#StartupsVsCovid19: Swiggy Begins Health Consultations, Zoho Donates INR 25 CR On Day 15 Of Lockdown

On Day 15 of the lockdown, a media report went viral stating that the government might end up extending the lockdown, which was scheduled to end on April 14. This comes at a time when several state governments have already been thinking of extending the lockdown to prevent the situations from going from bad to worse. But despite speculation, as of now, there has been no extension of the lockdown announced.

Meanwhile, hospitality startup OYO has sent several employees from its branches in the US and few other markets on temporary leaves as the business has been affected amidst the coronavirus outbreak across the globe. The company also acknowledged that its revenues have dropped by 50% to 60% globally, which was one of the reasons that it had to take such a step. OYO has, however, assured that employees in India would not be affected by any such furloughs.

While the travel and tourism industry has been hit significantly with the coronavirus outbreak, there is one industry that has actually turned into a lifeline to keep our lives running during the period of this lockdown.

Startups Keep Deliveries Rolling 

To start off with, online grocery delivery platform Grofers announced that it has partnered with several housing societies and over 100 resident welfare associations to serve more customers amid lockdown.

Just like Grofers, the latest entry to the grocery segment ShopClues has been working towards providing essential products to the customers within two days in New Delhi and Gurugram. The company will focus on items of daily and medical needs with a safe and secure mode of procuring them. The company has also introduced contact-less delivery options.

While on the subject of new entrants in the grocery market, there have been two new additions in the essential delivery segment — retail commerce startup Perpule and NoBroker’s community management app NoBrokerhood. 

Perpule has assured 90% order fulfilment rate and delivery within 24 hours to people living in apartments in Bengaluru. The company has partnered with offline retailer Vishal Megamart, More, Metro and others to keep its supply chain intact.

Meanwhile, NoBrokerhood’s grocery delivery venture will be available for all societies that are using the app for visitor management already. The company has already started delivering in Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

While online grocery players are changing their strategy by the day, even retail players are tying up with tech startups to enable deliveries Electric scooter rental platform Zypp has partnered with Spencer’s Retail to help them expand their omniculture presence. Spencer’s Retail will be using Zypp to execute the delivery of grocery items in the Delhi NCR region.

Swiggy Offers Tele Counselling And More

While the food supply is a crucial element in any quarantine, mental health and the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be ignored. Swiggy has rolled out a curated wellness programme for quarantined Indians

With the launch of ‘Built Around You’, Swiggy has spread out its wings by providing a range of teleconsultation sessions with independent experts — doctors, dietitians, counsellors, psychologists, financial and legal experts. Besides this, the app will allow users to customised digital and onsite wellness programs for the employees and their dear ones.

Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Log 9 Materials has developed a CoronaOven, which relies on UV-V light and other design parameters to disinfect any surface. The company has claimed that the product can also be used to disinfect objects, personal protective equipment (PPE) and more.

Meanwhile, Healthians has started offering at-home testing for COVID-19. Priced at INR 4,500, as mandated by the government, the test promises results within 24 hours. Healthians’ at-home testing is available for users in Delhi NCR and Mumbai region.

To bring offline experience to the online market, Y Combinator-backed home-hosted social events platform MyScoot has turned completely digital. The company announced that in the first 15 days of the launch of its online event segment, the company has noted an uptick of 50% in engagement rate per event. The company now aims to organise 100 such virtual events.

Indian Startups Further Donate

SaaS unicorn Zoho Corp’s founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu took to Twitter to make two announcements on April 7. First, the company has donated INR 25 Cr to the PM Cares fund. Second, Zoho Corp has restarted its kitchens, which were used to serve the employees, to distribute 1K meals a day in southern Chennai. Vembu also added that the company will be extending it to 5000 meals a day in  Chennai, Tenkasi and Renigunta.

Working on the same lines, agritech startup Simply Fresh will donate food and essential supplies to underprivileged kids to an orphanage in Arjunpatla, Hyderabad. The company’s employees will also be donating food and their salaries to more than 300 needy people.

Online travel booking service Yatra.com has also donated funds to Arpana Trust and Naya Sawera for the wellbeing of daily wage workers and HIV infected kids. It has also been donating facemask to healthcare workers in Haryana.

Cab-hailing service Ola’s social welfare arm Ola Foundation has partnered with South Asian crowdfunding platform Milaap to action requests of financial support for medical emergencies and critical illness for drivers and their families under the ‘Drive the Driver Fund’.

Meanwhile, audio content platform Khabri has launched an exclusive helpline portal for visually-impaired audiences. The platform will allow users to get inputs from experts for medical, psychological, social or financial support.

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