20 Most Promising Startups to Watch 2023

SUCCESS THROUGH CONSISTENT HARD WORK AND DETERMINATION: A MESSAGE TO YOUNG MINDS....

Paul Graham has well-asserted, “The very best startup ideas have there things in common: they are something the founders themselves want, that they themselves can build and that few others realize are worth doing.” In the present world, nothing has caught the pace faster than startups. There are numerous minds out there that have crafted their brainchild into a fascinating venture. And this edition is a gist of their success stories of them only!

Business Connect is a renowned name in the arena of Publication and here again, our team is back with its exclusive edition of the month. As always, our core focus for the edition is the ventures and institutes that are carving new ways in their respective realms. In this context, our editorial team had an interesting and joyful virtual session with the leadership panel of InfinityPool Finnotech Private Limited, an innovative startup providing top-notch services in the Finance realm across the globe. The Founder & CEO of the company, Akshay Kunkulol shared numerous lesser-known facts about the same and also shed some light on his overall entrepreneurial journey so far. We truly hope and desire that this fascinating read will add some extra value to the lives of our global readership panel and will surely encourage the budding leaders out there to break the barriers and chase their dream.

Lastly, would like to wind up and sign off by leaving a few words from my end for the young minds out there! Success is often attributed to luck or natural talent, but in reality, it is the result of consistent hard work and determination. While it may be tempting to look for shortcuts or quick fixes, the path to success is paved with perseverance, discipline, and a willingness to learn and grow. As an editor, I have had the privilege of witnessing countless success stories, and one common thread that ties them all together is the unwavering commitment to hard work. So if you’re feeling discouraged or overwhelmed on your journey towards success, remember that every step you take towards your goals, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. Keep pushing yourself, stay focused on your vision, and don’t forget that the reward at the end of the road will be well worth the effort you put in.

Keep Shining!

Gulshan Parveen gulshan@businessconnectindia.in

Vol - 5|Special Edition|March 2023

Publisher & Editor : Abhishek Kumar Dubey

Editorial Team

Kajal Dobhal | Sugandh Bahl | Gulshan Parveen | Dr. Amit Mishra

Avishek Singh | Kriti Anand | Sanjay Maurya

Business Head

ASHISH KUMAR

Senior Marketing Manager

Sonia Tiwari

Senior Relationship Manager

Reshmi Mishra

Corporate Team

Satyam Singh | Sunny Pathak | Asha Dudeja | Pradeep Pandey | Reetu Chauhan | Komal Verma

Sudha Gupta | Vikash Kumar | Archana Mawar | Kazim Barati | Rahul Kumar | Abhishek Mishra | Vijender Saroj | Mohit Rathee | Karan Sharma | Navdeep Sharma | Kavita Tiwari

Co-ordinator (Business Connect-Clients)

Anita Kumari | Priyanka Gupta | Archana Mawar

Data Research & Analysis

Satyam Tiwari | Amit Kumar | Anita | Ravinder Singh | Sweta | Shweta Kumari | Rekha | Khusboo | Hitesh | Khushi | Nupur| Gunjan

Finance Team

Gaurav Singhal | Jyoti

Creative Director

ASHUTOSH OJHA

Creative Team

Rajat Pathak | Pawan Yadav | Vishant Saroj | Vandana Gusain

Legal Affairs

Mukesh Kumar

Human Resources

Nivedita Basu

Digital Marketing Manager

Anurag Tiwari | Simran | Hitesh

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Publisher & Editor : Abhishek Kumar Dubey RNI No.: DELENG/2018/76695

photographs or illustrations, Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and according no liability is assumed by the publisher.

Shankh tech

INFINITYPOOL FINNOTECH PRIVATE LIMITED

Where wealth management becomes handy with tech inclusivity…

The hype is all about startups and their respective promises. Shoving the needle in their targeted markets, several entrepreneurial ventures are able to create value to the people from different walks of life. InfinityPool Finnotech Private Limited is one such name that is straining every nerve to change the current scenario across Wealth Management, Financial Education and Technology segments. Under the visionary leadership of the founder - Akshay Kunkulol, the venture is scaling greater heights empowering individuals to reach a better state of financial freedom. As we held a one-on-one virtual interview with the founding head of the company, we touched on various aspects of the overall business portfolio. We firmly believe that the financial literacy spread by him via this narrative would help individuals all over the globe. Here are the excerpts of the conversation held with Akshay Kunkulol-

The preface

The foundation of InfinityPool was laid on the vision to empower people in the direction of gaining financial freedom by democratizing better access to wealth-generating financial products. With its flagship offering- SHANKH, the company has created waves of beneficial change in the wealth management segment. This AI-driven product is quite an innovative approach to managing the investing process in today’s digital ecosystem. The unique name- SHANKH is derived from the traditional Indian belief system where ‘shankh’ signifies wealth and prosperity, resonating with the motto of the AI-based product itself.

As per SEBI regulations, InfinityPool now provides HNIs with investable amounts of 1 Cr+ with Alternative Investment Fund (AIF Category 3). Investments are diversified across a variety of asset classes, including listed stock, equity derivatives (Options, Futures, Structured), pre-IPO equities, commodities, currencies, and gold, and are based on suggestions from cutting-edge AI algorithms. Moreover, they provide advisors with a digital platform that enables them to assist their customers with incidental investing advice. The platform’s Portfolio Doctor tool is a standout and well-liked feature. The provision of APIs and integration to other fintech, small banks, and cooperative banks that do not have their own Wealth Management service is something they are actively working on.

Kajal | Business Connect

Cover Story

Akshay Kunkulol

Founder & CEO

THE EPIPHANY TO START THIS ALL

Akshay described the epiphany that led to the establishment of the company in this segment. He said that his career trajectory has been all about the banking and investment industry where he spent a substantial amount of time in the USA and Japan. When he returned to India in 2020, he saw that while per capita income and wealth had substantially expanded, there is still a dearth of understanding among the populace about efficient money management and investment practices. In the past, investing in gold or real estate was the standard due to the lack of other possibilities. Notwithstanding equity’s rising popularity as an asset class, there is still more that needs to be done to ensure that everyone has access to financial products with greater returns and appropriate risk management. While some mutual fund firms perform exceptionally well, many are pricey and do not offer holistic financial solutions. The majority of investments in direct equity in India are made based on random tips, which is a significant concern. Furthermore, a sizable fraction of people mistakenly think that intraday trading would make them rich rapidly, which results in substantial losses of hard-earned money.

“On the other hand, I saw that India’s startup environment is thriving. By democratizing access to financial instruments, more Indians would be able to benefit from this growth, which would result in a more equitable distribution of wealth. But, there is a sizable gap in financial literacy that, if not handled, might get worse. As a result, I embarked on a journey with the goal of democratizing access to financial products that create wealth and encouraging financial awareness among our customers. We are on a mission to make sure that everyone has a piece of the economic pie as India strives to have a 30-45 trillion dollar GDP by 2047. We are more certain than ever that we can create our own BlackRock” elucidated Akshay.

The USP

InfinityPool’s most sought after product that has created a spur in the industry is SHANKH that encompasses several unique features that differentiate it from other AI-based investment options available in the market. Akshay asserts that for any startup to thrive, it’s critical to focus on innovation of at least one piece of the puzzle – product, service, business model or distribution. At InfinityPool, R&D plays a vital role to incorporate innovation in the product development cycle. Providing value streams to customers eventually yields success, he claims.

First off, its offering diversifies across many asset classes such as equity derivatives, pre-IPO shares, commodities, currencies, and gold. It is not simply restricted to equity or stock market investment. Compared to alternative investing solutions that could be restricted to only one asset class, this provides our customers with a stronger risk management plan. Second, we use the Chicago Booth method of investing, which combines several schools of thought to provide various viewpoints on investments. The two main streams are the factor-based model of Nobel Laureate Eugene Fama and the behavioral finance-driven model of Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler. Based on these models, we have created data-intensive quant models that take advantage of market opportunities. Our back testing has demonstrated that this strategy provides improved risk management and a sizable alpha.

Lastly, its AI models can examine decades’ worth of historical and real-time data to generate forecasts in the present, enabling financial professionals to make wise trading choices. In comparison to other investing alternatives that might not have such powerful AI-based models, this feature helps to manage risk better and provide better profits.

Tracking the career trajectory

“I have consistently worked to give my all and remain dedicated to my job throughout my career, and I credit this for my success. I was lucky to have a supportive boss early in my career who saw promise in me and motivated me. This provided an opportunity to use cutting-edge techniques on a challenging initiative in Japan, which sadly was abandoned after six months. This ended up being a blessing in disguise as I was recommended for a position with UBS Investment Bank in Chicago despite my somewhat inexperienced background. Why did UBS choose a leader with only two years of experience when they had options with 10-15+ years of experience?,” remarked Akshay regarding his working experience. He has written more about reasons on his blog. https://akshaykunkulol.me/blogs/corporate-diary-power-of-right-questions

Akshay gained essential managerial, financial, and communication skills while working at UBS Investment Bank, which enabled him to go to Bank of America, where he spent the majority of his career. He obtained expertise in technology, product management, strategy, operations, and leadership from some of the finest in the business while working on one of the bank’s largest derivatives trading platforms. He was doing an evening MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Management at the time, which broadened his viewpoint and taught him how to analyze from several angles.

He commenced working at Options Clearing Corporation, a mid-sized fintech that serves as the clearing house for all equity options in the USA, after receiving his MBA. He was thrilled to be a part of the company’s technical, operational, and cultural transformation. However, he finally came back to India to look for his in-laws and parents during COVID-19. During his stay in India, he happened to accept the position of the Director at Deutsche Bank India as he found their India Head to be highly inspiring and their vision for India to be quite similar to his own!! He eventually came to the conclusion that he could have a greater impact by founding a business, and with his family’s encouragement, he made the daring plunge to become an entrepreneur himself.

Quoting the experience working with IBM

Referring to his journey with IBM which is a Fortune 500 company, Akshay enunciated, “I had the good fortune to spend a significant amount of my professional growth working at IBM. It was actually my first job after graduation. At the time, our family was facing a challenging financial condition, so I realized I needed a job to assist me to provide for them. Yet I also understood that a little trip overseas may greatly improve our financial circumstances. I made the decision to join IBM since the firm was statistically more likely to deploy someone on-site within the first two years.” In the nutshell, he learned a lot during his time at IBM, and it also helped him build a solid reputation as a skilled and dependable expert in the financial technology sector.

What sets him apart as the leader?

When it comes to leading the company at the forefront, Akshay indeed is a leader with a difference. He explains his personality as a versatile one that serves his vision for the company as well as his people. People with knowledge in technology, business, and product management were traditionally assembled by financial institutions in order to alter the industry. Yet, having a single individual who is knowledgeable in each of the three fields may simplify things, remove any doubt, and expedite delivery. For him, he gained a lot of business knowledge and expertise in the financial markets due to his keen interest in those fields. People should, in my opinion, identify their own passions and concentrate on developing a variety of talents. They can become more adaptable and valuable in their jobs with the aid of this strategy.

He also became a keynote speaker on this topic concerning IT Careers at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere in 2006. He also wrote about it in his blog, where he discussed the rise of the versatilist. “I believe that being a versatilist, which means having a diverse range of skills and expertise, is becoming more important in today’s job market. By being a versatilist, you can bring a unique perspective to the table and solve problems in a more holistic way,” he affirmed.

Akshay made it clear that information and people are what drive the sector he works in. And as a leader, he values each person’s knowledge, regardless of their position or level of experience. He takes care to have empathy for the individuals he works with and doesn’t view them as resources. He attempts to break down organizational silos by adhering to the notion of communication traveling down the quickest route possible to complete the task.

His keen ‘stewardship’ places a sheer emphasis on career development, and he takes ownership of grooming his team, giving them chances that align with their goals. He holds his staff to a high level and offers fast open feedback. He respects recognizing and celebrating team achievements to keep their morale high.

He also shared his insights into the topic of entrepreneurship by saying, “I believe that the concept of entrepreneurship has changed throughout time. In addition to starting a new business, we should always act with an entrepreneurial mindset. We must always look for ways to make things easier, less expensive, and quicker. It is about not settling for mediocrity. In India, it’s critical to instill in our rapidly expanding youth a sense of morality, professionalism, productivity, and entrepreneurship at a young age. Then and only then are we able to envision India emerging as a superpower.”

Current sets of projects

As a startup, there are several things happening simultaneously. They all strive for the same underlying objective, though. He is thrilled about the advancement in artificial intelligence they are making, which might strengthen India’s AI capabilities. Another project on the to-do list is the children’s YouTube channel “Shankh School,” where their favorite “Shan The Shankh” will impart fundamental financial knowledge that is appropriate for them at that age. There is now a teaser for this. Hence, keep an eye on this fascinating channel to aid in providing the greatest financial education for today’s youth.

The cultural principles

The foundation of any successful business, whether it is a start-up or a global conglomerate, is its workplace culture. The work environment at InfinityPool is more casual and adaptable, and the founders and early employees have a bigger say in determining the culture. For instance, they support a flat structure where everyone’s ideas are recognized and stress creativity, cooperation, and openness. Each of them also has a clear mission and feeling of purpose that directs their work. The startup’s culture may change and solidify as it expands and brings on additional staff. Thus, it is crucial for founders and executives to purposefully create a productive work environment that is in line with its beliefs and aims, as well as to promote and reinforce that environment through a variety of channels, like onboarding, training, performance evaluations, and company events.

Feathers on the cap

It goes without saying that within a short span of time, InfinityPool has made an exemplary mark on the industry. Certifying this claim, it was recently recognized as a startup by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) which falls under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This is a testament to Akshay’s vision to advance Artificial Intelligence and democratize Wealth Management. All the team members take immense pride in being a significant part of India’s growth story.

Indulgence in CSR

Two CSR activities that the corporation is currently engaging in are consistent with its vision for India in 2047. In order to help smaller retail investors minimize their losses and get ready for the next stage, they are first trying to establish a free platform. To help the younger generation make better financial decisions, they also teach financial literacy in schools. Every leader in the firm needs to engage in or promote CSR initiatives, shares Akshay. He added that Tata Sons has been an excellent illustration of a company that places a high priority on improving society as a whole, and they serve as an inspiration for the futuristic CSR plan for InfinityPool.

The future roadmap

In terms of curating an effective future blueprint, the InfinityPool team brainstorms at every possible level. They are manufacturing roadsters before they can make the Model 3 available to everyone, in keeping with the adage that “progress is a journey, not a destination” (for the uninformed, follow Tesla’s product range). In five years, it would be great if they could change 10,000 people’s lives such that they are making better financial decisions and/or investing better.

A token of advice to all aspirants:

Before signing off from the conversation, the dynamo shared a short message to be delivered to our readers, “I am brought up in a very small town with schooling in regional language medium however focusing on excellence and learning, hunger, hard work can take you far. I would like to tell this to all aspirants out there, don’t self-censor yourself, believe and take that leap. Be ethical, and empathetic, and keep doing good work. Not everyone aspires to become an executive or start a business and there is nothing wrong with that. Whatever you are doing, give your 100%. It could be sports, arts, social service or anything you love. It could be being a good kid, spouse, or parent. Make a difference.”

Meet Ajaypal Banga

The Mastermind Behind Mastercard Success

Executive Chairman, Mastercard

I believe that data is the new oil. I am saying it in this country because I believe that the prosperity that oil brought in the last 50 years, data will bring in the next 50, 100 years if you use it the right way.

AJAY BANGA

CLOUD SPARKLE

TECHNOLOGIES Private Limited

AN INNOVATION ADDING A DRIVING FORCE INTO THE IT ARENA

They say, “What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want to be done.” Information Technology is one of the booming sectors across the global business world. Most of the time, it is also considered the backbone of the corporate world. Now, we know that the Business Connect magazine is renowned for its exclusive monthly editions and it has been a great fan of the ventures scattered to the IT realm. And here again, we are back with our latest edition of the month, ‘Company of the Year 2022’ comprising the successful journeys of some leading ventures in the market.

Our editorial team had an interesting and joyful virtual session with the leadership panel of Cloud Sparkle Technologies Private Limited, the fastest-growing IT venture around the market. The leadership panel of the company and the Founder & Chairman, Mr. Santosh Pathai shared numerous lesser-known facts about the company and shed some light on his overall entrepreneurial journey so far. We truly hope and desire that this fascinating read will truly add some extra value to the lives of our global readership and will also encourage them to break the barriers and chase their dreams.

COMPANY PREFACE

Giving a detailed introduction of the company, Mr. Santosh quips,

“Cloud Sparkle was incepted with a vision of developing and delivering leading edge solutions in technology, processes and products with Agile Practices. I have a strong perception that building a Good Team is a real strength of the company, where we spot and hire a talent who has a dedication to achieve or see themselves to lead, which helps us to guide them for the future growth and career and by this technique we strive to accomplish to build a motivated team.”

DISTINGUISHING ELEMENTS

GRIP ON TECH

“Technological advancements are part of any industry lifecycle, to keep intact with the market updates, we accompany Continual Service Improvement, Continual Knowledge Improvement and Continual Trainings for our Team,” says the Founder.

QUALITY OVER ANYTHING

“For every company delivering a quality in the today’s cutting edge is a challenge and we endeavour to achieve it by following agile methodologies. We continuously invest in upgrading our team with new technologies as per the current trend which helps us to equip with the changing and upcoming trends in the market. Also, instead of spending our budget on marketing we

Gulshan | Business Connect

prefer to invest on our services as a premium service offered to our clients with a standard cost of the service, which helps us to gain more confidence in our customer and which indirectly helps to gain more momentum in the business value.”-Mr. Santosh Pathai.

BOND WITH CLIENTS

He further adds, “Clients being the fuel of any business should have high confidence in their service providers, hence they are rest assured about their technological implementations and deliveries, so that they can focus on their business value to their customers. Clients from various domains have opted our services which include Clients from BFSI, Power, FMCG, Logistics, IT are few and they have kept faith in achieving value with us.”

THE FUTURE ENDEAVOUR

The company is planning to launch its international operations shortly and a work culture where every employee can prioritize his or her personal, social, and professional lifestyle together. Before signing off, the Chairman shared some words of wisdom for the budding leaders out there by saying,

Pathai Founder & Chairman

“Launching a company or a startup is easy but to sustain and keep moving forward can be termed as a real business game. Apart whatever you deliver whether it is a business or job deliver with 100% plus to be valued as an asset to your employer, customer, or your team.”

Santosh

Chawla Founder & CEO

Eduk8me Private Limited

passionate

Rhea

Co-Founder of Eduk8me, with a vision to disrupt the education marketplace industry by providing value-based access to tutors across the globe through a transparent feedback mechanism.

One of the pioneering organisations in the e-learning space, Eduk8me allows children to accelerate their learning journey by connecting with the largest community of professional tutors on the friendliest, most reliable platform. Based out of Gurgaon, Eduk8me is a global marketplace for private tutorial services; think of it as the Amazon for private tutoring services, where students may find potential teachers and hire them through the site and mobile apps available on Android and iPhones. The mission driving the founders and early stage investors is to enable the teaching profession to be financially lucrative thereby attracting the best minds to the education services industry.

The Tale of Inception and Inspiration

The germination for Eduk8me was conceived with the founders’ keen understanding that every child has distinct learning requirements and preferences. One can maximise learning and retention by matching a teacher’s approach to instruction and lesson plans with the student’s preferred learning style. Additionally, it makes students more interested in the subject or topic.

The founders of Eduk8me are a dynamic mother-daughter duo; one is a Harvard Business School alumni, and the latter is a 14-year-old technocrat in-the-making. Their Eduk8me journey started with Rhea (Rio at home!) demanding support for Math. As the duo searched for a tutor, they were aware that their options were severely constrained by geopgraphy and availability of feedback of the tutorial services or structured outomes. They realized that the search for tutorial services is typically limited to the location of the student and the feedback mechanism was limited the opinions of a small number of other moms who lived close to the tutors’ service location.

Like her mother; Rhea aspires to attend HBS one day. When she was 12 years old, it meant finding the ideal tutor who would be able to recognise her special learning style and help her advance her education to the pinnacle of academic excellence.

Geetika and Rhea saw this as an opportunity to address two fundamental societal problems, one from each of their own perspectives: Instead of being constrained by geogpraphical boundaries, Rhea saw this as a chance to build a community that enables students to find and contact the best teachers who fit their learning styles anywhere in the world.

Geetika viewed this as a chance to upend a sector of the economy that has historically been unfair to service providers in terms of compensation. The way the platform and service have been designed shows how these two separate thought processes are aligned!

Accelerating the Learning Journey among Children, Eduk8me is the Trailblazer of the Private Tutorial Marketplace

Incorporated in 2022 as the “world’s 1st AI driven tutorial marketplace”

“Eduk8me”, is the brainchild of a

mother-daughter duo; Geetika Chawla, Founder & CEO of Eduk8me and

Lamba,

Geetika

Kajal | Business Connect

Unique Factors: Craving a Distinctive Stance in EdTech

Eduk8me is a unique business model with several key factors that allows them to consolidate a fragmented industry that benefits both tutors and students.

The platform has developed an artificial intelligence model to increase a tutor’s earnings by analysing supply and demand patterns, instructor evaluations, and other aspects in nearly real-time and then recommending selling rates for their services in order to maximize their incomeAdditionally, the platform offers a three-dimensional feedback loop between students, parents, and tutors that enables tutors to demonstrate their abilities in actual tutoring situations and enables the platform to match students with the best teaching partner based on their unique learning preferences.

Industrial Evolution Over the Years

Most edtech startups have concentrated on creating content and using technology as a communication and information delivery tool. By utilising technological platforms to fundamentally add value by expanding the reach, quality, and security of the learning experience for students, Eduk8me has considerably enlarged this paradigm.

Startups generally have transitioned from a relatively traditional model of adding value for the demand side (people making the purchase) through industry consolidation (think of Zomato or Practo in their early days) to adding value in the supply chain by either improving the customer experience or the purchasing decision-making process. Entrepreneurs are beginning to shift from a “conventional” value of access to customers to a deeper engagement to support the supply side (people delivering the service) in running and developing their businesses.

From a business model execution perspective, startups like Eduk8me are focusing on creating long-term sustainable value for their shareholders by concentrating on fundaments of the business by ensuring unit economics and keeping tight control on expenses and revenue targets rather than solely focusing on valuation. This pivot away from valuation for medium-term wealth generation to long-term sustainable value creation has always been a bastion of traditional businesses.

Insights on the Significance of R&D

Any technological company that wants to maintain and improve service quality and ultimately increase profitability must invest in fusing technologies. To reduce distractions during the learning process and to be able to utilise the newest technological tools to give a comprehensive learning experience, Eduk8me is investing in areas of artificial intelligence for marketplace dynamics and VR/AR technologies for virtual classrooms.

Eduk8me’s Work Culture – “Mutual Respect. Mutual Growth.”

The core principle of Eduk8me’s employee culture is “Mutual Respect. Mutual Growth.” These themes permeate all of their operational teams and guide how they interact with the clients. While the business model is designed with a sharp eye on unit performance and profitable operations, the people philosophy is instead focused on community growth, both financially and non-financially, rather than solely driven by founders’ or shareholders’ wealth generation.

The operating team and the shareholders benefit from the team’s focus on long-term viability and sustainable company operations, which also results in sustained value generation for the team.

The factors above, combined with a high-energy, highownership team, give a glimpse of Eduk8me’s people-centric work environment.

Painting the Future Canvas of Eduk8me

Eduk8me aims to revamp the education industry by making private tutoring services accessible at the point of “ability to pay” for all societal structures; in order to achieve this, Eduk8me will cooperate with tutors of all pay levels to expand the reach of their services throughout the globe and offer donated or subsidised learning slots for students who may find the service to be outside of their “ability to pay” range. A continuous effort is being made to maintain a database of tutors’ contributed teaching hours and match them with students who require the assistance.

In terms of technology, Eduk8me is hoping to invest in cuttingedge learning opportunities in the areas of virtual or augmented reality.

Words of Wisdom to the Budding Entrepreneurs

Perhaps the only three key factors that can help an entrepreneur achieve their goals are -- Patience, Tenacity, and Gratitude. Any great vision needs to be converted to practical realities for a company to be successful. This can be a difficult undertaking that requires an entrepreneur to have the patience to explain their vision to many stakeholders several times a day so that the north star is clearly visible.

Last but not least, have a keen awareness that as a bootstrapped entity, you will need guidance and support from family and friends, which can only translate to gratitude as you start to build a business; the implementation of the business processes and technologies can take time and has its own evolution that requires perseverance on the part of the founders and stakeholders

Rhea Chawla Lamba Co-Founder

INDIA’S TOP 5 WELL-KNOWN STARTUPS AND THEIR SUCCESS STORY

1. Supam Maheshwari, FirstCry

Funding amount: US$69 million

Key Official: Supam Maheshwari

Industry: Ecommerce Products: Baby products

Supam Maheshwari is an Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad graduate and he acquires his further studies from Delhi College of Engineering as well. He started his venture for FirstCry, baby products online retailer, in Pune in 2010. Nine years ago, when the market choices for baby products in India online and retail both were quite limited. He used to buy a lot of products for his son only on his business trips abroad.

Therefore, he discovered an opportunity for such a platform and established FirstCry.com. As he began researching further in this market, he figured that the baby and kids industry in India had an approximate turnover of about Rs.50, 000 Cr and 95% of these sales were offline by the stores

2. Yashish Dahiya, Policybazaar

Funding amount: US$78.3 million

Key Official: Yashish Dahiya

Industry: Fintech Products: Insurance and Policies

Yashish Dahiya, CEO & Co-Founder, PolicyBazaar.com holds trio in education. A Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from IIT Delhi, Post Grad Diploma in Management from IIM Ahmedabad, and an MBA from INSEAD. Yashish started his career as a Business Unit Head at Illinois at a position of Tool Works and later moved on to the Bain & Company to work as a Management Consultant.

Before starting his entrepreneurial journey with the most well-known company PolicyBazaar.com, he worked with First Europa,which is a Global Online Insurance Broker company. He worked as their CEO. He is an alumn of two of the country’s top colleges – IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad - Yashish being a CEO of PolicyBazaar likes to call himself a hugely risk-averse person. Yashish states that “Of course he is always excited about insurance because it’s all about risk and risk management is his favorite consultancy.

3. Kavin Bharti Mittal, Hike

Funding amount: US$86 million

Key Official: Kavin Bharti Mittal Industry: Social networking

Products: Freeware application

Hike Messenger App by Kavin Bharti Mittal, got launched globally on 12-12-12 and was made available in more than 100 plus countries. The Delhi-based face behind the scion of the huge Bharti Group, son of Sunil Mittal, Bharti Airtel established a peculiar special platform - Hike.

By starting this app every week his personal prepaid account runs out of data due to heavy internet usage. Later on, he purposefully chooses to keep a prepaid number on a low-end smartphone in order to finally identify the data related problems faced by India’s Hike mobile app users. Hence, he founded that there is almost 95 percent of whom are on pay-as-you-go packages. Afterward, they started a co-creation exercise with their users wherein they properly look at the real-time feedbacks from their users for the development of their application.

4. Abhinay Choudhari, BigBasket

Funding amount: US$95 million

Key Official: Abhinay Choudhari

Industry: Groceries, eCommerce

Products: Wide range of Grocery

Bangalore based CEO of BigBasket, Abhinay Choudhari founded BigBaskate (BB) in 2009 by Abhinay Choudhari, Hari Menon, and Vipul Parekh. Together their trio has scaled up the name BigBasket to be the largest online grocery platform in India.

Long-time before Flipkart tapped into the retail industry for online products, a group of people like Abhinay Choudhary fuelled with passion to create and experience on founded the Big Basket as the country’s first online shopping platform which revolutionized the way of buying groceries to people. This platform establishes a unique mark in every way, the story of how Big Basket came to be is also motivating startups in India.

5. VSS Mani, JustDial

Funding amount: US$103.2 million

Key Official: VSS Mani

Industry: Search

Products: Market search services

Founded in the year 1996 by VSS Mani, Just Dial is a Mumbai-based company that tends to be biggest search engine for the local market. It generally offers classified listings of small businesses for an annual fee and it can be used to make small businesses well known. People can easily search for local and every business via phone, subscription SMS, the website, or now through the mobile app of Just Dial.

Justdial is India’s Market finding search engine for local search which initially started as a classified website to list your business but as of now it’s transformed into a local search engine. Today, it employs around 9,000 employees in 15 different offices, which are spread across the country. It has also sets record for 12+ million listings in its database that are offering market services in more than 2000 small and big cities of India. The company receives a huge count of over 1.9 million calls on daily basis for the search-related causes. Other than this, number of online searches that were listed over the website was recorded to be 1125.7 million for the year 2012-2013. Hereby, form that phase the company is growing day by day and has seen almost 1.16 million unique visitors on a daily basis contributing to 7.22 million daily page views.

HERE ARE THE LIST OF FEW MORE SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS THAT REMARK WITH THEIR STARTUP STORY IN THE INDIAN MARKET

• Sanjay Sethi of ShopClues, Gurgaon

• Ritesh Aggarwal of OyoRooms – A formidable hotel industry

• Phanindra Sama of Redbus – A ambiguous transport service provider

• Albinder Dhindsa of Grofers – A wide range of grocery platform

• Deepinder Goyal of Zomato – Best food chain restaurant services provider

• Pranay Chulet of Quikr – Platform for buying and selling old goods

• Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm – The biggest e-commerce payment system and digital wallet.

• Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola Cabs – Tremendous transportation service provider

• Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal – Man Behind everyday eCommerce shopping online

• Sachin Bansal of Flipkart – Cordial leader who forces Ecommerce retail services

• Kunal Shah, of FreeCharge – Financial marketplace for Recharge and Bill-payments

• Sahil Barua of Delhivery – The most renowned logistic service providers

• Ambareesh Murty of PepperFry - Online Furniture Shopping platform

• Amit Jain of CarDekho – Platform for buying and selling Used Cars Online

• Richa Kar of Zivame – A lady behind the biggest nightwear and women’s undergarment provider

• Ashish Goel of UrbanLadder – A High-Quality Furniture products provider

GROWTHHACKERS DIGITAL MEDIA PVT. LTD.

A GAME CHANGER IN THE DIGITAL SPACE

Business Connect, a renowned name in the Publication and Print media world, is back with another brainstorming edition of the month. Our editorial team had an interesting and joyful virtual session with the leadership panel of Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt. Ltd. The leadership panel of the company shared numerous lesserknown facts about the company and also shed some light on their overall entrepreneurial journey so far. This read is a summarized version of our conversion with them. We truly hope and desire that this fascinating read will add some extra value to the lives of our global readership panel and will surely encourage the budding leaders out there to break the barriers and chase their dreams. So, without any further ado, let’s dive straight into the read!

Digital marketing has revolutionized the way businesses operate in the current industrial scenario. The advent of technology has allowed companies to leverage the digital space and reach new heights. With the rapid growth of industries and start-ups, the importance of digital marketing must be addressed.

One company that stands out in providing digital marketing solutions in India and the UAE is Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. It is a 360-degree international digital marketing company that partners with its clients to develop comprehensive digital marketing strategies. From website redesign to SEO services to PPC campaigns, Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. provides tailor-made solutions to its clients.

COMPANY PREFACE

Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. has emerged as a leading market player in India and the UAE due to its unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional results. With a focus on ensuring month-to-month growth for clients, the company takes complete responsibility for its business growth. The team of Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. comprises passionate, curious, and analytical individuals who use their creative prowess to help companies thrive.

The company’s proficiency in lead generation and conversion rate optimization is second to none. Leveraging a host of digital marketing techniques coupled with advanced data analytics, Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. assists customers in achieving their organizational objectives. As a prime digital marketing firm in India and the UAE, Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. is dedicated to meeting all of its clients’ digital marketing needs with complete satisfaction.

EDGE IN THE REALM

The company provides a wide range of services, including digital marketing, search engine marketing, website development, social media marketing, pay-per-click, influencer marketing, email marketing, content marketing, consultancy and training, and CRM. The company’s core services include competitor and keyword analysis, on-page and off-page optimization, Google page ranking, increasing traffic and conversions, mobile-friendly structure, and channel strategies.

Kajal | Business Connect

The company’s founder and managing director, Mr. Manik Malik, is a Google-certified passionate digital marketer, trainer, and consultant with over 25 years of experience in company and entrepreneurial growth. His professional background demonstrates a strong track record of organizing, leading, and managing teams and organizations. His core competencies include leadership, team handling, training, project management and planning, customer service, performance, and productivity improvement.

Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. is a blessing in disguise for businesses looking for innovative and tech-savvy solutions for their business growth. The company’s expertise in social media marketing and web design has set a new standard in boosting the brand’s image. It believes in making every effort to broaden the organization’s reach and match companies with their ideal audience.

PARTING WORDS

Before signing off, the visionary shared a few words by enlightening us with the unique aspect of the company by asserting,

Manik Malik Founder & Managing Director

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Growthhackers Digital Media Pvt Ltd. is the ultimate growth hacker in the digital marketing industry. With its comprehensive digital marketing solutions and focus on delivering results, it has established itself as a market leader in India and the UAE. Its team’s passion, curiosity, and analytical skills make it the go-to company for businesses looking to leverage the digital space and reach new heights.

IDBI INTECH EXCLUSIVE REGULATORY COMPLIANCE & REPORTING SOLUTIONS

Business and regulatory compliance aren’t the same, so it’s critical to understand why your business must stay aware of the different laws girding your industry. Following regulatory standards has further benefits than simply avoiding forfeitures. They also bring financial stability and help with business durability.

Here are few reasons why you should concentrate on regulatory compliance and reporting as you build infrastructure and design corporate standards around your digital assets and data.

• Financial security

• Avoid lawsuits

• Business continuity

• Protect your brand reputation

• Defence against hackers

IDBI Intech has developed the below Regulatory Compliance & Reporting Solutions

• Finnet2.0

• The Finnet2.0 reporting generating System developed by IDBI Intech is an application that gives the users unique features starting from creating the request at front-end and generating the data from system without any manual intervention as per the FIU India Regulatory guidelines of reporting

• Automated Data Flow (i-ADF & CIMS)

• IDBI Intech’s ADF solution ensure the Bank to achieves complete automation by eliminating manual intervention and ensuring uniformity and reliability of information while submitting its returns to RBI with the help of a Centralized Data Repository (CDR).

• Central Payment Fraud Information Registry (CPFIR)

• All banks / non-bank prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers are required to report payment frauds by uploading the file in the Electronic Data Submission Portal (EDSP) of Reserve Bank. CPFIR system has been developed in accordance with RBI requirement for the Submission of payment Fraud Data” which will help RBI to track frauds undertaken using payment systems and put in place mechanisms to prevent such frauds. The main objective of CPFIR is to report only Payment related frauds, either reported by the customer to the issuer bank or detected by the bank i.e., UPI, IMPS, AEPS, ATM Debit/Credit card. CPFIR system is used by the bank users for reporting of payment related frauds. CPFIR

application has functionality to report the payment fraud details which is occurred in Bank’ customer’s account.

• FATCA/CRS

• The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is tax information reporting regime, which requires Financial Institutions (FIs) to identify their U.S. accounts through enhanced due diligence reviews and report them periodically to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or in case of Inter-Governmental agreement(IGA), to appropriate government authority.

• CRS

• Common Reporting standard (CRS) is a global level uniform standard for automatic exchange of financial account information. CRS, an initiative of G-20 countries and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is similar to FATCA. Under this standard, jurisdictions would obtain financial information from their financial institutions and exchange that information with other jurisdictions on an automatic annual basis.

Purpose of FATCA/CRS

The purpose of FATCA is to prevent U.S. persons from using banks and other financial institutions outside the USA to park their wealth outside U.S. and consequently avoid U.S. taxation on income generated from such wealth. FATCA-CRS oblige financial institutions to report information about U.S. persons having accounts with them. Similar to FATCA, the purpose of CRS is to aid automatic exchange of information between bilateral treaty partner countries about accountholders/ investors maintaining accounts in foreign jurisdictions so as to avoid tax evasions on the funds parked in such countries.

Automobile

startups to watch in 2023

The automobile industry is one of the most important drivers of India’s economic growth. Recently, a large number of startups have entered the Indian electric vehicle industry. With the country on track to become the fourth-largest EV market in the world in the next 20 years, entrepreneurs are seizing the opportunity. India’s Electric Vehicle Startups are leading the way to a Greener Future. The more powerful electric cars become, the more quickly will be gasoline-powered vehicles eliminated from the highways, which are one of the main sources of pollution. According to recent reports, in the base case scenario, the EV market is projected to rise at a CAGR of 44 percent between 2021 and 2027, reaching 6.34 million annual sales by 2027.

What are Electric Vehicles?

An electric vehicle (EV) is something that uses an electric motor instead of an internal-combustion engine that burns a mixture of fuel and gases to produce electricity.

Challenges with Electric Vehicles

The biggest challenge with Electric Vehicles in India is the fact that EVs run on Lithium-ion batteries, which are expensive as they are imported. Presently, domestic players import about 80% of the core components in an EV from China. Battery anxiety is one of the key reasons stopping people from purchasing an electric vehicle.

Top 10 promising Electric Vehicles Startups in India are

STROM MOTORS

Founder- Prateek Gupta, Jean-Luc Abaziou, and Dr.Gilmer Blackenship

Investor- Indian Angel Network

Year of Establishment- 2011

Based at- Mumbai

Electric Vehicle - STROM-R3 (3 Wheeler Fully Airconditioned Cars)

Price- 4 to 4.5 Lakhs (Approx.)

Features- Cars are sporty, peppy, nimble, and enjoyable to drive. The STROM-R3 is equipped with a 4G linked diagnostic engine that allows users to monitor not only the position and status of charge, but also the overall health of critical components such as brake pads, engines, and electronics.

Along with a machine learning-based navigation engine that learns the users’ everyday drive paths, the onboard device continuously monitors the road terrain and driver habits.

EULER MOTORS

Founder- Saurav Kumar

Investors- Blume Ventures, Inventus Capital, Jetty Ventures, Srinivas Anumolu, Ganesh Krishnan, Inventus Capital, Sujeet Kumar

Year of Establishment- 2015

Based at- New Delhi

Electric Vehicle - Electric auto-rickshaw (3 Wheeler & 4 Wheeler LCV) inspired by Tesla

Price- 3 Wheeler Electric vehicles are more cost-efficient than 4 Wheeler ICE counterparts

Features- Depending on the load on the engine, the commercial cargo electric vehicle has a range of 80-100 KM on a single charge. The electric three-wheeler can bear a maximum load of 500 kg.

EMFLUX MOTORS

Founder- Ankit Khatry, Varun Mittal, and Vinay Raj

Investors- Meher Roy, Brian Fabian Crain, Rishabh Gupta, Samar Singla, Nikhil Arora, Nitish Singh

Year of Establishment- 2016

Based at- Bangalore

Electric Vehicle – Emflux1 superbike (2 Wheeler Bike)

Price- 5-6 Lakhs rupees

Features- Fastest superbike in the market, with a top speed of 200 km/hr, a 0-100 km/hr acceleration time of 3 seconds, and a range of 200 KM.

OKINAWA

Founder- Rupali Sharma and Jitendra Sharma.

Year of Establishment- 2015

Based at- Gurugram

Electric Vehicle – IPraise+ (2 Wheeler Scooter), OKI-100(2 Wheeler Bike)

Price- 1 Lakhs rupees

Features- [IPraise+ (2 Wheeler Scooter)] Top speed is 58Km/hr, swappable batteries, and a smartphone app that enables you to mobilize your scooter remotely, track its location, see how much usage battery has, and also find it out when to go for service.

REVOLT MOTORS

Founder- Rahul Sharma

Year of Establishment- 2019

Based at- Gurugram

Electric Vehicle – RV300 and RV400

Price- 1 Lakh

Features- The bikes RV300 and RV400 have interchangeable batteries that enable riders to travel up to 85 KM, with top speeds of 65 km/hr for the RV300 and 80 km/hr for the RV400. The bikes also have AI features including geo-fencing, geolocation, battery swapping, and tracking, as well as the ability to change the sound of the bikes.

ULTRAVIOLETTE AUTOMOTIVE

Founder- Niraj Rajmohan and Narayan Subhramaniam

Investors- TVS Motor Company, Speciale Invest

Year of Establishment- 2015

Based at- Bangalore

Electric Vehicle – F77 (2 Wheeler Bike)

Price- 3 Lakhs

Features- Acceleration ability of 0-60km/hr. in 3 seconds and 0-100 km/hr. in 7 seconds. The Top speed is 147 Km/hr. It can travel a distance of 130-150 km on a single charge. Swappable batteries. Connected to a mobile app to find the location of the bike, how much charge your batteries have, also the max speed, max torque can be customized.

TORK MOTORS

Founder- Kapil Sheke

Investors- Ratan TATA, Ankit Bhati, Bhavish Aggarwal

Year of Establishment- 2016

Based at- Pune

Electric Vehicle– TX01, TX02, TX03, TX04, TX05, T6X (2 Wheeler Bike)

Price- Rs. 1.25 Lakhs

Features- Features include a smartphone app, a 100 KM range, a top speed of 100 KM per hour, 80% charge in 1 hour, GPS and TIROS, an AI-enabled operating system.

YULU

Founder- Amit Gupta, Naveen Dachuri, R.K.Mishra, and Hemant Gupta

Investors- Blume Ventures, Bajaj Auto Ltd, 3one4 Capital, Tracxn Labs, Incubate Capital Partners

Year of Establishment- 2017

Based at- Bangalore

Electric Vehicle– Rental electric bicycle (Yullu move) and

Features- The Yulu Miracle is a dockless, lithium-powered scooter that focuses on first- and last-mile connectivity and can travel up to 5 KM. It has a battery-swapping model that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to predict demand and vehicle use. Using internet of things hardware, each scooter sends its battery charge percentage to Yulu servers at regular intervals.

ATHER ENERGY

Founder- Swapnil Jain and Tarun Mehta

Investors- HeroMotoCorp Ltd, Sachin Bansal, Binny Bansal, Tiger Global Management, InnoVen Capital

Year of Establishment- 2013

Based at- Bangalore

Electric Vehicle – Ather S340, Ather 450, and Ather 450 X.

Price- 1.6 Lakh rupees (Ather 450 X)

Features- Features include an LCD screen with Google maps, the ability to play music and answer calls, a smartphone app integrated with the scooter that provides details about the scooter, incognito mode, and stand sensors. The top speed is 90 KM per hour. The distance travelled in a single charge is certified to be 116 KM.

OLA ELECTRIC

Founder- Bhavish Aggarwal

Investors- Pawan Munjal Family Trust, SoftBank Group, Hyundai Motors, Kia Motors, Matrix Partners India

Year of Establishment- 2017

Based at- Bangalore

Electric Vehicle– OLA Appscooter, Kinetics’ Safar smart, Mahindra’s E20 plus, and Goldstone BYD electric buses have also been introduced.

Price- 1.5 Lakh rupees (OLA Appscooter)

Features- Top speed is 95 KM per hour. Have IoT sensors,

Final words

In terms of electric vehicles, India is still a developing market. India is evolving, and with the introduction of a slew of new technologies and developments in the electric vehicle sector, a slew of new opportunities are opening up!

Leaf Craft Pvt. Ltd.

Boosting the client’s build with the unrivaled code base

Here comes the company that has been building over 400+ functionalities in one’s code that allowed the team to get accelerated outcomes. Not only do they just build, but also correct the wrong traces left. Harnessing robust code structures, Leaf Craft is able to build products at surprisingly low-cost with high efficiency. Unlike the peer service companies that started from scratch or picked frameworks, they have already developed over 70% of products that are built for different types of use cases. The difference has been observed to be 30% only ranging from product to product. To cover the length and breadth of the company, we arranged a tete-a-tete with the company’s CEO- Khoushik Ananth who enlightened us on the company’s overall business model. Let’s see what he unveiled about Leaf Craft in the exclusive conversation-

The preface

Leaf Craft has been known to create tailor-made software implementation plans for SMEs and enterprise-level corporations. The company prides itself on seeing the job through from start to finish as they move from an idea to execution. Owing to necessary maintenance and support, the final rollout is an uncompromised product. Based on their invaluable experience in varied industries, they allow everyone to build the best in class digital products helping them to get an edge over their competitors. In order to create a product that is efficient and has been prioritized as per timeline, budget, and most urgent needs while always keeping the client in the loop in terms of product development.

In the present era, when everyone has been looking to build their ideas and be in the market. Leaf Craft is dedicated to building things aiming to accelerate the builds as the main priority with customers. With fewer delivery timelines and swift building approaches, they are building products robustly. Partnering and collaborating with customers on such ideas that seek partnerships and equity sharing is also under their service umbrella.

Gulshan | Business Connect

Changing issues into opportunities

Covid-19 posed serious challenges to the survival of each business venture. Leaf Craft also faced intense challenges in the curation of developing health-assisting apps to address issues of the statements thriving in society. Numerous No code and Low code solutions assisted groups and organizations in addressing particular problems, but they also introduced holes in process management. The original concept of Leaf Craft was to speed up the development process while maintaining a standard degree of product robustness. They have created internal products in a variety of industries, including health, SaaS, and finance, and little and no code. The goal is to help startups and individuals with technology from 0 to 10. They firmly think of Time as well as Product Cost. Obviously, when the time is shortened, the cost is reduced.

The founder’s differentiation

As the founder, Khoushik Ananth has been part of IIIT Hyderabad which always pushed him forward to work and pull in likeminded people. Facilitating peer-to-peer team development, everyone ensures a lot of encouragement to each other that enables swift learning and compassion. What is even more important is to build a team on peer-to-peer references. Similarly, during the covid-19 crisis, they acknowledged the problem gaps like rapid building and POC that made a huge difference to everyone. There are numerous key factors that allow identifying the above problems and bringing in reasonable solutions without disturbing the existing flow of development.

“As things are ever-evolving, we do the same with our code base to get going. We understand the client’s needs and the space where things are going out in the market. Building on MSP(Minimum support price) would be our ideal way to Go! With ever-changing clients and tech, we have an update process to keep our code bases up to date,” claims Khoushik.

Inclusive Project Management

For ensuring the best-in-class project management facility, they are assigning a product manager that ensures follow-up on the clients regarding the design, development, change and adoption. Analyzing the time expenditure and money spent in the building process, they ensure to establish an inclusive project management process. Moreover, the most considerable and significant aspect of building quality products is a well-established pipeline that facilitates better functioning. From building products with well-tested and already production-utilized and ready code modules, they have always managed to stay ahead of the curve so far.

“We cater to the individuals, small businesses, and medium businesses looking for SaaS products to drive their needs. We are currently associated with Bring your own belly (BYOB), Instonomy & P2E Pro. Faith comes from the Delivery of the product and support and we succeed in doing these things right,” remarked Khoushik regarding his inclusive project management.

R&D implementation

R&D is not just a mere formal process but a key factor to keep up to date on the codebase for seamless workflow at the company. Their exemplary outstanding work on the applications and products that ease product development for customers and internal staff. R&D has become necessary to improve the provision for customers. It should also enable ease to the company’s team and help them experience effortlessness in the process of holistic growth. From networking to tech utilization, they have been taking major steps to create the distinction with the R & D process, addressing the problem statements. They have worked in the past to provide the end customers with different sorts of examples and perceptions towards product building. Till now, they have been blessed to be with inbound calls for making a better product line.

Achievements and accolades

Since its inception, the company has been known to build applications to assist clients to build their product ideas with one click approach only. They have been looking forward to building next-generation applications/ proof of concept for the end customers in the coming years. So far, they have successfully built 450+ code modules delivering 3 projects in less than a year with an accelerated code base pipeline. Also, Leaf Craft has built 4 shelf products that grabbed eyeballs across the industry. Assisting more and more customers to build accelerated pipelines in more affordable packages, it has become one of the promising companies in its niche market.

Words to convey…

“Products are very specific in nature and the team’s understanding of the products is based on in-depth study. Well, we have our own understanding of our thought process in comprehending things surrounding us from requirements to features and user stories. Sometimes, you’re just on the Idea Verse of a building. So, there you need a bunch of people who can diversify thinking and contemplation. Team building becomes an essential pillar to be laid down. Yet comes another one, bringing everyone onto the same page. This becomes organizational goals to be acknowledged by the team. Having sorted all these, bringing product in time is enabled by good planning, having tons of people won’t accelerate builds. Sticking to what has been planned is a good dream come true. So far so good. Now the hurdle of the millennium go to market, “try it out” that’s a big ask from users making the best use of timing when do you ask? All these pass through and you see acceptance. Maintaining trust is what companies thrive for.”

- Khoushik Ananth, the CEO

Steering Top Notch patient care and Building India’s largest asset light affordable Hospital Network

The pandemic has exposed the value of India’s small and medium-sized hospitals. More than 80% of the institutions in the country are small and medium-sized, and most of these hospitals have highly skilled surgeons and are accredited. At present, they are underutilized as a result of their low visibility, difficulty in establishing trust with the public, and lack of technological advancement to meet modern patient demands. As a result, they are unable to draw both domestic and foreign patients. Patients’ treatment journeys at small and medium hospitals are currently unorganized and extremely fragmented.

Mykare Health, India’s fastest-growing asset light hospital network offers 30% lesser cost with standardized surgical/treatment care for domestic and international patients, ensuring maximum utilization of small and medium hospital facilities. Ensuring the highest quality treatment to all its patients in minimally invasive elective and cosmetic surgeries, including lasik, hernia, piles, hair transplant, liposuction, Knee Replacement, Hip Replacement, and IVF etc., Mykare Health emerged as a pioneer among the healthcare solutions provider companies on the global stage.

Conceptualized in 2021, Mykare Health has been successful in gaining trust and building its brand loyalty while serving more than 70,000+ national and international patents in the last 10 months. Mykare Health is the brainchild of Senu Sam, an enthusiastic

We are working for a larger vision to build India’s most trustworthy and affordable asset-light hospital network in order to make the healthcare journey affordable, reliable, accessible, and stress-free for every common individual and to empower and utilize small and medium hospitals. –

Senu Sam.

Senu Sam CEO

CPO

Rahmathulla Joash CTO

Renu | Business Connect

professional with strong healthcare operational, managerial, and marketing skills with more than 12 years of working experience. Under the guidance and strong leadership of Senu Sam, Mykare Health has already created its presence in 11 + cities in India with a network of 55+ Hospitals while building India’s asset-light hospital chain by utilising under-utilised hospitals and surgeons. He is highly energetic and dedicated with a creative mind and calm attitude. He is open to adapting to changes while dealing with every involved project to the highest possible standards.

One of the youngest AVP in an Indian Hospital for Sales and International Marketing (Apollo Hospitals, MGM Healthcare, Westminster Healthcare, Gleneagles Global Etc.), Senu played a key role in earning 100 Cr business in one year from both India and abroad.

Senu Sam, a first-time founder who hails from a tier 3 town, had his venture included in a YC interview on his initial attempt. He and his team were chosen to represent India in the OnDeck ODX-US accelerator programme as the first batch. The company was selected by Inc42 as the top startup to watch in 2022, Best Startup by Tie Kerala and Kerala Grand Winner 2022.

On being asked about the major challenges and failures of his journey, Senu Sam said, “I failed in my first and second years of college. When looking for investment, our proposal was rejected by the first 80 Investors we pitched to. Then, I failed in my first StartUp. Still, I decided to stay back in India to build my company even after getting an opportunity to move to the UK. Here I am today successfully building India’s first one of the largest affordable networks of hospitals.”

STANDING OUT AS A DIFFERENTIATOR

• The value propositions of the company include 24x7 quality care, complete price transparency, zero-cost financing options, and administrative support- solving the problem of information, accessibility, and financing in the industry

• The team’s commitment to patients inspires it to consistently raise the bar for itself. To ensure that patients receive the finest care possible, there is a strong adherence to innovation and a persistent focus on the adoption of new technologies.

• Mykare Health uses an asset-light business strategy to offer elective procedures at a 20–30% discount by utilising underutilised hospital and surgeon infrastructure capacity.

The Inception – How Mykare Was Born

Senu Sam, Co-founder and CEO of Mykare Health underwent the ordeal of the healthcare challenges in India when his father was admitted to the hospital, and Senu flew down to his hometown to organise his treatment. Long waiting times at the hospitals, patients being clueless about what to do and how to get connected with the doctors, lack of adequate health information, and poor patient-to-hospital and patient-to-doctor ratio were the stark realities that Senu faced stepping into the shoes of a typical patient. This made him realise that his father was just one among millions of patients in the country who were in long waiting queues in the hospital without any clue on what they were going through. This is what inspired him and a young and zealous team to build Mykare Health, a bootstrapped, asset-light startup addressing the pain points in healthcare and meeting the needs of the patients seeking out economical surgical treatment needed an end-to-end tech platform experience with individualised and standardised care.

What’s Next?

Mykare has organically grown in response to the tremendous demand on both the supply and demand sides. Its team size has grown from 2 to 62 in the same period, and it has tied up with several companies that hold the capacity of 2500+ beds and manpower of 65+ Team members. In the next 6 to 8 months, Mykare plans to open another 100+ facilities. Mykare plans to expand its operations by the end of the next year throughout North and Northeastern India as well as the SAARC nations in response to the high demand for affordable healthcare services.

5 Awesome Trips in India under INR 5000

Since winter is here, it is time to get out of your own state and enjoy the best of what nature has to offer. Today, we are going to highlight the top 5 awesome and beautiful places in India, which will not cost you much to travel to. These places are breathtaking, eye-opening, and jaw-dropping. Here is our pick of places that you can visit under Rs 5,000

KASAULI, HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal Pradesh is one of the breathtaking places of India known as “Devobhoomi” (Abode of Gods). There are many tourist attractions in this state that won’t take your eyes off. One of the well-preserved natural beauty spots is Kasauli, it is a small hill station - nearby Shimla, and here, thousands of people come to this hill station to behold nature. Now you must have questions, when should we go? Well, it is totally up to you what season do you like most, if you want to enjoy snowfall and chilly winter, then Oct to Feb month is best for you. Around Rs 3,000 to 4,000 will cost you.

Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh

Ashwathy Nair | Business Connect

JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN

Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan is known as the pink city, where ancient work of arts catches people’s eyes. Many places in Udaipur are worth visiting, such as Amber Fort and Place, Hawa Mahal (Place of the Winds), Nahargarh Fort, Jal Mahal, Jaigarh Fort, Jantar Mantar, and city palace. Every ancient fort has its own story. The city you can explore at a very reasonable price, you can find the best hotel at the price of around 1,000 INR, the tour guide will cost you Rs 500, and food 500 INR.

TAWANG, ARUNACHAL PRADESH

Tawang is a fast-growing tourist place located at an altitude of 3048-meter in the midst of the mighty Himalayas. People here come to see the picturesque landscape, waterfall, and spiritual significance. This is also known for its Buddhist monasteries, here you can see a huge influx of travelers all year around. This is the place where people should come once in their lifetime to see exquisite nature view. I’m pretty sure, it will win your heart. The journey of Tawang can be accomplished at an affordable price as compare to other tourist destinations.

Kanyakumari, situated at around 85 km from Trivandrum, where you can see lofty patches of red cliffs along with deep blue waters, obviously a three major water bodies Bay of Bengal, Indian ocean, and the Arabian Sea. Also, you can enjoy beautiful monuments and Vivekanand Memorial & the Thiruvalluvar Statue from the beach. The most wonderful view of Kanyakumari is sunset and sunrise at the one time. Believe me, you would not have any words to describe them. Let’s get back to the budget, accommodation will cost you around 800, and 250 to 300 bus tickets, the rest can spend further in the Kanyakumari.

Having a conversation about nature and do not talk about Uttarakhand’s mesmerizing view. It means we are committing crimes because this is the place that sits in the lap of nature. There is a place called Mussoorie that won’t let you go anywhere. This glittering hill station is a paradise for a nature lover and romantic muse for honeymoon couples. The place is featured with stately hotels, cozy cafes, old taverns, and more. It is located at around 35kms from Dehradun. The best time to visit this place from Sept to Nov. travel fair is not expansive at all, you can go via train or bus, which will cost around 1,000 to 1,500 as per transportation you choose.

MussooRie, Uttarakhand

Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

Jaipur, Rajasthan

Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh

MUSSOORIE, UTTARAKHAND

KANYAKUMARI, TAMIL NADU

UNIBIT

Pvt. Ltd.

An authentic gaming platform with intrinsic value to add to the industry

Puja | Business Connect

The gaming industry is booming but the problem to be solved is the involvement of reliable gaming platforms that could assure online gamers in quest of earning money with proper setup. With mobile gaming space speculated to be scaling with a revenue of $1.8Bn+ and future estimation that it could reach up to $5Bn value by 2025, the major challenge is the credibility of the gaming platforms. It is important for youths out there to be benefited from the skills and time they are putting in this direction to bring a major alteration to the industry. Hence, to enlighten the mass population with a trusted platform to rely on for the best outcomes, we are featuring an exclusive narrative of a trio of friends who came together to establish a startup based on their own fortes in the corporate world. With the accumulated experience in building Startups, teams & Digital Products, the three impassioned founders strive to make a billion dollars company in the near future. This is the success story of

Bishal Kuiry

Asmita Bose

Dinesh Kumar Co-Founder Co-Founder Co-Founder

Asmita Bose, Bishal Kuiry, and Dinesh Kumar who came together to share their competence in creating a business that could help common people earn good money while playing online games. UNIBIT Pvt. Ltd. is one of India’s leading gaming apps that helps enthusiasts to play real money games. The whole read is based on the excerpts of conversations held with the founders who walked us through different aspects of their thriving business portfolio and gave us food for thought to ponder over.

About the company

UNIBIT offers a gaming platform for a wide range of fantasy sports and Ludo that is being enjoyed as well as being used as a primary source of considerable income by a major chunk of the Indian population. At present, the platform witnesses 500K+ players on a daily basis interacting with a variety of sports. There is a huge potential for the variety of players across the nation to turn their hobby into a lucrative business and UNIBIT helps them turn their dreams into reality. The startup happened to invest a significant sum of money in developing a highend technology platform to fulfill the needs of the modern-day game players out there! With a single-minded focus on the mission to take the gaming experience to a whole new level, the founding team majorly infused engrossing graphics and seamless gameplay via the platform to establish itself as an unchallenged player in the gaming industry in the coming years. Query resolution is swift with the help of 24*7 customer support executives who eagerly reply back to the FAQs to resolve any issue at their fingertips.

Addressing the issues

A few of the challenges faced by passionate gamers in the space that UNIBIT has been able to resolve effectively are as follows-

• Whatsapp and Telegram Groups running the games that pose problems in withdrawing earned money.

• Automatic player assignment becomes faulty sometimes forcing a player unable to switch his opponent for the next game.

• A majority of gaming platforms are deriving 10-20% of commission from the users. Many of them even claim 25% of the commission.

• Many times the opponent on a gaming platform is a Bot or a Computer that heavily manipulates the games.

• Most of the applications delay the withdrawal of money by 1hr to 2 hrs. and in the worst cases it also goes up to 24-48 hours.

Eradicating all the above-mentioned challenges, UNIBIT offers the lowest commission rates in the RMG market and even provides zero commission from 6 pm to 9 pm on a daily basis. Owing to its unique algorithms, the platform has been able to increase user engagement significantly with higher user retention rates. They happened to even remove language barriers by providing their user interface in English as well as Hindi language. Soon, they will also release the interface in regional languages to improve customer engagement. The players are free to choose any time 24*7 throughout the country and pose no issue in terms of accessibility. Even to help and guide ‘newbees’ on the platform, they even share ‘Live, Replay & Statics of Game’. Even the players could get a clear and concise diagram of dice roll percentage & cut token,etc.while watching ‘Match Replay’ after completing the game.

Why UNIBIT?

Though the market is quite competitive, the company has been able to make its mark in the industry owing to its unique business model and player’s centric approach. Driven by substantial growth and profitability, they have been experiencing a higher player retention rate when compared to their peers in the picture. It goes without saying that 20% of their revenue comes from referral users. In this regard, the trio of founders quotes, “When we observe the real money games, the biggest distinguishing fact, or and motivator is earning of money as per one’s skill and knowledge. Hence, we are always dedicated to maintaining sheer transparency in our services as customer centricity is in our DNA and we strain every possible nerve to never let down any customer at any cost.”

A glance at the future vision

In order to build and curate a world-class gaming ecosystem for Indian and overseas Users, they have prepared a proper UNIBIT Timeline. From strengthening their Ludo and Cricket fantasy sports domain, they wish to build a diverse user base. Then moving ahead, they aspire to build AAA category gaming studios available all over the platforms like PCs, Xbox, PS5, or mobile. Moreover, they are seeking to create an esports ecosystem to build a stronger connection between game punishers and streamers while providing stable access to newcomers. For the future, they are about to offer RMG as a service where they will create a whole new game and would be allowing subscription-based access to it to earn money. And at last, they are thrilled to use metaverse technology, integrating new age internet to enable various high-end video games.

8 Life Hacks to Improve Your health

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Unfortunately, we have forgotten this quote in this hectic lifestyle. Probably this is the reason, people are suffering from many diseases. Most of us think that a healthy lifestyle takes a lot of effort and time. But that isn’t true. You can make your healthier just following simple hacks.

Here are 8 basic hacks that help you make health

START MORING WITH LEMON WATER

Start your busy day with a glass of water with fresh-squeezed. This fruit holds a big amount of Vitamin C that is crucial for our health. It has many benefits like lowering stroke risk, blood pressure, and many others.

But the key reasons to drink it in the morning are that it flushes your system of toxins, alkalizes your body, and protect your digestive system. Lemon’s nutrients can aid stop disease and boost overall health.

SWEAT IT OUT BEFORE TAKING SHOWER

Regular exercise is ideal which can strengthen your muscle and boost endurance. I know you don’t have much time. So, what you are going to do is to make a goal. It would be called a pre-shower sweat session.

This session should be at least 15 min. Before entering the shower, sweat yourself with some luges, push-ups, jumping, squats, and many others. Doing physical activity just for a few minutes can keep you energetic for the rest of day. Physical activity offers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and aids your cardiovascular system more efficiently.

DO MEDITATION

Most people know only know that mediation eliminates psychological stress and stress-related health issue. But you need to know that people also follow this practice to get other benefits like positive mood and outlook, healthy sleeping pattern, selfdiscipline, and also increase pain tolerance. Doing mediation on daily basis will pay you off big.

The mediation session should be 5 to 10 min every day. You can meditate whenever, anywhere. But let’s consider to be the most formal and beneficial way. First, find a calm atmosphere and sit down on the floor with a criss-cross leg on top of each other, back should be straight up, arms would be resting on your thighs. Now close eyes and take a long breath and hold for a sec, then breathe out. You should do it at least 5 times. Now, it’s time to meditate, during the observe the shallow breath.

USE BANKING SODA AS NATURAL PRODUCE SCRUB

Take one and a half teaspoon banking soda with one cup of water. Use a hygiene finger to stir the ingredients until a soft paste form. Or you can make a mixture to a spray bottle.

The solution can be used to wash from your face to the toilet. So many researches show that adding baking soda to water is the best way to eliminate pesticide residue. You can use this solution to rinse your veggies and fruits, this is the best way to take bacteria out from them.

FANCY UP A WATER BOTTLE TO GUZZLE MORE

Around 60% of the human adult body is water. As per H.H Mitchell Journal of Biological chemistry 158, He believes that the heart and brain are formed of 73% water, and the lungs are around 83%, and kidneys are 79%. Now, you have understood how essential is water for our life.

People should drink at least 2 to 2.5 liters of water throughout the day. The most important thing, expert link the father of vitamin C and the author of how to live longer and feel better, Linus Pauling recommends that drinking a glass of water every hour. However, many people struggle with it. In order to attain the daily water intake requirement, mark the bottle in 200ml at an hour interval.

DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST AT ANY COST

“Breakfast is called the most important meal of the day.” The breakfast basically breaks the 10 hours night fasting period. It fills up the supply of glucose to enhance energy levels and allows us to concentrate on work. Adding healthy breakfast in your daily routine will offer many benefits like balance BMI (Body mass index), boost brainpower, reduce the risk of illness, and many more.

Breakfast should be rich in key nutrients like calcium, protein, Iron, Fibre, and vitamins. At the breakfast, you can have eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, chia seed, berries, and many others.

MEAL PREP YOUR WAY TO HEALTHY LUNCHES

In a busy time, we often get poor choices for lunch like ordering food from restaurants or going to restaurants nearby the office. Now I would highly recommend you avoid that debacle by meal-prepping ahead of time. Sunday or Saturday any day of the week make something like hard boil eggs, chopped up a vegetable, make some healthy snakes, and many more

In this way, you can make many meals for lunch and dinner at the same time. Using different kinds of herbal will provide you a very different types of flavors to every dish.

TAKE A STRETCH BREAK

We all know that sitting long hours may cause pain in your body. Sedentary behavior increases the risk of many health issues like heart issues, diabetes, and overweight. In order to stay away from this issue, you can take a stretch break, it will boost your energy level. Just simple stretches will provide relief in your muscle, reduce back pain, and re-energize you for the entire day.