Madhya Pradesh has been known as the ‘Heart of India’ due to its central location in the country’s geography. Over the last few years, it has transformed itself from being known for its traditional businesses and sarees to being a hub of several tech and non-tech booming startups in the country, all credits to diligent efforts by the State Government in terms of ‘Startup Policy' in 2016, various government funds to encourage Startups, and the work of Startup Entrepreneurs. ‘Indore’, known as the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, has emerged to be a Startup hub in the state as well. According to August 2019 data by market research company ‘Tracxn’, there were 548 tech startups in Indore.

This list is just an example of the quality of startups in Indore. The focus on Tier 2 cities has helped bring out many talents and help them explore their best potential. The number of startups in Indore, and in Madhya Pradesh is only going to increase in the coming times with the widening of the focus on Tier-2 Cities of the country.

Here are the Top 10 Flourishing Startups based out of Indore:

Gramophone:




Founded in 2016 by Mr.Tauseef Khan, Mr.Nishant Vats Mahatre, Mr.Harshit Gupta, and Mr.Ashish Rajan Singh, Gramophone is an Agri-tech startup focused on providing farmers with the right technology and timely information to help them with better yields. Through its intelligent farming platform, it has enabled more than 5,50,000 farmers in increasing the income by providing them with the advisory & know-how on smart crop selection according to the soil condition and weather, and other important information related to crops.

Apart from the know-how shared through the app & call center, Gramophone provides the last-mile delivery of important agricultural products such as seeds, crops protection, nutrition, and other products at a price lower than the market price, thus reducing the cost of cultivation. In total, Gramophone has raised $4.5mn, including the $3.5 million Series A funding in Aug 2019. The round was led by Info Edge, Raveen Sastry (Co-founder of Myntra.com), Asha Impact, and Better Capital.

SecurityBulls:




The digital transition of businesses comes with the risk of data hacks. Founded in 2016 by Mr.Geet Vaishnav, and Mr.Prateek Sharma, SecurityBulls is a security startup that tests your digital infrastructure from the hacker’s point of view for the safety of your digital assets and data. Post the analysis, they share the blueprint of the remedial actions to be taken as a part of a comprehensive information protection strategy. It is regarded as one of the very few startups providing such a service in the whole of Central India. Mr.Geet Vaishnav is an Offensive Security Certified Professional and has worked as a freelancer prior to starting SecurityBulls that gave him exposure to the data risks.

Investocafe:




Founded by Mr. Anvesh Pandey, Mr.Rahul Gehlot, and Ms.Neha Joshi in 2015, InvestoCafe is a FinTech Startup. They are into Personal Finance Advisory and Wealth Management by creating an online platform to inspire people to invest in Mutual Funds and plan towards their life goals. Through their Robo-advisory, they are focused on reaching Middle/Lower Middle-income strata of the society and cater to their End-to-End financial needs electronically.

ShopKirana:




ShopKirana was founded in 2015 by Tanutejas Saraswat, Deepak Dhanotiya, and Sumit Ghorawat to connect the retailers directly with the suppliers eliminating the middlemen and traders from the supply chain, thus increasing the profits of small retailers. According to their website, they have more than 100,000 retailers from 30 cities of the country on their platform. Additionally, they have a consumer reach of 50 million+ and has generated sales of 2 billion. They envision to connect the farmers with the retailers. In August 2019, ShopKirana has raised its Series B Funding of $10 million. The investment round was led by Info Edge and Incubate Fund and was participated by AET Fund, NPTK Emerging Asia and Better Capital also participated in the round.

Feedify:




According to the data by E-goi, Push notifications have a 50% higher open rate than emails and 7% higher CTR. Hence, Mr. Ankur Phadnis founded Feedify in 2016 to provide the ‘Push Notifications’ service to brands to connect with their customers. Their comprehensive list of services now includes:

• Push Notifications Services
• Safari Push Notifications
• Online Survey Maker Services
• After Sales Feedback
• Mobile Push Notifications (SMS Notifications)

Since its inception, Feedify has certainly come a long way. Today, they boast of the following numbers:

- 8000+ customers

- 1 Billion Devices Reached

- 200 Billion Messages Sent

- 5 Million Events Executed

GenieTalk:




What happens when three tech enthusiasts get together for a startup? Answer: GenieTalk

Founded in July 2016 by three tech enthusiasts Mr.Santosh Kataria, Mr.Ankit Kimtee, and Mr.Vivek Jain, GenieTalk is revolutionizing the Conversation AI Industry with their products. It is a forerunner in designing the AI-powered experiences like AI-powered virtual assistants, personal assistants to industry specialist chatbots & voice bots, and thus helps brands to switch from the monotonous and rule-based chatbots to a more human one that is interactive and intuitive. Their solutions are useful across industries such as health, finance, insurance, e-commerce, education, automotive, contact centers, super App, etc. In September 2020, GenieTalk received its first round of angel investment of $750,000 from Shankeshwar Technologies LLP at a valuation of $10 million.

The founders of GenieTalk have even developed their in-house and IATA Certified Travel application called OGenie with an inbuilt voice-activated virtual travel assistant. The app is available on the Play Store and App Store.

MaalGaadi:




Founded by Mr.Anirudh Garg and Mr.Saurabh Raj in 2014, MaalGaadi is a logistics aggregator startup that connects customers with the cargo transportation operators and partner drivers. It offers a full suite of cargo transportation solutions in Indore.

MaalGaadi is a breakthrough in load picking and delivering throughout the boundaries of Indore with efficient and timely live tracking of your load. MaalGaadi proffers a wide variety of vehicles ranging from Loading Rickshaws, Tata Ace, Ashok Leyland Dost, Pickup, and Eicher.

Anaxee:




Founded in 2016 by Mr.Govind Agrawal, Mr.Nilesh Maheshwari, and Ms.Arti Agrawal, Anaxee is a startup that provides tech-enabled last-mile outreach and data collection. They focus on Tier 2, 3, and 4 towns & villages. It has operations in 26 states. It has built a network of 250000 digital runners that helps brands execute their marketing campaigns. Their data collection services include:

• Rural Survey
• App Marketing
• Data Collection
• Address Verification
• KYC/ Address Verification
• Digital Customer Onboarding

Tele Rickshaw:




Tele Rickshaw is an Auto Rickshaw Aggregator based out of Indore. It was founded in 2013 by IIM Alumnus, TEDx Speaker, and the CEO of Visionum Technologies- Mr. Karanvir Sigh. With a mission to organize the fragmented and unorganized Auto sector. It had started with 50 rickshaws today it has a fleet of thousands of autos. It makes rickshaws accessible through innovative tech platforms. They had received a seed round of $2mn in May 2015.

Oye24:




Founded in 2015 by Mr.Rahul Badhera, Mr.Ritesh Chhajed, Mr.Manish Kushwaha, and Mr.Mishal Jain, Oye24 is an aggregator, food producer, and online food delivery app based out of Indore. It is regarded as the ‘First Cloud Kitchen of Central India’. Through their service called Insta???, it supplies ‘Ready to Cook’ products. The next time you are locked inside your house due to restrictions, or you are someone who doesn’t have energy and time for cooking after office hours but wishes to eat authentic home-made style food, Oye24 is the go-to place.

Conclusion:

The above is the list of ten Startups from Indore, the others are no less. If you wished to take up the entrepreneurship journey, we hope this list inspires you and kindles the spark in you for the same. The journey of these startups may act as a roadmap for yours. If you know any other innovative tech startups from Indore and would like to recommend them, feel free to do so in the comments below.