Introduction
Data technologies have been around for some time now. But, the increase in data generation and availability of servers on the cloud has enabled an entire generation of startups working on ideas which were unthinkable a few years back. The change in landscape is aptly summarised by the quote below:
When ever I see data today, I think OPPORTUNITY
At Analytics Vidhya, we love start ups and we love data! So, mixing the two provides us with the heady mix which we thrive on. That is where this article was born. Today, we will look at 10 exciting startups in the Analytics / Data Science / Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence based in India, which are looking to disrupt the world in coming years.
Framework to shortlist the startups
This list has been curated based on certain parameters, which act as indicators for success of startups. The parameters on which startups have been evaluated are:
- The founding Team – This includes the diversity of the founding members, their educational background and their past experiences.
- The Sector / Market – The industry in which the startup plays and the opportunities that it can leverage in that market.
- Investment – Whether the startup has raised funds, the amount and quality of funding received.
- Recognition – This includes the mentions and awards the startup has received.
- Growth / Traction – Takes into account revenue growth and the clients.
List of Companies
1. Edge Networks
Incorporated in 2012 by Arjun Pratap, Edge Networks dreams to change the way HR industry works right now. With an ever increasing number of job seekers, the process of finding a right match for a particular job profile today has become extremely cumbersome. With Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at its core, Edge Networks has developed their product HIREalchemy to match people with the required job. The solution provided by them facilitates talent acquisition, internal workforce optimization and talent analytics. Edge Networks was featured in Nasscom’s Emerge 50 2016 list.
2. Fluid AI
What if I tell you, there is a company out there which is working to convert any screen into a gesture controlled AI powered assistant. Then be it in malls, banks etc. these screens will be able to address you when you approach a product kept next to it just like a human staff does? Fluid AI is one such company which is on the verge of a revolution for personalisation in Finance, Government, Web and Marketing. Founded in 2009 by two brothers Abhinav Aggarwal and Raghav Aggarwal, Fluid AI is leading the virtual customer assistance market. It aims to cater to various sectors to mimic human interaction with the customer & help reduce operational cost for a company. Fluid AI serves clients like Vodafone, Toyota, Deloitte, Emirates, NBD, Barclays, Rolls Royce, Accenture and Axis Bank. This is one company that you must keep an eye on.
3. Flutura
Every now & then we see new analytics startups trying to generate insights from structured and unstructured data. But Flutura founded by Derick Jose, Srikanth Muralidhara and Krishnan Raman is different. Flutura believes in actions and not insights. Flutura works on M2M model via its product Cerebra where it collects data on thousands of data points of various different machines. And it then leverages these data points to convert it into actionable strategies like pre-scheduling repairs for machines, order spare parts, etc. This model increases the life of machines, saves cost on operational loss and increases efficiency. Flutura has been recognized as one of the Top 20 Most Promising Big Data Companies globally by California-based Tech magazine, CIO Review and was also recognized by TechSparks2013 as one of the Top 3 startups out of India.
4. Heckyl
Trading is an uncertain world and the best example of Butterfly Effect. Any small incident in some part of the globe can result in huge gains or losses in the trading industry. What if there was a way to keep track of all these news, people emotions, trending sentiments, etc all in a single place that can optimize your trading strategy ?
Founded in 2010 by four former Merrill Lynch executives Abhijit Vedak, Jaison Mathews, Mukund Mudras, Som Sagar, Heckyl is revolutionizing the trading industry for brokerage firms, short-term traders, investors and fund managers. Heckyl does this through its integrated trading terminal which also provides visuals and heat maps of sentiments and market data to help traders find the right trading opportunities.
Some of the clients are Angel Broking, Sharekhan, Motilal Oswal. Heckyl is a Mumbai based startup.
5. Mad Street Den
You plan to buy a red knee length floral dress from some online fashion websites and what you get in return is either a red dress, a red short dress and every other combination but not the one you had wanted. This is where Mad Street Den’s flagship product Vue.ai comes in which relies heavily on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Vue.ai provides visual search using captured photos, targeting customers through emails and messages with their own style preferences. The e-commerce companies can customize their homepages according to the preferences of their customers along with automated tagging of products. The interesting feature of Mad Stree Den’s algorithms is the use of neuromorphic principles which facilitate organic learning using less data.
Mad Street Den was founded by couple Anand Chandrasekaran and Ashwini Asokan in 2013 with from their office in Chennai.
6. Niki.ai
Founded in 2015 by Sachin Jaiswal, Nitin Babel, Shishir Modi and Keshav Prawasi Niki.ai aims to be the one-stop solution for a customer’s order.
The startup leverages natural language processing and machine learning technologies to converse with customers over a simple chat interface, and places their orders with their partner businesses within seconds.
The startup, in August, launched its Facebook Messenger bot. With an Android app and now Nikibot, Niki helps people in India hail a cab, order food, and pay for laundry or the electricity bill, among other things. The bot lets users pay for services directly in chat via Paytm without having to leave Facebook Messenger.
The company works on a channel partnership model and generates revenue for every order processed on its platform. It is now also working with brands to provide them chatbots for their use case and application.
Niki.ai has Ratan Tata as one of its backers and is a must app to try at once.
7. ShopR360
Founded in 2015 by Rajul Tandon and Pranav Bhruguwar ShopR360 provides video analytics solutions to malls, retailers, hypermarkets and quick service restaurants. Their technology enables to distinguish staff from customers and easily integrates with existing CCTV infrastructure at no additional cost. Their solutions help to increase staff productivity, map customers journey in retail stores, measure footfall, bounce rates and dwell times. As a result, increase conversion rate and help in strategic placements of products in stores.
ShopR360 uses a combination of wi-fi/bluetooth sensors, CCTV and Optical Character Recognition. ShopR360 featured in Nasscom’s Emerge 50 list of 2016.
8. SigTuple
In a nation where there is an enormous shortage of trained medical practitioners, SigTuple founded by ex-American Express Employees Tathagato Rai Dastidar, Rohit Kumar Pandey, Apurv Anand in 2015 took up the task to assist medical practitioners in fast diagnosis of diseases using Image processing and Classification with AI and Machine Learning at its core. SigTuple aims to build affordable medical diagnosis solutions using a microscope, a cellphone app and cloud-based engine for analysis and reporting.
SigTuple is backed by Flipkart founders and Accel Partners.
9. SocialCops 
In their own words- Socialcops are on a mission to confront the world’s most critical problems using data. Their platform helps in driving healthcare policy, smarter cities and education outcomes.
Socialcops offers three products – Collect, Search and Visualize. Collect is an android app where human sensors feed data into it on a regular basis. This is currently being employed in places like Jharkhand for purposes where no data exists. Through Search, data collected can be structured and sort through at a very fast pace. Visualise helps in making decisions from the collected data.
Today, SocialCops is working on to improve the healthcare segment of India by acting as data aggregator at grass root level.
Socialcops in lieu of their contribution to make the world a better living place have been mentioned in Fortune 40 under 40 and Forbes 30 under 30.
10. VPhrase 
Vphrase, founded by Neerav Parekh in 2015 is a Natural Language Processing company with PHRAZOR as its product which can convert and structured content such as graphs into words as if they were written by a human analyst. VPhrase is on the verge of an innovation in terms of reports that are prepared and consumed by the employees of companies. PHRAZOR can generate automated reports, write articles, weather reports. The possibilities are endless. The thing that makes VPhrase all the more exciting is its capability to analyse graphs and create a word report in multiple languages.
VPhrase is backed by seed funding platform Venture Catalysts.
End Notes
It has not been long for AI and Machine Learning in India. Yet, various exciting Startups have been incorporated which are pushing the boundaries of technology and human comfort meanwhile solving real world problems. Apart from the 10 above startups, there are many more startups in analytics industry which are waiting to leave a mark. If you are aware of a company which is pushing boundaries of AI, share with me in the comments below.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article as I much as I did writing it. I would like to know your thoughts on the above startups, share your opinion in the comments below.
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I am a perpetual, quick learner and keen to explore the realm of Data analytics and science. I am deeply excited about the times we live in and the rate at which data is being generated and being transformed as an asset. I am well versed with a few tools for dealing with data and also in the process of learning some other tools and knowledge required to exploit data.
