Monday 7 March 2016

Babychakra raises fund from Mumbai Angels and others




 

BabyChakra,(www.babychakra.com ) , the premier portal for young parents, has raised a round of funding (amount undisclosed), led by Mumbai Angels, Patni Family Office & Singapore Angel Network.

- This round of funding will be used to accelerate traction, hire top industry professionals and launch        Babychakra's android mobile app. This is Mumbai Angels' 77th start-up investment.

June 16th 2015,

Founded in 2014, BabyChakra aims to disrupt the ways young parents in India discover & select local services such as child specialists, playschools, day-cares, prenatal classes, play areas etc. It helps parents make informed choices on local services through their proprietary MomStar program, verification and social integration.

The founding team comprises of Naiyya Saggi (Harvard Business School and a former McKinsey consultant), Mitesh Karia (FMS Delhi, formerly with HSBC) & Mohit Kumar (IIT-Delhi, DzignUp co-founder).

In the last year, they have scaled to 3 cities in India: Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi and have helped more than 2.5 lakh Indian parents connect to over 5500 quality local services.

The Company has been recognized as one of the hottest Indian start-ups at multiple platforms, including Wharton India Economic Forum, Google Launchpad, Business World Young Entrepreneur Awards & The Exhibit Awards.

The funding round is led by Mumbai Angels and participating investors include The Patni Family Office, Satveer Singh Thakral from the Singapore Angel Network, Karan Maheshwari, Jatin Aneja, Kishor Ganji, Roopa Nath among others.

Naiyya Saggi, co-founder and CEO of BabyChakra said, "The funds raised through this round will be used primarily to hire top industry professionals for key roles and accelerate traction in our current markets. Our vision is to be the platform of choice to help Indian parents make better everyday decisions for themselves and their children. It’s great to have the backing of an incredible group of investors who believe in us and our ability to disrupt at scale".

“We backed the team at BabyChakra for 2 reasons. Firstly, BabyChakra is a truly innovative product that solves a real need for young parents today: making better, more informed care decisions for their families. Secondly, the team has, in a short span of time, executed fast, shown strong traction & loyalty in users and is set to scale rapidly. We are excited to join BabyChakra on their journey to being a game-changing made-in-India venture", said Karan Maheshwari, Deal Lead for Mumbai Angels.

"We are happy to be a part of the exciting business that BabyChakra is building. At Mumbai Angels we pride ourselves in identifying and partnering fantastic start-ups with the promise and ability to become the next big “Made-in-India” success stories " Said Prashant Choksey, Co-founder, Mumbai Angels.

Mumbai Angels is one of India’s largest angel networks with 200+ members across 3 active chapters; Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. Their portfolio comprises 77 ventures across multiple sectors focused primarily on seed and early stage companies.
Media contact

For Mumbai Angels                                                                                             For Babychakra

Yash Ghatalia                                                                                                       Naiyya Saggi

yash@mumbaiangels.com                                                                                naiyya@babychakra.com

07506711246                                                                                                       09769844098

Mumbai Angels, Fireside Ventures & MAPE Advisory Group invests in 'bounty'

Mumbai Angels, Fireside Ventures & MAPE Advisory Group invests in 'bounty'
The Bangalore based nanolocal commerce app, ‘bounty’ has announced that it has raised an undisclosed seed round of investment from Fireside Ventures, Mumbai Angels and MAPE Advisory Group.  The round also saw active participation from Basab Pradhan, former Global Head of Sales and Marketing at Infosys, and real estate group scion Apurva Salarpuria of Salarpuria Group.
Bounty is a platform for customers to earn rewards seamlessly and for retail businesses to drive footfall, track customer behavior within the store and incentivize purchases. Once customers download the app, bounty automatically checks in the user whenever they visits a bounty recognized business location. Users earn rewards for checking in, while retail businesses can promote their offers through personalized and targeted campaigns.
The app currently available in Google Playstore has more than 100K+ downloads and a high repeat user rate. bounty claims that as India’s fastest growing rewards app, it is also the first to launch a smartwatch check-in in India. Bounty’s app downloads grew more than 14X times in the last 6 months and check-ins by users grew by more than 25 times – all without any advertising or marketing. The app so far has driven more than 1 Mn check-ins and rewarded users with more than 20 million bounty points.
Satish Medapati, Founder & CEO says “Nanolocal commerce is about information that is predictive, realtime and contextual – providing you what you need at the right location, just in time. Brands need to personalize offers, services and experiences to suit a consumer starting with courting the customer, getting to know them better and tailoring contextual communication to drives sales or service. Bountyprovides the perfect platform for brands to reach out to consumers in a cost effective and meaningful way.
Representing Mumbai Angels, Bharat Devanathan, former COO of Groupon APAC said – “Today, websites are able to identify a customer along various dimensions (new vs returning, customer demographics, customer lifetime value, customer purchase intent) the moment he/she visits the site. However, retail businesses do not know who has entered their store until the customer actually makes a purchase. Imagine if retail businesses have the same ability as websites - to identify customers at entry. That’s the power of bounty for retail businesses. The benefits of this to the customer and the businesses are many fold...ranging from loyalty programs, rewards and personalized offers to customers"
Commenting on the investment, Kanwaljit Singh, Founder of Fireside Ventures, Co-Founder & former Senior Managing Director of Helion Venture Partners said  “Omni-channel consumer experience is beginning to take shape globally and the team at bounty is continuously working towards making consumer life easier through data sciences and technology, the smartwatch check-in being one. The global market potential is very high and bounty’s traction has been great.”  
The 7-month-old startup will use the funds for expanding to other cities, adding new retail categories and enhancing the product and technology stacks.

Mumbai Angels, Purvi Ventures and other Individual Angel Investor invests in 'Advantage Club'

Mumbai Angels, Purvi Ventures and other Individual Angel Investor invests in 'Advantage Club'
Gurgaon based Advantage Club (previously Work Advantage) raises 2.7 Crores from Mumbai Angels, Purvi Ventures and prominent individual investors like Avtar Singh Monga (IDFC Bank), Amitabh Nagpal (Investor in Shopclues), Varun and Himanshu Agarwal (Aspiring Minds), Gaurav Bhatnagar, Ankush Nijhawan and Manish Dhingra (TBO Holidays), Gopi Prashanth (Sourabh's ex-manager at Microsoft), Rajnish Sinha (Genpact) and Vibhu Garg (Unicommerce).

Advantage Club is India's largest mobile first platform for corporate-employee benefits. By providing curated privileges not only in the luxury segment but also in essentials, it effectively increases an employee's spending/saving power by 10%.

Currently, 250+ brands in 3000+ locations across 12 different categories including Max Healthcare, Domino’s, Yatra, Grofers, UrbanClap, Mother’s Pride, Kingdom of Dreams, Flipkart and Reliance Footprint are offering exclusive privileges via Advantage Club. They have on boarded 100+ companies including Sony, Zee Media, Concentrix, Intelenet (previously Serco), Tech Mahindra, Religare, Sona Koyo, Bata and many more.

The funds will be used to enhance the product with analytical features, allowing better individual and corporate level personalization. The program is already live in NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai, and is planned to expand PAN India with stronger presence in Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The aim is to create an analytical tech-platform which redefines employee benefits beyond provident funds and corporate discounts beyond dining.
Sourabh, CEO and Co-Founder says, “The perception of an employee has changed in the past decade. Every organization is looking for innovative ways to engage with its members, and offer something beyond just salary. We aim to delight corporate and employees via white-labelled apps with exclusive privileges from premium brands, and features like wish lists, a 365-day customer helpline and usage dashboard.”
Smiti, COO and Co-Founder, “Every brand wants to reach out to corporate clientele. But in today's unorganized market, even if they offer a corporate privilege, it is not promoted among the employees creating lose-lose situation for them. We not only help brands market within corporates, but through features like smart personalized notifications and newsletters, we are able to influence the choices of the customer right before he/she is about to make a decision.”
Nayan Parikh, Deal Lead & Board Member, Mumbai Angels said, "Advantage Club is a platform for corporates who want to provide exclusive and personalized deals to their employees as part of their benefits program. Corporate employees have large disposable incomes and brands aspire to target them. At the same time corporates need to provide benefits to their employees at low costs to reduce attrition. Brands directly signing with corporates aren’t the difficult part. However, employee engagement is a key challenge, addressed byAdvantage Club." 
Commenting on the investment, Ravi Srivastava, founding partner of Purvi Ventures said, "Smiti & Sourabh have identified a greenfield opportunity in the privileges space - something that’s often taken for granted in the mature workforce & human capital management circles, but is oddly missing in the Indian ecosystem so far. And we're very bullish on the team - they not only iterate rapidly, but also have this uncanny ability to close deals from scratch."







Wednesday 3 February 2016

RBI eases norms for funding start-ups - by Shweta Markandeya

Taking a cue from the Government’s Start-up India initiative, the RBI in its monthly monetary policy statement announced certain measures that will increase ease of doing business and create a conducive ecosystem for start-ups. Some of the key developments include –
·         Creating an enabling framework for receiving foreign venture capital and for transfer of shares from FVCI to other residents and non-residents,
·         Permitting in case of transfer of ownership of a start-up enterprise, differing contractual structures and receipt of consideration on a deferred basis through an escrow or indemnity arrangement for a period of upto 18 months,
·         Simplification and online submission of various forms related to inward and outward remittances (ARF, FC-GPR and FC-TRS) - Electronic reporting of investment and subsequent transactions to be made on e-Biz platform only and submission of physical forms will be discontinued with effect from February 8, 2016

RBI has created a dedicated mailbox (helpstartup@rbi.org.in) to provide assistance and guidance to the start-up sector.

Other proposals that are also under consideration by the RBI are –
·         Allowing start-ups to access rupee loans under ECB framework,
·         Issuance of innovative FDI instruments like convertible notes by start-up enterprises,
·         Streamlining of overseas investment operations for the start-up enterprises, and
·         Issuance shares without cash payment through sweat equity or against any legitimate payment owed by the company without any permissions under the FEMA

Start-ups will have easier access to foreign capital through simplified reporting and paper work and the flexibility to work with different investment structure (debt, convertible notes etc). Incentive structures for employees and advisors through sweat equity will enable start-ups to attract and retain talent.

These developments are also positive for early stage investors as they go a long way in simplify the exit process in case of sale to a non-resident, which has been a cumbersome and tedious process.




Tuesday 2 February 2016

Startup India – Stand Up India : Key Highlights



The launch of Startup India Stand up India has been done with the usual fanfare, pomp and splendor associated with the Prime Minister’s penchant for high visibility, high impact shows. What is commendable is not just the diversity of players invited to speak but also the depth of discussions and inputs gathering that has gone into this exercise. The Prime Minister seems to acutely aware of the reality that the lesser a government meddles with an industry the more it is likely to thrive and prosper. Some of the measures detailed out are certainly aimed at making the government’s interference negligible. While a clearer picture will evolve in next few weeks, the highlight from the PM’s speech and subsequent releases indicate the following broad and sweeping measures that have been announced to make Startups a force to reckon with in the Indian economy.

(*)  Compliance regime based on self-certification regime :  An important step taken is to to reduce regulatory burden for Startups. They  shall be allowed to self-certify for 
labor and environment laws compliance. In case of labor laws, no inspection will be conducted for three years.
(*) Creation of a Startup India hub :  This seems to be a pre-cursor to creating a Single window,single umbrella solution for Startups. It will be single-point of contact so that hand holding is likely to be easier since most laws have been designed with large companies in mind and this move helps recognizing the special business needs of Startups.
(*)  Simplification is the new Mantra – A startup will be to able to set up shop by just filling up a short form through a mobile app and online portal that will be launched in April. Once this comes in it is going to push India’s ranking in the Ease-of-doing-business pecking order for sure.

(*)  Protecting IP: Patent protection is important and PM Modi said patent protection and IP rights are a ‘punji’or ‘prime asset’ and hence a major concern for Indian Startups. The government will make IPR procedure transparent for Startups.
(*) Rebate of Fees: 80% rebate on filing patent applications by Startups is a big move since protecting IPs should not become prohibitively expensive. This move will enable Startups to reduce costs in their crucial formative years. The bigger objective that helps India move ahead in the number of patents filed every year also helps Startups quantify their assets via legal provisions of a patent. It perhaps reflects the PM’s confidence in the Startup founders of the country to come up with solutions that will solve major issues facing the people. The government certainly does not want to make money from this avenue.  
(*) Public procurement for Startups : It would be a big fillip for Startups if their output can be bought by government since channeling of government funds for businesses has been a big trigger in the advanced economies too. The fact that the government has announced relaxed norms for Public procurement means there is  big market for Startups that just opened up for them. Startups (in the manufacturing sector) shall be exempted from the criteria of prior ‘experience/turnover’ without any relaxation in quality standards or technical parameters. This is an area that will have to be watched closely because of the propensity of vested interests to take disadvantage of a good scheme.

(*) Faster exits for Startups : The government is cognizant that not all Startups will become successful and hence a painful long drawn out winding down process may make it unattractive for Startups. To make it easier for startups to exit, provision for fast-tracking closure of businesses have been included in ‘The insolvency and 
Bankruptcy  Bill 2015’. Startups with simple debt structures may be wound up within a period of 90 days from making of an application for winding up on a fast-track basis. The PM was candid about the Parliament logjam and the delay one can expect before the bill becomes the law.
(*) The Government as a VC  perhaps : The government has mooted a Funds of funds with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to provide funding support for development and growth of innovation driven enterprises, Government will set up a fund with an initial corpus of Rs 2,500 crore and a total corpus of Rs 10,000 crore over a period of 4 years.
(*) Credit Guarantee Fund has been mooted so that entrepreneurship can be sustained through credit to innovators across all sections of society. This will be an important cash flow support for Startups. Credit guarantee mechanism through National Credit Guarantee Trust Company/SIDBI shall be rolled out with a budgetary corpus of Rs 500 cr per year for the next four years.

(*) Exemption from Capital Gains Tax – Exemptions shall be given in case capital gains are invested in the fund of funds recognized by the government. In addition, existing capital gain tax exemption for investment in newly formed MSMEs by individuals shall be extended to all Startups.

(*) Tax exemption for Startups –All Startups set up after April 1,2016, shall be exempted from income-tax for a period of three years. One could also argue that the first three years are low revenue years in an ycase and a longer window would have helped the Startups better but it is certainly a right start in the right direction.

(*) The government has announces the Atal Innovation Mission to provide a platform for  showcasing innovation and providing a collaboration platform. This encompasses setting up of all kinds of support mechanisms for Entrepreneurs in form of promotion, training, incubation 
facilitate and Institution of innovation awards (three per state/UT) and three at national level. Launch of Grand Innovation Challenge Awards for finding low cost solution to India’s pressing and intractable problems

(*) Big commitment for setting up of 35 new incubators in institutions – Funding support of 40% (subject to a maximum of Rs 10 crore) shall be provided by central government for establishment of new incubators in existing institutions for which 40% funding by the respective state government and 20% funding by the private sector has been committed.
(*) The Government has announced the setting up of 7 new research parks modeled on the research park at IIT Madras – Government shall set up seven new research parks – six in IITs, one in IISc with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore each. These parks shall enable companies with a research focus to set up base and leverage the expertise of academic/research institution. 31 centres of innovation, 13 Startup centers and 18 technology business incubators in national institutions will be established. This is going to take some time but this is serious commitment to create an infrastructure worthy of a country like India

(*) Promoting entrepreneurship in biotechnology  seems to be a big priority for the Government .Five new bio clusters, 50 new bio incubators, 150 technology transfer offices and 20 bio connect offices will be established.

(*) The government seems to have acknowledged that it is important to catch them young. It has announced Innovation focused programmes for students .Innovation core program shall be initiated to target school kids with an outreach to 10 lakh innovations from five lakh schools. A Grand Challenge Program (National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations) to support young minds and award Rs 10 lakhs to 20 student innovations from Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres has been mooted. Uchhattar Avishkar Yojana has earmarked Rs 250 crore per annum towards fostering ‘very high quality’ research amongst IIT students.

Wednesday 13 January 2016

INDIA SHOULD STAND UP WITH STARTUPS – ECONOMIC TIMES


A popularly-held belief is that startups have thrived and the ecosystem has flourished because the government has stayed away from and out of it! If the absence of a government were to benefit startups and the ecosystem then we would have a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Swat Valley, not Silicon Valley. The corollary isn’t good either. A government fully immersed and involved in the ecosystem can lead to entrepreneurs spending time “managing” the power structures in Delhi instead of building their businesses.
startups
Our startup ecosystem would have developed at a greater pace if the government had played its role of being enabler, facilitator and regulator. That government should have its eyes and nose in the ecosystem but not the entire body. Close, but not too close. Here is what it must do.
EASE-OF-DOING BUSINESS
India is the eighth-largest economy and is still ranked 130 in the world for “ease-of-doing business.” Ease of doing business needs to encompass all aspects of business from starting to managing to closure. Today, the law requires a company maintain books and files taxes for eight long years even when it has no business and no employees.
ACCESS TO CAPITAL
Risk capital is the fuel needed to start a company. In India, almost all-available risk capital (or venture capital) is powered by overseas investors (called limited partners or LPs). LPs are primarily pension funds, endowments, family offices, and trusts. Why not allow large Indian pension funds, the EPFO, and other financial institutions to invest in Indian venture funds that will ultimately invest in startups?
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Two of the most impactful technologies in recent times — GPS and the internet — were funded originally by the US Federal government for defence purposes and then dispersed for equal access by all. Indian defence spends over a billion dollars on indigenous research and development and there will be core technologies developed that can be mined to create innovative companies that solve the common citizen’s problems.
ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT DATA
As the provider of public goods and services, the government is the repository of huge public data. It sits on huge amounts of data for health, transportation, and utility services. For example: If land records and transactions were digitised, and the data made available as an open source, then online real estate companies could use this data to help consumers make more informed choices.
OUTCOME MEASUREMENT
Any government initiative is viewed with cynicism because government initiatives are never measured for outcomes, and even if such measures exist, they are not in the public domain. I believe that the government should measure its startup initiatives against measurable outcomes (such as jobs created) and do so in a transparent manner.
Communism failed because private enterprises are better at creating jobs than government and within private enterprises, small and medium businesses create more jobs than large enterprises. The biggest loss to any economy isn’t startups that didn’t make it but startups that could have been but for want of support.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, The government is merely a servant, a temporary one! It can’t be its prerogative to determine what is a right startup and what is not, who can be an entrepreneur and who can’t be.

Sunday 10 January 2016

Startups: New Year Resolutions



Every time Earth finishes a lap of 940 million kilometers, people greet each other to celebrate it. They build a long list of resolutions to enjoy the next lap peacefully.
Some begin a year by staying fit, some want to be intellectual, while others aim to live happily. But, there are group of people who are passionate towards bringing a transformational change. Such groups are known as entrepreneurs.
These entrepreneurs are always thinking and have a proactive approach. They continuously accept challenges, solve real problems, wish to grow at a lightning speed and build things from scratch. They go on to inspire many like-minded individuals with similar vision and passion. But is passion enough for disruption?
“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins” , inferred Benjamin Franklin.
So before making this New Year’s Resolution list, focus on being passionate, Following are two cents on the resolutions you can adopt.

Big Picture, Smaller Steps

To complete a picture, each pixel is equally important. Losing focus is easy when faced with obstacles on a daily basis. Pledge to celebrate every milestone, however small, to instil that sense of achievement. A good habit would be to acknowledge your team from time to time. Remind them regularly how their small steps- a line of code, an article edit, one phone call, one meeting, all coming together and creating an impact.

Re-Innovate

As Steve Jobs rightly put, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
Probably the best resolution a startup should adopt. Keep experimenting, keep pivoting, keep innovating. What will set your company apart is novel thinking. Your idea is not a solution if it falls short on solving the problem.
Hence, ensure your startup evolves with customer feedback while maintaining its originality. This year, resolve to introduce unconventional methods, be prepared to walk the off-beat path, bring in refreshing ideas.

Own it, Live it.

Every successful venture is based on a foundation of individual ideators. Every word, every mail, every code should entail a sense of ownership. Instil these important core values in the problem solvers you hire. Leadership thrives in an environment of ownership. If it isn’t the case, motivate your think tanks to add it to their resolution list.

Data Driven Growth

It is not when you start, it is for you to start it right. Commit to reason out  all your decisions via data. Regularly observe the synergy between your team’s output and the market. Recognize the next immediate logical steps, which will help drive growth. Analytics is a great assistant for instantaneous feedbacks and evaluation. Adhering to this, resolution will maximise the output while automating the processes, thus eliminating the excess of any efforts.

Hiring the right bunch

Understand the demands of your company. Know where, when and whom to invest in. Hiring is that thin line, the deciding factor, between success and mediocrity. Your team can be your most prized possession, so  hire the right people for the role. Start fresh this year by understanding the problems faced by them. Recognizing and responding to their problems can go a long way in establishing the core value of loyalty. Before hiring, know what kind of team you would like to develop and recruit accordingly. Sometimes being the best is not enough, attitude matters.

An Entrepreneur is an individual chasing dreams to disrupt how the world works. In an attempt to scale quickly, losing out on the above factors is a common recurring issue. Competition may seem to work better and morale might be at an all-time low.

On days when your organisation feels the progress is at a standstill, send in this small reminder. The Earth is orbiting at 30 km/s around a galaxy moving at 250 km/s which is advancing in the universe at a rate of 600 km/s. Nobody is at a standstill, ever.

Source: Aniket Deb : http://www.entrepreneur.com/author/aniket-deb