[Startup Watchlist] A dairy farm, the virtual cloud and experiences

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Over the last two, weeks, the Startup Watchlist has been shipped differently- first, we mapped all the 60 companies that have been on the watchlist till now. And then, we talked about the challenges a couple of companies from the list are facing. The idea is to have something of value each time and not just mindlessly keep on making lists. While going through the companies I came across last week, three companies stood out for distinct reasons and in very different sectors. And thus the subject line turned out to be glowing with diversity.

Diversity is enriching as it brings in different flavours and makes the brew wholesome. The Startup Watchlist is very tasteful this time around, here are the three chosen companies:

1. Oleche

Mani Agrawal is a Delhi based entrepreneur who is working on two ventures- Classle, which is in the field of education and case in point here, Oleche which aims to bring fresh cow milk to homes, straight from the farm. "When I relocated to India in 2013 after living in US and Europe for more than two decades, I hated the taste of the pouch milk from cooperatives,” says Mani as to why he decided to setup his own dairy. He bought land in Uttar Pradesh’s Badraula village, not faraway from Delhi, and a dozen of Holstein Friesain cows alongwith a pasteurisation and packaging unit on the farm. (read more)Oleche transports the packaged milk in refrigerated vehicles and deliver it at the doorstep within 12 hours of milking. Oleche (leche is Spanish means milk) supplies milk to 400-odd customers in Ghaziabad, Noida and South Delhi.

Why the company is on the list because it is a fresh take on way technology can be used to do things. It is not trying to be a marketplace where farmers or people come online on a 'platform' and empower them. The Oleche model seems much more genuine and organic.

2. BlazeClan's Cloudlytics

From a farm startup, to one in the virtual clouds. BlazeClan is an AWS Cloud Consulting compaany that has a product Cloudlytics- a SaaS offering that helps users of Amazon Cloud with Log Analytics and Management for their AWS Cloud Infrastructure. It is designed to offer operational intelligence for AWS Cloud Infrastructure Log files. These log files are generated when users consume Cloud Services on Amazon Web Services, which contain raw information pertaining to user access patterns. Cloudlytics process these raw log files and provides meaningful analytics on an easy to understand dashboard.BlazeClan is bootstrapped and is making waves globally already but why it is on the list at this point in time is because of the AWS:reInvent conference was BlazeClan Technologies was recognised with a Customer Obsession title. "It was an astounding moment for us to be the only Indian Company among the 3 partners from APAC & 9 partners Globally receiving a Customer Obsession Partners Award recognition out of over 1200 partner companies of AWS," say the founders. a huge shot in the arm for the company. BlazeClan is surely one of the companies to keep an eye out for in the global cloud enterprise space.

3. Tushky

Tushky. Heard that name before? Founded by Talvinder Singh, Tushky has been around from 2011 and has pivoted multiple times. Starting out as a portal that connects travellers with locals, Tushky is currently a marketplace for experiences.The company underwent the 500Startups program and grew but this particular year has been a bit of a downhill ride. The company had some issues with the team breaking up but Talvinder has been adamant. Full of grit, he turned himself around from a non-tech co-founder to a full fledged technical founder role and has gotten the product in shape. The company is very small in terms of the team now but they're in business and are set to pick up steam again. Watch out for them in the coming months!

Do you think of any other startups that fit the bill? Do drop in a line to me at [email protected].