GOD'S OWN COUNTRY CHASES AMERICAN DREAM
Entrepreneurs across Kerala are building electronic devices and
software products with an eye on the US market -because that's where they see
clients and investors.
And approval from America means the rest of the world will follow very fast
And approval from America means the rest of the world will follow very fast
When Sunil Vallath needs driving directions, he just needs to look
at a six-inch transparent device on his dash, displaying maps, messages, music,
fuel level, mileage and more. It's in his line of sight, but is transparent and
doesn't obstruct his view.
Vallath, 27, who founded Exploride last year in Kerala, is all set
to start marketing the device which can be activated by voice or gesture. The
device can talk back, and comes with a 2GB RAM, quad core processor, infrared
camera, Bluetooth and LTE.
Vallath, who works out of the Startup Village in Kochi, expects to
start selling on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter next month. As his first
target is the US, he's opened an office in Maryland and has appointed a
US-based public relations agency to conduct a campaign.
“The US is the best for customer validation and funds. If the
product is successful there, it is easy to market in other countries,“ says
Vallath, who has a degree in computer science, started working in 2009 as a
technical engineer in Wipro, and after three short stints in large companies,
founded Exploride.
Kerala is seeing a rise in electronic hardware-based startups
thanks to the proclivity of engineering students in the state to opt for the
elect ro n i c s a n d e l e c t r i c a l streams. Add to that the early
success of Rohildev N's Fin. Fin is a ring-like object worn on the thumb that
can be used to control smart phones, laptops or car stereos using finger
gestures. In March last year, it raised over $200,000 from 1,600 people
globally, through the US-based crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. Within months
of that campaign, Rohildev's RHL Vision attracted $2 million in funding from
Kalaari Capital, money that was used to establish an office in the US and hire
former Apple employees to make Fin compatible with Apple iOS.
“Rohildev's success motivated a number of other entrepreneurs
here. They all suddenly developed the confidence that they could sell a
hardware product successfully. Also, we had created an open ecosystem at
Startup Village, which resulted in cross-pollination of ideas. Students,
particularly , were able to go through many ideas before finally coming up with
a practical one,“ says Sanjay Vijayakumar, chairman of Startup Village.
He adds that typical startup accelerators, like the ones in
Bengaluru, have three to six-month programmes, which are insufficient for
developing a hardware product. On the other hand, the ventures that joined
Startup Vil lage in its initial days have been getting free space, internet and
electricity for the past three years.
“This helped them think long-term and develop hardware prod ucts,“
says Vijayakumar, who dropped out of college to co-found MobME in 2005 in
Thiruvananthapuram, a mobile value-added services venture that has won several
Nasscom innovation awards and which in many ways pioneered the startup culture
in Kerala.
A host of hardware startups are charting a path similar to Fin.
MindHelix's Rico allows you to insert an old smartphone into a plastic toy-like
device and use it as a cheap alternative to expensive home security systems. It
detects smoke, temperature and movements inside a room. MindHelix raised
$119,000 through a successful campaign on Kickstarter late last year.
Sectorqube's smart microwave oven Maid (Make All Incredible
Dishes) raised $124,000 on Kickstarter in December last year. Maid connects to
a recipe store on the web, reads out instructions and suggests the optimal
settings based on the number of servings.
Cochin University of Science and Technology graduate Nijil Y's
Mashinga has developed a touchtable for corporates that can be used for
marketing products or for creative brainstorming. Its clients: IFB, Federal
Bank, two Delhi hotels and a school in Chennai.
Then there's Rethin Sylvester's Iret Guitar Enhancements, a
student startup that makes affordable music gear like stompboxes and
amplifiers. “ All these were mostly imported earlier,“ says Sylvester.
Aronin P and his friends have developed industrial robotic
manipulators to physically touch and test the responsiveness of touchscreens.
Their Sastra Robotics has an enviable list of clients Bosch, HCL Infosystems
and IITs in Bhubaneswar and Kharagpur. Bosch uses it to test the front panels
of car infotainment systems, while HCL uses it to test printers.
“We had requirements coming from Malaysia, but as our team is
fully engaged with existing clients, we have postponed our expansion overseas
for six months,“ Aronin says.
Kallidil Kalidasan, founder & CEO of MindHelix, admits it's
not easy designing for Western markets. “You tend to be driven by Indian
aesthetics. So you need to hire designers who understand Western culture,
design methodology , and the thought process. It is not an engineering
challenge, but a design one,“ he says.
Most are clear that the US has to be the initial target market.
“When it comes to early adopters of consumer technology , US customers top the
list,“ says Rohildev. Sectorqube co-founder Sabarish Prakash agrees: “Only
those products which have been adopted in the West are being accepted by
Indians.“
Despite the difficulty and expense involved, Vijayakumar expects
many more hardware product startups to emerge in Kerala. “We have just
established a Fab Lab at Startup Village with the help of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.This will make hardware prototyping and circuit board
designing and printing a lot easier. We have also procured two 3D printers that
can produce complicated moving parts,“ he says. That could significantly reduce
costs for startups.
KICKSTART FOR STARTUPS
For the last three years, the Kerala government has been giving
startups a hand and is especially encouraging of student entrepreneurship. Its
Technology Startup Policy 2014 aims at incubating 10,000 technology product
startups by 2020 and becoming one of the top five startup ecosystems in the
world. “We did startup boot camps in engineering colleges and introduced
incubators at the Technology Innovation Zone in Kochi.Startup Village is one of
them,“ says P H Kurian, principal secretary-IT, Kerala government. It has
introduced a gap year for student entrepreneurs as well as grace marks and
flexi attendance. These initiatives had an impact on the student community. “We
received applications for 900 ideas from 7,000 students in three years. The 533
startups we incubated have created 2,890 new jobs,“ says Sanjay Vijayakumar,
chairman, Startup Village, promoted by the government and MobME Wireless
Solutions.
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Shenoy Karun
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TOI24JUL15
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