Startups vs COVID-19 second wave

Good morning!

India’s pandemic narrative has been unprecedented and unimaginable. 

As the second wave of COVID-19 proves fatal beyond imagination, the Indian startup ecosystem has once again come together to ignite the ray of hope.

Fintech decacorn Paytm is raising Rs 10 crore to import 3,000 oxygen concentrators for government and private hospitals that are in dire need of it. In fact, Kunal Shah’s CRED asked its users to donate their CRED coins towards buying oxygen-related equipment, which will be facilitated by Milaap.

Dating app TrulyMadly is now using its matchmaking algorithms to find suitable “Plasma donors” by capturing and matching all critical information from both the patient and donor, including their blood group, COVID-19 diagnosis date, location, contact details, and phone number.

Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions said it plans to deploy 50 ICMR-approved and NABL-certified mobile testing labs across India to meet the huge backlog in RT-PCR testing amid rising cases of COVID-19. 

Zomato, too, announced a “Help Save My India” mission through its not-for-profit arm Feeding India in association with Delhivery to source oxygen concentrators and related supplies to help hospitals and families in need.

Read about how the Indian startup ecosystem is battling the second wave of COVID-19 here.

The Interview

Last year, during the beginning of the pandemic, Gurugram startup GoMechanic came up with #OpenForHeroes — an initiative to support emergency and essential vehicles, including ambulances, police vehicles, etc., by providing technicians and mechanics across major metros. 

A year later, Co-founder Rishabh Karwa speaks to YourStory about the startup’s growth journey, the way forward for the business, and its unique post-COVID offerings.

Editor’s Pick: Rise of fractional investing

There was a time when, for most of India’s middle and upper-middle-income class, fixed deposits and gold was the basic resting pulse when it came to wealth investments. But all that changed when tech-focussed investing platforms came into existence. 

From derivatives, IPOs, foreign exchange, and secondary stock sales, to commercial real estate and sustainable projects, retail investors — aka “Robinhood” investors — want it all. And, for novice investors who only seek to make a quick assured buck, fractional investing came as a boon. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

This startup’s contactless sheet turns every bed into an ICU monitoring bed

Amidst a seething second wave, there has been a severe dearth of oxygen, hospital beds, and vital medicine essential for treating COVID patients. In fact, for healthcare workers, the pressure keeps mounting. 

To help make their lives easier and also tackle the scarcity of ICU beds in hospitals, Bengaluru-based Turtle Shell Technologies has come up with a solution, Dozee, to turn all beds into step-down ICUs. Read more. 

News & Updates

• Reliance Foundation is setting up a 1,000-bed COVID-19 care facility with oxygen supply in Jamnagar, Gujarat, where all services will be provided free of cost. Around 400 beds will be up and running within a week.

• The UN team in India is providing critical supplies to the country amid COVID-19, and its agencies are procuring thousands of oxygen concentrators, oxygen generating plants, and other essential equipment, as well as helping set up mobile hospital units.

• The Finance Ministry has waived permissions required from any government departments for customs clearance of COVID-related relief material imported by the Indian Red Cross Society.

• Goldman Sachs announced an additional $10 million in support to help India fight the second surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths. The firm will provide support for frontline health facilities in cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi.

• BYJU'S is reportedly raising about $150 million from UBS Group AG that will value the edtech major at about $16.5 billion. Earlier, BYJU'S had acquired Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) to bolster its presence in the test preparation segment in the country.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

"It's not one person's initiative, it's everybody's — everybody who is sharing, who is trying to promote, who is trying to get the word out. There is so much requirement out there that we're not able to fulfil that no matter what."

— Rahul Aggarwal, Co-founder of Designhill; Member, Democracy People Foundation

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