HCL Group's Learning Platform GUVI Partners with IIT-Madras Pravartak to Launch Multilingual CAD Courses

GUVI Geek Network Pvt. Ltd., a leading online learning platform of HCL Group, introduces two groundbreaking Computer-Aided Design (CAD) courses curated exclusively for civil and mechanical engineers. These industry-certified programs, endorsed by IIT Madras (IITM) Pravartak and Autodesk, equip learners with cutting-edge CAD Automation using python skills essential for excellence in their fields. What sets these courses apart is GUVI's innovative approach to language inclusivity, enabling learners to engage with coding in English and Tamil, fostering a truly multilingual learning experience.

GUVI is at the forefront of delivering innovative and accessible e-learning solutions in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Recognizing the lack of vernacular language learning options, GUVI offers Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and ten additional languages alongside English. This inclusive approach revolutionizes education, democratizing access and providing equal opportunities to learners across the nation.

The courses for Civil Engineers and Mechanical Engineering aspirants equip learners with essential CAD skills. Civil engineering students gain hands-on experience in Architectural and Construction planning, 3D Modeling, Building Information Modeling, Structural analysis, Construction documentation, CAD Automation with Python using industry-standard tools like AutoCAD, BIM, Revit, 3ds Max, Vray, STAAD.Pro and Building Estimation & Costing. Mechanical engineering participants master CAD tools such as AutoCAD, SolidWorks, CATIA v5, ANSYS, NX CAM and GD&T to create 3D models, perform simulations, optimize design and CAD Automation with Python. Both courses offer a one-month internship with certification for practical industry experience, improving career prospects.

GUVI Courses are more into industry specific training where Mechanical learners can get into product design, automotive design, CNC Programming, CAE engineering and Research and development for mechanical fields and Civil learners can get training in building design, interior design, advanced BIM, Urban planning and Structural design and analysis.

The courses are delivered entirely online, allowing learners to study at their own pace and convenience. Spanning nine months, the courses feature weekend classes, catering to the busy schedules of working professionals and students. This flexible format enables individuals to pursue their education while managing their current commitments. Both courses also include GUVI's Zen Class, a premium offering job assistance upon completion. Explore the CAD Civil Course here - https://bit.ly/43RSzPQ & CAD Mechanical Course here - https://bit.ly/3XodesV

With the grand launch of CAD programs, Mr Arun Prakash, Founder & CEO of GUVI, said, “The IITM Pravartak & Autodesk Certified CAD programs are the ideal solutions for the skill-gap between Mechanical, Civil industry requirements and student capabilities. With native language-Tamil and English as the medium of instruction throughout the course program, we aim to launch proficient CAD Engineers in large scale along with best career guidance & project centric upskilling methods”.

GUVI offers learners the unique opportunity to receive training from industry experts from renowned companies such as Ashok Leyland, Renault–Nissan, Larsen and Toubro, DLF, URC, Tata Projects, AECom, Bosch, Ford, Hinduja, and Hyundai. These professionals leverage their extensive experience and expertise to share real-world insights, industry best practices, and practical examples. The inclusive approach of these courses offers a starting point for those learners interested in these fields.

“Our CAD courses are not only well accredited by Autodesk and IITM Pravartak, but are also perfectly aligned with the latest needs of both the Civil and Mechanical industry. Our Zen class learners with high aspirations will face the industry with confidence through gained skills meeting the requirements of both industries”, Mr Balamurugan SP, Co-founder, GUVI, said.

Recently, GUVI also launched an extraordinary opportunity that allows all individuals to positively impact the lives of career aspirants, working professionals, college students, and kids while earning a generous affiliate income on eligible purchases made by their referred users through GUVI’s Affiliate Program. The affiliates who sign up will have a better opportunity to earn advertising income as commissions, for the purchases made in this attribution period by each referred user. To know more about the GUVI’s Affiliate Program, click here - https://bit.ly/3p5oKfT

About GUVI Geek Technology: GUVI, an HCL Group company is one of India’s leading integrated edtech platforms incubated by IIT – Madras, offering technical courses created by industry experts in vernacular languages. Started as an informative YouTube channel in 2011, GUVI today provides affordable technical education in multiple languages and is trusted by 2 million+ learners, and 600+ corporates across 30 countries.

Through its self-paced learning courses and instructor-led programs, GUVI brings real-life industry exposure to its learner community, which includes students, job aspirants, and tech professionals helping them achieve their career goals. For more information, visit www.guvi.in

About HCL Group

Founded in 1976 as one of India’s original IT garage start-ups, HCL is a pioneer of modern computing with many firsts to its credit, including introducing the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978 well before its global peers. Today, the HCL enterprise has a presence across varied sectors that include technology, healthcare, and talent management solutions and comprises three companies – HCL Infosystems, HCL Technologies, and HCL Healthcare. The enterprise generates annual revenues of over US$12.8 billion with over 223,438 employees operating across 60 countries. For further information, visit www.hcl.com

Vernacular Online Gaming Giant WinZO Onboards Digital Sensation Bhuvan Bam as Brand Ambassador

Bharat’s leading Vernacular Online Gaming Giant, WinZO announces Digital Superstar and Filmfare awardee Bhuvan Bam as its Brand Ambassador. As a part of this collaboration, WinZO and ‘BB’ will be co-creating culturally relevant and relatable content catering to even those hailing from the most isolated hamlets of the country. The YouTube sensation enjoys a massive followership of 25+ Million subscribers, recording as many as 4 billion views, and is renowned for being an exceptional comedian, actor, writer, singer, and lyricist. 

Both WinZO and Bhuvan have set multiple examples for generations to follow during the course of their illustrious journeys to the top and seek to take meaningful and concrete steps towards establishing Bharat as the next ‘Gaming Superpower’.

The advent, growth, and propagation of ‘social gaming’, which involves the evolution of online games into being used as a medium to connect with the world outside, spearheaded by WinZO which has garnered a mammoth user base of 75 + Million users in just 3 years has opened up innumerable new avenues for India’s gaming community. 

Online gaming going beyond the conventional stereotypes has emerged as a viable interactive space that has surpassed mainstream entertainment verticals like movies and music. Industry leaders like WinZO collaborating with a superstar in Bhuvan Bam who has exhibited his knack of connecting with the masses with utmost ease time and time again. This is bound to elevate the engagement and growth of the community as well as the industry to a whole new level.

A little known but highly vital fact is that India is the largest market for mobile games, contributing to nearly 40% of the worldwide downloads and this speaks volumes about the untapped potential of its social gaming community. 

As a part of this brand collaboration, “BB” will partner with WinZO to produce unique content for his massive user base and beyond, that resonates with millions, thereby tapping into the potential on offer. His diverse skill set and ability to garner massive traction truly complements WinZO’s reach and its diversified offerings across 6+ formats in 12 vernacular languages. WinZO’s vision is to develop games in Bharat for Bharat and beyond and this collaboration is bound to act as the trump card in the process of making this a reality by educating and attracting new enthusiasts, developers and talented professionals.

Commenting on the association, Saumya Singh Rathore, Co-founder, WinZO said, “Bhuvan is one of the biggest digital stars and best entertainers of our age. He portrays over 20 interesting characters like Titu Mama, Bancho, Masterji, etc. and each of these characters constitute a unique audience and fandom. This is fairly similar to WinZO's unique value of having a personalized offering of 100+ games on a single platform. On a lighter note, in Bhuvan we have got not one but 20 brand ambassadors. This collaboration is a match made in heaven.”

“Online gaming has become an essential element of India’s ever-expanding industries and WinZO has created varied advanced realms for the community in a short span of time. Their profound understanding of the users and providing them quite what they want has helped WinZO garner this massive traction and reach. They have a unique and distinguished platform and I’m elated to join this energetic group to develop some exciting content together and connect with our users”, added Bhuvan Bam.

Bhuvan is the latest edition to WinZO’s brand wagon. This announcement comes shortly after WinZO's recent announcements of onboarding content creator CarryMinati as its brand ambassador and inking a partnership as the sports brand partner with movie ‘83’. WinZO also recently announced principal sponsorships with two major Vivo Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) teams, Bengal Warriors and Gujarat Giants, as well as associate sponsorship for Patna Pirates. The brand also launched its multilingual brand campaign in close collaboration with Ogilvy’s Global Chief Creative Officer, Piyush Pandey.

About WinZO

WinZO is the largest social gaming and entertainment platform in India. Launched in early 2018, the Company partners with third party developers to host games on their Android app, where users can enjoy personalized multiplayer gameplay experiences. 

The platform is available in 12 languages such as English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, and Bhojpuri, with over 75 million registered users. The WinZO platform facilitates over 2.5 billion micro-transactions per month across a portfolio of 100+ games. WinZO is focused on building an enthusiastic community of gamers and gaming influencers in Tier II to IV cities in India. The Company envisions a future where the WinZO platform can deliver a culturally relevant and enjoyable experience in the Indian gaming ecosystem, monetized through a unique micro-transaction model.

Download the WinZO app from www.winzogames.com (Android) or Apple App Store.

Vernacular EdTech Platform Vidyakul Raises Funding from Dholakia Ventures

(L-R)_Mr. Dravya Dholakia- Dholakia Ventured & Mr Tarun Saini- Founder, Vidyakul

Dholakia Ventures, an investment arm of Dholakia Family Office has invested an undisclosed amount in Vidyakul, a Vernacular after-school e-learning platform. The investment arm of Diamond King of Surat Savji Dholakia saw the potential and topped-up the bridge round raised by the platform in early September 2021. Angel investors including- Gaurav Juneja, Saurabh Agarwal and Puneet Mittal also participated in the ongoing round.

Vidyakul is aimed at providing after-school e-learning for the state board students in vernacular languages. The platform understands that education is best delivered when in one’s own language.

Vidyakul has witnessed high growth post its launch in the Gujarat region with focus of learning in Gujarati language. Within 7 months of launch in the region it has registered more than 6 lakh students from Gujarat itself. The brand has also partnered with more than 500 Gujarati medium school to distribute Digital and print study material.

The EdTech start-up is currently delivering education in 4 languages and has already enabled the same for 11 lakh students from 10 States. Vidyakul has attracted the marquee investors and has raised funds from SOSV, We Founder Circle, JITO Angel Network and Thinkuvate till now.

"We have been getting overwhelming responses from students in Gujarat. With the growing internet penetration, the scope of digital learning has widened, and we are exploring the possibilities of the same. The unique approach to deliver quality education in vernacular languages makes us a go-to platform for students from every region in India for – access to quality education. By getting such response and believe from our investors, we plan to go to the deeper Bharat by penetrating and reaching to each student in rural areas," said Mr. Tarun Saini- Founder, Vidyakul.

"Quality Education in rural area is the need of the hour and we are happy that Vidyakul’s vision is aligned to it. We like their "BHARAT" focussed multi-lingual approach for the rural areas in the nation, which is an unserved market. We have seen their growth in Gujarat region and are confident that the team has the potential to lead this category. We're excited to extend our support to this educational evolution through our investment in Vidyakul." – Mr. Dravya Dholakia, Dholakia Ventures.

About Vidyakul 

Vidyakul is the first Vernacular after school e-learning platform for India-2 (Bharat) helping state board students in tier-2,3,4 and rural areas across 10 State-board. They help students learn academics via pre-recorded and live lectures from the most prominent trusted local teachers. Vidyakul is solving the problem for millions of students who are appearing for state board exams and facing challenges of quality online tutoring in their own language at an affordable price https://www.vidyakul.com/

Vernacular Content Platform Bluepad Raises 1.8 Crore in Funding From Titan Capital and AngelList's Syndicate

Bluepad Founder's Team

Bluepad, a one-stop solution for aggregated written content in vernacular languages, has raised 1.8 Crore (245K USD) in the pre-seed round of funding from Titan Capital and AngelList's syndicate. The start-up will utilize the funds to expand the team and strengthen the tech capabilities, such as improving the recommendation engine and simplifying content discovery on the platform. The firm will also focus on creating technological enhancements to ease content creation and provide value-added content for readers beyond just entertainment needs.

Bluepad was founded in October 2020 by Sanjyot Bhosale (alumni of BITS Pilani), Devakrishna Asokar & Kishore Garimella (both alumni of IIT Madras). It aims to solve the problem of the written content gap that exists online for the regional languages. Especially, the content such as blogs, informative articles, lifestyle tips, poems, and opinion pieces typically found in magazines, though having a high readership in the offline world isn't available online due to the existing infrastructure and products. Bluepad plans to solve this issue by providing a platform for blog writers & readers to create & consume written content in their languages.

On receiving funding and talking about the venture, Sanjyot Bhosale, Co-founder, Bluepad, said,

Our goal is to empower people in India to express their thoughts, opinions, experiences in their regional languages & help them share, connect with millions of readers across India. We believe writing as a medium of expression in regional languages needs to have an online platform, where Indian people can share & easily reach out to varied audiences.

Kishore Garimella, Co-founder, Bluepad said,

With curated content becoming mainstream, we believe that Bluepad can solve the content discovery problem plaguing the vernacular landscape. Instead of joining multiple FB, WhatsApp, and telegram groups, users can find the content they are interested in reading in one single platform.

Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital, said, "We are glad to partner with Bluepad, a promising venture that is giving utmost importance to the vernacular language in India and solving the problems faced by content creators and content consumers specialized in their own native languages. With a massive user base to tap into and creating a platform beyond just entertainment needs, we are sure the talented team at Bluepad will create a huge impact by providing value-adding content in Indian languages. We are looking forward to our journey ahead with Bluepad."

Since its launch, around 15000 pieces of content have been published by users on the platform. Bluepad is positioning itself as 'Medium' for the non-English speaking population in India (aka Bharat users), focusing on Marathi. The startup’s future plans include opening up the platform in other vernacular languages.

About Bluepad:

Bluepad is a content platform for Indian users to read and post their own written content such as blogs, poems, stories, experiences in Indian vernacular languages and form communities with like-minded people. Much of the Indian population doesn't speak English and prefers using vernacular languages. There are platforms available for creating English-written content and getting it across to more audiences. However, there's a considerable gap in written content creation and consumption for vernacular users online. Bluepad is changing this by providing a platform that gives them a space to have their own voice, post their own written content, and get access to reading more vernacular content.

Website: https://www.bluepad.in/

EdTech Innovator Proctur having 300% Growth in 2020 is Set to Sweep Up Untapped Market by Launching Its Services in 50 Regional Languages

Witnessing 25% increase month on month in client base and a 10X increase in its software usage in the past year alone

Delhi, 10th September 2021: One-stop learning management solution for coaching institutes and schools, Proctur recently reached the user base of over a million students, 15,000 teachers, and 3000 educational institutes. They have grown 300% in the last year and by offering their services in 10 regional languages and other app updates and technological advancements, they are preparing to sweep up the PAN India market.

The future of students in underprivileged society is dangling by a thin thread, as they do not have the access to online education when sudden lockdown halted regular schools. Proctur will directly penetrate the regional market, which remains untapped, and also shape the future of thousands of children. These languages are Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Assamese, and Malayalam.

By the end of the year, they will add 50 more languages to their armory, making it the only ed-tech startup with regional connect at such a level. The other update is the in-app chat feature and in-app messaging is added to create a seamless experience for the users. These updates will further broaden their reach and expand their user base.

The prediction seems rational since the well-established education systems have been completely disrupted in the last two years. Also, the demand for tech-enabled education solutions has surged astonishingly. The fact that each party in this structure is actively adapting to change, be it students, teachers, or the institutions naturally hints at the upcoming growth.

Nishant Agarwal, Director, Proctur, stating RBSA Advisors report said, “Indian-tech industry is on the verge of exploding. Reckoning the ongoing trend, the market is full of opportunities, and we are here to grab them. A year ago, we sold 30-40 licenses a month, now it’s ten times the number around 350-400.”

The current size of the Ed-tech industry is $700-800 million. KPMG reported that by 2021, the sector could blow up to be worth $1.96 billion. Similarly, RBSA Advisors – a transaction advisory firm, recently released a report in which they made a big prediction. They stated that by the year 2030, the industry could swell up to $30 billion.

Charchit Agarwal, Director, Proctur, added “Proctur from the beginning has had maximum clients from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. These clients have always appreciated the ease of use and simplicity of Proctur app and now with an app available in 10 regional languages we are set to fulfill a major requirement of educational institutes and students in the country.”

The education system is in a transformative period. Currently, the traditional infrastructure is taking all the pressure, but unforeseen circumstances like COVID and inevitable technological advancements sped up the change. For the majority of Indians, this change wouldn’t have meant well. Especially for those who live in rural parts, people from financially and socially marginalized sections. But that’s what Proctur is determined to change by introducing regional languages and reaching remote areas.

Mr. Ashutosh Dhamdhere, and Educator based in a village called Talegaon-Dhamdhere, Maharashtra whose students are using the app developed by Proctur stated “Features provided by Proctur and the app in itself is very easy to use for educators. The students are liking the new language changes in the app and now feel it is more intuitive to use as they see the app in their mother tongue. Also, the newly added chat feature has made communication with the students much easier.”

For more details, please visit: https://proctur.com/

Edtech Startup Classmonitor Enters the Vernacular Learning Segment With the Launch of Their Skill Master Hindi Edition Program

• Edtech startup ClassMonitor is launching Skill Master Hindi Edition Program, a multi-year learning program for children between the age group of 2.5-5.5 years
• The course kits are designed to target the children aging between 2.5-5.5 years and will cost Rs 2,500
• The courses would be accessible to people in 1000+ cities in India and across 12 countries where ClassMonitor currently has its presence

India, August XX 2021: Home learning edtech Startup ClassMonitor is entering the vernacular learning segment with the launch of a Skill Master Hindi Edition Program as an extension to their ongoing programmes. The Course is designed to introduce Hindi as a vernacular language to early learners in an engaging, active, play-based approach. The introduction of the Hindi Edition Course is closely aligned with Foundational Literacy Objectives outlined by National Education Policy 2020.

Founded in 2016, ClassMonitor is a home learning platform in early childhood and parents which blends traditional teaching with modern methods of learning. ClassMonitor’s hybrid learning tool takes children to a learning space that combines real life learning experiences with curated activities. The Hindi Learning Language is approached in a contextual, integrated manner, and taught through themes which connect to a child’s immediate environment, thereby making learning meaningful and relevant.

Commenting on the launch, Vijeet Pandey, Co-Founder and CEO at ClassMonitor stated, “With aim to provide better education learning environment for parents and early childhood, we have designed this course and its activities in progression, to ensure that by the end of the program, the child is able to read with comprehension, speak with confidence, listen and understand, and begin to write for meaning.”

The course would be accessible to people in 1000+ cities in India and across 12 countries where ClassMonitor currently has its presence. With the launch, the Edtech Startup aims to cater to other languages and break any barrier in terms of language for early childhood education and home learning programs.

“The Learning Material for this course is thematic and comprises activities designed on the ELPS approach (experience-language-pictures-symbols) supported by high quality material such as flashcards, vocabulary building games, puzzles, worksheets, conversation cards, poem and story cards etc., and the kits are designed to target the children aging between 2.5-5.5 years costing Rs 2,500”, Vijeet added.

ClassMonitor has a customer base of parents with an annual household income of 3 LPA and above and opt for yearly subscription for themselves and their kids. ClassMonitor is visioned on bringing a better education learning environment for parents and early childhood. The brand has consistently been focused on creating quality while promoting openness and creativity by closely watching the customer feedback and evolving all products based on it.

Haptik AI now supports India's Universal Language - Hinglish

 

MUMBAI, India, Aug. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jio Haptik Technologies Ltd, one of the world's largest Conversational AI companies and a subsidiary of Reliance Jio platforms, has now introduced Hinglish (a mixture of Hindi and English) chatbots to help brands engage with Indian customers in their preferred language.

While Hindi & English are popular languages, Hinglish is emerging rapidly with 350 million+ speakers versus only 125 million+ English speakers. This shift in language is primarily because users find texting and having conversations in Hinglish more convenient. Since a vast majority of India also lives in semi-urban and rural regions and might not be fluent in English, it becomes even more critical for brands to adapt to the customer's preferred language instead of a one-size-fits-all approach with English or Hindi.

For instance, if users want to track their order, they can frame the query as "Mera order kahan hai" in Hinglish.

Hinglish chatbots by Haptik can automatically identify when a user initiates a conversation in Hinglish or Hindi & continue the conversation accordingly. It further transliterates Hinglish to Hindi to understand the user query in their natural language instead of transferring it to an agent. Haptik's proprietary NLU engine ensures the most accurate response, configurable either in Hindi or Hinglish as preferred by the brand.

Thus, Haptik chatbots can answer the above-asked Hinglish query as:

Bot: Hi, I am your Virtual Assistant. How can I help you today?
User: Mera order kahan hai?
Bot: Zaroor, mujhe aapka order track karne dein. Kya aap mujhe apna order ID bata sakte hain?
OR
Bot: ज़रूर, मुझे आपकी ऑर्डर ट्रैक करने दें। क्या आप मुझे अपना ऑर्डर आईडी बता सकते हैं?

Haptik's first customer to break the language barrier with Hinglish is Jiomobility. Jiomobility's mission is to make superior internet & network accessible to every person in every corner of India. With a vast majority of their audience based in tier-2 & tier-3 cities, the flexibility of interacting in Hindi or Hinglish helps in supporting their non-English speaking users. This further translates to a higher resolution rate on the chatbot & increased customer satisfaction.

Upon Jiomobility's launch for Hinglish, Swapan Rajdev, CTO & Co-founder at Haptik, said, "Speaking your customer's language is critical in today's world. We don't want customers to adapt to what the business can support. We always want businesses to adapt to their customer needs. And customers need the flexibility to speak in their preferred native language. Hinglish also becomes important with the growing popularity of chat platforms like WhatsApp, where users prefer to be more informal and casual. This combination is an ultimate winner for brands like Jiomobility that are focused on customer experience."

About Haptik

Haptik is one of the world's largest Conversational AI companies, having reached over 100 million devices, and processed over 4 billion conversations. Part of the $65 billion Internet conglomerate Reliance Jio Platforms, Haptik Intelligent virtual assistants enable Fortune 500 brands globally to enhance customer experience while saving costs and increasing revenue. The company is featured as a leader in the category across many platforms, including Gartner, AI Time Journal, Opus Research & more. Haptik's leading clients and partners include KFC, Oyo Rooms, Starhub, HP, Tata Group, Disney Hotstar, OLA, and Zurich Insurance, among others. For further information, visit https://haptik.ai

Introducing VSpeech.AI, India’s Top Platform For AI-based Vernacular Voice Solution

India truly takes pride in its cultural diversity and where over 456 languages are spoken- there’s no one person who is not a multi-lingual. With this proficiency in languages, code switching (using two languages in a sentence) is a usual affair. VSpeech.ai, a technology firm is a one-stop-shop dedicated to solving complex business problems with intelligent solutions on top of voice technology. Its AI (Artificial Intelligence) effectively addresses this challenge. Its multi-lingual voice transcription is trusted by top financial and technology firms which handle customer operations for major telecom operators. VSpeech.ai provides not only an accurate and reliable way to convert your text to speech and speech to text in just a second, but also helps with an accuracy of 95% with the support of 15+ languages and 5 other product verticals including Voice Analysis, VoiceBot, Voice BioMatic, Noise Cancellation, and Speech Recognition.

With more than 6 years of research behind the technology, VSpeech.ai offers multi-lingual speech recognition and AI voices which include major Indian languages like Indian English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and more. Company’s multi-lingual service is designed with the idea of providing an easy communication platform, where AI-based machine learning understands the inputs precisely making it much easier to converse. With over 2000+ hours of data trained models, VSpeech.ai assures to design fully customized models as per the specific industries like insurance, banks, robots, hospitals, and so on boosting the productivity and profitability in one go.

The company’s goal is to implant local languages which shall be easily accessible for a huge market, an advanced technology that offers voice based interactions through Artificial Intelligence. Company holds a significant B2B client portfolio in Interactive Voice Response (IVR) call centres and BFSI industry.

Commenting on the services, Mr. Mausam Patel, Director of VSpeech.ai says, “VSpeech.ai, a new platform with revised services managed by the core company India TTS Private Limited, is an AI Company focussed on empowering businesses through AI powered end to end voice automation. With our services of text to speech and speech to text, and voice recognition, we are glad to extend a helping hand to the business with intelligent speech solutions for world’s industries. We guarantee high accuracy with our custom-built speech models. In the world where Artificial Intelligence is being used in almost all industries, we plan to provide our bit into the same and look forward in offering such unique facilities and services to every sector in India.”

Website Link: https://vspeech.ai/index.html

LetsUp gets into regional OTT space with Letsflix, starting with Marathi

Rahul Narvekar and Narendra Firodia

Narendra Firodia and Rahul Narvekar come together to launch a Regional language OTT platform called Letsflix.

Starting with Marathi, Letsflix will soon launch other languages. This will be on the back of their local language digital content platform called LetsUp.

LetsUp has close to 1 million downloads and is in English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Tamil currently and getting into more languages soon.

Started as a news and content platform on WhatsApp, LetsUp pivoted to an app and quickly scaled to getting into a hyperlocal, vernacular content platform.

Letsflix will stream Marathi movies, serials, plays, stand-up comedy shows and original content.

Narendra Firodia apart from running multiple business ventures has produced 2 movies in Marathi, "Agabai Arecha 2" and "Triple Seat". He is also the president and main sponsor of Ahmednagar Mahakarandak which is the biggest Marathi stage play competition. This competition has been happening since 2013. A huge believer in promoting talent from small towns of India, Narendra has a start-up called I Love Nagar which is a city specific digital hyperlocal platform.

Rahul Narvekar is a Serial Entrepreneur who is Co-founder of iconic start-ups like www.fashionandyou.com and www.indianroots.com . Currently building a community called as India Network, focussed on promoting entrepreneurs from small towns of India. Rahul is also a GP and Co-founder in Scale Ventures - A category 1 SEBI registered fund, as also Founder of Start-up Studio - India's first local language incubator and India Angel Fund - focussed on investing in women led start-ups. IAF has invested in 3 women led start-ups so far and recently India network has signed a Joint Venture with Canada based Bay Street Dairy - led by Suneet Oberoi and Neetu Oberoi.

Letsflix is currently aggregating and curating content for Marathi, is keen to work with people across the spectrum and also looking at partnerships and alliances.

Paisabazaar.com Takes its Credit Awareness Initiative Deeper into India, Launches Free Credit Report in 3 Regional Languages

• Paisabazaar is the only financial player in India to offer free credit report in regional languages to consumers
• Today, Consumers can read and download their free credit report from the Paisabazaar platform (web and App) in 5 languages
• In its mission to ease access to credit for Bharat, the fintech plans to introduce its free credit score initiative in all major regional languages

After becoming the country's first financial entity to launch free credit score in Hindi last year, Paisabazaar.com, India's largest digital marketplace for lending products, announced today it has introduced its credit report initiative in three regional languages. Consumers can now read and download their free place to get credit report online from Paisabazaar in Marathi, Telugu and Kannada, in addition to English and Hindi.

A customer survey last year conducted by Paisabazaar.com revealed that over 60% of customers preferred to have the option of reading their credit reports in their regional language, along with English. Paisabazaar.com began offering free credit reports in Hindi in December 2019 to become the country's only financial entity to offer credit report in a regional language.

Naveen Kukreja, CEO & Co-founder, Paisabazaar.com, said, "Over the years, conversations with customers and data have indicated a clear and dire need of deeper awareness around credit score. Introduction of the credit report in Hindi last year was a step in that direction and we have witnessed a tremendous response. We now want to take this initiative deeper across diverse geographies."

Paisabazaar.com says the introduction of credit score in three new languages should help a large portion of 36% of its credit score customers coming from the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, plus other Marathi, Telugu and Kannada speakers, residing in other states. Over 10 crore people in India reportedly access the Internet in Marathi, Telugu and Kannada.

Also, according to the RBI data, Maharashtra tops the states in terms of outstanding credit and number of loan accounts with the scheduled commercial banks. The top 10 states also include Karnataka (4th), Telangana (6th) and Andhra Pradesh (9th).

However, only 42% of Paisabazaar.com customers who have checked their credit report from these 4 states on Paisabazaar.com are credit healthy, which means more than half of them would find it challenging to be approved for any lending product, especially in the current scenario when most banks and financial institutions are conservative in issuing any new loans, due to the widespread disruptions in incomes and the economic slowdown.

Paisabazaar.com plans to closely work with all its bureau partners and innovate to advocate responsible credit behaviour, and steadily increase India's extremely low credit penetration ratio.

Ashish Singhal, Managing Director, Experian Credit Information Company of India, said, "At Experian, we are committed to enabling financial inclusion to not only help consumers build creditworthiness, but to get better access to credit. Low awareness of credit score and factors that influence it can limit one's ability to borrow. Paisabazaar.com's initiative to leverage regional languages to deepen credit awareness puts consumers in control by staying on top of their credit report and building it over time to ensure easy access at the time of need."

In February this year, close to 9 lakh loan or credit card enquiries were made by Paisabazaar.com customers from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone, bureau data shows. Paisabazaar.com says its data indicates 32% of the pre-COVID volumes of enquiries for loans and credit cards is now back in these 4 states. However, a poor credit score can be a major roadblock for consumers today looking for a loan.

Radhika Binani, Chief Product Officer, Paisabazaar.com, said, "Over the short to medium term, lending will be restricted to customers with steady income and strong credit profiles due to the pandemic. In this situation, tracking and maintaining a strong credit score becomes critical. Our aim is to raise awareness and inculcate good credit behaviour that should go a long way in meeting immediate credit needs and fulfilling important life goals."

Paisabazaar.com has been offering free credit score to customers on its platform since 2017 and over the years, it says, there has been a sharp rise in customers from outside the top metros visiting their platform to access credit products. Today, customers from over 1200 cities and towns enquire about a lending product every month on Paisabazaar.com.

With India's Internet penetration reaching ~650 million, Paisabazaar.com says it wants to take its consumer education initiative on credit score into Tier 2 & 3 cities, across India. Over the next 12-18 months, it plans to introduce its free credit score initiative in every major regional language.

Nanaiah Kalengada, Managing Director & Country Head - India & ME, Equifax, said, "Equifax is at the forefront of delivering credit literacy to all with our purpose statement being 'Helping people live their financial best'. By building the credit score product in regional languages, Paisabazaar.com is not only promoting credit awareness and financial literacy but also offering a wider choice and enhanced experience to the consumers India."

According to Paisabazaar.com, by offering access to relevant information in preferred languages would not just build familiarity with formal financial products but also, help increase the purchase of financial products through the more convenient and transparent digital medium.

Paisabazaar.com under its credit awareness initiative has been strongly focussing on voice, vernacular and videos to provide an enhanced customer experience on its platform. The fintech's free credit score product is available on voice-based platforms like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, along with WhatsApp, enabling seamless tracking of credit score. It also runs a credit advisory service which helps customers build a high credit score through customized advice and recommendations from its team of credit experts.

Vernacular Podcasting Platform Kuku FM Raises Funding from Shunwei Capital, others

Mumbai-based podcasting and audiobooks platform Kuku FM has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from China's Shunwei Capital and Indian venture capital firms India Quotient and 3One4 Capital, reported LiveMint.

Founded in 2018, by Lal Chand Bisu, Vinod Meena and Vikas Goyal, Kuku FM is a podcast platform that is re-inventing the traditional radio by allowing listeners to easily discover new, emerging and diverse audio content, and engage with their favorite creators.

Kuku FM gives a platform to some of the best content creators in India to launch and expand their very own podcasts.

Kuku FM provides production, distribution and marketing support for creators, and claims to have over a million listeners spending over 50 minutes a day on the platform. This includes famous feeds like Quora and Quorans from Quora, Dainik Bhaskar and dozens more.

Kuku FM has a library of 2 Lakh+ audios with most of them in Hindi language. The platform, with its app, also provide bestselling English books translated in Hindi as well as the famous Hindi books. The Audiobooks has range of categories like motivation audiobooks, self help audiobooks, spiritual audiobooks, business audiobooks along with a diverse library of fiction audiobooks from genres like Love, Crime, Horror, Comedy & Kids.

Kuku FM is aiming to be the biggest vernacular platform in that space, enabling the regional superstars to get their voices heard. We currently have content in Hindi and are actively onboarding creators from the 23 major languages of the country.

Vernacular News Platform Lokal Raises $3 Mn from 3one4, Y Combinator, others

Local language news aggregator and knowledge platform Lokal has raised $3 million (~ Rs 21.2 crore) in a funding from a clutch of investors, including the Bengaluru-based 3one4 Capital and Y Combinator, reported VCCircle.

Singapore-based boutique venture fund RB Investments, SOMA Capital also contributed to the round, along with existing investor India Quotient, which had previously invested an undisclosed amount in the startup, in August last year.

Lokal will use the funds to enhance its product, team expansion, foray into new markets.

Founded in 2018, by Jani Pasha and Vipul Chaudhary, Lokal is serving a largely under-served market in India which got access to the internet recently because of Jio and cheaper smartphones. Lokal gets its news from qualified freelancer ground journalists. The company claims to delivers local news quicker than any other news platform.

Besides local online platforms, global online giants are also witnessing is a rise in the number of content viewers in vernacular languages including Hindi, Tamil and Bengali in smaller cities and towns. In September, Google-owned video platform YouTube announced that there is a significant amount of content is being created in vernacular languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam.

Last month, Matrubharti, also a vernacular content platform, has raised about Rs. 3.24 crores in angel round of funding from US-based Gujarati NRI angel investors.

In July last year, vernacular knowledge platform Vokal had raised $5 million in a Series A round of funding lead by China’s Shunwei Capital, and 500 startups. Vokal also acqui-hired StupidChat Technologies, a quizzing app startup, in an all-stock deal, in May this year.