Indian Cloud Storage Service Sta

 Indian Cloud Storage Service Start-up Digiboxx valued at

$15 million in Pre-Series A Funding Round

·         Funding led by CapGro Private Ltd as part of its pre-series A round funding; Digiboxx has received a $15 million valuation

·         Funds to be used for expanding product portfolio, its team and actively hire across functions of engineering and customer engagement

Chennai, 29^th November 2021: Digiboxx, homegrown file storage, and sharing platform, today announced the successful completion of funding in a pre-Series A funding round led by CapGro Private Ltd, to fuel its next phase of growth. Starting in 2020 December, Digiboxx aims to become the preferred public cloud storage platform of India and has secured more than 1.0 Million users.

The company plans to use the capital proceeds for the next phase of its growth, which includes product development, penetrating deeper into current markets, scaling operations, expanding its team, and strengthening its technology platform. The company will also use the investment to scale up its core engineering efforts to support customer demand.

The cloud storage, launched by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant in December last year, is digital file storage, sharing, and data management solution and it allows individuals as well as SMEs to store personal and work data. The platform is optimized for all devices that have access to the internet and across all bandwidths present in different parts of the country. Additionally, Digiboxx is supporting eight regional languages and plans to launch in other regional languages, soon.  

Expressing his optimism on the fresh funding support, Arnab Mitra, CEO, Digiboxx, said, “We are thrilled to receive the additional investment support from CapGro. Given the current circumstances, this is indeed a good boost for the entire team. We at Digiboxx have the vision to positively influence people to support homegrown brands. We are working with multiple Indian Data Centres to assure that data is being sorted within the country’s borders. With this fund infusion, we are looking to further expand the company’s research and development (R&D) capabilities and hire the right talent. There is always a demand for the right talent and large established companies get the best talent easily. And as a new company, we have to develop an understanding in them that we are making an impact.”

Nitin Narang, Director, CapGro Private Limited, said “We are delighted to have invested in Digiboxx. The company has demonstrated tremendous growth since its inception and has developed a committed and loyal following. We are keen to provide the resources and support to help the company further build and refine its unique product strategy and market position.”

India's 1st ever public cloud storage Digiboxx hits

India's 1st ever public cloud storage Digiboxx hits
1 million users in 6 months

Digiboxx’s value proposition makes it the most affordable option for 500 Mn Indian Smartphone Users looking for a smart storage solution

Digiboxx looks to double its user base in the next 6 months as major cloud service storage providers withdraw free access to users

Digiboxx was launched by Shri Amitabh Kant IAS, CEO, NITI Aayog on 22^nd Dec’20 for Indians to store data up to 100GB at INR 1 per day

 

India’s first and only Swadesi public cloud storage DigiBoxx™ announced that it has acquired over 1 million users within six months of its launch. The platform witnessed over 16% users being active on a daily basis. Launched in December 2020 by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, the platform is an Indian digital file storage, sharing and data management SaaS product that provides storage options for individuals and SMEs who wish to store their personal and work data.

The easy to navigate and pocket friendly storage solution is available in monthly and yearly plans starting at INR. 30 per month. For individuals, there is a free account that comes with 20 GB storage, a 2GB maximum file size, and Gmail integration. For SMBs, the INR. 999 plan includes up to 50TB storage and a 10GB maximum file size. True to its ‘Swadesi’ philosophy, Digiboxx is available in Android, iOS and a desktop version currently supporting 8 Indian languages. Digiboxx also plans for launching in other regional languages in its efforts to cater to 700 Mn Indian Internet users across the nation.

Reports suggest that clicking selfies and taking videos are now considered a daily ‘ritual’ for the Indian youth with an average age of 23, they click a minimum of 7 selfies a day. The number can go up to even 100 during festive times and special occasions. Such drastic increases in mobile usage behavior have resulted in storage space becoming a real problem for smartphone users in India and the demand for free and reasonably priced space is ever increasing. With dominant players in the cloud storage services ending free storage for their customers, Digiboxx is the only platform that provides 100GB of storage at INR 1 per day and free storage for all users up to 20GB.

Commenting on the success, Shri. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said, “Touching 1 million lives in just 6 months is a notable achievement, especially for a bootstrapped firm. DigiBoxx has progressed well and has taken calculative steps to reach this stage. India needs more such home-grown technologies to fulfil our vision of an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat.’ As the global tech COS move away from providing the public cloud access for free, DigiBoxx is poised to step into this vacuum, with its aggressive pricing and free storage options for individuals, businesses and academics.”

On the occasion of hitting 1 MN subscribers, Arnab Mitra, CEO, DigiBoxx said, “Launched last year in December, Digiboxx is already being used by over a million users across the country. Together we want to build a Digital Storage facility for the people of our country. Our target is to provide a simple to use, comprehensive solution around storage in 8 Indian languages available in all devices especially to the Indian residents. We are confident of reaching 2 million by the end of this year and the discontinuation of free storage by the tech majors is an opportunity for us.”

Digiboxx offers intuitive services at a lower price, compared to the competition. The swadesi platform offers a search function by keyword, location, or name. Using the app is easy – just drag-and-drop files in, that is encrypted and uploaded on the go. It’s a relatively simple but effective service which makes cloud storage accessible and secure by syncing files between all the devices.

Apart from this, it's possible to share important files with other people even if they aren't DigiBoxx users. InstaShare™, a file-sharing feature allows them to share large-size documents, high-resolution images, videos, PDFs in real quick time with anyone. It has free 2GB storage space and the file shared stays for 45 days in DigiBoxx.

Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog on the launch of

Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog on the launch of DigiBoxx™ on 22^nd Dec’20

DigiBoxx is India’s first digital management provider. I am very glad on how this offering has evolved from a mere concept, just an idea to an actual product which will greatly benefit Indian citizens as well as private and government institutions, when it comes to providing digital storage and asset management services. The development of DigiBoxx, in many ways is a testimony to kind of impact the tech start-ups in India are making and kind of role they should play in enabling to make rapid technological advances in the post COVID era. I am very happy to know that DigiBoxx offers digital file storage and organization by providing an easy secured way to store data, all on an Indian digital storage cloud. The development of DigiBoxx is also in line with a mandate of storing data within the country and therefore ensure data sovereignty and security. 

We have been working with the private sector to develop cutting-edge security products which would enable our country to lead in the post COVID era. Working with the private sector, we were able to develop several products which address themes ranging from financial inclusions to making higher education accessible to all. Therefore, I am indeed very proud when I see young technopreneurs taking the lead and working towards solidifying India’s future as the product, artificial intelligence and technology lab of the world. With over 600 million connections, India is the largest consumer broadband in the world. 500 million + are using smart phones. 

India is world’s highest data usage for smart phone at an average 9.8 GB per month and the number is set to nearly double by 2024.  Not to forget the availability of mobile data at cheapest cost. There lies an opportunity to proliferate the citizens and ensure that the government services reach the last mile. In fact a lot of e-governance initiatives throughout the country have been deployed as cloud services at digital India programme and this is the growing need for cloud services in order to significantly improve infrastructural bottle lines.  The pandemic has further boosted the need for a robust and ubiquitous digital asset management services in India in the same way as monetization boosted digital payment. 

 Ladies and gentlemen, we will present here  today’s  testimony to the fact that NITI Aayog and the Government have been an active participant in enabling innovations and developing new frontier solutions.  

NITI Aayog, along with AWS has launched the frontier technologies, cloud innovation centre, a public-private partnership which would address societal challenges through digital innovations. At the same time, the government’s vision of cloud 2022  is aimed at making India a global hub for cloud storage, management and computing. To the team at DigiBoxx, we, at the Government of India, are indeed very proud of what you’ve been able to achieve. Start-ups such as yours will provide the boost for India to take the lead of post COVID era which will be driven by transformational technology solutions.  I would also urge people as well as institutions to try DigiBoxx, India’s fully homegrown data storage and asset management service. 

This prouduct is a great achievement for our country and entrepreneurs and we must not only support DigiBoxx but also search innovations which are unique to India and are driven by young and promising technology leaders. I would once again like to congratulate the DigiBoxx team and wish them all the best and all the success for their product. I am sure that the people will avail your service and give your product a try. I look forward to more innovative solutions from you and all the other start-ups of the country. We are all here to provide you all the support, assistance and hand-holding.  Thank you very much.

Central Square Foundation and Omidyar Network India Release

Central Square Foundation and Omidyar Network India Release
‘State of the Sector Report on Private Schools’

Report findings underline that the private school sector educates nearly 50% of India’s school-going children and the need to focus on improving their learning outcomes

Central Square Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works towards ensuring quality school education, and Omidyar Network India, an investment firm focussed on social impact, released the first-of-its-kind report today on the state of the private school sector in India. The report highlights the need to improve learning outcomes in private schools which educate nearly half of India’s school-going children.

The report is a comprehensive analysis of existing research and evidence on the sector. It suggests reforms to streamline the operations of private schools with a focus on improving student learning. It aims to be a ready reckoner for policymakers, academicians, researchers, philanthropists and educationists amongst other stakeholders associated with the sector.

About 70% children in urban centres and a quarter from rural households attend private schools. Over 50% students in 16 Indian states are enrolled in private schools. The increased enrollment can be attributed to the rising demand by aspirational parents. A large number of parents — about 70% — pay less than Rs. 1000 per month as school fees. The report finds that 73% of parents with children in private schools believe these schools provide a better learning environment. However, student performance in private schools is only marginally better than government schools after adjusting for disadvantages in student backgrounds. About 35% of rural private school students in Grade 5 are unable to read a basic Grade 2-level paragraph.

The report finds that parents lack the means to make informed decisions while choosing schools based on learning performance. Board Examinations, among the only few reliable and standardised metrics to assess learning, are held in the last few years of schooling making it difficult for parents to judge the quality of schools during the early years of education. Moreover, nearly 60% of the private schools across India do not go up to a Board Examination grade.

Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, released the report at a digital event and said, “An educated and literate India is not possible without the private sector working towards our nation building. We must pay attention to getting it right. We need to bring reforms using access, equity and quality as guiding factors. More importantly, we need to shift the focus from monitoring of inputs to monitoring of outcomes. Quality education has been this government’s priority and NITI Aayog is drafting a model regulatory act in consultation with all stakeholders. We believe we will see fruitful results based on the references and results underlined in this report."

Highlighting the fact that private schooling is not popular among the elite alone, Mr Ashish Dhawan, the Founder-Chairman of CSF, emphasised that many families from underprivileged households send their children to private schools as well. “Today the private school sector in India is the third-largest school system in the world. These numbers are mainly made up of parents from low- and middle-income backgrounds who believe their children will have better learning outcomes in private schools. It’s critical 

now to institute a system that will give parents assessment-based information based on key stage examinations at Grades 3, 5, and 8, as the NEP suggests. They can use this information to compare school quality and pick the best school for their child.”

And speaking about the creating a demand for quality education among parents, Roopa Kudva, Managing Director, Omidyar Network India, said, “We need to empower parents to make informed decisions based on learning quality when choosing a school. In the absence of meaningful information on how schools perform on learning, parents tend to give weightage to tangible parameters like school infrastructure or English as the medium of instruction. Philanthropy capital can play a vital role in setting the ground in three main areas: greater awareness building, increased transparency from the schools themselves and improving the quality of engagement between parents and the schools.”