Kerala startup to join hands with US tech major Evernote

California-based Evernote builds apps and products which let users save digital content including voice memos and handwritten notes

For Vijith Padmanabhan, founder of a Kochi-based startup, the proposed alliance with the US firm is the dream that has come true. The US-based technology giant Evernote is likely to sign a partnership with the 2-year old start up Dolojo, which runs the site Shoutcrow, for editing web content.  

The California-based Evernote, which was valued at $1-billion in a recent fundraising, builds apps and products which let users save digital content including voice memos and handwritten notes. Evernote has a customer pool of 50 million.

Though Evernote provides space for saving everything, the apps are unable to provide a custom-made storage facility. At the same time, Shoutcrow allows customers to edit the content and save only the needful portions. Dolojo was set up 2 years ago at the Kerala Government owned start up village in Kochi.  

Vijith Padmanabhan, founder, Dolojo said, "We are in discussions with Evernote to provide our technology to their customers. Talks are at initial stages and we are yet to reach into conclusion on royalty payments." According to him, this is the first-of-its kind app in the world which will help customers to edit anything including videos. "There is huge demand from customers, who want to edit and use only a particular part in videos," he said. Dolojo is backed by VC fund Agnus Capital.

Mails sent to Evernote spokesperson did not elicit any response till date.  Last year, Evernote had raised a $70 million Series D round of funding from Meritech Capital and CBC Capital. Other investors include investors of Evernote include Sequoia Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, and DOCOMO Capital.

Sasha Mirchandani of KAE Capital said, "Some of these startup companies in Kerala are indeed very promising and are capable of building world class products that can compete anywhere. Deals like Facebook's acquisition of Little Eye Labs shows that big global companies have now started looking at the Indian start up scene more seriously."

The 2-year old Startup Village is a technology business incubator in Kochi and it is India’s first incubator that is funded jointly by the public and private sector. The promoters of Startup Village are Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Technopark Trivandrum and MobME Wireless. Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys is the chief mentor at Startup Village.

Other mentors include Nishant Verman of Canaan Partners, Sasha Mirchandani of KAE Capital, Krishnakumar Natarajan, MD& CEO -MindTree,  former Yahoo R&D India head Sharad Sharma and angel investor Freeman Murray. Last week, Pranav Mistry, the key-man behind the SixthSense technology and Samsung Gear Smartwatch, has joined the Advisory Board of Startup Village.

Sanjay Vijayakumar, chairman of Startup Village, said," Contrary to the earlier days, the US tech firms have changed their minds and started identifying the potential of Indian startups and keen for joining hands with them. We have promising startups at the village and our main aim is to create a bridge for their successful entry into Silicon Valley. The proposed alliances with Silicon Valley firms will boost the confident of Indian startups."

According to him, about 40-50 startups are funded in India per year, while in the US, about 20,000 startups are getting funded annually. There are about 500 startups functioning at Startup Village in Kochi, out of which 200 are owned by college students.