October, November & December 2020
India’s startup news
The quarterly collection of India’s startup news, below, provides you with a brief, one-page source for Q4 2020’s technology, funding and startup news headlines from India across October, November and December of 2020, pulled from Startup News Asia’s monthly Indian startup news collections.
Similarly to our monthly news collections, headlines here are hyperlinked to the online articles behind each Indian startup news headline – no middle-man platforms getting in the way, no misattribution or misappropriation of ownership or authorship, and providing India’s startup enthusiasts with instant, one-click access to the platforms and journalists behind the articles that of most interest.
October 2020 | November 2020 | December 2020
December 2020
- A brief intro to Finwego, neobank aiming to be the first bank built with a focus on the private school education sector
- A brief overview of TRI3D, software for converting flat images of garments into photo-realistic 3D images for e-commerce websites
- A round-up of the past month’s tech, startup and funding news headlines, drawn from Startup News Asia’s daily news feeds
- Shell energy giant to engage with 25-30 Indian startups annually from 2022 via E4 Program, with sights on sustainable energy future
- Sardar Patel Technology Business Incubator launches 12-month Firstpreneurs program for the differently-abled, aiming to boost inclusion
- A look at Pickmycloth, platform enabling weavers and artisans to connect and sell products directly to customers without the involvement of intermediaries
- 11 digital publications partner under DIGIPUB News India Foundation banner to ‘represent, amplify and evolve best practices to build a robust digital news ecology’
- Investors likely to soon be required to pay taxes on returns earned from bitcoin investments, potentially as high as a 30% tax on cryptocurrency gains
- 5C Networks gains $1.2M pre-Series A with platform and AI reducing turnaround time for radiology analysis from 48 hours to just 42 minutes
- Reserve Bank launches digital payment security project to push regulated entities towards common control standards for channels like internet, mobile banking, card payments
- Nokia commences production of 5G equipment at manufacturing site in Chennai
- WhatsApp has introduced new ‘carts’ feature in move to monetize around e-commerce and social commerce use
- Upekkha remote SaaS startup accelerator operator to launch a rolling fund based on subscription model
- Mobile phone exports may hit a record $1.5BN by year-end 2020, report finds
- India Accelerator to launch Pulse, sixteen-week accelerator program for companies working in health-tech, aiming for a cohort of 5 to 7 startups
- 2927 courts connected under e-Courts Project, aiming to provide litigants, lawyers and judiciary with improved and streamlined systems
- WhatsApp debuts peer-to-peer payments service in partnership with State Bank of India and others, having overcome antitrust concerns
- Dep’t of Posts and India Post Payments Bank launch DakPay, providing digital financial services and assisted banking via the postal network
- Skuad HR tech startup raises $4M with remote employee management platform, automating payroll, local compliance, taxation requirements and more
- EWar gaming startup raises pre-Series A with tournament hosting and streaming alongside in-house games development
- Samsung launches Powering Digital India initiative focusing on 5G, AI, IoT and cloud services, aiming to take projects from R&D to commercialization
- Axilor Ventures early-stage fund invests in 8 startups in new pre-seed programme
- An intro to Evo Foods, early stage startup creating cholesterol-free vegan egg substitute
- MasterG gains backing from Acumen Fund angel programme with all-women design and skills development in the apparel industry
- Haryana state gov’t inks MOU with India Accelerator to develop state entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem
- Daimler India launches Startup Sparks, global competition for early-stage startups, with those selected receiving support in producing proofs of concept
- Gov’t invites proposals to establish semiconductor chip plants in India, or acquire facilities abroad, aiming for $400BN in electronics manufacturing by 2025
November 2020
- A look at Kuku FM podcasting platform, providing wide-ranging audio content in languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Bangla
- GlowRoad social commerce startup raises $7M with women-focused customer-to-customer reseller network
- Fedo insurance-tech startup secures $1M pre-Series A with AI-driven underwriting, speeding the onboarding process
- A look at Payzello, combining debit, credit and forex into one card and app, initially focusing on those entering the workforce without a credit history
- Army launches indigenously-produced SAI messaging app, similar to WhatsApp, to facilitate secure messaging within the service
- An intro to S.PACE, coworking firm focusing on Tier II and III cities and offering startup incubation services
- Lightspeed Ventures rolls out 3rd edition of Extreme Entrepreneurs, 6-week learning program aimed at founders from India and across Southeast Asia
- WinZO launches $5M Game Developer Fund II, with applications for funding closing December 31st
- Bengaluru Tech Summit 2020 set for November 19-21
- A brief intro to the winners of the recent Gov-Tech-Thon 2020 hackathon which focused on 5 challenges in areas including agriculture and document management
- Chiratae Ventures unveils 19 startups selected for 7th edition of Innovators program, working in health-tech, fintech and more
- CityMall social e-commerce startup raises $3M seed funding with focus on community led e-commerce and smartphone services based around WhatsApp
- EDF Pulse India program selects 4 winning energy-tech startups
- Paytm financial services giant partners Uber India to allow users to pay for Uber rides via Paytm Postpaid account, enabling commuters to further move from cash
- National Association of Software and Services Companies – NASSCOM – unveils winners of Emerge 50 2020, showcasing emerging software product companies
- Chiratae Ventures selects 19 tech startups for Innovators Program across consumer tech, software, healthcare, deeptech, and financial technologies
- PUBG Mobile India to launch as replacement following government ban of PUBG, maximizing data security for players and adherence to local regulations
- An intro to 8 of the SaaS startups selected for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Digital Catalyst program
- Uolo Technologies raises $2.7M pre-Series A with online communication, management and classroom services for schools
- Odisha state to establish startup hub by March 2021, alongside expected financial assistance to five startups and four incubators
- An interview intro to Indiarath incubator, launched in September and aiming to support 200 startups in year one
- A brief look at PayNearby, helping India’s small retailers and mom-and-pop stores act as ATMs and bank branches
- A look at Paytm e-payments major’s launch of Paytm First Games
- ICYMI: India’s Paytm First Games recently launched $1.3M fund for studios and devs producing culturally relevant online games
- Mobile Premier League mobile gaming and eSports platform sets $5M fund for game devs and studios to produce games for domestic and global audiences
- 114 AI Innovation LLP gains funding via UK, US and NATO pitch to develop Spacewise concept for aerospace and defence data analysis in real-time
- State Bank of Mauritius India subsidiary planning to launch neobank, partnering PayNearby payments firm to launch Nivesh recurring deposit platform
- A brief intro to Streak, preparing to launch its neobank aimed at teenagers, incorporating pocket money app and parental oversight
- Garagepreneurs Internet’s payments and credit solutions platform, Slice, raises $5.2M with focus on 18-29 age group
- Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare launches, focusing on startups and medical businesses that can leverage cloud computing
- AI Farm startup takes Asia Pacific regional win at Call for Code Global Challenge with system evaluating climate and soil conditions to help farmers adapt crop strategies
- Karnataka state inks 8 MoUs with European countries and the US with focus on advanced technologies including AI and cloud computing
- Visa partners ICICI Bank for ‘Visa in a Box’ program to boost fintech applications in digital issuance, lending and prepaid use cases
- R&D arm of Bosch India unveils 17 companies for latest cohort of Startup Alliance Program DNA
- Access blocked to 43 more Chinese apps, including AliExpress and WeDate, for activities ‘prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India’
- Google reportedly looking to buy Indian social media firm, ShareChat, aiming to tap into ShareChat’s 160M monthly active users across 15 local languages
- Over 300K cases have been handled by 7 virtual courts to date, with Assam state now adding 2 more virtual court systems dealing with particular issues
- GnaniAI launches integrated speech recognition and translation solution for Ministry of Defence, converting Mandarin to English
- India FinTech Forum advocacy group unveils the 27 fintech startups shortlisted for 5th edition of India Fintech Awards
- Shipsy raises $6M Series A with software-as-a-service for shippers and logistics companies via Sequoia Capital India’s Surge program
- A brief look at Vogo bike rental startup’s tech features, spanning AI, machine learning and IoT
- Adopt Drones Program launched by Drone Federation of India and AWS, focusing on 20 sectors including agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare, and rural development
- An intro to the 15 food and agtech startups selected for Rabobank’s FoodBytes! Pitch 2020 virtual competition, including firms from Australia, India and Singapore
- An intro to the 6 startups selected for the current ProVeg Incubator batch, working on sustainable food solutions ranging from algae-based dairy to vegan chocolate
- ProVeg Incubator unveils 5th plant-based foods accelerator intake, including China’s Haofood and India’s Naka Foods
October 2020
- GPS Renewables gains $2M with modular biogas plant and artificial intelligence solution for remote bioprocess management
- A collection of the past month’s tech, startup and funding news, drawn from Startup News Asia’s daily feeds
- Defence India Startup Challenge launched, aiming for eventual self-reliance in India’s military sector
- Responsible AI for Social Empowerment virtual summit set for October 5-9, looking at areas including healthcare, agriculture, education and smart mobility
- India’s ETgarage partners Australia’s VeriDoc Global with blockchain-based verification solutions aimed at eliminating counterfeit products and preventing fraud
- Indian tech giants and startups reportedly working to form alliance to launch their own app platform in order to reduce reliance on Google and Apple app stores
- NASSCOM Startup Hub online platform – aiming to be a one-stop online location for India’s startups for news, events, incubation and more
- Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry launch FICCI for Start-ups initiative
- India’s Tata Consultancy Services to implement Quartz blockchain-based wallets-and-rewards solution for UK’s Zapaygo, pre-order payments startup
- Condé Nast, media organisation behind brands including GQ and Vogue, opens technology lab in Bengaluru to design and build digital content platforms
- WeKan product accelerator unveils 20 India and US-based startups selected for Future of Work cohort
- Supply Chain Labs unveils 11 startups selected for Cohort 2020, working on warehousing, track and trace solutions, AI-driven automation and more
- SAIF Partners venture and growth capital firm plans to raise $400M for India-focused fund
- Tata Group reportedly in discussions with global investors to raise capital for super app, pulling its retail offerings under one umbrella, with Walmart seeking JV
- An intro to the winners of the National Startup Awards 2020, selected across 12 categories including fintech, agriculture, energy and health
- DevFest India set for October 16-18, bringing together 50 Google Developer Groups
- A brief look at CreatorOS, recently-launched platform enabling creators to build, manage and grow their businesses
- BIV-Ashika India Alternative Protein Fund launches with accelerator focused on supporting India’s protein replacement ecosystem with $25M corpus as initial target
- TechSparks conference goes virtual for 11th edition from October 26-30
- An intro to the winning startups from the AI Solution Challenge at the recent Responsible AI for Social Empowerment event
- India’s Tata Consultancy Services launches 10 new threat management centres across the globe to provide cybersecurity services to enterprise customers
- Unocoin cryptocurrency raises funds from VC Tim Draper, with sights on decentralized finance and more
- Gyan Circle Ventures incubator launches to provide investments, infrastructure and mentoring for tech startups and entrepreneurs in Andhra Pradesh
- Pepper Content raises $4.2M Series A, connecting content creators with businesses in need of marketing; aiming for expansion into video and audio
- A brief intro to GUVI’s HackerKID platform, aiming to teach coding to kids using a game-based environment
- Marwari Catalysts opens applications for first cohort for Thrive, virtual accelerator program focusing on education-tech startups
- Waybeo lands 10% stake investment from Bharti Airtel telco with AI analytics for call intelligence
- Critical technologies and the Indo-Pacific: A new India-Australia partnership – available to download now
- AvataarMe raises $7M with 3D and augmented reality platform focused on customer engagement in e-commerce
- ICYMI: Cybersecurity-focused Memorandum of Cooperation signed between India and Japan
- A 3-page collection of recent tech, startup and funding news headlines – linked for online reading, and QR coded for offline-to-online reading from print
- Pushing the Boundaries of Indian Tech – Women on the Frontlines report available to download now from Observer Research Foundation
- A look at AI startup Process9, adding localization to major apps and sites for local languages
- Jio and subsidiary Radisys, with Qualcomm, test 5G solution with virtualized Radio Access Network and achieve over 1Gbps speed
- Gov-TechThon 2020 Hackathon launches to boost innovation and tech in agriculture, education and transportation, backed by Oracle India
- India’s Tata Consultancy Services IT services major partners University of Tokyo for research, collaboration, talent exchange, innovation and startup engagement
- State-owned Indian Bank partners IIT-Madras Incubation Cell for IND Spring Board initiative to fund and advise startups
- TechSparks tech and startup conference 11th edition set for October 26-30, running entirely online – here’s the schedule
- An interview intro to Afthonia Lab fintech startup incubator and 5 of the financial tech startups approaching graduation from the program
- Reserve Bank bars digital payments firms from issuing proprietary QR codes in move to create interoperability between systems
- Video: TechCircle’s TechThisWeek round-up, covering India’s technology news and in this episode also looking at the Bangladesh startup ecosystem
- An intro to Uable, edtech helping children from age 6 to 12 learn using role-playing, solving problems by imagining themselves as astronauts, detectives or scientists
- Pocket FM vernacular audiobooks platform raises $5.6M, led by Tencent
- India–Australia Circular Economy Hackathon set for December 7-8, organised by India’s Atal Innovation Mission and Australia’s CSIRO and focusing on 4 broad themes
- A look at Easy Pay digital payments startup, connecting small kirana stores and their customers to payment options and financial services
- Jumbotail, B2B ecommerce platform focusing on groceries and digitizing small kirana stores, raises $11M
- Startups Fedo and Knight FinTech selected for Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific mentorship program
- A look at Godaam, startup helping warehouses prevent onion wastage using IoT sensors to monitor micro-climate changes
- Wharton India Startup Challenge applications close November 15th, with winners to present at Wharton India Economic Forum
- A dive into the opportunities and challenges in India’s podcasting space
- A look at Ziptrax Cleantech, using AI to repurpose discarded Li-ion batteries for electric two and three-wheeler vehicles
- Teachmint raises $3.5M with mobile-first, video-first product range focused on tutors for students and schoolchildren
- National Payments Corporation of India and Euronet fintech make joint bid to build Myanmar’s proposed real-time Retail Payments System
- An intro to the 5 startups selected for the finals of MedTech Innovator’s 2020 Asia Pacific Grand Prize
- Taxmantra Global tax and legal firm to invest $100M into tech startups in India and SE Asia across 18 months, via standalone investment arm ProfitBoard Ventures
- A brief intro to 4 of the startups set to present at the 2020 Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit from November 18-20
Asia’s tech news, today
All-day technology news looking at 17 primary locations in South & Southeast Asia, Australia & New Zealand:
• news on LinkedIn / connect on LinkedIn
• Social media: on Facebook / on Twitter
