New Websites launched – issue 2

Continuing with our series on latest entrants into the internet space in India, here’s a new list of those we could get our hands on:

Stockhive – "Stockhive provides individual investors with powerful tools for fundamental and technical analysis of the Indian stock market" – that more or less sums up what the site does. Basically an Indian site for a personal investment in stocks. The site is started by Yogi Kulkarni. Like most web 2.0 sites, the sign up is pretty simple and on getting registered it throws up the (tabbed) Nifty and sensex index. Since i am a looser in anything which is remotely financial, i asked my colleague Vikrant to test it for me well here is what he had to say-"the site’s got amazing compilation of company information and best part is the presentation – it’s intuitive – tuned for a regular investor perfectly". Well, besides that all i know is that the interface is good and fast however i wish Yogi would make it simpler for someone who doesn’t understand numbers at all (me ), because i think there would be many who would want to use the site but
arent good with online investment (unless i am the only dumb alive )

Jambhav – Though this is an old site i came across here, we still decided to add this to the list for the simple reason that we found it pretty interesting…the focus of the site is on educational/entertaining interactive children with special needs, especially autism. There’s an interesting story behind their name ‘Jambav’, its kept after the famous king of bears "Jambhavaan" of Ramayana, who was responsible for waking up the hidden potential in Hanuman. The site develops games that cater to children with special needs especially autism. The site also boasts of a strong community especially parents blogs which is steadily growing since the launch of the site.

There’s also a caregiver tool kit – " A suite of online tools to help you evaluate, assess and track the progress of your child"…Talking about the business model, i would like to quote Rajendran Dandapani, the Product Manager at Jambav – "Like any truly self-respecting community website in this Web.2.0 generation, our focus is currently on getting more and more visitors resulting in more and more repeat users", in future they intend to charge a small fee for customization of the games and tools based on the user’s needs.

Meratrip – If you are already presuming that this would be another ‘me too’ travel site that lets you book
tickets, you are wrong. This site simply aggregate hot travel deals from various travel sites and simply enables the user to get the cheapest deal available without having to open all of the sites. Why is this good?…well most of the time i keep checking for the Rs.99 offer by spicejet or Rs. 500 deal by airdeccan on their respective sites but cant really find them….what this site does is that it highlight such special deals and makes it convenient for me…cant help compare it to a place where you can find all brand sales under one roof… (A shopper’s delight!). Also the site is not just limited to travel but also hotels and holiday packages. To read about what the founder has to say about the business model of the site, check this.

iticket - This is an online ticket booking (movies) site, primarily operating in Bangalore. iticket.in has tied-up with 15 theatres and has more than 50 booking centers in different areas of Bangalore. Though i like the concept, i wish the site had a community angle weaved into it…something like – a user is able to check which has been the most bought movie ticket, most prefered movie critic, a live chat with other users etc…Point being that since the site has enough local content to offer (they have also tied-up with auditoriums like Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Ranga Shankara and Sathyasai Samsrit Sadana), it is easier for them to create a local community of movie buffs around the site.