Ideas|Products|Startups|VCs

Ericsson has acquired a minority stake in Novatium Solutions Private Ltd. with an aim to speed up the broadband enabled user services in emerging economies. Novatium launched its commercial service in November 2009 and has 40 employees in its Chennai office and 35 employees in the field throughout India. Novatium offers a PC together with cloud-based services via telecom operators gives Ericsson exciting opportunity to support an innovative local business in a fast growing market that will further increase the need of mobile broadband

Via agreements with various software companies, Novatium offers a PC together with cloud-based services through telecom operators and distributors’ network, where the consumer buys his or her choice of a service-package, for example anti-virus, photo editing or office programs, as a thin client on a monthly basis. Primarily, this service addresses the needs of first-time Internet and PC users, both from simplicity as well as from an affordability perspective.

With Ericsson acquiring a minority stake in Novatium, the company will have funding and competence to further develop the offering and grow outside India in markets with similar needs. For Ericsson the agreement offers an exciting opportunity to support an innovative local business in a fast growing market that will further increase the need of mobile broadband.

Acknowledging the importance of cloud based services, Gowton Achaibar, head of Region India, Ericsson, said, “The business concept PC as-a-service is a strong offering addressing an important growing segment in the Indian market. With this engagement I see potential business synergy benefits to both Novatium and Ericsson and our respective customers.”

Alok Singh, CEO Novatium Solutions Pvt. Ltd. said, “This strategic relationship with Ericsson encompasses a great opportunity for Novatium as we are partnering with a global organization with the best technology know-how, which will help us develop our offering and introduce it to new markets.”

The middle income consumers and the first time PC owners are the primary contributors to the growth of PC usage in India, while connectivity to internet and cloud based services are important enablers.

The PC-as-a-service with cloud environment also brings a business opportunity to the telecom operators as it provides differentiated broadband pricing based on what services the consumer wants to have access to. This not only allows operators to increase their revenues from a service revenue share but also increases the addressable broadband market by lowering consumers’ entry barriers with affordable PC’s and related services.

Novatium has contracts with some of the major Indian telecom operators like Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), Bharti Airtel and TATA.

iWebNotes is a mumbai based startup which offers SaaS based ERP cum CRM solution targeted at small and medium enterprises.

iWebnotes facilitates SMEs in their ctivities such as accounting, invoicing, sales, stock keeping, projects, tasks and HR related activities. I like their pricing strategy kept it very simple and have adopted only one pricing which is 299/month/user, it won’t confuse the common user. One can see their demo and can as well signup for a 30 days free trial for the hands on experience.

The workflow and functionality are very basic and high level features which should suffice 70-75% of their work, which is good to get started  but i doubt whether this simplicity will draw users since most of the SMEs want rich features at low price.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Tata Communications, a leading provider of the new world of communications, and Google India today announce plans to combine their global resources to offer a portfolio of web-based, collaborative business connectivity tools that provide email, instant messaging, calendar functionality, video and office presentation tools for business’ across India.

The portfolio of business tools, powered by Google Apps™, is a significant move by both parties to bring value-added applications to Indian enterprises while offering localized pricing, billing and support.

The service is simple to subscribe, easy to use and streamlines the complexities of IT while allowing businesses to pay for only what they need. Indian organizations, particularly the emerging enterprises, will now have expanded access to Tata Communications’ cloud-based software services, helping them migrate their IT requirements to a pay-as-you-use business model. Building on Tata Communications’ leadership position as a SaaS service provider, the portfolio will help organizations reduce IT cost and complexity and be more productive. It will be particularly beneficial to companies with fast growing teams, offices spread across the country, or staff who travel frequently.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Simplilearn is Bangalore based startup targeting global audience who aspire for PMP certification. Simplilearn is a SaaS based online learning platform, integrated with essential Web 2.0 tools, which provides professional organizations and training solutions providers with a fast and flexible way to configure and deploy their learning contents.

Simplilearn is a certification preparation Portal. Simplilearn provide working professionals the option of attending Live virtual classes from the convenience of their home or office. It provides a balanced mix of e-learning, classroom learning and live virtual classes to address the unique learning needs of working needs of working professionals.

Simplilearn is founded by Krishna kumar a serial entrepreneur, earlier he cofounded TechUnified, which got acquired by a public listed company in Feb 2007. By the time of acquisition, TechUnified had world class products in the areas of Mobile Banking, Voice Banking and Telecom Self Care.

SimpliLMS the LMS from Simplilearn, helps them create, manage and deliver various standard as well as customized courses that are of global values and provides them all the features of a good blended learning. Simplilearn also addresses those organizations that have a good course curricula and a strong base of learners but are looking out for economical LMS to go online. SImplilearn develops fully customized learning portals that yields higher ROI.

Simplilearn has trained more than 3000 PMP aspirants from across 100+ countries. Simplilearn provides customizable solutions to meet unique training requirements of organizations. Simplilearn plans to introduce other certification training programs like ITIL Training, CAPM Training, CISA, and Six Sigma training in the near future.

Simplilearn competes with global players like PMCC, CELTEM, PMSTUDY.

Simplilearn USP -

• Live Virtual Classes from India to global audience.
• Pioneers of blended learning approach for certification preparation.
• Intuitive and excellent user interface.
• Product bundling done quite smartly, user can buy the complete package or individual item like online courses, mock tests.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

WealthERP is a bangalore based startup which provides SaaS based wealth management cum financial services platform for wealth advisors and financial planners and distributors. Their platform covers multiple asset classes and allows advisors to plan, manage and analyze investments across assets and have a 360 view of their client’s investment portfolio. WealthERP is not a personal finance management portal and is not for end users.

WealthERP will help financial intermediaries increase the penetration of wealth management and financial products to rural and non-metro areas by providing them with an economical platform that is rich in features and functionality, without the hassles of owning the infrastructure.

Let’s analyze the pain points and gaps WealthERP is addressing -

• a) inadequate advisor and customer education
• b) emphasis on legacy investment products
• c) prohibitive economics of processing transactions and servicing customers
• d) legacy delivery systems
• e) high dependence upon commission based sales model.  Majority of the advisors do not have any software.  Usage of process driven tools for scientific financial planning and wealth management is lacking.   Advisors reach in non-metro and rural areas is very low.  Scalable and affordable technology solutions are very few.

WealthERP is founded by Monish Jamwal, he worked with Bank of New York and Credit Suisse before starting this venture.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

HealthHiway promoted by Apollo Hospital Group has raised $4 million round of funding from Greylock Partners. Based out of  Bangalore HealthHiway provides SaaS soultions to help hospitals, clinics, insurance providers, pharmacies and diagnostic centers collaborate on billing, patient records, x-rays and claims.

HealthHiway was started in 2007 and provides various hospital management solutions and prominent offerings are - ClinicConnect organizes patient registration and medical records, ClaimsExchange is an online claims processing system, and ImageConnect captures and processes radio images such as X-rays, CTs and MRIs that can then be shared.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com