Start-Ups

Microsoft launched a new initiative called Microsoft AI Innovate on Wednesday for nurturing and scaling startups that use artificial intelligence (AI). The 10-week project will assist startups in India that are leveraging AI technology by helping them in scaling operations, driving innovation, and developing industry expertise. This programme’s quarterly batches are open to both B2B and B2C companies from a variety of industries, including financial services, healthcare, education, agriculture, space, manufacturing and logistics, retail, and e-commerce. The launch cohort, which will be supported by TiE Mumbai, will begin in November…

Yellow.ai, a conversational CX automation startup, has witnessed a significant increase in clients during the pandemic, according to Raghu Ravinutala, the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer.Yellow.ai has 60% of its customers in India including Mi, Food Panda, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Byju’s, Adani Capital, Sephora, Renault, and Siemens. “Before the start of the pandemic, we had about 100 customers. Over the last 18 months, we have seen the customers grow from 100 to about 900,” Ravinutala said. “Our technology almost became a must-have solution during the pandemic. There was…

Edtech startup ConveGenius secured $5 million investment in a funding round led by BAce Capital, Heritas Capital and 3Lines Venture Capital to expand its product range and also to launch conversational AI platform, ConveGenius AI in India and global markets. Founded in 2013 by Jairaj Bhattacharya and Shashank Pandey, the edutainment startup plans to scale its vision beyond education to all knowledge services and expand globally, targeting 1 Bn households globally, with ConveGeniusAI platform. The startup intends to develop its product portfolio on the WhatsApp ecosystem and other conversational AI-…

Onato, a fresh fruit supply chain startup based in Bengaluru, has raised $2.2 million in a seed round headed by Vertex Ventures. Agritech investor omnivore also participated in the round. Onato is a developing a digital platform to address inefficiencies in fresh produce supply networks founded in 2021 by Vedant Katiyar and Ashish Jindal. Jinesh Shah, a managing partner of Omnivore, said, “Onato’s well-crafted digital intervention and robust fulfilment process are easing the burden of credit in the supply chain. The startup is also solving the issue of income instability…

OPPO’s India entity has launched an accelerator program named Elevate to promote technology and innovation’ by engaging with early-stage startups in the country. The Chinese consumer electronics giant expects that by launching the initiative, it would be able to drive innovation in India and mentor startups that will bring about significant technological breakthroughs in the sector of consumer electronics. The program is focused on startups in the field of image processing, battery tech, network systems, payments, AI, gaming, etc. It also collaborates with the governments of Kerala and Telangana, as…

Crypto asset startup Mudrex, has introduced ‘Coin Sets,’ a mutual-fund-like crypto investment product aimed at retail investors. Nexus Venture Partners and Y Combinator have invested in the Bengaluru and San Francisco-based venture. Mudrex, which was founded in 2018 by Edul Patel, Rohit Goyal, Alankar Saxena, and Prince Arora, helps to streamline crypto investing for retail investors by packaging crypto tokens in a manner comparable to current investment products such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Coin Sets are ‘baskets’ that include several crypto tokens that all fit under a specific…

SaaS Labs, a cloud-based automation startup, has secured $17 million (about Rs 125 crore) in its initial investment round from Base 10 Partners and Eight Roads Ventures. According to a statement issued by the firm on Monday, the investment will be used to increase the customer base and hire talent, as well as for product development and enhancing service delivery. Gaurav Sharma founded SaaS Labs in 2016 to create efficiency and business process automation tools for small businesses. The Noida-based company creates solutions for sales, customer service, and marketing teams,…