Infotel 2016: Startups galore

As the massive three-day exposition showcased the Sri Lankan ICT industry to the public, Infotel 2016 drew the crowd in their numbers. With a plethora of segments on offer, the startup scene was also a visible main attraction at Infotel 2016. Here are some of the startups we saw at this year’s edition of Infotel.

Rush

Meet Rush, your very own Uber for logistics. Equipped with features such as delivery, payments, and warehousing, this startup operates as a B2B solution. So how do they work exactly? In a nutshell, the client and the merchant will each get an app, which would essentially cater to the logistics requirement from each end. When inquired, the team claimed to do 20-30 deliveries per day on average as of now.

eTenders.lk | B2B.lk

If you’re in the field of business, chances are you would have to manually search through the newspapers for details on tenders. This is the problem eTenders.lk aims to solve. Starting off back in 2012, eTenders.lk is Sri Lanka’s first platform for tenders. Recently, the company launched b2b.lk. This is where the same mechanism is followed, but with one key difference. While eTenders look at the public sector. On the other hand, b2b.lk will be looking at the private sector. This means that b2b.lk will act as a platform for procurement managers/business owners and suppliers.

xoxo.lk

Party coming up soon? Not sure where to head to? Enter xoxo.lk, which is pronounced as hugsandkisses.lk. In case you’re wondering, they’re not selling hugs and kisses (we asked). Xoxo.lk is an online marketplace that wants to be the one-stop-shop for all party needs. Through this platform, customers would be able to choose from a range of products varying from custom invitation cards to cakes to party wear and gifts.

PreviewVR

Back in July, we bought you the story of the first Seedstars event which was held in Colombo. Among the participants that took the stage on that day, was PreviewVR. Here, we met with the team at Infotel 2016, where they were showcasing their product. In case you didn’t know, PreviewVR employs Virtual Reality that enables a buyer to take a virtual tour of a housing space/property. This also allows you to change the look and feel of the space within the platform.

Lanka Reload

Walking through the many stalls at Infotel 2016, we came across another interesting startup, called Lanka Reload. Here, the idea is to provide prepaid mobile users with a convenient way of reloading your phone. Simply log in to www.lankareload.com and reload any number you want. According to the team, this works with most payments methods such as via Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, etc. To make things even easier, Lanka Reload has also released its own mobile app, which lets you get the job done through your smartphone itself.

Grubz

Here’s an app that wants to help you save time & money, and help you fill your stomach in the process. The app works by showing you deals from nearby restaurants that are registered with its service. Sounds familiar? That’s probably because they were a part of Disrupt Asia a few months back.

gudppl

This startup wants to build a social network that brings together volunteers and voluntary organizations. They called themselves, the Linkedin for volunteers. Introducing elements of gamification, gudppl lets an individual track their volunteering profile along with individual performance. Being a country known for its generosity and volunteering even on a global scale, the startup is hopeful of encouraging more people to volunteer for social causes.

Siplo

If there’s one thing that makes the life of a student under the local curriculum difficult, is probably the heaps of subject content that needs to be studied and memorized. It becomes even more tedious when you have to constantly attend tuition classes. This is where Siplo comes in. With Siplo, any Ordinary Level/ Advanced Level student would have the ability to attend classes virtually. All you have to do is get registered on the site, select a tutor and schedule a time of your convenience.

HypeHash

By now, most of you probably would have heard about HypeHash, the year-old startup that won big at the AngelHack Global Demo Day recently. If you’re not familiar with HypeHash, the concept revolves around monetizing hashtags where trending hashtags from around the globe are used to inspire designers to create & sell products.

Mydream.lk

Meet mydream.lk, where “dreams are no more dreams”. Although we’re not entirely sure what the tagline exactly entails, mydream.lk is essentially an eCommerce platform that connects buyers and sellers. Here, you would have the option of buying and selling items in more than 160 different categories. But how does it differentiate itself from the like of other similar platforms such as ikman.lk? Only time will tell.

Senzmate

When we first saw them, they had built their own IoT product to help farmers. Now at Infotel 2016, the Jaffna-based startup seems to be on route to establishing itself as a total IoT solutions provider for cars, logistics management, farming, and more. Senzmate has come a long way since its inception.

Onsbay

Dubbed as the future of services delivery, Onsbay is looking to replace the traditional Yellow Pages book. So what does Onsbay offer? Simply put, the app provides a variety of services. These services range from rental and home-related services to event-specific and even personal services such as channeling a doctor.

PA Digital

Founded in 2012, PA Digital, or better known as Puppet Animations, is a Sri Lankan Animation Studio that specializes in 3D animation. With the aim of bringing international standards to animation, the startup provides animation solutions for pretty much every industry. In addition, the team also showcased their “VR Innovation Engine” at the Startup Pavilion at Infotel 2016.

eZuite

This is a 100% cloud-based ERP platform that lets you handle a variety of organizational operations. These operations include a variety of tasks ranging from payroll and Point of Sales to handling distribution and logistics. According to the team, eZuite is a scalable ERP platform and it follows a monthly subscription pricing model.

RCS2 – 3D Printing

Although not exactly a new concept, 3D printing has certainly sparked interest among the general populace. The RCS2 team wants to encourage this spark of interest in the field. Dubbed as Thrimana, this startup introduced us to a number of available 3D printing models, with one that even comes as a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) kit.

Kesha

As the name implies, Kesha is a startup that’s involved with salons. To put in to more accurate terms, this is an online solution that aims to make life easier for salons by providing a system to handle backend operations. In other words, they want to ensure that you don’t have to wait to get your haircut.

More location based startups

Among the list of startups at Infotel 2016, we came across quite a few location-based ideas. Routeradar is one of them. Question – how do you track your team? If you’re in a business that involves a lot of traveling then this might actually be a serious question in terms of effectively managing your team. This is where routeradar wants to help. Through their cloud-based solution, it’s just a matter of logging in to the system and monitoring the team via GPS.

Mygps offers somewhat similar service. But instead of your office crew, you can track your family and friends. Additionally, users would need to download the mygps app onto their smartphone to utilize the service.

Busbooking.lk, internet eke kondosthara

For those of you traveling in long-distance buses and find it cumbersome to always get a seat. busbooking.lk may have a solution for you. This online platform essentially lets you reserve seats for a long-distance bus. The service also includes 24/7 passenger service support which they provide via Whatsapp/Viber/Skype.

RecruitX

Meet RecruitX, a startup that wants to get rid of CVs. Well, physical ones at least. Their solution comes in the form of a mobile app. This app will let you create your own digital profile and will grant the opportunity to apply for open vacancies form already registered companies. According to the team, RecruitX’s algorithm will only let companies receive applications from relevant individuals and will not allow random ones to be sent to vacancies.

LiveRoom

They made their pitch back in August at Voltage230, which put them amongst the most memorable. At Infotel 2016, we saw the team attracting a crowd in the numbers with their VR simulation. In case you didn’t know, LiveRoom is an Augmented Reality app that lets you visualize a product in the real world before you buy it. At Infotel 2016, they were showcasing a virtual reality demo asking you to (literally) walk the plank. With this game, we saw that they were the most popular stall at the startup pavilion.

WebInvoiceMaker

When it comes to small businesses, maintaining company cash flow and managing invoices may often be a difficult task. WebInvoiceMaker’s online platform looks to solve this problem with ease. If the name rings a bell, they were also among the few startups that pitched at last August’s Voltage230 event.

More familiar faces at Infotel 2016

All through the exhibition, we’ve also met quite a few familiar startups as well. These included Payable, a startup that’s bringing cashless payments to SMEs, PayMedia, a device/kiosk which allows fully digitized banking, and ShoutOut, a product that wants to enable better business communications with its customers.

So there you have it, the startups from Infotel 2016. What was your favorite idea? Let us know in the comments below.