The Tech Panda takes a look at recent business launches.
Education: An all in one platform for studying abroad Stats
Ocxee, an all in one platform for studying abroad, has launched in India. The platform was founded by students for students in the UK. The brand already holds a presence in 130+ countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Poland, Nigeria, Kenya, and Singapore.
“We have already gained a strong foothold in many countries globally. The response has been overwhelming. The number of Indian students opting to study overseas increases every year; it is anticipated to touch a mark of 1.8 million by 2024. However, an even bigger number of students aspire but are unable to pursue due to a lack of awareness and or absence of the right support system. We are here to add convenience and make their plans materialise,” said Meet Kotadia, founder of Ocxee.
The Why
The brand has identified the fact that India is the second country that witnesses the maximum number of students travelling abroad for studies after China. Ocxee aims to present a “Student First Approach” in India by evoking trust in students’ minds while they make the most crucial decision of their lives.
The company already has partnerships with over 1500 colleges and universities across the globe with 1.5 million beds in 100+ countries, thus developing into a one-stop solution for students.
Features
- Online tailor-made test preparation course ranging from INR 149 to INR 499 to Indian aspirants
- Expected to save students the heavy IELTS preparation fees they pay, along with hefty consultation fees
- Free first profile evaluation and counselling with trained experts to make it easier for aspirants to take step one
EdTech: An Indian superhero created by Stan Lee & Sharad Devarajan to engage with kids for educational content
Creative Galileo, an Indian kids early learning apps, announced a new licensing partnership with Graphic India and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, the owners of the popular character Chakra, the Invincible.
Prerna A Jhunjhunwala, Founder, Creative Galileo, said, “We are excited about our collaboration with Graphic India, as it is a step forward in providing a metaverse of characters to our young audience. This partnership is part of our overall growth strategy to continue partnering with the top content players in India and globally to offer the best-integrated learning experience to children while keeping it fun.”
Sharad Devarajan, Co-Creator of Chakra the Invincible, and Co-Founder, Graphic India, added, “A superhero like Chakra the Invincible has the power to connect with kids through fun and engaging content that can also deliver strong messages of optimism, hope and change for a better tomorrow. We are honored to work with Prerna and the Creative Galileo team to bring Chakra to millions of younger fans using their ground-breaking edtech content.”
The Why
Chakra The Invincible is an Indian superhero co-created by legendary icons, Stan Lee and Sharad Devarajan. With a universe of kids’ famous characters on its learning platform, Creative Galileo will be combining its knowledge and learning platform with Chakra to offer the best-in-class edutainment experience.
Chakra The Invincible tells the story of Raju Rai, a young Indian student living in Mumbai. Determined to unlock the secrets of human potential through science, Raju and his mentor, develop a technology suit that activates the mystical chakras of the body, unleashing superhuman abilities and powers. When Raju is accidentally bonded to the suit, he vows to use his newfound abilities to protect the world.
Creative Galileo has already partnered with leading companies such as Big Animation, Amar Chitra Katha, Periwinkle, Shermaroo, Toonz Animation, and others to provide quality localised content and interactive learning journeys to children. The e-learning platform, since its inception, has already garnered over 7 million downloads to date.
Features
- Under this partnership, Creative Galileo will secure the licensing rights to launch educational content utilizing the character on their platform.
- The launch aligns with the edtech firm’s overall objective to support children in building and improving their core in foundational years through fun and engaging gamified content.
Creator economy: An app to encourage artists reach out to varied technology with their content
Hungama Artist Aloud, a platform that supports and promotes independent artists and content, has launched the Hungama Artist Aloud App. The app, by leveraging new-age technology through its features, shall encourage artists to thrive and have their content reach out to varied technology.
The Why
With tech-driven innovation, the platform through its features focuses on elevating user engagement, and real-time event experience for both fans and artists as well as fostering the relationship between the two. The ‘Go Live’ feature takes into account the growing popularity of independent artists and enables them to perform live events anywhere and anytime along with offering them a revenue stream.
Features
- Elevates real-time live experience for artists by enabling them to perform live events, earn revenue and interact with audiences
- Offers users an improved video experience with the implementation of adaptive bitrate streaming as well as Live slicer to broadcast the live feed
- Features Amazon’s cloud computing for 99.9 uptime and scalability
- Available on Android and iOS and Hungama Artist Aloud Web
- Live chat box for artists to view and interact with the number of fans
- Independent music lovers can purchase these events (single ticket for INR 89 or a pack of 5 for INR 269) and share
- The S2A (Subscribe to Artist) feature is all about fostering the relationship between artist and fan.
- With users paying a subscription of INR 89 to their favourite artist, the technology sees them receive early access to content and first to get notified about it being uploaded
- Fans will receive one free live event pass that can be used anytime for the live event of any artist within one month of the subscription
Projectors: A realistic cinematic experience with affordable D2 series launch
Expanding its advanced projector range, Optoma, a global DLP projector brand and a leading designer of projection products unveiled the long lasting 4K UHD ultra short throw laser home projector D2 series in the India market.
Vijay Sharma, Country Head, Optoma India said, “We are committed to the India market and therefore we came up with advanced tech based D2 series which will enhance the home cinema experience to the next level. Our new series with 4K UHD ultra-short throw is embedded with smart features like easy set-up, high brightness and stable brightness output at affordable cost to target the mid-level customers in the metros and tier 2 cities as well.”
The Why
As a part of home entertainment range these projectors sync with 3D display in all forms and it offers immersive images and realistic movie experience.
Features
- Equipped with a wide angle lens which provides a clear and bright image to enhance visual experience
- D2 offers easy set-up, high brightness, enhanced gaming and fine home cinema experience
- Its bright 3000lm and stable brightness output, 1,800,000:1 frame by frame dynamic contrast, HDR 10/HLG compatibility provides unmatchable viewing experience
- Laser projector is compatible with smart TVs as it has Google and Netflix certified Android TV dongles from Hako Mini.
- Laser technology delivers stunning colour reproduction and vivid images to support 3D content
- New projectors with enhanced audio return channel provides in depth audio details which enhances the home cinema experience
Additional specifications across all three projectors include:
- Resolution: 4K UHD (3,840 * 2,160)
- Brightness: 3000 Lumens
- Image size: 172 – 267mm (85” to 105”)
- Laser Lifetime: 30,000 hours
- Speaker: 2* 10W
- Zoom type: Fixed
- Light Source Life: 30,000(Eco mode)
EdTech: App to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for college students
90+ My Tuition App, an Indian EdTech startup, launched its new “College Connect” initiative. Which aims to target students pursuing their MBA and B.Tech degree and help them start their entrepreneurial journey.
Smijay Gokuldasan, CEO, 90+ My Tuition App said, “Considering the innovative difference that millennials bring anywhere they go, we felt that creating entrepreneurial opportunities for them is extremely important in order to support them in bringing a noticeable difference to the society. I am glad to inform you all about our new project College Connect which has been created specifically for young talents to explore the entrepreneurial world. 90+ My Tuition App aspires to provide all of these dreamers the chance to realise their ambitions.”
The Why
The initiative is in line with 90+ connect, an initiative of 90+ My Tuition App launched in February 2022, that targeted young individuals currently working in the Edtech space with entrepreneurial aspirations. The company has decided to launch the College Connect programme based on the positive feedback received for 90+ connect while on their mission of creating EduPreneurs. The pilot of the programme has already begun with a few colleges and seen participation from multiple numbers of students.
Features
- The new program will provide fresh MBA and B tech. grads with entrepreneurial opportunities.
- The company will provide new graduates with assistance and resources to assist them in accomplishing their goals.
- The program will be taken to different colleges whereby participating in a contest students can be enrolled in the programme.
Agtech: AI lab to bring predictive intelligence to every acre of the world’s cultivable land
Cropin, an agtech that’s building a global Intelligent Agriculture Cloud, has set up a new AI Labs. With an initial team of 30 members comprising Earth Observation Scientists, Data Scientists, Agronomists and AI/ML Researchers, the AI Labs will focus on studying and “computing” cultivable lands worldwide.
Leveraging the contextual convergence of earth-observation data, geo-fenced field data, AI models and knowledge built and tested over the years, Cropin’s AI Labs scientists will bring intelligence to every acre of the world’s farmlands.
Krishna Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO, Cropin, said, “At Cropin, we are constantly focused on building technology that can enable and transform the agriculture sector. Right from our founding in 2010, when no category called agritech existed, to today, we see the industry evolving from the digitization of farming to intelligent and data-driven agriculture. Cropin’s AI Labs will help us accelerate this effort to compute and bring the benefits of predictive intelligence to every acre of the world’s farmlands.”
The Why
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the global population will hit 10 billion people by 2050, and the world needs to produce 56% more food than produced in 2010.
Cropin’s global farmland computation initiative aims to have a deep impact on the US$3 trillion food production value chain by 2025, reduce food losses by 35% thus safeguarding food security and sustainability, and enable US$0.5 trillion agri lending globally and significantly improve the livelihoods of 2 billion+ farmers .
Features
- To strengthen the existing Earth Observation & AI science research team, Cropin will hire experts from these domains in 2022
- Cropin AI Labs to focus on bringing Earth Observation and AI-Science together to re-imagine agriculture and ensure sustainable usage of land and resources
- Cropin’s platform is capable of computing crop intelligence at planet scale, computing 0.2 billion acres of cultivable land so far in 13 countries including India, Nigeria, and Bangladesh covering 32 crops
- Based in India and Europe, the Cropin AI Labs team will compute over 1.2 billion acres of cultivable lands across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, LATAM, and Africa regions by 2025