January, February, March 2020
Each link below leads to the original Indian startup news article for that headline, gathered from online India-focused technology and startup news coverage across the 2020’s first quarter – January, February and March of 2020.
Our quarterly India-focused startup news listings provide a single-page at-a-glance listing of the startup headlines for India as a quick reference on the country’s early-stage startup scene and, where applicable, as coverage of India’s startups as they expand overseas.
Startup News Asia’s quarterly summaries can also be ordered online in hardcopy, printed, bound and delivered. Our hardcopy publications feature scan-able links to connect you from print to each headline’s online news article using the Startup News Asia mobile app, or any similar app you already have on your device.
January 2020 | February 2020 | March 2020
India: January 2020
- India: National Payments Corporation of India unveils Vajra, enterprise blockchain platform to automate payment, clearing and settlement of transactions
- India: A look at Cars24, online used-car sales platform complementing bricks-and-motor presence with auction app
- India: An intro to V Resorts, making older, heritage houses, resorts and bungalows in smaller towns tourist-friendly
- India: An intro to String Bio, harvesting carbon from methane to create protein for animal feed
- India: An overview of the opportunities and challenges for India’s organic foods market, and the startups working in the space
- India: An overview of Moofarm, agri-tech startup empowering smallhold farmers which gained funding via World Bank Agriculture Insuretech Innovation Challenge
- India: JioMart e-commerce venture soft-launches with 50K-strong catalogue, working closely with neighborhood stores in move to compete with Amazon and Walmart
- Don’t rush into 5G’ – A concise look at why India needs to be wary of China’s technology presence in its communications network
- India: A look at the 4 startups that made it to Y Combinator’s Startup School 2019 grant recipient list
- India: Concerns raised over use of AI-driven facial recognition surveillance at recent political rally in Delhi
- India: A brief overview of the Defence India Startup Challenge, connecting startups and MSMEs with opportunities to prototype and commercialise around national security
- India: An overview of the Indian edtech market, projected to hit $2BN in value by 2021 and with an in-country platform user base of near 10M already
- India: Drone Federation of India inks MOU with AWS as cloud service provider, aiming to boost development and innovation in country’s drone ecosystem
- India: Rheo e-sports and community platform raises $2M with over 100 game streams, and more than 900 hours live content daily in five regional languages
- India’s Telangana and New Zealand ministers discuss ties and collaboration, touching on startups and agritech
- India: Mamaearth personal care startup raises $18M with 100% toxin-free, natural skincare, hair care and baby care products
- India: T-Hub selects 31 startups from 180 applications for 1st edition of T-Angel, joint initiative with Telangana gov’t to enable early-stage startup investments
- India: Testbook online edtech startup gains $8M backing with focus on aiding students to prepare for recruitment exams for government jobs
- India: An intro to Bigthinx, fashion-tech startup using neural networks to create personalised 3D virtual avatars from 2D images for both businesses and shoppers
- India: A look at Shayna EcoUnified, using plastic waste to make colorful floor tiles
- India: An intro to My Lead Catalyst, tech firms providing marketing automation, leads development and management platform and services
- India: An intro look at 10 media and entertainment startups with sights set on a slice of an industry expected to hit $34.8BN in value by 2021
- India: IncubateHub management-as-a-service platform gains funding from Venture Catalysts, early-stage incubator, to connect large companies with tech startups
- India: Mantra Capital launches $24M early-stage VC fund focusing on food-tech, agri-tech, health-tech and similar
- India: An intro to Niruthi, providing field-level information to farmers for better management of crops, using aggregated data from satellites, IoT and more
- India: epiFi, fintech founded by ex-Google Pay execs, raises $13.2M in seed round for wide-service neo-banking platform focused on millenials
- India: Ankur Capital reaches first close on 2nd fund, near $33M corpus focused on early-stage environmental and social-benefit tech
- India: HaikuJAM online creative writing platform gains $3.4M with INSPO, beta platform providing automated writing suggestions and subject background
- India: Amazon to invest $1BN in India over the next 6 years to onboard and digitise micro, small and medium enterprises, capitalizing on the Make in India program
- India: Venture Highway unveils $78.6M second fund for pre-seed and seed investments in early-stage startups
- India: ExtraaEdge edtech startup raises pre-Series A with marketing automation and customer relationship management platform
- India: Gamerji esports tournament platform raises $400M with 18 online tournaments each day
- India: Fintech app adoption continues growth thru 2019, with Google Pay the top app with 36M new downloads in 2019
- India: Wysh engagement platform raises $2M to aid fans in getting personalized video messages from celebrities
- India: Microsoft selects 54 startups from Tier 2 cities across 5 states for Highway to a Hundred Unicorns accelerator program
- India: Y Combinator selects 26 Indian startups for Winter 2020 batch
- India: Telecom and IT minister prompts National Informatics Centre to boost education quality in gov’t schools using blockchain technology-based solutions
- India: Centre of Excellence in Blockchain Technology launches in Bengaluru, Karnataka state, aiming to provide blockchain-as-a-service solutions
- Digital Media India 2020 Conference set for February 18-19 in Delhi, covering journalism, digital, monetization and all things media
- India: An overview of what to expect from E-Summit 2020, set for February 1-2 in Mumbai
- India: “By mixing funding sources like debt and angel funding, startups aren’t just reinforcing their own finances – they can also support investors’ financials, too”
- India: An intro to Utter, using chatbots and online private tutors to improve the English fluency of aspiring white-collar and blue-collar workers
- India: Goodmylk vegan milk brand raises $400K in second round funding
- India: Mastercard partners Pine Labs merchant commerce platform for card and real-time payments-based instalment financing at checkouts, in-store and online
- Silicon Valley VC firm Sequoia plans to float largest-yet India-dedicated fund with a $1.25BN corpus
- India: She Capital women-focused venture capital fund announces first close of inaugural fund at $9M
- India: Instoried AI-driven content tech startup secures funding with regional languages focus
- India: Info Edge launches its maiden fund, Info Edge Venture Fund, with corpus of $14M, to invest in consumer-focused tech
- India: Techstars’ Bengaluru accelerator unveils 10 startups from second cohort, spanning fintech, cryptocurrency, sports-tech and more
- India: Konfinity gains funding in round led by AngelList with AI-based platform aiming to train students to become software developers inside 6 months
- India: LetsVenture deal syndication platform unveils MyStartupEquity, platform to digitise, manage and liquidate startup employee stock grants
- India: A look at BazaarNXT, startup providing end-to-end packaging and procurement for restaurants, with high-profile client list
- India: InterviewBit raises $20M series A with online computer science program for college graduates and young professional engineers
- India: WizKlub edtech platform raises near $1M seed funding to help school-age children to code
- India: National Institute for Smart Government seeks stakeholder comments on the National Strategy on Blockchain, aiming to formulate legal and regulatory structure
- India: Kisan Network raises $3M seed funding with integrated supply chain for farmers, aiming to eliminate middlemen
- India: An overview of the government’s National Startup Advisory Council, intended to act as an overarching body for the country’s digital ecosystem
- Indian startups set to gain soft landing option in America via University of Illinois at Chicago UoI Discovery Partners Institute
- India: An interview-based overview of the goals of the Arunachal Pradesh Social Entrepreneurship Meet
India: February 2020
- India: Hyderabad’s JNTU engineering university to introduce mandatory cyber-security class as part of studies, regardless of stream or course
- India: A brief intro to 10 tech startups from Bihar state working in agri-tech, medtech and more
- India: AdOnMo media-tech startup raises $3M, bringing together online and outdoor advertising
- India: A brief overview of funding rounds secured by 16 Indian tech startups
- India: Doubtnut education-tech startup raises $15M with app to help students learn and master concepts from math and science using short videos
- India: Gohemp Agroventures takes top innovation award at Asian Hemp Summit with ‘hempcrete’, a plant-based solution for housing materials
- India: Entri education-tech startup gains $1.4M seed funding with focus on vernacular and regional Indian languages for jobseekers
- India: Bharat Petroleum Corporation launches BPCL Startup Grand Slam Season 1, seeking startups and solutions across 6 ‘problem statements’
- India: WhatsApp Payments to launch inside 6 months, with Facebook to focus on growing SMB payments and advertising
- India: The number of adults streaming videos on mobile devices is projected to grow from 257M in 2019 to 411M in 2023
- India: Lawsuit launched by company to shut down access to US cybersecurity journalism website – after site helps them identify and fix data security issue
- India: Google to contribute $1M to Internews, global non-profit slated to launch a news literacy initiative in India
- India: Instamojo, startup helping merchants and small businesses accept digital payments and sell online, acquires GetMeAShop, consolidating similar businesses
- India: A brief intro to Integrated Startup Complex in Kochi, aiming to be the country’s largest in-one-location startup ecosystem
- India: Fleetx startup raises $2.8M Series A with fleet and logistics management and predictive analytics platform
- India: WE HUB applications close March 3rd for the second cohort of its women-only startup incubation program
- India: WayCool Foods raises $32M with procurement, processing and distribution of produce, staples and dairy – over 250 tonnes every day to 8K enterprise clients
- India’s T-Hub startup incubator partners Australia’s inQ Innovation to provide Indian growth-stage tech startups with market insights and entry opportunities
- India: Telangana gov’t partners Tech Mahindra IT services firm for T-Block Accelerator, maiden program for newly-created Telangana ‘Blockchain District’
- India: Venture Catalysts early-stage incubator and accelerator makes investment in Altor, startup making IoT-enabled soft- and hardware platform for 2-wheeled vehicles
- India: WhatsApp gains permission to roll out WhatsApp Pay service across India, initially to 10M users, following approval from National Payments Corporation
- India: An intro to KhetiGaadi, one-stop agri-ecommerce marketplace connecting 4M tractor buyers with sellers and financiers
- India: HempStreet secures $1M pre-Series A with the country’s first research-to-retail Ayurvedic medicinal cannabis service
- India: Oga raises $330K seed funding with platform offering online, interactive and on-demand fitness sessions from home, with real-time feedback and analysis
- India: Propel entrepreneurship platform targets $7M fund to invest in early stage technology startups
- India: Sequoia Capital’s Surge accelerator program and Facebook partner to launch 4th edition of VC Brand Incubator initiative
- India: Yap secures $1.4M in angel funding with banking and payment products-focused API platform
- India: SimSim video-based social commerce startup raises $16M with focus on different local languages
- India: Election Commission to work on blockchain-based solution for ‘lost votes’ due to migration for work, potentially numbering as many as 300 million
- A look at what the launch of GitHub in India means for the country’s developer community, third in size globally after the US and China
- India: InnovationQore unveils first cohort of 25 startups from Turbostart accelerator program
- Reserve Bank of India proposes wide-remit alternative digital retail payments organisation set up, manage and operate new payment systems
- Germany’s Mainstage Incubator selects 5 Indian startups for first cohort, providing German base for scaling-up and accessing European markets
- India: Ketto crowdfunding platform raises $4.2M with focus on fundraising of social, creative, and personal causes
- India: Uber establishes Uber Money team in Hyderabad to look at real-time earnings, debit accounts and cards for drivers, Uber Wallet and credit card for riders
- India: A look at 5 startups that built their businesses using WhatsApp
- India: An intro to Yabx, financial behavioural modeling startup using AI and ML, used by financial institutions to provide credit for the underserved population
- India: An intro to Doxper, digital pen and encoded paper-based clinical documentation system for healthcare professionals
- India: Onsitego raises $19M with a focus on extended warranty services for consumer electronics devices
- India: Unacademy fast-growing edtech startup raises $110M from investors including Facebook
- India: Deepfake videos created and used deliberately in political campaigning by Bharatiya Janata Party president
- India: Project Tej launched by partnership between Gov’t of Telangana and MedTechConnect to help medtech innovators test and commercialise
- India’s WE Hub incubator focused on women entrepreneurs partners Switzerland’s University of Basel for exchange and immersion programs for women-led startups
- India: An intro look at TryNdBuy, helping online shoppers create a 3D avatar which can then try on clothing, virtually
- India: PlanetSpark edtech startup raises $448K with combined online learning and neighborhood learning spaces
- Shell India unveils 10 startups selected for 2020 edition of E4 incubator program for energy-focused tech startups
- India: 100X100X100 program launched by Microsoft to connect early-stage startups with companies, with each company spending $100K over 18 months
- India: BharatPe secures $75M focusing on helping merchants accept digital payments and access to working capital
- India: Vogo 2-wheeler rental startup raises $19M with service allowing users to pick up and drop vehicles at dedicated places within a city
- India: RAISE 2020, 2-day artificial intelligence summit, set for April, with theme of ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment’ and featuring pitch-fest for startups
- India: PhoneParLoan fintech startup raises funds with short-tenure microloans for salaried workers
- India: Dep’t of Telecommunications launches 5G Hackathon with gov’t, academia and industry, in search of workable 5G products and solutions
- India: 5G Hackathon applications for use-cases close March 31st, with top 100 vetted to a final 30
- Finalists for SXSW Pitch 2020 event include Australia’s AgUnity and Wriveted, South Korea’s Looxid Labs, and India’s NeelAgil
- Taiwan: An intro to the 10 startups selected for the 8th cohort of MOX mobile-only accelerator
India: March 2020
- India: Delhi is installing 150K cameras in 720 government-run schools across the city as component part of crime-cutting public safety initiative
- India: AI education module introduced to 5000 school-based labs serving 2.5M students, aiming to aid students innovate and create solutions that benefit society
- India: AjnaLens gains $1.5M with AR, VR and AI-driven applications, offering mixed reality glasses for clients in defense and education
- India: Amazon plans to take on Swiggy and Zomato, initiating trial of food delivery service in parts of Bengaluru
- India: Josh Talks, event platform for inspirational stories, gains $1.5M from New York-based Media Development Investment Fund
- India: Oda Class online learning startup backed by China’s digital education major, Yuanfudao, with live coaching, online lectures and chat-based interaction
- India: Indian Institute of Technology inks MOU with Nat’l Mineral Development Corp to support deep-tech startups with 5-year incubation program
- India: China’s Oppo smartphone maker steps into financial services in India with launch of Oppo Kash, aiming for 10M customers in 5 years
- India: Supreme Court overturns Central Bank ban on virtual currency trading, hailed as victory for digital asset industry and India’s fintech and broader tech industries
- A round-up of India’s tech, startup and VC funding news from February of this year, from Startup News Asia
- India: Reserve Bank to seek review of Supreme Court ruling which overturne ban on cryptocurrency trading
- India: Tricog healthtech startup raises $10.5M with virtual cardiology services, using AI for the diagnosis of heart failure and screening for congenital heart disease
- Microsoft Research India and Accenture Labs join forces to focus on aiding startups in social enterprise to test and validate proof of concepts
- India: Strata proptech startup raises $1.5M with the aim of creating new investment opportunities for the country’s middle class
- India: Salesken AI-backed salesperson-focused platform raises $8M with ML and data science tools to aid in the sales process
- India: A brief intro to 11 of the country’s female entrepreneurs, working in digital payments, fintech, social impact and more
- India: Neeman’s sustainable shoe maker raises $1M with footwear made with Merino wool and recycled materials
- India: A look at Pocket52, startup claiming to be the country’s first cryptographically secure online poker platform
- India: AE Ventures blockchain-focused investment firm has registered over 170 early-stage startups for 1st edition of æternity Global Starfleet Program
- India: JGI Accelerator program unveiled by Jain University Incubation Center and JGI Group, focusing on retail-tech and fintech startups
- India: Quona Capital impact investor closes emerging market-focused Accion Quona Inclusion Fund at $203M; to focus on LatAm, India, Africa and SE Asia
- India: Kotak Mahindra insurer partners GoQii healthcare wearables maker to offer fitness trackers and personal coaches, experts and doctor services to customers
- India: An intro to String Bio, biotech startup turning methane from waste or natural gas into the building blocks of protein for a variety of uses, starting with fish feed
- India: Intel India unveils the 11 tech startups selected for Plugin hardware incubator
- India: Qualcomm smart cities accelerator joined by Infosys IT services major, aiming to offer end-to-end solutions for stadiums, venues and event management
- A brief intro to 5 of India’s women entrepreneurs focusing on agricultural technology
- India: KPMG Technology Innovation Hubs report sees India move into tied second place with China for innovation, adoption and promotion of new technologies
- India: An intro to Agro2o’s counter-top ‘smart garden’, an automated indoor hydroponics system
- India: FamPay fintech startup raises $4.7M, in part from Y Combinator, with parent-supervised payments for families
- India: ICT spending estimated to rise to $144BN by 2023 from $101BN in 2018, at compound annual growth rate of 7.2%
- India: Shop101 social commerce and logistics startup set sights on $3.9M fund raise to aid entrepreneurs to sell online via WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram
- India: StanPlus medical transportation startup raises pre-Series A, aiming to help hospitals reduce response times and ambulance redundancies
- India: A look at WiJungle, aiming to solve fragmented cybersecurity with all-in-one hardware product and unified network security gateway offering
- India: Binance crypto exchange and India subsidiary WazirX establish $50M blockchain fund to support development and growth of blockchain startups
- India: SmartCoin micro-lending startup raises $7M with focus on self-employed workers and small merchants
- India: A look at Niramai, startup working on radiation-free, non-invasive breast cancer screening which detects malignancies in 15 minutes
- India: An overview of whether India’s public markets are ready to meet the capital needs of tech startups
- India: Agnikul Cosmos space-tech startup secures $3.2M with satellite launch vehicle for payloads of up to 100kg
- India: An intro to Kosh, Y Combinator-backed startup working on financial inclusion by grouping 3, or as many as 10, blue-collar workers to issue loans
- Sequoia Capital India takes 16-week Surge accelerator program online in response to COVID-19 concerns
- India: Reserve Bank sets down new guidelines to better regulate non-bank payment aggregators, looking in part at customer privacy and data storage issues
- Blockchain for India, recently-launched $50M fund backed by WazirX and Binance, aims to invest in projects and startups solving problems through blockchain
- India: Univariety education courses aggregator raises $1.1M, claiming 75K courses from more than 14K universities across 10 countries
- India: ImStrong Health And Wellness raises near $400K with ImStrong live video streaming fitness platform
- India: Government to hire consulting firm to assess Startup India initiative, aiming to create an action plan and identify investment bottlenecks
- India: CoinDCX, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, raises $3M
- India: A brief intro to 5 of the country’s cybersecurity startups
- India: Ministry of Electronics and Info Tech incubator, Electropreneur Park, unveils 7 electronic hardware startups for pre-incubation and incubation program
- India: Facebook reportedly planning to buy 10% stake in Reliance Jio telecom firm
- Omidyar Network India social impact investment firm sets $1M fund focused on solutions for the lower 60% of India’s income group mitigate Covid-19 challenges
- India: QTalk raises $1.6M to widen interaction opportunities during smartphone calls
- India: Rupifi Technologies gains pre-seed funding with software-as-a-service platform focused on financial products for SMEs
- India: ICICI Bank launches new banking services on WhatsApp, allowing customers to check balances and transactions via the Facebook-owned platform
- Singapore’s AnyMind Group acquires India’s Pokkt Mobile Ads mobile video advertising platform, aiming for expansion into India and the Middle East
