Startup news and updates: daily roundup (January 17, 2023)

Dronetech startup TSAW launches logistics service division

Dronetech company TSAW has launched its logistics arm, DRONECO, to recreate the logistics ecosystem by introducing a new and faster mode of transportation i.e., drones. According to a statement by the company, DRONECO will facilitate point-to-point drone transport supply chain logistics services with the primary goal of delivering goods to customers in a timely manner.

Backed by its parent drone manufacturing company TSAW and its cloud-based UAV system DCIS (Drone Cloud Intelligence System), DRONECO intends to be the go-to last-mile logistics facilitator for ecommerce platforms, armed forces, medical suppliers and others.

TSAW is co-founded by Kishan Tiwari and Rimanshu Pandey, who have a stellar track record in the drone logistics segment with the ambition to bridge the gap between cultures and societies.

Groyyo appoints Abhishek Srivastava as CTO

Groyyo, a manufacturer-first, cross-border supply chain enablement startup in Fashion and Lifestyle, has appointed Abhishek Srivastava, former Co-founder & CTO of ThreadSol, as its new Chief Technology Officer.

Under his leadership, Groyyo will transform its technology team to further develop its tech stack to fulfil its mission to digitise over 20 million SME manufacturers across Asia. Groyyo will be aggressively investing in technology chalking out $5M for investment in technology over the next 12-18 months. 

Spice Money issues 19 lakh PAN cards, 1.5 lakh Udyam Aadhaar cards across 2 lakh villages

Spice Money (subsidiary of DigiSpice Technologies) has issued 19 lakh PAN cards and over 1.5 lakh Udyam Aadhaar cards till date through its Adhikari network spanning across more than two lakh villages, continuing its effort to provide a host of government services at the doorsteps of Bharat.

Udyam has been one of the most crucial initiatives by the government to boost upcoming Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). According to the latest data published by the government, the Udyam platform has one crore MSMEs registered and employs 7.6 crore people, of which 1.7 crore are women. Spice Money has helped in the initiative by issuing over 1.5 lakh Udyam Aadhaar from August 2022 to December 2022.

GlobalLogic to open new digital engineering centers in Spain

GlobalLogic, a Hitachi Group Company and Digital Engineering Leader, is planning to open new engineering centers across Spain. The announcement was made by Nitesh Banga, President and CEO of GlobalLogic, during a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

GlobalLogic specializes in digital engineering: combining experience design, complex software engineering, and data engineering to address its clients’ needs for transformative services.

The Spain centers will represent GlobalLogic’s first sites in Southwest Europe, adding to more than 20 existing EMEA locations across nine other countries. They will be charged with providing design-led digital engineering services to global and Spanish clients in both on-site and off-site support models depending on customer location and need.

NXP and VinFast collaborate on developing next-generation smart electric vehicles

NXP and VinFast will engage in the early development phases of new VinFast automotive projects, leveraging NXP’s rich portfolio of system solutions for innovative applications.

VinFast and NXP Semiconductors have announced their collaboration on VinFast’s next-generation of Automotive applications at this year’s CES exposition. The collaboration supports VinFast’s goal in developing smarter, cleaner, and connected electric vehicles.

Under the collaboration, VinFast seeks to leverage NXP’s processors, semiconductors, and sensors. VinFast and NXP will engage in the early development phases of new VinFast automotive projects, leveraging NXP’s rich portfolio of system solutions for innovative applications.

IREDA's partnership with EV financing NBFC Mufin Green to drive EV penetration in India

Mufin Green Finance Ltd, an NBFC committed to 100% EV and climate financing, recently partnered with IREDA to thrive EV Penetration in India.  

With this partnership, Mufin Green Finance (Public) Ltd. plans to strengthen its retail EV portfolio for 2 & 3-wheeler (mainly E-rickshaw and E-auto vehicles) pan India over a period of time.

A major highlight of this initiative is the reduction of borrowing costs for end consumers by 40%, as e-rickshaw consumers belong to a weaker society that will further empower the lives of unserved and underserved segments of Indian society.

Teen-centric pocket money app muvin launches video KYC feature for teenagers

muvin, a teen-centric pocket money app, has launched video KYC. muvin claims to be the first player in its category to elevate its existing digital minimum-KYC process to a full video KYC.

The pocket money app allows teens access to their pocket money anywhere, anytime, and empowers them to make hassle free payments either through the muvin app or through their own physical prepaid card.

Through the introduction of this offering, muvin’s teen customers will be able to enjoy an enhanced monthly wallet limit of Rs 200,000, from the current limit of Rs 10,000, withdraw money from any ATM in India and complete peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers via the muvin app.

D2C personal care brand Pilgrim onboards Konark Gaur as Chief Marketing Officer

D2C personal care brand, Pilgrim, has appointed Konark Gaur as its Chief Marketing Officer. As the Chief Marketing Officer, Konark will spearhead marketing and commercial strategies to unlock the next phase of growth for the company.

With Pilgrim eyeing 3x the current run rate in 2023, Konark will closely lead the marketing efforts in introducing new categories in the beauty and personal care ranges. He will also be focusing on building a multidisciplinary team and plans to hire critical positions in the next two quarters. 

Log9 Mobility, Pulse Energy tie up to enable WhatsApp payment gateway for EV charging

Log9 Mobility, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bengaluru-headquartered deeptech and advanced battery tech startup Log9 Materials, has announced a strategic partnership with EV SaaS startup Pulse Energy to launch India’s first WhatsApp-based payments at Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations. Pulse Energy offers a platform for 550+ fast charging points, facilitating interoperability between charge point operators across India.

Through this partnership, Log9 Mobility plans to achieve a collective mission of overcoming hurdles persistent in the EV industry. This tie-up would ramp up the utilisation of fast chargers and facilitate a one-stop solution for payments at charging stations while contributing to building a seamless EV charging infrastructure. The WhatsApp payment option will initially be available to drivers of 3W EVs and later expand to 2W and 4W EVs.

Razorpay launches affordability widget

Full-stack payments and banking platform for businesses, Razorpay, has launched an industry-first solution called the Affordability Widget. Currently, 1 out of 4 customers shopping online drop off before the checkout page because of high upfront costs and lack of discoverability of affordable payment and credit options and offers.

To address this issue faced by millions of businesses, the Affordability Widget aims to solve for high customer drop-offs by showing affordable payment options on the product page itself, thereby making high-value orders a lot more affordable for customers and thereby helping increase revenue for businesses. 

WOW Skin Science joins ONDC network as an early adopter

WOW Skin Science, a D2C skin and personal care brand, has onboarded ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), an initiative of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, with Shopalyst being the enabler between the two. The ONDC network is currently live in 85 cities across the country, presenting an appropriate platform for WOW Skin Science to showcase its product portfolio to a wider range of buyers and increase brand engagement.

Since its inception, WOW Skin Science has been a pioneer in the industry with technological advancements to make the brand more accessible to people. WOW Skin Science will be open to buyers from all ONDC seller apps, thus expanding the horizon of the brand’s presence.

mPokket disburses loans of Rs 3,500 Cr in 2022

mPokket, launched in 2016, has disbursed loans amounting to Rs 3,500 crore in 2022 and Rs 7,000 crore to date. It plans to double its originations in 2023.

It plans to launch loans for self-employed individuals, micro-insurance policies to cover various exigencies and buy-now-pay-later products. The lending platform has more than 30 lakh borrowers and plans to double the numbers in 2023.

Speaking on the occasion, Gaurav Jalan, CEO and Founder, mPokket, “By incorporating digital best practices across the whole underwriting and loan disbursal process, mPokket is making it easier for these individuals to lead a better life by helping manage their cash flows better, thus facilitating financial inclusion."

In the press release, it said is looking at growing its workforce in 2023 across all its offices. In addition, mPokket is also looking at hiring gig workers at some of its facilities. Currently, the company employs more than 2,000 people across positions in technology, product, data analytics, and digital customer experience.