Category: News

American-Indian IoT Startup 75F targets 100 Crore In India By 2018-19

Award winning 75F Inc is headquartered in Minneapolis and was launched in 2012 by two entrepreneurs of Indian heritage, Deepinder Singh and Pankaj Chawla (who is an Indian citizen and has been overlooking the R&D centre in Bangalore). The startup builds solutions in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) using Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing specifically for commercial buildings. They launched operations in India in August 2016, and hopes to hit rupees 100 crores in revenue by end of fiscal year 2018-2019.

We speak to the founders trying to reach this hefty goal to find out more:

Launching your business in India, what’s your biggest learning about your Indian clients?

Large or small, the Indian business consumer is looking for efficiency and comfort, power in the palm of his hand, at a cost that is affordable.

Tell us more about 75F and its business

75F creates solutions that harness the power of IoT and cloud computing to predict building needs and manage them proactively, making buildings more energy-efficient, automated, smart and comfortable.

We compete with the likes of Honeywell & Johnson Controls. Nevertheless, has attained significant traction in the US market.

We have recently launched our award winning ‘dynamic air flow balancing’ technology in India also known as ‘The Internet of Air’.

Leveraging IoT design philosophy and the power of cloud computing, this technology will achieve what was once thought to be only theoretically possible. That is continuous commissioning or perfect air balancing while driving energy efficiency.

Is 75F coming to India as the second market directly after USA? Or is it
present in other countries already? And why India?

Yes, 75F came to India directly after the USA, setting up its first international office in Bengaluru.

India was the choice of expansion because our R&D team is already present in India – they help develop faster-time-to market solutions and the HVAC solutions designed for India can easily be replicated for the Asian region. In addition, India is a promising market with 10-12% CAGR, so India was a natural first market to expand to.

What is the market size for commercial IoT in US vs. India?

In our area of expertise we estimate the market for intelligent commercial buildings in the US to be approximately 5 billion dollars and in India to be approximately 1 billion dollars.

What are the future plans of 75F in India?

We plan to establish ourselves in a few verticals, for example, IT/ITeS, healthcare and hospitality, in about 4 major metros, in the next 2-3 years.

In addition, new building deployments represent an enormous opportunity with Indian economy appearing to be robust for the medium term growth. And much larger than that are the existing buildings, given that our solution is retrofit-friendly.

There are a few new companies in this sector and all of them only mention Honeywell as a competitor. Could you share your honest opinion on who can become the market leader for commercial IoT automation in India?

While there are many players in the building controls sector, there really are none that provide the entire solution – from HVAC airflow management to building automation, sensors and controls, to big data analytics. No other player in the market offers predictive, proactive controls that are truly based on cloud-computing and IoT. Others use legacy on-premise server architecture with the inherent costs, complexity, maintenance issues and limited life.

Source:http://bwdisrupt.businessworld.in/article/American-Indian-IoT-Startup-75F-targets-100-Crore-In-India-By-2018-19/12-10-2016-106812/

Indian start-ups must go global: Simon Galpin

At a time when New Delhi is busy in promoting the Make in India programme, Bahrain Economic Development Board managing director Simon Galpin came to the country to woo investors to invest in their country’s manufacturing activities, besides a whole lot of other activities, including infrastructure and start-ups. Galpin tells Indivjal Dhasmana there are complementarities in the Modi government’s flagship programme to boost manufacturing and investing in factory production in Bahrain. Edited excerpts :

Why should Indian companies invest in Bahrain?

The main reason is Bahrain’s geographical location. It’s a great hub for accessing markets across GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and across West Asia. Our tax regime makes it a very efficient place to put those activities because we have zero income tax, zero capital gains tax and corporation tax. We have this arrangement where goods can be sold into other GCC members at zero tariffs and we have a free trade agreement with the United States. If an Indian company adds 35 per cent of value to products in Bahrain, it could access all those markets.

Has any Indian company evinced interest to invest in Bahrain and in which sectors?

Yes, there are a number of Indian companies in joint ventures in the manufacturing sector. There are many opportunities, but a few are clear ones. One is downstream aluminium manufacturing. Bahrain has one of the largest aluminium smelters in the world. Even then, we are about to expand it. So, there is this opportunity to use aluminum raw materials to produce a wide array of products, particularly in automotives. The other area is food processing. We have Mondelez, one of the world’s largest food manufacturers, in Bahrain. So, there are opportunities for suppliers, sub-contractors, packaging companies and raw material processing companies on the food side to come to Bahrain.

How does this whole gamut of changes in Bahrain help our Make in India programme?

Make in India programme is about expanding India’s manufacturing capabilities. Of course, for many of the products that could be produced in Bahrain, the starting point of semi-finished products could be in India. We are giving Indian manufacturers access to even bigger markets.

India is buzzing with start-up activity. Do you have opportunity for them in Bahrain as well?

We believe there is tremendous potential to grow Bahrain as a start-up hub. India has tremendous recognition now as one of the major centres for start-up activities in the world. What we are looking to do is to encourage scale-ups. Start-ups that have already cracked the Indian markets need to go global now and consider having a base in Bahrain to expand to rest of GCC and also other markets. What we want to do is to persuade high networth individuals in Bahrain to become angel investors and support and invest in start-up founders.

But, India-Bahrain trade is minuscule. Why is it so?

Well, Bahrain in itself is a relatively small market. But, it’s a great test market because it’s so accessible, it’s so open, it’s a great platform to enter much larger markets.

How does the country take on depressed oil prices over the past few years?

In Bahrain, we are going through restructuring of our economy. Bahrain has a well-developed plan to diversify our economy away from oil and gas into other areas such as manufacturing and financial services.

We also have a very ambitious plan of infrastructure projects amounting to more than $32 billion or in other words annual gross domestic product of the country. These infrastructure projects present tremendous opportunities for Indian sub-contractors and suppliers.

How has slump in oil prices affected Bahrain?

It was an opportunity for us because it means that we can push forward reforms and changes that will make the Bahrain’s economy even more competitive. Bahrain already has the most diversified economy in GCC. That is being accelerated further due to oil prices. There are three big opportunities that Indian companies look at– one as I already told you is infrastructure push, from expansion of airports to modernisation of oil refineries, expansion of aluminum smelter, tourism and development projects. Secondly, we live up to our reputation as business-friendly country. So, we are putting in place a number of changes that will make business environment even more attractive and that is soft infrastructure. Third thing is like putting in place a revised bankruptcy law, new trust laws, limited liability partnership laws. Besides, we are expanding the list of industrial sectors that are open to 100 per cent Indian ownership. So, you don’t need to have JV partners for most businesses.

Source:http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/indian-start-ups-must-go-global-simon-galpin-116101100828_1.html

Interest of global tech giants including Apple, Intel revives in Indian startup space

Apple’s recent acquisition of Indian machine-learning startup Tuplejump offers further evidence of a revival in the interest of global technology giants in the country’s startup space, especially in areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and automation.

Enthusiasm for tech startups in India had waned in the last two years with fewer exits, a funding crunch and an inability to scale up. That seems to be changing with Intel, Apple and Nutanix shopping around for companies and the people who work there. Intel bought Soft Machines, a Silicon Valley chip designer with offices in Hyderabad, for $300 million in September. The company was cofounded by former Intel veteran Mahesh Lingareddy. Last month, Intel acquired California-based deep-learning startup Nervana Systems run by Indian-origin entrepreneur Naveen Rao in a deal reportedly valued at $408 million. Sequoia-backed Calm.io was acqui-hired by global enterprise tech giant Nutanix in August. . Most of Calm.io’s 43-member team based at its development centre in Bengaluru will be moving to new Nutanix offices.

What’s appealing about Indian entrepreneurs and their ventures is a combination of talent, technology, traction and transactions, said Ravi Gururaj, Nasscom product council chairman.

“Talented small teams are working within an interesting technology area, where they are exhibiting some early product traction and a transaction which can be closed on relatively attractive terms,” he said. Major acquisitions in 2016 point to growing demand for technologies that are ‘hot’ right now, including machine learning, cloud infrastructure and automation, experts said.

The tech giants are keen on acquiring companies that specialise in machine learning and artificial intelligence, said Thiyagarajan M, head of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) at software product thinktank iSPIRT.

The attention on Indian tech startups also has to do with the maturing of the ecosystem in the last few years. Indian startups are now creating products and technology solutions that contribute to filling the gaps for large multinationals, said KS Viswanathan, vice-president, industry initiatives, Nasscom. “Digital change that is taking place globally is much more rapid than reported,” said Viswanathan. “Silicon Valley needs capacity from all over the globe and they are now looking at India more seriously than ever before.” Experts said the number of deals and valuations will likely increase.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/interest-of-global-tech-giants-including-apple-intel-revives-in-indian-startup-space/articleshow/54533385.cms

Mahindra Agri Solutions invests in startup MeraKisan

Mahindra Univeg today announced investment in Mera Kisan, an e-commerce startup.
He said Mahindra Univeg is a 60:40 joint venture between Mahindra Groups Mahindra Agri Solutions and Belgium-based Univeg (Greenyard Foods).

MeraKisan is an online shopping platform, which sources fresh vegetables and fruits directly from farmers and sell it to the customers.

“Our investment (minority shareholding) in MeraKisan will enable the farmers and the consumers to connect digitally and create a win-win situation for both farmers and customers,” said Ashok Sharma, MD & CEO, Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd.

It focuses on developing fresh fruit supply chain in India and imports fruits to make high quality produce available to domestic consumers.

He added that Mahindra Agri Solutions interacts with farmers to improve their produce, quality and productivity by providing latest advances in farm technologies and agricultural know how.

“It also helps farmers by linking them to the market to provide better returns for their quality produce and thereby improving their lives,” said Sharma.
Prashanth Patil, CEO-Designate of Mera Kisan, said that leveraging the digital platform, Mera Kisan will ensure delivery of high quality fruits and vegetables at the door step of the consumers.

With this platform, farmers will be benefiting as payments are done to the farmers upfront through online payment gateways, Patil added. PTI SPK NRB ABI

Source:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mahindra-agri-solutions-invests-in-startup-merakisan/1/775532.html

Govt commits Rs 500cr for Narendra Modi’s Startup India vision, launches another set of initiatives

While addressing the media in New Delhi, the Ministry of Science and Technology today announced the launch of the National Initiative for Development and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI), an umbrella programme which aims to nurture ideas and innovations in the startup ecosystem.

With the intent to speed up the process and also scale, the ministry will be infusing Rs 500 crore into the programme in the next few years. Notably this year, the ministry has received a 450 percent increase in allocation — Rs 180 crore more — to drive startup initiatives.

NIDHI and other initiatives:
NIDHI focuses on building a seamless entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially by making a positive impact on socio-economic development. The programme aims to provide technological solutions as well as create new avenues for wealth and job creation.

PRAYAS (Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators & Startups), launched last week, is one of the components of NIDHI. The idea is to encourage innovators by providing access to the Fabrication Laboratory as well as a grant of up to Rs10 lakh. Additionally, there is the Seed Support System, providing up to Rs 1 crore per startup and implemented through technology business incubators.

The key stakeholders of the newly launched programme include various departments and ministries of the central government, state governments, academic and R & D institutions, mentors, financial institutions, angel investors, venture capitalists, industry champions, and private sectors.

Till now, the department has launched more than 100 technology business incubators in academic and R & D institutions which include IITs, IIMs, NITs, and other institutions. Every incubator focuses on a technology domain, and all of them combined house more than 2,000 startups and offer a total incubation space of approximately seven lakh sqft.

Additionally, six more centres of excellence will be opened in SINE–IIT Bombay, Venture Center–NCL Pune, CIIE–IIM Ahmedabad etc and 14 Technology Business Incubators which include IIT Patna and Mizoram University etc. 10 more incubators will be supplemented with Seed Support Systems which include Startup Oasis–Jaipur, Amrita TBI–Kollam, Venture Center, NCL–Pune etc and establish a Research Park at IIT Gandhinagar .

A variety of other new programmes including a fellowship programme for entrepreneurs i.e. Entrepreneurs in Residence, scaling up of startups through the accelerator programme and also to boost women empowerment through entrepreneurship, has been launched.

Along with all these initiatives, the department has also partnered with corporates like Intel, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments and Boeing as well as the Department of Higher Education, MHRD to establish research parks and startup centres.

Startup India:

All these initiatives have been launched in tune with Modi’s Startup India vision. A number of initiatives were launched after the announcement of ‘Startup India’. Recently, the government had also issued a directive to all ministries stating that all startups will now be exempted from the prior experience criteria in public procurement. Also, the government had mandated that the central government departments and ministries, along with its central PSUs, procure at least 20 percent of their purchases from micro and small enterprises, starting from April 1, 2015.

Though countless initiatives have been launched, whether entrepreneurship in the country receives a real boost remains to be seen.

Source : https://yourstory.com/2016/09/govt-invest-500cr-startups/

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