WayCool Foods Receives US$114K from Dutch Development Bank FMO for Kits

FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, has allocated a grant of US$114K to WayCool Foods, for procurement and distribution of dual-purpose PPE kits and enablement of on-site soil testing to farmers. It follows WayCool’s latest Debt Financing round of US$ 5.5 million, that was guaranteed by US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

The distribution is being carried out under the Outgrow Programme, the company’s flagship programme for farmers. Some 15,000 small holding farmers across 5 states in India will benefit through this unique initiative. The dual-purpose PPE kits will help protect farmers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and also shield them during agricultural operations such as pesticide spraying. In-situ soil testing will enable farmers to get their soil health measured without having to travel, thus facilitating effective soil management while maintaining social distancing.

Outgrow is the company’s agricultural extension programme that engages with farmers through their entire cultivation cycle, from planning to inputs to harvesting, substantially increasing profitability of the farmer, reducing their risk, and guaranteeing farmers 270 days of steady income by leveraging a host of emerging technologies.

The company has been leading efforts to help the Indian farmer cope with the current crisis, through various channels. Most recently, the company had run a crowd funding campaign for PPE kits through Milaap. It had also driven an awareness campaign showcasing the efforts of the farmer and trucker (the invisible hands in the agricultural supply chain). The FMO grant helps the company build upon this effort.

Sendhil Kumar Natarajan, head, agri initiatives, WayCool Foods, commenting on the initiative said, “Farmers are essential service providers as they feed the nation. They are also very vulnerable during disruptive events such as the ongoing pandemic. Our measures have focussed on enabling the farmers earn their livelihood while reducing the risks they face. The FMO grant will help us in protecting a significantly larger number of farmers and we thank FMO for their timely support.”

FMO’s grant demonstrates their commitment to supporting communities that require India’s food and agriculture distribution sector.

Speaking about the initiative, Jaap Reinking, director, private equity, FMO, said, “We are proud to offer additional support during this period. India has experienced one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. These measures left little recourse for the country’s millions of farmers, particularly those in the poorest provinces, who were unable to get access to essentials and protective equipment. The initiative’s goal is to find affordable and reliable sources of PPE and ensure these are allocated where they are needed most. Additionally, this grant will be used to procure Soil Testing kits for farmers, which will ultimately improve their income and reduce wastage.”

The company procures, processes, and distributes a range of food products including fresh produce, staples, and dairy products, moving over 250 tonne of food every day to 11,000 clients across South India. The company operates a soil-to-sale model, engaging deeply with a base of 40,000 farmers in more than 50 regions across India, while bringing efficiency through its direct supply chain model. The company plans to accelerate profitability and improve on its capital-efficient model by continuing to invest in technology and automation across the value chain.

The company has previously raised three rounds of funding from Lightbox, LGT Lightstone Aspada, FMO, Caspian Impact Investment, and Northern Arc Capital Limited.

SmarterBiz Raises INR 8 Crores Pre-Series from StartupXseed and Prominent Angels

 • A post-COVID new norm start-up working on Customer Experience delivery with the most secure technology stack

• Aims to grow at 8X doing about 72 Crores in ARR by Mar 2021 

• Remote WFH solution to enable companies to traverse towards OPEX model 

• Solving Customer Experience (CX) for enterprises 

SmarterBiz, India's first end-to-end CX platform enabled with the gig workforce has raised INR 8 crore as a part of their Pre-Series A round. 

The contributors for this funding round were StartupXseed Ventures (Deep Technology – B2B – Early-stage fund); Mr. Bhaskar Pramanik, Former Chairman of Microsoft India; Mr. MJ Aravind, Former co-founder Daksh, Former Partner Artiman; Mr. Ravi Viswanath; Mr. Ramesh Radhakrishnan; Mr. Ranjan Biswas; and Mr. MJ Aniketh. 

Founded in 2014 by Rajesh Bernard, Vijay Krishna, and Prateek Mehta, the company was funded initially by Utthsihta Yekum Fund.

SmarterBiz is an AI-powered customer experience platform that enables remote management of customer journeys and agent life cycles. SmarterBiz has helped several enterprises, including unicorns build scalable, flexible, and hyper-local customer experience, cost-effectively. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged businesses to ensure business continuity and manage increased customer interactions through remote workforce and reduced costs. With the SmarterBiz CX platform, customers can now remotely enable and manage the complete life cycle of the CX process across both digital and human touchpoints. With a single integrated approach, SmarterBiz takes away the pain of running customer experience on multiple siloed systems and processes that do not talk to each other. SmarterBiz provides an end-to-end platform to CX teams to manage the entire lifecycle of their customer, technology backbone, process, and customer support agents on the cloud. 

SmarterBiz serves several enterprises, including five segment leaders in E-commerce, BFSI, Hospitality, and Telecom sectors. It manages more than 5000 agents as part of its gig workforce. 

Rajesh Bernard, CEO & Co-founder of SmarterBiz said, "SmarterBiz has built a CX platform for a gig-workforce ideally suited under these COVID 19 conditions. SmarterBiz is committed to offering an omnichannel experience that elevates the experience across all customer touchpoints. We provide a competitive advantage to our customers by offering a choice between automation and manual intervention at all these touchpoints. With the investment, we plan to grow by 8X ARR this year and create more gig opportunities in the market." 

"Companies like SmarterBiz can foresee the benefits technology can bring, to reinvent the businesses and add value to the system. It will surely be a game-changing category disruptor during and post-COVID 19. There will be an increasing need for companies to integrate customer journeys, tech, remote work, and Gig models into their business process. We believe that SmarterBiz will be one of the most sustainable global companies of the future, for the solution it brings in and the execution capabilities of the team," said Mr. BV Naidu, Managing Partner, StartupXseed Ventures.

"At last, a seasoned leadership team, a novel premise, immaculate conceptual skills, and meticulous execution. SmarterBiz is indeed a company to watch out for." Mr. M J Aravind, Ex co-founder Daksh. 

The key benefits of the solution for customer experiences are that it facilitates remote work opportunities across India, flexible working hours, earning potential in a WFH set up, and is a mobile light, simple, and efficient application. 

The unique CX platform—Uearn.ai— streamlines the customer journey across multiple touchpoints with an omnichannel CX tech platform, fluid workflow management, and gig workforce, replacing the CapEx model to an OpEx model. The competitive advantage of SmarterBiz is the scalability (4X) it offers at lower costs and faster time to serve as compared to traditional models. 

About SmarterBiz: SmarterBiz, founded in 2014, is India's first end to end CX platform enabled with gig-workforce. It allows companies to shift their CX centres to 100% OpEx model. SmarterBiz streamlines customer journeys across multiple touchpoints with its CX platform—Uearn.ai—lowering the cost to serve, time to serve, for CX centre. It delivers the customer experience through its platform and gig-workforce, bringing convergence of tech and people to run multi-layered operations for its clients. Its fluidity allows clients to scale 4X times faster than the traditional model supported by a talented workforce that can work from remote distributed locations. Uearn.ai facilitates remote work opportunities and has 5,000 trained gig workforces with customer experience profiles. Uearn is available as a remote gig workforce app in Google Play Store. 

SmarterBiz is transforming the CX delivery for some of the leading banks to tech unicorns. To know more, visit www.smarterbiz.ai

Springboard Secures $31M in Series B Funding Led by Telstra Ventures

Springboard, a mentor-guided online learning platform that prepares people for in-demand careers, announced today it has raised $31 million in Series B funding, bringing its total capital raised to more than $50 million. This round was led by new investor Telstra Ventures, with participation from Vulcan Capital and SJF Ventures, and returning investors Costanoa Ventures, Pearson Ventures, Reach Capital, International Finance Corporation (IFC), 500 Startups, Blue Fog Capital, and Learn Capital. 

Springboard launched India as its first geography outside the USA in 2019 and has placed its learners in Fortune 500 and world-renowned companies such as Samsung, Salesforce, Visa, LinkedIn, Cisco. The latest round of capital will enable Springboard to double down on student employability in response to the current job market in India and globally, by creating new hiring-focused products and strengthening employer partnerships to help graduates land their dream careers. 

Since inception, Springboard’s programs were designed to be entirely online, yet heavily supported by human interactions with mentors and a network of career experts. The new capital infusion will help Springboard further support job-seeking graduates by building several innovative tools for India and global markets:

The Hireability Forecaster, which provides early indications of student success and potential employability roadblocks by combining the power of Springboard’s predictive technology and the insights from its global community of almost 1,000 industry mentors. With 80% of Springboard mentors indicating they would hire their mentee, mentors and coaches will have the ability to indicate student achievement and intervene to course correct if students fall behind. 

Springboard Introductions, which offers Springboard students personalized, targeted introductions and job referrals from its community of over 13,000 mentors, alumni, fellow students, and employer partners that collectively represent over 50% of the Fortune 500 across 108 countries. Candidates who are internally referred are 15 times more likely to be hired than those who apply on a job board.

Student-Job Fit Recommender, an AI-driven job matching tool, which recommends open roles at Springboard’s employer partners that match each student's unique background and skill set. 

"India is witnessing one of its toughest challenges owing to the recent job losses that have impacted a large section of the workforce. It is therefore imperative for displaced workers to make the difficult transition into new, in-demand careers,” said Parul Gupta, Co-founder, Springboard. “Our remote-first, mentor-guided model is uniquely positioned to serve not only these individuals, but also universities and employers who need help navigating today's new economic reality. We're delighted to partner with a great group of investors, as we continue on our mission to transform over one million lives by 2030."

“Technology used to be a niche area but that’s no longer the case. As more and more companies are built on tech, the need to understand concepts like Data Science, AI, ML, UI/UX has become more homogenous. For learning to be meaningful, it needs to encompass state-of-the-art curriculum with real-world projects as well as mentorship and that is what Springboard stands for. With this funding we are in a good position to build on our strengths to provide in-demand job skills and holistic support at every step,” said Vivek Kumar, Managing Director, Springboard.

“The education sector is facing a tectonic shift. As enterprises and countries alike seek more and better talent with digital skill sets, the technology training market is set to explode,” said Albert Bielinko, Principal, at Telstra Ventures. "We invested in Springboard because the strong educational and job placement outcomes achieved by its students are a big differentiator. Springboard's highly personalised approach is built with the online learner in mind first, not as an afterthought, and offers a life-changing value proposition for Springboard's graduates.” 

Started by co-founders Gautam Tambay and Parul Gupta in 2013, Springboard pioneered a learning model that has enabled thousands of successful career transitions into the most in-demand technology fields via its job-guaranteed programs that are taught entirely online. Unlike most online learning companies that stop at teaching technical skills, Springboard focuses on employability -- 94% of eligible graduates secure a job within a year, earning an average salary increase of $26,000. Springboard’s unique strength is its remote-first yet human-centric approach that matches each student 1:1 with a personalized mentor—an industry professional working in their chosen field—who provides weekly feedback to keep students motivated and accountable. This approach has resulted in 330% student enrollment growth from June 2019 to June 2020. 

Furthering its commitment to student employability, Springboard is expanding its career services. It has tripled the number of virtual apprenticeship opportunities to build portfolio-worthy content and provide real-world work experience. The career services team has grown its career coaching capacity by 4x to provide more access to office hours, mock interviews, and a team of placement experts assigned to each student. To provide additional support during the job search, Springboard has extended its professional mentorship after program completion. 

In the coming months, Springboard plans to grow its industry-leading course offerings outside the high-tech industry to include additional skills gap disciplines. The company will also look to deepen its partnerships with universities and employers, enabling them to adapt to evolving reskilling needs in a post-pandemic economy.

India Angel Fund Invests in Mental Wellness Startup - IPHM Services

IPHM Services has succeeded in raising a seed round of funding from India Angel Fund, most of them Women Entrepreneurs, also first time angel investors.

New age healing assistance, IPHM Services (Integrated Personalized Health Care Management), helps design programs and workshops for the psychological well-being of individuals and employees of large organizations. 

Founded by Dr. Sachin Bhavsar, IPHM believes that the Heart, Body, Mind and Soul are four pillars of life and an integrated system that needs constant nurturing. Their services aim to assist individuals to reach their own potential by developing skill sets within them, pertinent for their good health, emotional and mental well-being. 

An influx of funds would mean training more individuals, employees and aspiring entrepreneurs to reach their potential growth and increase general productivity within an individual. Afterall, all these aspects are interlinked and a positive push in any direction would enhance our own offering. 

Speaking on this fundraise, Dr. Sachin Bhavsar, Founder - IPHM Services said, "While we have always believed in nurturing the four attributes for a healthy living, there is also very little awareness of the real-time applications and the rapidly evolving technological advances in the healthcare system. This infusion would mean creating cognizance at the grass-root level and would definitely ameliorate the overall health economy."

Being a subject matter expert and an integral part of IPHM Services, Sneh Kulkarni, Co-founder – IPHM Services remarks, "There was always a need-gap between awareness about mental health and real-time use of technology in the healthcare system. We are now one world that has been connected digitally and therefore, it becomes easier to really understand societal structures and socio-economic backgrounds. This enables us to understand the different cultures that people come from, and offer a personalized approach to helping these individuals."    

First time angel investor and an alumni from IIM Ahmedabad, Monaliesa Sarkar said, “I have been working actively with various NGOs and government bodies in Delhi NCR and I cannot stress enough on the need for more startups to emerge in the mental health space. I also love the fact that an inspiring person like Dr. Sachin is matched by a powerhouse of energy which is Sneh Kulkarni. I am also kicked that this deal is led by women angels like me, Jyoti, Koel and Sabana and we have a woman entrepreneur like Sneh. I have always advocated that Women Angels should actively lead from the front and back other Women Entrepreneurs.” 

Women are now stepping up as angel investors and putting their energy, time & money in industries that are not only growing but are also adding value to the well-being of the nation. Speaking on this, women entrepreneur Jyoti Tiwari said, “I have been a healthcare professional for more than 15 years and absolutely agree that mental health is the key to overall health and wellness and our immunity can only be built by working on the MIND and not just the body. I am also making my first angel investment and just love the fact that it's a woman co-founder like Sneh Kulkarni on the other side apart from the inspiring Dr. Sachin.”

The third women angel investor on this project is a powerhouse with 17+ years of experience in corporate retail and also runs a successful startup. Koel Dutta said, “Having been a professional for 17 + years and having successfully exited from my last startup TieKart, I am now making my first Angel investment thanks to my old friend Rahul Narvekar and I am sure we 4 women angel investors can work with mentoring Sneh on how to build this company, since I have also run a successful startup.”    

The 4th women Angel Investor Sabana Khatoon also an IIM A Alumni, wearing multiple hats as a business woman, active in various initiatives in Kolkatta from helping run TEDxChowringhee to various entrepreneur networks said, "Being a single woman entrepreneur and having myself seen so many cases in the past few months of mental health issues, I am quite excited to make my first Angel Investment and that to with Sneh Kulkarni and Dr. Sachin.”. 

“Being a Doctor I always tell everyone that mental health manifests into physical health and especially in such challenging times, it is more so. I am awed by the personal journey of Dr. Sachin, multiple surgeries, amputation and still he is so positive and an absolute role model for everyone. I also love the positive energy that all the women here bring as a team. This is also my first Angel investment and I like the fact that it's in a space I am personally involved in too”, said Dr Vikaas Grover, a doctor by profession and a startup enthusiast.

India Angel Network has made another seed investment of Rs. 25 lakhs into IPHM Services. Speaking on this deal Rahul Narvekar, Co-founder IAF said “Mental Health is a subject which has been amplified in mainstream conversations recently and especially in these times of uncertainty and fear and overall negative atmosphere, it has brought home the fact that we need to openly talk about this but also address and heal. I was introduced to Sneh and Dr. Sachin by Rajiv Dabhadkar and was completely awed by their dedication and deep domain expertise in this space. Dr. Sachin’s personal journey is a story of grit and determination and that is the key ingredient for any entrepreneur. Interesting to note that this has turned into a women dominated deal. We have an awesome majority of women entrepreneurs and I believe that women make the best entrepreneurs, CEOs and Angel Investors. Women do multitasking routinely, are more open about sharing and are natural care givers and that’s what mental health platforms need. Also all the four Angel Investors are first time Angels and I would LOVE to see more women become Angel Investors.”

About Integrated Personalized Healthcare Management Services

The USP of the IPHM service is “Nurturing health in heart, body, mind, and soul. IPHM believes that this is an integrated system that works on these four pillars. If one fails then life becomes unbalanced. IPHM offers services such as Stress management, Women wellness, Child and Adolescent Psychology.

Integrated HR is the Programme designed by Integrated Personalised Healthcare Management for the Corporates. IPHM evolves into the mainstream functions of organisations, the remote work revolution predicts further possibilities and is here to stay. Every organization needs to make new strategic choices and also equally need to take care of employee’s mental health.

A Strategic Road Map for Conserving the Endangered Dhole Cuon Alpinus in India

India Needs a Strategic Management Plan for Conserving the Endangered Asiatic Wild Dog

A new study identifies priority actions and locations for conserving populations of the endangered Asiatic wild dog or dhole in India.

 

Country-level species conservation plans serve as a blueprint for identifying important areas, prioritizing management actions and channeling conservation funds. India is a biologically megadiverse country, yet many threatened and endangered species do not have science-based conservation plans. In a new study, scientists from Wildlife Conservation Society–India, University of Florida (USA), Wildlife Conservation Trust, and National Centre for Biological Sciences propose a detailed framework for conserving the endangered dhole in India using a combination of ecological, social, political and administrative information. 

The researchers first made a detailed assessment of the current status of dholes in each State. Based on the relationship between dhole occurrence, forest cover, protected areas, human populations and cattle densities, the authors then identify taluks or tehsils for targeting management interventions— areas where dhole populations need to be recovered, areas warranting improvement or expansion of forest habitats, and areas with potential for dholes to expand their distribution range. The study also evaluated State-wise conservation capacity using multiple criteria, like GDP share, poverty levels, State and central budgetary allocations for forest/wildlife sectors, and rejection rate of forest clearances.  

“Dholes play an important role as apex predators in forest ecosystems. Besides the tiger, dhole is the only large carnivore in India that is under IUCN’s ‘Endangered’ category. As a country that perhaps supports the highest number of dholes in the world, we still do not have targeted management plans for scientific monitoring of the species. Our study recognizes taluks and States that need to be prioritized, and thereby offers a primer for designing a country-level plan to conserve their populations”, said Arjun Srivathsa, lead author of the study.

The study reports that Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh ranked very high on the priority scale, and are adequately equipped to maintain status quo, consolidate forest habitats, and recover dhole populations by increasing prey densities and reducing pressures on forests. On the other hand, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana and Goa will need to increase financial investments towards forest/wildlife sectors, and also resolutely reduce the ease of granting forest clearances for infrastructure projects. Additionally, improving habitat conditions and prey densities in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha would strengthen the link between dhole populations in Western Ghats and Central India. 

Despite their endangered status, there is a persistent lack of resources and policy focus on dhole conservation. “Alongside a comprehensive assessment of dholes in India, our study also provides an analysis of the current state of knowledge through a review of all published literature on the species. We identify critical gaps which can be explicated through improved funding for dhole research and conservation in India and across its distribution range”, said co-author Girish Punjabi.

The study titled “A strategic roadmap for conserving the endangered dhole Cuon alpinus in India” was published in the recent issue of the reputed international journal Mammal Review. The authors include Arjun Srivathsa (Wildlife Conservation Society–India and University of Florida, USA), Sushma Sharma (Wildlife Conservation Society–India), Priya Singh (National Centre for Biological Sciences), Girish Punjabi (Wildlife Conservation Trust), and Madan Oli (University of Florida, USA).

Article link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mam.12209 

Ather Energy Raises INR 84 Crores from Hero MotoCorp, As An Extension of its Series C Round

Ather Energy, India’s first intelligent electric scooter manufacturer, announced a fresh investment by Hero MotoCorp, as an extension of its Series C round that was led by Sachin Bansal. Hero MotoCorp has been a part of Ather’s growth story since 2016, when they first invested as a part of Series B. This round is a reinstatement of confidence by existing investors in Ather’s potential and success.

Ather is now entering an aggressive expansion phase on the back of its flagship product, the Ather 450X, and looking to scale to 20 cities by the end of 2021. The Ather 450X has piqued the interest of automobile and tech enthusiasts alike, and will soon be available in cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi and Mumbai, with deliveries beginning in October 2020. To meet the projected demand in the coming years, Ather is opening a new manufacturing facility in Hosur, which is designed to produce 100,000 units annually, and is scalable to half a million units.  Ather Energy will also set up Ather Grid fast charging points across the country over the next 5 years, making public charging easy and accessible to all electric vehicle owners.

In the past few weeks, Ather has been working on a slew of financing and ownership models, making electric vehicles more accessible for consumers everywhere. It introduced India's first personal lease program for scooters, with monthly payments as low as INR 2589, which makes the intelligent electric scooter accessible to the Indian two-wheeler market. It has also been a pioneer in the post sales experience innovation with subscription plans, Ather One, a one-stop daily usage solution that includes doorstep pick up and service, 24X7 roadside assistance, free charging at home and in public etc.

A unique aspect of the product line is the ability to add new features and functionality through over-the-air (OTA) software updates. Ather has been rolling out OTA updates since September 2018, adding features like a dark theme, new ride modes, guide-me-home light, making them one of the fastest iteration cycles in the country.

Quote by Tarun Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, Ather Energy: “We are in a high growth phase of our journey, and while the last few months have been challenging, we have not altered our

expansion plans. Our geographic expansion and the roll-out schedule for the Ather 450X are on track, and we will be using these funds to invest in our facilities to meet the demand we have seen for the Ather 450X across the country. ”

Commenting on the investment, Rajat Bhargava, Head of Emerging Mobility Business Unit (EMBU), Global Business & Strategy, Hero MotoCorp, said “We are excited to see the growth of Ather Energy in the recent years. We see immense potential for them to expand their market even further, especially given the likely growth of electric vehicles (EV) in the near future. In addition to our efforts of developing a robust external eco-system for EVs, we are also aggressively working on our internal EV program. Our aim is to provide accessible electric mobility to customers across the globe. Sustainability and a clean, green environment remain central to our vision to be the future of mobility.”

How women are Making it Big in Business Via WhatsApp-Based Social Commerce?

By Varun Khurana, Founder, Otipy ( India’s fastest growing social commerce venture)

 

Social commerce is not a new concept in the country major chunk of social commerce existed only in the fashion, beauty, and retail industries. Today, social commerce is gaining popularity for one of the fundamental aspects of life – fresh food. Fresh produce such as fruits and vegetables have become the most in-demand products as people switch to healthier ways of living and are eager to know the source.  

 

A USD 200 Billion fresh produce category is now witnessing major disruption through social commerce. It is garnering the attention of consumer, entrepreneurs, and investors, . In fact, consumers are increasingly preferring their food sourced through social commerce for various reasons such as higher credibility, rational price and most importantly, fresher produce (delivered within a day straight from the farms sometime within 12 hrs). For women looking to be a part of the business environment without monetary investment, social commerce within the food category is the ideal solution. Let us take a look at how social commerce is playing a key role in helping women make it big in business.

 

The rise of social commerce

Increasing internet penetration and social media usage have paved the way for the rise of social commerce. A majority of the population today uses and is in fact hooked onto social media and brands are leveraging this aspect. With the rise in demand for fresh produce, women are joining hands with brands to become resellers within their community to make a mark for themselves in their community by leveraging social commerce. Currently, fresh produce is a supply-led model and social commerce is flipping it to demand-led model that further helps in solving the problem of middlemen and wastage (since there is no inventory). Apart from this, it helps resellers connect with their customers-base efficiently and offer real-time feedback to the farmers regarding the quality of the produce.

 

The emergence of women as dominant sellers

 For the first time, women are taking the center stage in spurring the adoption of e-commerce and helping the industry as well as themselves progress. The advent of technology, rapid digitization of businesses, and easy access have helped drive this change. For women sellers, a slew of features aided by cutting-edge technology such as voice chats/chatbots, real-time updates and feedback to the farmers, and most importantly, WhatsApp-based marketing is coming handy to open more doors to become micro-entrepreneurs.         

Additionally, women sellers also have a higher average order value, better retention and repeat orders, making them more suitable. In fact, not just urban cities, but women resellers hail from tier-II and tier-III catchment areas are hopping on the fresh produce social commerce bandwagon to fulfil their goals and achieve financial independence with almost no investment. A whopping 68% of women in most platforms sell from tier-II and tier-III cities.

 

Women sellers also help customers gain the trust factor for unbranded products since they usually tend to lean towards known/established brands. In return, social commerce platforms offer easy access for women to build an entrepreneurial empire of their own through community engagement without hindrances. Particularly in vernacular language-led social commerce platforms, women are dominating the space, even though the concept is still at a very nascent stage. They are learning the tricks of the trade and are keen on flourishing in the competitive business environment.

 

Social commerce is quickly becoming a multi-million-dollar market in India. However, the country has a largely unorganized market, particularly in tier-II, tier-III and tier-IV cities, especially for the fresh produce category with millions of farmers scattered across the country. Additionally, shopping for fresh produce is a social concept of sorts. Since the pandemic has forced us to adhere to social distancing norms, social commerce is flourishing and women are leading the way. With technological advancements, greater digitization and the availability of regional languages providing easy access and seamless experience, the rise of women entrepreneurs through social commerce is inevitable.  

Rgyan App Helping Young India To Create a Socio Spiritual Networking Platform

Empathy and compassion can provide healing and solace to our beautiful mind in these turbulent times.

If data of suicides is taken into consideration during the lockdown and Unlock 1.0, because of depression, The mental isolation is proving more dangerous than coronavirus these days. 

Also, some days back, the news of the banning of Tiktok and other 59 chinese apps was in the discussion, but in the meantime, cases of suicides have also increased. It is also being said that people, especially teenagers were being very upset due to the banning of Tik-Tok and because of it, some committed suicide. 

What is this depression actually? Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn't worth living.

When the Indian Government banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, many questioned what would happen to those who used TikTok as a platform to share their content and made some money from it? Well, there is an Indian version of the app, “RGYAN”, which unlike its existing social media platforms which produces minimal thoughtful content, it is a “Social Spiritual Networking Platform which helps in creating a community of intellectuals and motivated individuals seeking truths about life”. 

It is a socio-spiritual technology startup founded on the belief of empowerment of participation by creating a spiritual social network. It can also be compared to “Spiritual Instagram with a touch of Quora”. Rgyan promotes thoughtful content on various non-trivial topics necessary to find important truths about life. It expects to do so by facilitating sharing of thoughts on various subjective matters. Amidst social media sites that promote banality and silliness, Rgyan stands out as a platform where meaningful content is shared and discussions are heard. It is available on both web as well as a mobile application on android play store in English and Hindi Languages. 

To use Rgyan, users can log in by creating an account using a registered phone number or explore its services as an anonymous user. The app allows users to express and share their thoughts through pictures, videos, text, GIFs, or as real-time discussions. Content shared on Rgyan is centred around spirituality, health and wellness, motivational quotes and various other pertinent topics. The Rgyan app offers the flexibility of a User Generated Content Model (UGC) with that of curated content available on Divinity, Daily Horoscope, and aggregated news on spiritual and social matters.

Speaking about this Made in India App, Rgyan’s success, Mr. Debjit Patra, Founder and Chairman, Rgyan said “There was a need for such a meaningful social platform where people can get knowledge as well as they can share their thoughts on various meaningful matters which Rgyan is giving right now. Starting back in 2016 with just a vision and now having more than 1 million monthly views on the platform, we have come a long way,  but this is not the limit as we know in the coming time more and more people will love Rgyan ''.

About Rgyan

Rgyan is a  socio spiritual tech startup started in the year end of 2016 with the classification of curated content on Divinity, Daily Horoscope and aggregated News on spiritual and social matters. Slowly it has evolved into a complete Spiritual Social Networking platform through which users can express and share their thoughts/content (Through Pics, Videos, Text, GIF or in a discussion manner) related to spiritual matters, health tips, motivational Quotes and many more meaningful categories.

The Chennai Angels Fund uFony a Interactive Platform on Smartphones - School Diary

uFony Services Pvt. Ltd., the Pune-based Ed-Tech company, has raised funding from The Chennai Angels & other independent investors for School Diary®, an interactive platform that brings education to smartphones. School Diary® is a user-friendly platform that caters to K12 schools, helping them engage students and conduct classes virtually without compromising on privacy.

It is an integrated virtual classroom with online teaching, virtual PTMs, instant academic and non-academic updates, and even an online store where parents can shop for school products. The platform also has an administrator interface to collect online payments, automate accounting, manage transport, track live busses, monitor driver/staff behavior, manage payroll, inventory & accounts, and much more.

Running profitably for the last 3 (three) years, uFony is a leading player in the K12 Education space. The company provides SAAS solutions to 1000+ educational institutes including colleges, schools, coaching, pre-schools, and daycares across 10+ countries. Post-COVID, uFony aims to bring about a change in traditional teaching methods and make them more compatible for the future.

“School Diary® is being leveraged by Schools across Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America. It is generating interest from a lot of School Districts in the USA,” said Ashish Chaturvedi, Founder of uFony Services Pvt. Ltd. “With smartphone penetration on the rise and digital learning to gain acceptance, we expect more and more schools in the USA and other countries to sign up for School Diary®. Our recent raise is to enhance our digital presence and enroll business partners to scale up quickly in the international market.”

The education industry is rapidly changing to adapt to an unstable situation. “The great thing about Ufony is its constant efforts to rediscover themselves and to provide greater value to their existing customers. By providing new features constantly, Ufony unfolds new ways of using its services at little or no extra cost and certainly with minimal efforts,” said R. Narayanan (Naru), the Investment Director. “Take for example its latest feature of video. With the mere addition of a tripod on which the cellphone can be perched, the teacher is able to instantly include an ailing child who is unable to attend class. Just at the press of two or three buttons on a phone, the sick child is transported right into the class where they can view their teachers and friends as well. Great application to a video conferencing function. Even greater addition to School Diary®’s functionality.” 

Chandran Krishnan, CEO of The Chennai Angels says, “The traditional education system that schools followed pre-COVID has led to a disruption in studies for students across the globe. Platforms like School Diary® have paved the way for education to be advanced, accessible, and most of all fun. Students seem to enjoy the idea of online classes, a trend that might become essential in the near future. We are excited to see the growth of School Diary®, which brings school to students’ smartphones.”

Established in November 2007, The Chennai Angels (TCA) is one of the leading angel networks in India. TCA is sector and geography agnostic, and has made 52 investments till date, with a 20% exit track record, in enterprise solutions, consumer products, education, healthcare, automotive, gaming and other sectors. TCA is a member-driven network with 100+ successful industry leaders, technocrats, and business professionals in its network. 

Aditya Birla Capital’s Subsidiaries Record Over Four Million Customer Interactions on Digital Service Platforms

Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL), the holding company of the financial services businesses of the Aditya Birla Group, recorded a significant rise in customer interactions on the digital channels of its subsidiaries. These interactions on platforms such as WhatsApp, Chatbots, Websites and Apps crossed the four million mark in the past three months during the Covid-19 lockdown, witnessing an almost 2X jump when compared to the same period last year. ABCL’s subsidiaries have been at the forefront of adopting new technologies for customer convenience. Several services like change of address on the website for the stock broking business or using WhatsApp for renewal of Health Insurance policies or registering SIPs for Mutual fund were introduced for the first time in the industry. The Mutual Fund business recently introduced Google Assistant based voice bot for the top customer queries. The Lending business and Mutual Fund business have developed a machine learning (ML) based email bot for automated servicing of over 30,000 customer queries a month

Over the last one year, ABCL’s subsidiaries have significantly ramped up their digital services across Websites, Chatbot and WhatsApp to ensure availability of over 94 per cent of their services online, as compared to about 71 per cent last year. This has been a huge advantage during the lockdown when customer and distributor onboarding and purchase journeys have been enabled digitally. The WhatsApp/Chatbot channel is now one of the most comprehensive in the financial services industry, offering over 180 services across the mutual fund, lending, housing finance, life insurance and health insurance businesses. The businesses witnessed WhatsApp emerging as one of the most preferred channels, with almost a million customer interactions since March’ 20.

Ajay Srinivasan, Chief Executive, Aditya Birla Capital, said, “Digital enablement to create a superior customer experience throughout the customer journey has been a key part of our agenda. This enabled us to proactively transform our customer journeys to being 100% digital during the period of lockdown. These capabilities held us in good stead when COVID hit the world and helped us to service our customers without any interruptions. We will continue to leverage new technologies to make our customer and distributor experience best in class.”    

Owing to the ongoing lockdown, there has been a shift in demand for zero contact and paperless purchase options. Last year ABCL’s subsidiaries had worked on developing non-contact, paperless, seamless purchase journeys across product lines through mobile apps and tabs. Many technologies such as biometrics, intelligent OCR, Video KYC, e-contracts were used for the first time in the industry. The NBFC and Mutual Fund businesses have been one of the first in the industry to launch video KYC for its customers. Over 90 per cent customers were on-boarded through digital channels alone in FY20, as compared to 72 per cent in FY19. The businesses deployed over 200 robotic processes (RPA) to automate mid-office and back office work.

Pankajakasthuri Announces Promising Interim Results for ZingiVir–H Among COVID-19 Patients

Pankajakasthuri Herbals India Private Limited (PKHIL) today announced promising interim clinical trial results for ZingiVir-H among patients suffering from COVID-19. Developed by Dr. J. Hareendran Nair, Founder of Pankajakasthuri Herbal Research Foundation, ZingiVir-H is a herbo-mineral drug made of a blend of seven ingredients. With the announcement, the company hopes to reiterate the 

tremendous potential of Ayurveda as a cost-effective and scalable solution to critical health conditions such as COVID-19.

Dr. J. Hareendran Nair, Founder and Managing Director, PKHIL, said, “Ayurveda has a long and storied tradition of helping treat a wide range of conditions, from everyday allergies to more complex ones such as autoimmune diseases. During such unprecedented times as now, where our immunity is critical to fighting a disease that has become a global pandemic, we believe that Ayurveda has the power to help develop an effective, cost-efficient and scalable treatment.”

Clinical trials of ZingiVir-H, Pankajakasthuri’s new drug, are underway among 112 patients as an adjunct therapy for the pandemic as well as among 135 additional patients as a stand-alone treatment in a double-blind study. The trials are progressing in 96 of the patients undergoing adjunct therapy. Out of these, the results of 42 patients are being published as an interim report. Among the 42 patients, 22 were treated with ZingiVir-H and 20 were treated with a placebo. It was found that all the 22 patients treated with ZingiVir-H were discharged on the fourth day after real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). The remaining 20 patients in the control group who received placeboes continued to be COVID-19+ve for 5 to 11 days.

“The results so far have been very positive and the trial is continuing,” said Dr. Nair. “We are equipped to provide the tablet as a treatment for COVID-19 across India and will collaborate with government bodies to ensure effective and quick distribution once the drug is approved. After this, we would also like to extend the treatment to regulators around the world for their respective countries. It is especially important to know that the use of the drug as a prophylactic treatment means that ZingiVir-H can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and thereby prevent community transmission.”

ZingiVir-H tablets had obtained the Drugs License of the Government of Kerala and underwent cytotoxicity tests on human cells at the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology and CSIR-NIIST at Thiruvananthapuram. After the animal studies were proved to be harmless, the clinical trial registration was obtained from the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI). Thereafter, the drug was placed in Randomized Single Blind Placebo Controlled Multi-Center Clinical Trial as per World Health Organization (WHO)'s ICH-GCP standards at various medical colleges with approvals from respective ethical committees.

ZingiVir-H's clinical trial is being conducted similar to the testing protocols in modern medicine. The results will be published after completion of the clinical trials and blood tests, including CRP, ESR, Interleukin, IgG and IgM, have proven the defensive functionality/efficacy of ZingiVir-H.

The interim clinical test results have been evaluated by a 5-member independent peer data monitoring committee (DMC). These included:

* The Chairman of the committee, Dr. V. Raman Kutty, Eminent Epidemiologist and data science expert, Research Director, Amala Cancer Research Centre, Thrissur. He is also a Former Emeritus Professor of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology and Honorary Chairman, Health Action by People.

* Dr. K. P. Poulose, Former Professor, Kottayam Medical College & George Washington University, USA and Chief Physician, SUT Hospitals, Thiruvananthapuram;

* Dr. K. G. Raveendran, Retd. Medical Director, The Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, Coimbatore;

* Dr. V. S. SUGUNAN, Former Scientist C and Group Leader, Viral Hepatitis Laboratory, Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram; and

* Dr. Asha Kamath, Associate Director, PSPH, Professor & Head, Department of Data Science, Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

Dr. Hareendran Nair also thanked the R&D head of Pankajakasthuri Dr. Shan Sashidharan and the Clinical Trial Coordinator Dr. K. P. Srinivasakumar, Head, Clinical Operations, Institute of Biology and Clinical Research, India, and others associated with it.

After the peer review from the DMC, the test results have been submitted for the approval by the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).

Zendesk Releases CX Benchmark Report for Startups Showing the Path to Success is in CX

Zendesk, Inc. has released the Zendesk Startups CX Benchmark Report, documenting how early-stage startups that invest in customer experience (CX) outperform their peers. The data shows that while there is no one-size-fits-all approach, startup success stories have one thing in common: the ability to provide more holistic support to customers from the beginning.

The findings feature Zendesk Benchmark data from more than 4,400 early-stage startups from around the world, giving founders and CX leaders direct insights into this crucial part of their businesses for the first time.

Most surprisingly, more than 70 percent of startup founders and decision-makers reported they do not have a formal customer support strategy in place. This shines a spotlight on how many companies are missing out on the opportunity to deliver on the customer experiences that will set them apart from their peers and foster long-term business success. 

"India is a thriving startup hub and home to several Unicorns - many of whom have embedded customer experience as part of their growth strategy. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly hit many Indian startups hard, highlighting the importance of having robust customer support from the get go. The Indian startup community has shown their tenacity and adaptability in the past and will do so again. And we hope the learnings from our latest Zendesk Startups CX Benchmark Report can help shed light on the path forward in these unique times.”, said KT Prasad, MD and RVP Sales, India & SAARC at Zendesk.

According to the report, fast-growing startups—those that have doubled their customer support agent count (a proxy for employee growth) in the first two years of using Zendesk and have 18 months or fewer between publicly disclosed funding rounds—make greater investments in their CX strategies, and do so more quickly. 

In fact, 33 percent of these companies are more likely to add omnichannel or multi-channel support in their first two years. The result is shorter resolutions (roughly half the wait time for customers), better team efficiency and more options for customers to find the support they are looking for, which all lead to an overall improved CX. 

The report identified six actions companies should focus on to operate like a fast-growing startup within their first two years, in order of priority: 

Set up a customer support function that prioritizes speed and convenience for both your customers and service team

Add live channels, such as phone and chat, which are faster alternatives to email and web ticketing

Launch messaging channels, like social media and WhatsApp, to reach customers on the channels they use in their day-to-day lives

Establish an FAQ or help center, and include at least 30 articles that answer frequently asked questions

Introduce at least one new app or integration to your customer support platform every six months to increase support agent productivity and streamline workflows

Keep first reply times and resolution times down to three to eight hours 

“It’s natural to prioritize your product at the beginning of your startup journey, but not to think about how you sell to or support your customers,” said Kristen Durham, vice president, startups, Zendesk. “We know CX directly impacts customer loyalty and retention, and whether you are a first-time founder, serial entrepreneur, or customer support leader looking to improve business performance, our data shows that the sooner you put customers at the center of your plans, the faster you’ll be setting yourself up for long-term success.” 

The report also indicated that faster-growth startups direct more resources toward self-service and live channels, like phone and chat, with unicorns—privately held startups valued at over $1 billion—adopting live channels even faster. Unicorns also prioritize adding self-service features like online help centers 61 percent faster than other startups in their first year. 

“Startups that want to rise above the noise should invest in building a strong foundation in great customer experience right from the start,” said Jeff Titterton, chief marketing officer, Zendesk. “Customers have come to expect more out of companies, regardless of their size, age, or industry. Having differentiated customer support can be the difference between failing to scale and becoming a successful, fast-growth startup.”

Additional Resources

For more information, download the Startups CX Benchmark Report. 

Check out Sit Down Startup, our new podcast featuring Zendesk leaders with founders, CEOs, and makers, sharing their journey and talking about why customer experience is the secret sauce to long-term success. Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Google Play, or Apple Podcasts. 

Unicorns and fast-growth startups Loggi and Freshly are using Zendesk to reach customers on their preferred channels, and getting out ahead of the competition by infusing the customer perspective directly into the business which in turn helps fuel product and service innovation. Check out their stories, and others, on the Zendesk Library.

Methodology 

The Zendesk Benchmark helps companies compare their customer service performance against their competitors. To better understand how startups leverage support, we analyzed key metrics around timing, tools, and results for 4,414 startups that use Zendesk Support from January 1, 2014 to March 14, 2020. Startups included in this report have used Zendesk for more than six months and have raised funding.

About Zendesk

Zendesk is a service-first CRM company that builds support, sales, and customer engagement software designed to foster better customer relationships. From large enterprises to startups, we believe that powerful, innovative customer experiences should be within reach for every company, no matter the size, industry or ambition. Zendesk serves more than 160,000 customers across a multitude of industries in over 30 languages. Zendesk is headquartered in San Francisco, and operates offices worldwide. 

Ken42 Launches the StartNXT Ideathon for Students to have a Chance to Walk Away with Rs 6 Cr Funding

Bengaluru-based startup Ken42, India’s superapp edtech platform, has announced the launch of their annual StartNXT Ideathon programme for college and university students across the country. Backed by Turbostart, Ken42 has kickstarted this programme to facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship in India, where the Top 3 winners will receive funding upto Rs 2 crores each, along with internship opportunities with leading startups and firms. Candidates will also receive one-on-one mentorship by industry stalwarts including Turbostart advisories like:

1. Ullas Kamath, Joint MD Jyothy Laboratories;

2. G S Krishnan, Former Regional President/ MD Novozymes;

3. Nirankar Saxena, Hon Deputy Secretary General, FICCI;

4. Shiv Kumar Janardhanan, Strategic Investor and Former CEO of Essilor Group;

5. Natarajan Ranganathan, Co-Founder, Foundation Partners LLP;

6. Aniruddha Ganguly, Former Executive Director of the GMR Group;

7. Vivek Mansingh, General Partner YourNest VC Fund;

8. Venkat Raju, Angel Investor & Silicon Valley Entrepreneur;

9. Sunil Bhumralkar, Former Partner Ernst & Young;

The future is about encouraging students to be ingenious, stemming from their passions, capacity for innovation, awareness and sense of responsibility to shape the world for the better. Through the Ideathon programme, Ken42 aims to provide a solid impetus to all students- the company has announced that it will be giving away up to Rs 10 lakh each in prize money to the runners-up as well.

Talking about the acceleration program, Ganesh Raju, Founder and CEO, Ken42 said “Evidently, the process of funding for upcoming ventures has run dry over the past couple of months owing to the global pandemic. We have observed several startups struggling to keep their head above the water, let alone students who have to put an indefinite halt to the launch of their entrepreneurial journey. In the age of acceleration, young innovators can use their diverse perspectives while harnessing technology to create innovative applications that lead to a better society for all. Hence, it is imperative to provide them with a recognised platform to turn their ideas into businesses. This was our core motive behind launching the StartNXT Ideathon during testing times like these. Ken42 welcomes all students from all universities across the country to participate in the Ideathon, providing an impetus to be future-ready and bring in a wave of new-age startups in India.” The Ideathon will be conducted in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with support from multiple corporate giants.

The first leg of the programme begins with identifying problem statements and goes on to enable candidates to deliver integrated business plans to achieve tangible outcomes by applying innovation in ways that add value. Throughout the course of the 6-month Ideathon, students will be presenting pitch decks and business plans to a jury panel comprising leaders from the academic, corporate, investor and entrepreneur community.

During the course of the programme, students will also have access to one-on-one mentor sessions with noteworthy Turbostart advisories where they will receive guidance from industry experts, along with resources, operational support as well as networking opportunities.

The core purpose behind the Ideathon is to aid learners and students dwell into their creativity, provide them with a prominent platform to build upon their ideas, and in turn cultivate successfully-running businesses as well as entrepreneurs.

Registrations for the Ideathon are open from 6th July till 31st August 2020.

Innoviti Enhances ESOP Pool to US$10 Million to Create Payments Business

Leading provider of intelligent payment solutions, Innoviti, announced has that it has enhanced its ESOP pool to US$ 10 million.  This pool was created as a part of the structuring carried out during the recent fund raise from FMO and Bessemer.

Innoviti’s ESOP scheme, constituted during pre-Series A, is open to all full-time employees of the company and is awarded based on performance and loyalty.  With the recent enhancement, more than 30% of all employees, from senior leaders to system architects, field officers and call center executives are now covered. The objective is to motivate, retain, and attract employees to participate in Innoviti’s vision of transforming digital payments in India at scale. ESOPs provide an opportunity to these employees to create significant wealth, that would not be possible through life-time savings from salaries.

Innoviti’s payment solutions help merchants extract the full power of digital payments by using data and design intelligence, not possible with stand-alone terminals and QR stickers. Innoviti's solutions help merchants get extra sales, extra savings, and extra customers, by using data intelligence to form digital partnerships with banks and brands, enabling them to collaborate and create targeted offers for common customer pools and intelligently and instantly enabling them at the point of sale, driving unmatched marketing efficiencies.

Processing over 6.5B$ of annualized offline merchant payment volume (~5% of India’s offline merchant volume, based on RBI data), Innoviti is transforming digital payments at scale. The company leads monthly terminal throughput at 7000$ per terminal, 2X of India’s average of all other payment providers (RBI data). The use of technology to relentlessly drive reliability and automate processes has further fuelled gross margins, making Innoviti the most capital-efficient company in this space (based on publicly available data). This reflects the speed and scale of impact, number of lives touched and the exponential learning team Innoviti has created along the way.

Innoviti is backed by marquee investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, USA, SBI Venture Capital, Singapore, FMO, Netherlands, and Catamaran, India.  Series C funding was led by FMO and Bessemer.

Quotes:

“Great companies require great teams, and great teams need exceptional talent.  We love to spot and nurture talent that demonstrates outstanding levels of commitment, curiosity, and capability.   While for these people their joy is their high in discovering and solving tough problems, ESOPs are one other way to make their contributions to the company worthwhile for them.

As a start-up our team members fight against several odds to create successes.  It is a difficult journey and its moving to see how some people relentlessly drive this fight, dedicating their time, often way beyond office hours, to leap over hurdles and create phenomenal successes. ESOPs are a small token to make those victories that much sweeter.

Our shares have been quite liquid, and over the years several of our team members have sold their shares to fulfill their dreams.  When we hear stories from our former team members of how they used this wealth to build their home, buy a car or even start their own business, the real purpose of ESOPs comes alive - to enable employees to fulfill their dreams, as they help the company fulfills its.

We are very thankful to our investors who have supported the company time and again in not only expanding the ESOP pool, but also making it accessible and attractive for team members to see meaningful benefits during their journey at Innoviti.” – said Mr. Rajeev Agrawal, CEO, Innoviti.

The New Mantra: Future of SMEs Post COVID 19 in Indian Market

By Sandip Chhettri,COO,TradeIndia

While the novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc upon the organized world, it has also ushered an opportunity for the new tides of transformation to emerge. This evidently bleak situation where businesses and institutions have suffered substantial losses on account of the global pandemic also holds the potential for heralding a profound paradigm shift in the way businesses are imagined and defined, namely the shift from offline to the online digital medium. While most organisations in the world have sanctioned their employees to work from the safety of their homes, there is still a lot of ground left to cover. There is an overwhelming gamut of businesses belonging to sectors, which have hitherto operated in a conventionally offline manner.

Industry types such as the manufacturing industries, retail operations, hospitality, mobility, etc have always existed along the physical contours of operation. While the big multinational corporations have the advantage of vast capital and resource to their disposal, small and medium enterprises benefit from their agile and more compact nature of working. Therefore, opportunities exist for both David and Goliath in this new world order to streamline their operational mediums to achieve seamless objectivity.

The lockdown has taught the entire business world a lesson in the survival of the fittest tactics and how best to leverage seemingly adverse conditions to one’s own gain. The Government of India has brought in a surfeit of bailout packages, amended fiscal policies, rate cuts, loans and waivers to rescue the ailing industries in the country. It has also unequivocally championed the need for the nation to become self-reliant, besides heralding a slew of ingenious schemes such as the ‘vocal for local’, financial aid and an INR 20,000 crore security reprieve. The centre is also endorsing the immediate need for businesses, academic institutions, and public sector units to immediately and effectively shift to online means of business to maintain market relevance.

Here is a slew of essential factors every SME and MSME must go through before recommencing their operations once the lockdown gets lifted:

Neutralize the scene

No matter the size, nature, or dimension, the primary concern for every business is to initiate an in-depth assessment of the existing company assets, its overall financial health and security aspects. As the pandemic has interrupted operations, productions and sales across frontiers, it is essential for companies to arrive at a realistic and holistic overview of the present situation in the face of the virulent pandemic. The company leadership must resolve the various deficits, prospective inflow and outflow of capital, latent expenditures and burdens. Obtaining dependable and actionable reports regarding the various respite from government, apex trade and commerce bodies, investors are important before undertaking critical decisions such as pay cuts, scrapping of potential future investments, growth and expansion plans, etc

Realigning your goals 

Re-appraisal of all business blueprints is of the utmost essence for SMEs in the event of such an industrial setback. The post-pandemic landscape is surely going to be different than the pre-COVID days and businesses have to revamp and realign their planning and strategy for the future accordingly. There is a need for a realistic and well-formed map for the road ahead while taking into consent the outlook of the various stakeholders of the company. The leadership should also reschedule the company objectives in accordance with the unprecedented coronavirus developments. Reforming the annual execution plan can constitute a spectrum of diverse business variables such as suspension of funding rounds, forging new partnerships, or discontinuing unfavorable ones.

Embracing the digital

The current environment dictates that SMEs as well as the smaller entities immediately switch to the digital pathways of business engagement and create a strong and veritable online presence. By tapping optimally into the potential of social media, businesses can even generate sales through interactions with peers and customers via online channels of communication. This is the age of digital media marketing and entrepreneurs must harness it now, more than ever. Those organizations that have hitherto operated through offline modes should etch out a transition layout for the imminent digital future without compromising on employee efficiency or data safety. 

The revolution must be live

The fourth industrial revolution is a well-timed boon indeed, a veritable blessing in disguise for businesses around the world. The latest technological disruptions such as the AI, ML, IoT, CRM, Cloud and other innovations must be leveraged by even the SMEs. Businesses should adapt to the fourth revolution of smart automation and invest appropriately to bestow a new-age tech-empowered operational facelift, thus thriving in the digital economy. Tech-empowered businesses have the edge over conventional competitors churning greater ROI and market performance even in the times of a pandemic.

Though the necessary investments for these overarching business augmentation and up-skilling may seem unfeasibly vast, it is an essential cost that must be undertaken considering the future consequences.  Businesses must execute optimum risk-mitigation strategies in the face of the pandemic and should also seek to acclimatize for any future crises.

Takeda India Contributes ₹1.2 Crores to COVID-19 PM Cares Fund

Takeda India, part of the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader, has announced a donation of ₹ 1.2 Crores to the PM Cares Fund to support India's fight against the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19. The contribution to the PM Cares Fund aims to support patients and the Government to contain the spread of the disease. Bringing innovative therapies to patients, supporting them through their disease journeys, and playing its part in helping to strengthen healthcare systems is fundamental to Takeda's operating model, especially in Emerging Markets like India.

Koki Sato, General Manager, Takeda India, commented: "Takeda remains committed to standing together and supporting our communities in India during this unprecedented health crisis. As a company, we have always aimed to operate in-line with our Values - Integrity, Honesty, Perseverance, and Fairness - and will therefore never forget that our principal role in society is to serve patients. Together with key authorities and partners we look to addressing some of the world's most pressing and unmet health challenges, including COVID-19."

Takeda India has worked with credible NGO partners in the past to support patients and strengthen front-line caregivers through training programs, as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) mission.

Globally, Takeda works towards preventing disease, training health workers, strengthening supply chains, and improving access to quality diagnosis and treatment. The company actively partners with world-class organizations and NGOs with proven track records to address global health problems in innovative and enduring ways.

About PM Cares Fund

Keeping in mind the need for having a dedicated national fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected, a public charitable trust under the name of ‘Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund’ (PM CARES Fund)’ has been set up.

About Takeda India

Takeda India is part of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited's group of companies. Locally, the company currently focuses on the areas of Rare Diseases, including Hemophilia and Lysosomal Storage Disorders and plasma-derived therapies. Takeda has a presence across the Indian subcontinent, including in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Diseases, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries.

Five Must-Have Contactless Technologies for Safer Workplaces

As we enter the unlock phase of the lockdown, workplaces will continue tasks with a totally new arrangement of needs. Customary sanitization of regular regions before shifts and staggered break timings while keeping up social distancing are among the standards in an overhauled rundown of working methodology in working environments. 

While organizations need to work again to procure money, they will at present be cautious about keeping up social distancing measures. The significance of innovation is acknowledged in incredible greatness across divisions. Innovative new companies, maybe a couple of ones enduring this pandemic drove monetary slump.

Contactless procedures and safe removing measures are turning into the new typical basics because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, it is basic for ventures to execute preventive measures and remain maintainable as advanced change has developed as the new basic.

Here are 5 contactless technologies creating a safe workplace for you:

1.  Milagrow

Milagrow Humantech has deployed imap9, a floor disinfecting robot that can navigate and sanitize the floors without any human intervention at various places, including hotels, museums, hospitals, offices, etc. The robot moves around autonomously without falling, avoiding obstruction while planning its own path, guided by LIDAR and advanced SLAM technology. Milagrow’s patented Real Time Terrain Recognition Technology (RT2RT) scans at 3600, 6 times per second to make a floor map in real-time with an accuracy of upto 8mm over a 16m distance. This enables the iMap 9 to perform successfully in the first attempt, whereas other robots can take twice or thrice the time. Additionally, the robot can do zoning, virtual blocking of avoidable areas, and sequential cleaning of zones based on specific needs.

 2.  Zesta

Launched for the first time in India by Zestaindia.com , Wall Mounted Automatic Thermometer is exactly the product you need at your workplace. Gone are the times when you see a person standing with a handheld thermometer to check the temperatures. With Zesta’s Wall Mounted Automatic Thermometer, you can just install it at the entrances of your workplace and let everyone scan themselves with zero physical contact. This is most commonly used at the office, shops, hospitals, schools, malls and other public areas. This thermometer is easy to install anywhere and comes with color code alarm, fast and accurate detection. Priced at 10,999, it is available at all leading online platforms like Flipkart and Amazon.

3.  Candor

As the government has allowed various organizations to work with 33% workforce Candor TechSpace, managed by Brookfield Properties has brought in technology-oriented innovations to combat COVID-19 and to maintain a well-sanitized workplace. The employees from Candor TechSpace have come up with innovations like contactless sanitizer dispenser for hand- free sanitization and automatic sanitization apparatus by Mr. Baljit Singh, VP Operations Head of Brookfield Properties that enables sanitization of passenger vehicles, elevators, etc. These innovations are playing a very important role in ensuring hygiene and safety in the workplace.

4. Magneto Clean Tech

In order to fight the ongoing COVID crisis, Magneto Cleantech has launched an enhanced version of Central Air Cleaner which is co-powered by Filterless Magnetic Air Purification (FMAP) and Ultraviolet (UVGI) technology. This high productivity air filtration framework dependent on 'Trap and Kill' process consolidates with hostile to microbial UV-C beams which completely sterilize the indoor air by slaughtering more than 90 percent of airborne infections and diseases. It has become a pressing need given the possible airborne nature of coronavirus and air conditioner space being at a higher hazard for the spread of the infection. Magneto Central Air Cleaner consolidates the top tier innovation to free the demeanor of any hurtful infections and different particles.

5. Asimov Robotics

A startup situated in Kerala has built up a robot that can be utilized to serve food and drug to patients in separation wards.  The improvement comes when the nation is combating an expanding number of instances of individuals contaminated by the Covid-19 infection, a considerable lot of who require disconnection at medical clinics to keep the sickness from spreading.

Asimov Robotics says its KARMIbot can help diminish both the weight on social insurance experts just as the danger of them being presented to the infection.

SABIC Extends Humanitarian Support to Indian Communities and Frontline Workers in the Fight Against COVID-19

SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals has come forward to support people, communities and frontline workers through its CSR efforts across Vadodara, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru. These include monetary donations to central and state Governments, distribution of relief material to people and protective kits to the frontline workers.

The company, as part of the monetary aid, has donated INR 1 Crore towards the Prime Minister’s Care Fund. In addition to this, SABIC is continually extending support to the migrant and daily-wage workers across Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu region. SABIC is providing dry rations to help them navigate through these difficult times and to support 30, 000+ families.

SABIC is also undertaking the effort to support India’s frontline and essential services workers such as police and sanitation workers and more. The company will be doing so by donating protective equipment such as masks, gloves, visors and personal protection kits. 

Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President & Regional Head, SABIC South Asia & ANZ said, “COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis and its sweeping impact continues in India. Our products are being used in producing personal protection wear and medical equipment such as COVID-19 test kits and ventilators, crucial for saving lives. SABIC team’s response in managing production and ensuring logistics during the lockdown, facilitated much of these equipment in India and around the world. We also fully understand our responsibilities towards supporting the communities we operate in. Therefore, through our CSR initiatives we are supporting those who have been affected by the pandemic.”

SABIC also launched an employee donation and corporate matching campaign. Employees across its India locations donated generously towards relief for COVID-19 and effectively doubled the amount collected with the company matched portion.

In close collaboration with its customers, SABIC is also leveraging its expertise by working with them to manufacture critical material that enables domestic production of COVID-19 test kits, gloves, ventilators, goggles, PPEs, sanitizers and high-grade bottles that can store disinfectants for a longer duration.

Caregivers Caught Between COVID and Cancer Patients in India

By Dr. V. Satya Suresh Attili, Head Medical affairs, EON

It’s a double jolt for the cancer patients. While they are coming in terms with the fact that “they have cancer” and accepting- Covid pandemic started gripping them to suffocate.  

The scientific dilemma and Oncology body recommendations 

The initial approach of deprioritised, delayed, and discontinued oncology management is slowly getting better. Thanks to various global bodies, which worked relentlessly to come up with guidelines in short possible time (with more logic and moderate evidence- whatever they can gather), the oncologists today are in much better informed to take therapeutic decisions. The majority consensus is “Official advice is that urgent cancer care can continue, but other treatments should be rationed and adapted”

Social/logistic factors

The “lockdown” too have impacted the logistics of cancer medications and mobility of the patient’s to seek timely treatment. The redeployment of personnel, beds, and equipment to COVID-19 wards in few regions also contributed to the scarcity of the “quality Oncology care” on occasions.

The Oncologist Dilemma

As most of the recommendations as quoted in “The lancet Oncology” are “inconsistent, and not evidence-based—multidisciplinary teams are being put in the unenviable position of making best guesses for each patient.” In my practice at least few dozens of “operable cases have become “inoperable” with inferior disease outcome- It pains. With resource constraints “risk of delayed cancer treatment with disease progression” vs “Contracting COVID due to immunosuppression” is extremely challenging. There is no “best course of action” for any oncologist and these decisions are not easy to make

TESTING FOR COVID-19: What information is available on testing for COVID-19?

The corporates insist on ”test everyone” – and its more of a paranoid reaction- I believe which can potentially waste the limited testing resources and the ones in real need may suffer. While few of the governments say “test only if symptomatic” – which is more into “dismissive behaviour” that leads to undertesting and faster viral spread. Having said that “it is difficult to draw a line” and balance. The only hope is to enhance the “testing capabilities” 

Where does cancer screening stand

Well - I feel its bit easier to answer. If low risk of disease/ conventional screening- its best to wait. If its high risk screening – well you may still wait based on the ”level of risk”. But for sure “there should not be any community camps” that can potentially spread the COVID like wildfire- and the  lives you save by early detection are mathematically lesser compared to the risk of viral spread. 

Are the rules Same 

What are the recommendations for general care of patients with cancer?

ASCO encourages anyone caring for patients with cancer to follow the existing CDC guidance where possible:

General health care facility and health care professional guidance

Clinical care guidance

Home care guidance

High-risk subpopulation guidance- details can be found https://www.asco.org/asco-coronavirus-information/care-individuals-cancer-during-covid-19

IS the same rule true for surgery/chemotherapy/radiation/BMT etc

 Definitely not. There are matured and logical guidelines available from various reputed bodies and the detailed discussion on this is beyond the scope of this article- which can be browsed trhough various links ex- https://www.esmo.org/guidelines/cancer-patient-management-during-the-covid-19-pandemic 

Where does technology help 

Things like wearables for remote health monitoring, telemedicine, POC testing, AI driven screening tools and what not – have surely helped the oncologists in this pandemic and paved the “way to future” 

What about palliative care and home care

Probably these are worst affected. Stress is more disturbing than cancer itself- They are already counting the days and trying to put their best to sustain the quality of life. But the logistics of medications, and nursing care had impacted them as I see in my practice. The impact is worse in rural regions from where two thirds of my patients come from. 

Cancer vs Covid deaths- extract from “The lancer Oncology”

A 5–10% decrease in survival in high-income countries has been predicted, which will account for hundreds of thousands of excess deaths, dwarfing those caused by COVID-19—but we are missing precise data on mortality that can be used to anticipate future cancer care needs.