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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Some expat Indians are moving back home to launch companies of their own.</li><li>India's booming market size, internet growth, and post-pandemic spending is driving their decision.</li></ul>Nithin Hassan, 41, has always been fascinated with building something of his own.As a child in India, he would get in trouble for dismantling electronics around the house just so he could peek inside.In college, in true <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-to-bet-your-career-on-in-2024-2024-2">startup</a> fashion, he started working on a small business out of his parent's garage in Bengaluru, assembling computers for friends and family.It was the early 2000s and the internet was not the trove of knowledge it is today — Hassan was relying on books to learn. Finding mentorship and the right guidance was a challenge, too.Everyone around Hassan told him that going to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/resume-tips-google-software-engineer-skills-experience-careers-software-tech-2024-3">US for a master's degree</a> was the next big opportunity. So he did.Over the next 16 years, he put his startup plans on hold and worked at some of the world's biggest companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta.<div type="image" title="Nithin Hassan" height="2450" width="3266" msid="113831978" hostid="261" sizebytes="215682"></div>But the pandemic felt like a turning point. And its aftermath made India look like a lab-designed business environment: It had just become the world's most populous country, the pandemic had created <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/private-consumption-continues-to-be-supported-by-pent-up-demand-finance-ministry/articleshow/99069973.cms?from=mdr">pent-up demand</a> for consumer products, and growing internet adoption made commerce more scalable, he said.So Hassan left behind about $500,000 in annual pay at Meta to move back to Bengaluru in December 2023 with his wife and two children. He has since launched two startups.Hassan is part of a group of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-moved-back-to-india-after-living-abroad-for-decade-2024-9">expat Indians moving back</a> home to venture out on their own. As such, he's also part of a decades-long trend of reverse migration back to India.The trend began in the 1990s and picked up at the turn of the century, driven by the economic collapse in 2008, said Binod Khadria, the president of Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism. Many of those who returned to India for work were largely working for multinational companies.Today, the impetus for the move often looks a bit different: It's driven by factors like unstable visa policies and economic recessions, which lead to uncertainty when it comes to jobs and duration of stay in these destinations.Many returnees find work in tech, but the finance, retail, and climate sectors also absorb a large number of expat Indians, Khadia said. And some of the returnees are heading back to India to start companies of their own.India is undergoing a startup explosion. The country reported over<a target="_blank" href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2043805"> 140,800 recognized startups</a> at the end of June — nearly 50,000 more than last year — and credited them with creating 1.6 million direct jobs.To be sure, not all of these companies will make it big — and some do still stumble, like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://inc42.com/features/what-are-the-current-problems-being-faced-by-oyo/">Oyo </a>and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-hsbc-funds-byjus-startup-valuation-zero-edtech-india-raveendran-2024-6">Byju's</a>. But the chaos, where even established startups are trying and failing, makes India a fair playing field for new entrants, Hassan said.Business Insider spoke to six <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-vc-wants-see-5-traits-new-founders-fundraising-antler-2024-8">first-time founders </a>about why they have recently returned to India after spending several years, or even an adult life, abroad.<h2 id="0e4a3c47-ba19-4690-8b52-c6bfece1c81d">Fastest-growing economy</h2>The health of the economy and interest from investors are fueling the entrepreneurship boom.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-billionaire-karan-adani-plans-challenge-china-dominance-seaports-2024-8">India's economic growth</a> in 2023 — 8.2% — was the fastest of all large economies worldwide. That's led to greater purchasing power, which lets companies, including startups, sell more.India's inflation rate of about 3.5% is well below its annual wage growth of 9.6%. This makes inflation less of a challenge than it is for slower-growing peers, where consumer-focused businesses have been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/economy-jobs-report-sentiment-consumers-elections-recession-inflation-mortgage-rates-2024-9">hurt by high prices</a>.Investors are getting in on the action.From 2015 to 2021, the number of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-capital-vc-firm-split-china-india-2023-6">unique investors in India</a> nearly quadrupled, though the number is tracking much lower this year, per PitchBook."Other than a slight downturn in 2022 and 2023 due to global macroeconomic factors, VC funding has been consistently growing in India," said Ben Mathias, a managing partner at Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia &amp; India.Besides funding, domestic developments have encouraged founders and VCs too, Mathias said.The Indian government's Universal Payment Interface system has spurred consumers and businesses to pay online, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bcg.com/press/2june2022-digital-payments-in-india-projected-to-reach-10-trillion-by-2026">40% of all digital payments</a> globally happen in India today, the partner said.Programs like Startup India, which provides founders benefits like tax exemption, easier compliance, and funding support, have made creating a company smoother.Devyani Parameshwar worked in the microfinance and fintech space in India in the 2010s before heading to the UK and Africa. She returned to India in 2022 to launch a financial management venture."It's changed dramatically. I remember standing in line at various ministries in Delhi trying to get meetings and then trying to get answers and it wasn't easy in the past," she said of her memories of India.Now, she can use an online platform to ask the country's central bank and banking regulator questions.It's easier than ever for foreign companies to invest in India, which means startups have a clearer exit path through acquisition — something VCs think hard about before entering new markets or writing checks.<h2 id="e5dd7b6f-a09f-4ff2-84c1-5907de96dc5e">Market ripe for the taking</h2>For Rohan Bhide, who spent most of his college and professional life <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worked-in-big-tech-before-launching-my-own-startup-engineer-2024-9">preparing to launch something of his own</a>, a trip home in 2017 while he was studying in the US was a turning point.Indian telecom giant Reliance had recently launched a cheap unlimited data plan, which spiked Indian internet adoption. India was charting among the countries with the highest online transactions."That really, really drew my attention," said Bhide, who worked at Meta after graduation. "It was my dream come true — a huge market, a huge user base, and at the same time, the ability to adopt technology was incredible."Bhide returned to India in January, leaving behind about $580,000 in total compensation at ticketing platform StubHub. He and a cofounder are working on launching a consumer tech product later this year.<div type="image" title="Rohan Bhide" height="2304" width="3072" msid="113831979" hostid="261" sizebytes="218468"></div>Most Indians grew up wanting to work at a multinational company — but that's changing, Bhide said.Freelancing, running your own business, or working for a startup is much more socially acceptable now, because people see the success of other Indian startups. The country has the third-largest number of "unicorns" — companies worth $1 billion or more — with 64, per PitchBook.<h2 id="7f423804-745b-4e04-a250-839e01663f09">Boom in entrepreneurship culture</h2>A lot has changed since Hassan first wanted to launch his hardware startup in the early 2000s.Tech hot spots like Bengaluru and Gurugram have seen a boom in entrepreneurship culture in the last few years, with meet-ups, networking mixers, and even morning walks with like-minded builders.<div type="image" title="man standing in front of mountains in USA" height="2268" width="3024" msid="113831980" hostid="261" sizebytes="141132"></div>Dhruv Anand, who left Google in the US to move back to India in 2021 to launch an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-startups-most-promising-2024-9">AI startup</a>, said that there were lots of other founders and mentors to help guide him."If you want to figure out who's the right chartered accountant to talk to, who's the right lawyer to help you draft agreements, all of that stuff is very easy," Anand said."It's been a really, really supportive community," Bhide said. There are people "telling you about their entire lives just because they want to help you and they're hoping that you pass the favor onto the next person who moves to India and wants to start their own company."<h2 id="3c8bff36-e855-4530-9b44-bcc7f36b0825">Not everything is perfect</h2>Although these founders made the decision to return to India, that doesn't mean they no longer see the benefits of operating in the US.Ruchit Garg founded an agriculture startup in Silicon Valley in 2016, with a focus on supporting farmers around the globe. In 2019, he returned to India, where his late grandfather worked as a farmer.Garg has been building in India ever since, but he says its startup ecosystem cannot yet compete with the Valley's decades of experience."The overall ecosystem was more mature back in Silicon Valley. It's still one of the best places for entrepreneurs. India isn't there yet, although it's growing pretty drastically," he said.Despite efforts to digitalize key processes, many bureaucratic challenges persist.For most founders, after living in US cities where populations are a fraction of those in Mumbai and Bangalore, congested roads and poorer air quality are also everyday annoyances.But India provides some big perks, including affordable domestic help and the appeal of building solutions for problems they witness firsthand."It's a different joy to be able to build for problems that you feel for very personally," Parameshwar, the fintech founder, said. When she worked in Africa, she needed translators. Now, she can speak with her users herself.Bhide said the general sentiment among local founders is shifting from "Build from India" to "Build for India."For some founders, being surrounded by family and the culture they grew up in was another selling point.Niranjan Vemulkar moved back to India in 2015 and later founded a digital legacy planning platform.He said that he never fully felt at home in the US, where he lived for over a decade."For us, it was the fact that we wanted to raise a family in an environment where the children would have access to the grandparents and Indian culture," Vemulkar said. "The fact that you could come back to India, start something of your own and figure things out in an ecosystem which was potentially booming for startups, was just a cherry on the cake."Are you in India and have a story to share about the tech and entrepreneurship landscape? Please reach out at shubhangigoel@insider.com

Some techies are leaving cushy Silicon Valley jobs to launch startups at home in India

<ul><li>Bengaluru needs to turn into a deeptech hub too </li><li>Bengaluru is the only Indian city to be among the top 30 global startup ecosystems of today. It jumped two ranks up in the world’s top 30 startup</li><li>The city is known for its Edtech and Fintech startups but has been facing challenges due to weak environment policy in India.</li></ul> Bengaluru might be India’s <keyword id="6357722" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> but it is in dire need of a strong framework to develop and commercialise “deep tech” like smart cities, robotics, autonomous systems, <a href="https://startupgenome.com/reports">said</a> the Global Startup Genome Report 2019. <a href="https://startupgenome.com/gser2019">Startup Genome</a> is an independent research firm that provides data and insights to startups. Bengaluru is the only Indian city to be ranked among the top 30 global startup ecosystems ranked by the report. It jumped two ranks this year in the world’s top 30 startup ecosystems list, according to the report. There are 30 global cities that it said have the potential to become the “next” hubs including Bengaluru. Bengaluru is home to a number of unicorns and is known for its edtech and fintech startups. However, it has been facing several structural bottlenecks. “A weak policy environment in India, as well as relatively low levels of research production, means that <keyword id="6355033" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="bangalore">Bangalore</keyword> might face more challenges in deep tech startup sub-sectors — those requiring tangible IP — than it did in Software, the report explained. It further said, “Potentially, this might become a significant hindrance in the ecosystem, threatening its future growth,” said the report. The city is also facing challenges due to “quality” of funding. The past growth “Bengaluru, Sydney, Stockholm, and Berlin stand out for their relatively low levels of Funding Quality, driven by lack of local, experienced VCs compared to other ecosystem”, said the report. Edtech and fintech hub India has witnessed exponential growth in co-working spaces over the last year which has fueled expansion in fintech and edutech hubs in India, with about 42% of startups based in Bengaluru. A recent India FinTech Report 2019 by global innovation platform MEDICI says that India is the second biggest Fintech Hub after the US with over 2,000 startups nourishing in the zone. Almost every top ecosystem has a strong national regulatory environment that encourages IP commercialization, according to the report.Here, too, Bangalore, along with Beijing and Shanghai was an exception. “Bangalore has all of the ingredients to create a world class tech ecosystem - investors, engineers, clients, experts - and the potential to build high-quality global startups at a fraction of the cost.” <a href="https://startupgenome.com/reports">said</a> Varun Chawla Founder, 91springboard in the report.

Here’s what Bengaluru needs to do in order to keep its crown as a global startup hub

<ul><li>The ongoing global economic contraction has trickled down to India with recruiters adopting a cautious approach to hiring.</li><li>India saw a 6 per cent drop in hiring activity (year-on-year) in October</li><li>Month-on-month job postings also saw a 5 per cent decline in the country.</li><li>Amid the slow down, jobs in automation showcased an increase (34 per cent) in hiring activity with companies maximising efficiency and productivity through tech.</li></ul>India saw a 6 per cent drop in hiring activity (year-on-year) in October, amid changing patterns in the start-up ecosystem, funding winter and fears of an upcoming recession, a report showed on Tuesday. Month-on-month job postings also saw a 5 per cent decline in the country. However, with companies ramping up internal initiatives to facilitate growth and government interventions in promising sectors, hiring projections for the coming months are expected to pick up, according to Monster Employment Index. The ongoing global economic contraction has trickled down to India with recruiters adopting a cautious approach to hiring. Amid the slow down, jobs in automation showcased an increase (34 per cent) in hiring activity with companies maximising efficiency and productivity through tech. Similarly, industries such as banking and finance and telecom did well, with technology driving innovation and growth in both sectors. Artificial intelligence and Blockchain are transforming the BFSI sector, while the onset of 5G is transforming the growth of telecom. "While macroeconomic conditions have pushed companies to adopt a watchful approach to hiring, the need for skilled talent is unlikely to ever go away. Hence, it is important that today's workforce upskill and reskill themselves on an individual and organisational level," said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, Monster.com, a Quess company. Tier 2 cities such as Coimbatore and Ahmedabad posted a marginal incline in job activity on an annual basis whereas demand fell in major metropolitan cities of India. Among tier 1 cities, hiring remained stable in Mumbai whereas metros such as Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad posted a downward trend in recruitment activities. Industries such as BPO/ITES and Media and Entertainment continued to demonstrate a declining hiring trend from the year-ago level. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/four-ipos-worth-5000-crore-to-open-this-week-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/95361401.cms">Four IPOs worth ₹5,000 crore to open this week: All you need to know</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/policybazaar-operator-pb-fintechs-q2-loss-narrows-to-187-crore/articleshow/95361316.cms">Policybazaar operator PB Fintech’s Q2 loss narrows to ₹187 crore</a>

India saw 6% decline in hiring in October amid funding winter: Monster report

<ul><li>71% of <keyword id="16562257" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="founders-of-early-stage" source="Orion">founders of early-stage</keyword> companies plan to raise <keyword id="549785" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="venture-debt" source="Orion">venture debt</keyword> in 2023. </li><li>74% of VCs surveyed said they would recommend their portfolio companies to take on venture debt in 2023. </li><li>Venture debt disbursed increased 2.6 times from 2019 to 2022.</li></ul>A lot has changed in the last one year in the <keyword id="1948071" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-start-up" source="Orion">Indian start-up</keyword> landscape. In per a survey by India Venture Debt Report by <keyword id="9353689" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="Stride-Ventures" source="Orion">Stride Ventures</keyword>, 82% of founders said they will strive for <keyword id="6515078" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="profitability" source="Orion">profitability</keyword> and prioritize scaling their startups in 2023. Also, 79% of VCs want to focus on profitability, while only 21% want to focus on growth. This is in contrast to 2022 when 68% of founders and 55% of VCs focused on growth rather than profitability. The survey also revealed that 71% of founders of early-stage companies plan to raise venture debt in 2023, compared to 50% of late-stage founders and 20% of growth-stage founders. Says Ishpreet Singh Gandhi, founder and managing partner, Stride Ventures, “Venture debt has become one of the key growth enablers for Indian startups.” Additionally, 74% of VCs surveyed would recommend their portfolio companies to take on venture debt in 2023. The survey results also highlighted that 62% of founders and 44% of VCs consider "engaging with bank limits" as the most important value-added service offered by a venture debt fund, with "advisory on corporate financial services" being the second most preferred service for 28% of founders and 33% of VCs. Bank limits are defined by a bank to set up amount and duration based restrictions on the transactions that can be carried out by the user. This is a change from 2022, where advisory on corporate financial services was considered the most important value-added service. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Agritech, healthtech, SaaS receive fewer venture debt prospects" comment="subhead2" text="Agritech, healthtech, SaaS receive fewer venture debt prospects">Agritech, healthtech, SaaS receive fewer venture debt prospects</cmsannotation> Finally, the survey indicated that agritech, healthtech, and SaaS sectors are receiving fewer venture debt prospects according to founders and VCs. Out of a total of 170-180 venture debt deals recorded in 2022, the fintech sector emerged as the leading sector with 31% of the share, followed by consumer and agritech sector startups. The report also highlights the potential of B2B replacing fintech in 2023 for the most attractive sector for venture debt, closely followed by consumer and EV. The report also reveals that the venture debt ecosystem in India is thriving, with a 2.6 times increase in the debt amount disbursed from 2019 to 2022. The report indicates that Series D and startups beyond that stage raised the most debt in 2022, while pre-Series A stage startups completed the highest number of debt deals. Geographically, the report recorded Delhi NCR as the most active location for venture debt deals in 2022, followed by Bangalore and Mumbai. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/adani-ports-jsw-steel-indusind-bank-top-the-nifty50-list-with-highest-promoter-pledges/slidelist/98008939.cms">Adani Ports, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank top Nifty50 list with highest promoter pledges</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/sell-off-in-adani-group-shares-resumes-after-george-soros-comments/articleshow/98008647.cms">Sell-off in Adani group shares resumes after George Soros’ comments</a>

As profitability takes priority, venture debt finds favour with startup founders: Strides report

Despite economic uncertainties, the hiring activity among startups has significantly increased in April this year, while there has been a 6 per cent decline in e-recruitment for white-collar compared to the same period in 2022, a new report said on Tuesday. According to the report by foundit (previously <keyword id="17366670" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="monster-india-apac" source="Orion">Monster India &amp; APAC</keyword>), there has been a 4 per cent monthly dip, indicating cautious hiring sentiments among Indian recruiters. Although some sectors like <keyword id="6356925" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bfsi" source="Orion">BFSI</keyword> (+3 per cent), <keyword id="383675" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="travel-tourism" source="Orion">Travel &amp; Tourism</keyword> (+2 per cent), and Import/Export (+13 per cent) experienced a boost on a month-on-month (MOM) basis, other sectors, such as Logistics, Home appliances, and Oil and gas, saw a significant decline. "Although hiring has declined, there are still a plethora of job opportunities in emerging industries for job seekers. Remarkably, the Indian startup ecosystem has taken a turn, exhibiting resilience in hiring intent despite the prevailing job market challenges," said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, foundit. Moreover, the report showed that the Retail (22 per cent), Travel &amp; Tourism (19 per cent) are among the top industries exhibiting positive growth year-on-year basis, while BFSI (-4 per cent) and BPO (-13 per cent) sectors continue to be apprehensive. The overall hiring demand among startups has noted a strong 19 per cent (year-on-year) growth this April 2023 compared to the previous year. In addition, while most cities showed an overall decline in hiring, startups in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi hosted maximum demand for professionals. However, in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, Indian startups raised a total of $2.8 billion in funds, a massive 75 per cent decrease compared to the same period in the previous year ($11.9 billion), as rising inflation and interest rates continue to impact investments significantly amid a deepening funding winter. There were no new unicorns created in the January-March period, compared with 14 unicorns in Q1 2022, according to a recent report by <keyword id="2779670" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="tracxn" source="Orion">Tracxn</keyword>, a leading global market intelligence platform. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/sensex-closes-at-61761-on-fag-end-volatility-after-crossing-62000-during-the-day/articleshow/100101148.cms">Sensex closes at 61,761 on fag-end volatility after crossing 62,000 during the day</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/rupee-weighed-down-strong-greenback-falls-27-paise-to-close-at-82-05/usd/articleshow/100101208.cms">Rupee weighed down strong greenback, falls 27 paise to close at 82.05/USD</a>

Hiring in startups up in April, despite 6% annual drop in e-recruitment: Foundit report

<ul><li>The event focuses on Web3, D2C, metaverse, SaaS, in addition to conversations around corporate governance and building resilient businesses.</li><li>The event will include over 50 speakers, over 20 investors and has more than 20 sessions that include keynotes, masterclasses, panel discussions and exclusive lunch table sessions.</li><li>The 2-day event is spread across <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>’s leading sStartup hubs – Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.</li></ul>Dubbed as India's largest and most definitive startup event for tech entrepreneurs, TiE Delhi-NCR’s India Internet Day (iDay) is all set to commence. The event will be held at two different locations and nation’s leading startup hubs. It is slated for September 1-2 in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR. The theme for iDay 2022 is ‘Riding the wave: Building Winning Businesses Today’. Over 100 key industry stakeholders, ace investors, unicorn founders will be a part of conversations revolving around building resilient businesses, trends in D2C, Web3, metaverse, SaaS, crypto and beyond. Now in its 11th edition, the iconic India Internet Day has been running successfully for over a decade, curated by key leaders from the Indian startup ecosystem. iDay will showcase best practices, exciting opportunities and defining future trends. Expected attendees include tech pioneers, innovators, ideators, investors, mentors, incubators, accelerators, evangelists and budding entrepreneurs. The conference plays host to in-depth sessions, engaging keynotes by leading founders, investors and market experts of the digital world, in addition to exclusive lunch table sessions. “It has been an honour to co-chair this edition of India Internet Day, which has always been the premier event for tech entrepreneurs. The importance of this platform is even more amplified now, when founders need to learn from one another on how to build enduring, resilient businesses. Like they say - when the going gets tough, the tough get building,” said Mayak Khanduja, partner, elevation capital &amp; co-chair, India Internet Day. The exceptional line up for the event includes institution builders, leading tech entrepreneurs, nation’s best investors and policy makers including Deepak Bagla, Invest India; Mayank Khanduja, Elevation Capital; Rajan Anandan, Sequoia India &amp; SEA; Deep Kalra, MakeMyTrip; Mohit Bhatnagar, Sequoia India; Mukul Arora, Elevation Capital; Kiran Vasireddy, Kalaari Capital; Ashwini Asokan, Vue.ai, Blox.ai; Upasana Taku, Mobikwik; Ravi Chhabria, NetApp India; Gaurav Gupta, Squareboat; Ashish Hemrajani, BookMyShow; Ashish Singhal, CoinSwitch; Vidit Aatrey, founder &amp; CEO, Meesho &amp; many more. “Over the past decade, India Internet Day has emerged as a leading platform showcasing India’s internet growth story. After a resounding debut in 2012, it has grown from being relevant to being indispensable for stakeholders across the ecosystem. iDay hosts the entire gamut of the internet mobile industry in India like no other forum,” said Geetika Dayal, executive director, TiE Delhi-NCR. “This year iDay focuses on building robust, resilient &amp; future ready companies which can survive &amp; succeed in the midst of headwinds. We are happy to bring iDay to Bengaluru in collaboration with TiE Bangalore this year,” added Dayal. The conference is supported by <keyword id="3003094" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="startup-india" source="Orion">Startup India</keyword>, Elevation Capital, Sequoia Capital, Microsoft, AWS, Squareboat, Netapp Excellarator, Kalaari Capital, Client Associates, Google Cloud, Kalaari and NTT Data-TiE Pune. As a commitment towards being a responsible organization TiE Delhi-NCR is continuing to build on its initiatives to adopt sustainability and make its events truly sustainable. As a first formal step towards being carbon neutral, it is tracking its carbon emissions for the India Internet Day and adopting steps to reduce emissions, waste generated and water wastage. India Internet Day 2022 is going to officially be a carbon neutral event. All the emissions offset undertaken, shall be published for public knowledge, post third party validation. About TiE Delhi-NCR’s India Internet Day From its inception #iDay has set out to be a leadership conference that looks to set conversations around vision 2025 for the industry. It’s one of India’s most exciting gatherings of the internet community designed to deliver powerful content and showcase the possibilities, which the internet holds for the present and the future. The conference sees participation from all major and relevant technology companies from across the country. India Internet Day 2020 co-chairs include – Mayank Khanduja &amp; Ashwini Asokan along with the team Abhishek Gupta, Alok Mittal, Arvind Jha, Deep Kalra, Dev Khare, Gautam Gandhi, Karan Mohla, Latika Pai, Miten Sampat, Prasanto K Roy, Rajan Anandan, Rajat Garg, <keyword id="262068" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rajesh-sawhney" source="Orion">Rajesh Sawhney</keyword>, Ravi Gururaj, <keyword id="8713499" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="shereen-bhan" source="Orion">Shereen Bhan</keyword>, <keyword id="3380503" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="suchita-salwan" source="Orion">Suchita Salwan</keyword> and Vani Kola – who are the torchbearers who put together the conference that has emerged as the voice of India’s internet industry. About TiE Delhi-NCR TiE Delhi-NCR is among the most active and vibrant chapters across the vast TiE network. In the last two decades, it has continuously taken the lead in creating an increasingly positive ecosystem for entrepreneurs and investors. With a strong mentor support base, marquee events and focused workshops throughout the year it has emerged as one of the most valuable platforms supporting entrepreneurship, nationally. TiE Delhi-NCR conducts a wide range of programmes to help entrepreneurs. These include TiEcon, Startup Expo, TiE Institute, TiE Young Entrepreneurs along with Special Interest Groups (SIGs) across sectors.

India’s largest event for tech entrepreneurs, TiE Delhi-NCR’s India InternetDay - now connects two startup hubs

<keyword id="10591" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="samsung" source="Orion">Samsung</keyword> on Thursday invited local startups to collaborate on technologies around the 'Digital <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>' stack, including unified payments interface (<keyword id="6358921" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="upi" source="Orion">UPI</keyword>), Digilocker, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) and Unified Health Interface (UHI), among others. The company said that its R&amp;D centres and business units in the country will work closely with these startups to co-build solutions for a specific product or service, that has the potential to be integrated with the company's product ecosystem. "We wish to collaborate with startups who have cutting-edge technologies in this space, which, when integrated with the Samsung ecosystem, can transform the lives of people, our consumers," said Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, Samsung R&amp;D Institute Bangalore. Samsung said it will also explore funding support to some of these startups to help them further scale their solutions. The company last week held a 'Startup Collab' event at the Samsung Opera House in Bengaluru where around 25 startups came together and interacted with Samsung leadership from its R&amp;D centres in Bengaluru and Noida, and its corporate headquarters in Gurugram. "Co-prosperity is one of our core values and we hope to play our part in enhancing the innovation ecosystem in the country, thereby powering 'Digital India,'" said Dr Balvinder Singh, Head, Open Innovation Group, Samsung R&amp;D Institute Bangalore. Samsung's engineers will also provide these startups with technical mentorship as well as guidance in protecting their intellectual property. A successful startup currently powers Samsung's local India app-store where consumers can discover and access their favourite mobile applications in 12 Indian languages. Another startup has powered 'Lock Screen Stories' on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. This feature has close to 30 million daily active users, said the company. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/dysons-futuristic-air-purifying-noise-canceling-headphones-are-ready-to-hit-the-market-from-january-2023/articleshow/96081759.cms">Dyson’s futuristic air-purifying, noise-canceling headphones are ready to hit the market from January 2023</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/what-is-chatgpt-and-how-does-it-work/articleshow/95994901.cms">ChatGPT is a new AI chatbot that can find mistakes in your code or write a story for you</a>

Samsung invites Indian startups to build tech around UPI, ONDC and more

The CEO of <keyword id="1112419" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Stayzilla">Stayzilla</keyword>, an online home-stay aggregator, was locked up in a Chennai jail on March 14 by the Chennai police on charges of ‘fraud’. 
 
This comes after the dismal news of the company shutting shop, recently to “reboot its operations” after the founders decided that their business model wasn’t working, despite 12 years of operations. 
 According to reports, C.S Aditya of Jig Saw Solution and Advertising, who filed a criminal case against Mr. <keyword id="4296642" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="vasupal">Vasupal</keyword>, which lead to the arrest, says there have been massive bills amounting to more than 1 crore pending, generated over a period of about 12-13 months. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/indian-travelers-think-that-rear-seat-kickers-are-the-most-annoying-co-passengers/articleshow/57686140.cms">ALSO READ: Indian travelers think that rear-seat kickers are the most annoying co-passengers</a> 
 <keyword id="160350" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sanjay-Mehta">Sanjay Mehta</keyword>, a prolific angel investor spoke to <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> regarding how Stayzilla could’ve avoided this unfavorable situation,”When start-ups get funded heavily, they make the mistake of focusing on growth instead of basic business mathematics. This is clear case of mismanagement on the founders end where they could’ve easily predicted the bad situation.” 
 
He further adds, “When a startup is shutting down or revamping, it’s the founder’s responsibility to inform and settle all the stakeholders; the employees, the investors and the clients. Their announcements led to the media agency to react in a negative manner as they were afraid that they’ll never get back their dues.’’ 
 The real big flaw is IN the government’s <keyword id="3003094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startup-India">Startup India</keyword> plan which still hasn’t accounted for the high failure rate of <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword>. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/these-new-linkedin-features-will-increase-your-chances-of-landing-a-new-job/articleshow/57652542.cms">ALSO READ: These new LinkedIn features will increase your chances of landing a new job</a> 
 
We are standing at the cusp of a huge social problem, where we want immense growth from companies but when many of the companies fail in this blind pursuit of growth, not matching the infrastructure, judiciary or the police are left to cope with it. 
 <keyword id="6530028" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kris-Gopalakrishnan">Kris Gopalakrishnan</keyword>, Chairman, <keyword id="4303276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cii-start-up-council">CII Start-up Council</keyword> issued an official statement today, saying “The legal developments around <keyword id="6528392" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yogendra-Vasupal">Yogendra Vasupal</keyword>, founder of Stayzilla is disturbing. The nature of the accusation invoked against Stayzilla, i.e. non-payment of dues essentially falls in the domain of civil disputes and not under criminal charges, unless it is done with an intent of cheating. Start-ups are prone to all kind of financial vulnerabilities/stress as like any other business, and such examples of criminal proceedings against start-ups create fear in the minds of aspiring entrepreneurs in the country. Start-ups which fail should ideally be treated by a separate “exit/bankruptcy law” or “civil laws”, and not “criminal laws”, which is also in line with the goal of Start-up India.” 
 
When the laws aren’t clear around disruptive companies, they will always be subdued and held accountable to ‘criminal’ acts they didn’t commit. 
 
Yogendra Vasupal’s <a href="https://medium.com/@4091/help-i-need-everybody-52d0adcb1f09#.cgbbfp9ph">Medium post</a> concludes with, “I have always quietly felt that all knowledge/IT/BPO workers in Bangalore are only looked at as a source of revenue which can be gotten by shaking them down. This is across all Govt Depts. This is while we pay and bring in the bulk of the taxes to the city. We have no one to blame except our own apathy.” 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/this-is-what-the-worlds-largest-cruise-ship-symphony-of-the-seas-will-look-like/articleshow/57630723.cms?format=slideshow">ALSO READ: This is what the world's largest cruise ship Symphony of the Seas, will look like</a> 
 
The future of the Indian startup ecosystem looks bleak with investors being more cautious before investing, good talent avoiding new businesses and vendors being afraid of non-payment of dues, after such cases. 
 
For the Indian entrepreneur who fails, the odds are stacked high against him with authorities untrusting of the new businesses and their shiny advertising boards that are put down, as brutally as his position in the society.

The Stayzilla fiasco
is an ugly heads-up of the future of the Indian startup ecosystem

Go be ‘social’ and reach out to people – that’s the mantra every netizen follows nowadays. But on the traditional <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword>, you are not meeting <keyword id="119302" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="strangers">strangers</keyword> per se as we do in prep schools. You are not among a bunch of strangers, thrown together for a common purpose, as it happens in school or workplace. Instead, you scan profiles and make a conscious decision before connecting. But that kind of approach actually keeps you confined within an extended circle, curated by your requirements and parameters. So chances are you are not reaching out to interesting strangers – <keyword id="1322697" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="like-minded-people">like-minded people</keyword> with whom you can share your thoughts and ideas. 
 In an ideal situation, your ideas, and not who you are, should generate <keyword id="1991589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Networking-interests">networking interests</keyword>. And when that happens, strangers do find it worthwhile to connect with each other. The shared passion for a particular interest often brings people together and a Mumbai-based start-up has just built an all-new <keyword id="6354615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-network">social network</keyword> around that concept. 
 <keyword id="1991577" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Treetins-com">Treetins.com</keyword> promotes <keyword id="1991606" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Positive-interactions-between-strangers">positive interactions between strangers</keyword> while users can remain completely anonymous. The platform is quite unique, an ingenious mix of <keyword id="279713" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tumblr">Tumblr</keyword> and <keyword id="135163" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="chatroulette">Chatroulette</keyword> (minus the audio and the webcam), which allows you to post all sorts of content, based on which people may decide to connect with you. <keyword id="725308" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="anonymity">Anonymity</keyword> is strictly maintained here, not only to ensure enhanced security but also to provide users with the kind of comfort level people look forward to when <keyword id="1991616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Conversing-with-strangers">conversing with strangers</keyword>. Feeling curious? Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up's vision and viability. 
 
Who runs Treetins.com (https://treetins.com/): A team of four including <keyword id="36740" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="founder">founder</keyword> <keyword id="1991580" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Prince-Jacob-Thomas">Prince Jacob Thomas</keyword> and three <keyword id="382595" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="co-founders">co-founders</keyword> – <keyword id="1991582" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Aditya-Dhull">Aditya Dhull</keyword>, <keyword id="1991579" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mohit-Narwal">Mohit Narwal</keyword> and <keyword id="1991578" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chandy-Thomas">Chandy Thomas</keyword>. Prince, Aditya and Mohit have done MBA in Marketing from Christ University, <keyword id="6355033" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bangalore">Bangalore</keyword>. A former advertising professional, Prince had worked with Ogilvy and Creativeland Asia while Aditya had also been with Creativeland Asia. Prior to starting up, Mohit was with Dun &amp; Bradstreet and One97 Communications. Chandy holds a PG diploma in PR and Corporate Communications from Xavier Institute of Communications, <keyword id="6358070" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mumbai">Mumbai</keyword>, and earlier worked with organisations such as NDTV and Perfect Relations. Mumbai-based Treetins is the maiden venture of the foursome, all in their twenties. The company was started in August 2013, but the <keyword id="766262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="social-networking-platform">social networking platform</keyword> Treetins.com came live only in December. 
 
What inspired the venture: The fact that the <keyword id="55618" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="World-Wide-Web">World Wide Web</keyword>, despite its immense potential, is not being leveraged to connect people who are totally outside each other’s orbit. According to Prince, people are mostly connected to their friends, family, colleagues or an extended circle. But there is no medium that connects people with complete strangers, in a free and friendly manner. 
 Another trigger is the immense potential when one meets new people and connects over a <keyword id="1991587" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Common-interest">common interest</keyword> (the name Treetins is an anagram of the word ‘interest’). “Somewhere, we all started off as strangers, but are now living in a closed environment and not realising that meeting someone new could lead to immense possibilities,” says Chandy. “You can meet a life partner, a business partner or start a music band or form a group working for a cause. The Bombay Underground is a perfect example of this,” he adds. 
 
What’s the pitch: It’s a social networking space on the Web that lets you meet like-minded people, outside your existing social circles, without the stigma attached to meeting strangers. Treetins is the first <keyword id="6541953" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="online-platform">online platform</keyword> that lets you ‘bump’ into people, solely based on what you express or how you <keyword id="53203" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Converse">converse</keyword>, rather than who you are. Anybody who joins Treetins starts <keyword id="1991624" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Anonymously">anonymously</keyword> and that makes the whole experience more <keyword id="38894" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="secure">secure</keyword> and satisfactory. 
 
How it works: The social platform is still in beta, but when we checked, all the functionalities were working fine. Anyone can register and log in to Treetins.com anonymously, using <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>, <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> or e-mail ID. Once you are there, just click the ‘express’ tab and start sharing loads of exciting things – right from your opinion and blog posts to <keyword id="39862" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Images">images</keyword>, <keyword id="144248" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Videos">videos</keyword> and links. The content goes up on the Treetins page as <keyword id="30943" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Expression">expression</keyword> by a stranger, along with your location. If another member finds it interesting, he/she may want to ‘bump into’ you and start a conversation. To do so, the person will have to click the tab ‘converse’ and type his own comment regarding your post. That comment also goes to the writer as an expression from a stranger. If you accept it and choose to connect with the person, he will be added to your ‘bench’ and only then identities will be revealed. However, you don’t get to know much even then – just the stranger’s name since location is revealed by default. You can also delete someone from your bench but once that’s done, you can’t ‘undo’ it and add the person back. 
 
You, too, can browse through other ‘expressions’ up on the site and try to ‘connect’ with strangers in a similar manner. There is also a ‘share’ option (via Facebook and Twitter) to repost interesting content. Moreover, you can ‘invite’ people to Treetins but unlike other social media, invitees don’t get added to your ‘bench’ by default and the entire process has to be followed if you want to converse with them. 
 
Claim to fame: Treetins has introduced a secure and stranger-friendly platform for people to connect seamlessly and share their interests. The concept itself is unique and has the potential to go viral in an environment frequently plagued by online stalking, hacking and identity theft. 
 
Show me the money: The start-up is currently <keyword id="1991631" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bootstrapped">bootstrapped</keyword> and still fine-tuning its <keyword id="234340" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="revenue-model">revenue model</keyword>. The team does not want to divulge specific details at this point, but the firm is not looking at <keyword id="1049940" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ad-revenues">ad revenues</keyword> as its main source of earning (does it remind you of WhatsApp). According to the co-founders, new features are being added to the social platform and the company may soon adopt a <keyword id="1991632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freemium-model">freemium model</keyword>. Other online initiatives may include collaborative idea sharing and engaging the college crowd. Gaining <keyword id="900658" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="traction">traction</keyword> is another crucial area and Treetins is targeting the whole chunk of <keyword id="1991634" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-media-users-worldwide">social media users worldwide</keyword> – some 1.5 billion-plus people, to be precise. 
 Interestingly, Treetins has taken its ‘<keyword id="1991605" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Connect-with-strangers">connect with strangers</keyword>’ concept offline and launched initiatives such as ‘Hi Stranger’ photo project and another one called <keyword id="1991635" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Share-Your-Table">Share Your Table</keyword>, run in partnership with the <keyword id="34615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="restaurants">restaurants</keyword>, <keyword id="20254" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="cafes">cafes</keyword> and <keyword id="14564" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="pubs">pubs</keyword> in Mumbai. “It’s all about sharing your table space with a stranger in a crowded eatery,” details Aditya. “Most of the times, we don’t occupy the entire table, but don’t feel comfortable either if a stranger shares the space. We are endeavouring to change that and convince people about <keyword id="1991637" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Table-sharing">table sharing</keyword>. In that way, there will be optimum utilisation of seating capacity, better <keyword id="169305" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="customer-service">customer service</keyword> and <keyword id="1991641" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shorter-queues">shorter queues</keyword> outside the <keyword id="662020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="food-joints">food joints</keyword>. Plus, you get to make new friends and that is no small deal.” The programme is now active in 35 restaurants across Mumbai and the company is eyeing further expansion as it is getting loads of requests, both from restaurateurs and customers. By March 2014, Share Your Table may kick off in other cities like Bangalore and <keyword id="2094" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pune">Pune</keyword>, leading to more <keyword id="6399165" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="revenue-generation">revenue generation</keyword>. 
 “We will be working on our <keyword id="19705" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Products">products</keyword>, <keyword id="445843" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="customer-base">customer base</keyword> and <keyword id="232730" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="business-model">business model</keyword> till March next year and will approach the <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="investors">investors</keyword> for a <keyword id="1974977" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Seed-round">seed round</keyword> when these things are in place,” says Chandy. 
 
Biggest challenge: Introducing a totally new concept, especially something that people may not accept instantly, is always challenging. “We must create awareness regarding the manifold benefits such a network can bring you,” concludes Chandy.

Want To Bump Into
‘Strangers’ With Similar Interests? Check Out This Social Network...

Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we have a <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> for <keyword id="504808" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Foodies">foodies</keyword>? <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> hasn’t started one yet, but an Indian-origin start-up has come up with a social platform for <keyword id="2067882" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recipe-sharing">recipe sharing</keyword>. Meet <keyword id="2067846" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cucumbertown">Cucumbertown</keyword>.com, a delightfully simple <keyword id="2067867" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recipe-blogging-platform">recipe blogging platform</keyword> that connects <keyword id="2067869" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amateur-cooks">amateur cooks</keyword> and <keyword id="2067871" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pro-chefs">pro chefs</keyword> with the foodies of the world. On this fast-growing <keyword id="6354615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-network">social network</keyword>, users can publish their recipes without the least hassle and browse through the entire repository of <keyword id="2067874" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gourmet-creations">gourmet creations</keyword> and <keyword id="2067875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Culinary-delights">culinary delights</keyword>. However, it is the ‘social’ part that puts one’s <keyword id="1527920" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="cooking-skills">cooking skills</keyword> to test. There is a rating system used by the Cucumbertown tribe that effectively makes out whether a recipe is good, average or bad. 
 But what intrigues one most on this recipe <keyword id="1188271" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="publishing-platform">publishing platform</keyword> is the ease of use. On Cucumbertown, one can write a recipe in a standard format, add images/multimedia and upload everything with a few clicks. Once your ‘post’ is up, the social platform starts buzzing with <keyword id="824939" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinions">opinions</keyword>, <keyword id="6400508" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Conversations">conversations</keyword> and ‘<keyword id="31407" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="craves">craves</keyword>’ (similar to <keyword id="1110433" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Facebook-likes">Facebook Likes</keyword>). You can also follow your favourite cook/s and get customised notifications when content is published by your friends. Well, of course, <keyword id="629729" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Epicurious">Epicurious</keyword> has it all, but Cucumbertown is aiming even higher and wants to be the <keyword id="279713" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tumblr">Tumblr</keyword> in <keyword id="2067884" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cooking-and-food-space">cooking and food space</keyword>. Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs Cucumbertown (www.cucumbertown.com): A team of four co-founders, hailing from three continents (two from <keyword id="6355033" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bangalore">Bangalore</keyword>, one from <keyword id="57516" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Zurich">Zurich</keyword> and one from Pennsylvania). In fact, none of them had met each other during the build-up period. <keyword id="5645" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="CEO">CEO</keyword> <keyword id="326430" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cherian-Thomas">Cherian Thomas</keyword> worked with <keyword id="188699" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Zynga">Zynga</keyword> before setting up Cucumbertown in 2012. Other three co-founders include <keyword id="238078" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="CTO">CTO</keyword> <keyword id="2067847" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Arun-Prabhakar">Arun Prabhakar</keyword> who had earlier worked with several Indian start-ups such as <keyword id="736993" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="taggle">Taggle</keyword> and TutorVista; <keyword id="2067892" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chris-Lscher">Chris Lüscher</keyword>, founding partner at <keyword id="2067891" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Information-Architects">Information Architects</keyword>, one of the world’s leading design firms, and <keyword id="2067853" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Dan-Hauk">Dan Hauk</keyword>, <keyword id="2067932" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="theme-designer">theme designer</keyword> of <keyword id="825836" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Wordpress">WordPress</keyword>, Tumblr and the likes. Dan left the start-up in August 2013, but still helps whenever he can. 
 Although Cherian calls it a labour of love, he is hell-bent on building a <keyword id="2067893" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="global-product">global product</keyword>. The Bangalorean has sought world-class talent and built a strong team – one that has a good understanding of the <keyword id="35145" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="global-market">global market</keyword> and is totally aware of the challenges to be faced. The start-up currently operates from <keyword id="108002" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mountain-View">Mountain View</keyword> (<keyword id="2379" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="California">California</keyword>) and Bangalore. 
 
What inspired the venture: Pure passion. A die-hard foodie who loves to <keyword id="9230" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cook">cook</keyword>, Cherian has always wanted to blog about cooking, but it turned out to be a cumbersome process. Creating a blog, <keyword id="97496" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Writing">writing</keyword> &amp; uploading recipes and putting up images/videos on the site require a lot of technical knowledge. That’s when he realised how difficult it must be for cooks and chefs who may not be tech savvy. “So I decided to build a user-friendly platform, contacted the best guys to help me out and here we are,” reflects Cherian. 
 
What’s the pitch: Cucumbertown aims to be the ‘Tumblr’ for cooking and food space. It offers an attractive alternative to posting recipes and food-related content on WordPress, Tumblr, <keyword id="58677" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Blogger">Blogger</keyword> and so on. The start-up provides an easy-to-use interface for publishing recipes – so that even an amateur cook can gain traction online and wow readers by sharing his/her culinary creations. “We all know what blogging has done to content publishing. Cucumbertown can do the same in cooking &amp; food space, and leverage the potential of <keyword id="1175407" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Internet-commerce">Internet commerce</keyword> in the process,” the CEO says. 
 
How it works: Cucumbertown is to cooking what Tumblr is to blogging and keeping things easy is the start-up’s USP. One can log in via Facebook or create a new account before using the site. Once there, you can publish recipes, upload images and search the <keyword id="2067873" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Recipe-database">recipe database</keyword> by cook, cuisine, course, <keyword id="493272" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ingredient">ingredient</keyword>, <keyword id="2067917" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Cooking-time">cooking time</keyword> and <keyword id="2067918" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Difficulty-level">difficulty level</keyword>. Search results can be listed based on relevance, popularity or comments. Publishing on the site is especially easy as Cucumbertown provides a plethora of tools, including a <keyword id="2067859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="recipe-editor">recipe editor</keyword>. Moreover, if a recipe is already up, you can post a different version, showing your culinary creativity. 
 
Claim to fame: Traction and global reach-out. The company claims it is one of the fastest growing food <keyword id="50752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Networks">networks</keyword>, with users from around 40 countries. And right now, it is eyeing further expansion in the US and Europe. Interestingly, Cucumbertown is one of the heavily funded pre-revenue start-ups and has raised money from the same <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="investors">investors</keyword> who had funded companies such as Facebook, <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword>, Zynga and <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>. Till date, the start-up has raised $300K in <keyword id="948731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="seed-funding">seed funding</keyword>. Its key investors include <keyword id="1452668" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="500-Startups">500 Startups</keyword>, <keyword id="2067923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Naval-Ravikant">Naval Ravikant</keyword> of <keyword id="1922133" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AngelList">AngelList</keyword>, <keyword id="2067926" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Farmville-co-creator">Farmville co-creator</keyword> <keyword id="2067925" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sizhao-Zao-Yang">Sizhao Zao Yang</keyword>, <keyword id="2067927" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Maneesh-Arora">Maneesh Arora</keyword> of <keyword id="1734576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="MightyText">MightyText</keyword>, <keyword id="2067860" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Richard-Chen">Richard Chen</keyword> (ex-Google PM), <keyword id="2067928" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sonique-Player-co-creator">Sonique Player co-creator</keyword> <keyword id="2067848" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Tabreez-Verjee">Tabreez Verjee</keyword> and <keyword id="2067850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mokriya">Mokriya</keyword> founder-CEO <keyword id="2067849" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sunil-Kanderi">Sunil Kanderi</keyword>, among others. 
 
Show me the money: As an early consumer Web start-up that emulates <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword>, Cucumbertown is yet to have a solid monetisation model. “In fact, we will look at revenue generation in 3-4 years from now,” says Cherian. “We are now following a similar model that Twitter, Facebook and others pursued, which means we are currently focusing on how the product evolves and gets accepted in the global market. That’s what our investors also want – once the product gets the final shape, money will come in,” he adds. 
 
Cucumbertown has immense growth potential though, as the food and cooking space is getting bigger month on month. For instance, in November last year, 41% Americans visited such websites, up 2 million in terms of unique visitors from October 2013. These numbers won’t go down all of a sudden and the start-up can expect more traction when it starts expanding this year. 
 
Biggest challenge: Scaling to <keyword id="6409094" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="International-Markets">international markets</keyword>, especially non-English markets like <keyword id="87" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Germany">Germany</keyword>, while maintaining content and image quality. “We are a small team building a very big product. So we are not thinking about break-even or revenues at this point. The <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> we raised would last for a while. Meanwhile, we must ensure that our users have the <keyword id="2067933" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="best-publishing-tools">best publishing tools</keyword>. That way, they will keep coming back to us and the <keyword id="1413000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="User-base">user base</keyword> will grow manifold,” explains Cherian. 
 
A word for wannapreneurs: If you have the passion, go for it. And don’t let failures discourage you. In India, shutting down your business may seem like a disaster, but things are quite different across the globe and especially in Silicon Valley. So many people have failed here, but they have found the courage and the means to start up all over again. Both our entrepreneurs and investors should grow a robust <keyword id="170907" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="risk-appetite">risk appetite</keyword> and must have <keyword id="2067937" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Risk-tolerance">risk tolerance</keyword>. Moreover, we should give our ventures adequate time, so that they can generate value in the long run.

This Social Network Presents Amateur
Cooks & Pro Chefs; Wants To Be A Tumblr For Foodies

For most of us, <keyword id="1829745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="thinking-machines">thinking machines</keyword> happen to be sci-fi stuff, but for those working in the <keyword id="107950" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence">artificial intelligence</keyword> (<keyword id="6355999" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI">AI</keyword>) space, that is just a ground reality. AI is slowly gaining traction among <keyword id="100363" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-entrepreneurs">Indian entrepreneurs</keyword> and a handful of companies are already working on one product or the other, targeting specific segments. But here is one brand new <keyword id="6404679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="start-up">start-up</keyword> which is hoping to open up this field and make it super easy for <keyword id="6357020" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="developers">developers</keyword> to <keyword id="1973991" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Incorporate-AI-components">incorporate AI components</keyword> in their apps as per their requirements. Chennai-based <keyword id="1973988" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mad-Street-Den">Mad Street Den</keyword> (interestingly, ‘<keyword id="6707506" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mad">MAD</keyword>’ stands for <keyword id="1973989" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mind-Abled-Devices">Mind Abled Devices</keyword>) will be offering easy-to-access <keyword id="1973997" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-solutions">AI solutions</keyword> via a Cloud-based platform, thus delivering intelligence to the world, on a broad scale. The <keyword id="1974000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="IA-stack">IA stack</keyword> comprises <keyword id="1974001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sensory-processing-layers">sensory processing layers</keyword>, as well as <keyword id="1974004" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Contextual-binding-layers">contextual binding layers</keyword>, and aims to deliver three categories of <keyword id="1974005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumer-experiences">consumer experiences</keyword>. 
 But that does not mean lack of more intriguing products on the part of the start-up. Mad Street Den is all about intelligent innovation and the company is working intensely on a series of products using vision, speech and touch-based processing (among others), aiming to cater to verticals like <keyword id="6357332" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="gaming">gaming</keyword> and <keyword id="4578" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="entertainment">entertainment</keyword>, <keyword id="6354750" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> and <keyword id="15482" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="lifestyle">lifestyle</keyword>, and <keyword id="6355300" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="security">security</keyword> and <keyword id="6359249" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="analytics">analytics</keyword>. Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up’s vision and viability. 
 
Who runs Mad Street Den (www.madstreetden.com): A core team of four including <keyword id="1718234" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Co-Founder-CEO">co-founder &amp; CEO</keyword> <keyword id="1973987" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Anand-Chandrasekaran">Anand Chandrasekaran</keyword>. Anand holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Madras and a PhD in Neuroscience from <keyword id="503459" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Baylor-College-of-Medicine">Baylor College of Medicine</keyword>. During his Post Doctoral stint at <keyword id="33081" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Stanford">Stanford</keyword>, he specialised in <keyword id="1974014" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Neuromorphic-Engineering">Neuromorphic Engineering</keyword>, building <keyword id="1974017" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Custom-silicon-chips">custom silicon chips</keyword> that emulate various regions of the brain. At that time, Anand was part of the <keyword id="10875" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="IBM">IBM</keyword> team and working on <keyword id="265122" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="DARPA">DARPA</keyword>’s <keyword id="1974019" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="SyNAPSE">SyNAPSE</keyword> project (for the curious, let’s tell you this project focuses on building all sorts of <keyword id="1974020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Smart-hardware">smart hardware</keyword> that emulate higher intelligence). 
 Prior to starting his own venture, Anand joined a Palo Alto-based start-up called Evolved Machines, Inc., as a research scientist and developed various neural algorithms that could connect to real-world sensory perceptions like vision and smell. “As part of Evolved Machines, I was involved in another DARPA project called <keyword id="1974022" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Neovision2">Neovision2</keyword>,” he recalls. 
 There are three others in the core team – another <keyword id="170488" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="co-founder">co-founder</keyword> who has some very useful experience in designing products that use the <keyword id="294572" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="machine-learning">machine learning</keyword> approach; an experienced and distinguished professional with a similar background to Anand’s and another expert who builds the kind of network infrastructure the company requires. Although development work started in March this year (a month after Anand returned from <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword>), the start-up was officially launched in August 2013 and has recently shifted its headquarters from Bangalore to Chennai. 
 
What inspired the venture: During his stint at Evolved Machines, Anand decided that he would work on AI projects of his own. So he worked as a <keyword id="17182" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Consultant">consultant</keyword> with <keyword id="1973986" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Zort-Technologies">Zort Technologies</keyword> for a couple of years while trying to figure out what to do next. 
 “Although building great AI is a good thing, we did realise that there were very few solutions in the market that would help create great <keyword id="1974006" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Consumer-experience">consumer experience</keyword>,” says Anand. “That’s because there is no unified platform that allows easy and cheap <keyword id="1974027" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Access-to-AI-elements">access to AI elements</keyword> – no suitable infrastructure for handling the requirements of the applications using those elements. So we decided to create such a platform. That way, we can build a whole new ecosystem for everyone who wants to create new experiences enhanced by AI.” 
 
What’s the pitch: Making machines more useful by making them a bit more human: Fun, intelligent and relevant. They will sense as babies, observe and play as youngsters, learn and change with you as they grow older. In brief, the start-up aims to provide AI support across three categories of experiences – fun and play, usefulness &amp; convenience, and helpful &amp; revealing. “Someday in the near future, we hope to bring everyday objects to life, not just the devices we use today,” the site notes. 
 
How it works: Mad Street Den is in the business of delivering artificial intelligence to the world – in varied formats and across industries. The primary product is a Cloud-based <keyword id="1974029" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-platform">AI platform</keyword> that developers can leverage to incorporate <keyword id="1973990" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-components">AI components</keyword> into their applications. This ‘MAD’ (Mind Abled Devices) stack currently focuses on <keyword id="1974030" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Vision-based-applications">vision-based applications</keyword> and delivers elements such as <keyword id="1974031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Facial-gesture-analysis">facial gesture analysis</keyword>, <keyword id="406688" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="face-recognition">face recognition</keyword>, <keyword id="1974032" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gaze-tracking">gaze tracking</keyword> and so on. However, the start-up will expand and diversify its offerings as the platform grows. As of now, the target sectors include apps, <keyword id="34609" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="services-industry">services industry</keyword>, gaming and analytics (imagine test-marketing a product and getting insightful feedback through AI apps that can decode facial gestures of potential customers and correctly surmise their reaction to the product in question). But in the next few years, Mad Street Den may also develop low-cost <keyword id="1974033" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Custom-hardware">custom hardware</keyword> to support its existing stack; create <keyword id="1974034" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="High-end-cognitive-hardware">high-end cognitive hardware</keyword> for big enterprises/software companies and finally make foray into <keyword id="62549" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Robotics">robotics</keyword>. 
 
“All these are in the pipeline and we intend to create more apps and new products by leveraging our own AI platform,” explains Anand. “That will further create new and wonderful experiences enhanced by our AI solutions and speak volumes about our quality.” 
 
Claim to fame: Novelty of concept and the tremendous potential are the key factors at this point. Very few <keyword id="770060" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-start-ups">Indian start-ups</keyword> are currently working in the <keyword id="1974055" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-space">AI space</keyword> and it could be the next big thing when Web 3.0 – widely assumed to be a combination of artificial intelligence and the semantic Web – finally arrives. 
 
Show me the money: Till date, the start-up has been bootstrapped and has not started earning revenues. As of now, the <keyword id="232730" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="business-model">business model</keyword> is essentially B2B, but Anand has high hopes about B2C earnings as the company is also building its own products. “We are a very early-stage company, completely self-funded and in the process of building our scalable infrastructure and our first B2C product (a game) by early next year. In fact, we will be demoing our prototype at MobileSparks 2013 in Bangalore tomorrow (December 14), he says. 
 “As we have many potential <keyword id="598465" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="revenue-streams">revenue streams</keyword>, it is a little difficult to gauge the market size at present,” he observes. “But it spans everyone – from the <keyword id="1974050" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="College-dorm-developer">college dorm developer</keyword> to <keyword id="1974051" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Small-product-companies">small product companies</keyword>, to service providers and <keyword id="163194" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="OEMs">OEMs</keyword> who want to enhance their offerings. Even <keyword id="1974052" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Large-corporations">large corporations</keyword> might want their own custom stacks and proprietary <keyword id="1974026" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="AI-elements">AI elements</keyword>,” he adds. 
 Although bootstrapped, Mad Street Den is not looking to raise funds just now. “We intend to work on our product pipeline first and come up with 1-3 more products by mid-2014,” says Anand. “Once we have the process in play and are getting considerable traction at consumer and enterprise levels, approaching investors will make sense. Also, we have gone past the incubation stage now. Neither are we limited to a single platform or product. Therefore, we will be looking at a very large angel round or maybe a small <keyword id="919124" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Series-A">Series A</keyword> within a year, depending on our requirements. Given our <keyword id="1974053" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="RD-requirements">R&amp;D requirements</keyword>, we would like to expand our operations to the US as well.” 
 
Biggest challenge: Competition is always there as several companies are working in the AI space – both in India and abroad. But the field is vast and almost completely untapped; so there is space for everyone. “Currently, there’s no delivery model like our Cloud platform, especially in the vision space. So that gives us some competitive edge and we are building the rest of the USP,” concludes Anand.

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