Saturday, 25th July 2009, Devang Mehta Auditorium at Persistent Systems in Pune was jam packed. It was 6th Proto.in

There were 15 start up which were selected out of the 90+ start  up by a team of industry experts. Here is a small preview of each one of them.

Vardenchi Motorcycles
Vardenchi Motorcycles is a start up from Mumbai which is into building custom motorcycles. They create hand crafted or modified motorcycles. They also showed two motorcycle designs on the stage. One of them was modified Enfield and the other one was a big 4 cylinder bike.

Here are some pics for you from Vardenchi bikes on state and Mrs. Akshai. You can learn more about Vardenchi motorcycles at http://www.vardenchi.com

Automotive Robotics
Automotive Robotics are into designing Do-It-Yourself kits for performance vehicles. They also showcased a Daewoo Ceilo into a rally car. the start up is run by Mr. Rajeev Ranadive. They call it “Bolt On Kits.” This start up is from amchi Pune. Frankly speaking, I thought there are many performance improvement kits available in the market. I am not clearly sure what they are providing extra. Anyways, here are some pics of Mr. Rajeev Ranadive on stage.

ThinkCore Technology (PebbleTalk)
The third start up was from ThinkCore Technology which has a product called PebbleTalk. Pebbletalk is a integrated communication and collaboration tool for enterprises. Mr. Santosh was on state to make the presentation. You can get the feel of the product at http://www.pebbletalk.com They are planning to target the organizations with more than 100 employees. They have few competitors like SocialText and Jive already in the market.

Aerosoft Systems
Aerosoft has created a software for e-commerce reconciliation. Their software ensures that the e-commerce merchant receives the appropriate funds in due time at correct exchange rates. You can learn more about them at http://www.aerosoftsystems.com

In my personal opinion as an online seller, I understand the need of it. But it all depends on what pricing they are offering it for. I need to figure out that.

Enterux Solutions (English Seekho)
English Seekho is a product designed to teach English on phone/mobile to people living in deep villages. English is an interactive product which can make people learn how to speak in English. This products is launched by Enterux Solutions in collaboration with IL&FS-ETS. Learn more about Enterux at http://www.enterux.com

I really liked the concept. It can actually help a lot of people around the country. There are really a huge number of people in the villages who really wants to learn English, but don’t know how.

Vrixx Education Solutions
Vrixx Education Solutions provides cost effective web portal to educational institutes like colleges. The aim of the product is the bring all the members of the college/institute on a common online platform to heal the accomplish activities. This is one of the two companies which were invited by the Mumbai Angels to make a pitch to them at Mumbai. More about them can be found at http://www.vrixx.com

Somebody raised a fair question in the Q&A session saying “Our professors need our help to open even their power point presentations, how do you expect them to learn all this big technology things.” That is really a valid point.

Compark Education (TestMerit)
Compark Education Pvt. Ltd. is start up from Delhi NCR region. They have a site called http://www.testmerit.com where anybody can go and take the tests. The site has mock tests for most of the entrance and competitive exams in India. Very soon, the CAT and MAT are going online as well. So there is a market.

I remember seeing many such sites in the past. I also know few companies which were in this field but does not exist any more. The reason is that they were charging fee online. But Compark/TetsMerit is choosing a offline franchise model for it. So, it may work out. Who knows.

Time Vision Info (ConWizta)
Time Vision Info has an online product called Conwizta, which stats for “content wizard and testing application.” The product helps individuals having expertise in some specific field to create a simple content/tests/tutorials online. This way these people can have classes online and can charge their students (while making some payments to Time Vision Info). The best part I liked in them is that they work on revenue share.

I liked the overall concept, but I think it needs a real marketing boost. If it becomes a hit, there is surely some good money into it.

eMart Solutions (GoVasool)
The next start up presentation was from eMart, the owners of site GoVasool.com

GoVasool is world’s first local group shopping and reverse auction market place. It compares prices in a city’s best stores and transact via net. If people are willing to buy something, they call also create a group and start the reverse auction, where sellers can go and bid.

The reverse auction concept is not very new, but the way it is implemented is good. The main problem with such site is the initial boost. Once the site starts getting big page views, the interest of the sellers starts building up. Till then, it’s like a chicken and egg situation.

BankBazaar.com
This is one of the serious start ups in found in the proto. Bankbazaar.com is world’s first online real time loan calculation and disbursal platform offering a one stop end to end solutions to visitors.

It seems the promoters have done really hard work for convincing the banks and have integrated with them in real time. This is what makes this site a unique site. I am sure its going to make big in future.

Vigyaapan Technologies
Vigyaan Technologies has a product called mRARP. This product is used to identify a social influencer (they call it queen bee) in a group of people. They have an algorithm to do this. This social influencer can be influenced to make a recommendation (lets say for a movie). This concept can be used in mobile marketing a lot. Learn more about them at http://www.vigyaapan.in

Other three companies which presented in “outliers” categories were:

• Intsolvers Technologies
• HyCa Technologies
• TouchMagix