- Startup in Bharat by Bhartiya
- Mysuru Techie Quits Job to Sell Grandma’s Cooking, Makes Rs 1.5 Crore in a Year
Key points:
- Around October and November of 2015, Murali said he thought of a business plan and discussed the idea of starting a food business in Mysuru with his grandmother Indiramma, along with aunt Usha and Sandhya. They agreed to support him in cooking meals and deciding the menu.
- From 15-20 boxes a day in initial days, Murali and his family started selling 2,000 boxes a week in Mysuru.
- Explaining how Food Box stands out, Murali says, “We provide online home-cooked food. A meal like Pizza ordered from Zomato or Swiggy will cost you anywhere around Rs 400. But we provide enough quantity of food in one meal for Rs 80.”
- The business, which began with no investment other than buying groceries for the initial weeks and zero profits for six months, now makes a revenue of about Rs 1.5 Crore a year.
(The Better India, 7 October 2020) News Link
- [Product Roadmap] How edtech startup PlayShifu is constantly innovating to create new AR experiences for children
Key points:
- PlayShifu, which uses Augmented Reality (AR) to provide educational games for kids, has seen a phenomenal growth since the lockdown began. Between March and April this year, the startup witnessed 20 percent surge in demand for its smart toys, and the educational toys category saw a 200 percent growth. Overall, PlayShifu saw a 300 percent increase in demand for its products.
- In the last two and a half years, the US and Bengaluru-based startup, with a core product team of 50 people, has created 12 products with unique phygital (physical+digital) interactions. These products are designed for kids aged between 4-12 years and helps them build STEM and other foundational skills such as critical thinking, engineering, and geography.
- Since PlayShifu’s product interactions are a mix of physical and digital, the team drives a lot of variability and adaptability using Machine Learning (ML). Vivek says the team works to have complete control on the customisability in terms of difficulty of the puzzles or questions, progression, speed, characters, music, animations, and sound effects in the game
(Your Story, 7 October 2020) News Link
- [Startup Bharat] Bhopal-based Bistar Hostels has taken an unconventional route to promote local tourism
Key points:
- Started in 2019, Bistar Hostels operates with the desire to promote tourism in an unconventional way by creating awareness about a location and marketing its existing values.
- With a desire to increase tourism in an unconventional way, the startup runs a hostel facility and is also creating awareness about the location by promoting its existing values. Bistar also promotes slow travel, which involves travelling for a prolonged period of time at a slow pace, allowing the tourist to get an authentic and cultural experience.
- Bistar Hostel has different types of rooms available, including the female dormitory, mixed dorms, and private suites. The room rates are priced between Rs 599 and Rs 1,799, including breakfast and beverages.
- However, apart from the indoor hospitality services, the team offers other services like taking its customers around the city. With three people working on the brand and three others for the housekeeping, the startup also offers a customised itinerary to its customers.
(Your Story, 7 October 2020) News Link
- Why every picture on Picxy stock images tells an Indian story
Key points:
- How often have you rummaged through the internet for quality Indian stock photos, only to be disappointed with the results? Jitendra Emmani turned this market gap into an opportunity by launching Picxy, a stock photo company that focuses solely on Indian images.
- Picxy offers highly contextual, editorial, and commercial stock images related to different occasions, festivals, and places in India, and is hailed as Southeast Asia’s largest stock photo company. Its customers range from advertising agencies, corporates, startups, and digital media houses, to even individual bloggers.
- Today, the startup claims to have around 25,000 photographers in its platform and stock images of 1.1 million.
- In the next year, the startup plans to increase its database to five million images through a community of 1,00,000 photographers, and also expand its offerings to stock videos and vectors.
- During the same time, it raised an angel round of $1,20,000 from angel investors BYJU’S CPO Ranjith Radhakrishnan; Aakrit Vaish, CEO of Jio Haptik; Angellist India, and FirstCheque, among others.
(Your Story, 7 October 2020) News Link
- दिल्ली: लॉकडाउन में पति की नौकरी गई, तो कार को स्टॉल बना पत्नी बेचने लगीं बिरयानी
Key points:
- रजनी और उनके पति दिल्ली में रोहिणी कोर्ट के पास बिरयानी का स्टॉल लगाते हैं। दरअसल ये पूरी तरह से एक स्टॉल भी नहीं है। इन्होंने अपनी कार को स्टॉल बना दिया है। इसी कार पर रजनी बिरयानी बेचती हैं और अपने घर के खर्चों को पूरा करती हैं।
- रजनी सुबह 5 बजे उठ जाती हैं। बिरयानी तैयार करने में 4 – 4.30 घंटे लग जाते हैं। वह ग्राहकों को बिरयानी के साथ चाप और तड़के वाला रायता भी देती हैं। कोरोना संक्रमण के बाद स्वच्छता को लेकर हर कोई सजग है। बिरयानी बनाने से लेकर ग्राहकों तक उसे पहुँचाने में वह स्वच्छता का पूरा ध्यान रखती हैं। रजनी 10 बजे अपनी गाड़ी लेकर पश्चिम विहार से करीब 9 किलोमीटर की दूरी पर स्थित रोहिणी कोर्ट पहुँच जाती हैं। सड़क किनारे उनका स्टॉल लग जाता है। 3 बजे तक उनकी पूरी बिरयानी बिक जाती है। यहाँ भी साफ सफाई का पूरा ध्यान रखा जाता है। इस पूरे काम में रोहित पूरा साथ देते हैं। रोहित पहले कॉसमेटिक इंडस्ट्री में काम करते थे। नौकरी जाने के बाद जब रजनी ने उन्हें यह आइडिया दिया तो झट से तैयार हो गए। इसके बाद दोनों ने मिलकर काम शुरू कर दिया।
(The Better India, 7 October 2020) News Link
- From earning Rs 6000 a month to building a multi-crore footwear business on Flipkart, an Agra-based online seller’s phenomenal story
Key points:
- Harish Dharamdasani, a 30-year-old second-generation entrepreneur, runs a successful footwear business on Flipkart. His brand Layasa clocks a monthly revenue of Rs. 3 crore on the e-commerce platform. Unlike many businesses that are facing uncertainties as a result of the pandemic, Harish says he is positive about good sales prospects during this festive season. “Ever since the lockdown, we have seen an increase in our customer base. So we are expecting good business this festive season too.” His preparations to meet the rise in festive demand began six months ago.
- Harish says that the decision to start an online business on Flipkart has been a significant milestone that changed his life’s trajectory. “Today, I am happy and satisfied with the business I have built. I take pride in having won the Top Seller Award from Flipkart in Agra. But, my biggest milestone is that Layasa is a well-known brand. People may not know me, but they recognise the brand. Sometimes it takes decades for businesses to become a brand, and with Flipkart, I was able to do this in just five years. And, this is phenomenal according to me .”
(Your Story, 7 October 2020) News Link
- झारखंड: कारोबार बंद हुआ तो इस युवक ने कर दिया ‘मैजिक बल्ब’ का आविष्कार
Key points:
- कुछ समय पहले, दक्षिण पश्चिम रेलवे ने बेंगलुरु से मैसूर तक चले वाली 32 ट्रेनों में से 18 को डीजल से इलेक्ट्रिक किया है। इस पहल की वजह से लगभग 40% तक ट्रेनों की रनिंग कॉस्ट कम हुई है। इसके साथ ही, बेंगलुरु के डीआरएम अशोक कुमार वर्मा ने KSR बेंगलुरु स्टेशन पर इस रेलवे डिवीज़न का पहला वर्टीकल गार्डन भी बनाया है।
- बेंगलुरु डिवीज़न के बंगारपेट रेलवे स्टेशन पर रेलवे अधिकारियों और कर्मचारियों ने एक बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण कदम उठाया है। रेलवे स्टेशन की एक जगह को डंपयार्ड की तरह इस्तेमाल किया जा रहा था। लॉकडाउन के दौरान अधिकारियों ने इस जगह को एक नया रूप देने पर विचार किया और अब यहाँ एक सुंदर सा किचन गार्डन है, जहाँ कई तरह की सब्जी उगाई जा रही है।
- लगभग 50×20 फीट की इस ज़मीन को पहले नगर निगम की मदद से खाली कराया गया। कचरे को हटाया गया और फिर यहाँ पर गार्डन लगाने की तैयारी हुई। रेलवे कर्मचारियों में जिन्हें भी थोड़ी -बहुत कृषि के कामों की या गार्डनिंग की जानकारी थी, उन्हें इस प्रोजेक्ट से जोड़ा गया। यह ज़मीन भले ही कूड़े-कचरे से भरी थी लेकिन काफी उपजाऊ है।
- उन्होंने आगे बताया कि इस किचन गार्डन के अलावा भी, बंगारपेट रेलवे और भी कई प्रोजेक्ट्स पर काम कर रहा है जैसे ग्राउंड वाटर रिचार्ज के लिए एक जगह तालाब बनाया जा रहा है और रेलवे कॉलोनी में मियावाकी जंगल भी लगाया जा रहा है। “ये सभी प्रोजेक्ट्स अभी चल रहे हैं, पूरे नहीं हुए हैं। जैसे ही ये पूरे होंगे डिपार्टमेंट की तरफ से इनके बारे में भी जानकारी साझा की जाएगी,” उन्होंने आगे कहा।.
(The Better India, 7 October 2020) News Link
- Meet IIT-M’s Moushik: A Giant Leap on India’s Road to Tech Independence
Key points:
- Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras have created a completely open-source microprocessor, the first of its kind to be made in India. Moushik, named for its small size, is special in many ways and is a crucial step in our country’s journey to self-sufficiency in technology.
- A microprocessor, which can be thought of as a tiny CPU – tinier than the width of a human hair – has a wide range of applications. It is an essential component of credit cards, washing machines, phones, computers, drones, televisions, cars, elevators – pretty much anything that uses electronics for its functioning.
- At the moment, the microprocessors used in these products are made by private manufacturers from countries like the US, China, Taiwan, and South Korea. The problem with this is that they are black boxes, meaning their workings are closed to us at some level or the other. In certain cases, the architecture is known only to the designers. In others, the code through which the microprocessor controls the devices is hidden.
- This limits how flexibly we can use the processor, but an even bigger issue is the inherent security risk. There’s no way of knowing if any information is being collected or how secure the software is against hacking. A bad idea, especially when it comes to sensitive devices like credit cards, surveillance equipment and military devices.
- Moushik removes these concerns by being open-source. Even its communication in 1s and 0s with the machines it controls is entirely transparent – written in an internationally understood machine assembly language called RISC-V. Moushik’s transparency makes it super-safe for anyone to use.
- Moushik’s openness, flexibility, and low cost make it ideal for startups and student projects, as well as industrial applications.
(The Better India, 7 October 2020) News Link
Arise Bharat 