We all like the eyeballs and in the current internet age, that translates to traffic and pageviews. The calendar is about to turn a leaf and here we’ll showcase 25 most read startup stories at YourStory from the year 2012. A point of note here is that all the articles listed are not news pieces or columns, but simply ‘startup profiles’. These are those ventures which have scored some huge points with our readers this year (January 1- December 22):
Super 30 is a highly ambitious and innovative educational program running under the banner of “Ramanujan School of Mathematics”. It hunts for 30 meritorious talents from among the economically backward sections of the society and shapes them for India’s most prestigious institution – the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Definitely, a story of note.
TenTenTen is a company that creates web and mobile apps that help cool brands connect with cool customers. And here, we get in conversation with social media celebrity and TenTenTen founder, for one of the whackiest interview we’ve conducted.
Zerodha is an online trading platform designed to allow active traders to buy and sell financial instruments such as stocks, futures & options, currencies and commodities under a brokerage-free model. The inspiring story of Nithin Kamath was surely a hit with our readers.
4) Croak.it
Croak.it allows you to speak to the whole of the Internet in three simple steps – Push. Speak. Share. Founded by fresh college graduates from IIT Kharagpur, their voice was certainly heard.
Mindgrep is a product company with Metataste as the first offering. Metataste is a personalised movie discovery engine. Metataste’s recommendations are scarily accurate as they are derived by identifying your taste, on over 1000 elements. And what is also unique about the story is that Ayush Ghai, the founder went to the hills in Dharamshala to start this company. It’s a story of heart.
Zomato is all about food and where you can find the best of it. Zomato is the go to place on the internet if you’re looking to eat out in India (and now in a few other countries as well). This interview with Pankaj Chaddah, the co-founder found its own sweet taste of success.
7) Mirchimart
They describe themselves as – “MirchiMart – Amazing Gadgets, Excellent Services, Great Deals.” Rather surprising for us, Mirchimart surely has got their marketing going right.
8 ) Foodpanda
FoodPanda’s value proposition is to make ordering food for home delivery fast and hassle free for the consumers. A rocket internet startup, one would have expectations at par with Jabong, from Foodpanda.
TeliportMe lets you explore places through the images and panoramas taken by users through the Android app – 360. The aim is to bring complex computer vision techniques out of science fiction into the everyday life. A wonderful panorama to cherish.
Sapna Vyas Patel is a doctoral student and a Reebok Certified Fitness Professional. Using her experience and knowledge, so far she has helped over 5000 people through Facebook in reaching their fitness goal without charging a single penny. Like, wow!
11) Oodio
Passionate wedding photographers and technologists who want to enlighten the world of wedding photography, Oodio provide good quality affordable Post Production, Album Design & Layout, and Album Printing service. There sure seems to be a demand for them!
11) Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola Cabs
Ola Cabs is a cab rental service launched two years ago by Bhavish and has subsequently raised a couple of large funding rounds. Recently, they launched an app promising a cab in 15 minutes. This we believe is still far from reality but the concept certainly has a lot of takers!
12) Shivya Nath, India Untraveled
India Untravelled is a social enterprise that aims to bridge the digital marketing gap between socially responsible tourism offerings in rural parts of India, and urban travellers looking for authentic travel experiences. The idea is to help travellers set off the beaten path in India, to places where authentic Indian hospitality, culture and cuisine, and untouched natural beauty can still be experienced. And behind the venture, is the amazing story of Shivya Nath, the girl who quit her corporate life to travel the world.
13) yo!CAPTCHA
yo!CAPTCHA- An innovative form of online advertising where they deliver ads through CAPTCHAs. This is a very interesting and powerful platform that replaces the regular warped-text based CAPTCHAs with crisp and clear advertisements. Instead of asking a user to recognize and type a random string, they are asked a simple question based on the ad. Now, with a lot of such startups in the space, the battle is on.
14) Qua Nutrition
Qua Nutrition means ‘in capacity of’ and is a health clinic that guides one on what to eat. With some high profile clientele under their belt, Qua Nutrition is on the lookout for expansion, ably led by Ryan Fernando, Tapan Kumar and Devika.
15) Gharpay
Gharpay is a doorstep cash payment network. Paying online is still a big hassle in India and Gharpay is trying to solve this problem by letting people pay via cash. Accepting cash through Gharpay means more people can pay the company adopting the solution. Backed by Sequoia Capital India, Gharpay has a story that surely scored a hit with our readers.
16) MobileCozy
A product from MobileCozy, OnMobilePay is India’s square. Facing stiff competition from EzeTap, founder Sainath Gupta has tough battle ahead of him. OnMobilePay provides anybody with the ability to accept debit/credit cards in a quick, cheap and portable way. They do this by allowing users to swipe their cards on an encrypted mobile based card swiping device or manually entering the card details on the phone, thus greatly simplifying transactions.
17) Weddings9
Weddings9 has a simple value proposition, they allow you to get your ‘marriage site’ up and running along with other services like getting invitation cards ready, etc. Surely a hit considering the number of marriages that happen in India and the scale at which they happen. They’d all die to have a website to themselves.
18) TwoMangoes
TwoMangoes.com is a dating site that brings a fresh new flavor to the online dating world. The website allows singles to traverse the ‘long’ journey between dating and marriage. Raising a funding round as well, TwoMangoes has managed to to generate good traction and is on a steady progress curve. Go, date!
19) Koolkart
Founded by Suneil Chawla and Anupam Agarwal, Koolkart started out with the concept of social discovery + price and create a platform where consumers can discover products being purchased/recommended by their friends and fellow shoppers, and also compare prices and review retailers. Pivoting to a fashon eCommerce site, Koolkart has a different avatar now but is surely a hit with the public.
20) YourBus
Founded by techies Satya Padmanabham and Rajesh Mallipeddi, YourBus allows the bus owners to better service the customers by providing them with the bus schedule. GPS enabled buses send regular messages to the travelers so that they know exactly where the bus is, thus reducing scheduling ambiguity. A very useful utility, indeed!
21) WebEngage
WebEngage is an in-site customer engagement tool that is currently being used by more than 5000 companies to collect the all-important feedback from customers. Founded by a bunch of hard core techies, the company has been able to generate phenomenal traction without a sales team. Talk of value!
22) ZopNow
ZopNow is an eCommerce store that delivers groceries to the doorsteps of its users. Currently focused on Bangalore, ZopNow has gained a lot of fans with its 3 hour delivery promise.
23) TravelKhana
Travelkhana is a marketplace that connects passengers with several restaurants on the Indian Rail network. It offers a variety of choices to a Railway passenger so that the passengers can order food as per their liking and at their price point while they are travelling. Utility again!
24) G.Sridhar, Deeksha Integrated
Deeksha Integrated, started by G.Sridhar Managing Director, Ace Creative Learning Pvt. Ltd. is a network of coaching institutes that seeks to eliminate the disconnect between academia and real-world scenarios while maintaining performance in standardized examinations.
25) Shekhar Kapur and A.R.Rehman, Qyuki
Qyuki is a social media platform that aims to engage Indian youth by showcasing new media content. Founded by celebrities, Shekhar Kapur and A.R.Rehman, the startup is bound to generate quite a lot of eyeballs.
So, these were the top 25 stories from 2012 according to number of reads! Hang on for many more such amazing startup stories in 2013.
surinder jaggi, jaggi.in, jaggi
Related articles
- Everyone Is Talking About How Facebook Tried – And Failed – To Copy Yet Another Popular Startup (FB) (businessinsider.com)
- Fred Wilson Is Not Happy With Underperforming Startups In His Portfolio (businessinsider.com)
- Fast and the Furious Indian Startups of 2012 [Dabangg2 Edition] (nextbigwhat.com)
- CHART OF THE DAY: $1 Billion In Seed Funding Will Be Vaporized As 1,000 Startups Die Next Year (businessinsider.com)
- 8 Startups to Watch in 2013 (mashable.com)
- Startup Asia Singapore 2013 is Here (techinasia.com)
- The Consumer Electronics Association launches $95 membership option to attract startups (thenextweb.com)
- Online Learning and Upheavals in Social Networks (technologyreview.com)
- Kettering student invention touted as ‘real-life Farmville’ lands startup funds (mlive.com)
- MyStartupStory: Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media (hiscoxusa.com)
Jaggi 