The grand finale of TechSparks 2021 is here

Throughout the week, YourStory hosted insightful conversations at its flagship startup-tech summit, TechSparks 2021. Asia's largest and most influential tech conference returned on Day 5 with entrepreneurs and industry leaders who gave a sneak-peek into business strategies.

Saturday October 30, 2021 , 4 min Read

Throughout the week, YourStory hosted insightful conversations at its flagship startup-tech summit, TechSparks 2021. Asia's largest and most influential tech conference returned on Day 5 with entrepreneurs and industry leaders who gave a sneak-peek into business strategies.

Thyrocare Founder and Chairman Dr Arokiaswamy Velumani deep-dived into how he built one of India’s largest medical diagnostics chains, which was recently acquired by healthtech unicorn Pharmeasy. Speaking of the sector today, Velumani said healthcare was no different from other sectors, including fintech. Both sectors used to be very manual; today, both are completely automated.

Award-winning actor, a trained pilot, rally car driver, and entrepreneur, Kunal Kapoor is the co-founder of Asia’s largest crowdfunding platform, Ketto. He sat down for a fireside chat at TechSparks 2021 and delved into the next big step for Ketto and how it expanded 4X during the pandemic.

The day also featured other key startup ecosystem stakeholders such as healthtech founders Geetha Manjunath, Founder of Nirmai; Anu Acharya, Founder of Mapmygenome; Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO of GOQii; and Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder of 1MG, among others.

And now, we've finally reached the grand finale of TechSparks 2021, closing the 12th edition of YourStory's flagship event.

Today, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy will talk to YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma about redefining customer experiences with new-age technology and elevating online commerce for the next billion shoppers.

The day will also see the co-founders of ShareChat and Razorpay talk about what it means to build a unicorn in India. ShareChat’s founder-trio will also feature in a discussion around building a social media network for the next billion users in India.

Swiggy Co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety will make a rare public appearance on the final day to discuss the future of the food delivery giant, and how he’s charted out Swiggy’s next strategic moves.

Check out YourStory's full coverage of TechSparks 2021 here.

Join here to experience TechSparks 2021 with thousands of other startup-tech enthusiasts from around the world.

Check out the TechSparks 2021 calendar for the line-up of action-packed sessions.

The Interview

The COVID-19 pandemic led several businesses to adopt and adapt to the growing digital reality, and cater to the needs of customers. They also found it challenging to retain their users.

In an engaging fireside chat at TechSparks 2021, Freshworks’ Anand Venkatraman and BYJU’S’ Mohnish Jaiswal talk about seamless collaborations between customer-facing teams, and how customer-service tools can drive user retention and engagement in the long term.

Editor’s Pick: Dream 11 CEO Harsh Jain

Harsh Jain, Co-founder and Culture Enforcement Officer (CEO) of fantasy sports platform Dream11, was rejected by 150 investors and was told it was a startup idea created ‘just for fun’. In 2019, Dream 11 created history by becoming India’s first online gaming unicorn.

The validation has been tremendous after the company figured its product-market fit, Harsh told Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, during a fireside chat at TechSparks 2021. Read more.

Dream 11's Harsh Jain on regulatory challenges as moat

Startup Spotlight

A Shopify-like platform for artisans

Entrepreneur Trilochan Parida wanted to help artisans create their own digital brand and directly sell handicrafts online. His passion led him to launch Typof, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, in February 2021.

In an interview with YourStory, Trilochan, who hails from Odisha, explains that while local artisans can sell their products through online marketplaces, the onboarding fee on these platforms cuts into their revenue. With COVID-19 bringing businesses and customers online, artisans require a good digital strategy to increase sales. Read more.

Typof Snapshot — *Illustration: YS Design*

News & Updates

Kidswear brand Ed-a-Mamma, founded by actor and investor Alia Bhatt, has seen a 10X growth in 10 months. While the business is entirely self-funded, investors in a Series A round are valuing the company at Rs 150 crore, setting a new benchmark for kids’ clothing in India.

Ecommerce company Meesho announced a $5.5 million (about Rs 41.1 crore) ESOP liquidation programme, its second such initiative in less than a year. In November last year, the company had announced a $5 million ESOP dilution programme.

After 17 years, social networking giant Facebook has renamed itself Meta. This new corporate identity comes at a time where the company envisions an alternate virtual existence of individuals by employing AR and VR technologies.

India’s gaming market is set to become $7 billion in FY26 (over 3X of the market in FY21), while in-app purchases are the fastest growing revenue streams of the market, according to a comprehensive report by Lumikai and Redseer titled “India Gaming Report 2021".