Sayan Ghosh, a former World Bank officer, has launched Ortella Global Capital (OG Capital), a new venture capital (VC) fund worth INR 300 crore (about $36 million), which would work with creators to co-build firms. The fund would distribute cheques of up to INR 15 crore ($2 million) apiece and intends to invest in over 20 early and growth stage firms in the consumer and “enterprise solutions” sectors.
OG Capital said in a statement that it has already invested in three firms. It lacked particular information about these startups, though. In addition to providing funding, OG Capital intends to support startups by adding them to its portfolio and assisting with business expansion.
Created Largest Early-Stage Investment Team in Indi
OG Capital asserts that it has put together the biggest team of early-stage investors in India, which includes seasoned founders and operators. Scaling startups, determining product-market fit, increasing profitability, developing go-to-market strategies, and facilitating high-value exits are just a few of the areas in which the team specialises.
The goal of OG Capital is to transform early-stage investing by doing more than just writing cheques. In order to assist creators in facing the major obstacles head-on and creating organisations that are meaningful, successful, and have rapid growth, Ghosh stated. He further elaborated that the company believes in getting its hands dirty by supporting startups right from the start. The venture capital business stated that it will promote projects that prioritise gender diversity, sustainability, and grassroots effect in an effort to generate 10X returns. The schedule for closing the fund and deploying it, however, was unclear.
India’s Startup Ecosystem
A spirit of entrepreneurship is in the air! With the number of tech companies in India reaching 122,000 to date, with a peak of over 16,000 new additions in 2020, the country has solidified its position as a major global centre for innovation and businesses. In the past ten years, India has seen an unprecedented surge in the creation and funding of startups.
The financial landscape has also changed significantly, with the largest levels of investment over the last 10 years occurring in 2020 and 2021. Despite the challenges in the funding landscape in 2023, venture capitalists, private equity firms, angel investors, and investment firms have shown a surprising level of faith in Indian entrepreneurs. The investment scenario—from both Indian and foreign investors—has been positive and demonstrates resilience in the face of market concerns, with total funding of $8.4 billion in India in 2023.
From 2014 to 2023, a number of factors, including government initiatives, digitisation, and rising internet usage, drove the expansion of India’s top-funded industries. According to the Tracxn research, these industries include Edtech, Retail, Enterprise Applications, Fintech, Transportation & Logistics, Food & Agriculture, Auto, and Travel & Hospitality.
With a total funding of $6.73 billion throughout the years and $6.23 billion in just ten years, Indian investment in the Deep Tech (R&D orientated) industry has been growing consistently, demonstrating the nation’s dedication to science and technology and its continuous expansion. This pattern highlights how crucial technology-driven innovation is to determining India’s future.
Startups are continuously making noise in every field and India has become the hub of startups. Fintech, digital marketing, cryptocurrency and so many companies related to other industries are now creating buzz all around. Among them Deep Tech is also peeking its head into the startup ecosystem.
Deep-tech, short for ‘Deep Technology’, is solving many real-world problems by developing an innovative idea of technology that can be used to make people’s lives easier. The startups and companies pertaining to deep-tech are based on some substantial scientific advances and high tech engineering innovation. It has gained boom interest from Indian investors and is rapidly growing its market.
Here is a list of Indian startups founded on scientific discoveries and meaningful engineering innovations that are making a big name for themselves:
Genrobotics is a Kerala-based startup that manufactured a robot – called Bandicoot – which is a spider-shaped robot that cleans sewage and aims to eventually end the barbaric practice of manual. This is a 50-kg pneumatic-powered remote-controlled robot that goes down into a manhole, spreads its expandable limbs like a spider and scoops out the solid and liquid garbage that blocks urban sewers. It has a 360-degree motion robotic arm that can sweep the floor of the manhole to collect the debris in a bucket that cleans the manholes in 20 minutes.
Bandicoot has been deployed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Gujrat. Genrobotics was launched by engineers Vimal Govind MK, Arun George, Nikhil NP and Rashid Abdulla Khan in 2015. The Bandicoot uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine intelligence (ML) to determine the amount of unclogging needed and can complete the work in 45 minutes, which requires three or four hours of manual labour hours otherwise.
The Manhole Monitoring System (MMS) is also manufactured by Genrobotics. MMS is a complete sanitation solution that monitors the manhole network, it collects the crucial data and processes it using machine learning and AI technology to give an overall idea about the health of the manhole and give an alert when it is getting clogged/overflowing.
G-Robotic Suit, manufactured by Genrobotics is a 10 ft. high robot that can be operated by an individual by placing himself inside. It’s a prototype of the technology that can be used for defence purposes, space applications, weight lifting and anywhere that requires some extra power and protection.
Cogknit
Cogknit Semantics Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO certified innovative product company based in Bangalore. It applies machine learning to text, speech and computer vision. The company’s Nimit is a personalized learning platform that uses data science and machine learning algorithms to identify users’ learning patterns and user activity to identify user context and deliver content based on the context, enabling them to receive an extended blended learning platform.
Congknit envisions that they are going to tap on the voice-based transactions that are going to disrupt industries. It runs many video content in its stores, and wants to make sure those have scripts that even a visually challenged customer can follow. The startup’s competence and innovation focuses on Semantics, Web 3.0, Big Data, system engineering and associated technologies to solve various market problems.
Cognitifai
Cognitifai is a startup founded by Kanishka Nithin that helps retrieve the exact information using cameras by using a video intelligence platform that uses computer vision to index physical world phenomena. They have specialized in urban monitoring such as surveillance, healthcare and hyper-local intelligence discovery for smart cities and retail enterprises.
Cognitifai can detect even one bottle from the store’s inventory through its computer vision so that the store can replenish the shelf much quicker than depending on a manual store worker to check and fill the stock. Thus enabling real-time intervention to facilitate inventory management.
Cognitifai has founded some products and they are:
Visionapi.ai is an open marketplace for the state of the art video intelligence use cases and algorithms, enabling diverse enterprises to effortlessly discover, access and consume use cases and algorithms. Focus on Solving your business problem instead of spending all your time researching.
DevSuite.ai is a suite of intuitive no-code visual modelling tools that supports the full lifecycle of AI algorithm or AI product development – From research to production.
HPCOS.ai is a fully managed highly parallel and distributed operating system for Training, inferencing and continuous learning of AI at scale. Automating and optimising the end to end operations lifecycle for the deployment of AI at scale. All agnostic to where to run AI and how AI was built. Therefore shrinking your time from months to minutes to production AI at scale.
Dataplatform.ai is a framework for secure distributed storage, governance and processing of large, multi-source data sets.
Nautilus Hearing
Nautilus Hearing Heath care is a startup founded by audiologist T. Uday Raga Kiran that is accessible and affordable. The startup makes a new kind of hearing care company products using the best technologies to make hearing care simple, accessible and reliable by providing revolutionary technology that opens up new possibilities in audiometric testing.
People often use their hearing aids for short durations and stop using them as soon as they find them unsatisfying. The company has developed a booth-less, portable audiometer that is helping doctors conduct ear tests with ease. Nautilus Hearing is available in two variations.
A diagnostic product for certified healthcare practitioners and a screening device that can be used at schools, colleges, NPOs, and industries with loud machinery and devices. Nautilus Hearing won the Karnataka Government’s ELEVATE 100 Programme, through which it raised an undisclosed round of funding. The startup has completed preliminary tests, and will soon start clinical trials. The team tested the device at the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing in Mysore.
Streamoid
Streamoid is an AI – Artificial Intelligence Stylist founded by Nvidia, Manthani, Rajesh Kumar and Haricharan Lakshman in 2014. Streamoid Technologies uses its expertise in image recognition and extracts product and style information from images and process it through its AI engine to give trendy or contextual and personalized results for fashion shopping.
The startup focuses on the fashion and retail industry. Streamoid understands the natural language, images, voice and the context of the user’s fashion query. The users can also interact with it like a highly knowledgeable fashion sales assistant. With the fashion and clothing industry booming more than ever, Streamoid is sure to make a big name soon.
Streamoid gives you, your own conceptualised, developed, hosted and maintained style bot. Streamoid enables you to guide your customers with personalized style advice in a natural conversational interface. Using advanced NLP and deep integration, style bots offer many advantages over human agents. Style bots are online 24×7, can reply instantly to concurrent conversations, deliver personalized support and offer cost savings.
Desintox Technologies
Desintox Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a Kerala-based startup that was founded by Sooraj Chandran and Don Paul in 2016. Desintox Technologies Pvt. Ltd deals with the design, manufacture and marketing of rehabilitation, and health equipment and currently, has four products called EasyMover, Hoist, Smartmotive and an Electric Wheelchair.
He started working as a design engineer at Crabwrist Technologies. When one of his friends got into an accident, Sooraj realized the need for supporting machines for paraplegic patients. And then, Desintox Technologies was born in Kochi’s Maker Village. The device called ‘Hoist’ transfers the patient from bed, chairs and toilets; it has a leg spreader facility with includes high quality imported motors controlled with a display and safety switch.
Smartmotive is a standing wheelchair that can help paraplegic patients stand and it does so by helping in muscle development and has the benefits of a wheelchair and tilting table. The Electric Wheelchair helps the paraplegic to travel by themselves and can be adjusted with a joystick switch with speed options.
“We gifted the device to help a child in Thrissur. I can never forget the tears in the mother’s eyes when she saw her child stand for the first time using our device,” says Don Paul.
Photom
Photom Technologies is a startup started by Himmant Singh which was incorporated in 2018. Photom Technologies provides solutions for Operation and Maintenance of renewable energy plants to increase their efficiency. Innovative products and solutions for renewable energy plants are what Photom aims at developing.
Their objective is to be a key stakeholder in establishing the renewable energy sector in India. Photom robots provide a fully dry system that cleans the solar panels without using any chemicals or water and thus can save more money. It is about two to four meters in length.
They are now planning to do pilots in Gujarat and will launch commercially soon. The startup has already received equity seed funding from iCreate. The founder, Himmant Singh, was among the fifteen entrepreneurs from India that were invited by the UK government’s Royal Academy of Engineer for Leaders in Innovation Fellowship.
Jumper.AI
Jumper.ai is an AI-enabled software co-founded by Nyha Shree that helps businesses connect with consumers on social media platforms to purchase their products. With the rise of mobile, social and cloud technologies, customer expectations continue to increase. More than ever, they demand seamless and hyper-personalized experiences.
For many businesses, customer experience is the new battlefield – a competitive advantage that attracts and retains loyal customers. It converts the social media pots into a shop-able post so that when customers comment on your post with their queries, Jumper will automatically answer them and talk to the customers on the company’s behalf and also walk them through the sale right within the platform so that they don’t have to go to another website.
The startup wants to make social commerce easier through hashtags and its artificial intelligence. The information given at the time of payment is secured and tokenized (encrypted by companies like VISA) with the payment gateways. Any company or startup which is regularly using social media as their major acquisition channel can get the utility of the platform.
Conclusion
The world is continuously evolving, thanks to the technology, it is now nothing less of a Sci-fi movie. Deep tech startups are also becoming a big part in the startup ecosystem. In India, some of these startups are already quite popular and are trying their best to offer innovative products and services to the people and solve their problems.
FAQs
What is deep tech?
Deep tech or technology is a types of organisation or startup companies that provides scientific technology based products and services to their customers.
Who founded Jumper.ai?
Jumper.ai was founded by Yash Kotak and Nyha Shree.
RHA Technologies is India’s unique IT consulting and technology partner to SMEs, and startups. RHA Technologies provides empathetic and synergistic technology solutions and services to help organizations to realize and strengthen their innovation, differentiation, valuation, and market offering by designing, developing, and implementing successful digital transformation and adoption journey.
RHA Technologies built deep tech SaaS products and platforms by combining technical and vertical domain expertise to help businesses accelerate and leverage both core and disruptive technologies like analytics and cloud (SMAC), blockchain, AI/ML, IoT, to deliver end to end smart solutions and services to businesses across industries.
StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Arun Meena (Founder & CEO of RHA Technologies), a stalwart from the field of deep expertise in the tech services industry.
1. Do give us an insight into the backdrop of a startup – like its operations, business model, revenue model & growth hacks. Also, highlight these metrics about RHA Technologies
An HBR study showed that companies that are equipped with both business and technical skills are disproportionately more likely to introduce new-to-the market innovations than firms that have only one of these skills. Thus, Tech Co-founder is one of the most critical and difficult elements to integrate in the founding structure of Start-ups. They provide a unique set of commitment, experience, vision, relationship, and skills inputs that cannot be trusted or expected from a CTO. Many of the technology competitive issues that non-tech founders struggle with, become springboards with the presence of a trusted and qualified tech co-founder. The result is better valuation, easier funding, and faster business success. RHA Technologies brings this advantage to all start-ups and SMEs.
RHA Technologies thus for the first time in India enables the unique trust dependent outsourced tech co-founder offering for Start-ups and SMEs. In addition, the organisation also offers the traditional model of outsourced product development to MNCs and start-ups.
Our technology consulting, digital transformation, and technology services and solutions for the founders of start-ups and SMEs are rooted in empathy and synergy. This enables the client organisations to realize and strengthen their innovation, differentiation, valuation, and market offering and is the unique edge provided by RHA Technologies.
Our customer centricity and domain expertise enabled us to secure an MNC client along with two start-ups as outsourced tech cofounder / CTO in the first 3 months itself. The organisation has since created rapid momentum despite the pandemic. The initial small team of passionate technologists, has within a year, transformed itself in to seventy strong professionals with expertise across wide spectrum of technologies. The organizational value system has enabled a larger client base and more importantly further strengthened our customer centricity in our phase of rapid expansion.
RHA Technologies Logo
2. We would love to know about the financial numbers of RHA Technologies including revenue, YoY growth, profit, valuation, funding, net worth etc.,
Let’s Build Together! Defines how we at RHA Technologies approach business, clients, employees, and partners.
Our financial numbers is something, which we can’t disclose, but our overall numbers are very healthy. Our goal is to remain sustainable without any dependency on any external funding. For the coming year, we see a good overall YoY growth without hampering our profits.
3. How does RHA Technologies help organizations in implementing a successful digital transformation and adoption journey?
Innovate, Transform, Accelerate, process of RHA Technologies helps create a holistic agile IT strategy that optimizes the client’s business through technology and digital transformation. Digital transformation is more than implementing technology in the organisation. We use solutions around AI/ML, Cloud, IoT, Mobile, Automation, Data, and Blockchain to transform organizations across processes, business models, customer experience, and products and services. RHA Technologies team’s experience with multiple organisations including MNC clients in Education, Real Estate, BFSI, Media & Entertainment, Social Media and new age businesses, brings an unparalleled expertise to client founders.
We help our clients realize the potential of digital transformation as both a business growth enabler and a means to save costs. Our digital transformation process thus helps clients in a) access to a broader market b) improve customer services c) improve supply chain efficiencies and d) reduce time or cost intensive manual work.
Clients are able to work with SMAC (Social, mobile, analytics, and cloud) and IoT to ensure constant innovation for market edge. Digital transformation provides them insights about every area of their business be it cost, best customers, seasonality, bundling, discounts, wasted discounts, supplier efficiency, supplier quality/cost, logistics costs, etc. which accelerates innovations in services / products and thus revenues and profitability.
4. What changes you witnessed in the industry in the pre & post Covid era. What trends did you observe? What does the future like? In addition, advice to the start-ups in the field of analytics/blockchain/AI/ML/IoT will be much appreciated.
I launched RHA Technologies during the pandemic in May 2020; and the client response and organisation growth has kept pace with my expectations for the first year of operations. For us it was about fulfilling an acute market need, and the pandemic despite its widespread impact on the human morale and economy, did no deter us from our mission.
Many clients observed a slowdown in their business. However, what is noteworthy is their focus on the future. They have seen the acceleration of digital forces globally and the success of digitally nimble in quickly recovering business growth at the expense of others. Thus, clients are committing strongly to digital transformation albeit with focus on practicality, value for money along with return on investment, and tangible business benefits in the short and medium term.
The key areas of digital transformation that are firmly in the radar of clients are:
Big Data, Advanced Analytics, and Decision Intelligence – According to Gartner by 2023, more than 33% of large organizations will have analysts practicing decision intelligence, including decision modelling.
Block chain beyond crypto – we have started seeing real use cases for block chain technology beyond payments in supply chain, contract management, medical records, claim processing, property records, etc. Block chain has a lot of potential to redefine business processes across industries.
Robotic Process Automation – Robotic Process Automation is the process creating software ‘robots’ that can execute the repetitive day-to-day tasks and help organisations decrease costs and free employees’ valuable time.
IoT – Internet of Things has been growing in relevance and usage in the past decade and continues to be one of the hottest digital transformation trends.
Conversational AI – one of the most visible forms of AI and ML experience is in the form of Conversational AI. Conversational artificial intelligence is designed to understand, process, and respond to human voice while delivering an increasingly natural experience-managing context and sentiment.
5. What marketing strategies did you employ? How does it target the right segment of customers? Does RHA Technologies have any partnerships in place?
For us at RHA Technologies marketing has been about creating the positive word of mouth where new clients feel confident in collaborating us. Therefore, our people and their value system of “Let’s Build Together” has been the biggest element of marketing. In addition, we have leveraged market communication to communicate our offerings and domain expertise. Contrary to conventional practice, we have not been aggressive on social media in this phase
This strategy has given us the market respect and clients that has enabled us to rapidly expand our business and the talent base.
6. With the growing technological advancement, how do you keep up with the pace? A piece of advice on this matter will be much appreciated.
Keeping pace with technological advancement around us is a major element of our competency where we help clients compete with the best. Our mantra for this has been to hire talent that has an innate curiosity, desire to continually learn and upgrade, along with the work ethic to act on the learnings.
7. Who do you see as the major competitor of RHA Technologies? How do you look to stand out from them with the relative market share you own? Do highlight the USP of the company.
We are in a Blue Ocean with our Tech Co-founder offering and therefore we ourselves are our biggest competitors. For our traditional model of outsourced product development business, the competition is widespread. It is our value system and the attitude of “Let’s Build Together” that gives us the edge. We work alongside our clients as trusted advisors to deliver value at every stage.
We provide seamless technology solutions and services to help organizations innovate and realize their business goals. Clients become more innovative, competitive, and differentiated by leveraging our digital transformation and adoption journey.
8. Right People. Right Place’ – What are the career perspectives at RHA Technologies for freshers? What is the company’s hiring process and culture?
Talent is the core of our value proposition, and we hire people who have innate curiosity, desire to continually learn and upgrade along with the work ethic to act on the learnings.
We have a lot opening for both freshers and people with experiences. Now a days technology are getting redundant in a shorter timeframe therefore when we hire people our focus is hire people with good analytical skills and willingness to learn.
9. Where do you see RHA Technologies in the next 5 years? Any business expansion plans.
Five years is a long time in this digital age. In line with our Let’s Build Together! approach we will strive to develop into a family of clients, employees, and partners that have grown together. This is the approach that has helped us to grow to a team of 70 from the founding set in a year’s time with corresponding number of clients. We will continue to build on this momentum for the future towards being an industry benchmark for collaborative, innovative, value driven organisation.
Nitin Konde
