Startup news and updates: daily roundup (May 1, 2023)

Indifi Technologies doubles AUM to over Rs 1500 crore 

MSME digital lending platform Indifi Technologies said it crossed Rs 1,500 crore AUM, marking more than 100% growth over the previous year. Indifi attained profitability in FY22 and has maintained it through FY23. 

“Improvement in underwriting models enabled the company to go deeper into the funnel of applicants to deliver higher approval rates and more sharply align credit limits with the risk profile of the borrower,” said Aditya Harkauli, Chief Business Officer, Indifi Technologies. 

Indifi is a Gurugram-based online lending platform solving the credit needs of underserved, credit-worthy businesses. Since its inception in 2015, the company has disbursed over 68,000 loans with disbursals of over Rs 3,800 crore. 

Through its tech interventions, it has made the loan process digital for both lenders and MSMEs by minimizing risk and reducing paperwork and associated costs.

Indifi continues to build on its network of digital partnerships by deepening existing relationships and adding new ones. The share of marketplace lenders in the AUM saw a 25% increase over the last financial year, contributing 50% by value in March ‘23, the company said in a statement.  

Project Hero’s new feature to aid pay transparency 

Construction tech startup Project Hero launched a wage discovery feature in its app for workers. The feature will allow workers to discover if they are paid more or less than the average salaries in their fields, ensure pay transparency, and prevent wage exploitation in the construction industry.

Such transparency will also enable workers to understand and recognise the value of their work and prevent them from falling prey to fraudulent and corrupt recruitment practices, the company said in a statement.

“Urban organised workforces have various ways of discovering the average salaries in their fields. Hence, we thought that developing a feature to prevent wage-based exploitation and wage discrimination in the unorganised construction industry will help blue-collar workers understand their worth and fight for it,” said Satya Vyas, Founder and CEO of Project Hero.

Project Hero is a membership-driven professional network for the construction industry, which provides access to jobs, orders, financial services, etc., to its members. So far, it has more than four lakh construction workers on its platform and has placed over 3,000 workers in projects.

Hype launches generative AI-powered ecommerce SaaS

Mumbai startup Hype launched its generative AI-powered ecommerce SaaS platform that aims to change the way merchants create, optimise, and manage their online stores.

Hype's proprietary AI algorithms create a fully functional, visually appealing, and data-driven ecommerce store suited to the specific needs of each business with a few basic commands. The platform accelerates the store creation process and also significantly cuts down the time needed for design and development, the company said.

"Our platform is designed to remove barriers to entry for new merchants and help existing merchants scale their businesses faster than ever before," said Faraz Naqvi, CEO, Hype.

Hype aims to attract a wide range of merchants, from small businesses and startups to established brands, looking to optimize their online presence.

“By harnessing the power of big data, Hype's AI is able to create highly targeted, data-driven optimizations, ensuring merchants stay ahead in the competitive ecommerce landscape," said Hasan Ali Naqvi, Chief Technology Officer, Hype.

Mukunda Foods opens new manufacturing unit in Bengaluru

Zomato-backed Mukunda Foods has opened a new manufacturing unit for kitchen automation tools in Bengaluru.The facility spans 20,000 sq ft with a capacity of 25,000 units per year.

The facility layout is also designed to optimize material flow, eliminating criss-cross movement and streamlining inventory management.

Mukunda Food has also implemented a multi-tier store racking system for storing materials, which helps in easy retrieval and issue to the production as per the plan, it said in a statement. The facility also features dedicated lines for both Pre-Testing and PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) of products for higher efficiency.

"We shipped more than 2000 machines in FY 2022-23, which is 4x of what we did in the last fiscal year. We have also launched around 10 new products in last FY and plan to add another 5 in this year...We are also expecting a rise in the next fiscal year and wanted to be ready to meet the demand," said Eshwar K Vikas, CEO of Mukunda Foods.

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