SUMMARY
In its 33rd edition, Inc42 has curated a list of 30 sector-agnostic startups, especially those building new-age hardware and devices
The list features startups launched after 2018 which are either bootstrapped or have raised pre-seed and seed-stage funding
Nearly 20 of the 30 startups are B2B-focussed and are working in diverse sectors such as ecommerce, fintech, agritech, EV, healthtech, blockchain, gaming and more
The Indian startup ecosystem is undergoing a paradigm shift. But young companies are no longer on the same track followed by the country’s storied IT industry or deep-pocketed startup veterans like Flipkart, Ola and Zomato.
Today’s entrepreneurs have moved away from the exclusive realm of software services and are treading the hitherto unexplored territory. Hardware, to be precise.
With Industry 4.0 well and truly upon us, new-age technologies have already transformed machines and manufacturing processes. IoT and IIoT, or HeSaaS (hardware-enabled SaaS), for that matter, will be the game changers soon, bringing the cognitive edge to proprietary hardware. So, it is surprising to see a steady rise in the number of Indian startups that design and sell these next-generation connected devices.
Having said that, one has to admit that the ecosystem lacks adequate exposure to lab research and market testing, making this segment hard (and expensive) to penetrate. In fact, there are two schools of thought prevalent around startups specialising in hardware.
The first argues against investing more capital and resources into these digital devices and targets the ‘software’ products – the nerve centre of innovation until now. The second school acknowledges the ‘high cost’ concerns but states that the rise of hardware companies will stabilise the market that primarily deals in SaaS.
As we sat down to shortlist the startups for Inc42’s 33rd edition of 30 Startups To Watch, we wanted to showcase how easy it could be to explore a niche and develop physical products with digital excellence/software-like functionalities. The journey has started even when equity funding in startups is at its lowest in two years. This is also why the latest edition is nothing short of a meaningful deep dive into the core of India’s startup ecosystem.
While manufacturing in India is slowly but surely getting disrupted with deeptech-led automation, the world is taking notice. Much of the tech-driven precision manufacturing is moving to India in spite of the availability of cheap labour across other South and Southeast Asian countries.
Add to that the Indian government’s pro-industry policies and production-linked incentive schemes, which have paved the path for a hardware metamorphosis.
Consider this. More than 12 startups out of our carefully curated 30 are building commercial hardware tools and devices with a layer of cloud-integrated software applications. This is the right time to turn the spotlight on them as they try to revolutionise their specific industry segments.
30 Startups To Watch: October 2022
Although enterprise tech startups never fail to catch our attention, the Inc42 team was determined to make this list completely sector-agnostic (and tech-focussed) this time. What’s more, we have primarily focussed on bootstrapped startups or those securing less than $1 Mn in funding. But entering the hardware-heavy tech ecosystem and bringing to the fore novel use cases truly intrigued us, and our readers would love the experience.
Our current edition features a myriad of startups. From remote working enablers to esports studios, from EVs to drones, from blockchain-driven checkouts to fintechs reimagining savings and investments – we have it all and more. As many as six of the 30 startups are enterprise tech businesses, followed by five ecommerce startups. There are four fintechs with unique value propositions, three each in agritech and EV, two each in healthtech, blockchain and deeptech, and one each in gaming, HR tech and proptech.
Check out the 33rd edition of Inc42 Plus’ 30 Startups To Watch list.
Editor’s Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups in alphabetical order.
AgriGator
An Agricultural Marketplace For B2B Deals
The agri-supply chain in India is broken, to say the least, leading to food wastage and impacting farmers’ incomes. Aware of the ground realities (especially the profiteering intermediaries), IIM-Ahmedabad alumni Udit Sangwan and Charu Chaturvedi set up AgriGator to ensure sustainable growth for agri-businesses.
Started in 2019, the platform runs an online marketplace that brings together producers/suppliers, agri processors, bulk buyers and logistics providers to facilitate sound and fair trade.
The B2B marketplace deals in food grains and focusses on end-to-end supply chain management, including product discovery, price negotiations, supplier review, shipping, payments and reconciliation. It also provides agri-financing in partnership with banks and NBFCs.
AgriGator charges a commission on every transaction plus a membership fee from agri-businesses for premium services like supply chain analytics.
The startup began its journey from Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal, to be precise) and expanded into Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. It is now planning to grow its annual revenue by 5x to INR 400 Cr in FY23.
BirdAI
Bridging The Gap Between Digital & Physical
As hybrid work becomes the new normal, collaborative workspace solutions are in great demand. BirdAI was set up in 2021 to bridge the divide between physical and digital spaces in sync with the new-age requirements.
The Bengaluru-based startup has adopted HeSaaS (hardware-enabled SaaS) to come up with BirdHub, a wireless collaboration device with a built-in camera, an array of microphones and a digital whiteboard. Placed on a TV/computer monitor, it transforms an existing meeting room screen into a collaborative workspace with immersive videoconferencing and presentation capabilities, thus reducing Zoom fatigue.
Another flagship is BrightClass that caters to the hybrid learning ecosystem. Simply put, this is an AV whiteboard with a host of features such as a built-in learning management system (LMS) and support for all learning modes, including live discussions, classroom-style teaching, quizzes and presentations.
Most of the startup’s revenue comes from device sales. BirdAI claims to have sold products worth $1.5 Mn within six months of a pilot and plans to reach $20 Mn by 2023 by entering international markets.
Butterfly Learnings
Paediatric Care For NDD, Behavioural Issues
In India, one in six children aged between two and nine suffers from at least one type of neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD). (For context, NDDs can range from learning disabilities to mental retardation, autism and more.) Moreover, young adults aged 7-15 also feel depressed, which may lead to functional impairments and other behavioural disorders also coming under this overarching category.
Aware of the lack of paediatric care in this space, Sonam Kothari and Abhishek Sen, both of them medical practitioners, founded Butterfly Learnings in 2021. The platform helps children suffering from NDDs and behavioural issues through applied behavioural analysis (ABA), speech therapy and occupational therapy.
It runs four brick-and-mortar centres in Mumbai and Thane and also provides online sessions for real-time treatments.
Butterfly Learnings is looking to scale up and treat more than 2,000 children in 2022 and expand its physical presence across the country.
Crowd Control
Building The Esports Fraternity
Esports is becoming increasingly popular in India, but the ecosystem still needs an organised fraternity to spur its growth. So, Gurugram-based Crowd Control Esports has been building such a community since 2020.
The phygital platform provides access to gaming events to a dedicated fan base and helps them benefit from the ecosystem. Currently, it offers three services.
CrowdForge helps gamers create local esports intellectual property (IPs). KhelShala is for honing skills as it teaches how to develop games using GFX, VFX, 3D, XR and more. Then there are brick-and-mortar CCE Studios in India and Singapore that hold tournaments and live events like e-gaming conventions.
The startup also mentors gamers, streamers and community ambassadors and streams online sessions of not-so-popular games.
Crowd Control declines to disclose its revenue numbers, citing confidentiality but claims it is growing 20% month-on-month. It plans to host a couple of conventions, expand to gaming infotainment and teach how to build games to more than 12,500 enthusiasts with the help of 2,500+ professionals involved in game design and development.
dox2U
Hassle-free Information Warehousing
Document management at the enterprise level remains laborious and expensive for companies still sticking to paperwork, using legacy DMS with data silos (read virtual walls that hinder moving from one folder to another) or storing digitised information in local servers. Gurugram-based dox2U has solutions for all.
Unlike the hard-to-read scanned documents uploaded in most workplace databases, this startup uses an integrated ICR (intelligent character recognition) engine to extract text from images efficiently. More importantly, 160 languages are covered by this tool.
Once the documents are processed, and the repository is built, these can be stored in easy-to-navigate smart cabinets in the cloud. Moreover, every piece of information can be quickly retrieved using content-based deep search and multilevel filtering. dox2U also ensures bank-grade security, enabling companies to control information access as per requirement.
The SaaS startup did several pilots since its inception in 2020 and finally went live in August this year with 15 enterprise clients. It has adopted a freemium model, offers a pay-as-you-go option and aims to onboard more than 1K enterprise clients from India, the Middle East and North America by 2023.
Dubverse
Auto-Dubbing Videos In Multiple Languages
Video consumption will grow by leaps and bounds as technology finally removes language barriers. Launched in 2021, Gurugram-based Dubverse uses generative AI to auto-dub video content in more than 30 regional and international languages. Moreover, video creators (both individuals and brands) can choose from 150+ pre-set voiceover tracks and add subtitles in English or any other language.
One needs to upload the video on the web-based platform and choose the language and the voice track for dubbing. Next, a script in the specified language is generated for the user to self-review before the actual dubbing. Understandably, this reduces the cost and time of video regeneration.
Dubverse says it has worked with 600+ users and processed 20K+ videos since its launch. There are two payment options – a monthly fee per creator and a charge for per-minute dubbing in case of one-off projects. It has yet to disclose revenue numbers but claims to be growing 2x month on month.
By 2023, the SaaS platform will offer contextual translations and focus on training, learning and development, knowledge building, product explainers, how-tos and review videos.
EroEV
EV Charging Made Easy
EVs are the most preferred mode of sustainable commuting in the net-zero era. But with less than a thousand public charging stations in India, the ecosystem needs a boost. EroEV is a 10-month-old Kolkata-based startup that instals IoT-powered fast EV charging points in commercial buildings, kirana stores, malls and offices to ensure round-the-clock service for all EV users.
EV owners (2W, 3W and 4W vehicles) can download the startup’s Android/iOS app to locate the nearest charging point and scan the QR code to pay and schedule a charging session. One can pre-book a slot or book it on arrival by scanning a QR code at the charging station. The device gets activated after payment, and an LED indicator denotes it when the vehicle is fully charged.
EroEV’s revenue mainly comes from device sales to property owners who set up charging points on their premises. It also charges a maintenance fee to ensure the infrastructure runs smoothly 24×7.
The startup is operational only in Kolkata, works with one enterprise client and runs five charging stations. But it plans to expand to 10 more Indian cities, deploy 2K+ charging points and have 4K+ daily active users (DAU) by FY23. It also targets an ARR of $150K in the current financial year.
In the long term, EroEV plans to set up 50K+ charging outlets and cater to 100K+ daily active users.
Esmito
EaaS For Commercial Vehicles
Battery-swapping is a popular option to keep EVs running minus range anxiety. But only a few solutions exist for goods and passenger vehicles like pickup trucks, three-wheeler cargo carriers or electric buses. Chennai-based Esmito is an early-mover in this space and provides IoT-powered EaaS (energy-as-a-service) for logistics companies and last-mile mobility players.
The startup sells Lithium-ion batteries for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers to end users and OEMs and runs battery-swapping stations using franchise and subscription models. It has also developed a centralised SaaS system for efficient management of EV charging, connecting drivers’ dashboards to charging stations.
Four-year-old Esmito claims to have done more than 10K battery swaps and operates around 520 charging stations across the country. It plans to maintain its growth momentum in the 2W and 3W charging space to push its revenue in FY23.
Falca Solutions
Tech Transforming Indian Farming
Farming in India is yet to see optimised production and better income generation. Fortunately, agritech startups like Falca Solutions are providing cutting-edge services to take Indian agriculture to the next level.
The Bengaluru startup has a phygital business model and offers high quality agri inputs, farm advisory services, marketplace connects, machine renting and warehousing across Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Its F-shop helps farmers procure farm inputs from 60+ manufacturers and choose from 950 SKUs. F-market enables the farming community to sell their outputs to 65+ corporate buyers. F-advisory offers personalised advisory services on call (best agri practices, crop maintenance, weather data, market prices and more). Again, F-hire is for renting farming machinery, and F-storage ensures reliable warehousing.
Falca says it has served more than 120K farmers since its launch in 2018, helped reduce production costs by 20% and increased production by 10%. As a result, farmers’ net income has gone up by 25%.
The agritech startup charges a markup on the goods and services and aims to grow its revenue nearly 4x in FY23 to INR 300 Cr.
Falca is working on private-label farm inputs and an in-house ERP called Falca Connect, scheduled to be launched in FY23. It also plans to integrate its call centre-style advisory services with WhatsApp, create a crop doctor tool and develop a crop quality analyser based on image processing. The agritech startup wants to reach 10 Indian states by 2025 and earn an annual revenue of INR 2,500 Cr.
Flebo
At-Home Diagnostics With Benefits Galore
Doorstep diagnostics are fast emerging as a go-to solution for people looking for convenience and quick results. But the results can take longer than expected, or documents may go missing, leading to stress and delayed medical treatment. So, Gurugram-based Flebo is looking to disrupt the system by offering a bunch of convenient options.
To begin with, people can book these tests online and select their preferred labs. They can schedule it at the time and place of their choice – it can be done at home or even in one’s office if the situation demands it.
Customers can compare the prices of more than 2,500 diagnostic tests/health packages from the marketplace-style web platform that features 80+ major labs.
Flebo also provides trained phlebotomists (for Covid testing), guarantees on-time sample pickups, uses bevel-tipped needles for patient safety and ensures safe transportation of temperature-sensitive samples in cold gel backpacks (developed in-house).
All reports will be available on Flebo, making it easy to access historical data. It charges commissions from lab partners and currently operates in the Delhi-NCR region. However, the medtech startup plans to expand into other metros by FY23.
Fuzen.io
The SaaS Enabler For Businesses
In a digital-first era, startups and legacy players adopt SaaS tools and systems for cost-effective and resource-lean business operations. But there is a problem of plenty. Finding the right setup from a wide range of solutions can take time, while developing everything in-house may not be viable for cash-strapped entrepreneurs.
Nashik-based Fuzen.io is building a no-code DevOps solution and a SaaS marketplace to bridge this gap. This will enable non-tech founders to assemble SaaS solutions as per their requirements and developers to build and sell applications via the marketplace.
A user has to sign in, create a project and choose a pre-designed template to start working. One can also develop a customised solution using the drag-and-drop feature of these web-based solutions. If a SaaS tool is available on Fuzen’s marketplace, users need to instal the same, pay the subscription fee and connect with the workflow to start using the tool.
As the SaaS builder is currently in private beta, users can only choose from pre-designed templates.
Fuzen aims to expand its user base to 100+ SaaS builders by FY23, besides adding a bouquet of services such as user analytics, visitor insights, content marketing, SEO and more. Once open to the public, the SaaS marketplace will charge a 15-25% commission on the subscription revenues earned by developers.
Investmint
Smart Solutions For Retail Investors
Retail investors in India are growing at a fast clip. But given their lack of in-depth knowledge of the financial markets – only 27% are financially literate compared to a global average of 33% – investment advisories are rapidly gaining traction.
Set up in January 2022, Bengaluru-based Investmint has a simple but critical value proposition. It clarifies short-term and long-term investment scenarios and offers several simulations to understand the nitty-gritty before actual investments.
One has to sign up on Investmint’s Android/iOS app to access its services. If the user has an investment portfolio, it can be linked to the simulations. Otherwise, the person can open an account with its partner brokerage firms.
The app features eight systematic and quantitative models to invest in concepts such as sector superstars, momentum investing, beat the index and more. After testing the simulations to understand what works best for one’s financial goals, the same can be replicated on the portfolio.
The app is currently in early access mode. Hence, its data-backed models and investment tools are free for its community of 1K+ retail investors. The startup is looking at a freemium model with subscription tiers and aims to get more than 250K members by 2025.
Karpine
Product Provenance Via Blockchain
Barcodes and holograms may not be adequate safeguards against fake products, as many online and offline shoppers have found. But the game changes when blockchain is brought into this mix. So, Bengaluru-based Karpine has introduced Web3-based anti-counterfeiting solutions for retail and an automated checkout system for brick-and-mortar stores.
To weed out counterfeits, the startup’s web platform uses IoT and blockchain to create a ‘digital twin’ for every physical product. It also generates a unique smart label for each item (similar to a product code). Any QR code/RFID/NFC reader can read the label online or offline (it is also stuck on a physical product) to track the product’s journey.
Additionally, a no-code plugin creates NFTs for limited-edition items directly from a brand’s catalogue to prevent online fraud. Brands can also develop loyalty board-style metaverses for these NFT usages.
The automated checkout is a two-click process aimed to improve the in-store experience. Here buyers can choose a product and swipe it on the machine for the ‘reader’ to view the digital code and authenticate it. Users can pay after product provenance is established beyond doubt.
Unlike the AI-powered checkout machines priced at around $100K, Karpine’s blockchain-based hardware costs about one-tenth.
The Bengaluru-based startup ran a pilot with a brand two months ago and currently works for fashion and luxury retail segments. It will charge companies per ‘digital twin’ and expand its client base in FY23.
Loopworm
A Sustainable Leap From Food Waste To Animal Feed
Commercial insect-farming to produce nutrient-rich animal feed (fishmeal, poultry feed, livestock and pet food) and soil fertilisers is still a niche segment in India. But early-mover startup Loopworm is bang on it, building multi-species insect-rearing units in partnership with smallholder farmers.
Started in 2019 by IIT-Roorkee alumni Ankit Alok Bagaria and Abhi Gawri, the Bengaluru-based business collects and uses food waste (post-consumer waste accounts for 50% of the total waste in India) for insect rearing. It is still in R&D mode but will soon develop animal feed products for B2B customers, mainly feed manufacturers.
Loopworm will sell four products – Loop-Meal (defatted insect protein concentrate), Loop-Oil (fat source for animal food), Loop-Grubs (feed for fish and birds) and Loop-Frass (soil fertiliser made of insect skins, droppings and fibres).
It plans to manufacture 2K tonnes of products per month by FY23 and 300K+ tonnes of insect protein and insect-based oil every month by 2030.
LXME
A Neobank Targeting Inclusivity
Mumbai-based LXME is a neobanking startup that taps into the middle-income segment and helps women control their finances better. The two-year-old startup was the brainchild of Harvard Business School graduate Priti Rathi Gupta who realised how the digital-only banking ecosystem fell short of financial inclusivity.
LXME offers the usual features of a neobank, investment and insurance products, financial planning calculators and financial literacy modules. It has recently introduced mutual fund-style child education plans and ventured into the personal loan segment.
The startup operates via its Apple and Android apps and charges commissions on all its products.
It claims cumulative downloads of more than 100K downloads as well as 30 Mn+ content views across a community of 4K+ women. It also plans to take the number of women on its platform to more than 10 Mn in the next five years.
MasterChow
Pepping Up Asian Cuisines
Most Indians love authentic gourmet dishes, especially the delicious varieties from all over Asia. Aware of this penchant for delectable Asian cuisines, F&B entrepreneurs Sidhanth Madan and Vidur Kataria opened New Delhi-based MasterChow in 2020.
The D2C startup offers 14 SKUs under three categories, including Asian stir-fry sauces, oils and ready-to-eat dips, to help home cooks quickly whip up restaurant-style dishes. The startup creates original recipes, uses natural ingredients and produces all condiments in-house in batches of 100K bottles.
Currently, MasterChow products are available on its website, major marketplaces and a number of kirana stores. But it plans to set up offline distribution in FY23 and eyes revenue of INR 25 Cr. The food brand aims to become a household name by 2025 and clock a 20x jump in revenue.
Neuron Energy
Powering Up The EV Future
In spite of an up-and-coming EV ecosystem in India and the government’s production-linked incentive schemes, EV battery startups are pretty few. However, childhood buddies Pratik Kamdar and Raj Shah quickly identified a huge opportunity in this segment and set up Neuron Energy in 2018 to reduce the country’s dependency on China.
The Mumbai-based startup makes lead-acid and Lithium-ion batteries for EV two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturers. Its sophisticated batteries feature a microprocessor-based battery management system to ensure constant output, quick charging, a longer cycle due to optimum utilisation and multiple safety layers.
Interestingly, Neuron is also the parent company of Adler, which makes battery-powered golf carts.
The startup sells more than 3K batteries a month and plans to scale up the monthly production to more than 20K by 2024. It will also expand into ancillary products such as chargers and charging stations across 24 cities and targets an annual revenue of INR 100 Cr by 2025.
Okulo Aerospace
UAVs For Smart Monitoring
Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones are now built in droves for mapping, surveying and aerial photography. However, Bengaluru-based Okulo Aerospace specialises in two varieties of surveillance drones – one to cater to enterprises and another to fulfil defence requirements.
Okulo’s long-endurance solar-EV hybrid drones and pseudo satellites (high-altitude unmanned aircraft) are patent-pending in India. Those developed for the defence forces will also feature military-grade intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. Once deployed, these UAVs will help with live target monitoring, quick decision-making based on real-time data and critical mission controls.
The startup is still in the pre-revenue stage but claims to have five prospective clients. Okulo will sell its UAVs to defence units and other customers and offer surveillance-as-a-service. It also plans to conduct test flights and get all necessary certifications by FY23.
Planify
A Marketplace For Founders And Funders
Raising funds for startups has become a daunting task with the onset of a funding winter. Investors, too, find it equally challenging to zero in on curated companies with good growth prospects. Hence, Gurugram-based Planify offers a marketplace-style investment platform that benefits both founders and funders.
Set up in 2021, the investment tech platform helps founders with personalised financial projections, pitch decks, investment decks, research reports, valuations and equity restructuring services. It also educates startup employees about ESOP programmes, helps determine the value of their ESOPs and enables ESOP liquidation when required.
For investors, it offers pre-IPO and secondary share sales in partnership with AIF distributors, mutual fund agents, stock brokers and more. All its revenue is generated through investment activities.
Planify claims it has 250 unlisted companies/startups on the marketplace and 10K+ investors. It plans to grow the number of investors to more than 50K by 2025.
Reevoy
Export Enabler For Fashion & Home Décor SMEs
Coming from textile business families, Ishan Dadhich and Mohit Agarwal had a fair idea about the difficulties encountered when exporting fashion and home décor items from India. So, the duo joined hands with fellow Drip Capital colleague Ankur Khetan to foray into this space with Reevoy.
Launched in 2020, the Mumbai-based export marketplace helps big brands in fashion and home décor space buy from small businesses across India and Bangladesh. Apart from finding quality exporters, Reevoy streamlines the entire production process (from concept to final quality checks) and purchases goods on credit from its 80+ partner factories across India and Bangladesh.
The B2B commerce startup currently caters to importers from the UAE and the UK. The latter can directly find the suppliers on the web-based platform and share design expectations with them. Otherwise, they can choose the products from Reevoy’s extensive catalogue. The startup uses 3D modelling for cost and TAT (turnaround time) estimates and ships the orders booked on the platform.
Reevoy says it has sold more than 1 Mn products and aims to sell another 2 Mn by FY23. It will also add 200+ factories and 40+ importers to its portfolio by that time.
Runo
Mobile CRM For End-To-End Call Management
Forget the age-old call centres or new-age, cloud-based CRMs. Hyderabad-based Runo has built a SIM-based mobile CRM solution with loads of features, making it both efficient and cost-effective.
In simple terms, a number is allotted to a registered company for seamlessly managing all telecalling processes, especially sales CRM. This can be a standalone system or connected to existing CRMs and cloud telephony operations.
Set up in 2018, Runo’s Android and iOS apps fulfil the requirements of a full-fledged CRM service suite, including outbound call management for sales and marketing, customer care, follow-up and callback notifications, contact database management and more. It tracks and records business calls, meetings, email messages and the live status of remote teams, as well as all other interactions between salespeople and prospects.
Businesses can also customise mobile CRM features as per requirements.
The startup is looking to expand globally and will enter the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the US markets in a phased manner.
Settl
Co-Living Makes A Comeback
The pandemic drove people away from offices and academic institutions for months, and co-living as a business model took a beating for more than two years. But Bengaluru-based Settl was foresighted enough to estimate the regrowth in the era of the hybrid workspace. (It would require people’s physical presence in a given location if not mandatory office attendance throughout the week). That was why former Nestaway executives Abhishek Tripathi, Bharath Bhaskar and Ashok Reddy went ahead with their co-living startup in 2020 when people huddled up at home.
Settl currently offers more than 1,500 beds across 30 properties.
The business model is simple. It pays (long-term) leasing fees to owners of fully furnished properties, manages renters’ onboarding and looks after maintenance and marketing.
Its earnings come from rents that cover housekeeping services, power and water bills, Wi-Fi charges and more. Settl property managers also organise events like parties and picnics to build an engaged community.
Currently, Settl properties are only available in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram and have 98% occupancy. But the startup plans to expand into three more cities, offer 3,500 beds and hit an annual revenue of INR 15 Cr in FY23. It targets more than 15K beds across 10 cities by 2025 and eyes INR 200 Cr in yearly revenue.
Strive
A Stock Exchange-Style NFT Marketplace
The Gurugram-based Web3 startup was launched in December 2021 to create a mass-level understanding of the new-age tech ecosystem. Within two months, it amassed more than 35K learners but pivoted to an NFT marketplace after noticing that part-ownership of NFT assets was a niche not explored much in India.
In mid-2022, Strive launched a multichain-compatible fractional NFT protocol, allowing NFT holders to sell part ownership of their collections. Interestingly, people can buy NFTs of physical collectables on this platform for as low as $1.
Additionally, users can launch NFT collections on multiple chains, buy NFT index fund tokens (mutual fund-style baskets for investments) and short NFT collections for better profit.
The startup charges a commission of 0.25-0.5% on NFT buying and selling and 10% for NFT minting when users launch their non-fungible tokens. It plans to introduce a native token called STRV, build a million-strong user base and hit an annual revenue of $5 Mn in FY23.
TeamInUp
An Intelligent Platform For Job-Talent Match
Hiring the wrong candidate is the worst nightmare of every business. So, Bengaluru-based Teaminup has developed a role recommendation engine based on behavioural analytics to bring together ambitious companies and talented candidates.
Employers can create projects/tasks on the startup’s mobile app or web-based platform and use its patent-pending psychometric solution to find ‘collaborators’ or hire team members with the desired skills and mindset.
Teaminup also has a database of 50K+ jobseekers who can search the platform to discover ideas, projects or events that match their interests, skills and comfort levels.
Since its launch in 2021, the startup has done paid pilots for a few large organisations. It has a pay-per-use model in place and eyes an ARR of $70K in FY23.
Tradyl
A Marketplace Pushing Sellers’ Growth
The world loves the creative excellence of Indian fashion and home décor items. But big gaps in the cross-border supply chain often hinder the global growth of local manufacturers. Shweta Agrawal noticed this during her stint with Flipkart and set up Tradyl to connect international retailers with Indian SMEs specialising in these verticals.
The social marketplace was launched in 2021, enabling global D2C brands, online sellers, digital labels and influencers-turned-entrepreneurs to communicate, procure and explore unique and stylish products online. On the sellers’ side, there are more than 50 small manufacturers and suppliers from Tirupur (Tamil Nadu), Panipat (Haryana), Surat, Jaipur, Delhi, Kolkata and other Indian cities.
Tradyl takes care of quality control, order placement, payment processing, customs clearance and logistics for buyers and sellers. It charges an undisclosed product margin from sellers and targets an annualised GMV of $1 Mn in FY23.
By 2025, the marketplace plans to onboard more than 1K buyers and 2K+ suppliers for selling desi products across international markets.
Unscript AI
Reducing Cart Abandonment With Re-Engagement
Ecommerce lacks the personal touch of brick-and-mortar retail, often leading to a high cart abandonment rate. So, IIT-Kharagpur alumnus Ritwika Chowdhury decided to leverage AI and communication technology to protect the business bottom line of online sellers. She set up unScript.AI in 2021 and onboarded cofounder Apurv Jain (also an IIT-KGP alumnus) in July this year.
The Bengaluru-based SaaS startup follows a three-pronged approach to re-engage with customers. When a shopper abandons the cart, it sends a personalised video as a product reminder. If they are first-time visitors, messages are mailed and retargeting videos are sent via WhatsApp to turn them into customers. It also offers a guided video shopping experience within a seller’s app.
In the backend, a seller needs to upload just one video and the product catalogue, and the AI tool clones the speaker’s face and voice for product-specific interactions.
The startup charges a fee per video and targets an ARR of $1 Mn in FY23. It will enter the US market within the next six months and the EU and other Southeast Asian countries by 2025.
VFLYX India
Driving Drone Adoption For Critical Use Cases
The drone ecosystem in India is still nascent, but Bengaluru-based VFLYX has already made its mark among the early movers. Founded in 2021, this startup builds UAVs for different use cases. These include agricultural ops (spraying and seeding), mining activities (surveying, inventory tracking, stockpile estimation and more), air cargo services, mapping, surveillance and inspection.
Approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), these drones have a maximum payload of 16 kg, can fly up to 50 minutes, have a battery capacity of 13,000 mAh and feature ultra HD cameras for video and pictures.
Revenue comes from selling and renting drones (drone-as-a-service) to logistics companies and other industry segments. The startup plans to push the sales of its heavy-lift drones to cater to top logistics players dealing in medical and ecommerce supplies.
VFLYX claims to be working on wireless charging of drones and drone pods to automate their operations further and ensure maximum convenience.
Wright Research
Automating Investment Intelligence For Retail Investors
Robo-advisors for ‘informed’ investment decisions are not exactly new. But with the number of retail investors skyrocketing and many people lacking in-depth financial knowledge, more fintech startups need to enter this space for easy enablement at pocket-friendly charges.
Set up in 2019, SEBI-registered robo-advisory Wright Research does just that with the help of its web-based investment intelligence solutions. The startup offers portfolio strategies designed on market movements, risk modelling, AI-driven performance forecasting and its research team’s financial expertise.
These strategies are built on a data-driven approach, quantitative themes such as momentum, value and growth, and additional factors like analyst expectations and institutional holdings.
When users sign up for the investment tech firm’s subscription-based services, they have to build their risk profiles on the platform. Curated portfolios will be created accordingly to take the investments forward.
Mumbai-based Wright Research says it has already onboarded 40K+ retail investors and has close to INR 200 Cr assets under its advisory ambit. It eyes an annual revenue of INR 3.5 Cr in FY23 and plans to get a PMS (portfolio management service) licence this year to work with HNIs and institutional investors.
YOHO
A Footwear Brand Blending Comfort With Style
Footwear brands are plentiful in the market. But finding trendy yet comfortable shoes could be difficult, as former 1mg executive Prateek Singhal realised early on in his life. When he met ex-Paytm executive Ahmad Hushsham, the latter was already selling shoes offline. By then, the rise of direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands in India intrigued both and led to the launch of Yoho in 2021.
The startup has worked with orthopaedics and polymer scientists to create a range of 50+ slippers under three categories – Wave, Bubbles and Breeze. All of them are lightweight, supported with cushioned padding and comply with global standards. Design and quality testing are done in-house, but the products are made in partnership with several white-label manufacturers.
Yoho sells its slippers through its website and ecommerce marketplaces, besides supplying to a few B2B clients. It also claims that its revenue is growing 60% month on month. The New Delhi-based startup plans to launch a collection of shoes by 2025 and aims to go global with its new range.
Zenskar
Solutions Tailored For SaaS Billing
SaaS solution providers have been on a roll since the pandemic as the world, and its businesses, have gone digital-first. But are they earning as much?
Most SaaS companies do high-volume and cross-border transactions and offer a multi-tiered product mix, including upselling and cross-selling, upgrades and downgrades. Done manually, this will gobble up time and resources and may lead to miscalculations and costly revenue gaps.
To help SaaS firms with the right billing solutions, Bengaluru-based Zenskar has developed a web tool with a drag-and-drop interface for easy configuration of deal structures and pricing based on usage, subscription models, discounts, credits and multicurrency payments. Moreover, it works for various SaaS stacks like CRM and ERP.
Besides bill processing, the startup automates accounting, streamlines receivables management workflow and provides billing analytics.
Zenskar charges a subscription fee and has worked with just one company since its launch in March this year. However, it claims that 12 more clients are on the waitlist, and they will be onboarded by 2023.
[Edited By Sanghamitra Mandal]
