Monday, May 5, 2008

Obopay secures $20 million funding and appoints NITC graduate as director

Obopay Secures $20 Million in Fourth Round of Funding
Round D Brings New Investors and Board Members
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Obopay, Inc., the pioneering service provider for payments via mobile phones, recently announced closing of its fourth round of venture funding, raising $20 million, and the addition of two new board members. This latest round of investment builds on Obopay's enormous momentum in its business and high-profile partnerships.
"This round of investment builds on Obopay's proven success in the mobile payments market," explained Carol Realini, CEO of Obopay. "With our continuing focus on delivering services built on specific feedback from consumers, such as the ability to send money from and receive money to any US bank account, the success of our partnerships and our international expansion, we remain confident in the viability of the American -- and global -- mobile payments market."
Essar Communications Holdings Limited, the telecom subsidiary of Essar Global Limited, led the round and current investors, including Alliance Bernstein, ONSET Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Richmond Management and Richmond Global Cellular, Citi, Societe Generale, Qualcomm, and Promethean participated. New investors included Essar Communications Holdings Limited and Olayan America Corporation, a global investment office of The Olayan Group.
In an interesting turn, this investment round also included Obopay employees who used Obopay from their mobile phones to transfer their payments!
Obopay has also named K B Rajendran, Senior Vice President, Essar Global Limited and Robert G. Hottensen, Jr., Senior Vice President for Public Equity at Olayan America Corporation to their board of directors.

An engineering graduate from National Institute of Technology Calicut, K B Rajendran has more than seventeen years experience in telecom and payments businesses including Airtel, Enron Broadband, Sify and Venture Infotek. Rajendran commented, "We are excited to invest in Obopay. Since its launch Obopay has introduced significant mobile payments innovations in the U.S. and recently in India too. We look forward to working with Obopay to build upon the integration of the mobile phone into the lives of consumers worldwide."

Prior to joining Olayan America in 2005, Hottensen was a managing director at Goldman Sachs, heading their financial services research group. He is a recognized analyst in this field, who, over a 24-year career at Goldman Sachs, worked extensively on credit cards and payments globally and received top rankings in polls conducted by American Banker, The Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor.
Ms. Realini remarked: "The last nine months have included tremendous growth, with new Obopay features, the expansion of existing partnerships and now this latest round of funding and the addition of Robert and K B's expertise to our board. We look forward to continuing to expand the mobile payments market in the U.S. and abroad."

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

NITC Special ==> Lost Symbols ?

Date of visit : Jan – 6, 2008

Quite a lot of things have changed since my last visit.. I was here for attending the wedding reception of my batch-mate, Ibrahim.. The first sight that kind of ignited the old memories…

(1) Mamachan’s Ruins è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167544479834402

They have moved a little bit ahead
(2)
The New Mamachan’s location è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167565954670898

After this, I stepped into the campus through the rear gate

(3) This place hasn’t changed much..Isn’t it ?

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167596019441986

Buildings everywhere!.. I lost count of the number of hostels that the college has..There is a new PG hostel, old PG modified, F’ ( F-dash , in NITC lingo ) extended to three floors, G ( which was almost complete when I graduated , two new ones behind that ( almost on the verge of completion ) ..Seriously are there this much students in NITC? There is a block each for the CSC & Electronics dept that has come up behind the old dept locations.

(4) http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167626084213074

(5) http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167647559049570

(6) http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167677623820658 – That’s the new CC ( almost behind the basket ball court ).. I peeked into it.. Most were orkutting:-)

I couldn’t go to valley..It seems that’s now off-bounds for students after some ‘incidents’ there :-) .. Basically to get into that entire walled area on the other side of road enclosing staff quarters, LH etc, u need to write your name with security , take permission and stuff like that.. So, didn’t go there.

(7) http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167699098657154 – That’s our gang who came for the reception

This sight pained me….No..not the basky court.. but behind that.. The FBG is lost !!! Some international library complex is coming up… Not that I was a football player.. but, this was one of the unique symbols in NITC.. The monsoon cup matches..Where do those take place nowadays ? In 12th mile ?

(8) The MB triangular notice board è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167780703035826

I don’t know much about the incident ..May his soul rest in peace..

(9) Ah.. Our department è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167815062774210

(10) ..Finally we sat on front bench è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167832242643410

(11) This I took from Civil dept notice board è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154167896667152898

Basically talks about the list of projects done by some students under’Centre for value Education’ – I wonder if I can read those reports somehow..Sounds interesting ..

(12)In front of old CC è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154168051285975698

That’s closed now..Once that new library complex comes up, I wonder whats going to happen to this building ..

(13) Any idea whats this è http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154168154365190882

That’s the new MC , opposite of C-hostel !!!.. And the old MC ?? Here is it è

http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/photo#5154168240264536866

-- I don’t have much to say. Change is good….but then..I feel the heart and soul of NITC night life is gone :-(

As I drove back to Calicut, all those memories came…friendships, rivalries, arguments, grief , laughter ..Ah..those 4 years.. Those 4 years from which I learned a lot.. Moments when I felt I had lost everything..Moments when I felt I had conquered everything…Illusions…Sigh!!!

The complete album at http://picasaweb.google.com/ajithprasadb/NITC/

Cross posted in my blog too

Ajith

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

NIT Calicut Video Documentary

This is a video documentary of NIT Calicut, showing the new developments at NITC.

Making homes also ‘Civil Service'

Sanjeev Srivastva is a man on a mission. He doesn’t have the wherewithal yet to change the landscape of Bihar, the poor state where he hails from. But he is dreaming of changing the skyline of capital Patna with a new 5-star hotel. You can’t miss the glint in his eyes when he says his first hotel will come up next to Maurya, Patna’s lone big hotel which has stood the test of time while the state’s economy crumbled all around. “But Bihar is changing now. I want to be a part of it,” Srivastva adds.

The 42-year-old founder and MD of real estate firm Assotech started out with civil contracting business after completing his B Tech in civil engineering from National Institute of Technology, Calicut in 1986.

The traditional Bihari family wasn’t amused. They would have wanted him to become a civil servant like his father. “But I never wanted to become a government servant. I always listened to my inner voice,” Srivastva says, recounting his journey as a businessman. Obtaining finance was near impossible for a young entrepreneur those days. So, Srivastva borrowed Rs 50,000 from friends. “I had to overcome many hurdles before getting the first contract of a vanaspati factory near Badayun,” he says. During that time, Srivastva executed a few road and bridge projects. The first big project came in 1992 when he developed a 40-mtr building in Noida. “That was when I made my first million,” he says.

The road traversed was full of obstacles. With established players like Omaxe and Ansals around, survival was tough. “One needed strong influence to get even a small-size contract,” he explains. True. Srivastva’s firm began to bag many large projects including one for Kajaria Ceramics. His big moment came in 1997 when he got to develop a housing project near Noida. The move came in when the state government started awarding infrastructure projects to smaller private players. By 2003, when the real estate sector began to pick up, Assotech bagged bigger projects.

Today, he is building what’s so far the tallest residential building—at 121 mtr—in NCR. With an investment of Rs 250 crore, the building will come with a helipad and a glass-walled swimming pool on top—all designed to appeal to premium buyers. “We are creating an identity for Noida by developing this building, which should come up in about two years,” says Srivastva. His Rs 220 crore firm is now working on projects worth Rs 1,000 crore—in hospitality, residential, IT and corporate spaces. These include hotels and townships across the country.

Reference:
Economic Times, 3rd December 2007

Friday, November 23, 2007

Notable NITC Alumni and Faculty members

This is a partial list of the illustrious NITC Alumni and Faculty members (References can be checked by clicking on individual names):

#Notable Alumni

  • Devadas D. Pillai - Intel Fellow, Director, Operational Decision Support Technology, Technology & Manufacturing Group, Intel Corporation, Chandler, Arizona.
  • Vishwadeep Khatri - Founder and Lead Facilitator of Benchmark Six Sigma, the leading Six Sigma training and consulting company in India.
  • Manoj Agarwala - Vice President, Services, Global Logic (formerly Induslogic).
  • Tarun Amla - Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Isola Global.
  • Rakesh Rao - Founder and CEO of Four Dimension Technologies.
  • Mahendra Lawoti - Asst. Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Western Michigan University & Author of 'Towards A Democratic Nepal'.
  • Suraj Pai - Senior Director, Service Industries, Oracle India.
  • P.S. Nair - Director(Satellites), Indian Space Research Organisation.
  • SS Raman -President,TVS Electronics & VP ( MAIT) 74 Batch (Mech Deptt).
  • Santhosh George - Senior Director, Oracle India.
  • Shanthi Padmanabhan - Director, Philips Consumer Electronics & VP (Innovation and Technology), NXP Semiconductors.
  • Dr. Naveen Sivadasan - Completed his PhD from Max Planck Institute, Germany and is associated with Strand Genomics, Bangalore.
  • Dr. C. B. Shoban - Faculty, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

[list constantly updated]


#Notable Faculty Members

  • P. M. Jussay - Historian. Author of 'The Jews of Kerala'.
  • Dr. G. Unnikrishnan - Department of Science and Humanities., NITC.
  • Dr. P.C. Subramaniam - Faculty, Dept. of Electronics, NITC.
  • Dr. S. Unnikrishna Pillai-Faculty (Royal Military College of Canada), Author of RCC Design in Canada (McGraw Hill-Ryerson), Founder-Director (Co-operative Academy of Professional Education), Fellow of ASCE.

[list constantly updated]

Friday, November 16, 2007

Life on the other side of the black board

I passed out of good old REC in 2001 and have been teaching for the past 5 years now. This link is my personal experience about life on the other side of the black board:

Meet my students

I enjoy reading about whats happening/what used to happen in CREC/NITC. Do keep posting!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Professional networking startup by 98 batch, NITCians

Skillda (www.skillda.com) is a new professional networking site similar to Linkedin started by 2 guys (Hemchand & Jeswin) from our NITC '98 batch!

Take a look at the features - www.skillda.com/tour.html