A Quick VC Take On Proto Startups

Here is a listing of startups who were present at , a startup event that was held at IIT Delhi last week. We also bring you a quick reaction of Rahul Khanna, Director, Clearstone Venture Partners, who was present at the event. (Disclaimer: Khanna’s opinion is not based on any detailed evaluation of the business plan but just his quick reaction to the 5-minute presentation made by the companies). Read on.

Company - Muziboo

Product - Muziboo

Incorporated Year - 2007

Founder/CEO - Prateek Dayal

What They Do - Muziboo is a website offering feedback to amateurs and professional musicians. You can upload your music (MP3 files) and get comments from peers. You can also find band members and seek help from other members at Muziboo.

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Seems like too much of a niche play for the Indian market.”

Company - Datatbyte Equipment Private Limited

Product - Lipikaar (www.lipikaar.com)

Incorporated Year - 1981

Founders - Santosh Dawara and Anjali Gupta

What They Do - Indic language expression for online and desktop users. The patented product allows a simplified typing method for both monolingual and bilingual users. Number of dialects suported are 2,000.

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Interesting technology, but needs a compelling application to drive adoption.”

Company - Lifeblob

Product - Lifeblob (www.lifeblob.com)

Incorporated Year - 2007

Founder/CEO - Pranav Bhasin

What They Do - Provides you way to organize your life. Its a blogging, picture and video sharing engine where all your posts are arranged as a timeline

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Compelling service that introduces a new dimension to navigating shared experiences”

Company - Ferox Foods Pvt. Ltd

Product - Makhana Flakes and Popcorns

Incorporated Year - 2008

Founder/CEO - Bhism Narayan Singh

What They Do - A food processing company plans to launch Makhana flakes and popcorns as a quality breakfast cereal in the next six months.

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Significant challenge to drive consumer adoption without support from a major FMCG company.”

Company - AKVENTURE Info Pvt. Ltd

Product - Lootstreet (www.lootstreet.com )

Incorporated Year - 2008

Founder/CEO - Kaushik Mukherjee, Arun Balakrishnan

What They Do - An online e-commerce company founded by IIMA grads, LootStreet offers a virtual marketplace for buyers and sellers to come together.

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Not sure if this scales given that the service is based on real time interaction between merchants and prospects.”

Company - Storrz.com- JustOnDemand Technologies

Product - Storrz ( www.storzz.com)

Incorporated Year - 2007

Founder/CEO - Chandan Maruthi

What They Do - An online retailing store that enables payment through credit card. The point being addressed by the startup is a place for merchants to quickly reach customers

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Interesting aggregation model for small/emerging brands with no inventory risk for the platform.”

Company - Tiriyo Technologies Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.

Product - Recruiter Pilot (

Incorporated Year - 2006

Founder/CEO - Dinesh Neralla

What They Do - Human resources management company which has launched its product to help in candidate sourcing, resume extraction and resume searching

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Compelling product, but revenue model and scaling are unclear.”

Company - The Hiring Tool

Product - Hiring Tool (www.thehiringtool.com)

Incorporated Year - 2008

Founder/CEO - Nupur Panjabi

What They Do - A yet to be launched product targeted at connecting employers directly with recruitment agencies, placement consultants etc for their hiring needs

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “B to B play in the recruiting space, but lacked some core differentiation.”

Company - NextBit Computing Pvt. Ltd.

Product - gCOSign (www.gcosign.com)

Incorporated Year - 2006

Founder/CEO - Vishal Borker

What They Do - An intelligence driven out of home media company targeted at high end retailers and shopping malls. They have a centrally controlled server which enables them to control hardware and thus save costs.

Rahul Khanna’s Take - “Too much of a niche play. Product assumes an always-on broadband connection at display site which is often not the case.”

Company - Four Faction

Product - Apnabill (www.apnabill.com)

Incorporated Year - 2007

Founder/CEO - S.K. Jain

What They Do - An online utility bill payment and prepaid mobile recharge platform. The company has tied up with several mobile aggregators.

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “No clear revenue model.”

Company - Eko India Financial Services Pvt Ltd

Product - SimpliBank (www.eko.co.in)

Incorporated Year - 2007

Founder/CEO - Abhishek Sinha

What They Do - A microfinance company which uses mobiles for banking solution. The co has a partnership with Centurion Bank of Punjab and targets low income people

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Solves a real problem of financial inclusion. Scaling and regulatory challenges need to be addressed.”

Company - Blink Media Pvt Ltd

Product - Intelligent Shopping Cart (www.blinkmagic.com)

Incorporated Year - 2007

Founder/CEO - Devang Raiyani, Hemang Shah, Sawan Rupar

What They Do - Interactive shopping cart accessory for retail outlets which advertises seconds before purchase

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Fantastic demo. Need to understand underlying capabilities of platform to judge scalability of product.”

Company - Picporta

Product - Picporta

Incorporated Year - 2006

Founder/CEO - Pulkit Gaur

What They Do - Image search site based on content which lets you upload pictures, edit images and batch processing.

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Nice demo, but not sure how its different from some other players in the US like Riya.”

Company - MindHive Labs Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Product - LordsOfOdds (www.lordsofodds.com)

Incorporated Year - 2007

Founder/CEO - Hariharan Krishnamoorthy

What They Do - It is a virtual betting and fantasy gaming portal. The portal organises betting on various things such as politics sports etc

Rahul Khanna’s Take – “Exciting service. May be a bit complicated for the casual gamer.”

Company - Crederity Inc

Product - Crederity Card, Crederity Trust (www.crederity.com)

Incorporated Year - 2006

Founder/CEO - Rakesh Antala

What They Do - provides certification against ID and resume fraud. The company has developed proprietary fact verification technologies enabling people to verify identity and credentials including background, education, and employment history.

(Rahul Khanna misssed this presentation)

Company - Soliton Technologies

Product - Spot-It

Incorporated Year - 2004

Founder/CEO - Dr. Ganesh Devaraj

What They Do - High cost and difficulty usability of existing vision systems. The company makes hi-tech cameras that are used by clients such as GE, IBM, Ford among others.

(Rahul Khanna missed this presentation)