New tech on the block: SaaS, FinTech, metaverse, cybersecurity, AI

The Tech Panda takes a look at recent tech launches.

SaaS & FinTech: The next-gen SaaS-based FinTech OS

MyShubhLife, an Indian digital lending and full-stack financial service & saving platform, introduces its end-to-end API & SaaS-based integrated platform to run an entire lending business digitally. The scalable, flexible, and robust technology platform empowers lenders to reduce their time to market, service their customers and monitor their loan portfolios, all while reducing risk and maintaining compliance.

Rahul Sekar, Chief Technology Officer of MyShubhLife said, “Over the last six years, MyShubhLife has been the trusted partner to several enterprises and Banks. We’ve been investing in technology to create interesting lending-related tech modules. Consider our credit underwriting module and sophisticated credit engine, which are outfitted with cutting-edge technologies, analytics, and disruptive tools such as AI and machine learning, allowing us to complete more tasks in less time and with greater accuracy than a legacy loan management system.”

“MyShubhLife’s truly modern platform enables digital lenders to focus on their core lending business, with access to the latest acquisition, underwriting technologies, ready-made loan servicing software and portfolio benchmarking. With the power of these integrations built in, we believe that MyShubhLife has emerged truly as the ‘Tech’ of the Fintech Ecosystem.” he further adds.

The Why

With this, MyShubhLife is opening its core technology to the ecosystem to enable lenders to launch digital lending products digitally rapidly. The operating system empowers marketplace lenders to bypass costly tech buildouts, minimize IT infrastructure, and accelerate growth. The company has already started running pilots across four cohorts of customers, including banks, Fintechs, large technology companies with lending ambitions and traditional lenders.

Features

• 12+ services across four different sub-modules
• Award-winning credit & underwriting, embedded sourcing, documentation compliance, and loan management
• Facilitates different facets of lending, including onboarding (digital identity & KYC), loan management, debt management (collections), operations and access to consumption platforms (cards, UPI etc.)
• The technology stack meets the RBI’s digital lending criteria.
• The architecture is built on scalable technology and modular infrastructure, making it easier and faster to implement and integrate the platform with any lender’s existing technology infrastructure.
• 25+ configuration parameters that can be used to customize hundreds of loan journeys and products
• Scope ranges from secured home loans to unsecured daily instalment loans and overdraft accounts

Metaverse: A casual 3D obstacle course game inspired by Indian culture

Zionverse, an Indian gaming ecosystem under Totality Corp, is all set to start the new year right. Post the launch and the catapulting craze around Lakshmi NFT, as promised to its loyal community members, the company is now coming up with an exclusive launch of the freshest 3D obstacle course game, Vijayi Dash.

Anshul Rustaggi, Founder and CEO of Totality Corp, said, “With the onset of the new year, we’re continuing our consistency of keeping the promises made to our community and launching this game exclusively curated for the owners of Lakshmi NFT. This 7-day event is a gesture of our thanks to the community that never stops giving; feedback, support, love, and, most of all, the belief they hold in our team. The resounding success of the launch of Lakshmi NFT drove us to put our hearts and soul and create Vijayi Dash, a victorious experience for the ones who make us feel like winners every day. We encourage all Lakshmi NFT owners to participate in this exciting event and earn rewards by partaking in the fun challenges of Vijayi Dash.”

Features

Vijayi Dash is a casual 3D obstacle course game inspired by Indian culture and specifically designed for our community. The event that’s set to garner the attention of all Web3 enthusiasts is the 7-day extravaganza curated for Lakshmi NFT holders, scheduled to commence from January 05, 2023, at 6 PM IST and will go on till January 12, 2023, 6 PM IST.

This event is a 7-day long marathon to reach the top of the leaderboard and win awards up to 950 USDC. To participate in the exuberant celebration, players must own at least one Lakshmi NFT linked to their Zionverse account through a Metamask wallet if purchased from a secondary market or unstaked. Players must also have an Android device to access the Zionverse app and the Vijayidash game. 

Each player will receive 3 runs per day per NFT for a total of 21 runs by the end of the event. If the daily runs are not utilized, they will be accumulated and not reset, to be then used at the player’s discretion. Players can track their available runs and the rank of each NFT on the leader board within the Zionverse app. Rewards will be paid out in USDC through a connected Metamask wallet by January 19 at 6 PM IST.

Cybersecurity: A security assessment tool for top-level management

Indian Cyber Security Solutions (ICSS), a dedicated cybersecurity solutions provider, is set to launch SAVE (Secured AI-Based Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Enterprises), an enterprise security assessment tool to quantify cyber risks and suggest mitigation steps for top-level management.

Abhishek Mitra, CEO & Founder of ICSS said, “With a purpose to provide businesses with the best possible defense against cyber criminals we strive to protect everyone everywhere by providing the best cybersecurity solutions available. Through our product launch, we aim to ensure data security (Change:Web Security), network security, (add: Cloud Security), system integrity, and the defense against Trojan, virus, and denial-of-service assaults”.

“Security Services is the market’s largest category, with a US$1.09 billion market volume in 2022. Revenue is anticipated to rise at a 14.36% AGR, reaching a market size of US$4.09 billion by 2027. We endeavor to contribute through our dedicated products that specialize in protecting tech-driven enterprises while also working towards a more secure Digital India, against the backdrop of an ever-changing digital world.” he added further.

The Why

For enterprises of all sizes, cloud attacks, ransomware attacks, crypto currency, and blockchain attacks are one of the largest cyber security concerns in 2022. According to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, reported complaints increased by 15.3% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2022. ICSS is a forerunner in the provision of cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions to governments and commercial businesses globally. They have designed SAVE to evaluate recurrent cybersecurity-related risks from management and security positions and classify vulnerabilities according to their criticality.

Features

This product can quantify Cyber Risk, Vulnerability Management, provide a 360-degree view of all critical assets, and is a one-stop platform for predicting all potential breaches, remediated by AI and ML.

EdTech: World’s first virtual classroom designed to be used inside the Metaverse

Edverse, education metaverse company has recently launched Edverse Meta Classroom. The platform is the world’s first virtual classroom designed to be used inside the Metaverse. It provides educators and learners with 3D visualizing and storytelling that creates an immersive environment for an unparalleled learning experience.

Yuvraj Krishan Sharma, Co-Founder & CPO of Edverse, said, “Meta Classroom has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about education. By creating an immersive holistic learning environment, we can provide students with the opportunity to learn in a way that is more engaging, interactive, and fun and would help students with a better grasp and retention of concepts.”

The Why

With Meta Classroom, educators and learners can connect and collaborate from anywhere in the world, bypassing physical boundaries and limitations. Learners get a more personalized experience by getting access to expert educators from around the world and eliminating the geographical barriers that can limit learning opportunities.

Features

The classroom is designed to provide academic depth that is unlike anything available in the traditional classroom setting. The platform allows an opportunity to enter as lifelike avatars and learn in a simulated digital 3D classroom-like space.

It offers interaction with 3D objects that can help students retain concepts better than just reading in a textbook or watching videos online. For example, students can dive into a magnified human cell to learn about its structure and function, explore the surface of the moon and study the stars, or sit at the bottom of the ocean and learn about mysterious sea creatures with classmates from all over the world.

Giving first-hand experience to schools, Edverse is providing free access to experience-based learning in a metaverse with its Immersive Live Academic Series. The first-of-its-kind enlightening live series that digs deeper into the themes of ‘Our Universe’ and ‘History of Civilization’ for classes 5 to 12 spanning across 4 weeks. The series is live from 15th December 2022 every day 7:00 pm onwards with a new topic introduced every Monday. Students will receive certification by Edverse on completion after 4 weeks. The certificate would signify their holistic learning of concepts in a metaverse.

Also includes:

• online conference rooms, hosting online competitions, and alumni meetups
• Four parallel screen views embedded with unique features such as Topic and Description of the class
• Any educational content shared during the class, such as PPTs, case studies, docs, or any reference material,
• 3D modules/ Screen share for educators to use this screen to display 3D models to explain any concept to the students, and
• Lesson planning tools that offer educators and learners to upload and download files
• Class recordings and transcripts
• Easy-to-use 3D asset library
• In-class chat that eases and enhances seamless communication between educators and learners
• Features like a chat box, raise the hand, and mic is given to all the users so they can experience peer interaction and freely ask their questions to the educators

FinTech: India’s first advanced portfolio analysis report

Bajaj Capital, the Indian investment services group has launched India’s most advanced portfolio analysis report titled EDGE. It allows any Indian to upload their CAS & get a detailed view of their investment across Mutual Fund, National Pension System, Bond, Fixed Deposits, etc. With this launch Bajaj Capital takes a giant step towards empowering Indians towards taking better financial decisions for their investments across multiple companies.

Sanjiv Bajaj, Jt. Chairman & MD,Bajaj Capital said, “The financial sector in India has evolved and welcomed innovation in the form of digital transformation, which will help to improve the financial inclusions & provide customers with best in class experience. Indian investors today need a consolidated and easy to understand view of their Investments and with EDGE Report we want to drive it.”

The Why

Today, the number 1 pain point of an Indian citizen is that their investments are fragmented. Some investments started with one AMC, another with someone else, at times the investment happened with one distribution house and may be invested in a direct MF equity through another portal.

With this EDGE Report, the Indian citizens can just take their latest CAS file from CAMS website and upload it in the platform to get their consolidated investment summary. CAS file is a consolidated list of a customer’s investments across Mutual Funds, which in the current form is not easy to analyze or understand without any expertise. Therefore, to give customers an edge over others, Bajaj Capital is offering India’s most advanced portfolio report for free. The report is easy, instant & completely digital. An individual’s EDGE report helps the wealth manager to suggest a tailor-made investment solution to the customer.

Features

• can be fetched within seconds which will have an overview of the current market value of investments, asset allocation, top 10 holdings and their  performances, sector wise exposure, AMC exposure & more
• will give an overall collated understanding & visualization of customer’s external investments as well as investments done within Bajaj Capital
• not just limited to mutual funds, if you invest through Bajaj Capital in other products like fixed deposit, National Pension Scheme, PMS, bonds etc. then this report will give you a consolidated view of all investments

Cybersecurity: Incident response retainer program to reduce impact of cyber risks

Arete, a global cyber risk management company, has launched a new incident response retainer program to prepare organizations to respond to and prevent cyber incidents. The program is designed for small and medium businesses (SMBs) who often face breaches, resulting in a minimum of 6-8 days to recover despite having the best security solutions, backups, and strategies.

Raj Sivaraju, Arete’s President of APAC (Asia Pacific) said, “At Arete, we are constantly monitoring the threat landscape through multiple assignments and use cases and designing world-class security solutions for our clients. Our latest program aligns with this vision. This service is essential to enhance the businesses’ approach toward their information security program and incident management capabilities. We are excited to see the response and hope to deliver exceptional outcomes through this service.”

The Why

Arete aims to enhance businesses’ security posture at an organizational level and reduce the impact of potential cyber risks. The idea is to help SMBs assess their current cyber risk infrastructure in line with the changing security landscape and provide expert guidance through the journey to meet industry and regulatory requirements. 

Features

• Clients’ cybersecurity processes will be evaluated and benchmarked against industry peers and best-in-class security practices.
• Detailed cyber risk posture feedback will be provided to clients along with a roadmap for implementing the cyber risk management strategy. This program will enable SMBs to identify malicious threats already in their systems and determine whether any confidential customer information has already been leaked.  
• Arete will proactively share the intelligence gathered during reactive assignments and customize the client’s response plan to give them a clear picture of hidden costs, and unplanned downtimes, thus helping them make more informed security decisions.
• Clients will also have the option to enhance these services basis their needs or potential risks.

AI: A next-gen AI-enabled visual inspection solution for the manufacturing sector

Jidoka Technologies, a compnay in the field of automated cognitive inspection for manufacturing, has recently launched Kompass 3.0, a next-gen AI-enabled visual inspection solution.  The updated platform is a result of Jidoka further strengthening its technological innovation capabilities.  This latest version of the solution has made the organization rapidly respond to changes in the market and customer requirements, thereby giving customers the much-needed competitive edge.

Sekar Udayamurthy, CEO and Co-founder, Jidoka Technologies, said, “Since our first launch of the solution in 2018, we are continuously upgrading the Kompass Platform.  Today, this latest version of the platform provides new as well as existing customers with a more powerful visual inspection system that caters to the changes in business and quality requirements of the manufacturing industry.”  He further added, “This latest version helps with traceability, real-time insights, and human-in-the-loop decision-making, giving customers control to balance quality and throughput and other benefits such as robustness, speed, and being more hardware agnostic. This development was possible because of our team’s constant endeavor to develop future-ready solutions.”

The Why

Customers in the manufacturing industry can now deploy and manage the solution without a higher level of technical expertise and skills. It can help the Subject Matter Experts in upskilling themselves by taking their focus away from mundane quality checks to a continuous recalibration of defects. Visual inspection resources and human resources costs can be reduced significantly too. The manufacturers realize their investments in less than 12 to 24 months while upgrading to a more streamlined quality check process.

Features

• Advanced Dashboard to give real-time insights into quality in the production, logistics, and print workflows.
• Vertical solutions such as Print Inspection Accelerator and Logistics Applications Accelerator have been added to the core product. This enables warehouses to ensure accuracy and quality in inbound and outbound processes.
• In print inspections, validation of dynamically changing print data is done at speeds of up to 3600 items per minute.
• Anomaly-based decision systems provide an opportunity for companies that are establishing new products or lines where very little is known about defects to leverage the AI capability of inspection. This is in addition to the object detection and classification models that are available.
• It gives customers the ability to write custom code modules to enhance the effectiveness of the solution while providing flexibility without losing robustness.
• The software can integrate with MES and ERP systems and provide an operational report for day-to-day management.
• It can increase throughput, speed of inspection, and defect accuracy.
• The solution reduces excess wastage, provides insights into process threads, and brings down fatigue and stress levels of the Quality Control Teams. 

FinTech: An on-boarding mobile app for easy loans

RULoans Distribution Services Pvt. Ltd., an Indian corporate DSA businesses, has officially launched its end-to-end digital platform for faster and seamless partner on-boarding as well as paperless and fully compliant loan file processing at an event in Jaipur. The digital platform will power the company’s plans to take the loan disbursement to more than Rs.100,000 crore and channel partner network strength beyond 75,000 by 2025.

Kaushik Mehta, Chairman, RULoans said, “The launch of RULoans channel partner on-boarding mobile app is in line with our vision to be one of the largest BFSI product aggregators by 2025 with disbursement exceeding Rs.100,000 crore and channel partner network strength surpassing 75,000. The lending eco-system in India is at an inflection point thanks to a strong market demand and growing adoption of digital channels for customer on-boarding and loan application processing. The RULoans mobile app will add new age tech-enabled agility to our distribution scale-up strategy and service delivery efficiency. Banking on the robust digital backbone, we’ll continue to deepen our market outreach and expand our presence in new and underleveraged markets.”

Karan Desai, Director, RULoans said, “The digital channel partner on-boarding platform will open up new growth avenues on the back of the two decades of successful track record of financial product distribution. We are working towards crossing a top line of Rs. 500 crore in FY23 and our aim is to touch the Rs.2,000 crore-mark by 2025.”

The Why

Using this new-age omni-channel platform, entrepreneurs and loan agents across India can empanel themselves as RULoans partners and also upload loan cases real-time into the system. The company has ensured that the entire loan journey is compliant from a financier perspective. The digital platform runs a proprietary algorithm in the back-end to match cases to suitable financiers and processes the loan files for disbursement both digitally and physically.

Features

• The digital platform is accessible through RULoans mobile app which will be downloadable from Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
• Products distributed by RULoans include personal loan, business loan, home loan, gold loan, working capital finance, loan against property, life and general insurance, loan against security, education loan, real estate, auto loans and credit cards.