#StartupsVsCovid19: Zomato, Ola Pitch In For The Needy As India Shines On Lockdown Day 12

After lighting candles and turning on flashlights for nine minutes on Sunday (April 05), day 12 of the lockdown, many Indians would be feeling more optimistic about overcoming these challenging times. However, the battle is not even close to its halfway point. While those in homes came out to show their solidarity, many of India’s poor migrant labourers are facing difficulties in getting proper meals on time. To help this section of the population, many Indian startups have already stood up to the task of delivering meals and essentials.

For instance, food delivery platform Zomato has launched a campaign to provide ration to daily wagers who have lost their livelihood due to the lockdown. So far, the company has distributed over 100K kits in more than 20 cities spanning across all metros and smaller cities like Patna, Jhansi, Guwahati, Dehradun and others.

Zomato says that each kit is enough for a family of five for a week. So, overall the number of kits delivered by the company will be sufficient to provide over 10 Mn meals.

Similar to Zomato, cab aggregator Ola’s food delivery arm — Ola Foods — partnered with the state government to distribute over 1000 food packets twice in a day to migrant labourers across Bengaluru. Previously, the company offered 500 cabs for healthcare staffers, transportation of medicine and other essential healthcare services for emergencies.

Thank you @Tejasvi_Surya for your initiative and opportunity ? We salute the relentless efforts of all the volunteers of the #CoronaTaskForce. #StrongerTogether @Olacabs @Olafoods_India https://t.co/ZnLriugLCN

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) April 5, 2020

Also, logistics startup Locus launched an application to help all the drivers stuck between state borders with the shipment. In partnership with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Highway Delite, the application will help the truck drivers to know information related to the access of facilities like food, water and availability of safe parking on the highways across the country.

Solving Grocery Woes, Covid-19 Testing

In these times, many startups are partnering with each other to solve basic problems like delivery of essential products. Continuing the trend, Bengaluru-headquartered real estate platform NoBroker has now partnered with ecommerce delivery platform BigBasket.

In this partnership, NoBroker’s customers can place their grocery orders on the NoBrokerHood coliving app. These orders will be delivered directly to the societies registered with NoBroker.

With the rising number of positive cases of coronavirus, many have started to doubt India’s healthcare capabilities. To support the healthcare infrastructure as well as to bolster other measures to battle coronavirus, Indian startups have started to come up with innovative solutions.

• Sequoia-backed healthtech startup Qure.ai has partnered with Italian San Raffaele University Hospital to provide its Chest X-Ray analysis system for diagnosing Covid-19 patients. The startup uses AI algorithms to detect brain trauma and diagnose chest diseases.
• Gurugram-headquartered healthtech startup 1MG has started the registration for Covid-19 testing on the platform. For the same, the company has partnered with SRL Diagnostics, Metropolis Healthcare, Suburban Diagnostics, City X-Ray & Scan Clinic, TRUTEST Laboratories. As of now, the company is offering the test in 348 pincodes in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Pune. It is also planning to expand the services in other areas and is looking to partner with more companies licensed to perform Covid-19 tests.
• Pune-based Nocca Robotics is developing low-cost ventilators to ensure the availability of this medical equipment. Founded by IIT Kanpur alumni Nikhil Kurele and Harshit Rathore, Nocca Robotics makes robots that clean solar plants. However, given the situation, the company has come forward to meet the huge demand for ventilators across the country.
• Digital media startup WittyFeed is running a coronavirus campaign to counter the misinformation and fake news on social media related to the pandemic, especially for people living outside the metros. So far, the company has produced 70 informative reports on coronavirus which has reached to over 40 Mn people.

Also, Mumbai-based management consulting company CorpGini is bringing together over 50 business leaders to discuss and find solutions that can help India to come out of the uncertainties. CorpGini said that over 5000 companies and 100 startups will join the online discussions which will happen between April 6 to April 11.

Meanwhile, IDBI Bank has committed INR 3.95 Cr to the PM Cares fund instituted by the Government of India, towards containment and relief efforts.