Startup news and updates: daily roundup (January 20, 2023)

IAMAI’s TravelTech Committee Announces New Leadership

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has appointed a new chair and two co-chairs of the TravelTech Committee, which functions under its aegis.

Sanjay Mohan, Group CTO of MakeMyTrip India, will take the role of the new chair, while Rikant Pittie, Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, and Yang Li, Head-Public Affairs (APAC), Booking.com, will work as the new co-chairs.

The new leadership of the TravelTech Committee will actively engage with the government and industry representatives to address some of the key challenges faced by the sector through policy and advocacy at both domestic and international levels.

The new leadership team brings a unique perspective towards the future of the travel industry and will contribute towards the revival of the sector and help gain momentum in the years to come.

Fire-Boltt expands its wings in Southeast Asia market

Fire-Boltt announces its foray into the Southeast Asia market. The brand has partnered with SmartechSG Private Limited to commence its operations in Singapore and Vietnam.

The move comes as a part of Fire-Boltt’s aggressive international expansion and growth plans. Recently, Fire-Boltt also ventured into the UAE market, where its entire product line-up received a phenomenal response.  

GOQii announces ‘GOQii Corporate Challenge 2’ to promote healthy lifestyle for working professionals

GOQii, a smart preventive healthtech company, announced the second edition of GOQii Corporate Challenge (GCC), a virtual inter-corporate fitness event for working professionals. The event will focus on helping corporate employees inculcate healthy habits into their daily routines.

GOQii Corporate Challenge 2 is a comprehensive 60-day fitness event in collaboration with 64 organisations across India, including L&T, IOCL, Mahindra finance, Tata Power, Tata Digital, Tata Play, Healthium, Union Bank of India, HDFC life, OYO, Hero MotoCorp, etc.

SabPaisa launches India’s first virtual account number-based B2B collection system

SabPaisa, an API-driven Unified Payment Experience (UPE) platform, launched India's first B2B e-collect, a product designed exclusively for B2B payments. The comprehensive APIs built around all workflows ensure B2B payments life cycle is secured and complete.

B2B e-collect is a unique innovation designed for businesses to collect payments from their partners/dealers/agents through Virtual Account Number (VAN) with prior validation and works around automated reconciliation.

B2B e-collect offers a single dashboard to access reports from multiple bank accounts for multiple payment modes like cash, NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, fund transfer, cards, net banking, and wallets.

UP govt inks deal with Virus Slayer Instashield

Healthtech startup Instashield India Pvt. Ltd has signed an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a manufacturing plant with an investment of Rs 20 crore. The healthtech company manufactures devices called Instashield, known for killing all kinds of viruses, including the coronavirus with an efficacy of 99.9%.

The startup signed the MoU in the presence of the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Minister of Child Development and Nutrition Baby Rani Maurya to work against coronavirus and other viruses.

B2B BNPL player ePayLater ropes in Aman Kumar as Chief Finance Officer

ePayLater, a startup in the SME credit space, appointed Aman Kumar as its Chief Financial Officer. In this new role, Aman Kumar, a CA having over 18 years of experience, will lead the finance function and will work towards providing a strategic financial direction to ePayLater.

“Aman is joining us at a critical moment. We recently celebrated our 7th anniversary in December 2022. Besides disbursing more than Rs 3,000 crore to countless MSMEs from across the country, we registered a massive 30X growth in the last two years. The company is now poised for another round of super growth. Aman’s years of experience in finance and scaling businesses will contribute to catapulting ePayLater to the next step,” said Aurko Bhattacharya, Co-founder of ePayLater.

Gaming-focused edtech startup upsurge raises Rs 3 Cr in pre-seed round

Delhi-based startup upsurge, which teaches life skills and financial literacy to Gen Z through games, raised Rs 3 crore in a pre-seed round from JCBL India, the family office of Rishi Aggarwal, and an early-stage gaming-focussed VC firm.

upsurge will use the funds for further development of games and courses, hiring senior leaders, growth, and international expansion. The startup, which has 2,500 organic users, is working with educational institutions to integrate its games into their curricula besides launching some mobile apps next month.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Karan Baweja in 2021, the startup helps children learn about money management, entrepreneurship, and life skills through its interactive proprietary games and courses. Experts and educators from institutions, including the Indian Institute of Management, the Indian School of Business, and Harvard University, have developed the courses.

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