The Venture Intelligence Blog

From the Economic Times profile of Bamboo-based building systems company, Wonder Grass : “Using bamboo to build structures is not rocket science. Bamboo is renewable, cost-effective and appropriate material to be used for housing segment. It is available in abundance in India,” said Vaibhav Kaley, co-founder of Wonder Grass, who started the firm along with his younger brother Nachiket Kaley in December 2007. ...Industry experts say bamboo solutions for the high-end luxury and rural housing market forms a 41,875-crore market. Almost half of this opportunity includes supplying structures such as green-wall panels, pergolas, rooftops, cottages to high net worth individuals, corporates and resorts. The other half of this market comprises of making affordable houses in rural areas, for corporate foundations, NGOs and during disasterrelief initiatives . “The rural end-user gets a new home built by Wonder Grass for 1.25 Lakh in only 15 days, which includes integrated sanitation, water an...

From the Business Today profile of the company which enables academic admission applications to go online: The catch is that those applying have to pay extra if they want the convenience of the online route. Most institutions charge for the paper application forms they distribute; the portal charges an additional 4.9 per cent - or Rs 30 whichever is higher - per form filled online. ...Anil Joshi at venture capital firm Mumbai Angels, however, points out that Shah's business model has no intellectual property attached to the product and can be easily copied by competitors. Shah believes the institutions he has signed on will not leave him in a hurry. "Getting them to even listen to you is difficult," he says. "Once I am already in with a free product, it will be five times tougher for someone to replace me." NoPaperForms is also working on a business-to-consumer platform to engage Facebook-savvy students and spread its brand virally. This platform will let stude...