Actor and Humanitarian Sonu Sood To Be Brand Ambassador for Dandera’s Electric Vehicles

Sustainable mobility startup Dandera Ventures today announced that popular actor, model, philanthropist and humanitarian Sonu Sood will be the Brand Ambassador for its forthcoming lineup of commercial Electric Vehicles (EVs). Dandera recently announced that it will be launching its first commercial EV in September.

Through this association, Sonu Sood will support Dandera in championing the cause and adoption of environmentally sustainable mobility, and also communicate the brand’s values and EV’s features and benefits to Dandera’s customers and other stakeholders.

Kshitij Bajaj, Cofounder and CEO of Dandera Ventures said, “Sonu and Dandera as a brand both believe in doing good for the people around us, and in protecting our planet for the future generations. All of us at Dandera have long admired his untiring humanitarian efforts and we are confident that like Sonu, Dandera as a brand will soon become synonymous with qualities like conviction and reliability.”

Dandera will launch its advertising campaign with Sonu as the face of its first EV in September 2022.

Dandera’s upcoming commercial EV will be targeted for use by independent delivery operators and last-mile delivery companies.

Sonu Sood said, “Dandera as a young startup has impressed me with their clear vision to protect our environment through its innovations in sustainable mobility, backed by their solid product roadmap, strategy and execution capabilities. I am glad to endorse their vision and firmly believe that together, we can make a meaningful difference to protecting our planet while simultaneously putting smiles on the faces of Dandera’s customers”.

Kanav Manchanda, Cofounder and COO of Dandera Ventures said, “We believe that Sonu’s support will go a long way in establishing Dandera as the commercial EV manufacturer of choice for millions of owners and drivers in the near future. We are equally excited to align our business and growth strategy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for ‘Make in India, for the world’.”

Dandera’s soon-to-be-launched EV will feature industry-leading performance and capacity benchmarks. The vehicle has been completely designed from the ground up as an EV. All parts and components, including the batteries will be fully manufactured in India, for both Indian and export markets.

About Dandera: 

Founded in 2018, Dandera is a sustainable mobility-focused startup with a vision to develop and market world-class sustainable mobility products from the ground up. The Founders of Dandera, Kshitij Bajaj and Kanav Manchanda are senior industry professionals with decades of experience in automotive design, business management and operations between them. Dandera is a portfolio company of Xponents Venture Studio and has raised capital from Xponents and its partners. For more information, please visit https://www.danderaelectric.com/

Sonu Sood and Marquee HNI Investors Backed Intercell Mentor Network Named Abhishek Verma as CMO

Intercell – Virtual Mentor Network, an Ed-tech start-up that is changing the way students experience professional mentoring services, announced today that Abhishek Verma joined its leadership team as Chief Marketing Officer. Intercell is backed by marquee HNI investors, including actor Sonu Sood, who has recently invested in the business.

Verma will lead all Marketing and PR initiatives and will help build a compelling brand story and drive user growth.

 
He comes with 21 years of industry experience, has led marketing teams at Star TV, Sony Entertainment Television and Discovery Channel. More recently, he led the P&L of Freemont Digital, a digital agency with luxury hospitality clients like the Taj Group of Hotels. Abhishek has graduated from New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA and has an MBA from SP Jain School of Global Management.

“I am very excited to be joining the Intercell team, said Abhishek Verma. “I believe Intercell has a great business model and talented management team that uniquely positions it to capitalize on the changing industry. "Mentoring services are the need of the hour and I look forward to working with the leadership to craft a narrative for the brand and drive the next phase of growth."

“We are delighted to have Abhishek join our leadership team and direct the marketing function towards our next phase of growth,” says Arunabh Varma, CEO. “His diverse expertise in building brands will be pivotal to our plans.”

About Intercell – Virtual Mentor Network

Intercell provides online mentoring services to students and early career professionals. It provides access to senior industry professionals from around the world in a virtual environment. All sessions are live, one to one and personalized.

There are over 250+ career specializations from Engineering to Design and a network of Mentors that represent over 5000 brands. Intercell is the World’s first SAAS and AI-based platform for professional mentoring.

Sonu Sood Launches "Travel Union", India’s 1st Rural B2B Travel Tech Platform, to Support Small Business Owners

Travel Union to digitally empower and build a leading travel agent business community in rural India to serve 1 billion Bharat population

Mumbai, August 6, 2021: Travel Union, India’s first rural B2B travel tech platform, was launched today. Travel Union, a Sonu Sood initiative, will democratize travel services by providing a platform to Travel Union members (travel agents) towards serving the travel needs of rural customers at every district, block and gram panchayat level. With a mission to support, digitally empower and build a leading travel agent business community in rural India at zero investment, Travel Union aims to be the largest rural digital travel services platform serving the 1 billion Bharat population.

At the rural level, the travel sector has been largely unorganised with no player focusing on the needs of Indians in tier 2 towns and villages. Travel Union addresses multiple unfulfilled needs of rural travel agents, small business owners and enterprises, called Travel Union Members, the primary one being the absence of travel-tech platforms designed for rural travel at the core.

The platform aggregates all available price options for a particular offering and shows Travel Union Members the lowest prices they can offer their customers. It also allows for online cancellations and refunds, eliminating the long wait customers usually have to endure. Members enjoy the benefit of earning high margins due to direct booking options available with multiple travel service partners. Travel Union provides the best inventory, competitive prices, and state-of-the-art technology directly from airlines, railways, hotels, trips, wholesalers and aggregators. It is a one-stop shop to travel agents across India’s hinterlands offered through an app and web portal, making it the first super-aggregator platform to meet the needs of the rural customer. The platform will give access to all trains operating in India through IRCTC, over 500 domestic & international flights, 10,000+ bus operators and 10 lakh+ hotels to its members and consumers.

Travel Union will augment the income and growth opportunities for the existing travel agents, offer an additional and steady stream of income for small business owners, provide new business opportunities for the aspirational entrepreneur and create a network of reliable Travel Union Members (travel agents) to assist the rural consumers.

The onboarding of Travel Union Members will require zero investment from them and there is no recurring cost post onboarding either, lowering the barrier of entry. Also, it offers the lowest IRCTC agent ID purchase cost. Moreover, this cost gets refunded over a period of time upon successful transactions making this ID effectively free, which is an industry-first opportunity available only to Travel Union members.

On the occasion of the launch, Sonu Sood, said, "During the lockdowns, I had first-hand experience of the challenges that rural Indians face when it comes to travel as well as the struggles of small business owners. The lack of tailored offerings catering to the needs of Bharat and addressing digital needs of rural citizens stayed with me. In fact, currently rural consumers have no option to pre-plan their travel and have to run to multiple operators for different kinds of travel needs. I envisioned Travel Union so that we can remove all barriers to travel and give an entrepreneurial opportunity to anyone in the nation who wants to start a career in travel industry. Travel Union, a B2B travel tech platform catering to rural travel agents, is an important initiative that enables them to provide the best of travel offerings to their localities. It can be an additional source of income for existing rural entrepreneurs or a building block for aspiring ones. While I have already taken steps to offer employment opportunities to Indian youth, Travel Union furthers my dream of bringing self-employment opportunities to the hinterlands of India, so the rural youth can develop their local economies without having to migrate to urban cities. With Travel Union we are taking yet another big step towards enabling self-reliance among the rural population in India and building a truly digital Bharat."

Sonu added, “This super aggregator app is the future of travel management, eliminating the need for multiple platforms, thus, offering 360° travel solutions in one place. It is the first and only Indian platform designed to help rural travel agents launch a profitable and successful business venture.”

Travel Union is presently available in English and Hindi. It is soon-to-be launched in 11 more Indian languages. New and upcoming offerings on the platform also include domestic and international holiday packages, visa services, forex services as well as travel/ luggage accessories.

Travel Union App is available to download on Google Play store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.travelunion.app

Travel Union is India’s first travel-tech startup built with rural travel agents at the core. It is an initiative by actor and philanthropist, Sonu Sood aiming to build a thriving community of travel agents. As a one-stop super-aggregator platform, Travel Union provides the best and cheapest in travel offerings from direct airlines, railways, hotels, trips, wholesalers and aggregators through an app. It also allows for instant cancellations and refunds, eliminating the long wait customers usually have to endure.

D2C Brand AS-IT-IS Nutrition Ropes in Bollywood Actor Sonu Sood as Brand Ambassador

India’s leading D2C (Direct to Consumer) supplement brand AS-IT-IS Nutrition holds a prominent position in health supplement space. The brand offers fitness performance nutrition products, whey proteins, vitamins, vegan supplements and organic super foods. The products are lab-tested, preservative free and chemical free. The brand with its clear value proposition has reached millions and has many of its products listed as best sellers on Amazon & Flipkart.

Launched in 2018, the brand had the insight to make a revolution in the fitness arena by offering clean, pure and authentic supplements that could reach all potential consumers.

Recently, Sonu Sood has signed up to represent AS-IT-IS Nutrition.

AS-IT-IS Nutrition talks about the endorsement and says that the actor’s conventional wisdom and commendable work in serving the society during the pandemic has inspired them. Sonu’s clear views align with its brand value and the endorsement intends to amplify the brand’s message of authentic value.

Says Sonu Sood about the association with the brand, "As a fitness driven person, I found a common ground of clear vision with the brand and synergy with my own social beliefs. Feeling excited to be associated with AS-IT-IS Nutrition!"

While some acts of heroism have taken place over decades, Sonu’s response during the time of crisis felt like a superman coming to rescue people. Right from providing meals to the underprivileged and offering transport facilities for stranded labourers to get back to their hometown, Sonu has lent a helping hand to thousands of migrant and daily wage workers during Covid-19 pandemic.

His act of recognizing the heightened desperation and his quick and wise response has won million hearts. As he rightly deserves adulation and medal of honour for his humanitarian work, in September 2020, Sonu was awarded the prestigious ‘SDG Special Humanitarian Action’ by the United Nations Development Programme. The famed actor has been crowned the number one South Asian celebrity by Eastern Eye UK-based newspaper for his inspiring philanthropic work of rescuing impoverished migrant workers during Covid-19.

An ASSOCHAM report released in 2018 predicted that “the Indian nutraceuticals market is expected to grow from $4 billion in 2017 to $18 billion in 2025.” Urbanised food habits, less physical work, more desk jobs have made people more vulnerable to lifestyle diseases. This is providing a massive growth opportunity for Nutraceuticals in India.

Thus changing consumer behaviour in the country accelerated by Covid-19 is also transforming the Nutraceutical space. This is likely to be the harbinger of huge benefits for the industry in the domestic as well as global markets, since be it dietary supplements, functional foods and beverages or vitamins and minerals, the consumption of these products are set to multiply.