Most developing countries such as Uganda face a problem of lack of, limited and expensive energy resources. And when it comes to domestic usage of electricity for instance, there is a lot of waste. It is very common to find a home with lights-on during the day or all appliances connected even when there is no need to. It is this wastage that prompted 24-year-old Diana Najjuma and a team of young graduates to start Teslon, a smart home automation system that helps homeowners regulate how much electricity is used at home as well as monitor their business security using a smartphone. “Our startup has three main products. The first one is the Smart Socket – It allows the user to control any appliance they have in their home using a click on their smartphone. They can also schedule when they want that appliance to work. For instance, if you have a fridge and it consumes a lot of power, you can set the different times when you want it to operate it,” says Najjuma, a graduate of Software Engineering from Makerere University. They have also created smart extensions where someone can control multiple devices using their smartphone. “Then we have the Smart Light Unit – We looked at the existing smart lights that are being provided by companies like Apple and Amazon and we realized that the systems are not favorable in an African setting. With smart light, they automatically switch themselves on and off using sensors,” she says. Najjuma says that their solution goes from home to people’s work stations. “We looked at the people in urban settings, those renting shops in arcades, and other small businesses. These people work on a daily and in cases where one works alone and they need to step out of their shop, they ask their neighbors to keep an eye on their merchandise. We thought about providing them with on-site affordable security,” she explains. “We created a simple security system that they put at the edge of the door – usually their doors are pull-ups while locking them – if a client approaches your shop or an intruder, the system will send an alert on your phone wherever you are.”
Teslon has also incorporated a donation arm to its operations to help the young company raise funds for creating for Energy Saving products. 40 Days 40 FinTechs. Teslon are the sixth participants in Season Four of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative organised by HiPipo to shine a light on emerging Financial Technology companies in East Africa. Najjuma indeed owes her company’s innovation to HiPipo noting that she got her inspiration from participating in the Women in FinTech Hackathon, also organised by HiPipo . “The Hackathon taught us to come up with solutions that Include Everyone and I think that if we could adapt to solutions like Teslon, we can help save on power and bills for many low-income earners as well as satisfy one of the two United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of access to clean and affordable energy for people all over Africa and the development of sustainable cities,” she says. One of the Teslon clients George William Tinka, a medical doctor, says he has used their Smart Lights product and it has been miraculous. “They have helped me a lot. For instance, in case I have left home and forgot to turn off my lights, its sensors will turn the lights off to save me any bills. Even when I am back from work, I don’t have to struggle around the house looking for the switches as the lights will turn on automatically,” he says. He, however, urges them to come up with a Mobile Application to make their product more convenient. “My suggestion to the developers of the app is that they should integrate more digital payments into their system. This will make it much easier for users to make payments and donations,” he adds. But Najjuma tags these challenges to lack of seed capital. “It is quite hard with the current economy to afford the necessary resources in terms of equipment, and operation costs, engineers are moving up and down and don’t have data and airtime, among others. There’s a lot to do with spending on everything that you are doing. This is a big issue on our side,” she says
She, however, appreciates the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative for the opportunity to showcase their innovations
“It is going to empower my startup in terms of showcasing us out there. They are putting for us a platform in terms of finances, mentorship, and marketing. This is a huge hope for the development of our startup,” she says. The 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative is organised in partnership with the Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, and Crosslake Technologies with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Teslon helps home owners to save electricity using smartphones
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Teslon helps home owners to save electricity using smartphones

India is currently home to over 200 incubators and accelerators
Amongst them, a deeptech B2B accelerator programme, Cisco LaunchPad is supporting the startups through its tech stack, mentors, business connects, events, and more
Currently, on its 7th cohort, it has been helping the growth and scale of its graduated startups even amidst the pandemic
Ever since March 2020, we have all been talking about the pandemic and the various approaches homegrown startups took to survive it. While many startups pivoted their business models to adopt the trends of the market, others tweaked their products and services to cater to the prevalent challenges. “The lockdown affected the acquisition of new sales for our business. To survive and grow in those scenarios we took a little different approach. We came up with a new product UV Saaph in March and completed all the certifications by May. The product has helped us survive the pandemic and the lockdown immensely,” said Gokul Shrinivas, CEO and founder of Minion Labs. Bengaluru-based Minion Labs initially focussed on providing real-time insights into the energy consumption of electric appliances. Its latest product UV Saaph , designed like a microwave, enables the users to disinfect items such as grocery, food, supermarket deliveries, water bottles, utensils and more. While another startup, Teslon didn’t have to make any changes, rather, noticed better adoption of its products amidst the pandemic, “We didn’t really face a lot of challenges as our vision has always been to build technology that can bridge the access to care. Our carenation packages provide a host of products that enable remote care and diagnosis and thus we were able to contribute and spread our presence to more places amidst the pandemic,” said Harsha Muroor, founder and CEO, Teslon. The startup develops the Carenation product , which provides remote healthcare facilities. By June 2020 alone, its remote ICU carts were being used across eight states in India and seven countries overall. Thanks to the enabler ecosystem of the country, startups such as Teslon, Minion Labs and more have been able to clock immense growth in their business. According to the startups — while investors and incubators have also played a major role — the help they received from their accelerator programme has proven to be the most beneficial. Startups Reveal The Importance Of Accelerator Programme In Their Journey
According to a recent Inc42 Plus analysis , India is currently home to over 200 incubators and accelerators. Providing the startups with the necessary connections and mentorship, the accelerator ecosystem of the country has helped the growth of the startups right from the initial days of their inception. Amongst the prominent names is a B2B deeptech startup accelerator, Cisco LaunchPad, aiming to support the startups via its tech stack, mentors, business connects, events and more. The LaunchPad boasts of having over 100 mentors in its portfolio who have helped more than 47 deeptech startups till now. The startups that have benefited from the accelerator till date include names such as Minion Labs, MishiPay, Teslon, Probus, SenseGiz, FluxGen, SatSure, ZestIoT and more. Elaborating on the same, Muroor explained that an accelerator plays a major role in the journey of the startup even well past its graduation. A part of the first-ever cohort of the Cisco LaunchPad, he added, “We were a group of engineers starting out with an idea and we needed guidance in turning that idea into a business. That is where the accelerator’s connections help the startup, right? In our case, we were able to focus on our product as well as channel the GTM strategies much better with the help of the Cisco LaunchPad team.”
While Ganesh Shankar, founder and CEO, FluxGen focussed on learning the nitty gritties of a business and product-market fit from its accelerator programme. He pointed out, “The right connections and networks in the industry are important for a startup which is just starting its journey and such was the case with FluxGen. Thankfully, our ties with our accelerator programme have enabled us to leverage their industry connections to date.”
A part of the third cohort of Cisco LaunchPad, FluxGen develops sustainable water management product, AquaGen. It told Inc42 that while the lockdown made it a little difficult for the startup to scale its operations across borders on India, it also brought with it a host of opportunities. Recently, the startup said that it has been able to initiate conversations as well as deploy its solutions for various corporates such as Microsoft, Amazon and more. “With the realisation that the world will be a very different place after Covid, we understood that we had to revisit our product strategy and Rakesh Sharma (senior design strategist at Cisco) spent nearly 22 hours with us on helping redesign our product strategy,” added Shankar. It is this help and guidance from Sharma, that helped FluxGen scale during the current scenarios, believes Shankar. Hyderabad-based, ZestIoT that develops solutions for asset tracking and passenger management for the aviation industry, believes that an accelerator needs to be spot on in creating value for partner startups and help it in developing a unique story for each stakeholder. The founder and CEO of ZestIoT, Amit Sukhija further told Inc42 that for any startup that is just charting out its journey, getting benefits such as the sales team as well as tech stack from its accelerator programme benefits a huge deal. More Than Just An Accelerator
India’s startup ecosystem, undeniably, is amongst the fastest growing startup ecosystems across the globe. ‘ The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 ’ by Startup Genome, ranked two Indian cities, namely Bengaluru and Delhi, amongst the top 40 most favourable ecosystems to build a globally successful startup. Sruthi Kannan, head of programme at Cisco LaunchPad believes that with the right guidance and mentorship from the  incubators and accelerators , the startup ecosystem is bound to flourish and scale furthermore in the global ranking. The accelerator programme that concluded its 6th cohort in August, has recently closed the applications for its 7th cohort, which — due to the pandemic and social distancing norms — is going entirely virtual. Elaborating on the steps taken to ensure smooth conduct of the upcoming virtual cohort, Kannan said, “We have inaugurated Kalki, our very own VR-based interactive and immersive experience centre that enables startups to demo and pitch their products/offerings to potential clients virtually.”  Kannan further added that Cisco LaunchPad will continue to bring the mentors and the startups together to co-create several meaningful engagements and drive digitisation into newer realms.

What Startups Look For In An Accelerator: The Growth And Scale Of Indian Startups Amidst The Pandemic

“Two years ago, we were selling an on-premise model even though we were cloud-ready. Our customer base was also very small,” reflects Harsha Muroor, Co-founder of Teslon Technologies, an IoT-based healthcare technology startup, focused on remote healthcare delivery. Today, their flagship IoT-based telehealth solution, Carenation, has been deployed as the official telehealth software at Greece’s Ministry of Health. They have a presence in Spain and Latin America. In India, they have piloted with multiple state governments and private players. Cisco LaunchPad team at the Demo Day for Cohort 3
Instrumental in enabling Teslon to tap these and many other opportunities has been Cisco LaunchPad – a startup accelerator by Cisco Systems. Cisco LaunchPad was conceptualized to streamline the fragmentation in tech innovations by bringing together startups and partners. It has so far enabled  32 startups achieve scale, tap global market opportunities and more. These startups are from various technology areas like IoT, Analytics, Collaboration, Wireless, Mobility, Security, Networking, Artificial intelligence and Augmented Reality,. A Go To Market opportunity with the best in tech
Sarita Raichura, Regional Head – South, Indian Angel Network elucidates a key advantage of the programme. Sarita is part of the team of investors who work closely with the startups. “Ask any startup about their biggest challenges; access to funds and connects will be on that list. The Cisco LaunchPad programme provides the necessary connects which are instrumental in taking them to the market.”
And, it was this Go To Market (GTM) opportunity that helped Teslon scale up rapidly since its participation in the first cohort of the Cisco LaunchPad in 2016. In addition to helping the bootstrapped startup experiment with multiple sales models to identify  a sustainable and viable model, which was a key challenge area at that point for them, Cisco made Teslon a partner in their GTM programme and helped them tap the international market. Harsha says, “Also, our offering is now showcased at Cisco’s India Customer Experience Centre in Bangalore, and we have been conducting regular briefings for potential customers.”
Mishipay getting the best startup award from Cisco LaunchPad Advisor – Geeta Dang. MishiPay, a retail payment technology startup, part of the 2nd cohort of Cisco Launchpad’s echoes a similar experience. The engagement during the cohort period helped the startup deploy its product in the Cisco Global Executive Briefing Centre in San Jose, which eventually led to a partnership with Cisco at their booth in the National Retail Federation (NRF). MishiPay is also live at the Cisco Store in San Jose. All of which has been instrumental in enabling the startup to engage with some of the biggest retailers in the US and Europe. Mustafa Khanwala, Co-Founder and CEO, says, “Partnering with Cisco helped build credibility and launch pilot contracts in the international markets. Successful deployments with Leroy Merlin in France and MediaMarkt Saturn in Austria and many other rollouts in UK, Spain, and Germany can be attributed to the partnership with Cisco.”
Helping startups stay focused on the one metric that really matters
“Growth is the most important metric for all startups, yet many fail to achieve meaningful growth. And, while startups do understand the importance of this simple lesson, they are often seen spending their energy and efforts in other directions,” says Nick O’ Connor, Director of Alchemist-X, a leading venture backed accelerator. Nick is also an Angel investor who coaches startups as part of Cisco LaunchPad. “The programme understands this vital gap and has been designed to coach founders to create focused goals. It also introduces them to product-led growth strategies and helps them apply the framework to their startup journey.”
Cisco LaunchPad’s mentors Nathan Gold and Nick O Connor
MishiPay’s experience reaffirms Nick’s point of view. When MishiPay began its journey in the Cisco Launchpad programme, it had just completed their pre-seed round of £150,000 and had offices in  London, UK, and Bangalore, India. In addition to further strengthening its global business, MishiPay was keen on ramping up marketing efforts in India. And, as part of the Cisco LaunchPad cohort, the startup got a chance to better understand  challenges associated with selling Software as a Service to Indian and global retailers. Says Mustafa, “The programme helped us eliminate a lot of the options that did not work for us. For instance, we understood the types of business models that would not work for us and the kind of marketing that we should  focus on. It also helped us reaffirm several of our processes and approaches.”
So, do they see the startups undergoing a massive transformation at the end of the six-month-long programme? Sarita says, “Undoubtedly,” and adds, “They get more focused. They are able to capitalize their strengths.” Nick, who has worked closely with four cohorts of the programme, says, “I see the startups understanding the concepts and trade offs needed for growth and being able to chart and implement a sustainable growth plan.”
Accommodative and flexible to suit a startup’s needs – during and after the programme
The programme runs out of the Cisco Campus in Bangalore and the startups can opt to work out of the co-working space provided by Cisco for the duration of the programme, startups may also choose to work from their own offices. During the programme, the startups are mentored by both Cisco leaders and external experts. External mentoring is provided by CTO/CIOs of startups, industry experts, investors, and VCs. Also, the startups get to integrate and work with Cisco technology. Mishipay, for instance, integrated Cisco’s Meraki Access Point and Camera solution to offer a better and more personalized journey for shoppers and map out shopper journeys with more accuracy for retailers. According to Harsha, “What clearly stands out is that Cisco LaunchPad truly focuses on the startups’ needs versus a standard plan of action, and this flexibility combined with expert guidance helps startups choose opportunities that are right for them.” This engagement with the Cisco Launchpad team doesn’t end after the cohort graduates. “They regularly check on our progress and help in an intervention if needed,” says the co-founder of Teslon. Here’s how you can be part of one such enriching journey
Open to mid-to-late stage technology and technology-enabled B2B, B2B2C startups, the programme focuses on Cisco's core technology areas: Networking and Infrastructure, Collaboration, Security and IoT. Additionally, enabling technologies like Analytics, Cloud, Machine Learning/Deep Learning/Natural Language Processing, Visualization/UX, Virtual Reality, Smart Things, and Last Mile Connectivity are other focus areas. Six to eight startups are selected for each cohort which runs for six months. The programme provides access to investor/industry connects, GTM opportunities, co-working space, workshops, speaker sessions and mentorship programme in addition to access to leading Cisco technology platforms in Wireless/Mobility, IoT, Collaboration, Security, Networking, and Cloud. All you need to do is write to cisco-launchpad@cisco.com sharing an overview of your startup, your solutions and the differentiated advantages you bring to the ecosystem. The Cisco LaunchPad team will get back to you with more details.

How can startups tap businesses with enterprises and expand into global markets

Cisco LaunchPad is the American multinational networking company’s initiative to accelerate startups . Over the four-month program at Cisco's Bengaluru campus, eight startups-- AlgoEngines, VuNet, Teslon, Torchfi, Navstik Labs, HaltDos, Astrome and IQLECT-- worked on building solutions to requirements identified by Cisco's internal IT organisation. The startups were given access to Cisco's technologies and labs, mentors and an equity-free grant. “Over the last four months they have exchanged ideas and insights with some of the leaders from Cisco and the industry. More importantly, we will continue our work with these startups and build on the strong foundation we have laid. Some of them (startups) will be integrated into Cisco’s larger platform,” said Amit Phadnis, President, Engineering and India Site Leader. Cisco also announced the opening of the application process for the second cohort which would begin in April 2017. “We can add a lot of value to B2B companies than B2C. We are going to look at the synergies between startups and Cisco technologies more closely (in the coming batch). It helps startups in the go-to-market perspective. We will fine tune some of these filters a bit more,” said Phadnis. “In this cohort, we bought in the partner ecosystem and the customer base towards the end of the cohort. In the next cohort we are going to look at customers upfront, get insights into what the transformative opportunities are.”
The vision of Cisco LaunchPad is to accelerate India based business-to-business (B2B) startups in deep tech and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning, security, IoT and analytics. The eight startups also received go-to-market guidance from both Cisco's India and Asia Pacific & Japan sales team, with the intent to expand access to Africa and the Middle East regions in the future. The inaugural cohort also extended their reach globally to select customers, partners and investors in Silicon Valley and other hotbeds of innovation. In addition, more than 300 hours of senior technology executive time across Engineering, IT, Sales and Services were dedicated to startup mentorship and approximately $2 million of Cisco equipment was made available to startups to test and validate their products, said an official release from the company. Cisco Corporate Development that leads its investment activities is actively engaged in shaping the LaunchPad program, from selection to investments. “As my team looks to expand our pipeline of innovative startups in India, we are excited by the potential of programs such as Cisco LaunchPad and others to encourage early-stage innovation," said Rajiv Menon, Managing Director, APJ Corporate Development. As alumni, the eight startups will continue to work with Cisco and offer support to the future batches at the LaunchPad.

8 startups graduated out of the inaugural Cisco LaunchPad program

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Teslon Carenation is a complete remote healthcare delivery platform that integrates with medical devices to allow for remote medical data telemetry while providing high end video collaboration for doctor patient interaction.

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