Tag: Indian startup

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Startup

Agnikul Cosmos, an Indian Space Startup, Becomes First Company To Fire Fully 3D Printed Rocket Engine As Others Play Catch Up

Agnikul Cosmos (Photo Credits: Twitter/ @AgnikulCosmos)

Chennai-based space tech startup Agnikul Cosmos, which is developing India’s first private small satellite launch vehicle, became the first company in the world to successfully test a fully three dimensional (3D) rocket engine. Agnikul Cosmos has successfully test-fired its higher stage semi-cryogenic rocket engine, Agnilet.

Srinath Ravichandran, CEO and co-founder of Agnikul Cosmos, said, “This entire engine – Agnilet – is just one piece of hardware from start to finish and has zero assembled parts. We don’t think anyone in the world has ever pushed 3d printing of a rocket engine to this extent and we couldn’t be happier to have conceived, designed, realized and test-fired this engine, fully in India.”

Usually, rocket engines gave 100s of parts in them but Agnilet was designed in such a way to encapsulate all these parts into just one piece of hardware.

Meanwhile, there are other players in the race. In September last year, Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace revealed their fully 3D printer cryogenic rocket engine, Dhawan-I. The US-based startup, Firehawk Aerospace, is also close to producing a fully 3D printed rocket engine.

About  AgniKul Cosmos:

AgniKul Cosmos Private Limited is a Chennai-based start-up building country’s first private satellite launch vehicle. The vehicle, Agnibaan, can carry up to 100 kilos to LEO (low earth orbit), which is nearly 700 kilometres above the Earth’s surface.

Launched in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran and Moin SPM, Agnikul was the first Indian aerospace startup to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with the Department of Space under the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).

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Startup

Starting Up a Business: 5 Things Young Entrepreneurs Should Know to Make Their Business a Success

Entrepreneur (Photo Credits: Unsplash)

It might seem hard to start to a business, but when the entrepreneurial project gets going, the brain behind it rejoices. However, in order to make your business a success, there are several things that you need to consider before you start your business. Young entrepreneur venturing into a new business, keep looking for ways and means to help them achieve their goals. Young entrepreneurs are at an age where they need a platform to prove their caliber. They want to run something of their own, create more job opportunities and be a part of the growing India.

Here Are 5 Things That Young Entrepreneurs Ought to Keep in Mind:

  1. Know your product: The first important thing before starting any business is that the entrepreneur should know in and out about his product. He should first, himself, know what is product is all about, how well he can pitch about it in the market, what is the demand of the product, and so many other related questions. A young individual will always know what is in trend and things that work in a market.
  2. Know your market: Understand who your target audience is! Before starting up a business, a young entrepreneur should very well understand what the need of the hour. Of course, there are other competitors in the market, so a beginner should consider all the risk factors before venturing into something new.
  3. Do what you love: Take your time and understand what you love. Let your passion be the driver for your product or service, which will always keep you motivated and get you going through the tough times. Before starting up a business, one should think with a calm mind as to what one loves because when you work on something that you actually care and love, you’ll probably be happy and make the idea a reality.
  4. Find a mentor: No matter how intelligent you are, you may falter! Hence, it becomes really important to find a mentor who can guide you and let you know when you go wrong. Find someone who can open your mind and share your ideas with. Surely, your ideas will be shaped in a better manner which will be easier for execution.
  5. Perseverance and Patience: The most important trait of any businessman is perseverance and patience. These 2 Ps go hand-in-hand and help people to get better and win laurels in their work. Once you have thought about an idea, don’t give up and work on it until you make it a success. For young entrepreneur, it is an added advantage that they have time, even if Plan A doesn’t work, then be ready with Plan B. There might be rough moments in your entrepreneurial journey but you have to keep working towards your goal.
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Startup

BYJU’s, Medlife, Big Basket And More; Start-Ups That Bloomed During COVID-19

The pandemic unfavourably affected small, medium, and micro-enterprises across the world. India, known as the third-largest start-up ecosystem of the world, hasn’t been saved from it either. In this crisis time, start-ups are facing an umpteen number of challenges to sustain their business in terms of cash flow, resources, etc.

During this downbeat scenario, a few Indian start-ups are blooming well. These companies are rapidly growing and making a benchmark for other start-ups who are struggling during this time. As per a survey done in February in 2020, many Indian start-ups had made growth as a priority over profitability, but thanks to COVID-19 this strategy had taken a back seat.

But few start-ups in some sectors have bloomed well during this period. Here are the top three sectors which flourished during this pandemic time.

Growth of E-learning Platforms

We all know e-learning platforms were flourishing before the COVID -19 hit us, but after the first phase of lockdown in March 2020 it gained 3 times surge. Platforms like BYJU’s, Whitehat Jr, Unacademy, Toppr, Vedantu have flourished to a great extent. Due to schools, college shuts digital platforms seem to be the best option for a source of education, therefore, the usage of digital education increased. As per the reports that e-learning firms, which have seen monthly visits increased from 102.2 million to 128.8 million in April.

This is one sector that continues to see great growth in these unprecedented times. As lockdown started, these platforms made a smart move by making free access to students, which lead them to new users at a double rate. BYJU’s saw 7.5 million new users since it started free access to content. Similarly, Unacademy, Toppr, and Vedantu noted similar growth in March itself.

Booming E-pharmacy Startups

In current times E- pharmacy has become the backbone of our country under lockdown to stand against the pandemic. Online delivering pharmacies like Medlife, 1mg, and PharmEasy is making for a significant role in providing contact-less medicine delivery.
As people trying to avoid going out, therefore, more and more people are buying medicines and essential supplements from these platforms. Referring to the high demand for online pharmacies, they have store consumer data, which helps in planning various public health policies.

With the aid of the onset of the technological era, consumers buy medicines form E-pharmacies like Medlife, 1mg, and PharmEasy have their app, which sends frequent reminders for medicines too.

Flourishing Grocery Startups

When pandemic limited us in our homes, there were only a few industries that were expected to grow. One of them is grocery delivery companies like Big Basket, Grofers, and now many new players have also come into the picture like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Zomato few others have entered the grocery delivery space. As more consumers are trusting buying essential items online rather than stepping out of the home, which made the doubled the demand of the consumer.

Grocery delivering apps Big Basket and Grofers have admitted that they have already duplicated the number of daily deliveries compared to before the pandemic hit us. Due to the high requirement for online grocery startups are ramping up with brands and manufacturing partners to meet consumer demands. The high demand for supplies made a high demand for a workforce which leads to new job openings.

It’s true that the future is a little foggy for many but, few startups are shining even in the cloudiest of weather. Once the storm of COVID-19 storm passes these startups, will be standing tall on the grounds. These are the top three sectors that are surviving during this time, and our government of India has been developing new strategies and action plans for startups.

It’s true that the future is a little foggy for many but, few startups are shining even in the cloudiest of weather. Once the storm of COVID-19 storm passes these startups, will be standing tall on the grounds. These are the top three sectors that are surviving during this time, and our government of India has been developing new strategies and action plans for startups.

 

 

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Startup

What is a Unicorn? Here Are 4 Ideas to Help Startups Become a $1 Billion Company

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Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

A unicorn is a term used in the venture capital industry to describe a privately held startup company with a value of over $1 billion. The term was coined in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures.

According to Investopedia, companies with valuations of over $10 billion are sometimes referred to as decacorns.

According to the Hurun Research Institute’s Global Unicorn List 2020, India is home to 21 unicorns, valued at $73.2 billion. Paytm is India’s highest-valued unicorn, at $16 billion. Top 10 Indian unicorns make up 78 percent of the total value of unicorns, while Paytm alone claims nearly 22 percent of the total valuation share of these unicorns.

Find the right idea

The most essential work of your startup if you are aiming to become a unicorn is to find the right idea for your business. The idea has to be innovative and should have the potential to work. The idea should create a change in customer behaviour and also improve their lifestyle.

Understand the potential of your product

It is very important to understand whether your product will fit the crowded and the cluttered market and has the potential to stand out. Your product should also be attractive enough to encourage customers to pay a premium price on a regular basis.

Keep your customers in the centre 

The job of a startup is to find a solution to a problem that customers want to solve.

Recognise your weakness & Keep an eye on the competition.

Never lose sight of how the industry and competitors are evolving, especially start-ups with new and potentially disruptive ideas. If you have to succeed, along with your strength, it is also very important to identify your weakness. If you understand your gaps and imperfections, you can always make away with them. This ability defines the success of a startup.