StartupTalky

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  • Startups That Are Funded By Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

    Over the past few years, there has been an increasing number of Bollywood stars trying to do different things to give their career a whole new direction. Some celebrities are investing in startups that align with their interests in order to enter the technological space that is booming in India.

    In 2020, many celebrities like Alia Bhatt, Suniel Shetty, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and Sonu Sood have become angel investors to upcoming startups that have potential especially during the hard times of global pandemic.

    While some celebrities have become entrepreneurs themselves and are leaving no stone unturned to get into the competitive business world. The latest inclusion in the list of actors turned investors is a world renowned actress, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

    Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an Indian actress, who was also crowned Miss World in the year of 1994. The former Miss World is one of the most influential celebrities in India and is a recipient of Padma Shri by The Government of India and The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France.

    She is also regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world, often times by the media. The actress is known for work in movies like Devdas, Hum Dill De Chuke Sanam, Jodhaa Akbar, Mohabbatein, Enthiran, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, among others. But besides that she is also known for her humanitarian work as she is also the Goodwill ambassador for UNAIDS.

    Aishwarya is now an angel investor to a company known as Ambee, which is an environment intelligence startup. The actress has also recently funded in a nutrition based healthcare startup called Possible. This is however, not her first investment as she had also funded in a wind power project in Maharashtra over ten years back.

    Possible
    Ambee
    Frequently Asked Questions

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    Lets look at the Startups Funded By Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

    Possible

    Possible is a nutrition based startup earlier known as Truweight Wellness which was founded by Vishnu Saraf and Megha More in 2015. The company offers research driven nutrition service and healthy food products through its website. It also helps in leading a sustainable health, wealth loss and management of lifestyle diseases.

    The startup claims to help over 40 thousand people in losing weight and managing diseases and aims to transform lives of more than 10 million people by helping them fight Lifestyle Disease.

    founders of Possible, Vishnu Saraf and Megha More
    Founders of Possible, Vishnu Saraf and Megha More

    The website has over 50,000 success stories with more than 100 nutritionists and doctors and sells more than 50 super foods. The company excels in providing services and products to Combat Obesity, Thyroid, PCOS, Diabetes’s and others.

    The company offers a wide variety of services like video tutorials, personal nutritionists, online consultations with doctors, customized meal plans, super foods including a tech based scientist’s analysis with constant mentoring. The strategy of the company is to provide physician supervision by an ayurvedic doctor, a personal health coach that will guide you in dietary habits.

    The healthcare startup also offers a Pocket clinic to get on spot advice from doctors and a wide range of nutrient rich food products that are designed by food scientists.

    Possible aims to helps people live a long life by converting their own kitchen into a pharmacy and using food as their medicine. Which is why the startup managed to raise Rs. 5 Crore from Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as a part of a larger funding round which raised over Rs. 15 Crore in total.

    Possible is also backed by Blacksoil and Kalaari Capital and has also offered letters to raise Rs. 6.69 Crore from six investors. There are over 90 million health conscious people in Indian by 2018, which is expected to reach 130 million by 2022, according to the Redseer report.

    With Covid 19 Pandemic, the customers in the country are becoming health conscious and are preferring to eat healthy food to build their immunity.

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    Ambee

    Ambee is a well-known Bengaluru based, environmental intelligence startup that makes a mobile box which measures particulate matter and high density to better analyze and predict immediate timely emergency warnings.

    The company provides data on hyper local air quality for developers, consumers, health researchers and media companies. The company aims to measure the quality of air around the world, the ration sources of emissions, create emission inventory not just for urban but even in rural places around the world.

    Aishwarya Rai Bachchan funding Ambee

    The company was founded by Akshay Joshi, Jaideep Singh and Madhusudhan Anand in 2017. Ambee provides solutions for indoor air quality of different places like offices and commercial spaces like malls, hotels and cinemas, etc.

    The platform helps its users make informed decisions or take preventive measures by providing data and analytics in the times environment distress. The data that the company provides includes sensor data, weather patterns, traffic data, ratio of diesel to petrol vehicles and even contextual data such as road repair, garbage burning and density of diesel generators.

    The company monitors air quality with data through 100 sensors that has already been installed across Bengaluru. India has over 14 out of 20 of the most polluted cities in the world. According to World Health Organization (WHO), more than 10% to 50% of the indoor environments in countries like North America, Europe, Australia, Japan and India are polluted.

    India has also witnessed a sudden growth in the number of cleantech/air purifier startups like Nanoclean, Clairco, Phoenix Robotix, Chakr Innovation, etc that are trying to solve India’s energy and pollution issues.

    They have a variety of air quality monitors that can track a wide variety of pollutants and real time analytics in order to ensure that spaces know what people are breathing at that time and take corrective actions where necessary.

    Which is why Aishwarya Rai Bachchan along with her mother Vrinda KR invested over Rs 50 lakh each at Ambee. The IoT startup has so far raised over Rs. 3.22 Crore from multiple investors Techstarts Bangalore, Touchstone Venture LLP, Motivated Minds Wealth LLP and Shekhar Kamal Lodha HUF.

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    Who is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan?

    Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an Indian actress, model, a former Miss World and one of the most influential celebrities in India.

    What are the startups funded by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan?

    The startups funded by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are Ambee and Possible.

    What is the net worth of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan?

    The net worth of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is 100 million

    The actress is known for work in movies like Devdas, Hum Dill De Chuke Sanam, Jodhaa Akbar, Mohabbatein, Enthiran, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, among others.

  • How Tier 1, Tier 2 & Tier 3 Audiences Differ – Entrepreneurs’ View

    Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning – the STP approach is a model used by businesses to cater their customer segments in a more sophisticated way. Based on the the nature of organisation, objectives, industry, market scenarios etc., the STP approach differs. The overall market is catered by the businesses based on the audiences in Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Well, there isn’t any distinct definition of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 based audiences, it is mainly based on the perception and understanding of the market by the diverse businesses.

    We asked the people who can answer these better than anyone else. Entrepreneurs from diverse field were asked – “What is the difference between Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 audience from the perspective of your field of expertise?” and here’s what we got to know –

    Shalabh Upadhyay – Founder & CEO, NEWJ (New Emerging World of Journalism)

    Difference between tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 audiences
    Shalabh Upadhyay, Founder of NewJ

    The availability of affordable data, particularly with the advent of Jio, has ushered in a paradigm shift in the consumption of content online. It has led to the democratization of journalism and content creation in the truest sense. Opinions which were earlier molded by the residents of ‘Tier-1’ are now predominantly defined by the masses residing in the ‘Tier-2’ and ‘Tier-3’ cities and towns. For NEWJ, as a media-tech enterprise, this shift marks a threshold moment because it has levelled the playing field in mass communication and has in fact diminished the ‘differences’ between Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3.

    Sudha Anand – Founder, Swaas

    Difference between tier 1, tier 2 , tier 3 audiences
    Sudha Anand – Founder, Swaas

    Tier 1 customers look for the quality products with international look & feel along with the brand’s USP’s / brand story and what the brand stands for. Tier 2 customers are more drawn for product quality and design. Tier 3 customers expect value for money.

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    Amit Nigam – COO & Executive Director, BANKIT

    Amit Nigam – COO & Executive Director, BANKIT

    The main difference according to our expertise in working with Tier 1 and Tier 2/3 cities is the consumer behavior. The products and services that may be common in Tier 1 are not so common in Tier2/3 cities. Taking fintech in perspective we have seen that the typical Tier1 consumer uses more of cash-in services while cash-out is more common in the later. Another most common example of this difference is Tech knowledge, the customers in Tier2/3 are as tech-savvy as the customer is Tier 1, thus reaching the customers becomes a little challenging. BANKIT tries to reach this segment of the audience through retailers who are already familiar with the customer and can reach them more effectively. This also helps in overcoming the most common challenge that companies face while reaching consumers in Tier 2/3 areas: Gaining their trust. The other most commonly-faced challenge is the language. India with its varied cultures has different languages in the same state and district and due to lack of exposure people in smaller cities and towns understand only one language that a company may not be versed with.

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    Sanjay Tiwari – Co-founder, 21CC Education

    Sanjay Tiwari – Co-founder, 21CC Education

    We are only just venturing into tier 3 towns and that too via Distribution partners who own physical assets in these locations and have a local presence. As you go further into India’s tier 2 and 3 cities, the skill development agenda gains urgency and simultaneous challenges. Almost 70% of India’s population is in tier 2,3 and 4 cities and can prove to be phenomenal growth drivers. But as you go deeper into these cities, the gap emerging from the unmet demand for quality education creates roadblocks to skilling. Limited literacy, the diverse local dialect, societal norms—all come together to impact skilling motivations and response.

    Our solutions—that ride on smartphones and easy internet access—are designed to overcome India’s unique challenges. These cities are seeing increasing attention and fast infrastructural growth. You now have state of the art warehouses coming up on what used to be farmland. When we create content for these audiences, we use our expertise to explain the process, ie what has to be done, along with why it has to be done-why keeping something chilled matters or why a bar code matters, why it’s important to be able to trace something. So you have to explain much more of the context.

    Then there is language to consider that requires a constant feedback loop and intelligent design to ensure that the platform’s UI is flawless and simple without being simplistic.

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    Krishna Murthy – Founder of Teach My Lesson

    India has significantly progressed in the past decade both in terms of internet connectivity and socio-economic status. So, the difference between T1, T2, and T3 is getting more and more nuanced. A few of these factors include:

    1. Against popular belief, affordability is no more an issue – across tiers, people are willing to invest in education solutions.
    2. Across tiers, value for money is critical criteria, but what differentiates better solution in T3 and T2 context compared to T1 is how well they address the emotional (peace of mind) and social (talkability and status bosting) needs of the consumer
    3. The degree of receptivity to trying new things reduced as we move from T1 to T3
    4. Mobile-first solutions are imperative for lower tiersWhile the luxury of time that consumers enjoy is diminishing across, there is a downward trend as we move from T3 to T1

    Entrepreneurs Face these Problems while operating in Tier 2 & Tier 3 Cities
    Wondering what are Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities? Based on population density, Indiancities are classified as X (tier 1), Y (tier 2) and Z (tier 3) categories. WhereTier 1 contains metropolitan cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai & so on, Tier2 has cities like Gurgaon, Vellore, Kochi etc., The remain…
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    Shivram Choudhary – Founder, Codevidhya

    Shivram Choudhary – Founder, Codevidhya

    From our perspective, Tier 1 cities are well-aware of the technologies and resources that are available in those cities or over the Internet. But on the other hand, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are very less aware of the resources that we offer or are available.

    Raj N – Founder, Zaggle

    Raj N - Founder, Zaggle
    Raj N – Founder, Zaggle

    Tier 1 companies are the big guns, and the Tier 3 ones are the more modest firms. Over time, companies can move up the tiers if they fit the criteria.

    Amit Agarwal – Founder & CEO, OckyPocky

    Amit Agarwal – Founder & CEO, OckyPocky

    In India, the Edtech segment has gained a humongous amount of traction from the past year as most of the edtech start-ups were targeting audiences from Bharat. Whereas earlier, online learning was just focused on urban areas because of the differences that Tier 1 cities had when compared to Tier 2/ 3 cities. People from Tier 2 and 3 cities have a higher demand for vernacular content and want deeper customer support and they also favor smaller price points before opting for bigger packages as they lack trust in digital payments. By considering their demands, the Edtech industry made education accessible and affordable to help the people of Bharat and it was truly transformational to see the huge demand upsurge that came from Tier 2 & 3 towns.

    Tanul Mishra – CEO, Afthonia Lab

    Tanul Mishra – CEO, Afthonia Lab

    FinTech players are redefining the business models across different segments of the financial services industry, helping improve service delivery and contributing to digital financial inclusion. As per the latest BCG FICCI report, India’s fintech industry is seen at $150-160 bn by 2025. Due to pandemic, India has gone through the digital revolution and it is growing at a fast clip. In such a bullish market of startups, incubators and accelerators play a vital role in streamlining founder’s  thoughts and plan the road ahead.

    Consumption in India will reach $4 trillion by 2025, the growing internet penetration in India is also expected to push consumer spending. While the consumption of fintech in the metro cities is high, there has been a great push in the adoption of fintech in tier II and III cities as well. In non-metro cities, we are seeing startups building some unique opportunities and solving very specific problems. These smaller cities in India are emerging as business pivots, opening up peculiar job opportunities, for instance- cities such as Ahmedabad (31%) and Vadodara (20%) witnessed a positive hiring in February  2021, because of the higher consumption rate. This is especially evident from the share of luxury retail spending, which grew from around 9% in 2013 to 55-60% in 2018 in non-metro cities, especially Jaipur, Udaipur, and Chandigarh.

    Tier II and III cities have grown at a brisk pace on the back of an increase in disposable income, and deeper penetration of mobile internet. I believe that apart from digitizing the payments ecosystem, there are other potential areas where fintech can focus to drive major business from, in tier II and III cities especially in tier III, by providing lower-cost services to underbanked and unbanked masses.

    Mahadev Srivatsa – VP of Marketing & Brand Strategy, Practically

    Mahadev Srivatsa – VP of Marketing & Brand Strategy, Practically

    The difference between marketing to Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 audiences is narrowing by the day, as aspirations are increasing across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. As a society, education is of paramount importance to us and every parent, irrespective of geography, wants their child to succeed and have the best means to do so. However, disposable income, access to quality education, regional/cultural influences and content consumption are still some key differentiators that one needs to be conscious about, while marketing a product.

    Conclusion

    Hope that the distinction between Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 audiences has become more understandable, based on the insights given by esteemed entrepreneurs of the industry. Be it Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 audiences, businesses always come up with a unique way to to cater its unique market!

  • Challenges faced by Entrepreneurs while Operating in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities

    Wondering what are Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities? Based on population density, Indian cities are classified as X (tier 1), Y (tier 2) and Z (tier 3) categories. Where Tier 1 contains metropolitan cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai & so on, Tier 2 has cities like Gurgaon, Vellore, Kochi etc., The remaining cities fall under Tier 3 i.e., Kanpur, Chandigarh & more.

    Normally, businesses use different strategies and techniques to cater to different customer segments residing in any of the tiers. This makes operating in different cities difficult. To understand the challenges faced by businesses while operating in Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities, StartupTalky reached out to entrepreneurs from diverse fields to get their insight on the same. And here’s what we got to know –

    Sanjay Tiwari – Co-founder, 21CC Education

    Sanjay Tiwari – Co-founder, 21CC Education

    We are operating in these locations on behalf of logistics and supply chain brands that are gaining attention and interest in these locations. While we are aware of the challenges businesses face when it comes to skilling and employability in these areas, since we ourselves aren’t approaching these markets directly yet, it is too soon to comment from an informed lens.

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    Sudha Anand, Founder, Swaas

    Problems in operating in tier 2 and tier 3 cities
    Sudha Anand – Founder, Swaas

    We find it at times difficult to give the best of quality and price, which is
    a basic requirement for tier 2 & 3 customers.

    Difference between Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 audiences – By Entrepreneurs
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    Amit Nigam – COO & Executive Director, BANKIT

    Amit Nigam – COO & Executive Director, BANKIT

    BANKIT tries to reach this segment of the audience through retailers who are already familiar with the customer and can reach them more effectively. This also helps in overcoming the most common challenge that companies face while reaching consumers in Tier 2/3 areas: Gaining their trust. The other most commonly-faced challenge is the language. India with its varied cultures has different languages in the same state and district and due to lack of exposure people in smaller cities and towns understand only one language that a company may not be versed with.

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    Shalabh Upadhyay – Founder & CEO, NEWJ (New Emerging World of Journalism)

    Amit Nigam – COO & Executive Director, BANKIT

    The biggest challenge (and an opportunity at the same time) for homegrown startups is to build in-house, India-centric expertise and capabilities and not solely be governed by tech and social media giants for reaching their audiences. With the Government’s clarion call for Atmanirbhar Bharat, I believe that our time has arrived to rise to the occasion in terms of shaping the larger global narrative and discourse through ‘Bharat First’ solutions.

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    Amit Agarwal – Founder & CEO, OckyPocky

    Amit Agarwal – Founder & CEO, OckyPocky

    Considering the lack of resources in rural areas, there were several challenges that we had to face. It was difficult to invest in local content and customer support and there are still a lot of areas with no high-speed broadband which makes it tough for us to reach them effectively and students completely relying on a device for all their educational needs could be restricting at times”

    Shivram Choudhary – Founder, Codevidhya

    Shivram Choudhary – Founder, Codevidhya

    Self-awareness among the parents was not there. The need to teach kids to code was not a priority in these cities. Also, due to inevitable circumstances, kids do not have proper laptops or computers to learn to code.

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    Krishna Murthy – Founder of Teach My Lesson

    Krishna Murthy – Founder of Teach My Lesson

    Challenges vary depending on the degree of reliance the solutions have on technology and what proportion of the delivery can be managed remotely without compromising consumer experience.

    • In our case, the most significant challenges are Tier agnostic. While there is no shortage of great talent in India, the biggest challenge we face is the need for instant gratification. Loyalty from talent is coming at a considerable premium. It is less about remuneration and more about the talkability, the halo effect, and the prestige the job provides to the recruited talent.
    • Tactically speaking, finding T2 and T3 talent that is both an expert in vernaculars and proficient in English is not easy to find.

    Raj N – Founder, Zaggle

    Raj N - Founder, Zaggle
    Raj N – Founder, Zaggle

    They say that real wealth of India lies in its villages. “If the village perishes, India will perish too”

    Brands need to understand that the rules of game are different when it comes to rural markets, especially in India, where diversity rules. The rural environment is vastly different from the urban and therefore communication to potential customers requires a specialized and integrated approach.

    Tanul Mishra – CEO, Afthonia Lab

    Tanul Mishra – CEO, Afthonia Lab

    I believe that today’s world is knowledge forward and as such is a catalyst for driving a rapid pace of advancement and innovation in everything we interact with. And while there are many great startups with path breaking ideas that can truly come from anywhere, getting the right support from the right quarters to help sustain and grow that idea is critical to the survival of that venture.

    What I have seen is startups at least in the initial stages require intense support for the right kind of network access to the experts and industry stalwarts who can share knowledge and insights with them from their wealth of experience helping them avoid the pitfalls of starting a business from the ground up. This support may not necessarily be easily available in tier II and III cities – especially the tier III cities and can be the difference between the startup thriving or perishing.

    To my mind, therefore the first challenge to solve is the lack of access and thankfully we have the resources today to digital create a borderless support ecosystem, wherein an incubator like ours based in Bengaluru can easily spot and support a great idea emerging from a tier 2 town in Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh. This is crucial as instead of waiting in the wings these startups from smaller towns in India get an equal opportunity to be heard, to be nurtured and eventually find their own space in a complex market like India and even venture towards international markets with the right support ecosystem in place.

    Conclusion

    Problems are inevitable. It is the knack of cracking the solutions that takes people ahead in life. As per the above views from well-known entrepreneurs, though they face various challenges along their way while catering to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, ‘Never Give Up’ becomes their motto!  

    Hope you got an understanding on the problems faced in entrepreneurs in various industries while operating in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

  • How will Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation benefit startups

    Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation (ADIF) is a body formed by a group of Indian investors and startup founders. They have joined hands together to set up a new alliance.

    This body is also expected to in the creation of sustainable development and growth in the digital economy in the country by interacting with the government and regulators on the policy framework that is required.

    The main objective of the Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation is to join together and break the dominance of foreign internet giants like Google.

    Reason for Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation
    Focus of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation
    Members of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation
    Plans of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation
    FAQ

    Reason for Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation

    The body was set up when the Indian startups were dissatisfied and were against the new billing policy of Google. According to the new policy, Google has made it mandatory for Indian developers who use Google Play to pay 30% commission for every in-app purchase.

    This had led to a debate in the Indian Technology ecosystem. Several Indian founders have accused Google saying that it was abusing its dominance in the market.

    Focus of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation

    In a statement from the committee of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation (ADIF), it has said that the association will concentrate and will be committed towards building a technology ecosystem that will be open, fair, neutral, and self-reliant.

    Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation (ADIF) as a representative body for the Indian technological startups will also ensure the growth and development of the digital economy of the country.

    The body will focus on including all the technology companies and building a sustainable economy for providing solutions in the country that can also be used globally.

    Members of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation

    The body mainly has individuals who are Indian startup owners or investors. The members of the association include Ajay Data who is the Managing Director of Data Group of Industries, Ritesh Mallik who is the Founder at Innov8 Coworking, Sairee Chahal who is the Founder & CEO of SHEROES, Snehil Khanor who is the Co-founder and CEO of TrulyMadly.

    Ajay Data
    Ajay Data

    The body also includes Anand Lunia who is the Founding Partner of India Quotient, Amit Sinha who is the Co-Founder – Unnati. Shailesh Vikram Singh who is the Managing Partner of Massive Fund, Murugavel Janakiraman who is the Founder and CEO of Matrimony.com.

    Ajay Data, the Secretary-General of ADIF has said that, ADIF’s main aim is to help the Indian Technological companies in building a sustainable and favorable business environment.

    Plans of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation

    ADIF has plans to work together with Indian and Global research experts. Their focus is to understand the possibility for the growth of Indian technological startups.

    Barriers

    They are also focusing on empowering the ecosystem by trying to remove the barriers and difficulties faced by the Indian technological startups at the entry-level. This will help the Indian companies to grow, expand, develop and become self-sustainable.

    Membership

    ADIF is also planning to open in the top 25 cities in the coming months. They are also focusing on increasing their membership in Tier-I and Tier-II cities. They also plan to cover the rest of the Indian towns.

    Policies

    The organization is working towards assisting in the creation of policies with the regulators thinking about the future and being able to do business in an easier way. They aim to make India as the top destination for capital and innovation. Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation has said that they would want to become the voice of entrepreneurs in respect to the policymakers and regulators.

    Knowledge hub

    Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation is expected to create a knowledge hub and a central location in which the resources for building digital products and services will be stored. They expect more than 1,000 members to join their trust.

    FAQ

    Who are the members of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation?

    The members include Murugavel Janakiraman of Bharat Matrimony, Snehil Khanor of TrulyMadly, Dr Ritesh Mallik of Innov8 Coworking and Sairee Chahal of SHEROES, among others.

    What is the focus of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation?

    The focus of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation is to build an association that will concentrate and will be committed towards building a technology ecosystem that will be open, fair, neutral, and self-reliant.

    Why was Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation founded?

    Indian startups were against the new billing policy of Google. According to policy Indian developers who use Google Play to pay 30% commission for every in-app purchase.

    Conclusion

    A fully foreign-dominated organization that does not have an Indian in their decision-making process will not be part of Atmanirbhar Digital India Foundation. The organization has been set up as a trust and will concentrate on entry-level Indian Technology companies.

    However, they are yet to be finalized with certain definitions. They are planning to start the onboarding soon. ADIF has said that there will be elections soon in order to appoint formal positions in the Trust.

  • How Indian media has Transformed over years [Case Study]

    Media as we know it has become an indispensable part of our lives. Without it, I think we’d barely sustain the economic and demographic environment lest having a path carved to move forward. The enormous sea of information that we have access to, is to the grace of this media.

    We have come decades ahead from telegrams and fax messages which were the primary mediums of passing sensitive information to the world of the internet and smartphones where nothing really is ever sensitive.

    The 24*7 media has taken us into the whirlpool of its headlines and breaking news and keeps us on our toes with the latest updates. Print media, Cinema, broadcasts, radio, and now the Gen Z favorite digital media are now the new improved, tech-savvy, and info-rich tools used to pass on information to the masses.

    History of Indian Media
    The Present of the Indian Media
    Growth of Indian channels, and media outlets
    How Indian media has changed the course of country’s politics and dynamics
    Future of Indian Media
    FAQ

    History of Indian Media

    Indian media is the largest and the oldest media that has seen itself unfold during the 18th century. The footfalls of pre-independence saw the birth of print media in 1780. Hicky’s Bengal Gazette was the first newspaper introduced under the British Raj.

    As the fate of India unfolded in the hands of the colonizers there were several other newspapers that steadily made their presence established. This print media later proved to become a powerful weapon at the hands of freedom fighters who spread the message of independence to the masses. The Madras Courier (1785) and the Bombay Herald (1789) were the ones that followed in the early 18th century.

    Pre-Independence

    Pre-Independence saw a multitude of print media founders support and aggregate the freedom struggle. Mirat-ul-Akbar ( a Persian Journal) by Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Rast Goftar by Dadabhai Naoroji, Kesari by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The Indian Opinion by Mahatma Gandhi were some of the prominent newspapers that took responsibility to encourage masses to come forward for the freedom movement.

    After Independence

    Even after Independence, the print media was dominated by English newspapers. Firstly, because of the exalted position of the language and secondly because of the Morse code on typewriters which were difficult for vernacular languages. Steadily, Indian languages rose to the occasion and started printing their own press.

    Indian press witnessed its first-ever revolt when the (then) Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced a nationwide emergency during 1975-1977. This has set a precedent for how nations should not be treating their press. This suspended basic civil liberties-press being among several others.

    The Draconian law

    The Draconian law under the government threatened and arrested anyone who reported against the tyranny. The 21 month period of emergency had the Indian media on its leash and the publications had to run their content through a Chief Press Advisor before publishing.

    Radio broadcasting was first initiated in 1927 but became a state-owned department in 1930. The ministry of broadcasting and information then held the apparatus including Doordarshan, the first Indian Television channel. It is one of two statutory bodies of the Indian Public Broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

    Doordarshan
    Doordarshan

    Indian Cinema

    The Indian Cinema dates back to 1913 when Dadasaheb Phalke, a scholar on Indian languages and culture, pioneered the motion picture industry by producing the first full-length motion picture “Raja Harishchandra”. Indian cinema has been tested in many waters to become Bollywood today. Today, India is the second-largest producer of movies in the world.

    Indian cinema with respect to its viewers has been very protective of the content and subject matter that is shown to the masses. India holds very dearly to its religious and social-political views. Indian audiences are still not very accepting of mature and sensitive topics such as same-sex relationships, casteism, and politics.

    There have been excellent filmmakers who have tried to carve out these subjects keeping in mind the sensitivity of the Indian audience. We are yet to reach the maturity mark as a collective audience when it comes to raw and unfiltered content.

    Indian media
    Indian media

    The Present of the Indian Media

    The media and entertainment industry has grown exponentially over the past few decades. Today, with more than 118000 registered publications for newspapers and periodicals and makes India the second-largest country in newspaper consumption.

    Television Media

    India has 850 TV channels across all spoken languages with 197 million households having television sets in use. Every language in the Indian subcontinent has its own set of channels of entertainment. Colors, Zee, Star are some of the leading networks spread pan India covering news and entertainment in all the main languages.

    India is currently witnessing the exit of single-screen theatres as major multiplex players like Cinepolis, INOX, PVR, and Carnival Cinemas have taken over the screenings. India has lost about 12% of single-screen theatres due to the novel corona Virus outbreak. These theatres are unlikely to return to business and may be taken over by multiplex chains.

    OTT Platforms in India

    The Over-the-top (OTT) platforms have been around since 2008. But their viewership rose significantly when we were forced into our homes for almost a year thanks to the pandemic. OTT platforms were devoid of censorship and operated pan India since the internet has no geographical barriers.

    Today OTT platforms in India have valued at a revenue of Rs 40,000 crore with 40 mainstream OTT platforms running under the Indian umbrella. Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix India, SonyLiv, Alt Balaji, Voot are some of the established OTT platforms which are giving the DTH industry a run for its money.

    Growth of Indian channels, and media outlets

    Currently, the country consumes media through platforms such as TV, OTT, Print, VFX, Radio broadcasts, Gaming, and digital advertisements. India’s Ad revenue is forecasted to expand at a CAGR of 4.3% between 2021-2024.

    Due to the rapid growth in the number of internet users, the digital avenues are looking at a projection to reach a CAGR of 26% by 2024 including print and TV platforms, making India the six-largest demographic with an industry revenue worth $2.9 Billion.

    Digital advertising revenue in India from financial year 2008 to 2020
    Digital advertising revenue in India from financial year 2010 to 2020

    How Indian media has changed the course of country’s politics and dynamics

    News Media

    With news giants like NDTV, CNBC, Aaj Tak, and ABP networks, India has around 892 news channels. These media houses have gained power over the course and have divided the Indian audiences into two wings.

    Some of the media houses are owned by the wings themselves. The politics and propaganda attribute to the success and TRPs of these media houses. A free press is becoming a serious worry in terms of authenticity and is lacking awareness.

    In recent times, journalism has cost a few passionate journalists their lives, and freedom of expression which one of the basic human rights in our constitution is ceasing to have much value. The political dominance over the free press is evident and intimidating.

    India’s Freedom status

    India’s status has been degraded from ‘Free” to “Partially Free” by the NGO Freedom House due to a “crackdown on expressions of dissent by the media, academics, civil society groups, and protesters”.

    According to the Freedom in the World report, 2020, India’s score has decked to 67 from 70 out of 100. This is extremely serious and unnerving as we are losing the democratic status that we’ve held on since our independence.

    “Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all,” the report said.

    The free reign enjoyed by the digital media became a recent target of the nationalist government when it introduced new Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 (Rules) for the functioning of OTT platforms. The new code of ethics needs to classify the content based on the viewer’s age, theme, tone, and impact.

    Future of Indian Media

    “With India’s decline to Partly Free,” the report said, “less than 20 percent of the world’s population now lives in a Free country, the smallest proportion since 1995.” The current state of media and entertainment is a little gloomy and seems to be surrounded by the clouds of arbitrary laws and coercion.

    The growth in terms of numbers is truly exponential. With OTT and Social Media platforms, media is pushing itself towards its highest potential. Content is King: but what if this content is under constant surveillance and the freedom of expression is compromised.

    The future is blurry for Indian Media and entertainment with an arbitrary wave riding its proficiency. Will India go back to being “Free” again? Or will it succumb to the political propaganda and lose its free press. These are the questions that are doing rounds of discussions among the intellectuals of our country.

    FAQ

    Who owns print media?

    ThePrint is an Indian online newspaper. It is supported by Printline Media Pvt Ltd, a company headquartered in New Delhi.

    Who owns NDTV in India?

    New Delhi Television Ltd. is an Indian news media company that owns and operates the broadcast news channels of NDTV India and NDTV 24×7.

    Who is the first woman journalist in India?

    Homai Vyarawalla was India’s first woman photojournalist.

    Conclusion

    Indian media is a mess and we need to learn to distinguish between faux news and genuine journalism. As citizens, it is our responsibility to maintain the status of a democratic nation on the world front.

  • How VR boosted the Growth of the Real estate Industry

    The Real estate industry is undergoing an innovative transformation. There is a sudden change in the industry from the traditional ways towards a new and innovative way which is through Virtual Reality. VR has also transformed the functioning of the industry.

    VR technology has helped the Real estate agents and companies in getting more clients, delivering top-end services, and growing their businesses. Let’s look at some of the ways Virtual Reality is transforming the Real estate industry.

    Virtual Tour of Real Estate
    Virtual Furniture
    Visualizing Real estate Models
    Less confusion
    Editing Property according to preferences
    FAQ

    Virtual Tour of Real Estate

    Virtual Reality has made house tours much easier. Everyone would want to take a look at the Real Estate and only then proceeds with the buying of the property. Many a times pictures wouldn’t be satisfactory nor would you get a clear understanding of the structure of the property.

    There are a lot of other problems faced as well which includes lack of time to visit the place, unable to travel if the property is far away. All these problems existed in the Real Estate industry and now with the use of Virtual Reality, these are eliminated.

    VR helps you visit the property virtually and makes you feel like you are physically taking a tour of the property. All these are possible even without stepping out of your house.

    It helps you visit multiple properties within a matter of time and later decide on visiting the place. It helps you save a lot of time and provides you a clear idea.

    Virtual Furniture

    A real estate place filled with an adequate amount of furniture will always look better than an empty Real estate space. A Real estate space filled with furniture would be easier to sell and would impress you more than an empty one.

    According to a report by the National Association of Realtors, 77% of the Real estate agents have claimed that a home filled with furniture has helped the buyers to imagine their future homes.

    Filling actual furniture in a newly built house or an empty house is going to be a lot of investment and would cost more for the agents. Virtual Reality helps in showcasing virtual furniture which helps the buyers to imagine their future home and picturize it in an easier way.

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    Visualizing Real estate Models

    Selling an architectural idea has always been hard. Most of the time the design which is sketched by the architecture would be satisfying but sometimes the end model wouldn’t come up to your expectations.

    If it is a bigger project you can find architects or developers coming up with a small model of the project with the roads, community, buildings, etc. in a miniature form. For the interiors most of the time the developers would have to invest in setting up a similar design in a showroom.

    This again would require a lot of investment from the developers and would consume a lot of time. Virtual Reality helps in solving these problems and would help in visualizing the interiors and exteriors of the properties which are yet to be constructed.

    Through Virtual Reality, the client can easily set his expectations and he would know what the end property or the model would look like.

    Number of VR Headsets sold Globally
    Number of VR Headsets sold Globally

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    Less confusion

    In most cases when you move to a new house, you would find it hard to locate the switches or the settings of the devices in the place. The Real estate agents or the owners of the space will have to keep on communicating with you according to your requirements and most of the time it won’t be possible.

    All of your queries and problems being answered would depend on the availability of the owner or the agents. Here, Virtual Reality will help the tenants in effectively communicating with their owners or agents.

    A Virtual tour about the settings of the house, the uses of different switches, and other technical settings will provide clarity for the newly moved-in tenants. It will be a little bit time-consuming but will avoid a lot of confusion and help the new tenants to get used to the place much more easily.

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    Editing property according to preferences

    During the virtual tour  if a client wishes to change the design or add a piece of new furniture in the design, He/she can add it at that moment. This will help the buyer in adding his designs. He/she will be able to edit the interiors or bring small changes to the exteriors according to his/her preferences.

    If a person is taking a virtual tour at a house and likes the furniture used in it, they can later go online and shop for similar products.

    FAQ

    What are the free Virtual Tour Software?

    Lapentor, Marzipano, Makevt, Vtility are some top free Virtual Tour Software.

    How much does real estate virtual tour cost?

    The average cost to receive a Virtual Tour of a property is $350.

    Do virtual tours help sell houses?

    Virtual tour is a great way to generate interest of the buyers, as it provides buyer a clear idea of the property.

    Conclusion

    Virtual reality has transformed the real estate industry making the work easier and in a convenient way. It helps both the buyers and agents to save their time. Virtual Reality has already started to change this sector. In the near future, we will be able to see much more inventions and VR becoming more common in many sectors.

  • Startups That Are Funded By Shilpa Shetty Kundra

    From the past few years there has been an increase of Bollywood celebrities backing startups as investors or even launching their own ventures. Many celebrities like Alia Bhatt, Suniel Shetty, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif and Sonu Sood have recently started investing or endorsing the products of startups during the Covid 19 Pandemic in order to help maintain the startup ecosystem.

    This also includes Shilpa Shetty Kundra who has launched her own fitness and health app called Simple Soulful and also invested in a Gurugram based startup known as Mamaearth.

    Shilpa Shetty Kundra is an Indian actress, film producer, dancer and also is known to be businesswomen and author. The actress is popular for her roles in movies like Baazigar, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Life in a Metro, etc.

    Shilpa Shetty Kundra has been a part of various fitness campaign such as the Fit India movement which was lauched by the Government of India.

    She has also been a part owner of the Indian Premium League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals from 2009 to 2015. Besides that she is also known to be a devote fitness enthusiast and celebrity endorser for brands and products and has been vocal about issues like feminism and animal rights.

    Which is why the Shilpa started her own fitness and health app (Simple Soulful) and has also funded a startup Mamaearth that sells mother and childcare products. The startups funded by Shilpa Shetty Kundra are:

    Mamaearth
    Simple Soulful
    Frequently Asked Questions

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    Mamaearth

    Mamaearth was founded in 2016 by a couple Varun and Ghazal Alagh, the company is owned and operated by Honasa Consumer Pvt. Ltd. The company is known for its product line that includes toxin free body lotions, rash creams, shampoos, body wash, massage oils and even bug sprays which are curated for the children up to the age of five years.

    The company concentrates on making products that are for stress relief, postpartum weight loss for new mothers and non-preservative products for lactation.

    Shilpa Shetty with Varun and Ghazal Alagh the founders of Mamaearth
    Shilpa Shetty with Varun and Ghazal Alagh the founders of Mamaearth

    The company sells most its products on its own website and other online ecommerce platforms like Amazon, FirstCry, Nykaa, Flipkart and Paytm. Shilpa Shetty Kundra has funded over $250,000 to the startup in April of 2018 and has backed the company ever since.  

    In an interview Shilpa disclosed that she decided to fund the startup because it offered natural and chemical free nature of products. Over 90% of company’s sales are done online but are also available in more than 300 stores across cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and are planning to expand to ten other cities in the country.

    The company has its headquarters in Gurugram and has raised over Rs 6.5 crore in just the second round of funding by Fireside Ventures and other investors. It also managed to raise Rs 130 crore from the Sequoia Capital India, Fireside Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners and Sharp Ventures.

    It has so far acquired over 5 million new customers and aims on making the company over Rs 500 crore brand by 2023. The company also plans on launching more products and expanding operation to parts of Southeast Asia.

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    Why fund Mamaearth?

    According to the founders Mamaearth, it is a pioneer in selling safer products curated specially for mothers and kids of India. The company is aiming to build a brand that is friendly to parents and intends to make lives of the mothers and pregnant woman better and beautiful. Mamaearth is also Asia 1st brand which sells the Made Safe Certified Products. Most the products are made by mothers as nobody else understands a baby’s needs like a mother does.

    Which is why the company has a working panel of mothers who give genuine reviews to all the products. For the past 15 years the GDP per capita has become 4 times more especially in the urban cities, while the childcare has increased eight fold.

    There has also been a rise in new mothers looking for customized products for themselves and their children. Mamaearth is helpful in reducing parental stress amongst young parents. In an interview, Varun Alagh disclosed how he got Shilpa Shetty Kundra to invest in the startup.

    “The process started over a year back with finding ways to get a window with her which took nearly 3 months after sending many pitches. But after the meeting we gave her all our products to try it herself and on her son.” He also added that the actress did her own in-depth research on Mamaearth after which she went on to backing the startup as an equity investor.

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    App launched by Shilpa Shetty Kundra

    Simple Soulful

    Simple Soulful is a holistic wellness and Health App launched by Shilpa Shetty Kundra and designed by experts of Yoga, Exercise, Immunity and Diet Programs.

    The 45 year old Bollywood actress made this app because she is a fitness enthusiast, has active lifestyle and lives by the philosophy of “Swasth Raho, Mast Raho” which translates to “Stay Healthy, Stay Happy.” The app encourages a healthy lifestyle and offers a customized goal based yoga and fitness programs.

    An example of the Simple Soulful video by Shilpa Shetty

    These programs are specifically designed to help its customers lose weight, improve flexibility, strengthen core muscles, tone arms and legs. They also have programs that will help customers with special ailments like focusing of diabetes, low and high blood pressure, immunity, sleep and stress management.

    Simple Soulful has free and has easy to do yoga asanas with step by step instructions, other exercise, diet plans, recommendations and delicious yet nutritious recipes to maintain a healthy balance in life. The target audience of the app is working women and men but it also caters to young mothers and youngsters.

    The features and pricing of the app

    The cost of Simple Soulful is Rs. 499 for a month, Rs 999 Quarterly and Rs 2499 annually. The app/website also allows its customers to purchase single videos for a minimum cost of Rs 99.

    These subscriptions give its customers an access to 60 plus yoga and meditation programs by experts, daily diet plans, recommendations, asanas, exercises and healthy recipes. The app is available for iOS 11.0 and Android 5.0 with a lifetime of access. The special features of simple soulful are:

    • The users of the app can work out with Shilpa Shetty Kundra as she is the one that performs them while being mentored by experts.
    • The workouts are designed in a way that it is easy, quick and home based that can be performed anywhere and anytime.
    • The programs help people in boosting their immunity especially during the Covid 19 pandemic.
    • The recipes require simple and less ingredients which are also highly nutritional.
    • Their special program made only for women, like exercising videos for pregnancy, post pregnancy weight loss and menstrual pain.
    • The app allows you to download programs and workout without Internet along with tracking and displaying their fitness journey.

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    Benefits of Simple Soulful

    Shilpa Shetty Kundra is a well-known yoga practitioner which is why the app has a whole section of yoga programs which made specifically for different levels like the beginners.

    They also have an Office yoga section where working men and women can practice simple workouts around their office chair. Like the yoga videos the exercising videos also come with many difficulty levels and have an apt description of the benefits of each workout. Another main benefit is that once the videos are downloaded, you can keep up with your training with without data or Wifi.

    Shilpa Shetty in an interview mentioned that she not tech savvy but made sure to work with the apple accelerator team to make sure that the interface of Simple Soulful is simple to navigate and easy to use.

    The app is also on iPad and Apple watch integration and plans to integrate siri for voice commands. Shilpa loves the app and has put a lot of effort into making it, she has also shot for videos eight hours in one go.

    According to Shilpa, “I started learning advanced yoga and have achieved my own fitness goals while working on the app”. Her point is that, If she can do it, so can you.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Who is Shilpa Shetty Kundra?

    Shilpa Shetty Kundra is an Indian actress, film producer, dancer and also is known to be businesswomen and author.

    What is the startup that is funded by Shilpa Shetty Kundra?

    The startup that is funded by Shilpa Shetty Kundra is Mamaearth.

    What is the fitness app of Shilpa Shetty Kundra?

    The fitness app of Shilpa Shetty Kundra is Simple Soulful

    What is Mamaearth?

    Mamaearth is a startup that is known to sell mother and childcare products that are safe to use.

    What is Simple Soulful?

    Simple Soulful is a holistic wellness and Health App launched by Shilpa Shetty Kundra and designed by experts of Yoga, Exercise, Immunity and Diet Programs.

  • Reasons Why Nokia is planning to cut over 10,000 jobs

    Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational company. It deals in telecommunications, consumer electronics, and information technology. The company was founded in the year 1865. It has its headquarters in Finland.

    Nokia is the world’s third-largest network equipment manufacturer according to 2018. The company had 1,03,000 employees and businesses in around 130 countries. Recently the company had announced that it would cut more than 10,000 jobs to reduce the costs of the company.

    Certain reasons for cutting down on the jobs would include investing into research facilities.

    New Long Term Plan of Nokia
    Reasons for Job cut
    Nokia to Invest in Research and Development
    Competition of Nokia
    FAQ

    New Long Term Plan of Nokia

    The new CEO of the company has new plans for the growth of Nokia. After being appointed as the CEO last year, Pekka Lundmark has been taking steps to recover Nokia’s products. Under the previous management, there were certain missteps taken regarding the product. This led to the fall of Nokia and destroyed its ambitions in the 5G sector.

    Nokia has announced a new strategy in October. According to the strategy Nokia will have four business groups. Pekka Lundmark also said that the company would do anything that would take for them to maintain the lead in 5G.

    It is expected that Pekka Lundmark will discuss the long-term strategy, financial targets, and action plans during the company’s capital markets day.

    Reasons for Job cut

    According to the new strategy the company is trying to cut down the costs of the business. The company had said in a statement that by the year 2023 the company expects its restructuring and associated charges to be in between 600 million Euros (around INR 5,100 crores) to 700 million Euros (around 6,100 crores).

    After the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent which was a global telecommunication company, Nokia to cut thousands of Jobs. As of now, Nokia has around 90,000 employees.

    The company expects that the recent restructuring programme would reduce the company’s cost by around 600 million Euros by the end of 2023. Half of the savings of the restructuring programme are expected to be realized by 2021. Reducing down the costs is one of the major reasons for cutting down the jobs of employees.

    Nokia to Invest in Research and Development

    The company is planning to invest more into Research and Development programmes for improving on the product and to make changes in the missteps taken during the previous management.

    Sami Sarkamies who is an analyst working with Nordea said that the saving programme of Nokia is bigger than it was expected. He said that the interesting fact would be that it would not result in reducing the costs.

    Sami Sarkamies also said that the company is trying to focus on Research and Development by shifting its focus from general costs. He also added that the shift in focus would result in better margins and growth of the company in the future.

    The new management under Pekka Lundmark had predicted its profit outlook and had stopped the dividend payouts.  This was after the missteps taken regarding the product by the previous management. It had reduced the market share of Nokia.

    The company has a forecast of 21.8 billion euros (around 1.8 lakh crores) to 21.9 (around 1.89 lakh crores) in 2020. It has plans to invest more into the future capabilities which include 5G, digital infrastructure, and cloud.

    Nokia's net sales from 2010 to 2020
    Nokia’s net sales from 2010 to 2020

    Competition of Nokia

    Nokia had lost a lot of contracts and has seen the value of its share to decline. Nokia and the Swedish company have been competing with each other in rolling out 5G networks. Ericsson has a lead in acquiring customers. It has won a contract with China for 5G radio contracts.

    While Nokia has not won any contracts with China and they also lost a contract with Verizon to supply 5G equipment. The Verizon contract was undertaken by Samsung Electronics.

    Nokia is setting up its new plans to challenge Swedish company Ericsson and China’s Huawei. The company is working towards catching its lead with 5G and also trying to capture shares of Huawei.

    FAQ

    Who is the founder of Nokia?

    Fredrik Idestam, Leo Mechelin, and Eduard Polón founded Nokia in 1865.

    Is Nokia Indian company?

    Nokia is an Finland based company which was recently taken over by HMD Global.

    Why did Nokia fail in India?

    After 2007, Nokia failed to sense that trends were changing and ignored the changing demands that led to fail of Nokia in India.

    Conclusion

    The Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said that decisions regarding their employees, that would have a potential impact on them are never taken too lightly. He also said that everyone impacted through this process is supported through this and that would be his priority.

    A representative of Nokia said that these plans are Global and it would likely affect a lot of countries. They have informed the local works council in Europe and the consultation process is expected to start soon according to the applicability.

  • List of Biotech Companies that are Developing Covid vaccine

    India started its vaccination programme for Covid-19 on 16 January 2021. The vaccination was first prioritized for frontline and healthcare workers. The Covishield vaccine and Covaxin have been approved by the government. There are many more companies working behind developing the vaccine in the country.

    Serum Institute of India
    Bharath Biotech
    Biological E Ltd
    Cadila Healthcare Limited
    Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd
    FAQ

    Serum Institute of India

    Serum Institute of India is an Indian Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology company. It is the largest manufacturer of Vaccines around the globe. The company was founded in 1966 by Cyrus Poonawalla and is based in Pune, India. Adar Poonawalla is the Chairman, President, and CEO of the company.

    Serum Institute of India has tied up with Astra Zeneca which is a pharmaceutical company. The company has released a vaccine called Covishield. They have also tied up with a U.S based rival Novavax.Inc.

    The company has received funding from big organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi Vaccine group. The funding is for delivering up to 200 million doses of both the vaccines for other low- and middle-income countries across the world and India.

    In June 2020 Astra Zeneca had licensed the company to supply doses of its vaccines of up to 1 billion in numbers. It was concentrated on 60 low- and middle-income countries. Serum Institute of India is working on developing in-house vaccines and has partnered with Austria’s Themis and U.S. biotech firm Codagenix to potentially manufacture their COVID-19 vaccines.

    Serum Institute of India has already made and stored more than 50 million doses of Covishield. The company aims to increase its production to 400 million doses by the by the mid of 2021.

    Bharath Biotech

    Bharath Biotech International Limited is an Indian company which deals with biotechnology. The company has its headquarters in Hyderabad, India. The company is involved in drug development, manufacture of vaccines, drug discovery, bio-therapeutics, healthcare products, and pharmaceuticals.

    The company was founded in the year 1966 by Krishna Ella. Krishna M Ella is the Chairman and the MD of the company. The company is working together with a U.S based company FluGen and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the development of a vaccine against Covid-19.

    It has partnered with the state-run Indian Council of Medical research in developing a vaccine against Covid-19 called as COVAXIN. The Company is trying to reach an agreement with more than 10 countries in Southern America, Eastern Europe, and Asia to sell their vaccines. The vaccine has been provided to the citizens of India.

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    Biological E Ltd

    Biological E Limited is an Indian company which deals with Biopharmaceuticals. The company has its headquarters in Hyderabad, India. The company is involved in low-cost vaccine production in the country.

    The company was founded in the year 1953 by Datla Venkata Krishnam Raju. Mahima Datla is the Managing Director of the company. The company had started its trials in November. It started its Phase I and Phase II trials.

    The company had come into a partnership with Dynavax technologies and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston for the development of Covid-19 Vaccines.

    Countries Where Coronavirus Vaccine will be produced
    Countries Where Coronavirus Vaccine will be produced

    Cadila Healthcare Limited

    Cadila Healthcare Ltd is an Indian Multinational Company which deals with pharmaceuticals. The company has its headquarters in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The company is involved in the manufacturing of generic drugs. In the fortune India 500 list, the company was ranked 100th in 2020.

    Cadila Healthcare Ltd was founded in the year 1952 by Ramanbhai Patel. Pankaj R Patel is the chairman of the company and the Managing Director of the company is Sharvil P Patel.

    The company got permission to conduct human trials for its Covid-19 vaccine named ZyCOV-D in July 2020 by the Drugs Controller General of India, Government of India. Cadila Healthcare Ltd has said that it will be able to produce up to 100 million doses of vaccines in a year in the initial stages.

    What will be the Scenario after Coronavirus Outbreak?
    Humankind is now facing a global crisis due to Coronavirus outbreak. Perhaps thebiggest crisis of our generation. If the growing novel coronavirus outbreak[https://www.startuptalky.com/tag/coronavirus-outbreak/] becomes a long lastingpandemic, it could result into fundamental changes in the econo…
    StartupTalkyVarad Kitey

    Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd

    Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is an Indian Multinational Company which deals with the manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals in India and across the globe. The company has its headquarters in Hyderabad, India.

    The company has over 60 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for drug manufacture, 190 medications, critical care, biotechnology products, and diagnostic kits. The company was founded in the year 1984 by Kallam Anji Reddy, who is the Chairman of the company and Erez Israeli is the CEO of the company.

    The company entered into an agreement with Russia to conduct final trials of its vaccine Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V) Vaccine in India. The company plans to distribute around 100 million doses in the Country.

    The Russian Direct Investment Fund will be supplying the vaccines for distribution in India. The subsidiary company of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd Hetero Biopharma has announced that they would produce 100 million doses of Sputnik V.

    FAQ

    Which Covid vaccine is used in India?

    Covishield vaccine, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin are being used for the vaccination programme.

    How many doses is AstraZeneca vaccine?

    The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is given on a two-dose schedule.

    What is the official name of the coronavirus disease?

    On 11 February 2020ICTV announced “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” as the name of the new virus.

    Conclusion

    The top companies are in the run for producing the Covid-19 Vaccines in India. There are already some vaccines being provided for the people in the country. 0.43% of the Indian population has already been vaccinated in the Country. Around 32.9 million doses of the vaccines have been provided in the country and 5.87 million have been fully vaccinated.

  • What are Startup Accelerators and Are they worth it

    There are several stages involved when we think of a business idea. Funding, labor, target audience, pitches and the list goes on. Every startup has a pre-success story. Some of the greatest startups have taken birth in their founder’s garages, some in a friendly gathering, and some with a simple vision of providing what is lacking.

    Startups are everywhere. Every sector of the ecosystem has an emerging startup and is gaining ground with national and international funding. Sometimes, an amateur entrepreneur might come up with a really good idea but might not know the path towards execution. Or talk about an experienced player launching a new product but doesn’t know who to target.

    There are institutions like angel investors, incubators, accelerators, and funding companies who are then a resort these new entrepreneurs run to. These institutions help the startups primarily with fundraising, polishing their products, and making them market-ready.

    Difference between Incubators, Angel investors, Accelerators
    What are Startup Accelerators
    Are Startup Accelerators worth it
    Startup Accelerators around the world
    Indian Startup Accelerators
    FAQ

    Difference between Incubators, Angel investors, Accelerators

    Were going to contemplate which of these institutions are best suited for startups. Let us find out what distinguishes them from each other.

    So as we distinguish between these institutions, we find that each of them differs in the style of investment, mentorship, and education. Incubators and angel investors are along similar lines. In this article, we will be diving deep into how accelerators work for startups and how they contribute to their success or failure.

    What are Startup Accelerators

    Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators are short-term mentoring programs. They are cohort-based, that help emerging companies to deseed their ideas into a fruitful selling product or service. They also include educational guidance and financial backup.

    They basically pull in all the components and aggregate them for the startup to get it up and running. Startup accelerators aim to solve basic challenges like fundraising and mentorship with the help of cohorts.

    Are Startup Accelerators worth it

    The accelerator base in the global ecosystem is large enough to confirm that accelerators are giving the required knowledge and momentum to launch themselves in the cut throat competitive market. Acknowledging this very fact, many large companies such as Microsoft and Jio Infocom are launching their own accelerator programs.

    Startups are the future of the every thriving economy. And accelerators are the driving force that is helping these startups gain new grounds in terms of capital, market study and product launching.

    The follow ups in the accelerator programs guide these startups to further gain momentum and propel towards larger goals. Hence, it is safe to say, that start up accelerators are absolutely worth it.

    Percentage of accelerators offering different forms of business support
    Percentage of accelerators offering different forms of business support

    Startup Accelerators around the world

    Startup incubators and accelerators have a vital role in the making of a successful company. From working space, mentorship to fundraising, accelerators give it all to the startups to embark on their success journey. Here’s a quick glance at the world’s top accelerators.

    Y Combinators, USA

    Y Combinators is considered the supreme accelerator in the world. Founded in 2005, by Paul Graham, Y Combinators has funded 2000 plus startups including Dropbox, Stripe, Airbnb, Instacart, Twitch, Coinbase, Reddit, and Weebly.

    Among the 13000 applications on the internet every year, Y Combinator selects about 200 to 240 projects to work on. In their biannual 3-month training program, relocates you to silicon valley to work closely with their team and encourages further investments in your startup. In terms of investment, they give $150000 in exchange for 7% equity in the startup.

    TechStars, USA

    TechStars is a worldwide network, with a presence in 15 countries, which is known for accelerator programs that have produced 1000 plus companies valued at 8 billion. Uber, DigitalOcean, Twilio, and SendGrid are amongst a few startups which are a result of the accelerator venture capital fund, TechStars Venture.

    The TechStars Global Entrepreneurship Network is spread across 15 countries which provides startups with networks, mentors, consultants, investors, and more. They give a $100000 convertible note out of which TechStars contributes $20000 in return of 6% equity.

    500 Startups

    Located in San Francisco, California, 500 Startups was founded in 2010 with a goal to support emerging entrepreneurs worldwide. A capital venture managed by 150 employees from 20 countries around the globe, spreads investments in 70 plus countries.

    They have aided firms such as Apple, PayPal, Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and Twitter with mentorship and functional wisdom. They offer a 4-month seed program with a $37000 participation fee which unlocks access to networks, investors, and free workspaces. They provide $150000 in exchange for 6% equity.

    Indian Startup Accelerators

    Today, India alone has more than 70 startup accelerators spread across the country. Revxx Accelerators, BLS Accelerators and India Accelerators are a few who are putting themselves up on the map.

    The founder and Managing director of India Accelerators, Ashish Bhatia, in an interview with Inc42 said, “Accelerators play the role of an aggregator and bring all the components together to provide support to startups to grow at an accelerated pace and increase their overall chances of survival.”

    Industry veterans believe that most startups have a chance of failure in the early stages of execution with little or no knowledge and depth of the market. Accelerators then, help these companies to strategize and pushes them towards pragmatic solutions.

    “Though entrepreneurs are primarily blamed for their failures, it is an equal responsibility of the accelerator to gauge its own potential in supporting a startup that requires a strong go-to-market (GTM) strategy to sustain the business,” says Riya Aggarwal, CEO of BLS Accelerator, a startup accelerator based out of Delhi.

    Venture Catalysts

    Venture Catalyst is India’s largest and the first start up accelerator. HomeCapital, Go Mechanic and Global esport are a few noteworthy mentions of its investments. Founded in 2006, Venture Catalysts offer $50000 to $1 million worth investment to emerging companies.

    Collaborating with Microsoft, Amazon and IBM, it conducts seminars and monthly workshops for budding entrepreneurs in major cities of India as well as cities like Hong Kong, London and Doha.

    Startup Boot camp, Ignite, Melbourne Accelerator Program and Metavallon are also among the top startup accelerators around the globe providing hands-on training and equity options to emerging companies.

    FAQ

    What is the difference between an incubator and an accelerator?

    Accelerators focus on scaling a business while incubators are often more focused on innovation.

    How do startup accelerators make money?

    Accelerators usually provide seed investment for each startup for an equity stake in the company.

    What are the best accelerators?

    Y Combinator, Techstars, 500 Startups, Venture Catalysts, StartupBootCamp are some top accelerators.

    Conclusion

    The follow ups in the accelerator programs guide these startups to further gain momentum and propel towards larger goals. Hence, it is safe to say, that start up accelerators are absolutely worth it.