4 startups scaling up in India

Photo Credit: Mike

There are many Indias, they say. Multitudes live in tier-two cities and converse in languages other than English. The startups that make it to our list today have been quick to spot this goldmine.

Crayon Data

Big data startup Crayon Data got its third round of funding. The newest input is from Indian tycoon and prolific angel investor Ratan Tata.

Founded by Suresh Shankar and Srikant Sastri in 2012, Crayon Data has already raised US$5.34 million in three rounds of funding, with Jungle Ventures – to which Ratan Tata is an advisor – leading its last US$1.19 million round in February 2014.

Maya is Crayon Data’s flagship product. It helps banks, hotels, and digital media companies offer personalized choices to their customers.

Naaptol

Naaptol, a TV shopping and ecommerce company in India, has raised INR 3.43 billion (US$51.6 million) in a new round of funding from Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co, the company said today.

This is in addition to the INR 1.36 billion (US$19.5 million) it raised in April this year. The latest round will increase Mitsui & Co’s stake in Naaptol from five to 20 percent.

The startup intends to use the funds to expand and build its supply chain. It also plans to upgrade its TV studio to churn out more content in multiple languages.

MoveInSync

MoveInSync, a transport startup, today announced its launch in four tier-two cities, taking its services to over 15 cities in India. The four new locations are Jaipur, Vadodara, Barmer and Kochi.

The startup addresses the need for effective and safe transportation of employees to work and back. It carries 100,000 commuters, clocking up 20 million kilometers every month, the company said.

InShorts

Inshorts, a mobile application that offers the latest news in 60 words, has made its first move in the vernacular mobile market by launching a Hindi interface, the startup said.

Depending on the success of the Hindi version, Inshorts plans to expand in other regional languages like Marathi, Kannada, and Tamil by next year.

“InShorts is designed to make it convenient for the youth to catch up on important news items of the day and we are confident that our value offering would resonate with the 422 million Hindi-speaking market,” said Azhar Iqubal, CEO and co-founder.