An increasing number of second-time founders are embarking on new startup adventures, and CXOs are joining the Indian startup fray in droves
While finalising the startups for our 47th edition of the ‘30 Startups to Watch’ series, we witnessed a healthy surge in the adoption of AI
Close to 60% of the startups selected for this cohort have either raised less than $2 Mn or are completely bootstrapped
After a challenging few years, the Indian startup ecosystem appears to be on the recovery path. Startup funding is showing signs of resurgence, and the startup IPO season is thriving, providing investors with optimism. Furthermore, an increasing number of second-time founders are embarking on new adventures, and CXOs are joining the Indian startup fray in droves.
At a time when so much is happening in the world’s third-largest startup space, it’s time to shine the spotlight on some of the most innovative ventures that are making waves in the Indian startup ecosystem via Inc42’s ‘30 Startups to Watch’.
While finalising the startups for our 47th edition of the ‘30 Startups to Watch’ series, we witnessed a healthy surge in the adoption of AI, along with the fact that close to 60% of these startups either raised less than $2 Mn or were completely bootstrapped.
This speaks volumes about the entrepreneurial spirit thriving within the Indian startup community, where limited resources are no longer viewed as an obstacle to innovation. While the aftermath of the funding winter still lurks somewhere in the shadows, making investors cautious, there are also hopes of a complete revival on the horizon.
With that said, here are the 30 startups that caught our attention in May 2024.
Editor’s Note: The list below is not a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.
Arch0
Remediating All Cloud Security Threats
The increase in cloud adoption has also led to a surge in cyberattacks. While cloud security remains a complex domain to implement and manage, a McKinsey report anticipates that damages from such attacks could hit $10.5 Tn annually by 2025.
To keep all kinds of cloud security threats at bay, Nithin Jois and Tilak Thimmappa founded Arch0 in 2022. Today, the startup proactively helps teams identify, prioritise, and address security threats.
Arch0’s proprietary AI-powered solution provides an immediate understanding of the ‘who, what, when, where, and how’ of each security incident, ensuring issues are addressed before they escalate.
Its solution goes over and above a code-to-cloud strategy, operating autonomously and furnishing comprehensive insights into every security incident. It plans to introduce enterprise-grade security to medium-sized enterprises, which manage sensitive data.
BRISKPE
Cross-Border Payments Made Seamless
Cross-border payments pose significant challenges for MSMEs in India due to their high transaction costs and lengthy processing times, hindering their ability to compete in the global market. Additionally, complex regulatory requirements and currency fluctuations complicate these transactions, impacting the financial stability of small businesses.
Founded in 2023 by Sanjay Tripathy, Nilesh Pathak, and Indunath Chaudhary, BRISKPE aims to solve this by abolishing excessive transaction fees and exchange mark-up. It empowers MSME exporters to partake in international trade with unprecedented ease and efficiency.
The startup’s flagship product, A2A (account-to-account payments), simplifies cross-border trade for MSMEs. It onboards MSMEs in under five minutes and helps them get started with international collection accounts instantly.
BRISKPE’s platform eliminates international fees such as correspondent bank charges and forex mark-ups, with a nominal 1% charge (including GST). It generates revenue by charging customers less than 1% of the transaction amount, including all charges and GST.
Having onboarded 1,000 exporters since its inception, the startup receives payments in 36 currencies from more than 180 countries.
Cautio
Cloud Connected Dash-Cams For Fleet Management
Bengaluru-based Cautio is developing affordable visual IoT devices (dash cams) and an operating system for fleet and commercial vehicles in India to enhance safety for drivers and riders, improve fleet productivity, reduce revenue loss, and decrease on-road accidents.
Cautio counts IIT-B, 3EV, Chandigarh University, Namma Yatri, and Vozi Cabs among its clients and has multiple pilot projects running across India. Cautio’s solution enables real-time visual tracking of vehicles and goods, allowing remote monitoring of driver behaviour, driving patterns, and the status of goods in transit.
It works with asset-light customers with dedicated fleets, meaning drivers are restricted from taking trips on other platforms. With deep API integrations, Cautio helps document and address such incidents effectively, ensuring appropriate actions are taken.
The startup’s solution captures footage of deliveries, providing visual evidence of the condition of goods upon arrival. This serves as proof of delivery and can help resolve disputes or claims of damaged or missing items.
Control One
Giving Slow-Moving Industry Equipment An AI Tweak
Pranav S, a core roboticist and seasoned expert in computer vision and robotics, founded Control One in 2023 after deploying over 70 robots across various industries in the US and India.
Through interactions with over 90 top supply chain experts and visits to numerous US warehouses, he identified the challenges of sourcing skilled labour and the high cost of autonomous solutions. To bridge the gap, Pranav set out to develop more practical and affordable solutions, leading to the inception of Control One.
Control One is building a vision-to-action AI model to operate on slow-moving equipment and empower them with human-like intelligence. This solution is ideal for warehouses, which is also the startup’s one of the key focus areas.
The startup is also targeting a wide range of slow-moving equipment in industries like mining, construction, cold storage, chemical industries, ecommerce, FMCG, and dairy.
Control One offers its autonomous software suite for a monthly subscription of INR 25,000. The startup has claimed to secure paid pilot orders worth INR 30 Lakh.
In the short term, Control One aims to pilot its solutions with three marquee clients, leveraging real-world warehouse data to train its AI systems effectively.
Looking ahead to 2026, the startup’s long-term goal is to achieve a $10 Mn annual recurring revenue (ARR), signalling its ambition to scale and establish itself as a significant player in the autonomous warehouse solutions market.
Circle Of Games
Web3 Gaming Hub
Many good games are today faced with the daunting task of attracting more players as they have yet to figure out the reward mechanism to woo users.
Rabilal Thapa, Rohit Tiwari, and Rajeeb VC, all avid gamers, witnessed that traditional gaming platforms lacked adequate incentive mechanisms. This led them to develop Circle Of Games (COG) in 2022, a gaming ecosystem that prioritises rewarding players for their time and skill.
Leveraging the surge of Web3 technology and the booming popularity of casual gaming, COG aims to revolutionise the gaming experience by integrating blockchain and providing a seamless and rewarding environment to players worldwide.
COG is a multi-gaming app, which consists of an array of popular games like Ludo, Fruit Slash, Rummy, and more, with plans to expand to over 10 games by Q4 2024.
The startup generates revenue through in-app purchases, subscriptions, ads, and NFTs. In 2024, the startup’s primary goal is to achieve multi-chain integration, launch new games, release an iOS version, and expand into global markets.
With a vision to be the premier destination for casual and hyper-casual gaming for crypto holders, COG aims to onboard 100 Mn users.
Dexif
One-Stop Shop For Borrowers & Investors
Dexif is a fintech startup founded in 2022 by IIT-Delhi alumni Deepank Bhandari (also an erstwhile Blinkit senior executive) and Tushar Sharma. Initially operating in stealth mode until April 2023, Dexif emerged into the spotlight with the addition of Pallavi Bajaj, a former associate vice president at Northern Arc Capital, as the third cofounder in October 2023.
The startup aims to transform the fixed-income securities market by providing a technology platform that bridges the gap between companies needing to raise capital and investors seeking reliable investment opportunities.
Dexif’s platform serves a dual purpose. For investors, both retail and institutional, it offers a marketplace to trade in a diverse range of fixed-income securities. For companies, it provides an avenue to raise capital through non-convertible debentures (NCDs), term loans, and other asset classes. By facilitating these transactions, Dexif creates a seamless connection between companies seeking debt financing and investors looking for fixed-income investment opportunities.
Revenue generation for Dexif comes from two primary sources. First, it charges companies that aim to raise capital from the public market via NCDs. Second, it earns fees from investors who wish to sell their securities by matching them with prospective buyers. This dual revenue model ensures that Dexif remains integral to both the supply and demand sides of the fixed-income securities market.
Eternz
Vertical Online Marketplace For Jewellery Brands
Founded by Arthi Ramalingam in 2023, Eternz is a vertical jewellery marketplace. It curates designs from quality-tested domestic and international brands, and designers and provides a holistic jewellery buying experience online through innovative technology.
Eternz, which has a pan-India presence, claims to have onboarded over 60 brands in fashion, silver, gold, and diamond categories.
It aims to diversify its brand portfolio by incorporating international labels and enhancing its reach in Tier I and II cities within India this year. Looking ahead, the company envisages an international expansion strategy targeting the lucrative US, UK and European markets by 2026.
Additionally, Eternz plans to integrate cutting-edge technologies like AR/VR and AI to offer unparalleled shopping experiences. Furthermore, offline multi-branded store expansion is on the cards, ensuring a seamless omnichannel presence for customers.
Fixerra
Digital Mall Of Fixed Deposits
A majority of Indians prefer simple and safe investment options. While many invest in fixed deposits (FDs), they usually stick with their banks and miss out on better returns elsewhere.
Observing this gap, the founder of Fixerra, Akshar Shah, built a digital platform that allows people to invest in FDs offered by various banks.
In simple words, Shah has created an FD marketplace where users can choose investment options from various banks, while the website shows how much each bank will be liable to return after a fixed tenure.
Fixerra’s key strength lies in its partnerships with seven banks and NBFCs. It uses APIs to connect with various financial institutions and handle the entire FD process for its users.
Fixerra recently rebranded itself from Fixed Invest. As of now, the company aspires to become a comprehensive banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider by expanding its horizons beyond fixed deposits. It also aims to empower digital businesses with a holistic suite of banking products and services.
Flashaid
Making Health Insurance Accessible To All Indians
In a country as vast and diverse as India, access to affordable health insurance remains a significant challenge for millions. Therefore, on a mission to foster health equity for all Indians, Manoj Gupta and Gunjali Kothari founded Flashaid in 2020.
By partnering with D2C brands, ecommerce marketplaces, and fintech companies, Flashaid not only ensures that health insurance is affordable but also easily accessible.
Flashaid’s innovation lies in its distribution strategy, which focusses on a distinctive channel for retail health plan distribution through a B2B2C platform. This approach not only expands the reach of health insurance but also seamlessly integrates it into the digital lives of Indian consumers.
In just a year, Flashaid has made significant strides, forming partnerships with over 20 platforms
and distributing more than 30,000 health covers. Remarkably, the company claims to have achieved profitability at the EBITDA level.
With an ARR of $1 Mn currently, Flashaid has set its eyes on reaching $10 Mn in ARR in the next two years.
Last month, the insurtech firm raised $2.5 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding, which was led by Piper Serica Angel Fund and global venture capital firm SOSV.
Highperformr.AI
Better ROI From Social Media
Highperformr.AI, the brainchild of former Freshworks executives Ramesh Ravishankar and Srivatsan Venkatesan, wants to transform social media management with its innovative SaaS platform.
Founded in July 2023, this Chennai-based startup has swiftly made waves in the digital marketing landscape by harnessing the power of generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to help businesses maximise their return on investment (ROI) from social media campaigns.
At the core of Highperformr.AI’s offerings lies its flagship product, Highperformr for Teams, designed specifically for B2B companies. The platform facilitates the seamless management of social media workflows, enabling organisations to scale their social publishing efforts and foster team collaboration.
Moreover, it empowers businesses to leverage social selling strategies and gain valuable insights into campaign performance through AI-driven analytics.
Highperformr.AI sets itself apart with its comprehensive suite of features tailored to amplify social presence and growth. The platform’s sophisticated AI capabilities enable enterprises to effortlessly generate compelling social media content, ensuring consistent engagement across platforms.
ICON
D2C Luggage & Travel Accessories Brand
Founded by Mohammad Patel, Poojan Shah, Fazal Lakhani, and Aakash Mehta, ICON is a premier internet-first direct-to-consumer startup specialising in luggage and travel accessories. Positioned within the mass premium segment of the LTA market, ICON’s product line includes hard luggage, backpacks and handbags.
Each product features elements such as wide handles, power bank slots, Bluetooth-enabled trackers, and premium materials.
These materials include unbreakable shells from Germany, super silent 360-degree wheels from the USA, and durable YKK zippers.
ICON’s focus on innovative and stylish products aims to cater to the evolving consumer mindset in the Indian luggage market, which is estimated to be worth INR 20,000 Cr by the end of FY25, as per Statista.
Recently, the D2C luggage and travel accessories startup raised $1.2 Mn (approx INR 10 Cr) in a seed funding round led by DSG Consumer Partners. ICON competes with new-age brands such as Nasher Miles, Mokobara, Acefour, and Wildcraft, as well as global players like VIP, American Tourister, and Safari.
Kanlet
AI-Driven Lead Generation Platform
B2B sales and marketing teams today face significant challenges in meeting targets and identifying efficient ways to grow qualified pipelines.
Kanlet addresses these challenges by offering a unified data model that integrates first-party, second-party, and third-party data. This, in turn, generates what is called “living GTM data.” This living data is enriched with layers of intelligence powered by Generative AI and is characterised by three core aspects: relationships, intent, and personalisation.
Kanlet was founded in 2023 by Satish Patil – who previously cofounded SaaS platform Crysagi Systems (acquired later by CoreView). He also served as the founder and CEO of enterprise tech startup Mitibase.
Kanlet’s AI-driven automation identifies the best buyers and sales triggers, helping sales teams act on these opportunities. By combining firmographic and technographic data, the engine identifies right-fit buyers, monitors them for relationship triggers and buying intent, and highlights them as warm leads in the sales pipeline.
Karban Envirotech
Bladeless Fans For Contemporary Living
Founded by Karan Bansal and Tanya Goyal in 2021, Karban wants to disrupt the Indian fans market with its revolutionary bladeless ceiling fan, Karban Airzone, which features an in-built air purifier and lighting. By leveraging Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Karban optimises efficiency, reducing electricity consumption while enhancing performance.
The Jaipur-based startup’s Airzone caters to diverse spaces, from homes to offices and hotels, offering multi-utility with airflow, air purification, and lighting. Addressing pressing issues like indoor air pollution, Karban’s innovation ensures healthier environments.
Karban Airzone and Karban Airzone Lite redefine integrated climate control devices, combining fans, lights, and air purifiers into sleek, bladeless units. Both feature remote control functionality for effortless operation, catering to modern lifestyles. The products are sold on its website as well as ecommerce marketplaces.
The USPs of Karban Airzone and Karban Airzone Lite include their bladeless design for safety, advanced technology for efficient operation, sleek aesthetics to complement any decor, and features like no flickering lights for enhanced ambience. These devices provide a seamless blend of functionality, safety, and style, catering to the diverse needs of modern living and working spaces.
Mysa
Unifying Business Finance Management
After experiencing firsthand the complexities of financial management during their startup journey with Mech Mocha, which was later acquired by Flipkart in 2020, Mohit Rangaraju and Arpita Kapoor founded Mysa in 2023. Frustrated by disintegrated finance systems and endless manual processes, they identified a widespread problem. After consulting over 100 founders and finance heads, they realised a streamlined solution was needed, leading them to create Mysa to simplify and unify business finance management.
Mysa is a B2B fintech startup, which is building a platform at the intersection of finance automation, SaaS and financial services. The Mysa platform offers AI-enabled invoice processing, automated accounting/taxation and seamless payments via partner bank accounts for new-age private limited businesses.
Mysa has been refining its finance automation services through a closed beta with select businesses over the past three months. Mysa’s revenue model revolves around SAAS subscriptions and the distribution of financial services.
In 2024, Mysa plans to transition from closed beta to public beta, targeting customer acquisition in India’s top six metropolitan areas. By 2026, Mysa aims to evolve into a tech-enabled financial institution, leveraging technology and exceptional customer support to enhance the financial experience for entrepreneurs and finance teams.
Mytek
AI-Driven Project Planning
Shivkumar Borade and Ashwajeet Wankhede founded Mytek to address common issues in contract management issues like improper planning, capital exhaustion, and a lack of skilled contractors.
Recognising these challenges, they created Mytek, an AI-based digital platform where contractors can select projects matching their expertise and regions. Mytek notifies them of opportunities and streamlines project planning, providing real-time progress updates and quality assessments from a single location.
Its flagship product, the Mytek AI Project Planning Platform, leverages advanced AI algorithms to streamline project management, optimise resource allocation, and enhance workflow efficiency.
Mytek provides project management solutions and operates on a profit-sharing model for funding services, taking full ownership to complete projects within set timeframes using the latest technology.
Its short-term plans for 2024 include offering a platform free of charge to all SMEs needing project planning, aiming to secure a 20% market share in infrastructure, expanding its presence in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, launching new AI features, and increasing client base by 30%. In the long term, it aims to expand the platform’s reach to encompass all engineering sectors globally.
Parseable
Log Analytics Stack For Developers
With the growing digital presence of businesses, log analytics has become more critical than ever. When effectively analyzed, log data can yield valuable insights into application performance, user behaviour, and potential security threats.
However, the main challenge lies in managing and analysing this data efficiently, without high operational costs or sacrificing scalability and flexibility.
Founded by Nitish Tiwari, Parseable addresses these challenges by being cloud-native. This design allows it to fully leverage cloud computing benefits like scalability, reliability, and flexibility.
Unlike traditional log management systems that struggle with scaling and high costs as data grows, Parseable uses cloud storage to dynamically adjust resources based on demand. This ensures businesses can manage their data effectively, regardless of volume, without worrying about infrastructure overhead.
Last month, the Bengaluru-based startup raised $2.75 Mn in a seed funding round led by Peak XV’s Surge and NP-Hard Ventures. It plans to use the funds to accelerate its innovation in managing the increasing amount of log data generated by new-age digital businesses.
Perceptyne
Building Industrial Humanoid Robots
Perceptyne, an AI and robotics startup, aims to transform factory floor automation with India’s first industrial humanoid robots. These robots are designed for tasks that require human-like dexterity, such as product assembly, ecommerce packaging, and commercial kitchen operations.
Founded by IIT Madras and BITS Pilani alumni Raviteja Chivukula, Jagga Raju Nadimpalli, and Mrutyunjaya Nadiminti, Perceptyne leverages extensive experience in deeptech product development, production, marketing, and sales across aerospace, industrial automation, automotive, and electronics industries.
Their industrial humanoid robots have two arms with seven joints each and five-fingered hands that can sense touch and force. These robots are set to revolutionise the electronics manufacturing and automotive industries. The benefits are substantial — a 90% reduction in automation implementation time, no need to pause production during implementation, and minimal infrastructure and workflow restructuring.
The startup recently emerged out of stealth mode when it raised its pre-seed funding from Venture Catalysts precisely a month ago.
Plane
Project Management Made Seamless
Founded in April 2023 by brothers Vamsi and Vihar Kurama, Plane aims to streamline project management for teams of all sizes and industries. Vihar, a seasoned consultant with over six years of experience, recognised the shortcomings of existing project management tools during his work with startups in the edtech, AI and ecommerce space.
This led him to the development of Plane, a software tool to efficiently manage projects and products. The tool helps organisations track product roadmaps and their progress in the simplest way possible.
Today, Plane offers comprehensive project management solutions tailored to diverse business needs. Its offerings include Plane One, a versatile software available for a one-time fee, supporting both new and existing self-managed platforms. In addition, Plane Cloud provides flexible, cloud-based solutions to organisations of all sizes.
For those preferring self-management, Plane Self-hosted is available in Community, Pro, and Enterprise versions, allowing full customisation and control. Currently in the beta phase, Plane’s offerings are available under an early adopter plan, with official pricing to be announced soon. Plane aims to be the ultimate tool for modern project planning and management.
The startup’s enterprise edition boasts collaborations with Fortune 500 companies. It also claims to have garnered trust from leading stock broking firms in India, becoming integral to their daily operations.
In the short term, Plane plans to expand its geographies and target emerging markets, customising offerings to diverse regional needs.
Plotline
Making Apps Dynamic
With the advent of super apps offering a multitude of services on one platform, the challenge for consumer brands is not just acquiring users but also ensuring their engagement and retention.
Founded in 2022 by Shubham Jindal and Adarsh Tadimari, Plotline recognises that traditional customer engagement platforms excel at bringing users back to apps through external channels like push notifications and emails but lag in influencing user behaviour within the app itself.
Plotline’s solution lies in making apps dynamic based on individual user behaviour and creating a personalised experience that significantly improves app usage. By analysing billions of data points, the platform enables consumer brands to tailor their apps to each user’s preferences and usage patterns, enhancing user adoption and engagement rates.
Moreover, Plotline integrates Large Language Models (LLMs) for content creation and continuous experimentation, ensuring that the user experience remains optimally engaging and evolves.
PointO
Creating A Lithium Battery Ecosystem
PointO, founded by Riki Biswas, Gaurav Jindal, and Pratimendra Bagui, pioneers a full-stack lithium battery ecosystem, targeting financial inclusion and climate action.
Leveraging Biswas’ experience in the cleantech space, Jindal’s leadership in the manufacturing sector, and Bagui’s tech expertise, PointO mitigates default rates and credit risk, particularly in financing lithium batteries for e-rickshaw owners in Tier II cities and beyond.
Since its inception, PointO has expanded its offerings beyond battery financing in the 3W segment. Beyond battery financing, the startup has also expanded into the home inverter segment.
The startup has grown 7X in the last 12 months. It plans to expand its physical centres to include 10+ cities over the next 12 months. With India’s shift to e-rickshaws and the $27.5 Bn e-rickshaw market projected growth, PointO strategically positions itself to capture significant market share.
ProsParity
Facilitating Access To EV Financing
The issue of financing electric vehicles (EVs) in India, such as high upfront costs, limited financing options, and the lack of government incentives, particularly within the two and three-wheeler segment, remains deep-rooted. Despite the growing interest in electric mobility, accessing capital remains a significant barrier to widespread adoption.
ProsParity, founded by Saurabh Khodke and Anirudh Dhakar, aims to offer innovative financing solutions for mass market and new-to-credit customers. It has developed an end-to-end electric mobility financing platform that emphasises compliance, scalability, and agility for lenders.
By streamlining financing relationships for EV dealers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), ProsParity aims to facilitate easier access to financing for end-customers.
Through its strategic B2B partnerships within the ecosystem, the company ensures scalable distribution while creating long-term underwriting advantages with ‘asset risk models’.
By tailoring products to sync with customer profiles, ProsParity aims to play a crucial role in accelerating the transition towards electric mobility in India’s mass-market segment.
Recently, the EV financing platform secured $2 Mn (around 16.6 Cr) in its pre-seed funding from BEENEXT, Sparrow Capital, All In Capital, DeVC, and Huddle Ventures.
Reelo
Smart Marketing Platform For Small Businesses
Parin and Prit Sanghvi, the brother duo, founded Reelo in 2021 after identifying that small businesses often lack efforts on the marketing front. However, the ones that do not, end up with poor results.
Today, Reelo brings enterprise-level customer data, loyalty and marketing automation technology to underserved small and mid-sized restaurant and retail businesses.
It helps restaurants and retail businesses maximise their revenue and growth through its loyalty marketing and data analytics platform. Reelo’s easy-to-use product requires zero expertise or effort, allowing businesses to get more customers, increase sales, and build a stronger brand.
Reelo’s loyalty programme builder helps restaurants launch powerful mobile-first programmes. Additionally, Reelo provides a library of over 5,000 ready-to-use templates of personalised customer engagement campaigns for channels across WhatsApp, SMS, and email.
Reelo claims to have grown 3X YoY, onboarded over 17K businesses and engaged over 16 Mn customers. It is operating on a SaaS model with a freemium offering, where businesses can try Reelo for free.
Sapience Automata
Making Vehicular Fleets Safer
Founded in 2021 by Satyajit Neog, a PhD in autonomous driving technology and AI from NTU Singapore, Sapience Automata provides a robust solution to mitigate accidents and enhance safety on Indian roads.
Its breakthrough plug-and-play driver assistance technology is tailor-made for Indian driving conditions. By focussing on custom-made products and applications, Sapience Automata ensures maximum effectiveness and safety for drivers, setting a new standard in automotive safety innovation.
The startup leverages cutting-edge technology to create innovative solutions that address the challenges faced by drivers while driving.
Operating primarily from Bengaluru, Sapience Automata currently focuses on commercial fleets. Its AI-powered driver and ADAS cameras mitigate the risk of road accidents stemming from distractions, drowsy driving, fatigue, and other unexpected occurrences on Indian roads.
Scimplify
End-To-End Specialty Chemicals Platform
Founded in 2023 by Sachin Santosh and Salil Srivastava, Scimplify is a B2B platform specialising in end-to-end sourcing and manufacturing of speciality chemicals.
It serves industries such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and flavours & fragrances, managing processes from contract research to commercial-scale production.
Scimplify’s revenue model is built on providing full-service solutions, handling everything from R&D in its labs to production in dedicated manufacturing facilities, and ensuring top-quality products through rigorous checks.
Operating primarily in India, Scimplify also engages in cross-border trade with countries, including New Zealand, the UAE, Egypt, Vietnam, Jordan, and Taiwan. The company aims to expand its manufacturing capabilities in India this year.
In the long term, Scimplify plans to become a leading global marketplace for speciality chemicals, connecting suppliers and consumers worldwide.
ShipEase
Simplifying Logistics Management For SMEs
Since 2011, India has witnessed an unprecedented rise in digital commerce shipping. To cater to the heightened demand, businesses tap into a plethora of logistics options to fuel their supply chain. With this, managing multiple logistics players in their supply chain gets cumbersome.
To simplify this process, Pawan Kumar, Ajay K, and Lalit Singh founded ShipEase, which consolidates all courier partners, virtual shops and communication tools like Whatsapp and IVR on a single screen to support SMEs in their ecommerce journey.
The startup also caters to different business needs, offering an order management system, a courier management system, or a combination of both with aggregation.
The startup generates revenue through a subscription fee. Additionally, it charges a transaction fee for each order processed and offers premium services for advanced features and integrations, ensuring a steady income stream.
It claims to have seen 1 Mn orders in March this year and plans to achieve a monthly recurring revenue of INR 10 Cr soon.
SuperKalam
AI-led Personal Mentor For Students
The Indian edtech sector, transformed by the Covid-19 pandemic, is on the verge of another major shift with the rise of GenAI. This technology promises to reshape education even more deeply.
SuperKalam, founded in July 2023 by Vimal Singh Rathore and Aseem Gupta, is an AI-driven mentoring platform for competitive exams like UPSC. Unlike traditional edtech platforms, SuperKalam offers a personalised learning experience, putting students at the centre.
SuperKalam addresses the challenges of affordability, accessibility, and quality in personal teaching in India. Using advanced AI analytics, the platform customises learning paths, resolves doubts instantly, and tracks progress, ensuring tailored support for each student. This personalised approach boosts engagement and effectiveness in exam preparation.
SuperKalam is Vimal’s second venture, following the success of Coursavy, which was acquired by Unacademy in 2020. A few days ago, the UPSC test prep platform raised $2 Mn (INR 16.6 Cr) in a seed funding round led by YCombinator and Fundersclub.
Topee
Custom-Made Hair Restoration Solutions
Founded by former Swiggy executive Kailash Nichani in 2024, Topee offers painless, guaranteed solutions for baldness in both men and women through its cosmetic hair restoration products.
Specialising in hyper-realistic hair systems, Topee creates custom-made hair patches, extensions, and full wigs, all made from 100% natural human hair. These products blend seamlessly with existing hair, ensuring an undetectable, natural look even up close.
Topee’s hair systems are designed to be comfortable and breathable, using high-quality, skin-safe adhesives and clips.
Located in Bengaluru, Topee’s studio offers a private, supportive environment where clients can explore products and receive personalised consultations from hair restoration experts.
Wizr AI
Offering AI-Powered Enterprise Solutions
Founded in 2023 by Rajesh Padinjaremadam and Sirish Kosaraju, Wizr is a comprehensive platform tailored for implementing cutting-edge technologies.
The startup is helping enterprise operations with two platforms: the Wizr AI Studio and the Wizr Cx Hub. Wizr AI Studio empowers enterprises to integrate AI into their documents and workflows seamlessly.
Meanwhile, Wizr Cx Hub delivers transformative intelligence and automation to customer service and support. Its advanced GenAI capabilities automatically tag and analyse customer service tickets, enabling proactive monitoring and prediction of escalations.
With features like issue clustering for root cause analysis, agent scoring, and Wizr Agent Assist, support teams can optimise productivity and responsiveness.
Wizr Auto Solve further streamlines operations by automating issue resolution, significantly reducing agent workload.
Wizr AI aims to onboard its first 10 customers, achieve PMF, and generate $1 Mn in revenue by 2024. By 2026, the startup targets an ARR of $3-5 Mn with 50 customers.
Zactor Tech
Digital Financial Wellness Platform
The Indian financial paradigm has long struggled with a lack of personalisation, offering one-size-fits-all solutions that fail to address individual financial needs and goals. Despite the growing number of investment tech platforms, there is a dearth of players who provide tailored advice or services to serve the unique needs of individual customers.
Zactor Tech‘s inception began when Abhishek Walia, a chartered accountant, identified this gap in the Indian fintech space at IIM-Calcutta. This led to the incorporation of Zactor Tech in 2023, which is today focussed on “simplifying finance and empowering every Indian to achieve their financial goals with ease and confidence”.
It is a platform for working individuals to make their financial journey easy with the help of its personalised recommendations and insights. So far, it has integrated mutual funds on its platform. The integration of FDs, bonds and P2P investments are in the pipeline. Zactor Tech wants to redefine personal finance management with an approach that includes goal-based investing, detailed financial roadmaps, and insurance optimisation insights.
The platform offers personalised investment recommendations tailored to its users’ goals, time horizons, and risk profiles. Additional features include comprehensive retirement planning, monthly PDF financial reports, automated financial data retrieval and a financial literacy app for learning.
Currently, the startup is working on the distribution model and not charging any upfront fees from the users. It aims to onboard 25,000 users by the end of this year.
ZEPIC
Helping Businesses Deliver Great Customer Experiences Across Channels
Founded by Naveen Venkatesan, Bharathi Kannan Ravikumar, Sunil Kumar, and Sreelesh Pillai in 2023, ZEPIC is a customer experience platform that unites all customer-facing teams.
ZEPIC helps marketers gather customer insights and create hyper-personalised experiences by seamlessly integrating business data with customer data.
Whether it’s product inventory, customer reviews, or order fulfilment data, ZEPIC allows businesses to use all available information to personalise customer experiences.
This ensures that campaigns are tailored to individual customer preferences and behaviours, considering the full context and journey of the business-customer relationship.
With browsers blocking third-party cookies, ZEPIC helps businesses prioritise first-party data collection through intelligent visitor tracking, identity resolution, and progressive customer profile enrichment.
[Edited by Shishir Parasher]
