- Two Indian
startups –Stellapps andZestmoney are in the list of Technology Pioneers of 2020 by theWorld Economic Forum . - Companies that have been a part of the prestigious list earlier are Google, Airbnb, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Spotify, Twitter and Wikimedia.
- Both the startups will now contribute to
WEF initiatives for two years and work with policymakers and private sector leaders on key issues.
“By joining this community, Technology Pioneers begin a two-year journey where they are part of the World Economic Forum’s initiatives, activities and events, bringing their cutting-edge insight and fresh thinking to critical global discussions,” said the statement from WEF.
Companies that have been a part of the prestigious list earlier are Google, Airbnb, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Spotify, Twitter and Wikimedia.
ZestMoney
The five-year old startup ZestMoney was founded by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman. The consumer lending startup aims to enable users who have no access to credit cards or any other formal financing options due to insufficient credit history.
“We feel like it is confirmation that the platform that we have built using cutting edge technology is among the most unique in the world and can further improve the quality of life for millions of people. At ZestMoney, we believe that everyone deserves a better life and, by providing affordable and accessible credit, we can empower them to pursue that life,” said Chapman about the Technology Pioneers list. With this, Chapman and ZestMoney will contribute to WEF initiatives for two years and work with policymakers and private sector leaders on key issues.
ZestMoney is backed by leading investors such as Goldman Sachs, Ribbit Capital, Xiaomi, Naspers Fintech, and Omidyar Networks. As of December 2019, Zestmoney has 6 million users and 3000 merchants onboard.
Stellapps
Bengaluru-based milk tech startup Stellapps is the second Indian company to feature in the WEF list. Stellapps is a data-driven, IoT based, farm-to-consumer dairy supply chain startup.
Stellapps, which was founded in 2011, digitizes the farm-to-consumer chain and through its advanced analytics and AI runs a full-stack IoT platform to enable dairy ecosystem partnerships. The platform also facilitates digital payments and hassle-free credit and insurance to marginal dairy farmers. “Stellapps currently digitizes over 9 million litres of milk worth $3.4 million each day and directly impacts 2 million dairy farmers in over 28,000 Indian villages,” said the company.
“We consider the selection as the validation of the impact created in the lives of millions of smallholder farmers. It is also a confirmation of the uniqueness of our technology and its potential to orbit-shift the Indian dairy sector’s productivity, profitability and sustainability with milk quality and traceability as the cornerstone,” said Stellapps’ CEO, Ranjith Mukundan. Mukundan has 24 years of experience in the IT industry and was earlier the Global head of Wipro's telecom value added services practice.
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