Bengaluru, October 18, 2024 – AiDash, an enterprise SaaS company helping critical infrastructure industries become climate resilient and better prepared for the energy transition with satellites and AI, today unveiled an end-to-end system addressing utilities’ […]
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Mansi Praharaj
Bangalore-based Vidyut has been simplifying commercial EV ownership. The company uses an asset underwriting algorithm and battery health data analysis to offer EV insurance, repair, maintenance, servicing, and breakdown support.
Recently, Vidyut also launched an EV resale platform, one of the first in the industry for the 3W commercial vehicle segment. This platform manages end-to-end processes, including inspection, valuation, sale, and RTO documentation, to build the resale market for individual owners. The resale operations are based in Delhi NCR, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.
At EVrepoter, we recognise that the reuse and repurposing of previously owned EVs is a pressing issue for the industry and financiers. In this exclusive interaction with Xitij Kothi, Co-founder – Vidyut, we discuss the market for EV resales in India and the start-up’s approach towards solving EV resale.
For EV resale, what are the segments you are currently operating in?
We don’t operate in the L3 or low-speed 2W segments, primarily because they’re unregistered and heavily dominated by lead-acid batteries. Vidyut focuses more on the lithium-ion segment, and for the past 2.5 years, our focus market has been the L5 3-wheelers in the passenger and cargo segments. The used EV market is fragmented and unorganised, with many small, local dealers in this space. The structure for used commercial EVs is still emerging.
For every new electric 3W or small commercial vehicle sold, at least 2 to 3 exchanges happen during its 10-12 year lifespan, i.e., commercial vehicles typically get sold at least twice, if not more.
In terms of volume, one can estimate a 1:2 ratio between new vehicle sales and used vehicle transactions.
That sounds like a sizable market. In addition to connecting buyers and sellers on your platform, do you also take the vehicles onto your books, refurbish them, and resell them?
We provide end-to-end services to the buyer as well. While we facilitate the sale, we ensure that the vehicle delivered to the buyer is in the best possible condition. Currently, we don’t take vehicles onto our books, but we do offer refurbishment services along with managing the RTO and documentation required for transferring the registration from the seller to the buyer.
Here’s how the process works:
If a consumer or fleet owner wants to sell their used 3W, they approach us. Our team visits the customer’s location and conducts a detailed vehicle inspection. This includes a physical inspection, a charging range test, and a driving test. Additionally, with the seller’s consent, we access historical battery data through the OEM to predict the remaining useful life.
We combine the physical inspection results and battery data analysis to generate a valuation report reflecting the vehicle’s residual value. This report is used to attract potential buyers. As buyers show interest, they may request repairs or refurbishments, which we handle and factor into the vehicle’s final price before completing the sale.
We also manage the entire registration transfer process. In collaboration with some OEMs, we’ve started offering extended warranties on used vehicles through our platform. For instance, with Euler, we now provide a recertification process where used vehicles come with an extended OEM warranty of 1 to 3 years. We’re in talks with other OEMs to expand this offering.
Aren’t there significant overhead costs associated with facilitating the resale of used electric 3Ws? Considering the need for inspections, vehicle and battery health evaluation, and logistics, does it make economic sense to enter this business?
That’s a fair question, and it’s a topic that has been analyzed in the past, especially in the car segment, regarding the economic viability of such businesses. When you buy vehicles to hold as inventory before selling them, there’s definitely more risk involved. The price you pay for the vehicle is crucial because your profit margin is determined by the selling price minus the buying price, which must cover all associated costs. If there’s significant competition in the market, this can inflate the buying prices, reducing your margins. That’s why we’ve been cautious about scaling up by buying vehicles for our inventory.
Instead, we focus on facilitating sales. Once the sale price is agreed upon, we begin calculating costs for refurbishments and logistics. Our approach has been to provide sellers with a valuation report based on our inspection, allowing us to align on a price point we can likely sell the vehicle for —typically within a 5% range. If the seller agrees to that price, we collect a small booking amount to initiate the process, which helps build trust while covering some initial costs.
After that, we identify potential buyers for the vehicle. The refurbishment and logistics costs are incurred only after the seller has agreed to the sale and its associated costs. This strategy minimizes risk compared to holding inventory, as we only spend on refurbishment once there’s a committed buyer. While this process may take longer, it’s necessary given the current market dynamics. There’s a scarcity of credible platforms for sellers to trust, and they often struggle to find good values for their EVs.
As the market matures and liquidity improves, we’ll look into potentially holding inventory, but for now, building trust is our core focus.
Could you elaborate on the role of spare parts during vehicle refurbishment?
We want the seller of the used vehicle to realise the maximum resale price, while the buyer should be able to buy it at the lowest possible price. This means that any margin we need to make in between for viability should be minimal.
We want to ensure that refurbishment costs, including any necessary spare parts replacements, are managed effectively. Direct partnerships with these suppliers will definitely help us achieve that at scale. Currently, we’re still in the early stages and have just started operating in a few cities. Right now, we work directly with the OEMs because we want them to be involved in the overall development of the used vehicle market. It’s better for the vehicles to be refurbished at authorized dealers and service centres using OEM-provided parts. As our scale and volume increase, it will make sense to partner more closely and directly reach out to their suppliers for spare parts when needed. Ultimately, we aim to narrow the margin between the selling price and the buying price.
How does financing for used EVs differ from financing for new EVs?
Financing for used electric vehicles is indeed trickier than for new EVs. In new EV financing, the residual value poses significant challenges for financiers, leading to a more conservative approach. For used EVs, an additional factor is the remaining life of the asset—what tenure can financing be provided for? Not all vehicles come with warranties, and sometimes the warranty expires upon resale. Some OEMs do offer warranty transfers, but the duration is often limited. Since this market is still nascent, financiers are cautious about how long the asset will last.
It’s crucial to establish an accurate valuation throughout this process. Many issues still need to be addressed in new EV financing, making used EV financing a lower priority for most financiers. However, some new-age financiers are operating in this space, such as Seed Capital and Perpetuity Capital, which have engaged in used EV financing. We are also in discussions with some lenders to scale up used EV financing, as enhancing liquidity for buyers is essential.
What challenges do you foresee in scaling up a platform like the one you’re building?
I’ll recap the challenges in the used vehicle space:
As the ecosystem matures and OEMs develop partnerships, it should become easier for used EVs to thrive. Quick and efficient repairs will be key, even without warranties.
Over the next few years, we plan to expand beyond three-wheelers to multiple vehicle categories and introduce additional service lines throughout the ownership journey. Ultimately, we want to make the entire ownership experience more convenient, stress-free, and affordable for individuals.
Also read: EV ownership solutions provider Vidyut secures USD 10M in Series A
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10th October 2024: New Delhi, Delhi, India Pass Pass Pulse, India’s favourite candy with a tangy twist, from the stable of the Dharampal Satyapal Group (DS Group), a multi-business corporation and a leading FMCG Conglomerate is set to bring the joy of festivities from every corner of India with its latest ‘Pulse Ka Pandal’ campaign. Pulse Ka Pandal is a signature annual campaign from the brand, celebrating the festive season with a uniquely tangy flair. This year, the innovative initiative will feature a microsite where users can immerse themselves in the cultural richness of our diverse festivals.
From the energetic celebrations of Garba in the West to the vibrant Ramleela in the North, and the spirited Mysore Mela in the South to the lively Durga Puja in the East, Pulse Ka Pandal is making it possible for everyone to participate in the essence of these traditional festivities digitally. The microsite offers four irresistible activities, from interactive AR filters to gamified experiences, each designed to celebrate a specific festival.
For Garba, participants can snap selfies and create reels with Pulse Candy’s Garba pandal AR filter to share their festive spirit. For Ramleela enthusiasts, there’s a thrilling game where players must dodge arrows while collecting Pulse candies. In Mysore Mela, players will race against time to arrange products quickly based on a final frame. Lastly, for Durga Puja, participants can select the colours for the Durga pandal and create their personalised greeting cards to send to loved ones.
Speaking about the campaign, Mr Ashish Bhargava, General Manager, Marketing, Confectionery, DS Group said, “Over the years, Pulse Ka Pandal has established itself as an integral part of India’s festive landscape, resonating with the diverse cultures and traditions across the country. This year, we are thrilled to introduce, for the first time, a single platform where participants can engage in four different festivals with excitement and interaction. By incorporating interactive activities, we aim to enhance the festive experience while remaining true to our roots and the vibrant spirit of Indian festivals.”
Joseph Andrew
Global investment firm Fidelity has reduce the value of its holding in Elon Musk-run X (formerly Twitter) by a massive 78.7 per cent, which implies that the X social media platform is likely valued at just $9.4 billion.
The tech billionaire had bought the social media company for $44 billion in October 2022 after an intense drama.
As per new estimate from asset manager Fidelity, X is now valued at less than a quarter of its $44 billion purchase price (at August end), reports TechCrunch, citing its filings.
The fund now values its stake in X at approximately $4.18 million. In July, Fidelity valued its shares in X at about $5.5 million.
X, Fidelity or Musk did not immediately comment on the report based on regulatory disclosures.
In May, Musk-run artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI raised $6 billion to accelerate the research and development of future technologies. In a post, the X owner said the pre-money valuation was $18 billion.
xAI, which has unveiled an AI chatbot called ‘Grok’, raised funds from key investors, including Fidelity Management and Research.
In January this year, the global investment firm Fidelity marked down its investment in Musk-run X Holdings (the parent company of X) by a whopping 71.5 per cent from the original value.
Fidelity took a stake in X Corp for $300 million in October 2022 when Musk acquired the platform, formerly called Twitter, for $44 billion.
In 2023, Fidelity had cut the valuation by 65 per cent, and now, it has further cut X’s valuation in a new disclosure.
Musk had reportedly told bankers, after taking $13 billion in loan to fund his Twitter acquisition, that they will not lose any money on the deal. The debt is split between $6.5 billion of term loans, as well as $6 billion of senior and junior bonds and a $500 million revolver. Lenders were unlikely to get even 60 cents on the dollar for the bonds and loans.
(With inputs from IANS)
CHENNAI_16th September, 2024:Vivanta Chennai, IT Expressway launched the much-awaited Muse Pad, an exciting platform for up-and-coming artists to showcase their creative best. This open mic event at Wink, the stylish lounge at the hotel, is set to become a new cultural hotspot for the city’s musicians, poets, storytellers, and stand-up comedians.
The event saw several brilliant performances from Joshua setting the tone with his soulful melodies at Tune Tavern, while Anu captivated the audience at Melody Lounge with her smooth western notes. Pauline’s powerful music at Vocal Vault covered some of the greatest hits, leaving the crowd enthralled and Lathesh’s beatboxing at Groove Den had the audience on their feet.
Sharing his thoughts on the launch of Muse Pad, Sourav Ghosal, General Manager of Vivanta Chennai, IT Expressway, said, “We are truly excited with the launch of Muse Pad. The response from the creative community and guests has been overwhelming and we are proud to provide a platform where up-and-coming artists can shine. At Wink, the energy was palpable and we are confident that Muse Pad will carve a niche for itself in the city.”
The launch of Muse Pad at Wink has created a space where #TomorrowsLegendscan take the stage and express themselves. The event will be held twice a month, offering an opportunity for artists to showcase their talents.
The lively ambiance at Wink, combined with delicious food and signature spirits, made for an unforgettable experience for both artists and guests alike.
Neel Achary
Hyderabad, India September 16, 2024: New Relic, the intelligent observability platform, announced its support for RISE With SAP to help enterprises accelerate and future-proof cloud transformation. In close partnership with SAP, New Relic offers a best-of-breed observability solution—New Relic Monitoring for SAPⓇ Solutions—that unifies monitoring across the entire SAP landscape. As the only observability platform with a built-in agentless SAP integration, New Relic provides one-step observability and out-of-the-box functionality, simplifying deployment. These innovations enable SAP customers to build an end-to-end observability practice, reducing business process interruptions, improving efficiency, and enhancing customer experience.
Ninety-nine of the world’s 100 largest companies use SAP to reach agility at scale and accelerate value across hundreds of critical processes across SAP and non-SAP systems, such as quote-to-cash, procure-to-pay, and many others. Interruptions in SAP or connected systems can impact product delivery and revenue, making unified observability crucial. “Complex IT architectures require technological solutions that assess an entire IT landscape to provide real-time context-aware insights that span providers, technologies, and locations,” said Principal Analyst Carlos Casanova in “Start With The Right Strategy And Approach For AIOps And Observability For IT Operational Insights,” Forrester Research, Inc., January 17th, 2024. New Relic offers comprehensive visibility across SAP and non-SAP applications, allowing IT teams to detect and resolve issues before they impact the business. With its intelligent insights, New Relic helps enterprises prevent interruptions and ensure smooth operations.
New Relic provides a single pane of glass across SAP and non-SAP applications
SAP environments are complex and growing, with often hundreds of systems, including SAP applications based on ABAP, HANA, BTP, JAVA, and SaaS-based technologies, as well as hybrid cloud and on-premise deployments. Enterprises need unified monitoring across these applications, infrastructure, end-user experience, and business process flows. New Relic’s AI-driven, intelligent platform fills the monitoring gap by providing a single pane of glass view that offers deep insights, holistic, real-time visibility, powerful visualizations, and ease of configuration, ensuring smooth operations and faster issue resolution. Its platform brings stakeholders from across the organization together to access insights, including SAP BASIS, IT support, SREs, SAP Application Support teams, developers, and executives.
New Relic supports RISE With SAP to unify monitoring across cloud and on-premise environments
As enterprises migrate from on-premise to the cloud, they need observability across their environments to compare their performance. New Relic monitors both on-premise and RISE With SAP deployments, accelerating enterprises’ transformation to the cloud and enabling A/B testing and comparison. By providing a single source of truth, enterprises using New Relic gain holistic visibility across their estate. This visibility extends through its SAP integration into the infrastructure layers of the RISE deployment, and provides potential correlations in root cause analysis, ultimately reducing business process interruptions.
Only built-in, agentless solution provides one-step observability for easy implementation
SAP customers avoid installing unknown agents in their production systems due to concerns about system impact and the desire for a faster setup. New Relic addresses these needs with the only built-in agentless SAP integration for one-step observability right out of the box. The SAP ABAP Certified agentless connector enhances telemetry data for immediate use with visualizations. The unified and vertically integrated approach delivers turnkey dashboards, traces, anomaly detection, and alerts for SAP and non-SAP systems, unlike other solutions that rely on third-party agents. By consolidating telemetry in one place, New Relic ensures faster detection and root-cause resolution, improving system reliability and supporting critical business processes.
“SAP powers some of the world’s most iconic companies in India. From supply chain management, financial operations, and customer experience, these industry leaders rely on SAP for core business processing, and any disruption can have immediate and far-reaching impacts,” said New Relic Field Chief Technology Officer for Asia Pacific and Japan Peter Marelas.
Marelas added, “That is why we have introduced New Relic Monitoring for SAPⓇ Solutions. This equips every SAP customer with advanced, intelligent observability; ensuring smooth operations and deep insights for continuous improvement. We are empowering enterprises to become more agile and scalable, while delivering sustainable growth and great digital experiences.”
The New Relic Monitoring for SAPⓇ Solutions is generally available as part of its all-in-one observability platform. Get started by contacting your New Relic account representative to schedule a demo. For more information, visit the landing page or blog post.
Mansi Praharaj
Fort Lauderdale, FL, September 07, 2024 –Sentry Document Assurance, LLC, a start-up focused on document search and compliance, announces the launch of its Version 1.1 (MVP). Sentry’s patent-pending, fingerprint-driven search engine delivers accuracy, scalability, and security for managing documents and data across complex organizational and statutory needs.
Sentry’s digital fingerprinting technology identifies and verifies documents without storing the original content, ensuring data privacy while maintaining search accuracy – a level unattainable by traditional AI-driven systems. This platform’s powerful architecture allows it to efficiently handle tens of millions of documents, providing organizations with a reliable and scalable solution for document management and compliance.
“With our patent-pending fingerprint-driven assurance platform, we are reimagining document assurance. The precision of our digital fingerprinting ensures that organizations can trust the integrity of their documents at every level,” said Damien Georges, CEO of Sentry Document Assurance. “This product solves the real-world challenge that customers are struggling to solve around data quality and AI models.”
Key Features:
Automated Document Classification: Instant and accurate document categorization.
Real-Time Monitoring & Revalidation: Continuous monitoring to ensure documents remain associated with trusted document types.
Virus Scanning and Security: Integrated security features for peace of mind.
Seamless Integration: Easily works with existing systems, optimizing workflows without disruption.
Sentry’s platform is purpose-built for industries where document accuracy, regulatory compliance, and security are paramount, including finance, healthcare, legal, real estate, energy, and government sectors. Its ability to process large datasets in real-time, combined with the development of intelligent AI-driven revalidation systems (Version 1.3), ensures that organizations can maintain compliance with minimal human intervention.
“With this system, we have redefined how organizations can handle their data. By combining speed and precision in a way that traditional systems simply can’t match, we are giving businesses a way to stay ahead of compliance demands without sacrificing performance,” said Christophe Person, Chief Technology Officer at Sentry.
Incorporating high-dimensional search algorithms, Sentry’s system is designed to handle the complexity of today’s document-heavy industries, efficiently managing documents with cultural and contextual sensitivity – ensuring results are as relevant as they are accurate.
Praveen
4th Sept 2024 Bengaluru, Karnataka, India FindMyPlots.com has collaborated with Bengaluru-based Omega Innovative Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and launched a B2B2C platform for residential plot promoters to showcase their plots and the buyers to identify their ideal plots across Karnataka.
Ayub Ur Rahman, Managing Director, Omega Innovative Solutions said that the website addresses challenges faced by both residential plot promoters and plot owners through innovative features of property-buying experience against the existing real estate portals which offer a one-size-fits-all approach.
This is the complete platform for residential plot promoters and buyers across Karnataka. The company has already finalized deals with top property promoters to market their plots. “We cater exclusively to plots, villas, row houses, and farmhouses unlike other listing portals,” Ayub adds.
Adhithyan C.M, Technology Consultant for Omega Innovative Solutions explains that currently the residential plot promoters use multiple software to manage their staff, leads and layouts facing difficulty in syncing information among these systems.
FindMyPlots.com gives promoters a single user-friendly mobile-friendly responsive interface to manage their three main components of their business. The staff management component assigns roles and responsibilities to the staff and monitors their performance in lead conversion. Layout management component controls the information displayed by updating the plot status whenever the plot is booked or sold. Lead management component takes the lead through a 7-step lead conversion path from receiving leads from various sources to registration process and post-purchase feedback.
The B2C solution aided by interactive mapping enables buyers to discover plots and provides crucial information of plots in terms of area, price, dimensions, road width, and availability. Plot buyers are provided a rich visualization experience to make their decision easier.
Under B2B solutions, promoters can list their properties for free while gaining access to an integrated application that streamlines marketing efforts, layout management, and lead handling. Promoters are provided with an end-to-end single-point solution for listing as well as managing the plot promotion business.
The website WhatsApp Chatbot automatically connects with the site visitors and scores over handling multiple leads simultaneously, operating 24×7 without downtime, instant response without delay, non-intrusive communication and updating the collected data.
Mansi Praharaj
August 22, 2024,Princeton, N.J., United States & Mumbai, Maharashtra, India : CitiusTech, a leading provider of healthcare technology, services & solutions, today announced the launch of a GenAI version of their industry-leading HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) solution effectively making it industry’s first Generative HEDIS solution, seamlessly integrated into CitiusTech’s PERFORM+ Clinical Convergence Platform. By bringing together the latest technological advancements to HEDIS, the company continues its journey toward disrupting old ways.
Shyam Manoj Karunakaran, Executive Vice President, Head of Health Plans & Platforms, CitiusTech, said, “The world is evolving rapidly. Generative AI is a phase-changing transformative technology disruption. Within the next five years, a majority of the current industry processes and operations will require re-imagining to adapt to a bold new era. HEDIS & Quality Management for payers is no exception. Our Generative HEDIS solution is a library of capabilities that will continue to help payers improve efficiency, eliminate costly operations & exponentially boost productivity.”
CitiusTech’s PERFORM+ platform, an NCQA-certified solution for 10+ years, embodies a deliberate and thoughtful integration of GenAI capabilities. By developing these tools in close collaboration with customers, CitiusTech strikes a balance between innovation and responsibility.
Key features of CitiusTech’s Generative HEDIS solution include:
Conversational Rules: e.g., text/ voice to rules for cohort building, measure building, attribution.
Gen AI Foundational Library: Collaborative workbench for Gen AI solutions.
AI Augmented Engineering: Faster time to market for feature building.
Assisted User Experience: e.g., Chart abstraction, annotations and others.
Madhu Madhanan, Vice President & Engineering Head of PERFORM+, CitiusTech, stated, “This represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionize a traditionally manual-intensive business process through the implementation of a forward-looking engineering architecture. We are at the pivotal intersection of healthcare-grade Generative AI adoption for conversational experiences and the most advanced technologies for HEDIS and quality management.”
Praveen
13th Aug 2024 Amsterdam, Netherlands MintCFD, an online trading platform, announces its official launch, marking a significant milestone in the realm of financial markets. Designed to cater to individuals keen on exploring opportunities across Index, Forex, Commodity, and Equity markets, MintCFD introduces a host of groundbreaking features that redefine the trading experience.
An important feature of the platform is its access to both Indian and global markets, presenting traders with a diverse array of tradable assets and investment avenues.
Moreover, the platform’s 24/7 deposit and withdrawal options underscore its commitment to user flexibility, enabling traders to navigate market fluctuations with ease.
The platform prioritizes clear and easily understandable trading processes, fostering trust and confidence among its user base.
Commenting on the launch, Raj, the Founder of MintCFD states, “We’re excited to launch MintCFD. Our platform offers transparent and accessible trading. With MintCFD, traders can confidently navigate financial markets.”
While MintCFD offers promising opportunities, it is imperative for traders to exercise caution and conduct thorough research before engaging in trading activities. Trading inherently involves risks, and MintCFD encourages users to familiarize themselves with the platform’s terms and conditions to make informed decisions.
Register on MintCFD today and embark on a transformative journey in online trading. For more information, visit our official website (www.mintcfd.com).
Mansi Praharaj
