Indian Startup Hubs: 31 Hyderabad Startups To Look Out For

City of Pearls and City of Nizams, Hyderabad is home to a number of startups. The city of pearls is home to 560 startups, according to AngelList. The city has advocated an exponential growth in number of startups. As a part of our Indian Startup Hubs Series, we bring to you the list of some amazing Hyderabad-based growth stage startups that are doing exponentially great.

Here is a list of startups that have raised their initial seed round upto Series A. 

Nowfloats

Founder (s): Jasminder Singh Gulati, Nitin Jain

Founded In: 2012

Funding: Series A funding from Omidyar Network, Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and Hyderabad Angels in February 2015; Undisclosed amount in seed funding in June 2013 from Hyderabad Angels, Mumbai Angels, Blume Ventures

Nowfloats focuses on helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) create an online presence through a basic SMS. Its flagship products Now-Floats Lighthouse and Now-Floats Wildfire help in automating organic and inorganic discovery across customer segments. The company claims process over 30 million touch-points every month with customers updating their sites half a million times and has over 33,000 customers.

FlatPebble

Founder(s): Venkatesh Seshadri, Pranav Mehta

Founded In: April 2012

Funding: Undisclosed amount in angel funding from tech investor Raghu Bathina, Lax Gopisetty of Hyderabad Angels, Ram Jayam and Sitaram Banda.

FlatPebble is a marketplace for finding and hiring wedding photographers.Apart from this the company lets users hire photographers for any other occasion as well.The company graduated from Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in 2014. It also raised a seed round earlier and is already across 80 Indian cities and 5 countries. Tech investor Raghu Bathina, Lax Gopisetty of Hyderabad Angels, Ram Jayam & Sitaram Banda participated in the seed round. The company claims that it has over 1000 packages suiting a wide array of budgets.

Wazzat Labs

Founder(s): Jay Guru Panda, Naveen Sinha

Founded In: May 2014

Funding: $30K in Seed round from Target Accelerator in October 2014.

Wazzat is an innovative online platform that which enables a totally different searching experience. It is a visual search engine which lets users input images while online search to find similar products. Have a photograph and want to know where to buy it from? Log in to Wazzat and upload the image which will give results of similar objects. The company now focuses more on apparels.

TalentSprint

Founder(s): J.A Chowdary, Santanu Paul, Madhu Murty Ronanki

Founded In: 2008

Funding: $4Mn in Series A From Nexus Venture Partners in April 2012.

TalentSprint, a skill development and talent management company got acquired by Bangalore-based Java Learning Center (JLC), a company offering advanced programming courses in Java for an undisclosed amount. The company’s mandate is to create 500,000 new IT and Banking professionals by 2020. Formed in 2009, the company is backed by the National Skill Development Corporation.

Zippr

Founder(s): Aditya Vuchi

Founded In: November 2013

Funding: $982K in Seed Funding From Indian Angel Network in October 2014.

Zipper lets users shorten their address into short codes which can be shared in form of links. The app is a central location ,management service that enables users to create and share short codes with friends or vendors to avoid low value conversations around finding an address. Alle the user has to do is to add location tile on the app and save your current location or any other required location which can be shared via SMS, mail or whatsapp.

Ducere Technologies

Founder(s): Anirudh Sharma, Krispian Lawrence

Founded In: 2011

Funding: $2Mn Funding From Angel Investors in November 2013.

Wearable technologies are the new trendsetters. There is Google Glass to be worn on eyes and there is Fin which is a wearable ring and here is a shoe which helps you to navigate. Lechal by Ducere Technologies, creates a hands-free navigation system through feet, guiding the wearer towards their destination through simple vibrations in their shoes or insoles.Apart from its navigation function it also counts your steps and track your calories burnt.

HelloCurry

Founder(s): Raju Bhupati

Founded In: 2014

Funding: $500K in Seed Round From SRI Investors in March 2014

Hello Curry is a Hyderabad based quick service restaurant chain (QSR) specializing in Indian cuisine. The company recently acquired cloud and mobile-based POS (points of sale) systems startup Fire42 for an undisclosed amount in a stock cum cash deal. The company  claims to be the only food chain serving Indian cuisine in a fast food format offering features like taste before order and pay by weight. The fast growing startup in the food space is fundamentally a home delivery brand which only has a brick and mortar outlet in Hyderabad. According to Hello Curry, it gets 800 to 1,000 orders a day which is growing at 25 to 30 percent month-on-month basis.

Shop Pirate

Founder(s): Kulpreet Kaur, Suresh Kumar

Founded In: July 2013

Funding: Raised $83.1K in Seed Round from Confidance Holding Pvt. Ltd. in June 2014

The startup offers deals and coupons to its customers, from over 350+ brands including Yatra.com, Firstcry, Flipkart, Jabong etc. The entire engagement works on a commission model; it gets commission for every purchase. In general, coupon websites have been widely used by a number of online retailers as a marketing platform, as there is no cost required. Also, users can submit coupons and deals they find from other sources and upload on the website.

EVaidya

Founder(s):  Jayadeep Reddy, Ram Prabhu

Founded In: 2011

Funding: $560K in Seed Round From Venkat Vallabhaneni in February 2014

eVaidya provides both online and offline healthcare. The company is specialized in providing healthcare solutions through advanced telemedicine technology. Its dedicated 24/7 telemedicine service that includes doctor consultation over the phone and online consultation (video conference, chat or e-mail) provides an interface between patients and doctors / specialists.

As per the website, it has over 40000+ registered Customers and 500+ panel Doctors across India. The company has also a mobile app for Android, iPhone and Windows Smartphones.

Ziffi

Founder(s): Keerthi Kiran Chennupati & Pushkar Soni

Founded In: February 2010

Funding: $2.4Mn in Series A from Orios Venture Partners in September 2014.

Ziffi  is a platform that allows users to book appointments with doctors, salons and other health and wellness related services. The company has expanded its reach recently, now boasting of over 30,000 service providers. The android app has over 50K downloads and boasts a user base of 1Mn users. Not only this, the app also has a navigation feature to track the fastest route.

Zify

Founder(s): Anurag Rathore, Pramod Kumar

Founded In: June 2014

Funding: $16.6K in Seed Round From The IIIT-H Foundation, Hyderabad angels and SOSventures in May 2014. $25K in another seed round in December 2014.

Zify is a web & mobile enabled dynamic ride-sharing service. It’s a social platform connecting car-owners with passengers who are looking for a comfortable and affordable ride alternative for their daily commute. The app lets users go cashless and at the same time offer with easy to use carpooling. It also hosts safety features where user profiles are validated first before they are listed on the platform.

MyDreamStore

Founder(s):Karthik Venkat

Founded in: 2014

Funding: $300k Angel funding

Mydreamstore takes social commerce to a whole new level and makes the process of selling merchandise easy and economical, by allowing anyone to sell merchandise without upfront costs, production, logistics or managing inventory and get paid immediately. Designers, i.e campaign creators design and market the product themselves. Buyers pre-order their products online on the campaign page. In exchange, My Dream Store fulfils the orders on campaigns that have reached their sales goal, and ships the products to the buyers. The marketplace caters to designer/artist, school/college groups, online communities, NGOs and music bands. Artists from NIFT, NID and social organisations like CRY sell their merchandise on the platform.

DoctorC

Founder(s): Mansi Gandhi, Karan Kurani, Manya Cherabuddi, Neehar Cherabuddi

Founded in: 2012

Funding: $410K from Andy Keidel, Anil Dharni, Ram Gudavalli.

With every passing day, the advent of new and complicated diseases propels the prices of healthcare facilities skywards, making medical tests more cumbersome and lengthy. DoctorC, a tech company tries to simplify all that with a mobile and internet application that brings transparency in medical testing and creates a level playing field in laboratory testing. consumers can compare prices and quality across various diagnostic centers in the city and book appointments. Local information about healthcare providers and services which help consumers make educated choices is also provided. Besides helping consumers, the company uses core technology strength to help healthcare providers make data driven business decisions and get closer to the needs of their customers.

Renderlogy

Founder(s): Shailesh Goswami

Founded In: 2014

Funding: Raised $1Mn from Astarc Ventures in May 2015; $1.5 Mn (INR 10 Cr.) from Brick Eagle in Series A round of funding in February 2015.

The startup offers technology enabled experiences, visualisations and solutions for the builders, suppliers and consumers. It has also developed in-house, a patent-pending ‘Interiors definition technology’ based on which it is planning to launch a B2C (business-to-customer) interior designing portal on 1st July 2015 and is exploring tie-ups with vendors for the same. The idea behind the startup is to  offer customers automated interior designing using the portal, and then execute them using their own execution capability.

MeraEvents

Founder(s): Chennapanaidu Darapaneni

Founded In: 2009

Funding: Raised $1Mn in Venture Funding From OMICS International in June 2014.

MeraEvents is an event listing, promotion and ticketing platform that connects  organizers, delegates, and service providers from across the country. It offers event organisers with numerous options like listing, promotions, online ticketing, etc. The platform adds over 1000-1500 events per month across various categories including Professional, Entertainment, Sports, Training, Spiritual, Campus, Trade Shows, etc.

MapMyGenome

Founder(s): Anu Acharya

Founded In: 2011

Funding: Raised $1.1Mn in Seed Funding from Rajan Anandan, Sarah Dhar, Meera Kaul, Aarti Grover in March 2015.

Mapmygenome uses state-of-the-art technology to decode and understand an individual’s DNA and provides actionable steps for individuals and their physicians towards a healthier life. It offers plethora of mapping tests  such as Genomepatri, Cardiomap, Oncomap, Gynaecmap, Brainmap. All these mappings make a user aware of his/her body on a fundamental level and assists in making decisions accordingly. Company believes that wellness is in our DNA and everybody has a separate action plan based on their DNA.

AppVirality

Founder(s):Ram Papineni, Laxman Papineni

Founded in: 2014

Funding:$ 465k Seed funding from TNN Capital, Mohit Saxena, Rajan Anandan, Ashim Mehra, Ravi Gururaj, Mike Galgon, India Internet Group

A plug and play growth hacking toolkit for mobile apps, AppVirality helps app developers in identifying and implementing the right growth techniques. It has introduced a number of growth hacks, such as in-app referrals. A developer can makes changes in his app’s referral program, by noting it on the AppVirality dashboard and clicking the publish button. The changes are reflected on the app user’s mobile screen immediately. Another growth hack gives incentives to customers to share their experiences with friends on social media. AppVirality is registered in Delaware and is based on a slab-based pricing model.

NumberMall

Founder(s): Kiran Kumar Gali, Kishore Kumar Gali, Nirmala Jyothi

Founded In: February 2011

Funding: $10Mn in Seed Round from SRI Capital in January 2015.

NumberMall offers online services for bill payment and ticketing in association with small retailers. The startup acts like a revenue-generation platform for merchants, by using it, merchants could earn additional revenues by offering value added services such as bill payment, data cards and phone recharges to their customers.

VioletStreet

Founder(s): Nayan Kumar, Ankur Gupta

Founded in: November 2013

Funding: $315k Angel funding from Sudhakar Reddy, Bank of America, Venkat Vallabhaneni; Previously it had raised INR 10 Lakh in a TiE Smashup event held in May, 2014.

With an exponential growth in smartphone penetration in India, social commerce platforms have increased manifold. VioletStreet is such a social network for the regular consumer and the obsessed shopaholic. Being a fashion aggregator cum social shopping portal, the user can create looks, shop along with friends, take feedback & make better purchasing decisions,  real-time. Violet Street gives myriad options to buy clothes and accessories to its users.

CustomFurnish

Founder(s): Madhukar Gangadi

Founded In: 2015

Funding: $2.5 Mn In Seed Funding From Srini Koppolu, Srini Raju and Satish Reddy in March 2015.

Customfurnish provides user with custom-made furniture. It has a designing tool  that helps the users in designing their furniture and review the same at real time and get them delivered and installed faster than it takes offline. The company’s aim is to remove the constraints of catalogue based model of selling and replace it with an interactive approach that allows an almost infinite choice of designs. The company’s offerings include modular kitchens, wardrobes, entertainment units, other fitted furniture for the home along with sofa sets.

BookMEDS

Founder(s): Mohammed Abubakr

Founded In: 2014

Funding: $100K in Angel Funding from Fabella Singapore Pvt Ltd in December 2014.

BookMEDS is revolutionising the whole experience of standing in a line at a medical shop and getting your order filled by someone who may not have even passed high school is about to change. The company enables its customers to order prescriptive and non-prescriptive medicines as well as surgical & medical products. The company has plans to expand to other cities in the country as well.

PlayJect

Founder(s): Srikanth Kumar Kota

Founded In: 2013

Funding: Undisclosed amount in Angel Funding from Nickell Reddy in December 2014.

Experiential learning goes a long way when it’s done right. Playject is an experiential learning and assessment platform which does the same. It simulates work experiences that are based on real life complex situations. It is designed based on the principles of discovery learning, gamification, experiential learning in a virtual environment. The platform provides various skill enhancing games and simulations designed to provide superior learning capabilities.

MySmartPrice

Founder(s):Sitakanta Ray and Sulakshan Kumar

Founded in: September 2010

Funding: $ 1 Mn Series A from Accel Venture Partners, Helion Venture Partners.

Another social commerce platform that help users make informed buying decisions, Mysmartprice offers a wide array of categories such as Mobiles, Electronics, Computers, Fashion and Lifestyle, Cameras, Books, Appliances and Personal Care. The price comparison engine enables finding the best price, and deals and offers from e-commerce stores in India. Mysmartprice also offers offline price comparison service for mobile stores in its home city for which it tied up with over 300 offline mobile stores in Hyderabad and Secunderabad including Sangeetha Mobiles, The Mobile Store, Big C, Yes Mart, RSG, etc.

EkinCare

Founder(s): Kiran Kalakuntla

Founded in: 2014

Funding: $300 Thousand Seed Funding from Adroitent, BitChemy Ventures.

Healthcare facilities have grown by leaps and bounds. Paving the way for the cloud in healthcare is ekincare, an online platform that enables users to monitor critical medical data and view it anytime, anywhere. The information is relayed to health care experts, who, then, assess the info and inform about potential risks and measures to mitigate them. The service is currently available for free, in Beta and has also launched an eKincare app to make it easy to digitise existing physical copies of users’ medical records.

GrabOn

Founder(s): Ashok Reddy

Founded In: July 2013

Funding: Raised $250K in Seed Round in November 2014.

Online spending is done often with a notion to save a couple hundred bucks but seldom happens the same. That’s where coupons jump in to offer lucrative deals so that users can get some sort of cashback, offers or deals of some sort. Grabon is one such coupon aggregator which provides coupons from online merchants and tailor-made it to provide consumers with easy-to-use solution.

Now comes this list of startups that haven’t raised any funding yet but are doing amazing job. (This is based on traction)

Paynear

Founder(s): Priti Shah, Anil Bharadwaj, Maulik Shah, Prabhu Ram

Founded In: September 2013

Funding: The startup is said to be closing $10 Mn in funding soon.

Paynear is a payment solution provider, enabling individuals & businesses of all sizes to easily manage their payment activities. It’s omni-channel package consists of mPOS solution, CRM and payment gateway; designed to simplify payment processing and complement the mPOS ecosystem. Company’s innovative & reliable payment solutions provide a secure & streamlined customer experience irrespective of the channel. The company is currently operating in Mumbai, Chennai, Begaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Salem among others.

iPay

Founder(s): Krishna Lakamsani

Founded In: 2012

Funding:  N/A

iPay – Empowering Commoner with Ecommerce – as the tagline goes, the startup is looking to bring the next generation technology to help minimize the gap between E-merchants and Shoppers as not everyone in India likes to shop online using their credit card. iPay currently lists over 6,000 products across 19 categories, which include goods such as mobile accessories, apparel, footwear and fashion accessories as well as travel tickets and insurance via its platform. It is processing $1.2 as GMV / month and growing at 24% month on month, iPay’s every single order sold through customised Android Kiosk placed at 4190+ neighbourhood stores. At present iPay acquires and serves new customers every 4 seconds on the clock. As of now it has acquired and served 2.9 million customers. Every customer bought some thing on iPay’s platform for 3 times since last 14 months making it 8.79 Million transactions.

LearnSocial

Founder(s): Raju Vanapala

Founded In: 2014

Funding: N/A

LearnSocial is an open learning platform that makes every individual a Learner and Trainer at the same time. The startup helps in stepping up in your career, creates a new passion or a hobby; basically helps you discover the best courses to align with your learning needs.

Brthe

Founder(s): Ravneet Singh

Founded In: 2014

Funding:  N/A

Brthe is a online shopping companion rolled into a browser extension. Since availing services at the best is very treacherous and time consuming, Brthe simplifies it by automating the entire process to take you from your order to checkout and takes care of all the intermediate layers and discounts. It stores your details and fills them wherever necessary to save you the trouble. It’s the easiest way to get the best price depending upon your preferences. The startup had won AngelHack Hyderabad, part of AngelHack Global Demo Day in San Francisco.

Imaginate Technology

Founder(s): Hemanth Satyanarayana

Founded In: 2011

Funding: N/A

Imaginate provides services and develops custom products in Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality based technology enterprise, that offers innovative visualization products and services. It enhances the consumer’s experience of reality. Through its strong and proven technology expertise, it offers experiential solutions in the fields of retail, defense,entertainment and healthcare sectors. The startup has also won World Economic Forum NEXT B2B startup award in Germany.

City of Hyderabad also has startups like Martmobi, Cab on click, Martjack which did amazingly great and got an exit.

[Editor’s Note: Don’t worry if we missed out on your startup, we will keep on updating the list.]

Stay tuned for the list of ecosystem builders of Hyderabad. 

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This is part of our special series, In Focus: Indian Startup Hubs, in which we highlight the numerous established as well as upcoming startup hubs in the Indian Tech Ecosystem!  

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