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Tata Group Tie-up With Yale University For Research & Development and Funding

29Aug By AnkitaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Tata Group Tie-up With Yale University For Research & Development and Funding

Indian conglomerate Tata Group and US prestigious Yale University have launched a collaboration that will focus on promoting research and its application in fields like network science, data science, healthcare and microbiome research. Tata has committed to fund the alliance over five years. However, the company did not disclose the financial details. The project would foster an intellectual exchange between the university and Tata Sons, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Chemicals. "The initial aim of the alliance is to expand research and its application in fields ranging from network science to data science to healthcare. During each year of the agreement, Yale will also host visiting Tata scholars, who will actively participate in the research projects," Yale said in a statement is...

Why Startups Should Follow “Fake it Till You Make it” Formula

28Aug By No Comments

BLOGS

Why Startups Should Follow “Fake it Till You Make it” Formula

Since we launched our startup nearly 4 months ago, a certain question has weighed heavily on our minds. As we invest our time and money building our product there’s always been the burden of uncertainty… what if we spend a year building a product that nobody wants? All the best server architecture, best people, capital, budgets and deadlines mean nothing if we’re building the wrong thing. So how do we make sure we’re actually building something people want? This leads to the next question: how can we know they’ll want it without first having the product so they can use it? It’s the classic chicken and egg problem. Work Smarter, Not Harder As with most complex problems in life, the eventual answer was quite simple… fake it until we make it. Forget asking friends, family and associa...

Apple Acquired Health Startup Gliimpse Founded By Indian-Origin Duo

24Aug By NitishNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Apple Acquired Health Startup Gliimpse Founded By Indian-Origin Duo

IANS- Tech giant Apple has quietly acquired personal health data startup Gliimpse founded by two Indian-origin entrepreneurs. The acquisition happened earlier this year but was not publicly announced, according to media reports. An Apple spokesperson has responded, saying: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans." Founded in 2013 by serial entrepreneur Anil Sethi and Karthik Hariharan, Gliimpse provides a secure platform where consumers can manage and share their medical records and information. Before Gliimpse, Sethi had co-founded several health startups like Xlipstream, Pinch Bio and Dakota Imaging. This acquisition will likely strengthen Apple's efforts to collect or manage health data. In 2014, it had...

NCR Startups Face Funding Crunch; Attract Just $170M in 2016

24Aug By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

NCR Startups Face Funding Crunch; Attract Just $170M in 2016

Funding activity in the national capital region witnessed a slowdown with deals signed worth $170 million in 155 transactions so far this year, says a report. According to 'VCCEdge Startup Funding Insights' the NCR startup ecosystem witnessed funding crunch and attracted $170 million (about Rs 1,140 crore) this year. "At the going run-rate, funding deals for the year 2016 may not be able to cross the 2014 deal value of $289 million," the report said. The year 2015 was a landmark year that registered a deal value totalling $608 million as against $289 million in 2014. "The slowdown is attributed to investor pragmatism and selectiveness in funding enterprises that have business models that best optimise the funding they receive. Startups have to, perforce, 'Conserve and Grow...

Microsoft Buys AI Scheduling Service Genee to Bolster Office 365

24Aug By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Microsoft Buys AI Scheduling Service Genee to Bolster Office 365

Software giant Microsoft has bought a smart scheduling app Genee, as part of its effort to embed artificial intelligence (AI) to compete with the likes of Google Now and Apple. The start-up, which was founded in 2014, will shut down its service on September 1. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by Genee founders Ben Cheung and Charles Lee, who will join Microsoft. Genee specializes in using machine smarts to handle the time-sucking task of scheduling meetings. It is likely that Microsoft will be using this acquisition to bolster its Office 365 suite. "As we continue to build new Office 365 productivity capabilities and services our customers value, I'm confident the Genee team will help us further our ambition to bring intelligence into every digital experience...

Bengaluru Based Messaging Platform Nudgespot Got Acquired By Boomtrain

10Aug By PriyankaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Bengaluru Based Messaging Platform Nudgespot Got Acquired By Boomtrain

Boomtrain, a marketing platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to drive relevant interactions with users at every touchpoint, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire partner, India-based Nudgespot. Nudgespot has built a best-in-class messaging platform that will integrate into Boomtrain's technology to deliver a seamless experience for businesses to communicate with customers and visitors on websites and in mobile apps. Boomtrain and Nudgespot initially partnered nine months ago, and have been co-developing a product that combines Nudgespot's platform with Boomtrain's AI technology. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "The acquisition of Nudgespot will accelerate our strategy to enable AI-powered communications between businesses a...

8Aug By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

8TV Raises $500,000 Funding To Enter Indian market

San Francisco-based startup 8TV has raised USD 500,000 funding (about Rs 3.34 crore) from investors including Redcliffe Capital Managing Partner Dheeraj Jain, Google executive Tidhar Carmeli and angel investor Thomas Korte. The company, which offers short form video network for brands, is also supported by the US tech giant Amazon that has invested about USD 100,000 worth of AWS services credit. The startup graduated from Angelpad, a tech accelerator in Silicon Valley, and its customers include firms like Unilever. "We have received a USD 500,000 investment from Dheeraj Jain (Managing Partner at Redcliffe Capital), Tidhar Carmeli and Thomas Korte (ex Google and Angelpad), with additional USD 100,000 invested by Amazon in form of AWS services," 8TV founder Leon Crutchley said. The i...

Sebi Proposes Relaxed Norms For Start-up Listing

30Jul By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

Sebi Proposes Relaxed Norms For Start-up Listing

To encourage listing of start-ups, Sebi today proposed an easier framework that allows more investor categories, relaxed shareholding norms and reduced trading lot amount. In this regard, the markets regulator has mooted changes to the framework of Institutional Trading Platform (ITP), which has not seen much traction even though it was put in place in August 2015. The rules were brought in to encourage Indian start-ups and entrepreneurs to remain within the country rather than go overseas for raising funds. Seeking to widen the eligibility ambit for getting listed on ITP, Sebi has proposed increasing the category of eligible investors when it comes to shareholding before the listing. Besides QIBs (qualified institutional buyers), family trusts or systematically important NBFCs...

My Learning From Chinese Citizens About Indian Online Market

25Jul By No Comments

BLOGS

My Learning From Chinese Citizens About Indian Online Market

We often compare India with China, especially when it comes to online markets. Both countries have a lot of similarities. They have a huge set of diverse population that are culturally, linguistically, geographically, and socially varied. Their primary language is not English. But, there are some glaring differences between the two countries, too. And we should learn from them. In my most recent visit to China, I met over 15 companies (large and small) in the IT and digital technology space. Their respective founders or their representatives presented their growth and plans to over 25 CEOs from Indian companies. Here are my key takeaways from the trip: Learn Globally. Implement Locally China has a large captive market to cater to. About 30% of the Chinese founders I met...

WeWork Controversy- Startup Thinknum Removed After Negative Blogpost

24Jul By PriyankaNo Comments

Story

WeWork Controversy- Startup Thinknum Removed After Negative Blogpost

WeWork Cos, the office-space sharing start-up with an estimated $16 billion valuation evicted one of its tenants which wrote and take down a negative blog on medium that suggests members leave has surged in recent months. The posting on Tuesday by Justin Zhen, whose data analytics firm Thinknum operates out of a WeWork site on 42nd Street in Manhattan, also said that member engagement on WeWork's social networking platform is surprisingly low. The platform is seen inside the company as a key tool for creating a sense of community at WeWork locations. The company sees its fortunes tied to the premise that the entrepreneurs and young urban workers populating its workspaces will form lasting communities in part by being active on the network. Zhen's analysis said WeWork's historical churn ...

Keralas Startup Village Ranked India’s Best Incubator

23Jul By NitishNo Comments

News

Keralas Startup Village Ranked India’s Best Incubator

Startup Village, the countrys first public-private partnership business incubator, has been named Indias best startup incubator. Startup Village is ranked number one in a first-of-its- kind comprehensive ranking by the India edition of Entrepreneur Magazine of the 100 best startup incubators in India (25 across sectors and 75 sector specific), a release said here. Last week, Startup Village entered its second phase with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launching the online platform SV.CO that aims to provide a fully digital incubation framework to five million students in 3,500 engineering colleges across the country, it said. "SV.CO is the next big iteration of Startup Village, to give a world class student startup ecosystem to all 5 million engineering students India, ...

22Jul By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Companies Can Now Obtain PAN or TAN Registration Within a Day

Companies can now obtain PAN or TAN registration within a day if they submit digital signature certificate-based application, thereby ensuring ease of doing business, Income Tax department said today. Besides, individuals can now get a new Permanent Account Number (PAN) through Aadhaar-based e-signature facility which will reduce the effective time in allotment. For fast-tracking the allotment of PAN and Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN) to company applicants, digital signature certificate-based application procedure has been introduced on the portals of PAN service providers -- NSDL eGov and UTIITSL. "Under the new process PAN and TAN will be allotted within one day after completion of valid on-line application," a tax department statement said. Similarly, a ne...