It is only when one makes their way to the corporate jungle that is Gachibowli in Hyderabad from the humble lanes of Secunderabad — Hyderabad's lesser-known twin city — do they realise that the capital city of Telangana has left its twin far behind. We are even more convinced of this fact when we zip past suave high-rises, malls, urban eateries and independent stores of international brands while the lanes bustle with people who are out and about. But it is in these lanes that we see the twin cities' collective dream of being at the forefront of an IT and entrepreneurship revolution, coming alive. And when we finally reach IIIT-Hyderabad, on the campus of which T-Hub had set down roots three years back, we know that this collective dream will see the light of day soon. One of India's largest incubators, Telangana Hub, better known as T-Hub, is attracting and assisting start-ups, giving them wings to fly while nurturing their roots. T-Hub's CatalysT, a 70,000 square foot state-of-the-art building is where we find ourselves catching up with start-ups that mean business and hear from them how T-Hub is helping them carve a niche of their own in the space of entrepreneurship.
AdOnMo
Sandeep Bommireddi always knew that he was going to be an entrepreneur. Even when his first venture, under which he published designer books that featured success stories from corporates, failed to scale. Rajahmundry-born Bommireddi did not lose hope and ventured into the field of advertising. "With online advertising, like Google Ads, the fact that you can target a specific segment of the audience during a specific time and with a specific budget for it is amazing while offline advertising, there is a credibility attached to it which comes with scale and reach," he explains. In a quest to provide a solution which retains the advantages of online advertising while encompassing the qualities of offline advertising, AdOnMo was born. How can one forget the ads during IKEA's opening? Every area had its own minimalistic signboard which cheerfully greeted onlookers with a 'Hej' (Hello in Swedish). That was AdOnMo's doing.
"One bit of advice given to me early on was 'Don't think about guidelines, your job is to push them.' Even Uber was illegal when it started out," shares the alumnus of IIT Indore. And that's what they want to do, "Outdoor is getting digitised and we want to be at the forefront of this evolution. Our vision is to become the largest hyper-targeting and digital Out Of Home network," he says.
For more on them, click on adonmo.com
CricClubs
Of course, Ganesh Nallapareddy had to bring CricClubs to India, a country that reveres cricketers and considers cricket a religion. When Nallapareddy was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, he used to play cricket with the people around him. As the community of players kept growing larger, he built a software which people could use to keep track of schedules, scores and more. The solution was a hit and soon, he started giving it out to other cities as well. By 2014, it had spread across 90% of the USA. Just last year, USA Cricket even announced a strategic partnership with them and then, Nallapareddy knew it was time to win some hearts back home as well.
CricClubs came to India six months ago. "USA has more web users while in India, apps are more popular. So we had to add more mobile-friendly features and offer other customisations as well," says Nallapareddy. Their aim is to add more and more features to gain and engage more users. And because video is the future, they are also looking at live streaming, data insights and more. "We also sell jerseys and cricket balls. Basically, it's one platform that can meet all your needs when it comes to cricket," he explains. Countries, including Saudi Arabia, are interested in CricClubs and the start-up wants to explore their options with all of them.
For more on them, click on cricclubs.com
IoT Research Labs
Any service that increases efficiency, safety and profits is worth it. Which is why IoT Research Labs, which started in Bengaluru in 2015 and moved to Hyderabad a year after, has 70 B2B clients across India and Africa. What do they do? "We are an analytics-driven fleet management company which can help companies optimise their operations," says Co-founder Thanmai Deekshith. And how do they do this? They equip vehicles with sensors which monitor factors like fuel, temperature and load. "Depending on the industry and the problem they are addressing, we provide them with data, analytics and the right insights so that they can run a data-driven fleet and make all the right business decisions," he explains. The data helps industries tighten loopholes in their operations, thereby increasing their scope. Sectors like transport and logistics, cold chain logistics, mining and infrastructure, waste collection and more are on board and are making optimum use of their services.
The future for them is to get to a top position in India and then expand to other countries. "We also wish to improve the kind of insights we provide and add more and more sensors," says the co-founder who also adds that a lot of attention to detail has already gone into setting up the platform. With a sturdy team of 25 in place and directors which included a Harvard alumnus, Deekshith says that there is nothing really stopping them from achieving more and more in a short span of time.
For more on them, click on iotrl.io
Actlogica
Ameet Ayare loves technology. So much so that at the age of eight, he started writing codes. His wife Archana is one of the 328 qualified actuaries (actuary is a business professional who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty). When these two experts came together, Actlogica started. Simply put, this start-up helps companies make objective sense of their subjective data. For example, their FinFlo Enterprise for wealth management. "Through this, we are trying to help the market with sophisticated analytics in a simple way," says the Founder. Wealth management in the US and UK is seasoned business and has a checklist in place while in India, it is just growing. "The adoption of technology in the B2B segment is slow, while the B2C segment is leveraging it," he informs. "We believe that whether wealth managers like it or not, they have to change. They no longer claim that they are experts because their clients are sophisticated too," he explains.
They also have an intelligent software for life insurance companies which actuarial teams can use by getting on the software and use Actlogica’s UI to build a mathematical model for life insurance products within five minutes (it usually takes three weeks to two months). Despite these cutting-edge solutions, one challenge that remains is that companies are reluctant to get Actlogica on board but they do realise that, "we penetrate their core actuarial operations, so all we need is some big names to trust us," says Ayare, and informs that they are already in the process of getting them.
For more on them, click on actlogica.com
Monitra
Only a person acquainted with the medical profession knows how hard it is to get tests done for sporadic episodes like rhythmic heart disorders because doctors suggest that the patient needs to get a test done only when the episode occurs. For patients to wear cumbersome devices with wires that monitor their heart day in and day out is discomforting. In comes Monitra. A little larger than a band-aid in size, it sticks on to the skin and monitors the condition of the heart seamlessly. When it comes to the matters of the heart, one has to be careful and so was Founder Ravi Bhogu. He first gained experience in transmitting ultrasound, ECG and other signals through low bandwidth channels and worked at Global Cardiac Monitors. To learn the marketing side of things, he undertook an accelerated MBA programme from Cornell University and joined Biosense Webster (under Johnson and Johnson).
The entrepreneurial fever in him took over and he started Monitra. "The device picks up signals from your body, transfers the data onto your phone or a cloud and carries out analysis," says Bhogu, who shows us his own heart rate on his phone, which was being transmitted through the device he was wearing. "As the device is expensive, we kept it affordable by changing the sticker but reusing the capsule," he explains.
For more on them, click on monitrahealth.com
myGate
The moment we held the myGate device, which is a mobile phone with their software, in our hands, we understood how they bagged `65 crore in their most recent round of funding. Founded by those who have had experience in defense, myGate empowers guards at the gates with technology so that one can do away with the register and intercom method of allowing guests or delivery personnel inside a gated community. "We have a plug-and-play model where our executive trains the guard for a week, collects the data of all maids, gardeners, plumbers and others who work in the building — we are talking names, numbers, ID proof, picture and even the shifts they work in," says A Anish, who is one of the founding members, as he shows us the functions on the phone. One can even rate the maids so that others can consider the ratings while hiring them.
Can you imagine the scope of myGate now? More than 1,300 communities have, which is why they chose myGate. "In this era of urbanisation where e-commerce and cabs are coming home, this kind of authentication of drivers and delivery executives is the need of the hour," says Anish. Today, they have their presence in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune and Kolkata. "We are looking to grow 10x in the next year," concludes Anish.
For more on them, click on mygate.in
For more on T-Hub, click on t-hub.co
