Thought factory – Tech Raman

Axis Bank launches Axis Startup Social, an unique networking platform for Startups

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 16:50:38 +0000

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank has been passionately backing up and nurturing start-ups with their innovation lab “Thought Factory” and I been keenly following their pursuit for start-up excellence in the fin-tech space since the inception of the platform. To further boost the start-up ecosystem in India they have conceptualized and brought forward a new networking platform, Axis Startup Social, where start-up entrepreneurs could meet, network and share knowledge. The first of the Axis Start-up Social networking event happened in Bangalore at the vibrant WeWorks, a co-working space which itself bustles with many start-ups and people incubating their ideas there. So naturally, it was a perfect place to host the very first Axis start-up social. Speaking about the initiative, Sidharth Rath, Group Executive, Corporate & Transaction Banking, Axis Bank said, “We are excited to launch Axis Start-up Social, a platform through which we hope to provide the much required, ‘extra edge’ to the start-up community by hand holding them, sharing knowledge and providing the required financial solutions. Today, the Indian ecosystem is flooded with innovative ideas but what is missing is the presence of the right channel and guidance in terms of acceleration, scaling up and funding. Through Axis Start-up Social, we endeavor to create an ecosystem to encourage innovation and the next-level-of-growth opportunities to start-ups that are ready to take that leap.” The evening buzzed with over 100 bright minds among the start-up community, who had gathered not just to network and get to know each other but also got an opportunity to listen and interact with Vivek Gupta, founder of Licious Foods who shared his start-up journey how he waded into uncharted challenges when he chose to enter a business of meat in a supposedly land of vegetarians and made a successful venture in a food space. Also on stage was Amit Rohatgi, whose start-up Divrt, provides smart parking solutions for urban commuters who enthralled the audience with engaging conversation. The event concluded with a befitting corporate comedy by stand-up comedian, Vikram Poddar whose jokes would have resonated with many of the audience who would come across such experiences in their real life in their corporate and start-up life. It’s yet another commendable initiative by Axis bank to bring in like-minded start-up minds and have an engaging evening. It should also be noted that recently the bank also launched its Axis Startup Banking product earlier this year, which is bundled with all key technology enabled products and caters comprehensively to banking needs of startups. With new initiatives and outreach programs, Axis bank is proving themselves to be the pioneers amongst the Indian banks to relentlessly back and support the startup ecosystem in India.]]>

Axis Bank Thought Factory Graduation day for Start-ups in Fin-tech

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 11:45:20 +0000

news about Axis bank setting up ThoughtFactory, an innovative lab to nurture fin tech start-ups and now they have announced the graduation day for the six exciting start-ups that have been nurtured in their hub. Six start-ups, namely S2Pay, Pally, Perpule, Fin-techLabs, Paymatrix and Gieom graduated from the first batch. At the Graduation day event, where the start-ups talked about their work, Axis bank announced that it has selected three fin-tech start-ups from the first batch of its accelerator programme ‘Thought Factory’ whose solutions it will commercially deploy at its business units. The three start-ups that the Axis bank will be working with are Pally, Fin-techLabs and Gieom for their fin tech solutions for its specific-use cases . [caption id="attachment_12358" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Rajiv Anand, Head of Retail, Axis bank[/caption] “We will pilot these solutions internally before releasing them to our customers. Axis Bank doesn’t take any stake in these start-ups, neither will we invest in any. We will associate with these start-ups on a commerce agreement basis,” Rajiv Anand, executive director, Axis Bank, said. Also watch: https://youtu.be/P1xO000EVHc The Axis bank thought factory program started with a pool of 108 applicants and after rounds of filtering down, here are the six start-ups that came out with flying colours on the graduation day. Pally: The start-up aims to deliver better customer experiences to organizations engaged in financial domain, using AI. Pally has created an intelligent chatbot that creates an investment portfolio for tax savings when it is fed with an image of a salary slip. S2Pay: The start-up’s solution enables offline mobile payments. Building a layer over any payments app, users can make secure payments from their mobile app, even when they are offline via SMS. Perpule: A Kalaari Capital-funded start-up, Perpule allows users to scan products from their mobile app and pay from within the app once the list is complete. The company had raised $650,000 in an angel round from Kstart Capital; Venture Highway; and Raghunandan G, co-founder of TaxiForSure. Fin-techLabs: This is a lending management platform that offers different analytical models that can be used in the digital spending space. It offers a bunch of solutions including loan management software, peer-to-peer lending marketplace software, bank statement analyser, and ID proof verification software. Paymatrix: This start-up is a property rent management platform connecting tenants and landlords. It automates the rent collection process through different payment options, offers customised rental agreements and provides tenant screening services. Gieom: This firm offers cloud-based solutions and analytics to help large firms manage their operations, employee productivity, change management, and risk and compliance. It also helps banks transition smoothly to new IT systems. Axis bank’s Thought Factory provides a vibrant work space for the start-ups in their program , it also provides masked data which is crucial for any start-up to run on a real-life working model. The ecosystem also gives them exposure to meet angel investors and mentorship from industry leaders and experts such as GoQii founder Vishal Gondal, Sharad Sharma of iSpirt, Manish Chokhani of Enam and serial entrepreneur Shankar Narayan. Thought Factory is an interesting pillar in the Start-up India movement and it would be interesting to see how it spans out in future. We will keep you updated, stay tuned. ]]>

Axis Bank sets up ThoughtFactory, an innovation lab to nurture FinTech startups

Lakshmi Rajan — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 07:01:31 +0000

Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank today announced the launch of ‘Thought Factory‘, an innovation lab facility aimed at accelerating and nurturing the startup community in the banking sector. In the process, the bank gets to be the first bank in India to setup a dedicated innovation hub. The facility launched in the startup capital of India, Bengaluru will house an in-house innovation team and an accelerator programme and will work closely with the startups and give them the required backup and resources. The Bank is experimenting with emerging technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, mobility, and cloud to bring about disruptions across functions including Credits, Deposits, Wealth Management, Mobile Payments, and Security etc. The ThoughtFactory would typically push three aspects to help the startups flourish – in-house incubator, accelerator program and social engagements with industry leaders for productive engagement to culminate the idea into workable solutions. The accelerator program would be a three-months initiative to collaborate closely with the high potential startups to see through the ideation and take it forward to get it funded and product realization. The Bank is also working with NASSCOM 10k, tech partners, various VC partners, global banks, and academia to develop a vibrant ecosystem. “We hope the startups will come up with technology-led solutions for payments and customer experience as well as risk management in microfinance space. We also hope that they will be using augmented reality, artificial technology and blockchain technology and create something disruptive,” said Rajiv Anand, executive director of Axis Bank. To help the startups come up with better solutions and deal with real-life scenarios and roadblocks, Axis bank has tied up with Amazon and global cards and payment company Visa, OCBC Singapore to give their insights regarding cloud technology and payments process. Three startups – Jacota, JusPay and Vymo who are engaging with Axis bank shared the glimpse of their products in the opening day of the ThoughtFactory which was attended by various Industry leaders and media. The panel discussion on the role of innovation in Fintech gave a lot of insights into the industry in the current scenario and road ahead in the Fintech space in India. At the ThoughtFactory inauguration, Axis bank also unveiled an unique one-of-a-kind product, AxisActive fitness band they have co-developed with GOQII. The fitness band could be availed by the bank customers and one can make NFC payment via the band. The company has already made over 1 lakh point of sales devices across the country that would work with the band. In addition, the bank also offers a reward program based on the fitness points. The AxisActive fitness band blends Fintech with Healthtech in a very innovative way. For more information, visit:

http://www.axisbank.com/thoughtfactory/

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