(iStart Rajasthan’s monthly roundup of the ecosystem)
Edition III | August 2019
Safeguarding networks is a key requirement for any company today, especially with the rising number of connected devices in an organisation. And for enterprises using multiple expensive products to secure all the networks accessed by their workforce, Jaipur-based cybersecurity startup WiJungle has a great proposition: a ‘one-window’ solution that replaces the many that typically safeguard IT networks. Read More..
सरकारी योजनाओ के साथ अब बिग ब्रांड इंडिया हेंडीक्राफ्ट और हैंडलूम सेक्टर को मजबूत करने के लिए आगे आ रहे है | इसमें फ्लिपकार्ट और ऐमज़ॉन प्रमुख रूप से शामिल है | इसलिए ग्लोबल डिमांड वाले इन सेक्टर का मार्किट वर्ष २०२४ तक एक लाख करोड़ रूपए होने का अनुमान लगाया जा रहा है | इसी ग्रोथ का सबसे अधिक फायदा इंडियन हेंडीक्राफ्ट और हैंडलूम सेक्टर को होगा | कुल डिमांड में से ९० फीसदी से अधिक हिस्सा इंडिया प्रोडक्ट की डिमांड है | वर्ष २०१२ से २०१७ के दौरान इंडियन हेंडीक्राफ्ट और हैंडलूम सेक्टर की ग्रोथ १८ फीसदी से अधिक रही है | ग्लोबली बढ़ रही डिमांड के चलते इन सेक्टर में स्टार्टअप के अवसर को बेहतरीन मन जा रहा है क्युकी डिमांड के बाद भी इन परंपरागत सेक्टर का अधिकतर हिस्सा अनओर्गनइजे एवं आधुनिक टेक्नोलॉजी से दूर है | Read More..
Raksha Bandhan is that time of the year when the eternal bond between a brother and sister is cherished and celebrated. From tying colourful rakhi to buying exquisite gifts and planning surprises, it’s a much looked-forward-to Indian festival. Read More..
एशिया के स्टार्टअप (STARTUP) एनवायरमेंट में हमारा प्रदेश और जोधपुर कई पैमानों पर फिट बैठता है। लेकिन खास बात यह है कि पिछले लम्बे समय से यहां के स्टार्टअप को विदेशों से न तो मदद मिल रही है और न ही
वहां की तकनीक हम अपना पा रहे हैं। होंगकोंग में राइज की ओर से एशिया का सबसे बड़ा स्टार्टअप मेला हर साल भरा जाता है। पहली बार राजस्थान और जोधपुर से लोगों ने इसमें हिस्सा लिया।
जोधपुर से इस अंतर्राष्ट्रीय मेले में शिरकत करने गए सुशील शर्मा ने बताया कि वहां कई लोग भारत व राजस्थान के स्टार्ट अप के बारे में जानने को इच्छुक थे। साथ ही वहां निवेश करने को भी तैयार है। इस बार
राजस्थान के जयपुर व जोधपुर के स्टार्ट अप में सक्रिय लोगों ने इसमें हिस्सा लिया हैं।
Read More..
VidSaga Founder Nikhilesh Tayal knew that filmmakers need access to work opportunities to monetise their talent and fund their creative projects, while organisations are always in search of good creators to churn out videos for them. Keeping this in mind, the IIT Kharagpur graduate sought to combine technology, entrepreneurship, and video creation to bring out a platform. Read More..
We live in an age that is riddled with a number of environmental concerns, which have only aggravated in the last few decades. Neglecting the environment can create havoc and the damage done may become irreparable. Now is the time to deal with these issues head on. This was well perceived by Aayush Sharma who inspired to build a online product portal with an environmental edge to promote a greener and a more sustainable environment. “While a lot was written and conversed about how to adopt a sustainable lifestyle, individual contributions are limited to planting trees or not using plastic bags. Read More..
On the evening of April 15th, 2019 the world held its breath as the Notre-Dame Cathedral was engulfed in flames. A few hours after the fire begun, the centuries-old cathedral had lost its entire roof,
spire, and was severely damaged by the flames. To re-build the history, designs from all over the world were invited to re-architect the historic cathedral.
iStart Rajasthan’s startup Ardberry Technology Private Limited (‘Ardberry’) also participated competing with 200+ designs from across the globe from 56+ countries. Ardberry’s
visual design recommended a kinetic facade that gives a sense of moving/ fluttering wings and installation of dynamic panels which react as per time of the day based upon the position of the sun.
Ardberry’s extensively researched and innovate design was recognized and featured internationally by GoArchitect amongst the 50 of the most unique, bold, and even wacky designs submitted to The
People's Notre-Dame Cathedral Design Competition.
To empower startups with basic knowledge of how startup valuation can be conducted using the discounted cash flow method of startup valuation, mentors from iStart Rajasthan conducted an in-house skill building workshop on 09 August 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur. The session started off with a recap of the relative and venture capital methods of valuation, and was followed by a detailed explanation of the discounted cash flow method. Participant startups were explained about projecting cash flows, calculating free cash flows to firm and equity, estimating discount rates, and calculating present values using discounting. Post the detailed explanation, a case study through which startups was presented to provide participant startups a practical example of conducting discounted cash flow valuation and the session concluded with a Q&A session.
To help startups understand as to how cities of the future ought to be shaped to meet the needs of both the present and future generations, iStart Rajasthan conducted an exclusive dialogue, The City in 2050: Creating Blueprints for Change at Techno Hub, Jaipur on 06 August 2019. The session was conducted by Mr. Uwe S. Brandes, an urban planner and designer with over 25 years of experience in the planning, design and construction of new buildings, infrastructure and the extended urban landscape. In addition to a discussion on how cities of the future could be made sustainable, topics such as the significance of capital markets, climate change, infrastructure, water, energy and demographics were also discussed.
iStart Rajasthan organized workshop on Design Thinking on August 2, 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur. The workshop was particularly targeted towards the early stage startups from the new cohort which are still working towards building a prototype and defining their business model. The objective of this class was to introduce entrepreneurs with what, why and how of Design Thinking as a methodology and its applications. Dhaval Shah, who conducted this master-class, was a technologist in Silicon Valley for 13 years before rebooting his career into Business Design and Strategy.
To empower startups with basic hands-on knowledge of the various techniques of startup valuation, mentors from the iStart Rajasthan conducted two sessions on the topic at the Techno Hub, Jaipur, on 19 July 2019 and 02 August 2019. The first session focused upon providing startups with an overview of what valuation means, the different parameters upon which the valuation of a company/startup depends upon and an explanation about how the relative valuation and venture capital methods are used. The second session was a brainstorming session wherein the queries of startups were addressed and each startup was provided handholding support to conduct valuation for their businesses using the two methods discussed.
A “Speaker Session” was conducted at iStart Nest, Udaipur on 27 August 2019, with Upasana Makati, the founder and publisher of White Print, as the speaker. White Print is the India's first English lifestyle magazine in Braille for the visually impaired. Printed at the National Association for the Blind, Mumbai, the magazine is circulated across the country. She is also a publisher of “Look Out, Look “, a children's illustrated storybook to promote inclusion in the minds of children. She is also the recipient of various accolades like the First Lady Award by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Govt. of India in 2018, Microsoft Equal Opportunity Award for Innovation, Fortune India 40 Under 40 list, Forbes India 30 Under 30 list in 2016, Loreal Femina Woman's Award for Science and Innovation, etc. In the session, she shared her entrepreneurial journey with the startups and talked about how she reached where she is, the challenges involved all through, the unique business model they work upon and what made it possible to run up a startup venture single handedly.
To introduce the iStart Rajasthan registered startups with the basics of the cooperative business model, iStart Rajasthan conducted a business strategy session on “Rural Inclusion – A Co-operative Approach” at iStart Nest, Udaipur on 09 August 2019. The overarching objective of the session was to develop a mechanism for the startups working in the rural parts of the State, to work collaboratively, with the goal of improving the socio economic situation of the rural demographics. The identified startups agreed to set up a model village for a pilot run of the initiative and implement the hub and spoke model in terms of execution, wherein the model village will be the hub and the adjoining villages will act as spokes
In continuation with the first business strategy session on “Rural Inclusion – A Co-operative Approach”, a follow up session was conducted at iStart Nest, Udaipur on 23 August 2019. The objective of the session was to evaluate the various parameters and attributes that will enable the startups to identify the ideal model village to run a pilot. In addition, various topics such as identifying the contributions of the startups in the initiative, execution methodology, action plan, infrastructure requirements and joint marketing and promotional strategy were also discussed.
iStart Rajasthan facilitated an all-day awareness program on startup funding and incubation at Rajasthan Technical University (‘RTU’) on 27 August 2019 in association with RTU and MSME
Development Institute, Jaipur.
During the program 17 colleges affiliated to RTU participated showcasing the innovative ideas and startups from their respective colleges. Startups incubated with iStart Nest, Kota iStart also
showcased their achievements in the agri-tech, urban mobility, tourism and textile sectors.
A Business Idea Competition was also organized as part of the event wherein Bit to Byte Robotics, an iStart Nest, Kota incubated startup received the award of Best Innovative Idea Model. The program
witnessed eminent speakers from different paradigms of the startup eco-system namely Mr. Pradeep Ojha, Deputy Director and Mr. Girish Kumar, Assistant Director from MSME Development Institute, Jaipur,
Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Rajasthan Technical University, Sh. Akhilesh Trivedi, Global Mentor & Strategist (CEO- Startup Cheers, Anand Incubation Center). Participants were also made aware on
the latest developments in the country for IPR protection by Dr. Rohit Jain, Patent Attorney, Jaipur.
Invest India in collaboration with Maharashtra Innovation Society (‘MSinS’) organized regional knowledge exchange on 05 and 06 August 2019 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The participating state/ UT governments for this edition of the workshop were Maharashtra (host), Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Daman & Diu As part of the workshop, Team Invest India apprised of updates to Startup Ranking Framework 2019. Invest India also shared insights on good practices being adopted by various states across the country for startup ecosystem. The MSInS also presented the state’s efforts in the startup domain. The delegates interacted with startups incubated at various incubators in the state and also interacted with select investors.
NASSCOM, in association with iStart Rajasthan, organized the sixth edition of the Annual Technology Conference 2019 (‘NATC 2019’) on 26 and 27 August 2019 at Gurugram under the theme of “Industrialization of Disruptive Technologies”. The two day action packed event comprised of a plethora of events – such as deep dive sessions, keynotes and panel discussions on disruptive technologies such as Blockchain, IoT, AI, ML, Hybrid Cloud etc., a technology expo for companies working in the digital technology space and technology awards to showcase, acknowledge and felicitate the use of such disruptive technologies by companies throughout the country. 9 select startups of iStart Rajasthan were provided an opportunity to participate in event and exhibit their products at dedicated iStart Rajasthan’s booth space for the complete 2 days of NATC 2019. To honor iStart Rajasthan’s support and association with NASSCOM, Ms. Sharmila Gupta (ACP, DoIT&C, GoR), representing iStart Rajasthan, was invited alongside Debjani Ghosh (President, NASSCOM) and Kunal Bahl (Co-Founder, Snapdeal) to felicitate the awardees at NATC 2019.
To sensitize the students of Pacific Institute of Technology (PIT), Udaipur, about the iStart Rajasthan program, iStart Rajasthan organized an awareness session at PIT, Udaipur on 05 August 2019. The mentors from iStart Rajasthan apprised the students about iStart Rajasthan, financial incentives the program, the incubation program, Challenge for Change, Rajasthan Stack, QRate, partnerships, etc. In addition, topics like Startup Ecosystem (SE), SE Stakeholders, SE Canvas, Startup Development Phases, etc. were also discussed.
India today addressed a long-standing challenge that has been affecting the country’s booming startup ecosystem. As part of a raft of measures to boost overall economic growth from a five-year
low, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said New Delhi is exempting startups from Section 56(2) — a provision more popularly known as an “angel tax” in the local income tax laws
— that required startups to pay a certain tax if they received an investment at a rate higher than their “fair market valuation.”
Local tax authority in India does not recognize the discounted cash flow method that many investors use to value early-stage startups, and instead value the company for what it is worth currently,
which as you can imagine, is very little.
Read More..
The Narendra Modi government has taken yet another step to provide some Indian startups a relief from the widely criticised angel tax, and entrepreneurs are now hoping for a funding boost.
On Aug. 23, among a slew of policy decisions to rev up India’s slowing economy, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that angel tax law will no longer apply to startups registered with
the government’s department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT).
India had around 50,000 startups by 2018, according to KPMG. Of these, the DPIIT currently recognises over 24,000.
Read More
India today addressed a long-standing challenge that has been affecting the country’s booming startup ecosystem. As part of a raft of measures to boost overall economic growth from a five-year
low, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said New Delhi is exempting startups from Section 56(2) — a provision more popularly known as an “angel tax” in the local income tax laws
— that required startups to pay a certain tax if they received an investment at a rate higher than their “fair market valuation.”
Local tax authority in India does not recognize the discounted cash flow method that many investors use to value early-stage startups, and instead value the company for what it is worth currently,
which as you can imagine, is very little. Read More..
स्टार्टअप्स, इंस्टीट्यूशंस और विभिन्न विभागों से आए एग्जीबिटर्स ने जहां एक ओर अपने टेक्नोलॉजिकल आइडियाज को प्रजेंट कर लोगों को चकित किया
कहीं आर्टिफीशियल वाटरफॉल (artificial waterfall) का लुत्फ लेते लोग, तो कहीं टेक्नोलॉजी की आकाश में भविष्य को छूने की कल्पना को साकार करने का उत्साह। यह नजारा सोमवार से बिड़ला ऑडिटोरियम (birla
auditorium jaipur) में शुरू हुए राजस्थान इनोवेशन विजन (Rajasthan Innovation Vision 2019) के दौरान देखने को मिला। स्टार्टअप्स, इंस्टीट्यूशंस और विभिन्न विभागों से आए एग्जीबिटर्स ने जहां एक ओर अपने
टेक्नोलॉजिकल आइडियाज को प्रजेंट कर लोगों को चकित किया तो वहीं दूसरी ओर विभिन्न सेशंस में आईटी को बूस्ट करने पर मंथन चला।
Read More
Decades ago, our former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi laid the foundation of the modern India that we see today. To spread his inspiring personality and historical works amongst the people, the
state of Rajasthan celebrated the Rajasthan Innovation Vision (‘RajIV’) 2019 from 19 to 22 August 2019 at Birla Auditorium, Jaipur. The event was a four day long multi-faceted festival
comprising of panel discussions, startup exhibitions, e-governance awards, startup sessions etc. and witnessed participation from startups, young entrepreneurs, academicians, prominent industry
leaders, public representatives, and students.
RajIV 2019 kicked off with an inauguration of the Expo by the Honorable Chief Minister of Rajasthan. This was followed by a short film on the Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi, a welcome address by the Guest of
Honor, Shri. Vikram Chandra, the launch of various apps and books, distribution of e-governance awards and insightful panel discussions on the topic: “Glocal - (Think Global Act Local): An
innovative Approach for Engaging the Youth” and “Skill Development & Disruptive Technology: for a Future Ready Rajasthan”. Post the panel discussions, a stand-up comedy session
by Mr. Amit Tandon and a session on how Google products can be used by startups effectively was conducted by Mr. K C Ayyagari. RajIV 2019 also comprised of sessions by the Skill Development
Corporation, the Energy Department, Panchayati Raj Department and the Health Departments.
27 select startups from iStart Rajasthan and 11 premier institutions of Rajasthan were facilitated for exhibiting their innovative products and service offerings at the expo of RajIV 2019.