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Startup Street: From Pincodes To LinCodes

Here’s what went on this week on Startup Street.

(Source: BloombergQuint)
(Source: BloombergQuint)

This week on Startup Street, we have a company that is looking to establish a simpler and more accurate way of mapping addresses. Google announced the fourth set of startups that it will guide under its accelerator programme and six of them are Indian.

An Indian fintech startup is helping Sodexo go digital in India, and the government has changed the definition of a startup to include those upto seven years old. Here’s what went on:

This Startup Wants To Take Digital Addresses To The Next Level

Startup Street: From Pincodes To LinCodes

Familiar with the difficulty people face with incorrect and incomplete addresses, Pramod Rathi and Bharat Bagari started dividing the country into a grid of over 36000 crore squares of 10 X 10 feet, and viola! LinCodes was born.

LinCodes is a bootstrapped, self-funded startup, which wants to simplify addresses in a complex country like India through their mobile application. LinCodes are unique 12 digit codes that are assigned to each one of the 36,000 crore squares the two co-founders, Rathi and Bagari, divided the country into.

It is like a personal pincode, which using the mobile applications, can be shared with people for your exact geolocation.

The founders, who interacted with BloombergQuint through email, said that LinCodes can be used for personal convinience, and even businesses like e-commerce, logistics, real estate, and home delivery.

Digital addresses aren’t new though. Hyderabad-based Zippr was among the first startups to use code-based addresses. Similarly, Chennai-based ZeoCode too implemented the idea.

Rathi claims that LinCodes is novel because the other services can only give a code for already addressed locations, based on the area, street, colony and building name. LinCodes, on the other hand, assigns codes to even unaddressed locations which can be navigated to, he said.

While LinCodes is free to use, it will charge companies a fee for high volume usage of the LinCode application programming interface (API). The startup is focused on marketing and product improvement right now, but might consider raising funds soon.

We can say that not right now but maybe in coming months we would like to go and explore the option for raising funds.
Pramod Rathi, CEO & Co-founder, LinCodes,NextEra Softech LLP.

It is also in initial talks with few organisations and government bodies for strategic tie-ups, through which it aims to turn profitable.

Google To Train 6 More Indian Startups

Startup Street: From Pincodes To LinCodes

Google's Launchpad Accelerator, a program to provide mentorship to startup founders, has picked up its fourth batch of inductees from Asia. And six of the selected startups belong to India!

Here is the list of the startups from India -

  • EdGE Networks, an artificial intelligence powered human resource solutions provider
  • FastFilmz, an application for fanatics of South Indian movies
  • IndiaLends, a credit underwriting and analytics startup for unsecured consumer lending.
  • RailYatri, a startup which uses crowd-sourced content and big data intelligence to help travellers.
  • RecipeBook, an intelligent solutions provider in food and retail powered by machine learning.
  • SigTuple, a screening solutions provider driven by AI.

So what do these startups get being a part of the launchpad?

Well, for starters, two weeks of all-expense-paid training at the Google Headquarters in California, U.S. Six months of mentorship by Google. Equity free support, access to Google's engineers and resources, and even credits to use Google's products.

Before this, in its previous three batches, a total of 20 Indian startups had been picked by Google.

The Startup That Is Helping Sodexo Go Digital

After years of tearing out Sodexo vouchers for grocery shopping, fintech startup Zeta will now help the company go digital.

The two entities have joint hands for mutual gain where Sodexo will impart its expertise in the B2B domain of sales and customer service, while Zeta will share the technology that allows it to disperse meal vouchers online.

The tie up with Zeta will help Sodexo expand its global portfolio faster, the companies said in a joint press release.

Zeta is a pioneer in mobile-first digital tax benefits...In partnership with Sodexo, we can reach a larger number of clients and customers, faster and help them benefit from the savings and simplicity our technology can offer.
Bhavin Turakhia, Co-Founder & CEO, Zeta

How Do You Define A Startup?

The government tweaked the definition of a startup to their benefit, on Thursday. According to the new definition, startups can now benefit from the Startup India Action Plan for the first seven years, as opposed to five years earlier.

A startup should also be incorporated as a private limited company, or a partnership firm, or a limited liability partnership. Besides, its turnover should not have crossed Rs 25 crore for any of the financial years since its registration.

Here’s are the other things you might have missed:

  • The Haryana state government has drafter a startup policy which will help incubate 500 new-age startups, according to a PTI report. Goa is also expected to unviel its startup policy by June 2.
  • Google’s Indian head Rajan Anand has been appointed as new chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), replacing the co-founder of e-wallet startup Freecharge - Kunal Shah. The vice chairman’s position was taken over by MakeMyTrip’s CEO DEep Kalra, replacing Vinodh Bhat, co-founder and president of music app Saavn.
  • Living Local, a neighbourhood discovery platform, appointed Sachin Khandelwal, MD and CEO of Magma Housing Finance, Anaggh Desai, Founder of AD Consults and Akash Bhatia, Co-founder and CEO of Infinite Analytics to its advisory board.