Indian women app developers are taking the lead in improving people’s lives

Smartphones have become an indispensable gadget in our lives. Apart from texting and calling, the phone offers many other benefits such as getting work done faster, ordering food, calling a taxi and many more.

In addition to the convenience of easy arrangements, mobile phones create an opportunity for people to create jobs. Although it has long been a male bastion, female entrepreneurs are also making great strides in this area.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8), DH has partnered with the promising female co-founders of app development companies – Neend and Language Curry, two of the most promising ‘Made-in-India’ apps on the Google Play Store.

Neend: Rest, sleep, meditate
Neend (meaning sleep in Hindi) is a wellness app developed by Surbhi Jain and her team.

An IIT-B alumnus, Jain has over eight years of experience in the startup ecosystem and has worked at Holachef xto10x and other companies before founding Neend.
Neend promises to offer a professional guide to improving sleep, developing inner balance, practicing mindfulness and relaxation.

How the Neend app was born
The idea for Neend was formulated when founder Surbhi Jain herself faced sleep problems at the height of the Covid pandemic and the accompanying stresses.

“After some research, I found out that India is the 2nd most sleep deprived country in the world, with 15-20% of the population regularly insomniac and 30% occasional insomniac. These sleep problems can cause serious physical problems such as weak immunity. , poor cardiovascular health, memory loss and eating disorders. Sleep is also linked to mental well-being, the lack of which can cause emotional disturbances, anxiety, depression or loss of motivation,” noted Jain.

“Despite the high demand for sleep medications, there weren’t enough non-medical solutions that could provide relief or cure. Especially for the non-English speaking population. That’s why I started Neend to address this pain and started with content. vertical. More than in one year we developed over 1000 sleep stories in 5 languages. Initially the content was hosted only on YouTube as a pilot and within 3 months we were able to confidently launch our app. The Android app now has over 5L downloads,” added Jain .

Neend offers content in regional languages ​​such as bedtime stories, music and meditations. The motivational section includes one-minute stories, inspirational quotes and sleep tips to help users get into a positive frame of mind and develop healthy habits. Professional help is available as a separate offer, where users can book consultation sessions with sleep experts through the Application.

Google gave the Neend team a helping hand at an early stage to make their content publicly available to customers as an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). The company received valuable feedback and built a community that laid the foundation for building its own app.

In addition to easy access to the Play Store, Neend gained access to the ecosystem of Google tools such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, and more, which helped them better shape their strategies and products.

To date, Neend has registered over 500,000 downloads with a monthly active user base of over 80,000. Even on YouTube, he managed to collect a little over two thousand subscribers.

The company has now set a higher monthly growth target of 30 percent.

Jain also told DH that Neend plans to expand its English-language content on mental wellness, and has three new products in production and two more in R&D, as well as a sleep tracking mechanism.

Currently, Neend offers consultations starting at Rs 99 and plans to improve this further and make it super easy for people to get sleep therapy when needed.

A message to aspiring female entrepreneurs and app developers

“My advice to my fellow entrepreneurs is to never limit or define your gender. Go beyond the title of ‘female entrepreneur’ and just focus on entrepreneurship. Expect challenges, but don’t accept them. Expect favors (sometimes!), but don’t don’t accept them either. Stay true to your cause and focus on developing your skills, building your team, and building a life you’ll be proud of!” said Surbhi Jain

Language Curry
Knowing multiple languages ​​in a big city like Bengaluru is a blessing. As a newcomer in the city, learning the local Kannada soon will help you settle in and socialize around the neighborhood and in the office faster. Also, most importantly, it will be easier to bargain with local businesses and manage auto rickshaw and taxi drivers skillfully to get you to places with less hassle.

The same applies to South Indians in North, West and East metros and vice versa.

If you’re an introvert and need time to settle in, the Language Curry app can help you jump over that mental hurdle.

It helps people learn Indian regional languages ​​like Hindi, Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, Assamese, Odia and Gujarati.

The curriculum is said to be designed by empaneled language experts, where the user is provided with robust learning concepts and an interactive, playful interface that not only helps in learning the regional Indian language but also learns a thing or two about the local culture. in a fun and engaging way.

Language Curry is the brainchild of Aneesha Jyoti, Puneet Singh and Vatsala Sharma.

Co-founder Aneesha Jyoti is an MBA graduate from ISB Hyderabad, who worked in a leading telecom company and also lived in Canada for over a decade, where an idea was born. Read below to find out how they formulated Language Curry.

“While staying and working in Canada, I realized that the NRI community longed for one thing: to connect with their language and culture. Many of them who grew up in an English-speaking environment were also eager to learn their native languages. While searching through different language learning platforms, I found that several leaders there is also a global player but none of them have been able to comprehensively unite Indian languages. Sensing the opportunity, I moved back to India in 2011 for MBA from ISB Hyderabad and started Language Curry in 2019 with Vatsala Sharma and Puneet Singh,” said Aneesha Jyoti

Like the Neend team, Google also gave Language Curry a hand to enter the Play Store, and in no time it was able to reach two million downloads and currently has around 150,000 monthly active users, 20-25 percent of whom are from outside the country. India.

“Urban immigrants and people who are interested in learning about Indian culture and have a knack for maintaining relationships show the highest level of engagement in their studies. Outside of India, the NRI population and non-Indians attracted to Indian culture take language learning very seriously – Jyoti noted.

In January 2022, Language Curry was also part of the Google for Startups Accelerator program. The company is developing a freemium model for monetization, which will be launched in the next quarter (April-June 2023).

Additionally, the company is building an artificial intelligence (AI)-based fluency test to help subscribers learn to match their proficiency level. And he creates many stand-alone video courses for language and culture.

A message to aspiring female entrepreneurs and app developers

“Spend a lot of time doing research before you go. Network and seek mentorship as much as you can because the connections you make through networking will help you tremendously on your journey,” said Aneesha Jyoti

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