“Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.”
– Jack Dorsey, Twitter Co-founder
Pitching itself on the maps of Hyderabad, post the legendary Charminar, T-hub is a unique Public-Private sector partnership between the Government of Telangana, three of India’s leading academic institutes (IIT-Hyderabad, ISB and Nalsar) and the private sector.
It is that cross-road that brings together Start-up, academic, corporate, research and government sectors together, catalyzing innovation.
With an area of 70,000 Square feet and futuristic infrastructure, capturing the vibrant energies that startups bring in, T-Hub is home to 300-400 startups and is still counting. Marking its 1st anniversary last year, it announced its second phase of expansion, which is expected to spread over 3, 50,000 square feet and receive an investment of Rs. 180 Crore.
Down the path to its enormous growth, it is in the process of creating a technology-driven “Sandbox” that would enable startups access super computers, which otherwise is available only at the giant corporates.
Major Strategic and Corporate partnerships announced include:
- PwC Innovation Hub Partnership:
PwC has partnered with T-Hub to create an innovation Hub to support and mentor startups. This innovation hub will give startups access to PwC clients spread across the Globe. - Carnegie’s Policy Hub within T- Hub:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, India, a public policy think-tank, has partnered with T-Hub to create a ‘Policy Incubator’. The focus of this ‘Policy Incubator’ is to guide startups through the regulatory and policy implications of innovation.
For more details visit:www.t-hub.co
Inter-company deposits (ICDs) represent money lent from one corporate to the other for meeting short term requirement of funds. ICDs are raised for a time period of six months. Whereas, on the other hand, redeemable preference shares can be issued for a maximum period of 20 years subjected to the provision of articles of the Company.
Company can opt for redeemable preference shares over ICDs for enjoying the benefit of usage of such funds for a longer period of time rather than just meeting working capital requirements for a shorter period of six months. Moreover, it is difficult to raise money through ICDs due to a limited market for such availability of funds which is restricted to a limit of 50% of net owned funds of the company. The interest rates (around 10%-18%) of ICDs are higher than the bank rates as well as commercial deposit because such deposits are unrated and unsecured leading to higher risk to the lending company. Moreover, the ICD market is not well organized with very little information available in the public domain.
The Start-up can opt for ICDs over redeemable preference shares if the motive is to raise funds for a shorter period, as transaction with such deposits is free from any bureaucratic and legal hassles against meeting of requirements of Companies Act, 2013 requiring resolution of shareholders for issue of redeemable preference shares. Moreover, Start-ups with good credit rating can hold an additional advantage of borrowing through such deposits offering more liquidity to the investor.
Unlike redeemable preference shares, the company can opt for ICDs with a call/put option having periodic call/put option exercisable after a pre-specified lock in period. In such case, the investor has an option of investment in such ICDs considering the interest rates scenario in the market.
The Companies Act, 2013 lay restrictions on issue and redemption of preference shares. The redemption of the redeemable preference shares shall be only done out of the profits of the company which would otherwise be available for dividend or out of the proceeds of fresh issue of shares for such redemption.
Accordingly, the considering factors such as credit rating, the period of funds required, urgency for such requirement, ease of availability etc., a startup has to weigh such options and decide the mode for raising funds for operations.
| Name | Website | Sector | Type | Amount - USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billion Loans | http://www.billionloans.com/ | Peer to Peer Lending platform | Seed Funding | 1000000 |
| Ecolibriumenergy | http://ecolibriumenergy.com/ | Energy management solutions provider | Private Equity | 2600000 |
| Droom | http://droom.in/ | Online marketplace for automobile | Private Equity | 20000000 |
| Jumbotail | http://jumbotail.com/ | online marketplace for food and grocery | Private Equity | 8500000 |
| Moglix | http://www.moglix.com/ | B2B marketplace for Industrial products | Private Equity | 12000000 |
| Timesaverz | https://www.timesaverz.com/ | Hyperlocal home services provider | Private Equity | 1000000 |
| Minjar | http://www.minjar.com/ | Cloud Solutions provider | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| MyCity4kids | https://www.mycity4kids.com/ | parenting blog and kids’ events discovery platform | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Upwardly.in | https://www.upwardly.in/ | MF investment platform | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Autorox.co | http://www.autorox.co/ | Workshop Management Software Platform | Private Equity | 3000000 |
| Fabogo | https://www.fabogo.com/ | Salon & Spa Aggregation & Discovery platform | Private Equity | 2250000 |
| Flickstree | https://www.flickstree.com/ | Video Content Discovery Platform | Seed Funding | 464000 |
| Design Cafe | https://designcafe.xyz/ | Online Interior Design platform | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Innoviti | https://innoviti.com/ | Digital payments solutions | Private Equity | 18500000 |
| VDeliver | http://vdeliver.in/ | Door Step Delivery platform | Private Equity | Undisclosed |
| Bottr.me | https://bottr.me/ | Chatbot creation tool | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Arcatron | http://arcatron.com/ | Next Gen Mobility device manufacturer | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| QwikSpec | http://qwikspec.com/ | Construction site operations and analytics platform | Seed Funding | 540000 |
| Chumbak | https://www.chumbak.com/ | Designer consumer products Marketplace | Private Equity | 1700000 |
| Increff | http://www.increff.com/ | Sales Solutions for Fashion Brands | Seed Funding | 2000000 |
| Vayana | http://www.vayana.in/ | Enterprise Banking Solutions | Private Equity | 4000000 |
| MObiquest | http://mobiquest.net/ | Mobile Services & Solutions | Private Equity | Undisclosed |
| Ambee | http://www.goambee.com/ | Ambulance Aggregation Services | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Ideal Insurance | http://www.idealinsurance.in/ | Online Insurance platform | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Hypernova Interactive | http://hninteractive.com/ | Mobile games creator | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Rentomojo | http://rentomojo.com/ | Consumer Leasing Platform | Private Equity | 10000000 |
| AirCTO | https://aircto.com/ | AI powered recruitment platform | Seed Funding | Undisclosed |
| Playablo | https://www.playablo.com/ | Gamified Learning App | Seed Funding | 600000 |
| Trupay | https://trupay.in/ | Online payments platform | Seed Funding | 700000 |
| Aug 07 | Aug 10 | Aug 15 | Aug 20 | Aug 21 | Aug 31 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payment of TDS/TCS | Professional tax payment | Service Tax return | Professional Tax return | ESI Payment | Professional Tax (Kerala) |
| Provident Fund Payment | GTR -3B |
Aug 08, 2017: Vodafone Innovative Program for Startups, by 91Springboard, Gurgaon, Delhi
Decoding the core of any business-Analytics, Vodafone invites Healthcare, Hospitality, AI, Manufacturing, Fin-Tech and Tech Startups to partner with Vodafone, reaching out to a wider audience for growth. Vodafone brings to you a platform for some intense brain storming on how to enable and sustain fast paced growth, current scenario, emerging trends and challenges involved.
Venue: 91springboard Sector 18, Faridabad.
Aug 12, 2017: Startup Saturday-Impact of GST on Startups, Delhi
We rank third globally with over 4200 startups and the numbers are set to increase in the near future. This sector employs nearly 85000 professionals, stimulating the growth of Indian economy. While the startup boom is in full flow, the roll out of GST last month has left one with thousand questions in the mind. Figure out if GST is a boon or a bane for your startup at Startup Saturday.
Venue: Amazon Internet Services (AWS), Salcon Ras Vilas, South Delhi.
Aug 26, 2017: StartHack: Learn all about Entrepreneurship-Student Special, Bangalore
Most successful businessman today were students when they started their entrepreneur journey. Be it Bill Gates, Larry Page, Sergey Bin or Mark Zuckerberg. However, it is no cake walk to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship has its own ups and downs. It is important that we know the hacks to build a successful company and that’s what starthack is all about. It is a 6 days program conducted over 3-weekends by Startup Mentors that gives you an insight into all you need to be the entrepreneur. 6days, 8 Topics, Ideas, learning on real-time startups, mentorship from industry experts and awards.
Registration closes on 10th August’2017. For further details, visit: https://www.eventshigh.com/detail/Bangalore
Venue: Green Bubbles Startup Services Private Limited, South Bangalore.
Still in its infant stage, the Start-up eco-system in Malaysia is slowly growing and starting to show potential. It has come a long way from how things used to be previously. Malaysia was declared the second-best location for internet start-ups globally, after Beijing.
Its growth can be largely attributed to the efforts made by MDEC (Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation) and MaGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Center).
A startup journey is both rewarding and challenging, realizing the fact, MDEC introduced Malaysia Digital Hub, an initiative supporting tech. and digital co-working spaces. Malaysia digital hub brings to ambitious entrepreneurs an ocean of opportunities for global expansion, ready access to high-speed broadband, fiber-optic-connectivity, funding and a holistic lifestyle. While, on the other side, MaGIC brings together the private sector, finance providers, universities and government agencies by providing end-to-end support to entrepreneurs. MaGIC creates unprecedented value by orchestrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Malaysia through a 1-stop center that offers entrepreneurs hands-on training, mentoring, co-working spaces and tailored support. This relatively low-cost approach will help the nation attract creative domestic and international entrepreneurial talent who will launch high growth startups and position Malaysia as the regional hub of entrepreneurial activity.
Few notable startups in Malaysia are:
• BookDoc– As the name says it all, bookdoc is an online platform connecting users with healthcare providers. Not only does it offer a platform for individuals to book appoints, but also enables firms manage their employee’s healthcare and medical benefits.
• PostCo– Having your online orders delivered to home or work is not always an option for travelers and professional on the go throughout the day. Postco offers its users pick up their orders on the go at a variety of pickup points.
• Iflix-South Asia’s version of the populous Netflix, iflix offers high quality video streaming services. It offers both Western favorites as well as local content. It currently serves the Malaysia, Philippines and the Thailand markets.
• YouthsToday– Giving wings to a million dreams, YouthsToday is a sponsorship and event matching platform that enables youth get support for their projects in areas of entrepreneurship, technology and creative arts. Over 50 corporate brands-Maybank, AirAsia, and Sony to name a few, look forward to connect with millions of youth through student projects and events.
Ritesh Agarwal, with his common-man qualities, isn’t easy to find in the common crowd. But mind you, this is the look of the founder who puts in 16 hours a day to make his dream come true.
His Journey began at a young age of 12 years, when he fidgeted with the computers, looking for opportunities to make mistakes, so that he could learn new things. Doing so, he discovered his love for software. Interestingly, he started coding at the age of 15, when he made up his mind, to take up coding for a living.
Dropping out of College at the age of 17, he moved to Delhi in 2011, with the intentions of starting up something of his own. He felt that budget hotels in India, did not even meet the basic needs of a traveler. Not letting this opportunity of his hands, he started his first venture in 2012- Oravel Stays, an aggregator of bed and breakfast stays across India.
At age of 20, he presented his idea at the Thiel fellowship-A Global contest intended for students under the age of 20, where he grabbed a position among the top 10 winners and received a sum of 1,00,0004$, however, Oravel stays failed to attain sustainable growth and eventually had to be shut down.
Transformation to OYO Rooms:
That’s when the mastermind behind this startup went into thinking mode and realized the pain of travelers- Finding a good, affordable and most importantly “available” hotel stay, recollecting his own struggles while traveling. This motivated him again, to create an online yet a social community to bring together information about all the good places together on to one platform.
And as last resort Ritesh presented his present model and in 2013 re-launched Oravel as “OYO Rooms”. To ensure the hotels met their expectations, OYO rooms reached out to the prospective hotels, visiting the hotels and audit the hotels to understand the changes to be carried out to meet the standards set by OYO. This time they ensured they left no stone unturned and playing safe, tied up with a dozen hotels, offering rooms to their customers with the help of the hotels. Eventually, their team grew from a team of two fifteen and then to twenty-five, scaling success with 350+ hotels and more than 70,000 rooms across 200 cities.
