AI, health, fintech: Test your business creativity with Edition 174 of our weekly quiz!
This insightful feature from YourStory tests and strengthens your business acumen! Here are 5 questions to kick off this 174th quiz. Ready?
Lateral Sparks, the weekly quiz from YourStory, tests your domain knowledge, business acumen, and lateral thinking skills (see the previous edition here). In this 174th edition of the quiz, we present issues tackled by real-life entrepreneurs in their startup journeys.
What would you do if you were in their shoes? At the end of the quiz, you will find out what the entrepreneurs and innovators themselves actually did. Would you do things differently?
Check out YourStory’s Book Review section as well, with takeaways from over 355 titles on creativity and entrepreneurship, and our weekend PhotoSparks section on creativity in the arts.
Q1: Tech interfaces
Text remains the most common way of interfacing with digital tools. Where are the new emerging opportunities in other types of tech interactions?
Q2: Senior healthcare
The growing population of seniors calls for special attention to their physical, mental and emotional needs. Where is the opportunity here for entrepreneurship with purpose?
Q3: Agricultural demand
Falling prices or seasonal trends can spike sudden demand for vegetables and other agricultural supplies. How can farmers be assisted in better planning to deal with such variations?
Q4: Manual scavenging
One of India’s most inhumane practices is manual scavenging, which can lead to loss of health, dignity and even life of scavengers in some cases. How can technology help with solutions to manage human excreta?
Q5: Home loans
Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions that people need to make. But they often find it hard to find the right lender and to understand the entire process. How can these issues be tackled?
Answers!
Congratulations on having come this far! But there’s more to come – answers to these five questions (below), as well as links to articles with more details on the entrepreneurs’ solutions. Happy reading, happy learning – and happy creating!
A1: Tech interfaces
Founded by Piotr Dąbkowski and Mateusz Staniszewski, ElevenLabs develops AI audio tools for creators, media and businesses. “Voice is becoming a key part of how we interact with technology, and ElevenLabs is making it work at scale,” says David George, General Partner a16z's Growth Fund, an investor in the startup.
Its offerings include tools for conversational AI, speech generation, voice design, and AI dubbing in 32 languages. Read more here about its customer list which includes Perplexity AI, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.
A2: Senior healthcare
Founded in 2018 by geriatrician Dr Lakshmipathy Ramesh, Geri Care provides a 360-degree care model for senior citizens. This includes multi-specialty hospitals, assisted living centres, home care services, and clinics.
The aim is to enhance the quality of senior life and promote independence, well-being and dignity. Read more here about its specialty centres of excellence in geriatric oncology, urology and cardiology.
A3: Agricultural demand
Founded by Swapnil Jadhav, Rajesh Shirole, and Sachin Sonigara, agritech startup MapMyCrop helps farmers and wholesalers track crops, predict yields, and optimise supply chains. It leverages the power of five satellites and advanced ML to provide crop monitoring services.
“Using our technology, our clients can know who is growing what, how much, and how soon the crops can be harvested,” Jadhav says. Read more here about how actionable insights form its proprietary models can benefit over 4.2 million farmers who have been on-boarded.
A4: Manual scavenging
Founded by Rashid K, Arun George, Vimal Govind MK, and Nikhil NP, GenRobotics Innovations has developed Bandicoot, a robotic scavenger. The impactful solution is designed to clean manholes and sewers safely and efficiently.
The four legs of the robot provide stability inside manholes, while its robotic arm collects waste from all corners and ensures thorough cleaning. Read more here about how 300 Bandicoots operate at 37 sites, and they have rehabilitated over 3,000 sanitation workers as robot operators.
A5: Home loans
Founded by Raghuveer Malik, Rameshwar Gupta, and Rashi Garg, the fintech platform Ambak seeks to address inefficiencies, complexity and opacity in the home loan sector. It helps potential borrowers with key challenges in access and affordability of loans.
Within its first year, it served over 15,000 customers, partnered with 50+ lenders, and forged an agreement with the Delhi Development Authority to serve an additional 35,000 clients. Read more here about how its newly secured funding will fuel its plans to expand to 35 cities, target $1 billion in loan disbursements by FY26, and serve 100,000 customers annually.
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).
Edited by Suman Singh