JAIPUR: After raising pre-series a funding round from Innovana Thinklabs last December, Jaipur-based tyre management startup. Currently, the three-year-old startup that employs over 100 people is managing 50,000 tyres of 55 heavy commercial vehicle fleet owners in eight states offering retreading and refurbishing services to improve their longevity and increase second life. Read More..

The government of Rajasthan’s flagship programme iStart hosted Rajasthan Angel Investor Pitch 2019 where more than 50 select startups pitched to over 100 investors for funding. Hosted at Techno Hub, Angel Investor Pitch 2019 was a collective session where a group of investors sat through the day and addressed 15-20 startups each.Started by the Rajasthan government, iStart, incorporates a single-window platform for startups offering a host of relevant information and benefits to facilitate their entry into the ecosystem. Read More..

The Government of Rajasthan, as part of its flagship iStart Rajasthan programme to foster the startup ecosystem in the state, enabled over 50 startups to pitch to more than 100 investors representing 12 funds. The event took place in Jaipur yesterday at the government’s flagship incubation facility, the Bhamashah Techno Hub. Read More..

The Rajasthan government has disbursed funding to over 30 startups ranging from Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 20 lakh as a part of the i-Start Rajasthan programme, says a statement released by the department of Information Technology and Communication. “We have incentives for start-ups at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey right from ideation to scaling. More than 30 startups have been made available funds ranging from Rs 1.20 lakh to 20 lakh under the recently launched programme,” said Abhay Kumar, principal secretary, department of Information Technology and Communication, Rajasthan government. Read More..

Indore-based assessment firm National Olympiad Foundation has acquired Jaipur-headquartered ed-tech startup Edurer Knowledge Labs Pvt. Ltd. National Olympiad co-founder and chief executive officer Sandesh Vyas said in a statement the acquisition was a strategic decision as his organisation was working on a learning technology platform for the K-12 educational segment. Vyas added that National Olympiad would also file for patents in the segment. Read More..

WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging service, collaborated with Indian government’s investment promotion agency, Invest India, to invite startups from all over the country for a contest involving prize money of $250,000. Five startups — Medcords, Melzo, Javis, Gramophone and MinionLabs — outshined the rest winning a grant of $50,000 each. Read More..

It's 2019 and we need our bags to be as advanced as our smartphones to meet our evolving needs. Kota-based Rohan Sharma and Nishant Sharma are firm believers that bags need to have more going for them than durability, looks, and basic functionality. “A good bag means meeting requirements of a fast-paced life, which most working people have these days,” says Rohan Sharma, Co-founder and CEO of Zepcross, which makes multi-functional backpacks. Read More..

The Pink City-based Rajasthan Angel Innovators’ Network (RAIN) made its first exits from two startups - Capacita Connect and Hotify Technologies – pocketing returns at 3.5x and 4.5x, respectively. In its five years of journey, RAIN has made early stage investments in 15 startups. “The successful exits will perk up the startup ecosystem as it will not only improve investors’ appetite but will also encourage new ventures to seek seed capital,” said Mahavir Sharma, co-founder and chairman of RAIN. Although Sharma did not disclose the investments made in the two companies, he said RAIN’s ticket size investments range between Rs 10 lakh and 1 crore. Read More..

TiE- Delhi NCR chapter and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (‘BIRAC’), in collaboration with iStart Rajasthan, organized an Entrepreneurship Conclave at the Techno Hub, Jaipur on 27 th February, 2019. The objective of the conclave was to inspire and empower young entrepreneurs with hands on knowledge and expertise to transform their entrepreneurial dreams into successful business ventures. The conclave comprised of highly enlightening sessions on entrepreneurship, the transitional journey from a university environment to the real world, the different mechanisms of startup funding and the legal compliances that entrepreneurs need to be aware of.

A session on Cyber Security in a Hyper Connected and Data Driven World was conducted by NASSCOM, in collaboration with iStart Rajasthan at Techno Hub, Jaipur. Through this highly informative and enriching session, participant startups were provided with an overview of the importance of cyber security in daily life, the various means through which cyber security attacks take place and the different mechanisms of mitigating any such threats in future.

A Chief Human Resource Officer session on Compensation trends for 2019 was conducted by NASSCOM, in collaboration with iStart Rajasthan at the Techno Hub, Jaipur on 24 May 2019. The session was undertaken by Sreemoyee Gupta, ITeS and Telecom industry leader, Mercer India. In the session, participant startups were provided with an in-depth insight on the future of work and the global workforce, the impact of these changes on employees and their rewards and the various mechanisms through which organizations could excel at managing their human capital during this period of rapid change.

To help startups craft the right investor pitch, iStart Rajasthan, in collaboration with the Rajasthan chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, jointly organized a celebrity mentor session on 29 May 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur by Vishwas Shringi, a Carnegie Mellon and IIT Madras graduate, and CEO and Founder of Voylla. In the session, the speaker spoke about his experiences of raising capital and highlighted the importance of showcasing fund utilization plans and making the investor visualize his/her return on investment. The far-reaching consequences of conducting market research, consistently analyzing customer buying behavior and taking feedback from the customers was also stressed upon and underscored through practical examples from Voylla.

iStart Rajasthan, in collaboration with the Rajasthan chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, jointly organized a celebrity mentor session on 30 May 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur by Anurag Jain to assist select startups to improve their pitch decks. Jain, is an IIT Delhi alumni and COO and Co-founder of GirnarSoft (CarDekho). In the session, Mr. Jain highlighted the significance of clearly showcasing the value proposition and traction achieved by a startup and also advised participant startups to conduct a detailed background research on the investor prior to the pitching event itself, to be able to pitch in a manner more relevant to the investor.

iStart Rajasthan, in collaboration with the Rajasthan chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, jointly organized a celebrity mentor session on 30 May 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur by Ajit Sharma to help startups communicate their ideas more effectively to investors by effectively utilizing the different techniques of non-verbal communication. Sharma is an international public speaking and communications coach and a TEDx senior global ambassador in India since 2012, and is widely acknowledged in the industry for his human-centered engaging style and focus on authentic story-telling, compelling presentations and effective public speaking. The celebrity mentor, through examples, highlighted how the right body language – in the form of facial expressions, hand gestures, body postures, tone, etc. could be used to capture the attention of the investors and communicate the message more powerfully.

To help startups develop the right entrepreneurial mindset and to ensure that they remain motivated even during testing times, iStart Rajasthan, in collaboration with the Rajasthan chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, jointly organized a celebrity mentor session on 30 May 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur by Dr. Jayshree Periwal. Dr. Periwal, is the Founder and Director of Jayshree Periwal Schools and is widely regarded as the woman responsible for revolutionizing the education system of Rajasthan. In the session, Dr. Periwal enthralled the audience by recounting her entrepreneurship journey of the past 15 years from teaching a single student in her garage to having over 8000 students in 6 different schools. She spoke about the importance of “thinking big”, no matter what others around you may say and the various strategies that a startup could adopt to ensure low levels of attrition and high level of dedication and commitment of the staff.

iStart Rajasthan, in collaboration with the Rajasthan chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, jointly organized a celebrity mentor session on 31 May 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur by Kumar Anubhav to assist startups in refining their pitch decks and pitching strategies. Anubhav is a Delhi College of Engineering graduate and founder of NotOnMap, a Himachal Pradesh based sustainable tourism startup which recently received a 2,50,000 euros grant from the digital travel platform Booking.com. NotOnMap was the only startup from India, and one amongst only 10 sustainable tourism startups worldwide who received such scaling grants as part of the 2 million euros "2019 Booking Booster accelerator programme. In the session, Anubhav highlighted the importance of keeping the pitch deck simple, developing a story around the startup and ensuring that the attention of the investor is on the speaker at all times. To give the startups present an understanding of how a good pitch would look like, the speaker also gave a 6 minute presentation of NotOnMap’s award winning pitch at Booking.com’s accelerator program as well.

iStart Rajasthan, in collaboration with the Rajasthan chapter of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, jointly organized a celebrity mentor session on 31 May 2019 at Techno Hub, Jaipur by Navdeep Shrivastava to help startups improve their customer and user experience. Shrivastava is a customer experience specialist having over six years of relevant experience with a number of global multi-nationals such as MTX Group Inc., Appirio, Vodafone etc. The session revolved around the four critical steps - understanding the customer, creating a customer journey map, developing an emotional connection with the customer and capturing feedback, required to be undertaken by a startup for creating a successful customer experience strategy.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said that the state government will encourage job creation for youth, women professionals, sportspersons and new startups in the state budget. The chief minister also said that participation of every section of the society is important for inclusive development of state. “The state government would take suggestions from all sections to prepare a budget which would be comprehensive, balanced and inclusive.” Read More

WhatsApp India on Tuesday handed cheques for $50,000 each to the five winners of a grand startup challenge it had organised with Startup India, the government's flagship initiative. The five startups were selected from 10 firms that had been shortlisted to pitch to a jury of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs on Tuesday. These were selected based on their ability to solve real problems faced by Indians using technology and innovative thinking. Read More

Global software giant Microsoft reiterated its commitment to the startup ecosystem in India with the strengthening of its two flagship programmes – M12 and Microsoft for Startups. M12 is the venture capital arm of Microsoft, which was launched in 2016, and it made its presence in India in January this year, while Microsoft for Startups helps these young companies to become enterprise ready. Read More

From companies building palm-sized satellites to those aiming to propel satellites into space using cleaner fuels, a new wave of space technology startups are mushrooming in India, catching the attention of investors keen to join the space race. Bengaluru-based Bellatrix Aerospace, which wants to propel satellites into orbit using electric and non-toxic chemical thrusters, has raised $3 million from a group of investors, co-founder Yashas Karanam told Reuters. Read More

India is experiencing one of the best times ever, needed to boost the startup ecosystem further. Be it government’s initiatives, policy amendments, desired investments, availability of skilled talent pool, state of the art technology etc. everything seems to be playing its role quite efficiently. For the past ten years startups in India have created an ecosystem with 40,000 plus startups and more than $ 13.82 billion in funding (both equity and debt in 2018),which cannot be ignored. It is also noticeable that in recent times, growth of funding to startups has gone beyond the major hubs like Delhi/NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai to the cities like Pune, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar etc.
The year started on a positive note, with Jaipur-based CarDekho bringing $110 million up in a Series C round from existing investors Sequoia India, Hillhouse Capital, Alphabet's development speculation arm Capital G and Axis Bank. The venture esteems CarDekho at $400-500 million. CarDekho intends to utilize the fund to focus on its used-car segment and insurance and financing business.
Incorporated in 2008, CarDekho works as an online car search platform for both used and new vehicles. It also extends its services by offering expert reviews, price comparisons etc. This Jaipur based startup partners with car makers, dealers, financers, insurance companies etc.
(*data sources: Economics Times, Your Story, Inc42 & ENTRACKER)