Startup news and updates: daily roundup (July 13, 2022)

Flipkart forms partnership with CarDekho, BikeDekho

Flipkart, India’s homegrown ecommerce marketplace; and Girnarsoft, the parent company of auto search and discovery portals CarDekho and BikeDekho, have announced a strategic partnership wherein innovative tools, selections, and automobile content such as detailed specs, prices, comparisons, and more would be made available on the Flipkart app and mobile website through the microsite developed for this purpose.

According to Flipkart, it is strengthening its focus on the auto category, which currently covers accessories, select auto services, automobile spare parts and insurance options. This collaboration with Girnarsoft will allow its users across the country to make informed auto decisions aided by search, research, and comparisons.

On the collaboration, Sankalp Mehrotra, Vice President, Monetisation, Flipkart, said, "Our association with Girnarsoft will provide our customers with greater choices and selection in the auto category, as they go through their Car and two-wheeler explorations. Users will be able to discover and learn more about the vehicle of their choice.”

Mayank Jain, CEO, New Auto Business, Girnarsoft, said, “This partnership with Flipkart allows us to offer our proprietary auto search and discovery services to a new and larger set of audiences in the country.”

Pristyn Care to increase employee strength by 20 pc

Unicorn healthcare startup Pristyn Care plans to increase its employee strength to 20 percent by 2023. This will see more than 200 plus doctors, super-speciality surgeons, and medical experts being on-boarded into the company.

Pristyn Care has been hiring across departments such as medical operations, patient care and safety, medical directorate, medtech, digital marketing, product development, and technology. Till date, it has created 20,000 healthcare jobs, including nursing and paramedical staff in its empanelled hospitals and clinics across 40+ cities. The company's hiring plans align with its plan to expand its footprint and presence into Tier-II and Tier-III markets in India.

On this development, Harsimarbir Singh, Co-founder at Pristyn Care, said, "We are focused on providing opportunities at every level in the healthcare industry. We have already created 20,000 jobs (direct & in-direct), most of which are in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.”

The company recently announced that it had doubled its surgical centers to 800 and completed one million plus patient interactions while treating over 100,000 patients.

Delivery volumes for Snapdeal grew by 88 pc in FY22

Snapdeal, a value ecommerce platform, said its delivered volumes in FY22 grew 88 percent when compared to FY21 catering to value-seeking, mid-income, price-conscious buyers in India and demand in popular categories like fashion and home were major drivers of growth.

In the fashion segment, the kids category saw the largest growth, with over 516 percent increase in sales volumes in FY 22. There was a 250 percent increase in sales volumes in girls and boy’s apparel, while infant wear clocked a 221 percent increase in volumes. Men and women clothing grew by 131 percent and 65 percent year on year in FY 22. Footwear was a leading choice across both men and women categories, which grew by 102 percent and 90 percent, respectively.

The home category also showed strong traction for Snapdeal with increased purchases of household items such as multi-purpose storage units, LED lamps, laptop stands, seat cushions, large size mirrors, non-skid bathroom mats, etc.

Automation Anywhere expands partnership with ICT Academy

Automation Anywhere, a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) startup, has expanded its collaboration with ICT Academy to upskill more students from engineering and non-engineering institutes in RPA.

This partnership looks to complete more than 500,000 RPA related courses over the next two years. More than 300,000 certifications have already been issued under the program.

Through this learning initiative, students will access content from Automation Anywhere University (AAU). The program provides role-based learning trails, courses and certifications. Automation Anywhere University (AAU) is the training and certification arm of Automation Anywhere and provides RPA training.

“One of the largest opportunities for us is to make RPA learning available to students and educators. With the scale and opportunity that India accords, there is a real sense of purpose to collaborate with ICT Academy to drive the engagement towards scaffolding the future of work,” said Kristen Engelhardt, Senior Vice President, Community & Learning, Automation Anywhere.

On the collaboration, Hari Balachandran, CEO of ICT Academy, said, “This unique program will provide first-hand knowledge about automation to not only engineering students but also, to non-engineers.”

Agritech startup Otipy aims to hire over 250 people

Agritech startup Otipy, which is based out of the NCR region, is looking to hire more than 250 people this fiscal across functions such as sales & marketing, data & analytics, technology, product management, operations & supply chain, procurement, etc. It currently has a workforce of over 400 employees.

Launched in 2020 by Varun Khuranna, Otipy is a community group buying platform for fresh produce and daily essentials. It has raised $32 million in funding led by Westbridge Capital as a Series B round in March 2022.

On the new hiring Otipy Founder & CEO Varun Khurana said, “The demand for online fruit and vegetable buying has grown multifold since the outbreak of the pandemic. This has made us double the strength in the last two years. We are expanding geographically therefore our hiring plans continue to be extensive.”