MUMBAI: The likes of Facebook and Oracle have been rolling out crore-plus offers at IIT campuses, but not everyone's biting. Mechanical engineering student Vaibhav Antil, for instance, has caught the start-up bug and is keener to develop his mobile app-based idea around music than work for someone else.

A number of IITs now have a fallback option for graduating students like him. To encourage them to do their own thing, IIT-Bombay has allowed Antil to be part of a deferred placement programme (DPP), which will allow him to return to campus for interviews in the next two years if his business idea doesn't work out.

Engineering physics student Anurag Meena, who's trying to develop a non-invasive drug delivery and diagnosis product with his professor, is also taking the DPP. Last year, only one student at IIT-B opted for deferred placements; this year, this year, 12 have, said placement manager Mohak Mehta.

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IIT-Kanpur is offering the opportunity for the first time and six students have already opted for it. IIT-Madras is extending it to even students who wish to do a PhD, said officials.

The prototype of Meena's project with Professor Rohit Srivastava is being funded by the Tata Centre for Design at IIT-B. Of the 12 students, five are working on various projects for the Centre for Technology for Alternatives for Rural Areas (C-TARA) at IIT-B. Sandhya Seetharaman is working with C-TARA on a project that would require her to evaluate environmental safeguards in district rural roads plans under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna.

"We tried spreading awareness on campus and sent regular mails to students. We wanted to brand it as a positive 'benefit' being 'awarded' to credible students. Once applications came in, we interviewed the students. Not everyone who applies gets an opportunity," said Mehta of IIT-B.

Amruthkumar Hegde, a mechanical engineering student from IIT-Madras, and his friend Krishna Chaitanya, wanted to try their luck once with the civil services exam before appearing for their placement interviews. "I would like to see if I stand a chance in the all-India test. After a year, the institute will take a call on extension," he said.

According to Angellist, Mumbai is the heart of more than 500 startups and numerous accelerators, incubators and investors. The city of Mumbai is known for some amazing startups that have grown enormously including Housing.com, Cleartrip, Ola and Quikr among others.As a part of our Indian Startup Hubs Series, where we will be covering some of the amazing startup hub cities, this time we bring to you the list of Mumbai based growth stage startups that you should know about.CrowdfireFounder(s):Nischal Shetty,Siddharth Menon,Anirudh Khusape,Sameer MhatreFounded in:Feb 2010Funding:$2.5 Mn from Kalaari Capital in its Series A funding round.It is not only about how many friends you make in the social world, it is about how you manage them. People who unfollow matter just the same, at least for companies desiring repeat customers.Crowdfire, a Twitter and Instagram friend mangement app helps in doing exactly that. Through Crowdfire, enterprises (and others) can find out their inactive followers on Twitter and also how many have unfollowed them which allows companies to give undivided attention to potential customers. The mobile app offers a variety of tools for managing followers, of which some are free while others require subscription. The company has already crossed INR 6 Cr. in revenue by providing this technology to 8 Mn users worldwide.PricebabaFounder(s):Tirthesh Ganatra,Annkur P AgarwalFounded in:January 2012Funding:Undisclosed amount in 1 Round from Dinesh Tejwani, 500 Startups, Karamveer SinghPriceBaba, a local product search engine, helps customers get in touch with the various local and online retailers and select their desired smartphone to the best of their benefit. Besides price comparison, it also displays prices from different retailers, both local and online, thus giving a clear picture to the customers. Recently, it expanded to 4 new cities namely: Chennai, Hyderabad, Baroda and Surat, taking the total number of cities it is operational in to 11. PriceBaba, recently, also introduced a new online price comparisonalongside local prices on its platform.WebEngage

Founder(s):Avlesh Singh,Ankit UtrejaFounded in:2010Funding:Undisclosed funding in two rounds from Indian Angel Network, GTI CapitalA SaaS-based on-site customer engagement tool for online businesses, WebEngages solutions allow online businesses to run promotions and offers on their websites and gather customer insights. At the core of WebEngage is its targeting engine which can be used to identify visitor segments (like referring site, geo location, cookies etc) and throw a particular questionnaire or message/offer to them.The firm counts among its key clients companies such as Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, Jabong, Myntra, Snapdeal, Avaya, Intuit and Udemy. The startup is also planning to expand its operations to the US.SuperFounders:Faisal MemonFounded In:September 2013Funded:N/AMumbai-based recruitment app, Super recently acquired Viraltrics, a mobile SaaS startup for deep linked referrals. The aim is to help companies connect with the right candidates via an algorithm that looks at the resumes and the keywords in an employers description to make a match. It has already received half a million registrations from job seekers and has been rated over 8500 times with 100K screen views everyday. Super is used by over 100+ Startups including HelpShift, Haptik, Flatchat, Crowdfire, Grabhouse, WebEngage, to hook up with hot talent.WizrocketFounder(s):Anand Jain,Sunil ThomasandSuresh KondamudiFounded in:May 2013Funding:$1.6 Mn from Accel PartnersMumbai based WizRocket is a user behavior analysis & targeting tool startup, it can be used to engage with the loyal users on the site via web messages, or to reach out to lost users via email campaigns. It sendsa push notification to people whove abandoned shopping cart on the mobile app, or even to thank users whove made a purchase on that day via in-app notifications.TushkyFounder(s):Kranti AgarwalandTalvinder SinghFounded in:September 2011Funding:June 2011 $65k/Seed, September 2012 $25k/Angel, January 2013 Undisclosed, April 2013 $250k/Angel and latest September-2013 Undisclosed amount/Seed.Tushky is a marketplace for real-world leisure activities in India. The Startup can be used for discovering and booking unique activities like fencing, archery, grilling, quilling etc from credible local people . With 1300 bookable activities on its platform, currently it is the biggest in India. Its web platform is one of the most advanced in the world, for its ability to store, serve and distribute activities in bookable format, right down to the date, time and paid exclusions. The company is backed by some of the best known investors and advisers in India and Silicon Valley.Purple SquirrelFounder(s):Aditya GandhiandSahiba DhandhaniaFounded in:2013Funding:2 Undisclosed fundingsPurple Squirrel Eduventures, an IIT Bombay incubated startup, connects students with industry partners for field visits, workshops and hands on practical experiences. The company bulids programs for colleges, wherein students visit and interact with both entrepreneurial and big player companies for their spread of career diversity. Purple Squirrel has already delivered 5000+ unique experiences in experiential learning, associating with 350+ campuses and corporates across 12+ destinations within 1 year of its opening. It has so far connected 70 colleges from 10 cities, 8,000 students and 300+ partner companies.NifflerFounder(s):Edul Patel,Prince AroraandViraj ShahFounded in:2014Funding:$ 1 Mn from Saif PartnersMumbai-based startup, Niffler is a mobile application that helps users discover deals and discounts from their favourite brands as soon as they go live. The firm helps find deals from offline merchants across categories including food and drinks, spas and salons, apparel and home dcor. Brands like Zara, Forever 21, and Shoppers Stop have had their End of Season Sales featured on Niffler. Since 2014, there has been 30,000+ traction which has increased the apps presence in top 5 cities of the country i.e. Mumbai, Pune, NCR, Bangalore and Hyderabad.RoomNHouse

Founders:Amit Solanki,Rakesh SinghFounded In:November 2012Funding:$166.4K in July 2014Mumbai-based Room N House is a trusted and reliable local community marketplace for people to search, discover list and make use of the ultimate locations in any area of their choice. Its a common mans destination place. Whether you need to rent out a private space for a quick penny, or desperately need a place to match your requirements, be it a small get-together, a family or a business function, or just need an accommodation for your next visit, RoomNHouse covers it all.SimpelFounders:Subhradeep BhattarcharyaFounded In:2013Funding:N/AMumbai-based Simpel is a mobile payment app that allows customers to pay through credit/debit cards instead of cash for Cash on Delivery (COD) and Home deliveries without the need for any additional device on the side of the merchants. Simpel charges a small transaction fee fromthe companies on every transaction. They want to onboard over 100 merchants and reach 10,000 transactions from 5000 customers.KettoFounder(s):Kunal Kapoor,Varun ShethandZaheer AdenwalaFounded in:2012Funding:$150K angel investors, November 2013Ketto is an online crowdfunding platform that allows individuals, corporates and NGOs to raise funds for their favourite social causes and ideas using social media and ecommerce in fun and engaging ways. With celebrity support (Kunal Kapoor), the platform wants to connect individuals and brands with fundraisers. The company aims to increase engagement and participation among NGOs, its supporters and corporates to raise funds while bringing down the cost of doing the same. It claims to be getting over 15,000 unique investors on its platform per month.CatapoooltFounder(s):Satish KatariaFounded in:2012Funding:Undisclosed seed funding in April 2014.Catapooolt is a crowdfunding and crowd engagement platform for Movies, Music, Performing Arts and other creative ventures. It also offers its community-driven platform and media access to various Technology projects (E.g. Gaming, Internet of Things, Mobile Apps).Fab BagFounder(s):Kaushik MukherjeeandVineeta SinghFounded in:July 2012Funding:$500K seed funding in February 2013Mumbai based FAB BAG (earlier known as Vellvette) is a beauty/grooming discovery and subscription platform. Each month, thousands of members sign up to receive expert-recommended full and travel-sized products from top global brands that they can sample at home. The member benefits also include discounts on sampled products and detailed information on how to use these products. FAB BAG also has an extensive range of premium & prestige products for sale online and frequently hosts offline workshops and product launches in collaboration with beauty brands. The company, with a team of 22 members evenly split between sourcing, tech, support & operations, has shipped beauty bags to 40,000+ subscribers and has 100,000+ registered members online.WegilantFounder(s):Toshendra SharmaFounded in:2011Funding:INR 1 Cr. angel funding in 2014 from Ravi Gururaj of HBS Alumni Angels, Gaurav Sharma of Yahoo India, and Vishwanathan Ramachandran and IIT-Bombays startup incubator SINE.Mumbai based Wegilant delivers Android App security products on Cloud, consulting and research. It basically offers strategies, capabilities and technologies necessary to help businesses preemptively protect Android applications & IT infrastructure from threats. It offers Appvigil, a cloud-based Android app security scanner that scans security loopholes in Android applications. As per the company, the funds will be used to add new features to the product and increase more clients, besides expanding the team. The Company won NASSCOM Emerge 50 Award 2014 and Wegilant was among Top 10 Emerging Software Product Companies in India for 2014.PokktFounder(s):Sharad Ingule,Vaibhav OdekarandRohit SharmaFounded in:August 2012Funding:October 2013 Undisclosed seed funding and in July 2014 it raised $2.5 Mn in Series A.Mobile-based application Pokkt, is an additional way for app developers and publishers to make money. It provides software development kits (SDKs) to help resolve the challenges of discovery and monetisation. It is available on Android, iOS and Windows platforms. For consumers who want to purchase digital content on web or mobile, Pokkt provides a chance to do it for free by offering multiple alternative payment tools like watching videos, subscribing to services, installing applications and participating in surveys. For advertisers, the app provides multiple engagement tools to reach out to millions of active users, both on web and mobile. The firm charges a fee from these advertisers which is its main source of revenue. Pokkt claims to be seeing 8,000-10,000 transactions per day across all its platforms and is working with 15 big publishers and developers in the country. With the funding, the company wants to expand to more than 5,000 developers globally and launch more products to help developers get their apps discovered and monetized.HaptikFounder(s):Aakrit VaishandSwapan RajdevFounded in:2014Funding:$1 Mn from KalaariHaptik is a mobile messaging platform which enables users to get help from experts for various products and services.Haptik acts like a WhatsApp for customer support to put an end to automated customer support machines and allows users to chat with experts and get help with customer support issues, FAQs and information. Users just need to send out a text and the specific company representative will get in touch with them within 1 to 4 minutes.Plancess Edusolutions Pvt Ltd.Founder(s):Nitesh Salvi,Vivek GuptaandMirik GogriFounded in:2011Funding:INR 6 Cr.Plancess aims to reach IIT JEE aspirants and deliver IIT JEE preparation material. It deliversexpert created JEE Mains and Advanced preparation tips, IIT JEE Online Video Lecturesand precise IIT JEE Study Material. The learning resources by Plancess include top-rated preparation material, Proficiency Test & Olympiad package for specific exam requirements. Plancess is a 70 members strong team and already has 25000+ happy students enrolled.TimesaverzFounder(s):Lovnish BhatiaandDebadutta UpadhyayaFounded in:2012Funding: Undisclosed amount inseed funding fromNeville Taraporewalla, Rajesh Sawhney of GSF,Ashish Jalani, founder at eTailing India, Dinesh Agarwal, founder of Indiamart, and Nish Bhutani, COO of Saffronart also participated in this round.Mumbai-based Timesaverz offers a platform to obtain people for home services. In simple words, a mobile application (installed 1000+ times) that combines uberification of services with an understanding of the needs and dynamics of Indian households. The raised funds are said to be used for scaling up and expanding services across multiple cities in India; currently it has services available only in Mumbai. It has a network of over 500 service providers on its platform. Each service partner goes through a process before enlisting with the platform that includes background check, verification of skill-sets and polishing of soft-skills.AasaanjobsFounder(s):Dinesh GoelFounded in:2013Funding:$1.5 Mn fromIDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital PartnersMumbai-based Aasaanjobs.com is a recruitment portal for blue collared and entry level white collared workers in India. The firm, which went live in 2014, addresses what is known as the grey area segment in job market, covering entry level jobs such as data-entry operators and telemarketers. In their last funding of $1.5 Mn in January this year from investors IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partners, the company claimed to use the funds to expand their existing offerings, hire management and tech professionals and to ramp up technology and product development. Aasanjobs features over 5000 verified candidates with close to 1000 job openings.VoxpopclothingFounder(s):Siddharth TapariaFounded in:2013Funding:$1 MnMumbai based Web-only merchandising brandVoxPopClothingis a startup which develops and retails limited edition T-shirts in partnership with global and domestic entertainment and sports brands like Disney, Marvel and Mumbai City Football Club and other brands, including Batman, Superman, and Game of Thrones.ObinoFounder(s):Ritu Soni Srivastavaand Yogesh SachdevaFounded in:August 2014Funding:Undisclosed amount inpre-seed round in January 2015 from HealthstartUnlike traditional weight-loss mobile apps which focus on counting calories,Obino is an application which helps users get in shapeby providing nutrition information and other lifestyle modifications on the Recommend-Remind-Reward model. Launched in August 2014 as a free and premium mobile-application for Android handsets, Obino has around 16,000 downloads, over 2000 active users & 150+ paying customers at a ticket size of INR 1500 per month.BoxmyspaceFounder(s):Pratyush JalanFounded in:January 2015Funding: N/AMumbai-based venture BoxMySpace helps provide physical storage.Be it diwali decoration material, winter clothes or any other collectibles, the startup helps clear all the clutter which keeps accumulating and provides you the luxury of space. You can box the stuff up and they will store it for you. All that the user needs to do is order online and he/she can get the home decluttered in a jiffy. The whole process of ordering boxes, scheduling a pickup, tracking and indexing the boxes is done online through Boxmyspaces web portal and mobile application, and in terms of pricing, they charge INR 250 per box for a minimum storage period of three months. The company has one hub setup in Mumbai for the logistics, and plans to setup another to cover the other parts of Mumbai.LocalbanyaFounder(s):Karan Mehrotra,Rashi ChoudharyandAmit NaikFounded in:2012Funding:Funding round led byShrem Strategiesin late 2014, prior to it, Localbanya had raised two round of funding from investors including BCCLs Springboard Fund and Karmvir Avant Infotech Pvt Ltd.Mumbai-based online grocery startup, Localbanya was the first to enter the online grocery market in Mumbai, back in 2012. The company with an employee strength between 200-500, was the first to develop multiple innovative ideas such as offering deliveries up to 11:30 pm. The company lists over 14,000 products on its website and manages to get around 850 900 orders per day in Mumbai, with an average cart value of INR 1400 per order. Localbanya has set a target of expanding to seven cities within 2015, starting with Pune. The other cities include Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.TopprFounder(s):Hemanth Goteti,Zishaan HayathFounded in:2013Funding: Undisclosed Angel funding from Kashyap Deorah and Abhishek Jain,$2 Million in Seed Funding from SAIF Partners, Helion Venture PartnersPreparing for competitive exams has always been a hard task for the students. With innumerable books to study and a wide variety of study material available, students often find themselves confused with regard to the topics needed to cover and whether their preparation is in line with the exam pattern.Toppr provides an adaptive platform built over a strong question bank that makes the experience of each student unique and tailored for their needs. Every student solves different questions and different number of questions based on his previous attempts, but, clears the same set of goals. This goal-driven pedagogy gives a structure to the study and instant feedback reports and strength/weakness analysis measure the progress of the student while also eliminating a lot of non-value adding steps from exam prep like searching for more questions, matching answers to calculate scores etc.Instamojo

Founder(s):Sampad Swain,Akash Gehani,Harshad SharmaFounded in:2012Funding:$500 Thousand in 3 Rounds from 500 Startup, Kalaari Capital, Sunil Kalra, Rob de Hues, Shailesh Rao, Blume Venture, Bharatram Thodadri, Rajan AnandanAn online payment collection platform, Instamojo allows users to sell reports, codes, documents, photos, templates, tutorials, music, and videos, for free by just sharinging a link. The user has to list the stuff he/she wants to give away and Instamojo, in turn, creates a page for the posting. The unique link of the page can be then shared with friends, fans and followers. When someone interested claims it, the owner gets an intimation e-mail and can give it away. The platform is available for users across the world.HolachefFounder(s):Saurabh Saxena,Anil Gelraand Ritu RanaFounded in:September 2014Funding:INR 2 Cr.Mumbai-based startup Holachef is a fine-dine restaurant in the cloud! The menu changes every-day and provides an unmatched variety in terms of meals that are made from the finest of ingredients. Currently, Holachef is operational in Mumbai areas like Powai, Chandivali, Vikhroli (West), Bhandup (W), Andheri (E), Sakinaka, Marol and JVLR. The company is now seeking to raise INR 25 30 Cr. funding in order to expand across Mumbai as well as in six to seven other cities across India.NoBroker

Founder(s):Amit Agarwal and Akhil GuptaFounded in:March 2014Funding:$3 Mnfrom SAIF Partners & Fulcrum Ventures in Series AMumbai-based startup NoBroker.in is an unique home rental platform that makes it possible to rent houses without paying any brokerage. The website is currently operational in Mumbai and Bangalore and, after their funding, they wish to expand to 20 other cities in India over the next 2 years.EmbibeFounder(s):Aditi AvasthiFounded in:2012Funding:$4 Mn Venture capital from Kalaari Capital and Lightbox VenturesIndividuals go through a lot of transitions in their life. Students, in particular, have to face the daunting dilemma of choosing from various streams, schools, how to prepare for entrance examinations, branch to study in etc. Embibe, through its data driven insights, helps maximize the potential of every student. With the help of intensive analytics, content and data, Embibe personalizes test prep education and identifies test taking and practice behaviours as well as academic deficiencies that make students underachieve in an exam.Embibe recently acquired 100 Marks, one of the student guidance platforms for JEE Main, Advanced and Medical, in a cash plus stock deal.Klip.inFounder(s):Harsh GadiaandManeesh MadambathFounded in:2011Funding: INR 3 Cr.fromVentureNursery, members of Calcutta Angels, Mumbai Angels in February 2015,undisclosed amount of funding from VentureNursery and Mumbai Angels in 2013.Mumbai-based Klip is a social shopping website tool that helps people in arriving at a better buying decision by connecting a community of shoppers based on their wishlists (klips) and taste. There are thousands of interesting lifestyle products online and hardly a good way to find them, but Klip thought it should be easier than browsing through ten blue links at a time and then going through 5 different tabs to find something that matches the unique taste. The company with less than 10 employees is planning to come up with mobile app in few months. Klips few of the biggest ecommerce stores include Flipkart, Myntra, Postergully, Yellowtrunk, Jabong, Amazon and many others.ZepoFounder(s):Nitin PurswaniFounded in:2011Funding:Undisclosed amount from Anupam Mittal, CEO of People Group, One97 Mobility Fund and few othersMumbai-basedZepois a do-it-yourself (DIY) ecommerce platform for SMBs. Zepo helps people take their businesses online in a very short period of time by providing an entire framework required to sustain an ecommerce business. The company provides a great ecommerce website with 100+ themes to choose from, a free payment gateway to accept online payments, logistics support to ship your orders and marketing help to promote your website.GrabhouseFounder(s):Prateek ShuklaandPankhuri ShrivastavaFounded in:2013Funding:undisclosed amount in seed funding, $2 Mn in Series A round November 2014 and $2.5 Mn in January 2015.Bangalore-based Grabhouse.com is a broker free house renting website (also available on Android app), that helps people find compatible roommates and rented accommodation. Their main aim is to connect owners or current tenants to prospective tenants directly. Grabhouse wishes to make a highly unorganized sector clutter free by ensuring quality and accurate listings in simple steps; Check photos, neighbourhood information, amenities details and preferences all on a single page to make an informed decision. Grabhouse is currently operational in four cities, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad. According to the website, it has listings of over 138238 houses, and, using the platform, users have saved about 14.01 Cr.+ which they would otherwise have had to pay in brokerage.WishberryFounder(s):Priyanka AgarwalandAnshulika DubeyFounded in:2012Funding:INR 4 Cr.Mumbai-based Wishberry is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform that raises funds for creative and innovative projects. It helps people in pitching their projects to friends, family, fans and everyone else who can contribute funds for their projects/dreams. The company has raised over INR 3.5 Cr. from 9100+ funders worldwide for 150 projects, which include Arts, Film, Theatre, Music, Tech, Gaming, Publishing and Apps getting funded on the platform. Wishberry, with their crowdfunding, want to spur innovation & creativity in India and then later spread to other developing countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka.PurplleFounder(s):Manish TanejaandRahul Dash.Founded in:2011Funding:Undisclosed amount in Series A funding from Ivy Cap in 2015,undisclosed amount in funding in 2013 led by Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and Chennai Angels in Pre-Series A.Mumbai-based website Purplle.com is an online personal care and beauty products platform which serves both men and women across different categories like skin care, makeup, body care, beauty appliances etc. The company has tie ups with more than 7,000 salons, spas, skin care and hair care chains across Mumbai and are targeting $40-50 Mn GMV run rate and 25000 products, 50000 salons and spas by end of this year. Currently they are doing about a 1000 transactions on the platform with a ticket size of INR 1100-1200.Testbook.comFounder(s):Manoj Munna,Ashutosh Kumar,Narendra AgrawalFounded in:April 1, 2013Funding: $200k in 1 Round from LetsVenture, Utsav SomaniAn Education Tech company, Testbook provides online learning experience. Testbook is an online test preparation platform for competitive exams like GATE, CAT, SBI PO, SBI Clerk, IBPS PO, etc covering practice, testing and learning needs of the students. All the tests have been designed by toppers. Practice tests with different time lengths are provided to ensure systematic preparation. Also, detailed solutions are provided to strengthen the concepts.Many students have registered on its platform, which is currently free.MydentistFounder:Vikram VoraFounded in:2009Funding:$10 Mn in 1 Round from SeedFund, Asian Healthcare FundWith 100-plus clinics, Mydentist is currently the largest organized player in the fragmented dental care market. Their services encompass all aspects of cosmetic and restorative dentistry including all forms of general dentistry, oral surgery, fixed and removable prosthetics, implants, orthodontic care, cosmetic procedures and emergency care with the utilization of the latest in dental technology and expertise. Its operations are concentrated in Mumbai, including Thane and Navi Mumbai, Pune, Surat and Ahmedabad.Updated:TaskBobFounders:Aseem KhareFounded In:2014Funding:Raised funding of $1.2 Mn from Orios, Mayfield.The Mumbai-based mobile-only home services startup, TaskBob offers instant home services by sending pre-screened, verified, skilled professional serviceman at the customer doorstep to fix household appliances such as AC, washing machine, computer and refrigerator.LocalOyeFounders:Aditya RaoFounded In:2013Funding:$5 Mn Series A funding from Tiger Global Management and Lightspeed Venture Partners; undisclosed amount in seed funding from Sidharth Rao (Co-founder Webchutney), Haresh Chawla (ex-Group CEO Network 18 and India Value Fund partner), and Sachin Bhatia (co-founder, MakeMyTrip).Mobile marketplace for hiring local service professionals, LocalOye team does screening and personal verification of each service professional to ensure quality, assurance and fair pricing. A merchant can look at details of the customer like budget, location, timings, preferences etc. and choose to accept the connection. This ensures very high reliability and trust for both the customers and merchants.DoormintFounders:Three IITians, Naman Lahoty (IITB), Abhinav Agarwal (IITB) and Piyush Ranjan (IITK)Founded In:January 2015Funding:Undisclosed amount of funding from Powai Lake Ventures.On demand utility service startup Doormint provides services from electricians, laundry, plumbers, carpenters, pest control and appliance repair. The company also does background, criminal and police verifications before they take professionals on board.InloyalFounder(s):Kunal MehtaandUrvi MehtaFounded in:2014Funding:N/AMumbai-based Inloyal, is the digital loyalty pocket for retail customers and plug-and-play loyalty rewards management platform for retailers. This Android/iOS app stores all the loyalty programs in the phone itself, and helps in reaping benefit from all the deals, discounts, and other rewards that brands offer their loyal customers. One does not have to submit his/her mobile number at the counter everytime. The retailers gain from this too, as the app moonlights as a customer relationship management (CRM) platform so that one can virtually check-in to the store via Facebook, interact with brands on Twitter, and get queries answered in-app. Loyalty programs are relatively new in India, stores like Shoppers Stop, LifeStyle, and Westside introduced them a few years ago. But now, most major brands are running such programs.PickMe E-ServicesFounder(s):Joseph Sudhakar,Raj Wilbret,Praful ChatrapatiFounded in: 2011Funding: N/AMumbai-based startup provides doorstep pick-up, technical assistance and drop of gadgets from authorized service channel for repair and also ensures their safe return to customers after repair. In other words users of Pickme service do not have go through the pain of finding the closest service centre, driving there, parking in congested areas and waiting endlessly just to get their gadgets repaired. With just a click online, SMS or phone call they can get doorstep pick up of gadgets for repair. However the time taken for their repair and service continues to be a drain on time and money for customers. The startup currently has about 162 employees and 21 connect points in 4 branches across India. Their service network link covers all metros and is in the process of adding Tier I & II towns in the near future.StitchwoodFounder(s):Ajit ShegaonkarandVikash NairFounded in:2014Funding:Seed funding of $100kThis Mumbai-based startup offers online customised furniture service to its customers. One can also upload pictures or designs as per their wishes. The business follows a vendor outsourcing model, post which the companys quality team monitors the products manufacturing, at the vendors factory. The seven-member startup, started offering services only last month and has so far delivered 10 orders. The company is also set to launch a new feature which will range from a home visit by a furniture expert to a customers place.Dont worry if we missed out on your startup, we will keep on updating the list.[Editors Note: Thanks to Ajeet Khurana for helping us put together this list.]

This is part of our special series,In Focus: Indian Startup Hubs, in whichwe highlight the numerous established as well as upcoming startup hubs in the Indian Tech Ecosystem!