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  • ET Now concludes the 9th season of Leaders of Tomorrow Awards and Conclave

    ET Now concludes the 9th season of Leaders of Tomorrow Awards and Conclave

    Mumbai: ET Now has recently concluded the ninth season of ‘Leaders of Tomorrow Awards and Conclave’ which celebrates the success stories of India’s most innovative and resilient MSMEs and start-ups. This year’s event was driven by the theme ’Survive. Revive. Thrive’.

    The event witnessed a distinguished line-up of speakers including principal economic advisor to GoI, Sanjeev Sanyal; IDFC First Bank MD and CEO V Vaidyanathan; BSE MD and CEO Ashish Chauhan, and HSBC India former country head Naina Lal Kidwai amongst others, who discussed the challenges faced by the small businesses and the way forward for India’s small enterprises and start-ups.

    The distinguished jury of industry luminaries included Naina Lal Kidwai; Mahindra & Mahindra former MD Pawan Goenka; BSE head of SME Ajay Thakur; True Beacon & Zerodha co-founder and CIO Nikhil Kamath; Vinati Organics MD Vinati Saraf Mutreja; Growthstory investor partner and serial entrepreneur K Ganesh; Persistent Systems chairman Anand Deshpande; ASSOCHAM president and TCI MD Vineet Agarwal, and JBM Group vice-chairman Nishant Arya.

    The event culminated in an exciting finale wherein the best MSMEs and startups were awarded. EF Polymer was named ‘Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year’ and Keetronics India clinched ‘MSME Entrepreneur of the Year’.

    “ET Now has been championing India’s growth story with a focused purpose of helping Indians rise with India. This mission reflects in our flagship property, Leaders of Tomorrow that empowers, enables and celebrates the spirit of small businesses and start-ups that are together powering the rise of a strong new India,” said Times Network MD and CEO MK Anand. “It is heartening to witness stories of several enterprising small businesses who not only showed resilience but rose through the adversities to innovate, reimagine and reinvent during the turbulent past two years. I firmly believe that Leaders of Tomorrow will continue to inspire more and more Indians to take the plunge and create new stories of entrepreneurial success.”

    “The Indian economy has bounced back after the first and second wave because the underlying human consumption is very strong in India,” said IDFC First Bank’s V Vaidyanathan. “All the major indicators of the economy – GDP, house sales, car and two-wheeler sales, and FMCG products’ consumption have been marking an upward trend. The power of an economy lies in its credit. The Indian banking industry’s current outstanding total credit is over 120 lakh crores, out of which about 50 lakh crore is for entrepreneurs. After 75 years, small entrepreneur credit is growing by 25-30 per cent per year. SMEs are being benefited tremendously by the power of leverage, which was earlier reserved for large corporations.”

    Highlighting the need for entrepreneurs to shift to an organised environment from an unorganised one, he said, “Migration from unorganised to organised is the need of the hour. The Indian retail industry or kirana market is a trillion-dollar market, out of which 80-84 per cent is unorganised and only four per cent is online. Every industry is now becoming organised, offline to online. For entrepreneurs, this is an opportunity to ride the new bandwagon and not just be spectators. The leaders of tomorrow need to have a digital play.”

    Sanjeev Sanyal stated, “As the Indian economy revives post-pandemic, we observed that the impact in the second wave was much lesser as compared to the first wave. Things are stabilising and industries are opening up now and we realise that demand is not a constraint in India. Globally, this is a serious issue, but India has been able to overcome this as our fiscal resources are strong. Our supply sector reforms are unparalleled. During the first wave, we focused on framework reforms like GST, Aadhar, labour reforms, and farm laws, however, the second wave reforms are more sectoral in nature like deregulation, monetisation, and privatisation of industries.”

    Talking about the third wave reforms which are currently in the pipeline, Sanyal further said, “Our thrust during the third wave reforms would be to get the Indian state to do what it should be doing which includes, delivery of justice, enforcement of contract, and upgradation of municipal services. We plan to give access to world-class infrastructure to poorer sections of the society to foster innovations. I do not believe in rigid planning, rather focus on growth strategy that is based on flexibility and resilience. One big example of this is ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ which focuses on leveraging our inner strengths. We as a nation need to give ourselves enough credit. Today, we delivered over 20 million Covid-19 jabs and I feel this is incredible, we have the capacity to deliver at this high level.”

  • Ex-Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal launches spiritual wellness platform OMI

    Ex-Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal launches spiritual wellness platform OMI

    Mumbai: Prashan Agarwal, ex-CEO of Gaana and co-founder of PropTiger, has teamed up with Aniket Lila, ex-Nexus Venture Partners, to launch OMI, an online spiritual and wellness platform.

    OMI aims to combine ancient Vedic methods with a new-age lifestyle. It has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Nexus Venture and is looking to disrupt the spiritual wellness market in India that is valued at more than $ ten billion, the platform in a statement on Wednesday.

    “Today the world is faced with a multitude of changes in our life in terms of the way we live, we connect, we embrace, unprecedented things we go through and this has had an impact on the spiritual, devotional, and mental wellbeing of all of us,” Agarwal said. “Alongside, the internet and digital payment penetration amongst the Indian population is at an all-time high and growing. These dynamics make the market ripe for innovation in this category.”

    “We are disrupting what is nearly a 4000-year old market in India by bringing the best of what ancient India has to offer to millennials through a convenient, private, holistic, and personalised platform,” Lila said. “OMI will be your personal spiritual guide. Our mission is to make the world a happier place. Most Indians are spiritual and this presents us with a blue ocean opportunity.”

    “We’re excited to partner with Prashan and Aniket. This is a very deeply India-specific problem, with very large existing profit pools,”  said Nexus Venture Partners principal Pratik Poddar. “No one has addressed the market in a millennial-centric way and made a product-first, scalable and trustworthy solution. Having known the founders for many years, I am very excited to get a chance to work with them to crack this $ ten billion market!”

    Prashan is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and ISB alumnus. At Gaana, he was instrumental in growing the business and raised more than $ 200 million from Tencent to build Gaana into a household brand. Lila is a graduate of Northwestern University and was most recently part of the investment team at Nexus Venture Partners, India’s largest home-grown VC.

    On the undisclosed amount of funding from Nexus Venture Partners, Agarwal further said, “Primarily, the funding will be used to hire talent across product, technology, and operations. We are looking to onboard leaders with a passion for the stage and who want to help us build OMI from Day zero.”

    “Our aim is to improve the wellbeing of ten million people in five years and create the largest spiritual wellness community in the world. Starting out, on the OMI platform, you can consult with our ‘Astro Guides’ and get a personalised remedy plan which includes activities like meditation, chanting mantras, affirmations, and journaling. Currently, we are focusing on aggregating a fragmented supply and building a trusted brand. As OMI scales, you will see us expanding and adding many more services on the platform aimed at helping you improve your spiritual wellness,” added Lila.

    OMI is available for download in Google Playstore. 

  • slice onboards Siva Kumar Tangudu as CTO

    MUMBAI: Fintech startup and credit card challenger slice on Friday announced the appointment of Siva Kumar Tangudu as the company’s new chief technology officer.

    An IIT-Mumbai alumni, Tangudu brings with him leadership expertise of over 15 years across senior & pivotal roles at Myntra, HackerRank, Microsoft, & Oracle to name a few. He also comes with an entrepreneurial background, having co-founded a Hyderabad-based startup, Kawanan Labs. Tangudu has been an early-stage investor in slice, witnessing the company’s growth at a personal level. In this role, he will be responsible for strengthening slice’s technological arm and further expanding the company’s offerings, the startup said.

    slice founder & CEO Rajan Bajaj said “Siva brings with him a wealth of consumer tech experience and we are thrilled to have him on-board. He has a great history of leading engineering teams at some of the best tech companies, as well as his own startup. There are some very exciting things in the pipeline at slice – including the launch of a game-changing rewards system as well as UPI on our platform. Siva’s expertise will be critical in helping us move closer to our mission of building the raddest payment experience for millennials and GenZ.”

    On his new role, Tangudu said “This is the best time to be at slice. Rajan and his team are building a phenomenal product that essentially challenges many traditional practices in the finance sector, and it’s thrilling to be a part of it. I look forward to building a stellar team here and bringing forth a tech-first approach to solving some interesting and hard problems in this space.”

    In the last few quarters, slice has witnessed a significant growth in terms of consumers and the size of the team. Despite the pandemic, it continued hiring and strengthening its leadership team, grew six times in FY-21 and recorded a 40-50 per cent increase in average customer spends, said the company.

  • Anil Kapoor & Arjun Kapoor team up for Licious’ new campaign

    Anil Kapoor & Arjun Kapoor team up for Licious’ new campaign

    Mumbai: Online meat delivery startup Licious has launched a new campaign highlighting all the fuss that meat and sea-food lovers indulge in while choosing what to eat. The brand which specialises in meat and seafood has roped in the winsome combo of Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor for the campaign.

    Created by advertising agency Tilt, the two films feature the uncle-nephew bonding over cooking while sharing their favourite meat-based dishes. The commercials highlight the convenience, safety and hygiene of meat being offered by the company, which operates on a farm-to-fork model. It entices users to download the brand’s app to partake in a fresh-from-the-sea fish and tender meat experience.

    The natural camaraderie between the actors, coupled with their distinct signature styles and dialogues makes for an interesting watch, while delivering the brand message across effortlessly. The first film portrays the senior Kapoor trying his hand at cooking, frying fish to the tune of some of his memorable songs, while the second film has his nephew donning the chef’s hat.

    Licious’ chief business officer Meghna Apparao said, “We pride ourselves in our ability to devise and improve on our stringent quality control measures, animal rearing and handling best practices, so that our consumers get nothing but the best – every single time. Licious is a brand created by the meat lovers for the meat lovers. It is a delight to see Anil Kapoor & Arjun Kapoor showcasing their love for meat in a way that strikes a chord with us. After all, it is only one nakhrebaaz that understands another.”

    Sharing his take on the campaign, actor Anil Kapoor said, “I had such a great time working on the films! Good food and great culinary experiences – I could not really ask for a more enjoyable way of spending my time. And just like with food, this experience was made even better in Arjun’s company, so it was a win-win situation for me! I am super impressed with all the good work that Licious is doing in disrupting the meat & seafood ecosystem of the country. It is truly heartening to see the impact of their transformative work and I’m happy to be a part of their story.”

    Arjun Kapoor added, “I am delighted to be associated with the brand Licious. The high-octane, positive energy is palpable on the set. I had a great time collaborating with Anil chachu and I hope people will enjoy the ad film as much as we did shooting for the same.”

    The campaign, which went live on Thursday, will be promoted across television, digital and social media platforms.

    The pandemic-led disruption last year gave a boost to online meat buying, prompting the Bengaluru-based startup to go beyond metros and also start operations in smaller cities this year, including Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kochi, Puducherry, Vizag and Vijayawada among other cities.

  • Kavita Kamath joins Wondrlab as group creative director

    Kavita Kamath joins Wondrlab as group creative director

    Mumbai: India’s largest platform-first martech startup, Wondrlab, has bolstered its creative team. The startup has brought in Kavita Kamath as group creative director. In her new role, Kavita will report to Amit Akali, co-founder and chief creative officer at Wondrlab.

    At Wondrlab, she will lead creative integration and content creation on a large set of key accounts.

    Wondrlab co-founder & chief creative officer Amit Akali said: “Being platform-first, we’re a very different kind of a start-up and therefore hire people with unique skill sets. The coming days are full of opportunities and I am sure someone senior and experienced like Kavita will help us make the most of it. At her level, she’s not expected to bring just skillsets to the table but also a mindset. While she’s from an art background, she’s very comfortable handling a huge team. She has worked on tech platform brands like Google and done truly integrated work – more importantly, she believes in what we are trying to achieve here and is looking at it as an entrepreneurial opportunity. I’ve been in talks with her for a couple of years now and am looking forward to finally working with her. She’s going to be working out of Delhi and Mumbai, reporting to me. Here’s expecting a lot of ‘Wondr’ from her.”

    Kamath has nearly 16 years of experience, a large part of which she gathered at MullenLowe Lintas, where she spent a decade. She is a multiple award-winning creative, having worked on brands like Google Pay and Google Home, the tech brand that gave her platform-first exposure and experience. She has also worked closely on well-received campaigns such as the Blenders Pride Fashion Tour. Apart from these, she has also worked on key brands such as Pepsi, Slice, Tropicana juices, Vivo, Glenlivet, Hindustan Times, Wills Lifestyle, Dabur, GSK and Samsung, among several others.

    Wondrlab group creative director Kavita Kamath said, “There is a more holistic approach to marketing and brand communication now, and the way forward is integrated solutions to keep brand conversations going meaningfully. I had been following WYP’s work for some time. What interested me was the integrated approach with which ideas were curated and the platform-first solutions to help brands with effective communication. The work on Diageo and Tanishq, to name two of many, has been truly refreshing. I’m thrilled to be a part of the WYP and Wondrlab family and look forward to doing some exciting work.”

  • Cred enables users to redeem their points to donate Oxygen

    Cred enables users to redeem their points to donate Oxygen

    MUMBAI: As India struggles to keep up with the growing demands for oxygen and healthcare amid the second Covid wave in the country, several start-ups and corporates have pitched in to aid the efforts. Kunal Shah-led Credit payment platform Cred too has come up with one such initiative. The fintech announced Monday that it will allow its app users to donate their Cred coins to help send oxygen for those in need. The start-up stated that it has partnered with Milaap, India’s leading healthcare fundraising platform for the cause.

    It may be noted that Cred coins are points earned as reward by its users for paying their credit card bills on time. Each of these coins represent every rupee in credit card bills that the customers pay using the app. Trading in 10,000 Cred coins lets you donate 1,000 litres of oxygen, 25,000 Cred coins gets 2,500 litres of oxygen, and so on. Cred says that for every donation made by users, Milaap will channel the funds raised to their partners, and will buy as well as deploy oxygen concentrators for hospitals and healthcare non-profits across India.

    The payment app announced the initiative on its social media platforms :

    Cred founder Kunal Shah shared, “We have seen how mobilisation of ordinary people, their time, resources, and energy has created change and action.”

    He went on to add, “You can also help by sharing ideas on streamlining oxygen supplies on oxygen@cred.club. The Cred Oxygen Fund will consider all ideas, evaluate and provide support needed.”

    Update: CRED members can now donate CRED coins towards buying oxygen concentrators for hospitals, healthcare orgs across India. With a goal of 1 billion litres, we’ve partnered with Milaap to ensure contributions reach hospitals in need.

    — Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) April 26, 2021

    Shah shared his donation certificate from Milaap, post donating CRED points:

    The gesture won lots of appreciation and plaudits, with many welcoming such an initiative when the country really needed it. Many users tweeted they would willingly and happily give up their CRED coins, for such a noble cause, with some even adding tongue-in-cheek that they “anyways did not have much use for them”.

    The news was received with some scepticism too.

    Some called it “Undoubtedly the best use of cred coins”!

    Many Twitterati felt the exercise should be more transparent to build trust and confidence in it:

    Several sought to know how the scheme works: “How are the cred points acting as a currency to purchase/donate oxygen concentrators (esp when they are in such short supply) and if the cred points are able to purchase it, why aren’t they available via INR in different points of sales.”

    Another netizen pointed out : “Sir- With all due respect- we have an availability problem. Please urge all your customers to donate plasma if they have survived the infection.”

    While quite a few wondered how Cred would implement this cause, considering that there’s oxygen shortage, many netizens termed it a marketing gimmick to increase engagement on the app.

    One netizen even criticised the action saying, “If free coins can buy oxygen, please generate as many as you can, and buy the damn oxygen. Why ask people to donate theirs?”

    Others tweeted :

    Some users hoped that there would be a report published at the end of this on how effective these contributions are and what difference it has made, while a few canny netizens pointed out: “Off late, many marketing campaigns are only created to create traction with users but no significant impact.”

    Well, for all the sceptics and for those who are worried that this will be just another fund which has no transparency, the company has put out a notification. The firm says that starting 3 May, there will be daily updates published in the Cred app giving you the status of exactly how the oxygen concentrator deployment is happening across India.

    Meanwhile, Milaap co-founder Anoj Viswananthan took to Twitter to share an update on the initiative: “UPDATE: We are incredibly grateful for the tremendous support shown by the CRED community  @CRED_club towards  @milaapdotorg initiative for  oxygen concentrators in the last 24 hours.”

    You can read the complete update here:

     

     

  • ‘Hauslay ki Udaan’: making of a successful entrepreneur under way on ABP reality show

    ‘Hauslay ki Udaan’: making of a successful entrepreneur under way on ABP reality show

    MUMBAI: Tune into ABP News for the second edition of India’s first startup reality TV show, Haywards 5000 ‘Hauslay Ki Udaan’- a unique platform created to support India’s growing startup ecosystem.

    The show will showcase the nail-biting journey of aspiring entrepreneurs from small towns earning an opportunity to bring their innovative business ideas alive on national television. The winner of the show will win a seed funding of whopping Rs 10 crore (USD 1.5 million). Haywards 5000 Hauslay ki Udaan airs every Saturday between 01.30 – 2.00 p.m. up to 10 December, 2016.

    With auditions held across the country in 10 cities and seven states, over 45,000 entries were put through a rigorous selection process before 2,000 participants were shortlisted. The innovative ideas that are part of this season range from online ’kabadiwalas’ (scrap/waste collectors) to rental branded shirts services and crowdsourced organic manure.

    Haywards 5000 Hauslay Ki Udaan spokesperson Deepak Nath said, “In a country where startups are a huge asset, a number of ventures have not succeeded, due to the lack of resources and investment. The second edition aims to help these aspirants with the necessary funding and access to expertise and, consequently, also empower talent to turn dreams into reality. The audience watching the show will also get to live this journey with them through the show”.

    Haywards 5000 also launched the Hausla Buland Academy in 2012 to provide online skills development courses and training through workshops and has reached out to over 100,000 people from different walks of life.

  • ‘Hauslay ki Udaan’: making of a successful entrepreneur under way on ABP reality show

    ‘Hauslay ki Udaan’: making of a successful entrepreneur under way on ABP reality show

    MUMBAI: Tune into ABP News for the second edition of India’s first startup reality TV show, Haywards 5000 ‘Hauslay Ki Udaan’- a unique platform created to support India’s growing startup ecosystem.

    The show will showcase the nail-biting journey of aspiring entrepreneurs from small towns earning an opportunity to bring their innovative business ideas alive on national television. The winner of the show will win a seed funding of whopping Rs 10 crore (USD 1.5 million). Haywards 5000 Hauslay ki Udaan airs every Saturday between 01.30 – 2.00 p.m. up to 10 December, 2016.

    With auditions held across the country in 10 cities and seven states, over 45,000 entries were put through a rigorous selection process before 2,000 participants were shortlisted. The innovative ideas that are part of this season range from online ’kabadiwalas’ (scrap/waste collectors) to rental branded shirts services and crowdsourced organic manure.

    Haywards 5000 Hauslay Ki Udaan spokesperson Deepak Nath said, “In a country where startups are a huge asset, a number of ventures have not succeeded, due to the lack of resources and investment. The second edition aims to help these aspirants with the necessary funding and access to expertise and, consequently, also empower talent to turn dreams into reality. The audience watching the show will also get to live this journey with them through the show”.

    Haywards 5000 also launched the Hausla Buland Academy in 2012 to provide online skills development courses and training through workshops and has reached out to over 100,000 people from different walks of life.

  • DIPP wants to launch startup TVshow & channel

    DIPP wants to launch startup TVshow & channel

    MUMBAI: Well, well, what will happen next under Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The Indian leader has been at the forefront of declaring that innovation and business enterprise from young Indians is what India needs to drive it to the super power status that it deserves. Hence, the initiative Start UP India, Stand UP.

    Now the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) is gearing to give this entrepreneurship drive a further impetus.

    The government body which comes under the ministry of commerce & industry has written to the information & broadcasting ministry (MIB) that it would like to launch a channel meant for entrepreneurs and start ups, along the lines of the Kisan channel which the government introduced for farmers and villagers.

    It is working on creating a TV programme along the lines of Shark Tank, the American on-television start-up funding television format. The show will be aired on national broadcaster DD and an outside agency is to be given the task of selecting the entrepreneurial ideas from daring entrepreneurs. It will also be assigned the task to assemble a panel of venture capitalists to grill the wannabe entrepreneurs and provide them with funding on live TV.

    The finalists of the show will be showcased at the StatUp Fest next month in Hyderabad.

  • DIPP wants to launch startup TVshow & channel

    DIPP wants to launch startup TVshow & channel

    MUMBAI: Well, well, what will happen next under Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The Indian leader has been at the forefront of declaring that innovation and business enterprise from young Indians is what India needs to drive it to the super power status that it deserves. Hence, the initiative Start UP India, Stand UP.

    Now the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) is gearing to give this entrepreneurship drive a further impetus.

    The government body which comes under the ministry of commerce & industry has written to the information & broadcasting ministry (MIB) that it would like to launch a channel meant for entrepreneurs and start ups, along the lines of the Kisan channel which the government introduced for farmers and villagers.

    It is working on creating a TV programme along the lines of Shark Tank, the American on-television start-up funding television format. The show will be aired on national broadcaster DD and an outside agency is to be given the task of selecting the entrepreneurial ideas from daring entrepreneurs. It will also be assigned the task to assemble a panel of venture capitalists to grill the wannabe entrepreneurs and provide them with funding on live TV.

    The finalists of the show will be showcased at the StatUp Fest next month in Hyderabad.