All praise for Modi's Digital India, team plans to milk the prime minister's initiative by collaborating with Indian varsities
A campus networking platform, founded by three Indians of a US university, has received a whopping $100,000 funding from a private investor, Rajan Kher, an NRI businessman based in US.
CampusKnot, the campus networking website founded by Hiten Patel, Rahul Gopal and Perceus Mody at Mississippi State University, has been designed to connect faculty and students just like social media platforms.
The investment by Kher is in exchange for 10-percent equity in the company, which effectively values CampusKnot at $1 million.
The site, which currently has 150 users, is still in testing phase and a formal launch is slated for January, next year. "We will go for a soft launch of the site as the new academic session begins. But before the final launch, we would ensure that everything works perfectly especially because we have money with us," ecstatic Hiten Patel told dna over phone.
The university has now provided them a formal office space to develop an even more sophisticated product. "To date, theirs is the largest recorded private investment to a startup developed by students of this 137-year-old land-grant university," an official release from the university said.
Users can chat, share notes, check class schedules, post questions, buy and sell books, among other facilities which are currently available. We are working on other options as well," said Rahul Gopal.
The CampusKnot replaces the popular social media which many teachers across the world are using at present to connect with the students and share the educational content in the absence of any other appropriate platform.
Gopal is a senior aerospace engineering major, while Patel graduated in 2013 with an information systems degree and now pursues a second degree in marketing. Mody is a senior in medical technology.
Patel founded the start-up two years back with pocket money and savings along with Gopal and Mody.
The team has now hired two interns to look after PR and marketing activities within the campus and other universities in the US. Gopal says, "We're not looking to have a job; we're looking at creating jobs and helping to solve educational problems."
Inspired by the Prime Minister's Digital India campaign, the team now wish to be part of it. "We are studying Indian Higher Education System as of now so that we can understand the nitty-gritty of Indian campuses before seeking collaborations with them."
Hiten, who has completed the course, now will fly down to India in September and plans to see the affairs here. "Talks with the Walchand Institute of Technology, Solapur University is on. We hope to finalise a tie-up in September," he said.
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