StartupCentral

Here’s the second batch of six companies tracked down after their showcases at Proto.in:

Tyroo

Founder (s): Manish Vij, Harish Bahl, Mahendra Swaroop, Aditya Khanna

HQ: Gurgaon

Sector: Consumer Internet

Tyroo is an online advertising network which employs 45 people. It was incubated by Smile Interactive with $1 million angel funding. Raised an undiclosed Series A funding from Yahoo! in July 2007. Yahoo! picked up a 35 per cent stake, according to news reports. After its showcase at the second edition of Proto.in in July 2007 the company has improved its behavioural targeting and optimization technologies. It has launched vertical channels such as technology, news, auto, etc. where there is lack of Indian content and “brand advertisers look for premium content which we aggregate,” says Aditya Khanna. It has also introduced rich media like video for advertisers. Khanna claims that about 200 advertisers have used Tyroo in the last couple of years, of which 60-75 are regular customers and would include more of the regular online advertisers. The money from Yahoo! has been used to scale up the team, lock inventory exclusively and research and development. It has expanded its physical presence to Mumbai and Bangalore. This year, the company expects to see momentum in scaling revenues continue. “Increased sensitivity to ROI (return on investment), due to the slowdown, for online budgets will work well for us as a performance marketing company,” adds Khanna. It plans to launch some interesting products in a couple of specific verticals which spell potential in the next couple of quarters.

Genie Interactive

Founder (s): Deepak Samaga

HQ: Bangalore

Sector: Software

Genie Interactives, which employs 15 people, showcased VOIEE, a phone-to-web voicemail messaging service, in July 2007. Based on the feedback and market response, the company decided to make changes to the product offerings. “We are currently working on another version which is in fact totally different from what we started with initially,” says Deepak Samaga. The company now has 800 customers who continue to use the first version of the product. It plans to discontinue the first version and upgrade all customers to Version 2 this year. Genie’s service business revenues sustain the company and it positions itself as a boutique software/product development firm. Two new product offerings are scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2009.

Mobisy

Founder (s): Lalit Bhise, Chhavi Gupta, Bhupender Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Riyaz Hyder

HQ: Bangalore

Sector: Mobile

Mobitop, the company’s flagship product, was rolled out shortly after its showcase in July 2007. It now has ten premium publisher partners in India and overseas who publish their mobile applications using Mobitop. The company has ten clients, says Bhise. “In 2009, we’re going on to the next level of growth,” he adds. This implies an international presence and some key customers in India. It aims to get Mobitop’s footprint on one million handsets worldwide and also has some exciting products lined up.

Buzzworks

Founder (s): VC Karthic

HQ: Mumbai

Sector: Software

BuzzWorks is a completely different company today from the one that showcased in July 2007. The company has, as founder VC Karthic puts it, “dumped the original idea, which was voice-based search, moved base to Mumbai and taken a subset of that software and turned it around as a call centre solution for small and medium businesses.” It now has four clients, all in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) segment. Karthic says the company has invested Rs 10 lakh in the original idea and another Rs 20 lakh in the new one. This year it plans to introduce a new B2B solution, take the business pan-India with at least 1,000 workstation installations and run a spin-off business (no specified) from the installed workstation capacity. It is in the process of raising unsecured debt capital for ongoing capital expenditure under the CGTSME scheme from a nationalised bank.

The Viewspaper

Founder (s): Shiv Bhaskar Dravid

HQ: Delhi

Sector: Media

Dravid is a 23 year old entrepreneur who started The Viewspaper, a user-driven news portal, to offer an alternative to mainstream news media. It tries to break new ground in a very competitive business. When the company showcased in July 2007, it had a contributor base of 70 people. That has grown to 500 since then and the contributor base has expanded from six cities to 25. New sections include cinema and travel. “A number of people from other countries also contribute,” says Dravid. It has also taken a conscious decision not to offer the portal as an advertising platform at this stage of the project, he adds. The company has substantial product upgrades planned in 2009.

Synage Software

Founder (s): Sahil Parikh

HQ: Mumbai

Sector: Software

After its showcase in January 2008 (Proto.in Edition III) the company entered into a tie-up with Jamcracker to channel partner its flagship software-as-a-service product DeskAway in mid-2008. “We have been growing month on month since January 2008 but can’t disclose customer numbers at this time,” says Parikh. The company has been sustaining itself with revenues from web design and development and personal savings. In 2009, DeskAway will be extended to other applications, integrated with third-party applications, and enhanced with more social features. It will also come out with a mobile and iPhone version.

Folks who could not be contacted from Edition II and III: Skilworth, Routeguru, Minekey, Rarefind Engineering, Wifin Technologies, Zva Software, Thinksworx, Hyper Analytix, Antya Web, Oneplace Infotech, Instablogs, Hover, Synovel, Medsphere, Elina Networks, Myntra, Lucid Software, Nadhi Systems, Dogears Print Media, Enpaq, Yambi, BlinkMedia.

Image Courtesy: Proto.in