Startup news and updates: Daily roundup (October 4, 2024)

Funding news

Turbostart leads $1M investment in AI Health Highway

Global sector-agnostic venture capital fund, Turbostart, made a $1 million investment in AI Health Highway as part of the company’s pre-Series A funding round. 

The investment is part of a larger $1.5 million funding round, which includes participation from investors Rainmatter by Zerodha, The Chennai Angels, BITS BioCyTiH Foundation, and other angel investors.  

AI Health Highway provides tech-enabled screening tools to help in the early detection of non-communicable diseases and improve accessibility to healthcare using its AI-enabled stethoscope, AiSeth. 

Other news

JICA appoints Takuro Takeuchi as chief representative of its India office

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) appointed Takuro Takeuchi as its new Chief Representative of its India office, effective September 23. Takeuchi succeeds Saito Mitsunori, who concluded his tenure with JICA India after over three years of service. 

“India is an incredibly dynamic place to work, with unmatched potential for global growth. At the same time, it presents some of the world’s most complex challenges. I am deeply honoured to work in India and lead JICA's operations at such an exciting time,” said Takeuchi. 

With over 27 years of experience at JICA, Takeuchi has held key leadership roles across various divisions and was most recently the Senior Director of the General Affairs Department.  

Groww Creditserv gets stable A/A1 rating by ICRA

The lending arm of Groww Group, Groww Creditserv (GCS), has been assigned an ‘A/A1’ (stable) rating by ICRA. 

GCS, which commenced its operations in April 2023, offers unsecured loans and has launched a consumer durable lending business in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in December. 

The rating reaffirms its strong capital position, liquidity and asset quality, the company said. 

“We started Groww CreditServ 1.5 years back to serve the growing credit needs of India. Our focus is to build a strong foundation of underwriting, collection and customer service, as we scale our product offerings from secured to unsecured credit products,” said Harsh Jain, Co-founder and COO.

Amazon and India Post sign MoU to boost nationwide logistics

Amazon Transportation Services signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India Post to boost nationwide delivery capabilities. Under the MoU, the parties will synchronise operations through integration and knowledge exchange to optimise resource utilisation, explore capacity sharing across logistics networks, and maximise efficiency.

“Our relationship with India Post has been a pivotal part of Amazon’s growth story in India and has contributed to making ecommerce a nationwide phenomenon. By joining forces with this iconic institution that has served India for decades, we have been able to create new benchmarks in logistics and customer service repeatedly over the years. This aligns seamlessly with the government's vision to modernise and augment India Post's services and reach using cutting-edge technology and processes,” said Abhinav Singh, VP Operations, Amazon India.

PDRL announces second edition of AeroGCS Global Competition

Drone tech company PDRL opened registrations for its second AeroGCS Global Competition, which aims to encourage drone technology enthusiasts and innovators to contribute to the drone ecosystem.

This year’s prize pool includes a cash reward of Rs 2.5 lakh for the AeroGCS Champion, Rs 1 lakh for the AeroGCS Expert, and Rs 50,000 for the AeroGCS Professional.

“India is undergoing a technological revolution as we strive for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, and drones, along with other emerging technologies, are leading this transformation across industries like construction, agriculture, mining, and healthcare,” said Anil Chandaliya, Founder of PDRL.

“At PDRL, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of drone technology through continuous innovation. The AeroGCS Global Competition is the ideal platform to showcase this vision," he added.

StockGro, CMT Association partner to help investors master stock market learning

Social investment platform StockGro has partnered with the advocacy body for technical analysis, CMT Association, to help investors enhance stock market learning.

Under this partnership, StockGro will deliver educational resources, such as webinars, courses, and interactive content design by CMT Association members, and users can learn how to make trading decisions using these market analysis tools.

“Partnering with CMT Association, Inc. marks a significant milestone for StockGro, empowering our users to build careers in trading while nurturing their passion for the markets. Through this collaboration with CMT Association, we aim to equip our growing community of stock market enthusiasts with vital technical skills, while broadening CMT’s reach to young, aspiring investors who can learn directly from industry experts and apply these insights in real-world scenarios,” said Ajay Lakhotia, Founder of StockGro.

Myntra rolls out ‘Looks Virtual Try-On’ feature for customers

Fashion and beauty platform Myntra rolled out a new feature, ‘Looks Virtual Try-On’, which allows customers to try on multiple beauty products from the comfort of their devices.

Developed in collaboration with ModiFace, the new feature builds on the already available Virtual Try-On feature on the Myntra platform.

“At Myntra, we're seamlessly blending technology across Beauty and Fashion and beyond to create extraordinary shopping experiences. With ‘Looks Virtual Try On’ we're pioneering the ability for customers to virtually try on complete multi-product makeup looks directly from their devices, a step poised to be a game changer for Beauty e-commerce,” said Raghu Krishnananda, CPTO at Myntra.

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