The grandson of India’s most famous ‘bicycle maker’ is selling AI at CES 2019

• Ujjwal Munjal, grandson of Founder Chairman of the Hero Group Brijmohan Lall Munjal, just announced Hero Electronix’ first intelligent device at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019.
  
• The Founder Director also announced plans for launching more than 10 devices, powered by artificial intelligence, over the next five years.
  
• Hero Electronix was one of the few companies showcasing a ‘Made-in-India’ product at CES 2019.
  

Hero Electronix, set up by the Hero Group — a household name in India associated with two-wheelers — just announced that they will be launching more than 10 intelligent devices over the next five years through its subsidiary Hero Electronix at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019.

Making the announcement was the grandson of India’s most famous ‘bicycle-maker’ — Founder Chairman of the Hero Group Brijmohan Lall Munjal — Ujjwal Munjal.


The company's first product, previewed at CES 2019, has been designed to be the ‘centerpiece’ of security, entertainment and automation needs of home. The press statement Hero Electronix says that the device will be powered by Amazon Alexa and run on Qualcomm’s Vision Intelligence 100 Platform.

Ujjwal Munjal is not only the Founder Director at Hero Electronix but also the Executive Director of Rockman Industries — formerly known as Rockman Cycles. Under his leadership Hero Electronix entered the IoT space by acquiring Zenatix — a local IoT startup with clients like restaurant outlets, retail chains and banks.

But, now Munjal is looking to directly to the consumer. Hero Electronix has already invested in building all of the ‘core’ technology required in-house — that’s hardware, cloud software, device software, and apps.

Munjal also acquired MyBox Technology, the largest multi-operator manufacturer of digital set-boxes in India at the time.
From bicycles to AI-powered technology

Hero started out at a bicycle company in 1956 and didn’t even start manufacturing motorised two-wheelers until 22 years later. It only created the subsidiary of Hero MotoCorp in 2011.

Hero Electronix was brought into being in 2015. It started out behind the scenes developing products like semiconductors under Tessolve Semiconductor Private Limited.

Now the company is looking to shift its focus to user-facing technology like cameras, audio speakers and dash-cams.

In 2016, Munjal acquired TES DST Holding Europe, a German electronics design services company when he said that a new division would be created — called Tessolve Embedded Systems (TES) — that would support the design and manufacture of products.

The acquisition was aimed at combining their existing semiconductor technology with system design and embedded software, turning it into something that an average person can use right away — a consumer product.


Munjal also acquired Lynxemi Pte, a test facility in Singapore that runs trials for new products for consumers, in August 2017.

Munjal told PTI, “These acquisitions are not of high value. They are more to do with enhancing our capability. These will help in Tessolve becoming a leader in end-to-end semiconductor engineering solutions provider,” hinting Hero Electronix is looking to go directly to the consumer.

Hero Electronix products were one of the few ‘Made-in-India’ products on show at CES 2019. Their partnerships with global giants like Amazon and Qualcomm will also posture the company to expand global operations.

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