HCL Tech's UK Unit Picks-up Stake in Professional Networking App Kalido for $2 Mn

Indian IT services major HCL Technologies on Thursday said its UK susidiary has picked up minority stake in London-based Kalido.

Operated by London-based Om Mobile Ventures, Kalido empowers its users to provide skills and meet skilled people, with trust at the core of every interaction. Kalido can be used for enterprises, schools, conference organisers and attendees, for setting up a private network.

HCL Technologies UK Ltd will acquire 2.8 million shares of Kalido's parent, Om Mobile Ventures, which would be about 6.64% stake on a fully diluted basis, a regulatory filing said.

The cost of acquisition was USD 0.71 a share, aggregating to about USD 2 million (over Rs 14 crore), it added.

For enterprises, Kalido enables better onboarding for new joiners, greater information sharing and connectivity between existing employees; faster team formation based on people who have specific skills in specific locations; and faster hiring through social connections that already exist between employees and future candidates.

"This investment could provide HCL with an opportunity to expand network building capabilities and features to customers for the newly acquired IBM Connections as well as HCL's Digital Workplace solutions," it said.

Om Mobile Ventures was founded in 2014 and offers a real-time opportunity engine that uses artificial intelligence software to make meaningful connections.

Kalido is currently in pre-revenue product development stage, the filing said.

To recall, in last month HCL confirmed the official close at the end of June 2019 the previously announced acquisition of select IBM products for security, marketing, commerce, and digital solutions.

Help Your Startup Succeed Through Networking and Face-to-Face Meetings

The number of startups in India has grown dramatically from 7,000 in 2008 to 50,000 in 2018. India is also ranked as the fifth-most startup-friendly country in the world ahead of Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden, according to CEOWORLD Magazine. One of the ways to grow a startup is to identify fresh opportunities such as new or alternative markets. To do this, you would have to network and travel within and outside of India to actively sell the startup so that it can thrive and grow.

Why Business Travel Matters for Startups

There are surely many reasons why business travel helps your startup grow. When you travel outside of your location, you are expected to meet new people including the competition, discuss ideas, develop partnerships, and even forge closer alliances. The level of personalisation is very important as it helps you attain the confidence and trust of potential investors or customers.

Even though technology has reduced the need to travel for business purposes, there is no substitute for in-person relationship building. If lucky, you might even get access to a CEO so that you can pitch your business ideas to secure extra funding for expansions. The personal interaction with others build the present and future partnerships that can make the business stand out. Reducing miscommunication because of face-to-face meetings is crucial to the success of the startup. According to the Harvard Business Review, a face-to-face request is 34 times more powerful than an email making travel a compelling business strategy.

Before Travelling

Travelling may have a huge impact on the direction where your startup is headed. It also requires preparation. Considering that you are going to unknown territory, it is also vital to protect your financial interests as travelling itself already represents an expense that you might or might not recover.

One way of protecting your business is to get a travel insurance that will cover your back in cases of unexpected events such as an illness or family emergencies. There are several benefits of having a travel insurance. It will pay for accidents and losses arising from a journey. Like any other business transaction, ensure that you are getting your money’s worth when shopping for travel insurance. Compare prices across providers and look at the terms closely identifying what is covered and not. In addition, check if it makes sense to buy a single or annual plan. This will largely depend on whether you intend to do frequent trips to promote your business or not.

Startups are important players in the Indian economy that require time and investment. Identifying new opportunities and networking through business travel help owners sustain their activities, grow, and succeed.

Mumbai Based TrackNext Is New Social Business/Professional Network For Everyone

TrackNext.com is a new online platform that uses a scientific approach to scope people from all around the world and then associates them with a distinct connexion called 'Business'. Categorically TrackNext is Social Professional Networking

People at TrackNext like to call themselves a Business Social Network that engages professionals and businesses to connect with each other and market their businesses. They even provide students with an opportunity to compete with each other for scholarships and win career opportunities. The site’s inbuilt algorithm can maintain a sundry of data points which ranges from the person’s location to his or her industry skills to his or her educational qualifications. This ultimately unites people in developing a good rapport with each other.

The company provides a platform for exchanging information, publishing jobs, events, tacks and offers and that too with a single click.

In this 21^st century, career has become the centre point in everyone’s life. It is the locus around which everything else revolves. TrackNext.com works as a career platform which measures people intrinsically and then matches them to a career which will suit them the best.

Related - 9 Emerging Professional Networking Sites In India

Students can gain some real-time experience with the help of tracking professionals and businesses. The platform even helps them by creating circles of Institutions and Colleges for them to win various scholarships.

The platform is great for professionals as they can raise their profile and then get jobs of their own choice. They can even create their profile as freelancers and showcase their amazing work and portfolios. By using the platform’s Workspace, professionals can do teamwork within their private and public network.

The platform’s business pages are search engine optimized so that the businesses can promote and market their products and attract more customers. By using the platform, businesses can also get feedbacks and opinions about their brand.

TrackNext.com was founded by Saurabh Sarkar and Ankit V. in 2014. The Mumbai based startup has goal to build strong bonding between professionals, students and businesses by eradicating multiple efforts and problems which they face in building their professional and social networks.

Mumbai Based TrackNext Is New Social Business/Professional Network For Everyone

TrackNext.com is a new online platform that uses a scientific approach to scope people from all around the world and then associates them with a distinct connexion called 'Business'. Categorically TrackNext is Social Professional Networking

People at TrackNext like to call themselves a Business Social Network that engages professionals and businesses to connect with each other and market their businesses. They even provide students with an opportunity to compete with each other for scholarships and win career opportunities. The site’s inbuilt algorithm can maintain a sundry of data points which ranges from the person’s location to his or her industry skills to his or her educational qualifications. This ultimately unites people in developing a good rapport with each other.

The company provides a platform for exchanging information, publishing jobs, events, tacks and offers and that too with a single click.

In this 21^st century, career has become the centre point in everyone’s life. It is the locus around which everything else revolves. TrackNext.com works as a career platform which measures people intrinsically and then matches them to a career which will suit them the best.

Related - 9 Emerging Professional Networking Sites In India

Students can gain some real-time experience with the help of tracking professionals and businesses. The platform even helps them by creating circles of Institutions and Colleges for them to win various scholarships.

The platform is great for professionals as they can raise their profile and then get jobs of their own choice. They can even create their profile as freelancers and showcase their amazing work and portfolios. By using the platform’s Workspace, professionals can do teamwork within their private and public network.

The platform’s business pages are search engine optimized so that the businesses can promote and market their products and attract more customers. By using the platform, businesses can also get feedbacks and opinions about their brand.

TrackNext.com was founded by Saurabh Sarkar and Ankit V. in 2014. The Mumbai based startup has goal to build strong bonding between professionals, students and businesses by eradicating multiple efforts and problems which they face in building their professional and social networks.

Solaborate is a Social & Collaboration Platform for Tech Professionals and companies

Solaborate is a new social and collaboration platform dedicated to technology professionals and companies, allowing them to connect, collaborate and create an ecosystem around products and services. Solaborate provides technology professionals a central place with the right tools and services to collaborate in real-time in order to make them more productive.

Today, Solaborate has launched into public beta and welcomes wider use of its real-time communication and social productivity tools with the launch of its public beta and a new Solaborate mobile app for Android. Integrating most of its currently available Web features, through Solaborate’s mobile app users can access personal, company, product and service profiles while sending and receiving messages, posting on walls, asking questions, providing commentary, discovering people, companies and more.



In May, Los Angeles Based Startup -Solaborate has received $1M in seed funding, which the company has used to perfect its platform, taking it from private to public beta in just five short months. As part of this move, Solaborate now offers audio calling, video conferencing, file sharing and screen sharing along with social and collaboration capabilities via easy, powerful integrations with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.

Solaborate is a new way for the technology community to be more productive. Technology professionals and companies are invited to connect, collaborate and discover opportunities while creating an ecosystem around products and services. The public beta will feature top global technology companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, SAP, Facebook, IBM, Samsung and Cisco. Users can now post on a wall, follow, message, share rich media content and much more.

Unlike other social and collaboration platforms, Solaborate allows video calling straight from the browser and simultaneous use of screen sharing with video calling, without downloads or plug-ins. Users can also send instant messages and share photos and rich media files straight from their browser. Companies can use Solaborate to support and demonstrate products and services while offering a more personalized customer experience.



"We are excited to announce that Solaborate is now publicly available both on the web and mobile to everyone in the technology ecosystem. Our mission is to connect technology professionals and provide a dedicated place for you, your company and your products and services by providing all the tools and services to allow you to be more productive. We understand that it’s important for technology professionals to be able to stay connected and engaged, whether they’re at the office or on the go," said Labinot Bytyqi, the Founder and CEO of Solaborate.