Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (September 17, 2024)

Funding

Venture Catalysts participates in $1M seed round for Llumo AI

Venture Catalysts, an integrated incubator and accelerator platform, said it is participating in a $1 million seed funding round for Llumo AI, an innovative company transforming the landscape of Large Language Model (LLM) deployment and optimisation.

This investment marks a significant milestone in Llumo AI's journey to democratise access to generative AI and help businesses unlock their true potential.

The funding round was led by Rahul Agrawalla, General Partner at Sense AI, with participation from India Quotient, Aum Ventures, Venture Catalysts, IIM Indore Alumni Angel fund, and a host of US-based angel investors. This diverse group of investors brings a wealth of experience and resources to support Llumo AI's growth trajectory.

Founded by Shivam Gupta, an IIT Roorkee alumnus, and Akshat Anand, an IIT Kanpur alumnus, Llumo AI has quickly established itself as a frontrunner in the enterprise SaaS space. The platform helps businesses refine their AI performance at 10 times the speed, enabling them to consistently deliver high-quality, AI-driven customer experiences. This results in enhanced revenue streams and greater profitability for Llumo AI's clients.

Homegrown hot condiments brand Kaatil raises early-stage fund led by Prajay Advisors and strategic investors

Kaatil, an Indian-chilli focused hot condiments brand of Smerc Food & Beverages, today announced it has successfully raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding. The funding was led by Mumbai-based Prajay Advisors along with Shivaan Ghai and Romil Ratra from Mumbai’s Graviss Group. This announcement comes right after Kaatil won the Great Taste Award 2024 by the Guild of Fine Foods, U.K.

Kaatil, which boasts a robust pipeline of products in different categories, including Hot Sauces, Hot Ketchups, and Chilli Oils made of Indian chillies, plans to use the capital for expanding their product lines and presence through multiple national and international distribution channels including e-commerce marketplaces, quick commerce, and offline retail outlets. The company also plans to establish an independent B2B supply arm to cater to Restaurants, Hotels and Cafés.

Neovantage Innovation Parks secures a milestone Green Loan for its Life Sciences Real Estate Portfolio

Neovantage Innovation Parks, a private owner and operator of life sciences-focused real estate, has secured its inaugural green loan of Rs 300 crores (~C$ 50 million) from HSBC India. This is HSBC’s first green loan facility in the life sciences real estate sector in India. It was awarded on the back of Neovantage Innovation Parks’ commitment to eco-innovation and sustainable operations across its properties.

Neovantage Innovation Parks has achieved this by maintaining for all its operating buildings a prestigious Gold or higher rating under the LEED for Operations and Maintenance (O+M) - Existing Buildings certification, awarded by the US Green Building Council.

Other news

PVV Srinivasa Rao joins Atria Convergence Technologies as CEO

ACT Fibernet (Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.), a fiber-focused wired broadband ISP (Internet Service Provider), has appointed PVV Srinivasa Rao (Srini) as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

In this role, Srini will guide ACT Fibernet into its next phase of growth, continuing to build on the strategic focus areas of delivering incredibly fast speeds, superior customer experience, innovation and category expansion.

Srini brings over three decades of diverse experience across multiple categories and industries, with a proven track record in consumer goods, FMCG, and telecom sectors. Prior to joining ACT Fibernet, he was the Regional President of Asia for Mars.

Yellow.ai launches LLM-powered VoiceX

Yellow.ai, an AI-first customer service automation player, has launched VoiceX, bringing voice conversations a step closer to human-like interactions. With LLM-powered intuitive voice technology and reduced latency, VoiceX-enabled AI agents can handle high volumes of customer queries while maintaining quality and delivering natural, context-aware responses.

Traditional voice bots often sound robotic and struggle with limited conversational depth and context understanding, worsened by rigid menu navigation. Key challenges include slow response times and a lack of real-time conversational intelligence.

VoiceX addresses these inefficiencies by delivering a more human-like intelligent conversational experience. It also achieves latencies of ~1.3 second with a proprietary algorithm. As a result, VoiceX-powered AI agents can enhance customer satisfaction by 40%, reduce operational costs by 60%, and boost customer engagement by 60%.

WeWork India and Heads Up For Tails join forces to drive pet adoption with ‘Adopt Don’t Shop’

WeWork India, a workspace provider, is teaming up with Heads Up For Tails, to champion pet welfare and responsible ownership with an adoption drive called ‘Adopt Don't Shop’. Scheduled on September 20, 2024, the adoption drive will be hosted across three cities in WeWork Galaxy (Bengaluru), WeWork Raheja Platinum (Mumbai), and WeWork Forum (NCR). 

The initiative aims to raise awareness and inspire action towards improved pet care, with a strong focus on advocating for responsible pet adoption.

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Adopt Don’t Shop is dedicated to animals and animal lovers, and pet parents can join the event along with their furry friends. Attendees can meet cats and dogs--each with their own unique personality, and ready to be adopted. 

PayU unlocks climate finance potential in India

Financial services provider PayU has announced the extension of its strategic partnership with Footprint Lab, an Australian Cleantech startup. Together, PayU and Footprint Lab are bringing climate finance directly to the Indian consumers by providing them with an option to offset carbon impact of their daily purchases at payment checkout.

As part of this first-of-its-kind partnership with an Indian payment aggregator, PayU will integrate Footprint Lab’s advanced carbon measurement data into its payment checkout infrastructure. As consumers complete their purchases on PayU’s checkout page, they will be informed of the carbon emissions associated with their transactions.

For the first time, Indian consumers will have an option to offset their carbon impact by making a minuscule additional payment. These additional funds will be directed to a trusted entity, who will purchase carbon credits to execute various sustainable projects across India.

Infinity Learn by Sri Chaitanya announces scholarship exam SCORE Online

Infinity Learn by Sri Chaitanya has launched a scholarship exam, the SCORE Online 2024, to reward and recognise meritorious learners who aim high in their careers.

With up to 100% scholarships on Infinity Learn courses amounting to Rs 1 crore, this initiative empowers learners from classes 3 to 12 by strengthening their fundamentals through CBSE school academics, foundation courses, and test preparation for exams like JEE Main, JEE Advanced, and NEET.

The goal is to create toppers in these competitive exams and pave the way for bright career paths.

Two Brothers Organic Farms appoints former Zivame executive Arijit Gorai as New CGO 

Two Brothers Organic Farms has appointed Arijit Gorai as Chief Growth Officer (CGO) as a part of its ongoing expansion at the senior leadership level.

In his new role, Arijit will be responsible for expanding the D2C brand’s presence across multiple channels and improving its customer experience.

His responsibilities will also include innovating product offerings to meet the growing demand for organic food products and enhancing their presence in key international markets. Earlier this month, Two Brothers Organic Farms also announced the appointment of its new Chief Operating Officer (COO), and additional senior-level hiring is in progress.

The series of appointments follows the company’s successful Series-A funding round led by Rainmatter, an investment initiative by Zerodha that is expected to support future growth measures. 

IndiQube unveils office interior experience centre in Bengaluru

India’s workplace solutions provider, IndiQube, said it has launched a first-of-its-kind experience centre for office interiors in Bengaluru. Titled ‘IndiQube Canvas’, the 25,000 sq.ft. state-of-the-art facility will serves as a transformative platform where clients can immerse themselves in a comprehensive showcase of office interior solutions.

“We always wanted to empower our clients to ‘Make Your Own Office’ with IndiQube. The launch of ‘IndiQube Canvas’ is a step in that direction. It offers businesses a tangible space to walk in, explore, and craft their ideal office environment from a vast range of a-la-carte design, furniture and fixture options,” said Meghna Agarwal, Co-founder, IndiQube.

IIT Madras researchers develop indigenous portable ultrasound scanner for sports injury diagnosis

Researchers from IIT Madras have developed an indigenous portable Point-of-Care-Ultrasound Scanner (POCUS) for sports injury diagnosis and management. They have already been granted several patents for technologies that went into this device and are working towards productisation.

This research from the Center of Excellence in Sports Science and Analytics (CESSA) at IIT Madras could potentially allow for on-field diagnosis of injuries, immediate assessment of the extent of injury that will allow for medical professionals to take a call on whether to permit the sportsperson to continue playing.

A working POCUS prototype for Musculoskeletal (MSK) imaging, developed at the Biomedical Ultrasound Imaging Lab (BUSi) is currently ready. The researchers are targeting to complete the product prototype development by 2024. Subsequently, testing and collection of pilot data from the field are also being planned in coordination with Sports Authorities.

Konverz.ai, Darwinbox partner on talent decisions with AI-led assessment

Konverz.ai, an AI-driven talent solution platform, has announced a partnership with Darwinbox, a leading global HR technology platform.

The partnership aims to transform the talent acquisition landscape, and will integrate AI-led assessments into the hiring process, offering clients an advanced, seamless solution based on Conversational AI, Psycholinguistics, and Behavioural Science, said the company.

The primary objective of this partnership will be to empower organisations with a comprehensive recruitment solution that leverages cutting-edge AI technology. By integrating Konverz.ai’s sophisticated AI capabilities into the Darwinbox ecosystem, customers will benefit from more efficient, data-driven, and bias-free hiring processes.

Fship achieves 200% growth in first year

Logistics tech company Fship has launched an AI-powered platform for ecommerce. Designed to streamline operations for D2C brands, drop shippers, and traders, Fship has experienced remarkable growth, with a 200% increase in monthly revenue this year compared to the previous year.

Despite starting to generate significant revenue only in July 2023, Fship closed its first year with over Rs 15 crore in revenue. This year, the company is on track to achieve Rs 50 crore in revenue, showcasing its rapid expansion and success.

Launched in January 2023, Fship is leveraging cutting-edge AI technology to automate various aspects of the shipping process. This not only reduces operational costs but also enhances customer satisfaction.

eBikeGo Group’s company GreenPioneer Mobility appoints Iftekhar Ahmed as CEO

eBikeGo, an electric vehicle rental platform, has partnered with GreenPioneer Mobility and has appointed Iftekhar Ahmed as its CEO.

The partnership between eBikeGo and GreenPioneer Mobility, which is aimed at driving growth and innovation, will position them as leaders in the evolving landscape of personal mobility in India.

As part of its growth strategy, GreenPioneer plans to establish large flagship multi-brand stores, a chain of quick stores, and over 100 franchise outlets across the country. With private-label brands such as MEXPLE and Transil already in development, the company is focusing on helping individuals regain mobility and independence.

Amazon launches 3 new fulfilment centres, boosts its logistics network

In preparation for the upcoming festive season, Amazon India has launched three new fulfilment centres in Delhi-NCR, Guwahati, and Patna. These new fulfilment centres, along with the expansion of Amazon's existing fulfilment network, will significantly boost delivery speeds for customers in North and East India.

The investment will help sellers across these states better serve their customers by placing selection closer to customers, and creating thousands of new job opportunities providing an economic impetus to the region.

These jobs entail a variety of roles in Amazon’s operations network, including full-time and part-time opportunities. All these buildings are ready and operational ahead of the upcoming festive season and will collectively support more than 2.5 lakh sellers across Delhi-NCR, Bihar, and Assam.

EaseMyTrip acquires Rollins International, Pflege Home Healthcare

EaseMyTrip.com, an online travel tech platform, has acquired a 49% equity stake in Pflege Home Healthcare and 30% in Rollins International, marking its strategic expansion into the rapidly growing medical tourism sector. These acquisitions align with EaseMyTrip’s mission to offer holistic travel solutions by integrating wellness and healthcare services into its service portfolio as medical tourism.

Pflege offers comprehensive care services across a wide range of segments, from doctor visits, registered nursing care at home and physiotherapy to home-based medical equipment like ventilators and oxygen. The acquisition of Pflege empowers EaseMyTrip to offer reliable healthcare services, expanding its offerings in the medical tourism domain to cater to travellers seeking medical treatments or wellness solutions abroad.

Alongside Pflege Home Healthcare, Rollins International has a strong presence in India with its focus on gluten-free, lactose-free, and allergen-free food products, highly effective health supplements, and cutting-edge wellness therapies. Rollins also operates a range of brands offering state-of-the-art wellness devices, nutritional guidance, and recreational spaces.

Razorpay has introduced a no-code data integration platform - DataSync

Razorpay has introduced DataSync, a no-code data integration platform designed to revolutionise how businesses manage payment, transaction, refund, and settlement data.

Powered by Amazon Redshift and Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, DataSync offers businesses real-time access to critical financial information, enhancing decision-making and operational efficiency. By integrating data seamlessly and securely, businesses can reduce errors, improve fraud detection, and save up to 50% in operational costs.

The platform addresses challenges faced by businesses dealing with the growing volume of real-time payments, such as outdated data leading to poor decisions and delays in financial reporting. DataSync ensures fast, secure, and compliant data transmission, with a focus on privacy, ensuring no personally identifiable information is compromised.

The collaboration with AWS and Snowflake enables DataSync to offer advanced analytics, empowering businesses to gain actionable insights from their financial data. With 99.99% uptime, the platform supports continuous business operations while optimizing costs and efficiency.

Entitled Solutions launches new platform for low-income workforce

Entitled Solutions, a B2B2C platform that enables businesses to provide solutions for the financial and healthcare needs of their low-income workforce, has launched a community for direct-to-consumer (D2C) engagement under its B2C brand, Sarvam.

The platform is designed to provide direct access to loans, teleconsultations with doctors, and free assistance with navigating government schemes to low-income workers across India, addressing the unique challenges they face in meeting their financial and healthcare needs.

The Sarvam Community will provide a holistic ecosystem where low-income workers can easily access crucial financial and healthcare information, along with expert advice.

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