Startup news, India
India’s startup, technology and funding news, as covered in the English-language online press across December 2019.
Our India summaries focus primarily, tho not exclusively, on India’s early-stage tech space, regardless of industry, covering fintech, agritech, mobile payments and beyond.
- India: Zolostays co-living startup to gain $100M from Credit Suisse, aiming for 200K bed-count by end of 2021
- India: PharmEasy online pharmacy secures $220M, aiming to integratie retailers, distributors and pharma companies with platform for timely deliveries
- India: Kamatan raises $4.18M with tech focusing on agricultural logistics and supply chains
- India: Tripeur corporate travel startup raises $1M with AI-powered platform
- India: A look at MoEngage, targeting $25M revenue by 2020 with AI-driven platform for omni-channel customer engagement, boasting 500 clients across 35 countries
- India: Traceability of ‘rogue messages’ on Facebook-owned WhatsApp to be part of proposed amendments to Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules
- India: An overview of Ashoka University’s AIM Smart City Accelerator, a 20-week program aiming to nurture early-stage startups in Tier II and III cities
- India: Digital Gurukul edtech startup partners Germany’s Certif-ID to roll out blockchain-backed diplomas, aiming to eliminate physical certification
- India: NATHEALTH industry body and government’s NHA partner to establish accelerator program to support healthcare startups
- India: T-Hub startup incubator partners Dep’t of Science & Technology and Nat’l Payments Corpo of India for digital payments-focused fintech accelerator program
- India: Gympik online fitness marketplace and provider of SaaS solutions for fitness centres preps for overseas growth to Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia
- India: An intro to Utter, app-based startup helping people become conversational in English, and hone the fluency of those with limited knowledge of it
- India’s internet industry expected to reach $160BN value in 5 years, reckons Goldman Sachs
- Download: E-commerce and Consumer Internet Sector – India Trendbook 2019, from EY (pdf)
- India FinTech Forum names Mabel Chako, co-founder and COO of Open Financial Technologies as Woman Leader in Fintech at India FinTech Awards
- India has the highest concentration of fintech hubs in Asia, with traditional international financial centres trailing when it comes to financial innovation
- India: Uttar Pradesh, state with over 200M inhabitants, testing blockchain-powered solar energy trading platform, with participation from Australia’s Power Ledger
- India: An intro to Agro2o, combining hydroponics, IoT and automation to allow allows home users to grow fresh herbs, veggies, medicinal plants and more
- India: US-based VC firm Accel Partners raises $550M for its 6th India fund, focusing mainly on seed-stage startups across a wide range of sectors
- India: Lucideus secures $7M with enterprize-focused information security platforms and services, delivering real-time monitoring of cyber threats
- Y Combinator selects 28 Indian firms for its winter batch, twice what it selected for its summer batch
- India: China’s Xiaomi launches new digital lending app and platform in challenge to Samsung’s dominance, targeting the country’s millennials
- India: Shadowfax logistics startup secures $60M backing, led by Walmart-owned Flipkart
- India: Draconis Capital Future Fund launches with sights set on sustainability and social impact investments across multiple stages
- India: A brief intro to Punjab state’s thinking on startups and technology
- India: An intro to Biconomy, startup platform helping developers provide a smoother UX to decentralised app users
- India: An intro to GetMyVisa, allowing travelers to apply for visas to 90 countries online, alongside insurance, forex, pre-bookings, and self-drive car rentals
- India: “…total number of tech startups in the country has grown towards 9300 with 1300 startups being added this year so far…”
- India: Thrive Haryana 2019, hosted by Internet and Mobile Association of India and state government, set for December 10th
- India: Discovery Channel to premiere documentary series India Startup Stories on December 14th
- India: An intro to the 20 startups selected for the first cohort of 100XVC’s seed investment program
- India: Anthill Ventures early stage investment firm launches Urban-i program for consumer startups in personal care, fashion, health and nutrition and beyond
- India: Huddle incubator, accelerator and coworking provider partners GrowX Ventures VC firm for country’s first accelerator for electric vehicle-focused startups
- India: Origo raises $6.8M to aid rural farmers with services spanning most of the agricultural industry’s supply chain
- India: An intro to TravClan, B2B online travel marketplace
- India: mPaani retailer digitization platform raises $5.5M Series A to help corner stores get online, digitize relationships and streamline their business
- India: Ecozen Solutions completes $6M fundraise with on-farm solar-based cold storage, smart solar irrigation solutions and online marketplace
- India: 3one4 Capital raises $118.5M across two funds, Continuum-I and Rising-I, to back early-stage tech startups
- India: NowFloat startup acquired in majority-stake move by Reliance Industries business conglomerate with SME-focused platforms that enable e-commerce
- An intro to Headsup, motorbike helmet that connects to smartphones via Bluetooth, providing communication, navigation and music
- India: Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship unveils ‘Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurship’ study results, jointly produced with Facebook
- India: Tech Mahindra IT giant to undertake $70M smart city project in Pimpri Chinchwad municipality in Pune City, Maharashtra
- India: KredX invoice discounting platform raises $26M, helps businesses meet their short-term working capital needs
- India: KOGO raises $350K angel round with app/device combo driving an AI-powered storytelling engine that writes road travel stories
- India: ObserveAI raises Series A with AI-managed voice conversations in customer service, ensuring quality of customer service calls and compliance with protocols
- India: An intro to the 15 startups selected from Social Alpha Energy Challenge 2.0, tackling issues around climate change, energy access and efficiency
- India: Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 – a move towards a trusted ‘digital India’ or a serious threat to Indians’ privacy?
- India: TapChief professional development, networking and employment startup secures $1.5M
- India: Box8 ‘cloud kitchen’ startup raises $1.6M with full-stack food delivery service, from online ordering through preparation to delivery of dishes
- India: An intro to Meladath, providing a retrofitable conversion kit for petrol scooters, turning them into electric-hybrids, driven in either electric or petrol mode
- Startupbootcamp selects 11 fashion-focused startups from 1100 applications, including India’s Bigthinx and Japan’s aoiShip
- India’s internet shutdown in Kashmir is now the longest ever imposed in a democracy, affecting 7M people
- India: VeriDoc enables blockchain-based pilot project for property tax assessment certification in Maharashtra
- India: Infosys IT services multinational launches blockchain-based applications for government services, insurance and supply chain management
- India: An intro to 4 startups working on airborne pollution, in both removal and utilization
- India: Gov’t expands ‘net/mobile blackouts – Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura states; parts of Uttar Pradesh; parts of New Delhi, and Mangalore city – affecting tens of millions
- An intro to the 4 Indian startups that won at the recent World Tourism Forum Lucerne’s first Indian Startup Innovation Camp 2019
- India: We Techshiksha, owner of WitBlox DIY robotics kit for children, raises 100K from Mumbai Angels Network, focusing on plug-and-play kits for STEM education
- An intro to the 18 South and Southeast Asian startups Microsoft ScaleUp supported in 2019, spanning fintech, AI, IoT and more
- India: Kaleidofin fintech platform secures $5M Series A with focus on curated, goal-based financial solutions for the underbanked population
- India: Toffee Insurance raises $5.5M with focus on the underserved including innovations such as single-event insurance
- India: An intro to RupeeRedee, short-term loans platform offering for wide range of customers, including salaried, self-employed and first time borrowers
- India: Lenskart eyewear retailer raises $231M led by Japan’s SoftBank Group, entering unicorn league and aiming for wide-ranging overseas growth
- India: An intro to 10 startups focusing on travel, tourism and technology
- India’s Ola ride-share giant rolls out ‘Guardian’ AI-enabled safety feature in 16 cities across India, and Perth in Western Australia
- A brief overview of the wins and milestones for Indian startups across each month in 2019
- India: Finly startup gains funding with focus on automating accounts payable process for mid- and large-sized businesses
- India: WE Hub partners Startup India and government’s DPIIT to launch Women Rise Together program in Telangana, aiming to to support 7500 women annually
- India: An intro to MetaFact, using AI to help mitigate misinformation spread in multiple languages and through text, photo, and video on WhatsApp
- India: The $70BN social commerce opportunity – social platforms as distribution channels, leapfrogging web and going digital with social-first models
- India: A brief look at how digital-first retail brands have reached $15M in revenue within 3 years of launch, a milestone that used to take at least 5 years
- India: XpressBees logistics startup gains repeat funding in $10M allocation by China’s Alibaba
- India: Zyppys platform for car rental service providers raises pre-A funding with aggregator-of-aggregators approach
- India: National Payment Corporation of India unveils Varja, blockchain platform enabling retail payments and settlements
- India: An overview of microfinance’s contributions to financial inclusion, it’s opportunities and challenges, from KPMG India
- India: An intro to Scout My Trip, travel planning startup that uses locals to create or add to your itinerary
- India: What 2020 holds for India’s startups, in the opinions of 8 key founders and entrepreneurs
- A deep dive into the challenges and opportunities for India’s food delivery startups
- India: Wikimedia Foundation lodges formal concerns on proposed Data Protection Bill, citing ‘potential to limit free expression rights for internet users’
- India: Domestically-developed apps edge out Chinese rivals as competition heats up in what is now the world’s No 2 smartphone market
- India: Bulgaria’s AE Ventures, early-stage blockchain investment and acceleration firm, expands Global Starfleet Programme to Bangalore
- Drone Festival of India set for January 6-7 in New Delhi, hosted in partnership with Ministry of Civil Aviation and Startup India
- India: An overview of 13 new venture funds launched in 2019 – their sectors, fund size and stage of financing focused on
- India-Australia Waste to Wealth Design Comp applications close January 5th, student-focused and seeking sustainability, circular economy and waste mgmt concepts
- India: An intro to Houm, enabling users to own their private domain name and server to access the internet privately, providing control of personal data
- China’s ByteDance now testing new social music app, Resso, in India and Indonesia, hoping to generate another global sensation like TikTok
- An overview of how and why Japan’s VC funds and investors have focused on India’s startup ecosystem
Other subject-specific news from December 2019:
Blockchain in Asia • Crypto news, Asia • AI news • Fintech in Asia
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