[Startup Watchlist] 3 startups at the cusp of piping hot trends

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We've seen this time and again - most technology startups in India are tweaks of models that have worked in developed markets. Once an investor makes a move with a particular company, shower of investments begin. Everyone knows of the e-commerce investments of 2011 which were followed by investments in cab aggregators industry. More recently, the auto classifieds industry has experienced this deluge. And this is not India-specific, it’s a trend likely to be seen in all emerging markets.

There are a few more emerging trends and a lot of startups sits at the cusp of these trends. This post highlights three kickass startups that stand at the cusp of such upward trends.

1) Eatlo

Yes, it has to do with food delivery. Yes, we just wrote about the massive TinyOwl, upcoming Yumist, Tapcibo, Brekkie and, of course, there’s Zomato and FoodPanda. Food delivery is huge. To add to this growing list of startups, it's time we added Eatlo to our watchlist.

Founded by Sai Priya Mahajan and Rahul Harkisanka, both of whom were in the core team at FashionAndYou and UrbanTouch, after which they joined Mygola and Freecharge, respectively. Having tasted startups for a few years and zeroing in on an opportunity, the duo have come together for Eatlo, which is a food delivery app- users get 'quick and hassle free food from the best chefs'. Eatlo has its own kitchen in Bangalore. With backing from investors like Deap Ubhi (who has also invested in TinyOwl, and had previously founded Burrp), Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn, UrbanTouch, Accel Partners), etc, they have some firepower to compete in this crowded market. Available only on Android at the moment with about 1000 installs, Eatlo is doing 200 lunches every day with very high repeat customers.

2) Hipcask (see video)

Building on the trend in food delivery, next up is Hipcask, which is into alcohol delivery. Founded by Aneesh Bhasin, a wine connoisseur and lifestyle photographer, the idea of the app is to help people discover wine, whiskies and beer according to their palate.

Based out of Mumbai, the company is also one among many startups showcased at YourStory's TechSparks. It’s been focusing on building content till their technology is built completely. Starting out with discovery, Hipcask has, now, also figured out fulfillment. It’s been home delivering wines since the last three weeks during which it has generated orders upwards of INR 60,000. The wine market in India is very nascent, but according to Aneesh, it’s picking up fast. A five member team right now, HipCask is in a space that hardly sees any competition. It has great background with Aneesh at the helm of things to make a dent in the space.

3) CultureAlley

This particular startup is a great example to showcase the power of scale and why technology is valued so highly. Backed by Kae Capital, this Jaipur-based startup, is building technology that enables users to learn a language in a wholesome way. For instance, a new version of CultureAlley allows users to learn 'Spanish' via their Facebook Wall (or on Twitter). It also has apps like English-App, which has been downloaded more than 500k times on Android. This technology is scalable and, once perfected it can be used by many people in multiple ways.

What do you think of these startups? Drop comment.