Cloud computing is an vital bootstrapping mechanism for startups, and all the more accurate for these constructed about the theme of sustainability. In the arduous climb to the large billions—both in terms of income and customers—a foundation of strong technologies architecture that can scale up to meet enhanced workloads and demands is necessary. Bengaluru-based battery-as-a-service startup SUN Mobility is tackling reservations about recharging instances and variety limits of electric cars with the enable of information, analytics and cloud computing. Applying the notion of shared economy to the battery ecosystem, it has created a spend-as-you-go battery as a service program that is run on a digital platform constructed on Microsoft Azure.
“We realised how battery swapping technology could potentially turbocharge EV sales in India. To foster EV adoption among the masses, we developed the Azure-enabled ‘Pay-as-you-go’ system for battery usage which offers an extremely convenient way to recharge EVs. Using Azure IoT Hub, we were able to seamlessly connect the batteries, the stations, and customers together on an IoT platform and leverage the data in a way that helps us not only optimise the system but understand what the customers are looking for,” says SUN Mobility co-founder and vice chairman Chetan Maini.
Over 150 information points come into the program from each and every battery. With that quantity of inbound information, it gets customer insights such as, battery utilisation, most frequented routes, and peak hours. The platform’s AI and machine finding out algorithms also aids SUN Mobility predict the prospective demand for swapping batteries. It can not only optimise its current network of battery swapping stations, but also strategy the place, and feasibility of future stations. Using the platform, it has educated hundreds of EV owners to get more variety out of their batteries by tweaking the way they drive, says Maini.
SUN Mobility is not the only one applying Microsoft Azure to develop up its organization model. There are numerous startups which have created groundbreaking options on Microsoft Azure, beginning from the ones that the tech key engages with as aspect of Microsoft for Startups to the ones which have now turn out to be its ISV partners, and even unicorns. Another startup, Karo Sambhav, is aiming to make a circular economy inside the e-waste management ecosystem with the enable of new digital options. When a group collects a waste shipment from an aggregator, its members upload photographs and information into an app. This information and facts is hosted securely on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Every item is accounted for—in transit— by means of barcoding, and as soon as back in workplace, image recognition applying Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services enable examine and validate information in the aggregator’s bill with what had been loaded on the truck. The logistics trucks are GPS-enabled so the onward journey to recyclers can be tracked. Being on a safe cloud platform, just about every piece of scrap can be tracked—from pickup to accountable recycling.
Pranshu Singhal, founder, Karo Sambhav, says Microsoft Azure has helped develop transparency into each and every step of Karo Sambhav’s operations. “As Karo Sambhav is in a compliance business, it’s important to analyse both printed and handwritten documents to co-relate the consistency and data accuracy in different documents. Using Azure Computer Vision (OCR), Karo Sambhav is able to alert the end-users in real time the inaccurate data in documents. This has reduced our error rate to almost negligible,” he says.
The rise of information science and machine finding out indicates startups are increasingly relying on these technologies to take choices. The ever-rising quantity of smartphones and mobile devices that can access the world wide web additional fuels the surge in adoption of cloud services. All of these need young startups to have a sound cloud tactic. Through the Microsoft for Startups programme, Microsoft supports startups to not just develop their options on Azure but also by offering $25,000-$120,000 worth of Azure credits. Microsoft Azure offers startups the cloud services, developer tools, scale, and safety they will need to develop their answer and develop quickly.
Leveraging Microsoft’s technologies, Sun Mobility today has a universal EV infrastructure comprising 50 battery swapping stations spread across 14 cities. “We are looking at enhanced security, working to see if there are platform plays around fleet and energy managements, and trying to understand how to integrate financing in the future as we have data on how vehicles are driven and usage patterns,” says Maini.
Karo Sambhav has collected and sent more than 13000 MTs of e-waste for accountable recycling so far, ably helped by a information backed tech platform that connects all the stakeholders into an integrated formalised e-waste management chain.