The Indian tech startup space is bustling with innovation right now. From apps to services, and even hardware, India is now home to some of the world’s most exciting, new technology products. Here are 20 Indian startups that are betting big on technology to realise their dreams and create unconventional products and services.
Cardiac Design Labs
Winner of Google’s Grand Jury prize at the Startup India Launchpad, Bengaluru-based Cardiac Design Labs is a healthcare tech startup, on its way to great glory. The startup aims at solving one of the most crucial health problems, not only in India, but also the world. Their flagship device, a Mobile Intelligent Remote Cardiac Monitor or MIRCaM, is an affordable cardiac monitoring system that comprises of a body unit, patient’s bedside unit, doctor’s terminal and doctor’s mobile app. The MIRCaM is capable of providing real-time patient alerts in the form of mobile notifications to doctors and hospitals. It’s portable and is best for post-operative monitoring at home. Cardiac Design Labs was founded by Anand Madanagopal, a graduate from BITS-Pilani, who formerly worked with Tata Elxsi. MIRCaM is Madanagopal’s brainchild, as he looks to make cardiac care more affordable and accessible in India.
Biomatiques
Biomatiques Identification Solutions recently made the cut for Government of India’s Rs. 10,000-crore ‘fund of funds’ for Indian startups. Biomatiques bagged the number 3 spot in the list of 88 startups benefiting from the enormous fund. Their forte – Iris Recognition Technology. Established in 2012, the startup brought in the wave of iris recognition tech to India.
Biomantiques’ India made iris scanners were widely used during Aadhar card registrations. They are also the only company to receive the Standardization, Testing & Quality Certification (STQC) from the Department of Electronics & Technology (DeitY). Housed in Surat, Gujarat, Biomatiques has a range of iris recognition devices under its belt. The startup has had a turnover of Rs.10 Crore till date, with more government tie-ups in the pipeline.
BECK
Marrying technology and logistics, BECK Technology Ventures is a startup looking to disrupt the global logistics market by helping its users send anything anywhere economically, with a community-led approach. While BECK Instant Delivery is an app-based service that gives users the comfort of same-day deliveries within city limits, BECKFriends.com is a peer-to-peer delivery service allowing one to earn actual money while travelling and delivering packages. Everything, from putting up a shipment request, to connecting the sender to the traveler, to building of sender and traveler profile and mapping routes is enabled by technology. Founded by Deep Malhotra, Mayukh Basu, Rahul Basu & Shikha Pandey, BECK is currently bootstrapped and self-funded with up to $200,000 in funds.
Bolt Auto Technologies
Founded by Satyajeet Mohanty and Ronak Kumar Samantra, Bolt takes the IoT approach and applies it to its flagship product – The Bolt Red Streak. Made for avid bikers, the Bolt Red Streak is a compact mobile charger that is not only waterproof, but also theft-proof. In addition to charging mobile devices, the Bolt Red Streak also tracks rides through the accompanying Bolt Riders App. It is accompanied by the Bolt Pocket, a waterproof pouch for smartphones, that’s also touchscreen friendly. Bolt is already clocking steady sales through both offline retailers and ecommerce websites like Flipkart and Amazon.
Jugnoo
Jugnoo has been creating waves in startup circles for a while now, and it continues to grow with great promise. Founded by IIT alumni, Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal, this smart auto rickshaw aggregator found its roots in Chandigarh, expanding to 30+ cities across India. Using the Jugnoo App, users can hail affordable auto rides at the tap of a button. It’s genius because customers can save up to 32% or more, compared to a traditional auto ride.
AuGrav
Taking the 3D printing revolution to the next level, AuGrav tapped into India’s obsession with precious metal jewellery, offering 3D printed customised designs. The startup works fast and has served more than 2000 customers via online, offline stores. Once a design is selected, customers receive a 3D model, after which AuGrav prints, polishes and hallmarks the jewellery. The final product is then parceled out through a secure, insured shipment. Moving forward, AuGrav is looking to present customers with an Augmented Reality tool for product previews. The startup is also piloting a ring with an inbuilt NFC chip, to connect with smartphones and accomplish daily tasks. Founded by Vivek Krishna, an engineer by pedigree, AuGrav has been up and running for 2 years and counting. So if you are looking for that one of a kind LoTR ring, this is the place for you.
MyPoolin
Mypoolin is social and group payments startup that made it easy for Indians to split payments for anything from movie tickets, to hiking trips, parties, gifts and more. In addition, the MyPoolin app takes away takes away the social awkwardness of asking friends & family to return loans. Over time, MyPoolin tied up with other successful payment startups such as PayTM, PayUMoney and Mobikwik. A success right off-the-bat, MyPoolin raised initial capital from the likes of Google India MD, Rajan Anandan. The startup is a dual effort by Delhiites Ankit Singh and Rohit Taneja, who managed to earn a revenue of `10 lakh, in the first four months of the app’s launch.
Mukunda Foods
Imagine a perfectly rolled, crispy dosas, made effortlessly in seconds. With Mukunda Foods’ Dosamatic, you get exactly that! Designed by two friends, Eshwar Vikas & Sudeep Sabat, Dosamatic is a machine that automatically rolls and dispenses dosas. Users can set their preferred dosa thickness and press a single button to get the process started. All you need to do is feed the right ingredients into the machine. Dosamatic is now being used by a bunch of restaurants across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and NCR. What’s more? Even the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, enjoyed Dosamatic’s crispy offerings on their India visit. Sounds Dosalicious!
Trak N Tell
Think IoT solutions for cars and bikes, think Trak N Tell. A startup based out of Gurgaon, Trak N Tell recently secured funding from Brian Acton, Co-Founder of WhatsApp. Owing to the advancements in the Internet of Things, the startup aims at creating intelligent devices for Machine-to-Machine communications. The company’s most recent product is a GPS device known as Intelli7. Intelli7 is manufactured in India and enables car owners to remotely track their vehicles. In case of theft, vehicles can even be immobilised remotely by simply tapping a button on the accompanying smartphone app. The app also relays vehicle information, such as location, usage patterns, overspeeding alerts and more, to its customers via the startup’s cloud infrastructure. Founded by Pranshu Gupta & Ritu Gupta, Trak N Tell products are already available in 100+ store shelves across Delhi and NCR, along with Flipkart and Amazon. Trak N Tell is also launching in Bengaluru soon.
Hug Innovations
Imagine if you could turn up the volume on your speakers, dim the room lights, play console games, switch presentation slides and fly drones, all with the help of your hand movements. With the new gesture control watch from Indian startup Hug Innovations, you can do just that, and a lot more. The Hug smartwatch is the brainchild of Founder & CEO, Raj Neravati, who has more than 17 years of experience in the IT industry. The company has roots in the city of Hyderabad, while the headquarters are now based out of the US. The Hug smartwatch is up for pre-order right now.
Tesseract Imaging
No, this is not the ancient Asgardian infinity stone. Tesseract Imaging is a young and promising Indian startup which makes 360 degree Virtual Reality cameras, to map any room or location in 3D. Its two flagship VR cameras include the Methane 360 and the more advanced ViCam. With the help of images captured by 360 VR cameras like Methane, users will be able to do virtual walkthrough of houses, rooms and other spaces, without having to visit them in person, while cameras like the ViCam are perfect for those professional 360 degree videos on Facebook. From the fabrication of the product in Marol, Mumbai to packaging in Dharavi, Mumbai – the largest slum colony in the world – these are thoroughly desi-bred 360 VR cameras. Tesseract CEO & Founder, Kshitij Marwah, flaunts an MIT pedigree and is the brain behind Tesseract.
Uncanny Vision
With its deep learning algorithms, Coimbatore-based tech startup, Uncanny Vision, is changing the way video surveillance is done. The smart sensors deployed by the startup in its surveillance systems are capable of not only capturing video, but also deciphering them intelligently. One such system is deployed in Coimbatore itself, where it is used to keep a check on Elephants crossing over into public areas. The system, equipped with a SIM card sends quick alerts to relevant authorities, in case of a breach event. Amongst its client list are 5 Fortune 500 companies and many more smaller enterprises. Uncanny was founded by Coimbatore residents – Navaneethan Sundaramoorthy and Ranjith Parakkal, and besides video surveillance, the company also focuses its energies on robotics, Android apps and more.
FindMyStay
FindMyStay Findmystay.com is a three year old hotel booking platform, founded by Rohit Khetrapal and Simran Sial in 2013. The platform enables its customers to book (and offer, for hoteliers) rooms at the price they wish to pay, through a reverse online bidding process. The startup has seen more than 1.5 lakh bids on its website till now, with customers saving upto a whopping 50 to 70 per cent on hotel room bookings. As per FindmyStay, the cheapest a 5-star that has ever been booked on the website is for `1,900. The startup uses proprietary software and tools to map hotel inventory across India, with an aim to go global in the next 5 years.Findmystay.com is a three year old hotel booking platform, founded by Rohit Khetrapal and Simran Sial in 2013. The platform enables its customers to book (and offer, for hoteliers) rooms at the price they wish to pay, through a reverse online bidding process. The startup has seen more than 1.5 lakh bids on its website till now, with customers saving upto a whopping 50 to 70 per cent on hotel room bookings. As per FindmyStay, the cheapest a 5-star that has ever been booked on the website is for Rs.1,900. The startup uses proprietary software and tools to map hotel inventory across India, with an aim to go global in the next 5 years.
Faircent
FinTech startups are all the rage right now, and Faircent seems to be leading the rally when it comes to peer-to-peer lending. The platform helps people borrow and lend money, on their own, flexible terms. Founded by Rajat Gandhi & Vinay Mathews, Faircent boasts of more than 13,000 registered borrowers and 2500+ lenders. Going forward, the startup is setting its sights high, with an aim to disburse Rs.800 to Rs.1,000 crores in the next 3-4 years.
Empower Labs
Augmented Reality gaming is the next big wave and Pokemon Go has proven just that! Taking the idea of AR gaming forward, a fresh-off-the-block startup, Empower Labs, is designing its own AR offering – DeltaT. The startup has tied up with the creative team of the massive hit Baahubali for the trailers and visual creatives of the game. Delta T will become India’s first Augmented Reality MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), the trailer of which has already seen more than 4 million views. The game beta will be available this month (August 2016), with an official launch slated for later this year.
Revv
Smartphones and the internet have given many people a new source of livelihood. This is how two ex-McKinsey professionals, Anupam Agarwal and Karan Jain, started Revv. An app and web based car rental service, Revv helps people rent self-drive cars in a matter of 2 minutes! Revv users can even book home pickups and drops for the cars they rent. Revv’s business model is unique, as rentals do not include any excess kilometer charges or hidden costs. The Revv app is available for both iOS and Android users.
Buzzmeeh
One of the most common problems with owning a smartphone or tablets these days is the lack of repair/service centers for the devices. With an aim to solve this very problem, Delhi-based Puneet Gupta, bootstrapped Buzzmeeh, a one-of-a-kind doorstep repair service that offer exceptionally punctual services. Buzzmeeh was conceived by Gupta after his newly purchased smartphone contracted a software glitch. So, how does it work? Customers with broken, damaged devices can contact Buzzmeeh, after which technicians collect them from the customers’ homes. A standby device is also provided for the 24-hour repair period. In addition, the startup provides warranty on all its repairs. Founded in 2015, Buzzmeeh currently caters to Delhi-NCR, with an aim to expand its presence to the rest of India soon.
Swiggy
Founded by Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimani, Swiggy is a foodtech startup, with over a million app downloads under its belt. The startup works by delivering food collected from local restaurants in a user’s neighbourhood. Since its inception, Swiggy has set a monthly growth rate of 25 per cent and now has over 5,000 restaurants on its platform. With deliveries now open in all major cities, Swiggy is just getting swaggier by the day!
Live Braille
Navigating busy streets and crowded places is a herculean task for anyone, but, for those who are visually challenged, it is all the more difficult to steer through the complicated and busy environment surrounding us 24/7. Hopefully, a young entrepreneur from Chandigarh is going to change all that. The startup’s first product, Live Braille Mini, is a travel guidance ring for the visually challenged. Live Braille Mini uses ultrasonic sensing technology, combined with patent pending wave-tracing and intelligent measurement algorithms that precisely sense the direction, distance and texture of the object in the front. This information is then relayed to the user in the form of haptic feedback. Founded by Abhinav Verma, Live Braille has already tasted immense success with NGOs in India and overseas. The next generation of the Live Braille Mini will be capable of storing audio books, with 32GB of storage. Verma’s startup is in talks with governments from various countries for this, in order to simplify life for the visually challenged.
eKincare
Having to keep a life’s worth of health records in one place has always been a pain. But not anymore. eKincare is a Hyderabad based startup that uses cloud storage to file and maintain all your personal health records in one place. Users can upload medical records, which are then stored in a digital format on the eKincare platform. The platform also analyses health records to provide users with a customised health plan to keep fit. The best part is that the eKincare platform is completely free to use and offers unlimited cloud storage to users. Founded by Kiran Kalakuntla, the company is expanding their online and offline reach across the country.
This article was first published in August 2016 issue of Digit magazine. To read Digit's articles first, subscribe here or download the Digit e-magazine app for Android and iOS. You could also buy Digit's previous issues here.