Friday, June 20, 2008
Portals offering bus tickets gain ground- Internet -Infotech-The Economic Times
14 Dec, 2007, 0007 hrs IST,Pramugdha Mamgain, TNN
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NEW DELHI: Tired of standing in long queues to book bus tickets? Go online. A number of online bus-ticketing portals have sprung up of late. Though the business is still at a nascent stage, it’s witnessing a 30% year-on-year growth. Some like Redbus.in, Tickevala.com, Yatra.com, Theluxurybuses.com, Abhibus.com, Indiabusticket.com and Checkouttrip.com have made bus journeys more convenient.
“Online booking offers wider choice, comfort and convenience to the customers. Instead of physically going from one tour operator to another to check availability of fare and journey details, one can now get all the information from multiple operators at one click,” said Yatra.com co-founder Dhruv Shringi.
Given the growing potential of the sector, some players in the online air ticket booking space are also planning to join the bandwagon. “The online bus-ticketing business is likely to witness robust growth in the coming years. We are aggressively planning to foray into this sector and are looking for tie-ups with some of the budding online bus-ticketing portals,” said M"
PayMate plans to partner with IRCTC for railway tickets booking | Alootechie
19 June, 2008
by Asfaq Tapia
Mobile payment company PayMate India, which recently raised $9 million in a second round of funding which took the total funding received by the company till date to $14 million, is planning to partner with IRCTC (which runs Indian Railways’ online passenger reservation site IRCTC.co.in) for railway tickets booking. “We also plan to increase our visibility in Sri Lanka and Nepal and are looking to enter the Middle-East,” Ajay Adiseshann, CEO of PayMate, told AlooTechie in an interview.
PayMate has been very active in the last year, tying up with banks and other services. What are your plans for the future?
We at PayMate plan to continue to build the ecosystem. We currently partner with ten banks and will look to focus on building the retail space by expanding our 9000+ merchants database. We plan to introduce mobile recharge options soon. This year, we plan to increase our visibility in Sri Lanka and Nepal and are looking to enter the Middle East. We are also going to partner with IRCTC for railway tickets soon.
When you first rolled out the service, Citibank was one of your bank partners, why have they now backed out?
Yes, we did p"
Monday, March 24, 2008
Alootechie
Proto.in unveils Startup Lunch Initiative to enable startups find talented people
“As part of Proto.in and as part of interacting with startups, We've been noticing something interesting. A Startup is probably the best place to be at for a fresher or for a professional who is looking for a career boost or to experience rapid growth. But the issue is that most freshers are not aware as to where to find these startups, neither are these startups able to be part of campus recruitment processes because of their small size,” the Startup Lunch wiki site reads. “This is a small effort towards that direction in making it happen with the most simplistic tools in place.”Alootechie
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
VC investments rise to six-year high - Yahoo! News
SAN FRANCISCO - Venture capital investments in U.S. startups climbed to a six-year high of $29.4 billion in 2007, raising hope that ample money will still be available to back promising new ideas even if the staggering economy falls into a recession.
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The amount of venture capital spread across 3,813 deals represents the industry's busiest year since $40.6 billion went into nearly 4,500 U.S. startups in 2001, according to data scheduled for release Saturday by Thomson Financial, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.
The $29.4 billion invested last year marked an 11 percent increase from $26.6 billion in 2006.
In 2001, venture capitalists were actually curtailing their investments after the dot-com economy pushed the U.S. economy into its last recession.
Although many experts believe another recession is imminent, venture capitalists say there is little reason to believe their investment pace will slacken this year.
In a show of confidence, venture capitalists raised $34.7 billion for future investments during 2007, a 9 percent increase from the previous year.
The industry's optimism stems from a belief that many of today's hottest concepts either aMonday, December 31, 2007
Online advertisers estimated to have spent over Rs 600 crore in 2007 : Alootechie
December 31, 2007 | News | Share This
Mahesh Murthy, founder and CEO of search engine marketing firm Pinstorm, estimates that Google’s revenues in India have likely tripled in the last year to more than Rs 200 crore. “At Pinstorm, we think the total amount spent online by advertisers is well over Rs 600 crore this year—which is about twice of what it was last year, and about half as much again as what we think it’ll be next year.”
According to Mahesh Murthy, the mainstream agency network has missed most of the online advertising boom in India “with very little of this money going through their air-conditioned offices in Lower Parel, Mumbai. But they’re now trying to buy the digital independents that are getting away with it.” (Source: LiveMint)"
Saturday, December 29, 2007
The Big Indian Aviation market Fraud
The Big Indian Aviation market Fraud
As we also run an offline travel desk we often get queries from people on reservation of cheap air deccan 1Re ticket or similar schemes launched by various airlines. Though most of the time reason for people to ward off is the taxes charged by the government. This post is not about the tax charged by the government but how many times taxes collected from passengers are not reaching the government.
We have seen so many times people who have booked these low fare air tickets are unable to draw refund for the taxes paid on these cheap tickets. The catch here is at time of buying e-ticket airline clarify in case you will not use the ticket nothing will be refunded. Fair enough dont refund money collected under your own head but would like to know what is the procedure to get tax back on congestion fuel etc which was not used especially in the case where passenger did cancel his/her air tickets lets say 72 hours before the flight. As far as my sources claim the tax never reach government coffers. Which legally speaking means misrepresentation as no one gives right to anyone to collect money on behalf of government and evade the tax on their own terms.
If i am wrong about the system would like to hear aviation domain experts take on it.
Online ticketing to clock 271 per cent growth
New Delhi: IATA has set a deadline of 2008 to introduce e ticketing across the globe, the ubiquity of e-tickets in India has increased manifold.
The online ticketing is clocking growths of over 271 per cent to become a $2 billion revenue sector.
''Revenues for this year will be about 1.2 billion dollars with travel consultants PhoCusWright predicting a growth of 271 per cent,'' PTI quoted Cleartrip.com Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Murthy as saying.
The company has recently raised $11.7 million from private sources to fund its needs.
''We have raised a sum on 11.7 million dollars from venture capitalist like Dag Ventures and have already utilised about eight million dollars,'' Murthy said.
The travel boom, emergence of low cost carriers, proliferation of the Internet and the growing acceptance of e-commerce over the last few years, are key factors that have fuelled the growth of the sector.
The company is now looking at going offline as 90 per cent of ticketing is still done through this mode.
For this the company has already set up a pilot project under which kiosk has been set up in the Kishore Biyani's 'Future Bazars'.
Cleartrip has recently joined hands with 'Future Money' to provide finance on extended monthly installments to people who want to buy its travel products.
This facility will be made available at four Big Bazaar outlets in Mumbai.
Cleartrip will soon extend this tie-up to other 66 Big Bazaar outlets as well as 31 pantaloons. This facility can be used to pay for all Cleartrip's offerings like air tickets, hotel bookings, tour packages and railway tickets.
However, Murthy ruled out any service extension in the form of telephonic ticket bookings. ''We might consider it later but at present the cost structure does not make sense and our margins will suffer.''
Murthy sees revenues from international travel to be the key drivers and plans to introduce international bookings of airlines through the Internet in the next three months.
Mobile advertising still in tryout stage - Yahoo! News
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SnapTell Inc., the company helping Wine Enthusiast and other merchants offer such services, uses image-recognition software to determine what offer, video clip or other content to return to the phone. In the coming months, the same technology could deliver movie reviews and discounts to anyone snapping a picture of a movie poster or billboard.
It's one of a number of emerging approaches to mobile advertising, an industry still in its infancy but showing promise. More than 80 percent of Americans now own cell phones — a statistic Jupiter Research analyst Neil Strother equated with "carrying a potential advertising channel in their pocket."
Fast-food chains, carmakers and TV reality shows have run contests and other promotions in which consumers participate by sending text messages. Wireless carriers have begun letting companies run banner ads — mini-versions of what you might see on a PC. Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have brought lucrative search ads to phones.
Advertisers have been spending a little money here, a little there trying to gauge what works on mobile phones. The efforts so far are best described as trials and pilots, lacking in comprehensive strategy.
"It's the Wild, Wild West right now," said Rick Sizemore, chief strategy officer for the tech consultancy Multimedia Intelligence. "This is an interesting and compelling vehicle, but they don't necessarily know who to work with. There are so many options out there — a lot of hype with no substance, and then a couple of gems."
SnapTell is among Sizemore's favorites.
Gautam Bhargava, SnapTell's co-founder and chief executive, said the company considered the phone's unique qualities — its lack of regular keyboards in most cases, and the ubiquity of built-in cameras. Rather than require someone to punch in a brand name using a clunky keypad, the company decided to accept picture messages.
"We wanted to make it simple for the end user," Bhargava said. "There's nothing to install on your phone. You don't need to pre-register. We do not have to worry about whether you are with Carrier A, B or C."
Another of Sizemore's favorites is Single Touch Interactive Inc., which plans to unveil in February a program that lets customers activate electronic coupons at drug stores and other retail chains simply by dialing the pound sign on the phone followed by "SAVE." Discounts are automatically applied at the register.
"I don't want to increase the line and have customers be frustrated because someone's fumbling trying to find a coupon" in a text message, said Anthony Macaluso, Single Touch's chief executive. "What we need to do today is not change the behavior of the retail point of sale or the behavior of the customer."
There are still a number of hurdles before mobile advertising can truly take off.
Advertisers now have a good idea what a typical desktop computer can do. Handsets, however, vary in screen size and features — even the same model can be configured differently depending on a customer's carrier.
And there are also big differences among users: Some people use phones only for calling, some have dabbled with text messaging and others are comfortable surfing the mobile Web and watching video.
"In mobile you can't assume anything," said Derek Handley, chief executive of The Hyperfactory, a mobile ad company. "You need to build programs and campaigns around this fact."
In addition, many users pay for services by the minute, message or kilobyte. Seven ads via text messaging could hike a phone bill by a dollar.
The uncertainty has led to some experimentation in business models, as some wireless carriers and ad companies bet that consumers will embrace ads for free minutes or ring tones.
Virgin Mobile USA LLC, which offers prepaid mobile services, said more than 10 percent of its 5 million customers have signed up for Sugar Mama, a program that lets customers earn up to 75 minutes of free airtime each month simply by watching ads or responding to mobile surveys. PepsiCo Inc., the U.S. Navy and Nintendo Co. have been among the brands participating.
Expect the experimentation to continue in the new year and beyond.
"That's how a new market is being created," said Dan Olschwang, chief executive of JumpTap Inc., an ad-technology company. "People adopt all kinds of stuff they know from other medium and gradually the industry learns how to utilize the best in this new medium that's called the mobile phone."
Mobile advertising still in tryout stage - Yahoo! NewsSunday, December 23, 2007
2010 Commonwealth Games -
India will be only the third developing country to host the event after Jamaica in 1966 and Malaysia in 1998. This is only the second time the event have been held in Asia (after 1998)."
Opening ceremony
October 3, 2010
Closing ceremony
October 14, 2010
Number of Tickets Sold in the 2006 Common wealth games in Australia: 1.2 million
Preparation
India's Sports Minister will head the apex committee for conducting the games while the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi will head the organising committee. The Games will be held from the 3rd to the 14th of October.
The advertising campaign for the games was revealed on the 26 March 2006, right after the Transfer of the Flag from the Mayor of Melbourne to the Mayor of Delhi.
The triathlon appears likely to be excluded from these games as there is no suitable location for the swimming stage. The organisers have also proposed removing basketball, but want to include archery, tennis, and billiards and snooker for men. Cricket, although in strong demand, may not make a come-back as the Board of Control for Cricket in India were not keen on a Twenty20 tournament, but the organisers did not want a one day tournament [2].
Indian Rugby Football Union officials are helping the Games Committee in the organisation of building a rugby union-specific stadium. [1]
In addition to new sports facilities the entire city is to be given a facelift, including new roads, modernisation and increase in public transport, new power plants, etc. The estimated amount to be poured into the city for it to be ready in time for the 2010 games is about $17.5 billion.
Preparation for the Games' Global Village complex in Delhi has unleashed a protracted legal battle, as the Delhi Government, in contravention with Delhi High Court order (2005) and without obtaining the necessary environmental clearances from multiple agencies, has proceeded with a 40 ha construction project on the floodplains of the Yamuna River. The Yamuna floodplain, while being prone to flooding and located on a seismic fault, is a critically endangered river stretch and a major source of replenishing the groundwater in and around Delhi. The Government cites national pride and the expected economic benefits as reasons for the project, although they have failed to adequately address why the site cannot be moved to other suggested locations. The case is underway in the Delhi High Court as of December 2007.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Internet user base grows by 40% to 46 mn
Publication: Business Statnderd
Date: 5 December 2007
For the first time ever, the internet user base in India grew by over 40% on a year-on-year basis to touch 46 million in September 2007 from 32.2 million in 2006. During the same period, the number of active internet users (those who regularly surf the web) has reached 32 million, according to the Internet in India [I Cube] Report 2007, published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.
Subho Ray, president, IAMAI, said: 'Although a growth of 40% year-on-year makes us happy - given that for the last couple of years the rate of growth was between 30-35% - the growth rate is not very satisfactory relative to what can be achieved and what needs to be achieved.'
The report notes that growth of Internet users is primarily driven by the fact that the number of people who know how to use a computer unaided has grown to 65 million up from 15.8 million in 2000. Besides 70% of the PC literates have used the internet some time or the other in their lives.
"Broadband which would drive more applications, functions and businesses - and therefore more users - now really needs to take off in India in order to make the growth sustainable. If the broadband targets are not met in the Year of the Broadband, there is a possibility of missing out on creating a virtuous cycle of better connectivity, better content and more users," Ray said.
Mohan Krishnan, senior vice president, IMRB and country manager BIRD, IMRB, opined that the demand for the internet continued to be primarily from urban areas. Therefore, while the government was justifiably drawing up plans to reach internet to rural areas, it was also necessary that the urban digital divide should also be bridged with appropriate policy measures
Friday, December 21, 2007
Indians key to next billion mobile users: Study
BS Reporter / New Delhi December 21, 2007
Although only about one in 20 of the world’s first two billion mobile subscribers live in India, as many as one in every four of the next billion subscribers will be an Indian, a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said.
The report focuses on a distinct group of consumers — the next billion — whose potential to become profitable customers has been greatly underestimated.
Based on extensive primary research, the BCG study has estimated that around 91 million households in India belong to this next billion segment.
These households have been identified based on a combination of factors including household savings, discretionary expenditure, ownership of basic consumer durables and banking relationships, the report added.
Categorised by income, this segment sits just above the poorest of the poor and just below consumers who are already targeted by most companies. In India, income of the urban next billion household varies between Rs 60,000 and Rs 180,000 per annum.
In rural areas, the floor is lower at Rs 40,000 per annum reflecting the lower cost of living. There are 18 million households in India that lie above the next billion segment and 95 million households that are below the next billion. |
BCG has surveyed over 15,000 next billion customers and conducted several focus group discussions and in-depth interviews across India, Brazil and China to understand their aspirations, needs and behaviours. |
James Abraham, a partner and director in BCG’s New Delhi office and a co-author of the report, said: “The next billion will be different from the first two. For the next billion, the mobile phone can change their lives, improving their economic prospects more significantly than any other tool.” |
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Burrp compiles a list of New Years parties across 8 cities : Alootechie
December 21, 2007 | News | Share This
Social lifestyle listings portal Burrp.com has compiled a list of New Years parties “to help users locate the best place to be on the New Years Eve.” The list currently provides information about 100 parties across eight cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. “With contributions pouring in from users as well, we are likely to double the number of parties by 31st Dec,” Burrp has said.
Burrp has also made its presence at Ahmedabad by launching Ahmedabad.Burrp.com. According to Burrp, apart from restaurants, cafes and night clubs, Burrp Ahmedabad also includes the famous street side chaat stalls and chai wallahs that Amdavadi’s are specifically fond of. “Besides, since non-vegetarian food is a rarity in Ahmedabad we have ensured to include and highlight the places that do serve meat to make things easier for visitors,” the company has said."
38 million people in India are using mobile phones to access internet: TRAI : Alootechie
December 20, 2007 | News | Share This
According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the number of Indians using their mobile phones (both GSM and CDMA) to logon to the internet has increased from 16 million in 2006 to 38 million in 2007.
Broadband subscribers’ figures, on the other hand, as on 30th October 2007, were a mere 2.69 million. And there are 22 million personal computers in the country, with just 30 to 40 per cent of them with internet access.
This implies that internet access through mobile phones is at least six times more than that through PCs, and nearly 14 times more than broadband access, reports Business Standard."
Travelguru to acquire hotel portal Desiya.com for Rs 100 crore : Alootechie
December 20, 2007 | News | Share This
Travel portal Travelguru.com, which focuses on online hotel bookings, is acquiring Delhi-based B2B hotel portal Desiya.com for $25 million (around Rs 100 crore). Travelguru is also scouting for an offline travel player with a pan-India presence.
Desiya.com claims to have 1,000 travel agents and 225 travel portals among its clients. It has 1,500 hotels in its inventory all over India. The portal registers 600 transactions a day, over 500 B2B transactions and 100 inbound hotel bookings, reports Economic Times.
Travelguru raised $10 million from Sequoia Capital India in January 2006 and in November 2006 it got its second round of funding of $15 million from Battery Ventures and Sequoia Capital India"
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
WOW - Noida Appu Ghar, Unitech tie-up for amusement complex in Noida
Noida , March 21
THE promoters of Delhi's Appu Ghar have teamed up with real estate firm, Unitech Ltd, to build a new amusement complex in Noida.
The amusement park, billed to be the largest facility of its kind in the country, will cost Rs 1,000 crore and its first phase will be thrown open to the public next year.
"The World of Wonders (WOW) will have a large water park, two malls, theme parks to cater to different age groups and a five-star hotel in the 150-acre complex," according to Mr Sanjiv Tyagi, Managing Director of International Recreation Parks Private Ltd (IRPPL).
IRPPL is a 50:50 joint venture between Unitech and International Amusement Ltd, the parent company of Appu Ghar.
Construction is in full swing and one of the malls, along with the water park and a Bollywood theme park will be ready by next year. The hotel and fantasy land will be completed by 2008, Mr Tyagi said.
Mr Rakesh Babbar, the co-Managing Director of IRPPL who represents International Amusement Ltd said: "We were the first to get family entertainment parks in the country. This will be the biggest such facility in the country and we are introducing some rides for the first time in India."
The amusement park expects to attract close to 20,000 visitors on weekdays and over 30,000 on weekends, Mr Babbar said, adding that the average footfall at Appu Ghar is between 5,000 and 6,000.
IRPPL claims to have got the best designers and architects for the complex. Canada-based Forrec Ltd has prepared the design while Callison Architecture, which has been rated as the world's best retail architect firm, is also involved with the project, he said.
The two promoters will pool in Rs 30 crore each as equity and have tied up finance to the extent of Rs 90 crore. The rest of the money would come from sale and lease of the property.
The company has already tied up the anchor clients that include Lifestyle, Shoppers' Stop, Pantaloon and Arcus. Rave Cinemas will operate the six-screen multiplex in the mall.
Rohini - Unitech, International Amusement tie up for amusement parks - Express Hospitality
Unitech and International Amusement Ltd. (the promoters of Appu Ghar) have tied up for a 50:50 joint venture to develop the Rohini Adventure Island and Metro Walk in Delhi.
Monny Vijeshwar, managing director, Unitech Amusement Parks (UAPL) informed, "UAPL has developed The Metro Walk & Adventure Island at Rohini based on international standards, which has been designed to serve as one-stop entertainment and recreation destination for the entire family."
There is a horde of international consultants like Forrec Ltd of Canada for Architecture, Euro Pool of Scotland for Water Management, Cini Little of USA for Food & Beverages, TUV of Germany for Safety Measures and Monitoring, employed for the development of the park. All rides at the park have been imported from leading suppliers who supply to international amusement parks like Disneyworld, Universal and Six Flags. Talking about the new trends in outdoor entertainment, Vijeshwar said, "The Rohini Amusement Park Project will combine the experiences of both a retail and entertainment destination through its two distinct zones. The retail experience is called Metro Walk whereas the amusement park area is called Adventure Island. Adventure Island will also include a water park and a multimedia area."
"A total of over Rs 160 crores has already been invested in the project till date. The park is located in Sector 10, Rohini, a mere 400 metres from the Rithala metro station. The park is spread over an area of 62 acres and will feature over 20 different rides and attractions," Vijeshwar added. The project comprises two segments. The first is a shopping mall-Metro Walk, a retail environment with an area of 2.21 lakh square feet. This will house some of the world famous luxury brands. The second segment is the Amusement Park-Adventure Island, an amusement park and water park covering 35 acres of land. The first phase will also have 95 retail outlets in the Metro Walk mall, and 15 rides in the Adventure Island. Out of this, 78 retail outlets, inclusive of food outlets, are now open and 13 rides are operational. The second phase will include the opening of the rest of the amusement park and the water park.
"The park also follows the highest globally accepted safety standards of DIN-Deutshes Institut Fur Normung (European Safety Standards). A well-equipped first-aid centre provides facilities like an ambulance with a team of 24-hour in-house medical experts," informs Vijeshwar.
The promoters have commissioned an environment-friendly water management system. "The water will be sourced from 8 tube wells located along the site. This water will then be treated at the RO plants for water filtration before being used in the park. To counter the drawing of ground water, the park has outlined a plan to harvest water. Recharge pits will be constructed within the site that will absorb rainwater into the ground. The park also plans to set up a water treatment plant that would make it possible to recycle and reuse unclean water," describes Vijeshwar.
It currently has footfalls of 15,000 on weekends and 5,000 on weekdays. It is attracting visitors not only from West/North Delhi but also from places like Gurgaon and South Delhi.
Scorpions to play in Bangalore « Thinking Without a Box
Confirmed the dates at the Scorpions’ official website so looks like Bangalore gets to see the Scorpions again.
There was no word on how to get the tickets but I did some digging around and found that the show is being organized by E-18, a group that’s part of the Network 18 company (CNN IBN’s part of their stable).
Long story short, you can book tickets online at BookMyShow . The tickets are priced at Rs. 7500, Rs. 1500, and Rs. 1000. I don’t know where you can get tickets off-line but we’ll probably get some ad in the newspaper in the next couple of days telling us where. (Rs. 7500 for a ticket is steep though.)
The website also says that the concert is at Palace Grounds and begins at 7 pm (gates open 5.30 pm).
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
John Malone Eyes Ticketmaster
Malone's Liberty Media is dropping hints it may focus on the ticketing company as its payoff in Barry Diller's proposed IAC breakup.
If media moguls know one thing about cable billionaire John Malone, it's that he usually gets what he wants. What does Malone want these days? The top executive at Malone's Liberty Media says it could be Ticketmaster, which last year sold a staggering $7.1 billion worth of seats to events.
And Malone may just get it: Ticketmaster is one of several assets that fellow mogul and IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI) Chief Executive Barry Diller may be forced to sell to Liberty (LCAPA) to complete the IAC breakup he announced on Nov. 5 (BusinessWeek.com, 11/6/07)."
CollegeSpeaks, Yulop, Ubona — Startup Dunia - Indian startups and Entrepreneurship
I have two main suggestions for the Yulop team:
1) The different sections on the site dont seem to make a lot of sense. In fact, I found them a bit confusing. In my opinion, the Cityfind should be merged with the Swami section. Also, a different ‘Books Kannada’ section for a Bangalore portal doesnt quite seem like a great idea. I think the Books Kannada should be launched as a different website. The books section kind of distorts the brand image if you were to ask me. If people want to associate Yulop as a Bangalore portal / yellow pages site, the books section skews that perception.
2) The events calendar for the site is too cluttered. Unfortunately Joomla doesnt have any chic looking event calendars."
Indian Government to launch seed fund ? — Startup Dunia - Indian startups and Entrepreneurship
Tags: Entrepreneurship, VC India
This story in BS caught my eye.
The Indian government is taking steps to float a fund to make seed capital available to entrepreneurs. The govt. is putting together a framework for setting up an innovation promotion council. The fund’s initial corpus of Rs. 75 crores will come from the Dept. of Science and Technology. Three entities will be involved - the govt., TiE (to rope in VC and angel funds once the seed funding is over) and ISB (where ideas will be examined and nurtured).
The idea seems to be inspired by Israel’s efforts at such incubators."
Indian Online Social Network Sulekha.com Gets $10 Million Investment | Digital Media Wire
It was the company's first institutional round of funding. The company runs various blogs, groups and networking services, as well as local commerce sites, in 25 cities worldwide, including eight in India. NVP currently manages more than $2.5 billion in venture capital."
Ticketmaster, NFL ink ticket resale deal - Yahoo! News
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The company signed a multiyear deal with the National Football League that includes branding and promotion for the site, Ticketmaster said in a statement being released Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed.
West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster already operates separate, so-called ticket exchange sites for 18 NFL teams, which allow ticket holders to resell their game tickets online.
The latest deal moves those teams and adds four others to the new portal set for debut sometime next year, said Ticketmaster, which is owned by New York-based Internet conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp.
Resales are a growing slice of the ticket market for sporting events, concerts and other events, but Ticketmaster lags other online ticket resale outlets such as StubHub, which is owned by eBay Inc., and auction sites such as eBay itself.
'It's fair to say we're an underdog in the category right now,' said Eric Korman, Ticketmaster's executive vice president. 'We need to really aggressively compete to win dollars and grow ahead of the competition.'
Ticketmaster plans to guarantee the resold tickets, which are sent to buyers electronically, just like it does with its regular primary ticket sales.
The company is counting on that security feature and the NFL branding to woo prospective ticket buyers and sellers.
"It's going to be safe, it's going to be reliable, it's going to be efficient," Korman said. "When you show up at the gate, you're ensured that ticket is going to be valid."
The company profits on the secondary sales by charging the seller and the buyer a percentage of the resale price.
Monday, December 17, 2007
41% of India’s internet users belong to smaller towns and cities: Report : Alootechie
December 17, 2007 | News | Share This
According to the I-Cube (Internet in India) 2007 report jointly published by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, 41 per cent of the total internet users (46 million) in India are from the smaller towns and cities with less than 1 million (10 lakh) population.
The I-Cube 2007 report also states that cities and towns with a population of 2 to 10 lakh have shown the fastest rate of growth in the internet adoption since 2000. In contrast, the share of top eight metros by population has fallen from 77 per cent in 2000 to 38 per cent in 2007.
Mohan Krishnan, senior vice president, IMRB International, has said, “The distribution of internet users among the four classes of cities covered by the I-Cube has been steadily becoming more equitable, a sure sign that internet is being gradually but steadily expanding to the smaller towns and cities.”
Subho Ray, president, IAMAI, has added, “The town class distribution of internet use in 2007 certainly reflects the aspiration of sections of non-metro population to ‘live locally but connect globally’."
Rakesh Verma selected amongst Top 10 GPS businessmen of 2007 : Alootechie
December 17, 2007 | News | Share This
Rakesh Verma, managing director of CE Info Systems (MapmyIndia.com), has been selected amongst the world’s top 10 GPS businessmen of 2007 by GPS Business News.
According to GPS Business News, the purpose of the nomination is to “highlight the role of ten personalities that have achieved notable successes and/or have strongly influenced the navigation and location-based services market by their actions in the last twelve months.” The award for top GPS Businessman for 2007 will be announced by GPS Business News on December 20, 2007.
Under Rakesh Verma’s guidance, CE Info Systems has built the most comprehensive and accurate digital maps of India under the MapmyIndia brand. By introducing all India consumer products in the internet, mobile phone and in-car space, MapmyIndia is changing the face of navigation industry in India, which is set to become one of the largest world-wide consumer markets for navigation in the next five years, CE Info Systems has said."
Seventymm eyes Rs 100 crore revenues from 3 lakh users : Alootechie
December 17, 2007 | News | Share This
Bangalore-based VCD/DVD rental service company Seventymm.com claims to have 40,000 users of which 50 per cent are from outside India. The company is now targeting three lakh users generating revenue of over Rs 100 crore.
Seventymm currently operates in six cities — Bangalore, Delhi, Chandigarh, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The company is now planning to expand its area of operations to 20 cities in two years. “We are also planning to introduce movie downloads in India by the end of Q4 of 2008,” Subhanker Sarker, COO, Seventymm, has been reported by exchange4media as saying."
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Don't undermind Ad Revenues- Teen Millionaire
Not so long ago, teen Ashley Qualls lived in a one-bedroom apartment with her mom and sister. But with her computer and savvy business sense she made a better life for all of them.
By KEVIN SITES, TUE OCT 30, 12:11 AM PDT
Ashley Qualls doesn't sound like a typical high school student. Maybe that's because the 17-year-old is the CEO of a million-dollar business.
Ashley is the head of whateverlife.com, a website she started when she was just 14 — with eight dollars borrowed from her mother. Now, just three years later, the website grosses more than $1 million a year, providing Ashley and her working class family a sense of security they had never really known."
(Watch the video )
Execs: Web ad spending should be higher - Yahoo! News
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Unlike traditional media, where each format has one main ratings provider — The Nielsen Co. for television, Arbitron Inc. for radio and so on — there are many sources of data on online audiences. And they frequently conflict.
Disagreement also continues over which criteria best gauge users' potential interest in a product or service. And the resulting data aren't easily comparable to ratings in other media anyway.
It's a "problem of plenty," as Manish Bhatia, president of global services for Nielsen Online, a unit of The Nielsen Co., told a recent conference on online audience measurement.
Web publishers are frustrated that the lack of cohesion is holding them back from capturing more of the $250-billion-a-year U.S. advertising pie, especially given the huge amount of time people spend online.
"This industry looks like it can't get out of its own way," said Steve Wadsworth, president of The Walt Disney Co.'s Internet group. "We need measurement of the audience and their use of the system that's clear, simple and actionable for a marketer. You need comparability with other media."
As Internet executives hash over clickstreams, page views and user panels, 2008 is sure to see even more evolution of the way online audiences are measured. Other media — including TV, radio and billboards — also are revamping the way they calculate ratings in response to pressure from advertisers trying to measure how effective their ad dollars are.
About 1 in 5 IBM employees now in India - Yahoo! News
BOSTON - IBM Corp.'s expansion in developing countries shows no sign of relenting. The technology company revealed Friday that it now has 73,000 employees in India, almost a 40 percent leap from last year.
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IBM did not provide updated figures for its work force in the U.S., which has held steady around 125,000 people in recent years.
Nor did IBM project its total head count. It had 355,766 employees worldwide at the end of 2006.
If the total has risen by the same rate as in 2006, almost one in five IBM workers now is in India, its second-largest center.
Like many other technology providers, IBM has rushed to take advantage of the lower labor costs India offers even for highly skilled workers. IBM's base in India numbered only 9,000 people in 2003, but it was about 53,000 last year.
IBM has been stressing not only the lower expense of working in India but the potential of the Indian market. IBM executives told visiting Indian journalists last week that the company expected to see revenue from the Indian market jump to nearly $1 billion this year, from $700 million in 2006.
Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM is also ramping up in other key developing markets. Its chairman and chief executive, Sam Palmisano, recently formed a new organization that will spur IBM's investment in emerging economies.
The plan is meant to capitalize on the higher growth rates in the so-called "BRIC" countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. IBM's revenue from those countries rose 18 percent in the first three quarters of this year, even after discounting the benefit of currency fluctuations. IBM's total employee count in those countries now is nearly 100,000, up from 70,000 a year ago.
IBM's vice president of financial management, Jesse J. Greene Jr., would not forecast how much more hiring the company still might do in emerging markets. However, he said "we see continuing good stability in the BRIC countries in general and good opportunity for growth in those countries as well."
Friday, December 14, 2007
MakeMyTrip plans to enter online bus ticketing segment : Alootechie
December 14, 2007 | News | Share This
Travel portal MakeMyTrip.com is planning to enter the online bus ticketing segment. “The online bus ticketing business is likely to witness robust growth in the coming years. We are aggressively planning to foray into this sector and are looking for tie-ups with some of the budding online bus-ticketing portals,” Sachin Bhatia, chief marketing officer, MakeMyTrip, has told Economic Times.
According to PhoCusWright, a travel industry research firm, travel portals in India did a business of $800 million in 2006 which is expected to hit $2 billion by 2008. Though the contribution of online bus ticket booking to the overall online travel business is mere 8-10 per cent currently, the share is expected to double in the next three years.
Mayank Bidawatka, marketing head, RedBus.in, has said, “We have been experiencing a 30 per cent month-on-month growth in our revenues.” Some of the other players active in the online bus ticketing space are Ticketvala.com, Yatra.com, TheLuxuryBuses.com, AbhiBus.com and CheckoutTrip.com."
Thursday, December 13, 2007
PVRCinemas.com - PVR Movies online booking engine « Business India 2.0
MovieTell.co.in
Movietell.co.in - Online Movie Ticket Booking Service Delhi
Published December 23, 2006 DVD rental India , Entrepreneurship India , Moviemart , Retail India , Startup , Technology , seventymm 9 CommentsDoing a search recently to find service which provides online movie ticket booking service in delhi brought me to movietell.co.in. Will the site had unimpressive UI. The ajax widget which help you select theatre and movie timing was pretty cool. Though end of the day were useless keeping in mind didnt connect right to registration page as new customer or ask for login kind of thing.
Important thing for these sites is competition they will be recieving from M-Tickets venture. Though their are issues and still possibility is Movietell kind of model can sustain better in india.
First issues with movietell and how can they improve their business model.
# They need to get UI design more clearer with better presentation
# They are charging 10 Bucx per ticket they got to work out a better model. Example if they are issuing E-Tickets why not sell ad-space on the e-ticket itself. As only 30% content is going to be movie details .Rest 70% can be used for displaying ad’s which can help in keeping the cost down to zero.
# Secondly they can increase the actual volumes and negotiate with cinemas to work on commission basis. Its common to work on 4-5% distribution or printing cost reduction margin basis.
# You can try to go in for a franchisee model where people can goto buy ticket offline from a franchisee who has deposited money at your end. This way you are creating a bigger value chain and pressence pan-india.
# Try not to just concentrate on movie tickets. Get Concerts and sports events also online. As these are mediums still selling via banks etc.
This can be a great model which can surely work if right people for execution are available. If they need help do e-mail me.
Firstphera.com
Redbus.in
RouteGuru.com - Do we just need directions?? « Business India 2.0
Very Important Read !!! Read guys Read
http://ijsid.wordpress.com/2007/09/22/ticketproin-e-retailing-of-event-tickets-come-online/
You can't miss this. Event Ticket Selling has been a big business abroad where agencies like Ticketmaster has become billion dollar businesses specializing in selling Tickets for concerts to sports events. India which has recently seen increase in number of international artist coming in and with usage of credit card going high as a suitable destination for launching such convenience services.
Coming from delhi where generally most of the events are sold out due to sponsors generally taking the tab to entertain V.I.P’s finding even where the tickets are retailing is a big job in itself. While looking for tickets for the latest Akon Concert i bumped into ticketpro.in an online exclusive retailer for the event.
Ticketpro.in website is not really in line keeping in mind the new web 2.0 e-commerce b2c sites we see these days. Its pretty static with an integrated shopping cart. The site doesnt organize the information properly nor does have a great navigation forcing people to buy tickets online. Probably after going through about us section i realized that ticketpro is currently concentrating on selling event tickets why their partners more instead of online channel. Reliance Web World and Planet M leading the cart. What ticketpro.in is not realizing is the potential and power of internet to sell these events ticket combined with banner advertising on social networking sites. They can also look at something like an Facebook application which gives out details of latest concert and ask people to send out invites to other people in the group hence extending the commerce.
For now their is room in india for more organized ticket selling companies to come in but a concrete business model will require work to start now to be ready for big events boom in india starting from 2009Young men account for 33% of total internet users in India: Report : Alootechie
People Interactive (Shaadi) wins Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Award : Alootechie
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Ticketpro
Karnataka Cricket Association to sell tickets through internet : Alootechie
Web aware marriage brokers !!! Wow
For example, there are brokers who fix matches in India for a comission.
"Sanjeev’s ambitions of getting a profitable business out of jeevansathi seems to far from realty. I don’t see any real differentiation for this product. Taking head on with bharathmatrimony and shaadi is not that easy in that segment. More than that, the regional portals and traditional brokers getting online quite rapidly with easy solutions like Matri4Web is really damping the chances of jeevansathi."
Info Edge eyes Rs 50-60 crore revenues from Jeevansathi and 99acres in 3 years : Alootechie: "Sanjeev’s ambitions of getting a profitable business out of jeevansathi seems to far from realty. I don’t see any real differentiation for this product. Taking head on with bharathmatrimony and shaadi is not that easy in that segment. More than that, the regional portals and traditional brokers getting online quite rapidly with easy solutions like Matri4Web is really damping the chances of jeevansathi."
Yatra launches Affiliate Program for website publishers : Alootechie
Yatra launches Affiliate Program for website publishers : Alootechie: "Yatra launches Affiliate Program for website publishers December 11, 2007 | News | Share This Travel portal Yatra.com has launched Yatra Affiliate Program that allows website publishers to generate revenue by promoting Yatra Online products and services on their websites. According to Yatra.com, the Yatra Affiliate partners can earn commissions for every booking originated from the affiliate’s site. The commission structure for domestic and international hotels and flight bookings are Rs 75 per booking for domestic flight, Rs 200 for domestic hotels, Rs 100 for international flights and Rs 200 for holiday packages. Dhruv Shringi, co-founder and CEO, Yatra.com, has said, “Yatra Affiliate program is an open business invitation to all the websites owner, an opportunity to diversify their services with our help to assist their customers with travel related queries and guidelines. This programme reiterates our continued commitment to introduce innovative ideas in the travel arena, making travel convenient.”"
comScore: Naukri leads jobs sites, TimesJobs grows fastest : Alootechie
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Potential Partner - MetroMela.com launched to help users find city-centric information : Alootechie
IRCTC sells over 54,000 railway tickets online per day : Alootechie
VCs disappointed with opportunities available in Internet, Mobile VAS : Alootechie
HT buys DesiMartini for less than 10 million USD, The bubble Cometh? : Alootechie
THE BUSINESSWORLDVENTURE INTELLIGENCE PRIVATE EQUITY SURVEY
http://www.businessworldindia.com/AUG1406/number.pdf THE BUSINESSWORLDVENTURE INTELLIGENCE PRIVATE EQUITY SURVEY, 2006, takes a comprehensive look at the significant investments, exits and other private equity activity in
Businessworld: The New World of Private Equity
So, has India arrived on the global private equity scene?
In terms of sheer numbers, no. India’s investment kitty is barely 6-7 per cent of the global pie. It is not even the biggest investment destination in the Asia Pacific — that position belongs to China, which has roped in over $6 billion in funding in the last three years. Also, while India has made some strides in the PE space, it still has a long way to go in venture capital.
Between 2003 and 2005, PE and VC firms invested $505 billion globally. Of this, VC firms accounted for roughly $100 billion.In June 2005, 20 per cent of the 545 investors interviewed in the survey plan to increase their global footprint significantly over the next five years. China and India emerged the top emerging PE market destinations in the survey.
The interesting point here is that US investors remain bullish on emerging markets despite returns at home being higher. For instance, according to a recent report by Knowledge@Wharton, the 10-year average PE returns in Europe and the US were 10.9 per cent and 13.8 per cent, respectively. By contrast, returns from emerging markets averaged 3 per cent. But investors reckon that these markets will improve going forward, primarily because of their high industry growth rates. On the other hand, because of the surplus of capital in markets like the US and Europe, and stiff competition among players for fewer deals, valuations are climbing. That makes higher rates of return difficult to achieve in the longer term.
As a consequence, in the last three years, China has seen as many as 40 US VC & PE firms enter the country. India has seen only 12 US VC firms, and mostly through indirect investments — most have first helped their portfolio companies set up back-end R&D operations here and then followed with direct investments. PE firms, on the other hand, have opted for a more direct approach — Carlyle, Blackstone, 3i Capital, General Atlantic and Temasek have set up local offices in India over the last three years. As a result, India today is seen more as a PE market while China is skewed towards VC activity.
While the comparisons with the US market may not be fair — India is an emerging market and the investment dynamics are different — it cannot be disputed that India’s PE industry will have to gradually assume the role that traditional investors play in mature markets: become an agent for transforming businesses. For that to happen, India also needs an equally vibrant VC community. After all, VC is a subset of PE — it creates the companies on which PE eventually places bigger bets. The good news: venture capital is now making a comeback into India.Businessworld : Number one Indian business portal with incisive analysis and surveys - Technology’s New Entrepreneurs
Businessworld : Number one Indian business portal with incisive analysis and surveys - Technology’s New Entrepreneurs
Tucked away deep inside IIT Bombay’s soothing green campus is the SINE (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship), more endearingly called the ‘crèche’. Right now, a lot many eager ideas and hopes are being nurtured here, some of which provide a sense of urgency to the place. SINE is one of 20-odd incubators that are nurturing about 100 technology startups across India at present, and so far we’ve uncovered just a few inches of a rather interesting canvas.
Another estimated 1,400 startups are giving shape to ideas born inside R&D labs run by technology multinationals, management school classrooms, shop floors of Indian IT services giants and some transported all the way from Silicon Valley by returning Indian tech workers. We find them everywhere — Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. The evidence suggests that something big and exciting is underway: India appears to be on the threshold of a technology entrepreneurship resurgence — one that in many respects is vastly different from its predecessor, the ill-fated ‘dotcom’ era.
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In Bangalore, 250 new startups have sprung up since January. TiE’s (The Indus Entrepreneurs’) Bangalore and Mumbai chapters have seen a spurt in attendance at their events. “Suddenly, we’re running out of seats. Six months ago, it was difficult to fill even 20,” says Sridhar Mitta, who heads TiE Bangalore. IIM Bangalore’s entrepreneur club has had similar experiences. “Membership has jumped significantly in the last 12 months,” says Kalyani Gandhi, head of the Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL). IIT Madras is incubating six new startups. And back in Mumbai, SINE is incubating 16, the highest it has seen since 1999-2000.
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We also discover a heartening development — social networking among entrepreneurs, investors and customers, Silicon Valley style. BarCamps — a phenomenon that originated in Palo Alto, California, around mid-2005, to get techies to share ideas in an environment sans the strictures of a formal conference — now frequent most Indian metros (see ‘Raising The Bar’ on page 40). Business plan contests and mentoring camps have also taken off. This February, TiE and Menlo Park-based Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) hosted the India Venture Challenge, which saw 125 first-generation entrepreneurs participate. The $150,000 grand prize was split between Vegayan Systems (Mumbai) and NCE Technologies (Bangalore).
A second group of people has now joined the party: venture capitalists (VCs). Danish tech investor Morten Lund, who was one of the seed investors in Luxembourg-based Skype — the startup that turned the long-distance calling business on its head by developing an application that allowed PC-to-PC voice calls — is backing a $150-million Europe-India fund called Amaya Ventures. It will invest in early to growth stage tech companies. Next is Silicon Valley’s most successful VC in 2005 — DFJ founder Timothy C. Draper. He’s raising a $200-million India fund for tech startups. Boston-based Matrix Partners has just set up a $150-million India fund and Palo Alto-based Sutter Hill Ventures is a key sponsor of the $140-million Helion Ventures that debuted this August in Bangalore. Then come the Silicon Valley entrepreneur-investors. Kanwal Rekhi is raising a $150-million fund called Inventus, and Vinod Dham and Vani Kola are heading a $150-million US-India fund of New Enterprise Associates (NEA).
More than 44 US-based VCs are said to be lining up direct and indirect funds for India, says recent industry research. The money that is likely to come in is estimated at over $2 billion. A good part of this will be seed-to-early stage money. The actual investment numbers don’t as yet match the startup numbers. In 2005, VC and angel investors put in $115 million in 20 tech startups, says research firm Venture Intelligence. But there has been a gradual improvement. In 2004, investments were at $82 million in 13 companies. The first six months of 2006 have already seen 25 deals worth $78 million. The higher number of deals implies that VCs are doing more early-stage deals in the $250,000-$1 million bracket.
While the action seems to have hit fever pitch in the past nine months, the actual build-up is at least three years old. Since early 2003, three powerful forces have been working in parallel. First, changes in marketplace dynamics; second, shifts in global VC investment patterns; and third, the emergence of entrepreneurs who have the winning combination of patience and tenacity to go the distance. In the past nine months, these three forces have started converging rather swiftly. That has turned the buzz into a steady drone.
We’ll take a moment here to ask a question: Will the convergence that is underway put India on the map as the next big nerve centre for technology innovation, a la Silicon Valley?
Silicon Valley East
The answer to that question rests with two primary actors — the entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Not since the dotcom boom has India seen such a frenzy in terms of new companies being formed and greenbacks being lined up to fund them. In the past nine months alone, roughly 1,000 startups have sprung up across the country. Out of these, an estimated 50 have roped in funding of some sort. If you compare like to like, the numbers are nowhere close to those in the dotcom era — 5,000 startups roped in some $2.2 billion in funding between 1999 and early 2001. This is only the beginning of the differences between the two eras — a factor that could make all the difference to the fate of the current one.
Most folks who lived through the 1999-2001 era recall it with a degree of bitterness. But on the flip side, the bust was the best thing that happened to technology entrepreneurship in India. It laid the ground for the emergence of a more resilient bunch of entrepreneurs. And in the three-year nuclear winter that followed, some interesting business models have emerged around opportunities that had either taken a back seat or had not been explored at all due to the Internet hype.
This brings up the first big difference from the dotcom era. While that phase saw innovation mostly around one opportunity, the Internet, this time it is spread across six — consumer Internet, semiconductors, gaming and animation, wireless communication, SaaS (software-as-a-service), and telecom and software products. The diversity helps in a couple of ways. One, each segment is at a different stage of maturity and the business models are still being defined. That gives entrepreneurs more space to innovate. Take semiconductors — much of the work centres around back-end chip design. Example: the chip that runs Apple’s iPod was fine-tuned by Hyderabad-based Pinexe Systems. The chip itself was manufactured in Taiwan because India does not have a manufacturing base yet. Companies like inSilica and MosChip are betting on this space. Second, since some segments are more nascent than others, it lengthens the period of innovation, making this resurgence more sustainable. The odds for throwing up world-class technology leaders are, therefore, that much higher.
We picked three areas that already have the potential to produce winners — consumer Internet, wireless communications and SaaS. Over the past couple of years, these segments have experienced one big change — the emergence of a large and growing domestic market. Take the consumer Internet space. In the past six years, India’s Internet user base has jumped from 1 million to over 35 million on the back of increased broadband penetration and PC usage. In the near future, most Indians may access the Internet from their mobile phones. This implies a combined Internet user base of over 150 million. Service providers like Airtel and Hutch have started offering subscribers value-added services that enable even banking transactions on mobiles using the Internet.