HERALD: Goa has taken up the challenge of making Panjim a smart city. What is your company’s contribution?
AMARSH CHATURVEDI: Transerve completed a successful pilot on improving revenue administration of Panjim city back in 2014. The results were quite encouraging. Post that, Transerve did not get an opportunity to work with Panjim smart city. However, we have worked with Jhansi Nagar Nigam, another smart city in UP; and 7 other urban local bodies. Transerve’s vision is to create India-specific smart city solutions, which solve very basic problem of our cities. We engage with cities on core fronts like revenue administration, water supply and sewerage management, land records and property rights and heritage preservation.
HERALD: Geospatial data collection and its analyses is gaining important. How does your company help those seeking your services?
AC: Location intelligence brings much-needed clarity in decision making processes. Effective data collection and data management tools assist organisations in leveraging the power of maps to solve their business problems. For example, our solutions are used by one of the largest agro-product companies to track their regional sales activities. Our laser scanning solutions have helped in effective restoration of heritage buildings in Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex.
HERALD: How is your company unique and why did you set it up in Goa?
AC: Transerve brings the entire gambit of geospatial solutions to democratise data collection and help users in effective decision making. Our government bodies and urban local bodies are data starved and we strive to bridge this gap.
Transerve was set up in Goa to benefit from low-cost setups compared to the metro cities, avail its unparalleled great connectivity with all major business hubs across the country and the best work-life balance.
HERALD: Where all are you providing your services?
AC: We have customers all across the country, starting from Chandigarh to Bengaluru. We are working as far as Odisha and Jharkhand. Currently we have deployed ultra modern survey technologies to map slums in towns of Odisha and assist the government in allocating property rights. Our solutions have been used for micro-irrigation planning in some of the most backward areas in Jharkhand. We are proud to assist various agencies in these special projects which impact thousands of lives.
HERALD: Tell us something about investments you received for your company from angel investors?
AC: Starting from seed investment from CIIE (IIM Ahmedabad) and CIBA Goa, we recently closed our pre-Series A round of investment from IL&FS and Omidyar Network.
HERALD: Recently Goa launched its set of schemes for start-ups. How will it help the diaspora and the ecosystem of start-ups in Goa?
AC: The start-up scheme is the right step at the right time. This scheme will go a long way in creating a right atmosphere in building the ecosystem in Goa. I appreciate the concept of IT anywhere. This is very unique and appropriate for a place like Goa.
HERALD: Hiring people for your company must be a challenge for you. How do you hire talent?
AC: We are currently ramping up and building a very strong team of professionals across sectors like software development, GIS, field engineers. We encourage talented Goan youth to apply for various positions that we float from time to time. We would also advise young engineers from Goa to follow technology trends and learn these technologies in parallel to their regular coursework. There is no dearth of online content today. Companies like us are always hungry for talented people.
