A decade after the term “unicorn” was made to mark private startups valued at $1 billion or more, the number of these companies hit more than 1,500 globally, with a collective value of more than a whopping $5 trillion. But joining the global unicorn club has become much harder than before despite huge investor interest in some markets.

According to Crunchbase data, only 95 companies joined the global unicorn list last year, one-third of the figure seen in 2022 and six times less than the number of new unicorns in 2021, still the record year by the number of new $1 billion worth startups.

Of the 95 companies that hit a valuation of $1 billion or more, one-fifth, or 20, were from the AI sector, mainly from the generative AI market. These companies have collectively added more than $35 billion in value to the global unicorn club. Statistics show fintech was the sector with the second-highest number of new unicorns, with 14 in 2023. Cleantech, energy, and semiconductors followed with 12 and 9 new unicorns, respectively. Analyzed by geography, almost half of all new unicorns were from the United States. Another 24 were from China, while India and the United Kingdom had three.

With 20 new companies joining the global unicorn list in 2023 and three more in the first quarter of this year, the total number of startups in the AI sector valued at $1 billion or more hit 214.

The generative AI company, OpenAI, is the most valuable among them, with a valuation of $80 billion as of this month, $15 billion more than the Chinese ecommerce giant Stripe or the US payments provider, Stripe. Statistics show Databricks is the second most valuable AI unicorn globally, with a valuation of $43 billion. The San Francisco-based AI safety and research company, follows with a $16 billion valuation, respectively.

The full story and statistics can be found here:  https://altindex.com/news/ai-companies-unicorns

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Generative AI’s Skyrocketing Growth:

Data from AltIndex.com reveals that the generative AI market is projected to become a formidable $100 billion industry by 2026. This forecast underscores the immense growth potential of generative AI, marking a significant evolution from its modest beginnings.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT: A Turning Point:

The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT marked a watershed moment for the global AI industry. ChatGPT, the fastest-growing app in history, garnered 100 million users within two months, propelling artificial intelligence into the forefront of technology narratives in 2023. While ChatGPT stands out as a prime example of generative AI, other tools like Character.ai, DeepL, Quillbot, Midjourney, and Capcut have also gained widespread popularity, contributing to the market’s exponential growth.

Market Size Surge:

Between 2020 and 2023, the market size of generative AI experienced an extraordinary surge of 690%, soaring from $5.7 billion to an impressive $44.9 billion. This indicates a consistent doubling in market size over the past three years, with annual growth rates fluctuating between 93% and 106%.

Projected Growth and Market Dominance:

Although Statista predicts a slowdown in the annual growth rate in 2024, the overall market value is anticipated to soar by 48.4%, reaching $66.6 billion. The robust double-digit growth is expected to persist, culminating in a staggering $100 billion market valuation by 2026, reflecting a remarkable 65% increase in just two years. By 2030, this figure is anticipated to surpass $207 billion.

Global Landscape:

In global comparison, the United States is projected to retain its status as the largest generative AI market, expected to reach $37.3 billion in value by 2026, representing a 60% increase from the current year. China, the second-largest market globally, is set to experience a substantial growth of 72%, reaching a valuation of $14.7 billion in the next two years. The German generative AI market follows closely with a projected 60% two-year increase, reaching a valuation of $4.5 billion by 2026.

Generative AI’s Share in the AI Industry:

The escalating demand for generative AI tools positions it as a significant revenue stream within the AI industry. Statista anticipates that generative AI will constitute 24% of the total market value by 2026, up from 20% in the current year.

User Growth and Market Expansion:

Generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, Character.ai, DeepL, Quillbot, Midjourney, and Capcut, have played a pivotal role in the exponential growth of AI users. In 2023, approximately 254 million people utilized AI tools, marking a 2.5-fold increase from 2020. With an annual increase of roughly 60 million users, the entire market is projected to surpass half a billion users by 2027.

The full story and statistics can be found here:  https://altindex.com/news/generative-ai-billion-industry

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Type Certificate for drones is an official document issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) certifying that a specific type of drone meets all the technical parameters and safety standards for operation in India.

Gurugram-headquartered IoTechWorld Avigation is one of the major players in the krishi-drone market in the country.

Commenting on receiving of Type certification for AGRIBOT A6, Company’s Co-Founder and Director Mr. Deepak Bhardwaj said, the newly launched ‘AGRIBOT A6 drone’ is 30% more compact compared to the previous model of ‘AGRIBOT’ and much more stable and reliable.

“Despite advanced design of AGRIBOT A6, we have not increased its price. We want to increase adoption of drones in India & provide complete handholding to users. AIF is available for AGRIBOT A6 in which 90% collateral free loan is available at 3% subvention on the interest rate,” he said.

AGRIBOT A6 is available in 3 variants – Bike, Backpack and 4-wheeler models across the country and desirous customers may buy it either from its wide network of dealers or from the company directly.

“We are the pioneers of Krishi-drone in the country and were privileged to receive the country’s first type certification from none other than Union Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia last year. The latest type of certification received for our product AGRIBOT A6 is a testimony of our continuous endeavour to develop high-quality and innovative products,” said Mr. Anoop Upadhyay, another Co-Founder and Director of the company.

He further said that from a farmer’s perspective, a AGRIBOT A6 drone is very easy to transport and operate because of its compact design.

“AGRIBOT-A6 has global quality standards, and with the liberalized export policy recently announced by DGFT, AGRIBOT-A6 has larger access to the global markets. We are quite confident that this new model will get a good response,” he said.

IoTech is credited with pioneering ‘Bike model’ which could be easily transported on a motorcycle to fields.

IoTechWorld has established partnership with agrochemical company Syngenta and has undertaken more than 25,000 kms of drone yatra in various parts of the country.

IoTechWorld aims to sell more than 3,000 drones in the current financial year. It is also exploring opportunities for export in regions like SAARC, South East Asia, Latin America, Africa etc.

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SBI will offer collateral-free loans to customers of IoTechWorld Avigation at competitive rates and also provide an interest subvention of 3 per cent on the loans as mandated under the Agriculture Infra Fund (AIF), said Mr. Deepak Bhardwaj Co-Founder of the Gurugram-based drone manufacturing company.

 An agreement was signed on February 1, 2023 between IoTechWorld Avigation Pvt. Ltd. (Mr. Deepak Bhardwaj, Director & Co-Founder) and State Bank of India (Mr. Yogendra Shelkey, DGM IC & GL, ABU & GSS Dept.).

Mr. Bhardwaj said, “Agri-drones are going to be a game changer for the Indian agriculture sector. The loan facility being extended by the SBI will be very helpful for farmers who were not able to purchase drones because of a lack of institutional financing facilities”.

 IoTechWorld Avigation’s Agribot Drone got the India’s first DGCA “Type Certification”. The certification was given to IoTechWorld Avigation in June 2022 by the Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Commenting upon the tie-up Co-Founder Mr. Anoop Upadhyay said: “Drones help in optimal use of farm inputs like fertilizers and pesticides, and thus reduce the cost of farming. The use of agri-drones not only helps in increasing farm output but also saves a lot of time. Agri drones are going to be a real game-changer for Indian agriculture. 

Mr. Upadhyay further said that the Agriculture Infra Fund (AIF) is a financing facility for creating post-harvest management infrastructure and community farm assets.

 Under the AIF scheme which was launched in the year 2020, Rs 1 lakh crore is to be disbursed by the financial year 2025-26 and the interest subvention and credit guarantee assistance will be given till the year 2032-33. 

So far, about Rs 15,000 crore has been sanctioned under AIF.

Farmers, Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups, FPOs, PACS, Marketing Cooperative Societies, SHGs, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Projects can avail upto Rs. 2 crore loans for creation of post-harvest management and technological advancement in the agriculture sector. These includes financing for Drones, AI, Robotics and supply chain services like e-marketing platforms, warehouses, Silos, Pack houses, Assaying units, Sorting & grading units, Cold chains, Logistics facilities, Primary processing centres, and Ripening Chambers  among others.

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The MoU was signed by PN Rasal, Dean(F/A) & Director of Instructions, MPKV university, and Anoop Kumar Upadhyay, Co-Founder & Director of IoTechWorld Avigation.

According to Upadhyay, IoTechWorld and the university will also work on joint educational and R&D projects to build a modern and sustainable smart agricultural system. The agritech firm will be the technical partner in setting up Remote Pilot Training Organization (RPTO) for agricultural drones with MPKV. It will help reduce the drone pilot shortage in the country.

Both will also develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for crop spraying using drones.

“The tie-up with an institution like MPKV will help us promote research activities promoting drones in agriculture. Together we will work to promote drone technology for the betterment of Indian agriculture,” IoTech World directors Upadhyay and Deepak Bhardwaj said in a joint statement.

Bhardwaj further said that using drones in agriculture is helpful for farmers as these aerial robots help them save money and time.

Another objective of the MoU is to develop a smart agricultural system. IoTechWorld and the university will work on joint educational and R&D projects for the betterment of the agriculture sector. This will increase efficiency, reduce operational field delays, optimise the use of fertilisers and pesticides, and thus help increase farmers’ income.

One of the major advantages is that a farmer can save a lot by using drones to apply fertilisers and spray pesticides.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has issued guidelines to make drone technology affordable to stakeholders. The government has also created SOPs for pesticide applications for crop protection in agricultural, forestry, and non-cropped areas and for spraying for soil and crop nutrients.

As per the government estimate, India will require at least one lakh drone pilots by next year.

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“Manufacturers regularly deal with lots of repetitive, labour-intensive tasks that are great candidates for automation,” said Rishabh Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of Peer Robotics. “Small and medium-size companies are struggling with the labour shortage today, not to mention high turn-over. Also, many operations are still manual, with employees at a high risk of injuries and fatigue. Solutions to date have been too expensive and complex.”

Peer Robotics is designed to work with humans, mirroring workflows in manufacturing operations on repetitive tasks, saving time, increasing efficiencies, and reducing injuries. The company’s robots learn from humans in real-time, allowing people on the shop floor to easily integrate and deploy solutions alongside them with a flexible design, out-of-box deployment and low maintenance.

While any operation with repetitive tasks is a candidate, common industries include Automotive, aerospace, fabrication and machining, home appliance and tooling. Typical tasks include warehouse to shop floor; kitting for assembly; and assembly line delivery – all repetitive, labour-intensive tasks that can be handled by a robot leaving more cognitive tasks to employees.

Peer Robotics is part of STANLEY+Techstars Accelerator programme portfolio. The robot technology has been in research and development for the past year at several manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and India.

“Cyber-physical systems are ushering in a new era where collaborative robots with contextual intelligence, low implementation time, and negligible integration cost will lead to industrialisation in every sector,” said Ravinder Pal Singh, Partner, Kalaari Capital. “Peer Robotics’s navigation module and heuristic feedback-based learning offers manufacturers the next generation of smart, content driven and affordable robotic platforms.”

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Mogi’s white label OTT / video app solution is creating disruption in the content industry by offering a totally managed, plug & play, OTT platform via no code integration. Its path breaking pricing model which has no upfront or fixed cost and only monthly subscription based pricing is demolishing entry barriers in the video industry & enabling content owners to launch their branded OTT platform within days and also start monetising their content.

Mogi’s white label solution empowers content owners to launch their own branded platform on Mobile, web & TV. Besides, it provides a comprehensive backend Content Management Portal, along with a robust & highly scalable video streaming & hosting infrastructure. For monetisation, all known forms of revenue generation for OTT i.e. SVOD (subscription based), TVOD (pay per view) & AVOD (Ad based) are available for Mogi’s clients.

The partnership with Lemma strengthens the AVOD capability of Mogi’s end to end OTT solution.

Vikrant Khanna, Co-Founder and CEO, of Mogi IO said, “Studies has shown that in Asia-Pacific region 75 percent of OTT revenue is advertisement driven, i.e. viewers do not want to pay to watch. In such a situation subscription based monetisation of the OTT platforms, especially the newly floated ones are quite difficult to come by.”

“When it comes to the advertising based monetisation, today the world depends on algorithm based programmatic buying engine. It is important to have the right partnerships which ensure maximation of ad inventory utilisation at the best rates for Mogi’s clients in a seamless way. Lemma’s platform is best suited for the same,” he said.

Lemma’s robust CTV supply side platform provides technology optimized for all ad formats. As the preferred SSP partner, Lemma will help Mogi OTT apps to generate revenue through Lemma’s programmatic demand. Publishers with CTV inventory across the globe use Lemma to monetize their screens, making them discoverable and scale revenue. Lemma, a leading SSP for CTV provides buyers a high-quality ad inventory & supply billions of advertising impressions globally.

Mayuresh Phadke Co-founder, Lemma said, “Monetization of digital inventory across devices has been Lemma’s forte, made possible through our proprietary AdTech platform. This association with Mogi will help expand our CTV supply strength while simultaneously providing monetizing opportunities to apps integrated with Mogi through our pool of programmatic demand and technology stack.”

The Vision of Mogi Solutions is to aggregate their OTT content developers in such a way that millions of content creators will be able to launch and upload their own platforms uninterruptedly, with a monetization security within seven days of launch.

As Vikrant said, “there are 15 million content creators on well-known platforms like You Tube. Even if 5 percent of it gets converted to Mogi, that will create the disruption we are looking for. Apart from in-built video delivery infrastructure and buffer free video delivery to the end-users, we have robust DRM for piracy prevention, world class video analytics, granular control over content library, smart search and tagging for context investing and flexible bandwidth based competitive pricing.”

Mogi I/O enables content platforms to stream buffer-free videos, of high quality, at 50% of their size leveraging its patented AI technology. The buffer-free video results in superior viewer engagement while reducing streaming costs to half for the video platform.

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According to the Maritime Executive, on average, “Four out of every ten containers (39 per cent) missed their scheduled sailing. At the same time, some significant carriers and ports reported rollover rates of over 50 per cent.” Whereas according to Sea-Intelligence’s Global Liner Performance (GLP) report, “Global shipping line schedule reliability has dropped to 34.9% in January 2021, the lowest in history.“

Today, shippers deal with multiple uncertainties like space constraints, equipment shortage, congestion at origin/destination ports, higher freight rates, and shipment delays. Furthermore, limited visibility into the movement of goods has also made tracking the shipment cumbersome and time-consuming. This has necessitated managers and cargo owners to consolidate data from multiple sources through process-intensive tasks such as phone calls, browsing websites and e-mail communications. Without real-time insights on cargo movement, handling these challenges is extremely difficult and negatively impacts the entire business.

Armed with a host of advanced tech features, the tracking service aims to resolve the challenges logistics managers face in the wake of the current global crisis in the EXIM industry. The tracking system records multiple data points over the complete shipment journey. The platform will employ ML (Machine Learning) algorithms capable of predicting shipment delays based on satellite tracking, port congestion, and other signals. It will thus offer access to predictive analytics to combat risks related to shipment schedules based on historical distribution.

Besides offering real-time tracking and ETA through a single dashboard, the tracker will also provide additional services such as carrier performance evaluation, predictive analytics to combat risks, and carrier schedule plan to optimize the supply chain. The service will be available to not only the cargo owners booking shipments through Freightwalla, but also the exporters/importers who wish to avail an intelligent tracking tool to plan and execute shipments effectively, regardless of the service provider they choose to work with.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Sanjay Bhatia, Co-founder & CEO, Freightwalla, said, “The pandemic has completely changed the dynamics of world trade whereby the need for real-time tracking and intelligent post-shipment solutions have become even more crucial. Tracking as a Service is a new-age disruptive technology that will enable smart tracking and offer advanced predictive analytics, thus empowering exporters to undertake intelligent and informed decisions. It is now more critical than ever to be able to pre-empt logistics challenges so that the buyer-supplier relationship is not hindered by the uncertainties of today’s shipping industry. Enhanced visibility and real-time intelligence will help drive transparency and sustainability across supply chains, thereby paving the way for healthy business ties.”

Freightwalla has partnered with 60+ shipping lines to enable exporters and importers to track containers across multiple carriers seamlessly from a single platform. The service will offer a unified and real-time view of all shipments, including transshipment carrier tracking for advanced supply chain planning and eliminate manual tracking. Besides, the platform will capture several data points such as shipment departure, arrival time, and ports visited.

The digital freight forwarder aims to bring transparency and visibility in the shipping and logistics sector, modernize the operations across the supply chain and contribute to the government’s Ease of Doing Business in India.

https://www.freightwalla.com/cargo-tracker

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With more than 6 years of research behind the technology, VSpeech.ai offers multi-lingual speech recognition and AI voices which include major Indian languages like Indian English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and more. Company’s multi-lingual service is designed with the idea of providing an easy communication platform, where AI-based machine learning understands the inputs precisely making it much easier to converse. With over 2000+ hours of data trained models, VSpeech.ai assures to design fully customized models as per the specific industries like insurance, banks, robots, hospitals, and so on boosting the productivity and profitability in one go.

The company’s goal is to implant local languages which shall be easily accessible for a huge market, an advanced technology that offers voice based interactions through Artificial Intelligence. Company holds a significant B2B client portfolio in Interactive Voice Response (IVR) call centres and BFSI industry.

Commenting on the services, Mr. Mausam Patel, Director of VSpeech.ai says, “VSpeech.ai, a new platform with revised services managed by the core company India TTS Private Limited, is an AI Company focussed on empowering businesses through AI powered end to end voice automation. With our services of text to speech and speech to text, and voice recognition, we are glad to extend a helping hand to the business with intelligent speech solutions for world’s industries. We guarantee high accuracy with our custom-built speech models. In the world where Artificial Intelligence is being used in almost all industries, we plan to provide our bit into the same and look forward in offering such unique facilities and services to every sector in India.”

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Robotify has a range of products to offer in the Indian market. In 2020, Robotify partnered with an exciting Indian educational robotics company called Avishkaar to develop a virtual Indian Robotics Championship.  More recently, Robotify has partnered with a fast growing education company; eVidyalaya Eductech Systems, to bring Robotify to schools across India.

Adam Dalton, CEO of Robotify on exploring the Indian market says, “Robotify is really excited to expand its user base into the education market in India. It’s our mission to make STEM and robotics more accessible and more affordable for every child around the world. When it comes to teaching students how to code, we aspire to be one of the leading choices for schools across India by 2023.”

The edtech company is also working with the European Space Agency (ESA) on a product called ‘Simbotify’. The contract with ESA will see Robotify provide robotic simulations for businesses in the agriculture, oil and natural resources, large infrastructure, and freight and remote testing sectors using real-time satellite imagery from the Sentinel 1 and 2 satellites that orbit Earth.

Enterprise Ireland helped Robotify understand the Indian education system and made relevant connections in the K-12 space for edtech. Enterprise Ireland also introduced the edtech company to possible partners who could help them make inroads into the Indian and South Asian market.

Abhinav Bhatia, Director of Enterprise Ireland, India and South Asia commented, “The Indian market has witnessed many edtech products being launched in the past few years, with a lot of VC money coming into the startups. More and more jobs will become automated in the coming decades, and our next generation would benefit if they pick up skills like coding and robotics. Robotify makes learning these skills fun and engaging for students. I anticipate the demand for such products will continue to rise in India and South Asia.”

Robotify products are aimed at students and educators in the K-12 space looking to learn about coding and robotics. The edtech company aims to engage children with 100+ hours of guided coding curriculum content and they make it easy for the educator to deliver lessons with their purpose built teacher dashboard.

Highlighting on Enterprise Ireland’s backing to Robotify, Abhinav adds, “Enterprise Ireland is an investor in Robotify, and with our strong connections in India, we have helped Robotify navigate the process of entering the market. Apart from that, we are constantly promoting the edtech startup to gain more visibility and be noticed by the right partners to help accelerate the company to grow its reach.”

Robotify’s educational content enables children to learn to code robots and prepares them for the automation-driven workplace of the future. The Robotify courses are developed to US Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) standards and has been selected by US leading single sign-on education platform Clever as a ‘Clever for Startups’ preferred technology partner for its 78,000 US schools.

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