#StartupIndia news
April, May & June 2019
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- India: Intello Labs agritech secures $2M backing with image-based AI solution for quality assessment of agricultural produce
- An in-depth look at how India aims to harness AI for healthcare
- The Machine Conference for analytics and data science leaders set for 24th May in India, and 31st May in Singapore
- India: Bengaluru Fintech Summit set for May 30-31
- India: An intro to Wellthy, chatbot-driven diabetes management app startup
- India: EnKash B2B payments startup raises $3M
- India: BigThinx Lyflike app helps shoppers using 3D avatars
- India: A look at how the city of Bangalore is developing towards being the Silicon Valley of India
- A brief intro to the challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs in India’s North East
- National Payments Corporation of India considering blockchain tech to increase strength of digital transactions
- India: Federal Bank partners Ripple for blockchain-based cross-border payments
- India takes top-2 position globally on digital adoption across numerous measures
- India: Kuvera fintech lands $4.5M with zero-fee mutual fund investment platform
- India: Central bank fintech sandbox bars cryptocurrency startups from participation
- India: Rebel ‘cloud kitchen’ startup, and Mobile Premier League gaming firm reportedly to gain backing from Indonesia’s GOJEK ride-hailing giant
- India: Mobile Premier League e-sports startup secures US$35.5M in part from Indonesia’s Go-Ventures, Go-Jek VC arm
- India: Government departments reportedly endorse idea of a complete ban on all types of cryptocurrency
- India: Neewee Analytics raises $4M to aid manufacturing businesses with digitizing systems and processes
- Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi to back startups and research scholars in deep tech
- India: An intro to Anthill Studio, accelerator focusing on media tech startups
- India: Silicon Road Accelerator launches 4-month program focusing on food and retail tech in Mysuru, funded by US VC and France’s Numa
- India: Healofy women-focused health network secures $8M from China’s BabyTree Group and BAce Capital, and Omidyar Network India social impact fund
- India: Vedantu e-learning platform for online and live one-on-one tutoring secures $5M
- India: ZestMoney fintech startup secures $20M to help consumers with no credit history get a loan
- India: CureFit health and fitness startup to launch incubator for healthy food startups
- India: Digitisation projected to create 65M jobs by 2025 – but redeployment may affect 40M
- India: An intro to Tattvan, telemedicine healthcare clinic aims to transform healthcare services in remote regions
- India: BlackBuck logistics startup secures near $80M with network spanning 2000 villages
- India: MyHealthCare raises $3M with integrated digital healthcare tech platform
- India: Shuttl app-based office bus aggregator raises $7M on back of 60K rides per day
- India: Tripoto travel portal raises $3.6M with sights on vernacular content, short video and influencer commerce
- India: China’s Bytedance, parent firm of recently-banned TikTok short-video app, reportedly still aiming to invest $1BN in India over 3 years
- India: Datacultr IoT middleware startup lands award from Gov’t of Haryana
- India: An intro to SportsFlashes, focusing on original audio programming and claiming world’s largest online radio programming for sports
- India: Japan’s Incubate Fund to raise new $27M vehicle to invest in early-and-seed stage Indian startups
- Japan’s Incubate Fund India to launch $27M startup fund
- India: An intro to the country’s female entrepreneurs tapping AI to disrupt fashion ecommerce
- India: DeepQuanty Artificial Intelligence Labs unveils first product, an AI-powered engine that decodes handwriting on cheques
- India: An intro to RealTell gamification startup, aiming to aid retailers in lifting the in-store experience
- San Diego’s KaiOS sets sights on making India’s ‘dumb’ feature phones smart – already in 2nd place only to Android, country-wide
- India: Paytm mobile wallet company launches Citi-backed Paytm First Credit Card
- India: Bengaluru Fintech & Crypto Summit set for 30-31 May
- India: An intro to MyEarthID, aiming to provide a universal ID to each individual via a blockchain-backed decentralised platform
- India: Digital payments industry estimated to hit $1TN in 4 years, driven mainly by growth in mobile payments
- India: Citigroup partners Paytm for co-branded credit cards in move on digital payments market projected to hit $500BN value by 2020
- India: An intro to the AskSid platform, AI-backed startup helping online brands train algorithms on their product data
- India: China’s Alibaba reviewing its India investment strategy in face of Flipkart and Amazon market domination
- India: Dunzo on-demand hyperlocal delivery startup aiming to raise near $50M
- India: Medikabazaar online B2B platform for medical equipment and supplies in talks to raise $28M from investors in Japan, Belgium and Germany
- India Innovation Accelerator program 2nd edition applications now open, a partnership between Facebook and T-Hub
- India: Mfine secures $17.2M with aim to broaden access to doctors and healthcare via the internet
- India: Telangana state gov’t proposes country’s first ‘Blockchain District’ in Hyderabad
- India’s ToneTag sound-based payments startup partners GMO Payment Gateway for Japan market entry
- India: Healthcare market projected to increase to market value of US$133.44BN by 2022
- India: Altizon industrial Internet of Things startup secures $7M
- KaHa, India/Singapore-based startup, raises $6.2M with end-to-end IoT platform for smart wearables
- India: Social media marketing startup At raises $330K funding with all-in-one scheduling service
- India: Vodafone and Jio partner on blockchain tech to restrict the number of spam calls and messages
- India: StoreKing e-commerce enabler raises $3M to aid small town retailers offer digital services
- TikTok overtook Facebook as most-downloaded social networking app globally in Q1 2019, with India a key battleground
- India: An intro to Edisn, artificial intelligence-powered sports fan engagement platform
- India: A look at ToneTag, digital payments startup backed by Microsoft and Amazon that uses sound in the transaction process
- India: GlowRoad social commerce startup expands on April $10M fundraise with $11.5M series B+
- A look at how India’s originally single-service apps are moving towards all-in-one super-app activities
- India: Eupheus edtech startup enters talks to raise up to $15M with subscription-based learning content model
- India: DocsApp online doctor consultation platform raises $1.6M for expansion, based on 6M users and 5K doctors
- India: FanMojo fantasy sports startup aims to hit 10M user mark this year
- India: Facebook partners T-Hub for 2nd edition of India Innovation Hub Accelerator program, focused on AI for social good
- India: A brief intro to the Future Food Asia award finalists, and the Startup SG prize winners
- India: A brief look at how 2019 is shaping up to be the breakout year for the country’s digital gaming industry
- India: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to launch MeitY Startup Hub portal to promote innovation, startups and creation of IP
- India: An intro to OurHealthMate, connecting the payer, patient and service provider for health and wellness management
- India: BlackBuck freight marketplace startup raises $150M on valuation nearing $1BN
- India: MEHUB media startup incubator launches operations with Venture Catalysts collaboration
- India: NestAway home rental startup raises $10M, aiming to expand on 15-city presence and 70K claimed customer base
- India: An overview of Techstars’ recent moves in the country, including an intro to its first India cohort
- India: Spinny used-car retailing platform secures $13M series A
- India: Airblack travel commerce startup raises $1.5M seed funding with traveler validation approach
- India: A91 Partners VC firm reportedly closes $350M maiden fund
- India: VMate social short video startup backed for $100M by China’s Alibaba
- CEO World Magazine survey places India and Malaysia in top 10 most startup-friendly countries in the world
- India: Karnataka state gov’t in talks to establish Indo-German startup accelerators in Bengaluru and Berlin
- India: Huddle Kerala tech conference and startup pitch competition set for September
- India: A look at Lead Angels Network, VC firm that has so far invested near US$2.9M across 25 Indian startups
- India: POPxo women-focused digital media platform steps into offline retail with the launch of its first standalone outlet
- India: A brief intro to Letstrack, IOT-based GPS tracking device and solutions aimed at preventing election tampering
- India: Next47 startup incubator to be launched by German conglomerate Siemens, aiming to invest large part of $1BN global startups fund
- India: Confimrtkt train booking and prediction platform in talks to raise bridge funding round
- India: An intro to HitWicket, a female-founded mobile gaming startup with 2.1M downloads across over 100 countries
- India: An intro to FarMart, fintech bringing cashless credit via a virtual framework to struggling farmers cutting out funds to middlemen
- India: ‘Ola Electric has already announced plans to bring 1 million EVs onto Indian roads by 2022 and set up an ecosystem involving battery swapping stations’
- India: An intro to Fruit Box & Co, bootstrapped startup offering doorstep delivery to offices and schools
- India: Bounce bike-rental startup raises $72M with sights set on electric vehicles and a recent bike-taxi pilot scheme
- India: The Stylease online platform lets the fashion-conscious rent luxury designer wear for a fraction of the cost of purchasing
- Fashion for Good to expand to South Asia with launch of dedicated regional innovation program, focusing on India and Sri Lanka
- India: Paytm payments platform launches artificial intelligence-based router engine to boost payments success rate
- India: Isthara coliving startup secures $5.7M
- India: AngelHack Mumbai 2019 event set for June 22-23
- Indonesia’s Go-Jek acquires India’s AirCTO recruitment platform with sights set on super-app development
- India: Mudrex startup launches marketplace for algorithm-based trading strategies
- India: Mate Labs AI startup to represent India at Google Demo Day Asia 2019 with Mateverse, platform for easily building and training ML models
- India: Chandigarh Tech Summit 2019 set for June 21st
- India: Pratilipi local-language self-publishing platform raises $15M
- India: ParallelDots AI solutions provider wins Invest India-SoftBank Tech4Future Challenge with retail shelf image analysis and more
- India: NewsRise Financial Research and Information Services media startup gains backing from Japanese publisher Nikkei
- A detailed look at India’s challenges around fast-growing adoption of facial recognition technology
- India: Meesho backed by Facebook in WhatsApp-focused move to tap into 2 million resellers across India’s relatively untapped smaller cities
- Facebook invests in Meesho, India/US online marketplace helping individuals sell, and grow their customer base, via social media
- India is likely to have 920M unique mobile subscribers by 2025, which will include 88M 5G connections, according to GSMA global telecom industry body research
- Facebook’s India Innovation Hub Accelerator’s 2nd edition now open for applications on the theme of ‘AI for social good’
- India and Finland sign MOU around exchange of knowledge and experience in detection, resolution and prevention of cybersecurity-related incidents
- India: BJYU’S edtech giant on the verge of $200-250M investment from Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund, for just 5% stake
- India: Open neo-banking startup secures $30M, aiming to expand reach to 1 million SMEs inside 1 year
- India: Government aims to begin establishing up to 100K ‘digital villages’ as soon as next month with $2BN investment
- India: Wysa startup secures $2M for AI-driven conversation bot that helps improve mental health
- India: TechHR 2019 conference and exhibition set for Gurugram, August 1-2, showcasing innovations in HR and work-related tech
- How India’s Heelium gained from Korea’s K-Startup Grand Challenge with expanding its sustainable sportswear to the wider Asian market
- India: Milkbasket grocery delivery gains $10.5M funding led by Unilever Ventures
- India: Brigade REAP accelerator unveils 6 startups aiming to disrupt the real estate industry with technology
- India: ShareChat local-language social network app reportedly in talks with Twitter around funding on $600M valuation
- Japan’s government, and companies including Mizuho Bank and Suzuki Motor, to establish $140M fund to invest in over 100 startups in India
- India: Domestics VC firms partner to create Funder’s Forum startup funding platform
- India: Multiply Ventures fund launches with $10M and target corpus of $50M to focus on startups at pre-A and Series A
- An intro to Facebook’s SheLeadsTech India program, supporting women-founded startups with community, tools, mentorship and resources
- India: An intro to 4 women entrepreneurs taking part in Facebook’s SheLeadsTech program
- Y Combinator accelerator selects 15 startups from India for 2019 summer batch
- India: A broad collection of the country’s tech and startup news headlines from the past month
- India: Microsoft to partner with higher education institutions for 10 AI Digital Labs to increase the number of AI-trained professionals
- India: Yellow Messenger AI startup secures $4M with customizable conversational bot platform
- India: Zoreum launches blockchain-powered app to detect fake certificates, trade label counterfeits and document fraud
- India: Agara Labs raises $2.5M with deep learning tech applied to speech and text to automate customer support
- Japan’s Akatsuki Entertainment Technology fund aiming to invest circa $500K each in 5 Indian vernacular segment startups
- Skift’s list of 25 travel and tourism startups across the globe to keep an eye on
- India: Postman, API startup that helps developers build apps, raises $50M
- An overview of opportunities for Australia and India to connect in the innovation space
- China’s VCs invested $5.6BN into India’s startup ecosystem in 2018, a figure likely to increase in 2019 in response to trade war with US
- Japan: India’s Oyo announces joint venture with SoftBank to launch hotel business
- Kazakhstan considers implementing the startup listing platform and support offered by Bombay Stock Exchange
- Sequoia unveils Surge accelerator’s first startup cohort for India and Southeast Asia
