Seed accelerator Techstars selects 9 startups for its third India cohort

Global seed accelerator Techstars Bengaluru ann0unced nine startups as a part of its third cohort in India. The winning startups will each get an investment of $120,000 and be a part of a mentorship-driven acceleration programme. 

Over 70 mentors from India and overseas including popular names such as Priya Mohan of Venture Highway, Hari TN of Big Basket and Vir Kashyap who co-founded Babajobs will be a part of the initial weeks. 

This year the entire programme is virtual and the Demo Day in early July 2021 is also slated to be a virtual event. 

“It’s heartening to see how Indian founders are increasingly focusing more on IP, and building for global markets, and not just India. These only go to create better outcomes, sustainable business models and more value creation for investors,” Dhritiman Hui, managing director, Techstars Bangalore said in a statement. 

Here’s a look at the selected startups: 

AfterShoot

Founded by Harshit Dwivedi and Aayushman Choudhary, Delaware headquartered AfterShoot is creating the ‘Grammarly for taking photographs’.The software allows anyone with a smartphone to take pictures as aesthetically and beautifully as a professional photographer. AfterShoot’s machine learning solution is already being used by 2000 professional photographers globally.

Asanify 

Founded by Priyom Sarkar, Kolkata-based Asanify is a human resources platform that simplifies HR, payroll and salary payments for small businesses in emerging countries, starting with India. Its AI engine enables employees to download payslips and check leave balances right on Slack and Whatsapp. In the long run, it aims to leverage its user base in order to cross-sell insurance, credit, investment and tax saving solutions. 

Asvin Tech 

The Patna-based startup is providing low-cost, high precision 3-D scanning solutions to dentists in emerging countries globally. The solution’s design makes it 10x cheaper (and faster) than competing 3-D scanners. In the long run, it will leverage its proprietary technology for oral cancer detection and dental 3-D printing solutions. Asvin Tech was started by Satwik Priyadarshi and Dilip Kumar Sharma 

CogniSaaS 

Founded in 2020 by Rupesh Rao, Bengaluru-based CogniSaaS helps enterprise SaaS cross-functional teams--sales, pre-sales, implementation, customer success, product--to collaborate and ensure a customer is delivered maximum value. Its minimum viable product (MVP) is receiving strong reviews from closed beta customers. 

CustomerGlu 

Founded by Raman Srivastava, Prateek Gupta and Sumant Subramanya, the Palo Alto-based startup is a low code platform that helps companies globally solve the $400 billion ‘lost revenue’ opportunity. It enables retention marketers and product managers to easily create interactive workflows that drive user stickiness. The founders launched Glu post-pandemic, and signed up a number of big Indian brands as customers. Within month of launch, they have expanded to Western markets, securing customers from the US, LATAM and South East Asia.

Dara.Network 

Founded by Sean Blagsvedt and Archana Prasad, Bengaluru-based Dara.network is creating a cross between Slack and LinkedIn, allowing alumni to easily engage with fellow alumni from their class, their school and ultimately across schools. It has secured its first few paying customers. 

EasyLokal 

Founded by Vivek Agarwal and Vibhay Sachan, EasyLokal is a translation solution that enables businesses in India to localize their mobile apps and websites with ease quickly. The Gurugram-based startup provide cloud-based software tools (APIs, Mobile SDKs & powerful integrations) to completely automate the localization workflows, enabling products to be localized 90% faster. 

General Systems 

General Systems is providing robotic solutions for the multi-billion-dollar global construction industry. Their first product is a robotic arm that builds walls using 50 per cent fewer labourers and 10 per cent lower material costs, and adds significantly to a construction company’s profitability. Their patent-pending design makes them much cheaper and less bulky than competing robotics solutions. The startup was founded by Mukund Nambirajan and Anant Shukla.

Xook 

Started by Ratul Roy and Rajagopal Natarajan in 2020, the Bengaluru-startup makes robotic food kiosks for office canteens, college, university campuses and apartment complexes globally. The kiosks provide a massive variety of cuisines, starting with Indian fast food and then Chinese fast food. They are already integrating with office canteen operators and apartment complexes in Bengaluru to provide their first kiosks.