KOCHI: In an ailing economy fraught with inflation, a mobile app that provides realtime updates on the local market price of all the essential commodities at the tip of your thumb is just what the doctor prescribed. Market- Watch, the app with over 50,000 users and with clients ranging from commodity traders to enterprise customers across the country, is the numero uno developed by friends-turned-entrepreneurs of Mocioun TechLabs Pvt Ltd, a Kochi-based startup.
Founded by Ameen Rashad, Aby Mathew and Salmon K P, with a vision to develop innovative technology products capable of competing worldwide, Mocioun is now on the fast track mode to make a giant leap with ‘MarketWatch’ and their upcoming ambitious pet project- ‘Tootle’.
“We were classmates and co-workers during our engineering days at TKM College, Kollam, and we had worked for a short-term at TCS. We had plans to set up a company during our college days itself. MarketWatch was our first product. After its success, we are now working on the development of an app that will have an universal appeal and an Indian stamp on it,” says Ameen Rashad, CEO of Mocioun.“Today’s youth are so much enterprising. If they are given the right direction at the right time, they will achieve amazing accomplishments,” he adds.
MarketWatch, the first mobile app from the castle of Mocioun Techlabs, gathers live price details of thousands of products from around 3,000 markets all over India with the help of ‘Data Portal India.’ ‘Around Me’ feature included in the app, that uses the GPS technology, collects the prices from five markets that are close to the location of the user. The app also helps traders and producers stay up-to-date with market prices across the country. An instant hit within days, the app can be downloaded for free from Google Play, Apple Store and Windows Phone Store.The team had bagged several awards and honours that enabled them to be more enthusiastic in their endeavour.
OpenDataApps Award
MarketWatch has won OpenDataApps Challenge Award worth Rs 1 lakh, initiated by the Union Government in association with NASSCOM to encourage data-driven innovations, in February 2014.“We have been nominated for ‘Indian Leadership Award for Industrial Development - 2014’ by All India Achievers Foundation New Delhi,” says Aby Mathew, Director - Business Operations. Mocioun has also been selected for EMPRETEC, a United Nations programme established by UNCTAD’s Division of Investment and Enterprise to promote the creation of sustainable SMEs. “The Kerala government has nominated and sponsored us,” says cofounder Salmon.