NetApp selects six Indian startups for first accelerator batch

By Arti Singh

  • 11 Sep 2017
Credit: Thinkstock

US-based data storage and management company NetApp Inc. has selected six Indian startups for its first accelerator programme in the country.

The startups are Adya, Enclouden, Lightmetrics, Scalend Technologies, Vaultedge and Vitacloud Digital Health, the company told VCCircle.

Deepak Visweswaraiah, senior vice president and managing director at NetApp India, said that there is a huge scope for long-term value creation with a focus on delivering value to enterprises in the data domain with business-to-business startups.

The company had, in June, launched its ‘NetApp Excellerator’ programme in Bangalore. The programme was open to startups working in areas such as Internet of Things, cloud, big data and analytics, machine learning, virtualisation, data security, data management and storage.

Under Excellerator, NetApp will provide an equity-free grant of $15,000 to the selected startups upon completion of the four-month-long programme. The startups will own their intellectual property, and NetApp would not seek a stake in it.

The programme will provide startups with collaboration and productivity tools, a co-working space at the company’s global centre of excellence in Bangalore, and networking opportunities with potential investors, partners and customers. The startups will have access to NetApp’s platforms and technologies, tools, human resources, marketing, legal and tech support. The company will have two batches, each year, in the future.

A quick look at the startups:

Adya: It operates on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and provides a big data and machine learning stack that helps companies protect their data from employee theft and ransomware. It helps companies detect sensitive data (whether inside the enterprise or on the cloud), protect it from overexposure and alert in case of misuse or theft. Adya Inc. was founded by Deepak Balakrishna and Pradeep Das. The startup was recently selected also for the fifth batch of Axilor Ventures.

Enclouden: It is focussed on automating IT infrastructure on a private cloud or providing a virtual desktop infrastructure solution. It helps manage, monitor and secure distributed IT systems. It is building an IT system that can run without human intervention. The Bangalore-based startup was founded by Abinash Saikia and Satya Kishore Gontina in 2012. Enclouden is run by Invicto Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Lightmetrics: Launched in 2015, Lightmetrics Technologies Pvt. Ltd uses computer vision and machine learning to collect and analyse data on driving quality using a smartphone. It also provides real-time traffic alerts for drivers – traffic signs, distance, lane departure, etc. It provides Android and iOS software development kits for the mobile device that can be used to analyse videos in real time. It provides real-time notifications and store driver behaviour data on the cloud. The startup was founded by Soumik Ukil.

Scalend Technologies: Bangalore-based Scalend Technologies Pvt. Ltd was founded in 2015. The startup uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate insights by analysing omnichannel data for the banking, financial services and insurance sector. It has built a platform that provides data-oriented insights to solve business problems. Ravi Madhira and Srikanth Parthasarathy are its two co-founders.

Vaultedge: Founded in 2015 by Sajeev Aravindan, Vaultedge Software Pvt. Ltd provides instant access to your personal data irrespective of where it is stored. It does this by aggregating all your personal data, classifying them into meaningful categories and indexing them to provide you contextual search. It has a SaaS and on-premise solution that integrate with content management and collaboration tools. It uses AI to automatically classify and tag documents.

Vitacloud: Bangalore-based Vitacloud Digital Health Pvt. Ltd provides a solution to prevent, manage and reduce chronic health diseases by using data and analytics. It has a cloud-based platform that integrates information in real time from multiple data sources such as health monitors, wearable devices, clinical records, mobile sensors, apps and public content. It aims to combine different variables to create a health baseline or a real-time smart profile for users. The startup was founded by Vinod Shankar, Rohin Bhargava and Rahul Vinod in 2016.