Meet the 8 startups picked for Pitney Bowes' accelerator programme in India

NYSE-listed technology solutions provider Pitney Bowes has revealed the names of eight startups selected for its accelerator programme in India. In April this year, Pitney Bowes had announced that the Pitney Bowes Accelerator program will incubate software startups in India. The programme is a part of IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies' (NASSCOM's) 10,000 Startups initiative.

As part of the programme, Pitney Bowes is focusing on startups that leverage software for mobile, data analytics, location-based services, and e-commerce management. Selected startups will have unlimited access to Pitney Bowes' software, application programming interfaces (APIs) and data for the duration of the programme.

Training, technical and business guidance and mentoring will be provided to the startups from Pitney Bowes engineering and innovation leaders, and from software industry experts. In addition, startups will also be networking with prospective investors.

"We live in a connected and borderless world of commerce. Each of these companies is working on innovative contributions that complement our own technology solutions," said Manish Choudhary, VP- worldwide engineering for Pitney Bowes Inc.

Here is a look at the eight startups:

Audianz: Founded in September 2012, Audianz is a location-based advertising platform. According to the company, its location-based targeting couples with multiple other attributes to provide users with highly targeted and relevant ads ensuring higher ROIs for advertisers and maximising eCPMs for publishers.

BrownTape: A single click multi-platform solution for e-commerce management. The company wants to become the single system that an online seller needs for his e-commerce operations irrespective of the marketplaces they are selling on.

Heuristics: A provider of GPS-based vehicle tracking system (VTS) and mobile-based personnel tracking solutions. According to the company, its solutions have been deployed by various government and private organisations like Punjab Police HQ (Chandigarh) and National Investigation Agency (Delhi), among others.

Ideata Analytics: An integrated data intelligence platform to help users perform information discovery on their Big Data including interactive reporting, intuitive dash boarding and advanced analytics.

RetailNav: An indoor navigation technology company focussing on providing rich location-based analytics and services to retailers, with a vision to create an interactive marketplace that facilitates a wholesome, engaging shopping experience for the consumer.

Tagalys: Many a time consumers struggle to zero in on a particular product on e-commerce sites, prompting them to opt for physical stores instead. The company claims to be solving this issue with its intelligent search engine called Tagalys. According to the company, Tagalys has the ability to accurately handle semantic queries by helping the consumer search for more specific items, thus increasing the conversion rates and sales for e-tailers.

Teritree: A customer experience management platform that personalises consumer interactions using website behaviour and social context in real time. Its flexible programming of recommendations bring friends and family to help in online shopping, while the platform engages every individual consumer at the right time based on the lifecycle and actions on a website.

Yo-app: An app that integrates social circles with a discovery platform.

Pitney Bowes provides technology solutions for small, mid-size and large firms that help them connect with customers to build loyalty and grow revenue. Many of the company's solutions are delivered on open platforms to best organise, analyse and apply both public and proprietary data to two-way customer communications. According to the company, over 1.2 billion people around the world today are using Pitney Bowes' location intelligence solutions when they check in or use location-sharing features on major social media platforms.

NASSCOM had started the 10,000 Startups initiative, aimed at incubating, funding and supporting 10,000 technology startups in the country over the next ten years in March 2013. Started with support from companies like Google, Microsoft and VeriSign, the initiative aims to incubate 10,000 startups and facilitate funding for those through partnerships with some of the leading incubators/accelerators and angel networks in India. The initiative will also extend support to incubators/funding partners in the form of industry connects and co-working infrastructure, as well as startup kits including hosting credits and other technology & business tools valued at more than $25,000.