Startup news and updates: daily roundup (February 21, 2023)

ProcMart eyes procurement services expansion in Tier II cities

Online B2B sourcing partner ProcMart is expanding its services in India concentrating on Tier II cities.

These expansions are planned with the requirement of growing business and ProcMart foraying into several categories, including packaging, biomass, and chemicals procurement, the company stated.

With the inclusion of these verticals, the brand plans to stay in close proximity to its customers and provide services effectively and cost-efficiently. In the last six months, the number of clients for the company has risen to 50 from 20.

Currently, the supply chain solution provider has opened seven new operational offices spread across India, including Indore, Vishakhapatnam, Gandhipur, Rudrapur, Nashik, Aurangabad, and Thiruvananthapuram. All these offices will be fully functional by the end of February. ProcMart now has a presence in 20 cities across all of India, in addition to Malaysia, Vietnam, and Australia.

Join Ventures appoints Pooja Tiwari as Chief People Officer

Join Ventures has said Pooja Tiwari will lead the company’s People and Culture team as its chief people officer.

With over 17 years of experience in human resources, proven leadership, and a track record of success in a variety of industries, Pooja will be based at the company's headquarters in Mumbai. She will be responsible for leading all aspects of People and Culture, including talent acquisition, management and retention, organisational development and effectiveness, learning and development, total rewards, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to build an engaged, inclusive, and high-performing culture.

Join Ventures owns and operates a portfolio of digital-first brands offering handmade, personalised and curated products across fresh, food, home, and fashion categories. Join Ventures house of brands, including IGP, a D2C brand for celebrations, Interflora, which is a D2C brand for premium flowers, IGP for Business—a B2B2C partner for reward management and corporate Gifting and Masqa—a D2C brand for indulgent foods.

Mastercard, Obopay collaborate to launch a unique prepaid card to power financial inclusion in rural communities

Mastercard and Obopay have partnered to launch a financial inclusion card for smallholder farmers and rural communities. Powered by Mastercard’s Community Pass digital infrastructure, the prepaid card will allow farmers to receive the sale proceeds for their crop digitally, spend their earnings to make purchases even in remote locations that have poor or no connectivity, and build a transaction history based on their income and expenditure to access customized credit options.

The prepaid card will work in tandem with the existing Mastercard Farm Pass platform, wherein the farmers will be able to receive payments into their prepaid card account, thereby allowing them to use it to transact at local outlets. Farm Pass is part of Mastercard’s broader Community Pass infrastructure.

IIT Mandi scientists develop AI algorithm to improve the accuracy of Landslide prediction

IIT Mandi researchers have developed a new algorithm using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI&ML) that could improve the accuracy of prediction for natural hazards. The algorithm developed by Dericks Praise Shukla, Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIT Mandi, and Sharad Kumar Gupta, former research scholar, IIT Mandi, currently working at Tel Aviv University (Israel), can tackle the challenge of data imbalance for landslide susceptibility mapping which represents the likelihood of landslide occurrences in a given area. 

Landslides are a frequent natural hazard in mountainous areas around the world, causing significant losses of life and property. To estimate and eventually mitigate these risks, it is essential to identify areas that are susceptible to landslides. A Landslide Susceptibility Mapping (LSM) indicates the likelihood of a landslide occurring in a specific area based on causative factors such as slope, elevation, geology, soil type, distance from faults, rivers and faults, and historical landslide data.

OneBanc taps into the Public Sector Market

Onebanc.ai, an AI-driven neo-banking company, is expanding into the public sector to positively influence over 17 million white-collar employees. It is entering the payroll banking space with a solution that delivers a premium banking experience.

In a span of time, over 100 corporates have partnered with OneBanc to reap benefits such as improved compliance standards, increased employee engagement, and productivity. The company is backed by prominent VCs like Info Edge Ventures, Leo Capital, and Saison Capital. 

In the past six months, OneBanc has seen increasing interest from large PSUs to explore its offering. Seeing the early traction and potential, OneBanc has set up a separate dedicated business unit to focus on and pursue this segment. 

Anicut Capital elevates Ajay Anand as Partner and appoints Veenu Mittal as the CFO

Anicut Capital, an Indian investment firm managing alternative assets- debt and equity, announced the elevation of Ajay Anand as a partner, he will lead the early-stage equity fund and appointment of Veenu Mittal as the new chief financial officer (CFO).

She will lead three product lines in her new role with Anicut Capital: the debt, angel, and equity fund. Ajay has 15 years of expertise in early-stage startup fundraising. Veenu has 18 + years of extensive experience in finance and business strategy, revenue planning and cost optimisation, and corporate governance across various industries, including telecom, passive infrastructure, food and hospitality, education, and realty.

Based in Chennai, Anicut Capital has backed firms, including omnichannel brands Epigamia and Wingreens Farms, Singapore-based The Ayurveda Experience, and Chargeup, which provides a battery-swapping network.

Howdyy partners with Zepto to offer 10-minute delivery on EV

Howdyy, a SaaS-enabled and sustainable last-mile delivery startup, today announced its strategic association with homegrown e-grocery service Zepto for last-mile deliveries. The association aims to promote eco-conscious deliveries to help Zepto deliver orders to its customers in under ten minutes.

While the pilot began a few months ago in three cities—Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai, the project's success has strengthened the association's foundation success aiming to provide at least 12,000 jobs in FY 2023-24.

Stellantis Partners with GlobalLogic to Open a Software Facility in Poland

GlobalLogic Inc., a Hitachi Group Company, today confirmed it is establishing a new automotive-centric software facility in Poland as part of its continued efforts to enable car manufacturers worldwide to develop software-defined vehicles (SDVs).

The initiative was prompted by its ongoing collaboration with Stellantis as the global automaker and mobility provider advances its platform for SDVs. The companies’ new partnership phase enables Stellantis to maximize its ability to evolve and deliver customizable open automotive platforms.

Stellantis, a global automaker and mobility provider, is deploying next-generation technology platforms that build on existing connected vehicle capabilities to transform how customers interact with their vehicles.

This transformation will move Stellantis’ vehicles to an open software-defined platform that seamlessly integrates with customers’ digital lives and greatly expands the options customers have to add innovative features and services via regular over-the-air (OTA) updates keeping vehicles fresh, exciting, and updated years after they have been built.

Bain & Company joins hands with OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker

Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, has partnered with OpenAI, the company behind artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including ChatGPT, Codex, and DALL E. The US-based consulting firm will use OpenAI's technologies across about 18,000 teams.

Bain already embedded OpenAI's resources across management research, systems, and process, among other areas.

(The copy will be updated with the latest news throughout the day)