Guwahati witnessed a dynamic 3-day startup event recently (Aug 23 – 25, 2023), leaving a lasting mark on the region’s entrepreneurial landscape. The Assam Startup Fest 2023 emerged as a source of inspiration and empowerment for the youth, echoing the spirit of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-Reliant India). This festival was not merely an event; it was a rallying point, uniting dreamers, innovators and visionaries under one roof. It celebrated entrepreneurship, startup innovation and the art of real-world business, setting the stage for a future where Assam’s youth transform from job seekers to job creators.

Over 332 startup founders, startup enthusiasts and aspiring entrepreneurs registered for the Assam Startup Fest, which was in itself a testament to the emerging entrepreneurial spirit in Assam. Among them, 296 startups took center stage, underscoring their commitment to innovation and growth. The presence of more than a dozen nationally and internationally renowned speakers enriched the discourse, elevating the festival’s purpose and value. Further, collaborations with 5 top startup investment agencies highlighted the festival’s investment appeal, amplifying opportunities for startups. A star attraction of the Assam Startup Fest, the Startup Exhibition, provided an enormous platform for about 105 startup founders to showcase their innovation.

The event unfolded over three captivating days, each pulsating with energy and insights. Following is a day-wise summary of the Fest.

Day 1 marked the inauguration of the Assam Startup Fest by the Hon’ble Minister of Industries, Commerce & PE, Shri Bimal Borah, and was graced by a few other dignitaries from the government. The Hon’ble Minister, in his address, expressed his appreciation for witnessing the exceptionally creative and innovative prowess demonstrated by the diverse participants of the event.

As the day progressed, a thought-provoking panel discussion on the “Sustainability of Startup Ventures” took center stage, featuring successful startup founders- Mridu Mahendra Das (Founder, Automovill Technologies) and Biswajit Dey (Founder, Drones Tech Lab). The discussion was moderated by Pankaj Baruah (IIMCIP Mentor and Former VP – Furlenco).

A significant highlight was the Powertalk by Pravin Agarwala, the founder of BetterPlace, Asia’s largest employee engagement SaaS platform. He engaged the audience with motivational storytelling, drawing from his personal insights and startup journey.

Beyond the insightful talks specific to the startup domain, the first day of the Assam Startup Fest also focused on raising awareness about the various schemes for MSMEs and startups by the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC). Furthermore, an interactive session was convened for the General Managers of District Industries & Commerce Centers (DI&CC). The purpose of this session was to sensitise the officials about the Assam Startup initiative and outline their vital role in bolstering the initiative’s mission within their designated districts. The day concluded with key remarks from Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal (CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park), who shared about the exhilarating journey of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park as a Knowledge Partner since the inception of the Assam Startup initiative.

 

Day 2 delved deeper into the startup realm, sparking a deliberation on “Embracing Failure in the Startup World”. The discussion was led by the founders of two promising incubated startups – David Gogoi (Co-Founder, Zerund Manufacturing) and Ratan Kumar (Founder, Encamp Tourism). The day also featured an awareness session on startup funding by officials from The Indian Bank, followed by a special Masterclass on delivering a winning pitch by seasoned investor and member of the Indian Angel Network, Hari Balasubramanian. The second day’s proceedings concluded with a special startup pitching session, Pitch Perfect, which saw 20 startup founders from the ecosystem pitch their ventures before a panel of top startup investors like Hari Balasubramanian (Member, Indian Angel Network), Pranta Pratim Singha (Chief Manager, Corporate Planning, Numaligarh Refinery Limited) and Prasanta Kumar Talukdar (Assistant General Manager – Investment, NEDFi Venture Capital Limited).

 

Day 3 commenced with an invaluable Powertalk on “Building an Effective Team While Scaling Up,” by the man who catalysed the rise of three unicorns in India, TN Hari (Co-Founder, Artha School of Entrepreneurship). The impeccable session was followed by a Masterclass on “Generative AI for Startups” by Microsoft India.

Apart from the talks and the knowledge sessions, the courage and efforts of 10 incubated startups were recognised in the form of the Startup Awards.

Awardees

1. The Next Gen Innovators: Deroi Innovations.
2. The Promising Innovators: Drones Tech Lab.
3. The Robotics Startup: Symbica.
4. The Food Tech Innovators: Sprengal Food Technologies (Darjeeling Momos).
5. The Woman-led Innovative Startup: TGG Technologies (ChfMart).
6. The Automotive Solution Provider: Automovill Technologies.
7. The Green Sustainable Entrepreneurs: Agrithink Services.
8. The Timeless Innovator: Axom Farm Machinery. 
9. The Consistent Performer: Zerund Manufacturing.
10. The High-Tech Innovators: My3DMeta.

 

The concluding day of the Assam Startup Fest also witnessed the introduction of Assam Startup’s new initiative – Campus Ambassadors – under which a student and a faculty member from each higher education institution will pick up the baton to encourage entrepreneurship within the campus. 40 such campus ambassadors, including students and faculty members from 8 districts were handed over the campus ambassador kits and encouraged to ignite the spirit of entrepreneurship in their respective colleges/universities.

The day concluded with dignitary felicitation, the launch of the Assam Startup Impact Report 2022-23 and the coffee table book – Assam Startup TrailBlazers, carrying the inspirational stories of 11 successful startups incubated under Assam Startup.

As the curtains fell on the Assam Startup Fest 2023, it left an indelible mark on Assam’s entrepreneurial journey. The event resonated with innovation, growth and entrepreneurial prowess. The Assam Startup Fest was a testament to Assam’s commitment to innovation, growth and the untiring spirit of entrepreneurship.

“The future of India lies in its villages,” said Mahatma Gandhi. A statement that was made in the 20th century has met with a practical epiphany like never before in the 21 st century. Especially the catastrophic effect of COVID-19 exposed the nation to the wretched reality of the rural population that migrated to the urban areas in search of better life and opportunities. A strong realization dawned upon the nation – rather than harnessing the rural population to develop the urban areas, isn’t it essential to take development to rural India? The good news is that the country has found the answer in rural entrepreneurship.

Recent years have seen a conspicuous surge of interest among startups to catalyse the development of rural India through innovations. These startups aren’t only augmenting the economic activities in the rural belts, but are also trying to bridge the gap between India and Bharat by enabling better connectivity and accessibility for rural customers to the best-in-class products and services in the country.

The Patna-based startup incubated by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, DeHaat, has been making headlines for effectively addressing the myriad challenges farmers face in the country. Its technology-driven platform not just offers end-to-end solutions to farmers, but also to the businesses connected with the farming communities. Then there is HESA, a Hyderabad-based startup, that is on a mission to ‘connect Bharat with India Phygitally’ through its digital interface that enables Corporates, SMEs, Banks, Government and NGOs to access rural India, for buy-sell propositions including brand promotions and social responsibilities.

Rural Entrepreneurship far east

Along with the rest of the country, startups in Assam are also coming forward with proactive solutions to address the challenges and needs of the rural communities.

About 12.5 crore small and marginal farmers in India have little or no access to financial products. With the Banks remaining risk-averse to sanctioning loans to the farmers due to the shooting NPAs, the farmers end up taking loans from local money lenders at exorbitant interest rates, resulting in debt traps and the consequent loss of land and property. Realizing the gravity of this challenge, the agri-fintech startup from Assam, Farmeasy Technologies, has built a digital platform with the brand name “Farm Infinity” (farm∞) that creates and records the creditworthiness of the farmers and allots scorecards against them for easy reference for the financial institutions. A digital creditworthiness scorecard is provided to each farmer registered on its platform, based on a proprietary algorithm that considers over 80+ individual parameters, over 600 data sets and 10 Mn data from the Government database. The financial institutions can use these scorecards to keep a check on the live profiles of the farmers, along with tracking the various parameters for better decision-making in terms of awarding loans and providing insurance products. The startup has, to date, onboarded more than 25,000 farmers from Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha and has facilitated 72 bank loans with a 100% recovery record.

While Farmeasy Technologies is trying to accelerate the financial inclusion of the Indian farming community, another Assam-based startup, Agrithink Services, is on a mission to integrate cutting-edge technology into agricultural practices to help improve yield and quality of crops and do away with uncertainties. The startup applies economically and ecologically viable technologies in the field so that farming becomes precise and efficient and demands lesser human intervention. Agrithink’s main product is a patented IoT-powered climate monitoring system called the Smart Micro-Climate Monitoring and Control System (SMMCS). The app-based system generates, monitors and stores data like temperature, moisture and soil pH, which enables it to favourably control the micro-environment of units like greenhouses, mushroom cultivation, agro-processing units, etc. All that one needs to do is log in to the app using a login ID and all the information related to the plantation is displayed along with an indicator for irrigating the crops. Agrithink’s other offering is an IoT-based Smart Soil Health Management System that makes the soil health testing and generation of reports easier than ever.

Then there is a startup, Aicheng Innovation and Research, that has innovated an integrated multipurpose reeling machine that has the ability to reel different varieties of silk. The patented innovation has been creating ripples for its game-changing potential to upscale the silk industry in Assam and the country as a whole.

Meanwhile, a startup named SelabX Systems is on a mission to make daily-use electronics products accessible and affordable for the rural population and low-income groups. The startup manufactures a range of electronic amenities using technology that makes them handy and affordable without compromising on quality. SelabX has devised a way of sticking to minimum components in building electronic products, discarding any additional gears, which cuts down the cost significantly, making it affordable and less power-consuming at the same time. The startup’s star product is its mini-inverter, SAHAJ, available at a jaw-dropping price of Rs. 899!  The inverter provides backup of up to 14 hours for a single bulb, which is almost 2.5 times more than the inverters available in the market. One unique feature is its easy serviceability, enabling users to replace an old PCB with a new one on their own, thus eliminating the hassle of getting a professional to fix it.

 

Rural Entrepreneurship: Navigating the Challenges

The innovations of these startups aren’t confined to their technology-infused products and services, but also extend to building models for navigating the implementation challenges typical to the rural belts. Despite a relative increase in mobile internet usage among rural people, it isn’t easy convincing them about the efficacy of technology-enabled solutions over the age-old modes and practices.

“Building trust among the rural customers is the most challenging task,” says Kaushik Hazarika, the founder of SelabX Systems. When he realized the futility of reaching out to rural customers through online mediums, Kaushik decided to harness the popularity of the local film community. He identified a few film groups on social media and started promoting his products there. The idea paid off well, leading to a sharp spike in query calls. The startup also targeted the local markets and exhibitions, with a decent outcome. While conducting extensive physical outreach isn’t feasible due to the capital constraints of being an early-stage startup, SelabX discovered the effectiveness of connecting with local sales agents to promote the products in their respective areas and villages. Though the startup has sold 3000 inverters to date, it is still trying to figure out a sustainable model for penetrating the rural market through a trial-and-error method.

Perhaps, SelabX can take a leaf from Hesa’s VLE (Village Level Entrepreneur) model. Hesa’s ‘hesaathis’ are microentrepreneurs from villages, who facilitate product browsing, purchase and financial transactions for the village customers – all through Hesa’s digital platform. Hesa’s success with the model corroborates the importance of building relationships, for businesses to thrive in rural spaces. Liaisoning and building a strong network of people from rural areas, especially those rearing an entrepreneurial mindset, can be the key to penetrating the rural hinterland.

Gunajit Brahma, the founder of Farmeasy Technologies has roped in an interesting category of rural influencers to reach out to the farmers and get them on-boarded on the “Farm Infinity” platform. “We are orienting the Directors or Group Leaders of farmer collectives to influence the farmers and facilitate their onboarding on our platform,” Brahma explains.

In most cases, rural folks get intimidated by technology. In such a scenario, it either becomes essential to revisit the design thinking chalkboard and simplify the product design, or leverage the leaders of different village-level groups and microentrepreneurs to influence and facilitate new product adoption by the villagers.

Agrithink Services has shifted to a B2B and B2G model to address the issue of technology intimidation among the farmers while trying to help the latter reap the benefits of its innovation. In fact, this has been the case with many drone-based and hard-tech startups working on agricultural innovations, enabling government bodies to implement the innovations for agri-automation and better yield.

 

Solving the bread-and-butter issues through Rural Entrepreneurship

Going by the trend, it isn’t surprising to see startups making a massive impact in terms of creating livelihood opportunities in rural India. Whether in steamrolling the first and last-mile access issues by creating microentrepreneurs; enabling farm-gate value addition by engaging rural women and youth in the process; or aggregating India’s myriad handlooms and handicrafts, the startups in India are creating income avenues through their ingenious models.

Bettering livelihood opportunities in rural India is strategically crucial for India’s growth as well as the fate of the country’s startup community at large. With 65% of India’s population residing in rural India, it presents a huge, untapped market that has hitherto remained underserved due to inadequate infrastructure and limited access to finance. Increasing the purchasing power of this segment entails a consolidation of its per capita income. And with innovative models being designed to address this issue through rural entrepreneurship, India’s optimum market potential is set for an unleash in the coming days. This will, consequently, encourage corporate giants and foreign multinationals to invest in the country in general and its startups in particular.

In recent years, the demand for 3D technology has witnessed a conspicuous surge, with its market size expected to reach $703.4 billion in 2030. While COVID-19 caught everyone’s fancy for a real-life experience of virtual shopping through Augmented Reality, it has further necessitated the use of 3D images in the eCommerce industry. The concept of the metaverse taking the world by storm is hooked on 3D modelling for enabling a realistic experience for the users. Further, the dependency on 3D technology in movie production, gaming, healthcare and architecture is undeniable. It goes without saying that experience-driven business is the future and 3D technology has to play a colossal role here. While the world is up on its toes to make the best use of 3D technology, here’s a startup from Assam, all set to disrupt the industry with its innovation that’s going to make the creation of 3D models as easy as pie.

My3DMeta has built a proprietary AI/ML solution that can instantaneously convert 2D images into 3D models in real-time. These models are scalable, accurate, affordable, and interoperable, which give them a striking edge over their market counterparts. A user can convert 2D images into 3D models in real-time and export the models to virtually any platform without having to incur an additional expense.

My3DMeta doesn’t confine itself to being a 3D model generator alone but has positioned itself as a one-stop platform for everything that has to do with 3D models. The platform offers a wide collection of 3D characters, pets and accessories for users to purchase. It further enables users to store all their 3D content in one place for efficient 3D asset management.

Apart from the interoperability of the 3D models, what gives My3DMeta a cut above the rest is the jaw-dropping accuracy of its 3D models. While most of the existing players have either limited themselves to the creation of toon replicas or 3D models with far-fetched resemblances to real characters, My3DMeta has carved a niche for delivering highly detailed, photorealistic 3D models with more than 90% accuracy. This could be attributed to its smart inception move in 2016 to start off as a company – My3DSelfie – that crafted personalized 3D figurines from photographs with 90% accuracy, eliminating the need for real object scanning. Seven years into the business, the startup collected millions of data points to build the largest library of 3D human and pet models, as told by the founder, Harsha P Deka. By feeding these data points into machine learning, the startup has built a sturdy AI algorithm, which results in the astounding accuracy of the 3D models, created in record-breaking time.

In 2022, My3DSelfie was renamed as My3DMeta and thus began the works to give shape to a comprehensive 3D platform that would enable the creation of 3D models at strikingly reduced time, cost and effort.

“In the first year, it took us 70 hours to create a 3D model from the design process. In the fifth year, the time taken to create a model came down to 5 hours. And in our latest version under My3DMeta, we are converting 2D images into 3D models in real-time using AI, without compromising a bit on quality and accuracy,” says Harsha.

What’s more, while a 3D model for animation will not usually work in gaming, My3DMeta’s patent-pending version assures that its models are operable in any format and across any platform – be it for gaming, metaverse, animation, 3D printing, etc. All these factors come to play key roles in drastically reducing the price of these high-quality 3D models.

“My3DMeta makes 3D modelling scalable, accurate and super inexpensive. So, what you usually get for thousands of dollars will now be available for $20,” Harsha elucidates.

“What Canva did for 2D, we are going to do for 3D.” – Harsha P Deka

The My3DMeta platform is slated for a worldwide launch in April, which is expected to disrupt the 3D industry at large, making 3D modelling easier and cheaper than ever. In Harsha’s words, “Designers, whether skilled or unskilled, can use our platform to create 3D models and make money out of it. In short, what Canva did for 2D, we are going to do for 3D.”

The startup has already inked commercial partnerships and POCs with Sony, InMobi, Samsung, MetaSky, Metasimz, Epoch Gaming and CRED. It has also earned exclusive licenses for Prabhu Deva, Mohan Babu, Bob Ross and Charlie Chaplin.

Harsha’s experience and exposure to the 3D and animation industries since 2010 lent him a keen understanding of the challenges of the 3D industry, which motivated him to work on building a sturdy solution. A graduate of Computer Science from Carleton University in Canada, Harsha had earlier founded a startup, Myware Solutions Inc., that predominantly focussed on game development, multimedia and design, 3D modelling and VFX. The exposure gained in terms of skills, experience and networking through his startup, laid ahead a path for Harsha to realize a pathbreaking solution for the 3D industry. Making My3DMeta see daylight demanded a highly qualified team. Harsha left no stone unturned to convince and onboard industry experts with experience in chairing key departments in companies like Walmart, Google, Embibe and the like.

With AI and ML evolving into building blocks of innovations in the startup world today, Harsha’s advice to the youth aspiring to build AI-enabled products or platforms is to hone their expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, or look for a co-founder with the expertise and having first-hand experience of at least 5-6 years. Capital, being a key factor in developing futuristic technology, Harsha recommends getting enrolled in good technology accelerators, which can provide support both in terms of technology and seed money.

In fact, Harsha’s own endeavours to scale and transition from My3DSelfie to My3DMeta were supported in the initial stage by the incubators he was a part of. While being incubated under the first COHORT at Assam Startup in 2019-20, Harsha was awarded a MASI grant of Rs. 15 Lakhs by the Government of Assam. In the following year, he received a seed fund of Rs. 50 Lakhs from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park – the Implementing Partner of the Assam Startup initiative.

My3DMeta, with its futuristic innovation, is expected to open floodgates for microentrepreneurs and give rise to a large community of professionals looking to build a lucrative career in 3D design. And with a man from Assam being responsible for ushering this global disruption, the amount of inspiration the youth of the state will draw from this success story of My3DMeta would be unparalleled.

Shopping for one’s home is as much about getting a wholesome experience as it is about making a wise purchase decision. In a bid to give a hearty experience of its aesthetically designed sustainable lifestyle products to the customers, the startup from Assam incubated under COHORT 3.0, Kraftinn, has opened an experience centre at Jorhat. “Most of the customers who come to us want to get a live feel of the products before purchase. So far, we have been able to achieve 100% conversion of the customers visiting our centre,” says the startup co-founder, Parikshit Borkotoky.

 

The entire store has been designed using treated bamboo, lending it a soothing earthy vibe. According to Parikshit, the centre will also serve as a demo store for researchers and bamboo aficionados to understand the efficacy of treated bamboo as a sustainable alternative for building materials and lifestyle products. It’s worth mentioning that this startup from Assam has taken space on lease at the Rain Forest Research Institute at Jorhat for its bamboo treatment centre which is dedicated to bamboo treatment and research work to unlock the scope of treated bamboo and promote its usage.

 

Hitherto, Kraftinn had predominantly focussed on online sales, with a few instances of collaborations with retail showrooms in Bangalore, Chennai and Guwahati. But the launch of the experience centre marks Kraftinn’s conscious intent to shift to a hybrid model. The startup will soon be launching a centre in Guwahati as well.

Kraftinn is driven by the greater goal of promoting sustainable lifestyle alternatives. This startup from Assam is slowly diversifying its offerings to promote its greater goal. In this line, Kraftinn has bagged a project of building bamboo villas in Kaziranga. The startup has built a team with expertise in building bamboo houses.

 

Kraftinn’s impact vision isn’t limited to promoting a sustainable lifestyle. Either directly or indirectly, it is also restoring the interest of the indigenous bamboo artisans of the state in the bamboo craft by pushing its viability as an economic activity. This startup from Assam directly employs 35 people and has created indirect employment opportunities for around 95 others in the state. If the startup forges a horizontal expansion as per plans, the number is expected to get a conspicuous leap.

Ahead of the International Women’s Day (March 08), Assam Startup and IIM Calcutta Innovation Park collaborated with 93.5 RED FM to host a special program – Sunrise Boss Lady – on March 04, 2023, celebrating the indomitable spirit of women entrepreneurship. The program attended by around 50 entrepreneurs, was augmented by the presence of prominent women achievers from the ecosystem, viz., Smt. Rosie Kalita, Superintendent of Police (Crime), CM’s Special Vigilance Cell; Smt. Suranjana Dutta, General Manager, State Bank of India; Smt. Rupali Kalita, MD & CEO, NESFB; Smt. Smitakshi B Goswami, Managing Director, Pratidin Time; and Dr. Nabanita Baruah, President, Indian Dental Association (Assam Branch).

The main highlight of the program was the felicitation of nine women entrepreneurs from Assam who have emerged as forces to reckon with in the startup and entrepreneurship landscape of the state, by dint of their impact-driven endeavours. Among the nine women entrepreneurs, five of them have been incubated under Assam Startup, viz., Daydeep Chetia, Co-Founder, Let’s Learn Together; Dr. Bijaylakshmi Goswami, Co-Founder, Agrithink Services; Kavita Verma, Co-Founder, TGG Technologies (Chfmart); Doyel Poddar, Co-Founder, Bikozee; and Dr. Geetima Deka, Founder, ShyamRenu Enterprise. Other women entrepreneurs to be felicitated were Mitali G Dutta, Founder, Food Sutra by Mitali; and Nandini Chowdhury, Founder, Libaas by Nandini.

 

The program was rolled out with the lighting of the lamp by Mr. Pranjal Konwar, COO, Assam Startup and IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. He went on to apprise the audience of the Assam Startup initiative and the efforts made towards encouraging women entrepreneurship in the state. This was followed by keynotes from the special guests, who let out valuable life lessons for the women entrepreneurs to claim their rightful position in society.
Further, the incubated startups led by women founders laid out an aesthetic display of their products, which were especially well-received by the special guests.

In the long run, this kind of program is envisioned to create a supportive community where the influential women of the state come together to pull each other up in their respective capacities. This will especially serve as a springboard for women entrepreneurs to break the glass ceiling and march forward in their entrepreneurial journey, unapologetic and unbridled.

Fintech startup from the first COHORT, HookoluPay, launched its Prepaid Debit Card at the India International Trade Fair 2022 in New Delhi last month. Founder, Aziz Ali, introduced the card in the presence of Shri Rajeev Chandra Joshi, IAS, Principal Resident Commissioner, Government of Assam, Assam Bhawan, along with the DICC team. The Minister of Industries, Commerce and Public Enterprise, Government of Assam, Shri Bimal Borah, also encouraged and gave a shout-out to the startup during his visit to the Assam Pavilion at the Fair.

A prepaid debit card provides an alternative to a bank account. One can load money on the card and then use it at the ATMs like regular debit cards to withdraw money or make both online and offline purchases from merchant stores. The card is especially a boon for those not having bank accounts, while still making digital payments possible. HookoluPay has collaborated with YES BANK to materialize the card execution.

Aziz came up with the idea of a prepaid debit card, especially for the tea workers of the state, who receive their wages in cash even today. The card would enable cashless wage payments, much to the convenience of the payers and the payees alike. HookoluPay also plans to target students and minors who either don’t hold bank accounts or do not have access to their bank accounts. The card could further be a boon for corporates, enabling transparency of operational expenditures.

HookoluPay is also planning to introduce a payment service without an internet connection through interactive voice response (IVR).

Agri startup, North East Farm Sales Promotion has been adjudged as the state-level winner (Assam) of the recently held MANAGE Samunnati Agri Startup Awards 2022. The startup has been awarded a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 along with a certificate of recognition. Founder Bhanu Pratap Singh received the award from Smt. Shobha Karandlaje, Hon’ble Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Govt. of India, during the award ceremony held on September 14, 2022.  

Over 250 applications were received from across India out of which 32 agri-startups were selected to receive awards across various categories, viz., National, State-level and Women Entrepreneurs.

North East Farm Sales Promotion offers on-demand processing and packaging services to the farmers from North East India, addresses their common branding needs and extends support in retailing, exports and institutional sales. The startup is committed to upscaling the livelihoods of women and farmers of North East India by obtaining GI registration for their unique products and then supporting them with new product developments as well as marketing those in attractive eco-friendly packaging all across India and abroad with complete logistics support.

MANAGE-Samunnati Agri-Startup Awards is a joint initiative between The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) and Samunnati to recognize impact-driven Agri and Agri-tech startups for their contributions towards rebuilding the agricultural ecosystem and supporting farmers through technological innovations.

Health-tech startup from the second COHORT, Qwkpro Consultancy has raised Rs. 1 Crore from NEDFi Venture Capital Ltd. Founder Biswajit Paul received the cheque from Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, during an event held at NEDFi House on 7 September 2022.

“We have expanded Quickobook to the entire Northeast, from booking doctor’s appointments and lab tests to medicine delivery, we have all the necessary services and now we have also launched surgery care assistance in Guwahati and Silchar,” Biswajit says.

The startup offers a hassle-free platform – Quickobook – that enables patients to book lab tests and doctor’s appointments online and live-track the bookings, thereby considerably bringing down a patient’s waiting time at the clinic. While its patient management software connects hospitals, laboratories, doctors and clinics with patients, the startup’s cloud server called QOB Connect stores the medical history, prescriptions and test results of the patients for future reference.

The funding from NEDFi Venture Capital Limited will be utilized to expand its operations to cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, etc. it will also lend momentum to its newly-launched Surgery Care assistance that encompasses services ranging from pick and drop to admission and discharge, claim benefits, and also in case of financial assistance up to Rs. 5 lakhs can be availed within 48 hours. 

Quickobook has on-boarded 5000+ doctors from North East India and has touched more than 6.5 lakh patients’ lives. The startup has employed 18 people under direct payroll while 2,126 franchise stores are working as indirect agents.

Earlier in 2021, Qwkpro Consultancy was awarded a grant of Rs. 9 Lakhs by the Government of Assam under My Assam Startup ID. The financial assistance catalysed the startup’s efforts for expansion across North East India as well as speed up the product development measures for its latest offerings.

The eco-friendly brick manufacturing startup incubated in the first COHORT of Assam Startup, Zerund Manufacturing, has raised Rs. 7.8 crores from a clutch of strategic private investors, including Dreamweaver Investments. The investment was facilitated by the Gruhas ASPIRE accelerator program, a joint initiative of Gruhas Proptech Fund, the DLF Family Office and Anthill Ventures. Notably, this is one of the highest amounts raised by a startup from Assam.

The startup was presented the cheque by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, in the presence of Gruhas Proptech Fund promoters Abhijeet Pai (Puzzolana Group), Nikhil Kamath (Co-founder, Zerodha) and Rahul Talwar (Director, DLF Family Office), during a ceremony held on September 7 at the NEDFi Convention Centre (Guwahati). The event was also attended by Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal (CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park) and Pranjal Konwar (COO, Assam Startup & IIM Calcutta Innovation Park).

Prior to the round, the startup had already raised Rs. 4 crores from various institutions, including NEDFi Venture Capital Ltd. (NVCL), Villgro Foundation, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (NIDHI EiR) and the Govt. of Assam (MASI grant of Rs. 15 lakhs).

The company will use the new funding to scale up its annual production capacity, which currently stands at more than 25 lakh bricks, and expand its sales and distribution network beyond the region to other Indian states. Currently, the bricks are sold across North East India and in Bengal, yielding a monthly revenue of over Rs. 1 crore. They are targeting boosting their annual production to 2.3 crore bricks in 2026, in line with the expanding demand for sustainable bricks.

Zerund manufactures high-grade, lightweight, eco-friendly bricks made of cement, fly ash, organic chemicals and plastic waste, and they are 15-20% cheaper than the regular bricks available on the market. These bricks have high tensile strength, thermal and sound insulation properties, are earthquake, pest and fire resistant and have no weathering effect.

While studying at the Assam Engineering College, founders David Gogoi, Rupam Choudhury, and Mousam Talukdar invented this sustainable brick-making process as part of their college project. In 2019, they were selected for incubation at Assam Startup in the first COHORT. While they brought a promising innovation to the fore, the right kind of guidance and mentoring from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, along with the networking opportunities provided at Assam Startup, were instrumental in accelerating the growth of the startup.

“We got selected for incubation at Assam Startup immediately after incorporating our company. Since then, we have received a lot of support from them through the world-class mentors they provide. Through the capacity-building workshops and mentor connections, we have learnt a lot about the business intricacies. “Further, the MASI grant helped us immensely during the pandemic,” says David.

Right after being on-boarded for incubation, David had shared his vision of becoming India’s largest brick manufacturer within 10 years. Given the growth that the startup has shown in the last 3 years, Zerund is definitely on the right track to achieving its vision.

Travel-tech startup from COHORT 3.0, Oddessemania, is collaborating with Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) to build a platform for on-boarding trained travel guides in the state. This would give the qualified guides in Assam a much-needed exposure among the travellers, who can now easily browse and select a guide to suit their itinerary.

Assam has over 600 registered guides. Unfortunately, there aren’t any organised platforms for tourists to search and find local guides based on their requirements. While there is a gamut of travel agencies conducting trips to the region, most of the guides provided by them aren’t trained, lacking proper knowledge of the place and mostly ill-equipped to deal with unsolicited situations during the trip.

Along with building the platform for ATDC that will on-board the existing 600+ registered guides, Oddessemania is also the official partner of Assam Tourism, vested to provide certified and trained guides, who will subsequently be on-boarded on the platform post the training.

The collaboration took shape after ATDC had learnt about Oddessemania’s own travel-tech platform, promoting guide-aided travel for tourists to have an immersive local experience.

Oddessemania is a first-of-its-kind platform to facilitate pre-travel guide booking. Trained and experienced guides are on-boarded on the platform based on their specialty, for travellers to select them based on the itinerary and availability. The guides are specifically selected from the local community, who go through thorough training facilitated by the startup before getting on-boarded on the platform. To date, the startup has on-boarded over 80 guides on its platform from across India who are thoroughly trained to lead the trips that also include arranging for conveyance and homestays.

The platform further facilitates the travellers to visually plan their itineraries using maps. It gives users the flexibility to amend and update the travel itinerary, along with a user-permitted safety feature for tracking the travel.

While addressing the travellers’ hassles in finding guides who could help them enjoy immersive local experience, Oddessemania is also impacting the socio-economic environment of the country in general and North East India in particular, by creating lucrative employment opportunities in the guided tourism space.