How safe are women-focused platforms in today’s data protectionist environment? While solving women health issues through technological intervention and community-driven approach is a great goal, the biggest stumbling block is earning the trust of the women who will use the platform. Thanks to the anonymity afforded by the internet, many men try to pass off as women or intrude into such communities and thereby erode any trust among the core user base. Put simply, harassment can happen anytime and anywhere online.

Even platforms such as Sheroes which have built a huge audience have had to go through this phase of moderation of content and users in order to get to where they are. This trust is paramount for an open platform for sharing and discussions by women, with no compromises on their safety and privacy.

Which is why when we decided to profile Zealthy, it was from the lens of privacy and safety. For an early-stage health-focussed platform, the data and security of users is even more critical. And while Zealthy has major plans to disrupt the space and become the Practo for women’s health services and specialists, it may have to wage a long battle to earn the trust of its women users.

Our recent experience with Zealthy proved that it has a long way to go when it comes to moderating its community.  During our test to see if male users are allowed to enter groups, we were able to join Zealthy communities using a fake name, gender information and other details with a phone number registered to a male telecom subscriber. The app not only granted us access but we would have been able to interact with other participants and members freely, anonymously, had we wanted to.

And in fact, many men have. Even without digging too deep, we could see graphic and abusive text posts on Zealthy, where seemingly male users made grotesque remarks about women. Inc42 has several screenshots of such posts but we have withheld publishing them due to their graphic nature.

The whole idea of Zealthy revolves around such communities and forums, ranging from beauty secrets, happy periods and sexual wellness. On its social media channels and on its website, women users are urged to comfortably share their problems and issues and engage each other. However, with clear transgressions like mentioned above and sharing their concerns and queries, more openly on these groups.

Zealthy founder Akhil Gupta spoke to Inc42 at length about the company’s plans for the women health marketplace, community and telemedicine platform. But on the aspect of privacy, the company was a little vague.

Gupta said that men are strictly not allowed, and there’s a flag raised by its team of moderators if it looks like someone has faked their identity and is posing as a woman. He said Zealthy manually monitors all visitors and conversations, and in case the moderators spot any suspicious activity or fake identity situations, the accounts are tracked and blocked if found to be violating rules.

But that still does not answer the safety and privacy concerns — what if a man joins and does not raise alarms by making abusive posts, but just to snoop on someone or a user they know. These are not out of the realm of possibility given the daily accounts of online sexual abuse and harassment. Gupta says Zealthy plans to introduce facial recognition tools in the near future, but did not elaborate more on the timelines. This still does not answer the question of authenticating users to the point of no doubt, which is what many women would want in such a platform, especially one that deals with health.

How Trust Drives Access To Healthcare

Why are we harping on about trust? Put simply, it makes or breaks platforms such as Zealthy.

It’s not just a “nice-to-have” for a health-focussed community platform, but perhaps more crucial than even a massive user base. A small user base of 5 Mn -10 Mn active and engaged genuine users is often better than even a fraction of a doubt that the large community may have some non-genuine users.

When it comes to equal rights and equal access to services, Indian women have been fighting an uphill battle for millennia. And despite the influence of technology in improving the way of life for women in the country, these developments affect only a fraction of the female population in India. For example, when it comes to access to healthcare, women have to struggle not only in rural India, but also in cities to get optimal care and treatments without privacy or personal safety violations.

Telemedicine and healthtech platforms have tried to eliminate the access to care gap as much as possible, but the crux of the issue is that the specific needs of women need models tailored to the audience. Zomato’s recent move to introduce ‘period leaves’ for its female and transgender employees has for once put women’s health at the centre of HR policy, but that too has a lot of implications on workplace gender diversity. And outside the workplace, the situation is dire.

According to Inito, a Bengaluru-based medical tech company, 10-15% married couples in India suffer from infertility but only 45% of such couples visit a doctor and only 1% of infertile couples seek treatment. Nearly 55% of women are not even aware about ovulation tracking products like fertility monitors, and the same goes for 75% of men, added the study. So is the gap about access or awareness — and can fixing one tackle the other?

In the worst case, instead of going to fertility specialists, many women and couples venture into the murky world of ‘babas’ or quacks, says Zealthy’s Gupta. But perhaps that’s because the advice has come from someone the women trust and rely on.

One cannot deny that some alternative medicines can be more harmful than helpful, but their use too is born from trust. Zealthy is looking to solve both the access and awareness challenges with its women-focused personal health advisory platform, but if women are not able to vouch for the authenticity of another user, will they share?

Moving beyond the trust factor, Zealthy claims to be striving for greater gender diversity within its teams. Even though the company has male founders — with Rishi Malhotra being a doctor —  Gupta claimed 80% of the staff is women, right from marketing to sales teams to content and operations — however, this could not be independently verified by Inc42.

Experts Over Influencers: Will Zealthy Build Trust?

With an array of influencers on social media platforms hawking a variety of products and solutions to women, the ‘fake news’ epidemic is not far from this space. Zealthy claims its platform is built on a strong community of women and experts, where its users can make informed decisions whether it is about products, services and doctors.

“We are not only educating women around their health, but we strongly believe that healthier women lead to healthier families, and in turn, a productive society,” Gupta adds. He also urges Indian women to express their problems and concerns in front of experts instead of strangers, but on the subject of verifying users, Gupta did not speak more.

Founded in 2018 by Gupta and Malhotra, Zealthy offers women’s health services and support for period-related questions or problems, menopause, PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) to pregnancy, reproductive healthcare and infertility issues among others. The company claims to have touched the lives of more than 5 Mn women till date with health-related content in local Indian languages, including Hindi and English and teleconsultation services.

Backed by a slew of angels such as India Quotient and First Cheque’s Kushal Bhagia; MPL’s Shubham Malhotra; former SoftBank director Pavan Ongole and AngelList among other investors, Zealthy’s focus on women, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, is driven by its end-to-end healthcare and community strategy.

This puts Zealthy in competition with women-focused community platforms such as Healofy, BabyChakra, POPxo, Sheroes among others, and it’s also competing with ecommerce-focussed female health platforms such as Azah, MamaEarth, Nua, PeeSafe and others addressing female hygiene. On the healthtech side, Zealthy competes with aggregators, teleconsultation and discovery channels such as Practo, Lybrate, myUpchar among others. So the model itself is quite varied and the challenge would be to scale each aspect in the right manner for holistic growth.

Growth In Covid-19 Aftermath

While the problem of authentic and genuine users might come back to bite Zealthy in the long run, it has gained in the past few months thanks to the pandemic-driven behavioural shifts. Zealthy claims to have witnessed a massive surge in queries, teleconsultations services, with 500K visitors in April, compared to 150K users per month before Covid-19. It has gone from 100 queries a day to 500-800 queries a day in the past few months but it must be noted that it also launched free consultations during this period. All that growth now needs to be backed by solid technology to build trust.

At the moment, Zealthy is looking to build on the recently-launched AI-powered fertility assessment, which gives women important insights and tips about their reproductive health and fertility issues.

Zealthy doesn’t earn any revenue from this first free consultation through its team of in-house women doctors and gynaecologists, however, it charges patients for further sessions with experts, for doctor appointments and treatments. In terms of revenue, cofounder Malhotra claimed that income per month has gone from INR 10 Lakh to INR 50 Lakh with a target of INR 1 Cr in the coming months.

It says it will get there by expanding its presence to 150 cities and towns by the end of 2020 with its partner network, women-focused local communities, healthcare at-home solutions, the launch of health-related products, and more content in regional languages including Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

The post Zealthy Bets Big On Women’s Health & Community, But What About Trust, Security? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a bid to prevent road accidents and curb vehicular damage, Bengaluru-based self-drive car rental company Zoomcar recently announced the launch of software solution called ‘Zoomcar Mobility Stack (ZMS)’ to manage fleet and track vehicles and user behaviour in real-time. The software stack includes an internet of things (IoT) device and software that will work across both internal combustion and electric vehicles. The company claims that its platform is hardware and geography agnostic.

Zoomcar’s latest product launch is said to focus on the B2B and B2BC segment as the revenue from B2C business has hit a roadblock. The shift in its business model doesn’t come as a surprise, given the slump in demand for vehicle rental startups, including Zoomcar, VOGO, Drivezy, Bounce and electric vehicle fleet startups Yulu and eBikeGo among others. In these stressful times, many rental and shared vehicle startups whose focus previously was on the masses and B2C have turned to B2B and B2B2C models, along with long term rental plans for consumers.

For instance, eBikeGo recently started offering a subscription-based model for ecommerce companies. Similarly, electric mobility startup Yulu and bike rental startup Bounce also has shifted its focus on long-term bike rental plans as consumers prefer to own vehicles instead of shared vehicles.

Does It Make Sense For Zoomcar To Launch An Already Existing Solution? 

With its fleet management and vehicle tracking solution, Zoomcar is late to the party and seems redundant as Sequoia-backed Loconav, TATA Motors, Fleetx, Geotab, Trinetra, TMSI, Fleetio, Letstrack among others are already in the fray. According to MarketsAndMarkets, the fleet management market is expected to touch $34 Bn by 2025, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3%, from $19.9 Bn in 2020. Inc42 reached out to Zoomcar to find out how different they are positioned in terms of competition, but there was no response from the company’s end at the time of publishing. But, in a press statement, Zoomcar mentioned that its new platform ZMS will help fuel Zoomcar’s international footprint while serving customers across three continents by 2021.

Furthermore, Zoomcar, with its latest tech stack claims to help fleet owners reduce operating costs, enhance safety, increase vehicle monetisation and improve customer engagement among others. The company said that ZMC comprises two primary software offerings for OEMs and fleet operators, which includes IoT as a service combined with subscription as a service. In other words, the new solution offered by Zoomcar seems like a copy-paste solution from already existing players in the market

The company said that as part of its India-based offering, it will also allow OEM customers to share back the vehicles on Zoomcar’s short-term rental platform to help reduce the monthly subscription obligation, thereby reducing the cost of personal vehicle access in India.

Greg Moran, cofounder and CEO of Zoomcar said that its ZMS is a one-stop-shop mobility platform for OEMs and fleet operators alike, which will help them significantly reduce operating cost while meaningfully increasing monetisation opportunities at both the vehicle and customer levels.

Zoomcar’s ZMS leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, where it captures the data and tracks the real-time driving behaviour along with the health/condition of the vehicle. Also, based on driving behaviour, the platform rates the drivers on a scale of 0-100. The company claimed that its ZMS has witnessed a monthly operating cost saving of 25-30% using the driver scoring system, which is one of the features of ZMS platform.

Zoomcar was founded in 2013 as a car rental marketplace by David Back and Moran. With their latest veneers and collaborations, Zoomcar’s brand image is slowly transforming. Since inception, Zoomcar has expanded its services to 42 cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune. According to Zoomcar’s website, the company serves over 3K customers daily, has over 48 Lakh subscribers and 6.5K cars on its platform.

The company is currently backed by eminent investors, including InnoVen Capital, Sequoia Capital, Trifecta Capital, Empire Angels, Mahindra and Mahindra among others. Overall, it has raised a total of $151.9 Mn in funding, with latest fund of $30 Mn being raised earlier this year, led by Sony Innovation Fund and other existing investors.

Recently, the company collaborated with electric mobility startup Eto Motors, where it will be providing electric three-wheelers on its platform for last-mile passenger commute requirements. With this, Zoomcar customers will now be able to book a transport vehicle for goods transportation within cities. At the time, Moran had said that it will be leveraging its AI-based platform (ZMS) to enable large fleet operators to better manage their vehicles keeping in mind the safety and lower operating costs.

In the next five years, Zoomcar said that it will be partnering with 50+ fleet management companies in more than ten countries, where it will be venturing into providing two-wheeler, three-wheeler and cargo and passenger markets. Zoomcar believes that ZMS will constitute a meaningful percentage of the company’s total revenue in the coming fiscal year.

Zoomcar Escaping The Reality 

Over the last few months, several Zoomcar customers have taken to social media platforms to raise their voice against the company’s delay in refunding their deposit amount after bookings were cancelled in the wake of the pandemic-induced lockdown restrictions.

However, Zoomcar cofounder and CEO Greg Moran told Inc42 he is not aware of any such issues, despite the vocal group of customers raising the issue on a near-daily basis. “Okay, yeah… I am not really aware of any allegations… It’s nothing I am aware of as such.”

In fact, several customers wrote to us and have also tried to bring up the issues on Twitter, requesting Zoomcar India account to explain the months of delay in refunds disbursal. However, such refund complaints were also seen in the case of travel bookings, in Zoomcar’s case, the volume of such complaints is so high that it prompted us to take a deeper look. Some customers have even tried to file police complaints after turning to consumer forums for help.

The post As Revenue From Car Rental Business Plummets, Zoomcar Looks For Alternative appeared first on Inc42 Media.

To help lower-income families tide over the financial crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant country-wide lockdown, the government is planning a scheme for small-ticket loans, being personally reviewed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

According to an Economic Times report, the government has commissioned Niti Aayog for developing a network of banks and fintech companies who could give small-ticket loans to bottom-of-the-pyramid borrowers such as farmers, street vendors and labourers by utilising the existing direct benefit transfer (DBT) infrastructure. Various fintech startups such as PhonePe, Kissht and Pine Labs are also said to have been part of the government’s review meetings for the proposed scheme.

The project, understood to be in the consultation process over the last two months, has now advanced to the deliberation stage where the Niti Aayog has presented two prototypes to the government. The first of these prototypes is the Kashi – Cash over Internet, which creates a network of top lenders on the Jan Dhan network to create a DBT-based digital lending protocol. For the project, the government will partner with banks, which will then decide the credit and repayment terms based on individual account history the money inflow in the account as part of various DBT schemes would be used to assess creditworthiness. 

In a tweet dated August 11, Niti Aayog wrote, “Kashi – Cash over Internet brings seamless, paperless lending to farmers and labourers in just 5 mins. It eliminates intermediaries and enables low cost, zero-touch lending and ensures zero fraud risk.”

The second prototype is KYC Setu, an integrated ‘Know Your Customer’ data sharing protocol. Through KYC Setu, customers whose credentials have already been vetted by banks can avoid repetition of the process for access to other financial institutions and services. This interoperability of KYC customer data would be ensured through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the digital infrastructure it has created.

As reported by Niti Aayog on Twitter, PM Modi said that schemes such as KYC Setu and Kashi must act as enablers for the street vendors of India, to free them from the debt trap created through informal lending. 

Companies Focus On Microcredit For Underserved Segment

Among the fintech companies, focus on providing microcredit to customers has been a priority, to expand reach into the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India, where people remain underserved by traditional banks and their credit facilities. 

Facebook-owned messaging application WhatsApp, which is planning to launch its digital payments platform WhatsApp Pay in India this year, is keen to partner with banks and financial companies to offer microcredit, insurance and pension, among other financial services to customers. 

The company’s India head Abhijit Bose said during the Global Fintech Festival (GFF) last month that WhatsApp had already partnered with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, among others.

“We now want to open up with more banks… over this coming year to help simplify and expand banking services, especially to the rural and lower-income segments… we also aim to expand our experiments with partners for other products that RBI highlighted as basic financial services, starting with micro pensions and insurance,” Bose added.

Similarly, Bengaluru-headquartered consumer lending startup ZestMoney looks to target the underserved customer base, not through loans, but by enabling purchases through equated monthly instalment (EMI) options. India’s elite and affluent households, those with an annual income of more than INR 10 lakhs, account for 70% of all consumer credit usage in India; whereas, of the 124 Mn households, who earn an annual income of less than INR 1.4 lakhs, only 10% have access to formal credit. 

Last month, Google Pay partnered with ZestMoney, as part of its plan to add lending to its payments business. Google Pay is expected to partner with more such digital lenders and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) in the future. 

The post Govt Commissions Niti Aayog To Develop Network Of Banks, Fintech Companies appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Beleaguered Chinese tech giant ByteDance, which took a body blow with the Indian government’s ban on TikTok and Helo in June, has frozen hiring and is said to be reviewing some senior management roles in India. While there is a cloud of uncertainty around the future of the company in India, is TikTok scaling back and retreating from the Indian market, even if temporarily. 

With over 2,000 employees, ByteDance is running a massive operation in India with offices in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Hyderabad as well as several partners. According to an ET report, many of its employees are either quitting their positions or looking to exit. 

ByteDance had been actively hiring since January, stepping up the pace with more users joining in the beginning of the lockdown. However, by the end of June, TikTok and Helo had been banned by India, forcing ByteDance to reevaluate plans. Later, ByteDance video creation app CapCut was also banned in the second wave of bans by India. Many employees are looking to move to TIkTok rivals, mirroring the migration of users to Indian TikTok alternatives. 

As per reports, other mid and junior-level employees are seeking opportunities at competitors including Chingari, Trell, Bolo Indya, Sharechat’s Moj, DailyHunt’s Josh and Mitron. Bolo Indya CEO Varun Saxena told Inc42 it has received “over 70 applications so far from people working in TikTok and Helo” across positions such as language leads, community leaders and content moderators.

The development comes in the backdrop of ByteDance signing a flexible office-space deal for 1,250 seats at WeWork Nesco in Mumbai. Though ByteDance was planning to take up the office space before the ban came into the picture, it signed the deal on July 6. ByteDance did not comment on this deal.

India’s ban on over 100 Chinese apps, on the grounds of threat to data sovereignty of India, also included ByteDance-owned Helo. The US has also backed India’s move and is considering blocking Chinese apps such as TikTok from the country as well.

Soon after, ByteDance was said to be in talks with tech giants such as Microsoft and Twitter for a possible acquisition. Microsoft is said to be interested in acquiring TikTok’s business in India, along with the US and other European countries. Will an acquisition help TikTok come back to the Indian market? 

The Chinese app not only led in terms of downloads until the last month before the ban in India, but it was also one of the most used apps. Indians spent over 5.5 Bn hours on TikTok in 2019, a startling increase from the 900 Mn hours in 2018. TikTok’s monthly active users (MAUs) grew by 90% to 81 Mn as of December 2019, with over 200 Mn daily active users. 

The post ByteDance Halts Hiring In India Amid Uncertainty; Employees Look To Jump Ship appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a bid to make businesses in India pay attention to the larger good of the society, a committee set up by the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has proposed a new regime for them to report how sustainable and responsible they are.

The reporting requirement, which will be introduced in a gradual and phased manner, aims at forcing businesses to go beyond meeting the objectives of shareholders and contribute to the society. The move is also expected to give startup investors a chance to assess the company in terms of the value it adds to society.

In the long term, the committee envisions the information captured through the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) filings to be used to develop a business responsibility sustainability index for companies.

The committee has recommended two formats for disclosures, ‘comprehensive format’ and a ‘lite version’ and integration of BRSR with the MCA21 website. “The fact that Indian companies are aspiring to have a global foothold and thus they cannot ignore the emerging trend of Corporate Governance i.e. Responsible Business,” said Rajesh Verma, Secretary, MCA.

He also urged professional institutes and business associations to carry out the advocacy campaign for BRSR and capacity building of their respective members, according to a government statement.

MCA’s Ongoing Efforts To Encourage Corporate Social Responsibility

The proposal is an extension of various initiatives taken by MCA to date. The first step towards mainstreaming the concept of business responsibility was taken through the introduction of Voluntary Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility in 2009, which was later revised as National Voluntary Guidelines (NVG) on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business in 2011.

Later in 2012, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mandated the top 100 listed entities by market capitalisation to file BRRs from an environmental, social and governance perspective through its ‘Listing Regulations’. These BRRs enabled the business to demonstrate the adoption of the NVG principles and the attendant core elements with the intent of engaging businesses more meaningfully with their stakeholders going beyond regulatory financial compliance, according to a press statement. This was extended to top 500 companies in FY 2015-16 and further extended to top 1000 companies in December 2019.

“Due to the trends of environmental, social and governance investing, the demand for non-financial reporting is growing and the proposed business responsibility framework will set the stage for sustainable investing,” said Amarjeet Singh, executive director, Sebi in the statement.

The post Startups May Have To Report Their Role Towards India’s Sustainability Goals appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indian aerospace startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully test-fired an upper-stage rocket engine, which is the third and fourth stage of a traditional multi-stage rocket, fired at high altitude and designed to operate with little or no atmospheric pressure. Skyroot has thus become the first Indian private company to demonstrate the capability of building an indigenous rocket engine. 

Hyderabad-headquartered Skyroot, backed by Curefit founders Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, claimed that their 3D-printed rocket engine, named Raman after Indian scientist Dr CV Raman, is capable of multiple restarts, enabling the launch vehicle to insert various satellites into multiple orbits in a single mission. 

Founded by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, both former scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Skyroot builds small satellite launch vehicles (SSLV) for small satellites. 

The startup manufactures three types of launch vehicles — Vikram I, II and III — named after Indian physicist and astronomer Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of ISRO. The first of these rockets would be able to launch satellites weighing 250-700 kg into earth’s lower orbit. 

India Opens Up Space For Private Sector

In June this year, during a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government took the decision of opening up the space sector for private participation. The Cabinet also approved the newly formed Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which will act as an arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). During the announcement, it was said that IN-SPACe would be functioning within six months, and would provide a “level-playing field” to private companies in the country’s space programmes. Through IN-SPACe, private companies would be guided with ISRO’s infrastructural, scientific and technical resources for the betterment of their space programmes. 

According to a Datalabs by Inc42+ report, there are estimated to be 120 space technology startups active in India today. About 64% of these startups have launched after 2014. 

From propulsion and rocket technology ventures such as Bellatrix to satellite makers such as Dhruva Space and Team Indus that aspire to bid for entire missions rather than supply piece-meal components, India’s aviation and aerospace startups are blooming. A few startups like Kawa Space, are even democratising space by providing space-as-a-service.

Other space startups such as Agnikul, which builds rockets for launching satellites, have also been ranked in Inc42’s ‘30 Startups To Watch’ list for March 2020. 

The post Indian Spacetech Startup Skyroot Aerospace Successfully Test-Fires Rocket Engine appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In yet another step aimed at leveraging the disruptive force of technology for the betterment of farmers and the agricultural output, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched the National Agricultural Research & Education System – Cloud Infrastructure and Services, also called Krishi Megh, in Hyderabad.

The new ICAR centre in Hyderabad will integrate data available with the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi, and the Disaster Recovery Centre at the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad. The new centre will be equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning software and tools. These would be used for pest identification through image analysis, detection of ripening of fruits, diseases in livestock, among other things. 

The new institute will come up at the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad, as the city lies in a different seismic zone than Delhi. During the virtual launch, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar talked about the importance of ensuring 24/7 access to important-research based data anywhere in the country, to meet the country’s growing IT needs. Further, Hyderabad was also chosen because of the skilled IT manpower which the city affords. 

Besides national initiatives for boosting the country’s agricultural output through the use of technology, a host of Indian startups are also leveraging AI, machine learning and IoT to help farmers engage in sustainable agriculture practices. Moreover, the new centre in Hyderabad is coming up just a couple of months after reports emerged in May about farmers not being able to harvest their crop because of a lack of migrant labourers in the fields.

Agritech Startups Develop Solutions For Supply-Chain Disruptions

More importantly, for the farmers who managed to harvest their crop, supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 induced lockdown were a major hindrance. According to reports, farmers had to discard tonnes of produce and some had to leave many quintals of crop and fruit to rot. This is on top of already existing issues such as poor post-harvest management, absence of cold chain and processing facilities. According to the government statistics, various studies on fresh fruits, vegetables and fisheries in India have indicated a loss percentage ranging from about 8% to 18% in 2018.

To help farmers tide over the crisis caused by the country-wide lockdown, various agritech startups came to the fore. For instance, AgriBazaar allows farmers to register and list the produce for sale, while buyers like merchants, traders and corporates give orders for purchase. Once the deal is complete, the startup ensures the logistics of picking up the grain from the farmer’s doorstep and delivering it to the buyers’ godown or warehouse.

Further innovations are being made in the payments process for farmers. While usually, farmers are paid in 2-3 days, startups such as Farmpal are working on immediate payments in order to not just help farmers but also motivate others to bring in more produce which is in huge demand in cities. Farmers get their payments online in their bank account within the stipulated time from the startups. The Pune-based agritech startup connects farmers to businesses directly and has launched new collection centres to help farmers maintain their daily income and to provide consumers with easy access to fresh produce.

There are also startups such as Fasal, using solar-powered IoT devices which collect data in real-time and transmit it to the cloud. The data is then crunched and analysed using an AI platform to predict various stages of the crop, from the seed stage and climate change. Once analysed, it provides preventive action to farmers, thereby helping them achieve better yield and produce.

Based in Bengaluru, Fasal provides farm-specific, crop-specific and crop stage-specific actionable insights to farmers. The insights could be in terms of irrigating the crop, predicting possible disease, and spraying of pesticides, among others. 

According to DataLabs by Inc42+, the agritech sector recorded total funding of $244.59 Mn in 2019, an increase of over 350% in the amount of funding, compared to the previous year. Several agritech stakeholders told Inc42 that whole startups have expanded rapidly in the last few years, the sector, however, has been held back due to lack of structured data, fewer large investments, poor infrastructure and policy lag.

The post Indian Council For Agricultural Research Sets Up New Centre To Leverage AI appeared first on Inc42 Media.

At a webinar ‘Technology Aspects of Remote Voting: Exploring Blockchain,’’ organised by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and Tamil Nadu E-Governance Agency (TNEGA), on August 10, the ECI proposed an idea of using blockchain technology as the solution for remote voting. 

Citing the remote location voting concerns, Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra shared challenges of transparency and voter security regarding using a distributed consensus mechanism. Chandra said that blockchain solution can be the solution here, where the entire process is clear and transparent for voters. 

However, the idea may seem far fetched, given the reality of India’s electoral process, where money, caste and location influences the election to a large extent. In addition to this, missing voters, misuse of identities, fake votes and re-elections are a major challenge. In fact, electoral data from the centre for research and debates in development policy and the Karnataka’s chief electoral officer’s website shows that 15% of citizens’ names were not included in the voter lists. 

Not only in India, the electoral process across the world has been manipulated and tampered one way or the other, including the US-presidential elections, where Cambridge Analytica sold the data of American voters to political campaigns and ultimately provided assistance and analytics to Ted Cruz and Donald Trump campaigns. 

Shiv Aggarwal, CEO, MyEarth.Id and an ex-president of Government Blockchain Association (GBA), UK Chapter, told Inc42 that the implementation of blockchain-based voting system is a very good value proposition. And when it comes to trust and transparency, blockchain is the best possible solution on the table, he added.

Further explaining, Aggarwal said that voting can happen in two areas, one with respect to the democratic election process and the other in the corporate world, including annual general meetings, board meetings. “The implementation of blockchain in these processes starts with identity, ‘how do you ensure that all voters are registered, and there are no fake profiles and fake voters, so that is the first step,” added Aggarwal.

This is followed by the digitisation process, where irrespective of physical location constraint, the person is able to vote online. Then comes the cybersecurity challenge, making sure that the system is safe and secure. In all these steps, blockchain plays a significant role in ensuring a fair, trustworthy and transparent electronics process, shared Aggarwal.  

Traditionally, the counting of voting takes a lot of time, and also, at times when political parties challenge the results, the entire process becomes cumbersome and resource-intensive. In a way, the blockchain-based voting system not only provides real-time results, but also ensures that the counting is foolproof, and with blockchain, nobody can tamper the results.   

However, blockchain-based voting systems are not new; in the past, several countries have implemented it. For instance, the Republic Party of Arizona had leveraged blockchain technology-based voting system Voatz, where the officials used the mobile application based solution for the May 2020 Convention of the Republic party during the pandemic. 

Similarly, after going through minor hiccups and hacking attempts on the blockchain voting network in Russia’s recent referendum on constitutional reform at two pilot testing locations, including Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, the government officials are now planning to expand this voting system across the country in next year’s parliamentary elections. 

If we closely look at Russia’s blockchain solution for remote voting, the authorities said that the blockchain technology ensured the safety of the process and complete anonymity of voters. During the vote, an electronic ballot was designated to each e-voter anonymously. It also stated that the link was generated randomly from three sources, including voter’s personal account on the city website, their browser and secure blockchain network. “This system made it virtually impossible to track the patch of the electronic ballot, while no pressure on voters and no manipulation of the results,” shared the authorities. 

Blockchain Graph Of The Week: 

According to Russian media reports, 450K voters were given the opportunity to vote electronically for Moscow’s 30th district election, out of which, 11,228 voters registered and 9,810 actually voted. The result of e-voting provided Margarita Rusetskaya with 1,120 votes jump, accounting for a total vote of 9,645 votes, where she won with just 84 votes ahead of Roman Yuneman, who stood at 9,561 votes. 

In other words, there was a complete seamless voting process, and most importantly, it saved a lot of resources and time for the government. Also, in comparison to paper ballots conducted last year, the participation of the voters has also increased by 5-10%, which is a good sign. 

Blockchain News Of The Week

Telangana Plans To Experiment With Blockchain Voting System 

At the webinar ‘Exploring Blockchain for Remote Voting,’ alongside MeitY, MyGov and other industry body working in the blockchain chain space, the principal secretary of Information technology Jayesh Ranjan said that the Telangana state would be experimenting with the technology at a small scale for learning purposes and slowly scale up. 

Further, he said that the state government could pool their efforts, with a go-ahead from the ECI, to perfect the technology required for this endeavour, including facial recognition software and encryption tools. He suggested that smaller authorities like societies, neighbourhoods, sports associations, cultural associations, can use this technology to conduct their internal elections. 

“Once we have enough use cases, we can convince the government to try it out and gradually scale it up to the national level,” he added.

China Adds 10K Blockchain Startups In 2020 

As the world is still grappling through the worse economic recession caused due to Covid-19, and figuring out ways to overcome them. China seems to have overcome them and looks positive, where it has recorded the highest number of blockchain startups registered in 2020.

In a Twitter post, LongHash, a decentralised data provider revealed that over 10K blockchain firms were registered in the first seven months of 2020, the numbers of new companies are on track to surpass those established in 2019, which stood at 14K. 

LongHash’s report further highlighted that China has shown substantial growth in the blockchain space, and the current number of blockchain startups seems to have surpassed the total number of blockchain companies in 2017 already. If this continues, it might break the 2018 record, where China had about 18,500 blockchain startups. 

US-Based Skuchain Partners With Mitsubishi Corp To Trade Precious Metals 

Mitsubishi’s metal and mining subsidiary, Mitsubitshi Corporation RtM Japan, recently partnered with a US-based blockchain company Skuchain, to launch the ECO platform for trading precious metals. With this, Skuchain’s ECO platform will facilitate trade by generating, managing and executing invoices and confirmations between counterparties. In addition to this, parties can take documents used in trade transactions, including invoices and confirmations, and use the system to sign them digitally, thereby storing the signed documents on the blockchain network. 

Rebecca Liao, cofounder and COO of Skuchain said that the counterparties can see the rules by which their data is shared with others. She also said that whenever someone wants to change those rules, they can go directly to their node and change those settings. Prior to this, Skuchain had actually partnered with Japanese tech giant NTT Data to build a separate platform for supply chain and logistics management.  

The post Blockchain This Week: Election Commission Of India Proposes Use Of Blockchain Solution & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After Microsoft and Twitter, Reliance Jio Platforms is speculated to be lining up to acquire a piece of TikTok’s business in India, which could turn around ByteDance’s fortunes in the country. The Chinese giant is in early discussions with Reliance Jio, according to a TechCrunch report citing unnamed sources.

While discussions between the companies are said to have begun in late July, ByteDance has been looking for a way out of the Indian government ban to re-enter its largest market, where it claimed to have over 200 Mn daily active users. TikTok’s India unit is valued at over $3 Bn, as per the report.

Last week, Microsoft was said to be in talks to acquire all of TikTok’s global businesses, including India, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand businesses. While talks are underway, any deal would only be finalised by next month, as per reports. “There was a “deal in the works’ with Microsoft for TikTok India but that if it fell through, ByteDance could sell TikTok India either to foreign investors or Indian buyers. ByteDance would then license its technology to the company and share revenue,” a Financial Times report had said.

ByteDance, which took a body blow with the Indian government’s ban on TikTok and Helo in June, has frozen hiring and is said to be reviewing some senior management roles in India. While there is a cloud of uncertainty around the future of the company in India, is TikTok scaling back and retreating from the Indian market, even if temporarily. 

With over 2,000 employees, ByteDance is running a massive operation in India with offices in Bengaluru, Delhi NCR and Hyderabad as well as several partners. Many of its employees are either quitting their positions or looking to exit to join rivals such as Mitron, Chingari, Bolo Indya and others. Bolo Indya CEO Varun Saxena told Inc42 it has received “over 70 applications so far from people working in TikTok and Helo” across positions such as language leads, community leaders and content moderators.

Also read: [Deep Dive] Reliance Jio’s Digital Empire And How It Stacks Up Against The Competition

Reliance Jio has nearly 400 Mn 4G telecom subscribers and its broadband service is also gaining subscribers rapidly. Beyond being a digital enabler, Jio Platforms, which Ambani claims is a startup, has raised a total of INR 1,52,056 Cr from leading investors like Facebook, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, KKR, TPG Capital, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Mubadala Investment Company, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, L Catterton, Vista Equity Partner and Intel Capital in the past three and a half months. Interestingly, Facebook, one of the key backers for Reliance, launched TikTok rival Reels in India soon after the ban and is said to be seeing healthy growth in the Indian market.

Reports also said that Jio could use its newly-raised funding to acquire TikTok’s business to make it the centrepiece of its consumer-facing plays. Over the years, Reliance has entered into nearly 49 merger and acquisitions, strategic investments and joint venture deals globally. The company ventured into tech-dominant businesses with the acquisition of startups such as Haptik, Embibe, C-Square, Fynd, Grab, Netradyne, Tesseract and others. Apart from these, Reliance has made significant investments in global tech companies such as DEN, Hathway, Eros International Plc, Edcast, Karexpert Technologies, Vakt Holdings, Indiavidual Learning Pvt. Ltd, Radisys Corp, Videonetics, KaiOS Technologies and SkyTran Inc. among others.

The post ByteDance Might Offload TikTok’s India Business To Reliance Jio As Ban Wreaks Havoc appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based edtech startup Unacademy has reportedly bid for the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) title sponsorship rights, after Chinese phone-maker Vivo’s hurried exit. While Vivo and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had signed a deal worth INR 2,199 Cr in 2018, giving the former title sponsorship rights of the tournament for five years, the persistent anti-China sentiment in India after border clashes between the two countries in June meant that calls were made to remove Vivo as title sponsors. Vivo’s exit has opened up the field for Indian companies, as the BCCI looks for a replacement with just a month left before the tournament gets underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on September 19. 

“I can confirm that Unacademy has shown interest and picked the bid papers. I have heard they will be submitting a bid and are pretty serious. So Patanjali, if they bid, will have competition,” a senior BCCI official told PTI. 

After Vivo’s exit, a host of memes went viral on Twitter over the possibility of Patanjali being roped in as title sponsors and the competition being rebranded as ‘Patanjali IPL’. 

As part of Vivo’s deal, it paid BCCI INR 440 Cr annually for IPL sponsorship rights. Reportedly, the BCCI is now looking at a lesser value in the range of INR 300-350 Cr. 

Other Indian companies such as fantasy sports platform Dream11 are also in the running to become title sponsors for the league. Dream11 is the official partner of the IPL. However, title sponsorship rights are different, as the company’s name will be displayed on umpire’s jerseys and various other branding material for the league such as stadium tickets, billboards, fan merchandise, among other things. The league’s name itself is rebranded to include the name of the title sponsor, as in ‘Vivo IPL’.

Among the other major Indian companies who may possibly be in the running for the league title sponsorship, edtech platform BYJU’S and Dream11 have Chinese investment. Both companies have received investment from Chinese internet technology company Tencent in the past. The same is true for foodtech company Swiggy, and payments company Paytm, which are also among the sponsors for the competition. BYJU’S, which is the world’s most valued edtech company with a valuation north of $10 Bn, may have a slight edge over its competition, given the fact that it’s the main shirt sponsor for the Indian national cricket team. Although, it’s unclear if the company has or will bid for IPL’s title sponsorship.

On August 10, the IPL released a form for ‘Invitation For Expressions Of Interest (“IEOI”) For IPL Title Sponsorship Rights’. The document states that the BCCI shall not be obliged to award the title sponsorship rights to the highest bidder. “BCCI’s decision in this regard will also depend on a number of other relevant factors, including but not limited to, the manner in which the third party intends to exploit the Rights and the potential impact of the same on brand IPL as also the fan/ viewer experience, which will be examined/ evaluated by BCCI in the course of discussions/ negotiations with interested third parties who submit an EOI,” the document states. 

The Jio Buzz

Speculations were also rife about Reliance Jio earning title sponsorship rights for the league this year. However, since Jio’s parent company Reliance is the owner of one of the teams in the league — Mumbai Indians — the common ‘Conflict of Interest’ clause will in all likelihood, not allow Jio to bid for the title rights.

IPL Gives Foothold For Global Presence

The IPL title sponsorship rights may be a perfect opportunity for companies looking to expand their global presence. Given the global nature of the IPL and the fact that it will be one of the very few sporting competitions which would be happening around the time could mean that viewer interest would be very high. The tournament is broadcast in more than 30 countries, besides digital streaming in even more countries through Disney+ Hotstar. The brand value of the IPL was $6.7 Bn in 2019, according to financial consultancy firm Duff and Phelps.

If Chinese investment in Indian companies indeed proves to be a deciding factor, Unacademy may win the race, as it doesn’t have a single Chinese investor. 

The post Unacademy Pads Up To Bid For IPL Title Sponsorship appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Yesterday on August 12, Mumbai police reportedly summoned Sagar Gokhale, COO of digital media and artist management company Qyuki. Gokhale was called to record a statement in Badshah’s (Aditya Sisodia) fake social media followers case. Badshah has reportedly told the police that he had paid Qyuki INR 75 Lakh to get 75 Mn views on his song Pagal in a day. 

According to an Indian Express report, Gokhale said in his statement that Qyuki’s CEO late Samir Bangara knew more about the company affairs than him. He added that Qyuki’s CFO and video network-manager are more likely to know about the video that Badshah has talked about. 

Police have now called the company’s CFO and video network managers along with Gokhale today (August 13) for investigation. Police have found an invoice showing that Badshah has paid Qyuki INR 75 Lakh for advertising. The singer wanted to make a world record for the highest number of views on an album in a day. 

However, police suspect that this is a case of views inflation and not advertising. The case has come to the light after a playback singer reported to the police that a fake account was being operated under her name.  

In response, a Qyuki spokesperson said, “We intend to share the full details of all the Ads bought legitimately on behalf of any of our clients, including invoices and reports generated by the Google Ads platform which can be verified independently with YouTube. We do not have any offering that claims to grow any social media numbers since we don’t operate in that business at all.”

The company claimed to be among the select few who are empaneled as an enterprise partner by Youtube and other leading social media platforms. “Music Labels, brands and creators often engage our services to place ads on YouTube, which we do through the real-time Google Ads auction platform that is provided to all authorised partners by Youtube itself,” the spokesperson added.

Founded in 2011 by late Samir Bangara, AR Rahman and Shekhar Kapur, Qyuki is a data-driven new media company which discovers and invests in India’s most influential KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) to help them rapidly grow their audience, create content and launch scalable D2C brands. 

Samir Bangara, the co-founder and chief executive of Qyuki passed away on June 15, following a motorcycle accident.

Qyuki has to its name several premium IPs like ARRived, a singing talent hunt show with AR Rahman as mentor and Jammin’, a collaboration-focused music show where legendary Bollywood composers and India’s top Internet icons create original tracks. In the English Music space, Qyuki launched NEXA Music, a nationwide talent hunt for English-language with India’s leading automaker Maruti.

Some of their other successful IPs include #HaqSeHipHop, a concert series, a podcast with Rolling Stone India, popular digital shows Be The Change with Faye D’Souza and AR’s Super 8, among many others. Qyuki also exclusively manages a host of talent across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

The company recorded revenue of INR 67.8 Cr in FY19, growing from INR 14.2 Cr in FY18. Recently in February 2020,  Info Edge has invested $3.5 Mn in Qyuki via its newly launched venture fund (IE Venture Fund I).

Update | 15:37, August 13, 2020

A statement from Qyuki spokesperson was added to the article.

The post [Update] New Media Startup Qyuki Caught Up In Badshah’s Fake Followers Case appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indian foodtech unicorns Zomato and Swiggy have been facing a financial crisis, with their food delivery businesses being severely impacted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, a recent report says that the entry of new players in the segment could further bring down revenues for both companies. 

A report by financial services company JM Financial highlights that the potential entry of Amazon, which is testing Amazon Food in Bengaluru since May, in the food delivery space, could hamper both Zomato and Swiggy’s path to profitability this year. 

“We are launching Amazon Food in select Bengaluru pin codes allowing customers to order from handpicked local restaurants and cloud kitchens that pass our high hygiene certification bar. We are adhering to the highest standards of safety to ensure our customers remain safe while having a delightful experience,” an Amazon spokesperson said in May this year.

“We believe the entry of a cash-rich player such as Amazon has the potential to impact the path to sustainable profitability for both the incumbents over the medium-to-long-term,” says the report. 

Zomato, Swiggy Lay Offs Amid Pandemic

Both Zomato and Swiggy have been forced to lay off many employees in the past few months, during the lockdown, when the food delivery segment witnessed a fall in revenue because of people preferring home-cooked meals due to fear of disease transmission. Swiggy is believed to have laid off more than 1,400 employees as part of its ‘realignment exercise’ amid the pandemic. 

Last month, a Swiggy spokesperson told Inc42, “In May, we began the exercise of realigning resources to create capacity in higher potential areas with the optimism of the business attaining pre-covid levels in the near-term. However, with the industry still only having recovered to about 50% of its peak, we have to, unfortunately, go ahead with this final realignment exercise, which will result in the net loss of 350 jobs. We are concluding the exercise we began late May and there are no plans for any further restructuring.” The company had laid off 1,110 employees in May. 

Meanwhile, Zomato laid off 13% of its staff, translating to around 5,000 employees in May. An Inc42 analysis of the company’s annual report revealed that Zomato is likely going to incur a 50% fall in revenue for fiscal year (FY) 2020-21, compared to the previous year. 

To offset the fall in revenue in their traditional food delivery verticals, both Zomato and Swiggy had entered the online grocery delivery segment. However, two months after it entered the space, Zomato shut its grocery delivery business ‘Zomato Market’ which was operating in 80 cities. According to sources quoted by The Ken, Zomato decided to shut down the grocery business after finding that the business was not scalable.

But Swiggy is hanging on, recently launching InstaMart in Gurugram, which promises delivery of groceries and other household items within 30-45 minutes. The company is also operating Swiggy Stores, a hyperlocal delivery service for groceries and other essentials. 

Food Delivery Segment In India

According to the JM Financial report, the food delivery market in India is set to double in the next five years, from an estimated $3.6 Bn in FY20 to $8.6 Bn by FY25. 

With Zomato’s acquisition of Uber Eats in January this year, the food delivery segment in India is effectively a duopoly now. While Zomato reportedly has a 55% market share, Swiggy is believed to have more than 60% revenue market share. It remains to be seen if Amazon’s impending full-blown entry in the food delivery market would alter the status quo. 

The post Amazon’s Entry In Food Delivery Set To Challenge Zomato, Swiggy Duopoly appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based online home furnishing startup HomeLane has raised around INR 10.5 Cr from JSW Ventures Trust. 

According to filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs accessed by Inc42, HomeLane, through its parent company Homevista Decor and Furnishings Private Limited, has allotted 10 Equity Shares at a face value of INR 10 each, with a premium of INR 269.56 per share, aggregating to a total amount of INR 2,795.60, to JSW Ventures Trust – JSW VC Scheme II. Further, Homeland allotted 3,75,586 Series D2 Compulsorily Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares (CCCPS) at a face value of INR 20 per share, and a premium of INR 259.56 per share, amounting to INR 10,49,98,822.16. 

The filings add that Homeland is in a startup phase and has incurred losses in FY17, FY18 and FY19. 

JSW Ventures is an early-stage, tech-focused, venture capital firm based in Mumbai. It counts companies like indigenous app and content discovery platform Indus OS, restaurant software and marketing solutions platform LimeTray, and clinical software platform for doctors, HealthPlix, in its portfolio. 

JSW Ventures also participated in HomeLane’s last funding round, a Series D round in December last year when it raised $30 Mn (INR 3 Cr). The round was led by new investors Evolvence India Fund (EIF), Pidilite Group and FJ Labs, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and JSW Ventures. The company had said that the funding would be used to launch renovation as a category, scale its proprietary design-to-manufacturing platform to more designers, vendors and installers; and expand to 8-10 new cities in India. Before the recent funding, HomeLane had raised $49.2 Mn in six funding rounds. 

Founded in 2014 by Rama Harinath, Srikanth Iyer, and Vivek Parasuram, HomeLane is an online provider of home fit-out solutions. It offers personalised design service to customers through their panel of interior designers who work with them to customise the house designs. At present, it operates in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

As an organised online home furnishing marketplace, HomeLane claims to offer an industry-first 45-day delivery guarantee for fit-outs. It claims that the value proposition is solving the interior design problem with technology and predictable timelines. HomeLane claims to have delivered 6K projects since its inception.

Other major startups operating in this space include Urban Ladder, LivSpace, Pepperfry and FabFurnish. The market for home interiors and renovation in India today is estimated to be between $20 Bn- $30 Bn.

The post Home Furnishing Startup HomeLane Raises INR 10.5 Cr From JSW Ventures Trust appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After laying off about 1600 employees, fitness brand Curefit has now cut down operations of its food delivery vertical Eat.fit. Talking to Inc42, cofounder Ankit Nagori said that Eat.fit has locked down kitchens in a dozen cities and is focused on Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Coimbatore.

Even in these three cities, the kitchens are operating in limited areas. While Bengaluru and Hyderabad kitchens are covering about 80% of the city, Coimbatore operations have a comparatively thinner coverage. 

“Two to three days after the lockdown, Eat.fit’s order volumes fell by 80%. Since then, it has been a very uphill fight. Supply chain disruptions were not the biggest reason for this fall, I think the overall sentiment around ordering in has gone down in the country,” said Nagori. 

He added that even a Twitter survey today will show that 50% of people have not ordered in since the lockdown, and even the ones who are ordering in, are doing so at a much-reduced frequency. 

Some of the Eat.fit kitchens that were opened in January or February, suffered heavily after the lockdown because the brand had not hit the critical mass in these areas. Nagori said that the scaling down of these new kitchens had started in April and later in June, the company realised that most of these Kitchens were operating at low utilisation which eventually led to the final shut down of operations in 12 cities.

Also Read: The Cloud Kitchen Market Opportunity Report

In the operational cities, Eat.fit is currently being consumed by power users who know what to expect from Eat.fit and have been using the product for many months. The company is not investing in capturing new users right now.

Eat.fit revenue is currently at 20% of what it used to be before Covid-19 outbreak. Primarily, because of low utilisation of kitchens and shutting down of subsidies. The first month of the launch of digital sessions, Curefit claims to have generated millions of dollars in revenue and has been able to maintain that. 

Just after lockdown, Curefit launched essential services like packaged food, grocery delivery and digital classes were made free. At that time, the company’s NPS had jumped to 75 but after the grocery delivery was shut down and digital offerings became paid, company’s NPS had dropped back to the earlier score of 65. 

Eat.fit also has dietician services as one of its offerings, which was launched right after the lockdown as the company looked to introduce new digital offerings. Today, the platform has about 200 dieticians and around 10K users have tried the product. Dietician consultations are said to contribute about 8%-10% of the company’s total digital revenue.

“We are confident that the business will bounce back in a few quarters when the sentiment towards ordering-in improves across the country. Another thing that will work in the favour of cloud kitchen brands like Eat.fit is that a lot of small restaurants would have been shut down by the time Covid-19 is over. So overall the market share of cloud kitchens will go up, perhaps the ordering-in becomes a norm,” said Nagori. 

Nagori believes that ordering from branded cloud kitchen will become a norm in the near future. That’s what the company is now preparing for and hopes to be a much better product, and supply chain in the next 12 months.

Pre-covid, about 60% of Eat.fit orders used to come through its own app, 10%-15% were from the Cult.fit centres/cafes and about 35% of orders were through third-party food aggregators. 

Even though there are some Eat.fit offerings that are exclusive to the company’s own distribution channels like office subscriptions, Nagori feels that the food aggregators will continue to play a significant role in the future of Indian foodtech sector. 

Curefit was founded by Myntra cofounder Mukesh Bansal and former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori in 2016 to solve the problems in fitness, nutrition and mental wellbeing space with the help of technology. In March, Curefit raised $110 Mn Series D funding round led by Singapore-based investment firm Temasek.

The post Curefit’s Cloud Kitchen Vertical Eat.fit Shuts Down Operations In 12 Cities appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based online pharmacy Medlife has raised a total of INR 173 Cr from various investors. Portions of the amount have been raised by allotting secured, redeemable, Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) as well as Optionally Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares (OCPRS). While INR 5 Cr has been raised in debt from SC Credit Fund, the remaining amount of over INR 167 Cr has been raised in two tranches from the Prasid Uno Family Trust. 

According to filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs accessed by Inc42, Medlife, on July 3, allotted 50 NCDs, at a nominal amount of INR 10,00,000 per share, amounting to a total of INR 5 Cr, to SC Credit Fund. 

In March, the company allotted 1,25,270 OCPRS at a nominal amount of INR 100 per share and a premium of INR 11,754 per share, aggregating to INR 148,49,50,580, to Prasid Uno Family Trust. Finally, in February, the company allotted 16,871 OCPRS at a nominal amount of INR 100 per share and a premium of 11,754, aggregating to INR 19,99,88,824, to Prasid Uno Family Trust. 

Medlife was founded in 2014 by Tushar Kumar and Prashant Singh as an inventory-led epharmacy and helps doctors digitally manage and store patient records. However, it gradually diversified to online doctor consultations, wellness products and laboratory services. 

Medlife Raising Money From Founders’ Family-Owned Trust

Medlife founders Kumar and Singh are directly connected with one of the company’s major investors over the years, the Prasid Uno Family Trust. Kumar is director and trustee for Parsid Trust while Singh’s wife Surabhi Singh is also one of the directors. 

On the other hand, the SC Credit Fund is owned by Samena Capital, a principal investment group focusing on the Subcontinent, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. 

According to an Inc42 report from January this year, Medlife’s revenues for FY19 were at INR 364.67 Cr while expenses were INR 768.36 Cr. Hence, the company’s losses amounted to INR 403.6 Cr.

Previous Funding For Medlife

In December last year, Medlife raised $15.5 Mn (INR 110 Cr) from Wilson Global Opportunities Fund in a debt funding round.

Medlife had said that it would utilise the funds in the development of technology, marketing, employee expenses and to support the future growth of the company, according to media reports.

In April of the same year, the company raised INR 118.95 Cr ($17 Mn) in an equity funding round from founder Tushar Kumar’s family trust, Prasid Uno Family Trust.

In May of the same year, Medlife acquired Bengaluru-based medicine delivery startup Myra Medicines for an undisclosed amount. It was said that the acquisition would support Medlife’s pharmacy business and help it accrue profits. At the same time, Medlife would consolidate and strengthen the delivery of medicines and extend the reach to more Indian cities.

Indian Online Pharmacies

Medlife competes with 1MG, NetMeds and PharmEasy, among others, in the online pharmacy segment. 

Between 2014 to 2019, out of the total $2 Bn invested in Indian healthtech startups, 22.4% (462 Mn out of $2 Bn) was poured into online pharmacy startups such as Medlife, 1Mg, Pharmeasy and Netmeds, who are also the top players in the sector, according to India’s healthtech landscape report. 

The post Online Pharmacy Medlife Raises INR 173 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The financial disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic forced many businesses to adopt digital technologies. A recent report by management consulting firm RedSeer consulting now indicates that the growth of digital payments in India may have received a boost due to the pandemic and the resultant country-wide three-month-long lockdown, having possibly brought about a permanent change in consumer behaviour. 

The report mentions that as the economy rebounds after the Covid-19 lockdown, there will be a consequent growth in digital payments, which are expected to grow 2x and touch $60 Tn by 2022, “driven by a continued rise in private expenditure, with retail consumption at the forefront, and a significant increase in digital maturity of the Indian customers,” says the report. 

Moreover, the report mentions that mobile payments are likely to outplay other forms of digital payments and grow at a 60% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach $900 Bn by 2025. The report notes that while there was a 25% fall in the number of digital transactions through UPI and mobile wallets, — from 1.57 Bn in March to 1.18 Bn in April — the numbers have only grown since then. For July, the number of digital transactions were 1.69 Bn, and are expected to touch 1.78 Bn in August, and will continue to climb from there, according to the report’s estimates. 

The report adds that increased health consciousness among people due to Covid-19 would lead to a rise in buyers through online insurance aggregators or insurance tech startups. According to the report, 17 Mn new online insurance buyers will get added in the next two years, to take the overall number to 30 Mn. 

The other data points mentioned in the report that the digital credit lending sector has seen a 90% dip in loan disbursal from March to April this year, as MSMEs have been the hardest hit by the pandemic, severely affecting their creditworthiness. However, the market for digital lending is expected to recover, driven by significant headroom for growth available. Only 400K MSMEs are using credit-lending from digital platforms, out of a total addressable base of more than 20 Mn.

The government has also been making efforts to push to envelop for the adoption of digital payments. Recently, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced the launch of a UPI AutoPay to enable e-mandate for recurring payments up to INR 2,000 on the UPI network. The NPCI also launched a RuPay business credit card for small businesses and startups. Further, it is also trying to add near-field communication (NFC) capabilities to its existing UPI infrastructure to enable offline-based digital payments. 

The post Digital Payments To Grow 2X, Touch $60 Tn Mark By 2022: Report appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In a big push to create an ecosystem for clean transport, the government has allowed companies to sell electric two and three-wheelers without batteries. The battery, which accounts for 30-40% of the total cost of a vehicle, could be provided separately by the original equipment manufacturer or the energy service provider, said the transport and highways ministry in a notification to states.

The ministry said the vehicles without batteries can be sold and registered based on the type approval certificate issued by a testing agency. It said there is no need to specify the make/ type or any other details of the battery for registration.

The government, however, added that the prototype of the electrical vehicle and the battery (regular battery or the swappable battery) is required to be type approved by the test Agencies specified under Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.

This will make the upfront cost of the electrical 2 wheeler (2W) and 3 wheelers (3W) to be lower than ICE 2 and 3W. The battery could be provided separately by the OEM or the energy service provider.

The government’s move has been welcomed by the industry. “MoRTH’s new policy is a great move for both customers and OEMs. It lowers the upfront cost that the consumer has to pay and allows OEMs to build superior products at an affordable price point. Ather has been proactively experimenting with different sales and ownership models and the new policy opens up new opportunities in financing options,” said Tarun Mehta, CEO and cofounder, Ather Energy.

Meanwhile, Jeetender Sharma, MD and Founder, Okinawa said that the government’s move will accelerate adoption of electric mobility. “This widens the scope for manufacturers and buyers both. We are swiftly adopting the much-needed flexibility and comfort in the EV ecosystem,” he said. 

Whie the new policy opens up new opportunities in financing options, it will take some time for consumers to understand and adopt this model of ownership, but in the long run it will be a big boost to the Indian EV industry.

India still has a long way to go to adopt the new-age technologies, China has always had an upper hand on India.  Superior tech readiness, manufacturing prowess and enabling infrastructure in China has driven the higher adoption of electric vehicles in China. Another important point to notice is that rather than being dependent on international players, the EV revolution in China is being spearheaded by domestic players. Homegrown car manufacturers like BYD ($7.38 Bn), Geely ($4.12 Bn), BAIC($4.12 Bn) and SAIC($3.36 Bn) have all made significant gains through the sale of EVs in 2018.

Chart Of The Week: EV Battery Costs Fall

EV News Of The Week 

Delhi Gets Smart Public EV Charging Station

Days after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the launch of ‘progressive’ electric vehicle policy, through which the AAP government looks to have 25% electric vehicles on road by 2024,  Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia inaugurated a smart electric vehicle charging stations at Patparganj. BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) and EV Motors India Pvt. Ltd. (EVM) have partnered to set-up the charging stations. Speaking at the event, Vinit Bansal, Managing Director, EV Motors India said, “We are delighted to partner with BYPL to launch our first jointly managed EV charging infrastructure. Mobility is going through a global transformation as we build solutions to improve air quality, make clean energy more accessible and reduce fossil fuel dependence.”

The newly launched station will be equipped with two types of chargers – DC 50 kW with three guns (CCS2 + CHAdeMO + Type 2 AC) which can charge Hyundai Kona, MG ZS EV and Tata Nexon, and DC 30 kW with 2 Guns (Both GB/T) which can charge Mahindra e-Verito and Tata Tigor. Two electric vehicles can be charged simultaneously from each charger.

Gemopai Electric Launches Miso 

Gemopai Electric, a joint venture between Goreen E-Mobility and Opai Electric which is one of the largest manufacturers of electric vehicles in the world, launched what it called India’s first social distancing electric scooter, Miso. Available at a price of INR 44,000, the mini electric scooter comes with a range of up to 75 km per charge and charges up to 90% in 2 hours. The company is offering a 3-year free service package for all Miso customers, a first in the industry.

“Miso is the ultimate solution for the young adult who needs a no-hassle ride to their destination or for a daily commuter who needs to reach their office, without getting stuck in traffic. With the current ongoing safety concerns because of the pandemic, Miso’s single-seat helps choose an affordable and safe ride,” said Amit Raj Singh, Gemopai Electric cofounder.

EVI Technologies ties up with RevFin 

Fintech startup RevFin announced its partnership alongside electric three-wheeler manufacturing companies, Saarthi and Mayuri, to provide one-stop solutions to users for funding. As part of the tie-up, RevFin will finance e-rickshaw and e-two wheelers along with swappable battery solutions provided by EVI Technologies. The initiative will majorly cover states like Delhi-NCR, UP, Chhattisgarh, Haryana.

Dive Into EV Ecosystem With Inc42’s Reading List

Change In Consumer Behavior For Electric Vehicles After Pandemic

The future of mobility looks very different now than about three months ago, where we had seen a big shift towards shared mobility and a push for public & sustainable transport.

EV Headlines From Around The World

Kyoto University and Toyota test 1,000 km per-charge EV battery

A team of researchers from Kyoto University and Toyota Motor tested a game-changing new fluoride-ion battery could allow electric vehicles to run 1,000 km on a single charge. 

The new fluoride-ion battery the researchers are working on, which would hold about seven times as much energy per unit of weight as conventional li-ion batteries, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

The team has developed a prototype rechargeable battery based on fluoride, the anion — the negatively charged ion — of elemental fluorine. A fluoride-ion battery, or FIB, generates electricity by shuttling fluoride ions from one electrode to the other through a fluoride-ion-conducting electrolyte.

Global Electric Vehicle Cords Top 1 Million

The electric vehicle industry has quietly hit one of its biggest milestones, as the number of public charging plugs around the world ticks above the 1 million mark. The options for charging up a car that runs on electrons crossed the seven-figure threshold sometime in May, having doubled in just three years, according to the recent tally by BloombergNEF. Most of the new infrastructure has been built in China and Europe. North America, with far less robust public subsidy and support, remains a distant third in the charging race.

Currently, there are only 150 charging stations in India and anticipating the need, the government has set up an ambitious target of setting up one charging station every three km in cities and every 25 km on both sides of highways.

The post Electric Vehicles This Week: Govt Nod For Sale, Registration of EVs Without Batteries & More appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Five years ago, on 15 August 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined one of his many popular slogans — ‘Startup India, Standup India’. The words became the pillar for one of India’s most successful government-backed projects — Startup India.

Launched in January 2016 and enforced with a slew of policy reforms such as funding support, bilateral government collaborations with various countries, and consistent messaging of hope and pride in Indian tech, Startup India attracted entrepreneurs from every corner of India. So what has been the impact of these initiatives in the past five years? 

The most obvious impact of the Startup India programme is seen in the boost in the number of startups over the past five years. Post the launch of Startup India, 26 state governments launched their startup policies and overall 30 states have launched startup policies over the years, some predating Startup India. These policies along with the establishment of the state-sponsored incubators have been a key drivers of the startup ecosystem throughout India, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Further, 38 state-supported Atal incubation centres have been established in India since 2016. 

“Before the policy launch, there were hardly three to four companies in Uttarakhand. But since the state government started offering seed capital to startups, startups became a viable opportunity for many innovators in the state,” said Rajat Jain, founder of Sunfox Technologies, which is based in Uttarakhand and was founded in 2016. 

Between 2016 and August 2020, Startup India programme says it has recognised over 34.8K startups. Among these, 8.3K startups received intellectual property rights (IPR) fee benefits, while over 2.6 Lakh people enrolled in the entrepreneurship-focused learning courses offered by upGrad and Startup India. Further, over $1 Mn worth benefits were given to 5.5K startups as part of over 150 startup innovation programmes and challenges organised by Startup India. 

Among the many promises under Startup India, the government pledged to set up a fund of funds for startups, pooling together funds from various foreign institutional investors as well as alternative investment funds (AIF). Till date, over INR 3123 Cr has been committed by the government to 47 venture capital firms and INR 3476 Cr has already been invested in 323 startups from the fund of funds corpus managed by Startup India through Invest India. 

Startup India also claims to have enabled global market access and knowledge for Indian startups through bilateral government collaborations with Russia, South Korea, Portugal, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Israel, and Singapore. Also known as a Startup Bridge, these collaborations enable startups, investors, incubators, accelerators and aspiring entrepreneurs of both countries to connect with one another by providing them with resources to expand and become global entities. 

Startup India Snapshot 

The Policies That Changed The Game For Startups In 2019 

One of the pivotal changes in the startup ecosystem in recent times was the more inclusive definition of “startups” from the legal and taxation point of view. In February 2019, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in a gazette notification, widened the definition of startups under ‘Startup India, Standup India’ scheme. In the new definition, an entity will be considered a startup,  

1. Till up to 10 years from its incorporation date.
2. If an entity’s turnover for any of the financial years since its incorporation hasn’t exceeded INR 100 Cr.

In comparison, the earlier definition of startups as given in DPIIT’s April 2018 notification only considered entities as startups up to a period of seven years from the date of incorporation. Further, the annual turnover was not to exceed INR 25 Cr in any of the financial years since incorporation, but this has now been extended. Under the new definition too, startups are required to be working towards innovation, development or improvement of products, or a scalable business model with a high potential of employment/wealth generation.

Further, the same notification also envisioned to simplify the process for startups to get exemptions on investments under section 56(2)(viib) of Income Tax Act, 1961, popularly known as the angel tax.

The Angel Tax Question

Angel tax is an income tax levied on the funding received by unlisted startups by issuing shares at a cost higher than the fair market price. Over the years, many startups have raised concerns over the classification of funding as income and investment. In August 2019, the finance minister exempted DPIIT-registered startups from the angel tax requirement. However, those not registered continue to come under its purview. 

In Feb 2020, India was ranked 63 among 190 countries on ease of doing business rankings by the World Bank, as compared to 142 rank of India in 2015. According to the World Bank, the three main reasons for this jump in ranking were India’s reduced cost of starting a business, better access to building permits and electronic submission of documents for import and export audits.

India’s ‘Ease Of Doing Business’ Ranking On The Rise 

States Back The Central Vision

Similar to other government initiatives, state governments are major partners for the Startup India programme. The implementation of state-level startup policies has supported the policies at the centre and while many startup policies at the state-level need to be spruced up, the fact that states are focussing on startups at all is a major positive. 

Some states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra have led from the front when it comes to startup policies, and others such as Delhi have recently revamped their startup policy to be in line with the times. At times, the lack of sync between the centre and state government has resulted in startups losing out on funds or banks turning away startups. In such instances of delay and complicated procedures, startups have either depended on private incubators and investment bodies or chose to build sustainable bootstrapped businesses. 

Distribution Of Startups Across India

Source: Startup India

The role of Startup India in attracting these investors to India cannot be underestimated. Even as the challenges of the startup ecosystem have intensified during the pandemic, investors have continued to show faith in some startups. Even so, well-funded startups and unicorns have announced layoffs and furloughs. The next challenge for Startup India and India’s startups will be to prove their worth as job creators. 

When the Indian government allocated an INR 20 Lakh Cr. to fight the Covid-19 economic recession, a significant part of this package was focused on supporting the impacted micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which also includes many startups. The government said it will be allocating over INR 3.7 Lakh Cr to bailout MSMEs. However, the decision was met by several questions about the effectiveness of the package, which may exclude many startups because of the eligibility criteria. 

While the government has done much for bringing the Indian startup ecosystem to its current stage, the Covid-19 pandemic has come up as the real test of the strength of these official structures. Will Startup India continue to be the flagship programme of the Indian government, or will Make In India step up to the limelight as the focus turns to making India a major exports hub?

The post #StartupIndia: A Look Back At Narendra Modi’s ‘Startup India, Standup India’ Vision appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-based conversational AI and customer support SaaS provider Verloop is raising INR 26 Cr through equity & preference shares from Alpha Wave Incubation, Praitithi Investment Trust, Parampara Early Stage Opportunities Fund and Mumbai-based angel investors Manikkan Sangameswaran and Sankarnarayanan Sangameswaran.

As per ministry of corporate affairs filings accessed by Inc42, the conversational bot SaaS startup passed a board resolution to raise the funds. The company’s shareholders approved a private placement offer through Series A1 & A2 shares on July 31, 2020 to raise a total of INR 26,24,94,585 from the investors. Out of this, the company has received the first tranche of INR 3.38 Cr from Praitithi Investment Trust, Parampara Early Stage Opportunities Fund as per further filings. Parampara Early Stage Opportunities Fund has picked up 6,747 shares at INR 2,00,99,313, whereas Praitithi Investment Trust has acquired 4,607 shares at INR 1,37,24,253.

Part of the Y Combinator Startup School in 2017, Verloop offers businesses and enterprises customer support systems for customer acquisition sales, marketing, feedback and engagement. Verloop claims to have developed a patent-pending technology for the bot-to-human handoff for conversations when it detects that the conversation can be better served by a human representative. Currently, it offers a real-time dashboard for businesses to track customers 24×7, real-time reports, live chat feature and more.

Besides English, it supports Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali and Hinglish. In the past, the company has claimed clients such as Nykaa, Cleartrip, Decathlon, Pipa Bella, Portea, Apollo Munich Health Insurance among others.

The company counts Infosys cofounder and Axilor Ventures’ Kris Gopalakrishnan, Portea Medical cofounder K Ganesh, former Facebook director Anand Chandrasekaran and Dr Ranjan Pai, the chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) among its early backers.  The startup had last raised funding in November 2018 with a $3 Mn Series A round led by IDFC Parampara Fund.

Currently, Verloop claims to have processed over 2 Bn queries from customers across its clients, with over 100 Mn unique users reached and 92% support query deflection. At the same time, it claims that it can automate up to 60% of the customer-facing operations for companies in a month. In the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the months-long lockdown, Verloop partnered with PayU for the “Startups Helping Startups” platform to enable emerging businesses to take help from each other in these challenging times.

The post Exclusive: Customer Support SaaS Startup Verloop Is Raising INR 26 Cr From Alpha Wave, Existing Investors appeared first on Inc42 Media.