RouteGuru.com - Do we just need directions?? « Business India 2.0

RouteGuru.com - Do we just need directions?? « Business India 2.0: "RouteGuru.com - Do we just need directions?? Published November 28, 2007 Startup , Technology , Travel 2.0 Tags: Delhi Startup, Directions India, mapmyindia, mapmyindia.com, routeguru, Routeguru.com, Routing India, Startup Location Based Services Couple of months ago when Delhi Police floated a tender requesting a GPS based police dispatch system what it was looking for is the first piece of puzzle which routeguru is providing. Routeguru.com looks like a rule based engine which gives directions based on either latitude longitude position mapped of interest points or localities with major roads flowing in delhi taken into consideration or something more innovative based on GPS mapping of city. The concept is good though mapmyindia.com with ability to map the route for me makes a better starting point when looking for direction. I understand the problem with sites like routeguru its difficult to map it on map due to non availability of digtal map companies like Teleatlas etc. Though google map will not be accurate they can surely give it a shot an act as an immediate product remedy to competition set in by mapmyindia.com. If these portals are able to get their routing engines right their is a bigger role to play in Location Based Services vertical especially with commonwealth"

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 2009

Young men account for 33% of total internet users in India: Report : Alootechie

Young men account for 33% of total internet users in India: Report : Alootechie: "Young men account for 33% of total internet users in India: Report December 13, 2007 | News | Share This Internet continues to be male dominated with young men (in the age group of below 35 years who are not school or college student) accounting for 33 per cent and older men (aged between 35 and 58 years) accounting for 15 per cent of the total active internet users (32 million) in India, according to the I-Cube (Internet in India) 2007 report jointly undertaken by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International. The report also states that the overall demographic trend continues to favour the youth with college students (in the age group of 18-23) and school going kids (in the age group of 8-17) accounting for 21 per cent and 14 per cent of the total active internet users respectively. Working women (aged between 18 and 45 years and employed outside home) account for 11 per cent while housewives (below 45 years age) and non-working young women who are not school or college students account for 6 per cent of the total active internet users (defined as people who have logged into the Net at least once in a month) in the country."

People Interactive (Shaadi) wins Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Award : Alootechie

People Interactive (Shaadi) wins Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Award : Alootechie: "People Interactive (Shaadi) wins Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Award December 13, 2007 | News | Share This People Interactive, which owns Shaadi.com, Fropper.com, Astrolife.com and Makaan.com, has been named as one of Asia’s fastest growing companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards 2007. This is the second year in a row that the company has bagged the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards. Anupam Mittal, CMD, People Group, has said, “We are extremely honoured to have won the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Awards second year in a row. It reiterates the fact that at People Interactive, we are committed towards excellence, dedication, innovation and teamwork.” The Deloitte Technology 500 Fast Asia Pacific programme recognizes technology companies that have achieved the fastest rates of annual revenue growth in Asia Pacific during the past three years. This year the programme has recognised 82 companies from India including Directi, WITS Interactive, Cross-Tab Marketing Services, Liqvid eLearning Services, Evalueserve.com, 24×7 Learning Solutions, i-Vista Digital Solutions and MindTree Consulting, besides People Interactive."

Ticketpro

Ticketpro: "Ticketpro India News “The several thousand tickets that were allocated for the web sale were grabbed in a record time of less then two (2) minutes! Never before has India seen such massive web transaction in such short time. The price of this overwhelming result has unfortunately been paid by those who logged-on a few seconds, minutes or hours too late; by then the event had already sold out! Ticketpro web shop and web sale engine was able to take much more traffic and process much more transactions then what was experienced yesterday! We will use more of this computing power for future events by increasing substantially the part of the inventory offered electronically to the fans. Yesterday Ticketpro India wrote history! Never before have Cricket tickets been dealt with as they were! Thanks to all of you, for having trusted us, Thanks to everyone who provided us with the opportunity, to take part in this exciting venture. Thanks, to the fans for making this event the greatest success of electronic ticketing in India to date!”"

Karnataka Cricket Association to sell tickets through internet : Alootechie

Karnataka Cricket Association to sell tickets through internet : Alootechie: "Karnataka Cricket Association to sell tickets through internet September 21, 2007 | News | Share This Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has unveiled online booking of tickets for the forthcoming one day international (ODI) between India and Australia, scheduled for September 29. The KSCA’s e-ticketing venture will be handled by Ticketpro India, a company that specialises in the sale of tickets through computers as well as live counters. According to the association, a small percentage of the 12000 seats for the public in higher denominations will be made available on internet. The sale of tickets will commence at Ticketpro.in on September 24. (Source: Hindu)"

Web aware marriage brokers !!! Wow

Ok http://www.matri4web.com/ is a product that allows marriage brokers to post profiles of their clients and send matches.

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

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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

comScore: Naukri leads jobs sites, TimesJobs grows fastest : Alootechie: "comScore: Naukri leads jobs sites, TimesJobs grows fastest September 25, 2007 | News | Share This According to comScore, a leading internet research firm based in US, Naukri.com, with 3.4 million unique visitors in July 2007 (number of people who visited the site at least once a month), leads the jobs classified sites, followed by Monster.com with 2.6 million unique visitors, and TimesJobs.com with 1.8 million unique visitors. However, TimesJobs has grown by 38 per cent in the six-month period, February-July 2007, while Naukri grew by 20 per cent and Monster by 17 per cent. On the other hand, BharatMatrimony’s ClickJobs.com has declined by 12 per cent in the same period. The number of ClickJobs’ unique visitors declined from 687,000 in February to 604,000 in July. In the matrimonial category, Shaadi.com is the leader with 987,000 unique visitors in July, followed by Jeevansathi.com with 885,000 unique visitors, and BharatMatrimony.com with 791,000 unique visitors. However, Shaadi and BharatMatrimony have seen a decline in unique visitors by 8.7 per cent and 18.1 per cent respectively between February and July, whereas Jeevansathi’s unique visitors grew by 19.6 per cent. BharatMatrimony’s Indiaproperty.com leads the real estate classifieds "

Potential Partner - MetroMela.com launched to help users find city-centric information : Alootechie

MetroMela.com launched to help users find city-centric information : Alootechie: "MetroMela.com launched to help users find city-centric information November 24, 2007 | News | Share This Hyderabad-based MetroMela Internet Services has launched MetroMela.com, a city-centric website that aims to help users find relevant local information, share reviews and get the ‘best deals running in town’. The website currently offers its services for users in seven cities — Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Mysore, Vizag and Cochin. MetroMela.com provides information across three sections – ‘Shopping, Food & Entertainment,’ ‘Health & Wellness’ and ‘Family & Kids’. “What we typically do is give out vendor listings (unlike Yellow Pages we list out selected vendors that we think would cater to the needs of our target audience) and write reviews on those vendors,” Barkha Shah, head of content, MetroMela, has said. Barkha Shah has added, “We also have city-centric informative write-ups that would help users to know how to organize a birthday bash for their kids, where to find Reiki practitioners in the city or which places are good as weekend getaways with families or for corporate outings. Apart from that, we collect deals, offers and discounts and aggregate it on the site.”"

IRCTC sells over 54,000 railway tickets online per day : Alootechie

IRCTC sells over 54,000 railway tickets online per day : Alootechie: "IRCTC sells over 54,000 railway tickets online per day November 24, 2007 | News | Share This IRCTC.co.in, Indian Railways’ online ticket booking site, on an average sells more than 54,000 tickets online per day, with the non-air condition travelling passengers accounting for 60 per cent of total reservations, according to Sanjay Aggarwal, general manager, operations, IRCTC. “The success achieved by us is merely through eight to ten per cent of the total Indian railways online. About 30 per cent of IRCTC’s business comes from the website which offers convenience to passengers by allowing them the option of booking without going through crowded reservation counters. In addition, to further extend the reach and acceptability of online bookings we have incorporated the use of cash cards to ensure no fraudulent dealings and we have 12,000 agents who account for 20 per cent of our business, and which have no chargebacks,” Sanjay Aggarwal has said. (Source: Express TravelWorld)"

VCs disappointed with opportunities available in Internet, Mobile VAS : Alootechie

VCs disappointed with opportunities available in Internet, Mobile VAS : Alootechie: "VCs disappointed with opportunities available in Internet, Mobile VAS September 3, 2007 | News | Share This According to Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private equity and venture capital activity, internet and mobile VAS (value-added services) companies in India have accounted for only 13 per cent of the venture capital (VC) investments (by value) in the first eight months of 2007 as against 38 per cent during the same period in 2006. Avnish Bajaj, managing director, Matrix Partners, has said, “If I were to look back, and observe what has happened in the past one year, I think internet and mobile have been disappointing in terms of current opportunities. We still haven’t seen enough of promising, innovative, made-for-India kind of start-ups.” “Across the board, most VC funds have at least a couple of investments in the internet and mobile space. But the rate at which these investments have taken place has been slower than what everyone had made it out to be. It has not lived up to the hype or caught fire very quickly,” adds Ashish Gupta, MD, Helion Venture Partners."

HT buys DesiMartini for less than 10 million USD, The bubble Cometh? : Alootechie

HT buys DesiMartini for less than 10 million USD, The bubble Cometh? : Alootechie: "HT buys DesiMartini for less than 10 million USD, The bubble Cometh? November 21, 2007 | News | Share This Just woke up to this news, Firefly eVentures (The new, wholly owned Internet subsidiary of HT Media Ltd) has acquired social networking site Desimartini.com. Terms have not being disclosed, though HT Media has said it was for less than $10 million (Rs 39.3 crore). I am not trying to be nasty here, but IMHO 10 million USD is stretching it too far. But then if MingleBox can get funded for $7 million, maybe I should just shut up. Desimartini.com was founded by Vivek Pahwa and launched by Pahwa Knowledge Based Services late last year. DesiMartini claims it has a membership base of 250,000 and attracts around 2.5 million page views a month. “This acquisition in the social networking space is the first step towards expanding our Internet base. We are exploring other new online businesses such as gaming, e-commerce and classifieds,” said Amit Garg, business head, Internet, HT Media. He further added, “It may look like we are late in getting into the local social networking business, but the Internet business is still in infancy and not mature in India.”"

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 India over the last three years. The data takes into account the activities of nearly 150 private equity and venture capital firms currently active in the Indian market. Over the last three years, investors have poured $7.4 billion into India and another $3 billion is in the pipeline. The data has been sourced from Venture Intelligence, the country’s only independent research firm focusing exclusively on the Indian private equity and venture capital market.

Businessworld: The New World of Private Equity

Businessworld: The New World of Private Equity - COVER STORY 2006: "$2.3 billion. That’s the quantum of dollars private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) investors poured into India in 2005. And here’s an even better one — $4.4 billion — the windfall that has come India’s way from these investors in the three years between January 2003 and December 2005. These are just the investment numbers. The overall capital pool available for investment is also significant — investors raised or committed over $3 billion in 2005. In the first six months of 2006, investors have deployed over $3 billion in Indian companies. Experts estimate that by the end of the year, over $6 billion would be invested. In addition, new India-focused funds worth $2 billion are in the pipeline.

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: "That November mission has been followed by several more under the aegis of organisations like TiE and the Indian Venture Capital Association (IVCA). Today, almost every VC in the US wants an India presence. Again, there are two reasons for this. First, emerging economies like China and India are opening up as tech consumer markets. And like Silicon Valley, they too have the skill base to develop these technologies. The icing on the cake, as Binford says, is that the cost of developing new technology is 50 per cent less in these markets. That’s a big draw for VCs. After the Internet bust and the tech slowdown, exit valuations in the Valley have plummeted. In 1999-2000, if it cost $100 million to start a company, the return potential was $1 billion. Post-slowdown, the return potential dropped to $200 million. That meant VCs would have to start companies with $20 million-25 million to achieve exit multiples of nine or 10."

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.

Ganapathy Subramaniam, CEO Cosmic Circuits, Bangalore Subramaniam and four colleagues quit Texas Instruments (India) to set up Cosmic Circuits in 2005. The company is developing IP in analogue design.

Kavita Iyer, CEO Minglebox, Bangalore Iyer and three associates founded Minglebox in 2006. It is developing a social networking site and is looking for Series A funding.

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.

Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and CEO AdventNet, Chennai Founded by Sridhar, Sekar and Kumar Vembu and two others in 1996, its product Zoho-Writer is among the two hottest web-based word processors. It has been self funded till date.

Girish Kumar, founder and CEO Wilcom, Mumbai The IIT-B professor withdrew 99 per cent of his retirement savings to develop over 150 telecom related products. He has recently secured Series A funding worth Rs 1.3 crore.

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.

VCs seek dot-com success stories in India

VCs seek dot-com success stories in India: "VCs seek dot-com success stories in India Manik Arora of Battery Ventures, the Silicon Valley-based VC that prefers to call itself a 'lead institutional investor in its portfolio companies,' spends a lot of time researching on Indian Internet ventures these days. Having tasted success in Battery Ventures' first investment in an Indian hi-tech venture in December 2004, Arora and his firm are 'particularly attracted to the Internet side' and plan to make its next investment in an internet venture this year. Sponsored Links (Ads by Google) How to Invest in India - We can show you where to invest. India is ready. A Free Report www.MoneyMorning.com/India_rpt Funding for New Start-Ups - Capital from accredited investors. Angel meetings monthly across USA. www.gatheringofangels.com Disappearing Dividends? - Learn How Smart Investors Quietly Earn Combined Yeilds Up to 45% Yr! MoneyAndMarkets.com Battery that has been making the bulk of its investments in the United States in its 22 year existence and shifted focus to Europe in the last decade and of late is now starting to explore Asia and India. 'And India is particularly appealing for a number of reasons, such as being forecasted to be the world's largest economy by mid-century, GDP growth of 8 percent, world-class companies and talent in offshore technology services,' Arora says. 'T"

DesiMartini | Social Networking

DesiMartini Social Networking

Blogging

http://in.news.yahoo.com/071117/48/6ndrl.html

Well, for those who prefer movies to stocks on a Sunday morning, Bollywoodbakwas.com is where you can find your kind of masala: juicy gossip and updates on Bollywood. The one-year-old Bollywood blog is one of the most visited blogs (around 2,500-3,000 hits daily, with around 500 people voting and companies placing advertisements fetching the blogger a few dollars) now. "Today, your blog, if packaged well, can make you earn a few hits, nice comments, advertisements and dollars, besides the usual recognition. All these when blogging is still a hobby," says blog guru Kiruba Shankar, CEO, Business Blogging Pvt Ltd.

There's much more that blogs talk about today. They are being used as online galleries by amateur painters, who send their paintings to those interested through a daily mailer. The blogs also let people bid for their paintings and invite sponsors. The same applies to music blogs, where one is allowed to listen to a tune or symphony and post comments. Internationally, companies track these blogs to find new talent. In India, however, they are just warming up to the concept. The usual hobby blogs, whether photography, creative writing, poetry, music, parenting, travel, painting, et al, are fetching the bloggers benefits they never imagined.

Though not getting the cash, software professional Maya Patel's travel blog has made her an achiever too. Today, when she googles her name, it leads her to the weekly section of a well-known Indian daily. "It is actually the interview I gave after the paper traced me through my blog. They were looking for details of some adventure sport I indulged in on my trip to Malaysia," she says.

The writing skills of US-based academician Pratik Mhatre (blog Nerve Endings Firing Away) have fetched him an offer to contribute to mainstream publications like Tehelka back home. Sound engineer and musician Nihit Gupta's entry on MySpace is more professional. Today, his regular uploads are helping him get better at his passion. He is getting to know more about electronic music and interacting with other musicians through it. "I don't care whether my section is checked by Indians, or whether I am successful in the country." Rather, it is the high of being part of the virtual, but serious group of electronic musicians that has helped him hone his skills better. "Today, the comments I get are serious. There are no frills," says the 29-year-old, very clear about the benefits blogging has brought him.

The same applies to Alok Shukla, a photo blogger settled in Dubai. Launching his blog last March, today his uploads have made him a seasoned shutterbug. Then there's the mother behind blogspot themadmomma. "Blogging is something that has originated from my love for parenting. I don't want a job to kill my interest. Today, I spend the time I want on the blog. I am my own boss," says the lady who has spurned offers to host parenting shows. Running a poetry blog, Alaka Yeravadekar, a cost accountant and writer based in Pune, has already acquired a set of fans. In terms of benefits, she looks forward to seeing her words in print in bookshops and in people' homes some day. "Otherwise, what is the measure of success for a poet or a writer? To be able to move, inspire others, bring joy, make them think, present a different view of the world. I think through my blog, I have done that," says the blogger.

Corporates too are logging onto blogs to recognize the best hands and minds. Sulekha.com, through its contest Blog Print this March helped bloggers with the opportunity of getting their works published in print. "We have successfully taken the contest to over six newspapers and magazines in the last six months, with each publication offering the blogger a platform to showcase one genre of his writing. The marquee project of all these is the one on Penguin books, where 25 of the best blogs on Sulekha will be published in a Penguin book and marketed and distributed across the world. Each winner gets a cash prize from Sulekha, apart from getting their writing published," says Satya Prabhakar, CEO, Sulekha.com.

Sachin Bhatia has something to share too. "We at MakeMyTrip spawned an online travel community, a non-commercial venture, called oktatabyebye.com that is a meeting ground for travel enthusiasts who want to share travel stories, pictures, reviews of destinations and hotels, etc. We launched the portal with India's first online reality show where one chosen person (among 10,000 applied!) was given Rs 50,000 to cover seven destinations in 15 days and blog the whole journey live," says the co-founder and CMO, oktatabyebye.com.

With companies passing on some benefits, blogger Amit Verma is gearing himself up for challenges. "My plan is to take the blogging technology to college students in small cities. I would also like to go against companies that have made blogging as earning machines or dating joints. Our team of techies are working on this and will come up with something interesting in March next year," he says.

With hobbies taking on a social slant, society too can expect to download some real benefits. Amen!