The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Watch 2021

www.theenterpriseworld.com | APAC Edition | May 2021 The 10 most inspiring BUSIness Leaders To Watch out 2021 MARC RIPPEN IMPROVING THE LIVES OF DIABETICS THROUGH ALERTGY YURYI FERBER A DETERMINED LEADER IN THE FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY HARISH B V Co- Founder | Unocoin A MAN WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY IN INDIA

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In today's corporate environment, it's no secret that modern business executives must play many roles and service multiple consumer groups. They wear multiple hats at once and play a critical role in improving their colleagues' performance and productivity. The pandemic problem has not only put human lives in jeopardy, but it has also engulfed countless businesses. People have noticed how all the businesses have moved their platforms to digital overnight. This has emphasized the necessity for a leader who can read the broad picture and manage an uncharted business climate in the future. In reaction to problems like these, leaders frequently feel overworked and overwhelmed, making resilience and analytical ability valuable attributes. In this issue of The Enterprise World, ‘The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Watch Out 2021’, we are featuring the business leaders which are lending a hand to change the market scenarios with their innovative and comprehensive solutions. The feature for the Cover Story is Harish B V, Co-founder, and Chief Financial and Compliance Officer of Unocoin. During an interview for the TEW segment, read out a discussion with Abhishek Tyagi—CEO of AnyTechTrial. Some of the other profiles included in this edition are Anirudh Singh—Founder and CEO of SygiTech, Mr. Krishna Kumar—Founder and CEO of Cropin, Marc Rippen—CEO of Alertgy and Yuryi Ferber—Founder and CEO of BRITech. Traditional leadership practices are critical, but so are new business acumen! Rushikesh Deshpande

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The Enterprise World, 420, Pride Purple Square, Above SBI, Wakad, Pune. 411057 9552931801 Follow Us On: For Editorial Concerns: [email protected] For Sales & Branding Enquiries: [email protected] For Subscription: [email protected] Publisher The Enterprise World Creative Content Editor Rushikesh Deshpande Marketing Coordinator(USA) Peter J. PR & Marketing Coordinator James H. Business Development Executive Suchita P. Creative Design Head V. Mittal Social Media Manager Avinash G. Digital Circulation Manager Amanda V. This list is NOT a ranking. The companies on listed in magazine serve different aspects of the market, making ranking them in any order except revenue impossible and unfair. We try to bring a perfect platform for business organization to showcase their valued products/ services. Copyrights © The Enterprise World | 2019. All Rights Reserved. The images and content included in this magazine should not be copied, transferred or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronics, mechanical, photocopying, recording, otherwise, without proper permission from The Enterprise World. The Enterprise World solely owns all the reprint rights.

Leaders in Spotlight This issue of The Enterprise World SAAS applications on a single enterprises to adhere to food safety Magazine, The 10 Most Inspiring platform. Moreover, it enables the standards thereby ensuring farm-to- Business Leaders to Watch Out users to experience working on the fork traceability. 2021, features software with a free trial before they make any purchasing decision. Marc Rippen—CEO of Alertgy. A cover story of Harish B V who is the Alertgy is renowned for providing the Co-Founder of Unocoin. He is also the Aniruddh Singh— Founder and CEO first non-invasive wearable continuous Chief Financial and Compliance of SygiTech. SygiTech designs glucose monitor and alert system to Officer. Unocoin offers a unique blend customized business solutions to make measure true blood glucose. It sets of customer-centric support and user- businesses easier to work thereby, diabetics free from having to think friendly features on its platform. It increasing the time to focus on critical about taking glucose measurements by understands the relationship between decision-making. The company also allowing for fully automated, crypto trading concepts and user’s creates robust, cost-effective, and continuous monitoring with pre-set issues. Hence it acts as a perfect bridge reliable solutions using the latest tech alerts for low or high glucose levels, as between these to help the Indians do stack introducing a high-performance- set by the user. trading and exchanges on its platform. driven service model. Sygitech is DIPP The applications and website is certified startup. And Yuryi Ferber—Founder and CEO designed in such a way that it gives of BRITech. BRITech is a FinTech that services beyond the wants of the Also, Mr. Krishna Kumar—Founder offers solutions for the Investment customers. The auto-sell, SBP, earn and CEO of Cropin. The data-driven Management ecosystem with a SaaS interest are some of the most farming solutions offered by Cropin, business model. The company deals in unparalleled features of Unocoin, enable agri-enterprises and growers to state-of-the-art and cutting-edge which makes it a pioneer in the Indian ‘maximize per-acre value’. Its farm software and technology that helps market’s trading platform. data and agronomy management asset managers, brokers, fund platform, SmartFarm, empowers managers, wealth & family offices. A profile of Abhishek Tyagi— CEO of stakeholders to improve efficiency, AnyTechTrial. The company reckons productivity, predictability, and that its platform is the first of its kind sustainability of their crop value- across the globe which offers all the chains. SmartFarm enables agri-

CONTENTS 10. Harish BV

22. Yuryi Ferber 26. Abhishek Tyagi 30. Aniruddh Singh 38. Marc Rippen 42. Krishna Kumar

HARISH BV A MAN WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY IN INDIA “ I like the fact that the citizens of my country are having control over their money. Once they know what works best for them, they invest their funds at the right time, on the right asset, over our platform, to make better investment decisions for themselves. This gives me a feeling of empowerment. This is the empowerment and independence that I want my countrymen to have. - Harish B V “

Cover Story Harish B V Co-Founder, Chief Financial and Compliance O cer, Unocoin

| Cover Story Amid the investment tool just like stocks, believes that continuously Corona bonds, gold etc. supporting the best quality service crisis, the is the choicest way to develop this demand The boost in such a digital industry. Unocoin will continue to and price economy attracted many first-time improve its services, as it is of investors and many small business committed to render the best. cryptocurr owners to invest in cryptocurrency. However, for Unocoin, this is far With increasing demand, there was from enough. A ency-a a need for a platform that could virtual help users to streamline and Harish B V says, “Our customer is currency, smoothen their crypto transactions. our topmost priority when it comes have gained in India. The virtual Having this need of the hour in to being the best among the currency originated after the 2008 mind, a leader with a futuristic competitors. I also believe in global financial crisis. In the last vision, a role model to many having the perfect balance between few months, the prices of virtual budding entrepreneurs, Harish B V, innovations and maintaining the currencies like bitcoin, ether, and in 2013 co-founded Unocoin along core values we have built our brand Ripple have risen sharply. with Abhinand Kaseti, Sathvik on. While innovations are Numerous large companies around Vishwanath and Sunny Ray. Today, happening day in and day out, the world have decided to put a Unocoin is one of India’s leading based on the volatility of the portion of their funds in bitcoin companies that enables market and crypto space, we also cryptocurrencies following reports Indians to buy, sell, store, use & always make sure, the core agenda of a surge in virtual currency accept bitcoin. Let’s dwell more as to why Unocoin emerged in the prices. Despite the pandemic into the most innovative and easy- first place is also maintained.” disrupting the world’s economy on to-use crypto assets’ platform, the a larger scale, India seems to have company’s story, and most of all The Journey gained higher crypto-user traffic the iconic entrepreneur’s journey! since last year. The price of bitcoin The most formative and toughest is growing day by day and The Company time for a start-up is the initial according to the experts, it will days, as one has to take on a lot of grow more in the future. If one ever Unocoin truly dominates the steps. Right from setting up the wanted to invest in them, now is a industry with its position as a start-up and the company right, good time to do so. leader in the cryptocurrency space. down to handling almost Its sole aim is to provide services everything. Then comes the With the tremendous potential of that are unique & differentiated and marketing and sales along with the growth in future, and with its stand up to its legacy in the challenges to keep the start-up, the worldwide hassle-free transaction technology domain by offering business afloat and running to full processes, bitcoin is getting more new-age technology-powered capacity without any loss in popular in India. Today around 7 to security. enthusiasm, resilience, and hard 11 million Indian users own about work. Unocoin also tackled well one billion dollars’ worth of crypto Its platform has one-of-a-kind user with challenges it faced, like the assets. engagement and experience, as its legalization process, finding the unwavering focus is on emerging as cofounders, building a team, The use of bitcoin or ether is a top global player in the crypto gaining the trust of the investors, simple & safe and it provides assets arena and contributing to the expanding the customer base, higher returns as well. The price of Indian as well as the global marketing etc in its early days. bitcoin has risen over four times economy. Unocoin has transformed and ether by over ten times in the into one of the most popular bitcoin Unocoin raised $2,50,000 from last year. One can use and ether platforms in recent times. Bitcoin Opportunity Corp on 12th cryptocurrency to buy goods or To provide better services, August 2014, and that’s when it services, although most people numerous other components have experienced the accelerated growth. worldwide use it as a store of been added to its ecosystem. It money. Meaning, it is used as an 12 MAY 2021

THE GROWTH TIMELINE December 2013 : May 2015 : March 2020 : Unocoin Launched 2-factor authen ca on Introduced Instant Loans February 2014 : from 1st June April 2020 : Unocoin’s BUY & SELL 2015 mandated Introduced Instant price calculator launched December 2015 : deposits and March 2014 : Introduced Auto withdrawals Collected BAI dona ons donated Sell Feature May 2020 : Enabled u lity bill to charity August 2016 : User App launched payments May 2014 : September 2016 : October 2020 : Merchant Gateway Raised $1.5M to set Unocoin Raised funding from Tim launched a na onal record Draper in Targeted US$5 million, Series A Round August 2014 : Unocoin raised October 2016 : October 2020 : $250,000 from Bitcoin Over the counter (OTC) Unocoin and UNODAX Opportunity Corp launched merged into a single portal January 2015 : February 2018 : November 2020 : Unocoin enabled New app released Instant Bitcoin Trades Unocoin launched with new INR Wallets Mul -Crypto featuring both Unocoin and UNODAX Asset Exchange April 2015 : May 2018 : February 2021 : Unocoin launched High Court Quashed Unocoin introduced (Dismissed) the FIR filed the feature Systema c UNODAX, a live order-book trading against Unocoin's Buying Plan -one of pla orm for ac ve traders co-founders its kind of SIP for crypto

| Cover Story Unocoin’s 20 14 MAY 2021

020 in Graphs www.theenterpriseworld.com 15

“ Unocoin, “ a platform made with the dedication to not let India lose out on the new economy and technology that is getting built based on crypto-assets markets. 16 MAY 2021

Harish B V A leader on a mission to make Indians the decision-maker of their money Unocoin's status and respect in the cryptocurrency industry are exemplary with its plethora of unique, innovative, and custom-made services, which not only speak highly of its handpicked team of industry experts and masterminds but also its unmatched leader, Mr Harish B V. Harish B V, Co-Founder, Chief Financial and Compliance Officer at Unocoin has 15 years of experience in the financial and telecommunication industry. He is a Computer Science and Telecommunication Engineer from Siddaganga Institute of Technology. He started his career as a Director for Dream Groups from January 2000 till April 2002. Thereafter, he held the same profile for Blaze Air Networks Pvt Ltd from May 2002 till July 2013. Since then, he is holding the position of co-founder and COO with Unocoin, till today. Winning the case against the RBIs plea at the Supreme court in opposition to banning cryptocurrency can be regarded as one of the major milestones in his entrepreneurial journey. The win has given Unocoin some great responsibilities to make sure it is the change many wishes to see in India in terms of the loopholes in the economy and the financial sector of the country. “When no individual in India was willing to step up and file the case as an individual petitioner, I had to do it on my own and be there in the Supreme Court during every single hearing of the case and fight it to lead it towards victory,” Harish commented. Also, in opposition to ring-fencing, the financial institutions and banks in dealing with the cryptocurrency industry or servicing the Cryptocurrency industry can be regarded as another landmark. He also has installed enough confidence in himself and the company aiming the law enforces where the departments like CCB and CID entrust Unocoin to custody the ceased crypto from multiple crypto and financial crimes. Harish admires Jim Harris the most, for his engaging keynotes, combined research, statistics, and great visuals to drive home messages around disruptive innovation, change, and leadership in an entertaining way. His thought-provoking presentations challenge Harish to reconsider how he thinks. He's strategic and results-focused, with insightful business ideas customized to each group, his approach to working with partners is always a 'win-win'. The Platform understands the relationship Team Unocoin is working hard on between crypto trading concepts making this platform more user- Unocoin's unique and innovative and user’s issues. Hence it acts as a friendly and easy to use. It is platform is cognitively ahead, more perfect bridge between these to revamping its applications’ and advanced, sophisticated, and easier help the Indians do trading and website’s layouts, increasing the to use than any other platform in exchanges on its platform. The visibility of the most underrated but the market. Unocoin is more applications and website is very useful services, expanding its intuitive and proactively delivering designed in such a way that it gives user base, boosting PR activities, the best-in-class experience to the services beyond the wants of the publishing articles and blogs to users. customers. The auto-sell, SBP, earn educate crypto-enthusiasts, interest are some of the most energizing social media content and Unocoin offers a unique blend of unparalleled features of Unocoin, working on educational video customer-centric support and user- which makes it a pioneer in the content creation to make the whole friendly features on its platform. It Indian market’s trading platform. process feel seamless for the users. www.theenterpriseworld.com 17

| Cover Story The Team - The real asset of various skill sets, it always shares customers. Unocoin has a flexible Unocoin knowledge among itself, which and employee-friendly work policy, Unocoin is a group of many creative, highly skilled, and assists it in enhancing, pioneering a homely and comfortable passionate professionals. Talents from different social foundations and preparing to stun the world out workspace, and the top learning with comparable interests and enthusiasm for innovation in of the crate. A little thought or idea and growth opportunity ambience. cryptocurrency make the Unocoin group remarkable. Everyone in the can have a gigantic effect. Thus, at team is excited and consistently looking for cutting-edge Unocoin, there is respect for “S O M E W H E R E“ innovations to help users in running everybody’s view. their crypto transaction processes OUT THERE, easily. The solid obligation of Everyone is enthusiastic about SOMEBODY IS companionship and common trust what they have to achieve as far WORKING HARDER between individuals at Unocoin as their roles and makes the workplace sound that responsibilities are THAN YOU. mirrors the best outcomes. considered. Its employees are At Unocoin, people don’t compete in the perfect space when it with each other. As it is a comes to learning about diversified group of talents with cryptocurrencies, trading, exchange, and the crypto market. The company’s work culture is output-driven and result-based, and its team works passionately to give the best user experience to its valuable Co-Founders of Unocoin 1089 MAMY22002211

Sathvik Harish BV, Abhinand Viswanath, (COO) Kaseti, (CEO) (CMO) Sunny Ray, (President) www.theenterpriseworld.com 19





Business Story Yuryi Ferber Making Investment Management Possible at Fingertips through BRITech Business leaders not only dominate the market but also show transition to a SaaS company with a show the inspiring and that he is no less than a vivacious, focus on Investment Management. budding entrepreneurs how visionary, and unmatched business It operates in 4 fundamental pillars to lead the way ahead but also leader to watch out for in 2021. in the delivery of investment inspire people regardless of their Yuryi founded BRITech in 2012 management solutions: experience, career interests. Becoming a leader and presented the world with technology, productivity, and or a well-known personality in the innovative and breakthrough excellence. world of business is not an easy products and services which not feat, as it does not only require a only enhanced the working and Yuryi doesn’t believe in Individual person of a charismatic persona, performance of many industries but shows. The first rule is to be able to discipline, effervescent but also an also proved his mettle as a attract and retain exceptional entrepreneur introducing cutting- flagbearer of BRITech. He has by people and allow them to work edge and breakthrough products far accumulated numerous together in collaboration, and services that not only achievements for his endeavours, establishing a direction and having revolutionize the way one looks inspired countless budding a 360-degree alignment of interests and works but also brings a new entrepreneurs, claimed the respect between customers, staff, and wave of innovation and and loyalty of BRITech’s clients, partners. Thus, began the journey possibilities to their industry or and established a stronghold in the of BRITech, after he established the niche. A leader not only inspires market and amongst the long-term vision, Yuryi brought in but also leads the way to the future, competition in the market. people that are not only experts in enabling the young individuals to the field with thorough and not only learn from them but also BRITech, the Company, the story extensive knowledge but are also to understand their life, their dedicated to BRITech’s vision and professional endeavours and take BRITech is a FinTech that offers mission and do not hesitate to help the most valuable lessons and apply solutions for the Investment their clients in any way or anytime. them into their own life, enabling Management ecosystem with a these individuals to become a true SaaS business model and more than Since 2015 BRITech is an investee leader and a true inspiration for 300 clients in 13 countries, with of Oria Capital, Growth Equity for everyone. over 120 dedicated full-time B2B technology companies, professionals, processing daily + creating business continuity and Yuryi Ferber is the Founder and US $ 1 trillion AUC (Assets Under innovation in the world. CEO of BRITech. He has shown Control). the world of business that a true The exemplary services of leader can emerge from anywhere Founded in 2012 as a service BRITech and inspire the rest with his company (BRIT Services at the sincerity, dedication, and time), in 2014 the company was BRITech deals in state-of-the-art unwavering spirit to not only renamed BRITech and started the and cutting-edge software and 22 MAY 2021

technology that helps Asset Managers, Brokers, Fund Managers, Wealth & Family Offices. They are one of the leading companies in the domain that not only have one of the most satisfied and loyal clients but also best-in- class service and delivery standards. They are not only dedicated to providing impeccable user engagement to their clients via their services but are always in pursuit of excellence, finding ways to not only enhance their services but also introduce breakthrough services in the market. - For Enterprises: Firms such as custodians, brokers, Yuryi Ferber | Founder & CEO | BRITech and outsourcing companies are always seeking ways to help their solution for you, quickly and with their portfolio accounting clients, financial advisers, and asset inexpensively. They stand by their functions and easy-to-understand managers to be more successful. quality, time-to-market for delivery, dashboard. Their robust Many are increasingly turning to and price competitiveness. rebalancing and compliance engine technology as a way of BRITech indeed provides the best make it a breeze to recompose your differentiating their services. value-for-the-money for your IT portfolio whenever it is needed. BRITech can be a valuable partner dollar in helping to make that difference. Data Aggregation: Timely insights - For Family Office: depend heavily on being able to Cloud-based components can be collect all the information relating easily integrated with other In a connected world, it is to your family portfolios. By software. They are experts in imperative to have modern, compiling data across multiple extending functionality quickly and scalable, and flexible solutions to sources, including custodians, adapting their features to suit any fulfil all the needs required from banks, and held-away accounts, process flow. demanding family members. their platform will consolidate it into a single portfolio, allowing for Their components can be “white- Simplified Workflow: Forget a centralized view. Information on labelled” to conform to the look about spreadsheets and manually performance, portfolio deviation, and feel of any firm. A competitive tying together information from comparison against benchmarks, distinction is that their applications disparate systems. Their platform is cash flow, and other metrics are multi-currency and multi- highly customizable and can be become readily accessible at your lingual. Whether it is to fill a gap in tailored to how you want to fingertips, either through the your portfolio of technology operate. Simplify workflow and dashboard or via their mobile offerings, or to respond quickly to reduce administration overhead version. new opportunities in the market, contact BRITech for a solution. If they cannot provide what you need from the components in their platform, they will customize a www.theenterpriseworld.com 23

Business Story Family Structures: By allowing addressing so many pain-points that All these factors, along with perfect and automating the process of able can up-sell frequently. sync and harmony among the team creating chained family structures, of BRITech, making them much they can cross multiple generations Their technology was designed to more than a team, a close-knit and provide detailed information reach any size of customer, offering family. for each household or single entity a cloud-based solution and as needed. Once the family monthly-basis payment per use. In Yuryi’s message to running a structure has been set, it is the early days, back in 2014, they business and becoming a straightforward to query started offering solutions to a few successful entrepreneur. information through the dashboard pain points and, with constant R&D or by specific reports on a case-by- investments, year after year, they Running a growing business is a case basis. continue to expand the platform’s constant exercise in identifying and features and scalability. fixing bottlenecks. Bottlenecks are Their services are not only oriented constantly shifting from place to and made for every type of All these factors help them in place and the sooner you identify it enterprise and office, providing one maintaining an NRR (Net Revenue and fix it the better. If you don’t do of the most advanced services to Retention), which measures the it, inefficiency appears. To maintain manage huge amounts of total change in recurring revenue the company’s good efficiency, we transactions and data without for a set of customers over time. must try to position ourselves from having to worry about any Their NRR is over 120% per year. the outside to have a clear problems or glitches. They This is possible because they do diagnosis and help the executive of constantly work to not only keep their best to retain the customer, that specific area to fix the their service up to date with the help the customer use their bottleneck. I am the CEO, but I like latest industry trends and practices software in the best possible way, to joke that CEO means Coach but also heavily rely on customer and help him extract the best Executive Officer. feedback to improve the possible value out of it. performance and usability of their As I learned from my father: services. BRITech’s work culture reputation is the most important asset for anyone. It takes time to What takes BRITech ahead of the Yuryi feels that good people don’t acquire, but very little time to lose competition in the market and just mean good technical people - it. Therefore, we must be very strongholds its position in the they need to share the same ideas careful about what we do, how we market. and long-term vision. In other do it, and the quality of our words, they must share the same network of people. Once you’ve An essential aspect that is culture, because they will hire more built your reputation and become a contributing to their global people and maintain the company’s trusted individual, you will be able expansion is their franchise model. culture. to attract good, trustworthy people They have a long-term win-win to your business. partnership model, capable of This ideology not only led to the attracting entrepreneurs worldwide professional and highly dedicated Another personal, non-technical - they maintain their focus on and visionary team of BRITech but skill I have is being humble. When product innovation and the partners also enriching the work-culture and you are humble, you know you are focus on sales, implementation, and environment of BRITech with always learning and you know how local support for each region in minds that are always looking to important it is to be surrounded by which they operate. They have a enhance BRITech’s services, help good and honest people at work, team to manage the distribution their clients in the best possible personal, and family circles. channels helping the franchisees way, and most important of all, expand their business. Their never stop learning, growing and Finally, I would say persistence - customer-centric mindset is not the become individuals who grow in this is a must-have skill for any only thing that makes it possible - both personal and professional business owner. they have so many features domains of life. 24 MAY 2021

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Interview with TEW CEO AnyTechTrial.Com Abhishek Tyagi A determined leader with a 360-Degrees futuristic vision 26 MAY 2021

In this fast-paced digital era, there is new to experience working on the software with a free trial technology rising with every new dawn. before they make any purchasing decision. Anyone Particularly in the digital technology, software, can meet all their SAAS requirements on our single and IT sector, there are endless options for products website. and services which confuses users. AnyTechTrial a perfect and cognitively ahead SaaS marketplace • What were the initial challenges you faced? allows users to make their best choice for perfect and reliable software, apps, and so on. In the commencing phase some of the challenges like driving and sourcing authentic sources. Identifying the AnyTechTrial is led by a serial entrepreneur Mr. opportunity in terms of what best could be serving the Abhishek Tyagi, a determined and responsible CEO people, what are the major trends people are looking with more than 10+ years of learning experience in at, and what kinds of challenges they are facing in cross-domain functionalities while working with C- terms of all their software needs. Then pinpointing level and Country head executives of many Fortune their challenges and finding the solutions to them. 500 organizations. Abhishek believes that delivering Earlier people were unaware of the concept of the free meaningful customer experiences is the new trial of the software they need and often ended up battleground for brands, with accelerating complexity, buying the Incorrect software, so in the initial stages, delivering a cohesive brand experience remains we find complexities in making people understand the elusive. With decade-long learning in BTL, ABM, and fact that they can try the software before the actual the Data-driven marketing domain, he expertise in purchase. strategizing and implementing business plans for enhancing operations, profits and performance. • Which was that point that triggered the growth of the company? Along with establishing the world’s largest SaaS Marketplace AnyTechTrial.Com, in the past decade After the advent of COVID-19, companies across the Abhishek has founded and established one of Asia's globe saw a surge in manpower cuts, declined leading BTL agency “Value Prospect Consulting”, revenues, and a serious strain on their resources. As also successfully spearheaded and built 1.5 Million businesses shut, there was an overarching increase in companies Analytical Database across the Asia Pacific the number of job losses and revenues. At such times, to be used by various companies for Sales and we @AnyTechTrial were not only able to stay afloat Marketing operations. throughout the pandemic and also the time growth of the company triggered when we experience a lot of In a conversation with Mr. Abhishek Tyagi, he shared traffic reaching us out from different countries from his views on the current industry scenario and what across the globe with their different need regarding AnyTechTrial.Com is all about. their business. • Brief us about the company. • How have the company graphs changed since the foundation? Can you share a few statistics? The software runs this tech-driven world. Not everyone can be a techie to break down the correct Our company is a bootstrapped Indian company, built usage of such software for themselves or for their by persistent effort. In a very little time, our company firms, which invites added costs and delays in has outshone the market very well. Therefore, it understanding if the software purchased will be right speaks volumes about the ability of our Indian for one's needs or not. foresighted founders in providing robust solutions to everyone across the globe. 3 months back, we ranked We Power the Business to rapid growth with globally around 78 lakhs but today we rank around thousands of cloud-based solutions. We take pride to 60k global rank, numbers speak for themselves. We reckon that our platform is the first of its kind across have also seen a huge response from our users, we get the globe which offers all the SAAS applications on a a good 8k-10k daily web traffic from all around the single platform. This has certainly opened new world. avenues for our venture as well. We enable the users www.theenterpriseworld.com 27

Interview with TEW • What is the reason behind your company’s long- without any apprehensions or doubt. Such standing success? organizations are exemplary in showcasing a responsible approach towards building a congenial The company has a more user-friendly and problem- environment for a healthier world. Recently it was solving-driven platform that focuses more on the SME made public that AnyTechTrial would cover the and enterprise market. The vision and mission of the vaccination costs for all AT Ventures employees and company are to solve the overarching problems of the their spouses. So, together we all can move forward industry; the business will certainly grow with utmost towards a COVID-free India with confidence. support from the market. Being authentic and informative to our website users is one of the main • It’s a rat race out there. How do you cope with pillars on which we stand strong. that? • How do you decide to take the company a step We take pride to reckon that our platform is the first of further in terms of your products/services? its kind across the globe which offers all the SAAS applications in a single place. This has certainly Having a clear vision for the future and with a more opened new avenues for our venture. We enable the global approach, we need to target niche markets users to experience working on the software with a across different geographies. We would be keen to free trial before they make any buying decision. have information regarding the user experience across Anyone can meet all their SAAS requirements on our different user segments to add local flavors for every single website. We stand unique in every context in region. providing the information to our users. But we emphasize that the information we provide is credible • How do you look after your employees? What and authentic for any user. We also feel delighted to makes your team unique? serve our customers irrespective of the size and nature of their business. We serve them with equality whether Certainly, the committed management at their operations are small or large. AnyTechTrial.Com is driven to facilitate a robust environment where both their users and their employees can work towards their best efficiencies 28 MAY 2021



Interview with TEW Founder & CEO Sygitech MR. ANIRUDDH SINGH A leader revolutionizing software and IT eld. 30 MAY 2021

In today's era, the computer is one of our basic needs, client acquisition. The quality and timely delivery of we use it to run our daily work, from an office or at projects with value-added services manifold the home. It is possible to say that today's world is opportunity. Starting Jan 2021 we started growing faster computer-driven; Where every action is through a than before. computer. ● How have the company graphs changed since the In these ongoing pandemic times, if a business still doesn’t foundation? Can you share a few statistics? have its digital presence and if it doesn’t adapt modern technology yet, it might be holding its growth back. It kept on changing for every few months initially, sometimes positive, negative at other times. From the In this scenario, to help businesses to be relevant in the revenue perspective, we remained cash positive since we market race, a visionary leader in software and IT started, and were religiously paying taxes every year. technology, Mr. Aniruddh Singh offers a comprehensive plethora of differentiated software development and ● What is the reason behind your company’s long- managed IT services. standing success? In an interview with Mr. Aniruddh, the Founder and CEO at We are customer-centric and more of a partner to them than Sygitech, he shared his journey throughout and what a typical service provider. We take an extra step every time Sygitech is all about. in each engagement we do and go beyond promised work. We believe in long-term relationships and stand trusted and ● Brief us about the company. honest on our project deliveries. We are a group of tech nomads who aspire to bring a sea ● What are the solutions the company focuses on? change in how IT services and application development can How are your offerings different from those in the be simplified. We work towards designing customized market? business solutions to make businesses easier to work thereby, increasing your time to focus on critical decision- We primarily focus on software development and managed making. We boast of creating robust, cost-effective, and IT services. Consultancy is the byproduct of what we offer reliable solutions using the latest tech stack introducing a to our customers. With multiple domain experts in the team, high-performance-driven service model. Sygitech is DIPP we have the agility to pick up projects that are not limited to certified startup. software development but driving end-to-end management of your IT needs. With the already crowded market for such ● What were the initial challenges you faced? services, we rely on quality work, timely delivery, and a one-stop shop for all your IT needs. A proven record of I was new to the market, without having any experience in accomplishment on our offerings and significant happy sales and marketing, no funding, (funding was available partners (customers) speak volumes about the mark we mostly to the product companies, not service-based have made in just a few years. companies with few exceptions), I started just after demonetization, and then GST was enforced, global ● How do you decide to take the company a step slowdown followed with the pandemic. We did see all of further in terms of your solution offerings? this quite early in the last 4+ years of our start, the only thing that I had was the solid knowledge of technology and We keep on adding new skill sets, we learn from the goal to deliver robust solutions to the customers. existing customer base that we have and then we brainstorm on what can be done next or how we can further improve ● Which was that point that triggered the growth of the quality of our service. the company? ● Is there any new addition to the list of We got some software development projects to start with, products/services? Anything exciting you would like to then quickly started with managed services (IT/Cloud share? infrastructure management). Covid brought us misery, starting 2020 and that was a tough time for everyone. We started as a service-based company, but now coming up Nevertheless, the business model we have, catered to most with few products as well of the clients. We focused more on remote delivery and increased client engagement that triggered growth and new 1. SygiOps – Primary objective of the SygiOps is to www.theenterpriseworld.com 31

Interview with TEW Success is just a station in your journey, not a destination. eliminate chances of human errors and execute tasks in ● How do you look after your employees? What makes minutes, against hours or days. In the current scenario, your team unique? technology has become very complex, and finding resources, training them introduces big costs and huge Every person at Sygitech is considered a family member, efforts, we plan to simplify that. which makes it easy to look after them. We not only cherish new challenges but also accept failures together. Freedom 2. SygiCloudSync – With the larger adoption of cloud in work brings responsibility and accountability. The team platforms and the need of handling huge amounts of data, it is open to putting forward ideas and we consider everyone’s has become cumbersome to keep backup of the data with opinion during a fresh start. We work hard and play hard. different cloud providers. Syncing this data in real-time is another big challenge. We are going to make it very simple ● Is there any special experience with your clients you through SygiCloudSync. would like to highlight? 3. Few others in the pipeline as well but in a very initial We worked with several clients and had a very different and phase and it's too early to discuss them special relationship with all of them. StarQuick (A TATA Enterprise), TickOps (a US-based client), Easypolicy, ● Can you please brief us about your professional MilkBasket, and AuthBridge are a few of the many experience? customers we have. Before starting Sygitech, I was Head of Technology with ● One person, who you admire the most? IndiaMART, where I turned around the whole technology platform to support the huge traffic growth and was I Admire Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam the most. rewarded many times. I was always enthusiastic about technology and IndiaMART recognized it awarding me ● Whose business story do you find the most with the Einstein award. Before IndiaMART, I worked with inspiring? HCL Technologies, where I was instrumental in completing multiple successful projects. I was also a part of the There are many but just to name one Ankur Warikoo Technology excellence group and in my 3.5 years of engagement with HCL, I won 7 rewards. ● Constant vigilance- a need or a strategy? Please share your views. ● What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey? Necessity is the mother of invention. But it’s best to keep a strategy ready for unprecedented circumstances. Try to Quick customer acquisition, least go-to-market time, think and design solutions that are simple but usable, for a Affordable services for all segments, and none of our large portion of the community customers left us since we became partners. and most importantly, my tech background which was initially a ● It’s a rat race out there. How do you cope with that? bottleneck in selling has now become my strength, since I can understand customer’s problems easily and provide Good competition fuels innovative ideas. Monopoly has not quick solutions (because of tech experience). shown much improvement, be it eCommerce platforms, IT, medicine, technology, and the like. The idea is to work towards solving problems for a large community and bring healthy competition that would directly benefit the end-user. Growth will follow. 32 MAY 2021



4 Ways To Stream

mline Your Business

Are you looking to streamline your they struggle with and also encourage them to business? This is something that business come forward with ideas and solutions. Staff owners should continuously be looking to usually have the best ideas as they are the ones do as it can have such a positive impact on the carrying out the tasks each day, plus this will also daily operation and overall success of the help them to feel valued. company. Streamlining is not easy, though, and even small changes can be risky and create 2. Invest In Tech, IT & Equipment teething issues, especially if you have not made changes to the operation in a long time. Tech, IT, and equipment are all areas that can Therefore, it is helpful to be aware of the best have a huge impact on the daily operation. Many ways to streamline your business that should businesses are reluctant to invest in tech and IT deliver positive results immediately and help to areas because they can be expensive, but you boost your company and make work easier for need to view it as a long-term investment that your team. should end up taking your business to new heights. Having the best and latest tech, IT, and Let’s go through some positive ways to equipment can make work much easier for your streamline your business: team, improve overall performance and help to modernize your operation. 1. Discuss Problematic Areas With Staff When looking to streamline your business, you 3. Use Managed Print Services should always first pay attention to the problematic areas. You will never be able to You should also use managed print services to improve without addressing these areas, so it is ensure that your print equipment is optimized and the best place to start. You should discuss with will not let you down. Curious about what is staff any bottlenecks and areas of their role that managed print services? This is an agreement

between a company and a specialist-managed print These are a few of the best ways that you can provider that can include the supply of print streamline your business operation, which could equipment and any relevant supplies that you need, take your business to new heights while also including toner. It can also include the ongoing making the day-to-day more efficient and easier maintenance and any repairs needed, which means for staff. Business owners should always be that you should not encounter any printing issues – looking to streamline, but you also need to be a great deal of frustration for many business owners. careful because making changes to the operation will always bring risks, and you need to be 4. Outsource prepared for teething issues. You will also find that outsourcing different aspects Summing Up of the business can help to streamline the operation, make work easier for your team, and scale the In order to maintain and then grow business, it is business. Outsourcing is cost-effective compared to important to streamline your business first. As we hiring new staff, and you can get the work know, business is the output of team efforts that completed by a specialist. Plus, there are many leadership and staff puts in. So, inputs and different aspects of the business that you could suggestions of all members along with the correct outsource. A few common areas that are outsourced technological decisions and advancements is include: necessary. The leadership must have vision to identify the problems and take correct course of Ÿ Accounting action. If the leaders become successful in this, Ÿ HR then there is no hurdle for growth of the Ÿ Customer service respective businesses. Ÿ Sales Ÿ Admin

Interview with The Enterprise World Marc Rippen | CEO | Alertgy 38 MAY 2021

Mr. Marc Rippen Improving the lives of diabetics through Alertgy Diabetes is a disease that diabetics and make their lives think about taking glucose affects thousands of people easier, Alertgy provides a non- measurements by allowing for fully worldwide every year. At invasive wearable continuous automated, continuous monitoring present, statistics related to diabetes glucose monitor and alert system to with pre-set alerts for low or high are quite shocking – more than 1.5 measure true blood glucose. glucose levels, as set by the user. million people die due to diabetes Mr. Marc Rippen, CEO of The medical device and diagnostic every year. Diabetes problem is Alertgy, and his team of experts at industry are constantly growing and seen in 9 percent of the youth Alertgy are revolutionizing the changing, with new technologies worldwide. Most of these people health sector with their innovation being introduced to the market all suffer from type 1 diabetes and type and cutting-edge offerings. the time. We are entering a new era 2 diabetes. Since many people are of medicine that will be not fully aware of diabetes, this In a conversation with Mr. Marc, he significantly impacted by the disease is increasing day by day. shared his views on the current incredible growth and The glucose level monitoring industry scenario and what Alertgy breakthroughs in wearables, cloud- before and after meals makes is all about. based IoT sensor systems, diabetics’ lives crucial and it is application of AI 10, and digital hectic to check the glucose level • Brief us about the company. health. Our vision is to provide a frequently through traditional product and service to save and methods. Many times those Alertgy provides the first non- improve the quality of life for methods provide false values that invasive wearable continuous diabetics and help those that are might affect the patients’ health. glucose monitor and alert system to borderline diabetics from becoming measure the true blood glucose. It diabetic. In this context, to empower sets diabetics free from having to www.theenterpriseworld.com 39

Interview with The Enterprise World • What were the initial challenges won numerous health tech awards, FDA approval. you faced? Medtech accelerator challenges, obtained our first US patent, and • How do you decide to take the Throughout the initial three years completed two proof-of-concept company a step further in terms of development, there have been a studies. We are in the process of of your products? few challenges we have faced and raising $10M Series A funding for had to overcome. Initially, we had our first set of clinical trials. We base the next steps based on to determine the correct placement documented scientific research of our device to maximize our • What is the reason behind your before we delve into possibilities of accuracy and reliability over a company’s long-standing investing and building additional long-term period. After this was success? products and services. established, we have focused on sensor development to get the There are many reasons, including • Is there any new addition to the highest quality data and stability desire/readiness to shoot for the list of products/services? within our device. This is an ever- stars, entrepreneurial spirit, Anything exciting you would like evolving process inside our believing in the science behind our to share? research and development team, device, trust in our people to do and we will continue to improve their utmost, and providing a Yes, we are currently funding our device so we can deliver the compelling story to our investors research to determine the feasibility highest quality product to our and prospects. of using our patented sensor customers when we begin technology to detect virions like manufacturing. • What are the products the Covid-19 and others through the company focuses on? respiratory build-up. • Which was that point that triggered the growth of the Alertgy is a pioneer in 100% non- • Can you please brief us about company? invasive continuous blood glucose your professional experience? monitoring technology. Through The foundation of Alertgy was due the use of its patented I was a former army officer, and to a tragedy, I found my wife nearly radiofrequency sensor Alertgy’s most recently the director of slipping into a diabetic coma and DeepGluco wearable device can Engineering for the Marine and became unresponsive due to being accurately measure blood glucose Space Technology Division of in a prolonged low blood sugar in real-time, up to 3 times per Stanford Research Institute (SRI) state. After I was able to minute. Most importantly, using International. I hold degrees in rehabilitate her, I took a stronghold our proprietary AI algorithm, microbiology, analytical chemistry, of the situation and started Alertgy. DeepGluco can provide invaluable, and aeronautics. I have always been up to the minute life-saving alerts involved in the development of • How have the company graphs to the users and their designated technology to solve critical changed since the foundation? HCPs. Unlike other CGMs, we problems starting as a material Can you share a few statistics? eliminate interstitial lag as well as engineer at Pratt & Whitney where painful and uncomfortable side I managed advanced research and The company has grown to 12 full- effects of patches, needles, and development programs that time and 6 part-time employees, implants associated with. The final supported the development of hiring leading experts and talent DeepGluco form factor will be advanced materials for jet and from electrical, mechanical, and AI similar to modern smartwatches, rocket engines. I then transitioned engineering along the way. We’ve available to consumers following to become a field engineer for “ NEVER GIVE UP ON SOMETHI

leading atomic and molecular along the way. We’ve won problems, where I could apply my spectroscopy companies where I numerous health tech awards, out-of-the-box thinking skills to provided turnkey solutions to Medtech accelerator challenges, creatively solve their challenges. I materials analysis for a broad obtained our first US patent, and admire my father who inspired me variety of industries from completed two proof-of-concept to become an entrepreneur by agriculture to environmental to studies. We are in the process of successfully establishing a start-up manufacturing to advanced raising $10M Series A funding for in his late 50's. However, due to research and development in our first set of clinical trials. traumatic personal leading research institutions. From experiences—my father’s demise there I became the director of the • How do you look after your due to diabetes and my wife’s FIU College of Engineering NASA employees? What makes your transition from gestational diabetes tech transfer center where I helped team unique? to Type2—ultimately pushed me companies utilize NASA towards the medical device technologies in the commercial Being a tech start-up we understand industry. Consequently, to develop arena. In this role, I helped small that our people and their skills are a non-intrusive blood sugar businesses raise venture capital and the key ingredients on our journey monitoring system to help pursue SBIR and STTR programs and our future success. As such, we diabetics, I established Alertgy in to fund the commercialization of have a fairly informal set of 2016. their technologies. From there I corporate guidelines and encourage co-founded an Internet Start-up employees to share their ideas, • Whose business story do you company and raised 1 million thoughts, and input, no matter how find the most inspiring? dollars and eventually was able to trivial. We are lucky to have some Richard Branson’s and Werner von take the company public in an of the best minds in the industry Braun’s. acquisition. The combination of my working at the company and pride education and experience allowed ourselves on what we’ve been able • Constant vigilance- a need or a me the means to launch Alertgy and to achieve in a short amount of strategy? Please share your bring it to where it is today. time with our team. A cohesive views. team that moves as one is • What are the key achievements paramount to success. All our It’s a combination of both and they of your entrepreneurial journey? employees are incentivized with have to complement each other stock options/stock, as well as along the way. Without a well- Alertgy currently employs 12 full- regular compensation. thought out and developed strategy, time and 6 part-time employees in a constant vigilance is useless, and family-friendly, growth-focused • Is there any special experience vice versa. Fail to plan, plan to fail. environment. The management with your clients you would like strives to provide a stimulating, to highlight? • It’s a rat race out there. How do entrepreneurial environment where you cope with that? employees are rewarded and We are still in the pre-clinical / pre- enticed by a combination of revenue stage so at this time we We commit ourselves to work hard competitive salaries, stock options, don’t have special experiences. and playing hard. Having a and benefits. The company has balance, especially in a start-up grown to 12 full-time and 6 part- • One person who you admire the with young staff, is important in time employees, hiring leading most? keeping everyone committed yet experts and talent from electrical, I have always enjoyed helping relaxed and engaged to accomplish mechanical, and AI engineering people overcome technical their respective tasks. NG THAT REALLY MATTERS TO YOU. www.theenterpriseworld.com 4014

Interview with TEW Founder & CEO CropIn 42 MAY 2021

Krishna Kumar A leader revolutionizing Agriculture ecosystem through cutting-edge technology CropIn is a leading global AI-driven AgTech identified there are quite a few challenges that needed to be organization that provides SaaS and data solutions addressed. The first is adaptability, specifically in India, to Agri-enterprises globally. CropIn enables because a majority of Agri enterprises who have already enterprises and businesses in the agriculture ecosystem to been working with conventional practices see any drastic adopt a data-driven, sustainable approach to functioning change towards digitization with skepticism. Also, the through its ground-to-cloud technology solutions. common misconception that the use of the application is only to track them and evaluate their performance only adds CropIn’s unique suite of innovations enables various to the challenge and distracts them from the bigger picture. stakeholders to adopt and drive digital strategy across their The second is mobility and literacy. Though mobile crop value-chains and operations. The company empowers communication and broadband connectivity are at their best the Agri-enterprises with data insights that help drive yet, there are limitations in its penetration of broadband in initiatives around Digitization, Predictability, Traceability, rural areas, and there is much to improve with regards to Financial Inclusion, Climate Smart Agriculture, and rural literacy. This subsequently affects our reach of Sustainability. expansion in working directly on-ground. CropIn operates on a B2B model and caters to customer We realized that the existing solutions in the market are segments like seed production companies, farming based on traditional or classical farming practices with a companies, agri-input companies, governments, minimal and sometimes inefficient use of technology. The development agencies, CSR arms of private organizations, agribusiness sector is yet to adapt to advanced technologies exporters, commodity traders, and the BFSI sector. to harness its true potential. There are information gaps at different levels of the agri-ecosystem, and the existing CropIn’s product offerings are crop- and location-agnostic, solutions do not eliminate this information asymmetry. thus enabling high-speed and scalable technology implementations in the AgTech space on a global scale. Many agribusinesses, on the other hand, are yet to let go of traditional practices and switch to more efficient use of In a talk with Mr. Krishna Kumar, Founder, and CEO of advanced technology. Information gaps at different levels of CropIn, he shared his thoughts on the current industry the agri-ecosystem are also prevalent, and the existing scenario and how CropIn is transforming agriculture solutions work only at certain levels of the ecosystem and businesses. do not connect the entire ecosystem. One of the important challenges we face today is ensuring farm-to-fork • What were the initial challenges you faced? traceability of produce, especially when global markets are in question. Some of the major challenges that the small CropIn was started in 2010, with a vision of maximizing and marginal farmers face in the Agri sector include limited per acre value and farmer livelihoods by harnessing the access to investment, inadequate technological power of smart technology. In the AgTech space, we www.theenterpriseworld.com 43

Interview with TEW interventions, lack of quality inputs, unorganized farming 2018, London, UNDP’s Agorize Challenge for its operations, and not enough integration with markets. Cultiv@te Program in the Philippines, World Bank's Innovation Challenge for Agriculture and Food Security • How have the company graphs changed since the Risk Financing in Southern Africa, among several others. foundation? Can you share a few statistics? These add to the vast experience and success that the company has been associated with, ultimately building Since the inception of the company, we have catered to credibility. 225+ clients globally. CropIn has digitized over 13 million acres of farmland, enriched the lives of nearly 4 million • What are the products/services the company focuses farmers, and manages data of 388 crops and 9,400+ crop on? How are your services different from those in the varieties. CropIn’s global footprint spans 56 countries market? across 5 continents. The company has seen significant growth over the last 2-3 years and the graph is only CropIn’s data-driven farming solutions enable agri- growing exponentially on a positive scale. The company enterprises and growers to ‘maximize per-acre value’. Its was founded with an initial investment of around 7 lakh farm data and agronomy management platform, SmartFarm, rupees, which was funded by friends and family. Today, empowers stakeholders to improve efficiency, productivity, CropIn has been able to raise a Series C funding of $20M predictability, and sustainability of their crop value-chains. recently, in these times of market uncertainty and financial SmartFarm enables agri-enterprises to adhere to food safety crunch, being amidst a global crisis. standards thereby ensuring farm-to-fork traceability. The platform helps growers adopt sustainable farming practices • What is the reason behind your company’s long- to build long-term economic viability and resiliency for standing success? local farming communities. CropIn has partnered with several global players in agriculture, including development CropIn’s consistent focus on making the solutions more finance institutions and government entities in 56 countries, diverse in their implementation, prioritizing client to drive their digital and sustainability goals. satisfaction through an in-depth understanding of each challenge faced, the ever-innovating attitude the product CropIn’s machine learning-based predictive analytics team carries, and our commitment to the vision set are platform, SmartRisk, improves underwriting and risk broadly the reasons for the company’s long-standing assessment, enabling banks, insurance providers, and other success. We understand the market and hence make financial institutions to make informed underwriting continuous innovation in our offerings, making our decisions, identify new markets and expand product solutions adaptable. This builds trust in the solution and portfolios to service high-volume low-ticket opportunities. ultimately, in us. By analyzing and interpreting farm-centric data for over 388 crops with nearly 9,500 variants across trillions of data CropIn caters not just to one industry vertical but to many points that grow every day, SmartRisk helps achieve high segments. The product offered to each segment varies prediction accuracy at a plot level. It does this by according to the requirement and the geography involved. combining computer vision with deep-learning algorithms, CropIn caters to various customer segments at different on multispectral imagery derived from aerial scouting levels of the agro-ecosystem, such as seed production (satellites and drones), field scouting data, and hyperlocal companies, agri-input companies, Government bodies, weather. development agencies, exporters, commodity traders, and BFSI, thereby providing a platform that benefits all Other Products: stakeholders. SmartWare: A comprehensive solution for packhouse, CropIn’s superiority in providing world-class Agri-tech processing, and export companies that enables farm-to-fork solutions has been validated by Indian and international traceability and compliance, quality control, and flexible challenges put forth by major enterprises like AWS Digital inventory management. Innovation Challenge, Accenture Ventures Applied Intelligence Challenge, Ag-Tech Developer Challenge AcreSquare: A unique farmer application that helps conducted by Rainforest Alliance, Artificial Intelligence companies interact directly with their farmers, share Innovation Challenge organized by Govt. of Maharashtra content, educate them and provide consultation, thus and NITI Aayog (India), HDFC Bank Digital Innovation enabling companies to extend the power of technology to Summit, Artificial Intelligence Connect, Agrow Awards their farmers and cultivate farmer loyalty. 44 MAY 2021

“Your work is going to fill a ecosystem through partnerships with local companies large part of your life, and through a channel partnership model. the only way to be truly • Is there any new addition to the list of satisfied is to do what products/services? Anything exciting you would like to you believe is great work. share? And the only way to do great work is to love CropIn is currently working on developing a technological upgrade to SmartFarm, an integrable platform for all tech what you do.” implementations in the farm controlled under a single interface. There are also consistent efforts being made to PlotRisk: An application that enables a farmer to remotely make our products implementable in external conditions monitor his/her farm plot through satellite imagery and and geographies where remote sensing can be challenging analyses every farm pixel to provide crop health, yield due to cloud cover. estimation, water stress, pest and disease predictions and other parameters at a plot level. Can you please brief us about your professional experience? Competitive Advantage: I hold a B.E degree in Instrumentation and Electronics CropIn’s innovations are crop and location-agnostic in Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University, nature. This makes them scalable, customizable, and Belgaum. I worked at GE for a brief period before co- integrable to the client’s requirements. The solutions act not founding CropIn in 2010 with Kunal Prasad. I played only as problem solvers but also as knowledge repositories various roles during my stint at GE (Appliance, Industrial, for the agribusinesses to be future-ready. The innovations and Energy) - As Graduate Engineer Trainee, Programmer, are highly efficient given they are data-driven and built on a Senior Programmer, Information Management Leadership 0.3 trillion datasets-based algorithms. The testimonials and Program (Leadership Role) a retention rate of 92% speak for themselves about the reliability of the solutions designed by CropIn. From launching a start-up with a vision to bring a data- driven approach to agriculture to creating an organization • How do you decide to take the company a step that has enriched the lives of nearly 4 million farmers, my further in terms of your products/services? entrepreneurial journey has been full of some amazing lessons that helped me learn and grow. CropIn is always innovating towards addressing new and more complex challenges every day. We aim to expand our • Which was that point that triggered the growth of innovations into newer geographies, understand the region- the company? specific challenges and make our innovations adaptive to those conditions. The intent has been proactive and There were many critical decisions we took during our positive. CropIn is looking to explore the predictive and journey which helped CropIn to scale globally. Within 6-8 prescriptive analytics side of AI further and deeper than months of starting up, we realized the B2C model is not before. The company is working extensively towards scalable and hence we moved to the B2B model. We took a building capacious AI innovations for addressing the newer platform approach - building crop and location-agnostic challenges stemming in the world as we speak. CropIn is platforms which can scale quickly in any geography. We expanding its global presence further in the SEA region, decided to scale globally and made necessary changes in Africa, Europe, and the Americas. This is being achieved by our product to service global customers and meet their diversifying into newer customer segments such as standards. We decided to invest in AI & Machine Learning Telecom, Machinery, Plantations, to name a few. The technologies to advance the agriculture sciences using data company looks to strengthen connectivity with the Agri and building on Agriculture knowledge graphs. • What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey? I started CropIn with a vision to improve farmer livelihoods and increase per-acre value for smallholder farmers. The goal is today a reality with CropIn digitizing over 13 www.theenterpriseworld.com 45

Interview with TEW million acres of farmland and positively impacting the lives List of external awards won of 4 million farmers worldwide. BusinessWorld’s 40 Under 40 Achiever 2018 CropIn was able to raise 3 successful rounds of Series funding from prestigious investors like ABC World Asia, Listed in the Top 25 Tech Entrepreneurs of 2019 by CDC Group, Kris Gopalakrishna, Bill and Melinda Gates Entrepreneur India Magazine for innovation in harnessing Foundation Strategic Funds, Chiratae Ventures a total of technology for the greater good of the businesses. $33M so far. Won the 2019 Indian Farm and Agriculture Technology Recently, we have received Series C funding despite such Customer Value Leadership Award presented by Frost & difficult times. This has been possible only through Sullivan. consistent performances in terms of business and innovation growth. DFID UK Tech Rocketship Awardee: June 2018 - Awardee and Delegate at the International Business Festival London. 1. CropIn started from an office in Bengaluru to a full- fledged AI-based AgTech which has a presence now in The Innovation India forum awardee, supported by FICCI Netherlands, Mumbai, and Delhi. Through the team's and Millennium Alliance continuous efforts, CropIn today caters customizable AI- and Data-led Agtech solutions to clients in 56 countries and Nominate as a non-official member of the National Startup has been able to identify more than 9,500+ crop varieties Advisory Council, to build a strong ecosystem for start-ups and work with 388 different types of crops. CropIn has in the country become the partner of choice for 100+ enterprise clients globally. The company is now a 200+ strong family and has Speaker at the ‘Horasis India Meeting’ in Malaga, Spain, seen significant growth in the last 3 years. organized by the Government of Spain and the Confederation of Indian industry. 2. CropIn has been to establish elite partnerships with Governments around the world in working on agricultural Speaker at Planet A International Agricultural Forum development projects like the CCE Optimization Initiative carried out by the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna • Is there any special experience with your clients you (PMFBY), the center’s flagship crop insurance program to would like to highlight? name one. CropIn partnered with UNDP, World Bank, IFC on developmental projects that focus on sustainable Back in 2010, during the earliest days of CropIn, the clients agriculture and growth. were a little skeptical about moving towards the digitalization of agricultural practices. We were one of the 3. Through the implementation of Cropin’s innovations, first to bring in an innovation that was data-driven in We have been able to contribute towards women and rural agriculture, the one which is a fusion of data, agronomy, empowerment as well. The field facilitators for many traceability, and sustainability. But once they saw the projects where CropIn engineered the solutions have been wonders that the innovations started to bring in post- rural women and these projects have opened opportunities implementation, they were very helpful and they helped us for them to take up crucial responsibilities. Educating connect with their peers, generating new leads and farmers on scientific methods of farming is another ultimately a growing clientele for us. The clients not just contributing factor towards a better tomorrow for their brought in business but also helped in the evolution of the families. product through agronomic inputs and voluntary support for the product. One of the special mentions would be to that 4. CropIn has developed agri innovations that work on client who helped in starting our international journey and prescriptive analytics, remote sensing, and climate-sensitive funded my trip to the UK and Europe. The belief that our advisory. SmartFarm, SmartRisk are great examples of the clients have in our products has today translated to the same. By harnessing the power of AI, CropIn has credibility we have in the AgTech space. successfully been able to implement risk monitoring and mitigation, forecasting intelligence and traceability into farmlands and the results have been lucrative for agribusinesses, and Banking and Financial Services. 46 MAY 2021

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