Sahvidya- The one-stop shop for data storage, sharing and networking solely for academics
Sahvidya is an online application for personal use (data storage, sharing) and networking (within and outside educational entity) exclusively for academics. It works on the user’s academic credentials and they can store their files on Sahvidya and share them with their academic peers.
The platform provides an online storage space for its users to backup their data securely. Since data is stored on the cloud, users can access it from anywhere and they do not need to carry any USB drive with them.
Sahvidya was started in the year 2013 by Bhanu Gupta and Vivek Kumar Singh, who are alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
The idea struck their minds during their IIT days and they wanted to bring cloud computing technology to educational space. Apparently, being in college is the best time when starup enthusiasts can analyse several aspects of entrepreneurship.
Sahvidya has a powerful academic networking system through which users can share files with the academic entities in a single step. For example, a student can send a file to his entire batch of 50-60 students in a single step by selecting just the entry year and program.
He does not need to collect email ids of all the students and enter them one by one which is a very time-consuming task. In the same way a faculty can send files to an entire class or to other faculty members in a single step.
What makes Sahvidya different is that it not only promotes intra-institute but also inter-institute connectivity. For example, a faculty from IIM Ahmedabad can share data with a faculty from any other IIM institute or any institute globally for that matter. In an interview with Bhanu Gupta, here’s what we discovered more about Sahvidya:
What motivated this start up?
The idea of Sahvidya was brewing in our minds since our IIT Days. Basically file storage and sharing was really a pain we felt during our IIT Days. There is no present system where worldwide colleges can connect and share information which motivated us to think about Sahvidya.
Has Sahvidya got the feedback and growth you expected since launch?
Market feedback has been really positive. We have been receiving positive feedback from students, faculties and companies working in the education market. We have also received offers for collaboration from various companies.
How involved are you with fundraising?
Presently our company is not funded. However, we are in talks with different venture and angel firms.
What is the biggest hurdle you have faced or are still facing?
Sahvidya is a new concept and many users are showing resistance towards it. Besides that, marketing is another challenge we are facing due to lack of funds. However, we are not afraid of challenges and try to focus on the positives and move ahead as that is what every startup ought to do.
What are the key milestones for the next 6 – 12 months?
Key milestone is to introduce Sahvidya in US and Europe market. We have been working on adding US universities on Sahvidya. We have just finished with the addition of around 6000 universities and colleges from US on Sahvidya network. We plan to launch and start marketing of Sahvidya in US within a week or so.
What are your plans for promoting Sahvidya?
We plan to promote Sahvidya by social media engagements, marketing mails. And once we have the funds, it will enable our presence in various educational events and conferences which would be really useful for the product.
Sahvidya is a great platform for everyone that’s a part of the educational field. An amalgamation of sharing, networking and storage seems as the ideal choice for students as well as faculties. There is no sector that isn’t undergoing a change with the advent of latest technology. Touch on cloud is another such startup that aims at revolutionizing the education sector in India.