of these influencers is featured directly on the app, where they get a chance to garner 70 lakh eyeballs, hence an opportunity to grow with the platform itself.

Hyderabad's 'Zero Commission' Cab hailing App partners 7500 Cab Drivers in 30 Days

Hyderabad-based Tora Cabs Technology Services Pvt. Ltd. (TTSPL) has seen a surge in drivers joining them with over 7500 already on-board, since it announced its plans to foray into the market on June 27, 2019 with its "Zero Commission” “Zero Surge” Cab hailing app.

• Driver Benefits


• Zero commission for life


• Only a subscription fee of Rs. 199 per day or Rs. 199 x 6 for 7 days or Rs. 199 x 25 for a mont


• Driver has the flexibility to choose his plans


• No fee charged till he gets optimal rides

He receives his payments almost immediately, maximum wait time is less than 12 hours

• Unlimited rides


• No hidden charges


• Accident insurance cover

The company is currently on-boarding drivers and plans to launch its ride app for the passengers in August 2019.

Tora Cabs is about technology that will benefit a large number of people and it is a socially conscious business, therefore the promise of “No Commission” for the drivers and “No Surge” for the Customers. Tora Cabs, a joint venture with a Korean strategic partner has been started to bring about sustainability and convenience in public transport.

Kavita Bhaskaran Ravi, Director – Marketing & Public Policy, Tora Cabs Technology Services Pvt. Ltd. (TTSP) said, “Innovation and fair play are the cornerstones of Tora Cabs. Today we have over 7500 driver partners who are ready to embark on this journey with Tora Cabs which stands for convenience for drivers and passengers. The drivers are excited about our ‘zero commission' business model and we will launch in August with at least 10,000 driver partners on-board.”

She added, “The drivers who have signed up with us are our partners and we are confident that we have the technology to fuel their entrepreneurship spirit. We believe in capacity building and sustainable growth which will have a positive impact on the society at large.” She pointed out, this will ensure that the passengers will always have cab availability and the ‘wait time' is considerably reduced and this model will bring about a paradigm shift in the app based cab hailing sector.

Tora Cabs, a technology platform for cab hiring is all set to revolutionise the app-based ride hailing industry in the country. A unique cab hailing technology where drivers using the app need not pay any commission from the fare they collect; they would just need to pay a minimal daily subscription charge. Innovation and fair play are the cornerstones of Tora Cabs.

Tora Cabs is focussed on a sustainable model based on taking zero commission from the drivers. Drivers will only be charged pay per use fees starting with a nominal Rs. 199 per day, 199 x 6 for 7 days, and 199 x 25 for a month. This gives the driver the option of paying for only the days he uses. The ‘No commission' model will ensure higher earnings for the drivers.

Tora Cabs Technology Services Pvt. Ltd. (TTSPL)

[caption id="attachment_132511" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Tora Team (Image - facebook.com/toracabs/)[/caption]

The company was conceived in 2017 and launched in June 2019 with a best in class IT infrastructure and a unique business model. Tora Cabs is a joint venture with a Korean partner headquartered in New Delhi, India. Tora Cabs is a technology company and the core purpose of our business model is to develop a platform that is fair and transparent for both riders and drivers.

Tora Cabs believes that change is inevitable, but it's not always easy. Ride-hailing apps changed the world of taxi services forever, but each step in this evolutionary process has come with its share of challenges. Primary among these challenges is the elusive balance between rider satisfaction and driver happiness and Tora Cabs is all set to address this.

Tora Cabs believes in bringing technology closer to people and for their larger benefit. Tora Cabs come with a promise of “No commission” for the drivers and “No Surge” for the Customers. Tora Cabs, the joint venture with a Korean strategic partner has been started to bring about sustainability and convenience in public transport.

P2P Lender Rupeecircle launches Affordable Credit Products for Rural Tamil Nadu

Digital lending marketplace RupeeCircle has set up a segment-wise model of credit disbursement through its P2P platform. Deserving Individuals and families belonging to certain communities who were hitherto declined loans from banks and NBFCs due to lack of sufficient credit history or lack of a proper bank account can now avail loans on the P2P platform.

By disbursing loans to individuals and families living in rural areas of Kulasekaram, Thiruvattur, Thipparappu and surrounding areas of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, RupeeCircle has commenced the process. The target community here are the daily wage earners working in Rubber Estates and cashew factories, and farmers.

Speaking on this new initiative Ajit Kumar, Founder and CEO, RupeeCircle, said “Our market research threw light on the fact that by reaching out to communities we stood a better chance of not only disbursing loans to credit worthy individuals but also subsume the concept of P2P lending and borrowing. And this is very important because people need to be aware that there are other (and better) alternatives to credit than banks and moneylenders."

“There are several communities in rural as well as urban India who are under-banked and fail to get their loans approved due to lack of sufficient credit history. In their need of the hour they turn to local moneylenders who levy exorbitant rate of interest”, said Nikhil Prabhakar, IIM (Ahmedabad) alumnus and Head of Marketing & Products at RupeeCircle. “Making credit accessible by leveraging Peer-to-Peer lending solutions will not only bring an individual under the ambit of the organised banking sector but gradually the benefits will percolate to the whole community."

RupeeCircle, licensed by RBI (NBFC-P2P), has disbursed more than INR 50 million over the last few months to under-banked individuals. Thousands of individuals have registered over the last few months and the default rate has been at a constant decline (currently at an impressive 0.89%), which not only signifies the trust of lenders but the robustness of its proprietary credit underwriting algorithm. This outreach to under-banked communities will fortify the efforts of financial inclusion in a country where unsecured credit is hard to get.

Canadian Tech Startup Expands Presence in India to launch IoT Products

SnowM Inc, a Canadian tech startup focussed on building IoT solutions, today announced the opening of its new branch in India, Hyderabad, to address the significant market opportunity in the IoT market and support its rapidly growing support base in India.

As the company’s the first office in India, the new location enhances the company’s ever-expanding the global presence and was strategically selected due to the abundance of skilled engineering talent, the business environment and culture, and SnowM’s existing relationships in the region. Besides, the Hyderabad office also helps SnowM for further growth in India and strengthens and accelerate the country’s growing IoT ecosystem.

The opening of our office in Hyderabad, India, represents a significant step forward in the execution of our IoT growth strategy explained Madan Kanala, Founder & CEO of SnowM. Madan who hails from Andhra Pradesh bring his experience from working with global brands such as Broadcom and Hewlett –Packard, says “Our vision for SnowM is it to help businesses transform with connected intelligence and with the introduction of new technologies like NB-IoT, SnowM’s drive for developing smart solutions will help meet the growing demand of multiple businesses.”

SnowM's product contains 5G enabled smart devices that will cater to major application categories of transport, agriculture, health care, asset tracking, logistics, smart cities, and security and safety. Its solution architecture enables communication between cloud connectable sensors and an integrated, cloud-based analytics engine to extract and analyze data for actionable insights.

With a decade of experience, SnowM’s workforce is skilled engineers and professional services experts, working on core product innovations across SnowM’s IoT portfolio. With this new branch, SnowM is expected to expand its workforce in Hyderabad in the next one year and strengthen its position as a high-growth startup. The new office is located at Hyderabad's White House at Begumpet. Hyderabad is also home to R& D of few other companies such as Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Google.
About SnowM

SnowM is a B2B (IoT) Solutions Company started its operations in 2018, headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. SnowM's products empower businesses with connected intelligence. SnowM Inc. designs end-to-end IoT solutions and manufactures easy-to-use, cloud-connected, rugged electronic devices, with rich data analytics and reporting.

Bizongo in Talks for Series-C Funding, targets Fourfold Hike in Revenue by Next Fiscal

Multi-category packaging services provider Bizongo is in the process of raising fresh funds to finance ramping up of technology and product offerings as it targets fourfold jump in turnover to around Rs 1,600 crore by the next financial year, according to a top company official.

The Mumbai-based firm is betting on food delivery and e-commerce business to be among major growth drivers besides retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors, according to Bizongo Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Aniket Deb.

The company provides end-to-end automated packaging design, development, procurement and artwork solutions to its clients across industries such as FMCG, food, retail, consumer durables, supply chain and e-commerce.

"The Indian packaging industry is a USD 72-billion market currently and is growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 16 per cent. Bizongo is in the right place to leverage this huge opportunity as packaging is inextricably linked to India's consumption growth story," Deb told PTI.

People are buying more branded goods both online and offline, ordering more takeaways even in smaller cities and towns which means these segments will need more packaging, he added.

Elaborating on the company's plans to tap the opportunity, he said, "Our next big bet is the food delivery and e-commerce business which is growing at 31 per cent and 32 per cent, year-on-year, respectively. Retail and FMCG are the two other areas with huge growth potential."

The plans is, he said, to increase the company's footprint by bringing in more delivery pin codes but added Bizongo does not want to lose sight of serviceability.

"We believe our efforts will see an increase in the number of clients," Deb said.

Bizongo's current clients include Amazon India, Tata Cliq, Sesa Care, FirstCry, Curefit, Myntra, Flipkart, MI, Bunge, Agarwal Packers and Movers Ltd, Liso Chocolatier, Godrej Interio, Reliance Retail, Godrej Tyson, Johnson & Johnson.

Deb said the company currently has a "revenue run rate" of Rs 400 crore and "we expect to approximately grow around 4 times in the next financial year".

When asked if the company is looking to raise fresh funds, he said, "Bizongo's Series-C fundraising process is still on" but declined to share details.

So far, the company has up to USD 22 million through two rounds of funding. Its investors include Accel, Chiratae Ventures (formerly known as IDG Ventures), Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's venture capital firm B Capital and World Bank's investment arm International Finance Corporation.

When asked where the funds would be deployed, he said it will be "in ramping up our tech and product offerings. We will also invest in our flagship product ProcureLive. This will help in on-boarding more clients and give us the bandwidth to curate more sellers on the platform which is crucial to our expansion plans".

In terms of manpower addition in line with the expansion, Deb said, "Bizongo currently has 554 employees on its rolls and we would increase it to 700-800 to match our expanded operations. One of the major focus areas is to bolster our technology/suite of products that we offer to our customers and partner sellers." PTI RKL