Ed-Tech Start-Up Lido Learning Announces Series A $3 Million Funding

Mumbai based Ed-tech startup Lido learning has raised $3million as part of a Series A funding round led by prominent investors like Ronnie Screwvala (Chairman Upgrad), Ananth Narayanan (CEO Medlife), Vikrampati Singhania (MD JK Tyres), Anupam Mittal (CEO Shaadi.com), Arihant Patni (MD Patni Wealth Advisors), amongst others.

Founded in April 2019 by second time ed-tech entrepreneur Sahil Sheth, Lido Learning is revolutionizing traditional tutorials through immersive live small-group online tuitions. Lido caters to students from Class 5-9; offering yearlong coaching classes in Math and Science through an integrated online platform that combines unique interactive content with the best tutors from across the country.

“Ed-Tech is presently under invested but is a massive opportunity in India. Online tutoring is very nascent and Lido has a clear opportunity for market leadership with the strong product and tech it has developed. They are onto something very big here “, said Ronnie Screwvala. 

According to a Google-KPMG report, the online tutoring market is expected to grow dramatically in the next two years, to around 10 Million users by 2021. This is still only a tiny sliver of the Indian market that has over 250 million students currently enrolled in schools so that the potential for future growth is tremendous.  Lido’s ultimate goal is to provide a personalized learning experience to every student - 250 million unique classrooms for 250 million unique students.

Within 3 months of operations, Lido has gained incredible traction and is expanding rapidly across the country.

Lido’s key value proposition is in its dynamic learning environment - interactive classroom, excellent teachers and supportive academic advisors. At the centre of this is the state-of-the-art online classroom with animated visual content, immersive games and quizzes with real-time results. Every class has a maximum student to teacher ratio of 6:1 to ensure that each student receives enough coaching, feedback and doubt clearance. Lido aims to build an entire learning ecosystem around students so to push them to their furthest achievement levels with academic advisors assigned to every student to mentor and coach them. Within a few weeks of learning on Lido, students are performing 20% better on classroom tests and are feeling more prepared and confident to participate in class.

Given its futuristic platform, engaging content and highly skilled teachers and mentors, Lido is expected to disrupt the existing K-12 ed-tech industry through a massive improvement in quality while being affordable to the average student.

A 51 Year Old with Recurrent Brain Stroke Given a New Lease of Life at Manipal Hospitals

Manipal Hospitals, Bangalore stacked up yet another medical marvel and gave a new lease of life to Mrs. Jayanti Singh a 51-year-old school teacher who was suffering from recurrent brain stroke. The neurology team  who worked relentlessly to give her a second life and helped her go back to her nobel profession are Dr. Manjunath – Consultant Neurologist, Dr. Paritosh Pandey – Consultant Neurosurgeon and Dr. Ullas V Acharya – Consultant Interventional Radiologist.

Initially Mrs. Jayanthi was presented to the Manipal medical emergency department with history of acute onset right hand weakness, slurring of speech and deviation of face to the left since 4.5 hours. On arrival, she was evaluated by emergency department physicians and found to be drowsy but arousable with high blood pressure recordings of 180/70 mmHg. The power in the right hand was 3/5 with right-sided UMN facial palsy.

Speaking about the case, Dr. Manjunath, Consultant Neurologist at Manipal Hospitals Bangalore said, “Stroke alert was raised and we immediately took control of the situation. Imaging revealed small areas of strokes in the brain with occlusion of a large artery supplying the brain named left internal carotid artery. She was taken up for emergency mechanical thrombectomy where special equipments like stents and aspiration catheters were employed to remove the clot and establish reperfusion. This treatment was done through a small nick in the right leg through which catheter tubes were taken across the arterial system to the ones supplying the brain. Jayanthi was then put on anticoagulant therapy followed by antiplatelet and lipid-lowering agents in order to prevent stroke. She then underwent intense rehabilitation program and on discharge had regained most of her hand power to near normal with improved speech. “

Unfortunately, Jayanti yet came again to the Hospital on November 2nd with similar symptoms. The stroke had relapsed in this case and there was slurring of speech and facial drooping towards the left side, without any limb weakness.  Jayanti was in the hospital within the golden hour as she and her family were quite aware of the stroke symptoms due to similar experience in the past.

Speaking after the success of the case, Dr. Paritosh Pandey , Consultant Neurosurgeon  at Manipal Hospitals Bangalore said, “ Jayanthi was in the hospital for the second time. Imaging confirmed left  internal carotid artery occlusion with very small developing infarcts. She was immediately taken up for mechanical thrombectomy, successfully recanalised using similar techniques as in the past and showed immediate post procedure recovery. The timely act of recognizing early symptoms of stroke by the patient relatives and reporting to a nearby comprehensive stroke centre is commendable helping the patient recover without any neurological deficits. We at Manipal Hospitals have 24 x 7 stroke services rendered by an able active stroke team who strive to reduce burden of this emerging non-communicable disease, “ stroke”, otherwise simply called as Brain attack. “

Thanking the stroke team at Manipal Hospitals, Mrs. Jayanti Singh said, “Today I am  proud to go back to my  Noble profession and I have completely regained my speech and motor power. My heart felt gratitude to the stroke team at Manipal Hospitals who constantly supported me and give me a fresh lease of life not once but twice. Infact I am also suffering from Mitral stenosis that is a heart ailment and therefore my case was even more challenging for doctors. Today I feel healthy and the quality of my life has improved immensely. “

Around 1.54 million Indians are affected by strokes every year and the worse is 90 per cent of stroke patients failed to reach hospital on time. The lifetime risk of stroke after the age of 55 is 1 in 5 for women and 1 in 6 for men.

Hybrid Cloud Future Bright As 73 Percent of Enterprises Moving Apps Back on Prem

Nutanix, Inc., a leader in enterprise cloud computing, today announced the findings of its second global Enterprise Cloud Index survey and research report, which measures enterprise progress with adopting private, hybrid and public clouds. The new report found enterprises plan to aggressively shift investment to hybrid cloud architectures, with respondents reporting steady and substantial hybrid deployment plans over the next five years. The vast majority of 2019 survey respondents (85%) selected hybrid cloud as their ideal IT operating model.

For the second consecutive year, Vanson Bourne conducted research on behalf of Nutanix to learn about the state of global enterprise cloud deployments and adoption plans. The researcher surveyed 2,650 IT decision-makers in 24 countries around the world about where they’re running their business applications today, where they plan to run them in the future, what their cloud challenges are, and how their cloud initiatives stack up against other IT projects and priorities. The 2019 respondent base spanned multiple industries, business sizes, and the following geographies: the Americas; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and the Asia-Pacific (APJ) region.

This year’s report illustrated that creating and executing a cloud strategy has become a multidimensional challenge. At one time, a primary value proposition associated with the public cloud was substantial upfront capex savings. Now, enterprises have discovered that there are other considerations when selecting the best cloud for the business as well, and that one size cloud strategy doesn’t fit all use cases. For example, while applications with unpredictable usage may be best suited to the public clouds offering elastic IT resources, workloads with more predictable characteristics can often run on-premises at a lower cost than public cloud. Savings are also dependent on businesses’ ability to match each application to the appropriate cloud service and pricing tier, and to remain diligent about regularly reviewing service plans and fees, which change frequently.

In this ever-changing environment, flexibility is essential, and a hybrid cloud provides this choice. Other key findings from the report include:

Apps are migrating away from the public cloud back to on-premises infrastructures. Nearly three-fourths (73%) of respondents reported that they are moving some applications off the public cloud and back on prem, and 22% of those users are moving five or more applications. These moves underscore, in part, enterprises’ need for hybrid cloud’s flexibility in allowing them to adapt their infrastructures based on their fluctuating requirements. App mobility is critical, and more than nine in ten (95%) respondents reported that it is essential or desirable to be able to easily move applications between cloud environments.

Security remains the biggest factor impacting enterprises’ future cloud strategies. Well over half of 2019 respondents (60%) said that the state of security among clouds would have the biggest influence on their cloud deployment plans going forward. Similarly, data security and compliance represented the top variable (26%) in determining where an enterprise runs a given workload.

IT professionals deem the hybrid cloud the most secure of all the IT operating models. More than a quarter of respondents (28%) picked the hybrid model as the most secure — substantially surpassing those who chose a fully private cloud/on-prem model (21%) and more than twice as many as those who chose traditional (non-cloud-enabled) private data centers (13%). One reason for this is perhaps because enterprises can select the right cloud for their security requirements.

Nearly a quarter (23.5%) of respondents currently aren’t leveraging any cloud technology today. Many companies still fall behind when it comes to enterprise cloud adoption. However, respondents’ reported plans indicate that in one year’s time, the number of enterprises with no cloud deployments will plummet to 6.5% and in two years’ time will drop by more than half to 3%. Regionally, the Americas reported a slightly lower incidence of non-cloud use (21%) compared to EMEA (25%) and APJ (24%).

Enterprises are striving to integrate cloud computing with their digital transformation goals. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of 2019 respondents said digital transformation was driving their cloud implementations, and 64% said that digital transformation was the top business priority in their organizations.

“As organizations continue to grapple with complex digital transformation initiatives, flexibility and security are critical components to enable seamless and reliable cloud adoption,” said Wendy M. Pfeiffer, CIO of Nutanix. “The enterprise has progressed in its understanding and adoption of hybrid cloud, but there is still work to do when it comes to reaping all of its benefits. In the next few years, we’ll see businesses rethinking how to best utilize hybrid cloud, including hiring for hybrid computing skills and reskilling IT teams to keep up with emerging technologies.”

“Cloud computing has become an integral part of business strategy, but it has introduced several challenges along with it," said Ashish Nadkarni, group vice president of infrastructure systems, platforms and technologies at IDC. "These include security and application performance concerns and high cost. As the 2019 Enterprise Cloud Index report demonstrates, hybrid cloud will continue to be the best option for enterprises, enabling them to securely meet modernization and agility requirements for workloads.”

Fujifilm Launches the ‘Never Stop’ Brand Campaign Across India

Highlights

* Fujifilm’s new digital film highlights the brand’s commitment to achievement and growth
* Titled as ‘Never Stop’ captures the essence of offering innovation and a holistic expertise to its customers across sectors
* Focuses on ‘Never Stop’ believing, innovating, changing and challenging

Fujifilm India Private Limited, a pioneer in imaging technologies, today announced the launch of its latest brand campaign for its globally proclaimed “NEVER STOP” in India. The digital film focuses on communicating the company’s diverse array of business operations as well as its corporate mindset committed to take on new challenges with best-in-class technologies in different sectors.

The new film titled, ‘Never Stop’ highlights Fujifilm’s long-standing relationship with the Indian consumers and the brand’s constant focus towards revealing new technologies while cementing its position as a market disruptor. It illustrates how the company is commitment to continuously evolve its technology and build expertise in areas like healthcare, high-functioning materials, and imaging solutions.

With Never Stop, Fujifilm aims to unveil the elevated brand identity and highlight the essence of reinvention through the lives of a regular Indian Family. The film tends to find common ground with an Indian household as they visit a hospital during a health issue and emotionally builds connect with how one should never stop believing, innovating, changing and challenging.

Storyboard: The new digital film is a reflection of how the brand mirrors its values and convictions through the concept of Never Stop. It revolves around an endearing old Indian couple visiting the hospital for wife’s health check-up. The story unfolds by highlighting how the granddaughter tries to cheer her grandmother by capturing the moment with instax and further spreads a smile on her grandfather by showing him the instant film of his happy wife. As the Lady is taken for various checkups, the video highlights Fujifilm’s Advanced Diagnostic Imaging System that comes with top-notch technologies. The film beautifully captures the raw emotions of the family as the doctor examines the reports of the patient and delivers the happy news of a normal report. The film ends with a content family returning home where the grandson captures the happy moment in his Fujifilm digital camera.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Haruto Iwata, Managing Director, Fujifilm India Pvt Ltd. Said, “With our “NEVER STOP” brand campaign, we are thrilled to showcase our unwavering commitment of introducing innovative products and services to the Indian market across sectors. We believe that business corporation must be an entity that contributes to resolving social issues through its business activities, and by developing and supplying its own technologies, products and services. The digital film has been designed in line with our belief and showcases our transition from a company focused on photographic film to a company providing new value across a wide range of different fields and contributing to the resolution of various societal issue.”

Sanjib Dey of Hammer Communications adds, “In line with Fujifilm’s global “NEVER STOP” campaign, we wanted to shed light on the Brand’s: “IMAGING expertise, unwavering INNOVATION drive and an INSPIRATIONAL urge to solve social challenges” in India, that makes it different in this highly competitive landscape. Given the interesting concept of ‘Never Stop’, we thought of creating a film that builds a strong emotional connect with the audience and resonates with the brand. The film captures Fujifilm’s legacy and commitment of introducing innovative products and services and further highlights its belief that one should never stop believing, hoping, living, etc.”

The film, conceptualized and created in collaboration with Hammer Communications will premiere on 11th, November 2019 across all digital platforms and leading OTT boards like Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. Along with this, the brand would also be promoting the ‘Never Stop’ campaign through print and digital mediums across India. Additionally the brand is heavily advertising on popular news portals, metro stations, airports and hospitals displaying its medical applications.

Following its reinvention, Fujifilm Holdings is not only active in the field of photography but also a range of other fields. They include the health care business, which incorporates medical devices, pharmaceuticals, regenerative medicine, cosmetics and, other products. Along with highly functional material businesses, which produces various display materials. In addition, Fujifilm has a document business, which provides a range of solutions and services linking with multifunction devices and printers.

Women Showcase Prowess in New-Age Technologies at TechGig Geek Goddess 2019

Highlights

* Tanneeru Leela beat 73,388 women technologists to take home the title crown
* All the 73,300 + code submissions underwent strict scrutiny and only 375 women technologists were invited for the finale hackathon
* Niche technologies as Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation, Cloud were the core theme of hackathons
* Winners took home prizes worth Rs 7,50,000 collectively
* Finale day celebrations concluded with a job fair for IT professionals where half a dozen companies hired women technologists for their firms 

It was a ‘David versus Goliath’ scenario at TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 finale when Tanneeru Leela took on more than 73,387 women technologists to win this year’s title crown. She braved 375 women technologists at the four-hour-long, offline final code competition to clinch the crown.

TechGig Geek Goddess is the annual, women-only coding competition from TechGig that brings together women programmers from all the walks of life to showcase their technology skills and claim their glory. In its fifth edition, TechGig Geek Goddess recorded the highest ever participation at 73,388+.

The 2019 edition was announced on August 19 and was closed for submissions on October 21. All the code submissions were checked on various parameters, including innovation, quality, the ease of application among others. After the rigorous check, only 375 women technologists were invited for the finale day hackathon on November 8, 2019, at the Four Seasons hotel in Bengaluru.

The event was graced by some of the most notable names of India’s IT industry. The event began with an inaugural address by Ruchika Panesar, Vice President Global Services Group Technology and Head of Technology - India, American Express. Dr Neeta Verma, Director General, NIC delivered a special address at the event. A series of panel discussions ensued in the evening ceremony where technology and diversity leaders from Goldman Sachs, Automation Anywhere, Wipro, Oracle, Cisco, Capgemini, TomTom, Xoriant, Cognizant, Capgemini, American Express and RBS participated. 

This year’s competition was intense with the introduction of cutting edge technologies as hackathon themes. They are being: Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Cloudify everything, Solution hunters’ hackathon, among others.

“We saw enthusiastic participation for niche themes as RPA, AI/ML with the registrations in the range of 4,000-6,000. This is proof that women technologists are raring to work and shine in the new-age technology streams. Owing to a tough selection process and high cut-off marks in the prelim and semi-final rounds, out of 73,388 registrations, only 375 women technologists made it to the final round. With only 0.51% of participants making it to the finale, I feel that all the finalists were best of the best coding minds in India. To win over this genius talent pool is a true feat and I congratulate all winners for their indomitable spirit,” said Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig

Adding to that Ram Awasthi, VP – Technology, Times Internet mentioned, “This is the first time that I am a part of the TechGig Geek Goddess finale event. The energy here is infectious and I was amazed to see such young girls coding enthusiastically using the new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Cloud and others.” 

TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 edition finale day was marked by a live hackathon in the morning, followed by a Women Disruptors’ Conference in the evening, followed by a glitzy awards ceremony. Like last year, this year too TechGig Geek Goddess is presented by American Express, a globally integrated payments company. Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank and active investor in India, is the contest’s platinum partner this year.

Ruchika Panesar, Vice President Global Services Group Technology and Head of Technology - India, American Express heartily congratulated all the hackathon participants. “This outstanding accomplishment is the latest chapter in an inspiring story about women achieving great things in technology. At American Express, we strive to be a place where women want to work and build careers. It’s fantastic to see so many women technologists compete in this unique event, and we’re excited to see what all of you go on to achieve in the world. Congratulations to TechGig Geek Goddess for creating this great platform to nurture talented women in technology,” she said.

Overall, nine winners were felicitated at the ceremony. Collectively, all winners took home prizes worth Rs 7,50,000.

TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 concluded with an exclusive job fair for participants on November 9, 2019, where participating companies hired candidates for their companies. A complete list of winners at TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 is as follows:

Theme winners -
Automation Anywhere Hackathon:
Winners - Sarika Patil, MrunalKotkar
Runners up - KatheejaBeevi, SornamThiyagarajan

AI/ML Hackathon by American Express:
Winners - Laisha Wadhwa
Runners up - JayathilagaRamajayam

Cloudify Everything Hackathon by Hexaware Technologies:
Winners - Arti Kumari&Navya Singh
Runners up - NandanaKudeti

Solution Hunters’ Hackathon by JetBrains:
Winners -  Nithya Vasudevan
Runners up - Rajhrita Dutta

Coding winners –

TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 Champion: Tanneeru Leela
First runners up – Urvashi Rai
Second runners up – Snehlata Mishra
Third runners up – Anviti Srivastava
Fourth runners up – MridulChirania

Russian Mi-38 Launched in the International Market During the Dubai Airshow 2019

During the Dubai Airshow 2019, the Russian Helicopters Holding Company (part of Rostec State Corporation) will make the first foreign presentation of its newest Mi-38 civilian helicopter. The rotorcraft featuring a luxury cabin will be showcased at the static exposition, and will also take part in the flight program.

The civilian version of the first serial Mi-38 helicopter was introduced last August at MAKS-2019 Moscow air show, where it was demonstrated to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cutting-edge technical solutions in the field of safety and comfort were used in the development of the helicopter interior. The engines of Mi-38 are located behind the main rotor transmission, instead of their traditional forward placement, which ensures the reduction in aerodynamic resistance and noise level in the cockpit, as well as increased the rotorcraft safety. In addition to its excellent flight performance, the competitive advantage of Mi-38 is its cost, which is lower than that of its foreign same-class peers.
The flight range of the transport version of the new Mi-38 helicopter is up to 1,000 kilometers (with additional fuel tanks). With its maximum takeoff weight of 15.6 tonnes, the helicopter can carry 5 tons of payload on board or on an external sling.

Another novelty of the Dubai Airshow will be the light Ansat helicopter, which, following its European debut in Le Bourget, will be introduced to the Middle East. The corporate version of the rotorcraft will also take part in the flight program of the show. In this configuration, the helicopter can comfortably transport up to 5 passengers.
“Research and development effort, as well as experimental designing activity within the Mi-38 project was financed by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. The helicopter was originally designed to meet the toughest existing and potential standards of safety, environmental friendliness, land noise. The closest attention was paid to meeting the customers' needs in terms of flight performance, operational and economic parameters. Our engineers have performed a range of activities aimed at further expanding the operational capabilities and ensuring maximum versatility of the helicopter use. The improvements aimed at ensuring reliable and comfortable operation of the new rotorcraft in the conditions of hot climate and desert terrain should be of particular interest to operators in the Middle East,” noted the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov.

"It is the first time in Russia's newest history that our civilian helicopters will be presented at a Middle East air show. The format and content of the participation of Russian Helicopters Holding Company in the Dubai Airshow demonstrate the new approaches of Rostec State Corporation to promoting Russian high-tech civilian products on foreign markets, which involves the support from the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Russian Export Center, and leasing companies. We are confident that, in terms of its price and quality, Russian-made helicopters can be quite competitive in the world market and we expect that their demonstration will result in more actual contracts," said Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov.
"Dubai Airshow will be the first foreign site for us to demonstrate our latest Mi-38, so we say that we are making the world premiere of this rotorcraft, as well as the debut of Ansat in the Middle East. The UAE sees the rapid development of its urban mobility sector, therefore, in addition to flight models, at our booth, we will present the VRT300 UAV, and a model of a light single-engine VRT500 helicopter will be showcased at our joint exposition with Tawazun, an Emirati Holding Company. It is no secret that UAE investors are interested in joining the project, and we expect to take the first actual steps in this area during the exhibition', said Director General of Russian Helicopters holding company Andrey Boginsky.

Mi-38 can be operated in a wide range of climatic conditions including maritime, tropical and cold climates. The use of unparalleled technical solutions makes Mi-38 superior to other similar-class helicopters in terms of load capacity, seating capacity and main performance characteristics.

Light multi-purpose Ansat helicopter is equipped with two engines and can be used for passenger transportation, cargo delivery, environmental monitoring and as an ambulance aircraft. Ansat has successfully passed high-altitude tests, which proved that it is suitable for use in mountainous terrain at up to 3,500 meters of altitude, as well as climatic tests, which confirmed its operability in a temperature range between -45° and +50° С.

Light VRT500 helicopter and VRT300 UAV were developed by VR-Technologies Design Bureau and feature coaxial rotors, which ensure their high side wind resistance and small dimensions making them suitable for use in the restrained urban conditions.

VRT500 features the largest passenger/cargo cabin in its class, with a total seating capacity of up to 5 people. The flight and technical parameters of the helicopter will allow it to speed up to 250 km/h, have a flight range of up to 860 km and carry on board up to 730 kg of payload.

Elior India Unveils El Chef - A First-of-its-Kind Digital Initiative for Corporate Employees in India

Elior India, India's largest pure play food services company, has announces the launch of El Chef - a new to industry, pioneering digital initiative for food at the workplace. The El Chef platform allows employees to create their favourite menus, monitor order updates & history, check out weekly menus and plan meals based on their specific needs.

Information about allergens, the total calorie value of the meal, and e-invoices are also readily available on the El Chef platform. In addition to this, all modern payments gateways like online wallets, credit/debit card, UPI etc are enabled on this interface to allow users a seamless transaction experience without any promotional interventions.

At the launch, Philippe Guillemot, CEO, Elior Group said, “Innovation is an essential component of Elior Group's corporate mission. It is a part of what we are and what we want to become: a responsible player in the everyday lives of the people we serve. The Group's passion for innovation covers not only food and services but also technology. With a unique application like El Chef, Elior India is set to make a lasting impression in the food services industry. The Group is proud to have El Chef as a part of its repertoire and excited to be here with Elior India on this momentous occasion.”

“Many working professionals tend to skip their meals or simply have no time for it. An in-house food ordering app like El Chef can help during challenges like stringent deadlines, extended meetings, and other such issues faced by employees in the corporate sector. El Chef is a first-of-its-kind digital initiative by a food services company that will not only act as an extensive menu planning and ordering platform, but will also help us track consumer’s consumption preferences, understand food trends amongst employees better, offer healthy options according to taste, and help us serve our customers better. With El Chef, we will also be able to reduce food wastage more effectively as part of our sustainability goals within India," said Sanjay Kumar, CEO & MD, Elior India.

Elior entered India in 2017 through two simultaneous acquisitions – Megabite and CRCL with the aim to provide and transform the food experience of employees at the workplace. Three years later, we feel proud that our vision has been embraced widely and more and more companies that value employee well-being choose us as their preferred food services partner.

Elior India remains bullish on the Indian market and will continue to invest in it as and when the right opportunities come up. The mix will include investments in technology platforms, core assets, infrastructure and of course bolt-on acquisitions to complement the existing portfolio. After having recently invested in setting up production facilities in Delhi, Elior India now serves more than 200,000 meals per day with over 4500 employees utilizing state-of-the-art technologies in the day-to-day operations with best in class safety standards.