Maruti Suzuki India partners five startups under its Innovation program

Maruti Suzuki India has selected five startups for Proof of Concept (PoC) under its Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) program. This the company says will help accelerate these concepts towards real-time applications.

Maruti Suzuki India had launched the MAIL initiative in January 2019, which aimed to identify and bring together startups with innovative and cutting-edge solutions, to collaborate for open innovation in mobility and automobile space.

The company says through an extensive exercise involving call for applications, thorough screening and pitch sessions, five startups -- Enmovil, Docketrun, Eyedentify, Xane and SenseGiz -- were selected for cohort 1. These startups presented their solutions at the Demo Day organised in New Delhi.

Speaking about the initiative, Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said, “Indian automobile industry is at a crucial juncture. Several disruptions are taking place in the automobile and mobility space. Since inception Maruti Suzuki has strived to offer products and services that are ahead of regulations and match the needs of the evolving Indian customers, while retaining the interests of our stakeholders. We are optimistic that partnering with these startups, we will enter into a new era of mobility and automobile solutions.”

“Our aim is to now work along with these startups and enhance scalability of the solutions. These intelligent solutions will help enhance customer experience, among others,” added Ayukawa.

After selection into the first cohort, all the five startups underwent an extensive 3 months long acceleration program, where, they were mentored by various experts from both domestic as well as international startup ecosystem. Concurrently, they also received guidance from domain experts at Maruti Suzuki. The startups were given access to Maruti Suzuki’s test bed and facilities to understand the current scenario and suggest solutions to fit business needs.

After the presentations on the Demo Day, Sensegiz was announced as the winner, followed by Xane and Eyedentify. Two more startups, Enmovil and Docketrun were also engaged for the next round.

The top three startups- SenseGiz, Xane and Eyedentify get an opportunity to undertake a paid Proof-of-Concept with Maruti Suzuki for an actual business use. The initiative will help create value additions in the areas of logistics, IoT-based safety and monitoring, and plug and play solutions.