Hello Everyone,
It’s been an year of two successful editions of Proto.in, and I am sure you are as curious as me to know what happened to most of the 40+ companies that presented during the last two editions of Proto in 2007. Well, We have some very good news to share.
I have always maintained that Proto is not about funding. Well, those with money and those with access to capital do come for the event, but most of them are there to serve other purposes than to pull out their cheque books and start signing them away – that only happens when there is a bubble in the making, and I really hope and pray that these are not such days. I strongly believe that a sign of a healthy ecosystem is when a company can bootstrap and get to a comfortable market valuation without having to raise money from investors. If the ecosystem is rich and is keen on growing startups, then there will be means to grow traction, gain customers and expand your markets without having to blow too much of money for the same. That is the environment that we aim for at Proto.
A Lot of folks ask then as to why VCs attend Proto. Most of them are sincerely looking at deals, but not right away. Proto, serves as an initial point of contact for most of these investors, and then through time see how the company grows and validates itself – which is a good alternative for a track record deficient ecosystem. And plus, a VC is probably the most influential person when it comes to word-of-mouth marketing as he sits across various boards and manages his portfolio of companies. There will be opportunities that will arise for partnerships, alliances and perhaps even mergers (fingers crossed).
So here’s the first of the series of the Proto story and what we’ve managed to achieve in the past one year. The number of companies that have actually made it to a stabler ground is more than what I anticipated and I am none more than humbled by it. As always the focus is on the startups, and I salute and give credit for the founders who sit at the helm of these companies to take it to where it was, and for running with all the market traction and visibility that they could get hold of. Without further delay, here it goes:
Tenmiles Corporation, a company based out of Chennai, run by Shalin Jain. He launched and demonstrated Helpdesk pilot, a software that serves of valuable importance for all the backend customer support that happens out of this sub-continent. Post Proto Tenmiles has been able to garner the trust of companies such as Verizon, and Wipro and has grown to a company with customers in 40 countries, and with numerous other products in the pipeline, with a definite agenda “to build a forest”, in the words of Subrato Bagchi. Tenmiles was a company that came in without an intention to raise money, and are still solid on that. What they do want is every means to increate market valuation, grow their presence and change the world through their dreams and products. I say, its a fabulous dream to chase, and Congrats to Shalin for the team and company that he is building.
Vyasa, a banking solution Product that is build by a company named I Create, run by Anup Pai – someone with a team who have a strong background in the banking sector. Post Proto, Vyasa has acquired clients in Europe, South Africa, Australia and the Middle east and are running some Pilots in South Africa. With the revenues that they have made this year, they confidently projecting a million dollars in revenues for the upcoming year – all with a 100% equity holding and without raising a single ruppee in funding. Kudos to this team.
Personally, there are some major issues that these guys are solving. I am personally a bit annoyed by the back that Customer care for most banks are offshored to another entity and no matter what relationship I have with the bank, I am treated as if I am a stranger. The solution that this company offers is one that indexes all personal records in an effective manner that the problem that most banks face can be lifted, resulting in personalized and face to face customer interaction. It’s definitely going to be one of the major pain points that most banks will compete over as more international banks step into this region.
Sloka Telecom, has had my admiration for quite sometime. Sujai, the founder of the company has a valid patentable technology and perhaps the insight to look at a market that is openingup – compact WiMaX base stations. Sloka has been selected and announced as one of the top 100 innovative companies in India by NASSCOM and that is no surprise. Sloka is also one of the companies to do the first WiMAX installation in Europe, in France infact. I am quite proud of this company, as it joins the legions of telecommunication expertise that is coming out of this nation.
Inasra, is a company that manages mid and small segment hotels all across the country. I remember once sitting with a friend in a hotel and him asking if it is possible that every hotel in India could be available online, classified by price range. A week later, I was introduced to Inasra and it was everything we had discussed about. My line for this company was that they would “deccanize” the hotel industry – whatever happened with Deccan and low-cost flying, would be the trend with Inasra’s service. If people who are cost conscious of flying prefer Deccan, I wonder where they stay once they do land. Inasra is a service that allows people to search for hotels, all the way for sub-100 Rs all the way to making a booking in the Shangrila of New Delhi.Proto has and with caution I take credit for the exposure it has given this team in gaining confidence, and in evolving their business model to tweak it to perfection. Yogendra the founder of the company, has the drive that, I am certain of, will turn this into a successful enterprise.
Ixigo. There is barely a week that I go without talking to these two gentlemen, Aloke and Dharmendra who are the brains and the drive behind Ixigo. From a late entrance into the game of online travel search engines, they have come up fast and strong giving most of the online travel portals a scare for their positioning. With more blogs and reviews raving positively about them, and with their visitors counting more than 100,000, I have done the deed in putting them in touch with companies such as Amazon who can help them scale up, before their servers crash of overload!. Ixigo was also one of the companies that was listed by NASSCOM on the top 100 Innovator’s list. What they have done in terms of opening up the travel search space, and making matters more transparent in terms of the hidden charges, will be a trend that is going to get better and better, as we see more and more news with demands raising for transparency in Airline ticket pricing. With Ixigo going International soon, It is a service I am looking forward to.
I thought I’ll start off with these five companies. The interesting point to note is that none of these companies have raised money. But if they had raised money, this is probably what they would have done – build their enterprise. At Proto, our aim is to help these companies postpone their fund raising if possible, so that they can build the initial traction, better their valuation, and then raise capital that will be put to better use. I am sure those from the venture capital community would welcome this move as well.
I have atleast another ten to fifteen such cases of companies and where they stand as of now, which I shall write about, till the days that lead to Proto.in January Edition on the dates of Jan 18th and 19th in Chennai. It will be the last event that is to be held here, after which it will be moving to Delhi in July. So be a part of it, as we set a new stage, standardizing the movement that we hope to cause in the ecosystem to make it richer, more perceptive, and more startup-friendly.
Regards,
Vijay Anand
Key Organizer – Proto.in
