The case for Aatmanirbhar innovations

Good Morning,

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on sectors such as manufacturing, hospitality, and travel. However, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clarion call for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the Indian startup ecosystem focused on building indigenous tech solutions to cater to the demand of the new normal.

Speaking at YourStory’s flagship event, TechSparks 2021, Sanjay Mehta, Founder, and Partner, 100X.VC; Rohit Manglik, Founder and CEO, EduGorilla; and Anuradha Ramachandran, Investment Director, Flourish Venture highlighted how new deals, the emergence of unicorns, and IPO developments are leading stakeholders to rethink their ideas.

Sanjay said that the ongoing momentum in the startup ecosystem in terms of funding deals, unicorn valuations, and IPOs has broken all records.

"We have unicorns being announced almost every week…. I am revisiting all my beliefs about India. The momentum is crazy,” he said.

While Rohit said the entire ecosystem was currently flourishing in an “unprecedented fashion”, Anuradha highlighted that we need to pay attention to developing underlying infrastructure as well as the regulatory thought process to evolve much faster.

The Interview

In this exclusive conversation with YourStory, Deepali Naair, Director Marketing - India and South Asia-IBM, says, to excel as a marketer, it is critical to learn the ‘AAA’ formula of success, which stands for - Agility, Authenticity, and Adaptability to change.

Editor’s Pick: Neeji

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rise of home chefs as they found new growth avenues. Several foodtech platforms are also helping these women micro-entrepreneurs move from the unorganised to organised sector and scale as they whip up delicacies from the comfort of their homes.

Capitalising on this is growth is also Mumbai-based Neeji, founded by Apeksha Ghia, which aims to bridge the gap between home chefs and their potential customers. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Enabling digital transactions on feature phones

Despite accelerating digital adoption, the penetration of financial services in rural India continues to remain a problem as not everyone can afford the even mostly cheaply-priced smartphone.

Bhuj-based fintech startup MissCallPay is trying to change that by doing away with the use of internet services to facilitate payments, and instead uses the cellular network to enable payments. Read more.

TechSparks 2021

• In a masterclass, at YourStory's TechSparks 2021, Ramkumar M Venkatesan, Senior Vice President, Cashfree Payments said that before going to market, founders need to analyse that the quality, security, and scaling take time, the product will be built right, and if any problem does arise, it can be fixed quickly.

• In a fireside chat, at YourStory's TechSparks 2021,Pratima Harite, Head of Philanthropy for Asia-Pacific at Lenovo, emphasised the need to start STEM in the formative years of students in schools and what it takes to design impactful STEM CSR initiatives.

• Explaining the importance of IP for businesses and the variations of IPs relevant for tech startups, Hemang Shah, India Engineering Lead (Startups, Innovation) Qualcomm Technology Licensing said the primary advantage of IP is to restrict competitors from copying their original ideas. 

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“I have been never been so confident in Indian entrepreneurs and Indian ecosystem. These are great times and this is just the beginning.”

— Sanjay Mehta, Founder and Partner, 100X.VC

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