From ShopClues’s AdZone, Quikr’s AtHomeDiva, to Houssup Messenger and Smart Cities Tracker - the product launches of the week

The growing number of smartphone users, the increased mobile Internet usage and number of app developers collectively contribute to the growth of mobile app revolution in India. The application market in India is likely to grow by more than four times, to $626.23 million (around Rs 3,800 crore) by 2016, according to a report. About 95 million smartphones have reportedly been shipped to customers across India in 2015, an increase of 32 percent from 41 million in 2013.

Startups largely today cannot even think of escalating their growth curve without having strong mobile presence. Digital broadcast network VEQTA last week launched an app for sports, while interior décor platform Houssup launched its mobile application along with chat app Houssup Messenger. The week that went by also saw new product development by startup honchos like Quikr and ShopClues.

VEQTA app for sports fans

Digital broadcast network VEQTA has launched its flagship sports app, which is available on Android and iOS. With video on demand and live streaming, it allow sports fans to watch sports content from around the globe across football, cricket, mixed martial arts, wrestling, basketball, motor sports, tennis, golf and Olympic sports.

Houssup Messenger

Interior décor platform Houssup has launched its mobile application along with its chat app, Houssup Messenger. The app helps consumers discover design ideas on-the-go based on their taste and preferences. With Houssup Messenger, users can chat with designers of their choice in real time and discuss ideas and home décor solutions with the Houssup community.

Houssup offers expert consultation, designer discovery, project visualisation, design implementation, and budget estimation. Backed with artificial intelligence, the newly-launched app analyses the customer’s needs according to picture selection and a questionnaire. The application in turn assigns five designers, to provide each customer with a wide range of design solutions within 24 hours.

The second version of the app will have project tracking and payment features as well, which will provide detailed summary of the project along with estimated budget inclusive of all the expenditure and payment options.

ShopClues’s self-service solution AdZone

AdZone is a self-service solution that helps merchants promote products using native and custom ads on ShopClues. The platform has been created in partnership with C1X, a leading online advertising technology firm. AdZone will allow merchants who are looking to advertise their products on ShopClues enter a bidding process to initiate their campaign. The minimum budget for a campaign is Rs 1,000. The product ads will be displayed in the category and sub-category pages. The ‘Native’ ads category makes a featured ad appear at the top of product listings, ‘Custom’ ads will incorporate multi-banner ads displayed at the top of the website.

Quikr launches ‘AtHomeDiva’

AtHomeDiva will cater to the significant demand of beauty services within QuikrServices. It offers a full range of in-home beauty and styling services, including hair, skin, makeup services and special packages. AtHomeDiva is currently offered through the Quikr app and website, and will soon be launched as a separate app as well.

According to Quikr, AtHomeDiva currently offers services for consumers in Delhi, Gurgaon and Bengaluru, with a team of certified stylists that have undergone both quality and background checks. The number of beauty service requests received on the platform has been increasing by 100 percent month-on-month.

Smart Cities Tracker

How India Lives, a search engine for all kinds of public data on India, has launched Smart Cities Tracker, which has 269 metrics covering people, household amenities, city infrastructure, mobility, housing, crime, governance, economy, health and vulnerability. By this August, it expects to cross 500 metrics, constantly tracking the data space for these 97 cities chosen by Government of India as a part of Smart City campaign. Smart Cities Tracker is useful for anyone looking for data in specific domains of the Smart City programme, especially in the context of assessing business opportunities. Smart City Tracker has collated data from multiple public data sources like the Census, District Census Handbook and ministries.

The fast pace of innovation among startup fraternity elevated the position of India in list of startup nations. The Indian technology startup landscape has witnessed tremendous growth since 2010 and has clearly evolved to become the third largest base of technology startups in the world, stated a NASSCOM-Zinnov report. Keeping watching this space to have a glimpse of new lines of product next week.