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Star Wars: The Force Awakens; upon us it is. These 5 apps; download you shall, or Master Yoda’s wrath; you will face

Image Credit: Disney

In case you have been living under a rock deep in the sand dunes of planet Tatooine, you would have no doubt heard of a little science fiction/space opera film that released worldwide today called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The seventh part of the extraordinary Star Wars series will no doubt be a mind-blowing experience for many and is easily the most anticipated movie event of the year (or dare I say decade?).

But before you head into the theatres with the special edition Star Wars: Force Awakens popcorn and coke (can you tell how psyched I am?!), get off social media (or risk reading spoilers) and get on the Apple App store and Google Play to check out these 5 neat Star Wars apps that will augment the fan experience.

1. Star Wars

This is the official Star Wars companion app developed by Disney Interactive and Lucasfilm. Available on both the iOS and Android, this app allows you to keep to-the-date with all things Star Wars including films, games releases, video trailers, behind the scenes featurettes, emojis, gifs, related sound clips and its 36-year history. It even has a countdown clock for the next Star Wars film release.

In addition, the Star Wars app has an exhaustive list of interactive features including an augmented reality photo in which you can scan a photo of a Star Wars: Force Awakens poster, triggering a 3D image of a Star Wars character to appear on your camera.

The only drawback is that the steps required to sign up are unnecessarily complicated. I don’t see the point of furnishing details such as your house address. There should at least be an option for a Facebook login.

2. Amino for Star Wars fans

This app, available on both the iOS and Android, is a social network designed for Star Wars fans. In addition to its news feed featuring user-submitted Star Wars pictures, gifs, texts and videos, it also has a forum and a live messaging platform, allowing you to have more in-depth discussions about the franchise.

Also Read: 4 interior design apps you can use to spruce up your home

3. Star Wars Wikia

Overwhelmed by the ever expanding lore of complex Star Wars universe? This app available on both iOS and Android can help you out.

Besides having information on all its related films, books, comics and characters, you can also gain deeper insights on the various government systems, individual conflicts and locations within the universe. There is also a discussion board, giving you the liberty to spoil the movie for everyone else.

4. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes

Play a role in fighting for the light side or dark side in this Star Wars role playing game available on iOS. The game starts you out with a squad three characters: a clone trooper; a Wookie and a Jedi, pitting them against a platoon of droids. Each character has a specific special ability. For example, the Wookie’s special powers is its Wookie Rage (accompanied by the iconic “errgrrrrgg!!!!” growl). Surprisingly though, unlike the films, the clone trooper performed far better than the Wookie and Jedi.

Like most mobile game apps, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes makes use of micro-transactions. Players can purchase crystals which they can use to acquire data packs with additional characters.

Also Read: 4 tech products we need to kick out of our lives now!

5. Angry Birds: Star Wars edition

The partnership between Angry Birds creator Roxio and the now defunct LucasArts is perhaps one of the greatest collaborations in history since the Allied powers in World War 2 (totally not exaggerating). Available on both iOS and the Android, this game fuses the highly addictive gameplay of the original Angry Birds and the magic of the Star Wars world. These adorable birds now don iconic Star Wars getups such as Jedi robe and cut through their enemies using lightsabers or laser blasters.

What’s awesome about this game is how closely it follows the narrative of the good Star Wars films, and by that I mean the original trilogy (the prequels were universally reviled by fans).

Stuck on a level? Master Yoda will give you some pointers. You can also purchase power ups from the store.

Also Read: 5 things that you won’t see happening in technology in 2016

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The competition include categories for kids and teens, as well as university students and general public

From left: Hari Sungkari (Deputy of Infrastructure at Creative Economy Agency), Alexander Rusli (CEO & President Director of Indosat Ooredoo), and Lis Sutjiati (Special Staff at Minister of Communications and Informatics) with IWIC winners

The ninth Indosat Ooredoo Wireless Innovation Contest (IWIC) today announced 26 winners from six categories at Epicentrum Mall, South Jakarta. The nation-wide mobile app developer competition gathered 3,173 contestants from all over Indonesia.

The competition has partnered with Jakarta Founders Institute and Crowdtivate to help winners start their career in tech through mentoring and crowdfunding efforts.

Winners also get prizes in form of gadgets, cash, scholarship to study in Founders Institute, mentoring by online education platform Harukaedu, online payment platform Dompetku balance, and free one-year subscription of e-book platform Cipika Bookmate.

For Developers category, the winners are yukmart by Dimas Anugrah Wicaksono for Apps subcategory and Kazir by Zaenal Arifin for Mobile Web subcategory.

For University Students and Public category, the winners are adawifiga by Sandy Colondam for Apps and Temu Jasa by Hardian Prakasa for Mobile Web. The category also gave Campus Innovation Award to Tanjungpura University in Pontianak.

Also Read: It’s difficult to explain my job to my in-laws: Touchten’s Nilwafa Padua

The competition also aims to foster talents from the younger generation through its Kids and Teen categories. The Kids category was won by Charigvity by Nisrina Khansa Izzati for Ideas subcategory and Belajar Membaca Metode Dia Tampan by M Hikam Assyifa Alfath for Apps subcategory.

The Teens category was won by Look-lock by Bayu Eka Sanktiaji for Ideas and Escape from the Prison by Shaquille Shiddiq P for Apps.

Two awards are also given in Special Categories. The Apps for Women category was won by Baby Recipe by Ade Rifaldi, while the Apps for Supporting Inbound Tourism was won by ayojelajah.in by Bagja Gumelar.

Also Read: Go-Jek scores Indonesia’s top trending searches in Google. No surprises there!

Alexander Rusli, CEO and President Director of Indosat Ooredoo, stressed on the importance of fostering local talents in building the country’s digital business.

“We want the digital world to go beyond connectivity. It has to be friendly, simple, and accessible … to bring as many benefits and opportunities for as many people,” he said during the event.

Enjoy 2-for-1 tickets to Echelon Indonesia 2016 now. Do not miss out on Indonesia’s biggest international tech conference!

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Foodtech startups with no control over the kitchen or the last-mile delivery are doomed to fail from the start, says entrepreneur Raj K Mitra

The malaise that runs deep in the Indian startup ecosystem has hyper-infected the online food delivery space. Yet, investor and media frenzy surrounding the foodtech startup space overshadows bitter reality. Most startup founders have no experience in distribution and only a handful know how to prepare food that tastes good. The shared vision rests solely on the ‘we all love to eat’ narrative.

Margins are non-existent, total order values are low, and customer acquisition is expensive, with no clear strategy for customer retention. The only differentiating factor so far has been their ability to outdo each other by the quantum of discounts.

And customers continue hopping from one platform to the other chasing the best deals…whether it’s an owl or a panda is simply inconsequential. It’s unfortunate but true that in a so-called smart world, it’s often difficult to identify the dumb!

Case study: TinyOwl

Indian foodtech startups are making headlines of late for all the wrong reasons.

Mumbai-based TinyOwl had to shrink operations and lay off over 100 employees. It’s the same TinyOwl that had raised US$15.4 million in February this year from Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners. How could it have run out of money so fast? (The startup received a US$7.7 million lifeline in October from its existing backers).

Also Read: India’s TinyOwl raises US$7.7M amidst reports of massive layoff

The answer lies in the company’s financial statement for the year ending June 2015. TinyOwl reported a total revenue of INR4.4 million (US$66,170) and losses of INR250 million (US$3.85 million). The most interesting story behind these numbers is that only INR24,000 (US$361)  in revenue was generated from operations.

So, where did the rest of the money come from? Well, interest earned from VC money parked as deposits in banks!

Meanwhile, an internal email from Zomato’s Founder Deepinder Goyal reportedly talking about the company’s missed sales projections got leaked into the public domain.

A sharing economy is not necessarily a caring one

If most startups are indeed surviving on easy money, why aren’t the VCs forcing more discipline onto systems and processes? First, VCs usually take very little or no interest in daily operations and processes as long as their complex Excel sheet pops out dollops of rosy vanity metrics.

The fiasco at Housing.com is a classic case in point. Then, there’s this fear of missing out (FOMO) on the part of the VCs, which implies that these startups are escaping the usual rigor of due diligence.

On the other hand, most delivery-only startups have no control either over the supply chain or logistics, as such processes are largely outsourced. It’s a complex mess where the line between responsibility and accountability is dangerously blurred.

Simply put, if the buck stops everywhere, the buck doesn’t stop anywhere in reality.

Tech not a solution in food, but a mere enabler

Even in a market with a billion-plus mouths to feed, food demand isn’t infinitely elastic. A free lunch doesn’t buy you loyalty. People don’t order food just because of discounts. There is an emotional connect with food and not with the food service. We don’t care who delivers as long as it’s of top quality — served fresh and hot with packaging reflecting the overall hygiene.

Thus, operations play a key role. However, with a mindless expansion spree, operations suffer. When it comes to food, we pay for convenience, not necessarily because it’s cheap. Call them whatever you want – disruptive, game-changing, et al – the underlying math simply doesn’t add up for delivery-only food startups.

Also Read: Hits and misses in Asian startups in 2015

In India, foodtech startups clock an average order size of INR 200 (U$3)-INR 250 (US$3.5) while delivery costs could reach as high as INR 60 (US$0.90) per order.

What makes the situation even worse is the blindfolded chase of multi-city growth without focussing on customer experience, which is key to finding repeat customers.

The cold, hard truth

So, will the Indian foodtech space implode when this optimism ends? There’s no doubt that only a handful will survive the age of scrutiny — not because they have deep pockets, but because they have always focussed on the basics — improving distribution and gradually building scale operations.

For example, Yumist, which raised US$2 million last week from Uniblazer Ventures, seems to have a much better shot at optimising costs while scaling up, given its control over the entire chain from the kitchen to our doorstep.

Also Read: Indian foodtech still tasty as Yumist eats up US$2M funding

For food, building a high-quality label is key, instead of just operating as a marketplace with no unique business models. Another significant challenge is to manage delivery during peak hours in traffic-choked metro cities as, unlike consumer durables, food needs to be delivered within a stipulated time window and can’t be phased through the day.

Thus, foodtech startups with no control over the kitchen (which implies no control over quality) or the last-mile delivery (which implies no control over unit economics) are doomed to fail from the start. The faster the startup world realises this cold hard truth, the better.

Fear vs optimism: what will work

The biggest irony is that we never learn from history, often finding a convenient refuge in the much overused and often abused narrative of ‘this time it’s different.’ However, the irony is that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Fear sometimes is more rational than hope and optimism. After all, fear is born out of the scars of the past. But hope and optimism are conniving things. They seduce you to believe in the absurd.

It’s true that the world didn’t see the repeat of the Dutch tulip bubble of 1636. Neither did we encounter a stock bubble similar to that of 1929. But bubbles appear in myriad shapes and forms, making the smartest appear dumb.

Even Isaac Newton could not escape the South Sea bubble of 1720: “I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.”

Astronomical valuations, mushrooming of copycats, well-funded ridiculous ideas, and and easy money may not make a bubble. But this ‘madness of people’ does. Always.

Also Read: Once VCs’ favourite dish, has Indian foodtech bitten off more than it can chew?

The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, please send us an email at writers[at]e27[dot]co

Image Credit: Nithid Memanee/Shutterstock

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South Korea is the best country for the average Internet user, where a person can expect 20.5 Mbps connection speed

With a peak connection speed of 135.4 Mbps, Singapore has the world’s fastest average peak Internet speed, according to a report by Akamai Technologies.

The city-state’s peak Internet speed has increased by 25 per cent from Q2, says the Third Quarter 2015 State of the Internet Report published by the company on Tuesday.

Average peak Internet speed is defined as the peak speeds that users can expect from their Internet connections.

All the top 5 countries providing peak Internet speeds are in Asia. They are Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, in that order.  Thailand stands at number 18.

Globally, the average peak Internet speed is 32.2 Mbps.

“Looking at year-over-year numbers, average peak connection speeds increased 30 per cent year over year on a global basis. All of the top 10 countries/regions saw increases in average peak connection speeds, as Qatar and Singapore again led the pack with increases of 80 per cent and 63 per cent, respectively, while South Korea and Israel had the smallest gains of 17 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively,” the report said.

South Korea, with 20.5 Mbps, claims the top spot for average connection speed.

“Despite noticeable decreases in broadband adoption levels in the third quarter, South Korea unsurprisingly led the world again across the 10 Mbps, 15 Mbps, and 25 Mbps tiers, with adoption rates of 68 per cent, 45 per cent, and 24 per cent, respectively,” the report said.

Singapore ranked 17 with an average connection speed is 12.5 Mbps, which is a 2.4 per cent increase year-on-year. The global average is 5.1 Mbps.

The Asian country with the lowest average connection speed was India at 2.5 Mbps.

Also Read: Low-cost Internet provider i2e1 nets US$500K led by growX

One interesting statistical point is that 51 per cent of the Singapore population has adopted Internet speeds of 10 Mbps or faster, making it the tenth such country in the world. However, for slower broadband options – 4Mbps — the country stands at the 31st position, with an 87 per cent adoption rate.

Starting from Q2 2015, Akamai refrained from including cloud computing companies in the measurements. The justification for dropping the industry was that those companies typically have such fast Internet that it skews the data, so it does not accurately reflect end-user experience.

Akamai is a content delivery network service based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Content delivery network services are systems of proxy servers that work to improve content speed and performance for end-users.

The full report can be downloaded here.

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Photo credit: Paul Simpson

The Indian capital is on the brink of a grand experiment. The landlocked megacity, often called the most polluted in the world, sees 9 million vehicles snaking their way through its dense roads every day. Of this, around 3 million vehicles are privately owned. But from January 1, this number is set to be halved. How?

By letting odd numbered cars run on odd dates and even numbered cars run on even dates. The Delhi government’s directive is aimed at cutting down on air pollution after dense smog and rising cases of respiratory illness set the alarm bells ringing. The state’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, is himself known to suffer from chronic cough.

The decision has, however, unleashed a heated exchange among the 17 million residents of car-loving Delhi. Some say it’s a good beginning. Those against it say other factors are to blame for pollution and should be sorted out first.

But as the city willy-nilly hurtles down to the new year deadline, guess who is not complaining? Startups in the transportation sector, of course. Bus aggregators, cab operators, car pool, and rental startups are upping the ante. Yes, we are talking Ola, Shuttle, Uber, Meru, and the like.

Who is making hay

Ola

Ola has launched Ola Share, a social ride-sharing platform for Delhi-NCR. It will enable people traveling on the same route to commute together by introducing social groups on its app. Through it, colleagues from a workplace or friends from a college can share rides among themselves.

“We are excited to bring Ola Share to Delhi NCR at a time when the citizens and the government are taking a massive step to reduce on-road congestion,” Ishan Gupta, head of Ola Share, said in a statement.

It is offering a 50 percent discount on fares in the launch phase, that is, over the coming month. A user can join multiple groups or simply choose to share a ride with anyone.

Uber

And where there is Ola, can Uber be far behind? The company has just launched a carpooling service that will let Uber users share a ride with others passengers going the same way.

It will also allow private car owners to register on the Uber platform and give a ride to someone else for a fee while the company itself takes a commission on every ride.

Meru

And what is cab provider Meru doing? A major player in this space, it promises to augment its fleet of cars, all of which run on CNG (compressed natural gas, an eco-friendly alternative to gasoline).

“We are also launching a new feature soon called Ride Share which will help customers traveling in the same direction share their Meru taxi ride,” the company said in a statement.

Shuttl

Bus aggregator Shuttl, which handles over 13,000 rides a day on more than 60 routes in Delhi-NCR, has called the Delhi government’s initiative “path-breaking.”

“If we compare present data, Delhi only sees two days of fresh air each year on average, while Beijing has 42 such days,” Shuttl said in a statement which pointed out that Delhi has more cars than Bangalore, Mumbai, and Hyderabad combined.

It has launched a website to keep people updated on the new scheme. The good intentions notwithstanding, Tech in Asia found out this morning that it was nothing to write home about – carrying no data and just some news links to other websites.

Zoomcar

Then there is Zoomcar, a self-drive car rental firm in the Delhi-NCR region, which now plans to step up its services. “The world over self-drive is today seen as a green alternative to owning cars as it increases the functionality of cars, which end up being used only when it is absolutely necessary, thereby bringing down the overall number of cars on the road,” Greg Moran, CEO and co-founder of Zoomcar, said in a statement.

The company’s Zoom Commute package is aimed at corporate and office-goers. Customers can rent a vehicle from Monday to Friday at rates starting from INR 3,000 (US$45) for a week, including fuel.

However, Tech in Asia found that several of the cars in its stable of 2,000 vehicles run on diesel – the fuel widely blamed for Delhi’s deteriorating air quality. When asked about this, the company refused to comment.

Grumpy or happy: What the ‘Delhiwala’ is saying

Critics say the authorities should first crack down on emissions from thermal plants, factories, and dust from construction sites. Some say diesel cars and trucks are the main offenders.

Yet, others say that the government should first improve public transport before putting residents through the grind. The Delhi Transport Corporation runs over 3,100 buses. Besides these, the metro rail has a daily ridership of around 2.4 million. But this is not enough.

Some say the odd-even rule will add more cars to Delhi. Indeed, last week this Tech in Asia writer saw her immediate neighbors add a big, diesel-guzzling SUV to their existing fleet of three cars to beat the odd-even rule.

Those supporting the directive, however, say desperate times call for desperate measures. In November and early December, pollutant levels had soared to 12 times above the World Health Organization’s safety level of 25 micrograms per cubic meter.

“An uncle of mine passed away this week due to acute respiratory illness. My son has trouble breathing every now and then. We have to cooperate,” Kavita Bajeli-Datt, a freelance journalist, told Tech in Asia.

Asked how her family would manage the daily commute, she said, “I mostly work from home, so I won’t have a problem. My husband and his brother have decided to share their odd and even numbered cars on alternate days.”

Carrots and sticks

Photo credit: William Brawley

The odd-even rule will be implemented for 15 days after which its impact will be reviewed. During this period, all schools in Delhi will remain closed so that children don’t face a problem.

The rule does not apply to two-wheelers, three-wheeler auto-rickshaws, and cabs that run on CNG. Women drivers are also exempt from it.

To ease commuter woes, the Delhi government plans to add 6,000 buses to the city roads and is inducting more auto-rickshaws too.

In this battle against pollution, the government has found a friend in India’s Supreme Court, which has complemented the odd-even rule with a ban on the sale of diesel vehicles of 2000 cubic capacity and above in Delhi till March 31.

It has prohibited trucks from passing through the city to reach other states, besides barring all trucks that are more than 10 years old from the capital. An existing charge imposed on trucks making deliveries to Delhi was doubled to around INR 2,600 (US$39).

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The taxi booking app managed by South Korean tech conglomerate Kakao is ending the year well with more than 190,000 drivers on its platform

Image Credit: Vincent St. Thomas / Shutterstock

KakaoTaxi, a taxi booking app launched by South Korean tech conglomerate Kakao, recently announced hitting its 50 million requests milestone since it was launched in March this year, according to The Korea Times.

It also claimed to have received a million ride requests in its first two months of operations, and have partnered with more than 190,000 taxi drivers.

Also Read: Uber taps Kia for relaunch of premium black car service in South Korea

Taxi drivers in Korea can register with Kakao to receive booking requests when users of Kakao Taxi hail for a cab via the mobile application. The app currently only supports the Korean language.

While KakaoTaxi may have started with normal cabs available nationwide, it recently moved into the premium taxi space with KakaoTaxi Black, which lets users hail swanky Mercedes-Benz E-class vehicles driven by professionals trained by a “deluxe taxi operator”.

As for competition within the country, KakaoTaxi appears to be the dominant player in the taxi-booking field. While Uber is still in the picture, Kakao is making all the right moves by partnering up with local companies and taxi operators to increase its market share.

Kakao is also able to leverage the fact that it is running the country’s biggest chat app, which has 170 million users, as of February 2015 — a clear reason for partners to woo its taxi booking arm. After all, you’re either a partner of Kakao or you’re not.

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In addition to talking about the best and worst things of working for a startup, Touchten’s Art Director dishes out advice for budding game designers

When Art Director Nilwafa Padua recalled the time he first applied to work at Touchten, e27 found out he was one of the company’s earliest full-time employees.

“It’s fate!” he laughs.

“I was working in this Jogjakarta-based French game developer. Then I saw a vacancy from Touchten on Twitter … It was a walk-in interview that started at 8 PM that day, in Jakarta. When I saw the tweet, it was already 7 PM and I was still in Jogjakarta,” he explains.

It did not stop him from giving his best effort, though. Praduta did a quick research of Touchten’s company profile and portfolio, then he emailed CEO and Co-founder Anton Soeharyo. Apart from introducing himself, he also pitched a list of things he can help Touchten achieve if they hire him.

Three months and countless emails later, his perseverance paid off. Praduta joined the company and worked on the visual aspect of Touchten’s portfolio games such as Redhead Redemption, Ramen Celebrity, Teka Teki Saku, Ramen Chain, Cute Kill and Infinite Sky.

As an Art Director, his job description involves designing characters’ look, background, and even colouring and filters.

“Basically, anything that can be seen in the game,” he shares.

Here are the edited excerpts of our conversation with him:

Also Read: Indonesia scores fastest growth in Southeast Asia’s mobile gaming industry

What are the best and worst thing about working in a startup, especially one that works on game development?

I’ll begin with the worst: It’s hard to explain [your job] to your family. Especially to your in-laws! (laughs)

I mean, if you’re working in a bank, then they usually wouldn’t ask questions. But if you tell them that you work for a game developer, they’d be like, “There is a game developer? I thought only properties have developer! How do you create games? Do you draw them?”

Maybe the profession is just not mainstream yet, even though it is a unique one. I’m really passionate about games because it gives me chance to express myself artistically, combined with technical elements. Programmers with their left brain, artists with their right brain, working together to create something people can enjoy.

[Working in startup] also gives artistic freedom, compared to bigger game developer companies. Creativity is very tightly controlled there.

Also Read: Why is Israel, a land of startups, weak at gaming?

What’s the most memorable moment of working in a startup?

One time we gathered at Anton’s apartment, doing a heart-to-heart talk. We talked about all the things we want to achieve, and we realised that we have already achieved them. Right here, right now.

What Anton wanted, what Roki [Soeharyo, COO] wanted, what we all wanted … All of them were fulfilled. It’s very memorable.

Also Read: Kakao sees drop in gaming, advertising revenue in Q3 2015

Any pro-tip for aspiring game designers?

Create a good portfolio. There’s no need to include all of your works, only three or four of the best. Then search for experience from internships.

And play lots of games. As a game designer, you need to understand about lots of things. I initially wanted to be a movie director, and many of my inspirations come from there. [Watching/playing plenty film and games] helps me notice if something is off with a film or game.

You need to have real-life experience. If you’re into character designing, you can’t just stick into a particular style that you like, such as anime. Study all kinds of character designs — from classic Disney to European styles.

Because you’ll never know what your next game will be about. When we developed Ramen Chain, I tried to think of the things I love about food. One of them is how it looks, so we designed details such as boiling water and the glints of the food when it is served. We even thought of the noise we usually hear in restaurants.

Enjoy 2-for-1 tickets to Echelon Indonesia 2016 now. Do not miss out on Indonesia’s biggest international tech conference!

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The firm plans to ramp up operations and expand the technology team to add IoT, automation and data sciences

The B2B logistics sector has become the new ‘must-invest’ segment in India, as large VC investors are pouring millions of dollars into various companies.

The recent spurt in the number of startups in on-demand logistics (B2B as well as B2C) is due to booming e-commerce, led by Tiger Global-backed Flipkart and Alibaba-funded Snapdeal. The existence of millions of SMBs, which are now increasingly going online by setting up their own e-commerce stores, is also prompting entrepreneurs to start logistics companies.

The latest company to join the bandwagon is rivigo, which offers on-demand B2B logistics services to companies in the e-commerce, FMCG, auto, pharma and the cold chain industries. SAIF Partners, a leading VC fund with operations in India and China, provided the funding to the Gurgaon-based startup.

rivigo will use the funds to achieve its target of scaling 10 times over the next 12 months. Says Deepak Garg, Founder and CEO of rivigo, “We’ll be using the proceeds from this round to ramp up our operations. We’ll also be focussing on expanding the technology team to add IoT, automation and data sciences.”

Founded in 2014 as TrucksFirst, rivigo provides logistics services to companies in the e-commerce, FMCG, auto, pharma and the cold chain industries. It claims to have a 24×7 service network, immaculate documentation systems, quick response times and crisis management infrastructure, as well as holistic client servicing.

Also Read: Hyperlocal delivery startup Grofers raises US$120M led by SoftBank

According to the startup, it is capable of consistently providing over 50 per cent reduction in delivery times to clients, while improving the quality of life of truck drivers.

The logistics platform provides delivery services pan-India, including geographies such as the North East and Eastern parts of India.

“The tech-enabled logistics space in India is robust and has tremendous potential. We also anticipate greater growth for this segment in view of the impending GST (good and services tax) Bill. Rivigo has immense scope to serve the large opportunity space with its unique business model. We were particularly impressed by their smart use of tech and unique operating model that ensures high driver satisfaction, reliability and unprecedented delivery times,” said Deepak Gaur, Managing Director at SAIF India.

Recently, another company, BlackBuck, that helps businesses to move products between various cities raised a whopping US$25 million in Series B investment.

These firms are giving a tough competition to offline players such as Professional Couriers, FedEx, DHL and BlueDart, as retailers are now relying on tech-enabled services for faster delivery and easier documentation.

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