The first two quarters of the year was notable for startups in India, but a recent report revealed that budding Indian companies received more funding in the third quarter of 2015. Based on a quarterly report featured by Your Story Research, Q1 and Q2 produced $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion respectively. But, fundings coming in from the third quarter rose to $3.8 billion, more than the two previous quarters combined.
Compared to 2014, there’s an obvious 200% spike from the investments recorded from last year to this year. This is due to the endless funding coming from Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists for nine months. They keep pouring money into Indian startups from their early stage to the late stages of their developments. In addition, the sudden explosion of mobile-focused and hyperlocal startups became a huge interest to many funders and even big companies willing to acquire their business ideas.
Inspiring and growing Indian startups today
Different Indian startups have been sprouting in the market yearly, offering new solutions and innovative technologies to the public. But, their business ideas require strong backing from other companies and funders in order to blossom. Business Today has listed down the top and “coolest” startups in India this year that will inspire you to build one yourself:
1. ShopClues – It’s an e-commerce platform that started in January 2011 (5 years) by three aspiring Indians (Sanjay Sethi, Sandeep Aggarwal, and Radhika Ghai Aggarwal). It has received funding of $130 million. But, its biggest challenge is “continuing to differentiate.”
2. MySmartPrice –A 24-hour smart personal shopping assistant. My SmartPrice also a five year old startup company founded by Sitakanta Ray and Sulakshan Kumar. It raised Rs. 80 million or roughly $1.23 million from venture capital funds.
3. Edureka – Started by Kapil Tyagi and Lovleen Bhatia in 2011, the Edureka is a virtual classroom that offers interesting and affordable learning to people worldwide. Angel investors funded the Bangalore-based startup with $250,000. But, they are currently struggling in including new courses while maintaining its high quality.
4. JunoTele Solutions – It started as a self-funded startup, but later on receiving support from Angel investors. The solution is known to help users (or consumers) pay services in real-time while enabling telcos to charge for small services efficiently. Today, the founders are in talks with few institutions to start their Series A.
5. Linkstreet Learning – Providing end-to-end technical support and backup in online education platforms is the specialization of Linkstreet Learning. Their goal is to make learning more personalized and entertaining. They were supported by Angel investors, but they are having troubles of going global and bringing in more businesses and enterprises on board their system.
Apple has bought more startups
While other startups retain their brand after getting strong funding, some are being fully acquired by bigger companies. One of which is the artificial intelligence startup that was recently purchased by Apple. A recent report revealed that Apple acquired Perceptio to boost the deep learning technology of their iPhones. “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Apple’s spokesperson said in an interview with Bloomberg.
There was a different rumor that the California-based tech company has also purchased British-based startup VocalIQ to give Siri a more humanized voice. But, the virtual assistant on their current flagship, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, already made a huge improvement. As seen on the comparison page on O2, the new Siri is now smarter and more accurate in taking requests, with the ability to answer quickly without pressing any button (just say ‘Hey Siri!’). We are not sure if they had applied any of the new startup technologies they have acquired recently, but so far Apple’s huge iPhone improvements are notable.
How do you project next year’s startup industry?
For more startup news and stories, stay tuned here at The Startup Journal.
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