Audio
-
Inside our special innovation issue
This issue is forward-looking and focuses on startup-led innovation in India. It also uncovers critical challenges that need to be surmounted to let this ecosystem thrive and produce sustainable solutions. Harichandan Arakali unpacks the stories from this issue that have put a spotlight on entrepreneurs who are trying to solve the hard problems
-
Ashish Khushu at LTTS on the impact of convergence of technologies, and the changing role of the CTO
In this episode, Ashish Khushu, CTO at Larsen & Toubro Technology Services, India's biggest pure-play engineering services provider, talks about the company's six big bets, and how its engineers are co-innovating with experts from some of the biggest enterprises in the world. LTTS, a Mumbai-listed company, today has about 22,000 employees and revenues of close to a billion dollars. Ashish also talks about the changing role of the CTO in a world where change isn't being driven only by new technology, but by the convergence of multiple technologies and their applications
-
Neil Shah at Counterpoint on why India remains a bright spot for Apple
Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, explains why more people are buying iPhones in India, and why the country has become important to Apple's strategy. Apple's latest quarterly numbers reflected the ongoing problems the tech giant is facing — including production headwinds in China, and consumers becoming circumspect. Amid what CEO Tim Cook called a "challenging environment," India remained a bright spot for the iPhone maker, although, by revenue, local sales here contribute only a small proportion of Apple's total business
-
Sateesh Seetharamiah, CEO of Infosys's EdgeVerve, on how the cost of intelligence might go down to zero
Sateesh Seetharamiah, CEO of EdgeVerve Systems, products and platforms subsidiary of Infosys, talks about why it is inevitable that everything that can be automated, especially in the enterprise business context, will eventually get automated. The idea of what is automatable is changing every day, he points out — just look at the capabilities of ChatGPT. Sateesh also talks about the three digital platforms at EdgeVerve that today some 400 of the world's 2000 biggest companies are using. He leaves you with a point to ponder—what if the cost of intelligence were to become zero?
-
Gopichand Katragadda on million-dollar customer opportunities for Myelin Foundry's edge AI solutions
In this episode, Gopichand Katragadda talks about turning entrepreneur as the next phase in a career that includes leading the GE John F. Welch Technology Center in India and being CTO of Tata Group. Four years ago, Katragadda co-founded Myelin Foundry with Ganesh Suryanarayanan to develop "global first" AI products for applications at the edge. In this conversation, he talks about the significance of the name of his company, innovations that customers are already paying for, the team at Myelin, $3 million in recent funding, and growth prospects
-
Satvik Jagannath at Vitra.ai on building one-click translation on the fly for 75 languages
In this episode, Satvik K Jagannath, co-founder and CEO of Vitra.ai, talks about his company's context-based translation technology that is being used by some of India's biggest companies and startups — from HDFC Bank to Swiggy. Satvik and his school buddy co-founder Akash Nidhi PS have raised about $571,000 in seed funding from investors including 100X.VC and Inflexor Ventures for their Bengaluru startup. They've built a 25-member team and are currently in talks for a series A round of investment. Expanding into the US, where they already have a customer, and adding emoti
-
Yamini Bhat and Venkat Malladi on learning as founders, 140 pct NRR, and the next phase of growth at Vymo
In this episode, Yamini Bhat and Venkat Malladi, co-founders of Vymo talk about how their 10-year-old venture has found traction for its financial industry focused sales engagement cloud software in the US, Japan, India and five other markets. The company enjoys a net retention rate of 140 percent, they say, putting them among the best SaaS businesses, on that metric — widely used to get a sense of how well a subscription-based cloud business is doing. They also talk about learning to traverse the changing landscape of challenges as they grew to a 500-person team over the last several ye
-
Shashank Randev at 100X.VC on being an optimist and why 2023 is a great year to startup
In this episode, Shashank Randev, founder and partner at 100X.VC, discusses some of the highlights of a new report that the early-stage venture capital firm has recently published on the outlook for various startup sectors in India — from software as a service to quick-service restaurants or cloud kitchens. Several factors are coming together to make the way ahead a promising one for tech-led ventures in India, Randev says, arguing that amid all the noise about a slowdown and tough times ahead, 2023 is a great year to startup
-
InFocus: Abhay Singh and Vaibhav Domkundwar on how Eeki Foods could transform agriculture in India
In this episode, Abhay Singh, co-founder and CEO of Eeki Foods, and Vaibhav Domkundwar, founder and CEO of Better Capital, talk about Eeki's innovations in hydroponics. Abhay co-founded the company with his fellow IIT Bombay graduate Amit Kumar in 2018 after they'd both spent more than a decade in the tech and engineering industries. The entrepreneur and the investor also talk about plans to establish an Eeki farm within a day's trip's distance of any city or major town in India and the potential for an innovative fintech layer connecting Eeki with India's agri supply
-
What happened after the dust of the IPO storm settled?
After an IPO frenzy 18 months ago, things appear to have cooled in the Indian startup ecosystem. But enthusiasts and hopefuls are still gearing up to list their companies in 2023. Times have changed now. Analysts believe that only those who have shifted their focus from aggressive growth to profitability will be rewarded in the volatile and cautious environment. Rajiv Singh talks about the cover story about companies that have taken a badgering since their IPO launch and also gives insight into other important stories to flip through
-
Kumar Gaurav and Rajesh Dhiman unpack ThoughtSpot's $150 mln India expansion plans
In this episode, Kumar Gaurav, head of India and VP of engineering at ThoughtSpot, a data analytics specialist that won recognition for its search-based analytics solution, and Rajesh Dhiman, the company's senior director for global systems integrators, talk about a plan to invest in some significant expansion in India. The company's India-based workforce currently accounts for more than a third of its total strength of around 800 employees worldwide. Backed by investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Silver Lake and Snowflake, ThoughtSpot has a plan to invest $150 million in