Bringing IoT to the everyday consumer will drive businesses in 2016: Cube26 CEO Saurav Kumar

Tiger Global and Flipkart backed Indian mobile tech start-up Cube26 recently made foray in the Internet of Things (IoT) space with its Bluetooth controlled smart bulb. Formerly known as PredictGaze, the company started operations in 2012 in California. Focused on enhancing the user experience across multiple devices and platforms, this three year old start-up has worked with OEMs such as Micromax, Panasonic, Karbonn and Lava, among others for customised mobile solutions. Their applications like ‘Blink to Capture’ and ‘QuickLook’ have provided OEMs a distinctive edge over competitors. Currently, Cube26 software resides on more than 5 million devices. CEO & Co-founder Saurav Kumar talks about his experience being on the panel at this year’s Wharton Tech Conference and how different the start-up ecosystem is different in India and California. He also touches upon the hype around big data and analytics. Cube26 was the only Indian company on the panel at this year’s Wharton Tech Conference. How was your experience representing the Indian start-up ecosystem? What were your key takeaways from the event? It was an honour to represent the only Indian company participating at the Wharton Tech Conference this year. It was exciting to share the stage with established tech industry players from across the globe at the conference and it was interesting to understand their perspective of the industry and how they approach different challenges and roadblocks. I was a part of a panel discussion on Big Data – ‘Big Data: Driving Outcomes Through Data’. Big data is not a new area and as we all understand it is integral primitive to understand consumer behaviour demand and much more. In today’s digital era, it has become increasingly important to analyse data more efficiently and intelligently. Some of the key takeaways from the event include – how big data can help not only understand consumer behaviour and demand, but also help manage costs, improve asset management. Big data and analytics are critical for a start-up’s growth. At Cube26, we’re looking to hire data scientists who not only can understand and analyse important data, but can also give us further inputs on how we can better adapt our technologies to give the user a better experience. How is the Indian technology start-up ecosystem in comparison to Silicon Valley? The Indian technology start-up ecosystem has evolved at a rapid pace and this has given rise to multiple start-ups across sectors like food, e-commerce, healthcare, travel. Today, there are not many core technology start-ups in the country; however, there is immense scope for growth as technology becomes the base for any business area. Technology is clearly emerging as the differentiator for start-ups across any sector. India is investing heavily on R&D and with global investments flowing in, this is the perfect time for technology players to focus on the next global technology innovation from India. The ecosystem players have to work in unison with the government and other stakeholders to take our technology prowess to the next level. It’s difficult to compare the Indian ecosystem with that in Silicon Valley, simply because the market there is more evolved. Technology adoption is high compared to India, but it’s important to mention that India is not far behind. How is Cube26 leveraging big data analytics? What return do you expect out of it in terms of innovation and revenues? Big data has been a buzzword for quite some time now. Almost, every company today has data analysts and set of experts to read data, analyse and act accordingly. Data is key and understanding the right data is even more crucial. (Also read:  Flipkart-backed Cube26 enters IoT space with Bluetooth-controlled smart bulb ) At Cube26, we’re hiring a team of data scientists who can not only analyse important data, but also help us devise better products and solutions which will be useful for our consumers. With the IOTA Lite, we wanted to make smart-bulbs accessible to the masses and moving forward we will like to come out with products which can add utility to the daily lives of consumers. Data and analytics helps to understand technology trends and accordingly devise strategies to differentiate from what is already available in the market today. So yes, data is key and the right analysis is even more crucial. How is your IOTA Lite doing in the market? We have seen a great response to the IOTA Lite across the country – we almost went out of stock in the first few weeks. However, smart home automation as a market in India is still in its nascent stage, our aim is to be the market leaders with a line-up of products in this space. Going forward, what’s Cube26 product strategy? What’s in store for the company in 2016? We are going to be extremely focused on software-led, monetisation-driven products in both Software and IoT market. For this we are going to come out with a suite of IoT enabled, feature rich smart products in 2016 in our IOTA category, which are within the reach of the large masses in the country. In the software segment our focus will be on utility apps which will be enhance the user engagement in terms of brands, core design and experience. Are you planning to raise more funds in the coming months? We have raised significant amount from Tiger Global Management and Flipkart recently, we are also in touch with other investors but it is too early to comment if we will be raising funds in the near future. As we near the end of the year, what do you think will be the tech trends that will drive business in 2016? Multiple technologies will dominate 2016; leading among them will be applications and IoT. As we move ahead, one will see varied usage of IoT and newer products based on IoT being launched. The products which can add utility to the daily lives of consumers will be the winners. IoT has been talked about extensively, but very few products are today available in the market which are easily accessible to the consumers, have a daily utility and are easy to use. If one can change this, it will certainly be a game changer. Additionally, today apps are becoming more and more popular and wearables too are usually accompanied by an app, as a result of which this industry is also booming. Utility apps are used every day by regular smartphone users and we will continue to work in this segment and we plan to launch a suite of utility apps in 2016.