(iStart Rajasthan’s monthly roundup of the ecosystem)
Edition II | July 2019
New Delhi: As part of diversification and new market entry strategy, Jaipur-based tyre management startup Fleeca India aims to set up electric vehicle charging stations across its service centres by 2022, a top company official said. The startup, which provides AI and IoT based tyre inspection, retreading and refurbishing offerings for the commercial vehicles, currently operates with 55 service centres deployed on Delhi-Mumbai highway that covers nine states including Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. Read More..
Youtubers on smart TVs have replaced popular cartoon shows for children. Online games and puzzles intrigue them more than board games or physical sporting activities. On personal devices, they are not loyal to anything in particular — their choices are a cycle of download, install, play & uninstall. Educators and tech thinkers believe that in this emerging world, children need exposure to computational thinking, the thought processes involved in formulating problems and solutions in ways that computers can effectively execute. It is also about developing skills to deal with any open-ended problem across disciplines, be it maths, science or humanities, and to be ready for the jobs of the future. Read More..
Students in the City Reporter Technical era should not be trusted by government jobs, they should focus on their startup. Even if it takes time to become entrepreneur, but if a student can provide employment to 10-15 people then it is a productive citizen for the country's economy. Increasingly, no person can get the set of changes. This was stated by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora during the Orientation Program organized at Manipal University on Friday. More than 1000 freshers and their parents of B Tech participated in this program. Read More..
The brick industry is growing rapidly due to the rapid economic growth in India. There is an annual production of 250 billion bricks. But the carbon footprint emitted by making it is harming the environment and these bricks can not be recycled. Keeping this in mind, by combining domestic and non-agricultural waste, students of civil engineering of Udaipur have prepared bricks, which they named vricks. Kunj Preet Arada, Krishna Chadri, who studied at NJAAR Institute, Honey Katheari and Syed Amir's projects on this innovative idea have been supported by the help of the Indian Council of Technical Education. At the same time, the funding was given to 5 lakhs of this team in the Carbon Cumin Challenge in IIT Madras. Apart from this, the companies of Bangalore and Chennai have proposed contacts and funding to use them in the construction of this IDA. Read More..
The urban population is growing exponentially. Indian urban population is expected to reach 600 million by 2030. As per the United Nations World Cities Report 2016, around 9.6 million people will move only to New Delhi by 2030. In this scenario, the crisis for accommodation for this huge population has become a major problem. However, the Indian cities are slowly gearing up to face this problem with innovative concepts such as co-living. RentRoomi, a Jaipur based startup has added a new dimension to co-living by allowing the tenants to choose not only the living space but also the roommates with whom they want to share their space.Read More..
An Indian Startup “Aviotron Automations” has bagged the best startup award at the Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai. Annual Investment Meeting is the premier investment conference organized by the UAE Ministry of Economy. The UAE Government began organizing AIM Startup Summit as a parallel platform alongside the AIM congress to promote international co-operation, investment and knowledge sharing for startups.
Headquartered in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Aviotron Automations is a aero-modelling kit manufacturer and offers custom made pre-cutted aero model kits Read More..
Vodafone Idea Limited, in partnership with iStart Rajasthan, organized a closed door one-on-one interaction between Mr. Deepak Pandey, Country Head- IoT at Vodafone Idea Limited, and select startups incubated at the iStart Rajasthan on 31 July 2019 at the Techno Hub, Jaipur.
The one-on-one interaction sessions offered startups an opportunity to identify various ways in which IoT could be used to upscale their operations, put forward their pain problems in implementing IoT and discuss on the type of customized solutions that could be offered by Vodafone Idea to help startups implement IoT successfully.
Vodafone Idea Limited, in partnership with iStart Rajasthan, organized a half day workshop on ‘Discovering Business Value from IoT’ at the Techno Hub, Jaipur on 24 July 2019.
The workshop was conducted by Mr. Shrawan Howale, IoT Product Manager at Vodafone Idea Limited and focused upon helping the Rajasthan entrepreneurial community unlock the potential of IoT to further enhance their business prospects. The discussion in the event revolved around the IoT market in India, the elements and use cases of IoT, and the technical and business support that could be extended by Vodafone Idea to the startups of iStart Rajasthan. The workshop was followed by an open-house session, wherein the Vodafone Idea team offered solutions for the various problems faced by startups.
To empower startups with basic knowledge of the various techniques of startup valuation, iStart Rajasthan's mentors conducted an in-house skill building workshop on 19 July 2019 at the Techno Hub, Jaipur. The session started off with an overview of what valuation means, the different parameters upon which the valuation of a company/startup depends upon and the challenges faced in valuing startups. This overview was followed by a detailed explanation, through case studies, of how the relative valuation and venture capital method could be used for evaluating the valuation of a startup and a Q&A session.
Cash flows are the lifeblood of a business. To help startups understand as to whether the revenue recognised in the income statement is actually earned or not, to help startups recognise the various sources and uses of cash in the business - whether they be operating, financing or investing, and to help startups evaluate whether sufficient cash exists in their business to repay the current liabilities, two skill building sessions on cash flow statements were conducted at the Techno Hub, Jaipur, on 05 July 2019 and 16 July 2019 respectively by iStart Rajasthan's mentors. The first session focussed upon empowering the startups with the skill sets required to prepare such a statement and the second session was a brainstorming session wherein the queries of startups were addressed and each startup was provided handholding support to prepare cash flow statements for their businesses.
To introduce the iStart Rajasthan's startups with the various aspects of fund raising, iStart Rajasthan organized a session at Techno Hub, Jaipur on 03 July 2019. The speaker, Devendra Agrawal represented his company Dexter Capital Advisor, a boutique investment bank. Trends of funding, funding gaps in startups, ways for approaching investors, value addition expectation, exit strategy, etc. were discussed in the session. Attendees gained knowledge on the certain criteria like decision time, investment size and control. The session provided an insight into a few simple rules to follow when preparing to meet with investors.
Active networking is vital to growth of startups and founders. Often confused with selling, networking is actually about building long-term relationships and a good reputation over time. To imbibe a culture of networking among iStart founders and startups, iStart Rajasthan's mentors conducted the 6th session in the Better Together Tuesday (BTT) series on 2nd July 2019. The event, conducted in the format of an interactive session, featured entrepreneurs and founders from Rajasthan, connecting, discussing, and sharing their startup’s problems with each other. This was an event open to all the iStart founders and entrepreneurs and was conducted with the idea of encouraging the concept of ‘Better Together’.
The Balance Sheet statement provides a financial snapshot of what a company owns and owes, as well as the amount invested by shareholders. To help startups understand as to how a balance sheet statement is to be prepared and to help them evaluate the financial health of their businesses and identify potential red flags using different financial ratios, two skill building sessions on balance sheet statements were conducted at the Techno Hub, Jaipur, on 14 June 2019 and 28 June 2019 by iStart Rajasthan's. The first session focussed upon empowering the startups with the skill sets required to prepare such a statement and the second session was a brainstorming session wherein the queries of startups were addressed and each startup was provided handholding support to prepare balance sheet statements for their businesses.
Creativity and innovation are key ingredients for the success of a startup. To create awareness amongst the startups about the role played by intellectual property systems and the various mechanisms available for the protection of intellectual property, a master class on Intellectual Property Rights was organized by iStart Rajasthan at the Techno Hub, Jaipur on 28 June 2019. The session was delivered by Mr. Vivek Dahia and Mr. Saurabh Trivedi – Directors at Boudhik Ventures Pvt Ltd., a patent, trademark and copyright filing service firm based out of Gurugram. During the session the speakers discussed about the different types of intellectual properties - patents, copyrights, trademark etc., the criteria and steps involved in filing for them, the preparation of an invention disclosure document and the different online databases available to check for novelty. The speakers through a case study also ran the participant startups through the entire lifecycle of a patent – from patent application to publication to grant/rejection and expiry.
iStart Rajasthan invited innovative startups that are looking to raise funds, for an exclusive one-on-one meeting with industry experts followed by open house at Techno Hub on 27 June 2019. The speaker, Digvijay Singh represented Indian Angel Network & Anupam Saronwala represented IIIT-D. The session provided the participants insights on the term sheet, affirmative vote, liquidation preference clauses, Pre-money vs. Post-money Valuation. Their doubts & queries were answered on what they want to accomplish with the funding? How will this funding allow startups to accelerate growth and drive innovation?
How to boost Sales? This is a piece of the puzzle every enterprise tries to figure out in their quest to become the next Google or Apple. We had the chance to find some answers in our workshop organized at the Techno Auditorium. We were joined by Paritosh Sharama, Sathya narayana and Ruchika Beri and they shared their experiences and insights on growth marketing, launch techniques and sales strategies and brainstormed with the startups the hacks and frameworks to facilitate growth.
The Profit and Loss (P&L) statement summarizes the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specified period. These records help a startup evaluate its ability to turn sales and revenues into profits – a key ingredient for success. To empower startups with the basic knowledge required for the preparation of P&L statements, iStart Rajasthan conducted two in-house skill building workshops on the topic at the Techno Hub, Jaipur on 26 April 2019 and 10 May 2019. The first session focused upon endowing the startups with the skill sets required to prepare such a statement and the second session was a brainstorming session wherein the queries of startups were addressed and each startup was provided handholding support to prepare P&L statements for their businesses.
The Hon'ble Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Government of Rajasthan visited iStart Nest, Udaipur on 20 July 2019 and interacted with the incubated startups as well as other invited startups from Udaipur. The Hon'ble minister was also accompanied by the Principal Secretary, Dept. of IT & Communication, GoR. The startups debriefed the authorities on their projects and how GoR could help them collaborate with various other departments within the state. The startups also gave suggestions on what other policy interventions government can introduce to further develop the Rajasthani startup ecosystem. The visit of such senior stakeholders was very appreciated by the startup community of the Udaipur.
To introduce the iStart Rajasthan's startups with the basics of marketing strategies, iStart Rajasthan organized a workshop at iStart Nest Udaipur on 13 July 2019. The major discussion points included, how to align marketing goals with business goals and other commonly used marketing tools & matrix to be used by the startups to strategize their marketing goals like SMART tool, Media Spotter Matrix, etc.
To introduce the iStart Rajasthan registered startups with the various cost projections basics, iStart Rajasthan organized a workshop at iStart Nest, Udaipur on 06 July 2019. The speaker, Dipjyoti Baruah, is an iStart Rajasthan representative and mentor at iStart Nest Udaipur incubation center. Various topics like Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), Cost of Service (COS), Operating Expenses (OPEX), Capital Expenditure (CAPEX), Depreciation, Amortization, etc. were discussed. The workshop also included a session on MS Excel basics. A total of 14 participants from different startups attended the session and the feedbacks received included a list of topics related to income statement for which the detailed sessions need to be conducted in future.
iStart Rajasthan organized a workshop on financial modelling at iStart Nest, Udaipur on 28 June 2019. Various topics like Market Potential Analysis using TAM, SAM and SOM, Customer Acquisition Projections based on:- Primary Market Research and Historical Data, Sales/Business Development team efforts, Marketing Efforts, Pricing Strategies based on Business Models, etc. were discussed. The workshop also included a session on MS Excel basics.
An Art Therapy session was organized at the iStart Nest, Kota for encouraging creative and structured thinking in startups and relieve them from their daily stress on 3rd July 2019. Mr. Surender Verma, a famous cartoonist and artist from Rajasthan Patrika conducted the session for the participants through engaging them into practical workshop of bringing out their indigenous thoughts and inner turmoil using drawing, patterns and colors. The session also covered the different aspects of controlling creativity and realizing the same through structured thinking.
The session was able to revitalize the zeal and positive motivation amongst the participants and also helped then understand their thinking pattern. They understood the concept of structured thinking and also practiced it while drawing their pattern during the workshop.
The Department of Industries, Government of Rajasthan in collaboration with iStart Rajasthan, organized a full day workshop for capacity building of Genernal Managers of District Industries Centers ('DICs') at the Techno Hub, Jaipur on 06 July 2019. The event witnessed participation from different stakeholders – such as government officials, industrialists, entrepreneurs, media etc. and was presided by the Honorable Minister of Industries & State Enterprises, Government of Rajasthan. The workshop hosted various sessions on the lines of availability of finance for MSMEs, role of Rajasthan Finance Corporation, banks and other financing firms, establishing market linkages, supply channels, product development & quality testing infrastructure, betterment of District Industries Centers (DICs), usage of social media, collaboration with iStart Rajasthan etc.
Select startups from iStart Rajasthan were invited for a two hour long pre-budget interaction with the Honorable Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The select startups from the iStart Rajasthan program were provided with one of its kind opportunity to describe their startups, highlight any concerns and provided critical suggestions for the state government's budget.
iStart supported the Startup Masterclass event at JKLU Jaipur on 27 July 2019. The event also marked the launch of AIC at JKLU. This is the 3rd AIC in Jaipur.
IStart was Knowledge partner & designed with AIC JKLU the knowledge sessions and workshops held during the event. iStart Rajasthan's mentors participated and conducted bootcamps on Go to Market Strategy, How to make pitch. The respected Commissioner & Secretary, Department of IT & Communication, Government of Rajasthan was the chief guest of the event and key panelist for session on Rajasthan Startup Ecosystem where he talked about the different programs and initiatives run by the Government of Rajasthan for startups.
The Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC), in association with iStart Rajasthan organized the ASDC Annual Conclave 2019 at New Delhi on 24 July 2019. The day long conclave focused on bringing the various stakeholders of the automotive ecosystem together on a single platform, to deliberate and brainstorm on the various mechanisms through which the skilling ecosystem in the country can be further developed. The conclave comprised of panel discussions on the skilling ecosystem, vocational skill institutions, industry training centers, challenges and opportunities associated with skilling etc.
Select startups from iStart Rajasthan were facilitated to participate in the program, participate in discussiones with eminent industry experts and network with the participants of the event.
A Design Thinking Session was organized at the Modi Institute of Management & Technology, Kota by iStart Nest, Kota on 19th July 2019. During the session the mentor at iStart Nest, Kota appraised the students from M.B.A., B.B.A, M.C.A. and B.C.A. on the topic related to design thinking and the process as well as practices in it. The mentors from iStart Nest, Kota appraised the participants on the topics of Design Thinking including the examples, process and steps, industry relevance as well as discussed two industry relevant case studies with the participants. Select startups also participated in the session along with the students. The audience discussed some important aspects of design thinking importance during startup journey along with general queries on the topic.
A new exclusive television programme for startups within the current television bouquet of channels will be built for startups. This channel will work as a platform for promoting startups, discussing their growth as well as funding and tax planning. This will be run by startups themselves. The Finance Minister further said that the Startup India scheme has seen thousands of entrepreneurs, including founders from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. The minister said that they have been assisted to set up their businesses and seeing the strong demand of the Startup India scheme, the scheme will now continue from 2020-2025. Read More
Startups in India have raised a record $3.9 billion from venture capitalists in the six months ended 30 June, as the world’s biggest investors doubled down on their bets in the country buoyed by the Flipkart-Walmart deal last year.The investments this year across 292 deals is a 44.4% jump from the $2.7 billion received by domestic startups in the first half of 2018, showed data from Venture Intelligence, a startup data tracker. Read More..
India’s coveted startup club of unicorns- firms valued at $1 billion or more, is growing faster than ever. 2019 alone has produced over half a dozen unicorns so far, with a new one just last week.Icertis, a contract management software platform raised $115 million led by US-based venture capital firm Greycroft and Premji Invest, the family investment office of billionaire Azim Premji. Read More..
OYO Hotels and Homes, on Friday, said that its founder and chief executive Ritesh Agarwal, will invest $2 billion in the hospitality startup. Agarwal, who founded the hotel chain in 2013 at the age of 19, would make this investment through RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman). He has signed a $2 billion primary and secondary management investment round and is supported by global institutional banks and his financial partners, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, according to the firm. The SoftBank-backed company said its strong growth, improved margins, superior improvements in customer experience were behind this move. This makes it one of the first founder and executive-led management purchases in the technology and hospitality sector, globally. Read More..
iStart’s Role : Following initiatives were taken up to support the startup
Dedicated incubation space :The startup saw immense growth after getting an incubation space at Techno Hub, Jaipur and it has doubled its team size since initial incubation.
Tech enabled solutions were worked upon :as there is lack of innovation in enabling admissions with the use of technology.
SEO/SEM positioning were closely worked upon
Help in developing an Unbiased market approach which has given the startup a Favourable positioning in market
Lead Generation, Conversion and Advertising
Problem backdrop : Coaching Institute
High Customer Acquisition Costs due to high competition
High marketing costs the institutes end up spending 25% of their revenues.
Low brand differentiation.
Low conversion ratio.
Problem backdrop : Students
Misleading offhand word of mouth or advertisements
No guidance in fees and discounts Value for money as the fees is high.
Unbiased coaching information
Lack of One stop solution
The Market challenges
High marketing costs
Low conversion ratio
Lack of experienced resources in Jaipur
Inability to physically meet with Coaching Class heads to sign contracts
Dependence on human resource for documentation
Student Engagement likely to be a key differentiator needed more focus.
Results
Increase In Demand and Supply Side
Increase in Users and reach
Better performance in SEO
To assist in the dissemination of good practices and mutual learning among States and UTs, iStart Rajasthan in association with Startup India, organized a two day Regional Knowledge Exchange Workshop on Startups in Jaipur on 29 and 30 July 2019. The workshop comprised of panel discussions on the Rajasthan startup ecosystem, future of innovation, innovation funding and procurement challenges, agri-innovation, governance and smart solutions, opportunities in the future etc. and field visits to the Techno Hub and the Command Center, Jaipur. Over the two days, the workshop offered the representatives from different states an opportunity to interact, brainstorm and exchange best practices for more effective formulation and implementation of policies within their jurisdiction. The delegates, comprising of government officials, representatives of academic institutions, government institutions, industry leaders, industry associations, incubation managers, startups, etc. participated in this workshop.
