Ideas|Products|Startups|VCs

if you are a startup or small product company and running short of testing time and resources and want to get your product tested without hiring testers here is a good news for you. 99tests can solve this problem of yours, 99tests is a software testing platform based on crowdsourcing concept.

99tests is a Bangalore based startup founded by Praveen Singh and Avinasha Shastry.  99tests is an online testing platform which aims to bring together a passionate group of testers. 99tests provides access to a community of software testers, where software owners can post their product to be tested and get bugs filed for their products.

99tests has adopted a simple workflow, Clients can create a contest and set a cash reward for the most valuable tester. Clients need to upload the clear testing specifications, and testers compete for the cash reward and file bugs as per its priority/severity.

The client then validate the bugs and award points for very valid bug, tester with maximum points is declared winner and prize amount is transferred through PayPal account. Platform currently has 300+ testers and over 1000 bugs have been filed. 99tests takes a nominal fee from the client for usage of its platform.

USP of 99tests platform is Developers/Entrepreneurs can get an on-demand QA team of top testers to test their product and reduce the goto market time.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Salesforce, the enterprise cloud computing company, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Dimdim, a web conferencing and meeting tools provider for approximately $31 million in cash.

Acquisition will extend salesforce.com’s Chatter collaboration platform with critical real-time communication technologies It follows the proven Facebook model of combining real-time collaboration and communication into a single integrated service. Enables salesforce.com to build on momentum of 60,000 Chatter customers, accelerating the industry shift to Cloud 2.

By offering an integrated collaboration and communication platform, the company believes it will drive greater Chatter adoption, increase customer loyalty and differentiate its entire product portfolio.

DimDim is a hyderabad based startup founded by D.D. Ganguly and Prakash Khot in 2007. Dimdim has created critical real-time communication technologies such as presence, messaging and screen sharing. Dimdim is financially backed by Index Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners and Draper Richards ,they must be making a handsome exit with in 3 years.

Dimdim provided hosted meetings, similar to Citrix’s GotoMeeting. Free meetings were made available for up to ten users. Professional meetings with collaboration tools for up to 50 users were also made available for US$25 per month, and webinar hosting for up to 100 users or 1,000 event attendees was available for US$75 per month.

I have been a big fan of DimDim and have used their premium account earlier and currently was on free plan, sad to find it will remain active till March 15.2011.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Forget GroupOn, GroupOff has emerged in India. As the name suggests GroupOff is another Indian Groupon clone which aims to become leader in group buying space in one year time frame. At present GroupOff deals are available in Bangalore, soon they are launching services in other Indian metros.

To save the deal from getting canceled by not meeting the minimum numbers, GroupOff is giving incentive in form of free t-shirts to users to meet the requirement of making a deal live, smart move carrot generally works in India.

GroupOff negotiates with the merchants and come up with the coupons offering 50-90% discount and the deal is typically available for 1 week. Customer needs to decide and buy the coupon within that period. Customers can buy coupons online, coupons will be emailed or delivered at your doorstep and finally customer can redeem the voucher at the merchants place, user can also gift the coupon to their dear ones.

GroupOff makes money from merchants in form of advertising fees and also small cut from each deal sold.

Ultimately customer is getting benefited by the companies entering in deals and group discount space.

Caution: Do read the fine print of each deal before buying.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Companies and businesses are leveraging the benefits of social media, customers are being engaged and  acquired through social networks. If you are worried that your competitors are doing well in the social platform and how you can counter it and remain competent in this social platform, here is a startup called Eyesandfeet which will empower you in getting social footfall for your business.

Eyesandfeet is a chennai based startup founded by Lakshmanan Narayan, an IIT M and IIM C alumnus. EyesandFeet is primarily targeting clients based out of US and its in Beta stage currently and nearly 500 clients are using in 10 cities in US.

Eyesandfeet has developed a web application that helps company/local business owners to figure out what their immediate neighbours and competitors are doing on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc and kind of business they get by actively engaging users on these networks.

EyesandFeet has mainly two modules – See Module and Do Module. Eyesandfeet is developing  a very comprehensive and usable database of local business social media activity and it constitutes the See Module. In Do Module Eyesandfeet handholds the local business and guide them what to do and also help in in customizing for Facebook, twitter and other social platforms.

EyesandFeet also has scoring system in place, local business gets score based on how they are doing it and they can assess their score by comparing it with their competitors.

Certainly! a great social measurement tool for Small and medium sized local businesses.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Rentoys is a bangalore based online toy rental service company, it offers toys on rent on a monthly subscription basis. Rentoys is founded by Manoj Kumar, Neeta Verma & Shilpa Prasad, they observed kids generally get bored out of toy soon and constantly want to play with new toy,  and also shelf life of toy is also less.

Rentoys allows Parents to keep their kids happy by offering them variety of toys without buying them. Parents can become a member and subscribe to the plans which suits them, parents can browse through the toy catalogue and create their wish list. Each member can select one to three toys depending upon the plan. Within two days of placing an order online, toys will be delivered at subscriber door step. The toys are mostly rented out for a month.

Rentoys has got 3 subcription plans – Silver, Gold and Platinum and price varies from Rs 250-500/month. if you are not sure if it will work for you, you can test their trial pack of one month which costs 250/month.

Toys are categorized as per the age group, and toys are from reputed brands like Fischer Price, Funskool. Its quite simple to form a wish list and get going. But i am left with wanting for a ‘Search’ feature on Rentoys since i have no tool to find out the desired toy.

Rentoys offers its services in Bangalore and Hyderabad and plans to soon launch in Mumbai.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

TangoFX™ the flagship product of ABOVE Solutions Inc. is the industry’s first open standards-based real-time multi-active media platform. TangoFX™ allows users to interact with media, and with each other, without being dependent on the mode of delivery or the device through which the media is consumed.

ABOVE has development centers and sales teams in Bangalore, India and Singapore.

TangoFX is a context aware Interactive HD service that provides live and on-demand cinematic experiences for viewers to watch shows/movies/videos anywhere, anytime and on any screen (mobile, PC, Kiosks, and HDTV).
Using smart on-screen widgets, the interactive service enhances the cinematic experience by allowing viewers to connect with friends and family, and pick, share and discuss scenes of mutual interest while watching live or on-demand content.

Also, the interactive service leverages several patent-pending technologies to provide individual and shared interactive program guides that allow viewers to completely personalize their viewing experience to match their media & entertainment lifestyle.

TangoFX is built on a next generation iTV Platform that is fully customizable for telecom carriers, consumer product/service companies, hospitality service providers and others. Creating value-added services to increase ARPU, improve retention rate and enable new customer acquisition has never been so compelling.
The iTV platform enables services in the following channels:

· Web & Internet Media

· Email, Social Media & Viral Marketing

· Mobile Platforms & Marketing

· User/Consumer Generated Content

· Digital Out of Home (DOOH)

· IPTV

· Kiosks

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

EmpXtrack is a comprehensive HR product that covers all employee related activities under single platform. EmpXtrack is a web-based Global HR software product that covers all aspects of an employees life cycle in an organization – right from recruitment to performance management, growth, management and eventual exit. It helps automate all HR processes in your organization and provides strategic inputs to all stakeholders including HR Managers, Management, Managers and Employees.

EmpXtrack is a flagship product of of Saigun Technologies based out of Noida and is founded by Tushar Bhatia, an IIT Delhi graduate.

EmpXtrack is powerful enough to handle all 18 functions of HR department through its single window interface and provides comprehensive analytics for critical decision making. EmpXtrack is designed to cater all needs of HR Management through its unique model of integrated yet independent functions. This allows organizations to meet their specific HR needs.

EmpXtrack is offered in 5 different editions depending on the needs of a company and according to the HR functions it can automate.

Try EmpXtrack and share your feedback.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Hushbabies, is an exclusive e-commerce portal for baby care products and parenthood in India which aims to dominate this $50B market in India. Husbabies is launched in early 2010 is based out of Coimbatore and is founded by Veena, a US returned serial entrepreneur in e-commerce space. She was not able to find range of quality baby care products under one roof and she realized there is a need and launched Hushbabies.

Hushbabies team offers, chemical safe products, considering the safety and development of the child at each stage. The products that include toys, books, baby products, health care, games, clothing, and furniture are chosen with extreme care. Hushbabies also offers products for new moms, making it an exclusive shopping platform for both new born babies and new mom.

Products are categorized quite neatly in the portal, easy to find the desired products, user can browse the products by brands as well and Advance search option is also provided for users.

Hushbabies delivers wide range from diapers to toys, car seats to cozy bouncers, food maker to laundry detergent and specialty child care products to designer cribs. Hushbabies have partnered directly with brands like AVENT, Chicco, Pigeon, Nuby, VTech, Leapfrog & thirty other brands. Hushbabies has their own warehouses in Coimbatore and Bangalore, products are shipped from their warehouses, Products are

Hushbabies offers its users easy returns policies, easy exchanges and direct warranty point for several brands. They also offer 24×7 customer service, a promising shipping and delivery model and have a dedicated team to analyze the post delivery process. Hushbabies, in the near future will add many value added services and extend benefits to its loyal customers.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com

Now buying your favourite fruits and vegetables is just as simple as ordering pizza, Thanks to Vegwala. Its an online vegetable & fruit shop, its a Bangalore based service started by Mitera Agrotech. I have earlier tried other similar services but discontinued because of various reasons- service wasn’t prompt, need to meet their minimum order amount etc.

Couple of weeks back I tried Vegwala and was impressed with their service, within 1 hr of ordering it online i received the items. Vegwala charges extra Rs 10/- as delivery charges for bill below 200/- and no delivery charges if bill meets 200 or above.

Salient features of Vegwala-

• Products are competitively priced.
• Directly delivered at user doorstep, just a click away.
• Fresh vegetables and fruits soured everyday.
• Handpicked, hygienically packed and ready to be placed in refrigerator, user is saved from cleaning etc.

To save time for users in selecting vegetables and fruits, Vegwala has packaged box system containing vegetables/fruits/mix of fruits & vegetables for a nuclear family of 2 or 4 person. Great packaging and bundling by Vegwala.

Dealivore, at first glance will come across as another Groupon Indian clone, but it isn’t. Its purely a deep discount deal provider and it works without needing minimum number of customers buying coupons to make the deal live.

Dealivore negotiate with the merchants and come up with the coupons offering 50-90% discount and the deal is typically available for 24-72 hours. Customer needs to decide and buy the coupon within that period. Customers can buy coupons either online or over the phone, coupons will be emailed or delivered at your doorstep and finally customer can redeem the voucher at the merchants place.

Dealiivore is founded by Satish Madhira, a serial entrepreneur and has also worked as VP of SAP Labs. Dealivore trying to divert merchant’s from branding exercises on paper and radio in which determining ROI is highly diffcult. Dealivore guarantee the minimum sales to the merchant, and in return merchants get advertising mileage, exclusive promotion on website for 1-3 days and getting upfront money from customers as well.

Dealivore is currently offering its deals in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, soon it plans to launch in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

Ultimately customer is getting benefited by the companies entering in deals and group discount space.

Caution: Do read the fine print of each deal before buying, for instance some deals won’t be applicable on weekend. Put your thinking hat before buying coupon, go through the details carefully, coupon may be applicable on food but not on drinks.

-Hitesh, vcBytes.com