Skullcandy Introduces Noise Canceling Technology as Part of Premium Headphone Line with Venue

Skullcandy, Inc. the performance and lifestyle audio brand founded at the intersection of innovation and creative culture, announced the expansion of their product line with new headphones-Venue. These innovative headphonesoffers a fully immersive listening experience that allows the user to discover their audio in a whole new way.

“Skullcandy is an iconic audio brand that embodies independence, creativity and appeals to our youthful and adventurous audio consumer,” said Jason Hodell, CEO of Skullcandy. “For 15 years, Skullcandy has thrived at the intersection of music, technology and boardsports by unleashing the visceral power of music for all. With Venue, we’re continuing our vision of delivering incredible immersive audio experiences,”.

Speaking on the launch Amlan Bhattacharjya, founder and CEO of Brandeyes Distributors Pvt. Ltd said, “The Venue brings with it the best in class audio experience with premium acoustics, innovation in voice technology and unrivaled comfort. It also has unique features such as fast charging and the TILE technology to track your headphones. We believe Venue will be a game changer in the active noise cancellation category.

While most noise-canceling products are only seen in the business class section of an airplane, Skullcandy’s newest wireless headphone, Venue, offers a noise-canceling experience designed for everyone — co-workers, roommates and commuters struggling to find their own space in shared working, living and traveling environments. Venue’s active noise canceling (ANC) technology is designed to deliver powerful ANC performance at an affordable price so that Skullcandy’s consumer can tune into what matters most to them: music they can feel. When users do need to tap into the outside world, Monitor Mode easily lets them hear their surroundings with just a push of a button.

In partnership withTile,Venue is embedded with a technology that allows you to track or find your headphones through the Tile application on a mobile device. With up to 24 hours of battery life, Bluetooth® capability and a premium travel case, Venue keeps the music going wherever it’s taken. Venue is also equipped with Rapid Charge technology, providing five hours of battery life with just a 10-minute charge.

Venue is available now for order online in both Black/Black and White/Crimson at Skullcandy.in, Brandeyes.in and in select retailers on October 10th, 2018 priced at Rs. 18,999.

IIM Lucknow Wins Accenture's B-School Challenge 2018

IIM Lucknow scooped up the first prize at the second edition of the annual Accenture B-School Challenge. The winners were announced yesterday. The challenge was aimed at identifying disruptive ideas, and top talent for the digital economy, and was focused on the theme of 'Business Innovation in the NEW.'

More than 5000 students across 1700 teams from 10 premier business schools in India participated in the annual competition. The first prize was awarded to the team from IIM(Indian Institute of Management) Lucknow. 

The first runner up team was from IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Ahmedabad followed by second runner up team from IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Kozhikode. The top three winning team members received a pre-placement Interview opportunity with Accenture, besides other prizes.

The challenge kicked off on August 21, 2018 across campuses, concluded in a grand event in New Delhi where the top 10 teams from each campus presented a case study on disruptive digital strategy for a company centered around Innovation. 

The participating schools included IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bengaluru, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, ISB(Indian School of Business), JBIMS (Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, FMS (Faculty of Management Studies) and XLRI (Xavier School of Management). 

This year, the challenge was divided into four stages: rapid-fire online quiz on business, Accenture, digital and general knowledge related topics; business simulation where students stepped into the role of a CEO to make their company profitable; case study challenge on a disruptive digital strategy for an industry and finally, the grand finale in New Delhi where top teams battled it out on an overnight case study challenge. 

1700 teams participated in the online quiz, of which 15 teams were selected per campus for the second round. Five teams made it to the third round and eventually one team per campus was chosen in the final round. 

In each round, the participating teams demonstrated their innovative ideas to reshape businesses for the digital era in all aspects such as customer experience, internal operations and the business model.
The jury that decided the top three teams included: 
• Sanjay Dawar, Accenture Capability Network India Lead, Products Global Capability Network Lead, Accenture; 
• Rohit Thakur, managing director - Human Resources, Accenture in India; 
• Avnish Sabharwal, managing director - Accenture Ventures in India; 
• Arati Deo, managing director - AI capability for Accenture Technology; 
• Nitin Bawankule, Country Director, India, Google Cloud; 
• Prof Janat Shah, Operations & Supply Chain Management at IIM Udaipur; 
• Anuj Tiwari, CEO of Digital Business for Aakash Institute; 
• Srinivasan Iyengar, COO at Reliance Nippon Life Insurance 
• Rajeev Batra, Group CIO, BCCL.

Digital technologies are changing the world like never before. Accenture helps clients pivot from thinking digital to being digital at the core.  This includes interactive experiences that captivate customers, new intelligence that is applied across every industry, function and process, and the Digital Reinvention of Industry through smart, connected, products, services, plants and workers. 

World Leaders in Impact Investment Converge in New Delhi to Explore The Power of Impact

The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) hosted its 4th annual Impact Summit, bringing together hundreds of impact leaders from more than 50 countries to mobilize the power of impact.

Social and environmental impact are becoming integral parts of decision-making, a shift reflected in the portfolios of leading investors, the decisions of entrepreneurs and businesses, the choices of individual consumers, and the policies of government leaders. The current global impact capital base of $230 billion is growing rapidly, but the world needs an estimated $2.5 trillion annually to attain the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) by 2030. The Summit explored the power -- both realized and unrealized -- of impact to catalyze this shift.

“When it comes to how we invest, there is an exciting shift underway, one that takes the current thinking about financial risk and return and adds a third dimension—impact—that measures positive outcomes for society and the environment. Under this new financial model, social impact matters just as much as a company’s bottom line,” said Sir Ronald Cohen, GSG founder and chair. “This Summit brings together more than 700 impact leaders from 53 countries to accelerate the advance of the Impact Revolution. There has never been a greater need or a better time to shift to this new model than right now.

Addressing the Summit in New Delhi, Ratan Tata, Chair - Tata Trusts said “Impact investment being planned by the Global Steering Group (GSG) in various fields would go a long way in meeting the needs developing countries, including India. The investment is going to meet the needs of the developing countries that need investment in infrastructure, investment in infrastructure, investment in connectivity, education, medical facilities. With these kind of investments, which would be monitored, it will be part of new India which our Prime Minister is trying so hard to establish.”

Nobel Laureate Hon. Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States of America and now a leading environmentalist and statesman, made the case for impact investments to achieve climate and social justice. “The vast flows of capital needed mean that impact finance is a crucial part of the solution,” he said in his remarks to the crowd of several hundred.

This was the first year that the Impact Summit was hosted in Asia, reflecting the growing power of India’s impact market. Impact investing in India has grown to be a billion-dollar-a-year industry, with the potential to grow 20 to 25 percent a year. The sector is now focused on scaling new models of impact which will call for unlocking additional sources of capital. The Summit marked the launch of two wholesale funds to further the growth of impact capital in India: India Impact Fund of Funds (IIFF) and the India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF).

The IEOF is a first-of-its-kind USD $1 billion fund that will use funding at scale from DFIs, foundations, and other institutions to align with the government’s agenda of providing quality education with better learning outcomes. The IIFF will be a USD $1 billion pool of equity and debt funds to finance Impact enterprises focused on social and environmental impact. The IIFF will align itself with India’s own social and environmental goals and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“One of the biggest gaps in the impact investment ecosystem was that bulk of this existing investment coming into India is all equity. There is very little debt. We thought that to truly galvanize India impact investing ecosystem, we need to make sure there is a long-term affordable debt in all stages, from venture debt, to growth debt, that can further catalyze the economy,” said Amit Bhatia, GSG CEO.

By 2020, GSG aims to grow investment capital from USD 150 billion to USD 300 billion and the number of people benefitting from this will grow from 500 million to 1 billion.

Next year’s Impact Summit will be in Santiago, Chile on 7-9 November 2019. The 2020 Impact Summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Venture Capital Market Saw Investments of Over $2b in Q3: KPMG

India’s venture capital market saw large sequential growth during the third quarter of 2018 with over $2 billion being invested, according to a report by KPMG.

“More than doubling the tally observed in Q2, the Indian venture ecosystem saw well over USD 2 billion invested last quarter, even as aggregate volume remains subdued,” KPMG said in its Venture Pulse Q3 2018 report.

It added that hotel booking company Oyo Rooms alone accounted for $1 billion of this. The funding round -- led by SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) through SoftBank Vision Fund -- had positioned it as India’s second most valuable technology start-up after Paytm. Oyo has now leapt well into unicorn status with a $5 billion valuation.

Even though OYO’s fund raise comprised a large share of that, it suggests that India’s ongoing focus on consumer-oriented enterprises is still going strong, the report said.

India also saw several USD 100 million-plus mega deals this quarter, including $225 million by Udaan, $120 million by CureFit and $100 million by BookMyShow, it added.

Besides, online marketplaces continued to gain a lot of traction during the quarter under review, with second-hand car company Cars24 raising $50 million. The top 10 financing rounds in the third quarter in the Asia Pacific region were Singapore’s ridesharing platform Grab that raised $2 billion, followed by Bitmain from Beijing and Oyo Rooms, with each raising $1 billion each.

Love the Eat.fit Menu? Grab a Healthy Bite at Eat.fit’s First Swanky Outlet in Bengaluru

Love the Eat.fit Menu? Grab a Healthy Bite at Eat.fit’s First Swanky Outlet in Bengaluru

Fans of Eat.fit, health startup Cure.fit’s healthy food delivery vertical are in for a delicious treat – the company just launched its maiden outlet in the city , located in the heart of Bengaluru at Church Street. 

All dishes, made with in-house masalas are plated fresh at the time of order. Customers can also choose their own ingredients to make a meal they fancy. In line with Eat.fit’s core principles of ‘100% good, 0% bad’, the menu hosts an eclectic blend of cuisines that are free of preservatives, trans fats and other dietary faux pas. 

Keeping in mind the time constraint of the jet-setting urbanite, the outlet also features an express counter where customers can take their pick from healthy juices, subs and stuffed rotis, on the go. 

The outlet is Eat.fit’s first entry in the brick and mortar segment. Initially designed as a subscription-based food delivery model, Eat.fit then quickly garnered a growing customer base with popular food ordering apps. Today, more than 50,000 customers every month enjoy fresh, wholesome meals that embody the perfect combination of being power-packed with nutrition and delectably appealing in taste.  

Commenting on the launch of the new Eat.fit outlet, Ankit Nagori, co-founder, Cure.fit, said, “We are excited to launch a new format for Eat.fit, which has witnessed phenomenal response over the past year. Eat.fit stands out from the rest, as it is a crucial part of the larger movement toward holistic healthcare that we are driving at Cure.fit. While the food delivery model has worked very well for us, we wanted to launch an outlet to bring in more customers who can experience the delight of enjoying a meal guilt-free, and that can encourage them further in their fitness journey”.

SPARSH Hospital, Yeshwanthpur Hosts a Breast Cancer Support Group Meeting in Bengaluru

SPARSH Hospital recently hosted a breast cancer support group meeting in the honour of breast cancer awareness month. The insightful event saw the presence of a handful of breast cancer survivors who shared their experiences of battling this potentially deadly disease. The session also shed light on the importance of spreading awareness, going for annual checkups, and making lifestyle changes in preventing breast cancer.

“Cancer is a disease that doesn't discriminate between gender, with both men and women falling victim to it. When it comes to women, breast cancer is the most common cancer and is the leading cause of deaths due to cancer. The figures are not so alarming for men, but they can get affected by breast cancer as well,” said Dr Jayanthi S Thumsi, oncologist and a breast cancer surgeon at SPARSH Hospital, Yeshwanthpur.

“Simple techniques like breast self-examination once in a month by women aged over 30 years and Mammogram once in a year by women 40 years and above can help in early detection. If breast cancer is detected early, the treatment becomes simpler and more importantly, complete cure is possible,” she added further.

Women over 30 have more risk of developing breast cancer; hence breast self-examination is an effective way to detect lumps or abnormalities. Ideally, the self-examination should be done 7 days after the menstrual cycle.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer affecting women from all walks of life. While it can be cured if diagnosed early, several lives are lost every year due to this. Besides from the lack of awareness of signs of breast cancer, non-availability of proper screening methods and unwillingness to talk about it are also major reasons behind low survival rate. SPARSH Hospital is also offering free breast cancer screening for women, as part of breast cancer awareness month’s observance. Post the first level of screening, if required, even the Mammogram will be provided for free of cost.

At SPARSH we stand for achieving Clinical Excellence with Social Relevance. Making a difference and having a larger impact on our Society at large is very fundamental to us. We want to make quality healthcare accessible to the poorer and we see this as our responsibility. We at SPARSH know we have a lot to feel proud of. In a short span of 12 years, we have achieved a tremendous amount. Today, we are successfully delivering our excellence as Super-Specialty Hospital in Yeshwanthpur (Launched in May 2015). SPARSH has grown to 1000+ employees with expertise across various specialities and delivering excellent care to people from all walks of life.SPARSH Hospital hosts a breast cancer support group meeting

SPARSH Hospital recently hosted a breast cancer support group meeting in the honour of breast cancer awareness month. The insightful event saw the presence of a handful of breast cancer survivors who shared their experiences of battling this potentially deadly disease. The session also shed light on the importance of spreading awareness, going for annual checkups, and making lifestyle changes in preventing breast cancer.

“Cancer is a disease that doesn’t discriminate between gender, with both men and women falling victim to it. When it comes to women, breast cancer is the most common cancer and is the leading cause of deaths due to cancer. The figures are not so alarming for men, but they can get affected by breast cancer as well,” said Dr Jayanthi S Thumsi, oncologist and a breast cancer surgeon at SPARSH Hospital, Yeshwanthpur.

“Simple techniques like breast self-examination once in a month by women aged over 30 years and Mammogram once in a year by women 40 years and above can help in early detection. If breast cancer is detected early, the treatment becomes simpler and more importantly, complete cure is possible,” she added further.

Women over 30 have more risk of developing breast cancer; hence breast self-examination is an effective way to detect lumps or abnormalities. Ideally, the self-examination should be done 7 days after the menstrual cycle.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer affecting women from all walks of life. While it can be cured if diagnosed early, several lives are lost every year due to this. Besides from the lack of awareness of signs of breast cancer, non-availability of proper screening methods and unwillingness to talk about it are also major reasons behind low survival rate. SPARSH Hospital is also offering free breast cancer screening for women, as part of breast cancer awareness month’s observance. Post the first level of screening, if required, even the Mammogram will be provided for free of cost. 

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Launches a First of its Kind Interactive Test Drive Application Across Dealers

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has announced the launch of a Test Drive Application to standardize the Test Drive Process across Toyota dealerships in India. This is the first of its kind initiative in the industry which explains the key product features while the customers go for their test drive, enhancing their overall driving experience.

Toyota, being a front runner in innovation and technology and in a bid to provide their customers with newer and better experiences has launched this application to build Product Conviction with effective Test Drive Experience. The unique aspect of this application is that it is multi-lingual, thus explaining the features in multiple languages [currently, Hindi & English]. This Application is connected to the vehicle through an OBD (On Board Diagnostic Device) to make it interactive with the vehicle driving pattern. Thus the features are automatically triggered based on the driving response.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch, N. Raja, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd said, “We at Toyota continuously strive to understand evolving customer needs, to offer newer and better driving experience beyond traditional vehicle transport.  Keeping in mind changing customer lifestyle, we have introduced this application to further streamline the test drive experience at dealerships and strengthen the customer connection to the brand – converting one-time product sales into long-term service-oriented relationship. With booming digitization, we entered this space through Paperless Customer Information Capturing in the Pre-Sales Area and Toyota Connect in the Post Sales Area.  We are expanding our horizon introducing the First in Industry Unique Digitalized Test Drive Application aiming to standardize the product explanation during the Test drive and make the experience more exciting. The interactive feature lends a ‘human touch’ to this application, thus making it unique.

The initial feedback from customers in the pilot phase has been very encouraging for us.  Test Drive is a critical part of making an informed purchase decision. We believe this informative experience during the test drive will increase the awareness about functions and features of the car and transform the vehicle sales experience.” He added.

This application is an iOS based state-of-the-art technology, designed for iPad Devices. The application is installed in iPad and configured with OBD i.e. “On-Board Diagnostics” device which is fitted to the car and paired with the Car’s Audio System.

Once the engine is started, the iPad Application senses engine performance parameter triggered by the OBD device and based on the customer driving response, respective performance and features will trigger and initiate explanation of the characteristics from the ipad application. The voiceover explanation of the car highlights through the car’s audio system ensures customer Test Drive experience is unique, uniform and universal.