2020 has been a year of dramatic upheaval as the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the world, wreaking havoc on both business and personal plans.Every sector of the economy has been heavily disrupted, including the start-up industry. Whenever any crisis strikes, it’s the start-ups that have to bear the maximum brunt. As a result, majority companies have had to either shut down or take up something else to stay afloat.
However, there are some start-ups that have remained resilient even in these tumultuous times. The advent of modern technologies like AI, machine learning, 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain have helped many of these small-sized companies harness ‘disruptive innovation’ to create a new market and value network, displacing established firms and products. As India’s start-up ecosystem grows at an incredible pace, the founders are seizing the opportunity to disrupt and flourish.
Here’s a roundup of the companies that are toughing it out in these dire times and still continuing to attract investment, employees and attention.
- UDo-now– UDO is a budding android app that lets you connect to thousands of experts in over a hundred categories. This innovative company offers mobile app which helps people get connected to their Udo buddy and seek expert advice related to any problems he or she is going through. Udo is an online app that connects people offline. UDO was conceived with a sole motive: to help Indian audiences in every step they take life with an expert advice. That is, from travel and relationship advice to handling a difficult boss, career guidance, demand express advice in life difficult situations or sometimes, simply someone to give you fashion advice. In a nutshell, UDO is a complete package for all your problems in itself.
- Get My Parking– founded in 2015 a mobile-based parking management system that is digitizing the parking industry. The app seeks to simplify parking by digitizing the entire process from ticketing to auditing. To users, the app provides information on the nearby location of the parking lots, availability of parking spots, ticket pricingso as to avoid overcharges. To parking attendants, Get My Parking helps in digitally managing the lot, cashless platform for payment, revenue management, accounting, auditing.
- Supreme Incubator: Supreme Incubator has been active in the entrepreneurial ecosystem for the past 2 years – organizing regular events and mentorship meetups. With their Summer cohort, the program has transitioned to a fully digital model where the 30 selected founders now get together on regular video calls to share progress, meet mentors or join workshops. With a virtual program, they have expanded the scope of support offered and startups incubated.
- Suraasa: Suraasa offers support to teachers who are passionate about improving students’ learning creatively and are motivated to grow their careers. The EdTech platform hosts a range of UK-accredited Teacher Training Qualifications, equivalent to standard academic programs (Bachelors in Education, Masters in Education, and Diploma in Education) in terms of job eligibility. These 10-month part-time programs enable educationists at all levels, from teachers to principals, to enjoy teaching 21st-century students, reduce stress in managing any classroom or administrative situation, and achieve growth with promotions.
- PokerDangal: PokerDangal, an India-based one of the leading online Poker playing platforms, a flagship product of Xeta Networks Pvt. Ltd. Established in 2017, has completed its third year this year with engaging their customers yet again with a safe, reliable and fun ecosystem along with a completely hassle-free gaming environment. The company is equipped with all required technology certifications and adopts the best of security measures to provide its players with a totally secure payment gateway with multiple options for deposits.
- Kuberan’s House –Kuberan’s House, a first of its kind platform to source and showcase innovative start-up ideas from across India. It will help entrepreneurs especially from tier 2 & tier 3 towns across India and connect them to venture capitalists/ investors to get investment from the best panel of investors & venture capitalists, converting each of them into successful business ventures. It’s an unique initiative that creates opportunity, provides great exposure & visibility, profound mentorship, financial assistance for start-up ideators and companies, and makes their dreams into reality by encompassing the extension of the ‘Make in India’ vision.
- Tracecost: With insightful and innovative use of technology, Tracecost strives to provide big picture insights and solutions for companies of all sizes. It is a technology company that offers specialized products and services for construction and infrastructure companies such as process consulting, analytics, custom development and cloud management, thus, covers all facets of project execution.
Summing Up
By striving hard and expanding their business offerings, these start-ups are reinventing themselves to up their game. Though times are difficult, many founders are taking it in their stride and seeing new opportunities emerge even in this crisis. Therefore, India is sure to witness this segment of the economy grow and prosper in the near future.