Most emerging startups in maharashtra

2021
Vol.-01
Issue-04
EMERGING
In MAHARASHTRA
Most
START S
MANGESH SHINDE
Founder
SHUBHI AGRAWAL
Co-founder

Editor’s Note
ver the past few years, India has
Owitnessed a signiﬁcant rise in its startup
ecosystem. It all could become possible
due to factors such as proliferation of internet,
evolution of technologies, availability of an
environment with innovation-led culture, higher
literacy rates, etc.
Maharashtra, being the home state to many of the
successful companies, has taken huge strides to
strengthen this ecosystem and seen an immense
growth in the number of startups. Many great
ideas were born in this state that left a positive
impact in the society.
Even the Government of Maharashtra has come
up with several initiatives to boost innovation-
driven entrepreneurial ecosystem, due to which
the business landscape of the city has been
continuously evolving and has come a long way.
This growth somewhere took a pause after the
pandemic occurred. Many startups, except for
those who are engaged into delivery of essential
services, educational technology, gaming, or
TAKING THE
CHARGE OF AN
UNDULATING
JOURNEY

streaming services, etc. had to face formidable
hurdles. The pandemic not only affected their
businesses, but also hampered their operations
process. There was no other option available
other than adapting to the present situation,
focusing on the need to innovate, and diversifying
their business techniques and its operations.
To survive in a longer run, some startups had to
undertake severe cost-cutting measures due to
which they had to lay off their staff and cease all
other expansion plans and projects. Few of the
companies even came on the verge of shutting
down.
Despite this crisis like situation, there were some
startup companies in Maharashtra, which by
constantly being at the forefront of innovation,
emerged bravely and left imprints in their
respective sectors through their cutting-edge
solutions.
To shed some light on the inspiring stories of such
startups based in Maharashtra, Insights Success
has curated a list of ‘Most Emerging Startups in
Maharashtra’. This listing presents the stellar line-
up of startups and ingenious minds behind them,
who made a difference with their top-notch
solutions in the light of COVID-19.
Let us unveil more alike and inspiring stories of
such ambitious leaders and spread the word
about their contribution in making this world a
better place.
Lastly, you might come across the articles written
by our in-house editorial team and CXO
standpoints of some of the leading industry
experts to have the know-how about the industry.
Make sure to scroll through them, while ﬂipping
through the pages,
Let us start reading!
Darshan Parmar
Managing Editor
DarsHP
darshan@insightssuccess.com

CXO
ARTICLES
20
Opportunities Unleashed
Maharashtra State
as an Emerging
Business Hub
Real Estate Insights
Real Estate's Expectations
from 2021-22 Union Budget
Creative Insights
Creative Ways
to Lead a Business
16 26

10
12
Baclinc
Digital Marketing with A Twist
Locobuzz
Streamlining and Enhancing
Customer Experience
Dynamically
22
Robolab Technologies
Pvt Ltd.
A Platform to Explore,
Learn and Build Ideas
28
Swarajshop Handicrafts
A Leading Brand
Promoting Indigenous
and Ethnic Products

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JANUARY, 2021
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Management Brief
Company Name
Vita Dani
Chairperson
ExtraaEdge
Abhishek Yadav
Co-founder,
Shalmali Parkar
Co-founder
Locobuzz
Pratik Deshmukh,
Amol Gulhane,
Ajit B. Pawar,
Co-founders
Shubhi Agrawal
Co-founder
Baclinc
Robolab Technologies
Abhishek Ballabh
Co-founder
11Sports Pvt. Ltd. is a Mumbai based company exclusively
established for the promotion and development of the game of
Table Tennis.
Baclinc is a full-service digital agency oﬀering coherent and
bespoke solutions for brands and businesses.
ExtraaEdge facilitates a powerful CRM and marketing
automation software that helps your admission teams enhance,
manage, and predict their onboarding processes.
Locobuzz builds software to smartly connect brands and
customers to each other.
Robolab Technologies has been striving to develop an ecosystem
which gives people access to technology, enables important
resources, training and cultivates innovation by motivating them
to solve real-life challenges.
Swarajshop Handicrafts
WGBL
Rajendra Rao
Founder
Deep Bhong
Founder
White Horse Agency
Private Limited
Mangesh Shinde
Founder
Swarajshop is a leading manufacturer of fashion jewellery on a
global level.
WGBL is advanced digital design agency based in Pune
oﬀering design and branding solutions for startups to build-
strong prescence among their clients and audiences.
The team at White Horse Agency is providing all the digital
marketing services like, SEO (Search engine optimization), Local
SEO (Google My Business), and Web designing for all kinds of
busineses.
EMERGING
In MAHARASHTRA
Most
START S
11sports Pvt. Ltd.

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Being an entrepreneur is a
daunting yet thrilling
endeavour. Many people have
ideas for a business or a product or a
service, but only a few take the
necessary leap of faith to try their luck
out with turning that idea into reality.
The advent of the internet brought
numerous opportunities, opening doors
for creators and innovators to traverse
new territory. The world wide web not
only transformed the way business was
conducted but also created new
avenues for entrepreneurs to explore.
With an internet connection and a
computer, entrepreneurs today can set
up shop at a cafe, at a library, at their
homes, or pretty much wherever they
prefer, and live a lifestyle in a way they
deem fit. Abhishek Yadav and
Shalmali Parkar, did just that and
chose the life of being internet
entrepreneurs.
Abhishek and Shalmali, driven by a
passion for entrepreneurship and
technology, with a blend of expertise in
digital marketing services founded
Baclinc – a one-stop-shop for all
things digital marketing.
Baclinc is a full-service digital agency
offering coherent and bespoke
solutions for brands and businesses. It
provides its clients with detailed,
highly-actionable advice and services
that help them get a grip in the digital
space. They deal with a multitude of
services like SEO, social media
management, Facebook and Instagram
ads, influencer marketing, and content
writing to an overall strategy and more.
In the following interview, Abhishek
and Shalmali share the story of their
incredible journey, and also give us
some insight into how two young
individuals came up with such a simple
yet sublime idea for a startup.
Kindly take us through the journey
of your company and its objectives.
Baclinc is a digital marketing company
based in Mumbai that provides end-to-
end digital marketing services to small
and medium companies. It was
established in December 2017 by me
(Abhishek Yadav) and Shalmali Parkar
when we were 18 and 17 years old,
respectively.
Back then the goal of the company was
to grow and manage the blogs that I
had been running for the past 2-3 years
handling it by myself and with
Shalmali’s help later on. The blogs
grew to an extent where we had to quit
our jobs and have a team working for
and an office to help us to grow and
optimise our blogs and websites.
We continued this till late 2018 to
solely focus on the blogs and their
growth. But after a point, we realized
that we were only making money, but
no one knew us and our team in the
digital marketing space for the kind of
skill set we had. Soon we concluded
that this is not the best for the long run
as we were in the initial stages of our
career and did not have anything
tangible to showcase to the world
except for the case studies of our blogs.
And that is when we made the shift of
our business model to start providing
digital marketing services to clients.
We established Baclinc in 2017 itself
when we started our office to manage
the blogs, but we opened our doors to
clients only in early 2019. Our aim is
to provide high-quality, end-to-end
marketing services to everyone and
create a difference in the digital
marketing space.
Tell us more about the services that
Baclinc provides?
We specialize in SEO as that is the
service I have been practicing for years
and now so has my team in the journey
of building up these blogs into online
businesses. We have been in the SEO
industry since the days it was all about
‘Keyword Stuffing’ and you were
ranking overnight.
We have a very minute understanding
of the Google algorithms and have
seen it evolve over time and we are on
top of our techniques to get our way
around it and make sure that our sites,
as well as our client’s sites, always
rank on top.
R&D is critical to the success of the
company. What measures do you
Digital Marketing with A Twist
Most Emerging Startups in Maharashtra
10 | January 2021

take to keep the focus on research
and stay a step ahead of the
competition?
Our SEO team always stays on top of
the game by keeping ourselves updated
by reading blogs like
“searchenginland.com”,
“SEORoundTable” and more, we are
also very active on Twitter where
Google officials share official updates
and insights about the algorithms and
search performance. Apart from it, we
run a lot of experiments trying various
techniques on our blogs and our A/B
testing (split testing) always turns
useful.
What according to you is the one
takeaway from the Covid-19
pandemic?
When the world came to a pause and
our clients had to face the trouble of
losses in their business, it affected us as
well but our blogs, SAAS websites
helped us stay afloat in this tough
period. What we learned was the
importance of having multiple
offerings to share with the world
because that means new ways of
generating revenue and maintaining a
solid base at all times.
The lockdown also helped me give
time to projects close to my heart such
as launching my Podcast, ‘Internet
Bread’ where I teach people how to
make money online. The goal of the
podcast is to cover 101 ways to make
money online in 101 episodes. This is
my way of giving back to the
community and to enable more people
to start the career digitally.
What are your views regarding the
start-up business scenario in
Maharashtra?
Our office is located in Powai which is
kind of like a ‘Startup Hub’ within
Mumbai. We see a lot of businesses
coming online, the digital revolution is
really pushing every company to
become heavily reliant on
technology. But Maharashtra needs
more successful startups and the
youth should be more focused on
bringing their ideas to life. I see
Maharashtra lagging behind
Bangalore and Delhi in this one
particular thing, despite Mumbai
being the financial capital of the
country.
What are the company’s future
objectives and where do you see
yourselves in the near future?
We are expanding into new services
and bringing a lot of services in-
house and growing the team that we
earlier had to outsource or partner
with other companies to fulfil. We
now have a full-fledged graphic
design and content development
division which is really helping us
change gears in the quality of
services that we offer and deliver
results instantaneously.
We are really excited to launch our
upcoming startup, which has been in
development for almost a year now,
which is called ‘PostBing’ it is a
content distribution platform that
can help startups reach new
audiences and help make the most
out of their content. We are
expecting to launch it by the end of
January 2021.
OUR AIM IS
TO PROVIDE
HIGH-QUALITY,
END-TO-END
MARKETING
SERVICES TO
EVERYONE AND
CREATE A
DIFFERENCE IN
THE DIGITAL
MARKETING
SPACE
Abhishek Yadav
Co-founder
Shalmali Parkar
Co-founder
www.insightssuccess.in January 2021 | 11

Maharashtra has always been
in the forefront of
supporting the startup
ecosystem. By creating
accommodative government policies,
taxation laws, and providing a market
for domestic consumption of new
technologies, Maharashtra state has
nurtured an ecosystem for the start-up
community - especially the SaaS
domain.
A typical SaaS company thrives if the
ecosystem provides:
• Skilled talent pool
• A resourceful environment that
provides supportive mentorship and
incubators supported by conducive
government norms
• Large market to test new concepts
and drives domestic consumption of
deep-tech solutions
• Strong SaaS heritage with experience
in technologies like AI, ML, CRM,
etc.
One such thriving start-up in
Maharashtra making its way to the top
is Locobuzz. Locobuzz was founded
and established March 2015, Mumbai.
The founding team always believed in
the power of Big data analytics, and its
infinite possibilities when converged
with the right technologies. The
founding team were keen on observing
how social engagement and chatter for
brands as a key channel of engagement
was starting to gain prominence at the
time.
Thus, the idea of bringing powerful
analytics, driven by data from various
social media channels were formed and
Locobuzz’s “location-based buzz came
into the picture. “We started with
simple plain analytics on unstructured
data, focused on processing large
volumes of data in real time to further
augmenting it with sentiment
analysis,” says the team at Locobuzz.
Going Loco
With time, the team observed how
consumer expectation was changing
rapidly - from little to no dialogue with
brands, to needing a meaningful two-
way conversation - social platforms
were key drivers of this change. This is
when the company started focusing on
team- workflows and other customer-
engagement initiatives.
As data volumes soared and
technology advancements were made
in Machine learning and Artificial
Intelligence, Locobuzz integrated
powerful NLP capabilities along with
various data models for language
detection, intent detection, deviation
alerts, emotions, etc. Now, it has also
created a fully cognitive chatbot
enabler. Locobuzz evolved into a fully
integrated, unified Customer
Experience Platform.
Locobuzz builds software to smartly
connect brands and customers to each
other. Locobuzz has a unique
advantage over competitors. For
example, some of them are simply a
ticketing platform, while others are a
combination of listening and ticket
management. In Locobuzz, there are
numerous features and functionalities
that provide for a complete CX
solution. Locobuzz offers a unified
platform so unique, that it stands apart
from most others competing in this
domain.
Locobuzz has displayed successful
potential in different technological
ventures with the power of AI and
Machine learning, such as chatbots,
Image recognition, Emotions, etc.
Even though it is remarkably known to
be a reliable ORM platform, Locobuzz
as a product invests in superior
technology and detailed capabilities.
“We have incorporated some of the
commonly sought-after and popular
features of consumer engagement,
making Locobuzz an influential leader
in this space,” shares the Locobuzz
team.
A Buzzing Leader
Shubhi Agrawal is a Co-founder at
Locobuzz. With an MBA degree from
California State University and a
strong background in business
development, alliances, she has worked
closely with varied technology teams
to build and deliver solutions, making
her an excellent relationship builder
and thought-leader. She has been
successful in driving and achieving
business objectives, collaborating with
Locobuzz
Streamlining and Enhancing Customer Experience Dynamically
12 | January 2021

regional and global leaders and has
strong communication skills. Shubhi
loves to travel and read. In addition,
she is also a fitness enthusiast.
Shubhi saw the value of customer
experience, early on in her career, and
how it is the single most important
differentiator for companies to
maintain a longer relationship and thus
create a significant impact in the
lifetime value of a customer. With
experience in building strategic
partnerships and launching new
products, her skills are ideally suited to
help build a great CX solution along
with some great partnerships for
Locobuzz.
“The road map of Locobuzz is to
become a one-stop shop for all things
related to customers – not just
understanding the customers and
engaging with them but also to provide
powerful marketing applications to
help the brands reach out to their
target audience,” says Shubhi.
According to her, Locobuzz as a
technology company is ambitious
about being ahead of the competition.
They always prepare for the next step
of the logical extension of the
customer’s perspective. Enough and
more research goes into building
technology which then supports these
requirements and fits into the
company’s current architecture
seamlessly.
Locobuzz in Future
Locobuzz’s team have clearly
established its platform as a leader in
the domestic markets where several
marquee clients in the space of BFSI,
retail, hospitality, automobile, and
consumer durables etc. use this
platform and are able to streamline
customer experience for their brand
and increase the lifetime value of the
customers.
Locobuzz recognizes the role of machine
learning and is investing heavily on it. In its
product roadmap lot of features are based
on machine learning which are currently
non-existent in this domain. “The future is
quite exciting and we are working on a lot
of new and exciting features, that will
change the way people look at platforms
like ours,” describes Shubhi.
As a next logical step, the company
envisions its platform to be expanded
globally on the lines of sales force to
provide support to its customers building
mutually rewarding relationships with
them. “We strive to help them in creating
impactful connect with the customers and
maintaining relationships which go beyond
transactions,” concludes Shubhi with her
team.
In this ongoing
pandemic, just
keep building
and winning
customers. Keep
your expenses
low and most
importantly,
keep calm
“
“
Shubhi Agrawal
Co-founder

16 | January 2021

Arunning concern to an
entrepreneur is like one’s own
child. There is every reason to
fear that the child might hurt itself-
despite age and size. But like a child, a
concern, despite all its failings and
vulnerabilities, must be given space to
grow and flourish. Otherwise, it just
might resemble an awesome sea-going
craft that never made it to the sea to
understand its true potential as it was
always tied to a small harbour.
Leading a business is thus not an easy
job for various reasons. First, it
demands skills in diverse fields, some
of which may call for higher and
tougher education followed by a
degree. Remember, most entrepreneurs
are always short of time! Second, it
may call for being presentable, a feat
not many are comfortable with. Third,
it may call for delegating and leaving
the field open to specialists, something
only a micro-miniscule percentage are
ready to do willingly.
That said, one does have to lead a
business that one has brought into
existence and lead it to victory. No
entrepreneur is ever known to have
started a business with the aim to bring
it to an end unless the intent is to
defraud!
We present 10 creative ways to lead a
business in these turbulent yet
interesting times!
1. Hands-on
The very Indian, small-scale yet most
original of styles, it is OK till the time
the concern and all its workings can be
controlled by its owner within his (or
her) personal capacity. It seems to be
making a come-back with start-ups
raining through the skies at high speeds
with one essential and big difference.
Singleton businessmen are getting the
best support from technology like it did
never before. Be it SAAS, Cloud, AI or
the likes, everyone has the small guy in
their crosshairs!
2. Hands-off but influence on
The exact opposite of the hands-on is
the hands-off style where essential day-
to-day details are left to either
employees or outside specialist
including those on contract for
specialized activity or for specific
times. Here the entrepreneur typically
formulates goals and key-result areas
and assigns the tasks to specified
persons/ bodies to accomplish either in
full or to the extent possible in the
given circumstances. The advantage
here is that specialists can take
independent decision for the growth of
the organization to the expected
standards. Also, with owners out of the
day-to-day functioning, cronyism and
nepotism is almost nil with the entire
accent being on productivity and goals.
The flip side is that without owners to
guide it on its goals, external
management can sometimes take the
organization on a different route just so
that their goals are met. Goals in the
latter case may also mean surreptitious
ownership of an organization.
3. Delegate and drive
While an organization may have a
single objective, within itself, each
department may have different goals
which may sometimes clash. For
instance, human resource. While
Finance finds HR a cost-centre, the
Human Resources department may
itself see it as resource centre. In such
times, owners of an organization may
be left with no option but to delegate
the staff functions, and themselves
drive the line functions. Staff functions
typically are support functions that
help the main, line functions and may
need specialists to drive. The former
TO
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Creat
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Ways Creative Insights

may sometimes hamper the latter’s
speeds and may thus need specialists to
handle. The latter, ie line functions
may still be retained by the owners and
their managers.
4. Appoint external managers
Project Management is one area of an
organization which is akin to
firefighting where action takes place
only when a fire ignites and goes out of
hand. Rest of the time, it’s business-as-
usual with little activity. For such
times, it makes sense for businesses to
appoint external specialists with the
mandate to handle ONLY specialized
projects while leaving the rest to the
existing leadership/ management of the
organization. With the project coming
to an end, the specialists depart while
leaving the newly commissioned
projects in the hands of trained existing
managers and owners. Such a system is
quite natural in given circumstances
and has advantages of speed and
efficiency in project execution while
lowering costs overall.
5. Appreciate internally available
talent and promote
Organizations that have been around
for a significant amount of time
develop internal systems of identifying
and promoting talent within the
organization. This is the most natural
selection where those with promise
who have been with the organization
for long, are promoted to leadership
position purely based on merit. Though
this may seem the most ideal, it does
not work in places where kinship is
held in higher esteem when compared
to calibre. It certainly does not work in
smaller concerns where the family
itself does most of the things.
6. Bring about a complete change in
top management
Leadership may sometimes mean a
complete clean-up of the existing
business management team and its
being replaced by a new one. Though it
may sound brutal, it just could be the
only available solution before the
ownership to clean out deep-seated rot
that may have set-in in an organization.
Professional management sometimes
runs the risk of being in the hands of
those with compromised integrity or
those whose depth of knowledge does
not suffice.
7. Appoint a thought-leader
Organizations may sometime need the
guiding spirit of a Guru who could be a
mix between a technocrat and a
spiritual leader taking care of various
goals of an organization. Entities may
sometimes have everything going in
their favour but may still struggle with
end-goals or may see their productivity
stall for no apparent reasons. It is in
these times that the leadership may
look towards a ‘Thought Leader” who
besides being an expert in the field, is
also a people’s person who can
motivate teams to go beyond
themselves and their circumstances and
achieve higher goals- despite obvious
shortcoming and setbacks. Though this
system of leading businesses may seem
mystical and in the realms of fantasy
and the occult, there is in reality only
elements of genuine motivation which
makes it very plausible and doable!
8. Contract with employees for
productivity
Organizations in their initial stages
may have employees as part of their
management with remuneration being
a mix of fixed and variable in order to
denote their direct contributions. This
typically happens in cases where the
entire management team is of
specialists of equal calibre and
importance and on whom the
organization depends for its existence.
It can also happen in the case of high-
performers and specialist whom
managements and ownership may want
to retain for their calibre and
productivity. They may not be
specialists per se but given their
credibility and calibre, owners may be
inclined to treat them in a different
order.
9. Franchise a business
Success may also affect the way an
organization grows, more so in the case
of industries in the foods, beverages,
entertainment, and education where
using patented process are said to bring
in higher productivity and resultant
returns. KFC, Pepsi, McDonalds, Little
Kickers, Dino World, Mathnasium
Learning Centre and The Learning
Experience are prime examples of
leading a business by building brands
that have excelled by putting proven
methodologies in place that may in
some cases also include secret
ingredients (Coke’s closely-held secret
of what they put in the drink, KFC’s
chicken-making secrets etc) which
bring out the best in its users and
guarantee good returns to its franchise-
buyers and franchise-owners. Though
not strictly in the realms of leading a
business, given their apparent success,
and the lines of franchise-buyers at
their doors, it does qualify to be on this
list.
- Purushottam
18 | January 2021

Real Estate’s
Expectations from
2021-22 Union Budget
Have the government and RBI done enough to bail
out the economy - and, by implication real estate?
After all, the realty industry remains one of the
most precise bellwethers of the state of India's economy.
While the country waits for the first vaccines to roll out,
Union Budget 2021-22 presents several opportunities to
give the sector a shot in the arm, too. Given that real estate
contributes more than 8% to the Indian economy, it has
justifiable expectations.
Multiple measures were announced in 2020 to beat the
unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on the overall
economy and the real estate industry:
• RBI’s massive repo rate cut of 140 bps (leading to the
lowest home loan interest rates in over 15 years)
• A six-month moratorium on EMIs
• Restructuring of loans of real estate companies at the
project level
• At a state level, stamp duty reductions in Maharashtra
• A liquidity boost to NHB, and
• The first real-time deployments of rescue capital from the
SWAMIH fund
These measures were proactive and commendable - but not
surprisingly, given the depth of pain in the real estate sector,
they were not enough. The housing industry needs to be
focused on measures to further bolster demand in 2021.
This year, the demands go beyond the usual suspects of
single-window clearance and industry status.
Affordable housing is very likely to get another booster
shot. However, the budget also needs to focus on the larger
market as more than ever before, homebuyers and investors
need focused tax incentives to get mobilized. Also, as the
government is aware, developers’ liquidity woes need to
alleviate to forestall further market mayhem.
Demands:
• Hike the INR 2 lakh tax rebate on housing loan interest
rates under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act to at least
INR 5 lakh to generate healthier housing demand, most
notably in affordable and mid-segment housing.
• Personal tax relief, either by tax rate reductions or
amended tax slabs - The last increase in the deduction
limit under Section 80C (to INR 1.5 lakh a year) was in
2014 and an upward revision is long overdue.
• GST waiver for under-construction homes - The present
GST rate on under-construction properties is 5% minus
the ITC benefit for premium homes (>INR 45 lakh) and
1% for affordable homes (<INR 45 lakh). Even a limited
period waiver of GST will reduce overall property cost
and thus push demand for under-construction homes,
which have been slacking presently. Funds from buyers
can aid developers towards project construction and thus
lessen their dependence on financial institutions. The
most-recent limited-period Stamp Duty cut in
Maharashtra significantly boosted demand in both MMR
and Pune.
• More incentives for private sector investments in
affordable housing - Despite the benefit of infrastructure
status for this critically important segment, developers are
unable to get funding from major banks and NBFCs at an
affordable cost. The profit margins for affordable housing
projects continue to be extremely low.
• Ease liquidity - The liquidity crunch had a cascading
impact across sectors, including real estate. Project delays
- the biggest fallout of the cash crunch – had severely
dampened buyer sentiments in the last two years.
Developers need a rational capital flow to keep up the
supply pipeline, especially for ready-to-move-in homes
that are in the highest demand - healthy. Increased supply
also helps to keep property prices range bound.
20 | January 2021

Anuj Puri is
Chairman and
Founder of
ANAROCK. He
has over 30 years'
experience in
Indian and global
real estate
markets and is a
trusted adviser to
developers,
occupiers,
investors, and the
government. Anuj
is widely
acknowledged
with
revolutionizing the
sector with his
visionary outlook
and technology-
based solutions.
ABOUT
THE
AUTHOR
Anuj Puri
Chairman
ANAROCK
Property Consultants
Real Estate Insights

Experiential Learning,
particularly Learning by doing
enables students to grasp
concepts clearly and also how they can
be implemented in real life. This is
especially helpful in today’s dynamic
environment where technology acts as
an enabler to learning and needs to be
learnt as well. All one needs is a
platform that gives freedom to
experiment, make mistakes and learn.
Empowering people with the use of
technologies, Robolab Technologies
Pvt Ltd has been striving to develop
an ecosystem which gives people
access to technology, provides
necessary resources, training and
cultivates innovation by motivating
them to solve real-life challenges.
First-generation entrepreneurs and
Co-founders, Pratik Deshmukh,
Amol Gulhane and Ajit B. Pawar
share their experience.
Kindly take us through the journey
of your company and its objectives.
Robolab Technologies came into
existence out of our rigorous efforts as
an attempt to transform the
Educational facilities in the country,
provide an innovative platform to the
students to show their skills and
implement their ideas and create
employment for the youth. Instead of
taking up lucrative jobs, we chose to
start a company. Having worked in the
Robotics field for four years of our
Engineering and being associated with
the Robotics and Automation
Laboratory- Robot Study Circle in
COEP, Robolab Technologies was
bound to happen.
Having worked on a variety of
projects, participating in various types
of competitions and securing laurels
for the Alma Mater at all levels, we
decided to continue with the same zeal
and impart the knowledge to the
newcomers and other students. The
idea was finalized when we came
across a survey which showed the
laggardness in the “Research and
Development Facilities and Center of
Excellences in India”
Robolab Technologies is incubated
under and supported and mentored by
BHAU Institute of Innovation,
Entrepreneurship and Leadership
(BIEL). Robolab is your very own, on
campus, Centre of Excellence in
Robotics, Internet of Things (IoT),
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Rapid
Prototyping (RP) and Industrial
Automation, tailor-made for you. It is
an advanced, state of the art platform
to explore, learn and build robots and
related technologies. We provide
innovative and interactive training by
experts consistent with the latest
curricula and the industry
requirements.
Kindly share your professional
journey and what factors made them
choose the industry they are in?
Robolab was officially incorporated on
Friday the 13th September 2013; we
had already started working on the
business model and plan well before
that somewhere in May. For almost 5
months, Robolab team met several
institutions in and around the region
but got rejected for not having prior
business experience.
We did not lose hope, instead, left our
comfort zone and started approaching
early majority institutions all over
India with the solutions. The pool was
large, but it needed us to target
somewhere and thus, we chose Andhra
Pradesh and began approaching
Professors and HoDs of top colleges.
Robolab
Technologies Pvt Ltd
A Platform to Explore, Learn and Build Ideas
22 | January 2021

Pratik Pravin Deshmukh
(Co-founder and Vice President-Sales)
Pratik’s right mix of technology and business skills come in as a great positive feature to the innovative company. He
has earned experience in technology consulting & solutions in the area of business analytics, analysis and consulting
space. He is well versed in executing technology projects and has deep knowledge of various industry methodologies.
His vision is integral in maintaining Robolab’s leadership in its key focus verticals and in making it one of India's best
and most recognized technology, services, and business solutions provider.
Amol Ashok Gulhane
( Director and Chief Executive Officer)
Amol,a roboticist, has deep experience in designing and manufacturing complex and task-specific industrial robots. He
has a profound knowledge of educational, and defence robots and is specialized in digital image processing, embedded
programming, design analysis and optimization. Widely respected for integrity, innovation and dynamism, Amol has
successfully established and grown partnerships with customers, partners and industry bodies, setting benchmarks in
governance, cooperation and co-innovation. With his entrepreneurial, management and technical skills and being an
accomplished sports-person, he implements his unique ways to motivate the entire team and get the best out of people.
Ajit Balaji Pawar
Chief Operating Officer
Ajit is immensely passionate about Robotics right from his graduate studies earned expertise in design & development
of robots. He took part in many national & international robotics events and has won laurels for his Alma Mater COEP.
His knowledge in product design and his way of approach to product development is commendable. He has deep
experience in 3D CAD modelling, simulation, animation and analysis of the products.
His exceptional people skills and sincerity have been instrumental in building an innovative enterprise. His experience
in management and business operations is an asset to our company.
ABOUT THE CO-FOUNDERS

And within 2 months of starting this
exercise, we succeeded in breaking the
ice. We got our first order from the
Guru Nanak Institutions Hyderabad.
What we needed was necessary
momentum and that’s what the first
order gave us. Within a short period of
5 years, Robolab has reached more
than 50 key organisations spread across
13 states in India and has
collaborations with Indian Armed
Forces and various Industries.
Please share your flagship
product/service that stands out and
how?
For Colleges and Research and
Development Centers
• Center Of Excellence in Robotics
(COE-R)
• Center Of Excellence in Internet of
Things (COE-IoT)
• Center Of Excellence in Artificial
Intelligence (COE-AI)
• Center Of Excellence in
Mechatronics (COE-M)
• Center Of Excellence in Industry 4.0
(COE-I4.0)
• Center Of Excellence in Rapid
Prototyping and Scanning (COE-
RPS)
• Center Of Excellence in Pneumatics
Technology (COE-PT)
• Center Of Excellence in Vacuum
Technology(COE-VT)
• Center Of Excellence in Industrial
Automation(COE-IA)
• Faculty Development Programs
(FDP)
• Research and Development (R&D)
• Consulting, Guidance, Mentorship
For Schools
• Atal Tinkering Lab
• Do it yourself (DIY) Lab
• Robotics Lab
• Internet of Things (IoT) Lab
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab
• Rapid Prototyping Lab
For Industries, Defense and Research
Organizations
• Research and Development
Consulting
• Product Development
R&D is critical to the success of the
company. What measures do you
take to keep the focus on research
and stay a step ahead of
competition?
Robolab as an organisation acts as a
perfect amalgamation for Artificial
Intelligence, Robotics, Internet of
Things, Automation, and similar latest
technologies in hardware and software.
With the kind of talented workforce
that we are having, we can disrupt any
industry we put our eyes on. The team
offers a diverse experience and
skillsets to tackle the challenges. The
team is highly motivated and great at
executing things at super-fast pace
keeping an eye for the details.
We have developed a complete
package for the Center of Excellence in
Robolab consisting of various study
robots, research robotic platform, tools
& equipment, mechanical &
electronics robot building material and
experiment sets. With the kind of
synergy and collaborations that we
have with the technology leaders, we
provide the best in class products and
services for the technology needs.
What according to you is the one
takeaway/lesson from the COVID-19
pandemic?
That, Your business is entirely
dependent on your team members. It
helps to have standard operating
processes and systems. Also, situations
are rarely in our control. It’s always
good to have a strong backup plan you
can switch to in case of an emergency
of this kind. Last but not the least, try
to make the maxim of the opportunity
which is disguised as an obstacle.
What are your views regarding the
start-up business scenario in
Maharashtra?
The entrepreneurial ecosystem is
gradually building up. However,
there’s still a long way to go. The
implementation of various initiatives
and programs are key to the spread of
entrepreneurship. Also, the policies of
the government should be more
inclined towards “Ease of Doing
Business”
Awards Galore:
• National Entrepreneurship Award
Winner 2018, Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship
(MSDE), Government of India
• Recipient of Young MSE Achiever
Award by Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI)
and The Economic Times 2018
• Chosen for the Startup India
Initiative, Department for Promotion
of Industry and Internal Trade,
Government of India
• Best ICT Start-Up in India by
Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology (MeitY),
Government of India, ASSOCHAM
and ERICSSON
• Best Startup award in the field of
Artificial Intelligence Innovation
Domain in Education and Industry
by MITSOT, ITU, The IET
• Winner of the HOT100 Startup
Award by CORE
24 | January 2021

MAHARASHTRA
State
EMERGING
EMERGING
asan
BUSINESS
BUSINESS
HUB
HUB
26 | January 2021

Calling the state of Maharashtra
an Emerging Business Hub can
be confusing. It is already one.
But where it makes sense is in the fact
that parts of the state other than the
developed centres of Mumbai, Pune,
Nashik and Aurangabad, and their
suburbs are now gearing up as
emerging business hubs. Welcome to
the Maharashtra that was till now in
the shadows but with saturation hitting
the Tier I & II cities and Covid-19
pushing us to stay home, these smaller
places could just be what most
industries would want.
With naysayers in these parts in more
than expected numbers, the most
obvious question on everyone’s minds
is: What makes these places so great as
emerging business hubs?
- Cost of setting up places - A
Cushman & Weikfield report
mentioned that 11 tier II and III cities
may see extra housing demand of 9.4
lakh units in 5 years. This report being
on an all-India basis nevertheless
highlights the significance of Tier III
cities in the state of Maharashtra.
Despite rentals falling due to the
Covid-19 lockdown, lack of business
which has seen small business closing
shop, sees quite a few of them
relocating to smaller towns or the
suburbs of Tier I and II cities. Saving
at any cost being the requirement,
smaller towns in Maharashtra could
see a boom in times to come with
entrepreneurs leaving bigger towns and
city centres and moving to smaller
locations.
- Education in
Availability of talent -
Maharashtra at one time was
predominantly the preserve of bigger
towns like Mumbai, Pune, and Nashik.
But like industries, educational
institutions too have spread their base
to smaller towns like Sangli, Kolhapur,
Satara, Osmanabad to name some. Be
it engineering, medical commerce or
the rest, these are available at most
semi-urban centres. In almost all cases,
these are affiliated to known bodies or
are themselves deemed universities
whose quality of education are quite
stringent and high.
- Infrastructure - Maharashtra has
some of India’s best infrastructure
when it comes to setting up industrial
plants. Good roads, reasonable rail
network, industrial parks of various
kinds that cater to every kind of
industry including IT, software, digital
mediums, and the likes make it
possible to set up plants of scale that
directly affects the cost of the products.
Being one of the biggest states in India
today, land to set up plants is not a
problem. In fact, Maharashtra is one of
the states in India where the trickle-
down effect is most evident. Cost of
land being high in established Tier I
cities and its suburbs, businesses now
look for real-estate in smaller town and
in the process sometimes go deep into
the interiors- a good sign when it
comes to decentralizing and
decongesting places.
- Markets within India - With a
population close to 11 crores,
Maharashtra by itself is a substantial
market for most goods and services.
Adding to it is the fact that
Maharashtra has India’s highest state-
wise GDP which means the per-capital
earnings and disposable incomes are
quite high in the state when compared
to the other states in India. What this
means to any business being set up in
the state is that it shall find ready
spenders quite early and gain
immediate profitability and longevity.
There’s another angle to the story.
Maharashtra is surrounded by states
like itself with equally high disposable
incomes. Setting up a base here, be it
for business or products can be
profitable due to the sheer size of
markets.
- Maharashtra
Markets outside India -
has a fairly long coastline and some of
India’s biggest and busiest of ports.
Exporting to and importing from
countries is a possibility with relatively
less hindrance. Besides ports,
Maharashtra as a state has the largest
number of SEZ and India’s most
prolific Free Trade Warehousing Zone
which put together make the act of
exporting, importing, and importing for
exporting rather simple and trouble-
free. These in total give India a healthy
forex reserve besides generating
substantial employment for local
youth.
- Mumbai, the financial capital of
India - If the above weren’t reasons
enough, Maharashtra has the jewel of
India’s economic and financial crown!
Mumbai. In itself, the city has a GDP
which is more than that of countries
like Pakistan and sub-Saharan Africa.
With such a big magnet which attracts
everything from ideas, products,
services, finances, employment, what
more could a business ask for. And as
for Mumbai itself, its area of influence
(with dollops of help from
technologies like the metro, hyperloop,
hovercrafts and more) is only
increasing by the day, a good sign
when its about businesses in an
emerging business hub.
nd
- A most-likely 2 capital at Nagpur -
If Mumbai makes entrepreneurs and
business-persons drool, think of what it
nd
would be when the 2 capital of
Maharashtra comes up at Nagpur.
Maharashtra is a big state in terms of
size and controlling it with just one
capital city howsoever accomplished
can become difficult. Mumbai is also at
nd
one extreme of the state. A 2 capital
as and when it comes up shall be more
than a game changer for the more
modest parts of Maharashtra which in
itself has the potential to be an
emerging business hub. It could propel
Maharashtra into a league of its own
when it comes to per-capita earnings.
- Purushottam
Opportunities Unleashed

Indian clothing throughout the ages have changed and
evolved multiple times. The country was one of the
first places to develop and use cotton for
manufacturing clothes. The primary source of motivation
for Indian attires are taken from the temples in India and
many monuments that are an epitome of human art. There
have been various clothing trends in the country that have
progressed through testing times and emerged glorious
taking their place in the history.
Numerous segments of Indian clothing for male and female
has been derived from garments like langota, lungi, sari,
gamcha, and dhoti. Traditional clothing in the country
mainly depends on the faith that people follow. Different
religious group have distinct attires. That is what makes
India not only a cultural hub, but an enabler for diversified
lifestyle. Catering to this country with diversity is one such
organization, Swarajshop Handicrafts.
It is a leading manufacturer of fashion jewellery on a global
level. “We are a one-stop online portal for women-centric
products worldwide,” says Mangesh Shinde - Founder of
the company. Swarajhop is regularly exporting to countries
like Canada, USA, Germany, UAE, Dubai, etc. The brand
has surpassed its complete milestone in the world of
designer jewelleries and sarees. The company has most
trusted and prime selling brands across various
marketplaces in India and abroad. “We have satisfied
customers all over the world,” states Mangesh.
The company’s vision is to become globally recognized for
women-oriented jewellery products manufacturer having to
be known as one of the largest marketplaces online (an e-
commerce platform) worldwide. “Our mission is to deliver
the choicest quality products, with every client leaving with
a smile on their faces. We glorify families at Swarajshop, as
jewels often stay within families,” narrates Mangesh.
How it all began….
Swarajshop initiated its operations in 2010, as an
e-commerce marketplace in India. The company was
independently focusing on the manufacturing and supply of
candles with a third-party delivery system in order to meet
customer demands in the start.
In 2015, Swarajshops moved away from the third-party
integration overcoming the reliance and dependencies by
starting its own manufacturing with Copper Alloy for
different pieces of jewelleries. This operation is based out
of Malad, Mumbai which gives the company an edge over
its competitors as resource availability and facilitation is
optimum in the town.
When 2017 was around the corner, Swarajshop came up
with a crafting design to cover every segment of jewellery
fan by introducing the isolated mixture of alloy from Zinc
and Mazak, to please the customers without having a price
constraint. “We started this to maintain the purity of the
jewelleries for our valued customers,” states the team of
Swarajshop.
“With our focused research team who always strives to
make Swarajshop the largest marketplace by meeting the
trends in the jewellery business, we add value to the
customer by enhancing their experience,” adds Mangesh.
The company came up with different varieties of high-
quality beautifully crafted jewellery design by
manufacturing the Big Kunden jewellery at low units for
yielding high-quality results. All of this happened in 2019.
Handicrafts
A Leading Brand Promoting Indigenous and Ethnic Products
28 | January 2021

Mangesh Shinde
Founder

Currently, Swarajshop is happily continuing its business
through its e-commerce marketplace with delivering
countless smiles every day. Swarajshop is heading towards
beoming India’s No.1 e-commerce marketplace for
indigenous products, especially jewelleries that are
manufactured in-house by the excellent team of artisans,
working in Swarajshop. The company is planning to take
their brand operations global, emphasizing on its jewellery
business.
Dynamics of Swarajshop
Quality has always been a key factor for Swarajshop. It has
been a core element for the company where its team wants
the products to last while being continuously used without
any tampering. Ensuring the highest quality standards are
maintained, Mangesh likes to oversee the entire
development and production process, from the first sketch
to the final stroller.
Sourcing raw materials for the final products in the
lockdown during the advent of Covid-19 was quite difficult
for the team of Swarajshop. Apt design solutions were also
not available when Covid-19 hit the streets of India. “It
took a great amount of work for us to deliver high standard
products to our clients in this ongoing pandemic,” shares
Mangesh. The company suffered financially as well.
But Swarajshop made a great comeback. The team focused
on the South Indian style designs for sarees which turned
out to be the latest hit in the market and now the company
is keen on pursuing that segment.
The team of Swarajshop guarantees that the customers’
personal information is protected when they surf the
website of the company. The e-commerce platform stores
the information acquired by customers on a secured server.
Also, SSL is utilized for checkout process all the while
keeping the billing info safe where no credit details are
saved on its system. “We don’t share your personal
information with any other third-party sources,” describes
Mangesh.
Swarajshop’s marketplace is growing at a normal pace and
its team is driven to provide customers with an experience
that is digitally rich and easily accessible. “We want to give
our customers something extra, hence our approach is now
more inclined towards customer delight,” concludes
Mangesh.
Discover a
whole
new world
of ethnic
wear and
jewelleries
with us
“
“
30 | January 2021

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