Startup news and Updates: Daily roundup (October 13, 2023)

Bobble AI appoints Ravi Shharma as its CBO

AI-powered conversation media platform Bobble AI has appointed Ravi Shharma as its new chief business officer (CBO).

As the CBO, Shharma will be responsible for driving B2B business growth for existing revenue streams–A&M (advertising & marketing), DaaS (data as a service), and TaaS (technology as a service)–and future streams, overseeing sales and revenue generation strategies and exploring new market opportunities to scale revenue.

He will work closely with the executive team to steer Bobble AI towards continued success and growth and report to Founder & CEO Ankit Prasad.

Bobble AI is a conversation media platform that offers mobile marketing and advertising solutions to brands, serving more than 700 global and Indian brands. With 85 million users in India and Indonesia, the company designs campaigns and solutions.

EaseMyTrip launches EasyDarshan

Online travel tech platform EaseMyTrip has launched EasyDarshan, a spiritual pilgrimage package platform designed to cater to travellers' needs.

EasyDarshan provides a range of curated divine packages for devotees, allowing them to focus on their spiritual journey without logistics and planning hassles.

These packages cover various pilgrimage sites across India, including serene Himalayan shrines and tranquil South Indian temples. They include transportation, accommodation, guided tours, and special pujas, ensuring safety and sanitation.

iThink Logistics, India Post partner to boost ecommerce deliveries

India Post has partnered with iThink Logistics, a logistics platform, to create a strategic tech integration that aims to provide significant advantages to direct-to-consumer startups and small and medium businesses in India.

The collaboration aims to empower D2C businesses to expand beyond urban hubs, with ecommerce penetration rates in Tier II and Tier III cities reaching 21.4% and 41.5%, respectively in 2022, despite marketplace giants like Flipkart, Myntra, and Meesho struggling with limited serviceability. It also aims to create economical deliveries, particularly in rural areas with less developed logistics infrastructure.

iThink Logistics is a shipping platform for D2C brands in India, serving over 26,000 pin codes. Its online portal allows users to import orders, book parcel shipping services, print labels, and receive real-time shipment tracking updates.

The platform features a patented six-step NDR, an insightful dashboard, and a dedicated key account manager. It has 5,000 satisfied customers, a daily volume of over 25,000 shipments, and coverage in 180 countries.

IVCA Partners with ISB to launch 'Startup Board Member Training Programme'

The Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA), in partnership with the Centre for Business Innovation (CBI), at the Indian School of Business (ISB), has launched a training programme for PE/VC fund managers.

The programme, sponsored by IVCA members such as Accel, Ascent, Catamaran, Peak XV Ventures, Ski-Capital, T-Hub, and TMF Group, is designed for professionals appointed by private capital funds on the boards of early to growth stage companies.

It aims to enhance strategic thinking and critical analysis, focusing on economic drivers of business performance and valuation.

The two-day certification programme will be held in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi every quarter, covering 16 hours of classroom instruction. It covers metrics such as growth, profitability, and value creation, valuation, corporate governance, auditor collaboration, financials, valuation, industry leaders, equity analysts, and regulatory interactions.

Hitachi Payment Services launches HPX, an innovation programme for fintech startups

Hitachi Payment Services has announced the launch of an innovation programme, HPX.

Hitachi Payment Services is partnering with fintech and payments disruptors to provide innovative payment experiences for businesses and consumers.

The HPX initiative offers participants access to capital, expedited commercialisation of innovative payment solutions, industry partnerships, and the opportunity to extend their influence beyond India.

The company will focus on key segments such as core banking, banking as a service, embedded finance, Web 3.0/ CBDC, issuance, payments compliance, and AI/GenAI.

T-Hub and Canada's Accelerator Centre partner to launch market immersion programme

T-Hub, a startup incubator, has partnered with Canada's Accelerator Centre to launch an 'International Market Immersion Program'.

The partnership aims to foster global innovation, strengthen entrepreneurial networks, and accelerate the scaling of Indian startups across North America.

The four-week programme will provide Indian startups with knowledge, mentorship, and investor readiness. T-Hub will select 10 high-potential startups, while the Accelerator Centre will actively participate in selection and provide continuous progress updates. This collaboration aims to nurture Indian startups' growth prospects in Canada and the USA.

The programme will conclude with Demo Day, allowing startups to connect with investors, industry experts, and the community, and potentially access the Startup Visa Program.

NoBroker launches CallZen.AI

NoBroker, a prop-tech unicorn, has launched CallZen.AI, a conversational intelligence tool.

CallZen.AI, an enterprise ready B2B product empowers businesses with unparalleled conversational insights from almost all Indian languages, regardless of the context, whether it is calls, chats, or meetings.

It is a solution for businesses, enabling them to analyse millions of calls quickly and efficiently, which uses advanced machine learning models to accurately translate and extract data from conversations in multiple languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. It also offers features like speaker identification and sentiment analysis.

CallZen is listed on Google Marketplace as an integrated solution vendor.

C-CAMP, SBI Foundation set up centre of excellence in antimicrobial resistance innovation

C-CAMP and SBI Foundation join hands to establish a centre of excellence (CoE) in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) innovation.

This will provide a structured platform for supporting indigenous deep science entrepreneurships in the AMR domain.

The CoE aims to support a 360-degree portfolio of deep-science solutions across AMR and the One Health domain. The funding will be an efficient revolving fund between partners, aiming to optimise grant utilisation and long-term corpus for pre-equity seed stage startups.

The CoE plans to identify and nurture up to 12 innovations in two years.