Mobility – Dutch Uncles

Pepfuels, Disrupting Fuel Delivery Space In India

Anju Nambiar — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 03:35:12 +0000

Almost everything is home delivered and ready to consume. Fuels like Petrol and Diesel have also joined the list. Large industries and corporations find it cumbersome to take their fleet of trucks and large vehicles regularly to the fuel station for refuelling. If instead, the fuel is delivered to them via mobile dispensing stations, it will reduce costs, save time, and eliminate the counter productivity of the task. Pepfuels is delivering fuel to the B2B sector through online orders.

Pepfuels, Fuel home delivered

Pepfuels is a mobile fuel delivery start-up with an online doorstep delivery platform for diesel fuel. Founded in 2014 and based in Delhi, they are a B2B (business-to-business) start-up serving customers across multiple industries. Pepfuels offers doorstep delivery of fuels mainly Diesel and Engine Oil through an app-based service.

How they are disrupting the mobile fuel delivery space

Pepfuels, a new entrant is disrupting the mobile fuel delivery space by helping their customers reduce their carbon footprints, save time, and fuel costs, and prevent pilferage. They are also venturing into new markets like Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) to fulfil the end-to-end needs of their customers. Through their business model, the company wants to encourage the adoption of a gas-based economy. Their strategic tie-ups with key B2B stakeholders are disrupting the industry. They are expected to reach an annual turnover of INR 100 Cr. Currently, Pepfuels has a presence in three Indian cities namely, Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida and is slowly inching towards a PAN India presence.

How their IoT-RFID Technology works

Pepfuels is pioneering the fuel delivery space in India with India’s very first location-based fuel delivery system through their patented IoT-RFID (Internet-of-Things Radio Frequency Identification) device. This is a smart fuelling technology which has a server monitored reader connected through a dispensing machine. This technology offers accurate, theft-proof, and zero loss in fuel. The vehicle dispatched to deliver fuel is equipped with an RFID tag. The dispensing machines have a reader that reads the RFID tag and dispenses as per the order quantity. Also, the dispensing vehicles are geo-fenced and have GPS and fuel sensors.

The fuel home delivery space in India

Current scenario

In 2020, a INR 2000 Cr market for fuel delivery start-ups opened up in India. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) had invited bids and Expressions of Interest (EoI). Start-ups who aspired to become fuel resellers could pitch in by becoming Fuel Entrepreneurs (FuelEnts). A lot of start-ups sprung up in the fuel home delivery space after this move.

Existing players

Existing players in the fuel home delivery space include start-ups like ReadyAssist, Fuel Buddy, iSafe Assist, Roda on Road Assistance, MyPetrolPump, Humsafar, Repos Energy etc. who have rolled out on-demand fuel delivery services.

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They are also venturing into new markets like Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) to fulfil the end-to-end needs of their customers.

What’s in it for me?

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), a government owned body has a INR 100 Cr ONGC Start-up Fund for start-ups. This is under the Start-up India initiative which provides an end-to-end support chain for start-ups including seed capital, hand holding, mentoring, market linkage, and follow-ups. Innovative technology-enabled ideas that can disrupt the oil and gas sector in India stand a chance to acquire seed funding through the ONGC Start-up Fund.

As already mentioned, the market valuation is slowly inching towards the INR 2000 Cr milestone. A lot of start-ups are signing deals with large fuel corporations. Existing oil marketing companies are rapidly expanding to new cities and states in India and establishing a pan-India presence. There is high demand for fuel delivery of petrol, diesel, engine oil among industries like construction, transportation, education, and the corporate industry. The home delivery of fuel is a good answer to the problem of rising petrol and diesel prices in India because it cuts down on the time and fuel costs needed to travel to the petrol station and reduces the environmental impact for B2Bs.

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Blaer Motors, Optimising Hybrid Technologies for Motorcycles

Shalmoli Sarkar — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 05:35:03 +0000

Google puts up dismal results when searched for hybrid motorcycles or 2-wheelers whereas the list is exhaustive in the case of automobiles. With soaring prices of fuel and increasing pollution, though several companies have launched electric vehicles, its acceptance is yet nascent in India due to people’s apprehension regarding battery performance.

The two-wheeler market in India is devoid of hybrid technology that combines the benefits of fuel as well as electric. The motorcycles found are either fully electric or run on internal combustion engines but Blaer Motors is revolutionising the two-wheeler mobility space with its innovative hybrid technology .

Why did Blaer Motors start this startup?

Hybrid technology has largely been focussed on automobiles but none for the two-wheelers. According to the society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers & ICE 2016 360 survey, two-wheelers are used by 37% of metropolitan commuters to reach work and are owned by half the households in India’s bigger cities and developed rural areas.

The two-wheelers are the main drivers of causing two-thirds of pollution that release 30 percent of the particulate matter load which is 10 percent more than cars. Sensing this to be an opportunity, Blaer Motors was started by four college graduates – Abinesh Ekambaram, Ashwin Badri, Adarsh Lakshmann and Niranjan Kumar.

The idea for Blaer Motors initially began as a passion-driven final year project in 2013 but was founded officially in 2014 with initial funding and incubation support from their alma mater NIT-Trichy.

What did Blaer Motors Do Right ?

Their project on hybrid technology further intrigued them to delve deeper to develop eco-friendly fuel solutions in the two-wheeler vertical that gave birth to SPA (Secondary Power Assist). It is a plug-in hybrid technology whose similar kind has been implemented in Toyota Prius.

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The two-wheelers are the main drivers of causing two-thirds of pollution that release 30 percent of the particulate matter load which is 10 percent more than cars.

How Blaer Motor optimises the hybrid tech for Motorcycles?

The SPA technology has three components:

Internal combustion engine (with a modified transmission)
Electric motor
BICS controller (Blaer Intelligent Control System).

As the powertrain starts, it activates the BICS controller which again activates the electric motor. The motor runs on electric mode till the first gear. For shifting into second gear or higher, the motor activates the hybrid mode with their patented drivetrain technology where both the engine and electric motor work together.

The advantage of the SPA system is that a vehicle can run either with an electric motor and internal combustion engine (ICE) in isolation or both synchronised in hybrid mode. The low-end torque offered by its electric motor ensures no knocking. While riding in hybrid mode if the battery charge depletes, BICS automatically switches to ICE thus no interruptions while riding.

The SPA technology of Blaer Motors improves the performance of a two-wheeler by enhancing fuel efficiency by 40 percent and reducing smoke emissions by 30 percent as compared to the petrol engine.

Pricing Matters

Blaer’s SPA hybrid system, when attached to the bike, adds 9kg which costs Rs 40,000. However, the price can go down to Rs 10000 if any original equipment manufacturer adopts the SPA system.

What is in it for the startups in the mobility space ?

Hybrid engine technology for two-wheelers is rare in India. To curb air pollution, the Supreme court has ordered a ban on BS (Bharat Stage) IV engine vehicles which are to be shifted to BS-VI to reduce emissions. However, this will impact the engine performance as well.

Therefore, the inclusion of hybrid technology in two-wheelers will reduce emissions without compromising on engine performance. Startups, such as Blaer Motors, in the mobility space offering sustainable and clean engine solutions in two-wheelers will be largely accepted in future.

However, one of the biggest challenges remains the cost factor, since most plug-in hybrids require Lithium-ion batteries which are imported in India. Though hybrid is in its infancy, to begin with, people perceive electrically driven vehicles to be weaker as compared to IC engine-driven ones. Therefore perception about hybrid-driven vehicles can be a hurdle.

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Esper’s Android DevOps Helps Enhance Mobile Experience for Customers

Anju Nambiar — Tue, 25 May 2021 07:35:06 +0000

What is Android DevOps?

Android DevOps is essentially a toolchain for collaboration, visibility, and control right from the development of Android devices through to production.

Enhancing mobile experience for customers

Esper designs and manages connected devices for their clients to help them provide a stellar mobile experience for end consumers.

Businesses deploying edge devices for their customers need assistance, especially in terms of Android expertise. This is where Esper’s product/service comes in where the client’s application is tested on all hardware devices. Once tested, the enterprise’s device fleet is ready to be deployed and used by end consumers.

What Esper holds for logistics, retail, and education customers?

Mission-critical device deployment

A number of brands have distributed fleets of Android edge devices that are mission critical. The mission being mainly to create a delightful user experience for customers. Esper’s powerful DevOps platform securely streamlines deployment and management of these fleets of devices.

For Logistics Customers

With Esper, Logistics customers see an increase in productivity and achieve a performance boost. Esper facilitates this by creating an intuitive touchscreen experience for employees of logistics customers.

For Retail Customers

Esper helps retail customers deliver a flawless, modern shopping experience. Esper works to continuously ensure that retail customers have a fresh and engaging experience that’s innovative and cost effective. Thus, consumers stick with the brand, and become repeat, loyal shoppers.

For Education customers

In the education sector, K12 students are frequently using Android devices such as smartphones, tablets, personal digital assistants, and laptops. These devices are being used for remote learning and need to be user friendly for the less tech savvy educators and students.

For distance learning to be a success amidst the pandemic, it’s important that the new normal of student tablets are secure. Managing the student device security risk problem for education customers is a problem that Esper is solving. Deploying connected personal devices in the hands of students poses security risks since there are chances for malicious web entities to get their hands on sensitive, confidential data.

The student experience must be safe and productive even when unsupervised. Esper helps fulfill the mission of these student devices by securing them with ‘safe search’. With Esper, Education customers can provide a safe mobile browsing experience for students.

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Esper designs and manages connected devices for their clients to help them provide a stellar mobile experience for end consumers.

How can it help you empower your Non-IT staff?

Device users at most businesses are non tech savvy people, especially restaurant and retail workers, although millions of fleets of edge devices have been deployed for their use. These devices are commonly seen at appointment check-ins for prescriptions, takeout places, flight check-ins, etc. Esper’s DevOps infrastructure empowers your non-IT staff and users by provisioning these devices, rolling out frequent remote updates, and undertaking scaled deployments for them.

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Amits’ Right Way to Taxi: Meet the CEO AHA

Suresh Chouksey — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 19:04:19 +0000

One dream at a time, CEO and co-founder, AHA Taxis, Amit Grover’s life has been an exciting journey for an entrepreneur to follow. From his days in the corporate to the times, where a successful entrepreneur starts helping fellow wannapreneurs, Amit Grover has ticked all the right boxes. In his words, “A middle-class boy, who became an entrepreneur and started taking on challenges to solve them with a team in the journey.”

Idols, Inspirations and Spark

Amit completed his graduation from IIT Delhi. He says that a lot of personality for a person gets shaped during college days. Even till the end of graduation, he had no idea, he’ll be investing the working phase of his life in entrepreneurship. Though, it did not happen right off the college. His first corporate experience started with Infosys, where he marked a lucky milestone for the company itself, “I was the 10,000th employee of Infosys. That is the first time I saw mine and everyone’s entrepreneur idol, Shri Narayana Murthi. We have all heard stories of early days of Infosys and how Mr Murthy along with co-founders built this highly esteemed organisation. In India, inspirations were drawn from the likes of Shahrukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and someone like Narayana Murthi. You wanted to do something; you were attracted to these heroes. It is true that for me, somewhere, a spark must have lit at that time for doing something of my own.” Amit shares.

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Actually, the question should be, how do you handle a yes? That is not really expected. Virat Kohli hitting a hundred is expected, for the rest, no. So, we should know what we are expecting. Talk to any investor, any seasoned entrepreneur and they say as a matter of fact that they meet a hundred people to say ‘yes’ to one. Thing is, as an entrepreneur, you don’t want a hundred either. You just want that one affirmative.

The Question Of MBA

At IIM Indore, Amit clocked a hundred percent participation in everything he was involved in, “From studies to participating in activities, I decided to be in everything in the 24 hours to go and be at my best,” Amit adds. Amit’s academic trail involves premier institutes like IIM and IIT. He explains how academia can be helpful but not necessarily pivotal, “During MBAs there is scope for learning from your fellow mates and not just faculties. People from all walks of life are there. Though, a lot of what you do with an MBA depends on the individual. As per what MBA can offer, it is driven towards ‘being an employee’, people who can take ownership kind of, of being an employee or being a good manager. The whole principle behind MBA college or institute is to have better managers or employees for different organisations. Starting from scratch is not for everyone. It is not even a large consideration among MBA candidates. Though, in my batch almost 15-20% ended up being an entrepreneur, which is a high number to be fair. I would say, MBA definitely helps in developing the kind of mindset you would need in business.”

Amit further explains how the investment of time in a management school can be helpful for an entrepreneur, “It’s about how MBA can help you in being aware of the basics of business. In the form of condensed classes. This is the same knowledge I would have spent time somewhere outside to receive it.” Would Amit recommend it? “If you are able to learn from the best of the best, I would say yes.”

Networking is often taught as one of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship. Amit breaks it down and downplays its importance, from how it’s commonly touted, “As far as networking is concerned, I would say it is part of the job but not at all everything. If you are an introvert and do not open up with many people, it doesn’t really mean that you are going to miss out on anything. It won’t act like a limitation. However, for B2B types of business, it is always going to be useful. You can get vendors, suppliers, customers quicker. Nonetheless, a good network is not a guarantee for success. There are many businesses, in fact even B2B, which are built on customer value and service without much direct networking. So many examples are available where you might not even know the name of the founder or have access to a number where you can talk to a representative but they are doing very well.”

Different Gates Of Opportunity

Amit’s extensive experience greatly helped him when he ventured into entrepreneurship. “The experience at Asian Paints was about meeting different traders, meeting different people, travelling to small towns of Maharashtra almost every day. It was a good thing; you learn a lot in sales by meeting people,” he shares. The real challenge for Amit came at Onida where he held the managerial position at top level. He had a top-down look at all the functions whether it was R&D, production, supply chain, sales, planning, awards and recognition. “I was privy to all that went to the chairman at Onida. I learnt to handle it all,” Amit adds.

Sometimes, opportunities from the corporate world could give you a chance to make the jump in entrepreneurship. That opportunity comes as a blessing and must be seen as a gateway towards owning and operating something of your own. For Amit, his Chairman’s success as an angel investor and his vision for Amit, whom he wanted to invest in new-age entrepreneurs became that opportunity. “I remember the first deal I cut with Myntra, Mukesh Bansal of Myntra presented his business plan, I did all the legwork in this deal on behalf of my chairman. That is how spending time with entrepreneurs, understanding their thought process, gave me an opportunity to understand entrepreneurship, up-close,” Amit shares. He spent the next three years of his life, from 2007 to 2009, meeting entrepreneurs and helping their ventures in the capacity of a member of Mumbai Angels, an angel investment network.

Life Of An Entrepreneur

Transition to entrepreneurship is not an easy choice. It is daring to opt for but if done in a tallied manner, the risks can subside. Amit smartly tested his waters before the big switch!

After meeting almost a thousand entrepreneurs in three years, the entrepreneur in Amit Grover got the rubbing like Alladin’s lamp. Here, he fills in with a better analogy of his own, “You do bat practice on a practice pitch for three years. Then you realise, you’ve gotten the confidence to get onto the real match. That’s when I actually quit my job. I gave myself 100 days to come up with a new idea and path for myself. 1st of January, 2010, with my first company, Nurture Talent Academy, I walked into the world of entrepreneurship completely.”

Can you be prepared for life as an entrepreneur, I ask him, to which Amit replies, “I don’t think you can be prepared until you live that life. At least from the family’s side, the financial side of matters should be worked in confidence. Because it is going to get challenging. You’ll be giving less time to your family; you’ll be providing less money to your family. You’ll be meeting your partners more than your wife. From an emotional perspective, to take near and dear ones in confidence is also important. Start-up and entrepreneurship is full of failures. There are going to be times where you might not succeed. You might go through a phase where you are trying to get that financial independence as losses and hiccups are bound to happen.” Amit further puts across his views on the possible mitigation that an individual can try when bracing the life as an entrepreneur, “There should be around six months savings in your bank account. Or some way to generate saving as you go along, initially. At least this level of savings for expenses is useful. So, the mind is free of those pressures.”

In a small setup, like a new start-up fresh out of the brain, every decision could be highly significant. As per Amit, one has to be mentally prepared for what it means to become an entrepreneur. “Like all of a sudden not having a business card, a personal secretary, no introduction to give on the phone. From somebody, to you go nobody and then you want to be somebody again,” he warns.

As an individual, identifying weaknesses is crucial for making proper timely corrections in business life. When asked how he identifies weaknesses, Amit quirks, “There is no need for one to identify weaknesses. There are so many people outside to tell you again and again!” He continues by sharing where he lacks, “I’m more of an idea person. Somebody who can think of problems and solutions. I am not really an execution person. Sometimes a lot of time goes in thinking about things. Or maybe you are banking on others to execute your ideas. Am I working on this? Well, one good thing is maybe that I accepted it (smiles).”

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Start-up and entrepreneurship is full of failures. There are going to be times where you might not succeed. You might go through a phase where you are trying to get that financial independence as losses and hiccups are bound to happen. From somebody, to you go nobody and then you want to be somebody again.

Are We Ready For That ‘Yes’?

Finding investors and building over their trust is instrumental to any start-up’s success. Per Amit, the only way out in this case is to start proving your ask of investment by delivering. “There is no other way around. You need to start delivering before expecting any yes from anyone. For AHA, despite not being a known name at the start, drivers were coming to us and so were investors, looking at that. It wasn’t easy. It won’t be for any entrepreneur. We went to a hundred investors before getting a yes from one,” explains Amit. Investment deals are always a tough nut to crack. They do not go well for most in the initial attempts, it takes perseverance to wait for the one that is going to value your idea. Amit remarks on this, “Most of the entrepreneurs or start-ups usually give up around their fifth or sixth attempt. It doesn’t work like that.” How do you handle rejections, I ask him back, to which he says, “You take it as a normal thing? That is a pretty much expected outcome. Actually, the question should be, how do you handle a yes? That is not really expected. Virat Kohli hitting a hundred is expected, for the rest, no. So, we should know what we are expecting. Talk to any investor, any seasoned entrepreneur and they say as a matter of fact that they meet a hundred people to say ‘yes’ to one. Thing is, as an entrepreneur, you don’t want a hundred either. You just want that one affirmative. Your journey along the way, as far as investment is concerned, is more important. You can keep noting, what did the investors expect, what did we not deliver, was our story getting sold in the meeting or not. So that you can work on that ‘no’.”

Amit calls on young entrepreneurs to remain a learner for life. He reminds all that advice is so easily available nowadays, be it on internet or from mentors. Keeping himself to his modest best, he also says, “What worked for me, might not work for you. Always walk your own journey. Learn from my journey and that of hundred others but do your own thing.”

To close our meeting, I ask him if there are any regrets with life, to which he quickly declares with ‘absolutely not’. “Everything was perfect and everything is perfect, today. No complaints,” he concludes.

For more such interesting stories, follow our Inspire section.

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