India-born reign high on innovative start-up list in US

Indian-origin entrepreneurs in the US continue to make their mark in the Silicon Valley, with three start-ups founded by people from the country being named by a Fortune group magazine in a list of 15 innovations that have the potential to change the world of technology.

The three companies -- Bloom Energy, Expensr and Vanu -- have been featured in "The Next Disruptors -- 15 companies that will change the world" list of Business 2.0, a magazine published by global media giant CNN-Time Warner group, which also publishes magazines like Fortune.

The common thread between the three companies is that all of them have an Indian-origin US national as the founder.

Bloom Energy is a utility company that aims to help households generate their own electricity; Expensr is a financial planning software solution provider; and Vanu is a radio wireless software solution that enables a base station to simultaneously operate through various platforms like GSM and CDMA.

While Vanu Inc has been founded by its NRI CEO Vanu Bose, Bloom Energy is the brain child of K R Sridhar. Expensr, a San Francisco-based startup that has developed a software aimed at helping people a fast and easy way to track their spending habits, has been co-founded by Indian-origin Shawn Gupta with his fellow programmer Reman Child.

As working professionals, the two reportedly needed a fast and easy way to track their spending habits. Over lunch one day they were complaining to each other about not knowing where all their money went. They decided to do something about it and created Expensr, a free online service that tracks your budget and spending habits, then shows how you are doing compared to your peers, the magazine said.

© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times

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