Startup news and updates: daily roundup (September 28, 2022)

AI Logistix and SUN Mobility announce strategic partnership to offer end-to-end Green Deliveries

Logistics startup AI Logistix has announced its partnership with SUN Mobility, which provides battery swapping services and energy infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs), to become the LAST MILE delivery partner of India.

As a client of Alchemy Mobility, a green mobility service provider for all the last-mile delivery agencies, AI Logistix is availing energy services provided by SUN Mobilty. AI Logistix is aiming to become the go-to LAST MILE delivery partner by focusing on zero-carbon emission (Green deliveries) across India.

As part of this partnership, SUN Mobility and AI Logistix plan to deploy 500 loaders and electric two-wheelers (E2Ws) till March 2023 by adding approx 100 vehicles to the fleet every month. The initial deployment will be focused in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and will later extend across pan India. SUN Mobility and AI Logistix partnership will also jointly provide customisable integrated 2W swap solutions to the rider partner to enhance vehicle utility and day-to-day mobility and reduce downtime.

PW forays into PG test prep category with launch of GATE Wallah

Edtech platform PW (Physics Wallah) has announced its entry into GATE exam preparations segment. PW’s newest vertical, GATE Wallah, is designed for engineering graduates who often face difficulty charting the right career path after graduation, mainly due to a lack of access to quality and affordable content.

Led by a new team called DRONA, comprising the best teachers from across India, this program aims to help students with GATE exam preparations and secure admission into the top Masters programs and jobs in leading Public Sector Companies.  

PW Founder and CEO Alakh Pandey said, "We are extremely delighted to announce GATE Wallah. We have been serving undergraduate categories and are producing remarkable results; with this new endeavor of ours, we will be empowering the graduates too. The UG students who have been associated with PW for a long time requested us to launch programs in PG categories, so we are starting with GATE. This initiative underlines our commitment to providing quality and affordable education for GATE aspirants, and we will continue to add more programs to our portfolio in the coming years."

Team DRONA consists of IITians, ISRO qualified, BARC cleared, former IES officers, and under 10 rank holders in GATE. PW is offering an initial 90-day crash course for GATE 2023 on YouTube, free of cost to guide and train students in a short period. Starting on October 3, 2022, this course will cover all subjects and the previous year's question papers and will be held six days a week. PW is also offering another free batch called ABHYAS for students to practice various numerical problems, MCQs, MSQs, and theory-based questions for GATE. This batch will also commence on October 3, 2022.  

For GATE 2024, PW has introduced the Parakram batch, a year-long course, in which students can opt for a weekday program (starting on October 10) or a weekend program (October 15), which will be taught in Hinglish and English. Students can purchase the course at a discounted price of Rs 5,999. PW has also introduced a two-year program for its Shreshth batch, where students can opt for a weekend course (Saturday-Sunday) or a weekday course (Monday-Friday). This program is available at a discounted price of Rs 7,999. The weekday and weekend batches will go live on October 15 and 25, respectively. 

NASSCOM Foundation partners with DXC Technology to digitally enable and skill marginalised communities

NASSCOM Foundation on Wednesday announced its collaboration with DXC Technology to enable marginalised communities with digital capabilities and skill Indian youth as part of an eight-month project. In its fourth consecutive year of collaboration, NASSCOM Foundation and DXC Technology will be working towards the common goal of bridging the skills gap that the youth in India faces today, and address the digital divide, especially in Tier-II and Tier-III cities wherein there are accessibility constraints.

This project closely aligns with DXC Technology’s philosophy of leveraging technology for social good and for improving the quality of life of the local community and society at large. The aim is also to contribute to economic development across communities, in keeping with the Digital India vision.

The scope of this partnership will have two key focus areas -  20 ‘Resource Centres for Digital Literacy and e-Governance’ and The skill-building initiative. The first category will be established in aspirational districts spread across seven states including, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. These Resource Centres will help in creating agents of change and engines of development by providing need-based information, e-resources and an array of digital services that will impact citizens’ lives and livelihoods in alignment with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

UberUber to be present in all 7 Northeast sister states

on Wednesday announced the expansion of its footprint in the Northeast with the launch of operations in Imphal and Itanagar with its popular Uber Moto. These launches complete Uber’s presence across all the ‘seven sisters’. With this, Uber claims to be the only ridesharing company to be present across the Northeast part of the country. 

Uber already has a strong presence in Aizawl and Shillong with Uber Moto in Guwahati with Uber Go and Uber Moto, and in Dimapur and Agartala with Uber Auto. With this expansion, Uber remains committed to offering convenient, affordable, and safe mobility solutions to more and more cities across the country through the Uber App. 

Uber’s expansion in the Northeastern states is in line with its growth plans in India, and with the company’s ‘India to Bharat’ strategy to increase its footprint and product offerings to regional markets, thereby realizing its vision of providing doorstep pickups, safe and contactless payments, all at affordable prices.

TalentonLease appoints Pankaj Gupta as advisor to its board

TalentOnLease, a new age online platform and an emerging B2B IT staffing firm, announced the appointment of Pankaj Gupta, Founder and CEO of EnableX.io, as an Advisor to its board. Pankaj has been playing a strategic advisor’s role for TalentOnLease informally until his official induction into the advisory board beginning September 1, 2022. 

As an Advisory board member, Pankaj will work closely with the TalentOnLease leadership team to build and scale up the business. He will also be focusing on the team to structure and align the company’s overall vision toward the demands of the future market.

Pankaj has expertise in the management of global businesses. He has been a serial entrepreneur for over two decades and has created and scaled-up multiple successful IT and telecom businesses. He is also an active angel investor and believes strongly in mentoring startups and founders. 

South African cricketers Lungi Ngidi and Temba Bavuma partner with Rario to launch their cricket NFTs

Licensed cricket digital collectibles platform Rario has announced South Africa’s fast bowler Lungi Ngidi, and right-hand batsman Temba Bavuma’s exclusive partnership with the platform to launch its own non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Lungi and Temba join the elite list of cricketers Rario has already partnered with. The list includes players such as Faf Du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Aaron Finch, Shakib Al Hasan, Rishabh Pant, Virendra Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Smriti Mandhana, and Rashid Khan.

Founded in 2021 by IIT Alumni Ankit Wadhwa and Sunny Bhanot, Rario is an officially licensed digital collectibles platform for cricket fans to collect and trade cricket NFTs. Rario has exclusive partnerships with Cricket Australia, New Zealand Cricket, Big Bash League, Women’s Big Bash League, Super Smash, Hero Caribbean Premier League, Lanka Premier League, Abu Dhabi T10 League, Legends League Cricket, and has a roster of over 900 international cricketers as well as over 30 exclusive brand ambassadors.

Observe.AI appoints Puneet Agarwal as the new SVP of Engineering in Bengaluru

Intelligent workforce platform Observe.AI appoints Puneet Agarwal as SVP of Engineering. Punitbrings decades of experience in building enterprise AI and leading high-growth teams.

Most recently, Punit served as Head of Engineering, India, at ThoughtSpot in Bengaluru, where he helped the company grow 10X to over $4B valuation and scaled their cloud platform + R&D operations.

On joining Observe.AI, Punit said: “For me, applying the disruptive potential of AI to human conversations in the enterprise represents a generational opportunity–and this is where Observe.AI shines. I’m grateful to join the team in bringing transformative AI to the globally massive market of 17 million contact center agents worldwide.”

RazorpayX, Zaggle to enable employees save up to Rs 40K on tax

RazorpayX, the neo-banking arm of Razorpay, has announced its partnership with Zaggle, a B2B SaaS fintech company, to provide businesses with an easy-to-use plug-and-play solution to enable Flexible Benefits Program further enhancing the employee experience.

This partnership will enable businesses to manage all employee tax benefits and perks on a single dashboard, automating the entire process in a hassle-free manner. RazorpayX Payroll is already equipped with the means to manage Flexible Benefits under its compensation structure, and with this partnership, it will be providing additional perks to users under one umbrella.  

Former CEO of Tricentis Sandeep Johri joins LambdaTest’s Board

Sandeep Johri, former CEO of Tricentis, has joined the board of LambdaTest, a leading continuous quality testing cloud platform. Sandeep, a technology industry veteran, who grew Tricentis into a global leader in software testing will play a pivotal role in helping LambdaTest in its next phase of growth and expansion.

Sandeep, who has over 25 years of experience in enterprise software, was the CEO of Tricentis, leading enterprise test automation platform, in his last role. An investor, serial entrepreneur, and technology executive, Sandeep has co-founded and exited multiple companies including, Oblix (Oracle), Dhingana (VMware), and Blue Lane Technologies (VMware). He has been an early investor and advisor to several technology companies in the US and India like Netezza, Persistent Systems, Alphonso, Cenzic, eBoodle, and Dhingana. He also spent several years at HP, leading their software efforts, and was pivotal in the $4.5B acquisition of Mercury Interactive.

Sandeep is also a part of Pathfinders Platform, a Sequoia India and Southeast Asia initiative that connects early-stage founders with exceptional global operators and investors to help them succeed in new markets. He joins the LambdaTest board in his capacity as a Pathfinder to give the organization a head start in global expansion.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)