Startup Street: Aerospace Giants Show Faith In Indian Firms

This week on Startup Street, two of the biggest firms in aerospace and defence manufacturing have shown their commitment to Indian startups. Social media’s favourite billionaire Elon Musk has had a change of plans for his tunneling startup. Uber’s former chief is back with a fund that will be home to his big bets. And the Indian government’s think-tank has a gift for women.

Here’s what went on:

Airbus, Lockheed Martin Look To India For Innovation

Two aerospace and defence giants have shown that they are bullish on Indian startups.

European aircraft maker Airbus signed contracts with two Indian startups—Newee and Eflight—to build solutions that can be used to meet the firm’s and industry’s needs, according to a press release.

Neewee, an internet-of-things driven data analytics firm, and Eflight, a firm that works on simplifying and automating the flight planning process, were already part of Airbus’ Bizlab technology startup acceleration programme. They were part of the five startups that were selected last year, according to Airbus’ release.

The two startups will provide their solutions to Airbus which will use them on their operations globally. Newee’s product called procuSense will enhance certainty to manufacturing supply chain and procurement operations, while Eflight will offer a suite of services allowing pilots to optimise plans for fuel, time, route and weather, the release added.

“These partnerships stand as an example of our commitment towards engaging with the entrepreneurial community and creating business opportunities for them, especially with Airbus,” said Bruno Gutierres, head of Airbus BizLab.

U.S. defence aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin has also invited ideas from start-ups and university students for its annual ‘India Innovation Growth Programme’.

Applications for this programme will be accepted from March 21. “It looks for start-ups and university students, who have got innovation, and they may be allowed to take their ideas to the next stage, enabling them to enter the market,” Lockheed Martin India Chief Executive Officer Phil Shaw said in a release.

The programme aims to identify innovation taking place in India. An expert panel will pick the best 10 concepts and take them to their innovation ecosystem at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a public-private partnership between the central government’s Department of Science and Technology and Lockheed.

The programme has generated over 350 commercial agreements and over $900 million of economic value for India since it was started back in 2007, according to an EY report.

Pedestrians And Cyclists First, Says Elon

Elon Musk’s startup The Boring Company, which is digging underground tunnels to bypass traffic, has tweaked plans and now aims to be more focused on public transit.

All tunnels and Hyperloop will prioritise pedestrians and cyclists over cars, Musk said in a tweet earlier. “Will still transport cars, but only after all personalized mass transit needs are met. It’s a matter of courtesy and fairness. If someone can’t afford a car, they should go first,” he added.

Last year, Musk shared a video of his vision of the Boring Company’s loop that showed a Tesla Model S being taken underground by an elevator to a track in one of numerous tunnels. The idea stemmed from Musk’s whim to build tunnel systems for cars after he was stuck in traffic in 2016.

Musk has now re-imagined that idea to a people mover only without any private vehicles. Now, the Boring company’s loop system will have surface stations where commuters can board a transportation pod. That pod will be taken underground into the tunnel system.

Former Uber CEO Sets Up Startup Fund

Travis Kalanick, the former chief executive of Uber Technologies Inc., is establishing an investment fund to back startups.

The fund will be called 10100, and will focus on real estate, e-commerce and technology startups in China and India. The fund will be “home to my passions, investments, ideas and big bets”, Kalanick said on Twitter.

Last week, Kalanick joined the board of healthcare startup Kareo Inc., which was started by a longtime friend of his Dan Rodrigues. This was Kalanick’s first known appointment since he was forced to resign from the helm of Uber after a shareholders’ revolt. He continues to remain on the board.

NITI Aayog’s Women’s Day Gift To Female Entrepreneurs

Government think-tank NITI Aayog has launched a dedicated platform for female entrepreneurs to build their businesses successfully.

To mark the International Women’s Day, it announced setting up the Women Entrepreneurship Platform that is aimed at building an ecosystem for businesswomen, helping them scale up their initiatives and chalking out long-term strategy for their business, according to a statement.

The platform aspires to substantially increase the number of women entrepreneurs in India, NITI Aayog said. The platform will address the bottlenecks faced by aspiring and established women entrepreneurs by streamlining information across government and private sector schemes and initiatives. It will also provide credit evaluation of female-led startups by Crisil Ltd. and promises potential equity investments up to Rs 10 crore through a fund established by DICE Districts.

E-commerce website ShopClues.com has offered internship and dedicated mentorship for aspiring women entrepreneurs, while the Mann Deshi Foundation has said it will help provide digital and financial literacy to them.

Other industry bodies like Nasscom, CII, and FICCI have partnered with WEP to provide business acceleration, mentorship and other start-up support for women entrepreneurs.