A simple tap on your smartphone can soon liberate you of the pain of waiting in long queues for checkout in retail stores and malls. A team of three engineering students of Andhra University have come up with a unique solution to address this issue with an app called ‘Waltz’, a self service checkout aimed at eliminating queues and saving time for the shoppers.
The app will allow customers to skip the checkout lines and instead scan items with their phones after they have finalised their cart and enable digital payment.
This project of E. Anirudh, P. Arvind and A. Abhishek, students of B.Tech (computer science) of AU, is one among the 20 startup ideas across the country to be selected for IIT Kharagpur’s techno management fest ‘Kshitij’. The ecstatic team of the startup project is gearing up to present their business plan before a panel of venture capitalists and angel investors at the fest on January 28. To check the efficiency of the app, the team did a mock test in some stores in the city. “This app is a unique concept for India, a globalised solution that will bring down the total time spent in retail shopping significantly at metro cities in particular,” said P. Arvind, the B.Tech first year student. The project idea was selected for ‘Kshitij’ based on the novelty of the concept and appropriate estimation of the capital in the business plan submitted by the participants, among other parameters. If they win the competition, the team will receive the backing of investors.
“We are looking to raise around ₹4 lakh in the initial stage for developing the app which will be brought out in Android, iOS and Windows platforms,” E. Anirudh, second year B.Tech student said. After getting shortlisted for the techno fest, the team’s startup idea was mentored by a member of the Incubate Hub, Bangalore.
“Some of the flaws in the concept were pointed out. We also got feedback on making the presentation more effective by our mentor,” the team of ‘Waltz’ said. The project was also supported by Sudhakar Pantula, director of Prospecta Technologies. The students are now hoping to present an impressive show before the panel at the fest to make their startup dream come true.
