Edtech Superapp Ken42’s StartNXT Ideathon Records Over 13,000 Registrations Since Launch

Within less than a month of launch of its StartNXT Ideathon programme, Edtech Superapp Ken42 has recorded over 13,000 registrations from students of leading universities across the country. The company announced the launch for the startup acceleration programme in the beginning of July itself, inviting students to submit their innovative ideas and has received an overwhelming response for the same. The Ideathon will be conducted in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with support from multiple corporate giants.

Over 30 universities have participated across the country with leading names including IIT Kanpur, Indian School of Business (ISB), IIT Delhi, St. Xaviers Kolkata, Vellore Institute of technology, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology Delhi, IIMT College of Engineering, BITS Pilani, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIT Varanasi, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Birla Institute of Technology Mesra Ranchi, IIT Jammu. 

The entries also include international institutions like RMIT University Melbourne and James Cook University Singapore International Campus. 

Talking about the programme, Ganesh Raju, Founder & CEO, Ken42 said “We are delighted to receive such an overwhelming response from leading institutions across different cities in India. The core purpose for kickstarting this 6-month acceleration programme was to provide a solid impetus to generate a new wave of future-ready leaders. However, we are hoping to double the amount of entries received so far by the end of the registration period, with more students to share their ground-breaking ideas.”  

The purpose of the StartNXT Ideathon is to facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship in India. After idea submission, refinement, solution generation and evaluation, pitching and assessments, the most impactful ideas will be recognised with cash prizes and assistance in building a company.

Ken42 is awarding the Top 3 winners with funding up to INR 2 crores each, and INR 10 lakh each to the runners-up as well, along with internship opportunities with leading startups and firms. Students will also have access to one-on-one mentor sessions with noteworthy Turbostart advisories where they will receive guidance from industry experts.

Registrations for the StartNXT Ideathon close on 31st August- Sign up here to submit your revolutionary ideas and kickstart your entrepreneurial journey!

About Ken42:  

Ken42 is a complete education ecosystem that revolutionizes how administrators manage their institutions, faculty imparts learning, and how students gain academic and real-world knowledge and skills. Designed to support students at every stage of their crucial learning years, from Class 6 through 12 in its offering for schools, and from standard 12 through higher education and placements, Ken42 is strongly differentiated from other learning management platforms.

Conceptualized by serial entrepreneur Ganesh Raju in October 2019, Ken42 also enables online classroom and exams, certificate courses from universities around the world, and opportunities for personal growth in the form of interview preparation, public speaking and professional skills.   

Backed by Turbostart, a bi-yearly programme for early-stage startups that aspire to be part of a unified and encouraging startup ecosystem, Ken42 occupies a unique position as mentors to the startup ecosystem with a focus on ed-tech. It boasts a series of strategic alliances as well as long-standing relationships with premier educational institutions and governmental organizations, enabling it to create a solution that is not just cutting edge with unmatched user experience but closely aligned to educational policy and change.   

With its one-of-a-kind integrated platform, Ken 42 is set to disrupt both universities and the K12 edtech industry by ensuring maximum student success, without the need of managing multiple platforms.  

Cruise with Confidence on Jalesh Cruises from November 6, 2020

Restart of Cruises

* Indian Government announces commencement of cruises from October 2020῀

* Jalesh Cruises offers FREE COVID19 rapid testing to all its passengers ῀

After four months of the country experiencing lockdown, home confinement, restricted movements and no summer vacations, it is now time for some unbelievably good news! As part of its Mission Begin Again, the Indian Government has announced that it will permit cruise ships to commence sailing from 1st October. In the light of this major development, Jalesh Cruises announces the commencement of its cruise MV Karnika from Friday 6th November 2020.

In line with its commitment to its valued passengers to offer an enjoyable, safe and secure holiday in your home (away from home) on the sea, Jalesh Cruises will offer all passengers FREE rapid Covid19 and all other flu related testing at the time of embarkation! Passengers will receive their test results in 15 minutes, board the ship without any fears or worries and set sail into the blue sea and the bright horizon.

Start planning your much deserved and well-earned break aboard the magnificent MV Karnika, starting November 2020. Choose a cruise in India with your family members or friends to put the worry of the last four months behind you and create fresh, new, happy and memorable moments with your own Indian cruise line Jalesh cruises, which offers an international experience while cruising within India.

Jalesh Cruises invites Indians to hop on board its premium cruise Karnika and have a wonderful vacation without any fear. Karnika is a home away from home with the best in class amenities and offers the option of discovering the beauty of one’s own country India while sailing in the lap of comfort. 

Jurgen Bailom, President and CEO, Jalesh Cruises said, “The announcement by the Indian Government to permit sailing by cruise companies comes as a fresh breath of air to all of us. We have been waiting to set sail with passengers and we eagerly await November. The health and safety of our passengers and our crew has been and will always be our priority. I would like to reassure our valued guests that they would not find a safer and cleaner ship than Karnika. We eagerly wait to welcome guests on board Karnika with open arms and promise them an experience that will wipe away the gloom of the last few months. Our guests will return home invigorated, refreshed and all charged up after their oceanic voyage.” 

In addition to excellent accommodation, dining, entertainment and leisure offerings, Karnika is proud of its first-rate hygiene and security practices.

MV Karnika has been in Mumbai, India since 12 March 2020 and has been in India ever since.

About Jalesh Cruises

Jalesh Cruises is the owner and operator of India’s premiere cruise liner – Karnika, which commenced operations from 17th April 2019 in Mumbai. Jalesh Cruises, is India’s first multi-destination cruise line that has world-class entertainment shows, activities and exotic authentic cuisines packed with international hospitality on the high sea. The cruise is designed and customized especially for the Indian audience to experience the flavor of Indian and International culture, food & hospitality while sailing in India.

Four Key Tips for Producing Successful Virtual Events Globally

By Ranganath Jagannath, Director, Growth, Agora

Are you wondering how to produce a quality virtual event that will attract your target audience and decision makers? 

As the world is adapting to the new rules of social distancing, I thought it was important to put together a list of the top 4 tactics you should use to ensure your virtual event is a smashing success.

Content is King but Engaging Speakers Are Key

Like traditional events, content is even more important in a virtual event because viewers are able to walk into your event as fast as they are able to head for the virtual doors.

From my personal experience I can tell you that successful events are always rich in quality and engaging content. However, the best events seem to have one thing in common: engaging speakers.

Hunting down a speaker who is truly an expert in their field is one thing but finding a speaker who is also engaging is a key tactic that is often overlooked by producers of virtual events. 

Make sure to produce content that has real value for viewers of the event. Don’t forget the main reason people attend virtual events is to learn something new. Only use engaging speakers and hosts who are comfortable talking about the subject matter.

Invest in Paid Promotion

Just like a traditional event, your virtual event should include a plan on strategic paid promotion.

Build a virtual event promotional communications plan that utilizes digital marketing, email marketing, and social media promotion. Don’t just post an event on your social media channels, sponsor the post to reach your target audience.

Virtual event communications are key so make sure to use email and social media channels on a regular basis leading up to the event. Your communications should emphasize the value of the event in every communication piece sent out. Create a strong, vibrant, and engaging landing page for the event. Overbook the event, meaning if your targeting 100 attendees, your promotional plan should strive to drive 225 signups.

Choose a Platform with Innovative Interaction Capabilities

Deciding which platform to use for your virtual event is equally as important as the content you produce. Think about the times you’ve walked into a physical event and actually were wowed by the look and feel of the event. The same can be said for virtual events that deliver quality video, audio, and interactive experiences to viewers.

Delivering quality video, audio, and interactive experience really does matter! The platform you select should come fully loaded with interactive capabilities and include the opportunity for the inclusion of branding elements on the screen. Make sure to turn the virtual event into a well-oiled branding experience, which means including branding elements prior to, during and at the end of the virtual event. 

Now if you really want to take your virtual event to the next level, consider incorporating live audio or video questions from the audience. Questions via chat are good but live audio and video questions are considerably more interactive and engaging for audiences.  It isn’t that people will stop craving for human interaction in a post covid world, they would rather attend an online event where they would be able to make meaningful human connections through real time engagement. 

Virtual events have a distinct advantage over physical events, viewers are able to instantly interact with speakers and hosts of the event via chat. Incorporate interaction elements throughout the entire event; things like emojis, poll questions and prompting the audience to ask questions via chat work extremely well. Take advantage of advanced virtual event platforms that allow audio and video questions from viewers and encourage interaction between attendees. Success can be measured against parameters such as how much percentage of event attendees were engaged by the interaction elements.   

The Event Lives on Long After It’s Over

So, you’ve spent all this time and money to produce a quality virtual event, now what? The truth is, your event has only just begun because you now have a recorded event that has the capabilities to live on for years. Think of a recently completed virtual event as ongoing branding and lead generation vehicle. While the content from the event might seem old three months down the line, it will be new for those who are viewing the event for the very first time.

Promotion is key to making sure a recently completed virtual event will continue to have success for months to come. Pin-point highlights from the event and use them as promotional items. Remember a quality virtual event has the shelf life of at least a year.

Give Wings to Your Photography Dreams with the All New Lava Z66

Indian mobile handset brand, Lava International Limited, announced the launch of its new smart phone- Lava Z66. The Lava Z66 is equipped with a 13MP selfie camera with screen flash to capture stunning portraits even in low-light. It also sports a dual rear camera setup of 13MP + 5MP with LED flash which renders a superior photography experience. To enhance the user experience further, the smartphone camera has been packed with premium features like beauty mode, night mode, HDR mode, burst mode, panorama, time lapse, slow motion along with filters for every mood.

The smartphone is powered with a 1.6 GHz octa-core processor for a seamless performance and features a 6.08-inch HD+ notch display with a 2.5D curved screen & 19:9 aspect ratio. This 3GB RAM smartphone has a storage capacity of 32GB (expandable up to 128GB) for storing your precious moments and videos. Priced at Rs. 7777, Lava Z66 is currently available in three striking colour variants – Marine Blue, Berry Red and Midnight Blue. This Made in India smartphone is currently available at offline stores and will soon be available on Amazon and Flipkart.

The Lava Z66 draws power from 3950 mAh battery which provides up to 16 hours of talk time*. The smartphone runs on Stock Android OS (Android 10) and is free from pre-loaded bloatware which ensures a smooth performance and a clean Android experience. For improved device security, Lava Z66 has been equipped with a fingerprint scanner and a face-unlock feature that unlocks the phone in just 0.6 seconds*.

Commenting on the launch, Tejinder Singh, Head- Product, Lava International said, “Lava Z66 is an exceptional device in the budget segment for all the photography enthusiasts out there. This beautiful device not only lets you click the most stunning pictures but also delivers a power packed all round performance.”

The Lava Z66 comes with dual sim support (4G+4G), Bluetooth V4.2, OTG support, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The phone also has an array of sensors that includes an accelerometer, ambient light and a proximity sensor.

*under Lava testing conditions

Lava International Limited 

#ProudlyIndian

Lava International Limited is a leading Indian Mobile Handset Company with operations in 20+ countries. In the international markets the company is growing rapidly and is already among the top players in many of these countries it operates in. 

Lava has always been at the forefront of Govt. of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. Lava was the first mobile brand to take a lead in support of this important nation building program and had set up a design team in India, becoming the first brand to design phones in the country. With this ‘Design in India’ initiative, Lava is now the only Mobile handset company that makes truly ‘Made In India’ phones with complete control on design and manufacturing within the country. 

With the vision to “Empower people to do more, to be more” the company was established in 2009. Lava International Limited is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company has its manufacturing facilities and a repair factory in an approximately 300,000 square feet area in Noida. The manufacturing plants have a capacity of manufacturing 40 million phones per annum.

We Make in India, We Make for India.

Netmagic, Zerto Partner to Expand its Disaster Recovery as a Service

Netmagic, an NTT Company, and India's leading managed hosting and multi-cloud Hybrid IT solution provider, today announced its partnership with Zerto to enrich its Disaster Recovery as a Services (DRaaS) portfolio. The partnership will enable enterprises with faster and cost-effective disaster recovery of critical IT infrastructure. Zerto, a leader in IT resilience, replaces legacy solutions with a single platform to enable disaster recovery (DR), data protection, and workload mobility across hyperscale clouds, hosted services, and on-premise data centers.

Netmagic DRaaS is a complete DR Management platform with a pay-per-use model. With workflow automation capabilities, it simplifies DR processes and dashboards to provide real-time visibility that is tied into the organization's objectives in terms of availability, Recovery Point Objective (RPO), and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). With this new partnership with Zerto, customers will get a lower-cost alternative to traditional DR solutions. With Netmagic managing the entire DR process, customers can stay focused on their core critical business.

Speaking about this, Nitin Mishra, Chief Product Officer, Netmagic (An NTT Company) said, “The partnership with Zerto will enable us to boost up our existing capabilities in DRaaS. With the Zerto IT Resilience Platform, we will be able to provide Cold DR Solution which will enable on Demand DR and a reduction in TCO for customers. This will be an end-to-end DR service allowing for the design, plan, and implementation of DR, with the key highlights being automated failover and failback operations beside dashboards for governance. By leveraging Zerto’s IT Resilience Platform, we will provide managed services for all aspects of DR planning, testing, and management.”

With organizations shifting to a new normal and work from home approach, data security and digital transformation initiatives are more significant than ever. Netmagic is a pioneer in offering the best tech-based solutions and with Zerto, these offerings will be further enhanced. Netmagic DRaaS service is based on per protected workload (Virtual machine) on a pay as use model. Customers will not only benefit by an upscale data continuity but also a much-optimized pay per use infrastructure.

“We are excited to have Netmagic join Zerto’s ecosystem of partners. We see Netmagic as a critical component to our strategy of providing DRaaS to the marketplace in India. Netmagic’s offering will allow customers to consume DRaaS, with the ability to scale on demand.  This offering will meet the needs of customers who need world class DR while taking advantage of the cost benefits of the pay-per-use model,” said Greg Bailey, Director of Channel & Cloud Sales EMEA, Zerto.

L&T Technology Services Expands Collaboration with Microsoft to Offer Solutions for Workplace Transformation

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a leading global pure-play engineering services company, today announced that it has expanded its collaboration with Microsoft Corporation and launched its latest and enhanced version of the state-of-the-art i-BEMSTM solution on Microsoft Azure to transform buildings into future-ready smart campuses.

With growing digital transformation, there has been a clear impetus on the need for organizations to revamp their office premises to be eco-friendly, taking into consideration sustainability aspects including greenhouse gas and carbon emissions. Another important aspect for office and facility administrators today is to find balance in their buildings to ensure health, safety and wellbeing of their workforce.

LTTS’ award-winning Intelligent Building Experience Management System i-BEMSTM is a system-of-systems solution that focuses on creating digital experiences and intelligent space management. The cloud-based smart buildings/campus/spaces solution helps monitor and manage building operations and optimize business metrics leveraging advanced IoT based Edge Analytics and machine learning algorithms.

i-BEMS™ uses advanced energy analytics and fault diagnostics for energy savings, and net-zero energy compliance. i-BEMSTM has enterprise-grade security features and can create a digital twin to test changes in a virtual build of the building.

LTTS has earlier collaborated with Microsoft to develop a smart campus in Israel for a leading technology company. The two companies have also partnered to leverage  Azure IoT platform for Sustainability solutions and connect with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service to enable real-time optimization, improve ROI and employee productivity for Facility Management and Operations globally. In 2018, LTTS furthered their working relationship with Microsoft by setting up a Digital Industrial Transformation Applied Innovation Centre for shared enterprise customers.

The current expanded collaboration leverages Azure to enable i-BEMSTM to act as a Facility Information Broker, unifying data from all systems making the building/campus a single entity rather than a heterogeneous collection of systems focused on employee health and safety and preservation of the immediate environment.

Experts from LTTS and Microsoft also shared the latest best practices on the holistic approach for enterprises planning eco-friendly and safe smart buildings, which can be read here: Smart buildings: From design to reality.

Alind Saxena, Chief Business Officer - Transportation & Alliances, L&T Technology Services said, “With digital transformation, enterprises are also increasingly focusing on finding sustainable ways to grow, while protecting the planet and its resources. Another important determinant for companies is maintaining employee safety and wellbeing within a building by reducing resource usage and improving operational efficiency. i-BEMS covers the best practices from designing to construction to operations for enterprises planning environmentally friendly and socially responsible smart building projects. We are excited to further expand our partnership leveraging Microsoft Azure IoT & Edge technology to serve enterprise customers with industry-leading solutions.”

Sanjay Jacob, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation said, “As a leader in engineering solutions for smart and sustainable campuses, LTTS’ Smart Building solutions enable modern workplaces by leveraging cutting-edge Microsoft Azure IoT, Edge & AI technology. Employee safety, energy-efficiency and sustainability is the need of the hour and LTTS delivers an integrated, advanced Azure based Smart Building solution for global enterprises to deploy smart and sustainable campuses. The whitepaper provides an excellent template with the most current best practices for enterprises to go from design to reality of their smart buildings.”

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 53 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 16,600 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 51 innovation labs as of June 30, 2020.

Home Credit India Offers Easy Smartphone Loan Options in Unlock 3.0

Smartphone Loans

* Own a smartphone sitting at home with customer-friendly schemes from Home Credit

* Customers can now process loans from their homes with the help of Home Credit’s robust online program

As the nation sees ease in lockdown, businesses have also started to open. Having been closed for business for over two months, retailers are still unsure about customer walk-ins and how to service their demand. Home Credit India, a local arm of the international consumer finance provider with operations spanning over Europe and Asia, is focused to strengthen its partnership with offline retailers. The company has been functioning business actively in Bangalore with 940 key retailers. Big retail chains like Sangeetha Mobiles, Pai International, Devi International and standalone retailers like Colors Mobiles, Hanuman Telecom, Uday Electronics etc. are now open with all the necessary precautions and adhering to govt guidelines.

The retailers have witnessed 75% footfall in comparison to pre-Covid era. Most of the customers are venturing out for key purchases only and are following social distancing guidelines

In the given times, Home Credit has also built a robust online program for customers who choose to not venture out fearing COVID-19. Customers can now own a smartphone and get their KYC/loan approval procedure executed from the ease of their home without being physically present at the retail shop. Post the formalities, the mobile phone is delivered to their doorstep. Online outreach is further supporting the retailers in their sales during these challenging times. 

On the occasion, Mr. Ankush Khosla, Chief Sales Officer, Home Credit India said; “These unprecedented times have brought in significant behavior change among customers. With the country easing lockdown with restrictions, it is time that the Corporates come forward and take innovative steps towards supporting economic revival in the country. Home Credit is extending full support to its retail partners across the country with the hope to support our customers in every possible way, to make their loan taking journey less stressful even during these anxious times.”  

Home Credit India has resumed its operations country wide based on Government directives. The company has its operations spread over 350 cities across 22 States in India with a strong network of around 31,500 points-of-sale (PoS) and a customer base of around 11.3 million customers.