Dataquest presents top 25 Indian Web 2.0 start-ups

NEW DELHI: Hot and happening Websites from BigAdda, Fropper, Indyarocks to smaller sites like Tagz.in have made it to Dataquest’s list of the 25 Hot Indian Web 2.0 start-ups. The research is part of technology publisher CyberMedia’s effort to highlight the fast maturing and growing segment of online business in India.

The list, prepared by Dataquest, with help of Indianweb2.com, that tracks Indian start-ups in the technology space in general and web 2.0 space in particular, is an interesting mix of social networking sites, tool makers, rating sites, and creators of close-knit online communities and collaborative mobile applications.

'India’s 25 Hot Web 2.0 Start-ups' is the first such list created in India and is part of the May 15 issue of the 27-year-old magazine.

The final list was prepared by the Dataquest editors, from 54 companies that were shortlisted based on a set of parameters.

“India has the potential to significantly drive the direction in which Web 2.0 is moving. Micro-blogging and video streaming are the future of Web 2.0 along with 'niche' networking, be it on a friendship portal or around communities,” says Shyamanuja Das, Editor, Dataquest, who led the project.

“A stronger revenue model and a shift from ad-based framework to an e-commerce based set-up is desirable,” he added.

The Web 2.0 hit India only 3 to 4 years ago. The editors of Dataquest have identified a set of reasons for the late adoption of Web 2.0 in India. These include low Internet penetration, limited access devices, low adoption of web-cameras, recorders and high-end phones.

There are many things that have changed from the era of Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. One significant change is that all the innovations in web 1.0 era were largely confined to the United States, while web 2.0 is a global phenomenon with India playing a very significant role, probably second only to the US.

Companies are trying innovative ways to woo the users. BigAdda, for example, has roped in Amitabh Bachchan to write his blog in it. Other companies are also creating differentiations based on their overall offering.

The list, in alphabetical order.



Apna Circle (www.apnacircle.com): A niche social networking site focused on careers

AuthorStream (www.authorstream.com): Focused on user-generated content. Users can share online presentations and slideshows

BharatStudent (www.bharatstudent.com): A networking platform addressing education and career related issues of students

BigAdda (www.bigadda.com): A broad-based social networking site on the lines of Facebook and Orkut, offering everything to everyone

Burrp TV (www.burrp.com): Focused on local information from TV channels to restaurants based on user generated content and user ratings

Commonfloor (www.commonfloor.com): An online community of housing societies and apartments owners and residents popular with several large builders

DesiMartini (www.desimartini.com): A broad-based social networking site for Indians across the globe, from the Hindustan Times Media

Fropper (www.fropper.com): India's most well-known dating site with abundant social networking features

Ibibo (www.ibibo.com): A platform to showcase talent and connect with people with similar interests

Indiamarks (www.indianmarks.com). A well-organized user-generated content site that allows users to build guides on anything about India

Indipepal (www.indipepal.com): A site with commentaries from thought leaders offering ways to interact with them

IndyaRocks (www.indyarocks.com): A social networking site focused on entertainment, especially of the Bollywood variety

Kreeo (www.kreeo.com): Development tools to use collective human intelligence to better search and online learning

Kwench (www.kwench.in): A collaboration-driven library initiative targeted at the employees of enterprises

Kwippy (www.kwippy.com): The Indian version of Twitter, it is all about sharing status and engaging in discussion

LifeBlob (www.lifeblob.com): Provides a virtual diary and timeline for the users

LordofOdds (www.lordofodds.com): A site where users can make predictions and engage in money-less betting

Metaaso Mermaid (www.metaaso.com): Large scale online video conferencing application

Minglebox (www.minglebox.com): A networking platform focused on education and careers

Parentree (www.parentree.in): An online community focused on parenting

Mobshare (www.mobshare.in): Allows users to share and access photos and videos via mobile phone

Tagz.in (www.tagz.in): A combination of social news combined with bookmarking, along the lines of delicious and reddit

Tell-A-Friend (tellafriend.socialtwist.com): Provides tools for website owners to share bookmarks

Uhooro (www.uhooro.com): A collaborative platform for music enthusiasts

Zahdoo (www.zahdoo.com): A utility that allows users to locate and engage with people with cognitive traits similar to their own

What is Web 2.0?



Tim O’Reilly, the tech Guru who popularized Web 2.0, describes it as the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better and get more people use them. It means collaboration, user participation, user-generated content.

Based on this definition, Dataquest defined a set of guiding rules and used them as filters before getting to subjective selection of the applications/companies.

The rules may seem a little restrictive but the editors have made attempts to define what the editors meant by Web 2.0, Indian and start-ups. Hot being the subjective part.

Methodology

The Dataquest editors began with a long list of 54 companies, headquartered in India, based on a set of parameters.

Companies with collaboration or Web 2.0 attributes core to their business model were considered. (For example, the photo printing sites such as itasveer, picsquare and zoomin, that have collaborative functions but their core business model is traditional printing services, were excluded.)

Companies that began operations on or after January 1, 2007 were considered.

Start-ups that qualified the above parameters were considered even if their parent companies were established companies, such as Reliance ADAG in case of BigAdda or HT Media in case of DesiMartini.

Then Dataquest editors and Indianweb2.com technologists applied more subjective parameters like reach, impact, innovativeness of offering etc. to create the final list.