SPOTLIGHT ON INDIAN ELECTRONICS Spotlight on Indian Electronics | Page 173

HIGH PRIORITY MARKET- IT
categories such as apparel and accessories.
ups in India in the next five years with a vision to
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JustRide, a self-drive car rental aggregator, has raised
create a viable and profitable business out of the
US $ 400,000 in pre-series A round of funding from a
booming start-up sector in India.
group of angel investors, including Redcliffe Capital’ s
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National Association of Software and Services
Mr Dheeraj Jain, which will be used to enhance its
Companies( NASSCOM) plans to open four more tech
technology.
start-up incubation centres in different parts of India,
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Mumbai based baby care and kids products e-tailer,
in addition to existing three, in support of Government
Hopscotch. in, has raised US $ 13 million in a Series C
of India’ s‘ Start-up India’ initiative.
round of funding from Facebook co-founder Mr
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Nasscom Foundation, a non-profit organisation which
Eduardo Saverin, which will help the firm in growth
is a part of Nasscom, has partnered with SAP India to
and expansion of its technology platform.
establish 25 National Digital Literacy Mission( NDLM)
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MoMark Services, a mobile based customer
centres in 12 cities across India, as a part of
engagement platform for small and medium
Government of India ' s Digital India initiative.
businesses, has raised US $ 600,000 from YourNest
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Infosys, India’ s second largest Information Technology
Angel Fund and LNB Group, to scale up its product
services company has acquired US-based Noah
offerings and talent acquisition.
Consulting, a provider of advanced information
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Shouut, a social discovery app by Giant Tech Labs Pvt
management consulting services for the oil and gas
Ltd, which helps consumers discover deals, buy event
industry.
tickets or redeem coupons, has raised US $ 500,000 in
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US-based Callidus Software Inc, cloud-based sales,
angel funding from a high net-worth individual angel
marketing, learning and customer experience solutions
investor based in India.
provider, has opened its centre in Hyderabad and also
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Apple Inc. plans to set up its first technology
launched its‘ The Lead to Money’ suite in Indian
development centre outside the US in Hyderabad with
markets.
an investment of US $ 25 million, which is expected to
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Wipro Ventures, Wipro’ s US $ 100 million corporate
create 4,500 jobs, as per Mr Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary,
venture arm, plans to invest in early-stage Venture
IT for the state of Telangana.
Capital( VC) funds based in the US to pursue a
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Xpressbees, an e-commerce logistics firm operated by
strategy of investing / partnering country-focussed
Busybees Logistics Solutions Private Limited, has
VCs.
raised US $ 12.5 million in a Series A funding, led by its
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A recent study by research firm International Data
existing investors SAIF Partners, IDG Ventures, Vertex
Corporation( IDC) suggests that India may soon be
Ventures and Valiant Capital, which will be used to
able to catch up with the global technology trends
strengthen technology initiatives and processes of the
that have disrupted enterprises, industry and the way
firm.
consumers behave and transact.
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Housejoy, an online home services provider, has raised
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Reliance is building a 650,000 square feet( sq ft) data
Rs 150 crore( US $ 22 million) in a Series B round of
centre in India— its 10th data centre in the
funding led by Amazon, and which also includes new
country— with a combined capacity of about 1 million
investors such as Vertex Ventures, Qualcomm and Ru-
sq ft and an overall investment of US $ 200 million.
Net Technology Partners.
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Intel Corp plans to invest about US $ 62 million in 16
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Global PE firm Blackstone Group has acquired a
technology companies, working on wearable, data
minority stake in an Indian travel, transportation and
analytics and the Internet of Things( IoT), in 2015
logistics software firm, IBS Software, for US $ 170
through its investment arm Intel Capital. The Indian
million, by buying the stake from General Atlantic and
IoT industry is expected be worth US $ 15 billion and to
few other shareholders.
connect 28 billion devices to the internet by 2020.
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India’ s top-tier IT company, Infosys Ltd, has bought a
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Indian e-commerce industry is expected to grow at a
minority stake worth US $ 3 million in Whoop, which is
CAGR of 35 per cent to reach US $ 100 billion size in
a US-based start-up that makes activity trackers worn
the next five years, as per a study by Assocham-Price
by athletes.
water house Coopers.
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Microsoft Ventures is planning to incubate 500 start-
Government Initiatives
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Some of the major initiatives taken by the government
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The Railway Ministry plans to give a digital push to the
to promote IT and ITeS sector in India are as follows:
India Railways by introducing bar-coded tickets,
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Mr Ravi Shakar Prasad, Minister of Communication
Global Positioning System( GPS) based information
and Information Technology, announced plan to
systems inside coaches, integration of all facilities
increase the number of common service centres or e-
dealing with ticketing issues, Wi-Fi facilities at the
Seva centres to 250,000 from 150,000 currently to
stations, super-fast long-route train service for
enable village level entrepreneurs to interact with
unreserved passengers among other developments,
national experts for guidance, besides serving as a e-
which will help to increase the passenger traffic.
services distribution point.
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The e-Tourist Visa( e-TV) scheme has been extended
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