Indus OS

Indus OS is an indigenous app and content discovery platform that brings the users, app developers and smartphone brands on a single platform and truly creates an Indian smartphone ecosystem. Indus OS have introduced a revolutionary way to have India’s top services & content available on a single platform.

Indus OS
Private
Key people
  • Rakesh Deshmukh (CEO)
  • Akash Dongre (CPO)
  • Sudhir Bangarambandi (CTO)
ProductsIndus OS, App Bazaar
Websitewww.indusos.com

This contextual integration provides India’s service & content providers a platform to seamlessly distribute their content & services and engage with India’s ever-growing smartphone users. The platform is addressing the low smartphone adoption, content consumption and linguistic challenges of Indian markets. [1]

The company is catering to 60Mn+ users [2] and has partnered with top OEMs like Samsung, Karbonn, Micromax and 9 other Indian OEMS.

The company's app marketplace, Indus App Bazaar is India’s largest indigenous and one-of-its-kind app store. It is powering Samsung’s default app store, Galaxy Store Since 2019. [3] It is a product conceptualized by alumni of IIT Bombay to uplift India’s digital economy with AI and ML at its core, providing users and developers a robust and holistic platform to engage with the App world.

About

Indus OS was founded in 2013 by Rakesh Deshmukh [4], Akash Dongre [5] and Sudhir B [6]; all three are alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Hari Padmanabhan, an IIT Kanpur alumni, industry veteran and serial entrepreneur, is a seed investor in the company. The company is funded by various investors such as "Omidyar Network, JSW Ventures, VenturEast, Samsung Ventures & Affle".

Indus OS has offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Singapore and currently has a 84-member team. The company also plans to open an office in China in an effort to partner with International smartphone brands.

Firstouch OS

"Indus OS" was initially known as "First Touch OS". In May 2015, Micromax Informatics started shipping the latest version (Unite 3) of its Unite series smartphones with Firstouch OS.[7] The operating system was available in English and 10 Indian languages. A key feature of the operating system is the Swipe-to-translate or Indus Swipe which helped users to translate or transliterate English text in regional languages. The operating system also had its own app marketplace' App Bazaar with over 5000 applications in regional languages. A popular application on the marketplace is Microsoft's Skype which is available in popular Indian regional languages including Hindi.

In December 2015, Firstouch announced a collaboration with the Government of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology previously known as the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) to introduce text-to-speech technology in regional languages.[8]

Indus App Bazaar

The "Indus App Bazaar"[9] is India’s largest indigenous app store. It is available in English and 12 Indian languages, namely, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Odia, Punjabi, Malayalam, Bengali, Assamese and Kannada.[10] It has over 400k applications in regional languages. Top publishers on the platform include Truecaller, Amazon, Winzo Games, Blacklight Studio, Sharechat, Junglee Games, Ola, Meesho, MSN, Times Group, Editorji, Inshorts, Rebel Group, Opera News, mpokket, etc.

It is a product designed to aid developers with various tools for distribution and promotions along with unparalleled insights. The platform also provides an opportunity to the top OEMs to engage with the users and unleash new monetization channels. The app store focuses on providing the users with a personalized and localized experience with rich user interface for smooth discovery of apps and content.[11]

Awards and Recognition
  • Indus OS collaborated with the GoI for Aadhar authentication.[12]
  • Indus OS also signed an agreement with the Government of India’s MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and IT) to introduce Indus Reader, an OS level, offline Text-to-Speech technology in 9 Indian Languages for the first time.[13]
  • #1 App Marketing Platform in the Indian Subcontinent - Ranked in the Appsflyer Performance Index Edition IX.[14]
  • Winner TiE50 Silicon Valley Top Startup Award.[15]
  • Winner NASSCOM Emerge50 – League of Top 10 Startup Award
  • Winner Economic Times Telecom Innovation in Developing OEM Product Award[16]
  • Winner WCRC Brand of the Year – Technology
  • Winner Business World Young Entrepreneur Award Winner Drivers of Digital – Digital Startup of the Year Award
  • Indus OS won the Economic Times Telecom Award 2016 in the Innovation in Developing OEM Product category.
  • Indus OS won the 'Digital Startup of the Year Award' at the Drivers of Digital Awards 2016.[17]
  • On May 7, 2016, Indus OS was declared the second most popular OS in India according to a research study conducted by Counterpoint Research. As of May 2016, the OS was the second most popular in India, with a 7.6% market share. This is a greater market sha[18]
  • NASSCOM announced Indus OS as one of the top 10 startups in India during the NASSCOM Product Conclave in 2016.[19]
  • The company was also awarded the Aegis Graham Bell Award in the Digital India category alongside Vodafone India for the year 2016.[20]
  • GSMA nominated Indus OS for its annual Global Mobile Awards at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona 2017 in the category of Best Mobile Innovation for Emerging Markets.[21]
  • Indus OS won the Brand of the Year award in the Technology category by World Consulting and Research Corporation in Mumbai on December 21, 2016.[22]
  • Mint (newspaper) and MIT Technology Review named Akash Dongre, the Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Indus OS as one of the top innovators under the age of 35 from India at the EmTech 2017 event.[23]
  • Indus OS has also been named as the SuperBrand's Super Startups which is awarded to the 30+ most innovative business models from India.[24]
  • In October 2017, Indus OS was awarded the Confederation of Indian Industry Industrial Innovation Award as one of the Top 10 Startup from India.[25]
  • The company's story was also documented as a case study by Ivey Publishing and is also distributed by Harvard Business Review.[26]

Investors

The major investors include Omidyar Network[27], JSW Ventures, VenturEast,[28] Samsung Ventures[29] and Affle[30]

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References
  1. Aanchal Ghatak, "Indus AppBazaar addressing challenges like language support, content: Rakesh Deshmukh"
  2. Mr. Phone, "Largest Google Play Store alternative with 60Mn users in India - a conversation: Mr. Phonecast Ep. 8"
  3. Danish Khan, "Samsung steps up software localisation game; inks app store deal with IndusOS"
  4. Rakesh Deshmukh, "Linked In"
  5. Akash Dongre, "Linked In"
  6. Sudhir B, "Linked In"
  7. Harichandan Arakali, "India’s Micromax Taps Startup FirsTouch For Android In 10 Regional Languages"
  8. Smart CEO, "Indus OS"
  9. Indus OS, "Indus App Bazaar"
  10. Financial Express, "Indus OS: A platform for apps in Indian languages"
  11. Tushar Mehta, "How Indus App Bazaar is hyper-localizing mobile apps with Indic languages: Interview with Rakesh Deshmukh"
  12. Gulveen Aulakh, "Aadhaar-authenticated OS will be released across Indus' smartphone partners"
  13. Smart CEO, "Indus OS"
  14. Rakesh Deshmukh, "#1 app marketing platform in India App Bazaar as per AppsFlyer latest report (Growth Intex for Indian Subcontinent)"
  15. Indus os, "FaceBook Post"
  16. The Economic Times, "ET Telecom Awards 2017"
  17. Inkspell, "Digital Startup of the Year"
  18. Rajiv Singh, "How Indus OS became the second largest smartphone operating system in India"
  19. Meha Agarwal, "Meet The Top 50 Emerging Indian Startups From Nasscom Emerge 50 2016 Awards"
  20. 7th Annual 2016, "AEGIS GRAHAM BELL AWARDS"
  21. Sumit Chakraberty, "Indus OS is India's best mobile innovation: GSMA"
  22. TechVorm, "Indus OS Wins Brand of the Year Award"
  23. Sanjay Gupta, "EmTech 2017: Innovators under 35"
  24. Mohd Mustaquim, "SuperStartUps awards 30+ innovative business models"
  25. SME Times, "CII recognizes top innovative cos & startups for 2017"
  26. First Post, "Indian startup Indus OS success story published as a case study, will be distributed by Harvard Business Review"
  27. Jitendra Chaturvedi, "Indus A Mobile Operating System Raises USD 5 Million Series A Funding Led By Omidyar Network"
  28. LiveMint, [https://www.livemint.com/Companies/QZYCNPMRjdxx6JzEPR92uI/Indus-OS-raises-funds-from-JSW-Ventures-VenturEast.html " Indus OS raises funds from JSW Ventures, VenturEast"]
  29. Manish Singh, "Samsung backs Indus OS, three other startups in first investments for its VC arm in India"
  30. Gaurav Langhate, "Affle to acquire 8% strategic stake in Indus OS for $2.86 million"
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