growX Ventures Invests in Ex -ISRO Engineers' Startup Cell Propulsion as part of Huddle’s EV Accelerator Program

growX ventures has invested in Cell Propulsion (CP), a forerunner in the deployment of Electric LCV & electric Bus solutions, as part of the EV Accelerator program being conducted by Gurgaon based, Huddle. Other investors that have invested in CP include Endiya Partners, Sangam Ventures, CIIE (IIM-A).

The EV accelerator program by Huddle is the first dedicated acceleration program for EV companies in India. As part of this program, CP will work closely on strategy with Huddle team and gain access to contextual business development and pilot opportunities while also getting to work with other Huddle partner companies, which include corporates and organizations working in and towards the EV ecosystem.

Quoting Paras Kaushal, Founder & COO of CP - “A major obstacle for the adoption of Electric Commercial Vehicles is the lack of local support ecosystem and the indigenous availability of core technologies. We are focused on solving these issues and this investment will enable us to quickly bring our solutions to the market."

Throwing light on the opportunity, Ishaan Khosla, Co-Founder & Partner at Huddle, stated, “By targeting use-cases around commercial vehicles, Cell Propulsion is bringing value to one of the most important segments of the EV value chain. We will be working closely with the team to partner with the right set of organizations to drive this revolution in India.”

“Solid team; real problem; large opportunity, mostly unaddressed. We're happy to be part of this journey,” added Sheetal Bahl, Partner at growx.

Cell Propulsion is led by Nakul Kukar, Paras Kaushal and Supratim Naskar, all former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) engineers. With a strong background in EV component technology, the company is working towards developing integrated electric powertrains for electric buses and electric LCVs. Under a single interface, Cell Propulsion integrates all the critical attributes of Electric mobility solutions to provide economically viable EV solutions for Commercial Vehicles. 

growX is a B2B and deep tech focused early-stage venture fund, which works closely with investee firms at both strategic and operational levels to drive scale and success. Its investments are focused on seed and pre-Series A stages across a wide range of sectors. growX has invested in over 30 companies, including Doxper, Fynd, Locus, Mad Street Den, Quandl, Wellthy Therapeutics, and Zipolan among others.

Huddle is one of the leading sector-agnostic incubators in India. With a rich pool of dedicated experts and mentors to support the growth of early stage ventures, Huddle enables the ventures to take their business to the next stage. With an active portfolio across industries, Huddle identifies and works closely with companies across India to build front runners in their segment. 

Huddle and growX Ventures together Launch Electric Vehicles Acceleration Program

Gurugram-based incubator and accelerator Huddle has partnered with growX ventures, inviting early stage ventures solving for use-cases relevant to the Electric Vehicles (“EV”) sector. The concentration for the acceleration program is to focus on B2B facing ventures based in India enabling the value chain across battery-level innovations, charging infrastructure, low-cost manufacturing, and data-driven solutions, to name a few sub-sectors they are targeting to support.

The selected startups will be provided upfront investment up to $150,000 with access to additional funds as the program proceeds, dedicated mentorship from Huddle’s reputed mentor base, pilot opportunities with large partner organisations and university research and data to help them scale.

The program will be open for applications for relevant ventures across India from May 27th to June 16th, 2019, with the acceleration program kick-starting on July 15th for a period of 3 months.

Application Form Link - https://huddleincubation.typeform.com/to/CdcC63

Key Highlights of the Programme

Area of focus will include innovations across the following four sectors. The information below highlights the overall scope of applications across each of these sectors.

Benefits from the Program

• Upfront investment up to $150,000 by growX in up to 3 select startups.



• Acceleration drove by Huddle, wherein a dedicated mentor will work on a one-on-one basis with each selected startup.




• Opportunity for a proof of concept, pilot or commercialization with top MNCs in line with the solution being developed, tested and sold.




• Opportunity to raise a further round of investment to the tune of >$500k, led by growX or other reputed institutional investment partners.




• Access to faculty and research insights from top universities to validate the technology and use cases, in addition to testing developments.

As part of this program, reputed national and international organizations have partnered to assist the growth in the Electric Vehicles industry, space witnessing increasing growth and support by the public and private stakeholders. Huddle and growX ventures have come together with key stakeholders in the form of OEM’s, battery manufacturers, power and energy focused companies, as well as key fleet and last-mile delivery companies, to strengthen these efforts as part of the acceleration.

An overview of the focus sub-sectors is highlighted below

Battery-level Innovations:

• New battery technology to improve performance and operating feasibility  driven through operational efficiencies, operating performance levels, and cost of setup.

Battery Management Systems (BMS) and software applications to improve the operating efficiency, measure usage behavior/predictability and drive R&D.

 

Charging Infrastructure:

• Innovative models around battery swapping and/or infrastructure setup.

Relevant business models around public vs. private partnerships to explore means of the setup of new charging infrastructure.

Innovations around charging mechanism, which could include means to improve the charging process, facilitating superfast charging or building EVSE management software.

Low-Cost Manufacturing:

• Manufacturing setups and models to improve the unit economics, further enabling increased accessibility and scale across sectors.

Retrofitting techniques and processes to improve adoption at the commercial level.

Data-driven Solutions:

• Leveraging data inputs and insights to keep a track of performance metrics, in turn improving the scope for efficiency.

Data analytics tools and platforms to gather actionable data sets, which can be leveraged to improve performance at a product/solution level for multiple stakeholders.

Support service applications leveraging SaaS-based models to enable further productivity to different stakeholders in the value chain.

Models leveraging the network layer across product/service level, through innovations such as IoT enabled solutions.

Fintech Startup Progcap Raises ₹7 Crore Seed Funding led by GrowX Ventures

Delhi-based Progcap, a technology-driven lending startup for last mile businesses, has raised a seed funding round of ₹ 7 Crores led by GrowX ventures, a leading B2B and deep tech-focused early-stage venture fund. Progcap’s mission is to empower these customers by providing them affordable and timely credit, leveraging world-class technology. Apart from GrowX, Contrarian Drishti, along with angel investors Somak Ghosh and Abhishek Dalmia, participated in the round.

Progcap (Desiderata Impact Ventures) is an inclusive financing technology firm working to disrupt the market for credit for last mile businesses through a mix of technology and alternative data driven credit scoring. Through its Last Mile Retailer Finance Facility, Progcap provides the under banked, semi-urban and rural retailers in India access to flexible, collateral-free working capital.

The startup was founded by Pallavi Shrivastava and Himanshu Chandra in 2017 after years of working on the ground with small businesses in their respective jobs. Pallavi has a background in development finance having worked in organizations including International Finance Corporation and the World Bank. Himanshu’s experience spans over a decade in the financial services industry, with institutions such as Standard Chartered, Barclays and Carlyle Group.

Commenting on the fundraise, the company's founders said, "Our vision is to broaden the opportunities for businesses in the last mile. There are over 20 million retailers in India who are unplugged from formal financing. We are working towards building a platform to integrate these businesses into the real economy.” The team added, “It’s been a terrific partnership with GrowX. They have helped us tremendously in broadening the vision for the Company while also helping build key partnerships."

Through its Last Mile Retailer Finance facility (LMRF), Progcap provides access to fast and flexible collateral-free, working capital to retailers in Tier II, III and IV towns, where retailers typically face challenges in accessing capital for their businesses. Over half of Progcap’s customers are new to the credit ecosystem. Progcap’s lending platform risk models these businesses using non-traditional ecosystem data creating credit scores for customers that are currently left out by the traditional financial institutions.

Speaking about the investment, Manu Rikhye, Partner at GrowX ventures, said, “Pallavi and Himanshu are an outstanding team, and GrowX is very excited to be part of their journey. Progcap is focused on a very large and underserved market of micro-business owners. Their approach to solving the financial needs of the last mile retailers will deliver tremendous value across the supply chain, starting from the large brands and distributors to the retailers."

GrowX is a B2B and deep tech focused early-stage venture fund, which works closely with investee firms at both strategic and operational levels to drive scale and success. Its investments are focused on seed and pre-Series A stages across a wide range of sectors. GrowX has invested in over 25 companies, including Doxper, Fynd, Locus, Mad Street Den, Quandl, Wellthy Therapeutics, and Ziploan among others.

GrowX Ventures Appoints Ex-EVP of Encore India Manu Rikhye As Partner

Manu Rikhye, former EVP & Managing Director, Encore India, joined GrowX ventures, an early-stage investment firm, as a full-time partner. In his new role, Manu will be involved across all aspects of the fund, with a focus on driving thought leadership for GrowX and business development across the portfolio companies.

In his new role, Manu will be involved across all aspects of the fund, with a focus on driving thought leadership for GrowX and business development across the portfolio companies.

[caption id="attachment_125280" align="alignleft" width="323"] Manu Rikhye[/caption]

“Manu has built large and successful businesses ground up and brings a great cross-scale perspective. He’s also been actively involved in the startup ecosystem, both with GrowX, and otherwise. We’re very pleased to have him on board and believe he will bring tremendous value to the organization,” said Sheetal Bahl, founding partner, GrowX.

Manu has led an illustrious corporate career, held board roles in India and internationally, and has been an active and successful angel investor. At Encore Capital, he was spearheading India operations which grew to contribute over US$100M annually in EBITDA. During his decade long career at Encore, he also established Encore ARC, a JV in the asset reconstruction space. Prior to working at Encore he has worked at organisations like GE Capital and Global Vantedge.

“I have been associated with GrowX for over 4 years, initially as an investor, and more recently as a partner. Ashish and Sheetal have done an outstanding job in building a solid foundation for a great early stage investing platform. GrowX’s philosophy of putting founders first has served it well in the past and will continue to be the cornerstone of our investing principles,” added Manu.

Founded by Ashish Taneja and Sheetal Bahl, GrowX is a B2B and Deep Tech focused seed- and Series A-stage fund and counts FastFox and 12e1 among its early stage investees with recent investments in Drone startup AUS as well.

GrowX Ventures Appoints Ex-EVP of Encore India Manu Rikhye As Partner

Manu Rikhye, former EVP & Managing Director, Encore India, joined GrowX ventures, an early-stage investment firm, as a full-time partner. In his new role, Manu will be involved across all aspects of the fund, with a focus on driving thought leadership for GrowX and business development across the portfolio companies.

In his new role, Manu will be involved across all aspects of the fund, with a focus on driving thought leadership for GrowX and business development across the portfolio companies.

[caption id="attachment_125280" align="alignleft" width="323"] Manu Rikhye[/caption]

“Manu has built large and successful businesses ground up and brings a great cross-scale perspective. He’s also been actively involved in the startup ecosystem, both with GrowX, and otherwise. We’re very pleased to have him on board and believe he will bring tremendous value to the organization,” said Sheetal Bahl, founding partner, GrowX.

Manu has led an illustrious corporate career, held board roles in India and internationally, and has been an active and successful angel investor. At Encore Capital, he was spearheading India operations which grew to contribute over US$100M annually in EBITDA. During his decade long career at Encore, he also established Encore ARC, a JV in the asset reconstruction space. Prior to working at Encore he has worked at organisations like GE Capital and Global Vantedge.

“I have been associated with GrowX for over 4 years, initially as an investor, and more recently as a partner. Ashish and Sheetal have done an outstanding job in building a solid foundation for a great early stage investing platform. GrowX’s philosophy of putting founders first has served it well in the past and will continue to be the cornerstone of our investing principles,” added Manu.

Founded by Ashish Taneja and Sheetal Bahl, GrowX is a B2B and Deep Tech focused seed- and Series A-stage fund and counts FastFox and 12e1 among its early stage investees with recent investments in Drone startup AUS as well.

Digital Health Technology Startup Doxper Raises Seed Round Led by Vidal Healthcare and growX Ventures

Heathtech startup InformDS Technologies Pvt. Ltd. which runs Doxper, has raised seed round of investment of $750K led by Vidal Healthcare and growX ventures. Other investors are Capier Investments, Globevestor and angels including a leading onco-surgeon in the country.

Girish Rao, MD of Vidal Healthcare and Siddharth Dhondiyal representing growX ventures have joined the board of directors of Doxper, a company founded by three IIT alumni - Randeep Singh, Shailesh Prithani and Pawan Jain in January 2016

Doxper aims to introduce the most natural way of integrating technology in the national healthcare ecosystem. A big missing piece in healthcare digitization today is doctors' notes, which do not get captured and recorded digitally anywhere. Present EMR/EHRs are intrusive and clinicians are uncomfortable fiddling with computers or tablets. Moreover, these hamper the natural doctor-patient interaction. Doxper’s solution combines unique digital pen and coded paper system along with various technology elements powered by data science algorithms to digitize health records on the fly. The solution fits seamlessly into the existing clinical workflow without altering any step of the doctor-patient interaction that leads to its instant acceptance with doctors.

In a span of little over a year, Doxper has gained a lot of traction from some of the best doctors in the country. Over 400 leading physicians and specialists have become users including AIIMS Breast Cancer Clinic, Prashanti Cancer Care Mission, Biocon Foundation, Jain Fertility & Mother Care Hospital, Healthskool, Drishti Eye Center, Southend Fertility & IVF, and others. They are also piloting with many big hospitals today.

Doxper is also one of the elite Solvers at this year's Solve cohort at MIT, USA. It won SOLVE challenge hosted by MIT. SOLVE is MIT's initiative for "Solving the world’s most pressing challenges through open innovation and partnership". Doxper's proposal was shortlisted from an application pool of over 150 globally to pitch at UN HQ in New York in March this year. Doxper not only won the challenge, it received tremendous appreciation at the world stage for its simplistic approach and solution to a bigger problem globally.

“Capital raised will be deployed to scale up operations and to further enhance technology platform by improving or adding more layers on top of the current stack including machine learning, handwriting recognition and AI for better care outcomes. The vision is to make Doxper the de-facto choice for healthcare digitization in India and other emerging markets.” explains Shailesh Prithani, Co-founder and CEO of Doxper.

In a joint statement, Mr. Girish Rao and Mr. Siddharth Dhondiyal said, “Doxper is trying to solve a problem that is inherent and specific to developing countries like India and not blatantly copying what's applicable in the west and replicating here. Problem of not recording healthcare data in digital format is an expensive one and when solved has benefits of exponential proportions. The simplicity of the solution is the biggest USP of Doxper. While almost all the computer or tablet based EMRs/EHRs have failed to get any significant traction with doctors, specialists & super specialists, Doxper is receiving momentous attraction from all the doctors and even KOLs as pen and paper resonates with them way more than computers or tablets. What thrilled us was the initial traction Doxper got with institutions like AIIMS and Prashanti Cancer Care. With the help of Biocon Foundation, Doxper reached to the remotest of the corners of the country, in limited resource settings, and captured data without hassles.”

Doxper is actively servicing doctors in Delhi/NCR, Jaipur, Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai today. It also remotely supports a few doctors in other cities who are early adopters with keen interest in technology and Doxper’s solution.

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