Archive: December 7, 2022

Presenting the must-haves from Men’s Grooming brand USTRAA for you to set your skin regime right on Christmas, New Year or in 2023

It is important for men to adhere to a skincare regime as they tend to spend more time outdoors. They are also exposed to more pollutants and the Sun.  Adhering to a skincare regime can help them address skin problems such as pigmentation, dullness, tanning, and excess oil. Thankfully today men have the option of choosing skin care products made specially keeping in mind their skin type and their lifestyle.

Choose a product from the carefully curated list for you from the men’s grooming brand Ustraa.

Ustraa Face Wash For Oily Skin

A face wash must be an essential part of the face care routine. Men tend to spend a lot of time outdoors in sunny, dusty and polluted environments. Ustraa Face Wash for Oily Skin is specially formulated for men with oily skin. This face wash with basil and lime gives you a fresh and oil-free appearance, checks acne and controls excess oil on the face. For optimal results, use the face wash on a daily basis.

Ustraa De-Tan Cream

The harsh summer sun can damage the skin, driving, riding a bike or even outdoor sports can result in tanning, uneven partial tanning and dryness of the skin. Ustraa De-Tan faces cream with key ingredients like Japanese Yuzu and licorice is your ultimate go-to product if you suffer from tanning issues. Ustraa De-Tan Cream reduces tan while brightening and evening out the skin tone. This dermatologically tested product brightens your skin and makes your face glow with its regular use. Apply it before leaving home during the day. It will keep your skin moisturized and the glow intact all day long.

USTRAA De-Tan Face Scrub

Exfoliate your tanned skin back to its natural tone and health, with this de-tan face scrub. Sun, stress and an unhealthy lifestyle affect your facial skin health leading to pimples, whiteheads, blackheads, uneven colour tone, and dryness. Regular scrubbing contributes to improved, smooth, and exfoliated skin. The Ustraa De-Tan face scrub helps repair your skin from all that with bigger walnut granule sizes it works more efficiently on men’s thicker skin.

 Ustraa Anti Acne Spot Gel

It’s time to take the stubborn pimple head-on. We are susceptible to acquiring acne on the face due to pollution, time spent outside, lengthy workdays, stress, and improper food consumption. Ustraa’s Anti-Acne Spot Gel is a lifesaver as it kills 99.9% of the bacteria that cause acne. The product is lightweight, gets easily absorbed in the skin, and unleashes the power of salicylic acid, vitamin B3, and neem to reduce inflammation, soothe irritation and also reduce post-acne hyperpigmentation.

Voting begins for Filmfare OTT Awards 2022

~ Voting Lines are open until 12th December 2022 ~

December 7, 2022: After receiving immense support and love from the audience across the nation in the past, Filmfare – India’s leading and most-preferred entertainment media brand- is all set to host its 3rd edition of the Filmfare OTT Awards. The brand continues to celebrate artistic and technical excellence of the Hindi OTT industry, which has been entertaining fans and followers with its brilliant content. Entries have been received across 28 categories and voting lines are open until the December 12, 2022.

Over 400 entries were received from OTT platforms and production houses this year. Filmfare OTT Awards has now opened the doors to the audience. They can vote for their most-loved shows, artistes, and other talents and nominate them for a chance to win the coveted trophy.

Filmfare OTT Awards 2022 will honour creative excellence across Hindi web original shows and films released between August 1, 2021, to July 31, 2022. Log on to Filmfare.com to cast your vote and take your favourites one step closer to winning the Black Lady. The following 21 categories are available for the audience to vote for on Filmfare.com

Disney Grants to Benefit Communities and Wildlife in 25 Countries

Bangalore,  December 2022: Continuing its ongoing efforts to support a healthier planet for people and wildlife, The Walt Disney Company has announced the award of grants to 43 non-profit organizations working with communities across 25 countries to protect more than 60 animal species this year. In India, three non-profits – International Rhino Foundation, Panthera and Turtle Survival Alliance – are beneficiaries of the grants being extended.

The International Rhino Foundation, which creates Rhino habitats in India, will use its grant to protect the Indian rhinoceros by addressing threats of habitat loss and poaching by improving the range and effectiveness of anti-poaching patrols and increasing numbers through a conservation breeding and translocation programme.

Panthera’s snow leopard conservation programme will deploy its grant towards educating villagers, children and religious figures about snow leopards and the threats they face in northern India. Building predator-proof corrals to protest livestock, supporting community income diversification and livestock insurance programmes as well as conducting ecological studies to understand the impact of climate change on habitat use of snow leopard prey species.

The Turtle Survival Alliance, through its Indian Turtle Conservation Programme, is focused on ensuring efficient and effective captive breeding of critically endangered black soft-shell turtles in temple bonds in Assam in north-east India, through breeding and expansion of the head-starting facility at Nagsankar Temple in Tezpur. The programme also seeks to engage local fishermen in the conservation programme apart from community education and awareness efforts and establishing a reintroduction protocol to aid in the recovery of the remaining populations of the turtle.

“As stewards of the environment, we have an obligation to future generations to pass on a cleaner and greener planet to them. Protecting our wildlife and nature is at the heart of our various sustainability programmes and it’s heartening to see the dedication of our NGO partners who are so deeply devoted to making a happier and healthier planet possible for all,” said George Cherian, Head – Corporate Communications & Enterprise Social Responsibility, Disney Star.

Disney is committed to saving wildlife and building a global community inspired to protect the magic of nature together. Since 1995, Disney has directed more than USD120mn and the expertise of our dedicated teams to support organizations working with communities to save wildlife, inspire action and protect the planet.

DBS Bank India empowers five Indian start-ups with total grants of inr2.2 Cr, accelerating their impact towards zero food waste

 India, December 07, 2022: In its continued support of social entrepreneurship and the movement Towards Zero Food Waste (TZFW), DBS Bank India, in collaboration with Social Alpha, a startup incubation platform, has awarded grants of ₹44 lakhs each to five Indian startups, totaling to ₹2.2 crores – under the program ‘Techtonic – Innovations Towards Zero Food Waste’.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted annually. In India, about 40% of food produced is lost in the post-harvest value chain leading to nutritional insecurity and income loss for farmers. Techtonic – Innovations Towards Zero Food Waste is a two-year program that identifies startups working to reduce quantitative and qualitative food loss and waste.

The five winning social enterprises are Temperate Technologies, Krimanshi, Fermentech Labs, Pequrel Technologies, and Raheja Solar. The grant provided through this partnership will help the winners bring their vision of reducing food loss in the post-harvest value chain to life, thus driving a positive environmental, livelihood, and economic impact.

Temperate Technologies will develop an off-the-shelf refrigeration unit that would help reduce the cost of cold storage systems, thus making it affordable for small and marginal farmers. Fermentech Labs is working on a bioreactor to convert waste into enzymes to service pilots in the food processing (bakery/ juice making) industry.

Krimanshi will use the capital to launch poultry and aqua feed by processing waste using insects and rearing insects for protein. Pequrel Technologies is using its money to establish Advanced Adaptable Agriculture Systems (A3S) platform, which would provide seed-to-sale support for farmers and solve energy requirements. And Raheja Solar will give the farmers enhanced, low-cost, easy-to-use solar dryers that will help protect their products and increase their income.

Shoma Narayanan, Managing Director – Group Strategic Marketing & Communications at DBS Bank India, commented on the programme, saying “The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimates that ~40% of the food produced in India is wasted every year due to a fragmented and infective supply chain. In addition, there is an increasing concern over the food security of nations in response to the acceleration of climate change and its effect on crop yields and farmer livelihoods. DBS Bank India has been committed to finding solutions to address the social, environmental, and economic impact that food waste has on communities. We continue to support innovators and social entrepreneurs across Asia who are addressing the gaps in food and Agri value chains, reimagining the way we produce and consume so that we can build a sustainable future together.”

As a part of the program, aside from the grant, DBS Bank India will also provide training and mentoring support to these startups. In addition, the grants would also help these social enterprises conduct tests to validate their products, streamline operations, strengthen their marketing and branding capabilities, and scale up their business.

Manoj Kumar, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer at Social Alpha, said, “‘According to the U.N, an estimated one-third of all food produced (valued at around $1 trillion) ends up rotting in consumers’ and retailers’ bins or spoiling due to poor harvesting practices, post-harvest storage, or transportation. Food loss and waste impact food security and lead to the perpetuation of poverty, malnutrition, and poor health outcomes. Moreover, our food systems cannot be resilient if they are not sustainable. Our partnership with DBS Bank India has enabled Social Alpha to create an innovation, curation, and venture development program to address some of these challenges through the power of entrepreneurship.’’

Aside from Techtonic, and in its commitment Towards Zero Food Waste, DBS has partnered with the Akshaya Patra Foundation (APF) to upgrade kitchen facilities in government and government-aided schools in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. Through this partnership, Akshaya Patra Foundation will be able to scale up its current facilities to serve an additional 175k+ meals daily (current capacity 90K). Akshaya Patra is committed to Zero Waste production policies across its kitchen facilities in India.

DBS Bank India also works with its business clients to provide financing solutions to support sustainable supply chains across sectors, reducing food wastage for suppliers and processors. Earlier this year, it partnered with Stellapps, a tech start-up, to provide farmers with access to digitization, increasing yields and profitability of small dairies across India.

Priyanka and Suresh Raina’s ‘maate’ rolls out its first out-of-home brand campaign

As part of the campaign, the brand aims to establish itself as a front-runner in the premium baby care segment through increased brand awareness

New Delhi, December 2022: Laqshya Media Group, the AOR agency of ‘maate’, executed its debut out-of-home brand campaign. Co-owned by Priyanka Raina and cricketer Suresh Raina, maate is a natural, vegan, and sustainable premium baby wellness brand. The campaign is spread across high footfall catchment areas of North India at key areal routes and main traffic junctions via static billboards and strategically placed high-frequency digital screens in the premium shopping malls at key touch points as per the brand’s target audience. The first OOH campaign of maate aims to strengthen the brand’s positioning as the front-runner in the premium baby care segment with a simple yet powerful message, ‘baby wellness by the luxury of nature’ featuring the promoter power couple Priyanka and Suresh Raina themselves. The creative emphasis on mother nature’s luxurious offerings for babies.

“Launching our first-ever OOH brand campaign was an absolute delight. It is designed to reach new modern parents looking for natural and effective solutions to their baby’s wellness needs. We want to be where parents are, i.e., on the go. So OOH felt like a really good place to start. It is a positive start to many more and bigger things to come.” said Priyanka Raina, Co-founder of maate.

Priyanka added, “Maate celebrates the bond between a mother and her children and how she nurtures them naturally with love and care. The objective is to drive product visibility and communicate brand messaging to the customers. It will help the brand reach a new audience and strengthen its market presence. We strive to make ‘maate’ the premium and safe choice for mothers and babies worldwide.”

Maate is all set to launch a new line of products later this month, including baby face wash, baby diaper rash cream, baby powder, baby comb set, lip butter, etc., to name a few. With new packaging designs and sustainable packaging material, maate is making it easier for parents to find and compare products and new product formulations suitable for babies.

Atul Shrivastava, Group CEO, and ED of Laqshya Media Group, said, “We’re delighted to work with maate on their inaugural OOH campaign, which utilizes a very simple message to cut through the sea of noise that is baby advertising. This move marks a shift for the brand, which has relied heavily on word of mouth and digital marketing earlier. This campaign is a great fit for a brand that continues to be at the forefront of baby wellness. A top-of-the-funnel brand awareness campaign can yield bottom-of-the-funnel results with OOH. Besides creating those OOH advertisements that move, we also provide conversion analytics with our inhouse tool ‘SHARP’ (Strategic Hyperlocal AI-powered Reach Planner).”

Launched in 2019, maate is a truly homegrown brand. When Priyanka Raina returned from Amsterdam to India after becoming a mother, she could not find safe and effective baby care products in the Indian market. It led to the birth of maate, a consciously designed 360° wellness brand. After years of research, all maate products have been formulated with the highest quality natural ingredients and are completely safe and effective for babies. Motherhood is at the core of the company’s essence. Maate products are completely natural, toxin-free, vegan, and cruelty-free. Inspired by the luxury of nature, the brand aims to bring the potency of the highest quality natural ingredients into an improved formulation through constant research and innovation. Since its inception, maate has been loved by thousands of families in India and has been an essential part of their daily wellness routine for their kids, and this community is growing with every new order, regardless of if it’s online or offline.

PLAYGO DURA: Premium-designed TWS at affordable price from PLAY

Delhi, December 7, 2022: Keeping in mind the evolving communication and music needs of India’s youth, PLAY has added another new innovative, Made-in-India, TWS to the PLAYGO series – PLAYGO DURA. Staying true to its name, the ingenious-designed PLAYGO DURA offers straight 30 hours of PLAYtime with about 10 hours on a single charge of the buds. Enabled with fast charging capabilities, consumers can juice up to 5 hours of audio in just 10 mins of charging.

PLAYGO DURA sports premium looks with an in-ear design, ensuring that the user experiences zero ear fatigue even for long wear or while doing the daily gym routine. The PLAY proprietary Enhanced Bass Extra Loud (EBEL) drivers, and well-positioned Microphone provides for HD sound quality, and finally, the Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) technology ensures hassle-free audio, even in the most boisterous Indian environment. The value it brings to the Indian consumers is not only to enjoy a bass-filled music experience but also seamlessly attend to work calls even while being in crowded streets or cafés. Coupled with all this is a well-integrated firmware which can invoke voice -assistants and also seamless wireless connectivity courtesy of the use of the latest Bluetooth technology. The TWS also supports Type-C charging and offers highly intuitive touch controls for smooth functioning. For demanding consumers, you can also control the audio level from the buds itself while keeping your smartphone in the pocket. 

Hamish Patel said, “At PLAY, we have always focused on designing and delivering premium products at suitable budgetary price targets of our discerning consumers. We pride in understanding the ever-evolving needs of our consumers and accordingly design products to make their lives more convenient and hassle-free with a mix of fashion and latest technology. The latest product, PLAYGO DURA is also crafted in line with this philosophy. We are extremely motivated to bring PLAYGO DURA to our consumers and feel that the product will surely strike chord with the consumer on account of its fashionable and handy design aided with the best-in-class device audio experience. We hope to receive an equally compelling user delight as has been experienced for our other portfolio. We will continue to launch more fashionably innovative products and strive to establish tech leadership in the AioT category.”

Available in Black and white colour variants, the TWS is priced at INR 1499, making it highly affordable in this category. Users can buy it from the brand’s official website and leading e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.  

Made in India FinTech Solution; Slush side event brings global startup ecosystem under one roof

At the Slush side event on “Made in India FinTech Solution,” which was sponsored by Startup India and the Embassy of India in Helsinki, Entrepreneurship Evangelist Ravi Ranjan discussed how FinTech solutions could aid India’s development.

A curated lineup of international speakers, showcases, and special networking opportunities that bring the global startup ecosystem under one roof – is called a Slush Side Event. One such Slush side event titled “Made in India FinTech Solution” was recently organized by Startup India and the Embassy of India in Helsinki, Finland. Every year, Slush, one of the biggest and most important startup events in the world, is held, and hundreds of startup founders and business owners attend. This year, a Slush side event on the subject of “Made in India Fintech Solution: Unified Payments Interface (UPI)” was organized by the Indian Embassy in Helsinki in conjunction with Startup India.’ The event witnessed participation of numerous entrepreneurs and startup founders and experts and among them were Ravi Ranjan, an entrepreneurship evangelist, Raveesh Kumar, Ambassador of India to Finland, Ms. Upasana Taku (Co-Founder Unicorn Startup Mobikwik), Mr. Mano Thangaraj (Hon. IT Minister Govt. of Tamil Nadu) and others.

Ravi Ranjan, the Chief of Partnership & Events at India’s largest early stage Investment network- ‘Venture Catalysts’ who was invited to the event as an esteemed panellist, was praised by the audience for his deep understanding of the Startup ecosystem and his insightful and thought provoking address. With more than a decade of experience coaching commercial and governmental actors in the nuances of business and entrepreneurship, Ravi Ranjan is one of the select few handpicked rising leaders from India to be a part of the renowned IVLP programme by the US government. Sharing his take towards the industry , the visionary went on to state, “Indian startup ecosystem has been growing phenomenally over the last few years. The increasing UPI payments, digital transactions, and ease of transaction across the country is the result of an excellent startup ecosystem and it contributes to the digital economy of the country. Through several ties, both countries
contribute to each other’s growth. We can also look at some of the best practices of Finland and implement them in India.”

The event was a grand success in every aspect and was a knowledge enriching event for the delegates who attended the event. The eminent panellists who graced the event with their august presence also highlighted several points, including possible collaborations between India and Finland in fintech, recent trends in fintech, and learning from UPI for the fintech world as in the recent years, Finland has proved to be one of the most advanced fintech sectors in the world, with up to 93 per cent of the Finnish population using online banking services. The sector has been growing rapidly, with innovations such as neo-banking services leading the way. The ‘Made in India Fintech Solution: Unified Payments Interface (UPI).’ saw panellists keeping their views with counter arguments by one another. The event concluded with a mega closing ceremony and a vote of thanks by all the organisers.

All-in-one enterprise gifting platform Swageazy raises 7 Crores led by Info Edge Ventures

Gurgaon, 7 December 2022: Swageazy, one of India’s all in one enterprise gifting platforms has raised INR 7 crores in a seed funding round led by Info Edge Ventures. The round also saw participation from Anicut Capital (Through their Angel fund arm), Huddle Ventures, and other prolific angel investors including Ankur Agarwal, Co-founder, of Dunzo, Dhruv Toshniwal, CEO & Founder, The Pant Project, and Kartik Mandaville, CEO, Springworks amongst others. The freshly raised funds will be used by the start-up to acquire talent, and bolster product development as well as technology, with a vision to further expand its customer portfolio.

Founded by Sameer Wahie and Sneh Setu in March 2021, Swageazy was established with a vision to simplify and streamline gifting and make the whole gifting process as easy as a push notification. Through its tech-first approach, the company has built a platform that enables businesses to curate a gift pack of their choice, with Swageazy handling everything else—from design assistance to last-mile delivery across Indian and international markets.

Commenting on the Company’s vision and fundraising, Sameer Wahie, Founder & CEO, Swageazy said, “The corporate gifting industry has boomed over the past few years, as the new work paradigms have heightened the importance of building a rapport with employees, clients, and potential customers alike. Our goal is to bring the efficiency and scale of the digital era to the age-old channel of offline gifting. It will integrate with current marketing, sales, and HR management applications and enable users to automate gifting based on milestones. We also intend to use data to estimate the return on investment for these gifting initiatives. The latest round of funding will enable us to accelerate our product development and improve our go-to-market (GTM) strategy to add significant value for our clients.”

Speaking on their investment in Swageazy, Rishabh Katiyar, Principal at Info Edge Ventures said, “Anyone who has ordered swag or gifts for their employees, customers, prospects or key stakeholders knows how broken and inefficient the entire process is. Swageazy offers one of the most comprehensive end-to-end gifting platforms with a marketplace of curated vendors, the ability to customize gift packs, seamless integration with existing HRMS/CRM tools, global fulfillment, and deep analytics. In a short span of time, Swageazy has become a trusted partner to enterprises like Amazon, Linkedin, Coursera, Chargebee, and Pidilite, among others. The team has executed well in a bootstrapped manner so far and we are very excited to partner with them on this journey of scaling Swageazy into a brand that becomes synonymous with swag/gifting.”

Ashvin Chadha, Founding Partner, Anicut Capital further added “The Indian corporate gifting industry is a $2bn market which is booming and growing rapidly YoY, primarily fueled by the ever-changing work culture and how the business interacts with their clients. Swageazy has identified a large and largely unidentified pain point and has built an exceptional tech product around that. We see huge potential in Swageazy to keep showcasing what they are the best at and look forward to guiding and helping them through this development and growth phase to reach their potential.”

Swageazy has ambitious growth plans for the coming years and seeks to enhance its tactics to fuel expansion across Indian and international markets. The platform has so far curated, packed, and shipped 30,000+ swag packs since its inception and have been brewing swag for 125+ enterprises including LinkedIn, Coursera, Amazon, Pidilite, and Chargebee, amongst others.