Now, an app for celebrities to connect with fans

If you are a fan of Virat Kohli, India's hottest cricketing star, you may soon be able to meet and greet him, chat with him online, receive exclusive pictures, videos or content from him or get discounts on select brands, like Wrogn and Chissel, which he endorses or part-owns.

This is provided you buy the Virat FanBox — a special edition MotoG Turbophone that comes with an in-built app for Rs 16,999, which includes the membership fees to the Virat fan club for 365 days.

Of course, the FanBox also comes with a mini-bat signed by Virat, a hand-written (printed) letter from Virat, and a unique membership number which is linked to the IMEI no of the phone — all in a well decorated box. The phone will also serve as a key to a lot of entry points, like the post-match fan booth the club would organise.

The FanBox has been developed by Privyplex, a start-up founded by two alumni of Insead Business School — Ahmed Arab, the CEO, and Upmanyu Misra (chairman of its board), who also heads Elyseum, a Dubai-based private equity firm which has invested $1.5 million in the firm.

“As a cricketer, I feel blessed with all the love and support I get from my fans. TheVirat FanBox is my personal endeavour to get closer to my fans than ever before; to connect and chat with them online and meet them in real life. I am excited and looking forward to engaging and interacting with the club members via the app,” Virat said in a statement.

"In India, celebrities enjoy a lot of following. FanBox is a high-degree engagement platform, which is unique. We are happy to partner with them," says Amit Boni, country head, Motorola. The potential is huge as Virat has 10.5 million followers on Twitter. While the start-up is shy of discussing targets, Boni will be disappointed if it doesn't do 1 million.

Typically, fans-celebrity interactions are one-way. Fans want to have access to celebrities, and celebrities want a better understanding of their fans. "We have created a platform which enables that between the celebrity and the fans," says Ahmed, CEO of Privyplex and a telecom engineer, who has worked with Microsoft, Nokia, Alcatel; co-founded a start-up in Singapore, which was sold to Rocket Internet.

Virat is the first celebrity the firm has signed up, but it’s also in talks with five others globally. These include a football player from South America, a basketball star from USA, a Formula 1 star from Europe, and entertainment and Bollywood stars from South Korea and India, respectively. What’s common is that they are among the most popular in their respective arenas. They all liked the idea and talks with them are currently at various stages; the FanBox will be customised for each.Read more about this article.

Truecaller in talks with start-ups

In an effort to tap on the start-up system in India and open a new revenue stream, phone number identification app Truecaller is planning to get into tie-ups with e-commerce giants such as Snapdeal, Flipkart and other online players which require phone number verification on their customers and other related services.

The company also said they hope to have 200 million users in India by the end of this year. Currently, they have 120 million users in the country, which is the company’s biggest market. It has 200 million users globally.

Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam, founders of the Stockholm, a Sweden-based company founded in 2009, are in India with a number of StartUps. Last month Truecaller introduced a new software development kit (SDK) on Thursday that lets third party applications verify users via phone numbers. “We want to personlise e-commerce for the users and that is where we want to pitch in. We want the company and the customer to be connected better, starting from first contact to last-mile delivery,” said Mamedi.

TrueSDK, a software development kit is the first product from the company for the app developer community that enables third-party apps to easily on board users with their existing Truecaller profile and verified phone numbers. Developers can use the service to sign up, update user information, or verify user's phone number identity in their mobile apps through user consent.

“TrueSDK for us was the first stepping stone and the reason we built it was a lot many developers asked us on how they could use Truecaller. They asked why they have to build an infrastructure around verifying phone numbers and bear the cost of doing the same, when someone else has already done so as Truecaller is a directory of verified phone numbers,” added Mamedi. 

While Mamedi did not give out any names but sources in the company said that they have had talks with a number of companies including major e-commerce players such as Flipkart and Snapdeal to get into tie-ups with them

“We have had a series of engagements with a number of start-ups including e-commerce companies in topline category and they have shown a lot of interest in the product,” said Kari Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Growth and Partnerships, Truecaller.

'Start-up India' the ultimate break with License Raj: Arun Jaitley

India will unveil entrepreneurial friendly taxation policies in the forthcoming budget that would help startups build new businesses for both the local market as well as global markets. This would also be the ultimate break from the license Raj, which held in shackles Indian entrepreneurs and businesses to grow, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at the inaugural of the Start-up India event.
"We have already worked upon entrepreneurial friendly taxation. Some of this can be done through notification, some steps have been taken and other requires legislative consent that would be included when the finance bill is presented," said Jaitley.
"StartupIndia is the ultimate break that you have from the conventional license raj of India," the FM added.