VC CIRCLE: Robotics automation startup Grene Robotics India Pvt. Ltd has raised angel funding from a partner at an early-stage venture capital.

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Grene Robotics was invited by Accenture to participate in the India Futures Week organized by DFID India in association with BRINK and IMC World Wide. India Futures Week aims to demystify emerging technologies such as AI/ML, Big Data, IoT, Blockchain, Drones and understanding how they are applied in context with sustainable business models. It was a well curated event held at the impressive office of the British High Commission, New Delhi involving technology service providers, consultants, facilitators, as well as tech-based/tech-enabled business enterprises.

Singapore and Hyderabad-based investment and scaling platform for early-stage startups, Anthill Ventures, has shortlisted startups for its Asian market access programme A-Scale.

The selected cohort comprises of startups from Singapore, India, Israel, and the US, which are working across fields such as health tech, media tech and urban tech. The investment company had also announced its partnership with Andhra Pradesh (AP) Government for this programme.

The six month long market access programme, supported by Enterprise Singapore, a government agency, is aimed at speed-scaling 18 startups every year by providing them with targeted mentorship on business model refinement and go-to-market strategies.
Through this programme, startups will gain access to over 100 global subject matter experts, over 50 corporate partners and an opportunity to implement their smart products and solutions in the public sector via government organisations. Apart from this, A-Scale will help the selected startups to raise funding of up to $1Mn and an additional syndicated $20 Mn smart capital via Anthill’s coinvestors network.

“Anthill Ventures expands its footprint from India, US, Israel to Singapore region with the launch of a world-class market access programme, A-Scale early this year. We have selected startups across India, Singapore, Israel, and the US with some path breaking and trend-setting solutions for health tech, urban tech and media tech space ultimately converging to shape future lifestyles,” said Prasad Vanga, founder and CEO, Anthill Ventures.

The startups have been selected from over 300 applications after evaluating them based on the quality of technology solutions, growth potential, product readiness and scalable business model. The selected startups are focused on building new technologies- based solutions across healthcare, smart cities, media tech, among others.

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) today announced two micro grid deployments in India and South Africa that integrate distributed generation to compensate for disruptions in utility-supplied power. The deployments are built on Echelon’s proven, open standard, multi-application energy control networking platform powered by its Control Operating System (COS) and incorporate application software and services from its local partners Grene Robotics and Power Meter Technics (PMT). The first-of-its-kind in the two countries, the micro grid deployments involve dynamically managing demand and energy supply mix for a residential community and a retail mall to deliver reliable service cost-effectively.

The model micro grid deployments are at Palm Meadows in Hyderabad, India, and Clearwater Mall in Johannesburg, South Africa. Palm Meadows is an 86-acre integrated gated community with 335 homes and residential services. Clearwater Mall in Johannesburg is a retail building with more than 240 stores. Such micro grids are likely to be a best practice in emerging countries grappling with intermittent power supply, and are also applicable in environmentally conscious countries that are aggressively incorporating renewable and intermittent energy sources into the distribution network.

“Smart micro grids are an ideal way to integrate local generation at the community level and allow for customer participation in the electricity enterprise,” said Michael Anderson, senior vice president of Worldwide Markets for Echelon. “Micro grids sit at the edge of the smart grid and provide real-time analysis, decision making and control. The Palm Meadows and Clearwater Mall deployments are great examples of how Echelon’s commitment to leading the worldwide transformation of the electricity grid into an energy control network can foster market innovation. The concepts demonstrated in India and South Africa can be replicated worldwide to improve power reliability and to integrate energy efficiency solutions as well as renewable generation.”