The partnership will help DeHaat to exclusively manage the distribution & sales of six unique formulations patented by GBI and Aussan Labs through its exclusive network of 12,000 DeHaat franchise Centers spanning 110,000 villages across 12 Indian states, offering last mile access to over 2 million Indian farmers.

DeHaat, with existing tie-ups with over 250 agri companies offering a wide range of 3000+ agri input SKUs has extended its outreach to global IPs for the first time.

The association is aimed at empowering farmers with the right products & information to combat the changing climatic conditions and establish sustainable agricultural practices. DeHaat aims to facilitate these cutting-edge products that are designed to improve soil health and fortify crops against the adverse effects of climate change.

DeHaat has so far partnered with 4 such global innovations, offering access to its large farmers & last mile network and is hoping to extend this success to bring many more global agri solutions to Indian soil.

Amrendra Singh, Co-founder, said, “We are thrilled to partner with GBI and Aussan Labs, two of the highly innovative biological & hence environment friendly solutions. This collaboration aims to empower our farmers to adapt to sustainable practices & adopt climate resilient farming. As a ‘Farmers First’ organization, our mission remains to revolutionize the Indian agricultural ecosystem and deliver environment friendly products to our farmers. We are committed towards creating a sustainable future, empowering farmers with latest advancements, improving resource efficiency, and truly making a difference in their lives”.

Roger Tripathi, CEO, GBI, added, “We are keenly looking forward to working with DeHaat and its enormous reach in taking the efficacious GBI products to Indian farmers to make Indian agriculture more sustainable. We will focus on soil health and plant health linkages. Dehaat and GBI share the same passion.”

Sandeep Jayaswal, CEO, Aussan India, said “Our passion is to remove toxic chemicals from the agriculture industry and the food chain in general, as well as to give back to the planet by repairing damaged farm soils by working with nature and not against her. We are super exited to distribute CropBioLife, our Flagship innovation, through DeHaat’s massive network in India. This will enable higher ROI for Indian farmers in an eco-friendly & sustainable manner.”

It is worth noting that Aussan Labs’ flagship product ‘CropBioLife’, which was developed in 2004 after 6 years of development & 100+ trials conducted across the globe of a variety of crops is today certified organic in geographies like US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, is available in 15 countries and has 6 patents issued or pending against its name. With the association, this innovative product will now be available in India exclusively through the DeHaat network.

DeHaat’s first-of-its-kind 360-degree agricultural value chain services to farmers enables the platform to understand farmer requirements in an efficient & transparent manner. As a result, DeHaat has evolved as network of 2mn transacting farmers for various agri offerings – right from agri input, soil test, crop advisory, financial services & output market linkage. Considering the volatile climatic situation at farmer level resulting in significant yield loss, DeHaat has successfully integrated climate resilient agri practices as part of its recommendation engine to farmers. The solutions from GBI & Aussan have been tested on more than ten crops across DeHaat’s operating geographies over the last 12 months to validate the impact matrix of 40-60% income enhancement through improved soil fertility & crop shelf life as well as enhancement in plant immunity.

The news comes in at a time when many global agri-input companies are positioning India as a target destination with a sizeable farming population, robust sector growth, improved technology adoption and increased interest in sustainable products among the Indian farming community.

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With this launch, the Hitachi Group has extended its association with Plug and Play in Asia Pacific. Plug and Play already has an existing association with Hitachi group in Japan and the United States.

This partnership’s primary objective is to bring innovative products and platforms into the Hitachi Payments ecosystem. It seeks to provide start-ups the capital, integration with the Hitachi Payments’ stack, access to extensive customer network and platform to launch and scale up. Additionally, it will endeavour to expand the impact of these solutions beyond India, accelerating the growth and innovation of the global fintech industry.

Hitachi Payments has been at the forefront of the digital payment revolution in India, bringing innovative solutions that have furthered merchant acceptance, as well as enabled accessibility of digital payments for the masses.

Anuj Khosla, Chief Executive Officer – Digital Business, Hitachi Payment Services, said, “Hitachi Payments is committed towards innovating and introducing new technologies to enhance the overall merchant and customer digital payments journey. The Digital Payments Innovation Hub will help in building future-ready offerings in the digital payments arena. The collaboration aims at investing in, co-creating, and deploying cutting-edge digital payment and fintech solutions that cater to the evolving needs of businesses and consumers.  It is an exciting time for the Indian fintech ecosystem, and we look forward to working closely with Plug and Play and start-ups to drive growth and innovation in the payments industry.”

Jupe Tan, Managing Partner of Plug and Play APAC, said, “We are delighted to be working with Hitachi Payments and to be able to deepen our relationship with the overall Hitachi group. Our goal is to provide Hitachi Payments with a line-of-sight into the most innovative start-ups that are shaping the financial services industry across India and Asia Pacific.”

Hitachi Payments is a pioneer in the payment industry in India, offering a comprehensive range of end-to-end payment solutions including ATM Services, Cash Recycling Machines, White Label ATMs, POS Solutions, Toll & Transit Solutions, Payment Gateway Solutions and innovative offerings such as SoftPOS, POS Value Added Services and Digital Merchant Onboarding. The company is committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences and driving financial inclusion across India.

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The partnership between WardWizard and iCreate is aligned with the vision of the government’s Start-up India program, which seeks to support entrepreneurs in building a robust start-up ecosystem and transforming India into a country of job creators.

Mr. Yatin Gupte, Chairman & Managing Director, WardWizard Innovations & Mobility Limited, said, “Through our partnership with iCreate, we are looking to foster the exchange of ideas with promising start-up’s and help them with our market knowledge and experience to understand the industry better. We will be working at the grass-roots level, providing the best solutions, guidance to build a strong ecosystem for them.”

As a part of the initiative, WardWizard will nominate subject matter experts and senior leaders to identify and evaluate breakthrough innovators through boot camps and jury rounds. Shortlisted start-up’s recommended jointly with iCreate will stand a chance to receive funding, technological support and establish industry partnerships as per their merit and Technology Readiness Levels (TRL).

Mr. Avinash Punekar, Chief Executive Officer, iCreate, said, “Our partnership with WardWizard aims to identify breakthrough innovators in the Indian EV space and scaling them to solve real world industry problems. With our combined expertise and the potential of home-grown innovations, we are committed to revolutionizing the future of mobility in India”

WardWizard is also participating in iCreate’s Evangelise’22, India’s largest EV innovation challenge that is underway, to monitor and provide support for the pilot deployment of promising technologies.

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Notably, the Gravton RapidEV e-2W has been specifically designed and introduced to transform the last-mile logistics and delivery segment in India by bringing to the fore superior technology and advanced features to the market, which in turn can deliver superior profitability for the delivery-fleet operators of our country. Powered by Log9 batteries and a high-power motor, the Gravton RapidEV gets fully charged (from 0 to 100 percent) in 15 minutes, and offers a load carrying capacity of up to 250 kgs and gradeability of up to 22 degrees. In addition, it also comes with a long life of 10+ years, best-in-class safety, and proven reliability throughout the complete life of the vehicle, as well as a class-leading 5 years and unlimited kms warranty on both on the vehicle and its battery.

With its robust built and high stability, this Gravton Quanta model – an all-terrain EV – holds the distinction of having travelled from Kanyakumari to Khardung La successfully. Giving further impetus to Log9’s Responsible Delivery Movement, the Gravton RapidEV InstaCharged by Log9 will eventually go a long way in making deliveries greener and in reducing the carbon footprint of the last-mile logistics sector in India. Against typical electric 2Ws that may take up to 2.5 hours to charge — which technically leads to the delivery partner (end-user) losing out on an average of 3 to 4 deliveries per hour – the Gravton rapidEV will ensure that the delivery partners can stay on-the-go for the maximum amount of time, thereby increasing their opportunity for revenues and profitability enhancement while also in parallel enabling them to contribute towards sustainability and fighting climate change. 

Speaking about the collaboration, Kartik Hajela, Co-Founder & COO, Log9 Materials says, “We are pleased to partner with Gravton Motors for the integration of Log9’s battery packs and InstaCharge technology into the RapidEV 2Ws manufactured by them. As a Responsible Energy pioneer, we are confident that our InstaCharge batteries’ integration with the Indigenously built Gravton RapidEV e-bikes will provide the much-needed Power, Performance, and Peace of Mind for the B2B last-mile delivery sector and shall further help the cause of reducing operational costs as well as lowering emissions footprint for the delivery and logistics sector. Furthermore, it also provides a great value addition opportunity in the commercial EV space due to the long life, superfast charging, and superlative performance of the Gravton RapidEV.” 

Parshuram Paka, Founder& CEO, Gravton Motors says, “‘Gravton RapidEV is an impeccable all terrain EV model which is an outcome of the all-round efforts of Gravton Motor’s technical team. We are pleased to partner with Log9 in a bid to introduce fast-charging capabilities into this e-bike, which in turn is bound to take its utility and efficiency to a whole new level and also help delivery partners riding the bike to make more money per shift while making sustainable deliveries seamlessly.”

Gravton Motors makes electric bikes that are unconventional in thought, design, and performance, thereby helping India take a ride towards a sustainable future and facilitating urban commute to switch from fuel-run vehicles to clean and sustainable electric vehicles. On the other hand, Log9 has leveraged its cell-to-pack competency to develop its InstaCharge batteries for EVs that provide 9x faster charging, 9x better performance, and 9x battery life. Log9’s InstaCharge technology brings down the total charging time which further optimizes the utilization of charging infrastructure and operational profitability for fleets. In addition, Log9’s RapidX batteries are built to operate across -30° to 60° C and come with an operational life of 15,000+ cycles, thereby providing a seamless experience and entirely revolutionizing the last-mile logistics sector.

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The partnership will help improve service delivery for millions of citizens as they enter the formal financial sector. It will facilitate quick and easy access to online PAN services in neighbourhood stores at affordable rates, thus eliminating the submission of physical applications and supporting documents. Once the online application form is submitted, a digital copy of the ePAN will be generated within couple of hours while a physical copy will be delivered to the customers at their chosen address in 4-5 working days.

Protean, which accepts and processes PAN applications on behalf of the Income Tax Department, Government of India, has played a pioneering role in laying down the basic e-governance infrastructure for the nation and providing citizen-centric services to the masses. Under the collaboration, PayNearby will work as the PAN Service Agency (PSA) of Protean.

PayNearby’s goal has been to simplify technology for consumption during the last-mile delivery and ensure the democratization of financial and digital services. With PayNearby serving nearly 75% of the Indian market, retailers can now accept PAN applications in paperless mode, while Protean will be able to further expand the coverage of PAN services across the country, especially to remote locations, through a PayNearby store.

Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, Managing Director and CEO, PayNearby, said, “We are happy and proud that Protean eGov Technologies Limited has chosen us as their partner for their PAN card services. We have been continuously working on innovation-led partnership models to offer easy access to financial and digital solutions for everyone, everywhere. With this association, we look to offer all the citizens of the country the availability of PAN card services at a neighborhood store. This will enhance its uptake and make this unique identification popular amongst all at the last mile. With this partnership, we continue to expand the bouquet of services available at our retail stores while providing Protean with the reach it needs to the inaccessible hinterlands of the country. Our partnership with Protean solidifies our determination to bring each and every citizen in the country into the formal financial fold so that the gap between India and Bharat is bridged forever.”

Suresh Sethi, Managing Director and CEO, Protean eGov Technologies, said, “We are delighted to partner with PayNearby as part of our strategy to contribute to a financial ecosystem that offers socio-economic benefits across all strata of the society. Our partnership will help to advance our shared vision of an inclusive and empowered India. This initiative is aligned with our mission to leave no citizen behind and bring the digitally excluded into the fold of formal financial economy.”

Over the course of the last 25 years, Protean has played a pioneering role in laying out the e-governance infrastructure for the nation. It has provided citizen centric services at population scale. Access and inclusion lie at the heart of any e-governance initiative and towards that the company has adopted and established a “Phygital” (Physical+Digital) model to ensure a truly inclusive service delivery paradigm. This partnership is designed to make the entire process seamless, hassle-free and accessible across 17,600+ PIN codes in the country through PayNearby’s DaaS (Distribution as a Service) network of 50+ lakh micro-entrepreneurs.

The partnership will bring the underbanked and unbanked segments of the population within the tax fold through trusted local touchpoints, add to the country’s tax kitty and provide micro-entrepreneurs with an additional source of revenue.

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Legalwiz.in, a leading LegalTech firm, today announced their partnership with VentureStudio, a startup incubator established by Ahmedabad University in active collaboration with Stanford University. The Partnership will enable VentureStudio’s incubates to avail Legalwiz.in’s business professional services at preferential pricing. Also, VentureStudio’s incubates can avail all the services on the Legalwiz.in Partner Services Platform – a one-stop source aimed at providing an array of vital business requirements like eCommerce, CRM, web development, customer care, financial services, payment gateways, etc…at pre-negotiated rates.  

VentureStudio is a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) approved by the National Science Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), and an Engineering Prototyping and Fabrication workshop DST Nidhi Prayas Shala (funded by DST Nidhi Prayas). While Legalwiz.in, started in April 2016 to cater to StartUps & SMEs, legal, financial, corporate & taxation compliances. Enabled with a robust technology backbone, every step of the process is online to ensure efficiency, transparency and maximum value. LegalWiz.in recently launched the Partner Platform initiative aimed at bringing together different companies on a single platform is aimed at helping clients avail best-in-class expertise for a variety of requirements – all at very competitive pricing.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shrijay Sheth, Founder – Legalwiz.in, said, “We are proud to partner with VentureStudio to further accelerate entrepreneurship and startups; especially in the healthcare, medical devices and diagnostics, defence, education, energy, environment, agro, consumer products, logistics, smart technologies etc…segments. I strongly believe that academia-industry collaborations will usher in the next phase of growth and drive entrepreneurship, creating market-facing, customer-ready products and services. Thus we have instituted partnership programs with Atal Incubation Centers (AICs) and entrepreneurship-cells of Universities, wherein nascent ventures can access best-in-class services in the ecosystem and focus on scaling their business. Partnering with industry leaders, we are striving to drive a culture of learning, collaboration and synergistic growth in the ecosystem, making it more resilient. We invite AICs & e-Cells to collaborate with us like VentureStudio and usher in the next wave of entrepreneurship.” 

Reinforcing these views, Ms Tanvi Rangwala, CEO – VentureStudio, stated, “Partnering with institutions is a pioneering step and we are very happy to sign the MoU with LegalWiz.in. They are one of the leading firms in providing regulatory & compliance support to businesses at every stage of their growth cycle. This support becomes even more critical for the startups who have recently started their entrepreneurial journey. We are sure our incubatee startups will benefit hugely a lot from this partnership.”  

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Distinct Horizon an agritech company benefiting the farmers with a widely tested Urea Deep Placement technique to reduce chemical usage for productive farming. It develops advanced technologies to boost farmer’s marginal profit and increase their food production while protecting the environment. It aims at technological equipment of farmers by providing innovative machines. With a joint approach, Distinct Horizon and Ayekart will also support in farmer training as well as exploring new markets.

Simplifying the primary objective of this MOU, Mr. Debarshi Dutta, Co-founder & CEO, Ayekart said, “We at Ayekart believe in technological advancement of agricultural produce through digitizing farmer’s productivity with various advance machines and introducing partnership opportunities with distributors, wholesalers, stakeholders, etc. It is one of our key mottos to digitize the food and agri value chain of India. To benefit farmer communities, we are also trying to procure funding through CSR, NGO’s and government bodies to help boost their productivity and enhance their business.”

Government bodies like NABARD has created the Farm Sector Promotion Fund to incubate innovations and diffusion of technologies in the realm of agriculture and allied sectors to benefit vulnerable sectors of farmers. These funding from government, CSR, NGO’s will help benefiting the farmer. Various partnership opportunities and advancement in technology helps boosting productivity and income of the famer communities of India.

Adding to Mr. Dutta’s statement, Santosh Kumar, Co-Founder & Head Operations, Distinct Horizon, said, “Our technologies can revolutionize the agriculture sector both in terms of productivity and income increase while at the same time significantly reduce chemical input and costs of production towards massive climate change mitigation and a healthier soil. It is our pleasure to work alongside an entity like Ayekart which is committed to scale up such technologies.”

Advancement in machinery have expanded the scale, speed, and productivity of farm equipment, leading to more efficient cultivation of more land. These advanced devices and precision agriculture allow farmer’s businesses to be more profitable, efficient, safer, and more environmentally friendly. Ayekart will create an end-to-end solution by digitizing, handholding and providing funding to these farmer communities.

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Besides its entertainment audio series, Pocket FM has been aggressively building an audio content universe that includes audiobooks and podcasts. Commenting on the partnership, Ashu Behl, SVP-Content, Pocket FM said, “Our multi-year partnership with Manjul Publishing House will be instrumental in building strategic alliances with the publishing ecosystem and promises our listeners community with the widest library of audio content available digitally. We have always focused on enhancing our storytelling capabilities and offering our listeners a delightful audio experience. With over 100,000 hours of content, we are building a strong pipeline of audio audiobooks and are expected to lead the audio landscape with the best streaming experience.”

The collaboration with Manjul Publishing would provide Pocket FM with the exclusive audio rights to a large section of its bestsellers that include titles like,

• The Business of the 21st Century, Retire Young Retire Rich, Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing & Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki;
• Be a Network Marketing Millionaire and Be a Social Media Millionaire by Deepak Bajaj;
• Do Epic Shit by Ankur Warikoo;
• Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty;
• Warren Buffett Management Secrets by Mary Buffett & David Clark;
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and many more.

“As we witness the skyrocketing trend in the consumption of digital content, we believe our association with Pocket FM is an important step towards validating and strengthening an alternate option for content consumption – the digital audio – in the publishing industry. Both parties reciprocate their common intent of helping build a robust foundation for enabling a thriving ecosystem for digital audio content in the publishing fraternity,” said Vikas Rakheja, MD – Manjul Publishing House.

Pocket FM has consistently expanded its content diversity and added new series and audiobooks to keep its listeners tuned in.  Pocket FM is leading the audio streaming space with over 15 million monthly active listeners (MAL) and witnessing over 3 billion minutes of audio streaming every month. The daily average listener time spent on the app has already surpassed 100 minutes.

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The partnership brings together Dangal Games’ high-on-feasibility gaming portfolio and Gridlogic’s best-in-class technology solutions, which include its most advanced game hosting platform. With player liquidity under control, Dangal Games users will now be able to play online rummy in a seamless fashion.

India currently has 425 million gamers who play across three broad gaming channels, participating in various game segments and genres. According to ‘India Gaming Report 2021 by Lumikai and Redseer, the Indian gaming market is poised to reach $7 billion by the financial year 2026 (FY26) from the current market size of $2.2 billion. Currently, real-money games are the largest source of revenue for the market. It is projected that in-app purchases will grow faster for the next five years at 30-40%, with the rise of paying users in casual and hyper-casual gaming.

Keeping the massive potential of online gaming in mind, this collaboration is a step in the direction to expand Dangal Games’ roster of real money games and amplifying its presence in the fast-growing, online rummy gaming segment.

Commenting on the partnership, Varun Mahna, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dangal Games said, “The Indian online gaming industry is growing at a rapid pace. As online gaming becomes a key tenet of leisure and entertainment, users are looking for distinctive experiences. In our endeavour to provide a platform that not only entertains but is advanced enough for the in-person sports lovers to engage with, we are delighted to announce our partnership with Gridlogic.”

Adding further he said, “As part of the partnership, Dangal Games aims to propel its presence in the gaming world by making the launch of online rummy on our multi-gaming app a success. Gridlogic’s years of experience in developing state-of-the-art game hosting platforms will certainly play a crucial role in building a strong rummy brand under our banner .”

PariekshitMaadishetti, Managing Director of Gridlogic said, “The online rummy space is one of the most popular ones when it comes to real money, skill-based games in India. Although fast-growing, it is an extremely difficult space with diverse customer profiles and varying enabling infrastructure across the country. To cater to this set of customers, Gridlogic utilises Artificial Intelligence, Extended Auto Play and Smart Correction to eliminate customer pain points and offer a seamless gaming experience to customers online.”

He added, “We are proud to join hands with Dangal Games by sharing a hosting platform for rummy. We expect our technology solutions to establish a relationship of mutual benefit and are confident in facilitating Dangal Games to become a platform of choice for online rummy users,”

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Simplilearn, the world’s #1 Online Bootcamp and a leader in the EdTech domain, announced a Post Graduate Program in Design Thinking and Innovation in collaboration with Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and EY Learning Solutions. The program will enable the learners to master design thinking as a strategic business transformation tool. Participants will also learn to create disruptive solutions that integrate customer desirability, business viability, and technological feasibility. The Isenberg School of Management will contribute the UMass Amherst Post Graduate Program certificate, alumni membership, monthly masterclass, and 3 credits towards the UMass Amherst Isenberg Online MBA. As the knowledge partner for the program, EY Learning Solutions will provide over 50% of the Live class delivery, including capstone and masterclasses.

The duration of the course will be four months. Key features include Live Interactive classes and the Capstone project delivered by EY Industry experts; Masterclasses by top faculty at Isenberg School of Management; 25+ practical templates of innovation to implement at work and solve business problems faster; interactive peer learning via Harvard Business Publishing case studies; LevelUp sessions from Sara Blakely and Tim Brown; and real-life projects.

Upon finishing the program, learners will receive a Joint UMass Amherst-Simplilearn Certificate of completion and alumni membership from UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management. The program has been designed for an array of senior professionals, including Product/Growth/Marketing Managers, Product Heads, Consultants, and Executive Officers (CXOs) who drive strategy or lead teams in an organization.

Speaking about the program, Mr. Anand Narayanan, Chief Product Officer, Simplilearn, said, “As problem-solving and providing exceptional customer experience becomes increasingly important, Design Thinking has come to be an essential factor for organizations. Its emphasis on creative and analytical thinking allows the organization of information and ideas into the basis for making decisions. It’s a mindset focused on solutions rather than problems. The Post Graduate Program in Design Thinking and Innovation is designed to equip learners with the right set of relevant skills. Thus, we are excited to work with our renowned partners Isenberg School of Management and EY to provide the same to professionals, educators, designers who wish to excel in their respective careers.”

Anne P. Massey, PhD, Dean and Thomas O’Brien Endowed Chair, Isenberg School of Management said, “As the market increasingly demands a problem-solving approach, we are pleased to partner with Simplilearn to launch the Design Thinking and Innovation course to equip professionals with a better understanding of the subject and industry-ready skills that will help them in their future endeavors.”

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