Category business

India is known for its vibrant startup culture and is home to a plethora of innovative businesses that are disrupting traditional industries and paving the way for new and exciting business models. From developing cutting-edge technologies to creating new business models, these startups are pushing the boundaries of conventional wisdom, blazing new trails, and charting their own paths to success. The startups featured in this article represent the best of the best, a collection of the most unique and industry-pioneering businesses in India, each with its own vision and mission to improve the nation for the better. These companies are not only bringing new ideas to the table but are also solving some of the most pressing problems in the country.

With bold visions, groundbreaking products, and a passion for change, these companies are helping to shape India’s entrepreneurial landscape and inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs to venture into the unknown:

Healthians – Pioneer of At-Home Health Diagnostics

Healthians is India’s leading health test at the home service provider, trusted by over 20 lakh households. Founded in 2015, the company is driven by the vision to add 10 healthy years to every Indian’s life. It promotes wellness among all, and its diagnostic and chronic management plans have proven to be instrumental in effective disease management. Their mission is to enable Indians in pursuing wellness from the comfort of their homes and seamlessly avail of reliable health test services.

The company has operations in 250+ cities across the country and has seen its revenue grow by 250% over the last fiscal year. Through its proprietary concepts such as Health Karma, Health Tracker, and AI-based reports, Healthians brings the benefits of tech intuitiveness to the fore and helps its customers live a better life. The company prides itself on being of the utmost standard unmatched by any other health test service provider in the country.

The company has also been recognized for its constant efforts and endeavors in the healthcare space.

Siply – Pioneer of micro-savings as a path to financial inclusion.

Siply is a Bangalore-based tech-enabled micro-savings platform. Siply helps the underserved masses such as contract workers, blue-collar workers, gig economy workers, and small business owners inculcate savings behavior through sachet financial services where the investment can be as low as INR 1.00 to build a more productive, inclusive, and financially secure Bharat. So far, Siply – India ka Savings app has enabled over 6.7 million users to achieve financial independence through flexible micro-savings and a wide range of reliable investment instruments.

Founded in July 2020 by Sousthav Chakrabarty and Anil Bhat, Siply aims to be the preferred financial services brand to the 40 crore Indians who are not yet a part of the formal banking system. The company is building a platform that is tailor-made to serve the specific needs of this segment, which has so far been largely overlooked by current financial institutions like banks and mutual fund houses.

Siply has also turned gold into a micro-savings instrument by allowing people to Invest really small amounts, without any fixed schedule, and receiving 24 Karat BIS Hallmarked Gold coins or Gold Jewellery that too is BIS Hallmarked.

Yellow – Disruptor in the legal tech space
In the midst of a global pandemic in 2021, “Drafting a Will” was among the most searched terms on Google as people sought to secure their loved ones from an unpredictable future. During the pandemic, Niranjan Vemulkar and Nikhil Varghese noticed that many Indian families had a gap in financial planning as they lacked Wills. They realized that apart from the HNI community, most Indian families do not create their Wills, largely due to a lack of information and resources. Furthermore, they found that nearly 1.5 lakh crores lie in unclaimed accounts in India due to incomplete financial planning, including lack of a Will, families being unaware of the deceased’s assets, and non-updation of nominees. To address these challenges, they founded Yellow, a first-of-its-kind digital Will-making app designed by lawyers and powered by technology. Yellow has since emerged as a disruptor in the legal tech space with this unique offering.

Yellow, an acronym for Your Every Little LOving Wish, is truly unique and sets out to do what its name suggests. Give every Indian a way to take care of the people that matter most to them.

QuoDeck – A comprehensive digital engagement solution

QuoDeck is a B2B SaaS digital engagement platform that provides organizations with an innovative way to engage employees, value chains, and gig workforces. Founded in 2017 by Kamalika Bhattacharya and Arijit Lahiri, QuoDeck addresses the growing need for companies to build stronger digital connections with their audiences. By using games and gamification mechanics, QuoDeck drives higher adoption and better retention among users.

The platform offers a complete digital engagement suite that promises engagement, speed, mobility, regionalization, data, and security. With the ability to handle large user bases and extended ecosystems, such as sellers, agents, vendors, distributors, and partners, QuoDeck is highly scalable. Additionally, by incorporating interactivity and games, QuoDeck helps organizations collect valuable data in real time and analyze it through big data tools.

QuoDeck offers a unique approach to building digital engagement, which is inherently scalable and tailored to meet the evolving needs of organizations. Whether it’s improving employee engagement, streamlining workflows, or driving greater customer loyalty, QuoDeck provides organizations with the tools they need to succeed in the digital age.

OpenOffers – A recruiter’s radar for hiring candidates
OpenOffers, an enterprise SaaS platform, tackles the issue of candidates backing out from job offers at the last minute. This phenomenon, known as “ghosting,” not only leads to direct losses for companies but also impacts their bottom line. When a candidate fails to show up on their joining date, the company is forced to start the recruitment process all over again.

OpenOffers track a candidate’s journey from the moment they accept a job offer until they either back out, join the company, or have been employed for at least three months. During this time, candidates may provide conflicting commitments to multiple companies. OpenOffers gathers all these signals anonymously on a single timeline, allowing recruiters to determine whether the candidate is likely to join or has already accepted an offer elsewhere.

OpenOffers calculates a candidate’s ghosting score and joining likelihood based on their commitments to different companies, similar to a CIBIL score for loans. The platform is building a network of enterprises so they can share these commitment signals anonymously with each other.

Hyderabad, 28 March 2023: The world’s favorite biryani house Paradise is back again with their Haleem delight this season. For the first time, Paradise also adds Chicken Haleem to its menu. Customers can avail of the Paradise Haleem foods as takeaways or enjoy it at any of the Paradise outlets.

The ingredients for the haleem menu are of high quality and make the choicest picks of the spices which are used in the correct proprietary ratios followed by trademark cooking methods making Paradise haleem unique. Ample care is taken to prepare the food until dished out in line with the safety protocols and hygiene standards in the current times. Guests can be assured of both the taste and quality that Paradise has been keeping up for seven decades.

The food chain has acquired its place in the Limca Book of Records for ‘Most Biryanis Served In A Year’. In 2017, Paradise catered over 70 lakh servings of biryani and in 2018 the numbers crossed over 90 lacks. Paradise also won the ‘Restaurant Serving The Best Biryani’ award at the Asia Food Congress and Golden Spoon Award at the India Food Forum in 2018. Through the years they have won several accolades and laurels from Telangana State Hotels Associations, GHMC, Times Food Award, Pride of Telangana, and Lifetime Achievement Award to name a few.

28th March 2023: Synersoft Technologies, an indigenous IT company, conducted a webinar on “Unknown facts about BLACKbox” on March 23, 2023. In this webinar, Mr. Vishal Prakash Shah, CEO and Co-Founder of Synersoft, talked about the background and unknown features of BLACKbox.

The fascinating failure stories from BLACKbox’s early days, the customer persona that drives BLACKbox, and lesser-known facts about BLACKbox were the key subjects of the webinar. In the webinar, Mr. Shah explained how an Indian product succeeded after numerous failures in a market dominated by American and German tech titans. He elaborated on how the internet and concerns with piracy influenced BLACKbox. He also discussed the concept that inspired the development of BLACKBOX. Several previously unknown BLACKbox functions, including Email Shadowing, DNS Splitter, Dual Profiling, and Application Virtualization, were covered in this webinar. The advantages of this functionality include secure BYOD, bandwidth-efficient apps, playback in the back office, and affordable hardware and software. BLACKBOX assists MSMEs in reducing costs by 55% for hardware, 70% for software, 70% for email subscriptions, and 50% for bandwidth.

Speaking on the theme of the webinar, Mr. Vishal Prakash Shah, CEO and Co-Founder at Synersoft Technologies, said, “BLACKbox persevered in defending MSMEs and fostering their growth while facing several challenges. IT problems are consistently resolved by BLACKbox’s secret technologies with the same efficiency as magic.”

28 March 2023, New Delhi: Celebrated Indian Fashion Designer, Vikram Phadnis, struck multiple chords at the Bollywood Style Icon Awards by showcasing a dress, uniquely showcasing photo films by leading instant camera player – FUJIFILM Instax. The striking vivid hues of the photographs created a phenomenal effect. The carefully designed dress served as the most unique example of creative prowess by Phadnis and showcased Instax’s legacy in the imaging space.

Over the years, the ace entertainment and lifestyle brand, Bollywood Hungama, created content in and around Bollywood, Television, Hollywood, Music, Lifestyle, and Celebrities. A go-to platform for film trade-based reportage or general entertainment news coverage, it has revolutionized the field of entertainment journalism. As Bollywood Hungama completes 25 years in 2023, it is gearing up to kick off a new journey by sponsoring The Style Icon awards. FUJIFILM Instax has also served as a statement for all things trendy over the years. Its compact design and colorful options resonate with the style of users across different age groups and genders. In line with this, the Instax dress by Vikram Phadnis serves as a reminder to never stop innovating and creating.

The brand’s partnership with Bollywood Style Icon Awards as the Instant Pictures Partner is a testament to its commitment of staying at the forefront of trends. The award show will also feature an exclusive award category which will be presented by FUJIFILM as well as a dedicated on-ground PAP corner.

FUJIFILM Instax has a wide range of compact, technology-driven instant cameras and smartphone printers. These films produce state-of-the-art picture quality, instantly and are also waterproof. This makes them a favorite among millennials and Gen-Z alike for whom aesthetics and style go hand in hand.

“At FUJIFILM, we are proud to partner with industry stalwarts like Vikram Phadnis, who are the epitome of creative expression and style. With this, we strengthen our commitment to fostering creative expression and building a connection with the young, style-conscious Indian. We look forward to more such partnerships in the future” said Mr. Koji Wada, Managing Director, FUJIFILM India Pvt. Ltd.

Adding to this, Mr. Arun Babu, Head of Digital Camera, Instax & Optical Devices Business, FUJIFILM India said that “Bollywood Hungama has been a leader in all things Bollywood and style. At Fujifilm Instax, we build products for users who are trend conscious and allow them to carry their memories in their pockets. With trends from the 90s coming back in today’s culture, the warm hues of Instax photographs build an instant connection with the young generation. The beautifully crafted dress is a testament to how FUJIFILM puts creativity first. We are glad to have been associated with Bollywood Hungama and Vikram Phadnis.”

Fujifilm Instax continues to make a mark with its unique and compactly designed instant cameras and printers. Its endeavor is to allow people to forever capture their memories in print, and lead with innovation.

Bangalore, March 28, 2023: Get ready for the biggest cricketing extravaganza of the year! The IPL Trophy Tour has reached its final stop in Namma Bangalore, and the countdown to the TATA IPL 2023 has officially begun! After traveling to Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, and Chennai, the excitement is at an all-time high, and the fans of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team are eagerly awaiting the start of the tournament, which is just five days away!

And the best part? Star Sports, the official television broadcaster of the TATA IPL 2023 is pulling out all the stops to make this season of the IPL a truly spectacular one. By bringing people together to watch the high-action drama, they are taking the IPL experience to the next level! Chants of “Ee Sala Cup Namde” are ringing through the streets of Bangalore, as fans clad in a red and black throng to catch a glimpse of the coveted trophy.

Catch glimpses of excitement among fans to watch the TATA IPL 2023 trophy in Bangalore.

Chennai, 28.03.23: South Indian Bank today in its 94th year, marks a milestone in its journey as it announces its new brand campaign, “Trust meets Tech since 1929.” The campaign is a nationwide multi-media campaign, commencing on March 14, 2023.

Through this novel campaign, the Bank aims to create PAN India awareness of brand South Indian Bank and communicate its inherent strengths of being a trustworthy, digital bank catering to all demographic profiles and reinforce its presence in strong markets by becoming the banker of choice.

This campaign aims to target the youth of India, which constitute around 34% of the country’s population. The last few years have seen India become the world’s largest millennial market, drawing attention from across the world to Indian millennials. India’s youth are at the forefront of driving social and cultural change and they play a key role in the country’s economic growth.

Today’s consumers are hyper-connected and seek convenience, experience, simplicity, safety and speed in banking services. All of this is delivered using best-in-class technology. This, coupled with the legacy of trust is where South Indian Bank gets a winning combination. It is this critical messaging that is being communicated by the film in a metaphoric way.

Excited about the new campaign, Ms. Azmat Habibulla, Chief Marketing Officer, South Indian Bank said, “At South Indian Bank, we wish to endear ourselves to India’s younger audiences and enable our loyal customers to embrace new technologies. We want to become the preferred banker to India’s youth on the back of our digital and tech-savvy operations and the trust instilled in us by our millions of customers and generations of families, over nine decades. Since we originated from India’s Southern parts, we are renowned across the region. We aspire to move beyond our traditional bastions and make ourselves more popular across India. Our PAN India brand campaign with a digital focus will center on our key attributes of trust and technology.’’

The multimedia campaign depicts vibrant visuals that allude to speed, victory, integrity, and dominance. The imagery is bound to resonate with the young and old, who are known to value technology and propagate a sense of commitment.

The campaign will be released in multiple languages across India.

Jaipur, 27th March 2023: Kalyan Jewellers, one of India’s most trusted and leading jewellery brands, launched its new showroom in Rajasthan at Jaipur Vaishali Nagar, today. The showroom was inaugurated by actor and Kalyan Jewellers’ newest brand ambassador Ms. Rashmika Mandanna. This is the company’s fifth outlet in the state of Rajasthan.

On this occasion, Kalyan Jewellers’ brand ambassador, Rashmika Mandanna, said, “I am extremely honoured to be a part of the Kalyan Jewellers family, and today is the first public event that I have attended on the brand’s behalf. It has been an overwhelming experience – this warm reception, the showroom itself, and all the beautiful pieces of jewellery here – and I am confident that, like me, the patrons of this brand will appreciate Kalyan’s offerings.”

Talking about the new showroom, Mr. Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers, said, “As a company, we have achieved huge milestones and taken major strides toward creating a holistic ecosystem to enhance the customer shopping experience.

We are delighted to announce the launch of our fifth showroom in Rajasthan. On this occas on, we would also like to welcome aboard our newest brand ambassador, Ms. Rashmika Mandanna. We promise to continue working toward offering the best-in-class shopping experience to our customers while staying true to the company’s core values of trust and transparency in times to come.”

The showroom will feature an extensive range of designs from Kalyan Jewellers’ jewellery collections, presented in a world-class ambience. Additionally, the “Kalyan Special Gold Board Rate,” which is the lowest in the market and standardized across all company showrooms, will apply, ensuring a seamless and service-backed shopping experience. In celebration of the showroom launch, Kalyan Jewellers is offering a unique promotion of 0% making charges on half the purchase value for customers shopping for a minimum of Rs. 1 lakh. These offers are valid for a limited period only.

The jewellery retailed at Kalyan Jewellers is all BIS hallmarked and goes through multiple purity tests. Patrons will also receive Kalyan Jewellers’ 4-Level Assurance Certificate, which guarantees purity, free lifetime maintenance of ornaments, detailed product information, and transparent exchange and buy-back policies. The certification is part of the brand’s commitment to offering the very best to its loyalists.

The showroom will also stock Kalyan’s popular house brands, such as Lila – diamonds & semi-precious stone jewellery, Tejasvi – Polki jewellery, Mudhra – handcrafted antique jewellery, Nimah – temple Jewellery, Glo – dancing diamonds, Ziah – Solitaire-like diamond jewellery,

Anokhi – uncut diamonds, Apoorva – diamonds for special occasions, Muhurat – wedding jewellery, and Rang – precious stones jewellery.

Hyderabad, 27th March 2023: Swaranartana Academy – an abode of ancient dance traditions of Andhranatyam & Perini Sivatandavam founded by Smt Padma Mohan Denduluri to revive the rich art forms, celebrated the birth centenary of the legendary Late Dr. Nataraja Ramakrishna, the doyen of Andhranatyam and recreator Perini Sivatandavam, by hosting an evening of Andhranatyam dance performances by Smt Padma Mohan Denduluri garu, today, at Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Nampally. A group of young Andhranatyam dancers, the prize winners at the recently held Andhranatyam dance competitions conducted by Swaranartana under the guidance and choreography of Abhinava Satyabhama, Shri Kala Krishna, enthralled the audience on the occasion.

Guests of Honor Sri Dr. Santosh Kraleti, Member, National Medical Commission; Sri Kalabramha Shiromani Vamsee Ramaraju, Former Member Central Film Censor Board; Sri Meer, Noted Film Personality; graced the occasion. Sri Nalini Mohan Denduluri, IFS, Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests; presided over the function. Eminent exponent of Andhra Natyam Smt Rama Jagannath, Karnataka Kalasree Awardee, was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award and Special felicitations were done of Smt V Annapurna, Andhranatyam Guru and Sri Perini Ramesh, Perini Sivatandavam Guru; as a part of the birth centenary celebrations. The young winners of Andhranatyam dance competitions have presented the prizes.

Dr. Nataraja Ramakrishna garu, with his diligent scholarly efforts, revived Andhranatyam. This ancient classical dance form in vogue for the past 2000 years from the Telugu regions of Telangana, Rayalaseema, and Andhra; belongs to the Nattuva Mela tradition.

The evening saw a series of choreographies performed by Smt Padma Mohan Denduluri garu and team. The program started with the traditional invocation of Andhranatyam using kumbha haarathi followed by choreographies from Agama, Asthana, and Prabandha nartana traditions of Andhranatyam repertoire. The first part of the performances included Vinayaka Kautham, Adhyatma Ramayanam, Siva Kaivaram, Potana Padyam followed by Tarangam and Thillana performed by Smt Padma garu. She also presented a few key episodes from the Prabandha repertoire, Navajanardhana Parijatham. Navajanãrdhana Pãrijãtham (Shringara Drishya Divya Prabandham) is a shringara rasa predominant solo dance ballet depicting an episode of love story between Lord Shri Krishna and his 8th wife, the beautiful Satyabhama, which is as ancient as Gita Govindam.

The accompanying young artists included Kum. Gunda Sai Manaswini, Kum. Kothakapu Harshini Reddy, Kum. Tanmai Danda, Kum Seerla Prapoorna, and Kum. Adduri Sri Vallika disciples of Shri Perini Srinivas Rao and Smt Satwika Penna.

The performances were supported by an eminent orchestra with Guru Sri Kala Krishna on nattuvangam, and Smt Rama Jagannath on vocals, Sri. Janardhan on mridangam, Sri. Dattatreya on flute, Smt. Subbalaxmi on violin, Sri. Veera Swamy with percussion and Sri Pavan with make-up.

Mumbai, 27th March 2023: CLXNS, a digital-first debt resolution platform, has announced hiring 700+ employees. This is indeed a strategic move by the company, aligned with its goals of rapid growth and expanding footprints across the country.

CLXNS intends to hire across verticals, ranging from Product, Engineering and Design to Marketing and Data analytics. It is keen to onboard seasoned professionals for key leadership roles along with mid-level talent possessing expertise in technology. With the assistance of the newly hired employees and the company’s clear focus on investing heavily in its tech capabilities, CLXNS’ futuristic goal is to create scalable, digital-first debt resolution tools with high-degree compliance and governance.

Speaking on the same, Manavjeet Singh, CLXNS, said, “The current market scenario is unstable but we strongly feel that there is no right or wrong time for hiring talent. We believe India’s credit growth story has just started and is guaranteed to see a massive boom. And therefore we foresee an enormous growth in ethical debt resolution opportunities. At CLXNS, our sole aim is to build a scalable, digital-first debt resolution company. Simultaneously, we wish to emerge as a talent powerhouse in the industry with expertise in the tech capabilities. We are confident that with the new talent addition, we will be able to reach one step closer to our goals of expanding our footprints pan India and serve our customers better.”

CLXNS is on a mission to digitally transform traditional debt resolution into positive customer experiences. Leveraging advanced technologies, the company works with a customer-centric approach to provide assistance with debt resolution empathetically without impacting resolution efficiencies.