Startup news and updates: daily roundup (August 16, 2022)
YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Monday, August 16, 2022.
Paytm partners with Samsung to offer BNPL
has announced its partnership with Samsung to provide payment options and buy now, pay later (BNPL) service to customers at the latter’s retail outlets. The company will work with Samsung retailers to deploy smart PoS devices across stores.
Samsung clients can now avail themselves of Paytm’s flexible payment options, along with the Paytm Postpaid BNPL service, on products available at the stores. Paytm Postpaid will be offered in association with financial partners, and consumers can get a monthly credit limit of up to Rs 60,000. Low-cost personal loans up to Rs 2 lakh will also be provided.
Bhavesh Gupta, CEO, Lending & Head Payments, Paytm, said, “With our PoS devices, merchants are able to drive higher customer loyalty. The partnership with Samsung stores will enable us to extend the convenience of smart payments to a larger customer base.”
As of July 2022, the company claims to have deployed 4.1 million PoS devices across the country.
T-Hub partners with Atal Innovation Mission
T-Hub has partnered with Atal Innovation Mission to set up AIC T-Hub Foundation and has launched three cohorts focused on healthcare, mobility, and sustainability. The cohort programme has been launched to foster innovation and entrepreneurship across the semiconductor sector.
The six-month programme is designed to help entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of scaling their startups through expert-led workshops, specialised mentorship, market access, and investor and industry connect.
The programme will mentor 20 startups with potentially disruptive technologies that could reshape semiconductor supply chains in the future. The semiconductor cohort of the programme will ensure that the selected startups get customised consultation for product commercialisation and market access with the help of global mentors from the industry.
boAt founders Aman and Sameer
boAt makes 1M 'Made in India' units in one quarter
Earwear brand has announced the manufacture of 1 million units made in India in a single quarter, through its Rock in India campaign.
The campaign highlights the dedication and meticulousness of unsung heroes in designing and manufacturing every single unit. In collaboration with music composer Mayur Jumani, boAt celebrates the sounds of every corner of its factory by incorporating them into a track that echoes the "hustle" and "passion" of India.
In January 2022, boAt entered into a joint venture with Dixon Technologies for manufacturing and developing Bluetooth-enabled hearable products in India. Leveraging the 'Make in India' campaign launched by the Government of India in 2014, boAt plans to continue to diversify its supply base and engage with new suppliers based in India. With its new network of suppliers, boAt aims to scale production to meet the growing demands of consumers.
Curefoods partners with Shark Tank, Big Boss, FIFA Digital
Cloud kitchen operator has announced partnerships for its brands EatFit and CakeZone with various consumer-facing content platforms such as Shark Tank, Big Boss, and FIFA Digital. This announcement comes just after its recent partnership with ICC.
With these new partnerships, Curefoods aims to release various ad campaigns, which will involve "deep" content integration across the partner brands, to spread the brand's ethos of "healthy and nutritious eating" to a larger set of audience.
Gokul Kandhi, Chief Business Officer, Curefoods, said, “Consumer-facing content shows like Shark Tank, Big Boss, and FIFA Digital provide a huge opportunity for the Curefoods brands EatFit and CakeZone to engage with consumers and tell them about the brand offerings in a detailed manner. We are keen to leverage this opportunity to reach out to entrepreneurs and consumers in the food ecosystem, to show the world the immense opportunity that the food industry has and the positive change that it can bring in today’s world with the impact that food creates on us. With the upcoming festive season in India, I believe that these partnerships will also allow us to capitalise well on our products.”
Housing.com launches connect service for home seekers
Online real estate portal has formally launched Housing Premium, a facility that allows buyers and tenants to directly connect with home owners—sellers or landlords. The company is looking to expand its user base for the service.
The facility also offers instant alerts to subscribers in addition to dedicated relationship managers to handhold them through their home-buying or renting journey. Housing Premium offers three options to subscribe—Basic, Premium and Assisted, with a validity of up to 60 days. The Basic offering gives users access to up to 10 home-owner contacts, while the Premium offering gives access to 25 contacts.
Taskmo Report: Youth participation in the gig economy increases by 8 fold
Taskmo, gig discovery platform conducted research on the participation of youth in the gig economy. As per the report, the participation of youth in the gig economy has increased 8-fold from 2019 to 2022. As per data, close to 40% of the gig workers on the platform are youth between the age group of 16 to 23.
The Taskmo platform offers over 15,000 tasks per day and caters to large enterprises, SMBs, and start-ups helping them find relevant talent to do the job on a task basis. The platform has over 7,50,000 gig workers registered. The research highlighted that majority of the youth opting for gig job roles belong to Tier-1 cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai.
Plum appoints Disney Star’s Sasha Abraham as its head of brand
an employee health insurance platform on tuesday, announcedd the appointment of Sasha Abraham, as its head of brand.
Sasha has 13 years of diverse experience driving marketing efforts in the US, UK and India, for brands including Betty Crocker and the NFL. Recently Sasha was the Marketing lead for Women’s Cricket and International Sports at Star Sports, where she focussed on growing the profile of properties like the Premier League, Wimbledon, Women’s cricket, in India.
At Plum, Sasha will be responsible for crafting the brand strategy, driving brand awareness and affinity, and spearheading thought-leadership with the ultimate goal of being the most trusted.
Hero Electric partners with AU Small Finance Bank
Electric two-wheeler company, on Tuesday, announced partnership with AU Small Finance Bank to provide easy financing solutions for its e2Ws. Hero Electric aims to enhance the financing process for its customers by providing seamless and easy loan solutions along with online assistance.
Customers can benefit from its financing option with customized EMIs as per their needs. Hero has 14 products in its portfolio catering to varied customer requirements.
StanPlus partners with Narayana Hrudayalaya, to extend emergency medical response within 15 minutes in Bengaluru
a medical emergency response platform on Tuesday, announced its partnership with Narayana Hrudayalaya Limited to manage its ambulance services and provide ambulance care to critical cases in less than 15 minutes.
The partnership entails deploying advanced life support and basic life support to patients in Narayana Hrudayalaya. In addition to this, StanPlus has also partnered with Sakra World Hospital, Fortis Hospital (Cunningham, and Bannerghatta), Sparsh Super Speciality Hospital, and other hospitals to ensure that the red ambulances and trained paramedics can reach critical patients in less than 15 minutes.
(This story will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)
Edited by Swetha Kannan